Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Wings of Fate ❯ Family Ties ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimers: Any characters used in this story that are not involved in either one of the original series belong to me, so don't take them. Sailor Moon and Ranma ½ unfortunately, do not. Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi, DiC, and Toei and Kodansha, and probably a whole big bunch of other companies I don't know the names of. While Ranma ½ belongs to Takahashi Rumiko, Shogakukan Inc, Shonen Sunday Comics, and Viz Video.

Timeline: This story takes place 20 years after the final volume of the Ranma ½ magna came out, and before Sailor Moon starts; After the prologue, the storyline will take place a few months after all the Sailor Scouts (except Venus) were found. Akane and Ranma are married, as is the rest of the Ranma ½ cast. Chapter 1 takes place during the middle of the first Season of Sailor Moon.

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~Present Day - Nerima, 6:55 a.m ~

Monday morning, the sun is just beginning to make it's slow ascent into the sky, just as alarm clocks begin to blare in within the confines of the Tendo-Saotome family home.

Ranma was the first up as always as he turned over onto his side to turn off the buzzer, and laid back on the bed, wanting to do nothing except get a few moments more sleep after the long night he had. Just as he came to the decision to do just so, he rolled back around to reach for his wife to pull her closer, only to find himself grabbing air instead.

"Akane?" Ranma called, lifting up his head, he saw that she was indeed gone. Ranma called as he opened his eyes once more, and sat up to look around the room for Akane, only to find her nowhere to be found. Sniffing the air, he can nose picks up the delicious aroma of food cooking downstairs, immediately telling him where she was.

Letting out a groan, he swung his legs over the side of the bed and climbed out, pulling on a pair of pants as he heads towards the bedroom door.

As he stepped out into the hall, he could hear the sound of snoring coming from one of the main bedrooms down the hall, along with the sound of running water coming from the hall bathroom, telling him that some of the rest of house's occupants were up, smiling before turning towards the end of the hallway and makes his way downstairs.

In the kitchen, Akane stood at the stove preparing a meal of bacon, eggs and grits for her family. Years ago after Sanma and Ranko had been born, and at Ranma's insistence that she learn to cook before she wound up killing their children with the way her cooking currently was, Akane finally admitted that she needed help with her cooking, and took a crash cooking course with both Nodako and Kasumi's help, Akane was finally able to cook normal food without trying to improvise on the taste or grabbing the wrong bottles of ingredients. Now she prepared great meals, that no longer make people cringe in both fear and remembered pain when they hear that she's the one that cooked.

Sitting at the table already eating breakfast was the youngest of the three Saotome children, who sat eating her second helping of bacon and eggs, 13-year-old Miaka looked up when Ranma came into the kitchen.

"Hi daddy." Miaka greeted in between bites.

"Hiya Mi-chan." Ranma greeted as he walked past his daughter, stopping a few moments ruffle Miaka's brown hair, then heads straight for Akane who didn't look at him as she served up another helping of bacon of eggs from the frying pan. Wrapping his arms around Akane's waist he pulls her into a hug, and places a kiss on her cheek. "I missed you this morning, tomboy." He said teasingly, before moving out of reach of her swing.

"Sorry Ranma, but you were sleeping so soundly that I decided not to wake you," Akane said as she turned around in his embrace to return the kiss. "I woke up early this morning around 6:50, so I could begin preparing breakfast early for the kids. Remember that Ranko and Sanma are supposed to be starting school in Juuban today."

"Oh yeah." Ranma said as he released Akane, as he remembered. "Now I remember. Since Furinkan High is going to be closed for this entire school year for renovations, all the kids are being sent to Juuban in Tokyo, starting today."

"That's right. The old school really needs those new modifications, since it never fully recovered from when we attended." Akane said as she turned back to the stove. "And their going to need to get an early start if their going to make it to the school on time, and they promised Ryouga and Ukyou that they'd pick up Hikaru and Jinpei from their home and walk them to school." She said, as she scooped out a helping of food onto a plate and placed it in front of Ranma who had moved to the table, just as she suddenly glanced up at the ceiling, as she heard the sound of running footsteps coming from upstairs. "Speaking of which, are Ranko and Sanma up yet?"

