Anddd we're back! For now! I expect some people will be annoyed by some interactions. Oh well... It's more 'realistic' this way. Enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 7

"Just what do you think you guys were doing?" A cold, hard voice cut through the just peaceful halls of the Hino shrine. There was no response from her audience and the eldest senshi grew impatient. In a sharper cold voice, she prompted. "Well?"

"Er- um you see." Usagi blabbered nervously. "We were- that is…"

Ami jumped in. "What Usagi is trying to say is that we were interrogating the person who was destroying the block."

"Person?" Setsuna repeated with only her brow betraying her emotions. "I saw the scene. Surely it was a youma in disguise."

"Not at all." Ami shook her head and pointed to the Mercury computer. "He was a normal human fighting another human. The computer confirmed."

"Regardless." Setsuna said quickly, cutting off anybody planning to speak. "It doesn't excuse a nationwide broadcast of the Sailor Senshi."

"Not that I'm too happy either..." Rei started slowly. "But it's fine, based on the questions they asked Usagi, we didn't really give anything important. Usagi just blabbered randomly about stuff she didn't know."

"I did not!" Usagi denied vehemently.

"You did... not?" Setsuna asked with a glint in her eyes.

"I mean… Yes! I did! Useless stuff!" Usagi changed, sweating at the implications.

Setsuna stared at their ditzy leader, finding her shaky yet perky smile grate her nerves. She irritably rubbed her forehead. "Out of all the times…" She muttered bitterly.

"Look, we're all sorry." Makoto spoke up, defending her peers. "It was an honest mistake that nobody saw coming."

Ami coughed loudly.

Makoto sweatdropped but continued. "It's not like we revealed our identities or our locations. We were just busy trying to help Minako out with her problems

"That's right." Setsuna's eyes narrowed and dragged her gaze over her audience of four. "What exactly is this… engagement all about?"

"That's right!" Usagi perked up, yelling. "We found out Minako is engaged!"

"Quiet, Usa!" Rei chided hotly. "We were all there and heard him too."

Makoto spoke up. "Do you guys think that's why Minako so worked up?"

"Huh?" Usagi intelligently said.

"What do you mean Makoto?" Ami asked. "You heard about the torture and humiliation she faced."

"That's the thing! From what we've found out, Ranma's a decent guy." She claimed. "Maybe she's embarrassed."

Rei's face plainly displayed her disbelief, her brow raised, lips in a tight line, and eye moody. "C'mon, this is Ms. Manhunter. You'd really think she'd be embarrassed? And may I remind you, it's Sailor V that's engaged not Minako."

"Oh." Makoto said disappointedly, but it didn't seem like she dropped the idea.

"Ahem." Setsuna brought the attention back to herself. "Would you ladies mind explaining what is going on."

The four Senshi explained the situation, relaying what they knew from Minako and what they've seen.

"This… doesn't bode well." Setsuna revealed. She started to massage her forehead.

"What's the matter?" Ami asked in concern. "Do you know who he is? Is he actually evil?"

"Is h-he from the moon kingdom?!" Usagi blurted, surprising the others.

"You mean, he's actually a knight like Endymion?" Makoto gaped.

"You mean, the news is actually right?" Rei muttered.

"It is possible..." Ami hesitantly agreed.

"Well, what is it, Setsuna?" Usagi asked excitedly to the all knowing Senshi.

The other four girls leaned in anticipation as Setsuna had closed her eyes in thought, brainstorming and reviewing the information. When she had opened her eyes, she was slightly unnerved by how close the others, sans Ami, moved to her.

Setsuna spoke evenly. "I have no idea." She took little amusement as the girls promptly face-faulted over each other.

"Really?" Rei complained as she picked herself up. "The all knowing senshi of time has no idea? Just go check the timegates and tell us what's with this guy! We've been running around in circles for no reason!"

"I believe he's an enemy." Setsuna stated factually.

"Aw, come on!" Makoto whined, not believing what she was hearing.

"Listen." Setsuna demanded. "The timing is too convenient." Addressing Ami, she asked. "You said this all started two days ago?"

"Thursday. Right." Ami nodded. "That was when we found Ranma's father."

"That's the exact day the time gates stopped working." Setsuna was somewhat pleased at the silence that immediately reigned. They actually understood the graveness of the situation.

"Stopped working?" Makoto blankly parroted.

"How?" Rei demanded. She was extremely uncomfortable with the unknowns and lack of control in the past couple days.

"I'm not sure. There's nothing that I can think of that explains this situation, except for an extremely powerful enemy."

"B-but he's human! Ami said so!" Usagi cried, not looking forward to fighting for her life again.

"That may be so, but he could be working for youma lord or something of the sorts."

There was a resounding silence as each Senshi reassessed the situation.

"So what do we do?" Rei asked, adapting a serious expression and posture.

"Stay away from him." Setsuna instructed. "He may be a spy, find all the information you can about him. And tell Minako to cut off this… engagement. If what you've told me is true, that should be no problem at all." She really didn't know what to think about this particular development. It was plain ridiculous to claim an engagement with a senshi for cover.

