Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Pearl ❯ New love ( Chapter 1 )

Pearl

A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic

By Dianna Tsuki

The beach. Why did he feel so much apprehension when he heard that name? Why did his heart jump when somebody mentioned the 'Sea', or 'Ocean'? , but why did those same words also bring feelings of saddness to his heart as well? Ranma had no idea. He knew that someone-else may know, someone like Akane, Cologne or, he gulped, Nabiki.

He shook his head.

"Probably just my curse." he muttered to himself and then returned to packing his yellow and black striped, bikini that had the word 'Boy' stitched across the front. He paused. That was another thing that was curious. He didn't understand how he could despise wearing female clothes so much, (author's note: Don't argue with me, one of my manga has pictures of Ranma in female undergarments) yet he had no qualms with wearing the bathing suit or women's underwear.

"HURRY UP BOY!" Genma roared from downstairs, the family was planning on going to the beach today, and they were all waiting on him.

"I'M COMIN', *POP*!" he paused briefly, he had said 'Pop' with more than just a little sarcasm.

"Hm, must be the curse." he thought to himself, then stretched and wandered into the bathroom and splashed himself with a face-full of cold water. The red-head looked back up in the mirror and paused.

"Well...if I'm going as a girl..." Ranma mused....

About five minutes later...

Akane was fuming, again! What was taking him so damn long!? She paced back and forth in exasperation. She was so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she almost missed Nabiki walk in from outside.

"Hey Akane, what's taking your...oh my." her voice trailed off. Akane stopped, looked at Nabiki, then averted her gaze to were her sister was looking, and gasped. There stood Onna-Ranma and...oh my God!

"Rah-Ranma?" she gasped. Ranma looked a little embarrassed, and showed this by blushing.

"What? Is there somethin' on my face?" she inquired in a sheepish voice.

"What...when...wow!" Nabiki was breathless. Onna-Ranma was beautiful! She had switched her normal yellow and black bikini for something a little more-no-a lot more risque. It was now a two piece aqua blue bikini. Her hair had been taken out of her normal pig-tail and now hung down at shoulder-level, not to mention the fact that she had also put a small starfish-shaped hair comb above her left ear, and did she have sparkles on her cheeks?

Nabiki's eyes were glittering hungrily, and she wished now, more than ever that she hadn't given Ranma up to Akane, she was just a damn bombshell!

"You look gorgeous!" Nabiki breathed, Ranma-chan blushed deeper.
"Thank you?" she replied in a timid voice.

"Wuh-Why the sudden change?" Akane asked in a dazed voice.

"Well, I figured since we were goin' to the beach, and I was gonna be a girl anyway, I kinda decided to make sure I was a damn good lookin' girl." her entire explanation was spoken as she studied the feet. Akane shrugged, she could understand that, it was also a possibility that she wanted to piss off her old man. Nabiki was still breathless and Ranma-chan was still inspecting her toes. Genma stuck his head back in.

"BOY WHAT'S...THE HELL?" he demanded. Ranma-chan sighed and explained it again.

"B-but.."
"It's only for one day Pop, deal with it."

"B-but it's not manly!"

"Neither is turning into a panda." Genma tried to think of something to counter *that* with.

"Look Pop, it's only for day. Its not like I'm gonna go all girly or nothin'." Ranma tried to reason, Nabiki flinched at that.

"Awww, but you're so *cute*" she cooed, she would never say it out loud, but she meant every word of it.

"Ohhh, quiet Nabiki." Ranma-chan had unknowingly put on a scowl and had her fists planted on her hips, this just added to her already unbelievable kawaii appearance. Kasumi appeared.

"Oh, hello Ranma. I see you are wearing that outfit I put togethor for you."

"Uh-huh! Thanks Kasumi!" Ranma-chan brighten quite considerably. Nabiki stared at her older sister.

"*You* bought her that?" she sounded incredulous.

"Yes I did. She asked me if I could pick up something for her to wear for next time we go to the beach. So I decided on what you see here."

"What about the sparkles?" this from Akane

"What sparkles?" both Ranma and Kasumi looked confused. Akane pointed.

"The ones on your cheeks."

"I aint wearin' no sparkles." the red-head flat out denied.

"Your not?"

"Uh-uh."

"GET CHANGED OUT OF THAT THIS INSTANT!"

"Nope."

"YES! I AM YOUR FATHER AND YOU WILL DO AS YOU'RE TOLD!"

"Nope."

"GET CHANGED!"

