Lines Of Destiny
A Sailor Moon / Ranma 1/2 Crossover
By Louis-Philippe Giroux

Sailor Moon was created by Naoko Takeuchi and Ranma 1/2 by Rumiko Takahashi. Please don't sue me.

    The timeline I used is mixing some people up and it's partly my fault. Here is how it stands now:

    Ranma and Akane attend university (1st year) while the Inner Senshi are in their second year of High school. The Outer Senshi are in their third year of High School (one year behind Ranma and Akane). Thanks everyone for the corrections! I think this screws up the relative timelines by a year or so, but it's something I needed to do. Sorry.

    It's after the Pharaoh 90 storyline and the Kaguya Snow Queen incident (Sailor Moon Movie S, IIRC), but there are a few modifications: since the Sailor Senshi are in High School, everyone (except Rei), goes to Juuban High (even Minako). Also, Usagi can turn into Super Sailor Moon (her white outfit) if she chooses to, but the Senshi *HAVE NOT* yet become the Super Sailors... Just hypothesize that my timeline occurs *just* before Sailor Moon SS occurs. The ages are as follows:

Hotaru: 13 years old
Inner Senshi: 16 years old
Outer Senshi: 17 years old
Akane/Ranma: 18 years old
Mamoru: 19 years old
Setsuna: *looks* 22 years old... :)

Chapter 1

"When the Kin of Silence joins the Daughter of Earth, the Circle Of Planets shall be complete once more."
- Last prophecy spoken by the Terran Royal Seer before the end of the Silver Millennium.

    Mamoru Chiba woke up with a start from another one of those dreams. The dreams in which he was Endymion, the Prince of Earth, in the past. The dreams had had nothing special in them until he started seeing a certain girl on a regular basis. In the dreams, the young girl, wearing a sailor fuku, ran up to him, her face shadowed and her hair whipping in the wind, but each time he was about to see her face, he woke up.
    *She seems so familiar and yet I can't place her. Her silhouette doesn't look like any of the Inner or Outer Senshi's. I wonder who she is... and why she's wearing a Senshi uniform. I thought all the Senshi had been found.*
    Mamoru got up and went to his bedroom window. The air outside was cool and refreshing. Tomorrow afternoon, he would be able to see his Usako again. He had been away for two weeks on a special school assignment and he was sure Usagi was dying to see him again by now. He shook his head and smiled. Usagi had thrown a fit when she had learned he would leave for fourteen whole days and it had taken Makoto and Minako working together (with a few flaming comments from Rei) to unlatch her from him so he could take his train. He had promised her he would think about her as long as he would be away.
    But his thoughts drifted back to the mysterious girl of his dreams. She was important somehow, but how could he find out who she was if she kept disappearing all the time at the end of the dream? Was she a Sailor Senshi as well?
    Maybe he should ask Rei or Luna to help him with this. He especially didn't want Usagi to find out he had been having visions of another woman, even a potential Senshi; she'd probably take it the wrong way.
    Mamoru sighed and went back to sleep. If the dream *did* mean something, he would find out eventually.

    In Nerima, the atmosphere inside the Tendo Dojo was unusually solemn and quiet, meaning there were no superpowered martial artists seeking the death of Ranma Saotome or the hand in marriage of Akane Tendo (or vice-versa, depending on which day you came by), and with any luck, everything would be quiet from now on (to the great relief of the local insurance companies), because today, Ranma Saotome and Akane Tendo were finally getting married and thus putting a stop once and for all to the madness which plagued Nerima. Or so they hoped.

    After the first bombed (literally) attempt at a wedding two years ago, Ranma had finally gathered the courage to profess his love to Akane. Needless to say, the other suitors had not been happy at this development. Ukyou Kuonji had been heartbroken at the news, but Konatsu (secretly helped by Ranma) was slowly beginning to pick up the pieces.

    Ryoga had been surprisingly understanding. After Akane had told him that she loved Ranma, instead of going on a berserker rage, as Ranma had half-expected him to, Ryoga challenged the pig-tailed martial artist one last time. Not for Akane's hand, but rather for one last duel. When Ranma asked him the reason for his strange behaviour, he merely answered that since the battle with Saffron, he had been thinking more and more about Akari and less about Akane. Ranma and Akane's mutual declaration of love had been the final catalyst.
    "One year ago, Saotome," Ryoga had told him, "I would have tried my best to kill you. But now I think I've finally found happiness and for some twisted reason, I have you to thank for it. I never would have met Akari if you hadn't entered my life. If you hadn't stolen my bread all those times when we were younger, I'd probably still be a lone, unhappy wanderer. This last fight isn't about my finally getting revenge, it's about two friends saying farewell to each other."
    Ranma, glad that Ryoga had finally found happiness, accepted the duel. The fight took place in secret, with only Akane and Akari as spectators. It was their longest battle, hands and feet flying faster than the eye could follow, but without any weapons or chi projectiles.
    A true martial arts duel.
    Which ended with a mutual knockout. Ryoga strongly suspected that Ranma had not done his best so that there wouldn't be any hard feelings left, but couldn't drag a confession out of Ranma, no matter how hard he tried. On the second day after the duel, Akari, with a lot of help from Ryoga and Ranma, convinced Akane that P-Chan would lead a much happier life with them and their pigs. Akane finally gave up and said farewell to P-Chan. On the third day, Ryoga and Akari said their farewell and headed out in the sunset. Being true to form, Ryouga got himself, Akari and Katsunishiki lost as soon as they left Nerima.
    No one had seen them since.

    Shampoo and Cologne had been another matter. Upon learning Ranma's choice for a wife, Shampoo had tried to kill Akane several times, not realizing that such actions were not endearing her to Ranma. Cologne, disappointed by Shampoo's repeated failures to eliminate Akane had decided to take matters into her own hands. She challenged Ranma to a duel; if she won, he would become Shampoo's husband and if he won, they would return to China and the Amazons would never bother him again. Ranma, not wanting Akane to be hurt anymore by Shampoo and Cologne's attempts to get to him, agreed. The minute this was done, Nabiki started selling tickets for the fight.
    What Cologne had not taken into account, however, was that Ranma had been training extensively in the mountains since his final fight with Ryoga, since he had been aware it would eventually come down to this. The extra training turned out to be invaluable. On the appointed day, Cologne found herself facing an extremely focused Ranma.
    The duel itself lasted for a savage fifteen minutes, with Ranma using every ounce of skill he had gained and ultimately resorting to the one technique he knew Cologne to be afraid of: the Neko-ken. At the end of the duel, Cologne, gravely wounded, admitted defeat to an equally wounded Ranma. The Amazon matriarch reluctantly kept her promise, much to Shampoo's dismay (and Mousse's joy), and quietly left for China.
    The victory had not been without its price for Ranma. Towards the end of the battle, Cologne had managed to hit Ranma with a pressure point that was supposed to take half his strength away. Fortunately for Ranma, the only thing the shiatsu technique accomplished was rob Ranma of the extra strength he had gained during his training. As a result, Ranma had spent the following week and a half in a hospital, recovering from the injuries Cologne had inflicted upon him. When he had recovered, he discovered his strength had gone back to the level it was at the battle with Saffron (an acceptable loss to him).
    Nothing had been heard from the Amazons since they had gone back to China.

    As for the Kunos, Ranma had made sure Tatewaki was in the hospital for the wedding day (a task he had thoroughly enjoyed) and Akane had managed to convince the psychiatric hospital to have Kodachi comitted, not that it had been very hard... After merely a few example of her sanity (or lack of it), the doctors had readily agreed she was a prime test subject for the new personality-suppressing drugs they were testing.

    "By the powers vested in me... "
    Ranma and Akane were standing face to face, Ranma clad in a tuxedo and Akane in a western wedding dress. They had decided to go with a short western wedding again because, despite the precautions taken, both families were worried about more interruptions.
    "I now pronounce you man and wife!"
    To Ranma's surprise, Akane initiated liplock with him before the priest even gave the signal, but he didn't mind and soon gave as good as he got. They were pulled out from their dream-like state by the whistles of their families.
    "Way to go, Akane-chan!" said Nabiki.
    Soun and Genma were dancing around. "At last, Saotome! Our families are joined! Our dreams have come true!" Soun was wailing tears of joy and Genma rapidly guided him outside so he would not ruin the house with yet another teary flood.
    Nodoka turned to Kasumi. "Your father is quite emotional, isn't he?"
    "Yes, he is," replied the ever-cheerful elder Tendo sister. "And for once, I think he deserves to be emotional. He has been waiting for this for a long time."
Genma had just come back inside the house when Nodoka turned to Ranma. "What are your plans now, son?"
    Ranma looked at Akane with a smile. "Akane and I have decided to go to university together. We plan to go to Mizuharo University over in Juuban. It'll be perfect for both of us."
    "And you'll be able to have some privacy, eh boy?" said Genma with a lecherous grin plastered all over his face.
    Ranma and Akane both blushed beet red.
    "Uncle Saotome! Please!" said Akane, trying to sound scandalized, and only partially succeeding.
    "Now, now, dear," chided Nodoka. "Don't embarrass them like that."
    "The only problem right now is that even though we've been accepted, we don't have any place to stay yet and we might not find a place to stay before classes begin in a few days," said Ranma.
    Nodoka looked pensive for a moment. "Ranma, do you remember anything about your cousin Rei or your grandfather Hino?"
    "Rei?... Only vaguely. Mom, the last time I saw them was shortly after starting the training expedition. I must've been barely six years old at the time and Rei was younger than me. Why do you ask?"
    "If my memory is correct, she has been training to be a Shinto priestess for a long time. She works at a shrine owned by my father and the shrine happens to be located near that university. You could always consider asking them for a place to stay until you find your own place."
    "I don't know, mom. I mean, they probably don't even remember me. It might be a little rude for me to pop out of nowhere and ask to crash at their place," said Ranma.
    "Nonsense. I'll ask them myself. I'm sure they'll agree."
    Ranma gave up. "All right. I hope it works."
    As Nodoka moved to another room to make the call, Ranma turned around and found Genma coming back inside the house with two thick scrolls in hand.
    "Son, as the heir to the Musabetsu Kakuto Ryuu, I think it's time that you started having more responsibilities," said Genma solemnly.
    Ranma raised a eyebrow warily. "What kind of responsibilities?"
    Genma answered by offering Ranma the scrolls he was carrying. Ranma took the proffered items and started reading them. His eyes widened when he realized exactly what he was reading.
    "Oyaji... these are the Saotome Forbidden Techniques!" he said, rapidly looking at the long scrolls. He looked up at his father, suspicion in his eyes. "I thought they'd been destroyed!"
    Genma smiled thinly. "The originals were destroyed; these are copies. The only copies in existence, mind you. The incident with Ryuu made me think about those techniques and I want you to have them." He clapped a hand on Ranma's shoulder. "I know you'll use them more wisely than I did. Consider it a wedding present of sorts as well as your first real responsibility." He looked around, and seeing that Nodoka wasn't back yet, whispered to Ranma: "Besides, I don't want your mother to use the last remaining copies the next time she's writing letters... You're the only one who can keep them safe."
    Ranma rolled his eyes. "You're hopeless, oyaji." He looked at the two scrolls once more and bowed. "I nonetheless accept the responsibility."
    Genma smiled. The boy had turned out all right despite everything that had happened. He turned around and went outside to see if Soun was done crying.
    Ranma watched him go and turned his attention back to the scrolls. He had been trying for a certain time to duplicate the Yama-sen-ken techniques used by Ryuu Kumon, which had originally been invented by Genma. Knowing that his father would likely be angered that such dangerous moves were being used when they were supposed to be sealed away, Ranma had only practiced them when training by himself in the mountains. He had started to think he would never get them quite right (he was not planning on using the Yama-sen-ken on a regular basis anyway - it was far too dangerous against regular opponents), and those same techniques had just now been given to him. He felt like pounding his father for not telling him he had duplicates, but realized it was also his fault, since he had never actually asked Genma if he had made copies.
    He looked around (his eyes lingering on Akane, who was talking with her sisters) and decided he was in too good a mood to pound his father just yet. Maybe he'd just take a look at the scrolls instead.

