A Ranma/Sailor-Moon crossover fan fiction

 

 

Started - 1 February 2004                      Completed - pending

 

Last revised – 2 July 2004                     Reason – fix minor errors chapter 2

 

 

 * * * * *

 

Disclaimer:  Ranma ½ and Sailor-Moon and all associated characters are the property of Rumiko Takahashi or Naoko Takeuchi and are used without permission.  This fan-fiction isn’t intended for commercial use but is rather a tribute to the Ranma ½ and Sailor-Moon universes.  There may be ‘cameos’ of other anime series but I make no claim on them and disclaim any profit.

 

This story starts after the end of both ‘cannon’ story lines.  Ranma is the same age as Usagi.

 

 * * * * *

 

The Earth Princess                by               Cloud Dreamer

 

 * * * * *

 

 * * * * *

 

Chapter Two – Nabiki’s Dilemma

 

 * * * * *

 

“Darn,” muttered Nabiki as she studied the hidden cask.  “With this new ‘duty’ or whatever that Ranma has taken on, there is no way I can use this Nanniichuan to bribe him with a cure,” she mumbled.  She angrily slammed the door of the hidden panel closed and rose to her feet before sitting at her desk.

 

Gathering the tatters of her normally hidden temper about her, the Ice Queen slowly reassembled her façade.  She sighed for past mistakes with respect to dealing with Ranma.  The schism between Ranma and Akane now seemed insurmountable and she was really having mixed feelings about it.  She was sad for her little sister’s tears even as she felt that Akane was just getting what was due her for how she’d treated Ranma.

 

On the other hand, oh boy on the other hand; she now had a chance at the boy she’d reluctantly admitted to herself that she loved and had loved since she’d been briefly engaged to him.  She hadn’t lied to Ranma when she said she loved him then but she doubted he’d believe her anytime soon.

 

 * * * * *

 

Setsuna cautiously approached the time gates.  Since the ‘chaos storm’ she’d seen approaching the time gates the last time she’d used them seemed to have been either diverted or delayed, she was hopeful of being able to use the gates again.

 

She really didn’t want to admit it, but her curiosity was killing her; she ‘hated’ not knowing what was happening.  Despite her many millennia of experience, she was trembling with apprehension.  This was something she had only limited experience with and the first time she had encountered it, it had almost killed her.

 

She glanced behind her to ensure that Hotaru and Usagi were keeping a safe distance from the gate and behind Saturn’s localized ‘silence wall’; in a sense, they were her medical backup in case anything went wrong.

 

It did go wrong, badly wrong.  Setsuna woke up to remembered agony.  She glanced about herself and blankly stared at the pool of blood next to her partially melted key staff not too far from the time gate.  A slight noise to her side brought her attention back to her companions.  Both Hotaru and Usagi looked very tired and Setsuna belatedly realized that they must have used their powers to save her life.

 

Now very worried, Setsuna shakily rose to her feet and studied the now open time gate.  Her very soul shuddered at the sight before her, ‘damn my impatient meddling’ she mumbled to herself.

 

“Mama Setsuna,” whispered Hotaru; “is everything alright?”

 

“No,” she hoarsely responded, “it’s about as bad as it can get.”

 

“I need to rest,” interjected Usagi.  “I’m hungry too,” she added.

 

“Then the universe dies,” was the soft hopeless reply.

 

Both of the younger scouts turned in surprise to the oldest scout.  She only pointed to the time gate.  The other two looked to the gate and noticed a lenticular shape of void blackness just off center in the gate.

 

“Somehow an imbalance has been ripped open the time stream flow,” Setsuna explained.  “Eventually it will become turbulent and the back flow will destroy this universe.”

 

“Setsuna!” yelled Usagi, “How could you risk something like this unless we absolutely needed it?”

 

Hotaru sat there almost frozen in shock but she managed a quavering question, “How do we fix it?”

 

Setsuna glanced at her, “I’m not sure since this is new to me.  I recall reading a theory on this once.”  She paused and struggled with her fatigue, wracking her brain for information before continuing, “We need to rebalance the flows but that takes three persons of strong spiritual powers; one of light, another of dark and a neutral.”  She sighed, “We don’t have the time to find them; especially as tired as we are.”

 

“But mama,” protested Hotaru, “doesn’t that describe us?”  Seeing their dawning comprehension she continued; “I am the bringer of silence, that’s dark.  Usagi is all about light and you usually strive to be neutral.”

 

Pluto shook her head incredulously; she’d brought the two because they were the only ones with healing power.  It had not occurred to her that their planetary powers were also spiritual powers.  She sighed to herself, ‘either my injuries are getting to me or I must be more tired than I thought’.

 

Setsuna nodded and shakily took position before the gate with her damaged key now in her hand.  She gestured the other two to make their way to each side of her until they were all equidistance from each other.

 

Usagi asked in confusion, “Setsuna, the gate looks the same now as when I was standing with you.  Did it turn to face me?”

 

“No Usagi,” tiredly responded Setsuna, “the time gate only has one side.  It is sort of like a moebius strip.  No matter where you stand around it, you are always facing it.”

 

“Oh,” she acknowledged.  “What do we do now?”

 

“I’m not sure,” came the hesitant response.

 

“That’s odd?” stated Hotaru as she leaned her glaive toward the void.  “My glaive is drawn to the void and it’s talking to me.”  A moment later she added in surprise, “The glaive said we should all lean in and touch the void at the same time with glaive, key and wand.”

 

Pluto hesitated, unsure of what to do until Usagi said, “My wand agrees.  I wonder why it’s talking to me now?  It never did before.”

 

“All right, we might as well give it a try,” said Pluto.  “Watch each other so that we all do it together.”

 

The three scouts carefully leaned in together quickly discovering that any imbalance in their actions resulted in some rather spectacular light shows.  As the three artifacts touched the void together, several things happened.  Each of the three experienced every life they had ever lived and variations of them as well.  To a limited extent, the experience bled over between each of them.  Fortunately for their sanity, the experience was beyond their comprehension and they were left with only a vague impression of the experience.  But it matured and mellowed each of them in addition to drawing them closer to each other.  As they slumped unconscious to the floor, the void closed; the chaos within it drained.

 

Later, much later, maybe days, months or perhaps years; the three slowly woke up.  The slight noise from the first one to wake eventually rousing the other two.  Setsuna carefully picked up her restored staff and after verifying that the gate was for the moment stable, locked it down again.

 

She then glanced at the other two and started to turn away before quickly facing them again.  Hotaru and Usagi had both acquired her own ageless look.  They both looked mature, fully grown and very healthy.

 

Lifetimes of vaguely recalled experience gave them all a poise that few others could emulate.  Extended time spent in the limbo of the time gate had allowed their inherent powers to flush the contaminations acquired in their mortal life from their system thus fully healing them and bringing them to their immortal physical maturity.  Because of the mix of energy the three had absorbed from time gate, this process took significantly less time than otherwise.  A fact that Pluto was to discover only when she tried to duplicate it later for the remaining scouts.

 

Hotaru and Usagi both tried to communicate with their artifacts again, but neither the glaive nor the wand were very cooperative; even Setsuna tried to talk to her key though she felt silly doing it.  Each of the three scouts got variations of the same message from their tool: ‘energy flow beyond established parameters, reboot successful, diagnostic in progress, minimum default settings enabled’.

 

Finally Usagi had gotten frustrated and yelled at her wand, “Stop telling me that!  Tell me who you are.”  A moment later the other two scouts heard her say, “Oh, ok.”  Usagi looked up at her companions and held the wand up, “See the writing?  It says ‘I belong to Belldandy’,” she said as she pointed to the glowing words that were already starting to fade again.  Hotaru and Setsuna both asked their artifacts to declare their identity.  The glaive had writing on it that said ‘property of Urd’ while the words on the key simply said, ‘Skuld’s tool’.

