Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma 1/2 or Sailor Moon or other characters that may be noted from time to time in the author's notes as originating elsewhere. This piece of work is purely for entertainment purposes.


Minako's Story
by Lerris Smith

-«Chapter 7: Escape»-

"I didn't expect that, at least not so soon." said the god.

"Dang! What Minako did might as well have put a flaming arrow in the sky pointing to her. Any nitwit could probably figure out that they would head to the capitol from there. Dang! Dang! Dang it!" cursed the goddess.

"Calm down my dear. They are only mortals."

She glared at him with annoyance which caused him to quickly quiet and take on a more somber expression. After a few moments he said, "They are alive, and apparently whoever did this wants them that way, so shall we see what happens?"

She nodded at him as the view restarted.

-«oOo»-

Ranma awoke on his back. Something was flopped across from him. He opened his eyes, yet they refused to focus. Well, he had been drugged enough times to recognize the effects and now that his mind was thinking again, he could vaguely remember the gas, yet he suspected there was more too, at least if the bitter taste in his mouth meant anything.

He blinked his eyes and tried to get them to focus while at the same time willing his arms to move. Whatever was on top of him, or rather who, for he was fairly sure it was human, was warm and laying across his stomach. That someone had a name. Minako, supplied his subconscious. He didn't know why he was suddenly certain it was her, but for some reason he had no doubt.

His eyes began to focus first first and then he began to be able to move the ends of his fingers. Unfortunately, while he was fairly sure his eyes were working, the room was pitch black and moving the ends of his fingers was all he had been able to do. Whatever they had drugged him with was certainly a lot stronger than the stuff Kodachi used. He concentrated and a soft yellow glow outlined his body as he called forth his aura to try to burn off the affects of the drug. It was a faint glow, but then he no longer needed to waste so much in pretty light shows.

Still, the soft glow was just enough for him to make out a gray stone ceiling that was perhaps seven feet above him. Almost ten minutes passed before his aura faded somewhat. With a great effort he managed to reach Minako's head although it was a glacially slow process and irritating process for someone who just yesterday could jump over a building. He could feel a small bump on the back of it where whoever put them there must have half dropped her, although from the little he could tell of her condition, she was physically okay other than that. He carefully and slowly shifted her so that her head lay on his stomach, and no longer on the cold yet surprisingly clean stone floor. He supposed they were important guests to rate a tidy prison.

-«oOo»-

Duke Trenan walked down the secret deep blue carpeted hallway that was reserved for his use and his alone. Of course, he could dimly sense the presence of his shadows, always hidden but never far away. They would die before him. The compulsion engraved onto their very souls insured that. The duke was a regal figure dressed in his many shadings of blue, from the dark blue of his pants and long sleeved shirt to the lighter blue of his inner shirt. The royal sigil of a Ceras Tree adorned his back, and a silver hilted sword was belted to his left side. A close look at the hilt of the sword revealed it too had a tree carved out in extraordinary detail as part of the hilt.

He pondered recent events. First that wench Beryl betrayed him, but then she apparently tries to destroy the whole planet. How the heck was he supposed to be crowned king of Venus if there was nothing left to be king of? Then a reincarnation of the dead princess just happens to pop in, claim her heritage, and announce that Venus had been moved elsewhere. Heck she even made someone a knight of Venus that hadn't even been born on the planet.

The worst part of it all was that he understood the magic she had called upon. She could not lie when she made that speech to the world and now, thanks to that, there were the whispers among the commoners that they were saviors sent by the gods. Some saviors. Venus had never been a populous world. The last census had it around a hundred million, yet now, with the destruction of most of the cities, he guessed that it might be half that now.

He turned a corner and walked closer to a nondescript section of the wall, only to have that section slide downward smoothly. He walked through the opening, not even paying attention as the wall slid upward silently, such that it looked like it had always been an ordinary wall with no opening whatsoever.

-«oOo»-

All told, it took Ranma a little over a half hour more to burn away the effects of the drug, but then that was partly because he could ill afford to use too much ki too fast, since for some reason the speedup from the ceremony seemed to have deserted him. Of course, it didn't help that he was also hungry, but there was nothing to be done about it.

