Cat Girl Nuku Nuku Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ HailStorm ❯ Chapter 1

The Saotome Legacy - Hailstorm
http://www.geocities.com/laqjr/myfics/TSL/DMS/DMS01.ht ml

Inspired by Jonathan Ford's story "Who's your Daddy?"
Found at http://tannim.anifics.com/Daddy/Daddy.html

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Chapter 1

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Disclaimer

I do not own Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon or Ranma Nibunnoichi. Characters used without permission.

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Dear Father...

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Wa lking home wearily and with a bit of trepidation, Ami felt very paranoid about her current situation, the sensation of someone watching her not having left her since early that morning when she arrived at school. She'd been feeling jumpy all day, and nearly told everything to her friends when Usagi snuck up on her at lunch. It wasn't very kind, she supposed, to keep her friends in the dark about revealing her heroic identity, but if her friends knew she told someone, their anger at her dissention may be enough to break the trust held between them.

Perhaps her fear was the cause of her indecision regarding the other Senshi. They all held the same fear in not revealing their identities, and all the other girls had so far complied with the unspoken rule of secrecy. The only breech before now had occured when Chibi-Usa found the Silver Crystal in Usagi's brooch, and Usagi had to explain to her why she had it.

In any case, Ami wasn't so sure she wanted to go home yet. Her mother had had a very strange reaction to her situation last night. When Ami told the woman that her daughter now fought intergalactic monsters and demons as an extracurricular activity, Atsuko stared at her, some unknown fear coming alight in her eyes. Seemingly entranced by it, the woman slowly spoke, saying, "Happosai."

The whole situation was very eerie. Anxious that her mother may have gone comatose from learning her earlier revelations, Ami gripped her mother's hand and asked her if she was okay. Atsuko looked up at her momentarily, then said she needed to sleep, got out of the furo, and headed out to the changing room.

Ami and her mother never really got along well, more because they were always too busy apart from each other to do anything together than any other reason. Last night, when her mother had found her in the furo and thought that.. that had happened, she'd shown more emotion to Ami than Ami could ever remember seeing her mother show. Then, when she learned the truth, her newly discovered and very emotional mother disappeared, and her more familiar mother, Atsuko Mizuno, returned, weary of her place in life and always troubled by something.

Maybe she wasn't being as fair to her mother as she should have, but for Ami, her mother's timid, distant love was all she really knew of the woman. Her mother often avoided making any emotional connections with people, and Ami never once saw the woman looking at guys or even consider dating one. Ami herself was the closest thing her mother had to a friend, and even then Atsuko did not regularly confide in her.

The fact that Atsuko wasn't her biological mother helped dampen her feelings for the woman, to an extent, but it wasn't by much. Mizuno Atsuko had been there for Ami nearly all her life, far longer than she could remember. Ami met her biological father, once, when she was seven years old. When she found out who the man in her mother's apartment was, she'd asked him why he didn't live with her mother, and he'd said he couldn't let anyone know where he was, or she might be in danger. When Ami asked her mother about the whole thing after the man left, she'd learned that her mother, her biological one, couldn't take care of her, so she'd been passed on to her father. In order to keep her safe, though Ami did not learn from what, she'd been passed on to her father to take care of her, and from there had ended up with Atsuko. Ami had gone to bed angry at her real parents, and acted petulant toward Atsuko for four days, refusing to call the woman her mother. On the fourth day, Atsuko came into her room and hugged her while she cried, and Ami fell asleep and woke up in Atsuko's arms.

Ever since then, Ami found no qualms about calling Atsuko her mother, and the fact that her real father and mother existed elsewhere in the world no longer bothered her. She would live her own life, and her successes would always come because her mother was there for her.

In any case, Ami was home now. Standing in front of the apartment door, Ami again had second thoughts about entering, but finding strength in telling herself nothing too earth-shattering could possibly happen, Ami unlocked the door and entered cautiously.

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Me anwhile...

In Osaka there stood a tall young man wearing a strange combination of yellow and black, his distinguishing trademark colors. Enemies feared his wrath and cringed when he attacked. This man's name is Ryoga Hibiki, and he... was currently lost.

"Which way is it to China?" he asked an old man sweeping in front of his restaurant.

"Hey, ain't you that Hibiki boy? When're you gonna marry my Ukyo?" The man looked closely at him, and Ryoga felt very nervous about the situation. Kuonji-san was one of the few people Ryoga did not need to see right now.

Ever since Ranma disappeared all those years ago, Ryoga's own problems seemed to escalate, and many of Ranma's own predicaments seemed to pass themselves over to him. Truly, this was all Ranma's fault.

