SMARTALECK PRODUCTIONS Destiny By arun Chapter#05 This is a Ranma 1/2 - Sailor Moon crossover with certain aspects of Ramayana. Disclaimers: Rumiko Takahashi and Shogukkan own Ranma and the cast members of Ranma 1/2. Rumiko Takahashi is one of the most brilliant people to walk on the face of this earth. We the fans of the anime world are forever indebted to her for giving us Ranma and co. Thank you Rumiko Takahashi for bringing laughter back into our lives. Naoko Takeuchi, Toei animation and KODANSHA, owns sailor Moon and its characters. I do not own the characters of both these shows, nor do I even pretend to own them. This work of fiction is but a tribute to the above anime shows. Guys: *....* indicate thoughts. In the first and second chapters <...> indicates Japanese and "..." indicates Chinese. In all the other chapters the reciprocal is true. *********************************************************************** Meanwhile at the Outer's.. Hotaru sighed in frustration once more. Like any other boy or girl in her age group, she wanted some action at least some of the time. It was for that reason that the Kami created teenagers, right? It had been the happiest day of her life when she had realized that she was indeed Sailor Saturn, the most powerful of all the Senshi. She would have taken to her new job like a fish to water if it had not been for her damned ill health. However, all her shortcomings notwithstanding, she had risen to the occasion when it was crunching time and they had won against Mistress-9 and Pharoah-90 and she had thought that the threats would cease then. They had not. Each enemy they faced was stronger than the last one and at times it seemed to her that the Kami were grooming the sailors, herself included, for some great battle that lay sometime in the future. Her belief in the kami, made her all the more comfortable when she went to bed at night. It blocked those horrible nightmares and that ever present urge to use the silence glaive and pushed them into the dark recesses of her mind where they belonged. The thrill of battle was not lost upon one so young as Hotaru. The power and the adrenalin that flowed through her veins during those times were more than enough to make her an addict. And she really wanted to fight the evildoers of the world and bring them to justice. Sure, the evildoers always bit the dust in the end and it was bad and all but that did not mean that the sailors could not enjoy doing it. However, it always felt wrong to feel happy when people died, even if they were the responsible ones. Haruka-papa and Michiru-mama had helped her to deal with her guilt and she felt more confident in herself and in their ultimate goals than ever before. Her parents had thought that it would be best for her to learn about strategies and stuff so that she would a better soldier. Setsuna-mama had joined their ranks and they had been gently nudging her to learn strategies and the art of war as they called it. Finally, she had relented and had joined them while they were discussing plans to fight a new enemy of some sort. Now she realized that she had made a huge mistake when she had joined Momma and Pappa. Who would have thought that her mother would turn out to be such a bore in serious discussions? And why did she have to sit through the session when she was not even remotely interested in it? Hotaru sighed once again in frustration. No one seemed to acknowledge her distress and she decided to play her thrump card. She crossed her fingers and prayed to the kami for a whole minute before putting the first part of her plan into action. It was time to end the torture for she was not sure whether she could survive through another minute of it. In all the previous fights, Setsuna-momma would approach them with the strategy they would use and the rest of the outers followed her lead. Haruka-papa and Michiru-momma would discuss Setsuna-momma's plans amongst themselves but they never contributed to it. That little fact had not stopped them from learning about military strategies and such though and their work had paid off bountifully this time. Unlike all the previous times when a new threat had emerged Setsuna-momma seemed to be afraid that something might go wrong or had already went horribly wrong and all that. Hotaru readily accepted that the fact that the new threat posed greater danger than all the threats before. She had accepted Setsuna momma's prediction that this would be their toughest challenge yet without as much as a blink, since, all the previous ones had just added one to the proverbial 'toughest one yet' pile. Now, she knew about the enemy and she was afraid for the first time. She doubted whether even she, with her power to destroy entire worlds with a single attack could defeat a Kami in a pitched battle. It seemed that the battle for which the Kami had been grooming the sailors for so long was in hand at last. Upon hearing what Setsuna-momma had to say, Hotaru AKA Sailor Saturn had for the first time listened to the discussion and tried to contribute in anyway she could. Her energy had lasted for all of thirty-three minutes before her mind had started to wander. She had never bothered with strategies until then and she had taken a vow after the first fifty minutes that she would never even try to do so ever again. It did not hurt to know the best way of doing things but she would let the others do the discussing part and let her be burdened with only the knowing part. Was there any need for her to know tactics? No, all that the princess or anyone of the sailors had to say was shoot and she would shoot. After all, she was the proverbial sixteen-inch cannon of the sailors and with the kind of firepower she possessed all that was needed was for the blast to hit the target for it to disappear into thin air. She looked sorrowfully into Michiru's green eyes and sighed once more. Her previous ploy had not worked, astonishingly and she willed this one to work. The look was her very own-patented version of the 'cute whipped puppy' look and she had found it to work perfectly on her real father even when he had been under the control of Mistress-9. She really needed to get out of the room if she had any serious wish to see the light of another day she reminded herself once more. Michiru caught her look from the corner of her eye and gave her a gentle squeeze. *Maybe momma misunderstood the gravity of the situation. Oh well! Let's try once more...* Again, Hotaru turned on her kawaii factor by several notches. It was the moment of truth. Michiru-momma had to let her get out of the stuffy room or she was going to die. Michiru inhaled out a quantity of air that she had been holding in the serve for just this event. She knew that her dear daughter was too young and too full of life to listen to such a boring discussion. She lifted her arm a little and let the senshi of Saturn escape from the torture. She envied her daughter a little. Haruka and Setsuna would not object to little Hotaru's escape but they would put up on hell of a fight before they'd let her get away from them. Even if Setsuna relented, she doubted very much whether Haruka would. They had trained too hard to just back out when Setsuna finally confronted them with a challenge. She let a deep breath full of wishful longing and tried to follow the boring conversation. *The kami must hate me to put me through all of this.* *********************************************************************** Hotaru, gleefully, jumped off Michiru's lap and ran off towards the couch and the television. The so-called 'idiot box' sat in its prescribed place before the couch with its speakers projecting rather ominously into the air from behind the cabinet. There was always something on TV and she was willing to bet her life that even the worst show in the world would be a whole lot better than listening to the conversation that the family was having. She made herself comfortable by placing a cushion on her lap and turned on the television set. With practiced speed and efficiency, she surfed through the channels hoping that something good was on the 'idiot box' after all stranger things had happened. The horror! The horr...] Flick! Suki da..." Flick! "Bang! Bang! Bang!" Flick! "Oh! Fuchida..." Flick! "Meow!" Flick! [Is it a plane...] Flick! "Buy a pack..." Flick! She sighed in frustration. It seemed that there was nothing on TV whose description even neared that those powerful two words, 'worth watching'. She wanted to cry at the injustice of it all. Why did she have to end up with such a horrible fate? Was it not sad that her father had turned into a monster? Was it not sad that she had been a baby thrice? Was it not sad that she had few friends outside her family and the sailors? Of course, the rest of the sailors did not count since they were all part of a bigger family as far as she was concerned. And then there was Chibi-Usa. Perhaps she was the bestest thing in the whole world that had ever happened to her. That friendship, too, had its disadvantages. She being friends with a girl who was yet to be born to her Queen and King made it all the more tougher for them to be in contact on a regular day to day basis. The television screen chose that moment to go blank. Even though she was not supposed to behave that way, Hotaru cursed the damn thing. It figured. With all the things that went wrong with her life, could she blame the 'idiot box' for failing on her? Probably not. *Thank God momma and papa were not here to hear me curse.* She thought guiltily. Immediately she looked around to confirm whether Michiru-momma had noticed it. Michiru-momma forbade cursing whilst Haruka-papa had not been so strict about it. It fit in with their personalities actually. Haruka-papa had been brought up around the race track and she had picked up curses and such from being around the men who worked there while Michiru-momma had been brought up in more civilized surroundings and thus abhorred the use of some of the rather coarser elements of the Japanese language. *Why does this always happen to me?* Thought she after having put her thoughts of guilt aside. Finding no answer forthcoming to the question that she had posed to herself and to the Kami, her index finger reached for the power button on the most devious of human inventions, the remote control. As in all the other houses in the world Hotaru was the only one who knew how to operate the thing with ease. The rest had to use the manual whenever they had to use it for anything other than turning the television on or off or changing channels and increasing or decreasing the volume. It was one of the rewards of being young and Hotaru was glad for that. The companies who designed the things thought that their customers needed increasing levels of sophistication and such when all they needed was exactly the opposite. She had even read somewhere on the Japanese edition of the Reader's Digest about a engineer who had to spend an hour or two to learn what his wristwatch was capable of. Things had been better in that sense in the past when people had machines, which performed the simplest of functions and performed them well. Haruka-papa had once been so steamed about the whole mess that she had wanted to throw the remote control into the fireplace and be done with it or so she had said. Honestly, Hotaru did not believe her as taking that particular course of action would have effectively rendered their television useless since all of it's controls were on the remote. Just as her finger reached the button, the screen became alive once again and Hotaru's fingers shied away from the button as though the button was bubonic plague itself. The JDF flag together with the national flag and a whole lot of others were present in the background. The prime minister sat facing the camera and one of his aide's was bent over obviously sharing some last minute information with him. The aide left soon enough and the prime minister cleared his throat and straightened his coat with a barely perceivable tug with his fingers. On the lower end of the screen, 'emergency national address' was displayed in kanji. "Momma, papa come and see this. The prime minister is addressing the nation," she shouted loudly to be heard over the din of the conversation that was going on in the library. There were sounds of scuffling from the library and the rest of the outer senshi scurried as fast as they could into the room. Haruka sat down and lifted Hotaru into her lap. The senshi of destruction snuggled closer to her adopted _father_ glowing under the warmth and love that radiated from the older woman. Michiru needed room to sit and Haruka offered the space that Hotaru had just vacated. Setsuna, for the first time ever, seemed nervous and off balance, muttering again and again that the prime minister was not supposed to address the nation or something along those lines. Her voice was low and none of the others could discern her words try as hard as they may. Her face was pale and she seemed to be in shock or something. This was so not the Setsuna that they were used to seeing and Haruka felt the stirrings of fear in the pits of her stomach. Haruka shhed Setsuna as the premier came on and the foursome sat in silence waiting for the prime minister to begin his address. First came the greetings and all that. The whole thing was rushed and lasted a lot shorter than it should have. This spooked everyone in the room and had the outer's sitting by the edge of the seats. Decorum was not easily abandoned in Japan and to abandon it on live television spoke a great deal about the nature of the emergency. Something very bad had happened and they were about to find out what it was. The prime minister's hands did not stay still and were twiddling against his wishes, it appeared. His body language suggested that he was tense and unsure about himself though he was looking to put on a brave front for the sake of the nation and all those who lived in it. *What could be bad enough to make the prime minister nervous and send 'ice-queen' Setsuna into shock?* Thought Haruka as she fixed her eyes upon the screen. The knots of fear in her stomach were growing larger by the second and her mind flooded her consciousness with visions of some of the more horrifing things that could have gone wrong. "Citizens of Japan," the premier finally began. Haruka edged towards the television just a little bit more. All that stood between the floor and her behind now was about an inch or two of cushion. "I have some dire news to announce to all of you..." Again, the premier paused. His eyes looked directly into the camera and seemed to bore into them. "Today we face the darkest day in the history of the nation. A day that will live most probably live in infamy for all of eternity. Generations will remember this day as a turning point in the history of the world much like the Meiji restoration and the dropping of the bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Today..." He paused once more. The premier did not speak about Pearl Harbor and the rape of Nan king or any other incidents that Japan committed during the second world war. No self-respecting country would. That could tarnish the national image in the eyes of the world and that cannot be allowed to happen. "Ah! Just tell us what's happened!" Haruka all but screamed as she threw the only cushion that she could get her hands on at the television screen. The premier did just that though he took some more time before he revealed all. "Today... I am at a loss for words." he paused for the barest of moments. His body became more taut if that were possible and his expression became convinced for the lack of a better word. "The Juuban ward of Tokyo has been known throughout the nation for its eccentricities for quite sometime now..." He paused giving time for the some of the more dimwitted citizens of Tokyo and the rest of Japan to grasp the hidden meaning behind his words. The speech that he was delivering to the citizens of Japan would most certainly be broadcast to the rest of the world for it was of such import. Even if it were not so, he would not have accepted the existence of demons and such on live television. The western world firmly believed that there were no such things as demons and thus anyone who even mentioned them were scorned and ridiculed by the scholars of the west. Since almost the entire human race wanted to follow the model that the western world had set and become _civilized_ they too were quick to mock those whose words and beliefs went against the firmly though wrongly rooted views of the west. It was in such a world that the people of Japan lived in and even though they still followed their own path of wakon yosai, 'western method, eastern spirit' they too were afraid of going against some of the west's more stupid notions. To do so would hurt their national pride and no citizen of Japan would ever risk that. Japanese tradition and culture valued face and honor more than life and they would surely lose their face if they pointed out this truth to the world as a whole. No self-respecting Japanese man would invite anyone into his house unless it was pristine looking and clean. It _had_ to look perfect or he would lose face. There is no better example for this fact than the events that took place in the aftermath of the Kobe earthquake. Whilst most of the world rushed to help those who had suffered the wrath of mother earth, the Japanese government wove miles of bureaucracy around the volunteers and would be rescue workers and in doing so saved Japan's face though dozens of lives were lost as a direct result of this _rescue_ mission. The premier continued once more. "A scant few minutes ago in that very same ward, Japan suffered the worst terrorist attack in its entire history and probably in the history of the world. All the evidence that we have at this juncture points in a single direction... Today..." the premier looked directly into the camera's once more. His eyes seemed to bore into the very being of those who were watching the telecast. "Today... A nuclear device seems to have been detonated in the Juuban ward of Tokyo by terrorist..." "How can it be?" whispered Setsuna. The others attention immediately drifted from the television set to the senshi of time. The television continued to drone on in the back ground though, with the prime minister continuing with the speech. "How can it be?" she repeated over and over, her voice barely a whisper. Her face was as white as death and for the briefest periods of time Michiru thought that the self-proclaimed 'ice-queen' was going to faint. The others looked at her with concern etched all over in their faces. They had never seen Setsuna behave like this and it was spooking them out. "What is wrong Setsuna?" asked Haruka trying to hide the fear and concern that gripped her heart in their vices. Setsuna did not answer. It appeared that she was in too deep a shock to respond to them. "Snap out of it!" shouted Haruka as she shook the senshi of time. She did not want the others to be afraid and seeing Setsuna in such a condition was sure to scare anyone half to death. Michiru and Hotaru were getting a wee bit afraid with Setsuna's strange behavior. "Huh!" Setsuna looked around and got her bearings. Having reoriented herself and having gained a semblance of the level head that she was so famous for she went into hyperactive mode. "Quick! Change to your senshi uniforms. We have to investigate this... this attack on the princess," she all but screamed. Though she did have evidence as to whether the princess had been attacked or not she knew deep down that Usagi and the others were in terrible danger. "What is going on?" questioned Haruka calmly without moving an inch. They had been taken through too many rides by the senshi of time and even though she greatly respected Setsuna, she was not going to allow Michiru or Haruka to be taken into a radioactive zone without getting some answers first. *Of course she has forgotten that if the explosion had been of nuclear origin then all power would have been cut off.