"Where did she go anyways?" Usagi asked, looking over her shoulder as if expecting the other blond to be standing at the entrance.

"Go find her." Setsuna ordered, walking gracefully towards the exit. "I must inform the outers of this development." With that, she walked out the shrine.

When the green haired woman went out of view, Ami spoke up. "I'll get more information on Ranma."

"You mean you'll pay for the fees?" Makoto's asked, assuming Ami was going to use the website they had found. "I'll help you out if you want. How much do you want?"

"It's… fine." Ami said, her eyes avoiding Makoto's own.

"Didn't you say it was a lot of money?"

"I'm not going to pay it..."

"Then how…?"

"You're going to hack the website?" Rei gaped as she figured the only other way Ami could get the information. All ears bored into Ami, making her embarrassed and blush.

"Nabiki Tendo, the owner of the website, isn't really the… best person out there." Ami reasoned. Seeing the questioning eyes of her friends, she elaborated. "She's pretty infamous information broker online. If somebody wants any type of information, that she could get, she'll give it to you for a price. She would blackmail, bribe and lie to get it."

"That… that's illegal!" Makoto cried.

"Yea, it is." Rei agreed. "How do you even know about her Ami?"

There was a moment of silence before Ami answered. "Nobody remembers second place, huh?"

"Huh?" Usagi blankly questioned.

Nervously, in an attempt to not sound arrogant. "You know how I got 1st in the nation for national exams?"

Usagi nodded happily, proud to be friends with a genius. "Of course we do! You're a genius, Ami!" Usagi slightly sobered as she remembered, at the time, the criticism Ami faced for getting first and the later claims of her being a youma. The girl had such low self-esteem.

"So this Nabiki got second place?" Rei said, putting two and two together.

"That's right." Ami nodded once. "Practically every time."

"You mean, she cheats?" Makoto asked, shaking her head in disapproval.

"No, not at al- well I don't know." Ami denied. "But she tried to blackmail me into failing the exam."

"That's horrible!"

"You seem to know a lot about her." Rei said. "We could get her arrested with what we know."

"It's fine." Ami responded softly. "She never did any of it and I don't think there's too much harm coming from her.

"What a sore loser." Makoto grumbled with an immensely low opinion of Nabiki. "It's second place, in all of Japan! You could go to any school with those scores!"

"Apparently it wasn't enough for her." Ami sighed with a shrug as she thought about the period of time where she faced off with the anonymous user who threatened and blackmailed her. It was at a vulnerable time of her life too! It was through her own investigation that she was able to find out the anonymous user's identity and fired back with her own, albeit relatively mild, attacks. It really did not help at the time but eventually it all stopped.

As Ami wandered off in her thoughts, an uncomfortable silence reigned as four girls sat in the room idly.

"Um..." Usagi started.

"I'm going to find Mina!" Makoto suddenly declared, springing up from her position on the ground.

"Oh yea." Rei muttered, getting up herself. "That probably is a good idea."

"So…" Ranma started hesitantly, poking his fingers together stupidly. There was a long stretch of silence after the two agreed to talk. Ranma in his female form and Minako in her Sailor Venus guise were still standing, 5 feet apart, on the rooftops under the late morning sky. "A-are you engaged with me?"

Her face contorted from shock to disgust and then immediately to anger. She yelled in response. "What? No! What the hell is wrong with you? I hate you. That's the first question you ask?!"

Ranma breathed a sigh of relief. He cheered. "Oh thank god!"

She relaxed slightly then a thought ran through her mind and Sailor Venus' eyes narrowed dangerously. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Ranma blinked in confusion, turning his head curiously at the girl. "Huh?"

"Not good enough to be your fiancee, I see." With scowl, she crossed her arms irritably. Her mind went back to all the times he called her 'uncute', unathletic and unappealing and her lips thinned after every incident she remembered.

"That's not it!" Ranma frantically denied, attempting to appease his lost friend. "I needed ta know for a bet."

"You were betting on whether or not we were engaged?" Her lack of amusement was apparent from her tone and expression. Betting on love? Disgusting. "From your little cheer, looks like you won your bet. And that means you're glad I'm not your fiancee."

"I ain't betting on anything! My friends were betting, not me!" Seeing the disbelief on her face, he continued talking. "I wouldn't mind you as a fiancee. It'd prefer ya over…"

"Oh I see." She said condescendingly. "So it's, out with the old, in with the new."

Ranma grinded his fists over his red locks frustratedly. What's wrong with women? It's either one thing or the other! "I didn't ask for the fiancees. I'm honor bound to keep the engagements. It's all pop's doing!"

"You can't just blame your father for everything… No matter how horrible he is." She did remember what Ami said. None of the fiancees were the fault of Ranma, yet it was fundamentally wrong to have three fiancees for… 2 years? Surely, this was a problem with a fairly simple solution. "Pick one to marry. Or is it because you enjoy having three girls fighting over you?"

"I can't just do that!" Ranma complained, throwing his head up as if silently cursing the gods above. "I'll end up fucking things up with the one I pick and I'll fuck up my relations with the other two."

