Chapter 1 - Battle Lines

The Senshi all looked up at the sound of the sliding door to the temple slamming open. In stalked an enraged Mamoru Chiba.

He ignored Usagi for once and headed straight for Setsuna, hauling her up by the collar with one hand. "Why did you do this to me?" He hissed.

Setsuna looked faintly shocked, and that fact didn't fail to register with the other Senshi. "Do what?" Her tone was fairly quiet.

"THIS!"

He shoved a piece of paper in her face, and dropped her, turning away. Setsuna read the paper quickly while the assembled girls looked at each other in question. Setsuna's face turned white when she was done reading.

"Excuse me. I must check something." She was gone the next instant.

There was a long silence as the girls looked at him, then each other, then finally all heads except Mamoru's turned towards Usagi, who shrugged.

Usagi walked over to where the man she was destined to marry was pacing. When she was close, he waved his fist at the ceiling and belowed, "Setsuna, I'll hunt you to the ends of the earth!"

Usagi cringed back, but gathered her nerve, and tenatively asked, "Mamoru, what's wrong?"

He growled without turning around. "Aparently I've just been engaged to you."

Usagi's heart broke. "You… don't want to get married?" She sniffled.

Mamoru spun around at the sound, panic in is voice. "No, no. Usako, that's not the problem!"

Her sniffling abated a bit. "But you said…"

"I didn't mean you 'you', Usako."

Her sniffling stopped, and was replaced with confusion. "But what else could you mean?"

Mamoru braced himself. "I meant you, 'all of you'."

The was a syncronized group blink, as their audience took that in, not expecting to be sucked into the soap opera that was Mamoru and Usagi's relationship.

Ami was the first to understand. "You mean you're engaged to every one of us?"

Mamoru nodded miserably.

"WHAT!"

The girls all started talking at once. Finally, Usagi screwed up the nerve to ask, "Mamoru, dear, are you drunk?"

Mamoru shook his head. "No, but it's a thought."

Haruka squeezed her eyes shut. "Okay, how did it happen? I asume you have evidence?"

Mamoru nodded. "Yeah. It all started with a guy named Ranma Saotome."

---

Ami lay in her bed that night, still awake as her mother walked in from her late shift.

Mamoru's, Ranma's, story seemed unbelievable, but who was she to say anything? Besides, there were too many details, some she knew to be true, for it to be false.

So… she was engaged to Usagi's boyfriend…

She knew she shouldn't even dare think of him that way, but she kept picturing them side by side as doctors.

And for the short term, he'd be interning with her uncle, where she would be working as a receptionist.

A friendship, common interest, and constant close contact could easily lead to more.

It was only logical that she would attract his interest.

Not that she would do anything like that.

But it was logical…

---

Rei smiled dreamily as she lay back on her bed.

Even if she'd given him to Usagi so long ago, what could have been haunted her thoughts and memories.

Rei clenched a fist above her face. She'd show that meatball head who was the better woman.

---

Makoto smiled to herself.

Mamoru was actually, by all acounts, a martial artist of legendary proportions. She'd have to challenge him to a match soon.

She knew she wouldn't be up to his level, but that would just mean she'd need to ask for lessons.

She'd a better martial artist in no time, with a person like him teaching her.

A person like him. Tall, taller than her, blue eyed, well muscled, their sweaty bodies grappling in the center of the dojo…

Oh, if only he wasn't destined to be with Usagi.

Makoto shook off that thought and moved on to more pleasant ones. Her fiance, the dojo, her cooking…

She giggled as she drifted off to sleep.

---

Minako nodded resolutley into her mirror.

She'd always thought Mamoru was easy on the eyes, but a little cold. But as he'd loosened up while telling his story, she'd seen sparks of warmth and misceviousness in his eyes.

Signs of a fun person just waiting to be led out of the closet by the right girl.

Someone like herself.

She cackled as she got into bed. Hearing the sound, Artemis shot under the bed and preyed his charge wasn't about to kill someone.

---

Hotaru frowned to herself.

She had indulged for a bit in fantasies of Mamoru leaping to her defense like he did to Usagi's, but eventually resigned herself to the facts.

He was too old for her.

But, a voice in the back of her mind spoke, the voice of her Silver Millenium experiences said, surely such a thing would be trivial after not too much longer. Weren't thay going to be alive… forever, almost?

And, she knew, Saturns were traditionally very lonley because everyone feared their power.

Hotaru's hardened. She had a chance for love, she needed to take it. After all, all was fair in love and war.

She would do whatever it took. She would not be alone for the rest of forever.

---

Haruka and Michuru slept peacfull in each other's arms. They'd agreed. Mamoru, not matter how nice, was a man after all.

Of course, they'd jokingly said they'd have considered it if he'd still had the curse.

And they both dreamed of big chested red-heads.

---

Setsuna wasn't sure where the engagements had come from. After checking, though, she'd understood.

Ranma was, by his very nature, chaos incarnate. A nature that had been supressed while he was Mamoru.

