Conjunction

19

Commissioned by Iori Angel.

"Alright, that's it for the day, girls!" Ranma called, and the girls in his class, including Hotaru and Usa, cheered before scattering to gather up the equipment they had used and hit the shower. Hotaru sent him a smile as she grabbed Usa's hand and the two of them headed for the locker room, the pinkette tossing a wave over her shoulder.

Chuckling, Ranma made his way to the gym office and quickly got changed, before making his way to the teachers' lounge. After checking to make sure there was nothing coming up on the schedule that he needed to take care of, he found Setsuna sitting and grading papers. His hands found her shoulders and the eldest Senshi stifled a moan.

"Don't stop," she sighed, leaning back into his hands.

"That bad?"

"Test day," she grunted. "I'm going to be here a while."

"Want me to stick around?" Ranma offered. "I could help."

Setsuna snorted. "They're essays."

Ranma made a face. "Never mind then, you're on your own."

The green haired woman giggled, but nodded. "That's fine. Are you going home?"

Ranma shook his head. "Need to check in on Ryoga. I may be in a little late."
"I'll let the others know," Setsuna smiled, turning and grabbing Ranma's hand, bringing it up to kiss. "Have fun."

Ranma grinned. "I will, actually."

He looked around to make sure no one was watching, then leaned over and gave her a peck on the lips. Setsuna grinned as he pulled away, leaving her to her work.

Leaving the school, Ranma took his time walking through the street. As he went, he began to feel… watched. Not threatened, but definitely like someone was following him and watching him intently.

Ranma got on a train, not in any rush as he headed towards the newest construction site his twin and Ryoga would be working at—the sensation of being watched following. He ignored it for the moment. If it persisted after he got off at his stop, he'd do something about it then.

Thankfully, even after Kuno cost him his job and the ability to work in Nerima, he didn't have enough pull to keep Ranma from being able to work in the other wards of Tokyo. Usagi had also 'cured' him again, so now Ranma could use both former curses at the same time without water. Even better, he remembered anything his twin did now, so he didn't have to just rely on meticulous notes.

After getting the Ryoga cured, they had kept in touch. Akari had announced she was pregnant and Ryoga had taken the hit to his pride and asked Ranma for a job. At the moment, Ryoga was working for him as an untrained hand on paper. Ranma would finish his certification tests this weekend and look into actually starting the business within the following month. While Ranma got everything set up, Ryoga would work for Ranma while being tutored as they worked, then take the test to get his own certifications while skipping the classes since Ranma would be officially taking him on as an apprentice—that way, Ranma had all the legal paperwork taken care of and no one could use the law against him again to shut him down.

Also, it'd mean he could charge more for jobs since he would have three fully certified workers on his crew. Well, two and a half. His female twin would be getting certified at the same time in a new twist on an old trick Ranma had pulled before—that is, claiming he and his girl side were two separate people. In this case, he'd basically be getting paid twice in labor for any job since he'd be collecting his 'sister's' wages himself.

Well, it was a bit more complicated than that. His business would get paid once. From that, he'd have to reinvest funds back into the business itself, then pay his employees—himself, his twin, and Ryoga. But more employees with the right paperwork meant he could add their wages into whatever bid he made on a project. And since he intended to word all contracts as payment upon completion as opposed to an hourly rate they could bang them out at speed, get paid, pay himself and Ryoga out of the total percentage of the funds from the job, and move onto the next faster than any other crew because no one was trying to ride the clock and drag it out for more hourly pay.

I'll probably need to talk to a lawyer, too. Going to need to get a loan or something to cover the insurance, tools, and the like.

He was pulled from his thoughts of what was looking like it might be a couple of months worth of paperwork and back and forth getting everything set up as the train came to a stop and the doors opened. Stepping out at his stop, Ranma frowned as the nagging feeling of someone watching him persisted.

Right. Let's find somewhere quiet to deal with it, he decided, turning down a nearby alley.

Unfortunately, his watcher was a bit more cagey than he had expected. They refused to go down the alley and, when he stepped out of it, he found they quickly repositioned themselves behind him again—likely having taken another route to get behind him.

