Ranma: Senshi of the Moon Chapter 5

Ranma: Senshi of the Moon
A Ranma 1/2, Sailor Moon Crossover Fan Fiction
By Michael A. Ivins

What was that? You say I don't own Ranma or Sailor Moon? Are you sure?
Oh, all right! If you insist!
I am just a poor fanfic writer playing around with other people's characters and I make no money off doing so. There, I said it! Are you happy?

Timeline Notice: This takes place after the failed wedding in Ranma's part of the world and at the very beginning of Sailor Moon. Other inconsistencies will be explained in the story itself.

Chapter 5
Meeting of the Senshi


When they arrived at Tsukino home, Ranma let herself in through the front door. The girl set the cat down and proceeded to her bedroom with Luna following. She seated herself on the bed and the black furred advisor jumped up as well. When comfortably settled, Ranma said, "I'm going to tell my mom the nekoken is cured. Then I'll tell her I went out and that you followed me home and ask if I can keep you. Are you Ok with that?"

"Do you really think she's going to fall for that old trick?" Luna asked, disbelieving. In fact it was old even back in the Silver Millennium.

"She'll be so happy that I'm not afraid of cats anymore, she'll go along with it," Ranma countered. "Besides, when she sees how well behaved you are, she'll love you."

"Well, I suppose it might work after all," Luna conceded.

"You said you had been living on the street, right?" the redhead asked.

"Yes," the black furred creature admitted. "It would be nice to live in a house."

"Ok, then that's settled," the girl stated. "I've been sorting through my memories of the Silver Millennium and trying to sift out things about what sort of attacks I have. Most of what I could find seem to be healing moves except for the tiara and the Moon Spiral Heart attack."

She shook her head as she contemplated smacking bad guys with giant pink hearts. "I was hoping that in your capacity as advisor you would know if I have attacks other than that magic frisbee thing and Moon Spiral Heart attacks."

"Well, those are the only attacks I know of," Luna admitted. "That and some healing moves that would free a person who had been possessed by a youma."

"What!?" The red haired girl was furious. "You mean to say I've got all of this enormous magic power and that's all I've got? That is unacceptable!"

The black furred moon cat frowned. "Why is that unacceptable? Those are quite formidable powers."

"Really?" Ranma's expression of anger didn't lessen. "I can't even do the sprinal heart attack now because I don't have the scepter. As for the tiara, what if an enemy is able to dodge it, knock it out of the air or even catch it? Then I would effectively be disarmed. Look, no offense to your magic powers, but I don't like having to depend on a weapon like that."

"What do you mean?" Luna asked.

"My father always used to say weapon users are weak," she explained. "I don't agree with that completely, but depending on just one weapon could be a strong disadvantage if I were to lose that weapon. It would be much better to have other weapons or unarmed fighting skills to fall back on."

She thought about it for a few minutes before saying in a musing tone, "When I'm in Senshi form I have magically enhanced strength, I know because I could jump farther. Is that increase a set amount or some kind of multiplier of my untransformed strength?"

The cat considered that for a moment and answered, "I am not certain, but I believe your Senshi strength is a multiple of the strength of your untransformed body."

"Good!" Ranma responded. "So the stronger I can get my normal body, the greater strength I will have as a Senshi. Would that magic strength make me immune to the life draining power of the Youma?"

"It should," Luna said.

"'It should?'" Ranma echoed. "So you're saying that you don't know for sure."

The cat managed to look embarrassed and let out a nervous chuckle.

The martial artist fell silent for a while longer and then said, "Ok, then I guess I'll have to develop my own attacks. When I have some time and a place to practice, I'll need to see if I can convert some of my ki techniques over into magic attacks."

She left her room and went downstairs to the telephone in the kitchen. She picked that up and dialed a number from memory. After three rings a gruff male voice answered, "Hikawa Shrine."

"Grandpa Hino?" the girl responded. "It's Ranma. Would it be Ok if Ami, Mako-chan and I come over to the shrine this afternoon?"

"I'm sure Rei wouldn't mind," the older man answered. "You just barely caught me. I need to go to another shrine to help out and was just about to head out the door. Shouldn't you be in school now?"