He shifted Minako as carefully as he could onto the floor where he had been laying. He didn't like leaving her there, but there was nowhere else, and he thought that perhaps that one spot might be a little warmer. He then began to carefully touch points on Minako's body one after the next, sometimes pushing, sometimes just barely making contact with. After a bit of time he rolled her carefully on her side and touched points on her back and behind her kneecaps. At each touch you could see a tiny wisps of golden light leave his fingers as they moved away from each site. It was the kind of thing, that, had it not been pitch black, would not have been seen at all, yet as he worked her body seemed to take on a faint golden glow.

He then got up and quietly walked over to the end of the room and placed his hands on the walls. His hands began to take on a soft barely noticeable glow as he carefully examined all the walls, and then the floor, and finally after standing on his tip toes, parts of the ceiling. He then turned and sat down next to Minako and let out a small sigh. Whoever had built this place had somehow made it so there were no breaking points, or at least none that he could find. Of course, Ryoga and the old ghoul were the true experts there, but it still surprised him that his careful searched hadn't found a one.

He hated to wait, but there was little else to do but to wait and hope that they were left alone for a bit longer. If they were going to have a decent shot at escaping, then Minako needed to be able to help in their escape. He sat there silently as almost twenty minutes passed, occasionally touching different points on Minako much as he had done before. He was leaning over her and and about to add a tiny amount of energy to the node at the base of her neck when he felt her hand pull his head lower and before he knew what was happening he was in the middle of a gentle yet insistent kiss.

Minako said softly, "Thanks," as she released him and started to get to her feet only to stop in the middle and lay back down. She failed to notice Ranma's blush in the dark as she said in a slightly slurred voice, "Um, what's going on?" She knew Ranma was above her before, but beyond that things were foggy. Why did she feel weak?

Ranma said, "Some kind of gas from the shells that fell when we arrived at that city, and then we are here. I was waiting for you to wake before trying to get out of here."

Minako yawned as she tried to recall those moments but they were a bit hazy. She called forth her henshin stick, and thinking she had done something wrong, did it again but nothing happened either time. In a tone full of disbelief, she said, "I can't transform." It was not like before. She could feel that her link to Venus was there. It was just muted somehow. She had never felt anything like that, and it was more than a bit scary, especially since they had been captured.

Ranma started to say something, but who knew if there were microphones around that he couldn't find. Nabiki had taught him how easily it was to hide the dang things. Even when she wasn't home, there was usually a recorder running somewhere. He whispered into her ear, "There could be microphones," to which she gave a half nod before pulling on him to help herself to a sitting position. She then whispered to him, "Do you have a plan?"

They continued to speak in whispers. Ranma said, "Yea, I can cut a hole in the outside wall and jump down with you, and then we run like heck."

As plans go, it reminded Minako of her own, but then given the number of unknowns, and the fact that she couldn't transform, or even move that well, it made sense. She said, "How far down?"

"Maybe three or four stories. It is hard to tell."

"Oh." She wondered how he knew, but it wasn't that important. Her voice continued to be slightly slurred as she said, "Feel like crap."

Ranma almost accidentally kissed her ear in the dark as he responded in a whisper, "I know. I did what I could, but whatever they gave us was potent."

Minako said softly, "Huh. You did what?"

Ranma said softly, "Remember how I told you that Doc Tofu taught me pressure points. Well, it doesn't work on everything, but basically by applying pressure, ki, or sometimes a combination of the two to the right places the disruptions in a persons body can be cleared. He was actually a bit surprised I learned it as fast as I did."

Minako nodded. Ranma was really like an onion. There was so much more to him than the jock he at first appeared to be. She was sure she was forgetting something, but for now they had to get out. Minako whispered fervently, "Let's go," to which Ranma said, "Okay, just sit tight for a bit, and I'll make us a door."

He got up and once again faced the outside wall. It continued to stubbornly refuse to reveal any of its breaking points to him, and Moko Takabisha's were out to, as they wouldn't do enough damage and would make a ton of noise besides. He considered the amaguriken, but it would likely damage his hands more than that wall. That left him with the sealed moves, but then it was only a wall. Of course, he mused, that vacuum blades were also nearly silent, which made them ideal. All in all they were just as they were designed to be by his father, excellent for breaking an entering, or in this case an exit.

