[Ranma/SM][FanFic] Destiny's Child, Chapter 19

[Fire]

The characters contained within this story are owned by Takahashi
Rumiko or Takeuchi Naoko. No infringement of copyright is intended.
This work to be distributed for free, unchanged, crediting the current
author.

This is a crossover between Ranma 1/2 and Sailor Moon. To make the two
stories fit together the way I wanted, I needed to shuffle the dates at
which a few things occur within the main timeline of Sailor Moon. I bow
my head in shame: please forgive. We also have guest appearances by
Slayers and 3x3 Eyes.

Die hard fans of Ranma may also notice a very subtle change to it's
story timeline...

This story is dedicated to the letter M and the number -4.6.

Visit my website at
dzil...@ozemail.com.au
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~dzillman/fire

_________________
/ \
| Destiny's Child |
\_________________/

What has gone before:
While on a training trip with his father, Ranma fell into the spring of
the drowned young girl. Unfortunately, his curse can only be changed
back with _very_ hot water, which means he spends most of the time in
his cursed form. Not only that, but since the spring was drowned young
girl, he turns into a 12 year old girl who never ages. Having finally
returned to Japan after 400 years of travel and experience, Ranma is
trying to make a new life.

Ranma's (or Tomoe Hotaru as his girl half is known) does not seem
capable of having a normal life. He is learning Shinto from Hino Rei,
pursued by the boy starved girls of the Sailor Senshi and simply
pursued by the enraged demon-pig Ryoga, and unbeknownst to him, his
girl half's best friend is a time travelling Senshi-in-training. Just
when he was worrying that there were no good martial artists in Tokyo,
a certain Amazon arrives claiming the same thing. Well, one thing led
to another and can you say "Amazon Law"?

The Outers are plotting, the Inners are confused, and every woman, man
and beast on the planet seems to be after Ranma for one reason or
another. Now Ranma's troubles have increased further as he has
manifested the powers of Saturn Knight, a masked defender not entirely
unlike Tuxedo Kamen. And then there is Sailor Mars...

-------------
Aftermath
-------------

Chibi-Usa sat in her room, staring at the wall. For the last two hours,
she had been sitting there, patting the black cat that she held in her
lap. In the entire time she did not say one thing, just sitting and
patting.

Like any cat, Luna was a complete hedonist when it came to being
petted. There was nothing that she liked more than being fawned over
and cared for. Given the slightest opportunity she would lie in the
sunlight, or stretch across a warm lap. Warm laps like Chibi-Usa?s were
preferable because they often came with attentive arms, and those arms
would have hands that were just perfect for stroking her back.

Chibi-Usa was so much better at this than Usagi. Although Usagi?s heart
was in the right place, she often had the unfortunate tendency to beat
her pet when she was trying to be nice. Chibi-Usa on the other hand had
the whole deal down pat - no pun intended. She stroked the right
direction, firm without being rough, and she remembered to scratch just
behind the head, on the back of the neck where it was often so hard to
get the right sort of attention.

Luna purred. She could taker this sort of treatment for hours.

It was at that thought Luna realised that she had been receiving this
treatment for hours. Not less than two hours had passed since Chibi-Usa
had come home, picked her up without a word, and retreated to her room.
While she would often give the cat a quick pat, it was entirely unusual
for her to spend this much time just caring for her.

Craning her neck, Luna looked up at Chibi-Usa and studied the girls
face. Although her hands made all the right motions, her face showed
that her concentration was on something other than looking after a cat.
The little girl?s red eyes were unfocused and she stared into the
middle distance. Watching her for a minute, Luna realised that she must
have been like this the entire time. That indicated deep thought, and
Chibi-Usa was a growing girl. She should be up and about, not brooding
over difficult problems all afternoon.

Luna knew that when Neo-Queen Serenity had sent her daughter back in
time, she must have expected Luna to be there to help look after her.
Luna knew she was the most level headed of any of the people Chibi-Usa
would be associating with. She was supposed to be the responsible and
wise one. Luna was the one that was supposed to provide the
guardianship for the girl, and she was in some sort of trouble or
quandary, it was her job to sort it out.

"Chibi-Usa... Chibi-Usa... What?s wrong, Chibi-Usa? What are you
worried about?"

The girl looked down and her face fell. Chibi-Usa looked like she was
about to cry. Standing on her rear paws, Luna leaned on the girl and
tried to give her a hug. Soon she responded and hugged the cat back,
cradling Luna to her chest.

"Oh, Luna. I don't know what to do. I've got all these problems, and
there's no-one I can tell. I've been sitting here for so long, and I
still don't know what to do."

"There, there. It's OK. You can tell me. I'm sure that whatever your
problem is, we can get the rest of the Senshi to help, and it will be
solved in no time."

"But we can't! That's the whole problem. It's about one of the Senshi.
And I can?t tell her because I don't the real truth. If I tell her
something, or she finds out because of me, then it might just make
matters worse. Oh, Luna. I don't know what to do."

"Chibi-Usa, you know what I do these days, do you? What I did in the
Moon Kingdom, and what I'm still doing in the time that you come from.
You know what my job is, don't you, Chibi-Usa?"

"Yes... You're the Queen's advisor. Or your Usagi's keeper I suppose."

A small chuckle. Things can?t be too bad if she is making jokes.
"That's right. I'm the Queen's advisor. Do you know what that means? It
means I help the Queen make her decisions. If she has a problem, then
I'm here to help her. I can offer advice, and I can offer a ear to
listen. Just talking about your problems can often make then so much
smaller."