    At the same moment at the Hikawa Shrine, Ami and Makoto were stopping by for a visit. Makoto was complaining about how her latest boyfriend had left her when Rei excused herself to answer a phone call. She came back a bit flustered.
    Makoto noticed Rei's state immediately. "What's wrong Rei? You look kinda strange."
    "We speak for the first time in more than ten years and she managed to have her way in less than five minutes. How did she do it?" Rei muttered under her breath. She looked up to Makoto. "Somehow, an aunt I hadn't heard from in years managed to rope me into providing lodging for my cousin until he finds a place of his own."
    Makoto looked at Ami, then back to Rei. "Why would he need to stay at the shrine?"
    "He's going to Mizuharo University and he still hasn't found a place to live yet, even though classes start in a few days."
    "What's he like?" asked Makoto, a familiar look to the Senshi coming onto her features: the boyfriend-hunting look.
    "Don't even think about it, Makoto; he's coming along with his fiancee," Rei warned.
    Makoto's shoulders slumped, but Ami's head slowly rose up from the book she was reading. "When's the last time you saw him?"
    "When he was about six years old. He was on a training expedition with his father."
    "What kind of training expedition?"
    "Martial arts training."
    Makoto looked back up. "He's a martial artist too?" She started pouting. "Aww, why can't I ever get the really good ones?..." Suddenly, she stopped and considered something. "Wait a minute... his father was training him in martial arts when he was only six?"
    Rei nodded. "Actually, he probably began learning sooner that that. He had already been on his training trip for some time when he came here."
    "Wasn't that a little... obsessive on his father's part?" inquired a doubtful Ami.
    Rei held up her hands defensively. "Hey, that's only what I remember."
    "When will he arrive here?"
    "He'll be here tomorrow afternoon."
    Makoto looked at Rei. "Is it going to be a problem with our... other activities?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
    Rei waved her off. "It won't really, because he'll only be staying for a little while and he'll be going to university, too. We'll just have to meet elsewhere for a while and be sure to keep quiet around him."
    "Where is he from, anyway?"
    "From Nerima."
    Ami frowned slightly. The Nerima Ward had a history of strangeness that sometimes rivaled Juuban's. She gave a mental shrug and continued reading. Just because Rei's cousin was from there didn't mean he was weird as well.

    Nodoka came back to Ranma and Akane. "It's done! I talked to your cousin and she agreed to let you stay at the Hikawa Shrine. The only thing is that I said Akane was your fiancee instead of your wife."
    Ranma and Akane shrugged in unison. "It doesn't really matter. We weren't exactly planning to tell everyone we meet that we're married," said Ranma. *At least not for the moment.*
    "Just as long as the baka remembers that he is married, of course," added Akane with a hint of her usual temper coming back.
    Ranma rolled his eyes. "How many times will I have to tell you you're the only one for me? We just got married, for goodness' sake!"
    Akane surprised him by landing a wet one on his lips. "I know. I just wanted to be sure you knew, too."
    Ranma blinked, then smiled. *I could get used to this...* he thought.
    Nodoka looked at the two with a smile on her face. "You'd better start getting ready. I told your cousin to expect you tomorrow afternoon."
    "Hai!" they both said.

    Somewhere in Tokyo, a dark-green haired woman looked up from the cup of tea she was nursing. It was time she paid a visit to two Moon cats and a certain individual. Soon, the Senshi would know more about their past.

    She smiled. There was work to be done.

    The final Awakening was beginning.

End Chapter 1

- The Saotome Forbidden Techniques are a dual set of thieving techniques designed by Genma when he was younger. The moves are divided in two main categories: The Yama-sen-ken [Mountain of the 1000 fists] and the Umi-sen-ken [Sea of the 1000 fists]. Both are actually styled in ways similar to attacking a house. The Yama-sen-ken moves are all highly aggressive and violent, like a violent and aggressive thief attacking a house. The Umi-sen-ken are quiet and soft, but more difficult. It's a higher art, like a sneak thief attacking the house at night, while the occupants don't notice.

    In the manga, Genma had "generously" given Ryuu Kumon's father the Yama scroll, to help the Kumon Dojo, which was basically falling apart. However, after practicing on the Dojo itself, Ryuu's dad pulled the building down on top of him. His last words to Ryuu were to find the Umi-sen-ken, with which he believed the restoration of the Kumon Dojo could be possible. Afterwards, Ryuu wandered around, naming himself "Ranma Saotome" (Ranma had doodled his name on the Yama-sen-ken scroll), and happened to save Nodoka one day, and named himself as "Ranma Saotome". Ryuu then stayed at the Saotome house for several days, during which he was naturally challenged by Ranma.

    In a latter fight, Ranma was almost killed by one of Ryuu's attacks, and later demanded that Genma teach him the Umi-sen-ken. Genma briefly showed Ranma some of the moves on Ranma's body, which was enough for Ranma to understand, and then train to perfection the style of the Umi-sen-ken. Meanwhile, Ryuu was close to beating up Nodoka because he thought she had the Umi-sen-ken scrolls - they had been given to her by Genma before he left on the training expedition with Ranma, though Ryuu couldn't bring himself to do anything.
    In the final battle, it was agreed that if Ryuu lost, he would 'seal away' the Yama-sen-ken, while if Ranma lost, Ryuu would get the Umi-sen-ken. Ryuu, hoping to learn the Umi-sen-ken off Ranma, deliberately tried to get Ranma to attack him with them, which Ranma did so. However, Ryuu could not follow the moves, and on Ranma's first attack, he found himself lying on the ground in pain.
    The battle ended with Ryuu literally buried in a large mound of dirt.

    This wonderful synopsis was a courtesy of Chris Rijk. For more information, consult the Ranma FAQ at http://www.wot-club.org.uk/RanmaFAQ/

Chapter 2

    Hotaru Tomoe was depressed. Since Chibi-Usa had gone back to the future, she had lost the only friend who was close to her. Sure, Haruka, Michiru and Setsuna were far from bad company, but they were *much* older than she was. Besides, they had other things to worry about than play baby-sitter to a thirteen year-old girl who could easily level the planet.
    She missed her brother.
    Following her rebirth, Hotaru had grown up at a phenomenal rate, though she still ended up smaller than the others (much to her constant annoyance). Only this time, she remembered things from her days in the Silver Millennium, 1500 years ago. Among other things, how everyone had different names back then; Serenity, Endymion... One of the things she now remembered was that she had had an older brother, named Kanma. She remembered...