Ranma took a bite of his meal, and quickly swallowed before answering. "When I was coming downstairs, it sounded like Ranko was up, and taking a shower in the furo. I could hear Sanma snoring away from inside his bedroom." Ranma said with a shake of his head. "Sanma should be up by now like Ranko is, yet he's still asleep."

"Mama? Do you want me to go wake up Sanma, so he won't make Ranko-chan late?" Miaka asked expectantly, as she pushed away her plate and got ready to get up and head upstairs.

Before her mother could respond to her question, the trio hear suddenly hear a loud splashing sound coming from upstairs, followed by a shrill shriek of outrage, then silence. A few moments later, they then hear the sound of running footsteps, and a loud bellow:

"*RANKO!!!!! COME BACK HERE!!!!!*"

Ranma smirked at the commotion that was coming from upstairs. "Don't bother, Miaka. It sounds like your sister just woke him up right now." He said he tried to smother a chuckle.

Akane was trying to also hide her mirth but was failing at it miserably.

Just then a red and blue blur came barreling down the stairs, heading straight for the kitchen, ducking behind her father's chair and heading for the laundry room, as Ranko Saotome made her appearance, dressed in a navy blue boy's school uniform, her long red hair tied back into a ponytail going halfway down her back, as her blue eyes sparkled with mirth. "Morning mum, 'ning daddy. Hi, Miaka," her voice called as she passed by. "If Sanma asks tell him you didn't see me."

"Good morning Ranko. Akane called good-naturedly

"Sleep well, daughter?" Ranma added.

Ranko's reply was muffled from where she was hiding.

A few moments after Ranko came down, the sound of thumping footsteps making their way down the steps was heard, just before a soaked mirror image of Ranko with eyeglasses comes charging into the kitchen wearing nothing except pajama top shirt, that barely went past her knees, in her hands was a half filled Super Soaker 2000 water gun.

"Hi mom, dad, Mi-chan Sorry but I can't talk right now. Where is she?" Sanma said as calmly as she could as she made her way all the way into the kitchen as she scanned the area for her twin.

"Where is who?" Ranma asked innocently, as he raised an eyebrow in question. "If you're talking about your sister, ya just missed her."

"Dad, she splashed me again, when I was trying to sleep..." Sanma complained (not whining) looking down, but then her attention towards the laundry room, just as a loud sneeze came from within. "Aha!" she exclaimed as she tossed the super soaker onto the kitchen counter and charged into the laundry room.

A loud 'eep' was heard followed by a thunk and cries, as Sanma dragged her sister out of laundry room, with Ranko draped over her shoulder, yelling and kicking as she tried to dislodge herself from Sanma's grip. The rest of the family followed the two teens as Sanma carried Ranko outside and into the backyard.

~25 minutes ago~

Ranko got up out of bed, dressed in red and white flowered nightgown, as she stretched out her arms, doing a few warm-up kata's to work out the kinks in her body, just as she got ready for the day.

Her mouth drew into a deep frown as she heard the snores coming from the room next door that belonged to her twin, and shook her head in disappointment. 'Not again! He's going to make us late to our new school in our Sophomore year.' She thought angrily to herself, as she headed for her closet, that held her school uniforms from both Furinkan High and from Juban High. After a few moments of searching she finally comes back out with a boys school uniform hanging from a hanger.

As she steps out into the hallway the aroma of bacon and eggs coming from downstairs got her attention. "I might as well take a shower and get ready for school now, then wake up Sanma if he's not up by the time I'm out."

Running towards the bathroom, she slams the bathroom door behind her. Walking over to the furo, she sits on the rim of the tub, and twists the hot and cold shower knobs, before pulling up the tab that turns on the overhead shower, letting the water run as she striped off her clothes, and stepping into the tub.

Eight minutes later, Ranko came back out of the bathroom dressed in a bathrobe, her long red hair hanging down her back in long strands from under a towel that she had wrapped around her head. As she entered her room to her bedroom, she sat down in front of her desk and pulled out a brush and comb and a hand held hair dryer, and began running a first the comb through her hair to get out the tangles, while using her free hand to hold the dryer so she could blow dry her hair at the same time. After a 2 minutes, her hair was finally completely dry.

