Chapter Text
Ranma Saotome stood with his arms crossed, watching the sparring match carefully. His own usual sparring partners—or students, or sometimes training posts, all depending on who you asked—were currently taking a break and sitting down. He glanced back at them for a moment, sitting on the sanctuary of the Hikawa Shrine’s front step, guzzling copious amounts of water. All four were wearing the traditional white gi of a martial arts trainee. Two had a black belt tying theirs shut, while the other two had white belts.
His current chief student, Akane Tendo, was in the best state of the four, breathing only slightly heavily and managing to stay upright, sweeping her short bob of ink-blue hair from her face. Formerly, he had been engaged to marry the girl, but circumstances had changed on that front, and the pair had mutually agreed to break it off. Akane, however, had also agreed to maintain appearances of being engaged until Ranma was ready to finally tackle the multi-headed beast that was his extended love life. She had one of the black belts.
The next one in line was Minako Aino, a cute—even pretty—blonde girl with long, straight hair and eyes as blue as his own. Before she had ever met Ranma, the blonde had possessed a third dan black belt ranking in Savate, which would be an impressive metric by many standards… just not by Ranma’s. However, while Akane had improved by leaps and bounds over the last three weeks of training, Minako was closing the gap far more quickly than one might have expected. Minako’s speed was far above the Tendo heir’s now, though Akane still had the blonde beat on strength and stamina, and Akane also possessed a slight edge in skill. She was the other black belt.
After that was Makoto Kino, a stunningly tall and, in Ranma’s most private of opinions, gorgeous brunette with emerald-green eyes. Makoto had some skill in basic kempo styles, and had taken to her training with Akane with the courage and heart of her alter ego. Her strength training was serving her quite well, capitalizing on the fact that she was already incredibly strong, even for a girl of her size. She had also taken to wearing weights on her wrists and ankles to allow her to engage in passive workouts to help with her stamina and focus. She had a white belt—when she protested that she held green or red belts in other styles, Ranma reminded her that she was no longer a student of those particular disciplines.
Finally, Ranma’s own housemate here at the Hikawa Shrine was the fourth student seated, Rei Hino. With a slight karate background and extraordinary powers of her own, Rei was a not-so-surprising fit with Akane’s fighting style, and she brought with it the same fire and passion one would expect of the “Fire River’s” priestess. While her strength and stamina were nowhere near Makoto’s, she had the taller girl beat on speed and flexibility, and in Ranma’s opinion, the raven-haired beauty was almost ready to train in her ki usage—which would slam that gap closed and then reopen it massively in Rei’s favor. Like Makoto, she wore a white belt, but had not protested having it.
A polite cough at his side drew his attention forward, where another of his would-be betrothed was currently sparring with the last of his students to make it to today’s session—as two of them had begged off in favor of a date they had been waiting for for weeks. Ami Mizuno’s short crop of sky-blue hair was matted in sweat as she stood across from her opponent, the Chinese warrior woman from the Nyuchiezu village, Shampoo. Where Ami had a slender build that was only just starting to show tone, the lavender-haired Shampoo’s body curved in all the right places, her limbs rippling with lean, powerful muscle under her skin.
Shampoo’s speed, strength, and stamina completely eclipsed Ami in every way, and the blue-haired girl knew that as well as Ranma did. Ami’s strengths lay in operating from a distance and analyzing her opponents to strike at their weaknesses. Having said that, of the three styles available for the young genius to learn, she had most immediately adapted elements of the Nyuchiezu wu shu that Ranma had shown her, and so Cologne and Shampoo had all but claimed her as their own.
Cologne, the wizened matriarch at Ranma’s side and the only other person present who had any right to call herself a teacher of martial arts, had recently made a suggestion for Ami: a weapon that could be used at long or close ranges would better fit the girl’s ranged, analytical combat style. Ranma had agreed, which he knew was redundant as he had all but signed over Ami’s teaching to the old woman. Still, he hoped she valued his opinion, and he had even suggested a specific weapon both for Ami’s training and for her to eventually “graduate” too.
Which was why Ami, standing across from the lavender-haired beauty who was Ranma’s Nyuchiezu wife, was lightly twirling a kusari-fundo in preparation for her next move. The weights on each end of the long chain were real steel, something to which Ami had objected at first. Her objections had been shot down on three fronts, however—Shampoo had pointed out that she was so much more skilled than Ami that it would probably be months or years before she could wield the kusari-fundo with enough ability to actually hurt her.
Cologne had simply shrugged the objection off, saying that she would intervene if things got out of hand, and that Ami would be better off practicing with a real weapon than a weighted training weapon that would have different balances and weights. There had also been a suggestion there that she had a different weapon in mind once Ami had mastered the intricacies of her current one.
Finally, Ranma had shot down the objection by pointing out that Ami’s greatest strength was her intelligence and incredible battlefield awareness, meaning she would be able to minimize any possible problems with accidental injuries caused by her weapon.
Ami suddenly lashed out with her weighted chain, the steel weight crashing into the dirt at Shampoo’s feet as the Nyuchiezu warrior evaded. Her own weapons, brightly-colored maces called chui, were out and she struck at Ami, who flowed to the right and lashed up and back with the chain, sending the weight on the other end flying out. Shampoo’s chui came up to deflect the hit with a clang of steel impacting off of steel. Ami’s chain flashed and curved out, the steel wrapping itself around Shampoo’s neck suddenly, with Ami’s back pressing to Shampoo’s.
The Nyuchiezu warrior froze. Cologne’s dry chuckle sounded across the field and Ranma shook his head. “You underestimated her,” Ranma noted, and Ami relaxed the chain, stepping out from behind Shampoo. “You might be faster, but sparring you as often as she does, she’s got your style figured out.”
“Great granddaughter, do I have to put you in a remedial course about not underestimating your opponents?” Cologne asked with a chuckle, Shampoo’s expression turning rueful, even slightly pouty.
“It was a good spar,” Ami said, smiling. “In a real fight—”
“In a real fight, if she fought as she did, she would be dead,” Cologne said bluntly. “To hold back in a friendly spar is natural, even expected, especially against an opponent she outclasses as she does you. To underestimate you as she did is insulting.
“Great grandmother correct,” Shampoo said to Ami, bowing. “Shampoo insult Ami by acting like you weak. That why you win. You not weak, just not as strong or fast as Shampoo.”
Ami bowed in return. “As long as you learn the lesson, I refuse to take any insult,” she replied.
“Still, Ami’s getting pretty good with that kusari-fundo,” Ranma mused. “Hey, Minako, you should step up your chain game or Ami’s gonna be outdoing you.”
“Oh, come on,” Minako groaned. “I’m already working on my swordsmanship with you two, can’t we just leave my chain as it is?”
