Disclaimer: I don't own or claim Sailor Moon or Ranma1/2. I don't make any money from this or have intentions of copyright infringements, so please don't sue me.

Cracked Eggs

"This is our new house?!"

"Temporary new house."

"Wow, it’s kinda big."

"Where’s the dojo?"

"Race ya ‘round back!"

"Uh, we don’t have a dojo. Not until our old house is fixed."

Collective. "Oh."

"Well, it’s temporary."

"Race ya ‘round back!"

"Well, c’mon, then. Let’s move in!"

Collective, "YAY!!!"

Cracked Eggs - Intermediate Insanity

"Wake up, kids! It’s time for school."
"Aw, mom, just five more minutes."

Akane Saotome glared at her three children. Then she gave a mischievous grin and muttered on her way out of the room. "Your dad made breakfast this morning."

Immediately, there was a scuffle then some yelling as the three siblings raced to get out of bed.

"Your school uniforms are hanging on your doors," Akane called out as an afterthought.

The sounds of morning preparation filtered the air and soon, three pairs of feet were racing down the stairs to get to the dining table.

"Where’s food!??!!"

Akane looked at her husband and shook her head resignedly. "Ranma, these are –your- children."

Ranma Saotome grinned at his wife and looked at his children. His chest puffed up with pride as he looked at them. Kenji and Kimiko were both fifteen and were just starting high school. They were twins, with their mother’s blue-black hair and their father’s blue eyes. Both wore their hair in pig-tails. Kenji wore his in one single braid at the back like his father’s and Kimiko wore two, on each side of her head. His third child was Usagi, who was fourteen. Her hair and coloring puzzled Akane and Ranma, who didn’t know how their daughter got into styling her blonde hair up into two dumpling balls on top of her head. But it didn’t matter. Ranma was proud to call them his children, unless ofcourse they were stealing his food, like they were that second.

"Kenji! You won’t get away with that pickle that easily!" Ranma said, charging his son.

Kenji put up an admirable defense but he was no match for his father.

"Ranma! Not on the breakfast table," Akane scolded. She knew though that there was no way that her husband or her children were going to listen to her when it comes to food.

Kimiko and Usagi were both stealing from each other’s plate but since they were basically just exchanging foods, they pretended otherwise.

"Oh, no! You kids will be late for school if you don’t run for it," Akane said casting the clock a worried glance. "Here’s your lunches!"

The three ran to put on their shoes.

"Don’t forget," Ranma warned, "no fights unless someone challenges you and no ki attacks within school property."

"HAI!!"

Kenji and Kimiko ran on the sidewalk, whereas Usagi ran on top of the fence that bordered the canal.

"Can you believe it? No dojo?" Kenji said to his two sisters. "How do you think we’ll train?"

"You mean, how will you and Usagi train," Kimiko said. She was a martial artist like her parents but she wasn’t as serious towards it as her Kenji, Usagi and Ranma were. She was like her mother, Akane, who trained to keep in shape and to at least attempt to put a defense against any little fights her family might get into.

"I’m training," Usagi said from her perch on top of the fence. She quoted her father, "Train wherever, whenever, and however you can."

"You’re right," Kenji agreed. He looked up ahead. "Hey, there’s the school!"

"Crossroads High school," Kimiko grinned. "Ready or not, here come the Three Saotomes!"

"Hey, I heard that we’re getting some transfer students in," Kino Makoto looked askance at her friend, Mizuno Ami.

Ami tore herself from her book. "I wouldn’t know, actually."
"I do." Aino Minako sidled up to the two and winked. She was the gossip queen of Juuban Ward. "Two of them are going to be in the next grade actually. And one of them is going to be in our class. They’re brother and sisters. I also heard--"

"Settle down, class," the teacher said in her high pitched tone. Once she got quiet, she turned to the door. "Come in, Miss Saotome."

Saotome Usagi walked into the classroom and stood at the front as the teacher said her name. "This is Saotome Usagi. She’s transferred in from Nerima Ward. Miss Saotome, would you care to tell us something about yourself?"

Usagi nodded. "My name is Usagi. I have a sister and a brother and no cats. Nice to meet everyone."

"Thank you. You may now sit down beside –uh- Mizuno Ami."

"Thank you, sensei," Usagi said. Mizuno Ami, she learned, was the blue-haired girl with the thick textbook on her desk. Usagi ignored the snickering coming from some of the girls in the class.

Ami smiled at the new transfer student. "Hi, just ignore those girls. They don’t know what they’re talking about."

Usagi smiled back. "Actually, I don’t even know what they’re talking about."
Minako leaned forward from behind Ami. "I think it’s about the cats that you mentioned."

Usagi gave her a questioning look.

Mako decided to answer for Minako. "It’s strange how you mentioned that you didn’t have cats in your home."

Usagi shuddered at her mind’s image of a cat. These people don’t know the horror, she thought. Before she could reply the teacher called for attention.

