Ranma Half Moon chapter 93 "Hearts On Ice!" part Two.

Author's note: This episode happens during the Sailor Moon episode 39 "Paired With a Monster?! Ice Queen Makoto".

Akane answers the door. "Oh, hi Haruka. What's going on?"

Haruka stands, dressed in a men's shirt and pants. She looks very much like a boy but is not consciously going for that look. "I came by to check up on Ranma. He seemed pretty down yesterday in class."

"I'm glad you came by. Ranma is normally never like this. Obnoxious, yes. Bull headed, yes. Overbearingly macho, yes. But, I haven't seen him this depressed before. Don't tell him this, but I am worried."

Haruka smiles. "Ranma is lucky to have someone like you in his life."

"But, I have put him in the hospital three times."

"Didn't he deserve it?"

Akane gets a blank expression. I haven't thought about it that way. "He's on the roof. I have a window that opens to the roof. You can join him that way."

Haruka negotiates the slant of the roof to reach Ranma-kun. "You okay?"

Ranma-kun looks haggard. "First Kuno, now Ryoga. They're still alive, but they look like they were hit by trucks. And, it's my fault."

Haruka stares at Ranma-kun in horror. The burden of fighting the enemy was bearing down hard on him. "We didn't start this fight. They didn't turn into Yoma Monsters by themselves. We need to get to the bottom of this or else more people will get hurt."

Ranma-kun nods weakly, unconvinced.

"I saw an ad in the paper today. It was very suspicious. It was a special at the new ice skating rink. They have free lessons, but only for parties of five girls."

"So what?"

"Come on, guy, get your head in the game. Parties of five girls only? Clearly they're trying to lure out the other Sailor Warriors."

"Can I pass on this?"

"No. What if this is a trap for the Sailor Warriors? What if Tuxedo Kamen shows up? It could be your chance to save him."

"It's just," Ranma-kun looks off into space, "that I have a bad memory with ice skating."

"An accident?"

"No, some guy kissed me without my permission."

"Wow, did you kill this guy?"

"It wasn't as simple as that. Him and his girlfriend were well versed in ice skating martial arts."

"You seem to have a lot of enemies who are martial artists."

"I'm actually friendly with most of them. It's just that we fight to see who the very best is."

"So, will you come with me on this mission?"

"To the site of my first kiss to try to save a guy who was my second kiss?"

Haruka smacks Ranma-kun upside the head. "Moe! Stop acting like a girl when you're in guy form."

Ranma-kun sulks.

"You need to face down your fears. You need to do this."

"Okay." Ranma-kun lays back apathetically. Why couldn't things just be over? Why did everything have to be so painful?

...

"Mako-chan!"

Makoto breathes heavily. She was in the middle of doing squats when the phone rang. "Usagi, what's up?"

"We need you to go ice skating with us."

"Need or want?"

"Need, the advertisement says that they have free lessons with Janelyn and Misha, the Olympic gold medalists, but only for groups of five girls."

"I'm there."

Makoto smiles. I remember seeing Misha and Janelyn skate. Misha was so charismatic and dashing. I have always wanted to be like that.

...

Mio Kuroki walks down an alley in a very seedy part of Tokyo. Trash was strewn everywhere and there were drunks passed out lying on the ground, even though it was morning and cold.

Mio expands her mind and locates the object that she seeks. She then opens her eyes and sees a fire escape. She moves a trash can over so that she can reach the bottom ladder and pull it down.

Mio breathes heavily. Come on. Our heart should be fine by now. It's only ten stories.

Mio climbs up five stories on the fire escape and then rests. Come on Mio-chan, do your best! Do your best!

With effort, Mio climbs the rest of the way up to the tenth floor. She knocks on a window.

Mio looks inside to see what seems to be a warehouse of women's underwear.

"Who in the world?" A very old short man comes to the window. "A pretty girl? The gods must be smiling on me. Come on in." He opens the window.

Mio climbs into the cramped, dingy apartment. "I'll bet you're wondering who I am."

"It doesn't matter. You have long hair and big eyes. Those are the important things."

"They make GPS devices now that are very small. Small enough to fit into the bra you stole from my balcony last night. I used it to track you to your lair."

"Impossible. I am an expert on all things that pertain to bras. If there was a GPS device in that bra that weighed even one ounce I would have been able to detect it."

Mio smiles. "That is correct, Happosai. I didn't use a GPS."

"You know my name?"

"Of course. Have you forgotten me after all these years?"

Happosai becomes indignant. "Young lady, you're just a kid. My memory isn't perfect, but it goes back at least sixteen years."

"Fifteen, but that's beside the point. I'm not talking about the shell I walk around in. Thousands of years ago I created you. You are my pet. A Yoma Monster crossed with a human. But, I was sealed away for a long time. You walked the earth by yourself and forgot who you were. But, you are mine."

"That's totally ridiculous. I might be really old but I am a human."

Mio stares at Happosai and Happosai's eyes glaze over and he falls down.

"Baka. My powers wouldn't have affected a human like that."

Mio sees her bra in the middle of a huge pile. She pulls it out of the pile only to have the pile fall on her.

Unable to free herself, Mio claps her hands.

Happosai immediately gets up and frees Mio.

"That's a good pet. I have a good use for you today. We're going to get back at some girl and make her cry."

To Be Continued