Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ A New Future 2 - First Blood ❯ The Beginning of the End ( Chapter 28 )

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 choice to make things clearer. 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 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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Ranma shifted uncomfortably, glancing around at what little she could see of the train car she was standing in, as she reflected that she really had to do something about her pride. The train from Nikko to Tokyo hadn't been bad, she hadn't felt more than uncomfortable with all the strange men around her. Between those men and the male Amazons she had met at their new village, she had decided she was finally over her nervousness around male strangers and had been feeling rather pleased with herself and smug about her decision to order her “bodyguards” to keep their distance — right up to the point that she got on the train to the apartment she and Akane shared with Nabiki.

Now, the short redhead was surrounded by taller men, some of them giving her the eye in spite of her lack of makeup (not that she'd ever worn any since before The Day and not really by choice then) and the plain windbreaker, T-shirt and jeans she was wearing; she couldn't see the two Amazon warriors (both female) detailed to “protect” her (and was fervently hoping she didn't locate them through other means — such as screams from men that wouldn't get out of their way); and she was finding it increasingly hard to keep from shaking. She had long since been driven to fall out of her center, thanks to the lust-filled ki of some of the men around her — the last thing she wanted was to remember them the next time Akane gave her that happy leer she loved so much, and all that went with it.

Which was why it came as a complete surprise when she felt the first faint brush of fingers across a firm buttock.

/oOo\

In the apartment that until a few weeks ago she had been sharing with her younger sister and her sister's lover, Nabiki finally gave up, set aside her abacus, and leaned back in her chair as she rubbed her eyes. Once again, she wondered what she'd been thinking when she'd followed Setsuna-kun's advice and gone with a finance college major. Granted, it was easy enough (or at least, it was when she wasn't worrying about a certain redhead that should have gotten home hours ago, not that she'd say so), but it was boring!

Standing, the pageboy-haired girl again walked to the window and stared down into the street, telling herself that if there was anyone that could take care of herself, it was Ranma. There had to be a perfectly reasonable cause for Ranma's tardiness, nothing to worry about. Yeah, right, keep right on telling yourself that. Good thing you aren't interested in having kids, girl, you'd never be able to save your rep.

Nabiki had just decided to take yet another stab at her homework and was turning back toward the table, when a police car turned onto the street. As Nabiki turned back to watch, the car pulled up to a stop in front of her apartment building and two unfamiliar girls got out of the back of the car, one with brown hair, one pink, and a very familiar redhead got out of the passenger-side front seat. Ranma turned to say something to the driver, then the car pulled away as Ranma disappeared out of Nabiki's sight as she headed for the front door while the two Amazons (who else?) headed for the alley and its fire escapes.

/\

Ranma sighed with relief as she unlocked the apartment door and stepped through, then froze at finding herself under the middle Tendo's gimlet gaze. “Okay, Ranma, what did you do this time?” Nabiki growled.

“Uh, nothin', really, what makes ya think I did anything?” the redhead asked, reaching up to scratch nervously underneath the base of her pigtail.

“Oh, I don't know, maybe because you arrived in a police car?” Nabiki asked.

Ranma blushed even as she felt something in her relax at the other girl's sarcastic tone — was Nabiki finally getting back to normal around her? “Oh, saw that, did ya?”

“Yes, I did, so give!”

“Well, on the train home ... I got groped,” Ranma admitted, eyes falling to the floor.

Nabiki stiffened, eyes widening. “Groped? How badly did you hurt him? Not too serious, or you wouldn't be here right now....”

Eyes still firmly on the floor, blush deepening, Ranma replied, “He ought ta be able ta use his hand again ... eventually.”

“Well, good! And good for you.”

At that, Ranma's eyes shot up to Nabiki's face. “You aren't angry I lost control like that?” she asked in surprise.

“After what happened to you, I'd say you kept control,” Nabiki said firmly. “If you'd really lost it, he'd be in the morgue. And as a girl that's been groped herself, I almost wish you had, it might discourage some of those assholes. Still, I can hope this will deter a few when word gets out.”

“Sorry, but it isn't — gettin' out, that is,” Ranma replied, relaxing. “He's some kinda bigshot, and he said he wouldn't charge me with assault if I didn't charge him for gropin' me.”

