===== The Radiant Garden =====
Setsuna was modestly surprised to find herself within a modern dwelling. It was obviously not from an Earth culture, but many things about the small abode made it obvious that the culture was significantly advanced and civilized. Seeing some of the glowing devices in the room, she would say they either had magic or some very advanced technology.
The young bane of her life guided her over to a small wooden table with well-crafted wooden chairs and bid her sit and rest. Once she was seated, he finally let go of her hand. Then he looked over into the small kitchen area as if this might not be a house he was familiar with. "So, do you like tea or water? I'm not too sure we have any milk or fruit juice here."
Finding a little amusement in her host's confusion with apparently his own kitchen, Setsuna responded a bit more openly than previously. "Earl Gray tea would be nice."
Ranma for his part stared at her, confused as she expected him to be by her request. Then he surprised her by responding, "Ah sorry, not familiar with that region. Different worlds tend to name their teas and stuff after local regions. If I can just find where Angel stashed the tea, I'll let you pick."
Pleasantly surprised again at a bit of maturity from him, she was also quick to pick up on that bit of info. He spoke of different worlds a bit too casually, hinting at travel between worlds.
As he scurried about the kitchen and pantry, she also had an opportunity to study him with a calm eye now. She had first begun to notice on the strange bridge, but he was shorter than the Ranmas she was used to dealing with.
He was also cuter and a bit younger looking. If she had to place it, she'd say he was around 15. That might lead to a few complications. Ranma was naturally older than the senshi, which gave him that 'mature' charm, but it also tended to make the girls a little more restrained as his age made him a bit out of their reach.
The current Ranma was on par with most of the senshi now, though she thought he looked a bit more delicate looking. It was almost as if he had some of the features of his female form, yet she knew he'd just go from cute to bishounen heart throb when he got older. Now that she considered that, from the garments he was wearing, he reminded her of the Final Fantasy games Haruka liked to play. Give him a few more years and he'd be perfect bishounen material for a lead male in one.
This had her a bit worried though, especially since it looked like she might be stuck with Ranma if she wanted to do anything more worthwhile than crawling in a corner and being miserable. The old Ranma could easily get the attention of Makoto and Minako. The current younger and cuter looking Ranma would get the attention of even Ami and Rei, maybe even Haruka.
No check that, the Ranma before her just wouldn't have gotten the Senshi's attention as a possible love interest.
He would have been stalked. Ami would provide the surveillance and Rei the blessings. Minako would drool, and Makoto would bake the cookies to use as bait. Haruka might even drive them around.
Setsuna hadn't wanted to know, but Haruka had a thing for cute guys and girls. Macho guys tended to turn her off romantically, so she tended to like the more boyish types who she could coddle. It brought out an embarrassing amount of feminine squeals from the normally mannish woman, and was one of her secret reasons for playing the Final Fantasy type games.
Oh yeah, she was forgetting Hotaru. That girl would probably be smitten and only held back by her shyness. Michiru would probably grow to like Ranma. Usagi would likely give it her blessings, and then Ranma would neatly have a senshi harem.
Where she had tried time and again to prevent the various senshi from becoming Ranma's by a variety of means, she had now apparently evolved Ranma to the point where the majority of the senshi would just naturally fall in love with him.
...And she had the sinking feeling she would be spending a long time with him, and that if she wanted to find the senshi, she would need his help.
Of course, now there wasn't a future for Crystal Tokyo at all, so there wasn't any reason to stop the inevitable. Let the senshi have love and happiness, all they wanted. If it would bring the senshi happiness, she'd gladly be Ranma's Love slave if that were what it took.
Shaking her head violently, Setsuna banished that line of thought.
Before she could start worrying if maybe meddling in so many senshi harem timelines had warped her mind, the door opened, with a quiet yet heartfelt voice calling out, "Sempai?"
Spotting Ranma as he turned towards the voice, the recently arrival broke into a subtle yet quick running glomp, apparently quite relieved to find Ranma. "Sempai!"
Once he recovered from the glomp and was standing on his own feet, the glomped boy gingerly patted her on the back, attempting to be comforting yet calming to her emotions. "Sorry Angel. When I got here I found the book closed, so I had to pop in and rescue someone."
Finding that being a bit distant wasn't calming the emotional girl down, Ranma gave her a hug to truly comfort her. Then he recalled what he was doing and realized a distraction might be good, "Uhm, I was trying to make tea, but I couldn't find it."
Perking up suddenly, the petite girl slowly got her emotions under control before letting the poor boy go. "Oh! Let me do that."
Glad to have that little emergency over, Ranma plopped into a chair near the table to get his breath back. 'That girl is gonna have to learn her own strength one of these days.' he thought.
Setsuna, for her part in watching this, twitched violently. Finding it to be getting annoying, she clamped down on her emotions and then tried letting them go. Luckily she regained control of herself before Ranma got clear of the new girl.
