Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Come What May ❯ Chapter 5 ( Chapter 5 )

Come What May--A Sailor Moon/Rurouni Kenshin Crossover Fanfiction

DISCLAIMER: Characters do not belong to me; they belong to Takeuchi Naoko-sama and Nobuhiro Watsuki-sama (Aren't those two just wonderful?).

*I'm setting this story in the Sailor Moon anime continuity, one year after the Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Season. Usagi and the Inner Senshi are 17 year olds and Mamoru is 23 years old. For the Rurouni Kenshin part of the story, I am using the anime up till the "Kyoto arc" and then I switch to the manga for the "Revenge arc". As always, if you are not familiar with any these two animes, be prepared for some spoilage, light or otherwise.*

Chapter 5

By: Hime

Updates at himes_fanfiction-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

~*~*~*~

"Some love lasts a lifetime. True love lasts forever."

-Unknown

~*~*~*~

"Yes, thank you Tsukino-san, oh I mean Ikuko-san. Yes, starting on Monday would be great." Ryu paused, listening to Usagi's mother on the other end of the line before cutting her off, "No, no, Usagi-san is the one doing me the favor." As Ikuko-san began talking again, Ryu started to bow his head in agreement even if she wasn't there to see him. "Yes, yes. Umm. Goodbye." He hung the phone up with a short sigh. Well, he had gotten permission from Usagi's mother to have Usagi look after his sons. Now all he had to do was to convince Yaruki that this was a good thing. Ryu didn't understand Yaruki's vehemence at the mention of Usagi looking after him and his brother. In his other lifetime, Yahiko seemed to dislike Kaoru but underneath it all, he genuinely cared and loved her. Now it seemed as if Yaruki hated Usagi at first glance. Ryu shook his head, a few stands of dusky red hair coming out of its tie. He pushed them back behind an ear and went to the twin's bedroom. He knocked lightly and heard Yuuki call out a greeting of entry. Opening the door, he saw Yuuki at his desk, doing his homework and Yaruki lying on his bed, facing the wall. Ryu could hear the muted sounds of explosion coming from the gameboy Yaruki held in his hands. He sat down on Yaruki's bed and reached over to take the machine from his son's hands.

"Hey, don't turn it off! I haven't saved it yet!" Yaruki cried out, trying to snatch his gameboy back. Ryu peacefully gave it back to his son. After saving his game, Yaruki turned to his father with a scowl on his face. "You probably want to talk to us."

"Yes. It's been a couple of years that Shinnosuke has been watching you two. I know how much you two enjoy his company," Ryu ignored Yaruki's snort and continued to speak, "but I think it's time that Shinnosuke starts to look toward his future. To that effect, Shinnosuke will now be going to study sessions to help him pass the college exam instead of looking after you two." There was a moment of silence before the twins broke out into gales of laughter.

"Shi-shinnosuke going to study session-" Yuuki couldn't even finish his sentence as he was laughing so hard. Ryu patiently waited for a few minutes for the twins to calm done but as they continued to laugh up a storm, he finally cleared his throat.

Giggle. "Ahem. There was more?" Yuuki managed to get out, still grinning from ear to ear.

"As I was saying, since Shinnosuke will be studying," the twins started to shake in silent laughter, "he won't be able to look after you two and so I have gotten someone else to take over his job." Yaruki stopped laughing and looked at his father.

"Tell me you didn't ask rabbit-girl to look after us!" Yaruki demanded.

"Her name is Usagi-san and yes, she will be the one to look after you."

"Who's Usagi?"

"Rabbit-girl is that blonde who gave us bus money the other day." Yaruki spat out, as if she had given them drugs instead of bus fare. The picture of the blonde girl's smile blossomed in Yuuki's head and he quickly looked down to hide the fact that he was blushing. 'So her name's Usagi.' He thought to himself.

Ryu ignored Yaruki's poisonous glares and continued, "She will be looking after you two, from after school until I return from work." Looking at Yaruki, Ryu said to him, "I want you to give her the same respect you give Shinnosuke." Thinking about that, a sweatdrop ran down Ryu's head and he hastily corrected himself. "I mean, I want you to give her the respect you would give to me." With his son sneering and glaring daggers at him, Ryu wanted to correct himself again but that would just make him look stupid. Instead he looked at Yuuki, hoping that he wouldn't be so vehement about a new babysitter. To his surprise, he found Yuuki staring at the wall with a small smile on his face. 'Well at least Yuuki's okay with it.'

