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.

Thanks to my pre-readers:
Ben
aevan
Ifurita@mechapilot.com
ukie	


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.

Die hard fans of Ranma may also notice a very subtle change to its 
story timeline...

This story is dedicated to the letters B, and D and the number 1.


Visit my website at
http://www.users.fl.net.au/~fire
                          _________________
                         /                 \
                         | Destiny's Child |
                         \_________________/



What has gone before:
While on a training trip with his father during the early 1500s, Ranma 
fell into the spring of the drowned young girl. Unfortunately, his 
curse can only be changed back with _very_ hot water, which means he 
has spent most of his time in his cursed form. Not only that, but 
because the spring was drowned young girl, he turns into a 12 year old 
girl who never ages. 

In the present...
Ranma has received a partial cure for his curse by the spirit entity 
called Mistress 9. She will eventually take his girl's body, freeing 
him entirely, so now he poses as Tomoe Hotaru. Unfortunately, he now 
seems to have a few problems with the ladies, since he is inadvertently 
engaged to Hino Rei (he's taking lessons in Shinto), his old buddy 
Ucchan, and the friendly Amazon Shampoo. That doesn't even start to 
include Mako-chan, or the fact that two of his best friends are only 
three foot tall: Cologne and Chibi-Usa.

Ranma has just finished teaching a Martial Arts class with Makoto and 
Rei in it...

-----------------------------------
A Friend In Need Is A Friend Indeed
-----------------------------------

Having safely taken Makoto home, Ranma and Rei were working their way 
to Rei's house. Following the afternoon's Martial Arts class, Ranma had 
been delayed by a hour or two battling with Cologne. When you added 
into that the time it took for them to talk afterwards and then walk 
Makoto home, evening was beginning to make itself felt. 

It was rather a nice night to be walking out romantically, perfect for 
lovers wearing jackets to hold hands, or for the bolder ones to share 
their body heat. The air was crisp and clean; the chill evening breeze 
had managed to clear out most of the pollution, leaving a golden sunset 
and an almost cloudless evening.

Needless to say, on such a perfect night for lovers' close comfort, Rei 
found herself walking a distance from Ranma, wondering how he could 
look so warm and comfortable in whether like this. Sighing to herself, 
she rubbed her hands up and down her biceps, trying to warm herself. 
'Idiot, he didn't even look my way."

Rei sighed again (a little louder to see if that would work), and 
wished she was walking with Saturn Knight instead of Ranma. At least 
Saturn Knight was a gentleman. He also had a nice, big, warm cloak, 
just perfect for two.

"Are you cold, Ranma?"

"Nope. Try meditating naked on a mountain to in winter in Tibet... 
_That's_ cold."

Silence. Just the sound of some tacky TV program in the background as 
they passed someone's house. 'What's wrong with the idiot this time? He 
hasn't even looked at me or said a thing since we left Mako-chan's?'

A car passed them in the near darkness. Surely that chill breeze would 
be enough to awaken even Ranma's sense of gallantry.

Two minute's later, Rei looked over and made a pronouncement. All due 
credit must be given here to Ranma as both a human being and a male in 
the presence of a pretty girl. His oh-so-powerful talents of 
observation and sensitivity did not need anything more than 'Ranma, 
I've been freezing here for the last ten minutes! I don't suppose you 
have a spare jacket?' and he instantly responded. Does Ranma win the 
award for Sensitive-New-Age-Guy-Of-The-Year?

'Damn. Here I've been keeping myself warm with Ki, and poor little Rei-
san's been shivering. There's got to be some way that I can get her to 
warm up, 'cause I think the pack's pretty empty.' 

With a look of chagrin on his face, Ranma shrugged and held up a small 
bundle of clothes. "Sorry, Rei-san. All I have is these clothes for 
Hotaru. I don't think any of them would fit you... What with her petite 
and girlie figure, and you having thighs that are too thick, and 
strength of a gorilla. I mean, even the shirt would be too loose on a 
flat chested girl like you."

While he waited for her inevitable anger, Ranma counted his (few) 
blessings. At least he was walking on such a pretty night with Rei-san 
and not Sailor Mars. Poor Sailor Mars would have frozen ages ago in 
such a short skirt. There would have been him with a nice warm cloak 
around him, staring at a Sailor Mars Popsicle: he would have felt so 
dumb.

Her first impulse was to reel back and slap him across the face, then 
she remembered who she was being compared to. Hotaru-chan. Ranma's 
little sister. The little girl who - according to Chibi-Usa and Ukyo - 
had some sort of growth problem. Unless her treatment work, Hotaru may 
never fully bloom into the statuesque lady she no doubt wanted to be. 
Poor Ranma must be used to making comments like that to help bolster 
her ego.

Reining in her anger, Rei resolved not to hit him for that comment. Of 
course, there were other, much more fulfulling ways to get even without 
resorting to physical violence. Like asking about that Amazon 'wife' of 
his, for example.

After a moment of silence Ranma turned worriedly and looked at Rei. For 
a while there he was concerned that someone may have kidnapped Rei-san, 
“Why wasn’t she reacting to his insult the way she used to?  Surely 
nothing could have kept her from retorting back for this long.” 
However, she was still there. Good thing too, after all, who'd want to 
kidnap a tomboy like her?

The he noticed her smile and his blood ran cold. No-one should smile 
like that. Sharks smile like that. Vipers smile like that. Primary 
school teaches smile like that when they are about to give a failing 
report card to the rowdiest student in the class. Ranma shuddered. Rei-
san should never smile like that.

"So, Ranma, tell me about this wife of yours."

Ranma's eyes unfocused and he moved forward on autopilot. In front of 
him was a vision of beauty. She had short hair and the biggest, deepest 
brown eyes you could ever see. A slightly dazed smile crossed his face 
as he lost himself in her image.

"Hmm, let me see. About your height and a  great martial artist... Real 
tomboy type; you'd like her."

Bonk!

"I suppose you could say it was an arranged marriage. The parents 
wanted it, neither of us wanted it initially, but well. I guess she 
grew on me."

That surprised her. The way he treated Shampoo made Rei think he was 
more interested in getting out of the marriage than thinking about her 
as a real wife. "Actually, I mean as a person. It's not as though I got 
to know her, I've never really had a chance to talk to her."

Ranma shrugged. "Um... Let see... She's smart, really smart. Smarter 
than I'll ever be, we both studied together when we were young, and she 
was always better than me, not as good as her sister, but still smart. 
"She's good looking too. Much nicer than you in fact. And a better 
dresser too. I suppose it didn't hurt that her family was rich."

By this stage, Rei was really fuming, and searching around for 
something nice and heavy to hit him over the head with. Something 
useful like a bokken or a large mallet.

Ranma stopped in his tracks and nervously scratched under his ponytail. 
"Oops. Sorry about that. Got confused there for a moment. That was how 
pop told me about him choosing my mum. Heh, heh. You know, I think he 
once told me that the girl he was with hit him over the head with a 
bokken for that."

Spinning on his toes Ranma looked closely at Rei. "You'd never do that 
sort of thing would you, Rei-san?"

"N-no. No, of course not!"

He turned away and started walking again. Somehow Rei thought he 
sounded disappointed, but that would have to be her imagination acting 
up. "No... I don't suppose you would."

"Actually, beautiful is hardly the right word for her. You just can’t 
describe what she looked like. I thought she was a goddess really... 
How would I describe her? I'd have to say... perfect. She was simply 
perfect in every way."

