DOKAN 4/Dokan 04.iso/Webs/www.bahamut.com/ranma/fanfics/lod4.txt

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Lines Of Destiny

A Sailor Moon/Ranma 1/2 Crossover

By Louis-Philippe Giroux
<[e-mail]>



Thank you for all your comments! Keep'em coming!
C&C is always welcome!!!



Sailor Moon was created by Naoko Takeuchi and Ranma 1/2 by Rumiko
Takahashi. Please don't sue me.

Mizuharo College is now Mizuharo University. Ranma and Akane attend
university while the the Inner Senshi are in their second year of High
school. The Outer Senshi are in their third year of High School. (Thanks
everyone for the corrections!)



Chapter 4

Makoto had just come back from the market when she decided she was bored.
Among all the Senshi, Makoto was perhaps the only one who missed the
occasional fight with a youma, daimon, or whatever they periodically
fought. Before she became a Senshi, Makoto used to release her frustrations
on people around her, which resulted in her being expelled from different
schools on regular basis. As Sailor Jupiter, Makoto had found a way to use
channel her destructive temper into a constructive fashion, namely
electrocuting youmas. It had been several weeks since the defeat of Pharaoh
90 at the hands of Sailor Saturn, and no monsters had reared their ugly
heads since then. As a result, Makoto had been feeling bored recently, not
that she would admit it to the others, especially not Usagi...

She looked up the time. *Mamoru probably arrived at the train station a
while ago*. Not knowing what else to do, she decided to go see Rei at the
Hikawa Shrine, remembering yesterday's conversation. If she was lucky, she
might get to meet Rei's mysterious cousin before everyone else.

She let out a small sigh. The moment she had heard Rei's cousin was a
martial artist, she had gotten her hopes up, but said hopes had taken a
brutal nosedive when she learned that Rei's cousin was coming with his
girlfriend.

Shaking her head from such thoughts, she left her appartment, locked it up
and left in the direction of the Hikawa Shrine. After a moderate walk, she
arrived in view of the gates to the Shrine and saw two people going in. One
of them was a young black-haired man, wearing a red Chinese shirt and loose
black pants and the other was a black-haired girl, wearing a yellow dress
and a sky-blue blouse. They were both carrying suitcases with them. Makoto
started wondering if the guy was Rei's mysterious cousin.



Ranma and Akane pushed the gates and went inside the grounds. They looked
around and saw the staircase leading to the shrine itself. Seeing no one
around, they decided to climb the steps and halted when they neared the
top.

"Rei? Are you here? It's me, Ranma!" he called out."

A girl came out of the shrine, a look of anticipation on her face. She had
long, raven-black hair that went down her back and she was clad in
traditional Shinto priestess robes.

"Ranma?" she said, blinking, all the while looking shocked for a few
seconds. "Is that you?"

"What? Don't you even remember me Rei?" answered Ranma with a smile on his
lips.

Rei seemed to stare at Ranma for a few seconds, but quickly put herself
together. "Welcome to the Hikawa Shrine, Ranma."

"Thank you for your hospitality," Ranma replied politely. "Rei, may I
introduce you to Akane Saotome, my wife."

Akane bowed in response. "I would like to thank you for your hospitality,
Rei-san."

Rei, too stunned for words, merely nodded. She had not even tried to hide
the double-take she did at that statement. Ranma and Akane had a somewhat
sheepish look on their faces.

"Call me Rei," she said, turning to Akane. "You're... married?" Rei managed
to get out, despite her surprise. "But... Aunt Nodoka said you were coming
with a girlfriend, not a bride!"

"She probably didn't want to freak you out," Ranma said, trying to avoid an
embarassing scene.

"When *did* you get married?" Rei asked.

"Err, yesterday" answered Ranma, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible
(and failing miserably).

Rei stared at him for a couple of seconds more, than mentally shrugged.
*Usagi and Mamoru are as good as married and Usagi is younger than he is,
so why not them?*

"Come on, I'll show you around the shrine grounds," she said.

"Do you mind if I tag along on the guest tour, Rei-chan?"