That kinda narrows down the suspects.

Really, there were only a few in Nerima who could and would have tracked him like this, and wouldn't have been radiating the desire to kill and/or beat him senseless. Fewer still who would have stuck to the job of tailing him and hung back. And while that didn't rule out anyone from outside of Nerima… Ranma had a gut feeling this was someone he was familiar with.

The feeling persisted as he reached the job site, staying just out of sight any time he happened to glance in that general direction. Sighing, he entered the site and found Ryoga and his twin, sitting among a group of workers who had just finished for the day and started cracking open beers from a cooler.

"Saotome! Can I date your sister?" one of them yelled, getting laughs from the others.

The redhead rolled her eyes, before flinging a half full beer can at the man's head, pegging him in the forehead and covering him in beer. "Not interested!"

Ryoga pounded back the rest of his can and stood, following Ranma and his twin as the three of them left. "What's up?"

"Came to let you know I made a few calls at lunch. I'll be finished with my certs by the end of the week. I'll help you prep for yours while we're working. Might be a month or two before everything's ready and the business is set up. Then I'll graduate at the end of this school year and be able to put more time in on the job."

"Not gonna go back and teach some more?" Ryoga asked, and Ranma shook his head. "Okay. Sounds like everything will be pretty stable, after that?"

"Yup," Ranma confirmed. "Way I see it, the way we work, we've got two choices. Either we pull long hours for a few days and whack 'em out fast, or we do half days but take longer for each. Do one a week or so, versus two or three in a week. More money or more time for other stuff."

"Do need money," Ryoga murmured. "Think we can do a bit of both?"

Ranma considered what he knew from his own experience and nodded. "Bust our asses in spring and summer, then slow down for fall and take winter off?"

"Plus holidays," his redheaded twin pointed out. "And weekends!"

"Obviously," Ranma rolled his eyes.

Ryoga chuckled, nodding. "Yeah. More time with Akari and," he swallowed and continued, "and my kid would be good."

"Haaah. Yeah. I guess I need to plan around that, too," Ranma murmured. "Oh, talked to Mousse. He's going back to China, but he might be back. If he does come back, I expect he might join us on the job."

Ryoga frowned at that. "I don't like the idea of making less money."

"We'll do more jobs. Same thing with her," Ranma jerked his hand at his twin, who nodded. "Faster we go, the more jobs we do, the more we make. I might make the offer to Shampoo too."

Ryoga considered for a few moments before nodding. "They're not gonna cause problems?"

"Nah. We settled things with Mousse and worked out an agreement with Shampoo. Could use one or two more though."

They made their way back to the station, talking as they went about Ryoga's coming wedding, all the while Ranma kept his attention focused on the person following them. They made it to the station and Ranma saw Ryoga off onto his train, before he and his twin stepped into the bathrooms. Ranma took a moment to relieve himself while the twin looked around her bathroom before disappearing under the effects of the Umi-sen-ken, after turning on the hot water.

Ranma made his way back out and took a seat, waiting for his train to come. As he sat, he felt the presence turn its attention away. Glancing at the ladies' restroom, he caught the tail end of a long brown ponytail disappearing inside as the door closed. Standing up, he made sure no one was watching before shifting to a busty redhead and pushing her way inside the bathroom.

Leaning against the door, Ranma smirked at the startled sound the brunette made as she whirled, revealing a cute, and familiar face. "Eep!"

The 'girl' yelped as the second Ranma tagged a pressure point with a precision strike from behind, making the brunette's legs go limp and sending

'her' to the ground. The pair shared a glance, before Ranma sighed. Squatting down, Ranma flicked the ninja in the nose. "Really, Konatsu?"

"Uhehe. Hi?"

"Ukyo send you after me?" Ranma asked, and the crossdresser blushed.

"Maybe?" At Ranma's skeptical look, Konatsu deflated. "She doesn't know I'm here! But I'm sure she'll be happy once I tell her I've found you!"

The twin palmed her face. "We don't need that shit. Where are you two staying? Still in Nerima?"

