[Ranma/SM][FanFic] The Pheonix Prince Saga Book 1, Part 3, Chapter 1
Linda Ward
OR Sailormoon! The only character's that I personally own are Karen Hogosha
and the fictional version of The Four, nither of which appear in this story!
Part Three: Surviving In A Modern World
Chapter One: Life As We Know It
It had been several days since Ranma had learned the secret
of opening the library's door. Every day, Nodoka and Ranma had
journeyed to the depths to venture into its musty gloom and once
again ponder the words of the ancient masters. This day would
normally be like no other, with Ranma and Nodoka pouring over
the crumbling old tomes, except for one thing. A little thing
really, but it's the little things that make all the difference,
isn't it?
**********
"There is no WAY you are gonna get me to do THAT!"
Ranma was in fine form. Nodoka was growing ever more
quickly frustrated with his stubborn refusal to performing her
wishes in this one area.
"Ranma! You must learn -"
"I said NO! There is no way!"
"Ranma..." Nodoka growled, letting the covering on the
ancestral katana slip.
"NO! I ain't doin' it!" Ranma roared, ignoring the
katana and everything else in his bull-headed attempt to get
out of this of all tasks.
"And what, exactly, is wrong with learning how to behave
like a lady?!"
"I'M A GUY!"
"Well, I'm sure we can all see THAT fact."
That was unexpected.
Both Ranma and Nodoka dropped their argument in order to
turn to the source of the new voice.
In the entrance to the library stood a young woman, perhaps
a bit younger than Ranma, perhaps not, with long glossy, raven black
hair which hug past her hips. It was Rei, dressed in a pair of purple
denim shorts and a yellow, green and purple striped t-shirt under a
yellow windbreaker. Purple socks and yellow tennis shoes adorned her
feet. The entire ensemble was completed with a yellow baseball cap
with a purple brim pulled on backwards over her long hair. She smirked
at her cousin has he stared in shock.
"What? Didn't think I knew how to get down here? Hey, I'm a
Hino, aren't I? What'd you expect?!"
"R-r-rei-san! What are you doing here?" Ranma stuttered.
"Well, I felt like going and catching a movie over at the
theatre in the mall, and I was wondering if you'd like to come?"
"What about the other girls?" Ranma wondered.
"Usagi's off with Mamoru, that's her boyfriend, you'll meet
him eventually. Minako is with Makoto, I think they're cooking or
something. And finally, Ami is studying. So, since no one else is
available, and I don't feel like going alone, I came over to invite
you. What, is there something wrong with me that you don't want to
be seen in public with me?!" Rei demanded, beginning to get angry.
"Wrong?! N-n-no! What could possibly be wrong with you?! I
mean, you're pretty a-an-and nice a-an-and..."
"Ranma... why don't you just answer her question." It was a
direct order, and Ranma knew better than to disobey.
"Uh... oh... sure, Rei-san. I'll go with you."
"Great, Ranma-san! Come on!"
With that, Rei latched onto Ranma's arm and drug him out
of the building.
**********
Once out of the house and on their way down the street, Rei
finally voiced the question that had been plaguing her.
"What are you so nervous about, Ranma?!"
"Nervous?! ME? I'm not nervous!" Ranma declared, while
scanning the street and roof tops and everything else nearby him
except for his cousin.
"You are too. So, out with it! What's up?"
"Uh... well..." Ranma tugged at his pigtail and stared up
at the sky a lot before answering. "You see, A-a-akane... my
fiancee... she's kinda.. ya know... jealous... and stuff.... and
I kinda don't wanna... make her mad or nothin..."
"Jealous? Of me?! Ranma-san! We're COUSINS! That's ... that's
wrong! That's just WRONG!"
Ranma just shrugged and kept walking. After a bit, Rei did
too.
**********
"So, here we are, Ranma-san. What would you like to see?" Rei
asked, gesturing towards the marquee.
