Disclaimer: I own nothing related to Sailor moon or Ranma. As such this work is purely for amusement.
Author's notes: Here's chapter 3 a bit later then I would have liked. Once again this story is based off of Bob Lobster's "Hell Hath no Fury".
As always I enjoy feed back about my writing, the plot, and the characters and their interactions.
…
The scouts were, like most days after school, gathered at the Hikawa Shrine. Unlike most days, all of the scouts were present. Normally the outers didn't attend most meetings, and Setsuna never came unless specifically asked to be present. Babysitting teenagers became tiring after a while, especially when one was a few millennia older than them.
When Setsuna had contacted the other scouts, she was mildly surprised that they mentioned some trouble on their end. Ordinarily Setsuna would have shrugged it off. Anything important to the timeline she would have seen; this included any new enemies of the normal variety, or from the future. Ordinarily. With Happosai alive, Setsuna was loathe to ignore any coincidence.
As Setsuna and the other outer senshi arrived, Setsuna noticed that the inners had surrounded Minako and were questioning her about some boy. But since Setsuna had called the meeting, she decided to call it to order. "There is a danger to the future that I was unable to sense previously." Not entirely true, but close enough. The world of Crystal Tokyo would be purgatory, or paradise, to the evil gnome. And as such Happosai would most likely either ruin it, or make living there unpleasant.
The scouts quieted immediately. "But you said that everything was going to be good for a few years." Usagi looked worriedly at Setsuna. After the last battle, and nearly losing her friends again, Setsuna couldn't really blame Usagi.
"The Time Gates were mistaken."
"How can the Time Gates be mistaken? I know they can be blocked, but you always know when that's happening, right?" Of course it would be Rei who would ask that. Since Rei was a priestess, she was used to visions, and through her holy fire she could see limited bits of the future as well.
Haruka and Michiru, having heard everything on the way over, were standing off to the side. From what Setsuna could tell, they were plotting revenge on Happosai. Pluto wished them luck. They would need it.
Pluto turned back to answering the question at hand. "There are some things that are simply too random and chaotic to be seen in the Gates. They're impossible to predict, so the Gate uses an algorithm to predict around them." Realizing that discussing quantum mechanics was hopeless with this crowd, Setsuna changed tactics. "Have you ever heard of the butterfly effect?"
Usagi, Makoto, and Minako just shook their heads. Setsuna sighed. This was going to take a while.
Ami answered Setsuna's question without missing a beat. "The butterfly effect is the theory that a small action in one location, such as a butterfly flapping its wings, can create massive changes in other locations, such as a tornado. Simply put small things can cause a large change. Another application of the theory is that certain systems are impossible to completely predict, due the complexity of the factors involved. However using certain assumptions it is still possible to predict large scale weather patterns, regardless of the complexity of the factors involved."
Usagi was nodding her head as though trying to remain awake. Minako had long since started to stare out of the doors. Only Makoto looked as thought she was paying attention. But judging by the way her brow was furrowed, she hadn't gotten it either.
Ami sighed. She had tired so hard over the years to learn how to explain things simply. It wasn't that the other scouts were stupid. They just had other areas of expertise than the sciences, and math… and school in general.
"Some things the Time Gate can't see." Setsuna finally said. Ami looked curious so Setsuna signaled her that she'd explain in more detail later.
"Oh! Why didn't you say so in the first place?" Usagi beamed having finally understood the problem. Setsuna winced slightly. Hopefully in a few decades Usagi would become the leader everyone knew she could be. Actually, even after Crystal Tokyo was created, Usagi would still have time to mature. Maybe there was a reason Chibiusa was born 900 years in the future.
Coughing slightly Setsuna continued. "Yes anyways, as I was saying, currently we are facing a grave threat. One which I had thought long since dead, over two centuries ago. Its name is Happosai." An ominous crack could be heard from Rei's favorite tea cup.
"Ahh. My sandal strap snapped," came Rei's grandfather's voice from outside.