"We're ah, we're mobile now. Mistress Ukyo bought a van, so we could travel around Tokyo and search for you."

"You live out of a van?" Ranma frowned, and Konatsu nodded. "What happened to the shop?"

"Sold it to buy the van. It's not as bad as it sounds! We stop at rest stops or near bath houses to use the facilities at night, and having a vehicle allows us to have a trailer that we've converted into a mobile restaurant."

Frowning, Ranma asked, "So how'd you find me?"

"We park near the stations for more business during rush hours. I've just been watching the foot traffic coming and going. We thought, if we were patient, we would spot you eventually since it's obvious you've been avoiding Nerima."

Both Ranmas sighed and the twin asked, "Where's Ukyo now?"

"I… don't think I should tell you!" the boy grinned. "It's harder to run away if you don't know where we are!"

"If you don't tell me, I'm gonna start hitting pressure points. The embarrassing ones. Then send you back to Ukyo like that," Ranma growled.

Konatsu blushed. "Please don't! Not in front of Ukyo! She's parked at the Juuban station!"

The pair sighed and Ranma stood, shifting back to male as the twin hefted Konatsu up and tossed his arm over her shoulder to carry the crossdresser. "Come on, we'll take the train back to Juuban and talk to Ukyo. Need to have a conversation anyway. This is long overdue."

"Oh no," Konatsu sighed. "You're going to break her heart, aren't you?"

Ranma nodded as the station announced the train for Juuban coming in. "Probably. I'll be right back."

Fishing around in his pockets, he found a few yen and hurried over to a pay phone. Dropping the coins in, he dialed a number from memory and waited. A moment later, it picked up. "Tsukino residence."

"Shingo, it's Ranma."

"Oh, hi Ranma. Want me to get Usagi?"

Hearing the train come to a stop and the doors open, Ranma quickly said, "No, need you to get her a message. Tell her to meet me at the Juuban station. We'll be there in about half an hour. Gotta go, my train's here."

"Will do! Later!"

"Thanks, kid," he chuckled and hung up, collecting his change and hurrying onto the train as the doors closed.

Konatsu grunted as he was dropped into a chair on the train, packed with people for the evening rush hour commute, the pair of Ranmas standing in front of him. "What was that about?"

"Need to introduce someone to Ukyo," Ranma shrugged. "Anyway, how have you been?"

"I've been great! Traveling with Ukyo is fun!"

The pair studied the boy on the seat before the twin sighed. "You could just tell her."

The brunette deflated and looked away. "What good would it do? She's," he gestured at Ranma, "kind of single-minded. I'd rather be there and enjoy what we have than make things awkward."

Frowning, Ranma asked, "How long have you two been at Juuban?"

Konatsu hummed in thought. "About a month. Which is kind of weird, since we normally only stay a week or two."

The Ranma's shared another look. "We've been through that station almost daily," the redhead pointed out.

"There's no way she didn't see us," the pigtailed boy nodded. "And we go through with the others all the time, when we're not taking the car."

"At least once with Setsuna."

The pair turned back to Konatsu. "You sure she hasn't said anything about me?"

Konatsu shook his head. "No." Reaching up, he played with the end of his hair as he thought. "She was kind of distracted for a while though. I thought it was just, you know, womanly things."

The Ranmas snorted at that. "She definitely already knows."

"Guess that makes this easier."

"Then we'll just—" the redhead paused, her mouth falling open momentarily as her eye twitched. Reaching around behind her, she grabbed onto the hand cupping her ass. "Fucking really?" she hissed as a salaryman squealed in pain. Twisting his arm behind his back, she stabbed a finger glowing with ki into his lower back. The man howled as his skin burned. "Enjoy not being able to get it up, perv."

From there, the redhead frog-marched the man through the crowd to the nearby door. Throwing it open, she shoved him out of the moving train, where he thumped and rolled in the street. Luckily for him, the train wasn't going all that fast. At about 50kph since they were slowing down, he should be fine…ish. Turning around, she met eyes with the crowd of onlookers. Thankfully, everyone seemed to be on the same page—that he had apparently decided to exit the train early all on his own.

