Title: Warriors of Light and Shadow; Chapter 5: Regrets

Author: Storm Bringer

Rating: PG 13

E-mail: the_storm_bringer@hotmail.com

Author’s Notes: Special thanks go out to Bambi Star for helping with this chapter, as well as the last one. She’s a really good writer and some of her stuff is posted here (ff.net) so you should go check it out.

Disclaimer: Me no own characters in story. No sue. Me hate lawyers. Me bash with club! Bash! Bash!

* * * * * *

"There is no way I’m gonna wear that to school!"
Usagi’s left eye twitched. "What are you going to do then? Go naked!?"
Ranma looked down at Usagi’s school uniform, which was laid out across her bed, and grumbled something unintelligible. Since the clothes Ranma had arrived in were trashed and she had no others with her, it had been decided that she would have to wear some of Usagi’s clothes until new ones could be purchased. Since all of Usagi’s clothes were, of course, girl’s clothes, Ranma was not happy.

"I don’t see why I have to go to school anyways," muttered Ranma.

Usagi heaved a sigh of exasperation. They had been over this a dozen times already. The one stipulation that had been placed on Ranma by Usagi’s parents was that she had to attend school. Ranma hadn’t seemed too upset with the idea until it had been revealed that she would have to wear a girl’s school uniform. She had tried to play like she was too sick to go to school today, but the colds they had caught had passed quickly, leaving them with only stuffy noses and a slight feeling of lethargy.

"I just don’t understand why this is such a problem," stated Usagi. "You’re a girl now. What’s so bad about wearing girl’s clothing?"
"I’m not a girl, I’m a guy!"

They’d had been over this a dozen times as well, and Usagi still couldn’t follow Ranma’s twisted logic.

"But you’re not a guy right now," she explained slowly. "Wearing girl’s clothing while you’re a girl is not embarrassing or demeaning. Especially not with a body like that."
Ranma’s face flamed. "I don’t like being a girl," she muttered.

Usagi had figured that out quick enough. Late last night, the realization that she would have to spend all her time as a girl while staying at the Tsukino residence had finally dawned on Ranma. This had made her none too happy and she had been ready to brave the streets once again. The only thing that kept her from leaving was the friendship she had forged with Usagi. A tenuous friendship born of little more than a shared feeling of loneliness.

"You only have to wear it for one day. We’ll find you a boy’s uniform today when we go shopping."

Ranma glared down at the skirt. "Just one day," she stated firmly. "No more than that."

"Finally," muttered Usagi under her breath. "You’ll have to borrow one of mom’s bras, I don’t think mine will fit you."

Ranma’s eyebrows rose, threatening to climb all the way to her hairline. "Bra? I ain’t wearing no bra!"

Not again. "The shirt is white, Ranma. Unless you want to attract the wrong kind of attention you should definitely wear a bra. Besides," she added with a smile, "you’d probably knock yourself out if you tried to run without one."

A redness crept into Ranma’s cheeks, part embarrassment, but also part anger. "Oh, ha, ha. I see it’s comedy hour at Usagi’s."

Usagi flushed. "I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that."

Shaking her head, Ranma said, "Don’t worry about it." She heaved a sigh. "I’ve worn worse outfits then this before. I’ll live for a day, but I still don’t like it." Ranma rubbed at the back of her head, suddenly looking uneasy. "I don’t suppose you could um…ask your mom about the…bra?"

Usagi nodded gladly. At this point she would have done almost anything just to get Ranma dressed and out the door. For once in her life, Usagi had actually woken up early so that she would have plenty of time to help her new friend out and ensure that the day’s start went smoothly. With Ranma’s constant harping over having to wear a dress though, they were getting dangerously close to being late for school.

A short time later, the two girls were on their way to that wonderful place where knowledge is pumped in one ear and shoved out the other when more interesting things such as manga and video games are granted space inside the brain. They had their lunches, their school bags, and their nice clean uniforms. And, of course, Ranma was carting around her katana.

Usagi wondered idly what her teachers would think of that.