* Setsuna looked at the blond sailor and composed herself. The wild look of a maniac that had been so evident in her eyes disappeared. "That... That explosion was never meant to happen, that's what is going on! My gut instincts tell me that Usagi and the others were in that area when this happened. If my instincts are right then the princess and the inner's are in great danger." said Setsuna. Tears glittered in her eyes as she looked at her teammate. She had not told them the whole truth of course. There was not any time for that. Setsuna's precognition abilities were legendary during the Silver Millennium and still were. *I am sorry that I have failed in my duties my queen.* Pluto even with her affinity towards the time stream had had a lot of trouble sensing the flow of river of time from the moment the whole mess had started. Her bond with time-stream had been steadily deteriorating with the passage of time, which in itself was a miracle of sorts. Nothing short of the almighty could severe her links with the time-stream. It had been only with the greatest of efforts that she was able to see the creatures past during her investigation. She had hid this little bit of information from the others of course. They would lose their morale if she were to tell them the full story. The story had been a little cloudy too for she could not risk revealing too much about the future or the past to the other sailors, doing do would lead to a paradox of sorts or worse. Even though her bond was somehow inexorably being severed, she had known the ordained future for the next three thousand years. After all, she had been the one to design it. Thus, she had been shocked when the premier had addressed the nation. He was not supposed to do so, at least not in the foreseeable future. She had felt something in the pits of her stomach and it had grown steadily as the premier continued his speech. Her worst fears were confirmed when his introductory speech was cut short. Such things simply did not happen in Japan. Rigid protocols created and refined through the ages dictated that introductory speeches should not be rushed and the Japanese were strict adherents to traditions and protocols. If the premier abandoned centuries of tradition then the reason must be big as was proven later. Then just as he was getting to the nuclear detonation part of the speech her bond returned albeit vastly weaker than normal. Even then, she had been able to sense the flow of time from normal space and instinctively knew that something very bad had happened. Her mind also told her what it was that had gone wrong and she felt sick to her stomach. The flow of time had changed radically. She knew that such a thing was nigh impossible to accomplish but somehow it had been done. There was a still the slightest of chances that the Silver Millennium could come to pass but she _did not_ know for sure. Moreover, she doubted whether she would know for weeks to come. The time stream had changed so radically that the path it was taking now had not been one of the probable ones just a few days past. Such an event was un- comprehend able to her mind. Not everything that she knew about the time-stream and the laws that governed it told her that such a thing was possible. Everything had its precedent and without a precedent, nothing took place. Setsuna had debated with herself whether the rules that governed the time-stream were wrong after all when the truth bared itself to her. The creature had made its first move and by the looks of it, their war was almost lost before they had fired the first shot. "Come on, we do not have time to just stand here." bellowed Setsuna pushing the depressing thoughts into the darker recesses of her mind. In a personal record of sorts, she took out her henshin stick in the wink of an eye and transformed into her alter ego. *********************************************************************** Ranma slowly retracted his arm. A fine spray of blood hung in the air, which was filled with the stench of burned flesh and smoke. He brought his arm to his face and wiped the blood and gore that had splattered onto his face. His entire outfit was ruined though it did not show through his cloaking technique. To any observer bar, the most skilled in the arts he appeared as a black mist that swirled around itself. He bent down and retrieved some paper, which lay nearby. The paper was singed at the edges and with his super-senses; he could tell that it had been exposed to a lot of heat. The paper was not hot, mind you. Since everything had lines of ki and mana running through them and since these lines interacted with the physical world, any change that affected the paper in the physical world would leave a fingerprint in the esoteric world of the ki lines. It was these lines that Ranma felt and it was from these lines that he surmised that the flames had been close to two thousand degrees, which put the paper very near to the explosion that had taken out the first Ashura. He wiped the gore from his hands and face and threw it away with nonchalance. His passive expression did not change while he was performing the gory function and remained so after he was done cleaning himself. Any casual observer would have thought that he was some sick psychopath but there was something evident in Ranma's actions that can never be evident in a murderer's movements. Even though his very conduct showed that, he had been witness to enough murders to desensitize him to them one could not help but feel that he abhorred the act more than anything else did in the whole world. He turned towards the girl and took a short step towards her, ready to stop at a moments notice. The girl must have been shocked by the brutal efficiency with which he had dispatched the two Ashura's using just the right amount of power to blow them to kingdom come. Finding no signs of revulsion, he continued to move towards the girl who stared back at him. His movements were calculated and had the grace of a predator stalking its prey. Ami shivered involuntarily at the sight as primeval emotions threatened to burst through the thin veil of common sense that shrouded her mind and he stopped. Fear, curiosity, astonishment and shock were written clearly on her face. *How could anyone remain as passive as him with all that had happened?* She thought to herself. She knew the answer all right but still could not come to grips with it. He was a warrior pure and simple. He eliminated his opponents in the most efficient and brutal way possible to send the message to his enemies. Nevertheless, her whole being wanted her to retch and empty the contents of her stomach onto the concrete. She had not thought that such brutality was possible and combined with the efficiency it made even her worst nightmares seem like a nice walk in the park. It also made her wonder whether anyone capable of such disregard for life could be on the right side of the war against evil. Her nightmares paled in comparison to the cold aloofness with which he had executed them and she found herself wondering about the man who had rescued her. What kind of face could he have? What kind of man was he? Did he love his friends and family if he had any? And she found it hard to believe that anyone could move that fast without 'magical powers' and no human _should_ be unaffected by such a violent and gruesome display as she had just witnessed. All these thoughts even made her to question whether her rescuer was even human but grateful she was, for he had saved her life as well as her friends. True, there had been some chance that she might have taken on the two 'Ashura's' with the souped up one already dying but that had been a probability. It had been he who had changed that probability into a certainty and she was grateful for it. Ranma saw the girl's reactions and understood them for what they were. He had not lived for two thousand years without understanding people. Over time, he had even developed a sixth sense about what people's emotions were. That together with his ability to read auras was telling him that the girl was afraid of him at some unconscious level. In order to placate her fears he lifted his arms into the air as a sign of peace and stood where he was. He did not want to scare the girl if he could help it. Ami eyed him. Though she could to look into his eyes, she eyed him. He found her eyes looking deep into his very being and then she extended her arms to him. A little smile came to his face. It was nice to know that people trusted him after having seen him at his absolute worst and he took a step towards her. As she took his hands, Ranma took the opportunity to give her a once over. His initial assumptions had been correct. She possessed almost as much potential as Ryuu himself. All of her companions did. In a way, she brought back memories of his younger days when it had seemed that the whole world lived for him. His thoughts drifted back to the time when he had _almost_ died at the hands of Saffron, the God of the Phoenix. He had come so close to losing everything he loved then - as she had been close to losing everything a scant few minutes ago. In the end, she had defeated the Ashura with her brains alone while he had defeated his nemesis by attaining true mastery of the art. His hands ached to get a student like her under his tutelage. She could help Ryuu with tactics and strategy and he could help her with honing her skills. He shook his head almost imperceptibly. Such a waste of talent, the girl did not look the least bit like a warrior and yet she was a warrior to the core. His hand had covered half the distance between them when he sensed the slightest of changes in the ki and mana flows in the area. The change grew exponentially in size and within moments the entire ki and mana flow in the area had been changed. He turned his head towards the disturbance to observe whatever it was that was going on. His muscles tensed imperceptibly as he readied himself to face the new threat. Four flashes of blinding light and a moment later, he was confronted with the sight of three women and a little girl in really small and silly looking fukus. He guessed that they were the rest of the sailors from the way they were dressed. Who else could radiate so much mana and dress in such silly costumes? *Looks like the cavalry has come to the rescue and they are late as usual!* He joked to himself. The situation looked grim and he knew it. The girls would probably mistake him for a threat and attack him. He could not blame them really, who wouldn't mistake him for one of hell's minions if they looked at his current form. He knew he would if he were faced with a similar situation. And that knowledge troubled him. A couple of the sailors were known to be trigger-happy and he did not want to fight with anyone if he could help it. Though they posed him no threat whatsoever, they would still be a pain in his behind and he did not want that to happen. He had had enough of stupid vendettas and such throughout his two thousand years of existence to last the most mischievous of the God's several lifetimes. With these thoughts running prominently on his mind, Ranma once again lifted his arms up into the air in a placating gesture. With his fingers crossed he muttered, "Let them ask questions before they start shooting." *********************************************************************** Hotaru felt the wave of queasiness that came over her whenever she used the teleportation spell as she solidified into being. Almost as soon as her senses returned, she regretted having been granted with them. The pungent and the acrid smell of burning flesh and smoke hit her nostrils and she turned green. She controlled the overwhelming urge to retch in the middle of the road and empty the contents of her body onto the ground below. When she had gained a semblance of control over her senses she looked around. The entire area looked like a battlefield if there ever was one. A few hundred feet to her side lay a swathe of blackened and rubble covered piece of land. *This is how the scene of a nuclear blast looks like!* She thought to herself. Her mind was filled with awe and horror at the terrible energies needed to accomplish what lay in front of her eyes. The thoughts that she too possessed that very same power did little to uplift her mood. *All those poor people who must have been here must have died!* She thought sadly to herself. Thinking about the victims brought more visions of death and destruction so bad that humans lacked the words to describe them. She had witnessed them during her life in the Silver Millennium she realized as she lost the last bit of comfort that she harbored in her mind. She violently shook her head as more horrifying images popped into her consciousness from the unconscious recesses of her mind. Anything was better than remembering the last few days of her life in the Silver Millennium. So thinking she resumed her sweep of the area trying to keep herself detached from the scenes of destruction that she was confronted with. There were conflagrations here and there and the acrid smell of burning tires and such hung in the air resisting the gentle but firm pressure that the wind placed upon them. The smell of death if one could call it that was everywhere. Piles of rubble with jagged pieces of metal jutting into the sky above them were the only things that remained of buildings that had stood tall and proud in their heyday. Compacted and burned pieces of metal, which had once been cars were scattered here and there, smoldering under the evening sky. Some of them even glowed red and she imagined that she could feel the heat emanating from them though they were some fifty foot or so away. Smoke from the fires poured into the sky above and blanketed the twinkling stars from view. * It would have been a beautiful day if this had never happened but now it is not any more.* She shuddered involuntarily as she continued the sweep of the area. Her eyes finally fell upon her parents and she looked into Michiru-momma's eyes for comfort if there was any. Michiru-momma too, seemed to have been overcome by the scene. Hotaru thanked the kami for not making her the only faint hearted one amongst the senshi and turned her gaze towards Haruka-papa. Uranus and Pluto's expression seemed to be focused on a particular object. Their eyes were wide open and their whole demeanor was pale. Hotaru followed their gaze and her eyes came to rest upon the broken and battered body of Mamoru Chiba. It was clear that he was very much dead from the way his body was bent at an unnatural angle. His mouth was opened in a silent scream with his hands splayed out around him. His posture seemed to suggest that he was calling for help. A large pool of blood had gathered around his remains. She shuddered. Her eyes automatically turned elsewhere but she forced herself to look at him. "Oh! Mamaoru-san!" she whispered fighting back the tears that threatened to break the barriers that she had placed on her emotions. She had never been that close with her future king as she had been with Usagi and Chibi Usa but still her heart went out to him. *Oh God!* She realized with a start, *If Mamoru-san is dead than it must mean that Chibi Usa must be too!* The barriers broke down at that revelation and the tears came unbidden. They flowed leaving twin tracks on her cheeks, tracks, which glistened under the light from the fires that burned so brightly in the background. Chibi Usa had been her best friend when she had been weak and lonely. That part of her life had seemed so distant just a minute before and yet that part now loomed ominously over the horizon. Chibi Usa had been the only one who had not treated her like some kind of freak and had accepted her whole-heartedly as a friend. *_A Friend!_ I have lost my best friend and I did not even get a chance to say goodbye!* She would kill the bastard who had dared to hurt her friends. She would make him live through the 8.4 million hells that Jainism predicted waiting for the sinners. Slowly but steadily the sadness and the depression that overwhelmed her senses was replaced by anger. She would have her revenge. No one harmed her friends and got away with it. She clenched her glaive tightly and her face became an emotionless mask. The tears stopped flowing as she began her sweep anew, her heart a cage of cold, tempered steel. *********************************************************************** Pluto was in hell. Everything that she had worked so hard for had been destroyed. She had lost her innocence and had abandoned her love and compassion that she felt for other creatures for the sake of the reincarnation of the Silver Millennium and in the end, it had made no difference whatsoever. It had all been in vain and she had failed miserably. Her king was dead and if her intuition was anywhere close to the mark, her queen was dead too. Usagi would never have let anyone hurt Mamoru and would have protected him with her life as he would have protected her with his. "Forgive me! Please forgive me, my queen! I have failed in my duties to protect thee and all that is yours," she moaned softly willing the tears that threatened to blur her vision to stay back. Her voice was drowned in the rustle that the breeze that flowed gently through the area, created in part by the fires that raged on hither and thither. "I will take revenge even if I have to die taking it!" she vowed. Steeling herself for the long and hard battle that was to come she let her eyes wander just one more time. She wanted to remember everything as it were. She would carry the memories of her dishonor to the grave once she had killed the thing. *********************************************************************** Try as she might Haruka could not take her eyes of the lifeless body of Mamoru, the man who would have one day been her king. His pale bruise covered face with his mouth opened in a silent scream was haunting to look at. She knew that she was going to have nightmares for the rest of her life. He seemed so full of pain that her heart reached out to his. Even in death, his face commanded absolute respect. He may have been screaming but there were those traces of nobility that distanced royalty from a commoner. She had come to respect the man behind the mask. As their relationship with the inner's had grown she had learnt to admire his inner strength and the compassion that he felt for others. She shuddered with a suppressed cry though she tried very much not to as images of the future and visions from her dreams of what could have been popped into her mind. Her mind had been so full of dreams and with love and care, she had let them grow and blossom. Now they lay shattered all around her along with the lifeless body of her would be king. *Would be king.* She thought with another barely suppressed shudder. Everything that she had worked so hard to create, every horror that she, Michiru and their daughter had endured for the sake of the Silver Millennium had been in vain. The queen was dead once more. She was sure of that. Her queen would never allow anyone or anything to harm her king whilst she was alive. With no one to wield the Ginzishou, the new Silver Millennium would never come to pass. Dreams of joy, love and happiness lay shattered inside her heart like so many broken pieces of a mirror and stung her. The pain was almost impossible to bear. She had seen her dearest Michiru die, her body riddled with arrows and she had sacrificed her life too. Oh! How those images tormented her in her sleep. Yet it had been all worth it, she had thought. Her sole comfort had been the fact that they had done it for the sake of the Silver Millennium, a long dead kingdom of the Moon based on love. She had been a fool all along to think that a dream castle of glass that they had all built together with their blood would ever happen. Dreams were just that - dreams and like every other dream it too lay shattered along with the rest of her dreams, broken into a million pieces but by a single stone that cruel and heartless fate had thrown at them. *My queen, on my honor I hereby swear upon my honor and my lifeblood to hunt the beast to the ends of the earth and tear it apart with my bare hands!