Title: Chaotic Rebirth

Author name: Trugeta

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Rumiko Takahashi and VIZ as well as Naoko Takeuchi and many others. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. Note further that I don't own any of the trademarks mentioned in this story.

This story takes place after the failed wedding in the Ranma series and the defeat of Galaxia in the Sailor Moon Series. It's an AU, and reviews are welcome and appreciated.


Chapter 5


In one of the living rooms of Saotome Manor trembling hands pushed the button that deactivated the intercom, and a pale Dr. Tofu, who had been nearest to the communications device slowly turned around to face the other occupants of the room. "She… Ranma will do it."

Disbelieving faces slowly acquired looks of happiness, save for one. Even though he was as pleased as the others, Xenma wore a neutral expression. He knew he had probably lost his grandchild for good, and even though he hadn't really known her save from the reports it still hurt. Yet, in his mind he hadn't had another choice but to act the way he had. The goals justified the means, in this case more than ever, and he'd have to live with his decision till the end of his life. "Good, doctor. Has she said anything else?" he inquired in a neutral tone.

Tofu, who was still shuddering inside from the icy-cold tone Ranma had spoken in, nodded. "Yes. She asked me to re-establish her ki-flows. And it makes sense, for with her ki-flows at normal she'd have a much easier time recuperating, which would be beneficial to the child."

"Good, doc. Then do as she requested," spoke up Lara before her husband could utter a tone.

"Can we go in, doctor?" Nodoka asked impatiently. "I'd like to see her."

"No, she requested that I enter alone. Once I'm done I'll call you in. I'm sure she'll allow it," the doctor replied.

Nodoka sighed, but nodded in reluctant acceptance. "Tell her that I love her, and that I'm proud of her."

"Of course," Tofu replied as he exited the room.

-.-

A wary Dr. Tofu who had mentally prepared himself for everything reentered the living room Ranma currently resided in, and he did good to be wary how he noticed. Ranma was watching him like a hawk, and the sight made him sigh internally. The young teen had always been incredibly quick to trust, and it had been them who had put the mistrust that was plain visible on her face in her heart. Sighing once more in his mind he put up his professional mask.

"Ranma, I'll take a look at your ki-paths now, if you allow me."

"'kay, doc. But no funny business, got me?"

"Of course, Ranma," Dr. Tofu agreed right away. "Please lie down on your stomach, I have to start with the points on your back. To that effect, could you please remove your pullover?"

Ranma gave him a piercing stare, but the doctor had already averted his gaze to allow the redhead enough modesty for undressing. It wasn't that Ranma even cared if the good doctor saw her bits (which he had countless times in the past), it was just to drive home the point that she didn't trust him. She might have come to the conclusion that she would to do what was asked of her, but the doctor's story had loads of holes in it that told her that he hadn't been entirely honest with her.

He might have a good reason for it, namely his want to save Kasumi, but this reason was little better in her opinion than what her grandparents had going for them. All in all it gave her that much more reason to flee. No one here was really trustworthy, and she'd learn everything she could about pregnancies and related stuff, recover her strength and gain their trust. It also couldn't hurt to learn as much as she could about magic, her own Clan and the Sailor Senshi, among things. And then, when the window of opportunity would present itself she'd escape those betrayers. Oh yeah.

The boy-turned girl finally did as asked and slowly removed the plain hoodie sweater she had been provided with and lay down onto her stomach on the comfy couch. "Ready when you are, doc," she said disinterestedly and without a hint of warmth in her voice.

"Good, Ranma," Dr. Tofu replied and sat down at Ranma's side, giving no outward reaction to Ranma's cold tone.

Moments later the redhead felt the doctor's fingers working on her back, and she closed her eyes against her will. One could say what one wanted, but when it came to massage, shiatsu and pressure points the doc was a master, plain and simple. She could already feel her ki beginning to restore itself to order with the help of those magic fingers, and it was a good feeling to finally feel somewhat normal again. The doctor pressed several pressure points on her lower back and then stopped.

"Okay, now please turn onto your back, Ranma. Just a few more pressure points and you are as good as new," he said, and Ranma could hear the friendly smile in his tone.

Ranma did as was asked of her. Facing him she looked into his eyes. "Doc, have you thought 'bout what's gonna happen when Kasumi learns of what You did?" she asked, well aware of the danger of what might happen when Kasumi's name was mentioned.

To her relief just the glasses of the doc fogged over for a second. "I see you expected me to tap-dance through the room or manhandle you with some shiatsu. That's thankfully almost over and done with, which is thanks to several meditation exercises your grandmother taught me. She has seen and learned much in her life, and I'm very grateful for her help.

"But now to your original question," he almost whispered, his expression thoughtful. "I'm well aware that she might react… badly and most likely will, and I'm fully aware she might find me repulsive due to what I have done, that she might never want to see me again," he said in a sad tone. "But better to save her through my contribute to the plan and keep the chance that she might realise why I did what I did than see her die. Given the choice I'd do it again every time."

"I see, doc. Ain't likin' it one bit, but I can understand You. Not that I've forgiven You or anythin', dunno if I ever will, but I understand You. Now get on with it. Am sure my dear gramps can't wait to have the bun put in my oven," Ranma groused, deliberately slipping into slang to convey how agitated she was.

Dr. Tofu nodded thoughtfully. "He is very eager to implement the plan. I can't and won't justify his actions, but at least try to understand him."

"What's there to understand, doc?" Ranma spat and stared hard at the doctor. "He's usin' me, like almost everyone else in my life. That I understand just fine."

"Ranma, you must understand why he did what he did. It all comes back to your ancestor Tenma. You know that he created the Gates of Time, and you know how he tapped them to learn of Pluto's plans. He made it the duty of the Saotome Clan to stop Pluto, or rather, to stop her plan of bringing about the Great Freeze. It might seem cruel to you that he wanted to have you force-impregnated, and it is, but what if you could save the lives of billions through making that one, hard decision?"

"That's bullshit, doc! He coulda asked me, damn it! But no, try to gain stupid Ranma's trust, knock her out and then up! Just friggin great!" Ranma spat and took a deep breath, and then exhaled slowly. "You have an inkling how much it hurts than everyone in my life is making decisions for me without even asking me beforehand? Mr. Tendo, Pops, Mom and now my dear grandpa. Says a lot 'bout my family, don't it?"

The doctor sighed as he continued to regulate Ranma's ki. "I admit that it could have, no, should have been handled better. Had it been for me and your grandmother we would have slowly prepared you, and I'm pretty sure you would have agreed in the end. But your grandfather lost what patience he had left when we found out about 'Doombringer', that Asteroid you have seen. He felt compelled to act, and sadly, hotheadedness is a common trait in the Saotome line."

"Now that's a shoddy way of sayin' he acted like an asshole," Ranma growled, her voice so low and angry that it seemed to cut right through the doctor like a blast of cold air.

"Ranma, try to see it from his point of view… all of his ancestors have worked to stop Pluto, and the duty was passed down to him. It was revealed on his watch what would bring about the deaths of billions, and in face of that he had to ask himself, what is one life compared to billions? What is the trust of one compared to the lives of the world?

