The Distant Past, at the End of an Age: Isis was a short woman, slender with short, blue- black hair. As the end of all things approached, she was out in the garden watering the roses; with her powers, it was easy to call up a cloud and make a microstorm for them. It comforted her and soothed her fears, though at the same time, it made her wonder what was the fate of Zoicite, her fiancee, who had brought her the roses that she had put in the garden. Well, if I see an army of trees marching with Beryl, I'll know what's happened to him, she thought. There were rumors that four of the Guardians had gone over to Beryl, which she prayed was not true. There were footsteps behind her, and then Sif said, "I see we had the same idea." Isis laughed and turned to the tall, auburn haired woman. Sif had forsaken her usual courtly garb for the simple leather jerkin and pants she wore when gardening. She had a shovel in one hand and a trowel in the other. "Yes. I just wanted to make sure the roses were okay." "Did you ever finish that painting of the eight of us?" Sif asked as she started checking some of the other flowers for weeds and pulling them up. "Yes. Princess Serenity wished I had put her and Endymion in it as well, but I couldn't remember what his nose looked like." She sounded faintly embarrassed. "Also, I ran out of space, really. Four couples is enough for one painting." "You'll have to show it to me later. It might be all we have of them after this," Sif said, yanking up more weeds. "Stupid little things, I tell them not to grow here or they'll have to die, but they just won't listen." Isis paused and stared up at the Earth, hanging high in the sky. "You think they have turned, then?" "How many times have you known Pluto to be wrong? They've turned, and we'll probably have to kill them." Her voice was very, very calm. "How can you be so calm about it?" Isis asked with pain in her voice. "Because if I let myself think about it, I'd be curled up in a ball in my closet crying until it's all over," Sif said. "When we beat Beryl, I'm going to carve her into tiny bits and feed her to the dogs for what she's done." Her voice heated up measurably. "But I can't do anything yet but wait. Without the other kingdoms, we can't launch an offensive, and they're all having their own crisis. We'll have to face Beryl alone." Isis shuddered. "She is opening the Trods. I can feel it. I think she'll be here tomorrow. I've told the Queen, but..." "I know. All we can do is watch and wait. For tomorrow, we may die." She glared at a small bush trying to grow in the midst of the violets. "Except for these plants, who may well die today." The bush tried to hide, which didn't work very well, since it couldn't move. She sighed. "I'll just move you, okay? But in the future, stay in your own bed." The baby rose bush nodded, and soon was moved to a new home. ***************** Children of Fire A Sailor Moon/Ranma Elseworld Chapter 6: Memories http://www.maison-otaku.net/~rhea/SMR/ By John Biles ***************** "Everyone, I'd like you all to say hello to our new student, Mei'ou Setsuna," Godai-sensei said. "Hello, Mei'ou-san," everyone said. She bowed and smiled. "Hi." She then turned and smiled very brightly at Ranma, who shifted uncomfortably. Several other people noticed this and whispering ran round the room like wildfire. "I'm sure you'll all do your best to make her feel welcome," Godai-sensei said. "Now, back to work for all of us." Setsuna came over and sat down in the seat next to Ranma that he was sure hadn't been empty yesterday, but was now. "I'm so glad I finally got all the paperwork out of the way for the transfer. It was like trying to row upstream with a spoon." He laughed. "I've had to do that, after Pop managed to lose the paddles for the canoe, back when we had one." She smiled. "Tell me about it." He started into the story, and had just gotten to the part where Pop was wrestling the alligator when a shadow fell over him. Looking up, he saw Godai-sensei. "You can finish your tale in the hallway, while holding buckets," he said. "You too, Mei'ou-san." Ranma grumbled, but headed outside with Setsuna. "Geez, mistress of time, ya coulda warned me! You should have known that was coming." She giggled. "This way, you can tell me in peace." "..." "So then what happened?" Ranma pouted. "Hrmph. Go observe a future where I finished it." They finished filling their buckets and assumed the position. "Pouting doesn't become you, Ru...Ranma." "Don't call me Ruby. Don't even think it," Ranma said firmly, not looking at her. "Why does it bother you so much?" "Cause it shows you ain't seeing me, you're seeing a memory. Bugs the hell out of me." There was silence for a minute or two, then Setsuna said, "I'm sorry. I am patient in most things, but I have waited for you for so long..." Her voice was faint and wistful. "You ain't been waiting for me. You've been waiting for Ruby, and we're not totally the same, even if he was me." Ranma tried to hold himself back; she sounded very sad, and he didn't like hurting a girl's feelings. "Do I gotta write it on your hand or something?" She sagged. "You hate me." "I do not hate you! Don't overreact! I just can't take this being treated like some dead dude!" He paused. "That didn't sound quite right. I just...I don't feel like you really know anything about ME." "Your name is Ranma Saotome. You were born in Hokkaido because your family went on vacation and you were born three weeks earlier than anticipated. They were afraid you would die, but you pulled through and grew up healthy. When you were six, your father had a premonition that Happousai was going to escape, so he sent your mother to stay with her brother, and took you off on a training trip. Three months later, you met Ukyou and..." Ranma's eyes widened. "Whoa, whoa...Who's this Happousai character? And I thought Pop took me off on a training trip because he promised Mom he'd make a man of me." "He's a perverted old man who was one of the several idiots your father trained under. Your father imprisoned him in a cave a long time ago, with the help of Soun Tendo, Kasumi's father. I suppose he's roaming around Japan looking for your father right now." "Well, Pop's safe from him, then, but why'd Pop imprison him?" "I don't know, but I'd guess it was because he thought it was the only way to get away from him. Anyway, for six months, you and your father followed the Kuonjis around until..." Ranma interrupted her. "How do you know all this?" "I checked in on you periodically as you were growing up. That was during my guardianship of the Time Tunnel. Then, when I was finally able to lay down my guardianship in Crystal Tokyo, I sent myself back through time to be reborn in this time, so I could be the same age as you. However, because I'm the senshi of Time, I have all my memories, unlike the other Senshi. It didn't quite work out like it was supposed to, though." "You could say that," Ranma said. "No, no, I mean, I popped into existence as a sixteen year old about four months ago. No family, no past, just a few legal records, a house, and some money. And a reversion to...umm..." She looked embarrassed. "I really wasn't always so...hyper. Not since the first time I was this age. And I just keep...being able to see the future doesn't always help. Look, how about if we just...try going out on a date?" Suspicion twinged through Ranma. "Just a date?" "Yeah. I promise I won't call you Ruby." "The movie can't be any of that disgusting mushy stuff." "How about the Lord of the Rings movie?" He blinked. "That doesn't come out until a year from now, right?" Setsuna grinned. "You forget who you're talking to." A twinge of conscience went off. "Isn't that an abuse of our powers?" "It's not like we're going to prevent the movie being shown or anything. We won't be changing history." Ranma thought for a moment. "Right. Sounds great to me." "Yes!" Setsuna posed triumphantly. Unfortunately, she was still holding her buckets, which meant that water went flying everywhere. Ranma-chan said, "Just freaking great. Keep an eye out while I go get some hot water, okay?" "I can fix this," Setsuna said. "You can?" She put down her now empty buckets and got out her transformation pen and concentrated on it with her eyes closed. It flared with light, and Ranma's uniform suddenly turned into the standard school fuku. "There you go." He hung his head. "I want to be a boy, not to be correctly dressed to be a girl!" "Oh. Well, since it's my fault, you can stay here and be good, and I'll go get the hot water. That way, I'll get in trouble instead of you if Godai-sensei checks." "Right." She got back before anyone checked, and he turned back to normal. The fuku turned back into his uniform. "Thanks for that," Ranma said. "You'd have looked pretty silly in that fuku," Setsuna said. Godai-sensei stuck his head out the door. "Clean up that water!" "Yes, Sensei," they said, sighed, and went to work. ************ Ukyou frowned. She had the feeling someone was staring at her; she'd had that feeling the last few days, but she could never spot who it was, if anyone. It was getting worse, although she suspected it was simply because she was playing soccer, and people were, naturally enough, staring at her because she had the ball. She drove it down the field, and kicked in the goal past the goalie, and her team went wild, cheering. The bell rang for lunch while she was still grinning. Time enough to go back to her room and change while the dorm was empty. She headed back, only to see a small tree coming down the stairs when she reached the base. It paused, and a feminine head popped out. "You! I know you!" Ukyou scratched her head. "You do?" "I've seen you in my dreams! But you're even better looking than I dreamed!" Hearts flashed in her eyes. Ukyou wondered how this crazy woman had gotten into the middle of her dorm. "Uhhh..." She started to back up. "My name's Tsubasa! Marry me!" The tree charged down the stairs. Ukyou, being unarmed, did the sensible thing. She ran. ***************** "Well, it looks like you've fully recovered," Dr. Tofu said to Kasumi. Damn, she thought. Now I don't have any more excuses to come back. I wish I could...no, he'd never like a tomboy like me, she thought. Her brain whirled for a while, then she said, "I guess I won't need to come back, then?" "Feel free to drop in and say hello, but you don't need my services any more. Not until your next fight anyway," he said, smiling. "I've heard there's a tournament coming up. Are you going to be entering it?" She nodded. "In a month or so. I've already signed up. You'll come see me, won't you?" "Of course," he said. "You'll do your father's memory proud, I'm sure." "I've been trying to think of some way to raise enough money to rebuild the dojo, but the only thing I have worth that much is the land the dojo stands on." She sighed. "The prize from this tournament would be a start towards that." "Good luck!" "Thank you," she replied, smiling. ************ Nephrite examined the energy gathering in his laboratory. The experiment in chaining ghosts to his will seemed to be working, although the ghosts tended to be easily distracted. Once the stars had led him to the haunted graveyard, it had been easy to bend six or so ghosts to his will and send them forth to feed on the life force of the living. Somewhat harder to force them to hand over that life force afterwards, though. The most effective of them was a deranged mother who went around impersonating other people's mothers and using that to lure them into her arms, then drained their life. Unlike the others, she didn't get distracted quite so easily, and she'd evaded the ghost-sweeper woman who'd slain two of them. He needed the energy input; his search for the Silver Crystal ate energy to a degree he found incredible. Someone had hidden it very, very well. It let him use his youma for searching. The ghost dog arrived, and dropped five bones at his feet, then coughed up a smidgen of energy to add to the pool. He frowned. The thing was obsessed with bones. He found it rather morbid. "Teaching your pet to fetch for you?" Zoicite said. Nephrite looked up and saw Zoicite floating in the air in one of his usual wasteful displays of energy. Zoicite would never walk when flying would do, and teleporting was even better. "Well, after watching you fetch and carry for Kunzite, I thought I could train this dog to take your place and spare him a lot of aggravation." Zoicite's face turned beet red. "How dare you compare me to a dog!" His voice suddenly rose three octaves. "All you ever do is skulk in this cathedral and consult star charts, while Kunzite and I are out gathering energy and trying to find the Silver Crystal." "Finding the crystal is MY job," he said. "And you've turned into a woman again. Lack of control of your own magic. Tsk." Zoisite focused her will, and turned back into a man. "Dammit, I hate that." Being a powerful weilder of life- force magics had its drawbacks. He could grow the only garden of flowers in the Dark Kingdom, but it carried a price. "Did you come to make a fool of yourself, or is there some other reason you came?" Nephrite asked. "Tourmaline and Jadeite are plotting together," Zoicite said. "They've found the Princess and are planning a strike to get hold of her," he continued, settling to the ground. "We plan to pre-empt them." "Have fun," he said. "I think she's probably sending you on a wild goose chase." "Are you going to sit back and let this upstart show us all