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A

Ranma ½ x Sailor Moon

Crossover

Silver Rimmed With Crimson

By: Grounders10

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Chapter Three

Longing for the Moon

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Ranma's first destination after the fight at the park wasn't home. Her next visit was a stout, single-storey building down the street from Furinkan High School. The Hana Hagashi Memorial Library was technically not a public library. Built in the late sixties by the Hagashi family, it had since been taken over by a non-profit that ran several similar libraries across the country. That said, its collection was available to the public.

The first time Ranma had visited the library had been when she ducked inside to avoid Kodachi Kuno. Not much had changed since and she had made occasional use of the library for school projects as well as a place to hide when the chaos got a little… much. Not that she had stayed for long, it was just a good place to catch her breath.

"Afternoon, Mrs. Hanamori," she said as she strode in, waving to the elderly receptionist. The woman had a few shots of auburn through her silver-grey hair.

"Ranma, good afternoon," the older woman said as Ranma stopped at the desk, "Is everything going well? You look a little windswept."

Ranma ran a hand over her hair to try and get it back in order. She frowned. "There was a thing called a Youma at the park," she said, and immediately noticed the sharp inhale of the older woman, "You know what that is." It wasn't a question.

Mrs. Hanamori nodded. "I know quite well. You aren't hurt, are you? They can be quite dangerous," she said.

"I found a collection of about half of that book series you pointed me at," Ranma said. She pulled one of the ofuda she made out of her sleeve. "Without these, I'd have had to blow the Youma up instead of taking it out easily."

"You can work Ofuda? Wonderful," Mrs. Hanamori said, her smile brightening.

"I've figured a few rituals out," Ranma admitted, "But things have been getting weird ever since." She ignored the pang of longing in her chest.

"That is not… unheard of," Mrs. Hanamori admitted.

"The books made that clear," Ranma said, recalling the archaic language at the start of the first volume, "I've read through them all and practiced a lot, but a few things have come up and I… need more information."

"On?"

"God magic. I ran into something and those books don't have anything on it," Ranma said.

Mrs. Hinamori frowned. "Can you show me your magic?" she asked, glancing about the room.

"Sure," Ranma held a hand up and called a tiny bit of her magic up. Silver light flickered about her fingers for a few moments before she cut it off. Mrs. Hinamori's eyes were wide as she stared at her. "What?"

The old librarian closed her eyes and shook her head. "Nothing. You definitely have magic. Come, I have something to show you," she said, standing up and beckoning Ranma to follow her.

Ranma frowned and wondered why she had been surprised at the silver colour. She followed the older woman, passing through the library stacks in a path that became… increasingly suspicious. Her brain tracked the turns and twists through the stacks, but when they turned their fourth left before taking a right into the next row of stacks only to double back to find an entirely different row of books with an unfamiliar door at the end?

Well, you'd have to be dead not to be suspicious.

"Here we are, " Mrs. Hinamori said as she pulled out a key and fiddled with the lock.

"And where is here?" Ranma asked, crossing her arms to conceal grabbing an ofuda just in case.

"The Hana Hagashi Memorial Library Magic Wing, or section since we don't have wings. Even with magic, there is only so much space," Mrs. Hinamori said as she opened the door and stepped in, waving for Ranma to follow her.

"Magic Wing?" Ranma asked, cautiously entering the room. There was a staircase leading downstairs.

"It sounds more impressive than saying magic basement," the older woman said with a small smile before locking the door behind them and walking down the steps, "There's another way in I'll show you, but it requires you to have an ID card we only issue to people who've actually been introduced."

"Right, and where was this place when I mentioned looking for reference books?" Ranma asked.

"Right here. Only people who can actually call up their magic are allowed in. It's a library for practitioners, not novices," Mrs. Hinamori said as she hurried down the steps.

"I started learning a few weeks ago."

"Which puts you on the level of the average practitioner before they find us. Most usually only have one or two books to work from. Buying half the series must have been expensive."

"I had some spare money," Ranma said, leaving out that it was money she'd lifted off Kuno over the last year. He kept an astounding amount on him and well, he never noticed if she slipped half his change into her pocket when he tried to hug or attack her. Sure it was technically theft, but then his treatment of her was sexual harassment.

It made them somewhat even as far as she cared. More importantly, it financed her shopping therapy after dealing with all the bullcrap.

The library underground turned out to be fairly large. Not as large as the library above, but it had to take up at least half the floorplan of the building above. The actual atmosphere was much like that of the upper library. Warm lighting, plenty of comfy chairs, and dozens of stacks neatly organized and filled with books. A check-out desk was manned by a bored-looking young woman who looked to be in her early twenties. She was leaning back on her wheeled office chair, balancing on two wheels with her toes hooked on the edge of the counter.

"Suzuki, we've got another to sign up," Mrs. Hinamori said, causing the woman to start. Which promptly caused her to let go and topple backwards.

"Ow- fuck, shit- that hurt," came Suzuki's complaints from behind the counter. After a moment she popped back up rubbing the back of her head. "Huh, a brat?"

Mrs. Hinamori sighed. "This is Ranma Saotome. Get two ID sign-up sheets and a kettle of hot water. The sheets, then the water," she said.

"Two sheets? For one girl?" Suzuki asked, confused.

"I don't always look like this," Ranma said blandly.

"Exactly," Mrs. Hinamori said, "Hurry up, c'mon."

Suzuki rested her head on the corner of the counter and sighed. "Yes, ma'am." In a few moments, she had the sign-up sheets on the counter and was hurrying off to the staff room for a kettle of hot water.

Once the sign-up process was done, which took about ten minutes and involved a lot of staring from Suzuki when Ranma turned back to a guy, Mrs. Hinamori showed her the collection.

"... and over here we have the Onmyoudo section. It'll probably be the most useful to you given what you mentioned needing," Mrs. Hinamori said before pointing to the back shelf of the room, "And back there should be our section of divine magics. It's basically all theory and observation I'm afraid. Very little practical understanding if any. We aren't a large library I'm afraid and our selection is more geared towards personal protection, study and everyday magics than anything quite so grand as 'God Magic'."