He considered slicing it so the section of wall would fall outside, but that would almost certainly be heard, and he didn't want to risk killing someone, so he instead launched carefully controlled vacuum blades to create a roughly square section of the wall about two thirds as tall as his female form. It took over a two dozen vacuum blades to slice through the nearly two foot thick stone and by the time he was done and the block began to slid in, he was more than a little tired from all the ki he had been using. He brace himself and reinforced his muscles with his ki as he gently lowered the massive block to the ground. The opening revealed that it was early evening outside.

She privately wondered about how he could cut through the stone, although Ranma's expression while he was doing it made her think it wasn't the kind of thing he wanted to discuss. In fact, it appeared to her that he may even have hated what he was doing. She moved over to the opening, looked down, and gulped before saying quietly, "I think that's more than three stories." It looked more like about six or seven to her.

"Hey, no problem," Ranma lied. While he could handle the jump himself, the problem was the extra weight and the fact that the castle they were in was casting the ground below them in shadow, which made it difficult to judge or even see the landing. He picked her up and said, "Just relax and hold on."

She gave a half nod. It seemed insane, but then staying in a prison like that was not exactly recommended either. He jumped and as soon as his foot cleared the castle he felt it. His ki regeneration rate was back, and if anything seemed to be making up for lost time. As he landed he burned ki throughout his body as he flexed his muscles to absorb as much of the impact as possible, both for himself and for the passenger he carried.

To Minako, the landing felt like several of the times she had been blown through a building in Senshi form, which is to say that she hurt everywhere, and not just that little bump on her head, but she was okay. Ranma stumbled slightly as he set her down and she realized that he must have injured something in that fall before seeing the now broken rock his foot must have landed on.

Minako said softly, "Put me down."

Ranma looked around. They had fallen from the back side of a castle onto a grassy area near a body of water that he could not see the other side of. He said, "Huh? I didn't figure you'd be able to run now."

"You're injured."

Ranma sat her down and flexed his foot. He had almost ignored it until she had pointed it out again. He said, "It's okay," but Minako had already set out, determined not to be carried. She kept looking back as she wondered if he needed help, but soon enough Ranma caught up with her, with only a barely noticeable limp. A few minutes later he said, "Just a sec," before he walked over to the shore and splashed himself with water. As if his own transformation reminded the now female martial artist, she said, "Hey, can you transform now? Since my ki regen thing is back, I thought yours might work."

Minako had a puzzled expression until she examined her link to the planet again and was relieved that is was no longer muter. She held out her hand and exclaimed with a smile, "Venus Crystal Power... Make Up!"

Ranma-chan watched the brief light show with interest before starting a fast walk down the beach as it was trailing off. She was fairly sure that Minako would be fine now that she transformed, and despite changing, her foot still hurt.

Venus walked beside for a bit, before reaching down and pulling Ranma-chan into her arms and setting off into a run. She really did love the rush transforming gave her and since she had transformed the lethargy from the drugs was gone.

As she was shifted into a comfortable position in Minako's arms, Ranma said, "What are you doing?"

"Your hurt.."

Ranma slipped her arms around Sailor Venus's neck loosely and tried not to think about why this was so comfortable. She had been tempted to get down, but Venus was already running at a pace that she simply could not match with a hurt foot, so instead she focused on accelerating the healing in her foot. She said, "I'm okay. Changing to a girl sometimes heals stuff a bit."

"You were still limping," said Venus dryly.

"Ya, well, just gimme a bit and I'll be fine." She looked at the path they were taking and said, "Try to stay closer to the shore. The waves might erase our tracks that way."

"Okay, I wish I knew where we were though."

Venus continued to run until the sun started to touch the horizon. They had finally come to the edge of the beach and now faced a massive forest of blue Ceras trees. Ranma got down before Venus said bitterly, "I know where we are now. We are in Anfala. We are in Anfala and the duke of Anfala is a traitor."

Ranma-chan just glanced at her as if to ask what next. The sounds of dogs could be heard in the distance. Minako debated just staying and fighting before saying, "Crap, we need to get away somehow, for now anyway."

Ranma thought that was obvious. It was not that she couldn't fight of course, but given that they had already used gas and even a room that blocked Venus's power, she doubted they would start fighting fair now. She put more pressure on her right foot and determined that despite her attempts to heal it, it still would not hold up to the kind of running needed to ditch the dogs. Hiding in a tree was also useless since they were probably tracking them by smell. That pretty much left the ocean. She said, "Let's swim for it," as she absently took her clothes off and seemed to make them disappear.