The scouts blanched. "Is it a demon?" Makoto finally asked.
At this time Ami looked thoughtful, and mumbled under her breath "The name sounds vaguely familiar."
"That's not far off exactly." Pluto replied pensively in response to Makoto's question. "He is a human, but he's extremely demonic. He was terrorizing China when I first…encountered him." More like she had seen a poor 'child' being attacked by vicious woman. Pluto had stepped in only to find out that the 'child' was a man, and Happosai had quickly taken full advantage of her kindness.
Ami finally spoke up. "Oh, I remember where I heard the name Happosai. It was in one of my mother's history books. According to a few minor Chinese legends there was a lesser demon named Happosai. He challenged a wise moon spirit to a game and won, stealing the spirit's cloths. The demon was also known for theft, particularly of alcohol and women's clothing."
Setsuna looked startled. She had honestly thought she had eradicated those myths ages ago. "Be that as it may, they aren't that far off from the truth. Happosai wasn't a demon, but he was an evil man. He lived to cause the misery of others, and to harass women."
Rei leaned over and whispered quietly to Makoto. "I bet Setsuna-san was the wise spirit."
Makoto nodded her head. "Yeah. I wonder what happened?"
Setsuna blushed crimson. "Nothing happened!" It had been a particularly hard century trying to deal with Happosai. In many ways he was worse then a cockroach. And worse, he had found out about her fear of those things. Setsuna honestly liked to pretend that the entire 1800's just hadn't happened. At all.
Haruka finally stepped into the conversation, sparing Setsuna from being questioned about that horrible time. "Regardless of what he did in the past, he's a threat now. He survived being smashed into a wall, and was holding his own against a demon that was able to hold off the three of us." Hotaru nodded slightly.
Setsuna knew that if Hotaru had been less concerned with vaporizing the block, whatever demon they had fought would have lost. "And that demon seemed to be related in some fashion to Happosai. Perhaps a servant who decided to run amuck without permission?" Michiru asked, still concerned about the bull demon.
Setsuna shook her head. "The Anything Goes School practitioners tend to be loners and rely on their own skill."
Rei looked curious at this statement. "Anything Goes?" Minako flinched slightly at the mention of Anything Goes. Setsuna ignored it in favor of answering the question.
"It's the most horrifying school of martial arts in existence. It has no set techniques as a rule. It has no advanced patterns. Honestly, it has only a few advanced tricks."
"Then why is it so horrifying? It sound's pretty pathetic." Rei said.
"An Anything Goes practitioner builds their own style of it based on the core teachings of the school. The core teachings build a martial artist with a mindset able to adapt to any situation, able to take new styles and incorporate them into their own. A practitioner of the school will incorporate dozens of other styles into a version best suited to their body. They strive to win no matter the cost, using any and all underhanded methods to triumph." And Setsuna knew exactly how underhanded they could be in order to win.
Rei still remained unconvinced. "It still doesn't sound like anything special."
"Just trust me when I say there are few opponents I would be more loathe to face more in combat that Happosai. Worse, he claims to have apprentices again. One of his last apprentices was a man who nearly conquered China." Well until Setsuna had tracked down him. "And even an apprentice of the Anything Goes School remains… difficult to defeat."
"But if this Happosai is as old as you say he is, shouldn't he have passed on from old age? The average human life span is only 78 years in a developed country. In the 1800's, 50 would have been considered ancient." Ami pointed out.
Setsuna grimaced. "He was over a hundred when I first met him. There are certain techniques in the world that can prolong a person's life, beyond what would normally be expected. Some of the darkest magics in the world can accomplish this." Seeing the scouts' curious expressions, Setsuna quickly said, "Those routes involve blood sacrifices."
Rei looked visibly pale. As a shrine maiden, she had encountered minor dark magics in the past. Curses, enchantments, and other dark things were par for the course living in a temple. "So how do we beat something like that? How much magic does he know?"