Her father had provided a scabbard for the broken sword, taking the one from his own broken katana. The sword had been wholly for display and hadn’t even held an edge. A few years ago, Shingo had taken it down from its stand so he could play samurai and ninja. The end result of his little game was a shattered window and a broken sword. Kenji had had no regrets about parting with the empty sheath and was happy to see it get some use. The few questions he had had concerning Ranma’s own blade had been deftly turned aside by the redhead, and Usagi was doubtful he would have been so generous had he known Ranma intended to haul the sword to school.

That morning, Ranma had borrowed some dark blue cloth from Ikuko and wrapped the sword carefully, tying the wrapping off near the hilt with a simple piece of string. Everyone had advised her against carrying the weapon to school, but the redhead had said something about "not letting it out of her sight" and ignored their warnings. Now, the wrapped katana was leaning against her shoulder and she didn’t seem to be paying any attention to the odd looks she was receiving from others on the street. Usagi felt that it might not have been just the sword that drew looks, however. Ranma fidgeted and played with her bra every five steps, causing Usagi no end of embarrassment.

The pair arrived at school just as the first bell was ringing. Since neither of them relished spending the day standing in the hall, they made a mad dash for the classroom, Ranma following behind Usagi since she had no idea where they were headed.

Usagi was nearly out of breath when she burst into the classroom, but she was on time. A glance behind showed Ranma standing there calmly and not even breathing hard, as though a sprint across the courtyard and up three flights of stairs was nothing more than a walk down the street. She was looking past Usagi and grinning like a fool. Following her gaze, Usagi found Rei glaring back at the redhead, her eyes a pair of twin infernos.

"You’re not going to cause trouble are you?" asked Usagi, softly so that only Ranma could hear the question.

Ranma’s grin slipped away and was replaced by a slight frown. "I never try to cause trouble. Trouble always seems to find me, though."

"Another curse you forgot to mention?" Usagi’s tone was joking.

Ranma’s gaze became distant. "Sometimes I think so."

A shadow passed across Ranma’s face then, and Usagi became a bit worried for her new friend. Before she could say anything though, a loud ‘ahem’ from behind her reminded Usagi of where she was. Looking over her shoulder, she found her teacher, Mrs. Tamaki, standing there with an impatient look on her face.

"I’m glad to see you made it on time today, Usagi, but I’d appreciate it if you would take your seat so that we can begin." The teacher’s eyes moved to Ranma. "Who is this?"

"This is my friend Ranma. She’s not enrolled here yet, but she will be soon, so I thought it would be nice to bring her with me to class and show her around a bit."

Ranma bowed slightly to the teacher as the older woman studied her newest pupil. Mrs. Tamaki’s eyes found the wrapped sword immediately and her gaze hardened.

"We don’t allow weapons at school, young lady. You will have to take your sword back home."

"It’s not a sword," replied Ranma in a child-like voice. "It’s my lucky stick."

The teacher arched an eyebrow. "Lucky stick? Let me see it then."

Ranma shook her head and clutching the wrapped bundle close to her chest. "I can’t do that. If I show it to anybody it won’t be lucky anymore. Bad things have always happened when I didn’t have my lucky stick."

A few people in the class snickered, Usagi included if for different reasons.

It was obvious that Mrs. Tamaki wasn’t buying Ranma’s story, but there was little she could do about it short of calling up the principle, and that would disrupt her class further. Ranma didn’t look particularly menacing, and since she was with Usagi—who was known as something of a slacker, but that was the only bad thing any of the teachers ever said about her—the teacher gave permission for her to stay.

"Take your seats you two," she said in a stern voice. "You’ve delayed class for long enough."

Usagi led Ranma to two open seats in the back, far away from Rei and Minako, who shared this class with her. She felt their eyes watching her, but refused to acknowledge they even existed. Ranma, on the other hand, seemed to enjoy meeting Rei’s fiery glare with a lopsided grin. Although she wasn’t sure she approved of Ranma’s cocky behavior, Usagi was glad to see her friend was back in high spirits.

