Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Tears of Anger ❯ It sucks to be Broke ( Chapter 5 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Tears of Anger
Ranma ½ by Rumiko Takahashi
Sailormoon by Naoko Takeuchi
By Acetalon
Chapter 5:It sucks to be Broke

Note: Hotaru is around 16. The outer senshi are a little older. The
Inner Senshi are, well, somewhere a little older than Hotaru, but not
as old as the Outer Senshi.

"Over there!," Sailor Jupiter pointed to under a tree.
The Senshi had arrived just in time to see a seriously beat-up statue
holding a sword up to a man who looked to be in equally bad shape.
When the statue raised its sword to attack Sailor Moon knew it was time
to act and attacked. The giant heart connected and the enemy
disintegrated, leaving a small cracked egg. The Sailor Senshi rushed
down and returned the heart crystals to their owners.

"Whew, I'm glad we didn't have to actually do a lot this time,"
sighed a relieved Venus. The rest of the group gave their unspoken
agreement.

"But what about that guy over there?" asked Mars, pointing to
a shadowy figure hidden under a tree.

"Now we see what we are dealing with here," replied Sailor Moon
simply.


Ranma leaned against the tree, exhausted. Fighting a stone
statue that repairs itself for half the night had really taken its toll
on Ranma. He decided he didn't care about strange attacking statues
or stranger people who drop in at the end of a fight or strange red
crystals. He didn't even care that he was in the middle of a park,
resting against a tree looking like he was was fighting for 3 days
straight. "Might as well sleep here," He thought as his eyes began to
droop. That seemed to piss off the girl with the red skirt when he sat
down and closed his eyes.

"Hey, you over there! What are you doing out here?" She shouted
at him.

"Sleeping," he answered with a yawn. "Please just go away,"
he silently prayed to himself."

"Not until you answer our questions," She growled at him,
clenching her fist. "What kind of a moron sleeps in a park right after
a fight?" Mars asked herself.

"Didn't think so," he thought "Look," Ranma said out loud
tiredly. "I've been up half the night fighting some stupid statue.
I'm tired, hungry, and haven't slept for a whole day so just wait for
next time. I'm outta here."

Not wanting to be pestered any longer, Ranma leaped into the
tree and started hopping onto the rooftops leaving everyone in the
dust. The scouts watched him leave, not bothering to chase the swift
red streak.

"Guess that's that. See you guys in the morning," yawned
Sailor Moon, not caring in the least what had just happened.
Apparently no one knew what to say since they spoke not a word while
leaving. Once everyone transformed out of Senshi form, Makoto decided
to break the silence.

"So what do we do about that guy?" she asked.

"I say we hunt him down and get some answers out of him!"
answered a seriously-annoyed Rei.

"But how are we to find him? We can't just walk around town
looking for a guy we didn't even get a good look at," reminded Ami,
which deflated Rei's gung-ho attitude.

"We should try something!" Rei protested.

"What would we do?"

"Anything! We can't just let a guy who was nearly strong
enough to defeat a daimon wander around town! He could seriously hurt
some people!"

"But we don't know where he is," reminded Minako for the second
time. "Anyways I'm tired. See you in the morning."

The group dispersed. Everyone having their own thoughts on the
matter but no one had a clue on what to do. Everyone except Rei. She
knew exactly how she would get her answers. Minako stopped. She
turned around to face everyone as they were leaving and asked the one
question, important it was though no one would have thought with the
stranger strong enough to nearly defeat a daimon fresh on their minds.

"What happened to the Outer Senshi? Don't they usually come by
to check on the heart crystals?"


(The next day)

Hotaru got up out of bed and yawned. It had been strange the
day before, but she was refreshed now.

"Wonder if I'll see any more strange men falling from the sky
today," she asked herself while getting dressed. Hardly anything
interesting ever happens, and after yesterday she was hoping it
was a sign that things were looking up. Hotaru ate very little very
quickly and sparingly, like always, and left the house. She did not
want to meet up with Kaori. Hotaru walked to school. She was thinking
about things that have happened to her in her life, and things now.
That boy falling into the park was one of the more exciting things that
have happened to her recently.

