First off, I'd like to thank everyone who took the time to comment. Really, it means a lot to me.
Lerris, you're right. I did use recounting to shorten the length of this fic, but is that so bad? There is such a thing as being concise. One of the things I've noticed with fanfiction is that the authors rarely make the attempt to keep things short and sweet. Their fics just drag on endlessly. Reading something like that is tedious and boring. Quite frankly, I'm not looking to waste your time here. I'm looking to entertain. After I'm done writing this fic, I might write a prequel (along with the sequel I have planned) but only if it is needed.
If you hang around Hawk's fanfiction forum, then you've already seen most of this. Back then, the title was 'Art of War.' What you see here is simply the polished version of what is posted there. In a few days, I should be able to post the last of what I had prewritten.
By the way, the plot of this story is pretty much set in stone. Everything that comes after that has yet to be determined.
Eclipse: The Dark Side of the Moon.
Chapter 1: Homecoming.
I was told that the Sailor Senshi were all princesses in their past lives, but I didn't believe it until I met them in person. I can't deny that there is something regal about those girls, especially the Outers. They all seem to act with intuitive dignity, without coming across as overbearing. Someone once told me that they behaved like ambassadors, like they were on a diplomatic mission on friendly soil.
Honestly, I find it remarkable to see just how normal they can be when they're not in uniform (and when they don't know they're being watched) but I also think that it makes them particularly unfit for direct combat. As part of the ruling class, they are, by necessity, too preoccupied by the big picture to see the small details, even when they are right in front of them (or hiding behind the drapes).
I'm not saying this out of envy or anything, since there's nothing they have that I want. After meeting Kuno, I can't really feel any particular attraction to nobility. In all my life, I've never wanted compulsory obedience. I'm no leader.
I've never been more than a single man... and sometimes not even that, so maybe it's just that I don't understand.
It was horrifying in a way he'd never contemplated. Standing alone amidst the battered husks of modern buildings and on top of shattered streets, fully aware of the stark absence of sound made him feel like the last man alive in the entire world.
The further he walked without encountering human life, the more worried he became. The disappearance of the white noise that heralded human activity was almost maddening, and he found himself strangely focused on locating evidence of their untimely fate. Here, a torn piece of colourful cloth impaled on some jagged concrete. There, a patch of rust that looked suspiciously like blood… but maybe that was just his imagination.
Nabiki once told him that silence did things to people, that in the quiet, the mind would find ways to stimulate itself in order to avoid atrophy. Since it couldn't create new information from scratch, it would only use what was already available to it.
In other words, the ghosts and demons that haunted nightmares could also rise in the stillness. If so, then it explained why the sound of the wind passing through narrow openings could sound so much like the death throes of his enemies and allies.
Having spent so much of his childhood in isolated areas, Ranma was used to tranquility, but not like this. He had always been surrounded by the sound of the wind passing through leaves and branches, by animals going about their business and even rushing water when they were lucky. It had been quiet, but not silent. This was different.
This quiet was the quiet of a dead city. Of human hopes and dreams falling into despair. Of peace falling into war.
It was ironic, that a city could be quieter when it was at war than otherwise.
Even if just for a moment.
"World Shaking."
Still, hearing the sky piercing sound of Uranus' special attack relieved him, because it meant that he was in the right place. As long as someone was still fighting, there was hope. He was jumping on top of the rubble and beyond before he even realized it.
Close to three years had passed since his journey ended and he began living with the Tendos. Approximately half of that time was spent fighting in the war. Now, he was nineteen years of age and mostly unchanged. He'd gotten a little taller and a little stronger as he neared his prime, but his last growth spurt didn't make much of a difference in his technique. The greatest alteration was mainly cosmetic. His penchant for Chinese silks remained largely untouched, though he'd recently gained a preference for longer sleeves.
The only real difference was in his hairstyle. He had allowed his distinctive pigtail to grow into a tight, waist length braid. He got the idea from certain portrayals of martial arts heroes such as Wong Fei Hung in old Chinese movies, though he wasn't about to shave the front half of his hair. Most of the time, the actors playing the part didn't have the ability to manipulate ki. This held them back from the higher levels of the art, but that didn't necessarily mean that they couldn't look the part or that they weren't skilled at what they did.
In any case, he had looked at his reflection one day and spontaneously decided that a change was in order, as a way to commemorate his climb to adulthood. Letting his hair grow out longer wasn't very significant, but still seemed oddly appropriate.
The woman idly wiping youma dust from her uniform was a member of the exclusive fighting force known as the Sailor Senshi. Ranma was forced to hold back a smirk every time he saw this particular Senshi, mostly because of what she was wearing.
Haruka Tenoh was dressed in the traditional Senshi uniform, which consisted of heeled boots, a microscopic skirt, a white top adorned with a multitude of bows, a pair of gloves, a tiara and accessories. Naturally, her uniform had a few personal modifications, the most prominent being her navy blue and yellow colour scheme and shorter gloves, but it was called a uniform for a reason. In that getup, no one would ever mistake her for anything but a Senshi.
