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.

Chapter 8

    Sailor Moon and the other Senshi took a step back and looked on as Ranko (and her protests) vanished from their sight in a whirlwind of colors. The rainbow-colored storm lasted for a few seconds and suddenly, the ground started to shake and seemingly exploded upwards, though the shrine's courtyard itself remained undamaged. Just as fast as the transformation had started, it stopped, leaving a newly awakened and wide-eyed Sailor Terra in its wake.
    The Inner Senshi got their first look at Sailor Terra. The Earth's Senshi had the standard white bodysuit, but had a dark blue skirt with a gold trim at the bottom. The bow on her chest was golden-colored with a dark caramel-coloured jewel in the middle. She sported dark blue, flat-soled, knee-length laced boots. A yellow tiger's eye graced her tiara, which could be seen through her mane of red hair, which now hung loose. Her whole body was also covered with golden aura.
    Sailor Terra blinked and looked down at herself.
    She tugged at the skirt and blinked again.

    Sailor Terra's thoughts were in turmoil. *This can't be happening to me!...* she thought frantically. The foreign images that were dancing in the back of her mind did nothing to reassure her. *What did I ever do to deserve this kind of crap all the time?* she asked herself. She needed to get away, to think, alone. And for that, she decided to put as much space as she could between herself and the Senshi and especially Endymion.

    The Sailor Senshi were all surprised when Sailor Terra suddenly whirled around and dashed back through the entrance of the shrine. Endymion reacted first. "Akana! Wait!" he shouted, then ran after Sailor Terra. Sailor Moon, of course, wasted no time and quickly ran after her beloved. The other four Senshi blinked and stood there, surprised by yet another unusual turn of events.
    "What are you girls waiting for? Go after them!" yelled Luna from under the bushes.
    The four remaining Senshi needed no more prompting.

    Sailor Moon was running as fast as she could, but she still lost sight of Endymion and Sailor Terra. Stopping at an intersection, she looked at her surroundings and quickly realized that she couldn't see them anymore. "Great! Now I've lost them!" she wailed. She turned around to see the other Senshi catching up to her
    "No we haven't. I can still track them with my computer," said a slightly breathless Sailor Mercury.
    "All right , Mercury, where are they?" asked Sailor Moon.
    Sailor Mercury tapped a few keys on her computer and her eyes widened. "How can Endymion be catching up to her at the speed she's moving?!" she said incredulously.
    "What do you mean?" asked Sailor Venus.
    "Let's just say we have a long run ahead of us if we want to catch up with them," she said with a sigh. "Lets go!"

    *ARRRGGH!!!!* Sailor Terra thought in frustration, as she took a quick peek behind her. She noticed that Endymion, who had somehow managed to keep up with her, was also starting to glow with a blue aura. She noticed her aura had shifted from a golden color to a shade of blue that matched Endymion's . She had considered using the rooftops early on, as she was used to, but glowing as she was, she would undoubtedly attract even more unwanted attention that way. Besides, if Endymion could keep up with her at the speed she was going, she didn't think he'd have any problem following her and they'd attract even more attention that way, something she most definitely didn't want.
    *What do I have to do to lose this guy?* she thought angrily. Endymion was gaining on her despite her best efforts to lose him and she was starting to suspect why. Each time she turned around a corner to try and lose him, she felt a tingling in the back of her head and a few seconds later, Endymion was back on her tail. He was obviously using some mental trick to home in on her, but how did he do it? *Is it related to the aura?* she wondered.
    //You seem to have forgotten that it was one of Endymion's favorite tricks! You could never hide from him if he tried to find you,// said a voice in the back of her mind.
    Sailor Terra almost lost her footing in shock. The voice had been her own, but tinted with something that sounded like... amusement? She shook her head. *Great! Now I'm hearing voices! My own, no less! Maybe I am going insane!*
    //Well, you are talking to yourself, in a way, but you're not going insane, Ranma,// said the voice.
Terra had no time to think about what the voice meant by that as she sensed Endymion getting closer. *If I talk to him, maybe I can persuade him to leave me alone!* she thought hopefully. She then noticed she was getting close to a very busy neighbourhood. Not wanting to get caught dressed (and glowing) as she was in public, she saw a building and decided to jump to the roof using the window ledges. Terra got another surprise when she realized that a jump that should have put her on top of the building sent her a few dozen extra meters over the roof and in the air instead. *What the hell?* she thought.
    //Have you also forgotten the advantages of being a Senshi?// asked the mysterious voice.
    "Who the hell are you?!" said Terra angrily, as she finally came back down on the roof.
    If she didn't know better, Terra would have sworn that she heard the voice raise an eyebrow. //I'm you, of course. Or at least, a part of who you used to be, anyway,// said the voice.
    That particular statement did nothing to reassure Terra. She tried to ignore the voice (quite unsuccessfully, too) and to concentrate instead on the matter of Endymion following her. She could feel him coming closer. She didn't notice her aura slowly diminishing into nothingness.

    Sailor Terra had obviously tried to lose him a few times, but Endymion had quickly found out he could tell approximately where she was when she wasn't in line of sight just by thinking about her. How he had managed to figure out that little trick, however, was still beyond him. The fact that she was glowing blue like him also made her rather easy to track. He had noticed a few moments earlier that he was starting to glow with a blue aura as well, but he figured that if it didn't hurt him, he didn't mind. At least not right now.
    Endymion was surprised to see her nearly lose her footing. He was just about to catch up to her when he saw that she was about to dash through a crowded street. *She's going to cause an accident at the speed she's going,* he thought (of course, it didn't occur to him that he was also moving at an equally dangerous speed). He suddenly gaped when he saw her leap up the side of a building, overshooting the roof. Automatically, he shifted to his Tuxedo Kamen costume (hauling his armor and sword would slow him down) and followed her. He noticed that his aura winked out when his armor vanished.

