A Chaos Moon. Disclaimer: General plea for innocence, i had one to many blows to the head by Akane and I had no idea the characters weren't mine? Not buying it...hrm, how about I was temporarily insane? No? Hrm....*Points in a random direction.* Look, something......distracting! *Runs off* Story so far: Ranma got fed up with his life in general and broke off all engagements going off to live with his mother in Juuban. Now, any half decent anime fan knows who lives in Juuban right? Thus it was only time (More like his first day) until he bumped into a certain Usagi Tuskino. Luna and Artemis seem intent on observing Ranma and a new enemy has been given brief screening, one or two paragraphs.....she wasn't happy *Rubs the slight scarring on his left shoulder* Anyhow, the Tendo's aren't forgotten forever, one cannot simply run off and hope all problems cease to exist. So don't count the lost boy, or the others out yet. Oh, and one more thing...due to my lazy like nature instead of saying 'super sailor mars' or wha'ever, they will jus' be Sailor Mar/Moon/Venus etc...unless otherwise stated that they're not in their most powerful forms. So i'm lazy. Same goes for Ranma, I can't be bothered writing -chan when Ranma's female all the time 'cause let's face it, he's a water magnet. Darkness shall come, An ancient evil reborn Princess returned to the Earth so fair, But fragile as silk and as fleeting as air. A group of warriors are needed to fight But darkness shall win, the world set alight. Hope still shines in the darkest hour, A beacon of light who holds the power. Chapter 2 - Peace shattered. Sun rays fought with the darkness, parting the shadows as the light filled the room. Gaps in the curtains conviently placed as to allow a few sun rays to lay over the features of the sleeping figure, his groaning and eyelids starting to clench the only response the sun got. "Ranma?" Nodoka opened the door slightly and looked into her recently returned son's room. Seeing him laying with blankets crumpled about him she smiled. Looking over her shoulder at an unseen figure she gave another smile. "Go right in, and you have my permission to use any means to wake him up." "No problem auntie Nodoka." The female voice replied as Nodoka moved out of the way, allowing the girl to enter the room. As the rays of light struck her, she gave her age away to be no more than sixteen. Her long raven hair touched her waist, her eyes glinting with mischevious thoughts. Any red blooded male would instantly class her between the babe and beautiful section, her jeans hugging her long legs perfectly, the red sweater a perfect contrast to her black hair. "Don't get up to any mischief today with Ranma!" Nodoka knew it was a lost cause, the two always used too as children. Leaving the cousins to get to know each other she left to finish work in her garden. The girl slowly approached Ranma's bed and with a sly smile she spotted a bokken laying over top of a shoe. Seeing the almost perfectly balanced see- saw she stomped on the tip of the blade with enough force as to send the handle flipping towards her knee. Grabbing it inches from impact she admired the well looked after bokken and gave a ....discomforting smile towards the sleeping martial artist. "Lets see how well you've improved." The girl still holding the bokken in one hand slowly edged closer to Ranma's snoring form. When the bokken was mere inches from the sleeping form, the tranquillity was lost. The blankets flew into the air as the bokken was ripped out of the girls grasp and before she could blink she had a balled up fist just touching her nose. The threatening move was completely demolished as Ranma was only half awake at the time. "Hi cousin." Rei Hino beamed as Ranma's eyes slowly began to open to full length, his muscles untensing as he took a step back. Ranma's mind, while not the sharpest thanks to his living conditions for so many years took a little longer than the ordinary persons to piece together information that wasn't classed as a live, die or be malleted situation. Rei waited patiently until Ranma yawned loudly and finally realized what was going on. "Cousin? Huh..." Ranma looked at Rei as she made a point of tapping her foot on the carpet. Realization dawned on Ranma as a grin spread across his face. "Rei!" Rei was unexpecting of the hug she got although once the initial shock had worn of she returned it with as much eagerness as the pig tailed teenager. "I guess it has been a long time since we last saw each other, so I'll excuse the fact you didn't recognise me straight away." Ranma rubbed his head sheepishly as Rei released the hug and both looked at each other. "Has it really been six years?" Rei asked distantly, recalling when she had last seen her favourite cousin. Ranma just nodded before giving Rei a look from head to toes. "Wow, you've really uh...." Ranma chuckled weakly, still not sure about complementing other girls without a mallet looming over his head, heck he didn't know how to complement girls period. "Grown up and you look really, uh nice." Ranma relaxed slightly seeing Rei's eyes light up, that wasn't so bad. "You've grown up too." Rei grinned like the cat that ate the canary as she noted how Ranma's build had filled out, the top hiding very little off his well toned body. Her eyes drifted and her cheeks took on a red blush, similar to the skirt she sometimes wore. Ranma's boxer shorts barely hid anything either. Ranma gave a confused look before following his year younger cousins gaze down to see exactly where she was looking. "So why are you here Rei-chan?" Ranma grinned sheepishly while trying to turn the conversation away from his current attaire. Rei however was thankful for the distraction and quickly moved her eyes back to meet her cousin's. "Well, since it's Sunday and there's no school and I haven't seen my cousin in so long I thought we could do something today." Rei started to leave to allow Ranma time to change before turning and giving a grin. "Oh and of course some of my friends would really love to meet you." Rei left Ranma staring blankly at her back as she left his room before a goofy grin crossed his face and he chuckled to himself. "Same old Rei." