Several days had passed since the Senshi safely recovered Mamoru from the Dark Kingdom. The young man was still in a mild coma, but according to both the Mercury Computer and Ranma he might recover shortly. In the mean time, Makoto, Ami, Rei, and Siofra studied the magical texts that the brunette had brought with her from her visit to Jade. They had tried to get Usagi to join them, but her ability to concentrate had gotten even worse since she got Mamoru back. Also, Minako and Artemis were too busy trying to track down how the Dark Kingdom kept gating in youma.
Siofra, as she already knew, had no aptitude for magic at all, but her experience in dealing with it helped the other girls to understand. Rei, to no one’s surprise, had a talent for fire magic. What was a bit shocking was the fact that she also had an affinity for spirit calling that went beyond what her Shinto training had prepared her for. This fact made her extremely nervous as what she could do bordered on the realms of necromancy. Ami, unsurprisingly, had a knack for divination and illusion. However, as promised, none of the girls actually practiced anything from the books without one of the Kino adults around. That wasn’t very often since Ranma and Ukyou were trying to get jobs. Ami had suggested using some of the treasure that the adventurers had collected during their time on Jade, but Ukyou refused. She’d told them about having to try and explain where all the gold and jewels came from, and they were already having a hard enough time getting the government to acknowledge that they weren’t dead. And without someone like Nabiki, a reference that none of the girls really caught, it just wouldn’t be worth the hassle. So Ukyou was looking into purchasing a restaurant and Ranma was trying to find a respectable dojo to work for. He had finally decided to live up to his father’s expectations of running an Anything Goes dojo, but in order to do it, he’d have to make a name for himself again and without letting on as to who he used to be. Otherwise his few remaining enemies might attack and get his family involved.
So it was that Ukyou and Ranma were not present during the latest of the study sessions, and Rei couldn’t attend either. It seemed to be going along typically, but Makoto noticed that Ami just didn’t seem able to concentrate at her normal level. She also noted that Ami was occasionally glancing between the two sisters. When the redheaded girl got up for a restroom break, Ami finally turned to Makoto with an odd look on her face.
“Mako-chan, why is your sister afraid of cats?”
Makoto blinked in surprise. “Why?”
“I’m going to be a doctor, I hope, and I was curious what could cause someone like your sister to be afraid of cats?” It wasn’t a lie, but Ami hoped that Makoto wouldn’t pick up on the subtle untruth in the statement.
“Er… uh… uhm…,” the brunette tried to think quickly. She hated the idea of lying to her friend, but she had sworn to Siofra that she would keep her secret. Finally hitting on an idea, she answered, “I never asked.”
Ami shook her head slightly and sighed just a bit. ‘Mako-chan, you’re a horrible liar,’ she thought to herself. She started to speak again, but Siofra came back in and they returned to studying. Ami noted that Makoto was getting increasingly nervous. She finally decided to try another tactic. “You know, it’s strange… it seems like every time I go home from these study sessions, all of the neighborhood cats pay extra attention to me. It’s almost like they smell something on me, like mice or rats.”
Siofra, Ami noted, only hesitated for a moment before continuing to read from a book. Makoto, however, had a much more severe reaction. “We have mice!”
Ami fought to keep from giggling as Siofra’s forehead introduced itself to the book. “Where? I don’t see any cages.”
“In the walls!”
Ami ahhhed. “Well, one of these times, I could just bring Artemis or Luna. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind helping take care of that problem.” Ami felt a little guilty at the look of abject horror on Siofra’s face from that comment. It wasn’t fear, but more like someone had just recommended solving the world’s food shortage by eating babies.
“No!” Makoto blurted. “Uhm, what if dad came home early? You know how he and Siofra are around cats.”
Ami nodded understandingly. “You’re right. Well, as long as you’re willing to put up with them…” She returned to her book. A few minutes later, she spoke again. “You know, I found something interesting in the Mercury Computer the other day.”
Feeling like they were on safe ground, Siofra and Makoto relaxed some. “What did you find?” The redheaded young girl asked.
“It was an historical record. In the early days of the Silver Millennium, the Moon Kingdom had alliances with several different races on Earth. They included Elves, Trolls, and many others. All of the groups had a measure of respect for each other, but there was an undercurrent of fear running through them all. Apparently there was this really powerful wizard who had an elite group of assassins working for him and he was using them to keep everyone off balance.”