"I don't know, Luna. I mean... I've always been told it's bad to spread
rumours. If I start telling you everything I know, then I'm going to be
starting some pretty bad rumours."

"You don't have to worry about that, child. That's why I'm an advisor.
The Queen - or you - could tell me anything, and it would never go any
further. I can only offer advice if you tell me what's worrying you."

Sitting Luna on the bed, Chibi-Usa looked at the cat and put on a stern
face. "OK, Luna. I need your advice on this, and you better not tell
anyone else.
"There's this boy Rei likes."

"Yes. Ranma."

"Well, what you probably did not know is I think he's Hotaru's brother.
Rei know this, so far."

"What do you mean you think he's her brother? This could be very
serious if he is."

"Oh, Luna! You've been listening to all those horrible things that Puu
has been saying about Hotaru-chan, haven't you? Well they can't be
true. She's the nicest, kindest and sweetest girl I know. There's no
way that she's helping the bad guys. I just know it! I don't care what
Sailor Pluto says!
"But I'm a bit unsure about something. Rei once asked Hotaru if Ranma
was her brother, and she said 'We have the same parents...' Why
wouldn't she say yes? Is there any way that she couldn't be his brother
if that have the same parents?
"Anyway. Hotaru and Ranma are really close. I think they talk about
everything. But the day there was that big explosion... you know the
one... that day, when I was out walking with Hotaru we ran into some
friends of Ranma and her.
"Before... Before... Before Ki-chan..."

Chibi-Usa sniffled a little, and Luna rubbed her head against her in
sympathy. She had never met Kikyo but from what Chibi-Usa had said,
Kikyo must have been a very nice girl. It was probably the first time
that Chibi-Usa had seen a dead person. It is never pretty, and the
first time is always the worst. Chibi-Usa was fortunate that she had so
many caring and supportive friends.

After a time, Chibi-Usa had calmed enough to resume her story. "Earlier
we were talking, and Ucchan was saying that she was Ranma's fiancée.
But Hotaru didn't know anything about it. But she did think that Ranma
was going out with some other girl called Shampoo.
"Not only that, but he's always so nice to the other Senshi when they
come over to the shrine to see Rei. If he's there, he's so nice and
sweet, and...
"What if he's just playing with her? What if he doesn?t care about Rei
at all? Hotaru never said that he did, and he never seems to notice
her. Ranma's a nice guy, but what if he doesn?t care about Rei? Maybe
he already has a fiancée.. or even two? Shouldn't Rei know?"

Luna nodded her head. "I certainly think she should. Why don't you ask
Hotaru or Ranma? Maybe one of them could clear things up. Perhaps Rei
should learn to let go of him. If he has a fiancée, she shouldn?t be
coming between them."

"Are you saying that because Ranma is Hotaru's brother? She is not a
bad person, Luna. You've never met her, but just wait until you do. I'm
sure you'll get on really well.
"And I've tried to speak to Ranma and Hotaru. No-one, not even Rei,
knows where Ranma lives. None of the other girls do either. I think he
must be a really private person.
"I also went over to Hotaru's place three times in the last two days.
Kaori never lets me in, and she just says that Hotaru is out. Nothing
else. I can't find either of them, and I need to ask them.
"Not only that, but Ki-chan was one of Hotaru's best friends before she
came here to live with her father. She must be really sad, and she's
all alone.
"How can I help my best friend if I can't even find her?"

Luna had no answer for that one. All she could do was suggest that
Chibi-Usa was doing the right thing so far. Given the situation, Rei
should know but they could afford to wait for a couple of days until
they got the facts straight from the horse's mouth.

On the subject of facts from the source, Luna had pursued the idea of
asking Ukyo herself about her relationship with Ranma. She might not
know Shampoo - a name like that was too hard to forget, and too much of
a joke not to be mentioned to all her friends - but she would surely be
able to say what her relationship was like with Ranma. If Ukyo was
really engaged to him, it would put an end to Rei's romance very
quickly.

Unfortunately for all of them, Chibi-Usa had already thought of that
one. She had also visited "Ucchan's Okonomiyaki". Ukyo had opened a
Okonomiyaki restaurant only days before Chibi-Usa and Hotaru had bumped
into her. When the Senshi had left to change back into school girls,
Chibi-Usa had gone with Ukyo and Hotaru when they went to put Ukyo to
bed. The poor girl had been devastated by the loss of her life long
friend, and Hotaru had been in a bad state as well.

After seeing Ukyo to sleep, Chibi-Usa had taken Hotaru home, only to
then return and deal with her own concerned relatives. So far she was
the only one that knew that Ukyo and Kikyo were much more than innocent
bystanders. That state of affairs could not last long. As Usagi's
friend Naru - or even Hotaru - could vouch, when things got crazy
around here, it tended to drag the bystanders down with the people
involved.

Blocks away, at the Hikawa Shrine, Rei sat and tried to study. Like the
rest of the Senshi she had not been able to stay around the scene of
Kikyo's death for long. The Senshi relied heavily on their anonymity,
and it was too much of a risk to stay around Chibi-Usa and Hotaru at
that point. Besides, by the time they had returned, there were police,
ambulances, and a huge crowd of onlookers.

After Sailor Moon had seen that her daughter and her friend were all
right, the girls retreated slightly and found somewhere to change. By
the time they had managed to fight their way through the throng and
reach the centre, the disturbance was beginning to dissipate. Chibi-
Usa, Hotaru, and Ukyo had already left the scene, and Kikyo had been
taken away somewhere.

