“Blood Calls Out For Blood”

A Ranma ½ / Sailor Moon Crossover

	Sailor Moon and all related properties are properties of
Naoko Takeuchi. Ranma ½ and all related properties are
properties of Rumiko Takashi. This story is inspired by
Vaughan Stevens’ “Recruiting” and I owe him a debt of
gratitude for a good story and inspiration.


Chapter 3 -
	Two and a Half Strikes. You're Out.

	It was the second funeral in as many weeks that Ranma
attended. Two people who Ranma had called friends had passed
into the afterlife. The little girl who had befriended him
in his youth was now lain in the cold earth, only fifteen
meters away from the boy who Ranma had befriended in high
school, even if he didn't acknowledge it. Now the latter had
been beheaded by a youma, and the former disemboweled.

	The tension on Ranma's face was visible as Akane placed her
hand upon his shoulder. "It… it wasn't your fault, Ranma."
She said. Three weeks ago, Akane would never have said those
words. Akane's and Ranma's relationship had seemed to have
been based on the consistent almost juvenile warfare between
the two of them, and Akane would have sooner bit her tongue
off before saying that Ranma hadn't done something wrong.

	But now, the only two people that Ranma called friends had
been brutally slain, and the man who her and his parents
called iinakuze, was close to his breaking point. Akane knew
what it was to have someone close to her die, as she watched
her mother fade away in a hospital room in her youth. And as
much as it would have galled her a mere two weeks ago, she
felt sympathy for Ranma.

	Ranma gave an almost emotionless look to Akane and nods.
"Thanks… but I don't agree." He sighed and stepped out of
the cemetary.


	Nodoka sighed to herself as she approached the Tendou Dojo.
She still hadn't seen her son, despite his frequent visits
to the Dojo, and had a feeling that she would not see him
today either. But she had to try. She had run into a whole
string of bad omens that morning, and she had a terrible
feeling that something had or would happen to her son.

	She turned a corner, and was grabbed and dragged into an
alley. With a squeek, she was slammed back against the wall,
the Saotome honor blade clattering to the ground as the
monster loomed over her. In a voice that sounded like a
meaty bone thrown through a garbage disposal, the demon
spoke, "Go ahead and scream, fleshbag. I could care less."


	Ranma didn't even respond to the indignity as a car drove
through a puddle, splashing him with the road mud. He… or
more accurately for the moment, she, continued to walk down
the street. In her hand was a small spherical crystal, the
one given to her a short while ago. Ranma sighed as she
thought to herself. It was a tempting offer, after all. The
power to stop those fiends. But the sacrifices that would be
necessary intimidated her And that was no easy thing.

	And then she was drawn toward an alley by some sounds. As
soon as Ranma stepped around the corner, horror warred with
rage.