Whoever owns Ranma 1/2, The Teen Titans Animated, or Sailor Moon, it certainly isn't me.

Rei was almost bouncing along as she and Raven left the Tenoh home for the station, and Raven couldn't keep from smiling as the raven-haired girl's sheer joy at having more family than just her grandfather again washed around her. It seemed the visit had been as good for Rei as it had for Raven.

(Being able to learn something straight from the source about the lives of the Others that had gotten the lives she and Akane should have had — her empathic reading of Haruka's addiction to the thrill of racing and enjoyment of flirting, Michiru's deep love of music and the ocean, the intense affection they shared in spite of how different they were, all clear to her empathic sense — had done wonders for the jealousy that had choked her earlier.)

"I take it you had a good visit," Raven finally remarked.

"Yes, yes, yes!" Rei caroled, turning her next few steps into a spin with her arms outstretched. "I can't believe how well Kasumi and Nabiki turned out after everything that happened! Though I can't believe neither of them has found a man, yet — well, that Kasumi hasn't. We'll have to see if we can change that, though I don't really know any single men their age, at least not well enough to risk setting them up. Maybe Grandfather does?"

Raven winced. "That ... wouldn't turn out well," she reluctantly stated. Apparently Rei had missed some of the undercurrents that had been obvious to the empath. She hesitated a moment, but reluctantly decided it was better to get it out in the open right away — the whole mess with Trigon had taught her a hard lesson in the downsides of keeping important secrets from those close to her.

A suddenly worried Rei was now walking backwards so she could stare at Raven, and the Titan motioned toward an alley between a couple of small stores. As soon as the pair was halfway down it, Raven stopped and closed her eyes, calming herself as she sought out any sources of emotion around them. She found none close enough to overhear anything even through the open windows above them so long as she and Rei kept their voices down, and opened her eyes to find an even more worried Rei waiting.

"So what's wrong with trying to set up Kasumi and Nabiki? Is there something wrong with them?" she demanded as soon as she saw Raven open her eyes.

"There's nothing wrong with them, not exactly, it's their own experiences from that mess..." Raven hesitated again, then glared at Rei, who shuddered at the sensation of demonic 'presence' she felt rising. "You are not going to judge, we can't understand what it was like for them."

"No, of course not," Rei hastily agreed. "But judge what?"

There was simply no way to sugarcoat it. "They're sharing a bed, and not just for sleeping." Rei's jaw dropped as she fell back against the alley wall, her shock rolling over Raven, and the Titan hastily continued, "I'm guessing they have been almost since we … well, died, essentially ... when they were left alone with Nodoka and two babies to raise and us two to wait for. They've had no one but each other and the girls — and Nodoka and I guess Cologne — the whole nineteen years. That hasn't —" ... been exactly healthy, she finished in her mind. But that was as judgmental as she'd just told Rei not to be, even if true. "Anyway, don't make a big deal out of it. Right or wrong, after so long they aren't going to break up just because we're back."

"I … right … right … I can see that."

The pair stood in silence for several minutes, Raven turning to lean against the wall beside Rei as the Senshi struggled with the revelation (turning beet red in the process, to Raven's carefully hidden amusement as she guessed from Rei's appalled embarrassment where her thoughts — or imagination, rather — had wandered... and just a hint of lust that possibly boded well for their own future relationship).

Finally, Raven took pity on Rei, deciding it was time to divert her thoughts to more comfortable subjects. She leaned sideways and nudged her, shoulder to shoulder. "Have you called your teammates, let them know you're back on the clock?"

"Oh!" Rei jerked out of her dazed state and summoned her communicator. "No, I hadn't, thank you for remembering." She pressed a couple buttons, and a moment later the tiny screen lit up to show a serious-looking Ami.

"Rei, glad you're back, how long till you're home?"

Rei and Raven exchanged glances. "I don't know, an hour or two?" Rei hazarded.

"Too long. Find a park and transform, we'll come get you. We're holding a meeting now instead of tomorrow."