    When he finally reached the roof of the building, he saw Sailor Terra waiting for him in a combat stance, her aura dissipated.
    "Stay right where you are, Endymion!" she warned him. *Why's he wearing that tuxedo again?* she thought puzzled.
    Tuxedo Kamen stopped his advance. "What's the matter?" he asked slowly, unsure of which approach to take.
    "Why are you following me?" she asked.
    The question nearly stumped Tuxedo Kamen for a second. "I followed you because I don't understand your reaction. Why did you run away, Akana?"
    "Don't call me Akana!!!" Terra shrieked. "I am not Akana and I am not your sister so leave me the hell alone!"
    Tuxedo Kamen started to get nervous. Aka... er, Ranko was obviously not reacting well to her transformation. *But why?* he mused. *She wasn't anywhere near this hostile towards me before.* He became careful. "If you weren't my sister, then you would not have been able to transform into Sailor Terra." He saw Terra blink absently and look down at herself. When she looked up, her eyes were vacant for a few seconds. If Tuxedo Kamen did not know better, he would have sworn she was listening to somebody, but there was no one except himself on the roof.
    Suddenly, Sailor Terra shook her head and looked once again at Tuxedo Kamen. "I don't care! I'm gonna make one thing very clear to you: For years I've had to put up with people wanting to kill me or marry me and all sorts of weird stuff happening to me. Now, for the first time in a long time, I feel like I've got some semblance of control over my life, so I do not need this shit right now." She stopped for a brief moment, her eyes lost focus again for a while, then added: "And I am not your sister! I'm no one's sister, got it?"
    Tuxedo Kamen started to become weary of the slightly manic expression painted on Sailor Terra's face. He decided to try another tactic. "What kind of weirdness? Maybe we can help," he said. "After all, we've battled our share of strange creatures as well."
    "He has a point, you know," said a new voice.
    Sailor Terra and Tuxedo Kamen looked in surprise as Sailor Moon and the other Sailors made their appearance, if slightly out of breath.
    Sailor Terra' eyes drifted back to Sailor Moon. Once again, her eyes lost focus for a while and and when she came back to, her eyes widened in awe, but she quickly returned to a somewhat annoyed expression. "You! This is all YOUR fault!" she said in a disgusted voice. "Why did you give me that rod in the first place?"
    Sailor Moon looked a bit more composed now. "Beause it's yours," she said matter-of-factly.
    "No it's not!" protested the blue-and-gold Senshi. "Look at what it did to me!" she said testily, fingering her short skirt.
    Sailor Moon was now Officially Confused. "What do you mean?"
    Sailor Terra's eyebrows twitched in annoyance. "I'll tell you the same thing I told him," she said, pointing at Tuxedo Kamen. "For a long time, I've had weirdos out for my blood. I've fought people who could kill you quite easily..."
    "Hey!" interrupted Sailor Jupiter, sounding annoyed. "We've fought demons, invaders from the future, even alien entities who wanted to destroy the planet! You name it, we fought it."
    Terra turned to face Jupiter and looked at her with an expressionless gaze. "You say you've fought beings who could destroy the world?" Terra asked flatly.
    "Yeah!", vigorously answered the ponytailed Senshi.
    "Then what do you need me for?"
    Sailor Jupiter blinked, speechless. She had expected a lot of different rebukes, but not this particular one.
    Sailor Mercury saved Sailor Jupiter from potential embarassment by entering the conversation. "The monsters always become stronger after a while. You could be a great addition to the team since you're an extremely strong fighter. We found out that in our previous life, you were second in power among the Senshi."
    "I'm just a martial artist," protested Terra. "If you'd spent your entire life training like I did, you'd be able to do what I do..." she trailed off, becoming quiet. She closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. When she reopened her eyes, she looked at Sailor Moon and spoke in a steady voice. "There are several reasons why I won't fight alongside you. Most of them, you wouldn't understand, but there is one you will: I promised someone I hold very dear I would no longer willingly try to get into fights. Joining you would violate this promise and if there's one thing I still have after all this time, it's my honor. "Terra knew this wasn't exactly what she had promised, but she might as well discourage them now. "That's why I want you to leave me alone; you'll just get me into trouble." She sighed. "It's bad enough I have all those memories and voices in my head that I can't make sense of."
    "Maybe I can help you with that," said Sailor Mars. *Voices?* the young priestess thought, puzzled. *She hears voices?*
    Sailor Terra looked at the red-clad Senshi suspiciously. "Can you take the memories away?"
    Mars shook her head. "I can't take those memories away, nor would I want to if I could, but I can try and make it so that they'll at least make some sense."
    Sailor Terra looked pensive. "I'm not sure I want those memories." she said at last.
    Sailor Moon spoke with a soft voice. If anything, it made her sound more mature. "If you really want nothing to do with us, we will respect your wishes, but at least let Sailor Mars give you peace of mind."
    The other Senshi, including Tuxedo Kamen, were silent. The lack of sound was becoming almost unbearable. At last, Sailor Terra spoke: "All right, but she'd better not try to change my mind while she's playing with it. And no mind reading either, got it?"
    Sailor Mars scowled. "Who are you taking me for? I wouldn't do something like that even if I could. You're family, in a sense, because of Ranma and I wouldn't want him angry with me."
    Sailor Terra had the grace to look sheepish for a while. "Gomen, but I've had really bad experiences with mind-altering stuff before," she said in a weary voice. The Senshi could barely make out what Terra said next. Something about shampoo and an old ghoul?
    Sailor Mars slightly shook her head. *That sounded like a loaded remark,* thought the young spiritualist. "Apology accepted," she finally said. That done, she came to stand in front of Terra. She put a gloved hand on Terra's head, just above the tiara. "Try to go in a meditative state, if you can." Terra nodded and both Senshi closed their eyes. The two Senshi spent two whole minutes standing still. Sailor Moon was about to go nudge Sailor Mars to see if everything was alright, but Sailor Mars' eyes suddenly snapped open and she took a step back.
    "Is everything okay, Mars?" asked Sailor Moon.
    Sailor Mars waved her hand. "It's nothing, I'm just a little tired. It was just harder to do than I'd thought, but I think it worked."
    At those words, Sailor Terra then opened her eyes. She blinked a few times, putting her hand to the side of her head. She slowly turned to Sailor Mars. "I do think it did, but..." she turned to Sailor Moon, "...this still doesn't change anything about my wanting to help you. I'm sorry." Suddenly, a faint golden glow surrounded her and Ranma-chan reappeared in her old clothes, hair back again a ponytail. "I won't tell your secret, Sailor Moon, but I would like it if you didn't come after me. You really don't need me anymore than I need you." She took a long look at her henhsin rod, and handed it to Sailor Moon.
    Sailor Moon shook her head vigorously, her ponytails swishing back and forth. (Sailors Venus and Jupiter discreetly moved away from Sailor Moon to avoid being hit at this point) "I won't take it back. It's yours by birthright, no matter what you might say."
    Ranma-chan frowned and shook her head. "You only think it's mine because of a chance resemblance." She tried to give it again to Sailor Moon, who steadfastly refused it.
    "If you don't want it, then throw it away, for you are the only one on this world who can use it," said Sailor Moon.
    Tuxedo Kamen watched as Ranma-chan turned her back to them, the rod still in her hands. "Ranko..." he started, but Ranma-chan raised a hand to interrupt him.
    "I'm sorry, Endymion." As she moved towards the edge of the roof, she added: "Please don't use that little trick to find me again. Trust me; it'll be better that way for both of us." Saying no more, the redhead jumped off the roof, tossing her henshin rod behind her. What Ranma-chan didn't expect was that instead of impacting the roof, the rod vanished into thin air almost as soon as it left her hand.
    Tuxedo Kamen rushed to the edge of the roof, but saw nothing, even though there was still a lot of light outside.
    Sailor Jupiter broke the silence that permeated the atmosphere. "Well! That didn't exactly go as you planned it, eh, Usagi-chan?"
    Sailor Moon looked where Ranma-chan had leaped. "I need to call someone," was all she said.
    While they were making their way down from the building, Venus asked Mercury a question: "Do you know what exactly happened to Terra's rod? How did it vanish like that?"
    "The only thing I can think of is that she triggered its storage command as she was tossing it away," answered Sailor Mercury.
    "But that doesn't make sense," said Sailor Mars. "She was obviously trying to get rid of it, so why did she 'trigger the storage command' like you said?"
    The short-haired Senshi shrugged. "That, you'd have to ask her, not me."

    Akane was walking through a busy neighbourhood. She had finished touring the university and was on her way back to the Hikawa Shrine to meet up with Ranma, although she was taking a different route, hoping to spot a potential apartment. She was walking in front of a school which had just let out when a scene caught her eye. There were several kids, boys, by the look of their clothing, who seemed to be harassing someone. As she walked closer, she heard one of the kids shout.
    "You're a freak and everybody knows it!"
    "Yeah!" jeered another.
    Akane frowned, her temper rising. *Bullies. I think they need to be cooled off.* A few quick strides and she was hovering over the small group. She immediately lifted two of them off the ground. "What do you think you're doing?" she asked in a dangerous tone of voice.
    The other kids, seeing their friends lifted up so easily by this older girl, reacted predictably. That is to say, they ran away in fright. Akane shook her head and dropped the other two on the ground. "You'd better behave yourselves from now on..." but her warning was lost on deaf ears as the two kids were already running away.
    Sighing, she turned to the kid they were harassing. "They won't be bothering you again..." she started, but then stopped, surprised, when she realized just who she was talking to.
    "Hotaru-chan?"
    "Akane?" came the purple-eyed girl's startled reply. "What are you doing here?"
    "I was on my way back from the university, but... what was happening here, Hotaru-chan? Why were those kids bullying you?"
    Hotaru lowered her head. "It's nothing. They've been doing it for a long time. I'm used to it, don't worry," she said in a low voice.
    Akane felt her temper rise again, but in sympathy to the young girl's premise this time. She lowered down until she was at eye level with Hotaru. Gently, she raised Hotaru's chin so that the girl would look in her eyes and was once again surprised by the feelings that were stirred within herself at the sight of those purple eyes. "Hotaru-chan, why were they bullying you?" she asked again.
    Feelings were running rampant within Hotaru's mind. She was very happy that Akane had come to her rescue, but it saddened her as Akane's mannerisms reminded her again of Kanma. More than ever, she wished she could tell Akane everything, but she couldn't, at least not yet.
    Akane's insistant question finally reached her mind and wordlessly, she took Akane's hands and looked them over. She soon found what she was looking for: a small cut that had barely begun healing. She pointed to the wound: "Do you see that cut?" she asked Akane.
    "That little thing? I cut myself yesterday; it's nothing. What does it have to do with those kids?" asked Akane, a bit confused.
    Hotaru simply concentrated on the wound and let her healing power manifest itself. Three seconds later, there was absolutely no sign there had ever been a cut.
    Akane's eyes widened. "How did you do that?"" she asked in a soft, yet surprised voice, as she inspected her hand.
    "I have the ability to heal people at a certain degree," answered Hotaru simply, who was looking at Akane in the eyes, not knowing what kind of reaction to expect.
    To Hotaru's joyous relief, Akane's reaction was not one of disgust, or fear. Quite the contrary, Akane was smiling widely. "That's great, Hotaru-chan! I think it's a wonderful ability!" Her mood suddenly darkened a little. "Is that why they were bothering you, Hotaru-chan? Because you can heal?"
    "Hai," answered Hotaru quietly. "One day, one of my classmates got hurt outside and when I went to see what had happened, I just touched her and the bruise she had healed up by itself." She deliberately left several details out, such as the fact that her healing ability used to leave her exhausted until she was reborn a while ago when fighting Pharaoh 90.
    Akane smirked. "Then the other kids are fools if they can't realize how lucky they are to have you around."
    Hotaru looked a bit puzzled. "You don't find it strange at all that I can heal people just like that?"
    Akane grinned. "Hotaru-chan, compared to what I've been through because of Ranma these last few years, this is perfectly ordinary for me." She gave a short laugh. "You'll have to do a lot better than that if you want to surprise me!"
    Hotaru couldn't help smiling. Her curiosity was also aroused as to what kind of adventures Ranma and Akane had had. Hotaru then noticed the time. "I have to get back home. My parents will be waiting for me."
    "Do you want me to go with you?" asked Akane. She wasn't exactly worried about more bullies, but ever since she'd met Hotaru, she felt an inexplicable urge to find out more about the young girl.
    Hotaru was about to decline the offer when she realized she didn't want Akane to go just yet. "I'd like that," she said, "But aren't you supposed to be somewhere else?"
    Akane waved her hand dismissively. "I told Ranma I'd meet him back at his cousin's place, but I can spare the time for now. Don't worry."
    And so, the pair started walking towards Hotaru's home. After a little while, Hotaru asked what should have been a simple question, yet was anything but. "How did you and Ranma get together?" she asked innocently.
    Akane started to sweat. That was a complicated story. She knew she had told Ranma to be careful when recounting the story of their relationship, and she didn't intend to tell Hotaru about Ranma's curse, even if she liked the girl. On the other hand, she saw an opportunity to rationally explain Ranma's abilities and behaviour at the train station (if such a thing could be done), since she remembered Hotaru being there. "Well, it all started one day when my father called me and my sisters for a meeting..." she started. *I'm going to have to do a lot of editing...* thought Akane. It should be noted here that it never occured to Akane to make up a lie for simplicity's sake.

