________________________ / \ | Vengeance And A Half | \________________________/ Thanks to my pre-readers: Ben aevan http://aevan.virtualave.net Kevin D. Hammel http://www.anime.sobhrach.com/~khammel/ Blood Blade http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Towers/5920 Mike Rever Visit my website at dzillman@ozemail.com.au http://www.ozemail.com.au/~dzillman/fire What has happened: The time travel of Prince Diamond and the Inner Senshi at the end of Sailor Moon R has caused a paradox. Now the Outer Senshi are awake, the Death Busters are active, and the Dark Moon Family are still trying to conquer the world. In a desperate bid to stop a Daimon from gaining her Heart Crystal, the Outer Senshi were responsible for Akane's death. Now Nabiki has achieved the impossible and convinced Ranma and Ryoga to join forces. Feeling beset from all sides, the Inner Senshi must contend not only with the violent Sailors Uranus and Neptune who are set against them. They face Ranma and Ryoga, the unknown and lethal quantity of Sailor Saturn, innumerable witches and demons, and the fact that Chibi-Usa is one of the front line fighters for their dread enemy, the Dark Moon Kingdom. Part 3: The Winter Of Our Discontent ==================================== Haruka could not say just how she knew these things, but she had developed a sixth sense for danger and evil. It was not like her ability as Sailor Uranus to track and identify evil. This was purely subconscious, something that existed on a hidden level and caused her to be in the same place as the danger. It had become more apparent over the last week as she had fought more battles; something that allowed her to be where she was needed before the need arose, letting her transform and protect the innocent as only she could. The first few times that it had happened, Haruka had been willing to accept it as a coincidence. After repeating it almost every night, things went beyond simple chance. Without intending to, she would subtly change her daily routine, and something evil would appear, almost as though she had become a magnet for trouble. One evening she decided to stop and get an ice-cream on the way home. The ice-cream parlour that she chose was just slightly off course from her normal walk, and within a minute of her walking out of the store, a multi- headed demon had risen from the ground, stealing people's heart crystals. The same routine had occurred on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. By Thursday she was becoming paranoid. Sticking rigidly to schedule, Haruka decided to ignore the advertisement that she had seen for a new car dealership. To her horror, the papers revealed the next day that Sailor Neptune had fought a demon there single-handed. Haruka was clinging to her love of Michiru like a drowning woman thrown a life preserver, but that did nothing to dampen the inherited feelings that she had for the other Sailor. The thought of her friend -not lover, Haruka would not cast Michiru aside for that - in danger sent shivers down her spine. The notion that she might have gained a subconscious sixth sense, or even some greater sense of destiny, prompted Haruka to look up some facts on the existing Sailor Senshi. The newspaper archives at the library were liberally dosed with stories of their heroism. People saved and disasters averted, it was the materials that legends were made from. Although Haruka felt sorry for the people who were accidentally injured at times, the part of her that was Sailor Uranus dismissed it as irrelevant. People got hurt, but the Senshi got the job done. Only when a person intimately acquainted with the Senshi's capabilities and shortcomings examined the articles did a certain pattern emerge. No matter what the newspaper's speculation was, Haruka could be sure that it was impossible for a diverse group of girls to consistently run from their prior locations to the scene of the battle in the time that was mentioned. All that added up to one thing: she was not the only one who somehow found herself in the path of evil when it emerged. If she kept up with her solo activities, she would continue to run into both the Inner Senshi, and most likely the remaining Outer Senshi. Haruka had seen Sailor Neptune before, and she knew that she was a woman that she could work with. It would be hard working with her and not falling in love again, but Haruka was confident that she could manage. The Inner Senshi were another matter; they were soft and weak, a danger to the Outers. Worse still, the younger girls had actively interposed themselves between Haruka and her work on more than one occasion already. If they failed to recognise the danger that the demons and the Heart Crystals represented, then the Inner Senshi were setting themselves against the good of the planet, and that was something that Haruka could not tolerate. Sitting down on a park bench, Haruka studied the Koi that frolicked in the water nearby. She had come to the realisation at school that she was probably destined to fight evil for the rest of her life, and there was no point in trying to avoid it. She would live her life as normally as possible, defending others whenever possible, but still trying to enjoy what she could. That was why she had come to the park this afternoon. Although she had often come here in the past to appreciate the greenery that was so rare in Tokyo, she had accepted that she might need to fight again this evening. Here... On the way home... Where she ate dinner perhaps. Somewhere nearby, something evil would come into existence, and Sailor Uranus might be the only one capable of stopping it. Simply by the law of averages, she might be the only Senshi in the area - assuming that the Inners were still willing and capable of fighting the enemy. The Inners were now fighting as a team, and then there was herself, and Sailors Pluto, Neptune and Saturn. She had bumped into Neptune several times, but so far she had not seen Pluto or Saturn. Pushing a stick through the grass with her feet, Haruka sighed. It was only a matter of time before Pluto and Saturn arrived at the same place that she did, and at the same time. Pluto was not a problem. From what she remembered from the Silver Millennium, the woman was just as determined and committed as Sailor Uranus. Sailor Saturn was another matter. Although it pained Haruka to think that the Inner Senshi were no longer capable of doing their job, and instead seemed to protect the enemies of the Earth like Black Lady, she could not compare them to Sailor Saturn. Saturn was simply too dangerous to allow to exist. Her petty ways and near-omnipotent power had no place in today's world. Admiring the way that the Koi instinctively grabbed for floating food on the water, Haruka resigned herself to someday having to defeat Sailor Saturn in combat. Both she and Saturn were like the Koi in many ways. The fish ate and acted on instinct. She and the Senshi of silence were warriors by instinct. Memories of their ancient selves moulded each of them. She became someone who could care about the world more than an individual, someone capable of doing what needed to be done. Sailor Saturn... Brushing off her school uniform, Haruka got to her feet and walked out of the park. There was no evil here. Maybe she was just being paranoid. It was all the thoughts of a deadly Sailor Saturn that was making her see an enemy at every junction. She should have known that not everywhere contained a demon lurking in the darkness. Dinner was light, just a small beef bowl with rice. Haruka did not want to fight on a heavy stomach, but she needed to put something away. She was just handing change to the shop assistant when screams rent the air. She was right. Somehow, once again she was in the right place to stop a demon and to save the world from their nefarious schemes. Tossing the coins to the startled man behind the counter, Haruka was off like a rocket. Out the shop and to the left there was a small construction site, offering little in the way of concealment so that she could change with anonymity. Haruka was about to turn around when she spotted what she needed. It must have been placed there so that people could make calls even in the noise of nearby construction. A phone booth was something that had been almost entirely phased out in this day and age. With one hand on the door handle, Haruka looked around then dashed inside. "I bet Superman used to feel just as silly changing like this." The portable phone booth shook slightly and light filtered from under the door, but that was all that betrayed the presence of the pretty soldier changing into her fighting clothes. In mere moments the door slammed open and Sailor Uranus stepped out, fighting valiantly against the desire to declare she was there for truth, justice and the American way. At least she did not wear her underwear on the outside like some superheroes. By the time she reached the site of the disturbance, Sailor Neptune was there already. The Senshi with the aqua-marine coloured hair was laying down a withering series of attacks, desperately trying to keep the Daimon away from the slowly fleeing populace. One girl by herself would have a very hard time defeating something as strong as a Daimon. Uranus knew that from personal experience. Yesterday she had fought one to a standstill, but it had finally escaped from her. The only consolation she had been able to take from the fight was the fact that she had destroyed the Heart Crystal that it had been running with. Better that the unfortunate victim had died cleanly like that than allowing the Witches 5 and their Daimons to complete their plans. Sailor Uranus smiled as she brought her hands together in front of her and left fly with her own magic. One Senshi alone might not win, but there were better than even odds that the two of them could reduce this Daimon to dust on the wind. Watching the yellow magic of the World Shaking level a bookstore on top of the Daimon, Uranus' smile grew even larger. Someone's business was a small price to pay, and it would rest easier with her than the necessity of killing someone else. Sailor Uranus could do it, she could kill someone and not blink an eyelash. Tenou Haruka on the other hand, felt something within her die every time she untransformed and remembered the cost of saving the world. This time they might just get lucky. Luck did seem to be with them. While the Daimon was digging its way out from the tons of brick and rubble, Sailor Neptune gave her an update. Neptune had been next door looking at some shoes when she heard the Daimon announce its presence to the world. While she may have been wrong, Neptune was quite confident that no-one's Heart Crystal had yet been taken. "Look out, Neptune, it's coming out again." Uranus was right, unfortunately, she was also a second too late. The creature took hold of the smaller Senshi and held her aloft, shaking her back and forwards. "Neptune! No!" Fearful that her one reliable partner was about to have her soul stolen, Uranus closed and began to batter the wall of living flesh before her. Her blows would have shattered concrete, but against her adversary they barely managed to crack its armour. While Uranus might have been hamstrung by the fact that she did not want to hit the captive woman with her magic, Neptune was not constrained by anything like that. Wrapped around the waist by a sludge-green tentacle, there was no real risk of a miss and that allowed Neptune to operate freely. "DEEP SUBMERGE!" Magic arrowed through the body hurting the monster, but it failed to sever the limb like Neptune expected. When she was freed from the crushing grip, the green-haired woman fell to her knees, suddenly too weak to stand. With her ally kneeling in the shop's rubble, Sailor Uranus was freed to act with less restraint, and she advanced fearlessly. Magically powered kicks rocked the monster from side to side as Uranus alternated attacking feet, stepping forwards to constantly maintain the pressure. Given time to recover, Neptune returned to her feet. She was weakened and shaky, but nothing could stop her from coming to the aid of the woman that she loved. Fighting demons and witches was hard enough. Fighting to contain the love that she felt for the other Senshi was beyond even her powers. Every day she told herself that she should break off with Haruka, but every day she waited, waited until there was time to confess her love to Sailor Uranus first. It was petty of her, Sailor Neptune realised, to be thinking of her own love in the middle of a fight like this. However, if they were not fighting to protect the people they loved, they why were they out here? Sailor Neptune recognised the area that they were in, and knew that Haruka would often walk home this way. If her friend had been nearby today... It hardly bore thinking on the fact that both women she loved could be in such danger. The danger to the women was something that Sailor Neptune was quite capable of doing something about. The