"That's fine," Ranma said, staring around at the shelves of books with a bit of awe and worry, "I expected maybe a book or a pamphlet or something, not an entire section."

"Well we are a library," Mrs. Hinamori said with a laugh, "Now, how on earth did you wind up tangled with God Magic? Even for your luck, this seems… A bit worrying, dear." She frowned at him with concern.

"A talking cat calling itself a Mau gave me an item the Old Ghoul thinks is God Magic. Not much more she could tell me at the time so I'd hoped you'd have something here," he replied.

"A Mau?" Mrs. Hinamori crossed her arms, "I can't say I've ever heard of a Mau. If you want to look it up, start with that row over there," she pointed, "It's our section on non-human entities."

"Does that include aliens?" he asked.

"All sapient non-human entities that aren't classified as animals are technically aliens," Mrs. Hinamori said, "Whether they come from another dimension or another world is just a technicality."

"Thanks. I'll take a look, then head home… So, if I wanted to get in and out of here without the confusing labyrinth upstairs?" Ranma asked.

"This way." He followed Mrs. Hinamori over to a set of stairs on the wall opposite of the way they came in and went up to a crash door with a fire exit sign. It led to a sterile concrete hallway with exposed conduits and ducts above. "You swipe your ID card here," she said, pointing out a card reader beside the door.

"And the far door?" he asked.

"Much the same. Here, test it," she said, letting the door close. It opened for both his IDs and they moved onto the other door which let out into a niche dead-end corner of an underground train station. Which was odd, because he didn't think there were any near the library.

"Right, that's all there is," she said.

"Thanks… I noticed there weren't too many people in the library," he said. There had been an old man in a corner with a stack of aged leather books and a boy about his age who had his eyes covered in shadows by his overly long bangs slouching about the section on Demonology… which was probably a bad sign but he was trying not to judge a book by its cover.

"It waxes and wanes. Some days we get dozens, but most of the time you'll see at most four or five people over the course of an afternoon," Mrs. Hinamori replied, "It does make a great place to hide for a few hours if you need to. Just try not to bring angry supernatural attention down on us. Alright?"

He scratched the back of his neck and chuckled awkwardly. "I'll try? Can't really promise anything yet," he said.

"Mhmm, just be aware any damage caused by someone following you back gets billed to you. Just so you know," she said, patting him on the shoulder as he winced.

"Thanks…"

She giggled. "Don't worry about it. It rarely happens. Our wards are rather decent after all," she said before swiping her card, "Now I need to get back to the front desk. I hope you find what you need."

"So do I."

It was another hour before he left, taking out two books on a topic known as 'Divine Power Theory' and another book on Onmyoudo warding traditions and rituals. He really needed to see if he could keep some of the unwanted supernatural entities out of the dojo for once. Who knew, maybe it would even keep out Happousai whenever the creepy little gnome got back from his trip abroad.

Leaving the library Ranma was rather surprised to discover that the train station really wasn't anywhere near the library or Furinkan. He was, in fact, halfway across Nerima. With an annoyed curse, he took to the rooftops and headed straight home.

-0-0-0-0-0-

News of the park made the evening news that night, though it thankfully only mentioned a 'local martial artist' rather than anyone specific. Dodging questions, Ranma wound up retreating to the room he shared with his parents to crack open one of the books on god magic. Well, magic theory. He sat by the window, using the fading evening sun to read.

It was getting hard to read when a soft patter on the window sill caused him to look up. With a yelp, he scrambled down the wall several feet before his other senses caught up with his eyes and he let out a breath.

"Don't do that," he told Luna as the Mau stared at him from the window.

"Your awareness needs work," was the Mau's reply accompanied by a small laugh, "So this is your birth form. How a man like yourself demonstrates such loose morals as a girl is a fantastic question."

"I do not 'demonstrate loose morals'," Ranma snapped, earning a judgemental hum from the alien cat. "What are you doing here?"

"Checking on you, of course, Your Highness," she said, hopping down and padding over to the book that had landed on the floor. "What curious writings. They seem to be rather uninformed."

Ranma sighed and moved back to the window, picking up the book as he did. "I'm trying to make sense of that brooch," he said, producing the item with his free hand, "But it's a type of magic that seems to be more theory than practice at the moment."

"I suppose Cosmic Power Links and Sailor Crystals are forgotten magic then," Luna said, sighing, "Not that we permitted much of that knowledge going into public circulation either. It was dangerous enough in the hands of people who knew what they were doing. Can you imagine if every magician in the solar system knew how to bind souls to cosmic bodies in order to create Sailor Crystals? Sure, the planets were claimed, but even planetoids as small as Phobos and Deimos could have produced Senshi of decent power."

Ranma took a moment to parse that. "So this," he held up the brooch, "is linked to the magic… in a planet?" He had heard just how much power ran through the land. The idea of all of that being funneled through a single human being via their soul? Did such a being even count as human anymore?

"To the Moon, specifically. Through the moon the Royal Family was also bonded to the Ginzuishou instead. I mentioned it last time," Luna said, hopping back up to the window sill so she wasn't craning her neck quite so hard.

Ranma wasn't sure what to say to that. He wasn't sure what to even think about that little revelation. 'Little'. Ha. She was basically saying that his soul had one of these in it.

He leaned against the wall. "So, question," he said.

"Yes?"

"How many 'Senshi' are there?" he asked.

"To my knowledge, the plan was to send forward those of the nine planets plus Princess Serenity," Luna replied, "I have their Henshin Sticks that they can use to awaken their powers, but finding them will be an issue. Though, Venus' is missing at the moment. I suspect Artemis may have already found her."

"Artemis?" he asked while noting that that didn't mean there hadn't been more than nine, just that they had only sent forward nine. What had happened to the rest?

"Another Mau. We were both advisors to Queen Serenity," Luna said. She fidgeted.

Ranma rubbed his forehead. "Any chance we can contact this 'Venus' or Artemis?" he asked. If he could talk with someone who had used one of these artifacts he might be able to learn more about them.

