Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Paternity of a Princess ❯ A Rainy Afternoon in Juuban ( Chapter 1 )

Paternity of a Princess

A Ranma/Sailor Moon Crossover Fanfic

By Michael A. Ivins

 

I don't own the characters of Ranma One Half or Sailor Moon, I'm just borrowing them for my own amusement and hopefully that of my readers. I make no money from doing this.

 

There are some lime bits in this story, so be warned.

 

The only time that Ranma will be male in this story will be for a part of the first chapter. For all of the rest of it she will be female so there will be no usage of “Chan” or “Onna” to differentiate between male and female Ranma. This story takes place after the end of the manga (so after the failed wedding.)

 

Chapter One

A Rainy Afternoon in Juuban

 

In the Azabu-Juuban community within Minato Ward of the city of Tokyo it was Sunday just after noon. At the Saotome family home the two occupants of the house had just finished cleaning up after lunch. A young man whose black hair was pulled back in a braided pigtail took an appraising look out the window. The sky was solidly overcast and of the leaden gray color that promised a full day of rain.

 

Saotome Ranma had spent Saturday night at the home of his mother. Considering some of the things his father had told him about the woman, he had been apprehensive about the time alone with her. Sure she seemed nice enough from the times when he had masqueraded as Tendo Ranko, but the whole manliness thing seemed over the top.

 

In the time since she had first learned of the curse, Saotome Nodoka had done some serious soul searching. In so doing she realized that the extreme emphasis on her son's manliness was an over compensation for the simple fact that her firstborn child had not been the daughter she had prayed for.

 

She had longed for a daughter who she could talk to and do things with. It was the primary reason why she had latched onto Tendo Ranko with such fervor. Learning that her son changed into a girl was like suddenly gaining a second child, the daughter she had always wanted. She now felt she had the best of both worlds wrapped up in a single package. She had a manly son and a beautiful daughter. To be sure, the daughter was still her son inside, it was unlikely that the girl would be anything other than a tomboy, but she could live with that.

 

That Saturday and Sunday Nodoka had done her best to let Ranma know that she loved her child regardless of the gender of the moment.

 

Seeing the sour expression on her son's face as he looked out the window, Nodoka said, “You're not worried about changing to a girl on the way are you?”

 

The boy shook his head as he turned to her. “Just being a girl doesn't bother me like it used to. What bothers me is that I'll be soaked by the time I reach the train station. When I'm that wet my shirt clings to my boobs and guys stare at my chest, (perverts.)”

 

The auburn haired mother couldn't help feel some amusement at that. She pointed out, “Dear, as a woman you are quite beautiful and well endowed. While some of the men looking at you may indeed be thinking perverted thoughts, in truth they are paying you a compliment by looking at you in that manner.”

 

“A compliment?” The pigtailed martial artist sounded skeptical. “It's a compliment when they're thinking of doing `that' with me?”

 

“Yes dear,” Nodoka confirmed. “Even then it's a compliment. As long as they are doing nothing more than looking and smiling, you should not feel offended. Even if a man asks you if you'd be interested in dating, it is a compliment, as long as he is just asking. The only time to take offense is if a man won't take `no' for an answer.”

 

He considered that. “So it's Ok to clobber a guy if he gets grabby?”

 

The Saotome mother thought about that. “A proper girlish response would be to push an insistent suitor away, while saying no. You could slap him if he doesn't take the hint.”

 

It seemed really weird for a guy to be having a discussion like this with his mother. Still it was useful information. He pressed on, “And what if a slap doesn't convince him to back off?”

 

Nodoka smiled a big smile. “Then dear, you may `clobber' him, so long as you don't do any permanent damage.”

 

He nodded emphatically. “Got it! No permanent damage it is. I guess that would mean stuff like a fat lip and bruises, yes?”

 

Still grinning the elder Saotome said, “Yes, dear. For any man who is not discouraged by that level of damage, he would then fall into the pervert classification and you would be justified is using whatever level of force is needed to get him to leave you alone.”

 

“Ok, Mom. Thanks for the advice.” He looked out the window again. “It doesn't look like this is going to stop for a while. I guess I might as well go.”

 

“You could borrow my umbrella,” Nodoka offered. “Or, instead of that you could stay another night and go to school from here in the morning.”

 

Ranma shook his head. “If stayed another night I don't know if I could get to school on time. As for the umbrella, I don't know when I'd be able to get it back to you. Usually even the best umbrella only cuts down on how wet you get, it doesn't keep you completely dry, especially the way I travel.”