    <Silver Millennium, 1500 years ago>

    Princess Verika was watching her older brother Kanma work the forge. Prince Kanma, the eldest son of the Royal Family of Saturn, was an odd person. He was not only a prince, but also a mid-level mage. That, in itself, wasn't strange at all since there were lots of people who knew how to use magic. What was unusual was his choice of pastime, which in his case was smithing. Kanma was quite skilled at it; he could spend hours at a time in a forge coming up with a tool or the occasional weapon. Sometimes, he infused the resulting weapon with his magic. Such weapons were highly sought after, but Kanma did not make too many of them, since he was not particularly motivated in making weapons; what appealed to him was working the forge. He kept saying pounding things made him relax. He had black hair, tied in a braid and muscles that made more than one man jealous.
    The ladies of the Saturn court thought that Kanma's royal blood, looks and magic skills made him a prize catch. Kanma was quite aware of the situation, but he had yet to find a woman he liked. He thought the court ladies were far too sweet-tempered (this, of course, greatly annoyed his parents, since he was of marrying age).
    "Did you hear the news?" Verika asked with a look of anticipation on her face.
    "What news?" asked Kanma, somewhat amused by his younger sister's antics. "The healers finally said that you were going to gain another inch after all?" He briefly turned towards the forge and whispered a low-level spell to keep the forge's heat up.
    Verika scowled. "I can't help it if I'm short, okay!?" she said testily. The look of anticipation quickly came back, though. "What I'm talking about is the nominations of Sailors Terra and Saturn! The Royal Seer said that the girl who becomes Sailor Saturn would know it because the sigil will appear on her forehead today!"
    "Don't tell me you want to be Sailor Saturn?" said Kanma incredulously, letting his hammer rest beside the forge.
    Verika was a bit miffed at her brother's comment. "Why not? Sailor Saturn is supposed to have great healing powers. I'd very much like to be a great healer."
    Kanma shook his head. "You've never bothered to read the prophecies, have you?"
    "What prophecies?"
    Kanma took on a lecturing tone. "Many things have been said about the legendary Sailor Saturn." Nodding towards his sister, he continued: "The prophecies do say she is supposed to be a great healer, but the very fact that she will be chosen means other things."
    "Like what?" asked Verika, leaning forward.
    "It's said that Saturn would have more than enough power to wipe out an entire planet if she chose to. It's also said that she would only awaken in time to fight off the Moon Kingdom's greatest threat."
    Verika paled a little and Kanma nodded. "Do you see now? Even though Sailor Saturn is fabled to have wondrous healing abilities, she is generally portrayed in the prophecies as The Bringer Of Silence or as The Destroyer, not the Healer. Sorry to disillusion you like that little sister, but you should be careful what you wish for. Besides, don't forget there are several other girls in the Royal Family who could be chosen to become Sailor Saturn, just like you." After a bit, he added, under his breath: "I'm just glad I'm a guy, so I can't be chosen."
    Verika, now uncomfortable, changed the subject. "What about Sailor Terra?"
    Kanma snorted. "No contest there. It's old news all over the kingdoms that it's Earth Prince Endymion's sister, Princess Akana, who will be Sailor Terra. It's always a princess of a planet's Royal Family who becomes a Sailor Senshi and the current Sailor Terra, or should I say Elder Terra, is certain it will be Akana. It's rumored that she will be the strongest Senshi next to Saturn."
    Verika nodded absently. She had had a chance to meet Princess Akana, once before, in a diplomatic meeting. She wasn't bad-looking, although she had a tendency to act like a tomboy at times...

    Later that day, the sigil of Saturn appeared on Princess Verika's forehead and her life was changed forever.

    <Back to the Present>

    Hotaru's reminiscing was interrupted by the sound of the apartment's front door being opened. She got up and looked towards the door, where Haruka and Michiru were already taking off their coats.
    "So how was the concert, Michiru-mama?" asked Hotaru.
    "It was all right," Michiru replied.
    Haruka grinned and put an arm around Michiru's neck. "She means it went perfect as usual." Haruka then gave her a playful kiss.
    Hotaru sighed. It was a strange relationship between those two, but at least they had each other. She, on the other hand, didn't have anyone close to her.
    Hotaru gave herself a mental shake. She had to stop whining to herself like that. Suddenly, she noticed something, or rather someone, was missing. "Hey, where's Setsuna-mama?"
    "She said she had some business to attend to," said Haruka. "And you know from experience that if she doesn't want to tell us, she won't." She shook her head. "For all we know, she's removed herself from the time stream again and the Kami only knows when she'll be back."

    In a rare moment of peace, Luna and Artemis were asleep, while the girls were all out shopping, so they never noticed the Guardian Of Time stealthily walking up to them. Sailor Pluto silently raised the Time Staff and a tiny beam of light shot from the Garnet Orb to the cats' crescent moons. Their crescents shined, but the felines merely stirred and stayed asleep.
    A ghost of a smile touched Pluto's lips. *At least now, Luna and Artemis will be able to deal with Mamoru and the others' questions. Their memories will come back gradually.* The Guardian slowly shook her head. *I doubt they realize just how hard awakening Terra will be, but they will need her power in the times to come.*
    A swirling portal opened behind Pluto and she stepped inside it, disappearing into thin air. She had one more person whose memory she had to help jog a little. Someone who had a sister... or a brother, depending on how you looked at it.

    Akane had fallen asleep early. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, the stress related to her wedding had taken its toll on her. They had agreed to sleep apart for this night because they didn't want to be tempted by anything that would require... exertion; they needed to leave early the following morning. Besides, she knew how their fathers were; they were very capable of trying to get it on film (if Nabiki didn't try it first).
    She settled for dreaming of Ranma, how they had finally admitted that they loved each other and how they would spend the rest of their days together. But gradually, the dream became something else; images she had never seen or imagined before were floating in her mind. Strangely, the face of a young girl she had never seen before often repeated itself. The girl sometimes wore an ornate old-fashioned dress and sometimes what looked like an ridiculously abbreviated sailor suit. The strangest thing of all was that she felt some kind of kinship to the girl, but she didn't know exactly what.
    Soon, the images disappeared and she dreamt of Ranma again.

    In his room, Ranma had his own dreams. He dreamt of college and of his marriage to Akane, how he would make sure she was happy for the rest of their lives. And like Akane, his dreams drifted to those of a young girl whose face he could not see. He saw a silhouette of the girl running and somehow, he knew her. He knew that inexplicably, he had once been, and still was, closely bound to this girl. Suddenly, her face cleared...

    ...and he was rudely awakened by an oversized panda who nearly crushed him. Ranma cursed silently. *Damn! it's the third time in three days I've had this weird dream and at last I was this damn close to figuring who the hell that girl is.* Ranma got up and walked to the window and looked out at the starry sky. *I thought I had that dream because of pre-wedding jitters, but now I'm not so sure...* He smiled and snorted softly. *Huh... If it gets worse, maybe I can always ask Rei about the dream. Maybe her priestess training might help.*
    Ranma yawned and went back to sleep and to his dreams of Akane.

    The following morning, Ranma and Akane had what would probably be their last meal at the Tendo Dojo for a long while. For the occasion, Kasumi and Nodoka had prepared a such a feast that even Genma and Ranma could not eat everything (and perhaps most surprising of all, a smiling Akane not passing a single comment on her new husband's eating habits). Afterwards, Ranma and Akane finished packing their belongings and prepared themselves to take the train.

    Then came the tearful good-byes.

    "Take good care of yourselves, okay?" Kasumi hugged her youngest sister.
    "We will, I promise," answered Akane.
    "If you need a loan, don't hesitate to call me, okay? I have special rates for family," said Nabiki with a sad smile on her lips.
    "Uh... we will, Nabiki," said Ranma.
    "Nabiki, it's not so bad," chided Akane. "We'll probably see each other at the university."
    "That's true."
    "Oh my daughter is growing up! She's married and going to college!" Soun wailed.
    Ranma extricated himself from the knot of Tendo sisters and walked to his parents.
    "Be sure to tell your cousin Rei that we're grateful for what she's doing," Genma said, a proud smile on his lips. "And try to keep your curse a secret, if possible."
    Ranma chuckled: "It's not as if I want everyone to know about the curse, Pop. It's just that sometimes, it's like Akane says: I'm a water magnet; you should know it better than most. As for Rei, I'll be sure to be careful around her. Still, we won't see much of each other; we'll only see each other at the shrine, remember?"
    "Still, do try to remember to be polite with her, son," said Nodoka.
    Genma cut in. "What does it matter, son? Just be sure to keep up your training and come to visit us once in a while, okay?"
    Ranma cast aside thoughts of his cousin. "Yeah, sure!" he said. "We'll come back as often as we can, I promise."
    Akane approached Ranma and put her hand on his shoulder. "It's time to go if we want to catch the train, Ranma."
    Ranma nodded and soon, the two newlyweds were on their way to the train station.

    Mamoru was sitting in the train, reading a magazine on the strange and unusual. He chuckled softly. One of the magazine's top stories this month was the popular mystery of the Sailor Senshi. As he read the article, however, one passage caught his attention:

    "... another one of the mysteries concerning the Sailor Senshi is that every planet in our solar system has a Senshi named after it, except for Earth, where, oddly enough, the Senshi, who happens to be the leader of the group, is named after the planet's satellite. Is there or has there ever been a Sailor Earth? What about the mysterious Sailor V? Was she related to this group? Only the Senshi could answer these questions, and they have never been known to stay around for interviews."

    Mamoru closed the magazine and put it back on the tray where he had found it. A Sailor Earth? The name sounded wrong somehow. Unwittingly, he found his thoughts drifting back to the girl in his dreams while the speakers warned people that the next stop was Nerima station...

    Ranma and Akane boarded the train along with other passengers. Moving inside the car, Ranma caught a magazine on a tray, as did Akane. They found seats across from a handsome young man in his early twenties who looked preoccupied by something. For a moment, Ranma thought the man was staring at him and Akane, but when he looked up from his reading, he found the man looking away. Ranma shrugged and went back to reading an article on a group of mysterious girls calling themselves the Sailor Senshi...

    Mamoru was still zoned out when two young people sat in front of him. When he looked up, he couldn't help but stare at them in puzzlement. He didn't understand, but the young man seemed very familiar, somehow... almost like...
    He quickly changed the focus of his gaze, when he saw the young man lifting his head. Luckily, the young man didn't pursue the matter any further and went back to his reading. Mamoru looked out the window and started thinking about Usagi, who had promised she would be waiting at the train station.

    Minako (minus Artemis) and Ami arrived at the train station. They weren't really surprised to see that Usagi and Luna were already there; Usagi had probably arrived here a long time ago, since Mamoru's train was due back in less than fifteen minutes. They were surprised, however, to see Hotaru.
    "Hotaru-chan! What are you doing here?" exclaimed Minako.
    Hotaru turned towards the voice. "Minako! Well, I was bored sitting around Haruka and Michiru's apartment doing nothing, so I decided to come here with Usagi to greet Mamoru when he comes back."
    Minako nodded. "That makes quite a few of us to greet him then."
    "Where's Artemis?" inquired Hotaru, purple eyes searching for the white cat.
    "He stayed home," said Minako. "He said he didn't like places where there are too many people who might step on him." Luna gave a loud sniff from where she was standing.
    Ami looked up from yet another book she was reading. "Say, isn't Rei's cousin supposed to arrive on this train as well?"
    "Cousin?" Usagi, Hotaru and Minako exclaimed in unison. Luna wisely refrained from saying the same thing out loud, seeing as they were in a public place, but her face clearly showed surprise as well.
    Ami spent the next few minutes explaining that Rei would be housing her cousin and his fiancee at the Hikawa Shrine for the next few days.
    While Minako was clearly disappointed he wasn't single, Usagi and Hotaru wondered what Rei's cousin would be like. Luna bore a look that promised further questioning when they were in private.
    Hotaru spoke up: "Why didn't Rei come by to welcome him?"
    "She told me she had special shrine duties today, since her grandfather left with Yuuichiro yesterday," Ami answered. "Anyway, she said her cousin had the address of the shrine, so he shouldn't have any problems finding it on his own."
    "What does he look like, anyway?" asked Minako. "We could always accompany him to the shrine instead of letting him go there on his own."
    Ami thought for a second. "Rei didn't tell me or Makoto, because she says she was too young to clearly remember what he looked like the last time she saw him. I don't think she could have given us a decent description even if she had wanted to."
    "Do you at least know his name?"
    Ami looked sheepish. "I didn't ask."
    Usagi broke into an eager smile. "We'll see what he looks like later! The train is arriving!"
    The others sighed good-naturedly. Several things had changed in the last few weeks, but Usagi was still single-mindedly obsessed with her "Mamo-chan."