"I was sick when I got up this morning, but I'm feeling better now," the girl explained. "I just didn't feel like going for only a half a day and I do have some things I need to do at home.

"Oh, well in that case I guess it's Ok," the priest said. "I'm glad you're feeling better. What do you think it was?"

"It was a side effect from a meditation technique that I tried," Ranma told him. "It did what I needed it to do, but it also gave me the worst headache I've ever had or even heard of."

"Then I guess you'll know not to do that again," the old man suggested. "I'll leave a note for Rei to let her know you and the other girls will be coming. I really have to go now, so... Bye!"

The phone line went dead before Ranma could say goodbye in turn. She shrugged and pressed a finger down on the disconnect in the cradle then lifted it up to dial another number. This time she got the answering machine for Dr. Mizuno.

In a serious tone she said, "Ami-chan? This is Ranma. Something really important has come up and I need you to come meet me at Rei's shrine. Try to get there by no later than 4:30. I'll explain when I see you."

She hung up and then called another number. Since she had called the apartment that was shared by Makoto and her roommate, there was no one there because both were in school at the moment. Ranma spoke to voice mail, "Mako-Chan this is your sensei, Ranma. Something really big has come up and I need you to meet me, Ami and Rei at Rei's shrine by no later than 4:30. The meeting could run late, so if you have any snacks ready to bring, please do so. Otherwise don't take the time to make something new. We can order pizza for delivery or something. See you then."

Ranma really hoped that Mako-chan would have some snacks to bring. She was an excellent cook and made some of the best cookies the redhead ever tasted. She could even give Kasumi or her mom a run for their money. There was a chance that the meeting could run into dinner time with all of the stuff that would have to be covered.

A glance at the clock showed that there was still a little time before her mother would come home. Ranma grabbed a light lunch from the refrigerator. This was the food that would have gone into her bento to take to school anyway. As she ate she thought about what she knew from the present and her past life.

"Luna, how well do you remember the war that ended the Moon Kingdom?" the girl asked.

"Not all that well," the cat confessed.

"Well, you are supposed to be my advisor, so I need you to advise me," Ranma said in a musing tone. "I remember it very well and there is something that doesn't add up."

"What isn't adding up?" queried the Mau advisor.

"The tactics used then and now," the pigtailed girl answered. "Before, the Negaverse used a very brute force approach. Oh, they did use occasional feints and deceptions, but they were so much about the application of overwhelming force."

She paused before continuing, "Now they are striking from concealment and they are not really attacking. They are stealing the life energy from humans and they are being sneaky about it." She paused and then amended, "Well, sneaky in a rather heavy handed way."

She let Luna consider that for a time and then asked, "So what has changed? Why would they go from frontal assault to what amounts to guerilla war tactics? No, not even guerilla war, because they are not striking at strategic targets like military bases, transportation systems or communications."

Frowning, she said, "They struck at people in the park and at jewelry store patrons. What would they do with the energy they steal? What would they need it for?"

Luna had to admit these were good questions. Not questions that she would have expected a teenager to ask. Was this an example of the martial arts training Ranma had received or training in how to be a monarch she would have been given as the daughter of a queen?

After a moment to think, the black furred advisor ventured, "You must understand that this is only speculation. But consider that Queen Beryl and her minions have been sealed away for 20,000 years. Time wouldn't have stood still for them inside their prison. Perhaps in those intervening years they used up the energy they had and possibly had to feed off the energy of some or even most of the youma who had been sealed with them."

Ranma nodded. "That might explain it. They are using tactics of a combatant who is low on resources, strength and possibly manpower. They must be using the energy they steal to bolster their strength. I would guess they need the energy before they attack openly or with any real force."

With some further thought she amended, "It is also possible that the opening in their prison is only big enough to let through one person or creature at a time. If that's true, then they may want to use the energy to force the gateway open wider."

"How does that help us?" Luna asked.