"... It's possible, but that would depend on where they are on Earth," Luna said, "We do have an operations base we set up here in Tokyo that I might be able to contact them through."

"Where?"

Luna paused and tilted her head. "... I believe it's here in Nerima. At the 'West Crown Gaming Center'."

"Then we're going there tomorrow," Ranma said, "I-"

The door to the bedroom slid open and Ranma's mother paused in the doorframe. The two of them turned to her.

"Ranma, I heard you talking to someone," she said. Ranma pointed down at Luna.

"Not going to hide me?" the Mau asked.

"Why bother? You're not even one of the top ten weirdest things in Nerima right now," he replied, "Mum, Luna. Luna, Nodoka Saotome, my mother."

Nodoka's mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water before closing into a frown. "This is the one who thinks you are a… a… Princess?" she asked as she stared at the Mau.

"He has the power of the Princess. I can sense it when they work magic," Luna said primly, sitting straight as she met Nodoka's gaze.

"I find it hard to believe that my manly son is the reincarnation of some foreign Princess," Nodoka scoffed as she walked across the room to the window. Ranma shuffled to the side as the alien cat and his mother stared each other down.

"Souls do not care about political borders or cultural sensitivities," Luna replied, her tone dismissive, "I am here to help and to guide as an advisor."

"To advise on what, exactly? How my son can throw himself away to become some long-gone girl?" his mother asked. Ranma winced, her words echoing his own reluctance to engage with the Mau.

"I would never," Luna snarled, her entire posture shifting to anger and outrage, "My concern is their survival through the coming days, nothing more. I take my duty to the House of Serenity seriously, madam, and will never compromise those entrusted to me."

Ranma coughed awkwardly into a fist, causing the two bristling women to glance his way. "Erm… Mum, she says there's something big coming. Something… Something terrible enough it killed civilization," he said, "I'm not exactly enthused about this whole thing. There's a reason I'm still looking things up, but if the world's at stake…" He let out a breath. The world included his family. His mother, father… even Akane and the others. Whatever they were to each other.

His mother grimaced with a mulish look upon her face before turning away from the Mau entirely. "You… are being careful, right, my child?" she asked, her voice surprisingly hesitant.

His mind flashed back to the ritual where she almost involuntarily said the activation phrase. "As I can be," he said.

She looked disquieted with that, undoubtedly recognizing that he thought there was some danger to just doing it. "Then-"

A loud explosion echoed in the distance and Ranma looked out the window. A cloud of dust hung over the buildings. Even from a distance, it looked a touch bright, like snow despite the fact it was spring. It was the telltale sign of a flour bomb.

A fact borne out a moment later when it promptly detonated in a fireball that sent windows rattling across the district. "That's Ukyo. I need to go," Ranma said, dropping the book on his futon.

"But-" His mother started.

"Wait!" Luna shouted, "It could be youma."

Ranma cast her a glance halfway out the window. "Yeah, which is why I need to go," he said, "Ukyo's pulling out the big guns for something."

"At least turn yourself into a girl. The enemy knows what you look like as a girl, it's only to your advantage to keep them ignorant of your other form," Luna said. She had a point. It wasn't like he'd had time to set up wards yet.

"Not a bad idea," he admitted.

"Ranma." He looked up to find his mother's worried gaze.

"I'll be fine," he said, giving her a winning grin. Her worry softened just a little.

"... Come back to us, please," she said, and he knew she was referring to more than physically. He nodded.

"Back in a few," he said, taking a running leap off the second story. He landed in the pond and she immediately bounded out as the change washed over her. Up over the wall and into the distance racing across the rooftops.

"If it's a-" she most definitely didn't squeak and nearly trip over an air conditioner as a voice came from her shoulder. Turning just slightly she saw the whiskers of the black-furred Mau and had to desperately delve into the soul of ice to keep from panicking as the cat-like being was on her shoulder. When had she gotten there? HOW?!

She bounced across the street, fighting to get her heart rate under control. It was… really difficult. She intellectually and spiritually knew that the Mau wasn't a cat, but her fear really didn't care when they were this close.

"Where did you come from?" she demanded.

"I climbed on right before you jumped," Luna replied.

Ranma hadn't noticed. "Well get off."

"There's no other way for me to keep up. Physically capable as I am, I am far below your own prodigious abilities, Princess," she said.

Ranma was split between preening at the praise and smacking the black-furred 'angel' on her shoulder and so decided to instead ignore the Princess line. "You were saying?"

"I was saying, if this is a Youma it might have some unusual abilities," the Mau continued. In the distance, which was much closer now, a series of explosions crackled like fireworks. Maybe they were fireworks. She knew Ukyo liked to bake gunpowder into her creations on occasion.

"Like?"

"Literally anything. Expect the unusual. Excepting a few, the Youma out and about should be the elite. Not the best, but still elite," Luna said, "They'll be the ones with either great power, skill, or something so unusual as to be unique amongst the Dark Kingdom-"

"Dark Kingdom?"

"That's the rough translation of the name we gave to Metalia's forces under Queen Beryl," Luna replied.

"Right. The books refer to Youma as the first demons. What are they really?" Ranma asked.

"Constructs infused with demonic essence to give them rudimentary minds. Most never become anything more, some however develop true sapience. They are what you are most likely to encounter. Even an average man with the right weapon can kill a typical Youma. These are the ones that would have likely been blooded against the Silver Millenium's forces during the fall," Luna said, "The ones that were locked away."

Filing that information away as she crested the edge of the roof overlooking the fight Ranma stared down at the fight. Craters dotted the four-way intersection and the front of a nearby coffeeshop had been blown outward.

"COFFEE!" Ranma blinked as she registered the form of Ukyo dancing and rolling away from shots of a black liquid that had enough force to put holes in the concrete without issue. What didn't break seemed to melt as though superheated. Which was probably why her friend and fiancee was currently ducking and jumping about the street rather than seeking shelter behind her missing giant spatula.