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Filthy humans. The creature, if anything that looked like the monsters from a hundred frightened children's nightmares could be called a creature walked the streets. All around it were human's. Recoiling in disgust as a young group of girls passed by it's hiding place it once more vowed to steal everyone of this worlds heart crystals for it's mistress. Moving slowly from the shadow's of the alley it held up it's claw, an evil grin coming to it's face as it noted the razor sharp claws which protruded from each finger. It was at that time a young boy and his mother walked by it's hiding place hand in hand. Driven by rage the youma screamed in pained torment before charging the two, one thought in it's demented cruel mind. These two must die for chao's. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "What was that?" Rei froze as a cold feeling surrounded her, holding her arms to herself. Her eyes shot open as realization hit her. "Hey....Rei, I just hafta go check sum'thin alright?" Ranma was looking down at her, a faint blue flicker ruffled his pigtail for just a few seconds. No, it must have been her imagination. "Alright Ranma, we'll meet up at the ice cream shop." Ranma nodded at Rei before he gave her a cocky grin. Rei just starred wide eyed as her cousin lept onto the adjacent roof and took off in the direction she had felt the Negaverse energy from. "He has alot of explaining to do when he gets back." Rei frowned at the disappearing form of Ranma before remembering she had to get to the other scouts to stop the Youma before her cousin got hurt. Lying on the roof of the building across the street, two familiar cats watched the pigtailed boy leap onto the roof then watched him take his makeshift route to the origin of the dark energy. "Well, what do you think Artemis?" Luna looked to her left after getting no response for several seconds to see the white male cat asleep. Sighing in annoyance she gave him a sound beating with her paw. "Wake up you lazy cat!" "W-Wha? I'm awake!" Artemis raised his head as a yawn escaped from within. "Hey, where'd they go?" For a moon cat, Luna could do a pretty impressive exasperated sigh when she wanted. "They left, apparently Rei and him are close, this could be trouble if this continues." Luna's forboding tone of voice was completely lost on the white cat as he had once more, fallen asleep. A vein managed to show through Luna's fur above her left eye before a female scream caused peoples heads to turn for blocks around. "Artemis wake up!" The resulting scream of female anger resulted in one bruised and battered Artemis, lying in a heap on the grass after taking a rather, interesting course to reach the ground. In short Luna's cry shocked him into sliding off the roof. "It's going to be one of those days." Artemis grumbled while Luna's laughter further bit into his ego. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The humans were certainly resilient when it came to preserving their own lives. A grin spread across the Youma's face as it saw the woman and child backed into a corner. The comforting sound of blood dripping from it's claws almost made this all worth while. "P-P-Please stop!" The Youma snarled at the woman's pathetic attempts to save her life. Three long cuts along her arm had shown where it's attempt to still her heart crystal was stopped by a lucky turn on her part. But now....now there was no hiding. "You're life... is mine." The woman cried out for help as the Youma's threat did the job of scaring her into submission. "Nah, I don't think so." The Youma's head whiped around at the intruder's voice. Standing in the alley's entrance was a teenager. His unusal hair style of a black pigtail was shown as the braid of hair was picked up by the breeze. Overall it was his relaxed posture, leaning against one of the walls that angered the Youma the most. Human's were meant to fear her, they were meant to cringe at her very sight not act confident and relaxed. This human would pay dearly! Charging forward as fast as her legs would take her, the Youma held back her hand, claws poised to strike into the pig tailed boy's chest to quickly aquire his heart crystal. "Die!" "When is my life is finally going to go right?" The boy's complaint was heard before he crouched and sprung into the air, easily flipping over the charging Youma's back and planted both his feet into her black, crystal like back to send her flying forward off balance. Turning to face the Youma he gave a grin to reassure the mother and child. The Youma screamed in outrage after picking herself off of the concrete. Looking over her bladed shoulder she saw the boy in a stance that looked, questionable at best. No-one could hurt her like this, and she was going to make this human die slowly and painfully. Turning to face the boy she gave an evil grin before pointing her elbows at him. The satisfaction of watching his eyes go wide just prior to the bladed spikes on her elbows enlarging made it almost all worth while. Without a second of remorse, she let fire a total of six black crystal blades towards the pigtailed boy's head. