Maison Ikkoku Fan Fiction / Ah My Goddess Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / X/1999 Fan Fiction / Love Hina Fan Fiction / Hellsing Fan Fiction ❯ 1/2 Saga Volume 1: 1/2 Moon ❯ 1/2 Moon Chapter Three (Revised 11/10/03) ( Chapter 3 )

1/2 Moon: Chapter Three

Rewrite 7 / 29 / 2003

By Dr. Suekeiichi Kaiton

With additional material and revisions by Eric Freedman

---Saturday---

It was raining when Ranma burst into Kubo's market with a newspaper held over his head. If the splotches of wet jacket were testament to the paper's effectiveness in warding off water, than Ranma needed to find an umbrella quickly. Still, at least his head was dry, that was all that mattered. He shook the water from his jacket and picked up a basket.

Chisato hadn't come over since their last meeting earlier in the week, the performance that Ami had seen, but they had been talking in the halls and in the café - she would probably be paying him another visit on their next day off. Ami had been tight-lipped and had told her mother nothing of Ranma's proposition. Perhaps it was for the better, at least for the time being, he didn't imagine Chisato being too thrilled with the idea of her fourteen-year old daughter being bedded by her younger lover.

Ranma only stopped by for a few things: ice cream, whipped cream (in case anyone he happened to meet had a food fetish) and sundae toppings. Makoto had said something about stopping by on Sunday after a study group. It was only one in the afternoon when he browsed the aisles and weighed the pros and cons of the fifty-six flavors of ice cream on display behind the opaque glass of the freezer case. Triple chocolate fudge brownie seemed good enough…

At the moment his rough hand fell on the soggy cardboard carton of ice cream, an infinitely softer and feminine hand covered his own and dropped two cartons of the frozen novelty into his basket. Ranma was pleased with the texture of the impetuous hand and turned around.

He was not expecting Usagi Tsukino to be standing behind him with her hand clenched tightly around his wrist.

"Hello, Usagi, how are you?" It was clear after the words left his mouth how stupid his question had been, it was obvious that she was in distress. Her blonde hair fell limply around her shoulders, free from the tight balls, and looked like it hadn't been washed in the past two days. Her school uniform was rumpled and dirty, as if she had been sitting in a dank corner, and her eyes were glassy and hollow. "I see…"

Usagi virtually dragged him out of the aisle and through to the front desk. As they passed the apothecary section she paused long enough to pull a thin box of 'magnum' condoms from the rack and drop them into his basket.

"Well…it must be boy trouble…why don't we go back to my place and you can tell me all about it over a big bowl of ice cream, hmm?" Ranma sweatdropped as his little joke went over like a lead balloon. It was obvious that she was deeply upset over something, probably sex, and was looking for a suitable outlet. He was just glad it was him and not some other good-looking stranger.

The cashier gave the couple an odd look as she rung up the condoms, it wasn't everyday you saw a twenty-five year old and a teenager buy a big box of magnums. Still, it wasn't that odd in the broad scheme of things so she let it pass. They left and walked in silence until his house came into view. Usagi's uniform was soaked through and her hair was tangled and lay damply on the wide shoulders of her dress, her hair also fell over her eyes in bangs that all but hid her eyes. Ranma, on the other hand, was relatively dry with another handy newspaper held aloft over his head.

He unlocked his door and ushered her inside, setting the bags down on the counter in the kitchen and putting the ice cream in the freezer before it melted. As he turned around Usagi struck, wrapping her arms around his neck and standing on tip-toe to kiss him full on the mouth. The kiss was lusty and sloppy, her lips moist and wet against his, their tongues swirling over one another as he pulled her to him and encircled her slim waist in his arms. Beneath the cold of her wet clothes a fire raged, she probably had a fever as well from being out in the cold for so long; Ranma's hands swept up between her shirt and skin, warm roughness caressing her soft back. She moaned into the kiss and pushed him back.

He led her to the living room and let himself fall on the sofa, pulling her on top of him, a little 'whuf' her only reaction to his forwardness. She broke off and looked into his eyes (and Ranma could now tell that her blush was due in equal measure to lust as well as fever), tears running down the grime on her face so that twin sparkling tracks of diamond shone on her cheeks. He looked up at the fourteen-year old straddling him, her sex hot behind the white cotton panties she wore under the dark blue skirt of her uniform, and brought her back down for another kiss as her slim fingers fumbled with the zipper to his slacks.

Usagi was unaware of anything other than the wet feel of Ranma's tongue on the roof of her mouth, the sweet tang of his saliva in her mouth, and the smooth leather harness under the cotton of his pants. Her head was ablaze with anger and retribution, lust and despair, and her only knew that it was a hard-bodied man lying under her thighs, an honorable-seeming man with his tongue down her throat. Finally she pulled down his zipper and thrust her hand into the dark recesses of his crotch. Their tongues dueled to the rhythm of her fingers as she tried in vain to undo the clasp on his cock-trap.

