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

Thanks to my pre-readers:
Ben
aevan                     http://aevan.virtualave.net
Kevin D. Hammel     http://www.anime.sobhrach.com/~khammel/
Blood Blade         http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Towers/5920
Mike Rever

Visit my website at
dzillman@ozemail.com.au
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~dzillman/fire

What has happened:
The time travel of Prince Diamond and the Inner Senshi at the end of 
Sailor Moon R has caused a paradox. Now the Outer Senshi are awake, the 
Death Busters are active, and the Dark Moon Family are still trying to 
conquer the world. In a desperate bid to stop a Daimon from gaining her 
Heart Crystal, the Outer Senshi were responsible for Akane's death. Now 
Nabiki has achieved the impossible and convinced Ranma and Ryoga to 
join forces. 

Feeling beset from all sides, the Inner Senshi must contend not only 
with the violent Sailors Uranus and Neptune who are set against them. 
They face Ranma and Ryoga, the unknown and lethal quantity of Sailor 
Saturn, innumerable witches and demons, and the fact that Chibi-Usa is 
one of the front line fighters for their dread enemy, the Dark Moon 
Kingdom.


Part 3: The Winter Of Our Discontent
====================================

Haruka could not say just how she knew these things, but she had 
developed a sixth sense for danger and evil. It was not like her 
ability as Sailor Uranus to track and identify evil. This was purely 
subconscious, something that existed on a hidden level and caused her 
to be in the same place as the danger. It had become more apparent over 
the last week as she had fought more battles; something that allowed 
her to be where she was needed before the need arose, letting her 
transform and protect the innocent as only she could.

The first few times that it had happened, Haruka had been willing to 
accept it as a coincidence. After repeating it almost every night, 
things went beyond simple chance. Without intending to, she would 
subtly change her daily routine, and something evil would appear, 
almost as though she had become a magnet for trouble. One evening she 
decided to stop and get an ice-cream on the way home. The ice-cream 
parlour that she chose was just slightly off course from her normal 
walk, and within a minute of her walking out of the store, a multi-
headed demon had risen from the ground, stealing people's heart 
crystals.

The same routine had occurred on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. By 
Thursday she was becoming paranoid. Sticking rigidly to schedule, 
Haruka decided to ignore the advertisement that she had seen for a new 
car dealership. To her horror, the papers revealed the next day that 
Sailor Neptune had fought a demon there single-handed. Haruka was 
clinging to her love of Michiru like a drowning woman thrown a life 
preserver, but that did nothing to dampen the inherited feelings that 
she had for the other Sailor. The thought of her friend -not lover, 
Haruka would not cast Michiru aside for that - in danger sent shivers 
down her spine.

The notion that she might have gained a subconscious sixth sense, or 
even some greater sense of destiny, prompted Haruka to look up some 
facts on the existing Sailor Senshi. The newspaper archives at the 
library were liberally dosed with stories of their heroism. People 
saved and disasters averted, it was the materials that legends were 
made from. Although Haruka felt sorry for the people who were 
accidentally injured at times, the part of her that was Sailor Uranus 
dismissed it as irrelevant. People got hurt, but the Senshi got the job 
done. 

Only when a person intimately acquainted with the Senshi's capabilities 
and shortcomings examined the articles did a certain pattern emerge. No 
matter what the newspaper's speculation was, Haruka could be sure that 
it was impossible for a diverse group of girls to consistently run from 
their prior locations to the scene of the battle in the time that was 
mentioned. All that added up to one thing: she was not the only one who 
somehow found herself in the path of evil when it emerged. If she kept 
up with her solo activities, she would continue to run into both the 
Inner Senshi, and most likely the remaining Outer Senshi.

Haruka had seen Sailor Neptune before, and she knew that she was a 
woman that she could work with. It would be hard working with her and 
not falling in love again, but Haruka was confident that she could 
manage. The Inner Senshi were another matter; they were soft and weak, 
a danger to the Outers. Worse still, the younger girls had actively 
interposed themselves between Haruka and her work on more than one 
occasion already. If they failed to recognise the danger that the 
demons and the Heart Crystals represented, then the Inner Senshi were 
setting themselves against the good of the planet, and that was 
something that Haruka could not tolerate.

Sitting down on a park bench, Haruka studied the Koi that frolicked in 
the water nearby. She had come to the realisation at school that she 
was probably destined to fight evil for the rest of her life, and there 
was no point in trying to avoid it. She would live her life as normally 
as possible, defending others whenever possible, but still trying to 
enjoy what she could.

That was why she had come to the park this afternoon. Although she had 
often come here in the past to appreciate the greenery that was so rare 
in Tokyo, she had accepted that she might need to fight again this 
evening. Here... On the way home... Where she ate dinner perhaps. 
Somewhere nearby, something evil would come into existence, and Sailor 
Uranus might be the only one capable of stopping it. Simply by the law 
of averages, she might be the only Senshi in the area - assuming that 
the Inners were still willing and capable of fighting the enemy.

The Inners were now fighting as a team, and then there was herself, and 
Sailors Pluto, Neptune and Saturn. She had bumped into Neptune several 
times, but so far she had not seen Pluto or Saturn. Pushing a stick 
through the grass with her feet, Haruka sighed. It was only a matter of 
time before Pluto and Saturn arrived at the same place that she did, 
and at the same time. Pluto was not a problem. From what she remembered 
from the Silver Millennium, the woman was just as determined and 
committed as Sailor Uranus. 

Sailor Saturn was another matter. Although it pained Haruka to think 
that the Inner Senshi were no longer capable of doing their job, and 
instead seemed to protect the enemies of the Earth like Black Lady, she 
could not compare them to Sailor Saturn. Saturn was simply too 
dangerous to allow to exist. Her petty ways and near-omnipotent power 
had no place in today's world. 

Admiring the way that the Koi instinctively grabbed for floating food 
on the water, Haruka resigned herself to someday having to defeat 
Sailor Saturn in combat. Both she and Saturn were like the Koi in many 
ways. The fish ate and acted on instinct. She and the Senshi of silence 
were warriors by instinct. Memories of their ancient selves moulded 
each of them. She became someone who could care about the world more 
than an individual, someone capable of doing what needed to be done. 
Sailor Saturn...

Brushing off her school uniform, Haruka got to her feet and walked out 
of the park. There was no evil here. Maybe she was just being paranoid. 
It was all the thoughts of a deadly Sailor Saturn that was making her 
see an enemy at every junction. She should have known that not 
everywhere contained a demon lurking in the darkness.

Dinner was light, just a small beef bowl with rice. Haruka did not want 
to fight on a heavy stomach, but she needed to put something away. She 
was just handing change to the shop assistant when screams rent the air. 
She was right. Somehow, once again she was in the right place to stop a 
demon and to save the world from their nefarious schemes.

Tossing the coins to the startled man behind the counter, Haruka was 
off like a rocket. Out the shop and to the left there was a small 
construction site, offering little in the way of concealment so that 
she could change with anonymity. Haruka was about to turn around when 
she spotted what she needed. 

It must have been placed there so that people could make calls even in 
the noise of nearby construction. A phone booth was something that had 
been almost entirely phased out in this day and age. With one hand on 
the door handle, Haruka looked around then dashed inside. "I bet 
Superman used to feel just as silly changing like this."

The portable phone booth shook slightly and light filtered from under 
the door, but that was all that betrayed the presence of the pretty 
soldier changing into her fighting clothes. In mere moments the door 
slammed open and Sailor Uranus stepped out, fighting valiantly against 
the desire to declare she was there for truth, justice and the American 
way. At least she did not wear her underwear on the outside like some 
superheroes.

By the time she reached the site of the disturbance, Sailor Neptune was 
there already. The Senshi with the aqua-marine coloured hair was laying 
down a withering series of attacks, desperately trying to keep the 
Daimon away from the slowly fleeing populace. 

One girl by herself would have a very hard time defeating something as 
strong as a Daimon. Uranus knew that from personal experience. 
Yesterday she had fought one to a standstill, but it had finally 
escaped from her. The only consolation she had been able to take from 
the fight was the fact that she had destroyed the Heart Crystal that it 
had been running with. Better that the unfortunate victim had died 
cleanly like that than allowing the Witches 5 and their Daimons to 
complete their plans.

Sailor Uranus smiled as she brought her hands together in front of her 
and left fly with her own magic. One Senshi alone might not win, but 
there were better than even odds that the two of them could reduce this 
Daimon to dust on the wind. 

Watching the yellow magic of the World Shaking level a bookstore on top 
of the Daimon, Uranus' smile grew even larger. Someone's business was a 
small price to pay, and it would rest easier with her than the 
necessity of killing someone else. Sailor Uranus could do it, she could 
kill someone and not blink an eyelash. Tenou Haruka on the other hand, 
felt something within her die every time she untransformed and 
remembered the cost of saving the world. This time they might just get 
lucky.

Luck did seem to be with them. While the Daimon was digging its way out 
from the tons of brick and rubble, Sailor Neptune gave her an update. 
Neptune had been next door looking at some shoes when she heard the 
Daimon announce its presence to the world. While she may have been 
wrong, Neptune was quite confident that no-one's Heart Crystal had yet 
been taken.

"Look out, Neptune, it's coming out again."

Uranus was right, unfortunately, she was also a second too late. The 
creature took hold of the smaller Senshi and held her aloft, shaking 
her back and forwards. 

"Neptune! No!"

Fearful that her one reliable partner was about to have her soul stolen, 
Uranus closed and began to batter the wall of living flesh before her. 
Her blows would have shattered concrete, but against her adversary they 
barely managed to crack its armour. While Uranus might have been 
hamstrung by the fact that she did not want to hit the captive woman 
with her magic, Neptune was not constrained by anything like that. 
Wrapped around the waist by a sludge-green tentacle, there was no real 
risk of a miss and that allowed Neptune to operate freely.

"DEEP SUBMERGE!"

Magic arrowed through the body hurting the monster, but it failed to 
sever the limb like Neptune expected. When she was freed from the 
crushing grip, the green-haired woman fell to her knees, suddenly too 
weak to stand. With her ally kneeling in the shop's rubble, Sailor 
Uranus was freed to act with less restraint, and she advanced 
fearlessly. Magically powered kicks rocked the monster from side to 
side as Uranus alternated attacking feet, stepping forwards to 
constantly maintain the pressure.

Given time to recover, Neptune returned to her feet. She was weakened 
and shaky, but nothing could stop her from coming to the aid of the 
woman that she loved. Fighting demons and witches was hard enough. 
Fighting to contain the love that she felt for the other Senshi was 
beyond even her powers. Every day she told herself that she should 
break off with Haruka, but every day she waited, waited until there was 
time to confess her love to Sailor Uranus first. 

It was petty of her, Sailor Neptune realised, to be thinking of her own 
love in the middle of a fight like this. However, if they were not 
fighting to protect the people they loved, they why were they out here? 
Sailor Neptune recognised the area that they were in, and knew that 
Haruka would often walk home this way. If her friend had been nearby 
today... It hardly bore thinking on the fact that both women she loved 
could be in such danger.

The danger to the women was something that Sailor Neptune was quite 
capable of doing something about. The risk of a car accident or being 
struck by lightning; these were beyond her control. A magically powered 
demon capable of draining people's life force or stealing Heart 
Crystals; she could take that any day, especially with Sailor Uranus by 
her side.

Twin beams of magic dug into the monster, forcing it further and 
further back. They were finally getting on top of the problem when 
Sailor Uranus stopped briefly and said some very uncomplimentary words 
under her breath. 

"What? What's the matter?"

"We've got bigger problems."