 

All three scouts shrugged since the names didn’t mean anything to them.  Hotaru voiced the question troubling them all: “I wonder what those three persons have to do with the time gate or the scouts?  Who could they be?”

 

When the three scouts left the time gate and returned to the temple; they arrived only an hour after leaving.  Rei almost went ballistic when she saw the changes to Usagi; but Usagi’s quiet, “Rei, that’s enough,” silenced her in mid rant.  All the other scouts looked to their princess in surprise only to realize that it was now neo queen Serenity they were seeing.

 

Setsuna wondered about that.  The gates would never reveal the point at which Serenity finally manifested completely but the time guardian knew it happened after the gates were locked and before Crystal Tokyo was established.  ‘Could it be that they were on the right track still?  That would explain what had happened and why her future self didn’t warn her.’ 

 

Michiru and Haruka approached Hotaru.  The senshi of silence gravely regarded the two who had not only raised her but had also killed her once.  She now stood slightly taller than her former foster parents and softly said, “Something happened in the gates which caused the three of us to endure all of our past lives again.”  She paused and added, “I know the two of you raised me after I reverted to an infant and for that I’m grateful.  But I can see no justification for you killing me and then saying later that you still loved me.”  She saw the pain that her statement caused and finished, “I have decided that the two cancel each other out and while I will not seek revenge for your betrayal, I will also no longer call you my parents.”  She resolutely turned from the pair and walked to stand beside Setsuna who simply put a companionable arm around her.

 

Usagi took the lead and explained all that had happened.  The other scouts were very unhappy that Setsuna had taken such a great risk for what seemed trivial reasons in retrospect.

 

Usagi took out the Lunar disguise pen and gravely regarded it for a few moments.  She hated to deceive her parents but she really didn’t have a choice at this time.  She concentrated on it, changed her appearance to ‘normal’ and locked its effect in place on herself with the silver crystal.

 

Ami somberly sat down next to her and softly remarked, “The outward appearance is the easy part Usagi.”

 

Usagi nodded and hopefully said, “Maybe they won’t notice any changes in how I act?”

 

Rei chuckled, “Just cry meatball head.  Wail anytime they question your behavior and that will convince them they are wrong.”

 

“WWAAAAA,” Usagi wailed, “Rei’s so mean to me!”  She paused and calmly asked, “Like that?”

 

Ami caught on first; she began to giggle and said, “Yes Usagi, like that.”

 

 * * * * *

 

Akane sat and glared at the Lost Boy.  If Akari hadn’t been sitting next to him she would have been sorely tempted to pound him.  Ryouga for his part nervously shifted in his seat occasionally glancing worriedly at Akari.

 

Akari sighed and wondered if he was really worth all this bother.  She looked over at him again and her eyes became dreamy and her being slowly filled with a warm contentment.  ‘Yes,’ she decided.  “Akane,” she began, “my fiancé wishes to apologize for all the trouble he’s caused you.”

 

“Fiancé!” was Akane’s startled response.

 

Ryouga blushed and nodded.

 

Akane wanted to lash out at Ryouga and tarnish his happiness but she couldn’t bear to diminish the evident joy on Akari’s face.   She forced a smile on her face and put an arm around the other girl.  “I can see that you’re happy, so I’m happy for you also.”

 

The engaged couple noticed the undercurrent of unhappiness in Akane’s voice.

 

“Akane,” Ryouga hesitatingly started, “I’m sorry for what happened.”  He sighed, “For so long I blamed Ranma for all my problems until Akari helped me see that I was wasting my life because of that.  I saw how often you were hurt by him and I didn’t think he was worthy of someone like you.”

 

“Your apology is accepted Ryouga,” Akane softly replied.  “As a descendant of warriors, I now understand that it would have been dishonorable of Ranma to reveal a potentially fatal weakness of yours especially since he promised not to do so.  I also can understand how you would hesitate to reveal your curse to anybody.”  She sighed and continued with a small sniffle, “I understand and can even forgive a little.”  As her sobs started to steal her voice she finished, “But it still doesn’t help that I’ve lost the one that I loved the most in the world as a result of what you did and my temper.”  She sniffled harder, “It’s so easy to say that now that he’s gone.”

 

Akari enveloped the crying girl in her arms as Ryouga helplessly reaped some of the pain he had sown in another’s life.  “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

 

“What can we do to make up for this?” asked Akari.

 

There was a pause broken by several sniffles before a soft but broken voice asked hopefully, “Help me get him back?”

 

 * * * * *

 

Cologne had spent an interesting couple of months so far with the two visiting lore-mistresses, especially since one of them was her ‘baby’ sister.  For lack of a better place to meet comfortably (meaning away from the bustle of the city and the cafe), the three elderly Amazons had taken to meeting at the temple of the three monks who had provided one of the key elements for the techniques used to restore Ranma’s past lives.

 

Both Cologne and Ranma had noticed that the chaos that normally plagued Ranma’s life was somehow lost in the normal chaos of the strange ward that the Sailor Senshi battled in.

 

The no longer young monks had developed an ability to see beyond the surface façade of a person and were in awe of the ki bonfires raging within each of these old biddies.  By comparison, Ranma’s ki was like plasma when ever he allowed it to be glimpsed; but he had mastered a passive technique that enabled him to mask it completely.  It had a welcome side affect of making Ranma more or less obscure to those unfamiliar with him or her.

 

The six elderly folk constituted an informal school that provided lore and guardian instruction to Shampoo and the other young Amazons and occasionally to Ranma as well.  The temple made a good base from which to hunt husbands too.  The Amazon guard had set up camp in several of the outer buildings on the temple grounds and rarely entered the main temple though several were always on hand somewhere on the grounds.  Who would have believed that all 20 of the best Amazon warriors just happened to be single still?  Ranma for one didn’t buy it, but since it didn’t concern him, said nothing.  The temple was humorously referred to as the ‘Amazon’ temple by the local folk who had quickly gotten used to the lovely ladies with the vibrant hair colors now residing there with their elderly guardians.

 

Cologne had taken steps to close her original café and open a larger establishment near the temple shortly after meeting the monks.  While it wasn’t close to the Saotome home, it wasn’t terribly far either.  The good food and her staff of talented, very talented waitresses had ensured success. A bonus was that it also tended to keep the husband hungry girls a bit controlled too.

 

All of the Amazons were still wary of Demona though Ranma had taken the time to experimentally spar with her a few times after carefully explaining exactly what she was wanting.  Ranma had finally decided that the reformed youma was too weak to help Ranma train at her current enhanced power level.  Shampoo on the other hand was delighted to find a new sparing partner that could take her on at full power though Demona’s inherent regeneration powers were sorely taxed at times.

 

There came a time when Ranma and Shampoo had left the temple together after biding good night to their six teachers late one evening after an extended lesson when Ranma had abruptly recalled that she’d forgotten her school books at the temple.  Shampoo had insisted on returning with her so both girls had quietly made their way into the temple so as to not wake their mentors.  Ranma had paused to wave to Demona in the garden before retrieving her books from within the temple while Shampoo had gone on ahead to grab a quick snack from the kitchen for the two of them.

 

Deciding to put some of their recent training to work, both girls had let their ki form passive receptors as they attempted to spy on their elders.

 

Shampoo and Ranma had simultaneously blushed heavily before turning to each other, giggling and fleeing; Ranma homeward and Shampoo to the café and her room.  Seems that there were only three bedrooms being used that evening and apparently the six elderly folks were a bit uninhibited at times as well.