"I wonder, if I went to the park would be he there?" she asked
herself, unconsciously taking a longer path to school so she could pass
by the park.

Hotaru's pace slowed to a halt once she came across the park.
She stared, comepletely surprised at the scene before her in the park
that was totally normal the day before. A complete disaster. Holes
littered the ground that were deep enough to fit a full sized adult
into. One tree was uprooted and cut in half. There were many other
trees that did not escape unscathed, however. Many trees had long
stone spikes stuck in them. One was completely covered with embedded
spikes that were stuck so closely together that the tree looked like it
had stone hair growing from the side. Many other people were looking
at the park in wonder. Hotaru was surprised enough to drop her bookbag
and forget about it.

"Excuse me, but do you know what happened here?" Hotaru asked a
near passerby.

"Not personally," the man replied. "But rumor has it that
some guy and a statue did all this. All last night too." The man
sighed. "But most rumors are exaggerated, because there's no way two
people could have done all this. It was probably more than that." The
man walked off to do whatever he was going to do before he came by the
park.

Hotaru took a second look around, saddened at the sight. Now
she would have nowhere to go in her spare time. When she was depressed
or when she needed a place to think to herself. There were already
construction workers at the spot, repairing the damage. The loud hum
of their tools were already in the air. Hotaru left quickly,
remembering that she had school to attend.

"Kuso," Ranma cursed. He had just woken up and was thinking
that today must have been his lucky day since it didn't rain during the
night when he remembered he had left his pack in the park. His pack
held everything in it, from cooking supplies to training tools to fond
memories of the past. If he lost his pack, he would be in an even
worse predicament than he was in at the moment. Ranma quickly got up
and started leaping from rooftop to rooftop, only vaguely remembering
which direction he came from. Ranma did have a bad feeling that
something was going to happen to him, soon.

SPLASH!

"Yep, it just isn't my day and it never will be," thought an
irritated Ranma-chan, ignoring the woman that dumped the soapy water
when she asked if Ranma-chan was alright. "Honestly, what do these
people think they're doing, tossing the water out the window?"

At the park, construction was progressing quickly and was
estimated to finish within a few days. The only problem was there was
something preventing the reconstruction: a giant travelling back was
blocking the way and no one could move it. When Ranma-chan walked in,
a construction worker was busy trying to push it off to the side so it
wouldn't get in the way. He was having very little success. Ranma
hopped down from the fence and walked up to him.

"What's wrong?" she asked, though she knew perfectly well what
the problem was and she smiled to herself.

"This damn pack weighs a couple tons at the least!" said the
worker. He sat down for a moment.

"Don't worry, I'll take it off your hands." The worker
laughed.

"I appreciate the offer, but I hardly think that a young lady
such as yourself could help..." his voice trailed off as he watched
Ranma-chan casually lift up the giant travelling. She grinned and
jumped onto the nearest rooftop to start rooftop jumping. The
construction worker could only watch with his jaw lying on the ground.


Ranma-chan kept up his pace for a couple of minute and stopped.
She leaned against her bag.

"Man, what am I going to do? I can't just keep sleeping on
rooftops. I have to find a place to stay." Ranma-chan sat down and
took a few minutes to clear some things up.

"Well, the park is no longer an option. I guess that means
I'll have to get some sort of apartment," Ranma-chan sighed. She
took out a canteen and a small heater on top of some random building to
make some hot water. When she became a he Ranma lay down to think
about the new developements.

First off, there were monsters here. No big deal, because they
couldn't be much harder than anything Ranma. Second, there was a group
of girls who dressed up in sailor fukus. One of them could shoot a
giant heart, and for all Ranma knew the rest could only shoot
strange objects at enemies. Third, he had to get an apartment. The
thought made Ranma shudder. He was not used to spending a lot of money
unless Nabiki was concerned. She was not here anymore, but it brought
up unwanted memories to pay daily fees, only now it was for a place to
stay, not blackmail.

Ranma got up and shouldered his travelling pack again. It was
going to be a long day.


