Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½, Sailor Moon, Ronin Warriors, or Yugioh.

Author's Note: I'm soooooooooooo sorry everyone! I didn't mean to go on this incredibly long hiatus. But a potent combination of summer vacation and bad writer's block worked against me to keep me from writing anything practically all summer! I really meant to have one chapter per week until this story was done; I've even got outlines for each chapter done. It was the details that I kept hanging up on. But regardless: here it is, another chapter! Whoopi!

Before I get any further, I should give an insight into what several key uniforms look like. Also, the start of this chapter is a follow-up to the end of the last, but after I finish that part I'm going into speed mode. I'll label each month of summer and give you some important vignettes, moving us quickly from June to August for the start of next month.

Sailor Moon: Everyone calls her Sailor Moon or just Moon, but be aware she's in her Super Sailor Moon uniform. In fact, all the Sailors are Supers. Also, as this is an alternate universe of my own making, there is no Eternal Sailor Moon. I hate that particular uniform. Moon can use her Eternal attacks, and has the power level of her Eternal form, but stays in the Super uniform. My reasoning is, that since Small Lady no longer exists (well at least not that version of her) in the future, then she could not have come back in time. Which means no Eternal, since that's when Moon got the form. She can at will make wings spring from her back however, and these are full, feathery, working angel wings. Not the cutsey little one-foot-wingspan wings, but real, snow-white-feathered, six-foot-wingspan wings! And they actually flap when she flies!

Sailor Sol: Being a tomboy, not to mention not wanting to show off her legs and underwear all the time while in uniform, Rhea had insisted on pants instead of a shirt when she first received her Sailor Senshi uniform. Yes, they can do this, but she seems to be the only one who figured it out (even Pluto didn't, but maybe she secretly liked wearing the junior high schooler's short-skirted uniform) Anyway, the idea for this design came from Revolutionary Girl Utena. The top is the same white, tough and durable yet flexible "armor" that all the Sailors have, though it looks more like a military uniform top. No bows. Instead of that collar thing, on each shoulder has a round, red gemstone disk surrounded by gold and gold tassels hanging off it. It is sleeveless (of course) and she has red fingerless gloves with folded-back gold wrist cuffs (like the cuffs of men's dress shirts). It has a high collar with a gold stripe around the top (the author has just realized this looks sort of like a messed-up sleeveless uniform for one of Beryl's Generals!). The red skintight pants have a gold stripe down the side of each leg, and she wears gold fighting slippers. The transformation amulet has red stones set in a sun pattern and is in the middle of the chest, set into the chest armor/military dress jacket/whatever that is. She wears a gold sash as a belt, tying it off on the right side and a katana sheathed on her left side.

Sailor Eclipse: My last description was messy, but basically this is the Sailor Sol uniform with color changes. Change all red to black and all gold to a tarnished silver, and the white to grey. Now it really looks like a Beryl's General's uniform! Also, since she still has the bracer on her left arm, its a tarnished silver.

Sailor Saturn and Saturnia: These are pretty much the same, just slight color differences. Sailor (Scout) Saturn (Hotaru) has royal blue with deep burgundy bows. Sailor (Senshi) Saturn or just Sailor Saturnia (Kayura) has deep purple with silvery-grey bows. While Saturn has her Silence Glaive, Saturnia has twin bladed jitte, the Starlight Swords.

Dragon Lord and Sol Knight: Their armors look like Prince Endymion's armor style, and with no helmets. Only Sol Knight's is gold over black with a big sword, and Dragon Lord's is dark blue over black and unarmed. Knight has a gold sun over his heart and Lord has a larger gold sun in the middle of the chest. These armors are as tough and durable as titanium or better, yet as flexible as cloth (much to the martial artists' delight). They are somewhat less bulky that the Champions' armor.

Champions: Remember, the Ronin Warriors have dealt with Suzunagi in this timeline. So they get those weird yet awesomely cool new armors she changed their old ones into. The ones that look more like the traditional Feudal-era samurai armors with those sleeveless over-coats.


Ch9: Oh Those Summer Nights

In the early morning light, Serena and Setsuna were patrolling the streets in their Sailor uniforms. They had done so in near-silence for nearly an hour now, only breaking the silence to make a brief comment about the lack of youma activity here and there.