Rei could feel her heart crumble into dust with every word. Chibi-Usa 
was right, Ranma did love someone else. Gods, he loved Shampoo so much, 
that even though they had been apart for only a couple of hours he was 
already speaking about her in the past tense.

"So, when is the wedding?"

"Huh? What wedding?"

"To Shampoo. You were just saying how perfect she was."

"What? What's Shampoo got to do with this? I was talking about my 
wife."

It amazing what a little hope can do. As soon as the word 'What?' came 
out of his mouth, Rei could tell he was sincerely confused. Shampoo 
obviously was definitely not the girl he was referring to. But as with 
all situations, the further you rise, the further you fall. Her broken 
heart had started to mend when she realised that he was not talking 
about Shampoo... then he flat out admitted that he did have a wife. He 
took the tiny shards of her shattered heart and ground them under his 
heel.

You cannot trust men.

"Akane."

Akane? Akane who? She'd never heard of anyone called Akane. Who was 
this Akane? Some bimbo he had picked up in his travels no doubt. 

Slowly she forced out the words. It was like trying to recite bad 
poetry; you knew how much it would hurt to say it, but you needed to do 
it anyway.

"How... How long have you been married?"

Silence.

More silence.

Silence broken only by the sound of their feet on the concrete.

"I think Akane died about three hundred and fifty years ago. I've 
suffered every day since."

She's dead? Akane's dead? Let's see...350 days, that’s almost a year. 
"I'm sorry, Ranma. I didn't realise."

He gave a wry chuckle. "How could you? The only people who know are 
Cologne-chan and Shampoo. Oh, and you too."

Reaching slowly she placed a hand on his arm. "Did Hotaru know her?"

"She loved Akane every bit as much as I did. Akane loved Hotaru the 
same as she loved me, too. I... It's been hard since she died."

They walked in silence for a while. Each wrapped in their own thoughts. 
For Ranma, it was Akane. Oddly enough, it was the same for Rei. 

'350 days? But that was more recently than he got engaged to Ukyo. So 
he did actually say years... Which means... Which means that he doesn't 
want to tell me when she died... Which means... What does that mean??'

Seeking a safer topic, Rei thought back to his battle with the 
desiccated old mummy. Not only had she never seen anyone fight as well 
as the two of them did, she could not believe the incredible speed that 
some of their attacks had used. Especially that time they started 
screaming about Roasted Chestnuts... that was simply amazing. 

Rei did not know if she had the Martial Arts ability for the job, but 
she could not help thinking about how well Makoto could do if she 
learned it. The mighty Sailor Jupiter using the Chestnut Fist: the 
ultimate combination of magic and martial prowess. No threat to the 
Princess would ever get through!

"Hey Ranma... What were those strange attacks you were doing against 
the old ghoul? You were both punching so fast I couldn't even see your 
arms move."

"Ahhh... That was the dreaded 'Roasting Chestnuts Over An Open Fire'. 
It is a secret technique of the Joketsuzoku Amazons, passed down 
through 2700, no, 3000 years of their heritage. The legendary speed of 
this technique has held Chinese Emperors in awe since its creation!"

Ranma turned and gave her a cheeky smile. "See, I remembered the sales 
pitch on the technique just like Deodorant taught me!"

Rei had to laugh. Here was Ranma, the one person she knew who did not 
seem to be able to take anything seriously, and he was quoting word-
for-word the standard brag line for a Martial Arts technique. "So, do 
you think you can teach Mako-chan and I how to do it?"

"Maybe... Then again, maybe not. Mako-chan might be able to learn it; 
she's pretty good. If she just showed a little more dedication to 
fighting, then she could have a lot of promise. You on the other 
hand... The Chestnut Fist is all about speed and a slow-poke tomboy 
like you just doesn't have the speed for it. Besides, you’re a temple 
maiden Rei-san. What would you need to know a technique like that for?"

She was stunned. Once again he had managed to insult he in the same 
breath that he praised some other girl. The man must have a death wish. 
Not only that, but he thought Makoto was not dedicated to fighting? 
This girl was not only a Sailor Senshi (which he did not know, but that 
was beside the point), she also had been thrown out of almost every 
school she had been to for being too violent and fighting all of the 
time.

"So, you could teach Mako-chan?"

"Nope."

"But you said..."

"But I said she _might_ be able to learn it. I didn't say I could teach 
it. Let's face it Rei-san, you and Mako-chan aren't exactly the best 
friends of Shampoo and Cologne-chan. I once promised Deodorant - the 
woman who taught me. I promised her that I would never teach these 
attacks to people who might attack or hurt the Amazons."

The silence held for a while, each holding their own counsel. Ranma was 
thinking that if he could find the Pretty Soldier Sailor Mars, he could 
teach her the attack. She did not even know Shampoo, and she certainly 
had both the speed and the fighting spirit needed. On the other hand, 
Rei was wondering how she could 'accidentally' get Sailor Mars to bump 
into Ranma and learn the attack that way. Surely the Sailor Senshi were 
everybody's friends.

"You know, Ranma, I hate to be the one to point it out, but those 
Amazons have got really stupid names. What sort of person calls their 
kids Cologne, Deodorant, or Shampoo? It's just silly. Not only that, 
but the way you call the old ghoul 'Cologne-chan'... it makes me sick. 
Ewww, how can you flirt with someone as old and mean and ugly as that?"

Ranma smirked. "Hey, you try telling a village full of elite Amazon 
warriors that their names are silly and see how far you get. Besides, I 
think there's actually some sort of significance to them... um, 
somehow.
"As for Cologne-chan... you see a withered old woman. I look at her and 
see a beautiful young girl about your age. Someone bright, talented, 
caring and friendly."

"Blargh! You're making me sick. Why don’t you just marry her?"

"Well, she did ask me when I was in their village last, but I was still 
grieving for Akane."

"Hmm, were all of those special attacks you mentioned from the 
Amazons?"

"Just about."

"Well, what about the 'Saotome Forbidden Techniques'? That doesn't 
sound like an Amazon name. Could you teach us them?"

"I could teach them if you were good enough - which you're not. 
Actually, I'd like to be able to teach them to you someday, but I can't 
now."

"Why not? Does someone else hold your oath on these too?"

"Yeah. My father actually. The mighty Saotome Genma. He invented a set 
of techniques so powerful and so deadly that he ordered them to be 
sealed away from the world, never to be used other than in my darkest 
hour."

Ranma remembered the day well. Genma panda was there, sitting in a 
small stream, holding a sign: 'Only teach these techniques to your wife 
boy. They are too dangerous for others to know.'

Ranma sighed. He had not though about his father in a long time. Stupid 
old man, always stealing my food.

"You father was a PANDA?!"

"Um... only half the time..."

"What?!"

"Do you believe in magic Rei-san? Well, when I was young, my father got 
cursed. It was this place in China called Jusenkyo. Up until the day he 
died he turned into a panda when he got doused with cold water."

"You're kidding... right?"

"No. Ask Cologne-chan about the Jusenkyo springs sometime. I... I don't 
like to talk about them. They caused Akane a lot of suffering until the 
day she died."

They were at the steps to enter the Hikawa Shrine when Ranma spoke 
again. "Her name was Tendo Akane, that's why I'm called Tendo Ranma, 
not Saotome Ranma. It was always hoped that the two of use would be 
able to take over the Tendo School Of Anything Goes Martial Arts. The 
Tendo Dojo was known throughout Japan at one time, but, now... no-one's 
even heard of Anything Goes."

