A Better Future

By James Lee

Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine. They are the creations of there respected owners. Please don't sue me.

Part 4
As Nabiki approached Asuka at the end of lunch she could feel the eyes of the other students on her. This didn't surprise her one bit, for in the week sense she had arrived Asuka had taken Nabiki's place as the Ice Queen of Furinkan. Not because she ruthlessly blackmailed everyone, but because she was one of the most unsociable girls in the whole school. She never talked with classmates, always ate alone, and avoided people in general.

Most of the girls were honestly scared of her. Kuno had issued his standard challenge, that any boy who wishes to date with her had to defeat her. But after the events of Asuka's first day at school, none of the boys were willing to take him up on it this time. Although Kuno had been hurt worst all that blood had made an impression.

Asuka had of course been severely punished for that incident, some what. At any other school Asuka would have been expelled and probably even arrested for her actions. But this was Furinkan, where violence was almost a required course, and the incident did involve Kuno. So Asuka had escape with only a few days suspension.

Kuno was now the only boy actively chasing her and even he wasn't approaching her directly. Instead he attacked Ranma for "The most evil spell he had cast yet!". Of course Ranma didn't know what to make of it. Akane and Ukyo had made nothing of it though, sense Asuka obviously wanted nothing to do with Ranma or any other human being for that matter.

Nabiki had thought of telling Shampoo that Ranma had a new girlfriend and seeing what would happen, but had thought better. She had no desire to find out if a vengeful Asuka could be just as violent against girls.

Asuka looked up from her lunch. "You have something for me?"

"Yeah. You have my money."

Asuka reached in her bag and took out the money. Taking the money Nabiki handed Asuka a folder. Taking the folder Asuka began to file through it. "Ah huh....Ah huh.....Hmmmm......Katsuragi Expedition.........Members........Gendo Rokubungi of Nekomikoka University. I might need more information on this one, keep in touch."

"Ahh...Yeah sure." Said Nabiki as she walked away from Asuka as fast as she could without showing. The girl even made her uneasy. At least Kuno had a reason for his madness. He wanted Akane and his Pig Tailed Goddess. *What could she want with information about Antarctic expeditions?*

What little info Nabiki had found out about Asuka either spooked or puzzled her. Talking with Tofu-sensei she had found out that Asuka wasn't entirely stable. Like Nabiki, Dr. Tofu suspected that Asuka was hiding a depression that could be harmful or self-destructive if not helped. She also seem to be suffering from constant nightmares. Dr. Tofu had tried to convince Asuka to seek help, but she had thus far politely refused. He could force Asuka, but said he didn't want to betray what little trust she put in him.

Looking at Asuka's entrance exam puzzled Nabiki. Why was she in such a low grade? The girl had aced the exam, scoring higher than Nabiki herself. *Hell. She can probably go to college if she wanted to.* Asuka was obviously smarter than she was letting on and was up to something. Nabiki would have to find out more.

*****

"Hey Gendo, how was your day?" Yui asked as Gendo sat in front of her at the Nekomi Cafeteria.

"Oh same old, same old. Been taking care of some new additions to the expedition." Gendo said. "How's you chemistry project going?"

Yui sighed. "It's going slow right now. I can only do so much at a time."

"oh? Isn't your lab partner helping you?"

"AOSHIMA!? PLEASE, he spends all his time chasing that foreign girlfriend of Keiichi's. He's no help at all."

"I don't know if I can blame him. Have you ever met her. She's one of the nicest girls I know."

"Yeah Whatever. So, tell me about the new additions."

"Well Katsuragi's little girl is coming with us."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Seem's his wife finally divorced him and he has custody of the child. Gokuu's also joining us to test his new survival pod."

"You mean the one that's supposed to be nearly indestructible?"

"Yeah. How much longer do you have here Yui?"

"Oh, I got about a year to go before I transfer over to Tokyo University. I hear there's a good professor there named Fuyuzuki....Gendo? Is there something wrong?" Gendo turned around.

"Do you see that girl behind me?"

"Overalls, Short brown hair?"

"No not her, to the right." Yui looked around Gendo's shoulder.

"Ah...School Dress, Red Hair with two red things in it?"

"Yes, I've seen her twice today. I think she's following me."