* She vowed to herself. *********************************************************************** Michiru was in hell. That was the only way to describe the scene around her. Rubble and metal mixed intermittently with small pieces of human flesh or bones was strewn around in plain eyesight for the entire world to see. Cars, once beautiful to look at, now lay smoldering on their roofs or on their sides or were just crumpled under the ridiculously large pieces of reinforced concrete that had come to rest on top of them. The few that were not crushed were burning brightly sending jet-black streams of smoke spewing into the sky to blot out the stars above. Scores of people, some of whom she might have walked next to while grocery shopping or on the side of the street were now dead. That which remained of their bodies would not be enough to fill a paper bag much less a body bag. The stench of blood was everywhere and she could feel and taste the metallic taste of blood if she opened her mouth. Blood, which flowed so freely through one's veins now floated in a fine mist in the air allowing the breeze to carry it to heaven knows where. It was truly horrifying, the sight that met her eyes. The most horrifying image of all was Mamoru sprawled on the dirty ground with his arms and legs splayed out seeking help. His once handsome face covered with bruises and his hair and face were matted with caked blood. Lying there in the middle with his eyes staring blankly at the evening sky, he seemed so at peace with himself and with the rest of the world. She found herself repulsed by the deed that had been committed. Someone or something had killed her Queen's future spouse in cold blood after having tortured him to within an inch of his life. *What kind of soulless demon would do that?* She found herself asking. She knew the answer but she asked the question notwithstanding. It had been a sick bastard who had killed Mamoru and she would put on that very same mask when she ripped the bastard's heart out. A small part of her mind thanked the kami, as he did not have to experience the pain from those horrible wounds that seemed to cover every nook and corner of his body anymore. Another part of her mind wanted to scream at everything and anything and curse them all for that which had gone so wrong. Everything that they had worked for had been destroyed with his death and that of her future queen. They had endured hell to make the dream of a reincarnated few come true and though their castle built out of the fragile glass of reality had been beautiful to look at in their dreams, it had been destroyed, shattered like all other dreams in the end. She had never felt so hopeless in her life and she hated it. She was so depressed and hopeless that she could see her very life passing before her eyes. *Why? Why did you do this?* She screamed mentally at the kami. As usual, her screams of pain and despair went unanswered. *********************************************************************** Silence. Silence and peace - these two words seem so synonymous. Everyone craves peace and in doing so they crave silence too. Nevertheless, are we happy when everything goes silent? No, we are not. It is the way in which we are built. Our mind and soul fails to take the silence at face value. Instead, we assume it to be the calm before the storm. In addition, the worst part of all of this is that we are right most of the time. Maybe humanity has its own storm warning system built in... We will never know. This very same silence prevailed around Ranma. The area was not entirely silent mind you. There was the cackling of the fires all around him. There was the faint rustle that his shirt produced when the breeze blew over him. Furthermore, the air smelled of death and the pungent odor of burning flesh permeated the air. The last two were not sounds but they added to the electric atmosphere all around him. Ranma did not mind the nauseating and repulsive smells at all. He had endured far worse when the capital city of the Gupta dynasty had been sacked. He had also witnessed the brutality of the Mongols and everything and everyone else paled when compared with them. He knew from accounts of survivors that the dead were considered lucky after the Mongol hordes had ransacked their cities. They had been the main reason for his foray into the western lands. Even though he himself advocated a certain level of brutality in battle to gain a psychological advantage over the enemy, he had always thought that the Mongol leader Genghis Khan, Universal ruler as they called him, had carried it a tad bit too far. To this day, he still felt that there had no reason for massacring those 30,000 people at Samrakand who had refused to surrender. He had read first hand accounts of one of the few survivors of the siege of Nishapur, Persia. It still made him nauseous to think that the Mongols had slaughtered, raped over 1.75 million innocent people in that ancient city alone. It was considered a world record of its kind by the modern historians but he had been alive around that time and he _remembered_ how he had felt when he had read those records. He had come to deal with the feeling of helplessness that he had felt then and he had come to grips with it. He did, however, mind the murderous looks that three out of the four new sailors were giving him. He suspected that the only reason that the fourth one was not giving him the same look was that she was too overcome by the horror of the sights that had confronted her. Though they were nowhere near his level in terms of skill and power, he despaired. He had seen the same 'I will kill you or will die killing you' looks on many an enemy in his life. He had been forced to kill many of them and the experience was always distasteful. He raised his hands a little higher hoping and praying to the kami that they would notice his gesture of peace. One of them did but to his dismay, she was the one who was in shock. The other three definitely did not. Before he could address them the smallest one attacked with a shout of "Wail of the Sirens!" A concentrated beam of high-pressure waves rushed at him from the tip of the weird looking glaive that she was carrying. Not vocalizing the groan that came to his mind Ranma jumped over it and scowled. *What kind of trigger-happy fools are these girls? Can they not see that I mean them no harm?* He thought angrily to himself. Turning at supersonic speeds he noticed that the blast was heading towards the girl who had fought so bravely against the Ashura and mentally smacked himself. He should have stopped the blast with one of his own instead of avoiding it. The blast of compressed air hit the ground near the girl and tore through rock and metal alike. The ground blew up brilliantly sending the poor girl on a trip onto Morpheus's lap. "Stop this nonsense at once! I mean no harm to you nor your friends," he shouted as he bounced of the roof of a smoldering car and came to rest upon the rubble-covered pavement. The speech did not have the desired effect on the senshi's face however. Hotaru's face turned a shade of unhealthy red and steam escaped from her ears. *How dare he speak to me in such tones after having killed my friends in cold blood?* Her nostrils seemed to flare as she readied her next attack. She was too late however, as Haruka- papa beat her to it. *Two thousand years of experience and you still cannot figure out the right things to say to women, Ranma of the Qin!* He berated himself as he dodged the scarlet beam of energy that the blonde had let loose at him. "What's with you girls?" he shouted and jumped just in time to avoid another beam of scarlet energy from the blond haired senshi. *Looks like they will not listen. Well, I will just have to make them listen to good old reason then and I know just the way to do it!* He thought as he closed the distance between punitive sailor who wielded the glaive and himself. Hotaru tried to evade but she was a tad bit too slow. Realizing that she would never evade his attack she tried to swipe him away with her silence glaive but Ranma just caught it and smirked at her. Turning on the Qin charisma up a notch or two he put on his best 'you are twenty thousand years too young to beat me' smirk#29 and paralyzed her upper body with a quick jab at a nerve cluster in her thorax. The paralysis point was temporary and should last for about five minutes or so before it released its holds on her. Not removing the smirk from his face, he removed the offending glaive from her hands and tossed it into the air. Without pausing to look at the glaive, which landed perfectly on its tip, he turned his attention towards the blonde one. He rushed Haruka, weaving in and out in a complex pattern to slow down her firing rate. She realized what he was up to and tried to evade with speed and skill borne of 'magic' and experience. Ranma countered her sword thrust with ease, deflecting the blow meant for his face with one of the lesser known kata's of the I Ho Ch'uan, the righteous harmony fist style. The technique was the predecessor of the Tai Chi Chuan and had been used by the boxers during the Boxer rebellion in China. He got into her defenses and flashed the same smirk that he had flashed the young one, before his hands blurred across her body. Since she was not so young, as the first one her body could take a lot more damage to her nerve clusters and he decided to make the experience as painful as possible. His hands became visible a scant moment later but the damage had been done by then. All the voluntary muscle groups in Haruka's body had been temporarily paralyzed and she stood, glaring at him with wide-open eyes. Eyes whose lashes refused to shut glared daggers at him promising him a world of pain and hurt. *The girl is going to have on hell of an inflammation of the eye when this is over.* Ranma withdrew from her paralyzed body and stood in the midst of the rubble. He needed room to maneuver if the remaining girls tried to attack him and this was as good as place as any. "Now, will you listen to me? I..." he cut off in the middle of his speech by his senses which were screaming hell. He turned towards the green haired sailor ready to face whatever she might throw at him. It was a sign of his brain getting slow and dumb he supposed. In his haste to get the speech started, he had forgotten the fact that there had been three really pissed off sailors after him and now he was going to pay the price for it. He mentally berated himself for committing such an amateurish mistake and readied himself to evade the attack. Though the amount of mana that she was gathering was not large by any means, the way that the mana and the ki patterns in the area were changing because of her manipulation was unique to say the least. He memorized the pattern for later use and addressed the girl putting much effort behind it to sound sincere to her ears. Pluto's anger had only grown while she witnessed the ease with which Haruka and her little darling Hotaru had fallen to the creature. Her mission to protect the innocent and the needy from evil had never seemed clearer to her than at that instant. With a scream of righteous fury, she unleashed the most powerful of the forbidden attacks in her arsenal, "Dark Dome Close!" "Cut that out will you! I am not a threat to your friends or to yourself in anyw..." Ranma did not get a chance to finish his hastily prepared speech as the mana and the ki lines around him tightened in a vice-like grip. They formed a prison so secure that it even barred the waves of time from passing through it. The black walls of the prison engulfed him and his awareness of the world grinded to a halt in under a microsecond. Michiru looked at the black veil, which now stood where the creature had stood before. She could not decide whether he had meant any harm to them or not. She had watched his stance and her instincts told her that he was not about to hurt Ami and a mother's instincts never lied. So, she had been prepared to listen to him when he had raised his arms as a gesture of good faith. Of course, the others had jumped the gun as usual. Even Hotaru seemed to be getting a little too quick to take up her arms ever since they had accepted her as a member of the team. She was not sure whether to be disappointed by Hotaru's behavior or not. *Maybe I should have a little chat with the little one this is over.* She had seen the way the others had attacked without concern towards the safety of the innocents. That was not the way the sailors worked. They were the warriors of justice and love. They should not be ones who fired at anything that moved in their path. Therefore, She had not been surprised when the man had counter attacked. Who would be? However, she found it hard to believe that someone could move at the speeds at which he had moved. As things had stood, she knew without a doubt that the man could have killed Hotaru and Haruka if he had wanted to. Yet, he had not. He had tried to explain himself thrice but had been prevented from doing so by their attacks. Truth be told she had felt anger at him for no apparent reason. Her baseless anger her grown when she had seen the way that he had taken out Haruka and Hotaru. It was as though they were puny little things to him. Having taken out those two, he could have taken on Setsuna and probably beat her up pretty good but again, he had not. He had stood admist the rubble and tried to explain himself before Setsuna had sent him into the oblivion of timelessness. Dropping the hands that she had raised in preparation for an attack, she glanced at her daughter and her lover. It seemed like they had been paralyzed. She recalled hearing about paralyzing techniques as part of martial arts from her sensei in junior high. If that was what he had done then they had just committed a terrible mistake. Man or God, Michiru had no doubts about what would happen to anyone outside the time stream for long intervals. They would die, Setsuna had once told them so. "Michiru!" Michiru started and turned towards Setsuna. "Huh!" "I said that Haruka and Hotaru will be alright," replied the senshi of time. Michiru nodded meekly and looked around. She had to help Ami. Setsuna could take care of the other two. The poor girl was lying unconscious somewhere out there. *********************************************************************** Ami moaned softly in pain. The pain that flooded her senses made her wish that she had remained unconscious. With some effort, she hefted her body from the ground. Vertigo almost caused her to lose her balance as she pulled herself of the ground. She steadied herself by grabbing one of the random pieces of metal that jutted out from the rubble. She grunted in pain as even that simple action sent tidal waves of dizzying pain through her body. Cursing the kami as well as her luck, she gingerly clasped her stomach. She released the metal and wiped the blood that dripped slowly from her lips. She was sure that if it had not been for her magic she would have died from Hotaru's careless attack. She looked around and her eyes fell upon Neptune, Uranus and Saturn. Putting one foot in front of the other she headed towards them. The pain was forgotten as anger towards the outers clouded her mind. She felt that the anger that she felt towards them was perfectly justified. She had been willing to overlook their trigger-happy attitudes before due to their loyalty to the queen. Sure, they had overreacted in some, well almost all of the situations but they had done it out of loyalty. She had even admired their protectiveness on some unconscious level. Now all she felt towards them was anger. For the way they had behaved today was unforgivable. The three of them had attacked her and then had the galls to treat her as some collateral damage. *I am going to give those four nitwits a piece of my mind.* She thought as she stomped towards her fellow teammates. "What the fuck were you doing over there, you imbeciles?" she screamed into Michiru's face. Normally she would never use such language but in her anger, she simply did not care. Michiru for her part stood as she was looking glumly at her. Her face, which first shone with joy on seeing her, turned confused. Ami stomped her foot on the ground and winced from the pain that the action caused her. "Uuuuuhhhh!" screamed Ami in frustration at the brainless klutz. "If you weren't part of the team I would tear you to pieces." she announced as loudly as she could right into Michiru's face. "Huh!" "Pay attention to me when I am speaking with you." shouted Ami staring daggers at Michiru who for her part continued to remain as still as a statue. Michiru did not have a clue on how to react to Ami's open show of hostility. She felt that the girl was justified in her anger towards her and the others. However, it was not as if they had really meant too hurt her or something. Things sometimes went wrong and even though they were the ones to blame, the girl should not be using the language that she was using. Her blood began to boil as she heard more of the girl's speech. *How dare she? How dare she speak to them in such a manner?* It was not like they were going to let her rot in hell or something like that. _She_ had been searching for the bitch when she could have been helping her family and this was how the bitch repaid her. *Well two can play at the 'I am the head bitch' game!* However, before Michiru could respond Pluto intervened. "What is wrong with you Mercury?" snarled Pluto gripping the key to the time gates so tight that her knuckles turned white. If she did not know any, better she would have thought that Mercury was actually supporting the monster. "What is wrong with me?... What is wrong with me... Ahhhh!" screamed Ami seeing red. They had attacked the man who had saved her queen and in doing so had knocked her out and now they had the balls to ask her whether anything was wrong with her. "Bitch!" screamed Ami at the guardian of the gates of time. "Wait till Usagi hears about this. You attack me and then you dare to ask me that question." "Don't you dare speak that way to Pluto!?" Michiru snarled. She had had it with the little bitch's bratty ways. She had better watch her mouth or she would not have a mouth to watch. Pluto however, grasped what Ami had just said. She grabbed the girl by her collar and lifted her off the ground. Ami thinking that Setsuna wanted a fight glared right back at her and caught hold of her collar. Pluto looked into Ami's eyes with hope, her anger temporarily forgotten and asked a simple question. "Where is the Princess?" Caught totally off-guard by the question Ami would only mutter, "Huh!" Realizing that Ami would be of no help, Michiru examined her Nan ban mirror and pointed towards one of the less damaged buildings in the area. "The Princess and the others are in that building along w..." Just then, there was an explosion of light. The light blinded them momentarily and when the light faded enough for them to see clearly, Ranma was missing. "What the..." began Ami before Setsuna cut her off. "Neptune you check on the princess and the others. Mercury..." Pluto gave the aforementioned sailor a hard stare. "We will continue this discussion later. For now, check on Saturn and Uranus. I have got to find that monster and hopefully destroy it before it plays more havoc with the time-stream." Ami did not even have the time to respond before Pluto disappeared via the time gate. Without giving Neptune so much as a look, she turned towards her wards and walked towards them. "Bitch!" muttered Ami under her breath. Michiru did not hear the comment. She was too immersed in other thoughts. "We will finish this later... Mercury!" she said stressing the 'finish' part. Ami stopped in mid-stride and glared in reply before continuing towards Saturn and Uranus. *********************************************************************** *What the hell is happening out there?* Ryuu glanced over at the unconscious girls giving their wounded bodies a once over to check for any potentially serious wounds. They were all pretty bad beat up but from the looks of it, they would survive. Their 'magic' seemed to be healing them faster than he believed possible. Having ascertained that all was well with the girls he yawned though he tried not to. He was bored. All this inaction was getting to him and where was Ranma sensei. As far as he could ascertain the main battle had long been over. *Why hasn't sensei returned?