Rei, Ranma and Akane turnd around to see Makoto, standing in the shrine's
doorway.

"Mako-chan!" Rei said in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

Ranma and Akane finally got a good look at the unexpected visitor: a very
tall girl with long, flowing brown hair tied back in a ponytail. She had a
simple dress on that complimented her... substantial features well.

Rei turned to Ranma and Akane. "Ranma, Akane, this is Makoto Kino, a very
good friend of mine."

Makoto gave a polite bow, which was returned by the two Nerimites.

Rei repeated her question. "What are you doing here, Mako-chan? I thought
you would have gone with Usagi and the others to greet Mamoru at the train
station."

"I just came back from grocery shopping," replied Makoto. "By the time I
came back, the train would probably have had arrived a long time ago. In
fact, the other girls and Mamoru are probably on their way here."

"Then they're probably not far behind." said Rei. She turned to Ranma. "If
I remember correctly, you were on the same train as Mamoru. Which reminds
me, I hope nothing bad happened on your way here?"

Ranma looked pensive for a second. "The trip was fine. There was a brawl at
the train station, but that's all."

Rei looked a bit surprised. "What kind of 'brawl'?" she asked.

Akane decided to jump in in before Ranma could put a foot in his mouth. For
some reason, she felt she did *not* want Ranma to say that they had trashed
the monster. It would probably just upset Rei; after all, young Shinto
priestesses didn't deal with monsters on a regular basis, right? "Someone
started a fight inside the train station and got kicked out," she answered.
*It's not a lie, it's just not the whole truth* she told herself. With
that, she subtly pinched Ranma's arm to warn him against saying more.

Ranma looked sideways at Akane, a slightly puzzled look on his features.
"Nothing I couldn't have handled if it had come down to it," he finished,
looking back at Rei.

"You think you're that good a martial artist?" asked Makoto.

"I don't think I am. I _know_ I am." said Ranma with a hint of arrogance in
his voice.

Akane winced. Rei and Makoto each raised an eyebrow and looked
questioningly at Akane.

Akane shook her head. "Ranma *is* good, but he has a small ego problem as
well."

Ranma suddenly looked miffed about Akane's comment.

"Well," said Rei, unwittingly defusing a potential scene, "let me show you
around the shrine, okay?"

"Lead the way," Ranma and Akane chorused.

"Wow. Replies in stereo, too? You two are *definitely* made for each
other!" said Makoto with a smile, dealing in her own way with the
disappointment she'd felt when she'd overheard Rei's surprised comment
about Ranma's marriage.

Meanwhile, Ranma and Akane blushed slightly at Makoto's comment. They knew
they should be used to it by now, but coming from a relative stranger (a
younger girl, no less, despite Makoto's deceptive physical appearance)...

Rei raised an eyebrow at the blush. "You'll have to excuse Makoto. She's an
incurable romantic."

It was now Makoto's turn to look miffed. "Hey, I'm just searching for the
right soulmate, that's all!"

Rei rolled her eyes and motioned Akane and Ranma to follow her. "Come on,
Ranma. Time to give you the guided tour."



And so it went, Ranma, Akane and Makoto following Rei as she showed them
around the Shrine. They eventually reached the small courtyard outside.
Ranma looked around and smiled.

"Rei, at what time do you usually get up?" Ranma asked.

"Around six o'clock. I have various duties to perform before I go to
school. Why?"

"Would there be a problem if I used the courtyard to practice my martial
arts each morning? I need to keep in shape, even if I attend university."

"I don't think there will be any problems," replied Rei. "I'll have to ask
Grampa about it, but I don't think he'll mind."

"Where *is* your grandfather anyway?" asked Ranma. "I haven't seen him
yet."

"He and Yuuichiro, who, by the way, is an apprentice who also lives here,
left this morning to visit holy grounds outside the city. They'll either be
back tomorrow or the day after," replied the raven-haired priestess. "And
for the final stop of the tour, something I guess I should have showed you
earlier: the guest room."

Ranma and Akane went back to get their luggage, which they had left at the
entrance, and followed Rei. She led them to a large room where two futons
had obviously been recently installed.