Makoto leaned forward, actually interested in learning some of the history of the old Moon Kingdom. Siofra, however, had a nauseating sensation building up in her stomach. She had a feeling that she knew that wizard’s name and what was coming next.
“His name was Iceron and apparently he was a master at combining creatures together. The creation of the griffin race, as well as a few others, has been attributed to him, but his two most famous creations were his bodyguards and his assassins. The werewolf race was designed by him to be the perfect protectors while the wererats were the greatest killers ever.”
Siofra had turned deathly pale at the mention of Iceron. Makoto nearly fell out of her chair when Ami told her that her sister’s people were created to be the perfect assassins. Ami noted both of their reactions and decided to put an end to the dancing around. She slowly closed her book and turned to look at them both. “Now, is there any reason why I shouldn’t tell the others that our teammate’s sister is from a race of cold-blooded murderers?”
“H-how did you find out?” Makoto asked numbly.
Ami sighed softly. “I would have preferred to hear it from you, but the Mercury Computer told me. After scanning your whole family, it was able to detect, analyze, and identify Siofra as a wererat. It took a while because, according to the database, the wererats don’t exist any more. Obviously they do. My question is: why didn’t you tell us? I thought we were your friends.” Ami couldn’t keep the hurt out of her voice.
“I couldn-“
Siofra cut off her sister. “It’s my fault. She promised me that she wouldn’t tell anyone she knew. And before you ask, yes, mother and father are quite aware of what I am.”
“And that’s how you were able to listen in on our meetings, isn’t it?”
Siofra nodded her head slowly. She then launched into the story of how her mother couldn’t stand to raise a child to be just another disposable assassin subject to the will of the wererat council. How she fled to Jade and hid there for as long as she could. How she was murdered and how Ranma and Ukyou rescued Siofra. As the story progressed, Ami felt her heart soften until she was in tears and hugging the little girl tenderly.
“For now,” Ami said after she had recovered, “it would probably be best to keep this between us. Luna would end up going on a rampage if she found out, so perhaps we just won’t tell her.” The shorthaired girl finished with a small smile.
“Thank you.”
Ami just smiled at the sisters. “What are friends for?”
A few days passed, during which Luna became more and more insistent that something was wrong with the Kinos. After listening to one particularly convoluted theory that would leave even the most die-hard conspiracy theorist blinking in confusion, Artemis had enough. He waited until Luna left and then called the girls on their communicators.
“We’ve got a problem.”
Usagi began wailing miserably. “Not another youma attack!”
Artemis shook his head. “No. It’s worse. Everyone meet me at the shrine, but don’t tell Luna.” None of the girls could understand that last request. “I’ll explain when we get there.”
It took a while, and repeated warnings to Usagi that Luna was not to know of the meeting, but eventually everyone managed to get to the shrine.
Rei was the most upset at the interruption, probably because she was waiting around the longest. “Okay, Artemis. What is this all about?”
The white cat sat silently for a moment and nearly earned himself a slap on the head from the irate priestess, but he spoke moments before she did. “I’m worried about Luna… she has become increasingly fixated on Makoto’s family. I know you’ve all heard her ranting, but I’m afraid that it’s getting worse. Her paranoia has been growing steadily and… I’m scared for her.”
Ami frowned deeply. She knew that, while not completely true, Luna’s rants had a basis in truth. Siofra was a rat, at least some of the time, and the Kinos were keeping secrets from the others. She wanted to tell the others, but the repercussions of too many people knowing about the redheaded wererat’s heritage had been made quite clear to her. She was shaken from her thoughts as Artemis continued, apparently responding to a question.
“We can put her back in her stasis tube until we have the time and the technology to do something for her.”
To Ami’s horror, she could see that Minako, Usagi, and Rei were all considering that possibility. Looking over at Makoto, she caught the brunette’s eyes and made motions towards the door. Artemis inquired about what they were doing, to which Ami responded that she just wanted to discuss something with Makoto.
Once outside, Ami confronted her friend. “Mako-chan, we can’t let them do that. You and I both know the truth. We have to tell them.”
Makoto nodded slowly. “But it could be dangerous, for us and them, if we do. I also promised not to tell anyone.”