"I dunno. I don't go to movies much. What would you
recommend, Rei-san?"
"Well, let's see... you're a martial artist, and a guy, so
that's out... so that... and that... Hey, have you ever heard of
Jackie Chan?"
"Jackie Chan? He's from Taiwan isn't he?"
"Yeah. He does a lot of martial arts movies. He's real
funny. You might like him. I know a lot of guys do..."
Ranma shrugged. "Okay, you're the expert on movies here. Why
don't we see that?"
"Ok... oh! They've re-released one of his older ones!" With
a smile, Rei drug a bemused Ranma to the ticket counter. "Two for
Drunken Master, please! Thank you!"
**********
Inside, Ranma pops for the popcorn and soda, since Rei paid
for the tickets and all. It was only fair after all.
They found their seats rather quickly and waited patiently
in relative silence as the opening credits began rolling.
**********
Periodically through out the film, Rei stole glances at
the delighted Ranma sitting next to her. The young man was handsome,
she had to admit. But there was something about him. Something...
strange. She just couldn't put her finger on quite what it was, but
she had a peculiar feeling of deja vu. It was as if they had done
this before, or at least something similar... she just had this
overwhelming feeling that she knew him from somewhere else.
**********
Despite the fact that the Jackie Chan fellow on the screen was
quite amusing, not to mention informative, (Ranma was already
plotting on how he could use some of those moves in his next
battle) Ranma couldn't help glancing around for Akane. Every
second that passed he waited for the fated Hammer of Doom to
strike. Every second it didn't he just got tenser and tenser. He
began looking around the theatre whenever he thought that Rei
wasn't looking, which wasn't often he noticed.
**********
Maybe it was the increased nervousness between the pair, maybe
not. Whatever it was, they both noticed the fact that a youma
was approaching and fast. Unfortunately, or maybe not, Ranma
noticed it first.
Scooping Rei up into his arms, he made a standing leap
from their seats to the door of a nearby storage closet. Pushing
her inside he muttered hurriedly, "Stay here. There's something
bad coming. I don't know what it is, but you'll be safer in here.
I'll handle it."
Rei wouldn't have any of that. "That's a Youma, Ranma! You'll
be killed!"
"Just stay put!" Ranma almost snarled, then closed the door
and prepared for battle.
**********
The Youma appeared moments later. It was big, it was greenish
purple and it was scaly. It was also really ugly and had lots of
teeth, but that was pretty much a given with Youma. Oh, it also had
bad breath. It's name was George and it was actually a very nice
Youma. It just happened to have the rather nasty taste for eating
human souls. Which probably explained the bad breath.
Ranma's soul was looking fairly tasty at the moment, so
George decided that he would chew on that human first.
Ranma decided otherwise.
"Hey, Barney! Yeah, you! That's right! I'm talking to you,
you sick lil' FREAK!"
Now, as mentioned earlier, George wasn't really a bad Youma,
he was actually quite nice. But, you see, among Youma there is an
unspoken law. And that is The Law of the Unmentioned. That's right
The Law of the Unmentioned. And the Unmentioned happens to be a
renegade Youma that sings off-key about love and happiness and
tends to cause cavities through sugar overload. That's right, Barney
the Purple Dinosaur. So, normally, George would have brushed off
what Ranma had said, in fact the Freak comment was quite a
compliment, but since he had dared to infer that George was anything
like the Unmentioned...
George opened his gigantic maw and roared in reply.
Ranma just smirked and tossed a small Moko Takabushi at
the roaring Youma.
George got really pissed off at that, and charged blindly
at Ranma.
Ranma leapt out of the way and kicked George in the tail
on the way back down behind him.
The battle was on.
End Chapter One
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Flames will be frozen! Unless not understood, in which case they will be
questioned! The Dragon has spoken!
So mote it be!
--
Look not for me in bright of day
Look not in dark of night
I am but a solitary figment
Alone created of your mind.
-
Siobhan Recca
The Cybernetic Ninja