Hotaru stared blankly at her alarm clock. 4:30. She would have to rise in two hours, but she knew sleep would not come. Her mind was too active, too disturbed, too afraid. She knew that tonight there was no rest for the weary.

She turned to the shadowed walls of her room. Even with eyes adapted to the darkness, she could see but the outline of her rooms contents. Everything muddled, nothing sure. Much like her life, both future and past.

Why and how had she come to this choice? The damnable choice, of life and death. She wiped the nights tears from her face and closed her pinked eyes for a moment of reflection.

He past was a dark story fitting her position. Senshi of Death and Rebirth. She mused on her father and his pact, the Witches 5, Death Busters, her personal sacrifice when she used her powers save the world. The Death Reborn Revolution. It turned her into a baby. Began the more positive part of her life.

Michiru-mama and Haruka-papa. They took her in, raised her, and gave her the love she lacked all her life. They were her family, the other senshi were her friends. They gave her what she lacked so long, and asked for little in return. And that is why she did her duty. She was the Sailor Saturn, and she knew that part of them feared her for it.

Parts of their minds were still under the shadow of Mistress 9. They feared the possibility that she could go rogue. Farthest from truth. They gave her everything. Her reason for life, her happiness. With out them she was nothing but a solitary weapon. Their love gave her strength, their passion gave her hope. She knew she was a weapon. The most powerful known. She could split worlds, devastate civilizations, and lay all in her path to dust. She was their weapon. The mighty scythe of destruction forever posed to strike down their enemies. She was forever at their side, fighting with them for a bright future. A future that was dimming for her.

Things had been looking so well, so calm, so happy. There had not been an attack since Galaxia. She had a final growth spurt bringing her body to par with her true age. Everything was wonderful.

It is amazing how everything you fought for, bled for, could be disrupted by a single dazed exploit. A foolish blunder you could not, did not realize until it was complete. A single moment could bring you to a crossroads with no light at the end. She was at the fork of this road. How would the history of her future be written. What path would she chose.

Life or Death. Dishonor or Conspiracy. Duplicity or Truth. What would the others say? What would they do? What would they think? What would they ask of her? The choice, these questions, all weighed on her soul in a way her powers and responsibility never could.

She had disposed of the evidence. No one would know, at least for now. Should she hide it, what should she do, was she alone, who will she tell?

Hotaru shed another tear, heart wracked with cold dread. She was alone in this.

Hotaru's eyes burst open and she bolted up with power rarely vested in her fragile frame. There was one other. One other who had a part, one other with a choice, one other with a responsibility. Regardless of the choice. That person deserved to know more then anyone.

She had to locate him. She had to find Saotome Ranma.

Notes: Please comment. All C&C will be appreciated, applause will be happily accepted, criticism will be considered, ideas would be useful, and flames will be quickly discarded. Thank ye!