________________________
    /                        \
    |  Vengeance And A Half   |
    \________________________/

Thanks to my pre-readers:
Ben
aevan
ukie	
Kevin D. Hammel     http://www.geocities.com/~khammel/ff/index.html

Visit my website at
http://www.users.fl.net.au/~fire

What has happened:
Nothing, this is the first chapter, silly.


Part 1: In Cold Blood
=====================

Ryoga gave a feral grin. The malicious hatred in his smile was 
emphasised all the more by the presence of a pair of large fangs that 
showed through whenever he smiled or shouted. Normally, Ryoga had very 
little to smile about, so he just shouted in anger at his eternal 
rival. Today he did have something to smile about, so he threw his head 
back and yelled in ecstasy.

"With this, I shall finally have the revenge that I so deserve! Saotome 
Ranma, the next day that we meet shall be your last among the living!"

Laughing madly, Ryoga walked down the hill he was on, blindly knocking 
over small trees and rocks. Branches scratched him and divots 
continually tried to trip him, but what did he need to worry about 
minor pains like that? Clenched tightly within one palm, Ryoga held the 
key to his every dream: the defeat of Saotome Ranma.

There was no doubt that Ranma was the single person in existence that 
caused all of Ryoga's hardship. Ryoga could not think of a single 
reason why someone would dedicate their life to making him miserable, 
but Ranma obviously had some reason. No-one could cause as much pain to 
Ryoga unless they were doing it deliberately, which obviously meant 
that all of Ranma's life had been dedicated to causing Ryoga's 
suffering.

Well, that suffering would end soon. Ryoga held in his hand a scroll 
that described the ultimate fighting technique. A technique so powerful 
that it was kept as a secret from almost everyone who would seek it. 
Only Ryoga had been worthy of the knowledge, and now he would use it to 
defeat Ranma. According to the young man that he had met only a couple 
of hours ago, Ryoga was slightly north of Tokyo. His victim was only a 
day's walk away, two days to be safe. Two days would also give Ryoga 
time to keep practising the Shi Shi Hokodan. 

It was funny how fate works some times. Just yesterday, Ryoga had been 
slightly misplaced. Not that he was lost, Ryoga was too good a martial 
artist to possibly get lost, he was just a little uncertain where he 
was. Things were normally bad enough when he was... misplaced... in a 
forest or a desert, but underground was even worse. 

Without being sure just how the pigtailed martial artist had done it, 
Ryoga was sure that it must have been Ranma's fault that he had been 
lost in a seemingly endless series of mines. With his limited store of 
patience already exhausted, Ryoga was almost ready to resort to 
desperate measures. He had been lost underground before, but now since 
Cologne had taught him the breaking point, it had never really been 
much of a problem. 

Ryoga went through his maps to see if any of them showed the layouts 
for the disused mine that he was in. He had still been reading over 
them when a bent old man had happened upon him in the cave. For some 
strange reason, the man had believed that Ryoga had been lost, despite 
the fact that the lost boy was sure that it was really just some 
hideous trick that Ranma had played on him. 

"Errr. It's a nasty set of caves we've got down here."

"Eh? Oh, I didn't see you there. I don't suppose you know which way the 
subway is, do you?"

The old miner laughed a little. "No, Boy. No subways down here. They 
save them for the city."

Ryoga held up a random map. "But... I thought this was Kyoto..."

"Kyoto? How'd you get that idea?"

"Well, that's were I fell into the hole. I just kept walking for a 
while and ended up here."

The old man looked concerned and stepped closer to Ryoga. "You sure you 
didn't bump your head when you fell in? We aren't anywhere near Kyoto."

Ryoga gave a nervous chuckle and scratched the back of his head. "I 
guess I must have been mistaken. It's these maps you see. They're all 
the same."

"Mmmm." The old man nodded wisely. "Well, Boy, just follow me and we'll 
be out of here in no time."

The old miner - as he revealed himself to be - had not been lying. Only 
another ten minutes walk saw them back on the surface. Ryoga looked 
around squinting in the bright light of the day and bowed deeply to the 
miner. "Thank you so much for getting me out of there. I need to get 
back to Tokyo as soon as possible."

"Oh? What’s in Tokyo? Your girlfriend?"

So much blood rushed to Ryoga's face as he blushed, there was none left 
to operate his brain at normal capacity. Alternatively it was just the 
thought of Akane as his girlfriend that left him bereft of cognisant 
speech. "Well... No... But... That is... I haven't... And she... I... 
Arrrg! It all Ranma's fault!"

"Whoa, Boy, whoa! Calm down there. You'll burst a blood vessel or 
something. This Ranma boy trying to steal your girl?"

Snarling in almost-repressed frustration, Ryoga punched out at a tree, 
causing the great trunk to shake and begin to keel over. "Saotome 
Ranma. The most evil man in existence. It is because of him that I am 
out here training. Only when I am good enough can I return and free 
Akane from his clutches."

"Training?"

"I'm a martial artist, and the only way that I can defeat Ranma is to 
find a new technique that he will not be able to defeat. That's why I 
went training. If I can find the right attack..."

The man lead Ryoga back to a shack that amazingly looked like it may 
have been both older and in worse shape than the miner. The floor was 
littered with old picks, shovels and rock samples, while the walls were 
covered in pictures of men who had been rendered unrecognisable by the 
masses of dirt and dust clinging to their faces. After rooting around 
in a chest for a while, the old miner came up with a scroll of paper 
that he presented to Ryoga.

"This here's an ancient way of clearing your way out of mine fall-ins. 
Can't rightly say that I ever got it to work myself, but being a 
martial artist and all, maybe you can. Sure hopes this helps you with 
you're lady friend and all."

Walking into a small, nameless town, Ryoga grinned to himself, but he 
managed to keep the laughter down to a low chuckle. Mothers still drew 
their children away from him, and men stepped out of his way, but no-
one was actively running away, and that was good enough. It was three 
days ago that the miner had given him the scroll. For some amazing 
reason, the attack seemed to come so easily to him that Ryoga knew he 
would be able to defeat Ranma this time.

All he needed to do was concentrate on his feelings, just like the 
instructions said. After a cave in, when you are trapped and the air is 
running out, you feel frightened and depressed. Concentrate on those 
feelings then learn how to free them. For a man plagued by the thrice-
accursed Saotome Ranma, concentrating on feelings of depression came 
easily. 

Ryoga had been completely delighted when he had first released his 
attack, it was not as strong as the scroll described, but it would 
certainly do against someone as weak as Ranma. With the force of a 
bullet, Ryoga had been able to channel his depression into a weapon. He 
named the attack the Shi Shi Hokodan or Roaring Lion Bullet, and now he 
was going to destroy Ranma with it.

A brief stop in the post office was all Ryoga needed before he set out 
for Tokyo. Two days walk, at most. Just two days until he could have 
Ranma within his grasp. This time, he would emerge victorious. He would 
be the one to finally he able to walk up to Akane and take her in his 
arms. He would be able to hold her, and finally admit his love. Then, 
slowly, as she looked up at him with adoration in her eyes, Ryoga would 
lower his face to her perfect lips and...

A sharp blow to the head from behind brought Ryoga's attention back to 
the present. Grinning sheepishly, he apologised to the postmaster for 
just crushing one of his post boxes. That silly box should not have 
been where he was walking anyway.

Giving the postmaster the letter that he had written this morning, 
Ryoga grinned yet again. His challenge for Ranma was sent now. In two 
days time, he would meet Ranma, and then Ranma would meet his maker. 
There was nothing Ranma could do to possibly resist his new attack. 
Ryoga would crush him like an insect. 

A quick check of his map showed that Ryoga needed to head south to 
Tokyo. Squinting against the glare of the setting sun, Ryoga boosted 
his energy with the lovely thought of Ranma's corpse falling limply 
from his hands as he laughed and laughed and laughed.

The villagers gave wide berth to the insanely laughing man. Something 
about him suggested great danger.

*	*	*

"What was so important that we had to skip lunch to come here?"

The person queried made no attempt to answer verbally.

"Oh, I see. Let me check that again... Mmmmm."

With her back against a stack of gymnastic mats, Michiru held tightly 
to her friend and playfully fought with her tongue as she ran her hands 
through the short blonde hair in her grasp. Opening her eyes briefly, 
Michiru found herself staring straight back into a set of green eyes 
that were inflamed with passion. Less than an inch from her own, 
Michiru was almost startled by the intensity that they held.

Breaking for breath, Michiru pulled the blonde next to her and gently 
nibbled on an ear as she spoke softly. "You looked so serious. Is there 
something the matter?"

Haruka looked down at her smaller friend and smiled. Michiru might have 
been shorter than Haruka, but she was by no means small herself. 
Perhaps that was one of the reasons that Haruka was so often mistaken 
for a boy. With a short, boyish haircut and her naturally tall, lean 
frame, Haruka could easily pass herself off as an effeminate looking 
boy, especially at a distance. The fact that she normally chose to wear 
a boy's school uniform or men's clothes only aided the image.

It was by no means a deliberate attempt to deceive people. Many saw 
through it immediately, and just assumed that Haruka's appearance was a 
fashion statement. Others leapt to the assumption that she wished she 
was a boy, or perhaps she thought she was one. This led them to believe 
that Haruka preferred to dress and act like one. That was not quite the 
truth, as Haruka was quite sure she was a woman, and entirely glad of 
the fact, she just felt more comfortable dressed that way.

Then there were people like Michiru... But that was hardly true, there 
was no-one like Michiru. Michiru was special in every way, and defined 
her existence in some inexplicable manner that made her unlike everyone 
else, while allowing her to blend in at the same time. Haruka slid her 
long fingers through the light green locks of hair that cascaded down 
Michiru's shoulder and lowered her mouth for another kiss.

"Nothing is the matter so long as you are with me."

Playfully, Michiru accepted the bait that was dangling so obviously. 
"And if I'm not with you?"

"Well, then, I guess I'll just have to find someone else... Kotomi in 
3-C is pretty cute. And you know I'm a sucker for girls with green 
hair."

"Oh, really? I'll have to find that out for myself." Interlacing her 
hands behind Haruka's back, Michiru held her close. "But I thought you 
preferred blondes..."

"Humph. The day I prefer blondes is the day you dye your hair. It's the 
eyes, I think. You just have the most beautiful eyes."

"And you say the sappiest things some times. I thought I was supposed 
to be the artist, poetic one."

Haruka grinned. "I won't tell if you won't."

"Only so long as you give me something not to tell about. Owww! You 
cheeky devil!"

"Shhh. Not so loud. Besides, it was only a little pinch."

Releasing her hands from behind Haruka, Michiru let the taller girl 
lean back against the stack of gymnastic mats too. They had only been 
dating for a short while, and it had never really been an official sort 
of thing. They just seemed to find each other the perfect fit, the 
right companion at any time of the day. Despite the recent developments 
in their relationship, the two had known each other for several years, 
and Michiru could read the faint tenseness in Haruka's face that most 
people would have missed.

