Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ or Sailor Moon. Now that that's done, Welcome to another chapter of Prince of the Planets. Let's get on with the story.

Ranma and Usagi were walking home after spending an hour playing with Hotaru. Ranma had found that he had enjoyed the time he and Usagi had spent with the little girl even thought Hotaru was rather frail. Still, that smile that Hotaru gave him and Usagi when Usagi promised that they would visit Hotaru soon made Ranma's day. As the duo was walking down the streets Usagi turned to Ranma and said while smiling, "Thanks, for helping me cheer Hotaru up, Ranma." Ranma just shrugged his shoulders and said, "No one deserves to be alone Usagi, trust me."

At that moment Ranma was hit by a stray water balloon causing his curse to activate. Usagi looked at the pouting red head and had to keep from commenting how cute Ranma looked. Although the curse was strange, Usagi didn't let that negatively affect how she thought about Ranma. Usagi also figured that with the kind of outfit she transformed into to fight evil that she had no room to call Ranma weird on that account. Besides, Ranma was a great boy to be around and she enjoyed spending time with the pigtailed boy- err girl.

It was when she was walking the final stretch home by herself that a thought came to Usagi's mind. Ever since that meeting in the park, Usagi hadn't missed Mamoru at all. Usagi actually stopped walking when she realized that fact. When Mamoru had been brainwashed by the Dark Kingdom, she had spent hours each day worrying about him. However, except for mentioning the breakup to those who didn't know about it, Mamoru hadn't really entered her thoughts at all.

Usagi supposed that it was for the best; Mamoru didn't want her and her pinning for him would be a futile waste of energy. Just because they had gotten together in a timeline did not mean that they were 'destined' to always be together. There were plenty of guys out there that she could date when she decided to go find a boyfriend. Usagi thought that maybe she could consider the Jovian Paladin as a potential date, if he was single and she liked the 'real' person under the uniform. Usagi wasn't going to make the same mistake twice, especially when it dealt with her heart.

Down in the underground lair in the Tomoe estates, Professor Tomoe was angrily looking at Kaolinite and the Witches 5. The demonically possessed professor spoke with his displeasure known to all. "Find the three talismans so that Mistress 9 can have enough energy to summon our Master Pharaoh 90 from the Tau Ceti system to Earth. That's all I requested of you six. It is such a simple task, and yet I've given you daemon egg after daemon egg without so much as a weak Heart Crystal to offer Mistress 9 so that her strength might grow."

"Kaolinite, you are in charge of the witches 5 and responsible for how they act and their achievements. Did you not look closer at Eudial's failures or did you just chalk them up to Eudial being incompetent? And Eudial, why have you been using the same tried and useless tactics again and again to get the talismans? Surely a teacher in the Philosophy department and a computer specialist such as you would have the mental capacity to develop a better attack plan. I expect you to have a better plan of attack with this daemon egg I'm intrusting you with then you have before." With that, Professor Tomoe handed Eudial a daemon egg before curtly dismissing Kaolinite and the Witches 5.

Eudial took the daemon egg and quickly left her fellow witches in order to make it to her room at the infinity academy. Sitting down at her computer Eudial started to figure out where the next potential talisman holder would be located at. It took her a few minutes, but Eudial managed to locate a potential holder. She then pulled up the profile of her target and started reading it out loud. "Mister Kankuro Todo, co-founder and vice president of Maebashi manqué manufacturing company. Noted for his concern for factory worker safety and healthy working conditions, he has had no major scandals on public record. He will be in Tokyo tonight at a banquet at the penthouse of the Tokyo Hilton hotel for the society on worker friendly managers."

Eudial sat back in her seat trying to come up with a plan and talking to herself about it. "Okay, I know that the Sailor Scouts and that annoying Paladin will show up. Those other two scouts that always try and steal the heart crystal away from me probably won't be too far behind either. I can't just go after Mister Todo by myself as security will most likely be too tight. If I use a daemon to soften up my target, all my enemies will show up and I'll get chewed out again."