"You sure don't seem to have a lot of luggage for two university students
who want to live in an apartment," observed Makoto.

"We only have the basic stuff for a few days. Once we find an apartment,
we'll send for the rest," replied Akane

"There's only one guest room, so you'll have to bunk in the same room. I
hope you don't mind," said Rei.

Ranma and Akane looked at each other questioningly, then back at Rei. "Why
should we mind, Rei? We're married, remember?" said Ranma.

Rei suddenly remembered what Ranma had said earlier and blushed slightly.
"Yes, well, I didn't know that yesterday..." she trailed off.

Makoto suddenly had a wicked gleam in her eye as she saw a golden
opportunity to make Rei squirm a little. "Maybe you should bunk the futons
closer together, Rei. After all, they're newlyweds..."

Rei suddenly burned beet red, thinking about the possible implications of
what Makoto had just said. Rei turned towards Ranma and Akane, whose faces
were also in the process of acquiring a healthy shade of red. Seeing them
blush as well, Rei immediately panicked and jumped to conclusions. "NO,
please! Don't do that here!... I mean... err..." Rei stuttered.

Makoto couldn't help snickering at Rei's predicament. The brunette turned
to Akane and Ranma and apologized: "Sorry, I just couldn't help myself.
Seeing Rei squirm is a rare sight and I couldn't pass this up."

"Die, Makoto," Rei growled too softly for Ranma or Akane to hear.

Akane coughed politely. "Yes, well, speaking of... that, maybe we should go
apartment-hunting while there still is time today, ne Ranma?" said Akane,
not-so-subtly nudging Ranma with her elbow.

Ranma shook himself out of the slight daze he was in, then nodded absently.
"Uh? Yeah, apartment-hunting, that sounds good." He and Akane turned to
leave. "We'll try not to come back too late, okay?" he said, looking over
his shoulder.



As soon as they were out of sight, Rei whirled on Makoto, who was still
grinning like an idiot. "Makoto! What on Mars possessed you to make a
comment like that? They're older than us, remember!"

"Calm down," said Makoto. "It's exactly like I told them. You need to learn
to relax, girl."

Rei's frown suddenly turned into a smug smile. "Well, *I'm* not the one
who's going to pass for a sex-crazed maniac because of that little stunt."

Makoto stopped smiling.



"Your cousin has *very* weird friends, Ranma." said Akane, once she and
Ranma were safely out of hearing range.

"I'm just starting to realize that. Oh well, it'll only be for a couple of
days, remember?" After a few second's pause, he added: "Why didn't you want
me to tell Rei there was a monster at the train station?"

"Ranma, Rei's a young Shinto priestess in training. We don't even know if
she believes in monsters. She probably has enough problems of her own
without having to worry about monsters and everything."

"Okay, I can understand that, but why did you have to tell her I have an
ego problem? You know I'm good!"

"But you do have an ego problem, my lovable baka husband," said Akane in a
teasing voice.

Ranma smiled. "And you still can't cook, kawaiikunee-chan."

Akane smiled and took Ranma's hand, which he gladly offered.



Meanwhile, Usagi, Luna, Mamoru and Ami had gone to Mamoru's apartment to
drop off his luggage before heading to the Shrine. In the meantime, Minako
and Hotaru had gone to Minako's house to pick up Artemis and brief him on
the events that had transpired at the train station. Both groups met up
again near the Shrine.

Once the troop entered the Shrine, they were faced with a smug Rei and a
flustered-looking Makoto.

"What happened with you two?" asked Ami.

Rei thought about it and decided to go for the brief approach, omitting the
details. "Makoto wanted to embarass me in front of my cousin but ended up
embarassing herself instead."

Makoto threw a frown at Rei, who pointedly ignored it.

"Your cousin is here?" asked Ami. She looked around and added in a lower
voice: "Should we move elsewhere, then? We have... serious business to talk
of."

"Don't worry. He's gone appartment-hunting with his wife," said Makoto,
almost bitterly.

