Ranma, Sailor Moon 1. The Best Layed Plans

Ok..first off..this is my first fanfic...that pretty much speaks for it self there. I'm not writing this for reviews..so chance's are I'm not even gonna read them.. Ok..now that's out of the way... Oh and i have no prereader or anything..so anything my spell checker don't catch most likely wont get changed

(update, I ran this through the site's spell checker and am ashamed of myself..that's what happens when you wright at 10 pm after not sleeping for 2 days. Anyway I have *Hopefully* fixed all the spelling errors so this should be somewhat easier to read now.)

Disclaimer: All characters, places, and plot points NOT created by me are copyright there respective owners..also I'm dead poor so suing me won't get you much anyway.

_thoughts_

"speech"

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Chapter 1. The Best Lay'ed Plans

Ranma Saotome...to most that name meant nothing. To others it was the name of the bane of there existence and/or happiness..usually both. To a few it meant a fiance. To fewer still a friend. But to one person...it meant everything, after all..it was *his* after all. But to all who knew him it did NOT apply to what it did now..a small girl..looking about 6 to 7 years of age..wearing a simple dress..standing in a forest clearing..her head tilted to the night sky..the rain falling from overhead making it imposable to tell if she was crying on sight alone. It was the sniffling that gave that away. As she stood there she reflected on how it had come to that point.

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It had been a normal day in Nerima, if you were a pigtailed martial artist that is. To anyone else it would have been a horrible day. What set this day apart from the others was that evening when a letter addressing Ranma had arrived..it had been at that point where for him the world was winding up to throw him the biggest curve ball of his life.

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_It seemed so simple at first. _Ranma thought. _Help the Musk stop a simple skirmish with the Phoenix tribe over land. I was only meant to show up as a deterrent if they tried to push to hard._

Ranma turned and began to walk out of the clearing, her feet on autopilot as she was lost in the memory. _Feh..if only I'd known..I'd have never have agreed to help..god..it was 3 weeks ago..yet the memory is still as fresh as if I was still in the middle of things..._

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"YO! Herb!" shouted Ranma as he neared the tent housing the command center for the Musk.

The dragon prince glanced up as he approached..it was only a few seconds..and a lesser person would have never seen anything odd..but Ranma was no lesser person. And, true to habit, spoke the first thing he thought of..lucky for him it was exactly what Herb was hoping he would say.

"Hay man..you alright?...I'd imagine that someone who is about to win would look less glum."

"Normally yes," said Herb, "but that was before new details came to light. Now it's looking more like an annihilation against us then a victory *for* us." Herb finished..his voice both heavy with emotion and yet completely devoid of it at once.

Ranma had been here a week so far..long enough for him to make a few friends, rivals, and unwanted love interests (he avoided these at all costs..after all, the Musk are over 80% populated by males)..and the thought of them being wiped out made him feel enough depression and anger he could have beat both Ryoga and Akane with chi attacks using there own emotions against them.

_Well, I'm here to help..mabey there's something I can do. _"Hay, there has to be something I can do to help..what's the problem?" He said..his ego unknowingly shining through.

Herb sighed before starting to talk, not once looking up from the map on his table.

"The Phoenix managed to get there hands on a very powerful artifact..the Kami's Judgement."

seeing Ranma about to ask the obvious question he cut him off. "Its an object of eminence destructive capabilities. Under normal circumstances it wouldn't be worth noticing however, because such power comes at a high cost. Normally using the Judgement would be like launching a warhead at the enemy that's powered by your own life force. The reason it is never used is that no warlord would willingly sacrifice the number of solders needed to destroy an enemy army of substantial size and any thing smaller then that would be a very expensive overkill."

"Ok I get all that but how does that rate a problem then? If they cant use it then what does it matter they have it?" asked Ranma.

"One reason, Saffron" said Herb.

"Saffron? What's he got to do with this? Last i heard he was a baby again."

"That's just it..even as a mere child he has enough energy to power the artifact. And the fact he will only be reborn right after rather then die means they have the means **AND** the drive to use it"

Ranma was speechless..so many things had hit him in that moment. This first being that the Musk where actually gonna cease to be a people in the not so distant future. Second was that this was in many ways his fault..after all with Saffron unaccended the Phoenix had lost there heat and light..2 things crops need to grow well..meaning a shortage of food. That was why the Phoenix where attacking the Musk lands. And the third?...That he was gonna stop this.

"Hay man..listen..i tell you now..what ever it takes to get this set right I'll do, alright man?"

That was where things went wrong....

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Ranma had be this point wondered into the cave she had been in the last few weeks.

The soles of her feet were blistery and bloody from the rocks in the area.. the shoe's she had been wearing long gone.. the only reason she was still wearing the dress was because she had nothing else to wear. As she set to starting a fire she continued her thoughts on what had happened.

_I should have never agreed to the plan..I should have tried to find a new plan..well..tried harder anyway._ The plan had been rather simple in theory. Disguise himself as a Phoenix, sneak through the mountain, and either steal or destroy the Kami's Judgement. simple. It was the execution that was the hard part.. first was making sure it was impossible for them to guess it was him...so that automatically made him a her. The next part was the wings..by simply pouring some water from the Spring of Drowned White Hawk down her back and bingo, instant Phoenix women. The next part was actually making it possible for her to get *to* the artifact. This was hard due to the fact that it was kept in Saffron's bedroom. Meaning no admittance..so she had to make herself seem so innocent that they wouldn't think twice about letting her in. Lucky(at the time) for Ranma the Musk had some of the age mushrooms they used to make sure there 'beast brides' were the right age.

And the final touch. A splash from the locking ladle and it was complete.

The plan was for Ranma to enter the mountain unnoticed, make her way to Saffron's room, hopefully get in by acting like an adorable 6 year old who only wanted to play, steal or break the target, and get out. After getting out she would be splashed by water from the unlocking kettle and given an age mushroom to restore her back to normal..the only change being the feathery white wings on her back. A good simple plan...but of course, no plan survives contact with the enemy.

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She had managed to get almost all the way to the mountain thanks to Herb using his own energy to keep hers from dropping to match her age. Leaving her with all her abilities, physical, spiritual, and martial. Her only loss being in reach. She had just managed to get to the base of the mountain when the one thing the plan did not take into account happened.

The Phoenix attacked.

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By this time what had been a small pile of wood had become a rather large fire. The orange glow revealing more of her features as she sat at the edge of the fire. Her eyes were a very pretty color of cerulean. Her hair red and at odds with her asian features. Her dress was crimson at the top fading to black towards the bottom. The blue eye-shadow that was there every time she turned into a girl and that never came off..leaving her to wonder if that was the natural color or that part of her face rather then make-up (its true...watch the anime..you'll see). All in all had the been the features of someone in there late teens they would have been very good looking. On a 6 year old however, she mearly hit 'cute' on the looks-o-meter. Or she would have had it not been for the 4 foot wings folded up against her back. She had entered a few towns here and there after having learned to make them vanish for a short while by folding her energy around them in a modified version of Mouse's trick..but they never stayed gone long..and she stopped going after the second town tried to hunt her down thinking she was a demon.

For the hundredth time she cursed the Phoenix..

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The artifact worked just like Herb said it would. What looked to be a large fireball came flying out of the mountain's side to slam into the valley where the Musk were encamped..the impact was so large that Ranma all the way at Phoenix Mountain was shaken to the ground. As she stood there in shock 1 more fireball shot out to slam into the heavily forested area the Musk had there home village in...this time the shock wave sent Ranma's head into a rock knocking her out.

It was dawn when she woke back up. It took several minutes for her to become aware enough to even move..several more after that to have every thing come back to her. At that point she did what she never had let herself do before. She gave into her anger..anger at the life's lost, anger at the Phoenix, anger at the artifact, anger at the creator of the artifact, and most of all anger at herself for failing the Musk.

She moved so fast into the mountain that it was unclear as to whether she was flying or running. She moved with only one thought in her head 'Revenge!' And yet..no mater where she went..what door she opened she was met only with dead Phoenix. Still, she didn't stop until she hit the bedroom Saffron was supposed to be in. And there she found only a large egg. But not golden like it was supposed to be. But a rotten green color. When she touched it's surface it broke under her finger like rice paper and oozed a rotten yoke.

It was this that brought her out of her rage. That Saffron..the Immortal Phoenix..was dead..she could only guess at what had happened. She assumed that after the first attack he had been reduced to an egg. the Phoenix however. in there hurry had tried to used the artifact again assuming that even as an egg he would be able to take the brunt of the power.

They assumed wrong...

Instead it had consumed the limited amount of energy in the egg..then from the rest of the Phoenix. Both those that had used the artifact and those that distanced themselves from it. From the soldier standing at his post to the child in her nest. In the end the Phoenix had killed both the Musk and themselves.

For the first time in her memory, she cried tears both for fallen allies and for the Phoenix innocents that had naught to do with the devastation.

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She was laying on the ground now, sleep was going to come soon.

As she lay there she thought back to the next realization she had had...that the Musk had both the kettle and age mushrooms needed to make her him again. How she had spent a week searching for them both. And the 3 days she spent in a nonstop depression till necessity for water had driven her out of it and into a semi-awake state.

As sleep finally came over her she had one final thought for the night.

_Tomorrow.. it's time to go home._


	2. The Angel and The Princess

Ok here we go..new chapter! woo hoo!!..right..now I'm trying to go fast while i still have my

A) muse

B) free time

C) drive

also I said I wasn't gonna read reviews often..I wasn't lieing but it don't mean i wont...on the subject of my spelling..i suck..lol simple as that.. and got a bad spell checker and too lazy to hunt my dictionary down.. Also while my Ranma memory is all there and good my SM is patchy at best..so somethings may be slightly off or just wrong at some points ok..enough rambling

Disclaimer: Only the plot is mine...and any OC's..all else is copyright there rightful owners..

The Angel and The Princess

She was cold. That was to be expected really..the cargo hold of a jet don't really get a heater after all. As to why she was in the hold and not the passenger area, simple, ever try to get a international airline ticket while in a 6 year old body? After getting away from the security officers that wanted to 'help find her parents' she decided it would be easier to just stowaway in the plane's hold. Easier, but defiantly not her brightest, or warmest, idea. The fact it was Fall in this part of the world made it that much colder.

She was heading back to Nerima. She had been gone for almost a month already and felt she needed some of the insanity to feel at least semi normal again. _Feh..least for a short while anyway..knowing them I won't be there long. Pops'll just rant and rave bout his 'failure of a son', Soun'll weep himself to a dried out husk, Akane will get angry at me of course, Nabiki will find some way to profit off this, and Kasumi..she'll just look on whatever bright side she can find._

_Then after that Ryoga will wander by...and either see this as his chance to defeat me, or have a sudden strike of nobleness and mearly say he cant fight a 'child'. Mouse will attack..that's a given. And the rest?..Who knows.._ Ranma's thoughts were cut off at this point as she felt the plane start to decend. After the plane stopped she managed to sneak out when everyone's back was turned and walkout along with the other passengers.

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The confrontation at the dojo went almost exactly like Ranma had thought it would, save for the fact her wings had appeared midway through trying to convince everyone she was who she said she was. The uproar from that alone took forever to calm down. This followed by everyone and there grandmother showing up (literally in Shampoo's case), and the time it took to tell the story insured it was almost midnight by the time they got around to kicking her out of the dojo until she 'decided to stop playing as a girl and became a man again'.

What floored Ranma the most was that Kasumi, who she had expected at least some help from, had said nothing. Not one word to try to stop them. No oddly enough it was Nabiki his help had come from, tho whether it was from her wanting her around to make yen off of or some other reason was beyond her.

After sneaking back into the dojo and retreving her stuff, she was at a loss as to what to do now.

