Spoiled Brats

Disclaimer: I don't own either PGSM or Ranma ½. I'm just fooling around with them for my own amusement.

Chapter Twenty-Six – Plans and Complications

Aino Minako woke up, feeling warm and protected. It had to do with the warm body she was cuddled up to, his powerful arm holding her close in his sleep. She opened her eyes, seeing her love's face as he slept. All at once, the revelation from last night came back to her, the realization that had driven her to not be alone last night, even if events had not progressed quite as she'd hoped. 'I'm going to die after all.'

Her Princess had destroyed the world. She had, in fact, all but destroyed two worlds. And if the Princess awakened again, there was a threat that the Princess would finish what she'd started millennia ago. It was a risk they couldn't take. And without an awakened Princess, there would be no Ginzuishou, and no cure for the cancer that was slowly destroying her brain. It was her life against billions of others.

Minako slowly maneuvered within Ranma's unconscious embrace, so that the length of her body lay on top of his. She wanted him, as completely and thoroughly as woman could take a man. 'It's over a year before we can marry, and I'll be lucky if I survive until summer. It's not fair!' Minako thought fiercely. 'And I doubt he'll touch me that way until I'm old enough to marry anyways. And probably not until we marry, either. He's so old fashioned at times.' She smiled as she once again thought, 'I think I really am the guy in this relationship. I'm supposed to be the seducee, not the seducer.'

She sighed as she rested her head on his shoulder, feeling the slow beat of his heart through their pajamas. She was almost ready to drift back to sleep when a solution to her problem occurred to her. As gently as she could, she disentangled herself from his embrace and sat up, straddling his legs. Slowly, she unbuttoned the front of her top. When she reached down to unbutton Ranma's top, her hand encountered something soft where there should've been nothing at all. She looked closer, and realized that Ranma had gone girl, her male pajamas having been replaced by an oversized T-shirt. Ranma crinkled her nose as she unconsciously wiped some liquid off her face.

Minako looked to her right, where she could see a certain meddling white toy cat staring at her from a nearby shelf. "Artemis," she hissed, not wanting to wake up Ranma, "What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm not going to let you seduce him in his sleep, Minako-chan. That isn't right."

"That wasn't what I was doing," Minako protested, blushing furiously. "I was… I was just marshalling my arguments."

"I see. While your arguments are indeed impressive for a child your age, I doubt they'll be of much use against Ranma. After all, she has arguments of her own, and they are a lot better developed…"

- + - + -

In the living room of Minako and Ranma's apartment, a soft white shape impacted the back of the couch opposite the bedroom door. As the unfortunate plushy dropped to the cushions, the door quietly, but firmly, shut.

- + - + -

Minako turned around, and found Ranma staring at her. The woman cocked her head to the side, and dropped her gaze slightly. Blushing furiously, Minako held the front of her pajamas closed as she said, "Ranma… I can explain."

Without saying a word, Ranma patted the bed beside her. Minako carefully sat down, and took a few deep breaths. She turned to Ranma, prepared to present her idea calmly and rationally. Much to her dismay, as soon as she looked into the woman's eyes, she started crying. She latched onto Ranma and couldn't let go, as she tried, desperately, to regain the control necessary to explain what she wanted. Ranma simply held her as she cried into her chest, rocking Minako gently until she calmed down.

"Minako?" Ranma asked, once Minako had regained her composure. "I want to make one thing perfectly clear to you. I have no intention of letting you, or anyone else, die a heroic but tragic death. Do you understand?"

"But… the Princess…"

"Changes nothing. What happened in the past is exactly that: the past. Usagi-chan isn't that princess; she's Tsukino Usagi, who inherited the princess' mess along with her power. You aren't that Sailor Venus; you're Aino Minako, who inherited Sailor Venus' mantle and problems. I am not that Kunzite; I'm Saotome Ranma, who inherited Kunzite's abilities and mistakes. None of us have to become those negligent people from the past life. We owe them nothing. We have every right to live our own lives, rather than relive theirs. It isn't fair that we have to clean up the mess they left, but life is never fair. Remember that."

"Hai."

"Good. As I see it, we still need to wake up Usagi, and it is more important than ever that she wakes up on our schedule, not Beryl's."

Minako looked Ranma straight in the eye. "You're thinking of manipulating them again," she stated flatly.

"Minako, there are several things that will happen, whether we want them to or not. We can let events play out naturally, and let them happen in less than ideal conditions, even outside of our control, or we can make them happen right. I have an idea on how to do that, but we'll need Doc Ono's help."

"Alright, but promise me one thing, Ranma…"

"What?"

"That not matter what happens, we marry as soon as possible."