Rei gave a slight shake and tried not to think about that too much. In
the past the Senshi had always managed to save the people who were
attacked. But not this time. This time, they had failed. This time
someone innocent had been the victim. From what few facts Rei had
heard, they were lucky that Hotaru was still alive.

Although she only had the news second hand from Usagi, she thought that
Chibi-Usa had been almost out of her mind with worry about Hotaru. For
over an hour, Hotaru had vanished. No-one knew where she was; just
'poof' and she disappeared into thin air. An hour when her best friends
were tearing their hair out in fear. The only second hand information
Rei had said that she simply appeared through the police line and had
joined them crying over Kikyo's corpse as it was being loaded into the
back of an ambulance.

Damn, back to Kikyo again.

She knew they stakes they were fighting for, they all did. They were
all willing to give their lives for their Princess, and to protect the
future of the earth. Actually, they all had sacrificed their lives,
only to be resurrected by the Moon Princess and the Silver Imperium
Crystal. They knew that the Negaverse, and all the others since then
had been bent on world wide destruction or domination. No doubt their
current adversary had similarly grand plans.

Even the fact that she was the reincarnation of the original Sailor
Mars from the Moon Kingdom - and had memories of countless friends
being slain during the Negaverse's attack - even that did not help
harden her against the death of someone so innocent. The look of pure
anguish on Ukyo's face, the frozen mask on Hotaru's, and that horrible
look of adult realisation on Chibi-Usa's. All these things would stay
with her till the day she died, and somehow she knew that the world had
just become a colder and harder place for those three.

A knock on her bedroom door made her eyes dash to the clock. Wow. She
had come her straight from school, and now she had done absolutely no
study in the past two hours. As soon as she had finished with this
disturbance, she would really need to get some work done, or else she
would never get into a decent college.

Turning to face the door, she called admittance and smiled in pleasant
surprise as Makoto came in. The tall athletic girl was smiling as she
brought some tea on a tray. Rei was always glad to see her. Not only
was she the fearsome Sailor Jupiter, she was also a damn good cook.
Whenever she came over, good food was sure to follow.

"Come on in Mako-chan. Have a seat."

Sitting on the bed, Makoto passed her a cup of tea and offered her a
small plate of home cooked cookies. What did I say about good food? All
she had to do now was hope that Usagi would not drop in and she might
actually get to eat more that one biscuit.

"Mm, this is great! Say, aren't you training tonight?"

She shrugged. "Well, I was, but, well, the Sensei couldn't come. I, um,
I think he has a personal problem tonight and he couldn't make it."

Rei nodded and sipped her tea again. Personal problems seemed to be the
standard fare for the moment. Ranma had called her yesterday and begged
off from their training, sighting 'a personal problem'. The pervert was
probably out chasing girls, not hanging around with some dowdy temple
maiden. At least, that was Usagi's suggestion.

"So how's this mystery Sensei you keep hinting at?"

The tall girl blushed deeply. A couple of weeks ago she had told them
all that she was taking some martial arts classes at a dojo nearby.
Even though she was the best in the class, she suspected that most of
the people there had joined just to see the Sensei sweat; and watch the
way his firmly muscled chest moved so well when the Gi opened slightly.

Makoto coughed to hide the flush of excitement. She knew she should not
keep secrets from her friend, but the Sensei was always so nice to her
that she did not want to give up her chances with him to anyone.
Besides, Ranma obviously liked her: he had met her once before at Rei's
shrine, but the very first time she turned up at the dojo he had waved
and called her 'Mako-chan'. Besides, even Ranma's little sister, the
girl Hotaru that was always hanging around Chibi-Usa, she seemed to
like her too. At least Hotaru had never said anything against her and
Ranma.

That was the real reason why Rei had not been told that she was taking
classes from Ranma: when ever Rei was absent from the group, Hotaru
tended to say the nastiest things. Hotaru would call her 'uncute' and a
'tomboy', saying that she was too slow, and weak and all sorts of
things. It rarely came out as a direct attack on the girl, but Makoto
realised the one place that a girl like Hotaru would learn to say such
things. Obviously Ranma had been telling his sister what he really
thought about the Shinto Priestess-to-be, and Hotaru was just parroting
it.

Since Rei spoke about Ranma in the same uncomplimentary terms - terms
usually reserved for talking about Usagi - some times, Makoto had
decided that she deserved a shot at Ranma. Obviously there was no real
love between him and Rei, so it was not as though she was stepping on
anyone's toes.

Taking her mind of her constant boyfriend problems, Makoto started up a
conversation with Rei. Implicitly, neither of them spoke about their
Senshi problems. Even since that big blast, no-one had discussed it.
Against that sort of magic, there did not seem to be much they could do
differently from what they were doing. When they found out who cast it,
they could defend themselves. Until that time, they just put it to a
side, skirting around the issue.

They had been talking for fifteen minutes when another knock came at
the door. "Don't worry, it's probably just Grandfather telling me to
get back to my study and stop gossiping. Come in!"

The person that came through the door was about as far from Rei's
grandfather as you could possibly get. He was tall and strong, handsome
and of noble bearing, and the girls peeped at him, not the other way
around.

"Ranma!" They both said simultaneously.

A small, crooked smile lit his face briefly, but it faded back into an
iron mask of control, just like Rei had seen Hotaru wearing. They
really were a close family, they looked so similar.

"Hey, Rei-san, Mako-chan. Sorry I had to cancel the class tonight Mako-
chan. I... Something came up."

Rei turned a suspicious eye to her friend. "C-cancelled the class?
Didn't you say your cute 'almost boyfriend' Sensei cancelled the
class?"