"Let me." Ranma sat up just a little and broke the kiss, pushing her away as she leaned forward towards his lips again forcefully. He undid his thin belt and pulled his pants off, showing Usagi the harness that held his cock firmly to his thigh. It resembled a detective's holster except it was strapped to his crotch and the 'gun' holstered shot bullets of a different kind…

And none of them were blanks.

Usagi caressed the oiled surface of the article holding back her tool of ultimate pleasure and moaned appreciatively, her eyes smoky and seductive as her young hands snapped the buckle and threw open the prison of his lust.

It was a massive organ, much larger than Mamoru's by about 200% in both length and girth, a pulsing purple-headed monster ready to devour her insides and take her to heaven. She opened her mouth, her eyes locked with his, and drooled on the silky foreskin, using her hands to massage the moisture into the crevices between shaft and sack. When the monstrous cock began to stir, as if from a long sleep, she grinned and brought her mouth down to the thick nest of pubic hair from which her prize jutted.

The scent was musky and indescribably male, a scent which caused her vaginal lips to open and blossom in anticipation of the fucking to come. Oily fluid leaked from the dark orifice hidden by her now translucent white panties and dripped down the smooth skin of her thighs. Ranma moved with hands to meet their flow and dipped his fingers lightly into the tracks of lust pouring now with each kiss she planted on the pulsing, rising, organ.

She looked up at him with bedroom eyes as he brought his hand to his mouth and daintily licked the goo, moaning deep in his throat as if he were tasting a candy or chocolate instead of her unsightly cum. To her surprise (and secret delight) he motioned for her to turn around, his hands kneading her ass. She was indeed eager to be eaten out, Mamoru had never licked her down there, saying that he didn't like the taste of her cunt. Well, she hadn't initially liked the taste of cum but that never stopped her from pleasuring him with her tongue, did it? No, Mamoru would finger her like mad but his face would never dip lower than her navel. It didn't even taste that bad, she had tried it once out of curiosity and found it fruity and sour - not the best taste but neither was it the worst.

Now here was a man willing to put out for her, a man eagerly awaiting the soft, wet kiss of her nether lips on his…Usagi began to finally understand what Minako and Makoto were talking about when they used to call Mamoru a selfish lover. Driven back to the present by the firm slap of Ranma's erect cock on her throat, she sat up, allowing the organ to rise to its full height, and turned around.

Immediately, hands were daintily pulling her skirt down and her panties with it, warm hands that then began to knead and touch the flesh directly surrounding her sex but not venturing to her melting core. She grunted and moved her ass backward in impatience but the hands continued their maddening examination.

Finally inspiration struck. She reached below her chin and pulled his cock down to her mouth.

A finger touched the swollen lips of her cunt.

She opened her mouth and took the head of his penis into her mouth.

Three fingers opened her snatch and ran along the rough, moist walls of her canal.

She came immediately, a thick, spewing dollop of cream squirting from her cunt and smothering Ranma. The pigtailed doctor opened his mouth and swallowed the sour cum, thankful that so many of his customers were squirters or else he'd have likely drowned. She screamed loudly as she came, sitting up and mashing her crotch into his face, his nose pressed to the immaculate rosebud of her anus. She was keening for a minute before his tongue touched her lips and she shuddered again before climaxing more forcefully than before.

Ranma slathered every part of her pussy with his tongue, his adroit muscle worming into her sex and tasting the dripping insides firsthand, a much more palatable and sweeter taste assaulting his tastebuds. A sudden rush of fluid heralded another of her frantic screams as she humped his face once…twice…three times before pitching forward.

He supposed it was just clumsiness that she fell off the couch but he didn't discount her three orgasms and thus stood up and picked her off the floor. Her forehead was red where it met the floor and a few tears marred the corners of her eyes. She looked like a hurt and frightened child.

Ranma carried her upstairs. They copulated furiously in his room for three hours before she collapsed and fainted due to the strain of so much pleasure. It didn't surprise him, his partners usually passed out before he came. Still, she was still warm and clenching under him so he continued to hump her sleeping body, her cunt spasming and spewing cum and semen as she came in her sleep. He found it very cute that she mewed when she climaxed. After nearly another hour of fucking her unconscious form he pulled out of her and ejaculated, spraying her thighs and breasts with thick sperm.

---Later---

Usagi stumbled down the stairs in a white yukata after her bath, the garment open and unbelted leaving her entire front exposed. Her hand was pressed to her pubic bone, a slow but steady ache had begun from Ranma's forceful thrusts into her tight and practically virgin sex. She giggled lightly to herself and smiled, her hands going to her cheek to hide the blush slowly creeping up from her neck.

