Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Mahou Sensei Negima! Fan Fiction ❯ In the Shadow of the Moon ❯ Chapter 13 Meetings and Reunions ( Chapter 13 )

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

took a day off from writing yesterday, created six chapters in as many days and had to rein back a bit before my imagination completely ran away with me. I will be truthful with you when I start writing a chapter I have a vague idea of what I want to have happen, and usually I decide exactly what happens in the 3 seconds before I actually type it into my laptop.

the more interesting elements are ones that did not even come to mind until they were just there. The confrontation between Xian Pu and Haruka, and the fire reading are ones that came completely out of left field and I just ran with. That way the story is still a surprise even for me. :)

So I spent the day reading chapters 15 - 24 of the story of Sunshine Saotome and her brood. Better known as "The Return" by Josh Temple. Complete alter-verse story-line but incredible depth and development. Imagine a half way sane principle Kuno. If you have not read this story yet I highly recommend it


disclaimer - I don't own Ranma 1/2, Sailor moon, Ruroni Kenshin, or Negima. this work is purely for entertainment and not for profit

I will use feminine pronouns for Ranma whenever he is a she.

Chapter 13 - Meetings and Reunions

Ukyo did succeed in contacting Noriko. Not only did Paru get her cell phone number, they also talked for a while. Noriko was glad to hear that the Saotomes wanted to meet Ranma and that Atsuko was unfazed by Ranma's interesting ability.

Paru agreed with the suggestion it would be best to wait until after the break started. Possibly Ranma and his other cousins could stay at the Saotome's home for a few days and then they could all come back to Mahora Academy together.

This now settled Paru and company are urged to get to their next class before they are late by Shizuna-sensei. Ukyo and Konatsu exchange cell phone numbers with the group, with the promise to get together again to check out some more of the Academy's entertainments.

Shizuna continues showing her charges around the campus finishing by arriving at the middle school where they meet up with Takahata-sensei in the teacher's office.

Takahata presents each of the new students with a laptop that has the study materials on it. He explains the university science department is working on this program with an interest in marketing it. Ukyo and Konatsu take some time to get the hang of using the laptops and the software.

After both of the new students agree they understand the program well enough to use it themselves, Takahata-sensei smiles, "One of our younger instructors has also volunteered to tutor you as well. Since finals are next week he has to give his attention to his current students until then, but I can introduce you to him today. I understand you both practice martial arts."

Seeing an affirmative nod from the two teenagers, Takahata's smile becomes a grin. "Excellent, Negi-sensei is currently at the after school practice with the chinese kempo club. If you are interested in finding people to practice with here that is the best place to start."

Takamichi-sensei takes the two of them to an open field behind the middle school. They see a number of students watching a young boy and girl face off. Ukyo is torn between staring at how cute the young boy is and simply staring slack jawed at how precise and fluid both of the combatants techniques are.

Takamichi walks off a short distance to where a tall brown haired young woman dressed in jeans and a t-shirt is watching the practice with nearly closed eyes. Takamichi whispers something to her which causes her grin to widen. After Takamichi finishes talking to her, she glances over towards Ukyo and Konatsu, which causes her ponytail, which goes goes well past her waist, to swing. Nodding to Takahata-sensei she walks off.

The two combatants finish their forms sparring and bow to each other, this elicits cheers from the crowd. Ukyo and Konatsu lend their voices to this as well. Seeing Takahata the two approach the group. Takahata introduces the young man as Negi Springfield the middle schools english instructor and the girl with blond hair and green eyes as Ku Fei the captain of the academy Kempo club.

Blink-blinking at this revelation, Ukyo barely remembers to bow to the two of them when Takahata-sensei introduces her and Konatsu. Konatsu recovers himself first and congratulates them both on showing such skill. Ukyo simply asks them to call her Ucchan

Ku Fei and Negi both humbly accept the compliments. Ku Fei's eyes are drawn to Ukyo's massive battle spatula. Pointing at said spatula, Ku Fei inquires, "Ucchan use this as weapon in martial art?"

Ukyo smiles while easily brining the battle spatula around to a ready stance. "I am a practitioner of my...what was my family's style of Okonomyaki cooking martial arts."

