Ever since that damned Jusenkyoin had smacked him with that damn virus, 
Saotome had spent half his life as a woman and as he did now whenever he 
thought about them, took a moment to curse the entire genomancers guild.

Still, Saotome was something of a positive thinker. Yes, it was disorienting 
to change gender when hit with water, but it also meant could finally achieve 
his dream, and like his mother before him, join the royal family's personal 
bodygaurd.

But first, he had bisinuess to take care of and he shoved the lever forward, 
increasing the horse's speed, the small vehicle, named for a now long dead 
animal from humanity's fabled ancestral home kicking up leaves as it roared 
towards the ruins. The sunlight dimmed and Saotome made a face as he 
revalueated the light conditions. Overhead, he could see the green and whites 
of Midway, one of Japan's two moons as it passed between Japan and the sun. 
That meant that he would be fighting the first duel in the dim twilight. 
Still, his female form, which he was currently in, had better night vision.

'Man,' he thought to himself, 'how the hell did I wind up havin three duels 
in one day?' 

Twisting the lever, he parked the horse by the tree and stared at the young 
lady standing by the wall, chewing on a blade of grass. Her bright red hair 
was tied back from her face in a long pigtail and she wore a long red cloak.

"Your manners need more refinement," she said, giving him a cute smile as she 
stepped away from the wall. "Our bisinuess was to commence five minutes ago."

"Is dying that important to you?" Saotome asked as he heard the howl of two 
more horses as they approached. The rounded the corner and stopped and 
Saotome felt his heart sink as he recognized his other two appointments.

One of them was tall, with spiky cyan hair and wore a dark blue cloak. The 
other appeared to be male at first glance, and it was only by the planes of 
her face that you realized that he was a she.

"Shidou, you can't fight her," said the cyan haired woman. "I'm dueling her 
in an hour."

"I'm fighting her as well," said the third woman. "We were to meet at the 
meadow in two hours."

Shidou started chuckling as she began to remove her cloak, the other two 
climbing out of their horses and doing the same. "Well, it seems you have a 
busy afternoon ahead of you," she said to Saotome. "Let's get on with it 
then." Her cloak hit the ground and Saotome stared at the tunic. 

"You're one of the Queen's gaurd?" he asked Shidou. The cloaks of Shidou's 
friends also hit the ground, revealing that they wore identical tunics. 
"You're all gaurdswomen? I've been looking all over Japan for you."

"And now you've found us," Shidou said. "I believe we have a matter of 
manners to discuss, unless you'd like to reschedule."

Saotome sighed and removed from his belt Nerima, the blade handed down 
through the generations of his mother's family. A single thought, and the 
blade flickered to life, an energy beam a meter long, ten centimeters wide, 
and an edge of one molecule. "No," he said. "I do not reschedule matters of 
honor. But I will take no pleasure in this victory." He slipped into a 
gaurding stance as Shidou produced a blade of her own seemingly out of thin 
air. "I'll be with you ladies in a moment."

"Ooh," the cyan haired one said, "she's a fiesty one." The other redhead 
nodded agreement.

At that point, there was the sound of multiple horses approaching and 
Shidou's expression became one of disgust. "He wouldn't, not twice in one 
day."

Around the corner of the ruins came five men and women in the tunics of the 
Church's soldiers. "You'll all under arrest," said a woman with the epaulets 
and silver braid of a captain. "Will you come peacefully, or resist arrest?"

"He would," the other two gaurdswomen said in unison.

"I'll ask again," said the captain levelly. "Will you come peacefully or will 
you resist arrest?"

"What are you, stupid?" demanded the cyan haired gaurdswoman. "Of course 
we're going to resist. Just give us a moment." The three gaurdswoman went 
into a huddle. Saotome tried to join them, but was shoved away.

"Five aginst three," said the cyan haired woman. "Hardly seems fair. Should 
we offer them a chance to surrender?"

"There's four of us," Saotome said.

"This isn't your fight," Shidou snarled. "This is between us and High Priest 
Kagato. You're not one of us."

"I may not wear your tunic," Saotome shot back, "But I believe that I have 
the heart, like my mother before me."

"A warrior and a poet," observed the second redhead.

"You got a name?" Shidou demanded.

"Saotome."

Shidou exchanged looks with her comrades. "Shidou," she said and indicated 
the others. "Ryoko and Utena." Saotome shook everyone's hand.

"So that's it?" asked Ryoko. "Everyone aqauinted?" They spun to face the 
Church soldiers, Ryoko's energy blade manifesting in her hand and Utena took 
hers from her belt.. "Okay," Ryoko said with a smile. "We're ready to resist."

*****
Yes, its the three Animeketeers....

I am so very, very sorry.

Disclaimer: The three Musketeers were created by Alexandre Dumas, Ranma is 
the creation of Rumiko Takahashi, Ryoko and Kagato are owned by Pioneer and 
the Utena manga appears in Animerica Magazine.

             .---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List----.
             | Administrators - ffml-admins@anifics.com |
             | Unsubscribing - ffml-request@anifics.com |
             |     Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject     |
             `---- http://ffml.anifics.com/faq.txt -----'