up?" "The Princess is not my job. And if Tourmaline's working with Jadeite, I'd put odds on..." The dog slobbered on Nephrite's leg. "But I'll let you use this dog." Zoicite frowned. "You'll regret this." "Not as much as I regret not picking my ghosts more carefully." "You should use your youma; they're not as stupid as a dog-ghost," Zoicite said. "And they don't try to..." He pushed the dog away. "Do whatever this thing is trying to do." Zoicite grinned. "Shall I send her into heat for you? You seem to be her type." "No. Get out." "As you like." Zoicite vanished in a spray of petals. I'm surrounded by freaks, Nephrite thought. "GET OFF MY LEG!" ************ Ukyou sprinted across campus with the tree-girl in hot pursuit, running right through dozens of small knots of people eating lunch and chatting. Finally, she found Haruka, who was eating lunch with some friends of hers from the track team. "Help! There's a dryad after me or something!" Everyone stared at her as if she was insane. "I'm not kidding!" The door of the locker room swung open, and the small mobile tree entered. "Has anyone seen...ahah! There you are!" The track team boggled in unison. Haruka said, "Did you try to cut her down or something?" "Ahah!" Ukyou said. "Come and get me!" she shouted at the tree, then took off through the far side of the locker room. The tree gave chase through the twisty, bendy corridors of the gymnasium, then down a staircase and into the school orchard, where one of the odder clubs of the school met. They were all dressed in red and black plaid flannel shirts, denim pants, and funky hats, busily having an argument about proper saw use. It was the lumberjack club, who had planted the school an orchard so they could periodically practice in it. Ukyou said, "This tree is after me." They turned as one and stared at Tsubasa with hunger in their eyes. She watched the tree-girl flee into the distance with the club giving chase. "Man, I've got five minutes to shower and change," she said after she looked at her watch. "There goes lunch." ************ Ami lay on the bed and stared at the ceiling. What do I tell Kasumi? How do I tell Kasumi? I don't have any real proof, and what little evidence I have, I can't tell her how I collected it. There were footsteps at the door, and then it opened. Her mother said, "Ami, are you okay? Kasumi said you've looked worried all day." "I'm just...trying to decide whether to tell someone something when I don't know if it's true." Her mother, who was tall and elegant, came over to Ami's bed, and sat down by her daughter. "You want to talk about it?" Ami thought about it for a few seconds and came up with a way to sort of explain things. "I saw a man at Rei's temple the other day. He looked like....Uncle Soun." Ami's mother's eyes widened. "It must be a coincidence." "Probably, but...I mean...Mother, do we have any real idea what happened to her parents and sisters? Anything....anything at all?" "They didn't die when the dojo blew up. Beyond that...not much. I don't think they staged it to fake their own death; it makes no sense, and most of their stuff was still there in the rubble, including their luggage. I can't really believe Kasumi's story about the evil troll, but at the same time...I thought at first it might have been some sort of sloppy kidnapping, but no ransom was ever demanded." She scratched her head and sighed. "There's no answer that makes sense. They would never have left without Kasumi willingly, no one had any reason to kidnap them, and there were no corpses left behind. And the explosion appeared to have taken place on the porch. Porches don't explode." She turned and stared at the picture over Ami's desk, which showed the two families together, taken when Ami was four years old. "Soichiro cried for a week. Not that he would let anyone see it. Your father loved his sister very much, although he never really liked your uncle. They were just too different." A thought struck Ami. "Do you know why Kasumi doesn't like Ranma's family?" Ami's mother flopped down on the bed next to Ami. "I see we're going to be here a while." She rolled over on one side to face her daughter. "Your aunt Michiko and Ranma's mother, Nodoka, were roommates at...I forget which college. That's when they met Soun and Genma, who were apprenticed to this total freak of a man named Happousai, this little withered..." She looked thoughtful for a moment, then continued. "I only met him once...I had to burn the clothing I was wearing afterwards." She shuddered. "Anyway, they'd both done a lot of...not very good things under the influence of the old man, and all his students have a pretty bad reputation in the martial arts community. But after they met Michiko and Nodoka, they rebelled against him and left him. Ranma's father went to a temple to atone, while Soun's parents called him to come prepare to run the family dojo. He married Michiko and Nodoka married Genma. Michiko and Soun had three kids: Kasumi, Nabiki, and Akane." "Anyway, after the Tendos vanished, Kasumi came to stay with us, and Genma panicked. He took Nodoka to stay with her brother, an architect named Nobuyuki. Then he vanished one night with Ranma and never came back." Ami stared in surprise. "That's just....why?" "I have no idea. I'd be interested to find out why. Anyway, his mother is one of the people who trained Kasumi, and I know she's not very pleased with her ex- husband." "They got a divorce?" "She did. It wasn't easy, but Nodoka's family has a lot of pull, somehow. I don't know if Genma even knows about it." Ami paled slightly. "I'm pretty sure Ranma doesn't. Does she hate him too?" "I don't think so. I'm sure she wouldn't blame a six year old for his father's actions." "I think...I think maybe I ought to get Ranma so you could tell him about this." "I'd been meaning to bring it up when I heard Kasumi ran into him, but I never seem to be around when you...oh, I meant to ask you...I have some time off coming up. I was thinking the three of us could go have a special family day this Saturday. Dr. Masamichi got me some tickets to some plays, and one of them is coming up; I thought we could go to it. And if there's anywhere you'd like to go as a family, we could do that too." Ami's face lit up. "That would be great!" Kasumi appeared at the door. "Dinner is served. What's this about a play?" "This Saturday. Would you like to go?" "Sure!" She smiled brightly. "But right now, come on, dinner's getting cold." ************* "Pop did WHAT?" Ranma shouted. They had gone to a park to talk so as to avoid any potential scenes with their respective housemates. Ami's mom, who had reverted to her maiden name of Reiko Toranaga, said, "Abandoned her. He said he'd come back once things died down, but he never did." Ranma suddenly remembered what Setsuna had told him; he'd been aggravated enough that he had managed to forget half of it. "I thought she went to stay with her brother. Pop always told me we'd go back once I was ready." Although I'm not sure what I was supposed to be 'ready' for, he thought. "She did. But he never came back. So she divorced him." Ranma stared in shock. "She...did?" Reiko nodded. "I doubt he knows about it, though. So where is he, anyway?" Ranma twitched. "Well, I guess I have to explain the whole thing..." A handy sprinkler did the trick. "You see, we went to these cursed springs..." "Oh my." *************** "Should I tell her?" Ami asked her mother later that day. "I'm not sure. Ranma's father..." She shook her head. "To think something like that exists for real...did you know about what happened to his father?" Ami nodded. "Come with me." They went into the back storage room, which was piled full of crates and boxes and old furniture and several old easels with half-finished canvasses on them. Ami's mother opened several boxes until she found the object of her quest. "Here it is." It was a photo album, full of faded and battered photos. "Here he is," she said, paging through the book until she found one that showed her with a tiny old man half-down her shirt. "I nearly killed your father for taking this picture," she said. "I only kept it so I could show the cops. His name was Happousai." "He's...small." "Lethal. And a total underwear freak. If you see him, call the police." Ami nodded. "When Ranma's father returns, I'm going to have a few choice words with him." Her voice was sharper than usual. "If he knows something about what happened...we'll get it out of him. And if it was his fault..." Her voice grew sharper yet, "He'll pay." ************* Jadeite walked into his casino, which was still under reconstruction. The big 'Jade Dragon' sign was up already; he liked the design. Workers bustled about, rebuilding the interior. And among them stood the oddball who Jadeite had hired to run the place. The man had no real name, and Jadeite suspected his appearance was fake as well; no one could possibly actually look like a king from a deck of cards. They called him the Gambling King, and Jadeite believed it. The man had beaten Jadeite at cards with Jadeite cheating with magic; that was good enough for Jadite. "Ahh, Mr. Stanton. And where's your lovely wife?" "Taking care of other business," he said. "How soon will we be ready?" "A month at best, if nothing goes wrong," the Gambling King said. "Have you found the Saotome boy yet?" "Not yet," Jadeite said. "Still checking through all the possibilities. Should take less than a week. So why are you looking for him, anyway?" "I have a gambling debt to collect, of course. He signed over his future inheritance to me." Jadeite resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the man. As if the kid would remember or honor it. "I don't see your ninjas anywhere." "They wouldn't be doing their job very well if you did, now would they?" the Gambling King said, laughing with his booming voice. He snapped his fingers, "Konatsu! Come forth!" Suddenly, a tall, slender girl in a kimono stood at his elbow, holding a plate with cookies, two cups, and a teapot still releasing steam. "Do you like sugar in your tea, sir?" "Two lumps please," Jadeite said. "Lemon," the Gambling King said. "This is Konatsu, who is one of my best ninjas." Jadeite took the tea Konatsu offered to him. "How did you get your own ninjas, anyway?" "They were all given to me to pay off gambling debts I was owed. Except for the hog-calling disaster, they've been quite useful. So, let's talk about how we're going to split the profits." ************ "Dinner's ready," Usagi said from outside Ranma's tent. There was only silence. She stuck her head in. "Ranma, dinner is...Ranma?" There was no Ranma, although she was pretty sure she'd seen him come home earlier from wherever he'd been. ************ Ken looked over at his roommate, who for once looked utterly, completely normal, seated at his desk, working hard on math homework. "You done the bio homework yet?" he asked. "Not yet." "So how come you ain't a tree or something?" "Tree costume got wrecked and..." For a moment, his usually cheerful voice faltered. "I'll take my chances with the evil spirits for a little while. I gotta...Have you ever been in love, Ken?" "Not anything too serious. Had a few dates, kinda sorta dated this one girl. Got my eye on another one right now." There was a knock at the window. "Let Ranma in, will ya?" Ken asked Tsubasa. Tsubasa nodded. He went to the window, and opened it. "Hi, I'm Kurenai Tsubasa. Nice to..." He blinked. Do I know this guy? he asked himself. Ranma stared back. I've met this guy before, he thought. And not just when he was a...whatever he was when I came over last time. "I'm Saotome Ranma. Nice to meet ya." He shook Tsubasa's hand and felt a tiny jolt that made them both jump, then slipped into the room. "Gotta hate static electricity." "Yeah," Tsubasa said, going back to his homework. "I've decided that when we divy up your fiancees, I want Rei," Ken said. "She's a fox, and I wouldn't have to beat her in a fight first." "Wise people don't date Kitsune," Tsubasa said. "Trust me." "Uh...okay," Ranma said, sitting down on Ken's bed. "I just...I may have to really beat the hell out of Pop, but I'm not sure if it's all true, and I don't know who would...oh wait, I know who to ask." He got up. "Yeah, she'd know. Guess I'll see you later, Ken." "..." Ranma vanished out the window. Ken turned to Tsubasa, "Did you understand that?" "No." "Me neither. So who have you got a crush on?" "I don't know her name." "What school does she go to?" "This one." Ken's eyes widened. "She's a woman...attending here?" "Most people wouldn't ever notice, but I've got a knack." "I've noticed." ************ Setsuna was in the throes of trying to defeat the game 'Bust-A-Move' when there was a rapping at her living room window. She knew who it was without looking; even without time powers, she could have simply deduced it. "Come in, Ranma," she said. He came in. "I talked to Ami's mom and she said..." "That your father abandoned your mother." "Yeah. I just...I mean, did he?" "Well, I don't know what he was thinking...I can't read minds. But I know he took her to her brother because he had a premonition. Perhaps it was the promptings of destiny." She paused the game and turned to face Ranma, gesturing to the couch she was sitting on. He came over and sat down. "Destiny doesn't talk to people." "Well, he is usually mute, but...you know what I mean. Perhaps your father has a little of your power; it's often like that with magical warriors. While he has done many bad things, but