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 5
** Homeward Bound **
Serenity stared up at the Blue Star above her. Well, technically, she knew now that depended on her own personal point of reference. Systemwise, the Blue Star was sideways-ish. Galaxywise... that started getting confusing. Serenity didn't care about that, though. Twelve years old now, and things hadn't been going too well for the last few years. Things on Earth had taken a dramatic turn, with the first human societies coming together from the small hunter-gatherer family groups that had existed prior and after the last ice age. These socities were small, tightly-grouped, and not really deserving of the term intelligent.
Yet they were developing. And fast, too. Fire had been conquered long, long ago, but now all in the groups knew how to make it. And tools were common. Wolves had stayed with humans during the ice ages for food purposes - they got fed if they assisted in the hunts - and so were settling in to new forms, new breeds, and new attitudes towards people. Horses, too, were being ridden by some peoples. Houses were being erected, and one tribe, Serenity had noted in her studies, were beginning to realise that certain types of food could be grown and harvested.
And while Serenity thought this was great, her mother and father found it to be an extremely tiring time.
The princess didn't know exactly what was going on - she wasn't privvy to every decision made by her parents, nor the intelligence they received - but one did hear things in a palace, and the princess' own intelligence network was rather well-equipped.
Beside her, the Senshi of Mercury played with an image of a mechanical bug on her computer's touchscreen. Serenity watched for a few moments, then, bored, returned to staring at the Earth above.
"You know," she said, in an off-handed manner, "Endymion's been made the Prince of Earth."
"Of course. The planet needs a protector and a voice in the Royal Chambers, Princess."
"Mercury, you can call me by my name, you know," Serenity scowled momentarily.
"I'll call you by your name, Princess, when you call me by mine." Serenity guessed Mercury had to know she didn't know any of their actual names. As was typical in protective services of the Moon Kingdom, being familiar with one's charge, or one's protector, led to problems.
And not usually the ones entertainments were made of, either.
And yet, Mercury found it both interesting and annoying that Serenity wanted to be friends with her, and the other Guardians of the Kingdom.
"Be that as it may, why him? He is my bethrothed!"
Mercury sighed, lowered her computer to her knees. "Princess, you are a princess. You must marry a prince. Therefore, Endymion must be a prince to be your bethrothed."
"But no one complained about that while we were children!"
"Time could be taken then to engineer things so he could be a prince. You do know about the time differential here, don't you?"
Serenity sighed, and rolled her eyes back. "Yes, yes, yes. We did this in class, you know." She closed her eyes, and recited from a textbook. "'Time in the Moon Kingdom passes on a different plane to that of the rest of the universe, as there is much to be protected and maintained and little time in which to do it in. The Time Gate on Pluto, finest engineering feat of the architect blah blah blah, maintains this precious balance so that time can be utilised more efficiently. This process is characterised in realspace by an increased flow of chronitons and blah blah.'"
"I can see why you failed your temporal mechanics tests, Princess."
"Who'd ever need to know how to field strip a temporal gate?" Serenity snorted. "Gimme the crown, the staff, and I'll do the job. It's only ceremony anyway."
Mercury tapped the monitor. "That's what you wanted to find out, remember? Where your parents have been lately?"
"You know, and you won't tell me," grumped Serenity.
"I don't know, and that's the only reason I agreed to do this." Mercury tapped the icon of the bug's braincase, and on the right side of the monitor, a small picture image opened. Scratchy sound issues from the device's speakers.
On the screen, Queen Serenity and her husband leaned over a round table, with an inlaid top, puzzling over icons that didn't make sense to the Princess. Mercury frowned, though, and started running a library function on the left side of the screen to confirm some nasty suspicions. Behind the King and Queen stood a pair of advisors, with Planet Mercury-constructed computers.
"- into the seventh sector, Highness."
The King looked troubled. "Hasn't Zoicite returned with the Martian fleets yet?"
"No. Planet Mercury s being evacuated. Dark Kingdom forces have invaded the lower levels of the Utopia University, and have disabled the coolant systems in environmental control. The Dean estimates the University will be lost in another three days, without reinforcements."
"What about the automated defence factories?" asked Serenity.
"Enemy bombardment from orbit has them in a repair cycle. They'll be online again in another two days."
"Where is Zoicite?" The King, again.
"Father seems to be concerned," the Princess remarked. "I wonder why?"
"I've been looking up those symbols they're looking at, Princess," Mercury said in a hushed tone. "Those are Dark Kingdom armies. And there seem to be more than the Moon Kingdom's on Mercury."
Serenity's head whipped around to stare at her bodyguard. "You mean, we're going to lose your homeworld to these people?"
"Perhaps, Princess, perhaps not." Mercury closed the connection with the bug, and stood. "Regardless, I feel I must contact
Serenity stood, also. "I am sorry, Mercury. I'll help you get back if I can."
Mercury nodded, and both turned to leave the observation gallery, but stopped short finding Sailor Saturn standing behind them, glaring at both. Behind her stood Serenity's tutor and personal guardian, Luna. The short woman fidgeted. "Princess. Please. Don't concern yourself with matters of state. You'll have to face them soon enough in your life."
Serenity looked as if she was going to say something, regardless of the dark look on Saturn's face that brooked no argument, but then glanced sideways at Mercury, remembered that she had an obligation to her friend, and said nothing. Contrite, both girls fled the room.
And once in the clear, Serenity helped Mercury to her personal courier.
