Hey, everybody!  Long time no see!  :)

    I apologize for the enourmous delay, but here it is: chapter 11 of LoD.
Comments are welcome.

    Gotta go work on DP 2 now...

**************

   Lines Of Destiny

   A Sailor Moon/Ranma 1/2  Crossover

   By Louis-Philippe Giroux
   Dragon@anime.usacomputers.net

   Thank you for all your comments!  Keep'em coming!
   C&C is always welcome!!!

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

   The latest versions of the previous chapters are always the ones on my
WWW page at
http://www.anime.usacomputers.net/~dragon/lines/lines.html


   Chapter 11


   Somewhere near the outskirts of Tokyo, an old, shriveled man stood,
oblivious to the slight chill in the air.  The figure was standing in front
of an elaborate, seven-foot wide pentagram, circled with unearthly runes.
The pentagram, which just a moment ago had been glowing bright red, was now
a dull gray.  In his left hand, the man held a few ashes, which he let
slowly fall to the ground, where they were immediately swept away by a
passing breeze.  Merely a few minutes ago, those ashes had been a scroll.
An ancient scroll which had been _very_ hard to obtain, even for a martial
artist of his caliber.

   Happosai was not happy.

   The demon he had summoned was one of the most powerful he knew of that
he could bring safely across (safely being as subjective as ever).  He had
given it a simple mission.  Beat up Ranma Saotome as much as it could
without killing him.  Of course, Happosai knew that without explicit
instructions not to do so, the demon would invariably try to beat Ranma up
in the most painful manner, which had suited the ancient pervert fine at
the moment.  Happosai wanted to remind Ranma that he was still the student
and that there were some things that he just could not do.
   Of course, it could have been a subconscious need to deny to himself the
fact that however much training he had done, Ranma was still better than he
was.  Sadly, Happosai had never cared much about listening to his
subconscious, so the thought never even reached the surface of his withered
mind.

   Happosai was a creature of desire.  When he wanted something, he usually
got it.  Such had been the way for countless years, and he had never needed
to change his ways.  And now, Happosai wanted to teach Ranma a lesson.
Only a few handful of people had ever been able to stand up to him.  Chief
among those were Cologne and Ranma, but Cologne was a special story, unlike
the young, cocky martial artist.
   When he had returned from his enforced "vacation" (if you could call
being buried in a cave for more than ten years a vacation), he had
tolerated Ranma's attitude mainly because he brought plenty of nice girls
for him to play with wherever he went.  That and also because Ranma
couldn't beat him.  But things had changed.  Ranma had grown phenomenally
strong in the Art.  That was still acceptable, because after all, there
were still plenty of beautiful girls to go around, Ranma first among them.
But things kept changing, perhaps too fast for the aging master.  Ranma was
now able to defeat him without too much trouble.

   So Happosai left.  He would not admit to himself that a young pup could
defeat him.  So he wandered for a year, calling it training, and when he
returned, he decided to try his skills in another part of Tokyo where he
could grope young women in peace.  In a high school in Juuban, he had found
a dream come true.  But lo and behold, like the proverbial bad copper,
Ranma had turned up yet again.
   The young martial artist had not only interrupted him but he had also
thoroughly beaten him and also used the Hiryuu Shouten Ha on him, sending
him away from the pretty girls in short skirts he'd been playing with (the
only one he didn't mind leaving behind was the one in the red skirt -a
vicious one she'd been, that one).  At that point, something in Happosai
had changed.  If he was to have any peace, he had to get rid of Ranma
somehow or send a him clear message about not interfering with his business.

   That led to the summoning he had just performed.  Happosai had stolen a
scroll from an unknown temple
decades ago, long before he had taken Genma and Soun as students.  He had
done so thinking it was another martial arts technique he could learn.  He
had been surprised when he realized that it was a scroll that could be used
to summon a demon.  The old master had seen, and even used, such scrolls
before, but this was easily one of the most powerful ones he had ever had
the chance to peruse.  Not one to throw interesting things away, he had
kept it in store for an occasion just like this one.
   Why this particular demon?  According to the scroll, not only was the
demon supposed to be a very powerful one, but it was also supposed to be
very resistant to spiritual attacks, which would severely limit Ranma's chi
strikes.  And the fact that it was a demon would ensure it had more than
enough physical strength to take on Ranma in physical combat.
   But something had gone wrong.  Again.  Minutes ago, the scroll had
turned into ash in his hands, just as the pentagram had lost its power.  He
knew what that meant.  The demon had either been killed or had been sent
back to Hell by another means than the summoning scroll.  Ranma had
obviously won again, or else the demon would have returned to the circle
after finishing its objective.

   Happosai cursed the demon under his breath.  He would find a way to
teach Ranma a lesson he wouldn't forget.  You didn't live for as long as he
did without learning a few tricks.  But first, he would need to find out
exactly how Ranma had defeated the demon.

* * *

   Meanwhile, back at Juuban High School, a tale was unfolding, the main
players all gathered together.  There was silence, ruined only by the
sounds of crumbling walls and the far-off cries of young children.  Eight
Planet Senshi, a Moon Senshi who also happened to be a Moon Princess, a
Prince who would eventually become King, and a Knight from the Sixth Planet
looked at each other, most of them with varying degrees of confusion.

   Or more precisely, they were all looking intently (others might even say
that they stared) at the Senshi from the Third Planet, who also happened to
be the reincarnated sister of the Prince.

   That particular Senshi was trying to find a way to get out of the nasty
predicament she had subjected herself to without suffering any overly
embarrassing repercussions in her life (although she was almost certain
that would not happen -the kami seemed to enjoy needling her too much for
that to ever happen).  She was about to simply bolt for the nearest rooftop
when she remembered the futility of such an escape, especially where the
Prince was concerned.

   Yes, the Prince.  She was looking away from him and yet she was aware of
his confusion, his relief, his pride and a thousand other emotions, but
most of all, she was aware of _him_.  His presence now shone like a warm
fire in the dark recesses of her mind, just as he knew her presence had the
same effect in his.  And for a sweet, short while, she welcomed it.
Somehow, she could not figure out how she had managed to last all this time
without his echo inside her mind.  It's wasn't  love, or at least nothing
like the love that this Senshi shared with her wife.  It was more like... a
reassuring presence, she decided.  Someone not to cherish as a lover, but
as a friend.  Someone to confide in.  It was a feeling that the new Senshi
had never felt before, not this way, never this way.

   And then, faraway sirens began breaking the spell, thus reminding the
Senshi that whatever they were doing, they should conclude it as soon as
possible.  The Senshi of the Third Planet shook her head, trying to recover
her mental footing.  She gazed at the expectant faces that surrounded her
-and indeed, some were far more expectant than others -and came to a
decision.  Not here.  Not now.  Later, undoubtedly, yes, but not now.
   After classes at the Fire Priestess' Shrine, she told them.  She would
explain everything, she said, the
words clawing at her.  Part of her wanted no more to do with this travesty,
and yet another claimed that she taken an irrevocable step forward.
Seeking calm, but unable to find it in the current setting, she leapt away,
desperately trying to shut out the cries from the Princess and her brother,
the Prince.  They wanted to talk to her, but she could not return the
favor, not when she was as distraught as she was at the moment.

   As she half-expected, her brother, the Prince leapt after her and she
stopped, allowing him to come near her.  A part of her wanted to tell him
what he wanted, nay, _needed_ to hear from her, but she could not commit
herself now.  She needed an unclouded mind to make a clear decision.  She
asked him if he cared enough about her to wait the rest of the day before
hearing what she had to say.  She tried to explain her confusion to him.
Using the link their minds shared, it was done far more easily than she
could ever have ever have expected.
   And to the Senshi's amazement, he agreed.  The Prince said he would
honor her request and leave her alone for the day.  And in her mind, she
felt the flame of his presence become mere embers.  She then quickly leapt
away, leaving a very confused Prince on a roof.

   However, this was neither the beginning nor the end of the story...