Finally, Serena could hold back the questions she'd been keeping silent for several days, no longer. "Pluto, when my cousin was telling us about his life in this incarnation, you apologized for attacking him. Why did you attack him?"

"I did not recognize him, Princess."

"Yes, and that's bad enough, but why did you feel the need to attack him in the first place? You couldn't have mistaken him for a youma!"

"No... I... I saw him in the Time Gate around the time I lost Crystal Tokyo... I thought he was the cause, an obstacle to our dream of Crystal Tokyo, and at the time I thought obstacles were for killing. I've had enough lectures from the Norns and from your cousin that I've rethought such things. But still... to loose Crystal Tokyo after everything we'd done..."

Sailor Moon sighed. "Crystal Tokyo is the future. A future. It may still come about. It may come but differently. And it may not come at all. This has always been the case. The future is not set in stone, and I had not thought things through before. Now that I have I realize that forcing one future to take precedence over others is not only foolish, it is cruel. It leaves the decision in the hands of few, and the vast majority of this planet would have no choice in the matter. We would have been taking away their free will – their chance to decide their own fates. And to be honest, Crystal Tokyo was never my dream. It was only something I was doing for the greater good, which I now realize was an absurd reason."

Setsuna gasped. "Not your dream Serenity-hime? But I thought – "

Serena smiled sadly and shook her head. "I have always felt my coming rise to power with trepidation. In the Silver Millennium, even in the Golden Millennium, I was, I admit, scared. Scared to have to be queen. Scared to have the fate of so many people on my shoulders. Scared that I would screw things up, and people would hate me, and people would suffer. It was a little better in the Golden, for I had a love whom I knew would help me and support me, and with him I could do anything. With Atem by my side I knew I could be the queen people wanted and needed, and at the end of the day I would be the woman I wanted to be; one who was loved for who she was, and not what she was. In the Silver all I had was a silly school-girl type crush on one who would take all the power and responsibility from me. On one hand I was relieved I would only be a figurehead. On the other, I was ashamed at myself, for not having the strength to take the throne as I should. And I could not even see, as I see now, that Endymion never loved me, but only loved the power I would give him in the marriage. I knew even as a little girl I would never be able to rule in my own right, for I was foolish and naive, and mentally could not grow up because of blocks within my mind.

"In this generation, this incarnation, I knew only that I was a princess and would someday be queen. I had a responsibility to the people of Earth, and would do anything to be a good queen. Even sacrificing my happiness. For I knew back when we pursued Crystal Tokyo that though the people might love me, and I would be kind, I was not a ruler. And I could not be happy like that. But I have found myself again, and I have found my true love, and now I can do anything. In truth I would like nothing better than for the future to hold a peace over the Earth, that I could rule as a sort of cross between the constitutional monarchy of England and the democratic government of the United States. A queen and a President, and the people have the power to make their own decisions. We are happiest when we have the chance and the choice to not be happy, for then happiness is sweeter for we can see the difference."

Sailor Moon fell silent again, and Sailor Pluto kept her peace. She had much to think about. And the two continued patrolling the quiet streets.


Yugi was in the kitchen making bacon and eggs for breakfast, when Seto finally trudged in, coat wrapped around his slender form. He kept his head down, face hidden from Yugi's sight. He looked miserable.

"What's the matter Seto?" Yugi asked, "You didn't have another nightmare, did you? Want to talk about it?"

"I... no, I didn't have another nightmare. But... Lotus... she visited me last night."

Yugi stared at him a moment. "Are you – are you sure you weren't dreaming?"

"If I had been it would have been a nightmare – but it was no dream! She was here, and she was angry. She tried to kill me. Actually, she threatened to make me suffer and then kill me. I deserve it, for failing to protect her like I did."

Yugi left the frying pan and sat down at the table across from Seto. He slipped in to Seto's old name, from their life in Egypt. "Seth, you don't deserve such accusations. You were not to blame for what happened to her. Akunadin betrayed everyone's trust, and killed her; he is to blame. Do not blame yourself."

"I still failed her, Atem. I – I should have been there! I could have protected her!"

"You didn't know, and you were kept away by those bloody councilors' complaints we both had to listen to! As for your nightmare last night – "

Seto cut him off. He didn't say anything this time, just raised his head and pulled the collar of his coat away from his neck. His eye was blackened, his face bruised a bit, and there were finger-shaped bruises on his neck, too slender to be Seto's own fingers. Yugi froze. Seto had not been exaggerating, nor had he been lying. Lotus had been there, and had attacked him.

