"Hold, Saotome!"
Sighing, Ranma turned around to look at the speaker. "What'cha want, Kuno?"
"That's Kuno-Sempai to you! Now tell me! Is what the avaricious Nabiki Tendo spoken unto me true?"
"Huh?" Ranma replied intelligently.
"Is it true that you have been consorting with the famed Sailor Senshi?"
Everyone's eyes were on Ranma waiting to see his answer. What happened next was something that no one expected.
Ranma's face twisted into a mask of disgust. "Ew! That...That's just sick! I would NEVER do something like that! Man, and Akane calls ME a pervert!"
A loud crash was heard as the entire student body face-faulted en-mass.
"Ranma?" he heard Hiroshi say, "Kuno means 'Consort'. As in 'to associate with' or 'to befriend'."
Pausing for a moment, Ranma finally replied. "Oh. Why didn'tcha say so? Yea, I met 'em last night. So what's the big deal?"
"Never!" Kuno bellowed as he charged and swung at the pig-tailed martial artist with his bokken; missing by a wide margin as Ranma dodged. "Never will I allow you to sully Her name and honor as you have done with Akane and the Pig-tailed Girl!"
"What'cha ya talking about?" Ranma demanded, not even bothering to attack as he dodged. His eyes narrowed slightly, however. If Kuno was talking about Suna-chan...well, let's just say that things were going to get terminally painful for the Samurai-wannabe.
Ranma's question brought Kuno up short. He clutched his bokken tightly as his eyes began to get that unfocused look that Ranma had seen many times before. It meant that Kuno was about to soliloquize.
"Ah, she is the most beautiful and graceful of all the Senshi! Her splendor rivals all; yes, even that of the fierce tigress Akane and the Pig-tailed Goddess! Her skills are without par in the field of battle! Her mer movements are shear poetry! Her voice is that of a thousand angles! I speak of none other than that great Paladin of Love and Justice! Sailor Uranus!"
"But what about Akane and the 'Pig-tailed Girl'?" Ranma asked, rolling his eyes.
Kuno froze, his mouth hanging wide open. He snapped his mouth closed and tilted his head to one side in deep thought. Seeing that Kuno wasn't going anywhere for a while, Ranma turned around and headed inside to his classroom. Once in his seat, his classmates immediately surrounded him.
And:
said something else about Tuxedo Kaman."Is it true? Did you really meet the Sailor Senshi?" Yuka asked.
"Yea." Ranma said as he shrugged his shoulders. "But I still don't see what's the big deal, though."
"Are you kidding!" Daisuke said excitedly. "The Senshi are famous all over Japan! They've saved Tokyo from alien attacks and evil Youma countless times!"
"Well, how come I ain't never heard of 'em?"
Everyone in the room looked at each other as they shared one thought. If it didn't deal with food or martial arts, it didn't matter to Ranma.
"Well, it's a good thing that I'm your friend." Hiroshi said with absolute conviction of the true Otkau. "Allow me to enlighten you!"
^Bam!^
Ranma looked carefully at the thick book that Hiroshi had dropped onto his desk. Slowly, he lifted its cover and looked at the first page. He saw a picture of five scantily clad girls dressed in orange, red, light blue, green, and blue fukus. He noticed that even though they were facing the camera when the picture was taken, their faces were obscured; apparently by the same means that prevented him from making out their faces last night.
"Theses are the Sailor Senshi!" Hiroshi said with a flourish. "Well, at least their core group. They're commonly referred to as the 'Inner' Senshi, because of their close proximity to the Earth."
"Huh?"
">Sigh> You don't even know their names?" Daisuke said with exasperation. "The five you see here are Sailors Venus, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, and Moon.
"Oh, hey! I remember! I talked to that Moonie chick last night!"
Several of the girls in the room sighed loudly as some of the guys groaned. "You...you talked...to Sailor Moon...?" Daisuke said with disbelief.
"Yea...she went through all these funny poses before she told me her name. Waz up with that, anyway?"
A few of the people in the room shot Ranma dark looks, while Daisuke started to gape like a fish. Ranma looked around the room in confusion and was about ask what was wrong when Hiroshi interrupted him, rolling his eyes. He started to flip the pages slowly, giving Ranma a little bit of information as he turned the pages.
"Here's more pictures of the 'Inners'. This is Sailor Mercury." Ranma saw a girl with blue hair styled like Akanes. She was dressed in light blue and most of the pictures showed her either consulting what looked like a small computer or with some sort of visor over her eyes. "She's apparently the brains of the group. Mercury's most often seen off to the side their fights and calling out weak points or advice. There are rumors that she's either an android or cyborg that escaped from a top-secret government facility or that she was genetically engineered to be super smart. From what I can tell, she apparently has some sort of ice powers."
"This is Sailor Mars." She had long black hair and was dressed in red. Some of the pictures showed her either in a poise Ranma recognized from his travels that some priests would use while in prayer or holding a spell scroll of some sort. Hiroshi noticed Ranma looking at one of those. "Ah, yes. Mars is apparently their spiritual advisor. You know, gives them advice on Religious matters and such. Some people think she was raised in a remote mountain temple where she devoted her life to the worship of her Goddess. Personally, I think she was one of those 'Devil Hunters' that roam around Japan before the Senshi recruited her. She seems to have power over fire.