Venus guessed that Ranma had something like the little space the Senshi had to store things, but then she was more interested in the rather nice view she had of Ranma's female form.

-«oOo»-

As they swam away, an attractive brunette with brown eyes, poked her head up from the water and watched them leave with interest. The blond haired one was obviously the reborn princess. The aura of magic around her made that much obvious, but as to the other, she wasn't sure. She guessed the one removed her clothes to make it easier to swim, but had no idea what she did with them, and as to the princess, well those clothes were no doubt magical in nature so they should work fine in the water.

The real question was what had happened to the princess's knight and why were they here anyway? Was her father involved somehow? It certainly would explain how the princess had come almost a thousand miles from near the capitol in so short a time. Even though her mother was from a far away ocean world, she was still a citizen of this world due to her father. Like everyone else, she had seen through their eyes during that ceremony, and even knew where they were at that moment in time.

She could hear the sounds of the dogs growing closer. She swam below the surface of the water. The water was her true home after all, no matter what her father might wish. It was possible that they were even here for her, but she doubted her father would resort to dog teams to chase her down, at least not yet.

It only took her a moment to find the disturbance in the water caused by their swimming, and little more to follow stealthily behind, but then she had been her mother's child, although, unlike her mother, she still had to surface every now and then. Of course, she was still hopeful that she would grow out of that little defect. As she swam an idea occurred to her that might even fix that.

-«oOo»-

Ranma-chan and Sailor Venus swam for about ten minutes before Venus glanced back and noticed how the dogs had started to congregate around the water's edge. She said, "Dogs," to Ranma-chan who glanced back before swimming closer to the water's edge. Venus followed Ranma. The pair paused in the water near the shore behind a low hanging tree branch. The water was shallow there and they could just touch the bottom. Ranma-chan absently moved closer to Minako and said quietly, "Hold on to me and think of nothing."

Venus appeared to be a bit confused, but did as requested. Just as she finished draping her arms loosely around Ranma-chan's stomach, the air suddenly seemed to shimmer and the dim view of the far shore, that could be seen in the setting sun just moments ago, was replaced by darkness. Venus started to ask a question, but remembered her request to think of nothing. The darkness seemed to breakup at times, but after a few minutes she got better at not thinking of anything and the darkness seemed to solidify masking their view of the shore.

-«oOo»-

No more than a few hundred feet away underwater, the brunette turned to listen to her friend. The dolphin looked much like a dolphin from Earth would, but then travel between the planets that were part of Serenity's court was common, and as such many of the same species populated the different worlds of the solar system. The dolphin sent to her, "Neri, the four footed ones are gone."

When Neri looked back, she could barely make out their legs. The rest of them seemed to be hidden in shadows. She had never seen anything quite like it. When she asked Kiana, her dolphin friend what she made of it, Kiana was equally uncertain, yet she also expressed curiosity and Neri got the impression that she wished that she could hide herself that way at times.

-«oOo»-

The barking stopped about ten minutes after Ranma brought the Umisenken around them. Ranma waited another five before she dropped the cloak and peered into the distance only to find that the beech was deserted, their pursuers evidently having gone elsewhere. She let out a sigh of relief and said, "Boy that Venus knight thing comes in handy. I couldn't maintain it so easily before."

Venus spun her gently around in the water, curious to see if she was truly serious, and was surprised to see nothing but honesty in her near elvish grin. In an amused tone she said, "Well, if you think that is good, wait till we get you transformed."

Ranma's smile grew a bit wider at the thought before she said, "Let's keep moving," to which Venus nodded and then asked quietly, "So what was that?"

Ranma began to walk slowly near the shoreline. The water would hide them and it was still warm enough not to be too uncomfortable. Of course, she had swam from China once. She idly wondered if this world had any oceans warm enough to allow her to stay male while swimming, but set the thought aside as she answered Minako with, "It's a trick. Something forbidden. It almost didn't work with two people."

"Something forbidden," repeated Minako softly in a questioning tone, but Ranma-chan moved on as if she had not heard.

-«oOo»-

The duke of Anfala sat on his throne in the spacious throne room located at the top of Castle Anfala. The castle sat with its back facing the ocean and overlooked the surrounding city and countryside. The throne room itself had massive sheets of perfect glass at the end of it, so the duke could sit and see the great city and Ceras tree forests that were the pride of his kingdom. There were even massive windows to the side and behind the throne so the ocean could be viewed, but then his wife had insisted on those.