"There is something worrying you, isn’t there? It's not me, but 
something's worrying you. What is it? You'll feel better when you have 
it all out."

Haruka squeezed her friend's hand and looked at the ground for a 
several long moments before speaking again. "I don't know what it is. 
All day I've had this horrible feeling that something was going to go 
wrong. You know how it is when you forget your keys or something? You 
wander around all day, trying to figure out what is missing, but it 
only dawns on you when you get home."

Michiru nodded silently and let Haruka continue. "It's like that, 
only... More. I'm not sure what I mean. It's like all day long, I've 
been waiting for someone to say: 'Hey guess what today is?' Or even: 
'Wake up, Haruka. It's all a dream.'"

Rubbing Haruka's hand between her own, Michiru delicately sought the 
correct words. "I know you're not worried about the test today. You're 
never worried about them." Ignoring Haruka's snort of derision, Michiru 
continued. "I think I know what you're feeling. Ever since I woke up, 
I've been thinking that something important was going to happen today. 
Or... Or more like it was going to happen yesterday, and I've already 
missed it."

"That's it! That's it exactly. There's all this big wait, but it's 
already happened."

The girl with flowing river-green hair frowned. "But if it's happened, 
why are we waiting?"

"Hey! Don't frown, you put lines on that pretty face!"

"Oh, and I suppose you think you could provide a distraction?"

"I could _try_... That is, if you really wanted me to..."

Lunch passed far to quickly. By that night, neither of them had 
discovered what it was they were waiting for, nor had they found any 
clues to a momentous event that had passed them by. A week and more 
would pass in conventional bliss, but noting would come of their 
feelings.

*	*	*

"Hello, Ranma-kun, Akane-chan. How was you're day at school?"

"Good thanks, Kasumi."

Akane scowled at the man everyone insisted was her fiance. "Well, other 
than having to be around this idiot all day, mine was just fine."

Watching Akane stomp off to her room so that she could get changed, 
Ranma settled himself against a wall and watched Kasumi for a moment. 
She was tidying again, and it made Ranma worry that tidying and 
cleaning was all she did, even when he was not around during the day. 
"How was your day, Kasumi?"

"My day was very nice thank you, Ranma-kun. We had several lovely 
little birds come and visit the Koi pond today. They really seem so 
happy. I think it must be because you and your father keep stirring up 
all the little worms for them when you fall in." 

Watching Kasumi's beatific smile, Ranma nodded nervously. Did anyone 
else ever pay that much attention to the birds and things, or was it 
just his someday sister-in-law? Not that he would want to marry Akane 
or anything at all like that. It was just...

"We got another letter today from one of your little friends. It's so 
nice how Ryoga-kun tries to stay in touch when he goes training." 

Taking the letter, Ranma smiled at the eldest Tendo daughter. It was 
hard to do anything else in her presence. She was just too kind. Almost 
like the mother that he never had. "Kasumi, Ryoga gets lost. It's not 
like he means to go somewhere."

"But he still finds time to send his friends mail. That's so sweet."

With a deadpan voice, Ranma hated to burst her bubble, but he felt she 
deserved to know the truth. "It's a death threat. He says he's going to 
be here tomorrow and he's coming to kill me."

Kasumi's eyes sparkled as she hid a small laugh with her hand. "Oh, 
that Ryoga. He's always so funny."

Ranma might have been going to say something else, but his father chose 
that moment to come into the room. Ripping the letter out of Ranma's 
hand, he stared down at it for a few moments before thumping Ranma over 
the head with one meaty hand. "Boy, you are a disgrace! A personal 
challenge is the deepest commitment! You should be training, striving 
to better yourself. While Ryoga has been off forging his body on the 
road as Tendo and I once did, you've been lazing around the house. 
You've gotten soft, Boy!"

"Gotten soft? What's all this then?" Ranma attempted to poke his father 
in his stomach. While it was a considerable target, the elder Saotome 
skipped back out of range and waved the letter at Ranma.

"Boy, you should learn to respect what your father teaches you. Why, 
the only thing that's more important to a martial artist honour than a 
challenge is obeying his parents and marrying Akane. If you---"

When Ranma kicked his father into the pond, he idly wondered whether 
Kasumi was right. They certainly did stir up the dirt in the pond, and 
they were always digging divots out of the grass. Maybe the birds did 
like them, but he would have bet all his savings that the Koi hated 
them with a vengeance.

"You were about to say somethin', Old Man?"

The dripping panda held up a sign, but Ranma had already turned around 
and missed it. At the sound of footsteps, he looked back inside to see 
Akane walking down the stairs. Sometimes he wondered why she bothered 
to get changed after school. The school uniform was a long dress, 
covering a white blouse. Well, now she seemed to have changed into a 
reddish-pink dress of almost exactly the same design. Just to really 
stand out, rather than wearing the white blouse, it was a yellow one. 
Yellow socks too, he noted absently. Well, even if it did look good on 
her, no-one would ever accuse a tomboy of having clothing sense.

"Hey, Akane! Did the school just change its colours or what?"

A serving tray in his face was the only reply that she deigned to give. 
By the time he had prized the tray away so that he could see again, 
Akane was already strapping on her shoes. As he dropped the tray on the 
table again and wandered over to stand behind her, Ranma idly noted 
that she was not wearing the green jumper that she favoured with this 
combination. That must mean she was only going out for a little while. 
Nothing to worry about then. 

"So wotcha doin' tomboy?"

Without even looking, Akane swept her right arm backwards to where she 
knew he was standing. Growling in frustration at the ease that he 
jumped her strike, she continued avoid looking at him and buckled the 
strap on her second shoe. 

"If you really must know, I'm going out to shopping for a while. It's 
Yuka's birthday next week, and unlike some people, I actually care 
enough about others to remember these sorts of things and get them a 
present."

'I wonder if she knows my birthday', Ranma thought as he watched her 
stand up and look around. 'I know hers. Already got my money saved up 
and everything. Know exactly what I'm gunna get her this time. 'Course 
she needs a beauty treatment more than she needs what I've got planned, 
but hey, not everyone can look as good as I do.'

"You ain't goin' too far are you? You know they still got problems with 
demons and stuff."

"Right, Ranma. That happens, what, once a week or something? Besides, 
everyone knows all you've got to do is run for a while and the Senshi 
will get it. It's not like I'm stupid enough to try and take one on or 
something."

"Hey, are you saying I'm dumb enough to try? Not that I'd loose or 
nothin', I just got better things to do with my time, is all."

A sign caught Ranma unawares and knocked him to the ground. Spinning it 
around, the panda looming in the entry way let Akane read what it said. 
Looking from the supine Ranma to the smiling bear, she kept her face 
neutral. "You're taking Ranma away for training?"

"" The panda spun the sign again. ""

"Whaddya mean, 'catch up'?"

""

"See what, you stupid old bear?" While he was busy yelling at his 
father and trying to read the next sign, Genma was using the 
opportunity to catch him with a surprise hit to the back of the head. 
With Ranma unconscious at his feet, the huge furry form bowed to Akane 
and presented another sign. "" Then: ""

Watching the panda drag its unconscious son through the house, Tendo 
Soun could not help but comment on the matter. "Saotome-kun. Would it 
not have been wiser to allow Ranma to escort Akane as she went 
shopping? You know what girls like for presents, jewellery, things like 
that. Perhaps Ranma might have been spurred to buy her an engagement 
ring if he saw the right one while waiting for her in the store."

Nodding its head, the panda growled something briefly. Thanking Kasumi 
again as a human, he pushed his glasses back onto his nose and let some 
of the hot water drain off. "True, true, Tendo-kun. But just remember 
this:"

Genma struck a pose and pointed at his son. "Absence makes the heart 
grow fonder!"

Sitting down again, Genma casually leaned an elbow on his son's head as 
he spoke. "While I am sure that my ungrateful son loves your daughter 
and is just waiting for the right moment to marry her, I think this 
will help them along. 
"Think of it. A week apart. I will work on Ranma's training, and the 
whole time the two of them will be apart. After a week without seeing 
her loving smile or feeling Akane's tender touch, the boy will be 
begging to return home. Why, I bet that by the time he is back, Ranma 
will be tearing his hair out that he was ever separated from her."

There was a sudden motion, and Ranma appeared in front of the two men 
with both of the Saotome's backpacks already full. "A week without that 
tomboy? You got yourself a deal! Let's go training, Pop."

Slightly taken aback by the new enthusiasm, Genma paled on his 
brilliant plan. Something that Ranma liked obviously must have holes in 
it. "Wait! Wait! I've just remembered! What about Ryoga! We should stay 
here and train!"

"Ha! You can't get out of it that easily, Old Man! Ryoga ain't gunna be 
here for a week at least. Come on! We're goin'!" Dragging his now 
reluctant father, Ranma marched out of the house. Akane could take care 
of herself easily enough. No matter how tough the demons were that 
sometimes came around, they were pretty rare. The chances of one of 
them showing up was pretty slim. Besides, a tomboy with legs as thick 
and covered in muscle as her should have no problems running away from 
one.

A week with Akane or any other fiancees? It would be paradise, even if 
he did have his old man along.

*	*	*

Setsuna screamed in agony.

More precisely: Sailor Pluto screamed in agony. The agony that only a 
Guardian Of Time could possibly know. Clutching her aching head in 
pain, Sailor Pluto staggered back to her feet and braced herself with 
the time staff. She had not even realised she had fallen down until she 
needed to get up, the pain had been so great. Something had gone wrong. 
Something had gone fundamentally wrong in time.

The pain that had been caused when the Dark Moon Family had inserted 
themselves into history had been bad enough, but that was the sort of 
paradox that the guardian of the Gates Of Time was there to protect 
against. She had used all of her power and limited their invasion to a 
time when the Sailor Senshi existed and were available to fight them. 
She had also managed to shut down almost all of their access to the 
time stream. 

Only by expending huge amounts of dark energy could Dark Moon Family 
travel through time at all. But they were, and it was hurting Sailor 
Pluto badly. Something this strong... something like this meant that 
they had not only crossed time when they should not, they were 
violating the very laws of causality.

Looking through the Gates Of Time, Sailor Pluto shuddered. Violating 
causality? They were ripping the very concept to shreds! Causality 
required that cause preceded effect. That was normally a pretty easy 
thing to do; drop a rock off a cliff and it falls. Tell someone that 
their loved ones were in danger, and they go to try and help. But... 
what if they could travel in time? They would arrive before there ever 
was a danger, they would never have needed to go back and save their 
friends. Paradox.

When Prince Diamond had returned to the past, he had not returned with 
the usual linear increase, he had left before anyone arrived to tell 
him to leave. Prince Diamond, Black Lady and the Wiseman had all 
returned to a time over a week before the Senshi and Small Lady had 
gone to the future. That was the agony she had felt. A wave of paradox 
had rippled out of the Gates and struck everything within the time 
stream. 

