The flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long.

My Love's Flame
A Ranma 1/2 and Sailor Moon Crossover
by Ryan Erik

Chapter Twenty Five

Already past midnight on Friday morning, the superhero/idol/student known as Sailor V/Aino-chan/Minako hurried home after her rendezvous with her past-life teacher. To say her spirits were high would have been an understatement. She beamed as she lightly padded across the rooftops, three steps on each before leaping across the gap to the next house.

Running home in the middle of the night was not an unusual activity for the young teen. Having only returned from a country-wide tour a little over a week ago, the girl had made it a nightly occurrence. She'd been forced to abandon her Sailor V identity for the duration of the tour for reasons that only Artemis truly understood, but that he'd described to her as "lying low" for a while. So when she'd come back on her first evening home, she had transformed into Sailor V and gone patrolling.

Although magically enhanced muscle memory had no trouble reacting to her navigational desires, actually racing across rooftops was far more difficult than when she had first taken it up last year. When moving particularly quickly on delicate surfaces that tended to break, she'd had to try to keep her steps light and fast, and to run on the strongest part of any roof she encountered. Moving quickly also brought the problem of passing her destination or getting lost, so she'd learned to visually scan her surroundings for landmarks, and to memorize the number of footsteps she'd have to take before leaping down to the ground.

Sailor V had spent a lot of time running home as fast as possible and had it down to a science, as even the magic that gave her so many powers didn't include a magical map. The first night she'd run around freely as Sailor V, she'd gotten horribly lost and had had to call Artemis for directions.

Now I have all the major streets and landmarks in my brain, she thought as she landed on the roof two away from her home. Slowing down wasn't difficult in itself as her magically-enhanced muscles did the heavy lifting, but the actual timing was far more tricky. She'd learned that it was best to either slow down gradually, or just make a huge leap and end it in a roll.

So when she leapt up and cleared the final house, she tucked into a roll and hit the ground with a somersault, ending by springing to her feet and pushing into the dirt to kill her remaining momentum. The grass in her parents' backyard was slick with water and didn't provide the necessary friction to stop. Instead of an acrobatic landing, she lost her traction and continued sliding straight at her grandfather's tool shed that they'd only used for storage since he passed.

To Sailor V's surprise, the door to the shed was open and she slid face first into the boxes of keepsakes that her parents must have stored there recently. The sudden loud and startling noise that she generated consisted of a cacophony of falling tools and breaking glass.

"Crap!" she whispered as she sprang to her feet, and then burst out of the shed like a scarf-faced bandit, sans the scarf. It took her less than two heartbeats to go around the side of the house and position herself underneath her window. When she looked up, she saw that the light in her room was on, and the window was wide open. She'd faked being asleep for the benefit of her mother hours ago, and had left the light off.

"Oh, I hope I didn't get caught," she whispered under her breath as she lined up her jump to the window of her second-floor room. The heroine bit her lip in anticipation as she leaped up and grabbed the window sill.

Her internal clock told her it was almost half-past one in the morning, and by all reason her parents should have been asleep for hours, minus the loud racket she'd just made in the tool shed. As long as they didn't realize she was out of her room, they could never pin the mess in the shed on her.

I'll still offer to clean it up, she thought, biting her lip slowly as she rolled it over against her right canine. But I am stretched too thin to risk being grounded right now. Right now, she felt fine, but after the exhaustion of the day both in and out of her seifuku, she wouldn't be quite so spry in her step in a few minutes.

Sailor V knew that as soon as she released the enchantment that maintained her power, her body would collapse into exhaustion like a ragged doll. While Sailor V could fight for hours at a time, Minako was not nearly as fit. Pushing her body to the limit all day had consequences. Although she wouldn't experience any of the damage taken from her fight, the sheer energy drain would send her to sleep within minutes of transforming.

She couldn't risk returning to normal until she was fully in her room, or she might fall. However, being spotted by her parents in this form would be equally hazardous. She played it safe and pulled her head up just high enough to peek in.

When she looked into the room, she immediately spotted that the safety measure she had left on the door was still intact. After watching several spy movies, Minako had taken to placing various objects on the door handle of her room, so that if someone should open the door, they'd fall to the ground and she'd know she had been discovered sneaking out. Tonight's was a long bookmark that she'd wrapped around the door handle and trapped in the door frame. If it fell, it wouldn't even be obvious to anyone that it had been used in such a fashion, but rather appear to be a useless distraction.

Sailor V sighed in relief and pulled herself in headlong. Even considering the mess outside, she was still riding the high from the personal revelations of her past life experiences, and barely gave her room a cursory glance as she planted her feet on the ground and released the enchantment that maintained her power.

The transformation process from Sailor V to Minako was instantaneous on the outside, as was the initial transformation, but for her, she felt every part of it in slow motion as the sailor fuku vanished, replaced by a blouse and jacket and slacks that she'd worn after switching out of pajamas before she'd left. She never left home in pajamas, just in case she got caught and had to own up to her parents to sneaking out. She guessed that finding their daughter sneaking out in pajamas would make them more upset than sneaking out in appropriate sneaking-out clothing.

As her body regained its normal appearance and the magic that infused her with enhanced senses and tremendous strength left her feeling exhausted, Minako released a sigh a year in the making.

I finally found an ally, she thought triumphantly, even as her body felt ready to collapse into bed and sleep until noon.

She smiled to herself and began to strip out of her clothes. Every stretch of her muscles felt labored and her eyelids drooped with each movement.

"Ahem," a male voice from behind her interrupted her as she was pulling her blouse over her head. She froze for a second until her fatigued mind recognized her mentor's small voice.

"Oh, sorry, Arty," she whispered, turning to face him, though her eyes were still covered by her blouse. As much as I want to brag, I don't think I have enough energy left to stand up much longer, let alone explain the night's happenings to him.

"I'm just beat," she whispered, slipping out of her blouse, and turned her head to toss it at the corner of her room where she piled dirty clothes. She turned back to her mentor and said, "Mind if we talk…?" The word 'tomorrow' caught in her mouth as she realized Artemis wasn't alone.

"What the heck?" she said as she took a step back in surprise. "Artemis?"

Beside her mentor sat a small black cat roughly the same size as Artemis, watching her calmly as if it were completely normal feline behavior. The cat had black fur that neared navy blue or even a dark purple, and her eyes were a lovely hazel.

Is that some neighbor's pet? she wondered, biting her lip uncertainly. The new cat turned its head to look at Artemis, as if it anticipated a response from Minako's mentor.

"This really can't wait until tomorrow," he told her energetically. "This is big."

Wait, is he going to confess something? she wondered, and then looked between the two cats again, trying to solve the riddle. Oh... Oh! Is this his girlfriend?!

"Wait, did I just interrupt something here?" she asked, her eyes on the new cat that seemed incredibly tame and didn't even run away when she entered. "Eww, what were you doing on my bed?"

"What?!" Artemis spit out surprised, looking at the black cat.

"Nothing inappropriate, I assure you," the black cat said calmly, but slightly on the irritated or insulted side. The voice was the voice of a teacher, someone many years her senior. None of that made her feel calm, however.

"You can talk!" Minako gasped as she fell back another step, and collided with the closet door. "What did you do, Artemis?"

Artemis' jaw dropped open. "I didn't do anything! Wait, why does her talking surprise you?" he asked, looking between her and his new friend.

"Why wouldn't it surprise me?" Minako demanded, consciously putting her hands up over her bra. "You never told me you weren't the only talking cat out there."

"What are you teaching her, Artemis?" the black admonished. Minako could only stare at Artemis' companion with wide eyes. "What if you'd fallen and I had to resume her tutelage?"

"Hey, what I teach my protégé is between me and her," Artemis shot back defensively. "Plus, she has enough on her plate to not have to sweat the small stuff."

The black cat ignored the white one, and turned back to the girl who was still in a state of shock. "I think we've gotten off on the wrong paw. We've met before, Princess Venus. I am Luna, Her Majesty Queen Serenity's loyal servant, and I am at your service."

She sounds just like the people in my memories that I recalled on the roof this evening, Minako realized upon hearing the inflections of words and the sound of her voice. When the cat said her previous name, the girl shivered. If she'd been wearing her suit, she almost certainly would have had a flashback. I went from having only had one, to having more than three this week.

"We don't use any of those old ranks or titles, Luna-chan," Artemis said wryly, the surprise of Minako's ignorance having worn off. "For Minako's sake, I just go by Artemis, and you should just go by your given name. Also, you really need to learn to speak proper Japanese, and stop using the translator magic."

So, he gets to not tell me things, and then make fun of us? she thought, frowning at the white cat. Then she shrugged, and walked over to her desk. After pulling out the chair, she turned it to face the alien cats and sat down. Her body seemed to give out as she slumped back and her head rested on her shoulder.

"So you're from the Silver Millennium, too?" Minako asked, realizing that she shouldn't be surprised, yet not able to completely kill the Disney-induced fantasy that all animals could actually talk and did so frequently when humans weren't around.

"Yes, like Artemis, we traveled through the ages to aid the Princess-Heir and her guardians."

"I left a lot out," her mentor admitted just a bit sheepishly. He then jumped off the bed and walked over to her. "You had so much going on I didn't want to bog you down with unnecessary info."

Even with all of the excitement of finding another talking alien cat, Minako could barely keep up. "Tomorrow you can tell me everything." She lifted her head up and stared directly at the cat that suddenly jumped into her lap. "Everything."

"Sure, sure!" he said with a chuckle.

"It's nice to meet you, Luna-chan," Minako said pleasantly as she reached around Artemis and pulled him against her stomach. "Did you want to stay here tonight?"

"If it pleases you," the small cat said formally, bowing her head.

What's the correct response to that? Minako wondered, scratching Artemis around his neck. "Sure."