When the train came to a stop, the twins and Konatsu exited, allowing the now limping ninja to lead them to a van parked nearby, with a silver trailer attached to the back. They both recognized it, having passed it almost daily in the last month, but somehow they had never spotted the people working in it—usually either because it was too early, or because the place was packed with people getting off the train, as it was now.

"Come on, sit down," Ranma dumped Konatsu onto a nearby bench, while looking to his twin and nodding to the trailer.

"I'll go give her a hand," the redhead agreed, hurrying off.

"No, it's okay, I can—"

"Barely stand," Ranma cut him off. "Didn't want you escaping, so that's gonna take a few hours to wear off. We'll handle it. In the meantime, we'll wait for Usagi."

Meanwhile, the redheaded twin found the door to the trailer and slipped in the back. She found Ukyo working the griddle and quickly dishing out orders. Grabbing an apron off a hook, she tied it on as Ukyo asked, without looking up, "Where'd you go?"

Ranma stepped up and bumped the taller girl's hip with her own. "Oh, here and there."

The brunette woman blinked and frowned briefly, but moved over a bit to make room as Ranma quickly began plating, serving, taking orders, and handling money. They moved around each other as they worked with perfect awareness and timing—something it had taken Konatsu months to master, Ranma seamlessly stepped into like she'd been doing it for years.

Ukyo sighed, looking out over the crowd and spotting another Ranma, along with Konatsu, sitting on a bench almost directly across from her. "Another curse?"

"Nah. Well, yes and no," the redhead shrugged. "Got cured, then decided to put the springs to work for me. Went back for the twins curse, then cured that one too. I can do both whenever I want now. No more accidents with water."

Ukyo chuckled. "That's good to hear. I know it bothered you."

"Two Hiroshima style," Ranma called, and Ukyo nodded.

Pulling out noodles and dropping them on a fresh pancake, Ukyo asked, "So what happened, Konatsu drag you here? Kansai up!"

"One Kansai!" Ranma quickly handed out the new dish before answering. "More like he was being nosy and we don't like people spying on us. Figured it was him though, cause there ain't exactly many people—two originals—who can give me the slip."

Ukyo nodded, working through orders. She glanced up as a now familiar splash of blonde hair caught her eye and resisted the urge to sigh as the blonde plopped down on the bench beside the other Ranma, latching onto him in a hug before turning his head and planting a kiss on him. To her annoyance, the blonde bounced up a moment later and hurried over, standing in line. Soon enough, the blonde was up front and beamed at the redheaded Ranma.

"Back to waitressing for tips?"

"Doing a favor for a friend, since I kinda sorta temporarily crippled her help," Ranma sheepishly admitted. "What do you want?"

"Five originals!" Looking to Ukyo, she introduced herself. "Hi! I'm Tsukino Usagi!"

"Kuonji Ukyo," Ukyo introduced herself out of habit, already working on the order.

The blonde raised an eyebrow at that, her lips forming a small 'o' before she turned and looked at Ranma. "That Ukyo?"

"That Ukyo," Ranma confirmed.

"What have you been telling her about me?" Ukyo raised an eyebrow. "Not all bad, I hope?"

"Not all bad!" Usagi laughed.

Sighing, Ukyo finished up the order and Ranma handed it off to Usagi, who hurried off to go share it with the other Ranma and Konatsu. "I'll close it down after the rush and we'll talk."

"Sure," Ranma agreed, and they returned to the groove of working together.

The first part of the evening rush came and went and before the next train came in, Ukyo turned off the 'Open' sign and began shutting down. By the time the next train got in, they had the shop closed and everything cleaned and put away that needed to be.

"Alright, time for me to split," the redheaded Ranma grinned, hanging up her apron before disappearing.

Ukyo shook her head and made her way outside, locking up behind herself. Ranma stood from the bench. There was a brief flash as Usagi laid a hand on Konatsu, then the male kunoichi popped to his feet.

"Oh! Thank you! Was, was that magic?" the man asked and Usagi giggled, nodding.