"If Rooster-head can't look after us, why don't you let us look after ourselves? We're eleven, old enough don't you think to let us look after ourselves." Yaruki said, his mouth set in a straight line.

"You will have to look out for yourselves-She's only going to be with you on Monday through Friday afternoons. After your half day at school on Saturday, you both will be responsible for yourselves."

Just then, the sound of the front door opening and slamming shut made all of them jump. "Hey! Anyone home?" Shinnosuke called out from the living room. Yaruki jumped up and raced out of the room.

"Hey," Shinnosuke greeted Yaruki with a bandaged covered hand as the boy skidded to a stop in front of him, "what did Ryu cook for dinner?"

"Do you think you live here, you big jackass? Don't you have a barn to go home too?"

"What the hell are you yelling at me for, you little punk! Ryu invited me over for dinner!" Shinnosuke yelled at the boy in front of him, his mouth opened wide showing fangs. "So shove that up your ass and choke on it!"

"Maa, maa. I think you're getting your metaphor's mixed up again Shin." Ryu went over to stand behind his son, silent and glaring at the older male in front of him. Ryu had tried to get Shinnosuke to speak without swearing when they had first met in this lifetime, but gave it up as a lost cause. Shinnosuke would always be one to swear, no matter what incarnation. "As for dinner, I didn't get a chance to start cooking yet. Why don't we just order in?"

Shinnosuke immediately started to rub his hands together in anticipation, his anger forgotten at the mention of food. "Let's get some pizza."

Yaruki still glowered at the older boy but said, "I want teriyaki beef and bell peppers."

"We had that the last time," Yuuki complained as he came out of the bedroom, "let's get tuna."

"As the dinner guest," emphasis on the word 'guest', "I want mayonnaise and cuttlefish." Shinnosuke butted in.

The three began to argue, deciding who should choose which toppings they had on the pizza. Ryu gave a small cough and when he got their attention, he put his hand behind his head and gave a smile. "I personally like pineapples."

All three stared at him as if he was a freak before going back to arguing among themselves once more. A sweatdrop ran down Ryu's head before he turned away from them with a small frown. No one ever let him put pineapple on the pizza.

~*~*~*~

"Ah, now that was good pizza." Shinnosuke said with a satisfied smile, and picked his teeth with a toothpick.

"Which one?" Ryu asked him wryly. Finally they decided they would order two pizzas', one with teriyaki beef with bell peppers on one half and with tuna chunks on the other. Shinnosuke got his own pizza with his choice of topping and managed to eat it and all the leftovers of the other pizza also.

Shinnosuke tucked the toothpick into the corner of his mouth and kept it there, idly chewing on the end. "Now what did you want to talk to me about?" Shinnosuke questioned and got comfortable in the easy chair he now occupied. He and Ryu were sitting in the living room, the twins cleaning up in the kitchen. Ryu had told the two that he wanted to talk to Shinnosuke alone.

"Shinnosuke, do you ever think about your future?"

"Sure I do." Shinnosuke lazily scratched his belly, a bit round after his large meal. "I think about going to play the races tomorrow or going drinking

with-"

Ryu interrupted his friend before he went on, "No, I meant thinking about your future in terms of years. What are you planning on doing with your life?"

Now Shinnosuke looked at Ryu with more alert eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said. What are you planning on doing with your life? You can't mean to spend the next years taking care of the twins right?"

Shinnosuke jumped out of his chair. "Are you firing me? Is this what dinner was all about? Did Yanagi go squealing to you about my fight? Look, I know you said you didn't want me to get into any more trouble and I didn't! I was long gone before the cops even showed up!"

"Oro?" Ryu's eyes grew wide as Shinnosuke began babbling about some wussy ducking and hitting a wall and talking to a fox. "Shinnosuke, calm down. I haven't spoken to Yanagi-san since a couple of days ago."

Shinnosuke immediately went quiet and sat back in his chair once more. "Oh. Never mind then."