“No,” Ranma and Cologne replied simultaneously. Ranma glanced at Cologne, smirking. “Waterworks next weekend?” he asked.
Cologne’s grin was downright spooky. “That sounds like a wonderful idea,” she said, turning to Minako and chuckling darkly.
“Waterworks?” Minako asked. “What does waterworks mean? Akane, what does waterworks mean?!”
“You’re asking me like I should have some idea,” Akane muttered in reply.
“You should! You’ve known them longer than we have!” Minako pointed out.
“Yeah, but I’m just a student, too,” Akane replied. “You think I’m privy to the secret teacher conferences they hold to decide how best or next to torture us? Isn’t he your ‘bestie?’”
Minako whined in response.
Ranma chuckled evilly, and Cologne’s matching grin was not in the least bit pretty. After a moment, the pair straightened out their features. “Alright, that’s today’s session. Let’s break and head in to clean up, eat, and study. Any questions anyone has about today’s session, direct to me or the Old Ghoul.”
Cologne snorted. “Shampoo and I will be off, then,” she said. “Unless there are any questions before we go?”
Nobody had any questions, so Cologne and Shampoo took to the rooftops to return to Nerima City. The girls, meanwhile, filtered into the shrine where they began to play Rock, Paper, Scissors to figure out who would get first baths, as the shrine’s tub was only big enough for two people. Ranma, on the other hand, went to the kitchen, retrieving a glass of cold water to splash on his face.
Instantly, the lean but muscular young man with black hair collapsed down to a petite, buxom redhead, though her clothes, hairstyle, and eyes remained the same. She whistled a cheerful tune as she didn’t just walk, but also didn’t quite strut, achieving something like a saunter instead as she made her way around the kitchen, preparing various ingredients that had been purchased at her request.
Ranma’s skill, not just in the kitchen but also as a handyman and groundskeeper, cut down a significant portion of the shrine’s upkeep budget. This was more than enough to make up for how much the martial artist could eat, even with occasionally buying extras for what Rei’s grandfather had come to dub “training days.” While the old man had never directly interfered in the training days, Ranma could still sense his presence… watching.
She knew that if she could sense the old man, so could Cologne, and both had discussed it and had a pretty good idea what it was about, but as the priest had given his carte blanche for them to train the girls on the shrine grounds, they also agreed that they didn’t have a very reasonable grounds for objection.
Ranma shrugged the thought away as she consulted a recipe sheet that her mother had written out for her. It was impractical in the extreme for the older woman to visit her regularly, as it was nearly an hour by train and numerous buses to reach the Hikawa Shrine from the Tendo Dojo. Despite that, Nodoka Saotome was attempting to make up for two very rash decisions in her life—the suicide contract she had somehow expected Ranma and Genma to uphold, and clinging to that contract in the wake of Ranma’s discovery and acceptance of her femininity.
To that end, the Saotome mother had provided a few recipes to her daughter, which Ranma took pleasure in first creating as written, and then attempting to experiment with once she felt she had a good handle on them. It was a fascinating surprise to Ranma to find that while he sometimes enjoyed cooking, she loved it. It was a rare separation between her masculine and feminine halves and she embraced that separation, as it meant a balance being struck inside of herself rather than her mind trying to press everything together in some strange amalgamation.
Today’s culinary experiment involved what Nodoka had described at the top of the recipe as “Anything-Goes Korean BBQ Saotome-Style,” and male-Ranma had proven very eager to indulge female-Ranma’s experimental desires. To be fair, female-Ranma also wanted to indulge, but she at least got to taste the food as it was cooking, which only made it fair that male-Ranma would get to enjoy the final results.
“Maybe next time, he can do the cooking and I can train the girls,” Ranma mused out loud with a giggle at how insane such a statement would sound to anyone who didn’t know her. There’s that difference, too, she mused silently. He doesn’t giggle, but I’ve been catching myself at it a few times.
Ranma reflected for a moment on her dichotomy, reflexively flicking her wrist as she did. Nothing happened, and she nodded. The pen was still gone—left in Luna and Artemis’s care at Headquarters. The pair of moon cats—or Mau, as their proper name was—had taken Ranma’s transformation pen after Ranma had burned it out completely. The relic had been almost destroyed, the casing cracked and blackened.
It was by the power of that item that Ranma became the pretty guardian who fought for life and for light, Sailor Sol. That pen, sadly, no longer held any power, as Ranma had channeled Sailor Sol’s full power as well as her own life force through it. This meant Sailor Sol was on a very extended vacation, while her alter ego trained her fellow Sailor Guardians. Ranma reflected sadly on how she had not even attempted to transform upon seeing the state the pen had been in when it was returned to her.
The disappointment when it failed might have killed me all over again, she mused. She could still hardly believe that, either—that she had died in that same event that had broken her pen. But unlike the pen, she had been restored to life by Princess Serenity, aka Sailor Moon. Wasn’t even the first time, she thought with grim amusement, recalling to a past life thousands of years ago who had sacrificed herself then as well.
She was shaken out of her reflection by the phone ringing. No one called out an intent to answer after the first ring, so Ranma assumed Rei must have won the first bath. She quickly lowered the settings on the stove and made her way to the hallway where the phone sat. “I’ve got it!” she called out, almost melodically. She retrieved the handset from its cradle, holding it to her left ear. “Hello, Hikawa shrine, Ranma speaking,” she said.
“Hello, Ranma,” a woman’s voice, and one Ranma recognized, came from the receiver. “It’s Dr. Mizuno.”
Ranma smiled. She had only spoken to Ami’s mother on two very rare occasions, and the woman had immediately grasped the concept of Ranma being both a woman and a man in the same body. While Dr. Mizuno was almost never home, it was hard to be mad at a woman who was running around the country performing life-saving surgeries.
Especially when her patients tended to be children.
“What can I do for you, Doctor?” Ranma asked, switching the phone to her right ear.
“I know Ami’s at her martial arts lessons with you, and I’ve been called to a hospital in Yokohama—it’s an emergency, so…”
Ranma used the awkward trail off to immediately insert her response, “You caught me right in the middle of making dinner, Doctor, and of course Ami is welcome to stay for it. I’ll let her know that you got called.”
“Thank you so much, Ranma. I know I’m not exactly making the best impression here…”
Ranma shook her head. “You’re making sure your daughter will be alright while you go save someone’s life—probably a kid, I’m guessing, right?” she asked.
“Yes, a seven year old… She was stabbed…”
“I think this is maybe the third time we’ve talked and you’ve made a better impression on me than my old man,” Ranma concluded.
“Not that I don’t appreciate the sentiment, but if you really want to help me clear a bar, maybe you should pick something that’s not… buried?”
