rev. 2 - moderate edits

Author peeks out from behind tree:

Um, heres another go at it.
As promised in an earlier chapter notes, I will be playing loose and fast with the sailor moon universe.

I hope you like it.

Author ducks back behind tree.

Boldly going where others had gone before and meekly going where few have been.

I don't not own any of these characters or situations and gladly borrowed from several different books I have read and a line from one Star Trek TOS episode.

__________________

Juuban part 3

***********

Ranma felt the impact of a small body against her chest before feeling her unbound breasts being fondled - and something else. Then it was gone.

Ranma was pissed. More pissed than she had ever been in her whole life. Mikado's stolen kiss was nothing more than a candle against a nuclear meltdown compared to how angry Ranma was at this particular time.

Happosai, the ban of her existence in her previous life has found her. She was not going to put up with him interfering in her life anymore and she was not going to let him get away with it.

Happosai was happily bouncing around with Ranma's recently liberated sports bra in his hand. He was joyfully proclaiming the wonderful bounty that he had found. Ranma was not paying attention to the words that Happosai was spouting off. All she was feeling was nothing be hatred, and the thing she hated the most was right in reach.

The battle was joined.

**********************

Ami was not happy. Last week at the scout meeting Pluto revealed that a new Senshi, Sailor Sun was coming. When asked for details she was unsurprisingly vague with the information, only saying that a girl by the name of Ranma was the new Senshi, and then expressly forbid any contact with her.

She was her usual evasive self when question why.

"Don't go to her, let her come to you." was her answer.

Later after the meeting she used the Mercury computer to call up information about Sailor Sun, she did a search and came up with nothing. She then expanded the search to include all Senshi.

All that she found after hours of effort was a list of the Senshi using their planetary names and a brief description of their abilities and some their attacks. Stuff that was common knowledge among their little group.

Sailor Sun was not even listed.

Now here it is a week later and Ami's curiosity had yet to be satisfied. Ami, laying in bed on her back, taking a break from her studies, studies that kept her from looking into Sailor Sun's past. She blew through her pursed lips and wondered.

[Why isn't there anything on the computer on Sun?]

Her eyes wandered over to her desk where her homework waited for her.

[I'll try the Mercury computer again, there must have been something I overlooked.] she though reflectively.

Removing it from the desk drawer she turned it on and sat with one leg tucked under the other.

[Let's see what I can find.]

After doing another search nothing new came up, Ami sighed. Sitting there lost in thought considering new approaches, Ami was not defeated quite that easy and expanded her search to include a cross reference to all the Senshi. There was no Sailor Sun listed among the expanded results. She was stumped, according to this there never was a Sailor Sun during the Silver Millennium.

During the Silver Millennium. What about before?

Every kingdom, country or nation has its periods or eras. She was limiting her search to longest and last era of the Moon Kingdom out of habit because that's where most of their enemies came from.

She then decided to change tactics and include in her search the massive archival data of the Moon Kingdom from before the Silver Millennium. She did this with the added crossed reference results of the Senshi.

***********************

Happosai was in rare form. He zipped around Ranma's offenses and landed a few good hits through her defenses. Ranma cursed herself for getting angry, that was loosing control and that would not do. Ranma then concentrated on winning the fight, finding weakness and exploiting them. Ranma was upset about the loss of her bra, she didn't have many and that one was one she bought with her own money. And bras were expensive dammit!

Ranma pushed those thoughts aside as she combated Happosai, she was giving him her full and undivided attention. That's why she was surprised, when she finally worked past his defenses and got within striking range, he suddenly broke away and instead of gaining some breathing room to attack, he reached over and pushed a yattai sending careening down the path.

A path filled with innocent bystanders.

Ranma knew Happosai was careless and inattentive to his surroundings in a fight, but this was deliberate! He was deliberately placing innocent people in harms way. Ranma didn't have time to reflect as she acted to protect those people that Happosai endangered. She leapt for the yattai and knocked off onto its side, and in that moment she was open. Happosai hammered her with a punch to the chest a kick to the chin and a cop of the breast, now hanging free from her torn shirt. He then leaped away gleefully laughing and provoking Ranma. Before Ranma could pick herself off the ground the screaming of many women filled her ears.