As the ship lifted from the moon's surface, Serenity hoped that she would see the young Senshi again. She heard a footstep behind her - Saturn, she knew from the heavier tread and the click of the Silence Glaive on the ferrocrete flooring.
"Highness. If you lose any of us Guardians, things may go worse for your parents than they do now. don't risk any more of us in such a foolish gesture."
"Saturn, have you realised that sometimes, we have higher obligations than that of state or our own self-protection?" Serenity turned to face Saturn. "If I can't look to the wellbeing of my subjects now, what kind of Queen will I become?" And then she walked out of the pad area, leaving to her personal quarters.
******
Usagi woke again. Two dreams in as many nights. That had to be a good sign.
Downstairs, she could hear the morning training of the senshi who had decided to train. Ami had asked Usagi to partner up with her and join the others, but Usagi protested, she didn't want to get up early in the morning. Besides, she wasn't as clumsy now as she once was, which was always a good thing, especially when at the top of the inn's hillside stairs, and didn't want to find out just how much of that was good fakery and self-deception on her part.
She went into the kitchen, anyway, where she found Makoto, who'd left practise early to finish up with the breakfast preparations. Within moments, the front doors were thrown open, and a horde of ravenous teenage women rushed into the kitchen and began tearing into the food Makoto had prepared. Usagi grimaced at how awake everyone seemed to be, and got herself a glass of water. As she drank, she noted what Makoto had laid on the table for people to eat. And it was very nice food.
Which made Usagi wonder, why the rest of them weren't fed like that? Well, her and Ami, she meant. Hotaru, Makoto, Minako, Rei, Mitsuki and Ranma ate like kings, er, queens, in the morning, why shouldn't Usagi? But within moments, the others had finished bolting their food (looked like Ranma had trained them in a few more things than just plain normal martial arts) and rushed for quick dips in the hot springs.
Ranma, as usual, even though still in his female body, headed for the male springs, and in particular the cold water spring in that enclosure - Hotaru still thought it not a good idea for him to strain his body by transforming yet. Usagi just thought that Hotaru was getting some weird ideas from watching Ranma bounce around the house. Minako certainly was, that was for sure. But it was a sign that Hotaru was growing up - again - so that had to be something good.
They returned in short order, dressed for school and university, where each student attended. Hotaru fidgited uncomfortably as Ranma cast an enquiring eye across Hotaru's uniform, as if it reminded him of something, but shook the feeling of familiarity off, and bade her a good day, heading for the roof to carry out some more repairs on tiles.
Usagi reckoned by now the Ai Sou had to have the best repaired roof in all of Japan.
She herself hurried to ready herself for another day of boring lectures and tutorials, and one minor test in a history lesson. But she wanted to leave with Ami, and tell her about the latest dream of times long past. Why? Well, anything about the Moon Kingdom could be of use. They already knew it was Saturn who had destroyed the Kingdom - the ultimate protection of the Kingdom against the Dark Kingdom - but not quite the circumstances that led up to it. Nor did they know a lot about themselves in those previous lives. Any information could make a difference.
And with another Dark Kingdom incursion into the world underway, anything that could be remembered could be of extreme importance. History had shown things remembered were usually things that *had* to be remembered, for one reason or another.
They hurried down the stairs to the roadway, passing by Hotaru who was standing stock-still at the bottom. She seemed to be staring off into space for no particular reason, and Usagi saw no need to point out to the younger senshi that she would be late if she stood there much longer.
She didn't notice the man with the long blond hair across the road, all dressed in black.
But, as she hurried off down the street towards the train station, she did catch a whiff of roses in the air...
******
Hotaru couldn't believe her eyes. He was there, watching her. And smiling.
Why was he smiling?
Self-consciously, she checked without looking that her dress was smoothed down, her hair in place. Nothing showing that shouldn't be showing. Everything tucked in where it should be tucked. A quick peek proved she hadn't mixed pairs of socks up this morning (not like the morning she had Kuno running insanely through the school demanding everyone swap a sock because divine revelations had stated it must be so) so why was he staring?
Hotaru didn't know. She wasn't even sure she wanted to know why he was smiling. Why? Because that thought opened a door in her mind that would open other doors, doors she wanted to stay shut. She had her Prince now. Ranma... suited her. Someone who knew her inside and out, outward self and secret self, and yet still wasn't afraid of her power. Heck, he might not be able to match her in the power stakes, but he could overpower her through sheer skill. He was good for her, and she likewise wanted to be good for him. She wasn't going to look at this man, this man who'd saved her life, whom she now felt a deep debt of gratitude towards.
But she smelt the scent of roses, and her eyes and head moved of their own volition. She found herself staring into his eyes, and the sounds of the street around her tunneled into oblivion, quickly followed by her vision. All she could see was his eyes... staring... staring...
Something surged in her stomach. Not like a feeling of nausea, or bile rising up towards her throat, but a happier feeling, joy... like a million bubbles rising through her digestive system. This was a thousand times more powerful than what she felt for Ranma... this was completely physical, a yearning more like a yanking across the street.
She barely felt her feet move, and before she knew it, Hotaru was standing next to the blond-haired man. His eyes were casual, calm, yet piercing to the core of her soul. She fell into them, willingly... or so her mind told her.
Her heart told her otherwise.
Something about him didn't seem right. She'd never seen this man before the other day... why should he engender such a response in the core of her being? More to the point, how could he?
But rational thought left her body as his arm swept around the small of her back, and drew her closer to him. The real world seemed to tunnel further behind Hotaru as all she could sense now was the closeness of his body, the rose-tinted scent of him, the overpowering stare from his eyes.