By the middle of the first lecture, Usagi’s were drooping.
Then next thing she knew it a chalkboard eraser hit her on the head and the teacher’s voice was ringing in her ear. "Saotome Usagi, pay attention!"

Usagi sat straight up, "Hai!"

Everyone laughed and Usagi turned red.

At lunch, Usagi met up with Kenji and Kimiko.

"Hey, how’s your day turning out?" Kimiko asked her little sister.

"Fine. How’s yours?"

"Like usual," Kenji interjected, speaking for Kimiko. "No less than five requests to go out."

"Look who’s talking. You’ve already emptied your locker out once from all the love notes you’ve received, and lunch ain’t even over yet."

Usagi set herself down beside her siblings and took out her lunch. At once, the three Saotomes dug into their lunches, seemingly breathing all the food in.

"I hate school," Usagi said.

"You’re telling me," Kenji replied. He sat back, his legs stretched out in front of him. "I’d rather me wandering Japan and training."

"I don’t mind it," Kimiko added in. "There’s more to life than martial arts, you know."

"Hey, look at that guy sitting next to the new transfer student," Makoto said to Ami. They sat under a sakura tree eating lunch like they did everyday.

"I heard you guys got a new transfer in student," Hino Rei, the fourth member of their little group was not in the same class as the other three.

"Yup, her name is Usagi," Ami said. She flipped another page of her advanced math textbook.

"Minako, you should know more," Rei turned to her blonde friend. "Tell me all the juicy gossip."

"Not much to tell."

"Who’s that guy sitting with Usagi?"

"Her brother, Saotome Kenji. Heard that they’re a family of martial artists," Minako recited. "They’ve just recently moved to Juuban Ward ‘cause their home in Nerima is being renovated or something."

"He kinda looks like my old sempai."

"Whose the other girl?" Rei asked, watching the stranger with the two pigtails.

"Saotome Kimiko. Heard she’s a brainiac."

Ami sat up at the description. "How smart is she?"

"Way smart," Minako said, though she didn’t know just how smart Kimiko was.

"So now how about the blonde—Saotome Usagi, was it?"

"I’m not sure if she’s smart. She sleeps in class though," Minako’s brow furrowed. "I know she doesn’t seem to like cats. One thing I’m sure of is that she’s very odd."

"I noticed that she carries that heating kettle around like a lunchbox," Makoto said. "That -is- kinda odd, now that I think about it."

"Uh oh, I think there may be some trouble ahead," Rei was watching the three when she noticed the school gang make their way to the new transfer students.

The school gang was comprised of the school’s toughest characters from each grade level. Some of them belonged to the kendo club, and some belonged to other athletics club, extending their control over the students. They were harmless, that is, until an individual crossed them, then they become a nightmare come true to that person.

"Get ready, just in case," Makoto said, sitting up and watching the gang get closer to the Saotomes.

"Hey look," Kenji said noticing a crowd of students making their way to them. "A welcome committee."

Usagi and Kimiko looked up as well.

The boy at the front of the small group walked over to the Saotomes and looked down on them. He cracked his knuckles and smirked. "Well, lookee here, fellas. Looks like we have some new transfer students that we should extend our welcome to."
"Let's show them how it works around here, boss," another boy said excitedly.

The leader sneered. "I'm gonna give it to ya straight 'cause I'm a nice guy. You give me your lunch money or I give you five good reasons why you should."

Kenji stood up and walked slowly to the leader, each step mockingly executed. "I'll give you five reasons why we shouldn't, bird brain."

"W-what did you say?!"

"One-- You got me to get through…two-- you got my twin to get through… three-you got my little sister to get through… four--we ain't in the business of giving charity to those who obviously don't need it… and five--- there ain't no way that I'll give you my lunch, unless you want the rice balls that my mom made, then I'll think about it…"

"Kenji!" Usagi wailed. "You said that I could have them!"

"Shut Up!!!!" the leader yelled. "You give in now or you'll pay!"
"But my brother just told you that we don’t have money to give you," Kimiko said calmly.

"Let's get them, boss!"

"Yeah, they're making fun of us!"

"Yeah!"

"Yeah!"

All the bullies were yelling at once, anxious to get their hands on the little brats that dare stand up to them.

The yard was silent and the wind blew a dust devil on the field. The two main combatants stood toe to toe staring at each other while their comrades remained still in readiness.

"This doesn't look good, you guys," Makoto said, casting a worried gaze at the three Saotomes.

Ami was distracted long enough to look up from her textbook. The scene before her made her frown. "Those transfer students are asking for trouble. It's best that they don't mess with the Black Dragons gang."

"You can say that again," Minako chewed her bottom lip. "That gang is crazy. I don't know why the principal doesn't kick some of them out of school."

"You know how it is, money talks," Rei commented without taking her eyes off the tensed group.

"How's about we help the new guys out?" Makoto said. She was an energetic person who would take every opportunity to get high on adrenaline.

"We can't afford to get hurt, Mako-chan," Ami said. "We have other things that require our energy to fight against-- the Negaverse.."

