Death Reborn Evolution CH.7

[Shanami]

Edit: The revised version of this story is now available on the bottom of this page and the top of page 2. The first half (encompassing most of the first two original postings) has been significantly reworked and additional things have been added.

Well, it's been a while since I used this forum but I don't have anyone pre-reading right now and I'm sure I've missed a lot of minor typos and other things.

Previous chapters can be found here.

A very quick summary though as I doubt very many people have read this so far: Ranma dies in the aftermath of the fight with Saffron but winds up reborn female and has minor powers over ice/water and wings of her own. There's some setup for a possible later cross into the HP universe that I won't bother with now since it won't be important for a while. She befriends Hotaru in the aftermath of the Pharoh 90 incident and they grow up together. Both have regained some memories from their previous life but they are more like scattered thoughts and impressions. Ranko is very skilled in martial arts as a byproduct of Ranma's intense focus on them, for example. Both girls are currently in middle school and the plot is set in an AU of the Galaxia arc. The most notable changes are that Mamoru didn't go to America and Chibi-Usa has not returned to the future. The most important recent event is that Ranko has been asked out on a date. That should be enough information to at least make sense of this.

End incredibly brief summary.

Eww, one not before reading below: apparently the forums don't like my line spacing. I will attempt to put them all back in, but I might miss some. Everything is properly formatted in my file though.


The revised version of this story is now available on page 2.

[frice2000]

“Oh my,

You made poor Kasumi say that an uncomfortably large amount of times. You don't have to have her start almost every sentence with it.

I, I’m not ready for this,

Ellipses would make that sound more like hesitation in my mind then a comma. In fact there are quite a few places throughout this that I expected to see '...' and instead saw commas.

I just kinda expected her

Considering who Nodoka is I don't think she would use a word like 'kinda'. Probably should switch it to 'kind of' or something even more sophisticated to fit with the whole 'proper Japanese lady' shtick that she carries herself as for the most part.

Ranko-chan hasn’t had her period yet and she’s already interested in boys enough to agree to a date

Nothing wrong with the line at all but in my own experience considering the problems even Elementary schools are having now with sexually interested students this doesn't surprise me...

Nodoka continued with a practical, though appropriate, demonstration of some of the female body’s erogenous zones. Not only had Ranko had to discuss boys, the various acts she might want to do with them and the serious risks like, gasp, pregnancy that such acts might lead to but she also had to endure a mortifying practicum on masturbation. And, just to be thorough, Nodoka had even briefly touched on how lesbian intimacy.

Wow...I kind of don't think most of that is an appropriate thing for a parent to discuss with their children. Warning them to be pregnant and to use birth control fine...But a practical demonstration of female pleasure zones on each other in the furo? That smacks of oddness. Nodoka talking to her about possibly being in Lesbian relationships? I don't see that as being particularly proper either considering her character...A parent telling a child how to masturbate rather then the kid finding it out on their own? I don't think most normal parents given in depth instruction on that either. Of course it could be because of who Nodoka is but I think most parents just go over the bare basics and either give them a book that describes some of the more embarrassing topics or let them discover some of it on their own. This felt like you went a little too far there with what she 'learned'.

“Mmm, Akane,” she moaned before

Thank you some of the memories are beginning to return at last. That is what made this fic not exactly on my radar before this point. I can read and enjoy plenty of Ranma-chan fics but I didn't like the connotations of zero memories of the male half for the first half dozen chapters. Finally seeing them beginning to return will be a nice change and will actually allow 'Ranma' to deal with the changed situation rather then the construct you created.

Pretty good bit here. I hope the 'Ranma' memories start to become more of a problem or at the very least she remembers who she used to be. While I'm in no way adverse to the 'Ranko' character you created and the relationships with her two friends are pretty damn cute I just think it went a little long to get to this point. It was literally getting to the point where I didn't expect Ranko to ever remember much of anything so with this changing I'll have to re-read the other chapters as it'll be a story I can be much more interested in now.

[Shanami]

Thanks, that was helpful. I'll go back through the first part in a bit to see what I want to change. I will admit that I deliberately avoided using ellipses since I feel like I normally use far too many of them. But, if it reads strangely with the additional commas I'll stop holding back on that front. I think I actively deleted 10 ellipses so far in what I'd written.

I do apologize for how long it took to get to the memories, I didn't know exactly how to write that part and to be honest I was having too much fun writing about them as little girls.

I guess I'll have to take a look back at the Nodoka talk thing. I wanted to portray her as having weird ideas on sexuality but that doesn't mean that it didn't go too far. *Edit* on reading it, you're right, it went waaay too far. I've gone back and changed that to make it a bit tamer but still hopefully leaving Nodoka a bit out there on matters of sexuality.

And the next part. The bracketed text at the bottom is a scene I've not started writing yet. I might be strange in this, but I usually outline a chapter entirely and just write various parts of it. I'm missing about 3-4 scenes in the middle but I've got the grand majority of the end of this chapter finished already.

-----------------
Afternoon classes passed for the girls as usual, though Ranko was still slightly distracted by the events of the day. She was desperately trying to pay attention to her history teacher. ‘Oh well, I’ll just have to borrow Taru-chan’s notes, I can’t focus. Why am I so nervous, I mean, Jun’s cute, right?’ she thought before she realized that she didn’t really have a burning attraction to him. But then again, the more she thought about it, the more she realized that she didn’t have any overpowering attraction to anyone yet; after all, she hadn’t even had her first period yet.

‘I guess there’s no use worrying about it. It’ll probably be really fun,’ her mind drifted off and she sighed wistfully. She was excited to actually be going on a date and the idea that someone found her attractive enough to work up the courage to ask her was thrilling. It was just, that while she could totally see Jun’s appeal logically, emotionally she just wasn’t that into him.
Ranko was shaken out of her cycling thoughts as the building shook as if there was an…

“Earthquake!” someone she didn’t know squealed in fright. Half of the class dropped out of their seats to hide under their desks in panic while the teacher fought to keep control of the room.

*BOOOOOOOOM*

The windows exploded inward in a blinding flash of light and glass shards, fortunately impacting on the empty desks rather than the students underneath. Momoko bolted over to the blown out window frames to look outside.

“Oh no, it’s another monster attack!” she yelled.

Ranko jumped up and ran to the window to see the silhouettes of some skirted women dodging around a three story tall, vaguely female walking monstrosity while they launched multicolored balls of light at it.

While the teacher coaxed her classmates out of the room and directed them towards the relative safety of the auditorium, Ranko dropped to the back of the group and slipped off.

“Where are you going Ko-chan?” Usa asked.

Ranko jumped and spun around in fright, clutching her chest. “Jeez, do you always have to do that Sa-chan?” she asked to which Usa smirked. Ranko sighed. “I was gonna go help.”

“You can’t, that’s one of the monsters, let the senshi handle it Ko-chan,” Hotaru pleaded.

“But I know I can help Taru-chan!” Ranko insisted, her wings starting to shimmer into existence behind her.

“But the senshi take care of the monsters all the time. And the teacher will know we left and then we’ll get in trouble and Auntie Nodoka will ground you,” Hotaru cried out and latched onto Ranko.

Ranko deflated. “Okay, okay, I won’t go running off to fight the monster,” she sighed. “Let’s sneak into the auditorium before we’re missed.”

They made their way in through a side entrance and snuck around to sit at the back of their class with Nariko, Momoko an Aoi.

“Where’d you guys go?” Momoko asked.

“I wanted to see what was going on better,” Ranko whispered back.

“Ranko, are you crazy?” Aoi hissed. “Those monsters are really nasty, why did you want to see it up close?”

“I don’t know,” Ranko lied, “I just wanted to see it for myself.”

Meanwhile, the Sailor Starlights had cornered the monster and were keeping it pinned down through repeated uses of their attacks while Eternal Sailor Moon charged up her “Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss” attack, cleansing the phage entirely and leaving an unconscious person lying in the street.

Once it became apparent that the monster attack was over, classes resumed. While some school districts probably would have cancelled the rest of the day, this was Juuban and monster attacks happened far too often to miss school over. Ranko’s friends had used the short break to interrogate the girl about her plans with Jun on Friday night and Usa passed a few ecchi notes during class causing Ranko to flush and mutter imprecations under her breath and give Usa the evil eye. Usa just smirked in response.

XXOOXX

Ranko stared at her opponent, sweat beading on her furrowed brow as she sized up the monstrosity across from her, far more intimidating than the phage that had attacked earlier. Her eyes narrowed as she tried to think of something, anything that could help her face down her implacable, silent foe.

Draw the graph of the following function: x2 + 3/4x + 17 = y.

Ranko hated algebra.

“Argh! I just don’t get it,” she yelled out in frustration, causing the other seven girls to look curiously in her direction. After their last class of the day, Usa, Hotaru and Ranko had walked to the nearby Juuban high school to meet with the inner senshi for a study session at the Hikawa Shrine.

“What don’t you understand Ranko-chan?” Ami asked, glancing over the younger girl’s shoulder. She had continued to tutor the middle schoolers once they had caught up to their grade level in preparation for high school entrance exams.

“This!” Ranko jabbed a finger emphatically at the offending problem. “I don’t even know how to start. I can do most of the problems but this one is just too complicated. I’m so frustrated Ami-sempai.”

“Nuh-uh, I thought we went over this already Ranko-chan, none of that sempai business with any of us,” Ami said.

“Sorry Ami-chan,” Ranko replied.

“That’s better,” Ami smiled brightly, “now, how about we work through this one together?”

Ranko found herself speechless. ‘Kawaii, she looks kinda like Akane when she smiles, wait… what the hell am I thinking?’ Ranko blushed hard as she inadvertently wondered what Ami would look like naked and how close she was and how easy it would be to turn her head and ..and ‘Gah, stupid dream,’ she thought. ‘It was bad enough that I dreamed about having se-, doing that to someone as a man but now I’m looking at Ami? She is pretty though, and she smells so nice and, gah!’ As her thoughts spiraled further out of control, Ranko’s face got redder and redder.

“Ranko-chan, are you okay?” Ami asked with a concerned tone. She gently laid a hand on the younger girl’s brow. “You don’t seem to have a fever.”

“I-I’m fine.” Ranko jerked away slightly, trying to get herself under control. The other girls looked on with varying levels of concern. Ami, satisfied that Ranko wasn’t feverish, had already turned back to the algebra problem and was thinking about the best way to explain it. Hotaru and Usagi looked quite worried at Ranko’s strange behavior. Rei didn’t know Ranko quite as well as the others and was willing to let the matter drop. Minako and Usa, however, sported nearly identical smirks as they saw the way Ranko was acting around and looking at Ami. Minako, as the Senshi of Love, realized very quickly what was going on and was already thinking of ways that she could help the obviously smitten girl. Usa, having significant knowledge of things to come just turned to Minako and winked. She was just lucky that Haruka wasn't around to make embarrassing comments.

“Well, in that case, we need to get back to work Ranko-chan. Would you like me to talk you through this problem?” Ami asked. The others turned back to what they were doing, after all, algebra WAS boring.

“Sure, thanks,” Ranko replied. Inside she was thinking, ‘At least it’ll give me something to focus on but bleh, I hate algebra!’

“Well, why don’t you tell me where you are stuck first and I’ll try to help you work through it from there,” Ami suggested.

“But I don’t get any of it!” the younger girl grumbled. “I mean, it’s easy if it’s linear, I can handle that, but I don’t know how to figure this out at all!”

“Well, how do you start to graph a linear equation?” Ami prodded.

“First I find the intercept and then I use the slope to draw the line,” Ranko answered.

“Good, well, this really isn’t any different, we just need to break it down more. You can start the same way, find the intercepts first by setting the values to zero, then I’ll show you how to find the vertex and from there all you need to do is connect the points with an arc,” Ami said.

“Thanks Ami!” Ranko slumped a bit in relief, math was by far her weakest subject.

“I was happy to help Ranko-chan. Now why don’t you finish up the rest of those problems and I’ll check them for you once you’re done?” Ami said. The blue haired genius smiled at the younger girl diligently working on the rest of her homework with her tongue sticking slightly out of her mouth in concentration. ‘If only Usag- erm, some of my other friends would be so good about studying,’ she thought with a sigh before returning to her seat between Minako and Makoto.

Ranko was just getting the hang of graphing the more complicated equations when Rei shrieked, drawing everyone’s attention. “Usagi, what are you doing with my manga?”

“I just wanted to read it Rei-chan,” Usagi whined.