    The train pulled into the station and people started flowing out. It wasn't long before Mamoru got out of the train.
    "Mamo-chan!" Usagi cried, running into Mamoru's arms. "I've missed you so much!"
    "I've missed you too, Usako."
    While Usagi was busy gushing all over Mamoru, the other girls looked at the other passengers. Minako was trying to spot herself a hunk and she soon found one. A muscular young man, looking slightly older than her, who was wearing loose black pants and a red Chinese shirt. His wild black hair was tied down in a pigtail-style braid. *I'm in love!* Minako told herself.
    She nudged Ami, and even Hotaru. "Hey girls, look at the major hunk over there! Isn't he gorgeous?"
    Ami looked where Minako was pointing, looked around the boy and quickly brought her friend back to Earth. "Look right behind him, Minako. I think he's already taken."
    Minako shook herself out of her dreams and realized there was a girl holding his hand. A girl who bore a faint resemblance to Ami, at that. "Awww, it's not fair," she pouted.
    Hotaru wasn't merely looking at them. She was staring at them. *Masaka! He... she... they look so much like...* she shook herself. *You're imagining things, Hotaru. Neither of them could be alive today. They both died before the end of the Silver Millennium. Besides, the genders are all...*
    Suddenly, something beeped urgently in Ami's purse. Startled, Ami took out her computer compact and her eyes widened. She grabbed Usagi's shoulder and turned her around.
    "Usagi! My computer's detected a... " She was interrupted as a wall suddenly caved in and a monster made its appearance.

    "WWRRRRAAGGHHHHHHH!!!!"

    "...daimon nearby," she finished weakly.
    Usagi cursed under her breath. She thought they were finished with this. They had not had a monster attack in over a month and a half. Much to Luna and the other girls' surprise, Usagi's grades had picked up strength during that short time. Usagi said it was because she was no longer interrupted by constant monster attacks. The girls had been inclined to believe her.
    And now, the attacks were starting up again. Damn.
    "All right," she said, her face darkening. "Let's find a place to transform and thrash that thing..."
    Usagi got no further when all hell broke loose.

Chapter 3

    Ranma and Akane had gotten off the train and were looking for the exit. Akane noted with some amusement that the young man who had been sitting across them in the train was being hugged to death by a girl with uncannily long meatball-type ponytails. She frowned when her subconscious decided to replace the young man with Ranma and the girl with Shampoo.
    She blinked. *Get a grip on yourself, Akane!* she berated herself. *Ranma's married to you now. There's nothing to fear from Shampoo.*
    She was quickly brought back to her senses when a growling monster burst through a wall.

    Ranma was getting off the train and he was still thinking about the article he'd read on the Sailor Senshi. According to the magazine, there had been a rash of monsters in this part of Tokyo, but the Senshi usually took care of them. What he couldn't figure out, though, was why his mind wouldn't let go of the Senshi's images. Why did they seem so familiar?
    He was rudely interrupted by a monster who made its presence known by smashing through a wall sending people screaming for their lives. He stared blankly at the rampaging monster for about half a second before he took a ready stance.
    "I thought I left that kind of crap in Nerima..." he muttered. He quickly shoved Akane towards a knot of girls to keep her out of danger.

    Akane quickly found herself shoved towards a group of girls. She managed to slow down before could ram into a girl with long, loose blonde hair. Akane turned around to see Ranma approaching the monster.
    "What's he doing?!" shouted the girl she'd almost collided with.
    Akane let out a sigh. "The baka's probably going to fight it. As usual."
    A little girl with oddly familiar purple eyes spoke up: "He... he can't possibly mean to fight a daimon alone, can he?"
    No one answered as the girls looked on, completely forgetting to transform.

    *God that thing is ugly,* thought Ranma absently. *Even Pantyhose's cursed form is better-looking.* The monster looked roughly like an insect, complete with a shell, clawed limbs and a collection of eyes of various sizes. The main difference was that it was standing on two thick legs and it was using its four other limbs to inflict damage. It also stood around seven feet tall.
    Ranma was suddenly shaken out of "analysis mode" when the daimon suddenly grabbed someone by the throat with one its claws and lifted the person off the floor. At that moment, Ranma lost any regrets he might have had about hurting the creature. He was about to fire a Mouko Takabisha when fresh memories of the Forbidden Techniques floated to mind. *Let's see if I can get them right this time!* he thought. He quickly called out a Yama-sen-ken technique: "KIJIN RAISHUU DAN!" The vacuum chi-blast sliced through the limb that was holding the person up.
The daimon roared in pain as the person dropped to the floor and scurried away. It turned to look at Ranma and charged him with two of its remaining claws. Ranma waited until the monster was within range and let out an ear-deafening kiai. The startled monster slowed just enough for Ranma to divert the incoming limbs to each side of him, while he himself stayed in the monster's path. "MOUKO KAIMON HA!" Ranma shouted, hitting the daimon in the face with a chi-charged kick. The daimon's head snapped back with a loud crunching noise. It suddenly stood still.
    Ranma thought the monster dead at this point and turned around to see if Akane was still alright. He saw her near a group of girls, but he also unfortunately saw Luna, which caused him to freeze. The monster, however, was not dead and chose this particular moment to hit Ranma with all its remaining strength into a brick wall. It then decided it had had enough and tried to get away.

    Akane had been watching Ranma fight and paled when she saw the monster throw Ranma into a wall. "I've got to help him!" was all she said.
    Mamoru, Usagi, Minako, Ami, Hotaru and Luna all took a step back and could not help but stare in surprise when the girl pulled out a massive hammer out of nowhere and ran towards the monster. They were all so stunned that they never noticed the sigil of Earth flickering faintly on Mamoru's forehead for a few seconds.

    Akane saw the wounded monster trying to get away and quickly intercepted it. "Not so fast," she hissed, her chi-powered mallet at the ready. The monster, already gravely wounded from Ramna's assualt, tried to toss her out of the way. However, the attack not only missed by a wide margin, but was also countered with an upward swing from Akane which would have made a professional baseball player proud, sending it flying back towards Ranma.
    If anything, his collision with the wall had quickly brought back Ranma to his senses. Digging himself out of the rubble he was about to start after it when he saw Akane punt it right back his way, courtesy of Mallet Airlines. He grinned and cupped his hands. "MOUKO TAKABISHA!" he cried, releasing a massive chi-blast that struck the monster in mid-air, effectively stopping its course.
    The monster's charred remains hit the floor, where they promptly turned to ash.
    "Nice swing Akane," commented Ranma offhandedly while dusting himself off.
    "It disappeared just like that?" wondered Akane out loud, before returning her mallet to hammerspace. "What was that thing, anyway?"
    Ranma pulled out the magazine he'd been reading in the train and gave it to Akane. "I read about it in the train. Apparently, monsters attack this part of Tokyo on a regular basis." He sighed, then chuckled: "And I thought we were done with this kind of stuff we moved out of Nerima."
    Akane frowned. "I hope this doesn't happen too often. Who usually deals with those things anyway? The police?"
    Ranma flipped the pages of the magazine and pointed to a blurry picture in which you could barely distinguish five young girls in rather skimpy outfits. "Apparently, they do. They call themselves the Sailor Senshi..."

    While Akane and Ranma were discussing the topic further, Minako, Usagi, Ami and Mamoru were alternating between staring at Ranma and Akane and giving each other nervous looks. Hotaru, however, was watching them intently, as if she was trying to figure out a puzzle.
    "What the hell just happened, Ami?" asked a bewildered Minako.
    Ami soon found herself under close scrutiny when everyone turned towards her. "Why are you asking me? I know as much about this as you do!"
    "Well, you are usually the one who comes up with an answer," replied Usagi matter-of-factly.
    Luna looked clearly stunned. She started scratching Usagi's socks to get her attention. Usagi looked down and quickly deduced from her guardian cat's face that she wanted to speak as soon as possible.
    "They're leaving!" said Mamoru.
    In a rare moment of self-control, Usagi started to move towards the two. "Come on! We have to find out who they are!"
    The two teenagers had left through the exit, with Usagi close on their heels. When Usagi went through the gate, however, she was met with an empty street. "Where did they go?" she wondered out loud.

    Akane and Ranma finished their conversation when they noticed that the few people who hadn't left the station in fear were staring at them. Then the whispers began.
    Ranma looked around him and decided it wouldn't be a good idea to stay here for long. He tugged Akane's sleeve. "Akane, I think we'd better bail out of here. I think we may have made too much of an impression already and what's worse, I think I saw a cat earlier. I don't want to stay here if there is a cat around," he said nervously.
    Akane frowned and gave Ranma an annoyed look. *Again with his stupid fear of cats!* Akane sighed. *I wish there was a way to cure him of that.* She then looked around and saw that people were starting to throw strange looks at them. She heard mutters of "youmas", "monsters" and "Sailor Senshi". She nodded to Ranma, and as soon as they made their way through the exit with their luggage, they jumped up and kept themselves to the rooftops.