Ranma gave a light, silvery laugh at that. “Fair enough. I’ll let you go, Doctor. Good luck.”
“Thank you, Ranma. Sayonara.”
“Sayonara,” Ranma replied, hanging up. On the one hand, Ami gets to stay here for dinner, and her mom’s going off to save a little girl, she mused. On the other hand, nobody waiting for her at home… again. She walked over to the door to the combination sitting/dining area, peeking in. Makoto and Minako were collapsed over the table, while Akane was sitting and leaning against a wall.
“Hey, girls,” Ranma said. “Ami and Rei won, huh?”
“I swear Rei’s cheating with her psychic powers,” Makoto grumbled.
“And Ami?”
“Pattern and behavioral analysis,” Akane concluded.
“Uh-huh,” Ranma smirked.
“What was the phone call about?” Minako asked.
“Ami’s mom has to head to Yokohama,” Ranma explained. “So I’m gonna invite her to stay for dinner, which I think she was plannin’ to do anyhow.”
“Oh,” Minako replied sadly.
Ranma nodded. “Anyway, still working on dinner. If you guys could send her my way when she’s out of the bath, that’d be great,” she said, heading back to the kitchen.
Raising the heat levels on the items that were cooking again, Ranma got back to work. Some twenty or thirty minutes later, Ami entered the kitchen, saying Minako had sent her that way.
“Your mom called while you were in the bath,” Ranma explained. “There’s a seven year old girl who got stabbed in Yokohama, so…”
Ami nodded. Her somewhat-resigned expression showed how used to this sort of thing she was. “Mom will save her,” she said calmly.
“In the meantime, though, you’re invited to dinner here at the shrine,” Ranma said. “It’s Anything-Goes Korean BBQ Saotome Style tonight, and more than just letting you avoid an empty house, I’d like it if you stayed to try it out.”
Ami’s expression changed from resolved acceptance to a genuinely bright smile, and Ranma felt a slight pink blush rise to her face. The redhead quickly turned away to focus on her cooking. While there were some things that she had agreed with her past life on, such as the demands of honor and integrity, as well as a duty to protect the weak, Ranma would have been just as happy to leave certain other entanglements of Aranise Dehlana behind.
Such as, for instance, the absolutely massive torch her past life had apparently carried for Guardian Mercury. From what memories of Aranise’s Ranma could actively recall, nothing had come of it, but apparently for her brief stint as a voice in Ranma’s head, Aranise had found some superficial similarities between Guardian Mercury and Akane, and had been upset that Akane was not the feminine sweetheart that Guardian Mercury had been. When Ranma had privately confessed this little tidbit to Akane, the tomboy in question had apparently still been laughing about it hours later.
It isn’t that Ami isn’t cute, Ranma mused to herself. Because she is. But I have enough problems in that regard without takin’ up all the torches you left me, Aranise. Not that Aranise was in Ranma’s head, though she had been at one point. Ranma’s deathly experience had finally sent Aranise on to what Ranma assumed was her final reward.
She pushed down the lingering attraction, glancing back over at Ami, who had noticed her lapse but, as usual, seemed to not know the reason behind it.
“Is everything alright, Ranma?” Ami asked.
“It’s fine, Ami,” the redhead replied with a somewhat forced smile. “Why don’t you go wait with the others while I finish putting this together?”
Ami nodded and left the kitchen, and Ranma let out a quiet sigh she’d been holding back, before going back to dinner prep.
Besides, she mused. I definitely do not need Akane either mocking me or losing her mind about her “replacement” being her but a girly genius.
Rei looked up at the sliding door opening, seeing Ami returning from the kitchen. Minako and Makoto had gone ahead to bathe next, leaving only Akane to take her turn before an early dinner. The blue-haired genius had been called to the kitchen right out of the bath by Ranma, and Rei gave Ami a curious look as the girl sat down at the table—a larger kotetsu having been purchased to accommodate the increasing number of guests present.
Ami simply smiled at Rei. “My mom called while I was in the bath,” she explained. “Apparently, she’s been called to Yokohama to help a little girl. Mom was just calling to make sure I’d be alright here.”
Rei and Akane both nodded in comprehension. “So, it wasn’t a love confession,” Rei mused out loud.
Ami’s face immediately turned bright pink. “Wh-What?” she squeaked out.
“Pay up,” Akane said smugly to Rei.
“Rain check?” Rei pleaded, holding up a hand to her face as if begging Akane. “I’m still a couple days out from my allowance.”
“W-Wait, you two made a bet on this?” Ami stammered.
“Rei bet me 500 yen that Ranma was finally going to admit to liking you,” Akane said.
“And you bet that Ranma doesn’t like me?” Ami protested.
“No, I know Ranma likes you,” Akane corrected Ami. “I bet against her confessing to you. There’s a difference, and it’s not your fault. Ranma just has a ridiculous number of hangups about the whole idea of love or a relationship.”
“Starting with the fact that the ultra-cuddly and curvy Chinese lady who’s been your sparring partner since the Tree of Life incident already considers Ranma to be married to her,” Rei noted. “Not to mention his engagement to that other girl, Ukyo?”
“At least the Tendos are almost certainly out of the running,” Akane admitted. “I can’t give Ranma what she deserves and there’s no way she’ll do that to Nabiki or Kasumi. Maybe we can convince our parents to move the family honor promise to the next generation.”
“Actually, speaking of Shampoo, I asked Sifu Cologne if I could borrow a volume of Nyuchiezu law, at least one that would be available to outsiders,” Ami said. “Would you believe her culture allows the practice of polyamory?”
Akane blinked, staring slightly at Ami, as did Rei. “Ami, are you considering the possibility of both?” the shrine priestess finally asked.
Ami turned red now instead of pink, shrinking in slightly on herself. “W-Well, just being practical,” she admitted. “I know I’m attracted to both men and women, and if Shampoo were ok with it, then proposing a household of three might win over her support and prevent a lot of needless fighting. It isn’t as though I find her unattractive either.”
“Well, of course you don’t,” Akane deadpanned. “Even I find her attractive and I think I’m the only girl at this shrine who remotely qualifies as straight.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rei asked archly.
“Don’t even try, Rei,” Akane shot back. “I’ve caught you checking out my legs, Mako’s chest, and Ranma’s everything.”
Rei turned bright red as she sat back. “In my defense, Ranma really has an everything,” she muttered.
“Nobody here is going to judge you,” Ami reassured her friend. “Not even Akane.”
“Promise?” Rei asked, though of Akane, not Ami.