"I don't know right now," the redhead confessed. "It does give us something to go on. We need to be on the lookout for strange events or actions by people. These youma creatures can disguise themselves as humans. We need to look for people and businesses that are pulling scams to draw crowds. Maybe one of the best clues would be where the ones pulling the scams seem to be offering something for no obvious return or profit."

"I see what you mean," the furry alien advisor said. "Like offering jewelry at a 90 percent discount. Even taking that at face value, it would look like a good way to lose a lot of money. It would seem that the Negaverse doesn't care about material wealth, they just want energy right now."

"The question that troubles me is what will they do if or when they get as much energy as they want? I could imagine a couple possible courses of action they might adopt. One would be try that overwhelming force approach or graduating from energy theft to true guerilla war tactics."

Nodding, Luna tried to be reassuring. "For now they are not prepared for you and the Senshi."

"For now," the redhead agreed. "But I think it would be a safe bet that they will eventually modify their tactics after a few confrontations with me and the girls. If they are still too weak to mount an aggressive attack on us, then they will likely try to trap us."

"Yes, I agree," the cat affirmed.

"The problem I see with things right now is that for now we can only react," Ranma said musingly. "They seem to be deliberately making it hard to find out where they are coming from or anything about them. If we are able to stop them cold in their energy gathering operation, then maybe we might force them to make some more aggressive moves. If we can draw out one of their commanders or even Beryl herself, then we could strike a decisive blow."

"Getting all of the Senshi together right from the start would be a good step," Luna said.

"Hmm," the girl said thoughtfully. "Do you have any way of getting in touch with Sailor Venus, A.K.A. Sailor V?"

"Why would you want to?" the cat answered somewhat nervously.

"You said it would be a good idea to get 'all the Senshi' together," Ranma pointed out. "Since she is already active in her Senshi identity, I would assume you should be able to contact her. Obviously I wouldn't want to pull her away from England if there is still youma activity there to deal with, but if Tokyo is where they are going to be concentrating their efforts, then we need everyone we can get together."

"I'll see what I can do," Luna replied. "This girl or boy... is taking the leadership role seriously."

Ranma continued, "I will talk to Meiyoh Setsuna as soon as I can, tell her I know that she's Sailor Pluto. Since I'm the Queen (or at least the Princess), I would guess she would owe me at least some loyalty."

"At least some," the furry advisor agreed.

"If I remember right, She is the guardian of the Gates of Time," the redhead said in a thoughtful tone. "Through the use of such an artifact she should be able to find the rest of the Outers. I know they as a group have a different set of priorities but they should answer the call if they are needed."

"Surely not Saturn!" the Mau protested.

"I hope you are not going on about that 'bringer of silence' stuff," the pony tailed girl said. "Just because she has the power to destroy a world doesn't mean she can't use some of her less powerful attacks in aid of defending against the Negaverse. As I recall her Silence Wall is an excellent defense and the Silence Glaive Surprise is a powerful attack move. I'm sure if we work together we can figure out some other moves that are less than world destroying."

"Other moves?" Luna was starting to feel a little overwhelmed.

The girl rolled her eyes and said, "Yes, other moves. I already told you that Moon Tiara attack is not enough and I can't do the spiral heart attack without the scepter. I'm going to see what I can do to combine Senshi powers with the martial arts moves and attacks I already know and work up new ones as I can."

She frowned and said, "I may not have been a full participant in the fighting that the Senshi were involved in back during the Silver Millennium, but I got full reports. I wouldn't expect newly awakened Senshi to have complete access to their powers, but a priority will be to train them so they can get back all of the powers of their former lives. I'm sure I can think of creative ways to apply those powers that will evolve into new attacks."

Taking in the shell shocked expression on Luna's face, Ranma said, "Look, if we try to fight Beryl and her forces with just a tiara and the other Senshi's beginner level attacks we're either going to lose and die or die in the process of winning. If I'm going to be the leader of this little group of fighters, then by Kami-sama I'm going to see to it that we come out of it with a minimum of casualties on our side."

"I'm glad she's taking this seriously," Luna thought. "I wasn't expecting quite this much of a take charge attitude."