I don't think he would just abandon your mother for no good reason. But you'll have to ask him why." She scooted a little closer to him. "I wish I could help you more, Ranma," she said, emphasizing his name. "Mom divorced him." Setsuna blinked in surprise. "She did?" After a few seconds, she continued, "I suppose so. If she thinks she was...the last I saw of her, she was at her brother's, but I don't know if she still lives there." "Mrs. Mizuno told me that she was still living with her brother and his son. I was thinking about going to see Mom, but she might...I mean...I dunno." He stared at the ground. Setsuna smothered her instincts to comfort him more than he would be able to handle, but it wasn't easy. She simply put a hand on his shoulder. "I think you should go see your Mom, although maybe you should wait until we get your father..." She slapped her forehead. "We could just teleport to the zoo and get him. It's not like they can really own him, so it won't be stealing. And faster too." "We can?" Ranma asked. She stood up. "Once you're at the height of your power, you'll be able to teleport interplanetary distances. Crossing to America would be easy. You know where he is, right?" "Right," he said. She held out a hand. "Let's go." He stood and took her hand, feeling the softness of her skin. "Okay, how do we do it?" "Just think about where you're going, then shout, 'Guardian Teleport'!" "Do I need to transform first?" "Hmm. If we show up in the middle of a zoo with people in it transformed...But probably we should." She pulled out her transformation pen. "PLUTO POWER, MAKE UP!" "Guardian Power, Transform!" he shouted. They transformed, then Guardian Saturn fixed the image in his mind. "GUARDIAN TELEPORT!" The world winked out, and a zoo winked out. Stars twinkled over head and buildings and animal dens spread out all around them. The zoo was very quiet, and the air was cool. Guardian Saturn leaned against a railing. He felt rather drained, but didn't want to show it. "Well, that's one less problem," Pluto said. "Hmm. It's going to take a while to find your father." They searched for a while, and eventually found the panda den, which held a single disgruntled looking female panda. "That ain't Pop," G. Saturn said. "But he has to be here. Unless the Zoo sold him?" G. Saturn sighed. "No way to find out with everyone gone. I'll call them in the morning, I guess." "Well, let's go home." She took his hand again. "We had to try." "Thanks," he said. "No problem. SAILOR TELEPORT!" There was a flash, and they returned to her house, then another set of flashes as they detransformed. She said, "Ever played Bust-A-Move?" "Nope." "Want to try it?" she asked hopefully. "Uh, sure," he said. She was soon crushed by his superior virtual dancing. Over and over. Finally, she looked over at him suspiciously. "You'd never played this before?" "I guess I've just got rhythm." His stomach rumbled. "And the munchies." "I foresee a pizza in our future. Sound good to you?" "Sounds GREAT to me," he said. She went to place the order, and he amused himself with the Sega Saturn. She then returned. "They'll be here in twenty three minutes," she said. "Just enough time for me to avenge myself." "Just enough time for you to be crushed." Ranma proved the better prophet. The pizza arrived right on time, and they adjourned to the small dinner table and proceeded to pig out. Once Ranma was sated, he said, "I'm betting Pop escaped." "Makes sense," she said. "They probably tried to make him breed with the female one." "..." She went and got a tin of cookies out of the cupboard. "Chocolate chip and raisin cookies. You want some?" "They're my favorite," he said, taking three and eating them in seconds. She sat down and took one, eating it slowly. "Me too," she said. "I only bake them once a week now, or I start eating them like they were popcorn. I'll make you some tomorrow." "Cool." She handed him a napkin. "There's chocolate at the corner of your mouth." He wiped. "The other corner." He wiped again, then reached over and wiped the corner of her mouth. "You too." He touched me, she thought, then whacked herself mentally for getting so excited about it. Don't do anything stupid, she told herself. Stay calm. "Well, I can't beat you at Bust-A-Move, but I bet I can crush you at...no, on second thought, you'd likely beat me at Mortal Kombat." He grinned. "Naturally." He got up. "I better get home and do my homework." "..." "What, you forgot about your homework?" Setsuna looked nervous. "I haven't quite gotten into the 'school' habit yet." He laughed. "Better get to it. Thanks for everything." She went to the door with him. "Come on over any time you want," she said. "If you want to study or goof off or...anything." "Okay," he said. "We're doing training tomorrow, right?" "Right, Ranma." "See ya then, Setsuna!" he headed out the door and into the night. I wish I could help him with his parents, she thought. But at least we had a fun time, and I didn't goof up. I may just pull this off after all. ********* Usagi and Shampoo were sparring in the yard when Ranma arrived home. "I saved dinner for you in the fridge," Usagi said, then ducked a bonbori swipe at her head. "Ate pizza at Setsuna's," he replied. "Now I gotta do homework. Bleah." "Usagi spent a long time cooking you dinner," Shampoo said sharply. "Had to go think about some stuff," Ranma said, disappearing into his tent. Shampoo frowned at the tent. She turned to Usagi. "We need to do something." "It doesn't bother me," Usagi said in a way that made it clear it did, but she was going to pretend otherwise. Shampoo simply frowned. ************ Rei woke in the middle of the night, although she didn't know why. There had been a dream, something about forgetting to bring any lunch to school and having to go hungry, but it had dissolved in flame and her eyes had snapped open. She lay there for a few minutes, then got up and decided to wander around mindlessly until she felt tired. She heard noises outside, so she went to take a look, and found Usagi running through some kind of staff- fighting kata. For a few minutes, she simply watched the fluid motions, then finally, Rei said, "Go to bed." Usagi started and whacked herself in the head. "What are you doing up?" "Couldn't sleep." "Me either. I just had this vague feeling like there was trouble on the horizon." She yawned. "Looks like the wear myself out plan is working." Rei laughed. "You'd better get some sleep, if you're gonna spar with Ranma in the morning like you usually do." "You ought to join us some morning," Usagi said, heading over towards Rei. "I'm not ready yet," Rei said. "I've got a ways to go to catch up. Plus, unlike you, I have to go to school in the morning." "Ranma doesn't have any trouble making it to school." "That's because he can run about ten times faster than me." Usagi reached the door. "I'm glad I don't have to go; it sounds boring." "It's good for you," Rei said sharply. "Not for me. Goodnight, Rei," she said, smiling brightly, then sprinting off down the hall out of sight. I suppose honesty is a virtue, Rei thought. ************ Ranma walked to Setsuna's house with her after school; Ukyou was supposed to meet them there for training. She changed out of her school uniform with a wave of her hand once she got inside. He said, "Can you teach me that trick?" "My version only works for women. But once D...Ukyou figures it out for herself, she can teach you." She paused. "The Guardian way of doing it." "I just wanna get rid of that damn skirt when I'm in girl-Guardian form." He sat down at the kitchen table. Setsuna brought him some cookies. "I meant to bring these to school and let you have them. We'll probably end up eating them all." She sat down. "We have half an hour until Ukyou gets here." "Half an hour? Shouldn't take that long." Setsuna shrugged. "Something holds her up, but it happens before her arrival. I just know when she gets here. You want to start training, or go play another game?" "Let's get going," he said, after eating a cookie. "I'll go get my fire going while you put these up." She nodded. ************ "Master Kunou, I have some interesting news," Sasuke said. "What sort of news?" Kunou asked. He was at his desk, puzzling over a literature assignment. He found the book he was supposed to read to be both incomprehensible and boring, so he was glad, for once, to be interrupted. "As you commanded, I have done some spying upon your enemies." "And?" Sasuke produced a small book of photos. "They are not as they seem, my lord." Kunou looked at the first picture and blinked, then paged through the book faster and faster. "But...they attend a boys' school." "Which would likely be displeased to discover their deception." Kunou smiled. "Yes, it is my duty as a samurai to bring the truth to light. That it also will cast out two enemies merely makes mine duty all the sweeter." "As you wish, my lord," Sasuke said. "It shall be done." *********** Pluto took a foot to the gut and went flying, bounced off a tree, then dropped to her feet in a crouch. "Very good. I knew it was coming, but couldn't react fast enough." "You knew it was coming?" Guardian Saturn sounded disappointed. "I have several seconds warning on your most likely actions," she said. "But I lacked the skill to construct a defense that could stop you." Fighting a precognitive foe...a martial artist's worst nightmare, he thought. "Can I learn that?" "It's hard for men, although your ability to 'read' movies will probably gradually be augmented by some limited precognition," she said. "Your speed is definitely improving, though. And your skill...you fight very well for someone your age." He grinned. "Damn straight." "Not well enough, though," she said, suddenly teleporting behind him and kicking him in the butt. He went sprawling for about two seconds, then rolled over, hooked her feet with his, and backflipped, sending her sailing across the yard into the wall. She flopped over, rather still. "Hah, you c...hey!" He ran over. "You okay?" Silence. He knelt down by her. "Oh shit, I didn't think I flipped you that hard." He put his hands on her shoulders. "Sounds like you're...aaaahhh..." She suddenly moved, tossing him across the yard, then got to her feet. He landed on his feet. "Don't do that!" She grinned. "Make me stop." He charged, faster than she'd anticipated, a blur that tickled her temporal sense. Before she knew what hit her, she was in the air, then slamming into the ground, with him pinning her arms. "You asked for it." He grinned confidently. Her pulse began to pound, and her breathing sped up. She hadn't been this close to him since...She tried to stifle the memory, but it was too late. She started to blush. "Hey, you okay? You're getting red in the face." "It's just...I mean..." Her self-control cracked, and she leaned her head up to kiss him. She expected he'd jump away, but to her surprise, he leaned into it, and for a few seconds they kissed passionately. Then he jumped back away from her, looking shocked. "I...uh...don't do that!" She sat up, feeling winded and excited all at once. "A kiss to the victor," she said faintly, then smiled. He liked it. I could tell, she thought. I shouldn't have, but...I had to. Yes, that's it. "But I won't do it again." "Good. I mean...You're a good kisser, but I mean...it just..." He was growing progressively more incoherent, and she consulted the most likely outcomes if she moved in on him and kissed him again. The odds were against her, so she stimply stood up. "Ready for another round?" A premonition of an impending visitor struck her. "I think I'd rather try working on my speed." "Well, you certainly got it to work when you took me down." Ukyou vaulted over the fence. "Sorry I'm late. Someone was following me and I had to lose them." Pluto frowned. "Youma?" "Mailbox." "..." "Apparently some freak who does disguises has taken an interest in me," Ukyou said. "Don't worry about it." "Ken's roommate?" "I have no idea." Pluto frowned. "Does he know you're a woman?" "Not a clue." "This could have great potential for disaster," Pluto said. "I don't need precognitive powers to know that. But for now...let's do some more training." *********** Kasumi backflipped three times, landed, spun a half- circle and kicked at waist-level, followed by three punches, then dropping low and doing a sweep. She then flipped forward to her original position, just in time to nearly land on Ami. "Hi, Ami," she said. Ami jumped backwards into a tree and fell down. "Next time, I'll yell from the porch." "Sorry about that," Kasumi said. "What's up?" With aid from Kasumi, Ami got up. "I...I have something to tell you, but I'm...well...I saw...a man who looked like your father at Rei's temple a few days ago." Kasumi's eyes widened. "You did?" Ami nodded. "I didn't want to say anything until I...checked the photo albums and talked to Mother, but it looked like him." "What did he do? Why was he there? Where did he go?" Kasumi was starting to become frantic. "He came to that silly duel Usagi and Rei had." "The one where the riot broke out?" Ami nodded. "I lost track of him in the chaos." I wish I could tell her everything, but I can't explain how I know it or why I think he's working for the Dark Kingdom, she thought. Kasumi bounced about, looking rather ridiculous. "You should have told me earlier!" "I only had a vague suspicion, and I didn't want to get your hopes up." Kasumi paused and looked thoughtful, then said, "Well, if Father is around, then he