It had been _so_ much better than the few times she'd done it with Mamoru! She fell on her ass, her legs bent at the knees, in the tearoom and watched the rain fall outside. It was only about six in the evening, the sun wasn't even down behind the clouds. She sighed in pleasure at the remembrance, of his thick cock, god she loved to say that word, his cock forcing its way up and into her, the way the crown rubbed all her hot spots, the way his slightly upturned organ hit her G-spot with every thrust. She honestly didn't think she'd be able to experience pleasure the same way again…

"I see you're up. Did you enjoy your bath?" Ranma waltzed into the room with two bowls of ice cream filled to the top and covered in real hot fudge (if her nose didn't deceive her) and whipped cream. "I trust you feel better after sleeping and washing?"

"Uh…yeah…thanks." Usagi blushed and stood up before sitting on the plush sofa, embarrassed to be talking to the same man who not three hours ago ruthlessly and thoroughly violated her…god, she couldn't help but sigh dreamily again at the remembrance. "Is that triple chocolate fudge brownie?" Thick drool was already pooling on the table under her chin and a dangerous gleam appeared in her eyes.

"Of course." Ranma set down the bowls and sat down next to her, pulling her to his chest and reclining on the arm of the couch. Once she was settled and her blush had subsided from being so close to a man, they each took their bowls from the low table and began to devour their confections. Usagi ate with her usual gusto (which meant that more ice cream was smeared on her face than went in her stomach). When she finished Ranma laughed and wiped her face.

Usagi's face burned red at his laugh. Normally an atomic blush was caused by a compliment made by Mamoru or an embarrassing moment at school; she figured that being doted on, post-coitus, by her lover was enough to warrant her reaction. Still, she hesitantly leaned back onto his firm pectorals and felt his sex stir against her tush through the thin cotton of her dress.

Ranma, also, wore a yukata open although his was black and bore a very distinct insignia on the back: Usagi recognized it as the seal of the Emperor but held her tongue. His penis hung flaccid between his legs as his blonde lover leaned back on his gentle warmth and wrapped her arms around his neck, lacing her fingers. Her cerulean blue eyes were twinkling with happiness and contentment.

"I washed your uniform and undergarments, they should be dry in a little while, now, will you tell me why you were so depressed this afternoon?"

Usagi seemed to shrink back for a moment before her glowing aura of happiness returned and she smiled beautifully up at him. "It doesn't matter…not anymore…not now that I have you." She kissed him upside-down and smiled impishly from his arms. His hands strayed to her growing breasts and pinched the puffy nipples. She yipped in alarm and crossed her arms in a huff.

"Come on, Usagi-chan, you can tell me…maybe I can help?"

Her visage softened and she lay her head in the crook of his arm. Her hands grasped his arm. "You already have, Ranma."

"Please…?"

"Oh all right, but there isn't much to tell…"

Usagi had the afternoon off from classes Friday and had declined Makoto and Minako's invitation to go to the mall, instead opting to surprise Mamoru. She had dropped off her school bag at home and hurried to his apartment, hoping that they could fool around for a bit. Ranma could already tell what happened…

Mamoru had been home when she arrived only he wasn't alone. Ranma could easily imagine the blonde-haired innocent unlocking Mamoru's apartment with her spare key and finding the shoes and trail of clothes leading to his room. Usagi likely thought of some lame excuse: perhaps that her boyfriend, the _man_ that had stolen her virginity and used her for his own sexual purposes, had a male guest. He could almost see the fear on the blonde's face when a pair of crumpled panties came into view.

It had been Rei. Rei Hino, the fiery priestess, who had been astride Mamoru, letting him sodomize her against the wall of his bedroom. Usagi had peeked through the door at the precise moment her lover chose to pull out of Rei's anus and force her to her knees before his pencil prick. The future Queen of Crystal Tokyo and past Moon Princess watched with wide eyes as her dark champion desperately jerked himself off into Rei's waiting mouth, a few quick squirts of thin semen between the dark-haired girl's teeth before he was spent. Usagi had left without a sound, the cheating couple were likely unaware of their audience. She wandered blindly for a while before slumping to the ground in an alley.

"That's horrible…I can't believe your best friend would do something like that!" Ranma's strong arms circled Usagi and held her close as the rain continued to patter on the ceramic roof tiles of the house.

"Oh, I can't really blame Rei all that much, I always knew she had feelings for Mamoru…she probably just wanted some part of him to love her for a little while." Usagi looked wistfully out into the darkening sky. "Besides, he was probably using her anyway."

"I still…what he's done is reprehensible!" Ranma's grip tightened and he growled deep in his throat. "I'll make him pay."

"Ranma, you've already done enough, Rei's smart enough to realize that they'll never work together. Anyway, I don't care about that jerk! I have you now."