/oOo\

Raven was bent over with her hands on her knees, fighting not to heave ... again. The second time she'd been carried along by a Senshi teleport had been a lot less bright and noisy than the first one (a matter of distance, Mercury had said), but her nausea at the other end was no less intense.

When she was sure that if she spoke only words would come out, she looked up at Mercury. "I'll let you scan me after the next time we do that, if you promise to try to find what's wrong with me."

Mercury's eyes lit up, and Venus laughed. "You know she'll be looking for an excuse for another teleport now, right? Or teleports, for the extra data, you know."

Moon burst out, "Venus, that's mean!"

Venus just laughed again at their leader's outburst. "True, though."

Raven groaned at the thought, and at the shamefaced expression on Mercury's face. "On second thought, I'll think I'll just look into somehow extending my own range beyond three miles."

A sympathetic Mars and Jupiter pulled Raven's arms over their shoulders and helped her straighten. Mars said, "Come on, let's get you into the house and I'll get some Ohta Isen for the nausea. I just hope it's strong enough, you're looking pretty green — and as pale as you've gotten it stands out."

/\

A Raven once again her natural color and dressed in her leotard and gold chain belt and her cloak billowing behind her (she'd changed into her uniform to match the Senshi) strode into the family room to find the others impatiently waiting — along with Artemis and Luna. At the sight of the cats her stride hitched for a moment before she went on to drop onto a couch with Mars sitting down beside her.

Moon looked up from where she'd been lying on the floor reading the manga she'd borrowed from Rei's room (to Rei's long-suffering sigh), then gracefully rolled into a cross-legged sitting position. "Oh, good, you're here. So, Mercury, why the meeting now instead of tomorrow?"

Mercury stood up and stepped over where everyone could easily see her, her expression serious. "I wanted the meeting now so Chibi-Moon would still be at Disneyland. She's too young for this." She paused as everyone else straightened, and nodded. "You know I gave our debriefing to Nakano-san this afternoon. Well, he had something for us as well. Raven, you can share with Mars, the authorities weren't aware you're visiting until my debriefing so I don't have a copy for you." She reached up and her hand disappeared into her weapon space then reappeared with a handful of folders. (Stuff space? The Senshi didn't seem to use it for storing weapons...) She passed them out to the Senshi, Artemis and Luna leaping up onto their partners' shoulders so they could read them as well.

Once that was done, she continued, "It seems the only thing unique about our fight with Godzilla was its lethality, the other toys that have been coming to life and attacking people have been more nuisances than anything — though a few of the latest ones have put people in the hospital. Nakano-san had a few of the toys for me to scan, and while there's a hint of demonic influence left on them I doubt there was ever enough to set off my crystal. Which is why this is the first we're learning of it."

The others started looking through the folders, and Venus frowned. "This is really bizarre, and this morning's fight shows it's serious, but it's nothing Chibi-Moon can't handle. So what haven't you told us yet?"

"As usual, the authorities have been doing deep background checks of the families involved — and they're all families — and they may have found a ... a disturbing pattern." The Senshi had stopped looking through the folders to refocus on their 'intelligence officer' as she fell silent, and Raven felt herself tightening at Mercury's growing feelings of helpless anger. Finally, Mercury continued, "Nakano-san thinks all the toys belonged to abused children."

Raven's vision flashed red. She snarled, "Who?"

Venus stepped between her and Mercury, glowing chains wrapped around each forearm up to her hands and hanging from her fists' grip like whips. Jupiter and Moon were scrambling up from their chairs and couches, when Raven felt hands gently grip each shoulder from behind. "Easy, Ranma, I'm sure Nakano-san will see to it that the children are looked after and the guilty punished."

The calm certainty that accompanied the words, 'flowing' through Mars' hands on her shoulders, punctured Raven's growing fury and the red faded from her vision. She found herself hovering a few inches above the floor, dark flames flickering around her fists. She slowly pulled her power back into her soul and uncurled her fists as she settled to the floor. "Sorry 'bout that," she muttered.

" 'Sorry 'bout that'?" Jupiter repeated incredulously, lightning leaping from fist to fist and crawling up her arms and across her shoulders to lifted the strands of hair that had worked free from her ponytail away from her head. "What was that?"