Setsuna shook her head. "Next to nothing. As I was saying, some routes to long life can be attained through dark magic. Happosai is a martial artist, and the greatest martial artists can prolong their life for centuries. Of course when I say greatest, I mean purely based on skill." There was nothing great about Happosai.
Now both Haruka and Makoto perked up. "How skilled would you have to be to do something like that?" Makoto asked.
"Very. It's unlikely either of you could reach that level. The amount of effort and time that needs to be dedicated towards attaining mastery is immense. You'd have to train for decades, with no other distraction to attain even a fraction of the skills of the masters. Which is why most of the powerful schools of martial arts have died out. No one wants to spend their entire young life learning something like martial arts." Setsuna was both grateful and sad about this.
Setsuna had observed some of the greatest feats of normal humans over the ages. She'd seen a human split a waterfall with a single strike of the sword, she'd seen a man take on an army and hold out until the very end. But such feats were now impossible by today's standards. It was somewhat saddening. Though really in Crystal Tokyo there would be no need for something as vulgar as martial arts, regardless how powerful some of them were.
Minako spoke up. "So where is Happosai now? If he's human he has to be somewhere nearby."
Usagi nodded. "And if we can find him, we can stop him."
Setsuna fully agreed with Usagi's intentions. She personally hoped the young princess would cleanse Happosai when she encountered him, as cleansing Happosai would likely kill him instantly. Pluto wasn't bitter about what Happosai had done to her over the years, not at all. "Nerima. That's the one place in the world where the Time Gates become… glitchy." Time skips and repeated segments, were all signs of too many algorithms being used to predict the unpredictable.
"Nerima?" Usagi looked started. "But whenever we got an alert on youma or daemons there, when we arrived there was never anything there." Needless to say after the third false alarm, Usagi had just slept through alerts from that ward.
Makoto looked pensive. "I've heard that Nerima is a place full of strong martial artists. A bunch of really old schools are based there."
The conversation turned towards the investigation of Nerima. Setsuna mentioned a little bit more about Happosai, and the rest of the meeting passed uneventfully. It was decided that over the next few days they'd scout out the area. Only Ami noticed that Minako had only spoken up that one time, and fallen silent since.
…
It was night, but unlike most nights, Minako wasn't at home. She had just crossed into Nerima wearing her Sailor Scout uniform. She had left the others after the meeting and made her way here.
Anything Goes had been his school. He had been the heir of the Soatome branch of it, whatever that meant. And if that wasn't enough, Setsuna's description of the school had been pretty accurate. It seemed pretty obvious, to her, that some of what was happening was because of Ranma's death. Obviously Genma had told his master about Ranma's death, and blamed the scouts. Or more importantly, blamed Minako, Sailor Venus. Minako wasn't sure how the two weird girls from before factored in, but Minako knew the root of the problem was Ranma's death.
Some things had to be dealt with on her own. She loved her friends dearly, but this wasn't their fight. It was her fault that things happened the way they did. And she had to deal with the consequences of it.
…
From behind a nearby wall out popped four familiar heads. "It appears as though I was correct." Ami stated, as the inner senshi watched Sailor Venus make her way down the street.
"Why didn't Mina tell us?" Usagi's eyes were watering. "Doesn't she trust us?"
"Idiot. She's just worried about us. You remember last time she got involved in something like this? She wanted to take care of it by herself." Rei grumbled.
Slowly the four scouts followed their friend down the empty streets of Nerima. Suddenly a loud clang could be heard. In the ground in front of Minako was a gleaming… spatula?
…
Minako just grinned. She hadn't expected to be attacked as soon as she entered Nerima. From out of the darkness came blob. Snatching it out of the air. Minako recognized it as an okonomiyaki. The street lights illuminated the message on it. 'I challenge you to a duel for Ran-chan.'
"Come out. I want to talk." Minako had no intention of fighting right now. She wanted to talk, to apologize. Though the food challenge letter was a bit unusual, as was the spatula.