There was a very, very long silence.

Finally Yugi said "We have her brother's address now. We should tell Dragonix – that is, Ranma. He deserves to know. And perhaps he can help, or at least shed some light onto why his sister would act this way. Didn't he say she was missing?"

Seto nodded. He started to say something when Yugi's eyes widened and he jumped up. "Oh no, breakfast! The bacon is burning!" The grown boy rushed to the stove and Seto just shook his head at his friend's swift mood change. Most of the time Yugi had Yami's more mature attitude, but there were times when his slipped back into his old innocent, somewhat childish ways. Although those slips sounded a bit strange in Yugi's baritone voice now. Seto could not help snickering a bit over Yugi's wailing over the burnt bacon.


Somewhat later that day, Nabiki opened the door of her and Ranma's apartment door to an insistent knocking. She was very surprised to find Cologne there. "Oh! Um, won't you come in Elder Cologne?"

Cologne cackled, "Still as smooth as ever I see, "Mercenary Girl." Yes, I believe I shall come in." The old Amazon pogoed in on her stick. Hearing the familiar voice and tapping of her stick, Ranma stayed hidden in the kitchen. He wasn't quite sure what Cologne would do if she realized he was male again, forgetting that she'd made the annulment to the Kisses before she knew his curse was locked.

"Child," Cologne told Nabiki after the two were comfortable in the living room, "You may be in great danger. My great-granddaughter has gone somewhat insane. I hate to admit it, but she really lost it. I suppose at some point she grew to love Ranma, but she refuses to accept that she has lost him. She refuses to accept that the Kisses have been annulled, or that he – she – is locked permanently in her girl form. She ran off about a week ago, in pursuit of Ranma. I believe she has decided that her personal honor is at stake, and if she can't make Ranma marry her – girl or boy – she'll kill her. And anyone who gets in her way is as good as dead. I do not want to loose such a valuable ally as Ranma, and I have grown quite fond of her as well, as if she were my great-grandchild by birth instead of marriage."

"Thanks, "Old Ghoul" I never knew ya cared!" Ranma said as he emerged from the kitchen, reassured that Cologne wasn't going to try to drag him off when she saw him.

Cologne's eyes bugged out and she promptly fell off her stick.

Struggling a bit, she got back on. "Ranma! I thought you were a permanent girl? Wasn't the Hot Water Kettle destroyed?"

"It was, and I've found a cure of sorts. Please make yourself comfortable Elder Cologne, it is a long story. I made tea." Ranma proceeded (in far better grammar) to tell Cologne, under strict promise not to tell anyone, about Ranma and Rhea, and then about the Silver Millennium. Finally Ranma got to the Golden Millennium.

"Back then the royalty of Earth was centered around Egypt and Atlantis. Rhea and I – and Nabiki – were from Atlantis. Rhea, Lotus back then, married the Pharaoh's cousin to help cement a good alliance between Atlantis and Egypt. We were the son and daughter of a lord in Atlantis, who was actually the brother to the King of Atlantis. Our uncle, Dartz, didn't have any heirs so I was being groomed to be the next king and rarely left the City and Island. Nabs here was the daughter of another lord in Atlantis, and we were pretty good friends. I think I would have liked to marry her if circumstances had been different but as it was, I was engaged to someone else, someone I hadn't even met, from another country in the Mediterranean. Sorry, but my memories of the Golden Millennium are a bit hazy still.

"Anyway, recently Rhea has disappeared. We don't know where she is, but I'm beginning to think she's been captured by our elusive enemy. Will ya keep a look out for her and call us if you see her?"

"I will Ranma," Cologne said seriously, "and I certainly believe your story. Our village has some legends about the Silver Millennium, although I have never heard of the Golden Millennium before. We Amazons are descended from some refugee Jovians and Venusians, who managed to escape Beryl's youma army and flee secretly to a remote part of Earth. If our legends are correct – and from your account, they must be at least in part – then survivors of each planet are in a stasis sleep somewhere, only waiting for their planets' environmental systems to be turned back on so they can awake and repopulate their planets. Our stories say each planet, even Earth and the sun, has some sort of both magical and scientific system that allows for habitable environments. Solid planets like Earth and Mars have them on the ground, gaseous planets like Jupiter and the sun supposedly have floating continents and islands.