The laughter that was desperately trying to dig out of his chest at the sight wasn't caused by its inherent capacity to induce humour, far from it. Uranus was a beautiful woman with short blonde hair, a pretty face with a lean figure and curves and bulges in all the right places. It was just that his knowledge of her preferred style of clothing made seeing her in this ultra feminine outfit a source of extreme hilarity.
Ranma shook his head as he pondered Ukyo, Konatsu and Haruka's mystifying ability to convincingly cross-dress. He couldn't understand it. He was a man from birth, and yet when he turned into a girl, he wasn't even able to convince someone as blind as Mousse of his manhood. It was kind of annoying.
The Saotome heir's light observation of the scene below him deepened as a he became aware of a discrepancy.
Huh? Where's Michiru?
The absence of Neptune sent chills down his spine, because it meant that he was alone with Haruka. Without the calming influence of her lover, a meeting with Uranus in a place where collateral damage wouldn't matter would be exceedingly ill-advised. That girl was certainly pretty, but she could hold a grudge like Ryoga and he had no interest in fighting magical girls.
The young martial artist sighed deeply as he thought about missed opportunities and stupid mistakes, before rising from his crouch and turning to leave, picking up his duffel bag in the process.
Of course, it couldn't be that easy.
"Aren't you going to say hello? After all, it's been such a long time," her voice cut and burned its way through the stillness with the fury that marked her relationship with him.
Though he'd planned to sneak away unnoticed, he wasn't about to run away from her now that she'd seen him. Executing an expert back flip from a straight position, he quickly judged the distance between him and the jagged asphalt and easily manipulated his trajectory so that he landed in a spot free of debris, face-to-face with the magical girl, duffel bag still in hand.
"Show-off," she murmured.
He didn't bother to respond to that accusation. It was a particularly mild insult coming from her. So he merely dropped his bag and shoved his hands in his pockets and glared mirthlessly into her equally unamused eyes. "What do you want, Uranus? You know we're not allowed to be in the same place without supervision. I doubt that's changed in the month since I left," he pointed out, hoping to put a quick end to this travesty of a conversation.
She clenched her fists and glared back with at least twice the heat, hissing her words at him, her voice heavy with accusation. "Don't be shy Saotome. We've known each other long enough for you to call me Haruka."
His eyebrows raced to the shadows of his fringe as his eyes widened in shock. A second later, a cringe settled on his face as he dug up his right hand from his pants' pocket to rub the back of his neck. It appeared that she actually had a legitimate reason to be cross with him this time. "How'd you find out?"
Amazingly, that question seemed to calm her down as the Senshi's sharp glare relaxed into a mere unfriendly look. Ranma was instantly put on guard, since a calm Haruka couldn't mean anything good for him. The race car enthusiast was only calm when she got what she wanted and since she, by all appearances, wanted him dead…
"Don't play games with me Saotome. You know exactly how we found out," she said.
"I'm not sure I know what you're talking about," he responded evasively.
"Nabiki told us."
Damn you Nabiki!
"Imagine that. I had no idea she knew," he said, with badly faked surprise.
His attempt at concealing information would've likely failed even if she hadn't known otherwise. "She also told us that she was the one who told you in the first place, so you can drop the act."
Doing just that, Ranma decided to try and protect his friend, who apparently hadn't sold him out. "Fine, but you should know that she didn't tell me anything specific. She just pointed me in the right direction."
"You didn't tell anyone else?" she asked as though she already knew the answer.
The cursed youth turned his head aside. Her judgmental eyes were getting to him. "I needed to know if I could trust you guys to do the right thing, so I asked Nabiki. Of course, she charged me for the info. If anyone else wants to find out who you are they'll just have to find out by themselves. One thing I've learned over the years is that information isn't free, and I can't be bought with money. No, I didn't tell anyone else," he said truthfully.
Unfortunately, she didn't seem inclined to believe him at his word. "Not even your wife?"
The automatic glare he levelled at her saw her flinch and quickly step away.
"Alright, alright, I believe you! No need to glare at me like that!" she complained.
Ranma forced himself to calm down and squeezed his eyes shut, bringing his right hand to his face to massage his forehead. But his previous reaction didn't stop Uranus from opening her mouth again.
"I still can't believe it though," she mused. "An entire village of skilled warriors offer their help in our darkest hour and the only thing they ask in return is you? That wife of yours needs to…" Uranus abruptly trailed off.
Wife. He still flinched whenever he heard that word.
"You know," he heard her begin to say, with softness atypical of her in regards to him. "When I heard about it and after I actually saw Shampoo… it never occurred to me that you'd be against it."
He opened his eyes to see the great Senshi of the sky looking at him with pity of all things. The Saotome heir nearly started laughing. "There's more to marriage than a pretty face, Haruka, but that doesn't matter anymore. I didn't have a choice. We needed… still need their help. 'Sides, it's not so bad. Shampoo isn't a bad person."
Awkward silence spread in the deserted remains of a neighbourhood as a moment was shared between two mismatched people. Neither of them knew what to do or say around the other in this situation, so they did nothing. All the while, the wind whistled to mark its passage and carried the remains of dead youma in its arms. In the end, the only thing those monsters left behind to mark their existence was dust. Dust, memories and destruction.
Suddenly, Uranus tired of the silence and decided to change the subject. "How exactly did you find out anyway? If, as you say, Nabiki didn't actually tell you?"