She tried to push away, blushing, beginning a protest of innocence that she knew was a fake, and so he knew this as well - she could tell from the way one corner of his mouth turned up in a smirk.
"I... I have school," she protested, even more feebily.
"It can wait," the rose-scented Prince replied quietly. "We have business... you and I..."
"Business?" Hotaru breathed.
"Business," the man agreed, and leant in low, kissing Hotaru lightly on the lips. They were warm, moist, and sent shivers of electricity throughout Hotaru's body. She later swore she could remember small static charges leaping from the tips of her outstretched fingers - but she put that down to imagination in the heat of the moment.
Ranma never kissed her like this.
Ranma's hand never strayed below the bottom of her uniform's shirt like this Prince's hand was, either. It lingered on her backside for a moment, and Hotaru felt herself bending into it, pushing backwards into his hand lightly, and she thought 'Ranma hasn't done this to me, either'.
Then the sounds and sights from around her started tunneling back into focus, like someone was speeding up a slowed down record. Hotaru blinked as the man pulled back slightly from her. "And now... I must go. I am still new, and there are things I must see. I know you will understand." He gave a slight bow from the waist, the light smirk not leaving his face, although his eyes stayed rooted on Hotaru's. "Until we meet again, Hotaru Tomoe."
And then he was gone, heading up the street, just walking slowly, yet covering incredible ground, ducking and weaving in and out of pedestrian traffic without seeming to move from side to side at all.
Hotaru's head spun. What had just happened? How had it just happened? She didn't know. She wasn't sure she wanted to know. She could still feel his hand on her backside... could still remember pressing deeper into it... wanting his hand to clutch her tightly...
Yet, she didn't want to. She didn't want to be feeling like this. It shouldn't be like this, not something she felt bad about, dirty, used. What had he done to her? What was going on in her head? Why hadn't she tried to push him away when he grabbed her around the back... or in other places? She was happy with Ranma, wasn't she? How was he going to take this? God, did this mean she wasn't as attracted to him as she thought?
Hotaru hurried to school, head in a whirl, trying to forget that warm, dreamy kiss, and failing miserably.
******
At the top of the stairs, Ranma watched, a frown on his face. His arms were folded under the breasts of his female body, and his training gi had some slight sweat stains from the morning's session. He'd been about to try to catch up to Hotaru, and had stopped short at the top of the stairs, seeing that strange man again down below with his arm around Hotaru's waist, kissing her urgently.
When his hand dropped below her belt, so to speak, Ranma's face grew hot. Angry, he was almost about to descend the stairs, and knock said stranger into next week... but he could still feel the power from this one. Something strange, something bad... something that said don't mess with me, son.
Ranma didn't want to mess with him. Not yet. He'd seen some of the youma the senshi fought, and the weakest were maybe as strong as Kuno... perhaps Ryoga. The sense of power from this person was multiple orders of magnitude higher than those. Ranma knew he had a lot of work to do before he could even hope to break even in a match-up with these monsters.
The last he'd faced had left him near-dead, and he was stuck in his female body until he had enough reserves to use his curse to change back without possibly suffering even worse side effects due to the near complete loss of energy. It had been a few weeks now, and he should be able to change in the next few days. Ranma hoped. He had to start some serious endurance training to be able to keep giving the energy output necessary to keep up with the senshi and youma.
That still didn't solve this short-term problem, though. He knew Hotaru had to stay away from the blond-haired man... but if she felt anything for him... how could he say no to her? Did his own feelings count?
No.
They didn't.
He'd been through this often enough in Nerima. Akane and the others, had they found anyone new to interest them, Ranma was expected to be happy to be relegated to the background, happy to have someone else walk in and trample over his love life - although at the same time, Akane and the others would expect Ranma to love - heck, even like - only them and look at no one else.
Ranma was used to being put in the closet.
But, perhaps this time, he shouldn't be put away until Hotaru was ready to play with him again.
Oh, what the heck, he decided, letting a clenched fist he hadn't realised he'd shut open... I've broken up with girls before.
Ranma turned, and headed for the springs to cool off and clean up.
******
"You know, it's not your fault," a voice said above him as he soaked. Ranma looked up, seemingly relaxed, but in truth, prepared to strike if the voice's owner was going to attack him. Natsumi floated down from the rooftop, where she'd taken a shine to observing the morning training sessions.
"What's not my fault?"
"That he's attracting her eye." Natsumi shrugged. "I thought you'd have known that. You seem to be pretty perceptive at times."
"At times, yeah," Ranma agreed. "But when I get, I dunno, angry? Jealous? I kinda lose that ability."
"And you're jealous? You're angry?" Natsumi cocked an eyebrow at him. He felt himself grow warm with anger and embarrassment... here was this girl, this youma general, asking incredibly personal things of him, of his feelings. Making assumptions, and poking her nose into his business. But then he forced himself to relax. It was her aura. For the moment, she seemed to exude a dark energy that had negative effects on people from time to time. It affected Ranma more often than anyone else in the dorm.
"Actually... a little. Seeing him... do that... to Hotaru-chan... it was a little scary."
"You know who he is."
"Yeah. His ki matches that baby-thing we fought at the hospital."
"Before my time," Natsumi sighed, taking up a position on a rock above the cold water spring, across from Ranma. "You know, he's only doing that to get at you."
"I know. It still hurts, though, that she's not able to withstand his influence."