"Thank you, my Princess," the cat said. She jumped down to the floor, but then stopped. "I mean, thank you, Minako-san." She wandered to a corner where some clean clothes had been piled in a hamper by her mother for Minako to put away.

Even space cats sleep on laundry piles, Minako thought with a grin right before she yawned. Her eyes watered slightly as she looked down at her mentor, who was purring.

"Okay, can I go to bed now?" Minako asked.

"You didn't even hear the big news!" Artemis insisted, staring up at her.

"Your instincts to go to the Azabu-Juuban district to search for the Princess were good." Luna's words made Minako's survival instincts flare up, causing her heart rate to spike. The cat continued, "When Artemis told me that you were focusing on that area and had some initial results, I thought I would do the same. I detected her yesterday afternoon."

"You can stop searching the shrine on Cherry Hill," Artemis told her out of hand, his eyes closed as he lay in her lap.

"What, why?" Minako said, panic creeping into her voice, causing Artemis to realize something was amiss.

He popped up and jumped up from her lap onto her desk, where he climbed on one of her school books to be eye level with her. "Now that we know the Princess is near, we have to focus on finding her. We can't let up until we do."

No! she thought, trying to pull her dulled mind to the task of giving up on the one good thing she'd discovered on her own. I know that Ranma plays a role in this somehow. I can't give up on just like that.

Luna continued. "With the Dark Agency's leader vanquished, the Dark Kingdom won't have any leadership in the area who can resume their dark plots. This will be our only opportunity to find Princess Serenity before their reinforcements arrive. If we can secure her quickly enough, we can move her to a safe location where she can train in safety while you find and awaken her other guardians."

Minako felt the fatigue in her mind abate even as her body ached from it. The talk of finding the Moon Princess was incredibly exciting, but the fact that her own personal win was being overshadowed by this new revelation did ruin her mood.

She looked over at Artemis to see him nodding in agreement with the newcomer.

"We have to keep a low profile until then," Artemis said. "I know you want to help people, but we can't risk media exposure until we find Princess Serenity."

"Hey, Arty, about that." she asked, staring back at him quizzically. "I talked to the police after those guys tried to rob the Lucky Star Market."

"Wait, you did?" the white cat asked, his eyes wide. "I mean, I knew they saw you at least, but you gave an interview?"

Minako sleepily nodded, and then yawned. "We're cooperating with police now, remember? I didn't think anything had changed. Was I not supposed to?"

"Were there any press there?" Artemis asked, his eyes getting wider.

"I don't remember," she replied, shaking her head. She tried to recall the event in the early afternoon. There'd been a lot going to consume her brainpower for the day, and this had seemed of a fairly low priority to her at the time. "There might have been someone with a camera."

Artemis walked to the edge of the bed and looked down at his new companion. "Luna, do you think this will affect us? Does the Dark Agency typically have any spies among the humans?"

Minako couldn't see the small, black cat from her seat on her bed, but she heard the small, feminine voice clearly. "The enemy has long maintained spies among the gentry and peasants alike." Her formal tone caused Minako to fight a grin as the cat continued, "How embedded they are with the press is up for speculation; however, this further reinforces the need to prioritize the search for the Princess-Heir."

"I agree," Artemis chimed in directly afterward. "Aside from your human obligations, we'll need you to help us with the search starting tomorrow. Finding the Princess is priority number one."

As more exhaustion began to kick in, Minako nodded wearily. "Roger."

Her mind lingered on the last part of her day that she'd forgotten to mention, even as the cats began to discuss other matters. She shook her head to clear some of the fog as she slipped underneath her covers. Artemis was sitting at the end of her bed looking down at his companion as they chatted quietly.

"Hey, Arty?" she whispered as she rubbed her eyes.

"What is it, Mina-chan?" he replied, looking back at her.

"I never got a chance to tell you," she said, before yawning widely. "I met up with Saotome Ranma again before I came back."

Artemis looked slightly annoyed as he grimaced. "Okay. Did you learn anything new?"

"He's from the ancient Silver Moon Kingdom," she informed him, propping her arm up on her elbows so she could rest her head in her hand. "I had a vision of him at Magellan Castle."

Although she was nearly asleep, she was awake enough to see that Artemis was surprised. His hair began to stick up and his tail pointed straight out. "What?!"

Minako shushed him before continuing. "My father - uh, the Prince Regent of Venus, or whatever - hired him to train me in that dream. He was some kind of big deal."

"You're sure?" the cat asked as he walked up the bed and on top of her left leg, to which she nodded. He paused and hummed. "And are you certain it was him, and not someone else? Dreams can be tricky. They show things that are related sometimes."

"Yes, Arty," she began, and then yawned. "I'm a hundred percent sure. I knew it was him when I saw him. This dream wasn't like the rest. I was in Princess Venus' head like I was her. It was clearer than a memory I'd ever had before."

"Princess Venus is wakening," Luna's disembodied voice drifted out from her resting place on Minako's laundry basket.

I'm waking? Minako thought, but wasn't really sure what Luna meant by that.

"As you're at least partially aware," Artemis said, his voice strained, "when you transform into Sailor V, all of your senses are enhanced tremendously by the power you were born into. Well, the same goes for your mind. Even distant memories will be accessible the more you become in sync with Princess Venus."

In sync with…? she wondered, and then frowned. "I don't get it. What do you mean by that?"

"I wasn't up on all of the specifics like Luna was, as she was Princess Serenity's teacher. Would you mind explaining?"

"Certainly," Luna said, appearing suddenly beside the white cat, jumping up to the edge of the bed. "The magic that binds you is that of the Silver Crystal. It is an ancient artifact that Queen Serenity brought with her to the Sol system and enabled her to terraform and colonize the three planets, Venus, Terra and Mars."

Artemis interrupted her a moment later. "The short version, if you don't mind."

Luna looked at Artemis with what Minako could only think of as a grimace, but cat expressions were even harder to interpret on an animal with black fur.

"Yes, I shall be brief, but it is important to understand the source of her power in order to know how it affects her now." Luna lowered herself onto her hind legs and rested her body beside Minako's right foot.

"Queen Serenity brought great power to a solar system without civilization. However, the power of the Silver Crystal dilutes over such a great distance and for so many people. There were millions of denizens on each of the three planets, and there were more scattered on the orbiting castles, including Mercury and Jupiter and the Outer planets."

The cat took a deep breath before continuing. "For the humans of Terra, and the numerous other species, such as Artemis and I, granting eternal life was no longer possible as it was at the start. So Queen Serenity chose to abstain from using her power on the native Terrans, and only provided limited longevity to the Selenites who followed her from her homeland. This was a compromise that the Queen came to as her people multiplied, no longer under the existential threat of the many evils in the Universe. Only the ruling families of each house were granted immunity from death and disease entirely, including the House of Venus, your ancestors."

Wow, Minako thought in awe. Artemis was really holding back on me in the information department.

"This leads us back to why you have power at all, and additionally, why you are suddenly recalling the memories of a girl dead before the Common Era on Terra. For that, I will ask you one simple question: when you transform, whose face do you see in the mirror?"

Minako blinked. "Princess Venus, from the Moon Kingdom. I saw her face in my vision and recognized it as my face when I'm Sailor V."

"Yes, that's what I thought," Luna said. "Princess Venus is the last ruler of the planet Venus and heir to the throne at Magellan Castle, which still orbits the planet to this very day, cloaked to all forms of sight and scrying. Only through your connection to her can you use the power of the Silver Crystal that the House of Venus had bestowed upon it by Queen Serenity."

Minako hummed aloud, but then she frowned. "But what does that have to do with having super clear memories and being in sync as you put it?"

"The more you become like her, the more you will remember," Luna said simply. "You gain far more than the power of the Silver Crystal. You regain the lost physicality of the Princess as well. You are tapping into her memories and experience when you transform. The power of the Silver Crystal enhances memories to the point where they are indistinguishable from reality, so you are able to begin to recall Venus' memories due to that."

Rubbing her forehead with the palm of her hand, Minako yawned. "That's really weird. I don't know how I feel about that."

On one hand, I don't feel like a different person when I transform, she thought, looking at her hand through blurry eyes. I just feel better. "Does that mean if I stay as her long enough, I would become her? I'd be someone else? That girl in my dream?"

Luna shook her head. "No. That's impossible. You are you. You will recall her memories, and feel her emotions in memory, but she is long dead. You choose what to make of those thoughts and feelings. Only you can make decisions about how you feel and what you think, and what actions you take in this life."

The cat paused, and licked her paw as Minako tried to consider the implications. However, she was growing steadily less lucid as time passed.

"There will be plenty of time to discuss it tomorrow, and moving forward," Luna told her. "There is only one question I have left for you, if you do not mind, my princess."

Closing her eyes, Minako shook her head. "No, go ahead."

"The man in your dream that you told us about before. Did he carry a staff?"

Minako thought back to her dream, and but the man was just a blur. She did recall the staff, though. "Sure. He had a staff. He had a short beard. Blue eyes. Black hair. He looked like a warrior, but didn't wear any house sigils like everyone else did in my dream."

"You knew him then, Luna?" Artemis interjected, his voice on edge. "I was not a part of the court until after the last Terran rebellion."

"Yes, I was acquainted with him," the black cat said wistfully. Minako listened with her eyes closed as that cat talked. "Our Princess Venus only had one sensei." The word sounded odd from her mouth.

It must have been translated by that weird magic, Minako thought, suddenly wondering if she could use that type of magic, too.

"Artemis, do you recall the last of the Aquila?" Luna asked of her companion.

"Only vaguely," Artemis admitted with a grumble. "Weren't they three brothers? They followed Queen Serenity to the Sol system before the start of the Silver Millennium. That's all I recall."