"Um, yeah, well, you see, Rei. Um, it's like this..."

Rei tossed a book at Ranma, catching him squarely in the forehead. "Oh,
so now you're trying to seduce all my friends are you?"

Ranma back peddled and waved his hands in front of him, almost as
though he was expecting Rei to strike him with something much larger
and heavier. "No, no! It's not like that at all!"

An evil gleam appeared in Rei's eyes. "Oh, really? So you've stopped
trying to seduce my friends?"

"Yes!"

"You admit to the fact that you've been seducing all the girls in the
class?"

Bonk! A bedroom slipper bounced off his head. "No, I mean I never---"

"No? No? So you're still seducing them? Mako-chan, how can you say
anything nice about a guy like this? He's chasing after every girl he
sees."

Without waiting for a reply, Rei launched into another tirade, abusing
the boy soundly. The whole time she yelled abuse at him and angrily
shook her finger, but Ranma just stood there cringing and suffering
whatever she offered. He was not completely passive, however. In the
insults department he gave as good as he got, managing to insult her
looks, her intelligence, and everything else about her that he could
think of.

It was the first time Makoto had seen them together for almost a week.
In that time, their relationship seemed to have gotten even worse. The
'cold shoulder' routine that they had initially evolved had degenerated
into a full blown name-calling session.

It was almost educational to watch them. Two grown teenagers (or even
possibly an adult... no-one knew what Ranma's age actually was)
insulting each other like a pair of eight year olds. After two minutes
of senseless name calling, they started to repeat themselves, advancing
tactics to see who could insult the other the loudest.

A couple of months ago when Rei had first told the Senshi about the new
student at the shrine she fancied, Makoto would never have dreamed of
trying to get him as a boyfriend, even if he was really cute. Now she
felt completely vindicated. Not only was it obvious that Rei could
barely tolerate him, he appeared to feel the same way about her.

Something else struck her as odd about his behaviour. First and
foremost, Rei seemed to hit him in the head every time she threw
something. Makoto had only trained with Ranma a few times but she knew
from first hand experience just how good he was at dodging. To say that
Ranma was good was an understatement. Makoto could not think of anyone
in the dojo over about eight years old that could actually hit him.

In the dojo, Ranma was grease lightning, and as slippery as a fairy
penguin near an oil tanker. Even when he was on his knees to even the
height difference for young opponents, he seemed to be a master of not
being where a punch would land. None of the teenage or adult students
in the class had even come close to hitting him once. The little kids
were another matter. Ranma seemed to take a positive delight in
sparring with the youngest members of the class; he enjoyed it
considerably more than fighting the odd black belt who turned up for
his classes, and the black belts should be more in his league.

Ranma ran a free kids class immediately before the adults class he ran
to support the dojo. The adults class was something he did out of duty
to the dojo: a task needed to keep the dojo running. The children's
class was different. All of the little kids liked training under Ranma,
and he seemed to enjoy it more than they did. Every class he would
spend some time sparing with the kids, and they would take delight in
attacking him, or making him call out in pain as they applied some for
of pain hold.

In the end though, it did not matter who Ranma was training, or who he
was fighting, he was unfailingly friendly. Even when some hot headed
challenger - with too much testosterone and too little brains -
arrived, he would gently put them back in their place. Sure he might
push a few of their buttons to make them angry and show them how it
left them vulnerable, but he never insulted anyone like he was
currently doing to Rei.

Listening to his shouts of 'Tomboy' and 'Uncute', Makoto wondered how
they ever got any training done when Ranma came here to study Shinto.
Maybe Rei had actually passed that job onto her grandfather since she
hated his guts so much.

After waiting for a lull in the insults which never came, Makoto came
to her feet and yelled at them both: "QUIET!"

Both of them were stunned. They were so completely immersed in their
argument that they had forgotten about Makoto. Looking sheepish, they
both apologised. After a moment of silence, Makoto asked Ranma if he
could wait outside while she finished her conversation with Rei.

"Um, actually, I need to speak to Rei, it's really important..."

"Idiot! Don't be so rude. She asked you nicely. You can't just come in
here and expect us to drop everything. Just wait outside for a couple
of minutes and we'll be ready."

Ranma favoured them with one of his small, cocky smiles and walked out
the door. Even as he turned and left, Makoto could see the smile fall
from his face, and a mask take its place. It was a mask she recognised.
It was the same sort of mask that she had seen Hotaru wearing the day
that she had seen her friend killed. Somehow, Makoto knew that it was
Ranma that taught the little girl to hide her feelings like that. It
could not be a good way to live, and Makoto realised that both Ranma
and Hotaru must be in some sort of pain at the moment.

Rei brushed some hair back from her eyes and calmed herself as she sat
down again. Oh, that boy could be so irritating. It was amazing. No-one
else in the world could get under her skin as quickly as he did and she
could not understand what it was that got her mad so quickly.

"Rei-chan, you realise that Ramna's never tried anything at the dojo...
don?t you?"

She sighed. "Yes... Yes, I know. It's just... It's just he seems to go
out of his way to try and make me feel bad. He's always telling me hour
uncute I am, and how I'm such a tomboy... I'm not a tomboy, am I, Mako-
chan?"

Makoto slid over and put an arm around her friend's shoulder. "Of
course you're not, Rei-chan. Come on, everyone knows you're really
pretty. I could get a dozen guys here tonight and you could have your
pick of guys."

"Humph. That's what I told the insensitive idiot. But he just keeps
calling me names."