Ranma smirked, "If there's going to be a proposal, then I'd better be the right gender…"

Minako shook her head. "I loved Megumi first. It's all right if she proposes. After all I know the man behind the woman."

"Very well then," Ranma got off the bed and onto one knee, summoning a box. "Aino Minako… will you marry me?" At the girl's nod, she opened the box, and slid the ring onto Minako's finger. Minako teared up a bit when she saw that nestled around the center diamond and encircling smaller diamonds were birthstones of both Ranma and herself, along with the fictitious birthstones of the Takeda twins.

After a very formal but prolonged kiss, Minako narrowed her eyes at her fiancé. "Now that we're officially engaged, Ranma, I expect to get some 'B'-iiiiiiii…" Minako shrieked when Ranma picked her up and proceeded to demonstrate just how good the older woman was at "B."

- + - + -

'Finally.' Artemis thought as he stopped listening at the door. He hopped back up onto the table and pushed the power button on Ranma's laptop. 'I know Ranma was waiting for Minako to grow up a little more, but leaving Minako-chan frustrated wasn't good for their relationship.' The toy cat frowned, 'I don't like them going back to their manipulative ways, but…' The white plushy shook his head. 'I'd better call the others and let them know practice is off this morning. They really need some time alone together.'

- + - + -

The girls, suddenly finding an hour and a half of free time in their morning, spent it productively. Rei spent some time indexing Hikawa Shrine's oracles. Makoto decided to get a jump on redecorating her apartment. Ami finished reading her imported copy of Scientific American. Naru, a little apprehensive about her coming martial arts lessons with Ranma, worked out. Usagi got some extra nappy-time.

Chiba Mamoru spent the entire morning in a high state of paranoia, wondering when and how, exactly, the Tomoe woman was going to attack him this time.

- + - + -

"Good morning, Ami-chan!"

Mizuno Ami smiled at the brunette's tone when Aino Minako met her at the library. "Good morning, Minako-chan," she said. "I was a little worried when Artemis called and canceled this morning's practice. It was supposed to be our first group practice."

Minako blushed, placing a hand on her cheek. "Sorry… we got a little distracted this morning." A flash of light on the girl's finger caught Ami's attention.

"Is that?" Minako nodded. "Then congratulations." The pair walked along in comfortable silence until the full implications of this morning set in. Ami stopped as a deep blush graced her face.

- + - + -

From his perch overlooking Minako's route to school, Ranma, in his Dragon Knight persona, watched as Usagi's reaction of the news more than made up for Ami's reserved acceptance. Minako was currently in an enthusiastic glomp by Usagi, who bouncing up and down in delight, despite the looks she was getting from those walking by, including a bemused Naru.

It had also taken Usagi much less time than Ami to notice the addition to Minako's hand. It was easy to dismiss the girl, but there was definitely strength in there, deep, deep beneath the teenager she appeared to be. He really wished he could hear what the girls were saying, but even from there, he could tell from that the remaining tension in Minako's shoulders from last night was vanishing. A touch here, smile there, and three near strangers were once again a family caught in the orbit of a black-haired girl who was, in Ranma's opinion, as much a genius as Ami.

'Copernicus and Ptolemy were wrong,' Ranma thought as he watched Usagi drag Minako to school, the two other girls obediently following behind the pair. Makoto's reaction to having Minako's bejeweled hand thrust in her face by Usagi brought a smile to the man's face. 'The center of the Universe is the moon.' Once the girls were safely in the school, Ranma teleported away in search of Kiima's nest, never noticing a familiar teenaged face that he hadn't seen in ten years walking to school in a Juuban seifuku.

- + - + -

Maeko and Hikari glanced at each other when Usagi-chan, Naru-chan, and Mizuno-san walked into the classroom; Naru-chan and Mizuno-san chatting like old friends. The pair glanced at each other, before Hikari leaned over and whispered, "What's with Naru-chan and Mizuno-san? Yesterday, they only tolerated each other's presence for Usagi-chan's sake. Today, they're acting like old friends."

Maeko whispered back, "Do you think they've been replaced by pod people?"

"Pod people?"

"Hai. Maybe whoever's behind the youma are secretly abducting people and replacing them with pod people."

"Scary. Do you think they've gotten to Usagi-chan yet?"

"I don't know," Maeko trailed off as Usagi-chan sat down nearby. "Usagi-chan?" Maeko asked excitedly. "Did you hear? Aino Minako is going to Juuban now!"

The black haired girl looked up from her book bag. "Hmm? Oh, yeah. I heard." She went back too searching through the bag.

Hikari leaned over to Maeko and whispered, "They got Usagi-chan too!"

