DISCLAIMER: Relatively standard stuff. Existing characters are properties of the people who made them up. Mitsuki, and several other characters are mine, and so's the story, hence ownership and copyright of them belongs to me. Contact me at misato_98@yahoo.com if you want permission to use anything I've written for whatnot purposes.
LOVE
By
Raymond Cooper
Chapter 4
** New Beginnings **
Princess Serenity stared from the window in her chambers, high up in one of the spires of the Moon Castle. From here, she could see to the horizon with no difficulty - although, considering it was only a few scant miles from where she sat, that wasn't surprising. The crystal buildings down below, the main city of the Moon Kingdom, reflected blue light. Serenity knew what from - even without looking up, she could feel the Blue Star's light shining on her as well.
Not really a star. A planet. Serenity knew that, but as a child, she had seen the glowing blue thing in the skies above the palace, and had instantly described it as a star to those around her. Endymion, her bethrothed since before birth, had banged the back of her head with the palm of his hand, and told her what it was.
Serenity hadn't believed him, of course.
And of course, he had been right and she wrong.
Her mother had later shown her the surface of her Blue Star (by this point, her name for it had stuck in her mind) through telescopes and viewing devices made in Mercury's massive technology shops. The people there were base, primitive, barely learning to till the soil, only a few domesticated animals for food and mutual protection. Serenity had gazed in awe at the creatures living below her, more animal than human, and asked her mother why they had to live in such bad conditions, while the rest of the solar system lived in beauty, with intelligence, able to move between the stars with as much effort as crossing a room.
The Queen had sat Serenity on her knee, and told her that those primitives were what allowed the Moon Kingdom to exist. So Above As Below, the Queen said. Serenity asked how that could be, and her mother smiled.
"Serenity, it is a grown-up concept. How does one explain the sun to a child?"
"It's an ovoid of matter compressed to the temperature fusion starts at, mother. Even *I* know that."
"That isn't what I meant," but the Queen had another smile on her lips. "This matter is complicated. And the Moon Kingdom is ever in peril. So long as those below are as they are, then balance is retained in the system. Light and Dark coexist - you cannot have one without the other."
"Are they are Dark, then?"
"No, they are not. The Dark... you know of the Dark Kingdom."
"Yes, mother." Serenity had read in books and been taught by her tutors about the horrors of the Dark Kingdom, where evil, power-hungry individuals battled between one another to gain ever more power, for seemingly no reason.
"The Dark Kingdom is the other side of our coin. For the Moon Kingdom to exist, so must there be a polar opposite. A kingdom of Light means a kingdom of Dark must also exist."
"Then where does the Blue Star come from, mother?"
The Queen nodded at the viewing screens, then rummaged in her gown. Eventually, she found a simple coin, and produced it to show her daughter, who blinked at her mother uncomprehendingly. "This side," the queen said, "is the Moon Kingdom. It is one side of the coin. This side," she tapped the other side of the coin, "is the Dark Kingdom."
"And where does the Blue Star come into it?" Serenity couldn't see how the planet above could possibly fit into this analogy. Her mother had run out of sides on the coin.
"Ah, that's the easy part." The Queen tapped the edge of the coin. "This is the planet Earth. That which joins both sides and makes them possible. You see, the people of Earth have equal amounts of Light and Dark within them. That is their life force, you might say. When one force gained too much weight in comparison to the other, then the scales tip in favour of the greater force. This is why the people below live as they do. If they ever civilised, they would have Want in addition to Need, which is all they have now. Want leads to ever greater problems, and finally to the Dark that lies inside the hearts of every human."
"So, if they built cities and spaceships, they would become evil?"
"No. Not all. Perhaps not even most. But the equilibium between Light and Dark would be disturbed. And thus would the Moon Kingdom find itself in a precarious position."
"Why?"
"Because that Darkness would empower the Dark Kingdom, and the Moon Kingdom would face a loss in power."
"Which would mean a change in the balance of power, right?"
The Queen nodded. "That is so. We would then have to find other means of protecting our kingdom then."
"Could that ever happen, mother? The humans up there look like they're slowly working out how to build stuff."
"One day, perhaps... one day. But not this day. And not for a great many more days."
There was a polite cough from behind the Queen and Princess, and the Queen turned. "Yes, Admiral Jadite?"
"Your fleet has been prepared, ma'am. We depart for Mercury within the hour."
The Queen palced Serenity down on the ground, and bent down to look into her eyes. "Now. You go be a good girl for your tutors. We will not be long, your father and I. This is only a goodwill tour of the planets... and we will bring you something back."
"I'll be good, mother," Serenity said.
******
Usagi awoke, wondering why her bed was so hard and... oh. A dream. Of course, a dream of her past life. Something she should have known straight away.
Now, *why* she'd dreamt of the Moon Kingdom, and about such a thing, Usagi didn't know. But then, mostly, she didn't care about the subject - just that she'd had another vision of the past! Always capable of getting someone as scatter-brained as Usagi into a hyper mood.
It didn't matter to her that it was still dark outside, she had to tell someone.