A big grin lit up the girl's face as she said, "For quite some time I've tried to adapt techniques I've seen characters use in manga and anime. Some of those are total fantasy, but others are logically thought out and could work if you only had enough power. I couldn't do it with just the ki I had, but with Senshi magic, I bet I can make some of those techniques work."

Smacking her right fist into her left palm, Ranma said, "If we work it right, Beryl and her forces are in for a big and very nasty surprise when they try to mess with the Sailor Senshi."

Luna couldn't help herself. She laughed and said, "Ranma, I like the way you think."

Not long after that there were sounds of keys in the front door and Nodoka's voice calling out, "I'm home."

"Mom," Ranma called out, "Welcome home."

"How are you feeling?" the older woman asked.

"Much better now," Ranma answered. "I'm over the nekoken now for sure."

"Are you sure of that?" Nodoka asked.

"I sure am," the girl affirmed. "Look what I found when I went out for a little while earlier. Luna?"

The cat-like alien rolled her eyes but obligingly stepped into the living room. She said, "Meow?" in a questioning tone.

"Oh?" Nodoka looked at the cat and then back at her daughter. "She's cute. Don't you think she belongs to somebody?"

"I don't think so," the red haired girl said. "She was just wandering around and she doesn't have a collar. I got the feeling like she was looking for something. She seems to like me."

Looking closer at the cat, Nodoka commented, "What an odd marking on her face. It almost looks like the area that is clear of fur is tattooed."

"Yeah, I noticed," the younger girl replied. "Because of the moon symbol I thought Luna was a good name for her."

"Oh! It suits her," the older woman said. She thought for a moment before saying, "I think it is wonderful that you are over your fear of cats. I also believe that you are old enough and responsible enough to care for a pet. You must be the one to feed her, although I can help at times. You must clean up after her and see to her health needs. That means visits to the vet when needed."

"I think I can handle that," the girl stated. She didn't mention that the cat could talk and was well capable of saying when she was hungry or sick. Even if her life tended to attract weirdness, it was best not to tax her mother's limits for strange things too much.

"Hey mom, when I was out earlier more happened than just finding Luna," Ranma stated. "Something came up that I'm going need to talk to Makoto, Ami and Rei about. I already called and left messages for all of them, asking to meet me at Rei's shrine."

"When is your meeting?" Nodoka queried.

"I asked them to meet at 4:30," Ranma explained.

"But that will be right before dinner," the mother protested.

With a shrug the teenager replied, "I know. I asked Mokoto to bring snacks if she has any ready. If she doesn't we can order pizza or something for delivery. You don't need to bother to fix anything for me."

"I can leave something for you in the refrigerator," Nodoka offered. "If you're hungry when you get back you can heat it up. If not, that can be your lunch tomorrow."

Grinning, the teen praised, "Great idea, Mom. I can see where I got all my smarts from."

"Humph!" the older redhead responded. "It's obvious that you didn't get your intelligence from your father."

"That's a safe bet," the girl agreed. "If I know Ami, she'll bring any homework assignments I might have missed with her."

With a smile, Nodoka agreed. "She's a good friend. When I met her at the library I had a feeling the two of you would get along well. I was happy when you started making friends with girls who are not martial artists."

"Yeah, I'm happy too," Ranma said. "I know that Pop's attitude was that anyone who wasn't a martial artist wasn't really worth knowing. But then he never wanted me to make any friends anyway. I think he believed that it would make me more dependent on him."

They chatted for a while longer and then Ranma took Luna back to her room. When they had the door closed behind them the cat said, "Your mother is nice. I like her."

"Yeah, she is nice," the girl agreed. "She has changed since I first met her after the training trip. To put it as charitably as I can, she was... a little nutty. She used to carry around the family honor blade everywhere she went and kept going on about how manly she wanted her son to be. Oh, she also had this major obsession about being a grandmother."

She paused for a moment and then added, "By the way, on subjects you should avoid talking about. Like I told you before, I'm into girls, not guys. While this body might be biologically capable of bearing children, that doesn't mean I have any wish to do so. I would really appreciate it if you never make any hint of a suggestion that I might want to."

Nodding the cat said, "Very well. I will keep that in mind."