“Usagi!” Rei jumped up and started chasing the blonde around the room.

“Waaaahhh, Rei-chan is a meanie,” Usagi cried as she ran away from the enraged miko. Minako looked at her watch before turning to Makoto. “Ha, I win, pay up!” she said.

“Shoot, I thought for sure they wouldn’t last twenty minutes this time,” Makoto grumbled good naturedly before handing over a few bills. Everyone else laughed at the, by now, usual study time antics before turning back to their own work.

XOOX

After school on Friday afternoon Ranko was a bundle of nerves and hyperactive energy as she walked up the path to her house. Haruka had picked up the middle school girls and dropped her off after being informed all about the impending date by a gushing Usa. In a rare display of tact, Haruka had managed to control her teasing nature since it was clear that the younger girl was already incredibly flustered. Ranko’s wings burst out of her back, completely soaking her blouse as they twitched fitfully.

Sighing and wet, Ranko entered the house with a call of “I’m home.”

“Coming Ranko dear,” Nodoka called back. “Oh no, you’re soaked. I think you need to take a bath missy, you should have enough time.”

“Okay mom,” Ranko said. She walked to the bathroom and peeled her soaked uniform off and absently tossed it into the hamper before rinsing herself off with cold water. Moments later, Ranko groaned in pleasure and closed her eyes, resting her head against the edge of the furo and letting the heat soak into her. The stress seemed to visibly melt off her frame as she relaxed in the soothing heat. Her breathing evened out and softened and she drifted off to sleep.

“Ranko.”

“Ranko, wake up.”

“Ranko, wake up.”

“Huh, wuzzat?” Ranko groggily mumbled and cracked her eyes open to the sensation of someone insistently shaking her shoulder.

“Ranko, wake up honey. You fell asleep in the furo,” Nodoka said softly.

“Oh,” Ranko sat up before a panicked look spread across her face. “Oh no, what time is it? Am I gonna be late, I’ve got to get ready!” she bolted out of the tub and streaked across to the changing room to grab a towel, leaving her mother laughing in her wake.

“You’ve only been in the bath for twenty minutes dear. You have plenty of time to get ready. Do you want some help?” Nodoka called after her frantic daughter.

“Phew,” Ranko visibly relaxed,” sure, help would be great.”

“Alright then, go put on that outfit that we bought and then come to my bedroom. I’ll be waiting,” Nodoka said.

“Okay, be there in a minute,” Ranko called over her shoulder as she skipped down the hall.

“Don’t dry your hair!” Nodoka yelled after her.

A few minutes later Ranko padded into her mother’s room. Her outfit consisted of a knee length, forest green skirt with white floral trim at the base and a white blouse. She had a small green handbag and a pair of comfortable flats. Her ears weren’t pierced but she wore a bead bracelet and necklace combo. Nodoka immediately set to work with a curling iron on Ranko’s hair. Since she normally wore it up, they decided to leave it down and give it a slight wave. Nodoka then helped Ranko get made up with some light blue eyeliner and eyeshadow, blush on her cheeks and a pale pink lip gloss. Kasumi came home from classes about halfway through the process and joined in with the makeup.

Forty minutes later the doorbell rang. Kasumi and Ranko were playing a card game upstairs together to sooth the younger girl’s nerves and to keep her from pacing a trench in the floor. Nodoka answered the door and let her daughter’s date for the night in. She had to admit that Jun was indeed a handsome boy, for a thirteen year old at least and he did clean up pretty well. He was wearing a simple pair of khaki slacks and a green button down shirt.

“You must be Jun. I’m Ranko’s mother. Please, won’t you come in?” Nodoka gestured into the house.

“Thank you Tanaka-san,” Jun bowed nervously and entered the house.

“If I may, what are your plans for the evening?” Nodoka asked.

“Well, since Ranko-chan mentioned how much she likes martial arts, I thought we could go see the newest Jackie Chan movie. It’s supposed to be good,” Jun replied.

“Very well. If you’ll wait here for one moment, I’ll go find my daughter,” Nodoka said before heading deeper into the house.
Upstairs, Ranko had been a bundle of nerves since she heard the doorbell. Kasumi had kept her from bolting down to the living room, saying that as a girl, you were supposed to make your date wait. Ranko didn’t quite understand why she was supposed to try to build his anticipation up when hers was already killing her but deferred to her ‘older sister’s’ expertise.

Kasumi tried to sooth the frazzled young girl. “Ranko-chan, calm down. It’s okay. I know you’re nervous, but so is he. You look absolutely beautiful and I’m sure you’ll have a lot of fun tonight.”

“I know oneechan, I can’t help it,” Ranko wrung her hands together as she paced back and forth.

“Ranko, you can come downstairs now dear,” Nodoka said from the door.

Ranko raced over to the staircase and took a deep breath to try to calm herself before heading down into the living room.

“Wow, you look great,” Jun said breathlessly. And she really did too. While she was overdressed for a trip to the cinema, Ranko looked beautiful without anything being too overstated. Besides, no one would blame her for going a bit overboard on her first date.

“Th-thanks,” Ranko responded. Jun tentatively took her hand and led her out the door to walk to the movie theater. His hand was significantly larger than hers so it engulfed it completely but it was pleasantly warm without being damp. Both teens blushed madly for the entirety of the walk.

“So, what are we going to see?” Ranko asked, trying to break the awkward silence that had fallen between them.
Jun shot her a grateful smile, the silence had been stifling but he hadn’t known how to break it. “Well, since you said how much you like martial arts, I thought we could go see the Jackie Chan movie. My older brother said it was really funny.”

“Oh really, that’s great!” Ranko grinned and her eyes lit up. “I really wanted to see it. I was going to try to drag mom out to it next weekend.” They continued to chat about random inconsequential things until they reached the theater where Jun bought their tickets.

Then they got into the snack line where Ranko insisted that she pay for her own stuff, her mom having given her funds for snacks. Initially, Jun tried to do the gallant thing and refuse, but she just pressed on ahead of him and when he saw her snack load he realized that his wallet wouldn’t have survived. Jun had bought a small drink, popcorn and a box of pocky for himself. Ranko looked like she had bought out the entire concession stand.

Eventually, they settled into their seats near the middle of the theater right before the previews started. Ranko happily munched away on her popcorn as she let the glow of the screen and the sounds wash over her while she half-paid attention to the over-hyped previews. Then the movie itself started and Ranko found herself laughing. “Rush Hour 2” was pretty funny, even if the martial arts in it were pretty fake and the translation job was poor.

She started when she felt something warm touch her hand and looked over to see Jun looking at her nervously. She smiled back shyly before turning her attention back to the screen.

After the movie was over they walked home, hand in hand.

“Thanks, I had fun,” Jun said as they approached the gate to the Tanaka house.

“Me too,” Ranko admitted. And reflecting back on the date, she realized that she had enjoyed the night. The movie was good and Jun was good company even if her hormones weren’t exactly screaming at her. Still, it was a good night.

“I have to go, I see my parents’ car,” Jun said. “Can we do something like this again?”

“Sure. I’ll see you Monday in class,” Ranko replied. Screwing up her courage she gave him a quick peck on the cheek before running into the house.

Jun touched his hand to his cheek with a slightly dazed smile. A few minutes later he managed to collect himself enough to walk back to the street corner where his parents were waiting.

Ranko rushed into the living room where she was immediately accosted by her mother and Kasumi. “What’s the hurry dear, didn’t you have fun?” Nodoka asked.

Ranko plopped down on the sofa next to Kasumi. “I… well, I kinda,” Ranko continued to mumble.

“What’s that Ranko-chan?” Kasumi asked.

“I kinda just gave Jun a kiss on the cheek.” Ranko blushed a bright pink.

“So I take it you had fun then?” Kasumi responded.

“Yes, he was very sweet and the movie was really good,” Ranko responded.

“That’s great dear. I’m glad you had a nice time,” Nodoka said, pulling Ranko into a hug.

“Thanks momma,” Ranko mumbled. Her eyelids were starting to get heavy and she subconsciously snuggled up to Nodoka’s shoulder.

“I think you’d better get to bed honey,” Nodoka said. She pulled Ranko up and gave her a kiss on the forehead before sending her daughter up to brush her teeth and turn in for the night.

XOO-X

[School, the reactions from the date from her friends and her interactions with Jun. Hotaru will mention that she got some tickets to a concert featuring the Three Lights and her parents that upcoming weekend and will invite Ranko and Usa.]

And that's about the first half of the chapter. I'll get the rest up somewhat soonish.

[BonusPoints]

Now do I hope for story progression, or more adorable, confused, largely innocent 'growing up'? It's a good thing I don't have a say in the matter, but damn does that spark the old indecision centers.

[Dumbledork]

Brilliant. This story is just too adorable. I love it.

I wonder. Have Ranko's and Hotaru's growth spurts completely stopped or will Ranko age somewhat faster until she's 16-17 again?

How long until Ranko finds out that boys really don't do it for her?

[Shanami]

Brilliant. This story is just too adorable. I love it.

I wonder. Have Ranko's and Hotaru's growth spurts completely stopped or will Ranko age somewhat faster until she's 16-17 again?

How long until Ranko finds out that boys really don't do it for her?

I think I'm mostly done with growth spurts for the time being, aside from the natural one that everyone gets in puberty. I might change that, but I'm still thinking about continuing after the SM arc by having Hotaru/Ranko attend Hogwarts for at least a year and I don't want them to be too old for that. That's way in the future though.

This particularly boyfriend isn't going to last past this chapter. I don't know exactly when Ranko is going to come to complete terms with sexuality though. Teenaged sexuality issues tend to get complex and I don't want to skimp on it too much. However, the influx of memories will probably help deal with that somewhat. And, while I still am missing a few scenes to make everything complete, here's the next bit. It addresses the boyfriend issue at least.

For now, this is what I have planned for the chapter. I might extend it slightly beyond this, but it certainly wouldn't go much farther.

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

XOO-X
[School, the reactions from the date from her friends and her interactions with Jun. Hotaru will mention that she got some tickets to a Three Lights Concert that upcoming weekend and will invite Ranko and Usa.]

[Second date, just an afternoon hanging out together at the Crown. Completely casual. Ranko will kiss Jun and she won’t particularly like it. She’ll run off probably in tears and go seek out Setsuna to talk. Setsuna will be a good listener though Ranko will probably be in some form of denial about preferring the few kisses she got from girls to the one she got from a guy.]

“I just don’t know what to do. I mean, Jun’s a really nice guy but I’m just not feeling it, you know?” Ranko complained to her friends as they sat around a table after school while they waited for Aoi to finish up with the art club.

“What does that mean Ko-chan?” Hotaru asked softly.

“I, I just don’t know what to do. I don’t want to lead him on but I… what should I do guys?” Ranko responded.

“If you don’t think it’s working, maybe you should just say so,” Nariko said gently.

“Uh-oh, don’t look now but I think he’s coming over here,” Momoko gasped.

“Oh no!” Ranko paled, her face going completely white as she looked anywhere but at her approaching boyfriend.

“Hey Ranko-chan, can I join you gals?” Jun approached the table.

“Jun, I, we need to talk. Come with me, please?” Ranko looked at him desperately.

“Um, okay, what’s wrong?” He responded as they walked to a secluded tree on the school grounds. He was pretty sure he was going to regret wherever this conversation went. Ranko was acting really strange and he just knew whatever it was wasn’t going to go well.

“I, well, Jun, I don’t think this is working out. You’re a really great guy but I don’t know what’s wrong it just is but I don’t want to hurt you and I’m so so sorry and I just,” Ranko babbled and a few tears leaked out of her eyes.

“What, why?” Jun shouted with a hurt look on his face. He’d thought everything was going really well.

“I’m sorry, I’m so so sorry,” Ranko repeated over and over. She collapsed to the ground so she was sitting in between her knees. “I, it’s not you, you’re great.”

“If I’m so great what’s the problem,” he pressed back.

“I don’t know okay! I just don’t know. I have fun with you, but I just,” Ranko broke down sobbing. “I don’t feel that way about you, I still want to be your friend but I, well I understand if you, you don’t want to see me at all,” she eventually managed to get out.

“I need to think about this,” Jun said coldly and walked away, leaving her to sit miserably.

Jun stomped back to the school building without even a glance at the table where the other girls were sitting. “Oh no, I don’t think that went well,” Momoko said. The girls rushed over to find Ranko hiccupping and sobbing in a miserable ball.