Makoto stirred uneasily in her seat and looked down at her hands for a
moment. "Listen, Rei-chan. I guess I might have been wrong for not
telling you I was training with Ranma. It's just that you two seem to
fight all the time. I thought... well.. I was wondering if you minded
if I asked him out at some stage."

"WHAT?"

"But you two are always fighting. You keep insulting him, and he only
makes you unhappy. I've seen you after he's been here. You just sit
there staring at the wall and you snap at anyone that tries to talk to
you."

"I do? I guess I do, now that you mention it. But it's like Usagi-chan.
I... I think I feel the same way about both of them, but I different
ways, I mean, somehow I really like them both. Trying to talk to either
of them is an up hill battle. Usagi-chan's such a klutz and Ranma's
such an... an annoying _boy_. Every time I try and say something nice
to them, they managed to do something and it seems as though their
trying to upset me."

Makoto blushed. "I... I never knew you felt like that about Usagi."

"Well, she's my Princess, and I guess I do love her, no matter what I
say about her. If you tell her that, I'll deny every word of it!
Besides, she would never believe you."

"I think I understand now. I want you to know that I'll always be your
friend, no matter what your preferences are. I think you'd realise that
Usagi's pretty keen on Mamoru."

"What on earth are you talking about?"

"Well, you just told me that you love Usagi, and since Ranma and Hotaru
are always calling you a tomboy and that gets you mad, I thought..."

"IDIOT! It's not like that at all, she our Princess, of course I love
her... Hang on. What do you mean Hotaru calls me a tomboy? She's always
such a perfect little girl when she's here. Hotaru-chan doesn't come
here often but she is always nice and sweet and kind. Not like her
idiot brother."

Outside the door Ranma heard the cry of 'idiot' and decided Rei-san was
calling his name. Walking to the door he failed to hear any more
entreaties to enter, so he stood there and listened for a moment. When
he caught the rest of her sentence he considered just how right she
was.

'Of course Hotaru is a perfect little girl. Girl's are supposed to be
nice, and no-one cares if two girls like each other, it's not as though
they can ever be anything more than friends. Besides, being a girl has
it's uses. Girl's don't have to hide their feelings like guys do. A
girl can be nice to Rei-san just because she likes her. If a guy was
nice to an uncute tomboy like her... who knows where things might
lead.'

'Don't go there, Ranma.' He told himself. 'Don't even think about that
one. Not only is she an angry, uncute, uncaring, tomboy, who's legs are
to thick and her chest is too flat; she's young enough to be your to be
your... um... your great-great-great-great... Hang on, try that again.
Great-great-great-great...'

He was still thinking about this deep and vexing question when Rei
opened the door. She had expected to catch him eavesdropping, but
instead she found him standing in the middle of the hall mumbling
something about how great things were. Sighing heavily, as though it
was actually a chore for her - rather than something she desired in a
strange fashion - Rei gestured him into the room.

After poking his tongue out at Rei-san and giving Mako-chan a wink,
Ranma sobered and clenched his hands in front of him. There was a
reason he came here, a reason he came to Rei-san in particular. That
very reason was making it so much harder to be able to do what needed
to be done, and all because of that reason in the first place.

Ranma was old. Really old. No matter how he might try and pretend to be
a normal kid, or act like the young man he was supposed to be, he had
experienced things that no-one his age should possibly have
experienced. Through the years he had seen people maimed or killed in
wars, and had seen people die from anything between infant death, to
old age; accidents to executions. Somehow, the pain was still there,
but he had learned to live with it. Ucchan had not.

The days since Ki-chan's death, Ucchan had almost folded up upon
herself. In the space of a few hours she had found a long lost friend,
only to discover that she was terribly ill and receiving some sort of
horrible treatment. Added to that, the man that was supposed to be her
fiancée was apparently completely unaware of the situation and may well
have his own love. This might have been enough to break most people,
but Kuonji Ukyo was made of tougher stuff.

The sort of tragedy that it took to crush Ukyo's spirit was something
along the lines of: meet your sickly best friend, find out that your
fiancée is unaware of the arrangement, have a witch steal the physical
embodiment of your soul only to be told that your soul is not good
enough to be worth their while, toss in a monster attack, then spend a
terrified hour as one friend is missing and another's life ebbs away as
you cradle her in your arms.

Ukyo was strong enough to be able to cope with the fiancée thing, after
all, she had three years to get used to the idea that the man of her
dreams had run out on her. She might have come out of the torture of
believing her best friend Tendo Ai had been carried off or worse; the
pain of sitting the an endless, useless, futile hour waiting and
wondering at her friend's fate.

All these things can be overcome. Kikyo was someone special however.
The two of them had grown up together. They had gone to Elementary
school, Junior School and High School together. They both had plans to
go to university together. Every day of their lives, the pair had been
inseparable. They were best friends in every sense of the words.

Ukyo had also been there for the last day of Kikyo's life. She had
spent an agonised hour holding her friend. Kikyo had been rendered
unconscious when her heart crystal was stolen, which spared her the
pain. Ukyo had been the one that held her, had stared into her eyes as
they closed that last time, and had felt it as he pulse slowed and
stopped.

Now Ukyo was falling apart and despite all of his training and all of
his experience, there was nothing that Ranma could do to put her back
together. For too long Ranma had spent his days cloistered away in
mountainous retreats, hidden from the world, knowing only other ageing
monks. He could offer Ukyo the wisdom of the ages, but that would not
bring back Ki-chan, nothing would. The only thing he really knew how to
do was fight, and that was no use here.