"Xenma has always been very pragmatic and goal oriented from what I can tell, and it culminated in the one decision to use you. I won't and can't justify his actions, but just try to see his position," he concluded almost pleadingly as he pressed more pressure points.

The redhead growled. "He's a total ass, and I hate what he did to me. How'd you feel if you were the one in question, huh? It's all fine and good to talk about the poor victim whose gotta make the big sacrifice, but that damn victim is me! Fuck, if it comes to asking somethin' of someone my fucking family takes the fucking fruitcake! With nuts on top!" she exclaimed heatedly, shaking her head in obvious anger.

"I admit that it was handled… sub-optimally, but what's done is done. Now we can only look ahead, Ranma, and hope that everything goes as planned. We weren't joking when we said that this is our only shot. Your Clan has searched for alternatives for years, has tried to plan for each and every eventuality, but 'Doombringer' has thrown all plans right out of the window," Dr. Tofu said softly, a grim expression on his face.

Ranma growled in frustration. "Let me guess… something highly sc-scientifically or some such shit, huh?"

"In fact, yes. I'm pretty sure you guessed that your Clan has some pretty potent technology at its disposal, right? Well, if not, then you know now," Tofu chuckled nervously at Ranma's glare, then became serious again. "Clan Saotome has weapons that could pulverise just about anything, so stopping a normal asteroid would be piece of cake, as they say. However, 'Doombringer' is different."

"Different how?" asked Ranma, her curiosity piqued against her will.

"Our scientists aren't completely sure if it is Pluto's doing, but they say that it can't be of natural origin. The Asteroid is shielded by an anomaly, something that distorts the time-space-continuum. Our scientists have never seen anything even remotely like it, and their simulations estimate that any weapon fired at the Asteroid wouldn't even reach it, regardless if nuclear, energy or projectile weapon.

"They assume that the beam, rocket or whatever wouldn't impact the Asteroid but would either be sent into the past or future, where it'd explode harmlessly. They have nothing in their data bases from the Silver Millennium on it, so developing a weapon type that could destroy the Asteroid is hardly possible," he said, his voice breaking a little.

"Just friggin great. And what can the effin Queen do about it? As for that, how d'You expect a two year old to stop a friggin big Asteroid? Throw her nappies at it or what?" Ranma asked sarcastically.

The doctor pressed a few last pressure points and shook his head, a small smile playing in the corner of his lips. "Interesting mental image, but no," he shook his head, his expression turning serious. "You can redress now, Ranma, we're all done. As for your question," he began as Ranma pulled her sweater over her head, "you're right, a two year old could hardly do anything, regardless her magical potential. However, the Queen won't be a two year old by that time any more."

"Huh? What d'You mean?" Ranma asked, her head tilted in confusion.

"Ranma, you're not going to like this, of that I'm sure. Why? Simply because I didn't like it one bit either. But sadly, there is nothing either of us can do about it, as the decision to make it so had already been made 15,000 years ago," Tofu explained and smiled bitterly.

"Doc," Ranma growled, "don't stall. Out with it!"

Tofu sighed and nodded. "You must know, when your ancestor, Queen Serenity the VI. donated genetic material she was well aware that she would die. She had however hoped that at least some of her Empire would survive and that her successor, born from her genetic material would reform the Empire. Yet, as we know, that never came to be.

"The man known as Tenma had to flee the Moon when it became obvious that the Silver Empire was doomed. He neither had the resources nor the opportunity to revive the Queen, and the plan had been for her to return to rule as soon as possible had failed anyway. There just was nothing left to rule over any more."

Ranma raised her eyebrows inquiringly. "But what does that hafta do with how the new Queen can do anything in three years, doc?"

"I'll come to that, Ranma. Well, Tenma kept the samples safe and made the decision to hibernate in hopes the times would get better, you know as much. He learned of Pluto's plan and implemented the plan you now know of, and which is now about to be carried out by his descendant Xenma.

"To ensure that the new Queen would've been able to take up her reign over the Empire Queen Serenity VI. had the DNA altered. She knew the new her had to arrive on the scene as fast as possible so as to reform the Empire, prevent Pirate attacks and such, and to this end the DNA was modified in such a way to allow for rapid aging. From the day the new Queen was to be born she'd age within the span of two years to the physical age of 20, and she'd regain all of her knowledge and experience within this time," the doctor explained.

"I know, I know," he added at seeing Ranma's dark look, "It means effectively stealing 18 years off of her; which is why I hated this just as much as you do. But there's nothing we can do about it, Ranma. It has all been decided several millennia ago."

"How do I know you're not lying to me, doc? It could all have been enig… engi… engineered by your scientists. Not to unbelievable after all the shit You guys pulled." Ranma retorted, crossing her arms under her chest.

"Ranma, I swear on my honour as a martial artist and doctor that that's the truth," Tofu said solemnly.

The redhead snorted. "Feh. Dunno if that's enough for me any more, doc. Can't say you outright lied to me, but what you said 'bout me being the father is bullshit. Have slept through most classes, but even I know that when you combine two egg-cells no one's gonna be the dad. I didn't accept the 'duty' 'cause of that, but 'cause I won't let my friends and family die. So try again 'bout not lying," she stated flatly, looking just a tad smug.

Tofu, who had been surprised at Ranma's accurate analysis, chuckled after regaining his balance. "Touché, Ranma. But I swear on my father's grave, this is the truth. We even have records from Tenma of his own research; it was the Queen that included the rapid aging in the neo-Queen. And that is what'll save us, Ranma, as much as we may hate it."

Ranma, who had once again checked the doctor's aura for deceit, nodded thoughtfully. "So the fuckin' plan makes me a mother and robs my kid off of eighteen years of her life. Just fucking great," she grumbled with a sigh and massaged her temples. "But how is she gonna stop the Asteroid if that monster is shielded against attack? I know that everything has a weak point, and you guys must have a plan to expli… exploit that big stones' weaknesses."

"Simple, Ranma. The Silver Crystal. It's the most powerful artefact known to the Silver Millennium, able to overcome nearly anything if the will of its user is strong enough. Is the shield based on Pluto's powers it'll be able to overcome it, much like a hot knife cuts through butter," explained Tofu in a neutral tone.

"Neat, doc. And what if that shield ain't? What then?" the redhead asked sarcastically.

A grim expression replaced the neutral one Tofu had worn before. "Then it's likely that we're all screwed. But I'm confident that that won't be the case."

Ranma shook her head, muttering something about optimists and fools. "'kay, doc. Let's get that bullshit over and done with then. Where to now?"

"Well, it was originally planned that your family would spend some time with you before the procedure takes place, and your mother wanted to see you. That reminds me, she wants me to tell you that she loves you and that she's proud of you," Tofu said as if remembering that just now.

The redhead snorted. "My, how nice of her. Hmm, thinkin' 'bout it, lead me to 'em, doc."

Tofu shuddered due to the cold and sarcastic tone Ranma had used, but nodded anyway. "Follow me."