"Unless, now think about this Eudial old girl. Mister Todo will be at the penthouse which is at the top of the hotel. If I set the daemon to cause a distraction on the first floor, I could sneak up to the Penthouse I can get Mister Todo's heart crystal while the scouts are taking care of the daemon downstairs. I would have to disguise myself in order to escape, but I'll be able to just walk right past those pests while their trying to find the heart crystal. Now I just need to get out my little black dress."

At the Saotome home, Nodoka, Ranma, and Ryoga were getting ready for dinner. After the before meal blessing, Nodoka started serving dinner and talking to the two boys. "How was your trip to the library Ryoga?" Ryoga looked up from his home cooked meal and said, "It was very good Mrs. Sao-, I mean Auntie Nodoka. I was able to catch up on some of the subjects I was missing do to my former family curse." Ranma chimed in at this point and said, "I'm sure that Ami was a big help in this for you Ryoga." Ryoga got a little annoyed at Ranma and was also starting to blush. Nodoka wasn't helping matters at all when she said. "Oh, who's this girl you meet Ryoga?"

Ryoga was by now quite embarrassed. Still, a part of his mind was happy that this was going on because it was like he was part of a family. Deciding to answer Nodoka's question and get back at Ranma, Ryoga replied, "She's this girl that was walking with Usagi when Ranma lead us to where Usagi was this morning." Ranma quickly fired off a glare towards Ryoga before Nodoka said, "It's great to hear that you want to spend time with Usagi Ranma." Ranma half opened his mouth in a nervous smile before saying, "It's not like that mom. Usagi and my way to school meet up a fourth of the way there. It was just by coincidence that Usagi and her friend were walking to school and got there at that particular point when we did."

Nodoka just smiled and said, "Even if it's just a coincidence Ranma, I'm glad that you were spending time with Usagi. Usagi's mother is one of my oldest friends, and I know it puts my friend at ease that Usagi has someone like you walking with her. To be honest, I'm glad as well that Usagi has you there if something like that night after dinner was to ever happen again." Ranma just scratched the back of his head at his mother's praise. He hadn't even thought about something like that because he was happy to spend time with Usagi. But now that it was brought to his attention, Ranma didn't want Usagi in such a situation even more than if she just a regular girl.

Dinner was quiet after that last comment by Nodoka. She was happy to just be having dinner with friends and family after so many years that Ranma & Genma had been absent. Ryoga was happy to be eating dinner with friends. In all his years, Ryoga had only one or two months where he was able to share a meal with both of his parents present. He had maybe 3 or 4 months onto the time with both parents where he was able to share a meal with his parents individually. Thus to the formerly lost boy, being able to enjoy a meal with friends that were starting to consider him family was something special.

While Ranma was honestly enjoying his mother's cooking and the presence of the other people at the table, Ranma's mind was very busy. The topic on Ranma's brain happened to be Usagi and Sailor Moon. Ranma didn't want to admit it to his mother or even to himself, but the two girls were becoming like sirens in his mind. Just the thought of the two were starting to threaten his sanity. Ranma didn't know what it was that he was feeling when he thought of them, but he knew that they just had to be the same girl. If they were actually two different people, Ranma didn't know how he would be able to handle it.

Ranma's inner debate over Sailor Moon, Usagi Tsukino, and the connection between the two continued well after dinner had ended. While washing dinner dishes with Ryoga, Ranma decided that he would reveal his identity to at least Sailor Moon the next time the two of them met. Hopefully, Sailor Moon would reveal her identity and then end the debate in Ranma's mind. Just as Ranma had placed the last dish away, he felt the sense of wrongness that he got signaling that a monster attack was about to start. Ranma walked passed his mother and said as he was reaching the door. "I'm going to check on something mom, be back when I can."

Ryoga watched Ranma walk out the front door before he turned to face Nodoka. Ryoga noticed that Nodoka had a pained, and at the same time proud, expression on her face as she looked at where Ranma had been a few minutes ago. Ryoga then asked with concern in his voice. "What's going Aunty Nodoka?" Nodoka just smiled and said, "Nothing for you to worry about Ryoga." Ryoga thought about what Nodoka had said for a moment before he decided to follow her request.

Usagi in her Sailor Moon uniform was roof hopping as fast as she could with Ami right beside her as Sailor Mercury. The two girls had been at Ami's apartment taking care of the plants in the apartment when the Mercury computer sensed the output of a daemon being formed. As she ran as fast as she could, Usagi was silently thankful that her brilliant friend had been able to recalibrate and upgrade the sensors on the Mercury computer to be able to give them such an early warning.

