The characters contained within this story are owned by Takahashi
Rumiko or whomever wrote Sailor Moon. No infringement of copyright is
intended. This work to be distributed for free, unchanged, crediting
the current author.
This is a crossover between Ranma 1/2 and Sailor Moon. To make the two
stories fit together the way I wanted, I needed to shuffle the dates at
which a few things occur within the main timeline of Sailor Moon. I bow
my head in shame: please forgive. We also have guest appearances by
Slayers and 3x3 Eyes.
Die hard fans of Ranma may also notice a very subtle change to it's
story timeline...
This story is dedicated to the letters A, and K and the number 8.
Visit my website at
http://www.fl.net.au/~fire
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| Destiny's Child |
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If We Are Three, Who Is Four?
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After avoiding her for days, Haruka had finally summoned up the courage
to speak to Michiru again. She knew what she feared, and it was not the
fighting which came with being a Sailor Senshi. What she really feared
was loosing the one person in the world that really mattered.
It had taken her a long time to come to the conclusion, but she had
realised that the person that she truly cared for was Michiru, and she
wanted nothing, her work, her destiny or some long dead kingdom to come
between them.
It was then that she realised just what she would need to do to ensure
that Michiru was safe. Everyone in Tokyo had seen the Sailor Senshi in
action, and she knew of the superhuman feats which they performed. The
only way that she could possibly help her friend in such a situation
was to be with her, to be by her side in battle. To become one of the
Sailor Senshi.
Even as she had shuddered at the idea, she realised that for one dream
to live, another must die. For her to be with Michiru, and to be one of
the Sailors, she must give up racing. The career which she had
dedicated her life to was too public, and too dangerous to sit well
with a long term relationship. Speeding around the track at hundreds of
kilometres per hour was exhilarating, but the risks became to high when
you considered that it was no longer just yourself the would be hurt in
an accident.
With firm resolve she had tendered her resignation to head of her pit
crew. 'Tendered her resignation', such a neat way of saying it, and it
carried so little of the real effort or pain involved. When she first
told him, he did not believe her, and why would he? Haruka had
dedicated all of her young life to becoming the paramount racer of her
age, she had defeated trials and hardship to be where she was, why
would she throw it all away?
Trying to answer that question was one of the hardest things she had
ever done. Here was a friend who had been there for her most of her
life, and had given her so many of the opportunities she desired. Now
she was casting them aside. Her first tries at explaining the situation
had failed, being to
obviously fabricated, or too shallow to account for her change in
motivation.
She had been spared more difficult explanations by the sudden arrivals
of a Daimon and Sailor Neptune. The battle had been short enough - and
more exhilarating than cornering at 250kph with no brakes - and by the
end of it, Sailor Uranus stood beside Sailor Neptune.
They had almost saved him too. The Daimon had extracted his heart
crystal, and while they had been fighting, the evil witch Kaolinite had
taken it. A person's heart crystal was almost a physical manifestation
of the link between a person's soul, and their body. When they had the
witch surrounded, she had crushed the heart crystal, dropping the
shards and powder to the ground. In their panic to save the man,
Kaolinite had escaped.
That had been two days ago, and now Haruka stood holding Michiru's hand
as the looked at the fresh grave. Setsuna was behind them, and waited
quietly until the two of them turned away and walked down the hill to
Haruka's car.
"Have you been able to find out anything more about why the witch
wanted the heart crystal?"
Setsuna shook her head and let her long dark green hair hide her face.
People might think she was cold, possibly callous even, but she felt
the suffering of those around her. She understood what it was like to
see a friend die, she had seen too many die since the fall of the Moon
Kingdom. Forcing iron into her voice, Setsuna answered in an even tone.
"No, not yet. There is more I can do, but I will need to be away for a
while. Do you two think you can handle yourselves for a week or two?"
That might have been a head nodding, or it might have been swaying from
inertia. There was no need to take the corner that fast, but Setsuna
expected Haruka just wanted to get home quickly. As she watched the
street that Michiru lived on whiz past, she wondered if they were
stopping there, or just going past. Yes, they were stopping, they were
stopping very quickly. My, what good brakes this car has. I must
remember to wear a seat belt next time.
Michiru was about to step out of the car when Haruka turned around and
placed a hand on her arm, looking at the older woman in the back seat.
Haruka had been quiet all day, and now it looked like she was ready to
talk. "Setsuna. I've got a question for you. Every one knows the Sailor
Senshi, right?"
"Yes, the Inner Senshi."
"And we're the Senshi for planets at the edge of the system."
"Yes, the Outer Senshi. The Inner Senshi are there to defend the
Kingdom against attack from within, they are also the last line of
defence for the Princess or Queen. We on the other hand are the
Kingdom's defenders against external threat. If someone wants to hurt
our Kingdom or the people we protect, they have to go through us
first."
"Now my astronomy might be a little rusty, but I seem to remember the
planet Saturn sitting somewhere between Jupiter and Uranus. Does it
have a Senshi? And when will she awake? Is she an Inner or an Outer? I
think were going to need all the help we can get for this."
Setsuna bowed her head briefly. It was good to know the girls she would
be working with could use their brains as well as their magic. "You're
entirely correct. There was a Sailor Saturn. Maybe there will be again.
"Sailor Saturn holds a special place in the history of the Sailor
Senshi. She is the Senshi of creation and destruction, and she is
arguably the most powerful Senshi in existence."
Michiru looked confused and furrowed her brow in a cute little frown.
"I don't understand."
"Sailor Saturn is a special case. All of the other Senshi live and die
in service to the Kingdom. They have normal lives and are normal
people. Sailor Saturn is special. She only awakens when there is a
great need for her. At a time when the Kingdom is in it's darkest hour,
Sailor Saturn shall awaken. This tends to give the poor girl a most
unfortunate reputation, being associated with all of that danger.
"However, it can be a reputation that is deserved. Sailor Saturn is
extremely powerful, possibly more powerful than Sailor Moon or Queen
Serenity herself."
"But if she's so powerful, why would people be afraid of her? Can't she
just toss whoever is attacking right back where they came from?"
"People are afraid for good reason. Tell me this, who is more powerful:
Sailor Moon, who can bring someone back from the dead, or Sailor
Saturn, who can destroy the world?"
Looking them in the eye, Setsuna continued without giving them a chance
to answer. "Sailor Moon might have the power for it, but there is no
way she could even think about trying to do something like that. Sailor
Saturn not only can do it, she would do it if that is what she thought
was needed.
"Sailor Saturn is like a sleeping guard dog: she can defeat most
intruders if she wakes up, but you have to pray that she never turns on
her friends either through intent or ignorance. I suggest you do not
wish Sailor Saturn is here to help us. Wishes like that have a nasty
tendency to come true."
Somewhere, hidden deep inside, Setsuna chuckled. She knew Saturn would
awaken, it was her destiny... it was all a matter of time.
(
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