* He asked himself for the fiftieth time in less than five minutes. He hated the job that his sensei had assigned to him. He wanted a piece of the action and not the role of a _stupid_ nurse. However, he dare not disobey his sensei. Frequent beatings by Genma and the mother of all walloping by elder Cologne during his stay with the Joketsuzoku had been more than enough to imprint in his mind to always do as he was told. Sure, he hated it. He hated not being able to help the sailors when they had fought with those two things. He had wanted to very much rush in there and take that thing on. However, Ranma had forbid it and he had obeyed his sensei's command - unwillingly. Not that he was afraid of a little beating. No, even after that walloping that elder Cologne had given him he had refused to respect authority to a certain extent. The elder had gotten her point across quite forcefully on that day. Ryuu snickered as images of that painful day flashed across his mind. Now that he thought about it, he had been acting like a brat and had deserved the beating. He had been in the village less than a fortnight when he had managed to piss elder Cologne royally with his rude behavior. Growing up on the road with Genma had made him an egotistical jerk with a very rude mouth. And he still had one - it was as if the rude trait was a curse or something. No matter how hard he tried, he could not get rid of it. The elder had tried to bear with him and patiently tried to teach him respect for elders and for those in power in vain. He had resisted making rude comments about her and the Amazons as a nation in general. She had been a good sport taking whatever he said calmly. It had been a testament to her age and wisdom that she did not beat him to death in the first week itself. However, even her patience had its ends and he had managed to tick her off. The elder had been instructing him on the virtues of good manners when he had called her 'a old dried up cunt' in the council hall not that he knew what a 'cunt' meant at that time. He had heard his father and some of the gaijin's that he had encountered use it often enough and thought that he would join the club too. *Why not* He had thought. *Everybody seems to use that word often enough.* The whole council had been mortified by what he had spoken. Speaking in that manner to Cologne was asking for a dramatic reduction in one's lifespan. Her aura had burst forth like a miniature supernova and for just a moment, he had thought that he saw the true face of death in her eyes. The fear had given way to loads and loads of pain. So much so in fact that he had been unable to get out of the bed for nearly three weeks. Somehow, the elder had managed to reign in her anger but that did not save him from the beating that followed. The pain that he had endured during the next hour or two (he did not know how long the ummm... discipline session had been conducted) had been the worst in his life. Not even the rigors of Bakusai Tenketsu training had been as excruciating as those two hours. When he had recovered from his injuries, he had automatically treated the elders, especially Cologne with newfound respect. *Spare the rod and spoil the child they say and how true it was in my case.* Wiping off the smirk from his face, Ryuu's thoughts drifted off once more. Only once before had he seen, anyone display such power as that thing during the battle. He had been utterly awed by Cologne's display that day. He still was. He had been once in awe of his father... before he had realized what a moron his father was. Somehow, that special father-son bond had waned and finally disappeared during the years on the road. By the time the Amazons had taken him in, the only emotion that came to him whenever he had thought of his father had been disgust. Looking back that was not the worst point in their relationship. He had been actually happy when the elders had decided to take him away from Genma since he did not have to bear with the moron anymore. Genma must have realized it for Genma had lacked that certain sine qua non he always had while fighting when he had challenged the village elders that day. That day Ryuu had gained a new hero... a withered old mummy who had beaten the crap out of Genma without breaking a sweat. He had not given her the respect that she had deserved as a martial artist simply because he had been afraid that she too would disappoint him. Slowly the elder had grown on him and he on her until she almost treated him like her great grandson... almost because she never abandoned her plans to make him her great granddaughter's husband. The three years he had spent in the village had been the happiest years of his short life. The evening sparring sessions with Shampoo and that idiot Mousse as well as the morning lessons under Mascara and Cologne had been some of the best he had had in his life. Unfortunately, all things came to an end and he had been very sad indeed when his father had arrived back in the village to take him away from them. Though he had been reluctant to leave the village he had done so not because he respected his old man but because he knew that he was honor bound to return with the moron as was stated in the deal that Genma had somehow managed to broker with the Amazons. He had grown to think of the Amazons as almost family. On the first few days with Genma, he had noticed nothing wrong. Then he began to notice things that he had never seen Genma do before. Genma had changed somehow. He would act like the idiot that he was every now and then but he would actually apologize for it. Not that Ryuu cared about what he did. That indescribable pride that a boy felt towards his father was long gone by that time replaced only by loathing and disgust. He had been surprised when Genma had come with them to the Phoenix Mountain. Of all the things that he had expected from his old man that had been the last one he had expected him to do. After all Genma never risked his ass for anyone. Genma had been full of surprises in the mountain. Ryuu had seen a facet of Genma that he had never seen before. For the first time ever he had seen the master of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts fight. True, Genma had not charged in and taken on every Phoenix in the mountain. Instead he had actually pounded anyone who came near him to pulp and the one's who had attacked him, well it had been their ill-luck that had led them to Genma that day. Genma had been an absolute demon mauling everyone who stood in his path. That had been the last time he had ever expected Genma to fight seriously. Apparently, he had misjudged his father for Genma had shown that warrior persona of his again. At the dojo when Ranma had issued the challenge Genma had fought like he had never before and Ryuu felt proud of Genma for the first time in a very long time. His respect for his father had grown by that much during that fight and he felt himself listening to the words of his old man for the first time ever... "Uhhhh!" It seemed that the blonde bunny haired one was having a nightmare or something and Ryuu abandoned his thoughts to check on her. Ryuu approached her, taking care not to make loud noises and knelt by her side. As far as he could tell, the bleeding had stopped from the shoulder wounds. The numerous cuts and bruises were also disappearing from her body at an alarming rate even more so than the others were. Her breathing was still labored though and Ryuu moved closer to her side and lifted her into his lap. Having made her battered body as comfortable as he could he began to probe her neck with his fingers. *Thank the kami that I paid attention to the elder's anatomy classes.* He expertly felt around her neck looking for blockages of any sort or more seriously hemorrhages that would indicate internal bleeding. If her tongue were obstructing her respiratory tract, he would have to unblock it but it was a hemorrhage he could do nothing but hope that the bleeding was not serious enough to endanger her life. So focused was he on his work that he did not hear the rapidly approaching footsteps much to his ill luck. As it happened, Michiru rushed into the room and saw Usagi in the laps of a strange boy who was touching her in a way that reminded her of the attentions that Haruka gave her whenever she was 'in the mood'. *Eeeeeew! How can I even think about that at this time?* She blinked once and decided to give the boy the benefit of the doubt. No one could be perverted enough to attempt that with an unconscious girl. It was obvious from the blood splatter patterns on his dress that he had been the one who had brought Usagi and the others into safety. "Hey! What are you doing?" she asked him with just a touch of aggression in her voice. If he was a pervert, well he had better not be else he was in for a world of hurt. Ryuu froze in his movements and began to wave his arms around to ward off the impending beating. That particular muscle memory was the result of living under the same roof as Akane for over a year. During his first three weeks in the Tendo house the girl had taken offense at anything and everything that he had done and had promptly bashed him in the head with her hammer if he had not run off into the beautiful sunset by then. "It's not what you think it is!" tried Ryuu; still waving his arms in an effort to ward off the blows that he was sure would start raining down on him. Michiru frowned and an unhealthy tick formed in her eyes. *Eeeeeew! What kind of a sicko pervert is he, doing that to a wounded girl?* "Eeeeeew! Pervert!" screeched Michiru as she rushed the teenager. Ryuu was in a tough position. He could easily evade the girl if he implemented the Kacchu Tenshin Amaguriken but he dare not. The stress might prove too hard on the bunny haired one's body. She was badly beaten up and any more stress might be fatal to her if she was bleeding internally. The second option that he had was to remain kneeling as he was and wait for the girl to kick him out into the stratosphere. He chose the second option. *I will not risk an innocent life.* Having made up his mind, he closed his eyes and waited for the blow to fall. *This is going to hurt a lot.* As Michiru ran, a hammer made of energy formed in her hands. She clasped it tight in her arms and swung it with a mighty kiyaa! The hammer connected with Ryuu's skull with a loud clang. Ryuu flew, senses stunned by the force of the impact. His trajectory led him on a collision course with the wall on the far side of the room and his head made an unhealthy sounding thump when it hit it. His eyes glazed over momentarily but recovered their former shine as soon as it had left. Michiru grunted an unladylike curse as her hands stung from the force of impact. She had not been expecting the pervert to have such a hard head. She had lost her grip on the mallet and it flew out of her hands, disappearing as soon as it left her hands. "What is his head made of?" she muttered. With a shrug, she went after Ryuu, who was struggling to get on his feet in the street outside. She found it surprising that the pervert could get up after having taken the brunt of her attack. *Well, strong is he? This ought to teach him to never have another ecchi thought in his sick little life!* Thinking so she gathered the mana needed for her attack. "Neptune Deep Submerge!" she announced and directed the energy at a peice of concrete, which took to the air. The boulder flew up like a perfect Shi Shi Hokodan and reached its apex staying just a moment longer that it was necessary. Ryuu's eyes bulged to the size of saucer's as he realized the boulder's intended landing site. Normally he would have used the 'Saotome Final attack' and ran for his life but the mallet blow had taken a great deal out of him. He realized now what the elder had meant when she had said to him once that 'Hell hath less fury than a woman scorned'. Not that he had not known that before but then he had known what he had done to deserve the ass kicking. His mind was simply overcome by shock and confusion and ignored all commands on his part to evacuate the premises and make a run for his life. "Oh... Oh! This is going to hurt!" he managed to murmur before the judicious boulder made a judicious landing on his little hard head. Michiru wiped her arms and posed for the photographers though there were none in the vicinity. *There the world is now a safer place for little old helpless girls like me!* she thought proudly. The boulder cracked with a metallic sound and pieces of it fell to the sides to reveal Ryuu's battered body underneath. Michiru gasped in surprise. *Obviously, the boy was no boy at all! He must be a daemon in clever disguise.* Again, she was proud of herself. Surely, she deserved a thank you for her fast thinking that had saved the princess. She was still doing the hero of the day act when Ryuu extricated himself from the ground and stood woozily. Michiru physically slapped herself out of the mental back slapping ceremonies. *This is not the time to be standing still and gloating.* She would first kill the daemon and then thank the kami for getting her onto the scene just in the nick of time. Who knew what the daemon would have done to her princess if she had even been a minute late? Her face a mask of pure anger, Michiru attacked Ryuu once more. Ordinarily the senshi of Neptune was not prone to give into anger so easily but the thought of what the daemon was about to do sent her into a wild rage. Ryuu was in no condition to either protect himself or counter her attack. He stood there in the middle of the road wobbling around like the town drunkard. Michiru had no problem getting into his defense. *This ought to teach the hentai daemon not to mess around with the sailors!* She thought darkly as she grabbed hold of Ryuu's arms to steady him. Having done so she applied her knee to his groin. There was an audible crunch and Ryuu somehow found the strength to over power her arms and clasp his groin. "That did not hurt... Mommy!" he squeaked and fell to the ground where he writhed with his hands jerking like those of a mosquito. *********************************************************************** Ami checked Hotaru not once but thrice. Each time her computer console displayed the same results. Obviously, the man -whoever he had been was also quite skillful in Shiatsu. Oh yes, Ami knew about Shiatsu. What self-respecting son or daughter of Japan did not? Her mother had told her stories of super-powered martial artists who could paralyze, disable or even kill their opponents with a single touch. Her memories of the nights her mother sat by her bedside and recited stories of courageous samurai in the days long gone were still vivid in her mind. She treasured those memories more than anything else in her life for that was all she had to associate herself with her mother. Growing up without the guiding influence of a mother in her life had been pretty tough on her. The times that her mother was in the house were rare enough and the times that she was free, enough to actually spend some time with Ami were rarer still. It was no surprise then that Ami cherished those few minutes that they spent together everyday. Ami knew and realized that her mother wanted to help save people's lives and her profession as a doctor meant that her working hours were unusual in the sense that she was on call all day long. Even though the patients that her mother cared for were sick physically and sometimes mentally a small part of Ami was still jealous of them because they got to know her mother so much more than she did. With a sigh of regret and longing Ami let her thoughts drift back to the real world. The anger that she felt towards the outers was still there and she doubted whether all of it would ever fade away. What they had done today was unforgivable in her eyes and she hoped that it would be unforgivable in Usagi's eyes too. *We were going to have a little talk in Rei's house when this is over. This time you were lucky the next time some innocent bystander could be killed.* Lost in her thoughts once more Ami failed to notice the slightest of shudders that rippled through Hotaru's body. Finally, Hotaru started out of her paralysis with a look of pure terror in her eyes. Ami mentally slapped herself for not having comforted Hotaru sooner and laid a comforting hand on the other girl's shoulder. Having no control over your body was a fate worse than death and Hotaru must have spent the minutes in utter terror wondering about the fate of her family. "Its all right Hotaru. The paralysis is wearing off even as I speak. You should be perfectly all right in a few minutes." reassured Ami in a soothing voice. "I'll go check on Haruka and see if she is all right!" Hotaru's pupils dilated in anger when she heard those words. Ami shoulders sagged and she sighed audibly. This was not the time to lose your cool, she reminded herself. She regretted having lost her cool before but it had to be done or the outer's would have gotten worser and worser by the day. *Looks like living with her 'jump the gun' family had turned Hotaru into one of them.* "Its all right Hotaru. That man did not do anything to Haruka. She is in the same condition as you. I just have to check on her incase something is wrong with her..." reassured Ami. Hotaru's pupils constricted back to their original size and Ami allowed herself to breathe freely. A pissed off and berserk Sailor Saturn with the power to lay waste a planet was something to be worried about. *All the more reason why I should have a little tete a tete with Pluto and the others.* Thought Ami as she walked towards Haruka. She had not covered half the distance when there was a loud thump from one of the buildings. Ami turned and saw a Neptune attacking a boy with the 'Neptune World Shaking!'. *What the hell is that lunatic doing, attacking a bystander?* Ami thought darkly. *She could kill him with her magic!* That set her off. That really set her off. *Was it not lesson enough that they attacked me with their stupid tactics? Now, they are attacking innocent bystanders.* She was about to stomp off towards Neptune and take her to task when to her amazement the boulder cracked and broke into pieces. It was Ryuu, she recognized. Though she had no idea as to how he had managed to earn Neptune's wrath he was her friend and Ami never abandoned her friends. However, before she could move an inch Neptune attacked him once more and kneed him in the groin. Abandoning all thoughts of their comradeship and the Silver Millennium Ami ran towards Neptune intending on giving her a walloping that she would never forget. The old mercury would have thought twice before challenging any of the others to a fight but the recent fight with the Ashura had worked wonders for her confidence and she was sure that could easily defeat Michiru or any of the others bar Usagi. Michiru grinned at the daemon's agony. *I will make this daemon an example for those who try to hurt the princess.* She thought as she raised her legs to kick him in his exposed mid-section. The leg was on the apex of its backward motion when a blur swept by her and her world exploded in pain. Michiru flew through the air for a good fifty yards before hitting the ground. Her body did not stop there as her inertia kept her in motion, bouncing her off the hard concrete repeatedly until she came to rest nearly hundred and thirty yards from where she had stood. Hiding the veil of pain that threatened to send her into the clutches of unconsciousness at any second Michiru stood up and eyed her opponents warily. A man, a balding man with a scarf on his head, stood near the daemon with a hint of concern towards the daemon and a lot of annoyance and anger towards her written on his face. His stance was loose and appeared quite unlike a warriors though her heart told her that he was one. The man spoke quietly, his voice carrying across the wind in a gothic sort of way. With the distance that separated him and her, he should not have been audible but somehow his voice was audible quite clearly to her. It had a decent pinch of menace and a lot of anger and indignity in it. "You will not treat my son in such a dishonorable manner and get away with it, I, the patriarch of the Saotome clan swear on my honor." he announced, not once did he turn his eyes away from his foot where it was focused. As he made his speech a fiery blue aura of power bloomed around him. Finally, he raised his head and looked into her eyes. Michiru shuddered. She had seen that look before. In fact, she had had that look before on her very own face. It was the very same 'You I kill!' look that she had worn many a time in her efforts to protect her princess from the minions of the negaverse. *********************************************************************** Genma was furious. He had never been that angry in his entire life. When he had seen Neptune attack his son from the distance his blood had boiled and for the first time since he had achieved mastery of the art, he lost the controls that he had placed on his anger. He had not waited for either the master's or the elder's command. He had just attacked and a part of his mind suspected that they would have attacked with equally deadly consequences if he had not. No one attacked a downed opponent. It was considered so dishonorable that even foes in battle gave their fallen opponent time to rise and defend themselves. It was a code created by the samurai before the barbarian Mongols had attacked the land and it stood to this day. An opponent had to give his credentials before the fight started. Such was the tradition of his country and yet here was a prime example of dishonorable conduct on the battlefield right before his very eyes. His honor and his love for his son demanded that the price such a dishonorable act be paid in blood. *And the price will be paid.