Ranma nodded and did so. Mercifully it didn't take more than a few moments to reach the quarters the Saotomes and Ayame currently resided in, and Ranma's senses told her that the doctor had led her true. Pushing the door open Ranma looked into the faces of her so called family.

The redhead noted right away that her mother was genuinely happy to see her, and she could sense motherly concern from her aura as well, which surprised her to some extent. Ranma still didn't really believe in the changes her mother had supposedly undergone, and she would remain wary at all events; maybe it was just another strange quirk or mood-swing, and besides, she was still mad at the woman for being part of this conspiracy.

The young Saotome sensed much the same things from her grandmother, but due to the fact that she didn't really know the woman she really had no idea if she wasn't some master-actor who could even manipulate her aura; no, better safe than sorry. Not changing her facial expression, which probably made her look like a walking ice-statue, Ranma focussed on her grandfather. His own face gave nothing away, and she could sense from his aura that he was not the least bit sorry. 'Well, no surprise there,' Ranma thought with a mental shrug.

She didn't react to the disappointed faces of her mother and grandmother, and without missing a beat Ranma suddenly blasted forward, blurring from view faster than anyone could hope to follow. In an instant she had decked her grandfather, hard, and the blow sent him into the far wall. "That was for tryin' to take away my choice. Now I'm ready for the procedure, doc," she stated coolly, ignoring the incredulous stares from the others.

-.-

It hadn't taken long to prepare a Ranma who had ignored all attempts of her mother and grandmother to talk to her, and twenty minutes after the incident with Xenma the young redhead was already laying on an operating table. She had been informed that she'd probably be out cold until next day, but considering that it was 11 p.m. already that was fine by her. Dr. Tofu and his colleague had already finished making all necessary preparations, and the redhead nodded towards the doctor she had once trusted completely.

Taking the signal Tofu nodded back at Ranma and gave her the thumbs-up before nodding at his assistant. Said assistant confirmed and placed a respiratory mask on Ranma's face. "You'll be back in the land of the living in a few, Ranma. Just relax now," Tofu said in a soothing voice.

"'Kay, doc. And if You pull some shit I'm gonna kill You, slowly, got that? Sleepy now…" the redhead mumbled before sinking fully into darkness' embrace.

Tofu looked at the monitors. "She's out like a light. Ladies and Gentlemen, we got some work ahead of us."

"You can say that again, Tofu," exclaimed his colleague, Dr. van Galen. "Now let us work our wonders."

-.-

Next morning

Ranma awoke with a splitting headache, and in an unfamiliar room. Her whole body hurt like hell, and she was sore all over. Aside from that, she was feeling rather weak and disoriented. 'Damn, it was no dream. They've really gone through with that crazy plan, and I must've been even crazier to give in to them! Only hope it was worth it…' the redhead thought sourly after she had come to fully.

A quick assessment of her situation told her that she was in a large bedroom, lying in a fairly-sized four-poster. She could move her hands freely as far as her IV allowed, which told her that she was not bound by any fetters. Good, she hadn't really expected to be bound, but to be honest, she wouldn't put anything past her grandfather at this point.

Cursing her tiredness Ranma tried to mobilise all of her strength, only to find it utterly insufficient; her body apparently wanted her to rest, much to her annoyance. Ranma had just uttered a few choice words that expressed her dissatisfaction with the current situation and the universe at large when she heard voices from the outside. 'My mom and my grandparents. Hmm, it'd probably be a good idea to act cross with them. Yeah, why not have some fun… besides, I am still cross with 'em,' she thought darkly.

"I told you she was awake," Xenma's voice exclaimed. "She's strong, even when she's weak."

"Don't talk so much, father, I want to see how my daughter is!" her mother's voice exclaimed, obvious impatience tingeing her voice.

"I agree with No-chan. Open that stupid door, Xen. Now," another voice exclaimed in an equally impatient tone, which could only belong to her grandmother.

"Women." Xenma complained, and finally complied after he had uttered a muffled "Ouch!". Little later the sole door swung open, and her so called family stepped in.

"Oh hello, mom," Ranma said fake-pleasantly. "So, did the procedure work?"

Nodoka nodded with twinkling eyes, mistaking her daughter's tone for real pleasantness. "It has indeed, daughter, and the good doctor said that everything is developing normally. You're indeed pregnant, dear, and I'm relieved to see that you have accepted that it was necessary."

"Now you'll finally get your wish of having grandchildren, won'tcha?" Ranma whispered with a fake-smile. "Neat, ain't it? As for accepting it, I have, but I ain't forgivin' you," she concluded icily, her blue eyes drilling into her mother's.

Nodoka was taken aback by the coldness of Ranma's tone. "I… we…" she stuttered, for the first time in long unsure of her words.

Lara stepped forward and smiled at Ranma, despite the younger redhead's obvious (and justified) mood. "Dear, we did what we did because it was necessary. You saw it yourself, billions will die if Pluto isn't stopped. She decided to cover this beautiful world in ice, making it a frozen prison of death for billions of people. More than ninety percent of the human race would die! We… I hate what we had to do to you, but you're our only chance to save the world, Ranma. Please, try to understand us."

"There's it again. 'Try to understand, Ranma. We had to do it, Ranma.' Not a 'thank you for your sacrifice or sumthin'. Just as usual, everyone uses me like a tool that's gonna be put back into the tool box after its work is done," the redhead scoffed and laughed humourlessly. "Ranma Saotome, all-purpose tool. Can even cook coffee and cuts vegetables in three different settings. Feh."

"Ranma, we…" her mother began, laying her hand on Ranma's arm.

The younger redhead held her hand up, favouring Nodoka with a withering glare. "Spare me. I'm sick and tired of hearin' this bullshit. You all needed me for a specia… specific task, like all the others. Pops and Mr. Tendo wanna marry me off to Akane so that the fucking schools are joined, Shampoo and Cologne want me for the stupid tribe so that they have their breeding stock, Ukyo wants me to regain her honour and to work in her restaurant, and you want me to give birth to the saviour of the world. Just take all your supposed higher moral ground and leave this fucking room and me alone. Got me?" she asked icily.

"If you want an apology from me, you're not going to get one," Xenma spoke up, his voice as even as ever. "I did what I had to do, and I won't apologise for trying to save the world and the human race."

"All of you," Ranma said immediately in the gruffest voice she could muster, "leave me alone. I need some time to myself. Just get out. GET THE HELL OUT!" she yelled at the top of her voice.

Nodoka let go of Ranma as if she had been burned, and backed away with a sad expression. Xenma, completely unimpressed by Ranma's outburst, surveyed her with a stern glance. "I understand that you're furious with us, but you'll have to cooperate with us sooner or later. There's much you must learn, Ranma, and you have a responsibility towards your child.

"It is the weakest of all, and it needs all the protection you can offer. That requires that you train in the ways of magic. I have never seen you back down from a challenge before. Will you this time?" he asked with one eyebrow raised, before motioning the others out.

Ranma pretended to not having heard a word as she sunk back into the pillows, but what her grandfather had said gnawed at her. It was true, the child that had been forced onto her was the weakest being imaginable, and it needed protection. Her protection. But she was a guy, so why should she feel the need to protect it? 'This is so darn confusing! Stupid bastards, forcing me through such a fuckin' situation…' were her irritated thoughts before sleep claimed her.