Running as fast as he could, Ryoga Hibiki disappeared into the horizon, headed hopefully to where his greatest nemesis lay in wait.

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He aring the door to the apartment open, Atsuko filed away the paperwork and bills she'd been sorting through and stood up to greet Ami as she entered.

"Tadaima," Ami called softly from the entryway.

"Okaeri-nasai," she called back, then, walking up to her, she said, "Ami, don't take your shoes off yet, we're going out as soon as I put my own shoes on."

"Where are we going?" Ami asked. She seemed worried by something.

"Today we're going to the gym so I can get you started on strengthening your body to handle your new.. occupation." Taking Ami's school books, Atsuko placed them aside on a rack near the entrance before pulling on her running shoes and grabbing a pair of duffel bags near the door.

"The gym! But I have to go to cram school today, and Makoto and Minako and I were going shopping afterward and... I mean..." Ami hung her head and wrung her hands as she trailed off, not sure why she'd spoke to her mother so, so... forcefully.

Ami looked abashed by her outburst, but her mother smiled for her. Resting a palm on Ami's shoulder, Atsuko said, "Don't worry about it, Ami. I've seen you studying so hard all the time. Do you have a test tomorrow you didn't study for? Do you really need to go to cram school today? We could go tomorrow instead, if it's important."

"I don't know," Ami said, looking up at her. "I mean, Minako, and all of us, were going shopping, later... and I don't want to desert them now."

"I'm sure we can get back before they finish shopping. Don't worry so much, they can go a little while without you. Hey, why don't you call one of them and tell them you'll be a bit late? Here, use the cell."

Taking her mother's cell phone, Ami still felt unsure as to whether or not she wanted to go her Mother to the gym.... They hadn't done anything together in a long time, and Atsuko was offering to spend some time with her. Perhaps it would even be fun to work out together.

Maybe her friends would be put off by her being late to go shopping, but it had been a while since she'd gone out and done something with her mother. They'd not done anything together for some time now, and Ami knew she'd look forward to the rest of her day, even if they spent it fighting youma tredmill machines.

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Us agi ran home as quickly as she could, then, after entering, slammed the door shut behind her. Taking off her running shoes, she quickly put on her house slippers while shouting, "Tadaima!"

An answering "Okaerinasai!" resonated from the kitchen before her mother appeared in the doorway. "I thought you were going out for the night, Usagi-chan."

"I was going to, but you know, I changed my mind. I'm going upstairs to my room, call me if you need me!" Usagi said as she ran past the living room.

"Usagi, don't run in the house!" her mother shouted after her.

After entering the safety of her room, Usagi threw herself down on her bed. Today had been a tiring day, and to top it all off, Chibi-Usa was stealing her boyfriend from her without even trying! Mamoru was just humoring the girl, really, but he showed Chibi-Usa much more affection than he'd shown her when she was around. It just wasn't fair!

Not wanting to be disturbed anymore for the evening, Usagi took off her communicator and stuffed it under the t-shirts in her drawer while pulling out some clean clothes for a shower. She never once heard it ring for the rest of the day.

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Am i never really thought her mother's strength building training regimen could be so exhausting. After an initial five minute stretching phase, her mother had her check out the barbels to find one she was comfortable with. Proud that she could comfortably lift a mass of 20kg in each hand (appx 45lb each), Ami did a few repetitions of curls to start out. Afterword, she'd watched her mother demonstrate some specific exercise designed to emphasize certain muscles and then emulated her movements. With her mother spotting her as she relearned the various exercises and used the different machines, Ami felt good about exerting as much as she could into the exercises, encouraged by her mother's presence and enthusiasm.

Now, Ami wasn't so sure if trying so hard was such a good idea. Her arms ached even more than when she sustained bruises from battle, and she felt very fatigued by the workout. Ami wasn't as sure as her mother that working out for an hour and a half every day was actually healthy for her body, but since the woman had been doing this much longer than her, she must have a better idea of how far to push herself before submitting to exhaustion.

Ami and Atsuko left the gym after changing out of their gym garb into more comfortable clothes, jeans and a dark green blouse for Atsuko while Ami wore a beige skirt that came down a little past mid-thigh and a dark red sweater over her t-shirt. They were walking home to the apartment when a scream came from one of the various shops ahead them. The new cake shop was being attacked by a droid on its opening day!