Ami groaned. “Isn’t there anyone who hasn’t made a promise not to tell?”
Makoto nodded as an idea occurred to her. “Mom and dad! We’ll tell them what’s happening and let them decide.” Together the two girls returned to their friends. Explaining that they might have another solution, they asked everyone to wait until they got back. The chance at another answer was more than enough reason for everyone to agree to wait.
What no one noticed, however, was the small black figure hiding in the shadows. Tears rolled down her cheeks as Luna watched her friends betray her. She considered doing something drastic, like tracking down and attacking Siofra. She also considered charging out and confronting her accusers. Instead, she slowly made her way home and crawled into bed, crying the entire time.
‘If they don’t want my advice, if they won’t heed my warnings, then what good am I?’ Luna was shaken from her thoughts when Usagi suddenly threw open the door to the bedroom, grabbed her, and ran down the street, babbling all the way. Luna didn’t have the energy to try and decipher the blonde’s light-speed ramblings. ‘Well, this is it. Time to be locked up for another few thousand years…’
To Luna’s surprise, Siofra and Ukyou were present at the shrine. Actually paying attention to her surroundings, she realized that she was in the Kino home, not the Hikawa Shrine. “What’s going on?”
Usagi glanced down at her with an incredulous look on her face. “Didn’t you listen to anything I said on the way here? The Kinos have something they say will keep us from having to put you back in-“ Usagi suddenly found it extremely difficult to talk with Rei’s hand firmly over her mouth.
Luna hopped to the ground and looked around. She could see that everyone but Ranma was present and that there were no stasis devices in sight. “Well?” ‘If this is a trick, I’m going to go postal…’
Ukyou took a deep breath. “Girls, and felines of course, there’s something we need to show you. You have to swear to absolute secrecy. It wouldn’t be safe to even talk about it amongst yourselves, am I understood?” Everyone nodded, although Artemis and Luna were much more reluctant to do so. “Do you promise?” Again, everyone nodded. “All right. Luna is right, we have been keeping a secret from you, but it was for your protection as well as ours. My husband has a lot of enemies, which is why we changed our name and moved here. Siofra… has even more enemies.”
Everyone who didn’t already know the secret, even Luna, stared at Ukyou. Usagi was the first to be able to speak again. “Siofra has enemies? That’s like saying that… that… there’s such a thing as too many sweets! It’s impossible!”
Ukyou didn’t laugh at Usagi’s little joke, which let everyone know just how serious she was taking this. Ukyou always seemed to have a smile and a laugh for any of the girls. For her face to be as stony as it was, the situation had to be deadly serious. When the Kino matriarch had everyone’s attention again, she turned to her redheaded daughter. “Show them, dear.”
Everyone watched as Siofra stood up slowly and moved to the center of the living room. “Please don’t hate me,” was all she said as, with her eyes brimming with tears, she shrank. Minako, Usagi, Rei, Artemis, and Luna all just stared at the reddish rat that now occupied the floor where Siofra had stood a moment ago. Even Ami, who had known of the transformation but had not yet witnessed it, could only stare in amazement.
After a few moments, the rat swelled in size, but it did not become human. Instead it took on a form that, to the Senshi, appeared to be just like a youma. Three hands moved subconsciously to grab their transformation wands as the stared at the rat-girl. A few moments later, Siofra returned to her full human form with tears streaming down her face. She dove into Makoto’s waiting arms and bawled heavily into her chest.
That act solidified the Senshi’s resolve. Standing in a semi-circle around Makoto, they gave the two sisters a loving group-hug. Artemis continued to stare at the empty space where Siofra had demonstrated her ability. After a few moments, he looked over at Luna, who was shaking with her eyes closed.
“Er, Luna?” The white cat put out his paw to touch the black feline.
“Bwaahahahahaaa!!! VINDICATED!!”
Everyone jumped at the sudden outburst. Even Ukyou was startled at the volume. Luna continued to cackle, “I told you she was a rat! But noooooo, you didn’t believe me! You wanted to lock me up and throw away the key!”
Artemis cut out the rest of her rant as the sickening realization that she had heard his plan sunk in. He looked down at his paws and wondered if this was how Judas had felt.
