Well, here it is. Chapter 3. Aren't we all happy? (Well, except for a few of you. You know who you are.) You might want to read the prior chapters before getting into this one. You can find them at my homepage: http://www.angelfire.com/anime/Slacker or Tannim's page: http://home.earthlink.net/~tannim/index.html Without further ado, (since ado costs too much to waste these days) let's start the fic, eh? ***************** "All The Small Things-Chapter 3" A Sailor Moon/Ranma 1/2 fanfic (Yes, yet another one.) By: Slacker (r_heins@yahoo.com) ***************** What's happened thus far: Ranma has enlisted Nabiki's help to "run away from home" in order to get some time to sort things out. Nabiki agreed to help in order to maintain some kind of control over him. Ranma actually did something resembling planning and had most everything worked out. (Gasp!) In Juban, Setsuna has freaked out the Senshi by: Smiling, Making jokes, and Informing them that she was lying about Galaxia being the last threat they would have to face before the Great Ice. The Senshi were understandably unhappy about that last one. Meanwhile, Ranma made his way to the house in Juban where he would be staying. He's decided that his cursed form would be the best way to go. He (currently she) gets to his destination and is cooking dinner when some of the other residents of the house get home: Haruka Ten'ou, Michiru Kaiou, and Hotaru Tomoe. Haruka, having had a VERY bad day, jumps to the conclusion that Ranma is a burglar and jumps her. And that's where our fic resumes. ***************** (Unless noted, all events are now taking place in Juban) Setsuna's house, evening. Haruka was NOT having a good day. First, Setsuna had been gone for two days, so she couldn't get any information on the enemy from her. Second, some guy dressed in black had basically handed her head to her earlier. Third, she gets chewed out by Usagi, of all the people, for attacking him. Fourth, when she got home, there was a burglar in the house. After her day, she wasn't in any mood to try to talk to the burglar, so she just jumped at her with havoc on her mind. And found herself flying through the doorway into the front room. She landed on the couch. She got up slowly and carefully moved towards the girl. She sized up her opponent. Shorter than herself, slight build, red hair, blue eyes, rather...healthy build, Chinese style red shirt, black pants, and black slippers. Obviously knew some martial arts. Faster than heck. Haruka figured out her plan. Hotaru and Michiru hadn't even moved yet. Haruka started to rush back into the kitchen. She was just about up to full sprint speed when a hand grabbed her shirtsleeve. Haruka shifted her momentum and put everything she could into a punch. Which was caught. Effortlessly. Haruka looked at the hand and then up at the person who caught it. Crimson eyes looked back. One green eyebrow elevated slightly. Haruka recognized her instantly. "Setsuna. Where have you been?" In reply, Setsuna did her usual "I know something you don't" smile and said "I'd prefer it if you didn't attack our new houseguest. I don't wish to have to make a trip to the hospital." "Oh, come on, Setsuna. You know I wouldn't actually hurt her." Haruka protested. "I wasn't worried about her." Setsuna replied as she let go of Haruka's fist and waved at Ranma. "I just stopped in to say hi and to tell you not to try to kill our new houseguest. Her name is Ranko Satori. She will be staying with us for the foreseeable future. Now I have to go and take care of some pressing business. I'll be back later." With that, Setsuna turned and walked to the front door. As she was opening it, Haruka called out to her. "Hey! How long is this `pressing business' going to take? We've got some questions about..." Haruka suddenly remembered their new `houseguest' "...stuff." Setsuna just smiled again. "As much time as I need. Remember who I am, after all. I'll see you tonight. Be nice to Ranko." Then she walked out of the house, still smiling. Haruka's left eye twitched. Haruka had to admit with complete honesty. Ranko stood in the kitchen waiting to see if the chick in guy's clothing was going to attack again. She didn't know who she was, or the two other girls with her, but she recognized the voice of the woman with green hair. She had to talk to her a lot to get transferred out of Furinkan, especially due to some of the...unusual procedures she had to use to cover herself. Ranko nearly jumped out of her skin when a hand tugged on her sleeve. She whipped around and sank into a ready stance. She saw the short girl in the turtleneck standing there. She seemed shocked at Ranko's speed. Hotaru WAS in shock. She had NEVER seen a human move that fast! Ranko, at least that was she thought Setsuna-mama had said her name was, moved almost as fast as she did as Saturn! She gave herself a mental shake and decided to do what she originally came over to do: introduce herself. "Hi! I'm Hotaru!" Hotaru announced cheerfully. "Um, hi. I'm Ran...ko." Ranma replied. Hotaru missed the way Ranma stumbled over her name and continued her introductions. "That's Michiru-mama, that's Haruka-papa, and the lady who just left was Setsuna-mama." Hotaru pointed to the appropriate people as she made the introductions. "Nice to meet ya. You guys boarding with Meiou-san, too?" "Yes. What are you cooking?" "An omelet. I learned how to make `em when I was traveling with my pop. Want some?" "Yes, please. Could Michiru-mama and Haruka- papa have some, too?" "Umm, sure. I'll whip up some more. I think there's enough for everybody." Haruka walked over to Ranko. <'Be nice' she says. Fine. I'll be nice.