The might have had bigger problems, but that did not stop Sailor Uranus 
from increasing her efforts against their attacker. Neptune was amazed 
for a moment, watching sweat pour from the girl's brow as she poured 
everything she had into the creature. Not understanding for a moment, 
Neptune was slow on the uptake. When she saw the small figure walking 
down the street towards them, she too placed her every effort into 
slaying the demon before it was too late.

What they had seen down the street was enough to frighten anyone with 
the slightest information. There was Sailor Saturn, walking calmly 
towards them, carrying a seven-foot weapon of mass destruction. A 
completely unintimidating four-foot in height, the girl was their worst 
nightmare brought to life. Obviously she did not consider a single 
demon attack to be a great worry, as she was calmly walking towards 
them. While their attention was on the dying creature, the smallest 
Senshi jogged for a few steps, but all too soon she was reduced to a 
walk.

The Outer Senshi saw nothing of her efforts to join them in battle. All 
they saw was their own fear personified and embedded into an individual 
they only knew through memories.

"What do you think she'll do?" Neptune asked.

Stopping long enough to look at their approaching doom, Uranus 
shuddered. "Just as guess?... I think she'll come about twenty feet 
closer, then she'll kill you, me, the Daimon and everything in five 
hundred meters just to be sure."
 
"That's not a very pretty picture."

"She wasn't called the Senshi Of Destruction for nothing, you know."

Knowing that their lives hung in the balance, Uranus and Neptune 
finally managed to sufficiently damage their opponent. When it crumbled 
to dust and a small crystal landed in the pile of its ashes, Neptune 
started. "It was a Droid, not a Daimon. That's why I felt so weak!"

"No need to worry about that now, we have bigger problems."

Bigger problems indeed. Now that she had time to look, she could see 
that the woman - girl really - coming towards them was definitely 
Sailor Saturn. Her clothing was a little different from Neptune or 
Uranus, but other than the wings, she easily fit the template of a 
Senshi's possible attire. The face was one that she recognised from her 
memories, the face of Sailor Saturn.

The smiling face of Sailor Saturn looked at them as the young girl 
continued to advance. It was the smile more than anything that 
terrified the other two girls. Neptune took an involuntary step 
backwards. "S-She's smiling..."

"Just like she used to."

Gathering her courage, Neptune stood shoulder to shoulder with her 
taller companion who nodded. "Just like she used to when she wanted to 
play."

With dread certainty in her voice, Neptune whispered. "We're going to 
die, aren't we. There's no way that we can get far enough away from 
that thing if she wants us." 

Uranus was silent for a moment, dredging through ancient memories. 
"There is...  There is one way. She can't attack us if she's defending! 
Come on, now is our chance to make sure that everyone will always be 
safe from her."

Confused for a moment, Neptune rapidly followed. If Sailor Uranus had a 
plan, then any chance was better that dying where they stood, killed by 
a insensitive, uncaring brat, whose only thought was to make sure the 
Droid was really and completely dead.

Sailor Neptune was stunned when she watched her friend fire magic at 
the little girl without breaking stride. She should not have been 
surprised, but she was. While she had accepted the hypothetical idea 
that they might have to kill the deadly Senshi, it had not penetrated 
to her soul. Despite the Sailor uniform, she was still a school-girl at 
heart, unlike her companion. She envied the way that Sailor Uranus had 
retained so much of her old mindset. To be able to accept what they 
needed to do so easily, surely it must be a blessing.

Because she had fired while she was moving, Sailor Uranus failed to get 
a good hit. All that she did was burn a strip of flesh off the girl's 
arm, half turning her from the impact of the magical energy. Sailor 
Neptune was slower to react, and her own Deep Submerge slammed into an 
invisible shield in front of Sailor Saturn.

"Damn! It's the Silence Wall!"

Uranus grinned back at her. "That's perfect. She can't attack us while 
she has that up. Just keep firing."

After another attack that failed to penetrate, Sailor Neptune was 
grinning from ear to ear. "She can't move either. Look at her: she's 
got to keep the Silence Glaive grounded. There's no way she can win!"

*       *       *

Silence Girl, aka Sailor Saturn, aka Tomoe Hotaru, could not understand 
what had gone wrong. When she had heard the sounds of fighting she had 
come running as quickly as she could, hoping to put her new magical 
girl powers to good use. Instead, her illness had forced her to arrive 
right at the end, only in time to see the tall, proud looking magical 
girls reduce the scary monster into nothingness.

Smiling happily, she kept walking, hoping to join them. Their costumes 
were not as fancy as hers, and from what she could see, they were 
nowhere near as powerful as she was. She guessed that made her the 
leader, it did in all the movies and books. When she watched the older 
girls standing on the rubble of a shop and assessing her, she hoped 
that her costume made her look as mature as she needed to. What if they 
disputed her leadership? What if they wanted to keep fighting with the 
other magical girls out there? What if they were not ready to end the 
war that was going on in Tokyo? Surely she could make them understand 
that they could all live together in peace.

Her dreams turned to ashes for a second time that day when the big girl 
had run at a diagonal to her. Not understanding what was about to 
happen, Hotaru had been caught flat footed, and it was only luck that 
saved her from being blasted into little bits. Despite the risk that 
Silence Girl was destined for the shortest career as a heroine in 
history, she reacted with the instincts of a true warrior.

The impregnable magic of the Silence Wall whispered into existence 
ahead of her. Each time one of them fired, Hotaru could feel the jolt 
through her palms, and she could feel her own power weaken slightly. 
Both of the big bullies were ganged up against her now, and their magic 
flailed against her shield in an almost unending rhythm of destruction. 
The slightest wavering, the merest weakening would allow those deadly 
bolts through, and they would complete the job that the blonde woman 
had started. 

Holding her shield was not too difficult, but it was getting 
progressively harder, even though she brought the size of the Wall back 
and back, slowly defending less and less. It was leaving her open for 
an attack from the side or behind, but she did not have a choice. If 
she failed to keep up her protection, then the evil magical girls in 
front of her would surely break through, ending her mission of peace.

A brief synchronisation of attacks brought the little girl to her knees. 
Green and gold impacted her shield, now hardly larger than herself. She 
could stop them, she was sure. But if she lowered the Silence Wall, 
they would hit her, maybe even kill her. The fear of her own death was 
not what stopped Hotaru from unleashing her terrible power. It was the 
certain knowledge that there were hundreds or thousands of innocent 
people behind her assailants. The Silence Glaive Surprise would doom 
them all, and even assuming she survived, her life would not be worth 
living after that.

That was why Tomoe Hotaru cried. It was not the wound on her arm; 
despite the fact that her healing held no power over herself. It was 
not even the fact that she had not even managed to succeed at whatever 
purpose that she had been put here for. She cried for her father and 
girls like these, so taken in by evil that they would turn on anyone 
that offered to help them.

Struggling back to her feet, Hotaru wished she could at least spare a 
hand to wipe her face. Both hands were needed to wield the Silence 
Glaive, so she had to live with the fact that her vision was clouded 
with tears and her nose was running. She was so scared she wanted to 
pee, but she would die on her feet, with whatever dignity she could 
muster. At least she had tried. Squaring her shoulders, Hotaru gave 
everything she could to Silence Wall, and hoped that a handsome White 
Knight would save her in the nick of time. 

Her rescuer would hardly have been considered a handsome White Knight 
under the circumstances.

*       *       *

This evening's patrol had started much better this time. Ranma and 
Ryoga had not gotten separated, and they had been out for almost an 
hour. Both of them were casually jogging along the rooftops or through 
the streets. Ryoga constantly kept Ranma in sight, and they both kept 
their eyes open. With luck, they would come across a demon or a Senshi 
and be able to help put things to right.

Nabiki had not managed to give them more than an initial guess, but it 
looked like the area west of the Imperial Residence was the most likely 
site for a demonic invasion. Even just that information cut out vast 
areas of searching. Some demon sightings still occurred elsewhere, but 
there were more of them on the west side. Despite their physical 
prowess, Ranma and Ryoga were only human, and could use every advantage 
they got.

At around six in the evening, with the sun sinking below the tall 
buildings and shadows beginning to cloak the city, Ryoga stopped on the 
sidewalk and looked around. Checking his headlong pace, Ranma circled 
back and walked up to his friend.

"What is it?"

"Shhh..."

Ryoga was silent for a moment, tracking his head back and forwards. "I 
thought I heard a... There it is again!"

Ryoga turned and took a few steps in one direction before Ranma snagged 
his arm and pulled him in the opposite direction. "Huh? I thought you 
couldn't hear it?"

Ranma smirked in an immensely irritating fashion. "Nope, just call it a 
hunch."

"Why you..." Ryoga had one hand raised to deliver a pile driver punch 
to the back of Ranma's head when they cleared a pair of buildings. 
Suddenly the sound was much louder, unobstructed by as many intervening 
buildings. 

"Fighting..."

It did not matter who said it; indeed, perhaps they both did. All that 
mattered was the sound. Nothing quite sounded the same as a magical 
discharge. Although they had never heard these particular sounds before, 
the sound was quite distinctive. Ki attacks had their own sound, and 
this was nothing like gunfire or fireworks. Somewhere nearby they could 
hear the sound of things begin destroyed under a fusillade that defied 
normal description.

Without thought or discussion, the boys were moving. Yesterday Ryoga 
had convincingly established that there was more than one type of 
magical girl in the city, but no matter who was fighting - friend or 
foe - Ranma and Ryoga wanted to be there. If there was a demon, they 
wanted to kill it. If it was one of the Sailor Senshi, they wanted to 
kill them. If neither of those was there, then just maybe they would 
leave, or maybe there was someone they could help.

At a dead sprint, focusing all their thoughts on what lay ahead, 
neither Ranma nor Ryoga noticed their surroundings. Years of martial 
training would automatically kick in should any sort of threat arrive, 
but what caught them was no ordinary threat. 

With both boys being Jusenkyo cursed, the compulsion for water to leap 
out and strike them was almost enough to bend the laws of physics or at 
least skew probability into the most unlikely of regions. Some might 
say that they should have recognised this small, almost insignificant 
flaw in their plan. Unfortunately, hindsight is always twenty-twenty, 
and it was not until a ferociously frowning Ranma-chan slowed to a halt 
in the middle of a garden bed did they realise their problem.

If it were just Ranma that had been caught when the sprinklers 
activated, there would have been no problem. What his girl form 
sacrificed in strength, she made up for in speed. Alternatively, when 
Ryoga's curse was activated, he sacrificed size, strength, endurance 
and speed for cuteness and edibility... Neither of which helped greatly 
in battle.

Squatting down next to the little pig, Ranma poked his snout with a 
finger and squinted. "I'm beginning to understand why you don't like 
being P-Chan."

P-Chan gave a small, piggy growl. It was not his usual pig response 
meaning: "Ranma, I intend to kill you for tormenting Akane-san and I." 
Instead, this was a different grunt, it somehow managed to imply 
urgency, longing and a desire for battle. Ranma looked at the pig 
quizzically. "You'll be all right if I leave you here?"

A nod this time. Ryoga was used to being a pig. If there was ever a 
competition for surviving as a very delicious pig while completely lost, 
Ryoga knew that he could win it hands down. He appreciated Ranma 
checking that he was all right, but time was short. By the time P-Chan 
could convey to Ranma the location of the thermos in his pack, the 
battle might be over. Whoever was fighting needed Ranma now. Ryoga knew 
that Ranma was not as much use as he was in a fight, but even little 
help would be better than no help.