    "... and we finally got married two days ago. Rei was kind enough to let us stay at her place until we could find one of our own," Akane finished. She had managed to tell Hotaru a near-exact history of her relationship with Ranma, although several parts had been altered to remove any evidence of the curse or to keep the story from being too embarassing. She had also had to alter the reason of Ranma's confrontation with Herb, for example. She had made the Musk prince just another challenger (albeit a strong one) seeking to defeat Ranma. She had skipped the encounter with Saffron entirely, judging Ranma's last great challenge as far too unbelievable, especially considering what had happened to herself. Akane was surprised to realize she'd told Hotaru that much, considering how much she had herself berated Ranma on the subject. She didn't know why, but she felt comfortable around Hotaru.
    As for Hotaru, she had a hard time believing everything Akane had told her. For someone who wasn't a Sailor Senshi, she and Ranma had surely led strange lives. An arranged marriage, multiple iinazukes, high-powered martial artists seeking to challenge Ranma at every step, the techniques he learned as a result of those challenges and the list went on. *Well,* she mused, *Now at least I know why Ranma was so flippant with the daimon at the train station yesterday. From what Akane tells me, Ranma had this kind of fight nearly every day.*
    "Hotaru-chan?" asked Akane.
    "Yes, Akane?"
    "I'd like it if you didn't go talk about this to everyone you know, okay?" Akane's voice was hesitant. "Trouble has a nasty way of finding Ranma wherever he goes and I'd like it if things could be quiet, now that we've moved out of Nerima."
    "Hai," answered Hotaru distractedly. Not only had what Akane told her bordered on the unbelievable, but she knew she had witheld several details. There was one easily recognized constant between Kanma and Akane (whom Hotaru was by now convinced beyond doubt were one and the same) and it was that they were both lousy liars. Looking up, she noticed that they were now approaching a building that looked like a cross between an apartment and a small house.
    She turned to Akane. "Well, this is where I live. Thank you for accompanying me," she said, bowing slightly.
    Akane smiled. "It was no trouble at all, Hotaru-chan. I hope I didn't bore you too much with my story."
    Hotaru blinked. *Bore me? Anything but,* she thought. She was about to go in when the door opened up to reveal Michiru.
    "Ah! Hotaru-chan! Haruka and I were wondering when you'd be back..." Michiru trailed off and blinked as she realized who was with Hotaru. "Akane-san?" she asked, surprised, "What are you doing here?"
    Akane couldn't help staring in surprise for a few seconds and then shook her head. "Michiru-san!? I was... accompanying Hotaru back from school. She had a bit of trouble with bullies..."
    Michiru frowned slightly and turned to Hotaru. "Again?" Her frown was quickly replaced by an expression of worry. "They didn't hurt you, did they?"
    Hotaru shook her head. "They didn't, thanks to Akane."
    Michiru looked questioningly at Akane, who had a weak smile on her face. "I tried to make sure they won't bother her again," she said.
    Michiru saw an opportunity to learn more about this mysterious person Hotaru thought was her reincarnated brother. "Would you like to come in?"
    "Ahh, well..." Akane turned to Hotaru, who was looking at her with something that could almost have passed as a puppy-dog look.
    "We could always continue yesterday's conversation," Michiru offered, seeing Akane waver.
    Akane gave in. "All right, I guess I can come in for a little while," she said.
    As they walked inside, Akane turned to Hotaru. "Is Michiru-san your sister?"
    "Ahh, no," replied Hotaru, a bit embarrassed with Akane's assumption. "She's my adoptive mother."
    Akane's eyes bugged out slightly at that particular piece of news. She then noticed for the first time that Michiru was wearing a school uniform. Since she and Ranma were first-year university students, thus they no longer had to wear uniforms (not that Ranma had ever worn one), she came to the suprised conclusion that Michiru was younger than they were.
    The group made it's way to the living room, where Haruka was reading a sports magazine. The sandy-haired woman blinked and almost did a double-take when she saw Akane.
    "Haruka, I hope you remember Akane Saotome?" asked Michiru, as if this was nothing out of the ordinary.
    "Uh, yeah, I do," replied Haruka, not sure what had warranted this impromptu visit.
    Michiru quickly saw Haruka's confused expression. "Akane helped Hotaru with her bully problem this afternoon and she accompanied her back here. I thought we might continue our conversation where we had left off at the cafe."
    Haruka's face immediately darkened. "Bullies? Again?"
    "It's all right, Haruka-papa, Akane took care of them," Hotaru quickly reassured. She knew that Haruka was very capable of going to try and find who had done it and give them a lesson.
    Akane, on the other hand, was a bit surprised at Hotaru's appellation of Haruka, since the latter was not wearing one of her more "manly" outfits today and her figure was quite apparent. *Haruka-san's a woman?* She remembered Ranma-chan's comments from yesterday at the cafe about "that Ten'ou guy". She quickly repressed the urged to snicker; it just wouldn't be polite with Haruka within earshot. *And he calls me a tomboy? I'm going to have a lot of fun teasing Ranma about this!*
    "Please, sit," said Michiru, indicating one of the couches. "I'll go get some tea."
    As she sat, Akane examined the apartment. It was very spacious, almost like a small house, and the furniture seemed to be of high quality. Haruka and Michiru were obviously well-off on the financial side, a thought which caused a stab of envy. Ranma and herself would never likely be so rich. She turned to Hotaru. "Why didn't you tell me you were living with Michiru-san? That you were her adopted daughter?"
    "You never asked," the purple-eyed girl said a bit sheepishly.
    "True," admitted Akane. "But what about your family name, then? You said it was Tomoe, not Kaiou or Ten'ou."
    "That's a... complicated story," Hotaru said hesitantly.
    The phone suddenly rang.

    Michiru, standing in the kitchen, was whithin hands reach of the phone and answered first. "Moshi-moshi?" she asked.
    #Michiru?# came a familiar voice. #Is Setsuna around?#
    "She's not here, Usagi," replied Michiru. "She's been gone for a few days now. Why did you want to speak to her?"
    #Don't you know what happened at school today after class?# asked Usagi, sounding surprised.
    "We left as soon as school ended. Why? What happened?" asked Michiru.
    On the other end of the line, Usagi thought about it for a couple of seconds. #Did Hotaru-chan tell you what happened when we went to greet Mamo-chan at the train station yesterday?#
    Michiru was a bit puzzled by the non sequitur. "You mean about the daimon that attacked?"
    #Yeah, and about who defeated it?#
    "Yes, and I must admit we were quite intrigued by all of this. Did Rei's cousin really kill that monster all by himself? I wondered if Hotaru-chan was making some of it up."
    #I was there, Michiru; I know what I saw. But this isn't about Ranma. Do you know his wife has a cousin who looks a lot like Ranma? Her name's...#
    "...Ranko Tendo," finished Michiru. "We know that already."
    There was a short silence. #How did you know that?#
    "Haruka and I met her and Akane-san yesterday at a small cafe. She caused a small commotion and when I tried to find out more about her with the Mirror, I only got a bunch of confusing images involving her, Mamoru-san and a young man with black hair who looks like her. I drew a picture and Hotaru said it was Ranma."
    #You used the Mirror on Ranko?# There was a small pause as Michiru heard Usagi talking with some people. When the voice came back, however, it was no longer Usagi's, but Rei's.
    #Michiru, we all have to talk. Lots of strange things have happened since Ranma arrived, and we need to put what we know together. I have a strange feeling about all of this.#
    #What kind of strange things happened?" asked Michiru, growing slightly worried.
    There was a pause. #Michiru,# came Rei's voice, #Ranko is a Senshi,# she said in a weary voice.
    "Nani?!" exclaimed Michiru, a bit too loudly. "What are you talking about?!"
    #Ranko is Sailor Terra,# said Rei.
    "How did that happen?" said Michiru, involuntarily raising her voice.
    #Long story; that's why it would be better if we talked to you about what happened today. We also need to talk to Setsuna.#
    Michiru's mind was a whirl. "She's not here. As I told Usagi, she hasn't been here for a while." Michiru paused for a second, thinking about the images the Mirror had given her. "Rei, I have hundred questions..." she started, but was interrupted.
    #Save them for the meeting. We all have questions that need to be answered.#
    Michiru was still far too surprised to comment on Rei's apparent rudeness. "I assume you want to meet at the shrine?" asked the turquoise-haired woman.
    #No! Ranma and Akane will probably be there. I was thinking that we might come over to your apartment.#
    "Well," said Michiru, "It so happens that Akane-san is here right now."
    There was yet another silence. Michiru could almost hear Rei blink. #Too many coincidences...# she heard Rei mutter on the phone. #Why is she at your place?# asked Rei in a tired voice.
    "She came back with Hotaru-chan," said Michiru. "I'l see to it that she's gone when you arrive, so it's no problem."
    #All right, we'll be along shortly,# said Rei.
    "Wait!" exclaimed Michiru. "Is... Ranko coming?"
    There was an audible sigh. The kind you hear when a person had more than they could take. #No, she's not coming,# said Rei. #We'll explain why when we meet later, all right?#
    "We'll be waiting," said Michiru, who then hung up. She turned around only to find herself facing a worried-looking Haruka.
    "Is everything all right, Michiru? I heard your shout in the living room," said Haruka. Michiru had a self-control that nearly rivaled Setsuna's (although less cold). Whatever had caused her to shout like that a few moments ago must have been important.
    Michiru started relating her conversation.