******
The few people in the upstairs rooms were sleeping soundly. Usagi couldn't wake them. So she crept downstairs. Hotaru wasn't in her room... perhaps she was in Ranma's? Oh yeah, that'd go down real well with the other Outer senshi. Usagi couldn't help herself - she slipped Ranma's door open and flipped on the lights, jumping inside to meet the worst possible scenario - but no Hotaru.
No Ranma, for that matter.
This was getting ever more puzzling. It was about then that Usagi heard a clank from the kitchen. She decided to investigate - after all, she could never *ever* eat off those benches again if Ranma and Hotaru...
But then, where were the other senshi? Visions of a naughty nature, including some of the things she had seen in that hentai stash her brother didn't think she knew about, flashed past her eyes - mass orgies.
But no. Upon flinging open that door, she was greeted by Makoto, blinking at her in surprise, steaming rice and vegetables, as well as wrapping up small seafood bites. "Usagi?"
"Where is everyone?" Usagi asked. "I've just had a vision!"
Makoto looked sympathetic. "We all knew this day would come. The stress is getting to you. Was it Mamoru again, telling you to flash -"
"No! It wasn't like that!" Usagi protested. Although she was *sure* it had been Mamoru that time... thankfully she'd told her friends about it before acting on it, and they had managed to talk her out of it. It had been a somewhat embarrassing memory. "It was about the Moon Kingdom, ten thousand years ago, probably just before they... we... all died out."
Makoto leaned forward, putting the food down and looking a little more serious. "The end of the Moon Kingdom? Did you see anything important?"
Usagi went to nod proudly, until she realised, well, no, she hadn't seen anything important. Not to her, anyway. Just her talking to her mother about the Dark Kingdom. She related this to Makoto, who nodded sagely, and said, "You should tell Ami."
"She's sleeping, and I can't wake her up. She's like a log!" Usagi frowned again. "Where *is* everyone? Is there a sale I don't know about? Cute boys or something?"
"I don't think Ranma would go ogle cute boys somehow, Usagi," Makoto chuckled. "But I forgot. You don't see this side of dawn, do you? Go look out the front door."
Usagi nodded, and headed outside. There, on the front gravel entrance path, stood Hotaru, Minako, Rei, Mitsuki and Ranma, in training gis. Usagi noted that Makoto had been wearing one in the kitchen, but it hadn't penetrated then. Oh. Morning training. Usagi should have known.
Ranma looked up and caught her about to duck back inside, and called out, "Usagi! Joining us this morning?" He started forward, still in his cursed girl form, stepping around the other girls, being careful not to interrupt their warm-ups. Hotaru gave him a wan, distant smile as he passed, but that was about all the acknowledgement he got as he made his way towards Usagi.
She shook her head. "No, not me. This is a stupid time to be awake."
Ranma grinned. "Best time of the day! And you know, practising for an hour in the morning really helps you wake up, get fit, lose that flab you've been putting on the last couple of months."
"Flab? What -"
"And yeah, you know, I'm doing advanced stuff with the others, but I'm sure I can work something up for you, at your level."
Usagi grimaced.
"It could be a challenge, though..."
Mitsuki leaned in towards Hotaru. "He seems hyperactive this morning. Did you, uh, um..."
"Stop hinting. And no." Hotaru shook her head. Her gaze told Mitsuki that her mind was on something else entirely. Rei glanced over.
"Mitsuki? Want to spar this morning?"
The purple-haired woman looked back, a little nervous. "Uh, you know, that might not be a good idea."
"Oh come on, you're not that far ahead of me."
Mitsuki shrugged. "Okay..."
Hotaru continued warming up, lost in her own little world, oblivious to everything.
Ranma waited, a bright expression on his face. He was actually enjoying this, being up and able to move again. The previous night, he had slept soundly, and felt that his ki was high once again. Much higher than the day before, at least. He wouldn't want to tackle any youma on a day like this. Or even Kuno.
Of course, if it was a male youma... this body had certain advantages.
Ranma wasn't sure if either of them worked on monsters, but if necessity called for it, perhaps he could find out.
If things got that bad, there were much worse things he could do than flash his breasts at someone. Like try and run, for example. Just the act of turning to flee wasted precious moments that could be better put to use by attempting another attack, defence, or some way to wiggle out of the predicament without including dying.
But for now, he was happy. And Usagi looked decidedly less so, growing worse by the moment. Ranma guessed the rapid backpedalling and shaking of her head, followed by the slamming of the front doors, to mean that Usagi wasn't going to join them that morning. Pity. He was feeling up to a challenge.
As Makoto joined them and ran through a quick series of stretches and some quick, sketched moves, Ranma retook his place in front of them. "Good morning, class."
"Good morning, sensei," the others chimed back. Ranma noted Hotaru looked somewhat distracted - that would earn her a punch or a kick or three, until she snapped back into the here and now. He wondered what was on her mind, but forgot all about that as he started them through their morning practise routines.
******
Up on the roof, Natsumi watched. Her VR headset was pushed back, she was using her Mark 1 - her eyes - sensors to observe the movements of the women below. Lots of flesh bounced, but not nearly as much as her older sister had to throw around. Mutsumi was... well, even that Ranma woman didn't come close.
Okay, close, but still smaller.