Ranma hesitated for another moment, but when P-Chan bunted her leg with 
his snout then went rooting around in his pack, Ranma turned and left. 
Ryoga should be safe as a pig; whoever was being attacked by one of the 
Witches or the Sailor Senshi, they were the ones whose life hung in the 
balance.

Two more streets took Ranma to a roof that she could look down onto the 
combat that was making the noise. If she was not so inured to world-
shaking shocks, this one would have rattled her and kept her indecisive 
for long, possibly lethal moments. To first appearances, it looked as 
though the Sailor Senshi were fighting amongst themselves. Two girls 
dressed as Senshi appeared to be attacking a third. If Ranma was not so 
used to having her world set upon its head, this view may have shocked 
her long enough for the bigger girls to win.

Being used to the unusual, Ranma almost instantly accepted that her 
enemies were fighting each other. This allowed her to watch 
analytically and think. The two girls doing all of the attacking were 
definitely Senshi; they matched Nabiki's description closer than any of 
the five she and Ryoga had already fought. The third girl... She was 
different. 

Looking closely, Ranma compared the small girl on the defensive with 
what she knew of the Senshi. While her uniform was similar, the little 
girl had a number of subtle differences, like the length of her bows 
and the shape of her shoulder guards. Then there were the no-so-subtle 
differences: large white wings on her back, a massive spiked gem on her 
chest and a huge pole-arm. None of the Senshi carried weapons, and none 
of them looked like that.

What finally made up Ranma's mind were two simple things. Firstly, the 
girl was so young. Ranma could hardly believe that she was a teenager, 
and matched up against the Senshi, she seemed weak and puny. Most 
importantly, the girl was not attacking. In the past, the Senshi had a 
history of indiscriminately blasting the bad guys, and anyone who got 
in the way... Like a certain fiancee.

True to form, Ranma was off the building and moving before she had 
consciously come to the decision to save the girl. Part way through her 
fall to the ground, Ranma had already done the battlefield analysis and 
had decided how she would win this battle. The two attackers were 
trying to batter their way through some sort of energy shield that the 
little girl had erected. Ranma could tell that because every time one 
of the magical attacks neared the girl, it struck an invisible wall and 
detonated. The ground around the girl was in perfect shape, defended by 
the shield, but that area was shrinking with every attack. This was 
making the girl more and more vulnerable, and in just a few more 
minutes - minutes that Silence Girl did not have - that shield would 
not even cover her body.

Coming in fast and slightly from behind, Ranma timed her sprint to 
reach the little girl just as the latest pair of kaleidoscopic attacks 
sent waves of energy everywhere. Without a pause in her charge, Ranma 
wrapped an arm around the girl and headed for the side of the road. She 
guess she had about four, maybe as much as five seconds before the 
Senshi would fry her and her passenger, but with a little luck, she 
would be sheltered by a building in that time.

It was four point two-seven seconds when the Earth Shaking ripped the 
side off the building, but it was time enough. Ranma and her cargo were 
saved from that blow, and any following ones simply impacted on the 
side of the building without reaching them.

Seeing that the little girl in her arms was not trying to struggle, 
Ranma kept running. Weaving a zigzag course through the streets, Ranma 
put as much distance between herself and the Senshi. She did not know 
whether they would pursue, or how long, but she knew that if she needed 
to stop and fight, she would be in serious difficulty. Tired from a run 
while carrying a passenger - despite the girl's light-weight - Ranma 
would be facing two deadly opponents while having to defend someone. 
Not really the best way to win a fight.

After twenty minutes of headlong, confusing flight through the city at 
the best pace that she could manage, Ranma stumbled to a halt and 
placed the little girl on her feet. Leaning over with hands on her 
knees, Ranma sucked in deep lungfuls of air. This was the moment of 
truth: if this was really one of the Sailor Senshi, she would doubtless 
try to slay Ranma where she stood, simply because she was allied with 
Ranma's other enemies. Ranma doubted this would happen, she was 
confident that this was not one of the dreaded Sailor girls. 

"Are... Are you all right?" The voice was quiet, very quiet, and Ranma 
had to strain to hear her. "Miss?"

"Call me Mister. My name's Ranma."

As Ranma brushed the sweaty locks from her eyes, she looked up to see 
the girl bowing to her. "Thank you, Ranma-san. You saved me... I... I 
couldn't stop them..."

"Aww, it ain't nothing. Are you... Are you one of the Sailor Senshi?"

The little girl in the sailor suit shook her head. "No. I'm Silence 
Girl, I'm here to stop all the fighting, and make everyone be nice to 
each other! I'm the most powerful magical girl in the whole world!"

"Ah, yeah, sure... That's why those two Senshi were about to kill you, 
right?"

Instantly the girl's big purple eyes began to brim with tears and her 
bottom lip began to tremble. "I... I... I..."

"Geez, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. It's just, you know..."

Silence Girl sniffled a few more times and looked at Ranma. After a few 
moments of indecision, she closed her eyes and concentrated. Briefly, 
Ranma was blinded by a bright light, and when she could see again, in 
the place of Silence Girl stood a small school girl. Out of the costume, 
she looked just as young. Her green plaid skirt and neat blazer 
suggested at a private school, but Ranma paid that little mind. It was 
where she stood in this war that mattered, not where she was educated.

"My name's Hotaru, Tomoe Hotaru. I just call myself Silence Girl when I 
use my magic."

"Oh... I'm Saotome Ranma."

"Are you a magical girl too, Ranma-san? You must be to since you are so 
fast and strong. What does your costume look like? What's your magical 
girl name?"

"Hey! I ain't a girl, I'm a guy! And my only name is Saotome Ranma, of 
the Saotome School Of Anything Goes Martial Arts. I'm a martial artist, 
understand? I don't need no magic to make me fast."

"But... But you rescued me... How could you rescue me when you aren't a 
magical girl?"

Putting a hand on Hotaru's shoulder, Ranma lead her to a small bench 
and sat down next to her. It was a shaded area that salary men used to 
eat their lunch during the day, but at this time of evening, it was 
almost deserted. 

"Look, Hotaru, I don't need no magic because I train hard. I've trained 
hard my whole life, I dedicated absolutely everything to the Art. If 
you've got magic, that's great, but it don't make you better than me."

Hotaru looked down, finding something very interesting to look at on 
the tips of her shoes. "I am. I'm stronger than anyone. I'm so strong, 
I'm the only one that can stop all this fighting." 

"Yeah, well if you're so strong, why couldn't you stop them attacking 
you."

"..."

Leaning closer, Ranma put her head next to Hotaru's. "You'll have to 
say that again, I couldn't hear you."

Her proximity seemed to open a floodgate, and instantly Hotaru had her 
in a death grip, bawling her eyes out. "I couldn't do it! I couldn't 
stop them without killing them, and I couldn't do it. Even if everyone 
in the buildings behind them was gone, I still couldn't kill them! What 
good are my powers if I couldn't even stop two magical girls from 
attacking me? I couldn't help Father, and I couldn't stop them! What am 
I going to do?..." 

Tentatively, Ranma tried placing her arms around the sobbing girl. 
Although she was four years older than Hotaru, Ranma's female form did 
not greatly eclipse her in height. Consequently, it was more like 
hugging a friend or younger sister than a daughter, and Ranma patted 
the girl on the back and tried to calm her down. 

While Hotaru cried and tried to calm herself, Ranma reflected that it 
was good that none of her fiancees were here to see them. Despite the 
fact that Hotaru was much too young for her, Ranma knew that she would 
be in trouble if anyone saw them. Ranma the pervert, that was what they 
would call her. Going after young girls now. With a sniff, Ranma 
blinked her eyes and looked imperiously into the distance. Her fiancees 
could say whatever they wanted, Ranma was not after Hotaru, she just 
could not stand to see a girl cry. Even if Akane came along with her 
mallet and...

But of course, Akane would never hit Ranma with her mallet again. She 
would never call Ranma a pervert or chase of any of Ranma's other 
fiancees. She would never wrongly get upset at Ranma innocently 
comforting a stranger. She would never do anything again.

Relaxing slightly, Ranma leaned on Hotaru a little. They might not be 
saying anything, but now that Hotaru was no longer crying, Ranma was 
beginning to feel better. Just having someone to hold was nice. Ranma 
wished that she could hold Akane like this, and tell her how much she 
missed the uncute tomboy.

A couple of minutes later, Hotaru wiped her eyes and pulled away 
slightly. "Thank you, Ranma-san. I'm sorry. I don't usually cry like 
that. It's just that..."

Ranma nodded. She was never good with explaining emotions and stuff 
like that either. "I know what you mean. It's... Yeah, it's like 
that..."

Hotaru nodded, again looking down at her feet. "I... I have to go... I 
can't stay here all night."

Ranma looked around and noticed how dark it was. Surely it must be past 
eight o'clock by now. "You alright to get home from here?"

"Home..." Hotaru said in a quiet voice. Suddenly she jumped to her feet 
and stared straight ahead with braced shoulders and a set look in her 
eyes. "I'm Silence Girl! There's nothing in this city that _I_ need to 
be frightened of!"

"Ahh... You sure?"

Trying to look very determined, Hotaru gave a short sharp nod and 
refused to meet Ranma's eyes. "I am. I live near here."

"Well... OK then. I gotta go find Ryoga... I guess I'll be seeing you 
around. Look out for those Senshi, understand?"

Hotaru looked at where her saviour was departing into the night and 
sighed once before sitting down. Despite what she had told Ranma-san - 
whom she was secretly convinced was actually a magical girl too - 
Hotaru was not sure whether she would be all right tonight. She had 
only said it to reassure Ranma-san. Silence Girl was supposed to be the 
strongest magical girl in Tokyo. It was bad enough that she had needed 
to be saved by someone on her first night out, how was she supposed to 
save the city if she told Ranma-san what the situation really was?

Her father had been taken over by an evil spirit, and she had destroyed 
her own home that morning. Her bed, her clothes, all her nice warm 
blankets were gone. Even if they still existed, she could not go back 
to them because of her father. She had to be strong. She had to be 
strong like Ranma-san! If Ranma-san could dedicate her life to marital 
arts, Hotaru would dedicate hers to being a magical girl!

If Ranma-san was strong enough to save her, then surely Hotaru could be 
strong enough to get through a night in the city. She was Silence Girl! 
She had nothing to fear! No-one could attack her, and she could fly 
away from all her problems! Nothing would stop Tomoe Hotaru, premier 
magical girl in all of Tokyo. She would show everyone. She would stop 
all the fighting, and make her father well again. 

Giving a little shake to warm herself in the chill night air, Hotaru 
looked around. She would have really liked somewhere warm to sleep, but 
she had not managed to find shelter all day. Sitting in a corner of the 
little eating nook, Hotaru drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped 
her arms around her legs. It was cold tonight, but she was always 
hearing on the news how people slept on the street. She would be fine 
for tonight. Then, tomorrow, she would find somewhere better. Somewhere 
warm. Somewhere that she could have dinner before going to bed.

As she sat shivering in the corner, Hotaru began to wish that she had 
swallowed her pride a bit sooner and asked Ranma-san for help. Surely 
she would have had somewhere nice to sleep.

*       *       *

Nabiki looked up as someone opened the front door. She was too tired to 
rise in greeting, so she just lay down her pencil and braced her chin 
on her hand. The way she was feeling, it could be a burglar and she 
would not have the energy to resist them from stealing everything. Of 
course, with Kasumi and Daddy asleep and Mister Saotome out meditating 
near the Koi pond, she would not be able to do particularly much if it 
was a thief. Of course, there were no thieves local to Nerima that 
would be stupid enough to try robbing their house.