    As the girls were leaving the station, the questions started flying again. "All right, first things first," said an uncharacteristically serious Usagi. "Ami, what exactly was that monster, anyway? We haven't had one of those for a long time, now."
    "According to my computer, it was a daimon," answered Ami. "Probably a reject from a leftover daimon egg. I'm surprised that it lived this long without us detecting it."
    "And now for the 100,000 yen question: What do you have on the guy who trashed it?" asked Minako.
    "He's quite human, if that's what you want to know. I got a few readings on him since I inadvertently left my computer opened when the daimon attacked."
    "So let's hear it," said Luna in a hushed voice.
    "Well, what you saw at the train station practically speaks for itself. First of all, he's incredibly fast and agile. I'm passably sure his speed and strength rival or even surpass our own in our Senshi forms. He must have a great tolerance to injuries, too, since being slammed in the wall merely stunned him for an instant."
    "What about the energy ball he threw?" asked Usagi.
    Ami sighed and started walking again. "The computer didn't have enough time to gather enough readings for that. I'm sorry, Usagi."
    "The way he cut off the daimons's arms... Ugh! I don't ever wanna get on his bad side," commented Minako, shivering slightly. "But I don't think we should forget what the girl did either. How many girls do you know pull out giant hammers out of nowhere and are strong enough to punt daimons around like baseballs?"
    Usagi noticed Mamoru shaking his head.
    "What's wrong, Mamo-chan?" she asked worriedly.
    "They were in the train with me all this time; they were sitting straight in front of me and I didn't notice a single thing..." But Mamoru's voice had taken an uncertain tone by the end of the sentence.
    "Out with it, Mamoru", said Minako, noticing it. "What is it?"
    Mamoru looked thoughtful. "It's probably nothing, but the guy looked very familiar for some reason. I can't help but wonder if I've seen him before somewhere."
    Hotaru, who had been silent up to now, suddenly became aware of the conversation. "You too, Mamoru-san?!"
    Everyone stopped walking and looked at both of them. Mamoru and Hotaru were looking at each other.
    "Where do you think you know him from?" asked Hotaru first.
    "I've been having strange dreams for the past few days. It's in the days of the Moon Kingdom. I'm wearing my armor as Prince Endymion and this girl is running towards me, but I never quite clearly see her face; only shadows. When I saw that guy, I immediately started thinking about that girl." He passed a hand through his hair. "I don't really know why I should connect the both of them in the first place."
    Hotaru looked at Mamoru with what seemed like pity in her eyes. "You don't remember her, do you?"
    Mamoru felt a chill run through his spine. "Remember who?"
    "I know who the guy reminds you of, Mamoru. Except for his hair color, he looks exactly like what your younger sister would've looked like had she been born a man."
    Mamoru froze in shock. Sister?... He had a *sister*? Was the girl in his dream his sister?... "I had a sister?..." he said weakly. He turned to Luna. "Why was I never told I had a sister?!" he asked in a tone that was rapidly rising towards that of anger.
    Luna found herself flinching under Mamoru's angry gaze. The worst thing was that for some reason, she now knew about Akana, something she knew she hadn't known even yesterday. It was quite disconcerting. How was she supposed to explain to Mamoru that she had just now remembered about his sister?
    Fortunately, Hotaru quickly came to Luna's rescue before the black cat had to explain herself. "Mamoru, there's no guarantee that she did know about Akana. Her and Artemis' memories are a bit swiss-cheesed, remember?"
    Mamoru turned to her, his cold anger fading in the light of Hotaru's argument. "Then how is it you know?" he asked.
    "When I was reborn after the Pharaoh 90 incident, I grew up again extremely fast, but this time, I had most of my memories of the Moon Kingdom." Hotaru hesitated before continuing. "There's also the fact that I don't think your sister was reborn in this time like us, Mamoru." Seeing his questioning look, she went on: "Akana and I became the Sailors Terra and Saturn on the same day; we were the last Senshi to be nominated. Akana was supposed to be the strongest Senshi next to myself, but she mysteriously disappeared at roughly the same time Metallia attacked. I don't know what happened to her. If she had been reincarnated, we would have met her already, I'm sure of it."
    "How?" asked Mamoru intently. "How can you be sure we just havent found her yet?"
    "Because I was always supposed to be the last one to Awaken. The Senshi of Saturn only Awakens if all else fails. Sailor Terra would have Awakened before me, and if she had Awakened, she would have been drawn to Usagi." Hotaru paused for an instant, then continued again. "As for me, I was sent to train far away in the system because everyone had become afraid of me, of what I meant. The fact that there was no Elder Saturn didn't make things any easier for my training. People were afraid of Saturn, the Bringer of Silence... the Dark Messiah. They were all afraid, save Serenity, the Senshi and my brother." She gave a bitter smile. "The real irony of it all is that as it turns out, they sent me to train so far I couldn't come back in time to destroy Metallia when she launched her attack. The Silver Millennium passed away because it was afraid of the one who was supposed to be its protector."
    Minako found her voice first, although Hotaru did not expect the question: "You had a brother?"
    Hotaru looked sad for a moment. "I had several sisters, but, I only had one brother. His name was Kanma and he was one of the rare people who didn't flinch when speaking to me after I became Saturn. That's the other thing I find strange in all of this: if I didn't know any better, I would swear that the girl was my reincarnated brother."
    "Why do you think she's your reincarnated brother?" asked Luna.
    Hotaru looked down to Luna with a small smile for an instant: "You probably wouldn't understand, but it has something to do with the way she handled that hammer of hers. Kanma was a smith, so he was always using hammers; he used to say pounding things made him relax. She looks so much like he did... but I gave up hope of my brother being reborn a long time ago," she finished with a sad look.
    "How can you be so sure?" asked Usagi, who had not taken her hand away from Mamoru's shoulder since Hotaru's revelation. "My mother managed to send a lot of people to the future when she used the Ginzuishou to seal Metallia away. How can you be sure your brother wasn't one of them?"
    Sad purple eyes looked up at the sky. "Back in the days of the Silver Millennium, every planet in the system had its own population. The planets were made viable thanks to the Ginzuishou. I was on my way back from out-system to report on the progress of my training when I felt a massive disruption in the magical fields that kept the planets viable. I rushed back to the Moon, fearing the worst, but I was too late. The Crystal Palace had been destroyed and Silver Millennium had been Silenced... without my help," she added bitterly. "After that, I immediately went to Saturn, to try and see if there were any survivors, but there were none. Everything had been destroyed. The worst part is that it looked like the destruction was old, compared to everywhere else. Metallia's troops had likely attacked Saturn before they attacked the Moon, in fear that they would have to fight me. By killing me first, no one would have been left to stop them, but it turns out they didn't even have to fight me. The Royal Palace was nothing but ashes; there wasn't a single soul left alive. My brother was a skilled mage, but he could never have survived long enough to be sent into the future."
    Everyone was silent out of respect for a while, digesting the new information.

    Further along the way, Ranma and Akane got back down from the rooftops after being sure nobody had followed them from the train station.
    "I hope you're not planning on doing this on a regular basis, Ranma. I really don't appreciate all the attention."
    "Kinda strange, isn't it?" Ranma replied over his shoulder. "In Nerima, Ryoga and I destroyed a lot of things each time we fought and no one ever looked twice."
    "They did look twice," Akane replied. "They were just too afraid of doing anything about it."
    Ranma raised an eyebrow, but let the matter drop. They soon arrived in front of a Shinto temple.
    "This is the place!" said Ranma. He looked at Akane, took her hand and went inside the gates.

End Chapter 3

Yama-sen-ken techniques from the manga (again, thanks Chris Rijk!):

Mouko Kaimon Ha [Fierce Tiger Crashing Through Gates]: Right after shouting "Don't move!" very loudly, Ryuu strikes at Ranma, throwing both arms in a curving motion away from him (a bit like roughly pushing through two doors) and kicks him at the same time.
Kijin Raishuu Dan [Demon God Assault Bomb]: Ryuu practices this move on a 5m high solid rock/metal Buddha, breaking it into large slices with thrown chi-blades formed by pulling one's hands away so fast is forms a vacuum. It's Ryuu's favorite attack.

Chapter 4

Makoto had just come back from the market when she decided she was bored. Among all the Senshi, Makoto was perhaps the only one who missed the occasional fight with a youma, daimon, or whatever they periodically fought. Before she became a Senshi, Makoto used to release her frustrations on people around her, which resulted in her being expelled from different schools on a regular basis. As Sailor Jupiter, Makoto had found a way to use channel her destructive temper into a constructive fashion, namely electrocuting youmas. It had been several weeks since the defeat of Pharaoh 90 at the hands of Sailor Saturn, and very few monsters had reared their ugly heads since then. As a result, Makoto had been feeling bored recently, not that she would admit it to the others, especially not Usagi...
    She looked at the time. *Mamoru probably arrived at the train station a while ago*. Not knowing what else to do, she decided to go see Rei at the Hikawa Shrine, remembering yesterday's conversation. If she was lucky, she might get to meet Rei's mysterious cousin before everyone else.
    She let out a small sigh. The moment she had heard Rei's cousin was a martial artist, she had gotten her hopes up, but said hopes had taken a brutal nosedive when she learned that Rei's cousin was coming with his fiancee.
    Shaking her head away from such thoughts, she left her apartment, locking the door behind her and headed in the direction of the Hikawa Shrine. After a moderate walk, she arrived in view of the gates to the Shrine and saw two people going in. One of them was a young black-haired, pig-tailed man, wearing a red Chinese shirt and loose black pants and the other was a black-haired girl, wearing a yellow dress and a sky-blue blouse. They were both carrying suitcases with them. Maybe he was Rei's mysterious cousin.