"But now I must get back to Nerima. Mousse has left to follow Shampoo so I had to close the shop for the day just to come warn you. I want to get back before dinner and see about getting new employees." With that, Cologne hopped off.


Author's Note: And now for some transition time!

June

June finished as it had started. With youma and Shadow Monsters.

Salior Moon had long ago tired of the "fighting evil by moonlight" schtick. And so were everyone else by now. Although the "winning love by daylight" part was going a lot smoother than it ever had when she had been dating Darien! She and Yugi had already been on half a dozen dates, and they'd only found each other two weeks ago.

It had gotten a little better when Kayura, Mia, and Anubis had decided to find apartments nearby so they could help out when needed rather than commuting from Toyoma on the weekends.

Kayura was the Senshi for Saturn, and with her appearance Hotaru's power was reduced to a more manageable level. Hotaru's constitution began to get a lot better. She was now only the Scout for her planet; though she was still called Sailor Saturn, she was the Scout of Silence, of Sleep, and no longer of Death and Destruction.

Kayura became Sailor Saturnia, Senshi of Dreams. The two Saturns finally balanced the power of their planet.

And Hotaru had been able to be with her parents again. Finally working up the courage to tell Kayura and Rowan that she was the five year old daughter they had left in the Golden Millennium, they were only a little surprised. The rejection Hotaru had feared never came to pass as they welcomed her with open arms – even if their daughter was the same agae as they were now! "Well at least I can't say I feel old." Rowan had joked.

Mia had accepted a teaching job at Tokyo University, and because she knew so much about the Ronin Warriors and the Shadow Monsters (which was still not a lot in the case of the latter, but still more than most people knew), she had been given a significant raise out of the hopes she'd be able to teach her students something useful towards the attacks. Anubis had also gotten a job there as a history teacher; being 400 years old meant h had lived through a lot of history so he knew it quite well, not that he was going to tell them that.

Yugi had gotten shocked the first time he had met Anubis. After all, he'd already fought one Anubis, a demon calling itself the Egyptian god, who had been trying to take over the world with his Pyramid of Light. But Anubis Koji had assured him it was only a nickname, his real name being Shuten.

They had all gotten a laugh the first time Bakura had bumped into the red-brown haired, golden eyed man and had tried to intimidate him. Anubis had met a lot of creeps like Bakura and had merely stared him down. Irritated, Bakura had yelled, "Just who do you think you are!" Anubis had given him a particularly cold, nasty smile that hailed from his days as an evil warlord, a sneer which Yugi and his friends were accustomed to seeing on Bakura, and had said calmly "I'm Anubis. And just who do you think you are, little thief?" Bakura had paled and shut up, and ever after that had attempted to stay out of Anubis' way, or failing that to stay on his good side.

Yugi had heard the thief muttering "He has a jackal's eyes." which apparently scared him more than the Anubis with the Pyramid of Light had ever done.

The Sailors had noted how the Shadow Monsters were fought best with a combination of physical and magical attacks. Now everyone grouped together to enhance this, patrolling in their groups as well.

Ranma had taken charge of the first team. Nabiki, who had been relearning the Art that she'd stopped practicing when her mother had died, was pretty decent with the basics, and remained on his team as a backup fighter. Mostly though she was a Summoner. Not a very high level one, only managing two Ka monsters. Yugi and Serena also joined Ranma's team, along with Lita, Amy, and Cye.

Mia, as Keeper of the Champions of the Galaxy (or just Keeper, which was easier to say and sounded less cheesy in this day and age), took charge of the next team. Anubis, as her Guardian, was naturally on the team, and Haruka, Michiru, Mina, Kento, and Marik joined.

Seto finally came out of his hole to join them in the fights against the Shadow Monsters, and became an onofficial leader of the third team. Probably if Rhea had been around she would have taken charge of the team, but unfortunately she was still haunting him at night brainwashed, fighting her own battles against the dark power that held her sway. On Seto's team was Bakura which would have been a curse if not for the imposing Setsuna (who irritated Seto to no end), the firey tempered Raye and Ryo, and the calm yet no-nonsense presence of Sage, which served to keep the thief either cowed into submission or sullenly bored, depending on who was "keeping him in line".

