Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Princess of the Moon ❯ Chapter 13 ( Chapter 14 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Notes: Got a bit of an offering here for everyone! Been rather blocked on this story for the last few months, but things started coming togethera couple weeks ago as I finally managed to get an idea to work. This is just a small offering of what I have planned for the next few chapters.

Please Review!

oooooooooo
Princess of the Moon
Chapter 13
By Cory D. Rose
© 2005
oooooooooo

The small gray car came to a stop in front of the fence. Seconds later a large form stepped out and shut the door. Wearing a dark trenchcoat, Gendo Saotome glared around him as if he expected an attack at any time. His suit was wrinkled and a little dirty, but still managed to give him the dark look he was going for.

Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a crumpled up paper, unfolded it, and reread it a couple of times. He checked his watch to make sure he had the right time. Then he stuffed the paper back into his pocket and glanced around to make sure no one was watching him.

Once he was sure he was alone, Gendo went around behind the small car, opened the back hatch, and looked down at the large briefcase sitting there innocently. Inside was a hand held weapon that gave off a slight glow in the light of the setting sun.

It was shaped similar to a pistol, but that was where the resemblance ended. Two thirds of the weapon was an inbuilt computer, the rest was a series of simple parts. Gendo pulled it out, adjusted a dial and watched as several lights came on. Once the faint whine of the weapon stopped he loaded a magazine into the handle and armed the weapon.

Setting the safety lock, he placed the weapon in the holster just under his shoulder.
Feeling a little safer, he made his way over to the fence and hopped over without any troubles. He was more alert as he landed on the other side and made his way through a small grove of trees several yards away.

His hand kept inching its way towards his weapon nervously. He wasn’t sure why this particular place was chosen for a meeting, but he wanted to be prepared. This wasn’t the first time someone with power had contacted him for unknown reasons, but he had a feeling about this one. He could smell profit in the air and since his idiot brother hadn’t been cooperating lately, this was a good chance to recoup some of his loses.

A steely glint filled his eyes as he moved through the trees. He watched the shadows around him for any kind of movement. His hand glowed at one point as he performed a magical scan of the area, but he didn’t detect anything. There was something dangerous in the area; he could feel it as he moved through the trees.

With the setting sun, the area was growing darker and darker by the minute. He figured by the time he arrived at his destination it would be completely dark. His coat swished a little as he passed the final tree and he could see an open area of grass extending several hundred feet.

It took him a second, but he quickly recognized the manicured lawn of the golf course. About fifty yards away he could make out a small table, umbrella, and a golf cart sitting innocently next to a little flag pole. His contact was sitting at the table drinking tea.

Gendo ran a hand through his hair and snarled a little as he made his way across the area.
He was sure that something was watching him, he could feel it, and had a feeling that several snipers might have him in their sights by now. It took him several minutes to reach the table. The man looked up at him, his long brown hair falling around his shoulders. He was wearing a very expensive suit that looked out of place on the golf course.

“Gendo.”

“Masato Sanjouin.” Gendo said, attempting to be polite. “Why the hell did you call me out here?”

“I’ve been checking around and you seem to be the man I need for a little job.”

Gendo snarled. “I don’t think so. I don’t like playing these kinds of games.”

Masato narrowed his eyes. “I want your services.”

“I have better things to do than play cloak and dagger games. I’m only here because you mentioned something about magic. Explain what you want of me.”

Leaning back, Masato shrugged. “You have a reputation for harassing people Gendo Saotome and abusing your power. It has made you a number of enemies. I can help remove some of those enemies.”

“Not interested.”

Holding out his hand, palm up, and a book appeared in Masato’s hand with a burst of energy. “Not even for this?”

Gendo eyed the book and a greedy look filled his eyes. “A book of magic?”

“I can sense your abilities Gendo; you are rather poorly trained, but you have some potential. This book can enhance those abilities nicely.”

“I’m better than you think.” Gendo snarled, his eyes lighting up with an inner fire.

Masato threw his head back and laughed. “You may be able to cast magic, but you aren’t much of a threat to a trained mage.”

“How dare you…”

“Because, I could blow you away with a wave of my hand.” Masato voice was ice cold. He locked eyes with Gendo and stared the man down after several seconds.

“What do you want from me then?”

“I’m trying to find the identities of some people and my usual sources aren’t working. You can find the information for me because of your position. If you succeed, I’ll give you this book of magic.”