Sitting down at her desk, Usagi stared straight ahead and tried hard to keep a cheery look on her face, a difficult task given the fact that she suddenly felt like breaking down into tears. Ranma’s grin remained even after Rei had ceased to pay her any attention. It lasted until the boy sitting next to her leaned over and whispered something Usagi couldn’t hear. The grin vanished and Ranma favored the boy with an intense glare that caused the boy’s face to go ashen. The boy didn’t even glance at the redhead for the remainder of the class, but Ranma’s features remained dark and Usagi wondered what had been said.

The morning passed in that dull, sleep-inducing manner that seemed to be an integral part of all school days. Usagi had to work to keep her eyes open as the teacher droned on about whatever it was she happened to be talking about. Her mind drifted across the events of the last few days and she invariably found herself staring across the room at the backs of Minako and Rei.

They didn’t seem to be giving the teacher much of their attention either. Minako was gazing out the window and Rei was staring down at her notebook, pencil poised above the paper as though she were about to write something, but that pencil never moved. Undoubtedly they were both thinking of how best to wrest the Ginzuishou from her grasp.

Usagi’s eyes narrowed. She wouldn’t let them have it. Ever.

Rei suddenly turned to look in Usagi’s direction, and the blonde’s eyes jerked forward. A slight flush entered her cheeks as she felt the burning intensity of her former friend’s gaze. A voice in the back of her head told her to turn and meet the gaze, to stare the priestess down. But Usagi didn’t want to give the priestess the satisfaction of knowing she even acknowledged her presence, so she kept her eyes locked straight ahead.

After what seemed like an eternity, the first half of the day ended with the discordant wailing of the lunch bell, informing the student body that they now had forty-five minutes to themselves. Grabbing Ranma’s wrist, Usagi rushed out of the classroom with the redhead in tow.

"Whoa, Usagi! What’s the hurry?"

"I uh…want to make sure we get a good spot for lunch," she lied.

In fact, Usagi wanted to make sure that Rei and the others didn’t interrupt her lunch. The high school campus wasn’t very large, but there were a lot of students and she felt confident in her ability to keep away from her former friends. That confidence vanished though, as she rounded a corner and saw Haruka and Michiru striding up the hallway, both of them wearing school uniforms.

"Damn! When did they enroll here?"

Ranma scratched her head. "Huh? Watcha talkin’ about?"
Without answering Ranma’s question, Usagi did an about-face and hauled the redhead in a different direction. A glance over her shoulder showed that Haruka and Michiru had seen her, but they weren’t following. That honor belonged to Makoto, who was trailing behind them with a determined look on her face.

Usagi was unable to shake the brunette even though the halls were packed with students. Makoto’s towering height allowed her to easily pick out Usagi’s one of a kind hairstyle amongst crowd. When she and Ranma burst outside into the crisp, autumn air, Makoto was right behind them. The others wouldn’t be far behind her, Usagi was sure. Nothing for it, she supposed, but to simply face them.

Stopping so suddenly that Ranma nearly ran into her, Usagi spun around and waited for Makoto to catch up. Ranma looked at Usagi uncertainly and then threw a confused glance back the way they had come before shrugging to herself and taking up a calm, relaxed stance at the blonde’s side. An uneasy feeling passed through Usagi as she suddenly got the impression that her friend’s relaxed stance and lazy expression were a façade, concealing something potentially dangerous.

Makoto reached Usagi and stopped a few feet in front of her. The brunette’s green-eyed gaze was hard as it looked Usagi over before moving to study Ranma. She seemed to dismiss the redhead out of hand and returned her attention to Usagi.

"We need to talk, Usagi."

"I have nothing to say to you." Everything that needed saying had already been said. Usagi feared that if confrontations such as this one and the one with Uranus the other day continued, someone would get hurt. She had no concern for her own safety, but she truly did not want to see this incident come to blows.

Makoto’s face softened and a pained expression crossed her features. "Please listen to me, Usagi. We still want to be your friends, we—"

"If you still wanted to be my friends then why did you side with them!?" Usagi felt tears threatening to fill her eyes and fought them down.

"We’re not siding with anyone." Usagi reached up and rubbed her eye, a movement that was not lost on Makoto judging by the way she flinched, but the brunette continued anyways. "We don’t…didn’t want to hurt you, but we have to think about what’s best for the future. If you’re not the Princess, then we have to find out who is before it’s too late."