"You felt it the day you found me."
Ranma nodded. "I felt it. I felt what he did to my insides, too. I've... never felt that as a woman before, that kind of... arousal, I guess would be the word."
"He exudes sex appeal like I exude... well, used to exude darkness and strength." Natsumi looked a little downcast. "I'm losing it all."
"Your power?" Ranma asked. Natsumi nodded. "Isn't that a good thing for you? You can go back to your old life. Try it all again."
"And I'll be bullied again," Natsumi snarled in reply, but Ranma noticed the slight glistening of her cheek as a tear escaped from her eye. "I don't want to be bullied anymore! I don't want to live in fear of people in my life! I want to -"
"Then join us in the mornings. Or me in the evenings. I'll train you in self defence."
Natsumi glared at him, as if daring Ranma to tell her the offer was a lie, something to hurt an enemy... a former enemy, she corrected herself. But no, his face remained composed, calm, relaxed. Eventually, she nodded. "What are you going to do about your girlfriend?"
Ranma shook his head. "There's not a lot I can do," he admitted. "If she falls for him... there's nothing I can do. It's not my business, that's one thing I've learned in life. Women do what women want. It's my place to stand on the sidelines and be used when needed and hide myself away, putting my life on hold, when not." Ranma sounded bitter as he threw the words out. Natsumi found herself floating over to him, placing a hand on his shoulder in support.
"The purple-haired one likes you too, you know," she said, softly.
"Mitsuki?"
"Yeah. That one. She's got the hots for you like you don't know. And Mars... phew! She's got more than an eye for you... she's got a hand with your name on it! You're well liked here. If little miss Saturn doesn't want to play, one of the others surely will."
Ranma glanced at her sideways. "How do you know who they are?"
"I've sensed their energy patterns in battle, remember? And these girls have the same patterns." Natsumi looked at Ranma askance. "You... haven't noticed, have you? That's not how you've been finding out... their disguise enchantment is too strong, even for you! Wow. I am impressed."
"What? What enchantment?" Ranma asked.
"Oh, it's not real magic, not like you know it, where everything's generated from the body's bio-energetic reserves... ki, you call it... this is technology that, even though it's ten thousand years old, is still a million years ahead of yours." Natsumi gestured with a hand. "You haven't noticed how alike the senshi look to the girls who live here? Wow."
"Well, most of the senshi live here, yeah," Ranma said. "But not Mercury and Sailor Moon. I don't know where they come from."
Natsumi stared disbelievingly at Ranma. "You really can't see it, can you? You've got to be told or shown... otherwise you can't see it. My god... that's bad. That's... well, that's powerful."
Ranma looked down into the spring, confused. "I... I don't know them. And if all bar two of the senshi live here, why are Usagi and Ami living here instead? Why..." Something occurred to Ranma. As it had several times, in matter of fact, but everytime he thought on the senshi's identities, the ones he didn't know kept sliding from his mind's eye. And once again, Sailor Moon and Mercury slipped from his memories, leaving only the knowledge they were at certain events, things they said, not how they looked. He shook his head to clear it - nothing cleared. "I... think I know what you mean. I've got to ask them next tmie I see them."
Natsumi sighed. "I'd tell you, but I think they'd kill me in return." She sighed again, looking up at the sky for a moment before looking back down at Ranma. "I... I think I will do what you said. Join you for training. I'll have no power soon... nothing that can save me from people. Nothing that can make me special again. I'll be Natsumi Otohime, younger sister of the narcoleptic weirdo. Oh, I can't wait."
The sarcasm could have killed rhinos in Africa.
"But before I'm completely useless," Natsumi said, leaning into Ranma's shoulder suddenly, her chin resting there as if it belonged, "I'm going to do one last thing with my powers. Ranma Saotome, I make you a new man!" She wrapped an arm around his neck, tilted his head back before he knew what was happening, and latched her lips onto his.
He made to struggle, but felt something enter his body: something electrical, sending shivers of newfound power throughout his body. His fingers crackled with static.
Then just when he thought he was going to explode, Natsumi pulled back, wiping at her mouth, a little confused. Ranma turned around so he could face her fully, and she tilted her head sideways a little in confusion. "You... you taste of Dar-"
Natsumi's eyes opened wide, and she toppled over on one side. Ranma leapt out of the water, hurried to catch her before her head could hit the concrete surrounding the cold water spring, and started to panic - what if she was dead?
But she wasn't. She was asleep. Sleeping normally. Not quite peacefully, but normally. Ranma nodded to himself. He noted that whatever she'd done to him, he couldn't feel it now. Perhaps it was something to re-energise his batteries, so to speak. But his ki levels felt the same as they had that morning. Then what hasd she done? That, Ranma didn't know.
He grabbed a towel, wrapped it around him and tied it between his breasts before picking up Natsumi and taking her to a futon in an unused room. There he lay her out, pulled a blanket up over her still form, and left, closing the door quietly behind him.
SAILOR MOON SAYS:
Gah. Writer's block. Anything worse? About the only good thing its done is let me work through some scenes from future chapters... which'll hopefully turn up in somewhat altered form, like the last scene in this chapter... there's one or two for the next few chapters as well. Bah.
Anyways, next time on Love: I have absolutely no idea at this time. Oh, wait, I do: Natsumi goes home (yay!), Ranma finds out a dastardly secret about Hotaru (boo!), and the rest of the senshi start working in cheap bars and bad porno flicks (um... lost here, help out? ^^;).