"I remember... I remember once a delegate from the Shogun actually came 
to the dojo, officially asking that one Tendo Soun ensured that his 
daughter was properly married so that the School could continue."

Rei paused from taking off her shoes and looked up at him. Ranma had 
already kicked off the soft soled slippers that he favoured, and was 
looking wistfully into the distance. "Shogun? When did that happen?"

"Hmm, let's see. That would have been the late 1500's... Somewhere 
around there I think."

"Wow you really know your family history!"

"I know it so well, it feels like it actually happened to me 
personally."

"Pretty impressive, especially considering that it was your wife's 
family, not your own."

"Not really. You see, the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts 
has been in existence for centuries too. Seriously, both the Schools 
have been really close since they began. The first marriage happened 
around the middle of the 1500's. Pretty impressive, ne?"

"Ohhhh! So you're the product of 400 years of inbreeding!"

"Yep, that's me, 400 years of... Hey! Come back here!"

Ranma chased Rei through the shrine for several minutes until Rei 
literally ran into her grandfather. The wizened old man's face broke 
into a smile as he took hold of his charge's shoulders. "It is a sight 
to gladden these old eyes to see you so happy with your fiancee, Rei-
chan."

"WHAT?! Who could be happy with this insensitive idiot around?"
"WHAT?! Who could be happy with this macho tomboy around?"

"What did you call me?" Rei advanced a step in his direction.

"Ahh, so the tomboy rears her ugly head after all."

"Ohhh, you... _Boy_!"

Grabbing her broom, an irate Rei chased after Ranma. Around and around 
they ran, her constantly swiping at him, and him alternately taunting 
her or covering his head and shouting 'Ouch!'.

Of course, not everyone's relationship was that unsteady... or that 
violent. Mind you, they were not they only ones to be having a 
disagreement that evening. Of all the couples that were having 
arguments that evening, one stands above the rest. Their argument was 
not one of hatred or opposition. Instead, it was an argument that 
stemmed from the greatness of their love.

The couple - who shall remain nameless to preserve the dignity, and 
also to add a little suspense into this story - were sitting in a pile 
of cushions in the corner of a large room. Why cushions, you ask? The 
room itself was beautifully fitted out, certainly there was no shortage 
of comfortable chairs in the room, or even the house, so that obviously 
had no bearing on why they were sitting on a pile of cushions.

It could have had something to with the injuries both of them had 
suffered recently. Without doubt, one of them had been thoroughly 
knocked around with a large stone block. For most people that would be 
enough to hospitalise them. Perhaps that was why they were there... 
medicinal reasons, so to speak. However, a close examination would show 
that neither of these people was significantly injured. Certainly there 
were none of the broken ribs or other bones that could have been 
expected. 

Equally, neither of them seemed to be suffering for the sucking chest 
wounds that may have been expected from someone that had either been 
struck multiple times by arrows, or shot in the chest by a large gun. 
In each of their cases, both had been struck by several arrows, but 
neither of them showed a single scar.

Ah, but as it turns out, it is this unique phenomena of love that is 
responsible for their position. How so? You ask. To explain that, I 
shall pick two names - completely at random - and assign them to the 
two people. Call the tall, handsome one Haruka. Call the shorter but 
strikingly beautiful one Michiru. Remember, these names are chosen 
completely at random, so there's no chance that they match their real 
names... right?

Haruka placed her hand on Michiru's shoulder and traced the line down, 
mentally connecting the places where arrows had struck her. Even though 
Michiru was wearing a blouse, she could feel the smoothness of her 
skin, feel it's gentle warmth. The skin under her hand was perfect, 
unmarred by any scarring. Eventually Haruka's hand drifted over her 
friend's heart and stayed there. 

In the silence of the room, she could feel and hear Michiru's heart 
beat. Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Even and regular. A sound reassuring in 
it's monotony. A sound that said: 'I am Michiru's heart, and I shall 
beat like this forever.'

But it would not beat forever. Haruka knew that only too well. Looking 
into her blue eyes, Haruka savoured the reassuring movement under her 
fingers. Sensing her partner's quite distress, Michiru placed her own 
hands over Haruka's and held her palm to her chest. 

"See, it's still there. Now that we have the Talismans, I will never 
let it stop. My heart shall keep beating here, next to you, as long as 
we shall live."

Haruka blinked her eyes, trying to hold back tears. She knew her 
reputation, she was supposed to be the tough one, the one that was 
always flirting with other girls. She was not supposed to be vulnerable 
like this. But she felt vulnerable... very vulnerable. She edged closer 
to Michiru and placed her other arm around her shoulders. 

"I know you're here now, but I thought I had lost you. I watched you 
walking towards me, with all of those arrows in you, and I know you 
were going to die. I... It was the worst experience of my life. I don't 
want to think what it would be like if you had died and I had lived."

Michiru leaned forward and placed a small kiss on the other girl's 
forehead. "But I am here. And I'm going to stay here, by your side, for 
as long as you need me."

"I'll always need you."

Silence hung in the air for a moment. Michiru spoke again. "I remember 
lying there. Eudial had taken the Talisman from me, and all I could do 
was lie there, watching you. Watching your face as you realised what 
had happened. Then she told you that you had a Talisman too. 
"Your face lit up, do you realise that? Even as you knew that it would 
kill you, I could tell you were happy. That hurt me more than the 
arrows or Witch Eudial's Heart Buster Gun. I knew that you were going 
to die too and there was nothing I could do to stop it. That hurt."

"Living without you would hardly be living at all. I never wanted to 
hurt you. I just wanted to be together. Afterwards. After we died... I 
didn't know what would happen, but I hoped that it would happen to 
us... together."

Michiru blushed slightly and looked at their intertwined hands for a 
few moments. Forcing some levity into her voice she asked: "So the 
magnificent Sailor Uranus is a romantic after all."

"Only for you."

"Oh, that poor little Usagi-chan that you keep flirting with, she'll be 
heartbroken."

"Poor little Usagi-chan can be whatever she likes. It's you that 
matters. Without you, there is no point in being Sailor Uranus. Why 
fight to protect something if everything that needs protecting is gone? 
The only thing that felt better than knowing I would join you when you 
died was when we were brought back. Then I could feel you beside me, 
and nothing feels better than that."

Big blue eyes locked with green. "And what of the Talisman? What about 
finding the Holy Grail? We were willing to sacrifice someone else's 
life, how can we be any different?"

Haruka thought back to all of the times that they had fought both 
Daimons, Witches and the Inner Senshi for the sake of a Heart Crystal. 
They could hardly say that their hands were clean. How could she 
justify taking someone else's life, when she felt this way about 
Michiru?

"We aren't different. We are just the same as all of the other people 
out there. I would risk my life any day to get the Talisman, or 
whatever else was needed. I would give my life and any other life that 
was needed to keep you alive. But I would never offer your life. 
Everything has a price, and that price is too high. 
"Some things I cannot do."

She did not say anything, but a faint smile crossed Michiru's face as 
she moved closer to Haruka. Leaning against the taller girl, they both 
drew strength from each other. 

Time, as it is wont to do, moved forward. After they had sat like that 
for a time, Haruka looked down at her friend and broached the subject 
that neither wanted to discuss. The future.

"Do you think we've stopped them now that we have the Grail?"

Michiru shook her head. With her leaning into the crook of Haruka's 
elbow, that felt quite nice. "No. We still don't even know what they 
were really after. There's no way that they will stop with one failure 
to get the Grail. Just look at how many times they tried and failed to 
get the Talismans."

