Kindred Spirits 1/2

By Skye Silverwing

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these shows.

Chapter 1: A New Life (So to Speak)

The rain fell hard on the City of Los Angeles as a young girl with black hair and blue eyes hid from her pursuers inside a cardboard box. The ghostly vultures in the employ of the man she had once called father had been hounding her for weeks, ever since she had managed to escape his Lab with the assistance of her "cousin" Danny.

She wished desperately that they would leave her alone long enough to get a good night's sleep. Then perhaps she could try to fight against them. As it was, it was taking most of her will and energy just to hold her form together and resist melting into a puddle of ectoplasmic goo.

Thinking she had lost the blasted birds for once, she leaned heavily against the side of the box and let her eyes drift closed, the ratty sweat shirt, shorts and hat that she wore whenever she was in human form offered her a little warmth, and at least in the box she was dry.

She was just dropping off when a shiver ran down her spine and a puff of blue mist drifted out of her mouth. She was immediately awake, peeking out of the open end of the box. It did not take long for her to spot what had triggered her ghost-sense. Across the street, atop a dumpster, there stood a glowing green ghostly rat, looking in the opposite direction. She had always thought about how appropriate it was that such creatures worked for Vlad.

She suspected that the vultures had tracked her to this area and sent the rats to find her exact location, so that the more powerful ghosts could move in and finish her off. The rat had not found her yet, but it was only a matter of time, if she remained here.

Gathering her strength, she closed her eyes. A ring of light appeared around her waist, separating into two rings that traveled to the opposite ends of her body, replacing her clothes with a black and white outfit, including a form-fitting black and white shirt, gloves and pants and all white shoes. Her hair changed from black to white and her eyes became a ghostly glowing green. She turned intangible and phased through the back of the box, then through a chain link fence.

She found herself faced with a huge open area, where the rain glistened on the tarmacs that showed this to be the Los Angeles International Airport. As she watched, 500 yards from her position, a 747 taxied across the runway. With a sudden plan forming in her head, she turned invisible and shot out from her place by the fence, flying low and fast, and sliding intangibly through the hull of the plane into its cargo hold. She had no idea where the plane was headed, but it had to be better then here.

As she touched down inside the hold, she let out a startled gasp as a small pool of ectoplasm began to form at her feet. She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, willing the green goo back into her body.

Totally exhausted, she phased through a large crate and was pleasantly surprised to find it was full of soft cloth. Shifting back into her human form, she shifted some of the cloth around, creating a nice, warm comfortable spot, where she quickly curled up and fell asleep.

Little did young Danielle know, that upon the box that she had chosen for her sleep, next to the address information there was a note, written in Japanese.

"Dear Ranma, Genma, Soun and Family," the note read, "I have been having a great deal of fun in LA. The City of Angels is indeed home to some very lovely women. Thank-you for convincing Pantyhose to fly me here. I was a little concerned that you would be mad at me after the whole, 'drinking your cure at the wedding' thing, but then you arranged this nice vacation for me. How lucky a master I am to have such respectful students! I have been playing with local police, but they are not nearly as fun as Ranma in their attempts to stop me. In this crate is the first of several loads of my brand-new collection of silky darlings. I would appreciate it if you would put them with the rest of my stash (Ranma, you know where it is). I am determined to get one for every starlet on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, so I will be gone a while longer. Don't get soft in my absence. When I return I will expect improvement in all of my students. Sincerely, Happosai."

.o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o.

In his clock tower in the Ghost Zone, the Time Ghost called Clockwork shivered. Something had happened that he had not foreseen. Using his powers, he viewed the Ghost Boy's clone. Much to his surprise, he realized that she had left his Jurisdiction. Running time back, he found that, in a single moment, she had somehow connected with a chaos beacon. Even Clockwork could not foresee events connected to such beacons before they happened. Nor could he time travel to change them.