risk of a car accident or being struck by lightning; these were beyond her control. A magically powered demon capable of draining people's life force or stealing Heart Crystals; she could take that any day, especially with Sailor Uranus by her side. Twin beams of magic dug into the monster, forcing it further and further back. They were finally getting on top of the problem when Sailor Uranus stopped briefly and said some very uncomplimentary words under her breath. "What? What's the matter?" "We've got bigger problems." The might have had bigger problems, but that did not stop Sailor Uranus from increasing her efforts against their attacker. Neptune was amazed for a moment, watching sweat pour from the girl's brow as she poured everything she had into the creature. Not understanding for a moment, Neptune was slow on the uptake. When she saw the small figure walking down the street towards them, she too placed her every effort into slaying the demon before it was too late. What they had seen down the street was enough to frighten anyone with the slightest information. There was Sailor Saturn, walking calmly towards them, carrying a seven-foot weapon of mass destruction. A completely unintimidating four-foot in height, the girl was their worst nightmare brought to life. Obviously she did not consider a single demon attack to be a great worry, as she was calmly walking towards them. While their attention was on the dying creature, the smallest Senshi jogged for a few steps, but all too soon she was reduced to a walk. The Outer Senshi saw nothing of her efforts to join them in battle. All they saw was their own fear personified and embedded into an individual they only knew through memories. "What do you think she'll do?" Neptune asked. Stopping long enough to look at their approaching doom, Uranus shuddered. "Just as guess?... I think she'll come about twenty feet closer, then she'll kill you, me, the Daimon and everything in five hundred meters just to be sure." "That's not a very pretty picture." "She wasn't called the Senshi Of Destruction for nothing, you know." Knowing that their lives hung in the balance, Uranus and Neptune finally managed to sufficiently damage their opponent. When it crumbled to dust and a small crystal landed in the pile of its ashes, Neptune started. "It was a Droid, not a Daimon. That's why I felt so weak!" "No need to worry about that now, we have bigger problems." Bigger problems indeed. Now that she had time to look, she could see that the woman - girl really - coming towards them was definitely Sailor Saturn. Her clothing was a little different from Neptune or Uranus, but other than the wings, she easily fit the template of a Senshi's possible attire. The face was one that she recognised from her memories, the face of Sailor Saturn. The smiling face of Sailor Saturn looked at them as the young girl continued to advance. It was the smile more than anything that terrified the other two girls. Neptune took an involuntary step backwards. "S-She's smiling..." "Just like she used to." Gathering her courage, Neptune stood shoulder to shoulder with her taller companion who nodded. "Just like she used to when she wanted to play." With dread certainty in her voice, Neptune whispered. "We're going to die, aren't we. There's no way that we can get far enough away from that thing if she wants us." Uranus was silent for a moment, dredging through ancient memories. "There is... There is one way. She can't attack us if she's defending! Come on, now is our chance to make sure that everyone will always be safe from her." Confused for a moment, Neptune rapidly followed. If Sailor Uranus had a plan, then any chance was better that dying where they stood, killed by a insensitive, uncaring brat, whose only thought was to make sure the Droid was really and completely dead. Sailor Neptune was stunned when she watched her friend fire magic at the little girl without breaking stride. She should not have been surprised, but she was. While she had accepted the hypothetical idea that they might have to kill the deadly Senshi, it had not penetrated to her soul. Despite the Sailor uniform, she was still a school-girl at heart, unlike her companion. She envied the way that Sailor Uranus had retained so much of her old mindset. To be able to accept what they needed to do so easily, surely it must be a blessing. Because she had fired while she was moving, Sailor Uranus failed to get a good hit. All that she did was burn a strip of flesh off the girl's arm, half turning her from the impact of the magical energy. Sailor Neptune was slower to react, and her own Deep Submerge slammed into an invisible shield in front of Sailor Saturn. "Damn! It's the Silence Wall!" Uranus grinned back at her. "That's perfect. She can't attack us while she has that up. Just keep firing." After another attack that failed to penetrate, Sailor Neptune was grinning from ear to ear. "She can't move either. Look at her: she's got to keep the Silence Glaive grounded. There's no way she can win!" * * * Silence Girl, aka Sailor Saturn, aka Tomoe Hotaru, could not understand what had gone wrong. When she had heard the sounds of fighting she had come running as quickly as she could, hoping to put her new magical girl powers to good use. Instead, her illness had forced her to arrive right at the end, only in time to see the tall, proud looking magical girls reduce the scary monster into nothingness. Smiling happily, she kept walking, hoping to join them. Their costumes were not as fancy as hers, and from what she could see, they were nowhere near as powerful as she was. She guessed that made her the leader, it did in all the movies and books. When she watched the older girls standing on the rubble of a shop and assessing her, she hoped that her costume made her look as mature as she needed to. What if they disputed her leadership? What if they wanted to keep fighting with the other magical girls out there? What if they were not ready to end the war that was going on in Tokyo? Surely she could make them understand that they could all live together in peace. Her dreams turned to ashes for a second time that day when the big girl had run at a diagonal to her. Not understanding what was about to happen, Hotaru had been caught flat footed, and it was only luck that saved her from being blasted into little bits. Despite the risk that Silence Girl was destined for the shortest career as a heroine in history, she reacted with the instincts of a true warrior. The impregnable magic of the Silence Wall whispered into existence ahead of her. Each time one of them fired, Hotaru could feel the jolt through her palms, and she could feel her own power weaken slightly. Both of the big bullies were ganged up against her now, and their magic flailed against her shield in an almost unending rhythm of destruction. The slightest wavering, the merest weakening would allow those deadly bolts through, and they would complete the job that the blonde woman had started. Holding her shield was not too difficult, but it was getting progressively harder, even though she brought the size of the Wall back and back, slowly defending less and less. It was leaving her open for an attack from the side or behind, but she did not have a choice. If she failed to keep up her protection, then the evil magical girls in front of her would surely break through, ending her mission of peace. A brief synchronisation of attacks brought the little girl to her knees. Green and gold impacted her shield, now hardly larger than herself. She could stop them, she was sure. But if she lowered the Silence Wall, they would hit her, maybe even kill her. The fear of her own death was not what stopped Hotaru from unleashing her terrible power. It was the certain knowledge that there were hundreds or thousands of innocent people behind her assailants. The Silence Glaive Surprise would doom them all, and even assuming she survived, her life would not be worth living after that. That was why Tomoe Hotaru cried. It was not the wound on her arm; despite the fact that her healing held no power over herself. It was not even the fact that she had not even managed to succeed at whatever purpose that she had been put here for. She cried for her father and girls like these, so taken in by evil that they would turn on anyone that offered to help them. Struggling back to her feet, Hotaru wished she could at least spare a hand to wipe her face. Both hands were needed to wield the Silence Glaive, so she had to live with the fact that her vision was clouded with tears and her nose was running. She was so scared she wanted to pee, but she would die on her feet, with whatever dignity she could muster. At least she had tried. Squaring her shoulders, Hotaru gave everything she could to Silence Wall, and hoped that a handsome White Knight would save her in the nick of time. Her rescuer would hardly have been considered a handsome White Knight under the circumstances. * * * This evening's patrol had started much better this time. Ranma and Ryoga had not gotten separated, and they had been out for almost an hour. Both of them were casually jogging along the rooftops or through the streets. Ryoga constantly kept Ranma in sight, and they both kept their eyes open. With luck, they would come across a demon or a Senshi and be able to help put things to right. Nabiki had not managed to give them more than an initial guess, but it looked like the area west of the Imperial Residence was the most likely site for a demonic invasion. Even just that information cut out vast areas of searching. Some demon sightings still occurred elsewhere, but there were more of them on the west side. Despite their physical prowess, Ranma and Ryoga were only human, and could use every advantage they got. At around six in the evening, with the sun sinking below the tall buildings and shadows beginning to cloak the city, Ryoga stopped on the sidewalk and looked around. Checking his headlong pace, Ranma circled back and walked up to his friend. "What is it?" "Shhh..." Ryoga was silent for a moment, tracking his head back and forwards. "I thought I heard a... There it is again!" Ryoga turned and took a few steps in one direction before Ranma snagged his arm and pulled him in the opposite direction. "Huh? I thought you couldn't hear it?" Ranma smirked in an immensely irritating fashion. "Nope, just call it a hunch." "Why you..." Ryoga had one hand raised to deliver a pile driver punch to the back of Ranma's head when they cleared a pair of buildings. Suddenly the sound was much louder, unobstructed by as many intervening buildings. "Fighting..." It did not matter who said it; indeed, perhaps they both did. All that mattered was the sound. Nothing quite sounded the same as a magical discharge. Although they had never heard these particular sounds before, the sound was quite distinctive. Ki attacks had their own sound, and this was nothing like gunfire or fireworks. Somewhere nearby they could hear the sound of things begin destroyed under a fusillade that defied normal description. Without thought or discussion, the boys were moving. Yesterday Ryoga had convincingly established that there was more than one type of magical girl in the city, but no matter who was fighting - friend or foe - Ranma and Ryoga wanted to be there. If there was a demon, they wanted to kill it. If it was one of the Sailor Senshi, they wanted to kill them. If neither of those was there, then just maybe they would leave, or maybe there was someone they could help. At a dead sprint, focusing all their thoughts on what lay ahead, neither Ranma nor Ryoga noticed their surroundings. Years of martial training would automatically kick in should any sort of threat arrive, but what caught them was no ordinary threat. With both boys being Jusenkyo cursed, the compulsion for water to leap out and strike them was almost enough to bend the laws of physics or at least skew probability into the most unlikely of regions. Some might say that they should have recognised this small, almost insignificant flaw in their plan. Unfortunately, hindsight is always twenty-twenty, and it was not until a ferociously frowning Ranma-chan slowed to a halt in the middle of a garden bed did they realise their problem. If it were just Ranma that had been caught when the sprinklers activated, there would have been no problem. What his girl form sacrificed in strength, she made up for in speed. Alternatively, when Ryoga's curse was activated, he sacrificed size, strength, endurance and speed for cuteness and edibility... Neither of which helped greatly in battle. Squatting down next to the little pig, Ranma poked his snout with a finger and squinted. "I'm beginning to understand why you don't like being P-Chan." P-Chan gave a small, piggy growl. It was not his usual pig response meaning: "Ranma, I intend to kill you for tormenting Akane-san and I." Instead, this was a different grunt, it somehow managed to imply urgency, longing and a desire for battle. Ranma looked