"Don't get me wrong," Ranma begged. "I like kids, it's just that I want to be the father, not the mother."

"I understand," the cat said. She couldn't help wonder if it was the prospect of bearing children that Ranma objected to or if it was the process required to get pregnant. Oh well, that was a subject for discussion at another time (if ever.)

When it got to 3:45 Ranma got up from her desk and picked up Luna. She went downstairs and said, "I'm heading out now, Mom."

"Try to stay out of trouble," the older woman advised.

"I'll try," the teenager promised before chuckling ruefully. "But you know how trouble sometimes finds me."

"I know, but at least be careful," Nodoka begged.

"I'm always careful," the young martial artist replied. Softly she muttered, "Sometimes it even makes a difference."

As Ranma and Luna stepped out of the house the cat said, "What was that about trouble finding you?"

"I've been told that I have the 'may you live in interesting times' curse," Ranma replied. "If something dangerous or weird is going to happen in the area, it's usually me that it happens to or if it doesn't happen to me then it happens near me."

"Oh." Luna thought about it for a while before saying, "I guess that's why you were not too resistant to the idea of becoming Sailor Moon."

"Yeah," the girl responded. "After all, what's a little more weirdness?"

They proceeded in silence for a time. Shortly they reached a set of stairs that let to an ornamental gate. A sign at the base of the stairs proclaimed this to be the entrance of the Hikawa Shrine.

Just as Ranma was about to start up the stairs, a voice called out, "Hey Ranma, I wasn't expecting to see you here today."

The redhead turned to see Hino Rei in her Catholic school uniform coming up the street. Ranma waved and said, "I hope you don't mind. I called and your Grandpa said it was Ok if I brought over Ami and Makoto. There's something important we need to talk about. He said he left a note for you. I wasn't expecting to get here before you."

"Oh." Rei seemed to think for a while. "So what's the big deal?" She stopped then and noticed something. "I thought you hated cats."

Looking down at the cat by her feet, Ranma smiled and said, "I never hated them. I went through a bad experience with cats when I was a little kid and I was afraid of them. I've been cured of that."

She picked up the black furred animal and said, "This is Luna. She's a part of what I want you and the other girls to hear about. I've, uh... also got a secret about myself that I want to share with you."

Frowning, Rei asked, "If you have something you want to share with all of your friends why don't you have Megumi, Naru and Kaname here too?"

"I'm going to explain that," Ranma promised. "The stuff I have to tell you is only for you three girls. I am going to tell you, but it has to wait until the other two get here."

Rei nodded. She felt intense curiosity, but wasn't going to press. Suddenly something Ranma had said registered. "You said Grandpa was going to leave me a note. Are you saying he's not here?"

"Yeah," the redhead affirmed. "When I talked to him on the phone he said that he was going to help out at another shrine and was just heading out after I got done talking to him."

"Oh," the raven haired girl said with a small pout. "Sometimes I don't think Grandpa has quite joined the 21st century. He knows I have a cell phone. I'm not allowed to take calls when I'm in school, but I have voice mail. Grandpa just doesn't know how to leave a message."

"Or he doesn't want to mess with it," Ranma suggested.

"Yeah, that too," the shrine maiden agreed.

They went up the stairs together and let themselves into the residence attached to the shrine. Looking at the cat, Rei went to the kitchen and said, "Do you think your cat would like a saucer of cream? I've got some in the refrigerator."

Ranma quirked an inquisitive eyebrow at the cat and Luna nodded. The redhead called out, "Yeah, I think she'd like that." She set the cat down and pointed in the direction of the kitchen.

A moment later Rei could be heard to say, "You found your way to the kitchen without having to be led? You're a clever kitty, aren't you?"

Letting out a sigh, Ranma wondered if she had done something to offend Rei. It seemed like the raven haired girl was going out of her way to pay attention to the cat instead of being alone with Ranma. It was like she was trying to push Ranma away without appearing to blatantly do so.

After Rei had been fussing over Luna for about five minutes there came a knock at the door and Ranma went to see who it was. A girl of middle height with blue hair, dressed in casual slacks, a pale blue blouse and light jacket stood in the doorway. "Oh Ranma, hello. How are you feeling? When you didn't come in to school today, I worried about you."

