The four girls all gathered outside of the Hikawa Shrine. It would have been five, but Makoto was at home with her family, something that none of her friends could hold against her. Neither the girls nor the two moon cats noticed the small watcher in the shadows as they talked about the day’s events. The red-hued rodent’s eyes went wide when it saw the two felines talking with the girls. Luna was trying to warn the girls about something.
“I’m telling you, she’s a rat!”
Artemis frowned at his feline partner at this comment. “Luna, I know that you’ve got this weird theory about Makoto’s new family, but… well, tell her Ami.”
The girl in question nodded as she brought out a small computer. In the shadows, Siofra nearly started drooling as she eyed the magical artifact. “I haven’t gotten a good scan of Mr. Kino or Siofra yet, but Mrs. Kino registered as completely human. I could find no trace of the Dark Kingdom on her, although there is something strange about that spatula of hers.” Ami thought over that comment for a moment. “Beyond the fact that she was using a spatula as a sword.”
Luna started to argue, but Usagi interrupted her. “Unless they do something weird, let’s just leave them alone. They may be bystanders in this.” She turned away from the others as her thoughts went back to the woman who had been turned into a youma. Her posture was sad as she spoke in a quiet voice. “Ms. Kariko is an ordinary citizen who has nothing to do with our fight. I don’t want to make any more bystanders victims of our battle.”
Artemis smiled proudly. “Hey, it looks like she’s starting to think like a princess,” he commented to the others.
Usagi suddenly spun around and blurted out, “But I’m so glad that Tuxedo Mask is okay!” A bright, cheerful smile lit up her face.
Three girls, two cats, and one rat formed sweat-drops on the backs of their heads.
Luna grumbled to Artemis as she rubbed her head. “How is she thinking like a princess?”
Artemis chuckled lightly. “Well, she’s just whistling in the dark. I mean, Usagi is stepping forward.”
Usagi nodded her head at nothing in particular as she struck a bold pose. “I’ll bet Tuxedo Mask is just being controlled by the bad guys. So I’ll win him back with the power of my love!”
Two tiny eyes watched for a little longer before Siofra bolted off.
For the next few days, Siofra spent her evenings following Usagi and Ami around. She felt a little bad about sneaking behind them, but she was completely unsure of how to approach them about what she knew. She never managed to get a real close look at Ami’s computer, which was a fairly frustrating experience for her. She was almost certain that Usagi, Ami, Rei, and Minako were the Senshi, but she hadn’t been able to figure out who the fifth one was. She knew Makoto was friends with them, as were Naru and a few other girls. Any one of them could be Jupiter, but she wasn’t sure just which one it was.
Siofra was sitting at her workbench in her room one evening. Her parents were out taking care of more paperwork and trying to get themselves reestablished as living entities. Makoto was in the kitchen baking and the smells were drifting to Siofra’s room. Her sensitive nose let her know just how delicious the food would be. Distracted as she was by her thoughts on the Senshi, the food, and the device she was working on, she didn’t notice Makoto’s footsteps approaching her door.
Makoto knocked smartly on the door. “Dinner’s ready!” She called out.
Inside, Siofra was startled as she looked up and her grip on the device eased up. The collapsible glider she was working on suddenly snapped open with impressive force. The leading edge of one of the wings caught her in the ribs and threw her heavily into the door.
Makoto jumped back in surprise as there was an incredibly strong thud against the door that cracked the wood. “SIOFRA?!” She tried to open the door, but it was now completely mangled and unable to open normally. Makoto felt tears forming as she tried to force the door for a few moments before she finally managed to wrench it open. As the door opened Siofra’s body spilled out into the hallway.
The small redhead was balled up in a fetal position, her arms clutching her ribcage as she whimpered in pain. Makoto knelt next to her, trying to figure out what she could do. “Siofra? Hold on! I’ll get an ambulance!” She was surprised when Siofra suddenly grabbed her wrist in an iron grip.
“No!” She gasped in pain as the effort of speaking caused her ribs to shift.