When Emerald - one of Prince Diamond's loyal but evil servants - had 
returned to the future, she had returned as a failure. It had been her 
mission to open nexuses in Sailor Moon's present that would allow dark 
energy from Nemesis to be sent through. Nemesis was the giant asteroid 
that the Dark Moon family had been exiled to by Neo-Queen Serenity, and 
it was their base as they attempted to usurp the queen's power. 

Prince Diamond's plan was simple and elegant. All the best plans 
involving time travel were simple, things were confusing enough as they 
were. By going back in time to Sailor Moon's present, they planned to 
bring dark energy from Nemesis in the future to Tokyo in the past. Once 
they had gathered enough dark energy at their chosen time, the Dark 
Moon family would have been able to run rampant over Sailor Pluto's 
protection of the time stream. When that happened, Prince Diamond would 
reign supreme. 

With Pluto's power broken by the masses of dark energy in twentieth 
century Tokyo, Prince Diamond had intended to bring Nemesis to Earth in 
that era. With the mighty power that he possessed, he would have been 
able to prevent Sailor Moon from ever being able to found Crystal 
Tokyo. The future that Sailor Pluto was striving to protect would have 
been destroyed without ever having existed. 

The hard work of Sailor Moon and her Senshi had been all that had 
stopped the first two attempts of Prince Diamond's people. First 
Rubius, then Emerald had been defeated. Rubius had died, but Emerald 
had returned to the future to let Diamond know the details of her 
defeat. Fearing that Chibi-Usa's mother, Sailor Moon herself in the 
future, was in grave danger, all of the Inner Senshi had followed 
Emerald to the future.

All of this unwarranted time travel had brought untold pain to the 
Guardian of Time, as she strove to help the time stream stay whole and 
undamaged. Normally there would be no problem, especially since Emerald 
had died not long after her return to the future. Unfortunately, Prince 
Diamond and his retinue had decided to make another trip. It was that 
third fateful trip backwards that caused the damage.

In the time that Prince Diamond was travelling to, Emerald had only 
just arrived. She was still alive, and had hardly even begun her reign 
of terror within Tokyo. By returning to the time when she was alive, 
Prince Diamond would be able to lend her his greater power and greater 
intelligence. Now the possibility existed that she would not fail. 
Further, from Prince Diamond's point of view, he would have seen her 
dead, and now she would be alive again.

Such a catastrophe would endanger the entire process of time. The very 
sequence of cause and effect was endangered. When this happened, 
ripples of paradox would appear within the time stream. Normally these 
were tiny eddies, unnoticed by anyone as people's wishes or strange 
events modified time slightly. An event of this magnitude would cause 
paradox ripples that would change reality spontaneously. From her 
position outside of time, Sailor Pluto would be in the perfect position 
to witness these changes... She was also in the perfect position to be 
struck by the immeasurable energy that these paradox waves represented.

Feeling her strength returning after the impact of that first wave, 
Sailor Pluto raised her time staff. She might not be able to fix what 
was damaged, but she could prevent any further travel to this period... 
at least for a while. The time stream needed to heal itself.

As she was about to insert her staff into the time stream and seal the 
corridor of time, her blood ran cold. There, moving through time, were 
the Inner Senshi. Her Queen, her friends, the only reason she had stood 
vigil on this accursed Gate for thousands of years. If she sealed the 
time stream now, they would be lost forever. Small Lady would never 
come into existence; the Dark Moon Family would never have come into 
existence. This whole chain of events would unravel, and centuries of 
the time stream would collapse in a paradox.

Her momentary hesitation allowed the Senshi to drop out of the time 
stream and back into 'reality'. Even as they vanished from her sight, 
there was a bright, brief flash. 

"NO!"

The Senshi had gone to the wrong time! They had followed Prince 
Diamond! Back into their own past, Days before they left, in a time 
before they even knew they could travel to the future. Scrambling 
backwards from the Time Gate, she tried to shut the massive doors, but 
already she could see it was too late. The damage had been done.

Out in the time stream a ripple had formed, like dropping a pebbling 
into water, but the time stream was no ordinary water. As the first 
small wave washed over her, Sailor Pluto was thrown back from the Gate 
by the impact. Temporal energies blasted through the Time Gate like a 
blast furnace, ripping and tearing at the fragile reality she lived in. 
In her position as Guardian Of Time, Sailor Pluto was intimately linked 
to the time stream. She could feel it as no other living soul could. 
When the first minor ripple of the paradox rolled over her, her mind 
exploded in agony, and her stomach clenched in nausea. 

After writhing on the floor for several minutes - subjectively - Sailor 
Pluto tried to come to grips with what had happened. A glance showed 
her that this was the first of many paradox ripples, and they were 
getting bigger. Already she could see damage occurring to the timeline. 
The duplicate Senshi had vanished, leaving only those that had been 
time travelling. She had almost located another eddy that was beginning 
to form when the next wave of paradox washed over her. 

She opened her eyes. She had no idea how long she had been out, but she 
needed to see when the next wave would hit. Rolling to her hands and 
knees, Sailor Pluto's stomach revolted, and she lost the struggle to 
maintain both her dignity and her lunch. Judging by the blood staining 
the floor now, she would not survive a larger wave. 

Crawling over to the Gate, she looked into the stream at where the eddy 
had solidified. No! They could not start yet! The Inner Senshi could 
not handle that sort of enemy as they were, let alone face the Dark 
Moon Family and the Death Busters both at the same time. It would take 
months of preparation and training for the young girls to master the 
powers that they would need to be able to battle Mistress 9's team of 
Witches and the Daimons that they controlled.

Sailor Pluto was the Guardian Of Time. It was her job to prevent these 
sorts of things. She had tried, the Kami knows she had tried, but she 
had failed. The best she could do now was descend into the right time 
and try to repair the damage. 

As the next wave was about to crash over the Gate Of Time, Sailor Pluto 
knew there was not enough time to do her job properly. All she could do 
was her best, and hope it was enough. In the one movement, Sailor Pluto 
exerted her full power. Maybe... just maybe, she saved the world. 

As the image of the oldest Senshi faded from the no-space between time, 
the wave crashed over her. Amidst the indescribable agony and body 
wrenching power, Sailor Pluto sent the summoning order to the Outer 
Senshi. Perhaps, even without her training and guidance, they would 
make the difference needed in this world gone mad. 

As she left, Sailor Pluto also sealed the Gates. That would stop anyone 
entering from here, and the chaos in the time stream would lock them 
out there. There would be no return for Prince Diamond in the near 
future. Exerting what little power was left in her dying body, Sailor 
Pluto acted as oil on water to the time stream. One week backwards, 
that was all that was needed. If she could provide the help the Senshi 
would so desperately need... Perhaps she could limit the damage to what 
had already occurred...

*	*	*

Kaiou Michiru was playing the piano, thinking of the recital she had 
coming up in two weeks. Today at school she and Haruka had both felt 
the strangest feelings of deja-vu and premonition. It was as though 
they were waiting for something, but it was not the first time they 
were waiting. She was midway through a phrase when the summon call to 
the Outer Senshi hit her like a lightning bolt from a clear sky. 

A small portion of ancient memories had flooded her system when they 
cut off like a projector out of film. Gasping in shock, she held her 
head. She knew things... many things... terrible things from history. A 
history of a Kingdom that was burned to the ground by invasion. She 
also knew that the Earth was in danger again. That was all she knew. 
There was a threat out there, and she was needed. So was Sailor Uranus.

Who was Sailor Uranus?

All her battered memory could return was an image of love and 
friendship. Sailor Uranus was someone she had known before. Someone she 
loved. But... who?

A violent crashing sound from the next room and brought her attention 
back to the present. Running across the expensive wooden flooring, 
Michiru ran to the door then cautiously put her head around the corner. 
There was a tall woman lying on the floor. If Michiru's first guess was 
right, she must have fallen out of mid-air and landed on the side 
table, smashing it, and the expensive vase and flowers on it. But that 
was impossible... wasn't it?

Cautiously walking over to the motionless woman Michiru studied her. 
She had very long green hair, and a mature face of indeterminate age. 
Her eyes were closed, her breathing shallow and she seemed to be 
unconscious. As Michiru took in the hideous burns down the right hand 
side of the stranger's body, and the way blood still trickled from her 
ears and the corner of her mouth, she thought that perhaps 
unconsciousness was a blessing.

Michiru had almost dialled an ambulance for the strange woman when her 
new memories brought her to a stop. Sailor Pluto: Guardian Of Time. 
This was one woman who she could not afford to place in the hands of 
the normal hospital system.

By the time Michiru had placed the woman in a bed upstairs and was 
tending her wounds, some of her memories were beginning to sort 
themselves out. This was Sailor Pluto, and she was Sailor Neptune. 
Somewhere out there was Sailor Uranus, her closest friend and partner. 
When next they met as Senshi, Michiru would be able to identify her. 
Blue skirt and yellow bow. She would have two allies when Sailor Pluto 
recovered. 

Michiru held her aching head and tried to remember some more details. 
She must know Sailor Uranus. Everything could depend on it. After a 
time, she gave up, shaking her head disconsolately. Relaxing on the 
stool near Pluto for a few moments, Michiru brought the image of Sailor 
Uranus into her mind and held tightly to all of the warm feelings that 
went with it. She loved her. She could not remember who Sailor Uranus 
was, but she knew that she loved her.

When she had started dating Tenou Haruka a few months ago, Michiru had 
not really thought of herself as a lesbian. It was just Haruka, she 
told herself. Haruka was just so perfect, anyone would love her. She 
was not really a lesbian; the only girl she loved was Haruka. Now that 
she had received some of her memories from when she was Sailor Neptune, 
Michiru wondered about her assertions. Smiling slightly, Michiru calmly 
decided that if being a lesbian meant that she found someone with whom 
she shared such a great love, there was no problem at all.

Both Sailors Neptune and Uranus were women, there was no doubt about 
that. Michiru was entirely willing to admit that she was Sailor 
Neptune, the memories in her head refused to allow her to believe 
otherwise. Fighting down a momentary fear, Michiru sincerely hoped that 
whoever Sailor Uranus was, also received sufficient memories. When they 
met - Michiru was sure that she and Uranus would meet all too soon - 
she knew that she might be able to last for all of ten seconds before 
she fell in love with Sailor Uranus all over again. There was simply 
something undeniably attractive about the blonde warrior that drew 
Michiru to her.

It pained her to this what the arrival of Sailor Uranus would do to her 
relationship with Haruka. Admittedly, both targets of her affection 
were tall blondes, but the chances of them being the same person were 
almost nil. Michiru had been alive long enough to realise that some 
things seemed to happen by luck, but others are fated. The thought of 
her current love being the same person as she knew she would come to 
love in the approaching months was more of a coincidence that she 
thought that she could accept.

It would hurt Haruka dreadfully when they broke up. That in turn would 
hurt Michiru, but there was nothing that she could do about it. She 
knew in her heart that her love of Uranus was destined. It was written 
in the stars, set in the very planets that powered the two magical girl 
defenders. She knew that she would love the other Senshi, and there was 
nothing that could stop it. Nothing could keep them apart, not 
distance, not hardship, not even war or destruction...