“It’s a simple as that?”

“Indeed.”

“Who are the targets?”

“The Sailor Scouts.”

Gendo gaped like a fish for several seconds before grinning widely. “Deal.”

Masato handed him a card. “That is an unlisted number. Call me when you have the information and we can make the exchange.” Then the table, umbrella, and cart suddenly flared with a bright white light and vanished. Gendo fell to the ground as his chair vanished and muttered a few cuss words, but he pocketed the card and headed back for his car.

oooooooooo

A dark green smoke filled the alley way behind the Sunrise and Beyond Love Hotel, seeping across the walls of the building, almost completely hidden in the darkness. It stole up to each of the windows where it would pause for a brief second before forcing a tendril of smoke into the room.

From there it would move from window to window in a slow and patient pace. Every now and then the smoke would pulse and grow just a little bigger as the night wore on.

Then, just as the sun was cresting the edge of the city it would slowly retreat back down the alley and down through the sewer grate. Filling the tunnel, the smoke flowed across the city until it entered a run down building at the edge of Nerima.

As the smoke burst form a crack in the floor it started to swirl, forming into a solid mass. Within seconds Jade stood there, her eyes glinting as they surveyed the room for intruders. She flipped her long blue hair over her shoulder and stretched her neck from side to side.

Then her form changed again, this time taking on a male form. His eyes were identical though and they turned to look at a nearby wall. They unfocused for a second and the man, Jedite, said a single word.

“Vespa.”

Halfway across the city, the Youma looked up and shuddered as she felt her master calling for her. She dropped the body of the stray cat she held in her hand. It didn’t make a sound as it hit the ground and stared at the sky with empty glassy eyes.

The Youma focused on her master and vanished from sight, only to reappear a few feet from Jedite. “Master.”

“How goes the collection?”

“I have managed to gather more than expected master.” Vespa said.

“Show me.” He ordered.

Shuddering, the Youma held up her hands and a large ball of energy, nearly the size of a beach ball, formed. Holding up his own hand, Jedite used his power to pull the energy from the Youma. It stretched across the room and started to glow into his hand.
Jedite’s eyes went wide. “This is an enormous amount of energy Vespa.”

“Yes master.”

“Are there even any animals left in the city after this?”

“Many of them survived the draining process. I believe that they will be ready to be drained again within the next couple of weeks and I left a magic tag on them for when they are ready. Once that happens we can drain them from anywhere in the city. It could be an inexhaustible source of energy.”

“True.” Jedite said. “It is almost unworthy of us though. To take from a brainless thing when we can gain a thousand time more than this from a group of Humans.”

The Youma decided that it didn’t need to say anything.

“What of Nephlite?”

“His plan failed master and I haven’t heard from him in several days.”

“He survived?”

“Yes.”

“Has he forgotten about you?”

“No Master.” Vespa shook her head. She could feel Nephlite’s bond as easily as she could sense Jedite.

Jedite could feel his form weakening. He could only hold his true form for a short while before he was forced to change back into Jade to rest. Vespa wasn’t aware that of Jedite’s current status, other than he was supposed to be imprisoned. He turned and stared at the Youma.

“Well done Vespa. Please continue what you were doing and expand out to other animals as you run out of stray cats and dogs. I will be developing a storage crystal similar to what Beryl uses so that we can store the energy a little better.

“Of course Master.” Vespa said as she vanished in a burst of dark energy.

Jedite held his form another thirty seconds out of pure stubbornness. Slumping, his male body liquefied for a second and shrunk down a little and turned back into Jade. The girl made her way over to nearby corner and stood over a bucket, changed to water, and flowed into the pail.

As time went on this new form was experiencing a number of changes. The original owner of the body had been a very promising Youma female with the power to control water. She could even control how hot or cold it was, how much pressure was used, and wield it in combat.

Jedite didn’t really exist anymore, Jade was a composite of Tidus and Jedite, with Jedite’s personality mostly in control. Tidus, he knew, never had to change into a liquid form to sleep. Jade didn’t understand why either, but she always woke up feeling a lot better after a few hours rest in the container. She could also tell that her powers were slowly changing.

Feeding from the energy produced by mating humans wasn’t as effective as it was originally. Now she seemed to be pulling more and more energy from her environment. She would have to find out what was going on before things got too complicated. Jedite’s personality agreed as well. They would have to spend a few weeks experimenting.
She didn’t want to make a mistake before her plans were ready to bare fruit.