It would have been hard enough living as a ronin if she was male and 18 still, but a 6 year old ronin girl? Just that thought alone made her shiver. She only had enough yen on her for a few days worth of cheep meals or new set of clothes. Originally she had been planing on getting some of her normally clothes tailored to fit her new body, or buy some in her size, if only to be rid of the dress. Now however it seemed she was stuck with it.

She spent the next 2 days wandering Tokyo, since she had nothing better to do. Most of her time awake was at night, when she was able to let the ki hiding her wings disperse. It was draining to keep it going for too long and she preferred to keep herself in shape in case she needed to fight off anything from a street thug to a rampaging video game machine, hay at this point it wouldn't be that big a shock to see.

She had just entered the Juuben part of the Minato ward when her danger sense started blaring a warning, she jumped off the roof she was on just as what seamed to be a pink ball slammed into the building she had been standing on exploding on contact. After looking around thinking she was under attack she realised that there was what appeared to be a battle happening in the park across the herself for allowing herself to get so lost in thought that she hadn't even noticed she entered the park and began to observe the battle.

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Pluto, aka Setsuna Meiou, scowled as the demon once again dodged her attack. She watched as it flew through the trees and hit a near by building. Hoping that no one was caught in the attack she turned her attention back to the battle at hand. They had been fighting this monster for the past hour and had accomplished nothing more then the destruction of the area. The demon was just too fast, no matter what they tried it was able to move out of the way. Luckily speed was all it had. She was sure that if it had had any ranged attacks or physical strength then they would have fallen long ago. As it was they were about to drop from near physical and magical exhaustion.

As she watched the battle she began to feel as if she was being watched. Looking around however revealed nothing, tho it was difficult to search a ruined park at night in the middle of a battle. Regardless she decided to keep an eye out and her sense's open just in case. She turned the rest of her attention back to the battle at hand just in time to see Venus about to be impaled on the things claws.

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Ranma watched from the branches of a near by tree that had, by some miracle, not been blown up, inflamed, encased in ice, or just simply knocked down. What she saw was what appeared to be 5 teens, 2 young adults, a women, and a young girl, 3 of whom were out cold, and all wearing a different colored fuku like..thing. She wasn't sure **what** to call an outfit like that..it seemed to her to be a kinda cross between an ice skating leotard and a school fuku. This however took a back seat to her mind as she watched them throw around elemental magic like it was the easiest thing in the world..and to her it looked like that may very well be the case for them.

She also noticed that they never once hit the demon. It wasn't a very special kind..mearly a fast demon normally used as cannon fodder known as a Razor Corpse. It utilised long limbs and razor sharp claws to attack its prey. It stood about 8 feet tall and resembled a grey corpse, hairless and with receded eyes. It had dozens of sharp teeth also. However the teeth were a minimal threat as it had a small mouth and would have had a hard time getting them anything still moving. Also, while it had fast but physically weak legs it's arms were the opposite, strong but slow. She knew this because not long before going to aid the Musk he had begun reading on demon types to avoid ever being taken by surprise again.

As she watched the battle it became obvious that the girls where either gonna lose or win by the skin of there teeth. She was debating on whether or not to intervene when the choice was taken from watched as the one in the orange skirt was about to get impaled on the demons claws after being cornered, and came took action.

Jumping from the tree she hit the ground running, managing to get right in front of the demon before the attack hit home. However she had forgotten that she was less then half her original weight and tho she had managed to block the claws the strength behind the attack sent her sprawling.

Getting back up she charged the Razor. The mere fact that the attack had sent her flying only serving to reinforce her need to prove herself.

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Jupiter, aka Makoto Kino, was seeing her parents again. _I wonder if they're waiting for me up there?...Too bad i won't be able to help my friends create Cristal Tokyo, or meet a nice guy, or..._Her thoughts and flashbacks were cut short by the sound of flesh meeting flesh..The fact it wasn't hers letting her know someone had intervened. Looking around she noticed what appeared to be a young girl of about 6 laying on the ground.

Eyes wide at the thought of the girl surely being dead she started toward her, only to stop as she saw the young girl get up. She was uninjured save for what appeared to be a large bruise forming on her left side. Expecting the girl to cry or run she was floored when the girl turned toward the monster and run at it faster then the demon itself was able to move. _My god! She's...she's faster then the demon! And.. what are those white things on her back?_

It was at this point when the girl did some odd little maneuver that sent the demon flying a good 20 feet. It half backfired tho because the creature managed to slash her across her right arm, the motion sending the girl heading for a large tree. Once again she began to run to the girl, only to again stop as the white things unfurled from her back revealing a rather large wingspan. _They're wings!? What is this girl?..She looks almost like an angel..could she really be...?_

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Mercury, aka Amy Mizuno, stared in shock, not at the displays being fed to her visor from the Mercury computer's scanner, which in themselves would have been enough to render the same expression, but at the young girl who was single handedly taking on the demon and winning. Her shock turned to amazement at the sight of the girls wing's. Ever the scholar the back of her mind placed her wingspan to about 8 feet. She was almost drooling at the thought of getting a closer look at the girl. She shook her head as she barley overcome a sudden urge to cry 'guinea pig'.

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In a large lab hidden in a storage closet a red-haired scientist suddenly had a violent sneezing fit, causing her to over pour the chemical she was using, thus blowing up yet another portion of her lab.

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Saturn, aka Hotaru Tomoe, almost dropped her glave at seeing a girl even younger then her winning against the demon. Behind her were the unconscious forms of Mars, aka Rei Hino,

Venus, aka Minako Aino, and Uranus, aka Haruka Tenoh. She was standing there in order to guard them while waiting for Tuxedo Mask, aka Mamoru Chiba, to return to evac them out of the area. He had already taken Chibi Moon, aka Chibi-Usa, to safety when it became apparent this was gonna end badly for them. When the girl's wings became apparent she was struck with a since of hope, after all her was a girl that seemed to be good and probably won't think she's a freak. She hoped she would be able to make friends with her after the fight.

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Neptune, aka Michiru Kaioh, was exhausted and hurt. She was shocked when a child had jumped into the battle, floored when she started winning, and finally gave into exhaustion and passed out when the girl unfurled her wings. After all, it was ok to pass out when you started to hallucinate right?

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Pluto wasn't shocked, she wasn't speechless or anything else. She **was** surprised however, she had seen winged people before after all, but the last time she had had been over 750 years ago.

She wanted awnsers of course, but resolved to get them after the battle was over...Hopefully through less violent means..after all they were down 3, _No wait, there goes Michiru,_ 4, members, and this girl was apparently very powerful and skilled. No, best to move along non violent means, she did after all have an all-knowing reputation to keep.

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Moon, aka Princess Serenity, aka Usagi Tsukino, was in awe. An angel! A real life angel! True when she pictured angels they were usually beautiful grown woman, not cute 6 year olds, but in the end she was an angel and that's all that mattered at the moment.

Not long after, the girl trounced the demon, tho looking very beat up in the process. Seeing the angel standing there she launched the Moon Spiral Heart Attack, not having enough energy left for anything greater. It proved to be enough however, as the demon seamed to explode in a shower of dark red glowing lights before fading into nothing.

After the demon had been defeated she then proceeded to do what she had been waiting to do since the girl's wings appeared. She glomped her.

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Ranma was tough, Ranma was strong, but being glomped while your ribs are bruised, along with several smaller bruises would make anyone cry out in pain. Luckily the scream made the odd girl let go "Jeez girl, whata ya try'in to do? Squeeze me in half?" she said.

The girl started to sniffle "I..I'm sorry! I didn't think about you being hurt!! Are..are you ok now?"

Now while Ranma may have been changed a lot by now there was still a lot of old Ranma in there. And one thing that hadn't changed was that she hated seeing a girl cry because of her.

"Hay hay!! It's alright! See! Look! I'm fine, no harm done. Ok?" she said, trying to keep her from crying.

It was like hitting a light switch. One second the girl's about to start wailing and the next she's once more encasing Ranma in a hug, albeit a much less painful one. "Yay! That's good I was hopeingthatyouwereokbythewaywhatsyournameI'mSailorMoonandthosearemyfriendsbackthere andarethosewingsrealareyouanangeland..." It was at this point she found a hand over her mouth.

"Whoe..slow down for a second, your who and I'm what now?", said Ranma, taking her hand off of the odd girls mouth.

"Um..I said: I'm Sailor Moon and these are my friends. Whats your name little angel?" said Sailor Moon, trying to sound mature, her normal speech having been lost beneath the wave of embarrassment at having been quieted by a child.

"Angel? I'm not an angel...What makes ya think that?"

"Huh? But you have wings just like an angel and you flew and stuff..And you were so fast and strong and.." again she was cut off, this time however by the arrival the girl in the blue skirt. Said girl wasted no time in poking and prodding Ranma's wings, trying to stretch them out and scanning them with her computer, all the while shooting her with questions like, "Are they real? How fast can you fly? Were you born like this? Can i have a feather? How do you keep them hidden?"

Ranma was getting rather nervous by this point, it was almost like when her wings came out in Harajuku, boy was **that** a time she wanted to forget...

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Saturn could see that the girl was getting nervous but was unsure what to do to help. She looked up to Neptune, who had regained consciousness by now, and Pluto whom she was standing next to. "Neptune-mama, can you think of some way to get her out of that?" She said as she saw Jupiter join in pestering the poor girl. "She looks like she's bout to run away."

Neptune looked down at her pseudo-daughter and came up with a quick plan of action. Looking closely at the girl she could see she was in bad shape, and not just from the battle. She was filthy and wearing no shoes, the girls hair was a mess and coming out of its pigtail, her wings were almost gray with dust and dirt and every so often the girl would place her hand over her stomach. Conclusion: she was either A) Homeless or B) Lost. She was gonna assume A) as she was sure if a 6 year old girl was lost long enough to get as dirty as she was surely she would have been found y an officer or something.

Walking forward she said "You 3 should feel ashamed. Look at you..she is only a small girl and yet here you are poking and prodding her and hitting her with questions." She felt slightly guilty after saying this to her princess but squashed that thought. Moon was her leader and she would follow her loyally. But she would also try to guide her to being a true princess, as she felt was part of being her vassal.

Seeing the 3 step back she walked foward to the girl and knelt down to get to eye level. The girl was about to start running but stopped when she spoke. "Please wait. I'm sorry about what just happened but you must admit its not everyday one meets a girl with wings. I'm Neptune, whats your name?"

"I'm Ranma, sorry bout this."

"What are you sorry for?"

"Simple, because of me you got on to them. So it's my fault."

"What do you mean? It was there fault for crowding you, not yours."

"Huh? But that's not how it goes. Something happens, someone gets in trouble and it's always my fault somehow." Ranma said. swaying a little on her feet. _Man I'm so hungry. and i just used up the last of my cash as well. I need food. And I ain't slept in days..._

"I don't understand. How is it always your fault? do you try to do things on purpose?" _This is odd. Why does she thing everything is her fault?_ She could see her sway a bit on her feet. _She must be tired. She did just practically kill that demon singlehandedly._

"That's how its always been. Everything is my fault. Everyone always says so. S'one of the reasons I'm able to fight so well. Always getting attacked by people tryin to kill me and stuff.."

She trailed off at this point, swaying a bit before finally passing out.

Neptune caught her just as she started to fall. _Kill her?!?!? And always being blamed? And it's always like this? When I find the people responsible for this I wont even bother to us an attack. Just ram the mirror itself up there ass. _Neptune thought.

"What's wrong with her?" She looked back to see the others with worried looks on there face's..Pluto, however, was no where to be seen. She looked down at the girl sleeping in her arms before straighting up. "She's exhausted, injured, and if my guess is correct, starving. It's a wonder she lasted as long as she did."