If she was really lucky, she would never see Sailor Saturn. From what 
little her memories contained, the girl was the Senshi Of Destruction. 
She was the one who held the Silence, the power to end the world. 
Alone, she could undo any good that the rest of the Sailors combined 
could do. All weapon, all business, and no compassion. That was all she 
could remember of the Senshi Of Destruction. She might be wrong, but 
against that sort of risk, there could be no middle ground. Sailor 
Saturn was either on Saturn, still asleep or a threat. With unknown 
enemies teeming around them, they could ill afford the vigil necessary 
to ensure that Saturn kept her peace.

Stopping part way through the job of cleaning Pluto's wounds, Michiru 
paused with an intake of breath. She knew who their enemies must be, 
and she only hoped that Sailor Uranus would come to the same 
conclusions. For the last few weeks, demons of some sort had ranged 
unchecked through Tokyo, killing on a whim. The papers claimed that 
they were lead by a woman of incredible power calling herself 
Kaolinite. 

The next time Kaolinite decided to attack people, she would have a 
surprise in store.

*	*	*

Ranma followed Akane into the house and watched as she walked up the 
stairs ahead of him. Her strength and training seemed to give her that 
extra spring in her step as she walked. Standing at the bottom of the 
stairs, he admired the way that her calves looked so firm and trim, not 
like some of the other girls at school, who seemed to be about as thin 
as his father. Ranma shuddered at the thought.

"Good idea, Akane. Better change into somethin' more nicer or you'll 
never get a husband. Somethin' like a robe and a veil. Don' wanna scare 
'em off too quick, do ya?"

The slamming of her door was the only answer he got, so he turned 
around and grinned. He had to remind her every now and again how things 
were, otherwise she might start to think he liked her. Ranma snorted. 
Him, like a tomboy? Not much chance of that happening.

"So Kasumi... What's up?"

Kasumi smiled, and Ranma could have almost sworn that he heard little 
birds start chirping in the background. "Just a little cooking and 
cleaning. Oh, your little friend Ryoga-kun sent you a letter today."

"Kasumi, Ryoga's not exactly my friend. You know he's always trying to 
kill me an' stuff."

Impossibly, Kasumi smiled even more. "Isn't it nice? You two are always 
playing around. Such good friends!"

Ranma waited a few moments for Kasumi to give him the letter, but she 
seemed to be concentrating on cleaning the tatami mats in the main 
dining room. Hating to interrupt her since she was the one that seemed 
to do all the work here, Ranma coughed slightly. "Oh, yes, Ranma-kun? 
Are you after a snack? I could make something for you if you like."

"Nah, I was just wonderin' if you had the letter..."

"Oh dear, I'm sorry. Your father took it already. I think he was saying 
something earlier to Father about a training trip for you." Kasumi was 
so distraught by her perceived faux par that her smile dimmed down to a 
level associated with normal humans.

Turning to search for his father, Ranma was greeted by the weight of a 
full pack slamming into his chest. Acting on reflex, he caught it, and 
managed to stop himself from stumbling into Kasumi.

"Sloppy, Boy, very sloppy."

"Aww, shut up, Old Man."

"This..." Genma flourished a piece of paper. "This is a letter of 
challenge. A man to man duel. For the honour of the Saotome school of 
Anything Goes Martial Arts you must accept this challenge and defeat 
your opponent!"

Holding his pack in one hand, Ranma tried to snatch his unread mail 
back, but Genma moved with a speed defying his bulk. "Wait, Boy! The 
chances of you beating anyone at the moment is about as slim as---"

"As you are?" Ranma supplied helpfully.

Pushing his glasses back on his face, Genma looked as serious as 
possible. "Ranma, it saddens you father to see how slack you have 
become in your training. So... For the next week, you and I shall train 
in the mountains. Only when we return will you be ready to defeat Ryoga 
and his new, secret technique!"

"He's got a new secret technique?"

"Indeed he has." Genma angled his head to catch the afternoon sun off 
his glasses and looked serious. "A technique known for its unstoppable 
power. A technique so strong, that few are capable of mastering it, and 
fewer still are capable of teaching it. Only one such as I has---"

"You don't know what it is, do you?"

"I... Shut up, Boy! Put your shoes on! We leave immediately."

"So, we gunna go downtown and see if we can fight a demon?"

"Don't be stupid boy! I said this was training. You're nowhere near 
ready to take on something like that. Of course, I could handle three 
or four of them, but you still have much to go before you..."

Kasumi watched as Ranma walked out the front door with his father and 
smiled, again. Those two, they always had such fun together. At least 
this little trip would give the fish a chance to rest. She knew that 
they must get very tired having to dodge every time Ranma or his father 
fell into the Koi pond. At least the little birds seemed to enjoy the 
extra turning the grass and pond received.

Speaking of fathers, Kasumi was so proud of the way that Saotome-san 
was willing to take his son training. She had heard him and Father 
discussing it after they read Ranma's letter. Genma was so willing to 
help his son be happy with her little sister that he was willing to go 
without Kasumi's dinners for a week. Of course, Saotome-san did not 
know that Kasumi was planning Sukiyaki tonight, but she was sure that 
he would have been willing to take Ranma away no matter what was on the 
menu. Saotome-san was good like that.

Coming down the stairs, Akane straightened her dress and checked 
herself again. It was her nice red-pink dress, the one that went so 
well with the yellow shirt and socks. She knew that Ranma liked it, 
because he always teased her more when she wore it. Of course, to tease 
her about it, he had to keep looking at her. Casting her eyes around 
the room, Akane tried to find her fiance. Not that she cared what he 
thought, she just wanted to know where he was so she could hit him when 
he said something stupid.

"Hey, Kasumi! Where's the idiot?"

"Akane-chan! That's no way to talk about Saotome-san, he's our guest!"

"Err, I didn’t actually mean Ranma's dad, I meant Ranma."

"Oh, I'm afraid that you've missed both of them. They just went out to 
do some training for a while."

Akane bit her lip. This was bad. She had been hoping that she could 
have convinced Ranma to go shopping with her. True, she was a martial 
artist and could take care of herself, but sometimes it's nice to have 
someone along with you. Even if they are an idiot that can’t say a 
single nice thing. 

With her brows drawing together in anger over the remarks that she knew 
Ranma would have made if he had been here, Akane staked across the room 
to the front door. "Well, I'm going out for a little while, Kasumi. 
I'll be back for dinner."

Naturally, Kasumi smiled, nodded and told her to be careful. She even 
asked if Akane wanted her fetch a jumper, but Akane declined, stating 
that she would not be out long enough to need it. Going shopping was a 
bit of a necessity at the moment, no matter how much parts of her 
quailed at the idea. She was going to Yuka's birthday in a couple of 
weeks, and she needed to get a present. 

There was nothing wrong with the shopping itself, but the idea of going 
out in the evening did set Akane's teeth on edge slightly. Evening was 
when the demons were most common, and she knew that things were pretty 
bad at the moment. Several people had died last night, and the news 
said that retail figures were going to be down this month because of 
the impact that it was having. 

Akane remembered how it had been just a few months ago. Back then, 
demons were a rarity, and you knew that you could count on the Sailor 
Senshi to help you. These days that did not always seem to hold true. 
If you got caught in the same area as a demon, you seemed to be in just 
as much danger from the Senshi as the demon. She was not sure that she 
liked the turn of events, but with as many as three attacks occurring 
in a single night, Akane was unsure what the Senshi could do.

Firmly buckling her shoes, Akane stood and glowered at the front door 
for a moment. The chances of meeting either demon or Senshi was pretty 
small. Even if she did meet them, she was a martial artist and she 
could take care of herself. There was no way that some stupid demon or 
some stupid girls in short skirts were going to keep her from getting 
Yuka's present.

With that resolve firmly in mind, Akane called out a goodbye to her 
sister and father and set off. All she would need was an hour or so.

*	*	*

She was in the car. Her seatbelt was on, keys in the ignition and 
petrol in the tank. Everything was in place, and by rights, Haruka 
should have been hurtling down the road at an unreasonably high speed. 
But she wasn't, she was simply sitting there.

Slamming the steering wheel in frustration, Haruka's palms echoed off 
the soft, absorbent leather. Any other day she would have been down the 
road without a second thought. Today was the first day that she had 
been willing to get into a car, let alone try and start it. Everyone 
has an accident at some time in their life, but for Haruka, the near-
accident two days ago was a crushing blow to her pride. It had all been 
her fault.

She had been cruising along, weaving between the traffic, enjoying the 
feeling of the wind whipping through her hair. Always a confident 
driver, Haruka cut safety margins to a minimum and below. She had been 
changing lanes, just scant inches behind a blue Mercedes when something 
had happened to her. Something that had never happened in her entire 
seventeen years.

She lost control.

Without warning, she had been assailed by a storm of sights and sounds, 
drowning out everything in the present. Wracked by the pain, her hands 
had instinctively reached for her head. Tragedy had been milliseconds 
away when the blast from a horn behind her brought her back to the 
present. Her sight had been overlain with images of paradise and war, 
and the sounds of traffic only just made it past the orchestra 
overlaying the blasts of cannons. 

Reeling in disorientation, Haruka fought the steering wheel. No longer 
her friend and an integral part of her body, the car seemed a stranger, 
other cars on the road were enemies to be avoided at all costs. 
Sweating from the effort of ignoring the onslaught of memories, her 
convertible began to shudder as her hands worked the wheel by instinct.

Unsure whether it was a triple headed demon in her rear mirror or a red 
Commodore, she did not care. It was approaching too fast for comfort. 
Popping the clutch and nailing the accelerator, Haruka wrenched the 
wheel to the left. Past the Mercedes, and confident that it was not 
really an illusionary demon behind her, she dropped the car back into 
first and slammed her foot on the brake as she was overwhelmed by the 
vision of her lover dying in a fountain of blood.

By the time she was able to open her eyes again, she was shaking like a 
leaf and less than two centimetres from a concrete barricade. 
Pedestrians passing by had looked at her strangely, but not as 
strangely as she examined herself. That had been two days ago, and this 
was the first time that she had even sat in a car since them. She had 
even called a tow truck to take the miraculously unscathed car home.

Since then she had been tempted to visit a doctor and check for food 
poisoning or some sort of drug, but two things stopped her. The first 
was her memories. She remembered things; horrible things. A kingdom so 
beautiful and perfect it wrenched her deep inside with the thought that 
she might never see it again. A kingdom destroyed by fighting; fighting 
monsters and people with so little humanity in them that only their 
appearance differed from the monsters that stalked the once perfect 
streets. Monsters like those roaming Tokyo on an alarmingly regular 
basis.

The only other thing that really stopped her from calling a doctor was 
her powers. She might have doubted the visions; she might have refused 
to believe the memories that seemed so strong and clear she knew she 
must have been there. There was no way that she could doubt her powers.