The source of the black liquid was a pink and brown female monster dressed like a barista and holding what looked like the bastard offspring of a flamethrower and an espresso machine. It even had coffee cups attached to the side like spare shotgun shells.

"You mean like this," Ranma deadpanned at the ridiculous sight.

"... Yes, I mean like this," Luna sighed, hopping off her shoulder and taking cover behind the lip of the roof. "Now, I'd suggest transforming but since you don't trust the brooch-"

"RANCHAN A BIT OF HELP HERE!" Ranma's old friend screamed as she backflipped off a wall and over a spray of 'coffee'.

"Hold that thought," Ranma said taking a running leap off the roof in the direction of the monster. She whipped an ofuda, one of only a handful she had left, out of her sleeve as she descended toward the Youma. She fed her magic into the strip, lighting the symbol on it with silver flame one by one.

It looked up as she did so. "I SENSE YOU MOONLING!" It screamed, firing once. Ranma twisted in the air, avoiding the stream of building-melting coffee and struck out with the ofuda as she came down. Unfortunately, the creature had attempted to move back and the only thing she managed to tag was the end of its gun.

"No!" It wailed as it tossed the burning weapon away. With a gesture, its right arm transformed into a cross between a stir-stick and a mail opener. Only a lot sharper than either could be as demonstrated by an overhead strike carving opening the concrete sidewalk like it was made of taffy.

Ranma swayed around the frantic strikes of the Youma and slapped the ofuda along the 'blade' of its arm. Silver fire flashed and it screamed as everything from the elbow on disappeared. It wasn't the end as the creature hissed and retreated.

"Moonfire, you are her," it snarled, recognition dancing in its eyes. Ranma rolled her eyes and pursued, drawing a second ofuda. "The General will find you. He will break your body and roast your soul. You will be fed to Me-" Ukyo's foot slammed into the back of its head and the creature stumbled forward- right into Ranma's ofuda. There was a brief look of horror followed by a moment of screaming and the Youma was gone.

"Thanks, Ucchan," Ranma said, giving her tired fiancee a glance over.

"Yeah… yeah…" Ukyo nodded, taking great gulping breaths as she sagged to her knees, "No problem… Ranchan. Oh kami everything hurts." She rubbed her side as her breathing stabilized.

"You okay?" Ranma asked, kneeling down.

"Fine. Just sore. Whatever that thing was, it had a mean right hook Sugar," Ukyo complained.

"It's a Youma. Apparently, there's some ancient seal or something breaking down and they're getting loose," Ranma said as checked her friend for injuries. Thankfully, nothing appeared broken and her cuts were superficial at best.

"Greeat, just what we need, demonic vermin," Ukyo's sarcasm could have stripped paint.

"They feed on Ki, but people like you and I have a bit more than they can safely eat quickly," Ranma continued.

"So instead of a snack, we're a takeaway. Gotcha," Ukyo muttered, leaning bonelessly against Ranma.

"Was anyone hurt back there?" Ranma asked, gesturing to the cafe.

"Not sure. Everyone was out cold when I walked in. Just wanted a coffee before getting back to work," Ukyo grumbled. She looked like she was about to pass-out herself.

"You need to lie down," Ranma said.

"Yeah, I noticed. Mind helping me back to my shop, Ranchan?" She asked, giving her wide hopeful eyes. The redhead restrained the urge to snort. Then her eyes went even wider. "Ranchan, don't turn around."

Guessing what was behind her, Ranma called, "Luna?"

"Just catching up with you," the Mau replied.

"It talks?" Ukyo said, followed by a groan, "Sugar, how do you know a talking cat?"

"You mean another talking cat," Ranma corrected with a twitch, "Technically not a cat. She's an alien."

"Alien… riiight," Ukyo stared past Ranma for a long moment before turning to her, "Let's get to my shop, then you can explain what the hell has been going on since the start of spring break."

Ukyo's shop was, fortunately, not terribly far. It was just a few more blocks. They were met at the door by Konatsu. The faux-kunoichi looked quite alarmed as Ranma helped his master find a seat.

"Put up the closed for the night sign, Konatsu," she said tiredly, nearly flopping back into the seat with a sort of boneless exhaustion.

"She got into a fight with a Youma," Ranma said as an explanation. Judging by the slight widening of the kunoichi's eyes, Konatsu knew exactly what those were.

Once the sign was hung, Ranma had made a call to reassure her mother, and she'd found a cup of hot water, the three sat down at the table. Ranma sipped the cup of tea Konatsu had made. He was getting better.

"So it started a few days ago when Luna here climbed into my window…"

-0-0-0-0-0-

"You really didn't need to come," Ranma sighed as she led the way down the steps behind the West Crown Gaming Center, a four-story arcade and apartment building. The bottom two floors were an ice cream parlor and an arcade.

"Ranchan, we're not leaving you to walk into the clutches of a space cat's trap," Ukyo said from the top of the steps. She was scanning the alleyway with a new giant spatula resting on her shoulder.

"What she said," Akane echoed, staring at Ranma with crossed arms.

The two girls had gotten wind of her plans for the day, and Ranma could admit it was her own fault. After leaving Ukyo, Ranma had gone home and told her mother about what had happened and that she planned on following Luna to talk with this 'Sailor V'. It turned out the girl was something of a celebrity in Tokyo, not that Ranma had been following the paper. It just wasn't important most of the time. Akane had overheard the conversation and given Ukyo a call. Which was why when he stepped out of the house the next morning it was to find Ukyo waiting for him and Akane walking out behind him.

He hadn't been able to say no to either of them and not because he hadn't tried. Ukyo had pulled out a rope of those rubbery noodles she'd used in their duel months prior and basically lassoed him when he'd tried to jump away. The only thing Ranma had succeeded in was getting soaked in a puddle from the overnight rain.

"Fine," Ranma sighed, knowing she wouldn't be able to dissuade them, "So where's the entrance to this place?" She directed the question to the Mau who was doing something inside an electrical box mounted across from the basement door of the Gaming Center.