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "P-P-Please stop!" Ranma's anger grew a couple of notches at hearing the woman pleading for her life and seeing, whatever it was slowly advance towards them. Ranma's mind having developed almost solely for martial arts did what it did best and accessed the strange creature in front of him. A bit higher than him, obviously female and had the appearance of black crystal. Horns jutted out of almost every part imaginable over her body, and her eyes were a dull blood red, almost the red of the blood that dripped from her claws. Her face, was, for lack of better word hideous. A wide evil grin full of razor sharp teeth that was compleletly out of proportion with her head. The long black hair doing little to hide the fact. "You're life... is mine." Ranma's eyes narrowed as it attempted to talk. Ranma's mind gently reminded the martial artist just who his father was and Ranma groaned, slumping his shoulders. Resting against the wall he was suddenly surprised at his emotions. No raging depression or fury like Ryouga, and not his usual cocky self. There was confidence alright, but it was different. He was calm, and confident in the fact that he could beat this, thing in front of him before it hurt the woman and boy huddled in the corner further. "Nah, I don't think so." Ranma inwardly smirked as he got the Youma's attention, it's eyes wide with surprisement before narrowing, it's surface rippling with almost unbridled fury. It wasn't much to his surprise then when the nightmarish womanly creature charged towards him, claws poised to impale him. "When is my life finally going to go right?" Waiting until the perfect moment Ranma lept into the air over the Youma's head. As he came back down he planted both feet into the black crystal back of his opponent and sent her crashing into the alleyway floor, skidding to a halt. Absoarbing his own forward momentum into a roll the pig tailed martial artist slowly got to his feet, trying hard not to keep fear from creeping into his eyes. Ranma glanced over his shoulder before turning, getting into a ready stance, dust visible on his pant legs and shoulders of his clothing. His eyes were darting all over the black female, her blood red eyes narrowing as a sadistic smile grew across her face. She raised her elbows and Ranma's blood ran cold. Before Ranma could think any further on the subject six cystal spears were heading towards him and the outcome was clear, someones blood was going to spill. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A shout caught the Senshi's ears, it's meaning was unclear but the tone of voice was desperate. To Super Sailor Mars however it was also familiar "Ranma!" Mars cried out, increasing her pace as Eternal Sailor Moon and Super Sailor Mercury were close behind. "Ranma?" Sailor Moon's eyes went wide, and in the process she almost stepped on her own pigtail. Sailor Mercury immediately turned to catch the princess as she stumbled. "Ranma? Who's Ranma?" Mercury questioned both of her fellow Senshi. The reaction was two completely different emotions playing across their faces. Mar's was of frantic worry, her pace unchanged other than to slow down briefly for Mercury and Moon to catch up. "He's my cousin who I haven't seen in around six years." Sailor Mar's pressed her foot down and jumped to the next rooftop and not for the first time mentally complaining how hard it was to do so while wearing heels. Sailor Moon on the other hand had a slightly blush going across her cheeks, one that they hadn't seen since she had developed her first crush on Tuxedo Kamen. Mercury shook her head slightly as she kept up her pace with her two friends. Mercury's glance saw the blush hadn't changed any since the blonde haired moon princess had said his name out. "There!" Mar's cried out, her exclaimation due to the sighting of bright flashes originating from an alley half a block away in their current location. As the three sailor senshi hastingly cut the distance Mercury activated her visor in an attempt to understand the light. The data displayed made no sense however.Mercury's eyes narrowed as she picked up a what was almost a faint trace of moon kingdom magic surrounding one of the humans in the alley, but that was impossible. Mercury sighed as they approached the last roof, too many things were becoming impossible lately, that and Luna, Artemis and Setsuna had alot to explain. A loud gasp brought her back to the present situation as the blue haired senshi noticed Mar's and Moon looking down into the alley, walking over she too looked down and almost lost her lunch. The alley was bathed in blood and devoid of all human life aside from a woman and boy also splattered with dark red blood. There was no sign of this boy named Ranma aside from small pieces of red silk fabric blending well into the blood. Slowly stalking towards the two in the corner was a youma made entirely of black crystal that almost visibly leaked dark energy. Looking obviously female, almost a given trait of the youma's they had faced she looked menacing with row after row of razor sharp spikes and horns jutting from her crystal body. However, her left arm had somehow been ripped off at the elbow which made Mercury shudder at facing something that could do that. Something else caught her eye however and she saw embedded around the walls spikes which logically meant seeing they were sharp at the protruding ends, plus the size of the cracks, they had been propelled. "R-Ranma....." Sailor Mar's bowed her head before raising it, her eyes blazing with the fires she so often controlled. Sailor Moon and Mercury backed away from the enraged Mars, her white gloved hands curling into tight fists. Tears ran down Rei's cheeks seeing tatters of the chinese vest Ranma had been wearing, not to mention the blood covering the walls and floor. "Ranma!" As if summoned by Sailor Mar's anguished cry for her cousin a red haired girl wearing little more than tatters for a top charged back into the alley and with the Youma distracted looking up into the rooftops the pigtailed girl shoulder barged the youma in the back sending the crystal woman into the building the three sailor senshi were on. The results were, somewhat unusual. Sailor Moon with all her grace, dignity and calm nature, was thrown off the roof by the impact and sent falling to the alley below. Things would of gotten more messy if the red haired girl hadn't ran forward and catched the senshi of love and justice. Mars and Mercury gave each other a brief glance before the fury building in Sailor Mar's was focused towards the Youma. "You destroyed an innocent and for that there is no punishment less than death you bitch." Mar's voice was cold as steel but caused Mercury to look horrified, she couldn't decide whether it was the language used or the fact Mar's sounded so cold and heartless. She then noticed her visor beeping at her in a rather irritating tone. Seeing it was drastically wanting her to look down, she obliged and a look of surprise crossed her features. The visor, if it was correct was masking the same person to be who was in the alley earlier, but this girl had a strong silver millenium magic surrounding her, almost on par with the princess. But, how? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thin trails of blood ran down the back of Ranma's hands and arms where numerous cuts were what he had to show for dealing with the crystals. Using the speed of the Kashuu Tenshi Amaguriken he had managed to deflect them all away with minimal injury. The blood dripping from his superficial wounds however had the rather discomforting reaction of causing the Youma's eyes to widen in glee. A quick glance showed the two innocent people were still alright, but that momentary lapse of concentration cost the pig tailed boy a backhand across the face from the crystal woman. His head twisting, Ranma's eyes narrowed. Time slowed to a grinding pace for the martial artist, his head still absoarbing the hit even as his arms shot up to grab the Youma's arm that had struck him. Carefully avoiding the all too familiar spikes he channeled his ki into his hands. Only desperation would call for this close proximity attack. "Mouko Takabisha!" Blue light filled the alley, magnificantly reflected off of the youma's skin. The boy whimpered and the woman screamed but then silence. However the silence was short lived before the Youma's eyes widened in shock, her arm shattering under the ki blast released from Ranma's hands. With a loud piercing scream her arm fragmented, gouts of blood pouring out spraying the alley. Due to the blast Ranma was flung back and out of the alley, his shirt ripped and torn by the crystal fragments striking him. He barely noted cold steel against his back before it gave way behind him. It took just under three seconds for Ranma to come to a halt on the pavement. Sitting upright while ignoring his body's painful protests he noticed what the metal was that he had broken. "It would have to be-" Ranma's voice rose in pitch, his body shrinking and hair growing red. Ranma, now Ranma-chan looked at the torrent of water spraying into the air and around her from where the fire hydrant used to sit. "-something like that." Ranma's eyes narrowed, her fists clenching as she got to her feet, the popping of her joints reminding her of her bodies limitations. However, as all the times before Ranma chose to ignore those and ran into the alley again, her wet footware splashing through the growing puddle of water. Blood was starting to mix lazily with the water as it drained from the alley into the flooding streets. Ranma quickly checked her wounds as she skidded into the alley and found, much to her amazement that aside from a few cuts she was fine. Ranma-chan turned into the alley and her face took on a greenish tinge similar to the one the day she left the Tendo household. The alley was covered in blood, splattered on walls, dripping to the floor, everywhere possible. The crystal woman stood heaving heavily, blood trickling to the ground. The youma turned to him, her eyes giving off hatred unparrelled to anything Ranma had seen before as she held up her stump of an arm toards the red haired girl. "Die!" Ranma let out a small 'eep' before launching herself into the air, avoiding the youma's attack which...much to Ranma's disgust happened to be a spray of blood. Looking down below her, Ranma's eyes narrowed upon seeing the blood start to boil against the wall. "Ranma!" Ranma's head shot up at the mention of her name, just as she landed out of the alley, bracing herself for a charge forward. Looking up she saw three girls up in the roof tops, each clad...scantly for winter, let alone in public. Ranma's eyes narrowed, why did the raven haired girl shout out her name? Ranma's mind finally free of her fathers influence kicked into gear. The height, hair and figure although the face was somehow impossible to identify other than knowing she was beautiful but her ki signature gave her away. Ranma charged forward, her feet splashing water and the youma's attack onto the walls beside her, summoning her ki into her shoulder she braced for impact while the youma was distracted. With gritted teeth Ranma hit the wall of crystal and noted it to be worthy of the resilience of Ryouga. The ki absoarbed most of the blow, the Youma however, with her back to the martial artist was thrown forward crashing into the building. Ranma's eyes shot up to see the one with long blonde pigtail's start to fall. A smile crept along Ranma's face at the private joke, her humor returning without the influence of a mallet to silence any teasing comments. Pressing off with her foot she caught the girl in her arms and gave a reassuring smile. The scared blonde smiled back and Ranma was imediattely entranced by her beauty. The winged costume she wore and the cresent moon on her forehead only reinforced the point. Ranma almost envisioned a mallet beating over her head at her train of thought. Her immediate response would be to say Akane, but she didn't..not like that, but why did she say Usagi? She put it down to the adrenelin flowing through her blood at the moment. "You destroyed an innocent and for that there is no punishment less than death you bitch." Ranma looked up to see Sailor Mar's, or Rei as she had discovered looking mightily pissed off. The Youma, determined to kill something in it's blood lust turned and looked at the mother and child still in the corner. "DIE!" The youma's remaining hand came up facing the two scared innocents. Ranma's eyes glared a dangerous light at the Youma as blood red magic filled it's hand. Ranma put down Usagi and in one swift