"Oh sure. What you're doing is much better" Sailor Venus answered snidely with a roll of her eyes. "Let them suffer longer."

Ranma lowered his head a adopted a glare. "Why do you care anyways? This ain't about me, it's about you."

"About me?!" She scoffed at his words and actions. "You need to know your actions have consequences and sometimes you have to face the consequences. You. You tortured me."

"I didn't do anything!" Ranma repeated heatedly. Seriously! Everything came to him, he had no control over the chaos that is his life. "I didn't ask for any of this!"

"Well there's your action." Sailor Venus lectured patronizingly. "You did nothing. All you do is let things happen and react to it. That's your problem. You don't help anyone. As long as something doesn't inconvenience you, personally, you let it happen!"

Ranma stayed silent for moments, contemplating the words, his petite face etched in a scrunched thinking face. Doing 'nothing' was a strategy he used in his battles with the goal of goading his opponents into not taking him seriously or goad them into becoming mad that he wasn't taking them seriously. Never had he really thought about its effect outside of combat. Was he really doing 'nothing' in the first place? Sure, for the majority of his life, he had to follow his father and his words; he had no other option. But how about the past 2 years? Shampoo came to him. Ukyo came to him. So did, Ryoga, Mousse, the old ghoul, the Kunos, Ryu, Pantyhose Taro, Herb, Saffron, Happosai and countless others. He only had retaliated their actions. He wasn't doing 'nothing' but she was right that he only let things happen. How could doing nothing possibly make him… bad? "Okay... what does that haveta do with anything?"

"It means you don't think. It means you don't see anything wrong with endlessly torturing a girl for years. And if you can't get it through your thick head, that girl is me."

"Torture?" Ranma parroted, realizing that she was talking about London. When he heard her rageful rants, he never understood what she meant by that. "We were just sparring, right?"

A stony mask overcame her face. "I'm a heroine of justice! I was trying to arrest you. You and Genma are criminals. You stole, cheated, and robbed! And you got away every time."

"Pops did that!" Came the loud denial. "I had nothing to do with that. I never stole!"

His statements were ignored and she kept talking. "You thought it was all just games? Not only did that mock me as a crimefighter, you humiliated me everytime! Tying me up to posts, throwing me into garbage, and hogtying me! This is what I mean, you didn't think for a second that what you were doing was wrong."

"That's not true!" Ranma retorted angrily, stomping his right foot down in a tantrum-like manner.

"Really? So, you thought about it?" She snapped, her jaw hard pressed. "Then that makes you a bad person. You thought about what you were doing and you were fine with it?!"

"That's not what I meant." Ranma quickly amended, his tone and body softened. "It was just a little fun after winning. I woulda let you humiliate me after you beat me… It just never happened..."

Sailor Venus' eyes bored into Ranma's own for the subtle insult. "Fun? Fu- We're insulting and yelling at each, while trying to beat each other. That's fun to you?"

"Ain't that normal?" Ranma asked curiously and innocently. All his battles between rivals he traded insults. Even in the life or death situations against Herb and Saffron insults were thrown. "You're supposed to it's just a strategy. It's not like you were ever hurt, you're a superhero. Besides you shouldn't take my taunts so seriously anyways. Dontcha know how beautiful you are?"

She blinked and blushed furiously at the offhanded yet genuine compliment but quickly shook her head out of it. "No. No, it's not normal. You were hurting me. I may be a superhero, but I'm also human."

"So am I." Ranma said tactlessly. There was a pregnant pause and Ranma sweated as he realized that was not quite the right thing to say. "Wai-"

"You didn't think for one second that I broke down crying after every fight? That I've had nightmares of you in the following years. Is that 'normal' with everybody you ruin lives with?"

Ranma was about to retort before several thoughts went through his mind. And he really thought about it. What would his relationship be like if he wasn't so insulting to Akane? Sure he said some mean things but it's not like she didn't ask for it. How about Ryoga? His sense of direction, girl problems, and bashfulness were just too funny to pass up. Pantyhose Taro wouldn't be so angry if he simply just didn't call him 'Pantyhose,' but oh man, what a name! Hinako was basically a little kid in a teaching position, of course he was going to have fun with that. Oh. Shit. He really was a jackass.

He lowered his gaze to the ground as he understood the seriousness of his actions. "I'm sorry." He said softly. Lifting his gaze slightly, his heart sank seeing the disbelief at his apology. Of course, everything isn't going to be better just apologizing.

"You're not evil, but you're far from a decent person." She analyzed over the information Ami and Makoto gave her, her conversation just now, and his actions during their recent fights and during their conversation. "But what you did was unforgivable. I just want to forget you. Forever. I think this chat just did the trick." She turned her back and started to walk off towards the edge of the roof. Just as she prepared herself to leap across the rooftops, she turned around for a last look.

Ranma's face was parallel to roof. His loose body radiated a sickly green that reminded her of what happened during her fight. With time to process it, she could feel sadness and guilt coming from him.

Sailor Venus leapt off. It wasn't quite the closure she wanted but it was cathartic nonetheless.