ought to be able to find me here. Which means it probably wasn't him. There's lot of men in Tokyo with moustaches and long hair." Ami said, "If I find out more, I'll let you know." Kasumi nodded. "Thank you." ****************** "So, you think you do like him?" Naoko asked Rei. They were sequestered in Rei's room, with Naoko trying to help Rei with some science homework. "I...I enjoyed watching that movie with him. And when he's not hanging around every other woman in the universe, it's fun to be with him. And he is kinda handsome. But he's got a mouth the size of Honshu, and he can be rude and thoughtless and a complete jerk." Rei flopped back in her chair, which nearly fell down. "But sometimes he's...I dunno. I think my past life hated him, but I don't understand why. Sometimes he makes me crazy, but sometimes he can be nice." "Well, we're a continuation of the book, not the same chapter repeated," Naoko said. "Your past life put you where you were when you started this one, but you've probably had experiences that helped reshape you so maybe he's less annoying to you the way you are now. Or maybe he became less annoying this time around. And I know he doesn't want us thinking he's just Ruby with new flesh." She looked thoughtful; Rei half expected her to forget she wasn't alone and begin to ramble soon. "Have you ever seen him with no shirt? The way he moves and..." Rei blushed. "Did I really say that?" Naoko blushed as well. "Yeah, he does look good like that." "Setsuna's the one who really worries me. I mean, he was really in love with her hard in the past, and I keep thinking that as more of it comes back to him, he'll just fall for her again." Rei leaned forward, elbows on the table. "And since we fought all the time in the past..." "Then get him now. You've got to go for him before he can lose any of himself," Naoko said. "You ought to just...go find him right now and kiss him." Rei's eyes widened. "No way. I mean, I...like...he'd...he'd laugh at me." "I guess it is kinda bold," she said. "I know I couldn't do it." "Or what if he gets the idea I'm easy or something?" "From a kiss?" Rei drummed her fingers on the table. "He spends a lot of time with Ukyou these days." "Well, they are both Guardians and old friends," Naoko said. "I mean, I've spent a lot of time with Ami, and no one thinks we're dating." Rei gave her a funny look, and Naoko blushed. "That was not a hint! I was just trying to parallel." "Hmm. I still wanna know why Ukyou's still living with Haruka when Haruka's a guy," Rei said. "Something funny's going on." "Well, maybe she has nowhere else to go?" "True, but..." Ranma stuck his head in the door. "Hey, Rei, got a minute?" "Uh, I guess," she said. "Usagi keeps trying to claim Xena is historical, and I need someone who knows better to tell her. She won't believe me." "You should be doing homework," Rei said, getting up. "I'm done already. Dunno how," he said. "I coulda sworn I'd been working for hours, but I got it all done in about half..." He trailed off and stared at Rei. She stared back, "Can you teach me that trick?" "When I figure out how I did it." He took her by the hand. "C'mon, we gotta knock some sense into Usagi and Shampoo's heads." As they went down the hallway, she tried to work up the courage to kiss him, and to decide if she really wanted to kiss him. I wonder if he even realizes he's holding my hand, she thought. Probably not. Hmm. Maybe I should kiss him in front of Usagi and Shampoo. That would show them, she thought. She worked up the courage to kiss him just as they came into the living room, where Grandpa, Usagi, and Shampoo were watching Xena. Courage suddenly departed, and all she could do was wonder where it went. Grandpa said, "Holding hands! How romantic!" In about three seconds, she and Ranma were at far sides of the room. "I was just trying to get her to come tell you all she's wrong." "Yeah! Xena is just fiction!" Shampoo shook her head. "Shampoo already read this story in Amazon chronicles. Is true." "Big sister knows her Amazon history," Usagi said, petting her mother, who had curled up in her lap. "Isn't that right, Mom?" "Mrrr...whatz?" "That means yes." "You can't have any," Ikuko-neko announced, then went back to sleep. Grandpa said, "I'm sure she knows her Amazon history better than we do." "Well, be that way!" Rei announced. "I'm gonna go study." She stomped off, feeling aggravated. To her surprise, she heard footsteps, and turned to see Ranma following her. "You're right," he said. "But I guess Grandpa doesn't feel like an argument." She nodded. "He's probably doing it just to aggravate me." "Yeah, Grandpa's like that." He paused. "Oh, Setsuna and I discovered Pop musta escaped from the zoo. He's probably...oh hey, I could get Ami to track him. Anyway, he'll probably be back soon and like...I dunno. He and Grandpa'll probably try something. And..." He stared at the ground. "If I beat him up, don't be surprised, okay?" He turned to go. Rei put a hand on his shoulder. "Is something wrong?" "Yeah, I gotta beat some answers out of Pop about some stuff. Nothing you gotta worry about. Other than..." He stared off at the wall. "I'm gonna go watch Xena. Even if Shampoo's full of it." She steeled herself, stepped forward, and closed her eyes, leaning forward to kiss him. However, where her lips were supposed to meet his, they met air. She lost her balance, opened her eyes, and fell forward, ending up on her hands and knees. Ranma turned back from halfway down the hall. "Hey, whaddya fall down for?" "Nothing," she said, getting up and frowning. "Forget it." She stomped off, cursing the fates. ************* "What? How can you do this?" Michiru shouted at her parents. They were in one of the three parlours, the small blue one, which was mostly used for card games and family disasters. Her mother, Noriko, who was tall, thin, elegant, and blue-green haired like her daughter, said, "The Kunous have huge amounts of money, and a son who is such an idiot that you'll be able to make him do whatever you want. And they have a lot of status and wish to try marrying into a sane family. Your children will inherit your sanity and their status." Her father, Hayao, who was short and dark haired with bright green eyes and rather less elegant than her mother, said, "He's also handsome and a musician. You have something in common. And he's quite in love with you from what your uncle Shige says." "But I'm not in love with him." Michiru stared at her parents. "This is so...completely old-fashioned!" "Don't be selfish. We've always given you everything you wanted. Now it's your turn to reciprocate," her mother said. "But I'll make you a proposal. Find someone else acceptable to us before you graduate high school, and we'll find a way to wiggle out of this. Until then, you will treat him as your fiancee and spend time with him. You might change your mind." "Your mother and I didn't hit it off at first, but we grew on each other," her father said, reaching over and squeezing his wife's hand. I'm doomed, Michiru thought. Although if we wait until after high school, I can move out if I have to. But nearly two years with Kunou...I'll end up in the asylum with his father. "Well, if it's the best I can get, I'll take it." Her mother sighed. "Michiru, part of being rich is that sometimes you have to do things you don't like to stay that way. I love you, but it's our duty as parents to take measures to..." "Whatever," she said, getting up. "Time for me to start hunting, I guess." She walked out, and her father turned to her fretting mother, "She didn't break anything, so that's a good sign." Noriko laughed. "She's probably going to go make another statuette of you buried under a sixteen ton weight, like she did when you grounded her for sneaking out of the house at 2 AM when she was twelve." He laughed as well. "I suppose we should have waited until we returned to announce it." "What's done is done. She has the chance now to find someone better herself. But since she would never have picked a man on her own..." Her mother sighed. "It's the only way to ensure the family name is carried on." Hayao frowned. "Are you really sure that she's..." "With her looks, she could have any man she wanted, if she wanted a man. And you know she has male friends; it's not like she can't find one to match her interests. But more importantly, she and Akane weren't so discreet as they thought they were." His eyes widened. "Her and...Hmm. I guess that isn't that surprising, but..." He sighed and got up. "Time for me to attend to business, dear." "And I as well," she replied, leaning over and kissing him on the lips. They left to go about their work. ************** Usagi waved goodbye to the group of schoolkids who she had just helped give a tour of the temple to. "Bye! Hope you had fun!" Many of them waved happily, and their teacher waved as well. As they headed down the steps, an attractive young lady, a few years older than Usagi with long brown hair in a pony-tail, came up the steps. She was wearing a purple blouse and blue slacks, neither of which quite fit right. Her eyes were hidden by sunglasses, and she looked nervous. Usagi walked up to her. "Hi, welcome to the Hikawa Temple. Grandpa's busy with another tour group right now, but can I help you?" The woman stared at her, then said, "I was just..." She looked about. "I'm not sure why I'm here." "Oh, that's a pretty deep philosophical question. I'd better get Grandpa." Usagi turned to go. The woman put a hand on her shoulder. "No, I meant that I wasn't quite...I heard someone I know was here a while back, but...I don't know what I expected to find." "Well, I might have seen him or her. What was he like?" "A moustache, long black hair, blue eyes..." She frowned. "I haven't seen him in a long time." "That covers a lot of people. Is he an old boyfriend of yours?" The woman blinked, then laughed. "No. My father. He...vanished a long time ago, and my cousin...I shouldn't have come." She turned to go. "No, no, I want to help you if I can," Usagi said, guiding her towards the porch. "Why don't you sit down and tell me the whole story? I'm Tsukino Usagi. What's your name?" "Tendo Kasumi." She looked around nervously. "Ranma isn't here, is he?" "He's in school," Usagi said. "You know him?" "Yes," Kasumi said faintly. She sat down on the porch with Usagi. "It all started when I was nine years old, and I went to play at a friend's house..." *************** "Mom dear, how are you doing?" Tourmaline asked, hugging her mother from behind. Moonstone was in the process of examining some crystals through a microscope, and as a result, nearly poked her eye out. "Not when I'm at the microscope, dear." She turned around. "So what are you going to beg me for this time?" Her eyes twinkled. "Mom, I don't ALWAYS come ask you for something," Tourmaline said. "I just wanted to tell you that Feldspar's doing very well in her job. And made a friend, much to my surprise." Moonstone's voice had just a tiny edge to it when she said, "Your sister does have a fair number of friends, such as Magnetite and Rose Quartz. It would seem to be that you were the one who..." Tourmaline stared at the floor. "That's not what I meant. I meant, she's befriended one of my girls and is trying to teach her how to fight. She seems to have convinced herself Margaret is one of us. Which isn't true; I already checked. In fact, she's organized a class for the entire staff." Her mother's mouth twitched. Tourmaline knew her mother didn't approve of this scheme. "A much better occupation for them." "Mother, we need energy. And it's not like I'm forcing any of them to do this. They're free to quit whenever they like except for my youma...who don't want to." Tourmaline tried once again to figure out why she always came apart whenever she had to argue with her mother. I've faced down Beryl and gotten away with lying off my ass to Metallia, she thought. I can bend Jadeite into knots and play Nephrite and Kunzite for fools. But get around Mom and... To her surprise, her mother simply nodded. "I know, and I'm very grateful you saved your sister. And your father as well." She put a hand on Tourmaline's shoulder. "But you've got to be careful. There comes a point where you end up justifying anything whatsoever if you justify things by what they're supposed to accomplish." "I've found eight more of our people," Tourmaline said. "And initiated them. Through my...businesses." "Just answer one thing. Do you work the customers yourself?" Tourmaline's eyes got big. "I'm still a...virgin. You know I promised Daddy I wouldn't...do anything like that." Her face turned red. "And even if I wasn't..." Her mother simply stared at her. "What?" "Think about it." Tourmaline stared at the floor for a long time. Finally, she said, "Daddy told you about Kasumi, didn't he?" "Yes," she said. "Have you checked?" "She's staying with the Mizunos. Have you and Daddy decided what to do?" "I'm surprised you haven't already grabbed her," Moonstone said dryly. "I just know we can't bring Feldspar in on this...Feldspar beat her up a while back. If she sees Feldspar...I mean, we don't want to hide my sister, but..." "Your father and I have been talking about how to approach her. But it's no rush. She's in good hands with Reiko and Soichiro." "They got divorced. She's staying with Reiko," Tourmaline said. "Divorced?" Moonstone's eyes got big. "But...they were always...so close. I mean, it's just...hard to imagine. Why?" "I don't know. Incompatible temperments was the