Rei nodded. "Their goners anyhow. And we'd be too if we get ourselves involved."

"I wish you were wrong, Rei-chan," Minako said.

"Yeah, me too," was the whispered reply.

"Kenji, remember what pops said about fighting," Usagi said in an undertone.

"Yeah, yeah."

Kimiko frowned. "Usagi-chan, you're such a daddy's little girl."
Usagi stuck her tongue out. "Look whose talking! Whose got daddy wrapped around her little finger?!"

"Are you gonna fight or aren't ya?" Kenji taunted the leader.

"You're gonna pay, ya little twerp!" Boss said. He charged at Kenji, his fists pulled back to deliver the first punch.

Kenji jumped to the side at the last minute, and as Boss fell forward from his momentum, Kenji knocked him on the head lightly. He did this with the other idiots who realized a second too late that their boss' attack was useless against Kenji's speed.

A couple of minions went after Kimiko who closed her eyes tightly and swung her lunch bag in a wide arc. She heard some groans and when she opened her eyes again her opponents were lying on the ground nursing their facial bruises.

Kimiko looked at her lunch bag in wonder and grinned. "Wow, talk about mom packing a wallop!"

Usagi was crouched on the ground trying to gulp down as much of Kenji's lunch as possible while ignoring the fight going on above her.

Kenji saw his sister stealing his food and knocked off some of the gangsters in his attempt to save some of his lunch for himself. "Usagi!! You cheat!"

Usagi looked up with wide eyes. "Hmm?"

"Hey don't ignore me!" Boss ran after Kenji.

"Let's follow the boss!"

Kenji jumped for Usagi, Boss jumped for Kenji and the other gangsters jumped after their boss. Soon a cloud of dust formed around the fighting group and all anyone could see were arms and legs sticking out here and there. Sometimes, the odd gangster was thrown out of the cloud landing in a dazed heap at the foot of their audience.

"Wow, look at them go" Minako said absentmindedly.

"They're so strong." Makoto's eyes gleamed in admiration, wondering whether she'll be able to get one of the Saotome kids to ever practice sparring with her.

Rei sniffed. "They're going to get in trouble."
Her words proved true when the principal, followed by an army of teachers raced outside. They stood along with the other students, thinking it wise not to get in the middle of the cloud but rather to wait it out before handing out punishments.

Kimiko saw them standing there, steam blowing out of the principal's ears and decided to stop the fight now. Normally, she would have waited until Kenji and Usagi were done, knowing that this was all fun and games to them, but she figured that if they want to make a good impression to those in authority, they better start getting serious now.

"Usagi, Kenji!" Kimiko called into the cloud. "The principal's here and he's not too happy."

Kenji stuck his head out and glared at Kimiko, "Hey, don't blame me, those guys started it, remember?"

"I'm not blaming you, Kenji, but mom and pops ain't gonna be happy when they hear this. Better to stop it now and get a lighter punishment."

"Fine," Kenji disappeared back into the cloud.

Kimiko heard his voice talking to Usagi who was wailing back. "Pops said not to use chi attacks."
"It's for a good cause," Kenji replied. "C'mon, Kimiko's waiting!"

Kenji must've convinced Usagi because all of a sudden, Kimiko saw a small flare of blue light before the cloud exploded and all bodies involved were thrown into the air. Kimiko was relieved to see that the blast was not powerful enough to attract too much attention. In fact, it was small enough that inexperienced martial artists wouldn't have known it for what it was.

After the dust cleared, Usagi and Kenji were the only ones standing, whereas the gangsters were all lying on the ground somewhere, groaning and clutching their heads.

The principal, having seen that the worst was over, strode to Kenji and Usagi.

"You two are in big trouble!"

"But we didn't do anything," Kenji argued. "It was those group of guys. They were the ones who threatened us first, we had to defend ourselves."

The principal finally noticed the other boys who were involved. His eyes bugged out as he recognized the Black Dragons gang, the thorn that's bee in his side since he became principal. "Y-you did all this?"
Kenji looked at him sheepishly, "Well yeah, but to tell you the truth, Usagi is the violent one."

"W-W-WHAT!!!!" Usagi exclaimed.

The principal's eyes gleamed as he looked at the two. They could be useful to him. He made a decision right then and there. "You two will come with me to my office."

Usagi and Kenji looked at him in horror. If they get in trouble on the first day of school, their parents would be real angry, and that wouldn't be good. "B-bbut!!"

Kimiko had seen the principal yelling at Kenji and Usagi and decided to run over to see if she could help her siblings out of trouble. "S-sir, let me explain, that group of boys over there wer---"

"And how are you involved in this, young lady?" the principal asked her.

"Kimi-neechan!!" Usagi said, ready to pour out her troubles to her sensible older sister.

The principal realized their relationship and decided that Kimiko might also prove useful. "You come along also, then."

With that, the three siblings followed forlornly behind the principal, hoping futilely that this wont' reach their parents' ears.

*** to be continued ***

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