The Reborn
Chapter 5
Mistakes of Perception
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Pluto and Chibi-Moon appeared in the living room of the home of Ranma Meioh. "Ranma, Nabiki," screamed Pluto, detransforming into Setsuna, "get your asses out here now!"
Nabiki entered, still in her Sailor Nemesis form. "Setsuna, to what do we owe the pleasure?"
"You know damn well to what you owe the pleasure!" spat out the Guardian of Time. "You just as much as told the Senshi that I've been hiding you."
"Yeah!" exclaimed Usa, now back in her civilian form.
Nabiki chuckled. "Dears, I do believe you have other things to worry about."
"Such as?"
"Me."
The two girls turned around at the sound of the high voice, to see a redheaded female in a standard Senshi fuku staring at them. Setsuna could barely speak. "R...R...Ranma?"
The redheaded female nodded, dropping her disguise and resuming her civilian appearance; the former sun token around her neck that allowed her to take on the form of Solaris Knight now in the form of a henshin pen with the symbol of Sol on it. "Did you know that the magic of Jusenkyo trumps Moon Kingdom magic? Because I sure as hell didn't." Seeing them continue to stare, Ranma continued. "Any idea why my damn fuku is standard, while Nabiki's isn't?"
Setsuna shook her head. "The original form was meant for a male. As such, no alterations were ever made for the form should a female wield the power."
"Great, caught by some scientist's short-sightedness. The baka probably figured the power would go to any male heirs I had."
Before the two women could try and speak, Nabiki decided to break into the conversation again. "This is all quite moot since the Senshi will discover those facts shortly."
"How," asked Setsuna, "since the only two people who can tell them aside from yourselves, are right here?"
Circes spoke up. "So, should I assume my niece will remain hidden then?"
"Shit!" said Small Lady. "Diana will rat you guys out for some tuna!"
Setsuna quickly transformed again, before teleporting.
Usa fidgeted a bit. "Can I stay here for the night, Auntie Nabiki?"
Ranma nodded; still not certain how she might have reacted to being called Auntie herself, but not wanting to invite such a title. "Fine with me Nabiki; just as long as she gets permission."
Nabiki nodded. "Go with a name that'll pass their curiosity. Just remember you do have to go home tomorrow."
The pink haired girl nodded before running up the stairs.
Ranma just sighed, before collapsing into a chair. "You think I could at least maintain my birth gender in Senshi form."
Nabiki sat beside her girlfriend, enveloping her in a hug. "It's not all bad, Ranma."
"I know," she said. "Not like I didn't expect the curse to return. I mean, we've known about it for a long time. But still... How long before I change in front of the others, or worse, how long before people notice Sailor Sol becoming Solaris Knight, or vice versa?"
Nabiki nodded. "Well, we'll just have to ask Setsuna or Usa if we can use Instant Water on you. If we can, then we can use Instant Drowned Twin, and be a fighting trio."
She giggled. "Yeah, we can ask. Just as long as it doesn't get locked or made permanent."
Seeing that Ranma's feelings had taken a turn for the positive, she dragged Ranma to a standing position. "Now come on, we need to get a bath before bed, and I'd rather have that done before Setsuna arrives back. You just know she'll need to spend the night as well."
Ranma nodded, following Nabiki, and not catching the naughty gleam her fiancée was sporting.
After all, Nabiki had waited over a decade for this as well.
The Senshi had made camp at the Cherry Hill Shrine, as Rei's grandfather was currently out of town.
First, the Inners had teleported to Usagi's home, finding only the moon cats, including Diana. When the Outers reported that Setsuna was not at their home, they teleported to the Shrine and began to interrogate the moon advisor from the future.
They knew Diana would be hard to break. So they softened her up. They gave her Grade A cream, followed by spiking it with catnip.
The advisor, now in a drugged state that mirrored inebriation, spilled her guts to any questions asked.
"You know," slurred the pink moon cat, "you guys keep trying to steal Solaris Knight from Nemesis. I can't tell you how many times they had to rebuild some wings of the Crystal Palace because of some of those stunts."
The girls, including Mamoru and the two embarrassed parents of said moon cat who were currently tied up on the floor stared in awe.
Makoto blinked. "We hit on a married man?"
Diana nodded, nearly falling off the table. "Yep. Ami tried and we lost the South Lawn, and Hotaru tried, and we lost the Upper Terraces. Usagi tried, and we lost—"
"Hold it!" screamed Mamoru. "My daughter tried to steal him from Nemesis?"
Ami shook her head. She had been hoping they could get some information on the newest Senshi, not learn palace gossip or the fact that they would all become slightly imbalanced and start chasing after an obviously taken man from a dangerous woman who had no issues with collateral damage.
Diana tried to focus on Mamoru. "Who said I was talking about Small Lady?"