    Ranma and Akane pushed open the gates and went inside the grounds. They looked around and saw the steps leading to the shrine itself. Seeing no one around, they decided to climb them and halted when they neared the top.
    "Rei? Are you here? It's me, Ranma!" he called out.
    A girl came out of the shrine, a look of anticipation on her face. She had long, raven-black hair that went down her waist and she was clad in traditional Shinto priestess robes.
    "Ranma?" she said, blinking, all the while looking shocked for a few seconds. "Is that you?"
    "What? Don't you even remember me, Rei?" answered Ranma with a smile on his lips.
    Rei seemed to stare at Ranma for a few seconds, but quickly put herself together. "It's been a long time, Ranma. Welcome to the Hikawa Shrine."
    "Thank you for your hospitality," Ranma replied politely. "Rei, may I introduce you to Akane Saotome, my wife."
    Akane bowed in response. "I would like to thank you for your hospitality, Rei-san."
    Rei, too stunned for words, merely nodded. She had not even tried to hide the double-take she did at that statement. Ranma and Akane had a somewhat sheepish look on their faces.
    "Rei is fine," she said, turning to Akane. "You're... married?" Rei managed to get out, despite her surprise. "But... Aunt Nodoka said you were coming with a fiancee, not a wife!"
    "She probably didn't want to freak you out," Ranma said, trying to avoid an embarrassing scene.
    "When did you get married?" Rei asked.
    "Err, yesterday," answered Ranma, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible (and failing miserably).
    Rei stared at him for a couple of seconds more, than mentally shrugged. *Usagi and Mamoru are as good as married and Usagi is younger than he is, so why not them?*
    "Come on, I'll show you around the shrine grounds," she said.
    "Do you mind if I tag along on the guest tour, Rei-chan?"
    Rei, Ranma and Akane turned around to see Makoto, standing in the shrine's doorway.
    "Mako-chan!" Rei said in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
    Ranma and Akane finally got a good look at the unexpected visitor: a very tall girl with long, flowing brown hair tied back in a ponytail. She had a simple green dress on that complimented her... substantial features well.
    Rei turned to Ranma and Akane. "Ranma, Akane, this is Makoto Kino, a very good friend of mine."
    Makoto gave a polite bow, which was returned by the two Nerimites.
    Rei repeated her question. "What are you doing here, Mako-chan? I thought you would have gone with Usagi and the others to greet Mamoru at the train station."
    "I just came back from grocery shopping," replied Makoto. "By the time I came back, the train would probably have arrived a long time ago. In fact, the other girls and Mamoru are probably on their way here."
    "Then they're probably not far behind." said Rei. She turned to Ranma. "You know, if I remember correctly, you were on the same train as Mamoru. Which reminds me, I hope nothing bad happened on your way here?"
    Ranma looked pensive for a second. "The trip was fine. There was a fight at the train station, but that's all."
    Rei looked a bit surprised. "What kind of fight?" she asked.
    Akane decided to jump in before Ranma could put a foot in his mouth. For some reason, she felt she did not want Ranma to say that they had trashed a monster. It would probably just upset Rei; after all, young Shinto priestesses didn't deal with monsters on a regular basis, right? "Someone started a fight inside the train station and got kicked out," she answered. *It's not a lie, it's just not the whole truth* she told herself. With that, she subtly pinched Ranma's arm to warn him against saying more.
    Ranma looked sideways at Akane with a slightly puzzled look. "Nothing I couldn't have handled if it had come down to it," he finished, looking back at Rei.
    "You think you're that good a martial artist?" asked Makoto.
    "I don't think I am. I know I am," said Ranma with a hint of arrogance in his voice.
    Akane winced. Rei and Makoto each raised an eyebrow and looked questioningly at Akane.
    Akane shook her head. "Ranma is good, but he has a small ego problem as well."
    Ranma suddenly looked miffed about Akane's comment.
    "Well," said Rei, unwittingly defusing a potential scene, "let me show you around the shrine, okay?"
    "Lead the way," Ranma and Akane chorused.
    "Wow. Replies in stereo, too? You two are definitely made for each other," said Makoto with a smile, dealing in her own way with the disappointment she'd felt when she'd overheard Rei's surprised comment about Ranma's marriage.
    Meanwhile, Ranma and Akane blushed slightly at Makoto's comment. They knew they should be used to it by now, but coming from a relative stranger (a younger girl, no less, despite Makoto's deceptive physical appearance)...
    Rei raised an eyebrow at the blush. "You'll have to excuse Makoto. She's an incurable romantic."
    It was now Makoto's turn to look miffed. "Hey, I'm just searching for the right soulmate, that's all!"
    Rei rolled her eyes. "A soulmate who happens to look like your old sempai, right?"
    Makoto frowned, but said nothing.
    Rei motioned Akane and Ranma to follow her. "Come on, Ranma. Time to give you the guided tour."

    And so it went, Ranma, Akane and Makoto following Rei as she showed them around the Shrine. They eventually reached the small courtyard outside. Ranma looked around and smiled.
    "Rei, at what time do you usually get up?" Ranma asked.
    "Around six o'clock. I have various duties to perform before I go to school. Why?"
    "Would there be a problem if I used the courtyard to practice my martial arts each morning? I need to keep in shape, even if I attend university."
    "I don't think there will be any problems," replied Rei. "I'll have to ask Grandfather about it, but I don't think he'll mind."
    "Where is grandpa anyway?" asked Ranma. "I haven't seen him yet."
    "He and Yuuichiro, who, by the way, is an apprentice who also lives here, left yesterday to visit holy grounds outside the city. They'll either be back tomorrow or the day after," replied the raven-haired priestess. "And for the final stop of the tour, something I guess I should have showed you earlier: the guest room."
    Ranma and Akane went back to get their luggage, which they had left at the entrance, and followed Rei. She led them to a large room where two futons had obviously been recently installed.
    "You sure don't seem to have a lot of luggage for two university students who want to live in an apartment," observed Makoto.
    "We only have the basic stuff for a few days. Once we find an apartment, we'll send for the rest," replied Akane.
    "There's only one guest room, so you'll have to bunk in the same room. I hope you don't mind," said Rei.
    Ranma and Akane looked at each other questioningly, then back at Rei. "Why should we mind, Rei? We're married, remember?" said Akane.
    Rei suddenly remembered what Ranma had said earlier and blushed slightly. "Yes, well, I didn't know that yesterday..." she trailed off.
    Makoto suddenly had a wicked gleam in her eye as she saw a golden opportunity for a little payback. "Maybe you should bunk the futons closer together, Rei. After all, they're newlyweds..."
    Rei suddenly burned beet red, thinking about the possible implications of what Makoto had just said. Rei turned towards Ranma and Akane, whose faces were also in the process of acquiring a healthy shade of red. Seeing them blush as well, Rei immediately panicked and jumped to conclusions. "NO, please! Don't do that here!... I mean... err..." Rei stuttered.
    Makoto couldn't help laughing out loud at Rei's predicament. The brunette turned to Akane and Ranma and apologized: "Sorry, I just couldn't help myself. Seeing Rei squirm is a rare sight and I couldn't pass this up." *Not to mention revenge for making fun of my sempai,* she added silently.
    "You are dead, Makoto," Rei growled too softly for Ranma or Akane to hear.
    Akane coughed politely. "Yes, well, speaking of... that, maybe we should go apartment-hunting while there still is time today, ne Ranma?" said Akane, not-so-subtly nudging Ranma with her elbow.
    Ranma shook himself out of the slight daze he was in, then nodded absently. "Uh? Yeah, apartment-hunting, that sounds good." He and Akane turned to leave. "We'll try not to come back too late, okay?" he said, looking over his shoulder.

    As soon as they were out of sight, Rei whirled on Makoto, who was still grinning like an idiot. "Makoto! What on Mars possessed you to make a comment like that? They're older than us, remember!"
    "Calm down," said Makoto. "It's exactly like I told them. You need to learn to relax, girl."
    Rei's frown suddenly turned into a smug smile. "Well, *I'm* not the one who's going to pass for a sex-crazed maniac because of that little stunt."
    Makoto stopped smiling.

    "Your cousin has *very* weird friends, Ranma." said Akane, once she and Ranma were safely out of hearing range.
    "I'm just starting to realize that. Maybe Nerima wasn't so bad after all... Oh well, it'll only be for a couple of days, remember?" After a few seconds' pause, he added: "Why didn't you want me to tell Rei there was a monster at the train station?"
    "Ranma, Rei's a young Shinto priestess in training. We don't even know if she believes in monsters. She probably has enough problems of her own without having to worry about monsters and everything."
    "Okay, I can understand that, but why did you have to tell her I have an ego problem? You know I'm good!"
    "But you do have an ego problem, my lovable baka husband," said Akane in a teasing voice.
    Ranma smiled. "And you still can't cook, kawaiikunee-chan."
    Akane smiled and took Ranma's hand, which he gladly offered.