LOVE
By
Raymond Cooper
Chapter 5
** Homeward Bound **
Serenity stared up at the Blue Star above her. Well, technically, she knew now that depended on her own personal point of reference. Systemwise, the Blue Star was sideways-ish. Galaxywise... that started getting confusing. Serenity didn't care about that, though. Twelve years old now, and things hadn't been going too well for the last few years. Things on Earth had taken a dramatic turn, with the first human societies coming together from the small hunter-gatherer family groups that had existed prior and after the last ice age. These socities were small, tightly-grouped, and not really deserving of the term intelligent.
Yet they were developing. And fast, too. Fire had been conquered long, long ago, but now all in the groups knew how to make it. And tools were common. Wolves had stayed with humans during the ice ages for food purposes - they got fed if they assisted in the hunts - and so were settling in to new forms, new breeds, and new attitudes towards people. Horses, too, were being ridden by some peoples. Houses were being erected, and one tribe, Serenity had noted in her studies, were beginning to realise that certain types of food could be grown and harvested.
And while Serenity thought this was great, her mother and father found it to be an extremely tiring time.
The princess didn't know exactly what was going on - she wasn't privvy to every decision made by her parents, nor the intelligence they received - but one did hear things in a palace, and the princess' own intelligence network was rather well-equipped.
Beside her, the Senshi of Mercury played with an image of a mechanical bug on her computer's touchscreen. Serenity watched for a few moments, then, bored, returned to staring at the Earth above.
"You know," she said, in an off-handed manner, "Endymion's been made the Prince of Earth."
"Of course. The planet needs a protector and a voice in the Royal Chambers, Princess."
"Mercury, you can call me by my name, you know," Serenity scowled momentarily.
"I'll call you by your name, Princess, when you call me by mine." Serenity guessed Mercury had to know she didn't know any of their actual names. As was typical in protective services of the Moon Kingdom, being familiar with one's charge, or one's protector, led to problems.
And not usually the ones entertainments were made of, either.
And yet, Mercury found it both interesting and annoying that Serenity wanted to be friends with her, and the other Guardians of the Kingdom.
"Be that as it may, why him? He is my bethrothed!"
Mercury sighed, lowered her computer to her knees. "Princess, you are a princess. You must marry a prince. Therefore, Endymion must be a prince to be your bethrothed."
"But no one complained about that while we were children!"
"Time could be taken then to engineer things so he could be a prince. You do know about the time differential here, don't you?"
Serenity sighed, and rolled her eyes back. "Yes, yes, yes. We did this in class, you know." She closed her eyes, and recited from a textbook. "'Time in the Moon Kingdom passes on a different plane to that of the rest of the universe, as there is much to be protected and maintained and little time in which to do it in. The Time Gate on Pluto, finest engineering feat of the architect blah blah blah, maintains this precious balance so that time can be utilised more efficiently. This process is characterised in realspace by an increased flow of chronitons and blah blah.'"
"I can see why you failed your temporal mechanics tests, Princess."
"Who'd ever need to know how to field strip a temporal gate?" Serenity snorted. "Gimme the crown, the staff, and I'll do the job. It's only ceremony anyway."
Mercury tapped the monitor. "That's what you wanted to find out, remember? Where your parents have been lately?"
"You know, and you won't tell me," grumped Serenity.
"I don't know, and that's the only reason I agreed to do this." Mercury tapped the icon of the bug's braincase, and on the right side of the monitor, a small picture image opened. Scratchy sound issues from the device's speakers.
On the screen, Queen Serenity and her husband leaned over a round table, with an inlaid top, puzzling over icons that didn't make sense to the Princess. Mercury frowned, though, and started running a library function on the left side of the screen to confirm some nasty suspicions. Behind the King and Queen stood a pair of advisors, with Planet Mercury-constructed computers.
"- into the seventh sector, Highness."
The King looked troubled. "Hasn't Zoicite returned with the Martian fleets yet?"
"No. Planet Mercury s being evacuated. Dark Kingdom forces have invaded the lower levels of the Utopia University, and have disabled the coolant systems in environmental control. The Dean estimates the University will be lost in another three days, without reinforcements."
"What about the automated defence factories?" asked Serenity.
"Enemy bombardment from orbit has them in a repair cycle. They'll be online again in another two days."
"Where is Zoicite?" The King, again.
"Father seems to be concerned," the Princess remarked. "I wonder why?"
"I've been looking up those symbols they're looking at, Princess," Mercury said in a hushed tone. "Those are Dark Kingdom armies. And there seem to be more than the Moon Kingdom's on Mercury."
Serenity's head whipped around to stare at her bodyguard. "You mean, we're going to lose your homeworld to these people?"
"Perhaps, Princess, perhaps not." Mercury closed the connection with the bug, and stood. "Regardless, I feel I must contact
Serenity stood, also. "I am sorry, Mercury. I'll help you get back if I can."
Mercury nodded, and both turned to leave the observation gallery, but stopped short finding Sailor Saturn standing behind them, glaring at both. Behind her stood Serenity's tutor and personal guardian, Luna. The short woman fidgeted. "Princess. Please. Don't concern yourself with matters of state. You'll have to face them soon enough in your life."
Serenity looked as if she was going to say something, regardless of the dark look on Saturn's face that brooked no argument, but then glanced sideways at Mercury, remembered that she had an obligation to her friend, and said nothing. Contrite, both girls fled the room.
And once in the clear, Serenity helped Mercury to her personal courier.