Ryu looked at the teenager from the corners of his eyes. Shinnosuke gave him a wide grin that showed off most of his teeth. "And as for firing you, yes I am doing that and yes that was what this dinner was all about." Ryu held up his hand to stave off any questions from Shinnosuke as he began to speak again. "And I'm not firing you because you got into a fight even after I asked you not too." Shinnosuke gave him an unapologetic grin. Ryu shook his head in slight exasperation and gave a small sigh before continuing. "I want you to go to college, Shin."

Shinnosuke looked at Ryu with a stunned look on his face before breaking out into laughter. "No, really? Why are firing me for?" He cocked his head to the side and gave a smirk before giving Ryu a nudge in his side with his elbow, "What, found a honey and now you want to set her up in style? I'll have you know that you don't pay enough for something like that."

'Orooo.' Ryu thought to himself and almost winced before catching himself. "No, I really do want you to go to college. What are you going to do when you're twenty-five? When you're thirty? You're going to need a college education if you want to get a good job."

Shinnosuke leaned forward to look Ryu in the eyes. He gave a low whistled and said, "Wow, you're serious. But me in college? I mean, let's get real here. I don't have that kind of money and I could never past the entrance exam."

"But if you pass the exam and got the money, would you go?"

Shinnosuke gave him a guarded look. "I guess." He finally said slowly after thinking about it for a moment.

"Then it's settled. You'll go to study sessions on Saturday's and cram school on the weekdays. If all you do is study from now until the test, I'm sure you'll pass."

"Right." Shinnosuke drawled out and looked at Ryu as if he was crazy. "Study from now until the test? I don't think so!"

"And doing nothing with your life would be better?"

"Hey! I am doing something with my life! I'm, I'm-"

"No your not. But you could be. Just try, Shinnosuke, not for me, but for yourself. You're the one that's going to have to live your life." Ryu implored the young man.

Shinnosuke groaned and ducked his head down. Finally he looked at Ryu with a pissed off expression. "Crap. This means I'm going to have homework again."

Ryu let out a relieved sigh. He was afraid for a moment that Shinnosuke wouldn't go along with his plan. "Alright then. You go to a study session on Saturday with Usagi-san and-"

"Wait a minute! Who's Usagi-san?"

Kenshin thought about how to describe Usagi. "You know the twin's kendo instructor? Well Usagi-san is his girlfriend. She's also going to be watching the twin's after school, except for Thursday afternoon's when the twin's go to their kendo lesson and on Saturday when she goes to her study sessions."

"You only know Usagi as the kendo teacher's girlfriend and you're just going to let her watch your kids?"

"Actually, I had met Usagi years ago, I only just now met up with her again." Ryu smiled at Shinnosuke. 'Technically it was true.' Ryu thought to himself, 'I did meet her years ago, though centuries would be a more apt description.'

"But still, even if you know her, she's still a stranger to your kids."

"Well all three of you have met her accidentally. Remember the day you gambled away the bus money to get home?" This time a sweatdrop ran down Shinosuke's head. "Well Usagi-san's the girl who gave you money for the ride home."

"That blonde girl's Usagi? Isn't she too young to be dating a kendo instructor? I mean she looked fifteen or something."

"Usagi-san is seventeen and the kendo instructor is still in college."

"Hey! If she's only seventeen, why am I going to a study session with her? She's not going to college for another year!"

"Yes but her friend is already making Usagi-san and some other girls study for the college entrance exam."

"So if I go to this study session, then I will be taught by Usagi's smart female friend and surrounded by her other girlfriends?" Ryu nodded his head 'yes' with amusement.

"Well if it'll help me get into college, I guess sacrifices will have to be made." Shinnosuke leaned back into his chair with a huge grin on his face. "So tell me, are these friends of Usagi's cute?"

~*~*~*~

"Setsuna-chan? Who's Chibi-Usa?"

The question seemed to hang in the air between the two, almost taking physical shape. Setsuna looked at Usagi with a growing horror in her eyes. Since Setsuna was so silent, Usagi asked her question again. "Who's Chibi-Usa? Is she a friend from the future?" she asked innocently.