"Right here," Luna said, her voice echoing a little from inside the box. Something snapped loudly and with a low grinding noise the wall next to them retracted back revealing more concrete stairs leading down. "There." She popped up and hopped down leading the way down. At the bottom she bounced up and tapped a button on the wall. The door ground shut behind them, leaving them standing in a white-tiled concrete tunnel lit by fluorescent lights.

"Well this is fancy," Ranma said sarcastically. Luna sniffed.

"This way," she said primly, leading them down the hallway towards a white set of double doors.

"Where did this even come from?" Ukyo asked, "Did you take over an old JSDF bunker?"

"Truthfully, I'm not sure. I'm not the one who set this up," Luna said, "I believe it was Artemis who set it up. At least, he's the one who let me know where it is and how to get in."

The doors slid open at their approach to reveal a circular room. The floor was the same white tiles as the hallway, but the walls had changed from concrete to a mosaic of silver, black and gold tiles that seemed to be entirely artistic. A desk to the right held some kind of sci-fi computer-looking thing. There were a few chairs, but the room had the feel of a reception room, a fact supported by the two doors leading further in.

Luna led them down the right hallway. A couple of doors branched off, but the Mau led them to the end where the hallway ended in shimmering translucent steps that descended through a seeming void to a dais of silver metal lanced through with electronics surrounded by marble pillars. In the center sat a large console of a white metal with seats for two and a massive array of controls. The walls and ceiling appeared to stretch on into infinite darkness, an effect only broken by looking down. Surrounding the dias low enough to give the illusion it was floating in space was a circuitous maze of servers. The soft glow of their indicator lights lit up the darkness just well enough to give them the impression they went down quite a ways. How far, exactly, Ranma couldn't say. At least twenty feet at a guess, but without a better angle it could just as easily be two hundred.

Their Mau guide hopped up on the chair for the console. "Here we are. Let me see this should be… yes," The alien cat muttered to herself as she pressed buttons. With a crackle, a projected screen appeared above the console. Other circular screens appeared at the same time between the many pillars. Metrics of some sort, but they weren't written in Japanese.

"Holograms. Okay, seriously, what is this stuff?" Akane demanded.

"It's from the Silver Millennium," Luna replied.

"You said that was tens of thousands of years ago," Ranma said, "How does any of it work now?"

The Mau's typing slowed. "I… Don't know. I think some things were put into stasis with us, but… I'm sorry, my memory has holes in it that I can't seem to fill," she said, apologetically.

"Now that's not suspicious or anything, Sugar," Ukyo said sarcastically as she eyed the cat. "You sure this isn't some scam?"

"It's a bit elaborate for a normal scam, though," Ranma replied, recalling the many setups she'd been sucked into over the last year. No, there was a bit too much effort involved here for a run-of-the-mill scam. Perhaps something involving the ruins of that age? Maybe, but she needed more information.

Luna sighed as they started tossing ideas back and forth on what the scam could be. Ranma smirked at her irritated ear twitching. "It isn't a scam. Moondust, you girls are the most paranoid people I've encountered since I woke up," she said, shooting them an unimpressed glare.

Ranma chuckled while the other two giggled. Nerima had a way of making you a bit cynical. At least if you had any sense, which most residents really didn't. Otherwise, they would have probably moved away.

"Here we are," Luna said, triggering something as the screen put up words in that language Ranma didn't recognize. It looked vaguely Latin, or maybe Greek was a better description? She wasn't an expert on foreign languages but it had a sort of angular blockiness that was lacking in Japanese.

The word repeated on the screen several times before another one popped up only to be replaced by the face of a white cat. Ranma took a reflexive step backwards. Mau were far too similar to cats for her liking and an image just didn't have the extrasensory feedback that helped her ignore it.

"Hello? Who is- Luna?" The cat looked surprised.

"Hello, Artemis. Is everything going well in London?" she asked with a smile.

"Well enough. Sailor V and I have been dealing with a branch of the Dark Kingdom here called the Dark Agency," he said, "I think we've almost got it wrapped up, but we'll be here for at least another two months either way thanks to her father's work."

"That's good to hear. Would it be possible to have her come to the communicator? I have someone who would like to speak with her for a bit," Luna said.

"Uh, maybe. We had a late night and I'm not sure she's awake quite yet. Let me see if I can do something about that," Artemis said. He disappeared from the screen and there was the sound of something moving followed by a feminine cry of "ARTEMIS!" and a rapid series of thuds.

Ranma exchanged looks with her two fiancees. Akane was facepalming while Ukyo looked like she was trying not to laugh.

A face finally appeared in view. A blonde girl who looked to be a year or two younger than them. "Um, hello?" she said, looking rather confused and fresh out of bed with her hair pushed into a puffball on one side.

"Hi," Ranma said, one hand starting to toy with the end of her braid awkwardly. Behind her Akane rolled her eyes.

"You're Minako, right? Sailor V?" Akane asked.

"Yeah, that's me. Sailor V," Minako said as she distractedly ran a comb through her hair. She yawned. "Sorry about this. I spent all night staking this place out. Absolute bust." She grumbled.

Ranma glanced at her two fiancees. She hadn't mentioned the side effects of poking at the brooch with magic, which was why she hadn't wanted them to follow her in the first place. "Sorry to hear that," she said, stepping up to Luna. She always felt so awkward introducing herself to new people.

Luna piped up, "Sailor Venus, may I introduce Ranma Saotome, Akane Tendo and Ukyo Kuonji."

"Nice to meet you…?" Minako asked, a frown forming, "Are they all Senshi?"

"No," Ranma stepped forward, shooing Luna out of her seat before sitting down. Luna took an open spot on the terminal. Ranma pulled the silver brooch out and held it up.

"Oh, that's different from mine," Minako said, "So which one are you?"

Luna coughed. "Based on my encounters we currently believe her to be the Moon Princess," Minako's eyes lit up hopefully with a gasp, "but she's been refusing to use the transformation item so we can't confirm it," she said, giving Ranma side eyes.

"Why the hell not?" Minako sounded completely confused.