Out of the shadows came a young looking man with a large spatula on his back. Around his chest were smaller spatulas, similar to the one that had been thrown at Minako earlier.
"You know, I wasn't expecting you to show your face around here honey. A lot of people aren't happy with you right now." The young boy's husky voice sounded both angry and hurt.
"I know, but I wanted to apologize. I didn't mean for it to happen… I didn't want it to happen… but it did." Minako's voice cracked as she remembered that night 5 years ago. She hadn't wanted Ranma to die.
"So you did steal Ran-chan? I wasn't sure if Nabiki was telling the truth, but I guess she was." The boy mumbled to himself. "You stole my fiancée." The massive spatula was quickly unsaddled and brought into a fighting position.
Minako wasn't sure how a fiancée factored into everything, but it was pretty obvious that the guy was talking about Ranma. "I don't want to fight you. I just want to talk with Genma."
"Too late for that sugar. You should have thought about that before you stole Ran-chan from one Ukyo Kuonji." Minako only had a moment to dodge, as the massive weapon swiped through the air where she had been standing earlier.
"Kuonji special technique: Rubber yakisoba noodles." Ukyo yelled as he slammed a ball of noodles towards Minako.
Sailor Venus knocked it with ease, only to have the sticky substance trap her arm. "Can't we talk first?" Minako tired to reason with the distraught Ukyo. Clearly Ranma had been good friends with this boy, to evoke such loyalty five years after Ranma's death.
The chef just grimaced, and used the rope of noodles to pull Minako closer to an over head swipe with the battle spatula.
"Fire Soul." Using the foresight that most martial artists seemed to have, Ukyo leapt away from Minako. A large fire ball incinerated the ground where the chef had been previously standing.
"Those who target young girls should be ashamed of themselves. In the name of the moon we will punish you for attacking our friend." At the end of the street stood the four other inner senshi.
"Why are you guys here?" Minako cried out.
"We knew something was up when you left the meeting. We weren't about to let you get yourself hurt," Sailor Jupiter said brightly.
"And you're our friend," continued Sailor Moon.
"Yeah. And I've always had a thing about guys who hit girls," Rei smirked as she said this.
Ukyo appeared to have recovered himself. "You know, you almost had me convinced that you were going to play fair. Konatsu can you handle these four? I have some business with the thief."
"As you wish Mistress Ukyo," came a voice from the shadows. Out shot five kitchen knives towards the scouts at the end of the street. The scouts dodged the knives, barely, but not without a lot of tripping and yelling.
Taking advantage of this the chef jumped off the roof, and quickly forced Minako to dodge down a nearby ally to avoid being decapitated by the swinging spatula.
Before the inner senshi could try to follow their friend, out of the shadows came a young girl wearing the traditional garb of a kunoichi. "My master has requested I prevent you from interfering in this fight. I apologize for what I will be forced to do to you. But Ukyo-sama is the world to me." The kunoichi spoke softly.
"I hope that after this is over that you will be still willing to autograph my Sailor Moon graphic novels?" Konatsu looked hopefully up at the scouts. Seeing the scouts' shocked looks, she sighed "I suppose not."
…
In the alley Minako had the advantage. The swinging maniac couldn't take full advantage of the over sized cooking utensil. Using the Venus Love Me Chain Minako was able to block the few strikes that Ukyo made towards her.
"Is this the best you can do sugar? Ran-chan deserves better from you." But so far the chef seemed to be unimpressed.
"Can't we talk about this?" Minako asked the boy for the umpteenth time, as Minako blocked another jab from the over sized cooking utensil. Regardless of how good this Ukyo was, Minako couldn't make herself hurt him. Ukyo only wanted to revenge himself against the person who stole his friend's life. And Minako couldn't really find it in her heart to blame the young man. Not really.