movement was charging towards the Youma. Sailor Mar's hands shot out towards the crystal woman, fire magic starting to gather. "Kashuu Tenshi Amaguriken!" Ranma's fist was cocked back as she cried out her attack's name, her fist's blurring. The youma was more of a ragdoll than a crystal monster her body recoiling from every punch, crystal shards flying off of her from each ki reinforced hit. When the last punch landed the youma flew backwards but was denied the chance to cause more property damage with her mass when Sailor Mar's cried out her attack. "Mars Flame Sniper!" Mar's voice was almost lost due to the noise her attack generated, the youma getting struck by the attack, the last of her physical body getting washed away in a sea of flame. With one last shriek the Youma disappeared in a cloud of dust along with almost all the blood in the alley save for Ranma's. "Damn crystal." Ranma mumbled, rubbing her protesting knuckles. "She was almost as hard as Ryouga's head." "T-T-Thank you." Ranma looked up to see the woman bowing to her gratefully. Ranma however waved it off with the back of her hand. "Nah, don't mention it. Jus' what I gotta do as a martial artist." Ranma grinned, rubbing the back of her head. Her eyes shot open and she saw the shallow cuts down the woman's exposed shoulder. "You're hurt, here lemme help." Ranma placed her hands on the woman's shoulder before she could protest and a soft blue aura surrounded both the red haired girl and the black haired woman. Slowly the scratches closed until only healthy skin remained with no sign of any injury being present save for the dried blood. "There." Ranma announced cheerfully, glad her new technique worked, well not really a technique, it was more of a memory returning to her. Ranma thought to herself while on the outside keeping up her pleasent act. "What happened to the boy who was fighting the youma earlier?" Sailor Mars and Moon asked as one, both exchanged glances which gave different results. Eternal Sailor Moon looked at her feet, the magic hiding her true face not able to hide the blush going across her cheeks, Mar's however was looking more and more concerned. What surprised Ranma however was how her cousin had managed to leap from the building without her catching the sound or noticing. Ranma grinned then looked at the frantic Sailor Mars. "Oh....you mean Ranma? He umm...." Ranma frowned, thinking of a good story Rei would believe would be hard, "He was pretty banged up and I told him to wait while I finished off the crystal woman." Ranma inwardly grinned at her quick thinking. "Oh, it's good he's safe." Sailor Mar's visibly relaxed but turned her head as Sailor Mercury tapped her shoulder. Ranma mentally noted their appearances as well, just to try and find out who Sailor Mercury and Moon were. Ranma's face took on a little red hue as her mind went in that direction at the white winged Sailor Senshi of love and justice. Her cheeks now almost the same colour as the shoulders on Eternal Sailor Moon's costume. The other girl was dressed as Sailor Mar's, just different colours such as her short skirt, trimmings and tiara's jewel. Her short blue hair instantly reminded Ranma of Akane. Ranma once more sighed while looking at her black fighting slippered feet, the cursed boy still not noticing the top she was wearing now barely enough to hide her female assests. "Thank you for your help miss, but we have to go now." Sailor Mercury bowed politely, Ranma giving another of her grins, grey blue eyes sparkling mischeviously. "Sure, guess not even magical girls get a break neh?" Ranma flicked her pigtail over her shoulder and turned her back on the girls. She then bowed politely to the woman and child and helped them out of the alley leaving the three Sailor Senshi to look at the carnage around them. "What kind of youma would do this kind of damage, they still energy not draw blood unless by accident." Moon almost whined, the vein over Mar's eye beginning to show. "Cut it out meatball head!" Rei shouted as all three once more took to the rooftops, Mercury trying to calm her princess and fellow senshi with not much luck. In fact, all three girls were so preoccupied they failed to notice a black haired boy perched on the roof above the alley, his red chinese vest ripped in places, blood clinging to his skin and clothes in places and black pants covered in dust. Ranma smiled softly watching Sailor Moon and Mar's intently. "I promise to protect you both as long as I can." Ranma turned as a sudden breeze picked up his black bangs for a moment, revealing a symbol on his forehead that was gone before it could be identified aside from two cats. "I wont let ya's down...Rei-chan, Usagi." Ranma lept in the opposite direction to the already distant girls along a similar means, namely rooftop hopping. Meanwhile the two cats were safetly hidden from their charges and Ranma on another roof top overlooking the alley. The black female cat was looking smug while the white male cat had a stunned look on his face. "Any more doubts Artemis?" Luna questioned of the white cat, Artemis numbly shaking his head. "But what now Luna? Is Usagi ready to hear this?" Artemis's tail was flicking in nervousness, too many things were happening at once for his liking. Grimly Artemis thought of the fight in his head, even as Luna was trying to explain something to him. "......so we have no choice." Luna looked at Artemis who was looking thoughful, a distant expression on his feline face. "Artemis, have you even been listening to anything I said?" "Uh, oh sure Luna." Artemis comically coughed into one of his forepaws before doing his best Luna impersonation. "The two were destined for one another since the beginning of the Moon Kingdom, and now that we know Rei is only his cousin that makes things easier. But it will still be a shock to the two to find out what's happening and not to mention that new Negaverse youma. With all this laid down in front of us it's clear that we must do our duty and awaken the