While walking home in the evening light on the night of her narrowly 
avoided accident, Haruka had sensed an evil. That was the only way that 
she could describe it. Something that was simply wrong, at odds with 
the rest of the world, a blot in need of cleaning. If she had been 
sane, she knew she would have run away immediately. Tokyo's streets 
were no longer safe at night. But while she had run, it was not away 
from this evil aura, but towards its source.

Running along for reasons she still could not understand, she had held 
up a stick she had never seen before and said words that she had never 
heard. "Uranus Planet Power! Make Up!"

She was Sailor Uranus, that was clear, but what was a Sailor Uranus? 
Even after ineffectually fighting a monster until it ran, she still had 
no notion who or what she was. Even now, two days after that attack, 
she still had no idea. She was sitting in her own car, frightened to 
drive, because she was worried that at any moment she might black out 
again. Worse, this time she might kill someone, not just scare the 
daylights out of them.

Haruka had her fingers on the keys when she felt something. There it 
was again! It was one of them... a monster, a demon, a spirit of some 
sort, she had no idea. All she knew was that she might be the only one 
in Tokyo who could stop it. Uncertain why she was trying to stop it 
other than it was her duty, Haruka jumped out of her car and again held 
aloft the small stick that seemed to come from nowhere and disappear 
back there as soon as it was used.

Pounding down the concrete at speeds that would have put an Olympic 
sprinter to shame, Sailor Uranus moved her head back and forwards, 
trying to locate the source of the aura she was tracking. Blue ankle 
boots with low heels would not have been her first choice of running 
shoes, but they certainly seemed to be giving her no problems. It must 
have been magic not practice, because she was sure that she never 
tended to wear heels of her own violition. 

Going past a corner, she slid to a stop, skidding across the ground a 
good ten meters as she slowed. With one leg still extended, she 
crouched on the other to retain her balance while stopping. The whole 
while she looked around, something as simple as balance no longer an 
issue. There! It was close! Just past the wooden fence at the end of 
the street.

Advancing a couple of dozen paces, Sailor Uranus brought her hands 
together. The first time she did this, it caught her by surprise more 
than it did her opponent. This time she was ready, and whatever she was 
attacking should have no idea that it was about to be hurt. "WORLD 
SHAKING!"

Sizzling away from her hands, the yellow magic was true to it's name. A 
miniature earthquake tore down the street, shattering the wooden fence. 
A gout of purple blood also flew into the air, making the Senshi grin 
as she closed the distance. She could not see the creature through the 
dust cloud, but she knew that it was still around. She could hear twin 
screams of pain which meant that the creature was moving away.

Searching through the smoke, she hesitate a moment. Two screams? But 
there was only one monster! Something shifted softly under her boot, 
causing Uranus to look down. Body, unconscious, one; she catalogued it 
subconsciously. Further investigation tagged it as male, 22-28, and 
non-combatant. The screaming was definitely coming from: female, 
conscious, screaming, 20-25, non-combatant in yellow dress. The 
screaming was due to the fact that her left arm was missing from the 
elbow down. 

Sailor Uranus shivered slightly. She did not know what disturbed her 
the most, the suspicion that she might have hurt the woman, that she 
had not been squeamish at the sight of the blood and bone, or her 
general lack of emotion. She felt... distant. There was a job to do, 
and she was the only one that could do it. Until that demon was dead, 
Sailor Uranus was the only person to defend Tokyo. She had to find that 
demon!

A tinkling sound as she began to resume the chase gave Uranus pause. 
Looking down, her patchy recall immediately supplied the name for the 
item she had literally stumbled across. It was bright, pink and as 
shiny as the star that it so resembled. A Heart Crystal, it was the 
physical embodiment of someone's soul. Just by the feel of it, she knew 
it must have come from the unconscious man on the ground. If she did 
not return it soon, he would die. 

Looking down at the Crystal, Sailor Uranus turned it one way then 
another. To her trained, magically aided eyes, she could see the 
emotional impurities in his soul. If a soul was pure, the Crystal would 
have been just as large, but there would have been more space in it. An 
ordinary person filled their soul with petty things, but someone that 
was purely good or evil - someone who's simple attitudes and clear 
emotions were defined by the Crystal itself - someone like this could 
actually store something there. It took powerful magic to store 
something in a Heart Crystal, and you risked killing the person if 
their soul changed too much, but it could be done.

That must have been what the demon was after. It was hunting for 
something. Hunting for a Heart Crystal that was pure enough to have 
stored whatever it was after. On the other hand, maybe it just wanted 
their energy, it did not really matter: she just had to stop them. 
Turning on her heel, Sailor Uranus pointed herself in the direction 
that she could still feel the evil. 

With a jerk, she brought herself up. Sailor Uranus could not believe 
this was happening. She had no trouble fighting demons or discovering 
she was suddenly an encyclopaedia about men's souls, but she could not 
believe that she would leave two people like this. She was even 
intending to run off still holding the Crystal.

Forcing herself to turn back to the man and his wife, Sailor Uranus 
tried to block the feeling of wasting time. Whispering quietly to 
herself, Sailor Uranus bent over the man. "I can catch the demon in a 
moment." 

"W-What?" The woman was going into shock. Blood loss, not fear, she 
noted absently. She'll pass out soon.

Uranus ignored her and returned the Crystal to the man. He should 
survive. The woman was looking at her with wide eyes. Blue lips, 
dilated pupils and shaking hands. Definitely shock. "Does it hurt?"

In confusion, the woman slowly focused on the Senshi. "W-What?"

"Does your arm hurt?"

"M-My arm?"

For the first time the woman looked down at the stump of her arm. She 
must have grabbed it unconsciously to staunch the blood, because she 
took on a horrified look of amazement. Sailor Uranus smiled. It was 
good that the shock was still blocking the pain. Uranus had no way to 
anaesthetise this other than knocking her unconscious, and that would 
be very dangerous given her blood loss.

Uranus pointed behind the woman. "Look over there."

As the woman turned, Sailor Uranus grabbed her ruined arm and placed 
the palm of one white glove over the end of it. Obviously the nerves 
still worked just fine, because the woman convulsed in pain and began 
to scream as Sailor Uranus began to channel magical power to cauterise 
the wound. The smell was terrible, and the pain must have been worse, 
because the woman was flailing around like a puppet in the hands of an 
epileptic. Uranus wondered if she would ever get the blood out of her 
glove.

With the wound burnt closed, there was no danger of the woman dying. 
Her conscience salved and her good deed done for the day, Sailor Uranus 
raced away from them. The demon had left a clear path through the 
alleys, so it was no problem to track. Within seconds all thoughts of 
the wounded civilians had been erased from her head.

When she came out onto the street, the demon was battling with another 
woman dressed almost the same as she was. Rather than Sailor Uranus' 
blue skirt and ankle boots, this person seemed to have a green motif 
that matched nicely with her hair. While she powered up her World 
Shaking, Uranus idly noted that the woman's shoes were actually sandals 
with long ties holding them to her feet and ankles. The unmistakable 
similarity in their uniforms must have meant something, but she was not 
sure what.

Releasing her World Shaking, Uranus guided it half way to it's target 
before making it veer off, avoiding demon and Senshi alike. A shop 
front exploded, sending books and paper everywhere, but Sailor Uranus 
did not even see it. Her eyes had locked with that of the other Senshi, 
and suddenly they both knew.

"You're dead... I saw you die..."

Sailor Uranus shook herself. Who said that? Herself or Sailor Neptune? 
The other Senshi had a name now, and worse, she had a history. She was 
a dead woman, brought back to life to torment Uranus. She was a woman 
that Uranus had once loved more than life itself, and now she was back. 
But Haruka already had someone else, and no matter how much she 
remembered her love for this dead woman, there was no way that she 
would throw Michiru on the scrap heap for the sake of some dead 
memories.

Of course, if they were both interested...

The rest of the world snapped back into focus when Sailor Neptune moved 
suddenly. "It's getting away! We can talk later!"

Side by side they ran down the street. Garbage and shopping bags 
littered the streets where the civilians had already run, but from the 
course the demon was taking, it would be back amongst them shortly. At 
the corner, both of them turned at exactly the same time, keeping step 
even as they ran at full speed. One more turn, and they were on another 
main thoroughfare, finally having caught up with the demon.

Even their brief moment of hesitation earlier had cost them dearly. The 
crowd was fairly thin, other than two girls, neither older than twenty. 
One of them was curled into a little ball, shaking in a doorway. The 
other was draped over the demon's arm as it extracted her Heart 
Crystal.

"Hit it! It's after those Crystals!"

World Shaking and Deep Submerge hit the demon in a pyrotechnic display 
that knocked it head over heels. It was bleeding lightly from some 
wounds, but it was still entirely combat worthy. With a lurch, it got 
back to its feet. First one, then two steps in their direction. Without 
warning, it turned and looked up at a woman in a short dress standing 
on a building. Both Senshi looked up at her too, only sensing her power 
now that she revealed herself.

"Daimon, return! I, Witch Kaolinite, command you!"

In a shimmer of light, first the Daimon, then Witch vanished. They were 
too late to hit the Daimon, but they may have been lucky enough to have 
hit the woman. Certainly the edge of the roof bore sufficient damage to 
testify to their efforts. At least their enemies had names now.

"Sailor Uranus! Are you OK? What about the girl?"

"I'm fine," she replied curtly. Must remember Michiru. "There was 
nothing we could do to save the girl. If we hadn't destroyed the Heart 
Crystal, that Daimon would have it now."

When Sailor Neptune turned to look back at the heavily damaged corpse 
lying on the road, and the other girl wailing over it, Uranus took the 
chance to flee.

"Wait! Sailor Uranus! I need to talk to you!"

Ignoring the voice was difficult. Especially since every fibre in 
Sailor Uranus' body demanded that she go back and hold onto the woman 
as tightly as she could. She knew that Sailor Neptune would not be able 
to find her, especially when she changed back into Tenou Haruka and 
began to walk home at a normal pace.

She had a lot to think about tonight, and the night was only just 
beginning. She had killed tonight. It was her first time, and she was 
sure that it would not be her last because no matter how she looked at 
it, she knew she would make the same decision every time. If it cost 
one person's life to save the world from the Daimons, she would be 
willing to make that sacrifice. Even her life or Sailor Neptune's life. 

Comforted only by the sounds of her footfalls, Haruka gnawed on her 
thumb, searching for an answer. Would she be willing to sacrifice 
Michiru's life too? She loved her more than the air she breathed. Could 
Haruka possibly make a decision that would doom the woman she loved?

*	*	*

Kasumi replaced the telephone handset into the cradle and looked 
around. Her father was disconsolately shuffling pieces around the Go 
board, unable to play a proper game without Saotome-san. Akane was 
still out shopping, but she did not think they would be able to wait 
for her. Walking quietly over to where her father sat, Kasumi composed 
her face and kneeled down on the wooden porch.

