For the Love of the Moon

Chapter One

Beyond the Clouds

Disclaimer: I don't own any anime so that obviously includes Ranma ½ and Sailor Moon. Ranma ½ beings to Rukio Takahashi (I think that's how you spell it) and I have no idea who Sailor Moon belongs to.

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"Dear Mom,

How are things going back home? I'm enjoying my training with Dad in China. Tomorrow we're going to Jusenkyo, I'm really excited. It's supposed to be a really nice place so I promise not to let dad go too overboard. I'm really enjoying being in China, even though we had to swim here because dad was too cheap to buy boat tickets!

Don't worry though, I'm fine. Tonight we're staying in a cabin and I'm writing this letter by moonlight since I'm currently on the roof. There's a really beautiful full moon tonight. Well, I'd better get to bed now; we've got an early start tomorrow if we want to make it to Jusenkyo by the afternoon. See you in my next letter.

Your Loving Daughter,

Ranma."

The girl with the blazing red hair smiled and hopped off the roof with ease, landing next to the mailbox. Sliding her letter through, Ranma Saotome smiled and crept into the cabin, crawling onto her futon next to her fathers and easily falling asleep.

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A particularly round queen with silver hair and blue eyes sat back in her plush red velvet chair. She closed her eyes and laid a hand on her stomach with a light sigh, earning a concerned look from the woman beside her.

"You alright, Ren?" A familiar voice asked. Queen Serenity of the Silver Moon Kingdom opened her eyes and smiled at the concerned greenish black haired woman.

"I'm fine, Set-Chan." The woman frowned.

"Are you sure? Do you need a pillow? Or take a nap? Maybe something to eat? Or –"

"Setsuna." The rambling woman stopped and peered into the eyes of her best friend and queen.

"I'm really alright. The girls are just restless is all." Setsuna looked right through her best friend's smile and saw the carefully hidden strain.

"You haven't been sleeping well, have you?" The silver haired woman sighed again, this time not even bothering to hide her fatigue.

"You always see right through me, Set-Chan." The green and black haired woman moved over to her best friend's side with a smile.

"It's my job." The queen raised a delicate brow.

"Oh, which would that be?" Setsuna grinned.

"Being your best friend. It isn't easy, you know." Serenity stuck out her tongue, causing the other woman to laugh lightly before turning serious again.

"Seriously though, Ren-Chan, you really should be taking it easy and resting. I'm not just here for laughs. I can at least take some traffic while you rest." The queen sighed lightly.

"I can't do that, Setsuna. I'm queen and queens don't take breaks. You know how it is, things to do, people to see, empires to convert." Setsuna sighed lightly but smiled.

"Tell you what, if you rest a little then I'll go to the kitchen and see about getting you a couple slices of Jupiter cheesecake." Blue eyes sparkled at the thought and she sighed. She never could resist her all-time favorite dessert especially now that she was pregnant with fraternal twins. She was rather tired …

"Well, alright but these better be big slices." Setsuna laughed, rising to her feet and walking to the double doors to the hallway from the queen's office.

"I'll make sure of that personally." Closing the door, Serenity let her head rest against the cushioned chair with another sigh and closing her eyes. She … really was … tired …

Setsuna arrived back only fifteen minutes later to find her best friend and queen passed out in her favorite chair behind her desk. With a smile, she set the pieces of the cake on the desk and picked up a blanket that had been folded on a foot stool, sprawling it over her very pregnant best friend.

Clicking out the light, Setsuna found her way to the door easily, silently opening it and then closing it after her.

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"RANMA!! GET UP!!" The red haired girl groaned a little bit, squeezing her eyes tighter together, pulling the blanket over her head. Dad was always so flipping noisy in the morning …

With a growl, the man grabbed the futon his daughter was sleeping on and effectively flipped her off it. The girl landed against a wall with a hard thump and rubbed her head painfully.

"What'd you do that for?! That hurt!!" The man just grinned at his success.

"Hurry up and get dressed, Ranma, we're leaving for Jusenkyo!" Letting out an exasperated sigh, she changed out of her cotton pants and t-shirt and into her regular Chinese outfit.

She rolled her eyes, ignoring her father's voice as she gathered all her things up and opened the door just in time to see the guide that had arrived to lead them to Jusenkyo. The guide smiled at her and she did her best to return the smile though she honestly didn't feel like smiling, or training, which was strange but last night's dream was even stranger.

Absently she followed the guide and her father, carrying her backpack, answering when needed but mostly remaining silent and in thought until they reached their destination.

"This is Jusenkyo, home of – "He stopped short when a couple of thumps came from behind him. The girl's father, Genma Saotome, hopped up onto one of the bamboo poles.

"C'mon, Ranma!" The girl grinned and followed her father who taunted her.