"Do you think Usagi-chan is in danger?"

Granted, their enemies probably knew that Sailor Moon had the Grail. 
They might not know that Usagi was really Sailor Moon, but then again 
they may. 

"Yes."

"We could protect her, couldn't we. We could stop them from ever 
getting to her."

"True."

"And if we did that, we would never know who was really behind their 
attacks. We would never see the person that was pulling the strings. We 
would never be able to go after our true enemy."

"Also true."

"They're stronger than the Inner Senshi. They way that they have been 
fighting, the Inners will be lucky if they can keep winning the battles 
without our help."

"Very true."

"I'd say it's pretty likely that the Witches 5 also know this. That 
means that Usagi-chan and her friends will be in danger."

Nod. Haruka liked it when Michiru nodded. It sent shivers down her 
spine... and some other places.

"If we let them get attacked, they would probably get hurt, but 
eventually, it will lead us back to whoever is controlling them. As 
much as I hate to say something bad about Chibi-Usa's little friend, I 
would be willing to lay money that Hotaru is involved some how."

Another nod.

Haruka looked down at the smiling face of her friend. A friend that 
obviously knew the effect she was having on the woman holding her. 
Haruka placed a finger on the tip of Michiru's nose.

"You know, I really hate it how you're always disagreeing with me."

Michiru nodded several times.

Yesterday they had confronted Witch Eudial and had discovered that they 
were the holders of two of the Talismans. Yesterday they had given 
their lives for the Earth, died to do what needed doing. 

Today, there was just the two of them. The world could save itself for 
one night.

*	*	*

In a dimly lit room of the Tomoe household, plans were being made. 
Plans that would inevitably draw the magnificent Sailor Uranus and the 
elegant Sailor Neptune back into the conflict.

A tall, elegant, and refined looking woman sat on a large square throne 
in the middle of the room. Like the rest of the room, she was cast in 
darkness, the shadows clinging to her like a second skin. Even though 
the edges of the room faded into darkness, there was still a feeling of 
closeness to the room. Possibly it was just the strength of her 
presence that filled the room, making her the centre of attention for 
everyone else.

The woman who sat on the throne was Mistress 9 and from the darkness, 
she looked down onto her servant, Tomoe Souichi. Despite the way the 
shadows covered her head and hid her features, you could see the 
occasional reflection of light from her eyes. Eyes that most people 
would prefer focused anywhere other than them.

Raising a hand, she patted a doll that she held in her lap. The floor 
was covered with them, stacked against the feet of the throne like 
supplicants begging for some mercy. Souichi could only watch in silence 
and feel glad that it was the doll that had her attention, and not him. 
After the debacle of loosing the Grail to those sailor suited brats, 
anything that incurred her attention was a bad thing.

Without preamble, the figure in the shadows spoke. Her voice was rich 
and not unpleasant. It was the voice of a refined lady. "So... Sailor 
Moon has the Holy Grail."

"Y...Yes, she does."

"Then all is not lost. When the time is right, we shall reclaim the 
Grail. Retrieving it from that good hearted bubble head should present 
no great difficulty."

"Yes Mistress 9. Until then..."

"Until then you shall continue to find me pure Heart Crystals. I have 
need of the energy that they represent to complete this 
transformation."

As the light in the room fades, the soft voice of Souichi can be heard 
in gathering darkness. "Yes, My Lady. Our minions have already selected 
the perfect candidate..."

Ranma awoke next morning completely unaware of her benefactor's 
conversation. Long ago she had learned not to tempt fate and to sleep 
as a girl. In consideration to her "father's" currently non-leaking 
roof, Ranma always ensured she went to bed as a girl. It was generally 
safer for everybody concerned.

It also saved a fortune in building maintenance.

As she ate the nice breakfast that was made by Kaori, she once again 
grumbled at the fact that the girl she was impersonating had always 
been a goody-two-shoes. Having to wear a school uniform was bad enough. 
Having to wear a girl's school uniform was just horrible. It grated on 
Ranma even more since she had a perfectly acceptable set of black pants 
and Chinese red shirts that fit her, but no, the old Hotaru had always 
dressed in black, grey and white. 

Then again, she had been pretending to be Hotaru for several years now. 
Since she figured that Mistress 9 would want to establish her own 
fashion sense when she got control of Ranma's girl half, it seemed like 
a good time to start making a few fashion changes of her own. Hmm, she 
was meeting Chibi-Usa this afternoon for a drink, so it would be the 
perfect opportunity to try out the new clothes.

Setting out to school, Hotaru walked alone. A girl that was as much a 
social outcast as her got used to walking alone. 'Perhaps that the 
wrong way to describe it...' Hotaru thought to herself. 'You never get 
used to being alone, you just learn to live with it.'

Hotaru almost jumped out of her shoes when she heard the soft 
whispering in her mind from Mistress 9. "You shall have to get used to 
being alone soon, Ranma. I foretell that the last elements will be in 
place in only a few months. Then, then you shall truly be alone."

A silly grin split her face from ear to ear. Mistress 9 hardly ever 
spoke to her... it was quite easy to forget that she was always in 
there, working tirelessly to separate the curse so that they both could 
have a body that they desired. Lately, whenever she had spoken, it was 
good news. The countdown was getting shorter every day. 

"Soon," she said. "Soon I shall have the last ingredient I need to be 
able to take that cursed body from you Ranma. I shall get what I have 
worked so hard for, and you shall get precisely what you deserve for 
helping me."

Hotaru chuckled depreciably, waving a hand. "Aww, I'm only doing what I 
can."

"Oh, believe me, my Master has special plans just for you. When he is 
here, he will make sure that you will never suffer again."

While Hotaru blushed and made sounds about how removing the curse would 
be enough reward, Mistress 9 chuckled silently to herself from within 
the confines of Hotaru's head. It was just like playing a game of 
chess. If you knew how to move the pieces, they would do your bidding, 
never realising the higher plan that they followed.

Normally someone in Ranma's position would be described as a pawn, 
someone to be used and discarded. But Ranma was both too powerful and 
too useful to be a mere pawn. He was a knight, someone strong, and able 
to be played to a telling effect just where he was needed.

But even knights can be sacrificed.

To the other students gathering at the entrance of the school, Hotaru's 
behaviour was not entirely unexpected. Anyone that can heal people and 
stayed by herself all the time obviously had something wrong with her. 
Now she was even talking to herself, or perhaps to an imaginary friend. 
The one thought seemed to go through the minds of every other young 
student that saw her. "Eww, she's strange. I'd better stay away from 
her, or everyone will think I'm strange too."

The school day ended none too soon and Hotaru awoke feeling bright and 
refreshed. Hundred years of meditation and study had enabled her to 
sleep while sitting, and with her eyes open. Consequently she seemed to 
be one of the most attentive students in the class. The teachers were 
inclined to think that she was a little shy since they usually had to 
ask her the question several times before she answered (or woke up). 
Now that she had slept through the same class three times - posing as 
different students at different schools - she had actually absorbed so 
much information that she could pass as an ordinarily bright student.

After going home and getting changed (just clothes, not gender), Hotaru 
waited for her friend to come over. Even as she began to settle down 
and do a few light kata in her room, she heard the front door open. As 
quickly as she could she sprinted down the hall, skidding to a halt 
just out of view of the front door. Even as she slowed to a stop, she 
could hear Kaori telling someone that 'Hotaru-chan was not home' and 
'she probably would not want to see you when she arrives'.