“Siofra, you’re hurt! You need a doctor.” Makoto was trying to pry open Siofra’s hand but she found that her sister’s grip was vice-like.
“No,” she hissed.
“Why not?” Makoto couldn’t figure out what was going on. “I don’t want to lose you!”
Siofra’s eyes filled with tears, but only some were from pain. Others were from expected rejection. “Don’t hate… me… please.”
Makoto shook her head in confusion. “Hate you? I don’t understand, how could I hate you? Let me-“ Her words died in her throat as her eyes widened in surprise and just a little bit of horror. Siofra’s hand had become furry and the fingers elongated some, as did her fingernails. They now more accurately resembled claws. Her hands weren’t the only things that changed. Her body had grown a few inches taller, her muscles were somewhat larger, and she now sported a thin tail. All of that was shocking, but her face was what caught Makoto’s attention the most. It was covered in reddish-brown fur and her features were a hybrid combination of rat and human. The only things that kept Makoto from bolting away, besides the steel grip on her wrist, were her eyes. They were still the same and she could see pain and fear in them.
“Wh-wh-wh-wh-“ Makoto wasn’t quite able to make her voice work right.
The pain Siofra was in seemed to slowly vanish as she sat up after a few moments. Her eyes were rooted to the floor as she finally let go of Makoto’s wrist. “Sorry,” she said in a choked whisper.
Makoto pulled away just a little, but she stopped when she noticed Siofra’s shoulders shake with suppressed sobs. She slowly reached out a hand and touched a shoulder. All she could think of to ask was, “What?”
“D-d-do you kn-know about lycanthropy?”
“Like-what?”
“Were-creatures.”
Makoto blinked. “Like the Tengu and the Kitsune?”
Siofra shrugged a little but her eyes were still rooted to the floor. “A little.”
“You’re a shapeshifter?”
The redhead nodded. “I can change completely into a rat too.”
“Oh.” Makoto’s mind reeled as her world was turned upside-down again.
Siofra’s voice was almost inaudible as she begged Makoto to not hate her.
The brown-haired girl felt her heart go out to her sister at that moment. There was too much pain and fear in the way she spoke and it hurt to see the little girl feeling so alone. She decided then and there that nothing would ever come between the two of them again. She pulled her sister into the warmest hug she could give. Siofra was shocked at first but after a moment of hesitation she returned the hug enthusiastically. She began weeping in relief as her sister held her close.
After a few moments Makoto sniffed the air and jumped to her feet. “Oh no! Dinner!” Siofra couldn’t help but laugh as Makoto bolted down the hall. She wiped her eyes as she slowly headed towards the kitchen. By the time she got there, she saw Makoto sighing in relief.
“I managed to save dinner,” she said with a smile. She raised an eyebrow as she turned towards her sister, who even in her hybrid form was quite shorter than her. “Uhm, not that it bugs me or anything, but why are you still like that?”
“I… can heal better like this. My ribs…” She waved her hand at her side and gave a small shrug.
“Oh, okay.” Makoto started serving the both of them. “How quickly can you heal?”
Siofra picked at her food carefully as she spoke. “Well, if it’s not caused by silver, magic, or another were creature, I can heal all damage within about a day. If it’s any of the other three, it takes me about five times longer than a human to heal.”
Makoto whistled. “So you’re pretty sensitive to magic and silver, huh?”
Siofra nodded. “Silver is a poison to us. The pain it causes just by touching… I can’t even describe it. It’s like your soul is burning.”
Makoto shuddered. “Can you only heal in that form?”
Siofra nodded. “Otherwise I heal at about the same rate as whatever form I’m in.”
Makoto nodded as she ate. “Why didn’t you and mom and dad tell me about this?” Makoto stopped with her chopsticks almost to her mouth. “Never mind. Scratch that.”
Siofra shook her head. “Actually, that’s not why. Mother and father don’t believe in keeping secrets in the family.” Siofra wasn’t looking at her so she missed the guilty expression that crossed Makoto’s face. “But… well... you now make the fourth person who knows about me.”