 

 * * * * *

 

Soun and Genma lethargically played a game of go as they sat together on the Saotome porch; both of them occasionally glancing over at Ranma-chan as she lay on her belly and idly waved her lower legs in the air as she studied her school work under Nodoka’s helpful guidance.  Usually either Nabiki or Shampoo would also have dropped by but for the moment, Soun was the only visitor.

 

“At least he’s not wearing a dress,” grumbled Genma to himself.  Though to tell the truth, the midriff blouse and shorts were not all that much an improvement he decided as he noted his friend’s distraction and quickly moved a few tokens.

 

He suddenly grinned as he thought of a way to return some of the harassment his wife and child had been recently visiting upon him.  Genma abruptly clapped a hand on Soun’s shoulder, “My friend!” he began jovially, “it suddenly occurs to me how we can unite our families.”  He gestured to Ranma, “Since I no longer seem to have a son but a daughter instead . . .” he paused dramatically, “why don’t you marry ‘her’,” he concluded insincerely.

 

He frowned at the look of excitement on his old friend’s face and almost fumbled one of the pieces he was rearranging.  But before either of them could utter another word, their attention was brought back to Nodoka as she unsheathed her katana with enough force to make the cold steel ring.

 

Both of the older men shuddered at the red auras surrounding both Saotome gals.  Nodoka’s voice coldly stated, “Husband, that is one idea I better not ever hear repeated again if you want to keep your head;  either of them.”  She glared at Soun, “As for you, I understand neutering can cure you both of such ideas.”

 

Both men audibly gulped though Genma was also sniggering just a little bit too at least on the inside that is.  ‘Gotcha!’ he thought smugly.

 

 * * * * *

 

Few people realized it, but Akane did have a hero.  Her name was Sailor Jupiter.  The various senshi fan clubs had been assembling profiles of the scouts based on casual comments made by them.  Jupiter was known to be a martial artist and a chef; a girl so much like herself Akane was prone to say to herself.

 

Akane was confidently striding down the street carrying her latest culinary creation.  ‘This will be so wonderful,’ she dreamily thought, ‘just one taste of my masterpiece and Ranma will fall into my arms and . . .’

 

Her day dreams were interrupted as a bevy of under clothed girls surrounded her.

 

“Don’t worry little girl,” cried one that Akane recognized as Sailor Jupiter, “we’ll save you from that youma possessing your bowl.”

 

A fine mist drenched Akane while a blast of lightening frizzled her hair as it knocked the large casserole bowl out of her hand.  The bowl broke apart and the contents began to rapidly slither toward the girl with the odd hair do.

 

Sailor Moon shrieked and blasted it.  Unfortunately, Akane caught part of the magical attack.  She felt her clothing rip, her masterpiece had been destroyed, her temper ignited, “Senshi no baka”, she screamed and manifested a mallet.

 

Moon ‘eeped’, took a step back, tripped and fell on her rear as the mallet passed harmlessly overhead. 

 

Jupiter was more direct, forgoing a magical attack; she arched into a snap kick that was fully powered by her sailor powers and indignation.  The kick caught Akane in the stomach and launched her back toward her home.

 

A fuming Mars was not willing to be left out or be very forgiving. “Mars flame sniper,” caught Akane at the apex of her arc high over the Nerima/Juuban border and lit her up like fireworks.

 

Akane splashed down in a very familiar koi pond.  Soun was in a wailing panic as he pulled her out of the pond but it was a worried Kasumi who tended her.  Kasumi later told her father that Akane’s anger aura had shielded her from any major harm but she would be out till at least morning.

 

Nabiki was sniggering to herself even as she worried about her little sister.  She had witnessed the entire episode.  After calling Kasumi to find out how Akane was, Nabiki continued on to Ranma’s home, she had a story to share now.

 

As the scouts made their way back to the temple, they discussed this odd episode.  Ami decided that perhaps she should take the time and make an effort to map the unusual energies her computer told her were resident in Nerima.

 

Akane destroyed her Sailor Jupiter poster the next morning

 

 * * * * *

 

Soun and Genma quietly plotted together on the front step of the dojo while casting an occasional nervous glance toward Nabiki who was standing in the open doorway of the house watching them with narrowed eyes.

 

“I’m telling ya Soun, ole buddy,” loudly whispered Genma.  “We’ve got to go and get another cask of that Jusenkyo spring water for Ranma if you want my SON to marry one of your daughters.”

 

Soun sniveled and complained, “But I can’t leave my babies! I have to take care of them.”

 

Humpf,” injected Nabiki rather brutally, “Come off it dad.  You’ve been totally useless since mom died.”

 

“WWAAAAAAAA, my daughters hate me.”  (TPW)

 

Genma fatalistically shrugged his shoulders as he was changed into a panda again.  He had to admire how easily and effectively Nabiki had derailed his plans.  He didn’t like it but he did admire the deviousness she was so capable of.  Too bad it seemed to be aimed at foiling all his plans concerning Ranma at present.  Ranma had actually laughed at some of Genma’s problems with Nabiki when he’d heard of them.

 

“Father, father,” murmured Kasumi as she handed the two old men small saucers of sake. 

 

Instantly stable again, Soun said, “Thank you Kasumi.”

 

Nabiki shook her head and carefully remarked as she embarked on a little mischief, “You know, with Ranma’s new duty or what ever that is keeping him locked in girl form most of the time, your best bet for uniting the schools is for you to dowse Akane with the Nanniichuan instead of Ranma.”

 

Ewwwe,” from Akane as she shuddered at the idea of being one of those ‘perverts’.

 

Genma,” asked Soun, “do you have any idea of what this new duty is and who is filling Ranma’s head with this nonsense.”

 

Genma shrugged and gestured to Nabiki, “Nah, but I’ll bet she knows.”


A shark like grin slowly spread across her face as the two fathers reached for their wallets; “Twenty-five thousand yen from all three of you, nothing from Kasumi.”

 

“Nabiki!” yelped Akane in exasperation, “I shouldn’t have to pay to learn something about Ranma, after all he is my fiancé.”  She paused and added, “Why is Kasumi exempt but not me?”

Before Nabiki could respond, Kasumi asked with a puzzled expression on her face, “Akane, I thought you cancelled the engagement and our fathers transferred it to Nabiki.”  She then smiled warmly at Nabiki, “Thank you for not charging me little sister, but I am curious as to why you are not?”

 

“Kasumi,” began Nabiki, “I owe you more than I can ever repay for your efforts to take care of me and the others after momma died.” She then shrugged as she said, “Akane, as to why I’m charging you, well, let’s say that breaking bricks, walls and roofs only made my job to earn money harder.  Kasumi has thanked me for my efforts but you’ve always taken me for granted.”

 

Akane’s shoulders slumped.  She trudged upstairs and shortly returned with the required amount.  She wasn’t sure why but she had a gut feeling that she needed to know this information.

 

Nabiki carefully recounted the yen in her hand before giving a satisfied nod.  “I have not been able to specifically identify Ranma’s new sensei,” she held up a hand to silence their incipient cries of outrage at this non-information.  “But I do know SHE is very powerful, more so than Ranma.  She is also not teaching Ranma martial arts but magic instead.”  She put a pair of earplugs in her ears after offering a set to Kasumi.  “Who ever this new sensei is, she is teaching Ranma to be a Magical girl; sort of like the Sailor Scouts I think.  Whatever it is, the Amazons are in on it too.”

 

The wordless shout from the fathers and Akane shoved Nabiki up against the wall.  In absent irritation, Nabiki tried to smooth her hair down after she removed her ear plugs, but it insisted on frizzing in all directions.  Finally she gave up and said, “That’s all I know.  When I find out more, I’ll let you know.”  She unsteadily stood up and walked out of the room, the ringing in her ears causing her a little disorientation.