    Back in the living room, Akane was talking with Hotaru. Akane found herself warming up even more to the young girl. She listened as Hotaru told her some stories (altered, of course). She didn't notice when Hotaru stopped talking. Akane just kept looking at the young girl, spaced out.
    "Is something wrong, Akane?" asked Hotaru, wondering why Akane kept staring at her silently.
    Akane shook her head slightly. "It's nothing, I guess. It's just that I keep imagining I saw you someplace before; I just can't remember where."
    *Not where, but when,* thought Hotaru, who found herself repressing the urge to tell Akane the truth again. It wasn't easy.
    Akane looked at a clock and her eyes widened slightly at the time. She hadn't realized it was getting so late. Turning to Hotaru, she had an apologetic look on her face. "I'm sorry, Hotaru-chan, but I seem to have misdjudged the time. I really should get back."
    "Oh," was all Hotaru said, looking a bit dejected.
    Akane turned around and walked to the entrance of the kitchen, where Michiru and Haruka were in deep discussion. "Ah? Excuse me, Michiru-san?"
    Haruka immediately shut up and Michiru turned around, a slight widening of her eyes as the only indication of her startlement. *I must be more worried than I thought if she snuck up on us so easily,* she thought. "Yes, Akane-san?" she asked out loud.
    "I apologize, but I really need to leave. I told Ranma I would meet him at the shrine soon," said Akane.
    Michiru was somewhat happy and disappointed at the same time. She wouldn't have to think of an excuse to get Akane out of the house before Rei and the others arrived, but she hadn't had time to speak with her either. "All right," she said, "But you'll have to come back someday."
    "I certainly wouldn't mind," said Akane, meaning every word of it. She liked Hotaru and was eager to learn more about the purple-eyed child.

    Rei hung the receiver and leaned back against the phone booth. She then looked up to the others. "All right. Michiru has agreed to the meeting at their place. It seems as though they have several questions of their own about Ranko and Ranma."
    "Why do you think Setsuna chose to vanish now?" asked Usagi. "If she monitors the timeline as she always does, I'd imagine she'd want to be around to 'supervise us', as it were, especially now."
    "Maybe she is and we just don't know about it," interjected Ami.
    Makoto harrumphed. "It would be just like her to do something like that."
    "Maybe one of us should go to the shrine and get Artemis and Luna before Ranma and Akane get back there," said Rei. "They must be tearing their fur out right now." She sighed. "They're not going to like this."
    "None of us like how this is turning out," said Usagi.
    "I'll go get Luna and Artemis," said Minako. "I'm a fast runner..."
    "No wonder with all the practice you get each morning," snickered Makoto.
    Minako glared briefly at Makoto. She was tempted to retort, but decided she'd get revenge somehow, later. "I'll brief them on the way." With that, Minako transformed back into Sailor Venus (for extra speed) and sprinted back towards the shrine.
    "Meet us at Michiru' and Haruka's apartment!" Usagi called out. She then turned towards Mamoru, who was being grilled by a very curious Ami.
    "Are you absolutely sure you don't know how you managed to keep up with her?" insisted Ami.
    Mamoru took a step back, as if to ward off Ami. She had kept asking him about that for the last five minutes. "I told you already! The only unusual thing I noticed during the chase was that I started glowing dark blue for a while."
    Ami blinked "You were glowing?"
    "Well, kinda like Terra was, right after she transformed."
    Ami shook ker head in disappointment. "Mamoru, do you have any idea how fast you two were going?"
    "Um... Fast?" Mamoru hazarded, trying to get Ami off his back.
    "Mamoru," began Ami flatly, "You and Terra were running at speeds approximating 60 kilometers per hour!" The last part was almost shouted.
    Mamoru stared at Ami. "What?... How?!"
    "That's what I want to know!" returned Ami.
    Usagi shook her head and decided to rescue her love from Ami's questioning. "Mamo-chan, were you able to find out why Ranko reacted like she did?"
    Mamoru shook his head. "I don't know. When I spoke with her yesterday, she was nowhere like this. Today, though, she became almost crazy when I told her she was my sister. I thought she was going to fire something at me before you guys showed up."
    "She was confused and afraid of something," said Rei, slowly. When the others looked at her questioningly, she elaborated: "When I jogged her memories, I was able to get a few feelings from her."
    Mamoru's eyes widened slightly. "Were you able to read her thoughts?" he asked a bit nervously.
    "No," said Rei, shaking her head. "I can't read minds. As I said, I could only get a few feelings. One of the most vivid was confusion, which is quite understandable considering the circumstances. The other was... fear. Not the fear you experience when you face a monster, but a different kind of fear. Almost... as if she feared what her memories would tell her..."

    If you had the opportunity to talk to Ranma Saotome on a normal day, you would quickly realize that he was not someone who is easily cowed (unless you happened to have a cat or a new fiancee for him with you, of course). As a highly skilled martial artist, he could not allow feelings such as fear rule his behaviour. Ranma Saotome hated the idea of openly showing such emotions.

    Ranma-chan was scared and confused, and it showed on her face.

    The nervous redhead was currently leaning on a wall, some distance away from the Hikawa Shrine, trying to figure out what had gone wrong in the last few hours. Of course, she wasn't in an exactly objective state of mind...
    "Okay," she muttered. "Let's see. All I wanted to do was find out why I had strange dreams about Endy... no, Mamoru!" she corrected herself. *So what the hell went wrong?*
    It all started to come back to her. *It started going wrong when Mamoru came up with this stupid idea that I'm his long-lost sister. As if! I'm not even a girl!*
    Then what had happened? Ah, yes... *Then he goes and tells me that I'm supposed to be descended from some royal family that used to protect the Earth.* Ranma-chan thought. *I could still have salvaged the situation if it hadn't been for what had happened next...*
    She remembered the five girls transforming in front of her. The mysterious Sailor Senshi, and Rei, her very own cousin, was one of them! Then, Sailor Moon tossed her that accursed rod. *She tricked me into saying that stupid trigger phrase, too!*
    She remembered...
    Realizing too late what was the rod's function.
    The explosion of power.
    The fuku.
    The tumbling memories.
    The need to get away, to think.
    Endymion following her.
    *I still don't understand how he followed me*, she thought in a dazed haze. *And I heard my own voice backtalking to me, too! It's probably Sailor Moon's fault, too...*
    She remembered refuting Endymion's claims only to be faced with Sailor Moon's speech about her birthright.
    She remembered the voice backtalking to her during all that time as well. *It must be that stupid fuku that made me hear the voice.*
    Rei... No, Sailor Mars' offer to sort the fleeting memories. Why had she taken Sailor Mars' offer? Ah yes, she believed that she would then be able to ignore the memories instead of them dancing in the back of her head. She didn't want to think about the result. She had to admit, though, that there had been two good things that had come out from this mental wake-up call: the voice had stopped talking since then and she had figured out how to get out of that embarassing outfit. She'd have to find some way to thank her cousin for that, if nothing else.
    And then? She had tried to give the rod to Sailor Moon, but she had refused it. Told her it was hers by birthright! *Right!* mentally snorted Ranma-chan. After that, she'd managed to get away from that insanity without Endymion following her.
    At this point, if someone had been observing Ranma-chan's recollection of the events that had led to the present situation, that someone would have noticed several discrepancies in her recollection. Self-denial and selective memory can sometimes be wonderful things, eh?
    Ranma-chan sighed. *All I have to do is avoid cold water like never before until Akane and I find a place to live and try to act as if nothing happened around Rei. That shouldn't be too hard.*
    Ranma-chan started heading back to the Hikawa Shrine. *If Rei and the others are still over there, I should be able to get hot water without any problems.* As she walked, she tried to think of something good about the whole situation. Only one thing came to mind: *At least, they didn't connect my male form to this one,* she thought.
    She was near the shrine gates when she sensed someone approaching. Hiding around a corner, she saw a white and orange figure streak through the entrance. *Sailor Venus?!* thought Ranma-chan. *Are they already back?* Edging near the entrance, she listened for any signs of conversation.