But her older sister's chest didn't jiggle that much. Possibly because the only time she moved was usually when she fell asleep on someone or something, which she did often. Natsumi sighed, and shifted to get more comfortable on the rooftop. The girls all punched, kicked, punched, kicked, ad nauseum, then broke off into pairs. She found the purple-haired one's fight with the raven-haired younger woman to be one of the more interesting.
Purple leapt forward, legs trailing behind her, until Raven had set up an initial blocking move, designed to make it easier for Raven to shift into a specific defence posture once Purple committed to an attack. Purple's legs swung out then sideways, almost as if she was doing the splits, but swung each of her legs around in a one-eighty degree arc. Raven's forearms came up in a specific block, and Purple collided with them, but then flexed at the knees, and tapped Raven's shoulders with her heels. Natsumi recognised the move - mostly non-contact sparring, but the shoulder touch was intentional - Purple could have hit higher, with much more force.
At Raven's head. Interesting. The woman was skilled.
She bent backwards at the waist, legs unwrapping while Raven ducked low and punched forward. Purple's body twisted near impossibly while she vaulted from her hands up to her feet around the incoming fist, and slipped a foot past the outstretched arm, lightly touching Raven's stomach. Raven obviously didn't like that, and launched into a rapid volley of punches that moved almost too fast for even Natsumi to see. None touched, although a few came close. One whistled through Purple's hair, and Raven smirked arrogantly, her expression turning a little darker when the older woman's hand tapped her stomach lightly again. The two sprang apart, Raven reassessing her position, shifting her stance, readying for another attack momentarily.
Purple wasn't out of breath, but did look a little preoccupied, a little concerned. Not with exterior events, but almost like something internal. Interesting. That reminded Natsumi of the look one of the senshi gave from time to time, the purple-haired one who was older than the rest. She wondered if this woman would turn out to have a similar fighting style?
Raven had reassessed her position by now, and launched forth another attack, which Purple duly dodged. Raven swung a wild fist around in an arc, heading for Purple's shoulder, but again the older woman dodged. Natsumi guessed that distracted expression, which appeared once more, was responsible for her not noticing the foot arcing up towards her.
That smacked into her shoulder hard, and spun her around; Raven wasn't playing by the rules.
The distracted expression on Purple's face disappeared instantly, replaced by one of anger such as Natsumi didn't see on a human very often. She leapt forward, fast, almost too fast for Natsumi to see, and slammed a fist down between Raven's feet.
The ground shattered, chunks of dirt, rock and cement lifting from the ground almost in slow motion. Raven was frozen to the spot with shock as the noise battered her gi, tearing at loose edges and assaulting her ears with a low, dull throb. Natsumi perked up - that kind of strength was almost inhuman. Hell, it *was* inhuman!
She leaned further forward, to get a better view, and fingered her headset idly. But no, she'd keep watching with her eyes. The digital feedback systems were nice, but some things that the onboard computers deemed not necessary were removed. Thus, she would only get an abbreviated version of the fight with them down.
She noticed Ranma bounce from her fight, getting in between Raven and Purple, Raven staggering back. She wasn't looking at her, though, but at Purple, and she waited until Purple was ready to stand. She bowed her head. "I am sorry, sensei. I should not have lost my temper."
Ranma stared into her eyes, and she fidgited. "Is your medication...?"
"My medication is fine... but as always, adrenyline seems to stop it from working." Purple looked downcast now, really embarrassed. "I'm fine, really. I've been taking my pills."
Ranma nodded, saying nothing for a time. Then she nodded, and stepped back. "Mitsuki. Spar with me for now, okay? I'm more your speed and strength and skill." Purple looked uncomfortable with that, until Ranma sighed, bent over, and punched the ground with less force than Purple had. Under her fist, the earth shattered in a much wider circle, sending clods of earth skyward.
Natsumi's eyes narrowed further. This Ranma girl... she wasn't a senshi, and yet she showed abilities of them? Maybe that would bear looking into. Non-magical-based powers weren't known to the Dark Kingdom. Perhaps she could make use of that knowledge moving against the Master...
******
Down below, Ranma dealt several kicks to Mitsuki's stomach. "Ignore Rei; she likes getting under people's skin."
Mitsuki grunted, blocking one of Ranma's punches, and sending two at her attacker. When neither of them succeeded in touching her sensei, she stepped back a little, got some room to manoeuvre in. "She annoys me when she gets physical."
"She can't help it," Ranma said, circling. "She's got a worse temper than Makoto."
"At least Makoto knows the meaning of non-contact and minimal contact," Mitsuki returned. "Even if her moves are signposted a mile away."
"Can't blame her for her style."
"Maybe. Are you going to teach us stuff that's useful, though? I mean, katas are nice enough, but the attacks you have - combined with our powers..." Mitsuki's voice trailed off as she saw Ranma's eyes narrow.
"The attacks I make... the ones I can do... you couldn't. I've trained every day of my life to be able to do things like this." He stopped for a moment, moved in close to Mitsuki without her being aware he'd moved until she suddenly felt a pair of fists lying softly on her ribcage. She blinked, looked down. There was Ranma, staring up at her with those huge eyes of his, his arms blurring in a rush of motion her eyes just couldn't make out. Mitsuki found she couldn't even feel his fists moving from the point they were hitting. Then Ranma was gone again, back where he'd been a moment ago. He shook his head. "I can't teach you that at all. Maybe in ten years or so, if you stick with this. As for using this with your powers? Forget it. You all rely on them too much for the moment, and your teamwork sucks, to be honest."