"Yes, that is correct. They were all that was left of the Aquila, a tribe of warriors who were on patrol when their civilization was destroyed suddenly. They encountered the Queen during the Great Journey, and she took pity on them. They served her and the Sailor Guardians until they all perished along with everyone during that age."

There's so much I don't know, Minako realized as she sank deeper into her pillow. So much I need to learn.

"They were Altair, Alshain and Tarazed," Luna continued. "Three of the fiercest fighters the Silver Moon Kingdom ever knew. It was Altair who trained the heirs of the Moon Kingdom, including our Princess Venus here."

His name was Altair? Minako wondered, opening her eyes long enough to see the two cats staring at one another, before closing them again. She propped her arms underneath her head.

"I didn't know much about any of them," the cat replied softly. "What else do you know about him?"

"Should we discuss this tonight? " the black cat whispered. "The young princess appears to be asleep."

"I'm awake," the girl interjected, eager to hear the information now, despite her exhaustion. "I'm listening. In my dream he said he learned combat from my mother - uhh, the ruler of Venus - who died in combat."

"That is partly true," Luna said, her voice louder. "The three brothers were already accomplished warriors, but were still young. Lady Venus trained them to fight using the power imbued in them by the Mystical Silver Crystal. She also trained Altair in the use of the Holy Blade, as he proved the most adept at teaching others. He was charged with teaching the progeny of the Sailor Guardians.

"He's also known for his scandalous reputation as a womanizer," Luna told them. "Though, I only know what was recorded about him. He was never charged with any crimes, or banished from the kingdom. When I spoke to him in court on several occasions, he was an agreeable sort. He was quite dignified and professional."

Artemis piped up again, as if he'd been deep in thought. "Now that I think about it, this explains why that kid was able to see through your disguises, and why you were able to transform at the convenience store."

"Because he was a womanizer?" Minako asked, her eyes slipping closed, despite the fact that she didn't want to miss a single word.

"No!" Artemis hissed back. "Not because of that. If Altair mentored you in your past life, your magic hasn't stopped treating him as your trainer. You will always be able to transform to protect me, and also him, if either of us comes into danger."

Ranma-kun is my trainer, too? she thought, her eyes suddenly wide open as a wave of alertness hit her. "What's that mean for us, then?"

"Not much, really," Artemis replied. "He died on Earth the same time you did, and was reincarnated with everyone else who died in that war."

"Reincarnated souls from past ages cluster together around each other," Luna said, and then suddenly reappeared on the bed. "His appearance means that we have further evidence that the princess would have been born here, as it is a site of Selenite rebirth. Those closest to each other will always be born in the same time and place. It was the will of Queen Serenity."

Wow, she thought, and then yawned. This is crazy. She took a deep breath before responding. "So, I was going to visit him tomorrow again to see if I could get anything else. I think it might actually help us find Princess Serenity."

"Absolutely not," Artemis said too quickly. "Sailor V needs to take a break, except for official Princess-finding duty. Exploring the past with him won't be possible until after we find the Princess."

"What?" Minako asked, almost in shock that he'd come against her again. "But, this was the break that we've been waiting for. We finally found someone I remember from back then."

"Further exposing yourself to him could be a problem, too," Artemis said evenly, as if it should have been self-evident to her.

"That's crazy," she whispered. "I don't agree. He's been nothing but helpful so far. He protected me twice, even when I didn't need it."

"That may be the case now, but remember Phantom Ace? The Dark Agency is able to turn Selenites into powerful warriors to aid their cause. Even though he isn't one now, he could be made one in the future. The less he knows about you the better."

"I have to disagree, Artemis," Luna said, fully facing him with her body. "We need all of the allies we can enlist to our cause."

Artemis blanched. "You can't mean-"

"I do," Luna said. "If Venus can turn him to our cause, we would double our ability to find the Princess-Heir."

"Wait, what?" Minako exclaimed in surprise. "How would we do that?"

"You could knight him," Luna told her.

"No," Artemis said so firmly, that he almost looked like he was shaking. "That's not even possible without the sword, anyway."

"No, the sword was merely decorum in the knighting ceremony. It only requires the words and actions. Once he swears fealty to Venus, he will again have access to the powers granted to retainers."

Knight him?! Minako thought, her brain whirling at the implications. She was too tired to even follow the rest of the conversation, let alone argue in favor of whatever it was that Luna was proposing.

The cats drifted off the bed, arguing softly for the rest of the night as Minako fell asleep without a second thought. Until she awoke the next morning, the girl lived and breathed in the palace on Magellan Castle, orbiting Venus, many thousands of years in the past.

When dawn's first light broke free of the horizon and illuminated the sky a rusty red, and the birds began to sing to welcome in the morning, the boy who-like the rooster-would begin each day with a morning rituals, did not stir. Two hours passed without even the slightest sign of life from the boy, who slept soundly on top of the covers of his futon. He wore nothing but a loose bathrobe and a distinct lack of modesty.

The first sign of life came when the sun broke free of the trees and shone a beam of light through the open window directly over Ranma's face. The deep, dark recess from which his consciousness had to crawl made even opening his eyelids a Herculean task. The boy, who was lying on his chest, had barely so much as twitched a muscle in the previous eight hours. Parting his lips was his first movement as he inhaled the crisp, chill air with a deep yawn. The coolness of the air was sharp against his sinuses, giving him a sharp sensation behind his eyes, as if he'd eaten too much ice cream in a single bite.

The only thoughts he could muster besides acknowledgment of the biting pain was a single, dreamy image of the moon, drenching him in its unfathomably bright light. Before he could make any sense of it, he mentally pushed it aside.

"Not that again," he whispered, repressing his childhood dreams.

Moments later, he stretched his arms and legs, recoiling when every part of him seemed to ache. With a moan, he rolled over to his back and opened his eyes, but quickly regretted that decision when the morning light nearly blinded him. It felt as if it had tried to crawl in through the socket and bite his brain.

Ranma sat up gingerly and surveyed his situation, and then shivered, pulling his bathrobe lapels together tightly. For a moment, he experienced a sense of confusion, trying to recall where he was. The room was nondescript, and he could have been in any traditional Japanese home anywhere, but the stack of manga that Rei had lent him by his bed reminded him that he was in the right place.

"Okay, I'm at the temple," he whispered, and then yawned again. What day is it?

He rose to his feet, but almost fell back down to the bed when his muscles reacted like pudding. He stumbled forward a couple steps before catching his balance. He breathed in deeply before rolling his eyes back in his head.

My head hurts like I went boxing with my hands tied behind my back, he thought, not quite sure what had brought about his current ragged state. He put his hand to his face, blocking his eyes from the bright sunlight.

"Please be Sunday," he whispered as he walked to his bedroom door, which was ajar. He pulled it open and walked into the hall. Peeking his eyes open, Ranma looked down the hall to see the bathroom door open, which usually meant it was free.

He took one step over to it when the door to Rei's room suddenly opened. Beneath the door frame stood a disheveled Ukyo wearing a baggy pair of pink and red pajama bottoms with a matching top. Ucchan looked just as bad as Ranma felt. His friend's brown hair wasn't tied up in its usual ponytail, but rather was loose around his shoulders and hanging partway down his chest. His face was pale, and he looked at Ranma with bloodshot eyes.

The sight of the boy reminded Ranma of drinking with Ojiichan the night before. Although the details after the bath were sorely lacking in his memory, he did recall that Ukyo had ducked out right after the old man had announced his plan to use the hot bath as a health spring.

The boy looked at him with just as much confusion and a look of panic as well.

"G'morning," the boy said, rubbing his eyes before refocusing them on Ranma, giving him an appraising look.

"Hey, Ucchan," Ranma replied. "Heckuva night, huh?"

The boy opened his mouth to say something, but his cheeks began to turn pink. A moment later, he curtly closed Rei's door in Ranma's face.

"What the heck?" he wondered out loud, and looked down at himself. The belt of his bathrobe had been dragging behind him, and the ends had opened enough to show some skin. He's bashful after years of locker rooms in P.E.?

With a shrug, Ranma shuffled towards the restroom when another thought hit him. Did he sleep in Rei's room? The thought bothered him, but thinking hurt too bad to contemplate it anymore. He pushed into the restroom and closed the door behind him.

Were those Rei's pajamas? Ranma thought, as he looked at himself in the mirror. His hair was sticking up every which way, and he had some unexplained bruising on his forearms, but otherwise he was relatively okay considering last night's drinking.

His mind didn't leave the subject of Ukyo, however. Why was he in Rei's room?

After a quick cold water scrub down in the shower, Ranma felt like a new man. Unfortunately, he also recalled that he had two more days of school before getting a break. Although Saturdays were half-days, he'd have to help finish setting up the temple for the Tanabata festival festivities this evening and all afternoon on the next.

I'll probably have to sell charms or something, he thought, though he wasn't entirely put off by it. He'd only ever experienced Tanabata festivals a few times in his life, and not once in the last four years. He remembered fireworks, sweet foods and playing with other children his own age during the last event he'd attended.

His father had left him at a festival overnight, and he'd spent the evening goofing around and watching fireworks on the roof of a building. Whenever he thought of Tanabata, he thought of that moment and felt drawn to go to any festival he could find, despite his father's protests.

"Festivals are for grifters and sheep," his father had told him weeks before his ninth birthday when he'd asked to go to the festival again. They'd been in the countryside all summer, surviving off the land and camping far from civilization. When Ranma had asked what he meant, his father had only ranted.

"Listen, Ranma," the man had said, his eyes filled with disappointment. "Unsavory types use public festivals to sell overpriced taiyaki and distract festival goers with unbeatable games of chance. Fireworks are just a distraction for pickpockets, and purse snatchers. You're better off enjoying the night's sky out here and training with your old man."

But you were running a booth in the last festival, he'd thought, but hadn't said it out loud for risk of sounding like he was talking back. The last thing he'd wanted was was a spanking or forced training, when he could be doing just as his pops had suggested and enjoy the sky.