"We've got a long history with weird magical items at this point," Ranma said, "The last year has been exhausting." Every week added something new to the list. Sometimes multiple items were added in a week, or even in a day.

"A year? It's been nearly a year and a half now," Akane grumbled.

"The point is," Ranma shot a glance at her fiancee, "I don't really trust magic items anymore, and really who trusts a talking cat you've never met before?"

Minako laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of her head. "Yeah… Yeah, who does that?" she said like it was a question, even as she stared off-screen with a glare.

"Hey, don't look at me that way," Artemis protested, "I told you it was going to be dangerous."

"You've used something like this, right?" Ranma asked.

"Mhmm," Minako produced a pen-like object. It was yellow with a little star at the end. She spun it between her finger dexterously- before it slipped and went flying out of screen. "Dang it. Thought I had it that time."

Behind Ranma she could hear Akane facepalming and muttering while Ukyo just laughed. "I like her, Ranchan," Ukyo said.

Ranma's lips twitched towards a smile, but she wasn't here for games. "I'm asking because I've been running tests on this stupid thing and…" she frowned, one hand coming to rest on her heart.

"Is something wrong?" Minako asked, looking concerned.

Ranma tried to ignore the looks she was getting from Akane and Ukyo. She knew they suspected there were things she hadn't mentioned to either of them. "When I was trying to puzzle out how safe it was… I started saying the activation phrase without meaning to," she said, "I stopped myself but…" She cast a glance back to Akane who was sending her that look of 'I warned you' mixed with concern. "But it was calling to something here," she tapped her chest again, "And ever since I stopped myself I've been able to feel it, right here. There's a part of me that feels… incomplete."

Minako chewed her lip on screen. "When I first used the transformation pen the words just came to me as well," she said, "I didn't even have time to think before I'd said them and then it was a bit too late to have second thoughts. Next thing I knew I was in the uniform."

"Ranma, you didn't say anything-" Akane started.

"Not now, Akane," Ranma snapped, sending a glare over her shoulder that brought her fiancee up short. Ukyo took a step forward and stopped as she met Ranma's sharp look.

"But, yeah there was a piece of me that felt complete. Like something I'd been missing without knowing had been returned," Minako said, "From what Artemis has told me, our powers come from our souls and all these tools do is act as keys to open the door so to speak."

Ranma turned the brooch over in her hands. "So then the ache is probably just the fact I'm now aware something should be there and isn't," she said.

"I'm not an expert, Princess," Minako said. Ranma winced at the address.

"Don't, call me that," she said, looking up at the screen, "Just call me Ranma." Minako brightened.

"Sure thing, Ranma," she chirped.

"MINAKO! TIME TO GET UP!" Minako's eyebrow twitched as the voice reached the call.

"And that would be my mother. Good luck figuring this out. I've gotta go. Hey Artemis, how do I turn this off?" A moment later the call was over and Ranma stared at the blank screen for a long moment before rotating on the seat to face her fiancees.

"Ranchan, at what point were you going to mention the fact that you've got a strange magical artifact literally speaking to your soul?" Ukyo asked, tapping her spatula against her shoulder impatiently.

"Something did happen when you were doing those rituals. I warned you not to poke it," Akane said, huffing angrily.

"Yeah, yeah," Ranma groaned, rubbing her forehead as she stared at the brooch. Completeness. Soul. Magic.

Soul.

No wonder she always knew where the brooch was. No wonder it called to her in a way that set her soul aching. It was part of her soul. A fragment given form with magic meant to act like a key. The reason her soul ached was because it always had, it just now realized that it wasn't normal.

Why the fuck couldn't she have a normal life?

She stuffed it into her ki pocket as she felt the first syllable of the activation phrase start to form on her lips.

"Seriously, Ranchan," Ukyo said, drawing her attention, "Is that thing safe?"

Ranma looked to Luna who was staying oddly silent. "What does it trigger? Minako mentioned a uniform," she said to the Mau.

"That would be the Senshi uniform," Luna said, "It's a form of solid magic that acts as an achor for the protective spells the device enacts as part of its activation. It's essentially magical body armour with a different appearance."

"Define different?" Ranma asked.

Luna reached down and pushed several buttons. "Let me just… I think we have an image here- there it is," she said as one of the screens around the perimeter changed from statistics to a picture of clothing, minus anyone wearing it. Another screen appeared next to it listing off something in that same language she couldn't read… though it was feeling achingly familiar the longer she looked at it.

"That's a rather short skirt," Akane said.

"I'm sorry, why does it have heels?" Ukyo asked.

Ranma rolled her eyes. It wasn't even half as bad as some of the stuff she'd had to fight in before. Its base was a white leotard with an orange skirt that might have reached mid-thigh on Ranma with a sailor-style collar in the same colour and long white opera gloves. A selection of jewelry and a pair of orange heels rounded it out.

"This is Sailor Venus' uniform," Luna said with an exasperated sigh, "It's intended to be ceremonial as much as practical."

"What practicality? You're talking about fighting in heels. They're more likely to turn an ankle than fight," Ukyo said, waving a hand at the screen.

"She has a point," Ranma said to the cat.

"Well yes, but I'm hardly the one to be mad at, am I?" Luna huffed, "I didn't design them, and the Queen signed off on the style so its a bit late to complain."

"No, it seems like the perfect time to complain," Ranma replied as she eyed the outfit critically. She'd fought in worse, admittedly, but never more than once. Okay, so she'd been forced into a bunny suit several times, but that was different… Okay so not really, but the principle of the matter was important. "There is no way in hell I'm wearing that. The moment anyone recognized me I'd die of embarrassment."

"It does include a recognition prevention field that's on as standard. The Senshi back in the day used to keep it off since they were important in and out of uniform, but it does exist," Luna said.

"So, it makes you look different?" Ukyo asked.