"Nope."
"YES!"

"Nope."
"NOW!"

"Nope."

"YOU'RE A DISGRACE! NOW YOU HAD BETTER-"

"Nope."

Genma was getting furious.

"YOU GET CHANGED OR ELSE, ELSE,"
"Nope."

"AAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHH!" the panda man stalked out of the house and plopped into the van, a few minutes later, the girls joined him.

The beach, later on that day.

The Tendo's and Saotome's were watching the sea go by as the drove on the road nearest the beach. Currently, Soun and Genma were in an animated conversation about the futures of the schools, Kasumi was chatting idly with Akane about what they were going to do once they reached the beach, Nabiki examining figures in a small pocket-book that she seemed to carry everywhere, and Ranma-chan was gazing out the window with a distant look on her face. Nabiki frowned when she looked up, something was troubling Ranma, that much was clear, and it made her cringe to see a look of such distress painted on her face. Nabiki made up her mind to find out what was wrong with the younger girl/boy, even if she didn't want her too.

They reached the beach in no time Akane and Kasumi were positively delighted to see the cool waters again, Genma looked indifferent, Soun looked pleased but Ranma...Nabiki frowned, Ranma looked miserable. Not the kind of 'don't wanna be here' miserable but a 'quit-torturing-me-and-get-it-over-with' miserable. The group quickly unloaded there supplies for what then was revealed to be a two-day stay. Nabiki was slightly miffed at that, because it was quite obvious that it was just another of the two's hair-brained schemes to get there children togethor, and it was doomed to fail, like all the rest of them.

"Grrrr, this is all your fault, Ranma." Akane snarled as she carried a basket of food.

"Believe me, this is the last place I wanna be." Ranma said sadly, then walked ahead. Her tone had quickly doused Akane's anger, and made her a touch concerned as she watched the red-head place down a blanket on the sand, followed up by several of the items she had been carrying.

"If you'll excuse me." she didn't wait to be excused and simply walked along the shore-line and headed for some of the ocean-side caves.

Nabiki turned her head and watched the retreating form of the Red-head.

"Alright Akane, now what did you say to put her off like that?" Nabiki demanded of her hot-tempered sister.

"N-nothing! I only told her that it was all...her...fault?" the last bit came out as more of a squeak of realization. Nabiki rolled her eyes.

"Good one. If you had been watching her at all, you would've seen that something's been bothering her."

[Why are you calling my son a 'she'?] came the panda sign. Nabiki glared at him.

"For refference reasons, okay?" she turned back to Akane.

"Look, just...lay off of her for a while okay? She's hurting pretty bad about something." she turned and began to follow her,

"Where are you going?" Akane asked her back.

"To see if I can't find out what."

<><><><><>

Nabiki weaved in and out among the sun-kissed rocks. Water splashed up and among them and both cooled her feet, and made the pebbles beneath them as slippery as marbles. She had to be careful so that she wouldn't fall and alert her target. She pressed her back against rock-side that helped form the entrance to a large, partially submerged caved. And she heard...crying? Yes, it was definately crying, more to the point, it was Ranma-chan who was crying.

"What's wrong with her?" Nabiki wondered, Ranma-chan seemed to want to know this just as bad as Nabiki did.

"Wh-what's wrong with me?" she sniffled, "I've always loved the sea, but why does it make me so sad when I'm here?" Nabiki heard the sounds of water being sloshed around by feet. Then more sob's, it got to bee too much for the middle Tendo sister and she slowly but carefully entered the mouth of the cave. There stood the beautiful Ranma-chan, she was leaning against the wall of the cave, her face burried in her arms.

"Hey there, what's wrong?" Nabiki asked sympathetically as she came around the corner. She saw Ranma-chan go ram-rod straight and a look of fear washed over her. Nabiki giggled at the look on her face.

"Don't worry, I won't tell the Panda-Man that you were crying, if you tell me what's wrong." Ranma-chan hesitated for a moment, though only a brief one, then nodded.
"A-alright. Buh-but you've gotta proh-promise to keep this to yo-yourself." she was still having trouble controlling her tears, and the sight of such saddness made Nabiki's heart ache.

"You have my word." Nabiki realized that her 'ice-queen' mask wasn't suitable for this situation, and quickly dropped it. It felt like she had just removed a layer of skin from her face.

Ranma-chan sloshed over and sat down next to Nabiki. and just sat there for a moment while she got her emotions under control. Finally, she spoke.