Stepping around the tall woman, Hotaru was pleasantly surprised to see 
not only Chibi-Usa, but also Usagi and Ami. Standing on her toes, she 
looked around, but could not see Rei or any of the girl's other 
friends. 'Feh! Who'd want to see an uncute tomboy like that anyway?'

Giving her friends a wave and a quick smile, she turned back to Kaori 
and looked up at the woman. 'Damn, she was tall. I remember wishing I 
could get this body to grow up to be a woman like that for so long. But 
soon, I'm not going to be a girl any more!'

"I am home Kaori-san, and I do want to see my friends."

Hotaru never managed to decide exactly how Kaori felt about her. There 
was certainly a measure of respect, possibly even fear. A certain 
resentment because her 'father' paid more attention to her than Kaori. 
There was also an undefined attitude, something along the lines of: 
'Don't go outside. Don't see anyone. Don't do anything until Tomoe-
sensei finishes his work on you. Just stay here and be neither seen nor 
heard.'

Kaori seemed on the verge of saying something when a hand landed on her 
shoulder. Looking around, her stern visage melted, and she made way for 
Dr Tomoe. Kneeling down in front of the girl that had replaced his 
daughter, he looked her in the eyes. Actually, his one eye looked into 
her two, since he had a strange looking glass eye for one of them. But, 
hey, not everyone is perfect.

Placing a hand on each shoulder, he spoke solemnly. "I shall see you 
tonight. All shall be in readiness for the next stage."

Somehow, Ranma was pretty sure that she was not the one that he was 
talking to.

After that, the serious expression left his face, and he chased Hotaru 
out the door so that she could have fun with her friends. He sincerely 
believed that the girl he watched walk away was his own daughter. With 
all his heart, he believed that Mistress 9 had worked a miracle and 
restored his daughter to full health after the horrific blast in his 
laboratory.

How much of this belief was Mistress 9's mental manipulation, and how 
much was honest but misguided hope... no-one could guess. All that 
mattered was that he cared for her like his real daughter, because he 
thought she was his daughter. In all the ways that mattered normally 
for a family she was his daughter, this girl just happened to be 
someone more than just his daughter.

The fact that his real daughter had been replaced with a doppelganger - 
and that the grievously injured girl had been cast out by the Witches 5 
in preparation of Mistress 9 'acquiring' Ranma's body - this sort of 
fact did not impact on his consciousness at all. Mistress 9 was also 
quite careful to ensure that nothing Ranma did in his presence was too 
likely to shake his faith. Fortunately Ranma had been pretending to be 
his daughter for so long now that any differences that were appearing 
could easily be attributed to the normal changes that children went 
through.

Mistress 9 was also careful to make sure that Ranma never spent too 
much time thinking about the girl that he had replaced, or the 
circumstances involved in the laboratory accident that almost killed 
her.

On the street, Chibi-Usa had just given her best friend in the whole 
wide world a small card. Opening up the card, Hotaru looked inside and 
saw a neatly hand written invitation to a party. Recognising her 
friend's writing, Hotaru was momentarily nonplussed to see that it was 
at Makoto's place. If Chibi-Usa was having a birthday or something, why 
not hold it at her place?

Usagi was the one that answered that question. "It's not actually just 
for Chibi-Usa, it a party because... because... umm..."

"Because things have been going very well at school recently." Ami 
supplied, briefly covering her mouth with her hand as she gave a small 
chuckle.

"Yeah, that's it! Some good things have happened recently, so we wanted 
to have a party."

Chibi-Usa looked at her friend, her big, emotional, red eyes imploring 
her. She knew that Hotaru was a quiet girl and she did not get out much 
but she was also one of Chibi-Usa's only real friends that was not one 
of the Sailor Senshi.

"Please say you'll go, Hotaru-chan. Please! It just won't be the same 
without you. Mako-chan will be doing the cooking, and everyone else 
will be helping to provide snacks and juice and things. It's even going 
to be fancy dress. Please say you'll go!"

Hotaru looked at the invitation again. Indeed it was fancy dress, and 
this Saturday night too. That did not leave much time to get a costume 
ready, but she already had a few ideas that were coming together. 
Hotaru turned to Chibi-Usa and gave an entirely sincere smile. 

"I'd love to go."

Chibi-Usa gave her a quick hug, and immediately began to tell her about 
the costume that she had planned. Mrs Tsukino was already helping her 
make the costume, and it would be so beautiful, and... and...

Chibi-Usa began to run on and on about how beautiful her costume would 
be. After ten minutes of listening carefully to what she was saying, 
Hotaru realised that she now had almost no idea of where she was. 
Looking around, the streets were unfamiliar, and the houses bore no 
resemblance to the ones she knew in her area.

Giving a pull on the jacket of the taller girl, Hotaru looked up. "Ami-
chan, where are we going?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Hotaru-chan. I didn't realise that you had never 
visited Chibi-Usa or Usagi before. We're going to their place. 
Actually, we're almost there now. See, that building just down the 
street."

Leaving the bunny girls to talk to each other for a while, Hotaru 
latched onto Ami as a source of interesting conversation. Anyone that 
is carrying a book to read every time you see them must have something 
interesting to talk about. 

"What book are you reading?" Probably one of those mushy romance novels 
all the girls in her class were starting to get into.

"It's an analysis of Hisenberg's Uncertainty Principle and its effect 
on quantum level computational gating arrays. It also deals with the 
macro level analysis of statistical massed electron decision logic 
versus individual energy level logic states. It's really interesting."

Ami recognised that blank look. She had seen it on the other girls too 
often.

"It compares VLSI technology with single atom logic..."

"It's about computers."

Ahh! The light shines at the end of the tunnel.

"Wow! Do you really understand it? I couldn't even understand what the 
topic was."

Making noises to the effect that it was something anyone could learn, 
Ami kicked off her shoes and added them to the pile at the entrance of 
the house. Hotaru also took off hers. She also left her staff at the 
door, she did not think that Usagi's mother would really appreciate 
having a spirit creature set loose in her house. Finally she took off 
her small backpack. It just contained a change of clothes for her male 
form: you could never be too careful.

Usagi dashed across the room heading for the kitchen, so Hotaru turned 
back to Ami. "Say, do you have any interest in medicine? I've always 
wanted to learn more about that."

400 years of searching for a cure had made Ranma aware that you take 
every chance you get when it comes to finding new sources of 
information.

"Actually, I want to be a doctor when I finish school. I'm just reading 
this for fun."

"Just for fun?! You must be so clever."

Then came a sound. A sound so horrifying, so terrifying that it should 
have sent shivers down her spine, and might - at any moment - send her 
running and screaming from the house.

"Miyaaa."

Slowly, ever so slowly, Hotaru turned and faced the centre of the 
house. There, not ten feet away from her, was her most dreaded enemy. A 
creature so horrible and evil that the very presence should send her 
screaming from the room. 

It was black, it had four legs, razor sharp claws, a mouth filled with 
needle sharp fangs all designed to rip you to bloody pieces. A creature 
conjured from the bowls of hell. Everything from it's terrifying ebony 
coat to it's soul searing battle cry should have sent Hotaru and every 
sane person running from the room in sheer, abject terror.

It spoke again: "Miyaaa."

This time it even tilted its head; all the better to size up it's prey 
and rip them into tasty morsels.

With a grip of steel, Hotaru latched onto Chibi-Usa's arm and pulled 
the girl in close. "Over there. Don't be obvious. What do you see?"