impression I got." Tourmaline wrinkled her nose. "If you and Dad ever...I'd...I feel sorry for Ami." Moonstone nodded. "Have you checked her yet?" Tourmaline blinked. "What?" "Ami. And Reiko too for that matter. They could be of our kind." Tourmaline looked uncomfortable. "I hadn't thought of that." "Well, it would simplify matters greatly," Moonstone said. Best not to make her more uncomfortable, Moonstone thought. Tourmaline has never liked being shown she didn't think of something. "Otherwise, Reiko and Ami will be distraught when Kasumi vanishes. Unless your father and I show up in our old identities, but that would raise many questions as well." "Do you ever wonder..." Tourmaline stared off at the wall. "I mean...What if Daddy had stopped Happousai before he started his ritual?" "We'd have lived out our lives in blissful ignorance, unaware that our ancient enemies were on their way to taking control of the world that rightfully belongs to us. I suppose Kasumi would be engaged to your father's old friend Saotome Genma's son. Assuming Genma didn't get himself killed first. The most recklessly foolish man I've ever met." She shrugged. "What is, is. Except for losing Kasumi, we're better off this way. And soon Kasumi will come back to us." Tourmaline twitched. "His son Ranma?" "Yes, he..." A light went on in her head. "He was the boy who was..." "The duel that my sister and father and her foolish friends interrupted, yes." Tourmaline shook her head. "Kasumi would have had to marry him?" "Well, one of you. Assuming I let your father go through with it. Genma did clean up his act before he married Nodoka, though. Hmmm....now she had the mettle to be one of us. I'll have to have your father look into it." "Sometimes I just...I had to grow up very fast," Tourmaline said faintly. Her mother stepped forward and embraced her. "I know. And I'm very proud of you, even if I wish you didn't do some things you do. We both love you very much." "I love you too, Mommy," Tourmaline said, remaining in the embrace for a while. "Well, I've got to go back to work. Keeping up several mortal identities to run all my schemes takes up a lot of time." "If you ever need a fake mother, let me know," Moonstone said, laughing. "Hmm...Now there's an idea," Tourmaline said. "See you later." She turned and departed. *********** "That's awful. I turned my family into cats, but it's not the same thing," Usagi said to Kasumi, putting a hand on her shoulder. "What?" Kasumi asked confusedly. Usagi called her father over. He jumped up on the porch. "Good day. I'm Usagi's father, Tsukino Kenji. I've been a cat for ten years now, thanks to her." "..." "Well, if I knew what he smelled like, I could probably tell you if he'd been here recently. This cat body does have some advantages." "You talk..." Kasumi stared in shock. "Pool of drowned Mo...Magical Cat, or whatever breed I am exactly. I can talk and I have the full range of cat senses. Plus, I can smell supernatural evils, not that I meet many of those. I don't need glasses anymore, but I see only in black and white; I feel like I'm in some movie from the thirties sometimes." He climbed up into Kasumi's lap. She petted him. "And sometimes I get weird cat instincts." Kasumi laughed. "Maybe I should take you over to my old house and see what you can sniff out." "Sure," he said. "I don't have anything to do but sleep today." Kasumi got up. "I don't know if there'd really be anything to find there, but...it can't hurt." "Let's go," Usagi said. "You need to stay here and take care of visitors," Kenji-neko said. "Especially since Shampoo is gone looking for that boy." Usagi pouted, but stayed. ************ Jadeite was startled from his contemplation by the sound of two mangled bodies falling to the floor of his meditation chamber. This wasn't normal, although the mangled ones being Turquoise and Diamond made it less abnormal. Even their armor had bruises. "I take it the mission went poorly." "You could say that," Diamond said, not bothering to rise. "She chased us a hundred miles back to Tokyo," Turquoise said, also still lying on the ground. "Unfortunately, a young boy had already awakened the demon of the cave and somehow bound it to his will with his magic sword. And I got beaten up by his aunt. I want some candy," she moaned, reverting to her little-girl form. Jadeite tossed her some rock candy he kept for such occassions. "You two have a remarkable knack for surviving disasters." "Nothing like being beaten up by an old friend's wife," Diamond said, sitting up. "Makes me wonder what happened to Saotome." "So the demon is controlled by some boy?" Jadeite asked. "Yes. I suggest we ignore it; the Senshi don't seem to have any awareness of her. For once they didn't show up." "Hmm...wait. You mentioned this swordswoman was a Saotome?" "Eh? Yes, the wife an old friend of mine I haven't seen in years." "Hmm. Tell me more." "Well, it all started when we trained under Happousai..." *********** Kenji-neko finished sniffing around the grounds of the former dojo. "Hasn't been any supernatural evils here lately," he said. "Just the faintest tang of something long ago. No scents here that I don't know." Kasumi sat down on a sizable rock and sighed. "Back to square one." "Maybe. I'm sure he'll come looking for you if he is around, and since you live with one of your relatives, he'll know where to look." He came over and perched on another nearby rock. "I hope so," she said. ************ Rei sprinted up the steps. Having just discovered a movie she'd been wanting to see for months was now out, she had decided to see if Ranma wanted to go see it with her. This required getting to Ranma before the competition could. Usagi was in the yard doing hand-stands for no apparent reason while Shampoo tried to balance on one foot on top of a three foot staff. Rei paused, staring at them, then said, "Is Ranma home yet?" "He called and said he was gonna be off hanging out with Ken tonight," Usagi said, then did a back flip and landed on her hands again. Rei ground her teeth. How inconsiderate of him not to use his time powers to know he was needed here tonight, she thought. Well, might as well make the best of it. I can call Ami and...hmmm. "Hey, Usagi, wanna catch a movie with me and Ami?" "Sure," Usagi said. "You too, Shampoo, if you want to come." "Shampoo is going hunting for that handsome boy," Shampoo said. "He keeps not being home when Shampoo goes looking for him." "Ahh. Good luck. He was a looker," Rei said. "Yep. I'd be jealous if Ranma wasn't cuter," Usagi said. Rei twitched quietly. "Movie's at seven." "I'll be ready!" ********** Ranma felt guilty about lying to Usagi, but it was the best way to avoid some sort of floating riot. Shampoo had forced him to promise to take Usagi out the next night before she'd let Usagi on the phone, so she'd get her piece of him as well, which made him feel better. "Yep, I'm ready to go," he said. He'd changed out of his uniform and into a red t-shirt and blue jeans. Setsuna seemed faintly disappointed by his outfit; she was wearing a nice blue dress. "Okay. Take my hand, and I'll open the gate of time." He took her hand, and in seconds, they were gone. ************ Ukyou showed up just as Rei and Usagi were at the foot of the steps. "Is Ranma home?" "He's out with Ken," Usagi said. "Wanna come see a movie with us?" "Sure," Ukyou said. ************ Haruka was working on her bike when Vice-Principal Taiho found her. "Haruka, I need to talk to you." She blinked. "Huh?" "Please come to my office." His voice was calm, but with a hint of disapproval. She frowned and followed him. ************ Spending time with Tatewaki was not Michiru's idea of a fun way to spend Friday night. Her family and the Kunous were spending an evening together, which was mildly surreal for Michiru since only her parents were in attendance, as Kunou's father was still in the asylum and his mother was dead. His manners were impeccable, and so were Kodachi's, although she could feel the thinly veiled hostility coming through towards her, though not her parents. She'd seen Kodachi glaring at Mamoru as well earlier; apparently the greening of the garden displeased her. Michiru liked that, but thought the Kunou house had looked better before it had been painted the same color as her hair. She sat to Kunou's right on a stool, holding her violin, while Kodachi sat to Kunou's left, ready to play her harp. Kunou was seated at the piano. Michiru glanced at them, then began to play for the audience, which consisted of her parents, her uncle Shige, Kunou's personal ninja Sasuke, Mamoru, two male cousins of Kunou whose names she hadn't learned yet, and her cousin Anju. They played for about an hour, moving from one piece to another as if they had always played together. Kunou and Kodachi seemed quite calm and collected, unlike their normal state of being, and the proverb about music soothing the savage beast came to her mind. A pity I can't play constantly, she thought. Finally, they finished, and the audience applauded. Kodachi smiled the most normal looking smile, perhaps the most normal expression that Michiru had ever seen on her, and for a moment, she seemed utterly, completely normal. Michiru stopped looking; she wanted to keep that memory. Shige said to her parents, "I told you." "I'm impressed," her father said. "You're all very good." Kodachi bowed. "Thank you." "Never has a woman so bewitched me with her skill at the violin," Kunou said, getting up from the piano and coming over to her. She tensed slightly, expecting the inevitable effort to embrace her, but instead, he walked past her to her parents. "I understand you play as well," he said to her mother. "Yes," she said. "I would be honored if you would play a piece for us with your daughter," he said. "I'm afraid I didn't bring my violin," she replied. He pointed to the four up on the wall. "These belonged to my mother. They have been left lonely to gather dust since she died. I think she would be glad to see someone use them. I have tried to give them to your daughter, but she won't take them." Michiru blushed. "I can't just let you give me a Stradivarius. I mean...they're too valuable to just give away." "An unused instrument, like an unused talent, has no value," Kunou said. "Some things are meant to be used, not simply looked at." Michiru's mother began to tune the Stradivarius, holding it very carefully. "I thank you for your trust in me." "A fair flower such as your daughter could only spring from solid, trustworthy stock," he said. "I know you will not damage it." "Actually, with recessives, a fairly ugly flower could be the parent of a lovely one," Mamoru said, then everyone stared at him. "Umm...never mind." "And beauty is oft in the eye of the beholder," Kodachi said, glaring at her brother for a moment, then saying, "I would like to hear you play it," to Michiru's mother. "Alright. What would you like to play, daughter?" she asked Michiru. "," Michiru replied. "Just give me a minute, then." ************* A year in the future, Tokyo still looked much the same to Ranma. The theatre was a little dirtier, and gum had finished taking control of its floor. But apparently monsters had yet to reduce the city to rubble. A thought struck Ranma. "Hey, you know how this all turns out, don't you?" "I'm sure most of the audience knows how it turns out, but wants to see it live. I, on the other hand, was unable to read it while sitting in the time tunnel, so I'm ready to find out how it ends; I got to watch someone start it, but not finish it." Ranma laughed and moved forward as their position in the ticket line inexorably but far too slowly crept towards the actual ticket seller. "No, I mean, you told me you lived through all this to the future, then sent yourself back to be reborn. So you've already seen how we beat the Dark Kingdom, who I end up marrying...all that." Which must mean I end up with her, or she wouldn't be wasting her time, he thought. She shook her head. "Time is a tricksome thing. I lived in the Time Tunnel for 25,000 years, but I did not experience all that time. I would have gone mad, for I could only watch the world, not touch it. I spent most of those years in a trance, drinking in the world subconsciously, letting the tunnel guide me in what I viewed. Many of those things, I still do not understand, and much of it I remember only vaguely." "But you said you checked up on me when I was young." "Yes. The Tunnel responded to my desire to see you, but it showed me only snatches. Most of my viewing was, I think, intended to enable me to function in this time when I returned here. As to the future...I did not want to know my own future too well once I got the chance to live again. I wanted to be able to live without feeling I was just puppeting out something I had already watched." "I know only a few things. One day, this city will be known as Crystal Tokyo in an age of grace and peace, a time when a new Pluto arises and I was able to lay down my guardianship. I know who will rule, but I was forbidden to speak of it. As soon as the new Pluto came forward to take up the job, I laid down my guardianship and Neo-Serenity aided me in returning to the past for rebirth, that I might finally truly live. I have spent millenia watching people live, unable to do anything but guard the tunnel with a few brief interludes of beating people in the head." She laughed. "I was actually glad to be attacked. It beat being in a trance for centuries." "Yeah, I'd go nuts if all I could