Hino Rei walked out, a little unsteady on her feet. She did
not know exactly what to make of her fire reading, but it was
definitely something that she needed to tell someone. A strong urge to
tell Sailor Plute was rising within her, but the dream involved Sailor
Pluto, so that wasn't a really good idea. Rei knew this was important,
but would it affect their actions if she told her team? It was
originally meant to find more information on that boy. He was in the
fire reading, so she did find what she set out to do. But what came
afterwards was...unexpected.

"I'd better call a meeting with the rest of the Senshi. They
might want to hear this. But I better make sure there are no Outer
Senshi and definitely no Sailor Pluto." Rei called everyone on the
phone, telling them there was a meeting.

"WHAT?! But its Saturday! Can't it be tommorrow?"

Rei gritted her teeth. She should have known better than to
call Tsukino Usagi first.

"Look, Usagi. I have something important to tell everyone and
we need a meeting TODAY! It has to do in part with that boy we met
yesterday."

"Oh! Is he cute? Is he single? Where does he go to school?
What does he-"

Rei nearly pulled out her hair. Didn't she just tell her it
was important? "MEATBALL HEAD! THIS CALL ISN'T ABOUT BOYS! THE FATE
OF THE WORLD MAY REST ON YOU HEARING THIS! SO GET OVER HERE NOW!"

"Oh all riiiight," Usagi's voice drawed out the last word on
the phone.

Rei slammed the phone down on the receiver, lest she break it
by her grip-of-death. Even if she did exagerate a little, it was still
important.

"I'm nearly having a heart attack trying to figure this out and
all she asks is if the boy is cute! She's already got a boyfriend!"
raged Rei. "When I get my hands on her I'll shove those odangos in her
mouth and make her wish she'd never had them!" She took a deep breath,
exhaled, then proceeded to call the rest of the senshi.

Rei had little trouble with the rest of the Senshi. The rest
of them were wise enough not to question Rei when she used the serious
'the world is going to end if you don't come' voice.


Haruka opened her eyes slowly. She knew that something
important happened yesterday, but she couldn't remember what. She
lifted her head slowly until the shafts of light started to burrow
their way through her eyelids. She clutched her head, moaning.

"Argh, I had too much to drink," Haruka moaned. She got up,
slowly, snails pace, but she got up. She was wearing very little but
she didn't notice with her throbbing headache. She looked around. A
strange room that she didn't recognize. She remembered being out at a
party, but couldn't remember why. Something about a race, and a
trophy, and lots of alchohol...

Someone mumbled something next to her and turned over. A deep,
manly voice. Haruka froze, her headache forgotten, and turned around
slowly. A small voice in her head was telling her something was wrong,
but with her headache she didn't hear it.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

A couple of the others who got drunk last night were clutching
their heads and groaned.

"Next time we play a joke on the champion, lets make sure its
not a day that we're not drunk and not in the room when she pull it,"
one person from the group said. The rest nodded their heads in
agreement, their headaches too large to say anything.

Michiru was in her apartment with only a slight headache. That
party Haruka's friends threw her was just too wild for her. She drank
some, as a toast to Haruka's victory, but left shortly after that to
get some fresh air. Haruka had had to stay, however. She was the 1st
prize winner, so she had to stay. Michiru was getting worried. The
party was yesterday. It was noon and Michiru had not heard from Haruka
yet. She had started to fidget, unable to sit still.

"I hope nothing happened to her," thought a Michiru, with an
apprehensive look.


Ranma walked out of the small apartment building. Apartments
in Juuban were expensive. Ranma had barely enough cash to pay for two
months rent, including that month. That wasn't including food either.

Ranma kicked at the dirt. "What am I going to do? No money
for food, no money for clothes, and no money for more than a few months
rent." Well at least transportation wouldn't be a problem. He checked
on the amount of food that he had brought with him. Not a whole lot,
but it would have to last.

"Guess the only thing to do is get a job. Or two." Ranma
grabbed a newspaper lying on the ground and a pencil in his pack. "Ok,
lets see... how about this one? Nah, too long. This one? maybe. How
about this? Wha? No way. That one? Nope..." He spent several hours,
circling a few that sounded reasonable to him. "Ok, enough of that.
Aren't there any jobs that are decent around here?" Ranma looked up at
the sun. It was it up, and he had a few hours to kill. He grabbed the
keys(as if he'd use them anyways, what with the ability to go through
the window) and jumped out the window. He wanted to see if the park
was fixed yet.