But chaos could never be contained forever, she understood this. Checking the future, she saw what she expected. Crysal Tokyo, many of them, in fact, separated by tiny differences.

On a whim, she looked into one. What she found shocked her, so she looked at another one.

And another.

And another.

And so on. When she was done she sat back and considered what she'd seen.

Aparently Mamoru was now the key to Crystal Tokyo. Why, she wasn't sure, but that was the nature of chaos. Whatever senshi he married became the new queen.

So why not her?

Why indeed. She had been lonely over the past few millenia after all.

---

Usagi viewed this new changed to her beloved with a certain amount of distaste.

Not that she found it unattractive. Far from it, but that was the problem. Now he was too attractive. She'd have to beat the other girls off him with a stick.

She went to bed still disturbed over this, and woke up gasping. She'd had a dream. In it, Mamoru and her future had faded out to the ringing of feminine laughter. She was't Rei, but she knew what it meant.

One or more of her 'loyal' senshi were plotting to steal her boyfr-fiance. She let out an unlady like growl, and summoned her scepter with a simple act of will.

Good enough for a stick, but maybe she'd borrow the shotgun Daddy always polished when Mamoru was mentioned, too. It wasn't good to use her Sailor Mon stuff in public untransformed.

She would defend what was hers.

---

Ranma, Mamoru, whatever, got little sleep that night.

When he finally did sleep though, he was huddled in the back corner of his closet, covered with old laundry.

Why, he couldn't say. He'd just had an instinctive, overpowering, urge to hide.

---

When Nabiki's message came, Shampoo had understood immediately. Ranma had finally thrown off her Great-Grandmother's techniques.

The process was usually called soul-death, as the victims usually never recovered. She should have known Ranma would, though.

So now another amazon, even if only a distant cousin, was getting a shot at the greatest male in history.

Shampoo smiled, careful not to get to close to the sides of the ship, lest she activate her curse.

She'd reach the mainland in a few days to support the young amazon, just as Great Grandmother had done for her.

---

Ranma knocked on the apartment door. He'd been dreading it all week, but knew it had to be done.

"WAH! My manly son has returned home!"

Visiting Mom.

-CRACK!-

Playing a round of 'Beat the Panda' was fun though. The Panda held up a feeble paw with a sign on it. #You're getting sloppy boy!#

Ranma snorted. "I went to China and beat Herb and Saffron in under a week! That was last month. You're old, pop."

But, alas, the Panda was out cold, and could not hear him. His mother hugged him. "I heard from Nabiki you're engaged again! To nine women, no less!" She smiled a saintly, and even sane smile, so Ranma started getting worried. "When can I expect grandchildren?"

That got the Panda up. #Boy! You will marry Aka-I mean Ami!# How the old man could write signs in the same way a person would talk, Ranma would never know.

He didn't care either. He was just hoping Chibi-usa didn't drop by for a visit any time soon.

Aw, who am I kidding. With my luck she'll just knock on he door and introduce herself, looking for me.

There was a sudden knock on the door.

Ranma remained sitting on the couch like a rock. Internally, he held his face in his hands and wept. He had saved the world how many times now, and this was how it repaid him?

---

Sailor Moon dusted the youma with unusual competency and intensity.

She had to, she knew. She had to beat the youma quickly so that there was no need for Mamoru to come and save her. Or any of the other girls who 'accidentally' got into trouble. . They were plotting against her, all of them.

Even Ami. Ami, she knew would try to pit them against each other. Mouse shy, Ami wouldn't get her own hands dirty.

Or Rei. Rei would wear something skimpy. Scandalously skimpy. And coming from a girl who fought grabby tentacle monsters in a sailor fuku, scandalously skimpy would cover precious little indeed.

Any of the others. Any of them. Even Haruka and Michuru. Lesbians, bah! Obviously just trying to lull her into a false sense of security.

She shifted her eyes around. Every one of them was watching her. Waiting for her guard to be down.

Then bam!

Down she goes, and the perpetrators would dispose of each other and proceed to 'comfort' her prince.

Not on her watch.

If she wanted to keep the man of her dreams, she had to keep him out of the hands of the scantily clad whores in front of her. It meant she had to watch her back at all times.

The attack would come. She would give them the benefit of the doubt, as a princess should, but when the attack came, as she knew it would, she would be ready, and finish the job.

Usagi would be victorious.

The hunk would remain hers.

Glaring suspiciously at the other girls, Sailor Moon jumped into the night looking around every so often to make sure no one was sneaking up on her.

Upon reaching her roof, she realized something else. She'd left his apartment undefended! Now that the battle was over with no sight of him, surely one of the sailor suited bimbos would pounce on him in his apartment!

Usagi sped off in another direction.

---

Ranma got out of the apartment with a relieved sigh. He'd gotten out of there with his skin intact. Fortunately, the knock on the door had simply been ill-timed take out.

His mother had been fine with him moving into her old house, which she hadn't had the heart to either set foot into or get rid of, as it held his room from when he was a baby. He hadn't even had to broach the topic. She'd insisted he move in, saying he'd need the space to keep his wife, his mistresses and all of the grandchildren.

