Permanent

Part 28

Five fools and a demon.

+++++++++++

Akane Tendo stood on the roof of her home overlooking Nerima as
she did every evening. The expanse of the city spread out before her, and
a breeze shifted her bangs away revealing the dark scar that covered the
left side of her face. She frowned and tightened her cloak before jumping
into the shadows again.

As she roamed her thoughts wandered to the drastic changes the
young sorceress had brought into her world. Her new powers were probably
the most drastic of them, but there was a lot the girl had brought into
her life, most of it not good. Despite that, she found she really did love
her, Ranma Saotome was probably the best friend she had ever had. Their
relationship had almost been lost because of her own stupid mistakes, but
things were stabilizing now between them.

Ryoga Hibiki was another matter, she knew she cared for the boy,
but whether or not she was in love with him was another matter. She had
enough trouble dealing with Ranma, much less him as well. Fortunately she
had been able to beat back the engagement between them. He seemed just as
relieved as she was about it, but for his own reasons. Ranma or her
actions had destroyed almost everything in her life; but the girl had also
done her best to rebuild it. For some strange reason she could not even
imagine disliking her. Akane paused on the roof of a small business as she
thought about Ranma again, a slight blush formed in her cheeks as she
looked out over the darkened streets. She shook her head and turned away
pulling the hood of her cloak down over her face again.

She tended to spend her evenings away from home as of late. She
didn't need to sleep any longer and was restless at times. As to not
disturb her family she found herself roaming about the city aimlessly.
Unfortunately that also entailed many of the dangers of a demon roaming
the street alone at night.

"Shit!" Akane rolled away as a shadow loomed up behind her in the
moonlight. She spun around just in time to catch a shadowy figure standing
silhouetted in the moonlight behind her. It was a girl with long flowing
hair that blew dramatically in the wind behind her. "Damn it Keiko! Can't
you take a night off every once and a while?"

A soft laughter floated over the rooftops towards Akane and she
froze as another figure appeared nearby, and then another, and another,
until five girls stood around her in the shadows. "Ha! Evil creature who
knows no love for mankind! I shall end your evil plot tonight! On behalf
of the stars, I shall punish you!"

Akane raised her eyebrow slightly and stared at her. "What evil
plot? What the hell are you talking about?"

"Don't try to play dumb!" cried one of the girls off to her right,
even in the minimal light it was easy to see that her hair was darker than
the first girl's. "We know you're plotting something! I shall punish you
in my economical and comfortable pumps!"

"I was just gonna go for some ramen. Who the hell are you people
anyway? Why are you bothering me?" said Akane a little irritated at these
strange newcomers.

"I am Sailor Sol!" cried the lead girl dramatically as she posed
in the moon light after stepping forward so Akane could see her better.
She had two long flowing braids and blonde hair.

"I'm Sailor Betelgeuse!" cried the brunette girl with the ponytail
as she moved forward as well.

"Sailor Polaris!" called a shorthaired girl who looked remarkably
similar to what Akane had once looked like.

"Sailor Novis!" said the dark haired girl firmly.

"And I'm Sailor X-23!" said the final girl, she was blonde with
long hair that went below her waist. All five of them were dressed in
sailor fuku.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," muttered Akane as she fell
down to her knees and sighed. "What is it with you people? Can't you leave
me alone? I haven't done anything!"

"Y-you haven't?" said the lead blond as she almost fell out of her
pose.

"NO!" screamed Akane angrily.

The shorthaired girl put her hand up to her ear and blinked.
"Stella, are you sure this is the source of dark energy you found? I mean,
she doesn't seem like any youma I've ever seen."

Akane blinked, for the first time since the whole mess had started
someone was actually taking the time to listen to her? It seemed almost
too good to be true.

"I'm positive! We have to destroy it now! The enemy is getting
smart, she must be deceiving you!" cried another strange voice. Akane
glanced around for a moment and then noticed the small headset that rested
in the girl's ear.

Sailor Sol simply stood and looked at the girl sitting in the
middle of their group and blinked. "But Stella, she isn't doing anything.
She's just sitting there."