"Still…by the time Rei realizes it, she could be pregnant or worse...I'll think of something." Ranma ruffled Usagi's free locks and began to braid her hair, coiling it into two buns. "No matter what Rei's done to you, she doesn't deserve to be hurt like you have." Usagi looked up at her new love interest and smiled at the pensive and driven look in his eyes. She couldn't help but kiss him again.

"You know what? You're the best guy I've ever met, I'm glad you and Motoki like each other, 'cause now I know that the best guys in the world'll always be looking out for me." Usagi shifted uncomfortably, as if unnerved by what just came out of her mouth. "Er…" She sweatdropped.

"So you were the one in the bathroom, huh? Motoki's another reason to get Mamoru, apparently they used to have a relationship too before the scumbag met you, it seems that they broke up because of you." Ranma tied off his coils and rubbed her shoulders softly.

"That's horrible but also kinda good, I guess, 'cause Motoki deserved better than Mamoru." Usagi felt her body go limp in Ranma's arms. "You wouldn't leave me like that, would you?"

"Never."

"Good. Now, what are you going to do about Rei?"

---The next day---

Rei lay on her bed, her brow creased in thought. She had certainly gotten into a mess…getting between Mamoru and Usagi was sure to blow up in her face. Stabbing her best friend in the back wasn't bad enough it seemed, however, since Usagi was also her future queen and Mamoru her future king. And what did she betray Usagi for? A few one night stands and an empty hollow in her heart.

It was obvious that Mamoru didn't really love her. She was aware of that the first time they made love and he mistakenly whispered 'Usako' when he came. She, the great shrine maiden, was little more than a blow-up doll for his lusts, gods how she hated him! Phobos and Apollo, sitting obediently on her window, nodded in agreement with her unspoken sentiment. She wasn't all that surprised, they always seemed able to read her mind.

"What do you guys think?" She sat up with the crinkling of starched sheets and turned to her helpers, leaning on her night table to face them. "Do you think I should just dump the bastard and come clean with Usagi?"

The crows nodded.

"Really?"

Apollo cawed and Phobos hid his head under a grim wing.

"Fat lotta good you two are…you're supposed to agree with me." She got up off her pallet and rolled the futon. Sundays were busy days at the shrine and she had a Senshi meeting to prepare for as well, perhaps she would just tell Usagi that afternoon."

"Rei! Rei come down here please!" She was broken from her musings as her grandfather called from the courtyard. Her crows cawed in annoyance and flew off to the other side of the shrine.

"Yes? What is it?" She slide open her bedroom door a crack, just enough for her voice to carry yet not enough for her perverted grandfather to get a gander at the goods.

"A patron wishes a fire reading, he came to pay his respects and also left a sizable donation so I want you on your best behavior, is that understood?" Grandfather Hino's voice drifted in from the outside. Her grandfather had an unhealthy habit of setting her fire-readings with complete perverts who threw a few yen in the donation box and demanded a reading with the coincidentally gorgeous shrine maiden. The fact that the traditional uniform was meant to be worn with no undergarments had nothing to do with anything…

"Yes." She ground her teeth at the indignity of it all. "Where is he?"

"In the shrine, be sure to be on your best behavior, okay? I want no more fried customers out on the deck this time." Rei walked to her window and looked out to the far corner, sure enough, a plume of smoke rose from the hut where they communicated with the sacred flame. Rei huffed angrily and stomped over to her dresser and threw on a shrine maiden uniform of white and red. She tightened the sash around her waist so the old pervert wouldn't get too good a view and adjusted her skirts so he couldn't detect that she wore no panties underneath her robes. Finally, her preparations complete, Rei calmed her ki and stomped off to the hut.

The day was looking better than yesterday, with a sunny sky and very few clouds drifting in the breeze. The trees were still moist from the rains, though, which made sweeping the courtyard a chore. Tossing her dark locks behind her, the Princess of T & A Academy parted the tattered curtains covering the entrance to the small building and stepped into the smoke.

The interior was pitch dark and hazy, apparently her grandfather had begun the fire earlier that morning in preparation for the inevitable fire-readings that were to take place later that day, the gray clouds whirling around in the blackness until being forcibly sucked outside by the breeze. Behind the licking flames was a simple-looking man in khaki pants and a black casual shirt. Okay, Rei thought, he isn't old but he could still be a pervert. She pasted a fake smile on her face and took her seat across from him. His eyes reflected the flames and they appeared to dance as she sat cross-legged and tugged the loose opening of her uniform.

"This is the Sacred Flame, a burning manifestation of fate and time." Rei scowled at her lack of response. "Within the flame can be found the past or the future, you must concentrate with me on the fire and I shall tell you what I see." Again, no response. "Very well, we will begin." She brought her hands together and breathed in the aroma of burning wood, pointing her index fingers together at the apex of the altar.