do was watch people." "I don't know how we win, although I know we do. I don't know if you marry me or Rei or Usagi or Ukyou or Haruka or Kunou or Mamoru. I don't know how this movie will end. And I like it that way. I can see a few minutes ahead into the future now, and I can see vaguer possibilities beyond that, but that's all. I couldn't stand it if I knew how everything had to be, although some Setsunas know. There are many worlds, and many of them have a Pluto. But I can't see how most of those can bear to be alive." She shook her head. "We're here for a date, and if you don't like being called Ruby, I don't want to think about being Pluto. I want to be just Setsuna with Ranma." Ranma blinked, then smiled. "Amen to that. So, you think the Balrog will look cool?" "It had better for what we're paying." She pointed to the ticket price listings. Ranma groaned. "That's one thing about the future I did NOT want to know." ************** The movie trip had turned into a large ladies' night out, with Usagi, Rei, Ukyou, Ami, Naoko, and Naru all going to the movie together. It got five thumbs up, but Ukyou was disappointed by a lack of explosions. Afterwards, they went out to eat, and then Naoko suggested going by her house, since her mother wanted to meet Usagi, Rei, and Ami, after listening to her daughter talk about them. This met with general agreement, so they went on over. Naoko's house was way out on the fringes of Tokyo in what had once been an entirely seperate town that had been overgrown by Tokyo. Thus, her family had a quite substantial lot, and a substantial house of modern design, two stories tall with a nicely kept lawn. It was surrounded by a high stone wall, although several trees poked over it. Inside, the house was rather sparsely decorated, although all the furniture was well made and beautiful. The living room, however, was full of couches and chairs, and Naoko's mother had just finished a batch of chocolate chip cookies which were waiting for them on the coffee table. Like her daughter, Naoko's mother wore thick glasses, but unlike her, she was fairly thin, had thick, brown hair that ran down to the mid-point of her shoulder- blades, and she was wearing a lab coat over her light red blouse, blue skirt, and black belt. Her nametag was still on the labcoat: 'Dr. Kikubi Saiko'. "It's nice to finally meet all of you." She peered at each of them, then pointed to Ami. "You must be Ami." Ami nodded. "Mizuno Ami. Nice to meet you!" "And you must be Usagi," she said, pointing at Rei. Rei blinked and Usagi laughed. "No, I'm Usagi. This is Rei," she said, pointing to Rei. "Oh, I thought she said you were Chinese. Although I suppose your hair would be more purple if that was the case." Usagi said, "I'm Japanese, but I was adopted into an Amazon tribe." "Oh, okay. Would anyone like some tea?" "Yes, please," Naru said. Naoko's mother counted the orders that ensued and headed for the kitchen while everyone dug into the cookies, especially Usagi, who was a two-fisted snacker. Naru said to Naoko, "Your mother has a very nice wedding ring." Naoko blinked. "You noticed it?" "Mom's a jeweller, so I've learned quite a bit. But I'd imagine they must have paid a lot to get a ring made out of four different metals. Red gold, white gold, yellow gold, and silver, right?" "Umm...I think so." Saiko returned with tea for everyone. "Talking about my ring?" "Yeah," Naoko said. "What metals does it use?" "Your friend got it right. It's four interwoven clouds made out of different metals. Very valuable, but at the same time, I have to practically shove it in someone's face for most people to be able to really see all the details." She came over to Naru and held out her hand so Naru could take a closer look. "The only reason my husband could afford it was that it and the matching ring were family heirlooms. We were the sixth couple to wear it. I wear it in memory of him now, but once Naoko is ready to get married, I'll pass it on to her and her husband-to-be." "Good thing it was the right size for you," Naru said. "Resizing a ring like that would be hard." She laughed. "Family tradition claims they're magical, so they always fit if the love is true." "Wow, that's really romantic," Usagi said. "I wish my family had rings like that. Although I guess Mom and Dad would have a hard time wearing them now." "Why?" Naoko's mother asked. "Because I..." Usagi began, but Rei put a hand over her mouth. "Her mother has a skin condition that flares up when various metals touch it," Rei lied. Let's not tell anyone else about the talking cats, she thought. "It's quite bad." Usagi blinked. "She does?" Naoko nodded. "Horrible. Some sort of allergy." Naru and Ukyou looked confused, then caught on. "It gives her hives," Ukyou said. "And rashes," Naru said. "She can't even wear her wedding ring." "That's horrible," Saiko said. She finally sat down on one of the nice plush chairs. "I understand you attend T&A Academy, Rei," she said to Rei. Rei nodded. "It's very nice." "Do they have a good science program?" "I don't know; I want to write music and sing," Rei said. "The music program is very good." "Oooh, sing for us, Rei!" Naru said. "Yeah!" Usagi said. It took only a little effort to get Rei to sing, and soon music filled the air. ***************** Michiru played along with her mother, wishing they always got along as well as when they played a piece. I can't believe they've stuck me with this engagement, she thought. But I guess the whole family has the delusion that arranged marriages always lead to true love somehow. Feh. Having repeated this thought enough times for one day, she let the music take her away, losing herself in it and in the joy of listening to her mother play on such a finely crafted instrument. Her mother had often been poor at maternal duties, but she could play better than anyone else Michiru knew. She looked out into the audience, and saw them all rapt with attention; it was gratifying, although she was sure it was mainly her mother they were listening to. And then she saw Kodachi in the back of the audience, and saw she was crying silently. She missed a few notes with the realization, and had to scramble to get back on the beat. Why is she crying? This isn't a sad piece, she thought. Why would she...oh. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. They finished the song, and Kodachi briefly bawled loudly, then ran crying from the room. Everyone stared in surprise, and Kunou rose. "My apologies. I had forgotten the name of that piece, but it was one that Mother and Grandmother used to play together, and well..." He sighed. "I will go find her." He turned and departed with Sasuke tagging along behind him. Michiru's mother looked embarrassed. "I didn't mean to..." "It's not your fault, Mother," she said, putting down her violin. "You should go help him," her father said. "I don't think she wants my comforting her," Michiru said. "She's rather irritated with me at the moment." "I haven't seen her cry in years," Kunou's dark haired cousin Mendo said. "But she did ask you to play. Perhaps it was her way of trying to apologize." Kunou swiftly returned. "My sister has decided to hide herself. This will take long enough that I think it best we call this evening of festivities at an end, as it may take me hours to find her. I am very sorry." He bowed to Michiru's parents. "It is a pleasure to meet you." He turned to Michiru, taking her hand and kissing it before she could stop him. She could feel his hand tremble. "I hope I will see you again soon, weaver of musical magic." "I'm sorry," she said to Kunou. "If I had known..." "It is not your fault," he said. "I should have recognized the name of the tune. And you played it beautifully. Mother would have wept for joy to hear it." He bowed again. "Sasuke will show you to the door." He turned to Mamoru. "Chiba, if you will assist me?" Mamoru blinked. "Okay." He turned to Michiru's parents. "Nice to meet you." He then followed Kunou out. "Nice to meet you," Michiru's mother said to Kunou's cousins. "Let's go," she said to Sasuke. Michiru and her folks said goodbye to her cousin as well, then they all departed en masse. ************** Once the movie was over, Setsuna said, "Let's go dancing!" "I...uh...don't know nothing about dancing," Ranma said. "What, you can crush me at Bust-A-Move, but you can't dance?" "Ain't no preprogrammed moves I can do with the right buttons in real life," Ranma said as they walked down the street. "I ain't never been dancing. Except stupid folk dancing in gym class." "o/~ Swing your partner round the floor, hit him in the head with a two-by-four o/~" Setsuna sang briefly, then laughed. "Well, all I remember is some dances from the Moon Kingdom and waltzing, but I'm willing to learn. C'mon, it'll be fun." "Pop said that about cliff diving too," Ranma said warily. She grabbed him by the arm. "C'mon." He found himself sliding towards a building labelled 'Disco Moebius'. "Okay, okay, ya ain't gotta drag me like I'm a sack of potatoes," he said. "Let's boogie." ************** Rei singing had turned into a karaoke fest when Naoko's mother had rolled in a karaoke machine. In some cases, this was good, such as Ami singing 'The Rainbow Connection'. In other cases it was pure evil, such as Usagi and Naru singing 'I Want to be a Star' in unison with bad dancing. Ukyou gave a heartfelt rendition of 'Eye of the Tiger', but would thankfully not be quitting her day job any time soon. Saiko's performance of 'Weird Science', on the other hand, was quite skillful. Then Naoko took the mike. She looked around at everyone and visibily shrank. "Do I have to?" she asked. "Hey, Usagi and I didn't stop even when Ukyou faked her own death," Naru said. "It'll be fun. You want me to sing with you?" "Do you think you would?" Naoko asked nervously. "Sure," she said, coming forward. "What 'cha want to sing?" Naoko looked along the list of titles they had. "This one," she said, pointing. Naru blinked. "Okay." And so they began to sing. "Masquerade! Paper faces on parade ... Masquerade! Hide your face, so the world will never find you!" No one would ever accuse Naoko of greatness in her singing, but it was heartfelt. The same could be said of Naru. "Masquerade! Every face a different shade ... Masquerade! Look around - there's another mask behind you!" "Flash of mauve ... Splash of puce ... Fool and king ... Ghoul and goose ... Green and black ... Queen and priest ... Trace of rouge ... Face of beast ..." And they sang on into the night. ************** "You search the back, I'll search the front," Kunou said to Mamoru. "And Sasuke can search inside the house. But be careful; I can feel that some foul sorcery is at work again here." Mamoru frowned. "What happened at the race was just an accident." "It was no accident, and there is something loose within the grounds. Can you not feel it in the wind?" Kunou asked, his face utterly serious and dark. "Kodachi running away was no sorcery, but I fear something may seek to prey upon her." He paused. "We do not have time for me to arm you. If something comes upon you, call me for help." He thought a moment and grabbed a lawn gnome, handing it to Mamoru. "This should help you hold it off until I can come." He turned and departed. Mamoru stared at the grinning lawn gnome. "How do I get into things like this?" The cool breeze made his flesh crawl slightly, but the lawn gnome did not reply. ************** Kodachi stood on the roof, not entirely clear on how she got there, looking down at the sea of green that surrounded her home. Her beloved black roses had been confined to a handful of bushes in one far corner where they couldn't be easily seen, along with the blackberry bushes. The very house testified to Michiru's powers, now matching her hair. If her brother hadn't done things like this every time a woman had smiled at him and stayed near him for more than ten seconds, she would have concluded the woman was a witch. At least before she had heard her play. Her only magic was her music, but that was powerful magic in itself. For a few minutes, her mother had come back to life, along with her grandmother, and together they had played Kodachi one last tune, the one she had always asked them to play. Somehow, the aqua haired enchantress had known the song Kodachi most loved in all the world. She had played it with grace, in perfect unity with her mother, the unity Kodachi craved but had lacked all these years. It must be wonderful to live like that, Kodachi thought as she stared down at what had once been her garden. To be able to have such a perfect creative union, like two halves of one whole. She hugged herself, feeling a faint chill from the night air. The thought of such a thing was both terrifying and attractive to her. In the few fragments of memory she still held from her childhood, she knew she had once had such moments with her own mother; whenever she played, it was a quest to remember those times. She screamed silently at the stars above. Why? Why did she have to leave us? And why couldn't we go with her? The stars gave no answer, and the rabbit of the moon ignored her, continuing to pound out his dinner. The memory of her once-beautiful garden mocked her...without even trying, without even wanting to, her brother's fiancee was taking away everything she had. She wanted to kill the woman, to feed her to Mr. Green Turtle, but she couldn't. A being of such surpassing beauty, one who could make her remember...she couldn't strike at such a one. Michiru