"I am the Princess!" How many times had she proven that? Why now, after everything they had been through together, did the others question her claim?

"Yet when the power of the Ginzuishou was needed, it failed you," stated Ami as she came to stand next to Makoto, her features as cool as a placid mountain lake. "This one incident is by no means conclusive, but we must consider the possibility that you were chosen as Princess erroneously."

Rei and Minako appeared then, taking up positions on the side of Makoto opposite Ami. To Usagi, it appeared as though a wall had been thrown up before her, one that she knew she would have to surmount if she wanted her life to count for anything. This brought an uncomfortable set of questions to the front of her mind. Would she go over the wall? Would she go around the wall? Or, may the gods forgive her, would she go through it?"

If she was lucky, that decision would never have to be made. But now was not the time to be giving these questions her consideration. There were more important things to be concentrating on.

A crowd was beginning to form around the six girls, curious to see why what was considered one of the best group of friends around was falling apart. Usagi had almost forgotten about Ranma, and she realized with only minor concern that she and the others had been discussing things that did not directly concern the rest of the world despite the fact that they would be affected by the outcome. Now, with a crowd gathered, they would have to be careful of what was said.

"Usagi, please…" ventured Minako hesitantly. "Please hear us out. We’re still your friends, we still respect you." Minako’s voice seemed sincere, but the words grated in Usagi’s ears.

"Friends trust each other," she stated coldly. "Friends believe in each other. I don’t trust you anymore, and you don’t believe in me. We aren’t friends." Gasps and murmured exclamations of surprise came from the gathered crowd.
Those last words were stated with finality, and it was as though a door had suddenly been slammed shut. Minako suddenly looked ill and Rei seemed to become angry, while both Ami and Makoto only seemed a bit startled. Usagi, the one of them who had always been ready to forgive anything, could not find it in her heart to let this slide. Her own words tore the blond up inside, though.

"Do you think she’ll protect you from us?!" shouted Rei as she stepped forward and thrust a finger at Ranma, who just stared at the priestess with open confusion written on her features. "Will she take our place?! When the darkness comes again will this little girl fight while you hide under your bed?!"

"Calm down, Rei," said Makoto glancing around at the crowd nervously, but Rei didn’t pay her any heed.

"You’re selfish, Usagi, you always have been! This isn’t about you, this is about the future! Hand over the brooch!"

Usagi held her ground as Rei took another step towards her. "Ranma is not my protector." Usagi’s voice was ice to Rei’s fire, strong and powerful, and having no intention of melting before the fierce flame. "She is my friend, something you seem to know little about, Rei. And if you think I’m going to give you the brooch just because you throw a tantrum like some spoiled child who can’t have her favorite toy, think again."

Rei’s eyes widened in indignation. "Give it to me!" she roared, throwing herself at Usagi with her hand outstretched to grab the brooch.

Usagi took a step back, but didn’t turn and run as the voice in the back of her head screamed for her to do. She would not run from this, even if it meant she would lose. There was no need to worry about losing, though. Rei’s hand stopped as though it had hit a brick wall half a foot in front of Usagi. The brick wall came in the form of Ranma, who, to everyone’s surprise, suddenly had a firm hold on Rei’s wrist. No one had seen the redhead move.

"Go home and play with your dolls, little girl," said Ranma coolly. "There’s no candy for you here."

"Let me go!" Rei tugged at her arm, but Ranma held it firmly. She didn’t even seem to be straining as Rei leaned backwards, putting all her weight into trying to free her trapped wrist. "LET ME GO!"

The inevitable happened then. Ranma let go and Rei tumbled backwards, landing hard on her rear with a startled squeal. The sight was comical, and many of the people in the crowd laughed, but Usagi didn’t crack a smile. It wasn’t funny, it was awful. Awful that once strong bonds of love and friendship had come to this. Friendships were supposed to last forever.

Despite what many people expected of her, Rei did not leap to her feet and try to claw Ranma’s eyes out. Instead, she just continued to sit on the hard ground, staring blankly up at Usagi. Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes, ran down her cheeks and fell upon the bow adorning her uniform. Usagi couldn’t understand this. It was her that had been hurt by the actions of Rei and the others. She should have been the one in tears.

