Ranma sighed. As much as he enjoyed the idea of making new friends, having to wear this blasted school uniform was almost enough to make him reconsider the idea.
……Almost.
"Mm, handsome," Yoruichi teased, looking him over with a mock-appreciative eye. Ranma's face lit up in a blush. That was another thing. He was happy that Yoruichi-mama was his mother now, but she always just really liked to embarrass him.
Yoruichi chuckled. "Are you ready for this, Ranma? Do you have everything you need?" she asked then, not without a degree of seriousness.
Ranma sighed and nodded. "Hai." Bookbag, pencils, paper, ruler, cell phone with Urahara Shôten's private number on speed dial, bento wrapped in furoshiki—
—his shihakushô and both zanpakutô currently in reishi form "underneath" his school clothes, kikanshiki disguised as a Pez dispenser with extra charges just in case, hojiku-zai [flesh-healing medicine] for severe injuries… Ranma sighed again. Really, wasn't this a bit much just for the first day of school?
Yoruichi smiled tenderly at her new son. "Take care," she said tenderly, and wrapped him up in a brief motherly hug, "Have a good day."
As Ranma headed into the Karakura South Primary school grounds, a sensation flitted across Yoruichi's senses. Such an incredible reiatsu…
Tracking her gaze to find it, she spotted one boy in particular. Not that he wouldn't have been noticeable in any case – there was what seemed to be a permanent frown on his face, unusual as most children that age would have some thing or another to be happy about. His hair, too, was such a bright red colored that it was actually colored orange. That in itself too was a bit unusual, but far from the strangest thing Yoruichi had seen in terms of hair before – compared to that utterly outlandish hairstyle that Kenpachi Zaraki of 11th Company possessed, something such as this wasn't even worth mentioning!
Still, for someone so young to possess such an intense reiatsu – Ranma excluded, of course – Yoruichi resolved to keep an eye on this one. It could turn out to be important, someday.
"Class, we have a new student today. His name is Shihôin Ranma," the teacher said, quickly writing out the kanji for "four", "maple", "institution", "civil war", and "horse" on the blackboard. "Why don't you say hello, Shihôin-kun?"
Ranma took the hint, and bowed lightly to the class, "Ohayo, Shihôin Ranma desu. Yoroshiku." [Good morning, I am Ranma Shihôin. Nice to meet you.]
"Very well. Grab any of the free seats available, and we'll begin the class."
"Hai," Ranma replied, eyes searching out a place to sit. He chose one seat about midway back, near to the window. It was immediately behind this one frowning boy with orange-colored hair – as far as Ranma could tell, he wasn't frowning specifically at him, but just in general. There was also something odd about his reiatsu. Besides the fact that there was a lot of it, it seemed… muted, somehow. Hidden. Kind of like the inside of a soda pop bottle that had been shaken up – close-up, you could see there was a lot of pressure inside, but from a distance it didn't look any different than any other bottle. A Hollow probably wouldn't sense him as being any different than a normal human. Still, though, he didn't seem like a bad person, even with that ever-present frown.
As he passed by the boy's desk, the orange-hair himself looked up a bit, and their eyes inadvertently locked. Something silently passed between the two in that instant – not "sizing each other up" exactly, for it was not in a confrontational sort of sense; perhaps "judgment of character" might be more appropriate – but the result was that both felt this would be a person that they could trust. Neither knew just how they knew that, but there it was nonetheless. They gave each other a small, almost imperceptible nod as Ranma passed, and sat in the seat behind him.
Of lesser things than this are friendships formed.
Sailor Pluto sighed to herself. Ranma making friends with Ichigo Kurosaki, right off the bat? She could see it happening. Admittedly her knowledge of Kurosaki was more than a bit limited – Hollows being unable to exist in close proximity to the Senshi, the Soul Society had never had any reason to involve themselves with them, and so Pluto had never researched too deeply into them. An oversight that had really come to bite her in the ass, this time.
At least things were more or less on the right track now – as much of a "right track" as this whole chain of events could be, at any rate. Ranma would get the social skills he needed in order to interact in the human world, and his combat skills as a Shinigami would be a decent asset once he became involved with the Senshi.
As to that, Pluto felt she had at least narrowed down the probabilities of when Ranma and the Senshi would meet. Even at the earliest, the Senshi would already be Senshi when they were to first meet Ranma Shihôin. That meant that it could be anywhere from in the middle of the Dark Kingdom's offensive, to the Black Moon, to Pharaoh 90 and the Death Busters, to the Nehelenia and the Dead Moon Circus, to Galaxia's incursion into Earth space. Unfortunately, Pluto could not get any more specific than that.
In the end, she decided, all she could do was prepare as best she could, and hope the fallout to the timeline could be kept to a minimum.
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(Posted Wed, 31 Jan 2007 05:49)
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