A million stars in the sky were what he'd remember from those nights. He had never experienced trouble finding Orihime and Hikoboshi when he'd lie face up staring at the two constellations intersecting. In later summer, he'd always imagine one day going to a Tanabata festival again.

He emerged from the bathroom clean and wrapped in a towel wrapped around his waist. After he reached his room, he yawned deeply. Pops can't ruin this one for me.

After dressing in his school uniform, he reported to the kitchen table, where he found Rei and Ukyo both dressed in their uniforms. Rei was cleaning the table with a rag, and Ukyo had his face planted on the table, his food untouched.

"Come on, Ucchan," the miko said, dropping her rag and pulling at the boy, who only moaned at her. "We have to go to school now."

She noticed Ranma enter directly after and smiled at him.

"Wow, what time is it?" Ranma asked, suddenly wary that he'd woken up far later than he'd thought.

"You're okay, Ranma-kun," she said with a wave of her hand. "This lump and I have to get to early practice today."

"In the morning?" Ranma asked. "You haven't had to do that before."

"We usually only do morning practice on Friday and Saturdays near midterms," Rei said as she bent over to grab Ukyo by the shoulder. "Help me?"

Ranma obliged and walked over to the pair, helping lift Ukyo up. "I don't think Ucchan can handle a bike ride in this state."

"Let me skip morning practice, Rei-chan," Ukyo begged as the two pulled him up. He nearly wheezed when Ranma gave him a hearty slap on the back. "I just want to roll over and die."

"You can die after practice, taicho," Rei said, glaring at the boy from his right. "You can't play hookie as club captain."

Ranma and Rei nearly dragged Ukyo to the front door, where he seemed to regain some stamina. "Alright, I'll do it." Ranma watched the boy scrunch up his face and grit his teeth. "I won't like it, but I'll do it."

"Mind over matter," Rei said wryly with a shake of her head. "Think of it as training, right, Ranma-kun?"

"Exactly," Ranma said with a laugh as he watched Ukyo shake off his stupor.

The boy struggled for a moment longer before slipping on his shoes. He paused a moment after and looked Ranma directly in the eyes. Ranma smiled, causing the boy's eyes to widen a bit. His face turned pink again as it had earlier when he'd caught a peek of Ranma's open robe. The boy froze until Rei pulled at his sleeve.

"Come on, Ucchan," she insisted, rolling her eyes at Ranma in complaint. "You can't give Inihara-sempai any ammunition to dethrone you and become captain again."

"Rei-chan's right," he told the boy, smiling at Rei. "You gotta be able to shake off anything, even nasty hangovers. It's the captain's duty to be a man, and put on a brave face for the sake of his club."

"Huh?" Ukyo whispered just over his breath. He looked at Ranma quizzically, and then shook his head. "That's a weird way to phrase it, Ranchan."

What was weird about that? Ranma thought, cocking his head to the side as the two archery club members exited the dormitory. Ukyo opened the door and walked out with a look back. He was pulling his hair back into a ponytail as Rei followed behind him.

Ranma watched closely when Rei stopped after crossing the threshold outside. Her hair fluttered as a gust of wind lifted it as she stepped onto the patio. She continued a few more steps onto the dirt path, and then stopped. She flipped her hair and looked back at him, causing the long, dark locks to smoothly cascade over her shoulder.

The boy stood transfixed by the girl, his eyes meeting hers and locking in. His heart fluttered as she lingered at the edge of his vision from the doorway without becoming lost to the short trees and shrubs that concealed the dormitory from the garden. Her eyes seemed just as caught, as she adjusted the strap of her bag on her shoulder.

She pursed her lips as if to say something, but stopped herself. Ranma's breath was short as she put her fingers to her lips as if to bite her nails, but then removed them.

"I'll see you after class?" There was doubt in her voice as she asked him.

"Yeah, I'll meet you before you go to archery club," Ranma confirmed, and then gave her an uneven grin.

"Promise?" she asked, blinking several times in succession.

"I promise," he stated. "I'll walk you all the way to the door."

"Okay," the girl accepted, half turning to look to where Ukyo must have gone.

"Bye, Ranma-kun," Rei told him as their eyes met again.

He completed his grin and then waved a hand once. "See you after school."

She nodded in response and took a sliding step back, kicking up dust on the path. "Bye."

"Come on, Rei-chan," Ukyo called from out of Ranma's view. His voice snapped Ranma out of the trance.

Ranma attended to the breakfast that Rei left for him with her grandfather, who looked as pristine as ever. Afterwards, the boy gathered his bookbag, slipped on his shoes and walked down to the gate. He made it all the way down the hill, when he heard a familiar voice call out, "Boy!"

Ranma turned the opposite way down the street from where Genma's voice rang out. His father walked down the sidewalk in his white, well-used uniform. He had a new scarf concealing his bald head tied slightly off-center in the back. The man walked with a pep in his step that he typically exhibited after a big score.

"Pops," Ranma said aloud, furrowing his brows. "You weren't gone very long."

"I'm just here to check in on you," the man told him as he approached. He then walked up to Ranma and pulled him into a headlock. The boy gave token resistance as his father knuckled his scalp. "Raising hell, but not enough to get you kicked out of that fancy school of yours?"

"Not yet anyway," Ranma said, trying to shrug his father off him for another moment before the man let him go.

"That's my Ranma," the man said, grinning at him. "After school, come straight back to the temple. I have something to tell you."

"Are you staying?" Ranma asked, hopeful for a moment before his father shook his head.

"No, I'm just making sure you didn't burn the place down," Genma said with a gruffaw. "And to see if you've kept up your training."

And probably for a few free meals while you're there? Ranma thought with a roll of his eyes as he turned away from the man to look back up at the temple.

"Should I walk you back up?" Ranma asked his father. "I have some time before school."

"No, boy," Genma replied. "You get educated and whatnot. I'll just inspect the festival preparations and enjoy a meal with my old friend."

Knew it, Ranma thought with a grin.

"Alright, pops," he said as he walked away, waving with the back of his hand. "See ya, then."

Morning club activities ended fifteen minutes before first period began at TA Academy. Rei cleaned up and dressed in a hurry, as the girls always had first run at the locker room before class. That gave them just enough time to cross the street after morning practice, forcing the boys to do morning cleanup duty each day. All this meant that in the afternoon on a day they had morning practice, the girls always had cleaning duty.

Rei only had a moment to wave at Ukyo, who was too busy reprimanding two of the boys for goofing off and didn't notice her. Rei smiled to herself as she followed the other girls out of the dojo and onto the field on the west side of the school. She brought up her hand to shield her eyes from the bright light of the morning sun as she crossed the field towards the gate.

When she was only a few yards from the gate, she casually glanced across the street. She saw something that caused her to stop. That morning, when she'd arrived with Ukyo by bike, Rei had noticed a tall boy in the uniform of a local high school with his back against the wall as if waiting for someone. She had earlier that morning because he had been the only person around. Now that students had begun to arrive, she noticed because it was an hour later, and he was still standing in the same spot, looking across the street at the gate to the boys school.

Reassessing the young man, who looked like he could be a second or third-year high school student, she squinted her eyes to get a better look at him, even though the sun was so bright.

"Rei-chan," a voice said incredibly close by, startling her.

She refocused her attention, turning to find her boyfriend inches from her with a big grin on his face. Her mind dropped everything that had preoccupied her before and she practically jumped into his arms as she knocked him back with a hug.

The boy took a step back to regain his balance after her surprise attack, and got his hands around her shoulders by the time Rei's sensibilities kicked in. Her face flushed as she quickly retreated, pulling out of his arms, but not relinquishing much distance. She looked away.

"Wow," Ranma whispered, the surprise in his eyes obvious as he looked around nervously. She noticed his cheeks were a rosier shade than when they started. "Do you have to go right away?"

As if answering his question, the 15-minute warning bell rang across the boys school, which meant that she had only five.

"Sorry," she whispered, unable to stop herself from grabbing him by the elbow and squeezing him gently. "I'll see you after class, though?"

"Yeah, of course," the boy said. "Oh, and pops is back."

The girl's smile withered some as she looked at the boy she adored so much. "Already? To take you?"

"Nah, it's just a check-in," Ranma told her quickly, his voice reassuring away the gnawing bit of her that worried he'd leave before they even had a chance to spend any real time together.

"Oh, okay," she said, sighing in relief. She sneaked a hand into his jacket and gently placed her hand on his ribs just above his waistline. She watched his reaction closely, seeing his pupils dilate, and his lips open slightly. All she could think about was kissing him again and again as she stared at his lips.

"I have to go now," she whispered reluctantly, and then pulled her hand back slowly. His back straightened as she did, provoking a stiff exhale of his breath.

I didn't realize his skin was that sensitive, she thought, even as she wondered what he'd do in response.

He nodded, and then reached out and touched her cheek. Her heart skipped a beat as she did something as automatic as breathing, and turned into his hand, kissing his fingers.

The boy's eyes widened again as he slowly retracted his arm.

She retreated as quickly as she could to avoid turning into a tomato in front of him. Rushing across the street, she realized almost subconsciously that the high school boy had stopped lurking about their middle school. It'd bother her later that day, but at that moment, she was so overwhelmed by her natural and embarrassing reactions to the boy who had swept her off her feet with his very presence.

Though I think I won that encounter, she thought with a mischievous grin.

Ranma's heart beat as if he'd been training for hours, but his encounter with Rei at the entrance of his school left him dizzy and out of breath. When she'd touched him on his side above his hip, his whole body quivered at her touch. From the goosebumps to the zing of energy up his spine, he could barely think straight.