Looking up from where she was hammered, she was horrified to see Happosai bounding from women to women, feeling, copping and basically disrobing three of them. He copped a feel so hard to one lady she almost dropped a baby in her arms. Happosai's was going too far! He done stuff like this before, but never to the extent that Ranma was witnessing today, everything before seemed minor compared to what was happening now. He had to be stopped. Ranma leapt up and came down near where he was manhandling what looked to be a junior high school student. Ranma drew him off by reengaging him in combat.

Hey! You old perv, what the hell are you doin'. You could've killed someone with that stunt. Ranma called to him.

Whatever I want, my boy. With you out of the way I have been having a grand ole time. And with you like this, I'll even have more fun! As he finish that statement he launched himself at Ranma - or more like Ranma's exposed breast.

Ranma for her part expected the move and paired, sending Happosai back on to the ground, this time on his ass not his feet. Ranma moved in to take him out before he could recover...

****************

Listed were among the various references, some that Ami had seen before, were others that she had ignored thinking that they were "fringe" data, data that had little or no bearing in what she was really looking for. Now she was not so sure.

Selecting some at random she was treated to what would be called "news bites" of today. This princess attended that, that princess attended this. Boring stuff and not useful at all to what her was looking for. She was right on her first assessment after all, this was fringe data.

She then re-listed the data to arrange the items from the oldest to the newest, still limiting the search to items that predated the silver Millennium and to include the information on the Senshi, but this time eliminating those items under a certain size. The resulting list was much shorter, only two screens long.

She selected the oldest one called "Utopia" and waited. After waiting longer than she was used to a Moon Kingdom Archive splash screen appeared with the title Utopia superimposed over it. Clicking through that she found a listing of about 500 other files. That's interesting. Scanning it she selected the one on the top untitled "Summary and History" and adjusting her glasses began to read.

**********************

What in the hell has gotten into Happosai? Ranma couldn't believe what he was doing, he was deliberating placing innocent people in the path of the fight. He was using them as an object to feel and as a human shield from which he could strike behind. He didn't seem to care about the lives he was placing in danger. When Ranma demanded to know why, his only answer was Better them than me!

This angered Ranma, but she kept control. Ranma had to figure out a way to lure Happosai out into the open. With one breast hanging out that was easy to do.

***************
What Ami read was stunning. It dated almost to the beginning of the Moon Kingdom. It seemed in trying to protect the fledgeling Kingdom from external (which was perceived to be many at this point in history) and internal threats (which there was very few) various scientists and something called Techo-mages, which there was no definition for found, engaged in a project to produce sentient self reproducing bio-weapons to do the job. Problems were discovered when the "Protectors", as the bio-weapons were christened were programed to respond to any, by definition, of what was thought as a threat to the Moon Kingdom. Like most everything that works as an ideal theoretical situation, it failed on implementation, because everyone had there own ideal what a threat was.

These sentient bio-weapons, apparently deemed humanity a threat to the ideal of peace and justice to the Moon Kingdom and took steps to protect it.

To protect the ideal. Not the reality.

In a pitched battle, which nearly ended the young kingdom, the "Protectors" were ejected and locked away into a fold in space, creating a "pocket universe" with finite limits. They have been there ever since.

From then on the "Protectors" were referred to as the "First Enemy".

An enemy of the Moon Kingdom's own making.

***********************

Laying there on her back, looking at the clouds surround by the sea of blue that was the sky, Ranma reflected on how badly she was doing against Happosai. Ranma had seriously underestimated the speed that Happosai could move at.

Focus dammit, focus! She let her emotions rule her in the fight, her anger, and now she was paying the price. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! She berated herself.

[How can I win this if I let my emotions run unchecked?]

