Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Paternity of a Princess ❯ Dreams ( Chapter 7 )

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 7

Dreams

 

At school the next day Usagi refused to talk to Ranma. The redhead felt hurt by this and at first couldn't understand why her friend was giving her the cold shoulder. Then she thought back to the previous day and replayed in her mind the conversation she'd had with Mamoru. It was with more than a little astonishment that she realized that he had been flirting with her and Ranma had been flirting back. She had been flirting with Usagi's boyfriend. No wonder the pony tailed blonde was angry with her.

 

The friendship with the blonde was too important to Ranma to let things stand like this. She would have to find a way to talk to Usagi and to get her to listen. Likely it wouldn't be easy. She resolved that the time for lies was past and she would finally lay all of her cards on the table.

 

That afternoon Ranma went to Usagi's house and rang the doorbell. She was met at the door by Usagi's mom. “Oh, Ranma I wasn't expecting you.”

 

Looking sad, Ranma said, “I think Usagi is mad at me. If I'd called ahead she might have said she didn't want to see me or have gone somewhere to avoid me. I need to apologize to her.”

 

Mrs. Tsukino looked surprised. “Why would Usagi be angry with you?”

 

An expression of deep shame on her face, Ranma confessed, “I was… flirting with her boyfriend.”

 

“Oh dear,” the woman said. “I can understand why that might make her angry. But if you wish to apologize, then you'd better come in and talk to her. She's in her room.”

 

Ranma climbed the stairs with a heavy heart. She felt like she had to tell her friend the whole of her story and was sure she would be friendless again after the conversation. Nevertheless she had to be honest about it.

 

At her knock a voice from inside the room called out, “What is it, Mom?”

 

“Usagi, it's Ranma.”

 

The response heard through the door said, “Go away!”

 

The expression on the redhead's face got even sadder. She pressed ahead anyway. “I want to apologize. Please let me talk to you.”

 

The door opened a crack and the blonde looked at her friend. She felt almost shocked at the expression on Ranma's face. The girl looked sad, lonely and afraid. This was the mighty Saotome Ranma, the strongest martial artist in the world. What could frighten her?

 

They went in and sat on Usagi's bed where Luna was curled up. Ranma said a silent word of thanks that the Neko-ken no longer made her fear cats. She reached over and scratched the black cat between the ears. She greeted, “Hi Luna.”

 

When she shifted her ministrations to scratching lightly on the cat's chin she was rewarded with a pleased expression and a purr. Ranma smiled. She wouldn't have believed she was capable of such interaction with one of the little furry creatures. Now she was able to recapture the affection she had for them before the Nekoken training.

 

The blonde couldn't help smile. “I think Luna really likes you.”

 

Ranma finished with a pat on the head and said, “I used to have a problem with cats, but I'm Ok with them now.”

 

Frowning, Usagi said, “It's nice that you get along with Luna but I'm pretty sure you didn't come here to talk about my cat.”

 

The redhead's expression returned to sad and fearful, close to tears. “Usagi, I wasn't trying to steal your boyfriend. I'm sorry I was flirting with him. I didn't know what I was doing.”

 

Looking angry, the blonde demanded, “How could you not know you were flirting with Mamoru?”

Hesitantly the answer came, “I'm… still learning how to behave like a girl.”

 

Usagi had been expecting that this would come up eventually, but just hadn't expected it in a matter like this. She still prompted, “Would you care to explain that?”

 

With a sad and dejected expression on her face the redhead said, “I'll tell you the whole story. It's kind of long. I'll… I'll understand if you don't want to be my friend anymore when you hear.”

 

The blonde placed a comforting hand on Ranma's shoulder and said, “I'm willing to listen. I promise to keep an open mind.”

 

The redhead nodded. “I wasn't always a girl. I was born a boy.”

 

Even though she knew the truth she felt she had to ask the appropriate questions. Usagi asked, “You had a sex change operation?”

 

Ranma frowned a bit then shook her head vigorously. “I know you're Sailor Moon fan and I'm sorry if this bothers you, but she's not one of my favorite people right now.”

 

The blonde looked confused. “How do you know I'm a Sailor Moon fan? And what does that have to do with you being born a boy?”

 

Pausing for a moment to think how to phrase things, Ranma finally said, "I mean no insult to your choice of hairstyle. I figure you must have chosen it because that's how Sailor Moon wears her hair. I figure you have to be a fan because Sailor Moon has to be too smart to wear the same hairstyle in her civilian identity. It would give her away.”