“Ko-chan, it’s okay,” Hotaru said as she pulled Ranko into a tight embrace.

“It, I, it didn’t go well. Goddess I’m terrible,” Ranko gasped out.

Hotaru whispered soothing words in Ranko’s ear while stroking her back as her other friends gave their support. Eventually, they managed to coax Ranko up and they led her to the ice cream parlor to drown her sorrows in a triple scoop sundae. Then they took the exhausted girl home. Nodoka wasn’t back from work yet but Kasumi had the afternoon off. She immediately pulled Ranko into her arms and thanked the other girls for getting her home. Momoko and Nariko had to leave to go home but Hotaru and Usa stuck around to make sure Ranko was going to be okay.

Kasumi brought out some tea and coaxed the story out of her distraught ‘younger sister’ who sobbed the whole encounter out. She pulled the younger girl into her lap and calmed her down, radiating her usual serenity and peace. Once Ranko had cried herself out, the other girls took her into the living room to distract her with some video games.

When Nodoka returned home with some carry-out the scene repeated itself over dinner. Ranko broke down again when she told her mom that she had broken up with her boyfriend. “And then,” she choked out, “he just stormed off without saying anything.”

“Oh, it’s going to be okay honey. He’ll come around, I’m sure he was just shocked,” Nodoka soothed. “Everything will be better, you’ll see.”

“You, hic, you really think so momma?” Ranko looked up hopefully, her eyes red and puffy and tear tracks staining her cheeks.

“I know so,” Nodoka said.

Ranko cannonballed into Nodoka’s arms. “I love you momma.”

“I love you too dear.”

0oXo0

Two nights later Usa and Hotaru pulled a sluggish Ranko towards the Nerima Open Music Hall to see Haruka and Michiru perform with the Three Lights. Ranko had been slightly down since her breakup earlier in the week even though she realized that it was for the best.

“C’mon Ko-chan stop being so boring. It’s the Three Lights, some hunky boys are just what you need to forget about Jun!” Usa wheedled.

“I don’t really feel like boy watching Sa-chan,” Ranko mumbled back.

“The concert should still be fun though Ko-chan. Michiru-mama and Haruka-papa got us great seats and you know they’re both really good,” Hotaru said.

“I guess so,” Ranko said with a little smile. “I did want to hear your parents play for real.”

The girls made their way into the theater and joined the other senshi where they made inconsequential small talk. Minako and Makoto immediately hit Usa up to share the latest gossip about the Three Lights and the especially the fact that Seiya was always coming on to Usagi. A few minutes later, the New Tokyo Orchestra opened the show under the direction of Mr. Garayan and the music hall fell silent.

They cheered loudly when the stars of the show joined the orchestra on stage. Ranko was really impressed by their stage presence, she had heard Michiru and Haruka play before but they really pushed themselves to play for the larger crowd and their music meshed well with the Three Lights’ singing.

During the intermission, Ranko was practically bouncing. “This was a great idea guys, thanks for dragging me out here.” Meanwhile, outside of the theater Mr. Garayan was catching a smoke break when he was approached by the evil reporter Nezu Chuuko for an interview. But, when she couldn’t find her business cards, the hyperactive Animamate got fed up and blasted him with her bracelets, removing his star seed and revealing herself to be Sailor Iron Mouse.

“You’re welcome Ko-cha-,” Hotaru was interrupted by a piercing scream that grew deeper and more resonant as it echoed through the concert hall.

*CRASH*

“Conductor!” The phage roared as it stampeded into the orchestra pit. It was approximately ten feet tall with deep purple-red skin and pointed ears wearing a garish yellow body suit with a blue conductor’s jacket.

The crowd started screaming and panicking to escape the path of the rampaging phage. Sailor Iron Mouse jumped into the theater and watched as the Star Seed in her hands disintegrated. “Damn, another dud. Oh well, maybe one of the performers will have a true Star Seed,” she muttered to herself.

In the chaos of the crowd, the senshi managed to get away to transform. Sailor Moon jumped onto the stage with the Inners and Chibi-Moon surrounding her. “Not so fast villain! Concert Halls are for the enjoyment of music, for Love and Justice, in the name of the Moon I shall punish you!”

Iron Mouse, meanwhile was blasting two members of the orchestra to check their star seeds as she had grown bored during Sailor Moon’s introduction. Moon got a tick above her eye when she realized that not only had Iron Mouse perpetrated more evil acts, she had completely ignored her speech. And it was such a good one too!

“Senshi, contain the phage, we need to deal with them before they hurt anyone, EEEP!” Moon yelled as she dodged a glowing conductor’s baton that perforated the air where her head had been a moment before.

With the ease of a group that had fought together many times before the Sailor Senshi spread out on stage and started launching their attacks to try to contain the page, but things weren’t going so well. They were used to fighting single opponents, but this time Iron Mouse had made three phage. Fortunately, these particular phage weren’t particularly quick but they seemed to soak up damage easily and their attacks were powerful.

“Bwahaha! Bow before my minions and give me your Star Seeds and I’ll let you leave here alive,” Iron Mouse cackled as she watched the carnage.

“Usa-chan, you’re a senshi? You’re all senshi?” Ranko mumbled to herself from where she was flying above the stage, unnoticed by the combatants. Saturn and Pluto made an entrance from the side of the stage as they let fly with a “Silence Glaive Surprise” and a “Dead Scream,” blasting one of the former viola player hard enough to stun it. Neptune and Uranus made an entrance from the backstage as they too let their attacks fly into the melee. “Taru-chan and her parents too? Why didn’t they tell me? I’d better help them, I don’t want them to get hurt!” Ranko started to gather her energy into her hands, far above the stage.

Meanwhile, Sailor Moon had finished winding up her most powerful attack while the other Senshi pinned down their opponents. With a cry of “Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss!” the injured orchestra phage was engulfed in a bright pink light and surrounded by swirling feathers. The unharmed viola player dropped to the ground unconscious a moment later and Tuxedo Kamen dashed through the combatants to get him out of the line of fire.

Sailor Conductor took advantage of Sailor Moon’s immobile state to launch a barrage of conductor batons at her. With nearly no time to dodge, Moon barely avoided being impaled but wound up pinned to the wall by the batons. Meanwhile, the former cello player turned phage pressed the Outer Scouts back to where they couldn’t intervene.

“Star Serious Laser!”

“Star Gentle Uterus!”

“Star Sensitive Inferno!”

The Sailor Starlights blasted onto the scene with a dizzying array of multicolored light, forcing Sailor Conductor away from Sailor Moon’s pinned form long enough for the Inners to break her free.

Above the stage, the orb of frozen power between Ranko’s hand hit critical mass and with a cry of “Freeze Ray!” she released a three foot wide white-blue beam at the cello player phage. The battle froze as the phage was covered in a fine layer of ice unable to move while the other combatants looked to the sky to see Ranko panting and dropping to the stage at Saturn’s side. The blue ice crystals swirled angrily within the aquamarine water of her fully deployed, five foot spanning wings fully and a pair of swords, just shorter than katana coalesced into being in her hands. “I couldn’t let you guys have all the fun,” she announced with a smirk.

Stunned silence greeted her proclamation until a moment later, the entrapped phage burst free with an enraged scream and lunged at its tormentor. Ranko “eep’d” and jumped back while throwing her swords forward, a beat of her wings helping to propel herself out of range of her assailant. The swords, while quite sharp, bounced off the phage’s magically enhanced skin.
The fight resumed its frantic pace as the combatants reengaged each other. The backpedalling Ranko was getting frustrated at her inability to hurt her foe when she saw Usa winding up the same attack Usagi had used earlier at the still mobile Sailor Conductor. She realized that it wasn’t going to hit, but with some creative maneuvering, she managed to drag her assailant into the attack’s path where Chibi-Moon’s attack managed to cleanse it. Once more, Tuxedo Kamen dashed through the scene and disappeared with the fallen victim.

Sailor Iron Mouse was fuming at the loss of two of her phage. With an angry “Chuu!” she joined the fray, aiming a punch at Sailor Jupiter and knocking her through three rows of chairs. Sailor Mars launched a “Mars Flame Sniper” at the enraged Animamate to buy her teammate a breather but soon found herself on the receiving end of a beating in Jupiter’s stead. With an uppercut, Iron Mouse launched the Fire Senshi into the grand piano on stage which shattered underneath her.
Mars groaned as she pushed herself up, her head ringing in pain. She staggered slightly and watched resignedly as Iron Mouse came screaming in after her with a wicked haymaker. Fortunately, Tuxedo Kamen appeared in front of her with a barrage of red roses and his cane extending out to fend off the Animamate.

Meanwhile, the Starlights had managed to contain the final phage, Sailor Conductor, for Sailor Moon to cleanse. Mr. Garayan dropped to the floor unconscious as the feathers and light disappeared.

Tuxedo Kamen was being forced back by Sailor Iron Mouse’s relentless assault as she used his inability to leave Sailor Mars open to her advantage. As she pressed him back with energy attacks from her bracelets that he barely managed to deflect Sailor Mercury saw an opportunity to buy him a little time. With a cry of “Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!” she summoned the ethereal, watery harp and played a few chords, launching blasts of freezing water and forcing Iron Mouse to disengage from the beleaguered Earth Prince.

The other Senshi opened up at Iron Mouse with their attacks, and while they forced her on the defensive, what wasn’t dodged was easily absorbed by the super powered villain.

Seeing a clear shot, Saturn thrust her glaive forward with a cry of “Silence Glaive Surprise!”

Iron Mouse jumped twenty feet into the air and to the side as Saturn’s attack demolished half of the stage behind her and left a furrow three blocks deep into the surrounding park. She turned to look at Saturn with wide, respectful eyes. While many of the other attacks she had weathered with ease, the small Senshi of Saturn clearly packed a tremendous punch. “Chuu, missed me na na na na,” Iron Mouse teased until she noticed a few strands of white hair drifting to the floor. She looked up with rage filled eyes and pointed her bracers at Saturn. “Chuu!” she yelled and twin bolts of power lanced out.

“Nooo Taru-chan!” Ranko yelled, watching powerlessly because she knew there was no way she could reach Hotaru in time.

“Silence Wall!” A cage of purple-black lightning surrounded Saturn and the energy blasts ablated off the near invisible, shimmering barrier. Ranko relaxed slightly after seeing her friend unharmed. She turned towards Iron Mouse, her eyes glowing like bright blue halogens with barely suppressed rage.

“I won’t let you hurt my friends!” Ranko yelled and thrust her hands forward, instinctively gathering up and supercharging the residual, magically charged water left behind by Neptune’s and Mercury’s attacks which then shot towards Iron Mouse from all sides. The Animamate tried to dodge but she wasn’t fast enough as tendrils of icy water snaked their way up from her ankles and snagged her wrists where they froze in an icy prison.

Iron Mouse struggled against her icy bonds. “Chuu!” she yelled out in frustration, and the ice holding her wrists shattered from the energy blasts her bracers released.

Knowing that Iron Mouse had absorbed their best attacks without even a bruise, Uranus and Neptune snapped out some of their quicker attacks to keep her off balance until the bigger guns could take her out.

“Space Sword Blaster!”

“Submarine Reflection!”

“Star Serious Laser!” Sailor Star Fighter contributed to the attacks pounding away at the imprisoned villain.

Seeing their foe at least temporarily incapacitated, Eternal Sailor Moon decided to wind up her cleansing attack. She threw her moon rod above her head and power started to gather around her. Catching it, she spun and pointed the rod at Sailor Iron Mouse’s struggling and battered form as yet more attacks slammed into the Animamate. With a shout of “Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss!” Sailor Iron Mouse’s form was obscured by a brilliant pink light and feathers swirled around her silhouette and the ice dissolved in a flash of steam. With a cracking sound, her golden wrist bracers shattered and disintegrated.

“Chuu, free, I’m finally free, thank yo-“ Iron Mouse gasped before she fell unconscious to the stage in a heap.

“Uranus, grab Iron Mouse, we need to get out of here,” Pluto commanded. The Starlights made their customary escape.

“Right,” Uranus responded, picking up the dazed and shivering form of Sailor Iron Mouse. The senshi leaped away from the theater and gathered on a nearby rooftop, Ranko flying up after them to land next to Saturn.

“So, Taru-chan, something you want to tell me?” Ranko put her hands on her hips, flipped her hair back over her shoulder from where it had fallen loose during the fight and pinned Saturn with a stare.