After a moment, the sound of quarrelsome voices came from the hallway, 
and Nabiki sighed. It was her team of casual heroes coming home for the 
night. With a glance, Nabiki looked at the clock on the screen of her 
laptop and blinked a few times in surprise. She could have sworn that 
it was only nine or ten, but the computer never lies, and it said that 
it was a quarter to twelve. 

"I can't believe you, Ryoga. You wandered off three times tonight!" 
Judging by that voice, Ranma must have gotten wet some time during 
their patrol. 

"I did not!"

"You did! What about that time when we were near the subway station?"

"I was just investigating a sound that I heard..."

"Yeah, like I've never heard a train around there." Ranma's voice was 
full of scorn.

"Raaaaanma!"

When they came into the living room, the boy and girl were almost at 
each other's throats. After a short moment, Ranma noticed Nabiki 
sitting there watching them and lowered her fist. When his opponent 
dropped her guard, Ryoga looked around a few times then spotted Nabiki. 
With an embarrassed look on his face, Ryoga gave a strained chuckle and 
refrained from hitting anyone.

"Nice to see you again. Not enough Senshi to fight to calm you down?"

The reaction to her little jibe was hardly what she could have expected. 
Both of them snarled and clenched their fists in agitation and 
frustration. "Whoa! Whoa! Calm down! It was just a question."

Shaking herself slightly, Ranma walked into the room fully and 
proceeded to slump down bonelessly next to Nabiki. "Sorry, Nabiki. We 
just had a bad night."

When Ryoga sat down on the opposite side of the table, Nabiki closed 
the lid of her laptop and eased her injured arm into a more comfortable 
position. "Do you want to tell me about it?"

Ryoga grunted and lay back, staring at the ceiling. "It seemed we were 
just too late almost everywhere we went tonight. No matter how fast we 
moved, we would always get there just as a demon escaped, or just as 
the Senshi finished killing one."

"At least the _Senshi_ didn't kill no-one tonight," Ranma added.

"The Senshi didn't? Do you mean a demon did?"

"Yeah. Just to the west of Shinjuku. It vanished just as we turned up. 
It killed two people in their home. I can't believe it, there wasn't 
even a mark on them, but just lay there. They... They died before the 
ambulances arrived."

Everyone was silent at that. Until two weeks ago, Nabiki was the only 
one of the three of them that had ever seen a dead person, and that was 
her mother in the coffin. This evening, Ranma and Ryoga had seen more 
death than they ever wished to see, and certainly more than they ever 
deserved to. It was part of the greater tragedy that while the Senshi 
were uncaring murderers, the demons that they fought were just as bad 
or even worse.

Nabiki was going to ask for some more details on the demon attack when 
her exhaustion dulled mind caught something that she should have 
noticed when Ryoga first mentioned it. "Hey, Ryoga, you said were too 
late 'almost everywhere'. What happened the rest of the time?"

"Err... You'll have to ask Ranma, you see, I was..."

"What P-Chan here is trying to say is that when we got splashed with 
water, he got lost. We could hear someone fighting, so I couldn't wait 
for him."

Ryoga gave Ranma a brief smile and a supportive grunt. He did not like 
it when people implied that a martial artist as strong as him could get 
lost easily, but it was better than telling Nabiki about him changing 
into a pig. His carefree days with Akane might be over now, but his 
curse would surely haunt him to the end of his days.

While Ryoga was distracted by thoughts of Akane, Ranma gave a concise 
run down on Silence Girl and how she had saved her. 

"You think she could have been telling the truth, Nabiki? She didn't 
exactly look like a Senshi, but she was pretty close."

Propping himself onto the edge of the table, Ryoga looked at the other 
through eyes half closed from sleepiness. "Don't forget Black Lady. She 
was pretty obviously a magical girl. That's means the Senshi aren't the 
only ones around."

Nabiki nodded non-committally. Turning her laptop, she opened it up so 
that the three of them could see the screen. "While you were out I was 
doing some more research. It's amazing what you can turn up when you 
spend enough time looking for it."

Opening a presentation on the computer, Nabiki showed them a series of 
photographs of varying quality. Some were excellent pictures, nice and 
sharp. Others were grainy and indistinct. 

"Here are pictures of all of the Senshi that anyone has been able to 
identify. They're mostly named for the planets, but there are a few 
planets missing. Let's see... Mercury... Venus... They usually call 
this one Moon, one of the newspapers called her Earth, but generally 
she's called Sailor Moon... Mars... Jupiter... Again, we don't have 
anyone for Saturn... Uranus... Sorry about the quality of this one, it 
seems as though no-one has managed to get a decent picture of Sailor 
Neptune yet. They don't have a Sailor Pluto either, or at least no-one 
has ever seen her. You'll also notice that none of the pictures match 
the description of your mystery girl. Looks like you're in the clear on 
that one too."

"Wow! That was great, Nabiki! How'd you get so much stuff on them?"

Nabiki waved her hand. "Thanks, Saotome. It's not that much for someone 
as good as me, but it's a start. Tomorrow I'm going to get some 
pamphlets printed warning people about them. Do you think you could 
drop them off tomorrow when you are running around?" 

"Yeah, I guess... You know, that's a pretty good idea. If people know 
to run away from them, they'll be safer."

Brushing hair back from her face, Nabiki yawned mightily. "It's good, 
but it's not perfect. You saw how bad that picture of Neptune was. 
You'd hardly be able to recognise her... Do you want to know what has 
me really worried? By all accounts, Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus 
did not even exist until less than a month ago. We've still got two or 
three planets unclaimed. What if they get Senshi?"

Soberly, Ranma nodded, but she did not interrupt as Nabiki continued. 
"It gets worse. What if there was a Sailor Asteroids and a Sailor Sun? 
That would take them to twelve. Now they've already got a Sailor Moon... 
What's to stop them from having Sailors for some of the really big 
moons around Jupiter and Saturn? I know you guys are good, but can you 
honestly take on fifteen or twenty of these girls?"

They both nodded. "We can, because we have to. It's a martial artist's 
duty to protect the weak. Nothing will ever bring Akane back, but I 
can't sit around and let someone else get hurt like that."

There was silence for a moment. Everyone in the room knew that if the 
two of them fought twenty Sailor Senshi tomorrow, there would be two 
less martial artists in the world, no matter how hard they tried. 
Looking for a change of subject, she made a quick check of the clock on 
the wall. Nabiki was stunned to see just how late it was, all that 
research and then talking just ate through the hours. "Listen, I've got 
to get some sleep. You two ought to rest as well. With the amount of 
training and fighting that you've been doing, you'll need it."

"Come on, Ryoga. I'll take you up to the room."

Rolling onto the floor, Ryoga turned away from Ranma. "I'll just sleep 
here. It's better than being outside, which is where I usually sleep."

Too tired herself to argue with him, Ranma followed Nabiki up the 
stairs. Pausing in the hallway, she watched as Ranma walked past her 
room. "Where are you off to, Saotome? Has being with Ryoga too much 
affected your sense of direction too?"

Pausing with one hand on Akane's door, Ranma turned back to the girl 
who might have been his sister-in-law if things had turned out 
differently. "Just going to say goodnight. Goodnight and get some 
advice before I go to bed."

"Don't go strange on me, Saotome. We can't afford to lose you."

Ranma gave a wan smile. "I'll be fine. I guess I just miss being hit on 
the head with a mallet."

Nabiki stared at him intently for a few long moments, then nodded her 
head and went to bed. She would have to watch that boy. She knew that 
he was quite attached to her sister, despite the way that he acted. If 
he started to lose his grip... She would be the only one around that 
might be able to convince him to keep going, at least until the Senshi 
were defeated.

*       *       *

Morning came far too early for Ranma. After a series of days of 
rigorous training with Ryoga followed by nights patrolling with him, 
Ranma was beginning to feel as though he needed a rest. With a quick 
groan, Ranma pushed his self-pity aside and sat up. The Sailor Senshi 
and the demons were too powerful for him to slack off. If he took a day 
to rest, that would be one day more that Akane's killers would have 
before he brought justice to them.

Sitting on the futon on the floor, Ranma had the distinct impression 
that someone was watching him. Swivelling his head, he turned and saw 
his father. Genma was sitting cross-legged near the door; despite his 
human form, he still looked like a panda they way he sat. The big man's 
eyes might have been closed, and his head bowed, but Ranma knew from 
experience that he was as alert now as he ever was.

Blinking blearily, Ranma was about to start off the day with a 
refreshingly insulting comment when his father spoke and beat him to 
the punch.

"You, my son, are the sole air of the School of Anything Goes Martial 
Arts. Not just the Saotome School, Boy, but the Tendo School too. In 
you I have invested every minute of my life. You are the future of our 
schools and our art."

Shaking the sleep from his mind, Ranma flipped to his feet and began to 
move to the door. A bath, breakfast, then some stretching. Paying the 
usual attention to his father's rambling, Ranma proceeded to walk past 
him and completely missed his father's quick strike until he was flat 
on his back.

"What did you do that for, Old Man?"

"Listen to me, Boy. You are the sole heir. You alone have the knowledge 
to continue the School. What will happen to the School if you get 
frozen like Ryoga did the other day?"

With a single wrench of his stomach muscles, Ranma bent himself through 
the middle and grabbed the lapels of his father's Gi. "What makes you 
think I care about the School any more, Old Man? Get it through your 
head! Akane's dead! There is no future!"

Finally Genma opened his eyes and looked into his son's eyes. 
Centimetres away from each other, they eyed each other, lightning 
almost seeming to fly between they fixed stares. "Do you know what the 
School is, Ranma? Do you know what it is that I have trained you for?"

"Who knows what you do anything for?"

"I did it for you, Boy. You are the School. You are the future. You are 
the one that needs to be the true Master of the art."

Shifting his grip so quickly that his hands blurred, Ranma had Genma in 
a headlock. "That's right, Old Man. I'm the Master, not you, so don't 
even think of telling me what to do."

"Gasp!... You are only the Master if you can defeat the Senshi... What 
happens the first time one of them manages to hit you?"

Ranma's grip slackened slightly. As much as he hated to admit it, his 
stupid father was right for once. If the Senshi won, he would be dead, 
and Master of nothing. If they encased him in ice like they did to 
Ryoga, he was finished. If they hit him with any of the attacks that 
they had thrown so far, he would be in a world of hurt.

"So what are you gonna do about it, Old Man? Stop them with all that 
blubber? Laugh them to death with the funny Panda act?"

"Your old man isn't out of tricks yet, Boy!"

With a deft movement, Genma snaked a foot under Ranma and flipped his 
son in mid-air. Before the young man could react, Genma pitched him out 
the open window and into the Koi pond outside.
 
"Hey! What did you do that for?"

Standing inside the window, Genma looked down on the small form of his 
son in the pond. As much as he hated to admit it, Ranma's speed in this 
form was unrivalled. That speed would be the first key to her 
invulnerability.

"Get out of the water boy, and build a fire in the yard. You've got 
some serious training to do."

While the female Ranma muttered derogatory comments about pandas and 
parents, Genma went down to collect Ryoga. In all honesty, Genma did 
not particularly like Ryoga. The boy had constantly trying to get 
between Genma and a happy retirement, or more precisely, between Ranma 
and Akane. Ryoga did, however, provide a perfect training partner for 
Ranma, since he was the only boy in the area that approached Ranma's 
skill. 

Most importantly, this aggressive, sullen boy was the one fighting next 
to his son in a battle to the death. Genma was well aware that if Ryoga 
were to fall to the Senshi or a demon, his son would fall soon after. 
Kicking the protesting Ryoga out of the house, Genma dragged the 
rapidly awakening boy to the campfire that Ranma had set up. 