 * * *

   Akane, known at this present moment as the Saturn Knight, stared at
Sailor Terra's retreating figure, not knowing what to think or say.  She
had just witnessed Ranma turn into a Sailor Senshi and helped defeat a
demon.  She didn't know what to think anymore. She was shaken out of her
trance when she saw Tuxedo Kamen jump after Terra.  She was about to join
him when she heard a voice call out:  "Hey you with the hammer!  Hold it
right there!"
   Turning around, she saw the tall, sandy-blonde haired Senshi walking
determinedly toward her.  Frowning slightly at the taller Senshi's
rudeness, Akane pointed a finger at herself.  "Are you talking to me?" she
asked a bit icily.
   "Yeah!  Who are you?" demanded Uranus, striding closer to Akane.
   Akane unconsciously began to twirl the hammer in her hand and was about
to reply something akin to an insult when she was interrupted by Saturn's
timely intervention.
   "Stop it, both of you!" cried the shortest Senshi, putting herself
between Akane and Uranus.
   "Saturn, you know who she is?" asked Uranus, keeping her eyes on Akane.
   "Uranus!" Saturn tried to sound stern, but didn't quite succeed.  "She's
my Silver Millennium brother's
reincarnation.  Look at the sign on her chest plate.  Remember what I told
you a few days ago?"
   Uranus blinked, her aggressive stance slowly melting when she finally
noticed that the girl's armour bore the sigil of Saturn.  She then
remembered what Hotaru had told her a few days ago.  "What?...  You
mean...?"  Uranus narrowed her eyes and examined the person in front of her
more closely.  "Akane-san?  Is that you?"
   It was Akane's turn to blink.  "How do you know my name?"  She looked
around and suddenly realized that all the other Senshi were looking at her
with varying degrees of surprise.
   "Akane?"  blurted out Sailor Moon, shocked.  "You're Saturn's bro...
ahh... sister?
   "Umm... yeah, so what?"
   "But Ranko and Ranma...  they... you... he..." The Moon Senshi
floundered, unable to fully process what had just happened in the last
fifteen minutes.
   Akane frowned, not clearly understanding the reason for the other girl's
stuttering problem.  Having arrived on the scene after Ranma had changed,
she was as yet unaware of what Sailor Moon and the other girls had seen,
but the way Sailor Moon had mentioned Ranma and Ranko together was leaving
a rather nasty feeling in her stomach.
"What about Ranma and Ranko?" she asked, more calmly than she felt.
   Mercury coughed politely.  "Akane-san?  Did you know Ranma and Ranko
appear to be the same person?"
  Sailors Saturn and Mars' jaws hit the floor simultaneously, but no one
really noticed it.  They were all watching Akane's reaction to the
announcement.
   Akane's mood took a sudden nosedive from its already precarious
position.  They had found out about the curse, apparently.  "Um...  yeah, I
know," she said embarrassedly, lowering her head.   She suddenly frowned
and her head snapped back up.  "Hey!  While we're on the subject, why the
_hell_ was he running around wearing a Senshi fuku?"
   "What are you people talking about?!" said Mars, finally coming out of
her trance.  "What's this talk about Ranma and Ranko being the same person?"
   Before Akane or Sailor Moon could reply, police cars made themselves
known on the horizon.  Jupiter was the first to see them.  "Girls, we gotta
leave, now!!!" she said urgently, putting a hand on Sailor Moon's shoulder.
   Sailor Moon's head whipped between Jupiter, Mars and Akane, trying to
decide what to do first.  The sight of the incoming squad cars spurred her
into action.  "Let's move to the rooftops first.  We can figure the rest
later."
   Mars was about to protest, but held her tongue when she saw nearly
everyone leaping up windowsills to the neighbouring roofs.  The last one
left was Hotaru, who looked nearly as poleaxed as Mars herself felt.  They
looked at each other and both began to follow the others, each thinking
about different things.
   "Did you know about this?" asked Mars as they made their way up to roof.
   Saturn shook her head.  "No, I didn't, though I do see why they would
keep it secret."
  "You believe what they said about Ranma and Ranko being the same?"  Mars
frowned.  *It _would_ explain a lot of things, but...  why didn't he tell
me?*
   "As weird as it may seem, yeah, I do," Saturn said in answer to Mars'
query.  "I wonder why Akane didn't tell me?" she mumbled.
   Mars overheard her.  "Well, at least Akane doesn't seem to be bothered
by remembering who she was," said the Fire Senshi, trying to figure out how
to handle all the questions that were coming to knock at the door.  "So
what _is_ the whole story between you and her?"
   "Um, well..." began Saturn, a bit hesitatingly.  "I'd rather say it when
everyone's present.  It's a long story and I don't want to repeat it a
hundred times."  They had almost caught up to the other group now.  "Right
now, I just want to make sure Uranus doesn't provoke Akane any further.
The last thing we need is those two picking a fight on a roof."
   Soon, they caught up to the group who had finally decided they were far
enough from the school to avoid
detection.
   "Can someone finally tell me what happened here?" asked an annoyed Mars.
   Sailor Moon glanced at Akane once more and slowly began her tale.
"Well, it all started when we found out that Ranma was helping
Tamura-sensei with the P.E. class this morning.  Everything was going well
until the end of the class when that demon showed up and began thrashing
the place.  Ranma went one on one with it for a while but when the fight
got carried outside, Mako-chan, Ami-chan and I transformed to go help him.
We fought together for a while, but then Neptune fired a Deep Submerge and
Ranma was in the way..." she finished hesitatingly, looking at Akane.
   "What exactly is a Deep Submerge?" asked Akane, taking a deep breath.
*As if the name wasn't indicative enough,* she thought bitterly.  She had
to ask though, just in case...
   "It's a water-based attack," replied Sailor Neptune, a bit troubled.  "I
can kill daemons with it, but what it did to Ranma never happened before, I
can swear it."
   Akane sighed.  *Water-based.  Looks like they know.*  She blinked a few
times, feeling everyone's gaze on her.
   Mars broke the tension.  "You shot my cousin with a Deep Submerge?" she
asked Neptune, her voice rising.  "What the hell were you thinking?"
   Akane's eyes widened in surprise. *Cousin?...* she thought, surprised
*But that would mean...*
   "It was an accident!" replied Neptune defensively.  "I was aiming at the
demon, but it threw Ranma in my path.  I tried to dispel the attack, but it
was too late."
   Mars began fuming, but Sailor Moon laid a hand on the red-clad Senshi's
shoulder.  "She's not lying, Mars.  It _was_ an accident," she said in a
soothing voice.
   "Rei?"
   Sailor Mars unconsciously turned to Akane, who was staring at her.
   "Rei?  _You're_ a Sailor Senshi?" asked Akane, a disbelieving look on
her features.
   Mars' anger deflated at the sight of Akane's expression.  "Yes, Akane.
I'm Sailor Mars."
   "But.. what about the... the hypnotism?" she said weakly, looking at
Saturn and Mars.  Her eyes suddenly narrowed.  "Was it all a trick?"
   "No!" said Mars sharply.  "Shortly after you met Hotaru for the first
time, she came to me and asked me to see if I could unlock your memories,
that is if you had any in the first place.  I agreed, but only under the
condition that _you_ agreed as well, which you did."
   Akane looked at Saturn inquisitively.
   "I don't think you would have remembered without help," said Saturn
quietly.  "It's been so long since I've had
anyone I could truly call family that I immediately took the chance when it
showed itself."
   There was a short moment of silence.
   "So what happened after Neptune's attack anyway?" Mars asked, her voice
tensing.
   "Ranma became Ranko," replied Mercury in a quiet voice.
   "What!?" came a shocked voice from behind the group.  Everyone turned
around to see a recently-arrived Tuxedo Kamen looking at them with wide
eyes.
   "Tuxedo Kamen!" exclaimed Sailor Moon.  "Where were you?"
   The newest arrival shook his head in confusion.  "Terra told me to back
off.  When I went back to the school, I tried to find you, but you weren't
there anymore..."
   *Oh, great...  The more, the merrier,* she thought sarcastically.  Akane
began massaging her temples with her fingers.  *Messy, messy, messy...* she
thought.  "Ranma has a Jusenkyou curse," she said at last.
   Tuxedo Kamen frowned.  "That word again..." he muttered, confused.
   Mars retaliated before Tuxedo Kamen could come about.  "Akane, _what_ is
a Jusenkyou curse?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.  Akane had mentioned a
Chinese curse before, but it didn't seem to have anything to do with
shape-shifting.
   "The curse causes him to switch genders when he gets doused with water,"
explained Akane.
   There were different reactions from the Senshi.  Disbelief from Sailors
Mars and Tuxedo Kamen, a sick look from Venus, relief and understanding
from Neptune, mild interest from Uranus and just plain puzzlement from Moon
and Jupiter.  Only Saturn seemed relatively unfazed by the revelation.
   "Why didn't he tell us?" asked Mars.
   Akane merely looked at Mars.  "Do I really have to answer that?"
   Mars winced and backed down.  "Right...  I guess I can understand _why_,
but about Ranko...  I mean, Ranma being Sailor Terra, then?"
   Akane frowned.  "That's _my_ question.  Why the hell was he running
around wearing a fuku?  I'm pretty sure he wouldn't put one on voluntarily.
He absolutely _hates_ being a girl."
   Sailor Moon winced, remembering what had happened when "Ranko" had
transformed for the first time.  *Well, at least now we know _why_ she...
he reacted that way.*  She sighed softly.  "No wonder he wanted no part of
it," she murmured.
   "What was that?" said Akane, turning towards Sailor Moon.
   "Well, you see, we didn't know they were the same person, so when we
found out that...  um...  "Ranko" was a reincarnated Senshi, well I kind of
gave her the henshin rod, I mean, it seemed like a good idea at the time
and I thought she was just a bit shy, but anyway she...  he...  I mean,
well, shetransformedbymistakeandranaway!" she finished quickly, nervous
about Akane's reaction.
   Akane blinked.  Several times.
   Tuxedo Kamen groaned, thus bringing attention to himself.  When he
noticed that everyone was looking at him, he explained:  "Nevermind... I
think that explains why she, I mean he, was so pissed whenever I claimed
she was my sister..."
   Akane winced.  "You actually told him something like that?  It's a
wonder you're still alive."
   "How was I suppose to know?" the masked man protested.  "I mean, between
my memories and what we knew of her so far, I suppose I could have found
out if I'd used the link, but..."
   "What link?" Akane brusquely interrupted.
   "Aaahh, well..." Tuxedo Kamen stuttered.  He wasn't sure if he really
wanted to explain the whole thing to them yet and Akane was watching him
intently, along with the other Senshi.  *I need time,* he thought
nervously.  He suddenly got an idea.  "Look, I just ran after Terra, but
she basically told me to lay off for the rest of the day.  She told us
she'd explain everything to us after school at the shrine.  I'll explain my
side tonight as well.  I really think we should wait for Ranko...  I mean
Ranma to talk about all this."
   Akane considered it for a while and finally nodded.  It would also give
her time to speak to Ranma about the whole mess.  "All right.  I need to go
back to the university anyway, so we'll finish this tonight."   She turned
to Saturn.  "Looks like we'll be able to talk tonight, Hotaru-chan," she
said.  With that, she leapt off the side of the building, detransforming
out of her armour as she went.
   There was a deep, deep silence among the people left on the roof for a
few moments.
   Mercury was the first to break it.  "She has a point.  We should be
getting back to class ourselves."  There was a collection of moans and
groans from the rest of the Senshi.
   "So, can anyone tell me the _whole_ story now?" asked Tuxedo Kamen as
everyone was detransforming.  As the girls began recounting the events, he
found out that he had his work cut out for him.

***

   Terra waited until she felt she was suitably far enough before pausing
to take her breath.  Hiding in an alley, she quickly detransformed back
into her normal form.
   *Shit.  Now what am I gonna do?* she thought desperately.
   //You could try explaining yourself to them.  Running away won't solve
anything, Ranma.  If anything, it will just make them even more
determined,// said Akana helpfully from a corner of Ranma's mind.
   *The last thing I need is your advice, Akana!* mentally shot back the
martial artist. She tried to calm down.  *At least, I managed to keep
Endymion away for a little longer,* she thought.
   //Yes, but what is it going to accomplish?  You won't be able to hold
him at bay forever.  If he's anything like his previous incarnation, he
won't give up that easily and you know it.//
   Ranma knew that, but said nothing.
   //Ranma, you're not doing yourself a favor, you know.  Why do you keep
on acting like this?  What are you so scared about?//
   *I AM NOT SCARED!!!* came the mental bellow.
   //Are you sure?//
   "Of course I'm sure!" grumbled Ranma out loud.  "Why the hell would I be
scared of him?"
   //Why ask me?  You already know the answer to that question.//
   *Stop that!* thought Ranma. *Stop snooping through my mind!*
   //Our mind.  It's mine as well, Ranma.  I have every right to snoop
through it.//
   *Arrrgghh!* came the mental scream. *Just leave me alone, Akana!*
    //No way!// came the now angry reply. //I will _not_ let you wallow in
self-denial until you admit what's wrong to yourself!//
   Ranma briefly considered bashing her head against the wall, but it
probably wouldn't do anything.  She remained silent and tried not to think
about anything.
   //Please, Ranma?  Could you answer the question?// pleaded Akana.
//It's not healthy to lie to yourself like that.//
*All right,then!* Ranma challenged. *Why don't _you_ tell me what I'm
scared of then?*
   Ranma could  'see' Akana shaking her head. //Don't turn my questions
around.  Besides,// she giggled, //I asked you first.//
   *Why don't you answer?* he taunted. *If I'm you and you're me, then you
should know everything about me, no?*
   Akana's voice sighed.  //Ranma...// she said plaintively.  //Why do you
keep dodging the question?  That's not healthy.//
   Ranma frowned slightly. *Could you stop telling me it's not healthy?
It's annoying!*
   He coould hear the shrug.  //Maybe it is, but it's also the truth.  I
care too much about you to let you lie to yourself like that.  Your friend
Ryouga lied to himself for a long time and look where it got him?//
   The pig-tailed martial artist sulked for a few more moments, thinking
about Akana's last sentence.  *All right...  It's the Senshi thing.  I
don't want to explain that to him!  It's too embarrassing!*
   Akana was quiet for a moment. //A valid reason, but rather unfounded.
The other Senshi watched you change,
remember?  By tonight, he'll probably know as much as all the others.
That's not why you're scared of him.//
   Ranma remained quiet.
   //Ranma?//
   *IT'S THE STUPID LINK OKAY?  NOW LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE!!!* howled
Ranma at her mental
counterpart.
   Akana was silent for a few moments.  When she spoke again, she sounded a
bit hurt.  //You didn't need to yell like that, Ranma.//  There was a
pause.  //Does it really... irritate you _that_ much to have a link with
Endymion?//
   *I'm not like you,* Ranma thought bitterly.  *You grew up knowing you
were gonna be linked with your brother. _My_ mind is _my_ business.  I
don't want _anyone_ else in there, can't he understand that?*
   //He can't possibly be that bad,// protested Akana in defense of her
brother.
   *You don't get it, do you?  At the end of the fight, when I looked at
him, I...  I _felt_ him!  He was happy,  sad and...  and a thousand other
things.  I had no business doing anything in his mind and he didn't do
anything to stop me!  And... and... it felt so _right_!*
   Akana could easily tell that Ranma was becoming very distraught.
//That's what the link we shared with Endymion was all about, Ranma.  For
better or worse, we were never truly alone.  Even before we began Psi-Tech
training, we were empathically aware of each other.//  Akana paused for a
few moments. //Look at the good side of all of this: a few minutes ago, he
was all set to pursue you to the ends of the Earth and yet he agreed to
leave you alone when you asked for it.  Maybe if you simply explain it to
him that you want to be left alone, you can minimize the effect.//
   *I don't want to minimize the effect,* came the bitter rebuke. *I just
want to be left alone in my own mind.*
   //That won't be possible, you know.  You have the option of not using
the Psi-Techs, which would blunt a lot of the telepathic abilities, but
both of you are still empathic siblings.//
Ranma was about to ask Akana what she meant when she remembered a scene
from the Silver Millennium...

   ...A young Akana, perhaps six years old, is sitting in a garden outside
the palace.  Her favorite (and only) aunt is sitting on a chair in front of
her, telling her stories, when Akana interrupts her.
   "Yes, Akana?" queries Yonagi.
   "Why do you and papa almos' never talk?  Are you angry?" asks Akana, her
voice carrying doubt, and maybe a bit of fear.
   Yonagi's eyebrows knit in confusion, but she quickly smiles, realizing
the problem.  "Oh, no, Akana, your papa and I aren't angry with each other.
We almost never are, actually," she says fondly to her niece.
   "Then...  Then why don' you ever talk?" the little redhead asks uncertainly.
   Yonagi's smile becomes just a bit wider.  "That's because a lot of the
time, your father and I speak without words, Akana.  We talk with each
other all the time, but no one else can hear us."
   Akana's little eyes widen in surprise.  "Without words?  How?" she asks,
her voice filled with wonder.
   Yonagi lifts her niece in her arms.  "That's a secret," she says
conspiratorially.
   Akana is flailing her arms about. "I wanna know!  I wanna know!" she
says enthusiastically
   "Well," Yonagi says, making a show of thinking about it, "you'll find
out on your own, because you'll be able to do the same thing with Endymion
when you're both older," she finishes, mussing Akana's red hair.
   The little redhead squirms out of her aunt's grip.  "Endi?" she asks,
uncertain.  "Why Endi?  I can talk to 'im with words if I wanna."
   Yonagi laughs lightly.  "Don't you ever wonder why you and Endymion
never fight the way he does sometimes with his guardians?"
   Akana shakes her head.
   Yonagi crouches down at eye level with Akana. "That's because like me
and your papa, you're both empathic siblings.  You subconsciously avoid
fighting with each other because you sense what makes the other angry and
you automatically avoid doing it."
   Akana is obviously confused at this point.
   Yonagi laughs at Akana's perplexed expression.  "Don't worry, Akana,
you'll understand when you're older...

