Just a plan
Author: Poly

Authors note:
Another chapter you might enjoy. Even if my chapters are always the
same size and a bit short that doesn't mean I cant update more :-D.
Chapter 16 is currently in the making.

Disclaimer:
What do you mean they're not mine! Are you sure?

PART XV
A guest

Minako and Makoto where chatting about one of there favorite subjects,
namely cute boys. Rei was crumbling a cookie in her hand in frustration.
Ami was working on something on the Mercury computer and seemed to
ignore the world around her.

"Aaarg! What's taking them so long?!" Rei exclaimed irritably.

"Don't worry Rei." Makoto tried to calm the flammable girl down. "I'm sure
what Usagi and Ranma are discussing is important. If Ranma-chan doesn't
feel comfortable discussing it with us then we should respect their
wishes."

Rei grumbled. "I just don't trust her. She could still be an enemy, you
know."

"That seems highly unlikely." Ami interrupted. "There is no evidence of
that and Usagi seems to trust her. That is good enough for me."
Meanwhile, she entered a couple of commands in her computer. "Anyway,
that is not important right now. What is important is this." The shorthaired
girl pulled what looked like a rock fragment from her pocket.

"What's that?" Minako asked.

A serious expression appeared on Ami's face. "It's a fragment from the
monster that attacked in the park today."

This answer caught all of their attention. Even Rei stopped her grumbling
in favor of this new information.

"Doesn't the monster usually crumble into dust? How come you could take
a fragment?" Minako was genuinely confused about this.

Ami had expected this question. "Usually they do. This monster was a
little different though. It's molecular density and cohesion was several
times higher. The decay time was quadrupled and in case of this fragment
entirely nullified." Ami looked at her friends who were staring at her with
glazed eyes. She sighed.

"The thing was incredibly hard and because of that it didn't turn too dust."

Comprehension dawned with the other girl.

"What can you do with it though?" Rei inquired.

"Let's just wait until Usagi and Ranma return." Ami answered.

* * *

Ranma was confused. Usually when he revealed his curse there was some
kind of extreme reaction. Usagi just puzzled him. She didn't seem overly
shocked or surprised. It was like she had seen such things before. Now
that he thought about it, being a magical girl and all, she probably had.
He was still confused what she meant by being a starlight though.

"What's a starlight?" He asked.

Usagi waved dismissively, a slight bush on her face. "They were this band
of three singers that could transform into scouts too."

"They went to Jusenkyo too?" Ranma asked confused.

"I don't know anything about this Jusenkyo. I just know a thing like this
shouldn't stand in the way of friendship." She said with a bright glow on
her face.

Ranma smiled. "Thanks Usagi. But could we still keep this a secret
though? It would save me a lot of embarrassment."

"Sure thing Ranma. In fact I think..."

She was interrupted when the two of them heart a crash from outside the
window. Ranma quickly splashed himself with some cold water and
dressed herself. Carefully the two of them approached the window. They
could hear a faint conversation going on outside.

"What did you do that for Luna! Now I couldn't hear what they were
talking about."

"You should be ashamed of yourself Artemis." The second voice scolded
the first. "Let the two of them have their privacy."

"It was just some harmless curiosity." The first voice protested.

"Haven't you ever heard the saying curiosity killed the cat?" Usagi said
loudly while opening the window.

The two moon cats jumped in surprise and Artemis grinned sheepishly.

"Let's get back to the others." Ranma said while keeping a cautious eye on
the two cats. "I think we're done here."

The two cats jumped through the window and followed the two girls. The
four of them just caught the last part of Ami's explanation when they
entered the living room.

"What's that about a monster shard Ami?" Usagi asked.

Ami showed them the shard she picked up from the park. "I've been
working on a conversion program that might identify it's energy matrix. If
it works as I expect it to, I'll be able to pinpoint where these enemies
come from."

"That's great!" Usagi said. "When will it be finished?"

"46 hours and 15 minutes." Ami answered after checking the mercury
computer.

"That long?" Minako was disappointed. "What can we do in the
meantime?"

Ami shrugged. "There is not much we can do except keep our eyes open
for more attacks until the program is complete."

"Good." Rei said. "That gives us plenty of time to deal with Ranma here."
She directed a glare at the red head.

"Would you stop that Rei!" Usagi defended her friend. "She knows who we
are now anyway."

"Perhaps I should go home." Ranma-chan interrupted them.

"I walk with you." Usagi offered. "There is nothing more we can do here
anyway. Perhaps we can get some ice-cream while we're underway." She
said with a gleam in her eyes. Ranma-chan just groaned. It seemed that
her friend had a serious ice cream addiction.

* * *

Ranma dropped on his bed. Placing his hands behind head he stared at
the ceiling. Today had been a tiring day. He didn't know if he could handle
more secrets exposed. With the rate, he was going Akane had probably
figured out about her precious P-chan by now. He shuddered. That could
get ugly. It was a good thing Ryoga had Akari now. That was one of the
reasons he helped those two get together. His thoughts were interrupted
with someone knocking on his door.

"Come in." He answered.

His mother entered the room. "Ranma. We will be receiving a guest
tomorrow."