"I'm not going to say that I'm better than you, we don't have time for 
me to be able to prove it. What I will say is that I have thirty years 
more experience that either of you, and I know things you have never 
even thought of. Today, I shall begin to train you and make you the 
greatest fighters to ever walk Japan."

Neither boy - although Ranma was arguably more of a girl at the moment 
- was happy at their treatment. It was them that had been going out and 
taking the fight to the enemy. Genma had simply stayed at home, 
claiming to be defending Nabiki and Kasumi, but in reality, they knew 
that he spent all of his time meditating outside. Actually, he claimed 
that he was meditating; for all they knew, he was probably sleeping.

Producing a packet of chestnuts from within his Gi, Genma liberally 
sprinkled them into the fire. "Boy! Get them out."

With the shout of "Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken," Ranma went into action. 
Moving so fast his hands ceased to be individual items, but instead 
became a blur. In mere moments, dozens of fresh roasted chestnuts were 
resting in a pile on the ground.

"What was the use of that, Ranma? Everyone knows you can do that. I 
want Ryoga to do it."

This time when Genma seeded the fire, Ryoga narrowed his eyes and 
clenched his fists. There was no way that he would ever admit to Ranma 
being better than him. He would never allow his rival to show him up 
like this... "YAAAAHHHH!"

Ryoga's arms shot forward at a speed that few humans could match. 
Darting into the fire, he grabbed handful after handful of the nuts, 
but his speed was no match for the dreaded Roasting Chestnuts Over An 
Open Fire technique. In short order, Ryoga was bouncing around the lawn, 
waving his hands madly and trying to put out his burning sleeves.

While Ranma laughed and almost choked on the chestnuts she was eating, 
Genma went to the remains of the dojo and grabbed a couple more pieces 
of wood. "Boy, that was terrible! I used to think that Ranma was slow, 
but you were disgusting! How can you call yourself a martial artist?"

Flames finally out, Ryoga rounded on Genma and prepared to pound him 
into the ground. No-one spoke to Hibiki Ryoga like that and got away 
with it. The ferociously strong youth was standing there with one fist 
cocked back, ready to strike, but Genma hardly moved. All he did was 
hold up a large plastic bag filled with nuts.

"What's it going to be? Are you going to hit me, try to prove that 
you're better than the Senshi by attacking your trainer? Or are you 
going to practice? My boy learned it in just a few days. How long is it 
going to take you?"

Snarling, Ryoga snatched the bag of nuts and threw some of them onto 
the fire. While he gazed into the heat and tried to think fast thoughts, 
he heard Genma prattle on behind him. "Speed is your weakness, Boy. You 
are too slow, and that is why the Senshi could defeat you. Practice 
this, and soon you will be able to avoid them like Ranma... And by the 
way, I'll be back every couple of hours to make that fire even bigger."

As Genma lead his son (or daughter) away from the burning martial 
artist, Ranma laughed. She could not remember the last time that she 
had laughed so much. Ryoga was just too slow to learn the technique. 
There was no way that he would ever be able to master the Amaguriken.

"You know, Pops? Even if Ryoga does make it, it won't make him any 
faster on his feet. He'll still get hit just as easily."

"I told you that your father was smarter than you are, Boy. Ryoga 
doesn't need that technique to punch faster, he can already hit fast 
and hard enough."

"So why's he training?"

"You'll see, Boy. You'll see."

"And what do you want... You've got to be kidding!"

Both Saotomes were looking at a setup in the back yard. In the corner 
was a strange contraption of tall pieces of wood with a pair of ropes 
hanging from them. One was just dangling, the other was holding a 
massive boulder. Although it looked fragile, Ranma was sure that his 
father made sure it was more than strong enough to survive the planned 
punishment.

"What the hell are you thinking, Old Man? You don't know how to teach 
the Bakusai Tenketsu! Besides, even if you did, what good would it do 
me?"

Leaning down so that his massive, blocky face was close to his child's, 
Genma looked at the fiery redhead. "So you think you know better than 
you're father now in how you should train?"

"You betcha, I do!"

With the speed of a man trained under Happosai, Genma reached out and 
gave Ranma a fast, hard poke in her left breast. "Hey! Quit it already! 
You've got no idea how much these things hurt!"

Without a word, Genma turned and began pulling on the rope to lift the 
swinging boulder into position. Ranma only watched him for a short 
while before she was moving. She could vividly remember the first time 
that she had fought Ryoga after he had learned the Bakusai Tenketsu. 
The blasting point was not really the objective of learning the 
technique. The advantage came in the incredible toughening that it gave 
you. 

While she strapped herself into the hanging harness, Ranma grudgingly 
had to admit that her old man might be right this time. Her girl form 
was much weaker than her boy form. Even worse, she often got hit by 
water while she was patrolling. If she could train toughness into this 
body, she would be able to fight the Senshi on much more even terms.

She might not know how to do the Bakusai Tenketsu, and her father did 
not know how to teach it. That did not matter, because she was Saotome 
Ranma, and there was nothing related to martial arts that she could not 
learn. She was smiling for almost five seconds before the boulder 
slammed into her for the first time. It was going to be a very long day.

*       *       *

Ukyo sighed. Nine out of ten times that something weird happened to her 
fiancee, there was no real positive side. This time she had to admit, 
his latest escapade with Happosai had honestly provided rewards. Not 
just a new martial arts technique for Ranma or beating a new foe, this 
time he had helped make someone's life better. To make things even more 
perfect, Ukyo had been there with him during most of the chaos, 
spending some quality time with her fiance and helping sort things out.

About two weeks and a half weeks ago, just before Ranma went training 
in the hills with his father, the poor boy had been dragged off to a 
seedy den of ill repute by Happosai and his weak willed father. 
According to the two "adults" it had been to help toughen Ranma and 
make him a true man. From what Ukyo had seen of the event, it was 
simply that the perverts wanted to drag her fiance down to their level.

Needless to say, things had not gone smoothly at the house of inequity. 
Ranma, being the water magnet that he was, had arrived as a girl, and 
the first time that anyone so much as touched him... By the time the 
dust had cleared, the house was a pile of rubble, and the hostesses 
were nowhere to be seen.

That might have been the end of it were it not for fact that Happosai 
had ill advisedly chosen the residence and workplace for some members 
of Clan Kenzan. Kenzan was a clan of skilled ninja, with young Konatsu 
being their foremost student this generation. When Kenzan Konatsu had 
come to Nerima seeking revenge, Ukyo had teamed with Ranma.

Like all battles that happened in the district, it was prolonged and 
more stunning than the last. It also seemed to follow one other 
unspoken rule about people who challenge Ranma: Konatsu was not what 
she seemed. On the outside, Konatsu was a quiet, polite girl of very 
traditional upbringing. Scratch the surface a little, and you found a 
ninja of sufficient skill to place both Ukyo and Ranma on the ropes. 
Naturally, Ukyo's beloved fiance had won, and it was at that point that 
the truth became clear.

Konatsu was a boy.

Raised by his evil step-sisters, the poor boy had been forced to 
pretend to be a girl his entire life. The Kenzan ninja were all girls, 
and thus when Konatsu's parents had given birth a boy, they had been 
ashamed and hid the fact. 

To throw fuel on the fire and enflame the confusion to new heights, 
Konatsu had become quite smitten by Ukyo. Homeless because their 
business and residence had been destroyed, Konatsu had prevailed upon 
the girl of his dreams. It was only after the soft-hearted Ukyo agreed 
to take him on as an assistant that she realised what a favour she had 
done.

With his sisters, Konatsu had been oppressed and abused. Mocked for not 
being a real girl, Konatsu had been forced to do all of the drudge-work. 
Despite the fact that Ukyo only paid him a pittance, he worked himself 
incredibly hard, and still thought that it was an easy and luxurious 
life. 

Konatsu still dressed as a girl, and doted on every word that she said, 
but Ukyo would be the first to admit what a good employee he - or she - 
was. She did not really mind his gender insecurities. Ukyo had 
pretended to be a boy for the best part of a decade, and her beloved 
fiance changed sex with a splash of water. With examples like that, how 
could she be upset that Konatsu preferred to wear a kimono and makeup?

The other telling reason to allow Konatsu to continue in his course was 
the fact the he really made a great girl. She had gained a noticeable 
increase in customer since the pretty waitress started. Konatsu had 
less business sense than god gifted the average gnat, but so long as 
Ukyo kept him away from business decisions, the cross-dressing boy was 
almost perfect. Best of all, it allowed Ukyo to take some time off 
every now and again. With someone like Konatsu able to set up the store 
for the evening rush, Ukyo was able to stay at school longer in the day. 
Better still, she could also afford to take some time off when it was 
needed.

"Konatsu-chan? I've got head out for a while. Just watch the store and 
keep things going while I'm gone, OK?"

"Yes, Ukyo-sama." The ninja gave a brief but deep bow.

Picking up her delivery box, she hummed softly as she walked out of the 
store. A week ago she had gone over to visit Ranma, and had bumped into 
him as he set off to do some training. While she had wanted to go with 
him, looking after Konatsu and the store conspired against her. She did 
not feel too bad about the missed opportunity since only Ranma and his 
father were going. That meant that none of the other girls were making 
moves on her fiance, which was all that really mattered.

The Monday after he had left, she had been worried that he might have 
gone off with the Tendos since neither Nabiki nor Akane were at school. 
Frightened that they might have been trying to trick her up, she had 
sneaked over the wall of their compound that evening for a look. Luck 
was on her side, because she spotted Nabiki in the main room, arm in a 
cast. 

She had considered going in and offering her sympathies, but Nabiki had 
never really been much of a friend. They were not enemies, more like 
business acquaintances. It was that business aspect of their 
relationship that caused Ukyo to keep her distance. She knew that if 
she had gone in, Nabiki would have someone managed to convince her to 
part with hard earned money, and since she was just taking on Konatsu, 
that was something she could not afford.

Safe in the knowledge that Akane must have been staying home to help 
her sister, Ukyo had let life continue in a peaceful fashion. Without 
Ranma around, it was relaxing, possibly even dull. She had been willing 
to concede that Akane might have been staying home to help her sister, 
but when this Monday had rolled around and Ranma had not been at school, 
Ukyo began to be concerned. The thought that something serious had 
happened between Ranma and Akane was too horrible and unlikely to 
contemplate, but as the days passed, she had not been able to get the 
thought from her mind. 

That was why she was here now. Standing out the front of the Tendo 
compound, Ukyo took a quick sniff of the Okonomiyaki that she carried 
and smiled. Nothing wrong with a loyal fiancee bringing her man some 
food. Especially food that did not poison him or require medical 
attention after eating. 

"I'll just go in there, offer Ran-chan some food, then make sure he's 
not spending too much time with Akane. One taste of this, and he'll 
regret not coming and visiting me every day that he's been back."

Indeed, with her new and improved super-special Ran-chan style 
Okonomiyaki, she would be capable of feeding two or three normal people. 
For her man, it would be an appetiser, to be followed up by dinner back 
at her restaurant.

Pushing open the door, Ukyo walked inside the compound. Everything 
seemed perfectly normal, but there was an indefinable aura of gloom. 
Her experienced chef's nose could detect Kasumi preparing an early meal, 
and her keen fighter's ear could hear the sound of vigorous combat from 
the back yard. The harsh voices told her that it was Ryoga trying to 
kill Ranma again, so that was completely normal too. Failing to 
understand what could cause the feeling of depression, Ukyo ventured 
around the side of the house.