Rei was in the doorway to the kitchen and had heard this. She said, "You missed school today, Ranma?"

"Yeah, I wasn't feeling good this morning," the redhead explained. "A meditation technique didn't work too well and I ended up with a really nasty headache. It was bad enough that I didn't think I could concentrate on school. I am feeling better now."

"I have all of the assignments and I can let you borrow my notes for today," Ami offered.

"Thanks, I could use them," Ranma replied. She noticed that Rei didn't seem as nervous now that Ami was present.

They sat down in the living room to chat about trivialities while they waited for Makoto to arrive. It was 4:25 when the knock sounded on the door. When Rei opened the door they found Makoto balancing a stack pizza boxes in one hand. The tall brunette said, "Ranma said to bring snacks and I didn't have anything ready to go, so I stopped at the pizza place on 24th street to pick up some pies. I hope nobody minds."

Ranma grinned and said, "They won't be as good as something you made, but they should do fine. I can pay you for part of the cost."

"You don't have to," Makoto offered. The other girls got out their wallets and it looked like there was no arguing them out of paying. That was Ok. Makoto hadn't been all that serious in paying for it herself, but felt it was expected of her to offer.

A short time later everyone was in the living room with a plate and a slice of pizza next to them. The redhead had also placed one cup of hot tap water and another glass of cold water onto the table. When she was sure everyone was comfortable Ranma stood and went to the end of the room where the TV was located. She bowed and said, "This first ever meeting of the Sailor Senshi is called to order."

The girls looked at each other in confusion then shrugged. Ranma did act weird sometimes. It was looked at as a part of her charm.

Ranma started off. "I know you are wondering why I asked everyone to meet here. I haven't asked any of you for sparring practice or study. Rest assured that I do have a reason. There are some major things going on that we all need to be aware of."

There were blank looks but no questions were asked yet. They seemed willing to let Ranma reach the point she was trying to make on her own.

The redhead went to her spot and grabbed the of hot water. She went back by the TV and said, "With what is coming up, the bunch of us are going to be working closely together and I can't afford to keep secrets from you. I can tell you that there is one very major secret that I have been keeping from everybody at school, not just from you three."

At this they exchanged looks. They had all had feeling that Ranma had not told all there was to say about her past, but they had been willing to respect their friend's privacy. That didn't mean they weren't curious.

"Have any of you heard of Jusenkyo?"

When more blank looks answered that, Ranma shrugged, "That's Ok, I wouldn't expect you know. The name refers to a valley in the Qinghai Province of China in the Bayancala Mountain Range, near Mt. Quanjing. The name literally means 'Pools of Sorrow' but is also known as 'the Training Ground of Cursed Springs.' It was that last name that caused my father to want to visit there."

She took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. "I've told you about my father and his obsession with martial arts training. He was keen to visit any place that had the words 'training ground' in the name. While he wasn't exactly stupid, he didn't really have a lot of common sense. In spite of the name, he took me to the valley. Because he couldn't read Chinese he didn't read any of the warnings."

"The valley has more than a hundred springs all fed from a single source of magic water," Ranma continued to explain. "There is a shape shifting curse on the valley. If any person or animal falls into a spring they turn into, not a copy, but a version of the person or animal that died in the spring last. I fell into one of the springs."

Ami was frowning. She said, "Ranma, you are an intelligent person. Surely you don't believe in magic curses."

"I have to believe in them because I've had a curse for the last two years," the pigtailed martial artist replied.

Makoto asked, "So are you saying that you are cursed to change into some animal?"

Shaking her head, Ranma said, "It is a water based curse. When splashed with cold water, the curse victim changes into their alternate or cursed form. When splashed with hot water they return to their birth form."

She held up the cup and said, "This is hot water. What you see now and what you have been seeing since you met me is my cursed form. I fell into the Spring of Drowned Young Girl. Please watch carefully."

Ranma upended the cup over her head. One gender change later, the black haired boy said, "I was born a boy. This is my birth form."