"Yup!" the blonde chirped, pressing herself to Ranma's side. "Why don't we go grab some food? That little snack isn't going to tide me over for long," she stuck out her tongue, earning a chuckle from Ranma.

"Sounds good. Ucchan, you coming?" he asked, sending the chef a searching look.

Ukyo winced, then nodded. "Sure, hon. I should have some cash—"

"Psh, don't worry about it!" Usagi waved a hand dismissively. "I've got it."

"Oh, I couldn't possibly—"/"If you're sure…" Konatsu and Ukyo tried at the same time, and Usagi rolled her eyes.

"You can," she pointed to Konatsu, before nodding to Ukyo, "and I'm sure. What do we want? Buffet?"

"Have to find one we haven't been banned from yet," Ranma reminded, and Usagi giggled, grinning as she pulled him along, Ukyo and Konatsu falling in behind them.

The walk over didn't take long and soon enough, they were seated around a table, plates and glasses in front of them as they dug in. "So…" Ukyo began, awkwardly. With no real easy way to ask, she just came out and said it. "Is this another fiancee, or…?"

Ranma and Usagi both opened their mouths to answer, before turning to look at the other. Both chuckled and Ranma gestured for Usagi to go ahead. "We don't want to put that title on anything, given, you know," she trailed off and Ukyo nodded.

"Yeah, that makes sense."

"It's serious though," Ranma added, and the brunette nodded once as Usagi beamed. "It's not like it was with Akane."

"Or me?" Ukyo asked, and Ranma sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"Ukyo. We were kids."

"But the cart—"

"Pops stole it. Take that up with him," Ranma shook his head. "It's got nothin to do with me. What your old man did sucks, worse than what mine did. But tryin' ta use a childhood promise and a stolen cart to tie me down wasn't how you get what you wanted. I'm done with Nerima. I'm not marrying any of the fiancees or anybody who was involved. I'm not exactly innocent, but you were all awful to each other and to me."

"Well if they had just—"

"No," Ranma cut her off again. "You jumped in and helped sabotage my wedding with Akane. Sure, that saved me down the line, but that wasn't why you did it and we both know it."

Glaring at Ranma, Ukyo stabbed her chopsticks into her food and ate for a few moments, giving herself some time to think. Finally, she asked, "What am I supposed to do? I can't go home until I reclaim my honor. That means either marrying you for the dowry, or killing Genma. I'm not stupid. He's too much for me to handle. That kind of only leaves one option."

"Marrying me ain't an option."

Usagi cleared her throat, drawing Ukyo's ire and a questioning look from Ranma. "So to summarize: you and Ranma met as children. You had a crush, but Ranma thought you were a boy. Your father and Ranma's made a deal between themselves, where they both traded their children to be married to each other, but Genma being Genma had no intention of following through. Genma stole the cart that was supposed to be your dowry and ran away with Ranma. Your father then disowned you and told you that the only way you could rejoin the family was to recover the cart, which had been destroyed, marry Ranma, or kill Genma. Then the whole Nerima thing happened. Is that accurate?"

Ukyo huffed, but nodded. "Pretty much." She turned a glare on Ranma. "Did you tell her about the sauce?"

"I told her about the sauce," Ranma rolled his eyes. "I said I was sorry."

"Mm," Usagi dug into her purse and pulled out what looked like a makeup mirror. Holding it up, she flipped it open and pushed a button. A few moments later, the screen came to life and she smiled. "Ami!"

"What did you break?"

"I didn't break anything!" Usagi protested.

"Okay. Who did you break?"

Usagi stuck her tongue out and looked to Ukyo, who was looking at her and the compact in her hand like she'd just dialed up the Enterprise and asked to be beamed up. "What's your dad's name?"

"Uhh…" Ukyo frowned, crossing her arms as she thought. "Kuonji Ryou."

"Okay. Ami, think you can find a Kuonji Ryou for me? He probably runs a shop selling okonomiyaki, since it's a family thing." She looked up at Ukyo, "Where did you say you lived when it happened?" Ukyo told her and she passed the information along to Ami.