"Ever since I can remember, I've always loved water. I loved to play and splash in it, and I always seemed to attract it from any and every place, even before Jusenkyo. But it would always bring me saddness too, like...like there was something I was missing. And....and the only whatever it was I was looking for could be found was...was in the water. When I'm away from the sea or any large open expanse of water, I feel trapped and scared. I become a touch paranoid and I think that someone is going to come and..." she went silent.
"Come and what Ranma?"

"...Enslave me. There's...there's something else too."

the two were silent for a moment.

"Go on." Nabiki urged, Ranma-chan nodded.

"You know my mother, Soatome Nodoka?" Nabiki nodded, "Well...I don't think she's my mother." Nabiki blinked.

"What do you mean? How did you reach *that* conclusion?"

"Her hair is brownish-red."

"Yeah. And your hair is a deep red. What's your-"

"My hair is blue." Nabiki stared, dumbfounded.

"Nani?"

"Well, actually more of an ultra-marine. But the fact remains. My father did not have blue hair, he had black. My mother has brown-red, and I have blue."

"But your hair is well...you know." Ranma-chan smiled a bitter smile, then ran the tips of her fingers through her hair. Like a slow wave, it changed to the colour of the mediterranian sea, a kind of cross between baby-blue, and aqua marine.

"Oh...wow! I'm...so jealous!" she exclaimed honestly.

"HUH?!" of all the things she had expected her to say, *this* was not one of them. Nabiki stood up and began to circle the now blue-haired girl.

"Look at this!" she exclaimed and began to lovingly stroke her hair, "These just make you look even better!" Now another girl under normal circumstances would've been nervous right now, but Rannma-chan was not, for some reason.

"You really think so?" Nabiki nodded vigorously.

"I do."

"Thankyou." Ranma-chan was smiling thankfully. "Hey..." she thought as she looked as Nabiki came back into her line of sight, "Nabiki's actually...cute."

Nabiki smiled at the blue-haired girl.

"So...what are you going to tell your parents?"

"HUH?" Ranma-chan looked as if she just missed something.

"You know, about what you've felt, and your hair colour?"

"Nothing."
"Why?"

"Because they wouldn't understand."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you really think that Panda-man and Waterworks really care about anyone's happiness let alone mine?"
"Good point."

The two sat for a moment before Nabiki continued.

"So...do you think I should tell Akane?"
"...why? I thought you were going to keep it to yourself."

"*She* is your fiancee." Nabiki interjected rather dryly and Ranma was pretty sure she heard a not of jealousy in her voice.

"Are you..."
"Jealous?"
"Well..ugh...yeah." Nabiki thought about it for a moment. "The poor girl just poured out her heart for me, it would only be fair."

"Yes. Yes I am." Ranma-chan was silent for a moment.

"Why?" she finally asked.

"Why indeed?" Nabiki's answer was cryptic and glum.

"Please Nabiki...don't make me beg!" warned the blue-haired girl.

"Well at least she's getting her spirit back." Nabiki thougth.

"Beg, and then I will tell you." Nabiki promised, her jaw dropped when the boy/girl of her dreams got down on her knees, knitted her fingers in front of her, opened her eyes as wide as they would go and begged 'Pleeeeeeaaassse?' Nabiki did a quick double take. This was so out of character for Ranma, in either form! She wished she had a camera, but a promise was also a promise.

"Alright..."

"Yatta!" Ranma-chan leapt up and made twin victory signs with her hands. Nabiki rolled her eyes to keep from laughing.

"I'm jealous because...I've...fallen for you, Ranma-chan." Ranma-chan was silent for a moment.

"You have?"

"I have." there was silence.

"The feeling's mutual." Ranma-chan whispered as she traced figures in the wet sand with her toes. Then the two were silent until Nabiki spoke up.

"Tell you what, if help you find out why you feel this way around the sea, will...you date me?" Ranma-chan blinked, then blinked again.
"You...want to...date me? You don't mind that I...have a curse?"

"Mind?" she sounded incredulous, "I absolutely adore your girl-form."

"Girl form? Just call me..Ranko!" then the newly dubbed 'Ranko' struck a pose that involved winking and knitting her finger's behind her head. Nabiki laughed.

"Alright...deal!" Ranko finally agreed.

But unbeknownst to either of them, a girl with black, almost blue hair, and tears in her eyes, sat on top of the cave mouthing the words, 'Nabiki, how could you?'

That Evening...