> "Hi. I'm Haruka. Nice to meet you. Sorry about jumping you, but I've had a really bad day." "No problem. I've had days like that, too." "You're pretty good. Spar much?" "Not much, actually." Of course, this was true. Most of her fighting was with various people who were trying to take over the planet (which didn't count as sparring, obviously). "Oh. Wanna spar sometime? I need a partner or my skills will get rusty." "Sure, why not? Just tell me when you want to start." And with that, Haruka started a chain of events that would eventually drive her insane, making her kill all of the other Senshi in incredible bloody ways, ensuring that Crystal Tokyo would never be formed and Chibi-Usa would never be born. (See? Every cloud has a silver lining.) No, wait, that's a plotline for a non- existent darkfic. In THIS fic, it just causes her a lot of headaches and lost sleep. "All right. Let's start tomorrow." And thus it began. **************************** After dinner. Ranko had decided to go to bed early, commenting that she almost never had a full night's sleep in the last year. Hotaru quickly followed. Haruka and Michiru waited up for Setsuna. Haruka was thinking about the way Ranko had managed to avoid answering any questions about her past and wondering why Setsuna had agreed to let her stay with them. Michiru was thinking about how warm Haruka was. She also noted that Haruka was tense. "Whaa? Michiru? What are you doing? Oh, hey. Stop. Giggle. Stop that! HaHa. You know I'm ticklish there! HEY! HEEHEEHAHAHA-MMPPHH!" (Yes, `MMPPHH'. Michiru decided that they were making too much noise and decided to drop the noise level in the most...enjoyable way.) It was just about to hit the level of `fan service' when... "Am I interrupting something important?" Setsuna drawled in an amused tone. The Outer Senshi quickly jumped up and re- assembled their clothes. Both of them were about to combust from their blushes. Haruka cleared her throat, opened her mouth, closed her mouth, cleared her throat again, opened her mouth, and asked "How long were you standing there?" "Long enough to discover how adept Michiru is at removing a bra. Now, you said you wanted to ask me something. What is it? And fast, if you don't mind. I've been looking forward to sleeping all month." "We had a meeting earlier today. Some questions came up..." ************************** (Yes! It's flashback time! Insert wavy lines... HERE!) Hikawa Shrine, afternoon. The room was silent. "Usagi! Give me back my manga! I haven't read that one yet!" Well, fairly silent. Everyone except Usagi and the Outers were totally bushed from the fight earlier. Usagi, because she never seemed to get tired when Rei's manga were around, and the Outers because they missed most of the fighting. Finally, Rei gave up on the manga and decided to get the meeting into gear. "So, Ami, what kind of readings did you get from the youma? Or from our little helper, for that matter?" Ami opened up the Mercury Computer and proceeded to bring up the data she had recorded from the fight. "Well, to put it as simple as possible, the youma (for lack of a better term) was the same as the ones we've been facing lately. That is to say, a combination of the best of all of our older foes and none of their weak points. Our usual tactic of throwing energy at the enemy until it just can't handle it anymore didn't work, because this one was extremely resistant to magic." "So, how'd you guys manage to defeat it?" Haruka asked, curious. "We didn't." Usagi replied. "The guy you hit in the chest with a `World Shaking' did. You know, the one that saved my life? The one that was helping me up and was about to introduce himself before you tried to kill him? That guy!? Does that ring any bells? Hmmm? Well? Are you going to say something? Anything?" Usagi was rising out of her seat as she spoke and was standing over top of Haruka by the end. She had been getting more formal and cold in her speech patterns, as well. By the end of her speech, the temperature in the room had dropped several degrees. Everyone else began to slowly back away from Usagi and Haruka. "Woah, Princess. I didn't know that he saved you, remember? I just showed up and saw some guy dressed all in black leaning over you. So I hit him. How many good guys do you see dressed all in black, after all? I acted on the knowledge I had at the time, all right?" "Uh, why are you so...um, upset about me attacking