Getting back up, she walked over to where she left her uniform and takes it off the hanger, and moves to stand in front of the full length closet mirror, holding the uniform in front of her as she fully examined it, before finally getting a disgusted look on her face. 'The things I have to go through because of this curse,' she thought unhappily. 'I can't even wear a girls school uniform because of it. And I can just imagine what the students at Juban are going to say when they see me come to class dressed in a boy's uniform.' She thought as she got began changing her out of her robe.

A few moments later, Ranko once more stepped out of her room, and into the hallway, and silently made her way a few doors down towards her brothers bedroom, where, she could still hear the faint sounds of his snoring coming from within, along with the persistent sound of the buzzer from his alarm clock. Pushing the bedroom door open as far as it could go without causing it to make any sounds, she spots Sanma lying sprawled out on his bed completely knocked out, wearing nothing except a pair of boxers, his legs tangled in the sheets and blanket of his bed. On one of side of his bed she can see his alarm clock lying on the floor, where Sanma had knocked it to in his sleep when it had first come on.

"Geez, he's gotten lazy over the summer." Ranko said aloud, putting her hands on her hips as she frowned down at Sanma. "If I don't wake him up now, we'll never get to Juban High on time, and it's all the way across town." Shaking her head ruefully, she reached down and yanked the and blanket off her brother, without getting any reaction except for a grumble, and muttering before he turned around to lie on his stomach without waking up.

"Looks like we'll have to do this the hard way, Sanma-kun." Ranko said to her sleeping brother, still not getting a reaction from him. "It's time for 'Operation: Splashdown'" she called as she turned around and left the room heading back towards the bathroom.

Grabbing a small bowl that was lying on the counter, Ranko went to the bathroom sink, and began running the water into the sink, waiting until it was nice and ice cold before filling the bowl with the liquid, before turning off the taps, and carried the water back to Sanma's room being extra careful not to splash the water onto herself, where she then unceremoniously dumped the water onto Sanma's bare back, activating his curse.

Sanma's feminine shout of surprise could be heard throughout the house, as she sat bolt upright using her elbows to prop herself up and as the cold water poured down her sides. As she spun around to find out who the culprit was, he found herself getting a face full of his pajama tops. As he pulled them away, he looked up in the direction they came from and saw the smirking face of her twin. "Ranko! What the hell was that for?!"

Ranko shrugged her shoulders, before looking pointedly at Sanma. "Before I answer that you should put your top on. Or do you enjoy flashing your chest in front of me, imotou-chan?"

Sanma involuntarily glanced down at her now female body, blushed bright red, then grudgingly put on the shirt Ranko had thrown at her. "Answer the question, Ranko." Sanma demanded as she put on the shirt. The pajama top just barely filled out around Sanma's body, hanging just above her knees as she stood up to glower at her sister, while reaching over towards the nearby nightstand for her eyeglasses.

"Had to wake you up some how, didn't I?" Ranko said as she turned around to head back out the door. "Do you know how late it is now? We've still got to go pick up Hikaru and Jinpei from their house remember?" Ranko said as she turned back around to face Sanma. "If we don't hurry they'll try and head for the school on their own, and there's no telling where they'd wind up then, or how long it'd take before they find their way back."

"That still doesn't excuse the reason for you to splash me like that. That water was ice cold!" Sanma shouted, as his battle aura rose a notch.

By that time, Ranko had her back to Sanma, and could feel Sanma- chan's rising battle aura building up behind her, and she glanced over her shoulder towards Sanma and saw the look in his eyes. So she spoke quickly as she slinked towards the door. "Now Sanma, no need to get upset," Ranko began before she made a break out the door.

"*RANKO!!! COME BACK HERE!!!!*" Sanma's battle cry rang out throughout the household.

