[Tendou. Bringing Ranma from China. Saotome.]
Souun lowered the postcard, tears streaming from his eyes. This
was such wonderful news! He must announce this to his daughters at once!
The eldest was in the kitchen as usual. "Kasumi!"
The middle girl was in her room, snacking while reading.
"Nabiki!"
The last was nowhere to be found. "Where *is* that girl?"
As it happened, the youngest Tendou daughter was just returning
to the house after a long day, breathing hard. She sighed as she remembered
what else she had to do. She quickly changed into her gi, then went to
the training hall.
She set up a set of bricks, prepared herself mentally, then drove
her fist into them. Not even denting the solid objects.
"Owie owie owie! WAAAH!"
Her sister Nabiki commented from the doorway, "Geez! When are
you ever going to admit you're hopeless at martial arts!"
"But Papa needs me to carry on the dojo! And besides, I just
know if I can learn this, Kunou-sempai will finally notice me!"
"Dream on, sister. Oh, Dad has some sort of announcement to
make, so we'd better scoot on in." Nabiki loved her little sister as
dearly as she did anyone at all, but sometimes she wondered if there
hadn't been some sort of mix-up at the hospital. Then she would burst
into tears, just like Dad, and Nabiki knew they had to be related.
The younger daughter turned towards the house, and promptly fell
over her own feet. "WAAAH!"
"C'mon, Usagi, show a *little* control, huh?"
HALF MOON
by Scott K. Jamison
(Ranma 1/2 and its associated characters created by Rumiko Takahashi.
Sailor Moon and its associated characters created by Naoko Takeuchi. No
infringement intended.)
Chapter One: Something Old, Something New
Not far from the Tendou home, a girl was fighting a panda. But
we all know how that came out, so let's look in on a slightly less
familiar event, though still relevant to our narrative.
A considerable distance north of Tokyo, a young-looking and
rather handsome blond man in a gray uniform was bowing before his
sovereign.
"Report, Jadeite."
"Yes, Queen Beryl. Project: Dark Agency has reached the end of
its useful life. We are now ready to begin Phase Two, wholesale energy
transfers. I have chosen the human city of Tokyo as our Asia
headquarters."
The tall russet-haired woman passed her hands over a crystal
ball. "Tokyo? Is that not the home base of Sailor V? She has
been...troublesome to us in the past."
"There have been no confirmed sightings of Sailor V in the past
three weeks, my queen. It is my opinion that she perished in that
warehouse explosion.
"Tokyo is the highest population city we can access easily by
teleport, and is a financial and communications center, which will be
important in the final phase of our plans. I admit the human city of
Hong Kong would be even better suited to our purposes, if it were not
situated such that direct teleportation there would cost a hundred times
the energy it does to Tokyo."
"Energy. Yes. That is a consideration."
More than a consideration, it was an overriding concern. It had
taken millenia to create a portal to the surface world, and each
transition from the Negaverse (as some called their prison) to Earth
required a large amount of energy. The same energy that was needed to
free the Dark Kingdom's true ruler, Queen Metallia.
Thus, even though there were theoretically dozens of youma at his
disposal, Jadeite was extremely loath to use more than one at a time. As
if he would need more than one, of course.
"When will you be ready to proceed, Jadeite?"
"My agent is in place even as we speak. If I may say so, I have
devised the perfect plan." Of course, by so saying, Jadeite sealed his
doom.
Meanwhile, back at the Tendou living room, the daughters were
trying to deal with their father's surprise announcement.
"An arranged marriage!?" protested Usagi. "Isn't that kind of
old-fashioned? I wanna fall in love first!"
"Usagi my dear, this is a matter of family honor, and besides, I'm
sure that whichever of you gets Ranma will come to love him in no
time." Inwardly, Souun flinched a bit. Perhaps he should have
introduced the idea of the engagement a bit earlier, before these silly
ideas of moonlit romance had taken root.
"What is he like, Father?" asked Kasumi. "I hope he's older.
Younger men bore me."
"Is he handsome?" chimed in Nabiki.
"Hey! That's *my* line! You're supposed to ask if he's rich!"