him, any ways? It's not like he was a friend of yours, after all." Usagi looked kind of confused. "I am not sure. It is almost like I knew him from somewhere. His eyes seemed...familiar, somehow. I do not know how to explain it any better than that." Usagi fell silent and appeared to be pondering something. Ami decided that now would be a good time to speak up. "I managed to get some readings on him." Instantly she was the center of attention. Ami began to tell what she knew. "The Mercury Computer picked up huge amounts of negative energy from him. Because of that, it couldn't scan him very well. What I could get was that he has several different energy signatures overlapping each other. The Computer couldn't even begin to give me a good read-out on them. It gave me an `Insufficient Data' message and a `Conflicting Data' message. The bad news is that I can't track him, or even find him. The good news is that if he gets close enough I can recognize his energy signature." "Negative energy? Isn't that what Beryl and the Generals used?" Rei asked. "Yes. But this seems to be different. It has a slightly different pattern from any of the Dark Kingdom's. It fluctuated a lot. I have no definite idea what he would be capable of, but it is probably quite impressive." "Impressive? How `impressive'?" Makoto asked. "I think he could take out Tokyo and still have time for a mid-morning snack." Ami said with utter seriousness. That made everyone just sit there in silence for a while. "Crap. That sucks." Haruka summed up for everyone. "Why can't we ever face someone that's an extreme wimp? Just for variety? No! It's always some big, nasty, I-can-kill-everyone-in- Tokyo-and-still-have-time-for-lunch enemy!" Haruka just sat there panting for a few minutes. "Umm, we don't know if he's an enemy yet." Ami interjected. Haruka gave her a 'look'. "A guy shows up dressed all in black, using the same kind of energy as the Dark Kingdom, and you wonder if he's an enemy? Geez. I say the next time we see him, we take him down." Rei saw an opportunity and couldn't resist. "Like you did? How's the head, by the way?" Haruka just turned and glared at her. Unfortunately, Rei's comment started Usagi off. "Yeah, Haruka. How is your head? It looked liked it really hurt when you hit the ground on it." Usagi asked, with complete sincerity. Haruka gritted her teeth. If it had been anyone who asked, she would have proceeded to tear them a new orifice. But Usagi asked. Usagi, her Princess. One of the few people she literally couldn't bring herself to hurt in any way. "It's fine, Usagi." "Oh, good. Are we done with the meeting? I want to go get some ice cream." "No, it's not done, odango-atama! We've got a lot of stuff left to cover! Right, Ami?" Rei said. "Um, actually, I can't think of anything. And some ice cream does sound nice right about now." Rei just stared. Her best back-up source had failed her. Ami...AMI!...had said there wasn't anything that she needed to do. "All right, fine, let's go." Rei grumbled. Hope struck. "Unless you guys have anything?" She asked the Outers in a hopeful tone. Haruka grinned. "No, actually, Rei, we're fresh out of things. Let's get some ice cream. I think I might feel a HEAD-ache coming on, and it should help." Hope died a painful death. And that effectively ended the meeting. And that ends the flashback. We now return you to your regularly scheduled fic. ************************** Setsuna raised an eyebrow. "Nice story. Where's the questions?" "Let's see: 1.Who was the guy in black? 2.Is he on our side? 3.Who is our enemy? 4.When do we meet Sailor Nemesis? 5.Who is Sailor Nemesis? 6.What's the secret ingredient in Pepsi? 7.Why..." Haruka was interrupted by Setsuna arching an eyebrow and saying one word. "Pepsi?" Haruka groaned and dropped her head into her hands. "Ignore that last question, ok? Answer the rest, though." Setsuna smiled. "Ignore which last question? `What's the secret ingredient in Pepsi?' or `Why?'" Haruka pulled her head out of her hands and gave Setsuna an exasperated look. "The Pepsi one." "Several of the questions have the same answer. That is all I will say." "Now I am going to go to bed. I would advise that you two do the same. Morning comes early this time of year, you know." Haruka and Michiru watched as Setsuna walked up the stairs. "I think we should probably get to bed, don't you think?" Michiru asked. "Yes, we probably should. I need some sleep." "Who said anything about sleep?" Michiru replied with a `cat who ate the canary' grin. "Why, Michiru Kaiou, are you suggesting something improper?" Haruka said with a mock look of shock on her face. Michiru leaned over and whispered in Haruka's ear. Haruka raised an eyebrow, then her eyes went wide. She looked at her lover and said just two words. "Tongue depressors?" "I'd have to show you." Michiru said with a smile as she lead Haruka up the stairs to their room. ********************* 5:30 AM, the next morning. Poke. Poke, poke. Poke, poke, nudge, nudge. (Wink, wink. You know what I mean? Sorry, couldn't