Mitsuki blinked. "Then why -"
"Am I teaching you guys?" Ranma smiled. "I've been waiting for someone to ask me. What point is there relying on powers, when you've got super strength? And speed, invulnerability, and a team? Most youma I've seen here tend to be resistant to your magic, in some way. All have been hurt by hitting them. So why not hit them hard, fast, coordinated?"
Mitsuki moved in again, and the sparring started anew.
"I made mistakes before I got hurt. I let you guys use your powers. I let you guys bounce all over the place, let you dictate to a large extent the pace at which we moved, and what we did. No more. I'm structuring you guys. Classes from today on will be different."
The others heard him talking to Mitsuki, slowed down their sparring matches, and moved over to listen to the conversation.
Ranma ducked a pair of kicks,
"I'm gonna give you all a basic course. You'll learn to spar properly, proper moves, a bit of discipline. No powers for now. You'll work individually, and will spar in pairs, as normal students do."
Ranma jumped over a series of punches, finally backflipping off Mitsuki's head. She started getting a little angry, forced herself to calm down again. Ranma tapped each of her shoulders before Mistuki turned.
"Once I think you've got the basics down, we'll start on that teamwork thing. No powers, just you all working at keeping your moves coordinated with other people, so you don't fall over each other in battle. The more of you senshi I can actually get here... that just makes it better."
He dodged another couple of moves from Mitsuki.
"You're telegraphing those, Mitsuki. Snap your moves a little better. Don't hesitate in setting up. And let them flow."
"If I snap my moves, how can they flow?" Mitsuki growled.
Ranma demonstrated, making quick, definite movements with his arms and legs, starting one movement just before the previous finished. "Never leave yourself open," he said, tapping Mitsuki's stomach with a finger as she extended herself in a punch. He bent away from her knee that raised up under him. "You could learn a few things about street brawling from Makoto."
Makoto blushed. "I'm not that bad," she grumbled.
"You'll all learn from each other. The more you know about your strengths and weaknesses, the better you function as a group. Hotaru's good with staves but has no reach without one. Makoto is good with her fists, but her style isn't suited to more than one opponant. Mitsuki just doesn't give up, that's both strength and weakness. Rei's temper gets the better of her, Minako can't concentrate. Should I go on?"
The women all looked at each other, apart from Hotaru, who gazed at the sparring match going on in front of her without seeing it.
"I wanna build you all up, so you don't make those mistakes. You're not invincible. You get beaten by the most basic youma. Mercury has saved you guys too often with her computer, Sailor Moon with that sceptre, tiara or crystal. You can't rely on them for ever. What if Mercury is held prisoner? What if Sailor Moon is... well, she's useless anyway."
Ranma tapped Mitsuki's shoulder again. Mitsuki responded with a pair of jabs, and a spinning kick that was matched by a kick by her other leg, arcing back over in a high crescent. Ranma let the crescent kick tap him slightly, and nodded. "That was a better attack. Following up like that is what I want you to do. Don't think three attacks in a row'll get you anywhere, do four, five, six, until you get a hit."
"You let me get that one," Mitsuki panted.
"You're playing on my ground, handicapping yourself. Why should I fight at my full strength while you can't?"
They sparred a few minutes more, in silence, apart from Ranma's occasional recommendation. Finally, he raised a hand in a signal to stop the match. He looked around. "That'll be it for this morning."
Makoto stepped forward, lifting her chin. "Breakfast is ready, then," she announced. The senshi disappeared, leaving Ranma and Hotaru standing, Ranma confused at the sudden disappearance of the women from around him, Hotaru still staring at the spot where Ranma and Mitsuki had been sparring.
She didn't look like she was aware of the world around her, so Ranma tapped her on the shoulder. Hotaru looked up at him, her expression surprised.
"Hotaru-chan? Are you okay?" he asked, concern in his voice. Hotaru hadn't been acting the same since the day before, when she'd come home from school. She'd been weird, distant, hadn't wanted to watch TV with him or ask for help with her sparring or homework (although the help Ranma could give her with that was limited to excuses for why her homework wasn't done).
What she said next stayed with him for the next few days, as he pondered it, trying to work out what she meant by it.
She looked up, so surprised, so innocent, so beautiful that Ranma felt an urge to kiss her. He started to lean in, moving ever so slightly towards her upturned mouth, thinking as always, she'd reciprocate. Ranma's eyes closed as he moved further.
And then.
"I can still smell the roses."
SAILOR MOON SAYS:
Finally finished. This has taken nearly a week to write... although it's been about a month since I last got a chapter out.
Right after I finished the last one, I got three weeks of work, in the fields, stacking pineapples on a bin on the back of a tractor. Woo, love that Australian summer sun :P That weather and the exhaustion the job provided led me not to write for that three weeks. It's taken me that long to recover.
Also, the last week, this chapter's been competing with a 3d model I've been working on. Finished it tonight, so thought, damn, finish this now, too :) So here it is, chapter 4 of Love. Hopefully, chapter 5 won't be too far away ^^'
so, next time on Love: Natsumi's heart to heart, the rose-scented prince (for sure), no training for a change, and some more from the Moon Kingdom.