Usagi complained.
"I'm not totally mercenary. Besides, if any of Daddy's old
friends were rich, I would've known by now. Well, Father?"
"I don't know."
"Say what?"
"I've never met him."
"You've engaged us to someone not only we, but *you've* never
seen?" Alarm bells started going off in all three sisters' heads.
(Usagi may have been a fluffhead, but even *she* could tell there was
something wrong with this picture.)
Souun sensed he was losing control of the situation, but was at a
loss how to reclaim it. Not only family honor, but the survival of the
dojo was at stake. After the death of his wife (and thus no sons), Souun
had tried to teach his youngest daughter the basics of Tendou-Style
Anything Goes Martial Arts.
Sadly, it seemed Usagi simply had no talent for unarmed combat.
And her discipline was sorely lacking. He should have done a better job
of training her, but somehow Souun's resolve melted whenever his
daughter's eyes dampened. The dojo would get no students at all with her
as its representative.
Genma's son was his only hope--
"Put me down!" came a rather shrill voice from the entryway.
Souun and Nabiki ran to see who it was. They immediately came
running back, obviously frightened. For behind them was a huge panda
walking on its hind legs! It seemed to be carrying someone, who shouted,
"Can't you see you're scaring them?"
The beast put down its burden, a rather short person with a
reddish tint to the hair.
"Are these friends of yours, Father?" asked Kasumi. She knew
from the few stories he deemed suitable for young ears he'd hung out with
some pretty strange people as a youth.
Souun vigorously shook his head.
Nabiki recovered her sarcasm. "Oh, so these two just happened to
wander in off the street. Happens all the time."
The human member of the intruding pair spoke. "I'm Ranma
Saotome. Sorry about this."
So much for his being older, thought Kasumi. His voice hasn't
even broken yet.
Souun, as was his wont, overreacted. "Ranma! At last you've
come! I'm so happy!" and embraced his soon-to-be son-in-law fiercely.
A couple of seconds passed before Souun noticed something wrong.
Ranma just didn't...feel right. He pulled back and for the first time
noticed Ranma's shape.
"Dad, Ranma's a girl," pointed out Nabiki somewhat belatedly, and
prodding the visitor's chest for emphasis.
"Would you mind not doing that?" asked Ranma.
Souun's mind couldn't cope with this disaster, and shut down.
When he came to with an icepack on his head, he mumbled, "But I
could have sworn Saotome said he had a son..."
"You should have made sure! You call this--" Nabiki squeezed one
of Ranma's breasts, "--a *husband*?"
"Would you please stop doing that?" Ranma asked. The youngest
Tendou daughter felt sorry for her. Obviously, Mr. Saotome had dumped
her and her pet panda here without telling Ranma what to expect. And the
way Nabiki was manhandling the visitor was unbelievably rude. Time to be
a good host.
"Hi! I'm Usagi. Would you like to be friends?"
"Huh? Oh yeah, sure." She seemed a bit shy.
"I picked up some new Sailor V posters today! Wanna see?"
Ranma had spent the last year or so in remote parts of China, and
hadn't a clue who Sailor V was, but assumed it was some sort of "girly"
thing. But Usagi was wearing a gi, which seemed a bit more promising.
"No, thanks. Uh, Pops mentioned you guys had a dojo?"
"Sure! You like to see that first?"
"Okay."
"Your panda can come too, if you want."
"I think he's fine right here. Aren'tcha?"
The panda looked away as though pretending not to hear. Usagi
giggled.
The training hall was as Usagi had left it an hour before, bricks
still on their stand.
"Nice place you got here, Usagi."
"Thanks!" She took a really good look at her visitor for the
first time. Ranma was a bit shorter than Usagi, with red hair tied back
in a pigtail. And even in the shapeless Chinese peasant outfit she was
wearing, it was obvious she was stacked. I guess we were all just so
primed for a boy, we just didn't register that, Usagi thought.
"So..." Usagi tried to figure out what Ranma would like to do.
"...you study kempo too?"
"A bit."
"Would you like to spar? We'll take it easy."