The girls immediately turned to face Usagi. "What?"
"Usako, how could you?" asked Mamoru.
"Damn it, Meatball-head, why are you going after him when you got Mamoru!"
"Yeah," called out Minako. "Leave the hunting to us!"
Haruka and Michiru could only shake their heads. "You guys, I thought we were trying to learn who Nemesis and Solaris were."
"And then there was Haruka that cost us the docks."
Michiru's eyes widened, before slowly squinting at her life-mate. "Oh, really?"
Before Haruka could deny anything she might have done in the future, Pluto quickly teleported in, grabbed the cat, and left.
"WAH! Now we'll never know who they were!"
Ami sighed. "If we had simply asked that instead of was he single and who was after him, none of this would have happened."
Hotaru snorted. "Oh be quiet, Ms. South Lawn."
Within a place concealed in shadows, a creature of immense darkness drummed his fingers on the armrest of his throne. "So, the Shadow Assassins failed me, Dragns."
"Yes, my Lord," said the Shadow General in a bow of submission.
The Dark Shadow Lord chuckled. "Well, it looks like these fools might provide some amusement." He stood from his throne. "Prepare and train Gedz. I want him sent next."
"Yes, Lord Shade. Anything else?"
"No," said the now named Lord Shade. "I shall consult with Lady Gloom, and see what she may desire."
As the lord left, General Dragns stood; a smile on his face. "Well, let's see if those fools can deal with what is coming."
His laugh echoed off the empty chamber.
Ranma slowly rose from the bed, stretching her stiff muscles, before looking at the still sleeping form of her fiancée. While what they had done last night was...weird...as far as Ranma was concerned, she was glad that Nabiki could at least accept this part of her.
That had always been a fear Ranma had had since she was first cursed over a decade ago; that not one person would ever accept the Jusenkyo curse, that the only ones who could would demand the curse be locked.
Even growing up with Nabiki this time, the fear still remained, even as they grew closer in ways they never could as Ranma Saotome or Nabiki Tendo.
Last night had shattered that fear, though, even if it had lessened after the night with the drunken Outers. Nabiki had accepted and proved that she would love Ranma no less in her female form than in her male form.
Standing there, she enjoyed the sight of Nabiki still entwined within the sheets. We've come so far, but will the chaos actually allow us this happiness anymore, or will the sex-changing magic girl/guy bring back long buried ghosts?
As she left the room to prepare to bath, she passed the tired-looking forms of Usa and Setsuna, as well as the hung-over moon cat. "What's with you guys?"
The trio just stared daggers at Ranma, before passing, muttering about lack of sound proofing and something being loud and high enough to be able to break glass.
Ranma shrugged, before heading to one of the baths, preparing for her day, and hoping she could keep this secret from others until she was ready to tell.
The two walked to school, hand in hand, enjoying the walk as they had always done. Usa and Setsuna, as well as a hung-over Diana, had teleported back to their respective homes, when it was safe to assume and truthfully known that none of the other Senshi could question or interrogate them.
On the bright side, they had all enjoyed a good laugh when they learned not only what Diana had told, but that the future Pluto had programmed Diana to say those things if she was questioned by the Senshi before Ranma and Nabiki chose to reveal themselves.
Who knew the Senshi of Time; one often referred to as an Ice Queen in her own league, would pull such a prank?
As things stood, their secret was safe for the moment.
Not that Ranma and Nabiki had a problem with the possibility that their secrets might slip out. None of the other Senshi would suspect that the two friends of all were actually the newest members of the team. This was mainly due to the duo not making their presence widely known.
They suppressed their powers when enemies were abounding, so as not to be picked up.
Using the Umisenken, Nabiki had...borrowed...Ami's Mercury Computer, and programmed it to ignore their signatures.
Practice events with their powers were done in training halls off-world; so as to not attract any attention was done as well. Usually, they used the training rooms in Castle Pluto, as their own palaces were not scheduled for creation until after they assumed their Senshi roles.
Of course, that now meant Ranma would be spending more time training as Sailor Sol, as simply because he was advanced in one form did not mean he was advanced in his other form. Already he was slightly fearful that Sailor Sol would be an easier target than Usagi at school during a science test. The only fortunate effect was that they were already caught up on most of the homework for the remainder of the semester—a helpful forewarning from their local Guardian of Time. After school, assuming none of the other Senshi needed them, they were heading to train as Nemesis and Sailor Sol.
But that also brought up an interesting point by their own Lunar Advisors: when were they going to tell the other Senshi who they were?
It in itself was an edged weapon. If they admitted everything, would the other Senshi accept that they had in effect been manipulated from the very start? Tell them too little, and how long would it be before something slipped out, and a bigger incident occurred?