LOVE
By
Raymond Cooper
Chapter 4
** New Beginnings **
Princess Serenity stared from the window in her chambers, high up in one of the spires of the Moon Castle. From here, she could see to the horizon with no difficulty - although, considering it was only a few scant miles from where she sat, that wasn't surprising. The crystal buildings down below, the main city of the Moon Kingdom, reflected blue light. Serenity knew what from - even without looking up, she could feel the Blue Star's light shining on her as well.
Not really a star. A planet. Serenity knew that, but as a child, she had seen the glowing blue thing in the skies above the palace, and had instantly described it as a star to those around her. Endymion, her bethrothed since before birth, had banged the back of her head with the palm of his hand, and told her what it was.
Serenity hadn't believed him, of course.
And of course, he had been right and she wrong.
Her mother had later shown her the surface of her Blue Star (by this point, her name for it had stuck in her mind) through telescopes and viewing devices made in Mercury's massive technology shops. The people there were base, primitive, barely learning to till the soil, only a few domesticated animals for food and mutual protection. Serenity had gazed in awe at the creatures living below her, more animal than human, and asked her mother why they had to live in such bad conditions, while the rest of the solar system lived in beauty, with intelligence, able to move between the stars with as much effort as crossing a room.
The Queen had sat Serenity on her knee, and told her that those primitives were what allowed the Moon Kingdom to exist. So Above As Below, the Queen said. Serenity asked how that could be, and her mother smiled.
"Serenity, it is a grown-up concept. How does one explain the sun to a child?"
"It's an ovoid of matter compressed to the temperature fusion starts at, mother. Even *I* know that."
"That isn't what I meant," but the Queen had another smile on her lips. "This matter is complicated. And the Moon Kingdom is ever in peril. So long as those below are as they are, then balance is retained in the system. Light and Dark coexist - you cannot have one without the other."
"Are they are Dark, then?"
"No, they are not. The Dark... you know of the Dark Kingdom."
"Yes, mother." Serenity had read in books and been taught by her tutors about the horrors of the Dark Kingdom, where evil, power-hungry individuals battled between one another to gain ever more power, for seemingly no reason.
"The Dark Kingdom is the other side of our coin. For the Moon Kingdom to exist, so must there be a polar opposite. A kingdom of Light means a kingdom of Dark must also exist."
"Then where does the Blue Star come from, mother?"
The Queen nodded at the viewing screens, then rummaged in her gown. Eventually, she found a simple coin, and produced it to show her daughter, who blinked at her mother uncomprehendingly. "This side," the queen said, "is the Moon Kingdom. It is one side of the coin. This side," she tapped the other side of the coin, "is the Dark Kingdom."
"And where does the Blue Star come into it?" Serenity couldn't see how the planet above could possibly fit into this analogy. Her mother had run out of sides on the coin.
"Ah, that's the easy part." The Queen tapped the edge of the coin. "This is the planet Earth. That which joins both sides and makes them possible. You see, the people of Earth have equal amounts of Light and Dark within them. That is their life force, you might say. When one force gained too much weight in comparison to the other, then the scales tip in favour of the greater force. This is why the people below live as they do. If they ever civilised, they would have Want in addition to Need, which is all they have now. Want leads to ever greater problems, and finally to the Dark that lies inside the hearts of every human."
"So, if they built cities and spaceships, they would become evil?"
"No. Not all. Perhaps not even most. But the equilibium between Light and Dark would be disturbed. And thus would the Moon Kingdom find itself in a precarious position."
"Why?"
"Because that Darkness would empower the Dark Kingdom, and the Moon Kingdom would face a loss in power."
"Which would mean a change in the balance of power, right?"
The Queen nodded. "That is so. We would then have to find other means of protecting our kingdom then."
"Could that ever happen, mother? The humans up there look like they're slowly working out how to build stuff."
"One day, perhaps... one day. But not this day. And not for a great many more days."
There was a polite cough from behind the Queen and Princess, and the Queen turned. "Yes, Admiral Jadite?"
"Your fleet has been prepared, ma'am. We depart for Mercury within the hour."
The Queen palced Serenity down on the ground, and bent down to look into her eyes. "Now. You go be a good girl for your tutors. We will not be long, your father and I. This is only a goodwill tour of the planets... and we will bring you something back."
"I'll be good, mother," Serenity said.
******
Usagi awoke, wondering why her bed was so hard and... oh. A dream. Of course, a dream of her past life. Something she should have known straight away.
Now, *why* she'd dreamt of the Moon Kingdom, and about such a thing, Usagi didn't know. But then, mostly, she didn't care about the subject - just that she'd had another vision of the past! Always capable of getting someone as scatter-brained as Usagi into a hyper mood.
It didn't matter to her that it was still dark outside, she had to tell someone.
******
The few people in the upstairs rooms were sleeping soundly. Usagi couldn't wake them. So she crept downstairs. Hotaru wasn't in her room... perhaps she was in Ranma's? Oh yeah, that'd go down real well with the other Outer senshi. Usagi couldn't help herself - she slipped Ranma's door open and flipped on the lights, jumping inside to meet the worst possible scenario - but no Hotaru.