The Time Ghost shifted to an elderly state as he checked all the current data. The box was bound for Japan. Setsuna's Jurisdiction. The old ghost's form shifted to that of a child as he chuckled at the thought of a wildly bouncing ball of chaos impacting the careful stack of events that Plutonian Princess was trying to build. Summoning a bowl of popcorn and a reclining chair, he sent the "Guardian of Time" a simple message.

"A Halfa is coming."

.o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o.

"A Halfa is coming."

Setsuna Meioh's head popped up. Her Key to the Gates of Time appeared in her hand and she checked the probable futures again. There seemed to be no change, but she knew that there was no place in it where a halfa, whatever that was, could fit. It could only mean that it was an event connected to a Chaos Beacon. This could endanger Crystal Tokyo.

She did not know what to look for, but she tried checking events around the nearest Chaos Beacon she knew of. She could not let fifteen thousand years of preparation be ruined by one random event, but for now at least, she could only wait and watch and do all she could to stop whatever came.

.o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o.

Kasumi Tendo stood in her kitchen, smiling thoughtfully. In the time since the last attempt to get her sister, Akane, to marry her fiancé, Ranma Saotome, she had found herself cooking less and less for the boy. It disturbed her somewhat that despite their best intentions, Ranma's other girlfriends simply would not stop shoving food into his mouth in an attempt to bribe him into choosing them. For Kasumi, food was a manner of expressing her feelings for her family, not some paltry attempt to convince them to love her. Food should reflect the feeling of the one who cooked it, not those that the cook wishes to instill in the one eating it.

It was this philosophy that caused her to smile now, as she cooked a special meal for Ranma, while the rest of her family was out. The boy, who was currently in female form due to the recent rain and temporary lack of hot water, was standing next to her, assisting her in the labor of making Dinner for just the two of them. She was smiling, too.

For Ranma, this was a truly rare moment. Ukyo Kuonji, Cologne, and Shampoo had gone to a small business owner's convention in Hokkaido, and would not return until the next day. Akane and her middle sister, Nabiki, were in Osaka, checking out a college Nabiki intended to attend, Soun Tendo and Ranma's father, Genma, were out drinking and bemoaning that one of Soun's daughters would soon be leaving him, Kodachi Kuno had rolled her ankle in her last Gymnastics match, so she and her brother, Tatewaki had flown out of the country to have it looked at by the best physicians in the world. To top it all off, Ryoga was lost. That meant that no one was around to fight, glomp, mallet, spatula, charge, or otherwise distract her from her task of helping the Eldest Tendo Daughter with their dinner.

They were just putting on the finishing touches when the doorbell rang. Kasumi hurried to see who it was like a good hostess. Ranma sighed. She liked it when she had the chance to spend time with Kasumi.

After a few moments the Elder girl returned. "Ranma-kun, it seems that Grandfather Happosai sent a package from America." She said pleasantly, showing Ranma the note that had been attached. "Could you bring it in and put it in his room as he asks?"

If it had been anyone else, Ranma would have given a snide remark or threatened to burn the crate and everything inside. It was, after all, Happosai's fault that she was still stuck turning into a girl when she got hit by cold water. He drank the cure.

This was, however, Kasumi asking, so Ranma smiled. "Sure thing, Kasumi." She said, heading into the living room and lifting the crate.

As she hauled the crate into the other room, something inside it shifted with a soft thump, causing Ranma to stiffen. Happosai had claimed in his note that he was not going to be back for a while, so that could not be him inside the box. With her mind rushing through the possibilities, Ranma extended her ki senses into the box, detecting a small, diminishing source of ki.

Concerned, she tore the lid of the box open.

Back in the Kitchen, Kasumi prepared the food so that the two of them could eat as soon as Ranma returned. She knew that Ranma was mad at Happosai over what had happened at the Wedding, as well as numerous other things, but she was determined to help everyone who lived in her home get along no matter what.

A concerned cry suddenly rang out. "Kasumi!" Ranma dashed into the room, carrying an unconscious child in her arms. She laid the girl next to the table. The poor child looked pale and drawn.