    Sailor Venus looked around inside the shrine grounds. No one appeared to be in yet. *Good,* she thought. *This way, I won't attract attention.*
    "Sailor Venus!" said a relieved voice behind her.
    Said Sailor spun around to see Artemis rushing towards her, Luna following closely. As soon as he was close enough, Artemis jumped in her arms.
    "Venus! We were getting worried! What happened?" asked Artemis.
    "Long story," replied Sailor Venus. She quickly scooped up Luna, who was starting to show obvious signs of impatience. "I'll tell you all about it on the way."
    "What do you mean?" asked Luna. "Where are we going?"
    "We're going to Haruka and Michiru's apartment to have an emergency meeting."
    "Why would we be going there? Why don't we just have the meeting here as we always do?" asked a puzzled black cat.
    "Because Ranma and Akane might be back soon and we don't want to talk about Senshi business around them, you silly cat! Now let's go!"
    Sailor Venus quickly sprinted out the shrine gates, never noticing a reheaded girl who had quickly run around the corner.

    Ranma-chan wearily looked at Sailor Venus' departing figure. Ranma-chan was both intrigued and scared by the last part of the conversation the orange Sailor had with her mysterious interlocutors. *She called the voice 'silly cat'. Does that mean the voices were... talking cats?!* She gulped loudly, fear already invading her mind at the mere thought of a such a concept.
    She shook her head and tried to make sense of the rest of the conversation. *Haruka and Michiru? Aren't those the names of that couple Akane and I met yesterday?* She shook her head. *And why do I have this nagging feeling that I'm going to be the subject of this meeting?*
    She waited for a few more moments and then went inside the shrine. Once inside, Ranma-chan found the hot water tap and quickly turned back male. It was almost as good as when he had been able to change back for the first time after the Chisuiiton incident.
    "Much better!" he said, relieved. He turned around and looked at the empty rooms. "I guess Akane isn't back yet," mumurmed Ranma. He considered just waiting for her, but he was starting to miss her badly. *She's the only sane one around here,* he thought.
    Without giving it another thought, Ranma left the Hikawa Shrine in search of Akane.

    Two minutes after Ranma left, an old man dressed in Shinto robes accompanied by a younger man with a mop of unruly hair crossed the shrine gates.

    While Ranma was looking for Akane, the Inner Senshi were now in front of the Outer's apartment, waiting for the last members of their little group. Minako (her Senshi form no longer necessary) soon made her appearance, carrying the two cats. The first thing Luna did upon arrival was go straight to Usagi.
    "Minako told us what happened. Are you all right?"
    Usagi looked down sadly at Luna. "I'm confused, more than anything. I don't understand why Ranko reacted like she did. She nearly acted as though we were enemies and she even threatened Mamo-chan! She almost attacked him!"
    "But she didn't," interjected Mamoru, who had been unusually silent since Ranko's disappearance. "I've been thinking about something Rei said."
    "And what is that, Mamoru?" asked Rei.
    Mamoru turned to the young priestess. "Remember when I asked you if you'd been able to read her mind when you jogged her memories?" Seeing Rei nod, he continued: "You said you'd gotten an impression, as if she was afraid of her memories." Mamoru then turned to Usagi and Luna. "Maybe that's just it. Maybe she was afraid of all of this."
    Makoto shook her head. "I don't buy that, Mamoru. You saw how she attacked that pervert this afternoon. She doesn't act like the type who's easily afraid...."
    "I think you're mixing physical strength and emotional strength, Makoto," said Ami softly. "One does not necessarily imply the other."
    Minako sighed. "Listen, we can talk about this for as long as we want later. Right now, I think we have a meeting to attend."
    They ringed the doorbell and were answered by Michiru. "Come on inside," she said. "Akane left shortly after you called, so there's nothing to worry about." Once inside the living room, they found Haruka and Hotaru sitting in chairs.
    As soon as the whole group was in the living room, Hotaru nearly jumped up from her chair. "Is what Michiru told us true? Is Ranko really Sailor Terra?"
    Usagi glanced at Mamoru, who sighed, before answering. "Yes... she is," she said wearily, "But she..."
    "Usagi?" interrupted Ami.
    "...Yes?", answered Usagi, a bit suprised at having been cut off by Ami, of all people.
    "Before we start on that particular segment, I believe it would be slightly more helpful if each person recounted what they know. We may be able to fill some gaps more efficiently that way."
    Usagi looked at her friends, who merely shrugged. "Okay, then. I guess it all began when Minako, Ami, Hotaru, Luna and I went to greet Mamoru at the station. I barely had time to hug Mamoru when some monster, a leftover daimon if what Ami told us is correct, popped out of nowhere and started doing its usual stuff. We were about to transform, but Ranma and his wife beat the monster easily with some super martial arts moves and energy blasts..."
"Chi-blasts," corrected Rei.
    Usagi merely shrugged. "And before we can find out who he is, he and Akane vanish."
    Rei took over. "Makoto and I got to meet Ranma and Akane before Usagi and the others came back to the Hikawa Shrine," she said. "He mentioned there had been a fight at the train station, but he didn't elaborate."
    Usagi spoke again. "It was when we arrived at the shrine that we finally found out that it was Ranma who had beaten the daimon."
    Haruka interrupted Usagi. "I'd just like to put in that we met Ranko and Akane at a coffee shop yesterday late afternoon. Some bozos tried to pick us up and she helped us get rid of them; she's a very good martial artist."
    "You have no idea how good," said Makoto, shaking her head.
    Haruka blinked, but continued. "We talked with them, but I think I made her suspicious of me." No one heard Michiru sigh very softly at this point.
    Usagi nodded. "Then that would mean that your meeting with them was just before they came back to the shrine, because we had a rather... short encounter with Ranko and Akane yesterday evening. That's when we learned Ranko was Akane's cousin."
    Michiru noticed Usagi's pause. "Why was it short?" she asked.
    Usagi squirmed a little in her seat before answering. "Well, Akane asked us not to tell anyone, but I think she'll forgive us this time."
    Haruka and Michiru looked at each other and frowned questioningly.
    Seeing Usagi waver, Minako explained. "Ranma and Ranko are deathly afraid of cats,", the blonde supplied.
    Haruka looked at Luna and Artemis and immediately started to snicker. "She's afraid... of cats?"
    Usagi's tone became just harsh enough for Haruka to stop from laughing out loud. "It's not funny, Haruka. Ranma told us what he and Ranko had been through when they were just children and it's not anything to laugh at."
    "Oh?" said Haruka in a challenging tone. "And what exactly did they go through?"
    Makoto took over at this point and described as best as she could the Neko-ken training Ranma and Ranko had been put through. At the end, Michiru simply looked appalled while Haruka looked slightly digusted.
    "I've got half a mind to go pound this Genma into mush because of what he did to her," said Makoto, a hard edge in her voice. "You didn't see her expression when she saw Luna and Artemis, Haruka. She was terrified."
    "That's a horrible thing to do to a poor child!" exclaimed Michiru.
    Haruka just shook her head.
    "And now that you know that," said Usagi, "You'll understand that Ranko didn't stay very long at the shrine when she finally saw Luna and Artemis. We didn't see her again that night, but Ranma came back shortly afterwards." Usagi stopped to take a breath and Michiru took the opening.
    "As I told Rei, I used the Aqua Mirror yesterday evening to find out what I could about Ranko, since she had piqued our curiousity at the cafe. The images I had of her were either with Mamoru or Ranma. I also caught a glimpse of a valley filled with springs, but that was all."
    "The connection between Ranko and Mamoru I can understand," said Rei, "But the connection between her and Ranma is what intrigues me. They look alike, dress the same, speak the same way and they're both martial artists of nearly superhuman level. Ranma told me they were raised together, but this is getting ridiculous! There's something going on and I don't know what it is," she finished with a frown.
    Michiru shook her head. "I'm sorry I can't be of more help, but the Mirror just won't let me see any more than that."
    Rei waved her hand dismissively. "It's not your fault. I'll confront Ranma if I have to, but one way or another, I'll have my answers."
    Usagi, seeing they were finished, decided to continue. "The next time we saw Ranko was this afternoon."
    Haruka immediately leaned forward, an intent look in her eyes. "Michiru told me there was a battle at school today?"
    Usagi nodded. "It probably began shortly after you left..." She didn't finish as Makoto and Ami cleared their throats. Usagi looked at them questioningly.
    "Maybe it would be best if Ami and I were the ones who told this, Usagi-chan," said Makoto. "We were there from the beginning."
    Usagi shrugged. "Go ahead," she said.
    And so, Makoto and Ami recounted the events of the afternoon, starting with the commotion at the bathroom, the short, fruitless fight against the old gnome they thought was a perverted youma, Ranko's intervention, the following battle and concluding with Ranko's departure.
    To say that Haruka and Michiru were suspicious of Ranko's abilities would be an understatement (especially when the girls described the Hiryuu Shouten Ha), but once Ami swore everything was true, they were inclined to believe it. Strangely, Hotaru did not appear to be bothered by it all.
    "It was when Ranko saved Minako and me that her sigil showed, along with Mamo-chan's," said Usagi. "That's when we became almost sure she was a Senshi."
    Michiru and Haruka looked at each other. "What was Ranko doing at Juuban High, anyway?" asked Michiru.
    "I saw her at Mizuharo today," answered Mamoru. "Ranma had apparently told her that I wanted to speak with her, so we made small talk together until we happened to walk near Juuban. We heard a commotion, so we investigated. We arrived just as Jupiter and Mercury were trying to get rid of Happosai. Apparently, it wasn't the first time that she's had to fight him."
    Everyone blinked at that, and Usagi took the opportunity to continue. "Well, after the battle was finished, Ranko started searching for Mamo-chan, so I told her he'd be at the Hikawa shrine later today." She paused, and Luna took over.
    "Usagi had managed to come up with an insane plan to confront Ranko at the shrine. She convinced me to give her Terra's henshin rod. Suffice it to say that nothing worked according to plan."
    Usagi scowled. "My plan was not insane, Luna. How was I supposed to know Ranko would react like that?"
    Mamoru coughed lightly. "Luna, Usagi? Maybe I should take over from here?"
    Usagi nodded while glaring at Luna and said feline bowed her head in acquiesence.
    And so, Mamoru told Haruka, Michiru and Hotaru what had happened since Ranko's arrival, all the way through the confrontation with Terra on the roof, which resulted in her departure.
    "So she just left?" exclaimed Haruka. "She can't just walk away!"
    Michiru put her hand on Haruka's arm to calm her. "There's obviously more to this than meets the eye." Haruka grumbled, but settled down. Michiru turned to the others. "I'd like to talk to Ranko if it was possible."
    "How?" asked Mamoru. "I'd like to do just that myself, but she doesn't seem to want to have anything to do with us anymore and we have no idea where she lives either, so we can't look for her. This whole mess is why we were looking for Pluto; maybe she could give us a hint about what to do."
    Ami shook her head from where she was sitting. "I'm beginning to think that this whole situation is the exact reason why Sailor Pluto hasn't been seen recently. It would seem she wants us to figure out the solution by ourselves."
    Haruka and Michiru nodded reluctantly. "Yeah, that could be it," admitted Haruka.
    Minako, silent until now, took the following silence as a signal to speak. "Michiru? When we called you, you said that Akane was here. What was she doing here?"
    Hotaru spoke up: "She happened to pass by my school this afternoon and she helped me with a... problem."
    "What kind of problem?" asked Usagi. Michiru and Haruka tensed slightly.
    Hotaru squirmed a bit before answering. "Some bullies were picking on me..." she said softly.
    While Haruka's eyes merely flashed with anger, Makoto's reaction was far more obvious. "You've got bullies picking on you?!" she said out loud. "I should find them and pick on them for a while!"
    "Makoto!" The sharpness of the voice brought Makoto back to her senses. She turned around to find Michiru frowning at her. "You're behaving almost exactly like Haruka. The best solution isn't always to go pound someone. There are other ways of dealing with a problem."
    Hotaru intervened before things could get any uglier. "As I was saying, Akane scared off the bullies before they did anything." Seeing Makoto and Michiru relax a little, she continued. "There's something you should know, but I want everyone's promise that this will not get out of this room. Akane asked me not to tell anyone, but I think this is a bit too important."
    She waited until everyone in the room gave their assent, then continued: "When accompanied me back here, we talked on the way. I asked her how she met Ranma and she gave me a rundown of how their relationship." Hotaru went on relating what Akane had told her about her history with Ranma. Ami hung on to every word, as she finally began to have some explanation for Ranma's mysterious abilities. The others listened, slackjawed, as Hotaru related events that would have made a very good manga storyline.
    When she finished, everyone was looking at Hotaru with some degree of disbelief. Seeing their faces, Hotaru shrugged. "That's what she told me. It's also the only explanation we have for Ranma's... exploits at the train station." She didn't mention her growing suspicion of Akane's true identity. Haruka and Michiru already knew about it and they didn't seem to believe her all that much.
    Ami spoke first. "I have to speak to him."
    Everyone looked at Ami with a questioning glance.
    Ami sighed exasperatedly. "Don't you understand? If he's managed to get abilities like that through training alone, imagine what he could teach us!" She stopped for a beat. "I also want to run him through a battery of tests," she added, as it it was no more than an afterthought.
    "You're assuming he'd be willing to teach us in the first place," pointed out Makoto.
    "Actually, he very well might," said Mamoru.
    "How do you know that?" asked the brunette.
    "Ranko told me that Ranma is the heir to a family dojo. She said he's stydying Physical Education in preparation to become a sensei. If he's studying to become a sensei, it would make sense that he's willing to train people, right?"
    Rei, who had remained silent for a long time, spoke up. "Michiru, can you make me a rough sketch of the valley with the pools you saw in the Mirror?"
    "I guess I can, but why?"
    "I'm going to ask some things to the sacred fire and it helps if I have an image to focus on."
    As Michiru left to get a sketching pad, the group kept discussing Ranma, Ranko and Akane.