When he did not immediately look over at his eldest daughter, Kasumi 
reached out a hand and covered her father's fingers as he held a wooden 
tile. "Father?"

"Kasumi, my dear. You... you look worried."

Trying to hide her fears, Kasumi gave a brief smile and lifted his hand 
from the board. "Come on, Father. I've just received a call from 
Nabiki-chan. She... she says she's at the hospital and needs us to come 
there and pick her up."

Tears began to pour down his face. "Oh, my poor little baby! Is she all 
right, Kasumi? Was she hurt?"

Standing up, Kasumi lead her weeping father to the front door and began 
to put her shoes on. "She didn't talk to me long enough, but from the 
sound of her voice, I think she might have been in pain. Come on 
Father, I think I just heard the taxi."

The ride to the hospital was quiet and free of conversation. Despite 
her normally effusive and outgoing nature, Kasumi was too worried about 
her younger sister to engage in casual banter with the taxi driver. It 
disturbed her to be so rude as to ignore him, but she could not help 
but feel something terrible had happened to Nabiki. She was always such 
a determined girl, if she wanted to have her family come to the 
hospital, the poor girl must be in a terrible state.

Needless to say, the only sound that Soun made was that of his crying. 
He did not let up a single iota even as he was lead out of the taxi and 
into the hospital. He numbly watched as Kasumi introduced them to the 
orderly on duty at the admissions. His constant crying received a few 
strange looks, but as this was the emergency admissions desk, they were 
not entirely unused to crying casualties or their often distraught 
relatives.

Kasumi looked around and took her father's elbow to lead him down a 
corridor. She may not have ever been to this section of the hospital 
before, but she could read the signs easily enough. Not only that, but 
the kind orderly had given her nice, clear instructions on how to get 
to her sister's room. Walking down the stark white walls, Kasumi was 
struck by how similar it was to when she had come to a hospital when 
her mother had died. 

Kasumi often reminded herself that the association of her mother's 
death and hospitals had nothing to do with why she had not pursued a 
medical degree. It had just been that her family needed her, that was 
all, Kasumi reminded herself fiercely. Why, just the time that she had 
spent reading Dr Tofu's medical books and journals would have qualified 
her as a nurse if she had time to take the exams. Maybe... maybe once 
Nabiki was better and Ranma and Akane were settled... Maybe then she 
could spare some time for herself.

Stopping outside the door of a private recovery room, Kasumi paused 
briefly. If Nabiki was in pain, Kasumi knew that little sister would 
need a strong shoulder to weep on, someone to comfort her. Despite the 
way that Nabiki tried to keep her distance, the two sisters remained 
close, largely because Kasumi would never let anyone she loved drift 
out of her life.

"Are you ready, Father?"

Soun sniffled slightly, muttered something about his poor baby girl, 
and straightened his spine. After just a few moments, Soun looked more 
like the strong figure from Kasumi's youth than she could remember for 
a long time. "For... For my little Nabiki-chan, I'm always ready. 
Please, lead the way, Kasumi."

Pushing open the door, Kasumi caught a brief glimpse of Nabiki staring 
straight ahead, lost to some vision that only she could see. As soon as 
her father and elder sister entered, Nabiki wiped her face clear with 
left sleeve of her hospital robe and gave them a brave smile. Before 
her big sister and father were fully into the room, Nabiki had poured 
five cups of tea and had placed them on a table beside the bed.

The fact that Nabiki had poured the tea left handed had not gone 
unnoticed by either of the Tendos as they entered the room. The 
reasoning was quite painfully apparent, in the form of a large white 
cast that covered Nabiki's right forearm, making any sort of movement 
difficult, and presumably quite painful.

While Kasumi walked to Nabiki's left and took her hand, Soun lost the 
composure her had briefly maintained. Breaking down in tears, he rushed 
forward and engulfed his middle daughter in a hug, covering her 
completely, and causing the girl to release a brief whimper of pain as 
Soun jogged her plastered arm. 

"On, Nabiiiiiikiiiii! Ohhhh, My darling little girl! Ohhhhh!"

He might have gone on for quite a while, but Nabiki freed her good hand 
from Kasumi and patted him tenderly on the back, hushing him into 
silence. When he quietened enough, Nabiki turned to Kasumi, allowing 
the older sibling to see the pain in her eyes briefly. "Where's Ranma 
and Saotome-san?"

Taking a seat by the bed, Kasumi reclaimed her sister's hand 
possessively and stroked the short brown hair away from her eyes. "They 
both went on a training mission this afternoon. I don't think they will 
be back for a few more days. Akane's also out shopping. We left her a 
note, but you probably won't get to see her until you get home 
tonight."

Nabiki quickly looked away, but not so fast that Kasumi could not see 
more tears. She hoped that her father had not bumped her again. "That.. 
That might be for the best, Kasumi. I'll speak to him later."

Suddenly Nabiki's tone brightened. It was suspicious, but Kasumi had 
little time to think about it as her sister pressed a cup of tea into 
her hands. "Drink this. Come on, you too, Father. That's it, drink up 
while I tell you about what happened."

Kasumi thought the tea tasted slightly strange, but that might have 
just been the brand that they used in the hospital. She became even 
more suspicious when Nabiki dawdled around in small talk for a few 
moments. She talked of her afternoon, school, Ranma, anything other 
than how she got hurt. After a few moments - about the time she reached 
the bottom of her cup - Kasumi was feeling particularly calm, at the 
same time noticing that her father had stopped crying while her sister 
had not even touched the tea in her cup.

At last, the middle Tendo daughter got to the point in her story. "I 
knew Akane wasn't home because I bumped into her when I was coming 
home. She was just heading out to do some shopping, so I thought that I 
would join her. You know, big sister looking after her and all that.
"We went into Ginza for shopping. Did you know that Akane wanted to get 
a present for her friend's birthday? It was two weeks away, and Akane 
still wanted to do her shopping now. Damn it! If only she'd waited..."

Watching her sister beating on the white bed sheet with her good fist, 
Kasumi reached forward and patted her arm in a soothing manner. "There, 
there, Nabiki. It's OK. Maybe you should have some of this tea too."

"No, the doctors said that with the pain medication I was on it 
might..."

When Nabiki was a little girl and got caught with her hand in the 
cookie jar, she looked just the same as she did now. Kasumi gave her a 
broad smile to show that she understood, and silently gestured with her 
eyes to their father. Soun had not noticed the calmative in the drink, 
so there was no need to point it out to him.

Clearing her throat, Nabiki tried again. "We were walking along, and 
suddenly Akane pushes me out of the way. You know how strong she is! I 
just went straight over and snap, right on someone's doorstep."

Soun looked like he was trying to be a fuming tower of anger at Akane's 
actions, but with the effect of whatever was in the tea, all he could 
manage was a scowl and a stammer.

Clenching her fist and letting tears stream freely down her face, 
Nabiki looked up at her sister, as though seeking something in her 
face. "It's not fair Kasumi. I was her big sister. I'm the one that was 
supposed to look after her! She pushed me out of the way. If... If she 
hadn't done that, it never would have gotten her! It's my fault! If I 
wasn't there, she... she..."

Revelation seemed to spear through the two visitors. The reason that 
Nabiki had called them to the hospital was not for her; it was for her 
sister. Something serious must have happened to Soun's youngest. 
Something so terrible that it would reduce his middle daughter to body 
shaking tears of grief. Nabiki might come across to most people as a 
cold girl, but she was his darling daughter, and he knew her like no 
other person in the world. Kasumi might dedicate every waking minute to 
caring for the family, but he knew that deep down, Nabiki loved her 
sisters just as much. 

It was much the same as the fact that she had always walked her little 
sister to school until Ranma came. He knew that Nabiki played tricks on 
Ranma sometimes, but that was just to strengthen his love for Akane. No 
matter what she might say, Nabiki had always guaranteed that there was 
enough money for everyone to eat, and that no-one ever really bothered 
them. Despite the hidden closeness of the sisters, Nabiki was one of 
the most collected and in control girls he had ever known. To watch her 
sobbing without restraint against his oldest daughter caught Soun's 
attention like nothing else could.

"Nabiki-chan... Where is Akane?"

She looked up at her father and tried to answer. She really tried, but 
no matter how much she worked her mouth, no words came. Sharing a look 
with Kasumi that instructed her to stay with her sister, Soun rose and 
left the room.

He must have been gone for several minutes before Nabiki collected 
herself enough to continue the tale to Kasumi. All the while, the older 
girl had just sat there quietly, hiding her own tension so that she 
could soothe Nabiki. That same kindness made the middle sister - now 
youngest - feel even worse. With watering eyes, Nabiki cursed herself 
for being so useless. If she had not been there... If Akane had not 
sacrificed herself... 

"Don't blame yourself, Nabiki. Akane wouldn't have wanted that. She 
would want you to remember how much she loved you. Don't think about 
anything else, just remember she loved you, and we all do."

Levering herself off the bed so that she could hug her sister again, 
Nabiki kept a tight grip as she spoke softly into Kasumi's warm 
shoulder. "You're right. You're always right, Kasumi. If it wasn't 
Akane, it would have been someone else. They were both out for blood, 
and it was... We were just... Damn it! She didn't deserve to die for 
being in the wrong place at the wrong time!"

"They? Do you mean you got a look at them? Could we call the police?"

Nabiki made a noise somewhere between a chuckle and a sob. "The police 
can't do anything. No-one can. It was another one of those demons, 
it... it did something to her. As soon as Akane pushed me out of the 
way, it grabbed her and... I don't know! I don't know what it did! One 
moment she's kicking and screaming, and the next, she's just going limp 
in its arm. I mean, she was still breathing, but she suddenly looked 
all pale and... I could just tell it was going to kill her somehow."

"So the demon killed her?"

"It would have, I'm sure of that, it just didn't get the chance. These 
two girls beat them to it. I don't know who they were; demon hunters of 
some sort I guess. They wanted to get that demon so bad, they shot 
straight through her. 
"They didn't even try and save her, Kasumi! Why didn't they try and 
save her?"

While Nabiki again dissolved into tears, Kasumi rocked her back and 
forwards and remembered how she had done the same thing for Akane not 
long before when they had lost there mother. Feeling her own tears 
start, Kasumi returned the hug, wishing that there was someone who 
could look after her like this when the pain was too great. And their 
father - their poor, distressed father - he must have been a complete 
wreck, wandering through the hospital somewhere.

Soun might have been blinded by tears the first time that he came this 
way, but now he easily found his way back to the admissions desk. 
Standing tall and strong, he leaned over the admissions orderly and 
stared at the middle aged woman. "What room is Tendo Akane in?"

After he identified himself as her father, the orderly checked the 
computer. "I'm sorry. No-one by that name was admitted today. Are you 
sure about that name?"

"Of course I'm sure about that name, she's my daughter! Look, her 
sister Nabiki just told me that she was hurt. Now where is she?"

The orderly started slightly then winced. "Oh, Tendo Nabiki's sister. 
Tendo-san, I'm sorry. I really am. Yoshiko-san! Take Tendo-san down to 
see..." She checked her computer again. "To see 496."