at the pig quizzically. "You'll be all right if I leave you here?" A nod this time. Ryoga was used to being a pig. If there was ever a competition for surviving as a very delicious pig while completely lost, Ryoga knew that he could win it hands down. He appreciated Ranma checking that he was all right, but time was short. By the time P-Chan could convey to Ranma the location of the thermos in his pack, the battle might be over. Whoever was fighting needed Ranma now. Ryoga knew that Ranma was not as much use as he was in a fight, but even little help would be better than no help. Ranma hesitated for another moment, but when P-Chan bunted her leg with his snout then went rooting around in his pack, Ranma turned and left. Ryoga should be safe as a pig; whoever was being attacked by one of the Witches or the Sailor Senshi, they were the ones whose life hung in the balance. Two more streets took Ranma to a roof that she could look down onto the combat that was making the noise. If she was not so inured to world- shaking shocks, this one would have rattled her and kept her indecisive for long, possibly lethal moments. To first appearances, it looked as though the Sailor Senshi were fighting amongst themselves. Two girls dressed as Senshi appeared to be attacking a third. If Ranma was not so used to having her world set upon its head, this view may have shocked her long enough for the bigger girls to win. Being used to the unusual, Ranma almost instantly accepted that her enemies were fighting each other. This allowed her to watch analytically and think. The two girls doing all of the attacking were definitely Senshi; they matched Nabiki's description closer than any of the five she and Ryoga had already fought. The third girl... She was different. Looking closely, Ranma compared the small girl on the defensive with what she knew of the Senshi. While her uniform was similar, the little girl had a number of subtle differences, like the length of her bows and the shape of her shoulder guards. Then there were the no-so-subtle differences: large white wings on her back, a massive spiked gem on her chest and a huge pole-arm. None of the Senshi carried weapons, and none of them looked like that. What finally made up Ranma's mind were two simple things. Firstly, the girl was so young. Ranma could hardly believe that she was a teenager, and matched up against the Senshi, she seemed weak and puny. Most importantly, the girl was not attacking. In the past, the Senshi had a history of indiscriminately blasting the bad guys, and anyone who got in the way... Like a certain fiancee. True to form, Ranma was off the building and moving before she had consciously come to the decision to save the girl. Part way through her fall to the ground, Ranma had already done the battlefield analysis and had decided how she would win this battle. The two attackers were trying to batter their way through some sort of energy shield that the little girl had erected. Ranma could tell that because every time one of the magical attacks neared the girl, it struck an invisible wall and detonated. The ground around the girl was in perfect shape, defended by the shield, but that area was shrinking with every attack. This was making the girl more and more vulnerable, and in just a few more minutes - minutes that Silence Girl did not have - that shield would not even cover her body. Coming in fast and slightly from behind, Ranma timed her sprint to reach the little girl just as the latest pair of kaleidoscopic attacks sent waves of energy everywhere. Without a pause in her charge, Ranma wrapped an arm around the girl and headed for the side of the road. She guess she had about four, maybe as much as five seconds before the Senshi would fry her and her passenger, but with a little luck, she would be sheltered by a building in that time. It was four point two-seven seconds when the Earth Shaking ripped the side off the building, but it was time enough. Ranma and her cargo were saved from that blow, and any following ones simply impacted on the side of the building without reaching them. Seeing that the little girl in her arms was not trying to struggle, Ranma kept running. Weaving a zigzag course through the streets, Ranma put as much distance between herself and the Senshi. She did not know whether they would pursue, or how long, but she knew that if she needed to stop and fight, she would be in serious difficulty. Tired from a run while carrying a passenger - despite the girl's light-weight - Ranma would be facing two deadly opponents while having to defend someone. Not really the best way to win a fight. After twenty minutes of headlong, confusing flight through the city at the best pace that she could manage, Ranma stumbled to a halt and placed the little girl on her feet. Leaning over with hands on her knees, Ranma sucked in deep lungfuls of air. This was the moment of truth: if this was really one of the Sailor Senshi, she would doubtless try to slay Ranma where she stood, simply because she was allied with Ranma's other enemies. Ranma doubted this would happen, she was confident that this was not one of the dreaded Sailor girls. "Are... Are you all right?" The voice was quiet, very quiet, and Ranma had to strain to hear her. "Miss?" "Call me Mister. My name's Ranma." As Ranma brushed the sweaty locks from her eyes, she looked up to see the girl bowing to her. "Thank you, Ranma-san. You saved me... I... I couldn't stop them..." "Aww, it ain't nothing. Are you... Are you one of the Sailor Senshi?" The little girl in the sailor suit shook her head. "No. I'm Silence Girl, I'm here to stop all the fighting, and make everyone be nice to each other! I'm the most powerful magical girl in the whole world!" "Ah, yeah, sure... That's why those two Senshi were about to kill you, right?" Instantly the girl's big purple eyes began to brim with tears and her bottom lip began to tremble. "I... I... I..." "Geez, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. It's just, you know..." Silence Girl sniffled a few more times and looked at Ranma. After a few moments of indecision, she closed her eyes and concentrated. Briefly, Ranma was blinded by a bright light, and when she could see again, in the place of Silence Girl stood a small school girl. Out of the costume, she looked just as young. Her green plaid skirt and neat blazer suggested at a private school, but Ranma paid that little mind. It was where she stood in this war that mattered, not where she was educated. "My name's Hotaru, Tomoe Hotaru. I just call myself Silence Girl when I use my magic." "Oh... I'm Saotome Ranma." "Are you a magical girl too, Ranma-san? You must be to since you are so fast and strong. What does your costume look like? What's your magical girl name?" "Hey! I ain't a girl, I'm a guy! And my only name is Saotome Ranma, of the Saotome School Of Anything Goes Martial Arts. I'm a martial artist, understand? I don't need no magic to make me fast." "But... But you rescued me... How could you rescue me when you aren't a magical girl?" Putting a hand on Hotaru's shoulder, Ranma lead her to a small bench and sat down next to her. It was a shaded area that salary men used to eat their lunch during the day, but at this time of evening, it was almost deserted. "Look, Hotaru, I don't need no magic because I train hard. I've trained hard my whole life, I dedicated absolutely everything to the Art. If you've got magic, that's great, but it don't make you better than me." Hotaru looked down, finding something very interesting to look at on the tips of her shoes. "I am. I'm stronger than anyone. I'm so strong, I'm the only one that can stop all this fighting." "Yeah, well if you're so strong, why couldn't you stop them attacking you." "..." Leaning closer, Ranma put her head next to Hotaru's. "You'll have to say that again, I couldn't hear you." Her proximity seemed to open a floodgate, and instantly Hotaru had her in a death grip, bawling her eyes out. "I couldn't do it! I couldn't stop them without killing them, and I couldn't do it. Even if everyone in the buildings behind them was gone, I still couldn't kill them! What good are my powers if I couldn't even stop two magical girls from attacking me? I couldn't help Father, and I couldn't stop them! What am I going to do?..." Tentatively, Ranma tried placing her arms around the sobbing girl. Although she was four years older than Hotaru, Ranma's female form did not greatly eclipse her in height. Consequently, it was more like hugging a friend or younger sister than a daughter, and Ranma patted the girl on the back and tried to calm her down. While Hotaru cried and tried to calm herself, Ranma reflected that it was good that none of her fiancees were here to see them. Despite the fact that Hotaru was much too young for her, Ranma knew that she would be in trouble if anyone saw them. Ranma the pervert, that was what they would call her. Going after young girls now. With a sniff, Ranma blinked her eyes and looked imperiously into the distance. Her fiancees could say whatever they wanted, Ranma was not after Hotaru, she just could not stand to see a girl cry. Even if Akane came along with her mallet and... But of course, Akane would never hit Ranma with her mallet again. She would never call Ranma a pervert or chase of any of Ranma's other fiancees. She would never wrongly get upset at Ranma innocently comforting a stranger. She would never do anything again. Relaxing slightly, Ranma leaned on Hotaru a little. They might not be saying anything, but now that Hotaru was no longer crying, Ranma was beginning to feel better. Just having someone to hold was nice. Ranma wished that she could hold Akane like this, and tell her how much she missed the uncute tomboy. A couple of minutes later, Hotaru wiped her eyes and pulled away slightly. "Thank you, Ranma-san. I'm sorry. I don't usually cry like that. It's just that..." Ranma nodded. She was never good with explaining emotions and stuff like that either. "I know what you mean. It's... Yeah, it's like that..." Hotaru nodded, again looking down at her feet. "I... I have to go... I can't stay here all night." Ranma looked around and noticed how dark it was. Surely it must be past eight o'clock by now. "You alright to get home from here?" "Home..." Hotaru said in a quiet voice. Suddenly she jumped to her feet and stared straight ahead with braced shoulders and a set look in her eyes. "I'm Silence Girl! There's nothing in this city that _I_ need to be frightened of!" "Ahh... You sure?" Trying to look very determined, Hotaru gave a short sharp nod and refused to meet Ranma's eyes. "I am. I live near here." "Well... OK then. I gotta go find Ryoga... I guess I'll be seeing you around. Look out for those Senshi, understand?" Hotaru looked at where her saviour was departing into the night and sighed once before sitting down. Despite what she had told Ranma-san - whom she was secretly convinced was actually a magical girl too - Hotaru was not sure whether she would be all right tonight. She had only said it to reassure Ranma-san. Silence Girl was supposed to be the strongest magical girl in Tokyo. It was bad enough that she had needed to be saved by someone on her first night out, how was she supposed to save the city if she told Ranma-san what the situation really was? Her father had been taken over by an evil spirit, and she had destroyed her own home that morning. Her bed, her clothes, all her nice warm blankets were gone. Even if they still existed, she could not go back to them because of her father. She had to be strong. She had to be strong like Ranma-san! If Ranma-san could dedicate her life to marital arts, Hotaru would dedicate hers to being a magical girl! If Ranma-san was strong enough to save her, then surely Hotaru could be strong enough to get through a night in the city. She was Silence Girl! She had nothing to fear! No-one could attack her, and she could fly away from all her problems! Nothing would stop Tomoe Hotaru, premier magical girl in all of Tokyo. She would show everyone. She would stop all the fighting, and make her father well again. Giving a little shake to warm herself in the chill night air, Hotaru looked around. She would have really liked somewhere warm to sleep, but she had not managed to find shelter all day. Sitting in a corner of the little eating nook, Hotaru drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. It was cold tonight, but she was always hearing on the news how people slept on the street. She would be fine for tonight. Then, tomorrow, she would find somewhere better. Somewhere warm. Somewhere that she could have dinner before going to bed. As she sat shivering in the corner, Hotaru began to wish that she had swallowed her pride a bit sooner and asked Ranma-san for help. Surely she would have had somewhere nice to sleep. * * * Nabiki looked up as someone opened the front door. She was too tired to rise in greeting, so she just lay down her pencil and braced her chin on her hand. The way she was feeling, it