Several minutes after their chat ended, Ranma found himself casually jogging back to Nerima across the span of plains. The constant rhythm of one foot after the other calmed his chaotic thoughts. His mind was buzzing with theoreticals. What would happened if he did what V-chan said he lacked? The thought, the sympathy, and genuine concern. He found thinking about these theoretical surprisingly similar to fighting, where he had to put his mind into thinking several steps of his opponents. So distracted in his thoughts that he completely missed a giant brown-furred fist smash into the back of his skull.

"Argh! What the-" Ranma managed to grunt out before plowing into the grass. Spitting out grass and dirt in his mouth, he got up to see his aggressor and set himself up in a defensive stance. His muscles tensed as he recognized the figure in front of him. "Pantyhose!"

"Moof moof!" Came the angry reply. The hulking beast stood proudly in front of Ranma, wings closed but tentacles wild and squirming. Among the tentacles, there was a single one that held a kettle with what Ranma assumed to be hot water.

"What the hell do you want Pantyhose?!" Ranma shouted angrily and loudly while rubbing the back of his head. The punch really did hurt. Ranma saw Taro bristle at the name and consequently tense up causing himself to set himself up defensively. However, immediately after, Taro loosened up with and then an annoyed look and poured the kettle above his head, surprising Ranma.

Back in his human form, Taro greeted affectionately. "What's up transgender bitch?"

A tic developed in Ranma's right eye but he did not drop his stance. While he knew he could take him on by himself, Pantyhose was known for cheap tricks after all. "Glad to see you too Pantyhose..."

Taro let out a strained smile, teeth shining but eyes unamused. He arrogantly flipped his long hair to the side and locked eyes with Ranma. "I need your help."

Ranma was unamused. The way Taro said it, sent the message 'I really don't need your help, but since you're here you better help.' "What makes you think I'll help ya, Pantyhose."

While his face generally remained vain, Pantyhose felt a tic above his eye. "I know how I can get that stupid old man to change my name for good."

Ranma lit up in surprise. "What is it?" Having just seen the teen in his cursed form, he knew the boy didn't curse himself again.

"This is what I need your help with… bitch." Taro said. He knew calling boy turned girl 'bitch' probably won't help his case, but he couldn't help it. "You're only one who can do this."

Ranma managed to ignore the insult in favor of interest in Taro's statement. Only he could it? He puffed out a little in pride. Well then… "What do you need me to do?"

"I'm not going to tell you until you accept." Taro said with unbefitting smile. He added, "I promise I'll get rid of that old prune for good, if you accept."

"Why can't you just tell me?" Ranma mumbled, conflicted over whether or not he should accept a request from one of his toughest enemies. It was sketchy. Very sketchy indeed, but Taro seemed confident in his ability to get rid of the old pervert. Maybe he had some new technique that could defeat the geezer and he need someone of the highest caliber. He couldn't help but grin at that thought. Besides… Sailor V would want him to help. He could start his 'redemption' with this. "All right. I accept."

Taro's smile widened. "You're the only man who can do this trans- Saotome. I've heard that you never break your promises." The last bit was said mockingly.

"That's right. I'm the only one" Ranma boasted with a stupidly large smile. "So whatcha want me to do?"

"I need you to get your wife's panties." Taro said lazily.

"Wife? What would that do? He's gotten tons of panties from Akane before what makes you think another one would do anything." Ranma scowled. He ignored the fact Taro said 'wife', knowing that it likely just a jibe at him. "You mean you want it for bait? Any panty would do."

"The blue haired bitch?" Taro's face scrunched in memory and then shook his head. "Your new one, moron. The geezer would do anything for the panty of the Sailor Senshi. He'll change my name once and for all with it."

"What."

After returning to her civilian form, Minako wandered around the district until she found herself mindlessly blasting monsters in her Sailor V game at the arcade. Having played the game hundreds of times, her hands moved automatically and mechanically as her thoughts roamed freely.

"Mina!" A cheerful voice called out.

"Crap!" She jolted in surprise at the voice, causing a youma to catch up to her and destroy her perfect hitpoints. With a quick glance, the voice was revealed to be from Makoto. Minako let go of the control sticks and buttons and turned herself to her friend. Within seconds of letting go, she heard the familiar sounds of her character getting hurt and then eventually the 'gameover' jingle of the game. "Hey, Mako."

"Where were you?" Makoto asked in concern. She was worried that her normally bubbly friend was going to go back to her depressed state and stay within her home. When she found out from Artemis that he hadn't seen her, she went out to look for her, ultimately bringing her to the arcade.

Minako answered. "I went after Ranma."

Makoto's eyes widened in alarm and scanned her for any telltale signs of combat. "You didn't… did you?"

Minako smiled slightly to comfort her roused friend. "We talked stuff out."

Immediately she relaxed and cheered. "That's great! I was worried that… you know."

"Don't worry." Minako assured her with a smile. "We sorted our differences out. We won't be seeing each other, hopefully, in forever."

There was a long silence before Makoto slowly spoke. "Well… that's good."