"He's married?" Usagi sqealed. "How romantic! Aren't you eager to get
married, Mamo-chan?" she asked Mamoru, who was currently lost in thoughts.

"Yeah, yeah, can't wait," he mumbled distractedly. Of course, Usagi totally
missed the tone and only heard the message. While Usagi was staring
dreamily in the air with hearts in her eyes, thinking of her marriage to
Mamoru, Ami turned to Makoto and Rei. "I thought he was coming with a
girlfriend."

"It turns out his girlfriend *is* his wife. They apparently got married
yesterday." said Rei.

Surprised looks were everywhere. "And they've got registration tomorrow
too, if I remember correctly. What a way to spend a honeymoon," said
Minako, shaking her head.

Rei and Makoto suddenly looked as if they found the walls of the shrine
very interesting. Before the other girls could start asking the really
interesting questions, though...

"Ahem!"

All the girls suddenly took notice of Luna, who was looking generally
annoyed. "We have more important buisiness than discussing the love life of
Rei's cousin."

"She's right," said Ami. "There was a monster attack at the train station
today."

Rei's eyes widened while Makoto looked somehow disappointed. "Argh! The
first monster attack in months and I miss it!" said the tall brunette.

A sweat drop found it's way behind Luna's and a few of the other girls'
heads. Ami, however, was unfazed by Makoto's comment and continued. "Well,
it's not the monster in itself that was strange, but rather *who*
dispatched the monster."

Makoto looked at Ami. "Wait a minute here. You mean *you* weren't the ones
who killed it?"

Minako jumped in the conversation: "We didn't even have a chance to
transform! There was some kind of superpowered hunk accompanied by a girl
who arrived in the same train as Mamoru who fought the monster. The guy
blasted it with some weird energy ball and the girl bashed it with a hammer
she got out of nowhere. You should've seen him move, Makoto; it was
unbelievable." Minako went on to describe the fight in detail, concluding
with the mysterious couple's escape.

To say that Rei and Makoto were interested by this would be a serious
understatement. "What did they look like?" asked Makoto.

"The guy had black hair, tied in a pigtail. He was wearing loose black
pants and a red Chinese shirt. The girl had short black hair, a yellow
dress and a blue blouse," said Minako, who noticed Rei wasn't listening to
her anymore.

Rei and Makoto were looking at each other. "Wait... Doesn't that sound
like...?" Makoto started in an incredulous tone.

Rei suddenly whirled back on Minako. "Did you talk to them? Did they say
their names?" she asked quickly.

This time, it was Usagi who jumped in. "We didn't even have a chance to.
They vanished right after the girl hammered the monster into the train."

Makoto's eyes grew introspective. "I think Rei and I may know who your
'superpowered hunk' is... though we can't be absolutely sure," said the
brunette.

"Who do you think they are?" asked Artemis, cutting off Luna in the
process, who settled by glaring at him.

"My cousin and his wife," answered Rei. "Ranma and Akane Saotome."

"Your cousin!?" everyone else (except Makoto, of course) chorused
incredulously.

Once they calmed down, Rei continued: "Ranma and his wife look exactly like
you described... And they mentioned there had been a 'brawl' at the train
station."

"That's... quite an understatement," said Ami.

"Wait, it gets weirder," said Minako. "We also found out Mamoru had a
sister who was Sailor Terra in the days of the Moon Kingdom and Hotaru had
a brother," she said in an excited voice.

"Sailor Terra?" said Rei and Makoto said incredulously in unison. "That
would be a first! Why haven't we ever heard anything about her before
today?" asked Rei.

Luna and Artemis suddenly looked distinctly uncomfortable. Luna had
conferred earlier with Artemis and it seemed he had also spontaneously
recovered some memories concerning Endymion's family. It was not going to
be fun trying to explain that. Suddenly, Luna got an idea and turned to
Hotaru and Mamoru: "Why don't you tell them what you told us?"

Hotaru and Mamoru each raised an eyebrow at Luna's somewhat blatant attempt
to divert the attention away from herself and Artemis but nevertheless told
their tale to Rei and Makoto, who listened intently.



End Chapter 4

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