After a few minutes, Ukyou was able to calm Luna down. Once everyone was listening, they explained about the fact that the wererats didn’t know Siofra was alive and that it had to be kept that way. She left out most of the details, but she stressed the fact that the other wererats were exceptionally bad people who wouldn’t have any problems with hurting anyone who had seen Siofra, if they ever found out she existed.
Ukyou, Makoto, and Siofra spent almost an hour answering questions before the girls’ curiosities were satisfied. With a great deal to consider, everyone went their separate ways.
When she got to the shrine, Rei tried to focus on her duties but she couldn’t. Her mind was too distracted by what she had learned. ‘She’s a shapeshifter. In all of our traditions, shapeshifters are tricksters, playing evil jokes and getting people hurt and killed. How can I trust her? She seems so sweet and innocent, but it could just be a ruse…’
Rei didn’t know when she quit sweeping or how long she was just staring at the ground, but it was obviously long enough for Grandpa to notice. He suddenly seemed to appear in front of her, smiling broadly. “So, who’s the young boy and when do I get to meet him?”
Rei blinked in surprise and confusion before taking a swat at the elderly priest with her broom. “It’s not like that! I’m… I just…” The raven-haired priestess paused to consider… “Grandfather, what would you do if you found out that someone you thought you knew and trusted turned out to not be human?”
The old man seemed to consider her words. “Has this person betrayed you in any other way other than by the crime of not being human?”
Rei bridled at the slight undertone of admonishment in his voice. “Not really… but… if sh-… this person isn’t human, how can I trust he-… that person?”
Again, he seemed to think about that. “You’re right… I’ll have to find a new job I suppose. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.”
Blinking in confusion and thoroughly unable to follow her grandfather, Rei could only utter, “Huh?”
“Well, after all… we often speak with the sacred fire as part of our duties. It’s not human, so we can’t really trust it or the other spirits. They may have been human once, but they’re not any more, so we can’t trust them either. If we can’t do that, we really can’t be Shinto priests, so I guess we’ll just have to find another occupation. I wonder if there are any brothels looking for a kindly old man to work for them…”
Rei just stared in shock. “That is NOT the same thing!”
Grandpa just gave her a level look. “Oh? And just where was it declared that humans were the end-all, be-all of existence? And where was it stated that only humans can be trusted?” His gaze softened a little. “Rei-chan, people are people. There are some humans that can’t be trusted at all, and there are some things that aren’t human which are quite trustworthy. Individuals, not races, can earn trust, and it shouldn’t be withheld just because of what someone is. If they’ve earned your trust, then they’ve earned your trust. You shouldn’t let a little thing like physical form deter friendship. Life’s too short for that.”
Rei paused and mulled over those words. Seeing that his lesson was sinking in, Grandpa slipped off to leave her to her thoughts. As time passed, a slow smile spread across Rei’s lips and she returned to her duties with a much lighter heart.
A short distance away, Usagi was also considering what had been revealed. However, there was far less angst in her thoughts. “Wow! That is so cool! It must be neat, just think about it, Luna. She can get places no one else can, she can heal really fast, she can see and smell and all that so much better, and she’s just so cute! It must be really neat to be like that! But it must be so sad to be the only one of your kind and having to hide out. Maybe if she wasn’t alone, she could be happier! But they said the other rats would try and hurt her, so we can’t go to them. I wonder if it’s contagious, like in those movies. Maybe I could get her to bite me and then I could be a wererat too! But then I couldn’t touch silver. Oh no, what if the Silver Crystal really is silver-like and I couldn’t touch it any more! That would be horrible! Oh well, maybe we should just be her friends. That’d probably be best. Ooohh, mom’s baking cookies! Yay!” The blonde dashed out of her room and down the stairs, leaving a rather haggard Luna lying on her bed.
“If we could harness that energy, they wouldn’t need fossil fuel any more…” Grousing a little more, Luna couldn’t help but feel her spirits lifting a bit. “Even if they still accept her, at least I’ve been vindicated. They don’t think I’m a loon anymore…” She thought back to when she overheard Artemis talking to the Senshi about possibly sealing her up again until they could ‘find out what’s wrong with her’. While she was never on the best of terms with the white cat, the betrayal had hurt her far more deeply than she would ever really admit. Still, the fact that the girls had finally acknowledged that she was at least part right and apologized had really helped. She glanced over at the TV, which was showing some American movie that Usagi hadn’t really been watching. On the screen, a reporter asked some dark-skinned man how he felt after being proven innocent. “Righteous,” he responded in a gravely voice. Luna could only nod in agreement. “Righteous indeed.”
