Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ A New Future 1 - Things Change ❯ Police Attention ( Chapter 10 )

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, punctuation and the occasional word choce. 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, Naoko Takeuchi, or Kosuke Fujishima, 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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Author's Note: The infomat is this reality's version of the internet as an information source—an office holding a central data-store and a number of interface booths (about the size of a phone booth) where users can input questions. The data-store has enough data stored to fill hundreds of volumes of encyclopedia, dictionaries, and other references, and can do a search through the entire database and compile an answer to most questions within minutes, though more complicated answers can take longer and, of course, poorly worded questions can give odd and/or misleading answers.

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“Today, as the joint European Union military moved into Bosnia, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. spoke out strongly against the European Union's continued annexation of Balkan nations and called for an economic boycott of non-agricultural goods from the E.U.'s member nations. The response in the General Assembly was tepid ...” Kasumi turned off the radio she had been listening to as distraction from her worries at the sound of someone entering the front door and relaxed somewhat as Akane called out her arrival, then tensed up again when no additional call came. She quickly moved the evening's dinner off the stove and hurried out to meet her youngest sister. “Akane!” she called, “is Ranma with you?”

“He ... she and Nabiki stopped at the infomat on the way home to do some research. Nabiki said it wouldn't take very long, they should be along in about a half-hour,” the black-haired girl responded, taking off her shoes and putting on some house slippers.

Kasumi sighed with relief even as she felt a trickle of worry at Akane's change of pronoun. “Good, an Inspector Koruba stopped by looking for Ranma. He refused to discuss why he wanted to speak with him, and I was afraid something terrible had happened.”

Akane winced, and Kasumi's worry spiked. “Uh, Kasumi, something did ... happen. Ranma's okay — sort of — I think, but he ...” She trailed off as her voice grew shaky, and Kasumi put an arm around her youngest sister's shoulders.

“Why don't I make up some tea and then you can tell me all about it.”

 

“ ... and Cologne offered Ranma a room and job at the Cat Café, but he said no, she'd done enough for him already, that he could take care of himself, the idiot,” Akane finished, laughing shakily, kneeling at the dinner table in the family room.

Kasumi simply sat still for a moment, wiping the tears from her cheeks. “Do you think that means he doesn't believe Elder Ku Lon?” she asked calmly.

Akane thought for a moment, then said slowly, “Nooo, I think he — she — believes her, believes the memories are real, h-she just doesn't trust her. And I don't blame her at all, after all the crap she's pulled,” she continued with another shaky laugh.

“Language, sister,” Kasumi reproved gently even as she considered what she'd just heard, and added thoughtfully, “The parents aren't going to take this at all well.”

“Right,” Akane agreed, “at least one good thing will come out of this — when they throw Ranma out of the family and dad throws them out of the house, we can adopt Ranma into the family and maybe life will get back to something more normal without that fat bastard around to keep dad stirred up about `joining the schools'!” She finished in a growl, tensing up at the thought and her hand curling, a little red light flickering in the gap between her fingers and thumb. With a visible effort she relaxed and stood up. “I'll be in my room,” she said, heading for the door.

Kasumi also stood, watching her sister walk out. I really hope you're right about how father reacts, little sis, but I'm afraid you're probably wrong. I hope Ranma and Nabiki know better. Sighing, she headed for the kitchen and her interrupted preparations for dinner.

 

Ranma and Nabiki walked down the street in silence. Nabiki glanced over at Ranma, noting the way her arms were crossed under her breasts, and sighed inwardly. Looking away, she noticed a car parked across the street from the dojo and grimaced at the familiar face in the driver's seat. “Head's up, Ranma, we've got company.”

“Huh?” the redhead asked, jolted from her thoughts and looking around quickly as she tensed up.

“Not that kind of company, sorry,” Nabiki apologized, nodding toward the man in a business suit getting out of the car across the street. “That's Inspector Koruba, the one in charge of the investigation into what happened at the school.”

Hmm, Ranma thought, relaxing as the inspector approached. In shape and trying to hide it, he moves pretty well, some training, he might actually last a few second if we fought. Then what Nabiki had just said registered and she froze.