"Are you sure that thing isn't broken Stella?" said Sailor Novis.

"No it isn't!" screamed the voice angrily. Polaris shuddered
slightly and winced.

Akane finally got up enough nerve to speak. "Who are you talking
too?"

"You'd better answer our questions first! Who are you? Why are you
on the roof?" snapped X-23 bitterly.

"I don't have to answer any of your questions!" cried Akane
defensively. "Just leave me alone! Why do you always have to bother me!?"

"Why is Stella reading you as a demon then? At least tell us
that!" cried Polaris.

Akane sighed and glanced around noticing that she was surrounded.
She wouldn't escape without going through at least one of them. "I've been
tainted with demon blood."

"Tainted?" said Betelgeuse in confusion.

"I got into a fight with a demon, we managed to kill it... but
some of its blood got inside me through my injuries; I was also attacked by
some weird monsters that helped make it easier for the blood to taint me.
That's what Ranma says anyway." Akane stood up and dusted off her pants
before adjusting her cloak.

"Stella?" inquired Polaris.

"It's unlikely... but possible." The voice reluctantly agreed with
Akane's story and was silent after that.

"Who's Ranma?" said X-23 suspiciously.

"None of your business," replied Akane curtly, a little more so
than she had intended.

The girls stood around silently for a long moment before one of
them finally spoke up. "Are you sure you aren't draining energy from
humans to help your nefarious plot?" said the lead girl.

"What? What the hell are you talking about? I can't drain people's
energy," said Akane in confusion.

"You can't?" said the shorthaired girl in disbelief.

"I don't think so... I've never tried that before," admitted
Akane.

"We can't trust her," said the voice over the intercom.

"You shut up! You don't even know me!" cried Akane defensively.

"She's right about that," noted Sol calmly.

The voice was silent after that for a long moment. "I suppose
you're right, back off... for now," it replied reluctantly. The five girls
jumped away from Akane leaving her alone.

"Honestly," snorted the girl as she watched them leave. She stood
up and dusted herself off before bounding away into the night.

+++++++++++

A small pink rodent of sat behind the controls of a computer
glaring at the screen for a long moment. She sighed and turned the power
off before falling back on her back and looking up at the ceiling of the
small control room she was sitting at.

"I'm disappointed in you Stella," commented the cloaked figure
that stood behind her.

"We aren't mercenaries you know. If she hasn't done anything wrong
yet we can't do anything about her," commented the rat calmly. "You may be
our sponsor, but we do have to keep some standards."

"She is evil, I will see her destroyed," said the thing calmly.

"When she starts rampaging across Tokyo call us and we'll help
out. I don't have any reports fitting the description of a girl like
that," said Stella firmly.

"I understand, I will not ask this of you now. The code I placed
to your kind still stands. We will find another way to deal with this
problem. Devil hunters are still considered mercenaries after all." The
figure stepped out of the shadows revealing a long white cloak with locks
of golden hair flowing from the hood. "She is too dangerous to be left
alone in this world."

"I know, we'll be watching her closely," commented the rodent.

"Don't bother, I'm always watching." The man turned towards the
door and paused for a moment. "Just don't let your guard down."

"As if we ever would," snorted the creature playfully.

"Soon the battle will begin, I will seal off her kind from this
world once again, no one will stop me." He looked back over his shoulder.
"The devil hunters are clearly outclassed. Perhaps I will bring in outside
help on this one."

"Be well Azrael," said the rat as he left the room.

++++++++++++

Fire, all around her it was all she had known in her life, as far
as she knew anyway. Fire and pain, tortures beyond imagination. It was the
way of the world. She sat on the pillar overlooking the blinding light
that surrounded her and the screams that had always filled her ears. "The
time will arrive soon," said a deep booming voice. "What do you want from
me?"

She looked up and saw nothing, only the blinding light. "Power,"
she didn't know why she had said it. The words just came to her mouth, no
reasoning behind it; she didn't even understand what the words meant.
"Give me power!"

A laughter filled her ears, a strange sound, something horrible
that she had never known even in all of her torments. "So be it."