"You're asking for it, old man!" Genma Saotome leaped at his daughter and she leaped at him, effectively knocking him down into one of the pools and landing back on her pole with a chuckle.

"We done already, pops?" Her eyes nearly bulged out of her skull when a giant panda suddenly burst out of the spring that her father had fallen in.

"What the hell?!" She demanded right before the panda charged at her, sending her flying into another spring. The girl struggled to the surface, feeling like something was dragging her down before finally coming to the surface.

"Ah, sir, you fall in spring of drowned boy. Very tragic story of boy who drown in spring 1,500 year ago." The girl turned boys eyes widened as he noticed the tightness of his clothes and the change of hair color and the growth and loss of … obvious body parts. Opening his shirt, all he saw was a flat chest and then with a hand diving under the water, he pulled his pants away from his waist and the most girlish scream to ever come from a guy erupted from the girl turned guy.

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Somewhere in Nerimna, Soun Tendo looked at the letter he just received and shouted with absolute joy. Kasumi, his eldest daughter blinked curiously and walked into the room where her father was.

"Father, are you alright?" The middle aged man whirled around to his daughter with a smile.

"I'm more than alright, Kasumi! I just received a letter from my dear friend Genma Saotome saying that he's coming here today with his son Ranma! Now the two schools can finally merge together!" Kasumi blinked but smiled anyways.

"I'll go start preparing dinner then." Soun Tendo made a fist, taking a stance.

"I have to go get your sister's together! Nabiki! Akane!"

Just down the street, a boy and a panda fought viciously, using anything and everything to win.

"Just leave me alone! I'm going back to China so I can figure out how to remove this stupid curse!" The boy yelled at the panda angrily, only to receive a growl from said panda.

They ran down the street, the boy effectively knocking the panda over with a roundhouse kick before picking up his backpack again. With a bit of 'humph' he turned on his heel and began walking back the way they came, not noticing the panda rise holding a stop sign in his paw.

Whacking the boy over the head, he dropped the sign and picked up the unconscious body and the pack before turning around and walking down the street, not even seeming to notice the rain or the stares.

Back at the Tendo residence, the three girls and one nervous father sat around a low table, cups of tea in front of them when the doorbell rang and Kasumi got up from her position to greet their guests only to have an 'oh my' flow to her families ears.

"What is it, Kasumi?" Akane asked, getting up and padding towards the door only to stop in her tracks as a giant panda carrying a handsome and now fully conscious dark haired boy.

"Put me down you oversized stuffed toy!" The boy yelled loudly, swinging his arms and legs wildly and … not acting like any boy Akane had ever seen. The panda set the pack down and then pulled out a piece of paper, handing it to Kasumi. The girl frowned lightly and handed it to her father.

"Father, this panda claims to be your friend, Mr. Saotome. He's … also requesting some warm water." The Tendos huddled around the letter and Soun cleared his throat.

"Nabiki, go fetch some warm water for our guest." The middle Tendo nodded and disappeared into the kitchen for a minute, coming back with a small glass of warm water. Handing it to the panda, the occupants of the house watched in amazement as the panda shifted into a man wearing some sort of bandanna and training robe with glasses.

"SAOTOME!!" Soun suddenly yelled, being greeted in much of the same way.

"TENDO!!" The two males hugged each other and began talking wildly before realizing they had an audience. Ranma just rolled his eyes and noticed that he was being stared at quite intently by the three females that sat across the table from him. A blush came to his cheeks and he glared at them.

"W-what? It's rude to stare, y'know." Nabiki raised a brow.

"Now that is definitely something I've never heard a guy say before." Ranma blushed again, not really eager to let them in on the fact that he was really a she, for the most part anyways. With a sigh, he got up and headed to the door.

"I'm going back to China." He stated flatly, sending a glare at his father. Genma Saotome jumped up and blocked his son's way.

"Boy, you can't leave! You've been fated to carrying on the School of Anything Goes Martial Arts and the Tendo training hall." This made the part-time boy stop in his attempts of getting around his part-time panda father.

"What did you say?" The man stopped and straightened his robs, trying not to show his fear. Clearing his throat, he motioned to the girls behind them.

"It was arranged before you were born. You are to marry one of the Tendo daughters and carrying on the School of Anything Goes Martial Arts and the Tendo training hall." Ranma cracked his knuckles, not noticing the shiver that went down his father's spine.

"Are you trying to tell me that you engaged me to one of those girls before I was even born?" Genma Saotome gulped.

"Um … yes?" Turning his back to his father, Ranma let out a breath and waited for the relieved exhale that came from behind him. In one swift movement, Genma Saotome, the part-time panda was lying unconscious on the ground. Ranma stalked out the door and jumped onto the roof.