 

Humph! Maybe she would have to think about a different style when in her untransformed state. Usagi continued, “That still doesn't explain what that has to do with you being born a boy.”

 

This was turning out harder than she had thought. Ranma said, “Well, if you're a fan of Sailor Moon, you must believe in magic. Magic is the reason I'm a girl now instead of a boy. For a couple of years I used to change back and forth.”

 

Ooh, maybe she would finally get the whole story. “How did that happen?” Usagi asked.

 

Looking like she had come to a decision, Ranma said, “Maybe I should start at the beginning. Have you ever seen a TV show or movie about a man who busted his butt to make sure his son did better than he did?”

 

“Sure, that's a common theme in movies and I guess in real life too,” She replied.

 

Ranma nodded. “My Pop was a good martial artist but not the greatest. His dream was that I would be the greatest martial of my generation, a monument to the Art. Some people would tell you that his dream came true and that I am the best. I always have to remember the saying that `there's always somebody better.'”

 

She continued, “Some people would argue that my father must have been a really great teacher to produce a martial artist as strong and skilled as me. If that were true my life might have been a little less painful. We traveled around a lot, visiting dojos, shrines and temples where we would study with the greatest masters. I learned a lot from them.”

 

“The training I got from my father was a series of weird and dangerous techniques intended to make me an `invincible warrior.'” Ranma gave a brief rundown of some of the more insane training methods. They included the Neko-ken, being tied to the back of a moving train to get speed training, all manner of physical abuse to develop toughness. She told of fighting for her food and if she were not fast enough she would go hungry.

 

Usagi was appalled. “I haven't even met the man and I already know I don't like your father. How is you're still alive, let alone sane?”

 

In a musing tone, Ranma asked, “Am I sane? I wonder sometimes.”

 

She shook herself and said, “Anyway from the time I was 5 we were constantly traveling, stopping only to train with some master or other. Anytime I started to make a friend my Pop would do something to scare the new friend off or we would leave. He told me that friends were a distraction from the Art.”

 

“He said the same thing about regular school,” She declared. “The only times I went to a school was if we got in trouble with local truant officers and he had to send me. That's part of the reason why I'm actually in a grade behind where I should be for my age. I missed a lot of school.”

 

She frowned. “I started to notice girls about the same time most boys do, but my father said the same kind of thing about them. He said that girls were wonderful and precious but also delicate and weak. They were to be protected and cherished, but not to be taken seriously. They were a distraction from the art and I wasn't supposed to waste my time thinking about them.”

 

“What a pig!” Usagi exclaimed.

 

With a snort, Ranma said, “Actually he's a different animal, but I'll get to that in a moment.”

 

Usagi nodded.

 

“Well, like I said, Pop wanted to visit pretty much every dojo, temple, shrine and anyplace that had `training ground' in the name. When we were in China he got hold of a brochure that told of a place called Jusenkyo or `Training Ground of Cursed Springs'.”

 

The blonde frowned again. “You haven't even told me anything about it yet and it already sounds like a bad idea going there.”

 

Nodding sadly, Ranma confirmed, “You don't know the half of it. Another name for it is `Pools of Sorrow.'”

 

“Not the kind of place you'd go for a vacation,” Usagi commented.

 

“Nope,” the redhead agreed. “About all my Pop had to go on was the name and the map that came with the brochure. He had the name translated but didn't bother with any of the rest, like the warnings.”

 

“He can't read Chinese?” Usagi was not sure she believed someone could be that stupid. “Why would he even travel there if he couldn't speak the language?”

 

“That's my Pop, a world class idiot.” She proceeded to give the story of how the visit to Jusenkyo had gone.

 

After Ranma finished, Usagi sat in something of a daze. “Since you're a girl now I sort of figured you would have turned into a girl from the spring, but your father is a panda?”

 

The redhead nodded. “I also know a guy that turns into a duck, another one who turns into a little black piglet and a girl who turns into a cat. Then there's Pantyhose Taro who turns into a monster that looks like a winged minotaur with tentacles.”

 

The leader of the Senshi had to hide a start of recognition at the description. The Senshi team had fought such a monster, but he had got away. Now that she knew he was a human with a curse, she was glad he had escaped.

 

Usagi had to interject at this point, “This is fascinating but how does this relate to you flirting with my boyfriend?”