Saying goodbye to her now felt unbearable even as he watched her cross the street. She turned before going through her school gate and they shared a wave. Moments later he was alone amidst dozens of students arriving at both of the schools. He sighed as he waded through the boys talking at the gate. He checked to make sure that there wasn't a large host of disgruntled athletes before entering and walking towards the gates.

"Ranchan!" Ukyo's voice called out to him. He spotted the boy walking towards him with their sempai, Shiba-san, an eighth grader under Ukyo in kyūdō club. They were as friendly as when Ranma had started sitting with both of them at lunch; Shiba-san proved to be a reliable guy.

"Hey, guys," he replied with a half-wave. "How was practice?"

"Fine," Ukyo replied, and then rolled his shoulders back and stretched his arms over his head. "Morning practice is mostly meditation and stretching. We do the archery in the afternoon."

"The good part, you mean," Shiba-san answered, his eyes closed from walking in the direction of the sunlight. "Hey, Ranma-kun, you're not in a club yet, right?"

Grimacing slightly, Ranma dreaded making the usual explanation. He had to listen to himself say it every time, giving the same dried up reasoning that he used every year in elementary school when someone would ask him to join their club. So it was to his surprise when Ukyo answered for him.

"His pops is really strict with training and not mixing outside instruction," the archery club captain said, his voice soft. The boy gave Ranma a little smile. "He'd love to join, but he'd get in real trouble."

"I thought your father was out of town?" Shiba-san said as they walked up the last steps to the front doors to the school, which were all propped open until the final bell rang.

"Not today," Ranma said. Ukyo's eyes met his suddenly, even as Shiba-san kept walking and only nodded.

"Saotome-san is back in town?" the boy said, his voice sounding more wary than inquisitive.

"Yeah, he popped in for a visit," Ranma replied, angling towards his shoe locker.

"Huh," Ukyo said, looking off to the side. "How long?"

"Hey, you're not looking to settle the score with him, are you?" Ranma asked, unable to stop the defensiveness from creeping into his voice. "I thought you forgave me."

Shiba-san ducked for cover, grabbed his shoes, and shot back, "Later, guys."

Ranma envied him at that moment as Ukyo's face grew darker, his eyebrows sharp and his lips pursed in anger.

"Listen, Ranma. I forgave you, not him," the boy said, looking at Ranma with a frown. "He hasn't even so much as apologized yet. He really messed up my life."

"Okay, granted," Ranma admitted, backing up with his hands up. "I'm not saying forgive him or whatever, but could you give me the day to catch up with him? There's so much crap I need to go over with him, and I haven't had a decent practice session in a week."

The boy's expression softened as he seemed to consider Ranma's request. After a moment, he nodded.

"Thanks, buddy," Ranma said, patting his friend's shoulder. "Tomorrow, he's all yours. You can ambush him, or whatever you plan to do."

Ukyo smiled at him, flashing his teeth. "You won't give him a heads up?"

"Hell, no," Ranma laughed, pulling out his indoor shoes. As he did, a small piece of paper fell out of them, but ignored it. "Jerk deserves it. Just be warned. He's tough. If you can't take me, you might be in trouble if he gets serious. He doesn't mess around in a challenge that he thinks he can win. Especially if he can bet on himself."

"I'll be careful, Ranchan," the boy said, patting his bicep a couple times before going to his shoe locker. "Thanks."

"No problem," Ranma replied, quickly slipping on his indoor shoes and walking down the aisle towards Ukyo. "Thanks for giving me the day."

"Sure, but are you going to pick up that note?"

"Huh?" Ranma asked, feigning ignorance. If it's a challenge letter from some bird brain at this school, I don't have to waste my time on it if I don't read it.

"It looks like a love letter or something," Ukyo said, exchanging his shoes. "I get them all the time."

Ranma stopped, and made a face. "From the guys here?"

Ukyo looked at him just as serious. "No, baka, from the girls across the street. No one here knows anything."

"Ah, okay," he said, sighing to himself. Wait, what did that last bit mean? He shook his head. "I don't really care to read it. I doubt Rei-chan left it, and I don't care to read a note from anyone else."

"Well, you mind if I do?" Ukyo asked after putting on his indoor shoes.

"Knock yourself out," Ranma said with a shrug, and then continued on towards class. Ukyo caught up after a moment, reading the paper in his hands. Ranma ignored him, trying to fight the curiosity at the behest of his pride.

Don't need unnecessary complications, Ranma, he told himself.

"Do you know someone named who goes by V?" Ukyo asked, looking over at him. "This sounds too nice to be a challenge letter, but too impersonal to be a love letter."

Ranma stopped before he reached the stairs to his floor. He quickly snatched the letter out of Ukyo's hands, who started at his reaction.

"Dang, you could have just asked, Ranchan," he told him, shook his head and then continued up the stairs to class as Ranma read the piece of paper.

The letters were neat, written in thick green ink, and read:

"Meet me on the roof at lunch.

Come alone.

-V"

He stared dumbly at the note. Sailor V knows where I go to school?

"The roof is locked up tight. The person who wrote that must be new, too."

Ranma looked up at Ukyo and nodded, then went back examining the writing. His heart beat quickly as he realized he'd get to meet a superhero for the second time in two days.

That was about the moment he remembered that he'd missed their meeting on the roof. "Baka!"

Right next to Ranma, a surprised second-year shot him a seething glare momentarily, until their eyes met. The boy's anger deflated instantly.

"Not you, me," he told the boy, and waved him off. The second-year nodded swiftly and quickly walked away.

"What got into him?" Ranma wondered aloud, and then shrugged.

I'm surprised Sailor V even wants to talk to me after I missed our meeting last night. He thought about how he wanted to offer to train her to fight more effectively. He realized that she must rely heavily on her super strength and durability. While it worked against the average gangster, he wondered what would happen if she ever encountered someone of equal strength.

During class, he replayed the fight outside of the convenience store over and over in his head. Sailor V had fought like an agile fencer, sticking and moving, parrying with whatever weapon she had on hand, and then delivering a quick yet shocking blast with immense strength. The aforementioned fencer had the strength of a bruiser that felt contained, even though she hit harder than he possibly could have.

How much training had she had before would be his first question, because she had the underlying conditioning and training of a fighter, but had the roughness of someone who only had a few years' experience of sparring in a dojo, but little actual combat experience. The fact that she had plenty of combat experience, at least according to the newspapers, made her all the more extraordinary.

I want to see what she can do when she's trained properly, he thought to himself.

He felt giddy going into lunch break, and didn't even give Ukyo a second of explanation before he took off downstairs to get the earliest crack at the free bread. His movements were like the wind as he cut down the hallway of the first floor to the cafeteria in the back of the school building. It was an open design, large enough for half of the students to sit at once, with glass doors leading out to the west side of the school building.

The ninth and eighth-grade classes on the top floors had first crack at the cafeteria as they were allowed in first. They would purchase all of the best bread, leaving the worst ones for the first-year students. Normally, Rei would provide him a lunch, but she'd been too pressed for time this morning. If he wanted a chance to eat anything today, he'd need to grab the first bread, and then take off for the roof.

"Last chance, curry bread!" Ranma heard the lunch lady cry out.

Yes! he thought as his pulse spiked and he rounded the corner to face the crowd of boys waiting for the inevitable bread toss.

Curry bread was the best tasting of the breads that they prepared for the boys at this school, and it was usually gone before the third lunch bell rang that released his class. The lunch lady always threw out the last of the best breads, such as the melon and salmon bread, but curry bread was Ranma's favorite.

Aside from the morning hangover, Ranma's day was going well in his opinion.

First, second, and third-year students already filled the lunch line area in anticipation of free bread, and Ranma waited near the back of it. With his speed, he needed little lead time, but he didn't want to start in the middle of the hoard. He could easily cross it once he knew the trajectory of the bread toss.

The lunch lady tossed it a moment later. Ranma leaped forward, anticipating that the bread would land over the far side of the crowd. He skimmed around the crowd in two quick steps, and then leaped over the crowd, stepping across two students' heads before diving across the remainder of the boys to catch the bread.

At the last moment, a black-haired boy leapt up in anticipation of catching the curry bread. Without thinking, Ranma angled his legs up with the last of his momentum to land a one-armed handstand on the boy's right shoulder, while snatching the bread out of the air directly in front of the boy's outstretched fingers.

With his cargo firmly in his right hand, he pushed off the boy to clear the remainder of the crowd and stick a landing near the glass doors to the field on the west side of the school. He heard a number of boys cry out in frustration, but most of them only clapped at his performance. He recognized some of the naysayers as upperclassmen athletes that he'd shamed earlier in the week.

Ranma didn't pay attention to their reaction, as he wanted to maximize time spent with Sailor V on the roof. He turned in anticipation of finding a quick route to the stairs, when he spotted the dark-haired boy he'd beat to the bread walking towards him.

The boy had a thick head of hair with a bowl-shaped cut and dark eyes. He looked pleasant enough, except for the scowl on his face. At the edge of the crowd, the boy stopped, his eyes glaring daggers at Ranma.

"Who are you?" the boy demanded.

Someone doesn't know who I am? Ranma thought, looking at him smugly. He wondered if the kid wanted to start a fight. He didn't really have time until after school.

"Who the hell are you?" the boy asked again, this time clenching his fist.

"Saotome Ranma," he said as if out of hand. "Who wants to know?"

"Last melon bread!" the cry went out behind them, and the boy only scowled at him before turning back into the crowd.

Whatever, Ranma thought with a shrug and briskly walked around the crowd to exit the cafeteria. He almost walked into Ukyo as he entered the hall.

"You left fast, Ranchan," the archery club captain told him with an inquisitive look on his face. "What's the rush?" Only then, he noticed the bread in his hands. "Oh, bread battle, huh?"

"Yeah, gotta go," he said with a grin. "See you back in class, Ucchan."