    Meanwhile, Usagi, Ami and Luna had helped Mamoru take his luggage back to his apartment before heading to the shrine. While they were doing that, Hotaru had gone with Minako to her house to pick up Artemis and brief him on the events that had transpired at the train station. Both groups met up again near the shrine.
    Once the troop entered the shrine, they were faced with a smug Rei and a flustered-looking Makoto.
    "What happened with you two?" asked Ami.
    Rei thought about it and decided to go for the brief approach, omitting the details. "Makoto wanted to embarrass me in front of my cousin but ended up embarrassing herself instead."
    Makoto threw a frown at Rei, who pointedly ignored it.
    "Your cousin is here?" asked Ami. She looked around and added in a lower voice: "Should we move elsewhere, then? We have... serious business to talk of."
    "Don't worry. He's gone apartment-hunting with his wife," said Makoto, almost bitterly.
    "He's married?" Usagi squealed. "How romantic! Aren't you eager to get married, Mamo-chan?" she asked Mamoru, who was currently lost in his thoughts.
    "Yeah, yeah, can't wait," he mumbled distractedly. Fortunately, Usagi totally missed the tone and only heard the message. While Usagi was staring dreamily in the air with hearts in her eyes, thinking of her marriage to Mamoru, Ami turned to Makoto and Rei. "I thought he was coming with a fiancee."
    "It turns out they got married yesterday," said Rei.
    Surprised looks were everywhere. "And they've got registration tomorrow too, if I remember correctly. What a way to spend a honeymoon," said Minako, shaking her head.
    Rei and Makoto suddenly looked as if they found the walls of the shrine very interesting. Before the other girls could start asking the really interesting questions, though...
    "Ahem!"
    All the girls suddenly took notice of Luna, who was looking generally annoyed. "We have more important business than discussing the love life of Rei's cousin."
    "She's right," said Ami. "There was a monster attack at the train station today."
    Rei's eyes widened while Makoto looked somehow disappointed. "Argh! The first monster attack in months and I miss it!" said the tall brunette.
    A sweat drop found it's way behind Luna's and a few of the other girls' heads. Ami, however, was unfazed by Makoto's comment and continued. "Well, it's not the monster in itself that was strange, but rather who dispatched the monster."
    Makoto looked at Ami. "Wait a minute here. You mean you weren't the ones who killed it?"
    Minako jumped in the conversation: "We didn't even have a chance to transform! There was some kind of superpowered hunk accompanied by a girl who arrived in the same train as Mamoru who fought the monster. The guy cut its arms off with an energy blade, but then got thrown in a wall. The daimon tried to escape, but the girl bashed it with a hammer she got out of nowhere and the guy finished it with another energy blast. You should've seen him move, Makoto; it was unbelievable." Minako went on to describe the fight in detail, concluding with the mysterious couple's escape.
    To say that Rei and Makoto were interested by this would be a serious understatement. "What did they look like?" asked Makoto.
    "The guy had black hair, tied in a pigtail. He was wearing loose black pants and a red Chinese shirt. The girl had short black hair, a yellow dress and a blue blouse," said Minako, who noticed Rei wasn't listening to her anymore.
    Rei and Makoto were looking at each other. "Wait... Doesn't that sound like...?" Makoto started in an incredulous tone.
    Rei suddenly whirled back on Minako. "Did you talk to them? Did they say their names?" she asked quickly.
    This time, it was Usagi who jumped in. "We didn't even have a chance to. They vanished right after the guy killed the daimon."
    Makoto's eyes grew introspective. "I think Rei and I may know who your 'superpowered hunk' is... though we can't be absolutely sure," said the brunette.
    "Who do you think they are?" asked Artemis, cutting off Luna in the process, who settled by glaring at him.
    "My cousin and his wife," answered Rei. "Ranma and Akane Saotome."
    "Your cousin!?" everyone else (except Makoto, of course) chorused incredulously.
    Once they calmed down, Rei continued: "Ranma and his wife look exactly like you described... And they mentioned there had been a fight at the train station."
    "That's... quite an understatement," said Ami.
    "Wait, it gets weirder," said Minako. "We also found out Mamoru had a sister who was Sailor Terra in the days of the Moon Kingdom and Hotaru had a brother," she said in an excited voice.
    "Sailor Terra?" chorused Rei and Makoto. "That would be a first! Why haven't we ever heard anything about her before today?" asked Rei.
    Luna and Artemis suddenly looked distinctly uncomfortable. Luna had conferred earlier with Artemis and it seemed he had also spontaneously recovered some memories concerning Endymion's family. It was not going to be fun trying to explain that. Suddenly, Luna got an idea and turned to Hotaru and Mamoru: "Why don't you tell them what you told us?"
    Hotaru and Mamoru each raised an eyebrow at Luna's somewhat blatant attempt to divert the attention away from herself and Artemis but nevertheless told their tale to Rei and Makoto, who listened intently.

Chapter 5

    Ranma and Akane's search for an apartment wasn't going as well as they had initially hoped. The few places that were available were either too expensive or too run-down. It was getting late when they decided to call it a day.
    They stopped in a restaurant located near Mizuharo University. After the waitress left, they settled back, waiting for their orders to arrive.
    "Finding a decent apartment doesn't look like it's going to be easy," said Akane.
    "Yeah, not to mention that the rents are enormous. My folks said they'd help with the money for the first year, but after that, we'll be on our own. Mom called it 'practicing the art of financial management' before we actually take over the Dojo," said Ranma.
    "So what if we do have to find jobs? It's not that bad and besides, I'm sure there will be plenty of job offers posted on the university campus tomorrow."
    Ranma grimaced. "Speaking of tomorrow, maybe we shouldn't stay up too late tonight. I want to get some sleep to be able to get in a little practice tomorrow morning before registration."
    Akane nodded. "Do you mind if I spar with you? I don't want to lose my edge either." She paused, becoming serious. "And this time, I want it to be *real* practice, not one of those fake practice sessions you've been giving me for the last year, okay?"
    Ranma winced inwardly. During the last year, Akane had insisted that Ranma spar with her. Ranma had reluctantly agreed, but had constantly been holding back, knowing he would likely hurt Akane. It now seemed that Akane had known about it all along. Things could get ugly...
    Ranma frowned a little: "Look, I just don't want to hurt you..."
    Akane would have none of it. "No buts, Ranma! I need to get better if I'm going to run the dojo with you when we graduate," she insisted. Seeing Ranma waver, Akane used her most devastating weapon against Ranma (next to her mallet): the kawaii puppy-dog look.
    Ranma's resolve crumbled to dust when he saw her use that look. He hated it, but he could never resist it when she looked at him like that. "All right, all right, you win. We'll spar for real," he said, defeated.
    Akane's smile widened and she leaned over the table to kiss Ranma. "Thanks, Ranma," she said.
    Ranma tried to frown at the illegal use of her kawaii smile, but could only manage a wry smile and a shake of the head.
    The waitress then arrived with their meals and they dug in, speaking of mundane things. After the meal was finished, they resumed apartment-hunting for a while, but came up as empty-handed as before.

    Back at the Hikawa Shrine, six young girls, a university student and two Moon cats had been having an interesting, if only moderately informative, discussion about Ranma and Akane. Speculations were flying around on the source of Ranma and Akane's mysterious abilities, but answers were not plentiful.
    "Why don't we just ask him when he gets back?" suggested Usagi.
    Makoto shook her head. "He didn't say anything about his abilities when he spoke to Rei and me. Do you really think he'll tell us all about it, Usagi-chan?"
    Usagi looked sheepish.
    "Don't worry, Usagi," said Ami. "I'm sure we'll find something."
    "So Mamoru, you think Ranma might be your reincarnated sister from the days of the Moon Kingdom?" asked Rei.
    Mamoru held his hands up. "I didn't say that, at least not exactly. I mentioned that Ranma reminded me of someone, but it's Hotaru who made the connection. I don't even know if the person I've been dreaming about recently is Akana, though it would make sense."
    Rei looked at Hotaru questioningly. Hotaru sighed: "I have difficulty believing it myself, especially since Akana's not even supposed to have been reincarnated. It's probably just a freak coincidence."
    Rei had a pensive look on her face. Slowly, she turned to Ami. "Ami," she asked, "Your computer was built in the days of the Moon Kingdom, wasn't it? Would you by any chance have a picture of Akana somewhere on your computer?"
    Ami raised an eyebrow. "Maybe. I'll see what I can come up with." She took out her computer and started typing away.
    Rei turned to Hotaru: "And you say Ranma's wife looks like your brother from the Moon Kingdom."
    Hotaru nodded sadly. "Yes. She looks a lot like Kanma, especially when she wielded that hammer of hers."
    "But Akane can't be Kanma," she continued, shaking her head, "and neither can Ranma be Akana, because my brother died before the final assault on the Moon and we'd already know if Akana had been reborn."
    Makoto let out an exasperated sigh. "Kanma, Ranma, Akane and Akana! Is it only me or does anyone else here thinks this is a very weird coincidence?"
    "Is it coincidence to begin with?" replied Minako with an arched eyebrow.
    Hotaru looked disturbed.
    Luna moved forward and sat in front of Hotaru. "How can you be absolutely sure they died if no one ever found their bodies?"
    "Kanma used to correspond with me almost every day, no matter where I was," said Hotaru. "His messages stopped sometime before the destruction of the Moon Kingdom, roughly at the same time as the first Youma invasions began. The Saturn Palace was among the first place that was destroyed. If he had survived, he would've found a way to tell me, I'm sure of that."
    Luna didn't look so convinced.
    "What about Akana?" asked Mamoru. "If she is dead, why would I be having dreams of her now?"
    Hotaru sighed. "I don't know. Maybe you're just reliving memories of your past life. It doesn't necessarily mean anything. All I know about Akana is that she disappeared not long before the final assault. She probably died at the same time as my brother." Hotaru got up from her kneeling position. "Mamoru, the only one who could give you a more complete answer would be Akana herself; I'm sorry."
    Mamoru turned to Luna, who understood the implied question. "I'm sorry, Mamoru. Despite the fact that Artemis and I have, somewhat suddenly, recovered a few of our memories concerning your sister, we don't know much more about her disappearance than Hotaru does."
    There was a moment of uncomfortable silence, broken by a small gasp from Ami. "Makoto, Minako," she said, eyes fixed on the computer, "I'm starting to believe the names might mean something after all."
    Mamoru instantly got up and headed towards Ami, as did the others in the room. Seeing that everyone was going to crowd around her, Ami decided satisfy everyone at the same time. "Just wait a second and I'll give you a picture everyone can see at the same time." Before anyone could ask what she meant, a three-dimensional image of Akana was floating in front of them.
    "Since when have you been able to do that?" asked Makoto.
    Ami looked sheepish for an instant. "Only since recently. I found out by accident I could generate holograms with my computer when I was using it a while ago."
    "A fortunate accident," said Mamoru, his eyes widening.