"What do we do with her now? We can't take her to the police station or a hospital. With those wings they'd have her strapped to an autopsy table almost before we got out the door. And we can't just leave her here either." said Jupiter.

Neptune was about to speak when she felt a tug on her skirt. Looking down she saw Saturn. "How about we just take her home with us? If we can't take her anywhere else then there isn't much we can do about it mama" _Plus, _Saturn thought, _hopefully it will give me some time to talk to her._

Neptune tried to come up with some argument against it, but 2 things stopped her. The first being the maternal instinct that she had developed while caring for Hotaru. And the second being that there was no way she could deny the Saturn's pure and simple logic.

Taking a deep breath she said "You have a point. But we gotta think of a way to keep are secret identities well...a secret. We'll think of something on the way." Looking around for Uranus and not seeing her or the others that had been knocked out and not seeing them she assumed Pluto must have ported them to their homes already. "Speaking of homes by the way, don't you all need to be getting back to yours?"

It was then she was greeted by the sight of 3 senshi running off at high speed. "If only they had been that fast in the battle..." She muttered as a rather large sweat drop made its way down the back of her head. Turning to Saturn she said "Come on, we need to get home ourselves, and get her into a bed..after a wash" And with that Neptune and Saturn left.

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Author's Note's Ok wow this was a hard chapter to write. I actually rewrote a good part of this about 3 times...its still not how i like...but as i get better I'll try and comeback and make it a bit smoother..also i deliberatly left out the whole dojo sceen. it sucked. so instead im gonna tell it in a flashback or something..anyway now for a fun fact!! I almost had Ranma being taken to Makoto's apartment. I had a whole storyline in my head for that where she was kinda like a psuedo little sister but after spinning it so many ways in my head i just couldn't find a way to make it work and yet keep Ranma well..Ranma.


	3. When You Bring Someone Home

Disclaimer: ok you know the drill by now

When You Bring Someone Home, Let The Others Know

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Pain, all over. That's what Ranma was feeling when she woke up. That and a lot of hunger. _Arge, I'm so sore, and starving...un..What to do..get up and go search for food or stay in bed....WAIT! BED?!?!? _Bolting upright she quickly looked around to see that she was in a bedroom. The room itself was plain. There were no pictures or decorations of any kind, The only furnishings being the small bed she was on and a chair in the corner. Taking a few moments to try to figure out **why** she was in the room and sore all over she immediately hit the wrong conclusion. After a good 5 minutes of panicking she realised she smelt all wrong for that. She was far to clean. As for how she knew that, it can best be said that Ranma's father was lazy. So lazy in fact, that he left his sex education up to 4 women in a brothel just outside of Beijing. Inwardly cursing her old man she looked down. That was when she noticed the pajamas she was wearing. They were purple without any images on them.

Deciding that the best way to find out where she was and what was going on would be to get up, she did just that. After some light stretching to help relieve some of the stiffness in her limbs she opened the door to the bedroom into a hallway. After a bit of searching for the bathroom, during which she found a room with multiple lamps in it, she managed to find it. Forgetting to actually check if anyone was in the bathroom she went ahead and entered.

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Michiru was just finishing up cleaning the breakfast dishes when she heard Haruka scream. Dashing up stairs to the bathroom she was awarded with seeing Ranma cowering in a corner with Haruka standing near the toilet..with her pants down. She couldn't help it, she tried to stop it she really did, but it was like holding back a herd of elephants with a banana. Michiru, elegant violinist, defender of love and justice, and lover to Haruka gave in. She fell to the floor and started laughing.

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To say Haruka was confused was like saying getting hit in the head with a metal shower head hurt a bit. She had gone through her morning like usual, wake up, shower, have breakfast with Michiru, Hotaru dashing by after grabbing a piece of toast because she was late for class was odd but not unheard of, and Michiru planning on staying home was again, nothing new, so she to decided to stay. What **was** unusual was having a 6 year old girl wearing Hotaru's old pajamas walk in on her while she was on the toilet. It just got more confusing from there. After she screaming out in shock she noticed the girl had huddled into a corner. Before she could ask the girl anything Michiru had burst in and fallen to the ground laughing. That right there made her think that maybe..just maybe she had fallen asleep on the toilet...as this was too odd to be real...It was a bit drafty too come to think of it.

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After managing to gain control over her laughter she looked to see Ranma still huddled in the corner and to see Haruka standing there, her pants still on the floor, with a glazed look in her eyes. Deciding to kill 2 birds with one stone she walked to Ranma, giving her lover a nice smack to get her back to her senses as she passed her. Gathering the girl in her arms she was surprised when she wiggled out and jumped away from her.

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Ranma was close to a panic attack. First she had woken up in a strange bed, in a strange house, wearing pajamas that weren't hers. Then after walking in on a women in the bathroom said women screamed and stood up. Knowing that this was the part where she was gonna be hit she had attempted to escape but had backed into a corner instead. Giving into the 6 year old tendencies her new body had she had curled up on the floor and awaited the hit she know was to come. Instead she suddenly found herself in someones arms. After a brief struggle she managed to escape. That's when she finally got a good look at the people in the room.

The closest person to her was a young woman with hair the color of the sea..hard to place as either a blue or a green. She was still kneeling down and had a hurt look on her face which was oddly flushed. The other person in the room was a rather masculine blond woman pulling her pants up. Not to say she was un-feminine but just she gave off male vibes. She seemed to still be slightly shocked and almost as confused as she herself was. Gathering her wits about her she asked the one questions she had had since she had woken up. "Who are you? Where am I? And why didn't she hit me?" she asked, the last with a finger pointed to the blond.

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Michiru had to think fast..she had already figured out what had had not been able to tell Haruka about the house guest last night and it had slipped her mind to do so this morning. Ranma must have woken up and was confused as to where she was. She figured the girl must have entered the bathroom while looking around the house. Haruka had been surprised and screamed out, and Ranma must have misinterpreted it as being a scream of anger..thus the state she was in when she got to the bathroom. Now however the girl wanted answers, and she doubted the normal 'dodge or redirect a child's unwanted questions' would work on her. She decided on a course of action right then. "Ranma.."

"How do you know my name?"

"If you let me talk I'll explain." she said in a slightly scolding tone.

"S'rry.."

"It's alright..perfectly understandable in your position. Well I for one don't feel like talking in the bathroom so what you say we head down to the kitchen and I'll get you some food while we talk."

With out even knowing what she had done she had made an instant friend in Ranma with the magic word 'food'. It took her a few seconds to realise she was staring at a spot on the floor and not Ranma. Making her way to the dining room with Haruka in tow she spotted her sitting at the table. When she entered the girl turned to look at her with a sad yet cute look. The kind that said 'You'll feed me because I'm so cute it would be a crime not to'.

"You must be hungrier then i thought..wait here a second, I'll grab something for you to eat."

with that she went into the kitchen.

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Haruka watched as her lover left the room...To be more specific she watched her lovers ass wiggle as said ass left the room. After burning that to memory she turned to the young girl sitting at the table drooling in the direction of the kitchen. _Wow she must be starving..she's leaving a puddle._ Clearing her throat she managed to get the girls attention. "So..Ranma was it?" Seeing the girl nod while still keeping the kitchen door in her sights she continued on. "So i gather you don't know why your here either?"

"No"

"I see..guess we'll just have to wait for.." She cut off as Michiru walked back in with a bowl of rice, a glass of orange juice, and some fruit. "Sorry it's not much but we had just finished breakfast before you woke up" Michiru sat down next to Ranma, and noticed that the rice, juice, and fruit were already gone. _She must have been starving when we met last night._ "So i guess you want those question answered now..I'll start with the first one. My name is Michiru Kaiou, and she's Haruka Tenoh ok?"

"Well that tells me your names..but that's all I know now"

Haruka's evaluation of the young girl rise somewhat at her remark. She was obviously smarter then she looked.

"Well there's not much to us really..I used to play the violin at concerts and Haruka used to be a racer. We go to high school still. As for where you are this is our home. We live here with 2 others who aren't here right now. Hotaru, the youngest, is at school and Setsuna is off doing Setsuna things." Haruka almost choked at that one..Setsuna things?

"Oh..well that's better..least know I know where I am and who I'm with. Still dun tell me **how** i got here tho..or why."

Haruka wanted to know this herself and turned her attention back to the conversation at hand, rather then what 'Setsuna things' might consist of. Apparently Michiru had anticipated this question and didn't even blink. At this point she decided she needed more coffee and got up to go get some. After all should would be able to hear in the kitchen. She got up...

"Simple, you expended too much energy killing that demon terrorizing the area, that combined with your lack of food and apparent lack off sleep made you passout. Neptune carried you here and I got you cleaned up and in to bed."

...Only to crash painfully into the floor.

"Wait..a demon..i don't remember much before waking up this morning. I remember stopping to watch a fight in the park..and i can match names to some of the girls fighting..Like the name Moon and stuff..but after that its hazy."

"Well you did take a blow to the head some time in the fight..I found the bump getting you clean.

That could by why."

"I guess so.." Any further questions were forestalled as Pluto materialized right next to Ranma. "Uranus, Neptune there's a..." At that point several things happened in rapid succession. Haruka, seeing the person most concerned with keeping there identities secret blow it, decided to glomp the floor again. Michiru simply slapped a hand to cover her face. Ranma yelped and dove under the table. And Setsuna blinked, a lot, as the realization of what she had done popped into her head.

"Um..oops?"

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Author's Note's Ok its a shortish chapter. But i never ment it to be to long..just Ranma getting some answers while giving a good amount of needed funny to the fic..after the painful to write 2nd chapter i went ahead and did this one so that i had a felt i had posted something good.

Fun fact! During the spell checking and editing i almost missed where i erred the spell checker! the part "Now however the girl wanted answers..." almost became "Now however the girl wanted anuses.." lol


	4. Demon Ball Anyone?

First off..any stupidity from this chapter i blame on my box of Cheese-its...oh so good...*drool*

Disclaimer: Neither Ranma 1/2 or Sailor Moon are mine...the plot however is..MWHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHA

Demon Ball Anyone?

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Punch, duck, kick, spin, jump kick, jab. Ranma was running through a basic kata in the backyard of the house. After Pluto, whom she was sure at this point was the Setsuna that supposedly lived there, had ported in, she had put 2 and 2 together and got a rough 4. Apparently the same 2 women she had talked to were Uranus and Neptune. She assumed that Haruka was Uranus, she had not met her, but Pluto had said Uranus so she went with that. Michiru had to be Neptune then, after all they HAD met and now that it was brought up she could put her face to Neptune's body, something that had eluded her before.

By this point she had released her wings from the energy that help them back. She had learned long ago that when she slept the wings disappeared. Most likely to avoid injuring them. Jusenkyo may like to embarrass you but tried to keep the curse's host from injury because of it. During the day however they would pop right back out unless she expended energy to hold them in. She had ruined all the old clothes that he had taken with him to China because of that. It was why she had only had the dress. However after 3 weeks of work she had made it an instinctive thing to have the energy built up before waking and keeping it there. That's why she hadn't exploded out of the pajamas..which she was still wearing. She had removed the shirt to keep it from damage however, the bandages around her chest had been an unnoticed surprise and helped her keep her covered. She had actually asked about her old dress, after all she had been wearing it for a month or so and it had taken the familiarity of her old outfit. However that same amount of use plus the damage it sustained in battle, including the damage from putting out her wings which destroyed the back, had rendered it unsuitable for anything other then as a rag. She resolved to find a way to get a new one when Michiru got back.