"Sure," Ukyo said as he rushed by.

He reached the third floor where the ninth-graders, many of whom were a foot taller than Ranma, attended class. He ducked through a few of them to get to the far side of the floor where the stairs to the roof were located across from a supply closet. The door to the stairs were easily identified by the stairs decal on it. However, a chain was placed in front of the door with a sign dangling from it that read, 'No students beyond this point.'

Although he'd expected to find the door locked, and that he'd have to climb out a window to get to the roof, Ranma was surprised when he found an indoor shoe squished between the door and its frame, blocking it from closing. Ranma hopped the chain, and then quickly slipped through the door, leaving the shoe in its spot to keep from being locked on the roof.

He sneaked up the stairs and met another door that had a push bar to open it. He leaned into it with his hip and right hand to nudge it ajar to peer out. The bright noon sun met his face as he cracked the door open slowly enough to check for the sailor-suited vigilante.

Standing at the edge of the fence overlooking the front of the school, Sailor V had her head pressed to the fence as she looked down below. He could see her face in profile, though her trademarked red mask covered her eyes. Her long blond hair dipped below her waist and caught a breeze, swaying at the ends. The warm sunlight made her hair and skin seem to glow, the sight of it making his head hurt slightly.

The vigilante wore the red, white and blue sailor fuku for which she was famous. He realized that the uniform top slightly rose above the hemline of her skirt, exposing a fine line of skin along her back and her right side. Ranma's face flushed slightly as he noticed this, and then gazed down at her long legs.

He released a deep breath that he didn't even realize he was holding, causing the young woman to look his way. She smiled at him a moment later, causing his heart to feel like it dropped into his stomach. His heart skipped a beat as he looked at her.

The first time he'd encountered her, he'd been distracted by fighting. There was nothing like a good brawl to focus everything down to the nuts and bolts of what's important. Right now, he felt like a tongue-tied, starstruck idiot.

"There you are," Sailor V said through a smile, her eyes appraising him. "I know you're probably weirded out after last time, but I wanted to continue our conversation that was interrupted before."

Ranma's brain began to process her comment, when she beckoned him to her side. He nodded at her and swallowed an uneven breath as he carefully approached her.

"I don't know if I'll be able to come see you again for a while, so it's really important we iron out as much as we can before."

Her words stung him, their weight crushing his hope. Training her really was kind of a long shot, but I should have realized she's super busy.

Ranma fought his anxiety and calmed his heart. He took one more deep breath before answering her. "I'm sorry, Sailor V-san, but I don't know if I can help you in just my hour lunch break."

Sailor V bit her bottom lip and averted her eyes. "Yeah, but we can talk over as much as we can. How much do you remember?"

Ranma tilted his head and looked at her sideways, a thick cloud of confusion soaking into him. "Wait, what are you talking about?"

"From last night," she replied quickly, catching on that he didn't have a clue what she was talking about. "You saw things, too, right?"

She means dreams? he wondered, closing his eyes against the bright light. It felt like it was affecting his brain. He tried to remember anything before the blackness of alcohol had sucked out his memories and left him with a hangover, but there wasn't anything there, except a slight pain in his head anytime he tried to recall.

"Ranma-kun," she started, squaring her shoulders with his. She still held the fence with her left hand as she looked into his eyes. "I know you were drunk, but you have to remember something, right?"

Huh? he thought, taking a half-step back in response. "How'd you know that?"

Her jaw dropped open as she blinked rapidly. "Because we talked on the roof before?"

"Wait, you mean I made it there?" Ranma asked, stunned. I don't even remember going to bed, let alone making it to the roof and talking to a superhero.

"Yeah, we sat on your roof for like fifteen minutes talking," Sailor V said, stepping towards him, raising her right hand as if to touch him. "You don't remember?"

Moonlight, he thought, the single thing his brain could recall from the night before. It wasn't part of a dream that faded away.

"You don't remember the light on your forehead?" the young woman said, her eyes full of hope and doubt. Her lips formed a grimace as much as a smile.

"I'm sorry, no, " Ranma whispered, a small ache forming behind his eyes just attempting to remember anything more than the luminous light of the sun reflected off the moon.

He bowed his head in apology, not wanting to see the disappointment on her face. "I remember the moon was bright, but that's all."

An uncomfortable silence permeated the rooftop of the school as Ranma stared at the ground between their feet. Only the laughter of a student below broke it for a moment, but that did nothing to make Ranma feel better about letting down his idol.

She really is my idol, he realized as he looked up to see her gazing across the street. He steadied his breathing and watched her. The warm noon sun reflected off her light skin. He looked up at her forehead and examined the crescent moon there.

As if from far away, he heard a voice echoing in his thoughts, The Sigil of the Moon.

Blinking his eyes rapidly, Ranma looked down at his hands and he spoke as if automatically. "When I was a little boy, I dreamt of living on the moon. It was like a fairytale-the kind with princes and princesses. When I was hungry, and there wasn't anything to eat, or if I was lonely or scared, I'd go there in my head and just think that I'm okay."

When he looked up at Sailor V, he realized her eyes were as wide as saucers, and her jaw was agape.

"It was just some stupid little-kid thing that I haven't thought of in a long time," he told her, frowning slightly. "I figured I dreamed of that again last night. There's no use getting lost in crap like that anymore."

She was looking at him so intently that his cheeks warmed, and he quickly turned away.

"I shouldn't have brought that up," he said softly.

"Don't be ashamed of childhood dreams," she told him, drawing closer, but he quickly took a step back. "There's more to them than just fantasy sometimes. For people like you and me, they can be the truth."

"People like you and me? Truth?" he asked, scratching the back of his head. "I don't know what you're talking about. It's not like anyone can live on the moon. That place is deader than a doornail."

Sailor V blinked, her eyes still wide, but they were wet with fresh tears. "It wasn't always like that."

Huh? the boy thought, his eyes narrowing. "What do you mean?"

"That's a conversation for another time," she told him, and then turned back to the fence. "Let's go back a step. What did you mean, 'before'?"

Turning back to the crime fighter, Ranma rewound their conversation in his head. Oh right, the reason I called her out. It seems so dumb now. "I shouldn't have wasted your time. I'm really sorry I don't remember what we talked about last night."

The young woman took a step away from the fence and walked to his side. As he turned, she stepped in closer. She then waved off his apology with her hand. Her reply was stern and left no wiggle room. "No, you have to tell me why you called me before."

"It was just a bad idea," Ranma muttered, trying to avoid that topic after she said she wouldn't even have time for it at the start of their conversation.

"I'll be the judge of that," Sailor V told him, placing her hands on her hips. "You called me out, so at least spit it out."

He took a deep breath and prepared himself, but wasn't able to look her in the eye. "Well, I was watching you fight yesterday, and…"

"You were fighting six guys, and still managed to watch me fight, too?" she interrupted, her voice skeptical.

"Yeah, of course," he said out of hand. "Observation is at least half the battle. Plus, those guys were chumps."

"Okay," she said, her voice more impressed now. She nodded at him then. "Go on."

"So, I was watching you before. I know I don't have super powers-or whatever-but I was hoping I could maybe train you to fight?"

As if she was completely taken aback, the Guardian of Justice rocked her head back and dropped her hands off her hips. It was the most stunned he'd ever seen her. Not that I've have much experience with her.

"Don't get me wrong, you're amazingly strong. But if I trained you even a little, the sky's the limit."

"And beyond that," she whispered, barely loud enough for him to hear.

"Huh?" he verbalized his confusion.

"You haven't changed at all," she said, regaining her dominance over the conversation. "I swear, I thought you were totally different now, but you're not at all. You're just so much younger."

"What do you mean?" he said, as every word out of her mouth was nothing but a puzzle. She says she knows me? That's impossible. "I think I'd remember meeting you before." He paused. "Before yesterday, that is."

She took another step closer, this time bringing them only a foot apart. He tried to take a step back to compensate, but his heel caught against the fence. She'd pinned him.

Sailor V loomed forward, her face so close that he had to lean back slightly.

"What?" he asked, his face getting flushed with heat. He leaned back into the fence for every inch, but that gave him almost no extra space and left him completely off balance.

"Even now, in this life, you found me again and want to make me strong."

Wait, did I meet her when we were kids? he wondered, his memory seeming to reflect something of that. I don't recognize her face, but there's something about her.

"What do you mean?" he asked, rubbing his arm. "I'm confused."

When Sailor V laughed, her voice was melodic like a singer's, and sounded beautiful and clear. He might have felt embarrassed for offering to train her if she sounded different, but there was something otherworldly about her delight that intrigued him.

"Yes," she told him shortly afterward, allowing him a few more inches of space as she pulled herself back slightly. "I agree to it."

"Yes? Agree to what?" he said, his brain too frazzled to understand the response. He stared back at her with a furrowed brow.

"I'll visit you for training at the temple," She bit her lip again, and then cupped her chin.

Although he still felt terribly embarrassed by their proximity, relief immediately rushed through him. She'd laughed at him, but still accepted. She's even more confusing than Rei.

The sudden thought of Rei made him uneasy as he stood on a rooftop with a beautiful woman who looked at least four years older than him and was dazzling to behold.

His voice was uneven as he asked, "Really?" His eyes suddenly grew wide as he got a mental image of what he'd just proposed. It appeared in the form of Hotaru and Sailor V practicing together at the temple. That's what she's proposing? That's crazy.

She nodded slowly, but emphatically, confirming beyond a doubt that she was indeed making the implausible a reality.

Oh crap, what did I get myself into? Ranma thought, so distracted that he didn't react at all when she reached up with her arms and took his face in her hands. With nowhere to retreat, he could only freeze in astonishment by the sudden contact.

Her fingers were unusually warm, even against the heated flush that had been blooming in his cheeks for a minute. He could feel something more than that, or even the skin of her fingertips against his cheekbone. It was a strange sensation that reminded him of something he'd experienced during meditation.