Akane simply shrugged. “It’s… a learning period,” Akane admitted. “The fact that it’s not for me doesn’t give me the right to judge someone else for doing what’s right for them. I just… need to adjust. Kind of like how Mrs. Saotome is still adjusting to having a daughter in addition to having a son.” She took another sip of water. “And, yes, that adjustment period includes not just the idea of girls dating my best friend’s female identity, but also if you all decide to date each other, too. Or add other girls into the mix.”
“Oh, good, I’m glad to know we at least won’t be ostracizing our one normal friend if we do something like give Ranma a harem or something,” Rei grumbled sarcastically. “And who says I actually want to be involved in that?”
“First of all, she kind of already has one,” Akane pointed out mildly. “Besides, I think getting girls’ attention is just something that she… he… does. It’s not intentional. And, at the very least so far, you girls are mostly just in the ‘mutual attraction’ phase of it. You haven’t gone to the ‘turning homicidal against each other’ phase yet. Second, you haven’t said that you don’t.”
“Which is good, because I think Mako also wants to throw her hat into this ring,” Ami pointed out. “She’s almost giddy about the idea of a boy who doesn’t think she’s too tall. The fact that Ranma absolutely wolfs down her cooking is a bonus.”
“If Mako joins in on this debacle, she might smother a certain redhead just giving her a hug,” Rei quipped in a snarky tone.
“What a way to go,” Akane remarked dryly. “What about Minako?” she asked. “I’ve seen the looks you two and Mako give Ranma, but either Minako is just better at hiding it than everyone else or she’s not doing it at all.”
“I don’t think Minako has any romantic interest in Ranma at all,” Ami said. “Which isn’t to say that she doesn’t find him and her attractive, but I think she’s too preoccupied with thinking of Ranma as her best friend to even consider him in a different light.”
“Got it, so I should approach her when conspiring to ensure you girls have a happy little harem going with Ranma, and to ensure you all get coordinating outfits,” Akane noted, causing the other girls present to turn pink.
“A-Akane!” Rei protested.
“What? I bet she’d love to help,” Akane teased. “Not just helping make sure Ranma’s up to the task but also ensuring the lot of you have had any last, lingering doubts eliminated.”
Rei groaned, leaning face-down into the kotetsu’s tabletop. “I don’t know what’s worse,” she said after a moment, her voice slightly muffled. “The fact that you’re apparently fine with Ranma accumulating what amounts to a harem despite also admitting to having been his most jealous girl, the fact that Ranma himself has only weighed in on this with ‘not really looking,’ or the fact that I’m actually considering going along with this still.”
Akane simply patted Rei’s back gently. “The actual cessation of my engagement with Ranma and ultimately getting over that same engagement has done some real wonders about my getting jealous over him,” she admitted. “I think Ranma and I make better friends anyway.”
The sliding door leading further into the shrine’s main building slid open, revealing Makoto in cut-off shorts and a tight T-shirt, and as Rei sat up to see, she found herself giving an involuntary look over the brunette. Makoto’s arms were raised as she put her hair back into her traditional ponytail, having just gotten out of the bath, and this drew particular emphasis to her chest as her back arched slightly.
Rei turned red, dropping her face back to the table with a slight thud.
“Hey, Akane, Minako’s still in the bath, but I’m done,” Makoto said. “Minako said you’re welcome to join her if you don’t want to wait, she’s gonna soak a bit longer.”
“Alright, I think I will,” Akane said, and Rei heard her getting up and shuffling past the taller girl.
“Rei? You alright?” Makoto asked.
“I’m fine, Mako,” Rei mumbled into the tabletop. “Just fine.”
“Alright, I’m going to go see if Ranma wants any help with dinner,” Makoto said. Rei’s head came up, eyes once again taking an involuntary tour of the tall brunette’s legs and backside in the denim of her shorts.
As the door shut behind Makoto, Ami commented in a quiet tone, “You know, discussing it out loud like that, maybe sharing Ranma with Mako wouldn’t be so bad.”
Rei’s head hit the table again.
Akane tapped her knuckles lightly at the door from the hallway to the changing room. Receiving no answer, she opened it and stepped in, leaving the “occupied” sign where it was hanging on the exterior handle. Shutting the door behind her, she began peeling her clothes off, giving a tap at the door to the bath proper. “Minako?” she called.
“Hey, Akane,” Minako called from the bath. “I’m still gonna be soaking for a few but you’re welcome in.”
Akane smiled. “Mako let me know,” she said, retrieving her bathing things from the nearby shelf as she finished disrobing, stepping into the bathing area proper now. “A little achey this afternoon?”
“Bestie-sensei was a little harsher on me without Usagi here to split his attention,” Minako grumbled, but winked. “I’ll live though.”
“Good, I wanted to talk with you about a couple things,” Akane said, sitting down to begin washing. She quickly splashed a wash-bucket of cold water over her head, shivering. “Remember how we’re both pretty sure Ranma likes Ami and vice versa?”
“Yeah, that was kind of as clear as night,” Minako replied dryly.
Akane paused, turning to stare at Minako for a moment, then shrugged, going back to her washing. She began lathering shampoo into her hair. “Well, Ami has more or less admitted to being attracted to Ranma’s female form,” she said. “And to Shampoo. And I think she’s open to the idea of sharing.”
“With Shampoo?” Minako asked.
“And the other two,” Akane replied. She paused to rinse the shampoo from her hair as Minako gave a low whistle. “Mhm. And if I’m reading Rei right, it’s mutual there, too.”
“Dang, go get it, bestie,” Minako giggled. “That just leaves Mako, right?”
“It’s a little less obvious there,” Akane admitted. “Mostly because she was in here with you during the talk, so I didn’t get a chance to probe her about it. But with the way she was putting her hair back up and what she’s wearing, there’s no way she could have missed Rei and Ami checking her out as I was leaving.”
“Which they normally wouldn’t do, but with the ideas being planted in their head courtesy of Ami accidentally bringing it up…”
“Exactly,” Akane said, now scrubbing her body down. “And Mako isn’t exactly subtle about how attractive she finds Ranma.”
“Man, bestie’s getting a harem and here I am all single,” Minako moaned.
“Being single isn’t so bad,” Akane replied. “Considering some of the alternatives out there.”
“Sure, but you have Ranma as your mustache,” Minako replied.
“My what?” Akane asked.
“Your pretend boyfriend to keep others off of you,” Minako pointed out.
“I think you mean beard,” Akane muttered. “And I’m also pretty sure that means something else completely. Anyway, if you’re worried about being single, you could always join in.”
“Nah,” Minako replied. “I mean, I guess maybe I wouldn’t mind a fling or something?” she added. “But I don’t really feel that way about Ranma. I definitely love him, sure, but he’s my bestie. I don’t feel a romantic spark there.”