"No. It isn't a disguise, it just prevents those who see you or a picture of you from making the mental connections. You might get comments on how similar you look, but no one will honestly believe you're the same person unless they see you transform," the Mau explained, "In the early days Senshi were elite agents of the Crown, selected from the Queen's Handmaidens. Later they became hereditary positions passed from Princess to Princess in the Matriarchal lines that ruled the many worlds of the system."

"Why matriarchal?" Akane asked.

"Because only girls can draw out the full measure of a star seed. It's one of those oddities of magic that I was never well-versed in. I'm afraid I'm more of a political advisor than a magic user," Luna said, sighing, "The brooch calls to you, Ranma?" She looked up at Ranma.

"Yeah. It does," Ranma confirmed.

"Then you are the Princess." Ranma scowled as her Fiancees stared at her.

"Wouldn't that be Queen? The Queen is dead, all hail the Queen and all that?" Ukyo asked after a moment.

"That would require the Ginzuishou, which is currently missing. Without it a coronation can't proceed," Luna said.

"Ginzuishou?" Ranma asked, "You've mentioned that a few times now."

Luna smacked a few buttons and a screen popped up showing a picture of an astoundingly pretty clear crystal that sparkled from hundred of carefully sculpted facets. "This is the Ginzuishou. It predates the Silver Millennium and has been an Heirloom artifact of the Royal Family for millennia even predating their rise to ruling the Solar System. Its a powerful amplifier of spells and can boost them to cover entire worlds if necessary."

"Like all of Earth?" Ranma asked. The Mau nodded and she heard her two fiancees inhale sharply. "And it's missing?"

"It disappeared with the Fall. I have no idea what Queen Serenity did with it, but it has an affinity for those of the Royal house. If anyone could find it, it would be you," Luna said.

"If it's Ranma," Akane said firmly.

Ranma held up the brooch, having drawn it from her sleeve at some point without meaning to. "I… think I am, Akane," she said, hesitantly. The ache in her soul seemed to flicker, waxing and waning with the shimmer of the light off the gemstones of the brooch. It was an illusion at best, but…

But gods did she ache, and it was getting worse. Like knowing what it was made it stand out so much more vividly.

Akane's mouth opened and closed repeatedly. "You're joking. Ranma-"

Ranma stood up and without a word marched past the three of them. She shrugged off a concerned hand from Ukyo.

"Ranma!" Akane shouted as she marched up the steps, "Where are you going?!"

She paused on the steps and turned a conflicted expression back to Akane. "To think, Akane, okay? Just leave me alone. I need to think," she said, before running up the steps. She ignored the calls of 'RANMA!' and 'RANCHAN WAIT!' and just hurried back up the way they'd came. She scarcely paid attention to their shouts as she hammered the open button and ran out into the late afternoon.

-0-0-0-0-0-

"I probably shouldn't have left Luna with them," Ranma mused as she watched the stars. She was sitting atop an office tower somewhere on the eastern side of Nerima. It wasn't very far from JGSDF base and she could see a column of trucks making their way into the base.

Her attention wasn't on the military, or the masses of humanity around. It was upwards, on the stars and the moon in the sky above. The half-full silver orb drew Ranma's gaze in like it never had before.

Moon Princess.

There had been life up there once and her soul had been one of them. One of millions upon millions, billions or maybe even trillions? How many had lived in that age? How come no sign of them had been found?

Ranma let out a sigh and tapped her heel against the glass of the office below her. Luna had been telling the truth and she really didn't want to believe it but that ache within her chest made it impossible to deny.

She turned the brooch over in her hands and tapped it against her palm. She could feel the activation phrase tickling the back of her throat, but she kept her mouth shut and her tongue still as she considered it. The brooch was hers. It literally couldn't be anyone but hers, based on what Minako had said. She should use it to help fight these Youma and whatever was backing them.

Except… What would it do to her Jusenkyo Curse? Her soul had belonged to a girl, a Princess no less, and she hadn't been born a girl this time around. Would activating the Brooch 'correct' that, or would it leave it be? She didn't know and it scared her so much. She didn't want to be a girl all the time. She had gotten used to being a girl and even a bit comfortable, but being a girl all the time would be like wearing one t-shirt for the rest of your life.

She held the brooch out over the edge. She could drop it. She could toss it, let it sail over the buildings, turn around and leave while it disappeared into the depths of Tokyo. She could get rid of that temptation and risk and be done with it…

Only she hurt too much. Staring at it her soul sang against what she wanted to do. If she let go it would never stop hurting; never stop singing about the small fracture in her soul. She'd be back here in six months, or a year, or a decade searching for it.

"Stupid cat," she muttered, sliding the brooch into her sleeve. She couldn't get rid of it, but she didn't want to use it either. Her hand that had been holding the brooch spasmed as she rested it on the concrete and she winced as the edge of the roof crumbled beneath her grip. That wasn't fair to Luna, but Ranma wasn't feeling very fair at that moment.

She tipped backward until she fell back onto the gravel rooftop. Her fingers traced the half moon before her. The fingers of her free hand tapped the brooch in a staccato, then froze as she sighed.

She'd pulled it out again.

"Metallia…" she whispered, recalling the name of the monster Luna blamed for the destruction of the Silver Millennium. She wondered how powerful it had to be when it's minions, even if they were good ones, were enough to put Ukyo on the backfoot. Sure, the brunette was nowhere near the top of the district, but she was a very good martial artist. If a Youma could have her running for her life, then Metallia… Metallia was probably death itself as far as humanity was concerned.

"Maybe… It won't be so bad?" she wondered aloud. Maybe it wouldn't even do anything to her curse. The uniform was short as hell with those stupid heels, but she could handle it. There was a kind of… elegance to it that was just slightly undercut by its length and cut. She held in a snicker at the thought of how Akane would react if she showed up wearing a skirt like that. Oh, she would be angry.

Though, what would her mother say? If she'd truly dropped the seppuku pact then not much. Well, a lot of disappointment about grandchildren she supposed. Maybe she'd try to hook her up with a guy instead? Maybe she'd just wave her sword around for a bit. She was terrified that Ranma wouldn't come back as Ranma. Which was Ranma's biggest fear as well. She didn't want to get overwritten by the memory of an ancient princess either.