Ku Fei puts on her best puppy dog face and says, "Please, you demonstrate aru."

Ukyo grins and walks to where the two had been practicing and begins showing off some of her kata using the spatula. The crowd is transfixed watching the girl swing the large bladed, nearly as tall as she is, weapon around with ease. Takahata grins when he sees another girl with short black hair speculatively watching this demonstration.

Takahata walks over to the girl wearing the school's white blouse and plaid skirt, with the barest hint of black bike shorts underneath the skirts hem. "Quite the display don't you think Setsuna-kun."

Setsuna nods without looking away from Ukyo. Ukyo has finished her second Kata and bows to the crowd. There is a blurring in the air behind her and a loud crack of metal hitting wood.

The brown haired girl from earlier has returned wearing a close fitting sleeveless red gi and is holding a long bladed dagger aimed at Ukyo's back. Konatsu somehow has done a quick change into his new red ninja garb and is blocking the dagger with his tekemitsu.

The girl still grinning backflips away from the kunoichi and settles into a ready stance. Konatsu follows leading with the tekemitsu which the other blocks. Konatsu does not stop but instead grabs the girls wrist with his free hand and flows through into a kick aimed at the girls midsection. The girl sidesteps with her back foot and turning with the kick uses the combined momentum to throw the kunoichi on past her breaking the grip. Konatsu lands and rolls to return to a standing position several feet away. The girl's dagger has disappeared and still grinning she bows to Konatsu.

"I am Nagase Kaede of the Koga Ryu. Takahata-dono mentioned you were Himura-dono's retainer, and that her guardian would appreciate a true testing of you skills degozaru."

Sensing the danger to Ukyo had passed, Konatsu similarly put away his weapon and returns the bow. "I am Konatsu of the Kenzan Ryu. I trust my skills are satisfactory Nagase-san?"

Still with a grin that would do Xellos proud Kaede replies. "Hai, you are quite skilled degozaru. Takahata-dono also suggested you might be looking for training partners to further refine your skills. Would you care to join myself and my student in our training?"

Konatsu smiles appreciatively, "I would indeed enjoy that Kaede-san."

Setsuna, Ku Fei, Negi, and Takahata had all moved to keep Ukyo from trying to get involved in the short fight.

"Kaede-san would not have harmed you if Konatsu-san did not stop her." Negi assures her.

Seeing agreement from the others, Ukyo nods her acceptance.

As Kaede and Konatsu move to join the others a black haired boy around Negi's age moves to join the group as well. "Heya, Inugami Kotaro here. Your quite good to be able to block Kaede-nee." The boy calls out to Konatsu.

Negi formally introduces the two new students to Setsuna, Kaede, and Kotaro.

Setsuna begins chatting with Ukyo about her unique style and suggests they could train together with the other girl she is training with sword practice. Who was currently working on getting class assignments finished but would join them later.

Ukyo hearing that everyone else is busy preparing for the finals, offers to cook okonomyaki for everyone at the cafeteria. Negi having already heard about her cooking skills from Paru, Yue, and Nodoka, eagerly agrees. A good portion of class 3-A joins them as well.

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Hinode shrine has quite a commotion the next morning. Akane finally came out of her depression enough to notice Ranma refer to Noriko as Obaa-san during training and it became necessary to explain family relations to her.

Akane breaks down when Kasumi simply states, "You were not told about having other family, because you never asked or showed an interest before."

Nodoka takes Akane in hand and comforts the sobbing girl, who seems to be holding on to her "Oba-san" for dear life. Noriko shakes her head and rubs the bridge of her nose. "Kasumi-chan can you help Nabiki with her training. I will see to taking care of breakfast."

Noriko smiles as she watches Ranma reworking his kata to make use of floating several inches above the ground. A feat he is doing better at since yesterday's practice. "Do you need any help or advice Ranma-kun?"

Ranma smiles and shakes his head. "I will have plenty of questions later Obaa-san, but for now I just want to see what I can do with my current Kata. Umm.. is there a place I can work on my jumps around here without attracting attention."