Now her was in front of Rei-san, wanting to beg for help, and he could
not even get that right. Rei-san was a temple maiden. This was her job:
it was what she had been training her whole life for. She was the
person supposed to be able to provide religious and spiritual guidance
to those in need. She was supposed to be the one who had the experience
and the knowledge to help the sick, the grieving and the suffering.

But how do you ask someone to do this? How can you so openly reveal a
friend's weaknesses? How are you supposed to throw yourself on the
mercies of someone you yell at every day? Before he met Akane and after
she died, Ranma knew that there was only one person you could count on
in this world: yourself. How do you admit your own failings and short
comings to someone who you can hold in respect?

Before he realised what had happened, Ranma had been standing in Rei's
doorway for almost five minutes, looking at his hands, out the window,
or anywhere other than at Rei. The whole time he had been saying things
like: "Um..." or perhaps: "Ah... you see" or even the highly
descriptive: "Rei, you see it's like this... no..."

Both Rei and Makoto were literally on the edge of their seats with
anticipation. What on earth could it be that he wanted to say that was
so important to him? Rei was entertaining thoughts that alternated
between him deciding to declare his undying love for her, or the
equally terrifying thought that he had come to declare his undying love
for Makoto, an equally disturbing possibility. Makoto entertained
exactly the same thoughts.

By the time he reached the seven minute mark, the girls' patience had
worn thin, especially since both of them had personalities on the more
aggressive and action oriented end of the spectrum. Sharing glances,
Rei turned back to the dithering Ranma and gave him her best glare. The
one she saved for Usagi, and all those times that she had burst into
tears just when they needed her. "Ranma! Just spit it out!"

That seemed to do it. He stopped dithering. He looked at the floor and
took a deep breath. Then he looked Rei in the eyes. Although his eyes
were their same blue-grey they always were, there was something...
different. Somehow, across the room, she could see the intensity of his
emotions, feel the strength of his struggle as he forced out the words:

"Rei-san. I need your help with a girl I really like."

Hmm. Judging by their reactions that might not have been the right
wording.

"No, no, no! What I mean to say is: one of my best friends from school
was just killed, and _her_ best friend held her as she died.
"Please, Rei-san, please. You have to help me. I'm... I'm no good with
all this talking stuff. And... Ucchan's hurting. I need to help her and
I just don't know what to do. Please, Rei-san. You're my only hope."

It was like the sun coming out from behind the clouds as realisation
dawned on the girls. When they understood what he meant, understanding
hit them like a slap in the face. Feeling guilty they both realised
that while they had been thinking about themselves and how they felt
about Ranma, he had been thinking about his suffering friend.

Although Ranma did not know it, both of these girls were Sailor Senshi,
and they had been there when Kikyo had been attacked. In the days
since, they had spoken to Chibi-Usa and received even more information.
That was why their rudeness and preoccupation hit them so hard. Ranma
had no way of knowing that they knew about his problem, but they did.
How could they say they were his friends if they concentrated on
themselves when someone they knew was suffering.

Makoto was the first to respond. Blushing and feeling guilty, she
walked up and laid a hand on his arm. "I'm sorry Ranma. Chibi-Usa had
mentioned that something had happened to a friend of yours, I sorry, I
just forgot for a while there. Is... is there anything I can do?"

Shaking his head, Ranma offered her a smile, but she could see the
other emotion he kept bottled up. She had only known him a while but
Makoto knew him well enough to understand the frustration he would be
feeling at the moment. It was the same sort of frustration she had felt
so often about the loss of her parents in the plane crash. Sometimes
there is nothing you can do, but that does not make doing nothing any
easier.

"Ranma... if you need me... anything... please, just call. I'll always
be here for you."

With that she slipped past him and stepped out into the hallway. As
much as she wanted to help, there was nothing she could do and it was
not her place to do anything. Walking out of the house Makoto was
thankful that Rei would be with him. Since trouble tended to hit the
same target more than once, having one of the Sailor Senshi with them
should make Ranma and Ukyo as safe as they could be.

After Makoto left the room, Rei looked up at Ranma and the concerned
look on his face.

"I'm sorry too, Ranma. Just let me get some things together and we can
go and see Ukyo. Where is she at the moment?"

"Ucchan's got an Okonomiyaki restaurant not far from where we were
attacked. We can be there in about five minutes on the bus."

Rei nodded and finished packing things into a small carry bag. It was
her first time actually doing the sort of counselling work that
sometimes came with being a Shinto Priestess. The truth be told, she
was so nervous, she wanted to sit down and start drinking some of the
relaxing herbal tea that she had just put in the bag. If she was tense
or not, Ranma was right: he was basically an insensitive idiot who kept
putting his foot in his mouth. OK, things might not be quite that bad.
Often one of the best things for someone who was suffering was just to
have something comforting and familiar; an anchor to stabilise
themselves.

Religion was often about providing a security blanket or the assurances
that people needed in the modern world. With her training, Rei may well
be able to reach Ukyo when even her closest friend could not. The
again, perhaps even Ukyo's friend needed help too.

"Bag's packed and we're ready to go! Umm, Ranma... rather than taking
the bus, do you think we can walk instead? If you can give me a few
details before we arrive, it might make things easier."

Ranma nodded and opened the door to Rei's room again, revealing her
Grandfather standing next to the door. Giving the man a quick bow,
Ranma stepped past him and waited for Rei to follow. He was surprise
when Grandfather Hino stepped into the room and closed the door after
himself. Shaking his head, Ranma leaned against the wall. Rei certainly
was a popular girl: everyone wanted to talk to her. He wondered if they
would actually get to Ucchan's tonight.