 

Akane was the only one to respond and it was with a brusque nod.

 

One odd occurrence related to Happosai was that Taro had shown up at Furinkan looking for the old pervert.  Tatewaki had noticed him talking to Akane and deduced that this was the new form of the missing ‘foul sorcerer’ and fixated on smiting him.  Kodachi had shortly followed in her brother’s delusion though with a romantic intent and Taro was amusing himself taunting both of them while waiting for Happosai to show up.

 

 * * * * *

 

Ranma grumbled to herself.  It was one of those days that happened every month that reminded her why she hated being a girl so much.  Her mother would commiserate with her, but sympathy? Not in this lifetime apparently; at least not when it came to being a girl anyway.

 

Ryouga had wandered by and Ranma had promptly dowsed him with water and dropped kicked him out of sight before he could get all of his trademark greeting out.  Female hormones had left Ranma-chan in no mood to put up with the lost boy.

 

Ranma had taken a page out of her experiences with Nabiki and started to research the Sailor Scouts.  Surprisingly enough, it turned out that her mother was a fan of theirs and had amassed a surprising amount of information.  Better yet, she taught Ranma how to use the computer to find out more.  It was a real eye opener for Ranma; especially when the two of them had discovered Nabiki’s Ranma-chan website with all the various Ranma-chan merchandise offered for sale.

 

Nodoka had gotten a thoughtful look before regretfully remarking that since Ranma-chan didn’t have a legal existence, there was probably nothing they could do about Nabiki’s profiteering at Ranma’s expense.  Fortunately it seemed limited to mugs, tee-shirts and video footage of some of her fights.  Ranma was faintly relieved to see an absence of revealing photos offered for sale other than a selection of tasteful posters.

 

Ranma sat back later that evening and considered the idea of a legal identity for his girl side.  Finally he decided that the anonymity that the present situation provided was worth the legal void she had to exist in.

 

During the night, Genma quietly entered Ranma’s room with a small bucket of hot water and a bar of waterproof soap.  He glared at the short redhead peacefully sleeping, “No way is my retirement going to be lost to worthless magical girl!” he softly snarled.

 

Genma carefully poured the hot water over his child but before he could lather him up, a bolt of lightning from a sudden storm outside blasted a hole in the roof.  The influx of rain woke the redhead while a second bolt fried the panda.

 

Ranma picked up the familiar bar of soap and then glanced at the half filled bucket of hot water.  She grabbed her insensate father and hauled him downstairs where Nodoka quickly joined them.  Nodoka set her katana on the table before the nervous panda while Ranma poured hot water over him.

 

“Explain,” was Nodoka’s one word terse command.

 

Genma started babbling.  Ranma frowned when she learned what Nabiki had not only deduced but was making known.  This was not good.

 

“Genma,” Nodoka frostily cut him off, “understand that what Ranma is doing is DUTY.  You will NOT interfere; am I making myself understood?”

 

Genma reluctantly nodded; he’d heard that tone from her only a few times before and it meant she was serious, deadly serious if need be.  He understood; cross her in this and there would be no second chance.

 

 * * * * *

 

Haruka and Michiru were both feeling despondent.  They had considered themselves soldiers yet it was pretty obvious to them that they had alienated themselves from the rest of the team in their arrogance and because of their flexible ethics.

 

It hadn’t helped their feelings when Hotaru and Setsuna had moved out into their own apartment some distance away.  The pair of scouts sat in the empty room that had once housed a young woman that they had once called their own for a little while.

 

 “We don’t need them!” Haruka finally hissed out.

 

Her lover was more restrained, “Maybe, but I’m more worried that they will realize that they don’t need us.”

 

Haruka chuckled, “When the chips are down, they will call on Uranus and Neptune.  They’ve done it in the past it will happen again.  You’ll see.”

 

“Perhaps,” softly responded Michiru, “and what do we do if we aren’t the Uranus and Neptune that answer?”

 

Haruka collapsed beside her, her arrogant self-righteousness failing her.  “Kami no.”  She drew in a shuddering breath and softly asked, “What can we do?”

 

Michiru drew her in close and answered, “Sometimes I wonder if it would be so bad to let the power go.  Both of us have careers that we can’t fully pursue anymore.  Would it be so bad to just get on with our lives?  Tell them to find somebody that will ‘toe-the-party-line’ and count us out.”

 

“No,” whispered Haruka, “if it was our idea then I could do it.  But I won’t quit as a loser.  I’m not made that way.”

 

Michiru smiled at her lover, “Then perhaps it’s time to get back in the race?”

 

“You mean become part of the team?” the blond asked.

 

“We always were part of the team; it’s just that we thought we were most of the team or at least the most important part.  We were wrong.  We need to let the others know that.”  Michiru smiled a moment before saying, “We thought we were first and second violins in the Crystal Tokyo orchestra.  It turns out that it’s the Sailor Senshi rock band.  We were thinking we were the important part of the future while they were wondering when we would ever read the music.

 

 * * * * *

 

Nabiki sat watching Ranma spar lightly with several of the Amazons before grimacing in obvious discomfort and reluctantly finding a spare water bottle to dose himself.  All the Amazons understood who their Princess was and knew that the few hours that he was able to endure being male each day was not to be interrupted by them.

 

Ranma sighed as she took a seat next to Nabiki.  She wondered that the other girl spent so much time here anymore.  After graduating from High School several months ago, Nabiki had enrolled in a local community college for only a few classes instead of going to Tokyo University fulltime as everyone had expected.

 

Nabiki was a frequent visitor at the Saotome home, so much so that Nodoka had converted small storage room into a bare bedroom for the older girl.  And she was often underfoot at the Amazon temple as well; like now. 

 

Ranma sighed as she saw the books in Nabiki’s hands.  School books and not Nabiki’s either.  Ranma had learned that Nabiki always had a reason she could give to explain why she was there, where ever Ranma was.  Tonight it was helping Ranma with her homework.  Ranma reluctantly returned her smile; she really did appreciate the help and was grateful that Nabiki wasn’t an overtly physical person.

 

Instead of beginning to study with Nabiki, Ranma calmly took out a Ranma-chan tee-shirt and laid it on the table.  Nabiki became very nervous when both Cologne and Nodoka also took seats on either side of her.

 

“Do you not realize the potential harm your paid tongue can cause, girl?” began Cologne.

 

Nabiki frowned as she most certainly was not dense.  But before she could say anything, Nodoka interrupted her train of thought.  “Let me propose a scenario for you Tendou-san,” Nabiki flinched at the formal title.  “There is a reason why the Sailor Scouts go to such effort to hide their true identity.  If the name and location of their families were known, then the forces of evil that have several times tried to destroy them would most certainly have slain or captured their families in an effort to get to them.  If you publicly identify Ranma as a ‘magical girl’ similar to them, then you put me at risk as well as all of Ranma’s friends; that certainly would include the Tendous and the Amazons.”

 

Ranma sighed and added, “Elder, the fault is not entirely hers.  I and the Amazons have all been too careless with our words.”  She added, “My understanding of modern Chinese is not perfect, but I suspect that anybody listening in to the casual conversation of your warriors would have gleaned a large part of the story from that source alone.”  She sighed and added, “It is only because I have kept out of the public eye here in Juuban that all these stories have been dismissed so far as mere baseless rumors.”

 

Cologne sighed but then agreed, “I will speak to them.  Your enemies shall not learn of you from us.”

 

‘How could I have been so stupid?’ ran through Nabiki’s mind as she realized the obvious only in hindsight.  “I’m sorry,” she offered.  Ranma and Nodoka both nodded before leaving for home without her.