“Fourth? Who’re the others?”
“Mother, father, and our family doctor back on Jade. His name is Ruval.”
“So, why the big secret? The way mom talked, I’d think that shapeshifters would be welcome there.”
Siofra sighed sadly. “All but the rats are.”
Makoto frowned. “Why is that?”
“We don’t exist.”
“Huh?”
Siofra shrugged. “My… my real mom… she… she told me that as far as either Earth or Jade are concerned, the wererats do not exist. They are a legend, a myth, even to the other were creatures.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because… some very bad people want it to be that way. If somehow word got around that I was a wererat and that we exist… hunters would come. Not just for me, but for anyone who might know me. That’s…” Siofra felt herself choke up. “That’s what happened to mommy. She didn’t want to be a part of the clan any more. She wanted a new life for her and me. And the other rats killed her and the whole caravan for it. They would have killed me too, but mother and father showed up and saved me.”
“Mom and dad saved you? That’s how you met?”
Siofra nodded. As Makoto got up and came over to hug her, she squeezed her sister tightly. “I’m sorry that you couldn’t be with them, but I’m grateful that they were there to save me.”
Makoto smiled as she kissed her sister’s fuzzy forehead. “Me too. Well, I promise not to tell another soul if you don’t.” She held up her hand with the pinky extended. Siofra just stared at it. Makoto chuckled and guided Siofra’s pinky to grip hers. “It’s called a pinky-promise. Nothing can break it.” She smiled at her sister, who smiled back.
Makoto returned to her seat and continued eating. “So what happened in your room?”
Siofra blushed some, which Makoto found somewhat amusing. Siofra’s facial fur actually turned a deeper shade of red. “I was working on my collapsible glider and it accidentally opened.”
Makoto blinked. “You’ve got a glider?”
Siofra nodded and blushed some as she smiled. “I’m fascinated by magic items and gadgets. That’s why mother and father sometimes call me ‘Gadget’.”
Makoto chuckled and started laughing even more as something occurred to her. Siofra looked at her in surprise as Makoto got control of herself again. “Sorry about that, but there’s an American cartoon I saw a few times. There’s a mouse girl in it that has a thing for gizmos and her name’s Gadget.”
Siofra blinked and joined her sister in laughter. The sound was a welcome one to the house. It had been a long time since it had housed a family and it was glad to have such an interesting one in it.
The next morning, Makoto left for school early to talk with some of her friends. Siofra found herself getting out of bed slowly and much later than she meant to. Her ribs still bothered her a little, but she could safely shift to her human form finally. The delay in getting dressed resulted in her getting to the school gate only a little before the tardy bell rang. She was surprised to see Usagi and Naru just getting to the gate as well.
“We had homework?!” She heard Usagi blurt out as she ran up to them.
Naru nodded and began counting on her fingers. “Lots of it. Science, Math, English, Social Studies, a report for Japanese, and stitching for Home Economics.”
“I’m dead,” Usagi commented as her spirits fell. She smiled brightly as she noticed Siofra. “Were you doing your homework too?”
Siofra shook her head. “I was working on something late last night and slept in by accident this morning.”
Their conversation was interrupted as a limousine pulled up to the school gate. A smartly dressed man stepped out and opened the car door. Siofra noticed that Usagi had a somewhat starry-eyed look as she gazed at the man. Three prim-looking girls stepped out of the car and into the school.
“Huh?” Usagi blurted. “What’s that about?”
Naru turned towards her. “Oh, don’t you know? Those girls are attending the Princess Seminar at Rose Manor.” Naru went on to explain about how the seminar teaches grace and beauty. Her comments were interrupted as the late bell rang and all three girls bolted into the school.
After school Siofra noticed Usagi heading in an unusual direction with Luna in tow. Steeling up her courage, Siofra walked up behind her. “Where are you going?”
Usagi jumped in surprise, acting like she had been caught doing something wrong. “I was going to go check out that Princess Seminar.”