“Too bad,” Nabiki grumbled as she grabbed her purse from off the table. “But at least there's one groper that isn't likely to be bothering girls any time soon. Now, come on.”

“`Come on'? Where are we goin'? I need ta call Akane an' let her know I'm here, she made me promise when I left. And then I need ta go see Usa!”

“You will, it's a Senshi meeting and we're invited. In fact, it's on hold until you show up, so make your phone call and let's go.”

A quick (and, Nabiki noticed, somewhat tense) phone call later, Ranma asked, “Where're we headed?” as she and Nabiki strode toward the door.

“The Hikawa Shrine, where else?”

“Where — so they told ya, did they? Why? I thought they were tryin' ta keep ya away from Senshi business.” Ranma said as she followed the older girl out of the apartment and Nabiki turned to lock the door behind them.

“I've been wondering the same thing. Maybe because of my visit to the Kunos?” Nabiki mused thoughtfully as the two headed for the stairs.

/oOo\

As Rei led the two former Nerimans into a Hikawa Shrine family room filled with all the Senshi but Sailor Pluto, Ranma's eyes were instantly drawn to the pink-haired teenager sitting — cuddling, really — between her parents' counterparts with her raven-haired best friend sitting on the floor at her feet. “Usa!” she called, charging forward, and Hotaru laughed as she rolled out of the way of the concerned girl. She needn't have bothered, though, because Ranma stopped when she got to the four, suddenly unsure what to do. “Ya look okay, ya feelin' all right?” she asked uncertainly.

Usa rose from between her parents and embraced the redhead. Ranma stiffened for a moment, then relaxed as her own arms circled the other girl. “I'm fine, really, just like we told you last night,” Usa said softly in Ranma's ear. “Mom got me to safety and fixed me right up, faster than my own healing ability would have.”

Ranma finally broke the hug to hold the princess from the future at arm's length, eyes examining her friend. The other girl seemed all right physically, but ... her face seemed a little pinched, eyes haunted.... “Ya sure? Ya look ... look ...” ... fragile....

“Hey, I'll admit that it hurt worse than anything I can remember,” Usa tossed off with a slightly stiff smile, “and I'm probably going to relive it in my dreams from time to time,” — ... like last night, she thought, not mentioning the way Hotaru had held her in her lap and rocked her after she'd woken up the entire Outer household with her scream — “but I'll be all right. You are, after all, right?”

Ranma suppressed a wince as memories of a man's shrieks of pain and the feel of her hand gripping down on cracking bones flashed through her mind. “A' course, we're tough!” she said determinedly.

“Yes, the two of you are,” came the gentle voice of the Senshi of Time from the side, and the two girls jumped as everyone else's heads whipped around to look at the corner of the room. “And now that you're here, Yasuko,” the emerald-haired woman in a long skirt and business suit continued, “why don't we start the meeting? Once we get that out of the way we can get to what everyone really wants — to hear how you've been doing the past couple of weeks.”

“Right!” Ranma agreed, blushing, and looked around for a seat. Her eyes widened at the sight of Nodoka watching from the other couch, and with a grin and shrug for her friend she went to join her mother as Usa sat back down and snuggled between her parents, whose arms were instantly again around her.

“So,” Setsuna said once everyone had settled back down, “I suppose this calls for a bit more of an explanation on how the Time Gates work.” She glanced over with a smile at a suddenly alert Ami. “Most of you were here when I compared the past to a long string, the future as a spider web of choices and consequences, and the present being where the `string' of the past comes into the center of the `web' of the future.”

“Yes, you told us,” Haruka said dryly. “That's not to say we understood you, but you told us.”

Ami rolled her eyes and opened her mouth, only to pause, then settle back in her seat at an amused glance from Setsuna. “Anyway,” the emerald-haired woman continued determinedly, “the point is that there are a multitude of possible futures, but the number of possibilities narrows the closer they get to us. Eventually, they narrow down to one, the present. And sometimes, for all practical purposes it narrows to one a little further out — like now.” Ranma and all the Senshi straightened, suddenly totally focused on their mistress of Intelligence, and Setsuna nodded, glancing at Usa sympathetically before sweeping her gaze around the room. “After what happened to Chibi-Moon last night, the Arlana Confederacy seems to have almost decided to set the invasion date at sixteen days from yesterday. They'll make one more probing attack in eight days that will most likely be intercepted by the Outers — and must be intercepted by Saturn, whoever else shows up. She and Chibi-Moon have been an obvious pair to date, arriving together every time they've fought one of the probes, and having Saturn show up without her constant partner will cement their decision.”