"Thinking hard thoughts, Ranma?" asked the green haired girl walking with her hand in his.
He nodded. "Secrets are growing, and I'm wondering how much longer before they blow up?"
She stopped him, her hand rising to cradle his cheek. "All has happened as best as possible, and doubting things now will not help."
Chuckling, he looked into her eyes. "You think that'll be a comfort to Haruka and Michiru?"
She smiled a smile that often brought forth memories of happier times in other lives—times both had wished they could have had as a Saotome and Tendo. "Doesn't matter. We know we did the right thing, and our consciousnesses are clear. In the end, we prepared for when we were needed, helped as best as we could without tipping our hands."
He nodded in agreement as they resumed walking, his mind still coming to grips that he was actually saying the things coming out of his mouth, things no one would have believed possible for Ranma Saotome, but were common place items in the vocabulary of Ranma Meioh—a name that the Senshi had only given a cursorily glance to, taking Setsuna's word that in her rebirth, he was at best a minor cousin. Had they delved deeper into the records, they would have found out that Setsuna had also been the name of the woman who had adopted him, as well as the woman's description matching Setsuna.
Hell, Dr. Mizuno hardly ever put up a fight if Nabiki spent the night there. Of course, even Ranma had no clue exactly what excuse she was using to do it.
Shaking his head, he put a smile back on his face. After all, today could still turn out great.
"This day sucks!" said Sailor Sol.
Several Shadow Assassins had struck the school for some reason, and while Ranma and Nabiki had snuck off to change, a busted pipe from a water fountain turned him to a her. As such, the redheaded Senshi was with her green haired counterpart.
Of course, not only did Ranma feel out of place since Nabiki's outfit was so much better than her own, but she would have to fight the monsters, save the Senshi and the civilians, and try and keep strange perverts—including a certain Senshi of Uranus—from peeking up said skirt.
What more, her former twin katanas she had as a Knight changed into a longer katana and a shield. Luckily, the shield had blades built into it, which changed it into a Frisbee of Death when the times called for it.
As such, they were able to quickly dispose of the monsters, with Sailor Sol going hand-to-...claw with the shadows while Nemesis picked them off with a ranged attack. Which was good, because Sol really didn't trust her ability to throw her shield as a weapon without...shortening...a few of the students by a head or so.
As Makoto and Haruka discussed the styles and attacks used by the newest Senshi, Michiru and Minako tried to have a conversation about who the new Senshi might be.
This was helped of course, but the white moon cat who had spent the entire day stuffed into a backpack with Minako's smelly gym clothes.
"I'LL TALK! I'LL TALK!"
The four had been all that could get together today to talk. Rei had some ceremony at her shrine her grandfather insisted she attend, Usagi had a dental appointment, Ami had a club she had to attend, and Hotaru was going to try and get Usa to spill the beans.
"So?" asked Makoto, finally stopping her discussion with Haruka about how Sailor Sol had literally diced the Shadow Attacker in less than half a second.
Artemis sighed. "I remember a little about two warriors who were chosen to receive mantels just as Princess Serenity was supposed to. But like her, they died before they could receive them."
"Why weren't they awakened earlier?" asked Michiru. "We could have used their help dozens of times."
The moon cat shrugged. "You'd have to ask Pluto. I think they were meant to ensure that Serenity stayed alive. Other than that, I have no clue."
"But we have an extra new Senshi, and the male doesn't even resemble what Mamoru wears." Haruka was hoping it was the male who was the fake. Sol was...perfect...to be a Senshi.
Of course, her standards were more along the lines of "Can she kick ass?" and "What are her measurements?"
"Sorry," said Artemis, "but my memories are still fragmented about that time. Besides, what Nemesis wears doesn't exactly match your outfits, either."
"We need to get Setsuna nailed down and have her tell us who they are," said Makoto, slamming her fist into the palm of her hand. "I'm tired of new Senshi showing up and her deciding we need to stay in the dark about it."
The others were about to comment in agreement—despite the fact that two of them fell into that category—when they encountered a sight they most certainly did not expect to see.
On a bench not more than a few dozen meters before them, sat their mutual friend; Nabiki Mizuno, with a petite redhead in her lap, and her tongue buried in her mouth.
Minako whispered in awe. "She's playing both sides of the Great Wall."
Haruka was a little disappointed that Minako had said something so benign, when she had been hoping for something she could have poked fun at. She had a great joke lined up for when Minako would ever butcher the "bird in the hand" saying.
All four girls did realize one thing. This morning, they had seen the happy couple of Ranma and Nabiki kissing before school.
Now, after school, Nabiki was kissing this redheaded girl.
Now, while all four people had different images in mind, they had no idea they were in fact the same person. I can't believe Nabiki's cheating on them. Looks like we'll have to tell them and...comfort...them.