Soun was confused, but followed the silent nurse. The nurse identified 
as Yoshiko did not say a single thing, simply leading him though 
corridors of the hospital. His apprehension as the passed the critical 
recovery rooms peaked and then faded again. Further and further they 
went, well past the recovery room that Nabiki was resting in. 

When the nurse stepped into an elevator and invited him to follow, he 
was completely confused. Surely his little girl would not be on one of 
the upper floors; they were for longer-term recovery. A downwards jolt 
as the elevator sank confused him further. 

The elevator doors hissed open, and cold air washed over him, making 
him shiver. Then again, that might have been fear. The sight of 
gleaming stainless steel, and white tiled floors did something to him 
that terrified the part of him that was a father.

Numbly, Soun followed the nurse until she stopped. Turning back to him, 
Yoshiko looked up. "Tendo-san... I very sorry about your daughter. I 
was there earlier and... I'm not sure that you want to see this. We 
haven't had any chance to clean her up yet."

Without a word, Soun reached past her and grabbed a metal handle. 496 
was the number that the orderly had said. That was the number of the 
draw he was holding. It was too cold down here. Too cold for his little 
Akane. She always liked it to be warm. So much like her mother that 
way, always wearing a sweater or something. This cold room was no place 
for his little Akane-chan; she preferred somewhere warmer.

With a jerk, Soun opened the draw the whole way. Watching with 
amazement, Soun was surprised that his hand did not seem to shake at 
all. Of its own accord, his hand tried to tug Akane's blouse shut, but 
it was too burnt. There was not enough fabric left to cover her... To 
cover all the... To cover... 

Even her face... It wasn't burned, it was... She had always been so 
proud of her pretty hair... She used to have so much of it... Gently 
Soun stroked the left side of her head where her hair hadn't... 

Ranma used to love that hair cut... His tomboy, he used to call her... 
Now it was... It was...

Looking away, Soun idly noted that one shoe was missing. She was 
wearing her yellow socks. For a moment, he had thought they had been 
the one's with red spots, but then he realised those were in the wash 
and... One shoe was missing. It seemed so important, somehow.

"Can you get her a blanket, please? She never liked the cold."

Turning back to the elevator, Soun thought it was such a shame she was 
missing a shoe. She always liked to be so neat. 

And still the tears could not come.

*	*	*

Sailor Mercury threw out another bank of fog and panted deeply. She 
thought being a Senshi before had been hard work, but this! This was 
beyond ridiculous, it was all the way to unmanageable. Mercury was a 
neat and tidy girl; she firmly believed that everything had its place, 
and everything should be in its place. Maybe she was naive, but she had 
always assumed that the Senshi's place was among the winners. Ever 
since coming back from the future, she had learned to question that 
truism.

It had been bad enough that they had been forced to fight Chibi-Usa as 
soon as they had arrived. Chibi-Usa was Usagi's daughter from the 
future, except she did not think of herself that way anymore. These 
days Chibi-Usa called herself Black Lady, and she was one of the 
minions of the corrupt and evil forces of the Dark Moon Family. The 
Dark Moon Family were violent insurgents from Crystal Tokyo, far in the 
future, and they had corrupted Chibi-Usa someway. Now she was turned 
against her friends, and not even Sailor Moon's healing had been able 
to save her when they had their first try.

Fighting against one of their own was not what really strained Mercury. 
It was fighting what seemed to be an endless supply of demented and 
deformed beasts intent on chaos and destruction. Before they left for 
the future, they might have fought against one demon a week, some weeks 
they did not need to fight at all. Certainly Queen Beryl's servants had 
not managed to do more than that, nor had Emerald, one of the Dark Moon 
Family. 

Since Black Lady had escaped them that first day back, they had fought 
not less that three times against demons. That was only two days ago, 
and since then they had also missed three more demon attacks. Two of 
them had been stopped by some mysterious group of girls who tried to 
dress the same as them, but that had still left one demon attack go 
completely unopposed. Sailor Moon had been decidedly unhappy with the 
very idea that there was someone out there ruining the name of the 
Sailor Senshi. The two girls may have stopped the demons, but the cost 
in people injured had been far too high. There were even rumours that 
someone may have died.

Catching a glimpse of Sailor Moon through the thinning fog, Mercury 
wondered just what her leader now thought of her 'good luck'. 
Yesterday, when they had found out that Emerald had apparently not died 
in the future as they thought, but was still up to her old tricks, 
Sailor Moon had been ecstatic. She had been so sad about the fact that 
Emerald had been driven mad and died in the future, that she took it as 
a miracle to actually still be fighting her again. The fact that 
Emerald's newer and more powerful Droids were keeping the Senshi on the 
ropes went a long way to dampening her enthusiasm.

As the last of her magical fog thinned, Mercury ruminated on the 
unpleasant fact that while they currently fought Black Lady, there was 
a better than even chance that demons or those relentless demon killers 
were active elsewhere in the city. They had considered splitting up, 
but the vote was unanimous to stay together. Black Lady was just too 
powerful to let Moon oppose her single-handedly, and, when it came down 
to it, she was one of theirs. Wiseman may have warped her memories and 
corrupted her innocent little girl's soul, but deep down, all the 
Senshi believed that Chibi-Usa was still inside Black Lady.

With a clear view up to their opponent - no-one wanted to think of 
Black Lady as an enemy, despite her actions - Mercury briefly marvelled 
at the physical changes wrought by Wiseman's magic. Not content with 
warping Chibi-Usa's mind, he had remade her body into what Chibi-Usa 
obviously thought a villain should look like. Black  Lady's face still 
bore a definite family resemblance to Sailor Moon, but that only added 
to the insult of her form. Now the cute little girl had become a tall, 
mature, sensuous beauty. But it was a cold, cruel beauty. Gone was the 
bright, happy smile. Black Lady replaced that with a malicious, 
superior smirk that revelled in causing pain.

Where once the little girl had worn a modest little school uniform, now 
Black Lady wore an evening dress that left nothing to the imagination. 
It had a slit all the way from her ankle to her hip, and the way she 
walked and stood showed Black Lady took pleasure in revealing her long 
trim legs from the darkness of her dress. A dress such a deep red that 
it could be mistaken for black in most light. The top was no better, 
for while it covered everything, the thin, transparent material down 
her arms and across the top of her chest hinted at things you would not 
have considered had you been looking at Neo-Queen Serenity's royal 
white gown. 

A thick, studded, black choker did nothing to harm Black Lady's sultry 
image either.

While she watched her team mates run forward to try and subdue the 
floating Black Lady, Mercury reflected that at least she was honest 
with herself. No matter what Mercury would say on the subject, she was 
secretly just a little jealous that she could not wear a seductive 
dress like that half as well as Black Lady, and Chibi-Usa was really 
years younger than her. Mercury nodded as she insisted that she was 
only a little jealous.

The Senshi wanted Black Lady back to normal, and Usagi wanted her 
daughter back. What they really needed was time: time for Moon to cast 
her healing without Black Lady being able to escape it. The plan had 
been simple enough; the rest of the Sailors would hold her down, and 
Moon would convert her back. Already things were falling apart, and it 
was only their second try.

Mars and Venus were already lying squiring on the ground, felled by the 
agony of Black Lady's dark energy attacks. Mercury and Jupiter almost 
had her in their grasp when Black Lady was struck from behind by twin 
blasts of magic, tumbling her to the ground and bowling over the 
sailors.

Hearing Sailor Moon's shout of rage and the discharge of her Moon 
Tiara, Mercury struggled to right herself and get back into the battle. 
No matter where she turned or how she thrashed, she seemed to be 
covered in a tangle of limbs and soft, silky black fabric. A few more 
shouts and some muffled grunts brought Mercury back to her knees, and 
she shoves a leg off her shoulder. 

Looking down briefly, Sailor Mercury flushed deep red. All her 
struggling had managed to push Black Lady onto her back, then Mercury 
had push her leg away when it had rested against her neck. Needless to 
say, Murphy's law had dictated that there was now one leg either side 
of the embarrassed Mercury, and the poor girl was now quite clear on 
the fact that the only clothing Black Lady wore that was not dark, dark 
red was the sunny red shoes on her feet. There were some things Mercury 
really did not need to know.

Scrambling back slightly, Mercury pulled the long near-black dress into 
a more modest placement. It was only when she was getting up to join 
her friends in battle did she realise that Black Lady still had not 
resisted in any way. By the movement of her chest, Mercury could see 
that she was still breathing, but she was obviously out cold, stunned 
by the magical blast from nowhere.

With a grin, Sailor Mercury jumped to her feet and joined the battle. 
Sailor Venus was off to the side, trying to shake off the last effects 
of Black Lady's magic, but nothing could keep Sailor Mars from 
defending Moon when she thought the girl was in trouble. When Mercury 
saw who their enemy was, she knew that trouble was the right 
description. 

There were two girls, dressed like Sailor Senshi, but obviously not 
part of the team. They were too old for starters, and no Senshi, under 
any circumstances, would possibly attack Sailor Moon like they did. The 
Moon Senshi's skirt was torn, and she was bleeding from a few small 
wounds down her right arm. Despite the way that Mars and Jupiter were 
targeting the older girls, their opponents seemed determined to beat 
through the forces of good and finish what they started on Black Lady.

When Sailor Moon caught a powerful bolt of green magic straight in the 
chest and flew backwards with an agonised scream, Sailor Mercury saw 
red. She had never been this angry before. Even when they had fought 
Beryl in the Arctic, she had not been forced to watch her leader suffer 
so much. The piercing sound of Sailor Moon's high pitched scream 
snapped something inside the normally calm and quiet Mercury.

Mercury's Shabon Spray Freezing had never been the most powerful of 
attacks, and even that was better than the Shabon Spray that she had 
been restricted to during the battles with Beryl. Even Mercury would 
have admitted that it was the weakest of any of the girls' magic. 
Seeing Moon fly backwards in pain like that made something click. 
Somewhere inside her, Sailor Mercury remembered. With movements as 
graceful as any ballerina, Sailor Mercury brought her arms in a circle 
to end them pointed at the horrid green haired woman that dared to 
attack Sailor Moon.

"SHINE AQUA ILLUSION!"

It was the first time that Mercury had ever done that attack, but now 
that she had bowled the woman head over heels with her new found power, 
Mercury found that she could remember exactly what she did. As with so 
many things since their reincarnation, it took the proper motivation to 
cause her to remember. Watching Sailor Moon get hurt gave her access to 
another of her attacks from the Moon Kingdom. An attack powerful enough 
to make her a worthy adversary to anyone.

Mercury smiled in a most unusual manner, then screamed in rage and 
charged after the blonde woman who was still fighting. Startled by the 
ferocity of the friend who was usually as meek as a mouse, the other 
Inner Senshi were slow on the uptake. However, they were fast enough to 
join the chase after just a few stunned moments, running off both of 
the women.