   ...Ranma shook her head. *What was that?* she wondered.
   //A memory, of course,// replied Akane, a smile in her voice.
   Ranma sighed in defeat.
   //I still don't quite understand why you're so opposed to the idea of
having a brother,// asked Akana in a puzzled voice. //And don't try telling
me you never wished for on, because I know you have.//
   *I told you that already,* replied Ranma glumly. *He thinks he's found a
sister and a sister I ain't.*
   //And I told you that by tonight, he'd probably know the truth,// said
Akana.
   *So what?*
   //What if he's perfectly capable of accepting you as a brother instead?//
   Ranma remained quiet for a while. *I don't know,* she admitted. *I just
don't want anyone snooping in my head, not even Akane.  There's a lot of
stuff in there I want to keep to myself.  Even you can understand that,
can't you?*  It was at that point that Ranma realized that Akana wasn't
listening to her.  She didn't ask how she knew, she just did. *Akana?  You
there?*  She frowned slightly.  *Hey, Akana!  I'm talking to you!*
   //Yes...// came Akana's troubled voice .
   Ranma frowned. *What's your problem?*
   //Sorry, Ranma.  It's just that when you mentioned Akane, I...// the
voice trailed off. //You made me think about Kanma.//  An image of the
woman in gray armour they had seen at the battle site flashed in Ranma's
mind.
   *What?  Do you think that girl is a reincarnation of Kanma?*
   Akana chuckled bitterly. //If only I could be so lucky.  First off, I
don't see how Kanma could have been
reincarnated unless he was also drowned in a pool as I was and second,
Kanma was a guy, remember?//
   Ranma raised a mental eyebrow. *Look who's talking.*
   Akana had to concede that point. //Touch�, Ranma.//  She sighed. //I
just wish I had a chance to apologize for acting like a conceited jerk back
then.  Seeing that girl at the battle reminded me of Kanma and it brought
it all back up from where I thought I'd buried it.//
   Ranma, feeling awkward, tried to change the subject. *I need to find
some hot water and get back to the school.  Tamura-sensei might be looking
for me.* As she began heading back, ignoring the few bruises she had left,
Ranma thought about the girl whose image had flashed in her mind.  *So who
do you think she is, then?*
   //Her armour indicates she was a top-ranked member of the Saturnian
guard.  I'm afraid I don't know more.// She was quiet for a few moments.
//She _does_ look like Akane, though, doesn't she?//
   Ranma frowned just a bit, concentrating on the girl's image. *You're
right, she does,* she thought.
   //Do you think?...// trailed Akana, suddenly curious.
   *No way!* Ranma cut in. *There's no way Akane would get involved in a
thing like this.  Heck, she's the one who made me promise to try not to get
in trouble!  She'd _never_ go for the super-hero bit!  Not her!*
   //Jeez, Ranma, it was just a thought,// replied a miffed Akana.
   *Sorry,* Ranma apologized. *Anyway, if that girl _had_ been Kanma's
reincarnation, don't you think that she would have noticed us?  From what I
can tell of your memories, my female form looks pretty much like you used
to.* Akana did not answer.  As she ran back to Juuban High School, though,
Ranma found out that she couldn't help thinking about Akana's remark.  She
had to tell herself several times that it couldn't have been Akane...
Could it?
   Her attention returned to the matters at hand when she came back in
sight of the school.  She could see a sizable number of students milling in
the courtyard.  *Hmm...* she thought.  *Looks like I'm going to have to
sneak in.*  Circling around the school, she gave a silent shout of joy when
she found an open window leading into a bathroom.  She quickly sneaked
inside and was drawing hot water from the sink when she realized something
important.  *Akana?*
   //Yes?//
   *Thanks for not badgering me about the Senshi thing, by the way.*
   There was a deep sigh.  //You already know my opinion on the subject,
Ranma.  I'm trusting you to do the right thing...//
   Ranma couldn't help frowning at the cryptic statement at the same time
as she doused herself.  *The right thing?*  Ranma, now male again,
wondered.  *What'll happen if what I decide is right isn't the same thing
as what she wants?*  Looking at himself in a mirror, he grimaced when he
saw the state of his clothes.  He hadn't thought about bringing spare
clothes either...  That demon hadn't gone easy on him.  He sighed and
slipped into the halls, looking for Tamura-sensei.
   After realizing that the principal had apparently given most of the
students the day off, he headed outside, since all the teachers had
apparently congregated there.  After a few minutes of wandering in the
courtyard among students and teachers who gave his clothes inquisitive
looks, he finally found the person he had been looking for.
"Tamura-sensei!" he shouted over the noise of the crowd.
   The teacher turned around and his eyes widened when he saw a slightly
battered Ranma with torn clothes headed towards him.  "Saotome!  Where were
you?  I've been looking for you for the past fifteen minutes!"  As he
reached the younger martial artist, he took a longer look at Ranma's
general appearance.  "I must say I'm very impressed, Saotome.  I
half-expected to find you splattered on the pavement somewhere after that
thing threw you through the wall."
   Ranma smirking slightly.  "A martial artist knows how to take a hit,
sensei."
   "So it would seem," Tamura said wryly.  "I think I see why Meiou-san
referred you to me after all."  He raised an eyebrow.  "So what happened
after that?"
   Ranma shrugged.  "That thing tossed me outside, we tagged each other a
couple of times and then the Senshi showed up."  Ranma didn't like lying,
but he didn't think he'd be doing himself a favour if he told the complete
truth.  "I think I blacked out for a while after the last hit.  That's why
it took me a while to come back afterwards."
   Tamura nodded, apparently satisfied with the explanation.  "So... the
Sailor Senshi killed it?"
  "Yeah," Ranma said.  *And I was one of them at the time, but Hell is
gonna freeze over before I actually tell you that.*
   "Good," said Tamura.  "In any case, I'd like to apologize for that...
shall we say, unfortunate occurrence."  He paused, an uncertain look in his
eyes, then sighed wearily.  "Look, I'll be blunt with you, Saotome.  Will
you come back or not?  I'll admit I'm extremely impressed with you.  You
sensed that thing a lot sooner than I did and you probably helped to
prevent a lot of injuries and maybe even saved some lives.  I can't in good
conscience hold you here after what happened though, so I'm giving you a
choice."
   Ranma paused.  The question meant a lot more to him than it did to
Tamura.  Did he want to continue teaching here, in a school where
apparently at least three Senshi attended as regular students?  Not really.
He looked back on what Tamura had said.  He'd helped protect people.
_That_ was the duty of a martial artist, was it not?  Besides, aside from
the fact that some of his students had been Senshi in civilian form, he had
actually enjoyed teaching.
   Most importantly, though, was the fact that he had a reputation to
protect.  Or at least that's what he told himself.
   "I'll stay," he said, smiling.  "There ain't no cheesy demon who's gonna
chase me out of _any_ school."
   Tamura smiled broadly.  "Glad to have you aboard, Saotome," he said,
clapping the young man on the shoulder.  He leaned towards the younger man.
"And I can safely say that I won't be the only one," he whispered
conspiratorially.
   Ranma blinked in confusion.
   Tamura grinned.  "You've already got quite a fan club among the girls'
classes you know."
   Ranma groaned.  "Oh no..."
   "Oh yes!" replied Tamura, amused by Ranma's reaction.
   And deep within Ranma's mind, a fragment of consciousness dating back
1500 years was laughing her mental ass off.

***

   Elsewhere, or more precisely, at the edge of the Nerima district, an old
man, his wife and a giant Sumo pig were making their way towards the Juuban
district, trying to ignore the blatant stares their little procession was
attracting.
   "Nodoka," the old man pleaded, his glasses glinting in the afternoon
light, "Please listen to me!  I'm sure that flask contains Nannichuan!  I
must have it!"
   Nodoka turned around and glared at Genma.  This had been going on for
too long.  "No, Genma!  The flask was sent to the dojo for Ranma's care.
We don't even know if it _does_ contain the antidote to my son's curse."
   Genma rolled his eyes.  "What else could it possibly be?  That pig
belongs to that wanderer Hibiki and his
girlfriend.  What else would they send Ranma that would require a flask to
be carried?"
   "No, Genma!" Nodoka snaps.  "The flask will be given to Ranma and you
had better not think about stealing it!  If it _is_ a cure, my _son_ needs
it more than you do."  Inside she sighed.  Earlier in the day, Kasumi had
signaled them the giant sumo pig's arrival at the dojo and the letter it
carried.  The eldest Tendo daughter had suggested that they guide
Katsunishiki to Ranma's new place of residence, thus gaining an opportunity
to visit their son in the process.  Nodoka had agreed, but was beginning to
seriously regret bringing Genma along.  He was fixated on finding the
contents of the flask at all costs and she felt as if she was going to have
to use her katana to keep him in line.
   "But Nodoka-chan..."
   "Genma..." Nodoka's voice warned.  "If I were you, I'd think about what
Ranma and Akane-chan will do to you if you use that water before he does."
   Genma faltered.  Nodoka smiled inwardly.

***

   *Life,* Mamoru decided, *is far too complicated sometimes.*
   Thinking back on the revelations which had been the subject of a lengthy
and enlightening Q&A session with Sailor Moon and the rest of the Senshi,
Mamoru had found out more than he really wanted to know about his
reincarnated... sibling.  First of all, Ranko apparently didn't exist as
such.  Only Ranma did.  That changed a lot of things.  He didn't have a
sister, but a brother.
   A brother who quite possibly didn't want anything to do with him anymore.
   Mamoru sighed, thinking about the whole thing while walking back to the
university.  Who was really to blame in all of this?  Himself?  He felt he
did carry part of the blame, trying to convince Ranma all those times that
he was his sister, but wasn't Ranma as responsible in misleading them all
in the first place?
   *He should have told us in the first place,* he told himself.  *Then
none of this would have happened.*  He was sorely tempted to use the link
to find out where Ranma was at the moment, but refrained himself from doing
so.  He sighed again. *Who am I kidding?* he thought glumly.  *Ranma had
all the excuses in the world to keep his curse a secret.*
   What was he to do now?  Remembering his conversation with Ranma earlier
that day didn't put him at ease.  Ranma had been polite, but cold.  He
obviously didn't share his enthusiasm in discovering a long-lost sibling.
How could he explain it to him?  He hadn't meant to latch onto "Ranko" so
desperately, but he couldn't have foreseen the tricks his own emotions
would play on him.  When you spend your entire life (at least the parts of
it you can remember) alone, how can you expect to react when you suddenly
learn you have a sibling?  Ignore him/her?  Perhaps Ranma could do so, but
Mamoru couldn't.
   Especially not after feeling the effect, be it even partial, of the
psychic link they both shared.  It had been... unique.  Like finding
something you didn't know you had lost.  Finding the missing piece of a
puzzle.  Had Ranma felt the same thing?  Judging from Ranma's quick
departure, he doubted it.
   *And what about the Senshi business?* Mamoru wondered. * Ranma obviously
isn't thrilled about becoming a Senshi, not that I can really blame him on
that point.  I'm not sure I'd want to either if it involved switching
genders and wearing an outfit like that.  Usako probably wouldn't say
anything, but the others...* he shook his head slightly.
*And now his wife is caught in it too.  I hope this doesn't mess up their
relationship.*
   On his way  back to the university, Mamoru hoped that Ami would find
something useful on her computer about those mysterious Jusenkyou Springs
which had cursed his sister... wait, _brother_.
   He shook his head. *Life is much too complicated sometimes.*