Setsuna recognized the new girl of course. The hair was a bit longer, and her clothing a bit bigger, giving the impression she tried to hide in her clothing. That in turn only made her cuter, particularly the way she tucked her chin into the turtleneck of her top and her long bangs mostly hid her eyes.
She also had a pair of small functional white feathery wings that seemed to float in place at her back. The glowing wings were definitely a new addition, but the most surprising thing was she had the physical capability for a nice healthy glomp.
There were differences, but there was also no mistaking Hotaru Tomoe.
All the factors added together, she'd say Hotaru had been with Ranma more than a day. Probably a year at least if she had taken over his kitchen like that.
Noticing Setsuna's gaze, Ranma realized that introductions hadn't been made. That in mind he immediately set about introducing himself, "Oh, I forgot, I'm Ranma. Her name is Hotaru though people call her 'Angel'."
The aforementioned girl putting the kettle on to boil turned an accusing finger on Ranma, "Sempai calls me Angel."
Not getting the significance of that, the former time guardian decided to be polite to Hotaru at least. "I'm Setsuna, pleased to meet you both." coolly stated the guardian, dropping her Family name as they had because with the Earth gone, so were family lines.
As the host, Ranma did a fair imitation of nodding sagely before spoiling it by looking embarrassed, "Ah, Miss Setsuna, your ah, 'outfit' seems to be, well, decaying."
Looking down at her chest, Setsuna was displeased to note that indeed her outfit was decaying before her eyes. Judging by her limited sense of her powers, the suit would vanish leaving her nude the moment her senshi powers left her completely. It was surprising her powers had lasted this long, after all, Pluto had been destroyed along with the rest of her universe.
Given a moment to center himself, Ranma was handling the immanent demise of her clothing a bit better, "It's doesn't look too fast, so if you don't mind, we can have tea and snacks and then I'll take you to the dressmaker."
Setsuna was almost impressed with him, but managed to squash those feelings. It was definitely a better response than she would have expected from him or even half the senshi. "Unfortunately, I have nothing except my 'outfit' and my outfit will cease to be in a matter of hours. As such I can't afford clothing."
Trying to comfort her, Ranma responded without thinking, "Don't worry, I'll pay for it. I have a little money."
Grinning, Setsuna considered the opportunity before her. It might be a bit like that Tendo girl, but bilking Ranma out of his life savings while getting some nice clothes would likely be the best revenge she could manage. A great joy for fashion only added to this, and she was pretty sure she would have it all custom made anyways, which meant she had little to worry for strange local styles.
Since it had been Hotaru serving the tea, Setsuna had complimented the girl on her excellent tea and snacks. It had actually been an honest appreciation as the tea was fine and the snacks were of the freshly home-baked variety.
Now though Setsuna was in the Dress Maker's Shoppe and going through their materials, designs and stock outfits. Everything was of a quality that thrilled the would-be fashion designer, including the abilities of the seamstresses available. To give her time to work, she traded in her senshi outfit for an off the rack number that would tide her over.
Sadly taking her sweet time wasn't bothering Ranma in the slightest, as the bane of her existence was involved in quiet meditation over in a corner. He was probably faking sleep and apparently doing it to avoid the seamstresses messing with his outfit. Hotaru was sitting beside Ranma and apparently enjoying the relative quiet.
With only three hours consulting with the head seamstress and the others working on finishing up some items for taking home that day, Setsuna was quite pleased with herself. She had the best fabrics in any design that took her fancy and enough for an entire wardrobe.
Of course, such would bankrupt Ranma easily, so she had a modest amount of ready to take home clothing that he should be able to afford. Just having him weasel out of the custom made outfits would get him in trouble, not to mention the scale of her order. Smiling in happiness that was rare and pleasing to the green-haired girl, she called her victim over to the register. "Ranma, I'm all ready here. Just pay the nice ladies like you promised and we can be on our way."
Blinking awake, Ranma casually ambled over to the counter, his absence causing Hotaru to pout.
Once he was at the counter, he produced a gold bar, which was promptly put up for the taking.
Staring wide-eyed, the seamstress stationed at the counter made gestures to ward it off, "We can't take that!"
Unperturbed the young lad began producing other items that his outfit didn't have the room to conceal. The glowing crystal he sat down levitated in place, while the small fuzzy animal he put on the counter looked around and immediately hopping into the clerk's clothes in an attempt to find a cozy spot to curl up.
While the clerk was running around in excitement unable to stop Ranma, he continued piling treasures and small odds and ends on the counter.
In the end, Setsuna twitched as a horde a dragon would have been envious off piled on the counter, causing Ranma to stop as he ran out of counter space.
Finally with a furry critter in her hand and not in her dress, the clerk handed the fuzz-ball back to Ranma, who promptly made it disappear back into his outfit. Then she bowed to him before apologizing, "I'm sorry Sir, but we can't accept any of this."