-.-

Several dimensions away in a pocket-dimension that existed in a ninety-degree angle in relation to the normal time-space-continuum a tall, green-haired woman wearing a black-and-white fuku was standing in front of the object she had guarded for uncounted millennia, the Gates of Time. Setsuna Meiou aka Sailor Pluto was just busy scanning the timeline for any threats to Crystal Tokyo, when she was suddenly hit by a massive causality wave. It extended even into the physical world, and its force introduced her undeniably cute backside to the flooring. Quite hard.

"Oof!" the Senshi of Time exclaimed as she was sent to the ground, coming to rest in a crumpled heap. "What in the name of Pluto was that?"

Setsuna Meiou got back to her feet with a sense of immense dread and hurried over to the Gates of Time. Using her powers she immediately scanned the timeline, and what she discovered let her pale dramatically. "No… no… it can't be! It's gone… from every possible future… but that can't be! It just can't!" the Senshi of time muttered, and the fear she felt made her redouble her efforts. But regardless of what she did, regardless of which trick she used, the result remained the same. Crystal Tokyo was gone. "NO!" she cried out.

Sailor Pluto sank to her knees, desperation overwhelming her. Everything she had worked for, every event she had manipulated and every person she had disposed of, all for naught? Fifteen thousand years of hard work, of careful planning and implementing, negated in one second? She had sacrificed entirely too much to ensure that this timeline led directly up to Crystal Tokyo, and she had been so certain that Galaxia had been the last great threat before the Great Freeze.

Everything had gone according to plan. The asteroid was well on course and would reach Earth in about three years, and she had ensured that Earth didn't have the technology to deal with it. She had done everything to ensure that Usagi could unite the remnants of Earths' population as Queen Serenity after the worst of the Great Freeze had been overcome.

So what in the name of the nine hells had happened to destroy her carefully hatched plans? Which event could have brought about such massive changes in the timeline that the probability of Crystal Tokyo's coming about had dropped from 96, 4 percent to zero in the blink of an eye?

A look of determination settled on her face and Setsuna pushed herself back to her feet. "I have worked too hard and too long to have my plans ruined just before they bear fruit. I'm not the Senshi of Time for nothing, I will find out what caused this, and I will eliminate the said cause. No one is going to destroy my dreams!" she vowed and concentrated on finding said cause.

Little did she know how much of a headache this easy seeming task would cause…

-.-

Endless minutes later Sailor Pluto was getting frustrated. Really frustrated. Where she was used to achieving immediate results with the Gates of Time this time proved to be an exception. She had pulled every trick in the book, but nothing had worked.

She just couldn't get a lock on who- or whatever had destroyed Crystal Tokyo, and worst of all, she had absolutely no idea how she could have overlooked a threat of that magnitude, a threat that had eradicated Crystal Tokyo from every timeline in the blink of an eye. Yet another very worrying development was that the Timegates had been rendered practically useless by the same self force that had destroyed their utopia. Looking into the Gates now was akin to looking into a fractured mirror: the possible futures had multiplied by several magnitudes, each radically different from the last.

That brought her to the question why her future self hadn't warned her about the developments, and that was a question that worried her verily. Had her future self been killed, or was the reason something else entirely? She just couldn't wrap her mind around it. Setsuna was sure that her future self would have fought tooth and nail to give her a warning, especially if so much was at stake. So why hadn't she? To top it off, she couldn't travel to the future due to the fact that the timestream was in utter upheaval.

Setsuna breahted a sigh when she arrived at the conclusion that she had to face the facts. Crystal Tokyo, her utopia she had strived to bring about for so long had ended up in smoke, and she had been given no warning at all. Something was going on here, something that escaped her notice. But what? And how could she overcome it?

She had just begun to mentally browse through all possible avenues of bringing the Timegates back online - including the gruelling option of a manual re-fire - when her communicator went off. "Pluto here," she grumbled, and not really in the mood to be disturbed she didn't even make the effort to keep her voice neutral.

The voice on the other end didn't care in the slightest. "Setsuna! You… Y-You have to f-find her!" someone, most probably the Princess, sobbed. "S-She's goooone! Help me!"

Setsuna massaged her temples and barely resisted the urge to scream in face of this new catastrophe. "Calm down, Princess. Who's gone? Usa?" she asked, trying to remain calm.

"Y-Yes! Chibi! S-She up and disappeared f-from one moment t-to the n-next!" Moon cried, descending into sobs.

"Shit. It's worse than I thought," Pluto muttered to herself. "I'm coming over, Princess. Try to calm yourself down, help is on its way," she said more confidently than she felt. "Pluto out."

Sailor Pluto hardly noticed that she applied crushing pressure to her communicator and only snapped back to reality when it made protesting noises due to the structural integrity being strained beyond its tolerance lmit. Baring her teeth she let out a frustrated yell that echoed throughout her pocket dimension, but the yell that should have been cathartic didn't serve its purpose at all.

"I always claimed that the hollering therapy was overrated," she scoffed derisively and gnashed her teeth. "Not only have you cost us Crystal Tokyo, something I practically sacrificed my life for, but now you have cost us Small Lady as well. Sorry, Small Lady, I should have seen it, somehow, anyhow, but there just was nothing I could have done differently. It came out of the blue," the Senshi of Time sighed and bowed her head to pay her respects to the departed fellow Soldier of Love and Justice.

A minute later Pluto looked up and gnashed her teeth again, her face scrunched up in determination. "Who- or whatever you are that destroyed our dreams, I'll find you and set things right. That I swear!" she promised solemnly with her right hand grasping her staff tightly, her red eyes flashing.

That vow made Sailor Pluto drew a sign in the air with her staff and a portal appeared which the Senshi of Time immediately entered. She had a Princess to console before she could go on a witch-hunt.

-.-

Pluto appeared in the bedroom of Usagi Tsukino with almost no time delay. One look told her that her Princess was indeed as distressed as the call had suggested, if not even more so; her hair was dishevelled, which was not unsurprising if one considered that it was about 7 a.m. and that Usagi still wore PJs, but the bloodshot eyes and the fact that she was still bawling her eyes out were a dead giveaway.

As soon as she noticed Pluto Usagi flung herself around the taller woman's neck and started crying even harder. "S-She's gone… she's g-gone, my b-baby's gone!" she sobbed, tears flowing down her cheeks freely.

Setsuna dropped her transformation and patted Usagi's back. "I know, Princess. I felt it myself, and that rather hard," she said wryly.

At hearing that Usagi drew back and looked Setsuna in the eyes, her sorrow replaced by anger. "Couldn't you have done anything? You're the Senshi of Time, damn it!" she exclaimed loudly, anger shining in her blue eyes.

"WHAT IN KAMI-SAMAS NAME IS THAT FOR A RACKET?" came her mother's disgruntled and half-awake voice from the master-bedroom.

"Nothing, mom! I just got angry about some stupid scene I read in a manga!" Usagi exclaimed, glaring daggers at Setsuna.