The answer was so clear in his mind that it just slipped out of his mouth without warning. "Spying. You and Michiru need to learn to keep your curtains closed by the way."
"You pig!"
He probably should've kept his mouth shut, but it might have been better this way. At least now, they were back on familiar ground.
All in all, his meeting with Uranus wasn't a total waste of time. Once he managed to get her in the 'you'd be better off cool and collected' position, which took all of five minutes, Haruka, who was getting pretty familiar with this sequence of events by now, knew that the best way to get her arm back to a more comfortable position, her face off the ground and his knees off of her back was to stop trying to gouge his eyes out and cooperate.
According to the Uranus, the JSDF soldiers finally managed to impress the magnitude of this conflict on its highest ranking officers. In the weeks following my departure, most of the areas surrounding the sealed zone were evacuated of all civilians. The Minato special ward had been abandoned for over a year, ever since the Azabu Juuban district was taken over by the Dark Kingdom and subsequently sealed off.
Shinagawa to the south, Meguro and Shibuya to the west and to the north, Shinjuku, Chuo and even Chiyoda, home to the imperial palace, were evacuated of their inhabitants. Seven of the twenty-three special wards were now deserted. Millions were displaced, but at least this act increased the validity of our claim internationally.
In the beginning, the western countries were… sceptical of the threat. Monsters have taken over Tokyo? They believed that we must have watched too many Godzilla movies. Well, except for the Vatican. They never doubted us for a second.
But that's not very important right now. At least, to those of us not part of the JSDF. It might mean more food and supplies, but we'd always had enough to suit our needs. The increased interest from the west didn't matter at all compared to the other consequence of the evacuation.
Now that the brass was fully aware of the danger, they wasted no time in covering their collective asses. The problem was that they recognized that their chosen methods were the least effective in dealing with the enemy.
So with the approval of the Prime Minister the Tokyo Martial Arts Guild and, to a lesser extent, the Sailor Senshi became officially sanctioned Japanese agencies. Of course, it wasn't that simple in execution, but thanks to Nabiki and Setsuna, it was agreed that we could only be called upon to deal with the inhuman and that we could retire during times of peace. Personally, I think everyone liked it better this way. We didn't have to kill other human beings and the JSDF didn't lose any of its actual authority. The Prime Minister couldn't have been too happy about it, but he's up against the wall. He's lucky Nabiki understands the situation and didn't try to clean him out.
Anyway, now that we had gotten an actual budget, it was time to find a better HQ than the Tendo dojo. And apparently that's when the Emperor got involved.
"Saotome!" A vivacious call erupted from behind him, interrupting his stride.
Recognition of his surname involuntarily forced him to pay closer attention to his immediate surroundings. In his experience, war cries featured it far too often. Then, recollection of the voice itself brought more pleasant feelings to the fore and an innocuous grin gradually softened his features. He quickly turned to face the intersection he just passed through and found his impression confirmed.
The woman casually walking closer to him was the Sailor Senshi he respected the most, aside from Setsuna. The priestess of fire, Senshi of Mars, Rei Hino. Out of all the Senshi, Rei was the one best suited to handle her power. She wasn't trained in the art, but she was a genuine, qualified priestess and that took just as much effort, determination and will as being a martial artist. It was a lot more boring, but nonetheless very difficult.
Mars' uniform was just as uniform as the rest of the team's, aside for the colors. High heels, elbow length gloves, small skirt, white top, bows and accessories, it was all there, coloured in purple and red. Rei was classically beautiful. Long, straight black hair, with creamy skin and long legs, combined with a face that could tug at heartstrings and never let go. Mars was the kind of woman most men would gladly fight over.
The problem was that she knew it.
"Long time no see, Saotome. It's good to have you back," she said, nodding to him and smiling warmly.
"It's good to be back, Mars," he answered as he copied her greeting. "Are you guys out on patrol or something?"
Rei raised an eyebrow at the curious question. "Why do you ask?"
Ranma waved his open hand in the general direction he had just come from. "I ran into Uranus on the way here."
The priestess` other eyebrow matched its partner's elevation as she gave him a once-over. "And you're still alive and well?"
Ranma shrugged before eying his surroundings with badly hidden distaste and beginning to stroll in his original direction. He didn't intend to stay in the abandoned section of Tokyo for much longer. "I've got plenty of experience in dealing with assault," he commented.
Mars picked up on his silent cues and matched his pace before she could fall behind by a single step. She'd always been observant. Most of the other girls weren't really suited for combat, but Mars was different. Sort of like Uranus, but without the arrogance. Rei had something that couldn't be taught. She had the self-confidence that only came with dedicated training, a deep knowledge of her own abilities. Kind of like him, but not as unwavering or necessary. After all, if she failed, she could always count on her friends to pick up the slack.
Rei demonstrated that assurance when she spoke next. "So you know?"
He knew just what she was talking about. "Yeah, I know."
She nodded, and that was that.
Or maybe not.
Her right hand sneaked in to grab her naked elbow as she stared at the ground. "It's weird. You're the only normal person to ever discover our identities," she revealed.