No Ranma, for that matter.
This was getting ever more puzzling. It was about then that Usagi heard a clank from the kitchen. She decided to investigate - after all, she could never *ever* eat off those benches again if Ranma and Hotaru...
But then, where were the other senshi? Visions of a naughty nature, including some of the things she had seen in that hentai stash her brother didn't think she knew about, flashed past her eyes - mass orgies.
But no. Upon flinging open that door, she was greeted by Makoto, blinking at her in surprise, steaming rice and vegetables, as well as wrapping up small seafood bites. "Usagi?"
"Where is everyone?" Usagi asked. "I've just had a vision!"
Makoto looked sympathetic. "We all knew this day would come. The stress is getting to you. Was it Mamoru again, telling you to flash -"
"No! It wasn't like that!" Usagi protested. Although she was *sure* it had been Mamoru that time... thankfully she'd told her friends about it before acting on it, and they had managed to talk her out of it. It had been a somewhat embarrassing memory. "It was about the Moon Kingdom, ten thousand years ago, probably just before they... we... all died out."
Makoto leaned forward, putting the food down and looking a little more serious. "The end of the Moon Kingdom? Did you see anything important?"
Usagi went to nod proudly, until she realised, well, no, she hadn't seen anything important. Not to her, anyway. Just her talking to her mother about the Dark Kingdom. She related this to Makoto, who nodded sagely, and said, "You should tell Ami."
"She's sleeping, and I can't wake her up. She's like a log!" Usagi frowned again. "Where *is* everyone? Is there a sale I don't know about? Cute boys or something?"
"I don't think Ranma would go ogle cute boys somehow, Usagi," Makoto chuckled. "But I forgot. You don't see this side of dawn, do you? Go look out the front door."
Usagi nodded, and headed outside. There, on the front gravel entrance path, stood Hotaru, Minako, Rei, Mitsuki and Ranma, in training gis. Usagi noted that Makoto had been wearing one in the kitchen, but it hadn't penetrated then. Oh. Morning training. Usagi should have known.
Ranma looked up and caught her about to duck back inside, and called out, "Usagi! Joining us this morning?" He started forward, still in his cursed girl form, stepping around the other girls, being careful not to interrupt their warm-ups. Hotaru gave him a wan, distant smile as he passed, but that was about all the acknowledgement he got as he made his way towards Usagi.
She shook her head. "No, not me. This is a stupid time to be awake."
Ranma grinned. "Best time of the day! And you know, practising for an hour in the morning really helps you wake up, get fit, lose that flab you've been putting on the last couple of months."
"Flab? What -"
"And yeah, you know, I'm doing advanced stuff with the others, but I'm sure I can work something up for you, at your level."
Usagi grimaced.
"It could be a challenge, though..."
Mitsuki leaned in towards Hotaru. "He seems hyperactive this morning. Did you, uh, um..."
"Stop hinting. And no." Hotaru shook her head. Her gaze told Mitsuki that her mind was on something else entirely. Rei glanced over.
"Mitsuki? Want to spar this morning?"
The purple-haired woman looked back, a little nervous. "Uh, you know, that might not be a good idea."
"Oh come on, you're not that far ahead of me."
Mitsuki shrugged. "Okay..."
Hotaru continued warming up, lost in her own little world, oblivious to everything.
Ranma waited, a bright expression on his face. He was actually enjoying this, being up and able to move again. The previous night, he had slept soundly, and felt that his ki was high once again. Much higher than the day before, at least. He wouldn't want to tackle any youma on a day like this. Or even Kuno.
Of course, if it was a male youma... this body had certain advantages.
Ranma wasn't sure if either of them worked on monsters, but if necessity called for it, perhaps he could find out.
If things got that bad, there were much worse things he could do than flash his breasts at someone. Like try and run, for example. Just the act of turning to flee wasted precious moments that could be better put to use by attempting another attack, defence, or some way to wiggle out of the predicament without including dying.
But for now, he was happy. And Usagi looked decidedly less so, growing worse by the moment. Ranma guessed the rapid backpedalling and shaking of her head, followed by the slamming of the front doors, to mean that Usagi wasn't going to join them that morning. Pity. He was feeling up to a challenge.
As Makoto joined them and ran through a quick series of stretches and some quick, sketched moves, Ranma retook his place in front of them. "Good morning, class."
"Good morning, sensei," the others chimed back. Ranma noted Hotaru looked somewhat distracted - that would earn her a punch or a kick or three, until she snapped back into the here and now. He wondered what was on her mind, but forgot all about that as he started them through their morning practise routines.
******
Up on the roof, Natsumi watched. Her VR headset was pushed back, she was using her Mark 1 - her eyes - sensors to observe the movements of the women below. Lots of flesh bounced, but not nearly as much as her older sister had to throw around. Mutsumi was... well, even that Ranma woman didn't come close.
Okay, close, but still smaller.
But her older sister's chest didn't jiggle that much. Possibly because the only time she moved was usually when she fell asleep on someone or something, which she did often. Natsumi sighed, and shifted to get more comfortable on the rooftop. The girls all punched, kicked, punched, kicked, ad nauseum, then broke off into pairs. She found the purple-haired one's fight with the raven-haired younger woman to be one of the more interesting.