“I, uh, don’t know what you’re talking about Miss,” Saturn said hesitantly.

Ranko’s head dropped a bit and she turned away from the group. “Whatever Hotaru, I can’t believe you’re don’t trust me,” she said sadly. She looked over her shoulder with tears glimmering in her eyes and sighed. “You know I’d never lie to you about something like this.”

As Ranko walked towards the edge of the building Sailor Saturn slammed into her from behind, hugging her fiercely. “I’m sorry Ko-chan, I’m really sorry,” Hotaru gasped out. “Please don’t leave.”

Ranko shot a mischievous smirk to Chibi-Moon. “What do you think Sa-chan, should I forgive her yet?”

Pluto and Chibi-Moon both fell laughing to the rooftop. Uranus erupted in chuckles and Neptune giggled into her fist.

“Oh! You were playing with me? I oughta, ooo I can’t believe you!” Saturn shoved Ranko away and stomped back towards the group pouting, causing the Inners to join the Outers in helpless giggling.

“Sorry Taru-chan, but you were asking for it,” Ranko said.

Saturn shot Ranko an indignant look before deflating slightly. “That’s fine, I guess I deserved it. Yes, we’re the Senshi, though I guess you know that already. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier.”

“That’s okay,” Ranko said and Hotaru brightened, “if you’ll let me fight with you from now on. I don’t want you guys to get hurt if there’s something I could have done to help.”

Saturn was about to protest when Pluto laid a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at one of her mother figures with a questioning look.

“It’s alright Saturn. We’ll have to figure out the details later and she’ll definitely need a disguise if she does join us. But, we have more important things to discuss,” Pluto said. She gestured towards Iron Mouse. “Like what we’re going to do with her, for instance. Oh, and Ranko-chan, please call us by our Senshi names when we’re transformed like this. I know that you can see our faces (‘for some reason you always could,’ she muttered under her breath) but most people cannot and it is very important for us to keep our identities secret.”

“Oops, sorry about that,” Ranko said chagrinned.

“Is she safe?” Venus asked, poking the unconscious form of Sailor Iron Mouse gently in the shoulder causing her to groan.

“She did thank us for freeing her,” Mars said.

“I think we can trust her. She’s probably a good person inside,” Moon said.

“Well, I guess she can stay at my apartment until we can figure something out,” Jupiter added.

“That would probably be best for now,” Pluto said. “We need to get out of here, you girls have school tomorrow.” Everyone groaned. “We’ll meet up sometime next week.”

Mars helped Jupiter carry Iron Mouse off towards her apartment over the rooftops. Moon, Chibi-Moon and Tuxedo Kamen dropped into a nearby alley together where they detransformed into their civilian forms to walk back to the Tsukino residence together. Venus threw up a victory sign quickly before bounding off towards her own home while muttering about how her mother was going to kill her for being out so late.

The Outers and Ranko dropped into the alley a few minutes later where they powered down and Ranko hid her wings. Ranko and Hotaru both yawned, neither had realized just how tired they were after the fight finished.

“Come on Ranko we’ll give you a ride home, you look exhausted,” Haruka said.

“Thanks,” Ranko shot her an appreciative grin. She turned and punched Hotaru playfully in the shoulder. “I can’t believe you guys are the Sailor Senshi, that’s so cool! And I can’t believe you thought you could hide it from me Taru-chan.”

“Yeah yeah, I know. I should have told you. Or at least I shouldn’t have tried to deny it,” Hotaru responded. “I’ll make it up to you, how about an ice cream, my treat?”

Ranko blushed heavily and squeaked out,” That’d be great.” She was confused at her own reaction, but too tired to really think about it. The group piled into Haruka’s convertible and she drove off at a relative sedate rate. In other words, she only violated the traffic laws of every major nation in the world four times over on the drive back to Juuban.

Half an hour later they pulled up in front of the Tanaka house and Setsuna shook Ranko awake. The energy spent in the fight and the late hour had finally overcome the middle schoolers and she had dropped into a light doze in the back seat with her head resting on Hotaru’s shoulder while Hotaru’s rested on the slightly shorter girl’s head. “Mwha?” she mumbled as she woke up. “Oh, thanks for the ride. Bye everyone!”

“Ranko-chan, please don’t mention your involvement in the fight until after our meeting, okay?” Setsuna said.

“Alright.” Ranko got out of the car which drove off into the night and dragged herself inside.

“Ranko-chan, you’re okay!” Nodoka gathered her daughter up in a tight embrace. “I got a call from Ukyo saying that the concert had been attacked by monsters, I was so worried.”

“ ‘m fine mom,” Ranko yawned. “I’m so tired. I saw the Sailor Senshi take care of the monsters though, it was so cool.”

“Up to bed with you missy, you can tell me all about it tomorrow.” Nodoka shooed her daughter up the stairs. Ranko barely managed to change into her pajamas before she fell sound asleep.

oXooX

Nodoka let Ranko sleep through her normal morning practice the next day and rushed her out the door to school. At lunch, Hotaru and Usa helped their frantic friend come up with a good story about what happened at the concert the previous night; both of the senshi had plenty of practice evading awkward questions about Senshi business.

When Ranko got home that evening, she wowed Nodoka and Kasumi with a tale of the battle from the night before claiming that she wasn’t involved at all but that it took her and Hotaru a while to find Haruka and Michiru in the chaos of the attack. They laughed with her when she commented in a dreamy voice that she “wanted to be able to be a senshi too so she could fight for love and justice in a cute costume.”

The following day, Thursday, Ranko woke up with a throbbing headache but brushed it off after taking some ibuprofen. She had a decent training session with her mother and ate a rushed breakfast before taking off for another day at school. Nothing particularly noteworthy happened during the day but she was loaded down with homework for that evening. Hotaru came home with her to work through it and they didn’t finish until nearly dinner time so Hotaru stayed. After dinner, the two girls watched a few episodes of anime on television before Haruka swung by to pick Hotaru up for the night.

“Hey Ko-chan, why don’t I take you for that ice cream I owe you tomorrow after school?” Hotaru asked as she walked out the door.

“It’s a date,” Ranko said before blushing cherry red. “I can’t believe I said that... you know what I meant!” Hotaru just laughed and walked out to the car.

0oX0o

At four in the morning, Ranko woke with a gasp as a sharp pain twisted through her abdomen and her headache came back worse than before. “My stomach,” she moaned. “Did I eat something funny last night?” Suddenly, she felt a wave of nausea. She staggered to her feet and groggily stumbled down the hall to the bathroom. “Ungh, I hope I’m not going to get sick.” She knelt before the toilet until the nausea passed. ‘Phew, that was close,’ she thought.

Ranko splashed a little water on her face and looked blearily into the mirror, baggy bloodshot eyes staring back out of the frame. She felt another sharp twinge in her stomach before shrugging and stumbling back to bed to just sleep it off. Maybe things would be better in the morning.

A few hours later, Ranko was awakened to Kasumi gently shaking her shoulder. “Time to get up Ranko-chan,” she said.

“Unh,” Ranko groaned. “I don’t feel so good Kasumi-neechan. I have a really bad headache and my stomach hurt really bad overnight.”

Kasumi gently placed her hand on Ranko’s forehead. “Well, you don’t have a fever, I hope you aren’t coming down with anything. Why don’t you go get cleaned up and have a nice relaxing soak. I’ll tell your mother that you’re not up to training today and we’ll see if a bath helps, okay?”

“Thanks ‘neechan.” Ranko smiled appreciatively but grimaced as standing redoubled the pain in her head. She winced but trooped off down the hall towards the furo.

[Finish the period stuff]

“Ranko-chan, come over here for a moment dear,” Nodoka said one night after dinner.

“What is it mom?” Ranko asked.

“Well, since you’re already so grown up,” Nodoka said, referring to Ranko having finished her first period earlier in the week, “I thought you would be ready for this.” Nodoka held up one of the vials of water that Saffron had sent earlier in the year. “Your uncle Saffron said that they would help your powers mature if you took them once a month once you caught up to your age group so I thought maybe we’d make it a tradition for you to take them after your periods.”

“Mooom, do you have to embarrass me about that still. I’m just glad it’s over,” Ranko said. She blushed as she thought about the preceding week. Periods were no fun, the cramps and bloating sucked and they were just so messy. It was absolutely mortifying, and only the fact that every other woman went through it made it even remotely tolerable. Ranko still didn’t like talking about it though.

“Sorry dear, but you’ll have to get used to it,” Nodoka soothed.

“I know,” Ranko pouted.

“Here, drink this. If it tastes funny I can get you to wash it down with. I’m really not sure how it is going to work,” Nodoka said, handing Ranko the sealed vial.

“You’re sure about this mom?” Ranko asked. Nodoka looked over to where Kasumi and Tofu were on hand just in case and nodded. “Okay, here goes!” Ranko popped the seal and downed the magically charged water like a shot. “Huh, tasted just like water, I don’t know what the big deal i-“

Ranko’s body went stiff and her wings pulsed incandescently with her heartbeat. Her arms jerked out to her sides and she floated slightly up into the air, her legs locking out at shoulder width and her muscles spasming. Her head lolled forward before jerking back and bright blue light seemed to build up behind her eyes. Her mouth opened in a silent scream as her wings pulsed brighter and brighter.

Tofu and Kasumi had to restrain Nodoka from smothering her daughter. “Ranko! Let me go!”

“Stop, it’ll be okay, I promise Nodoka,” Tofu said. “We can’t stop it and what if it causes problems to interrupt whatever is happening.

Ranko’s back arched and her wings curled around her body before congealing in a thick layer of frost which shattered. A wild cacophony of images bombarded her brain in an incoherent stream. Places and faces and names and images and sound and lights hammered into her very being in a hallucinogenic soup of experience. Completely overwhelmed, Ranko slumped to the floor and welcomed the reprieve of blessed unconsciousness.

“Ranko!” Nodoka broke free and gathered her daughter’s slumped form in her arms, sobbing. Tofu and Kasumi silently added their support.

[Dumbledork]

Heh. Great job. I noticed that Ranko doesn't seem to practice her magic. She'staking martial arts classes and is taught by Nodoka, but she doesn't practice her magic at all.

[Shanami]

That's a complete oversight on my part. In my head, it's mixed in to her morning practices and kinda implied that she's been working on it but I suppose I've never mentioned magical training explicitly. I was planning on having her work on her magical abilities with the senshi in the future but I should probably put in something now to talk about it.

Thanks for pointing that out, I think I have to add another brief scene now.

[Dumbledork]

Well, the more she practices the more her mana reserves will grow I think. Have you thought any about how Harry Potter magic will work with Ranko's magic? Do they use different mana sources or just different ways of using mana?

[Dumbledork]

Well, the more she practices the more her mana reserves will grow I think. Have you thought any about how Harry Potter magic will work with Ranko's magic? Do they use different mana sources or just different ways of using mana?

In my Ranma/HP crossover for example there's a difference between wizardry and sorcery. Same mana but two different wavelengths.

[Shanami]

To be honest, that's far enough in the future of this fic that I'm not even thinking of the direct interactions between the two magical systems. I was thinking of making it so that the Senshi all had the capacity to do at least basic wand style magic using their henshin pens as their magical foci but that they haven't had the time to study it. Along that line, I was thinking that Setsuna would offer to train them in it when Ranko/Hotaru go off as foreign exchange students to Hogwarts when they get all upset that they don't get to learn it as well.

Beyond that, I really didn't have it plotted out. I've been much more concerned with just getting the younger girls grown up, dealing with their burgeoning friendship, possible relationships and the SM Galaxia arc. I still haven't decided on the final pairing for this fic either, I'd rather let that sort of thing develop as it develops.

I have a basic outline for the overarching plot of this story, but it's rather skeletal at the moment.

From a more technical perspective, no absolutely glaring errors, the pacing alright, that sort of thing?

[Shanami]

While this scene is embedded in the stuff that I've already posted, you mentioned magical training and I decided to incorporate it. It's only 500 extra words, but I think it works. There will be more magical training once she can start doing it with the Senshi, but for the time being I thought I should include something on that subject.