The destruction that greeted her once she rounded the corner of the 
house was enough to make Ukyo drop the delivery box. Ranma and Ryoga 
were fighting with an intensity that she rarely saw, and skill that 
seemed to have grown noticeably in the weeks since she had last seen 
them. The fighters were not what caught her attention most, however. It 
was the silent statement provided by the destroyed dojo behind the pair 
that caught her eye. 

Akane was promised to Ranma so that they could continue the school of 
Anything Goes Martial Arts, and so that he could inherit the dojo. Ukyo 
could not help but feel some elation at the sight of that same dojo in 
ruins. She knew how much a dojo meant to any martial artist, but to see 
one of the main strengths of her greatest rival lying in ruins, she 
could not help but drift off into a brief fantasy about her and Ranma 
celebrating their wedded bliss.

Her contemplation of perfection was cut short when the fighters noticed 
her and headed her way mid-fight. Again she was caught off guard, since 
neither of them would usually cease fighting their enemy without an 
enormous motivator. She knew her cooking was good, but she did not 
think it was good enough to sway both Ranma and Ryoga from fighting. It 
was with a sigh of relief that she saw first Ranma then Ryoga continue 
trading blows over the takeout box. Mid battle, each boy grabbed a 
tasty dish and ate it, demonstrating coordination, skill and culinary 
aptitude beyond most mortals.

With one hand on her battle spatula, Ukyo considered belting Ryoga. No-
one picks on her fiancee without her permission, but she relented and 
slowly relaxed. She knew how much Ranma disliked it when she helped him 
in a fight. Besides, looking at how well he was doing, Ranma should be 
able to take Ryoga without causing her to worry too much.

She was settling in to wait for Ranma's inevitable victory when his 
father walked out of the house. Despite the way that she glared at the 
man that had ruined her life, he ignored her and concentrated on the 
two combatants. "That's enough you two. Get some rest before this 
evening."

Ukyo's jaw hit the floor when she saw both boys stop fighting almost 
mid-blow. One moment they were sincerely trying to do the maximum 
damage to each other, the next they were sitting down on the porch 
beside her, puffing and panting, all aggression forgotten.

"Wh-What's going on here?"

Ranma narrowed his brows and glared at an unoffending piece of dirt. 
"Training."

"Training? What on earth are the two of you training for? Why are you 
training _together_?"

For the first time, Ranma turned and looked at her. With a slight grin, 
Ranma spoke. "Training for tonight. We're going out to kill some 
demons."

"Demons! Ran-chan! You can't be serious! Those things are monsters! 
They'll kill you."

The smile on his face was not the one she knew and loved. This was 
colder, harder, less forgiving. "Not tonight they won't. Ryoga and I 
have been training. Ain't no demon and ain't no Senshi gunna kill 
anyone while we're around."

"D-demon? Senshi? What's going on here, Ran-chan? You're making me 
nervous."

"Sorry, Ucchan. Things have been pretty rough for the last few days. 
It's good to see you, I guess."

"Gee, thanks. You say that so sincerely."

Ranma gave a short laugh. "Still the same old Ucchan. It's good to know 
some things don't change. Always stay like this, Ucchan. I want to 
remember you as someone happy and friendly."

"What are you talking about, Ran-chan? Of course I'll never change. 
I'll always be your cute fiancee. But I don't understand. What does 
this have to do with demons and Senshi? They're a dangerous combination 
to mess with."

She could feel Ryoga move beside her, but it was Ranma who spoke 
finally. "We're doing it for Akane. Every evening, Ryoga and me are 
going out and patrolling the city. We're gunna put an end to all the 
demons and Senshi if it's the last thing we do."

After gaping several times in shock, Ukyo surged to her feet and pulled 
of her battle spatula. Swinging it around into a ready position, she 
glared at the two boys. "All right, that does it! Hitting you and 
poisoning you is one thing, but this will get you killed! Where is she? 
Where is Akane? If she thinks she can make you go out and fight all 
those monsters for her, she's got another thing coming."

For several moments, Ranma looked like he wanted to say something, but 
then he just shook his head and went inside the house. Before Ukyo 
could follow him and start searching for Akane, Ryoga held up a hand 
and stopped her.

"We're not doing it because Akane asked us to. We're doing it so that 
what happened to Akane never happens to anyone else."

"What happened to Akane... I knew Nabiki had hurt her arm, but... Don't 
tell me she's in hospital! Is she OK? Why didn't someone tell me? She's 
my friend too."

Grabbing small rocks from the ground at his feet, Ryoga clenched them 
in his fist, frustration and destruction the only outlets available for 
his pain. "She's not at the hospital. She... The Senshi killed her. 
Nabiki saw it all. They just shot her down so that they could get at a 
demon. They didn't even care..."

Shocked beyond the capacity for speech, beyond rational thought, Ukyo 
collapsed to her knees and felt her mighty spatula fall from her 
suddenly limp fingers. "Dead?"

It was not a question, more a self-denial. She couldn't be dead. Akane, 
the girl that was always being kidnapped and attacked, not her. They 
always joked about her that she was too much of a tomboy, too tough for 
her own good. Someone like that could not possibly die this young.

Shaking slightly, Ukyo tried to bring herself back together. They may 
have been rivals, but they were never enemies. Ukyo could not possibly 
count the number of times that she had wished that Akane was out of the 
way and that Ranma could be hers, but she never wanted this. Not this 
way. Not dead. Despite what he said, Ukyo knew the reason Ranma had not 
chosen her long ago was that he cared for Akane and Shampoo. When he 
chose Ukyo, it would have hurt the other girls a lot; who would not be 
hurt by a rejection from someone as nice as Ranma? She knew Akane only 
distantly, as a friend in school and a competitor for Ranma's 
attentions. Poor Ranma must be devastated that she was gone.

Ukyo had no real doubt that he would choose her. It had all been a 
matter of time until he realised that Akane was not right for him. But 
she would never have wanted it to end this way. This training and 
fighting easily explained why he was not at school. She wanted to rush 
off to him and console him, but she knew that he would not want that. 
She knew that Ranma was sensitive about these things, and would 
eventually leave Akane's family and move in with her. In the mean time, 
she would be here for him. She would show him all of the qualities that 
had made her the best choice for him for so long. A good fiancee stood 
by her man in his hour of need.

"What can I do, Ryoga?"

"Nothing!"

It was a third voice, a voice of someone she had not expected. Genma 
had sneaked up behind her and had answered her question rather than the 
boy she asked, the boy who could give her a real answer.

"I didn't ask you, you old fool! I asked Ryoga."

Genma nodded and looked down at the shorter girl with long brown hair. 
Pushing his glasses up on his nose with one finger, he regarded her 
serenely. "Could you beat either of these boys?"

"What? No! I know I'm good, but no-one's as good as Ran-chan."

"Indeed, but yet these two almost lost the first time that they fought 
the Senshi. Would you want them to be worrying about you the whole 
time? Do you want to be the one that distracts them when they most need 
to concentrate?"

"No!" Ukyo hefted her battle spatula in an aggressive stance and 
threatened the big man. "You want me to show you just how good I am?"

Genma gave a brief smile. "And who is it that trains Ranma? Who is it 
that sparred with him every day of his life? Who is the one man capable 
of defeating him?"

"That's just because of your dirty tricks. You cheat! You'd never beat 
Ran-chan in a stand-up fight."

"Anything Goes... I'm not sending more people out there to fight the 
demons just to see them killed. Martial Arts is not about fighting, it 
is about winning." Leaning in very closely, Genma put his face near 
hers. "The path of a true martial artist is fraught with peril, and the 
way is hard. Are you ready for that? Are you ready to train and be a 
real martial artist? Or do you want to go out there tonight, fight and 
die?"

"I... I... I..."

In a single smooth move, Genma used his close proximity to grab the 
spatula and pluck it from her arms at the same time as he flipped her 
onto her back.

"If you would be so kind, Boy. Take her out the back and 'train' her 
for a while. Without the spatula. She needs the practice."

"Why you... Give me that back!"

Ryoga's coarse, blunt hand rested on her shoulder and stopped her 
before she could start to commit grievous bodily harm upon the elder 
Saotome. "He's right, Ukyo. He might be a lying, cheating, evil panda, 
but he knows tricks we haven't even thought of. Give us a few days, and 
you'll be ready to come with us."

"Fight Ryoga for an hour, then I'll train you. We all want you out 
there." Watching Ranma's two friends walk out and prepare to train, 
Genma felt a short quiver inside himself. The creatures they faced were 
like no foe they had ever crossed before. There was no honour of 
martial artists or noble surrender. This was victory or death. 

Genma had been called many bad things in his life, and most of them 
were true. The one thing he could not be called was totally heartless. 
Almost totally heartless, yes; totally, no. Throughout his life, Genma 
had often risked his son's life in the cause of making him a better 
martial artist. Risking his life was not the same as throwing it away. 
The Cat-Fist had been the worst disaster, but even then Genma had 
easily been able to fix things to a safe level. 

He would never let his son be killed as long as there was breath in his 
body. Some people would say that meant that he should be out there 
battling the demons with Ranma, but he knew that he would be more of a 
liability than the Kuonji girl. Compared to his son he presented too 
easy a target, and he could not afford to be hit as much as Hibiki. 
That meant that he needed to be here, and he needed to do his best to 
keep his son and heir alive.

If keeping Ranma alive entailed training each and everyone one of his 
friends in the lethal ways of Anything Goes, then that was what he 
would do. If it entailed sending good kids like Ukyo into battle 
against unholy monsters, he would do that too. In a year's time he 
might never be able to look into a mirror and meet his own eyes ever 
again, but by all the Kami, he would still have a son then. No matter 
what it took.

"Thinking, eh, Saotome-kun?"

"Mmmm. Yes, Tendo. Thinking. There is much to think about."

The tall man took a seat on the edge of the wooden porch where Ranma 
and Ryoga had been only minutes ago. When Genma sat next to him, Soun 
kept his eyes on the yard and concentrated on the martial artists there.

"I remember a young man from many years ago, not much older than Ranma, 
he was. A great martial artist."

"Hmmm. Maybe we should look for him. Would he be able to help?"

"Maybe he could. Maybe not. I remember that this young man developed a 
whole new set of techniques. Techniques so powerful and deadly, he 
sealed them away forever. Swore never to use them again. Do you 
remember that young man, Genma my friend?"

Giving a start, Genma looked across at his friend, but nothing was 
showing on Soun's face. "I do..."

"What would it take for you to break that seal, old friend? My daughter 
is dead. Your son is fighting demons and magical warriors whose power 
is beyond imagining. What would it take for you to teach your son those 
techniques? Has your word become so strong and so honour bound that you 
cannot break it in this time of need?"

Leaning forward, Genma rested his face in his palms. Muffled by his 
hands, the sound of his voice was still loud enough for Soun to hear. 
"I can't."

"You can't or you won't? I know you're frightened of what they could do. 
I remember the stories of how they can even make the Old Woman's 
techniques seem pale. What would it take? What must happen before you 
can unseal the Saotome Forbidden Techniques."

"It's can't. For two decades I have spent my every waking moment trying 
to forget the horror that I had created. If you could see what I see in 
my dreams, you would understand why I sealed them away and vowed never 
to use them again... But that is the problem, Tendo-kun. I succeeded. I 
sealed them away so well, even I cannot remember them."

Sitting up, Genma looked out into the yard. Soun could see tears 
streaming down his face. "Every day I have been meditating, trying to 
remember them, but nothing is coming. Soun, my friend, you have to 
believe me. Every day now I wish that I had taught them to Ranma as 
soon as he was capable. Wish that I never let him leave Akane's side. 
If we had pushed them just that bit harder, said something just a bit 
better, they would have been married. Ranma would have been with her... 
He would have saved her. If I had not taken him on that accursed trip, 
Akane-chan would still be here."