Of course, long ago, when the castle was built, it wasn't a mere duke that ruled over this land, but a king. That had ended almost a thousand years ago with the first Serenity's reign and the civil war that had almost tore Venus in two. Now, it was forbidden by that accursed peace treaty for there to be more than one monarch of Venus, although at least Beryl had got that much right and eliminated the royal family. Of course, the loss of the capitol and the other cities was a great shame, but, he thought, worthwhile for the position it put him in now.

Everything would have been so simple if the reborn princess had not showed up, and now she and her boy toy had gotten out of the room that such care had been made to create for her. Several of his best mages had designed and supervised the creation of that room. It should have been impossible for the princess or her knight to escape, but they had done it.

It was like someone had sliced through the stone walls with a laser, except lasers did not leave that kind of edge, and his chief engineer assured him that whatever had made the cuts was in no way hot. The only thing that made sense was that the princess had done it and that his mages had in fact failed, which was why he had the head mage before him now as he sat on his throne.

With contempt he said, "So, care to explain your failure?"

"Sire. There is no way we could have failed. Sure, without regular care the magical damping properties of the stone would fade, but that would take years not days."

"Then how do you explain their escape?"

"I cannot sire. I myself detected no magical residue on the section of the wall that was cut away. The only thing that makes any sense to me would be if someone had cut it from outside, yet the chief engineer doubts that too. The princess certainly could not have thrown off the effect of that drug, at least not while surrounded by all that magical damping."

The duke didn't believe it. Someone must have screwed up or perhaps the mages had deliberately left some weakness, however small in case they themselves were ever put in there. Yes, that was the most likely. Someone had engineered a way out and they found it and used it to escape. Nothing else made sense. He debated having him executed for lying, but high caliber mages were a precious commodity, and rarer still were those that would obey him in such matters. Still, failure and lying had to be punished. He said, "Take him to the other special cell. I don't believe it has ever been tested. Maybe some time inside will allow him to figure out the answer."

The mage remained calm on the surface but mentally cursed. He had helped design that cell. The magical damping properties of the stone made it equally effective on mages. A few drops of sweat began to trickle down his face as he waited for the inevitable. He could sense the other mages, warriors, and even a few of the duke's shadows around him. Trying to escape would guarantee becoming a pin cushion. He remained outwardly calm as he was walked to his new home. There was no other choice, and who knows, maybe he could figure something out.

After he was escorted away, the duke said, "Now that that is taken care of, how are other things progressing?"

A short aged man with graying hair walked up and leafed through some pages before speaking in a dry tone, "Everything is normal throughout your land. The rumors and such that we have fostered are spreading normally and the people even now begin to blame the royal family and the court of Serenity for the death and destruction on Venus, although the rumors have not as yet reached far beyond your grace's own lands. The ones that discredit this new princess as a fake, perhaps allied with the forces that killed so many people appear to be taking hold, although it is too soon to tell, and there are still some who understand the significance of that ceremony, and refuse to believe."

The dukes expression was a bit irritated, but the aged man took no notice and flipped through a few pages before continuing in his usual dry tone with, "As your grace knows our lands were completely untouched in the incident, which has led many refuges to come here, and per your direction we are of course helping them and providing them what they need. Some of our own citizens resent this, but the situation is in hand."

The duke nodded. The people would be grateful for his actions, and with any luck that would do most of the work for him. The clerk continued with, "Finally, there has been no sighting of your daughter, although given her unique abilities we suspect she is hiding in the ocean again."

The duke sighed a bit at that. Neri was a beautiful young woman. One that he hoped to marry off some day to form an alliance or such, but she was every bit as willful and independent as her mother, who he had regrettably been forced to kill when she learned of his involvement with Beryl. Still, Neri was a tempest in a teacup compared to his real problem which the clerk addressed when he said, "Finally, as to the location of the missing guests, the special guard has so far turned up no trace." The clerk bowed and waited.

The duke wanted to lash out at the failure, at the incompetence, but the bottom line was that he just did not have enough people who could be sent on such a sensitive mission yet, and sending the normal guard might even lead to his own head on a pike. He said, "Have them keep looking, and continue increasing the size of the special guard as fast as possible."