Ranma was picking herself out of the mini crater she found herself in.

She pushed herself up with one arm and saw Happosai going again at the screaming running crowd, copping and feeling. The men in the crowd tried to stop him by dog-piling him, but in the end they were left scattered and injured.

Ranma intercepted Happosai when he was about to grope another school girl and got batted into the crater she just emerged from, with some other things he did to her.

[HOW DARE HE!!] Ranma roared in her head. It was bad enough that he found her and tormented her, it bad enough that he is tormenting and endangering innocent people, but this time...

... Not only had the little pervert felt her up roughly, more roughly than he ever has, but he cop a feel down... down THERE!

He was so dead.

She was about to stand when a few of the bystanders from the crowd, two women, came over to check on her. She was about to call to them to that she was alright, when she noticed Happosai taking a stance she has seen many times before.

[Oh NO! He wouldn't, not with all these people around.]

He did. A Happodaikarin. A big one, lit and infused with his own ki.

Ranma reacted instinctively and lunched herself at the good samaritans that were coming to her aid. She scooped both women, who reacted by squealing in surprise, into her arms and leaped for all it was worth. The explosion was deafening and literally rock the park, rattling glass in nearby store fronts, but strangely doing little actual damage to the park. The debris from the blast shredded what little was left of Ranma's shirt as she used her body to shield the innocents in her arms.

Innocents that would have surely been injured or worse in the explosion.

Happosai has gone too far.

He has endangered the weak and the helpless.

Martial artist are suppose to protect them. Happosai has betrayed the art. He must pay. He must be brought to justice.

Ranma had more than enough. Setting down her charges, she absently rubbed her chest where Happosai has taken the very painful feel, she tapped once again into her will to live and felt the ki lines flow through her body. She kept her emotions under control, but almost lost it when Happosai bound away to cop another feel from some poor screaming school girl.

Happosai, returning from his quick feel, was holding forth Ranma's bra again, and gloating at the standing Ranma as she rubbed her breast from where he had felt her up.

Well Ranma, I see you have learned some new moves, not that it did you any good. So why don't you come here let an old man have another go at your charms, or maybe these other ladies will do?

Happosai motioned toward the crowd, which was still sizable at this point.

[Why in the hell are these people still around here? They should have cleared out along time ago.] Ranma thought, , before turning her full attention to Happosai.

The tickling that had been haunting the back of her mind for the last week increased to a buzzing. Part of her felt like it was in tuning into something like a radio would, what she did not know. The other parts of her were intent on stopping a certain pervert. So she wasn't paying too much attention to how she was feeling, she just focused on the task at hand: stopping Happosai and protecting those around her.

But even if you don't pay attention to your feelings, they are still there. In the back of her mind, she had the thoughts of being a warrior, a protector. The very thoughts that were mirrored at the fore of her mind. When they met the thoughts were those of a...

Female.

For Happosai something caught his attention. Power. A lot of power. And it was all coming from a very focused redhead. That's when Happosai, for the first time in about 150 years, felt the cold hand of fear invade his heart. It was at that precise moment he knew was in trouble. Part of him hoped Ranma would succeed where others have failed, he also hoped in the end he would survive this to congratulate her. Rearranging his massive ki reserves to shield and reinforce his little body and concentrating it on the vital organs, he hoped to live through this.

*****************

Ami sat back from her computer, removed her glasses, rubbed her eyes and thought, [What does this have to do with the Senshi?]

Indeed what? From what she read from the entire summary, the "First Enemy" incident predates the Silver Millennium and the Senshi. Or did it?

The search results wouldn't have listed this file unless it had something to do with Sailor Sun or the Senshi.