could be a burglar and she would not have the energy to resist them from stealing everything. Of course, with Kasumi and Daddy asleep and Mister Saotome out meditating near the Koi pond, she would not be able to do particularly much if it was a thief. Of course, there were no thieves local to Nerima that would be stupid enough to try robbing their house. After a moment, the sound of quarrelsome voices came from the hallway, and Nabiki sighed. It was her team of casual heroes coming home for the night. With a glance, Nabiki looked at the clock on the screen of her laptop and blinked a few times in surprise. She could have sworn that it was only nine or ten, but the computer never lies, and it said that it was a quarter to twelve. "I can't believe you, Ryoga. You wandered off three times tonight!" Judging by that voice, Ranma must have gotten wet some time during their patrol. "I did not!" "You did! What about that time when we were near the subway station?" "I was just investigating a sound that I heard..." "Yeah, like I've never heard a train around there." Ranma's voice was full of scorn. "Raaaaanma!" When they came into the living room, the boy and girl were almost at each other's throats. After a short moment, Ranma noticed Nabiki sitting there watching them and lowered her fist. When his opponent dropped her guard, Ryoga looked around a few times then spotted Nabiki. With an embarrassed look on his face, Ryoga gave a strained chuckle and refrained from hitting anyone. "Nice to see you again. Not enough Senshi to fight to calm you down?" The reaction to her little jibe was hardly what she could have expected. Both of them snarled and clenched their fists in agitation and frustration. "Whoa! Whoa! Calm down! It was just a question." Shaking herself slightly, Ranma walked into the room fully and proceeded to slump down bonelessly next to Nabiki. "Sorry, Nabiki. We just had a bad night." When Ryoga sat down on the opposite side of the table, Nabiki closed the lid of her laptop and eased her injured arm into a more comfortable position. "Do you want to tell me about it?" Ryoga grunted and lay back, staring at the ceiling. "It seemed we were just too late almost everywhere we went tonight. No matter how fast we moved, we would always get there just as a demon escaped, or just as the Senshi finished killing one." "At least the _Senshi_ didn't kill no-one tonight," Ranma added. "The Senshi didn't? Do you mean a demon did?" "Yeah. Just to the west of Shinjuku. It vanished just as we turned up. It killed two people in their home. I can't believe it, there wasn't even a mark on them, but just lay there. They... They died before the ambulances arrived." Everyone was silent at that. Until two weeks ago, Nabiki was the only one of the three of them that had ever seen a dead person, and that was her mother in the coffin. This evening, Ranma and Ryoga had seen more death than they ever wished to see, and certainly more than they ever deserved to. It was part of the greater tragedy that while the Senshi were uncaring murderers, the demons that they fought were just as bad or even worse. Nabiki was going to ask for some more details on the demon attack when her exhaustion dulled mind caught something that she should have noticed when Ryoga first mentioned it. "Hey, Ryoga, you said were too late 'almost everywhere'. What happened the rest of the time?" "Err... You'll have to ask Ranma, you see, I was..." "What P-Chan here is trying to say is that when we got splashed with water, he got lost. We could hear someone fighting, so I couldn't wait for him." Ryoga gave Ranma a brief smile and a supportive grunt. He did not like it when people implied that a martial artist as strong as him could get lost easily, but it was better than telling Nabiki about him changing into a pig. His carefree days with Akane might be over now, but his curse would surely haunt him to the end of his days. While Ryoga was distracted by thoughts of Akane, Ranma gave a concise run down on Silence Girl and how she had saved her. "You think she could have been telling the truth, Nabiki? She didn't exactly look like a Senshi, but she was pretty close." Propping himself onto the edge of the table, Ryoga looked at the other through eyes half closed from sleepiness. "Don't forget Black Lady. She was pretty obviously a magical girl. That's means the Senshi aren't the only ones around." Nabiki nodded non-committally. Turning her laptop, she opened it up so that the three of them could see the screen. "While you were out I was doing some more research. It's amazing what you can turn up when you spend enough time looking for it." Opening a presentation on the computer, Nabiki showed them a series of photographs of varying quality. Some were excellent pictures, nice and sharp. Others were grainy and indistinct. "Here are pictures of all of the Senshi that anyone has been able to identify. They're mostly named for the planets, but there are a few planets missing. Let's see... Mercury... Venus... They usually call this one Moon, one of the newspapers called her Earth, but generally she's called Sailor Moon... Mars... Jupiter... Again, we don't have anyone for Saturn... Uranus... Sorry about the quality of this one, it seems as though no-one has managed to get a decent picture of Sailor Neptune yet. They don't have a Sailor Pluto either, or at least no-one has ever seen her. You'll also notice that none of the pictures match the description of your mystery girl. Looks like you're in the clear on that one too." "Wow! That was great, Nabiki! How'd you get so much stuff on them?" Nabiki waved her hand. "Thanks, Saotome. It's not that much for someone as good as me, but it's a start. Tomorrow I'm going to get some pamphlets printed warning people about them. Do you think you could drop them off tomorrow when you are running around?" "Yeah, I guess... You know, that's a pretty good idea. If people know to run away from them, they'll be safer." Brushing hair back from her face, Nabiki yawned mightily. "It's good, but it's not perfect. You saw how bad that picture of Neptune was. You'd hardly be able to recognise her... Do you want to know what has me really worried? By all accounts, Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus did not even exist until less than a month ago. We've still got two or three planets unclaimed. What if they get Senshi?" Soberly, Ranma nodded, but she did not interrupt as Nabiki continued. "It gets worse. What if there was a Sailor Asteroids and a Sailor Sun? That would take them to twelve. Now they've already got a Sailor Moon... What's to stop them from having Sailors for some of the really big moons around Jupiter and Saturn? I know you guys are good, but can you honestly take on fifteen or twenty of these girls?" They both nodded. "We can, because we have to. It's a martial artist's duty to protect the weak. Nothing will ever bring Akane back, but I can't sit around and let someone else get hurt like that." There was silence for a moment. Everyone in the room knew that if the two of them fought twenty Sailor Senshi tomorrow, there would be two less martial artists in the world, no matter how hard they tried. Looking for a change of subject, she made a quick check of the clock on the wall. Nabiki was stunned to see just how late it was, all that research and then talking just ate through the hours. "Listen, I've got to get some sleep. You two ought to rest as well. With the amount of training and fighting that you've been doing, you'll need it." "Come on, Ryoga. I'll take you up to the room." Rolling onto the floor, Ryoga turned away from Ranma. "I'll just sleep here. It's better than being outside, which is where I usually sleep." Too tired herself to argue with him, Ranma followed Nabiki up the stairs. Pausing in the hallway, she watched as Ranma walked past her room. "Where are you off to, Saotome? Has being with Ryoga too much affected your sense of direction too?" Pausing with one hand on Akane's door, Ranma turned back to the girl who might have been his sister-in-law if things had turned out differently. "Just going to say goodnight. Goodnight and get some advice before I go to bed." "Don't go strange on me, Saotome. We can't afford to lose you." Ranma gave a wan smile. "I'll be fine. I guess I just miss being hit on the head with a mallet." Nabiki stared at him intently for a few long moments, then nodded her head and went to bed. She would have to watch that boy. She knew that he was quite attached to her sister, despite the way that he acted. If he started to lose his grip... She would be the only one around that might be able to convince him to keep going, at least until the Senshi were defeated. * * * Morning came far too early for Ranma. After a series of days of rigorous training with Ryoga followed by nights patrolling with him, Ranma was beginning to feel as though he needed a rest. With a quick groan, Ranma pushed his self-pity aside and sat up. The Sailor Senshi and the demons were too powerful for him to slack off. If he took a day to rest, that would be one day more that Akane's killers would have before he brought justice to them. Sitting on the futon on the floor, Ranma had the distinct impression that someone was watching him. Swivelling his head, he turned and saw his father. Genma was sitting cross-legged near the door; despite his human form, he still looked like a panda they way he sat. The big man's eyes might have been closed, and his head bowed, but Ranma knew from experience that he was as alert now as he ever was. Blinking blearily, Ranma was about to start off the day with a refreshingly insulting comment when his father spoke and beat him to the punch. "You, my son, are the sole air of the School of Anything Goes Martial Arts. Not just the Saotome School, Boy, but the Tendo School too. In you I have invested every minute of my life. You are the future of our schools and our art." Shaking the sleep from his mind, Ranma flipped to his feet and began to move to the door. A bath, breakfast, then some stretching. Paying the usual attention to his father's rambling, Ranma proceeded to walk past him and completely missed his father's quick strike until he was flat on his back. "What did you do that for, Old Man?" "Listen to me, Boy. You are the sole heir. You alone have the knowledge to continue the School. What will happen to the School if you get frozen like Ryoga did the other day?" With a single wrench of his stomach muscles, Ranma bent himself through the middle and grabbed the lapels of his father's Gi. "What makes you think I care about the School any more, Old Man? Get it through your head! Akane's dead! There is no future!" Finally Genma opened his eyes and looked into his son's eyes. Centimetres away from each other, they eyed each other, lightning almost seeming to fly between they fixed stares. "Do you know what the School is, Ranma? Do you know what it is that I have trained you for?" "Who knows what you do anything for?" "I did it for you, Boy. You are the School. You are the future. You are the one that needs to be the true Master of the art." Shifting his grip so quickly that his hands blurred, Ranma had Genma in a headlock. "That's right, Old Man. I'm the Master, not you, so don't even think of telling me what to do." "Gasp!... You are only the Master if you can defeat the Senshi... What happens the first time one of them manages to hit you?" Ranma's grip slackened slightly. As much as he hated to admit it, his stupid father was right for once. If the Senshi won, he would be dead, and Master of nothing. If they encased him in ice like they did to Ryoga, he was finished. If they hit him with any of the attacks that they had thrown so far, he would be in a world of hurt. "So what are you gonna do about it, Old Man? Stop them with all that blubber? Laugh them to death with the funny Panda act?" "Your old man isn't out of tricks yet, Boy!" With a deft movement, Genma snaked a foot under Ranma and flipped his son in mid-air. Before the young man could react, Genma pitched him out the open window and into the Koi pond outside. "Hey! What did you do that for?" Standing inside the window, Genma looked down on the small form of his son in the pond. As much as he hated to admit it, Ranma's speed in this form was unrivalled. That speed would be the first key to her invulnerability. "Get out of the water boy, and build a fire in the yard. You've got some serious training to do." While the female Ranma muttered derogatory comments about pandas and parents, Genma went down to collect Ryoga. In all honesty, Genma did not particularly like Ryoga. The boy had constantly trying to get between Genma and a happy retirement, or more precisely, between Ranma and Akane. Ryoga did, however, provide a perfect training partner for Ranma, since he was the only boy in the area that approached Ranma's skill. Most importantly, this aggressive, sullen boy was the one fighting next to his son in a battle to the death. Genma was well aware that if Ryoga were to