 

Ranma let out a sigh. “I'm trying to say that I have very little experience at being a girl. I haven't been around people a lot so I'm not really good at dealing with people in social situations. All I know about flirting comes from being on the receiving end when perverted guys were trying to get my girl side into bed or at least to go on a date.”

 

She seemed to be having a hard time finding words. Finally she said, “Mamoru was nice to me. He complimented me on my looks, he talked to me and he laughed at my jokes. He smiled at me and he listened to me. I was just trying to be nice back. Not very many people have been nice to me who weren't trying to get something out of me. Usually when one girl was nice to me I would get clobbered by one of my fiancés. I wasn't trying to steal your boyfriend!” The last part came as almost a wail.

 

She started crying and got out between sobs, “My dad trained me to be a `man among men' and now that I'm stuck as a girl my mom wants me to be a Lady. I really don't know what to do. I'm sorry! I didn't mean to act like a perverted freak.”

 

What had people been telling this poor girl? Usagi pulled her into a hug and let the redhead cry on her shoulder. She made soothing sounds and said, “Shhh. Please don't cry. You're not perverted and you're not a freak, at least not any more.”

 

When Ranma calmed down she, somewhat hesitantly asked, “I'm… not acting like a pervert?”

 

Usagi shook her head. “Considering that you grew up as a boy, you may find this hard to believe. You were acting like a normal girl who finds a handsome man paying attention to her. In a way I'm jealous.”

 

“Huh?” Ranma wasn't sure what to think. “I just said I'm not trying to steal him. Why would you be jealous?” She looked ready to cry again.

 

With a somewhat wistful expression, Usagi said, “When Mamoru and I first met he insulted me, teased me and called me names. It took us a while to get past that to where we actually liked each other. Love came soon after. I'm jealous that he started out being nice to you.”

 

The redhead considered that for a moment before saying, “Maybe… maybe he's only rude to girls he really likes?”

 

The blonde looked at Ranma with a raised eyebrow. “Interesting idea. You may onto something. I don't know of him ever being rude to any other girls besides me. I'm going to have to talk to him. We can't have you going into a depression just because he talks nice to you. In a way I suppose I should be angrier at Mamoru than I was at you.”

 

"Huh?" What was this girl talking about? "Why would you be mad at Mamoru?"

 

"He was the one who started flirting with you," Usagi pointed out. "All you did was respond to his flirting. He used to be quite the ladies' man before we started dating. I can't believe he started flirting with another girl right in front of me. It made me so mad."

 

Usagi paused and gently asked, “Ranma, do you find Mamoru attractive?”

 

Ranma blushed hotly. “Before, if someone asked me if I was attracted to a guy, I would always say, `I'm a guy' and deny it. I'm going to have to say I don't know. Maybe I do. I'm sorry.”

The blonde rolled her eyes and said, “Would you stop apologizing? I'm not mad at you. I am going to have to ask Mamo-Chan to tone down the charm a little bit next time he talks to you. You've got enough problems without a broken heart getting added in.”

 

She paused. She already knew the reason but wanted to hear it in Ranma's own words. “What's your complaint against Sailor Moon?”

 

“Well, you know I used to change back and forth from guy to girl and back, right?”

 

She only had Ranma's word on that, but she was willing to believe it was true. Was her own life any less fantastic? Usagi nodded.

 

Ranma said, “On a rainy Sunday afternoon I was in Juuban to visit my mom. I'd spent the night and was getting ready to head back to Nerima. I was on my way to the train station when I heard the sounds of fighting. The Senshi were fighting a bunch of monsters. They were badly outnumbered and I decided to jump in and help. The monsters were nasty creatures and I got clawed and had to pull out one of my ultimate moves. After the fight was over I passed out. I guess I lost a lot of blood from claws and glass. When I woke up Sailor Moon was standing over me with her wand, or is that a scepter?”

 

She continued, “Anyway, I could feel my wounds were healed but I also could feel something was wrong. It wasn't any kind of physical problem or pain, so I tried to ignore it. I had just a few minutes to get to the train so I got out of there as fast as I could.”

 

Frowning, Usagi nodded. “So it was after that you found out you couldn't change to a boy anymore?”

 

“Yeah,” the redhead acknowledged. “I stopped at a restaurant run by a 300 year old Chinese Amazon. She knows a lot about magic and tested me. I can only guess that, when she was healing me, Sailor Moon found the curse and used her magic to remove it. Removing the curse should have changed me back to a guy. Since I was a girl at the time, Sailor Moon must have thought that was my natural form. She must have used her magic to keep me female while removing the curse.”