sleeper. We are the advisors of the Sailor Senshi and the queen so we have no choice." Artemis gave a cattish grin after repeating word for word what Luna had stated. "So, satisfied?" Luna was about to bop Artemis over the head with her paw again but was stopped by a new presense behind them, turning she saw the Senshi of time, Sailor Pluto looking down at both with, could it be? An amused expression on her face, no that's impossible it must have been a play on the dimming light. "The boy known as Ranma as you well know is more than just what he seems to be. His true past must be awakened for Crystal Tokyo to take place and for the Princess to be truely happy. But remember, Their feelings have already began to revive and to do anything may jeopardize what could take place naturally. I shall keep my eye on Ranma and the princess." With that, the Senshi of time disappeared back to the gate's of time leaving Artemis and Luna to exchange looks. "Well, Pluto certainly was talkitive today." Artemis quipped and was hastingly shut up with another paw to the head from Luna. "This is a serious matter Artemis!" Luna growled at the white cat who just nuzzled her affectionally. "I know Luna, but we can't worry over this too much." Artemis gave a confident grin as Luna gave a blank expression in reply, then whacked him on the head with her tail for good measure. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ranma stood waiting outside the video game parlour, waiting patiently for his cousin and her friends. Finally Rei appeared with four other girls, two he immediately recognized, Usagi and the girl known as Sailor mercury. The other two, a burnette with long brown hair in a ponytail and sparkling green eyes, and a girl with long blonde hair reaching her hips he had no idea who they were. Ranma's eyes moved once more to Usagi and he felt an all too familar burning on his cheeks. Ranma grumbled to himself but couldn't keep a small smile from his face for long. Usagi wore a slightly lower than knee length green skirt along with dark brown shoes. To accompany this she had on a light blue blouse that seemed to bring out the caring nature in her eyes. While Ranma's mind was still in neutral the five girls came to stand in front of him. "What's wrong with him?" Minako questioned, noticing the absent look in the raven haired boys eyes. Rei walked up and as much love and care as only a close cousin can for another, whacked the poor martial artist over the head with her fist. "Ite! I didn't mean it Akane!" Ranma looked around at the stunned faces of the girls and sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Uh, you should probably ignore what I just said." Rei sighed dramatically, slumping her shoulders to add to the effect of exasperation. Noticing Ranma's ruined shirt and dust covered pants. Rei squinted her eyes as she leaned in closer, were those blood stains on his shirt? However before she could comment, Makoto bet her to the punch, well would of if Minako wasn't quicker. And Minako would of if Usagi didn't surprise them all and walked up to Ranma. "Oh, how did you get hurt like this?" Usagi gave a concerned look up to the taller boy who gave a cocky grin and waved his hand dismissivly. "I had a run in with some crystal like thing. No big problem." Ranma paused for a second before chuckling, "Well, now I know the Sailor Senshi are real." The effect on this went un-noticed to Ranma who was too busy trying to hide his little secret. All five girls exchanged glances, each with some degree of unease about them. Well, in truth Ranma wasn't completely oblivious. The aura's about the girls were practically screaming magical. And he should know, enough people around Nermina had curses to tell what a magical aura was. That and Doctor Tofu had taught him when he had to pay one of his regular 'visits'. "So, uh......I guess I should go home and change?" Ranma, although no feminine modesty when in girl form, still could tell that some of the looks passing girls were giving him had something to do with the large amount of bare skin being shown. While Minako and Makoto were currently using most of their will power to stop their heads from shaking Rei made an effort to save them from embarressing themselves. "Maybe you should Ranma. We'll do this tomorrow after school." The effect on Ranma from Rei's words were obvious by the big breath of relief he gave. Ranma had just noticed the darkening clouds and in no way was he ready to show these girls his curse. A small thought from his past resurfaced, his arrival at the Tendo dojo and how he thought he may have finally found a friend. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "I'm Akane, want to be friends?" Ranma-chan looked up and gave a small smile as the youngest of the Tendo sisters led her out to the dojo. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ranma groaned mentally as he remembered the forced engagement, "Aunty Nodoka invited me around for dinner tonight, so I might as well walk you home." Rei's comment snapped the pondering Ranma out of his thoughts. Looking up he saw the three of the girls in the distance waving. Giving a small wave back he turned to see Usagi and Rei still standing where they were earlier. "Uh, oh sure Rei-chan." Ranma's attention was drawn to Usagi who was looking somewhat nervous. Rei caught on to this and a smile appeared on her face. "Oh, and Aunty said I could invite one of my friends." Rei motioned her hand over to Usagi who smiled pleasently. Ranma just grinned at her and turned back to Rei. "Well shall we get going, I don't want to be wearing this longer than I hafta." Rei and Usagi nodded their agreement and all three teenagers started walking towards the Saotome residence unaware of three seperate entities watching over them. One was situated on the roof tops overlooking the street which apparently has come to be the primary ground to be observing people in Juuban and Nermina. He was dressed as one would expect someone to be for a formal occasion, right down to the top hat and cane. Tuxedo Kamen's eyes narrowed behind the white mask he wore. Tuxedo Kamen got to his feet and thanks to the whatever magic tailored his tuxedo, no creases marked the fabric. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Two slitted pupils opened to look out the small basement window and spied upon three teenagers walking into the house. The male, recently moved in had his black hair in a pigtail, the other two were female. One with long golden pigtails and the other with long raven hair. "Akiro...where are you?" The voice was female that was certain, the identity of the voice was not. A exasperated sigh originated from under a collection of boxes. The eyes opened once more as a slender cat walked out and under a fading sunbeam. It's coat was a platnium colour, the cat herself not appearing too old, her voice more of a human teenagers. Normally talking cats would be a strange occurance, but there had been many reports of them circulating around Juuban. A symbol on the cat's head was that of a golden cresent moon as the feline turned her head left and right, if though she was searching. "I miss you Akiro.....Please let me find you." The moon cat retreated back into the darkness of the shadows away from any eyes that could prey upon it. "Please....." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The third observor wasn't even on the physical plane which Earth existed upon. No, this green haired, red eyed woman known sometimes as Setsuna, most of the time as Sailor Pluto and other times as the Senshi of Time resided in a place untouched by time. This was almost ironic considering the Gates of Time themselves existed there. Sailor Pluto allowed a small smile to creep along her face as she looked into the gates of time to see a teenage girl, probably no older than fourteen or fifthteen playing with a platnium coloured cat while the prince of Earth watched. The girl had long red hair done back into a braid which reached her hips. A simple yet in it's simplicity, Elegant tiara was situated upon her head keeping her red locks in place. On the tiara was a symbol, the symbol for Terra or more commonly called this day and age, Earth. A similar silver symbol was on her forehead as she turned, her blue eyes sparkling joyfully as the cat climbed up her arm and sat on her shoulder. Long silver elbow length silk gloves ran up her arms, her gown made to look exactly like Princess Serenity's, at the two girl's request of course. The only difference was where Serenity's was a pearly white, Akiro's was a light tan with silver trimmings. "Akiro, you're going to wear me out watching you and Athena." The Prince gave a grin, his black ruffled hair a contrast to Akiro's red. The contrast of Akiro's hair and her gown had been numerously pointed out to the Princess, but as she stated she didn't care. She liked the colours and that was final. The Prince, her mother and father and of course Athena all agreed with her so that was all there was too it. And of course Princess Serenity and no-one would agrue with them when they got together, not even the trouble making Princess of Mercury, Princess Rinoa. Princess Akiro turned and gave a grin to her older brother, her silver heels clicking on the marble pathway. "Well then, don't watch us Endymion." Akiro gave a smile, the one that had named her the 'Most beautiful girl in the Solar System' , well of course the Princess of Venus and Princess Serenity had something to say about that, they had all come first equal but Akiro wasn't about to go into details. "Alright squirt, just make sure she goes and see's her girlfriend alright Athena?" Prince Endymion nodded to the platnium cat who gave a feline grin in return. "Of course, we all know how Princess Serenity gets when Akiro's late for their meetings." Athena delighted in the annoyed look Akiro gave her advisor and big brother. "You had better watch out Endymion!" Akiro cracked her knuckles under her gloves and gave such a kawaii smile her brother was frozen in place. "You know I can teach you a lesson or two!" "Of course A-chan, now you had better get going before Queen Serenity tells me off again for not making you more punctual." Prince Endyimon, clad in his armour shooed his little sister off to go meet the princess of the moon. "Alright I'm going!" Akiro reached behind her head with one hand, careful not to knock off her feline advisor and made sure her long braid was secure. "Alright Athena, let's go!" Once again the poor moon cat, destined to be the Princess of Terra's advisor had to cling onto the magical fabric that made up Akiro's gown to avoid being left behind as the Princess ran towards the transporter. Sailor Pluto let a very small, almost non noticable sigh escape her lips as the past faded from the Gates of Time. She couldn't change the past, well that's a half truth. She could, but Crystal Tokyo, the Silver Millenium would have very little chance of surviving. Princess Akiro, the only one of the Sailor Scouts still not awakened. When she was awakened, then Crystal Tokyo could be finally secure in it's future. The princess, Princess Serenity may be a bit shocked by the news, but it was destiny and besides if even a margin of their relationship survived from the past it would be more than enough. The two of them were soul mates. "Besides, I do miss the little sprite." Sailor Pluto's whisper echoed as the Gates of Time changed to the present showing Usagi, Rei and Ranma entering the Saotome's house. Sailor Pluto tilted back her head slightly sending a ripple through her long green hair as she thought back. A small laugh came from the Senshi of time. Ranma turned, his blue eyes narrowing as if he sensed something and for a moment he stared almost directly at Sailor Pluto through the infinity of time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "The demon, Bloodletter has failed." The fourth general in the circle of six was inwardly quaking in his black armour. The queen of darkness, of evil and chao's herself narrowed her eyes at the trembling general. "I want to play with Terra!" A pillar of fire ripped up the ground near the general causing him to inch back, his long purple hair almost set ablaze. The fire also had the chance to show the queen's features to be no more than a ten year old girl. Her hair was black, almost absoarbing all light and framed her cute features, well....cute apart from her red eyes. Her eyes seemed to go into the very depths of hell themselves. She was dressed in what could be called a black robe, it was impossible to tell since it seemed to be made of pure shadow, always changing and hiding it's true shape. The girl held up a finger at the general accusingly. "One more chance Rudia, then you have to play with me." The queen gave a almost cheerful smile which for some reason the general's face went ashen white. "Y-Yes my queen." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ranma looked up from his food to watch Usagi make conversation with his mother before inhaling more of the delicious noodles. Ranma looked up to see his mum laughing and Rei smiling before he himself grinned and went back to eating, pretending to hear the joke shared by the females. Ranma felt a pair of chopsticks bounce off of his head and looked up sheepishly to see his mother giving him a mock glare. "Ranma, we have guests." Nodoka gave a smile as her son rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry mum." Ranma grinned sheepishly, realising he had been so caught up in his thoughts he had reverted to his old way of eating, well....better put as inhaling. Returning to his food once more he ate at a almost painfully slow, but polite method. Seeing her son eating politely she once more started up conversation before the two girls could look anymore shocked. "Rei dear, do you and your friend attend the same school?" Rei shook her head at the question. "No aunty, I go to a private girl's school." Rei used her chopsticks to get a bit more beef ramen into her empty stomach. "I go to the same school as Ranma." Usagi informed the Saotome mother who smiled pleasently. "I take it my son has been polite towards you Usagi?" Nodoka shot a look at Ranma who was bit into his chopsticks and held up his hands defensively. While Rei laughed at her cousin's show of innocence Usagi nodded enthausiastically. "Hai! Ranma's been really nice, he got me to school on time yesterday!" Usagi smiled, trying to hide the blush crossing her cheeks. The blush however breif was picked up by Nodoka and the blush on Ranma's cheeks that appeared for just under a second was also picked up. Nodoka glanced over at Usagi and let a smile grace her lips. "What'd I do?" Nodoka turned to see Rei pointing her finger at Ranma accusingly. "You stole some of my ramen!" Rei glared at her cousin,who was trying desperately to look innocent. "No I didn't! I aint done anything like that since I left Nermina!" Ranma replied in defense. While this was going on Usagi watched with interest, eating quickly in an attempt to hide the fact she had slightly more ramen than she did a few moments ago. Rei-chan wouldn't mind.....really, well if she didn't find out that is. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Walking through the streets of Juuban district was a startingly familar boy with ruffled black hair and a bandanna tying it back. Snarling he showed off his over emphasized fangs before shouting into the heavens an all too familar cry. "Where the heck am I now?!" The yell didn't go unoticed however, as the eternally lost boy made his way off in what he thought was the direction of the Tendo Dojo not even thinking for a moment he wasn't in Nermina someone was watching. "Well now, a new player has entered the game, but is he a pawn, or a rook." A malicious smile showed large fangs, which in truth is incredably hard for a living shadow to manage. "My master will be proud." ~~~~~~~~~~~@~~~~~~~~~~~~ Authors Notes: So ends another chapter and please excuse the delay. I am suffering from short attention span meaning anything, including drawing the pictures for this (I'm draw'n such a kawaii picture of Akiro and Serenity together ^-_-^) that writing these takes a bit. This one is a little out of my regular style I think...I dunno *Grins* Anyhow, a few more pieces put into the puzzle and sorry if people act out of character. Especially Sailor Pluto, but she has a reason to be so. Think of it this way, most of the way people was acting was an act, now the curtains coming down and they reveal the truth. Oh and for just -who- Princess Akiro is, it's not who you'd think. And no, before i'm asked. Athena isn't Luna and Artemis's mother/sister/daugher. They already have a daughter. And what about Chibi-Usa (Or Neo-Usagi....whichever you perfer....feedback over how you would like her name to be typed up in non-dialog situations would be nice) some people may ask? She's in here, I'd never get rid of the number one entertainment center right after Rei and Usagi that is. Awww come on, someone's gotta antagonize Usagi aside from Ranma and Rei. Alrighy now. Flames will be doused by Usagi's tears so don't bother send'n 'em =P Oh, and yes there will be other Ranma ½ cast introduced into the Juuban residence...What? You thought Ryouga was it? Jeez it's only the second chapter/part people. Send comments as always to, wild__fox@hotmail.com Also (No there aren't any stories) check out my webpage for my artwork at http://www.angelfire.com/ks/wildfox Teaser for Part/Chapter 3: Ranma ran throughout the streets, pursued by the creautre, the horrible....nightmarish creature. Leaping over parked cars, ducking into alleys. All attempts to lose it from chasing him were for naught. The Sailor Senshi needed his help and Ryouga wasn't reliable enough to be trusted to not get lost until the battle's over. Then, the unthinkable happened. Ranma ran into a dead end, the walls too steep and wet from the earlier rain for him to escape up. The only way out was blocked by.....it. And that's when it charged.