Ranma raised an eyebrow. "A guest?"

His mother nodded. "So I want you to pick her up at the train station
tomorrow morning."

"Ok mom." He looked uncertainly though. If his mother had invited a
female guest that could mean trouble.

* * *

Akane just returned from her morning jog when she was greeted by an
excited Sakura. The younger girl bounced up and down in anticipation.

"Are we going shopping today Akane?" the girl asked.

Akane smiled. "Let me clean up first. Then we can go out."

After a quick bath and some fresh clothes Akane was ready. She let her
aunt know they were going out. The two of them walked too the nearest
bus station and took the bus to town. It didn't take long before they had
to get off. It was only a two minute walk from there until they reached the
shopping district. The crowd of people in the streets steadily increased.
When the two girls got near the shop they wanted to visit they noticed
there were many people already there. The crowd consisted mostly of
teenagers. There were a lot of boys and girls chatting in groups. Akane
frowned at the first. "Perverts." She mumbled. She guessed those boys
were more driven by hormones then anything else. Why else would they
come to the most extensive store of Sailor Senshi merchandise in the
area.

"Do you think I can still get a Sailor Sapphire poster?" Sakura asked
worriedly. "There are a lot of people already here. Perhaps we should have
come earlier."

"Don't worry Sakura-chan." Akane smiled reassuringly. "We'll get you a
poster. Let's go see if we can get inside."

The two of them made there way through the crowd of people in front of
the shop. They overheard various groups talking about there recently
bought Senshi merchandise.

"Can you believe they produced this stuff so fast?"

"She has such pretty hair."

"What are her measurements?"

Akane growled at that one. The two of the finally made it to the door and
entered the shop. There was a buzzing noise inside from all the people
talking and checking out the latest Sapphire merchandise. Akane looked
around looking for a poster for Sakura. She spotted a large box with only
three more inside of it. These things went fast! She thought. When the
two girls made there way over two posters were grabbed by a pair of
excited twins. The two identical brown haired girls squealed in delight and
ran off.

Akane and Sakura went faster to get the last one. Akane reached out and
grabbed it just when another hand grabbed the poster as well. Akane
looked to her side and noticed a tall boy with blonde hair that was perhaps
a year older then her. Her eyes narrowed. The boy somehow screamed
vanity. He was handsome and he knew it and presumed every girl would
fall right into his arms. She immediately placed him in the same category
as Kuno. The blonde boy who had grabbed the poster had noticed there
was a cute girl besides him and showed one of his handsome smiles. It
had never failed him yet.

"Hello there beautiful. It seems we have set our sight on the same goal.
Perhaps we could discuss this over some tea?" His hand automatically
reached out to take Akane's hand and kiss it. Meanwhile Akane went in
full pervert bash mode. Her senses were screaming that the boy in front
of her bas going to do something she would not like. When his hand
reached for hers she went into immediate action.

"Pervert!"

Wham! Crash!

Akane turned around with a huff leaving the twitching form of the local
Casanova half imbedded in the ground.

"Let's go Sakura. We still have to pay for your poster." Akane said while
walking towards the cash register. She ignored the people that were
staring at her.

* * *

Ranma sighed. He was walking the streets of Juuban on his way to the
train station. The morning sun was shining brightly but it could not lift
Ranma's mood. His mother had asked him to pick up their female guest
that should be arriving soon. He just knew it was trouble. He didn't even
know who it was. When he had asked how he would know who to meet his
mother had just smiled and said "you'll see dear."

He reached the station with plenty of time to spare. With nothing else to
do he just watched the people enter and exit the train station. Looking at
the station clock he noticed the train with the mysterious guest should
have arrived by now. He didn't notice anybody who would look familiar
though. He was quite startled when he heard a voice coming from behind
him.

"Hello, Ranma-kun:."

Ranma whirled around with wide eyes when he recognized the voice.

"Kasumi?!" he was greeted by the brightly smiling older Tendo daughter.
Ranma grinned. "It's good to see you Kasumi." He said while giving her a
quick hug. "How is everybody doing back home?"

"We're doing well Ranma. Nabiki is looking for an apartment to live when
she goes too college. Our fathers seem too enjoy themselves. I believe
mister Saotome is even writing a book, although I'm not sure what it is
about." Ranma was somewhat surprised at that. "I belief you know Akane
is staying with her aunt for the summer." Kasumi continued. "Did you
write her a letter?" She inquired sweetly.

Ranma blushed and looked away. "Yeah. I wrote her." He said. He
deciding another subject of conversation was needed. "Mom is expecting
us. I think it's best if we go now."

The two of them started walking chatting about various things. Kasumi
updated him on the latest events in Nerima although there wasn't much
exciting news since he left. They stopped their conversation when Kasumi
noticed a disturbance up ahead. Ranma recognized the sound
immediately. He groaned inwardly. Of all the times for a monster to show
up again, this was probably the worst.

* * *

END PART XV

Additional authors note:
Some more clues about the enemy, Akane takes a good look at the sailor
Sapphire poster and Ranma finds him/her self in a tough situation. All this
and more in the next chapter.