"What the hell was that Usagi?" Reisha asked in shock as she roof hopped several blocks away from the scene of what just happened with the blonde girl in her arms bridal style. Usagi may have been taller, but Reisha was still much stronger than her friend who was spluttering out some nonsense while acting as if she wasn't Usagi.

"Those people were after a small child, thank you for helping stop them miss..." Usagi said nervously.

"You know who I am, Usagi." Reisha said while looking down at familiar blue eyes as the wind whipped against their faces before coming to a stop on top of a building and dropping down into a shadowed alleyway, setting the taller girl down onto her feet.

"I'm not Usagi, miss...my name is Sailor Moon, I'm the champion of love and justice!" The self-proclaimed champion announced, taking a funny looking pose.

"I don't know who you think you're fooling, Usagi, but a quick change of clothes isn't going to fool me." Reisha sighed sadly while turning away from the blonde. "Do you really think I'm that stupid?"

"What? No!" Usagi cried out grabbing the redhead's shoulder to turn her around. "You can really see who I am?" After the redhead slowly nodded with an incredulous look, Usagi sighed and continued. "No one is supposed to be able to see me like this, there's magic that...How do I explain this? I'm not smart like Ami, it's hard for me to explain this kind of stuff."

"From what I've seen, you are pretty smart Usagi. You just don't give yourself enough credit." Reisha said encouragingly, which earned her a bit of a smile.

"Thanks, Reisha. I guess, well, there is supposed be this magic that hides what we look like. It like, makes people not to want to look at our faces or focus on our identity." Usagi said letting her transformation drop, her outfit dissolving into red ribbons that retracted into the locket on her school uniform.

"I can see you though," Reissha objected, "I could easily see those girls from school too, the ones that were bothering you, plus some black haired girl. You're all magical girls of some kind? What's going on, Usagi?" Reisha sighed, worry filling her voice. From one trouble to another, but looking at the blonde the redhead couldn't help thinking that Usagi would be worth it.

"Tomorrow, please just give me until tomorrow and I'll explain everything." Usagi pleaded, averting her gaze from Reisha.

"I'll hold you to that." Reisha said with a lopsided grin.

Emerald Kigo

A short time later Reisha entered the kitchen back at her home to find Setsuna busily preparing their evening meal, along with plenty extra for their new house guests. With a quick splash of water, Ranma was back and standing before his adopted mother while trying to decide what to say.

"I guess it's too much to ask that you didn't see me earlier?" Setsuna sighed as she stirred the food on the stove. "You were always able to see through illusions, even better than your old father."

"Genma? He couldn't see what's right in front of his nose." Ranma snorted.

"No dear, your father from your previous life." Setsuna said, resigned to explaining some of this earlier than she wanted. She wanted to make sure that Ranma, as well as Michiru and Haruka, knew that Setsuna cared for them, for who they are now, not who they once were. True, there were parts of their old selves in each of them, but they were all their own people, just as Usagi and the other inners.

"Why do I feel like this is going to be a serious headache?" Ranma grumbled while rubbing his temples.

"Ranma, I wanted to wait a bit longer before revealing all of this to you. I need you to understand that while I do miss your old self, your previous life, I love you as you are. You are my son and daughter, and I wouldn't trade that for anything." Setsuna said as she kissed Ranma's forehead while turning the heat down on the stove.

"So, what, we knew each other in a past life or something?" Ranma asked, arching an eyebrow. After everything he had been through in his life, this didn't even rate very high on his weirdness scale. He was worried about what the explanation would be for it was as though a cold lump had formed in the pit of his stomach.

"How much did Usagi tell you?" Setsuna asked.

"She said she would answer all my questions tomorrow." Ranma said.

"Bring her here and I'll explain everything to you."

Ranma lay in his bed after dinner, staring up at the ceiling in his room while wondering what the hell he managed to get himself into. From super powered martial arts duels to magical girls fighting monsters was not a direction he honestly wanted to take, but seeing as his new friend and adoptive mother were two of said girls, it would be kind of hard to ignore it all and stick his head in the ground. Usagi, of course, had been shocked that he could see pass some kind of field that was supposed to disguise them, but Ranma just did not see it. He could clearly see the girls, the ones that Usagi wanted to avoid, Usagi herself, and even Setsuna.

Emerald Kigo

Flames were covering everything in the room, the heat licking her body yet not hurting her in the least. In fact the flames weren't even consuming any of the furniture or walls despite burning so brightly. Reisha looked up as she felt something, a presence in the room with her as some of the fire formed into two large eyes.

"Greetings child, I am the mother of the Phoenix..." A voice said in the redhead's mind making her eyes go wide. The voice seemed so familiar to her, but it held so much love and compassion, along with great strength and pride that seemed to resonate within the redhead.

Emerald Kigo

"There is an attack from the rebel's princess!" A woman wearing a skintight green outfit with golden boots and gloves with a phoenix symbol emblazoned across her chest cried as she burst into Chibi-Usa's bed chambers where an older woman with red hair was sitting on the bed brushing the younger girl's pink hair.

"Damn them, they planned this attack to happen while the Queen and King was gone!" Ranko, the red haried woman growled as the younger girl shivered from the power and anger radiating from the woman holding a brush. "Rabbit, stay here!"

"I can help!' Chibi-Usa said as the red head climbed to her feet, shooting a glare back at Chibi as her clothing rippled to reveal a red version of the other woman's suit. Two more women burst into the room also wearing identical red suits.