Noriko smiles conspiratorially. "The easiest way to hide something is to give people some other reason for it. If you want to practice your jumps without attracting attention from the neighbors there is a trampoline in the storage shed we can setup. If the neighbors ask we can say you kids were playing on it. Just be careful of hanging in the air for too long."

They quickly get the frame out of storage, unfold it, and secure the joints with double sets of bolts. Stretching the mesh surface across it takes a few minutes more. With the diversion setup Ranma starts practicing his enhanced jumps. Noriko disappears into the Dojo.

Noriko soon slides through the ceiling of the room with Happosai. Smiling at the now adult sized figure in the egg. "Almost ready Happi. This time I will do my best to make sure you are not hurt again." Sliding back through the Ceiling she returns to the dojo.

Noriko quickly finds herself in the kitchen fixing breakfast for everyone. She is nearly ready to call everyone to the table when she looks out the window. Akane and Nodoka are drawn to the kitchen from the common room by hearty laughter.

Pointing to the window, Noriko states between chuckles, "We may need to eat breakfast outside today."

Akane and Nodoka look out the window and struggle to contain chuckles themselves. While Ranma had been practicing jumps Kasumi and Nabiki discovered the trampoline and decided to put it to proper use and apparently challenged Ranma to do the same. Taking turns on the trampoline the girls are enjoying themselves. Ranma, when its not his turn, buzzes around to catch the girls should they bounce at a bad angle.

"Obaa-san I do agree this would be a wonderful morning to have breakfast outside. Let me help you bring things outside. Akane-chan why don't you go join your sisters and cousin." Nodoka says while struggling not to laugh.

Akane is welcomed by the others. The older women lose the struggle not to laugh seeing the girl's face once she gets started on the trampoline. Akane actually gives Ranma a hug when he catches her after she misjudged the angle of a bounce.

Taking the food outside and setting up on a large picnic blanket. Noriko pushes her granddaughter over to have some fun with the other children. Nodoka does take this suggestion and is soon doing flips on the apex of her jumps. The youngsters cheer on her efforts.

It only takes a few moments after Nodoka climbs down from the trampoline to catch her breath before Ranma and Kasumi grab Noriko by her hands and pull her over to take a turn. She obviously is cheating slightly with her aerial acrobatics but it still gets cheers from the assembled group.

The fun continues for a while with either Ranma or Noriko playing mother hen to whoever is jumping. The others enjoy their share of breakfast while waiting on their turn. All in all a much happier, and more tired, group returns into the house later with the used dishes in tow.

The whole group decides to use the onsen after the dishes have at least been put in the sink. Akane even offers to wash the now female Ranma's back.

Noriko lets out a contented sigh relaxing in the water watching the group.

Akane gets in the water beside her. "Obaa-san you mentioned that everyone in your family is long lived. How long can I and my sisters expect to live?"

Noriko lets out a less contented sigh. "Without special training to increase the length of your life span, most of my descendants beyond great grandchildren don't get much beyond what is normal for humans. I normally don't teach these techniques to them. It also increases the power of attacks they can use, and therefore the threat they can pose to others without control."

Noriko holds up a hand to forestal a protest from Akane. "I would be willing to teach all of you girls. You must all continue your training in meditation and control for a while yet before I could begin to teach any of you including Nodoka."

Akane nods at this and settles into the water beside Noriko. Noriko places an arm around Akane's shoulder. "Akane-chan please don't doubt that I love all of the children in my family. Even the ones like my son, who I have had to keep myself from trying to strangle the last few years." Akane chuckles in response.

After soaking a while longer everyone makes their way to the changing room. Noriko makes a quick announcement. "Mahora Academy requires all students have a complete physical exam and inoculations before enrolling in the school. I have appointments scheduled later today for everyone at a local clinic."

Ranma starts, "Obaa-san I haven't known a lot of doctors I felt comfortable with."

Noriko smiles, "We can work something out, I am sure Ranma-chan. Which reminds me I need to talk with you and Nodoka to finalize some details for your female Identity."

Noriko leads Ranma and her mother to the office, and the other girls head to their rooms to start studying.