Chibi-Usa looked around. Everything seemed to be in place. She had not 
even seen Usagi come out of the kitchen stuffing her face yet, and 
Shingo was already in his room, doing whatever it is that boys do. 
"Umm, a cat?"

Aside from a brief tightening of her grip when Chibi-Usa said it, 
Hotaru hardly responded. Turning to her right, she looked up to see a 
concerned Ami staring at her. "Is that what you see too, Ami-chan?"

Ami looked. The only thing that really was interesting on that side of 
the room was Luna. She was sitting on the top of the couch doing her 
best imitation of a normal cat. Fundamentally, it meant that she was 
not speaking out loud, since that was the only way people could tell 
her from a normal cat.

In a voice almost a whisper, Hotaru leaned over and spoke to Ami. "Just 
a c-c-c--. Just an ordinary, everyday, perfectly normal c-c-c-. A 
normal housec-c-c-"

Ami smiled. Hotaru looked so funny stumbling over the word cat. I can't 
tell her that Luna is one of the Queen's advisors and a talking cat 
kept in stasis for the millennium since the Moon Kingdom fell. That 
would be letting the cat out of the bag, to use a really bad metaphor. 
"Sure. That's Luna. She's Usagi's pet cat. Perfectly normal cat."

Hotaru shuddered. She did not know if it was someone using the 'C' word 
so often in one breath that did it, or what she was seeing in front of 
her. Here was a perfectly normal family: Mum and Dad and three kids. 
They take an animal in from the kindness of their hearts, and this is 
what happens.

There were monsters all over Tokyo these days, but Hotaru had not 
expected to find one living so close to her friends. She did not know 
exactly what magic it was using, or what subliminal signals it was 
missing, but that thing in front of her was no 'C' thing. If it was, 
she would have been out that door and screaming before she even turned 
around and looked at it. 

Yet here she was. Not ten feet away from the most fearsome creature on 
man's earth... or an almost perfect replica of one. It had already 
uttered its war cry not just once, but twice, and Hotaru was still 
here. Obviously this was no real 'C' thing, and that only left one 
option: some sort of monster or demon had wormed it's way into the home 
of one of her dear friends. No doubt the vile fiend would consume them 
in their sleep, or destroy their souls one by one. 

Hotaru shuddered. It was a fate worse than even a c-c-c--- a 'C' thing 
lover deserved. Hotaru would be damned before she would let that happen 
to a kid as nice as Chibi-Usa. Even Usagi was too nice to let that 
happen to. Sighing, Hotaru hoped that revealing some of her strengths 
would not disrupt Mistress 9's plans too much, but there was no option.

Keeping a hold on Chibi-Usa and Ami, they waited only a few moments 
until Usagi came out to investigate the sudden silence.

As Usagi exited the kitchen, Hotaru reached into her pocket and pulled 
out one of her demon wards (Remember kids, be prepared. You never know 
when a demon is likely to attack you.)

"Usagi-chan. Could you come here please. Quietly, please. Yes that's 
it. No, no please, don't pat Luna. That's it. OK, now when I distract 
it with a ward, everyone run out of the house."

In her concerned and stressed state, Hotaru failed to notice just how 
confused everyone else was. Hotaru had been acting perfectly normal 
until she came into the house and saw Luna. Now she seemed to have gone 
nuts.

Faster than any of them could react, Hotaru pulled out a demon ward, 
holding it between her first and second fingers. As the strip fluttered 
slightly, she called out charging words of power and sent the strip 
flying towards the unsuspecting Luna.

"Rin, pyou, tou, sha, kai, jin, retsu, sai, zen. Akuryou taisan!"

The glowing ward streaked out and caught Luna above the eyes, sticking 
directly over the crescent moon symbol on her forehead. Even as the 
ward was in the air, Hotaru was bring her hands together in front of 
her, preparing a Moko Takabisha that would destroy this demon for the 
rest of all time. Never again would it pass itself off as someone's 
pet. No matter how horrid a creature it chose to impersonate.

The Ki sphere was half formed between her palms when the ward struck, 
and the effect was instantaneous. The very moment that the glowing ward 
struck and obscured the crescent moon symbol, Hotaru's eyes widened to 
the size of dinner plates and her blood ran cold. 

Before she could focus the Ki and attack, she lost control. Ki freed 
itself from confinement in a bright blue flash that pushed them all 
back slightly. Before the girls had even finished staggering, Hotaru 
was screaming. Turning on her heel and running like an Olympic 
sprinter, she literally ran through the closed door and out onto the 
street.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAH!!! CAAAAAAAAAT!!! CAAAAAAAAT!!!"

Her voice abruptly cut off. Less that four seconds after pulling out 
the ward, the three Senshi turned to each other and tried to understand 
what had happened. Turning to look out of the shattered remains of the 
door, Ami saw the crumpled form of Hotaru lying at the base of a 
knocked over telegraph pole. The only possible explanation was that 
Hotaru had tripped over the fallen pole and knocked herself out. Ami 
refused to even _think_ about any other possible answer. Even if she 
did think that pole had been standing earlier... 'No! I refuse to even 
consider that possibility!'

Chibi-Usa ran for her friend who was lying on the ground, closely 
followed by Ami. Ami knew that she was needed there because she was 
probably the only person in the area that had even the slightest 
medical knowledge. Usagi ran to look after Luna.

Reaching the confused kitty, she noticed that Luna seemed completely 
unharmed, with the obvious exception that it was acting like a normal 
cat. Reaching down, Usagi pulled off the ward and revealed the crescent 
moon marking. Instantly Luna's faculties were restored to her and she 
was quizzing Usagi on what had happened. Unfortunately Usagi was as 
much at a loss as anyone else. The only person who stood a chance of 
being able to answer their questions was currently being tended for 
concussion.

Hearing footsteps approaching the front door, Usagi grabbed Luna around 
the waist and threw her out of the room. Bounce, bounce, skid. "Hide in 
there for a minute, Luna-chan. Listen in and we might be able to find 
out what happened."

Ami and Chibi-Usa were escorting a shaken looking and rather nervous 
Hotaru back into the room. "See, Hotaru-chan. There's nothing to be 
afraid of here."

"No, no you don’t understand. It's not just the c-c-c--- Luna. 
Actually, it is Luna. She's not really what you think. She's some sort 
of demon, just pretending to be your pet!"

Ami sat down and lifted Hotaru onto her lap. Placing her arms around 
the still shaking girl she tried to comfort her by talking through her 
fears.

"But why do you think that Luna's a demon?"

"Because I'm afraid of c-c-c--- You know, them."

"If the way you ran through the front door is any indication, that has 
to be the strongest fear I have ever heard of. But why do you think 
Luna is a demon?"

"Because I wasn't afraid of her."

Ami went 'Ahh!' and smiled in understanding. The other two girls just 
looked blank. Ami took up the explanation, she might be able to clear 
things up for the girls since she understood both sides of the story. 

"What I think Hotaru-chan means is that she has a really serious case 
of ailurophobia---"

"Hey! How can you say that? I've never even met an ailuro, so how can I 
be afraid of one?"

"Ailurophobia is the fear of cats, Hotaru-chan."

"Oh."

"So when you saw..."

"Why don't they call it nekophobia then?"

"Because 'neko' is Japanese for cat, and 'ailuro' is Greek."

"The Greek were afraid of cats?"

"No, no, no. Greek is a language, not a just people. Lots of words are 
in Greek, especially medial ones. For the moment, will you just accept 
that's the word? It will make things much easier to sort out."