fall to the Senshi or a demon, his son would fall soon after. Kicking the protesting Ryoga out of the house, Genma dragged the rapidly awakening boy to the campfire that Ranma had set up. "I'm not going to say that I'm better than you, we don't have time for me to be able to prove it. What I will say is that I have thirty years more experience that either of you, and I know things you have never even thought of. Today, I shall begin to train you and make you the greatest fighters to ever walk Japan." Neither boy - although Ranma was arguably more of a girl at the moment - was happy at their treatment. It was them that had been going out and taking the fight to the enemy. Genma had simply stayed at home, claiming to be defending Nabiki and Kasumi, but in reality, they knew that he spent all of his time meditating outside. Actually, he claimed that he was meditating; for all they knew, he was probably sleeping. Producing a packet of chestnuts from within his Gi, Genma liberally sprinkled them into the fire. "Boy! Get them out." With the shout of "Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken," Ranma went into action. Moving so fast his hands ceased to be individual items, but instead became a blur. In mere moments, dozens of fresh roasted chestnuts were resting in a pile on the ground. "What was the use of that, Ranma? Everyone knows you can do that. I want Ryoga to do it." This time when Genma seeded the fire, Ryoga narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists. There was no way that he would ever admit to Ranma being better than him. He would never allow his rival to show him up like this... "YAAAAHHHH!" Ryoga's arms shot forward at a speed that few humans could match. Darting into the fire, he grabbed handful after handful of the nuts, but his speed was no match for the dreaded Roasting Chestnuts Over An Open Fire technique. In short order, Ryoga was bouncing around the lawn, waving his hands madly and trying to put out his burning sleeves. While Ranma laughed and almost choked on the chestnuts she was eating, Genma went to the remains of the dojo and grabbed a couple more pieces of wood. "Boy, that was terrible! I used to think that Ranma was slow, but you were disgusting! How can you call yourself a martial artist?" Flames finally out, Ryoga rounded on Genma and prepared to pound him into the ground. No-one spoke to Hibiki Ryoga like that and got away with it. The ferociously strong youth was standing there with one fist cocked back, ready to strike, but Genma hardly moved. All he did was hold up a large plastic bag filled with nuts. "What's it going to be? Are you going to hit me, try to prove that you're better than the Senshi by attacking your trainer? Or are you going to practice? My boy learned it in just a few days. How long is it going to take you?" Snarling, Ryoga snatched the bag of nuts and threw some of them onto the fire. While he gazed into the heat and tried to think fast thoughts, he heard Genma prattle on behind him. "Speed is your weakness, Boy. You are too slow, and that is why the Senshi could defeat you. Practice this, and soon you will be able to avoid them like Ranma... And by the way, I'll be back every couple of hours to make that fire even bigger." As Genma lead his son (or daughter) away from the burning martial artist, Ranma laughed. She could not remember the last time that she had laughed so much. Ryoga was just too slow to learn the technique. There was no way that he would ever be able to master the Amaguriken. "You know, Pops? Even if Ryoga does make it, it won't make him any faster on his feet. He'll still get hit just as easily." "I told you that your father was smarter than you are, Boy. Ryoga doesn't need that technique to punch faster, he can already hit fast and hard enough." "So why's he training?" "You'll see, Boy. You'll see." "And what do you want... You've got to be kidding!" Both Saotomes were looking at a setup in the back yard. In the corner was a strange contraption of tall pieces of wood with a pair of ropes hanging from them. One was just dangling, the other was holding a massive boulder. Although it looked fragile, Ranma was sure that his father made sure it was more than strong enough to survive the planned punishment. "What the hell are you thinking, Old Man? You don't know how to teach the Bakusai Tenketsu! Besides, even if you did, what good would it do me?" Leaning down so that his massive, blocky face was close to his child's, Genma looked at the fiery redhead. "So you think you know better than you're father now in how you should train?" "You betcha, I do!" With the speed of a man trained under Happosai, Genma reached out and gave Ranma a fast, hard poke in her left breast. "Hey! Quit it already! You've got no idea how much these things hurt!" Without a word, Genma turned and began pulling on the rope to lift the swinging boulder into position. Ranma only watched him for a short while before she was moving. She could vividly remember the first time that she had fought Ryoga after he had learned the Bakusai Tenketsu. The blasting point was not really the objective of learning the technique. The advantage came in the incredible toughening that it gave you. While she strapped herself into the hanging harness, Ranma grudgingly had to admit that her old man might be right this time. Her girl form was much weaker than her boy form. Even worse, she often got hit by water while she was patrolling. If she could train toughness into this body, she would be able to fight the Senshi on much more even terms. She might not know how to do the Bakusai Tenketsu, and her father did not know how to teach it. That did not matter, because she was Saotome Ranma, and there was nothing related to martial arts that she could not learn. She was smiling for almost five seconds before the boulder slammed into her for the first time. It was going to be a very long day. * * * Ukyo sighed. Nine out of ten times that something weird happened to her fiancee, there was no real positive side. This time she had to admit, his latest escapade with Happosai had honestly provided rewards. Not just a new martial arts technique for Ranma or beating a new foe, this time he had helped make someone's life better. To make things even more perfect, Ukyo had been there with him during most of the chaos, spending some quality time with her fiance and helping sort things out. About two weeks and a half weeks ago, just before Ranma went training in the hills with his father, the poor boy had been dragged off to a seedy den of ill repute by Happosai and his weak willed father. According to the two "adults" it had been to help toughen Ranma and make him a true man. From what Ukyo had seen of the event, it was simply that the perverts wanted to drag her fiance down to their level. Needless to say, things had not gone smoothly at the house of inequity. Ranma, being the water magnet that he was, had arrived as a girl, and the first time that anyone so much as touched him... By the time the dust had cleared, the house was a pile of rubble, and the hostesses were nowhere to be seen. That might have been the end of it were it not for fact that Happosai had ill advisedly chosen the residence and workplace for some members of Clan Kenzan. Kenzan was a clan of skilled ninja, with young Konatsu being their foremost student this generation. When Kenzan Konatsu had come to Nerima seeking revenge, Ukyo had teamed with Ranma. Like all battles that happened in the district, it was prolonged and more stunning than the last. It also seemed to follow one other unspoken rule about people who challenge Ranma: Konatsu was not what she seemed. On the outside, Konatsu was a quiet, polite girl of very traditional upbringing. Scratch the surface a little, and you found a ninja of sufficient skill to place both Ukyo and Ranma on the ropes. Naturally, Ukyo's beloved fiance had won, and it was at that point that the truth became clear. Konatsu was a boy. Raised by his evil step-sisters, the poor boy had been forced to pretend to be a girl his entire life. The Kenzan ninja were all girls, and thus when Konatsu's parents had given birth a boy, they had been ashamed and hid the fact. To throw fuel on the fire and enflame the confusion to new heights, Konatsu had become quite smitten by Ukyo. Homeless because their business and residence had been destroyed, Konatsu had prevailed upon the girl of his dreams. It was only after the soft-hearted Ukyo agreed to take him on as an assistant that she realised what a favour she had done. With his sisters, Konatsu had been oppressed and abused. Mocked for not being a real girl, Konatsu had been forced to do all of the drudge-work. Despite the fact that Ukyo only paid him a pittance, he worked himself incredibly hard, and still thought that it was an easy and luxurious life. Konatsu still dressed as a girl, and doted on every word that she said, but Ukyo would be the first to admit what a good employee he - or she - was. She did not really mind his gender insecurities. Ukyo had pretended to be a boy for the best part of a decade, and her beloved fiance changed sex with a splash of water. With examples like that, how could she be upset that Konatsu preferred to wear a kimono and makeup? The other telling reason to allow Konatsu to continue in his course was the fact the he really made a great girl. She had gained a noticeable increase in customer since the pretty waitress started. Konatsu had less business sense than god gifted the average gnat, but so long as Ukyo kept him away from business decisions, the cross-dressing boy was almost perfect. Best of all, it allowed Ukyo to take some time off every now and again. With someone like Konatsu able to set up the store for the evening rush, Ukyo was able to stay at school longer in the day. Better still, she could also afford to take some time off when it was needed. "Konatsu-chan? I've got head out for a while. Just watch the store and keep things going while I'm gone, OK?" "Yes, Ukyo-sama." The ninja gave a brief but deep bow. Picking up her delivery box, she hummed softly as she walked out of the store. A week ago she had gone over to visit Ranma, and had bumped into him as he set off to do some training. While she had wanted to go with him, looking after Konatsu and the store conspired against her. She did not feel too bad about the missed opportunity since only Ranma and his father were going. That meant that none of the other girls were making moves on her fiance, which was all that really mattered. The Monday after he had left, she had been worried that he might have gone off with the Tendos since neither Nabiki nor Akane were at school. Frightened that they might have been trying to trick her up, she had sneaked over the wall of their compound that evening for a look. Luck was on her side, because she spotted Nabiki in the main room, arm in a cast. She had considered going in and offering her sympathies, but Nabiki had never really been much of a friend. They were not enemies, more like business acquaintances. It was that business aspect of their relationship that caused Ukyo to keep her distance. She knew that if she had gone in, Nabiki would have someone managed to convince her to part with hard earned money, and since she was just taking on Konatsu, that was something she could not afford. Safe in the knowledge that Akane must have been staying home to help her sister, Ukyo had let life continue in a peaceful fashion. Without Ranma around, it was relaxing, possibly even dull. She had been willing to concede that Akane might have been staying home to help her sister, but when this Monday had rolled around and Ranma had not been at school, Ukyo began to be concerned. The thought that something serious had happened between Ranma and Akane was too horrible and unlikely to contemplate, but as the days passed, she had not been able to get the thought from her mind. That was why she was here now. Standing out the front of the Tendo compound, Ukyo took a quick sniff of the Okonomiyaki that she carried and smiled. Nothing wrong with a loyal fiancee bringing her man some food. Especially food that did not poison him or require medical attention after eating. "I'll just go in there, offer Ran-chan some food, then make sure he's not spending too much time with Akane. One taste of this, and he'll regret not coming and visiting me every day that he's been back." Indeed, with her new and improved super-special Ran-chan style Okonomiyaki, she would be capable of feeding two or three normal people. For her man, it would be an appetiser, to be followed up by dinner back at her restaurant. Pushing open the door, Ukyo walked inside the compound. Everything seemed perfectly normal, but there was an indefinable aura of gloom. Her experienced chef's nose could detect Kasumi preparing an early meal, and her keen fighter's ear could hear the sound of vigorous combat from the back yard. The harsh voices told her that it was Ryoga trying to kill Ranma again, so that was completely