“And you’re not going to even try?” Akane asked, amused, as she began to rinse off.
“I would know if it were right!” Minako asserted. “I am, after all, the Guardian of Love!”
Akane chuckled, standing up to join the blonde in the tub. “Well, Mako probably went to help Ranma in the kitchen,” she said. “I wonder how that’s going.”
It had started in a very “Ranma” way, of course.
The door to the kitchen had slid open right as Ranma had been walking past. If the redhead didn’t know any better, she might have assumed it was on purpose, but it couldn’t have been purposefully timed that way.
Could it?
Makoto had then stepped through, just as Ranma’s head turned at the sudden sound, wearing hip-hugging cutoff jean shorts and a thin white T-shirt. With a single step, the taller brunette had crossed the threshold and entered Ranma’s personal space. Caught by surprise as her foot found solid ground right as she bumped into the petite redhead, Makoto’s arms came up to catch Ranma before she could fall. Given the immense height disparity and how Makoto’s hands came up perfectly to Ranma’s back, just between her shoulder blades, this resulted in Ranma’s face landing perfectly between Makoto’s breasts, almost completely engulfed by warmth and softness, while making it eminently obvious to the redhead both that Makoto had not donned a bra after her bath and that she was very “gifted” for a girl two years her junior.
Ranma desperately attempted to ignore both of these facts that were as lodged into her brain as her face was into Makoto’s cleavage.
“Oh! Ranma! I’m so… so sorry!” the brunette said, but didn’t release the redhead just yet. “But, hey, if you wanted to be there… you really only had to ask,” she added teasingly, before letting Ranma go.
Ignoring that her face was very nearly as red as her hair, Ranma stepped back to get her bearings, staring up into the tall brunette’s grinning face. “Says the girl who walked into me,” she shot back a little petulantly, turning to go back to her cooking.
Makoto’s grin widened. Ranma could feel it, even after turning away. “You weren’t exactly trying to get away, though,” she continued to tease, following closely behind Ranma. “Maybe we can go back to that after dinner, hm?”
Ranma fought unsuccessfully to keep the blush on her face from growing, as she now very nearly resembled a tomato.
Makoto’s laughter finally broke her out of the blushing loop she was stuck in, allowing the blood to drain from her face. “Sorry, after that, I couldn’t help myself. I came here to help with the cooking,” she said.
“Ri-Right. Cooking,” Ranma said, trying to force her eyes away from Makoto’s chest as the brunette retrieved an apron. “Besides, not like you’d want to do that, um, sorta thing with another girl, right?”
Makoto didn’t respond immediately, and as Ranma moved over to the sink to clean up some of the dishes she had dirtied during the meal preparation, she suddenly felt the now-familiar weight of Makoto’s chest pressing at, this time, the back of her head, and the taller girl’s arms went around Ranma’s waist, holding her in place. “One,” Makoto breathed into Ranma’s ear. “Maybe I would.” Her arms gave a tiny squeeze, and warmth spread through Ranma’s body at the sensation. “Two, even if I wouldn’t, there’s plenty of hot water right over here.”
“P-Point taken,” Ranma replied, eyes wide.
“You mean points,” Makoto corrected, then released Ranma while laughing. “You’re so easy to tease!” she said, stepping back from the redhead.
Ranma grumbled as she finished washing the dishes.
“Like I’d do that when you clearly like Ami,” Makoto said, causing the redhead to twitch. “You know, unless you two didn’t mind sharing.”
“I’m tryin’ to be nice here, Mako,” Ranma grumbled. “You really want me to give back as good as I get from ya?”
“Gimme your best shot, Ranma.”
Ranma raised an eyebrow, turning from the sink to face Makoto. “You think you’re woman enough to take all of this?” she asked, motioning a hand over her body. To her slight surprise, the brunette’s eyes did follow her hand, roaming over Ranma’s curves. However, Makoto smirked, crossing her arms over her chest, and Ranma tried very hard to not notice the results of that.
“Oh, I’m definitely woman enough to handle a shortstack like you, Ranma,” Makoto replied. “You’re gonna have to try harder than mocking my height when you’ve already told me you don’t care about it. Especially since it means I know I’m woman enough to take on both of you.”
Ranma blinked, her jaw coming briefly loose as she gave a rather eloquent “Uhh…”
Makoto’s lips turned up, flashing the beginnings of a mischievous grin, before her composure broke and she began laughing again. Ranma flushed red, realizing in all honesty that she was the one who had disarmed that particular bomb. “You done having a laugh at my expense and wanna actually help out?” she grumbled.
“Sure, sure, what can I do?” Makoto asked after taking a breath. There was a sparkle in her eyes that, nonetheless, made Ranma slightly nervous.
“Well, the pork belly should just be about done, so…”
Minako raised an eyebrow at Akane. Akane raised an eyebrow back at her in turn. The pair of self-declared “besties” of Ranma’s sat at one part of the table, and looked back across it at the others present. Now that everyone had had their baths after training, all that was left was for dinner to be served. Ranma had insisted on keeping exactly what was for dinner a secret, only saying that it was a recipe given to her by her mother.
Ami fidgeted. In Minako’s opinion, it was a bit impatiently, and also a little unusual for the blue-haired girl. Minako supposed it had something to do with whatever she, Rei, and Akane had discussed earlier.
Rei fidgeted as well, which was entirely in character for the shrine priestess. Rei could sometimes affect an image of grace and poise, but she could rarely hide her true feelings for very long.
Makoto was not present, as she was the only one permitted in the kitchen with Ranma, owing to being the most experienced cook of the Sailor Guardians. Minako wondered what was happening in that regard, as the brunette was sometimes aggressive in her romantic pursuits, and Minako had heard the familiar sound of Makoto’s laughter and Ranma’s voice responding in indignant tones, albeit briefly.
Rei’s grandfather was absent, as was common. While the old priest’s proclivity for observing pretty girls was well known, he was also polite to Rei’s friends. Minako knew Ranma would make sure Grandpa received a fair share of the food, whatever it was.
“Think they’re just hungry?” Akane whispered to Minako with an amused tone.
“Hungry for a certain gender-bending martial artist, maybe,” Minako whispered back.
The door slid open and scents immediately washed over the room. Any conversation that might have resulted was stalled by four stomachs growling in simultaneous hunger for the delicious culinary smells awakening them. Makoto entered first, bearing a massive tray in both hands that had two rice cookers, platters of vegetables, and a huge platter of what looked like grilled pork belly to Minako’s hungry eyes.
As the brunette set the tray down, Ranma came in behind her and Minako boggled at the sight. Her bestie was carrying what looked like a portable grill, which was still sizzling… on her shoulder. In her hands were two huge platters of stir-fried vegetables and rice with chunks of meat mixed in. Balanced atop the redhead’s head was a tray with six bowls evenly spaced atop it.