At the same time she felt a strange stirring in her stomach as she rested. Whatever it was, she had a feeling that it might be something really good, or worse than the slavery under Beryl.

Only time would tell.

oooooooooo

“What do you think of that?” The blonde haired girl said quietly to her purse. It appeared to move and a white furred cat with a gold crescent moon on its forehead lifted its head out of the purse. It stared at the window for several seconds before turning to the girl.

“A fifteen thousand yen leather pushup bra?”

Minako grinned. “Yes. Isn’t it beautiful, Artemis?”

“I remind you I’m a Male talking cat, not a fashion designer. It would also make you look like a hooker.”

The girl’s long blonde hair shifted around as she swept it back with her hand and grinned. “It would look great on me.”

“Right.” The cat drawled. “Like that trenchcoat looked good on you?”

“I was investigating a crime.”

“You don’t tip toe across a parking lot and expect people not to notice Minako.”

Minako huffed. “It was a viable plan.”

“You weren’t investigating a crime Mina, you were chasing after that card throwing guy. Ace.”

“He was so dreamy!”

“He married your partner!”

“It was so romantic.” She sighed.

Artemis sighed. “Yeah right, that’s why you spent most of the plane ride from Europe sniffling and sobbing every twenty or so minutes.”

The girl thumped the cat over the head. “Quiet butterball or I’ll sell you to a violin factory.”

The cat grinned. “Hah, I’m too crafty for you.”

The girl glared at the cat as it snickered at her.

“Ooooh!” She stomped her foot and headed down the street.

oooooooooo

Two police officers stood guard in front of small alley way. Gendo Saotome stood several yard inside the alley way looking around at a couple dozen cats. Every single one of them appeared to be extremely sick. They were laid out on the ground, on top of trash cans, in piles along the wall.

This was the twentieth time Gendo had seen a scene like this in the last month. He wasn’t really part of the investigation, but he was able to step in and see the scenes every now and then. According to several of the agencies in the government, scenes like this were becoming too common.

He knelt down and pulled on a white glove. The cats were still alive, but they were skin and bones. He couldn’t see any kind of muscle or fat on their bodies at all. Several of them were barely breathing. He grabbed a nearby calico and performed a magical scan on it.

As with the previous scenes, the animal was nearly devoid of life energy. The dull eyes of the cat stared out at him as it struggled to try and get away, but Gendo had other ideas. He glanced over his shoulder at the two police officers and cast a quick spell to keep them from noticing what he was doing

They seemed to relax a little and looked away a few seconds later. Gendo quickly traced a number of symbols in the dirt on the ground and infused them with energy. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a tuft of black hair, and grinned.

It was a lock of Ranma Saotome’s hair from about five years ago. Back then he had been thinking of casting a spell to wipe out the boy’s mind and turn him into a slave. Genma had been more than willing to send the lock of hair so long as Ranma eventually got around to creating an heir for the school.

Ranma’s mother had killed that plan, although she wasn’t aware of it. She had a nasty tendency to stick her nose into his plans at the worst possible times. Now that Genma was keeping her occupied, Gendo figured this would be the perfect time to set in motion another plan to obtain the boy.

He reached out, traced another symbol on the ground, and dropped the cat right in the center. It didn’t hit the ground. Instead it started floating about an inch above the symbols. He watched as the energy swirled around the cat’s body and a series of symbols started to appear above the cat.

“I see your soul is still in there.” Gendo said and grinned wider. “This is too good to pass up.”

Chanting under his breath, Gendo’s gloved hand lit up with a bluish white fire that quickly surrounded the cat. It tried to yowl in pain, but the fire quickly consumed its body. The other cats couldn’t do a thing to stop him as they were forced to watch as the cat’s body started to warp and twist.

Gendo increased the power of his spell and within seconds the cat was sitting on the ground looking whole and healthy, except for its empty red eyes. Grunting, Gendo stood up and looked down at the cat. “You will obey me.”

It nodded its head.

“You are to track down Ranma Saotome and tell me where he is.”

It nodded again, lifted its head into the air, and sniffed the air several times. A pair of wings sprang out of its back with a horrible shower of blood and gore, but the wounds quickly sealed up. The cat ran down the alley way and launched into the air.