normal too. Failing to understand what could cause the feeling of depression, Ukyo ventured around the side of the house. The destruction that greeted her once she rounded the corner of the house was enough to make Ukyo drop the delivery box. Ranma and Ryoga were fighting with an intensity that she rarely saw, and skill that seemed to have grown noticeably in the weeks since she had last seen them. The fighters were not what caught her attention most, however. It was the silent statement provided by the destroyed dojo behind the pair that caught her eye. Akane was promised to Ranma so that they could continue the school of Anything Goes Martial Arts, and so that he could inherit the dojo. Ukyo could not help but feel some elation at the sight of that same dojo in ruins. She knew how much a dojo meant to any martial artist, but to see one of the main strengths of her greatest rival lying in ruins, she could not help but drift off into a brief fantasy about her and Ranma celebrating their wedded bliss. Her contemplation of perfection was cut short when the fighters noticed her and headed her way mid-fight. Again she was caught off guard, since neither of them would usually cease fighting their enemy without an enormous motivator. She knew her cooking was good, but she did not think it was good enough to sway both Ranma and Ryoga from fighting. It was with a sigh of relief that she saw first Ranma then Ryoga continue trading blows over the takeout box. Mid battle, each boy grabbed a tasty dish and ate it, demonstrating coordination, skill and culinary aptitude beyond most mortals. With one hand on her battle spatula, Ukyo considered belting Ryoga. No- one picks on her fiancee without her permission, but she relented and slowly relaxed. She knew how much Ranma disliked it when she helped him in a fight. Besides, looking at how well he was doing, Ranma should be able to take Ryoga without causing her to worry too much. She was settling in to wait for Ranma's inevitable victory when his father walked out of the house. Despite the way that she glared at the man that had ruined her life, he ignored her and concentrated on the two combatants. "That's enough you two. Get some rest before this evening." Ukyo's jaw hit the floor when she saw both boys stop fighting almost mid-blow. One moment they were sincerely trying to do the maximum damage to each other, the next they were sitting down on the porch beside her, puffing and panting, all aggression forgotten. "Wh-What's going on here?" Ranma narrowed his brows and glared at an unoffending piece of dirt. "Training." "Training? What on earth are the two of you training for? Why are you training _together_?" For the first time, Ranma turned and looked at her. With a slight grin, Ranma spoke. "Training for tonight. We're going out to kill some demons." "Demons! Ran-chan! You can't be serious! Those things are monsters! They'll kill you." The smile on his face was not the one she knew and loved. This was colder, harder, less forgiving. "Not tonight they won't. Ryoga and I have been training. Ain't no demon and ain't no Senshi gunna kill anyone while we're around." "D-demon? Senshi? What's going on here, Ran-chan? You're making me nervous." "Sorry, Ucchan. Things have been pretty rough for the last few days. It's good to see you, I guess." "Gee, thanks. You say that so sincerely." Ranma gave a short laugh. "Still the same old Ucchan. It's good to know some things don't change. Always stay like this, Ucchan. I want to remember you as someone happy and friendly." "What are you talking about, Ran-chan? Of course I'll never change. I'll always be your cute fiancee. But I don't understand. What does this have to do with demons and Senshi? They're a dangerous combination to mess with." She could feel Ryoga move beside her, but it was Ranma who spoke finally. "We're doing it for Akane. Every evening, Ryoga and me are going out and patrolling the city. We're gunna put an end to all the demons and Senshi if it's the last thing we do." After gaping several times in shock, Ukyo surged to her feet and pulled of her battle spatula. Swinging it around into a ready position, she glared at the two boys. "All right, that does it! Hitting you and poisoning you is one thing, but this will get you killed! Where is she? Where is Akane? If she thinks she can make you go out and fight all those monsters for her, she's got another thing coming." For several moments, Ranma looked like he wanted to say something, but then he just shook his head and went inside the house. Before Ukyo could follow him and start searching for Akane, Ryoga held up a hand and stopped her. "We're not doing it because Akane asked us to. We're doing it so that what happened to Akane never happens to anyone else." "What happened to Akane... I knew Nabiki had hurt her arm, but... Don't tell me she's in hospital! Is she OK? Why didn't someone tell me? She's my friend too." Grabbing small rocks from the ground at his feet, Ryoga clenched them in his fist, frustration and destruction the only outlets available for his pain. "She's not at the hospital. She... The Senshi killed her. Nabiki saw it all. They just shot her down so that they could get at a demon. They didn't even care..." Shocked beyond the capacity for speech, beyond rational thought, Ukyo collapsed to her knees and felt her mighty spatula fall from her suddenly limp fingers. "Dead?" It was not a question, more a self-denial. She couldn't be dead. Akane, the girl that was always being kidnapped and attacked, not her. They always joked about her that she was too much of a tomboy, too tough for her own good. Someone like that could not possibly die this young. Shaking slightly, Ukyo tried to bring herself back together. They may have been rivals, but they were never enemies. Ukyo could not possibly count the number of times that she had wished that Akane was out of the way and that Ranma could be hers, but she never wanted this. Not this way. Not dead. Despite what he said, Ukyo knew the reason Ranma had not chosen her long ago was that he cared for Akane and Shampoo. When he chose Ukyo, it would have hurt the other girls a lot; who would not be hurt by a rejection from someone as nice as Ranma? She knew Akane only distantly, as a friend in school and a competitor for Ranma's attentions. Poor Ranma must be devastated that she was gone. Ukyo had no real doubt that he would choose her. It had all been a matter of time until he realised that Akane was not right for him. But she would never have wanted it to end this way. This training and fighting easily explained why he was not at school. She wanted to rush off to him and console him, but she knew that he would not want that. She knew that Ranma was sensitive about these things, and would eventually leave Akane's family and move in with her. In the mean time, she would be here for him. She would show him all of the qualities that had made her the best choice for him for so long. A good fiancee stood by her man in his hour of need. "What can I do, Ryoga?" "Nothing!" It was a third voice, a voice of someone she had not expected. Genma had sneaked up behind her and had answered her question rather than the boy she asked, the boy who could give her a real answer. "I didn't ask you, you old fool! I asked Ryoga." Genma nodded and looked down at the shorter girl with long brown hair. Pushing his glasses up on his nose with one finger, he regarded her serenely. "Could you beat either of these boys?" "What? No! I know I'm good, but no-one's as good as Ran-chan." "Indeed, but yet these two almost lost the first time that they fought the Senshi. Would you want them to be worrying about you the whole time? Do you want to be the one that distracts them when they most need to concentrate?" "No!" Ukyo hefted her battle spatula in an aggressive stance and threatened the big man. "You want me to show you just how good I am?" Genma gave a brief smile. "And who is it that trains Ranma? Who is it that sparred with him every day of his life? Who is the one man capable of defeating him?" "That's just because of your dirty tricks. You cheat! You'd never beat Ran-chan in a stand-up fight." "Anything Goes... I'm not sending more people out there to fight the demons just to see them killed. Martial Arts is not about fighting, it is about winning." Leaning in very closely, Genma put his face near hers. "The path of a true martial artist is fraught with peril, and the way is hard. Are you ready for that? Are you ready to train and be a real martial artist? Or do you want to go out there tonight, fight and die?" "I... I... I..." In a single smooth move, Genma used his close proximity to grab the spatula and pluck it from her arms at the same time as he flipped her onto her back. "If you would be so kind, Boy. Take her out the back and 'train' her for a while. Without the spatula. She needs the practice." "Why you... Give me that back!" Ryoga's coarse, blunt hand rested on her shoulder and stopped her before she could start to commit grievous bodily harm upon the elder Saotome. "He's right, Ukyo. He might be a lying, cheating, evil panda, but he knows tricks we haven't even thought of. Give us a few days, and you'll be ready to come with us." "Fight Ryoga for an hour, then I'll train you. We all want you out there." Watching Ranma's two friends walk out and prepare to train, Genma felt a short quiver inside himself. The creatures they faced were like no foe they had ever crossed before. There was no honour of martial artists or noble surrender. This was victory or death. Genma had been called many bad things in his life, and most of them were true. The one thing he could not be called was totally heartless. Almost totally heartless, yes; totally, no. Throughout his life, Genma had often risked his son's life in the cause of making him a better martial artist. Risking his life was not the same as throwing it away. The Cat-Fist had been the worst disaster, but even then Genma had easily been able to fix things to a safe level. He would never let his son be killed as long as there was breath in his body. Some people would say that meant that he should be out there battling the demons with Ranma, but he knew that he would be more of a liability than the Kuonji girl. Compared to his son he presented too easy a target, and he could not afford to be hit as much as Hibiki. That meant that he needed to be here, and he needed to do his best to keep his son and heir alive. If keeping Ranma alive entailed training each and everyone one of his friends in the lethal ways of Anything Goes, then that was what he would do. If it entailed sending good kids like Ukyo into battle against unholy monsters, he would do that too. In a year's time he might never be able to look into a mirror and meet his own eyes ever again, but by all the Kami, he would still have a son then. No matter what it took. "Thinking, eh, Saotome-kun?" "Mmmm. Yes, Tendo. Thinking. There is much to think about." The tall man took a seat on the edge of the wooden porch where Ranma and Ryoga had been only minutes ago. When Genma sat next to him, Soun kept his eyes on the yard and concentrated on the martial artists there. "I remember a young man from many years ago, not much older than Ranma, he was. A great martial artist." "Hmmm. Maybe we should look for him. Would he be able to help?" "Maybe he could. Maybe not. I remember that this young man developed a whole new set of techniques. Techniques so powerful and deadly, he sealed them away forever. Swore never to use them again. Do you remember that young man, Genma my friend?" Giving a start, Genma looked across at his friend, but nothing was showing on Soun's face. "I do..." "What would it take for you to break that seal, old friend? My daughter is dead. Your son is fighting demons and magical warriors whose power is beyond imagining. What would it take for you to teach your son those techniques? Has your word become so strong and so honour bound that you cannot break it in this time of need?" Leaning forward, Genma rested his face in his palms. Muffled by his hands, the sound of his voice was still loud enough for Soun to hear. "I can't." "You can't or you won't? I know you're frightened of what they could do. I remember the stories of how they can even make the Old Woman's techniques seem pale. What would it take? What must happen before you can unseal the Saotome Forbidden Techniques." "It's can't. For two decades I have spent my every waking moment trying to forget the horror that I had created. If you could see what I see in my dreams, you would understand why I sealed them away and vowed never to use them again... But that is the problem, Tendo-kun. I succeeded. I sealed them away so well, even I cannot remember them." Sitting up, Genma looked out into the yard. Soun could see tears streaming down his face. "Every day I have been meditating, trying to remember them, but nothing is coming. Soun, my friend, you have to believe me. Every day now I wish that I had taught them to Ranma