 

Nodoka looked at a thermometer that was mounted outside the window and said, “Well, at least it isn't cold out, so I guess you'll be alright.”

 

Trying to reassure his mother, Ranma said, “With my ki control I almost never get sick. I can't generate enough heat with my ki to change me back to a guy, but I can at least make enough to keep the chill off.”

 

“If you're sure,” the concerned mother said.

Ranma nodded and picked up his pack. He gave his mom a quick one-armed hug and a kiss on the cheek then headed for the door. Since there was only enough in the pack for an overnight stay, it was very light. That was another reason to not stay another night. He had only packed for one night and didn't have any clean clothes to wear to school the next day.

 

When he got outside he was pleased to note that the rain had slacked off to a light drizzle. That was still enough to trigger the change to female. She shrugged and leapt to the roof of her mother's house and from there to the roof of an adjacent apartment complex.

 

Ranma had allowed herself plenty of time to get to the train station. She was hoping to use one of the public restrooms there to dry off before boarding the train. That would at least make the trip back more comfortable.

 

Landing on a roof, she noticed a flash of light off to one side. It was accompanied by a crash like thunder. That was odd. The weather was not the type that usually spawned lightning bolts. Besides that the flash seemed to come from the street between buildings instead of the sky. In addition the gap in time between the flash and the crash was too short. The lightning strike (or whatever it was) had been too short. Something was happening and it was close.

 

She glanced at her watch and thought about it. She had left a little early to give herself time to dry off at the train station before boarding her train. Did she have time to take a detour to check out the strange occurrence? She suddenly decided, "Oh what the hell, why not?" She might have to rush a little bit when she finally got to the train station, but she felt like she just had to find out what the disturbance was.

 

It was at that moment of decision that a disturbance of another sort was triggered. At a place that could be said to exist outside of normal time and space but was still bound to it in an odd way, a woman with green hair and dressed in a black-skirted sailor fuku had been seated on a couch in front of the Gates of Time.

 

Sailor Pluto was using the Gates to observe a battle that the rest of the Sailor Senshi were engaged in. They were outnumbered by a large margin and she was planning how she would make her entrance. Teleporting into the right spot and firing off a few well targeted Dead Screams would leave the Senshi injured, but victorious.

 

It was at that moment that back on earth, Ranma made her decision and the timeline... shifted. That decision was an event that affected the present and future. But because some in that future were time travelers, it affected the past as well.

 

The Guardian of the Gates of time surged to her feet as a flood of memories crashed into her mind. Because of her unique place that her office placed her in she was immune to some of the changes that the timeline shift caused. Other people would forget the events of the previous timeline and only remember the new one. Sailor Pluto was blessed (or was that cursed) in that she would remember both. The flood of new memories triggered off a pain that made her head feel like it was going to explode. Mercifully she passed out and slumped to the floor in front of the gates.

 

Back on earth Ranma continued to roof hop toward the disturbance. As she got closer there were other flashes of light. In addition there were other lights that looked like fire. There were sounds like explosions and what was coming to sound like a fight of some kind. It was starting to sound like Ranma's kind of action

 

As she landed on the roof of a five story building near the source of the lights and sound, she noticed something odd. She was not alone. There was a man standing on the roof. At first she thought he might be with the building's maintenance staff, but quickly dismissed that thought from her mind.

 

The man she saw on the roof was dressed in a black tuxedo. He did have a white shirt on, but that was almost completely concealed by the jacket of the tux. In addition to that he was wearing a cape and a top hat. The man himself was tall and broad shouldered and his stance and bearing spoke of martial arts training, though not of the same level as Ranma's.

 

What hair that could be seen peeking out from under the top hat was black. He wore a white mask that covered the area around his eyes. She supposed that his look could be called dashing and handsome. When she realized what she had just thought she chided herself. “I'm a guy! I'm not supposed to be noticing things like that.”

 

Suddenly the man making the odd fashion statement shouted out, “If you just believe in yourself, Sailor Moon, you can triumph over any foe.”

 

“Do this guy and Kuno have the same speechwriter?” Ranma wondered. She shook her head and walked over to the edge of the roof to look down. The man was so intent on what he was looking at that he didn't notice her.