* He thought grimly as he pushed the dark clouds of anger to the background and focused on his opponent. Anger was a double-edged sword that had to be correctly controlled and directed if one was to win a fight. He had learned long ago that it could almost as easily certify a loss if it were not controlled properly. One had to reign in the sea of anger that clouded one's mind and use it productively and not lash out mindlessly if one wanted to guarantee success. Genma did exactly that and reined in his all the anger that he felt at that moment and rode it as a wave while his mind planned and came up with tactics. Taking a deep breath, he expanded his senses. He sensed the master and the elder along with his friend standing a couple of dozen feet behind him as his vanguard while he prepared for himself mentally for the upcoming battle. He was about to attack when a voice, a young voice interrupted the silent twilight air. *********************************************************************** Ami was about to shout bloody hell at Neptune when a blur whizzed passed her with its wake causing her fuku to flutter violently. Her words were struck in her mouth and the seconds seemed an eternity as the blur closed the distance between Neptune and itself. Finally, the blur reached Neptune and wham! Neptune was flying through the air. The blur solidified into the form a middle-aged man with a balding head and a potbelly. The man had a scarf tied on his head and an aura of power much like the one, which had surrounded their unidentified helper, surrounded him. The power was miniscule when compared with the power that the man and the Ashura had wielded but it was powerful in its own right. *So this is Ryuu's father!* Thought Ami. The resemblance between the two though very small was uncanny. Ryuu's father spoke, barely moving his lips. However, his voice was clearly audible to her even though she was a hundred yards from him. Without wasting time wondering how he had accomplished such a feat Ami rushed towards him. If he had meant what he said than Michiru was in for lots of pain. The images of Ryouga's incredible strength were still clearly etched in her face. She was afraid what a pissed off super-powered martial artist could do to Michiru. If what had happened to her own team was any indication Michiru could be in jeopardy if he carried through his threat. "Stop!" she shouted as loudly as she could. Ryuu's father barely turned towards her. Nevertheless, there was a slight shift in his stance making it clear that his attention was partly focused on her now. Sensing that she had little time before Genma sprang into action she cleared her throat and spoke as loudly as she could all the while closing the distance between him and her. "I humbly ask forgiveness for my teammates dishonorable actions. She did not know that it was your son who helped our team when they were in dire straits..." "And who are you? You did not stop that woman from assaulting my son in the first place. Why should I listen to you now?" barked Genma glaring daggers at her. He did not drop his stance. If anything, he seemed to go deeper into the 'zone'. "Yes, I didn't and I know that there is no excuse for my failure... We... Some six-handed monster assaulted us today and all of my friends were nearly killed in the battle... My friend over there obviously overreacted on seeing your son... She must have assumed that he was a threat..." Ami paused. She was now within ten yards of Genma. Genma face took on a thoughtful look, which astonishingly lasted for a second. After what seemed like an eternity, he finally spoke. "Perhaps I had overreacted a bit... Very well then your friend is..." Genma never got a chance to finish the sentence as his ki senses flared - a sign of immediate danger. *********************************************************************** It had been the worst five minutes of Haruka's life. She had been witness to the assault on her child. That alone was more than enough to send the trigger-happy senshi into a blind rage. The rage had been enough however, to beat the stuffing out of that bastard and she too had been made to suffer the same fate as dear Hotaru. Standing there with her senses working more perfectly then ever before had been pure hell. She had been able to ear and see Ami as she had abused Michiru. She cursed the kami for her current predicament. If it had not been for her present condition she would have made the upstart inner see a thing or two about giving her betters the respect they deserved. Thankfully, Pluto had dealt with the situation in a somewhat satisfactory manner and she would see that Ami got her just deserts in the course of a week or two if she had her way. After seeing the way Ami had treated little Hotaru, she had decided to be a little lenient when the time came for Ami's punishment but those thoughts had been quenched almost as soon as they had popped into her mind. The little bitch had been in a position to do something when that bald buffoon had hit her yet she had not done anything. The fool had spoken in a 'holier than thou' tone and her anger had grown. So powerful had it been that she had felt her muscles returning to her conscious control once more. Throwing all caution to the wind she prepared a World Shaking to send his way. Her body quivered under the strain as the mana poured into her. It had not quite recovered from her recent tryst with Ranma and channeling mana was one risk too many. Of course, Haruka did not know of such silly little things nor would she have shown some common sense if she had known about the cause for her sudden giddiness. As it was she just concentrated a little more and prepared the most powerful World Shaking that she had ever thrown. She had sworn to herself that no one would ever hurt Michiru the day they had professed their love for each other. She had lain that night with Michiru's naked body pressing against her side and she had given some serious thoughts about her life. She had known then as she knew now that she was hopelessly in love with Michiru and that she would remain so for the rest of her life. Their relationship was everything that one could dream more and then some more. The moments of tenderness, be it love or lust, were frequent and cherish able for all of eternity. It had transformed her in more ways than one. For the first time ever she had felt fear for her life on the racetrack and it had been that very same fear of losing Michiru forever that had made her become Sailor Uranus. If Michiru had not been a sailor, she would not have given the Moon Kingdom or the Silver Millennium a second thought. However, Michiru was the reincarnated Sailor Neptune and she had donned the mantle of Sailor Uranus to protect Michiru. It galled her to think that she had failed miserably in all the tasks that she had set for herself as Sailor Uranus. She had failed to protect her princess, she had failed to protect Neo-Tokyo of the future and most importantly, she had failed to prevent anyone from ever laying hands on Michiru. That was the driving reason behind her anger. She had failed once to protect Michiru but she swore in her mind to the kami above that she would not let that fat-assed buffoon of a man to see the light of another day. Gritting her teeth to lift her sword and channeled energy into it. "Uranus World Shaking!" she announced pointing her space blaster sword at a water tank near Genma. *********************************************************************** The attack tank and exploded against it. The water, several tons of it, headed towards the fat middle-aged martial artist but he proved to be a too quick to be hit by her attack. As a result, the huge wall of water passed by him with about twenty yards or so between him and it. The water pummeled into one of the building behind his previous resting place and reduced it to dust, such was the energy contained in the attack. Genma smirked as he landed softly on his feet. The attack may have been more powerful than most of the one's he had chanced upon in his lifetime but against an agile opponent such as him, strength alone was not enough. Moreover, the girl did not know that he too could dish out such powerful attacks at random if he thought that the situation demanded it. In his opinion, the current situation did and therefore Genma took an offensive stance, one that belonged to the Yamasenken. He prepared himself to deliver an attack so powerful that he had used it only once before and that too when he had first created it. He had not even written down the attack on the scroll that he had handed over to Ryuu Kumon's father for it was one of the main reasons why he had opted to seal away the thousand fist techniques. The attack used a concept that he had learned from the master. It was well known that the human body could focus only that much energy before the fine balance between perfect control and absolute chaos wavered. Though the amount of power that one could channel using one's body varied from person to person the symptoms that manifested when that fine balance was reached or exceeded was well documented by the masters of the olden days. The body would be put under extremely large amounts of stress and when the energy focused was too high, it simply ate away the body, bones and all. The ancients had tried very hard to circumvent this block and they had succeeded. The answer was quite simple really. All they had to do was find another focusing medium and what better medium than the earth itself. The ki and mana lines that flowed throughout the planet could channel an insanely large amount of power and they used it. It was in techniques that utilized these 'constructs' that the Yamasenken and the Umisenken specialized in. The entire 'construct' based attacks channeled very large amounts of energy and were a danger to everything for miles around should something go wrong. It was for these reasons that he had sealed away the two schools. The attacks were simply too dangerous to be used in anything but the most desperate of situations. However, seeing the girl hit Ryuu had broken away those seals and Genma etched the first construct onto the ki lines with his aura. The second construct could be done in a less than a second and he doubted whether the girl would channel a large amount of energy in the time window that she had should he chose to attack. Not realizing the danger that she was in Haruka stood her ground and prepared another deep submerge. She felt giddy and nauseous but discarded the warning signals that he body sent her. She would kill the bastard and then have that some well earned sleep. However, before things got any worse, Happousai, Cologne and Ami interrupted the fight before it could deteriorate any further. Happousai and Cologne let loose their aura's, which by themselves more than scared Haruka half to death simply with the amount of raw power that she sensed emanating from them. It was not everyday that you saw two extremely old people with power that made a sailor's look like a cute little puppy. Haruka prepared herself mentally for what she knew would be the battle of her life. Though she was frightened by the power they possessed she was determined to get her revenge at all costs. Ami saw the look on Haruka's face and recognized it for what it was. She lost her temper for the hundredth time that day took the threats that the old man and woman had implied a step further. She had grown tired of the outer's antics at the battle scenes and anywhere else and decided to put a stop to it. The events of the day had confirmed err worst fears about the outers. They were worsening by the day and would continue to do so as long as no one stood up to them. Her newfound confidence in herself as well as the realization that left unchecked the outers would undermine the team played a major role in the decision that she took. With thoughts of setting everything right but without a thought about the consequences of her actions she let loose a magical attack at Uranus. Haruka blocked the attack as best as she could and looked at Ami in sheer disbelief as though she had grown a second head. Even when the relationship between the outer's and the inner's had been young and tumultuous they had not stooped to attacking each other with magical attacks. That was a boundary, a thin red line if you will, that had existed between them and now that boundary had been pushed aside in a moment of haste. She was shocked and that emotion was not the only one that she felt. Anger at the betrayal anger disbelief that it was Ami who had attacked her rendered her paralyzed once more. Haruka, the proud unrelenting warrior of peace and love, stood still, her face showing all the above-mentioned emotions and continued to stare at Ami. As she stood, she felt her heart break for the second time in her life. Everything that they had worked so hard to build was finally gone forever for from this day onwards nothing would be quite the same again. The expression on Haruka's face broke the fog of anger hat had clouded Ami's mind. Realization of what she had done dawned and she collapsed onto the ground on her knees and stared at her palms. The blood that seemed to cover it did not seem to vanish no matter how hard she willed it to. "What have I done?" she moaned quietly, tears pouring down her cheeks and onto her hands where it combined with the grime and soot to form a dirty little stream that slithered down onto the ground below. *********************************************************************** Michiru clutched her stomach and looked on in stunned silence. The scene that was playing itself right in front of her eyes would give her nightmares for the rest of her life. She was sure of that. It was the bond she supposed. The sailors were sisters... almost sisters. They had to depend on each other if they were to win the war against evil and they had done so admirably till now, that is. Now, everything was falling apart. Mamoru was dead. The Princess and her advisers, for all she knew, may not survive to see the light of another day. The blood that she had seen in that room had convinced her of that. It was saddening to see the ones that you had grown to trust betray you in your hour of need. *And we were mostly responsible for this.* Realization dawned upon her and she knew what had driven Ami to such lengths. It had been them all along. The arrogant manner with which the outer's had treated the others had been responsible for this split. The fissures had been small but they had existed all the same. Moreover, it was the small fissures that destroyed mountains, slowly growing into big ones until the mountain broke into pieces. They had chanced upon one such large fissure today but there would be bigger ones in the years to come if they did not change their ways. She felt sorry for the poor girl. She really did. The self- loathing that was evident upon the girl's features was the cause. Due to no fault of hers, Ami had been driven to do something that she really hated. The inner's had always had an aversion to violence and such while the outer's reveled in it. It had been the inners that had always sought friendship with their enemies whereas the outer's mission had always been to wipe the damned bastards off the face of the planet. This basic ideological difference was the one that had almost done them in this time and perhaps it would do them in the next time. *Could our differences succeed where all our enemies had failed?*, she found herself asking. The answer she got made her sick. IT could if things remained the same as they were. They might owe allegiance to the princess just like the inner's but they would never be part of the sailor team as long as their characters and goals remained as they were. Horrified by these thoughts, Michiru took a step towards Ami and almost collapsed. The man could sure hit. Her body felt as though it had been pulverized, rubbed with salt and then pulverized under a thousand tons of rock once more. Shaking off the giddying waves of dizziness, she walked towards Ami with more than a little trepidation. Something had to be done to make sure that they remained a team for all of eternity and it was up to the outer's to take that difficult first step. Her heart reached out to the raven-haired senshi as she closed the distance between the two of them. Now that she was nearer to the girl, her tormented features were more pronounced and it the mother's heart in her, she supposed, that made her want to reach out to Ami and console her as best as she could. With care, she knelt by Mercury's side, ignoring the dizzying shards of pain that sped up her spine and laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. Ami did not push away her hands, as Michiru had feared she would but rather clasped her hand with hers and smiled weakly. Michiru felt the faintest rays of hope shining through the dark clouds of despair that tormented her soul. *Perhaps there is still some hope.