Speaking of the white cat, he and his charge were in their home thinking over Siofra’s heritage. “Well, at least that explains the weird feeling you kept getting from her, Artemis.”
The moon cat nodded in response. “Yes… I’m just glad that Luna isn’t living up to her name.” At Minako’s confused look, he explained. “Luna. Lunatic. Get it?”
Minako nodded in understanding. “Gotcha. Well, I’m just glad that everything’s sorted out. After all, a friend in deed is a friend in need.”
Artemis sweatdropped. “I, uh… don’t think that’s the way it’s supposed to go.”
Suddenly the phone rang and Minako answered it. Artemis couldn’t overhear the conversation, but Minako whispered, “Katarina…” before suddenly running out the door.
A while later, in a hotel some distance away, Minako was sitting on a couch in a hotel room. In the kitchenette a rather attractive foreign woman was making tea. “We just found out you were okay,” the woman said with a British accent. “Why didn’t you tell us?” Minako remained silent as the woman stepped out of the kitchenette and set a cup of tea down on the coffee table. “I heard you’re still fighting as Sailor V.”
“I am.” Minako never looked up at the woman and her voice was almost inaudible.
Smiling in a way that only someone really close to another person could do, she rested a hand on Minako’s shoulder. “I want to help you. You’re with the Sailor Senshi, aren’t you? Can you introduce them to me?”
If Minako had been looking at the woman, she might have noticed an evil glint in her eye. Unfortunately, she was still staring at her hands in her lap. “Alan…” The blonde whispered softly. “Is Alan okay?”
The woman seemed a bit surprised by the question and chuckled softly. “He’s fine.” She pulled out a photo that showed Minako, the woman, and a handsome man standing together.
Looking up for the first time, Minako’s gazed at the picture for a while. When she started to look away, her eyes fell on the necklace that the foreign woman was wearing. “Big sister Katarina, you’re still wearing that pendant…”
Katarina looked down and held the necklace in her hand. “Of course. You gave it to me for my birthday, after all.” Letting the necklace fall against her chest, she placed her hand on Minako’s shoulder again. “Really, I want to help you. Please, let me meet with the Sailor Senshi.”
Minako began to shake with barely repressed tears. “You’re an Interpol officer. But we have a different mission to perform. I can’t get you involved.” She suddenly stood up, her head turned away from Katarina. “I’m glad I could see you again. Thank you.” Turning around, the blonde ran for the hotel door. “Goodbye.”
A few blocks away, Ranma was walking down the street. He didn’t like not being there for his family, but the Moon C-c-c-cats were going to be there, which meant he couldn’t be. He glanced up to ask the kami if they had it out for him when suddenly there was a bright flash from a fourth story window in a building a short distance away. With a cry of, “Papiyon!” a youma burst through the glass and took off, flying away.
“All right! At least I won’t be bored any more,” Ranma thought as he tore off after the flying monster. After a few moments, Ranma began to curse as the creature began pulling away. ‘D@%$ that thing’s fast…”
A short distance away, Minako stood near some docks examining a photo. It was a picture of her and Alan standing together. A butterfly flew past her, which startled her because this was not their season. Suddenly sensing danger, she dove backwards just in time to avoid being cut in half by the scythe-like arm of a butterfly-like youma.
Minako hopped back a short distance and called out for her transformation. In a dazzling barrage of colors, Sailor Venus emerged and fired a Crescent Beam at her enemy. She was startled when the youma laughed, claiming to know everything about her. The beam struck a shield and exploded in an array of harmless colors.
Before she could react, the monster sent a chain of butterfly-shaped energy that caught Venus and suspended her into the air. Venus cried out as the energy shocked her painfully. “I know your weaknesses, Sailor V… or should I say Sailor Venus?” The youma laughed at Venus’ miserable condition.
Venus struggled to glare at the youma, but her eyes caught sight of a necklace around its neck, a very familiar necklace. “Katarina? Big sister?” Venus suddenly found herself unceremoniously dumped on the ground as the chains of butterflies vanished. Looking up she saw Ranma standing over the youma’s crumpled form.