as soon as he was capable. Wish that I never let him leave Akane's side. If we had pushed them just that bit harder, said something just a bit better, they would have been married. Ranma would have been with her... He would have saved her. If I had not taken him on that accursed trip, Akane-chan would still be here." Wrapping an arm around the bigger man, Soun tried to comfort him. It was not Genma's fault that Akane had died, and what more could be asked of a girl's fiance than what Ranma was doing. Words would not come as easily or as clearly as he wanted, but Soun managed to convey his understanding. The Forbidden Techniques might contain power to exceed that of the Shi Shi Hokodan, but they must wait. Someday Saotome-kun would remember, and from that day forth, let all be wary of Saotome Ranma. * * * Rei was changing out of her school uniform and into her shrine robes when there was a soft scratching at the door. Knowing exactly who must be there, she opened the door and let Luna and Artemis in. Despite Ami's protests that she needed to study, the Senshi had arranged to meet that afternoon straight after school, to prepare for a hard night ahead of them. It was unusual for the Moon Cats to desert their mistresses given the girls' tendency to get distracted, but Rei was quite happy to see them in advance of the meeting. "Hey, Luna, Artemis. Why are you here so early?" Both of the cats looked sheepish for a moment, but eventually Artemis gave Luna a nudge and the black cat stepped forward slightly and looked up at the trainee priestess. "Sailor Mars, please... We... We both dislike going behind the Princess' back to ask you this, but we have to know. What did the Negaverse do to Usagi-sama in your timeline?" "What? I don't understand. They attacked us all the time, but you said that you fought them all the time too." "That's not exactly what I meant. I need to know what they _did_ to her." Rei looked even more confused for a moment before Artemis looked up at her with a piercing gaze and spoke gruffly. "What she means is: how did they break her mind? She's nothing like the Imperial Majesty that we used to know." "Artemis!" Luna sounded scandalised. "You think they did _what_ to her?" Edging in just before Artemis, Luna tried to be a little more polite about their liege's possible trauma. "She's... She's not like the Moon Princess that we're used to. She's... Well, she flighty and vague and she has absolutely no sense of responsibility. Why, I had to ask her three times this morning to get out of bed! Two weeks ago, the Moon Princess would wake up every morning just to patrol the city for an hour before everyone else woke up." "She did?" Both cats nodded. "Not only that, but she was acting so strange at school, Haruna-sensei was very worried. If it was not for the fact that she had been such a serious and dedicated student recently, I'm sure the teacher would have thought Usagi-Sama was sleeping!" "No way!" "And what's worse, is that she... Well, I don't like to tell tales... She was climbing all over Princess Jupiter at lunch, trying to steal her food. Her Majesty would never do such a thing! She even managed to convince Sailor Mercury and Princess Venus to sneak out of school with her so that they could see Princess Jupiter. I have nothing against the Senshi working as a team, but this seems to be going to the extreme!" Finally Rei could hold it in no longer and collapsed onto her bed laughing. "You look so funny, Luna, the way you're so upset at Usagi- chan. She didn't even do anything wrong today!" "But... It's not natural! Her Majesty has always been such a sterling example to us all. True, it was a bit rough on poor Artemis, but Her Majesty tried so hard. Fighting the Negaverse with just the two of you helping her... It was such a trial for our princess. Ever since that first night I knew her, she has never once been afraid. Never once ran from a battle. Why, she is the most perfect example of what a queen should be." "Oh, Luna, you just don't understand. The way we remember it, you didn't recognise Usagi as the Moon Princess. That meant that the two of you were out fighting evil right from the start. Naru-chan survived. Usagi-chan had no reason to be serious all the time. She could rely on her friends. We were there for each other... All of us. There was none of this 'Princess Jupiter' or 'Princess Venus'. We were all Sailor Senshi, and we were all ready to give our life for our princess." "But what happened?..." "We were a team. We were there for each other. The pretty soldiers who fought for love and justice were always on the same side. We even tried to trick the Negaverse into thinking we had split up, but they didn't fall for it. Even our enemies knew that we love her, and we would never abandon her." Standing up, Rei began to pace slightly, black hair flying behind her as she grew more animated in her speech. "We're a team because Usagi is that special person she needs to be. She might whine and cry all the time, but when you really need her, you can rely on her. She was there for us, and it was that special friendship that made Sailor Jupiter one of us, not some Princess Jupiter off fighting on her own. She might be a little cry-baby and not pay attention to anything, but we wouldn't change that for anything!" "A... cry-baby?..." Rei nodded. Luna looked stricken. "It... gets worse?..." The terror was plain in the cats voice. Again Rei nodded. Her voice may have been serious, but the smile on her face made them hope it was a joke. "Just wait till she trips over in battle and starts crying." The cats may have planned to continue their line of questioning, but the sound of the Moon Princess' delicate voice echoed up the stairs to Rei's room. "Rei! Are you going to be getting changed all day? I've almost finished one manga, and I need another one!" "Wah! Usagi! You're not supposed to steal my manga!" Leaving the cats, Rei raced down the stairs. Alone for a moment, Luna looked at her counterpart and enquired in a soft voice. "Do you think she was telling the truth?" "Sailor Mars has never lied before, and she seemed to believe what she said. I just find it hard to believe that this girl is the same as the Moon Princess that we worked with for so long. She's so different..." "Do you think that story about her crying in battle is true?" Entering the kitchen area where Rei was chasing Usagi around while the other girls watched in mirth, Artemis could only shudder. "I certainly hope she was exaggerating." Noticing everyone was in the room at last, Ami gave a delicate cough to try and gain their attention. With the spectacle that their leader was providing, it took Makoto's vocal support before people paid attention to the quiet girl. "I did some research today, I wanted to know more about the man and woman that attacked us yesterday." "Those creeps! My nose still hurts! What if they had ruined this perfect face? Millions of adoring fans would never get to know me." "I'm sure they'd still like you Mina-chan. We would... But aside from that, I think I might know why they attacked us..." Opening her bag, Ami drew forth a small pile of photocopied newspaper pages. Spreading them out on the dinner table, the collected Senshi saw a tale of destruction that left their mouths dry. Battles with Youma and the forces of the Dark Moon Family had always had an almost surgical precision to them in their past. People might have their energy drained, or sometimes a little damage would be done, but it was nothing severe. With only three Senshi on the team, things were more desperate. The news clippings told stories of prolonged battles that only reluctantly yielded victory to the girls. While there had been no dangerously serious injuries, more than one civilian had left the battle zone with minor burns after Sailor Mars had been forced to burn them free from the Youma that had caught them. The same sorry story held true for Princess Jupiter. Unable to rely on the care and support of her friends, she had often resorted to attacking the monsters by herself. Again, she too had been forced to sacrifice precision for necessity, resulting in the occasional broken arm or leg for the people she saved. "Luna!" Usagi cried with tears beginning to form. "How could we do this? Why couldn't we all work on the one team?" "Usagi-sama, I'm sorry. I know you remember things working out better, but that's not how they really were. You worked hard, all of you. You did everything you could to defeat the Negaverse and to protect everyone in Tokyo... In the whole world even." "She's right," Artemis' gravely voice continued. "You'll never know just how happy it makes me to see all five of you in the same room and not be fighting... Well, except for Sailor Mars poking her tongue out at... Your Majesty! Please! It's not seemly for a woman of your importance to act like that." When the girls had calmed down, Artemis resumed his speech. "I can't say what it means to me to have Sailor Mercury sitting next to Princess Jupiter and not trying to strangle her while everyone else is busy arguing. But despite that, I don't care what it says in the news. No- one ever asked you to be perfect. No-one else ever came forth to fight the evil. You were all we had, and you were all that Tokyo needed. The Sailor Senshi will always be heroes in my book!" Amidst the cheers of support, Ami quietly reached into her bag and drew forth another pair of articles. Setting them on the table, she waited until the sober content had calmed everyone. "That might have been true, but things have gotten much worse. In the last two weeks, we've seen another group of Senshi start to operate, not to mention Prince Diamond and Black Lady helping Emerald. To make matters worse, we seem to have someone else entirely out there as well, and from what we can see, they want to kill people rather than just drain their energy." The newspaper articles showed a terrible truth. Although the Sailor Senshi had done a better job in the last week compared to what Tokyo had ever seen from them before, it was not good enough. The rogue Senshi - possibly the improperly summoned Outer Senshi - were almost as dangerous as their enemies. Finally things had turned ugly. Lives had been lost. People had been permanently injured. Families had been ruined by the magical catastrophes. "I don't know how they managed to hurt us so badly, but I'm beginning to get an idea why they did it." * * * "Come in Shampoo. I need you help with the dinner crowd." "Shampoo busy, Great Grandmother. Mousse help." Shampoo did not look around, but she heard the sound of a stick clicking on the ground behind her that announced the arrival of her guardian and mentor. "I commend your dedication to training, Shampoo, but I need your help now. Come inside and wash up. You smell like you've been here for hours." "Shampoo train all day. Shampoo no have time to work in restaurant." Cologne was used to Mousse talking back to her and occasionally refusing orders, but Shampoo always did what she was told immediately. Her insubordination, even for something as important to an Amazon as training was something that Cologne needed to look into immediately. "Child... Cease your practice and look at me... I said, STOP!" After hearing that tone, Shampoo turned to look at her great grandmother. She was exhausted after a day of intensive training behind the restaurant, but she was not so tired that she missed the seriousness of the command. If she waited just a few moments longer, Shampoo knew that she would be feeling the hard end of the cane to remind her of her position. "Good. Now tell me. What is so important about training that you would suddenly decide that you would disobey the commands of your matriarch?" "Shampoo..." She was so used to thinking of Cologne as her great grandmother, it was easy to forget the rank that she also held. Theoretically, Cologne could order her expulsion from the tribe for disobedience. A legal technicality, but it helped remind Shampoo to keep things in perspective. "Shampoo shame self." She said, hanging her head. Shame was the inverse of honour, the other side of the same coin. If she had managed to conceal her actions from Cologne until she had righted things with Ranma, there would have been no problem. Now she had just told the one woman in the world whose opinion counted that she had done the unthinkable. Shampoo had expected some sort of reaction from Cologne. Condemnation, surprise, anything. Instead, all that happened was that she felt the tip of one of the old woman's wizened fingers under her chin, lifting her face so they saw eye to eye. "Tell me, Child. What happened? You did not lose a challenge against someone, did you?" "No! Shampoo never lose challenge. Except against Airen..." "Then what happened?" "Shampoo go to Airen place. Airen tell Shampoo Violent Tomboy was dead but Shampoo... Shampoo not think of Airen feelings. Shampoo so happy that Airen free, Airen get angry. Shampoo vow... Shampoo vow she show Airen she good wife by fight