"Sanma!!" Ranko cried out, the tone in her voice sounding indignant at the treatment she was receiving, but there was a hint of laughter in her voice and from the expression on her face, as she twisted on her brother/sister shoulder, then yelped in pain as Sanma landed a hard whap on her butt with her free hand, "This is no way to treat your elder sister, you know! Let go of me! Oh come on! You sleep like a log, and splashing you with the cold water was the only way to wake you up," when he didn't respond to her goading, she glanced over her shoulder to see where they were headed, she realizes that Sanma was taking her straight to the koi pond.

"NO! Anything but the koi pond! Sanma your going to make us late if you dump me in there!" Ranko cried out as she doubled her struggles in earnest. "This is my only pressed uniform for that school!"

"Oh, I know, sis." Sanma-chan said casually, a note of sarcasm in her voice, as she continued on her path to the pond. "But I've decided that it would be worth it, in order to get you back for splashing me this morning."

"Mom, Daddy, help!" Ranko pleaded as she turned her attention towards Ranma.

Chuckling a bit, Ranma decided to intervene before things got nasty. "Sanma, let her go. The two of you are already going to be late as it is on your first day of school." Ranma said as he walked steadily over towards the twins.

"But, dad!" Sanma complained as she held Ranko over. "She started it, and…"

"Deal with it when you guys get home from school." Akane cut in as she approached the duo, a stern look on her face, as she frowned at Sanma and Ranko, as she put her hands on her hips. "I can't believe the two of you are starting up this early in the morning. Sanma go back upstairs and take a shower, then put on your school uniform. Ranko get in the kitchen and eat your breakfast while you wait for your brother." Akane demanded as she turned her back on the three martial artists to head back into the kitchen.

When nobody moved fast enough, Akane turned back towards them, her battle aura rising as she did her father's demon head attack.

"NOW!!!" the head boomed, brooking no argument.

Sanma immediately dropped Ranko to the ground away from the pond, then after giving her another angry scowl, Sanma turns towards the house and rushes upstairs to her bedroom, where they all here the sound of a door slamming.

Ranko stood up shakily as she rubbed her sore butt, "Geez, a guy can't take a joke." She muttered as she stood fully up, facing her parents, as she walked towards the kitchen.

~Awhile Later~

Ranko and Sanma ran through the streets of Nerima as they rushed towards Uc-chans restaurant. Both twins wore matching navy blue school uniforms, their long hair flying behind them in matching ponytails.

Sanma was munching on an bacon and egg sandwich that he had fixed in a hurry from what left of that mornings breakfast, as while at the same time he was trying to fasten the buttons of uniform jacket.

"Why did you have to take so long to just take one little bath, Sanma." Ranko growled as she kept in pace with her brother. "Now we only have half an hour to get to the school grounds on time. We're going to be late as it is thanks to you."

"Oh quit complaining, will ya?!" Sanma snapped back, as he shot a glare at Ranko over his shoulder, "It's not my fault. You should have woken me up earlier than that. You know perfectly well that I never was much of an early riser."

"Well what do you know." Sanma said as his eyes lit up behind the frames of his glasses, as he spotted something up ahead, as they reached Uc-chans. Parked right outside the restaurant was a familiar red sports car. "Look who's here, sis."

As Ranko looked in the direction that Sanma was indicating in, her eyes immediately lit up in glee, as she picked up the pace. "Darien's here!!" she shrieked as she picked up her pace. "I wonder what he's doing here? I thought he's supposed to be working today."

"We won't know until we find out, now won't we, Ranko." Sanma called

Darien Shields sat on one of the bar stools inside of Uchan's eating one of Ukyou's special ookanamayaki pizzas that she had fixed up for him, while Ukyou was busy working on another pizza for herself.

"It was a good thing that you decided to stop by this morning on your way into Tokyo, Darien. I can't thank you enough for volunteering to take the kids to school, Darien." Ukyou said cheerfully as she flipped the pizza into the air, and smothered it in sauce. "Seeing how late Ranko and Sanma are arriving this morning, they'll need any help they can get in order to get their in time."

"It's no problem, Aunt Ukyou." Darien said, as he Ukyou a broad smile, before taking another bite out of his ookanamayi pizza. "I always pass by Juban High on my way to work, so it's no problem at all. Anytime you need help just call me."