Makoto and Minako moved to either side of the fallen priestess and helped her to her feet. Neither of them looked at Usagi or Ranma, who stood at her side looking confused and feeling more like a spectator then a participant.

Usagi opened her mouth to say something, she didn’t know what. To apologize? No, definitely not that. To offer words of comfort, to try and salvage something of this friendship before it was too late? The words would have seemed hollow had she spoken them, so she did not. Besides, it was already too late. Still, it felt as though she should say something, anything.

Usagi never found out what she was going to say, if anything. A loud scream cut her off and stole everyone’s attention, including hers. The scream ended just as suddenly as it had began, and for a few moments the world was completely silent, as though it were holding its breath in anticipation of some momentous event. Then, all hell broke loose.

They ripped their way out of the ground, a writhing mass of bronze tentacles that lashed out at the crowd of students gathered there. A large cone shaped creature with a single, glaring red eye at its pinnacle followed the tentacles out of the ground. Suffice to say, everyone gathered took off in random directions at a dead run while screaming their lungs out.

Almost everyone.

"Ranma!" Shouted Usagi as she grabbed at her friend’s wrist and tried to pull her away from the monster. "We’ve gotta get outta here!"

"I can’t just leave this thing here!" returned the redhead. "I’ve gotta do somethin’ to stop it!"

What, thought Usagi, she’s got a suicide wish or something? "You can’t stop that thing! It’s big and ugly and a lot stronger than you are! The Senshi will deal with it! Now let’s get outta here!"

Ranma seemed to be ignoring her, but at that moment Usagi ceased to care. One of the creature’s tentacles reached down and wrapped itself around her waist, lifting her into the air effortlessly. Opening her mouth wide, Usagi screamed with everything she had.

Suddenly the monster bellowed in pain, and Usagi was falling back to the ground with the tentacle still firmly attached to her waist. It wasn’t a long fall, but she still ended up on her butt thanks to her clumsy nature. A quick look around showed that the tentacle had been severed and Ranma was standing over her protectively with the broken katana in hand.

Sheathing the blade, Ranma picked Usagi up and disentangled her from the remains of the tentacle. "I’ve gotta get you outta here."

Over Ranma’s shoulder, Usagi saw another tentacle descending with the intent of crushing the pair. "Watch out!"

All of a sudden, the world dropped out from underneath Usagi. She screamed again, thinking that surely another tentacle had managed to grab her. Her hysterics ended abruptly as she realized that it was Ranma who held her, one arm under her legs, the other supporting her back with the hand lightly gripping her shoulder, the katana resting in her lap. Below them and off to the left a bit, the monster was roaring in frustration as it watched its prey escape.

Then they were descending. The air whipped past Usagi, causing her ponytails to stream up into the air marking their passage through the sky. They landed, there was a slight give as Ranma’s legs bunched up beneath her, and then they were airborne again. Usagi watched the school streak past, first floor, second floor, third, fourth, fifth, and then the school was gone and her gaze was thrown out across the city.

Usagi was suddenly reminded of all the times that Tuxedo Mask had carried her in his arms. She remembered all the happy times spent with his strong arms wrapped protectively around her. Times that would never exist again. Unbidden tears welled up in her eyes as something cold and unpleasant squeezed her heart.

"Are you all right?" asked a worried voice. "That monster didn’t hurt ya did it? I don’t see any injuries. You scared of heights?"

Usagi realized the questions were coming from Ranma, and that they were no longer in the air. She scrubbed away the tears blurring her vision and looked around. They were on the roof of the school. From far down below them, she could hear the sounds of combat and the familiar voices of the Senshi shouting to one another.

Ranma squeezed her shoulder gently. "You okay? I didn’t mean to scare ya." There was a look of concern in the redhead’s eyes.

"What? Oh, no, I’m fine. It’s just…" She crawled over to the edge of the roof, not trusting her legs to support her. Watching her friends fight the monster threatened to bring the tears back.

"Who are they?" asked Ranma.

"Huh? You’ve never heard of the Sailor Senshi?"