resist. -Slacker) Poke, POKE, nudge, NUDGE. Haruka reluctantly began to wake up. She had a very late (and energetic) night. As a result, she seriously wanted to sleep in. The insistent jabs to her back were preventing that, though. It took a few seconds for some basic facts to filter through her mind. Fact 1: It was very early. The clock on Michiru's nightstand proved this fact. Fact 2: The warm bundle cuddled up against her chest was Michiru. The green hair snuggled under her chin proved that fact. Fact 3: She knew where both of Michiru's hands were. You don't need to know how she knew this fact. Which lead to Conclusion 1: Michiru wasn't the one poking her. Haruka looked over her shoulder. Ranko was standing there with an insanely cheerful grin on her face. Obviously, she was a morning person. Haruka wasn't. Haruka looked at Ranko with the glare that every morning person gets from someone who isn't, and asked "What do you want?" Or, at least that was what she wanted to ask. It came out more like "Whaaayawant?" Fortunately Ranko had practice translating non-morning person dialect into something understandable from living with Nabiki. "You said you'd spar with me. Let's go!" Haruka blearily blinked. "Now?" Incredulity appeared prominently in her voice. "Of course! It's the best time to spar! When we're done, we can watch the sunrise!" Haruka stared at Ranko. "Not a chance. Get out and let me sleep." With that, she turned over and started to go back to sleep. She heard Ranko sigh. "You know, I wanted to do this the nice way. I can see that won't happen. Oh, well. `A martial artist's life is full of peril.' after all." The faintly mocking way she said the last part made Haruka think that she had heard it many times. Haruka heard the door open, then close. She was just about to fall back asleep when she heard it open again. She could hear footsteps walking up to her side of the bed, along with something she couldn't identify. Some kind of a clanking, sloshing noise. Haruka figured out what it was one second too late. She looked over to see Ranko tipping a bucket of water. Haruka had enough time to make a decision: Roll out of bed and let Michiru get soaked...OR...push Michiru out of bed and get soaked herself. Not a choice at all, really. Michiru let out a scream when she woke up flying through the air. It was cut off when she hit the ground. She looked over to the bed in time to see a wet, angry Haruka chasing after a grinning, bucket-holding Ranko. "YOU'RE GONNA DIE!! YOU RED-HEADED LITTLE..." Haruka's voice faded into incomprehensible profanities as she ran after Ranko. As Haruka chased Ranko down the stairs and out the back door, she noticed Setsuna standing in the doorway of the kitchen sipping a cup of tea. Setsuna was impeccably dressed, as usual. She was also smiling. Haruka ran into the back yard and began to look around for Ranko. She wasn't hard to find. She was standing in the middle of the yard dressed in a white shirt and black pants in the same style as she had worn yesterday. She was still grinning and laughing. Haruka growled and jumped. One way or another she was going to see Ranko soaking wet. The koi pond was just too convenient. Ten minutes later, Haruka hadn't even touched her. She had touched the koi pond, though. Frequently. She was right. It WAS too convenient. Setsuna smiled as Haruka went into the pond again. Eventually, Haruka decided that she wasn't ever going to catch Ranko and went to take a shower. The fact that Ranko wasn't even breathing hard was just salt in the wound. As she went in, Ranko called "Good match, Haruka! See ya tomorrow!" Haruka paused, twitched a couple of times, and continued her trek inside the house. As she walked past Setsuna, who was still holding her tea, Setsuna remarked innocently "Why Haruka! You're all wet! How ever did that happen?" Haruka growled and walked past. As she disappeared in the direction of the shower, Setsuna called out "Now do you see why I wasn't worried about Ranko getting hurt?" As Haruka let the warm water of the shower relax her, she had to admit that Setsuna was right. Ranko was good. Very good. Quite possibly the best Haruka had faced in a very long while. She had been trying her hardest to catch her and had still never even managed to touch her in any significant way. Haruka sighed as she shampooed her hair. Haruka emerged to a delicious smell. Following her nose, she came to the kitchen. In it, Ranko was cooking something on the griddle. Ranko looked over and smiled. "Hey, Haruka! Have an okonomiyaki!" Ranko said with a cheerful smile. Somehow Haruka seemed to feel her anger melt away at the smile. Ranko was so freaking cheerful it was hard to keep a grudge against her. Kind of like Usagi in that. Haruka accepted a plate and sat down at the table. When she took a bite, she had to catch herself from falling over. Haruka expressed her sentiments to Ranko. "Oh, that's nothing. You want some good okonomiyaki, you go to my friend Ucchan. She makes the best in the world. Period." Ranko