In the past, when he had meditated and attempted to reduce his mind and body into a single point of concentration, he could feel the vibration of the energy between his hands when he held them parallel together with less than an inch in between. He had always dismissed it as heat, but there was more there. It felt like a current traveling between his palms. Only when he stilled his body and mind could he feel the energy his father called chi.

When her fingers touched his face, it felt as if her hands touched every square inch of his skin with that feeling of vibration. Although the feeling wasn't altogether unpleasant, he found her proximity and unexpected intimate behavior out of character and incredibly embarrassing. Despite the urge to flee, he froze.

"Something must have gotten through," the young woman told him, and then withdrew her fingers from his face, and took a step back. "Sorry, about that. I just can't believe how similar you are, even if your face is so different."

The tension and feeling of vibration dissipated as he relaxed, slumping back as he did so.

"Similar?" he asked when his mind started returning some of its functions back to him. "You said that before. What do you mean by that? I don't know what you're talking about."

"Even if you don't remember anything, you still want to train me," she explained, but it did little to help him understand. "Why?"

Ranma tried not to shy his eyes from her, as she didn't seem to share the embarrassment of two strangers acting so familiarly. He'd realized before that she seemed to have less hang ups than he might have expected from someone whom he assumed to be a sixteen or seventeen-year-old Japanese girl.

"I don't know," he admitted with a shrug. "Do I need a reason?"

When he released his grip from the fence, Sailor V's eyes darted down to notice, and locked back on him so quickly that they almost seemed to blur like a hummingbird's wings. He noticed her watching him more closely than he had realized before. Her eyes were like a hawk's, picking up even the slightest of movements. He felt the wind ruffle his shirt, and her eyes momentarily shifted focus, and then came back to his own.

Is this part of her power? he wondered. Super fast observational skills would make it easier to move as quickly as she does.

"No, it's just that we've done this before. Had this very conversation."

He tried to bring himself back to the conversation, even though questions about her powers continued to form in his head. "Did I offer last night? To train you?"

The vigilante shook her head. "No, a long time ago."

"I think I'd remember something like that," he told her, glancing around. "Like when we were kids?"

"No," she replied, taking another step back so that they were about four feet apart. She then closed her eyes. "We met in a previous life." When she opened them again, they were glassy. "You were taller back then."

"Previous life?" he dubiously repeated.

She means reincarnation, he thought with a grimace, but suspended his disbelief in the face of a walking miracle.

"You trained me as a child," she told him, and then gazed up at the cloudless sky. "I saw it last night on the rooftop when I met you there. It was clearer and more vivid than any other past memory I've ever experienced. It was like I was really there."

Blinking at the revelation, Ranma didn't know if there was any way to respond to her, so he kept quiet.

"That's why I touched your face again," she admitted, and glanced at him. "Sorry if I embarrassed you."

If I hadn't been drunk, would I have remembered that as well? he wondered, but couldn't imagine it. It'd be beyond weird to be in someone else's head. I mean, what if I was a girl in my previous life? That'd be creepy.

"It's understandable, I guess," Ranma offered, but didn't really know what else to say. He was still a bit stunned that reincarnation was real. I pretty much have to believe it now, don't I?

Sailor V began to talk about her experience again. "You were supposed to train me as a warrior, so I could take my mother's place in service of the Queen. I saw my father from that time, and a bunch of palace guards. You followed me up the stairs to the library. We talked for a while, and then I came out of it."

Scratching the back of his head, Ranma pondered her words. "Are you sure it wasn't just a dream or hallucination or something?"

"I know for a fact it wasn't," she said. Again, her voice was so sure, Ranma didn't have any room for doubt.

I either have to buy everything she says, or nothing, he thought, but then decided to he could wait and keep an open mind. He wanted to be in on whatever was going on with her enough to delay it. However, that left something really big on the table.

"Okay, so we're meeting again in this life," he said, trying to sound out his thoughts. "Obviously, it's interesting to meet someone from a past life. I get that part, but is it such a big deal? I mean, if we all reincarnate, we're all gonna bump into someone we know from a past life at some point. Given, most people don't know it."

The vigilante shook her head and then whispered his name. "Ranma. There's more to it than that. We both reincarnated into the same city during the same time period after thousands of years. There's billions of people on Earth."

True, he thought, clutching his chin with his free hand. "Okay, you got me there. But, what makes it important?"

"My power originates from the past, Ranma," she whispered, saying his name again so familiarly it began to feel weird. "You taught me how to wield more than just weapons. You taught me how to use my power."

Whoa, Ranma thought, his eyes growing wide. A bit of hope filled him as he contemplated her revelation. Does that mean I could be like her after all?

"I really don't have that much time before I have to go back to meet my tutor," she told him, turning back to face him. "You have to realize that us meeting isn't by chance. I've been searching for people who are important to my mission, and I'm starting to think you're a part of that."

"What mission?" Ranma asked, trying to process the information.

"I can't tell you yet," the young woman told him sadly. "Later, I'll find you and I'll have you talk to my guardian. After that, maybe we can figure out more. Until then, I should get going, and you need to go eat your bread. I think it might be dead, though."

Looking down at his hand, he realized he'd been gripping it tightly, squeezing all of the curry filling right out. A small pile of crumbs and drips of curry filling at puddled at his feet. He shrugged, and then looked back up at the vigilante. "Before you go, shouldn't we talk about the training time?"

The superhero nodded at him, and then bit her lip as he watched her face change as she contemplated his question. "You're already training that primary school girl. I'll just join her."

"Wait, you know about Hotaru-chan?" Ranma asked, his eyes wide. "How do you know about her?"

Sailor V grinned, and then shrugged. "I was there."

Ranma's jaw dropped open. "What do you mean, 'you were there'? The only people there were Rei-chan, Ucchan and Aino-san." A feeling of panic set in as his memory wobbled. He felt ill as he tried to think about what happened that day before and after the cat arrived.

"I arrived near the end of your practice session," the vigilante told him evenly.

She was watching from above or something? Did she follow me home? The boy sighed and shook his head. He raised an eyebrow, the boy scoffed at her suggestion and coughed. "Yeah, no. There's no way I could teach Sailor V and a Hotaru-chan at the same time."

"Oh, not up for the challenge?" she asked, her voice raising an octave as if to suggest he wasn't good enough.

"That's not the problem," Ranma said, shaking his head. "You're a freaking superhero. It's going to draw a huge crowd, and press. Even if that wasn't an issue, you and Hotaru-chan are on different planes of existence skillwise, as well. You might be undisciplined, but she's an actual beginner. With how careful I'll have to be training you, I don't want to risk getting her hurt."

Her eyes widened shortly, and then the young woman laughed. "You're right, that would be crazy. I didn't think I'd train like this." She motioned her hands down her body to indicate her costume, he assumed. "I won't come as Sailor V," she said, putting her white-gloved hands on her exposed midriff. "I'll come as myself."

"Meet the real me, Ranma-kun," she whispered.

Before she even performed the motion, he realized he didn't need to be shown to know. Minako Aino, the mysterious girl who followed me to school.

A sudden flash of light caused the boy to avert his eyes and raise his hand. He lowered it after a moment and where the crime fighter had stood was someone so unexpected that his brain couldn't quite put the dots together. His mind tried to reconcile Sailor V's disappearance with Aino Minako's sudden appearance, but everytime he tried, his mind went blank.

I know that it makes sense for it to be her, and only her, but why can't I focus on that?

The teen pop idol stood before him in the same position, hands on hips, in the exact same spot. She was wearing black jeans, a white blouse underneath a brown jacket and had on a black baseball cap with a long blond braid sticking out the back. He looked down and saw that she was still wearing her blue and white tennis shoes, despite having entered the school building. She also held a small white purse in her hand and wore a silver wristwatch.

A wild thought forced itself into his mind of the girl opening the door and arriving just as Sailor V left. He looked around briefly as a wave of confusion made him shut his eyes. "What the heck?"

"It's me, Saotome-san," Aino Minako said with a smile.

"Aino-san?" he murmured, furrowing his brow at her. "How long have you been hiding there?

"Huh?" Minako told him, and then chuckled. Her melodic voice tickled his ears as he gawked at her. "What do you mean? I'm Sailor V, duh!"

Aino Minako is Sailor V-what? Where'd Sailor V go? Unable to keep his thoughts straight, the boy put his hand to his head and closed his eyes. "I'm really confused now. What's going on?"

"I wonder if this is because of the transformation magic?" the girl wondered. "I'm not supposed to show my identity to anyone. The magic keeps me safe in case I need to transform in public."

"Huh?" he whispered, still not able to put together the clues. It's not magic. She is just really fast and ran away all of a sudden. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"I'm Sailor V."

"No way," he retorted, shaking his head emphatically. "She just vanished somewhere. Why would you pretend to be her?"

"Is it really that hard to believe?" the girl asked him, looking straight at him.

"Well, yeah." Ranma said, looking at her closely. She was at least a head shorter, had different features and different hair. The color is right, but that doesn't matter. She can't be Sailor V.

But she's the only person who can be, a part of him thought back.

She is not Sailor V, a powerful thought nearly caused him to fall back.

Why doesn't it matter? he thought, trying to understand why the thought was so strong. Why can't I believe her, too? Why is it less believable than reincarnation?

"Didn't the blond hair give it away? Or my presence on the roof?" The girl didn't look at him directly, but kept her eyes looking downcast. She seemed so much less confident than the woman who'd been standing before him.

"I get what you're saying, Aino-san," he told her, and then closed his eyes trying to picture the girl and the superhero as the same person. "I get it, but there's no way you can be her. You're like four years younger, and you look totally different."