Ranma showed no difficulty in carrying any of it, and gracefully moved. As Minako stared, the grill was set in the center of the table, revealing still-sizzling lengths of beef tongue. The six bowls—revealed to actually be twelve bowls, with a small bowl of fried noodles set inside the larger, empty bowl which Minako assumed would be loaded with rice from the rice cookers shortly. All were expertly dispensed at the expected sitting positions around the table.
Akane simply smiled smugly at Minako’s surprised expression. “She used to waitress at the Cat Cafe,” Akane explained. “She had to balance much larger orders than that.”
“Shrimp lo mein and pork fried rice for table seven, beef ramen deluxe and kung pao chicken dinner combination platter for table eight, four chicken ramen specials for table nine, get moving, son-in-law!” Ranma parroted with a sardonic smirk. She removed and discarded the apron as Makoto took her own seat. She opened one of the rice cookers, allowing a puff of steam to escape the perfectly-cooked white rice inside. “And don’t forget to get table six’s check!” she added, swiftly dispensing bowls of the steamed grains around the table.
After setting her own bowl down, she pulled out a thermos, splashing herself with warm water and turning male once again. “Alright, let’s dig in!” he said. “Anything-Goes Korean Barbecue Saotome Style!”
Minako knew that Ranma was still practicing the dishes imparted to him by Mrs. Saotome, although the intent was for a mother to daughter hand down. But in the blonde’s opinion, Ranma was definitely a deft hand in the kitchen. There was no room for conversation as five very hungry and worked-over girls retrieved servings of pork belly that had a spicy, almost sweet sauce, wolfing down heaps of rice and fried noodles, and consumed generally everything else.
However, it was only Ranma who could manage to eat the massive servings the Saotome heir was truly known for, so while the girls ate hungrily, there was still some left over on the table when the door leading outside was opened. To Minako’s surprise, it was Usagi standing in the doorway, accompanied by Mamoru and a young girl that Minako didn’t recognize… Though the cotton candy-pink hair done up in a style not dissimilar to Usagi’s own twin dumplings and ponytails was cute, Minako had to admit.
“Guys! Guys!” Usagi said, running in and flailing her arms wildly. “Big problems! Big problems!” she insisted. She then paused, looking at the remains of the food on the table. She let out an undignified squawk, pointing at the servings left. “You made Korean BBQ on the day Mamo and I had a date?!”
“You’re the one who insisted on the date instead of training,” Ranma pointed out. “But what’s the big problems you’re talking about?”
Mamoru stepped up, his arm around the pink-haired girl’s shoulder and guiding her into the shrine. “This is going to sound a little unbelievable,” he cautioned. “Maybe even for you, Ranma.”
“Wait, wait. Hang on,” Ranma said, holding a hand up, and turned to Akane. “Time travel.”
“Alternate reality,” Akane replied.
“Wait, what?” Ami asked.
“We’re betting on what the big reveal is,” Ranma explained. “And I’m betting it’s time travel.”
“And I’m betting alternate reality,” Akane added.
Mamoru stared for a moment, and Minako could hardly blame him. She was a little concerned at how casually her two best friends were taking the situation. “Right… This… is Chibi-Usa,” he finally said after a moment. “And she’s… from the future.”
“Knew it!” Ranma crowed.
“Or, rather, a possible future,” Mamoru said.
“Ha!” Akane crowed back.
“Ok, you’re both right,” Makoto said, somewhat annoyed if the twitch in her eyebrow were any indication. “Mamoru, how do you know she’s from the future?”
“She told us after landing on my head,” Usagi said around a mouthful of pork belly she had snatched off the table. “She appeared in the air about twenty feet up and then fell right onto my head. Nearly knocked me right out.”
“I find that hard to believe, given that, as one of your sparring partners, I have personal experience with how hard your head is,” Rei replied shortly, eyeballing the princess scarfing down the remaining food. As if an old pain haunted her, she rubbed at her right hand.
“So if she’s from the future, or a future anyway, what’re you doing here, squirt?” Ranma asked, focusing his attention on Chibi-Usa.
“She asked to see you, Ranma,” Mamoru replied, and Chibi-Usa looked down at the ground. “She asked for you by name, in fact.”
“Why me?” Ranma asked, blinking.
“Because you’re my teacher,” Chibi-Usa replied.
“Let’s start at the beginning,” Mamoru interrupted.
Usagi was standing on the lakeside dock, waiting with a smile as Mamoru finished tying off the boat they had just taken out onto the lake. They were missing a full training day, which also meant missing whatever lunch and dinner Ranma was going to cook after the training session had finished, but they had been looking forward to this date for a while. The blonde was wearing a short black dress with a pink shirt underneath it, and white leggings that she felt were sure to catch Mamoru’s eyes.
Mamoru finally finished the last knot, standing up straight and walking toward her with a smile of his own. He was wearing his habitual black shirt, green jacket, and blue jeans. Feeling a warmth rushing to her cheeks, Usagi tilted her head back ever so slightly and meaningfully, pursing her lips just enough to make it obvious that she wanted a kiss from the man she loved. As he approached to do exactly that, she began to close her eyes…
And then the sky tore itself open overhead. A giant black ball, which Usagi would later note bore an uncanny resemblance to her cat, Luna, fell from the sky, striking Usagi directly atop her head and doubling her over, right before the impact of something else also struck her. Forcing her spine to straighten out, Usagi felt the weight shift atop her head, and saw a baffled look on Mamoru’s face.
“Usako, there’s… a child on your head,” Mamoru said in a voice that suggested disbelief in what he was saying.
“There’s… what?” Usagi asked, reaching up. With Mamoru’s help, she extricated the weight, which indeed turned out to be a child. The girl’s pink hair was done in a familiar style not unlike Usagi’s own, and her red eyes blinked in befuddlement before growing wide, the girl scrambling to get loose.
“Let me go! Let me go!” the girl cried out.
“Whoa, easy, calm down, kiddo, we’ll set you down,” Mamoru said. The girl relaxed as Mamoru and Usagi lowered her to her feet. She looked back and forth between them. “What’s your name?” Mamoru prompted her. “Do you know where your parents are?”
Red eyes blinked up at him, and for a moment, Usagi swore she saw the pain of rejection in the girl’s gaze before it firmed up into an eerily familiar expression of determination. “I’m Usagi Tsukino,” the pink-haired girl finally said, before bowing deeply. “Sorry about this.”
The blonde Usagi felt a chill run down her spine. That was a familiar introduction.
“Usako?” Mamoru asked her, clearly noticing the reaction.