 

Hmm, there were girls in outfits that looked like sailor fuku type school uniforms with really short skirts or maybe they looked more like cheerleader outfits. Yep, those had to be the Sailor Senshi down there. They were fighting a small army of some kind of monsters. The monsters all appeared to be humanoid, ranging in height from 6 feet tall to 7 feet. They bore no clothing but were covered in fur or hair. They had snouts instead of noses and all were equipped with clawed hands and mouths full of sharp teeth. The Senshi appeared to be outnumbered about 3 to 1 or more.

 

At that moment the man in the tux threw a rose. Ranma had to conclude the flower had some kind of magical enhancement because she knew a normal rose wouldn't weigh enough to fly so straight and true. It struck one of the monsters, but didn't do much damage. What it did do was to distract the monster to allow a fire attack from the red skirted girl with the long black hair to take the creature out.

 

Ranma couldn't take standing on the sidelines while people were getting hurt. Before going to join the fight herself, the redhead called out, “Hey tux boy, your teammates are getting their butts handed to them. If you can do anything other than just throw roses and give pep talks, you'd better get your ass down there and help.”

 

The tuxedo clad hero shook himself and did a double take. He didn't see this girl approaching him. What if she had been an enemy? When he processed what he was seeing, is jaw dropped open. Who was this girl? She was beautiful. Compared to his own klutzy girlfriend, this redhead was the epitome of athletic power and grace.

 

He realized that the girl's expression was turning into one of annoyance and felt that a response was required. “I can use my cane like a sword but I need to stay where I can motivate Sailor Moon.”

 

The expression on the girl's face went from annoyance to outright anger. She said, “She'd feel a lot better motivated if her boyfriend were fighting at her side instead of giving pep talks from outside of the action. If you can use that stick like a sword, maybe you should think about getting a real sword instead. Or something that would go with the whole look would be a sword cane. Look into it. Well if you aren't going to join in, I will.”

 

She didn't wait to hear anything more and leapt from the roof of the five story building. Tuxedo Kamen shouted at her to stop, but it was already too late. While still in the air, Ranma fired off a Moku Takabisha that fulfilled two functions, it smashed one of the monsters and cushioned her landing.

 

If she had hoped to surprise the creatures, she was only partly successful. She was able to take down three of the creatures before they adjusted their tactics to counter the additional warrior on the scene. The next moment Ranma engaged one of the creatures in front of her, another got behind her and raked her back with claws.

 

Before Ranma could turn to deal with the monster behind her, she heard new sounds of fighting and spared only the briefest of looks. She saw Tuxedo Kamen there. She gave him a nod and he said, “Sorry if I'm late.”

 

Victories in the battle were few. The creatures were fast, strong and tough. It was when Ranma noticed that the monsters were putting out a substantial hot battle aura that she came up with an idea. She shouted, “Senshi! Fall back! Create a perimeter to keep them from getting away, but don't come toward me. Be ready to duck.”

 

Quickly the red haired girl plunged herself into the Soul of Ice to the point where the air around her chilled. The Senshi at first were confused but the red haired girl was the first person who seemed to have some kind of plan. Ranma began to lead the creatures in a spiral, moving toward a center. In that process she did not escape unscathed. She maintained her spiral movements even with claws raking her arms, legs and abdomen.

 

The Senshi began to question the wisdom of whatever plan it was the girl was executing. To them it looked like she was leading them all in to a center where they could gang up on her. They were about to charge in to the girl's aid when she reached the center and suddenly stopped still and shouted, “Hiryu Shoten HA!” She punched upward with a blue glowing fist.

 

From seemingly out of everywhere at once a wind came that quickly picked up in intensity, converging on the center where the girl stood. Before the wind could get strong enough that the roar was too loud, Ranma yelled. “Get down and grab onto something!”

 

Suiting action to words, Ranma ran and grabbed a metal stair railing on one of the buildings on the street. In mere moments the wind was rushing in from all directions and pouring into the tornado vortex that formed above them. It was powerful enough to suck up all of the monsters. The suction of the tornado vortex was causing windows in the buildings to explode outward. More than one of the monsters were shredded by flying glass.

 

Mercifully, the tornado created by the martial arts technique was brief in duration. It lasted less than a minute, even if that minute felt like an eternity. When the winds died down the bodies of dead monsters fell from the sky.

 

When it looked like the rain of debris and monster bodies ended, Ranma let go her death grip on the metal stair rail and stood. She was bleeding from wounds received from the flying glass. The wounds from the monster's claws were already scabbing over thanks to her rapid healing ability.

 

Feeling drained from the loss of blood, Ranma was wobbly on her feet. She noticed the Sailor Senshi gathering around her and asked, “Did I get `em all?”