Looking again at the history of the "Protectors" she just read, she pondered. "Fringe" data, what if the scouts were fringe data in this serach? Where? Looking at the side bar she spotted the link near the bottom to the References. That menu expanded into several subcategories, many that didn't seem helpful. Clicking down to line, Ami found her suspicion confirmed. She clicked on down away hoping to run into something interesting, when she clicked on Related Files, several more subcategories were listed. Seeing this she studied the list before deciding on Special Projects. Going down that list until she found Senshi. Just like that, plain as can be, Senshi. Opening that Ami was greeted to yet another list. They were listed in numeric order which could be dates or project numbers, Ami could not tell. These items were listed as so:

5678 Omni
5682 Firefly
5682 Drumbeat
5683 Cornfield
5683 Heaven's Bearer
5684 Heaven's Touch
5686 Harbinger
5686 Harbinger's Runner
5688 Harbinger's Twilight
5689 Wind Walker
5693 Fire Walker

Fringe data, indeed.

[Must be dates of some sort. Some of them repeat.] she thought offhandedly.

Selecting the first one she was again treated to a splash screen as before. in big bold letters on top with the smaller word underneath. She clicked past this and was treated to a summary of how Tuxedo Mask was created.

*********************

Ranma stood on the edge of the blast crater, focused. Her mind was clear, the anger had passed. She had a sworn duty and she was going to perform it, even if it killed her.

A sworn duty.

She moved.

During that moment, that one instant in time, things happened. Time seem to stop, leaving everything frozen. Except for Ranma, for her time just merely seemed to slow while she moved.

Step.

Happosai had recklessly and deliberately endangered the lives of many innocent people, in spite of the chances Ranma gave him the stop, he has betrayed the art - justice must be served.

Step.

A dream like phrase, breezed through Ranma's mind so fast she couldn't catch it all of it. The words should be familiar, but she failed to grasp them. Only the last part, "...make up" was all she remembered.

Step.

Ranma focused on the evil in front of her, ignoring the bands of light that danced before her eyes and dissipated just as quickly. If Ranma wasn't so focused, she would've realized that she was no longer wearing her trademark red and black outfit.

Step.

Arm cocked back, preparing to deliver justice to the wrong doer. Justice....

Step.

... More words from her dreams, this time more solid. Words she spoke many times before in her past, but words she could never remember saying.

Step.

In the name of the Moon ...

Step.

... Kingdom and justice ...

Step.

... you shall be...

Step.

... punished.

Ranma's right fist then connected to the left side of Happosai rib cage, crushing it.

Lights flashed before Ranma's eyes as time sped up to normal. She was standing in to post strike position, arm extended and hand in a fist. Checking herself she found herself dressed as before. Strange, for a moment she thought she was wearing something else, something she was proud of wearing. The thoughts and feelings were hard to grasp, hard to hold on to. Ranma stood for a confused few moments until brought out of her trancelike state by a cheering crowd mixed with a few cat calls.

Blinking her eyes and looking about her, she instinctively covered herself up, her shirt being torn and long gone from the battle, leaving her torso exposed. Then she traced Happosai path. He had left a long deep furrow where is tiny body cut through the earth. At the end of the trough was Happosai himself, laying still - with blood coming from somewhere. A several men kneeled over Happosai prone body, one shaking his head to the group that had gathered around the laid out pervert.

"He's dead."

Ranma's knees weakened and buckled and several arms caught her as she wavered, not noticing that most of the crowd had disappeared like a vapor.

This had to be a nightmare, she prayed.

**************************

On a bed in a room that was obviously a girls room, a black cat rose its head with a crescent shaped symbol on it from its sleeping position and turned to face the direction of the park. after a moment it laid its head back down and continued its nap.

*******************
The pseudo-cat was taking readings from several high-power individuals, especially the old female that liked to balanced on a stick. She had an impressive amounts of bio-energy that could be very dangerous to some of the lower to mid-order shock-troops. The pseudo-cat wondered how many of these beings were in the area.

It felt justified in sending the flyer, after it had returned from its moon mission to do "spot checks" of various places around the globe to assess this worlds defenses as a whole. That was of course, after reconfiguring its camouflage to make it an arial animal instead of a terrestrial.

The pseudo-cat found out after the flyer left on its first mission that pigs can't fly.