    It was actually Akane who found Ranma first on her way back to the Hikawa Shrine. She was walking down the street when she saw Ranma walking on the other side of the street, lost in thought.
    "Ranma!" she called out to him, waving her hands to get his attention.
    Ranma looked up and saw Akane. Moments later, they were walking back to the shrine hand in hand.
    "So, Ranma, anything special happen to you today?" asked Akane with a smile.
    "You could say that," answered Ranma. *Talk about the understatement of the century!* he thought privately. He then realized that there was something she should be made aware of. "Actually, something did happen. I, or rather Ranko, ran into Happosai this afternoon."
    Akane groaned loudly. "That's just great. Just great..." she said, not meaning a single word. "Okay Ranma, give me the details."
    Ranma sighed, but gave a detailed accounting of his encounter with Happosai. When he was finished, he watched Akane's reaction.
    His wife was not wholly pleased. "Ranma! I thought you'd promised not to seek trouble on purpose!"
    Ranma put up his hands in a placating gesture. "What was I supposed to do? Let the old lech molest those girls?"
    "You could have let someone else take care of him!" Akane shot back.
    "Like who? Even the Sailor Senshi couldn't stop him!" said Ranma, who immediately regretted it.
    Akane looked at him oddly. "The Sailor Senshi?" she said. She then remembered the blurry picture Ranma had shown her back at the train station. "What were they doing there?" she asked, curious.
    Ranma cursed himself silently. Talking about the Senshi had brought backsome rather... unpleasant memories he'd been trying to forget. "When I saw Happosai, he was squaring off against two of the Sailor Senshi; he'd already managed to grope one. One tried to freeze the lech and the other tried to fry him with a lightning bolt. I stepped in to help and you know the rest."
    Akane leaned against Ranma's shoulder. "I just wish we could be left alone," she said softly.
    "I know what you mean, Akane," said Ranma wearily. "I wish everyone could just leave us alone"
    Akane frowned inwardly. Ranma didn't usually sound like this; he sounded as if he was bothered about something. Before she could ask what was the problem, Ranma changed the subject.
    "So, did you see anything you liked at the university?" he asked in a cheery voice. "The only interesting thing I found was a job offer as a P.E. assistant in a nearby school. I'm going to go check it out tomorrow."
    "Good for you," said Akane. "I wasn't quite as succesful as you were at finding a job, but I saw some other things, though." She told him of the clubs she found interesting and of how she had spent the afternoon. "Oh, by the way, Ranma," she said with a smile. "I saw Hotaru-chan again today!"
    "Who?" asked Ranma.
    "Hotaru Tomoe. She was the little one in the group we met at Rei's shrine yesterday evening!"
    Ranma tensed when he heard that. The other girls in that group had turned out to be Sailor Senshi. *Is that little one a Senshi too?* he wondered. He then promptly gave himself a mental slap. *Don't get too paranoid, stupid. They'd never let a little kid like her fight alongside them... Right?* "So, um, what happened?"
    "She was being bullied by some kids. I stepped in and did some crowd control."
    Ranma thought for a while about Akane's definition of "crowd control". His mind flashed him images of her daily mob fights at Furinkan High when he'd first arrived in Nerima. "How many did you send to the hospital?" he asked absently.
    Akane flashed him an irritated look. "They were thirteen year-olds, you baka! I didn't send them to a hospital; I only scared them!"
    Ranma quickly asked his next question, not wanting his annoy his wife any more than he already had. "Why would they be bullying her? From what little I saw of her, she looked harmless enough."
    "It's because of a little talent she has," answered Akane. "She can heal people at a touch."
    Ranma stiffened slightly, then forced himself to relax. *The Senshi use their powers when they're transformed, not in their civilian identities. This doesn't mean they're out to get me. I hope.* He cleared his throat slightly. "Must be a useful talent. The kids were bullying her because of it?"
    "Yeah," Akane answered. "Apparently they think she's some kind of freak because of it."
    "Only idiots fear what they can't understand," said Ranma firmly, not realizing the irony of his own statement.