 

Looking at her computer, Sailor Mercury replied, “Yes, that was all of them. I counted thirty eight of them at the start of the fight and the same number of bodies now.”

 

Plucking a shard of glass from her arm, the redhead asked, “Are you guys Ok?”

 

Sailor Moon nodded. “Yes. We're pretty banged up and did get clawed, but it's nothing we can't heal up from. What was that last attack you used?”

“It's called the Rising Dragon Ascension Wave,” Ranma explained. “I use a martial arts technique called the Soul of Ice to chill the air around me. The monsters were creating a hot aura. By leading them in a spiral those two air temperatures mix in the spiral…”

 

Mercury sounded excited when she said, “So when you do that punch at the end it causes the convection currents to generate the tornado. Amazing! I was watching and recorded the whole thing on my computer and I still have a hard time believing it.”

 

Ranma was trying to follow the excited voices but was feeling a little dizzy. She finally plucked another glass fragment from her thigh and said, “Excuse me, but I think I need to sit down now.” She lowered herself to the ground

 

Tuxedo Kamen rushed up to the girl and exclaimed, “Damn it! We stand here chatting and this girl is bleeding to death. Saturn, heal her!”

 

As the apparent youngest of the Senshi approached, Ranma tried to waive her away, saying, “No need. I can… heal my… self.” On that last word her eyes closed and her body went limp. Tuxedo Kamen caught her and laid her gently back onto the ground.

 

Mercury scanned their rescuer with the Mercury computer and said, “Under normal circumstances she might be able to heal herself. She has enormous reserves of life energy, but I think she's losing too much blood.”

 

Letting that be her cue the littlest of the Senshi moved in and began her work. Under her ministration the wounds closed up, ejecting the fragments of glass. Before long there was only the blood left on her skin to indicate there had ever been wounds. The rain had stopped or it would have been washing the blood away.

 

Saturn shook her head and said, “Sailor Moon, I think you'd better take a look at her. She has come kind of magic on her that I can't touch. It seems to be affecting her body.”

 

The blonde leader of the Senshi stepped up and grasped the Silver Crystal. Its light shined on the redhead and Sailor Moon listened to the information the crystal was giving her. She finally said, “I don't know what the magic does, but she's had it for some time. I'm not sure if I should try to remove it. It doesn't seem to be affecting her health.”

 

Tuxedo Kamen asked, “Could it be some kind of mind control?”

 

Sailor Moon knew enough to recognize magic when she saw it, but lacked the training to understand what the magic was doing to the girl. She answered her boyfriend, “I don't know. I suppose it's possible, though if it has some influence on her mind it's too subtle for me to see.”

 

The Senshi leader was starting to think it might be best to wait until the girl woke up before doing anything about the magic. That way they could ask her if she knew about the magic and what it was there to do. Before she could voice this opinion her boyfriend said, “She saved our lives and got hurt doing so. We owe it to her to help her in every way possible. Please, Moon, help her.”

 

Firming her resolve, the Moon Princess took hold of her power and began the effort to free the girl from the grip of the magic. It was not easy. After a moment she said, “I know what the magic does. It's some kind of shape shifting spell or curse. When I try to remove the curse it tried to change her shape before it leaves. All of you join your power to mine. I need you to hold her shape like it is while I remove the curse.

 

With the other Senshi channeling power to her she was able to remove the curse. There was a minor physical change, she grew taller, but it was small enough change that nobody noticed. When she was done, Sailor Moon had to sit on the ground herself. After a moment to recover herself she said, “That did it! The curse magic is completely gone. I can still detect a small bit of magic that seems bonded to her soul. I don't know what it is but it feels like Silver Millennium energy. I think she may be a descendant of Moon Kingdom royalty.”

 

Before any further speculation could be voiced, there came the sound of a groan from the form on the ground. The redhead suddenly sat up, shaking her head in an effort to clear it. She rested her face in her hands for a moment before looking up.

 

Casting her eyes around she took in the sight of the people who were standing near her and aked, “I didn't dream it?”

 

Her face looking a little haggard and tired, Sailor Moon still managed to sound amused as she said, “You mean fighting alongside the Sailor Senshi? No, that wasn't a dream.”

 

The red haired girl gave an amused snort. “My fiancé is a major fan of yours. She'll be so jealous.”

 

The girl looked at her arm and rubbed at where pulled out a piece of glass before. She said, “You healed me?”

 

Sailor Moon said, “You were pretty badly cut up, not just from monster claws but from glass. You were losing enough blood that you might not have lived long enough to heal yourself.”