 

 * * * * *

 

Ranma spotted the sailor scouts taking down another youma.  From the past news reports, this was something that was happening only a couple of times a year anymore so he considered himself fortunate to discover them.  Ranma quickly masked his visible presence using the umi sen ken technique and set out to follow them. 

 

He was a little worried as the one with short blue hair frequently studied what seemed to be some type of laptop computer and often pointed in his general direction.  Several times the scouts had started toward his hidden form until he had moved into crowded areas.  The second time this happened, Ranma thought a moment and then used the same techniques that he used for his ki to pull in the magical portion of his aura to the point it felt like he was stifling himself and silently changed location again.  He noticed that the girl with the computer no longer seemed to be able to detect him.  Ranma nodded to himself in confirmation that the Sailor Scouts, being magical girls fighting magical foes would have developed techniques to detect magical signatures.  Apparently his aura now had a magical signature component as his bond with Gaea matured.

 

He carefully followed them to a Shinto temple quite a distance from the Amazon temple and watched as the scouts de-transformed.  He was surprised to recognize four of his classmates and the school guidance counselor.  The other four scouts were strangers to him but he did mark their appearance and the names they were called by.

 

This gave Ranma pause as he realized that if he had been able to detect magical signatures, then he could have sensed them as well at school.  He almost stumbled at that conclusion as he realized that they should have already identified ‘her’ at school.  He thought about it then decided to test a theory.  He took a nervous breath and then dropped both the active ki and magic masking techniques that he was currently using as well as stopping his use of either power source.  He left his passive aura damping technique in place though since it now took actual effort on his part to drop it.

 

Ranma noticed that the girl who normally sat three desks in front of ‘her’ was frequently checking her laptop.  Ranma grinned and briefly pulled up a little of his ki.  A small grin appeared on Ranma’s face as Ami stiffened and began typing on the keyboard.  Moving to another location using ninja stealth learned from Konatsu, Ranma drew upon his rudimentary earth power briefly and healed the old tree on the temple grounds that he was only momentarily in.

 

Ranma quietly chuckled from his concealment behind them as he saw the anxious scouts gather about the cherry tree only moments later.  As far as Ranma was concerned, the whole experiment had proven that they couldn’t detect him as long as he wasn’t actively using either of his two energy types.  That also probably explained why Ranma hadn’t noticed anything unusual about them.  He frowned at that as he realized that he was at a disadvantage since he couldn’t detect magic yet.

 

As he quietly left, the now untransformed scouts quickly gathered around Ami who was perplexedly studying the mercury computer.  “I don’t understand it!” she finally wailed in a good approximation of her princess.  Feeling Setsuna’s comforting hand on her shoulder she explained, “There were ghostly blips of strange energy near here just like what was following us after we took down that last youma, but I can’t pinpoint it because something is blocking most of the signal.”

 

“Ghostly!” quavered Usagi.

 

“Blocking?” softly asked Setsuna.

 

Ami nodded and admitted, “Yes, and the odd thing is that it’s sort of similar to how the computer can’t get a good fix on you, Hotaru or Usagi anymore since you came back changed from the time gates.”

 

Surprisingly, Hotaru was the one to guess, “Chaos energy.  I’ll bet that’s what we were exposed to.  That would mean who ever was spying on us is filled with chaos energy as well.”

 

“The earth senshi,” softly stated Usagi.  Seeing their eyes on her she explained, “The files we read said she was related to Beryl, so that would mean she has a lot of chaos.”

 

“There’s only one problem with that guess,” grimaced Ami, “I got enough of a scan on the other person to tell it was guy so that means it wasn’t the earth senshi since Michiru said her mirror showed she was a redheaded girl.”  As an afterthought she added, “It’s too bad the mirror wouldn’t show her face.  I wondered if that new redheaded girl in our class could be her, but the scans I took of her in the school yard didn’t show anything about her at all!”

“Can we scan for people with chaotic energy and find this guy and the new senshi that way?” asked Makoto.

 

“No,” responded Ami; “I’ve tried, but carriers of chaos act like static generators for my scan.  I can tell they are there but I can’t pinpoint where unless I’m right next to them.  The biggest problem is that while Terra’s power might be life based, it’s also chaos infused.”  She sighed, “The simple fact that the earth senshi is nearby is enough to make scanning for her impossible because of the extra chaos when she uses her power.  The best I can do is to get a general direction.”  She sighed, “It also doesn’t help that there are several hundred minor chaos infestations in just this ward either.”

 

“Ami?” asked a confused Minako, “Why are there so many people who radiate chaos around here?”

 

Ami massaged her temples and explained, “Every time one of those youma drain a group of people, their individual energy is mixed together by the youma.  When we kill the youma, some of its dark energy also gets added to the already mixed up energy that flows back to all the people.  All of those people become chaos radiators.  While the chaos in each of them will eventually dissipate, it takes years for it to all go away.  As a result, there are several hundred chaos radiators in the ward right now.”  She grimaced, “They are essentially static as far as the mercury computer scanners are concerned when it comes to trying to detect chaos energy.”

 

Usagi turned to Setsuna, “Setsuna, how are you doing?  Are there any side affects from your injuries?”

 

“I’m fine Usagi,” she replied, “It’s just that I’m limited right now and I’m not used to it.”  Setsuna frowned at her key staff; she now understood part of the message it had been giving her.  Its powers were currently limited to those she had initially received so many millennia ago.  She couldn’t even teleport someplace directly anymore except to the time gate.  Of course from there she could then go where she wanted to go, but the available energy for teleports was also reduced.  Both Hotaru and Usagi had confided to her that they had also experienced similar power reductions but since both of them were still young, their new power levels were at least similar to what they had had.

 

 * * * * *

 

Akane glared at her sister Nabiki.  ‘Ranma’s mine!’ she thought.  Yet somehow Nabiki either didn’t understand that or just didn’t care.  The two sisters had made arrangements to meet with Ranma at the local skating center. 

 

Akane had confidently brought her ice skates not noticing that Nabiki was carrying rollerblades.  As a result, she was sitting on the sidelines watching instead of impressing Ranma with her skills as she’d intended.  She was sure on some level that Nabiki had planned this.

 

Ranma was in male form, something rare it seemed anymore for some reason that Akane was not sure of.  Sure she knew about his magical girl training, but he wasn’t training all the time so why did he spend so much time as a girl? Months ago she would have stridently damned him for being a pervert for staying a girl so much; now she just wondered.

 

The sudden silence drew Akane’s attention back to the skate park just in time to see Nabiki and Ranma soar high into the air holding both hands with each other as they spun in a series of airborne circles about each other.

 

The roar of appreciation from the crowd did not drown out Nabiki’s giggles.

 

As they settled back to earth, Nabiki in Ranma’s arms for safety; Ranma paused to watch Akane storm off.  He frowned as he saw her punch Kuno into the distance and then snap several telephone poles off with almost absent punches.

 

That evening, Akane was waiting for her as Nabiki finally entered the house just as evening was setting in.  “Where the hell were you with my fiancée?” Akane yelled almost before Nabiki could get her shoes off.

 

“I wasn’t anywhere with either Kuno or Ryouga,” was the flippant response.  Perhaps adding, “I spent time appreciating the strong honorable body of MY fiancée Ranma,” was a bit over the top considering the already evident temper Akane was demonstrating.

 

The right cross was the last thing Nabiki saw that night.

 

Kasumi was so worried that she called Nodoka who in turn sent Ranma to pick up Nabiki and carry her back to the Saotome home for the evening.  Akane never noticed as she was in the dojo fuming about ‘she only got what she deserved’ between smashing concrete blocks.