It did not take too long for first one, then the other woman to loose 
their pursuers. When Mercury returned to her leader, she pondered what 
she had seen and learned. There was no doubt that their enemies were 
strong, no doubt at all. Even with her new attack, Mercury doubted that 
she could match the power of the Deep Submerge that her water based 
counterpart had used. In her mind, it was only the fact that the women 
fought as two individuals, rather than a team that allowed the Senshi 
to run them off so easily.

Not everything was easy, Mercury found to her dismay. While she had 
been busy leading the charge, and Sailor Moon had been disabled, Black 
Lady had recovered. Since there was not a trace of their converted 
friend to be seen, the Senshi helped their leader to her feet and 
vanished into the night.

There would be a time and a place to fight these battles again. Of 
that, Sailor Mercury was certain.

*	*	*

Ryoga looked at the familiar wall and silently thanked whatever Kami 
had smiled on him and provided the guidance to bring him here. He was 
just a little late for his challenge to Ranma, but no more than a week 
or so. The fact that his most beloved Akane and his most hated foe 
Ranma both resided on the other side of this wall allowed him to 
recognise it for what it was.

After all this time, Ryoga had finally found the Tendo Dojo again, but 
this time, he was the one possessing the ultimate technique.

In a single leap, Ryoga cleared the wall. Most people would have hurt 
themselves just trying to lift his pack or his umbrella, but he could 
jump with them easily. Confident in his footsteps, Ryoga walked to the 
house, sure in his own power. There would be no defeat for him this 
time. Tonight, Ranma would hang from Ryoga's hand as he prepared to 
deliver the final blow. When he finally proved how weak Ranma was, and 
how strong he was, Akane would fall into his arms.

His vision of perfect bliss was shattered as his chin bounced off a 
fist-sized rock, breaking his fall. For a moment Ryoga lay there, 
trying to decide where he had gone wrong. Wasn't it his dream that 
Akane would fall for him, not that he would fall over in the middle of 
the yard? Confident in the fact that it must have been some cunning 
trap laid by Ranma out of fear, Ryoga pushed himself back to his feet 
and looked around.

Evening might have been starting, and the sun was already below the 
level of the compound wall, but there was still enough light for Ryoga 
to see the dojo, or what remained of the dojo. What had once been a 
dojo was now a pile of scrap timbre. A pile of rubbish in the yard, 
that was all that remained, and it was a stray piece that had tripped 
him while he concentrated on his love for Akane.

With a derisive snort, Ryoga pushed his hair back and continued on to 
the house. So, Ranma must have lost to another dojo destroyer. 
Obviously he was not good enough for Akane. Once Ryoga showed everyone 
the truth of that, he would build his love a new dojo, somewhere that 
the two of them could raise their little children in perfect happiness.

First, Ranma. Ranma must pay. Ranma must die. Ranma must be made to 
suffer for everything that he had done to Ryoga over the years. 
Ditching his pack, Ryoga grabbed his umbrella and jumped straight up to 
the upper story of the Tendo home.

With a crash of breaking wood and glass, Ryoga came in through the 
window, achieving perfect surprise against his dread enemy. Ranma, 
obviously stunned by the power and ferocity of Ryoga's mighty entrance 
was still just sitting there. Never one to let an advantage slip 
through his fingers, Ryoga snatched up the pig-tailed martial artist in 
one hand and prepared to pummel the life out of him.

Standing there in the semi-darkness of Ranma's unlit room, Ryoga shook 
his foe a few times. Nothing. No response. Not even a twitch. It had to 
be some new trick.

"What's the matter, Ranma? Do you want me to kill you?"

The voice was quiet. Almost silent, but Ryoga's ears were good. Too 
good perhaps. "Yes."

"What did you say!?"

The light snapped on, and Ryoga blinked owlishly in the sudden glare. 
Turning to the doorway, he spied the sneaky middle daughter. With one 
arm in a sling, Nabiki stood there, a sardonic smile crossing her face. 

"Oh, don't mind me, Ryoga. I'd clap if I could, but I'm not quite up to 
it at the moment."

Glancing back and forwards between Nabiki and where Ranma still hung 
limply in his grasp, Ryoga ventured a nervous smile. "It's... It's not 
what it looks like."

With an exaggerated gesture, Nabiki snapped her fingers and stamped her 
foot. "Gee, well that's just too bad. You see, what I was really hoping 
was that you were here to kill Ranma."

Now he really looked like a kid with his hand caught in the cookie jar. 
"Oh... Well... That is...."

With a few quick steps, Nabiki stood right next to him. She did not 
spare Ranma a single glance, she only looked Ryoga straight in the 
eyes. Nabiki had often stared at him before when she wanted to force 
him to do something, but this time, there was something different in 
her eyes. This time, there was death in her gaze, and it frightened 
him.

"How much do you hate Ranma?"

"What? There aren't enough words to say how much I hate him! I want to 
kill him! I want to rip his heart out for what he did to me! I want to-
--"

Nabiki cut straight through his monologue. "But yet you loved Akane. 
So, how much would you hate someone who insulted her?"

Ryoga shook his prey like a rag doll, and Nabiki realised that she 
might have started too mild. "All right, how about someone that hit 
her? You know someone that actually punched Akane. Even you know that 
Ranma would never do that."

"I... I'd..."

She still had not moved, but Nabiki almost seemed to force him back 
with the power of her words. "You're right. Not enough. How about 
someone that beat the crap out of her? Someone that really went all out 
to hurt her. Not just a fight, but a real beating."

Ryoga did not even notice Nabiki's unusually coarse language. Even 
Ranma slipped from his fingers like a forgotten toy. Walking to the 
window he stared down at the broken dojo. Was that what it meant? The 
dojo destroyer had beaten poor Akane? While he had been away training 
and mastering his new technique, Akane had been alone, without anyone 
to defend her, only Ranma around. 

Staring down at his hands, Ryoga could feel the power draining into 
them. He recognised it now after the weeks of practise. Ki energy: 
dark, powerful and angry. As his hands glowed green, he closed his eyes 
for a moment and thought about Akane, Akane hurt perhaps. Maybe... 
Maybe even bruised on her beautiful, angelic face. "SHI SHI HOKODAN!"

The green beam lanced down and into the rubble of the dojo, sending 
beams of wood everywhere. When he calmed down enough to notice, Ryoga 
saw Nabiki standing next to him.

Nabiki looked up at Ryoga and then down at the dojo again. Actually, 
she faced the pile of broken scrap, but she did not see it. She was 
remembering what it was like once she came back from the hospital. Both 
she and Kasumi were in shock, but her father really worried her. Every 
day since their mother died, he had cried. Sometimes he cried all day.

He had not shed a single tear since he went to see Akane in the morgue. 

Now he went to bed after Kasumi and rose well before she did, his whole 
day spent cleaning or tidying. He would work in the garden, clean 
dishes for Kasumi or wax the floor. Anything he could do, all day long, 
just to keep himself busy. He would talk to them, but something had 
died inside their father. He grieved for his daughter, but he could not 
seem to cry anymore. Years of tears had diminished their value, so now 
he suffered in silence.

Two days ago they had all been in the living room. Nabiki was staring 
at a new laptop that she had bought the day she got out of hospital. 
Kasumi had been helping her father clean what little silverware they 
had. when they heard happy voices coming through the gate, her father 
had stood instantly.

"Kasumi, Nabiki. Stay here. Whatever you do, don't go outside. I was 
going to be his father-in-law. It... It is my duty to..." Soun had 
inhaled deeply, braced himself then went outside to greet the Saotomes 
as they returned from training.

The girls had watched silently as Genma entered the room. He was still 
full of cheer, excited after having spent a week with his son doing 
what they did best. Both the girls ignored him as they listened to 
sounds in the yard.

A sliding door opened and closed. The sound repeated itself, then Soun 
had reappeared in the living room. He nodded at his surviving daughters 
and opened his mouth to tell Genma the horrible facts when a scream had 
rent the air.

Quite simply it was Ranma. Again and again, he screamed in denial. So 
great were his screams that they shook the house, but they barely 
managed to cover the sound of shattering wood. The four of them had 
been forced to listen to those terrible sounds for over three hours. 
Every single piece of wood, every beam, every joist. Ranma smashed them 
one by one.

The whole time he screamed in torment, but he had not spoken since.

Nabiki came back to the present to watch Ryoga standing there, chest 
heaving. Ranma understood. She knew that. The dojo had not been there 
for him, it had been there for Akane. For them. For their children. 
Without Akane, there was no dojo, no future. Ranma understood that.

"So, that's were you've been for the past week. Training."

"I... I was training in the mountains."

"That's why you weren't here to protect Akane."

"I couldn't, I was---"

"Ranma was training too, so don't even think of blaming him."

Ryoga gestured back at his enemy. "But he---"

Nabiki's one good arm grabbed his collar and pulled him down to look 
him in the eye. There could not have been more than a couple of 
centimetres between them. "I said lay off him. I need him, and I need 
you. He's useless at the moment, but your going to bring him back for 
me, because I need him."

Pushing away from the much bigger boy, Nabiki stalked back to the 
middle of the room and grabbed a handful of Ranma's hair. Lifting his 
head up, Nabiki stared into his eyes. They were glazed, but she was 
sure that he heard every word that she said. Ryoga - she was just as 
sure - was hanging on to every syllable.

"No-one beat up Akane, Ryoga. She was killed. She was killed in cold 
blood. She threw me aside, saved me, and she died for it. Those 
bastards murdered her, and I need you and wonder boy here to get my 
revenge. Do I have your attention?"

It only took one look at the green glowing martial artist to know that 
she had him. Now all she needed was Ranma. From everything she had 
seen, one of them alone would not have gotten starting odds against the 
magic wielding bitches that killed her sister, or the unholy demons 
stalking Tokyo's streets. Both of them, together...

Tilting Ranma's face so that he was forced to look at the glowing Ryoga 
who had gone rigid with anger, Nabiki kneeled down and placed her mouth 
close to his ear. She whispered, but in the silence of the room, she 
was confident she could be heard by both.

"I know who it is now. I don't know everything, but I know enough. I've 
got names, and I'm working on places. Now I've also got the two best 
martial artists in Nerima, maybe Japan, together in the one room. So 
what's it going to be?
"Are you going to sit there and sulk? Are you going to run off in a fit 
of rage? Or are you going to listen to your very good friend Nabiki, as 
she tells you exactly how the two of you are going to work together?"

For the first time in two days, Ranma showed signs of life as he lifted 
himself to stare at her. His grim smile matched Ryoga's, and she could 
almost feel hope. Hope that these two heroes would be able to get her 
sister the justice that she could never achieve by herself.

"Are you two willing to work together to kill every single one of the 
Sailor Senshi, and every witch and their damn demons?"

Nabiki had their complete, undivided attention.

---
End Of Chapter.

    Source: geocities.com/tokyo/teahouse/3000

               ( geocities.com/tokyo/teahouse)                   ( geocities.com/tokyo)