"What's wrong? Didn't you guys want me to talk with him?"

"We did." She nodded. "What did you guys talk about?"

"Why he did what he did. And why I hate him. He's not an evil person, just a disgustingly ignorant asshole." Came the answer. Minako suddenly broke out into a wide beaming smile. "It was some pretty therapeutic stuff, I feel so much better now."

"But… what about your engagement with him?"

"Ehh!?" She demanded, pulling the girl down to her height by the collar of her shirt. "What are you talking about, Makoto!?"

"Stop pulling, Mina!" Makoto complained removing herself from her friend's grip. "That Ryoga Hibiki guy revealed that you, or Sailor Venus I guess, are engaged with Ranma."

"That's not true!" Minako moved frantically, repeatedly making an 'X' with her arms. "I hate him. Hate! He said it himself that he was happy we aren't engaged. He has three fiancees for godsake! Where did Ryoga get that from?"

"No idea." Makoto glanced away from Minako as if internally debating whether or not to say something. Minako, being her friend, noticed easily by the context and her nervousness, she knew it was going to be bad.

"What. Is. It."

"I guess you wouldn't like that the entire nation thinks you're engaged with Ranma." Makoto said with a shaky smile. "We kinda got caught by the newscast when they tried to investigate the damage..."

"..." Minako's had a half-lidded stare locked on Makoto who slightly sweated.

"But only as Sailor Venus!" Makoto assured, waving her hands placatingly. "They think he's like Endymion, except for, you know, Venus. It doesn't matter anyways, right? You'll never see each other again."

"Not if I can help it." Minako muttered, turning back to her Sailor V game and loading it with another coin.

"Great!" The next couple seconds were filled with digital blasting and cries coming from the arcade, while Makoto stood awkwardly behind her. Not wishing to disturb her friend, Makoto stayed silent. She really didn't want to tell Minako what Setsuna had told them. In no way did she want to give any ammunition to the hateful side of Minako. She said that they weren't going to meet anymore so it didn't matter anyways.

After a few more seconds of awkwardly standing and watching, she spoke up with hopes to ridding whatever thoughts Minako had in her mind. "You wanna go boy watching?"

Her blond friend let go of the controls and enjoyed the little jingle. "Sure. Why not? There's gotta be better men out there than him."

"That's the spirit!" Makoto chirped, grabbing the blond and pulling her along.

"Stupid. Stupid Ranma." A bitter Akane walked stiffly through the streets of Nerima, frightening some of the locals with her blazing aura. She had her head down in thought and hands gripped tightly in anger. "Who needs him? Lousy, two-timing pervert."

"Miss?"

He already has three and now he goes off and gets another one, a sailor senshi to boot.

"Hellooo? Lady?"

Insults her body then leaves early in the morning to taint the pure souls of the saviors of the Earth. How dare he! Oooh! He's going to get it when he comes back.

"Excuse me!" Akane was suddenly jolted out her thoughts and looked up to see a scowling, delicate, blond man.

"Huh, what?" She muttered, looking past the man, she noticed another woman with green hair and a young girl with dark raven hair. She had never seen this family before. "Oh! I'm so sorry!"

"It's fine." The man said gruffly. "I'm sorry to bother you… you seem pretty preoccupied. But seeing as the people in this district seem to be avoiding us like the plague, we really have no other choice. Do you know where the Tendo dojo is at?"

She was slightly off-put by forward stranger. Taking in consideration of the young family in front of her, she quenched her anger. "Yes I do. I was just heading there."

"Wonderful, thanks." The man said with a charming smile. "I apologize for my rudeness."
"N-no no. It's fine." Akane waved the apology off. "I was just in a bad mood, I'll take you guys there."

"Thank you." Michiru nodded appreciatively.

"I'm Akane Tendo." She introduced herself, holding out her hand.

"Haruka Tenoh." He said, taking her hand. Akane marveled at how soft his hands were.

"Michiru Kaioh." Greeted the aqua-marine woman.

"I'm Hotaru!" The young girl said.

"Nice to meet you all." Akane said with a smile. "Follow me."

The group of four walked through the streets of Nerima silently. The three behind Akane took in their surroundings in great interest. It was quite different than what they were used to, it seemed like an older more traditional district. What was really interesting was that in many of the buildings there were signs of multiple repairs: Different shades of plaster, wooden planks over windows, thin layer of cement dust over the streets and other signs.

"Was there an earthquake here?" The Haruka asked, breaking the silence. Confusion was clear in his voice as being a citizen of Japan, any earthquake anywhere in the nation would be felt by the other district. Especially with Nerima being relatively close to Juuban. However, as far as they knew, there hadn't been any recent earthquakes.

"Ah." Akane chuckled, scratching the back of head in an innocent manner. "These are just from… our battles."

"Battles?" Haruka blinked. Were there youma here too? Were there other scouts fighting?

"Our?" Hotaru parroted, dashing in front of Akane. "You can fight too?"

"Yep." Akane boasted pridefully to the child, flexing her right arm to which Haruka and Michiru peered at with unnerving interest.