What was this? An energy spike. An enormous energy spike. Was it instrumentation? No, the old one noticed it too, judging from her reaction of falling off her stick. It lasted for only about 7/100ths of a second, but must have been powerful enough to distort space/time on a local level. This must be studied and reported.

*******************

Ami once again removed her glasses and rubbed her eyes for what must have been the twentieth time. She just read a summary on how Tuxedo Mask was created to be the Senshi of the Earth. From candidate selection to the infusing of power. The Techo-mages, whoever or whatever they were, really had great ingenuity to be able to fuse science and magic together and bind it not only to a persons life energy but their very souls themselves.

To carry the power with them from one life to the next.

Ami knew that Senshi were naturally born into their rolls, but the first ones...

... the first ones were made.

*************************

She didn't remember much.

All she remembered were impressions of someone(s) asking her repeatedly if she was alright. Somewhere a blanket appeared and she was gently wrapped in it. She didn't remember how she got to the hospital, or crying throughout the whole thing. There were doctors and nurses gently and carefully examined her, treating her injures, and talking to her softly. Her response was more tears.

Happosai was dead.

She had killed him.

That was the only two thoughts that went through her mind.

Happosai was dead.

She had killed him.

She couldn't stop thinking about those two thoughts.

Happosai was dead.

She had killed him.

She tried, but it was like a tidal wave crushed every other thought.

Happosai was dead.

She had killed him.

Why couldn't stopped thinking about it?

Happosai was dead.

She had killed him.

Dear God, somebody please help me.

Happosai was dead.

She had killed him.

No!

Happosai was dead.

She had killed him.

Please!

Was dead.

Killed him.

Help me!

Dead.

Killed.

Ranma screamed.

*****************

Ami regarded the list and then went to the next to down. Firefly turned out to be Mars and Drumbeat was Mercury. Herself. She open the file, clicked through the splash screen and skimmed through the summary. It was pretty much like Tuxedo Mask with notations on how much better the energies were accessed through the female psyche as per earlier reference to project Firefly. Something about being female made it better able to interface, call upon and use the planetary powers.

She clicked on the next one, and then next one, then she kept on going down the list.
Cornfield was Venus [wait till she hears about that!], Heaven's Bearer was Moon, Heaven's Touch - Jupiter, Harbinger - Uranus, Harbinger's Runner - Neptune, Harbinger's Twilight - Saturn, Wind Walker - Pluto, and Fire Walker - Sun.

Ami blinked. THAT was different.

She quickly clicked through the splash pages for the other Senshi.

Yes, Fire Walker's splash page was different.

It was the only one to be bracketed by words top and bottom:
"Classified Information" and
"Access Forbidden Except for Authorized Personal"

What in the world did the Techo-mages of the Moon Kingdom create?

*******************

The pseudo-cat made its report through the hyper-space uplink, along with some recommendations on how to proceed. There seem to be many different types of powerful beings that may have to be dealt with before rebuilding. It hope the council would take its suggestion of launching a few probing attacks to judge their reaction, if any.

It decided to head back to its point of arrival since that is where in detected the possible Moon Kingdom warriors. If they were warriors, then the attack could be made with one or two low-level shock troops and with itself hidden, could get readings on the capabilities, reactions and potential threat factor on them and then report back with the results. They had to move carefully, the pseudo-cat wasn't even sure how many of the warrior there are, if any.

The pseudo-cat knew the council would want a report on the energy spike, but it also knew by the time it got back to the area where the spike took place there would probably only be residual readings. Maybe the probing attacks would draw out this amomaly.

Yes, probing attacks would be the best way at this point to assess the defensive capabilities of these warriors. It hoped the council will agree. They came too far to fail now.

The rebuilding and future of the Moon Kingdom was at stake.

*******************

She slowly came too.

She was laying down covered with a blanket and aware of someone holding her hand. Turning her head Ranma looked over to see to was Akiko.

"Are you feeling better, dear?" Akiko asked softly, gently.