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"Hey!" Ranma opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was the moon, the crescent moon and it made him long for home. Frowning, he shook his head, deciding to think about that particular happening later and leaned over the roofs edge.

He saw the oldest Tendo girl and blinked a few times. What was her name again? Kasumi? Yeah, Kasumi. She was pretty cute and wasn't badly built either. Ranma's eyes widened at the thought and shook his head violently, falling off the roof in the process, shrieking a very girly but manly shriek, even though she figured that most guys wouldn't shriek.

"Oh my gosh! Are you okay?!" Kasumi stared out the window at the boy as she watched him sit up and rub his head.

"Yeah … I'm fine." I'm just cursed and engaged to a girl even though I'm a girl. Well …part girl anyways …

"Well, I just wanted to let you know that the bath is free." Ranma nodded and stood up.

"Thanks. I'll go use it now." Walking into the house and into the bathroom, he leaned against the closed door, tears coming to his eyes but he shook his head and rubbed his eyes, a sniffle escaping from his lips.

"I just … want to go home … but … where is that?" After a minute of gathering himself, he stripped down and turned on the warm water, feeling a little better when his body shifted and she was now back to the gender she was born into.

Climbing into the tub after a few minutes, she leaned back and closed her eyes, a slow smile creeping onto her lips. Yes … this is what she needed. A good, hot bath to get her mind off her strange dreams and … speaking of strange, why did it feel like she knew those two people in her dream? Like … she was really supposed to know who they were but she couldn't recall it for the life of her. Sighing, she just shook her now red head and pushed the thought out of her mind.

After a few more minutes of soaking up the very nice feeling liquid, Ranma lifted herself out of the tub, looking up at the very naked Akane who opened the door. The two females stared at each other for a minute before Akane finally spoke.

"Oh, excuse me. I didn't know someone was using the bath." Closing the door, she got dressed and walked down to the kitchen to Kasumi.

"Kasumi, who's that girl in the bath?" The eldest Tendo daughter blinked a few times.

"Girl? I don't know about any girl but I told Ranma that the bath was free so I assumed that he was using it." After a few silent seconds, Ranma strode into the kitchen with a towel around her neck and an ashamed look upon herself.

"Excuse me but, I'm Ranma Saotome."

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It was around that time when a dark cat with a crescent moon on its forehead strode around the Tendo property. The cat hopped onto the wall and sat down, watching with careful eyes of the actions that was going on inside the house. She could easily feel the magical power radiating from the red haired girl and she frowned a little bit. The girl matched the description from her memories, though those were a little hazy. Only one real way to find out, however, so she made herself comfortable on the wall, waiting until all had gone to their respective bedrooms before making her move.

Easily finding her way into the room of the red haired girl and jumped from the window sill onto the floor without a sound. Just a quietly, she moved so she was standing on the girl's chest, her eyes studying the girl's face and nodded lightly. She was definitely the one and she had already taken care of her other charge, the one that bared the most resemblance to her Queen with two odangoes on either side of her head.

The cat paused when the girl beneath her shifted and moaned lightly in her sleep, murmuring "mother" as she rolled to her side. A small smile came to the cat's features, proving that she only resembled a cat never mind actually was one. Apparently, the girl's memories were returning to her even before the magic within her had been awakened. No matter, it would only prove to make her job easier.

Jumping back onto the window sill, she looked at the girl one last time; her eyes falling on the colorful broach that rested in her palm before leaping gracefully back out into the dark night.

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Ranma Saotome slowly opened her eyes, a small sound of disapproval coming from her throat as the sun streamed in through the window and warmed her face. Sitting up, the blankets fell around her waist and she sleepily looked around the room, her brain slowly booting up. Her eyes rested on the window and she frowned a little bit, she could have sworn she closed the window last night. With a light shrug, feeling came back into her hand and she blinked, bringing her hand to her lap and staring at the strange broach that she was clutching in her hand.

Frowning again, she inspected it closer, slowly deciding that whatever it was, it was very expensive by the looks of the jewels on it and … she gasped as she opened it up. In the centre was a fair sized diamond and … there was some kind of power radiating off of it. Curious and a little worried even, she closed her eyes and mentally reached out towards the power that was coming off the jewel.

It … felt strange yet it felt familiar, like she knew it from somewhere but she couldn't figure out where for the life of her. Reaching out further, she tapped into the power source and a sudden rush of magic coursed through her body and she began feeling like she was changing …

A loud snore from her father broke her concentration and her eyes snapped to the still sleeping man beside her own futon and sighed, her heart still pounding. She looked back at the broach that was in her hand, realizing that her breathing was laboured, like she'd just run the longest run she'd ever ran and her hands were shaking.

The magic still pulsed from the centrepiece but she snapped it shut quickly, not really sure what to do with it so she stuffed it into her pocket as soon as she was dressed.

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