***

   The day went by and it was at the end of the afternoon that Akane
finally made contact with Ranma at the university as they had agreed.
   Akane was nervous and a bit angry at the same time.  She was nervous
because she knew that Ranma was unaware that she had been present at the
battle and that she knew his little secret, but she was also a bit angry
because of said secret. *Why didn't he tell me about it?* she thought,
upset. *Would he ever have told me?*
   Ranma, who had had at least the good sense to go change at Rei's shrine
before coming back at the university, had his own problems and thus did not
notice Akane's nervousness immediately.  After exchanging a mutually terse
greeting, Akane decided to take a risk and break the ice.
   "So, Ranma, how was your first day?" she asked cheerfully.
   The question was enough to drag Ranma out of his musings.  He considered
telling the truth for a moment, then dismissed it.  Akane would never cease
with the insults if she knew the truth, not counting the sheer
embarrassment of the entire adventure.  The problem was that he didn't want
to lie to her either.  He decided on a compromise.
   "Well, I had an appointment with Meiou-sensei this morning, she's my
counselor, and strange as it may seem, I managed to land an internship that
began today."
   "Where?"
   "Juuban High.  It turns out that it's the same school where Happosai and
I fought yesterday," Ranma said, carefully examining Akane's reaction to
that news.
   Akane tried to look as concerned as possible.  "Did anyone there
recognize you?"
Ranma frowned almost unperceptibly at the memory.  "No.  I was a girl when
I fought Happosai and I was a guy when I went there today."
   "So how was it?" she asked.  "Did anything special happen?"
   Ranma frowned again, wondering if Akane had heard something about what
had happened.  It was possible, he reasoned, that news of the attack might
have reached the university.  "Everything was pretty normal for the whole
time except for the demon that attacked towards noon," he said as
nonchalently as he could.
   "What?!" exclaimed Akane.
   "I had no choice about fighting it this time!" he replied quickly.  "I
think it was specifically looking for me."
   Now _that_, Akane didn't know.  "What do you mean?"
   "It said, and I quote: 'Greetings from Happosai'."
   Akane groaned.  "I knew that decrepit lech wouldn't leave us alone.  Why
did you have to thrash him yesterday?  He probably won't give up until he
gets his revenge now."
   "Look, Akane," said Ranma sharply, perhaps moreso than intended.  "What
was I supposed to do?  If I hadn't stopped him yesterday, I would have had
to eventually.  Aside from Cologne, Tarou and _maybe_ Ryouga, I'm the only
one strong enough to stop him.  I know I promised not to fight if I could
help it and I apologize for it, but I'm not going to let that freak hurt
other people if I'm around to stop it!"
   Akane resolved not to snap back at him.  She knew he had promised her
that he wouldn't pick fights but that he would respond to any challenges
made to him.  She also remembered telling him not to make promises he
couldn't keep.  She blew out a tired breath.  "So what happened?"
   Ranma's left eye twitched.  "I fought it for a while, but the Senshi
eventually showed up and finished it," he finished flatly.
   "You didn't get hurt at all?" Akane pressed.
   "Not really," said Ranma uncomfortably.
   *Macho jerk,* she thought angrily.  *I saw him get hurt.  Just because
Hotaru-chan healed it doesn't make it okay.*  She tried another tactic.
"You don't seem very embarrassed about it," she observed.
   This time, Ranma jerked around.  "Wha...  What are you talking about?"
he asked, a bit too quickly.
   "The Sailor Senshi."
   "What about them?"
   Let it be known that at this point in time, patience and kindness had
never been dominant traits in the youngest Tendo daughter.  *Coward,* she
thought. *I'm giving him all sorts of openings and he doesn't even take
them.*  She reined in her fraying temper once more. "You don't seem at all
embarrassed to have been rescued by a bunch of _girls_," she needled.
   Ranma's expression quickly contorted into an interesting mix of disgust,
fear and anger.  "I wouldn't say they rescued me," he said stiffly.
   Akane sighed.  "Is there something you aren't telling me, Ranma?"
   Ranma's reply was curt and delivered in a cold voice.  "Nothing
important.  Not anymore."
   Akane didn't know what to do.  She wanted to confront him about the
Senshi issue, but if she did, he would realize she had been there all along
and seeing the way he had delivered his last answer made Akane wonder if
she _really_ wanted to find out how he would react.
   Meanwhile, Ranma realized that he might have offended Akane with the
tone of his last answer.  He decided to try and change the subject.  "So
what about you?  Had anything interesting happen to you today?"
   It was Akane's turn to sweat a little.  "Oh, me?  Nothing... _too_
major, I guess.  I saw Hotaru-chan again, though."
   Ranma blinked.  "Didn't she have school today?"
   Akane shrugged.  "Something about broken pipes at their school, I
think..."  She suddenly stopped and blinked at something over Ranma's
shoulder.
   Ranma noticed it.  He turned around and found himself facing a concrete
building, fairly recent-looking.  It looked like one of those apartment
buildings they had been visiting lately.  He turned back to his wife to ask
her what was the problem, when he saw her examining a small sheet on a
window.
   "Ranma!" she said excitedly.  "Look at this!"
   He obeyed, curious at to what would make Akane react like that.  It was
a vacancy notice.  He blinked in surprise.
"How come there's a vacancy?" he wondered out loud.  "We checked this place
out already two days ago and the landlord said everything was full."
   Akane smiled at him.  "Who cares?  Let's go ask about it.  Maybe we've
found our apartment!"
   Ranma nodded, smiling as well, but perhaps not for the same reasons. *If
I can get out of Rei's place, I won't have to put up with any of that
Senshi junk...* He walked towards the entrance.  "C'mon, let's go ask."

   Half an hour later, Ranma had paid the first month of rent to the
landlord and both martial artists had left the building in direction of
Rei's shrine.  The landlord had claimed that one of the tenants to be had
abruptly changed her mind and decided to move out.  The vacancy notice had
only been posted for fifteen minutes before Ranma and Akane had answered
it.  Akane had wondered about the coincidence, but Ranma hadn't cared in
the slightest.
   The apartment itself was a bit small, but Ranma and Akane had agreed
that it was at least within the price range they had set themselves and
since they didn't seem to have any success hunting for lodging elsewhere,
they had decided to take it before someone else came along.
   Walking besides Ranma, Akane couldn't help frowning a bit.  "Ranma, can
you tell me _why_ you were carrying an entire month's worth of rent money
in your pockets?"
   Ranma shrugged.  "I took the money when I went back at the shrine this
afternoon.  I just had this crazy feeling I'd need it.  Guess I was right."
   "What if it had been stolen?" asked Akane, a measure of reproach in her
tone.  "It's not as if we have a lot of money you know..."
   Ranma snorted.  "Yeah right, Akane.  As if anyone would be good enough
to steal from _me_?"
   Akane sighed.


***


   At the Gate of Time, Pluto frowned as she "saw" Katsunishiki and Ranma's
parents steadily approach Rei's shrine.
"This isn't supposed to happen," she murmured.  "How could this have
escaped my Sight?"  She looked back in time to locate the origin of the
divergence and made a grimace when she realized _who_ had sent the massive
porcine on its way.  It had been more than 1500 years and that annoying
Jovian's descendants _still_ managed to evade her Sight because of their
utter ability to get lost.  *I should have dealt with Gokuu during the
Silver Millennium,* she thought irritably.
   It was too late to redirect them.  She could only hope.  Perhaps she
wouldn't even have to interfere in person.  Ranma still had several
important tasks to do and he would not be able to perform them if he were
to enter in contact with the contents of the flask so soon.
   When Sailor Pluto has a mission to perform, it is generally advised to
get out of her way.  If she happens to have a very personal interest in
that mission, it is generally advised to run for your lives.


***


Before splitting up and returning to school, the Senshi had agreed to meet
at the Crown Games arcade before returning to the Hikawa Shrine in order to
be sure that everyone would be there and not have anyone popping in too
late.  Usagi and Minako had even agreed to go fetch their respective feline
charges before meeting at the arcade.  The two Moon cats had been fully
briefed on the situation and to say that they were flabbergasted would have
been a gross misunderstanding.  It didn't help that they both had to wait
in silence because they couldn't take the risk of being overheard,
especially in such a public place.
Everyone was now present, save Setsuna and Rei.
   Makoto and Minako, who was carrying Artemis in the crook of her arm,
turned to Haruka, ignoring the sounds coming from the arcade around her.
"Have you heard anything about Setsuna yet?" asked Makoto.
   Haruka shook her head.  "She hasn't shown herself in the last few days.
Either she's really busy with the Gate or she just doesn't want to
interfere."
   Minako frowned.  "That isn't like her.  I would have thought the
appearance of a new Senshi would be enough to draw her out of hiding, if
only long enough to tell us about her...  I mean him"
   Haruka chuckled.  "Confusing, isn't it?"
   Minako made a face, remembering her first encouter with Haruka.  "You're
telling me?  I've tried to imagine what it must be like for him and I still
can't quite do it.  But you know what?  After seeing his curse in action,
I'm starting to believe that Akane might have understated the amount of
insanity that went on in his life."
   Haruka sighed softly.  "Personally, I'm rather curious about his
curse...  Maybe..." she trailed off, looking at Michiru who was having a
discussion with Hotaru.  Aside from the residual guilt she felt at having
shot Ranma with her Deep Submerge, Michiru had proven to be one of the
calmest Senshi.  She claimed that it was because the images she had gotten
from the Mirror made so much more sense, now that Ranma's secret had been
revealed.
  Minako and Makoto shared a meaningful glance.  "Yeah, I guess," said
Makoto evasively.  " I think it's Mamoru who's got it worse here, at any
rate.  Look at him."
   Haruka looked at Mamoru, who was having a discussion with Usagi and Ami.
Makoto was right.  Mamoru
looked extremely nervous, and she couldn't blame him one bit.  "Well at
least Hotaru-chan is enjoying herself in all of this."
   Minako and Makoto nodded. "Yeah, and Akane seems to be handling this a
lot better than Ranma," added Minako.

   "I'm sure everything will turn out all right, Mamo-chan, don't worry,"
Usagi insisted, trying to comfort her boyfriend.  Spread over her shoulder,
Luna nodded confidently.
   Mamoru had to smile at Usagi's repeated attempts to lift his spirits.
"Maybe, Usako, maybe."
   Usagi beamed, although anyone who knew her well enough would obviously
know that her smile was more than a bit strained.
   "By the way, Mamoru, I checked my computer for any information on
Jusenkyou just like you asked me," said Ami.
   Mamoru turned towards her, hope plainly visible on his face.  "And?..."
he asked eagerly.  "Find anything useful?"
   Ami frowned slightly.  "Unfortunately not.  The only information that
came up was a vague location in the Bayankhala range in China and a mention
that the area should be avoided at all costs."
   Mamoru's shoulders slumped slightly in disappointment.  He tried a weak
grin.   "Oh...  Well I'm sure you did your best.  Thanks anyway, Ami."
   Ami looked apologetic.  "I'm sorry I couldn't find anything else."
   Usagi looked around and frowned.  "Shouldn't Rei be here by now?  I
mean, if _I_ can get here in time, I'm sure _she_ can, the way she keeps
yelling at me."  She grinned evilly.  "I'm going to enjoy telling her she's
the late one this time..." she gloated.
   Ami shook her head sadly. *Usagi-chan, she may be late today, but
_you've_ been late dozens of times more than her.*  She looked around, a
bit puzzled.  "You're right, though.  Her classes should have ended a long
time ago.  I wonder what's taking her so long..."  She got a worried look.
"Usagi-chan!  Did Rei seem angry to you towards Ranma this afternoon?"
   "Yeah," said Usagi, shrugging.  "I can understand her, I mean, he's her
cousin and all and he didn't tell her a thing so I guess that's why she's
mad, but what's that got to do with her being late?"
"Well..." replied Ami uncertainly, "Do you think she might have gone
straight to the shrine without telling us?"
   Usagi was about to reply in the negative, but her answer died on her
lips when she gave it a bit more thought.  It _would_ be like Rei to do
something like that.  "Um...  Now that you mention it..." said Usagi,
frowning uncertainly.
   Makoto, having overheard the conversation, decided to voice her opinion.
"I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I think we should go to the
shrine right away?  If Rei _does_ decide to confront Ranma and Akane alone,
her temper might get the better of her..."
   The others looked at each other silently and without saying a word,
quickly left the Crown Games arcade.


***


   Ami's hypothesis had proven to be to the point.  A slightly irate Rei
was indeed waiting at the Hikawa Shrine in an attempt to corner Ranma and
squeeze a few answers from him.  The priestess spared a moment to thank the
kami that her grandfather and Yuuichiro were absent for some reason and
added a prayer that they _stay_ away until everything was explained.
   She didn't have to wait long as she heard Ranma and Akane climb the
steps to the shrine.  Rei felt a faint twinge of guilt at having deceived
Usagi and the others by coming straight back to the shrine first, but there
were some things, she reasoned, that were best left inside the family.