Ranma looked about, confused. Then with a look of horror, she remembered. A groundswell of panic and fear grip her heart. She killed! She was a murderer! But before she could act on her emotions, they were calmed by the hazel-eyed women sitting next to her bed.

"Calm down, Ranma. Relax, you don't want to have the doctors to have sedate you again, do you?" Akiko said while holding Ranma down to the bed by the shoulders, massaging them while doing so.

Ranma physically relax, but mentally and emotionally was in turmoil, but this too was brought under control by the gentle hazel eyes that were boring into her, chasing the panic away.

"There," Akiko said softly, "now I need you to do something for me. Would you?"

Ranma nodded.

"Thank you dear, this -" she indicated with a wave of her hand a man standing behind her, "is Lieutenant Deushi, he needs to ask you some questions. Do you think you're up to it?"

Ranma who was still transfixed by those hazel eyes nodded.

"Thank you." Akiko then turned and looked over her shoulder to the man in the black suit and tie. "Be easy with her, she has had quite an ordeal."

Lieutenant Deushi nodded and in a quite, even voice began to ask Ranma about today's events...

***************
Seeing she would get no more answers from investigating the Sailor Sun angle, Ami turned to Ranma herself. Taking a few minutes for the Mercury computer to access the schools computer, letting its built in programs by-pass the security log on's and gain access to student records. She then pulled up Ranma's. She scanned the data as it came over her screen, the only thing that was amiss was listed under family name was the word "pending". There was no history listed in Schools Attended, other than that it had nothing she already didn't know.

She then widen her search to include all students of high school age within the Tokyo area by the name of Ranma. Four were listed, but she quickly discounted them. They were all males.

Seeing nothing more was going to be found, she cut off the computer and turned her attention back to her long neglected studies.

*****************

It was late in the afternoon by the time the hospital and the police released Ranma. She was wearing her black pants but she had lost her shirt in the fight and was now wearing a pale blue buttoned up that was donated to the hospital for just such circumstances. She walked and leaned heavily on Michiko, who had shown up in time for Ranma's release, physically, and Akiko emotionally. Walking down the front steps, they were offered a ride home by the two female officers that brought Ranma into the hospital earlier. They accepted and were soon transported to the restaurant. Waving goodbye to Officers Natsumi and Miyuki, Akiko unlocked the front door and she entered followed by the two girls.

Ranma felt drained and weary. She wondered if she would get any peace. It seemed that every time that she was happy, something like this would come around and steal it from her. She wondered again what she had done to deserve this? One moment everything is fine and the next... damn it! Can't anything stay normal for once?

Akiko lead Ranma upstairs to the living room where she normally slept. They settle on the mats together around the table.

"Granny?" Ranma asked in a voice she hadn't used all week.

"Yes, dear?"

"Are you mad at me? Do you want me to leave?" The last asked in a small voice.

"Heaven forbid! Of course not. You may not think it now, but you did the right thing."

"How can killing somebody be the right thing." Ranma quailed and broke down crying yet again.

Akiko held her, again, like she did earlier. Rubbing her back and saying soothing words. Ranma sniffled out and rubbed her eyes, and looked at Akiko.

"I'm sorry" were the first words out.

"Please don't start apologizing again," Akiko said with a half gentle, half commanding tone, "I just broke you of that habit."

"I'm sorry" Ranma repeated this time with a small smile crossing her lips.

Akiko knew she was being teased and took it as a good sign. Then in her gentle nature turned serious without any hard edges to it.

"Ranma did you know who that man was?"

Ranma nodded. "Yes, he is, ...was the master of my style of martial arts. He use to steal from the girls back is Nerima and was a real perv, no one tried to stop him. Except me."

By this time Michiko entered with a tray of tea and cookies.

"I see, and why is that?"

"Well, mainly because the other two were afraid of him and didn't want to face his wrath."

"I see, and why did you try to stop him?"

"Because it was the right thing to do. Because he was picking on the defenseless and the weak and being a real perv while at it." Ranma replied.