Finally the ally led into a large street. If Minako allowed herself to be forced into that open area, it was going to be a massacre. Already Minako was starting to realize that this Ukyo was definitely as strong as some of the youma Minako had faced over the years. It was time to stand her ground. Minako slowly stopped her retreat.
Ukyo grinned as he jumped into the air and used the sides of the ally to get onto the roof top. "Okonomiyaki house special." Ukyo flung a large okonomiyaki into the alley, which Minako stared in bemusement at. At least until the thing exploded, which forced Minako to dive out of the alley, and into the street beyond.
Coughing, Minako looked around for her opponent. Catching a glint of steel, Minako dove to the right, as three razor sharp spatulas imbedded themselves into the road. Still wielding the Love Me Chain, Minako blocked another incoming strike from the deranged chef.
Minako called out to the young chef. "I know I took Ranma from you, that it was my fault… but I tried to convince him to leave long before it happened. What happened that night… I can't change it."
If anything, Minako's words seemed to cause the chef to speed up her attacks. The Love Me Chain began to crack and shatter under the barrage. "Are you saying it's Ran-chan's fault? You hussy. You must have forced him into 'it'. He wouldn't have done 'it' unless you tricked or forced him into it."
Minako dove to the side as Ukyo threw a bottle of cooking oil at her. "Do you think I could convince Ranma of something he didn't want to do? He never backed down, never listened to anyone even when it was for his own good." Minako blamed herself for his death, but in the face of such vehement anger, she found herself suddenly defending herself unintentionally.
One other fact was starting to become clear as the fight progressed, that without magic, Minako might be in a bit of trouble. Minako was starting to realize, that against an opponent like this, she might just die. However despite Minako's fears, her earlier words seemed to have bothered the Chef. "But why? Why Ran-chan? You could have had your pick of tons of other guys. He was mine!" Ukyo's strikes were becoming less precise.
"You think I chose him? Ha! He was the most egotistical guy I knew. He was crass, rude, never knew when to shut up… I didn't want anyone. But he was always there, helping, insulting, and over all being a nuisance… but he was my partner!" Minako realized something then, as she barely avoided another debilitating strike, Minako realized something that had eluded her for over five years. That she still cared about Ranma was something she had long known. But more importantly Minako realized that even though events may have started after meeting her, Ranma wouldn't have wanted it any other way. Even if he died, he wouldn't have left a friend in need.
Minako had avoided thinking about Ranma so long that she had forgotten the sort of person he had been. If someone blamed him for something, he would have laughed. If someone was in trouble, he would have helped. If anyone attacked someone he cared about, he would have come to their defense.
"You stole my fiancée!" It was at this moment Minako noticed something about the person fighting her.
"You're a girl?" Minako yelled, surprised. The fiancée thing finally fell into place. This girl was Ranma's fiancée. No wonder she was angry.
Ukyo clearly looked to be even more distraught by Minako's claims, and using Minako's surprise had managed to clip Venus' shoulder. The impact sent Minako spinning. A second slap with the spatula served to cause Minako to become intimately acquainted with the ground. At this point Minako realized something else, perhaps something of just as great importance as her revelation had been. As she looked up at the gleaming instrument of food, and possibly death, Minako knew that this was the end. Ukyo's spatula descended towards Minako's defenseless form.
Minako's thoughts were something of a mix comprised of, 'hopefully it's quick', a goodbye statement to her friends, and perhaps a greeting to her old partner.
Clang.
Something wet fell on Minako's cheek. A tear? The young girl above Minako was crying. The heavy metal spatula had impacted the ground only a few centimeters to the right of the young sailor scout's head. Ukyo slowly withdrew the battle spatula, and sheathed it over her shoulder. Wiping her eyes she finally said. "Well I guess someone had to win… didn't they? And I guess Ran-chan made his choice…"
Minako rose unsteadily to her feet. Coming that close to death wasn't the most pleasant thing in the world. "It's not about winning and losing." It was sometimes about survival.
