Finding a home
Chapter 1
Disclaimer. I didn't do it.
Author's new note: For those of you who haven't figured it out, this is a Ranma/Sailor Moon Crossover. More specifically, a Ranma, Sailor Moon Manga Crossover. It's pretty hard to find copies of the Manga these days, seeing how dated it is, but there is a specific website I used for pretty much a line by line translation. The exact website is given later on in my work, though I'm not sure if it's even still available. For those of you who know the real story, enjoy my interpretation. For those of you who don't, enjoy a chance to read a story that follows the original Sailor Moon plot without any pretences being taken on it. The scenes I use are not exact play by play. I only used what was important for the plot I was trying to put out.
"Where on earth am I know?" I ask myself as I shield my eyes to look around. No, I'm not a certain idiot wannabe martial artist that turns into a pig. This is still me, Ranma. Whereas Ryoga would have shouted that last bit in a useless attempt to draw attention to his suffering, I mutter it to myself under my breath. The pack on my shoulder carrying all my worldly possessions bites into me in an uncomfortable fashion, so I shift it higher up on my back.
I can't really remember how long I've been doing it. Pulling Ryogas. I imagine it started soon after I left Nerima. On the day I left that bitter-sweet prefecture, I couldn't really care less where I was heading. I just wanted to get away from that place. I walked and walked, not particularly fast or hard, but just walked until suddenly I realized that I had no idea where I was. I panicked for a moment, frantically searching my surroundings for some clue to my whereabouts, and then I stopped. Where did it matter where I was? I didn't have anyplace to be, no one to meet, no schedule to maintain, so why did itmatter that I was lost?
I kept on walking that day, and I guess I never really stopped. While all this does nothing to point out where I am, it does point out why I am where I am.
I take stock of my surroundings, the scenery and the people, not so much looking for anything, but looking for something nonetheless. I was inside somewhere with people streaming around me, coming and going at will. The walls are inlaid with a dozen stores, selling anything from the daily paper to shaving equipment to fast food. A large signal board with city names and times hovers high up on the walls, and the windows on one side looks open on a large open field of concrete. A string of oddly dressed chanting people marches by me.
Ah. The Hari Crishnas gave it away. I'm in an airport.
Well, one place is as good as the next. Might as well grab some food.
I take a seat in one of the bucket-like plastic seats that lay in rows for passengers to lounge on, and take stock of what I had on me. Item A: Dirty canvas clothes in a Chinese cut. Item B: Dirty and patched backpack containing items C, D, and E: a change of clothes, a wrapped Katana, and some cooking pots and utensils.
Nowhere on that list is any thing even remotely resembling money. Oh, well. I don't have time to go mug a mugger, so plan A (paying) is out of the picture. I guess I'll have to resort to plan B.
I re-shoulder my pack, and head off to the men's room. Not too difficult to find in an airport. Once in, I check to see if I'm alone, and a quick splash later, a decidedly redheaded woman walks out of the men's bathroom. I nod pleasantly to a pair of guys about to enter the restroom, and ignore their gawks.
I guess I should mention that while I pull the occasional getting lost trick, I take it nowhere near the extent that Ryoga did. I can get lost when I put my mind to it, not when I'm turning around. I think of getting lost as a martial arts technique involving intense inner concentration, to the extent of not paying any attention to my surroundings. Since losing myself only happens when I want to, I have no trouble prowling through the stores, searching for what I need.
There. In that bakery. The clerk working the register is a young man, seventeen or so. He has a slumped posture that denotes his boredom, no line in front of him, and is the only one working there. Perfect. I tighten my belt to make me look thinner and my shirt tighter, and begin my attack.
I start at the end of the counter, walking hesitantly into his store, blinking and looking about like I'm lost. I pretend not to notice as the clerk perks up at the sight of me. I walk in a way that accents my current gender without looking like I'm doing it on purpose. Stopping in front of a glass display counter, I reach out delicately, and touch the display with one finger, before withdrawing it quickly. I take a second to look very sad, and stare at the floor as though lost in thought.
"Can I help you, ma'am?" the clerk asks. Excellent. I put on a startled waking expression and look around for a second, before my gaze settles on him.