"This is Sailor Moon." Ranma saw Hiroshi roll his eyes again, and several people shot him dirty looks as he talked. "She's apparently the leader, although I don't believe it." People began to protest as Hiroshi raised his voice to be heard. "Come on! She's a klutzy crybaby who gets a few lucky shots in now and then!"
"No she's not!" Yuka protested. "She a normal girl who's been caught up in event's beyond her control and preservers over adversity while leading the Senshi to victory in the name of Truth and Justice!"
"Yea, right!" Hiroshi snorted. "That's just what everyone says because they feel sorry for her! She's just a wannabe with no real power. Come on! She's Sailor MOON of all things! She's not even named after a planet!"
"You take that back!" Yuka yelled, being physically restrained by Sayuri.
"Now, now...let's not get into a fight or anything here." Sayuri said gently. "After all, Ranma should have a chance to find out about the Senshi."
"Anyway," Hiroshi continued, "Here powers are..."
"Truth and Justice!" Yuka exclaimed.
"Yea...truth and justice." Hiroshi deadpanned, then muttered "And a Frisbee."
"It's not a Frisbee! It's her Magical Disk of Justice that she uses to smite evil!" Yuka said with fervor.
"Whatever." Before another argument could break out, he turned several pages to the next Senshi, this one with dark brown hair tied back like Ucchan's and wearing green. "This is Sailor Jupiter and she's able to summon lightning. She's the 'Inners' powerhouse, and is often seen running headlong into a fight. A real bruiser...actually, now that I think about it, she's sorta like a female Ryoga but with out the depression or directional problems." Hiroshi mused before he said excitedly, "Now, THIS is the most important one!"
Ranma began to flip though the pages and saw the girl with long blond hair in orange that he rescued last night. In fact, Ranma found that most of the book was dedicated to her. "Sailor Venus. Also known affectionately as Sailor V. No matter what other's say, 'I' think she's the leader."
"Yea, right." Daisuke muttered.
"Come on! She was the first Senshi to appear! She's been seen taking the lead time and time again! She often goes out on her own to fight crime! Obviously she's in charge!"
"Tell Ranma what her power is." Yuka rolled her eyes.
"Love..." Hiroshi breathed loudly.
"...love?" Ranma blinked.
"Yea, can you believe it?" Daisuke shook his head.
"I'd like to know what kind of person thinks that love involves chains." Yuka muttered.
"Hey!" Hiroshi snapped out of his daydream and looked at Yuka darkly.
"Now, now." Sayuri cautioned. "Let's try to keep this impartial."
"Like your one to talk." Hiroshi said before he pointed out, "Now who was it that traded me those pictures of Sailor V for pictures of Sailor Jupiter?"
Sayuri blushed brightly as Ranma said, "Oh, yea...that's right. I saved her last night. She was about to get creamed before I carried her to safety."
"You...Touched...Sailor...V...?" Hiroshi drawled out slowly as every girl in the room sighed.
"Just like Tuxedo Kamen." Ranma heard several of the girls muttered.
"Who?"
With a look of resignation, Hiroshi flipped the pages back to the pictures of Sailor Moon. He pointed at several of them that included not only Moon, but also a guy dressed in a tuxedo and a top hat with a billowing cape.
"That is Tuxedo Kamen." Hiroshi said with disgust. "He apparently shows up to save Sailor Moon whenever she's in danger; which happens a lot. Besides that, he never dose anything useful."
"No...he's her trusted protector and has sworn his eternal love for Sailor Moon!" Sayuri pointed out.
Before they could argue any further, Ranma slapped his fist into his open palm. "Oh, yea! Now I remember! The weenie!"
"...What?" Sayuri slowly said.
"Yea. He was hanging around in the shadows after the fight. And...well, why else would someone do that unless they were about to attack? So, I threw a rock at him and knocked him out."
"You...What...!?" All the girls said slowly as their battle auras began to flare. Which Ranma didn't notice.
"Yea...a real wuss. I mean, he obviously doesn't know what he's doing; after all, even Mousse coulda' seen that rock commin'. Look at these pictures, all he's doin' in them is standing there trying ta look cool or sumthin'. I was right, wasn't I? He just jumps in and says a corny speech before disappearing again, right? I mean, even KUNO would try to do sumthin' productive!"
The temperature in the room dropped dramatically while Ranma remained oblivious. Before any of the girls could do anything to Ranma however Hiroshi stepped in.
"Now...now. It's like Sayuri said. Ranma should be allowed to hear about the Senshi impartially, right?"
The girls reluctantly backed down, but kept their hammers ready in case Ranma
The above were from chapter 3 of:
R-SM 'Dark King Ascending' by SoftRogue - [Dld Date=03/29/2003] - [Dld Size=99kb] - [Dld Files=3] - [Status=Inactive]