Gendo watched it for several seconds before turning back to the other end of the alley where the cops were completely ignoring him. He checked his watch again and pulled out his cell phone. He had another problem to solve now. Just who were the Sailor Scouts?

oooooooooo

Several miles away, at the edge of the Juuban district, Ranma dragged herself to her feet once again and turned to face Happosai. She was completely exhausted, her clothing shredded, and covered in bruises from head to toe. Even Ranma had to admit, grudgingly, that the old fart was a smidge better than she thought he was.

She tried to focus on him as he cackled several yards away. Off to the side Nodoka looked a bit worried, but wasn’t doing anything. According to the sun, the two of them had been fighting for nearly ten hours now, clear through the night. The sun would be up in a few hours as well.

“Is that all you got old man?” Ranma growled, a bit of blood running down the side of her face.

“You seem a bit winded there Ranma. Any particular reason why?” Happosai asked, smirking.

“I’ll never stay down.” She snapped, forcing herself to move on sheer willpower alone.

Happosai just bounced around the yard and landed on the ground a few yards away, sitting, and smoking his ever present pipe. His eyes were narrowed as he watched Ranma move and knew that he’d pushed the red headed girl to the limits of her ability. It was also painfully obvious that even though Ranma was familiar with several powerful Ki attacks, she didn’t know how to manage her power correctly.

“Oh really. It looks like you’re about to fall over from here. Sure you don’t want to give up?”

Ranma just snarled, holding up her hand and forming a large ball of bluish white Ki. Then threw it at him with a flick of her wrist. It streamed out, leaving a long line of energy clear back to her hand. Of course Happosai just snorted as he bounced to his feet, flicked something from his pipe and blocked the Ki.

“So you’re down to using emotional Ki attacks now? Not very smart of you.”

Ranma groaned as she suddenly collapsed to the ground unconscious. It only took a second for Nodoka to run over and kneel down beside her, checking to see if she was alive. “I can’t believe you pushed her that far.”

“He did quite well and never gave up. He pushed himself to his limits and simply passed out on his feet.”

“These pronouns are going to be headache to keep track of.” Nodoka muttered as she picked up Ranma.

“Don’t worry about it. Ranma passed my test and should has learned several new moves if he was paying attention to the fight. I know he was.” The old man said as he pulled a pretty blue panty out of his Gi and started to play with it.

Nodoka rolled her eyes and wondered where they came from. She didn’t own blue panties. “I’m going to put Ranma in the guest room. Should I call a doctor?”

“Naw, Ranma just needs sleep. I didn’t cause any major damage. Just some bruising and ruined her clothing.”

“Alright.”

Ranma’s head was throbbing as she opened her eyes, the memories of her loss coming back to her. Even after falling over she hadn’t passed out until Nodoka brought her into the house. She just hadn’t been able to move. That Ki attack had been the last of her energy, anything more and she would have used her own life force and died.

Turning her head, she glanced around the room. Like the rest of the house, it was quite plain, nothing to really show that someone even lived there. She was in the only bed, a western style one, there was a night stand, a lamp and a closet off to the side. Nothing else.

That wasn’t quite true, sitting by the door was a small pile of clothing and some bath supplies. She closed her eyes again and went into her center to examine her Ki. Even after a few hours of sleep it was already more than halfway replenished, boiling away. She tightened her control on the energy as she let it flow throughout her body.

Sighing in relief as her pain started to recede, even her headache. She slowly sat up. She sat on the edge of the bed looking down at her naked body. Every square inch of her skin seemed to have a bruise plastered across it. She wondered how bad her face looked for a second, and then shrugged it off.

Standing up was a pain filled chore that took even more Ki to sooth. Gritting her teeth, she moved over to the clothes and saw just what she needed. Some skin oils that would help her muscles recover faster once she got in a furo. Just as she was about to pick everything up, someone knocked on the door.

“Ranma?” Nodoka asked.

“I’m awake.”

“Can I come in?”

“Sure.” Ranma wasn’t really that modest, so she didn’t even think about the fact that she was completely naked. The bruises were more important as far as she was concerned.

The door opened and Nodoka stepped in. She was in a shirt and shorts, much more casual than what she was wearing a few hours before. She glanced at Ranma and gasped. “Oh my god! How can you even move around with that much damage and pain?!”

Smirking a little, Ranma shrugged. “I’ve taken beatings like this three or four times a year under Genma’s training. I’ve gotten used to it.”

Nodoka looked like she was about to start crying.

“It’s alright.” Ranma said, patting her on the shoulder.