Noriko presents Ranma an new Id for her Male form under the name Himura Ranma. She gives similar documents to Nodoka for becoming part of the Himura family again as well. "Now then with Ranma's height increase there should be no question that she is high school age. We will need to settle on a name to use though. The administration at Mahora has agreed to help keep the secret but requires a different name be used."

Noriko also gives Ranma a gifts of a new cell phone and bi-fold wallet with a two sided ID holder in the center. If she is careful opening the wallet anyone looking will only see one ID or the other. Ranma blinks at the fifty-thousand yen in the wallet.

Noriko chuckles at her surprise. "I am planning on taking everyone shopping today, so that is for clothes and other items you might like. I will be giving all of you children a weekly allowance from now on as well."

Ranma nods and opening the phone notices the contacts button. Pushing this brings up an alphabetical list of names: Akane, Kasumi, Nabiki, Nodoka, Noriko, and Ukyo.

Ranma starts in surprise at this last one. "I have Ucchan's phone number?"

Noriko winks, "She made clear to me her willingness to remain friends with both you and the Tendos. Feel free to call her after we are done here."

Ranma nods and puts the cell phone and wallet away in a dimensional pocket. Ranma smiles at this, Noriko had taught her how to stash a limited number of items away in a pocket of space only she could access. Noriko also taught her to summon clothing that could change to accommodate any changes in form. The clothing remains even if she is knocked unconscious. Ranma discovered this after missing a turn and smacking into a building while in Atlantis. The clothing quickly loses substance if separated from Ranma's body and she does not concentrate on it.

Ranma looks at his mother, "Speaking of Ucchan I have always liked that she could call me Ranchan in either form so I have grown to like the name Ranko as a name in female form. Is it alright if I use that mom?"

Nodoka hugs her daughter in response.

Noriko grins and takes out another ID matching Ranko's new form and hands it to her. "I thought you might say that so I had this one ready. The new identity of Himura Ranko will be official by the time we reach the clinic. Nodoka-chan could you call the other girls down so I can give them their new cell phones and spending money. We should be ready to go to the mall and shop for a while before lunch then."

Ranko is about to leave the room when Noriko calls to him to wait. "Ranko I already informed your mother but you should know that Ukyo has made friends with a cousin of yours at Mahora. Her name is Saotome Haruna, she and her mother would like to have you and the girls visit them at their home in Yokohama before the new term starts. They are both wonderful people. Would you consider the possibility of visiting them?"

Ranko thinks for a moment. "Let me talk with Ucchan to see what she thinks of her. She usually is a good judge of people." With that Ranko walks in by the television and takes out her cell phone.

As the Tendo girls walk into the office to receive their new documents, cell phones, and spending money, Ranko dials Ucchan's cell number.

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Ukyo had been working with the study program on the laptop for several hours and discovered it included an aptitude test to suggest things that might interest students for studies. She was in the middle of taking this test at the desk in her new room when her cell phone started chiming.

Seeing the name on the caller ID she hurriedly opens the phone. "Ranchan? is that you? How are you sugar?"

"I am better than I have been in a long time Ucchan. I am officially Himura Ranko now and my brother is Himura Ranma." Ranko replies.

Ukyo understands the meaning by the feminine tone of voice. "I'm Himura Ukyo now myself. I am sorry for all the trouble I helped cause you sugar, I hope we can still be friends couz." This last said with a smile.

Ranko softly replies, "I always thought of you as a friend Ucchan. I never could offer more because we wanted wildly different things in life."

Ukyo grins, "Wow sugar, you sure have become better at expressing things."

"I have gone through a lot of changes Ucchan. You might not even recognize me anymore." Ranma replies with a chuckle.

"I would recognize you even in another life Ranchan." Ukyo whispers.

Ranko coughs, "Thanks Ucchan, are you doing well? How does the academy grounds look?"

"I am doing great. You will love it here. The academy grounds are huge and Konatsu and I have already made some great friends." Ukyo warmly returns.

Ranko asks, "Ano... speaking of friends Norkio said you had met a girl name Haruna and I was curious what you thought of her."

Ukyo chuckles, "Paru-chan? she's a great girl. She and her mom don't like the fat panda any more than I do. I really should tell you that while I was looking for you before that I found out her mom, Atsuko, is the family head and declared the panda ronin shortly after he married your mom for some things he did."

