In the Right Place at the Wrong Time


Chapter 1

	*The third one in three weeks,* was all that Lady Jupiter, 
Makoto to her friends, could think as she looked down at the 
corpse, which had been so horribly mutilated that the victim could 
only be identified by his DNA.  Fingerprints hadn't been kept for a 
long time, and the skull had been sunken in on itself to make dental 
records useless.  She was indifferent to the body that lay at her feet, 
though at the same time regretted her lack of disgust or sadness she 
should have felt.  The one thing she did knew was she was 
beginning to wish she hadn't accepted the position of chief 
constable of Crystal Tokyo.  At least there murder was so rare that 
she usually handled them personally, especially an odd case like 
this.
	"Are these burns?  They look odd somehow." she asked the 
man who was currently doing a preliminary check before the body 
was moved, pointing out the black marks on what was left of the 
victim's chest.  Nearly half the ribcage looked like it had been 
removed with a hacksaw, yet it was also partially melted where the 
bones had been cut.  Oddly enough, little blood stained the carpet.  
It seemed strangely similar to Jupiter when she had accidentally hit 
a store mannequin with her supreme thunder once.  She could still 
remember her relief when she had found that it wasn't a real person 
after all.
	The forensics man had been trained by Lady Mercury.  
Since there was little call for people of his profession within 
Crystal Tokyo, she had taken up teaching it herself, even though 
Jupiter knew it was something that was distasteful to the 
medically-inclined senshi.  Which meant she had to be really 
curious about this case so volunteer to conduct this autopsy.  
Jupiter hoped that this body would yield more clues than the last 
two had.
	"Acid burns," the man agreed with a small nod.  "Most 
curious.  Burns such as this should have left some residue from the 
agent used, or a faint but distinctive odor, yet there is nothing.  
Curious.
	"The wounds have also been cauterized, which explains 
some of the lack of blood, but not all.  I suspect, though I can't be 
entirely certain, that the murderer did some cleaning up for some 
reason, but left the body untouched.  Yet even that should have left 
some signs on the rug."
	"The body could have been moved here after the murder," 
Jupiter pointed out.
	"A possibility," the man agreed.  "But the door lock was 
keyed to the victim's DNA pattern and a teleport would have left a 
definite residual energy signature, not to mention an energy spike 
that would have been detected by our own electronic wizards."
	Jupiter nodded as she absently stood, catching herself 
briefly in a mirror across the room.  She only looked a little older 
than when she had first become a senshi, wearing school-girl 
uniform out of a young man's fantasy, but nearly everyone in 
Crystal Tokyo immediately deferred to her.
	She no longer felt like a high school girl, though.  Over a 
thousand years old and feeling the weight of every year, even in 
the times of relative prosperity, though those never seemed to last 
very long.  Always something would spring up that would require 
her senshi abilities.  Beryl, Nephrenia, Nemesis, and now this.  
Though this was much odder than most.  And because of the post 
she had accepted during the founding of Crystal Tokyo, she was 
more active than most.  *Is this really the answer to my true 
dream?*
	Jupiter glanced around the room, centuries of training 
taking everything in at a glance.  It was like one of those murder 
mysteries she had read as a child.  Everything was still locked up 
tight, no sign of an entry, forced or otherwise.  Even checking for 
the tell-tale signs of a teleport had come up negative.  The victim 
was a normal citizen, worked as a bank teller, possible personal 
revenge motive but that wouldn't explain the prior victims, which 
he had no link to.  No sign of anything missing, though it wasn't 
entirely easy to tell.  If the thief knew what he was looking for, 
then it wouldn't have been difficult to cover his tracks.  The victim 
had lived alone so there was no one who could tell if something 
was missing or not.  But why go to such lengths for just a simple 
robbery?
	As it was, it just didn't make sense.  Jupiter felt that there 
was something just beyond her reach that would unravel the entire 
mystery for her, but she just couldn't put her finger on it.  She 
hoped that a chat with Mercury would clear her head enough so she 
could reach it, whatever it was.
	"With your permission, Lady Jupiter," the forensics man 
told her, indicating the men ready to package up the body, what 
they could find of it at least.  A number of organs and bones were 
missing, including the entire right forearm.  It seemed random 
though, since they didn't match the other victims exactly.  Just 
another thing that needed looking into.
	Jupiter nodded.  "Yes, take it away. I'll look forward to 
your report in the morning."
	The man bowed slightly to her before starting on his task.  
"Of course, Lady Jupiter."