The clerk said, "Very well, my lord. I shall see to it personally," before straightening from his bow and walking out.

-«oOo»-

Ranma and Sailor Venus trudged through the water for several more minutes, following the coastline, before the water got deep enough and they were forced to swim again. After about another twenty minutes of swimming at high speed in what was now near darkness, the shore began to change into a low cliff face that grew larger still as the minutes passed and they continued to circle the outside of it.

Ranma wanted to stop a few times, or at least go back and get someplace where they could easily climb onto the land, but Venus wanted to go on, to get further away from the castle before they stopped. She pointed out that if the worst happened she could just summon a chain that they could use to climb onto the bank with.

Ranma was just barely able to make out what looked like a small cave entrance in the cliff face up ahead when she noticed she could again touch the bottom with her feet. Seeing that Venus appeared to be flagging, Ranma-chan lent her a shoulder as they walked through the water to the cave entrance. As they left the water, Venus let her transformation drop and suddenly her wet uniform was replaced with dry ordinary clothing. Ranma-chan of course remained just as wet, and now that wetness was transferring over to Minako as more of her weight seemed to pass to her with each step they took.

Now that she was out of the water Ranma was beginning to notice her unclothed state again, but she continued walking to the cave entrance. As they stepped into the cave Minako pointed down to where water was flowing and said, "The water is flowing out."

Ranma responded with a, "Ya, I hope it's drinkable. If it comes from someplace inland it oughta be." After a few steps into the cave, it split into upper and lower sections, but then the water flowing through the lower section had undercut the floor of the upper section until only a narrow ledge remained. Ranma-chan climbed up into the edge of the upper section and held a hand out to Minako who wearily followed the slightly shorter girl.

They edged carefully along the tunnel until it opened into a larger area that was perhaps six feet wide. The walls of the cave had a very faint luminisence that made it possible to see, at least once their eyes fully adjusted. In an tired voice, Minako said, "Let's rest here," as she took a seat against a wall.

Ranma-chan turned back to her and noticed how tired she truly was. Of course she was tired, hungry, and her foot still hurt a little, but of the two of them she seemed to be holding up better. She said, "Go ahead, I'll go back and find something to eat." Not for the first time, she wanted the bag back they had found before. She wondered if Hermes was okay.

Minako said, "You don't have to. Venus won't let you die, at least not from starvation." Minako again caught herself admiring Ranma's currently unclothed female form. Perhaps it was knowing he was male normally, or maybe it was just Ranma. She supposed it didn't matter as she tried to lie down and get at least somewhat comfortable.

"Huh? I'm really hungry." He couldn't help but admire Minako in her semi wet stained, formerly white shirt and tan pants. She truly was beautiful without even trying. Even her disheveled hair seemed to only complement her beauty. Heck even the starkness of the cave seemed to only serve to make her seem more precious. Of course, admiring Minako brought back to mind that she, herself, was still naked, although that condition only took moments to rectify.

Minako smiled a small smile as she watched Ranma dash into clothing from where she had laid down. She could even hear Ranma's stomach grumble, which was followed by her own echoing its agreement. She met Ranma-chan's gaze and said, "Sorry, being guardians doesn't mean we don't get hungry. I'll take an order of whatever you find while you're at it." A few moments later she added, "Um, how is the foot?"

Ranma flexed her right foot. It was pretty much normal, thanks to Minako's help, and her own healing, not to mention that swimming didn't put much stress on it. Ranma said, "It's fine."

Minako shivered and Ranma noticed. Ranma guessed that without her transformation, she got cold like any other girl, and since they were no longer moving it made it much worse. With a sigh, and a grumble of protest from her stomach, Ranma set aside her plans to get food, and hesitantly moved over to where Minako was laying, only to have Minako reach out and pull Ranma-chan into her arms.

Minako said softly, "You're warm." It was a bit awkward. The rock they had laid on had been worn smooth by water, but was still quite hard, yet after a bit of time they fell asleep curled in each others arms.

-«oOo»-

Neri watched them from the ocean as they helped each other into the cave. She continued to stare at the cave opening for several minutes before diving back down into the water and swimming another twenty minutes along the shoreline to a little cave of her own that she used from time to time when she just didn't want to go back to the castle, which was, she supposed, most of the time.