 

Ranma was extra solicitous of Nabiki for the next week that she stayed with them, so she really didn’t mind other than the pair of black eyes she now had.  That first morning together, Ranma had teased her that she sort of resembled one of the family now.  She was puzzled until he had dumped water on Genma.

 

Shortly after that she was chasing him around the house swinging a pillow and yelling, “I do NOT look like your panda-father you baka.”

 

Nodoka only smiled to herself and made chocolate chip cookies, lots of them.  A certain pair of teenagers shared a sweet tooth.

 

Akane never did apologize which did not surprise Nabiki at all.  Ranma was not happy about it though.

 

 * * * * *

 

Evening was approaching and Ranma was sitting cross legged in a shaded part of the Amazon temple grounds meditating when she became aware of Demona kneeling before her.  Slowly opening her eyes Ranma studied the creature before her wondering just what she was.

 

Ranma had watched the Senshi destroy a similar creature a week ago yet she had felt no desire to help that youma especially after seeing the people lying in the street.  That the people had recovered afterwards had made no difference to her feelings of anger towards the rampaging youma.  Yet Demona was different; was it only because she was now alive or was it just because Ranma had taken a chance on her?  Ranma had finally solved the question of what did the strange creature eat.  Ranma noticed that the background environmental chi was weaker anywhere Demona had spent time.

 

Ranma noticed that Demona was gesturing to Ranma, urging her mistress to follow her.  Ranma rose, stretched and softly padded after her as Demona led her toward one of the older building on the edge of the temple grounds.  The stone and wooden beam building had once been a stable apparently but was now starting to fall into ruin.

 

As Ranma entered the building, the hair on her forearms prickled as goose bumps formed.  Ranma gathered her ki and started to softly glow illuminating the dim recesses of the building shell.

 

Demona quickly knelt anxiously waving her hands before her.  Seeing that Ranma was passive for the moment, Demona turned her head and quickly gave a guttural growl that resonated with harsh vibrations.  Ranma tensed as two shadows slowly detached themselves from the deeper darkness where Ranma could barely detect them and moved gradually toward the reformed youma.

 

They were youmas Ranma realized.  One had apparently merged with and taken the form of a piece of corroded bronze statuary that had once been a horse and rider.  It now resembled a centaur, though the remnants of samurai armor did not seem appropriate to the form.  The centaur clumsily knelt and held his hands forward in a wordless plea of supplication.  The other youma was now part of a massive log that had been left to rot because of the mass of knots and burls that had made it impossible to cut further.  The log crawled forward on six branching legs like a monstrous ant inside a wooden turtle shell.  Ranma was surprised to see four eyes warily watching her.  The eyes were on stalks above a gaping maw in one end of the log; the head of the creature Ranma realized.  This youma too settled to the floor before Ranma and lifted the first pairs of appendages into the air toward her.  Ranma belatedly realized that these were the creature’s hands instead of the first pair of feet as she had supposed.  Ranma tensed as the log youma slightly arched in the middle and its forward end was elevated as it watched Ranma anxiously like a grotesque caricature of a wooden statue.

 

Ranma focused all of her senses on the trio of youma before her.  She could sense the Demona was alive yet the other two did not seem to be so, at least not in the traditional manner.  It puzzled her.

 

Ranma became aware of two things simultaneously, first was that Demona had been making a lot of gestures toward herself and her companions with growing desperation in her movements and second was the presence of a group of Amazons moving to surround them.

 

As the two wild youma began to nervously shift; Ranma softly yet with authority said, “Stop.”

 

Amazons and youma froze in place.  Ranma continued to watch the youma.

 

In the background Ranma heard the Amazon elders order the younger girls to back off, that their princess would not appreciate them butting into her business.

 

Finally Ranma got a glimmer of what Demona was asking and to test the theory, she picked up a dried up branch.  She held it in one hand, pointed to it with one hand then to the three youma.  Ranma stuck the dead stick in the soil and called forth a trickle of Gaea’s power.  The stick swelled with life, taking root and sending forth leaves.  Ranma then pointed to the two new youma and cocked her head in question as she asked, “Is this what you want?  Is this what happened to Demona and what you want for yourselves? I can do it but why should I?

 

The centaur shuffled forward awkwardly on his front knees.  He grasped a few of the leaves from the newly living young cherry tree and put them in his tarnished hair as a way to say this was what he wanted.  He twisted and patted his back apparently offering to be a steed.

 

The wooden turtle-log gestured helplessly, its four eyes wildly looking in four different directions at once.  It paused then backed up and positioned itself beside a massive fallen stone.  As it picked the stone up, Ranma tensed and she could hear the Amazons shifting into offensive positions. Ranma held up a palm to forestall action on the Amazons’ part and passively watched the massive wooden youma.  Ranma studied it as the youma heaved the stone upward, used some of its branches to shear new faces on the stone and clean a spot for it before the massive youma gently reset the stone from where it had fallen decades earlier.

 

Ranma understood then that both of the new youma were making pledges of fealty as best they could.  Ranma stood up and gestured to the new pair of youma and said, “Alright, I accept your word that you will do good.  Come outside and I’ll change you like I did Demona.”

 

As Ranma led the way out of the interior of the stable ruins, Cologne pogoed to her side, “Ranma, are you sure this is wise?  Creatures such as these have always been destroyers in the past and thus worthy only of destruction.”

 

Ranma shrugged and answered, “That was the past elder.  Maybe because their life was flawed, they had no choice.  I intend to give them a portion of true life and a chance to be other than what they were ordered to be.” Ranma grinned slightly, “You know me Cologne; I always try and give my foes a chance to become my friends.”

 

Cologne stopped when she realized that Ranma had frozen in place, eyes fixed on something on the other side of the temple grounds.  Cologne sniggered when she saw the sailor scouts with their childish uniforms bound over the wall and gather around a blue haired girl who was pointing in their direction.

 

Cologne,” quickly instructed Ranma, “They must have detected the newcomers.  I ain’t gonna destroy them and I’m sure not gonna let them do it either.  Can you get your ‘girls’ to play with them?  No kiss of death either if they get lucky as they are only trying to do their job and this city is technically their village.”

 

The old crone cackled and quickly prepared to give instructions to the Amazon troop.  She placed two fingers in her mouth and gave a loud warbling whistle.  The younger Amazons quickly gathered near her as she began speaking while pointing to the advancing Sailor Senshi.  “These are the Sailor Scouts or Senshi.  They are to be treated as if they were Amazons of a neighboring village; however,” she paused as a wide grin covered her face, “the princess wants to test their skill.  So guess who gets to ‘power spar’ with them?” Seeing their answering smiles she added, “No double teaming but tag team is good, now go and make your elders proud.”

 

The scouts paused as the twenty-one girls with unusual hair colors before them suddenly let out a resounding cheer and quickly began trotting in their direction.

 

“Oh great,” snipped Mars, “fan-girls, just what we needed now, NOT!”

 

Shortly each of the nine scouts found themselves facing one of the girls.  But before any of the Sailor Scouts could explain that they didn’t have time for autographs, the other girls attacked!

 

Eeep!” as someone with twin ponytails stumbled and knocked an Amazon out by accident.

 

“How dare yo . . . umph!” as a distracted shrine maiden in disguise failed to notice the fist approaching her stomach in time.

 

Venus Love-me-chain met bladed pole arm and love went to pieces.

 

‘Deep Submerge’ soaked several Amazons impatiently standing to one side.  Shampoo started snarling and spiting, the others decided that the no double teaming rule had just been voided and jumped into the fray.