The final group was lead by Ryoga, who like Ranma knew a lot more about organizing and running teams in battles now that he had his memories of his previous life. Hotaru happily joined him, along with the rest of her reincarnated family, Rowan and Kayura. Mai and Joey opted to join the lively bunch.

This way the Ronins, Ranma, and Ryoga provided the main physical attacks, Mia and the Sailors could concentrate on the magical attacks, and Kayura could do both. Also, the Summoners were a great help using their Ka monsters to fight the very similar Shadow Monsters.

There turned out to be several levels of Summoners. Yugi, Seto, and Bakua were all first class Summoners, and to summon lots of very strong Ka monsters such as Yugi's Exodia and Slifer, and Seto's Blue Eyes White Dragon. The second class Summoners were those like Joey and Mai, who could summon one or two really strong Ka monsters, or a lot of little weak one to overwhelm and distract. Hotaru found that she, like Marik, was a third class Summoner; while Marik could only summon one Ka monster, Hotaru could use a power similar to Monster Reborn, about three times a day.

Tea was a Summoner, all in her own class. That is, fourth class.

She could only summon a single Kuriboh.

As June became July, Rhea - or rather brainwashed Lotus - continued to stalk and terrorize Seto. Sometimes she came to his window at night and threatened him, beating him up. Sometimes Sailor Eclipse joined a battle against the "Shadow Warriors" as the public had taken to calling them. Mainly she battled against Seto's team screaming threats at "Seth" which only Bakura understood who they were aimed at and why. Bakura was also given a healthy fear of Lotus in all this, as she had taken an immediate dislike to the thief and started beating him up whenever Seto wasn't in reach.

There was an upside to her battling Seto's team: White Blaze. Because Ryo was on his team, the great white tiger was often nearby when she attacked the CEO. Which often lead to a lot of screaming and fleeing in terror on her part, before Eclipse did much damage.



July

July, unfortunately, wasn't much different from June. A lot of fighting. A lot of fighting. Even Ranma and Ryoga were getting very tired of it now.

Only now it was getting worse. Much, much worse. The Shadow Monsters still attacked, sometimes five or seven nights in a row. They now had their teams on rotation, one team in the day one team at night, different members of each team patrolling constantly. Two teams per twenty-four hours, the other two teams able to take the day off. And they did attempt to rotate so no team was stuck soley on nights or days. But it was exhausted.

No one wanted to think what would happen when the college classes started.

And Sailor Eclipse was still intent on killing Seth for his "betrayal". She attacked indescriminently, as their rotations didn't allow her to figure out when he'd be out, so everyone had to bare her "Dark Sun Flare!" and "Eclipse Vengence Blades!"

And on top of all that, the Nerima Wrecking Crew had finally found Ranma. First it was Ukyo, giant battle spatula ready to kill him for desert his "cute fiance". Then, as Cologne predicted, it was Shampoo, out to "kill obstacles" and "bring back Airen" and with her the visually challenged Mousse, challenging stop signs and parking meters. Akane showed up next, opting simply to "smash the baka pervert" and "save poor Nabiki-oneechan." Happosai and Ms Hinako complicated matters, the old pervert not happy that he apparently couldn't steal underwear from the Sailors when they were in uniform and the teacher unhappy that her coin didn't work on any of them period when they were in their various uniforms and armors and otherwise "powered-up" states.

What really made it all hell though was the arrival of the Kunos. No one should be subjected to Kodachi's laugh and Tatewaki's bad poetry. And their master had made far, far stronger than they had been before. No longer could Ranma dodge, punch, and ignore Kuno. Now he had to dodge lightning attacks, and actual lightning! All the while trying desperately to plug his ears; Kuno's speeches had gotten worse.

But he still ran away from Kodachi. The only difference in her besides increased strength and some bizzare attack that involved throwing black roses whose stems could cut concrete and steal like Ryoga's bandanas was the fact that now she was out for his blood instead of his bed. Ranma actually thanked whoever had changed his mind. He could put up with this attitude from her a lot better than her "Ranma-samas"!