As the ship lifted from the moon's surface, Serenity hoped that she would see the young Senshi again. She heard a footstep behind her - Saturn, she knew from the heavier tread and the click of the Silence Glaive on the ferrocrete flooring.
"Highness. If you lose any of us Guardians, things may go worse for your parents than they do now. don't risk any more of us in such a foolish gesture."
"Saturn, have you realised that sometimes, we have higher obligations than that of state or our own self-protection?" Serenity turned to face Saturn. "If I can't look to the wellbeing of my subjects now, what kind of Queen will I become?" And then she walked out of the pad area, leaving to her personal quarters.
******
Usagi woke again. Two dreams in as many nights. That had to be a good sign.
Downstairs, she could hear the morning training of the senshi who had decided to train. Ami had asked Usagi to partner up with her and join the others, but Usagi protested, she didn't want to get up early in the morning. Besides, she wasn't as clumsy now as she once was, which was always a good thing, especially when at the top of the inn's hillside stairs, and didn't want to find out just how much of that was good fakery and self-deception on her part.
She went into the kitchen, anyway, where she found Makoto, who'd left practise early to finish up with the breakfast preparations. Within moments, the front doors were thrown open, and a horde of ravenous teenage women rushed into the kitchen and began tearing into the food Makoto had prepared. Usagi grimaced at how awake everyone seemed to be, and got herself a glass of water. As she drank, she noted what Makoto had laid on the table for people to eat. And it was very nice food.
Which made Usagi wonder, why the rest of them weren't fed like that? Well, her and Ami, she meant. Hotaru, Makoto, Minako, Rei, Mitsuki and Ranma ate like kings, er, queens, in the morning, why shouldn't Usagi? But within moments, the others had finished bolting their food (looked like Ranma had trained them in a few more things than just plain normal martial arts) and rushed for quick dips in the hot springs.
Ranma, as usual, even though still in his female body, headed for the male springs, and in particular the cold water spring in that enclosure - Hotaru still thought it not a good idea for him to strain his body by transforming yet. Usagi just thought that Hotaru was getting some weird ideas from watching Ranma bounce around the house. Minako certainly was, that was for sure. But it was a sign that Hotaru was growing up - again - so that had to be something good.
They returned in short order, dressed for school and university, where each student attended. Hotaru fidgited uncomfortably as Ranma cast an enquiring eye across Hotaru's uniform, as if it reminded him of something, but shook the feeling of familiarity off, and bade her a good day, heading for the roof to carry out some more repairs on tiles.
Usagi reckoned by now the Ai Sou had to have the best repaired roof in all of Japan.
She herself hurried to ready herself for another day of boring lectures and tutorials, and one minor test in a history lesson. But she wanted to leave with Ami, and tell her about the latest dream of times long past. Why? Well, anything about the Moon Kingdom could be of use. They already knew it was Saturn who had destroyed the Kingdom - the ultimate protection of the Kingdom against the Dark Kingdom - but not quite the circumstances that led up to it. Nor did they know a lot about themselves in those previous lives. Any information could make a difference.
And with another Dark Kingdom incursion into the world underway, anything that could be remembered could be of extreme importance. History had shown things remembered were usually things that *had* to be remembered, for one reason or another.
They hurried down the stairs to the roadway, passing by Hotaru who was standing stock-still at the bottom. She seemed to be staring off into space for no particular reason, and Usagi saw no need to point out to the younger senshi that she would be late if she stood there much longer.
She didn't notice the man with the long blond hair across the road, all dressed in black.
But, as she hurried off down the street towards the train station, she did catch a whiff of roses in the air...
******
Hotaru couldn't believe her eyes. He was there, watching her. And smiling.
Why was he smiling?
Self-consciously, she checked without looking that her dress was smoothed down, her hair in place. Nothing showing that shouldn't be showing. Everything tucked in where it should be tucked. A quick peek proved she hadn't mixed pairs of socks up this morning (not like the morning she had Kuno running insanely through the school demanding everyone swap a sock because divine revelations had stated it must be so) so why was he staring?
Hotaru didn't know. She wasn't even sure she wanted to know why he was smiling. Why? Because that thought opened a door in her mind that would open other doors, doors she wanted to stay shut. She had her Prince now. Ranma... suited her. Someone who knew her inside and out, outward self and secret self, and yet still wasn't afraid of her power. Heck, he might not be able to match her in the power stakes, but he could overpower her through sheer skill. He was good for her, and she likewise wanted to be good for him. She wasn't going to look at this man, this man who'd saved her life, whom she now felt a deep debt of gratitude towards.
But she smelt the scent of roses, and her eyes and head moved of their own volition. She found herself staring into his eyes, and the sounds of the street around her tunneled into oblivion, quickly followed by her vision. All she could see was his eyes... staring... staring...
Something surged in her stomach. Not like a feeling of nausea, or bile rising up towards her throat, but a happier feeling, joy... like a million bubbles rising through her digestive system. This was a thousand times more powerful than what she felt for Ranma... this was completely physical, a yearning more like a yanking across the street.
She barely felt her feet move, and before she knew it, Hotaru was standing next to the blond-haired man. His eyes were casual, calm, yet piercing to the core of her soul. She fell into them, willingly... or so her mind told her.
Her heart told her otherwise.
Something about him didn't seem right. She'd never seen this man before the other day... why should he engender such a response in the core of her being? More to the point, how could he?