"Woah!" Hotaru cooed. "Do you do karate?"

"Kind of, but not really. I'm the heir to school of Anything Goes Martial arts!" She announced proudly.

"Anything Goes?" Haruka questioned, frowning.

"That sounds so cool! Are you good? What can you do?" Hotaru exclaimed animatedly.

"Well… it's not that amazing. But I can shatter concrete, roof jump… and… pull giant mallets out of nowhere."

"What the-?" She heard Haruka say in disbelief.

"Amazing!" The small child marvelled, simply fascinated by the ability of an ordinary person. "Can you go invisible too?"

"Go… Invisible… Too?" Akane slowly said, head dropping in annoyance as she realized what that statement probably meant.

"Is something the matter?" Michiru asked in concern as the girl visibly deflated.

"You guys wouldn't happen to be looking for a guy who wears a red chinese shirt and baggy black pants with his hair in a pigtail?"

"Yea!" Hotaru said. "Do you know him?"

"Oh." Akane said with veins bulging. Everything just has to link back to Ranma. To be honest, she had predicted that whatever they wanted probably had to do with Ranma. A girl can dream can't she? "I'd say I know him pretty well."

"Oh?" Michiru questioned. "Is he a bad person?"

"I wouldn't say bad." Akane continued walking towards the dojo. "Just… bothersome. So what is it? Did he steal something? Engaged with one of your friends? Oh!" She laughed a little maniacally. "Maybe you're the Sailor Senshi."

Her three guests' eyes widened comically in shock. But seeing the blue haired girl laughing they realized she was merely joking.

"What." Haruka wheezed out. "What... ever gave you that idea?"

"The bastard's engaged to one. Another fiancee for him." Akane muttered bitterly. Whatever they wanted to do with Ranma, she didn't care anymore. Seeing as it's a young family, she didn't expect them to have an engagement with him. Which was good of course. They also seem ignorant of the martial feats of Nerima and didn't really move like fighters. They were dressed richly and had an aura of sophistication, maybe they were debt collectors.

"Oh really?" Michiru questioned. "I did not believe it was possible to be engaged with a Senshi."

"Apparently they were long time friends, or something." She sighed. "C'mon the dojo's over here."

Michiru and Haruka looked at each other, alarmed. With some quick logic, they figured that only Setsuna and Minako had any access to their sailor forms years ago. There was no way the ice queen of time would have any meaningful relationship, leaving one option.

Whispering close to Michiru's ear, Haruka asked. "You think this person Minako's engaged to is an enemy?"

"We can't be sure until we see." Michiru whispered back. "We'll tell Setsuna when we get back."

"Sounds good." Haruka then chuckled a bit. " Oooh. I can't wait to kick this guy's butt. Did you hear what she said? She said another fiancee. I'll beat that cheating son of a gun til he can't pass his womanizing genes down."

Michiru looked into her lover's eyes, observing the raging flames of justice flare. "Don't be too rash. He seems quite skilled."

"Hmph. Are you talking about poking rocks and catching arrows? Yea right. What a load of bull. There's only so much a human can d- Woah mama!" Haruka said suddenly, distracted.

"Aiya! Is true?" A bubbly voice brought the group's attention to another girl dropping from the air. the air. "Too too short skirt steal Airen?"

"Too too short skirt?" Michiru parroted with a slight twitch in her eye. Her eyes were glued to the body of the voluptuous Chinese teen who just appeared out of nowhere.

"Hey, Shampoo." Akane said tiredly. "That's what Ranma's friends told me, anyways."

"Another obstacle for airen?"

"Don't tell me you're going to hunt down the Sailor Senshi." Akane said in disbelief. "They're the heroes of Japan."

"They superhero but they no skill against me." She said haughtily. "Is only one."

"A-are you serious?" Haruka joined the conversation, wiping drool off. "You think you can win against the Sailor Senshi?"

Next to Haruka, Hotaru and Michiru looked at the girl in disbelief.

"Senshi only powerful not skillful." Shampoo claimed snidely.

"What can you do against youma, huh?" Haruka challenged.

"Shampoo fight giant flying bull monster. Same thing." She shrugged nonchalantly.

"What are you talking about?" Haruka asked roughly. Giant flying bull monster? Did youma come to Nerima too? Were there other senshis that fought for this district? How did they not know about this?

Shampoo tilted her head to the side cutely and then calmly pointed at something in the sky. "That Shampoo talk about."

The group of three followed Shampoo's finger, turning their bodies in the direction. Immediately they jumped back in shock with bulging eyes. In the air, closing in at extreme speeds, was an enormous brown body with disproportionately small white wings propelling itself. As the thing flew closer they noticed another feature.

"Oh, there tentacles now." Shampoo added, nodding.

Akane frowned in annoyance, squinting at the flying monstrosity. "What's Taro doing here again?"

"How Shampoo know?" The Chinese amazon answered, crossing her arms in annoyance at the stupid question.

Michiru, Hotaru, and Haruka were looking around, scanning for the nearest alleyway or secluded corner to change into their sailor forms. They looked at Shampoo and Akane, wondering how the hell could they be so calm with a monster heading directly towards them.