The flame reacted violently at her burst of ki, roaring like a forest fire and blossoming over the ceiling in a blaze of orange and yellow, before settling back to manageable but still oversized dimensions. Her brow broke out into a cold sweat as the exertion of focusing her ki took its toll and still no images arose from the wellspring of fortune. Just as she was about to give up and call the attempt a failure, her ki broke through the powerful flame and an image began to form in the air. The sweat was drenching her arms and legs, pooling atop her breasts and in the crevice between her legs. The effort for the reading was the most intense she'd ever felt, whoever the stranger was his past and future were in a chaotic flux the likes of which she'd never seen before.

As the manifestation began to coalesce in the room, Rei blushed crimson and silently praised the powers that were that the fire readings didn't have sound. The image that wavered above their heads was one of intense sensuality, a man and a woman in the throes of ecstasy so great that she felt herself begin to moisten in response to the large three dimensional porn film playing in the fire. The woman's mouth was open wide in a silent scream of pleasure, the man humping her prone body so that droplets of their mingled sweat and fluids flew off her body with each thrust, each droplet falling from the flame and onto Rei's hands and arms. With each pin-prick of essence falling from the mirage that landed on her body she felt the sensations of the woman, the feel of her partner's thrusts and the agony of his withdrawal.

The stranger opposite her smiled in victory as the illusionary woman slumped in exhaustion as the man pulled out of her sex and sprayed his seed across her back.

Rei was startled out of her masturbatory visions by the cascade of warm fluid that splashed her face. She opened her eyes that were half-shut in pleasure only to find her arms and face free of any such liquid, yet she could feel the thick caucus substance across her cheek and lips. She licked a bit of the invisible sperm only to find it was all a figment of her sex-starved imagination. Suddenly she straightened as the vision of flame grew even larger before her eyes, magnifying the panting, drooling, yet utterly satiated face of the woman lying prone under the man.

It was her face.

So shocked was she by the revelation that her concentration was broken from her ki and the fire was guttered instantly. The light was extinguished and she slumped forward in exhaustion that she didn't even know was there, slumped forward into the arms of the stranger. She clutched onto his arms, her knees wobbling as she stood and stumbled with his aid to the tarp covering the door. It was then that she realized her robes were soaked with sweat and her own excitement - if she dared step out into the sun he would know what had happened!

"You shouldn't let yourself be used by such a selfish man." The stranger spoke in her ear and the warmth of his breath caused a shudder to crawl up her spine.

"What?" She was sagging heavily in his arms.

"Mamoru is using you, just like he used Usagi and Motoki before her…you should walk away." He pulled her out of the hut and she got her first good look at his face. He was heavily bishonen with unruly black hair held back in a short pigtail and kind eyes. A noticeable scar ran from the corner of one eye to his chin but it only served to heighten his good looks. Rei's breath caught in her throat. He was gorgeous. "Your friends miss you, Mamoru has poisoned your friendship."

Rei blushed and looked to the ground, ashamed by the man's words. He was right. She was so guilty about going behind Usagi's back that she hadn't wanted to see her for fear that the blonde would know, she had rebuked Makoto and Minako and Ami, choosing instead to wallow in Mamoru's lusts.

No more!

"Rei?" Usagi was standing by the house dressed in a blouse and striped biking pants. Her long blonde hair was braided and coiled into two flat buns, a style that Rei decided suited her better than the odangos. "I know about you and Mamoru."

"Y-you do?"

"Yes. I saw you two at his apartment yesterday." Usagi walked up to her friend and gathered her into a hug. Ranma stepped back and stood reassuringly behind his lover. "I saw everything."

"Yesterday? Yesterday? I wasn't at Mamoru's apartment yesterday. I had to stay after school and help out the art teacher with some sculptures!" Rei pulled away from her restored friend, her hand at her breast.

"But if it wasn't you…er…you _have_ slept with him right?" Usagi had her finger raised cautiously, a sweatdrop forming from the stunning revelations of her false accusation.

"Yes, at least three times." Rei bit her lips and looked away. She couldn't bear the stranger's gaze, it was like he was looking at something less than human, sullied and despoiled.

"So that means if it wasn't you…then he's been cheating on the both of us! Why that jerk!" Usagi started to growl and gnash her teeth before Ranma lay a hand on her shoulder. The future Queen of Crystal Tokyo calmed immediately and reached a hand up to grasp his. "Rei, this is Ranma Saotome, Dr. Ranma Saotome, he works with Ami's mom."

"Nice to meet you." Rei refused to look him in the face, choosing instead to stare at her feet as they shuffled on the ancient cobblestones. "Any friend of Usagi's is a friend of mine." She was still blushing when his hand came up and lifted her chin. Her eyes went wide at the touch, he was the most powerful ki adept she had ever felt before and the fact that she hadn't known until he touched her was proof of his skill. "You were the one generating the images in the flame…weren't you?"