replied with absolute conviction. "Oh, really? Where is her place?" Hotaru asked. "Um, I, uh, haven't seen her in a long time. So I don't really know where she is right now." Ranko stammered out. Haruka and Michiru caught each other's eyes. The same thought was running through both of their minds: They both resolved to find out what their new houseguest was keeping hidden. Hotaru looked at the time and `Eeeped!' "I'm gonna be late for school!" Hotaru said as she jumped off her chair and ran out the door. Haruka and Michiru looked after her and smiled. Hotaru was a lot stronger after her rebirth. While not as strong as she should be for her age, she no longer got winded from a short run like she used to. Ranko watched Hotaru run out of the room, too. "Hey, you two. Where are Hotaru's parents?" "Why?" Haruka asked cautiously. "Weeell, I wanted to ask them a question concerning Hotaru. So where are they?" "Her mother is dead and her father disappeared a couple of years ago. It's kind of a sensitive subject with her, so don't bring it up around her. We're her guardians, so any questions you have about her are our concern. Now what do you want?" Haruka replied. "Well, I couldn't help but notice that she seems a bit weaker than she should be at her age. I was gonna ask if I could teach her some martial arts. I was thinking maybe Tai Chi. It would give her a better muscle tone and increased endurance. Heck, I could teach you guys, too, if you want." "I'm not sure if Hotaru would like to learn martial arts. She's only twelve. Maybe we should wait a little while." Michiru hesitantly replied. "The best time to start is when you're young." Ranko retorted. "I don't know..." "How about this: I ask Hotaru. If she says yes, I train her for a month. Then we ask her again. If she still says yes, I train her until I'm happy with her. Ok? That work?" Ranko was getting impatient with their indecision. Either she could train Hotaru or she couldn't. If she could, she wanted to get started. If she couldn't, she wanted to get started on trying to change their minds. Hotaru needed to get some exercise. Haruka and Michiru looked at each other. They could see each other's thoughts clearly in their eyes. "Ok, we'll let you ask. If she says no, you'll leave it alone, though. All right?" Haruka finally replied. "No problem." Setsuna chose that moment to walk into the kitchen. She pointedly looked at the clock then at the trio at the table. "Nice morning, isn't it. Hard to believe you're going to be late for school." "What?" Haruka looked at the clock. "Oh, CRAP! Come on, Michiru!" Haruka was about to go out the door when Michiru stopped her. "Aren't you forgetting someone?" "Huh?" "Ranko." "Oh, yeah." "Don't worry about her. She's found her own way there." Setsuna called from the kitchen. "In fact, she'll probably beat you there." Haruka snorted. "What about you?" "I'm already there." With that pronouncement, Setsuna turned and walked through the doorway. Was Haruka's only thought before she ran out the door. Meanwhile, Setsuna had casually walked back to the kitchen to finish her breakfast. She slowly finished of her food with great pleasure. Looking at the clock she realized that she had only five minutes until she was late. It was a ten minute drive, even with Haruka doing the driving. She smiled as she transformed her clothing into her Senshi fuku and teleported to her office at the school, where a simple act of will turned her fuku into her usual business suit. She waved calmly at Haruka as she squealed into the parking lot. She smiled inwardly at the look Haruka gave her. Then Haruka noticed Ranko leaning against a tree by the school. Ranko waved. "Hey, Haruka! What took you so long? I was here five minutes ago!" Ranko grinned at the pop-eyed look Haruka gave her. Ranko's day just seemed to flow from that point. She went through the usual `first day at a new school' routine: getting introduced to the class, getting a seat assigned (near the back by a window), meeting people, etc. The day had both a high point and a low point. The high point was meeting some of Haruka's and Michiru's friends. Ranko particularly liked the blonde with the funny hair, Usagi. She seemed so... exuberant. Ranko thought back to the meeting. *************** (Yes! It's a flashback! Thrilling, isn't it!) Lunchtime, Juban High "HI! You're Ranko, aren't you? I'm Usagi Tsukino! Haruka and Michiru told me all about you! Where are you going?" Ranko was startled by the sudden appearance of a blonde with one of the most ridiculous hairstyles she had ever seen. It looked like two meatballs on top of her head. "Um, yeah, I'm Ranko. And I'm going over to that tree to eat." Ranko replied as she motioned to a tree with no one around it. "But you'd be lonely! Come over her and eat with us!" Usagi motioned to another tree with several people under it. Haruka and Michiru were there, along with a tall brunette, a shorter red-head, and a girl with bluish-black hair who had her face buried in a book. Haruka gave a little wave. "Bet