Ranma was alone in the house, Michiru and Haruka leaving with Pluto to go fight something. Ranma had of course wanted to go along, but being in no condition to fight kinda threw a damper on that. So she had come out here in order to try and work her wings more fully into her fighting style. She couldn't figure out how to fly. She could glide so she knew the wings could support her weight. But every time she tried to fly she'd just start to plummet. She was missing something important, that was obvious, but could figure out what. So instead she was trying to find new ways to use them. She was in the middle or testing out an idea she got from Ryoga's bandanna attack, infusing ki into a feather and throwing it like a kuni, when she heard a rumbling a short distance away.

She started to run toward it, completely forgetting her winged shirtless state, then doubled back to grab the communicator Michiru had left in case she needed help, then started toward it again. It was coming from a nearby empty lot. Reaching the lot she saw what looked to be a dark red disk floating in mid-air. It seamed completely flat. A walk around revealed this to her. Looking at it from the front or back showed the surface rippled like water. She was about to throw a stick or something at it to see what happened when she heard, and felt this time, another, stronger, rumble. It seamed to be coming from the portal itself. Unsure what to do she fingered the communicator. She really didn't want to be seen with at, it was just to girly for her tastes..which usually followed the masculine side. It should be noted here that she conveniently looked over the fact she had been planing on replacing her dress and that she was a 6 year old girl now...no one would care.

Her thoughts were cut short as what appeared to be some sort of large ball rolled through the disk, now revealed to be a portal. It was about 5 feet tall and covered in armored plates. After a few seconds the ball opened up armadillo style to reveal a demon. It stood a little under 8 feet hunched over. The plates formed a heavily armored back. It had short arms ending in 3 fingers, each with a small claw. It's legs to were stubby as well. It had a extended snout filled with teeth and beady eyes. Two pointed ears and a short tail completed its anatomy. The demon flesh was colored an off purple while its plates were a greenish tan. All in all it resembled a rather large, sick, vicious, two legged armadillo.

Ranma was re-evaluating her stance on using a pink compact to call help...

With a roar that sounded more like it came from a dinosaur from the past then an 8 foot armadillo it curled into a ball and charged....

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_That was too easy._ Thought Venus.. They had been fighting another of those corpse demons and losing, badly, when the outers minus Saturn showed up, including a rather red faced Pluto.

After that however the demon seamed to actually give up. It was downed in about 15 minutes.

While the other inner senshi were celebrating their victory, the outers had been shooting pointed looks at Pluto..who only seemed to get more red.

They were just about to leave when Mercury's communicator went off. "Hay Neptune, why is your communicator calling mine?"

"Let me see it."

Mercury handed over her communicator to Neptune who immediately opened it and answered the call. They were shocked to see the girl from the night before on the screen. "Neptune why does she have your communicator?!" Asked Luna, who had by this time showed up on Moon's shoulder.

"Blame Pluto." was all she said. It was then they were rewarded with the sight of Pluto banging her head against a tree and muttering stupid over and over again.

"Hay is this thing on?" They heard from the communicator. Looking at it they say Ranma wasn't even looking at it but at something off screen. "Hello?! I need a bit of help here!" She said with more then a bit of urgency in her voice.

"Ranma whats going on?" Neptune asked.

"Michiru? Glad someone hears me. I'm in an empty lot near..", she paused as she seamed to jump to the side, causing her to drop the communicator. Picking it back up she continued, "I'm near the house at an empty lot and shit!" The screen turned to static as once again Ranma dodged some off screen opponent. However this time it seemed the communicator had gotten hit as the static in the screen and the inability to call it indicated.

"What was that about? And how does Ranma know your name and have your communicator?" Asked Moon, her princess personality shining through.

"Sorry princess but no time to explain. Ranma's in trouble. Follow me I know where that lot is."

With that the senshi took off with Neptune in the lead.

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_Shit! There goes the compact phone. _Thought Ranma as she continued to dodge the demonic dam thing's shell absorbed anything she throw at it. The only way she could think to hurt it would be to attack the inside..but for the life of her had no idea how to do that. She had been reduced to dodging for her life, literally, when the thing had curled up into a tighter ball. She didn't thing much of it at first till she noticed the edges of its plates sticking up, making it a round buzz saw.

_I don't think i can last much longer. My whole body feels like its on fire. I'm still sore from last night, plus my ribs are still bruised, and this is pushing my body._ She was kneeling on the ground facing the demon. Sweat was pouring down her face and she couldn't seem to get enough air. The demon took began to charge again. _This is it..I can't move fast enough to get out the way._ Bracing herself for the inevitable she was surprised when instead of being squished she was flying through the air in someones arms. Looking up she saw the face of the girl that she had saved last night. The girl landed on top of a near by building and placed her down on the roof, before turning and joining with the others who she saw on another roof near by.

Striking a pose the one in front, Moon she recalled, spoke.

"Attacking innocent girls is beyond low! We are the Sailor Senshi and in the name of the moon we'll punish you!" The rest of the girls behind her struck another pose.

If Ranma had been standing..and had the energy, she would have face faulted. She just couldn't see herself as an 'innocent girl'. Hearing something behind her she say Michiru and Haruka in there senshi forms behind her. It was Uranus that spoke up. "What's going on here? The enemy doesn't normally attack twice at the same time."

"I don't know..I was outside trying to figure something out and I heard an odd rumbling noise. I found an odd portal here", she gestured to said portal, "and next thing i know that odd armadillo thing came out."

Michiru looked her over and saw that while she was relatively uninjured she was exhausted. Looking over at the battle down below she saw it wasn't going well. They needed her and Uranus' help. "Uranus you go ahead and aid the others. I'll guard Ranma."

Uranus nodded and left to join the battle.

"I don't need no guard. I'm fine..just a bit winded s'all" Ranma said.."You go help the others..I'll be fine."

Neptune was reluctant to leave until she saw Saturn was here. "Saturn! Over here!"

"Yes Neptune-mama?" She said as she leapt up to the roof they were on.

"Saturn can you guard Ranma while i help the others?"

Looking at Ranma she could see that she appeared to be about to collapse. She was a bit startled by this as she had seen her take out that demon last night, but supposed that from her injuries had made this battle a lot harder. "All right mama."

"I already said i don't need no.." This was cut short as the demon smashed in to the building below them. The fact it had done it on its own and not as a result of a missed attack was lost on those on the roof. The girls down below however noticed this.

"This is odd, it only seems to go after us if we get between it and the building..but before it was going right for Ranma..could she be its target?" Mercury muttered to herself. _If that's true then that means that other demon was only a decoy..that settles it..someone is pulling the strings behind them._ She stood a slight distance from the battle..her own attacks not working against the demon and her physical skills, such as they were, were even worse against it. They needed a plan. Looking to the portal she could see it was starting to shrink. Turning to see Saturn ,_When did she get here?, _ manage to hold it off with a silence wall she got an idea. Running up to Saturn she told her of the plan. Saturn looked shocked but agreed to try it.

It was then the rest of the senshi got the shock of there life. Mercury, kind and gentle Mercury, picked up Ranma, who was to shocked at the turn of events to break free, and stood in front of the portal. If that wasn't enough her words would have insured a full on shock.

_I only got one chance at this..hope I'm right._ "Hay ugly!! Over here!! Is this what you want?!" She shouted making sure Ranma was visible.

The demon turned and went straight toward her. As it was about to hit, the others ran forward to get her out the way. However just before she was hit she dove out of the way causing the demon to go right back into the portal. "Saturn now!" she shouted.

Saturn ran in front of the portal and threw up a Silence Wall right in front of the portal right when part of the demon came back out. As she strained to hold the demon back the portal began to close rapidly before finally sealing shut. The part of the demon that was left behind dissolved into nothing.

Mercury know she was gonna catch hell for this. But felt it would be worth it since everyone was safe. Looking down at the girl in her arms she was surprised to see her asleep. Seems the shock made her pass out.

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When Ranma woke up she was in a bed..again. Looking around she saw that she was in the same room as last time. Looking out the window she saw the sun was starting to set. _I hope this won't become a regular thing. Looks like I was out all day._ Getting out of bed she noted she was wearing a new set of pajamas, blue this time. As she walked downstairs she suddenly stopped. She had just realised something. Feeling her back she confirmed that, no, her wings were not out. It was strange as she was expending no energy for them. Had it not been for the fact she could still feel them there, just like when she pulled them in, she would have assumed that they had been removed somehow. Feeling her stomach growl she put the matter out of her head and went down to the living room, this being wear the stairs ended.

Seeing no one there she made her way to the kitchen, hoping to find some food. Getting there she cursed her small body, she couldn't reach the cabinets. Searching the fridge was just as fruitless as there was nothing in there that didn't require cooking save for an apple. Heading back into the living room she spotted a note she hadn't noticed before. Putting the uneaten apple down she picked the note up and noticed it was from Haruka.

**Ranma, me and Michiru went to meet with the others. Seems our leader didn't take to well to Mercury's plan. Anyway we should be home around 7 and then we can finish the talk we were having earlier. Oh and if you see Setsuna tell her the princess wants to talk to her too.**

**P.S. Don't eat the apple.**

After putting down the note Ranma looked to the apple..then the note..apple again...and finally sighed.

After putting the apple back she went into the living room to watch t.v. or something while she waited on the others to show up. A glance at a near by clock showed it to be about 6:05. After a few minutes of looking she spotted the remote and started flicking through channels she stopped at an interesting anime about a half-demon and a school girl.

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Hotaru was upset. First her chance to talk to the girl, Ranma, had been dashed the first time by her passing out. Not that she blamed Ranma, just the circumstance. Then she had showed up late for school because she overslept. When she had managed to get out of class(read, she pleaded sick and got excused to go to the nurse), she ended up being part of Mercury's plan, involving Ranma as bait. Then Ranma had been out again so once again was another chance missed. If that wasn't enough upon returning to class the teacher had found out about her skipping out and had given her detention. After finally getting out of detention and showing up at the shrine she was witness to Usagi scolding Amy, which made her feel a bit better, after all she had used someone she was hoping to make a friend as demon bait. The last shock was at finding out that because of Setsuna's blunder Ranma knew three of their identities and had most likely figured out she would be one too. Looking down she say the cookie that she had been about to eat was crushed into crumbs. Humm..maybe she was more upset then she thought.

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It was actually about 7:15 when the Outers arrived back home. Setsuna was still not around, for a brief moment Michiru wondered where she was but put it out of her mind.

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In a place beyond time and space but also very important to it Pluto was flat off her ass drunk. Not that she had planned it this way. It had started with a bit of wine to calm herself and help ease her embarrassment. It grew to a whole bottle after she started reviewing Ranma's life. By age 6 she had a good buzz going on. By age 10 she was a bit wobbly. By age 15 she could have sworn she saw Elvis. By the end she only had time to think _Wow..to think i thought there was a chance she was an enemy. _This lead to the present where she was passed out.

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Entering the house the Outers went into the living room save Haruka who headed off to the shower. When Michiru and Hotaru entered the living room they saw Ranma laying on the floor watching some odd anime about a boy who married his alien teacher. Hotaru immediately brightened up at this, here was her chance! Michiru took a seat on the couch since Haruka had forgotten the car back at park where the first fight took place as they had roof hopped in there senshi forms both to the second battle and the shrine..in other words the long walk home equaled a tired Michiru.

Sitting down next to Ranma Hotaru leaned over to try and get the girls attention. Startled that someone was next to her, Ranma jumped a bit. This caused Hotaru to giggled a bit. "Hi I'm Hotaru Tomoe nice to meet you."

"I'm Ranma..um..nice too meet you too" Ranma was a bit uneasy..which was to be expected..This was awfully simulier to how Akane introduced herself..and we know how that ended.