Nabiki noticed that Akane kept glaring venom at her, from the moment that her and the red-head (Ranko decided not to tell them about her hair, or anything else EXCEPT the new name: Ranko), and all through mealtime, she kept glaring at her. Finally, she had reached her limit.

"Hey Akane, I need to speak with you." Nabiki said.

"Oh, okay. Fine, I need to speak with you also." the two sisters walked over to the same cave where Nabiki and Ranko had made there confessions of love earlier. Both had changed out of there bathing suits and into something slightly warmer. Nabiki had a pulled a jacket and a pair of blue denim shorts over her bikini while Akane had a t-shirt and a pair of shorts on. The moment they were in the cave, Akane grabbed her sister by the throat and slammed her against one of the walls.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?" she demanded of her older sister. Nabiki's eyes and mouth were wide as she struggled to draw in oxygen.

"C...c...an't....br....breath." she gasped. Akane loosened her grip enough to allow a steady flow of air, but not enough to release her.

"Now, what's wrong with you?" Nabiki asked, her 'Ice Queen' mask slipping firmly into place.

"I asked you first. What the *hell* are you doing?"

"Standing here with my over-violent sister."

"That's not what I meant."

"Well then what did you-urk!" Akane tighten her grip and was slightly amazed that her older sibling still managed to keep her emotionless face on, despite the reduced air supply.

"I meant with Ranma. I heard you two talking earlier."
"T...th...then....sh...should...know."

"Huh?"

"A...air...pl...please." again, her grip was loosened.

"What do you mean 'then should know'."

"With more air, and better grammar, it means 'then you should know."

"Huh?" Nabiki looked exasperated.

"Look! If you were eaves dropping, then you should know that Ranko/Ranma love each other, at least we think we do."

"B-but why are you stealing him from me?"

"He was never yours to begin with." she whispered. Akane swallowed then stepped back, releasing her sister as she went.

"What do you mean?" the youngest Tendo sister asked.

"We all saw how you treated him, over explosive on some subjects, insensitive on others and you are far too jealous. He can't even go to a friend's place without you blowing way out of proportion." Akane looked at her sister, conviction and hope in her eyes.

"What about you? Selling pictures of me and him/her to Kuno."

"That's different. You knew I was there, and eventually he/she did too. And get this, began posing for me."

Akane felt her trump card get topped.

"I didn't treat him fairly did I?"
"No you didn't. But that doesn't mean you can't still be friends." Nabiki walked to the mouth of the cave.

"I'll leave you to your thoughts."

That night...

Nabiki walked up the centre of the aisle her eye focused on the white-clad person at the end. Upon hearing that Ranma/Ranko loved Nabiki, there father's had somehow managed to get the two on the litteral 'red carpet'. But Ranko had insisted on wearing the wedding dress which infuriated her father, but what could he do? Where Nabiki had no qualms about wearing the tuxedo, as she moved by her sister, Akane glared at her and mouthed the words, 'I hate you.'

"Nabiki" the girl in question halted her steps towards the figure in the wedding dress.

"Nabiki!" where was that voice coming from?

"Nabiki, wake up!" abruptly, Nabiki's vision swam, Ranko slowly vanished and was replaced by Akane's face, and she looked urgent.

"Nabiki!" she repeated quietly.

"Huh? What?" Nabiki replied intelligently.

"You awake."

"I am now." she was grumpy from being woken up from such a wonderful dream, minus the 'I hate you' part of course.

"What's wrong?" the middle Tendo daughter asked her sister.

"Ranko's missing." This woke Nabiki up instantly and put her on high alert. glancing at the side of the tent, she could see that it was still night. Suddenly a thought popped into her mind. She reached over to her pile of clothes and snatched her watch and pressed the 'Indiglo' insignia. 3:00 AM.

"What were you doing talking to Ranko at this time of night anyways?" she asked as she began getting dressed.

"She slept in here, remember? You two insisted."
"Oh yeah." Nabiki finished getting dressed, then another question happened in her mind.

"Then why were you up right now anyways?" Akane looked annoyed.

"I woke up and went to the washroom. When I got back I noticed a set of footprints going from our tent to the ocean side, so I came to see who it was."

"And that's when you found Ranko was missing." Akane nodded. Nabiki sighed.

"So why didn't you just go after her?" Akane was blushing furiously.

"It's because I'm...I'm...I'm afraid of the dark. There I said it, Okay?" Nabiki nodded.

"Relax, let's go find Ranko."