“It’s not alright Ranma. Happosai pushed you to see your limits and I can understand that. Your father should never had to beat you like this.”

“Don’t ever call that man my father.” Ranma snapped and looked away.

“A-alright.” Nodoka said quietly. She quickly picked up the clothing and other items. “There’s a robe in the closet over there. Put that on and we’ll go down to the furo.
Happosai also wants to talk to you now that you’re up.”

As she slipped the white robe on, Ranma had to smirk a little at the ‘Hilton’ logo on the robe. Who would have though her mother would steal a robe from a hotel? They stepped out of the room and headed down stairs. They quickly entered the main room and Ranma spotted the old letch sitting on the table playing with a couple of scrolls.

“Old fart.”

He looked up and grinned. “Good morning Ranma, I see you finally woke up. You’ve been sleeping for almost five hours. Nearly time for an early lunch.”Ranma gave him a bow. “You wanted to talk to me?”

Nodoka decided to leave them alone for a minute and headed for the kitchen. It was about time to start making lunch anyway.

“You passed your evaluation, but I noticed several things I didn’t like one bit.”

“Like what?”

“You have amazing Ki abilities for your age, but almost no control over them.”

“I have perfect control!” Ranma bristled.

“No, you do not.” Happosai said. “You treat your Ki like a thug would a hand gun. You load it, aim, and fire it with no conscious control over your attack after it leaves your hands.”

“But…”

“I know you had some Amazon training, but its faulty with their style as well. They won’t admit it of course, but they like the big bang Ki attacks that create shock and awe among the people.”

“I don’t understand.” Ranma said. “I spend an hour or more per day working on my Ki control. I have this meditation technique I do where I force three balls of Ki into three different shapes all at once.” Ranma explained. “My control has been getting better and better.”

Happosai snorted. “That’s good for a beginner, but you’re better than that. You’re treating Ki as if it was a game to be mastered boy. You couldn’t be farther from the truth.”

“Then explain it.” Ranma snapped, almost stomping her foot.

The old man leered at her. “I don’t mind being flashed a bit of your natural red hair boy, but I hope you mean it.”

Gasping, Ranma blushed as she retied the robe.

This just made the old man laugh harder. “Now, you’ve been using pure Ki for most of your attacks lately. That’s a very smart thing to do. You need to stay away from emotional Ki, it can seriously mess you up. Now, you need to do two things for the next stage of your training. The first is mastering a couple of Ki moves that I created.”

The old man tossed the scrolls to her and Ranma quickly opened them. Ranma glanced at the name of the first move and sweat dropped. “Pull of the giant phallus?!”

“Such a lovely name.” The old man said, smiling lecherously.

Shuddering, Ranma read through the scroll and realized that move had nothing to do with sex at all. Instead it was meant to force a martial arts student’s Ki reserves to swell in size over several weeks time. It would also increase one’s strength and health.

“This is a very interesting technique old man.” Ranma said as she sat the scroll down.

“You’ll need to master it as quickly as you can. It is the foundation that you will build the rest of your training on. This is just the beginning of your training. I won’t even teach you fighting moves till I think you can handle them. I barely even used my skills against you boy and you ended up a walking bruise. Get stronger, or else.”

Ranma bowed her head to him. “Yes Master.”

This made Happosai smile. “Good boy. I taught several of these moves to your father and Soun a long time ago, but they never made it past a certain point. Few ever do, but you have the potential they didn’t have.”

Reaching out, Ranma picked up the second scroll. This one was also a pure Ki technique, but dealt with several pressure points around the body. “What’s this?”

“That pesky Ki of yours that keeps trying to burst out of your control. Both moves are needed to help bring it under control, as we deepen your reserves and increase the control the wild Ki raging through your body will be tamed. When that happens your power will increase several times over. Hell, you might even rival me, but I doubt it.”

Ranma ignored the old man’s final comment and read the scroll and noted this move was also designed to tame his Ki, but by forcing it into different parts of his body. “This could possibly kill me old man.”

“So what?”

She glanced at him.

“Some chances have to be made to master the Art.” Happosai told her. “Besides, you’re strong though to survive this. Otherwise I wouldn’t have given you the scroll.”

Ranma shrugged. “I never said I wouldn’t do it, just that it was very dangerous.”

“By itself yeah, but combined with the other technique they balance each other out nicely.”

Blinking, Ranma compared them and realized that he was right. “Whoa.”