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

XXOOXX

The next morning, Ranko awoke with a shuddering moan. Her entire body felt like it was on fire and she felt like she was lying in a pool of sweat. The area around her thighs was particularly damp. “Mmm, Akane,” she moaned before squeaking as the details of her dream slammed into her suddenly aware consciousness. “What the hell? Eww, why did I dream about doing that with Akane of all people. I mean, sure, she’s pretty but. Wait, what am I thinking? And why was I a boy for part of it?” she shuddered again, this time out of disgust. “I feel really gross. I know mom said I might have ‘dreams’ like this, but ick! I’d better take a long soak before working out. Why did mom have to put all those ideas in my head last night, I can’t stop thinking about it. At least I don’t have to see Akane for a while, that might be awkward,” she muttered as she trudged down the hall, her wings twitching agitatedly.

Half an hour later, Ranko bounced downstairs in one of her training outfits, this one consisting of a powder blue, tight elastic halter top with cotton capris rather than shorts as the weather was starting to cool off. Her kata were uncharacteristically sloppy, though an average observer would still have classified them as being uncommonly artistic. Nodoka, however, was not average in any sense of the word and raised an eyebrow at the, for Ranko, stiff performance. Fortunately for Ranko, she eventually lost herself in the Art and her shoulders visibly unclenched.

Finishing her kata, Ranko turned her attention to her burgeoning magical abilities. She had always been able to instinctually summon balls of freezing water or ice, especially when she was startled. Her friends had quickly realized that sneaking up on Ranko was best done in a swimsuit as she often accidentally blasted surprises with a waterball. With a little work, she had figured out that she could control nearby pools of water into doing what she wanted them to though this wore her out much more quickly. And she had practiced forming objects out of ice since she had accidentally created an ice-fuku (subjectively) years ago while playing Sailor Senshi with Hotaru and Usa. They still melted easily, but as the weather cooled, her creations became more stable.

During the summer, her magic had been stretched as she subconsciously used it to try to cool herself and her magical reserves had swollen as a result of near constant use. Where she could only project a softball sized ball of water during the high heat of the summer, by fall she had managed to increase the size up to a volleyball or basketball sized projectile.

Today, Ranko wanted to see if she could fire beam attack with her ice powers. She had seen a Kamehameha attack in a Dragon Ball video game at the arcade and she wanted to see if she could pull something similar off herself. She focused on pulling her power into her hands the same way that she did when forming ice and waterballs but this time she forced herself to hold the power as it built up as opposed to letting it pool into an object. Her hands started glowing a pale blue where she held them in front of her chest and her wings flared up , seeming to pulse with repressed energy. Nodoka stopped her own training to stare at her daughter as the power built higher and higher. With one final, almost painfully bright pulse of light Ranko thrust her hands forward and launched a foot wide white-blue beam with a guttural yell. The beam traveled to its target, a large rock twenty feet away in an instant and engulfed it entirely. Three seconds later, Ranko cut off the flow of power and slumped to her knees from the drain. The rock was covered in an inch thick layer of ice.

“Ranko-chan, when did you learn to do that? That was amazing honey,” Nodoka gushed, running over to check on her fatigued daughter.

“I saw something similar in a game mom, I wanted to see if I could do it. That was really tiring,” Ranko said.

“Maybe we should skip our morning spar then daughter. I don’t want you falling asleep in class,” Nodoka replied.

“Naw, I’ll be okay mom, just give me a minute,” Ranko begged.

By the time mother and daughter met for their brief sparring match, Ranko was back to full form. This morning, as it was finally cool enough, Ranko eschewed the traditional practice sword and focused on creating an icy blade with her powers to fend off her mother’s strikes. The slight lag required to conjure meant that Ranko was tagged a few more times than normal, but by creating and throwing small icy darts to interrupt Nodoka, Ranko managed to prevent a complete rout.

“Thanks for the spar mom!” Ranko yelled out as she raced inside and upstairs to bathe and get dressed for school. Ten minutes later, a clean, slightly damp and freshly made up thirteen year old presented herself to Kasumi for inspection. “Well oneechan, how do I look?” she asked with wide eyes while clutching her satchel to her chest, a picture perfect little schoolgirl. Her uniform hung neatly off her petite shoulders and her hair had been drawn back into a pair of high, two-toned ponytails. Her pixie-ish face had been accentuated with light makeup with slightly too much glitter on the cheeks. With her wings extended, she looked just like some sort of mythological fairy.

[Cheb]

do w really have to

I couldn't find any bugs except this ytpo, sorry

[borgrabbit]

“Here, drink this. If it tastes funny I can get you to wash it down with.

It needs something. Get it. I'm an ass, ain't I.
“Here, drink this. If it tastes funny I can get you something to wash it down with.

Haiku fu review:

Senshi of winter
Will Jusendo's kiss cure bliss
Ignorance begone

^☺^

[Shanami]

Well, since the other stuff is all broken apart, I'm going to compile the edited version here on page 2. Here's the first half.

Death Reborn Evolution Chapter 7: Needs new title

Ranko skipped into her home and let her wings burst out from her back to flutter lightly. She sighed, “Ah, that’s so much better. I get so tired of holding them in all day.” Kasumi and her friends trailed in behind her. “Hi mom,” she said, giving Nodoka a quick hug, “um, I kinda have a question?” Her wings fluttered nervously behind her.

“What dear?” Nodoka asked.

“Well, um, you see,” Ranko looked down and started drawing little patterns on the floor with her toe. “Um, would it be alright if I started dating soon?” She flushed furiously when her friends giggled from behind her.

“And just what brought this on Ranko?” Nodoka asked archly.

“I kinda got asked out for a date for Friday night,” Ranko mumbled.

“A date already daughter?” Nodoka asked.

“Yep, I… well, he asked me, and I said yes… so is it okay if I go?” Ranko asked.

“Hmm, I wonder. Did you get a good look at this boy Kasumi, is he good enough for my little Ranko?” Nodoka said with a twinkle in her eye.

“I didn’t see him Auntie,” Kasumi replied.

“Jun’s really cute Auntie Nodoka,” Usa sighed dreamily.

“Usa, stop teasing her,” Hotaru said indignantly, smacking Usa on the shoulder.

“Thanks Taru-chan,” Ranko smirked.

“Meanies,” Usa pouted. Ranko just laughed at her. A moment later, Usa cracked a grin as well.

“Well, I don’t know then…” Nodoka trailed off.

“Mooom pleeeeaase!” Ranko whined. Her friends and Kasumi laughed at her.

“Of course you can go dear, but I would like to meet the young man to make sure he’s acceptable. Do you know what you will be doing?” Nodoka questioned.

“No, we didn’t talk about it,” Ranko responded. “Oh no, how will I know what to wear?”

“Don’t worry dear, just find out what your plans are and Kasumi and I will help you get ready, okay?” Nodoka responded.

“Sure, thanks mom, thanks oneechan!” Ranko said, pulling both of them into a quick hug. “C’mon, let’s go play that new Mario game I got.” She dragged Hotaru and Usa off.

Nodoka slumped heavily into her chair. “Kasumi, I… I’m not ready for this,” the older woman mumbled. “I… well, I guess I knew this might happen. But, I’m just not ready.”

Kasumi pulled Nodoka into her arms. “It’ll be okay Auntie,” she said.

“I- I know Kasumi, it’s just,” Nodoka sobbed, “I miss my Ramna. I, hic, I love my daughter so much, but I guess I thought there would be more of him left. ”

“Oh Auntie, I miss him too. But he’s not all gone,” Kasumi soothed.

Nodoka sniffed and looked up with watery eyes. “I guess, I guess I just wasn’t ready to hear that she’s already interested in boys. I… suppose I just kind of expected her to be just like him. I’m being silly, aren’t I?”

“I don’t think you’re being silly Auntie. I know you miss Ranma-kun and I do too, but think about all the things you can share with Ranko-chan. Like how you’re teaching her to put on her makeup, and unlike when he was pretending to be our cousin, Ranko-chan actually enjoys it,” Kasumi said.

Nodoka couldn’t help it, remembering the Tendo Ranko debacle made her chuckle. “Thanks dear, sorry for breaking down. I guess, I just got overwhelmed.”

“You know, I find it strange that Ranko-chan hasn’t had her period yet and she’s already interested in boys enough to agree to a date,” Kasumi said.

Nodoka looked chagrined. “I haven’t even given her the full talk yet Kasumi. I was waiting for her menarche, I guess I’ll have to explain a few things to her later tonight.”

The corners of Kasumi’s lips twitched upwards. “Oh my, I hope she won’t be too embarrassed. I,” Kasumi’s lips twitched again and a giggle escaped her, “oh Auntie, I know I shouldn’t tease, but I had to give poor Ranma-chan the talk when she was locked and had her time.” Kasumi collapsed to the floor in laughter and Nodoka couldn’t help herself but to smile. “He, hahaha, she thought something was wrong because of the, haha, blood. And I, ahaha, I had to explain to him that it was perfectly normal for a young lady and how to use the appropriate supplies to deal with it. You, hehe, you should have seen the look on her face. I didn’t know anyone could get quite so red. Hahaha.”

Nodoka joined Kasumi in gasping laughter. “Thanks dear, I needed that.”

XXOOXXOO

Later that night after her friends had left Ranko was sitting at her desk checking over her homework for mistakes. Her brow was furrowed in concentration and her wings completely still.

“Ranko-chan, dear, are you busy?” Nodoka asked from the doorway to Ranko’s bedroom.

“No, come in mom,” Ranko replied, not about to pass up anything that would take her away from homework. She lazily drifted into the air from her desk and spun around to face her mother.

Nodoka entered and walked over to sit on Ranko’s bed. “Join me dear.” She patted next to her on the bed. Ranko flew over and landed cross-legged close to her mother.

“What did you want mom?” Ranko asked.

“Well dear, I didn’t think we’d need to have this conversation quite so soon but, well, since you seem to be interested already I thought we needed to talk about boys,” Nodoka sighed.

Ranko blanched, the last time her mother had been this nervous talking to her was 2 months ago when she was eleven. Nodoka had explained all the… biology of being a woman. And while Ranko had yet to personally experience the more unpleasant aspects of womanhood, she was sure the actual experience would be uncomfortable and embarrassing. The conversation itself had been mortifying in its own right; however, knowing her mother, this talk promised to be much much worse.

“Mooom, do we have to?” Ranko whined.

“Ranko-chan,” Nodoka chided, “this is very important.” Nodoka looked down at hands, folded in her lap. “I didn’t think we’d have to talk about this so soon. I was planning on waiting until after your first period to explain certain things to you. But, since you’re starting to show, well, interest in boys there are things that you need to know.”

Ranko’s wings fluttered nervously behind her. “Um, mom do we really have to?” Ranko wrung her hands. “It’s embarrassing to talk about this sorta stuff with you.”

Nodoka just smiled. “I realize that dear, but this is important. I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

“C’mon mom, I’m not a little girl anymore. I can take care of myself,” Ranko said.

“I, I know tha-that nothing’s probably going to happen to you. B-but I already lost your brother and you’re all that I have left. I,” Nodoka visibly composed herself. “I need to know you’re going to be safe.”

“Oh mom,” Ranko sat herself in her mother’s lap, leaned into her chest and wrapped her arms tightly around the older redhead’s middle.

Nodoka’s arms surrounded her daughter and she pulled Ranko in close. “Th-thanks dear, I needed that,” she sniffled.

“You’re welcome. I love you momma,” Ranko murmured into Nodoka’s chest.

“I love you too honey,” Nodoka said softly. She continued to hold her daughter while rocking back and forth slightly for a few more minutes. Ranko sighed contentedly, she was really comfortable and while she was physically thirteen, she had yet to fully catch up to her age mentally.

An hour later, a thoroughly blushing Ranko wandered downstairs absently toweling off her hair. After their brief snuggle Nodoka had proceeded with her planned talk and Ranko had been absolutely correct, it was far worse to talk about *that* stuff with your mom than the basic, if somewhat messy female biology. And things, unfortunately, hadn’t merely stopped there. First Nodoka had warned Ranko about some of the risks associated with intimacy. By itself, that wasn’t particularly bad. Then the talk moved into a rather frank discussion of male anatomy and a discussion of various things boys might want to do to her. Ranko wasn’t quite sure her blush would ever fade, especially since some of Nodoka’s rather colorful descriptions had left her a little heated and the dreamy expression on her mother’s face when she described manly behavior hadn’t helped.

Ranko bonelessly plopped down on the sofa and turned on some cartoons. She desperately needed to clear her head and she hoped some Wedding Peach would do the trick.

“Mind if I join you?” Kasumi asked.

“S-sure oneechan,” Ranko squeaked.

“Oh my, what’s the matter Ranko-chan?” Kasumi made herself comfortable on the sofa with one leg folded beneath her.