Wrapping an arm around the bigger man, Soun tried to comfort him. It 
was not Genma's fault that Akane had died, and what more could be asked 
of a girl's fiance than what Ranma was doing. Words would not come as 
easily or as clearly as he wanted, but Soun managed to convey his 
understanding. The Forbidden Techniques might contain power to exceed 
that of the Shi Shi Hokodan, but they must wait. Someday Saotome-kun 
would remember, and from that day forth, let all be wary of Saotome 
Ranma.

*       *       *

Rei was changing out of her school uniform and into her shrine robes 
when there was a soft scratching at the door. Knowing exactly who must 
be there, she opened the door and let Luna and Artemis in. Despite 
Ami's protests that she needed to study, the Senshi had arranged to 
meet that afternoon straight after school, to prepare for a hard night 
ahead of them. It was unusual for the Moon Cats to desert their 
mistresses given the girls' tendency to get distracted, but Rei was 
quite happy to see them in advance of the meeting.

"Hey, Luna, Artemis. Why are you here so early?"

Both of the cats looked sheepish for a moment, but eventually Artemis 
gave Luna a nudge and the black cat stepped forward slightly and looked 
up at the trainee priestess. "Sailor Mars, please... We... We both 
dislike going behind the Princess' back to ask you this, but we have to 
know. What did the Negaverse do to Usagi-sama in your timeline?"

"What? I don't understand. They attacked us all the time, but you said 
that you fought them all the time too."

"That's not exactly what I meant. I need to know what they _did_ to 
her."

Rei looked even more confused for a moment before Artemis looked up at 
her with a piercing gaze and spoke gruffly. "What she means is: how did 
they break her mind? She's nothing like the Imperial Majesty that we 
used to know."

"Artemis!" Luna sounded scandalised. 

"You think they did _what_ to her?"

Edging in just before Artemis, Luna tried to be a little more polite 
about their liege's possible trauma. "She's... She's not like the Moon 
Princess that we're used to. She's... Well, she flighty and vague and 
she has absolutely no sense of responsibility. Why, I had to ask her 
three times this morning to get out of bed! Two weeks ago, the Moon 
Princess would wake up every morning just to patrol the city for an 
hour before everyone else woke up."

"She did?"

Both cats nodded. "Not only that, but she was acting so strange at 
school, Haruna-sensei was very worried. If it was not for the fact that 
she had been such a serious and dedicated student recently, I'm sure 
the teacher would have thought Usagi-Sama was sleeping!"

"No way!"

"And what's worse, is that she... Well, I don't like to tell tales... 
She was climbing all over Princess Jupiter at lunch, trying to steal 
her food. Her Majesty would never do such a thing! She even managed to 
convince Sailor Mercury and Princess Venus to sneak out of school with 
her so that they could see Princess Jupiter. I have nothing against the 
Senshi working as a team, but this seems to be going to the extreme!"

Finally Rei could hold it in no longer and collapsed onto her bed 
laughing. "You look so funny, Luna, the way you're so upset at Usagi-
chan. She didn't even do anything wrong today!"

"But... It's not natural! Her Majesty has always been such a sterling 
example to us all. True, it was a bit rough on poor Artemis, but Her 
Majesty tried so hard. Fighting the Negaverse with just the two of you 
helping her... It was such a trial for our princess. Ever since that 
first night I knew her, she has never once been afraid. Never once ran 
from a battle. Why, she is the most perfect example of what a queen 
should be."

"Oh, Luna, you just don't understand. The way we remember it, you 
didn't recognise Usagi as the Moon Princess. That meant that the two of 
you were out fighting evil right from the start. Naru-chan survived. 
Usagi-chan had no reason to be serious all the time. She could rely on 
her friends. We were there for each other... All of us. There was none 
of this 'Princess Jupiter' or 'Princess Venus'. We were all Sailor 
Senshi, and we were all ready to give our life for our princess."

"But what happened?..."

"We were a team. We were there for each other. The pretty soldiers who 
fought for love and justice were always on the same side. We even tried 
to trick the Negaverse into thinking we had split up, but they didn't 
fall for it. Even our enemies knew that we love her, and we would never 
abandon her."

Standing up, Rei began to pace slightly, black hair flying behind her 
as she grew more animated in her speech. "We're a team because Usagi is 
that special person she needs to be. She might whine and cry all the 
time, but when you really need her, you can rely on her. She was there 
for us, and it was that special friendship that made Sailor Jupiter one 
of us, not some Princess Jupiter off fighting on her own. She might be 
a little cry-baby and not pay attention to anything, but we wouldn't 
change that for anything!"

"A... cry-baby?..."

Rei nodded.

Luna looked stricken. "It... gets worse?..." The terror was plain in 
the cats voice.

Again Rei nodded. Her voice may have been serious, but the smile on her 
face made them hope it was a joke. "Just wait till she trips over in 
battle and starts crying."

The cats may have planned to continue their line of questioning, but 
the sound of the Moon Princess' delicate voice echoed up the stairs to 
Rei's room. "Rei! Are you going to be getting changed all day? I've 
almost finished one manga, and I need another one!"

"Wah! Usagi! You're not supposed to steal my manga!" Leaving the cats, 
Rei raced down the stairs. 

Alone for a moment, Luna looked at her counterpart and enquired in a 
soft voice. "Do you think she was telling the truth?"

"Sailor Mars has never lied before, and she seemed to believe what she 
said. I just find it hard to believe that this girl is the same as the 
Moon Princess that we worked with for so long. She's so different..."

"Do you think that story about her crying in battle is true?"

Entering the kitchen area where Rei was chasing Usagi around while the 
other girls watched in mirth, Artemis could only shudder. "I certainly 
hope she was exaggerating."

Noticing everyone was in the room at last, Ami gave a delicate cough to 
try and gain their attention. With the spectacle that their leader was 
providing, it took Makoto's vocal support before people paid attention 
to the quiet girl. 

"I did some research today, I wanted to know more about the man and 
woman that attacked us yesterday."

"Those creeps! My nose still hurts! What if they had ruined this 
perfect face? Millions of adoring fans would never get to know me."

"I'm sure they'd still like you Mina-chan. We would... But aside from 
that, I think I might know why they attacked us..."

Opening her bag, Ami drew forth a small pile of photocopied newspaper 
pages. Spreading them out on the dinner table, the collected Senshi saw 
a tale of destruction that left their mouths dry. Battles with Youma 
and the forces of the Dark Moon Family had always had an almost 
surgical precision to them in their past. People might have their 
energy drained, or sometimes a little damage would be done, but it was 
nothing severe. 

With only three Senshi on the team, things were more desperate. The 
news clippings told stories of prolonged battles that only reluctantly 
yielded victory to the girls. While there had been no dangerously 
serious injuries, more than one civilian had left the battle zone with 
minor burns after Sailor Mars had been forced to burn them free from 
the Youma that had caught them. 

The same sorry story held true for Princess Jupiter. Unable to rely on 
the care and support of her friends, she had often resorted to 
attacking the monsters by herself. Again, she too had been forced to 
sacrifice precision for necessity, resulting in the occasional broken 
arm or leg for the people she saved.

"Luna!" Usagi cried with tears beginning to form. "How could we do 
this? Why couldn't we all work on the one team?"

"Usagi-sama, I'm sorry. I know you remember things working out better, 
but that's not how they really were. You worked hard, all of you. You 
did everything you could to defeat the Negaverse and to protect 
everyone in Tokyo... In the whole world even."

"She's right," Artemis' gravely voice continued. "You'll never know 
just how happy it makes me to see all five of you in the same room and 
not be fighting... Well, except for Sailor Mars poking her tongue out 
at... Your Majesty! Please! It's not seemly for a woman of your 
importance to act like that."

When the girls had calmed down, Artemis resumed his speech. "I can't 
say what it means to me to have Sailor Mercury sitting next to Princess 
Jupiter and not trying to strangle her while everyone else is busy 
arguing. But despite that, I don't care what it says in the news. No-
one ever asked you to be perfect. No-one else ever came forth to fight 
the evil. You were all we had, and you were all that Tokyo needed. The 
Sailor Senshi will always be heroes in my book!"

Amidst the cheers of support, Ami quietly reached into her bag and drew 
forth another pair of articles. Setting them on the table, she waited 
until the sober content had calmed everyone.

"That might have been true, but things have gotten much worse. In the 
last two weeks, we've seen another group of Senshi start to operate, 
not to mention Prince Diamond and Black Lady helping Emerald. To make 
matters worse, we seem to have someone else entirely out there as well, 
and from what we can see, they want to kill people rather than just 
drain their energy."

The newspaper articles showed a terrible truth. Although the Sailor 
Senshi had done a better job in the last week compared to what Tokyo 
had ever seen from them before, it was not good enough. The rogue 
Senshi - possibly the improperly summoned Outer Senshi - were almost as 
dangerous as their enemies. 

Finally things had turned ugly. Lives had been lost. People had been 
permanently injured. Families had been ruined by the magical 
catastrophes. "I don't know how they managed to hurt us so badly, but 
I'm beginning to get an idea why they did it."

*       *       *

"Come in Shampoo. I need you help with the dinner crowd."

"Shampoo busy, Great Grandmother. Mousse help."

Shampoo did not look around, but she heard the sound of a stick 
clicking on the ground behind her that announced the arrival of her 
guardian and mentor. "I commend your dedication to training, Shampoo, 
but I need your help now. Come inside and wash up. You smell like 
you've been here for hours."

"Shampoo train all day. Shampoo no have time to work in restaurant."

Cologne was used to Mousse talking back to her and occasionally 
refusing orders, but Shampoo always did what she was told immediately. 
Her insubordination, even for something as important to an Amazon as 
training was something that Cologne needed to look into immediately.

"Child... Cease your practice and look at me... I said, STOP!"

After hearing that tone, Shampoo turned to look at her great 
grandmother. She was exhausted after a day of intensive training behind 
the restaurant, but she was not so tired that she missed the 
seriousness of the command. If she waited just a few moments longer, 
Shampoo knew that she would be feeling the hard end of the cane to 
remind her of her position.

"Good. Now tell me. What is so important about training that you would 
suddenly decide that you would disobey the commands of your matriarch?"

"Shampoo..." She was so used to thinking of Cologne as her great 
grandmother, it was easy to forget the rank that she also held. 
Theoretically, Cologne could order her expulsion from the tribe for 
disobedience. A legal technicality, but it helped remind Shampoo to 
keep things in perspective.

"Shampoo shame self." She said, hanging her head. Shame was the inverse 
of honour, the other side of the same coin. If she had managed to 
conceal her actions from Cologne until she had righted things with 
Ranma, there would have been no problem. Now she had just told the one 
woman in the world whose opinion counted that she had done the 
unthinkable.

Shampoo had expected some sort of reaction from Cologne. Condemnation, 
surprise, anything. Instead, all that happened was that she felt the 
tip of one of the old woman's wizened fingers under her chin, lifting 
her face so they saw eye to eye.

"Tell me, Child. What happened? You did not lose a challenge against 
someone, did you?"

"No! Shampoo never lose challenge. Except against Airen..."

"Then what happened?"

"Shampoo go to Airen place. Airen tell Shampoo Violent Tomboy was dead 
but Shampoo... Shampoo not think of Airen feelings. Shampoo so happy 
that Airen free, Airen get angry. Shampoo vow... Shampoo vow she show 
Airen she good wife by fight with him."