* Michiru applied firm pressure to Ami's shoulders as a sign of comfort and Ami's smile grew just a little. She wiped off her tears with her hands and noticed how grimy they were. With a small snort of disgust, she wiped her hands on her skirt and proceeded to wipe her face once more. Finally, she stood. "I apologize for attacking you Ha... Uranus." she bowed deeply to the blonde-haired senshi and then turned towards Genma and the others. "Please forgive my colleagues for having attacked you and your son. I ask forgiveness for not having been fast enough to prevent or even stop their childish behavior." and she bowed once more. This time she bowed lower than she had ever before to signify the depth of her shame and dishonor. It was meant to impress upon Genma and company her regret at having failed in her duty as well as to tell them that she was said was the truth. By allowing herself to be as defenseless as she currently was she hoped that they would give her the benefit of the doubt. Genma stood, with his senses on the alert not knowing how to respond to the girl. The few lessons that he had ever learnt were from the master and naturally, they did not cover such grounds as the one that he was trudging upon now. The master always concentrated on the steps needed to get a girl into bed and somehow he knew that those lessons would only make the situation worse should he chose to follow them. It was at times like these that he wished that he had concentrated a little more on the puzzle that was the fairer sex. It truly galled him to think that as powerful as he was all a girl had to throw was a kawaii look to send his consciousness and common sense packing like a whipped puppy. Fortunately, Happousai and Cologne were better equipped and they spoke saving Genma from embarrassing himself once more in public. "Your apology is accepted girl though I think that you could have done better if you had used tighter leashes on these jokes of warriors that you call friends." said Cologne as she hopped to within a foot of Ami. The Amazon elder and the Ami weighed each other. Try as she might Ami could not shift her gaze from the old woman's. There was something about the old woman that made her queasy. She could not quite place her hands upon it but she supposed that it was the sight of a two-foot woman trotting on a staff that caused the reaction or perhaps it was the feeling of being stripped in her mind's eye that she felt as the old woman gazed into her eyes. It was the same feeling of being weighted against scales that she felt so often whenever boys leered at her and it made her very uncomfortable. "You are right obaa-san." she finally replied respectfully. There was another something about the old woman that commanded respect. Cologne nodded. "You'd make a fine warrior one day young one," observed Cologne. "Thank you, Obaa-san." replied Ami. She tried to hide her surprise and failed miserably. She had been caught completely off-guard by that remark. Cologne smiled. "Tough day huh?" Ami nodded. Cologne sighed. "One so young should not be so depressed young one." she advised the sailor. "Hai, Obaa-san." "And you should take care lest that beautiful face be marred with scars." interjected Happousai. Cologne immediately gave him an evil eye. Ami blushed at the compliment. No one had ever said that she was beautiful before and even though the compliment came from a very, very old man, she still felt warm and floozy all over. "And be sure to take good care of your friends in the future dearie. That excuse of a student over there," he pointed at Genma, "was about to fry your friend just before you intervened. If I had not given him the signal to stop then she might be dead right now." he said in the same tweedling voice he had used before. However, the tone was slightly different and it sent shivers down Ami's spine. She realized that the man was telling the truth. Cologne nodded from the side. Whatever attack the idiot father of Ryuu had planned on using it would have vaporized the girl should he have used it. Happousai continued on. "Genma, get over here." Genma appeared by Happousai's side in the wink of an eye. To the untrained eye, it appeared that his form seemed to phase into existence right by his master's side. "Yes, master." he wailed. Though he had not prostrated himself at Happousai's foot, he acted in almost exactly the same way that he had always acted towards the master. The midget grandmaster was not to be taken lightly even when he was just fooling around with maidens. "See if the boy needs any medical treatment." "Hai master!" "And you..." Happousai pointed towards Michiru who stood by Ami's side with a pensive look on her face. By her side stood Hotaru with her hands firmly grasped around the silence glaive. The senshi of Saturn had been released from the hold of the paralyzing strike a little over a minute before and had displayed some common sense by not attacking as soon as she had been given back control over her muscles. Cologne too hopped towards the three outers. Haruka stood protectively over Michiru and Hotaru. She had not still gotten over the shock and was even now giving Ami glances that said 'Why did you betray us?' once every couple of seconds. Happousai continued. "You better think before you act girl or the next time your opponent may not be as forgiving as we have been." Haruka glared at him in reply. Her hands unconsciously went around Michiru and Hotaru and pulled them closer to her. This sign of affection was not lost on the matriarch or the grandmaster of Matsubetu Katuto Ryuu. The old master snickered. He would clearly see that the elder women were lovers from the way their ki intermeshed with each other. "We better be going then. Genma, how is he?" "The boy has a minor concussion, master... I think." replied Genma. Cologne nodded. She would have been surprised if too much that blow to the head had hurt any student of hers. The sailor team looked at the old woman and the old man unbelievably. They were acting as though they had expected the boy to get through unscathed from the assault. "Wha..." words failed to escape Haruka's mouth as she watched awestruck at the scene that was unfolding around her. Daemons hit by Neptune's World Shaking attack had fared worse than the boy had. "See you around dearies." said Happousai and walked away with the other martial artists in tow. *********************************************************************** Hiring a taxi had been a good idea. Our lack of knowledge about the area was not complete enough for us to be jumping over the roofs with the unconscious boy in our hands.* Thought Genma as he caressed Ryuu's cheeks with his callused fingers. The boy was still unconscious, partly because of the fact that he had suffered some amount of blood and partly because of the fact that Happousai had pressed a shiatsu point to keep him in the blessed oblivion of unconsciousness. He had done so to give Ryuu's body the time and energy it needed to heal itself with its ki. When the blonde-haired girl had attacked him, he had decided to retaliate with deadly force only the situation warranted it. Deadly force was the best way to deal with magic users. It was a painful lesson that he had learnt in his younger days when he and Soun were still training under the master. That had not been the only reason he had unlocked the Yamasenken. Not only had they attacked his son but also had the galls to try to pull a fast one on him. He had decided to wipe her out of the face of the planet and would have attacked her had it not been for the master's signal. Experience, many of them painful beyond description, had told him to abandon the attack. If the master thought that the situation did not demand bloodshed, he was inclined to agree with him. Not only was the master more skilled but also he was also much better at judging people. Moreover, he had learnt that you always obeyed a command from the master and did as you were told it no matter what situation you were in. He had learnt that the hard way and he had not forgotten that rather painful lesson. Without relaxing his stance, he had stopped focusing the ridiculously large amount of ki that was needed to execute the 'Aburu Hi Kami'. Shortly afterwards he had become sick when the realization dawned that he had been very close to making a terrible mistake as the girl who had approached him with the apology had attacked one of her own in order to protect him and the others. There was a chance that she did it to fool them but then she must have been a highly skilled actor to pull it off in the presence of the master and the old ghoul. *I should really ask the master to teach me the art of judging people!* Even though the master was a pervert with a capital P, he had always been a good judge of people. By telling him to stand down, Happousai was really telling him that the girl had not lied when she had apologized to him. Cologne, too sat in the other corner of the back seat with Ryuu's legs placed over her lap. Genma turned towards the Amazonian matriarch and stared at her. Her lips curved upwards in a smile and after a moment a thoughtful look came onto her face. She turned away from him and gazed out, through the cab window. She was definitely worried about something. He thought about what she might be thinking about for a moment and gave up with an exasperated sigh. Their cultures though very much same in matters of honor and love were still too far apart. For all he knew she could have been thinking about the moon. Genma caressed his son's cheeks once more, turned his gaze outside the taxi, and let his thoughts drift once more. So much had happened within the last fortnight. Things that he had never thought would happen had happened and it had been all because of one man -Ranma. Thinking back to the incident at the Phoenix Mountain he realized that Ranma had been a God-send to them, arriving in the nick of time to save Akane and then later himself from his own inner monsters. Yes, he had fought Ranma for the right to be Ryuu's master. He had known that he would lose the challenge even before the first blow had been struck but there were other ways of earning the boy's respect then just winning. That thought had struck him at just the right time and he had tried to earn the boy's respect by giving a full show of himself. He had lost the fight and yet he had won the battle that counted the most. He could tell from the subtle way that the boy's behavior had changed that he had succeeded on that account. It had been a shame that the Tendo's had to lose their home and the dojo. The old Genma would have been dreadfully worried about it and would have despaired about the loss of free eats and board for the rest of his life but the new one felt compassion and pain at the loss of his friend's house and life. The old one had planned to use his friendship with Soun and the engagement to freeload off the Tendo's. Somehow, that thought revolted the new Genma. He had not been sure when the change had happened but he was sure that it had something to do with the disrespect with which Ryuu had treated him for close to half a decade. He had lost his first born because of his stupidity and he had sworn to himself that the same would not happen with Ryuu. It had been that pledge, which had kept him from teaching his second born the neko-ken though he was still tempted by the powers that it could bequeath to his son. He had also realized that his son had no respect for him... no, he had felt it from the very bottom of his being when they had met the Amazons. The shock of it had proved to be too much for his system. He had always thought that he had treated his son fairly though he realized now that his son had hated him for the greedy, honor less bastard that he had been. He had tried to redeem himself in front of Ryuu's eyes from the moment they had stepped outside the Amazon village. He had actually offered to work when they had begun freeloading at Soun's so that he may gain some of the respect that he had lost. Soun would not hear anything about it and he had even made it clear to the mercenary Nabiki that his dearest friend would not be allowed to work while he stayed in his house. It had been one of the few times that Soun had ever stood up to her and shown her the spine that he was famous for in their younger days. Though Ryuu's loathing had lessened a little after that incident, his behavior towards him had still lacked that certain respect and pride that a boy felt and gave to his father. That had changed after his duel with the boy's new sensei. *Ranma could have been someone like Ryuu's sensei if I had not put him through that stupid training regimen. Oh Ranma! If only I could see you and ask your forgiveness for all the things that I put you through at such an young age.* Genma sighed regretfully as some of the _tougher_ training regimen that he had put that boy through came to his mind. He had seen the potential in the child and his greed and foolishness had driven him to drive the boy so hard. He had thought that his son could take any amount of punishment and come back for more. His assumptions about the boy had been correct but now that he thought about it, he realized that no father would have put his son through even half of the things that he had willingly subjected Ranma to. In the three years that he had trained Ranma, the boy had come close to dying nearly two dozen times. The boy had borne it all in the name of the art and had never complained but for the Neko-ken training regimen. Genma's eyes filled with pride as he remembered the inner strength that Ranma had showed when he had put him through the Neko- ken. Letting off another sigh Genma looked at his only surviving son (he had given up hope of ever seeing Ranma alive a decade ago) and caressed his handsome cheeks with his hands. The boy shifted and snuggled closer to him. Content to gaze at his son Genma let his thoughts wander once more. Ranma, the stranger, had been the best fighter that he had ever fought. The duel alone had increased Genma's respect for him up many a notch though it had been on the journey to Ranma's house in the train that he had finally let himself respect and trust the man's decisions completely. *********************************************************************** Flashabck... *I lost... I lost my last chance ever to gain my son's respect.* Thought Genma gloomily as the trees whizzed by outside the train. Even though he had given his all in the fight, it had not been enough to earn the boy's respect. He still treated him in much the same way that he had before. With a heavy heart, Genma left another sigh and turned to his left. Ryuu, who was sitting by him did not notice him or rather, he supposed, did not deem it worthwhile to acknowledge his father. Genma sighed and got up from his seat. *I do not want to face him as a weak man with no honor!* He thought glumly as he walked past Nabiki, Kasumi, Akane, Ryouga, Soun and _the master_. He had thought that taking part in the challenge would have been enough but it appeared that he had been wrong. *And why does it surprise me that I was wrong? How many times have I been correct in my life?* Nabiki sat by herself clutching her pen, her mind completely focused on the book that she was writing. He had been unlucky enough to be caught sneaking into her room and he had paid the price for it. She had made him calligraphy the whole title and she had been quite strict about it too. She had said something about Panda's being needed for the Panda breeding program in the Tokyo zoo and he had got the message. Even now, he shuddered thinking about it. *There cannot be many fates worse than that one.* Kami, he hated the yearly visits to the doctor as it was. If he were to be used as a err... donor, to help in the survival of the Panda as a species he would never live through the humiliation. Not that he hated the damn animals or anything, it was just, ahh... a matter of principles. Kasumi, the sweet angel that she always was, was studying a cookbook not that she needed it. She was one of the best cooks in all of Japan and maybe the best cook in the whole world. *Poor thing! This whole mess must be pretty hard on her.* He truly felt sorry for the girl. She had been the most affected by the incident during the duel. The sight of tears on her angelic face had been too hard to bear and he had looked away. It was the most hear-breaking sight that he had ever witnessed in his life. When they had arrived at the dojo, he had not known that she was an angel in human disguise. If he had known and she had been a little younger, he would have engaged Ryuu to her but that was not to be. He had learnt since then that she was in love with Tofu Ono, a local medical practitioner. The good doctor too, was in love in her though it seemed that he did not have the courage to confront her at times. And Kasumi thought that it was cute whenever he danced around with his Betty every time she was anywhere within a mile of him. Akane and Ryouga were sitting side-by-side holding hands. Akane was still sniffling and Ryouga was trying his best to comfort her. *How is that depressive maniac going to get her out of her depression?* He thought as he passed them by. He was thankful that Ryuu had err... made him see sense when they had first arrived at the Tendo's. Even Nodoka seemed like an angel when you compared her with Akane. The girl was definitely the worst brat that he had ever seen in his life and her temper left much to be desired. She called herself a martial artist and she pounded the one's who pointed out that she lacked the control over emotions that distinguished martial artists from martial artist wannabes. He had chosen _her_ to be Ryuu's fiancée when he had first laid eyes on her but thankfully, Ryuu had refrained from making a choice on the very fist day. In addition, Ryouga was a definite psycho and gave him the creeps whenever he tried to start a conversation with him. Even to his not so keen observational skills, it was clear that the boy was mentally unstable. *The kami only knows what they see in each other!* He shuddered at the thought and turned his eyes away lest Akane took offense at that and decided to pummel him into the ground. Next, his eyes fell upon Soun and Happousai. Soun was trying to maintain a semblance of dignity but was failing miserably much to the amusement of the master. The man was practically withering in his seat and would whimper once or twice a minute at the horror of it all. Genma shuddered a little as memories of the times when he had been _alone_ with the master came racing to his mind. The old pervert could sure come up with the most ingenious of torture err... training methods. Even now sitting besides the frightened Soun, Happousai seemed to be enjoying himself. He would give Soun the 'I have got a new torturing session err... training regimen' look and Soun's whimpers would dramatically increase in frequency. *No doubt that I too, would behave like him if I were alone with the master. May the kami have mercy on Soun's soul!* Finally, there was Ranma. He was sitting with the _old ghoul_ by the side and quietly discussing some matter with her. Upon hearing his footsteps, Ranma lifted his head and excused himself from the elder. Almost imperceptibly, he pointed towards the back with his eyes. There were a couple of free seats over there in the corner of the carriage and Ranma motioned towards them. Genma followed his lead and took the seat opposite Ranma's. Ranma did a nice job of flipping through the year old copy of some sports magazine that was on the table. He flipped through the pages at random and then finally laid the book to rest. Having made up his mind on how to begin, Ranma cleared his throat and addressed him. "Thank you for a worthy challenge, Saotome sensei." Genma smiled. The smile was a thin veil that failed miserably to hide the despair that he was feeling. "It still wasn't enough to earn the boys respect," he murmured, more to himself than to Ranma. It was spoken so soft as to be inaudible to everyone but him. Somehow, Ranma heard it and took a deep breath. "It did Saotome sensei. Did you not see the proud glances that Ryuu shot you at the Tendo residence when he thought that no one was looking?" said Ranma with a genuine smile on his face. Genma perked up at this. "You really think so, Qin-san," he asked hoping with all his being that what he had just heard was true. Ranma nodded and Genma almost yelped in joy. *Thank you kami-sama for listening to my prayers.* He closed his eyes to fully experience the delicious feelings of joy that coursed through his body. Ranma waited until Genma had cooled down a little. "The boy is beginning to respect you once more. I can see it clearly from the sparkle that he has in his eyes whenever he looks at you." Ranma's smile grew in size as he looked at the nirvana that Genma was experiencing. "Thank you Qin-san, your words bring happiness to an old man's ears." Ranma snickered a little. "There aren't many old men who can fight the way you did today Saotome sensei." he replied. Genma remained silent not knowing how to respond to such flattery. "I also realized that with your considerable skills in the art you could make a good teacher if you were a little more patient and a little less adventurous about it." he said, obviously referring to some of the training regimens that Genma had come up with like the 'carry your old man on your shoulder and run like hell if you don't want to the menu list of a pack of very hungry wolves' thing. Genma's cheeks reddened considerably on realizing what Ranma had meant. "I have discussed the matter with elder Cologne and she agrees with me." Genma nodded. He had a faint idea as to where this whole conversation was going though he found it hard to believe that it was really happening to him. "I would, therefore, like to offer you the post of head trainer in one of the dojo's that I had recently acquired. How about a starting salary of eighty thousand yen per month?" asked Ranma. Genma did not know what to say. *Eighty thousand... let's hope that Nabiki never hears of this.