Dejected, Ranma began putting everything away. This was when Hotaru made her presence know by Ranma's side by plaintively whining, "Seeemmmppaaaii. This is why no one lets you pay for anything anymore."
Seeing Ranma was still dejected, the clerk bowed again apologetically, "I'm sorry sir, but we couldn't make change for such expensive items. Besides, you already own our store."
Blinking, Ranma apparently remembered, cheering up instantly, "Oh yeah, I remember, all I wanted was my outfit sewn up. You can have the store back."
Amused, the seamstress related the tale in short form, "Sir, you gave us a three million Zenni gold bar for a 12 zenni stitch. Our store was only worth 160,000 Zenni at the time. We're still in your debt."
Seeing the young man was apparently getting dejected again, the seamstress clasped her hands in prayer, "Please, please, stop trying to give us more money. It's already bad enough for us to owe so much to you."
Embarrassed by his antics, Hotaru put an arm around Ranma, leading him out of the store while cheering him up, "Sempai, it's okay. Let the stores give you stuff. If you want to pay for something just tell me, I have your bank card after all."
Stunned beyond rational thought, Setsuna was jarred out of her shock when the seamstresses began gathering up her clothing for delivery, apparently preparing to deliver it themselves. Her shock left her with a pressing question. "Just how rich is he?"
Always up for a bit of gossip, the younger seamstress of the group leaned over conspiratorially, "Well, they say he just deposits any zenni he earns in the bank and never withdraws it. Just up and gave the bankcard to Hotaru so she could buy groceries with a billion zenni account. He tends to carry stuff around like gold bars, magical animals, ancient weapon, the kind of stuff treasure hunters spend their lives after so they can sell it and get rich...but instead of selling it he'll try ands give you a gold bar for an apple, so most of the vendors just give him everything on the house."
The older of the seamstresses butted in then, correcting a gap in her junior's story. "Of course he's a hero, so everyone already owes him. When he was a little scamp he earned stuff through odd jobs. He never got around to using money because he went right to the hero business. Good thing he has that girl to keep an eye on things for him, you know some unscrupulous type would take advantage of the lad."
Setsuna twitched when the old woman gave her a knowing glance.
Later that night in the bath, Setsuna had much to think about. She had managed to get a few more questions answered. Hotaru had been with Ranma for about ten years now and her world revolved around him. Ranma had been here possibly twenty years and he faintly remembered his life before, making him somewhere in his thirties maturity wise. Hotaru apparently blocked all memories before meeting Ranma because she couldn't stand them.
Ranma went around to various worlds helping in what ways he could and Hotaru was one of the girls he rescued that followed him home. He had also apparently given her some training as well.
Then there was the business with her 'heart attack'. Apparently when a heart closes here, the soul implodes around it creating a demon of darkness. Then if the person was strong enough their empty shell of a body turns into a Nobody. The Nobody devil types were light based and a fair bit more dangerous than the heartless. Also if you had been strong enough the nobody would essentially become a soulless fake of your prior self.
Setsuna had no doubt that Ranma had saved her from such a fate. The Nobody she would have formed would have likely used her face and name to stalk the rest of the senshi and seal their fates.
What was really on her mind however was what she was going to wear to bed.
Ranma's house was essentially one large loft style room and it had only one modestly sized bed. When questioned about why someone so obscenely wealthy as to disrupt local economy would live in a small house, Ranma had replied that it had belonged to 'Aerith' with some affection.
Sleeping in the same bed with Ranma and Hotaru wasn't the problem.
The problem was her little stab at Ranma had backfired. Expensive clothing meant lingerie, and all of her sleepwear was pretty indecent.
Sighing, Setsuna strode out into the room, sadly wearing the most modest outfit she had for bed. That it consisted of a mostly sheer nightgown with a ankle length skirt slit all the way up her right leg, which in turn showed glimpses of her tiny lace-band panties didn't say much for her sense of modesty.
From her position in bed, Hotaru took one look at Setsuna and leveled a glare at the older woman while hugging Ranma possessively. By comparison the younger girl was very modestly attired, her outfit a cat-girl hooded pajama dress with bloomers to cover her thighs. Only her face, hands and lower legs were bare. In addition, the outfit was so thick and plush as to make Hotaru like cuddling a warm stuffed animal.
Reacting in a bit of panic at a seductively dressed older woman, Ranma tried to get out of bed to sleep elsewhere. His offer and escape were put to a quick halt as Hotaru's possessive hug stopped him cold.
Setsuna was many things, but pampered was sadly one of them. Sleeping on the floor, sleeping in a bra, sleeping in regular clothes and any similar alternatives were immediately ignored.
Seeing his panic, Setsuna decided to indulge herself in a little guilty pleasure.
After climbing into bed, she promptly tried to suffocate Ranma in her cleavage.
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(Posted Mon, 19 Jun 2006 11:55)
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