"What things?" Ranko asks.

Ukyo bites her lip. "It is not my place to say Ranchan. Your mom and Noriko-san know. If they haven't told you yet, please don't be mad. Its a really painful thing for women to talk about. Your aunt and the rest of the family seem t' be really good people. Please give 'em a chance Ranchan."

"I will think about it Ucchan. I suppose I should get of the phone now. We have appointments for physicals the Academy requires later today. We are all getting ready to go to lunch and shopping." Ranko puts as much life into the last word as you would expect for a condemned man.

Ukyo grins, "I have an appointment for that tommorow. At least give shopping a chance Ranchan you might enjoy it. I miss you sugar, stay safe."

Ranko grunts noncommittally and says goodbye. As the line goes dead, Ukyo closes her phone and then lies on her bed and cries into her pillow. Konatsu having heard her talking on the phone, smiles sadly and shakes his head.

----------------------------

Ranko walks back into the office. The girls have gone back to their rooms to get ready to leave. Nodoka and Noriko remain in the office.

Closing the door silently behind her Ranko quietly asks, "So what did the panda do to have his own family declare him Ronin?"

Nodoka hugs her daughter and Noriko replies, "You were never actually part of the Saotome family as he never legally married Nodoka. The Saotome family decided they could not abide having a member who would squander his wife's dowery and inheritance and then abandon her. Tenou Sakura, his actual wife, committed sepku after she discovered her husband was living with another woman he called wife and had a child with her. After he was in police custody, Nodoka quietly had their supposed marriage annulled. We did not bring it up before as there were other more life threatening issues to deal with."

Ranko holds her mother tighter as the details came out. "I am sorry mom. I know this has caused you a lot of pain."

Noriko continues. "I have a file with all the details you can read later if you like. It also has details of plans your maternal grandfather had that pushed Nodoka into the choices she made."

Ranko shakes her head, "I will worry about that later. What do you say we go have fun shopping mom?" the last said with her patented cute puppy eyes. Nodoka has no defense against this and giggling agrees to the plan.

The whole group piles into a car that Noriko called and make their way to the mall. Each of the older women take charge of two of the girls. Noriko takes Kasumi and Akane. Nodoka takes Nabiki and Ranko. Ranko for once puts her best effort into enjoying shopping for clothes. She does manage to convince her mother she only needs one pair of any one type of garment though. Nodoka did win getting Ranko to buy several pairs of shoes of different types though.

Ranma made his appearance to buy clothes that fit his new frame, much to his mother's delight. He also bought a small television for his room and a large stack of manga he had an interest in but never owned before.

Nabiki topped Ranma's electronics purchase and instead bought a TV tuner to connect to the laptops. All of the girls purchased a large selection of clothes. Wisely the driver picked everyone up after the mall escapades in a comfortable van with plenty of storage space.

------------------------
Doctor Ono Tofu was surprised to come in to the clinic that morning to find out his afternoon appointments after two p.m. had been moved to other doctors in favor of a high priority client he had a history with. He was more surprised when he was given a folder labeled Himura R. and discovered it contained his medical notes for Ranma carefully transcribed and separated into a subfolder for Ranma and Ranko as the male and female aspects were designated.

He was slightly confused to find in both sections for parents Himura Nodoka was listed as mother and father was completely blacked out. Age and Gender were the only things listed under specific information. Height, Weight, Hair and Eye Color were all left blank. There was a note that the mother would be there to help explain.

When he was called that his two p.m. patient had arrived he went out to the waiting room. He took one look at Ranma and knew a lot of explaining would be needed. I took him a moment to notice the Tendo girls were there as well. Looking at Kasumi he struggled to compose himself and remembering the years worth of mental training he had put himself through, approached her quietly.

"Kasumi-chan how have you been?" yes, no fogged lenses and no freaking out.

"Oh my Tofu-sensei. I am doing wonderfully. How have you been? I have missed seeing you." Kasumi says with a bright smile.