Ranma snorted. "Sorry to burst your bubble Mars, but I don't exactly qualify as normal." That had been true even before the curse.
She looked at him and spoke so softly it was almost a whisper. "You can call me Rei, if you want."
He laughed for a moment, caught up in the dissimilarity of the requests. "Haruka said the same thing."
For some reason, silence he hesitantly qualified as 'awkward' enveloped them for a moment before dissipating as if it never was. Caught off guard by the sudden offset of discomfort, he was quite surprised when Mars said the one thing that could make him even more ill at ease.
"How's Shampoo?"
Huh? When did Rei, of all people, start to care about Shampoo's well being?
Slightly confused, Ranma shrugged and decided to take the question at face value. "I dunno. I haven't seen her since I went training with my old man so you'd probably know better. Is the compound still in the same place?" he asked, attempting to change the subject.
She nodded absently, visibly preoccupied by something. "Yeah, though they were offered a new headquarters closer to the sealed zone."
He wasn't surprised. "Makes sense. They tend to work better in the forest."
"Say, can I ask you something?" All traces of indecision vanished from her countenance. It looked like she'd finally come to a decision.
Not really. "Sure."
"It's… pretty personal," she warned.
Ranma rolled his eyes and shook his head. "If it's about anything I would want to hide, Nabiki would probably wind up telling you eventually, 'cept she'd make you pay for it. So you might as well ask. No sense in paying for something you could've gotten for free."
"Right," she nodded with conviction and immediately forced him to regret opening his mouth. "How do you feel about Shampoo?"
That's it. The martial artist stopped his advance and crossed his arms, a frown born of annoyance contorting his features. "Alright, what happened?"
Her eyes gravitated towards the ground as her cheeks flushed with embarrassment, a small grimace on her face. "What… what do you mean?"
"Shouldn't I be the one saying that?" he pointed out. "Look, both you and Haruka brought up my relationship with Shampoo when neither of you have ever shown any interest in any of the conversations we've had before. I know Nabiki calls me an idiot all the time, but this is just too obvious."
The fact that Shampoo was a sore spot certainly helped him notice the number of times people talked about her in his presence.
"Funny you should mention Nabiki…" Mars nervously murmured.
Damn you Nabiki!
Ranma brought his palm to his forehead in a motion that was quickly becoming familiar. "What did she tell you?" he moaned.
"Well, it was during one of Uranus'… rants about you…"
We were just sitting in the basement of our headquarters discussing Senshi business when she stormed in, complaining about your latest indiscretion. This was right after the monthly meeting, so Moon and Pluto weren't back yet.
"I can't believe that guy!" Haruka grumbled as she walked in the room.
We were all pretty used to her little tantrums by then, so no one was paying her much attention.
Michiru was the only one to respond, though even she didn't bother to look away from the strategic map provided by the JSDF that was spread on the large round table the team was surrounding. "What happened?" she distractedly questioned.
Uranus huffed as she threw herself on top of a couch. She stared at the cracked ceiling for a moment before growling in irritation and throwing herself off of the shortly employed piece of furniture. Then the pacing began, as it always did. "That… that self-righteous bastard!"
Very few of the Senshi were content with Haruka's ongoing feud with the roguish martial artist. Even Neptune thought that the whole situation was getting out of hand. They were allies after all. "Ah, so this is about Saotome. Again. Just what did he do to offend you this time?" Clearly, the Senshi of the ocean didn't think that the cursed heir had done anything to warrant this level of irritation.
"He's leaving."
When Haruka informed us of your upcoming journey… well, we were honestly surprised.
Shouted exclamations of shock and frantic inquiries filled the enclosed space with a sort of distressed cacophony as the four inner Senshi swarmed around the tall blonde. They all had different reasons for demanding this knowledge but the fact remained that this news was significant to all of them. Ranma Saotome was a very important part of the fight against the Dark Kingdom. Putting aside his prowess in combat, he embodied the alliance. Without him, it simply wouldn't be possible to have such cordial relations between all four groups, especially the Amazons.
"He's going on a training journey with the senior Saotome, now get away from me!" Haruka blurted out as she sought to recover her personal space.
"For how long?" they asked of her.
"I don't know, about a month!" Sailor Uranus yelled as she decided to simply force her associates back. Unprepared as they were for the desperate shove, it wasn't particularly surprising that Minako would trip over Makoto's legs and bring the rest of the Guardian Senshi down into a noisy bundle of tangled limbs and painful contortions.
Haruka Tenoh closed her eyes and breathed deeply as she worked on recovering her ransacked composure. Sadly, her efforts were completely undone by the simple act of opening her eyes. Without the wall of Guarding Senshi blocking her line of sight, she saw the most skilled of the Earth's senshi sitting calmly on a couch, looking horribly amused by their misfortune.
"Sounds like you're going to miss him," the oldest woman in the room commented teasingly.
In spite of her irritation, Uranus merely scoffed at the remark, having long since discovered that calm and reason were required when speaking with Soun Tendo's second daughter. "Very funny Nabiki," she responded insincerely. "It's just a waste of time. What can he do in four weeks that he couldn't have done in nineteen years?"
I don't remember what prompted it, but Nabiki started talking about martial artists in general and you in particular.