But rational thought left her body as his arm swept around the small of her back, and drew her closer to him. The real world seemed to tunnel further behind Hotaru as all she could sense now was the closeness of his body, the rose-tinted scent of him, the overpowering stare from his eyes.
She tried to push away, blushing, beginning a protest of innocence that she knew was a fake, and so he knew this as well - she could tell from the way one corner of his mouth turned up in a smirk.
"I... I have school," she protested, even more feebily.
"It can wait," the rose-scented Prince replied quietly. "We have business... you and I..."
"Business?" Hotaru breathed.
"Business," the man agreed, and leant in low, kissing Hotaru lightly on the lips. They were warm, moist, and sent shivers of electricity throughout Hotaru's body. She later swore she could remember small static charges leaping from the tips of her outstretched fingers - but she put that down to imagination in the heat of the moment.
Ranma never kissed her like this.
Ranma's hand never strayed below the bottom of her uniform's shirt like this Prince's hand was, either. It lingered on her backside for a moment, and Hotaru felt herself bending into it, pushing backwards into his hand lightly, and she thought 'Ranma hasn't done this to me, either'.
Then the sounds and sights from around her started tunneling back into focus, like someone was speeding up a slowed down record. Hotaru blinked as the man pulled back slightly from her. "And now... I must go. I am still new, and there are things I must see. I know you will understand." He gave a slight bow from the waist, the light smirk not leaving his face, although his eyes stayed rooted on Hotaru's. "Until we meet again, Hotaru Tomoe."
And then he was gone, heading up the street, just walking slowly, yet covering incredible ground, ducking and weaving in and out of pedestrian traffic without seeming to move from side to side at all.
Hotaru's head spun. What had just happened? How had it just happened? She didn't know. She wasn't sure she wanted to know. She could still feel his hand on her backside... could still remember pressing deeper into it... wanting his hand to clutch her tightly...
Yet, she didn't want to. She didn't want to be feeling like this. It shouldn't be like this, not something she felt bad about, dirty, used. What had he done to her? What was going on in her head? Why hadn't she tried to push him away when he grabbed her around the back... or in other places? She was happy with Ranma, wasn't she? How was he going to take this? God, did this mean she wasn't as attracted to him as she thought?
Hotaru hurried to school, head in a whirl, trying to forget that warm, dreamy kiss, and failing miserably.
******
At the top of the stairs, Ranma watched, a frown on his face. His arms were folded under the breasts of his female body, and his training gi had some slight sweat stains from the morning's session. He'd been about to try to catch up to Hotaru, and had stopped short at the top of the stairs, seeing that strange man again down below with his arm around Hotaru's waist, kissing her urgently.
When his hand dropped below her belt, so to speak, Ranma's face grew hot. Angry, he was almost about to descend the stairs, and knock said stranger into next week... but he could still feel the power from this one. Something strange, something bad... something that said don't mess with me, son.
Ranma didn't want to mess with him. Not yet. He'd seen some of the youma the senshi fought, and the weakest were maybe as strong as Kuno... perhaps Ryoga. The sense of power from this person was multiple orders of magnitude higher than those. Ranma knew he had a lot of work to do before he could even hope to break even in a match-up with these monsters.
The last he'd faced had left him near-dead, and he was stuck in his female body until he had enough reserves to use his curse to change back without possibly suffering even worse side effects due to the near complete loss of energy. It had been a few weeks now, and he should be able to change in the next few days. Ranma hoped. He had to start some serious endurance training to be able to keep giving the energy output necessary to keep up with the senshi and youma.
That still didn't solve this short-term problem, though. He knew Hotaru had to stay away from the blond-haired man... but if she felt anything for him... how could he say no to her? Did his own feelings count?
No.
They didn't.
He'd been through this often enough in Nerima. Akane and the others, had they found anyone new to interest them, Ranma was expected to be happy to be relegated to the background, happy to have someone else walk in and trample over his love life - although at the same time, Akane and the others would expect Ranma to love - heck, even like - only them and look at no one else.
Ranma was used to being put in the closet.
But, perhaps this time, he shouldn't be put away until Hotaru was ready to play with him again.
Oh, what the heck, he decided, letting a clenched fist he hadn't realised he'd shut open... I've broken up with girls before.
Ranma turned, and headed for the springs to cool off and clean up.
******
"You know, it's not your fault," a voice said above him as he soaked. Ranma looked up, seemingly relaxed, but in truth, prepared to strike if the voice's owner was going to attack him. Natsumi floated down from the rooftop, where she'd taken a shine to observing the morning training sessions.
"What's not my fault?"
"That he's attracting her eye." Natsumi shrugged. "I thought you'd have known that. You seem to be pretty perceptive at times."
"At times, yeah," Ranma agreed. "But when I get, I dunno, angry? Jealous? I kinda lose that ability."
"And you're jealous? You're angry?" Natsumi cocked an eyebrow at him. He felt himself grow warm with anger and embarrassment... here was this girl, this youma general, asking incredibly personal things of him, of his feelings. Making assumptions, and poking her nose into his business. But then he forced himself to relax. It was her aura. For the moment, she seemed to exude a dark energy that had negative effects on people from time to time. It affected Ranma more often than anyone else in the dorm.
"Actually... a little. Seeing him... do that... to Hotaru-chan... it was a little scary."
"You know who he is."
"Yeah. His ki matches that baby-thing we fought at the hospital."
"Before my time," Natsumi sighed, taking up a position on a rock above the cold water spring, across from Ranma. "You know, he's only doing that to get at you."
"I know. It still hurts, though, that she's not able to withstand his influence."