Usagi turned to Mamoru. “That’s how Ranma introduced himself to us the first time,” she said.
“You know Ranma Saotome?!” the smaller Usagi asked. “I need to see him right away!”
“Wait, how do you know Ranma Saotome?” the older Usagi countered.
“He’s my martial arts teacher! He’ll be able to fix this, I know it! The only one who’s even better at fixing everything is…” The pink-haired girl stopped, sniffling. “Mommy…”
Usagi’s heart went out to the younger girl, and she put her arm around the other Usagi. The blonde lifted her eyes up to meet her boyfriend’s, and he nodded, earning a smile. “Guess our date’s gonna get cut short, Mamo,” she said. “Sorry.”
“It’s alright, Usako,” Mamoru replied with a gentle smile of his own. “Let’s go to the Hikawa Shrine.”
“And we’ll bring ‘Chibi-Usa’ here along with us,” Usagi replied.
“Chibi-Usa?” the pink-haired girl asked.
“Because you’re a little rabbit,” Usagi explained with a grin as she began to walk.
“Little rabbit,” Chibi-Usa repeated, then smiled. “I like it!”
“In exchange for the cute nickname,” Mamoru began. “Maybe you can let us know a little bit about what’s going on? We’re Ranma’s friends, and he’s our martial arts teacher, too. We might be able to help.”
“I… I’ve sworn a solemn oath on my honor as a martial artist,” Chibi-Usa replied. “I have to be careful with what I talk about because if I say the wrong thing, I…”
“Someone might get hurt?” Mamoru guessed. Chibi-Usa nodded solemnly.
“What I can tell you is… I come from the future,” Chibi-Usa explained. “And my home is under attack from a group called the Black Moon Clan, and they have time warping powers.”
“Does that mean you were sent back to warn us?” Mamoru asked. “But who would put a child in that kind of danger?”
Chibi-Usa shook her head. “Not a warning, I was told to find my sensei,” Chibi-Usa said. “Because he’d be able to help make everything right.”
Ranma raised a skeptical eyebrow. Not that he doubted time travel would be possible or that a time traveling waif who happened to share a name with one of his other students and friends, would claim to be his student and seek him out for help. No, that made entirely too much sense, unfortunately.
No, what Ranma was doubting was the coincidence and what, exactly, he could do to help against someone with supposed time-warping powers. Once again, his eyes jumped between Usagi the Younger’s hairstyle and Usagi the Elder’s. Even his sense of their auras was remarkably similar.
“Please say you’ll help,” Chibi-Usa said with a tearful look in her eyes.
Oh, damn my weakness to feminine crying, Ranma grumbled to himself. Even as a girl himself, he was still susceptible to it. “What’s the first duty of a martial artist, kiddo?” he asked.
“H-Huh?” Chibi-Usa replied eloquently.
“First duty of a martial artist,” Ranma repeated. “What is it?”
“Um… To protect those people who can’t protect themselves,” Chibi-Usa quoted.
Ranma nodded. “The path of a martial artist is…” he began, motioning for her to finish the statement.
“...fraught with peril.” Which she did without hesitation. She brought her eyebrows together, now clearly realizing she was being tested. “A bowl of rice, a fish, and two pickles,” she said.
While Akane jerked back in shock, Ranma just smiled. “Alright, fair enough, but if I taught you, then—”
“I know the password,” Chibi-Usa interrupted him. “I just need the challenge so I can give it!”
Ranma took a breath, considering the various code phrases he and his father had created to convey a secret message. There was only one he could think of that he would pass on to a student for reaching out to him for assistance in a different time.
“You seem a decent fellow,” he said to Chibi-Usa. “I hate to kill you.”
Chibi-Usa’s face lit up in a broad smile as she replied, “You seem a decent fellow. I hate to die.”
Ranma let out the breath he took in. “Alright, that clinches it for me,” he said. “Either I or someone I know taught her that one. Alright, kiddo. I’ll help you out.”
Chibi-Usa threw herself at Ranma, grabbing his chest in a hug that was surprisingly powerful for her small frame, and Ranma patted her gently on the back. “Thank you, sensei, thank you,” the girl said between quiet, happy sobs. “I know you can make this right somehow. Mommy and Daddy told me you could, that you can do anything.”
“Well, I dunno about anything,” Ranma said with a slight chuckle. “But I’ll do whatever I can to help you out, kiddo. But for me to be able to help, my friends and I need to know everything you can tell me about the Black Moon Clan.”
Chibi-Usa sat down at the table while Makoto stepped out. Ranma knew she’d be headed for the kitchen to make a fresh pot of tea.
Somehow, Ranma was sure they would need it.
Elsewhere…
A rift tore itself open, rending a massive gateway in the space-time continuum. Through this gate, an equally-enormous vessel drifted. The ship had an elongated shape and appeared to have a crystalline structure to the hull, with a central core of red crystal set into silver crystalline housings that were, themselves, attached to a single long, triangular nose as well as a pair of smaller triangular pylons attached on the opposite side of the nose.
Within that red crystalline core, a council of war was being held.
The commander of the vessel crossed his arms over his muscular chest, which was covered only by a sleeveless vest that left his physique open to any admirers. His flaming red hair was reminiscent of a certain martial artist on Earth, but unlike that well-known redhead, his eyes were also a dark ruby color, and plainly visible on his forehead was a black crescent moon, with the points oriented downward. The man’s name, befitting his hair and eye color, was Rubeus.
He stood on one side of a massive silver table, and on the opposite side of that table stood four young women who were known as the four Spectre Sisters. Their hair colors were widely varied, and in his opinion, all four were quite beautiful in their own ways, but like him, they all sported the same downward-pointing black crescent moons on their foreheads. At any other time, he could think of a million things he would much rather be doing than holding a council of war, but these were not times that allowed for such distractions.
This was evident by the image of the hooded figure projected over the silver table. All Rubeus could tell of the figure was that the person being projected was a woman. From what he could tell of her facial features, she was likely quite a beauty, and he and the Spectre Sisters were offered a tantalizing peek under the hooded cloak at an attractive woman’s body by her insistence on wielding a staff nearly as tall as she was.
Rubeus spoke first, eager to take the initiative in the conversation. “We have arrived downtime,” he informed the cloaked woman. “We’ve compared the star charts on file with the current configuration of all currently visible stars. From what we can tell, we have arrived before the return of Sailor Sol, and just after the arrival of the Rabbit.”
“Do you understand your objectives?” the woman asked, her voice distorted beyond recognition but clear and discernible to Rubeus and the sisters.