Purple leapt forward, legs trailing behind her, until Raven had set up an initial blocking move, designed to make it easier for Raven to shift into a specific defence posture once Purple committed to an attack. Purple's legs swung out then sideways, almost as if she was doing the splits, but swung each of her legs around in a one-eighty degree arc. Raven's forearms came up in a specific block, and Purple collided with them, but then flexed at the knees, and tapped Raven's shoulders with her heels. Natsumi recognised the move - mostly non-contact sparring, but the shoulder touch was intentional - Purple could have hit higher, with much more force.
At Raven's head. Interesting. The woman was skilled.
She bent backwards at the waist, legs unwrapping while Raven ducked low and punched forward. Purple's body twisted near impossibly while she vaulted from her hands up to her feet around the incoming fist, and slipped a foot past the outstretched arm, lightly touching Raven's stomach. Raven obviously didn't like that, and launched into a rapid volley of punches that moved almost too fast for even Natsumi to see. None touched, although a few came close. One whistled through Purple's hair, and Raven smirked arrogantly, her expression turning a little darker when the older woman's hand tapped her stomach lightly again. The two sprang apart, Raven reassessing her position, shifting her stance, readying for another attack momentarily.
Purple wasn't out of breath, but did look a little preoccupied, a little concerned. Not with exterior events, but almost like something internal. Interesting. That reminded Natsumi of the look one of the senshi gave from time to time, the purple-haired one who was older than the rest. She wondered if this woman would turn out to have a similar fighting style?
Raven had reassessed her position by now, and launched forth another attack, which Purple duly dodged. Raven swung a wild fist around in an arc, heading for Purple's shoulder, but again the older woman dodged. Natsumi guessed that distracted expression, which appeared once more, was responsible for her not noticing the foot arcing up towards her.
That smacked into her shoulder hard, and spun her around; Raven wasn't playing by the rules.
The distracted expression on Purple's face disappeared instantly, replaced by one of anger such as Natsumi didn't see on a human very often. She leapt forward, fast, almost too fast for Natsumi to see, and slammed a fist down between Raven's feet.
The ground shattered, chunks of dirt, rock and cement lifting from the ground almost in slow motion. Raven was frozen to the spot with shock as the noise battered her gi, tearing at loose edges and assaulting her ears with a low, dull throb. Natsumi perked up - that kind of strength was almost inhuman. Hell, it *was* inhuman!
She leaned further forward, to get a better view, and fingered her headset idly. But no, she'd keep watching with her eyes. The digital feedback systems were nice, but some things that the onboard computers deemed not necessary were removed. Thus, she would only get an abbreviated version of the fight with them down.
She noticed Ranma bounce from her fight, getting in between Raven and Purple, Raven staggering back. She wasn't looking at her, though, but at Purple, and she waited until Purple was ready to stand. She bowed her head. "I am sorry, sensei. I should not have lost my temper."
Ranma stared into her eyes, and she fidgited. "Is your medication...?"
"My medication is fine... but as always, adrenyline seems to stop it from working." Purple looked downcast now, really embarrassed. "I'm fine, really. I've been taking my pills."
Ranma nodded, saying nothing for a time. Then she nodded, and stepped back. "Mitsuki. Spar with me for now, okay? I'm more your speed and strength and skill." Purple looked uncomfortable with that, until Ranma sighed, bent over, and punched the ground with less force than Purple had. Under her fist, the earth shattered in a much wider circle, sending clods of earth skyward.
Natsumi's eyes narrowed further. This Ranma girl... she wasn't a senshi, and yet she showed abilities of them? Maybe that would bear looking into. Non-magical-based powers weren't known to the Dark Kingdom. Perhaps she could make use of that knowledge moving against the Master...
******
Down below, Ranma dealt several kicks to Mitsuki's stomach. "Ignore Rei; she likes getting under people's skin."
Mitsuki grunted, blocking one of Ranma's punches, and sending two at her attacker. When neither of them succeeded in touching her sensei, she stepped back a little, got some room to manoeuvre in. "She annoys me when she gets physical."
"She can't help it," Ranma said, circling. "She's got a worse temper than Makoto."
"At least Makoto knows the meaning of non-contact and minimal contact," Mitsuki returned. "Even if her moves are signposted a mile away."
"Can't blame her for her style."
"Maybe. Are you going to teach us stuff that's useful, though? I mean, katas are nice enough, but the attacks you have - combined with our powers..." Mitsuki's voice trailed off as she saw Ranma's eyes narrow.
"The attacks I make... the ones I can do... you couldn't. I've trained every day of my life to be able to do things like this." He stopped for a moment, moved in close to Mitsuki without her being aware he'd moved until she suddenly felt a pair of fists lying softly on her ribcage. She blinked, looked down. There was Ranma, staring up at her with those huge eyes of his, his arms blurring in a rush of motion her eyes just couldn't make out. Mitsuki found she couldn't even feel his fists moving from the point they were hitting. Then Ranma was gone again, back where he'd been a moment ago. He shook his head. "I can't teach you that at all. Maybe in ten years or so, if you stick with this. As for using this with your powers? Forget it. You all rely on them too much for the moment, and your teamwork sucks, to be honest."