Ranma approaches the couple. "Heya Tofu-sensei. I am glad you are here." chuckling and spreading his arms. "As you can guess some interesting things have happened since we last met."

Kasumi smiles, "I will let you take Ranma on back Tofu-sensei since I am sure there is a lot you will need to do."

Touching her hand to Tofu's face her smile becomes a devilish grin and she whispers huskily in his ear. "I am willing to wait if you would like to examine me afterwards though." finishing with a decidedly unchaste kiss on the cheek.

Tofu's eyes seem to grow to fill the dimensions of his glasses. Kasumi winks and turns walking with a sensual grace to rejoin her aunt. Akane does not look up as she follows a female doctor down the hall. Nabiki is barely controlling her chuckles as she does the same.

Tofu-sensei's glasses don't fog up but his face heats seemingly to just short of ignition. The delirium he was normally worried about swamped quickly by desire.
"I fear you will need to keep your appointment with one of the other doctors Kasumi-chan. Perhaps we can talk about rescheduling something of that sort for another time."

Kasumi fake pouts but her eyes make tofu feel like he might melt the floor tiles. Turning he leads a madly grinning Ranma down the hallway.

Getting to a free examination room, Ranma can contain himself no longer. "I think Kasumi-chan is coming out of her shell nicely. Don't you Tofu-sensei?"

"Ah yes, very much so Ranma-kun." Tofu replies while trying to control his still hot face. "So tell me what happened. Your taller than I am now."

"You know how weird my life was while you were in Nerima, right Doc. Well it took some decidedly weirder turns but it is actually looking better than before. I can tell you a few things that you need to keep secret though. This place is private right?"

Tofu nods his head and Ranma proceeds to tell him about his life over the last year. Tofu convinces Ranma to let him start the exam while the long story continues. Ranma had to break the flow of the story to explain he can become a girl a will now once Tofu is ready for that. Changing to Ranko, she continues the story from where he left off. Tofu blinks at this for a moment before repeating the exam process.

Ranko only shudders a little and pauses in telling her story when the ob-gyn part of the exam come up. Finishing the exam Ranko demonstrates her new ability with materializing clothes and then shifts back to Ranma. Ranma finally gets to explaining what the last month, to him, has been like.

Tofu-sensei requires a few minutes to process all this and make sure his notes don't have anything they should not by accident. "I would have a difficult time believing all of this if I had not seen your life firsthand Ranma. Even then it is taking me some time to process."

Ranma shrugs, "I can respect that Doc. I am just glad you believe me."

Tofu-sensei looks at his watch and sees that it has been well over four hours since they started. Heading to the waiting room he is relieved to see the Tendo girls brought their laptops to work on. Nodoka and Noriko are reading a book, actually it's one of Ranma's History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi mangas, and chuckling.

Noticing the two men enter the room Noriko winks at Kasumi and then addresses the men with perfect innocence. "Tofu-sensei I am so sorry we kept you here so late. You must let me take you with us to dinner to make up for it."

Ranma Walks over to his mother while Kasumi walks up to Tofu and takes his hand.

"Please Tofu-sensei, say you'll come." Kasumi says in a innocent voice while having smoldering eyes

"I can hardly turn down a request from you Kasumi" Tofu says while gently capturing her hand in both his own.

Noriko leads the expanded group back to the van. Kasumi and Tofu sitting together as they never let go of each others hands. Noriko makes a quick call to confirm reservations. When they get to the expensive sushi restaurant the maître d' apologizes profusely that they will have to split into two groups as their largest table can only seat six. Sighing sadly Kasumi pulls Tofu over to a table just for the two of them.

Akane actually manages a small smile, "Good luck Oneesan"

notes:

tekemitsu - imitation sword made from bamboo.

Xellos - trickster priest from slayers series known to infuriate Lina Inverse. sometimes with nothing more than his constant grin.

-nee - shortened form of -neesan meaning sister. Used as a term of familiarity to generally older girls by younger girls and boys in japan. In the manga, Kotaro refers to almost all of the girls using this, since most of them are older than he is.

Miyazaki Nodoka is called Honya-chan (bookstore) by most of class 3-A. I might resort to this nickname in the future to avoid confusion with Ranma's mother