Makoto and Ami were shocked and staring, slack jawed. With Mako-chan it was more because her hunk senses were now alerted. Rei was the most affected. She stood up and pointed a finger at Ranma.

For several moments the shrine maiden just stood and pointed. Finally she said, "It was you all the time! Oh Ranma, I'm so sorry."

With that she rushed forward and threw her arms around the startled boy. She seemed almost in tears and babbling about, "I didn't know. I'm so sorry I tried to push you away."

Finally Ranma led the distraught girl back to her seat and sat her down. After giving the raven haired girl a chance to calm down the boy asked, "I usually expect some strong reactions to my change, but you are going a little over the top. What's wrong?"

"In the three months I've known you I sort of got the idea that you really liked me as more than just a friend," Rei explained. "I know I act like I'm boy crazy all the time, but to be honest I'm a little more broad minded than that. I thought I might be falling in love with you."

"But then why...?"

"Why did I start pushing you away?" Rei finished. When Ranma nodded the shrine maiden explained, "Two weeks ago I did a fire reading to find out if there was any future in a relationship with you."

"What did you see in your fire reading?" Makoto wondered. It was starting to look like maybe the hunk was taken, and she wanted to find out what was going on.

Looking up into Ranma's eyes the black haired girl replied, "The image in the flames showed the same thing we all just saw. It showed Ranma's girl form changing into his male form and back a couple times. The images in the flames are sometimes symbolic and need to be interpreted. I thought the image meant that you had a boyfriend."

"I thought that the beautiful girl I was falling in love with was in love with a gorgeous hunk of a guy," the shrine maiden went on. "I totally ignored the idea that you actually were the hunk yourself."

"I didn't want people to think I was a freak," Ranma said in self defense.

Rei grabbed both of Ranma's hands in her own, and said, "You're not a freak to me. I've been hiding from people that I like both guys and girls. But right now you look to me like you're the best of both worlds."

"Ahem!" Ami cleared her throat. "As much as I'm glad that the two of you have settled your romantic difficulties, I believe that you had other things to tell us, didn't you Ranma?"

Shaking her head, Makoto let out a low whistle. "All I got to say is if that wasn't all you wanted to tell us, then it was a hell of a buildup. I can't wait to find out what else you've got."

Ranma extricated his hands from Rei's and then patted her on the shoulder before going back to stand in front of the TV. He said, "Alright. I do have another demonstration and then we will be having a guest speaker. First I should mention that the curse is permanent and I regularly change back and forth. To demonstrate that part of it, I have some cold water here."

He poured some of the cold water over his arm and changed back into a girl. She then pulled the broach out of her pocket and pinned it to the front of her shirt. Before doing anything, she said, "Normally I wouldn't want to do this in front of other people. But you are my friends and I trust you. Besides that you are going to be my teammates."

She called out, "Moon Prism Power, Makeup." As she said it, she thought to herself, "I need to think up some other activation phrase. This one sounds way too silly."

Both Ami and Makoto were gaping, while Rei had a lecherous grin and a dazed look in her eyes. The raven haired beauty was muttering, "Hee, hee. Ranma is a natural redhead."

Makoto finally said, "You're a magical girl?"

Ami, ever the practical one, asked, "Were you aware that you were naked for part of that transformation?"

"Yeah, I was aware," Ranma answered. "But we're all girls here, right now, right?"

Rei laughed again. Shaking her head, Ranma gripped the other girl's shoulder and shook it, while saying, "Rei, I need you to focus."

While Rei was shaking herself and turning her mind to the matters at hand, Ranma sighed. "It's a shame you go to a different school. If you saw me in the locker room every day you would know I was a natural redhead by now."

Rei had the grace to look embarrassed. "Sorry to get all hentai on you there."

"We can talk about it later, Rei-chan," Ranma promised. "Now it is time for you to meet our guest speaker. Luna?"

The cat leapt the table where the pizza boxes rested and said, "Thank you, Ranma."


Author's Note: Ok, Ranma has revealed her gender changing curse to the Inners showed her Senshi Transformation. She hasn't yet told them that they are also Senshi. Stay tuned.