Kasumi moved quickly to her side. "Oh, my!" She said, placing a hand on the child's forehead and then checking her vitals. "Ranma, this girl is half starved, and she seems to be suffering from some kind of ki poisoning! Call Dr. Tofu, tell him it is an emergency!"

.o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o.

Usagi Tsukino and Minako Aino sprinted side-by-side up the stairs and across the yard of the Hikawa shine. Both had heard Makoto's dire threat and neither wanted to be the one on which it was focused.

Charging through the last few feet, the race was decided when Usagi slammed head-long into one of the supports holding up the porch roof. As she lay twitching on the ground, Minako entered the meeting room and turned around. "I win!" she declared, holding up her fingers in a "V" sign.

Makoto Kino sighed. "Usagi, you are the last to arrive," she said, knowing full well what their Future Queen's response would be, "So you don't get to eat any of my fresh-baked cookies."

The blond girl sat up where she was. "But… But… The pole got in my way…" She said, whimpering for a few moments before the flood Gates opened. "WAAAA!!! I want a cookie!!!"

Haruka Tenoh and Michiru Kaioh smiled at the princess's antics and turned back to watching their adopted daughter, Hotaru, as she taught her best friend, Chibi-Usa, the future daughter of Usagi, to play cat's cradle.

Ami Mizuno glanced up from the book she was reading, sighed and went back to it as Makoto handed Minako her prize.

Rei Hino rolled her eyes. This was how things had been since the fall of Sailor Galaxia. The Senshi would plan to have a meeting, but with few new monsters and no new enemies, there wasn't a particularly large amount of Senshi business to discuss. Most of the time, the meetings degenerated into social visits. The nine girls would just sit around and enjoy the pleasant company, while musing about how their lives would change when they finally brought about their ultimate destiny, Crystal Tokyo.

Today was different, though. As the Miko of the Shrine, Rei performed fire readings that often allowed her to foresee events of import in the near future, and she had seen something in a recent attempt that had caused her some concern.

Rei looked down at the sobbing form of their leader. "Usagi, quit blubbering!" she said, "We don't have time for this. We have serious business to discuss."

Suddenly, all attention was focused on the raven-haired miko. Even Usagi instantly stopped her tantrum to stare at her. "Business?" she said, "As in, 'World in Peril' kind of business?"

Rei nodded. "I did a fire reading last night." She said, "In the reading, I saw a pair of beings with white hair and green eyes standing before a swirling green vortex, and as they stood there, a host of evil beings poured out, threatening everything we love."

The girls looked at each other in shock. "But didn't Setsuna say we didn't have anything big to worry about from now on?" Minako asked, looking at Haruka and Michiru, who lived with the Time Senshi when she was home.

"Yes, I did." Setsuna said, suddenly appearing behind Usagi and making her jump. "Unfortunately whatever is coming is connected to a Chaos Beacon, which means I can't foresee it."

"Chaos Beacon?" Ami asked, looking concerned. Chaos had been the force behind Galaxia, after all.

Setsuna smiled reassuringly at the blue-haired girl. "Consider it to be a kind of defense against an individual misusing the Gates or other methods of time manipulation." She said. "Chaos Beacons are invisible to the Gates, so the Gates cannot see the events they trigger until they happen. I received a warning this morning from an old friend that something is coming, but I wasn't sure what. Now I am certain that whatever it is, it is a threat to us and everything we have worked for."

Chibi-Usa gasped. "You mean it might endanger Crystal Tokyo?" she asked.

Setsuna gave the eight-year-old a sympathetic look. Crystal Tokyo was the girl's home before she came back in time, and her mother and father were there. "Yes." She said, "Crystal Tokyo may not come to pass if we cannot find a way to stop this threat."

The rest of the girls frowned. This could be a threat to everything they held dear. The thought of losing their happy ending was depressing.

Usagi raised her hand. "Umm… I have a question." She said. Everyone looked at the twin-ponytailed girl. "Since Setsuna came in after me, does that mean I can have a cookie?"

Everyone face-faulted.

.o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o.