   Ranma had, surprisingly, almost completely forgotten about Rei by the
time he and Akane had returned from their little trip to their new
apartment.  He was rudely brought back to reality, however, when he saw Rei
watching him with an annoyed expression.
   "Rei," he nodded to her when he was but a few steps from her.
   "Ranma," she answered, just as perfunctorily.  "Do you have some
_things_ you want to tell me?"
   Ranma smirked internally.  If he was going to get in a yelling match
with his cousin, he might as well get a couple of good hits in first.  "Not
really," he said.
   Rei's left eye twitched.  "Well, that's too bad because I've got a few
questions to ask of you."
   "Do you now?" said Ranma wonderingly.  He was about to follow up when he
realize that Akane was present. *How can I get her out of here without her
getting suspicious?* He looked at Rei, frowning slightly. *Rei wouldn't
blow her secret wide open like that in front of Akane, would she?*
Fortunately for him, Akane solved the problem before it made itself more
apparent.
   Ever since they had begun climbing the steps to the shrine, Akane had
been giving some thought to the fact that while she knew Ranma's secret, he
didn't know hers.  Not yet anyway. *He's likely to try and weasel his way
out of explaining if I'm with him,* she thought. *And I'm fairly sure that
Ranma would be more receptive if he only has to talk to me.* She smiled
slightly. *Besides,* she mused, *if I pretend to go away, I can just hide
and he might talk more freely, which means I'll be able to get the whole
story,* she reasoned .  Anyhow, she didn't really want to stand at ground
zero of a confrontation between an angry Ranma and Rei.  She did, however,
need to warn Rei not to spill her secret yet, though.
   Just as Ranma was about to reply to Rei's last attempt at an opening,
Akane interrupted them both.  "Ah, Rei?  Can I talk to you for a second?"
She smiled at Ranma.  "In private?" she added hopefully.
   Ranma frowned slightly, still concerned about the problem of getting
Akane out of the shrine.  "Why?"
   Akane's smile became strained.  "It's about a dream I had last night,
Ranma.  I swear it won't take more than a minute, okay?"
   Ranma sighed.  "Fine, then." He did glare slightly at Rei, obviously
trying to pass a message to her.  Rei ignored it.
   Akane led Rei by the arm  in an adjacent room.  Once she was sure that
she was out of earshot, Akane began whispering in Rei's ear: "I'm going to
leave for a while.  Whatever you two do, don't tell him about me being
Saturn Knight, okay?  He doesn't know yet."
   Rei stared at Akane in surprise. "You didn't tell him?" she whispered
back in shock.  "Why?  I thought you were just as eager as we were about
finding out all the answers."
   Akane winced.  "Look, you don't know Ranma as well as I do.  I need to
tell him this when we're alone and I want him to settle his mess with you
first.  You can talk about the Saturn Knight, but please don't mention the
connection with me, okay?"
   Rei shook her head.  "That's not a good idea, Akane.  You'll just be
digging yourself deeper and deeper.  Maybe his knowing that you're the
Knight would lessen the blow or at least make him more receptive to the
idea of being a Senshi."
   Rei's comment forced Akane to examine the issue as to why she hadn't
told Ranma yet. Deep within her, she knew why.  Sailor Terra.  If Akane was
the reincarnation of Kanma, was Ranma, or Sailor Terra, the reincarnation
of Akana?  Akana and Kanma had been engaged despite their protests mere
hours before their deaths.  The manner of their engagement even looked
disturbingly familiar as well.  *If that's the case,* Akane thought glumly,
there's someone out there who has a *very* nasty sense of humour.

   Somewhere out there, Pluto _almost_ sneezed.

   In any case, Akane wasn't sure _what_ she felt about that issue.  She
had managed to put it out of her mind since the confrontation this
afternoon, but now, she would soon be forced to deal with it.
   There were other issues at stake as well.  Akane had berated Ranma a
number of times on his tendency to attract trouble, especially since _she_
was usually caught in its eddies.  She been kidnapped and threatened a
number of times since Ranma had come into her life and now that she had
married him, she was sure that she could at least have a peaceful
relationship with Ranma, without anymore suitors, monsters or perverts
ruining her life.
   Of course that had been the plan.  Ranma had even gone as far as promise
he would try to behave himself and not actively seek trouble.
Unfortunately, Akane knew better that that.  Trouble seemed to follow Ranma
like a dark cloud, whether he wanted it or not.
   But it was all different now.  Thanks to Rei and Hotaru, she now had the
ability to fight back on the same level as her enemies, no matter who or
what they may be.  Too often since Ranma's arrival had she been relegated
to a mere cheerleading role because her martial arts abilities were so far
below those of the others that made Ranma's life so hectic.  The super soba
noodles and the battle dougi had respectively given her strength and skill,
but they had come at a price.  That wasn't the case with her
recently-rediscovered sorcery, though.  She had enough power now and it
simply was too alluring to give up...  if she could control it correctly,
that is.  She found herself wanting to experience some action.  She had
enough of being a victim like what had happened with the Mount Phoenix mess.
   That was mainly why she didn't want to confront Ranma yet about her
secret.  She didn't want to face his reaction to that yet, since he
appeared to be royally pissed about finding out he was a Senshi.  He wanted
out... maybe even for _her_ sake.  How would he handle it if he was told
that _she_ wanted to go around fighting monsters now?  She wasn't sure she
wanted to find out.  Now, she found herself questioning whether she even
really wanted to blame Ranma or not concerning his apparent induction into
the ranks of the Senshi.  If she _did_ blame him, what would that make her?
   She sighed.  This was not something she had wanted to acknowledge.  But
still...  Ranma running around in a fuku?  He was her _husband_ for  Kami's
sake, even if he happened to be the reincarnation of a long-dead fiancee in
the process.  "Whoever said I _want_ him running around in a Sailor fuku,
Rei?"
   Rei frowned back.  Whose side was Akane on?  Before she could reply,
Akane took a deep breath.
   "Look," she said in a final tone.  "Just don't tell him the identity of
the Saturn Knight, okay?"  And without waiting for an answer, she strode
out of the room, leaving a very confused Rei behind.
   Akane came back in the room where Ranma was waiting, obviously lost in
some thought.  "Ranma?" she asked, trying to get his attention.
   Ranma blinked and looked at Akane.  "Oh, Akane.  So... well, um...  what
did you talk about?"
   Akane sighed.  "A dream, Ranma.  A confusing dream, that's all."  Before
Ranma had time to ponder that statement, Akane plowed on.  "Ranma, would
you mind if just go take a walk alone for a while.  I need to sort some
stuff and... well... it's not that you're bad company, but I'd like some
time alone."
   Ranma couldn't help smiling when she said that. *This is perfect!* he
thought.  He nodded quickly. "Sure, Akane, no problem!  Take your time!"
   Akane scowled at him.  "You don't have to look so happy to see me go,
you know," she said crossly.
   Ranma sweatdropped.  "Sorry, Akane... I..."
   Akane rolled her eyes.  "Nevermind.  See you later," she said quickly
and then left, almost slamming the sliding door on her wait out.
   Ranma winced. *Way to go, stupid,* he scolded himself.
   The door suddenly opened up again, startling Ranma.  "I'll be back in
time to help you move our stuff to the apartment," Akane added quickly,
this time slamming the door.
   Ranma blinked.
   "Ranma?" came Rei's voice from behind, bringing him back to earth.
Ranma turned around and saw Rei, looking at him with a strange expression
that bordered on anger and puzzlement.  They stayed that way almost for a
minute before Ranma decided to react.
   "What do you want, Rei?" he asked tiredly.
   "You know what," Rei said, trying to stay calm.  "Why didn't you tell us?"
   Ranma snorted.  "Because it wasn't and still isn't any of your business,
Rei."
   "Not our business?!" she repeated incredulously.  "Ranma, do you know
how much we've been running around trying to find out about 'Ranko'?"
   "And as I said," repeated Ranma with a bit of anger, "It wasn't any of
your business!"
"Why didn't you tell us?  Why didn't you tell _me_?"
   Ranma snorted.  "Do _you_ go to everyone you know and tell them you're
one of the Sailor Senshi?  Do you?  Do Grandpa or Yuuichiro even know
you're Sailor Mars," he asked scathingly.
   Rei was forced to concede the point.  "Well, no...  But it's not the
same thing!" she said definitely.
   Ranma's eyes became hard.  "Not the same thing?" he said softly, but
dangerously.  "You're absolutely right."  He paused for a second.  "IT'S
EVEN WORSE!!!" he yelled.

   Outside, Akane had barely made stepped outside the shrine when a blonde
missile collided with her.  Both fell to the ground in a tangled heap.
   "Oww..." Akane muttered.  Opening her eyes, she glared at the girl.
"What's the big idea?" she snapped.  "Don't you even look where you're
going at that... speed?  Usagi?" she finished in a puzzled tone,
recognizing the person in front of her.
   *Owie...* thought Usagi. *Gotta watch out where I'm going...* she
thought dizzily.  She then noticed who she had collided with.  "Akane?"
She blinked twice.  No, it wasn't an hallucination.  Her eyes widened and
she grabbed Akane by the collar.  "Akane!  Is Rei-chan at the shrine?" she
asked quickly.
   "Yes," said Akane cautiously.  "She's there with Ranma.  My guess is
that they're going to try and sort things out.  Why?"
   Usagi made a whining sound.  "Oh no..."
   Akane became worried.  "Why?  What's wrong?"
"Rei-chan has this little problem with her temper you see, and I'm afraid
she might provoke Ranma," Usagi explained, getting up to her feet, while
Akane was doing the same.
   "Usako!" came the call behind them.  Usagi and Akane both turned around
in time to see Mamoru and the rest of the gang running or jogging behind
them.  As they reached the two girls, Makoto looked ruefully at Usagi.
   "Usagi-chan, one day, you're going to have to tell me how you can run
like that and not be winded at all."
   "Practice," Usagi answered distractedly.  Minako sniggered and Usagi
threw her a dark look.  She turned back towards the newcomers.  "Looks like
Ami-chan was right.  Rei's here with Ranma."
   "Great," Makoto muttered, "Why couldn't that hothead wait?"
   "We'll go behind the shrine," said Artemis, jumping off Minako's
shoulder.  "We'll be able to hear everything there."
   Akane's eyes bugged out.  "Ta... Talking cats?!"
"Don't worry, Akane-san" said Luna reassuringly.  "We'll stay out of
sight."  And with that, the two felines darted inside the shrine grounds.
   "Don't worry, Akane," said Usagi brightly.  "They're perfectly
harmless."  *Unless you're late for school,* she added silently
   "But..." Akane mumbled, not really believing what she'd just seen.  She
calmed herself and considered it.  The answer that came back was along the
lines of: Why not?
   "Akane!" came Hotaru's voice from the back of the group.
   Akane turned around in time to see Hotaru jump in her arms.
"Hotaru-chan!  How've you been?" she said happily, completely forgetting
about Luna and Artemis.
   "I spent the whole afternoon waiting to see you again!" said the little
girl, in an equally happy tone.
   "Come on," interrupted Usagi.  "Let's go before Rei does something stupid."
   The remark brought Akane's attention back to the matter at hand.  "Err,
I wouldn't if I were you."
   That stopped the whole group short.  "Why not?" asked Minako.
   Akane sighed, putting Hotaru on the ground. "Ranma's really confused
right now and I can guarantee that if you all go barging in on them, he'll
react ten times worse than he would otherwise."
   "But I need to speak to him," Mamoru protested.
   Akane's eyes narrowed slightly when she noticed him. *Drat!* she
thought. *I'd forgotten about him.* She took a deep breath.  "Listen,
you'll only..." she was interrupted when they heard a loud yell coming from
the shrine.
   The Senshi all looked at one another and either nodded knowingly or
rolled their eyes. They moved towards the steps when Akane suddenly ran in
front of them.
"I'm not going to let you disturb them," she warned.
   "But Rei-chan is going to lose her temper," Usagi whined.
   "Listen," Akane said warningly.  "Do you think he'll talk to you if he
can't even square things out with his cousin first?"
   The Senshi looked at one another.  "Can we at least listen?" Minako
asked hopefully.
   Akane sighed.  "All right," she said tiredly.  "But if you get caught,
I'll pound your brains out," she warned.
Minako blinked, then gulped.  "I'll be as quiet as a bird!" she said
nervously.  There were a few groans from the group.
   It was Akane's turn to blink in confusion. *A bird?* she wondered.
   Ami came to the rescue.  "That's 'quiet as a mouse', Minako-chan," she
said softly, while rubbing her forehead.
   Akane suddenly realized who else was in the group.  Her jaw dropped.
"Kaiou-san?  Ten'ou-san?" she said disbelievingly, matching their faces
with their Senshi identities.  "You...  You're Sailor Senshi?" she
sputtered.
   The two didn't seem the least bit embarrassed or concerned that Akane
knew their identities.
   "Hello, Akane-san," said Michiru.  Haruka merely smirked at Akane and
gave her a wink.
   Akane blinked several times, then looked at Hotaru and the back to the
two.  "I hate it when it all makes sense," she muttered.
   Michiru and Haruka blinked at that.
Akane looked behind her and saw that most of the group was now quietly
edging inside the shrine.  "Oh no..." she said, almost fearfully.  "Gotta
make sure they don't bust in!"  With that, she bounded up the stairs,
trying to make as little noise as possible.