Raven realized she was rubbing the back of her head with one hand and jerked it down. "You know I'm half demon, but all my powers come from the half of my soul that's demonic ... and so does my temper. I've got it under control." Mostly.

"That was not noticeably under —" Venus began, only to break off when Moon lay a hand on her arm.

"It's okay." Venus, Mercury and Jupiter turned to stare at her and Luna began to protest, but Moon cut her off with a wave of a hand. "Sure, Raven got angry, but she got angry at the right people. It's okay." She grinned at Raven. "Though those red, glowing eyes are really scary."

Raven grinned back and shrugged. "Beast Boy says the same thing, says the jolt to the heart is good exercise."

Moon laughed and plopped back down on a couch, motioning for everyone else to do the same. As everyone but Mercury followed along (Jupiter and Venus somewhat reluctantly), Mars exclaimed, "That's why you only sometimes feel like a demon! When you're relaxed you aren't summoning your power, but when you're fighting — or are angry or even just determined — you —"

"— instinctively pull a bit of my soul 'forward', preparing for action," Raven finished. "You're right. And since none of the other Titans are magical or demon hunters, they don't pick up on it."

"Oh, I think the glowy black hands and burning eyes are a pretty big hint," Mercury drily retorted to smothered laughter from Moon and Mars and a snort of agreement from Jupiter. They sobered, though, when Mercury continued.

"But back to the matter at hand, up till now Nakano-san's people hadn't done physical examinations of any of the children involved, since they'd have had to ask for the parents' permission and didn't really know what to look for, anyway. But with Yoshiki's parents dead one of the first things Child Welfare did was a thorough physical exam and they found that Yoshiki had been raped — repeatedly. Yoshiki eventually admitted that it was his father."

She paused for a moment to allow the rest to take that in. And to give Mars a chance to calm down Raven again with a light touch on her forearm, as the Titan's eyes had regained a faint tint of red. When Raven's eyes had returned to their normal blue, Mercury continued, "When Nakano-san received that report, he used it to justify a complete physical of all the children involved. So far, only three have been completed. Of the three Sumiko has also been raped, Yakumo has had his forearm broken that wasn't mentioned in his medical records, and Tatsuya has no physical signs of abuse."

"So out of four at best we have three that have been physically abused and one that has likely only been emotionally abused."

There was still a snarling undertone to Raven's voice, but Mercury ignored it and simply nodded. "Yes. That seems to be the case, though I'm not sure how that helps us figure out what's going on. But you can see why I didn't want Chibi-Moon here for this."

The rest nodded, a greenish Moon vigorously, when Venus suddenly paused. "Wait a minute, maybe it does help us. Raven, didn't you say that Rei's last year as Akane had her training to be a demon hunter? Including recognition of the most common and famous demons?"

Mars and Raven stiffened, then turned to look at each other. "Yes ..." Mars agreed. "But I don't remember anything that would fit this particular pattern, and Raven, considering how close it would have hit home with what you were going through at the time I would. I can try meditating to see if something more floats to the surface, but it isn't likely. Do you know anyone that fits?"

"No, I don't. But that doesn't mean the answer isn't in my library — that's why I have it, after all. And if it isn't there, I can ask around: Zatanna, Jason Blood, Madame Xanadu, Doctor Fate if I can get his attention." Raven's face twisted in disgust. "Maybe even John Constantine, if all else fails and I can find him."

"That bad?"

"You would not believe the stories about that man." Raven looked over at the rest of the Senshi. "If that's everything, Akane — Rei — Mars, I mean, and I can get right on —"

Moon cut her off with a raised hand, and Raven swallowed when she realized that the Senshi's leader had switched into her serious Robin mode and was focused on her. "Raven, I believe you had a report of your own to make. I know you didn't want Luna and Artemis here, but they have been with us through everything. They deserve to be here. So, lay it on us."