Hotaru was a bit surprised in the unease in Ranma's voice. _She doesn't already think I'm a freak does she?_ Still she decided to try anyway. However before she could say anything Ranma was already talking. "So your the one who healed some of my wounds yesterday." she said.

_Oh no here it comes.._

"Thanks for that..from what I remember I would have been out a lot longer. Think you can teach me what you did? I'd be useful in a fight."

"How..How did you figure that out?" Hotaru asked stunned. _How does she already know? She was asleep when i did that. _This had caught Michiru's attention too. It had been nice to see Hotaru trying to make a new friend but this was something she hadn't anticipated.

"Simple..first off i wasn't hurt as bad as i shoulda been, meaning someone healed some of my injuries. The second part was that I felt some energy in my body that wasn't my own, and that had the same feel to it that yours does, which is rolling off you in waves. Those two things say it was you who healed me, which is what i want you to teach me to do."

Both Hotaru and Michiru were stunned, tho for two different reasons. Hotaru because here was someone who wasn't a senshi and not only didn't think she was weird but wanted to learn how Michiru because that was a very intelligent answer for a 6 year old to give. She wondered just how smart this girl was.

"Um..well..that is..I don't know how do it..i just do...you don't think its weird?" Hotaru said.

"No. Should I? It's too bad you cant tell me how to do it..maybe it has to do with you being Saturn?"

Again Hotaru was shocked..this wasn't going at all like she had planed. "What do you mean I'm Saturn?"

"Simple..I only meet Saturn for a bit earlier but it was enough to get a feel for her energy. At first it had just been her that had healed me, but after noticing your energy I can see your the same person."

"So your saying you could tell who any of the senshi are just by meeting them in both forms?" Michiru spoke up. This could be bad news..what if the enemy learned how to do this?...

"No. I only could tell Hotaru because she has so much energy. I won't be able to tell any of the others because there not bleeding energy. Well..except Moon..she was like a fire hose on full." Turning back to Hotaru she said "And I don't think your a freak because of three reasons. The first is your nice. Nice people aren't freaks in my book. and second I have wings in my back and have seen things from old ghouls using wooden cane's as pogo sticks to a giant phoenix that could throw fireballs bigger then a car."

Hotaru was stunned. "And the third reason?"

Ranma smiled. "Third, wanna be friends?"

Hotaru almost had tears of joy as she hugged Ranma..unfortunately squeezing her ribs.

This led to Ranma yelping in pain and Hotaru apologizing a lot, which Ranma just waved off.

Afterward the conversation turned to what Ranma had been watching and stuff. Michiru was both glad Hotaru had made a friend and shocked about what she had heard. _A phoenix that throw car sized fireballs? Just who is this girl?_


	5. An Enemy Revealed

Disclaimer: no..never again..nope. *has water pistol with drowned roach water loaded in it pointed in my face*...um..ok..i don't own Ranma 1/2 or Sailor Moon

An Enemy Revealed

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It had been 1 month, 2 days, and an hour by the clock since Ranma had begun staying at the Outers house, not that anyone was counting. Things had gotten a bit crazy when Setsuna finally came back. The strange women had waited till Ranma was alone in the house to confront her with the fact she knew. Ranma was worried at first..she was really starting to like them after all. But Setsuna had advised her to get it out early to minimize the shock and that she would help keep things calm. She had been reluctant for the first 2 days but finally got the courage to bring it up at dinner the next day. It had been rather instance and for the life of her couldn't remember much of what was said save that it was mostly disbelief rather then anger. Hotaru had been a bit put off by it but quickly smothered that with a pillow. She did a lot of talking, helped along by Setsuna who seemed to have a greater knowledge of his life then she did. That worried her, because it meant that she had a lot more memory missing then she thought, seeing as how Setsuna had admitted that she had only viewed what amounted to a highlight reel of his life rather then a full movie. When asked why only that she said she didn't feel like standing at the gates for 18 years and that even if she did she'd never be able to remember it all.

After they were finally convinced, the questions started. She got the usual questions about what it was like on the road, questions about her curse. Even got a rather in depth question from Hotaru about how he looked. When she got a glazed look in her eyes and started to giggle she backed away a bit. When the questions had finally ended it was nearing midnight. With everyone save Ranma having to go to the school in the morning, tho for Setsuna it was a job, and Michiru seeming to think that because Ranma was in a 6 year old body she needed lots of sleep, everyone had went off to bed.

The rest of the most itself had been rather slow for Ranma other then a few demon attacks. No surprise attacks, unwanted suitors, scheming fathers, or kidnappings...peaceful...and boring. She was fourth tempted to see about entering school just so she could have something to do when she was bored, only a fourth because she really didn't care for school itself, was ronin and thus was not gonna be even able to enter, and lastly because she was physically 6 and really didn't wanna go to elementary. This lead to her current past time, kicking thug ass. It was something he had done before the change and that she found to be even easier to do now.

It was simple. All she had to do was play the _cute innocent and_ _weak_ girl card. Then as she was passing by an ally she would drop a few thousand yen. The thugs not sensing a trap would then drag her into an ally were she would then kick there asses. She supposed that she could just jump them from a rooftop or something but decided it would be as fun. Afterward she would always feel good about herself as she saw it as both cleaning the streets and as a great way to make more spending money. Those thugs tended to carry quite a bit of yen on them. She had already managed to make a good 50000 yen on her way to the ice cream parlor that day.

As she sat there eating her 5 scoop sundae she thought about what the others would say if they knew what she was doing while they were at school. Michiru would probably not like it and try to get her to stop but realize that she wasn't really in danger. Haruka would probably want to watch. Hotaru, who was fast becoming her best friend, would be worried, and Setsuna..would most likely bring up having some sort of secret identity, if only to keep the thugs from tracing her back home.

Home..she'd only been there a week and it already felt more at home then the Tendo's. No getting woke up at the crack of dawn with water either from a bucket or a pond, no getting hit over a simple misunderstanding or because the hitter couldn't stand to have there own faults pointed out to her, no scheming, no surprise weddings or being blamed for every thing under the sun. There was openness and honesty at the outers home. If something happened, rather then shift the blame around they would help each other. Ranma was seeing a real family for the first time, one that wasn't even bound by blood, and he didn't like what she saw. Not to say she haded the outers, what she hated was what it meant for her. It meant she had never actually had a family before. It also threw even more about what his ex-parents had preached. The outers wear a family in ever sense of the word and they didn't try and force their expectations on Hotaru but instead tried to help her in her own endeavors. So much different then Genma, Nodoka, and even Soun, tho to a bit of a lesser extent, who had threw her out, their own child, just because she couldn't marry Akane.

This train of thought led to her curse. Before when she had been locked there had been a cure available, if difficult to obtain, and had always occupied her thoughts and ruled her actions. Now however there was no cure, least none anyone knew about, and she was able to actually live, rather then be running back and forth looking for a cure.

_Feh..cure..I was such an idiot then. What did those cures..well..cure? I would spend all my time and energy looking for a cure just to end up turning into a gender changing freak..maybe that's why I'm not so desperate for one now. I just got tired of trying to keep it a secret..not that that usually lasted long. Tired of all the stares of loathing mixed with disgust that they tried to hide as looks of respect when they caught me looking. And I'm tired of always having to put up the whole "I'm a man!" act..I mean come on..how could I __**not**__ be gender confused? I spend 10 years on the road with minimal contact with people, and have my ex-father going on and on about how girls are weak. Then after i get cursed one of the first things i do is beat the shit out of my pops..followed by beating a village champion..so my whole girls are weak mind set gets thrown into question. Add in that I didn't mind being in my girl body but had absolutely no time to figure out anything about myself tell AFTER i was locked and is it any wonder I don't care bout being male again? I'm still Ranma right? I haven't had my thoughts altered or been trying to act different. I may want to be my actual age but i don't care if I stay a girl. Even if a supposed unlock was given to me I wouldn't take it..I had a month to get used to it before I was made ronin and a month and a half since then. I don't wanna go back to always worrying about what gender I am._

Having by this time finished her ice cream she got up and left the shop. Getting back onto her original thought train of being bored she wondered if Hotaru would get in trouble if she showed up at her class. She decided against it because she was pretty sure she would..and the fact it would be hard to not get caught herself.

The sun was just starting to set as she was walking through the park when she heard a scream from a close group of trees. Running over she saw what looked to be a young women dressed in a white shirt with black skirt and jacket laying on the ground. She began to run over to check if she was alright when her danger sense went off and she instinctively rolled to dodge the ball of green energy that shot from the trees. Jumping back to her feet she looked around while keeping her senses alert trying to find the attacker. Just as she neared the women she heard footsteps behind her causing her to turn. Just as she had finished her turn her sense went off again and she dodged to her right just as the women attacked from behind her. Right as she landed too more green balls shot through the trees at her and she rolled back to dodge them as well. In the brief moment of calm she got a good look at what she had thought was a women and saw she was half right. What she saw was indeed a women but not human, having dropped her disguise. Anyone who was fooled however was to be forgiven, succubi tend to be rather beautiful after all.

Thinking back to the books she had read just for this moment she tried to remimber just how to fight her. _Ok think..succubi live by feeding on the life force of humans during sex. All can fly with their wings but the more powerful ones can fly without them. They have sharp claws and can throw green energy balls..ok that means there is at least 3 here. Ok weak point...um..shit..wait..GOT IT! They're not to fast on the ground but in the air they're extremely fast. I just have to ground them is all._

Dodging another ball she decided the trees would be her best bet, the branches would be able to keep them from flying effectively. Running for the trees she put her hand into the pocket she had sewed into the inner part of her dress for holding the communicator that Ami had given her in case she ran into trouble and so Michiru could have hers back she realised she didn't have it. Cursing herself as she dove into cover she got a look at the other two succubi. They looked almost the same as the third in the middle save for the fact one had green hair, one blue, and one purple. This led her to believe they may be sisters meaning this most likely wont be their first time fighting together.

When the green haired one attacked she was surprised by the sloppiness of the move. Either they were underestimating her or something was going on. They attacked quickly, if sloppy, giving her no change to counter attack. After about 3 minutes of dodging claws and energy balls she realised she was being herded back to the center of the trees and she had no way to stop them. Just as they were entering the clearing again her danger sense went off a bit to late but it was enough as a previously unseen succubus dropped down from a tree behind her and clubbed her on the back of the head knocking her out.

Slowly coming to she relised the following: first was that she had a massive headache. The second wa that she was tied up and the ropes were hot but not burning, as green fire tends to be. Third was she was on the ground. The last thing she noticed was a guy standing infront of her. Wencing as she looked up at the guy she at first thought he was someone about to untie her but relised he just felt **wrong**. He looked to be about 6 feet 5 inches tall, with long black hair and a chiseled face with blue eyes. No matter how wrong he felt anyone, male or female, could only place him in the *_HOT!_* category. Not that it mattered to her at that moment. What mattered at that moment was escape. Before her thoughts on how she was gonna do that got much further he knelt down in front of her he started to speak.

"Well well well, looks who's finally awake. Took you long enough Ranma."

"How'd ya know my name? Just who are ya anyway?"

"Who am I? How silly of me I seem to have forgotten my manners. I am Theodorian van Mishakal in your tongue. My real name is impossible for you to pronounce. And I am known as the 5th demon prince of hell."

True to Ranma's nature she responded with "Theodorian huh?..How bout I just call ya Teddy?"

"Humph..you laugh now..but you won't after you read this." He said as a succubus placed a piece of paper in front of her. Looking around she noticed she was surrounded by demons and berated herself for not noticing. Looking down at the paper she began to read.