++++++++++++

Hikaru Gosunkugi sat at his desk as he did every evening. A
strange book in front of him lulled him to sleep. He sighed deeply as he
closed the ancient tome and pressed the bridge of his nose. "I sure have
been tired lately." He glanced at his watch and saw there was a reason for
it. It was almost three a.m. he shoved the book aside and flopped down on
his bed.

There were no spells in the book to cure his condition; he
couldn't remember any of them at the moment anyway. After a moment he
flicked off his lights and turned on the nightlight. He wasn't afraid of
the dark anymore, but it was the only way to sleep with the golden shadow
glowing around him. It drowned it out just enough for him to fall asleep.

"Man, I've got to do something about this," he rolled onto his
side and dozed off with those thoughts.

+++++++++++

Ranma Saotome sat in front of a large crystal in her room after
the Cat Cafe closed for the evening. She sighed heavily as the images were
fuzzy and unclear. "This is strange."

"Something is wrong Ranma?" asked Talcum as she entered the room
with two cups of tea. Ranma smiled and accepted the drink thankfully.

"My old man is hiding something from me, I've tried to find out
what it was with a few items I've got, but nothing is coming through,"
replied the redhead in a slightly frustrated voice.

"You need relax," noted the girl lazily in reply. She was dressed
in a bathrobe at the moment and had her hair tied up on top of her head. A
few tresses fell through along the side of her face.

"Maybe, but I think it's being jammed somehow," said Ranma
seriously.

"Maybe Panda?" asked Talcum.

"No, pops doesn't know any magic," replied the girl simply.
"Nothing like this anyway."

"Is bad omen," said the girl somberly. Ranma nodded in agreement.

"If Ryoga was nearby I might be able to break through, but that
wouldn't tell me who was doing this," said Ranma as she waved her hand and
put out the soft green glow the crystal was giving off.

"Want call pig boy?" asked the girl.

"No, the Tendos are asleep. It can wait until tomorrow," replied
Ranma simply as she plopped onto the ground just in front of Talcum's
knees.

The girl leaned forward and looked her dead in the eyes. "You
looking tired."

"Yup, I'm going to bed," said the pigtailed girl lazily with a
small grin.

"Good night Ranma," said the girl cheerfully as she leaned forward
and kissed her on the lips lightly. Ranma froze in place as Talcum
stood up and walked out of the room.

"What the?" Ranma blinked and sat up for a moment. "What was that
all about?"

++++++++++

Ukyo Kuonji lay on his back staring at the sky above him. It was a
nice night out and she decided to sleep under the stars. It was peaceful
and gave him time to think. "Ranma, what am I going to do about you?" The
question ran through his mind over and over. There really was no way she
could have known about it. She had seemed so happy to see him as well. A
small pain formed in his heart as he thought about it, the two of them
were not so different.

"A friend?" Memories of happier times came to him as he lay out on
his travel blanket. Ranma had always been one of the best friends he had
ever had, and now it seemed she had not betrayed him in the first place as
he had long thought. He closed his eyes and tried to sleep. "Ranchan...
maybe you can be Ranchan to me again?"

"Perhaps she can," said a new voice in the back of her mind. It
seemed gentle and calm, beautiful. "I came to offer you something Ukyo
Kuonji, your revenge is pointless. I shall give you a new cause, a greater
one. You will become the greatest of all my children."

He sat up violently when he realized that the sound was not just
inside his head, but all around him. "Who are you?"

"Do you wish to become one of my children?" said the voice as it
ignored his question.

Ukyo had no time to think about his answer, the voice sounded
urgent and firm; there was no way he could refuse it. "Of course..." he
didn't know why he agreed to it. He wasn't even sure what he just agreed
too.

"My child, I shall grant you power beyond your wildest dreams..."
At that moment a pillar of light shot down from the sky and seemed to
absorb the boy completely, there was no fear or panic in his eyes, he
simply accepted.


On a hill a short distance away Azrael stood watching with a small
smirk on his face. His eyes glowed slightly for a moment and he vanished
with a small flash of light.

TBC...