“Our objectives are twofold,” one of the sisters, Koan, said as she stepped forward. The youngest of the four, her outfit was a very form-fitting pink bodysuit that hugged her ample curves nicely, in Rubeus’s opinion, with a “skirt” of dark purple around her hips, and her dark purple hair that reached her hips framed her pretty face quite nicely with a pair of upward-pointed buns. “First, we must pursue the Rabbit.”
“We’ll use Droids for reconnaissance and, if possible, capture,” a second of the sisters said. This was the white-haired Berthier, the third eldest of the quartet, who kept her long hair in a braided ponytail that nearly reached her waist. Her curvaceous body was clad in what resembled a light blue one-piece swimsuit with a very plunging neckline that Rubeus appreciated, along with elbow-length blue gloves and thigh-high blue boots.
“And second, we must gather loyal minions who will service the Black Moon Clan,” the second-eldest of the sisters said. This was Calaveras, whose light brown hair was kept in a bun with a yellow ribbon, and her outfit was, perhaps, the most daring of the four. A golden tube top strained to contain her voluptuous chest, and to call the red swatch of cloth around her hips a “skirt” would be vastly overstating its coverage.
Finally, the eldest of the four, Petz, stepped forward. Her dark green dress complemented her figure well, with emphasis drawn to her chest by the decorative gold-trimmed bodice, and her long legs were covered by black leggings. Unlike her younger sisters, she kept her hair, the same color as her dress, short. “As with our pursuit of the Rabbit, this will be best accomplished with drones, though we will also work to compromise certain people directly,” she said.
“And do you understand the risks?” the projection of the hooded woman asked. “You will be putting your very lives on the line. The Sailor Guardians are not to be underestimated, even lacking the power of Sol.”
“We understand the risks,” Rubeus replied shortly. “Especially as we are the ones taking them. Unlike you.”
“My involvement cannot become known at this juncture,” the projection replied.
“Regardless, it is a worthy cause and I will gladly lay down my life for it,” Petz pledged. “But I do not fear death, as I’m sure we will succeed.”
“Even in death, you may still find success,” the projected woman agreed. “But a living failure may make attempts a second time. Do not be so quick to seek it out.”
“Understood,” Calaveras replied, then bowed to Rubeus—offering him a more than generous glance at the depths of her cleavage. “Then, by your leave, Lord Rubeus, I will begin subversion operations.”
Petz and Berthier also bowed. “And we will begin seeding Droids for our purposes,” Petz said.
“And you?” Rubeus asked Koan.
“Given the sensitivity of our operations, it has been agreed that I would be on observation duty,” Koan said. “Therefore, I will remain aboard the Bucephalus to coordinate our efforts. If the Rabbit is located, or a threat to our operations detected, I can transport myself, my sisters, and combat Droids to the target zone.”
Rubeus nodded imperiously. “And I will monitor our stability in the timestream and stand by to support our efforts,” he declared. “The Bucephalus is not completely stable in the past yet and has not restored full operational capabilities.”
“Very well,” the projection stated. “I cannot directly interfere with events in the past. The most that I can do is send reinforcements if they are required, and that will take significant time. For all intents and purposes, you stand on your own.”
“Then our successes will be our own,” Rubeus said. “As will our failures.”
In the end, Chibi-Usa had been unable to provide much concrete info about the Black Moon Clan, only that they had attacked her home in the future period she originated from. Apparently, however, the Sailor Guardians had stymied a majority of their efforts, and while the initial attack had done some damage, there was almost no life lost.
As a result, the Black Moon had decided to use the power of something known as the Malefic Black Crystal, and had announced their plans to the world to undo the reality of their lives by altering the past.
“So they’ve come back in time to destroy the past and grow stronger to destroy the future!” Chibi-Usa said. “Please tell me you’ll help stop them, sensei!”
“Hell, of course I will,” Ranma said, his expression serious. “And I’ve got friends who’ll help me out. My other student here, Akane, plus I’m friends with the Sailor Guardians, and I have a couple other allies I can reach out to.”
“The Sailor Guardians? Really?” Chibi-Usa asked in a breathless voice.
“Yep. Count on me, kiddo,” Ranma said with a cocky grin and thumbs up. “We’ll send the Black Moon Clan packin’ outta this time, then we can take a weekend to go kick ‘em outta your time, too.”
Chibi-Usa launched herself at Ranma, grabbing him in a hug. “Thank you, sensei! Thank you! I knew I could count on you to make it right!” she gushed.
Ranma chuckled, rubbing the top of the girl’s pink hair. “No sweat, little rabbit. After all, Ranma Saotome—”
“—doesn’t lose!” the entire room, Chibi-Usa included, finished for him.
Ami giggled as Ranma’s face took on a surprised look at catching his own phrase back at him. “That only leaves one concern, then. Where will Chibi-Usa stay while she’s here in our time?” she asked.
“She can stay with me,” Usagi said. “We have a room and I’m sure I can talk my parents around.”
“Actually, if it’ll help,” Chibi-Usa said, holding up the Luna-shaped ball—which she had explained was named Luna-P. “Luna-P can turn into a bunch of useful tools and gadgets for me, including an umbrella with a very hypnotic pattern on it. Then we can just use Luna-P to alter a few of the photos while I’m here, and it’s like I’m the little sister who’s always been a part of your family.”
“I don’t know how I feel about hypnotizing my family,” Usagi said nervously.
“Speaking as someone with actual experience at being literally brainwashed,” Akane said. “It might be the best way to go. That way she inserts into your family without any questions or issues about where she comes from. Then she gets enrolled at Juuban Public Elementary and she’s good to go, just another happy little Tokyo drone.”
“I guess it’s not like it’ll hurt them,” Makoto said a bit uncertainly. “Just giving them a third family member instead of a stranger. But what about when she leaves?”
“Once I’m gone, the hypnosis and changes to the pictures will fade,” Chibi-Usa admitted. “It’ll be like I was never there.”
“That’s kind of sad,” Minako chimed in in a low tone.
“But Usagi and I will have all the fun memories, so it balances out,” Chibi-Usa said with a smile.
“Alright, we’ll go that route, sprout,” Usagi said, ruffling Chibi-Usa’s hair herself. “From here on out, you’re my little sister.”
The group was forced to break up at that point, as it was beginning to get late. Soon, it was just Rei, Ranma, and Akane standing at the gate at the top of the stairs. “I can stop by the Cat Cafe on the way home and let Cologne know,” Akane said. “You know she’ll want to be involved.”
Ranma chuckled. “Yeah, probably. I’m gonna need to have a talk with Luna and Artemis soon, though,” he said.
“Why?” Rei asked.
“There’s a new enemy,” Ranma reminded her. “I think it’s time for the sun to come back out.”
“At least tomorrow’s Sunday,” Rei mused quietly. As if realizing what she had just said, she hastened to clarify, “No pun intended!”