The two Tendo's followed the trail of footprints to the beach side and there was Ranko. She was slowly walking along the shore her bare feet being cleaned by the cool ocean water.

"She looks so mysterious in the moon light." Nabiki breathed. Akane nodded and the two began walking towards her. Akane opened her took a deep breath.

"She's singing." Nabiki stated quietly. Akane paused and listened, Nabiki was right! Ranko's beautiful voice rang out in the crisp night.

Elsewhere...

"What's this that I'm feeling?" a sultry female voice asked. The question of course was rhetoricle.

"It appears she survived." a male voice commented.

"Indeed. Well, I'm glad. I was worried that dominating this place would be boring, at least now we will have someone to amuse ourselves with for a little while."

"Yes. Should I send out the Kraken?"

"No. She probably doesn't have that much power yet, I want to draw this out for as long as possible."

"I see. How about...a Pitrana?"

"Pitrana...yes. It's strong, but it is weak enough to provide something of a challange for her. A good way for us to measure her power."

"Very well."

The beach...

Ranko weaved back and forth, the strange song filling the air. She didn't know how she knew the words to it, but the song seemed to bring her comfort, the kind of comfort someone receives in the arms of there mother.

Her thoughts, and song were interrupted by a growl. She opened her eyes and stepped back, there was some kind of hideous beast! It's eyes, all four of them, were sunken in, it parted it's lips into a snarl. There were rows upon rows of fangs.

"What the hell-?" she gasped, then yelled in surprise when a pair of tentacles shot towards her. She cartwheeled backwards, then began to handspring in order to avoid the apandeges.

"Oh my God!" Akane gasped when she saw the slimy...things reaching for Ranko. Nabiki blinked as some kind of memory began to surface. Six warriors, five female warriors, one male. Protectors of...something kind of magic city. Queen gave them all powers, they called upon them by saying...

"Come on, we've gotta help her." Nabiki commanded and began racing down to the beach. Akane followed, she had seen determination in her sister's eyes, but she had also seen something else. Something that she hadn't seen for a very, very, very long time. But she couldn't identify it. The two girls joined their friend on the side beach and prepared to face off against the monster.

"Nabiki?" Ranko asked in delighted confusion. The monster had retracted it's tentacles and was now beginning to advance on them.

"Follow my lead..." Nabiki turned to the red-head, "and change your hair."

"Huh?" Akane asked. Ranko didn't know why, but she did as she was told. She ran the tips of her finger's through her hair, changing it to it's aqua-blue colour.
"Now, let's kick some monster ass!" Nabiki declared before touching her middle and index finger to her forehead. Nostalgia washed over the other two, although they didn't know why. They both did as Nabiki did.

"ARCTIC RELEASE!" Grey energy leapt towards Nabiki, molding with her clothes and changing them into; a battle skirt of grey, a breastplate that covered and yet still managed to show her form nicely, something that Nabiki was definately proud of, a mask of grey, and a longsword with a lapis in the hilt.

"I...am...Celsia!"

Akane blinked, so those dreams she had been having were real! that meant...

"PACIFIC RELEASE" her clothes were washed backwards in a sea of light, and then, out of that same strange, multi-coloured wave, came a kind of armor, it was made out of green scales and it fit fairly snugly over her chest and groin. She raised her arms and a shirt made of a light-blue material floated down onto her arms, then pants of the same colour and material came up and against her legs. Finally, her own mask made out of green attached itself to her face, and a trident found itself in her hands.

"I...am...Kora!

Ranko looked slightly dazed, maybe this is what she was missing. Seeing her friends in that armor somehow made her feel comforted. Protected, yet she knew she couldn't let them fight this...thing alone.

"ATLANTIC RELEASE!" she shouted and instantly was bathed in a beautiful white light. Her clothes were torn from her body and then slowly replaced, starting at her feet. blue/white, knee high booth appeared followed by a blue/white, flanged mini-skirt. Across her breasts, a blue/gold battle bra appeared, complete with a blue/red cape and a white flanged mask crossed her face. Finally, a long double-sided spear appeared in her arms.

"I...AM...PEARL, QUEEN OF ATLANTIS!"

Up on a sand dune, two furry figures watch.

"Well now, I thought I recognized that song." the white one says in a male voice.

"Yes well, it would appear that the Atlanteans survived Queen Beral's onslaught."

"Should we tell the girls?"

"What do you think?"
"Sorry. I guess your right."
"Come on, let's go."

"Right."

END OF CHAPTER 1