Ranma simply smiled and dropped his hand. "You seem unable to keep your ki in focus, there are some…exercises you can perform to gather your ki under control once more. I can show you if you like." He smiled a warm smile and suddenly Rei couldn't believe she'd thought his gaze piercing at all, it was kind and friendly.

"Let's go inside the shrine, you two, I don't think any visitors would like to see your particular exercises in public." Usagi took both their hands and led them back towards the house, feeling whole for the first time since becoming Sailor Moon.

---An undisclosed apartment in Juuban---

The afternoon sun shone brightly through the thin plastic blinds dangling limply from her windows. Virtually everything in the room was worn or old, limp, colorless, and boring. A second-hand sofa sat in the middle of her living area, the worn leather broken in places and covered with discreet strips of electrical tape, and a nineteen-inch television sat crookedly on a TV stand missing a rolling coaster. Among the clutter and sheer dinginess of the malaise, a feeble, feminine voice wavered in pain and collapsed to the pile of blankets and dirty clothes.

A fine layer of dust covered much of the apartment and a heady stench lingered in the close air. The inside of the dwelling was darkened and moist like meat that had turned and gone crusty, much like its single occupant.

Dark hair, cropped short and close to the nape of the neck, was mussed and smelly from a distinct lack of cleaning; the dark corners of her body were sticky from fever-sweat and excretions of a sexual nature. The woman's crotch was a soup of stench and vileness unbecoming a Sailor Senshi but the stricken woman couldn't have cared less, so trapped in the throes of pain was she.

An envelope of pain had surrounded her skull and chest since the previous week, weak at first but steadily growing until she was forced to call into work sick. She had huddled on the floor watching television at first, confidant in the Princess's ability to discern the true path, then lay down in silence as the thrumming unease grew worse. The Princess was making a decision against destiny, or at least what the woman believed to be destiny, making a choice which did not conform to the future already in progress and thus was the guardian in pain.

Stripped of her powers as she was, Setsuna Meiou was not completely helpless. If given half a chance she would transform into Sailor Pluto before her time, Timestream be damned! However, the Princess' decision was altering the nature of the future and, because of her close ties to the fabric of temporality, she was suffering the pain of change and destruction as the future of Crystal Tokyo was shattering into thousands of disparate and paradoxical realities with little-to-no chance of survival.

And so, the future was being destroyed and she was trapped in a makeshift sick-bed with a bad case of nausea and the runs.

A grimy hand, shimmering with sweat and body oils, reached out from the blankets and reached for her transformation pen lying on the coffee table. She couldn't transform, she couldn't even get the energy and concentration to wash herself, what was she going to do?

A good question. She was forbidden to transform until the Outers began awakening, she had probably lost her job, and who knew when the pain from the temporal flux would settle…a bad situation even for a Sailor Senshi. Setsuna knew her responsibilities and would stick to them; and so she merely clutched the oblong object and held it to her cheek, slowly drifting back to sleep.

Several hours later, she awoke to a curious kind of hollowness in her skull. It wasn't a bad feeling per se, but an annoying one. It took her a few moments to realize that it was the fading pain of her headache. Apparently the future had cemented itself at last and the ripples on the surface of time were beginning to subside, not that that was any consolation for her week of pain and the years of work ahead of her.

She sat up and felt her skin wrinkle, not bend or stretch but wrinkle. Suffice it to say that wrinkling skin wasn't high on her list of things to experience. It wasn't that she was a vain person afraid of aging even though she was virtually immortal, really it wasn't…really.

Peeling the stained and soiled brassiere and panties from her body, Setsuna walked like a gimp to the bathroom, dragging her feet and colliding with nearly 90% of the furniture in her apartment. Finally, nursing three large welts on her knees and checking to make sure the falling stereo hadn't broken any toes, she entered the shower room.

Hot water didn't come at first, perhaps a side effect of the water pipes falling into disuse from an entire week without running, and the water which first collided with the tiles was red with rust. Setsuna simply sat on a bright yellow bath stool which would have screamed at having her filthy hind quarters in direct contact with its rubberized surface had it been sentient. It took at least fifteen minutes before the water began to warm and in that brief slice of eternity, Setsuna came back to full cognizance.

Ducking under the warm water and fumbling for the soap, she scrubbed and rinsed, scrubbed again, scratched, lathered, soaked, peeled, and exfoliated to wipe the memory of her week of sloth and pain away. After taking care of her epidermis she performed certain ablutions singular to women and, after washing the fluids down the drain, sank into the heavenly heat of the furo.