"Oh, no," I say hurriedly. "I-I'm just looking." Now his curiosity is aroused. He's thinking something along the lines of 'what a hottie' and 'she looks like she's hungry'.
"Is there anything you want?" he asks oh so innocently.
"I-I'm sorry," I stutter out. "I don't have any money. I better just go." I turn and begin to walk away slowly, slumped.
"Wait a second," the sucker, I mean clerk, calls after me. "Here," he offers me a medium sized sandwich from the case that I had been looking at. I feign hesitation.
"I really shouldn't.." I begin, and he cuts me off.
"I insist." Well then, if he insists...
Five minutes later I'm relaxing on one of those omni-present bucket chairs that airports provide for people waiting for their planes. In one hand is a half eaten sandwich, and in the other is a courtesy cup of water from another store. My pack lays next to my feet, and I sit back and enjoy my meal. I suppose I should feel some kind of shame in suckering that poor boy out of a sandwich, but I had no money and was hungry, and now the kid's probably feeling really good about himself for helping an innocent damsel in distress.
Me, a damsel. There's a laugh.
I could remember a time when I had gone around saving damsels in distress. It wasn't really that long ago, but it feels like ages. Back when Nerima was a madhouse. I could remember the fiancés and rivals flocking to me like I was a shining candle, and they were moths. They probably had led normal lives until I had stumbled in on them like a bull into a china store. After I had passed, they had followed, and when I found that temporary respite in Nerima, they had came to join me in my settling.
Those crazy days had been like a whirlpool in the stream of time. There had been a while there when every day had been an adventure, full of romance and action, a constant struggle, an escape from the tedium of real life. It had all begun small and slowly gained strength, like an avalanche crashing down a mountain.
And like an avalanche it had taken its toll on the surroundings, and eventually slowed to a halt.
I guess if you sat down and studied it carefully, the beginning of the end would be when Shampoo had decided to attack Ukyou for spending time with me. In truth, Shampoo never even got to cross bonboris with Ukyou's spatula. When Konatsu had discovered Shampoo's intentions, he had interfered. And we all know what happens when an outsider man beats an Amazon woman in combat. I never saw it coming, and before I know it, Shampoo had decided that she wasn't that repulsed to the idea of marrying Konatsu.
I think all of Nerima had face faulted when that news had came out.
I take another bite of my sandwich and look around me at all the people. There are so many different types wandering around. Clean cut business men, colorful tourists, religious organizations handing out fliers, janitorial staff cleaning up the litter that accumulates throughout a busy workday, and others. They come and go as they will, all hurrying importantly about as though lives depend on their every move. I don't know. Maybe somebody does depend on them. I'd really rather not think about it.
I've taken a sip of my water, and another bite when I notice the crowd around one of the gates. A swarm of fifty or sixty teenage-girl types wearing clothes that they really shouldn't wear in public have gathered by one of the gates. They all looked excited and happy, murmuring breathlessly to each other. I can see an occasional flap of poster board flash out from among them, most bearing some message about "Lights" or something. I can't help but wonder what's going on, so when a girl that looked like she belonged in that aforementioned crowd tries to rush by me, I stop her.
"Hey, I'm sorry for botherin' ya," I tell her, as she starts when I catch her elbow. She looks at me with big curious eyes as I continue. "-But could ya tell me what's goin' on over there?" I indicate towards the gate I had been watching earlier.
Her eyes light up and she clutches her hands to her chest and bounces. "It's, like, so cool! The Three Lights are, like, going to be, like, coming here. And that's, like, the fan club." She apparently notices the blank look I'm giving her. "You've never, like, heard of the Three Lights? They're, like the coolest pop band ever!" She shakes loose of my grip and to run to join the rest of the club. "Like, bye," she shouts back.
I sit down again, and rub my head before picking up my drink and taking another bite of my diminishing meal. How many times had she used the word 'like' in that sentence? It, like, boggles the mind. So. Another pop band. They'll be forgotten within the month, I can almost guarantee it. They'll spend all their money, convinced that they're the greatest thing since martial arts, and end up in debt when all their baby bopper fans move onto the next latest craze. Its sad.