"Um ... okay ... sure." Raven reluctantly rose to her feet and walked over to where Mercury had been standing, waving her to a seat and raising an eyebrow when Mercury pulled yet another crystal from her storage space and stared at it until it started to glow. Shrugging, Rave turned to face the room and felt the sudden intense worry pouring off of the two cats. She had to suppress the urge to bare her teeth — she didn't have fangs, exactly, but her incisors were sharper and more pointed than normal... Play with Akane's life, will you? Not that the cats didn't love their charges, from what she'd sensed, but however much she knew her mothers and grandparents loved her she was tired of being manipulated for everyone's good and didn't like seeing it happen to others she cared for. Though at least Batman's manipulations are more subtle and hands-off.

She shook off the thought of Robin and his relationship with his long-distance mentor and refocused on the room. Damn it, this is normally Robin's job. Trying to channel her absent friend and his debriefings, she collected her thoughts and said, "Okay, so you all know something of the lives you lived on Crete and how they ended, but the memory crystals you were given were recorded before you left Crete to close the gate Pandora opened under Thera. What do you know about that?"

The Senshi exchanged glances. "Not much, just what Luna and Artemis told us," Mars finally replied when it became clear no one else would. "With Prince Alexander's help we succeeded in closing the portal for a time with Pandora and some of the Hellenic princes that turned out to be her confederates trapped inside, but at the cost of our lives. Queen Celene sent our souls forward in time when we died to deal with Pandora when the portal reopened."

"That's true as far as it goes," Raven agreed. "Yes, the nine of you closed the portal, using your own life energies to do it and were rapidly dying —"

"Wait, nine?" Mercury interrupted.

"Yes: Prince Alexander, Queen Celene, and the princesses of the houses of Hermes, Aphrodite, Selene, Ares, Zeus, Uranus, and Poseidon. Princess Psykhe of House Cronus was seriously injured in the Dance of the Bulls just before Thera erupted and so didn't join you, and Princess Daria of House Hades stayed behind at the Queen's request."

Mercury had been counting along on her fingers as Raven listed them off, and frowned. "Uranus and Poseidon? So those would be Sailors Caelus and Neptune that haven't been awakened? Why not?"

"Uranus, if you want to stick to the names of the planets. As for why not all of you were recruited when Pandora broke free of her prison, I don't know." Raven shrugged. "I was pushing the limits of my mandate as it was, checking out the files of those of you that are Akane's friends. I decided it was too chancy to check the files of the ones you haven't met yet." She felt the cats' relief and again had to fight to keep her lips down over her incisors. You aren't off the hook yet...

"Anyway, yes, Queen Celene made you an offer. But it wasn't to have your souls sent forward to be reborn now. You see, while you sealed the portal it wasn't perfect. It couldn't be because the gods weren't involved in its closing this time — only mortals, in spite of your heritage that made it possible to close the portal at all. So Queen Celene offered to tie your fates together so that you all would always be reunited, and offered your memory crystals so that you could repeatedly use the divine inheritance imprinted on your souls to defend humanity from the demons and other supernatural being slipping through the cracks in the sealing."

"So ... we've been doing this longer than just this lifetime?" Mercury asked, as the rest of the Senshi just looked back and forth between her and Raven. "Why aren't we in the history books?"

"If by 'this' you mean the Senshi, no, that's new. But if you mean protecting humanity from supernatural threats, you've been at it for over three millennia.

"As for why you're not in the history books, you are, just not the books they use in public schools. And the writers of those books wouldn't realize that they were dealing with an ongoing team, because other than right after your first deaths that started this and your current lives you haven't all been the same age." Raven shrugged again. "Demon hunting is no more safe than being a superhero, maybe less. From the lives I looked at I'd say your chances of living long enough to retire and train the next generation of your reborn team were about fifty-fifty. So some of you would die young, some wouldn't, so the whole team was never in sync."

"Until we all died at the same time nineteen years ago," a troubled Venus added. "You didn't find that suspicious?"

"Of course I did, I've had Robin as my team leader for five years." Raven grinned at Venus. "It's one of the maxims he likes to drop occasionally: 'Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action'. The two of you would get along."