Inside the shrine, Ranma and Rei were perhaps fortunately far too lost in
their arguments to even notice the presence of eavesdroppers.
   "Come on," Rei taunted.  "It can't be that bad.  What's so bad about
turning into a girl?"
   Ranma glowered at her.  "It's not the body I was born with!  I was
raised as a guy!" he snapped.  "Do you realize how embarrassing it is to be
seen as a girl in public?"
   It was Rei's turn to glower.  "What's wrong with being a girl?" she said
indignantly.
   "Nothing if you were _born_ as one, which is not my case!"
   Rei tried to force down her anger.  "That makes no sense, Ranma!  What's
the real reason?"
   Ranma scowled and fell silent for a moment.  "You know that Pops took me
on a training trip when I was barely able to walk, yes?"
   Rei nodded.  "Yeah, so?"
"The first thing Pops taught me was how to stand correctly and then it was
how to punch, and then it was how to kick.  Everyday, I trained, I trained
and did nothing else.  Eventually, Pops decided to teach me a bit of
philosophy to go with the training.  One of the first things he drilled
into me was that girls were weak, stupid and couldn't do a single bit of
fighting..."
   "What?!" Rei exploded.  "What the hell does he mean..."
   "SHUT UP!" Ranma barked.  "I'm not finished!"  He tried to calm himself.
"It didn't stop there, oh no, there was the Neko-ken, all the times he sold
me to people as a fiancee without my ever knowing, all the friends I had to
leave behind.  I cried at losing a friend once and Pops insulted me for a
whole month about it, calling me a weak girl and everything!  It was the
worst insult he knew!  He taught me to hide my emotions, never to show them
in public.   It  wasn't what I'd call an ideal life, Rei, but it was all I
knew!  The only constant in my life was the Art.  I was one of the best and
that's what counted. _That_ was my life Rei, I had to be the absolute best
at the Art!"
   He took a breath to collect himself.
   "Then there was Jusenkyou."  His face twisted into anger at the memory.
"My stupid idiot of a father didn't know the training ground was cursed
even though he had a bloody brochure about it!  When we started fighting, I
knocked him into one of the pools and he came out as a panda!  I was too
surprised to react and he backhanded me into a spring."  He grinned
sardonically.  "The Nyannichuan or if you like, the Spring of Drowned Girl."
   His eyes bored into Rei's.  "Do you know how mortified, how disgusted,
how scared I became when I first saw my breasts?  To me, everything was
over.  I was a girl, the complete opposite of what I was supposed to be!"
He panted slightly.  "And then it only became worse after that.  We passed
through an Amazon village and I knocked the champion off.  Because I did it
as a _girl_, she tried to _kill_ us for the following three months!  And
then, when we finally seem to lose her, what happens?  My father tells me I
was to marry one of the daughters of his old training buddy in order to
unite our schools!  It _that_ wasn't enough, we got to meet them for the
first time in our cursed forms because it was raining outside!"
   Ranma's voice lowered just a little.  "Akane was the only one who showed
me an ounce of kindness that day but she thought I was a _girl_  at the
time, and later on, she walked in on me just as I was getting out of the
furo in my male form." He paused for a second, allowing Rei some time to
catch up.  "Needless to say, our relationship didn't begin very well,
_another_ thing to blame on the curse!  If I didn't have it, maybe I
would've had a chance to have a normal relationship with Akane!"
   He smiled bitterly.  "But no, the curse wasn't finished with me, not by
a long shot!  It was only a matter of time before almost everyone at
Furinkan High knew about my curse.  They thought I couldn't hear them but I
did!  All the times the called me a pervert and a deviant to my back, I
heard them.  The worst of the lot was a lunatic who kept groping my female
form, even though I'd shown him the change!  Do you have any idea of the
number of boys who tried to date my female side?!  Do you know how
humiliating it was to have boys lusting after my female form?  They even
bought pictures of it!" he asked sharply.
   Rei was beginning to lose steam at this point.
   Ranma snorted and continued.  "But the icing on the cake was my mother."
   Rei blinked.  "Wha...  What about Aunt Nodoka?"
   "When I saw her the first time in over ten years, it was as a girl!
Before you knew it, she dragged me into stores to try dresses of all
things!"
   Rei frowned.  "Hold it!  Why didn't you tell her you were a guy?"
   "Because she would have KILLED ME!!!" he yelled in frustration.
   Rei blanched.  "What?  Why?"
   "When Pops took me away from my mother when I was young, he signed a
contract that said that if I wasn't a 'man among men' when I grew up, we'd
both commit seppuku."
   His raven-haired cousin gulped.  "Come on!  You can't possibly believe
she'd..."
   "How was I supposed to know?" interrupted Ranma.  "I'd never even really
thought about her until then.  Pops had never mentioned her.  I thought she
was dead and all of a sudden, she pops out of the woodwork with a katana on
her back and a seppuku pledge.  What was I supposed to think?  Pops told me
she'd kill me if she found out about the curse, so when she came by, I had
to hide with my female form and that's when Ranko was born.  Every time she
came by, I had to sit there and watch her, never able to simply tell her
that the son she was looking for was right there in front of her and I
HATED myself for it!"   He paused to take a breath.  "And it was _all_
because of the curse."

   Outside the door, Akane and the rest of the Senshi were silent.  They
had been hearing Ranma list everything that had gone wrong with his life so
far.  Akane knew most of it, but she was still hearing a few new things.
Usagi and Mamoru, in particular, were feeling slightly ill.  Usagi, simply
because of her natural empathy towards people and Mamoru because he was
feeling Ranma's hatred, even if he wasn't really trying.  He was beginning
to realize that living as an orphan might not have been the worst way to
grow up after all.

   Rei was having a hard time staying mad at Ranma.  She had heard his life
story from Akane and Hotaru, but this...  this was like the hidden pages of
a book.  She was beginning to picture how much hatred Ranma harbored in
regards to his curse.  She took a deep breath, much more calm than she was
before, which could not be said about Ranma.
   "I...  suppose Aunt Nodoka eventually found out?" she asked uncertainly.
"I mean, she _was_ the one who asked me if you could stay here, you know..."
   Ranma grunted.  "Yeah, she found out eventually and I was lucky she
didn't ask me to commit seppuku."  He saw Rei's questioning look.  "Don't
ask how it happened, it's too stupid."
Rei blinked and gave herself a mental shake.  "So _that's_ why you're
scared of becoming a Senshi?" she asked.  She regretted her choice of words
when anger came flowing back on Ranma's features.
   "Scared?" Ranma spat.  "This has nothing to do with fear, Rei!"
   "Then why?" she challenged.
   "Embarrassment!" he snapped.  "If a demon wants my head, I'll beat it on
my _own_ terms!  I won't change into a girl and prance around in a skirt to
do it!"
   Rei's temper came back with a vengeance.  "Prance around?" she asked
dangerously.  "Is that what you think we do?!" she almost yelled.
   "Anyone who stops in front of an enemy to say some stupid speech can't
possibly be serious about their work," Ranma sneered.  "Besides, with a
klutzy leader like yours, I wonder if you ever get anything done!"
   He never saw the hand coming.

   * * * SLAP! * * *

   Ranma's head jerked to the side with the impact.   There was a deep
silence for a few seconds.  Ranma slowly turned his head back to face his
cousin, a red bruise on his cheek.
   Rei was mad.  Very mad.  Her face was almost purple with anger.  Her
next words were delivered with all the warmth of a glacier.  "Do.  Not.
Ever. Speak.  Of.  Usagi.  This.  Way.  Ever.  Again."  Each word was bit
out, as if she was restraining herself against saying anything else.
   Ranma stared at her, expresionless, for a few, long seconds.  Then
bowed.  "I apologize," he intoned formally.

   Outside, everyone was stunned or angry.  While some were still angry at
Ranma's careless insulting of their reluctant leader, Usagi and Akane were
stunned, even if for different reasons.  Usagi had never heard Rei speak in
her defense like that.  With all the bickering that went on between them,
she sometimes wondered if Rei really liked her or if she just tolerated her?
   Akane was stunned because of Ranma's apology.  Ranma almost _never_
apologized.  Strangely enough, she found herself wishing she could see
Rei's expression so she could memorize it.  An odd thought at an odd moment.
   As for Mamoru?  Well, Mamoru was still too confused about his own
emotions to really feel anything special.

Somehow, Rei was able to tell that apologies were not something her cousin
gave out freely, and that was enough to calm down so that she was only
angry now, instead of furious.
   Ranma sensed that.  "I didn't know you cared about her so much," he said
in a quiet tone.
   "Of course I care about her!" Rei snapped.  "She's the Princess!"  She
glared at Ranma.  "Your life may have been hell, Ranma, but Usagi has a
hell of her own!  She never wanted to become Sailor Moon, but she _had_ to
because there was no one else!  You have no idea how much she suffered
because of it."  She paused for a second.  "Do you remember anything from
the time of the Silver Millennium?"
   Ranma snorted "Thanks to you, I do."
   Rei frowned but let it pass.  She could come back on that later.  "Do
you remember Beryl and Metallia?"
   Ranma blinked and his eyebrows knitted in concentration.  "Beryl...
Beryl...  Wasn't she that twit of a noble who was in love with my bro...  I
mean Endymion?"  He hoped Rei hadn't noticed his slip of the tongue.
*Stupid memories,* he thought grumpily.  "She was the one who brainwashed
the Guardians, too, I think."
   Unfortunately, Rei noticed and smirked internally.  A small victory.
Better save it for later.  "You seem to remember more than we do..." she
observed.
   "As I said, I have _you_ to thank for it!"
   Rei frowned.  "What's that supposed to mean?"
   "Remember that little memory clean-up you gave to Sailor Terra when she
transformed for the first time?" Ranma asked sarcastically.
   Rei remembered.  "So what of it?  I asked for your permission first,
didn't I?"
   "It's not that I'm angry about, it's the fact that you woke _her_ up!"
   Rei stared in confusion.  "Woke _who_ up?"
   "Akana!  Who else?" he snapped.
   Rei was confused.  "So you got her memories, what's so bad about...
that?" she faltered.  "Wait, you sound almost as if she's conscious..."
   "She _is_," he said disgustedly.  "She's been talking to me since that
night."
   Rei gawked.  "That wasn't supposed to happen!"
   "It did.  Lucky me, stupid curse," he grumbled.
   "You mean you can talk to her right now?" Rei asked, more curious than
angry now.
   Ranma shook his head.  "Not quite.  Only when I'm sleeping or when I'm
in girl form.  She said that might change in the future, but so far, that's
it."
   "How'd that happen?" Rei asked, more to herself and not really expecting
an answer.  She was surprised when she got one.
   "It's all Jusenkyou's fault!" Ranma said sharply.
   Rei looked at him strangely.  "What's Jusenkyou go to do with Akana?"
Inside, she was almost bubbling with Ami-like excitement over the details
Ranma could provide about their past lives.
   Ranma rolled his eyes before he realized that Rei couldn't possibly know
of that particular aspect.  "Remember the name of the Jusenkyou spring I
fell into?"
   "The Spring of Drowned Girl?  What's that got... to..." she trailed off,
her eyes widening.  "Masaka!" she breathed.  "Are you telling me..."
   "Akana was the one who drowned in that spring," Ranma confirmed.  "From
what she can tell, she died at roughly the same time the Queen blasted
everyone forward in time.  Half her soul, which apparently became me, made
the trip, while the rest stayed in the spring."
   Rei was gawking at Ranma.  "But that would mean..."
   Ranma nodded.  "When I fell in the spring, she was finally released.
>From what I can tell, staying sealed in Jusenkyou for 1500 years allowed
her to remain separate in my mind.  She didn't manifest until you, to use
her own terms, 'cleaned up in there'."  Actually, Ranma knew that Akana had
talked to him before Sailor Mars' little trick, but for some twisted
reason, it felt good to unload it all on Rei at the moment.
   "Wow..."  said Rei, not knowing what to say.  Fortunately, everyone who
was listening onto them was also stunned.  Rei suddenly frowned as a
thought came to her.  "Wait a minute...  What would have happened if you
hadn't gone to Jusenkyou?"
   Ranma shrugged.  "She probably would have stayed in the spring, I guess."
   To Rei, this changed a lot of things.  "Well, maybe you were fated to go
there from the beginning, then?"
   Ranma glared at her.  "I can't believe in that."
   For some reason, an image of Pluto surged in Rei's mind.  *She
wouldn't...  would she?* the priestess wondered.  She couldn't help
thinking that it might have something to do with the fact that Setsuna had
not been seen recently.  "Look," said Rei.  "If she _is_ part of you, then
you _can't_ call it a curse!  I mean, you freed the rest of your soul!  If
anything, I'm sure Akana was grateful!"
   "Oh, she is," said Ranma dismissively, "And maybe I wouldn't mind if it
hadn't involved a bloody sex change!" he finished darkly.
   "It can't be that bad!" said Rei indignantly.
   "If I hadn't fallen into Jusenkyou, I never would have been able to turn
into a Senshi," Ranma retorded.  "Akana said it wouldn't have been
possible.  I could have avoided all these problems!"
   "What's the _real_ reason, Ranma?" asked Rei seriously.  "Why do refuse
to help us?"
   Ranma snorted softly.  "You wanna know why?"  Rei nodded.  "Because of
Akane," he replied simply.

   Outside the door, Akane winced and _almost_ groaned out loud.  She knew
where this would lead.  Mamoru, though, was in shock.  There was still a
fragment of his sister's original personality alive inside Ranma?