_I the signed do hear by willingly give over my first born daughter to one Theodorian van Mishakal, 5th demon prince of Hell, in exchange for my first born son to have the opportunities and abilities to become the worlds greatest martial artist. _

_Signed: Genma Soatome Whitnessed: Nodoka Soatome_

Steering wide eyed at the paper in front of her she failed to hear the demon in front of her laughing. _I..I can't believe this..I mean I'd never believed this of pops even with what he pulled..but mom as well?..How could they make a promise like this?...Those..those assholes! After i get out of this I'm going right back there and beating some sense into BOTH of them. _

Realising something she looked back up at 'Teddy' and spoke. "Hay Teddy..hate to burst your bubble but this promises a first born daughter..and I'm not a born girl." she said with a smug look.

He looked down at her and laughed. "True..but it doesn't specify on what happens if the son was to become a daughter. It's open to my own interpretation and I say it applies here." Seeing her about to speak he quickly continued. "And don't think I follow on whether or not your on the family register..you still have the same blood and thus that marks you as a first born daughter."

Struggling to get free she said "So what are ya gonna do now huh? Drag me through some tunnel or portal to hell?"

"Oh no..I had a much different plan in mind..you see..when I first made this agreement I was planning on only getting a new addition to my harem. But after all that's happened I had a better idea. I have far to many sex slaves as it is, and it would be a horrible waste to use someone of your skills as nothing more then a toy. So now instead of dragging you to Hell with me your going to beg me to let you join me."

"Beg? Forget it..I ain't begging for nothing, and i sure as hell ain't letting you take me to Hell."

"Oh I don't expect you to beg now of course. But you will." Reaching forward with his hand he began to trace something on to her forehead. The glyph he traced on her head was so bright it couldn't be made out. After he was finished however the glow faded leaving behind no sign of anything ever having been traced there. Standing up he turned and began walking into a portal that had appeared while he was tracing on her head. Just as he was about to enter it he turned and drew her communicator from a pocket and threw it toward her, it landing a few feet to her left. Without another word he walked threw the portal followed by the rest of the demons after which the portal closed off.

The pain in her head growing and causing her eyes to blur she managed to wiggle over the the communicator. After a minute or so of trying she managed to get it open and hit the distress button with her tongue before the pain in her head knocked her out.


	6. Behind Her Eyes

The Hospital part was brought on by a sudden need to be depressed..i blame the glass of tea i drank before realizing the soap suds weren't all rinsed out of the glass.

Also a good amount of this chapter was written while listening to "Snakes on a Plane(Bring It)" :P

The title btw is a play on the chapter. Use your own interpretation on whether it applies to the chapter itself or just the end.

Behind Her Eyes...

For most it was a peaceful night in Juuban..save for the screaming coming from a park near the eastern side of the district.

"Hold her down Mars!"

"Dam it Jupiter I'm trying! She's stronger then me you know!"

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"She's about to spike again!"

"Shit!"

In a clearing surrounded by thick trees 9 people can be seen. A closer look reveals that 8 of them are the Sailor Senshi, minus Pluto who had went to find a phone. The 9th appears to be a 6 year old girl who appears to be thrashing about. Holding her down are Jupiter, Uranus, Mars, and Venus, being the physically strongest of the 8 there. Standing next to them are Mercury and Moon, Mercury running diagnostics with her computer and Moon not really sure what to do but there in case she's needed. On either side of them are Neptune and Saturn providing guard in case what ever was responsible showed up again. They had arrived about 5 minutes earlier after receiving a distress call from Ranma only to find her convulsing in the clearing.

****************************************5 mins ago********************************************************

"Guys the signal's coming from those trees over there!" Shouted Mercury who was leading the group with her visor's tracking ability.

Upon entering the clearing they see a figure that can just be recognised as Ranma in the rapidly fading light going through what appeared to be a seizure on the ground. Scattered around her are pieces of rope that seem to be rather charred. Mercury seeing this runs forward shouting "Guys she looks like she's having a seizure! Quick we gotta stop her from convulsing before she hurts herself!" She starts to try and hold Ranma down but gets thrown onto her back by the smaller girl. As Jupiter and 3 others run and each try to hold down a limb, Jupiter trying to hold her head and Uranus taking both legs, She pulls out her computer and starts trying to scan for what ever may be the cause.

Moon, in a not all that often but luckily timed moment of maturity turns and orders Pluto to call an ambulance, the fact Pluto was already leaving to do just that not withstanding. As she turns to ask Mercury just what was happening she hears the blue haired girl gasp and exclaim, "Guys she's giving off demonic energy like a dynamo! Its rising in falling in time but seems to be getting stro...HOLD HER DOWN! THE ENERGY'S ABOUT TO SPIKE!" Just as she shouts this out Ranma's convulsions turn into full blown thrashing.

"Hold her down Mars!"

"Dam it Jupiter I'm trying! She's stronger then me you know!"

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"She's about to spike again!"

"Shit!"

As the energy in Ranma spikes again she thrashes hard enough to throw the girls off of her and flip onto her chest. Before they can get back up and flip her over her convulsions stop.

"Girls it looks like the energy is leveling off.." Before she can finish Ranma's back bends backwards at such an angle that had she not had the flexibility she had it would have shattered. As a scream of pain torn from her throat her wings appear to _**burst**_ from her back as apposed to fading into view like normal. Right before their eyes the wings molt. After the feathers are gone the skin seems to dissolve and the shape of the wing's frame begins to change shape, stopping in a form that resembled 3 straight bones forming an arch. From the tip of the wing to a point just above her butt grows a transparent reddish black, as apposed to dark red, membrane. Just as the wings have finished there horrific transformation Ranma's screams stop and she just collapses to the ground.

Mars, being to only on in a position to see the girls full forehead, was the only one to see a black glyph appear on her forehead. It was a circle inside of a larger one, the larger one having a small spike at each compass point and the inner circle having a longer spike at each diagonal that intercepted the outer circle at the center and stopped at the same distance from the outed circle as the smaller ones did. It *almost* resembled a senshi mark but just gave off a complete feeling of _wrongness_. It faded away when the girl collapsed and she resolved to find out just what that symbol meant.

As they watched the girls wings...folded was the best way to describe it...back into her back.

In the distance sirens could be heard.

************************************************Usagi*******************************************************

Beep...beep...beep. The EKG in the background was all that broke the silence in the hospital room. It was almost 6 in the morning but no one cared. They were too busy worrying about the girl laying on the hospital bed to think about how tired they were or what time it was. Hotaru and Minako had to be the only ones getting sleep at the moment. Haruka and Setsuna had taken Hotaru home when she started to fall asleep after asking Michiru to contact them if there was a change in Ranma. Minako had fallen asleep in the waiting room and been taken home by her father who had come pick her up. In the room itself only Usagi, Amy and Michiru were there. Makoto had gone to get coffee for her all of them except for Usagi, who only had a soda and sipped at it slowly, a contrast to her normal eating habits. Rai had gone to the shrine right after the ambulance had picked up Ranma and hadn't been by. All she had said was she needed to research something before leaving. Usagi assumed it had something to do with Ranma. Ami seemed to be deep in thought.. her computer setting to her side seemingly forgotten. Michiru was sitting beside Ranma's bed. Usagi had to smile at that in spite of, or maybe because of, the situation. It seemed Ranma was becoming a second daughter to Michiru, even if no one, not even Michiru herself, noticed.

When one thinks of Usagi they think of the lazy glutton with the big heart, and for the most part they'd be right. But she had a deeper side then that when it came to her friends and family. She could see deeper then anyone could give her credit for, and could discover things about them that sometimes even they didn't know. She didn't always know what she was seeing of course, but she still saw it. While one who didn't know her might label Ranma an asshole, even at her age, she saw past the exterior that Ranma showed the world and saw the person inside. A person willing to throw herself in front of a bullet in order to save someones life with no regard to her own safety. She saw how she acted like she had not a care in the world but seemed to carry the weight on her shoulders. A person who looked at the world with eyes that had seen too much in too short a time. She could only remember seeing those eyes on one other person, an old WW2 veteran who had lost use of his legs that she had met in the park once when she was 10 years old. She couldn't understand why such a young girl would have such eyes, but she saw them. And yet, while the man had seemed to have tried to keep people at a distance Ranma tried to turn everyone she met into a friend. For her to be laying in the hospital made her look so weak and frail, and it broke her heart. Getting up from her chair to look out the window she began to cry silent tears for her friend.

***********************************************Ami***********************************************************

Ami was indeed deep in thought. She couldn't figure out how Ranma had suddenly developed such a large amount of demonic energy. She had scanned the clearing and had turned up no matches save for a lingering amount coming from the ropes. She thought that maybe the ropes had bleed their energy into her but discarded that as she hadn't even been touching them the last time the power spiked. Nothing was adding up. Why had the enemy, whoever they were, suddenly go from attacking them to focusing on Ranma? Did she have some sort of connection to the demons? If so what? Where did the demonic energy that even know ran through her body come from? For that matter where did Ranma come from anyway? She never talked much about her past and the only information they had about it was when she told about some funny occurrence or great triumph she had done. Most could be laughed off as a little girls imagination but when said girl could leap higher then them and punch fast enough to get wind burns one started to believe more then they normally would. There were far too many questions and the only person that may be able to answer them was out cold on a hospital bed.

******************************************Makoto************************************************************

Makoto was walking back from the cafeteria with a small tray of coffee. She hadn't know Ranma long but they had become good friends. Maybe not as close as Ranma had with Hotaru but close. She supposed it was some sort of connection with the fact both seemed to be out in the world with no parents. From what she had gathered Ranma's parents were still around, unlike hers, but could barley rate the term. She wasn't sure what would be worse, having no parents or having parents that cared more for there own views and ruling there child's life then supporting it.

Once she had told Ranma that if she ever needed a place to stay outside of the outer's home she was welcome there, it seemed the least she could do at the time. She was also amazed at the skill the girl showed with her fighting abilities. The girl seemed to live for the thrill of a good fight. To pit her skill against that of an equally skilled opponent. But there were times when Makoto was actually afraid of the girl. When a fight started she would always follow the same pattern. She would dodge and taunt the enemy into attacking her and her alone before fighting with just enough skill to hold an enemy back. But there were two times when the enemy hadn't followed the rules to Ranma's little game. Once the demon had gone out of its way to try and harm an innocent and another time it had managed to swat Hotaru in Saturn form a good 20 feet. Those two times Makoto had witnessed Ranma go into what could only be described as controlled rage. She had watched as she had proceeded to utterly decimate the demon. There was no mercy, no quarter given. She had wounded the demons with what seemed to be an almost clinical precision, giving wounds that would cause the most pain while prolonging death.

And both times the ever present smirk that she wore even in battle had vanished as sure as the star's vanished in the daylight sky. Nether of those demons had been sent back, there was nothing left to send by then. And yet, as much as it scared her, as much as it showed a dark side that normally one would never see in the girl, it gave her great relief at the same time. She never once became so savage in a battle when she herself was injured. She didn't even fall into it when the senshi got hurt save Hotaru.

She had worked up the courage to ask her about it about a few days before and had been told that it was not only a martial artists duty to defend those unable to do so themselves but she recently made it her person mission, that she would never let the death of someone be caused by either her action or inaction again. That had struck her hard, for she had revealed that, either on purpose or not, she had blood on her hands. She found it hard to believe that such a young girl could already be stained in such a way, it blow her mind. She concluded that it must have been inadvertently. When asked about it she had grown uncharacteristically cold and refused to talk about it. When asked why she had defended Hotaru in such a way when she had the power to destroy the Earth she had received a unexpected answer. She had expected her to say some thing to the effect of Hotaru being her best friend but had gotten something completely different;

_I protected Hotaru because of that very reason. What good is all the power in the world when you dare not use it? Should I leave her to suffer at the enemy's hands just because she has the power? No..she can't use her power even if she does have it and so to protect her I will use my power in her place in order to keep her safe, to keep anyone safe. Yes she has an attack, and yes she has a wall. But what good is a wall an enemy can go around or attack from behind? What good is an attack that travels along the ground to an enemy that can fly? And even with her powers making her stronger transformed she is still physically weak. So yes she has the power to end it all, and yes she has defences. But when those fail I hope to be there to be her shield and sword. I would be there for anyone in such a situation, even if my own life was forfeit._

Shaking her head a bit to clear her thoughts she opened the door to Ranma's room.