with him." "You think you shamed yourself and now you want to fight against him to prove yourself? Great Granddaughter, I do not wish to sound cruel, but you have not been putting enough effort into your training to beat Son- In-Law. Such a valuable addition to the tribe will be difficult for you to beat." "Grrr. Shampoo hate Japanese. Language too too hard. Shampoo fight _with_ Airen. Fight demons that killed Violent Pervert Girl. Shampoo make Airen love Shampoo again." Relaxing slightly, Cologne began hopping around the alley behind their restaurant that Shampoo had been using for training. There were training dummies, kicking and punching posts, even a few weapons that she could practice her forms with. Obviously Shampoo had been doing a thorough job of training herself. Not as good as if Shampoo had been trained by Cologne, but good nonetheless. Certainly nothing less than Cologne would have required of her protege. "Ranma is as weak willed as any male. Properly led, he will forgive you of any words or actions you may have committed. Remember, Son-In-Law is also extremely forgiving. He will not judge you harshly under any circumstances." The purple haired girl looked quite uncertain. "Airen very not happy..." "Son-In-Law does not carry grudges. That was always the forte of the Tendo girl. No, even if you did nothing, I am sure that he would forgive you within in days, a week at most." Before Shampoo could comment, Cologne held up one gnarled hand and silenced her impending interruption. "That does not mean that you do not have a good plan. If Son-In-Law is planning on fighting demons, then he will need all the help that he can get, no matter how good he is. While he does not bear grudges, he always remembers who his friends are. How far would he go for the girl that stood by him in all of the battles? That fought against the minions of all the hells by his side? Winning this city free of the terror that holds it will not be a quick battle. There will be much time that two fighters such as yourselves will be alone together." "Great Grandmother mean..." Shampoo began with hope in her voice. "I do indeed. I shall close the store for tonight and continue your training. Tomorrow, I shall speak to Son-In-Law and arrange for you to join him in his quest. No more shall be said of this 'shame' of yours. After a single battle, you shall be firm allies, and you can prove to him the true worth of an Amazon wife." "Great Grandmother... Thank you." "Do not thank me, Child. You will be the one doing all the hard work and facing the danger. A real Amazon could do no less." * * * Ranma had just awoken as Nabiki was walking out the door. Last night had been another challenge. He and Ryoga had not encountered the Senshi or either of the other magical girls that they knew. This time they had found a genuine demon. Well, maybe not a real demon, but it certainly seemed like one, and it fought like one. They had fought it to a standstill, and saved the family that it had been attacking, but they had not been able to destroy it before it escaped. Both of them were sad that they had not been able to have a perfect victory, but the fact that they had saved four innocent lives more than compensated for the bruises that were only just clearing. With bleary eyes, Ranma watched as Nabiki walked out the door holding a box in her good arm, and with a small backpack slung over her shoulder. Unable to think of any good reason why she would be heading out, especially since all of her 'contacts' called here during the day, he eventually opened his mouth. "Hey, Nabiki, where are you going?" "Out to earn some money." "Huh?" "You don't think things like computers and personal history searches are free, do you Saotome?" Ranma scratched his pigtail and idly wondered why he did not keep his mouth shut. If she was out to earn money, she would certainly be hitting on him for some soon. "Well, no... But I thought you had plenty..." "Oh, really? And what gave you that idea?" "Come on, Nabiki. Everyone knows you run the gambling at school, and you're always getting money out of me somehow." Nabiki snorted. "Kids' money. Even Kuno hardly supplies enough to keep us fed, let alone pay the rates and bills on this place. Looking after a group of fighters is not cheap, you know. I'm not even going to start on what you and your friends eat, but give a thought to this: "If you three are breaking bricks and smashing training dummies every day, how much is that going to cost? How much did all those bandages cost that you bled on? How much is it costing me to get people to do library searches and keep a lookout for suspicious activity?" "I...I...I don't know..." "Exactly!" Nabiki stated, biting off the word. "You don't know. It costs a lot. A hell of a lot. It costs more money that I have, and it certainly costs an awful lot more than your freeloading father brings in. Well... That's where I'm going now. I'm, going to run a little scam, and bring in some more of that money we need so badly, and that we go through so quickly." "I... I'm sorry, Nabiki. I didn't realise. Umm.... Just gimme a minute and I'll come with you." "Forget it, Saotome. You're no good as selling things, and you're even worse at trying to scam someone. Besides, you do what you can, and I'll do what I can. I know I can't fight as well as you, Ryoga or almost anyone else around here. But Akane was my sister. You'll never know what it was like, Ranma. You're an only child, but I was her big sister. I was the one that supposed to look after her, and see what happened. I can't bring Akane back, and I can't go out with you and save anyone else. What I can do, is bring in the money we need to keep fighting, and give you guys the information that you need to win." Shocked by the strength and emotion of her outburst, Ranma was silent. It was not until Nabiki had put on both her shoes and was struggling to pick up her box again that he moved. In a single fluid action he stepped into his soft, black, fighting slippers, scooped the pack off her back and lifted the box into one hand. "You're still hurt. If... If you don't want me around while you're working, I can understand that. I'll come back here and train with Ryoga and Pops. Might even help Ucchan train a bit. But just cause you're gunna be doing the selling is no reason I can't help you get your stuff there." Nodding once, Nabiki set off at a brisk pace. They took the train for a short while, since she needed somewhere not too nearby for her to hawk her wares. Most people in their area knew her by sight, so it was not really advisable for her to be doing anything underhand. When they finally disembarked, they were in Minato-ku, one of the suburbs of Tokyo that Nabiki had identified as being a hotspot of demonic activity. "So, Nabiki. What's in the box?" "Just bits of paper." "Huh?" Keeping her voice down, Nabiki leaned close to his ear and whispered. "Plain old paper. Last night I pulled out Kasumi's calligraphy set and spent a few hours doing some painting. This morning, I can say I've got over a thousand wards and charms to protect against demons!" "What? But you can't do that! You're not a priestess or nothing. How can your bits of paper keep anything away?" She gave him her most predatory smile. "They can't. But I do offer a 100% money back guarantee. If you get attacked in the first week, I refund your money. It's perfect. Even if they claim their money, so few people get attacked, it doesn't even matter. How much better can you get?" "But Nabiki! That's---" "Shhh!" She applied a finger to his lips. "That's why I don't want you here. Now, give me that box and go home. I'm an honest businesswoman, Ranma. If someone can prove to me that they were attacked while they had one of my wards, I tell them that something must be wrong with their ward and refund the money. What could be more honest than that?" "But---" "Go! Go, go, go. Go home and fight Ryoga for a while. I've got a lot of work to do." Reluctantly, Ranma turned away and began to walk down the street. He did not feel right in helping Nabiki con money out of innocent people, but she was always quite scrupulous in her financial dealings. She just made sure that people misinterpreted the facts of their own accord. As he was leaping to the top of the first building to begin his trip home, Ranma could hear her yelled words drift past his ears. "Come on, folks, come on. Get your wards here. We've got a money back guarantee on everything. Get attacked while our carrying one of our specialised wards, and we'll give you your money back! Come on folks! Protect yourself against the demons!" * * * Hotaru pushed the old blanket off herself and looked around. It was getting dark again. Inching closer into the protective shelter of the corner of the building, she shivered. Ever since it had gotten cold last night, she wished that she had taken the other magical girl up on her offer for help. Ranma-san had seemed so nice. She had saved Hotaru from those other two, but she still felt that she needed to refuse the offer. Not only had Ranma-san done so much for her by rescuing her from the big bullies that had been attacking her, she had also listened to her when she had needed to cry for a while. Hotaru wanted to trust Ranma- san, but she could not. When she was young, she had been taught how dangerous strangers can be. At school they taught you not to talk to strangers, and definitely do not go home with them. She had thought it was all right to talk to Ranma-san, but she was worried about getting any more help from her. It had been worse when Ranma-san refused to share her magical girl name with her. Hotaru was sure that normal people could not possibly be as fast or as strong as Ranma-san; she must be a magical girl. But she obviously did not want to share her secret with Hotaru. If she could not trust Hotaru with that, how could Hotaru trust Ranma-san? Especially since Hotaru had showed Ranma-san her own transformation. What else did she need to do? Giving a series of sneezes, Hotaru pulled the blanket around her shoulders again. Last night she had been so cold, sleeping outside. In the morning, she had managed to find a clean blanket that someone had thrown out, but even wearing it all day, she had felt cold. Now that it was turning to night again, she was shivering constantly. She did not know what she would do tomorrow, but she knew that she needed to find somewhere to live. The big problem with that was the fact that she only really knew two places she could stay: the school and her father's house. She had destroyed her father's house, and even if she had not, her father and Kaolinite would still be there, waiting to catch her and turn her into something evil. The school was out too, for almost exactly the same reasons; she might not have destroyed it, but if she stayed there, her father was sure to find out. If he found out, that would be the end of Hotaru, Silence Girl and her hopes of saving Tokyo from the fighting magical girls. Most children would have been able to turn to friends, but Hotaru did not have any of those. None of the other children at school liked her. The only person that she could think of that had been nice to her had been Ranma-san. She wished she knew where Ranma-san lived. Even if she could only stay there tonight, she would have begged if she needed to. Sneezing again and again, Hotaru shook beneath her blanket before looking up at the sky. In the middle of a city, the building's lights tended to hide the stars. However, on this unusually clear evening, Hotaru had a perfect view of the moon. Hanging in the sky above her, she could almost feel it looking down on her and smiling, casting its protective gaze over her as she slept. She had not thought about the moon much before she became a magical girl, but now she often thought about it. Was it because it was so big and beautiful? Shining and full of hope, just like she was? Maybe it was just her mind trying to tell her something. She knew about Sailor Moon from the TV, everyone did. Maybe it was a clue from whoever gave her the magical powers. She would have to find Sailor Moon and make her stop fighting. Sailor Moon and every other magical girl in the city, demons too: everyone beware of Silence Girl. Tomorrow she was coming for you, and she was going to bring peace to her city, no matter what it took. Giving another shiver beneath her blanket, Hotaru finally found sleep, taking comfort in the thought of making Tokyo a place where everyone could be safe, happy and warm... especially warm. --- End Of Chapter Author's Bit: For those people who like to keep track of things, Konatsu is introduced in Volume 35, Issue 6. There could be many reasons why I have brought him forward. Maybe I like the character. Maybe I want to increase the numbers on Ranma's side. Maybe I wanted someone that just looks good in a kimono... Who knows? At any rate, Konatsu has appeared here as another of those minor changes that came about due to messing with time. --- End of Author's Bit