Hotaru nodded. Craning her neck, she then looked over Ami's shoulder to 
see if the monster had come back. It had certainly seemed like a 
real... 'C' thing just a little while ago. Four hundred years of having 
the Neko-ken had given her a supernatural appreciation for the presence 
of cats. She rarely slipped into her 'Cat Mode' these days because she 
would run in fear so soon at the slightest presence of a cat. Not only 
that, but there were very few obstacles that could force her to stay 
close to a cat long enough to be affected.

Ami waited patiently for Hotaru to stop squirming on her lap. She hated 
to tell little lies like this, but for the safety of everyone 
concerned, she knew that she would have to. Besides, if Hotaru could 
get used to Luna, she might be able to break down her fear of cats. 
When she finally had Hotaru's attention again, Ami brushed a couple of 
hairs back from the girl's pretty face and tried to make contact with 
the nervously shifting eyes.

"I can understand that you're afraid of cats, but Luna is a very 
special cat. Next time you see her, look at her head. There's this 
little crescent moon marking there. That means she's very special. Luna 
has been specially blessed so that she won't make people afraid. 
Everyone likes her, there's nothing to worry about. 
"Just think of Luna as a perfectly normal cat that you don't need to be 
afraid of."

Watching the way that suggestion made Hotaru go grey and shudder, Ami 
tried again.

"All right, try thinking of Luna as a person, or a dog or some other 
pet, that just happens to look like a cat. How's that?"

"I don't know if I can... but I'll try."

Chibi-Usa nudged her friend. "Mina-chan has a pet too. He's called 
Artemis. Artemis is such a lazy kitty that he makes Mina-chan do all 
the work for him. Even though he and Luna argue all the time, he's 
special too. Maybe you should meet him?"

Hotaru shuddered. Two of them. They were everywhere. Hotaru latched 
onto Ami and shook as her fear held her. Even just thinking about them 
too much was bad. Not bad enough to send her into the Neko-ken, but bad 
enough to be thoroughly unpleasant. After a while, Hotaru released the 
bigger girl and gave a wan smile to Chibi-Usa. "Maybe... some other 
day.. perhaps."

For her part, Usagi was struck dumb (a rare event to be treasured). As 
soon as Ami had begun her explanation, she had a sudden flashback. She 
was sitting on the floor of the royal hall, playing with the sandals of 
Sailor Venus. If she was lucky, she Venus would be distracted by the 
spectacle long enough for the Princess to tie her feet together.

Today's spectacle was Sailor Saturn making one of her rare appearances 
at the palace. Her husband had come of course, and that was where the 
trouble started. The instant he had seen the Queen's advisor, he had 
gone berserk and tried to kill her. Currently Sailors Mars and Jupiter 
were holding him back, and Sailor Mercury was trying to calm down the 
two other Outer Senshi that also happened to be there.

When Luna was safely hidden out of the room, Saturn Knight finally 
calmed down and explanations were given. For some reason (Moon was too 
busy to pay attention to this bit) the poor man went psychotic every 
time he saw a cute, furry animal (which could lead to real problems if 
ever he met a grizzly bear). Normally he would just kill the animal and 
feel better, but that could have serious repercussions if he happened 
to get one of the Queen's advisor's alone for a while.

Fortunately, Serenity had found this part of his psyche when she had 
cast her Healing. At the time she found she could not do anything about 
it because it was so deeply ingrained. She had also forgotten Luna and 
Artemis, since she never expected Saturn Knight to encounter any small 
animals. Now that she knew there really was a problem, there was only 
one solution.

After finding the cats, Queen Serenity had cast a powerful spell on 
them. From now on, no-one would see them as threatening unless directly 
provoked. To anyone that saw them, they would be innocuous, and 
completely innocent. Later that day they tested the spell and it 
worked. Saturn Knight was perfectly capable of being in the room with 
them, and never having any problems.

Usagi was stunned by the sudden revelation. Ami was completely right in 
what she said, she just did not know it. Usagi sighed. She was so lucky 
to have a cat like Luna. Even girls like Hotaru who were afraid of cats 
could be friends with her.

They spent the rest of the evening at Usagi's place, playing games, 
reading manga and having fun. Luna was generally careful to stay away 
from the group. Even if she did not scare Hotaru, there was no need to 
push her luck.

Despite the precautions that Luna took, Hotaru managed to find her in 
the corridor as Hotaru was walking to the bathroom. With a quick look 
around for witnesses, Hotaru got down on her hands and knees and 
brought her face close to the cat.

"I... I can't believe I'm this close to you, and I'm not freaking out. 
This is scary just by itself."

Luna curled up on the floor and tried to make herself as small and as 
innocent as possible. Who could resist the charm of her big eyes?

"Luna, I know you're just a cat, and you can't understand me, so this 
promise is more to me than to you. If you ever try and claw my eyes 
out... If you ever try and eat me alive... If you ever scream into my 
ears as you rip them to shreds... If you ever sit on my back, slowly 
raking the skin from my body... I'll kill you. I don't know how. I 
don't even know how I'll be able to get close enough to hurt you, but I 
will. 
"Please be good, Luna. I don't want to hurt Usagi-chan and Chibi-Usa, 
'cause they really like you. I don't want to have to run away from you 
every time I see you. So please... be nice."

Luna was stunned. What in the name of the Moon had happened to this 
girl? Judging by the sorry and sad tone that she was using, and the way 
that the tears fell down her face, Luna knew she was trying to bolster 
her own confidence, not threaten her. What had happened to the girl 
that could cause this sort of reaction? Who could make cats do that 
sort of thing?

Luna sat there deep in thought and completely missed the fact that 
Hotaru had gotten up and returned to Usagi's bedroom with the other 
girls. It was only when she heard Hotaru's voice did she realise that 
the girl was not longer crouched in front of her.

"By the way, Ranma has neko-phobia too."

Ami: "That's ailurophobia."

"Neko-phobia."

"Ailurophobia."

"Neko-phobia."

"Ailurophobia."

"Neko-neko-neko-neko.... Blargh! I said it! Ahh!"

"Ailurophobia."

"Ailurophobia work for me too: I'm not afraid of ailuro's, so it's easy 
to say."

*	*	*

Hotaru was not the only one to receive an invitation to the party. In 
an attempt to stay in contact with some of their non-Senshi friends, 
the girls were inviting other people that they knew. People from 
school, some friends from the arcade, that sort of thing. Since Usagi 
was organising the invitations, she even asked the Outer Senshi. 

In a rare moment of friendship between the Inners and the Outers, 
Michiru and Haruka agreed to come; the even offered to invite all of 
their friends. So Michiru invited Haruka, and Haruka invited Michiru. 
The other motivating advantage was the opportunity to study that 
strange Tomoe girl again. No-one specifically invited Setsuna: she 
would come if she wanted to whether she was invited or not, and Usagi 
was not really sure how to get in contact with her anyway. Since she 
assumed that the Guardian Of Time was probably watching over her most 
of the time, Usagi spent two days with an open invitation to Setsuna 
sitting on her desk... who knows, it might work.

Finally, Rei was given the task of inviting Ukyo and Ranma, since she 
had the easiest contact with them. Ukyo was all alone in Tokyo, she was 
Hotaru's only friend aside from Chibi-Usa, and she was also Ranma's 
best friend. Since Ranma and Hotaru were being invited, Usagi's 
generous heart had demanded that Ukyo be invited also.