A soft sigh seemed to sweep the room. Mamoru's and Usagi's arms tightened about their daughter-by-blood even as Usagi's worried eyes fixed on her younger sister. Nodoka circled her arms about her daughter, and Ranma relaxed into her mother's embrace even as she nodded reassuringly back at Usagi. Hotaru shifted to lay her head in her longest friend's lap as she watched her foster parents slip their arms around each other and gaze back.

Makoto, Rei and Ami glanced around at the scene, then Rei and Makoto focused on their blue-haired comrade. For a moment she simply gazed back, reluctant to interrupt the scene, but finally sighed and said, “So Setsuna, we'll need to bring in Ranma's people — both the martial artists and the Amazons, get with the city government so it can quietly evacuate the area around where the invaders will be coming in, I assume you can supply maps laying out the battlefield so we can plan our attack, anything else?”

“Yes, there is,” Setsuna responded. “You know I've been in contact with the Emperor, and the Defense Force will be supplying troops, as well.” Usagi sat bolt upright, mouth opening for a reprimand, only to pause as the Senshi of Time raised a hand, looking over at her. “No, Princess, I didn't reveal what's going on to the authorities, the Emperor's people already knew — how do you think they've been able to get all that footage of us for those pre-movie newsreels? Why do you think they were willing to help Yasuko's Amazons move to Japan? They actually bought out an entire village to give them a home.”

Everyone stared at Setsuna in shock, then Ami shook her head. “How did I miss that?” she asked incredulously. “Of course they'd have to have at least some knowledge of what's going on! So how much do they know about us?”

“Pretty much everything,” Setsuna admitted with a shrug. “Don't worry, the Emperor and his people have been very careful to make sure our private lives stay private. But they aren't willing to sit this one out. I know the troops will have only their clamshells and helmets for barely effective armor and bayonet-tipped rifles that are basically clumsy spears, but used right they'll make a real difference.”

“But ... but they'll be slaughtered! It'll be even worse than the Amazons!” Usagi protested.

“Maybe not as bad as ya think,” Ranma disagreed. “And even if they are, it's their right — their duty — ta help, and we would dishonor them if we refused ta let them.”

Usagi looked over beseechingly at the redhead, but Ranma simply gazed back calmly, and finally her older sister's shoulders slumped. “All right, I won't protest,” she said resignedly.

“Thank you, Princess,” Setsuna softly said, then stepped to the table in the middle of the couches and chairs and laid down her briefcase. Opening it up, she pulled out a stack of maps. “Here are better maps than the one you drew out a couple months ago, Ranma. Now, it seems to me these apartment buildings along this edge of the park ...”

/\

“You know, Ranma, I'm a little surprised Akane didn't come back with you,” Hotaru commented quietly as she and Usa watched the party the meeting had turned into from the couch where they flanked their friend while Ranma chowed down on the snacks.

Ranma paused in her assault on Makoto's cookies, wincing slightly. “Uh ... yeah, that actually took some work ta get her ta stay behind, even though we knew Usa was all right,” she admitted.

Usa glanced slyly over at her friend. “Ah, did the lovebirds actually have a fight over little old me?” she drawled.

“Yeah, almost as bad as the one when I tried ta get her ta stay here,” Ranma mumbled. “My turn ta win, but not how I wanted ta spend my last evening with her for a few weeks.”

“Well, just think of how much fun you'll have making up with her when she does get back,” Usa teased.

Ranma blushed as red as her hair and glanced around hastily, then rose to her feet at the sight of Ami heading for the door, apparently the first to leave the party. “Just a moment, I need ta talk ta Ami about when I can use her portable infomat for learnin' more about the Lifedancers,” she said and bounced over the couch that was in the way, ignoring the chuckles from her friends as she did.