The twenty year old magical girl watched silently as her downed colleagues moved the center of their focus off of yelling obscenities and onto the more productive activity of increasing their comfort level. She seemed content to continue ignoring Uranus' question, thereby angering her further, while smiling enigmatically until Neptune spoke up.
Michiru Kaioh was the second Outer Senshi and she held dominion over the seas and oceans. At nineteen years of age, she and Haruka were the oldest of the planetary Senshi, being two years older than the Guardians. Sailor Pluto was technically older, but didn't count as she existed outside the time stream and therefore had no real age. Her uniform was coloured in deep blue and sea-green that enhanced her more remarkable features. Sailor Neptune's hair barely reached the area beyond her shoulders and was naturally aquamarine while her eyes resembled polished turquoise gems. Along with a gorgeous face, a slender body and an otherworldly demeanor, those characteristics made Michiru into one of the most beautiful Senshi, but one that was decidedly unapproachable.
"I forgot that you used to live with him. How long have you two known each other?" asked Neptune from her position above the forgotten map.
Nabiki eyed Haruka's lover for a moment, before deciding to answer her question. Uranus she could handle with ease, but her partner required a little more caution. She had a feeling that trying to trick this woman wouldn't go over well. "I've known him for three years and he and his father lived just across the hallway for a little under two. It's funny to think about now, but for the longest time I didn't see them as anything more than freeloading freaks."
Surprised over getting an honest response, Michiru's attention moved off the original purpose for the meeting in order to concentrate on her oddly forthcoming associate. "Really? And what made you change your mind?" she questioned.
Nabiki leaned over the back of the couch and stared at the ceiling's cracked concrete, giving the appearance of someone reminiscing on days gone by. "I used to think that the Saotomes had no marketable skills. I believed that martial arts were obsolete and that Ranma had wasted over a decade of his life, his entire childhood to learn something that would never be truly useful. I believed that everything productive he could do could also be accomplished by something else that also required less effort."
A small, unbidden smile appeared on her face and lightened her features remarkably in the eyes of those who knew her well, seeing as her expression was usually set in a poker face that hid foul intentions and emotions behind a thick veneer of amusement and cordiality.
Soun's daughter had come a long way from the cruel teenager she'd been in high school. Now, she was a cruel woman. Her hair had grown longer and she was a little taller and physically mature, but her overall appearance had changed about as much as her personality did, which is very little. Nabiki was a brunette with shoulder length hair and a pretty face that was often considered as a stopover on the way to her large, expressive and oft misleading eyes. Unlike her younger sister, she was a great actress and a consummate liar.
But she knew better than to lie before Michuru's eyes. After all, she had no idea just how deep Neptune's precognitive senses extended. It was always better to reveal minor secrets than to keep them all and risk losing everything. When dealing with the Senshi of the Ocean, she would be honest… or at least, she wouldn't tell any outright lies. In this case, it was better to redirect than to conceal.
Her stomach clenched uncomfortably as she revealed her most intimate thoughts about the most significant period of time in her life. "It was all made worse by the fact that Ranma was naturally intelligent. He's hopelessly clueless, but that doesn't make him stupid. Dumb yes, but not stupid. He's the type of person that excels at everything he applies himself to, but that talent is totally consumed by his focus on martial arts."
Haruka raised a slender eyebrow and crossed her arms suspiciously. "How does that answer the question?" she inquired impatiently.
Nabiki took a moment to roll her eyes in distaste before answering with the amount of condescension she had previously reserved for Ranma and his various hangers-on. "How else? I was proven wrong when the youma appeared. The Saotomes and all the troublesome martial artists that hovered around them fought and succeeded where other methods failed. A handful of men and women defended us when an entire army retreated. I don't think you guys know about this since you were stuck in youma central at the time, but even though they sealed the gate off pretty quickly, enough of the horde remained outside the barrier to overwhelm the JSDF," she explained.
Sailor Mercury, a seventeen year old woman with short blue hair and similarly coloured eyes and uniform, called out excitedly. "Wait a second. You know how many youma escaped the seal? I thought that information was never recorded!" she exclaimed.
The unexpected and somewhat reluctant well of information shook her head negatively. "It wasn't, at least not officially, but I had Ranma work on it with me. He spent an evening in deep meditation detecting their auras and general locations so I could draw a map and we ended up estimating their numbers at over fifteen hundred. The JSDF only managed to evacuate and isolate the affected area because Tokyo's martial artists were the ones doing the actual fighting. They were caught with their pants down. The majority of their forces and equipment was located near the borders. The enemy basically popped up in the worst possible location. It took hours for them to get on scene and even then, they had no idea what they were facing. When they saw… they panicked. It was bad. Real bad.
"Right now, the T-MAG has over ten thousand members, but less than 10 percent could handle a youma in a one-on-one fight. Back then, they barely even had thirty. They had to destroy fifty on average to exterminate them all and some had problems beating just one. It was during those few days that I learned the difference between masters like the Saotomes, my father and the Amazons and fighters like Ryoga… and my sister Akane."