One by one Sailors Mars, Jupiter, and Venus showed up on the rooftops and joined formation with Usagi at the lead. Just a few buildings before the Scouts reached the location of the new daemon; a familiar voice was heard calling out to them, "I hope this isn't a 'girls' night out on the town' because I think that I'll be joining you ladies." Usagi turned her head without breaking her stride to see the almost flying form of the Jovian Paladin rushing over to join them. Usagi just smiled and said, "We wouldn't mind the company Jovian Paladin." Subconsciously the Scouts changed into a 6 man formation and Ranma fell into formation.

The six teenaged defenders of Tokyo stopped on the edge of the roof facing the soaring Tokyo Hilton hotel. Their perches on the opposing roof allowed them to see the attacking daemon. The monster was a mix of steel and stone in the shape of a female gargoyle with a very large gun in its hand. Sailor Jupiter, after seeing the daemon fire a red beam from its 'gun' and destroy a car, mutter under her breath, "First we pound the Demona wanabe, then we tell Disney about the copyright violation."

Usagi and Ranma were about to jump down to stop the daemon when Ami shouted out from behind the mercury computer. "Something's up. No one down there has lost their heart Crystal." Rei turned to the brains of the operation and said, "Are you sure about that Sailor Mercury?" Ami nodded her head and said without doubt in her voice, "that is correct. The Mercury computer can scan to see if a person within 200 meters of it has lost their heart crystal. Also, it can now detect the residual energy from the Death Busters' heart Crystal extraction process within 800 meters. There is no sign of a lost heart crystal in the vicinity of the monster."

Realization as to what that meant hit Ranma like a ten ton truck, he whipped his head around and almost yelled out the answer, "This is a diversion! The target of the Death Busters is probably inside of that hotel about to be attacked." Ami nodded her head and said, "That would be a logical assumption given the evidence on hand." Ranma then turned to look Usagi in the face before saying, "Princess, might I suggest that you divide your forces to take out these separate threats. Where do you want me to attack?"

Usagi thought about the situation for a moment. Jovian Paladin's analysis made sense and was backed up by Ami, so Usagi wasn't going to doubt that this daemon wasn't a distraction. Jovian Paladin's suggestion of spitting up made sense, but Usagi needed to figure out who went where. Makoto's son could apparently sense the attacks and could track the Death Busters, so he should probably go in one group with Ami in the other. A reasonable, but slightly risky, division of her forces crossed Usagi's mind. Usagi then said with more confidence then she felt, "Scouts, I want you to defeat or at least contain the daemon. Jovian Paladin, you're with me in finding the Death Buster in the hotel. Once one group finishes their job, they will go help the others." The Scouts and Ranma nodded their heads to show that they understood their princess's plan.

Eudial smirked to herself as she watched the chaos unfold down below from her view point in an elevator with clear doors. It had been rather easy to get into the hotel due to the fact that there was no way for the hotel people to know that her story was false. But Eudial considered that she was lucky it was busy night tonight so all the employees were swamped. If you dress reasonably well but not extravagant and act confident, people tend to not question you. Eudial knew this from an old boyfriend who was a conman and had to agree that he was correct.

Eudial turned around to face away from the streets just as the elevator doors were about to open. Eudial calmly walked out of the elevator and down the hall. About midway to where her target was Eudial spotted a guard. The guard could possibly be a problem, but Eudial had a plan to get around him. Calmly Eudial opened her mouth and said, "Excuse me sir. So sorry to bother you, but you see, I had some transportation issues come up due to being delayed at a pervious function." The guard turned to face Eudial and said, "Who are you, this is an invitation only event." Eudial smiled and pulled out of her purse a practically perfect forgery of the invitation. "My name is Miss Eudial Ikari, from the board of trusties of the Rising Sun Higher Education Institute."