Haruka barreled into the room, a slightly insane look in her
eyes. She was pissed, and it wasn't hard to tell. Michiru look up and
sighed in relief. She was trying to play her violin, but wasn't doing
a very good job with anxiety and all.

"Haruka! I thought something bad might have happened to you."
She got up to hug Haruka, then stopped at the . "Is something wrong?"
Haruka sat down and groaned.

"Yes, something is wrong and yes, something bad happened to
me. First, I have a killer headache. It's a miracle I drove here
without killing anyone. And second, I'm sure something important
happened while I was drunk."

Michiru looked concerned. "I thought I felt something, but
I passed it off as being worried that something happened to you."

"Well then, do you suppose a daimon attacked?"

"Probably."

"What should we do? Talk to the Inners?"

"Lets try talking to Setsuna, but if we have no other choice,
then we talk to the Inners." Haruka hated talking to the Inner Senshi
because there was always mindless, incessant chatter and there was
always whining from their leader, Usagi.

Haruka still couldn't believe that Sailor Moon, the princess of
the Moon kingdom, was a ditzy little girl who couldn't handle getting
up in the morning for school. She first imagined that the princess
would be graceful, wise, and intelligent. Not some klutzy girl who
got the lowest scores on her tests, went boy-hunting even though she
had a boyfriend, and tripped herself up in battle. Irony is a strange
thing when it deals a hand with destiny. Bringing herself back to
reality, Haruka was about to suggest that they start looking for The
her when Setsuna appeared behind Haruka.

"You called?" The Senshi of Time said icily.

"Setsuna, can you tell us what happened yesterday?"

"Oh? And why weren't you there?" Haruka looked sheepish.

"I was...busy celebrating with some friends, ok?" Haruka
snapped. "So what happened?"

"My my, aren't we impatient," chuckled Pluto. "For starters,
a daimon came by."

"WHAT?! What happened?" asked Michiru.

"A boy, along with the Inner Senshi, took care of it."

"Who is this boy?" Haruka was getting angry at Setsuna's lack
of response and her strange smile.

"He's evil. The Inners do not know it yet, but the boy is a
minion of the same people who create the daimons, sent by those who
send the daimon to try and win their trust. Kill him or the universe
will end. Now, if you are done with your worthless questions..."
Setsuna disappeared.

Michiru was a little afraid. Pluto wasn't normally this cold.
There was something about Setsuna that wasn't there before. An
underlying sense of anger. Haruka wasn't afraid, she was gritting her
teeth, trying not to rip her hair out.

"Is she trying to drive me insane?" Haruka asked.

"I'm sure she has her reasons," "Although whatever they are
must be entirely out of my understanding," Thought Michiru.

"No she doesn't, she's just came here to stress me out. Why
would she tell us of another enemy, but not tell us WHO it is? We
can't go beat this person with the amount of information she's given
us. What does she expect us to do?"

Michiru was at a loss. She didn't know why Setsuna would tell.
them of a threat, but not specify. Most of the times, Michiru didn't
know why Setsuna did anything of what she did, but this time it was
even more confusing than normal. She also didn't know how Setsuna knew
that this guy was an enemy.

"I'll think about it tomorrow. Until she elaborates a little,
I will stick with fighting the Death Busters."

"Then what do we do if this boy appears?"

"We wait, and if he is as evil as Setsuna makes him seem, then
we'll find him easily enough."


Hotaru walked out of the classroom, ignoring the stares her
fellow classmates gave her. They were less like classmates and more
like strangers. The teachers were oblivious to this, so they didn't
notice the stares, the whispers, or anything else. They just thought
it was school talk. If they knew, they might have reacted differently.
Or indifferently, either way.

"Maybe I'll go to the park," she thought dully. If it
wasn't completely finished, then it would be mostly at least. And it
was better than going home. Her house just...didn't feel like home
anymore. She heard the whispers, but ignored them. Looking around she
saw groups of people together, happy. It made her chest ache to see
that. She dearly wished to have a friend. Someone who wouldn't care
about her abilities. Sighing, she sat down on a bench to read. The
winds brushed against her hair from behind, making it flutter in the
wind. She brushed her hair back and looked up. Ranma was there,
looking at her.