The storyteller paused for a second, passing her hand over her forehead and through loosened hair before continuing. "It's not just a difference of skill or strength or speed or even courage. Ryoga is powerful but he'll never be able to beat a youma. Not without help. Likewise, Akane likely could've held her own if it weren't for her anger and insecurities. It's not something that's easy to understand for us because of our protections, but for the others, fighting youma is just as much of a mental battle as a physical one."
Mercury's entire body betrayed her confusion, so unused was she to the feeling. "What do you mean?" she asked.
Nabiki stared at the younger girl who, in all her genius, failed to take the obvious into account. The girl could work through cold, hard facts like no one she'd ever met but she definitely wasn't a people person. Simply looking around the room confirmed that not one of them knew what she was talking about. It was times like these that truly revealed why Usagi was their leader. She and Pluto were the only ones who had looked beyond the surface in order to understand. "This is exactly what I was talking about. The Senshi see what martial artists do and think of it as magic, but it's not. Intellectually, we know that it isn't, but we still treat the art like it was. Tell me Mercury, what is the difference between Ranma's art and Happosai's?" She had picked her target carefully. Mizuno's acclaimed intelligence would serve well to make her point.
Ami answered quickly and decisively, as she always did. "There isn't any. Aside for a few idiosyncrasies preferred by the individual users, the core of Anything Goes martial arts remains the same."
The impromptu interrogator nodded in one measured movement. "That's exactly right. There is no difference between Happosai's art and Ranma's," she confirmed before asking an easier question. "Where is Happosai right now?"
"He is currently being held in the Dark Kingdom's capital city and is being used as a source of power for Beryl's special forces."
Once again, Tendo's second daughter bobbed her head in accord. "That's correct," she said.
Mercury frowned in minute uncertainty. "Where are you going with this?" she asked.
Nabiki wasted no time in fostering Ami's endless quest for knowledge down a more fitting path. "We have just established that Ranma and Happosai's abilities are, for all intents and purposes, identical. We have also established that youma can and are draining Happosai's energy to bolster their own powers. Since Ranma and Happosai possess the same abilities and youma are actively draining the old man of his energy, why haven't they done the same to Ranma?" she questioned rhetorically. "Keep in mind that Happosai was the Grandmaster of Anything goes and kept his position by force of body and not character. Everyone hated him, including me, but there wasn't anyone more skilled in the art. Not even Matriarch Cologne."
Mizuno's entire body stilled as her formidable mind struck a dead end at full speed. "I… I don't know," she whispered with wide and low eyes.
As the gathered Sailor Senshi gradually came to understand that they were missing a large piece of the puzzle, their teacher allowed a slight grin to manifest on her expression. "The answer you're looking for is self-control," she revealed. "The Tokyo Martial Arts Guild does not take skill into account when selecting its members because skill can be acquired with more or less effort and is therefore a secondary requirement. T-MAG is composed entirely of martial artists that possess enough control over their bodies, minds and souls to resist the youma's energy drain. That is why my sister, Ryoga and the Kunos were denied membership, regardless of their prowess. The youma are dangerous enough without having them use your own strength against you.
"What's ironic is that their greatest strength is also their greatest weakness, depending on who they're up against. The youma feed on life energy, which means that they have no defence against it whatsoever. After all, why would they? That's why ki-based attacks can be so effective. As long as the attacking martial artist can keep his focus and control over his emotions, he will win. It's a double-edged sword because every single one of their attacks can either destroy the enemy or make it stronger."
Mercury, whose downed head hid eyes that narrowed and gleamed as the speech went on, jerked suddenly, startling the riveted Senshi beside her. "I understand now!" she exclaimed excitedly. "Youma can drain life energy when it is negative or unfocused, but positive and focused energy is completely beyond them. It would destroy them from the inside which is why they never attempt to drain it… but if it was forced into them…"
Nabiki localized smile expanded brilliantly and conquered her features. "Exactly. Youma don't have conventional bodies. No organs or anything like that. All they have are muscles and bones connected with a core that controls it all. I thought about it for a long time and I realize now that they are not so dissimilar from us after all. They're just like a ki blast. Ranma's Moko Takabisha is just his confidence given form. Ranma is so self-assured that he can take a portion of his life energy and force it to manifest in the physical world as an avatar for that abstract concept. The more confident he is, the bigger the blast he can create."
The young woman shook her head in wonder. "What's amazing is that he also gives it physical properties prior to its inception. Those ki blasts of his come into existence with predetermined volume and velocity and they also seem to have actual mass. Of course, they only exist temporarily and are nowhere near as stable as the youma, but the similarities are unavoidable… and the possibilities mind boggling." Judging by the way her eyes were jumping to and fro without focusing on a single thing, Mizuno seemed to agree.
In any case, it was time to land the final blow.
"In the end, those monsters are composed of negative ki encased in a form that at least loosely complies with the rules of this dimension. It's the reason why conventional methods are so bad at destroying them. The only way to do any real damage is to attack the core, and those things are notoriously resistant to kinetic energy, not to mention hard to find. Negativity towards yourself or others such as anger, depression, fear and arrogance gives them strength while positive energy weakens them. Love, happiness and self-confidence have all been used to great success.
"What weakens us gives them strength. What strengthens us annihilates them. Youma are our natural enemies, the very opposite of human beings."