Ranma was a bit skittish about fighting girls; his one previous
match with one had been...disastrous...in its consequences. But as long
as it was just friendly sparring, and he'd be sure to hold back...
"Okay."
Usagi set herself in an attack posture; Ranma just sort of stood
there. The blonde girl gave a kiai and punched. Ranma swayed out of the
way, almost lazily. Usagi essayed a few more punches, and her opponent
dodged them all.
Time to make a sudden switch, she decided, and Usagi jumped off the
floor for a flying kick. Ranma swayed again, and Usagi sailed right
past him and into a wall.
*SPLAT* "Owie! WAAH!!"
"You okay, Usagi?"
"Oh, Ranma-chan! What am I going to do? I can't learn martial
arts andwe'lllosethedojo and I'm suchafailure! WAAH!"
Ranma stiffened at the diminuitive, but decided to let it slide.
"Don't cry, Usagi. How long have you been studying?"
"About *snif* six years now."
"Well, I've been learning Anything Goes for over ten years now,
and Pops says I still have a long way to go. Look, let me show you
something."
Ranma demonstrated a punching technique, a simple one he thought
Usagi could copy.
"But that's so hard!"
"If it were easy, anyone could do it, right? Try again, Usagi...
chan."
After about an hour, she finally had it down.
"That's a girl!" Ranma smiled; at last the long years of
training were good for more than beating people up. It felt good to be
the teacher instead of the student for a change. Small talk. Did he
know any small talk?
"Um...I know I'm named `Wild Horse' because `horse' names run in
the family, and apparently I was a pretty restless baby, but why
`Usagi'?"
"Oh, Papa named each of us after the kind of clouds he saw when
we were born. Kasumi was born on a misty morning, Nabiki when there were
tendril-like clouds in the sky, and me--"
"A bunny-shaped cloud?"
"That's what Papa says." She giggled again, joined by Ranma's
laughter. Usagi was surprised by it. Ranma laughed like a boy, loud and
free.
"Oh, that felt good. I haven't laughed in a while."
Ranma looked a little sad now. Life on the road must have been
rough.
"I hope you can stay with us a while, Ranma-chan. It's always
good to have new friends."
"Yeah. Friends. Good. You know if dinner's ready yet?"
As it happened, it wasn't, and Kasumi practically ordered Ranma
to take a bath. Nabiki observed this and decided to have a little fun.
She suspected Ranma wouldn't know to put up the "Occupied" sign, and
Usagi embarrassed so easily...
"Bath's hot, kiddo!"
"Thanks, Nabiki." Usagi felt a bit sore, but good. She'd gotten
new posters, saved a cat from bullies, and made a new friend. A full
day.
She stripped off her clothes, picked up a towel, and opened the
door to the bath.
Usagi found herself looking at a naked man stepping out of the
tub. A. Naked. Man.
She calmly closed the door, calmly put her gi top on, calmly left
the changing room...and screamed.
Nabiki and Kasumi came running, closely followed by Souun and
some man Usagi didn't recognize.
"What's wrong, Usagi?"
"There's a pervert in the bathroom!"
Kasumi looked worried. "But I just sent Ranma in there. I
hope--"
The changing room door opened. It was the man from the tub,
wearing the same outfit Ranma had on earlier.
"Um...I'm Ranma Saotome. Sorry about this."
Half an hour and one explanation of Jyuusenkyo curses later...
"So, Ranma, your problem isn't so terrible after all!" Souun
patted the transformed boy on the shoulder. Mr. Tendou was vastly
relieved to learn he was going to have a son-in-law after all. All he
had to do was keep Ranma away from cold water for the duration of the
wedding.
"Huh?"
Souun pointed to each of the sisters in turn. "My daughters.
Kasumi, age nineteen. Nabiki, seventeen, and Usagi, sixteen. Pick the
one you want. She's your fiancee."
Kasumi and Nabiki, both slightly panicked, moved quickly.
"Oh, he wants Usagi!"
"Eh?" from Usagi.
"Oh, definitely!" chimed in Nabiki.
"Why should I--"
"Well, you're both martial artists, right?"