"Oh, could you introduce us?" Venus asked, her eyes lighting up, before she shook her head. "Bad thoughts! Later, after this is over."

"Uh ... Venus, you do know that Robin already has a girlfriend?" Raven asked. "One that can fly and fire starbolts out of her hands and eyes? One that has less control over her emotions than I do?"

"What!? I mean, yeah, sure, I just ... want to compare notes! That's it, I'm the closest thing we have to a field commander, I could use some pointers." By now the rest of the girls were laughing (though Raven was picking up a hint of disappointment from Jupiter), and Venus pouted. "You're all so mean!"

Once the laughter died down, a Raven now more at ease thanks to the much less guarded and suspicious emotional currents from most of the Senshi continued: "Anyway, it isn't as much of a coincidence as you think. Malaina and Hali had died of old age the year before. Alexander was killed by a youkai some four years earlier so Celina's suicide is no surprise."

Raven paused for a moment, then sighed as she focused on Moon. "I know you and Alexander have the whole 'lovers through time' thing going, but the way the you both become suicidal when the other one dies isn't really healthy — even if it keeps the age difference low from life to life."

Before the suddenly pale Moon could respond, she continued, "Idola's death when she was Akane had nothing to do with any of you, so that leaves Cytheria, Elysia and Sofia" — nodding to Venus, Jupiter and Mercury — "and you three had to make a suicide run against a demon seriously above your weight class. You managed to banish it, but ..." She shrugged again. "You were fifty-four, twenty-five, and ... thirty-seven at the time, I think." She paused to let the girls grapple with what she'd dumped on them.

After a few minutes as their shock subsided, she started again: "So, with you all reborn at almost the same time the continuity was broken, and that turned out to be a serious inconvenience when Pandora broke free when you all were only sixteen and still unaware of just who you were."

Venus waved at the two increasingly nervous cats sitting beside each other on the floor between Mercury's chair and the couch Raven had been sitting on with Mars (and with a clear path to the door, Raven had noted.) "So that was when Luna and Artemis decided to recruit us again and give us what help they could?"

"No, that was when Daria — the princess of House Hades, Celine's lover, the one ordered to stay behind when you headed to Thera to close the portal? — when she instructed the cats to recruit you." Raven's lips finally pulled back to bare her teeth in a grin that was anything but friendly. "Isn't that right, Luna? Artemis?"

Most of the Senshi gaped at her (though Mercury didn't seem surprised), then Venus and Moon turned to the two cats. Moon demanded, "Luna, Artemis, are ... are you really working for someone else?"

"I ... I ... I ..." Luna stammered for a moment as Artemis closed his eyes for a moment in resignation.

"Yes and no," he finally said when it became clear that Luna's struggle for words wasn't going to end anytime soon. "It's closer to say that we're reporting to her, and passing along information that she thinks you need to know. But from the day we met, you — our charges — are the ones we've served."

Moon shifted her pleading gaze to the empath in the room, and Raven reluctantly nodded. As unhappy as she was with the cats' secrecy and deception, Artemis's sincerity was clear. Moon's shoulders slumped in relief, but Venus was frowning. "But why all the subterfuge?" she demanded. "Why didn't she just recruit and train us herself?"

Luna had finally recovered from her shock, and she said, "We don't know, she's never said. But whatever the reason she wasn't happy about it."

"I think I may know." Everyone turned to look back at Raven as she walked over and knelt next to the cats. She rubbed at her face for a moment before asking, "Luna, Artemis, this modern-day Daria — what is she calling herself these days?"

Artemis glanced at Luna, then back to Raven. "Setsuna."

"Thank you. Setsuna is the original princess of House Hades, the lover of Queen Celine, isn't she? She's made herself immortal somehow."

" ... Yes. How did you know? I thought you said you only read the Senshi's files."

"I did, and in every file I checked before their current lives, Setsuna was always there, always the one to find and Awaken the reincarnated princesses and Alexander, always the one pointing the princesses at the supernatural threats as they popped up ... and always the same age unless she was in disguise." She rose to her feet and walked over to drop back down on the couch beside Mars. "Setsuna's really messed herself up."