 

Luna and Artemis saw the transformed cat-girl and gave what each thought was an understanding nod to the other.  Luna launched herself at the new cat with the lavender highlights while Artemis pulled out a box of popcorn and a beer.  Deftly opening the can, he sat back to watch the cat fight with a grin on his face.  The grin disappeared as the two battling female cats washed over him sending beer and popcorn flying.  The two on one battle ended with both furious females beating the shit out the male who was desperately trying to escape.  As the two females glared at each other over the barely twitching tomcat that had gotten them coated with beer, popcorn and grass, Luna reached deep into herself and used an attack mastered in her youth.  A beam of light lanced out from the mark on her head and engulfed the Amazon cat causing her to arch her back in momentary agony before she collapsed on top of Artemis.  Luna looked at her handiwork and grinned, “Yep, still got what it takes,” she snickered and then collapsed as well next to Shampoo.

 

Behind them, Cologne arched an eyebrow and murmured to herself, “Talking cats, now that IS unusual.”  She pulled out a digital camera and quickly snapped a few more shots before wandering back toward the fight chortling to herself as she viewed the images, “Oh yes, I’ll have to see about getting a poster of that one.”

 

Shampoo twitched as the magical attack ran an unexpected course in the Jusenkyo cursed girl.

With hearts in her eyes, Dowel clasped the rose to her breasts.  ‘That handsome masked man in the penguin suit had just thrown it to her!’ she thought.  Ok, so she had had to knock Sugar and Spice out of the way and make a desperate grab for it but those were trivial details.  Then the rose exploded.

 

Dowel woke up a few moments later.  Wo ai ne,” she murmured happily as Sugar and Spice despondently kicked at a stump as the same thought crossed their minds: ‘why couldn’t I have been blown up?’

 

Mamoru screamed as Dowel engulfed him in a bear hug before throwing him over her massive shoulder and making a break for the nearest building with a locking door.

 

The three Amazon elders adroitly circulated in amongst the free-for-all deftly ensuring that it didn’t get more out hand than it already was.  In the end, Sailor Moon was the last of the combatants standing and she was wavering.

 

“I’m impressed!” commented Cologne.  Seeing the girl attempt to face her, she waved a small hand disarmingly and said, “None of that girl, my name is Cologne, matriarch of the Amazons.  You and your friends have done remarkably well in this sparring match.”

 

“Sparring match!” Sailor Moon whispered in disbelief.

 

“Well,” hesitated Cologne, “normally we might have gone all out since you were trespassing on our home, but our princess ordered us not to harm you but to test your skills instead.”  She shook her head, “Your combat skills are pathetic but your magical powers are impressive.”

 

“Trespass . . . you?  But . . . youma  . . . we . . . I don’t understand,” Usagi finally said.  She relaxed, accidentally going so far in her fatigue as to release her transformation and the disguise field she normally concealed her new appearance behind.  Realizing she had blown her secret identity she weakly said, “Hi, I’m Usagi.”

 

Cologne stepped back as the almost ethereal poise of neo queen Serenity affected her.  Seeing that the monks and other elders were taking care of the younger girls of both sides, Cologne motioned Usagi to come with her.  ‘This was something that her princess needed to deal with’ the elder decided after noticing the golden crescent moon on the girl’s forehead.

 

Ranma and the three youma had been interested, though hidden watchers of the confrontation.   As Cologne and Usagi came toward them in the hidden area behind the old stables, all three youma moved into defensive stances before Ranma.

 

Ranma could feel their fear and see it in the postures of the three youma.  That they still moved to protect her did more than anything else to impress her with the sincerity of these creatures toward herself.

 

Usagi transformed but instead of entering her Sailor Moon guise, her full princess form appeared, gossamer wings and all.  Both Cologne and Ranma stepped between these adversaries; Ranma motioning the youma to back down while Cologne snapped, “Behave yourself before the Princess of the Earth Usagi!”

 

Ranma and the Moon Princess slowly approached each other taking each other’s measure in more detail than their previous casual encounters at school and liking the person they saw before them.  Usagi broke the ice by saying to her classmate, “Hello Ranma, looking good little sister,” and giggling when even the youma face-faulted.

 

“Sister?” asked the redhead from the ground.

 

Usagi knelt placing herself on the same level as Cologne and Ranma were presently.  “Yes, I’m your sister, but not in this lifetime;” she paused and then said: “A long time ago, there was a moon kingdom and all the planets had life, not just the earth like now; that kingdom was destroyed by armies of youma,” she explained as she pointed behind Ranma.  “My mother, Queen Serenity, seeing that the battle was lost; traded her life for the power to banish the enemy into another dimension and send me and the other slain senshi into the future to be reincarnated together again when it was time to rebuild our lost kingdom.”  Usagi softly added, “Beryl was the leader of our enemy.  She was your aunt and you were my half sister on my father’s side though our father never met your mother.”

 

“My first incarnation,” Ranma whispered.  Seeing the confused look on Usagi’s face, Ranma explained, “That would have been about fifteen thousand years ago and when my soul first appeared.”  She sighed, “I remember back then, I recall fighting youma as I grew up to become earth’s first guardian.  What you just told me matches some of what I remember being told as I was growing up in my first life.”

 

Usagi sat back in shock.  On one level, she had expected Ranma to be the earth senshi given the various clues, but to learn that it had happened so long ago was unanticipated.  Usagi held out her wand so that the silver crystal within it could be seen.  “I could use this to help you form your bond,” she offered.

 

Ranma emphatically shook her head, “No way.  I heard about that crystal.  It makes it happen quicker but it also enslaves those that it’s used on like that.  Not gonna happen, nope.”

 

“Enslaves?” repeated Usagi in disbelief.

 

Ranma paused then asked, “Do you have the power to remove the powers of the other senshi?”

 

Usagi nodded, Ranma softly concluded, “You really don’t have the right to make that decision.  That you have the power means that they are your servants and not your peers.”

 

“But I was to be the Queen,” she protested weakly.

 

“That’s political and a senshi is really supposed to be a guardian position.”  Ranma paused and added, “Guardian of the people, their planet, their spiritual health; and politically independent.”

 

Usagi sadly nodded in reluctant acceptance of the concept though unsure that it was the right thing to do but then asked, “How do I release them?”

 

Ranma hesitated and then said, “I’m not sure, but I think it can only be done on the planet itself; I think it has something to do with re-forging the link again, but I ain’t no expert.”

Usagi nervously twirled her wand as she cast anxious glances at the youma.  “What about them?” she finally asked.

 

Ranma shifted so that she could see the three youma sitting nervously to one side.  A thoughtful look on her face she asked, “Sis, can you sense any differences between (Ranma pointed at Demona) her and the other two?” as she gestured to the two ‘wild’ youma.  Somehow it felt right to call her sister.

 

Usagi blushed at being called sister by Ranma but she focused her attention on the three youma in turn.  Finally she said as she pointed to Demona, “I can’t sense any evil in her, but I can in the other two.  All three still have some dark energy as well though even if hers is a lot less. Did you do something?”

 

Ranma nodded and said, “It has to do with being a spiritual guardian as well.  I want to show you something.”  With that Ranma stood up and walked toward the youma and then knelt in the triangular space between them.  Cologne walked to Ranma’s side as Ranma entered a meditative trance.  Usagi shivered as she felt the slow upwelling of something that reminded her of a mother’s love.

 

This was the first time that Ranma had included herself in the focus of power instead of just being a conduit of it.  As Gaea responded to her call she felt old aches fade as her body corrected years of abuse and injury.  Cologne gained a foot in height and all three youma were affected as well.  Demona had been on the outskirts of the power before and thus only partially affected then.  But now the full measure of life energy filled her and her two companions.  There were only minor changes in their external appearance in that all three still looked like statues, one stony, another metallic and the last wooden, but the skin was flesh nonetheless.  Usagi was not affected.