"You think you shamed yourself and now you want to fight against him to 
prove yourself? Great Granddaughter, I do not wish to sound cruel, but 
you have not been putting enough effort into your training to beat Son-
In-Law. Such a valuable addition to the tribe will be difficult for you 
to beat."

"Grrr. Shampoo hate Japanese. Language too too hard. Shampoo fight 
_with_ Airen. Fight demons that killed Violent Pervert Girl. Shampoo 
make Airen love Shampoo again."

Relaxing slightly, Cologne began hopping around the alley behind their 
restaurant that Shampoo had been using for training. There were 
training dummies, kicking and punching posts, even a few weapons that 
she could practice her forms with. Obviously Shampoo had been doing a 
thorough job of training herself. Not as good as if Shampoo had been 
trained by Cologne, but good nonetheless. Certainly nothing less than 
Cologne would have required of her protege. 

"Ranma is as weak willed as any male. Properly led, he will forgive you 
of any words or actions you may have committed. Remember, Son-In-Law is 
also extremely forgiving. He will not judge you harshly under any 
circumstances."

The purple haired girl looked quite uncertain. "Airen very not 
happy..."

"Son-In-Law does not carry grudges. That was always the forte of the 
Tendo girl. No, even if you did nothing, I am sure that he would 
forgive you within in days, a week at most."

Before Shampoo could comment, Cologne held up one gnarled hand and 
silenced her impending interruption. "That does not mean that you do 
not have a good plan. If Son-In-Law is planning on fighting demons, 
then he will need all the help that he can get, no matter how good he 
is. While he does not bear grudges, he always remembers who his friends 
are. How far would he go for the girl that stood by him in all of the 
battles? That fought against the minions of all the hells by his side? 
Winning this city free of the terror that holds it will not be a quick 
battle. There will be much time that two fighters such as yourselves 
will be alone together."

"Great Grandmother mean..." Shampoo began with hope in her voice.

"I do indeed. I shall close the store for tonight and continue your 
training. Tomorrow, I shall speak to Son-In-Law and arrange for you to 
join him in his quest. No more shall be said of this 'shame' of yours. 
After a single battle, you shall be firm allies, and you can prove to 
him the true worth of an Amazon wife."

"Great Grandmother... Thank you."

"Do not thank me, Child. You will be the one doing all the hard work 
and facing the danger. A real Amazon could do no less."

*       *       *

Ranma had just awoken as Nabiki was walking out the door. Last night 
had been another challenge. He and Ryoga had not encountered the Senshi 
or either of the other magical girls that they knew. This time they had 
found a genuine demon. Well, maybe not a real demon, but it certainly 
seemed like one, and it fought like one.

They had fought it to a standstill, and saved the family that it had 
been attacking, but they had not been able to destroy it before it 
escaped. Both of them were sad that they had not been able to have a 
perfect victory, but the fact that they had saved four innocent lives 
more than compensated for the bruises that were only just clearing.

With bleary eyes, Ranma watched as Nabiki walked out the door holding a 
box in her good arm, and with a small backpack slung over her shoulder. 
Unable to think of any good reason why she would be heading out, 
especially since all of her 'contacts' called here during the day, he 
eventually opened his mouth.

"Hey, Nabiki, where are you going?"

"Out to earn some money."

"Huh?"

"You don't think things like computers and personal history searches 
are free, do you Saotome?"

Ranma scratched his pigtail and idly wondered why he did not keep his 
mouth shut. If she was out to earn money, she would certainly be 
hitting on him for some soon. "Well, no... But I thought you had 
plenty..."

"Oh, really? And what gave you that idea?"

"Come on, Nabiki. Everyone knows you run the gambling at school, and 
you're always getting money out of me somehow."

Nabiki snorted. "Kids' money. Even Kuno hardly supplies enough to keep 
us fed, let alone pay the rates and bills on this place. Looking after 
a group of fighters is not cheap, you know. I'm not even going to start 
on what you and your friends eat, but give a thought to this:
"If you three are breaking bricks and smashing training dummies every 
day, how much is that going to cost? How much did all those bandages 
cost that you bled on? How much is it costing me to get people to do 
library searches and keep a lookout for suspicious activity?"

"I...I...I don't know..."

"Exactly!" Nabiki stated, biting off the word. "You don't know. It 
costs a lot. A hell of a lot. It costs more money that I have, and it 
certainly costs an awful lot more than your freeloading father brings 
in. Well... That's where I'm going now. I'm, going to run a little scam, 
and bring in some more of that money we need so badly, and that we go 
through so quickly."

"I... I'm sorry, Nabiki. I didn't realise. Umm.... Just gimme a minute 
and I'll come with you."

"Forget it, Saotome. You're no good as selling things, and you're even 
worse at trying to scam someone. Besides, you do what you can, and I'll 
do what I can. I know I can't fight as well as you, Ryoga or almost 
anyone else around here. But Akane was my sister. You'll never know 
what it was like, Ranma. You're an only child, but I was her big sister. 
I was the one that supposed to look after her, and see what happened. I 
can't bring Akane back, and I can't go out with you and save anyone 
else. What I can do, is bring in the money we need to keep fighting, 
and give you guys the information that you need to win."

Shocked by the strength and emotion of her outburst, Ranma was silent. 
It was not until Nabiki had put on both her shoes and was struggling to 
pick up her box again that he moved. In a single fluid action he 
stepped into his soft, black, fighting slippers, scooped the pack off 
her back and lifted the box into one hand.

"You're still hurt. If... If you don't want me around while you're 
working, I can understand that. I'll come back here and train with 
Ryoga and Pops. Might even help Ucchan train a bit. But just cause 
you're gunna be doing the selling is no reason I can't help you get 
your stuff there."

Nodding once, Nabiki set off at a brisk pace. They took the train for a 
short while, since she needed somewhere not too nearby for her to hawk 
her wares. Most people in their area knew her by sight, so it was not 
really advisable for her to be doing anything underhand. When they 
finally disembarked, they were in Minato-ku, one of the suburbs of 
Tokyo that Nabiki had identified as being a hotspot of demonic activity.

"So, Nabiki. What's in the box?"

"Just bits of paper."

"Huh?"

Keeping her voice down, Nabiki leaned close to his ear and whispered. 
"Plain old paper. Last night I pulled out Kasumi's calligraphy set and 
spent a few hours doing some painting. This morning, I can say I've got 
over a thousand wards and charms to protect against demons!"

"What? But you can't do that! You're not a priestess or nothing. How 
can your bits of paper keep anything away?"

She gave him her most predatory smile. "They can't. But I do offer a 
100% money back guarantee. If you get attacked in the first week, I 
refund your money. It's perfect. Even if they claim their money, so few 
people get attacked, it doesn't even matter. How much better can you 
get?"

"But Nabiki! That's---"

"Shhh!" She applied a finger to his lips. "That's why I don't want you 
here. Now, give me that box and go home. I'm an honest businesswoman, 
Ranma. If someone can prove to me that they were attacked while they 
had one of my wards, I tell them that something must be wrong with 
their ward and refund the money. What could be more honest than that?"

"But---"

"Go! Go, go, go. Go home and fight Ryoga for a while. I've got a lot of 
work to do."

Reluctantly, Ranma turned away and began to walk down the street. He 
did not feel right in helping Nabiki con money out of innocent people, 
but she was always quite scrupulous in her financial dealings. She just 
made sure that people misinterpreted the facts of their own accord. As 
he was leaping to the top of the first building to begin his trip home, 
Ranma could hear her yelled words drift past his ears.

"Come on, folks, come on. Get your wards here. We've got a money back 
guarantee on everything. Get attacked while our carrying one of our 
specialised wards, and we'll give you your money back! Come on folks! 
Protect yourself against the demons!"

*       *       *

Hotaru pushed the old blanket off herself and looked around. It was 
getting dark again. Inching closer into the protective shelter of the 
corner of the building, she shivered. Ever since it had gotten cold 
last night, she wished that she had taken the other magical girl up on 
her offer for help. Ranma-san had seemed so nice. She had saved Hotaru 
from those other two, but she still felt that she needed to refuse the 
offer.

Not only had Ranma-san done so much for her by rescuing her from the 
big bullies that had been attacking her, she had also listened to her 
when she had needed to cry for a while. Hotaru wanted to trust Ranma-
san, but she could not. When she was young, she had been taught how 
dangerous strangers can be. At school they taught you not to talk to 
strangers, and definitely do not go home with them. She had thought it 
was all right to talk to Ranma-san, but she was worried about getting 
any more help from her.

It had been worse when Ranma-san refused to share her magical girl name 
with her. Hotaru was sure that normal people could not possibly be as 
fast or as strong as Ranma-san; she must be a magical girl. But she 
obviously did not want to share her secret with Hotaru. If she could 
not trust Hotaru with that, how could Hotaru trust Ranma-san? 
Especially since Hotaru had showed Ranma-san her own transformation. 
What else did she need to do?

Giving a series of sneezes, Hotaru pulled the blanket around her 
shoulders again. Last night she had been so cold, sleeping outside. In 
the morning, she had managed to find a clean blanket that someone had 
thrown out, but even wearing it all day, she had felt cold. Now that it 
was turning to night again, she was shivering constantly. 

She did not know what she would do tomorrow, but she knew that she 
needed to find somewhere to live. The big problem with that was the 
fact that she only really knew two places she could stay: the school 
and her father's house. She had destroyed her father's house, and even 
if she had not, her father and Kaolinite would still be there, waiting 
to catch her and turn her into something evil. The school was out too, 
for almost exactly the same reasons; she might not have destroyed it, 
but if she stayed there, her father was sure to find out. If he found 
out, that would be the end of Hotaru, Silence Girl and her hopes of 
saving Tokyo from the fighting magical girls.

Most children would have been able to turn to friends, but Hotaru did 
not have any of those. None of the other children at school liked her. 
The only person that she could think of that had been nice to her had 
been Ranma-san. She wished she knew where Ranma-san lived. Even if she 
could only stay there tonight, she would have begged if she needed to. 

Sneezing again and again, Hotaru shook beneath her blanket before 
looking up at the sky. In the middle of a city, the building's lights 
tended to hide the stars. However, on this unusually clear evening, 
Hotaru had a perfect view of the moon. Hanging in the sky above her, 
she could almost feel it looking down on her and smiling, casting its 
protective gaze over her as she slept. 

She had not thought about the moon much before she became a magical 
girl, but now she often thought about it. Was it because it was so big 
and beautiful? Shining and full of hope, just like she was? Maybe it 
was just her mind trying to tell her something. She knew about Sailor 
Moon from the TV, everyone did. Maybe it was a clue from whoever gave 
her the magical powers. She would have to find Sailor Moon and make her 
stop fighting.

Sailor Moon and every other magical girl in the city, demons too: 
everyone beware of Silence Girl. Tomorrow she was coming for you, and 
she was going to bring peace to her city, no matter what it took. 
Giving another shiver beneath her blanket, Hotaru finally found sleep, 
taking comfort in the thought of making Tokyo a place where everyone 
could be safe, happy and warm... especially warm.

---
End Of Chapter

Author's Bit:

For those people who like to keep track of things, Konatsu is 
introduced in Volume 35, Issue 6. There could be many reasons why I 
have brought him forward. Maybe I like the character. Maybe I want to 
increase the numbers on Ranma's side. Maybe I wanted someone that just 
looks good in a kimono... Who knows? At any rate, Konatsu has appeared 
here as another of those minor changes that came about due to messing 
with time.

---
End of Author's Bit

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