The Senshi of Time sighed and switched into her transformed state, her staff appearing in her hand which she used to draw a sign into the air. A shimmering portal appeared a second later and Pluto gestured at it. "I suggest we relocate to somewhere more… secluded lest you're not disturbed in your shouting. I've heard that some people find hollering an appropriate stress relief…" she said in a dubious tone and stepped through the portal.

The Moon Princess glared at the fellow scouts' back and followed her on the heel. As soon as she had stepped out on the other side Usagi looked around and noticed that they were standing in front of the Gates of Time. But she felt right away that something was wrong with the picture, and that in conjunction with Pluto's depressed state stopped her anger cold.

"Static!" Usagi exclaimed as she realised what she was seeing. "What in the name of the moon happened to the Gates?"

Setsuna, now back to being depressed and moody, glared at her useless tool and gave an indignant snort. "Whatever fragged Crystal Tokyo also fucked up the Gates of Time. I'm practically blind."

"Setsuna!" Usagi exclaimed with wide eyes, "You swore!"

"Your point being?" Pluto asked dryly, arching a delicate brow.

"But you never swear!" the odango-haired teenager exclaimed and flourished her hands.

"If it weren't for the fact that I have to find a way to get them," she pointed at the useless Gates and favoured them with a smouldering glare, "back online I'd also get royally plastered. But that dubious pleasure will have to wait until I have dealt with the new threat," Pluto muttered, glaring at the Gates once more for good measure.

"But what can we do?" Usagi asked after she had overcome her surprise at seeing Setsuna's countenance slip. "You said you're practically blind. What now?"

Setsuna regarded her Princess with a hooded look and sighed. "I'll admit that our choices are limited. The only viable option is to wait until whatever interference blocks the Gates has abated. In the meantime we'll inform the others, regroup and remain alert. This is a setback, a serious one in fact, but those happened before. And we managed to overcome every single one," she said, her determination returning.

"I know, and we have, but… but I miss her," Usagi whispered, her voice thick with emotion.

Pluto laid a hand on her Princess' shoulder. "I know. But we will bring her back. It's just a question of time…" she said, a small smirk playing in the corner of her mouth at her innuendo. "You'll see, Princess, time will straighten it out. It always does."

-.-

Ranma Saotome was seated in her study and carefully sipped the tea she had just helped herself to, blowing a little on the hot liquid. An introspective look was prevalent on the young Saotome's face, and Ranma wondered not for the first time how fast the last months had gone by. The first thing her grandparents had showed her after she had fully recovered from the procedure had been footage and sensor scans of 'Doombringer', how the gigantic asteroid had been named. Their scientists had incidentally found out on the night of conception that no direct collision with 'Doombringer' would occur, but that their assumption, the Asteroid would knock Earth out of orbit was true.

A grim look appeared on Ranma's face as her mind returned to the other half of the facts. Clan Saotome scientists' had massively underestimated the effects of the almost collision, for those would be far more devastating than assumed.

Exactly 94, 7 percent of the human race would die because of the Great Freeze and its effects, earthquakes, tsunamis and any other natural disaster one could name. Xenma, who had kept the journals of his ancestor had not only shown Ranma how Pluto had manipulated the time-stream but that Tenma aka Orion the Hunter had found many proofs for Pluto's doing in his over 188 years he had lived on Earth.

Ranma hadn't been able to deny that the threat was very real, and she had understood why her Clan had done what they had done. She had understood, yes, but she hadn't been able to forgive them. The redhead smiled a bit at the memories, but it was a bittersweet smile. She had remained cross, no, absolutely furious with them with them for a month.

She hadn't spoken to them, hadn't listened to a word they had said except for one instance: she had actually called Nabiki and told her that she would be gone on a year-long training trip the day after the procedure as a cover-story for her prolonged absence from Nerima, something she had been convinced to do after her grandmother had asked how she wanted to explain her pregnancy to the Nerimans.

Other than that she had remained steadfast, and as soon as one of the traitors had come in close vicinity to her she had raised her battle-aura to drive them away. It had driven her mother to tears, but she hadn't cared. What they had done to her was unforgivable, and she would never forgive them. The only thing she had agreed to had been to being trained in the ways of magic that had been handed down in the family ever since Tenma, and while she had learned of all the theoretical magic the Serenity line possessed she had as of yet been unable to unlock her magical potential.

It had seemed like Fate or some other force had once again wanted to kick her in the balls, for, how else could it be explained that it was much easier for females of the Saotome line to learn and practise magic? The practising magic part was out, though, at least for the time being. But it seemed that some force wanted her to remain female, but that would only happen over her dead body.

Being pregnant had convinced her that she might be half-and-half, for what bigger proof of being female could there be than being pregnant? Yet she was also a guy, and she would return to being one, even if only half the time after this pregnancy was over. No one would steal her male half from her, no one!

A mischievous smile replaced her grim expression. Being a pregnant young woman could also be a lot of fun, how she had learned quickly. It meant her being an uber-bitch towards her 'family' was justified, and she had had much fun in either tormenting or ignoring them. After round about a month she had changed tactics though when she had deemed that the time had been right to gain their trust so that she'd have a better chance at escape, and she had slowly begun to interact with them; slowly, so as not to raise their suspicions.

At the end of the second month she had outwardly pretended that she had forgiven them. She could most likely have fled there and then, but she had operated under the assumption that Xenma might have smelled a rat despite the fact that she had invested a lot of effort into fooling them, suspicious as he was. She had also not been very eager to find out which ways of stopping her her dear grandfather had at his disposal.

Aside from being cautious she had another reason for biding her time. Tofu had told her that the first trimester of a pregnancy was the most critical time for the child, and the staff still gave her routine injections to keep the chances of a miscarriage down to a minimum. Her curiosity piqued and not lest to check if Tofu had told the truth Ranma had conducted some research on the net after she had been deemed uncritical, and the sites she had visited had indeed confirmed Tofu's story. A lot of the pregnancies did indeed fail during the first three months.

Thus Ranma put up with the shots and examinations - to her relief those were not nearly as bad as she had imagined, as a simple scan with some technological gadget or the other could do what gynaecologists needed embarrassing examinations on a gynaecological chair for - and waited for the golden opportunity which would surely present itself sooner or later. She had used every opportunity to enhance her ki-reserves in the meantime, and it was paying off.

Her mother and grandparents had made many efforts to repair the relationship, and she let them in the belief that they had eventually succeeded. She had acted like normally, albeit with the difference that she was hormonally charged. Deep inside she had been tempted to forgive them for real many times which was not lest due to her mood swings, but each time she just had to think of the worst side effect of the pregnancy, and she was instantly as furious as ever.

She had found out on her second day at the manor when she'd wanted to enjoy the luxury of a hot bath. She had well expected to change back, and her distressed yell had alerted her family. Once she had explained what had happened or rather not happened her mother had looked at her sadly and had swept her into a hug. "We had half expected that this would happen, dear. Your body is protecting the child, which makes changing back impossible. But don't worry, even if you can't become my son for the next few months, I love you just as much, my daughter," she had said.