"Run!" Hotaru shouted to no avail. They scanned the streets, hoping the civilians would flee for their safety, but much to their chagrin they didn't; in fact they didn't even seem to care and even seemed to simply curse at the monster.

"What do we do?" Michiru urgently whispered.

"I don't know!" Haruka whispered back, her constantly gaze switching from Michiru to the bull monster. "We can't transform here! But I can't find anywhere else to transform!" Haruka spoke irritably. "Normally, people would be hiding so that we could just transform in secret. I don't know this place well enough to get a good hiding spot!"

"We can't let the youma hurt the people here." Hotaru protested frantically.

"What you talk about? Scared? No worry, Shampoo protect." Shampoo spoke curiously to the whispering people she had never seen before. She observed their faces warp into shock as they registered her words. Finding herself not caring, she turned back to the flying figure. She squinted. "Is Airen?"

"What? Yeah… it is. Looks like he's riding Taro." AKane muttered in annoyance. She began to turn around as she spoke. "Well! Here's the person you're loo- Oh. I guess they ran."

I'm not going to beat them, I'm going to kill them! Ranma groused as rode on the back of Pantyhose Taro, his hands gripped tightly on the horns of the beasts head. It was bad enough that Akane and some of Furinkan thought they were engaged, but now the entirety of Japan thought so. He determined it to be Hiroshi and Daisuke's fault. Pantyhose revealed that he saw it announced on television as he was passing by and from there devised his 'masterplan.' Despite explaining that there was engagement between the two, Pantyhose insisted that he take up his promise as the only citizen closest to the Senshi. All he has to do is steal one of the Senshi's panties. 'Simple enough' he says. 'If it makes it any easier you can get one from any one of them' Ranma gritted his teeth as he replayed their conversation.

"Moof!" A tentacle smacked Ranma's hand causing him to let go for a moment.

"What the hell was that for?!" Ranma shouted.

"Moof!" A tentacle rubbed his horn in an agitated way only a tentacle would show.

"Oh." Ranma lightened his grip.

Now he was stuck with a promise to steal a panty from the 'saviors of Japan.' Ranma Saotome never breaks his promises. Damn him and his honor. What was he going to do? Sailor V had vowed to never see him again. What about the other senshis? Sure he knew what their actual identities were but he had no idea where they lived. Maybe he should stealthily camp around Juuban high until he saw them again. He frowned. Would it be the same if he got the panty of their normal forms? Or does it have to be the panty when they're powered up? He knew the accessories could come off… but how about the panties? Could the old fart even tell the difference between a normal one and a Senshi's? What if their powers stopped working if they didn't use their built in magic panty? If it didn't, would that mean the panty isn't magical? (AN: Ranma's asking the real questions here) Is he actually going to do this for Taro? Would Sailor V really want this? It is helping. He sighed, and looked up to see the Tendo dojo in his sights. Near the entrance, he saw Shampoo and Akane looking up at them. It was pointless anyways. He was never going to see anoth-

"Hey!" Ranma shouted and pulled up on Taro's horn causing him to fly up. "Watch out!"

A jet of water blasted under them with frightening force.

"What the…"

"Moof! Moof!" A tentacle smacked Ranma's hand again.

"Would you stop that?" Ranma growled. "Suck it up. I don't trust ya to fly yourself, Pantyhose"

Looking down, he took note of his attackers. "Are you kidd- Three more Senshi?!"

"Moof! Mooooooof!" There were 'excited' growls from the minotaur. Another torrent of water flew by them, Taro having successfully dodged to the side. They flew by the dojo and their assailants.

"Woah hey!" Ranma tried to pull Taro's horns to the left. "Stop trying to fly back! We do not want to go back!"

"Moof!" Taro growled in annoyance. He shook his head, trying to deter Ranma from jerking his horns to the side.

"Stop it, idiot!" Ranma could not get the beast to turn to the side as they flew back to the direction of the dojo. Ranma understood Taro's intentions and shouted. "I don't know these senshi! There's no way I'm getting their panties and I don't want anger more senshi! I only know V and… uh- red, blue, and yellow…? Maybe, it was green."

As they approached, Ranma looked down to see a senshi in ocean colors prepare to shoot another attack. Finding that pulling on the horns had no effect, he opted to punch the bull between the horns; doing so, caused Taro to dropped suddenly and the blast missed again.

"MOOF!" Bellowed Taro. Finally having enough of his passenger, he did a quick spin in midair leaving Ranma dangling in the air holding only to his horns. Looking down, Taro noticed them to be approaching the senshi trio and with his tentacles, he pried Ranma off to have him fall down directly towards them.

"I hate you Taro." Ranma mumbled as he entered free fall. With his plentiful experience in low earth orbit, he prepared himself for landing. Looking up, he saw another water blast and Taro fleeing. He could make out Taro turning around with a smug grin and a thumbs up. "Bastard."