"Thanks again, cuz." Jinpei said from his spot near the entrance doorway, his arms crossed over his chest, as he scowled out the door. Jinpei was rather tall for a 15 year old boy, who more like his father every day. His midnight black hair hung just past his shoulders, tied back with a red bandana. As he turned his attention towards Darien, he gave the older boy a grin that showed his fangs. "We owe you one."

"You owe me a lot, but who's counting." Darien said jokingly, as he returned Jinpei's grin, before letting out a loud yawn.

Hearing the yawn, Ukyou glanced over at Darien with a concerned look on her features. "What's wrong Darien? Have you been getting enough sleep?" she asked as she rounded the corner of the bar counter, and approached Darien, placing a hand on his forehead to check his temperature.

"I'm fine Aunt Ukyou," Darien protested as he gently swatted her hand away. "I just haven't been getting any sleep lately, that's all."

"Been having those dreams again?" Ukyou asked kindly as she sat down on the stool next to him. "Want to talk about it?"

"Nothing to talk about. It's the same dream that I've been having almost every night since the accident 11 years ago that killed my parents." Darien explained as he stared over at Ukyou from under hooded eyes. "It's the same girl that's haunting my dreams, always asking me to help her. Even though I never seen her before, it feels like I do know her from somewhere when I look at her."

"Hey, Dare. Don't let Ranko hear that. Or do you want her to get jealous over a girl that you dream about." Jinpei said teasingly as he moved forward towards the bar.

Darien just smirked at his cousins words. "Not likely. Ranko knows that it's just been dreams I've been having, and they means nothing to me." He countered, before turning his attention back towards Ukyou as he continued his story. "Then a few months ago, I started having blackouts, but they've stopped now."

"Blackouts? What type of blackouts?! Have you gone to see a doctor? Have you seen Dr. Tofu about this?" Ukyou demanded, her concern rising with each word.

"I don't know. The last thing I remember doing when I have one, is that I could be walking on the street one moment then all of a sudden my head starts hurting and I black out, and then I'd wake up later somewhere else." He said not going into details.

"Everyone, I see them coming!" Hikaru announced as she came running down the stairs, taking the steps two at a time as she goes, "Darien you better watch out. I saw Ranko pick up speed, when she saw your car parked outside." Hikaru warned as she straightened her school uniform, and ran a hand through her long hair. At 15, Hikaru looked more like her mother everyday, except for her eyes.

"Darien!!" Ranko shouted as she rushed through the swinging doors, heading straight for Darien.

"Hey, Ranko." Darien said as he stood up, his arms held out wide, as Ranko literally threw herself into his arms for a hug. "Missed me?"

"What do you think?" Ranko demanded as she looked up into his eyes, as she returned his smile, before giving him a kiss on the lips. "What are you doing here, Darien? I thought you were going to be at work today."

"I don't have to be there until later on, Ranko." Darien said to placate her. "Knowing you and Sanma I thought that I'd give the four of you a lift to Juban on my way to work. I think Tokimi and the others are already on their way there."

"Well come on, then. We're going to be late as it is." Ranko said.

"Hey Ranko, Sanma. Wait up." Ukyou called as she hurriedly placed two still steaming pizza's in boxes and threw the boxes at the twins who caught them easily. "Here's your lunch on me." Ukyou said with a smile.

"Thanks, auntie Uchan." Ranko said as she ran out the door of the restaurant.

"Yeah thanks, auntie Ukyou." Sanma said as he followed after his sister.

"By mom," Hikaru and Jinpei both called at the same time as they ran out the door, with Darien right behind them.

"See you later, Ukyou." Darien said as he pulled the restaraunt doors shut behind him, giving his aunt a mischevious wink befor ducking his head out the doors.
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Author's Notes:

In this story, Darien Shields is Ukyou's nephew from his mothers side of the family. When his parents were killed in the accident, he was sent to live with the Hibiki's when he was seven years old. He's one year older than Ranko and Sanma.

All further chapters of this story is going to start during what I've always considered the "Zoisite Saga" of the first season of Sailor Moon.