 

Usagi said, “That sounds reasonable.”

 

“Anyway the old woman checked,” Ranma explained. “She said all trace of the curse is gone and so was the magic trace of my male form. I'm now immune to the magic of Jusenkyo so I couldn't even go get a curse to change back and forth from male to female again. When she told me that it felt like a part of my soul died.”

 

“What are you going to do?” Asked Usagi.

 

Ranma looked like she wanted to cry again. “I hate my life now. I don't know how I'm supposed to act. My mom is trying to teach me how to be a lady but what she's teaching seems more like a course in etiquette like how to behave, what to wear and stuff. There's nothing about how to deal with the way I'm feeling. Living as a girl is terrible for me.”

 

“I wanted to kill myself, but I swore that I wouldn't do that until I've told Sailor Moon about the mistake she made, the pain she caused me. I feel sure she meant well, but that's not good enough. All she had to do was wait for me to wake up and ask me about the magic on me. If she's done that I could have told her to leave it alone.”

 

Usagi silently said, “You have told Sailor Moon about her mistake and she is deeply sorry for hurting you like that. If I could take it back, I would.” Something in what Ranma said was puzzling and she asked, “Leave it alone? Wouldn't you have preferred to be male without the curse?”

 

The red haired girl shook her head. “I still can't say I liked the curse, but I was getting used to it. Being a girl was teaching me things and there were some things about it that I actually liked. Losing either form would have felt like losing a piece of myself. Losing the male side was worse because that was my main identity.”

 

Usagi patted Ranma on the back and said, “If there is anything I can do to help you adjust to being a girl let me know. I'm sure all of my other friends would be willing to help you too.”

 

Ranma felt incredibly relieved. Not only did Usagi forgive her but she was willing to accept Ranma as a girl. She didn't look at her as a freak or pervert. That honestly was more than she had been looking for when she had gone to Usagi's house.

 

She kept in touch with Akane and Ukyo back in Nerima. One of the things they told her seemed distinctly odd. The Nekohanten was still in business and indeed there seemed to be more Amazons there than ever before. Ranma would have expected them to close up shop and head back to China. There must be something going on that they had not shared with her.

 

Akane had defied her father and gone to the Kawasaki dojo. Soun had been angry, but he couldn't bring himself to do anything that would hurt his baby girl. He submitted to her decision, but he was definitely not happy. After Akane's defection, he had tried to talk Nabiki and Kasumi into resuming the martial arts training they had dropped years before. Neither of them were interested.

 

Akane believed that her father was now looking for a new student. She understood that he was trying to locate Natsumi and Kurmi to try and entice them back to possibly become the new heirs to the Tendo branch of Anything Goes.

 

Genma was also looking for a new student to teach. Akane had no word on how well the search was going.

 

On the romantic front, Akane had decided that she really liked Kawasaki Akira. He was a very nice man and not in the least perverted. He was friendly, polite and complementary to her. He was an excellent sparring partner as well. She was delighted when he asked her on a date.

 

The okonomiyaki business was doing very well. Konatsu had gone out on two dates with Ukyo. For one of those dates Ukyo was dressed up in one of her most masculine outfits and Konatsu had looked stunningly beautiful. On the second date, Ukyo had pleaded, wheedled and cajoled until her cross-dressing boyfriend agreed to take her out on a date where he dressed as a man and Ukyo got a chance to dress up pretty and feminine. Ukyo had told Ranma that she and Konatsu were going to take turns as to who was going to be the girl in their dates.

 

When not out socializing with the other girls, Ranma trained. She worked hard on her physical training and on learning new techniques. What Ranma didn't know but did suspect was that the second well of power she sensed within herself was magic. When drawing her magic she found that she could fly easily. She was also able to upgrade the umisenken into a true invisibility technique. She also improved the vacuum blades so they could be deadly or merely punishing. She could vary the thickness and sharpness of the blades as she wished.

 

Using the new power she found she could bend the element of air to her will, just like in the cartoon. She learned how to create a tornado without the need for an opponent's hot ki. She could now create wind gusts or, using a variation on the vacuum blade, strike with balls of air that hit like punches and kicks at a distance. She could use air as a shield against attacks.