As he approached the ground, he closed his eyes, expecting the, now slight, pain of his body impacting concrete. He expected it crumble under him with an unnatural crater. He expected to be attacked by the three new senshi, ocean, purple, and navy. He expected a verbal lashing from Akane after getting attacked. He didn't expect to be caught by slender arms. He wasn't going to be attacked.

"Miss, are you okay?" Hmm. That voice sounded familiar. It was a kind of husky voice. Feminine for sure but had undertones of masculinity. Who was it? The voice spoke again. "She looks okay. Sailor Saturn, look for and heal any wounds."

The voice made Ranma nostalgic. An image of the backside of a girl with blond hair in short cut appeared. She was in an sprinting position, back hunched, face down, two hands in the front, heels in the air and toes ready to propel forward. At an unknown signal, the girl started running at an impressive speed. However as she sprinted, she came closer and clearer. At one point, it became a profile image of the girl. He could see the flawless skin, the athletic build, and intensity of the girl. The head turned, and he saw dark blue eyes widening and a mouth dropping.

"Ka-chan."

"..."

"Hey! What the heck?" Ranma mumbled as he suddenly hit the ground. He opened his eyes, finding purple to his left staring down at him with purple-ish eyes and blue to his left staring with dark blue eyes and a dropped mouth. She was the one who caught him. And dropped him.

"Haruka?" He found himself saying. He shook his head. No way. As he put that thought away, another thought nagged at him. What was her last name? "Sorry. I thought you were somebody else."

He noticed purple's head whipping over to look at dark blue, shock clearly emanating. Ignoring it, he pushed himself up the ground, wiping the dust and pebbles off of him. He saw ocean beside dark blue who similarly had shock emanating from her own face. Turning his head, he saw Akane and Shampoo some ways off running towards their group, completely unamused. He sighed miserably and tugged on his pigtail.

"Ranma Saotome."

Ranma whipped back, locking eyes with dark blue. His response to his name apparently had a profound effect on dark blue. He scowled. So these senshi already know him. He wasn't sure how to react so he threw his hands up defensively gave his catch all statement. "I swear, it wasn't my fault. It's all another misunderstanding!"

He received nothing but silence as purple and ocean stayed focused on dark blue who was simply staring at him creepily.

"Aha!" Ranma suddenly snapped his fingers in realization, smiling as the nagging thought in his mind cleared up. "Tenoh! Haruka Tenoh. That's Ka-chan's name. You kind of remind me of her."

"That's because she is me." Came a quiet yet confused reply.

"Sailor Uranus!" Ocean blurted admonishingly. "Identity!"

Two plus two is four. Ranma gaped.

Realizing at her huge mistake, the senshi disengaged eye contact with Ranma's eyes and let out a relieving word.

"Fuck."

Hope you enjoyed this chapter.

That's right! Ka-chan is Haruka. Now, I don't know it was what Bob Lobster intended, but it's what I'm going with. I was surprised that people picked up Ka-chan to have any significance to the story. I had assumed it was something pretty minor people would ignore. A reader actually guessed the identity to be Haruka! :D Why didn't Ranma recognize Haruka's voice when they interacted in chapter 5? When Ranma saw Haruka, she was dressed as a man so even with the same voice Ranma had no schema for the possibility that that was Haruka. In this situation, Ranma is also in a contemplative state compared to the more active state he was in when they met.

(Took out stuff here that turned out to be quite unnecessary. Basically it was biased stuff that really did not need to be explained here. The story honestly explains itself but I made a mistake of assuming that it didn't.)

The way I had Minako explain her definition of 'good' defines as it as actively seeking out evil to dispel it. It reflects the job of the Sailor Senshi, they actively seek to do good.

On the other hand, Ranma does 'good' because it's convenient. He doesn't actively seek out monsters, nor does he actively goes out help others. He helps people when there's is an obvious evil or a gain.

Active vs passive

Another way to put it is Ranma is chaotic neutral while the senshi is lawful good. I guess you could say Ranma is chaotic good but my point would still stand that they have different beliefs on 'justice' and the Sailor Senshi's actions are objectively good.

Hmmm... while we're at it. I'd rank the Ranma cast this way in the DnD alignment based on a mix of intentions and actual societal impact:

Lawful Good: Kasumi/Nodoka

Neutral Good: Ukyo/Akane

Chaotic Good: Cologne/Shampoo/Hinako

Lawful Neutral: Soun

True Neutral: Genma(?)/Ryoga/Mousse/Ryu

Chaotic Neutral: Ranma

Lawful Evil: Nabiki/Saffron

Neutral Evil: Tatewaki/Herb

Chaotic Evil: Happosai/Taro/Kodachi

There are tons of way to argue this (Maybe Akane is more of Lawful Neutral? Or Ryoga/Mousse are chaotic neutral). Maybe add other characters. I'll be interested in your thoughts.

Last question: Would it make more sense to refer to Ranma's female side with feminine pronouns or not? I know in an earlier chapter I mentioned I referred him to remain male but now I'm having second thoughts. It would probably be a lot clearer if I did so.

Reviews are appreciated. Criticisms or compliments, it matters not.