   Rei became careful.  This was dangerous ground.  "What exactly does that
mean?" she asked slowly.
   "Akane's been kidnapped and assaulted more times than anyone has a right
to be," Ranma replied seriously.  "When Akane and I came to Juuban, I swore
I wouldn't fight anymore if I could help it.  She's tired of having every
lunatic in Japan or China come trying to kill me or marry her.  I won't be
part of the insanity anymore, if only for _her_ sake."
   Rei felt uncomfortable in this.  She really wished she could tell Ranma
the "truth" about Akane, but she had forbidden Rei to do so.
"Besides," added Ranma, "if she was to find out that I actually transformed
into a Senshi, even if only twice, she'd either kill me or laugh at me for
the rest of her life."
   Rei frowned slightly.  "Do you really think she'd be that intolerant?  I
mean, if she was willing to marry you with your... condition," said Rei,
unwilling to call Akana a curse, "she can't possibly be that adverse to
your transforming once in a while to help us."
   Ranma sighed.  "Why do you want my help so much anyway?  You seem to be
doing pretty well on your own," he said, carefully avoiding to mention
Usagi this time.
   Rei grimaced.  "Remember why I asked you about Beryl and Metallia
earlier?"   Ranma nodded.  "They made it to the future as well.  Usagi was
the first to be awakened as Sailor Moon to face the threat."
   Ranma blinked.  "How's that possible anyway?  I don't remember a Sailor
Moon in the past."
   Rei smiled slightly.  "Blame Luna for that one..." she blinked when she
saw Ranma shudder.

   Somewhere near a window, Luna sneezed.  Artemis snickered.  Artemis got
a claw to the rump for it.

   "Don't mention any talking cats, please!" Ranma said nervously, closing
his eyes.
   Rei stared.  "You know!?  How?..."
   "I was hiding behind a wall when Venus came by to pick them up for a
meeting," he said.  "I heard their voices, but I couldn't be sure.  Akana
later mentioned something about the Advisors to the Court once.  The
memories were enough to make the connection after that."
   "Oh..." said Rei simply.  "By the way, they sympathize about the
Neko-ken training, you know.  I think they feel a bit guilty about it."
   Ranma sighed.  "It was Pops' fault, not theirs..."  he shook his head.
"Could we get back to the subject, now?" he asked, eager to forget about
the subject.
   Rei blinked.  "Oh, yes.  As I was saying," she said, her tone growing
more serious, "Sailor Moon was the first to be awakened.  Mercury was the
second, I was the third, then came Jupiter and Venus.  We only discovered
the Outers a lot later."
   "So?" asked Ranma, not seeing the problem.
   "The problem," said Rei ominously while looking at Ranma, "is that the
enemies we fight always become more difficult.  First it was Beryl and
Metallia, then it was the Black Moon clan, Wiseman and Death Phantom who
was followed by Pharaoh 90 and just recently a maniac called Kaguya the Ice
Queen who almost froze the Earth over!  And we won't talk about their
henchmen or minions or the dozens of monsters they usually send before we
can deal with them.  Each of them wanted to take over the Earth and each
time we seem to be barely able to stop them!"
   "Yet you did, apparently," observed Ranma.  Inside, he was beginning to
be impressed.  Maybe the Senshi weren't so weak after all.
   "Yeah, but each time, it's because we get new powers or discover new
allies!  And even then, it sometimes comes down to Sailor Moon having to
face the thing alone with the Ginzuishou.  Some of them were close calls."
She shuddered, remembering some of those close calls.
   Ranma felt an irrational stab of anger at the last statement.  "You left
the Princess alone to face some of those things?"  He blinked at his sudden
comment.  *Why'd I say that?*
   Rei's features twisted in anger.  "You have no right to speak like that,
Ranma!  You weren't there!"
   "Why weren't _you_?"

   Outside the room, Usagi flinched.  *Oh, no, Rei-chan, don't bring that
up, please!* she thought sadly.

   "Once, it was because we were DEAD!" Rei shouted.
   Ranma blinked.  "Dead?  Sorry, Rei, but you look very much alive right now."
   Rei glared at Ranma.  "When we went to confront Metallia, all of us save
Sailor Moon died on the way to make sure she would succeed.  She doesn't
like talking about her battle with Metallia.  All we know is that she
defeated Metallia and then managed to resurrect us with the Ginzuishou."
   Ranma wasn't sure how to react.  "But..."
   "But nothing!" Rei snapped.  "Sailor Moon went there with us and she had
to watch us die one by one!  Do you know how traumatic it was for her?  And
yet she still fights even after all this!"  She quieted down a little,
unaware that Usagi was almost crying just a dozen feet away.  "In that
regard, she is the strongest of us, but she's still the Princess and
_we're_ supposed to protect _her_.  Ranma, the Earth can survive without me
or you, but if Usagi dies, the world will soon follow!"
   Ranma snorted.  "I'm suddenly filled with confidence," he said so
sarcastically you could see lumps of it falling to the ground.  His eyes
widened when he saw Rei's face become purple in anger.  "Sorry!  Sorry!" he
said quickly, hoping to avoid another slap.
   Rei fumed for a few moments before regaining control.  *Don't kill him
yet!* she reminded herself"Do you want her death on your conscience?  What
if the next enemy is too strong?  What if _you're_ supposed to be the next
ally?  I mean, look at that demon today: I'm not sure we could have put it
down without your help!"
   Ranma rolled his eyes.  "If _that's_ what you're worried about, don't
worry.  That demon wasn't after you, it was after me."
   "After you?" Rei said, puzzled.
   Ranma nodded.  "Apparently, Happosai didn't like it too much when I
trashed him the other day.  He summoned that demon to teach me a lesson, I
guess."
   Rei couldn't believe the cavalier way Ranma handled a demonic assault.
"Who's Happosai?"
   Ranma smirked.  "The little dwarf who groped you the other day."   Rei's
face darkened in anger at the memory.   Ranma smiled a bit more openly,
trying to stay on Rei's good side.  "The ofuda was a very nice touch, by
the way.  I'd never seen that happen before."
   Rei smiled at the compliment.  "Thank you, believe me, the pleasure was
all mine!" she added sweetly.  Her face lost some of its humour when she
considered Ranma's words.  "What's he going to do when he learns that the
demon's been destroyed?"
   Ranma shrugged.  "He'll probably send another one, I guess."  He smiled
lopsidedly.  "Another reason for me to stay away from you.  Wouldn't want
the Princess to get involved in something that doesn't concern her, now
would you?"
   Rei frowned.  She wasn't used to dealing with that kind of reverse
logic.  She suddenly realized that she wouldn't have to when she saw who
had just entered the room...

   A few moments earlier, Akane, who had been listening at the door with
the others, began hearing the agitated cries of people outside.  She
frowned.  *What's going on out there?* she wondered irritably.  If this
kept up, Ranma and Rei would come out to investigate.  The bit about Akana
being the girl from the spring had given quite a few ideas to Akane and she
wondered just how much Ranma would have told her if she hadn't listened in
on this conversation.
   She quietly moved out of the room to see what the cries were all about,
leaving the others glued to the door.  Had she stayed longer, she would
have noticed Usagi acting increasingly agitated about the whole thing.
   Akane stepped out and quickly ran down the steps of the shrine, noticing
that the cries of people were getting closer and closer.  She wondered if
it was another monster and almost summoned Mjollnir.  As she stepped out
onto the street, she quickly saw the source of the panic and her jaw almost
hit the ground in surprise.  "Katsunishiki?" she said weakly.
   Indeed, Akari's giant pet sumo pig was the one creating the disturbance.
Akane quickly looked around it and saw Nodoka and Genma walking alongside
it.  She blinked.  She hadn't expected _them_ to be alongside the porcine.
"Uncle Saotome!  Auntie Saotome!  What are you doing here?" she called out,
running towards them, idly noting that most people were running in the
opposite direction.
   Nodoka broke into a smile.  "Akane-chan!  I'm so glad to see you!"
   Genma nodded at her.  "Hello, Akane-chan."
   "What are you both doing out here?" she repeated, surprised.  "And with
_him_, of all people.. I mean.. err... companions?" she stuttered, pointing
discreetly at Katsunishiki.
   Nodoka indicated the makeshift collar around Katsunishiki.  "This.
Apparently, this pig was sent by someone to deliver something to you and
Ranma.  We came along to guide it and also to make sure Genma did not steal
anything," she finished, glaring at Genma, who began sweating.  Where was
cold water when you needed it?
   "Steal?" Akane wondered out loud.  "What is it?"
   Nodoka shrugged.  "We don't know.  There _is_ a letter addressed to both
Ranma and you, though.  I'm sure it explains everything."
   Akane turned towards the massive porcine.  *I wonder why Akari and
Ryouga-kun didn't come by themselves?*  Panic gripped her for an instant.
*What if something's happened to them?* she thought nervously.  Quickly,
she unwrapped the letter and began reading.  After just a few moments, she
began smiling wider and wider.
   "So, what is it Akane-chan?" asked Nodoka.
   "Akari and Ryouga are getting married!" she said happily.
   Nodoka smiled.  "That's wonderful news!"
   "Does it say what the flask is?" Genma interrupted quickly.  Nodoka's
eyes narrowed.
   "Let me see..." she skimmed the letter.  Her eyes widened.  She looked
at the bottle with apprehension.  "Nannichuan..." she whispered
apprehensively.
   Genma's eyes gleamed, but he was stopped in his tracks by Nodoka's
katana.  "Don't even think about it," she said ominously.  "If you do, I'll
help Ranma find you afterwards."
   The bald martial artist sighed regretfully.  "So close..." he muttered
dejectedly.
   Nodoka turned towards Akane, never letting go of the katana.  "This is
wonderful news.  My son will finally be a whole man again!  Is he here
right now?"
   "Yes," said Akane, "He's in the shrine with Rei."  She cursed softly in
her mind.  *Can't let Auntie Saotome hear what Rei and Ranma are talking
about.*  She looked at them a bit nervously.  "I'll go tell him you're
here."
   "That's not a problem, Akane-chan," said Nodoka brightly.  "I'll go see
him myself."
   "But what about Katsunishiki?  We can't leave him out here and he won't
fit through the gate!" said Akane quickly.
   Katsunishiki solved the problem by taking a few steps backwards and
casually jump over the wall.
   Akane stared.

   Inside the shrine, Usagi had grown more and more agitated.  When Akane
left the room, she decided that she couldn't stand it anymore.  "I'm going
in," she whispered.
   The others stared at her.
   "Don't be stupid, Usagi-chan!" Makoto hissed.  "Now is _not_ the time!"
   "I don't care," Usagi whispered back with a decided look in her eyes.
"I'm not going to force him to join us if he doesn't want to."  With that,
she began opening the door slowly, as if to make the least amount of noise
possible.
   All the others, acting on some deep, primordial survival instinct,
huddled on the sides so that they wouldn't be seen.  Well, all of them
except Mamoru, who stood along with Usagi.  She looked at him inquisitively
and he nodded.
Usagi took a deep breath and walked in the room just in time to hear
Ranma's last comment: "Another reason for me to stay away from you.
Wouldn't want the Princess to get involved in something that doesn't
concern her, now would you?"
   "On the contrary," she said out loud.  "It does concern me.  The Senshi
do not abandon their own to face threats alone."

Ranma whipped around in shock, promptly chastising himself for not hearing
her come in.  He then cursed himself when he realized that she might have
heard a lot more than he had wanted her to.  His self-flogging came to an
abrupt halt when he saw _him_ standing behind Usagi, a slightly nervous
expression on his face.
   "Mamoru," Ranma said with an edge to his voice.  "I didn't even sense
you come in."
   Mamoru's features tightened slightly.  "You asked me to stay out of your
head didn't you?  I respect my promises, Ranma."
   Ranma frowned slightly but did not reply.
   Usagi walked up to Ranma, looking at him in the eyes, despite her
shorter height.  "Ranma, I meant what I said.  If there's someone sending
demons after you, we'll help you get rid of them."
   Ranma scowled slightly.  "I don't need a girl butting in..." he trailed
off when he felt Rei's chi rise in anger.  "I mean, why do you want to do
this?  You could get hurt and you have nothing to gain."
   *Yes I do.  Your forgiveness and perhaps your friendship,* thought Usagi
silently.  "Consider it an apology, then," she said out loud.
   Ranma blinked in surprise.  "An apology?!"
   Usagi nodded.  "Remember just before class this morning?  I told you I
was looking for Ranko, that I wanted to apologize to her.  Well, consider
our help as an apology for the mistake I made when I gave you the henshin
stick."
   Ranma stared at her, unable to say anything.  Her words sounded
precisely like something Princess Serenity would have said.  She had always
had too big a heart for her own good.  "You can't!" he finally said.  "I
won't accept your help!  Not for something this dangerous!"
   Usagi arched an eyebrow.  "You would refuse an offer from your Princess?"
   Ranma's face lost some of its color.  *Does she remember the Oath?  I
hope not...*
   Standing besides Ranma, Rei cheered Usagi silently, momentarily
forgetting the fact that her Princess had probably listened on the entire
exchange, including her defense of Usagi's behaviour.  She would regret
that later.