Dr. Tofu Ono hurried to the Tendo Dojo as quickly as his martial arts training would allow. He vaulted walls and jumped from rooftop to rooftop in a manner not unlike the person who called him for this house call.

Tofu was not the type of man to go charging across the ward like that, but Ranma had seemed frantic when she had called, begging the Doctor to come as quickly as humanly possible so he could help a child that Ranma had found in a crate.

What really concerned the Doctor was that the boy (then a girl) had told him that the child seemed to have some sort of ki-poisoning. He just hoped that he could get there in time.

As he reached the wall of the Tendo compound, he vaulted over it, landing in the yard and entering the house. "Ranma!" he called, "Where is the patient?"

Hearing the Girl call to him from the Kitchen, Tofu hurried into the room and was stopped dead by the sight of Kasumi sitting next to the small form of the child in question with the red-headed girl-type Ranma hovering worriedly nearby. Kasumi was sitting there, carefully spooning some soup into the child's mouth, making sure that the little girl swallowed it.

Ranma saw the look on the Doctor's face change, his glasses suddenly fogging up with the madness that always overcame him when Kasumi was near him. "K-K-Kasumi…" the Doctor stuttered. "Fancy meeting you here…"

That was as far as he got, because in the next moment, Kasumi had stood, crossed the room and slapped him across the face. Hard. "There will be none of that, Doctor!" she said, a stern look on her face as the bewildered doctor snapped back to himself. "This girl is very sick, and she needs your attention right now!"

Dr. Tofu just nodded and moved to the child's side while Ranma stared at Kasumi like she had grown a second head.

Tofu carefully examined the girl, checking her vitals and physical health. He quickly determined that she was suffering from exposure and lack of oxygen, which made sense given her means of transport. He also found that she was suffering from exhaustion and minor starvation. Other than that, she seemed to be fine, physically. When he extended his ki senses, to read the girl's ki flows, however, his examination told a different story.

Tofu rubbed his eyes and looked again. "This girl's ki… it is half dead." He said, eliciting a gasp from Ranma and a concerned look from Kasumi.

"How is that possible?" Kasumi asked. "I thought dead ki only occurred in a living creature when a part of their body is dead, like with gangrene or frostbite. None of this girl's tissue seems to be dying."

Tofu was glad that the girl had retained so much of what he had taught her before his Kasumi madness began to set in. "I am not sure." He said. "The strange thing is that the Dead ki seems to be spread through her body. If not for the living ki mixed with it in equal portions I would believe this girl was a ghost or something similar."

Ranma looked at Dr. Tofu, a very serious look on her face. "What can we do for her, Doc?" she asked.

Tofu sighed. "I am not really sure." He said, "For now, we should treat her for the oxygen deprivation and exposure from being in a crate on a plane, feed her and put her to bed. She seems to be exhausted."

Ranma carefully lifted the girl and took her into Kasumi's room while Kasumi prepared something a little more high in nutrition. Dr. Tofu administered some minor medications as the red-head sat with the girl's head in her lap.

When Tofu was done, he smiled to see the girl curl up, cuddling nearer to the feminized Jusenkyo victim, causing her to blush slightly.

Tofu sighed. "Ranma, if we are going to do anything about the girl's ki, we will need someone with more experience than Me." He said.

Ranma understood what he meant. "So I need to go see Cologne Tomorrow." She said simply. Tofu nodded. Ranma sighed. "She will want something in return, but if she can help, I will do it."

Tofu nodded again and then departed.

When Kasumi returned she found Ranma asleep with the girl curled up next to her. The Eldest Tendo was so touched by the scene, that she put set the food aside and lay down next to them, opposite Ranma, drifting off to sleep herself.

.o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o.

A.N. Yes, I am planning on doing the whole Ranma vs. the Senshi thing, at least a little. Yes, I am planning on RanmaxKasumi as the main romance, though this is really a "Ranma in a parental role" fic, so any fiancé that decides to help him with that is likely to improve her odds. Yes, there is a high probability of more than one other Halfa showing up. Finally, there is a chance of a Halfa in a Fuku. *grins* Let me know what you think.