"Besides, being half-girl, Ranma will understand you better than
any other boy!"
"But I don't wanna marry a pervert!" If he wasn't a pervert, he
would have *told* her he was a boy before she walked into the bathroom,
right?
"Whaddya mean, `pervert'?!" snarled Ranma.
"You looked at my body, pervert!"
"Hold it! You walked in on *me*!"
"It's different when a girl sees a boy!"
Souun and Genma laughed. "They're already a perfect couple!"
Where they got that notion from is a mystery unsolved to this day.
No one noticed eyes watching from the shadows.
"He's a couple all by himself!"
"Goodbye!" declared Ranma as he spun away.
"Where are you going, boy?" asked his father.
"Back to China! To find a way to change back for good! This is
no time for `fiancees'.
"By the way..." this to Usagi, "You took a pretty good look at
*me* too. Besides it's no big deal for me to see a naked girl. I mean,
I've seen myself plenty of times, right? And I'm built better, to
boot!"
"Whaat?!"
"Yeah, the dumplings on your head are bigger than the ones on
your chest."
Usagi was well aware that she was a bit of a late bloomer, but she
didn't appreciate having it pointed out. "WAAAAHHH!!"
"Aw, geez, Usagi, don't cry..."
But she didn't want to hear any more, and ran upstairs to her
room.
She buried her face in her pillow and sobbed. At first she
didn't notice the tapping on her shoulder.
Usagi hadn't heard anyone come into the room. She looked around;
no one was there. Then she felt the tapping again and looked down.
It was the cat she'd helped this morning, a black cat with a
bandage on its forehead. Usagi didn't question how it had come to be
here; she just grabbed it up and cuddled it.
"Oh, kitty, what am I going to do? I thought Ranma was my
friend, but she's actually a perverted boy, and I'm stuck engaged to him
andIdon'twannagetmarriedyet!"
"Mew?" The cat scratched at the bandage with a forepaw.
"You want me to take it off, kitty?" The cat nodded.
"Okay, but this might sting." Usagi snagged a corner of the
adhesive and ripped it off. To her surprise, there wasn't a cut or lump
beneath it, but a golden crescent mark.
"Ahh, much better," said the cat in a teenage girl's voice.
Usagi didn't quite register it at first.
"I'm afraid we have much more important business than fiances to
concern us now."
"Hey! You talked!"
"Quite."
"But that's impossible!"
"You have a fiance who changes genders due to water temperature,
and you think a talking cat is impossible?"
"Um, good point." Why not? Obviously, the world was a lot
weirder than she'd ever been led to believe. "You were saying something
about more important matters, kitty?"
"Luna. My name is Luna. And you have been chosen to become the
Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon."
"Sailor...Moon? You mean like Sailor V?" She pointed towards
the half-assembled model kit on her desk.
"Something like that, yes." Luna leapt up into the air and did a
very tricky-looking back flip. A red-jeweled brooch appeared out of
nowhere and dropped to the bed. "Put it on, Usagi."
The blonde girl pinned it to the front of her dress.
"Now, say `Moon Prism Power, Make Up!'"
"You're sure?"
"Yes."
"Moon Prism Power, MAKE UP!"
Suddenly, Usagi was surrounded by color and music. It swirled
around and into her, and she felt a curious tingling all over her body.
It seemed to last a longer subjectively than it did objectively.
The first thing Usagi noticed when her vision cleared was that
she was now wearing white gloves. She glanced at the mirror. Her dress
had been replaced by a stylized sailor fuku, much like Sailor V's. Her
hair was held back by a golden tiara, and her "dumplings" had ruby-red
gems set into them. It looked like she was a couple of inches taller,
and--was it true? Yes! An improved chest size!
"I can't wait to show this to Mr. `I'm Built Better'!"
"Sorry, Sailor Moon, you can't."
"What?!"
"Your identity has to remain a secret to protect your family and
friends."
"Protect them? From what?"
As if in answer, the gems in her dumplings began to pulse, and a
girl's screams echoed in her ears.
"Huh?"
"The enemy is striking! Put on your mask!"