you Usagi gets her over here in under five minutes." Makoto commented. "No bet. I know she will." Haruka replied. They were right, of course. Usagi convinced Ranko to eat lunch with them in under three, mostly through pleading and not taking "No" for an answer. It was the "Puppy-dog eyes" that finally made Ranko give in. "That's Makoto Kino, and that's Naru Osaka, and that's Ami Mizuno, and you already know Haruka and Michiru. Now we all know each other!" Usagi said in her usual insanely happy tone. Ranko had a weird feeling of Deja vu during the introductions. Almost like she knew all of them. It was particularly strong with the red- head, Naru. She felt as though she knew her, and they weren't friends by any stretch of the imagination. The feeling passed quickly and Ranko shrugged it off. If any of them were a danger, her Martial Artist Danger Sense (TM) would have let her know. Lunch passed fairly quickly. They talked and had an enjoyable time. And Ranko learned why Haruka and Michiru were in the same class as Usagi and her friends. Apparently, their old school had some kind of a gas explosion. Their old school had some kind of accelerated system which would have put them a few grades ahead, but somehow, all their records had turned up missing. So they decided to go to Usagi's school at the usual grade. "That sucks." Ranko commented. "Yeah, it does." Haruka replied. ****************** Ranko mused. The meeting with the Vice-Principal, Mrs.Konabi, had been...unpleasant. She didn't like the fact that Ranko wasn't even going to try to conform, and Ranko hated the fact that Mrs.Konabi was going to try to make her. Ranko was thankful for Dr. Tofu's note saying she couldn't wear a school uniform for medical reasons. And, since Dr. Tofu was currently out of town on a medical research trip, Mrs. Konabi couldn't refute it. Of course, Ranko had to modify the note a little to fit her current name, but, when you've learned Martial Arts Calligraphy, forgery is easy. Ranko came out of the meeting on the Vice-Principal's hit list. Ranko thought in disgust. Other than that, the day went a lot better than days at Furinkan. Ranko had actually gotten an entire night's sleep, which helped her stay awake in class. Of course, class was still boring. Ranko thought as she roof-hopped back to Setsuna's house. Ranko stopped suddenly. <'Home'? When did I start considering this place as `home'? I haven't even been here a week!> Ranko landed about a block from Setsuna's house and walked the rest of the way there. When she walked in the door, Setsuna was sitting in the kitchen drinking tea. "Hey, Setsuna." "Hello, Ranko. Have a cup of tea. How was school?" "No thanks. And school was better than I expected. I made some new friends." "Yes, I know. I work there." "Yeah, you're the school guidance counselor. Why do ya mention it?" "Because I've seen your records. All of them. You will do better. I will make sure of it. Personally, if necessary." "Uh, thanks." "Don't thank me yet. You haven't had to learn from me. Now, you have homework that needs to be done, do you not?" "Yeah." "Then go do it." As Ranko started to walk up the stairs, Setsuna called out. "Haruka, Michiru, Hotaru, and I have some business to take care of tonight. It will take us some time, so don't wait up." "Right." Ranko was in her room before something occurred to her. <`Business?' `Some time?' `Don't wait up?' With Hotaru? She's, like, twelve! What the heck could they be doing?> Ranko pondered and reached a decision. ******************* 10:00 PM, Setsuna's house. Now Ranko was bored. She had actually gotten her homework done (Amazing how much easier it was without people trying to kill her.), discovered that there was nothing on TV, and practiced her katas. She was out of ideas. She went up to her room, plopped down on the bed, crossed her arms behind her head, and stared up at the ceiling. She sighed. Eventually, as is usual when you lay on a comfy bed, she fell asleep. *********************** Meanwhile, somewhere in Juban, the Senshi were almost as bored. *Find anything yet, Mercury?* Mars asked over the communicator. *Not a blasted thing.* Mercury wasn't happy. The enemy was changing patterns. Every night for weeks they had an `incident' early in the evening, usually around nine to ten. It was now almost one and there was no sign of activity. Mercury hated it when the enemy changed patterns. It usually meant that she had come to an incorrect conclusion. Which made all the data she gathered out of date. So she had to collect it again and start her research over from scratch. She was about to tell everyone to call it a night when the Mercury Computer beeped. She opened it up and grimaced. A portal had opened up several blocks away. She opened her communicator. *Guys, we got one. Home in on me.