Happosai just cackled. “You are also lucky I’m not going to make you start going on my raids on with me. Your strength is enough that you won’t need to meet the pretty ladies.”

“Huh?”

“Happosai is a panty thief, he runs around the district stealing panties and getting large groups of beautiful women to chase after him. He seems to live for the chase.” Nodoka said as she entered the room and sat a large plate of sandwiches down on the table.

“You’ve got to be kidding me?” Ranma snapped.

The old man smirked again and twirled his pipe. “I do it for several reasons, it’s fun, exciting, and it makes the girls Ki levels rise through the roof and allows me to sample Ki from them even as we play.”

“You’re a vampire!” Ranma snapped.

Suddenly Happosai was right in front of her, a pair of panties in her face, as he tapped her forehead with his finger. Ranma gasped as she felt a surge of Ki enter her body and spread clear down to her toes. Then she broke out in a sweat as she realized that the Ki was affecting her body in a way she wasn’t sure she liked. “What?”

“Just a sample of what I take in, boy. Pure Ki, a very arousing experience.” Happosai said as he sampled one of the sandwiches. “Don’t mock it till you know why I use it.”

Ranma, blushing a little, just nodded as she got back up and quickly headed for the bathroom. She also tossed both scrolls in her subspace pocket with the other one. She ignored Happosai laughing at her as she raced for the bathroom, to embarrassed to look him in the eye.

“That wasn’t a very nice thing to do Happi.” Nodoka said.

The old man laughed again. “Well she certainly seemed to like it.”

“You cut that out.” She insisted, then giggled as Happosai held up the underwear Ranma had been carrying with her to the bathroom.

In the bathroom, Ranma tossed the clothing on the sink. She noticed that was a pair of slacks, a blouse, and a pair of sandals. Shaking her head, she decided that there was no way she would wear the outfit. The underwear was missing too. Shrugging, she grabbed the oils and stepped into the wash area.

She spent several minutes washing her body, being careful not to aggravate her bruises. After rinsing the soap off she opened the oil bottles and started to working the stuff into her feet and calves, slowly working her way up her body. She could feel the burn as the oil worked on her muscles.

It only took her several minutes to cover her whole body, even her back. Then she moved over to the furo to soak for several minutes. The oils were designed to work with the hot water, increasing its effectiveness. It hurt like hell, but Ranma ignored it as she leaned against the wall of the tub.

She nearly dozed off as she sat there, but then she heard her communicator beeping. Frowning a little, she flicked her hand, and the little device appeared in her hand. “Yeah?”

“Ranma.”

“Hey Ito, what’s up?”

“I’ve been working on the housing situation and stumbled across something you might like.”

“Shoot.” Ranma said.

“Well we’ve been staying at that one place for a few days now. I just found the owner and he seems willing to let us rent the place.”

“Interesting, is it a good deal?”

Ito nodded. “You have access to that money Pluto gave you and with a bit of tweaking on my part, I’ve had quite a bit of money deposited into the account.”

Ranma blinked and started to pay a bit more attention. “Where’s this money coming from.”

“Places.” Ito said, looking away.

“Ito.” Ranma growled.

The cat gulped and looked nervous. “Well, you see, I might have…sorta, invested a tiny amount of it here and there.”

“I don’t recall asking you to do that.”

“I’m your adviser and you needed the money.” Ito said.

“How much are we looking at here?”

“Um…” Ito mumbled something and coughed.

“Ito.” Ranma’s voice went flat.

The cat coughed. “Um, through a grand stroke of luck, I’ve managed to gain you a major deal. I don’t know the exact amount, but as of yesterday you were worth two billion yen.”

Ranma twitched.

“Ah, two billion seven hundred million forty five thousand yen. Cough, to be exact.”

Twitch.

“Ranma? Ranma? Ranma, are you awake?” The cat asked over the communicator.

“I see.” Ranma said, perfectly calm.

“I knew you would be happy.”

Ranma nodded, her eyes blank.

“Ranma? Heeelllooo?!”

“And did you happen to use any of your magic to accomplish this?”

“Of course! It makes things so much more simple really.”

Ranma sighed. “If we have that much money, buy the house and grounds from the guy.”

“Ah…” Ito started.

“Well the guy was a bit startled by your name Ranma. He wants to meet you before he will even decide anything.”

“Oh really?”

“Amazingly enough, both of you seem to have similar last names.” Ito explained.