"You felt it the day you found me."
Ranma nodded. "I felt it. I felt what he did to my insides, too. I've... never felt that as a woman before, that kind of... arousal, I guess would be the word."
"He exudes sex appeal like I exude... well, used to exude darkness and strength." Natsumi looked a little downcast. "I'm losing it all."
"Your power?" Ranma asked. Natsumi nodded. "Isn't that a good thing for you? You can go back to your old life. Try it all again."
"And I'll be bullied again," Natsumi snarled in reply, but Ranma noticed the slight glistening of her cheek as a tear escaped from her eye. "I don't want to be bullied anymore! I don't want to live in fear of people in my life! I want to -"
"Then join us in the mornings. Or me in the evenings. I'll train you in self defence."
Natsumi glared at him, as if daring Ranma to tell her the offer was a lie, something to hurt an enemy... a former enemy, she corrected herself. But no, his face remained composed, calm, relaxed. Eventually, she nodded. "What are you going to do about your girlfriend?"
Ranma shook his head. "There's not a lot I can do," he admitted. "If she falls for him... there's nothing I can do. It's not my business, that's one thing I've learned in life. Women do what women want. It's my place to stand on the sidelines and be used when needed and hide myself away, putting my life on hold, when not." Ranma sounded bitter as he threw the words out. Natsumi found herself floating over to him, placing a hand on his shoulder in support.
"The purple-haired one likes you too, you know," she said, softly.
"Mitsuki?"
"Yeah. That one. She's got the hots for you like you don't know. And Mars... phew! She's got more than an eye for you... she's got a hand with your name on it! You're well liked here. If little miss Saturn doesn't want to play, one of the others surely will."
Ranma glanced at her sideways. "How do you know who they are?"
"I've sensed their energy patterns in battle, remember? And these girls have the same patterns." Natsumi looked at Ranma askance. "You... haven't noticed, have you? That's not how you've been finding out... their disguise enchantment is too strong, even for you! Wow. I am impressed."
"What? What enchantment?" Ranma asked.
"Oh, it's not real magic, not like you know it, where everything's generated from the body's bio-energetic reserves... ki, you call it... this is technology that, even though it's ten thousand years old, is still a million years ahead of yours." Natsumi gestured with a hand. "You haven't noticed how alike the senshi look to the girls who live here? Wow."
"Well, most of the senshi live here, yeah," Ranma said. "But not Mercury and Sailor Moon. I don't know where they come from."
Natsumi stared disbelievingly at Ranma. "You really can't see it, can you? You've got to be told or shown... otherwise you can't see it. My god... that's bad. That's... well, that's powerful."
Ranma looked down into the spring, confused. "I... I don't know them. And if all bar two of the senshi live here, why are Usagi and Ami living here instead? Why..." Something occurred to Ranma. As it had several times, in matter of fact, but everytime he thought on the senshi's identities, the ones he didn't know kept sliding from his mind's eye. And once again, Sailor Moon and Mercury slipped from his memories, leaving only the knowledge they were at certain events, things they said, not how they looked. He shook his head to clear it - nothing cleared. "I... think I know what you mean. I've got to ask them next tmie I see them."
Natsumi sighed. "I'd tell you, but I think they'd kill me in return." She sighed again, looking up at the sky for a moment before looking back down at Ranma. "I... I think I will do what you said. Join you for training. I'll have no power soon... nothing that can save me from people. Nothing that can make me special again. I'll be Natsumi Otohime, younger sister of the narcoleptic weirdo. Oh, I can't wait."
The sarcasm could have killed rhinos in Africa.
"But before I'm completely useless," Natsumi said, leaning into Ranma's shoulder suddenly, her chin resting there as if it belonged, "I'm going to do one last thing with my powers. Ranma Saotome, I make you a new man!" She wrapped an arm around his neck, tilted his head back before he knew what was happening, and latched her lips onto his.
He made to struggle, but felt something enter his body: something electrical, sending shivers of newfound power throughout his body. His fingers crackled with static.
Then just when he thought he was going to explode, Natsumi pulled back, wiping at her mouth, a little confused. Ranma turned around so he could face her fully, and she tilted her head sideways a little in confusion. "You... you taste of Dar-"
Natsumi's eyes opened wide, and she toppled over on one side. Ranma leapt out of the water, hurried to catch her before her head could hit the concrete surrounding the cold water spring, and started to panic - what if she was dead?
But she wasn't. She was asleep. Sleeping normally. Not quite peacefully, but normally. Ranma nodded to himself. He noted that whatever she'd done to him, he couldn't feel it now. Perhaps it was something to re-energise his batteries, so to speak. But his ki levels felt the same as they had that morning. Then what hasd she done? That, Ranma didn't know.
He grabbed a towel, wrapped it around him and tied it between his breasts before picking up Natsumi and taking her to a futon in an unused room. There he lay her out, pulled a blanket up over her still form, and left, closing the door quietly behind him.
SAILOR MOON SAYS:
Gah. Writer's block. Anything worse? About the only good thing its done is let me work through some scenes from future chapters... which'll hopefully turn up in somewhat altered form, like the last scene in this chapter... there's one or two for the next few chapters as well. Bah.
Anyways, next time on Love: I have absolutely no idea at this time. Oh, wait, I do: Natsumi goes home (yay!), Ranma finds out a dastardly secret about Hotaru (boo!), and the rest of the senshi start working in cheap bars and bad porno flicks (um... lost here, help out? ^^;).