had given her one of her memories back, and to Kodachi, that was a treasure beyond price. And so she didn't know what to do. The woman was shattering her world beyond repair, and then, to give such a gift... She sat down near the edge and flopped onto her back, staring up into the gracefully black heavens. Kodachi loved the night. And then she cried her eyes out. ************* Disco Moebius was a maelstrom of pounding music and gyrating bodies, but moving through mobs was something Ranma did well. He felt like an utter idiot, since he didn't know what he was doing, and efforts to imitate those around him was futile, because he swiftly deduced they didn't know either; it rather looked to him like an entire room full of epileptics all having seizures at once. Setsuna also clearly didn't know what she was doing, but she seemed to enjoy that. After a little while, he simply started doing the moves he remembered from the Bust-A-Move game for lack of a better idea. This went on for far too long. And then the music stopped, and about half the bodies vanished off the floor in seconds, and then Setsuna was right in front of him instead of a few feet away, and her hands were taking his, and they were in a dance position he knew, though he didn't know when he had learned it. Most of the other couples that were left on the floor were getting close, closer than the two of them in fact. Slow music began, and without a word, they danced with her smiling at him, and him nervously smiling back. After fumbling a few steps, the moves suddenly clicked into place for him. Their feet moved together, him advancing, her retreating. Slow, slow, quick, quick went the steps. From a promenade into a simple box, then spinning her as they advanced, and to his surprise, her spinning him. Gradually, they circumnavigated the floor, moving into more and more elaborate dance combinations as the song played, the words a blur in their minds. There was only each other, the music, and the dance, all else was but a background, a distraction from their unity. And then the music died, and the mobs returned, and Ranma found himself once again in the land of random twitching, wondering where he had just been. Four more times, they moved back and forth, from a dream of perfect dance to a sea of happy frenzy. Ranma was starting to feel hideously disoriented. The flashing lights, the writhing bodies, the smoke and strange smells, the seemingly random motions, all of it was stripping him of his ability to think clearly. The world changed again, and he entered the land of slow dancing, running more on instinct than on thought, a land much like the one he entered when he fought, for there too he worked from instinct instead of conscious thought, constantly improvising and responding to his environment. It was a comfortable place to be; it felt right. They spun round the floor, always touching, but not always close to one another, moving far out to where only a single pair of intertwined fingers joined them, and closing back in to nearly embrace. It was a circle, a beat, a pulse, of moving away and closing back in, a constantly changing union. They did not speak, the music was their voice. He flowed with his instincts through the intricacy they built up from simple steps, accepting it all and enjoying it greatly. Conscious thought hovered distantly, merely observing. And thus it was that when he pulled her in close for a kiss, he didn't see it coming until it happened. From the way her eyes widened, she likely hadn't seen it either. It terrified him. He hadn't even vaguely intended to do it, but his body had apparently decided that was a standard move. So much for trusting his instincts. However, his body didn't hand over control until it finished kissing her and her knees sagged, and she stared in happy surprise. "Ranma," she whispered. She started to say something else, but all he could do was panic, utterly and abjectly. When Ranma wanted to run, few things could stop him. Teens and college students went flying as he fled, leaving her staring in shock. *************** And Rei's turn came round to sing again. She hunted through the list of available songs like a lioness stalking her prey. Soon, the gazelle was run down, and she began to sing. "I don't know how to love him... What to do, how to move him I've been changed, yes, really changed... In these past few days When I've seen myself I seem like someone else Rei's eyes were closed, the lyrics coming from memory, her voice powerful in a way none of them had heard before, even with the earlier songs. "I don't know how to take this... I don't see why he moves me He's a man He's just a man And I've had so many Men before In very many ways He's just one more" For a moment, her lips pursed in an ironic smile, and then the state of near-rapture returned. "Should I bring him down? Should I scream and shout? Should I speak of love? Let my feelings out? I never thought I'd come to this! What's it all about?" Her voice shook a bit as she sung, and then took on a hint of irony. "Don't you think it's rather funny I should be in this position? I'm the one Who's always been So calm so cool No lover's fool Running every show He scares me so" "I never thought I'd come to this! What's it all about?" Her voice rose, a passionate mixture of fear and hope. "Yet... If he said he loved me I'd be lost I'd be frightened I couldn't cope Just couldn't cope I'd turn my head I'd back away I wouldn't want to know" Her voice dipped as she headed into the finale, finally whispering as she sang the last line. "He scares me so I want him so I love him so" Her eyes opened, and silently, she went over to plop down on the couch as everyone else applauded. Usagi was smiling at her, so she smiled back, though she wasn't sure if she wanted to smile, cry, or both. Then she vanished into a fog of her own thoughts as Ukyou got up and mangled 'Stop in the Name of Love'. Sadly, no one stopped Ukyou in the name of taste. *************** Kodachi's tears were interrupted by a voice. "My daughter, why are you crying?" She knew that voice, but it was utterly impossible for it to be real. Her mother had been dead for ten years. Sitting up, she looked and saw a ghostly figure, much like her mother, clad in blue and green, with white feathery wings, floating about four feet from the edge of the roof. It looked like her mother, but it couldn't be. "What are you?" "Your mother," the spectral figure said. "I heard your summons. I've come to take you to be with me." Her eyes widened, and she swallowed nervously. "You have?" She wanted desperately to believe it, but it just couldn't be real. If it was, why had her mother waited so long to come for her? "I am sorry I took so long, but I had to wait until you were old enough to make the decision to stay or to go for yourself. A small child can't choose wisely, but you're old enough to decide." She smiled brightly at Kodachi. "Will you come with me?" Hope overcame fear and doubt in Kodachi, and she sprang to her feet, ready to run to her mother. "Yes. There's nothing for me here now," she said. She tried to run forward, but someone was holding her arm. "Let go of me." "No," Kunou said. He levelled his bokken at the floating woman. "You are not our mother." "Let her go," the woman said. "She wishes to join me of her own free will." Kodachi began to pound on him, and Kunou's best effort at stoicism began to crack. "This is for your own good!" he snapped. "I want to be with mother! You don't care about me! Let me GO!!!!" Kunou winced at that. "Of course I care about you, sister, or I'd let this monster have you." "If you cared, you wouldn't take away everything I have and give it to some green haired bitch who is just after your money!" Kodachi's voice began to rise towards hysteria. "She doesn't even like you, and she's so utterly perfect, I CAN'T STAND HER!!!" She wrenched loose, only to be tripped by her brother and picked up by her feet. "She's a monster!" he said. "Can't you feel it?" "You called our mother a monster!" She produced a bag of powder from one sleeve and slammed it into his face. Paralysis poison engulfed his head, and he froze up in seconds. Her gymnastics training enabled her to easily flip clear and get to her feet. "Have fun with your WHORE, brother dear," Kodachi snarled, then turned to the woman. "I'm ready." The woman held out her arms to Kodachi. "Just come to me." Kodachi sprang forward, jumping, not walking, arcing across the narrow space between them, and then plunging right through her towards the ground below. As she passed through the woman, she felt suddenly weak, as if part of her very life had been wrenched from her, and as she plummeted towards the ground below, she suddenly realized her brother had been right. She closed her eyes, and prayed she would survive the fall. Instead, strong arms caught her, and when her eyes opened, two sparkling blue eyes behind a black mask were staring into hers. A handsome masked man in a tuxedo was holding her, one of the most handsome men she'd ever seen. Her heart pounded, and she didn't want him to put her down. He asked, "Are you okay?" "I'm...fine," she said faintly. Maybe this is heaven, she thought. Whatever it is, I don't want it to stop. And then he let her down gently, and pointed up at the roof with his cane. She could see the spectral figure hovering over her prone brother, although all that could be seen of Tatewaki was his feet. "Looks like your brother is in trouble. I'll handle this." He hefted a lawn gnome that was lying by his feet and tossed it at the spectral woman. It nailed her in the head, and she tumbled away from Tatewaki, turning in the air to face them. Her face was dark and distorted now, her eyes two burning fires, with bloody fangs in her mouth. She plunged towards them, clawed hands outstretched, howling horribly, shining a silvery purple in the moonlight. He reached over to a nearby rose bush and plucked a rose, kissed it, then hurled it at her. The rose plunged through the ghost-woman's forehead as a hurled gymnastics pin flew through her right shoulder. It howled and dissolved into a spray of silver light which rose into the sky towards the moon and faded away. The man turned and looked at her. "I see you like to take care of yourself." "I'm rather used to having to take care of the men around here," Kodachi said shyly. "You...What's your name?" "I...I don't know. Although a woman called me...Endymion once," he said. "You'd best get a ladder so we can get your brother off the roof. It paralzyed him pretty well, it looks like." Kodachi stared at the ground; obviously he hadn't seen the fight. "I'll go get the ladder I used. I'm Kunou Kodachi. And you..." She couldn't say it, but she knew in her heart, this was the man she was destined to marry. Finally, a man had come into her life, in just the sort of romantic way she'd always hoped for. "I'm going to marry you one day." He stared in shock, and then she ran off to get the ladder. But when she returned, he was gone. He tricked me, she thought. It made her appreciate him all the more for his intelligence. He would be a difficult catch, she thought. But worth it. She hummed a happy tune as she climbed the ladder to get her brother down. Purpose had returned to her life. *************** Setsuna found Ranma a few blocks away in a park, curled up against a tree, fifty feet up on a branch. She began slowly climbing up the tree. "I'm sorry, Ranma, I didn't mean to...I mean...whatever you're mad about." "It's not all your fault. I just...I want to go home. And try to figure out how to not turn into my old self." He shrank in on himself a bit more. "It's worse than my curse; I can avoid cold water, or go get hot water, but I got the feeling this is a one-way trip. If I turn back into Ruby, that's it, Ranma's gone. I wanna be me." She managed to clamber up onto another branch, nearly falling three times. "Everything I loved about you is the same," she said. "And that's even scarier. It's like I can't get away from my past or change or nothing. It's like..." He turned to face her. "I like you, but I can't tell if I really like you, or if it's just Ruby taking over another chunk of my head," he said. "Ain't nothing worse than being pissed at yourself." This, on the other hand, she thought, wasn't like him at all. Ruby never went around doubting himself like that. He wasn't completely confident or totally arrogant, but no one but her and Diamond ever got to see any of his fears. But then, maybe he wouldn't show how he felt if it had been one of the others like the Princess or Eowyn. Nor did she have any clue what to say. Her instincts said to draw him close and comfort him, but her precognition and her common sense both said that would lead to disaster. "You have to come to terms with your past, Ranma. Some of it will inevitably surface as your powers grow and memories return. But then, sometimes we all revert to childhood when those memories are triggered too. Remembering Ruby, having him as part of you, is no different from Ranma the five year old being part of you. He is you, and what you feel is part of you, and you just have to deal with it. I can't wave my fingers and make you forget everything." "You don't know what it's like!" he snapped. "It's like suddenly I turn into some kind of puppet!" "Bullshit," she said flatly, getting irritated. "Your past self can't MAKE you do anything. Ruby is dead, he's just part of your memories! He's not out there yanking you around! You can't hide