 

“Oh,” the girl said. “Then I guess I owe you thanks.” She took a quick look at sky trying to estimate where the sun was behind the clouds and asked, “What time is it?” Her watch hadn't survived the battle. One of the Senshi told her the time.

 

She got quickly to her feet and said, “Look, I know you want to talk about the fight and all, but I've got to get going. I've got a train to catch. If I hurry, I can still get there in time. I'm Saotome Ranma of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial arts. I live in Nerima at the Tendo dojo. If you still want to talk about it, look me up.”

 

Ranma leapt up to the roof of a nearby building and was quickly out of sight. Mars asked Mercury, “Are you sure she's human?”

 

The blue haired Senshi looked at the readings on her computer and said, “A most exceptional human, but still human.”

 

Venus shook her head. “How can a human make that kind of leap or create a tornado without magic?”

 

Jupiter spoke up, “She's a martial artist. It is said that the most advanced in the Art can control their ki to fire blasts of energy like this girl can. I even recognize the name. Saotome Ranma is supposed to be one of the strongest martial artists in Tokyo, but I thought he was a boy.”

 

Uranus said, “He is. I heard about him too, so I asked Setsuna to do a little spying on him with the Time Gates. He's hard to track because he's a chaos magnet, but Pluto found out that he has a magic curse that turns him to a girl when splashed with cold water and back to a boy when splashed with hot water. Didn't you notice how she said her fiancé was a she?”

 

Usagi's face went pale and she put her hand over her mouth, while saying, “Oh no.” After a moment she said, “I sincerely hope that the girl who just left wasn't the same Saotome you were just talking about.”

 

When the rest of the Senshi looked at her questioningly, their leader said, “If that was the same person, then we just made a really big mistake.”

 

Mokoto suggested, “She said she was going to the train station. Maybe we could catch her before she gets on her train and talk to her.”

 

The blonde with the odangos shook her head. “As fast as she moves, she's probably already at the station. If I'm right about what just happened, she'll probably try to find us again. I'm pretty sure she'll be mad.”

 

At the Gates of Time, Sailor Pluto stirred. After a moment of just lying still, she sat up and began the task of sorting out the memories. Before she could get very far with that she jumped up and grabbed the Time Key Staff and projected orders into it and through that medium into the Gates.

 

The scene revealed was of Sailor Saturn healing the Senshi from wounds gained in the battle. None of the wounds were very serious. The area around them was another story. What had happened. There was not an intact window pane on either side of the street. It was almost as if some kind of bomb had gone off.

 

Well, it was obvious that the Senshi were safe now. The battle was over and it was apparent that all of the monsters were dead. Pluto's intervention wouldn't be needed to win the fight. She felt she was justified in staying where she was and running the view of the Gates back a little to find out what had happened while she had lain unconscious.

 

Orders to the Gates changed the time being views to a little bit in the past so she could pick up from where she had felt the shift in the timeline. She watched as the red haired girl leapt into the street and joined the fight. The girl looked familiar, as if Setsuna had seen her before.

 

She watched as the mystery girl tore into the monsters with a level of martial arts skill that put the Senshi to shame. Such speed, such strength and skill were like nothing she had seen in a long time. Yet there was something familiar with the style of fighting.

 

When the redhead ordered the Senshi to stand off and create a perimeter, Pluto frowned and asked, "What the hell is she doing?" She had seen something like that before as well.

 

The Senshi of Time was suitably amazed when the mystery fighter created a tornado. She watched the rest of the fight and heard the girl announce her name. Now she recognized the name and the fact that went with it. At the request of Sailor Uranus, Pluto had done a little prying into this person's life.

 

Hearing Usagi's declaration about the mistake, Pluto had to agree. If the Senshi had truly destroyed the martial artist's male side, it was a huge mistake. It was one that was likely to get Saotome really pissed off at the Senshi in general and Sailor Moon in particular.

 

A sudden thought froze the elder of the Senshi. She stopped the viewing of the scene and zoomed into get a close look at Ranma's face. After studying the image for a while she said, "It's her. I don't know why I didn't recognize her before. She came back too. This will have to be handled carefully.

 

Author's Note: To my readers - Sorry, but I'm writing another Ranma/Sailor Moon crossover. I happen to like them. “Paternity of a Princess” is a working title. What you are reading now is a revision of the first chapter to help foreshadow events that I thought of later. It was the parts with Sailor Pluto that were added.