“Can I come?”
“Sure!” Usagi said brightly, ignoring the fact that Luna was shaking her head vigorously.
The two girls managed to find Rose Manor and sneak in by climbing into the trees. Usagi and Siofra watched the girls as they went through their lessons on prose, posture, and proper behavior. Suddenly Usagi let out a startled cry, surprising both an agitated Luna and a nervous Siofra.
“What is it?” The redheaded girl asked.
“That’s cheesecake from Shaibon!”
Somewhere below them someone cleared their throat. The three infiltrators looked down to see the man from the limousine staring up at them. “Young ladies, if you have any business here, please use the front door.”
Usagi began making wild hand gestures while trying to come up with some excuse for her presence. She threw herself badly off balance and began falling from the tree. Siofra and Luna both reached out to stop her, but neither one had the mass nor the balance to succeed and all three ended up landing in a pile at the man’s feet.
“May I help you?” The man asked.
Usagi hopped to her feet. “I’d like to sign up for the Princess Seminar.”
“I’m sorry, but you’ll need a reference from a member.”
Usagi thought it over for a moment, or at least gave it a good try. She suddenly grabbed Luna and held her up. “She’ll be my reference!”
The man felt a sweatdrop growing on the back of his head. “I’m sorry, but a cat is not an acceptable reference.”
Soft laughter came from a short distance away and everyone looked towards its source. A graceful lady in an elegant dress approached them with a smile. “What a humorous young lady. I suppose a cat would be a sufficient reference.” The woman gazed at both of the girls with an appraising look. “It would be nice to have interesting young ladies like these two, but there is one qualification.”
Usagi panicked a little. “Uhh, I’m not any good at the tea ceremony, flower arrangement, cooking, sewing, kimono dressing, or anything else including studying. That’s the way I am.” Siofra remained silent, too nervous to say anything.
The woman laughed lightly. “The deficiency is so massive that it’s impressive.” She turned towards the man. “Edward, bring them.”
The man brought out a pair of Frisbees and handed one to each girl. “The Countess loves flying disc play,” he explained. “So we require the applicant to the Princess Seminar to be proficient at it.”
“All right! I’m an expert at this!” Usagi shouted happily. She subconsciously used the exact same technique for throwing the disc that she used as Sailor Moon and the Moon Tiara. The Frisbee flew through a window into the manner, slipping past a pair of girls before arcing around and returning straight to Usagi’s hand. A second later, the bows that were tied in the girls’ hair fell to the ground.
“Very well done. Welcome to the Princess Seminar,” the Countess said to Usagi. She turned towards Siofra, who was fidgeting with her own Frisbee.
The redhead closed her eyes for a moment before cocking back her wrist and hurling the disc away. At first it seemed to be flying wildly, but it soon became apparent that it was making a figure eight as it bounced off of the walls and trees. The Frisbee finally returned to her hands and Siofra blushed at Usagi’s applause.
The Countess just smiled. “I say again, very well done. Welcome to the Princess Seminar.”
At the Hikawa Shrine, Ami, Makoto, Rei, Minako, and Artemis were discussing Usagi’s actions.
“I wish she’d be a proper princess,” Artemis complained to Minako.
“But what do you mean by a ‘proper’ princess?” The blonde asked. “Can’t she stay the way she is?”
“Of course not. She has to make it clear to everyone that she’s a princess.”
“Why?”
“Otherwise, the Silver Crystal won’t release its full power.”
Ami smiled at the others. “Hey, why don’t we join Usagi-chan?”
The four girls raised their hands together. “Agreed!” Artemis just shook his head.
At the Princess Seminar, Usagi was failing absolutely miserably. She slurped her soup loudly, used honorifics horribly, and was proving to be a threat at dancing. Siofra fared little better. Her buckteeth made slurping almost a given no matter how hard she tried and she was too nervous when it came to honorifics and dancing. During the dancing portion of the seminar, Usagi and Siofra noticed that Makoto, Ami, Rei, and Minako had joined the seminar as well. While Makoto and Ami proved to be quite graceful, Minako was proving to be almost as klutzy as Usagi and Rei was way too violent in her dancing techniques. All three of the girls’ partners would be in dire need of a podiatrist later.