"No, you will stay here where it is safe while I go deal with this scum. I'm in charge and I expect you to listen to me without arguing." Ranko ordered, "Are the Gokaigers still nearby?"

"Yes my lady, your boyfriend already let us know that they are heading straight here." One of the two new arrivals said as Ranko stormed out of the room.

"I can deal with the scum...but just in case it will be good to have them here." Ranko's voice floated back before the doors were slammed shut. Jumping to her feet after the room shook for several moments, Chibi-Usa hesitated before heading for the door.

Not wanting to be useless anymore, needing to prove that she could protect her kingdom as the heir, Chibi-Usa stumbled out of the room. Hurrying down the palace chambers, weaving between several rushing women and a few men the young girl made her way to the heart of the palace. It was where the Silver Crystal was kept to feed its energy into the Moon to keep its ecosystem and atmosphere stable until the damage was completely healed to the point of self-sustainment. Quietly, yet urgently, Chibi-Usa pushed her way into the chamber and made her way to the alter, where the crystal hovered in a pillar of light.

She knew that the moon would be fine for at least thirty days without the crystal, so a few minutes to help stave off the invasion wouldn't hurt. She intended to show that she could take care of both her people and herself, so she reached out to take the crystal. Before she could grip it in her hands there was a bright flash forcing her to shut her eyes. Upon opening them again she gasped in fright as the crystal was gone, nowhere to be seen.

Gasping, Chibi-Usa sat up in bed next to Ikuko. Taking several breaths she remembered where she was and realized that things were getting more and more out of control. She came back to fetch the crystal of this time to replace the one in the future until she could figure out what happened to the other. The problem was, she couldn't really tell anyone why she needed it, but she needed to find it fast and Usagi wasn't helping much.

Emerald Kigo

Across the city there was another figure dreaming, but unlike the younger girl's dreams of the past this girl was dreaming of her fears. She was kneeling in a palace's throne room where two regal figures, the King and Queen, sat upon the thrones, Chibi-Usa sitting in the Queen's lap.

"You disgust us." The king said, a sneer slipping across his lips. "You aren't fit to be a princess, much less heir."

"How you could be my daughter, I have no idea." The Queen said, her voice cold and harsh. "Your uncouth, violent and everything royalty should never be."

"I should have never allowed you to inherit and bond with the Goddess, you couldn't even bond with one of the Symbiotic Phoenix Shards so how could you even deserve the honor of being the vessel of the Goddess." The King said as he came to his feet, stomping over to the kneeling redhead who shook in fear of her parents. The king raised his hand before backhanding the redhead to skid across the floor several feet. She tried to call upon the Phoenix to help her escape, but heard and felt nothing. "I can't even believe you are my daughter!"

"Papa." The redhead sobbed before being kicked hard in the stomach launching her across the throne room.

"You are pathetic. You aren't worth being my heir in the art, much less the heir to my powers!" The King growled angrily. "You are nothing but a filthy little piece of shit!"

"Babe...Wake up." A voice broke into the torrent of hateful words, but she couldn't see where it was coming from. Groaning, tears leaking from her eyes she looked up at her father to find him gone, replaced by the dark, shrouded form of the Death Phantom who was chuckling darkly. "WAKE UP!"

"GAAAHHHH!" Ranko cried out, bolting up into a sitting position while knocking Gai over in the process. She didn't care that she was in her night gown, which didn't hide much while accentuating what little it did hide, as he grumbled from the floor.

"Damn it, that hurt princess!" Gai grumbled while rubbing his head.

"S-Sorry." Ranko mumbled while looking down at her future husband, a small smile forming on her lips covering up the pain she felt from the dream. In her mind she knew that it didn't happen and never would as both of her parents loved her very much. It was true she wasn't the heir to the throne, nor was she suitable, but that wasn't a bad thing. She had more freedom while at the same time being heir to both of her father's legacies...the heir to one of the world's premiere schools of martial arts and the vessel for the most powerful being in the universe.

"Don't worry, princess." Gai grumbled as he climbed to sit on the edge of the bed while taking her hand. "Ranko, you were having a nightmare, a terrible one. You were even crying in your sleep! What's wrong babe?"

"I think it's just stress." Ranko sighed while doubting that was exactly what was wrong. She could feel the darkness that she absorbed earlier swirling inside of her. Unlike the Silver Crystal, she couldn't just banish the darkness. Instead, she took it upon herself and discharged it into the Dark Crystal that was recently stolen when the assault on the palace took place. Of course she could go to the sun and bath in the energies at the center of it while cleansing her body of any foreign matter including any evil that she took upon herself. It would just take up too much time, and she didn't have a lot to spare.

"You sure you don't know where they live in this time?" Gai asked softly while brushing the locks of hair from the redhead's eyes.

"No, only one I know how to find is Lady Rei and frankly I don't think I can stand dealing with her in this time." Ranko sighed. She heard the stories of how much of a bitch the Senshi and princess of Mars was before and it was something Ranko couldn't deal with, especially with the dark energies making her a little more unstable than usual. Yes she could be a little violent to people who pissed her off, but at the moment she was afraid she would seriously hurt Rei if the girl talked bad about the redhead's family.

"I have a few ideas that may help find them." Gai said with a smirk that Ranko was unsure if she liked it or not.

Original Chapter Posted on April 29, 2012

Chapter Beta'd by Orchamus, thanks a lot for doing so and fixing my many mistakes while making the chapter better.