**************************************************Michiru***************************************************

Michiru was sitting in a chair next to Ranma's bed. The girl had been moved to this room only two hours prior from the ICU after the doctors felt there was little risk of another seizure. Looking down at the girl she could only think of how peaceful she seemed. Before when ever the girl was asleep she had seemed like a coiled spring, always alert even when sleeping. Haruka had once threw an eraser at the girl once while she was sleeping and they had been amazed when the girls fist had flown out and pulverised it. She'd been a bit upset at Haruka for that, it was her eraser after all. But now that alertness was gone. It saddened her to think it took a coma for her to find rest. Blinking back tears that threatened to well up she looked over at Usagi standing by the window. At first she thought she looked unconcerned or bored till she say a shining line down her cheek. Warmed by the fact her princess had such a big heart she turned her thoughts back to what had happened and vowed to personally help demolish them. But that was later, right now all she wanted was for Ranma to wake up. Seeing Makoto enter the room with coffee brightened her a bit. Taking the offered cup with a quiet "Thank you" she contemplated on the events of earlier that night.

After the ambulance had arrived they had quickly run off and changed back into their normal forms before running off to the hospital before being intercepted by Setsuna. They had tried to get past but had stopped when she had brought up the point about how they shouldn't even know till after Setsuna herself know and 'told' them. It had been an agonizing 2 minutes. The next 4 hours were a blur of waiting in the waiting room for news and going back and forth between the vending machines, bathroom, and waiting room waiting on news. By the time they were told she was in ICU Hotaru had already fallen asleep and been taken home. She had called home and told Haruka about the move. During this time Usagi's parents and come in to drag her home. She had never seen her stand up to someone so forcefully that wasn't an enemy, telling them in no uncertain terms that there was no way she was leaving till she knew her friend was alright. Her father had tried to argue back but had been stopped by his wife.

Minako had fallen asleep about 30 minutes before Ranma had been moved from ICU to a normal, tho still very close to the ICU, room. Michiru had managed to get her awake enough to get her number from her and call her father to pick her up. She'd probably be made about that but she needed the sleep, she was the one doing a lot of the pacing.

Looking back at Ranma she realised how close the girl had gotten to her, to all of them. Tho she may act crude and brash at times there was just something that made you like her. Her drive to defend others to her glutton's ways of eating you just like her. She couldn't think of someone doing whatever had been done to her. Looking out the window she could see the first rays of light streaming over the cityscape. Normally she enjoyed a good sunrise but for some reason this one made her feel as if a great shift was to happen this day. Sighing at the thought she leaned back in her chair, maybe a nap would get her thoughts to a less depressing path...

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

Opening her eyes she _**knew**_ something was off but couldn't place it. Sitting up and looking around she realised she was in a hospital. She also noticed Usagi, Michiru, Ami, and Makoto sleeping in chairs around the room. She **knew** she should feel _something_ about that but could seem to grasp why. Swinging her legs over the edge of the bed she jumped off to the floor.

Looking down at herself she saw the hospital gown and diaper the hospital gives patients sometimes. She wondered why she had needed one but dismissed the thought, it wasn't important. She tore it off along with the gown, they were unnecessary. She looked up at the clock on the wall. Almost 2 p.m. It didn't matter. She walked into the bathroom and looked at her reflection in the mirror. Her eyes were purple...not the iris's but the whites were a shifting purple following all the purples in the spectrum, her iris's were black, her pupils were the same as the whites. She supposed it should have been of some sort of significance but didn't care.

Walking back to the room and over to the window. Opening it she stood upon the ledge and exposed her wings. She heard someone running through the hall. Looking she saw the EKG had flatlined, no doubt because she had ripped it off when she got up. It too was unimportant. She jumped from the window just as she heard Usagi shout her name but didn't look back.

She knew her mission, and she was gonna follow it through. Till then all else was unimportant.


	7. Lack of Importance

Ok wow this chapter took awhile to get through. Not much in the way of talking here but i think the actions make up for that..and to those who ask this isn't the last chapter. There's one more left to go. Also i cut the flashback short on purpose. Hard to have a flashback in a fight after all... If i can find a spot for it i'll have it in the last chapter..or i may leave it as one of those "what you imagine is better then what i can write" kinda things...depends on how things work out.

Lack of Importance

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

It was several hours later when she entered Nerima. She was clothed in a red leotard with black designs on it. It was all she was wearing. While she didn't feel being clothed was all that important it would allow her to complete her mission with out harassment from law enforcement about being naked. Her mission was of the most importance to her, until it was completed nothing was important. She walked down the street knowing her destination like the back of her hand. He was here..the man who had made her life hell..she'd relived it all in her sleep, relived it as she walked. She heard a voice telling her when he was gone it would end.

She walked casually yet seemed to flicker in and out of view of the street lights. The few people she passed felt as if the devil itself had walked beside them, yet saw nothing when they turned to look save a small girl. The full moon was completely exposed in the cloudless sky as she hopped over the wall to a familiar compound. Looking around she noticed she could almost _see_ smells.._feel_ noises. She pushed the hows and whys out of her mind, they held no importance save it made her mission easier. She knew she had to be quick. She was being followed even if the pursuers didn't actually know where she was. She was hunted.

She entered through the front door with the key she knew was hidden in the eve of the porch.

She moved silently through the house, pausing at a particular door. She shook her head, it too, was unimportant. She arrived in front of an unmarked sliding door and pushed it open. She made her way to a large lump on the floor, dark energy swirling around her fingers. She almost paused before that also was shoved away. Leaping forward with an agility inconstant with her small body she slashed forward with her dark energy claws cutting deep and drawing.....fluff...

Looking at her 'target' she saw it was nothing more then a stuffed animal. Snarling she turned to check the rest of the house when she heard movement coming from the lower floor. Crawling out the window she landed silently on the front lawn just in time to almost be overloaded by the strong smell of alcohol. Following the virtually glowing trail the the front door and into the living room she beheld her target. She crouched and began to sneak froward. Once the target was gone the nightmare would stop, it had to stop, and she only got one good chance.

Her prey seemed to have either much more skill then she knew or a lot of luck. Either way before she had moved into position to strike they had turned around. Knowing she had been spotted she lunged forward. Before she had even left the ground she knew she had messed up. Instead of rending the target like she planned they had time to roll to the side and avoid her. Seeing that the adrenaline rush had erased her targets inebriation she knew she would have a hard fight ahead of her. Hearing a lot of movement and loud cursing she knew her ill-fated lunge had woken the rest of the household. Needing more room to maneuver she bounded out of the room and to the yard via the porch opening. The entire time from losing the advantage to moving outside took only 6 seconds.

Landing outside she attempted to blend into the shadows. She knew normally she would have looked down on someone how fought like such as cowardly but that to was unimportant in the face of her mission. Listening in to the conversation that had started up inside she waited.

"Genma! What is going on down here? Whats with the noise?"

"Yea seriously. I banged my toe on a barbell running down thinking there was a problem!"

"Something attacked me! I walked in the house and felt something behind me so I turned and when I did something lunged at me. I managed to dodge and it ran outside!"

"I wonder if it's still out there?"

"Well Genma since it seems your the one it wants you go check"

A fat balding man is thrown out the door and several locks are heard behind him. Several faces appear in the windows. Deciding the best chance to kill her target was now even with witnesses Ranma walked from her hiding place, her wings unfolding through the drop in the back of the leotard and her nearly solid purple eyes taking on an eerie glow that even lit up her cheeks. She knew she had lost the advantage of surprise and decided to try and unsettle her opponent.

The sounds of her foot steps alerted Genma to her presence. It didn't matter if he knew she was there or not anymore, she had to kill him all the same. The nightmares continued to play behind her eyes and she knew he was responsible for them. Images of running from wolves. Images of the tigers Genma had once attempted to use to 'cure' his neko-ken. Images angry villages and mobs holding weapons. Caves he was barricaded in to train his survival. Sleepless nights and hunger filled days. Memories repressed floated to the surface of her mind all accompanied by the laughter and feeling of wrongness the demon prince had conveyed. She had to kill him..if only to stop the nightmares.

Genma turned to face the footsteps only to nearly fall on his ass as he saw what was there. A demon..with leathery wings spread wide and eyes so beautiful as to put the best gems to shame, but equal to there beauty in the horror they invoked. Black energy seemed to obscure her fingertips and her unbound hair was so coated as to appear jet black, only short flashes of red betraying it's true color. But he could have faced this so much easier if the streetlight outside the walls had not cast enough light to show her face. He had only seen it for a few hours, but one can not see the face of ones own offspring, even as changed as it was, and forget so easily.

Had it not been for the seriousness of the situation he would have acted in his true way. To demand on whither or not she had been cured and ready to marry Akane. But where as Genma had many faults, he was not so stupid to not know what was going on...his child was here to kill him. He could see it in her eyes. They never wavered from him, never showed a moment of softness, but remained as hard as diamonds in there intensity, the intent as clear in them as his reflection in a mirror. He wept in his mind. To think it had gotten so bad. It had not been his idea to throw Ranma out. No, that distinction had fallen to Nodoka...he could remember that night clearly..the shock and adrenalin having removed all traces of drunkenness.

******************************************Flashback/Genma's POV*****************************************

Genma was sitting in the living room at the dojo. Normally he'd be playing a game with Soun but today just couldn't muster up the energy. He knew something was wrong and was certain it had to do with Ranma..Ranma, the boy had left around a month ago without telling anyone where he was going, saying it was so he could do what he needed to do unhindered. He knew better..the real reason Ranma didn't want anyone to know was so he could get away from everything for awhile. He had found the letter Ranma had received and was startled to find that he was going to help in a war. To prefer a war over what was going on here..

Genma knew he wasn't a good father. He had tried but always seemed to back slide. When he set those engagements up in exchange for food he had honestly thought that they wouldn't bother looking for him over a few bits of food. He never put Ranma in any actual danger, save the Neko-Ken, and he felt shame and guilt for that when ever his son looked at a cat and ran. Even during the almost suicidal ones Ranma wasn't in any actual danger. When Ranma ran from wolves he was running unseen beside him in case he tripped or wasn't fast enough. When teaching Ranma to fall he always made sure he could catch him if he was gonna fall wrong. Every time he took precautions, but always out of Ranma's view. If the boy thought there was no safe failure he would train harder. His one non-regret in a way was Jusenkyo. He had saw how Ranma was becoming to women and those weaker then him and knew it was mostly his fault. It wasn't the girl insults, those were benign. No it was that he had trained him too well and too far from people. Ranma was winning fights hand over foot and believed he was unbeatable. He had taken a misogynistic point of view and Genma knew he needed to be brought down a few pegs.

That being said Genma didn't plan Jusenkyo. That had been a lucky occurrence. It had shown Ranma that you can't win everything and that there are consequences if you fail. That Ranma had become a girl had only made him happier. Here was the perfect opportunity to get him over his misogynistic ways. It was afterward he remembered the promise to his wife. It also threw a monkey wrench into the clockworks when Ranma got over his don't hit girls mindset but _still_ felt girls were inferior.