The guard looked a little puzzled and said, "Your invitation checks out so you can go in, but I've never hear of your organization before Miss." Eudial just smiled and said, "I would be surprised if you had heard of us. You see, we're a small organization that specializes in giving out tuition funds for promising but poor students on the understanding that they will pay back the money after they graduate." The guard nodded his head, she sounded like just the kind of upper-class bureaucrat that flocked to this fancy events. Eudial decided to end this and get rid of a possible threat to her escape by saying, "Thank you kind sir. However, as I was coming up the elevator, I noticed that there seems to be a riot going on outside." The guard just nodded his head and said, "Don't worry miss, we'll take care of it."

Eudial walked down the rest of the hall and opened the doors. The opened doors revealed that the banquet was in full swing with everyone in there busy on their meals. The head table was located just in front of a large French window that covered an entire wall. Eudial slowly made her way towards the head table were Kankuro Todo was having a steak dinner. Seeing Eudial approach, Kankuro looked up from his meal and said, "Good evening miss." Eudial then smirked and said, "Yes, it is a pleasant evening. I'll be taking that heart crystal of yours now!" With that Eudial shot at Kankuro with her collecting gun.

All the guests looked on in horror as a heart crystal came out of Kankuro's chest. Eudial had a gleam of triumph on her face as she grabbed the crystal and pocketed it in her dress. Just as Eudial was about to break off in maniacal laughter and run, A loud crash was heard coming from the French windows. Eudial looked on in shock and rage as she saw Sailor Moon and Jovian Paladin come crashing through the windows.

Usagi landed on her feet and said "This is a peaceful gathering, not meant for the likes of you." As if they had rehearsed their lines beforehand (actually they had, but that was only in the Silver Millennium for a parody play on the Scouts) Ranma then said, "There is a strict 'No Evil Bimbos' policy, you'll have to leave or be escorted out with extreme prejudice." Then in synchronization Ranma and Usagi shouted out, "Or in the name of Jupiter/The Moon we'll punish you!" In the back of Ranma's mind he ranted, "Why the hell did I just say that? It sounds pathetic as a battle cry. Next time, skip the pre-battle banter and go strait to the pounding part."

Eudial snarled and said, "I've already gotten the prize you brats. But here's a booby prize: Eudial flame thrower!" With that, Eudial pulled out her super powered wrist flamethrower and launched it at the two superheroes. Ranma immediately saw that the people at the head table were endangered by Eudial attack and moved to correct the problem. With a loud shout Ranma called out, "Callisto celestial shield!" This formed his defensive magical ability just in front of the head table protecting the scared people around the table.

Ranma, thanks to the well trained battle computer he called a brain, quickly analyzed the situation that he and Sailor Moon were in. Ranma turned to face Usagi and called out, "Princess, might I suggest that you move around to cut off the witch's line of retreat and commence with plan 'get the guards four'?" Suddenly Usagi remembered the plan that Jovian Paladin mentioned. It was a trick the two of them had once used to get rid of some pesky palace guards and Usagi could see how to adapt it to their current situation. Usagi nodded her head and ran to commence the plan as well as to cover the exit and helping the other people in the hall escape.

Eudial saw Usagi circling around behind her and wondered what Sailor Moon was up too. Suddenly realization on what her two opponents were planning dawned on her. Eudial growled as she mentally screamed, "Their not going to flank me and hit me from behind!" Eudial turned her Flamethrower away from the head table and pointed it at Sailor Moon. During the commotion, a wine bottle had fallen on the floor of the room. Sadly, Usagi was paying more attention to Eudial then the floor in front of her causing Usagi to trip over the wine bottle.

Ranma felt his Callisto celestial shield no longer being attacked and saw what Eudial was trying to do. A by now familiar rage ran through Ranma and he shot out like a dart towards Eudial. His armored leg lashed out at Eudial's head in a round-kick fashion. A sickening snap was heard as Eudial, who had never practiced martial arts, had her neck snapped from Ranma's kick. Eudial fell on the floor unable to move and died a few minutes latter due to snapped bones blocking her airways.

As the rage from the attack on Usagi left him, Ranma looked on in shock at what he had done. It was the first time that Ranma had ever taken a human life and it cut through him to the core. True, Ranma had destroyed his share of Daemons and he had killed the Orochi, but those were different. They were threatening human lives and had no free will or the ability to reason. The Orochi was just a powerful magical animal that operated solely on instinct, which was very different then Moon Cat advisors that he remembered as Prince Nephelite. The Daemon's were just artificial creatures created by the Death Busters and ran on a very simple programming. The dead witch in front of him was a human with free will, even if she had chosen such an evil path.