“Um, mom just finished explaining a few things to me,” Ranko said chagrined. Her cheeks flared a bright shade of crimson and she ducked her eyes.

Kasumi giggled lightly. “Oh dear, I hope that wasn’t too embarrassing,” Kasumi said.

“Just, um, a little bit oneechan,” Ranko said, shivering slightly.

Kasumi pulled the younger girl up to her side and draped an arm over her shoulders. “It’s okay, I was so embarrassed when I had to give Nabiki and Akane their talks. And knowing Auntie Nodoka this was a bit worse,” she whispered and winked.
Ranko giggled and leaned into Kasumi’s side. “Y-yeah,” she responded before turning her attention back to the television. A little while later, Ranko’s eyes drooped closed and her breathing evened out and softened. Her head drifted down until it was pillowed in Kasumi’s lap. Kasumi stroked the younger girl’s hair before carefully scooping her up and taking her to bed.

XXOOXX

The next morning, Ranko awoke with a shuddering moan. Her entire body felt like it was on fire and she felt like she was lying in a pool of sweat. The area around her thighs was particularly damp. “Mmm, Akane,” she moaned before squeaking as the details of her dream slammed into her suddenly aware consciousness. “What the hell? Eww, why did I dream about doing that with Akane of all people. I mean, sure, she’s pretty but. Wait, what am I thinking? And why was I a boy for part of it?” she shuddered again, this time out of disgust. “I feel really gross. I know mom said I might have ‘dreams’ like this, but ick! I’d better take a long soak before working out. Why did mom have to put all those ideas in my head last night, I can’t stop thinking about it. At least I don’t have to see Akane for a while, that might be awkward,” she muttered as she trudged down the hall, her wings twitching agitatedly.

Half an hour later, Ranko bounced downstairs in one of her training outfits, this one consisting of a powder blue, tight elastic halter top with cotton capris rather than shorts as the weather was starting to cool off. Her kata were uncharacteristically sloppy, though an average observer would still have classified them as being uncommonly artistic. Nodoka, however, was not average in any sense of the word and raised an eyebrow at the, for Ranko, stiff performance. Fortunately for Ranko, she eventually lost herself in the Art and her shoulders visibly unclenched.

Finishing her kata, Ranko turned her attention to her burgeoning magical abilities. She had always been able to instinctually summon balls of freezing water or ice, especially when she was startled. Her friends had quickly realized that sneaking up on Ranko was best done in a swimsuit as she often accidentally blasted surprises with a waterball. With a little work, she had figured out that she could control nearby pools of water into doing what she wanted them to though this wore her out much more quickly. And she had practiced forming objects out of ice since she had accidentally created an ice-fuku (subjectively) years ago while playing Sailor Senshi with Hotaru and Usa. They still melted easily, but as the weather cooled, her creations became more stable.

During the summer, her magic had been stretched as she subconsciously used it to try to cool herself and her magical reserves had swollen as a result of near constant use. Where she could only project a softball sized ball of water during the high heat of the summer, by fall she had managed to increase the size up to a volleyball or basketball sized projectile.

Today, Ranko wanted to see if she could fire beam attack with her ice powers. She had seen a Kamehameha attack in a Dragon Ball video game at the arcade and she wanted to see if she could pull something similar off herself. She focused on pulling her power into her hands the same way that she did when forming ice and waterballs but this time she forced herself to hold the power as it built up as opposed to letting it pool into an object. Her hands started glowing a pale blue where she held them in front of her chest and her wings flared up , seeming to pulse with repressed energy. Nodoka stopped her own training to stare at her daughter as the power built higher and higher. With one final, almost painfully bright pulse of light Ranko thrust her hands forward and launched a foot wide white-blue beam with a guttural yell. The beam traveled to its target, a large rock twenty feet away in an instant and engulfed it entirely. Three seconds later, Ranko cut off the flow of power and slumped to her knees from the drain. The rock was covered in an inch thick layer of ice.

“Ranko-chan, when did you learn to do that? That was amazing honey,” Nodoka gushed, running over to check on her fatigued daughter.

“I saw something similar in a game mom, I wanted to see if I could do it. That was really tiring,” Ranko said.

“Maybe we should skip our morning spar then daughter. I don’t want you falling asleep in class,” Nodoka replied.

“Naw, I’ll be okay mom, just give me a minute,” Ranko begged.

By the time mother and daughter met for their brief sparring match, Ranko was back to full form. This morning, as it was finally cool enough, Ranko eschewed the traditional practice sword and focused on creating an icy blade with her powers to fend off her mother’s strikes. The slight lag required to conjure meant that Ranko was tagged a few more times than normal, but by creating and throwing small icy darts to interrupt Nodoka, Ranko managed to prevent a complete rout.

“Thanks for the spar mom!” Ranko yelled out as she raced inside and upstairs to bathe and get dressed for school. Ten minutes later, a clean, slightly damp and freshly made up thirteen year old presented herself to Kasumi for inspection. “Well oneechan, how do I look?” she asked with wide eyes while clutching her satchel to her chest, a picture perfect little schoolgirl. Her uniform hung neatly off her petite shoulders and her hair had been drawn back into a pair of high, two-toned ponytails. Her pixie-ish face had been accentuated with light makeup with slightly too much glitter on the cheeks. With her wings extended, she looked just like some sort of mythological fairy.

“You look absolutely darling today Ranko-chan. That shade of blue really brings out your eyes,” Kasumi complemented. And it really did too. Ranko could and had applied her genius level adaptability, the same skill that had allowed Ranma to improvise martial arts so well, to pretty much everything she found interesting. She found that she was still significantly better at physical pursuits than academic and it was not surprising that she had quickly become adept at doing her makeup.

“Thanks Kasumi-neechan!” Ranko chirped. Kasumi handed her some toast and Ranko ran off towards Hotaru’s house so they could head to school together. Ranko had taken to eating most of her breakfast before training and taking a snack with her out the door. Eating too heavily before training was never a good idea after all.

The school morning passed in the usual haze of frantic note taking combined with nigh insurmountable boredom. And, as usual, Ranko eagerly awaited the brief reprieve of lunch. Not to mention she was still quite hungry. The girls met up in their usual spot in the shade of a large tree with their bentos.

“Say Ko-chan,” Usa teased in between bites, “aren’t you in the wrong spot today?”

“Huh, what’dya mean Sa-chan?” Ranko cocked her head slightly to the side, confused enough to pause her inhalation of a noodle dish.

“Oh, I dunno,” Usa continued with twinkling eyes, “just I’d think you’d want to sit with your BOYfriend rather than with us.”
Ranko choked and sputtered on her drink. “Usa!” Ranko blushed as red as her hair.

“Wait, what? Ranko has a boyfriend? Since when?” Nariko leaned in, excited at the prospect of new gossip.

“Oho, you’ll see for yourself soon,” Usa replied. “He’s coming over here Ko-chan.”

The girls all looked up to see a nervous Jun approaching their tree. Nariko spun around and mouthed ‘Jun?’ to Usa whose face broke into a tremendous grin as she gave a subtle nod of her head.

“H-hi Ranko,” Jun stuttered, “c-can I talk to you for a minute?”

“S-sure thing Jun,” Ranko’s cheeks flared bright pink. She stood up and followed him a short ways away from her friends where they started to chat in hushed tones. Ranko returned to the group looking slightly dazed. She absently ate a few more rice balls.

“Soooo Ko-chan, what did lover boy there want?” Usa drawled.

“Usa!” Ranko screeched. All her friends started giggling at her.

“So Ranko, what’s going on with you and Jun, huh?” Nariko teased. “Is he your boyfriend, huh?”

“He… well, he told me that he wanted to take me to a movie on Friday,” Ranko murmured.

“Ha, I knew it! He’s cute, you’re sooo lucky,” she sighed dreamily.

“Not you too! Sa-chan is bad enough by herself,” Ranko said miserably, triggering another spate of laughter.

“Fine fine, we’ll be good, right Usa?” Nariko said.

“Oh, I guess so,” Usa lamented.

“He is cute though, I really am jealous Ranko-chan,” Nariko said. Ranko was going to respond, but the bell rang signaling the end of the lunch period and the girls had to race back inside to class.

XXOOXX

Afternoon classes passed for the girls as usual, though Ranko was still slightly distracted by the events of the day. She was desperately trying to pay attention to her history teacher. ‘Oh well, I’ll just have to borrow Taru-chan’s notes, I can’t focus. Why am I so nervous, I mean, Jun’s cute, right?’ she thought before she realized that she didn’t really have a burning attraction to him. But then again, the more she thought about it, the more she realized that she didn’t have any overpowering attraction to anyone yet; after all, she hadn’t even had her first period yet.

‘I guess there’s no use worrying about it. It’ll probably be really fun,’ her mind drifted off and she sighed wistfully. She was excited to actually be going on a date and the idea that someone found her attractive enough to work up the courage to ask her was thrilling. But while she could totally see Jun’s appeal logically, emotionally she just wasn’t that into him.

Ranko was shaken out of her cycling thoughts as the building shook as if there was an…

“Earthquake!” someone she didn’t know squealed in fright. Half of the class dropped out of their seats to hide under their desks in panic while the teacher fought to keep control of the room.

*BOOOOOOOOM*

The windows exploded inward in a blinding flash of light and glass shards, fortunately impacting on the empty desks rather than the students underneath. Momoko bolted over to the blown out window frames to look outside.

“Oh no, it’s another monster attack!” she yelled.

Ranko jumped up and ran to the window to see the silhouettes of some skirted women dodging around a three story tall, vaguely female walking monstrosity while they launched multicolored balls of light at it.

While the teacher coaxed her classmates out of the room and directed them towards the relative safety of the auditorium, Ranko dropped to the back of the group and slipped off.

“Where are you going Ko-chan?” Usa asked.

Ranko jumped and spun around in fright, clutching her chest, hand glowing with repressed magic as she attempted to stop herself from blasting Usa in the face with a waterbolt. “Jeez, do you always have to do that Sa-chan?” she asked to which Usa smirked. Ranko sighed. “I was gonna go help.”

“You can’t, that’s one of the monsters, let the senshi handle it Ko-chan,” Hotaru pleaded.

“But I know I can help Taru-chan!” Ranko insisted, her wings starting to shimmer into existence behind her.

“But the senshi take care of the monsters all the time. And the teacher will know we left and then we’ll get in trouble and Auntie Nodoka will ground you,” Hotaru cried out and latched onto Ranko.

Ranko deflated. “Okay, okay, I won’t go running off to fight the monster,” she sighed. “Let’s sneak into the auditorium before we’re missed.”

They made their way in through a side entrance and snuck around to sit at the back of their class with Nariko, Momoko an Aoi.

“Where’d you guys go?” Momoko asked.

“I wanted to see what was going on better,” Ranko whispered back.

“Ranko, are you crazy?” Aoi hissed. “Those monsters are really nasty, why did you want to see it up close?”

“I don’t know,” Ranko lied, “I just had to see it for myself.”

Meanwhile, the Sailor Starlights had cornered the monster and were keeping it pinned down while Eternal Sailor Moon charged up her “Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss” attack, cleansing the phage entirely and leaving an unconscious person lying in the street.

Once it became apparent that the monster attack was over, classes resumed. While some school districts probably would have cancelled the rest of the day, this was Juuban and monster attacks happened far too often to miss school over. Ranko’s friends had used the short break to interrogate the girl about her plans with Jun on Friday night. During class, Usa passed a few ecchi notes to Ranko about what she could do with Jun in the back of the movie theater. Ranko flushed in response and muttered imprecations under her breath before giving Usa the evil eye. Usa just smirked in response.

XXOOXX

Ranko stared at her opponent, sweat beading on her furrowed brow as she sized up the monstrosity across from her, far more intimidating than the phage that had attacked earlier. Her eyes narrowed as she tried to think of something, anything that could help her face down her implacable, silent foe.

Draw the graph of the following function: x2 + 3/4x + 17 = y.

Ranko hated algebra.

“Argh! I just don’t get it,” she yelled out in frustration, causing the other seven girls to look curiously in her direction. After their last class of the day, Usa, Hotaru and Ranko had walked to the nearby Juuban high school to meet with the inner senshi for a study session at the Hikawa Shrine.

“What don’t you understand Ranko-chan?” Ami asked, glancing over the younger girl’s shoulder. She had continued to tutor the middle schoolers once they had caught up to their grade level in preparation for high school entrance exams.