Mitsuki blinked. "Then why -"
"Am I teaching you guys?" Ranma smiled. "I've been waiting for someone to ask me. What point is there relying on powers, when you've got super strength? And speed, invulnerability, and a team? Most youma I've seen here tend to be resistant to your magic, in some way. All have been hurt by hitting them. So why not hit them hard, fast, coordinated?"
Mitsuki moved in again, and the sparring started anew.
"I made mistakes before I got hurt. I let you guys use your powers. I let you guys bounce all over the place, let you dictate to a large extent the pace at which we moved, and what we did. No more. I'm structuring you guys. Classes from today on will be different."
The others heard him talking to Mitsuki, slowed down their sparring matches, and moved over to listen to the conversation.
Ranma ducked a pair of kicks,
"I'm gonna give you all a basic course. You'll learn to spar properly, proper moves, a bit of discipline. No powers for now. You'll work individually, and will spar in pairs, as normal students do."
Ranma jumped over a series of punches, finally backflipping off Mitsuki's head. She started getting a little angry, forced herself to calm down again. Ranma tapped each of her shoulders before Mistuki turned.
"Once I think you've got the basics down, we'll start on that teamwork thing. No powers, just you all working at keeping your moves coordinated with other people, so you don't fall over each other in battle. The more of you senshi I can actually get here... that just makes it better."
He dodged another couple of moves from Mitsuki.
"You're telegraphing those, Mitsuki. Snap your moves a little better. Don't hesitate in setting up. And let them flow."
"If I snap my moves, how can they flow?" Mitsuki growled.
Ranma demonstrated, making quick, definite movements with his arms and legs, starting one movement just before the previous finished. "Never leave yourself open," he said, tapping Mitsuki's stomach with a finger as she extended herself in a punch. He bent away from her knee that raised up under him. "You could learn a few things about street brawling from Makoto."
Makoto blushed. "I'm not that bad," she grumbled.
"You'll all learn from each other. The more you know about your strengths and weaknesses, the better you function as a group. Hotaru's good with staves but has no reach without one. Makoto is good with her fists, but her style isn't suited to more than one opponant. Mitsuki just doesn't give up, that's both strength and weakness. Rei's temper gets the better of her, Minako can't concentrate. Should I go on?"
The women all looked at each other, apart from Hotaru, who gazed at the sparring match going on in front of her without seeing it.
"I wanna build you all up, so you don't make those mistakes. You're not invincible. You get beaten by the most basic youma. Mercury has saved you guys too often with her computer, Sailor Moon with that sceptre, tiara or crystal. You can't rely on them for ever. What if Mercury is held prisoner? What if Sailor Moon is... well, she's useless anyway."
Ranma tapped Mitsuki's shoulder again. Mitsuki responded with a pair of jabs, and a spinning kick that was matched by a kick by her other leg, arcing back over in a high crescent. Ranma let the crescent kick tap him slightly, and nodded. "That was a better attack. Following up like that is what I want you to do. Don't think three attacks in a row'll get you anywhere, do four, five, six, until you get a hit."
"You let me get that one," Mitsuki panted.
"You're playing on my ground, handicapping yourself. Why should I fight at my full strength while you can't?"
They sparred a few minutes more, in silence, apart from Ranma's occasional recommendation. Finally, he raised a hand in a signal to stop the match. He looked around. "That'll be it for this morning."
Makoto stepped forward, lifting her chin. "Breakfast is ready, then," she announced. The senshi disappeared, leaving Ranma and Hotaru standing, Ranma confused at the sudden disappearance of the women from around him, Hotaru still staring at the spot where Ranma and Mitsuki had been sparring.
She didn't look like she was aware of the world around her, so Ranma tapped her on the shoulder. Hotaru looked up at him, her expression surprised.
"Hotaru-chan? Are you okay?" he asked, concern in his voice. Hotaru hadn't been acting the same since the day before, when she'd come home from school. She'd been weird, distant, hadn't wanted to watch TV with him or ask for help with her sparring or homework (although the help Ranma could give her with that was limited to excuses for why her homework wasn't done).
What she said next stayed with him for the next few days, as he pondered it, trying to work out what she meant by it.
She looked up, so surprised, so innocent, so beautiful that Ranma felt an urge to kiss her. He started to lean in, moving ever so slightly towards her upturned mouth, thinking as always, she'd reciprocate. Ranma's eyes closed as he moved further.
And then.
"I can still smell the roses."
SAILOR MOON SAYS:
Finally finished. This has taken nearly a week to write... although it's been about a month since I last got a chapter out.
Right after I finished the last one, I got three weeks of work, in the fields, stacking pineapples on a bin on the back of a tractor. Woo, love that Australian summer sun :P That weather and the exhaustion the job provided led me not to write for that three weeks. It's taken me that long to recover.
Also, the last week, this chapter's been competing with a 3d model I've been working on. Finished it tonight, so thought, damn, finish this now, too :) So here it is, chapter 4 of Love. Hopefully, chapter 5 won't be too far away ^^'
so, next time on Love: Natsumi's heart to heart, the rose-scented prince (for sure), no training for a change, and some more from the Moon Kingdom.