    Back at the Outer Senshi's apartment, the meeting was at an end. The general concensus had been to keep an eye on Ranma for the next few days as well as on Ranko if anyone was to see her. As the Inner Senshi left the apartment towards their respective homes, Hotaru pulled Rei aside.
    "Rei, do you think that memory technique you used on Terra would work on a non-Senshi?" asked the little girl.
    Rei raised an eyebrow. "I don't know. The only time I've ever tried the technique was this afternoon." She tilted her head slightly to the side. "Why do you want to know?"
    Hotaru looked around and, satisfied that no one was within hearing range, whispered: "I've got a feeling Akane might also be someone's reincarnation."
    The priestess-in-training blinked. "Really? Whose?"
    Hotaru shuffled her feet. "I'd rather not say right now..."
    Rei's curiosity was piqued. "Why didn't you talk about this at the meeting?"
    Hotaru averted her eyes. "It's personal. I just want to know if you'd be willing to try and wake up her memories."
    Rei sighed. "That's if she has memories to be awakened in the first place."
    "Could you just try? Pleeease?" wheeled Hotaru, putting on the most pitiful look she could at the time.
    Rei grunted slightly. "On one condition. Make that two, actually."
    Hotaru became a bit nervous. "What conditions?"
    "First, I want you to know I'll only try if she lets me. If she doesn't want to, I'm not going to pursue it, okay?"
    Hotaru nodded. "Okay, I can accept that. What's the second condition?"
    "I want to know who you think she is."
    Hotaru flinched slightly. "First, you have to promise you won't tell the others and that you won't laugh at the possibility."
    Rei was becoming more and more curious. "All right, I promise, now spill it."
    "I think she might be my brother," Hotaru said in a small voice.
    Rei blinked. Twice. "Your brother?" she said in an incredulous tone.
    Hotaru quickly explained to Rei why she thought Akane was her reincarnated brother.
    Rei blinked again. She shook her head slightly. "Do Michiru and Haruka know about this?"
    Hotaru sighed. "They know that I suspect her of being my brother's reincarnation, but I think they don't take me very seriously; that's why I want you to try and awaken her memories. If anything, it'll prove I'm right."
    "You seem awfully sure of yourself, Hotaru-chan," commented Rei.
    The small girl had a fierce gleam in her eyes. "I know I'm right, Rei."
    Rei held up her hands in a placating gesture. "Hey, no need to get ferocious here!" she said jokingly. She smiled. "If she has any memories, I'll find them." Her smile faded a little. "I just want you to consider the possibility that she might not be a reincarnation, okay?"
    "Hai," Hotaru reluctantly answered.
    After that, both girls exchanged goodbyes and went their separate ways. After looking at her watch, Rei decided that a jog wouldn't be harmful. She knew Ranma and Akane might be back anytime and she wanted to keep a close eye on her guests.

    The two guests in question were now entering the Hikawa Shrine. As they walked up the steps, Akane looked once more towards Ranma, her eyes slightly narrowed in concentration. Ranma had been acting strangely during the entire afternoon, as if he was deeply distracted by something. She reflected back on her conversations with Ranma and tried to find out what could have caused the problem. The university? Unless he had found out that he had somehow already failed a class (with him, anything was possible), she didn't know of anything that could have upset him. Could it have been Happosai? Unlikely. It wasn't the first time Ranma had duked it out with the old pervert and it likely wouldn't be the last. He sometimes stayed a bit peeved after his fights when Happosai managed to grope him, but he rarely stayed preoccupied like this so long after the fight.
    Her musings were cut short when a short, bald man wearing Shinto robes came out of the shrine, a slightly puzzled look on his face. When he saw both youngsters, though, his face brightened.
    "Ha! You must be Ranma and Akane!" the old man said happily.
    Ranma squinted at the old man. "Grandfather Hino? Is that you?" he asked.
    "Yes, it's me, Ranma," said Rei's grandfather. He approached Ranma and looked up. "You've certainly grown, son! The last time I saw you, you were but a child and your father was already training you!"
    Ranma smiled. "The training's done now, Grandfather Hino."
    The diminutive priest waggled his finger. "You can call me Grandpa, or Grandfather if you must. I don't have that many grandchildren." He turned to Akane. "And I suppose this lovely young lady is Akane?"
    Akane blushed slightly. "Yes, I am." She looked around. "Is Rei back yet?" she asked.
    Grandfather Hino shook his head. "Not yet. I just came back a short while ago myself. I found out about you two from a note she left me." He smiled. "It looks like you'll be staying here for a while, ne? Rei's letter mentionned you two are married?"
    Seeing Akane's nod, he turned to Ranma. "Good catch, son. She's beautiful!"
    Ranma blushed.
    "Come on inside and make yourselves comfortable," said the elder Hino. "Then I want to know what you've been doing all this time. I haven't heard anything from Nodoka-chan in a very long time..."
    They proceeded to go inside the shrine where they met Yuuichiro. Ranma and Akane then went to freshen up in their room.
    The departing ponytailed martial artist never noticed Grandfather Hino looking at him with slightly narrowed eyes. *It is coming from him. I wonder if he's even aware of it...*

    When they reached their room, Akane noticed a discrepancy in Ranma's appearance for the first time. "Ranma," she asked, "why did you undo your pigtail?"
    Ranma winced a little. "It wasn't by choice. My pigtail got undone when Happosai knocked me into a wall this afternoon. I lost the dragon hair and I didn't have enough string to properly rebraid it, so I put it in a ponytail." He looked at his wife amusedly. "Why do you ask? Did you like the pigtail better?"
    Akane shrugged, smiling. "I like you no matter how you put up your hair," she said. A thoughtful look then crossed her face. "Are you sure your hair won't suddenly start to grow again?"
    A wry smile found its way to Ranma's lips. "I'm quite sure. The effects of the dragon hair soup are long gone, trust me."
    "Good," she purred, hugging him. "If your hair got any longer, I might think you were turning into a girl." She never saw Ranma blanching slightly at that statement.
    
    When Ranma and Akane returned, the first thing they noticed was that Rei had returned. Her grandfather was sitting across from her, a large fire crackling in the background. Yuuichiro was nowhere to be found.
    "Hi, Ranma, Akane," the raven-haired girl greeted. "How was your day?"
    Akane waited until she had sat down cross-legged to answer. "Wonderful! I think I'm going to like university very much!" said Akane brightly.
    Ranma put on a false smile when his gaze came across Rei. "I had an... eventful day. I don't know if I'm gonna like university yet. I'm going to go see a counselor toworrow to see if I can get a shot at doing a stage as an assistant in a school."
    "What are you studying, Ranma?" asked the elder Hino.
    "Physical Education," said Ranma. "Me and Akane are going to inherit a dojo when we're finished with university."
    "Of course!" said Grandfather Hino, nodding. "I wouldn't expect any less from Genma, especially." He leaned forward, interested. "So tell me, boy, what have you been up to all these years?"
    Ranma glanced at Akane, who shrugged slightly. "Well, it goes a little like this..." Ranma then launched himself in a miniature autobiography, starting with what he could remember about the day he left his mother (which wasn't much).