“This!” Ranko jabbed a finger emphatically at the offending problem. “I don’t even know how to start. I can do most of the problems but this one is just too complicated. I’m so frustrated Ami-sempai.”

“Nuh-uh, I thought we went over this already Ranko-chan, none of that sempai business with any of us,” Ami said.

“Sorry Ami-chan,” Ranko replied.

“That’s better,” Ami smiled brightly, “now, how about we work through this one together?”

Ranko found herself speechless. ‘Kawaii, she looks kinda like Akane when she smiles, wait… what the hell am I thinking?’ Ranko blushed hard as she inadvertently wondered what Ami would look like naked and how close she was and how easy it would be to turn her head and ..and ‘Gah, stupid dream,’ she thought. ‘It was bad enough that I dreamed about having se-, doing that to someone as a man but now I’m looking at Ami? She is pretty though, and she smells so nice and, gah!’ As her thoughts spiraled further out of control, Ranko’s face got redder and redder.

“Ranko-chan, are you okay?” Ami asked with a concerned tone. She gently laid a hand on the younger girl’s brow. “You don’t seem to have a fever.”

“I-I’m fine.” Ranko jerked away slightly, trying to get herself under control. The other girls looked on with varying levels of concern. Ami, satisfied that Ranko wasn’t feverish, had already turned back to the algebra problem and was thinking about the best way to explain it. Hotaru and Usagi looked quite worried at Ranko’s strange behavior. Rei didn’t know Ranko quite as well as the others and was willing to let the matter drop. Minako and Usa, however, sported nearly identical smirks as they saw the way Ranko was acting around and looking at Ami. Minako, as the Senshi of Love, realized very quickly what was going on and was already thinking of ways that she could help the obviously smitten girl. Usa, having significant knowledge of things to come just turned to Minako and winked.

“Well, in that case, we need to get back to work Ranko-chan. Would you like me to talk you through this problem?” Ami asked. The others turned back to what they were doing, after all, algebra WAS boring.

“Sure, thanks,” Ranko replied. Inside she was thinking, ‘At least it’ll give me something to focus on but bleh, I hate algebra!’

“Well, why don’t you tell me where you are stuck first and I’ll try to help you work through it from there,” Ami suggested.

“But I don’t get any of it!” the younger girl grumbled. “I mean, it’s easy if it’s linear, I can handle that, but I don’t know how to figure this out at all!”

“Well, how do you start to graph a linear equation?” Ami prodded.

“First I find the intercept and then I use the slope to draw the line,” Ranko answered.

“Good, well, this really isn’t any different, we just need to break it down more. You can start the same way, find the intercepts first by setting the values to zero, then I’ll show you how to find the vertex and from there all you need to do is connect the points with an arc,” Ami said.

“Thanks Ami!” Ranko slumped a bit in relief, math was by far her weakest subject.

“I was happy to help Ranko-chan. Now why don’t you finish up the rest of those problems and I’ll check them for you once you’re done?” Ami said. The blue haired genius smiled at the younger girl diligently working on the rest of her homework with her tongue sticking slightly out of her mouth in concentration. ‘If only Usag- erm, some of my other friends would be so good about studying,’ she thought with a sigh before returning to her seat between Minako and Makoto.

Ranko was just getting the hang of graphing the more complicated equations when Rei shrieked, drawing everyone’s attention. “Usagi, what are you doing with my manga?”

“I just wanted to read it Rei-chan,” Usagi whined.

“Usagi!” Rei jumped up and started chasing the blonde around the room.

“Waaaahhh, Rei-chan is a meanie,” Usagi cried as she ran away from the enraged miko. Minako looked at her watch before turning to Makoto. “Ha, I win, pay up!” she said.

“Shoot, I thought for sure they wouldn’t last twenty minutes this time,” Makoto grumbled good naturedly before handing over a few bills. Everyone else laughed at the, by now, usual study time antics before turning back to their own work.

XOOX

Ranko was dreading sleep that night. ‘What if I have another dream like that about Ami this time,’ she thought. ‘I… well, it’s normal to think friends are attractive when they are. And Ami looks really good even though she doesn’t try to and when she smiles her whole face lights up and… gah, I did not just think that. Yes, she looks good but it’s not like I want to drag her into bed wi- damn. I was just dreaming about what mom and I talked about.’ Ranko blushed heavily at the thoughts and furtively climbed under the covers. ‘I can’t put this off forever. Tonight instead of dreaming about doing that to another girl I’ll dream about Jun and me and he’ll start by taking off his shirt and then he’ll touch my, eww, stop it!’

Giving it up as a bad job, the flustered girl lay with her thoughts spiraling out of control. She kept trying to picture herself in romantic situations, but inevitably, it wasn’t Jun sitting next to her in the movie theater or it wasn’t Jun chatting to her over dinner. ‘I’m just nervous about the date on Friday, this is my way of showing it,’ she convinced herself.

It would be a long time before Ranko fell into a fitful sleep.

OXAb1

Ranko rose and rubbed her bleary eyes the next morning. She opened her mouth in a jaw-cracking yawn and sat up. ‘Why did I dream about… dancing jellyfish flying with cucumbers? And singing zebras? What the hell?’ Shrugging, she decided that it really wasn’t worth trying to dissect that dream any further but was thankful to avoid a repeat of the previous night.
She headed downstairs for her morning practice where she decided to work on creating a second beam attack using water instead of ice. When she released it, she wound up getting blown backwards by the stream of water which unfortunately quickly lost its cohesion. “Well, that didn’t work.” She scratched the back of her head sheepishly. Giving it up as a bad job, Ranko fired off a few more of the ice beams. “Hmm, what should I call it. I guess it looks kinda like that Solar Beam attack from Pokemon, maybe Frozen Beam? No, Freeze Beam… doesn’t sound right either. Oh, I know, Freeze Ray!”

“Hey oneechan!” Ranko yelled into the house, “come quick, I want to show you a new move!”

“What is it Ranko-chan?” Kasumi asked.

“Just watch, it’s really cool!” Ranko started gathering her magic into her hands and light pulses built up along her wings again. Finally, a wave of light traveled in from her wing tips to enter her back and she thrust her hands forward crying out “Freeze Ray!” The white-blue beam connected with a training dummy and froze it solid.

“Oh my! That was impressive Ranko-chan,” Kasumi gushed.

“Thanks oneechan! Oh no, I’ve got to go, I’m going to be late to meet Sa-chan!” Ranko flew up the stairs and changed into her uniform. She grabbed a slice of toast and bolted out the door. A few minutes later, Ranko skidded to a halt in front of her irate friend. “Sorry I’m late, c’mon we’ve gotta go.”

“Where were you?” Usa asked peevishly.

“Sorry, I got caught up practicing cause I made up a really cool move and I’ll show you after school.”

Usa hid a small grin before leering at her friend. “Sure, that’s just what you want me to think. I’ll be you went to see your Ami-sempai this morning and forgot all about little old me,” Usa drawled.

“WHAT?” Ranko screeched.

“Mhmm, you can’t lie to me Ko-chan. I saw how you were looking at her yesterday,” Usa teased.

Ranko paled, ‘She noticed?’ “Usa! I do not like Ami-sempai like that!” she said indignantly.

“Oh, then where were you, decided to go see your boyfriend instead?” Usa continued.

“You… you… I said I was sorry, why do you have to be so mean about it.” Ranko stormed off.

“Guess I took that too far,” Usa mumbled to herself. She ran to catch up to her irate friend. “Ranko wait! I’m sorry. I was just teasing you because you were late, I’m sorry I went too far, forgive me?” She turned devastatingly innocent, wide eyes on her friend.

“I guess,” Ranko said.

“Oh c’mon Ko-chan, I was just teasing, honest!” Usa pleaded.

Ranko cracked a smile. “I forgive you. You’re so lucky I’m such a nice friend.”

“Who was it that was late again, huh?” Usa snarked.

“Yeah yeah, let’s just get to school already.”

OOxxo0

That evening, Usa and Hotaru went over to Ranko’s house for dinner. Kasumi gave the three girls a cooking lesson on how to prepare chicken yakitori and yakisoba. Hotaru and Ranko made palatable, if messy and bland meals. Usa’s cooking, on the other hand, wouldn’t have looked out of place in a modern art exhibit. The depressed pinkette plopped down at the dinner table. “I just can’t cook. I don’t get it, I thought I did everything right,” she sighed. Moments later, Kasumi brought out a veritable feast and all other thoughts quickly fled Usa’s mind.

After an incredibly satisfying meal, Ranko dragged her friends outside.

“So you said you have something you wanted us to see Ko-chan?” Hotaru asked.

“Yeah, check this out!” Ranko floated slightly up in the air and gathered her power. Both of her friends looked on with wide eyes at the light show and when Ranko yelled “Freeze Ray!” and released a beam of pure white-blue energy their jaws dropped. “So, what do you think?” She turned and giggled at their stunned expressions.

“K-Ko-chan… that was amazing!” Hotaru gushed.

“Wow,” was all Usa managed to get out.

“Thanks.” Ranko drew toe art on the ground, her cheeks flushing in embarrassment.

The girls spent the rest of the evening playing Mario and watching cartoons.

O-0X-O

School ended on Friday afternoon and Ranko was a bundle of nerves and hyperactive energy as she walked up the path to her house. Haruka had picked up the middle school girls and dropped her off after being informed all about the impending date by a gushing Usa. In a rare display of tact, Haruka had managed to control her teasing nature since it was clear that the younger girl was already incredibly flustered. Ranko’s wings burst out of her back, completely soaking her blouse as they twitched fitfully.

Sighing and wet, Ranko entered the house with a call of “I’m home.”

“Coming Ranko dear,” Nodoka called back. “Oh no, you’re soaked. I think you need to take a bath missy, you should have enough time.”

“Okay mom,” Ranko said. She walked to the bathroom and peeled her soaked uniform off and absently tossed it into the hamper before rinsing herself off with cold water. Moments later, Ranko groaned in pleasure and closed her eyes, resting her head against the edge of the furo and letting the heat soak into her. The stress seemed to visibly melt off her frame as she relaxed in the soothing heat. Her breathing evened out and softened and she drifted off to sleep.

“Ranko.”

“Ranko, wake up.”

“Ranko, wake up.”

“Huh, wuzzat?” Ranko groggily mumbled and cracked her eyes open to the sensation of someone insistently shaking her shoulder.

“Ranko, wake up honey. You fell asleep in the furo,” Nodoka said softly.

“Oh,” Ranko sat up before a panicked look spread across her face. “Oh no, what time is it? Am I gonna be late, I’ve got to get ready!” she bolted out of the tub and streaked across to the changing room to grab a towel, leaving her mother laughing in her wake.

“You’ve only been in the bath for twenty minutes dear. You have plenty of time to get ready. Do you want some help?” Nodoka called after her frantic daughter.

“Phew,” Ranko visibly relaxed,” sure, help would be great.”

“Alright then, go put on that outfit that we bought and then come to my bedroom. I’ll be waiting,” Nodoka said.

“Okay, be there in a minute,” Ranko called over her shoulder as she skipped down the hall.

“Don’t dry your hair!” Nodoka yelled after her.

A few minutes later Ranko padded into her mother’s room. Her outfit consisted of a knee length, forest green skirt with white floral trim at the base and a white blouse. She had a small green handbag and a pair of comfortable flats. Her ears weren’t pierced but she wore a bead bracelet and necklace combo. Nodoka immediately set to work with a curling iron on Ranko’s hair. Since she normally wore it up, they decided to leave it down and give it a slight wave. Nodoka then helped Ranko get made up with some light blue eyeliner and eyeshadow, blush on her cheeks and a pale pink lip gloss. Kasumi came home from classes about halfway through the process and joined in with the makeup.

Forty minutes later the doorbell rang. Kasumi and Ranko were playing a card game upstairs together to sooth the younger girl’s nerves and to keep her from pacing a trench in the floor. Nodoka answered the door and let her daughter’s date for the night in. She had to admit that Jun was indeed a handsome boy, for a thirteen year old at least and he did clean up pretty well. He was wearing a simple pair of khaki slacks and a green button down shirt.

“You must be Jun. I’m Ranko’s mother. Please, won’t you come in?” Nodoka gestured into the house.

“Thank you Tanaka-san,” Jun bowed nervously and entered the house.

“If I may, what are your plans for the evening?” Nodoka asked.