“Get her out of here!” The mage/martial artist yelled at someone behind Venus. Looking over her shoulder, to her surprise she saw Luna, Artemis, and Usagi standing behind her. It took them a moment to figure out that the best bet for getting away was to borrow one of the speedboats. During that time, the youma recovered and began trading shots with Ranma.
The middle-aged martial artist had to admit that this was the most impressive minion of the Dark Kingdom that he had fought so far, barring the silver-haired general he had encountered shortly after coming home for the first time in eight years. The energy shield deflected anything he threw and the creature was smart enough to keep flying out of his normal hand-to-hand range. However, despite his inability to cause it serious harm, it couldn’t slip past him to get at Venus until the girls and cats were safely on the boat.
Ranma started to smirk as the boat took off, but he cursed heavily when the youma banked to follow. Flying was not his strong suit by any stretch of the imagination. Despite all his efforts the youma began to quickly pull away once again.
A fair distance away, the Venus and Usagi abandoned the speed boat to hide on a yacht. Once they felt safe enough, Venus slowly began to explain to Usagi and the cats how she knew the youma. “It was half a year ago. I went to London following a lead on some youma from the Dark Kingdom… That was back when I was Sailor V. I met Alan there and fell in love with him.” Venus paused for a moment as a longing look crossed her face. “One day I was chasing a criminal, actually a youma. An Interpol officer was chasing after him when the criminal grabbed a child as a hostage and transformed into a youma. I stopped it and saved the child and became friends with the officer, Katarina. The three of us, Alan, Katarina, and I became the greatest of friends.” Again, the Senshi of Love became lost in her memories for a short while, but her audience didn’t seem to mind. “There was little that we didn’t do together. But one day Katarina and I were checking out a warehouse that was supposed to be owned by an arms dealer. I went in first, and ended up getting caught in an ambush by a grenade. The blast blew me out of the building and knocked Katarina down… she thought I had died. I was about to call out to her when Alan came by… and I found out that they were in love. It hurt so much that I couldn’t… I decided that it would be best if I just disappeared.”
Venus stopped and blinked, as did the cats, when Usagi suddenly began wailing about how unfair love was to such a nice girl like Minako. The lamenting was interrupted when suddenly a window shattered and the butterfly youma came flying in. Usagi just had time to change into Sailor Moon before the youma attacked.
“This place will be your grave! Now DIE!”
The two warriors dove out of her path as her scythe-like arm nearly took off Venus’ head. The youma fluttered around the room, getting ready for another pass as Moon made a speech about breaking young girls’ hearts. The princess soldier was just winding up to hurl her tiara at the attacking monster, when it suddenly reeled back and cried out in surprise. Looking closer, the two Senshi noticed a pair of feminine arms locking the youma’s wings and arms in place. As the monster spun in place, they recognized the youma’s attacker.
“Ranma!”
The currently female redhead just grinned at the two girls as she immobilized the servant of the Dark Kingdom. “Hey girls!” the pony-tailed martial artist just smirked as the youma began issuing curses.
As Moon was preparing to finish throwing her Moon Tiara, Venus picked up the necklace, which had broken off during the creature’s struggles. Just before Sailor Moon could finish the wrist flick that would send the lethal disc on its path, Venus cried out for her to stop.
Blinking in surprise, Moon looked over at her friend.
“Help her! It’s my fault she was turned into a youma. She knew I was Sailor V, that’s why the Dark Kingdom went after her. It’s not her fault!”
“But she stole your boyfriend! She was your big sister and she betrayed you!”
Venus, with tears in her eyes, just said softly, “Save her.”
Moon looked ready to argue further, but Ranma yelled out. “Uhm, you might want to do something quick, girls! She’s starting to break free.” With one last look at Venus’ pleading eyes, Moon turned towards the monster.
“Moon Healing Escalation!”
Venus and Moon cheered as the youma Papiyon cried out and changed back into Katarina. Venus ran to her friend as Ranma gently lowered her to the ground.
Taking a step back, the redhead started to smile at the scene. Pain unlike anything she had felt before suddenly shot through her chest and it took a great effort of will not to cry out and drop to her knees. Clutching her hand to her breast, she made an excuse to leave and quickly swam back to the docs and headed home.