Usagi found a mask in her hand that hadn't been there a moment
ago. She put it on and gasped.
The scene before her eyes was the jewelry store run by the mother
of her best friend Naru. And Naru was in the middle of the picture,
being strangled by some sort of monster.
"Naru-chan!"
"You recognize someone? Then we'll be able to--" Luna abruptly
realized she was talking to thin air. Usagi had already jumped out the
window.
"Sailor Moon! Wait for me!" and Luna leapt to follow.
A moment later, Kasumi emptied the room.
"I brought some dinner, Usagi. It was a near thing, Ranma and
his father have large appetites...Oh, she must have gone for a run. I do
hope she and Ranma can work things out." She set the plate on the desk,
closed the window, and turned out the light.
An amazingly short amount of time later, Sailor Moon arrived at
the jewelry store. She noted there were still "75% off" and "Open" signs
in the window, despite the late hour.
Inside, Naru was still being choked by the youma who'd been
impersonating her mother. Customers lay unconscious all over the floor.
"Well, my dear girl, much as I have enjoyed watching you squirm,
it's time to drain you dry."
"Oh no you don't!" Usagi rammed her fists into the youma's side,
making it drop Naru in surprise. Hey! That new technique really works!
she thought.
"Who dares?"
"I am the Champion of Love and Justice, Sailor Moon! Jewelry
should bring happiness to women, but you've made it a thing of evil! In
the name of the Moon, I'll punish you!" Knew listening to Kunou-sempai's
speeches would pay off one day, she congratulated herself.
Naru had just enough time to register a blurry picture of her
rescuer and the name "Sailor Moon" before slipping into blissful
unawareness.
"Sailor Moon, eh? I've never heard of you, and now neither will
anyone else!" The youma's arms stretched inhumanly.
Usagi registered that this monster had really sharp claws and
dodged. "Eek!" It kept coming after her.
Luna finally caught up and was pleased to see that despite how
clumsy her dodges might look, Sailor Moon clearly had superior agility.
On the other paw, she wasn't gaining ground either.
"Go on the attack, Sailor Moon!"
"But my martial arts skill isn't good enough! I'm scared! What
do I dooo?!"
"Use your tiara!"
"Eh?"
"Say `Moon Tiara Action' and throw it at the youma!"
Usagi grabbed the band off her forehead and began spinning. Why,
she wasn't sure. It just felt right.
"Moon...Tiara...Action!" As she released it, the tiara became a
spinning disk of light. It flew at the youma and impacted it in the
belly.
"Im-impossible!" shrieked the creature as the tiara's energy
disrupted its molecular structure. In moments, only a pile of ash
remained, and even that was dissolving.
"Good work, Sailor Moon!"
"Naru-chan!" Usagi was happy to see her friend was breathing
evenly.
"She's just had some of her energy drained. Rest should allow
her and these others to recover," advised Luna.
"But where's Naru's mother?"
Fortunately, the lady in question was quickly located in a
closet, groggy and covered in some sort of sticky goo, but clearly
alive.
"Our work here is done, Sailor Moon!"
Usagi snuck back into her room via the window, the fact that it
was on the second floor and closed not bothering her nearly as much as it
normally would have.
"Now, how do I turn back?"
"Touch the brooch and concentrate on turning back."
Usagi did so, and found herself back in her dress. It wasn't
nearly as spectacular as the first transformation.
"I guess Ranma and I are a matched couple after all, or should
that be a foursome? Say, Luna-chan, promise me something?"
"What, Usagi?"
"No more weirdness tonight? I've had more than I can take."
"I think I can promise th--" Luna couldn't repress a little
smile. Usagi had collapsed on the bed and was already fast asleep. A
silver crescent high in the sky lit her peaceful features.
"Goodnight, Usagi. Goodnight, Moon."
END CHAPTER ONE
Thanks to my prereader list for much help on this one!
Also a respectful nod in the direction of "Bishoujo Senshi Sailor
Ranma"'s creator, since this fic is sort of the mirror image of that.
SKJAM!
"When those three little words come so easily to you, I hope you know
what I mean when I say, `Me, too'"...
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