Holding the invitation in her hand, Rei advanced on the Okonomiyaki 
shop. She was not thrilled in the least about inviting Ukyo. Sure, they 
got on OK, but that was about all. Since the first time Ranma had come 
here with her, the pair had visited for dinner or a snack a few times 
since. While Ukyo's welcome was entirely correct, there was less  of 
the warmth that she would usually give the other customers.

As she stepped across the threshold, Rei also remembered why she did 
not like Ukyo. It was the way that Ranma went out of his way to be nice 
to her. Noting was too hard to do for his Ucchan, his 'cute fiancee'. 
Ohhh, how that gritted on her nerves, even though she did not care what 
he did.

Seeing her customer, Ukyo's face broke into a smile. "Hiya Rei-chan. Is 
Ranchan with you?"

"Sorry, Ukyo-san, not today."

Watching the way the chef's face fell, Rei felt a pang of 
understanding. Ranma was the whole reason for the shop. If he was not 
coming here, then the rest of the evening would just be marking time 
for Ukyo. From their previous talks, Rei knew that Ranma's habit of 
being impossible to find was something that had lasted his whole life. 
No-one knew where he lived, and if he was not around, it seemed 
impossible to find him. 

No matter how Ukyo strove to gain Ranma's attention, Rei could not hold 
a grudge against the girl, she was just too nice. (Besides, it is 
notoriously difficult to be angry and hold a straight face when your 
enemy is all smiles and wearing a massive spatula tied to her back. But 
then, Rei had never witnessed the devastating power of the Kuonji 
family style of Okonomiyaki Martial Arts.)

Taking Rei's order, she waved the Priestess to a seat at the counter 
and set about making one of her super tasty works of art. Rei gave a 
smile and waved an envelope in front of her. When Ukyo finished the 
food, she swapped it for the invitation and had a read.

"So Ranchan will be going to this too?"

"I seeing him tonight for training, so I'm pretty sure that he will be. 
Hotaru will be there too... Come on, it'll be good for you to get out 
once in a while."

Ukyo grimaced as she thought about the amount of time that she was 
spending taking care of her restaurant. Time that would be much better 
spent with her fiancee, taking long, romantic walks through the neon 
lit streets of the evening city. Or time spent cuddled up to him in 
some cosy corner at a party somewhere.

"Suuuure. I think a party would be great. Hmm. Fancy dress too. I'm 
going to have to think about that one."

"Great, I'll see you then."

Rei waved and walked out of the shop, having given Ukyo the money for 
the food. As Ukyo watched the figure retreat out the door, she smiled 
and whispered into the muffed sounds of the other customers.

"Oh, I think you see me sooner Rei-chan. Since I know where Ranma is 
tonight, I think it is the perfect chance to give him a little home 
delivered Okonomiyaki. Just to remind him what he is missing out on."

Back in Rei's room at the shrine, a small black pig was wandering 
around. It had taken him almost an hour to get out of her closet, but 
since then he had found his way to the sacred fire's room three times, 
and still had not found the bathroom so that he could change back.

As he leapt onto her desk, Ryoga thought about how nice the little 
temple girl was that lived here. She was so sweet and innocent. When 
she had picked him up her hands were warm and soft. Even just going 
through her cupboard had been nice; it reminded him of how she smelled.

Walking over Rei's homework, Ryoga fantasised about how he could 
torture Ranma. Someday, somehow he would make Ranma's girl fall in love 
with him, and together they would go off, leaving Ranma heart-broken 
and crying. 

It is remarkably difficult for a foot long black piglet to master the 
art of the sinister belly laugh, but Ryoga tried. Rather than the awe 
inspiring "BWAH HA HA HA!" that shook the whole room, be got the 
almost-as-good "Bweee Bwe Bwe Bwe!" Ryoga broke off suddenly and looked 
down. Who was he kidding. A mighty raging boar could do an intimidating 
laugh. A cute piggy could not.

With his head drooping, he happened to read the characters under his 
snout: "Ra. N. Ma... Ranma?!?"

A quick peruse showed the truth. It was an invitation to a party. A 
party this Saturday. A party he could find Ranma at and kill him once 
and for all.

After memorising the address, Ryoga jumped to the floor and ran looking 
for the hot water so he could prepare to terminate Ranma's miserable 
excuse for a life. As he chanted his favourite war cry, he bumped into 
a hard metal wall. Looking around, he noticed the fantastic view he 
could get once he moved past the metal beam.

Since when was Rei's shrine at the top of Tokyo Tower?

*

Shampoo held her hand's in front of her and worked up the courage to do 
the unthinkable and question her Great-Grandmother. Finally, she built 
up the courage and looked across at the old woman who was putting the 
finishing touches on the counter she was standing behind. "Great-
Grandmother..."

Cologne's large eyes twinkled and she hopped to the one of the tables 
in the restaurant. "Come sit child. I shall be very happy to answer 
your questions about Ranma."

Startled by the fact that her thinking was that obviously transparent, 
Shampoo took a seat and collected her scattered thoughts. Finally the 
big one came out. The one that frightened her more than anything else.

"Great-Grandmother, did Husband beat you in fight?" It was almost 
unthinkable. The Matriarch of the Amazons, beaten by a mere man that 
was only around her age.

"No. He may have, but we did not fight to the end. We fought until he 
proved that he really was an Amazon."

"How Husband do that?"

Cologne gave a happy and nostalgic smile. Fortunately there were no 
customers around yet: it might have scared them away. "He reminded me 
of something that only he could have known about. Ranma _is_ an 
honorary Amazon. Exactly how and why... that is something that you will 
have to get from him. His name in the village is Soap, it was given to 
him because... Ah, well, I can't give away all of the surprises."

A small frown crossed her brow. "If Ranma Amazon, why you want Shampoo 
marry him so much."

"Oh, my dear, dear child. There are more reasons for that than you 
could possibly imagine. First, and foremost, I love Ranma as much as I 
love you. I can honestly say that I cannot think of a single woman in 
the entire world that would make a better wife for Ranma than you 
would. Can you imagine my joy if two people I loved so much were to be 
married?
"Also, Ranma used to be married to a girl called Akane. I don't know 
what she was like, he hardly ever spoke of her, but even when I knew 
him, he was still pining away for the girl. Surely someone like you 
could bring happiness back to him, and revitalise his spirit."

Cologne reached across the table and took Shampoo's hands. "You also 
must understand what a good husband he would be for you. If he can 
carry his love for Akane so long, imagine how strong his love for you 
will be. He is smart, talented beyond compare, and the strongest male 
the tribe is likely to ever see. 
"You could do much worse for yourself than Tendo Ranma."

"Aiyaa... Shampoo no realise you know Husband so well."

"Hmm, well it was a while ago."

"But... Husband Shampoo's age. How you know him but I no know?"

"That is another story you must get from your husband yourself. All I 
can say is that he is actually a little older than you - he hides his 
age even better than I do! Also, there is a minor magical complication, 
but he has assured me that it is shortly to be of no concern."

"Ohhh, Great Grandmother so smart. She also know where Shampoo find 
Husband so he can take Shampoo on date?"

Cologne flourished a piece of paper from within her sleeve. "It just so 
happens that I copied down this address for a party he should be 
attending this Saturday. Most people would find that a perfect 
opportunity..."

She was talking to an empty seat. Shampoo had taken the piece of paper 
and was hugging it to her breast and dancing around the room as though 
it was actually Ranma she was holding.

Cologne smiled. It felt so good to see Soap again after all this time. 
Not only that, but she would soon be marrying her two favourite people 
in the world. Could things get much better?

-----
End Of Chapter.

    Source: geocities.com/tokyo/teahouse/3000

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