Ranma had just wanted a piece of his past back, and maybe to cut down on a few bills. This was a bit scary, but frankly, he'd expected no less. Now he could just go back to the apartment, and start moving in the morning.

But he really did need sleep after the day he'd had, especially after the previous night.

Reaching his apartment, he placed the key in the lock, when the door seemed to fly into his face, coming off its hinges and speeding backward. Years of martial arts training failed him, for while he did manage to dodge the door, he missed the human missile flying towards him.

Slamming to the ground he tried to get a better look at his assailant, only to bury his head in soft cleavage.

Oh god no.

"BITCH!"

The girl was smashed off him by an angry Serena, who held her scepter over one shoulder, having just completed a golf swing. Glancing down the hall, he saw Rei imbedded in the wall.

Usagi looked down at him. "Are you alright, Mamoru?"

He nodded uncertainly, not sure whether her wrath would be aimed at him next or not.

Usagi smiled sweetly. "Good. Stay here, while I… take care of this."

Ranma saw the malevolent gleam in her eye and fought an urge to whimper. He was certain he had not seen the last of this, even for the night. He was, unfortunately, correct. An arm started dragging his stunned form into his apart.

"Come, Mamoru, you really should lie down and rest after something like that."

Even Ami?

---

Sailor Moon staggered into her room. From what she'd been able to gather, Sailor Mercury had dragged Mamoru into the apartment, only to be frozen by some sort of chopstick attack from Venus. Moon had managed to savagely club Minako from behind, but by then Rei was up again, laughing hideously. She wasn't sure how or when Jupiter had arrived, but by then they were throwing magical attacks at each other. Somewhere in the middle of that mess, Mamoru had simply up and vanished, and most of his things were discovered missing from the apartment.

And then Mars had launched one last attack at her out of spite, Usagi had dodged, and the end result was that with Ami being paralysed, and Michuru being absent, the apartment building burnt to the ground.

Usagi still wondered where her man was when she changed back and got into bed. She was almost asleep when it hit her.

Setsuna! The time guardian had extracted her fiancé and most of his things with time stopped!

She growled. Setsuna would pay.

---

Ranma dropped out of the Umisenken and took his things out of weapon space to put in the house before collapsing on the couch. It would do for now.

He would, he realized, have to use the Umisenken to come and go, because he did not need his mother's house demolished.

Again.

Only this time instead of three girls, there were nine, and they all had magical attacks. He hadn't seen any sign of the Outer Senshi near the apartment, but he knew it was only a matter of time before they were gunning for him as well.

The other thing he knew was that he couldn't avoid them forever. He'd go jumping to their defense in battle time and time again. It was hard wired into him, and he'd never be able to get rid of it. He just wouldn't be able to leave those situations alone.

He sighed, resigned himself to his fate, and went to sleep, having troubled dreams.

---

"What you mean, you no like Ranma!"

When Shampoo had heard that her charge had already met the man in question, she'd been overjoyed. Now she would simply inform her of the engagement and let the young amazon charge after her prey.

This was unexpected.

Haruka shifted uncomfortably. "Well…" She grabbed Michuru's had for support. Shampoo didn't miss it, and glanced between the two.

"Ah. Have someone. And is other girl." Shampoo shrugged. "No worries. Shampoo fix. Ranma never forgive Shampoo, but she fix. Promise."

Haruka frowned. "This isn't about Ranma! It's about Michuru!"

Shampoo sighed, then nodded. "Very well. She have to be tested to be sister before you can marry in laws of clan though."

Haruka and Michuru blinked. This was fantastic beyond their wildest dreams! But Haruka, knowing better than to take this for granted, asked. "Tested... how?"

Shampoo smiled, and inwardly smirked. She couldn't loose. Ranma would join the tribe. "In mortal combat with Shampoo."

---

Sailor Pluto nodded at her plan. It had taken her, quite literally, several years of planning, but she now had a foolproof plan to lure Mamoru so completely to her side that he would never be free – and would never want to.

It was vastly complex, involving the manipulation of a thousand things here at the time gate, coupled with a few personal appearances, but it would work. Her plan was to alienate him from all of the others, and seem more approachable to him. Display a vulnerable side few had ever seen.

Now all she had to do was wait for the proper moment to begin.

As her laughter carried off into the night, she forgot one thing.

No plan survives Ranma Saotome.

---

Hotaru nodded at her plan. It would take a few weeks for her to set it up, but a few slipping grades would be worth happiness forever.

It was simple, much more like the coldly calculated maneuvers she'd been famous for in the Silver Millennium. With her grades slipping, and not wanting to turn to Haruka and Michuru for fear of punishment, she would turn to Mamoru.

He would help Hotaru with her grades. He was in college; it would be no challenge for him. Enthusiastic thanks on her part, coupled with study sessions to ensure her grades stayed up, and she would entice him with the charm of a small schoolgirl.

It would not be long before he was wrapped around her little finger, helpless to resist.