Sailor Mercury's eyes were like a December sunrise as she stared at her most recent colleague. Bright, and yet so cold they almost they nearly sent shivers down their target's spine. "Are you saying that youma were created by a human being?"
Nabiki answered grimly. "Maybe he wasn't human, but he was definitely a being."
It was right after that she began talking about Akane and… what happened to you. Both of you.
Ranma's expression seemed to have been carved out of granite as he stared unabashedly at his skimpily dressed friend, trying to digest what he had just heard. Nabiki eventually managed to convince him that his attempts to lie were all pathetically easy to see through and that he would be better off showing nothing instead of trying his hand at deception. He'd taken her advice to heart and tried to adapt the soul of ice to suit his needs, but found that he couldn't get in the proper mindset outside of combat. Therefore, all he had was a good old-fashioned poker face that threatened to shatter under the weight of his disbelief.
One thing he had learned about Nabiki over the years is that unless she was plotting something, she never deviated from her behavioral patterns. He couldn't even imagine a single reason why she would volunteer information like that, especially information that had heavily influenced her own self. Nabiki Tendo didn't talk about herself. Period.
There was something wrong with this picture. Maybe the Senshi had done something to her? If they had done something magical to coerce the truth out of her, then the Guardians probably wouldn't be in on it. Haruka was probably kept as far away from Nabiki as possible, so that left Neptune, Pluto… and Serenity.
Unfortunately, he was prematurely knocked out of his deliberations when Mars tired of the silence and decided to prod the pink elephant into action. After all, it was much harder to ignore a subject if it wasn't ignoring you as well.
Rei took a deep breath and held it in while unconsciously shifting to an aggressive stance and said, "You know, I couldn't believe it when I found out."
She sounded like Kasumi just then, kind and understanding, only her posture was all wrong. Ms. Hino was expecting a fight, or at least an argument and that put him on guard. That was another thing Nabiki taught him. She didn't teach him to read stances because he was actually much better at it than she was and always had been, but rather to consciously realize that he was doing it. She had told him then that the art held more control over his body than he did, and she was right.
It also helped him realize why he'd never been able to feel at ease around Shampoo before everything. Her body's position always advertised her intentions and that automatically put him on guard. In his world, actions spoke louder than words, so as long as her body advertised her status as a huntress, he could never relax around her, no matter what she said. It didn't help that the transition from would-be assassin to would-be wife didn't change her stance one iota, though the same couldn't be said for the conversion from would-be wife to actual wife.
Taking a moment to ruminate over her statement, he quickly decided that getting her to drop the subject would be in his best interest. Of course, he would also have to make sure she never ever brought it up again.
Ranma exhaled slowly and forced his muscles to relax, losing all signs of tension. "What? That Shampoo would go so far?" he asked.
She shook her head. "That you would've gone along with it."
He shrugged casually. "It was bound to happen eventually. Frankly, this is better than drinking a love potion and waking up naked, strapped to a bed in the middle of China," he joked.
Naturally, Rei missed the joke. "You really think she would have done that?" she asked softly.
The martial artist rolled his eyes and muttered, "I don't have to think."
Unfortunately, she actually heard him. "You don't mean…" she said with narrowed eyes.
Ranma hid a wince as he worked on damage control. "I always managed to keep the Amazons at bay before, but I guess everyone runs out of luck sometime," he remarked.
Narrowed eyes shifted into a full blown scowl as indignation was brought into play. "How can you just…"
Thankfully, Rei's outrage was predictable. After all, there were a lot of people who felt exactly the same. He raised a hand with his palm held forward and interrupted. "Easy, this isn't as bad as it could be. Technically this is my fault, and Shampoo is a lot less annoying than she used to be."
Somehow, Mars managed to pick up on sexual connotations in that last statement that he himself hadn't been aware of. "You pervert," she accused.
Instead of the fervent denial he had used in times past, he simply raised both hands in a defensive gesture. "Hey, I didn't exactly have much of a choice in all of this," he reminded.
She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow with incredulous scepticism. "You mean she just forces you to sleep with her?" The force of her disbelief nearly knocked him back, but he had the perfect response ready.
"She doesn't have to," he revealed. "My…" Here he hesitated. It may have been the best excuse ever, but that didn't make it any less embarrassing. Still, it was better than the alternative and it was the truth, after all. "My mother takes care of that."
Rei's other eyebrow joined its counterpart in the lofty heights of her forehead and both rose together, dreaming of reaching the paradise that started at her hairline. "What did you just say?" she asked.
Ranma waved his hand air in front of him in dismissal. "It's a long story and I don't really like to think about it," he admitted. "In short, I have to perform my husbandly duties to the best of my ability or kill myself. Honorably. The choice wasn't exactly hard to make."
The priestess stared at him for a long moment before deciding to give him the benefit of the doubt. Normally, she wouldn't have bothered but she had met Nodoka Saotome and that woman left an impression on everyone. Regardless, she wasn't about to let him off the hook. She shook her head in disappointment as she began to pace around him and made an interesting comment. "And I'm sure your wife's full figure had nothing to do with it."
The martial artist smiled when it became clear that she couldn't see it. It wouldn't be too long now. Rei was too confrontational to dance around a subject indefinitely, especially since she was the one who brought it up and clearly wanted to talk about it.