Her hair, now clean and silky smooth, was coiled and gathered with a towel at the nape of her neck as she relaxed. It felt good to be lucid and clean, free of odor and grime for the time being anyway; if the Dark Dimension was behind the Princess' actions she was liable to get dirty again real soon. Not that she was jumping to conclusions; it was perfectly plausible that the Princess (Setsuna had yet to meet the reincarnation, stripped of her powers as she was) had merely chosen wrong and that a corrective nudge by the Guardian of the Time Gate was in order to put everything right again. It wasn't like she abandoned the Prince and was getting it on with a man even older than her paramour, it was probably something innocuous like picking vanilla ice cream instead of chocolate. Whatever it was, she would fix it and bring the future back to Crystal Tokyo.

After lying in the furo for more than an hour, she drained the tub, dried, and dressed. Her mind was focused solely on the preservation of the Timestream so it was no surprise that she didn't notice the emergency beacon blinking from the pocket clip of her Henshin pen. Instead of seeing the beacon and talking with her future self, which would have avoided a lot of headaches in her future, she opened the windows to air out the apartment, threw her soiled linens and clothes into a laundry bag, and left to find something to eat.

---Friday---

Ranma entered his house late and shed his coat and shoes, eager to slip into a hot bath. He was expecting Minako to arrive later. She had juggled her nursing hours apparently and agreed to drop by the house around eleven for their tryst. Frankly, Ranma just wanted to relax for a while. Disrobing and grabbing a towel from the hall closet, he entered the bathroom.

The day had gone pretty well he'd say. Chisato had wanted a quickie during lunch and Yumiko had sucked him off before going out to dinner with Chun. Aside from that, he had been corrupting the youth of Juuban that week, taking time to cook dinner with Makoto, fuck around with Usagi on Wednesday, and teach Rei Hino more of his tantric positions.

He slid open the opaque glass door separating the furo from the changing room and was shocked to find the room thick with steam. A throaty purr issued from the cloudy air, causing his phallus to twitch. As the steam billowed out into the cooler climes of the anteroom Ranma peered deeply into the fog and watched a shapely leg slide out of perfumed water with a gentle splash. His eyes followed the leg up to a firm thigh, then to a furry patch of blonde hair, next to a pair of luscious breasts with rosy nipples and finally to the smirking face of 'Mina' as she lay back in the tub. He cursed himself, he'd been so deep in his own thoughts he hadn't noticed her ki in the bathroom.

"Hello there, Ranma. Aren't you glad to see me?" The twenty-year old blonde moved through the water towards him, her full breasts floating in the scented water, and embraced him from behind as he tried to escape. "Why are you running away?" Her hands crept down to his manhood swinging between his legs. "Don't you want to fuck?" Minako really liked Ranma, he was a free spirit just like her not to mention very skilled in lovemaking and unattached to boot!

"Not right now, okay Mina, I'm kinda fucked out."

"Oh…hard day today?"

"Something like that…" He crouched on a green stool and filled a pail with hot water. Minako watched the water hug his musculature as he washed, getting aroused simply by his close proximity. Settling back in the furo she crossed her arms and waited for him to finish washing impatiently. "How'd you get in?"

"Spare key. I found it hidden on the trim of the door. You really should find a better place to keep it…"

"Why? I don't think there are many women that desperate for it to break into my house. Besides, where else would I put it?" He was washing his hair at the moment and his raven locks were out of his customary pigtail.

"So…"

"So what?" Ranma had finished washing his hair and was giving himself a final rinse before settling in the furo next to her.

"So…what do you think of marriage?"

"Marriage? Where did this come from?" He turned to her with his intense blue eyes. The bath pail was halfway to his head.

"Well, I am a desirable young woman…and you are a really, _really_ desirable man: rich, handsomely scarred, really great in bed; any woman would melt to marry you!" Minako was leaning against the wall of the furo, her breasts mashed to her chest and her arms hanging to the floor.

"Uh, 'handsomely scarred'? What do you mean by that?"

Minako simply shrugged.

"I don't even want to know…what I mean is, we just met. You don't even know me!"

"I know you well enough." She blushed and began to twiddle her fingers. "You…er…you're really good in bed."

Ranma sweatdropped. "Thanks…"

"And I don't want to be Christmas Cake!" Minako looked down and collapsed against the furo's wall. Ranma lifted himself off the stool and knelt by her head.

"Hey, you aren't Christmas Cake yet. But marriage? That's jumping the gun a bit don't you think?"

"I guess so…" She reached up and grasped his hand. Their eyes met and both silently agreed that it was the time. He left and pulled his towel from the bar outside and returned to wrap her up in his arms. Lifting her easily to her musical giggles like the tinkling like silver bells, he carried her down the hall and into the bedroom.

Minako bid him lie down on his back before she flipped his member from between his legs to lying across his stomach. "Let Nurse Mina make sure everything's alright." She began to kiss his testicles soon afterward and felt his hands grab her ass and his hot tongue opened her labia. "Oh yes!" She sat up, bringing her full weight down on his mouth and he began to eat her out properly as she fondled his horse cock. Speaking of which the member in question was rising to full height so tall that Minako could suck at the head without leaning down.