"Exactly, and from what you told me, you said that the swore duty of a marital artist was what...?"

"To protect the weak and those who can't protect themselves."

"And, what did you do that the other masters didn't?"

"...."

"I'll tell you, you acted on those beliefs. You protected the weak. You protected the helpless. You live by those words, you just don't carry them on your tongue." Akiko said with such conviction that it was like a knife that stabbed into the heart of the matter.

"But... I killed today. Isn't that wrong?" Ranma voice wavered.

"Yes it is wrong to kill, but it also wrong to let evil or wrong doers to continue be unchecked and loose upon the rest of the world."

"But, I didn't have to go that far I could have..."

"Ranma," Akiko began in her gently yet firm way, "many times in life you don't get to choose the outcome. Sometimes all you can do is hope for the best. This, Happosai was a master martial artist was he?"

Ranma nodded.

"Then you would have to, as you would say it - take him down "hard" before he could do anything, right?

Ranma nodded.

"Then tell me, how many opportunities in the past did you give him to surrender, to change his ways, to stop abusing the very martial arts that are there to protect the very people he terrorized?" Akiko asked.

Ranma just looked at her. She had a point, Happosai had abused the art for his own pleasure at the expense of innocent people. He was no martial artist, he may have known how to use martial arts, but he was no martial artist as Ranma defined one. Thinking back to what he did at the park, all the people who were terrorized, hurt and put in danger for his pleasure. He was a pervert, and Ranma stopped him.

"Sometimes the choice is taken out of our hands - Happosai made his choice when he molested you. Would you rather he be out right now molesting other girls - your friends from school or Michiko here?" Akiko pressed on.

Ranma shook her head.

"From what I remember from the stories you told me, and what the police lieutenant told me at the hospital that this Happosai has been doing this for decades. They have been trying to capture and stop him for all that time. Hundreds of young women had stolen from them of have been felt upby him and now hundreds of young women have you to thank that they are now safer." Akiko stated in such a why than Ranma couldn't argue the point.

Ranma pondered this while Akiko sipped her tea. Akiko had a point, how many times do you give a menace a chance to change his ways before the needs and the safety of the majority come into play. She had been so concerned for one person that she forgotten all about Happosai victims, and there were many of them. Many young women terrorize by that little freak. Ranma started feeling better about it, but was still uneasy and guilty about taking a life.

It felt like having to deal with a necessary evil. She didn't like it. Not at all.

*****************

For Akiko it has been a long day. She was glad that Ranma wasn't seriously injured, but worried about her mental state. There was a molester, who enjoyed tormenting young women by stealing their undergarments and no one being able to stop him, and Ranma stopped him. This was something to be proud of, instead Ranma agonized over it. It took some effort to convince Ranma that she did the right thing. Ranma's' concerned to whether she did the morally right thing was a testament of how big Ranma's heart really was.

She was pleased that after calming and talking with Ranma she seem to come around a bit. Akiko realized that all Ranma needed was to "look at the big picture" to see what damage this man was doing to other peoples lives. If there was any doubts in her clan about Ranma then this incident would surly erase that. She so wanted to talk to her tonight about her future, but that can wait until tomorrow. To much has happened to the poor child today.

*****************

Ranma laid awake in her futon going over the words of Akiko said earlier.

...many times in life you don't get to choose the outcome. Sometimes all you can do is hope for the best...

then

...Sometimes the choice is taken out of our hands - Happosai made his choice...

and then

...hundreds of girls and young women have you to thank that they are now safer."

A sworn duty.

Protect the weak and defenseless...

...in the name of the Moon Kingdom.

Where did that come from?

Ranma was troubled, and it was not just the death of Happosai, there was other things. These dreams have been getting more and more frequent and vivid. What did it all mean?

...make up.

Make up what? Was it something she was suppose to do? Why did this haunt her so? Leaving those thoughts behind she rolled over onto her side and drifted into a troubled sleep.

________________________________