“Saotome?”

“Misaki actually.”

“Ito, you do recall where I got my current last name.”

The cat nodded. “The owner just wants to find out if you’re a long lost relative.”

“Just tell him no.”

“Well, you see his family is convinced you just might be. Especially after I described you to them.”

“Now it’s the whole family?”

“Eh heh.” The cat said and sweatdropped.

Ranma sighed. “Alright, I can meet with them I suppose. Where and when?”

“Um, today would be best actually. The house belonged to this old priest’s daughter a few decades ago. When she married, her husband became the owner of the house and land. They had a lot of good times there and would like to see the house stay in the family if possible.”

“Ito, I’m not in the best of shape for meetings today.” Ranma admitted, though barely.

“I can see all those bruises Ranma, but that’s never slowed you down before.” The cat pointed out.

“Oh haha.”

“See? The owner will meet you at the house we’re staying at this afternoon if you want. Better get cleaned up and I’ll meet you there in an hour or so.”

Ranma sighed again. “Alright, then you can explain more about this sudden money wind fall.”

“No problem!” The cat said as the communicator turned off.

Flicking her wrist, Ranma put the communicator back in the subspace pocket and slowly stood up, stepping out of the furo. She could already feel a major difference in her movements. Even the bruises were starting to visibly fade away. In a few hours they just might be completely healed if she got lucky.

Grabbing her towel, Ranma quickly dried herself off and let her hair fall around her shoulders. She didn’t feel like retying the pigtail right then. She pulled her regular clothes out of the subspace pocket, ignoring the others, and quickly dressed. It was one of the lessons that Cologne taught her when they were training backing China.

She stretched for a few minutes right there in the bathroom to work out a few more sore muscles and to get the stupid bra to settle a bit more. Then she moved out of the bathroom and back to the front room.

“Ranma!” Nodoka said as she came out of nowhere and hugged her.

This made Ranma freeze for a second, but then her mother released her and stepped away. “Hey, mom.” Ranma said, still a little unsure about calling her that.

Nodoka beamed at her. “Where did you find those clothes?”

“I always carry a spare set with me incase I something like yesterday happens.” She explained.

“Ah, I’ll put my clothes back then.”

Ranma nodded. “I’d better go…”

“So…soon?” Nodoka asked.

“Um, I might be buying a house today and I need to meet the owner of the place I’ve been staying at.”

“You can afford to buy your own house?”

Ranma nodded. “Seems a couple of deals turned out to be quite lucky. My adviser is taking care of the deal for the house, so I’m not to worried.”

“You could always stay here.” Nodoka offered.

“Maybe in the future.” Ranma said a bit uncomfortably. She was used to being on her own and didn’t want to give it up. “Besides, I’ll be sharing the house with several other girls as well.”

“Girls?”

Ranma missed the amused tone in Nodoka’s voice. “Yep, a couple of friends I made in china, the two you met the other day at that house with the demon.”

Nodoka nodded, hiding a little smile. “I see, well you are a growing girl. I won’t stop you, but you are always welcome here.”

“Thank you.” Ranma said. “I’d better go. By the way, where’s Happosai?”

“He went on raid over in Nerima. He says there’s this school there that has all the girls still wearing the proper girls’ uniform.”

Laughing, Ranma nodded. “I’ll stop by again in a day or two and we see how things go from there.”

Nodoka nodded. She knew that something bad was going to happen now that Ranma was here, but she didn’t want to really think about it just yet. Gendo was going to do something to hurt her over this. Just like the last time she came close to finding Ranma. “I’ll be looking forward to your next visit Ranma. I’ll contact Dr. Jones and see if he’s found anything as well.”

“Thanks.” Ranma said as she headed for the door.

oooooooooo

Authors notes: This chapter is quite a bit smaller than a lot of the previous chapters. The smaller chapters worked out great for my other story, The Stone, so I’ve applied that to this story as well. I expect this next part of the story to be about six chapters or so. With any luck that should be quite a bit of work when combined.

I'm also going to change the setting of the fic a bit. Perfume and Shampoo will be leaving here pretty soon as they have had their time in the lime light. Nodoka is introduced, Happosai is causing readers to quite a bit of shock, and I still haven't gotten around to doing much with Makoto or Minako.

Gonna have to focus on them more.

I'm also going to be hitting on more with Male-Ranma in the next few chapters. I've got some ideas I'm playing around with at the moment.