"Yes." Setsuna managed to get out, "Chi-she's a friend from the future." She stood up in one fluid motion. "Let's get you home. It's late." She helped Usagi stand and started a brisk walk toward the Tsukino residence. After several false starts, Usagi stopped trying to start a conversation and instead concentrated on keeping up with Setsuna's ground-eating strides. Walking with Setsuna was like trying to keep up with the wind, and Usagi grinned at the thought as it reminded her of Haruka-chan and Michiru-chan. They were both touring Europe together, playing for large audiences, Michiru on her violin and Haruka accompanying her on the piano. 'I wonder if they got the letter I wrote to them.' Then Usagi grinned foolishly to herself. 'Oh yeah, forgot to mail it. Tomorrow, I'll do it tomorrow.' Soon enough the two were in front of Usagi's home, stopping in front of the metal gate.

"Would you like to come in, Setsuna-chan?"

"Not this time. I have to get back to the Time Gates. I will see you later." Setsuna turned from her Princess and seemed to vanish within the space of shadows from one lamppost to the next. Usagi waved to the Guardian of Time even though she knew that Setsuna wouldn't look back at her. 'Ah well.' Usagi said to herself with a shrug.

"I'm home!" she shouted as she stepped through her front door. As she bent over to take off her shoes, Usagi heard footsteps heading her way.

"Usagi, a Kohakume-san has called asking permission for you to look after his twin son's. Do you know anything about this?"

"Umm, his twin son's are taught kendo by Mamo-chan and they needed a new sitter so I volunteered. It'll be okay, right? I mean I'll still study on Saturday and Sunday, and really I still have a year to go before I actually have to start worrying about college exams. I should be able to do this since I've been so responsible lately."

"Responsible lately? Do you know how many times you've been late to school in the past month? Have you cleaned up your room like I how asked you to, a week ago?"

Usagi looked down at her feet, her face pink. She had forgotten about cleaning up her room, but then again even when she did do it, it became messy again within a week or so. Ikuko looked at her daughter and gave a sigh before placing her hand on Usagi's shoulder. "You say you have been acting responsible lately but I think you have more to go." Usagi cringed under her mother's hand. "That's why I'm allowing you to baby-sit in hopes that this will experience will help you learn to be more reliable."

It took a moment or two for Usagi's brain to process what her mother said before she raised her eyes and looked at her. When Ikuko nodded and gave her daughter a smile, Usagi gave a loud whoop and hugged her mother before jumping up and down in excitement. "This is going to be so great! I'll be really responsible, you'll see! I'll even clean my room after I come back from studying on Saturday!" Usagi gave her mother one last hug before racing toward the stairs. "Thank you, Mama." Usagi's thanks floated down the hallway toward her mother. Ikuko shook her head as she heard the pounding steps of her daughter as Usagi took the steps two at a time, something she hadn't done since she was in elementary school. No matter how old she would get, Usagi would always be Usagi.

~*~*~*~

Side Notes:

A note on the Japanese School System: In Japan, students go to school on Saturday's for half a day. Not sure why they do so, but I know they do.

Now it seemed as if Yaruki hated Usagi at first glance: Ah, poor clueless Ryu-chan. The reason Yaruki dislikes Usagi, if you guys haven't figured it out yet, is he fears that Usagi will steal his father away from him and his brother.

"Let's get some pizza.": In Japan, people do eat Italian/American-style pizza. They just use some really weird toppings such as mayonnaise (*shudder* I hate mayonnaise.) and other disgusting stuff. Don't believe me? If you ever go to Japan and check out Pizza Hut, you'll see. And yes, they really do have Pizza Hut's there.

Author's Notes:

Well for all you readers out there who missed Ryu in the last chapter, you got a big helping this time. Just in case y'all are wondering, I don't think the other outer Senshi will appear in this story, sorry to those who want them to show up. I really only needed Setsuna in this story. Perhaps if I need them, they will show up but I advise you to not hold your breath.

I was planning on writing more for this chapter but since I haven't posted for a while, I thought I should just end it here and post this sucker. You know writing on a schedule is hard. It's true-I'm not trying to get you readers to feel sorry for anything or me-I'm just telling it like it is. Well finals are all over and I feel pretty okay about what I'll be getting for grades. While I will have more time for writing now that school has ended, I do work over the vacation and school will start up again in January. And during the new semester, I will be starting up a new anime/manga club at school so I should be busy with that too. Wow, am I ever going to find time to write? I hope so, as I have to finish up this and my other story, Children of the Night. Ah well, we'll see how it goes, ne? I hope all of you had a Happy Holiday and I wish all of you a Merry New Year!

Hime

12/27/01

revised 4/17/02