The withered and shrunken priest of the Hikawa Shrine looked up at his
tall and beautiful granddaughter. Sometimes she looked so much like her
mother it made him want to cry.

"Oh, Rei-chan. Going for a romantic evening walk with that handsome
young man of yours. Have a pleasant time, remember your keys; there's
no rush to get home early."

Rei blushed as red as the skirt she sometimes wore. "Graaaaamps! It not
like that at all. Ranma's got a friend that needs some help, so I'm
going over to talk to her. We should be back in plenty of time.
Remember this is a school night."

When she had her hand on the door knob, he ran a hand through his
remaining hair. "I spoke to your father yesterday."

That stopped her mid-motion. Her father was too rich and busy to spend
time with his daughter. That was why she was here at the Shrine with
her grandfather. She loved him dearly but some days she wished she
could have a normal life and live with her parents.

"That's very nice to here. Is Father well?"

"He is well. I told him you were well also. Actually, I told him you
had a boyfriend. He asked me when the wedding was, you know. He trusts
my judgement, Rei-chan. You should too. This is not the 1600's. We
don't do arranged marriages or anything like that anymore, but we can
help our children to get off to a good start in life.
"It also means that you don't need to wait for the young man there to
ask you, you can ask yourself. I could ask for you if you want."

If she kept blushing this much today she would probably burst a blood
vessel. "Grandfather! Don't even say such things!"

"I just thought you ought to know. Your father and I both approve of
the young man. He could help you take over the Shrine when I am too
old. And you're such a lovely couple. Remember, if you're interested, I
can speak to Ranma about an engagement."

Fearing that the conversation would degenerate further, Rei pulled open
the door and ran outside. Taking Ranma's hand she pulled him through
the house, barely giving him time to put his shoes on before they ran
down the road.

After a while she calmed down and walked beside Ranma. On the way to
Ucchan's she alternately wondered whether Ranma had heard what her
grandfather had been saying, and worried about Ranma's past.

Now that she was looking for it - since Ranma was confronting an
emotional burden - Rei could begin to see the way that Ranma had
cocooned his emotions. As they walked she tried to get him to open up,
to tell her what he was feeling. All she wanted was to get a few of the
details of what his life had been like before being reunited with his
father Tomoe Souichi. From the little bits she had managed to gather
from previous talks with Ranma and Hotaru-chan, the two of them had
spent considerable amount of time travelling.

By the time the reached Ucchan's, Rei was sure of two things. Firstly,
Ranma was quite aware of what she was trying to do, but he had no
interest in trying to unburden his soul. Unless she asked a direct
question, he quite carefully avoided giving her the sort of historical
information that she wanted. Even when she asked a direct question he
usually avoided giving a real answer. Secondly, he was really worried
about his friend. Not once in the entire trip did he start an argument
or do anything as insensitive as he usually did.

The one thing she was not sure about was even more important to her.
She knew she liked Ranma but she could not understand why she wanted to
help him so much. Why did she care like this? He was just an
insensitive idiot... wasn't he?

Eventually Ranma pushed open the door to the restaurant and they
stepped inside. It was quite nicely appointed, even if it looked like
it was done on the cheap. A large grill in the corner and small table
and chairs for diners. No-one was there now, as the grand opening had
been delayed due to 'unforeseen circumstances'.

Up some stairs, and past the bathroom, Ranma did not even bother to
knock before he pushed open the door to what turned out to be Ukyo's
bedroom. The girl was wearing a dressing gown and was curled up in a
foetal position, looking a framed photo of Ukyo, Kikyo and Ranma. Ukyo
and Kikyo looked younger, but Ranma looked exactly the same as he did
now.

The way the Ukyo was withdrawing Rei realised that Kikyo must have been
her one real friend in a strange city. To see her die had hurt the girl
badly. Fortunately for Rei, Ranma's first sentence seemed to bring life
back into the girl, and a certain fire into her eyes. Sitting on the
edge of the bed, Ranma pointed to Rei.

"Cute fiancée, meet my uncute fiancée."

Even as a competitive life returned to Ukyo, Rei cursed to herself.
'Damn! He heard!'

* * *

It was close to midnight; hours later and quite distant from the small
restaurant when Kaiou Michiru awoke screaming. It was three days since
the horrid experience and every night since she had woken at least
once. Each nightmare was different, but they were all the same in some
way.

Before she had even gathered her breaths from those gut wrenching
screams she felt a pair of strong arms hold her close. Fighting back
tears, Michiru held onto her friend, drawing strength from her
closeness and her care.

Tonight and the previous evening Haruka had quietly but forcefully
insisted on watching over Michiru as she slept. While she was the same
calm and composed girl by day, Haruka knew her well enough to see how
badly the nightmares were affecting her. After the first night, Michiru
had spent her lunch break sequestered away with Haruka, pouring her
heart out as she was consumed with guilt.

That was the key to Michiru's nightmares: imagined guilt, it was also
the reason that Haruka had insisted on being with her this evening.
Haruka and Michiru both knew that what they were doing as Senshi was
the right thing but that did not make it any easier to deal with the
anguish that arose when something went wrong, as it so obviously did
with Hotaru and Chibi-Usa's friend.

Sailor Pluto had dropped around yesterday. She did not say how she knew
that Michiru was having nightmares. Pluto had ignored the question
entirely to spend time giving both of the younger girls a short
lecture.