Ranma would have thrown a massive fit of rage there and then had it not been for the fact that it might hurt the child. Thus she had just sulked for a week and had been even more of an ass, and now she just had to think of that incident and the (albeit temporary) loss of her male form to feel righteous fury welling up inside of herself.

She had never once blamed the baby that was growing inside of her, regardless of what it had done to her body and still did. Ranma shuddered as her thoughts strayed to the downs she had lived through. Morning sickness, even larger and more sensitive breasts and that damn tiredness, to name just a few of the 'niceties'.

But the baby had had no part in subjecting her to the whole procedure, and she would never blame it or treat it badly. She had sworn to herself that she'd never be like her own mother, she'd never abandon her child in any way or form, no way in hell. And she would never betray it or any other children she'd have in the future, as a father, of course.

But the possibility of being a parent was still something very distant and surreal for her, even if the doctors had used her genetic material to fuse it with the egg of the Queen, something which still made the hairs on her back stand up. The doctors had tried to explain it to her once, claimed that they had just added those genes of her that were favourable. They had apparently isolated a specific egg-cell which fit best, had tweaked it and used their technology to create a fertilised egg that they had then implanted into her. 'Sick bastards have probably gotten their jollies from that,' Ranma thought with a scoff and took another sip of her tea.

She couldn't deny that she had come a long way in accepting during the last three months that she would eventually be a mother, but even the pregnancy-hormones hadn't been able to silence her male half that constantly ranted and raved against the very idea. And sometimes she felt disgusted with herself that she even considered being a mother, but lately she caught herself thinking more and more often that this was what she would be sooner or later. Worst of all, her body was preparing her for that, the traitor!

Which was the exact reason why she would flee soon. She would be a mother, that was inevitable, but she would never raise her child within the walls of Saotome Manor which was, despite its perks, nothing less than a prison. She knew which vitamins the baby needed, and she was pretty sure that she'd be able to survive on her own.

Pluto couldn't get a lock on her, that much she had learned from her grandparents; that eliminated the danger of detection nicely, and she had also worked hard on a revision of the Umi which couldn't be detected as easily as the normal variant. Sadly, the concept only existed in her mind and was thus untested for obvious reasons, but she had vowed to herself that she would take the risk if an opportunity presented itself. She had to get away, or she would go nuts and start behaving like... like a pregnant woman. A pregnant woman cursed by the fates, to be exact.

This thought guided her deliberations to the curse. The curse... She had hated her female form at first after the procedure, for it had made the betrayal possible in the first place. But over time and mostly due to the lock on her curse which forced her to live as a female she had come to the conclusion that her female body was as much at fault as the baby, namely not at all. She had once more accepted what she had accepted at Jusendo, that her cursed form was her, Ranma Saotome.

These three months, hell that they had been, they had also made her more comfortable with her female body. Not that she'd had much of a choice anyway. But one thing was clear as crystal in her mind: she would escape, and she would raise her daughter on her own. They would do what was needed, do what had become their duty, but no one would use them ever again. No one.

-.-

Ranma's chance came about three and a half months after the procedure. She had been a 'good girl', and her relatives, even her grandfather, trusted her; the chances to pull off a successful escape were good, especially considering that they would dine at the Ritz tonight, to which they were just en route in one of the armoured limos the Clan owned. That they would dine at the Ritz raised her chances by several magnitudes due to a simple fact: it would expose her to the outside world. She'd be alone with Ayame and her family, far away from the fortress-like Saotome Manor, and the redhead grinned inwardly as she imagined the surprised faces once she'd taken off. Now that would really make her day.

Moments later the limo came to a stop, and her mother got out first and held the door open for her. Ranma stepped out graciously, a smile on her face. Then, without missing a beat she initiated her plan. Ranma knew the surrounding area from her first visit, and the rooftops of the adjacent houses were ideal for roofhopping. She pretended to stumble and went to one knee, but as soon as her worried mother made moves to help her she got into a low crouch and used all of her ki for a ki-assisted jump that catapulted her high into the evening sky.

Ranma landed safely on the rooftop of an adjacent building in a low crouch, glad that she had kept up her ki-building exercises. She caught a glimpse upon four surprised faces, glared once and used her revised Umi-sen-ken. To Ranma's joy her new technique - which cloaked both her ki and her body-heat - worked perfectly, making her virtually undetectable, and gauging from four sets of confused and searching looks that seemed to be the case.

With a last invisible glare she left the area, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, finally escaping her treacherous relatives. Now she would act according to the plan she had cooked up during her captivity, and then she would do what was necessary.

-.-

Nodoka stared in disbelief at the spot her daughter had vacated just seconds ago. The look she had shot them had been the worst and had felt like a stab through her heart, and caused her to erupt in tears. Ranma's glare had been filled with so much distaste and rejection, she couldn't bear it. "She hates me... Kami-sama above, she hates me..."

Lara hugged her daughter close, and the older woman barely managed to hide that she was just as shocked as Nodoka. Just her greater life-experience and toughness kept her from crying along with her daughter. "Sssh, No-chan. She doesn't hate you. It's just that she's a lot angrier at us than we thought," she said in a soothing tone, her left hand trailing soothing circles on Nodoka's back.

Xenma nodded grimly. "And she hid it perfectly. She's a warrior through and through," he said, respect and pride obvious in his voice. "I'm sure she has a plan and will be able to survive on her own, but we have to find her nonetheless. She has much to learn and needs our help and protection more than she realises, especially once her daughter begins to manifest her powers. Ayame!" he called.

The dark-clad woman appeared at his side immediately. "Yes, Xenma-sama?"

"See if you can find any traces of her. Use any available method. We must find her! Go!" Xenma commanded.

Ayame nodded and left the three Saotomes behind; the Agent instantly called for backup, and the hunt for Ranma Saotome had begun.

-.-

Ranma was in full run, metaphorically speaking. The redhead was roofhopping towards Nerima, securely cloaked by her revised Umi-sen-ken, the cloudy sky reflecting her mood perfectly. Her new variant of the Umi used up even less ki than she had figured and worked like a charm. She was also sure that the baby was well, she had no idea why she knew, but it was like the little one was somehow protecting itself. She had felt odd flickers off something from it especially during the last half month, and had the feeling that it was getting... stronger, as if it was drawing from a source other than her.

The redhead shrugged to herself. Her daughter... no, the baby, was apparently really something special. 'Par for the course for my life,' the redhead mused with a bemused shake of her head. 'I better get cracking now, the shops will close soon.'

This part of her plan bugged her the most. She had always strived to uphold the law and had made it a point to fiught wrongdoers and crime in general, and now she was forced to engage in shoplifting. But there was just no other way. She had no supplies, no money and thus no means of making purchases, and, most importantly, she mustn't be seen. Ergo she would have to 'borrow' a pack and some supplies, for herself and her child. Sighing to herself Ranma changed course and hopped straight towards the same-self mall she had once visited during the amnesia-incident.