"Oh really?" Yui smiled and in a cutesy voice said. "Maybe she's got a crush on you. I think you're a little too old for her though."

"RIGHT Yui. Maybe I should go ask her who she is."

"Umm...I'm afraid your too late. She's already left." Gendo turned to see that the girl was indeed gone.

*****

Asuka went around the corner and slowed down. "That was too close! I think I better call it a day."

As Asuka made her way off the Nekomi campus, she thought about what she'd seen. She left for Nekomi shortly after school and had been following Gendo since about five.

*I wander who that woman he was talking with?* It had really creeped her out seeing the woman who looked so much like an older version of Rei. *Maybe that's Yui.* It had not helped when Asuka had already seen a twelve year old Misato earlier in the day. Also, Gendo's behavior caught her off guard. *Funny. You'd think Gendo was a pretty nice guy.*

"Gendo is a nice person."

"Waah!?" Asuka turned to see a girl with long brown hair and marks on her face. The girl continued. "Gendo is a nice person. Although he is immoral, he truly believes what he's doing is for the benefit of mankind. It will be the death of his wife that will change him into the Gendo Ikari that you know."

"Who are you? Wait a minute those markings..."

"I am the goddess Belldandy. A mutual friend from the future has told me and Kamisama of your reason for being here."

"You mean...ah..Scale..Scar? Excuse me but, can you tell me her name? I've seemed to have forgotten it."

Belldandy seemed to be trying not to laugh. "I've seemed to have forgotten it myself."

"Well whatever. I got about a million questions to ask you. Like why didn't she stop Second Impact!?"

"Because you didn't wish for her to stop Second Impact."

Asuka was a little surprised by that. "Er..excuse me?"

"You wished that YOU could have prevented all that."

"So she took my wish word for word?"

"Exactly."

"So are you here to help me?"

The goddess looked down. "I'm afraid not. Because of the way you worded your wish, I've been ordered not to interfere in any way. I'm the only one who knows your here and I'm not even supposed to be talking to you. All I can do is give you a little advise."

"Oh, and what advise do you have me?"

"You've been rather unfriendly at school lately."

Asuka darkened at that. "Maybe I don't FEEL like being friendly."

The goddess turned to her. "Everyone needs friends Miss Soryu."

"Look, I've already had the pleasure of watching all my friends die once. I have no desire to repeat the experience."

"You don't think you can actually complete your mission alone do you?"

"All right, Let's say I do need help. How am I going to convince anyone that I'm from the future and I'm here to stop Armageddon?"

"Maybe that's why our mutual friend put you in Nerima. I'm sure you'll find someone who believes you there. Oh my, look at the time! I need to get to my night class." Belldandy got up to walk away. "Do think about what I've told you."

*A goddess taking night classes?* "I don't know. maybe. I just don't know."

"Fair well Miss Soryu. I doubt you'll ever see one of us again." Belldandy however, was wrong.

*****

Over at a nearby temple Skuld busted into her room and flopped on to her bed. "Stupid Urd! She doesn't have to make fun of me like that."

Sure she was the youngest of the three goddesses. Sure she needed her inventions to access her powers. Urd didn't have to make fun of her though. What was worst was that even those lowly mortals didn't take her seriously.

*Well, I'll change that.* Thought Skuld as she got off her bed and went to her closet. Taking out a bag, she began to pack. "I'll show Urd. I'll show them all!"

Two weeks ago Banpei kun's new sensors had detected a temporal disturbance in the Nerima district. When Skuld checked yesterday, the disturbance was still there. She decided she was going to fix that.

"I'll go to Nerima. I'll hunt down this disturbance and I'll neutralize it all by myself!" Said Skuld as she packed some cloths, a few small inventions, some small tools, and all the bombs and moon bracelets she could find.

*Maybe this will take my mind off my other problem.* Thought Skuld. Skuld often dreamed of the future. Lately those dreams had been becoming rather apocalyptic. She would see massive floods, Tokyo destroyed in a mushroom cloud, a sea of blood. Skuld had told no one of this.

*There's no way I'm telling anyone that I'm scared of my nightmares.* Grabbing her mallet, she went to the bathroom. Filling furo with warm water, she jumped in and teleported to Nerima.

To Be Continued