"I know you are having a hard time at the moment, especially you
Michiru-chan. There is nothing that you or I can do to bring the girl
back. All that I can do is offer you the consolation that you did the
right thing.
"It may not seem correct now, and the decisions you made will cause you
more pain before the price has been fully paid... but it was the
correct decision. The necessary one.
"There is so much more that I wish I can tell you. So much more that,
while it won't make the pain go away, it would make your suffering more
meaningful.
"But I can't.
"Knowledge of the future is a burden. It is an agony of knowing when
something will go wrong, and never being able to fix it. I don't want
to say this, but I need to: you have to believe Kikyo's death was
necessary. I...
"I can't tell you any more. I wish to the Kami that I did not know what
I do now, but I do. Remember you are not alone in your pain."

That was all she had said, then she had walked out again. Neither
Michiru nor Haruka could understand what would make her say that a
completely innocent girl's death is necessary, but Setsuna had never
lied to them before.

What Setsuna had not revealed was how or why she knew this sort of
information. Her job was to guard the Gates Of Time, to ensure that
paradoxes did not occur, to ensure that the Moon Kingdom's future would
again arrive. After hearing the girls' report, Setsuna had watched the
event happen. She saw the Dragon Slave. She felt it evil power. She
knew that without assistance an enemy that could do that sort of damage
could defeat the Senshi and kill millions of innocent people.

So she cheated.

She already knew that Crystal Tokyo would exist some day. Some day, the
Senshi would again be the glorious guardians of the solar system. It
was her job to make sure that no-one used time travel to derail that
goal. While she was supposed to aid the Outer Senshi, she had her own
dominion to guard, and a foe that could cast the Dragon Slave could
well be a traveller from the future, trying to destroy the Moon Kingdom
while it was at its weakest.

She had travelled forwards at the Gates Of Time. Time travel was an
activity she engaged in most cautiously, every instance and every
reason was always carefully analysed. As with the last time she had
done this, she arrived at the Gates only a century or so from the
foundation of Crystal Tokyo. Sketching a short bow, she welcomed
herself. Of course the Setsuna from the future was here. She always was
when Setsuna needed to speak to her. After all, the person she was
about to speak to was herself, and thus remembered the conversation
they were about to have.

"I can't answer all your questions, you know that."

"Yes. The danger is too great... What was it? What happened that day?
Is this someone trying to create a paradox?"

The Setsuna from the future gave an carefully shielded smile. "It was a
spell called the 'Dragon Slave'. Although it was evil, you know who
cast the spell: you saw her, and she is not the person to fear. Before
you ask: yes, Kikyo's death was necessary. You cannot tell anyone else,
but her death is a key event in making Sailor Saturn into the person we
need."

"I... I don?t understand."

"I remember."

"Is it time yet? Can you tell me why Chibi-Usa? She's just a girl. I
don't care what Their Majesties may have said, what possible
justification can there be for sending her through time?"

"I still cannot say. You will know some day."

Time. That was what this was about. Setsuna had not been able to tell
Haruka and Michiru all of the facts because of the danger to the time
stream. For that reason, Michiru needed time to recover from these
nightmares that haunted her. The answer to one would solve the other,
but fixing either of them would imperil the world through the
introduction of paradoxes.

So Haruka held Michiru and helped her recover from the nightmare as
best she could.

"Do you want to tell me about it?"

Michiru eased back slightly and looked around as she gathered her
thoughts. A book was open, spilled on the floor in the small pool of
light next to a chair. Poor Haruka must have fallen asleep watching her
again.

"I was walking through the city. It was early evening, just like the
other day. All around me were bodies. People were just lying in the
streets, and their Heart Crystals were right next to them.
"As fast as I could, I was running through the city. I don't know why,
I just had to get somewhere. But every step I'd take, I had to stop and
check the Heart Crystals nearby.
"There were just so many of them. It went on and on.
"Eventually I pick up one particular Crystal, and the person sits up,
even though she hasn't got her Crystal. Her head turns around, I mean
right around, and she looks at me with these dead eyes.
"It was Kikyo, Haruka. She just looks at me with these dead eyes, and
says 'You killed me. You killed me.' Over and over again. She just
doesn't stop
"Now I'm just standing there, and I can't move. I want to run away, but
I can't. All I can hear is Kikyo saying that I killed her.
"The next thing I know, there's a huge crowd around us. It's all the
people in the city, all looking at me with their dead eyes. At the
front of the crowd: it all the people who we've saved... and they're
asking me 'Would you kill me like you killed Kikyo?'
"All this time I'm Sailor Neptune, OK? But then one small girl walks
out of the crowd. It's Hotaru, and she's the only one that isn't dead.
She's standing there, glaring at me, holding this big glowing ball in
her hands.
"'You killed her Kaiou Michiru. You killed them all. I told you I'd get
you if you hurt them Michiru.'
"She knows who I am, even though I'm a Sailor at the time. She hates me
so much. Then she lets go of the ball and it explodes like a bomb.
"I'm in the middle of the blast, and I can see it destroying
everything, and the people, they weren't dead, but they are now. I can
see them burning up, and it's all my fault.
"It's my fault because I didn't help them.
"It's my fault because I let her die.
"It's..."

Haruka silenced her with a gentle kiss. Gripping her tightly, she
rocked the other girl back and forwards, feeling the way Michiru's
tears soaked through her shirt. "It's not your fault. Remember it's
just a dream."

Michiru only had one more nightmare that night. At school the next day,
she looked a little tired, but other than that there was no reflection
of the torture she had suffered that night. Drawing from the deep well
of inner strength that she possessed, Michiru soldiered on. No matter
how much she disliked what needed to be done, she would do it. She
would do it with Haruka by her side.

Always by her side.

---
End Of Chapter