Ranma arrived at the mall twenty minutes later, completely unnoticed by anyone. She was very careful not to draw any attention through something as stupid as a door opening by itself, and always watched out for good opportunities to slip through when other shoppers opened the doors.

First on her list of required items was she a large and stable backpack, and the actual theft that was greatly aided by the fact that the shop that sold such items was completely empty save for a sales clerk; and this young woman was deeply engrossed in a teeny magazine. Ranma shook her head under her cloak as she extended her Umi-sen-ken to encompass the backpack in her hands; her grandmother had tried to interest her in reading one of those frilly teen magazines but she had refused every time; she had spend her time way better with reading up on the available reports of the Senshi, their tactics, teamwork, abilities and powers.

But for the time being the Senshi were pretty low on her priority list. Right now they honestly didn't matter jack shit to her; she would raise her daughter and fight them if necessary, but until then she would avoid them and her Clan at all costs. As sh had seen the resources her Clan could call upon Ranma had immediately discounted Nerima, and swimming to China was out as well, seeing as she didn't want to endanger the child too much. That left precious few locations where she would be hidden well enough, and she had just remembered one spot that fit the bill: Ryugenzawa, the small rural town Akane and she had been to once. Nobody would search for her in this godforsaken place, and the magical nature of the water of life might even help mask her presence, or so she hoped.

Satisfied that she had pulled off her act of theft but filled with a bad conscience at the same time she stealthily left the shop and made her way to the local supermarket. Moving about as carefully as possible she slipped into the store and collected the supplies she would need. Here she didn't care if the surveillance cameras caught a ghost stealing their wares, but she remained cautious nevertheless. Moving about like the wind her pack was soon filled with the necessary items (among them hair tinting lotion to dye her hair black), water and some food and her theft completed Ranma moved on.

The redhead also shook down a clothes store for a pair of long, black jeans, a black hoodie sweater, a black jacket as well as several sets of female underwear, and a shoe store of a pair of hiking boots. The shoes that went with her evening gown were useless in the kind of environment she would travel in, and she used the public bathroom she already knew to redress and stored her evening attire in her backpack. Then she blocked the door and quickly dyed her hair black, and once done she continued on her way.

Ranma's last side trip led her to the apothecary. She had come to know exactly what the baby needed, and used the fact that the staff of the apothecary was apparently busy in the back-rooms to her advantage. Ranma quickly and quietly snatched the needed items without a second thought and made sure that the vitamin-preparation would last for a minimum of six months, grabbed several female products, and then she was gone.

-.-

Elsewhere

Nodoka and her parents were seated on the simplicistic wooden chairs around the circular table the war-room provided, each Saotome hanging to their own thoughts. The youngest among them shook her head. "How could I have been so blind? My child hates me, and I didn't even notice. Was I once more too far gone in my dreams?" she asked herself, and her face scrunched up. "I should have been more forceful in my objections. We should have told Ranma what we were planning right from the start."

"That would have done no good, No-chan. She would never have agreed, and the plan, this worlds' only chance, would have failed," Xenma replied in an even tone.

"Oh, and the plan isn't about to fail now, father? Your plan," she snarled these words, "has failed. My baby is somewhere out there, and Kami knows what can happen to her!" Nodoka exclaimed hotly, holding back her tears with extreme difficulty.

When her father didn't reply immediately Lara spoke up in her husband's stead. "Ranma is strong, No-chan. She has proven it time and again. There's no use in crying over like Soun Tendo at his worst, it's water under the bridge anyway," she commented in a soothing tone, squeezing her daughter's hand.

"We will find her, No-chan," Xenma assured, keeping his tone moderate. "Ayame has never failed, it's only a question of time until she finds her."

"But why did it have to be this way? I had thought I had finally built a real relationship with her, one that was not based on respect and fear, but she only pretended so that... that she could flee from us easier. And I didn't even sense it! What kind of mother am I?" Nodoka cried out in anguish.

Lara sighed, her head drooping a little. "We all judged the situation wrongly. Even I thought she had come to terms with the situation and what is asked of her, and I pride myself in being a good judge of character."

Xenma nodded his assent. "I fear there's a high probability that she might sever her ties to the Clan. She might not come back on her own."

"Xen," Lara grumbled in a chiding voice as Nodoka sobbed, "have you done something stupid?"

"Well then," he muttered clearing his throat, "if you call the order to bring Ranma back even against her will stupid, then yes."

His wife groaned. "Sometimes I fear there's more similarity between your son-in-law and you than just the names. Xen, God knows it's important to bring her back to safety, but maybe, just maybe it would be better to let her cool off. It's now crystal clear that she still feels betrayed, and she'll resent us even more if we force her to return."

"Hey, I even refrained from having a subcutaneous chip implanted in her hip, which would have have been easy during the procedure. You know as well as I do how effective those are…"

Xenma was interrupted at this point. "You know as well as I do that you didn't have the implant made for one reason: for fear of others tracking her. That's also why other methods of tracking or bugging her were out," Lara corrected annoyedly, crossing her arms across her chest.

Xenma resisted the urge to sigh. "I concede the point. Another reason for not choosing the implant was Ranma herself; considering her abilities she might have noticed the chip, and that would have utterly destroyed any basis for cooperation right from the start. So I have now ordered to retrieve her, something that will most likely make her resent us even more for sure."

He held up a hand, forestalling any comments. "But consider this: she will resent us in any case, regardless if we actively search for her or not. Ranma is convinced that we will search for her. Do you honestly think she would believe us if we told her 'look, we haven't searched for you, we were goody goody,'?" Xenma asked, his right brow cocked.

Lara sheepishly scratched the back of her head. "If you put it like that, no. But what can we do?" she asked.

"Not much. We can check the spots she might use as a hideout, but considering her intelligence we are bound to draw blanks. In the meantime we can only pray that the chaos around Ranma will mask the outbursts of magic that'll most likely ensue from the baby soon," Xenma said a tad too evenly.

"Outbursts of magic?" Nodoka asked, drying her eyes with her sleeve. "What haven't you told me, father? Is my Ranma in any danger?"

When Xenma didn't answer immediately Lara fixed him with her sternest glare. "Xenma Saotome, spill the beans this instant! Is Ranma in danger?"

The Saotome patriarch sighed. "Not from the baby, but from herself. Look, I had hoped that we could keep her within these walls for the whole 9 1/2 months, and that for a simple reason. The baby will begin to manifest her magical powers soon, and that can be sensed and noticed in other ways. Especially if something should happen that our magical experts theorised."

"Why am hearing this for the first time, Xen?" Lara asked in barely controlled anger. "The whole story, now."

Xenma sighed deeply and leant back in his chair. The big man closed his eyes and massaged his temples. "Because it was something that might happen. It's a theory, nothing more."

Nodoka chuckled humourlessly. "With the way how Ranma's life works it's practically a given, father. So, what does this theory say?"

Xenma opened his eyes and looked at his daughter. "That the baby might begin to draw upon the Silver Crystal. She is the new Queen after all, and her sync-rate with the crystal is bound to be higher than Sailor Moons'. We are closer to the Serenity line, most probably. Even if this Sailor Moon is the reincarnated daughter of Queen Serenity VI., the fact that we are genetically closer to the Serenity line as good as ensures that she'll be able to tap the ginzuisho."