 

When she had mastered those techniques to her satisfaction, she felt she was ready to seek out the Senshi. It had taken four months. The `bending' techniques were rough, but she felt good enough to defend herself against the senshi if it became necessary. If she came out of her meeting with the Senshi alive, she would work on perfecting her techniques.

 

After getting her extra techniques ready, Ranma began to do a nightly patrol of the area around Juuban High School. It seemed there was a lack of monster attacks taking place at time. That explained the absence of the Senshi. Lacking anything better to do, Ranma started fighting crime.

 

Street crime in Juuban had already been low because of the presence of the Senshi, but it now almost stopped completely. Muggers and burglars found themselves knocked out by an unseen opponent and deposited on the lawn in front of the nearest police station.

 

Newpapers and Television began to carry stories of the “Phantom Lady.” They felt sure it was a woman because the police would speak of hearing a woman's voice telling them about a new criminal being left on the lawn.

As the months passed Ranma's discomfort with her female body faded. She began to learn what was expected of her as far as how she was to behave and what to expect. She still missed being a boy, but had to admit that being a girl wasn't as bad as she had feared it would be. Her determination to end her life after confronting Sailor Moon was weakening. In fact at odd moments she found herself contemplating what things might be like after she graduated high school and even college.

 

Another thing that surprised her, was that she was getting to a point where she was not totally disgusted by the idea of a relationship with a boy at least as an abstract concept. She definitely didn't find any of the boys at school attractive. With her beauty, she had a good share of boys clamoring for attention and dates. She was getting good at refusing politely without physically hurting any of them.

 

During the time Ranma was searching for the Senshi she sat down to have lunch with her friends at school one day. She didn't yet know that those friends were the Senshi. After the usual greetings she told them, “I had a really weird dream last night.”

 

Ami was interested in becoming a doctor like her mother but also had an interest in psychology. She asked, “What kind of dream?”

 

Ranma shook her head and said, “It seemed very real but had to be some kind of weird mix of fantasy and pre-history.”

 

Now curious herself, Usagi asked, “Why do you say pre-history?”

 

The redhead explained, “In the dream I was a princess of the Kingdom of Atlantis. I was twelve and had a kid sister named Beryl who was nine. Beryl was a real brat.”

 

At the mention of Ranma's dream sister all of the girls perked up. Speaking for all of them Usagi prompted, “Tell us more.”

 

Ranma had expected her friends to have a laugh at her being the princess of anything, but shrugged and continued, “Well, my mom was Queen Opal. She was a widow who had been married twice. My father was a prince named Diamond and Beryl's father was named Granite. My name was Ruby.”

 

“So Beryl was your half-sister?” asked Makoto.

 

“Yeah,” agreed Ranma. “As some sort of political arrangement I was engaged to a prince named… Endymion, I think. He was only eight at the time when the engagement started. At the time in the dream he was ten. I remember thinking that he was really cute.”

 

After pausing to think about it for a moment, Ranma commented, “You know, now that I think about it, Endymion looked like a younger Mamoru. Anyway, we played games where I pretended to be Sailor Terra and he was the Earth Knight.”

 

Ami asked, “Could it be a memory from a past life?”

 

“Nah, couldn't be,” Ranma said. Shaking her head she went on, “In the dream my Mom's sister, Princess Garnet, was the real Sailor Terra, the Senshi of Earth. Since everybody knows Tuxedo Kamen is the Senshi of Earth, it has to be some kind of fantasy.” She started snickering.

 

Minako frowned a little and asked, “What's so funny?”

 

Controlling her amusement with an effort, Ranma explained, “I'm sorry, I can't help it. Ever since my friend Akane first told me Tuxedo Kamen was the Senshi of Earth I just can't stop myself from picturing what he would look like in a sailor fuku.”

 

There was a round of laughs at that mental image. With a chuckle, Usagi said, “That would be funny. Was there any more to the dream?”

 

“Yeah,” the redhead confirmed. “Auntie Garnet was training me to be her replacement for when she retired from the job of Sailor Terra. Endymion was being trained to be the Earth Knight.”

 

All the girls' eyes widened as if the term Earth Knight awakened a memory in each of them. Ranma was involved in musing about her dream and didn't notice the reaction of the girls. She also didn't notice Ami fiddling with that odd palmtop computer of hers.