The other girl nodded worriedly, before Usagi-chan stood up, staring at one of her workbooks in horror. "Aaaah! I did the wrong workbook by mistake! And I worked so hard at it last night!"

The pair looked at each other in relief. That, at least, was pure Usagi-chan.

- + - + -

In a shimmer of air, Ranma teleported into their apartment. "Good afternoon, Artemis," he said as the toy peeked around the edge of the laptop. "Any news on the 'Net?"

Artemis shook his head. "Nothing at all. But then again, the Dark Kingdom could be anywhere." He pointed a fake paw at a folded phone on a coffee table in the living room. "You forgot Megumi's cell phone this morning, by the way, and there were several calls. Any sign of Kiima?"

"Nope," he said as he headed towards the kitchen. "You'd think a giant bird's nest would stand out in downtown Tokyo." A splash of water later, and she picked up her cell phone and began sorting through the messages. "Hmm… that's kind of odd…"

"What is?"

"I got a text message from Ami-chan, informing me that they're having lunch in their classroom today, rather than on the roof, because it's starting to get too cold…"

- + - + -

Maeko and Hikari continued to stare in amazement, their lunches forgotten. They were eating lunch with Aino Minako. Who was apparently not only friends with Usagi-chan and Mizuno-san, but Naru-chan and Kino Makoto-san, the transfer student, as well.

Usagi-chan looked blatantly at the idol singer's lunch. "Wow… this lunch looks as good as yesterday's. You must be as good a cook as Mako-chan!"

Aino-san shook her head. "Megumi-sempai usually makes my lunches, Usagi-chan, but Kappei is as good a cook as she is." The brunette's smile was a bit mysterious. "I think I better learn how to cook."

"If you need lessons, my door is always open," Kino-san said, to the two girls' surprise.

"Arigatou," Minako said. "I heard what a good cook you… Usagi-chan!"

"Yummy!" The pony tailed girl said around the miniature dumpling she'd stolen from Aino-san's lunch box. "You're so lucky if you get to eat like this everyday."

When Usagi-chan's eyes fell upon their still untouched lunches, Hikari and Maeko decided that eating was more important than trying to follow the conversation at their improvised table.

- + - + -

'Ami-chan must've sent this text message to me by mistake.' A kilometer away, an auburn haired girl with medium length hair closed her pink cell phone with a snap. As she looked to the south, she once again resolved to not be jealous that the others were always together during lunch. There was plenty of time to socialize after school, and this really was a good school.

Hino Rei unwrapped her lunch and began to eat it, as she always did, alone.

- + - + -

Several messages later, Ranma sighed in relief. "Everything's still on schedule for Friday…"

"Minako-chan is going to be pleasantly surprised," Artemis said. "She has another concert this weekend, after all, so you won't be spending much time together. I'm just glad she slowed down a bit and gets to enjoy life a little."

Ranma nodded. "Ah, Colonel Anderson called," Ranma continued as she listened to her messages, "He wants to reschedule the meeting. He also thanked me for getting out of Tokyo before unleashing the 'mother of all bombs' within spitting distance of the Diet." Ranma shook her head. "He was exaggerating, of course. I doubt I have enough power to level several blocks…"

"You went to the old quarry NW of Nerima to smash something, right?" Artemis asked, hitting a few keys on the laptop.

"Yeah. How'd you know?"

"There was a 2.3 'seismic event' centered there yesterday afternoon."

Ranma sat down heavily, feeling a bit stunned. "Oh. And Usagi has enough power to level two planets?"

Artemis shook his head. "I still can't believe that it was our Princess that did it. It shouldn't have been possible for her to do that. The Ginzuishou is an artifact for healing, to save life, not take it. There's a reason why we have four guardian senshi to protect holder of the Ginzuishou. The Ginzuishou won't kill. It can't."

"But it did," Ranma said, glowering. "That's one day I remember quite well from the past life now. She used it to kill the one who cut down Endymion, destroyed the Earth people who invaded the Moon Kingdom, and then lost control, killing not only herself, but destroying her own realm, and much of the Earth as well. The question is how." Ranma looked the toy cat in the eye. "The answer to that question may be the key to everything."

- + - + -

The prisoner hung limply from his chains, his blank gaze focused upon a spot on the floor. He tried to summon the will to move his gaze to something more interesting, but it proved to be too much for the dejected figure. He couldn't even make the effort to remember his name.

"Where the hell am I now?"

Something deep within the prisoner was stirred by that plaintive cry. The tiny core of free will assaulted the prison that trapped it, desperate for any chance to escape. It concentrated every single ounce of power it had, in order to say a single word.

"Help."