A sharp knocking at the front door snapped Genma from his memories. Seeing he was closest to the door he got up and opened it. At first he didn't see anyone but a poking at his belly made him look down. At first he didn't recognise the girl in front of him. She looked to be about 6 or 7. He was about to ask if she was lost when he got a good look at her face. He recognised it immediately. It was the same face he saw during that whole mushroom disaster. What she said next was the clincher.

"You gonna let me in Pop's?" She said, little emotion was in her voice, like the voice of one dead.

Too shocked to say anything he stepped out of the way to allow Ranma to pass into the house before following her into the living room. No one seemed to notice at first save Nabiki, and her only response was to grow rather wide eyed for a sec before narrowing them. Seemed she remembered what child-ranma-chan looked like.

Ranma stood in front of the doorway to the living room seemingly unsure whether or not to go in. Finally making her decision she stepped fully into the room and sat down on one side of the coffee table still not saying anything.

*********************************************Present********************************************************

Genma snapped out of his recollection as he was forced to dodge a clawed strike aimed for his neck. Glancing around he noticed that they were near the koi pond as opposed to near the front gate where they had started. He guessed that he had been fighting on auto during his memory trip. Berating himself for forgetting the fight he upped his speed and power to force Ranma on the defencive.

The Tendos inside were watching this fight with the same attention one gives a train wreck in progress. That is, with both horror and the inability to look away. They assumed (correctly) that it was someone after Genma's head but didn't know who. It was when the attacker's face had been highlighted by a streetlamp positioned outside the gate that the saw just who it was.

At first it had seemed like Ranma was only after beating up her father. But when she started slashing with some kind of black claws they realised that it was bigger then that. It wasn't until Ranma had used her wings to jump a bit higher that they actually noticed them. What had them worried most was that for a good part of the beginning Ganma had a odd look on his face, like he wasn't fully concentrating. After seeing him dodge a blow ment to kill him the tempo of the battle picked up. Soon Genma had Ranma on the defencive.

**************************************Ranma's POV***************************************************

Black claws met ki reinforced blocks. Kicks met with redirects. She wasn't making any headway. She knew she was gonna lose this. Before losing her birth form she would have won hands down. Now however her father's longer reach was a deciding factor. She had her energy still but it was draining to fast. She was having to use it to bring her strength and speed up to match her former abilities leaving non for special attacks. Even then she could do little about her reach. Whenever she tried to get in close she was forced back. She needed her abilities back. Her ki would only last so long before giving out...

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

Inside Ranma's body was a small nexus of darkness that had been growing since being put there by Theodorian's spell. It was, for all matters, a parasite. It's original purpose was to stimulate it's host's bad memories while simultaneously suppressing it's good in an effort to "bring over" someone to darkness. It was meant to cause the target to give in to there darkest desires of revenge or similar. Normally this worked fine. This time however it had been different. Instead of falling into darkness it's host had begun to fall into insanity from the shear number of repressed memories that were drug up. The parasitic darkness had attempted to shut off the memories to prevent further harm to it's host, after all, lose the host and it vanished. It was unable to stop the memories from surfacing and in a last effort shut off most of it's host's emotions. Fear and determination where not able to be shut off due to how much was present but were able to be dulled enough to prevent insanity. This left behind a logical, uncaring, fear capable, fighting machine that had a virtual horror film playing in her head and one goal in mind. Unable to do anything further in this regard it turned back to it's secondary function of providing a link to it's master.

Now however it was feeling it's host need to be stronger. Monitoring it's host memories it found the point in which she was at her peak and began to augment the body to match this point as close as possible. It was unable to change the sex of it's host as it had been limited never to allow such a thing to happen even tho by drawing more power it could have easily over powered the magic holding her host female. It was able to augment her age to a more acceptable level before locking the age down to prevent it from backsliding until it was able to apply it permanently. This whole process took about 3 seconds.

**************************************Mercury's POV*******************************************************

Mercury was leading the way followed by Moon, Jupiter, and Neptune as she traced Ranma's signature on her visor. She had been surprised when Usagi had shaken her awake yelling that Ranma was missing. It had taken her a moment to get Usagi to calm down enough to tell her what happened and a few more moments to unravel the convoluted mess of words a distraught Usagi was able to get out. She had lucked out when she realised she had fallen asleep with the computer monitoring the girl as she had been able to get a reading on her new signature. After calling Artemus and telling him to wake the others after 2 unsuccessful tries they had left the hospital and took off after Ranma.

She was just about to tell the others they were getting close when the visor picked up a large spike in dark energy. Choosing not to waste any breath she picked up her speed and arrived on a rooftop bordering a small private compound. Hearing the others land behind her she looked for the girl. She didn't have to look hard. Standing next to a koi pond facing off against a fat bald man was Ranma. Hearing a soft noise she turned just in time to see Moon leap off the building to land next to the house.

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

It was at this point that all those looking at Ranma became glad they had empty stomachs when her body started to contort. Ranma screamed in pain as her body seemed to _shift_ in slow motion as the unseen darkness started to change in her age. Her body grew taller and the leotard she was wearing ripped off as her body developed it's proportions. Her hair grew out and her wings grew larger even as they streamlined. After around 30 seconds her body stopped changing and she got up from where she had collapsed. She ripped the torn useless leotard shreds from her and they got a good look at her naked glory.

It was obviously an older Ranma but different from her original cursed form. She stood around

5 ft 7 in. and had a figure built more for the runway then a battle, tho no one could deny the toned muscles that flexed as she stood. Her hair reached down to the small of her back and was red with streaks of jet black flowing through it like she had fire and night pouring down her back. Her eyes however were the most startling. Her left eye was it's normal blue but her right had turned a purple so vivid it seemed to glow in the moon light. The tops of her wings now ended over her head but the bottoms stopped near her calves.

Deep inside her the darkness was working to restore the lines it had made in order to control her mind that the age jump had destroyed. It had to act fast before the host broke free and it got ejected. It was also unable to pull more power from it's master and would fade out anyway with out it.

***********************************Ranma POV*************************************************************

Ranma felt pain so great she hoped for anything, even death, to take it away. After what seemed like an eternity the pain finally stopped and she took a few moments to catch her breath before standing. As she stood she noticed she was taller and her balance center was off. Looking down she noticed her new body and for a moment wondered where it came from before banishing the thought. She would deal with it later. Ripping the now useless and tight leotard from her she turned back toward Genma to finish the fight that would now be in her favor. Just as she was about to rush forward she heard a sound she hadn't heard in months.

**"RANMA YOU PERVERT!"**

************************************Moon's POV************************************************************

She had jumped down in order to stop the fight. She didn't know who was winning or losing since she wasn't a martial artist herself but DID know it wouldn't end well as she could _feel_ Ranma's killer intent. She had just hit the ground however when Ranma started to scream and change. When the transformation was down Moon was hit by a sudden wave a jelousy, a feeling shared by all 7 females in the area. The dark energy that had been rolling off her moments ago was now muted but still there.

"No...It's just like Dark Lady all over again..."

Seeing Ranma tense she was just about to jump into the fight to try and stop her when she heard someone scream

**"RANMA YOU PERVERT!"**

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

Akane was furious. How dare Ranma show her up again. Not that she was jealous, nope, not at all. She was furious however at the fact that Ranma was standing naked in the yard. Bringing out her mallet she rushed forward to once again teach Ranma a lesson. Screaming out her normal battle cry she went to bring the mallet down on Ranma's skull when her target moved. Surprised that she had missed she failed to see the fist that sent her into a wall and into dreamland.

Things degenerated from there..

Soun, seeing his daughter get hit, left the safety of the house and rushed toward Ranma just as Genma did. The Senshi had by this time joined with Moon on the ground and the other Senshi not present earlier had finally arrived. All save Saturn moved in to subdue Ranma.

But Ranma was stronger now. Her new body had the reach she had needed along with a much needed reprieve from having to use ki to augment her strength constantly. She moved with the grace of a ballerina and the strength of a tank. Blow sent at her were redirected to other targets. Magic sent her way was effortlessly dodged. Nothing they did seamed to hit but she never seamed to throw a punch.

It was Jupiter that figured it out first. Jumping out of the fight she yelled out "Hit the dirt!!" before grabbing a nearby tree. She had seen this before when Ranma had been fighting multiple demons at once. The Senshi, hearing the warning, jumped from the fight also and grabbed anything latched down. Soun and Genma kept fighting however.

When Ranma reached the middle of her spiral she did the upper cut needed to create the tornado. Soun and Genma were sucked up in the vortex and thrown out of the compound and into the streets. Jumping over the wreckage the tornado had caused she went after them followed by the Senshi. She found them laying in the street unconscious.

Walking over to Genma she raised her hand and formed the black claws she intended to use to gut him like a trout. She stopped her swipe however as Saturn jumped between her and her target and cast a Silence Wall.

The Senshi were shocked at Saturn's move. If she had been a second to late she would have been killed. Seeing the wall start to fade they moved forward to subdue Ranma.

*******************************************Ranma POV******************************************************

She was close. They wall was fading and her target was still. All she had to do was go through the girl in front of her. That would end the nightmares. So why couldn't she do it? It would have been easy. Just one swipe. Why couldn't she just move? What was stopping her?

Unknown to Ranma the darkness in her had run out of energy and was almost totally faded. Her emotions were coming back to her and the logical machine was fading. Soon she'd have them all back. And because of that she was unable to hurt the girl that had become her best friend.

So cought up in her internal debate she didn't notice the Senshi till it was to late, not that she struggled much. Held down by the Senshi she heard Moon shout some spell. As it hit she felt as if a great weight had been removed from her shoulder's. Her emotions came back and the nightmares disappeared. She felt her wings shift from the leathery bat-like wings to the normal feathered kind.

With the Senshi no longer holding her down she stood and looked into a nearby window large enough to show her reflection. Her body hadn't changed from the one that the darkness had given her save the wings had become feathered again. They were black however and she couldn't pull them in.

Turning to the Senshi she saw them tense up but ignored that. Reaching Saturn she knelt down and pulled her into a tight hug. Feeling her hug back she finally let the emotions that had been built up to this point out. After she was done she let go of the girl and stood up. Before anything could be said however they heard a laughing. Turning to the sound they saw a man standing there. Ranma recognised him immediately. She rushed and threw a punch to his face but passed right through him.

"Haha did you really think I would be so arrogant as to use my physical self in front of so many?

Tell me Ranma. Did you like the little gift of darkness I gave you? True it didn't work the way I planned but these things do happen. Too bad it was destroyed by that girl over there but that was only the main part. You'll never be free of it's taint. I eagerly await the day you finally give in to your darker side."

Having said his part the projection of Theodorian vanished. Ranma stared at the spot for awhile before turning and jumping to a nearby room. The Senshi followed her up and saw her about to jump to another.

"Wait!" shouted Saturn.

Turning around Ranma saw her standing near the center of the roof with the Senshi behind her.

"Where are you going? Your not leaving are you?"

Looking at the girl Ranma spoke in a voice that seemed like it had never actually been used. So raspy was it that it seemed like she wasn't so much talking as growling.

"I have to..I have to find him and a way to remove the taint from my soul. It's not good bye forever. I'll come back, you'll see. But for now I have to go."

"But..."

"No buts. It's something I have to do. Because of him I almost killed my ex-father. I almost did a lot of things there I would regret. I'll return when it's over, ok?"

She hugged Saturn to her once more before turning and roof hopping away. The Senshi stood there watching her go while Neptune comforted Saturn.

After all but Moon left she Moon dropped her transformation and stood on the room looking to where Ranma had gone.

"Goodby Ranma..I hope you find what your looking for." Then she too left..by way of fire escape...

"Why did I drop my transformation....?"


End file.