She climaxed violently, her stomach muscles clenching in exquisite pain as a torrent of her mucus sprayed into his mouth, all over his face. Oh yes, Mina really loved Ranma now, all she wanted to do was stay with him forever - coming for eternity. She felt his hands lift her up and position her at the head of his angry-looking purple cockhead and pushed her down. She felt the delicious thickness fill her entirely, leaving no room for anything else while one of his fingers invaded her ass.

She rode him for close to an hour, coming almost every ten minutes, her juices squirting out to land on the sheets, until he warned her he was almost ready. She spun on his cock, creating the most wonderful of sensations, turning so they were face to face and he rolled over on her before resuming his thrusts. His strokes came faster, his breathing was ragged, yet no sweat shone on his body, a testament to his martial arts training. As for Minako, she was cumming to oblivion, her world was white with pleasure, her life was the cock pistoning inside her, stretching her membranes to the extreme, her food and drink was his sperm. Abruptly he stopped thrusting and pulled out, slapping her hard with his member as she took the crown in her mouth again, the salty mixture of sweat, her feminine nectar and his pre-cum a palatable delicacy in her mind.

He came with a groan, his balls pulling up towards his body as their fruit spurted out into her mouth, a flood of liquid drowning her in white. The goo was thick like yogurt after such a prolonged lovemaking session and Minako found she had to chew slightly to swallow it all, yet swallow it all she did. His orgasms shot what seemed to be quarts of sperm at her face and in her mouth yet she loved every minute of it, grabbing hold of the long hose and directing its spray to her breasts and hair. After ten minutes the deluge ebbed and just a slow trickle dribbled on her body. She was caked with cum, the entire upper part of her body wet with white cream.

"Guess we shouldn't have taken that bath before, huh?" Minako rose from her stupor at his comment and was gratified when he picked her up and helped her back into the bathroom.

---The next morning---

The room was dark even though the sun was already high in the sky outside but Ranma could tell, his body long since conditioned its internal clock with the precision of quartz. He sat up, stretching and popping his neck back into place from the odd angles Mina had twisted it into during the night. Seriously, that girl seemed to like using him as a stuffed animal, how old was she anyway, fourteen? Stumbling into the bathroom he found the water already drawn at the hot temperature she'd enjoyed the previous night. After a thorough wash and rinse Ranma lay back in his furo and thought about what had happened since his return to Nippon.

Japanese women sure were weird, though maybe he just wasn't used to them after all the time he spent in China. Then again, the Chinese Amazons, Musk and Phoenix had pretty strange mating customs as well, strangeness was strangeness wherever he went. And that wasn't mentioning the bizarre rituals of some clients, one in particular sprang to mind but he forced back the memory with an ounce of will. It would do no good to think on a dead lover.

In any case, he had things to do, things that couldn't be accomplished soaking in the furo. Rising and dressing, he walked downstairs with the patented gait of the upper-class, light on heel and sound. It was one of his first lessons from Madame Gao.

Minako had left earlier if the cold food still caked on the plates lying haphazardly in the sink was any indication. He wasn't surprised, young women such as the good nurse always had things to do…he just hoped he had avoided the marriage question for a while.

This was not to say that Ranma had anything against marriage, it was just that from his experience, marriages simply trapped one partner in a situation and ended up going bitter in a few years. Couples cheated on each other, yet were bound by the laws of marriage to continue loving and caring for each other…it just seemed so archaic. Why not have an open marriage? Why bother calling it a marriage in the first place, was a better question, why not call it a relationship? Eventually the bonds of marriage frayed and tore, leaving one partner stuck in a loveless situation with either the legal muddling of divorce or suicide for company.

No, marriage was not for him, certainly not, as Madame Gao had pointed out those five years back, one woman could never satisfy his lusts; many had tried, none had succeeded. The closest by far was the redhead he'd left back in China and he still hadn't visited her like he'd promised. He would try to go back come springtime, there were a few loose ends he wanted to sort out, most prominent a pressing need to make sure a certain blonde-haired bully hadn't threatened or hurt his girl.

There were others back there he wanted to see again, not all of them women (although a good many were). There were a couple of men he wanted to see again, a boy, and of course the good Madame who had begun him on the path. He hadn't even managed to write to them earlier that week! The poor girl was probably worried sick!

Pouring hot water into a pot and scaling back upstairs, Ranma sat down at his low desk in the study and set pen to paper, the musty smell of aged parchment and scrolls hanging over his head from the mountainous bookshelves lining the walls. Sipping quickly at the steeping brew, he opened a pot of ink and began.

"The autumn is crisp here, mother, and the people friendly. I hope you are doing well, at least as well as I am faring here, and that your hip is bothering you no more than before…"

---To be continued---