* Then she went to find out what ugly creature came through this time. ************ "Well, this one doesn't seem all that bad." Jupiter commented. Indeed, it didn't. Usually their foes had spikes, tentacles, slime, or something similar. This one didn't have any of them. It would almost pass as human, if not for a few small problems. Like the lime green skin. Or the neon orange hair. Of course, the glowing red eyes were a dead give away. "Not all that bad? It looks like a reject from `Saturday Night Fever'!" Venus protested. "Who cares what it looks like? Lets just kill it so I can get to bed!" Moon interjected. "Seems like a good idea to me. Mercury, what are you getting off of it?" Uranus asked. "That's the problem. I'm not getting anything off of it. It's acting abnormally. It's not attacking anyone, it's not enacting any big, obvious plans, it's just standing there, like it's just waiting for us to come and kill it." "Well, far be it from me to disappoint it." Uranus smiled. "WORLD SHAKING!" The blast hit the youma high in the chest and knocked it back into light post. It slumped down. The Senshi jumped down from the rooftop they were standing on and landed across the street from the youma. Uranus bowed to Sailor Moon and gestured towards the youma. "My Princess, I present to you one youma for removal. Do your stuff." As Sailor Moon got ready to cast her attack, the same thought was going through everyone's mind. Then the youma looked up and smiled, which revealed another reason it wouldn't pass as human. It had rows of needle sharp teeth, many of which had unpleasant looking stains on them. It stood up just before Sailor Moon finished her attack, held out it's hand, and cried "WORLD SHAKING!" in Uranus' voice. If Tuxedo Kamen hadn't been so fast on his feet, the ball of energy would have hit Sailor Moon directly in the chest. As it was, he would be looking for a new cloak after the fight. All the rest of the Senshi scattered. "Holy Kamis! Mercury! What the hell did it do!" Jupiter yelled as she dove for cover. "It threw a World Shaking!" "I know that! How?" "I don't know! Either it absorbed it, or it duplicated it! I-" Mercury was interrupted as the car she was crouching behind was reduced the scrap metal by another blast. The blast itself wasn't that bad, but hearing the youma cast it in Uranus' voice was. Mercury groaned as she picked herself up. "Hey, Jupiter?" "Yeah? You Ok?" "I'm fine, a bit shook up, but fine otherwise. As for your earlier question, it duplicated the World Shaking." "Oh, really? Let's see it duplicate THIS!" "NO!!!" But she was too late. Jupiter had already threw her Oak Evolution at the youma. It promptly replied by throwing it back, followed by a World Shaking. Jupiter narrowly dodged her own attack, but got tagged by the follow-up. She proceeded to make a nice, pretty imprint in a wall. She looked like she wasn't going to be leaving it for a while. "Don't throw anything at it! It'll just send it back!" Mercury warned. "We'd figured that out already! How do we kill it!?" Mars shouted. "I'm working on it! Just give me some time!" "We'll try!" If Mercury hadn't been so busy, she would have noticed a small notice flashing on the screen of the Mercury Computer as a figure landed on a rooftop. It wasn't there for long before Mercury covered it with her frantic calculations. ********************* Setsuna's house, near the same time. Ranko dreamed. In her dream, she was standing on some kind of a plain. Looking around, she could see a large gathering of what appeared to be guards surrounded her. In front of her, there were several young girls in fukus. They all appeared ready to attack, with the exception of a red-head in the back, who was doubled over, coughing and rubbing her throat and a woman with long, dark green hair holding a staff. The green-haired one appeared to be in shock about something. Behind the fuku-clad girls, were two regal-looking blondes. The older one had platinum blond hair and was saying something about "abusing our trust, betraying your oath," or something like that. It wasn't important, so she ignored it. The younger blonde had a young man in black armor hovering protectively over her. He was holding a red rose in his right hand. Looking behind her, she could see the ruins of what appeared to be part of a palace. Over the palace, far away in the sky were the remains of a planet. Directly overhead, the Earth floated. By this time, the platinum blonde had finished her speech and was holding up some kind of crystal. She said something and a beam of white light came out from it and hit Ranko in the chest, where it did absolutely nothing. Everyone seemed shocked by this. Ranko ran at them. They proceeded to throw fire, ice, lightning, water, and various energy blasts at her, all of which she ignored. At least until the rose hit her in the shoulder. That HURT. The rose slowed her down just long enough for the woman with the staff to level it at her and whisper something. The ball of dark red energy that flew out and hit her didn't feel too good, either. Ranko shrugged it off and proceeded to her goal. The red-haired chick. She got to her goal and proceeded with her mission: wrapping her hands around the red-head's throat until she stopped breathing. She had to gently knock the other fuku-clad girls out of the way, but who cared? In the back of her mind, she could feel their attacks hit her. Just before another one of those red balls hit her again, she heard the redhead's neck give out a sharp "CRACK!" Then the energy hit her and everything went dark. Ranko jerked awake with a scream. She was covered in sweat and the bed was soaked with it. She got out of bed and looked at the clock. <1:15 in the morning. Oh my Kamis, what am I doing up this late.