from having been him, but don't blame your own indecision on your past life! I love you, but sometimes I want to beat the crap out of you! Ruby loved me. That doesn't mean you have to, but if you try denying how you feel because you're afraid you're just repeating yourself, then you're going to have a pretty DAMN HARD TIME dealing with any of us you knew before! I don't see you saying you can't be friends with Ukyou because you were friends with Diamond!" Ranma tried to recoil, fell off the branch, snagged it with his feet, and hung upside feeling like a moron. "Damnation." Setsuna tried to reach over and pull him up, toppled, and ended up hanging from the same branch as him by one hand. "Double damnation." The branch creaked and cracked. "Triple damnation." It snapped and they tumbled to the ground. Ranma flipped himself around to catch Setsuna and land on his feet, though he was surprised he managed it in such a short drop. He put her down. "I met Ukyou long before I knew about..." "Yes, but would you have hit it off so well if you hadn't known each other before? Would she have become so attached to you so quickly if this was the first life you met in? I mean, she only knew you a few months, but then hunted for you for years. And you and Rei squabble like you and Eowyn did." Ranma winced when she said that. "But it doesn't have to be the same. You're a far better fighter than Ruby was when he was your age. Despite the squabbling, you and Rei like each other more than Eowyn and Ruby did. And Usagi is very different as well in several ways." A thought struck Ranma. "She ain't another guy guardian reborn as a woman, is she?" Setsuna blinked, then laughed. "No. Sapphire and Opal are out there, but they are both male, I think." "I just ain't comfortable with all this. I had a lot of fun tonight, but I just...I don't feel like I can trust my instincts right now, and for a martial artist, that's really bad, ya know?" She sighed. "Don't be afraid of what you feel, Ranma." "I just ain't so sure it's me feeling it. Let's go home, okay?" "Okay." She reached out and took his hand. "I won't push you." Because I know that will just make you get more stubborn, she thought. "I had fun tonight." "Me too, until..." He shook his head. "Let's go." The gate came, and they went. ************* Michiru went to the phone, wondering who was calling her so late. "Hello?" "This is your fiancee," Kunou said. "Keep an eye out for any spectral beings who look like your mother and try to make you walk off a roof or drain your life force. We had an incident here." "..." I must be dreaming, Michiru thought. "I sensed the same foul sorcery I felt at the race. I suggest you stay away from my house until I can be sure we've found whoever is behind this and deal with him." "Kunou, there's no such thing as sorcery, and if there was, I wouldn't let it push me around," Michiru said. "Did you find your sister?" "She's bouncing around the house telling everyone she's found the man she intends to marry." "..." "Apparently he is named 'Endymion'. I know of no such family. Have you heard of them?" "Sounds vaguely Greek." "Hmm. Father would never approve. So I will give it my blessing. He apparently defeated the ghost impersonating our mother. Fortunately, Kodachi and I were largely unhurt. Unfortunately, we lost a lawn gnome and some of Kodachi's remaining black roses got ahold of Mamoru. However, we believe he should heal. Sasuke is doctoring him right now." "..." "While I appreciate your brave desire to defy the foul sorcery that has taken place, I suggest you stay home for a time. I will come and visit you; I have been wanting to see your fair estates anyway. But first I must make sure no more ghosts attack. Can you recommend a good temple?" "I understand the Hikawa Shrine has a noted exorcist and a psychic priestess," Michiru said. "Excellent. Perhaps she can get to the bottom of this. In conclusion, I bid you farewell, my aqua-tressed vision of ethereal beauty. May you dream pleasant dreams." "Goodnight, Kunou." I suggest you seek therapy, she thought. "Thank you for hosting the party tonight." "It was my pleasure. And tell your mother that Kodachi said she would like to hear her play again some time." "But she ran off crying..." Michiru began. "If I understood my sister, I would probably be all- knowing," Kunou said. "Goodnight, my dear." "Goodnight, Kunou." "Please, call me Tatewaki." "Goodnight, Tatewaki-kun. May your home remain free of angry ghosts." "And yours as well." He hung up, leaving her to wonder what planet she was actually living on. *********** Ukyou straggled into the dorm at 2 AM; the karaoke session had lasted just about forever. The dorm mother stared at her. "Where have you been? Vice-Principal Taiho has been looking for you for hours." "Went over to a friend's house." "Well, go to bed. I'm sure he can chew you out in the morning." Ukyou nodded and headed upstairs. To her surprise, she found Haruka busily packing up all her stuff, looking exhausted and cranky. "Hey, you moving out?" "We both are," Haruka said. "What?" "Someone leaked we're women to the school administration. And I lost 50,000 yen to my old man." She sat down on her bed. "He told me I'd finally blow it this year, and I guess he was right. Dunno what the hell I'm gonna do about getting into another school at this point." Ukyou sat down on her bed. "I don't know where I'm gonna go. Dad's living in Osaka, and I could only afford this place because I won a years' free tuition in that martial arts tournament they had last year. I wanna stay near Ranchan, but..." "You can come live with us for a few days, and maybe ask him if you can move in at the temple. They've already got most of his other women living there," Haruka said. "Well, I'm going to bed. Where were you, anyway? You and Ranma go off to a love hotel or something?" Ukyou blushed and sat down on her bed. "Karaoke with Ami and Naoko and Rei and Naru and Usagi." Haruka nodded. "See you in the morning." ************ Usagi and Rei got home around 2 AM as well; they could hear Ranma snoring in his tent as they headed around it into the house. Rei said, "That was a lot of fun." Usagi nodded. "Naoko's mother was a good singer. Especially that one song, whatever it was." "'Witchy Woman', I think," Rei said. "Although having a woman sing it was kinda weird." "We oughta do fun stuff like this more often," Usagi said. "Some of us have school," Rei said flatly, then softened. "But yeah, it was fun. I never used to have many friends." Usagi blinked. "You didn't? Why?" "Everyone tended to think I was kinda creepy because of my visions and my ravens and everything." Rei stared at the paper walls, afraid to look at Usagi's face. Usagi reached over and squeezed her shoulder. "Well, I think you're cool. I wish I could talk to birds." Rei turned to her. "I used to wish I couldn't, so I could have a normal life, but now I'm glad, because of the friends I have. It's nice having someone around the temple besides just me and Grandpa and Phobos and Deimos." "Yeah. I hope Ranma had as much fun with Ken as we had," Usagi said. "Guys don't know anything about having fun," Rei said. "They probably watched soccer all night or something." Usagi yawned. "Goodnight, Rei." "Goodnight, Usagi." ************* Ranma was surprised to find himself and Shampoo the only people at breakfast. "How was your night?" she asked. "I shoulda gone out with Usagi," he replied. "Now you're learning," she said. "Fight fate and it will destroy you. Accept it and you can guide it. Cheerios or Wheaties?" "Which one's my destiny?" "Many things are not predestined." Ranma laughed. "Cheerios it is. Fate be damned. With milk." "The gods destroy people who put milk in their cereal," Shampoo said, fixing him a bowl of Cheerios with milk, then putting out some more milk for the cats and popping two frozen waffles in the toaster. "So what was wrong with your night?" "You ever have flashbacks to your past lives?" he asked her, then shoveled many Cheerios into his mouth. "When Shampoo visited the cave of the oracle, Shampoo learned she is only Once-born, unlike little sister Usagi or great-grandmother. What's it like?" She went and fixed herself a glass of milk and some apples while the waffles toasted. "It's like...I dunno what's me, and what used to be me sometimes. It sucks." "Great-Grandmother say that people are reborn until they get the story of their lives right. When everyone manages that, the world will vanish and be replaced with a potato." She paused. "That's not right." The waffles popped up, so she took them out and began buttering them and adding honey and syrup. "Anyway, if you don't understand your past lives, you'll just make same mistakes over and over." He ate some more of his Cheerios, then said, "It's like...I get these feelings and don't know if they're real or just memories. Bugs the hell out of me." "Shampoo think you in trouble if you can't tell difference between real and remembered feelings." She came over to the table and started cutting her waffles into small squares. "It's like I'm reexperiencing stuff. And it comes and goes. Sometimes when I'm around various people, I feel stuff I don't feel the rest of the time." "Like when you go on dates with Setsuna." "Yeah, exa..." He stared at her. "Ranma is a lousy liar," she said, staring at him. "Shampoo is starting to wonder if she should convince big sister to forget about you." He winced. "I ain't never asked her to try to get me to marry her. And the whole dinner thing wasn't my fault. I didn't say I'd be home for dinner." She continued to glare. Ranma had never been good at standing up to angry women. "Okay, okay, I'll tell her when she wakes up." "Good." Shampoo took a bite of her waffles. "Better." ************* "...so it all just went wonky. I wish I knew if I was going crazy or going to just turn into Ruby one morning or what. I hate this. Anyway, so I like, shouldn't have lied to you," he said. "Sorry about that." "It's okay," Usagi said. They were sitting on the porch. "I had a really fun time with Rei and everyone." She leaned over and hugged him and he froze up. "You can take me and Rei out tonight as an apology." "Uh...okay," he said. "No dancing." She laughed. "I don't know any Japanese dances anyway. Hmm...we could go swimming." He blinked. "On a date?" "Okay, maybe not." Shampoo came out on the porch. "Phone for Ranma. It's Ukyou." He nodded and rose. "I'll be right back." ************* Ami's mother looked over at her daughter, who was yawning over breakfast. They and Kasumi had gone out for breakfast as the first stage of a day of fun together. "Tired, dear?" "I was up late at Naoko's," she said. "Doing karaoke." "Oooh, that would be fun," Reiko said. "Michiko and Nodoka and I used to love to sing together, although we didn't have karaoke machines back then. I think Michiko and Nodoka even tried to break into the idol singer business, but it didn't work out." "Mother used to sing to us all the time," Kasumi said, smiling. "Father would try to sing with her, but he was awful. Really awful." She sagged. "I tried going to the temple, but I couldn't find any clues." "He'll come around," Reiko said. "If he's really alive, he'll come for you," she said. "I hope so," she said. *********** "Hey, Grandpa," Ranma said to Grandpa Hino, who was making himself breakfast. "Mind if Ukyou stays with us a while? She got kicked out of her school for being a girl." "If she's willing to be an acolyte for a while, that's fine. We could use a refreshment stand." "He says ya gotta run a refreshment stand for the temple if you come." He listened to her reply. "She says yes," he said to Grandpa. "Ask her if she can get here in time to make me something better than Cheerios. Someone ate all my waffles." "He wants to know if you can get here in time to make him a decent breakfast." Ranma listened. "She says she'll try." "Good. I'll be busy punishing whoever ate my waffles." "It was Shampoo," Ranma said. "Vengeance will be mine." Grandpa left, stifling a yawn. *********** Everyone but Feldspar was yawning at the family meeting in the parental quarters. "Geez, am I am the only one who remembered to go to bed?" she asked. "One of my ladies is pregnant somehow," Tourmaline said, yawning so hard she almost fell out of her chair. "She called me at three AM, and then I spent two hours convincing her I wasn't going to...I dunno WHAT she thought I would do. I've gotten virtually no sleep, so we'd better hurry before I pass out." "I never sleep well after a fight," Diamond said simply. "I was up late conducting an experiment," Moonstone said, yawning. "Anyway, maybe we should adjourn this until we've all had more sleep." "No, we've kept Feldspar in the dark long enough," Tourmaline said. "We've found our sister, and we need to decide how to bring her back into the family." "She's the one who called herself 'Akane', right?" Feldspar asked. "Yes," Tourmaline said. "Good. She's a strong fighter." Feldspar smiled. "It'd be nice to have a less flimsy sister." Tourmaline stuck out her tongue at Feldspar. "It'd be nice to have one who..." "Shush," Moonstone said. "Anyway, we...we....yaaaaawww wnnnn...have several options. We don't have to decide immediately, but..." "I have a clever plan," Tourmaline announced. "I won't dress up as a Jehovah's Witness this time," Feldspar said. Their parents stared blankly at them. "Don't ask," Tourmaline said. "I'm still trying to forget about that clever plan." "Not as hard as I am," Feldspar replied.