    Meanwhile, Ranma and Akane were slowly walking back to the shrine. They were getting close when, as fate would have it, rain started to fall. Unfortunately, the rain was sudden enough so that Ranma was unable to get anywhere before the change was triggered. Fortunately, the street was almost deserted, so no one witnessed the change.
    "I hate it when this happens!", Ranma said in a disgusted voice, while slightly readjusting her cloth belt to fit her slimmer waist.
    Akane shook her head. "This is going to be a bit of problem, you know. We'll have to wait until the rain stops to go back to the shrine."
    "Don't I know it," replied Ranma in a dull voice. She looked around and saw a small cafe. "Let's wait out the rain in there, okay? If my clothes get too wet, hot water won't be of any use, I'll just turn right back into a girl."
    Akane nodded and they headed towards the cafe. Akane took the time to take a good look at her red-headed companion's figure. Ranma's female body was no longer as short as it used to be. While Ranma's male form merely looked a bit more mature, his female form had had a growth spurt during the last year which now put her at equal height with Ranma's male form. Her face had also matured, as she no longer looked like a young girl anymore. She looked like an eighteen-year old young woman and was no less beautiful because of it. The only other characteristic that has truly changed was the length of Ranma's pigtail. For some reason, Ranma had decided not to trim his pigtail, and it now reached down a bit past down his shoulders, as it no longer curled upwards (though Akane privately thought the long pigtail looked better when he was female).
    When they went inside the small cafe, they noticed it was empty, except for a young couple who was sitting together, having tea. The man was a bit taller than Ranma and had short, sandy blond hair, while the girl had shoulder-length turquoise hair that looked beautiful on her. Akane tried to remember where she had seen a girl with turquoise hair before, but couldn't quite place it.
    They chose a table and each ordered a cup of tea while they waited for the rain to end. Akane initiated conversation in a low voice, since she didn't want to attract attention. "Ranma, we're going to have to find a way to explain your female side to your cousin, you know. The way you attract water is going to make it very difficult to keep your curse hidden."
    Ranma scowled. "I have no intention of explaining my curse to Rei, Akane, and that's final. I don't need her to think of me as a freak and besides, we'll only be there for a few days, remember? She doesn't have to know anything."
    Akane shook her head. "That's a good thought," she said, "but know very well you'll eventually get soaked. You're a water magnet; remember your own words?" she finished with a small smile. She looked down for an instant, deep in thought for a second and then looked back up with a grin. "If you really don't want her to know your secret, I could just simply introduce you as my 'cousin Ranko'. It's not as if we've never done it before."
    Ranma sighed. "It'll have to do, I guess," she said in a resigned tone. "Well, at least it's not as if I don't have a lot of experience pretending I'm someone I'm not," she added wryly.
    Silently, they went back to drinking their tea. A few minutes later, four scruffy-looking men entered the cafe and immediately spotted Ranma and Akane. Two of the men went towards the other couple while the other two came towards Akane and Ranma.
    "Hey there, beautiful, wanna have a fun night tonight?" said the first one to Ranma, while the other man kept an eye on Akane.
    "Get lost before I break your hands, moron," Ranma replied without even looking at him. A barely audible sigh emanated from Akane's lips.
    The man seemed taken aback by Ranma's response, but kept going, nonetheless. "I know you want to have fun. I know a nice hotel nearby... the special kind," he said in what was supposed to be a suave voice. He was about to put his hand on Ranma's shoulder when she looked at him with a glare that could have melted reinforced titanium.
    "If you keep this up, the only place you'll be going to is a hospital. Now get lost!"
    The other man started snickering at his companion's lack of success. The first man, however, decided to make a last attempt on Ranma.
    "Come on, I'll show you a good time..." he started when he put his hand on Ranma's shoulder.
    "I warned you..." Ranma growled. Before the either one of the men could blink, she grabbed the hand that was on her shoulder, squeezed and twisted the hand. Hard.
    The snickers of amusement from the second man turned to a gasp when he heard several snapping sounds. Before he could do anything, his friend was laying on his knees on the floor, holding his hand and howling in pain. The second man was about to pounce on Ranma when he felt a strong blow to his head and collapsed.
    Ranma looked from the man who was on his knees gasping, to the other man who was lying on the floor unconscious and finally to Akane, who was holding one of her bigger mallets over the unconscious man's head.
    "I could've taken him, you know," Ranma told Akane flatly.
    "True," Akane said, throwing a disgusted look at the fallen men, "but they were getting on my nerves too, Ranma."
    Ranma smirked, but suddenly stopped when she realized that the other two men were harassing the couple at the other table were now looking at her. Behind the counter, the cafe's owner was growing increasingly worried.
    "Kisamara!" one of them yelled. One of them ran straight at Ranma, fist raised, while the other stood back and pointed a knife in a threatening manner towards the other couple.
    Ranma decided to end it as quickly as possible. Before the man had taken another step, Ranma had already gotten behind him and was twisting his arm backwards.
    "Take you friends with you and leave now, unless you want me to show you how creative I can get when I'm really pissed off," said Ranma in a threatening voice. She subconsciously "saw" the fourth man coming towards her, but she didn't even have to move.
    As soon as the other man turned his attention to Ranma, the blond man shot up from his seat and swiftly kicked the knife away from the last man's hands. The last man tried to rush him, but he merely sidestepped and executed a throw which sent the man on the floor. It wasn't long before the blond man had him in a choke hold.
    The girl with turquoise hair slowly rose up, a smile on her lips, and addressed the two helpless men. "I suggest you take the nice lady's advice and leave before something really bad happens. Wouldn't you agree, Haruka?"
    The blond man, Haruka, nodded with a wide grin: "Why of course, Michiru! You know I don't like violence any more than you do."
    Ranma raised an eyebrow at Haruka, but decided instead to address the man who was helplessly struggling in her arms. "We're giving you ten seconds to pick up your friends and leave before I start getting angry. I strongly suggest you use the time wisely." Releasing the man, she shoved him towards his two companions who were being watched over by Akane. Haruka also pushed her captive forward.
    The men looked back at her, violence in their eyes. One of them even had the courage (or downright stupidity) to take a step back towards Ranma, who lost patience. If she knocked the man out now, she would be the one who would have to drag him outside. She summoned her battle aura and let it flicker around her.
    "You've got five seconds left..." Ranma said in a tight voice.
    As soon as they saw Ranma's aura flare around her (not that they were sure what to make of it, except that it was very probably dangerous), the men suddenly decided it might be better for their long-term health to leave the cafe before the red-haired girl decided to fulfill her threats. They quickly picked their companions and left, looking back fearfully at Ranma.
    As the four men were leaving, Ranma idly considered hastening their departure with a chi-blast, but restrained herself and dissipated her aura. She sighed. "Idiots..." she said under her voice.
    Behind the counter, the owner blew a sigh of relief at not having had too much of a commotion and decided to ignore the fact that the red-haired customer had almost been glowing like a street lamp just a moment ago.
    While Akane was making her way towards the group, minus mallet, Ranma turned towards Haruka: "Are you okay? You weren't bad out there. You've got nice moves," she finished with a grin, completely mistaking Haruka for a man.
    "Obviously not as nice as some of yours," replied Haruka, with a grin of her own. "I'm Haruka Ten'ou," she said, "and my lovely companion is Michiru Kaiou," she finished.
    Ranma introduced herself and Akane. "I'm Ranko Tendo and this is my cousin, Akane Saotome. Pleased to meet you."
    "Michiru Kaiou... The violinist?" asked Akane in a questioning voice.
    "Yes, I do play the violin now and then," Michiru replied with a ghost of a smile.
    "It's an honor to meet you Kaiou-san!" Akane said with excitement. "I really like your music!"
    Michiru's smile widened. "Thank you very much."
    Haruka was miffed that Akane had not recognized her name, but seeing Michiru and Akane deep in their own conversation, she decided not to interrupt. Haruka turned to Ranma. "So, where exactly did you learn those stunts you did back there?" she asked, intrigued with some of the moves she had seen her use.
    Ranma shrugged. "I've studied martial arts since I was old enough to walk, so I know a little of everything."
    Haruka raised an eyebrow. "A little? Sounds to me like you're being very modest, Ranko-san. I don't know a lot of people who could possibly move as fast as you do and generate... auras," she said. *Well, except possibly for the other Senshi, of course,* she added silently.
    Ranma eyed the individual before her warily. For some reason, she felt a bit nervous about Haruka and she couldn't understand why. "Anyone can achieve that level of speed with enough training and as for the aura, it was just an illusion. I'm rather good at them," she lied out loud.
    Haruka nodded absently. *An illusion, Ranko-san? Yeah right! You're definitely hiding something.*
    Ranma turned towards Akane before Haruka could continue probing for questions. "Akane, the rain's stopped. We should be heading back before it's too late. We've got registration tomorrow, so we should turn in early," she said, slightly stressing the last part.
    Akane stopped talking with Michiru just long enough to notice Ranma looking at her with a 'Let's-Get-Out-Of-Here-Please!' expression. She was about to ask out loud what was the problem, but thought better of it. Reluctantly, she turned back to Michiru and apologized. "I really enjoyed talking with you, Kaiou-san, but my cousin's right; we really should be going."
    Michiru looked disappointed for the briefest of moments, but smiled again. "Oh well, I also liked talking with you; maybe we'll get another chance someday."
    "I hope so," replied Akane.
    And so, Ranma and Akane made their way to the counter, where Ranma ordered a cup of hot water to go, which the owner of the cafe was more than happy to provide free of charge.
    As soon as they left the cafe, Ranma turned to Akane: "Let's move fast, I don't want them following us. That Ten'ou guy bugs me for some reason."
    While they ran across the street until they were out of sight, Akane glared at Ranma. "If you'd merely knocked the moron out the old-fashioned way instead of scaring him off with your battle aura, Ten'ou-san probably wouldn't have 'bugged' you in the first place!" she replied, slightly angry. "Because of you, I didn't get to do a good first impression with Kaiou-san."
    "Speaking of her, just how do you know her, anyway?" asked Ranma.
    "Some of us happen to like music, Ranma. Michiru Kaiou is one of the most talented violin players around."
    Ranma decided not to pursue the matter any further as they kept a rapid pace towards the Hikawa Shrine.

    Inside the cafe, as soon as Ranma and Akane left, Michiru and Haruka looked at each other and nodded. Without a word, Michiru left some money on the counter and she and Haruka went outside to follow Ranma and Akane. When they got out of the cafe, though, Ranma and Akane were long gone.
    "Well, that was interesting, ne, Michiru?"
    Michiru gave Haruka a dry look. "It could have been even more interesting if you hadn't pressed Ranko-san for answers. I was was starting to have a very interesting conversation with Akane-san." She paused for a few seconds. "Maybe it doesn't really matter, anyway," she said with a smile.
    Haruka looked at Michiru and raised an eyebrow in question. Michiru smiled even more. "We have a *much* better way to find out the truth than to stalk them." While Haruka was giving her the odd eye, she reached in her subspace pocket and came out with an item that made Haruka smile wickedly.
    The Deep Aqua Mirror.

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