> She walked over to the window. As she looked out at the city, a feeling of intense dread swept over her. Before she even thought about it she was out of the window and heading into the city at her top speed. She didn't know where she was going, but she was gonna get there fast. As she ran, she analyzed what happened. In just a few moments she was at her destination. She landed on a roof and surveyed the street. Just then, a body flew through the air and impacted the wall below her. When the dust cleared, she could see a small girl dressed in a fuku with a dark skirt, a black neckerchief on the front, and a black bow on her back. Ranko looked along her trajectory and saw several other fuku-clad girls fighting something. Ranko was about to jump down when something occurred to her. She looked around for an idea. A few seconds of looking were all that were needed. She jumped across the street and went into the shop. A few seconds of looking and some hot water and he was ready. Saturn was not having a good night. The youma proved to be unable to replicate their weapons, so that meant they could hurt it. Of course, it had the stereotypical regenerative ability, so it didn't stay hurt. They couldn't use any of their attacks for fear that it would just throw them back at them. She didn't even want to THINK about what it could do with a Silence Glaive Surprise. And the thing was so incredibly fast they could hardly fight it up close. "Hello, there." A voice interrupted her thoughts. It was deep and pleasant. She cracked her eyes and looked to her side. A man dressed all in black was crouching down at her side. He had silver studs on his right forearm and a silver chain wrapped around his left. His shirt had a light pattern done in silver starting at his left shoulder and winding down to his left hip, where it continued down to the bottom of his pant leg. The design was mirrored on his right side. He had some kind of symbol on his head that was obscured by his hair. His eyes were the deepest shade of blue she'd ever seen. She stared into them. Saturn shook herself out of her reverie and answered him. "Um, hi." "And what would your name be?" He asked as he offered his hand to help her up. "I'm Sailor Saturn." As she got up, she marveled at his grip. She could tell he was very strong, but he helped her up with such gentleness. "Who are you?" "Me?" He seemed bemused by something. "I guess you would call me...Princess!" "Princess? What?" Saturn realized that the man was no longer holding her hand to help her up. She looked around and saw him standing about ten feet away. He was holding something in his arms. Then she saw two blond ponytails and she knew. In a flash, she was there. The man turned and looked at her. His eyes were hard as stone. He handed Sailor Moon to her. "She'll be fine. Just a little dazed. I caught her before she could hit the wall and do any real damage. Take care of her, Saturn. I'm going to find what did this and kill it. Painfully." Saying that, he turned and started running towards the fight. Saturn shuddered at the utter ruthlessness in his tone. Her attention was diverted by Sailor Moon snapping out of her daze. "Saturn? What happened?" "You were thrown at a wall. Some guy caught you before you could hit and do any real damage." "`Some guy'? What's his name?" Saturn started to answer, then realized something. "He never told me his name. I don't know it." "Well, what did he look like, then?" As Saturn described him, Moon whispered, "It's him." "What?" "It's him! The guy who saved me at the train station! I knew he was on our side! Come on! We've got to help him!" With that, Sailor Moon took of running back to the fight. Saturn thought as she followed her leader. ****************** The street was in ruins. The Senshi's fights had a tendency to create property damage, but this would beat some of the destruction caused in Nerima. The Senshi had been fighting the youma for almost twenty minutes at this point, and they were getting tired. Most of their fights lasted five minutes, tops. They just didn't have the stamina necessary for drawn-out battles. "Mercury! How are we doing?" Mars panted. "Not good. I still can't find a weak point, and it's not being weakened enough by our physical attacks." Mercury replied, a bit of despair creeping into her voice. "Well, why not? I've seen the Space Sword cut through steel, and you know what the Silence Glaive can do. Why aren't they hurting it?" Jupiter asked. "I told you: I DON'T KNOW!" Mercury rose from her resting place.