Back at the Kino residence, Makoto was just putting the finishing touches on dinner when her currently female father came staggering into the house. So stunned was she that she couldn’t move before Ranma had already made it to the master bedroom.
The brunette, finally shaking off her shock, ran after her. She found him sitting on the bed with a pained expression on his face and holding a wildly pulsating red gem in his hand. “Dad?”
Ranma looked up at her and for a moment the pained expression became even worse before a mask of control dropped over it. “Mako-chan… when your mom gets home, we need to talk. Tell Siofra.”
Makoto nodded in confusion.
That night, after everyone was gathered in the living room, a now male Ranma pulled the gem out again. The looks on Siofra’s and Ukyou’s faces told Makoto that they knew what was going on and it wasn’t good. “Dad? What does that mean?”
Ranma started to speak, but no words emerged. After several of those false starts, Ukyou stood up and hugged her husband gently before turning to Makoto. “The gem is a sensor, basically… when it flashes like that, it means that… it detects a… near lethal amount of chaos energy…”
Makoto eyes flew wide as realization sank in. “You mean…”
“Your father’s curse is in danger of activating again.” Turning to Ranma, a look of confusion crossed her face. “But that shouldn’t have happened for several months.”
Ranma shook his head. “I know. I don’t understand it. The only thing I can think of is that Usagi’s Moon whatever spell ticked off the curse.” At the strange looks he got from everyone, Ranma explained in brief about what happened earlier that day.
“Y-y-you’re going to leave again, aren’t you?” Makoto dreaded the answer that she already knew.
Ukyou nodded. “We have to get him back to Jade for another treatment. Those people I introduced you to are the only ones that can drain it off safely.”
Makoto shot to her feet. “Then I’m coming with you!”
Ranam shook his head and leveled his sternest gaze at her. “You accepted the responsibility of being a Senshi. That’s not something you can just drop whenever it’s convenient. It was fine for you to go to Jade when I was here to cover for you, but we can’t both go. What would happen if the girls really needed you but you were off on Jade, worrying yourself sick like your mother usually does because there’s nothing you can do. I have to go through the treatment alone. You have to stay here with your friends.” His gaze softened as he saw tears beginning to form in her eyes.
Ukyou stepped up beside him. “Besides, Siofra will be here and now we have several ways of getting home. Nothing will keep us from our daughters ever again, got it Sugar?”
Ranma shook his head and turned Ukyou around to face him. “Not us. Not this time. You’re staying.”
Ukyou gazed deeply into her husband’s eyes. “Ranchan… if… you think… that I would let you go alone then YOU’RE EVEN MORE INSANE THAN PRINCIPAL KUNO!” The long series of blistering epitaphs her mother leveled against Ranma turned Makoto’s ears red. She glanced over at her sister to see how she was handling it only to find that a pair of large earmuffs now adorned the red-haired girl’s head. Makoto was quite impressed at the fact that her mother was literally glowing as she tore Ranma a new orifice.
When it looked like she was winding down, Makoto got both of her parents’ attention. Fighting back tears, she stammered, “Mom, dad… I-I-I-I’ll b-b-be okay, b-b-but y-y-you have to puh-promise that you won’t be g-gone for another eight years.” It would hurt to be without both her parents again, but her father was right, they did have several ways of getting back and forth now. She also couldn’t stand to see her parents separated just for her own selfish wants.
Ukyou and Ranma both melted at the unconditional love they could see in their daughter’s eyes. The four Kinos group-hugged for a long time crying softly against each other, even Ranma. After a little, the mage/martial artist took a small step back. “We’ll only be gone a few weeks.”
“You better come back, mom, dad, or I’ll burn all the food, give up martial arts, and put cat posters on all the walls.”
Ranma chuckled even as he flinched at the mention of felines. “All right, it’s a deal. But we don’t have to leave immediately. We’ve got a couple of days. What say we have a good old fashioned picnic, just the four of us?”
A.N.:
As a little side note, in English class years ago we read a short paper, printed decades or more ago, called ‘A Modest Proposal’. It was a rather sarcastic and cynical thing, with the author recommending that eating babies and children could solve the world food crisis. It was meant more as a sarcastic view on societal values, I think, than any real intent on following through on such a thought. Just wanted to let you know that I was not the first sick person to come up with that. 8)