As I take another ponderous chomp out of my sandwich, leaving maybe just a little bit left in my hand, I turn my attention to another gate. Ah, now there's a cute picture. A young woman, probably in high school standing close to a young man. I can make out tears in their eyes from all the way across the airport. The woman says something to the man and the man says something back, leaning into to talk into her ear in an intimate fashion. He manages to avoid the woman's hair, which is dragged up into two meatball-like shapes on the top of her head, rather skillfully. They must have been going out for some time. As I chew slowly the young man pulls out a little box, and opens it before the woman's eyes.
Well. A proposal. Even though I'm a complete stranger to the two, I feel a little glow settle in me. The woman had responded to the ring offered to her enthusiastically, and I can't help it. I get up and begin to walk towards them to offer congratulations. I shoulder my pack with the ease of practice, taking a final sip of my water, before lobbing it across the lobby into a trashcan as I take the final bite of my sandwich. As I chew slightly I look at the two again. The man leaning over the woman. The woman with her eyes half closed and her mouth upturned. The strangely clad golden haired woman about to plunge her hand into the young man's back. The...
Wait a second. Strangely clad golden haired woman?
My eyes widen as the strangely clad golden haired woman raises her arm...
Damn. I take a deep breath to yell a warning, and suddenly discover that I'm still chewing on a piece of sandwich. My eyes tear up slightly as I gag and choke before finally gaining control of myself, but by then its too late. The young man dissolves and the strangely dressed golden haired woman disappears in a flash of golden light, taking something shining that had remained behind when the young man had disintegrated. The woman, who just a second ago had been having the happiest moment of her life, faints dead away.
I have to help her. But even as the thought goes through my head, three disgustingly pretty young men surround her and began to take her away. My eyes narrow. What the hell is going on?
Throughout the entire event, I had been heading towards the couple, and by now I'm a little over half the distance there. I open my mouth to shout a question at the three men fleeing with the woman, when another voice cuts through the air.
"Like, that's them! The Three Lights!!"
I freeze up as I suddenly hear a sound that I haven't heard since Happosai's panty raids. The sound of a large body of women running as fast as they can. Right towards me...
SLAM. Trample trample trample.
Ouch.
---
Okay. Lets take a moment to carefully study the situation. After I had recovered from the stampeding in the airport, I had quickly discovered where I was. Tokyo again, though not in Nerima. I had a small flash of guilty pleasure over that. I really don't want to ever go back to Nerima. Now I was in a section called Juuban. I had just witnessed a rather nice looking couple's happiness been hopelessly torn asunder by some strange chick, and then watched the poor girl from the couple collapse and be taken away by three strange looking guys, who end up being some kind of hot new boy band.
That's really strange.
I'm now resting in the Juuban park, sitting in the shade beneath a tree, once more a guy. I had some time before it would be dark enough for me to truly tempt some stupid thug to pick up some cash, so I didn't have any money for food or shelter, but I don't think that really matters that much. I'll get the two in the end. What's important now is what I'm going to do next.
Over the last couple of years, I had discovered just how effective getting lost is. Especially when crazy things have a habit of happening around me. I would turn up in the strangest places, at the strangest times, to the most amazing situations. It was kind of gratifying really. I would do my best to help the people involved as best I could, and sometimes things would turn out for the better. After seeing these strange events, I can't contain my desire to do something. To help.
I wanted to see the man and the woman from the airport end up happy together.
Now, how to go about that?
Two things about the whole event strike me as odd. Alright, the whole event strikes me as odd, but two events more so than the rest. The first is how those three guys, the Three Lights I think they were called, had managed to get to that girl's side so quickly. It had been like they had known what was about to happen, and when they had arrived they hadn't acted like they were too surprised by the events. Very suspicious. I might have to look into them some more.
The second thing about the situation had been that woman. That golden haired woman wearing that odd outfit. There was something about her. Not just the fact that she had apparently dissolved that man and torn something glowing out of the remains. There had been something about her that struck some kind of chord in me. Something... familiar...
I sigh and lean back against the tree I'm under, staring at the sky around the foliage. I think that the strangely dressed woman (I think I'll refer to her as Weird-Clothes for the sake of saving time) will be next to impossible to hunt down, especially as she had disappeared after the deed had been done. My best bet for the moment would be to find out some more about the band, the Three Lights. They had had a pretty big following at the airport. I might as well find out more about them.
I nod to myself. That would be the best place to start for the moment.