* "You will have two weeks paid vacation and full medical coverage. Should these conditions be acceptable to you, you will start work in the dojo this Wednesday." Genma was at a loss of words. Not even in his dreams had he expected such a proposition. "I don't know what to say." he said at last. Ranma smiled. "Just say that you are ready to start your work, Saotome sensei." Genma nodded. "Good! If you so wish, I would like to make you my student. Is acceptable to you?" "That would be great." Genma managed to stammer. "Its settled then. I think that we are done unless you have something else to say." "Thank you a very much Qin-san. I will take my leave now." said Genma and stood up. Ranma followed suit and father and son bowed deeply and simultaneously to each other as a show of respect. Genma left and Ranma followed looking with pride at his father. End of flashback. *********************************************************************** The way that he had handled himself that day continued to amaze even Genma who knew that it was as far apart from the old Genma as a black hole was to time. It filled him with pride to know that he was now truly a man who worked to earn his living. For the first time ever, Genma felt proud of himself and his son. *Thank you kami-sama. It all worked out in the end.* *********************************************************************** Soun sat in the front of the cab, sharing his seat with the master. The diminutive master was puffing his pipe obviously puzzling over something. Soun thoughts took an introspective turn. He could not help being ashamed for the way that he had behaved for the past decade or so. Every time he was free, he could not help thinking about the coward he had been for a decade or so while his family crumbled around him. Genma had helped by being there when he had needed him all those years back just after Kimiko had died. Otherwise, he imagined that he would have been a whole lot worse. *Hmmm... Looks like I can finally think of her without bursting into tears.* thought he with surprise. *Perhaps things are returning to normal.* Soun knew that things would have been a whole lot worse if Genma had not been there when he needed him the most. He shuddered at that thought. He could not imagine how things would have been worse for his family had all but gone to the dogs in those ten years. I abandoned my children on their hour of need.* He found himself cursing his weak heart and cowardice once again. A lot had gone wrong with his family and all of it could be traced directly to his damned cowardice. He had refused to let go of his past and his family had paid the price. And what a price it had been? His eldest daughter had built a little fantasy world around herself blocking all the painful things out of her mind. His middle daughter had become a ronin, a stain upon the family's honor if there ever was one with her shady dealings with the Yakuza. He had no direct proof of course, it was not as if Nabiki would ever leave an open track to her mentors, she was very careful about that but he knew all the same. His gut told him that things were so and his training and adventures under the tutelage of the master had honed them to a very fine edge. The worst was Akane. His youngest daughter had become a violent brat. She thought that the only way to show any emotion be it love or hate was with a hammer applied judiciously onto one's head. How she had gotten that bad went even beyond his comprehension. The others had changed after their mother's death but Akane, his little angel Akane, had become the little demon Akane. It made him more depressed to think about her. He could accept the fact that she would never be a martial artist with her lack of control over herself but she had become everything that he had hated in his childhood. She had become a bully and he hated himself for it. Soun lowered his head in remorse and thought about the second big problem in the household. Nabiki has to be stopped somehow!* He thought worriedly. He was pretty sure that the police were aware of her dealings with the Yakuza. It was only a matter of time before she did something really bad or stupid or both and they put her in the slammer. The stain that would result from such an action would be incalculable in mainstream Japanese society and would destroy her sisters' life in the process as well. I have to keep her as far away from the Yakuza as possible.* He thought determinedly. He knew that once caught in the snake's grasp it was very hard to get away from it but he was not going to give up without a try. It would strain his already flimsy relationship with his middle daughter and maybe even break it but he did not care. The family's honor would be protected at all costs even if he had to personally erase Nabiki's name from the clan records. That was the last resort but Soun had made up his mind to take that course of action if things went too far. There was no way the wayward delinquent would be allowed to dishonor the memories of her ancestors and stain the family's good name. Soun was sure that with a little amount of persuasion from the master and the Amazons along with his friend as well as himself, the Yakuza could be made to see reason. There would be a price to pay but he was willing to pay it. He would rather remain on the Yakuza's hit list rather than on their _friends and family_ list. He was doubly sure that the Amazon's would help him if they knew the reasons for his actions. From what he had heard from Ryuu about them, they too were a proud people who placed honor before life. *Akane... Now there's a problem I have no idea how to solve.* The girl had grown to be very much like her mother when she had been at Akane's age. She had that stubbornness that her mother had but while it had been hidden behind a veil of love and kindness in her mother Akane's was not. Moreover, the fact that she was dating a certain maniac called Ryouga gave him the jitters. There was something wrong about the boy though he could not place his hands on what it was. With a wistful sigh, Soun returned to gazing blankly at the road as the taxi whizzed past the evening traffic. *********************************************************************** Happousai thought. He was curious about Ranma. The boy had an unreadable aura about him. During the duel with Genma, the young Amazon had used little or no ki, a fact that greatly amazed the grandmaster of Anything Goes Martial Arts until Genma had fired the vacuum blade. The attack must have caught Ranma totally off guard because just for the briefest period of time the boy's impenetrable ki barrier had faltered. The power he had sensed during that instant had been unimaginable. He was sure that Cologne had sensed it. He was not sure whether Soun and Genma had been able to sense it for even then; the ki had been cloaked by layer after layer of barriers. He had been meditating in the evening brooding about the enigma that was Ranma, (he had nothing else to do since Ranma had forbidden his little hobby while he was staying in his house.) when he had sensed a huge discharge of ki followed several minutes later by an even larger discharge. Cologne had unceremoniously barged into the room and had asked for his help. She had refused to reveal anything but she did not need too. The second spike that he had sensed was undoubtedly Ranma. The way that the ki 'tasted' left no doubt about the identity of the person who controlled it. There was that bittersweet 'aroma' and that balanced 'flavor' that only Ranma possessed. They had rushed to the scene of the battle and had been just in time to rescue Ryuu from the clutches of those _ pretty girlies_ in _pretty little fukus_. Oh! How he had been tempted to glomp err... caress those beauties but alas! He could not do so for he had made a promise on his honor and he always kept his promises. Happousai was not an honor less, perverted, son of a bitch like most people that he was. Soun and Genma knew from the good old days when he had trained them and they kept mum about the whole thing. If they had not known that he was honorable, they would have thrown him out of the house long ago. Skillful he maybe but Happousai did not think that he would be able to stand up to two masters of his school. They were both formidable fighters in their own way and together they might be able to beat him on their day. *Who or what are you boy?* Happousai sighed, his thoughts drifting once more towards Ranma Qin, of the Joketsuzoku, who had recently wandered into his life. From the amount of power that he had felt on the boy, he did not think that the boy was even human. Only the God's that he had encountered during his adventures had possessed that level of power. He formed rings by blowing smoke out while he thought about it. He was getting too old and his patience was wearing thin. *********************************************************************** "Is she all right?" asked Hotaru standing clear of the others while they worked on the princess and her wounded friends. She tapped her fingers on her thighs in nervousness as she watched the momma and papa work on Usagi and the others. "Um!" Ami nodded and continued to type away feverishly away at her computer. The others did not even deign to reply. They were too busy with the sailors to be answering such stupid questions. Hotaru continued to watch from the sidelines, providing help with her healing hands when momma or papa requested for it. Ami's aggressive reaction towards them had been all but forgotten when they had seen the state that the princess and the others were in. Ami had given them a very concise explanation of the events as they had happened stressing the 'Ryuu was the one who got the princess and the others to safety' part. Michiru had been very ashamed about her actions as had been Haruka. They had apologized to Ami in earnest and had earned a cold shoulder as an answer. Haruka had been taken aback by Ami's attitude but Michiru had been forgiving and had actually tried to console Ami, totally neglecting Haruka in the process. Ami had not responded as well as she could have and Michiru had withdrawn. After that, all communications between the three had ceased except for the word or two that was passed between them every now and then. "Princess..." "Uhhh!" moaned Usagi. "Princess wake up." said Michiru and gently caressed Usagi's cheeks. Usagi stirred and her eyes fluttered open. "Where am I?" she asked in a whisper. "You are in the company of your guardians, princess," replied Haruka who along with Ami and Hotaru had gathered around Usagi. "My lips are so dry," whispered Usagi. Ami brought some water and Usagi gulped it down. Immediately some of her natural color returned to her face though the change was not all that noticeable against the foreground of caked blood that was spread unevenly across her face and most of her body. However, none of that mattered to Haruka. Her princess had survived and she was going to be all right. Haruka smiled grimly. *Thank God that she is all right!* "Usagi-chan, do you remember anything at all?" asked Ami. She was afraid that there might be some brain damage after all Usagi had taken a beating during the battle. "Last thing I remember... Oh God! Mamoru-chan!" whispered Usagi. Her face grew pale and drawn as images of those last few seconds played themselves in her mind. Usagi's face looked like a corpse with a beating heart... a zombie for all purposes with a mind of its own. A zombie, which wished that death would deliver it out of the miserable existence. The others looked on with horrified expressions. Only Ami had witnessed the murder and if it could affect her so she dared not think of the ways, it could affect Usagi. The girl had seen her fiancée's heart literally torn out of his body. The girl's stood around the Moon princess not knowing how best to console her. A small part of their mind knew that Usagi could bring back Mamoru from the dead if she so wished for but the knowledge did not make the experience any better. It hurt to see the one that you loved with your life, killed right in front of your eyes with nothing that you can do to stop it. "Where is he?" asked Usagi, her voice barely a whisper. Tears brimmed in her eyes and threatened to flow any second. "I..." begun Ami and trailed off. She was not sure whether Usagi could handle the sight of Mamoru's body in the condition that she was in. "GODDAMNIT! Where is he?" shrieked Usagi. Tears that had been threatening to break the emotional dam broke and they flowed down her cheeks faster than ever before in her life. Ami and the others shrunk away from Usagi in shock and fear. They had _never_ seen this facet of Usagi's complex yet ditzy character before. The ditzy persona was so well embedded that it was easy to forget the fact that the girl was destined to become a queen. This then, was part of the myriad of emotions that united to form the Queen who would rule Neo-Tokyo if or when it came into being. "Over there princess... I don't think that you should see him right now," said Haruka pointing with her fingers to the corner where Hotaru and Michiru had dragged his body. She did not think that even the ice-queen could. Usagi gave Haruka another look so unlike her normal persona. "I will chose what I will do and what I will not do." she replied in a voice that dripped with barely contained emotion. Everyone in the room imagined that they felt the room temperature fell by a few dozen degrees. Haruka shuddered. She was afraid of this facet of her future Queen's persona. Usagi did not notice or rather she did not care. She walked with slow, deliberately measured steps towards Mamoru Chiba's body. "Wake up!" she muttered standing over his body as though her words could bring him back from the dead. Silence. A cricket was audible in the background. "Wake up!" she spoke a little louder than before. The tears dripped onto his forehead and slid off them in a thin line before finally disappearing into his hair. Again, silence. "Wake up! Wake up!" Usagi was getting hysterical and was screaming with her very soul but Mamoru remained unmoving. Even the cricket stopped. It was as though it sympathized with her loss. "He's dead, Usagi..." said Ami from behind her. "No! He is not. All I have to do is to use the Ginzishou and he will be back, you'll see." replied Usagi. She waved the Ginzishou around the room, all the while glaring at Ami, daring her or anyone else to rebuke her words. Ami did not reply nor did any of the others. Rather Ami stared back at Usagi with tear filled eyes with compassion. She knew that Mamoru was dead and truly beyond everybody's reach. That thing had done something to him to prevent them from resurrecting him once again. She could not explain how or why she felt so but she knew instinctively that Mamoru was dead and will remain so for all of eternity. Usagi for her part turned towards Mamoru's cold and unfeeling body and began to gather energy for the process. A faint glow of pure white formed around her and she transformed into Eternal Sailor Moon. After she had gathered the energy and shored up her reserves, she released the energy. The energy was meant in anyway to pull back the dead from the spirit realm. Rather it served as a powerful beacon that can be felt by those whose spirits were powerful enough to do so and act as a guide to their material bodies. It did not work on the first try nor did it work on the second try. Refusing to give in to the seeds of self doubt that were beginning to take shape in her mind she tried once more and met with the same results. The others barring Ami were surprised when nothing happened. There was no miraculous rising up from the dead for a second chance at life. Only silence and the soft breeze that blew in from the oceans greeted them. Haruka and Michiru turned towards Ami with questioning looks. Ami quickly took out her computer, which she had pocketed into the little space in intra-dimensional space that she owned and began typing away. She intended to find out exactly what that monster had done to Mamoru to render him so. Perhaps there was a way around the barrier that thing had erected around his soul. The computer did not know the answer and she doubted whether it ever would. Usagi dropped the Ginzishou and stared into her open palms. The magical artifact fell to the floor with a metallic chink and rattled for a few moments before it ceased releasing energy in audible amounts. With a heartbroken, hopeless sob, she collapsed onto the floor. Her knees made a dull crack when they hit the floor and sent little slivers of pain shooting through her spine but she did not care. All that mattered to her was the fact that the man whom she loved more than her life was dead and there was nothing that she could do about it. Slowly pent up tears, which had dried when she had transformed into Eternal Sailor Moon began to flow from her eyes to the blood stained waxed floor below. "Why is he not coming back?" she whispered when Michiru laid a hand comfortingly on her shoulder. Michiru did not reply but rather stared with tear filled eyes at Mamoru's body. There was nothing that she or anyone else could do. The pain that Usagi was experiencing was the worst kind and there was nothing that they could do to sooth it. Usagi had to go through it all alone as everyone else in the world. To see your loved one killed in front of your very eyes was a fate worse than being burnt for all eternity in the pits of hell. She knew because she had experienced the very same pain when they had been fighting Mistress-9 and the witches five. "Why is he not coming back?" murmured Usagi in a voice devoid of everything that makes us humans. Gone were the pain, the anger, the joy, the love, the hope and despair that makes us what we are. In its stead was an emotionless void that felt like it had been rendered by a machine except for the fact that the machine would have done a much better job. This time the words were a little louder though it lacked emotions as before. And like the last time no one chose to reply. "Damn it Mamo-chan! Come back. I love you baka, come back! Don't leave me all alone in this world," she wailed banging her fists against Mamoru's body. Blood from the clothes rubbed off on her hands adding to her already gory appearance. Mamoru's body shook a little from the force of the blows but remained as still as it had been before. The attacks that Indra had made on him had made his tendons and ligaments more suspect to stiffening after death. As a result, the symptoms of death were setting in faster than was normally possible. Indra's vengeance had been complete. "Usagi-chan..." tried Ami. She had to do something. Anything was better than watching her friend and princess suffer. It was heartbreaking to see the normally lively girl reduced to such a state. Perhaps she could comfort her or perhaps she could not but she would have the knowledge that she had tried to comfort her against the nightmares that she was sure she would have for years to come. The whole day was a nightmare the likes of which even the devil himself could not imagine. Usagi did not reply and continued to sob into Mamoru's chest. She had prostrated herself over Mamoru's lifeless person. "Usagi..." This time Ami put a little more force behind her words than was necessary and tugged Usagi forcefully away from Mamoru. The outer's helped in her efforts. Usagi put up a mighty fight but in the end, they succeeded in dragging her away from Mamoru. "Usagi! Calm down." Usagi continued to rave uncontrollably. Slap! Ami slapped her hard on her cheeks. Usagi felt her reddening cheeks and stopped sobbing. Instead, she looked at Ami as though she had grown a head. Ami gathered her in a hug and held her there for a minute. Finally, she released the hug but held on to Usagi by her shoulders and looked into her eyes. "You have to take control of the situation, Usagi-chan. We need you now more than ever." said Ami. Even though she and the outer's had fought many battles they had always depended on either Usagi or Rei or Setsuna to act as the commanding figure in the field. And they needed that commander more than ever before. Usagi nodded. She wiped her tears and looked about carefully ignoring the urge to vomit as she looked at her friends. They were in very bad shape. "Saturn..." she looked at Hotaru. Hotaru stepped forward. "I want you to heal as much of their injuries as you possibly can." Hotaru acquiesced. "Take care not to drain all your