Ranma's smile became a teasing smirk when the Senshi walked back into view. "Not at first, no. I resented her too much to take that into account in the beginning. It certainly became a factor afterwards though."
Mars' pacing stopped abruptly as she turned to glare at him. "You pervert."
He shrugged the derogatory comment off, long used to having that particular accusation levelled against him. "I kind of think I'm allowed to be, aren't I? After all, I'm just a married man talking about his wife," he pointed out.
Rei's glare melted into a surly pout. "Aren't you supposed to be all broken up about losing your one true love?"
Bingo.
The Senshi were all hopeless romantics. A situation like the one he was in wasn't one they could keep their noses out of so he had to do it for them. All he had to do now was discredit the source and he'd be home free. "You know Rei, you really shouldn't pay that much attention to what Nabiki tells you. She tends to embellish things to make them more interesting, especially when it comes to me. Besides, I try to look for the silver lining in most situations."
It was perfectly executed, misleading the victim without telling a single lie. In your face Nabiki! It was all in a day's work for Ranma Saotome.
"I'd noticed," she growled. "It's horrible how you con those poor deluded boys out of hard earned products and services."
He blinked. "Products and services? Is it just me or are you starting to take ice cream as seriously as your leader?"
She looked at him blankly. "It's just you."
"Right," he said, nodding slowly. "Anyway, now that you know to watch out for Nabiki's tricks, I think I'm going to pay my mother a visit. You know where I could find her?" he asked congenially.
Rei smirked darkly before answering him. "I think she mentioned something about spending some quality time with her new daughter. I see now that she wasn't talking about you."
That was unexpected. His previously pleasant expression dipped into a frown as he idly shoved his hands into his pockets. "Why do I get the feeling that you're mad at me?" he wondered.
"Possibly because you're not quite as dumb as you look," she said, flipping her hair over her shoulder and turning halfway around. "I should get back to my patrol. I'll see you later Saotome."
He could have just let her go but if he left things off as they were she might bring this up again when there were more people around. Fending off more than one person at a time was still beyond him. This absurd interest in his personal life had to die now. Of course, the urge to respond to her barbs with similar insults was strong but he managed to hold it back, if only barely.
Ranma nodded to himself in a thoughtful fashion as he spoke to Mars' retreating form. "Okay, a little heavy on the cheap insults, don't you think? You've insulted my manliness, my looks and my intelligence, none of which have anything to do with what we were talking about. Let me guess, you're upset that you believed Nabiki about my supposedly hidden inner pain and you're taking it out on me because she's just too dangerous to risk tangling with. You could defeat her physically, but you know that she'd just retaliate in some horrifyingly unexpected way that'd make you wish you never bothered. In the end, you just suck it up and accept the fact that your best bet is to do nothing. Am I right, or am I right?" he asked, before bowing mockingly. "Welcome to my life. I hope you have a pleasant stay."
By the time he rose from his travesty of a greeting, Rei was looking at him with an unreadable expression. Her stance was guarded, defensive, which only increased his awareness when she said, "Your life sucks, Saotome," in a conciliatory tone. Her body was telling him something that her words were directly contradicting… or maybe he was reading too much into it.
As he was unable to uncover enough information about her current state of mind to formulate a proper plan, he could do naught but be himself. So he took her statement at face value and grinned. "It grows on you after awhile," he contended. Seeing that he wasn't going to discover a weak point to capitalize on while doing nothing, he decided to cautiously broach the pertinent subject in the faint hopes that he would stumble across one. "You're not going to disagree with me?"
"Why? You're kind of right after all," she shrugged. "Was it that obvious?"
What was that? Mars wasn't the type to give up on an argument, even when confronted with the truth… unless she had something bigger to hide. Alarm bells awoke the blood hound lurking within. Rei Hino was trying to hide something. "Not really," he dismissed. "I just spend a lot of time around Nabiki."
A curious expression affected the Senshi's face as she tilted her head. "Why is that again? You spend more time around her than you do around Kasumi, and she actually lives in your village."
On the edge of his awareness, a faint feeling of absence flitted in and out of existence and instantly commandeered the lion's share of his concentration. "It's Shampoo's village. The Amazons just tolerate me," he answered distractedly. Talking without thought was one of his more unfortunate specialties.
"Which is still more than they'll do for anyone else," she countered. Mars didn't seem to notice anything untoward, but then again, she wasn't exactly paying attention. "You're the only outsider that's welcome within their walls for more than a half hour."
Still intently searching their immediate surroundings without tipping his hand, he decided to keep the conversation going by giving short rebuttals. "And what about Kasumi?"
Immediately, Rei replied, "She is an Amazon."
Closer… Closer… "So am I."
"You know you're not. Not like she is."
There! "Is that right?"
"Kasumi joined of her own free will and was accepted just as freely. You are just their leader's consort. Also, you're not a woman."
Ranma grinned sardonically and mentally prepared himself for battle, waiting for the best moment to break the news to his clueless ally. "Funny, you didn't seem too sure of that fact a little while ago. Anyway, you're about to miss it."
"Miss what?"
Youma. Five of them, Happosai bred.
Incoming.
"What else? My welcoming party."