The Countess informed all of the girls except for Usagi, Minako, Rei, and Siofra that they had passed. The redhead felt a horrible knotting sensation in her stomach as she thought of how embarrassing it was. The only thing that made it bearable was the fact that Usagi was with her. The four girls watched the Countess escort the graduates to another hall.
A few minutes later, Usagi, Minako and Rei all sensed a dark presence from the hall. Siofra didn’t sense anything, but her incredible hearing picked up startled cries that were cut short. Fear began building up in her as she began backing away from the hall and towards the terrace.
“Something must have happened to Ami and the others,” Rei said worriedly.
“Let’s go!” Minako said with determination. Before the three girls could move far, a youma appeared in their way.
The feminine monster had blue skin and seemed to be clothed in an array of seashells as well as a dress of a strange material. Two of the men who had worked in the seminar cried out in fear and began running away. The youma turned her head towards them and some of the shells opened up. Streams of greenish liquid poured through the air towards the men. When it hit, the men froze in place and became wax statues.
“It was regrettable that you failed the Princess Seminar,” the youma commented. “I believe that one of you is Sailor Moon. Would you identify yourself please?”
“What makes you say that?” Usagi asked.
“How could the ungraceful, silly, bungling and celebrity struck Sailor Moon pass the Princess Seminar?”
“I see,” Minako commented.
“You’re right!” Rei agreed with the youma.
Usagi growled at her two friends, “This is no time to be impressed!”
The youma held up her hands to the girls. “Would you mind becoming dolls?” The shells in her hands and all over her front opened up and began to spit out more of the strange liquid. As the streams shot towards the girls, Siofra let out a small scream and suddenly disappeared. Minako and Rei dove behind pillars for cover while Usagi stumbled and tripped, miraculously dodging the attacks.
The youma seemed a bit surprised as it looked at where Siofra had been. “I’ve never had someone disintegrate on me before. Oh well.” She never noticed the rat that scampered to a corner of the room as she turned her attention to the two cats that just jumped down from the railing to begin clawing her face.
Usagi felt tears well up in her eyes as she looked at the empty spot where Siofra had been. “No!” Minako and Rei grabbed her arms and pulled her along as they jumped out of an open window. As they fell through the air, the girls transformed into their Senshi guises.
Siofra watched from the shadows of the terrace as the Senshi began trading attacks with the youma. At first it looked like the youma was going to easily beat the girls, but suddenly a strange man interrupted the fight. Siofra didn’t recognize the tuxedo-clad man, but he seemed to be able to control the youma, which put him under the ‘bad guy’ heading in the red-furred rat’s book.
As Moon seemed to have feelings for the man, her opinion about him shifted. Another man appeared shortly after, and Siofra felt quite safe about placing him under ‘bad guy’. If the Dark Kingdom uniform wasn’t enough, the fact that he ordered the youma to kill Sailor Moon and the others cinched it. She watched as the tuxedo-clad man, whom the other one called Endymion, began to argue with the new arrival. The youma seemed to be confused by the conflicting orders and Siofra watched as Moon used its confusion to sneak up to it and hit the creature with a magical attack that reverted it to the form of the Countess. Once again, Siofra found herself nearly drooling as she eyed the wand that Moon used. She cut off her thoughts as she saw the heartbroken look on Sailor Moon’s face as Endymion teleported away.
‘She’s so sad,’ Siofra thought to herself. ‘She spends so much time making sure everyone else is happy, but she’s miserable herself.’ She could only think of one other person she had seen being that sad sometimes and a plan formed in her mind.
The opening of the hall door caught her attention and she wheeled around to see Makoto, Ami, and many other girls coming out. Makoto caught sight of her on the terrace and came over quickly. “Sis?” She whispered quietly. Siofra nodded her head and crawled into Makoto’s hand. The tall, brown-haired girl looked around and noticed an empty room.