“Well, since Ranko-chan mentioned how much she likes martial arts, I thought we could go see the newest Jackie Chan movie. It’s supposed to be good,” Jun replied.

“Very well. If you’ll wait here for one moment, I’ll go find my daughter,” Nodoka said before heading deeper into the house.
Upstairs, Ranko had been a bundle of nerves since she heard the doorbell. Kasumi had kept her from bolting down to the living room, saying that as a girl, you were supposed to make your date wait. Ranko didn’t quite understand why she was supposed to try to build his anticipation up when hers was already killing her but deferred to her ‘older sister’s’ expertise.

Kasumi tried to sooth the frazzled young girl. “Ranko-chan, calm down. It’s okay. I know you’re nervous, but so is he. You look absolutely beautiful and I’m sure you’ll have a lot of fun tonight.”

“I know oneechan, I can’t help it,” Ranko wrung her hands together as she paced back and forth.

“Ranko, you can come downstairs now dear,” Nodoka said from the door.

Ranko raced over to the staircase and took a deep breath to try to calm herself before heading down into the living room.

“Wow, you look great,” Jun said breathlessly. And she really did too. While she was overdressed for a trip to the cinema, Ranko looked beautiful without anything being too overstated. Besides, no one would blame her for going a bit overboard on her first date.

“Th-thanks,” Ranko responded. Jun tentatively took her hand and led her out the door to walk to the movie theater. His hand was significantly larger than hers so it engulfed it completely but it was pleasantly warm without being damp. Both teens blushed madly for the entirety of the walk.

“So, what are we going to see?” Ranko asked, trying to break the awkward silence that had fallen between them.
Jun shot her a grateful smile, the silence had been stifling but he hadn’t known how to break it. “Well, since you said how much you like martial arts, I thought we could go see the Jackie Chan movie. My older brother said it was really funny.”

“Oh really, that’s great!” Ranko grinned and her eyes lit up. “I really wanted to see it. I was going to try to drag mom out to it next weekend.” They continued to chat about random inconsequential things until they reached the theater where Jun bought their tickets.

Then they got into the snack line where Ranko insisted that she pay for her own stuff, her mom having given her funds for snacks. Initially, Jun tried to do the gallant thing and refuse, but she just pressed on ahead of him and when he saw her snack load he realized that his wallet wouldn’t have survived. Jun had bought a small drink, popcorn and a box of pocky for himself. Ranko looked like she had bought out the entire concession stand.

Eventually, they settled into their seats near the middle of the theater right before the previews started. Ranko happily munched away on her popcorn as she let the glow of the screen and the sounds wash over her while she half-paid attention to the over-hyped previews. Then the movie itself started and Ranko found herself laughing. “Rush Hour 2” was pretty funny, even if the martial arts in it were pretty fake and the translation job was poor.

She started when she felt something warm touch her hand and looked over to see Jun looking at her nervously. She smiled back shyly before turning her attention back to the screen.

After the movie was over they walked home, hand in hand.

“Thanks, I had fun,” Jun said as they approached the gate to the Tanaka house.

“Me too,” Ranko admitted. And reflecting back on the date, she realized that she had enjoyed the night. The movie was good and Jun was good company even if her hormones weren’t exactly screaming at her. Still, it was a good night.

“I have to go, I see my parents’ car,” Jun said. “Can we do something like this again?”

“Sure. I’ll see you Monday in class,” Ranko replied. Screwing up her courage she gave him a quick peck on the cheek before running into the house.

Jun touched his hand to his cheek with a slightly dazed smile. A few minutes later he managed to collect himself enough to walk back to the street corner where his parents were waiting.

Ranko rushed into the living room where she was immediately accosted by her mother and Kasumi. “What’s the hurry dear, didn’t you have fun?” Nodoka asked.

Ranko plopped down on the sofa next to Kasumi. “I… well, I kinda,” Ranko continued to mumble.

“What’s that Ranko-chan?” Kasumi asked.

“I kinda just gave Jun a kiss on the cheek.” Ranko blushed a bright pink.

“So I take it you had fun then?” Kasumi responded.

“Yes, he was very sweet and the movie was really good,” Ranko responded.

“That’s great dear. I’m glad you had a nice time,” Nodoka said, pulling Ranko into a hug.

“Thanks momma,” Ranko mumbled. Her eyelids were starting to get heavy and she subconsciously snuggled up to Nodoka’s shoulder.

“I think you’d better get to bed honey,” Nodoka said. She pulled Ranko up and gave her a kiss on the forehead before sending her daughter up to brush her teeth and turn in for the night.

XOO-X

Ranko wished she could just crawl into a hole somewhere and die. Or at least hide out from her friends. Lunch break was usually Ranko’s favorite part of school, but that Monday it was intolerable. Ranko loved her friends, most of the time at least. But they had the poor girl so flustered she could hardly even get a word out.

“So Ko-chan,” Usa drawled, “is Jun a good kisser?”

“I-“ Ranko started.

“Oh, did you check out what he looks like without his shirt?” Nariko asked.

It wouldn’t be so bad if they would let her talk, but they’d bombarded her with embarrassing questions every time she opened her mouth.

“Wher-“ Ranko tried to respond.

“Did you use tongue?” Aoi giggled.

“Gah! We didn’t even kiss! Sheesh!” Ranko completely blew her top.

“Whoa, chill girl, we’ll be good,” Aoi said. Momoko was cowering behind Usa.

“Sorry, I just… you guys weren’t letting me say anything,” Ranko said.

“Seriously though, how was it?” Nariko asked.

“It was… nice. Jun dressed up a bit, green looks really good on him and the movie was really good,” Ranko said.

“Really, what did you guys see?” Momoko asked.

“That new Jackie Chan movie,” Ranko resonded.

“Eww, a martial arts flick, where’s the romance Ko-chan,” Usa lamented.

“Hey! I liked it!” Ranko said with her hands on her hips.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m sure it was good but for a date? You should have gone for something romantic. Ooo, or something scary so you could cling to him. I bet you just sat there the whole time watching the movie and didn’t pay any attention to him,” Usa said.

“Hey, we held hands,” Ranko said.

“That’s it?” Nariko asked, disappointed that the juicy gossip wasn’t actually all that juicy.

“Well, when we walked home I kinda kissed him on the cheek,” Ranko admitted.

“That’s something I guess. I would have kissed him for real if it was my first date,” Aoi sighed dreamily.

“I… I was going to but I freaked out okay?” Ranko blushed and looked down at her feet. “I don’t know why, but I just couldn’t do it. It was too fast I guess.”

“Hey, it’s okay. A first kiss should be special,” Hotaru said as her face heated up thinking about her first kisses being stolen by her friends.

‘It was, your lips were so soft and yo-, gah, I am not thinking that about my best friend. Jun, think about Jun,’ Ranko thought before sputtering and turning red. “Yes it should be,” she squeaked out.

“So, are you guys going out again?” Aoi asked.

“Yes,” Ranko squeaked, “I don’t know what but we’ll think of something.”

“Oh, you are so lucky, I’m so jealous,” Nariko lamented. “I need to get a cute boyfriend too!”

The girls continued to chat until the bell signaled the end of lunch.

XXXXX

Monday afternoon meant aikido classes for Ranko and Hotaru. Both girls were rapidly approaching their next Dan level and the sensei worked them through some difficult kata before setting them to spar with each other. This level was heavily focused on weapon-use, weapon-disarming and fighting against groups. Ranko excelled at disarming weapons users, her flexibility and speed were tremendous assets in that regard but she wasn’t used to fighting multiple opponents at once. Hotaru, thanks to some of her more intense battles as Sailor Saturn, was no stranger to group fighting, but she lacked Ranko’s sheer adaptability. Both girls were quite skilled in the uses of the various weapons, though Hotaru favored staves and naginata while Ranko was stronger in the use of swords and knives.

After their lesson, the girls walked to Makoto’s apartment, having been invited over for dinner and a study session. Both girls were absolutely famished and set upon the food ravenously. Fortunately, Makoto was quite used to Usagi’s eating habits, so no one went hungry. Besides, it was good practice in case she ever managed to open her own restaurant.

Minako made sure Ranko wound up sitting next to Ami, having seen clear signs that the younger girl was attracted to the bluette genius. However, for once in her life, Minako was too subtle and Ranko didn’t notice her matchmaking attempt being too focused on the food.

“Wow, that was great as usual Mako-chan!” Usagi said.

“I’m glad you liked it,” Makoto replied with a pleased smile.

“Everything was wonderful, thanks for inviting me Makot… Mako-chan,” Ranko said tentatively.

Makoto patted the small girl on the head. “Good, happy to have you Ranko-chan.” Ranko’s mouth split open in a brilliant smile. Makoto sighed. “I guess it’s time to study.”

“Aww, do we have to,” Usagi whined.

“Usagi-chan, we can’t fall behind,” Ami admonished.

“But Ami-chan, I’d rather do something fun!” Usagi countered.

“If we finish up in time to watch a movie I’ll make cookies Usagi-chan,” Makoto said.

They were treated to a blur as Usagi rushed to her bag and back to the table, already scribbling away on her homework. Everyone stared at her rather strangely. “What just happened?” Minako asked incredulously.

“The meatball head is… actually studying on her own?” Rei gasped.

“Wah! Why do you have to be so mean Rei-chan,” Usagi cried.

“Sorry,” Rei yelled back. “I was just stunned that you were actually working for once.”

“Mako-chan’s cookies are the best,” Usagi chirped, like that explained everything. And strangely enough, it did.

The younger girls focused on their science homework that evening. They were learning about basic chemical reactions. Minako once again maneuvered her friends so that Ranko was sitting next to Ami. She would occasionally catch herself staring at the older girl before blushing deeply. Most of the other girls were too busy working to notice anything, but Minako shot a triumphant grin to Usa.

Hotaru had noticed Ranko’s strange behavior, but didn’t want to confront her about it. Her eyes narrowed when she saw Minako’s reaction.

“All done!” Usagi said.

“Let me see that Usagi-chan,” Ami said. She checked the work over briefly. “Amazing, this is completely correct.”

“Wow, I guess even you can do something right for once Usagi,” Rei snarked.

“Rei-chan!” Usagi whined.

The other girls laughed off their antics as business as usual. Makoto excused herself to throw a batch of cookies in the oven while the other girls finished up their work. Usagi and Rei fought over the movie selection while Ami tried, unsuccessfully, to mediate.

Hotaru pulled Ranko over to sit next to her on the couch. She wanted *her* friend to be near her, not near Ami-chan. After all, Ko-chan was *her* best friend. Hotaru didn’t even notice how oddly possessive she was acting.

In the background, Usa just continued to smirk.

LRLRUDABSTART

On Tuesday, Jun asked Ranko to come sit with him and some of his friends for lunch. “O-okay Jun,” she agreed.

Jun took her hand and led her over to the table. She smiled shyly when Jun introduced her but quickly lost track of the names. She was strangely nervous, having not really spent that much time around just guys before and worried that they might spend the whole time either ogling her or grilling her about other girls. But, she was quickly caught up in a conversation on just who was the best character in Street Fighter.

“No way!” Ranko said. “Not Dhalsim. Sure, he’s great when you don’t know what you’re doing but his special moves suck. Ryu and Chun Li are way better.”

“I get Ryu, but you just like Chun Li because she’s a girl. A really hot girl, but still,” one of Jun’s friends started.

Ranko flushed, she really didn’t want to hear what they thought about various girls, even if she had to admit that Chun Li was pretty for a game sprite. “I didn’t need to know that,” she muttered. “I’m serious, she’s one of the best. She’s way more maneuverable that anyone else in the game except for Vega but that’s only on his stage. Trust me, speed matters.”

“I still don’t see it, the stronger person would win in an actual fight,” he responded.

Ranko burst out laughing. “That’s so not true. I’ve been doing martial arts forever, strength means absolutely nothing if you aren’t fast enough to hit the other guy. That’s why Chun Li is so good, she can move better than anyone in the game.”

“Maybe, but I still like Blanka,” one of the other boys said. They continued to banter for the rest of lunch.

When it came time to head back to class Jun pulled her aside for a moment. “Hey Ranko-chan, would you maybe like to go to the arcade with me tomorrow after school?” he asked.

“You mean, like another date?” she asked.

“Yeah, it sounds like you really like games and I think it’d be fun. So, how about it?” he asked.

“Sure, sounds fun,” Ranko said.

“Great,” Jun said. They entered the classroom just in time to get to their seats for afternoon lessons.

oOo