Fear wouldn't stop the ache, however.

Staring at the brooch Ranma raised it slowly into the sky as she lay on her back. Her hands were shaking with worry.

"Moon." This was it.

"Prism." Was she seriously going to follow the words of a cat and a blonde ditz?

"Power." Yeah, yeah she was. Because it felt right even when she didn't want it to.

A loud explosion rocked the street below. Screams shook the air and Ranma was on her feet instantly. She stepped up to the edge and glared down at the street below. Dust blocked much of the street and from it mad laughter drifted up to her. It grated all of her senses. There was magic in it and she could feel the slight tug of a Youma on her Ki.

An equally mad, "OHOHOHOHOHO!" echoed off the office buildings. She knew that laugh. Kodachi was somewhere down there facing off against a Youma. Who knew how she'd managed to find one, but she had.

Several more things exploded sending more dust into the air, but also blowing away what was already floating about. It was enough to see the Youma. Tall, with light brown skin like an ice cream cone. Its hair twisted upwards like soft-serve ice cream, it was even coloured like Neapolitan. In its hand, it wielded a giant ice cream scoop that it was in the middle of using to deflect Kodachi's usual gymnastics-inspired projectiles.

Poorly aimed projectiles slammed through car doors, broke store windows and were as much responsible for sending people running as the Youma was. It, of course, was giving just as much as it got. For every blow that cracked off its tattered ice cream attendant-inspired outfit the Youma responded with physical strikes that cratered the floor and sent cars tumbling, or volleys of high explosive… something from its left hand. It was colourful whatever it was.

Her eyes hardened. People were going to get hurt if this fight kept up, and she knew Kodachi didn't give enough of a damn to try and avoid casualties.

Without another thought Ranma threw herself off the tower. The words came to her easily and this time she let them flow.

"MOON PRISM POWER, MAKE UP!"

Ranma's soul soared as something clicked and power poured loose from the deepest part of her being. The silver flame of magic she'd carefully built over the last few weeks exploded into a bonfire that consumed her from within. Her very body seemed to come undone painlessly in an instant as for a second Ranma viewed the deepest core of her soul.

Silver light, gleaming and pure shown like the Sun amid a sea of nebulae and constellations. Any doubts she had felt about speaking the words were washed away in its warm glow.

Ribbons of red light sprang from the brooch as it left her hand to rest between her breasts that, like the rest of her body, had for that single instant had become like the night sky. They hugged her torso, her legs, her arms, and flowed together leaving her clad in a white leotard and opera gloves. A shimmer of light added a blue skirt to her hips while a red bow appeared across her chest, anchored firmly to her brooch, while another similar one graced the small of her back. Red high heeled thigh high boots materialized about her feet while the cold feeling of a tiara and earrings appeared on her forehead and ears.

Sailor Moon opened her eyes, her body and soul feeling light and airy. She laughed, spinning in mid-air as she plunged between towers of glass, a feeling of completeness singing within her soul. Her eyes landed on the Youma below. It was locked, ice cream scooper to twin clubs with Kodachi. She twisted in the air, altering her fall just a little.

The Youma's fixation of Kodachi ended as a heeled boot crashed into its skull. Concrete shattered for a dozen feet as Moon rode its head straight into the road. The shockwave knocked Kodachi away, sending her bouncing down the street where she flipped back to her feet in time to see Moon grab the Youma by the neck and heave it back down the street towards a nearby park where its rampage had clearly started by the looks of the wreckage.

Moon didn't wait for Kodachi to say anything before she charged after the Youma. Her right hand twitched and silver light shone upon reality forming an ofuda of golden paper and silver ink.

The youma failed to roll to its feet as it smashed into and bounced over a sedan. It tumbled through the air crashing through a streetlight before it landed in the park Ranma had been aiming for.

"Meddlers," it exclaimed as Sailor Moon caught up to it, "so many- Senshi." It caught sight of her and let out a snarl. Its right hand transformed, becoming a blade to replace its lost weapon. It surged towards her, trying to meet her charge with one of its own.

It was with a wide smile Moon slipped right past the lunge and slapped her ofuda across its chest before slowing to a walking pace. She spun on one heel and grinned at it as it tried to peel the ofuda off its chest. "You're really having a bad day, ya know?" she said to it, cheerily before the ofuda detonated.

Silver light turned night to day for several seconds as the magic in the ofuda burst forth.

Sailor Moon sighed and stretched. "Well that's that," she muttered, taking a look around at the destruction. She grimaced. There wasn't much she could do about the damage. "Stupid inconsiderate Youma," she complained, shaking her head before spotting Kodachi coming her way.

Yeah, no.

Unwilling to stay and talk with the insane gymnast Sailor Moon jumped towards the nearest rooftop. A little too hard as it turned out. With a barely hidden "eep" she sailed right over the five story building. She stumbled to a landing on a rooftop behind it and stared at her feet. She tapped the red boots against the ground and did a little dance, ending on a spin in place. The heels weren't very high at all, maybe two inches at most, and fairly chunky. They were a lot easier to walk and even dance in than the one she'd used for her playboy bunny disguise. In fact, they were a bit like cowboy boots.

Well, she definitely preferred them to the stilettos that Sailor Venus was stuck with.

"So," she muttered as she jumped to the next roof in the vague direction of home, "How do I get out of this?"

-0-0-0-0-0-

Ayo everyone~ Been a bit, again. I keep doing this and look at all the dust that accumulates. *Sad Kitsune dusting*

But I once again have a chapter for all of you. Alas Gekkou_Yoko my dear editor isn't here to provide comedy as she has been up since the 17th of April (about two and a half days at the time of posting) and isn't making much sense at this point. (And is heading to bed sooo).

All you get is me and my thank you to my Patrons and the usual reminder that I've got a Discord server for all these stories in my signature (if you're reading this on SV or SB).

*Waves tails* Hope you've enjoyed the story and there will be more in the future. *looks at dust already accumulating* Hmmm…. Hopefully shorter this time.