Once they were out of sight, Siofra shifted back to her human form. “Are you okay?” She asked her older sister worriedly.
“I’m fine. I got turned into a statue for a while though,” Makoto grimaced at that thought. “Did Sailor Moon beat the youma?”
Siofra nodded. “She’s incredible.”
Makoto smiled. “Yes, she is.”
“She’s also very sad,” Siofra commented quietly.
Makoto blinked in surprise. “What do you mean?”
Siofra pointed towards the lawn. “Do you know who Endymion is?”
Makoto wasn’t sure how much she could tell her sister about this. “Not exactly. I think she’s Sailor Moon’s boyfriend, but he seems to be controlled by the Dark Kingdom.”
Siofra nodded. “I thought so. How much it must hurt…”
Makoto placed her hand on Siofra’s shoulder and looked towards where Moon was standing. “I’m sure it does.”
As Makoto and Siofra stepped into the house the helmet from a suit of samurai armor came flying through the air at them. Makoto barely managed to get her hand up to deflect it in time. As she massaged her sore arm, she saw her father peek his head in through the back doorway. “Sorry about that! Put too much ‘oof’ into that roundhouse.” He noticed her rubbing her forearm and a small frown appeared on his face as he approached.
“How was your day, girls?”
“Fine. Same old, same old,” Makoto said with a smile. She didn’t care how strong her father was, she didn’t want her parents worrying excessively over her and getting involved in something that they couldn’t handle.
Siofra nodded in agreement. “Just a monster attack after school.”
Makoto’s eyes shot wide and she nearly sprained something as her head snapped around to stare in amazement at her sister.
Ranma noticed the reaction and raised an eyebrow. “Oh, really. And that’s same old, same old, Makoto?”
The brown-haired girl laughed nervously as she tried to figure out how she was going to get out of that one. “Uhm, well… monster attacks are kinda common around here these days…” Makoto hoped that wasn’t as lame as it sounded.
It was. Ranma just stared at her for a few more minutes. “And what did you do during the fight?”
Makoto started to come up with something, but Siofra’s earlier words came back to her. ‘Mother and father don’t believe in keeping secrets in the family.’ She felt her shoulders slump and she mumbled out a response.
“What was that?” Ranma hid his growing worry behind a mask of calm.
“I got turned into a statue for a little bit.”
Ranma’s eyebrow twitched a few times. He glanced over at Siofra. “And you?”
“I hid.”
“Good girl.” Ranma turned back to Makoto. “And just how did you get turned into a statue?”
Makoto flinched at the tone of his voice. “I got caught by surprise when this woman turned into a youma and shot this green goo at me. The Senshi beat her, though.”
“Well good for them.” Internally, Ranma was on the verge of panic.
Something occurred to Makoto and she smiled to herself as she found a way to divert the conversation. “Why weren’t you there, dad?”
It almost worked. Ranma blinked. “Huh?”
“Well, you picked up that other youma attack the other day and showed up real quick to help the Senshi. Why didn’t you pick up this other one?”
“Makoto-chan, I can only sense bad vibes out to about five blocks. Anything more and it’s outta my range.”
“Oh.”
It almost worked, remember? “Now, back to you being turned into a statue. We’re going to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
Makoto felt panic well up in her. ‘He’s not going to make me stay home all the time, is he? How will I be able to help the others?’ “H-h-how?”
“Simple. We’re going to start your training up again. Before and after school, you are going to train in the Kino School of Anything Goes Martial Arts.”
Makoto saw all of her fears vanish as rays of hope poured in. “You mean I get to train under you again?!”
Ranma smiled as he nodded. “Did you miss it?” Makoto nodded enthusiastically. Ranma’s brow furrowed some. “Then why didn’cha ask before?”
“I thought you’d be too busy doing other things?”
Ranma shook his head. “Makoto-chan, family always comes first.”