energy. We might need it." Once again, Hotaru nodded and steeped towards Rei, who was nearest her. Michiru began to follow but Usagi stopped her. "I have other work for you. I want you to take a sentry post outside that door and warn us should anyone approach." she ordered. Michiru acquiesced. "Good," she turned towards Haruka. "I want you to strip Mamoru of everything that might identify him as a sailor. Once you have done that, I want you to burn them." Haruka was stupid enough to ask where. Usagi growled. "I do not care where!" she barked. "Now, get on with it." Haruka did. Usagi turned towards Ami. "Help Haruka and when you are done with it, join Michiru at her post. We will leave when all the sailors have regained consciousness." Ami nodded and followed Haruka. When all them had left, Usagi leaned back against a wall and slumped down. She pulled her legs close to her body and held them there with her arms. "Why did you leave me? You are gone and I don't know what I am going to do." she murmurred. And she sobbed, silently, tears of diamonds streaking down her cheeks. *********************************************************************** "Have you brought him?" asked a voice in the darkness. "Yes, we have, we barely got to him in time though..." replied another younger sounding voice leaving the rest unsaid. The implications of what might have happened should they have failed was left unsaid for they were all aware of what would happen should they fail. It was true that the Dark Dome Close sealed off a part of space from the long reaches of time. It did by displacing that part out of space outside the time-stream in the void. The act may seem unnatural and it was. It sent huge ripples across the time-stream continuum in the same way that the water in a river, when met with an obstruction formed ripples. These ripples were the most visible effect of the attack. There was another more sinister and more dangerous aspect of the attack that was hidden from all eyes but the most sensitive. Like any other technique, Dark Dome Close had to obey the rules that governed nature. Since the attack displaced a certain part of space into the void, a small part of the void is displaced into regular space. Moreover, where the void went the dark one followed. The dark one was not simply a demon. It was choas personified and where it went chaos naturally followed. It had been the fear of releasing the dark one into the world that had caused the banishment of the attack. "Good!" replied the first voice. "There is hope then." "Yes, there is." replied a third voice sounding pleased with itself. All three remained silent for a while. Finally, the younger sounding voice spoke once more. "Father..." it said. "Yes, little one. Do you have anything to say?" asked the first voice. "Why can't we directly interfere in the events that are unraveling even as we speak?" Somehow, one got the feeling that 'the father' grinned at the question. Even though the room was completely dark, the feeling was overwhelming to the senses. "Because we forbade ourselves from doing so, Masaki." he replied with his amusement evident in his voice. Again, there was a minute of silence. "Do you think that it will be enough, father?" asked the third voice. "Let's hope that it is so," replied 'father' sounding weary all of a sudden. "The war has lasted too long, now, peace deserves a chance... How is he?" asked 'father'. "He is as well as can be expected father taking into account the attack she used on him. It's a wonder he survived at all. I find it hard to believe that he was able to do so." replied the younger voice. He is a great manythings that he does not still know about Masaki but he will learn and he will become powerful." 'Father' had to wait a whole minute before he received a response. "What is the power corrupts him father? Surely, we cannot stand up to him should he choose to go against our wishes." asked Masaki. "It was never my plan to control his actions, young one. He is what he is because of his own making with a nudge or two in the right places and he will save them all when the time comes for such is he." replied father, sounding amused by the question that Masaki had asked him. "Yes, father. I think I understand." "Good!" replied 'father'. "There was a whoosh as though something very big had moved, displacing all the air in its path. Beads of light popped out of nowhere and threw light everywhere. 'Father' was over seven feet tall and made completely of energy, which pulsed, through his body. There was no face or anything recognizable about him but for the aura of power that radiated from within him. Power the likes of which men only dream of was his and it was frightening to think what he could do with that power. 'Father' was roughly humanoid in appearance though he lacked a physical body; his astral one had its own legs, arms and all the other parts of human anatomy but for the face, which was missing. And most importantly, father was not fluorescent. In fact, energy seemed to flow through him rendering him almost transparent. In front of 'father' stood his two sons facing him. They were not as tall as father and they had physical bodies though they too seemed to absorb the energy that fell on them thus rendering black to the human eye. Each of them had a shield in their hands that reeked of power. Though the power they radiated was huge, they were drowned in the sea of power that was 'father'. Besides them, stood a pinkish-blue prism. The prism had no solid walls but the energy that made up the walls behaved like a solid. A wavering black fog of an aura surrounded it and seemed to suck energy into the prism making it more powerful by the minute. The aura seemed to recoil itself like a cobra, spreading its hood to warn off anyone that might try to break the prism. 'Father' turned towards the snake and it seemed to slink back away from him. Its aura grew in power in a display of strength meant to keep 'father' away and strike terror into his heart. 'Father' was not intimidated and he approached the prism. The aura grew in power and the snake reared back its head and hissed in warning. "Be gone, dark one, be gone to thine place." said 'father' and made a warding motion with his hands. The aura of power around the prism faltered and the snake reared its head back in agony. With a flash, the aura seemed to implode into itself and disappeared. With nothing to stop itself from disintegration, the prism broke into shards of energy that dissipated harmlessly in a brilliant show of colors. Ranma collapsed onto the floor where he lay senseless. 'Father' looked relieved. Having the cancer near him was a painful experience. He turned to his 'sons'. "See to him, Jimmu," said 'father'. The third one nodded and approached Ranma. He took hold of the unconscious master and craddled him as he would a child. An aura power burst forth from within him and the two of them disappeared. 'Father' looked at the spot where they had been a moment before for what seemed like an eternity and then turned towards Masaki. He sighed in a way that hinted at his enormous age and wisdom. Masaki stood in alert, waiting for his father's orders. Finding no words forth coming he tried himself. "Father..." 'Father' turned slightly and with a little nod of his head acknowledged Masaki. "When will all this senseless destruction end?" asked Masaki sounding incredibly tired. 'Father' looked at him and smiled a little. "It will soon enough, young one... it will soon enough." "But why father? Why all this destruction? Why can't they understand that one cannot exist without the other?" 'Father' sighed deeply. "It is their nature to fear that which they don't know anything about, I suppose." Masaki remained silent. Sensing his thought father consoled him. "Let the natural way of things take their course and all will be well, young one." "But still father, Chola is powerful more powerful than all of them combined. How can he defeat his superior in almost all fields?" asked Masaki. "I am sure he will find a way," replied 'father' soothingly. "It will be so much easier father if we just involve directly in that which is to come." "Yes, it will, but that is not the way things are meant to be. He will have to face Chola alone, the sailors and the others will be their vanguard but he will be the only one who can face Chola alone in the field of battle and strike the killing blow." Before Masaki could reply, Jimmu returned and knelt before 'father' in a show of respect. "Arise, young one. How fares he?" said father laying a hand on Jimmu's shoulders. Jimmu arose. "Father, he is weak but his reserves are replenishing themselves fast. He will be returned when he has recovered all the energy that the dark one had sucked off him. I have designed the spell so," he said confidently. "All is well then," replied father. "Yes, all is as well as can be father," replied the two 'sons'. 'Father' nodded and drifted off in thought. Jimmu spoke and broke the silence. "Father..." 'Father' turned and raised an eyebrow or what would have been an eyebrow in a human. The feature was unidentifiable but the action was similar to raising an eyebrow. "The guardian of time..." 'Father' nodded and his eyebrows burrowed in thought for a minute. Finally, he spoke. "I am aware of that problem Jimmu, what do you make of it?" Jimmu paused. "She has forgotten her duties father and is representing the very things that she was meant to protect against. Her actions have become increasingly despotic over the last hundred years... Her goals are noble but the path she had taken to reach them are not." 'Father' nodded. "A visit might be in order then." *********************************************************************** Setsuna walked briskly towards the 'junction'. The 'junction' was a location in the time-stream where you could view the past, present and the future if you so wished. There were several 'junctions' in the time-stream at any given time and d they had received their name from one of her ancestors. The term seemed appropriate and it had struck. The senshi of time was in many ways connected with the time-stream. The other sailors accessed the power through concentration and skill alone while she and the other guardians of time did not. In order to give her a greater degree of control over the stream the Gods had bound their souls to the time-key and thus to the time-stream. The time-key was in fact the guardian of times connection to the time-stream, letting them manipulate it with their force of will, a sort of keyboard if you will. With the time-key in your grasp, you can do amazing things like speed up time, slowdown time or even stop it. The key was many things but it was not a physical object though it felt and acted like one in the real world. The key was the _bond_ between the sailor and the time-stream and it was the sign of the carrier's power. One did not need it in the gates of time or in the time-stream for you needed to have it to be able to get inside the time-stream. And it did not have powers of its own. It was plainly a decorative item that signified the office and power of its bearer. All this Pluto knew and all this she chose to ignore as if her ancestors had opting to carry the 'key' in her very own hands inside the time- stream. She reached the gate, which was always positioned at one of the more important junctions and examined the time-stream once more. Her bond with the time-stream helped her sense these 'junctions' and 'gates' for they were many in number instinctively. The time-stream had changed during her absence but it had not been for the better. Things were much worse now it appeared. There were more 'vortices' and what not that threatened the time-stream and the whole situation looked much worse than before. The 'vortices' were bigger and stronger and the ripples were becoming the size of tidal waves. *So the threat does not end here?* She thought worriedly. After the thing had escaped her 'Dark Dome Close' she had thought, no hoped that the power she had demonstrated would have been enough to ward off the thing and it would leave them alone. *What are we going to do this time?* She thought trying to push away the despair that was creeping into her heart. Fate had other things for her though and she felt her thoughts interrupted by a pulse, the likes of which that she had never sensed before during her entire service as the keeper of the gates of time. The pulse was... felt natural though it was not. Pluto felt knots forming in her stomach. Something told her that whatever was happening was monumental and it involved _her_, which meant that it could mean only one thing. The gate glowed yellow and opened in a cacophony of colors. Pluto continued to watch in horror. They could not do that to her in their darkest hour of need. In any other time the sailors may have been able adapt to a life without her counsel but with the events that were happening they required her presence and her wisdom to have even the slightest chance of surviving the thing. Her Princess and the sailors needed her more and ever and if she left them then all that they had endured would be wasted. There was the slightest chance that they might be able to rebuild the future that they had lost but with her gone then all would have been in vain. True, she had taken a chance when she had used the 'Dark Dome Close'. The attack had not been banned by the kami for nothing. It ripped off a part of the time-stream and accomplished the same things that the guardians of time were sworn to fight against. The kami had forbidden it and had warned about dire punishments. And they were going to punish her. Two Gods emerged from the gates. Pluto looked at them with a sense of foreboding and terror. The terror was so great that it threatened to devour her from the inside out. *They are here to strip me of my powers as a guardian and punish me!* "Plea..." she began before they interrupted. "Greetings guardian!" said the taller and older looking one with the goatee. The God was looked to be in his mid-forties though he was in all likelihood several thousand times that age. His body had a rich tan and had curly mane of blonde hair that stretched to his shoulders. He had a shield of jade on his left hand and a brace made of the 'holy alloy' on the other. The brace and the shield reeked of power the likes of which that she had not even felt around the late Queen Serenity. "Huh!" she managed to stammer after a moment of silence that seemed to stretch for an eternity. Her voice seemed to have failed her and at a lose of words. She found herself flabbergasted and all at once terrified by their sudden appearance. "We have come here to summon thee to face the council." Replied the shorter one without a trace of emotion in his voice. He looked to be in his mid-twenties though there was an ageless wisdom in his eyes. Like his companion, he too had a tan on his body and had blue eyes that reminded her of her father from the time of the Moon kingdom. He too had the same pair of armaments together with a Bo staff made from the 'tree of life'. His features seemed soft and she would have immediately opened her barriers to him if it were not for that something that she could not quite identify that seemed to hang about him. *He has blood on his hands.* She realized and panicked even more. Though there was no blood on his hands it was clear from the manner in which he carried himself that he was a blooded warrior who had killed before and who will not hesitate to kill if circumstances called for such a course of action. Pluto's face whitened. *They are really going to revoke my powers and kill me if I refuse.* She nodded mutely and followed the two Gods into the gate. *********************************************************************** The cab stopped in front of the Qin residence. The cabby charged a little extra for having to put up with foreigners and the little old Grandmaster of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts. Happousai was famous throughout Japan it seemed. Cologne paid the man and turned towards Genma. Soun had Ryuu in his hands and he together with Happousai carried the boy into the yard. "Genma Saotome..." Genma turned astonished at the respectful way that the Amazonian elder was addressing him. "Yes, elder," he replied giving her the same respect that she had given him. "I want you to tell Kasumi to prepare some tea." she said poggoing on her staff beside him. Genma stopped in his tracks and stared at the retreating matriarch. All his thoughts and emotions at that announcement were summed up in a single word. "Huh!" Cologne turned towards him. Her staff grinded to a halt, burying itself an inch or two deep into the soft earth. An owl hooted in the distance. She gave him a once over as though she could not believe how stupid men were. "Its for Ryuu. Get my great granddaughter Shampoo and tell her to help Kasumi in preparing Formula #819. Shampoo will know what to do." "Hai, elder!" Genma's bulky form disappeared fast behind the walls of the house. Cologne stood as she was and watched him long after he had disappeared. Finally, she too hopped into the house. She poggoed upstairs into Ryuu's room. Akane and Ryouga stood by the door while Happousai sat beside the boy pressing a shiatsu point or two as he tried to adjust the ki lines in Ryuu's body. She pushed through the crowd and joined the old grandmaster of Matsubetu Katuto Ryuu. Soun arrived a minute later with the first aid kit and proceeded to make himself useful. The three of them continued to work in silence. "What happened to Ryuu?" asked Akane at length. Before anyone could answer, Kasumi arrived with the tea. Shampoo followed close behind and she too joined Akane and Ryouga outside the door. Happousai released the sleeping point temporarily and made Ryuu drink the tea before reactivating it once more. Finally, all three got up. "See to it that no one disturbs the boy." said Cologne to Kasumi and poggoed away. Kasumi nodded and pushed the others out of the room. *********************************************************************** Author's rants: Sorry about having taken so long, I had the worst case of writer's block while writing this chapter and all things were shot to hell. To those of you who think that Genma's skills in the art are OOC PPPPPLEEEEEEAAAAASE! You don't think that a half-competent moron could create the Yamasenken and the Umisenken do you? I think that Genma in canon is a greedy, cowardly survivor who conceals quite well his skills in unarmed combat. Of course, these are my views, you may think and believe what you want but for this story Genma is powerful in his own right. C&C is most welcome. The story is hosted at the following sites: 1. Mine (http://samrtaleck.anifics.com) 2. Lady cosmos (http://www.crosswinds.net/~ladycosmos/) 3. Rakhal's Penultimate Ranma Fanfic index (http://www.rakhal.com/FFIndex/lstmain.html) 4. FFML archives (http://miniarchive.dyndns.org:123/cgi-bin/MiniArchive.exe) 5. Mediaminer fanfic archives (www.mediaminer.org/fanfic) I would like to take this oppurtunity to prostrate myself in front of my pre-readers. Thank you, guys! This couldn't have been possible without all of you: jakub [jpilecki@poczta.onet.pl] Kaz [kazblah945@aol.com] Madcat [madcat08@hotmail.com] Brain [bmccullough@nucles.com] James Merritt [j.merritt1@home.com] Philip Penty [plainswaker@hotmail.com] Nathan Shuker [rezantis@hotmail.com] Zero [shinzero@home.com] Hints for you readers from the author: Hint #1: Arun does not write to a schedule, he really has to spend a lot of time with his psychiatrist. Hint #2: (for those out standing critics out there[;)])Call Arun anything you want in your mail provided (though he won't) he has the right to call you by these same names. Arun appreciates constructive negative comments and he really loves the positive comments. Its the 'Go to hell you mother F***ing Freak of nature' and such that he hates. Please send me your negative comments though I would be most grateful if you would tone down the I hate you part a little. Hint #3: The truth is out there, hey, don't ask me where but is out there since Fox 'spooky' Mulder says so. Hint #4: There is no hint #4. Hint #5: Read the author's rants section if there is one. It would clear some of yer questions as well as create some totally unrelated ones.