Ranma shook her head. "Nah. From the looks of things, I suppose they might have been in the news or somethin’, but I don’t pay much attention to stuff like that." She watched as they took the cone shaped monster apart. "Whoever they are, they’re saving me a bunch of trouble."

Usagi blinked up at her friend. She hadn’t really been going to fight that thing, had she? Remembering the way Ranma had cut that tentacle off of her, remembering the way she moved, how high she could jump, Usagi was sure she had meant to do just that.

"I take it that this means school is out for the day?" asked Ranma.

"Uh…Yeah," replied Usagi, her mind a confused jumble of emotions that she couldn’t seem to sort out. "They usually cancel classes for things like this."

Ranma looked down at her. "You mean stuff like this happens often around here?"

"Well, I wouldn’t say often, but uh…yeah, actually, I suppose it does happen often. This place seems to attract problems."

Ranma grunted. "So it’s not just me, huh?" Turning to Usagi, she grinned. "Since school’s over, let’s go shopping so I can get out of this stupid skirt."

That’s right, Ranma was a man, Usagi had almost forgotten about that. Rising unsteadily to her feet, she nodded. "Let’s get some ice cream first, though." Peering over the edge, she asked, "Umm…How do we get down?"

Ranma’s grin broadened and she scooped Usagi up in her arms. "Same way we got up here in the first place." Then they were falling.

* * * * * *

Nodoka sat on the porch of the Tendou dojo and gazed out at the koi pond. She didn’t see it though, not really. Her eyes were staring at things far distant and intangible. The Saotome matriarch looked into the past, contemplated the future, and marveled at her own stupidity.

In one fell swoop she had managed to alienate the one person she loved more than life itself. Her actions, born of foolish pride, had driven her son away, possibly to never return. She had not actually expected her son to commit seppuku. It had simply been a scare tactic to try and force him into doing the right thing. What she considered the right thing.

Yes, that had been her mistake, the flaw in her logic. The right thing in her mind was not necessarily the right thing in the mind of her son. Ranma had spoken true the day he had left. She had not acted as a mother should, offering comfort when it was needed and asking him what he wanted to do with his life. Instead, she had only tried to mold him into what she felt he should be.

The sound of someone wailing loudly drifted to her ears from deeper inside the house. That would be Soun with his hourly fit over having no one to carry on his dojo. Genma’s voice could heard as well, raised in an attempt to comfort his long time friend. Both men were fools in Nodoka’s opinion, but no more foolish then she when everything was considered. It was she, after all, who had allowed her husband to take her son away all those years ago.

That, she felt, had been the beginning of this, the event that had snowballed into a clash of two unbending wills. Ranma was her own flesh and blood, and it pained Nodoka to know that she wasn’t wanted in his life.

A soft sigh escaped her lips. What was she to do? If she had had the first notion of where to look, she would have left that minute in search of her son. But for all Nodoka knew, Ranma could be halfway to China by now. Hanging her head in despair, she bit back the tears that threatened to burst forth.

Nodoka heard the front door open and then Kasumi’s singsong voice raised in greeting. "Oh, hello, Nabiki. What are you doing home from school so early?"

"Follow me and I’ll tell you. Where’s everyone else?" There was a note of urgency in Nabiki’s voice and Nodoka thought that, for a moment, the sky had suddenly grown darker.

Momentarily pushing the situation concerning her son to the back of her mind, Nodoka rose and entered the house just as Nabiki appeared, striding into the dining room with a look of concern and anxiety on her face. "What has happened, Nabiki?"

Nabiki regarded the older woman for a moment, and then looked towards the sound of her father’s sobbing. "I suppose it would be best if he didn’t find out about this right away," she muttered.

Nodoka was beginning to become increasingly worried. Was losing her son not enough to satisfy the gods? Did they now see fit to involve the Tendous as well, striking out at her foolishness by harming them? Did she have to poison everything she touched.

She forced herself to clamp down on these dark thoughts. Nothing had been said yet, there was a chance this was not a horrible catastrophe. "Nabiki?" she asked in a controlled voice. "What’s wrong?"

Never one to ring the truth with flowers, Nabiki gave a very short, very blunt rendition of what had happened. "A man in black and gold armor showed up at school today. He kidnapped Akane."