Yugi and Serena had been getting closer. They were truly a couple, and Yugi had even scored a modeling job at the fashion magazine! They liked his hair overmuch, he said, when he came home from work one day with it completely crimson, only the gold bangs and gold streaks left from the original colors, and what had been apparently a long hard job of hair straiteners which had gotten the spikes down into a ponytail. He was consoled when Serena told him she thought it looked good on him. (actually what she said was "Wow, you look hot and dangerous! Like a biker! Cool!")


Finally Ranma was able to take a rest. He'd been out all day – today was one of his team's "off" days – teaching a class at the dojo he worked for. He was still teaching basics to beginners. But he felt it a comforting, rewarding job. These people were dedicated. They were willing to learn basics, and keep practising them. Unlike a certain uncute tomboy...

Speaking of which, her sister Nabiki was doing quite well! Nabiki had been taking classes with him, and was coming along very quickly. She'd already moved up into an intermediate class. But she was still willing to practice the basics.

Ranma smiled as he thought of the brunette. How many years had it been, he wondered, that he had disliked her? That she had been the cold mercenary, the Ice Queen of Furinkin High? And now the Ice Queen's heart had melted. She smiled – real smiles he could see in her eyes – and had helped him get passed the old stupid teachings against showing his feelings that his father had beaten into him. They'd helped each other, really.

Ranma liked Nabiki. She might still seem cold to others, but that was just a facade. Nabiki was warm and caring inside. She'd hidden it inside her for so long, those feelings. Afraid to be hurt again. Afraid, because she had loved her mother, and her mother had died. She had loved her father and her father had abandoned her, and the rest of his family, wrapping himself in his tears and sake. She loved her family, had tried to support them, and Kasumi had done her best to help where she could in the house, but Soun and Akane never lifted a finger. They never thanked her, or Kasumi. Never asked how or where she got the money, taking both her and Kasumi for granted. All this hurt had made it very hard for the younger Tendo to show or even admit feelings. But she had finally told Ranma that she had come to love him.

And Ranma was very glad of this.

Because he liked Nabiki. He l- he lo- lo- ved her. He loved her. There. He'd admitted it. Even if it was only to himself.

He wondered if, even though they were dating now, he'd ever be able to tell Nabiki, out loud.


Darien walked down the street, scowling to himself. His Serena – his Serena was going out with another man! What had gotten into the girl? She was his, she belonged to him. They had been engaged to be married in the Silver Millennium after all. And he was destined to be king, ruler of the world! If only Crystal Tokyo would come sooner. But she appeared to have forgotten destiny.

He had told her, when they parted, that she needed to be Neo Queen Serenity before he would have anything to do with her. He couldn't stand her childishness. Only now she apparently had gotten a crush on some guy with weirdly dyed hair. Well, he'd just have to take her back then, make her remember that she loved him and only him.

But first, he thought as he spied a beautiful buxom redhead, I'm going to have a little fun.

"Hey beautiful, are you new around here? I can give you a tour." Rhea blinked, startled, at the man's voice. She turned and looked –

Up.

He was tall. Blue-black hair framed cobalt eyes in a pale face. He wasn't particularly muscular. In fact, though he had a handsome face, she was more inclined to label him "nerd" just from his rail-thin body. But his eyes, and that smug smile, promised that he was a lady's man, and not some computer geek.

She smiled, a matching smug grin to Darien's. "Sure, I could use a tour. Does it go by your place?"

Rhea linked arms with Darien. She had promised to make Seth suffer. Now she just needed to figure out where he hung out when not fighting, and make sure to parade her new man. Seth insisted he loved her, so he ought to be properly jealous and heartbroken.


August

Serena yawned and stretched. She'd been modeling for the fashion magazine center spread today. And it had taken all day long! She had never known just how much work it took to model before this job. But she still loved it.

The highlight of the day had been when Nabiki had dragged a protesting Ranma through the door.

Flashback

"Aw, Nabs, come on!" Ranma wined.

"Aw, Ranma, come on!" Nabiki mimiced, and pouted, batting her eyelids. Ranma groaned in defeat and allowed her to drag him the rest of the way into the building. He really didn't want to take up a modeling job along with the martial arts classes he was teaching, but Nabiki – insisted. At least she had promised it was only for a couple days.