    Half-an-hour later...
    "... The last training stop we made was in China." Ranma paused nervously and glanced at Akane again, carefully avoiding to describe the training he had undergone there. "After that, we came back to Japan and I met Akane. It was then that I found out there was an arranged marriage between my family and the Tendos."
    The two Hinos were suitably impressed. "When Genma told me he planned on taking you on a training trip, he wasn't kidding!" said Grandfather Hino. "Although I am disappointed that he left my daughter alone like that for over ten years," he added, shaking his head. His brow wrinkled for a few seconds. "You left out something, though. You said you came back to Japan almost over two years ago. What have you been doing since then?"
    Ranma winced at the question. * I wish he hadn't asked that.* He noticed that Rei seemed particularly interested in the direction the conversation seemed to be going. He looked at Akane for an indication of what he should do, He wasn't against telling the elder Hino about his life in Nerima, but he remembered that Akane didn't want him to start blabbing it to anyone. When he gazed into Akane's eyes, he saw resignation, but he also saw a faint glint which told him all he needed to know. He opened his mouth to speak, but the elder Hino beat him to it.
    "On the other hand boy, I'd rather ask you an other question," said the old priest. Ranma sighed in relief. "Do you know you have some kind of spell or magical aura around you?"
    Ranma jerked as if he had swallowed a cattle-prod and Akane took in a sharp breath. Rei's eyes narrowed like a hawk's.
    *He can feel the curse's aura?!* thought a shocked Ranma. He had no chance to continue that line of thought when the elder Hino spoke again.
    "By your reaction, I'm guessing you know about it. Would you mind explaining it?"
    Ranma was thinking fast. Obviously, the old priest was skilled enough to detect a magical aura when he was faced with one, but he didn't seem to recognize the kind of magic. He suddenly thought of an idea that would explain the curse and still keep it secret. Turning to Akane, he flashed her a reassuring smile. He then turned to face Grandfather Hino, who seemed to be waiting expectantly.
    "Uhh... yeah, I have a curse," admitted Ranma. "Remember what I said about the last training trip in China?"
    The elder Hino nodded while Akane wore an expression of defeat. Rei was listening intently.
    "Well, it turns out that I got cursed there. A very annoying curse, too."
    The elder Hino seemed puzzled. "You say it's a curse?"
    "Yes," nodded Ranma. "There was a pool at last training ground and I fell in it. We found out later that the pool had cursed me in the process."
    The old priest's brow furrowed. "What kind of curse was it?" Akane became very nervous and Rei even more interested at that point.
    Ranma frowned internally. *Why does he keep saying 'curse' that way?" Aloud, he replied: "It was an ancient Chinese curse: 'May you live in interesting times'."
    Akane, who was sitting besides him, relaxed, hiding a smile. *I can't believe it!* she thought, impressed. *He really had a flash of genius, this time. He managed to explain what the curse does overall without explaining the curse itself without even really lying!*
    "Mmmhhh... Maybe that explains it, then..." mused the elder Hino aloud.
    Rei noticed her grandfather's expression. "What do you mean, Grandpa?"
    Her grandfather flashed her a knowing smile. "I can't hide much past you, can I?" He turned back to Ranma. "You say that you were cursed in that pool?"
    Ranma, a bit nervous now, nodded confidently. "Yeah. It's brought me no end of trouble since I came back to Japan," he said, thinking about all of his adventures in Nerima.
    "Well, that's a bit strange," the old priest said, "Because your aura doesn't feel like that of a curse. You have a magical aura, true, but it's not an evil one. It also melds with your personal aura remarkably well, I'd say."
    Ranma's left eyebrow twitched in annoyance. "Trust me, Grandfather, it's a curse and it there's nothing about it that I like!" he finished forcefully.
    The elder Hino shrugged, nonplussed by Ranma's reaction. "I don't know what happened to you since you gained that aura, but I know it's not a curse. I felt it as soon as you entered the shrine grounds. It's a rather powerful aura."
    Ranma was about to snap at the old priest when he remembered he was a guest. "Believe what you will, Grandfather," said Ranma, rising from his sitting position, "But I know a curse when I see one." That said, he spun on his heels and went back to his room.
    Akane remained behind, looking distinctly uncomfortable under the scrutiny of the two Hinos. Grandfather Hino spoke first: "Akane, can you tell me why Ranma seems to feel so strongly about this subject? I didn't expect him to react the way he did." The old priest seemed genuinely puzzled by Ranma's departure.
    Akane noticed he wasn't the only one expecting an answer. Rei might have been silent, but her eyes gave away her intent. She sighed deeply. "The curse, or whatever you want to call it, is a very touchy subject with Ranma. From what I can tell, he has hated it more than anything since the day he first got it and he has tried countless ways to remove it. Nothing has ever worked permanently."
    Rei cocked her head slightly. "But what does this... 'curse' do to him that's so bad?"
    Akane wasn't about to tell them about the true nature of the curse. She berated herself, for she was about to do exactly what she had warned Ranma against doing. "The curse attracts trouble to him. Shortly after he came to Nerima, people started popping up, either trying to marry me or trying to kill Ranma, sometimes for very stupid reasons. I'd say that one of the most annoying aspects of the curse what that Ranma had a tendency to attract iinazukes and super-powered martial artist challengers faster than a horse collects flies. Now that we're married, all the other girls have gone away and no one's been after Ranma for a while. Personally, I was hoping we might finally get some peace at last. "
    Rei blinked. "I had no idea his life was like that," she lied, having heard the same thing from Hotaru during the meeting.
    Akane smiled sadly. "Very few people know what Ranma is really like, Rei. He may be arrogant sometimes, but he's also extremely honorable and kind when he wants to be. He only gets irrational when the curse is mentionned."
    The elder Hino looked thoughtful for a while. "Akane, do you have an idea about what is Ranma's goal in life?"
    "Oh, that's easy," said Akane. "He's obsessed with martial arts."
    "I suppose that means he's very good?"
    Akane glanced at Rei and sighed inwardly. *Well, Ranma showed her yesterday, so there's not much harm she can do, I guess.* Her gaze returned to the old priest. "I'm a bit biased to give an objective statement, but he's probably one of the most powerful martial artists in Japan right now." After a second she added: "But don't tell him I said that; he's got a big enough ego as it is." Seeing the elder Hino's doubting look, she elaborated: "If it helps to make a comparison, he can throw chi-blasts very easily."
    The old priest's eyes widened in surprise.
    "She's right, Grandfather," supplied Rei. "He showed me some of his skill yesterday evening."
    The old priest looked at his granddaughter, then nodded. He then turned back to Akane. "I'll have to ask him how he managed it at such a young age," he muttered under his breath. Louder, he continued: "I take it he hasn't always been able to throw chi-blasts?"
    Akane shook her head. "No. The more he got challenged, the more techniques he learned. That's how he works: he usually develops a counter to a technique after someone attacks him with that technique. Throwing chi-blasts was just one of the techniques he learned along the way."
    The elder Hino nodded. "I think I see what's been happening here." Akane raised an eyebrow questioningly. "I think I know how he may have mistaken his condition for a curse."
    Akane blinked. "All right, you've got me confused..."
    "Look at it this way," said the old priest. "Your husband likes martial arts more than anything else. He's been effectively training since the day he could walk; it's his life. Do you follow me so far?" Akane nodded. "One could theorize that all that's happened to him since he came back from China has worked to make him stronger, to improve his skills. I think he calls it a curse because he has had to fight all the time. He didn't realize that what he called a 'curse' might in reality work for him instead of against him by giving him all these opportunities to become a greater martial artist."
    Akane blinked. *Scary,* she thought, *I can actually see some logic in that...*
    Grandfather Hino suddenly rose up. "Anyway, if it bothers him so much, then I won't mention it again." Turning away, Akane heard a last sentence before the old man was out of earshot: "I still want him to show me how he uses his chi, though..."
    Akane got up and was about to leave for her room when Rei decided this was a perfect opportunity to see if Akane was related to Hotaru.
    "I saw Hotaru-chan today, Akane. You must've made quite an impression on her; she couldn't stop thinking and talking about you."
    Akane smiled. "Yeah, I saw her this afternoon. She's a really sweet kid, you know?" Her smile faded to leave way to a puzzled expression. "I just wish I knew why I keep thinking I've seen her before somewhere."
    Rei silently loosed a sigh of relief. *Good, the fact that she seems to remember Hotaru from somewhere might help a lot.* She considered her reply. "You think you've seen her somewhere before?"
    "Yeah," replied Akane. "I'm sure I have, but I can't remember where for the life of me."
    "Maybe I can help," said Rei.
    Akane felt a slight surge of hope. "How?"
    "I know a few hypnotism techniques. I could try to force your mind to remember where you saw Hotaru before."
    Akane considered the possibility that was offered to her. She didn't particularly care for hypnotism (Shampoo's Xia Fang Gao technique had seen to that), but she did want to find out more about the little purple-eyed girl. The desire to find out more about Hotaru finally won out. "Are there any dangers I should be aware of?" she asked.
    Rei shook her head. "It's quite harmless," she said. *If you've got no memories at all, that is,* she added silently.
    That seemed to be enough for Akane. "Okay, what do I need to do?"
    "Just sit down in front of me and relax," said Rei. Akane did so. "All right, now try to empty your mind of all thoughts except Hotaru. Focus on her image."
    As Akane closed her eyes, she felt one of Rei's fingers touch her forehead. She focused on Hotaru. For a while, there was nothing, but suddenly, she was assaulted by hundreds, no, thousands of images that made no sense. She could barely discern that some of the images were of Hotaru, but even those made no sense at all; they sometimes showed her wearing an elaborate gown, sometimes holding a vicious-looking weapon that looked like a cross between a scythe and a halberd. She saw fleeting images of a castle, a forge, people she knew but didn't recognize. It felt like having years crammed in her head in a few seconds' time.
    And suddenly, it was all over.
    Akane gasped when she finally saw Rei's familiar face. "What... What was that?" she asked in a shaky voice.
    The priestess-in-training blinked several times before answering. "I unlocked something, I'm just not sure what."
    Akane tried to rise, but nearly collapsed again. "I'm dizzy," was all she said.
    Rei took Akane's hand to help her up. "Maybe you should go to bed, Akane. Sleep can only do you good at this point."
    Akane held her head in her hands while mumbling: "Maybe you're right." She was too confused by the sudden influx of images to say anything else.
    As she watched Akane leave for her room, Rei closed her eyes. *Hotaru was right. Akane is a reincarnation. I'll have to tell her tomorrow... If Akane doesn't reach her first.* Turning towards the Great Fire, she took out the sketch of the mysterious valley Michiru had drawn for her. As she looked at it, she remembered a fragment of conversation...

    "There was a pool at last training ground and I fell in it. We found out later that the pool had cursed me in the process..."

    Looking at the drawing, which showed a score of pools with poles jutting out, Rei couldn't help wonder if this was the pool Ranma had talked about. As she settled in front of the flame, she suddenly remembered something that had struck her as very strange in the conversation, now that she thought back on it: Ranma had talked about his youth, yet nowhere in his story had he said anything about Ranko.
    *What's going on here...* she thought.

    Akane finally managed to get to the room she and Ranma shared. She had managed to regain most of her equilibrium, but her mind was still clouded. Ranma was already lying on his futon, staring at the ceiling, mumbling.
    "How the hell can he say my curse isn't a curse? He hasn't lived with it; he doesn't have people out to kill him just to prove themselves..." he mumbled. He turned to look at Akane and saw her slightly vacant look. "Are you okay, Akane?" he asked, sightly concerned.
    Akane waved his concern away. "I'm all right, Ranma. I just feel sleepy, that's all."
    Ranma didn't look wholly convinced, but relented anyway. He layed on his futon, thinking, until Akane flopped on her futon besides him. "Akane," he started, "What did you talk about all this time?"
    Akane's faint snore was his only answer. Ranma blinked, and turned around to see that Akane was, in fact, soundly sleeping already. *Geez!* he thought, *She must've been really tired.* He frowned for a moment, thinking that Rei might have something to do with it, but dismissed it, deciding that Rei or Sailor Mars didn't have anything to do with Akane.

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