The Senshi exchanged confused glances, then Mercury asked, "How did she 'mess herself up'? And what does it have to do with her sending Luna and Artemis to recruit us?"

Raven unconsciously snuggled against Mars, then stiffened for a moment before sighing contentedly when Mars placed an arm around her shoulders and gently pulled her closer. Her reincarnated fiancée was feeling a little self-conscious as she played along, but there was some amused affection in the mix as well. It's a start.

"The thing to remember," Raven finally said, "is that Setsuna's been doing this for over three millennia, watching you all die every twenty to eighty years or so while she goes on for century after century. By now just to stay sane she must think of you as Celina, Cytheria, Sophia and ... Elysia?" She pointed at Moon, Venus, Mercury and Jupiter in turn, raising a questioning eyebrow at the last and getting a confirming nod back. " ... as the princesses reborn more than as Usagi, Minako, Ami and Makoto. So when she sent Luna and Artemis to recruit you a few years early, she was probably more concerned about needing to wait for you to grow up again before getting her friends back if you were killed. And don't forget that Pandora was her sister, and if Setsuna has the same capabilities as she did back when you remember her then her memories and the emotional attachments that go with them haven't faded at all ... and she loved her sister. She probably found the thought of dealing with Pandora as that bitch deserved to be dealt with ... as you had to deal with her ... to be unendurable. So instead she tossed five untrained teenagers into the deep end — with Alexander to provide a little maturity if no more experience — and hoped you could pull off a miracle. Yeah, I can believe she was 'unhappy', I just have to wonder why she didn't get more experienced help."

The Senshi all stared at her, and Raven shivered as their anger hammered into her. Her own anger rose to match them, black light began to fluctuate about her and Mars's arm around her shoulders tightened —

"That poor woman."

The building anger shattered under the shock of those words, and everyone turned to stare at a Moon staring at nothing as a single tear ran down her cheek. " 'That poor woman'?" Venus repeated, disbelieving.

"Yes." Moon forced a smile and wiped away the tear. "Didn't you hear what Raven said? Her emotional attachments are as strong today as they were when Thera erupted, and while she was fond of all of you, she loved me like a daughter. And then she got me back ... only she didn't, did she? Because I don't remember, not the way she does. I can't imagine how much that had to hurt. And then she's had to watch me die, over and over and over again, half the time violently if Raven's right — for three thousand years!"

Raven gaped at her, and the shame that had washed away the Senshi's anger was an echo of her own — she had spent hours reading the files and completely missed what Moon had instantly recognized from a few comments. Mama Mara would be so disappointed (though not Mamas Urd and Lind, so much). Not to mention ... Didn't Ami say that Usagi loves everyone, and expects everyone to return the favor? Don't let her get to you. Maybe she's right, but maybe she isn't — life isn't all puppies and unicorns just because she wants it to be. Though how she's managed to spend two years as a demon hunter and stay that naïve — Then she remembered the briefing Mercury had just given them, the abused children. And that wouldn't have been the only truly ugly (as opposed to desperate) situation the Senshi had faced since their Awakening. No, what Moon had wasn't naïveté, it was faith — a faith in the ultimate goodness of people that was bone deep and ineradicable. A faith, now that Raven thought about it, that was very familiar indeed.

Raven shook her head, smiling wryly. "I'll have to introduce you to my Aunt Belldandy some time. If you weren't mortal, I'd swear the two of you were related. But Moon ... Usagi ... you can't assume everyone is as nice as you." She allowed the ember of still-burning anger that remembering Mercury's report had rekindled to flare up, to slip its leash a little, and the world tinted with the red that meant her eyes were glowing crimson. "Or even as nice as me."

The Senshi staring at her tensed again at the sight, the cats hissed, but Moon simply stared at her sadly for a long moment before finally nodding. "You're right. Luna, Artemis, please let Princess Daria know that I want to meet her."

Then she glanced at her wristwatch and squealed happily, "Yes! We still have enough time for a run to the Arcade like we were going to do tomorrow!"