 

Later after school the Senshi girls got together at Usagi's house and turned to Ami. The Senshi's resident genius opened up her computer and began typing at a furious pace. She finally said, “Ranma's dream wasn't a fantasy. It has to be a past life memory. Atlantis was one of the districts of the Earth Kingdom and Opal was queen of the Atlantis district. Beryl and Ruby were her daughters and Endymion, the son of another noble family, was engaged to Ruby.”

 

Usagi asked, “What about that Earth Knight stuff?”

 

Ami tapped her finger on the top of the screen. “It's in the Moon Kingdom database. Endymion was never the Senshi of Earth. He was the Earth Knight. All planets had a Knight as well as a Senshi. It was not uncommon for the Knight to get married to the Senshi of their planet.”

 

She gave them a moment to digest this before going on. “The records show Ruby becoming the Senshi of Earth at age 15. She died at the age of 19, leaving the post of Senshi of Earth vacant because Garnet had also died. Foul play was suspected but never proved.”

 

She pressed a key to scroll the display. “Ruby was supposed to have married Endymion when he reached the age of 18. She would have been 20 at the time if she had lived. The Royal Council refused to make Beryl Senshi of Earth.”

 

She frowned as she looked at the information on the screen. “It was after Ruby died that Endymion was introduced to Princess Serenity, daughter of Queen Serenity.”

 

Usagi was shocked to hear this. “My prince had a girlfriend before he met me? Was going to get married to her? Why didn't I remember any of this before?”

 

Ami shrugged. “I guess nothing had come up to stimulate those memories before.” She tapped some more keys before saying, “This is what Ruby looked like.” She turned the computer so they could all look at the screen.

 

The photo on the screen was of a blue-eyed redhead. With the makeup and jewelry of a Senshi, she was drop-dead gorgeous. She was also obviously Ranma.

 

The leader speculated, “I'd guess the reason Ruby's soul didn't get sent forward through time with the rest of us was because she was dead before the whole negaverse problem came up. Her being born a boy may have been a mistake or something else. It seems that she couldn't access any of those past life memories until she was stripped of her male side. That would explain why she wasn't awakened as Sailor Terra before now even though she's older than we are.”

 

Ami nodded. “Beryl must have had her sister murdered because she was worried about her plans being exposed too early. It seems pretty clear that Ranma must be the reincarnation of Princess Ruby. I can see now why Pluto said that things happened the way they had to happen. When Ranma was a boy or even a half-girl, she couldn't access the power of Sailor Terra.”

 

The Senshi of Mercury added, “When she told us about the dream I did a scan on Ranma. I compared it to the one I did when we first met her at school. She's changing. Before she was ridiculously strong with life energy off the charts and some odd trace of magic. Now her life energy is even stronger and she has magic equal to or greater than any one of us. The magic is definitely Silver Millennium and the same kind of magic we have. I think she is Sailor Terra.”

 

She paused to let them absorb that. Then she said, “If she's as strong as a Senshi when she's untransformed, how strong would she be if she actually transformed into a Senshi?” It was a sobering thought.

 

Minako asked, “How can we invite her into the team if she plans to kill herself when she meets Sailor Moon?”

 

In a thoughtful tone Usagi said, “Killing herself was what she decided to do right after she lost her male form. It's been four months and she's getting used to being a girl. I don't think she likes it yet, but from the way she talks about it, I don't think she hates it anymore. She hasn't talked about killing herself in a while.”

 

Ami said thoughtfully, “We should still be careful how we approach her. Even if she has fully accepted being a girl, she may still resent us for forcing that on her. From what's she's told us and Usagi, Ranma has undergone more life changing events than any ten normal people. She may not even want to be Sailor Terra. Not all of us were exactly thrilled with the idea of being Senshi.”

 

The rest nodded. Yes, caution would be a good idea.

 

Author's Note: So Ranma is the reincarnated spirit of Sailor Terra. (You had to know this was going to end up with Ranma in a Sailor Fuku.) She is adapting to being a girl. Is she really ready to face the Senshi and learn the truth about herself?

 

Readers of my work will have spotted that I have taken Princess Ruby from one of my other stories, "Sailor Goddess." I've adapted the idea to fit this story. (I don't think it counts as stealing an idea when I use one of my own.)

 

I originally was planning to make Ranma like the character Ang in "Avatar, the Last Airbender" and be able to master bending of all elements. After careful consideration I decided that would make her too powerful and scaled that back to just airbending. It seemed a natural progression because vacuum blades and creating tornadoes were pretty much manipulating air anyway.