Usagi looked on at Ranma and saw the tears that were threatening to form in his eyes. Her heart ached at the thought that had she not fallen, this scene might not have happened. Usagi grabbed onto her courage and fortitude, allowing her to go over to Eudial's still warm body. Usagi knelt next to the body and began to search for the heart Crystal that Eudial had taken. Upon finding the crystal in Eudial's pocket, Usagi slowly walked over to Kankuro Todo's body and gently placed the crystal into the man's chest. Kankuro's friends watched on with joy as the man's face started to color up again.

Usagi walked over to Ranma and said, "I think that we should leave Jovian Paladin." Ranma nodded his head and said, "I agree princess." The two promptly made a discreet exit as the rest of the guests in the hall started to come out of the shock of the events that had just happened. One of Kankuro's oldest friends said when he saw Kankuro starting to wake up, "Thank god you're alright Kankuro." Kankuro turned to face his friend and said, "You know, I could have sworn I was in heaven. I thought I saw an avenging angel protecting you my friends as another angel led me back to you."

On the roof, Usagi and Ranma could see that the Scouts had just finished taking care of the monster that had caused so much commotion down below. Usagi flipped open her communicator and said, "Good work Scouts. We've taken care of the situation up here so go home. Meet together at the usual spot tomorrow, I'll tell you when at a latter date." Usagi turned around to see to her surprise and joy that Ranma had not pulled a disappearing act on her once again.

Usagi saw the look of pain on Ranma's face and said in a soft voice while her hand brushed against Ranma's jaw, "Look, I know what you're going through. Since I became a scout about a year ago, I've had to take the lives of three people. The first was Queen Beryl, but I tried to deny it by saying that she was just possessed by Metallia. The next two were Prince Diamond and Death Phantom, both of whom were from a then possible future. I'm ashamed to admit that on both of them I killed them with rage in my heart hopping that they would die. The pain never goes away Jovan Paladin, but time allows you to be able to handle it."

Ranma nodded his head silently. Usagi's words put him more at ease, and yet pained him so much. It made it easier for him to accept his actions as necessary and allowed him to see that there was hope for him. However, it pained him to know that the princess had to soil her hands with such a thing as taking a human life. Ranma would much rather take this particular burden onto his shoulders alone than share it with the princess, even thought sharing the burden would be easier for him to handle. Ranma then said, "Thank you princess, I hope our next meeting will not be so troublesome."

Ranma would have turned to leave, but Usagi had a firm grip on his arm. Usagi turned to look at Ranma and said, "Prince Nephelite, don't go. We were the best of friends in the Silver Millennium; can't you please just allow me to know who you are in this life? I won't tell anyone else who you are, although your previous mother Sailor Jupiter really wants to meet you." Ranma then remembered what he had originally had hopped to do before tonight's adventure started. Ranma then nodded his head and said, "If you would please do the same Princess."

Usagi's face turn a slight shade of pink due to how his addressing her like that made her feel. Usagi smiled and said, "We'll de-transform right now, facing each other so that we'll see who the other is at the same time." Ranma gave a slight nod with his head and said, "On the count of three, 1, 2, 3!" with that both of them were covered in light as their uniforms disappeared to be almost instantly replaced by their civilian clothing.

Usagi found herself looking straight into Ranma's eyes now seeing her new friend instead of his previous form. Usagi found herself slowly becoming lost in Ranma's eyes, not knowing that he was doing the same with hers. Usagi slowly moved closer to Ranma, before she closed her eyes and kissed Ranma on the lips. Any shock at this action on Ranma's part vanished as he wrapped his arms around Usagi and responded to the kiss.

Author's notes: I hope you've enjoyed this chapter of Prince of the Planets. We've finally gotten to the Ranma/Usagi romantic part that we've all been waiting for. I've tried a new section dividing method to try and help story flow. Comments on this method and any others are well appreciated. Remember, Reviews (especially ones that explain more) are a writer's best friend -HistorianoftheKais