   Outside the room, the rest of the Senshi were anxiously following the
discussion.  They were wondering why Ranma wasn't answering.  They never
got a chance to pursue that line of thought when they _felt_ the echo of a
bone-rattling  impact in the courtyard.  They immediately abandoned their
current positions and rushed out of the shrine to see what the noise was
all about.
   Minako was the first to react.  "AAAHHH!!  A MONSTER!"
   Henshin sticks were halfway out when Akane burst through the gate,
followed by a man and a woman.  "NO! WAIT!!!  It's not a monster, it's a
sumo pig!"
   They all stared disbelievingly at Akane.
   "It's true," she insisted.  "His name is Katsunishiki and he belongs to
a friend of mine and Ranma's"
   Makoto was the first to break out of the daze.  "A sumo pig?"  Akane
nodded, a bit embarrassed.  "Geez," the brunette said.  "Usually anything
that comes close to that thing's size is usually out sucking people's
energy!"
   The others stared at Makoto.  "It's true," she protested when she saw
the looks she was getting.
   "Well," Haruka muttered, throwing Katsunishiki a wary look.  "Don't
expect _me_ to wrestle with it..."
   Minako snickered, breaking the tension.
   "So why is it here, oneechan?" asked Hotaru.
   Nodoka looked questioningly at Akane, who smiled.  "I made a few friends
already, Auntie," she said to the woman besides her.  "It's carrying a
message and a gift for me and Ranma," Akane answered in regards to Hotaru's
question.  She shook her head.  "Where are my manners?  Everyone, these are
Ranma's parents, Genma and Nodoka Saotome," she said.
   Genma wondered why he was receiving so many hostile looks.  He realized
that they might be girls to whom he had promised Ranma when he was
training.  He hoped not, or at least not as long as Nodoka was around.
   Nodoka found herself subject to a variety of looks that ranged from
pleasant to strange to almost outright hostile.  She didn't understand why.
They all seemed like pleasant girls, after all.
   "Mom, Pops?  What are you doing here?" said an unexpected voice behind them.

   Ranma glared at the other girls when they jumped around, startled.  Had
they _all_ been listening in?  He grunted.  Time enough to chew everyone
out later.  Right now, he wanted to know why Akari's pig had wandered back
in Tokyo without its masters and accompanied by _his_ parents of all
people.  "So where are Ryouga and Akari?"
   "Here!" said Akane, jogging up the steps.  "It's all in here.  I think
you'll be pleasantly surprised, Ranma!"  She handed the letter to Ranma,
who took it warily.
   *Oh, Kami-sama!* he thought desperately.  *Please tell me Akane didn't
listen in!*  He looked at Akane and saw her smiling widely.  It immediately
put his mind to rest.  If she had known about the Senshi stunt, she would
be tearing his head off.  She would definitely _not_ be smiling at any rate.

   Meanwhile, Artemis and Luna were watching the whole show with rapt
attention.  Such was their concentration that they never noticed the short
man creeping up behind them with an unholy look of glee on its features.

   Ranma began reading the letter.  Halfway through, he smiled widely.
"It's about time!" he said happily.
   Akane nodded with him.  "Isn't it?"
   "What's going on?" asked Usagi from behind Ranma.
   "An old buddy of mine who tried to kill me for a couple of years is
finally getting married.  He wants me to be the best man," said Ranma, a
strange, longing look on his face, all thoughts of oaths and promises
vanished for the moment.
   Usagi looked at Ranma oddly.  "He tried to kill you and now he wants you
to be his best man?" she asked dubiously.
   Ranma nodded and smirked at Usagi's doubtful look.  "Don't worry," he
said reassuringly.  "It's a long story."
   "If you say so," she replied uncertainly.
   "Ranma!  Read the rest!" Akane urged.
   He did.  His eyes widened and he looked over at Katsunishiki, his eyes
on the flask.  "Nannichuan?" he breathed excitedly.  "YEEESSSS!!!" he
howled in joy.  "My problems are SOLVED!"  Before anyone could blink, he
jumped down the steps in a single leap and made a dash for the flask.  He
was only a few feet away from it when something white was launched at him
from the bushes.

   Artemis and Luna had both been unpleasantly surprised by the strange
dwarf that had picked them up as if they were a pair of ordinary house
cats.  The man had been downwind, therefore they had smelled nothing.  Even
worse was the fact that he was looking at them was giggling almost
insanely.  They were considering calling for help (after all they didn't
want to be catnapped) when the dwarf suddenly froze.  The two cats
exchanged a glance and were about to start yelling when the short man began
muttering.
   "Nannichuan?" the man breathed.  "I can't let my beautiful Ranma-chan
disappear forever!"
Artemis was trying to figure out what the comment meant when he felt
himself get tossed at an incredible speed towards Ranma, who was bounding
towards the monstrous pig.  Not wanting to be splattered all over the wall,
he reflexively latched on the one thing he could:  Ranma's face.

   It took only a fraction of a second for Ranma to realized what was
clawing at his face.
   "AAAAHHHH!!!  A CAAAAAAT!!!!   GET IT OFF!!!  GET IT OFFFFFF!!!!" he
howled in fear.  He began running around, completely forgetting about the
Nannichuan.
   The others could only stare in shock as they saw what looked like a
rerun of the time "Ranko" had met the two Moon cats for the first time.
   Akane was the one who reacted first.  The last thing they needed now was
for Ranma to go into the Neko-ken.  As Ranma ran near her, she reached out
and grabbed the cat from Ranma's face as he dashed by.
   "Artemis?!" cried Minako, running towards Akane.  "Are you all right?"
she asked.
   "Sure," muttered the visibly rattled white cat in a sotto voice.  "Just
make the world stop spinning, please..."
   Akane's attention was drawn to a small shape that emerged from the
bushes Artemis had been flung from.  "Happosai!" she shouted, drawing
attention to the small pervert.

   Happosai quickly bounded out of the bushes while Ranma was running
circles.  What luck he had tonight!  He had come back to Tokyo to find out
what happened to demon he had sent when he had felt Ranma's troubled chi
while passing through a neighbourhood.
   He had quickly located the source where Ranma's chi emanated from, a
Shinto shrine, and was quickly spying on Ranma, who seemed to be discussing
something the pervert couldn't quite make out with a beautiful young shrine
maiden.  How fortunate!  A chance to get Ranma for his unforgivable
behaviour and a beautiful young girl to grope as well!  His senses told him
there were even more young girls somewhere in the shrine.  This might turn
out to be a very good day after all!
   He had been disturbed by the arrival of the giant pig though.  When he
had circled around the shrine, he had found two cats as well!  A bonus to
be used with caution around Ranma.  Everything had almost turned to a
nightmare, though, when he had heard Ranma say one word in particular:
Nannichuan.
   No!  He could not let his beautiful Ranma-chan vanish forever!  He had
tossed one of the cats to Ranma to draw him away from the pig and he was
now on his way.
Jumping when he reached Katsunishiki, he quickly severed the rope holding
the flask, making sure he held the other cat behind him.  His caressed the
flask triumphantly and then heard a familiar voice shout his name.  He
turned around and saw his beautiful Akane-chan wave at him.  She was here
too?

   Akane shook her fist at Happosai.  "Don't you _dare_ touch that flask,
Happosai!" she screamed.  "It belongs to Ranma!"
   Happosai snickered.  "Not anymore it doesn't!  How would you like me to
become young again, Akane-chan?  You and I could go out together!"
   Ami and Makoto stared at Happosai in shock.  The Perverted Thing From
Another Dimension was here again.
   Mamoru cursed softly.  Haruka turned to him.  "You know what it is?" she
asked.
   "Yeah," he answered, fingering his magic rose that would turn him into
Tuxedo Kamen.  "It's the dwarf that attacked the girls yesterday afternoon
at school."
   Haruka's eyes narrowed.  That thing had attacked the Princess?  She was
about to try to take on the little man by herself when she was startled by
the fact that Ranma was beginning to radiate a deep blue.
   "Old man," Ranma said, staggering up.  "If you even breathe on that
flask, I will _kill_ you, slowly and painfully."
   Everyone turned to see Ranma, glowing with a battle aura and back on his
feet, obviously trying to overcome the lingering symptoms of his
ailurophobia.
   "What are you going to do about it?" Happosai taunted.  "You destroyed a
perfectly good demon.  I'm just taking my revenge!  After all, I can't
possibly allow my beautiful Ranma-chan to disappear, now can I?"  He
started uncorking the flask with one hand.
   Ranma howled in fury and rushed Happosai, who simply shoved Luna in the
younger martial artist's face when he got close.  Unfortunately, Luna had a
great preservation instinct and she refused to let go as Ranma rolled on
the ground.
   Happosai laughed as Ranma spasmed on the ground.  "You crossed me once
too often, Ranma!  Now, we'll see who's stronger!" he said triumphantly,
uncorking the flask.  To be young again!  He turned to Genma, who was
cowering behind Nodoka.  "We're going to leave on another training trip,
Genma!" he said happily.
   Genma fled as fast as he could.
   "You hurt the Princess!" an angry voice shouted from behind him.
Happosai turned around to see a sandy-haired woman, a crossdresser by the
looks of it, stalking towards him.  This caused him to ignore the fact that
Ranma had stopped moving.
   "What princess?" asked Happosai, puzzled.  "I haven't groped a princess
since 1976..." he trailed off when he heard a strange growling sound behind
him.  He slowly turned around and found himself face to face with
Neko-Ranma.  *Oh, no...* he thought nervously.  *He was supposed to stay
scared longer...*
   Before he could make another move, Neko-Ranma yowled and slashed his
right front paw horizontally.  Happosai suddenly found himself flying into
a wall at incredible speed, but without the flask.

   When Akane saw Ranma turn into Neko-Ranma, she muttered a prayer.  This
was going to be messy.  Neko-Ranma's first strike caught Happosai cleanly
in the middle and sent him flying.  She saw the flask fly straight up, not
spraying a single drop of water.
   "CATCH THAT FLASK!!!" she howled.
   Haruka, who had been stunned by Ranma's transformation, was the closest
to the flask.  She put her hand out, confused, and casually caught the
flask, not spilling a single drop on herself.
   Akane sighed deeply in relief.  Thank Kami-sama the water had been saved!
   "Akane, what the hell is this, anyway?" Haruka called out, pointing to
the flask.
   "Be careful!!" Akane shouted, moving towards Haruka.  "If you spill any
on you, you'll turn into a man!"
   Haruka stared at the flask much the same way one might stare at an
extremely venomous snake.  Very nervously.  "Someone take this thing!" she
said, panicking.
   "I'll take it!" an old voice said from behind her.  Haruka turned around
in surprise just in time to see Happosai dashing towards her, carrying some
sort of round paper ball.  She froze.
   The ancient pervert almost made it before Neko-Ranma bounded over and
sent him sailing over the rooftops with a well placed "paw" swipe.
   Haruka stood rock still, afraid to move.  She looked at the flask.
Still intact.  She breathed a sigh of relief.
   Then she noticed something on the ground.  That odd paper ball Happosai
had been carrying.  A firecracker, Haruka realized.  It also looked like
the fuse was gone.
   She blinked.
   That was the last thing she did before the Happo-daikarin exploded.


End part 11


Author's notes

Japanese words:

Masaka:  I can't believe it! / No way! / Impossible!

Seppuku: A form of ritual suicide, which usually involves slicing your
stomach three times and then getting your head cut off (usually by a
relative or someone close).  Domo, Mr. Rijk.

 - Another cliffhanger (well, sort of)...  Am I pissing enough people off
yet?  If so, take heart.  :)   There's a lot of action planned for the next
chapter, because events are going to start moving forward and towards the
main event of the story at a faster pace (yes, you read correctly - after
all, action-wise, I'll admit I haven't done really much so far).

   Oh, and by the way, <crouch> I'M REALLY SORRY about the delay!!!!!!!!!!!  :(

 - Yes, I know I skipped a lot of things when Ranma vented his anger at
Rei...  Sue me, I wasn't about to transcribe the entire R1/2 manga again.
I know that there are some things that could have been said differently,
but remember that they were both angry, so they're bound to miss a few
things.  I'l also keeping some for the next part...

 - For those who don't remember, Gokuu was Kanma's teleporting friend I
mentioned back in part 9...  Not many people made the link back then.
Kudos to those who did!   ;)

 - I didn't mention Ail & Alan and the Doom Tree because it never happened
in the SM manga...

 - I'm also working on a small revision of the earlier chapters to catch
all the little continuity glitches.  Why now?  Because for *once*, I
finally have a clear idea of where I want to go with LoD...

 - And finally, for all those who think I write too slowly: I have a
full-time job, university courses and a social life outside anime, you
know.  I don't mind the occasional prodding message - in fact, I welcome
them, as it helps to keep me in line, but some of you really push it
sometimes and you *know* who you are...
**********************
* The Phoenix Reborn *              Jordanite and Mystical
**********************                  Freak at Large

Louis-Philippe Giroux

Dragon@anime.usacomputers.net
redphoenix@videotron.ca

Phoenix's Den at
http://www.anime.usacomputers.net/~dragon/

Picture and Fanfiction Gallery
http://www.anime.sobhrach.com/~dragon/gallery.html
<If it doesn't work, try again another day>

"The nameless are like dust.  No one shall come to lay flowers by their
grave.  Only those who earned their names are ever remembered."
  - Woodchuck, Records Of Lodoss War