 

Demona spoke first, “Thank you mistress.”  The words were hesitant and the tone guttural but the words sincere and clear.

 

“Mistress,” echoed the centaur’s soft bell like tenor, “I also thank you.”

 

A deep thumping bass resonated from the wooden one in barely distinguishable words, “Thanks I you.”

 

The three humans all arched an eyebrow at this unexpected result and then the other eyebrow joined its mate as they took in the changes to the local landscape. 

 

A hundred and thirty foot tall cherry tree now stood in the middle of the stable ruins; the vines, weeds and debris had vanished and the grass of the newly formed lawn was tall and lush.

 

Usagi studied the three youma again before concluding, “They’re all alive now and while I don’t sense any evil, there is still a taint of dark energy.”  She smiled, “If you want, I could try my healing spell to get rid of the dark energy?”

 

Ranma was hesitant and the youma were anxious, but there was a strong feeling in her that urged her to test this power of her sister’s.  Ranma motioned the three youma together with the centaur in the middle.  She jumped onto his back and placed a hand on the youma to each side as she allowed her aura to softly flow over the group as a spiritual shield.  To Usagi she said, “Alright Usagi, if you promise that it’s safe then I should be ok too, right?”

 

Usagi nodded happily as she had used it safely before even on her friends.  She wound up and . . . “Moon Healing Exhalation!”

 

She was badly shocked when Ranma screamed and obviously fought part of the beam.  Most of the spell had flashed past Ranma’s spiritual shield unimpeded but a portion of it coruscated over the outside of the shield almost seemingly to attack her.  It was quickly over and Ranma collapsed to the ground with Usagi at her side sobbing almost instantly, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.  It’s never done anything like that before.  I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean it. Please don’t hate me.”

 

Cologne stood there in frustration, not knowing exactly what was happening or what she could do.

 

“How could you do something so evil?” was Ranma’s soft question to Usagi through gasps of pain; a question that shocked Usagi to her core.  Ranma glanced at the three youma perceiving that they no longer looked fearsome at all.  “So part of it worked like you said,” she added thankfully.

 

Usagi sat there with tears dripping in confusion and shame, “I’m sorry but I don’t understand what happened either.”

 

Ranma couldn’t help it; she leaned into Usagi and put her arms about her even as the other girl also hugged her. “Usagi, part of the spell you used contained a compulsion.  That was the evil part.  It was a compulsion to ‘do and be good’; but that makes no difference.  Any compulsion is like a form of spiritual or mental rape.  It robs its victim of the right to choose.”  Ranma sighed, “Sis, promise me you’ll fix that spell before you use it again?”

 

Usagi sniffed and rapidly nodded her head.  Then she broke down in loud sobs, “I didn’t know.  Nobody ever said anything before!”

“Of course not,” explained Ranma, “the compulsion part of the spell would not allow anyone to even notice what had happened let alone complain about it.”  Ranma shivered and then added softly, “If this was something used commonly during your moon kingdom, then maybe it was a good thing it was destroyed.”

 

Usagi shivered as well, doubt for the righteousness of her heritage and future plans entering her soul. “I . . . I need to go,” she managed to get out.

 

Usagi launched herself into the air, wings taking lift as she gracefully fluttered above the trees and across the temple grounds.  As she was leaving, her teammates finally roused and seeing her airborne quickly followed her.

 

Moments later, Mamoru managed to escape by using a rose to blast a boarded-up window apart.  Top hat and mask barely in place, he was bare-chested and his pants in tatters as he fled screaming with a naked Dowel in hot pursuit.  She lost him at the tall outer wall as he cleared it cleanly in a running leap while she failed in her effort to go thru it face first.

 

The following day when Usagi finally explained about the ‘sparring’, the reformed youma, the flawed binding and the hidden compulsion in her healing spell, well let’s say that that all the scouts had a lot to think about.  For reasons of her own, Usagi did not identify Ranma or that she was the earth princess.  She did caution the scouts not to trespass at the temple again telling them that they should consider it as being embassy grounds.

 

There was another unanticipated result of the impromptu sparing; the Amazon warriors became fan-girls of the Sailor Scouts.  It was not uncommon for an Amazon to break off husband hunting (it was pretty pathetic anyway they all agreed) to join her favorite Scout in trouncing evil at any chance that they had.

 

It got to be somewhat annoying in fact but there was not a whole lot the Scouts could do about it especially since they knew first hand that the Amazons were tough fighters in their own right.

 

The hero worship did get a bit out of hand in a few ways; the fire hydrants and hoses being used by Neptune’s admirers were something Cologne could handle, but the flamethrower idea used by one Mars fan-girl Amazon was stomped out immediately before they lost a second building.

 

Tuxedo Kamen on the other hand, made himself scarce, very scarce.

 

Both Hotaru and Setsuna disappeared the day after Usagi explained what she had learned from Ranma.  Hotaru was gone for five weeks while Setsuna returned briefly after eleven days.  She stayed for only two days before vanishing for another three weeks.  Neither of them answered their communicators while they were absent nor offered any explanation for their absences upon returning.

 

Usagi suspected what was happening but didn’t know how they could have done it.  She was reluctant to broach the topic as a result since she could easily be wrong and wasn’t sure of her response should she be right.

 

 * * * * *

 

Nabiki was frustrated.  While she was sure that Ranma considered her a friend, she just couldn’t seem to get closer no matter how hard she tried.  She had tried to confront him about it only to have Ranma dismiss it sadly with the words, “How could anybody want a girly freak like me?”

Reaching the end of her rather large store of patience, Nabiki cornered Ranma one day when they were alone in the Saotome home.  She had made some preparations born of desperation.

 

Nabiki’s glare softened as she continued to stare at Ranma as he sat on the kitchen counter munching a sandwich she’d made for him.  “Ranma,” she softly said, “I admit that I screwed up in how I treated you at first.  Somewhere and some-when in our relationship, I really did fall in love with you, but I thought you and Akane were in love with each other and would eventually marry when you both grew up eventually.”  She sighed and continued, “But then that fell apart, apparently for good; so I decided to make my move.”  She scowled and growled, “I didn’t think it would be as hard as this to make you believe that I loved you, but you really leave me no choice anymore.”  She took the cloth off the open cask sitting on the table beside her revealing the metal Nanniichuan tag on its side before swiftly lifting the small cask over her head.  “If becoming a guy is the only way left to convince you that I really do love you and that you aren’t a freak, then so be it!” she exclaimed as she poured the cursed Jusenkyo water over her head.

 

“Meow?”

 

Ranma’s eyes grew larger, ‘she’ had almost gotten over the effects of the cat-fist with Gaea’s help, but guy Ranma had a significantly diminished link with Gaea and the terror momentarily overwhelmed him because of his surprise and he fled screaming.

 

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Author’s notes:

 

1.)  I was reading over the offerings at the ‘Temple of Ranma's Seifuku’ (http://www.angelfire.com/creep/nukethemoon/cult.htm) and got to wondering how Ranma would look as a senshi and what it would take to get there.  That is where the impetus for this story came; not sure how far I will take it before my muse goes dry (again, again).

 

2.)  Additional Ranma and Sailor-Moon crossover fan-fiction can be found on my two personal Web Pages listed below and at Fan-Fiction-Net & Tannim’s crossover page (http://ranmafics.com/index.htm).  Note that only my personal web-pages have all my stories.

 

C & C to cloud_dreamer2000@yahoo.com

 

Main Web-page http://www.geocities.com/cloud_dreamer2000

 

And (secondary) http://mysite.verizon.net/cloud-dreamer/index.html

 

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