Hello and good evening. Please place the customary "first fic" 
warning here.

Done? Good. Now place the usual disclaimer here. Done with that? 
Good. Now you have to listen to me ramble on for a while. This is the
first revision of the Prologue, which I messed up on and labeled
as Chapter 1 when I first posted. Get it? Got it? Good!

Ready? Good! Let's do it! ***************************************
All The Small Things-Prologue A Sailor Moon/Ranma 1/2 fanfiction
By: Slacker(r_heins@yahoo.com) 
***************************************
Okinawa, 10 years ago

"Ranma! Damn it, boy! Stop!"

<Okay, so maybe the Neko-ken wasn't such a good idea.> Genma Saotome
thought as he ran after his young son. But it sounded pretty good,
and who really reads every page of a manual these days?

Genma noticed he was losing ground on his son rapidly. <Kami-sama!
He's faster than I thought possible! And given the way he shredded
the gate...and me... when he took off, he's learned the Neko-ken!
The manual described the ability to shred damn near anything.
Now all I have to do is teach him to use it without going insane
first. He'll be unbeatable! But more importantly, once he starts
to use it in matches, he'll be rich! Which means he can support
me in my old age. Now, how do I train him to use the Neko-ken?
Maybe some steaks and the tiger cage at the zoo?>

As Genma pondered on ways to further screw up his son, Ranma 
proceeded to vanish around the next corner. When Genma rounded the 
corner, his son was nowhere in sight. 

<Uh-Oh. This could be bad. How will I explain losing my son to 
Nodoka?>

Just as Genma was about to continue on he heard what sounded 
like...purring? The purring sounded a bit...off, though.

<Could that be Ranma? I sure as hell hope it is. I seriously don't
want Nodoka, and that damn katana, mad at me.>

When Genma followed the sound he came upon a most unusual sight:
his son curled up in the lap of an old woman and purring loudly.
He seemed to be sound asleep.

"Oh, good! You found my son! I'll just take him and stop bothering
you!" Genma said as he started to move forward.

"You'll do no such thing." The old woman said calmly. Genma froze.

"Pardon me?"

"I said, 'You'll do no such thing'" She repeated in a very calm 
voice.

"And why not?"

"Because I recognize what has happened to him."

"You do?" Genma said, somewhat nervously.

"Oh, yes. The Neko-ken has been around for quite a long time. I know
what it looks like and its effects. And right now the only people
he will allow near him are people he likes or trusts. And you don't
fall into either of those categories."

"Woman! I am his father!"

"You just threw him into a pit of *starving* *cats* wrapped in food!
Most likely *several* *times*! I have seen the results of the 
Neko-ken many times! It leaves mental scars that *never* completely
go away. In time, they will fade, but for now I will not allow you 
anywhere near him, for both of your sakes!"

"Well, then! What do you suggest I do? Just leave him here?"

"Actually, yes. You will leave him here at least three days. It will
take me that long to calm him down and teach him some tricks to keep
him from slipping into the Neko-ken so easily."

"And if I don't?" 

"Your son will most likely go insane within 2, maybe 3 years. He'll
slip irreversibly into the Neko-ken. Nothing and no one will be able
to bring him out of it," she replied, still in that calm, even voice. 

"Now, you will leave. You will stay away for at least three days.
And when you come back you won't attempt to do anything stupid 
involving the Neko- ken. I'd say anything stupid period, but if 
you're dumb enough to train your son in the Neko-ken, that's a vain
hope." 

"'Anything stupid involving the Neko-ken'? What do you mean by that?"
Genma asked. 

"Like wrapping him in steaks and throwing him in the tiger cage at 
the zoo." she said, staring him straight in the eye. 

Genma twitched. For some reason, he couldn't seem to look away from
her eyes. 

"Now leave." 

Genma turned and left without another word. As Genma walked away,
he tried to figure out why he gave in that easily to an old woman.
<Her eyes. It had to be her eyes. I've never seen eyes like that.
Red to the point of crimson. They gave me the creeps. Brrr. And the
look in them. They seemed to warn, "You won't like what happens
if you cross me."> He'd seen that look before, in a mother bear. <I 
think it's probably a good thing I obeyed her. Yes, a very good 
thing.<

As soon as Genma was out of sight the "old woman" began to change.
Her hair turned from gray into a deep green, her back straightened
out, and her face smoothed out. The only thing that stayed the same
were her eyes. Her red eyes. Eyes that had seen countless years.
Eyes that had watched the fall of an entire culture and witnessed
the sacrifice of a queen's life to give her daughter another chance.
Eyes that said, "I have seen more pain and suffering than you ever
can imagine. I've done things that would drive you insane, and come
out unchanged. Do not cross me. You will not like what happens." 

The eyes of Sailor Pluto. 

She looked at Ranma and, after scanning him, murmured, "It is you.
Why did she send you forward? And if you're here...then so is she.
And I don't know where she is. This could be very...bad." 

As she picked him up and carried him into the house, only one thought
went through her mind: 

<Great, I've got two more people who are a bit unstable and have the
power to destroy the planet, one of which I *can't* *find*! Perfect!
Sometimes, I really hate my job.>

Three days later, Genma came back to pick up his son. Over the three
days he was gone, he had camped out and tried to convince himself
he had managed to trick the old woman into feeding his son for three
days free. He had almost succeeded. (His ability to convince himself
of things was second to none.) 

If he noticed anything different about his son, he didn't mention
it to the "old woman," who he was still a little bit scared of, even
after "tricking" her. (Which proved that maybe he wasn't a total 
idiot after all.)

Watching as Ranma and his father walked away, Pluto thought to 
herself, <I hope I never have to remove those blocks I put in, and I 
really hope they don't fail. That would be a _very_ bad thing. But 
from what I could read of his future, I almost feel sorry for Ranma.
He's really a good kid. He doesn't deserve what his father will put
him through, especially Jusenkyo. He deserves peace in this life,
at least.>

"May good luck and the blessings of the Goddess go with you, Ranma,"
she whispered. <You're going to need it.>


To be continued(like you hadn't guessed that!) 
***************************************
Author's loud-mouthed piece:

Like it? Love it? Hate it? Hate me? Let me know! My e-mail is 
r_heins@yahoo.com C&C read, appreciated, and considered when writing.
Flames will be used to heat my house. Death threats will be laughed
at and deleted. Letter bombs will be kept for a rainy day to relieve
the boredom.

I always need pre-readers. If you want to volunteer for this task,
tell me. 

As was already mentioned at the top of the fic, this is my first 
fanfic. As such it probably has huge holes. If you see one, _PLEASE_
tell me! Any and all C&C will be greatly appreciated! 

Author's loud-mouthed piece (Part II): 

Weeeelll, I got some prereaders, revised it, and decided to give it 
another shot. Hopefully, it has benefitted from the additional
work. (I know it did. Some of the mistakes that were pointed out to 
me were real "Hey, what were you on when you wrote this?" type 
things. But I've got the aformentioned prereaders to slap me up side
the head now. 

Speaking of which, they are, in no particular order (well, maybe 
alphabetical, I copied them straight from my address book):

Aaron Blomenkamp, the Beast of Chaos Anchan Battlezone 
http://www.angelfire.com/bc/Battlezone
CCMax E_Nebedum I'm apathetic Mr.P `tsuki-chan William Dix Xaldaran

I love these people! Without them I would be nothing.


Ja Ne! Slacker

Revised 3/4/00