The magazine had plenty of ladies modeling for them. They had Rhea – who was of course still out of "sick leave" – and Serena, as well as Lita, Mina, Raye, and Kayura. Amy had refused to even try out for a job, too shy and embarrassed. But they were short on male models. Yugi had gotten a job, as had Sage (actually sage had been dragged into it by his sister; he would much rather have been teaching kendo) and Ryo, but that was it. So here was Nabiki, dragging a "recruited" Ranma in for a single issue. She smiled at him. "Thanks Ranchan, I owe you one!" she said and gave him a light peck on the cheek, surprising the both of them. Then she pushed the blushing Ranma into the waiting arms of the stylists.

Nabiki was making some pretty good money herself. The former Ice Queen was very happy with her knew job. First she'd just been Rhea's agent. Then she added Serena to her list. Now Ranma was also paying her to be his agent! And Nabiki had also gotten hired as an assistant photographer when three of the professional photographers had to quit for different reasons. One to move to a different state with her husband because of his work, another because he wanted to work for someone else (everyone grumbled about his loss of loyalty for weeks), and the third retired.

Nabiki grinned at the thought of all those yen. Professional photographers made a mint! She should have hired herself as a freelancer years ago instead of doing all that blackmailing and rackateering.

Faintly she heard Ranma saying "No don't take that outa my hair! Well what d'ya know, the Dragon Whisker's been cured."

Good, Nabiki thought, That's one less thing he has to worry about. She hadn't known it had gotten cured, but apparently Ranma had forgotten he'd managed it. (a/n: actually I'm the one who has forgotten the incident that cured the dragon whisker. Can anyone tell me? a/n)

End Flashback

"Alright Serena baby, one more shot and we're done!" the main photographer, Dave, said. It was August, and the magazine had given her an Autumn makeover. Platinum blonde hair to mid-back, streaked with silver-gold, held off her face by a braid of hair taking the place of a headband. White and red ribbons were braided into it, and the other braids in her hair. She wore a rust-red v-neck silk dress with gold leaves embroidered all over it, and a cinnamon brown silk cord braided with gold, and with gold tassels on the ends, acting as a superfluous belt. Gold open-toed high heels completed the outfit. It was supposed to be fashionable school clothes. Serena wondered if anyone ever dared to actually wear something like this to school; there'd be such a large chance to get it ruined!

And finally they were done. Serena gratefully took off the shoes and put on more comfortable sneakers. They looked odd with the dress, but she was in a hurry to get home and have dinner! She'd change later.

Waving good bye to her coworkers, Serena went looking for her ride. "Serena! Over here!" A tall blonde woman waved from the purple sports car.

Serena dashed over. "Oh Mai, I wasn't sure you'd wait for me! I'm sooooooo sorry I'm late!"

"Think nothing of it honey. I was running a bit late myself. So, did you like the dress?"

"Oh its marvelous! But I wouldn't wear it to school – I'd wear it to the Homecoming dance." The two laughed as Mai drove out of the parking lot and towards the apartments.

Mai Valentine had become a great friend to Serena. Mai had started her own business that summer; she'd always wanted to be a fashion designer, and planned on majoring in fashion design in college. She had started out doing a few jobs for the magazine Serena modeled for. Then Mai had opened her own line, and a small clothing store. The line was called My Heart, a play on Mai's name; 'My' rhymed with her first name and 'Heart' was the first thing people generally thought of when they heard 'Valentine'. Mai's store, Heart Warmers, was only a couple months old and already business was booming! Mai turned out to have a business sense as good as her fashion sense.

Mai and Serena got back to the apartments just in time for dinner. Serena and Lita had found they were in the same complex as everyone else, and Raye had finally moved in with them, leaving the shrine in the hands of the other priests and priestesses who now worked there. It had gotten too much for her to stay there and work alone, and have to commute to school or even to see her friends. Although she still owned the complex.


Urd was happy. No, Urd was ecstatic! The copy machine had finally worked, Kami-sama had approved of her plan. Now she just had to find her target. Which meant reading through all the files she had copied, and figuring out not only where, but the best approach to her mission.

Come to think of it, this whole plan might go smoother if she enlisted Mara's help. Now, normally Urd would never think to do this. In fact, she normally wouldn't touch that idea with a ten foot pole! But in this case...

Urd flew off to find her half sister, chuckling evilly to herself.


Thanks to all the people who reviewed the last chapter. And again, I apologize for being so late with this one. I'm hoping to get Chapter 10 done by the end of next week, but no guarentees.