Ukyo let loose a loud bark of laughter. "Yeah, I guess you're right there hun." Ukyo turned away. "I'm not saying I forgive you or anything… but sorry about everything. You're right; no one can convince Ran-chan of anything he doesn't want to do. Well not completely at least. Me and him are going to have words, next time we see each other though."
Minako nodded. "I have a lot of thing to say to him when I see him again too." Once she passed on, in the far future hopefully, Minako planned on tracking down that idiot and beating him into the ground for dieing so easily.
Ukyo and Minako walked in silence back through the alley. The scars of the battle were carved into the walls on either side.
Minako tried to talk to her one time opponent, but every time she started, the youth just ignored her. On the other side of the alley, where Minako had first encountered Ukyo, the street was a disaster. The cement was shattered and cracked. Melted bits of wall still glowed in the night from the heat of Mars' attacks. Blackened marks showed where Jupiter had unleashed some of her more potent lightning strikes.
Overall it looked like something out of war zone. The four inner senshi could be still seen throwing magical strikes at a dark blur. The inner senshi all looked injured to varying degrees. All were bleeding a bit, and looked a more than a bit dirty.
"Konatsu, let's call it a night," Ukyo called out to the black blur that was narrowly avoiding the magical blasts.
The dark blur quickly appeared before Minako and Ukyo, revealing itself to be the young girl Konatsu. Konatsu looked even worse for the wear than the scouts. Soot blackened her clothes, and she was bleeding a great deal from various wounds. "Mistress Ukyo, I'm sorry I wasn't able to do more." The kunoichi glanced at Minako. "Did you take care of everything?" Clearly the kunoichi had expected only one of the two to come back.
"Yeah sugar. I'm just a bit tired right now. Let's head back," Ukyo grinned reassuringly at Konatsu. "I'll even whip up some of my famous okonomiyaki."
"Truly Mistress Ukyo?" The kunoichi's eye's sparkled at this.
"Where do you think you're going?" A very irate and bruised Sailor Mars called down the street. The other inners portrayed a mix or relief at Minako's safety, and anger at the young kunoichi.
But both the chef and ninja ignored the other scouts. "Just giving you a heads up, I'm not the only one a bit angry with you. Ran-chan has… had a bunch of other fiancées. And they're pretty insane. Watch your back k'? I wouldn't want to have to explain to Ran-chan why you died." That said the young chef threw a small object at the ground which quickly covered the surrounding area with flour.
Once the flour cleared, neither foe was present. Nor was there any clue as to where they had run off to. Minako made her way back to the other scouts knowing that she was about to be lectured.
…
Ukyo fired up the grill and began working on making one of her best okonomiyaki for Konatsu.
"Mistress Ukyo?" Konatsu looked concerned. "What happened? I thought you were going to challenge her, and then force her into leaving Ranma?"
"Yeah, but I found out they did 'it'." Ukyo's voice was terse and cold. Clearly she didn't want to think about what had been said by the girl. Konatsu tried to busy himself with tidying the shop up, but Ukyo put her hand on him.
"Sugar you need some rest, right? It can wait till tomorrow." Konatsu looked a great deal better in the light of the shop. But judging by the light burns, it had still been a hard fight.
Ukyo sighed as she continued talking. "Ranma's never even kissed me, and they went ahead and did 'it'. I lost control a bit and went full out. She was an okay fighter; I could tell she's fought Ran-chan before. It's in her style of fighting," Ukyo focused on thinking about her opponent, rather than her own actions during the fight.
Ukyo poured some batter onto the grill watching as it sizzled. "But no matter what happened, she never said anything about wanting Ranma, or that she was better than me. Maybe that's the difference between a hero, and a girl like me. She loves Ranma and pointed out it was his choice." Ukyo knew in her heart, that for a short while during that fight, that she had tried to kill Venus. And that scared her a bit. Sure she loved Ran-chan, but even in her most outrageous plots she had never seriously injured anyone.