After she entered her cave, she picked up a small ceramic cup and a glass bottle before walking to the back of the cave. She stopped in front of where the roots from one of the ancient Ceras trees ran through the ground and spidered along the bottom of the cave floor and from there further into the ground. At the base of the tree was a hollow formed by the sides of roots that had filled with crystalline water. The water had a very soft glow of its own, but it faded as she used the white cup to carefully fill the bottle with water before heading into another room.

She got out fish she had caught earlier, cleaned them and spiced them, before placing them on a small flat device no more than an inch thick. With a couple presses of a small button at the base of the device, the fish started to sizzle. It was quite a handy device, although she had no idea how it worked. She had borrowed it from a guard's field supplies some time ago.

Her mother had taught her much of this world, and much of their own as well. Their people considered it their duty to guard the oceans, and even had been blessed with gifts so that they might do so better. She walked over to a far wall and shifted a flat rock up before removing a small metal tube, and unscrewing one end of it to reveal an ordinary empty syringe. She then carried the tube and the syringe back to where the food was cooking before carefully turning over the fish before adding some semi dry seaweed. After that she tapped the button on the base of the device and saw the light on it dim.

She then sat down and very carefully used the empty syringe to withdraw a few cubic centimeters of her own blood from her right arm before opening the other side of the tube and taking out a very tiny crystal. Her mother had said the crystal was a kind of condensed magic that was tied to her family and more importantly to the oceans. She opened the bottle and dropped the crystal inside.

The bottle gave a soft hiss as the magic absorbed by the water from the Ceras tree roots sought equilibrium with the magic in the tiny crystal as it dissolved. Once she was sure there was no more hissing she carefully emptied the contents of the syringe into the bottle and watched the mixture emit light for a several seconds before settling back into quiescence.

She then went over and touched the button once more which caused the light to go off completely. A few minutes later she transferred the food into a plastic dish and sprinkled a few tablespoons of the apparently normal water from the bottle onto the dish before sealing it with a lid. She then brought the bottle to her lips took a small drink before closing the lid securely and putting it, the dish with the fish, and a few other things into a plastic bag and tying it. Next, she walked back out to the edge of the cave and stepped into the water. As she stepped in, her body seemed to glow a soft muted blue green for several seconds before returning to normal by the time the water had reached her full breasts.

-«oOo»-

Ranma awoke first, but to be fair her ability to react to important things when sleeping was far more fine tuned than Minako's. In this case, he was reacting to the smell of the baked fish and seaweed. His motion brought Minako awake as well, as they were intertwined with each other for warmth, and then she too smelled the food.

They looked up and saw that the room was bathed in light from a candle. There was an attractive browned haired young woman that was about their age sitting on one of the flatter rocks not too far away. She wore a one piece silver bathing suit. The tray containing the food and drink sat between them.

Ranma-chan was up and eating the food and drinking the water before Minako could even speak, although he did appear to be saving some for her. Between bytes of food Ranma said, "Hey, thanks for the food. We really needed that," to their mysterious guest who appeared to be quite amused at his antics.

While Ranma was eating their guest said, "I'm glad that you like it." Minako did note that she had a glass in her hand as well, that was mostly empty. Minako shrugged and glanced at Ranma's continued health before taking a pair of chopsticks, putting a piece of fish in her mouth, and washing it down with some really great tasting water."

Neri watched them finish the food and managed to suppress all but a small smile. Her mother would be proud, for her daughter had accomplished what she had not. Of course, her father's schemes might destroy what she had accomplished this day, as she suspected they had destroyed her mother. Now, she only had to wait until they touched the ocean again, and hope what she had prepared was close enough to do the job.

-«oOo»-

Author's Notes: Neri, if you didn't recognize her, is based loosely on the character of the same name from an Australian television show called Ocean Odyssey, and then later shown in America under the name Ocean Girl.


Glossary

Anfala: The country of Anfala sits on a peninsula in the southeastern corner of the main continent of Venus. Castle Anfala sits at the far southeastern corner of the continent.

Ceras Tree: Blue green trees unique to Venus. Their wood has magical properties, including the ability to retain magic applied to it.

Duke Trenan: Ruler of Anfala. He has a daughter named Neri.

Kasan: The capital city of Venus. It is situated in the just south of center of the main continent on Venus. Beryl destroyed it just before the end of the silver millennium.