Running toward the source of the scream, Ami found Chibi-Usa, Lina, and Artemis watching the battle between the cake droid and her fellow three Senshi, Jupiter, Mars, and Venus. So far, the droid appeared to be winning. Looking around once to make sure no one but her mother could currently see her, she pulled her transformation pen out and transformed into Sailor Mercury.

"Chibi-Usa," Ami said, walking up to the trio, "you need to take Luna and Artemis and get away from here. Be careful, and stay out of trouble, okay?"

Chibi-Usa turned to her, nodded, picked up both cats, and ran toward the Tsukino household.

"Alright, now to take care of this monster." Walking through the door, Ami took a deep breath, exhaled, struck a pose, then shouted, "Droid, sweets are meant to be savored, eaten for pleasure, not used for destruction. Just as sweets always melt away when placed in water, so will I, Sailor Mercury, wash you away from existance!"

Casting a Shabon Spray to obscure the enemy's vision and give her friends time to escape their sweetened entrapments, Ami took careful stock of the situation. Because they were in the sweets shop, there was not a lot of space available for free movement to dodge. With four of them and one monster, the limited amount of space could as easily be a hindrance as help them.

Suddenly the monster burst forth from the mist, catching her with a rapid fire donut attack. Rolling with the blow, Ami attempted to get as far away from the droid before it could encase her in the icing she'd seen Jupiter and Tuxedo Mask stuck inside of. Just as she was sure the monster would attack her, a shadow dropped down before her, landing a kick on the monster's head and knocking it to the side. The mist cleared then, giving Mercury and the other Senshi a good look at her benefactor. The man was tall, his red Chinese style shirt and black pants tied at waist and ankles looked a bit worn or aged, and his hair was black, pulled back in a ponytail. When the man looked back at her, Ami saw his face clearly, even into his deep blue eyes. She knew this man. Ami could recognize him anywhere.

The man was her father. What was he doing here?

The man turned around to face the droid as it rose from the ground. He watched the thing closely, then backed away so she could get a clear shot at it. Ami understood at once. Either he had no attack or projectile weapon that could hurt the monster, or he felt her own attacks would do better. Either way, he only backed up enough so she could fire at the droid, but Ami could see that her father was close enough that should the cake monster attack, he could easily defend her from it. Another connection was made in her mind, even as she watched the monster rise.

Her father knew who she was. Atsuko must have told him.

The droid atttacked again, this time aiming for its new human target with what looked like peppermint candies and cream. Ami saw something glistening behind the droid and looked down at the floor behind it. The droid was leaving tracks behind it wherever it went. Water wasn't just a vulnerability, it actually weakened the droid.

Seeing the man kick the droid away from himself, Ami carefully aimed her attack, then shouted out her attack phrase and shot a sizeable beam of water at the droid.

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Th e next few moments were very confusing, details nearly impossible to describe because of how little time passed. Ami remembered attacking the droid with her water attack, and her father immediately jumped back and up, then disappeared as if he were an illusion. Venus, Jupiter, and Mars tried simultaneously attacking the droid, but it was still too strong to be destroyed.

"We can't kill it!" shouted Mars.

"Where is Sailor Moon?" Ami asked between dodges. "We can't stop this thing without her!"

"I couldn't get ahold of her," said Jupiter, while preparing another wave of thunder. "I tried the communicator, but she's not answering!"

Sometime during that interval, Ami's father had reappeared. Attacking the droid to keep it occupied, he said, "It can't be killed? I'll take care of it."

He jumped back just as Jupiter let loose another Supreme Thunder Dragon. Taking a stance, he stood silently for a moment before cupping his hands together and shouting, "Moko Takabisha!" And then, a shimmering beam of light shot from him, impacting the droid and completely demolishing it. Ami was close enough to feel the heat of its passing. Having looked at the droid and seen it obliterated by the beam, Ami never saw her father disappear from the scene.

Her father incinerated the droid. No, he completely eradicated it. Was he even human?

Were any of them human?

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Au thor's Notes:

First chapter's done. I don't really like how the Senshi battle seems chopped up and fed in small bits, nor do I like my poor word choice throughout, but that's how it'll stay for now.

Some of you may be curious as to why Ami can comfortably lift 45lb in one hand, being such a small, mousy girl who is fairly quiet and certainly doesn't look like she spends a long time working out in a gym. Remember, Ami likes to swim, and has likely been swimming since she first learned the proper techniques (as she has in this story). She likely swims very fast in water, and to be able to do that, she has to be able to pull her own weight through the water. This, in turn, would cause her to be able to handle greater weights, though probably not as much as working out regularly at a gym would.

C&C welcome at laqjr_200@hotmail.com