Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ A New Future 1 - Things Change ❯ At the Cat Café ... ( Chapter 6 )

This is an alternate history (both the world in general and the Senshi in particular) continuation for both Sailor Moon and Ranma 1/2, set in a world with no space exploration, personal computers, cell phones, or anything else requiring a transistor. It is labeled hentai for the opening scene only (no lemons), and X for that scene and possible graphic violence later.

This was originally published by me under the name Anduril at Anime Addventures, with the only changes being a few corrections in spelling and punctuation. If you like the beginning of my story but think I've gone off the rails, or have your own ideas for a great branch-off, or think I'm taking too long to update and want to continue the story yourself, come to Anime Addventures and join in the fun!

I claim no ownership rights to any of the works of Rumiko Takahashi or Naoko Takeuchi, or anything in the GURPS Ogre and GURPS Tales of the Solar Patrol settings published by Steve Jackson Games. Everything else is mine.

 

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Ku Lon looked up from where she sat at the sound of someone coming through the front door of the Cat Café, and at the sight of Xian Pu entering felt something in her relax for the first time since her great-granddaughter had left for the school, then tighten up again when she was followed by Akane carrying an unconscious, female, and very naked Ranma — and no Mu Tse.

“Mu Tse?” Ku Lon asked her chosen heir.

“Helping Ukyo control Kuno,” the purple-haired girl responded.

“Good,” Ku Lon said with a tight smile, then sobered again as she looked over at Akane glaring at her while possessively clutching Ranma. It looks like Akane is finally admitting how she actually feels, good — better late than never. “Relax, child,” Ku Lon soothed, “no one here is going to hurt Ranma.” Akane's disbelief was plain, and Ku Lon sighed. “Child, if you distrust me so much, why are you here?”

Akane faltered, and looked down worriedly at her fiancé for a moment. “Because Nabiki thought it was a good idea, and I couldn't think of anything else to do,” she admitted in a low, slightly shaky voice.

Ku Lon nodded. “That will do for now. So, what happened to Ranma?”

After Akane related what little she knew, Ku Lon sat staring into space for a time, getting control of her voice, then turned to Xian Pu. “The pendants?”

Xian Pu handed them over wordlessly, and Ku Lon stared at the long-lost artifacts for a long moment, then in a quiet voice said, “Of all the ways for these to be recovered ... still, they don't explain the flash of light, or the Crystal Pyramid activating. Xian Pu, fetch a couple of blankets and my special chest.”

“ `Crystal pyramid'?” Akane queried as Xian Pu left on her errand.

“An ancient Amazon artifact that detects a special type of magic. I'll explain more after performing a few tests.” Move to Mousse's bedroom? No, Akane is too suspicious — let's keep at least the illusion of being in public. “However,” Ku Lon continued, “I think Ranma will be more comfortable if he were in his male form when he awakens. Please sit down.”

As Akane skittishly sat on the edge of one of the seats at Ku Lon's table, still holding Ranma in her lap, the ancient matriarch lifted the lid of tea pot by her seat and nodded in approval at the steam that rose through the opening. Still hot enough. Now please, let Setsuna be wrong — it does happen on occasion. Hopping onto the table, she approached the pair and tipped out a splash of water onto Ranma's head ... nothing. Ku Lon closed her eyes as Akane gasped. Setsuna was right, as usual. Oh, Ranma ...

Moving for once like the old woman she actually was, Ku Lon returned to her seat and looked up to find Akane glaring at her, her grip on the naked redhead tightening. “You can stop glaring at me, young lady, I'm not to blame for Ranma's condition,” she said firmly, and Akane looked down, shamefaced.

“Sorry,” Akane muttered, “I'm just worried about Ranma. What's locked his curse this time?”

“I don't know ... yet. But I will,” Ku Lon gently replied as Xian Pu came back into the dining room, blankets in hand and a small, heavily carved and ornamented chest under her arm.

 

An hour later, Ku Lon snuffed out the candles on the floor at each side of Ranma's head and sat back beside the girl's still-sleeping and now blanket-covered body, growling in frustration.

“Nothing?” Xian Pu asked quietly from the booth she was sharing with Akane, and Ku Lon shook her head.

“Nothing. It's as if there's nothing there to influence or detect ...”

Ku Lon's voice trailed off thoughtfully as Akane spoke up in a worried tone. “Why is Ranma still asleep? That can't be natural!”

“No need to worry, child,” Ku Lon soothed. “Ranma suffered a serious shock, acting as a conduit for powerful magic —” She froze in place and her face paled as her earlier thought coalesced, then whirled to the chest Xian Pu had brought and pulled out a plain, clear crystal that took on a soft glow in her hand. She reached down and placed the crystal in Ranma's hand, then groaned as the glow radiating from the crystal vanished. Slowly, she started to pack up all the implements she had removed from the chest in the course of the last hour, only to find Akane in the way.

“What just happened!?” Akane demanded loudly, almost shouting. “What does it mean? What's wrong with Ranma!?”

With a sigh, Ku Lon motioned to Xian Pu to finish packing the chest, and sat next to Ranma. “Akane, sit down.”

Akane hesitated, then sat when Ku Lon pointed sternly at the floor across Ranma from her, desperately trying to keep her fear in check.

Ku Lon was silent for a long moment, then sighed. “Child, physically Ranma is going to be fine. She will be weak for a time, for her at least, but should make a full recovery — physically. However, the power that used Ranma as a conduit to strike against Happosai did more than just fry a pervert — it also seems to have set up protections against the same thing, or anything like it, from ever happening again. I suspect that from here on out, no magic will ever be able to directly touch Ranma again, for good or ill.”

“But — b-but that's g-good isn't it?” Akane stammered. “After all the crap magic has put Ranma through he's certainly going to think so. Why the gloom?”

“And what about the curse?” Ku Lon asked softly, brushing a hand across Ranma's blanket-covered breasts, and Akane looked down and paled. Ku Lon nodded. “The curse is gone, and with the protection in place it cannot be given again. This is the form that Ranma will have for the rest of her life.”

Akane sat stunned for a long moment, as tears began flow. “This is going to break him,” she finally whispered, only to see Ku Lon shake her head.

“No, child, if handled properly this could actually be Ranma's salvation,” Ku Lon asserted. “His female form was already a temporary escape from the pressures his foolish parents have placed on him, along with the rest of the chaos that swirled around him, and now it can be an honorable way out of all the contradictory obligations his father has forced on him. The only real problem, possibly, is you.”

“Me!?”

“Yes, you. For some reason, in spite of the way you've treated him, Ranma loves you — in the past two years you have become the most important person in her life. So how are you going to handle a permanently female Ranma? What kind of relationship are you willing to accept? What kind of support can Ranma expect from you?”

Akane stared at Ku Lon for a long moment, then turned her gaze back to the face of the diminutive redhead lying in front of her as the flow of tears slowed, then stopped.