"And why didn't you tell us, Xen?" Lara asked in a disappointed tone.

"I must agree with mother, father. This I'd have liked to know, maybe I could have convinced Ranma better if she had known the dangers to her."

"I was certain I had everything taken care of, considering the lengths I went to to ensure Ranma's safety, and ours as well, by proxy," Xenma replied, his jaw thrust out almost stubbornly.

"What have you done, Xen?" Lara sighed, and fixed her husband with a dangerous look. "If it endangers Ranma…"

"Endanger her? Hardly. Look, we managed to subtly tap the Timegates-"

"You. Did. What!" Lara almost shouted, her face as white as the wall.

"It worked, Lara, of that we are certain, and Pluto is none the wiser," Xenma assured in the chestnote of confidence, "Should she ever learn of Ranma's existence, and she will once the effects of our doing manifest themselves, all Pluto will see are select images of female Ranma. No evidence of her changing genders, no reference to her true name, nothing. Everything has been carefully prepared.

"I even… furthered the activities of one Nabiki Tendo who had the identity of one Ranko Tendo established for Ranma's female form a few months back. It will stand up to any governmental check, and to Pluto's as well."

Lara's gaze clearly communicated that Xenma was far from off the hook. "We will discuss this later, Xen. For now let us hope that you were indeed as successful as you believe."

"But what if Sailor Pluto were to check on site? She would surely find out that my Ranma and Ranko Tendo are one and the same!" Nodoka spoke up, her face scrunching up in worry.

"She won't, No-chan. She has become too complacent, too certain of her infallibility. It is her standard modus operandi to tap the resources at her beck and call, be it governmental or otherwise. She simply doesn't need to check on site, or so she thinks," Xenma explained, his tone calm and collected.

"Be that as it is, and it is true, No-chan," Lara assured with an reassuring nod at her daughter, "That doesn't explain why you kept secrets from me."

"Look, there's no use crying over spilt milk, Lara-chan. We have to find Ranma, and we have to find her fast before Pluto does! The magical maturing of the baby could very well give her the opportunity to get a lock on Ranma."

"Xen," Lara warned, anger sharpening her voice, "don't you Lara-chan me, and don't try to distract us. The full story. Now."

"There's nothing more to tell. Only here complete safety is assured, only here do we have magical dampening fields that would hide those magical outbursts. It's just too bad that our scientists haven't ever managed to create a portable magical dampening field; that would save us many headaches," the Saotome patriarch groused.

Nodoka nodded, now understanding a bit better how urgent it was to get Ranma back. And she was curious. "Father, not that I doubt your wisdom, but I have asked myself this question many times. Why don't we just assassinate Pluto?"

Xenma sighed and shook his head, smiling sadly. "If only it were so simple, No-chan, I'd have done it myself long ago," he said, massaging his temples. "We assume that Pluto can be killed, seeing as we have accounts that report that she has been wounded many times in the past. We deduced from that that her immortality extends to time, but not physical wounds, which would make snipering her possible."

Lara held up a hand. "Let your father finish, No-chan. There are good reasons why we haven't killed Pluto."

"Which would that be, mother? With what I have seen of our possibilities it should be easy to accomplish. One could find out Sailor Pluto's civilian identity and assassinate her," Nodoka stated, and the auburn-haired woman was almost as surprised as her parents at hearing herself suggesting cold-blooded murder.

"Good thinking, daughter," Xenma said approvingly. "For you to even suggest such drastic measures you must have realised just how dangerous Pluto is to Ranma. There's just a slight problem... in all the years that we have known of Pluto's existence we have never been able to uncover her identity; she's just too experienced and careful, and her magic aids her greatly. Tenma had some theories on that, and he postulated that some kind of advanced disguise field masks her features; the same goes for the other Senshi as well. We have tried everything to counter it, but to no avail."

Lara exhaled slowly and nodded. "Then there's also the fact to consider that the Senshi mustn't find us, mustn't know that we even exist. To the public we're just eccentric billionaires, and we'd like to keep it that way. Besides, our equipment and our defences are good, but I doubt that we could resist the combined might of all nine Sailor Senshi. Especially considering that Saturn's attacks can level whole city-blocks. No, stealth has always been key, and will be until the Queen has been reborn."

"I see. But haven't you ever tried to follow one of them, to catch them in their untransformed state?" Nodoka asked, frowning softly.

"We have," Xenma replied, his facial expression conveying just how much success they'd had, "But even considering our Clans' aptitude in all things regarding stealth we were not able to accomplish anything. The Senshi have gotten increasingly more careful over the years. In the early years of their careers we might have had a chance to accomplish the mission objective, but we decided to remain hidden at that time, tried to further our research to bring the Queen back and to build up our defences. In hindsight that may have been a mistake, but as the saying goes, there's no use crying over spilt milk."

"Indeed, Xen. We may not know who the Senshi really are, but our efforts ensured that we're now able to bring the Queen back. And it ensured that Pluto can't screen us. Hadn't we set our priority to develop a magical stealth shielding that makes our doing seem like normal background emissions everything might already be lost. We don't have to know their identities to destroy their plans," Lara said, her lips quirked into a wry smile.

"True," Xenma agreed, "And there're also other good reasons why killing Pluto would achieve nothing. Her manipulations are already complete, the Asteroid will reach Earth in three years time. Killing her just for what she has done would achieve nothing, No-chan, as much as we may want it," he said, as he sunk back in the chair.

"Why, father? I admit that I'm not fond of killing anyone, but why would this course of action be useless? Considering everything goes according to plan and the Queen manages to destroy the Asteroid, who is to stop Pluto from orchestrating a new Great Freeze?"

Xenma sighed deeply and rubbed his temples. "It's true, No-chan. Killing her would seem like the only way to ensure that no repeat will occur. But there's something you don't know, something that shook our Clan to its foundations. One of our agents had the dubious luck to be on site when one of the Senshi was killed. Yes, she was dead, dead as a doornail. Then something utterly strange happened. Their leader, Sailor Moon, used her crystal on the body, and the dead Senshi returned to life!"

"What!" Nodoka exclaimed, her expression showing stark disbelief. "That can't be true! You can't bring the dead back!

"It is true?" she then asked, looking at her parents who gazed back with serious and somewhat defeated expressions.

"Yes, No-chan. That was not the only occasion where such a 'miracle' was witnessed. Dead Senshi can be brought back to life, apparently, and seeing that we don't know if just Sailor Moon can do this feat it doesn't make any sense to risk killing her. We'd have to kill all Senshi to be on the safe side, and that's something I can't agree to," Lara said and closed her arms so they were crossed across her chest, and slowly sunk back down into her chair.

"I understand, mother. So all we can do is hope and pray that we'll be able to find Ranma before something... chaotic happens to her," Nodoka mused with an unhappy sigh.

"Ayame has never failed, No-chan. If anyone can find Ranma it's her," Xenma assured.

"I just hope we find her soon, father. I have a very bad feeling..."

to be continued…