"Alright, I'll look into it and see what I can find. I'll text you when I have something."

"Great, thanks~!"

"Say 'hi' to Ranma for me," Ami chuckled, before ending the call.

"Ami says hi," Usagi relayed, putting away her compact. Turning back to Ukyo, she continued. "You have choices now, since marrying Ranma and killing Genma are both off the table. One," she nudged Ranma with an elbow and grinned, "Ranma's quite the carpenter now. I'm sure he'd easily be able to build you a new cart. Even a new shop, if that's what it'll take."

"Sure, I can do that," Ranma nodded.

"A shop isn't going to make up for everything," Ukyo grumbled.

"Legally speaking, it would," Usagi countered. "Estimate the value of the cart, interest over how long it's been since it was stolen, damages for projected losses based on how much the cart could realistically produce during that time. Yeah, you could be made whole that way."

"Well, I don't want it."

Usagi nodded. "Okay. Then we can take the value of all of that, add 25%, and I can pay it off in cash, today." Usagi paused, then chuckled. "Well, tomorrow. Banks are closed by now."

"It's not about the money," Ukyo hissed.

The blonde leaned forward on her elbows, resting her chin in her hands. "Legally speaking, it is. In the eyes of the law, enough money would make up for it, and if you refused to accept it, then that's your problem. A reasonable solution was provided in the form of a more than generous sum of money. You declined on the grounds of sentimentality or emotional damage. Any judge in Japan is going to look at the efforts gone to to make you whole and decide you're being unreasonable, and tell you to either take what's been offered, or take nothing and drop it."

The chef shook her head. "I don't care what a judge or the law would say."

"If you don't want money, the cart, or even a full restaurant, what do you want?"

"I want my time back!" Ukyo growled.

"I can't give you that," Usagi shook her head.

"Can you give me my family back, then?" the chef rolled her eyes.

At that, the blonde grinned. "Actually, yes. That's why I called Ami."

Glaring, Ukyo asked, "What do you mean?"

"Well, it's pretty simple, really!" Usagi giggled. "You don't want your cart back, or a shop, or even money. So we'll go to your father. I'll offer him all of the above if he takes you back into the family. If he refuses…" She turned to Ranma and smiled. "You can make him see sense, can't you? The same way you did Mr. Tendo?"

At that, Ranma cracked his knuckles and grinned. "Oh yeah. I'll have a talk with him."

"So!" Usagi turned back to Ukyo, "Those are your options. Pick one, or I'll solve the whole thing when Ami sends me your dad's address."

"How about I kick your ass? How's that for an option?"

"Okay!" the blonde chirped, and Ukyo blinked. "But only if you'll agree that a fight between you and I will settle it completely."

"Sure. I win, I get to marry Ranma—"

"No deal," Ranma growled.

Usagi shook her head. "Ranma's not like, a manga I can just give to you if you beat me up! The best I can offer is that I won't stop you from trying. Which just leaves you where you are now."

"Fine," Ukyo grumbled.

"And if I win, you'll give up on Ranma. You'll take the money, the shop, and go away. We'll even go back to your dad with you and convince him to take you back in."

Ukyo considered it for a few moments, before jerkily nodding. She opened her mouth but Usagi added, "Oh, and if either Ranma or Konatsu interferes, it's an automatic loss. Ranma steps in for me, I lose. Konatsu steps in for you, you lose."

At that, the man sitting beside Ukyo and all but forgotten by her in the argument looked sheepish and began putting away the weapons he'd begun preparing. Ukyo rolled her eyes, but nodded. "Alright. Let's do this."

"After dinner," Usagi shook her head. "I'm eating for two, after all!"

At that, Ukyo and Konatsu both froze. The chef recovered first. "You're…?"

"Pregnant. Yup," Usagi nodded.

"With his," Ukyo pointed to Ranma, and the blonde nodded again.

"Mhmm!"

Grumbling, Ukyo leaned back in her seat as she suddenly looked defeated. Worse than Ranma had seen her after any fight. She looked crushed, mentally and spiritually. Finally, she said, "I'm not going to fight a pregnant woman."