Ranma walked into the park, looking around.

"Wow, they did a nice job of restoring this place," Ranma
commented. He walked around, watching the families, the couples. The
kids were playing, the couple were kissing. Ranma wished he had a
normal childhood. To play with other kids. To make friends. He felt
like such an outcast, someone who didn't understand what normal meant.
He looked around, and he caught the girl who was in the park the day
before. She was reading. When the wind blew her hair forward Ranma
couldn't stop staring.

"Wow, she's really...out of this world," whispered Ranma. It
was true, when the wind blew forward and played with her hair, Hotaru
was incredibly kawaii. Much cuter than any of his old fiancee's were.
He reminded himself that all his fiancees were gone, he was there to
be away from them. Hotaru looked up and he froze.

"Your...Ranma?" she asked.

"Um, yeah. Hey, you remembered! Your Hotaru, right?"

"Yeah. How are you doing? Have you found what you're looking
for?"

"Sorta. But I'm still looking. " Ranma looked around. There
weren't many people in the park. Most people were probably at work or
eating at home right now. Thinking of this, Ranma's stomache growled
to remind him that he hadn't eaten for awhile. Hotaru heard this and
giggled. Ranma blushed.

"Well, I guess I'll be seein you."

"Yeah, I hope so." Ranma saw Hotaru get up as he started
walking back and stopped.

"Are you heading home too?"

"Yes, its getting dark." Ranma grinned.

"You want me to walk you home? It might be dangerous at
night, with all those strange people around." When he said this Ranma
remembered what had happened last night. "So how about it?" Ranma
was rewarded with a thoughtful look and a smile for his efforts.

"Sure, I'll show you where I live."


"Why am I doing this? Showing a nearly complete stranger to
my house?" Hotaru asked herself while walking to her house with Ranma.
They were walking side by side, following her directions. She didn't
know why, but she did know that there was something about Ranma.
Something comforting, as if he were her guardian or maybe an older
brother. Though that last part didn't sound right. More like...
Hotaru cut off that line of thought. There was one question she
couldn't resist asking.

"So Ranma..." She began.

"Yeah?" Ranma turned his head.

"How did you land in the middle of the park out of nowhere?"
Ranma shrugged.

"Dunno, really. I just jumped off a cliff and that's where I
landed." Hotaru looked at him.

"You jumped off a cliff and landed in the middle of the city,
without getting hurt?" Ranma sweated a little.

"Um, yeah its kind of a long story." Ranma said nervously,
remembering the old man, the fisherman, the farmer, and the various
other figures that were constantly giving him bad directions. Feeling
rather frusterated he jumped off the cliff.

Hotaru shrugged. It wasn't really a big deal that he could
have killed himself. At least, if he didn't care then why should she?
He didn't get hurt from it.

They walked, side by side in silence until suddenly, Hotaru
doubled over in pain, clutching her stomache. Ranma started. What
happened? What was wrong?

"Are you ok?" he crouched down, put his hand to her head as he
asked this. She didn't seem sick.

"No, its ok. I'm fine. It's just a seizure." She got up,
still holding her stomache as if she'd been stabbed. Ranma looked at
her funny. She didn't look ok, as she was still holding her stomach.
But he decided she probably knew better than he did what that was. A
seizure?

They walked together in silence, Ranma throwing quick glances
next to him to see if she was ok, which she was, until they were at the
front of her house. Hotaru walked up and opened the front door. She
turned around to Ranma.

"Um, thank you for helping me home," she said kindly.

"Hey, no problem," Ranma replied, flashing a grin. "I can't
just let a cute girl walk home alone by herself at night, could I?"
Hotaru blushed at his words. She waved goobye to Ranma and closed the
door.

Ranma waved back to the closed door, smiling to himself. That
day wasn't the greatest, but it wasn't bad for him. He headed for
home.


Authors notes: Man, took me long enough. Guess I'm just lazy. Hope
you guys liked it.