“Good afternoon, Ranma, I'm Inspector Koruba,” the inspector said as he approached, pulling out and showing his identification, while nodding to Nabiki. “I've been placed in charge of investigating the death of Happosai and need to ask you some questions.”

“Of course, Inspector,” Nabiki responded after a moment, nudging Ranma when the pigtailed girl remained silent and frozen in place. “Please come in.”

Leading the other two into the house, she called out, “We're home! And we have company, Inspector Koruba with some questions for Ranma.”

Kasumi walked out of the kitchen with her usual placidly friendly smile firmly in place. “Oh my! Welcome, will you be staying for dinner?”

“No, thank you,” Inspector Koruba said with a shallow bow. “I just need a few things cleared up with Ranma and I'll be on my way.” Looking at her he asked, “Is there somewhere private we can talk?”

“Yeah, right,” a voice growled from the head of the stairs, and everyone looked to find Akane glaring down. “You aren't asking a single question without me there!”

Kasumi looked mortified, but Nabiki nodded. “While I would have been more polite about it, Akane's right — we should be there.”

Koruba met Nabiki's level gaze, then glanced at the now slightly quivering redhead and nodded. “I suppose you are right.”

 

“ ... then I woke up at the Cat Café, where they'd taken me to get me away from the crowd,” a pale and shaking Ranma finished from where she sat in Akane's arms, Kasumi sitting next to them and holding Ranma's hand.

“So, does that take care of everything you need, Inspector?” Nabiki calmly asked from Ranma's other side, giving her a poorly-concealed concerned look, and Kuroba nodded thoughtfully from where he sat in front of the three.

“It does,” he said, “and fits with what we've learned.” Glancing at Akane, he continued, “In spite of the massive amount of blunt trauma, the cause of death was some sort of energy discharge — forensics is calling it a freak lightning strike. And while I'll never repeat this outside of this room,” he added, looking sternly at the four girls before him, “even if the blunt trauma had been the cause of death we would have found some way to disregard it, after what we found on the hand that wasn't charred. I wouldn't have blamed any of you for killing Happosai, and it isn't like we would have been able to arrest him ourselves or hold him if we somehow succeeded. However,” he continued, focusing on the sister in the middle and the girl in her lap, “this is still a serious escalation of the conflicts this district has suffered, and I don't want it to happen again if at all possible.”

“You don't need to worry, Inspector,” Nabiki spoke up. “While the details are personal, the situation has changed. I believe you will find things much calmer around here from now on.”

Koruba stared sharply at Nabiki for a long moment, then nodded thoughtfully and stood. “I see. I hope you are right. In that case, I will be on my way.”

Letting go of Ranma's hand, Kasumi stood and escorted the inspector to the door, Inspector Koruba once again refusing an offer to stay for dinner.

Nabiki gazed at the other two girls left behind for a moment as she listened to Kasumi say goodbye to the inspector then head for the kitchen, then sighed and stood up as well. “I have some calls to make and things to take care of in my room, I'll see you two at dinner,” she said offhandedly as she headed for the doorway.

The last two left sat quietly for a time, Akane simply holding Ranma as her shaking eased off and disappeared. Finally, Akane said, “Ranma, I think we both need to clean up before dinner.”

The smaller girl stirred and nodded. “Yer right, why don't ya go ahead and I'll clean up when yer done.”

“No, there's no reason why we can't clean up at the same time,” Akane disagreed, and felt Ranma stiffen in her arms.

“But ... but ... I'm ...” Ranma stuttered, only to be cut off by Akane's only slightly forced chuckle.

“Ranma, you've seen everything I've got a couple of times already, and the same goes for me.”

“I-If yer sure ...” Ranma said, and Akane moved her off her lap and stood up, then offered a hand to help Ranma rise.

“I'm sure,” she said with all the certainty she could muster, and after a moment Ranma accepted her hand up and the two headed for the furo.

Outside the window, a purple-haired cat slipped around the house toward the furo's window while a duck flew away in the direction of the Cat Café.