Well, other than a few attempts against Miss Hinako, and that one time with Nabiki as the Tendo fiancée. But both times Ukyo had been aiming to beat them, not kill them or seriously injure them. Maybe it was time to let things go a bit? Next time she might not turn her spatula to the side.
"So what were they like?" A little bit of interest snuck into Ukyo's voice. As much as she hated to admit it, she did kind of like the sailor scouts. They were idols for most girls in Tokyo.
Konatsu looked pensively into the distance, before smiling brightly. "They were very good Mistress Ukyo. I was able to hold them off, but I wouldn't have been able to win. Towards the end I was forced to dodge a great deal."
"Ahh." Well it was nice to know the rest of her idols were good enough to beat Konatsu, whom Ukyo knew was one of the better fighters in Nerima.
The okonomiyaki was finally ready, and Ukyo served it up to her faithful employee, friend, and partner.
…
Elsewhere, the scouts were back in their normal clothes and nursing a plethora of bruises and a few minor cuts. For all that the kunoichi had been using sharp projectiles and poisons, the scouts were relatively unharmed. A bit sore in both pride and body, but they'd recover given a bit of bed rest.
Minako had listened to her friends berate her for the past half hour, nodding at the appropriate points, and agreeing that she would never run off to face the 'bad guys' alone again. The last being an order issued by Princess Usagi.
"So why did you run off without us?" Makoto finally asked.
The defendant at this impromptu trial, Minako, was finally able to present her case. "Because I know why Happosai is here. He's here because of what happened to Ranma."
"Ranma? Ohh, Ranma." Usagi took a moment to realize who Minako was talking about. "What does Ranma have to do with Happosai? Setsuna said that Happosai is like a natural disaster, if he comes he comes, then you have to deal with him."
"Maybe, but Ranma was the heir of the Saotome branch of the Anything Goes Martial Arts style of fighting. And his father was also a master of the Anything Goes style." Both Makoto and Rei looked a bit interested at this, as they seemed to remember what Pluto had mentioned about the school earlier.
"You believe that Ranma's father contacted his master after the death of Ranma? And that Happosai came to deal with you because of this?" Ami drew a logical conclusion from Minako's words.
Usagi was quick to jump to the defense of her friend in light of this possible attack on Minako's actions. "But it wasn't your fault. I'm sure it wasn't. We just have to tell Happosai that it's not your fault, and he'll leave you alone."
"Some how I doubt that meatball head." Rei immediately brought reality into a collision course with Usagi's naivety. "Setsuna said that Happosai doesn't care about anything other than his own appetite. Sure this might have brought him here, but I don't think he'll leave just because Minako says it's not her fault."
"Rei! It's not Minako's fault. We would have had to deal with Happosai eventually; if he's as big a threat at Setsuna says he is." Usagi and Rei were starting to heat up, promising to derail any productive conversation, when Minako finally spoke up.
"You're right Usagi." Minako embraced her princess, to show how much she appreciated the vote of confidence. "It took me a long time to realize it but I did. Ranma wouldn't have been Ranma, if he didn't come to rescue me."
Makoto's eyes widened. "He rescued you? But I thought you said he couldn't fight youma?"
Usagi burst out, her eyes gleaming, "He sounds like Mamoru."
Minako shook her head, "He was nothing like Tuxedo Kamen, he was rude, obnoxious, and he never backed down from a chance to fight. But he was my friend."
Both Makoto and Usagi were immediately drawn in by the romantic potential of a knight in shining armor. Ami looked mildly interested as well. Rei just gave a terse nod, as she still had a poor image of Ranma from the first story about him.
"I've never talked about what happened those last few days to anyone other than Artemis." Actually she had thrown Artemis out a window last time he had brought it up. The time before that she had emptied her glass of water on him. The time before that…well maybe it was time to get it out in the open. "This is how the death of Ranma Saotome started to come about." And Minako began to slowly tell the story of her first love, and first heartbreak.