"Does that mean you'll take the money and go away?"

"No," Ukyo shook her head.

"Then yes you are," Usagi countered. "We learned a long time ago not to let problems like this fester. You're getting dealt with tonight, one way or another."

"You're insane," the chef huffed, going back to her food.

Usagi giggled. "So I've been told! People keep saying that, but somehow, it always seems to turn out okay. Now, hurry up and finish so we can get this done."

It was barely half an hour later that the four of them left the restaurant and made their way into a nearby park. Ukyo pulled the big spatula off of her back as Ranma moved to stand next to Konatsu and make sure the ninja didn't try anything funny, hoping no one would notice.

"You sure you want to do this in your condition?"

Usagi giggled, stretching in place for a moment to warm up. "Sure I do! It's been a while since I've been in a fight." Turning a leer on Ranma, she wagged her eyebrows. "Remember what happened the last time?"

Ranma sighed. "I remember. We're not having a repeat this time."

"Aww~! But, but fun in the park!" Usagi pouted and Ranma shook his head. "You're no fun."

"Uh huh," Ukyo grunted. "You ready? I'll make this quick."

"Sure!" Usagi smiled. "Quick as you like."

Ukyo dashed across the short distance between them, raising the spatula and aiming high, looking to smash Usagi in the shoulder with the flat of it. Just before the spatula made contact, a bright flash of light filled the park. The spatula vibrated right up Ukyo's arms—she'd hit brick walls that had felt softer.

Blinking to clear her eyes, Ukyo surveyed the damage and her mouth fell open. Her spatula was bent in the middle—a girl-shaped indent in the flat of the blade. And standing there, wearing a particularly smug grin, was…

"No."

Ukyo shook her head, pulling the spatula away and turning to look at Ranma. Pointing back to the blonde, she demanded, "Sailor Moon? Really?!"

Ranma nodded, grinning as Konatsu let out a high pitched "Squeee!" beside him.

"Yeeeah. So. About that fight," Ranma reminded, before nodding at Moon.

Ukyo turned back to find a red gloved fist swinging for her face—the last thing she saw, before the world went black.

"Think I overdid it?" Moon asked, eyeing the girl with the broken, bleeding nose and missing front teeth. "Maybe I should just… Heal all of that?"

"Maybe just heal the mouth," Ranma shook his head as Konatsu hurried over to check on Ukyo. "Konatsu, get her back home, wouldja? We'll be by tomorrow to figure things out."

"I will," the ninja promised.

"Oh, and Konatsu?" the pigtailed boy asked, and the ninja looked up as he picked up Ukyo, and Moon took a moment to fix her mouth and regrow her teeth. "Be there for her."

The ninja nodded, before turning and hurrying away, heading back towards the station. Moon sighed and dropped her transformation with a much more muted flash of light. "That was nice, what you did for them."

"Thanks for playing along. Ucchan's stubborn. Knew she wouldn't back down without a fight. Like she said, it wasn't about the money. She put too much into it to be able to just let it go, just because she got everything back and then some. I think now she can start to move on. Maybe open her eyes and see what she's been ignoring."

"Yeah, they're kinda cute together," Usagi chuckled, pressing herself into Ranma's side. "So~… Want to come back to my place?"

"You live with your parents," Ranma pointed out. "Don't want to traumatize your dad and brother."

"Like mom and dad traumatized me and Shingo?" Usagi rolled her eyes. "Ugh, fine." Turning to study Ranma as they walked, she hummed. "We need a place of our own. A big place. With lots of room to expand. Room for kids."

"In Tokyo? Good luck. I don't think even Sailor Moon royalties can afford that."

Usagi hummed, before smiling. "Who said it had to be in Tokyo? We've got teleportation magic."

"…Something to talk with the others about, I guess," Ranma shrugged. "But I was getting kind of tired of the city. Wouldn't wanna raise kids here."

"Great! We can call a meeting and all talk about what we want. Then you can build it!"

"Sounds good."

Looking around, Usagi made sure they weren't being watched, before the pair disappeared in a flash of light.