"That's just magic," she said with a half-smile. "I can show you." The girl took out a yellow pen out of her purse. She held it out before her and he got a good look at it.

That's the type that girls like, he thought, as it had a clear cap with a star on top and a crescent moon just below that. It looked expensive, but otherwise unremarkable.

"The process is too fast to really see, but when I transform again, the magic shouldn't mess with your head anymore."

The doubt still ate at him, but he realized it might just be because of Sailor V's magic. If Aino Minako really was the woman he'd been talking to all lunch break, he was really going to have to reconsider everything he knew about the idol.

She'd be a double celebrity, he thought suddenly, but then shook his head again. She can't be both a successful idol and a crime fighter. That's too much for anyone.

At that moment, Aino Minako raised the pen up into the air and recited the words, "Moon power, transform!"

Even though he'd been prepared for something to happen, the suddenness of her transformation blew his mind. One moment she was a girl that'd he'd met a few days before, and the next, she was a tall guardian of justice. Even though it happened so quickly, he saw a single image of her covered in light, hovering above the ground.

The magic seemed to be withering in his head, as the thought that she was both Aino Minako and Sailor V no longer caused conflicting thoughts.

"You really are her?" he said just louder than a whisper. "That's-that's really crazy."

Sailor V curtsied politely, bowing her head to Ranma as she made the gesture. She stood up straight, and then with another wave of her hand, Aino Minako stood before him again.

Having seen the transformation process several times now, he realized it wasn't entirely instantaneous. Although he didn't see her change, he did notice the air shift around her like heat distortion. The bright flash of light was her body illuminating more so than an actual flash of light.

Skin illuminated by moonlight, the words travelled across his mind, but he didn't really understand the thought. Like my dream?

"See it now?" Minako asked, and then twirled.

"Yeah," Ranma told her, running his hand through his short hair. "It's a lot to process, but I think the confusing thoughts are gone now." He gave her a second look, but she still looked different than Sailor V. "You're really different when you're Sailor V, you know,"

"I'm that bad normally?" the popstar asked almost sadly. She bit the right side of her lower lip as she watched him for a response.

He shook his head at the thought. "No, just different. You look way older, for one. I thought you were like seventeen. Even knowing you're the same person is weird. I'm glad you're not that much younger than her. It'd be too weird if you were a little girl, and then suddenly became an adult."

"I supposedly take my past life's form when I become Sailor V," she told him. She rolled her eyes at him, and then put her hands back on her hips. "So, I'm disappointing compared to her, then?"

"It's not really a fair comparison," Ranma said with a shrug.

"Excuse me?" Aino Minako demanded, her right eye twitching. "Wow, I thought you'd at least be polite about it."

"No, no, no!" Ranma all but shouted, realizing how he'd put his foot in his mouth. "I mean, when you're you, you look like a regular person. Well, as much as a pretty idol from a magazine can look like a normal person. When you're V, you look like a superhero. It's kind of hard to compare two figures so different."

The look of shock faded slowly as she realized he was actually being nice. He sighed in relief when she accepted his answer.

Not taking any chances that she might have mistook what he'd said for a bad thing, he continued, "I mean, the real you is way cuter than your magazine and poster pictures."

The girl's head angled back as after he complimented her, and her cheeks looked a bit more rosy as she stared back at him. "Thank you, Ranma-kun."

He nodded, glad to put the misunderstanding behind them. "So, what now?"

The girl ignored his question momentarily. "Wait, you've seen my pictures and posters? Are you a fan?"

"No, but I live with one. There's two posters of you in her room."

"Hino-san's really that big of a fan?" the blond girl asked in awe, grinning at the thought.

"Well, she was," Ranma said, shrugging. "Dunno about now. She was pretty mad at you last night."

"You think she'd be okay with me coming by for training?" Minako checked her watch briefly before looking up at him again.

"To be honest, I better ask before we make it official," he told her, realizing Rei might actually be uncomfortable with it. "I mean, I didn't really ask before if I could train Hotaru-chan there, but I was pretty sure she wasn't going to mind a girl that quiet."

The girl nodded, her eyes a bit far away as she walked forward past him, back to her spot at the fence. "We can figure something else out if she says no."

"So, uh, how do I get in touch with you?" Ranma asked, suddenly wondering about the time himself. He hadn't heard any warning bells, but he still had to make it down several flights of stairs without drawing too much attention. It was bad enough he'd run up them to meet her promptly. "I think it'd be safer for both of us if we don't meet at my school anymore."

"True," she agreed, looking up in thought. "How about you call me if it's okay? I'll give you my home phone and my tutor's phone just in case."

Ranma nodded, but suddenly wondered if Rei even had a phone at the temple. I don't think they do.

"Here's my number," Minako said, handing Ranma a business card. "It's my manager's, but I wrote both numbers on the back. Just don't share it with anyone, okay?"

"No problem," he whispered, staring at the card. He flipped it over to see her neat handwriting. "You had this prepared?"

"I figured you'd need it," she whispered, smiling at him. "I think I better get going now, though."

How's she going to get out without being seen? he wondered, realizing she wasn't even disguised in a boy's uniform this time. "Are you going to jump?"

"No," she laughed, waving the yellow pen with the star on top. "This pen has disguise magic, remember? Watch." She raised the pen again, and then twirled. A moment later, she was wearing a SAS boy's uniform. Her hair still was in the braid and hung down her back rather obviously, but otherwise she looked the part.

"You still look like you, but in a boy's uniform," he said, but still nodded. "But yeah, if you sneak through while everyone's in class, no one will look that closely."

Minako shook her head. "The reason why I don't look different to you is why I followed you to class before. I thought my magic was failing, but really it was just you that could see through it."

Ranma hummed loudly in thought, looking at her appraisingly. "So, that's why Rei saw you as someone else, but I saw it as you?"

"Yeah, sorry," the girl apologized.

"No, I totally get it now. I really thought I was going crazy."

"Okay, so call me if I can come over this afternoon?"

Whoa, this is really going to happen. "Uh, yeah, I'll talk to Rei-chan after school."

"Okay, walk me out?" she asked.

Ranma nodded and did just as she asked. The whole time she was walking beside him, he felt really conspicuous, but no one even seemed to look up at him the entire time. By the time they got to the front gate, Ranma was thoroughly impressed.

"So this is bye, then?" he asked, sad to see the idol go.

"For now," she said, and then held the palm of her hand out at him. "I'll see you tonight no matter what."

As the girl left the school, still entirely unnoticed, Ranma could only shake his head. Well, at least life is pretty interesting.

A sparrow watched as both the boy and the girl left the rooftop and headed down the stairs. It flew to the roof to eat the bread crumbs left by the boy that it had been eyeing. The taste was terrible, but its hunger was overwhelming as it had searched frantically for the source of the disturbance it had felt moments before.

It waited an hour, perched on the perimeter fence of the school's roof, trying to watch for the girl, but moments after the school's bell rang, another call came through the air.

Return home, it said in the small sparrow's mind.

Without a moment's hesitation, it took flight and returned home. A half-hour later, the bird landed on the perch outside the window of its master. As it eagerly anticipated eating a proper meal, it saw its master putting several other sparrows in their roosts.

Its master was an old human woman wearing a dark shawl over her shoulders that was covered in claw marks. The bird waited patiently until its master beckoned it to her shoulder.

"Ah, Sho-chan," she cooed. "Come to me."

The small sparrow flapped its wings and launched itself at the woman, quickly perching on her right shoulder. It then settled and waited.

"Show me what you found," she commanded the small creature.

The bird merely waited for a moment; it knew only what it had been taught. Follow instinct. Follow orders.

"You found her," the woman said. "You felt Sailor Guardian's power and found her at a boy's school in Azabu-Juban in Minato? I so wish your vision was clearer, but I must make do with only her confirmed sighting for now."

The woman deposited the bird in its roost, a cage made of wood with cedar chips, water and food waiting for the small creature.

"This is better news than I expected," she whispered after leaving the bird unattended. "Master will be pleased. He will have to reward me richly."

The woman picked up a rotary telephone and slowly dialed it. The bird watched her circular motions, fascinated.

"Great Lord, forgive my disturbance," she said with heavy deference. "But following the rumors of her reappearance in Minato have paid off. An agent of mine saw her directly in Azabu-Juban on the roof of the private middle school, Saint Agnes School for Boys."

The woman listened on the phone for a few moments before answering a question. "No, My Lord, it was not spotted. What would you have me do?"

She paused. Her face grew pale. "You will come in person? No, I am just surprised, My Lord. Phantom Ace sent many minions dealing with her directly." She paused again. "I will prepare accommodations for your arrival."

The woman nodded as sweat dripped down from her forehead onto her nose. She rubbed her fingers across the bridge of her nose to wipe it away. "When should I expect you?"

Her mouth fell agape. "So soon? That is possible?" The bird watched her eyes widen. "Yes, I understand. I shall prepare the arrival site within the hour."

With that the woman hung up her phone and looked up at the bird. "I have one more task for you before you rest, my dear." The woman held out her arm to the sparrow.

The bird leaped onto the woman's wrist, and then walked up to her shoulder. The woman then walked to her workbench, an old table covered in carvings and knots made from a solid piece of wood. She took a small piece of parchment and a pen and wrote a brief missive on it. Next, she attached it to the leg of the bird with a small piece of string.

"Go, seek out the twins. Tell them the Great Lord is coming and will require their best accommodations."

The bird only understood the target destination. It was incapable of doing much more, but it did understand the master's need for expediency. Without delay it took flight.

When it took to the skies again, dark clouds began to materialize on the horizon. It would rain before the day was out.

Author's Note: I'm splitting time between writing this, plotting a new novel, going back to school, looking for work and playing the new Destiny expansion. I still managed to get some work done the last few weeks to get this out, but it took a lot longer than I'd hoped. Sorry for the wait!