	In the dead of night, Ranma went to work.  A small voice 
always pointed out at about this time how he was now doing just 
the sort of thing he always hated for his father for.  He ignored it.  
He had a job to do.
	He was a bit nervous about burgling the Palace, but then 
chided himself for being foolish.  It was just a big house, with 
defenses that were just a bit better than average.  Nothing on his 
skills, though.  It wasn't enough to keep the now infamous cat 
burglar Ranma Saotome out.
	There was a certain person who might not approve of his 
current job, but it was her fault that he was stuck here in the first 
place.  He also more than suspected she was the reason he was in 
this line of work.  She was a mystery still after knowing her for a  
year now, but she clearly had strong ties to the rulers of Crystal 
Tokyo.  And he doubted she'd be thrilled that he was about to rob 
them.
	Ranma slipped down marbled halls, careful not to make a 
sound, as he went over the route he had mapped out in his mind. 
He knew just where he wanted to go, having already been there 
with a tour group.  All he had to do was avoid the alarms, having 
already put the guards on duty to sleep with a special powder he 
carried.  Some recent hardships had taken off the shine of his ego, 
but he was still confident that he could do what he had been paid to 
do.
	The job had seemed ridiculous at first, trickling down from 
the contacts he had established.  A certain unnamed but wealthy 
individual was apparently a devotee of the Serenity Cult, so much 
so that he was willing to pay a great deal of money in order to 
obtain a certain item of hers from the Palace.  It was a job no one 
else would risk, so naturally it fell into Ranma's hands.  Who else 
would be willing to breach the sanctum of the world's most 
beloved and powerful ruler?

	Usagi, once known as Chibi-Usa, and still sometimes 
referred to as Small Lady (though no longer quite so small as she 
once had been), finally gave up on tossing and turning and sat up 
in bed.  Worry, worry, worry.  Unlike her mother, her anxiety 
seemed to nag at her, not willing to let her sleep in peace.  
Something inherited from her father, she supposed.
	Helios was gone for a week, on some errand whose purpose 
she didn't fully understand, though her father seemed to.  In the 
meantime, her mother had been pressuring her into pursuing a 
more formal relationship with her long-time boyfriend, which 
made her feel really awkward.  She and Helios were going through 
things slowly, by their choice.  Just because her mom had started 
on dad early, didn't mean she had to.
	Usagi thought that a late-night snack might help settle her 
mind.  That always seemed to do the trick when she was younger.  
Appetite was definitely something she had gotten from her mother, 
but in her late teens, she tended to be a bit more concerned about 
her figure these days, and sweets, while tasty, were not good for it.  
This was an emergency, however.
	She wandered through the dimly lit halls of the Palace, 
carrying a small lamp before her, illuminating everything a few 
meters around her in a soft yellow glow.  She was wearing the 
pajamas Aunt Michuru had hand-sewn for her birthday a few years 
ago.  Usagi was glad she had made them big so they still fit her, 
because they were so comfortable to sleep in.  That was when she 
could get to sleep.
	Usagi let out a small yawn as she finally reached the 
kitchen.  She was tired, but not yet sleepy.  She hoped a quick 
snack would take care of that.  Usagi carried a small plate of 
brownies and some milk back to her room.  The kitchen was too 
large and dark to eat in at night, it's cavernous ceiling stretching up 
until it was lost in the dim glow.  It gave her the creeps.  Then she 
shook her head, ashamed to be afraid of the dark like a little girl.
	That was when Usagi heard the sound:  a faint click, similar 
to what she heard when closing her window.  No one but the 
guards should be wandering the Palace at night, but Usagi felt a 
small shiver of fear.  She knew that something bad had happened 
recently, but her aunts and mother wouldn't tell her what it was.  
She was Sailor Moon, defender of the city, but they still treated her 
as if she were a child.
	*That's right, I am Sailor Moon,* Usagi thought to herself 
firmly, *I have to investigate this.*

	Ranma felt very silly hefting the pink staff in one hand, 
which was capped with a big heart, as he slowly lowered down the 
glass case again.  He hadn't been working like this for all that long, 
but in that time he had stolen a lot of things, and this had to be the 
most embarrassing one ever.  He didn't know why any guy would 
want it.  Ranma didn't even want to be seen in public with it, even 
if he hadn't stolen it.
	"Hold it right there!" a young woman shouted as he turned 
to make for the exit.  As he studied her carefully, not letting his 
surprise show, he decided that the pajamas that she was wearing, 
pink with little white bunny designs, were another thing he didn't 
want to be seen in public with.   Though even he had to admit that 
they went well with the girl's pink hair, done up in a double-pony-
tail style like the Queen's.
	"Just where do you think you're going with that!?" Usagi 
yelled at the boy when he didn't reply.
	"Um, out the door?" Ranma ventured, happy that he had 
used some sleeping powder on the guards who normally patrolled 
this part of the Palace.  The girl's shouting would have certainly 
alerted them otherwise.
	"I don't think so!" Usagi shouted and posed.  "You're a 
thief, and I, champion of love and justice, will punish you!"
	Ranma smirked.  This girl thought that she could punish 
him?  "And who are you supposed to be?"
	Usagi blinked.  "I'm Sailor Moon."
	Ranma snickered.  "I haven't been here for a while or 
anything, but I'm pretty sure that Sailor Moon doesn't defend love 
and justice in her pjs."
	Usagi looked down at herself and nearly jumped in 
surprise.  She'd been so eager to catch the crook in the act that she 
had completely forgotten to transform, or that she didn't even have 
her brooch with her to transform with even if she had thought of it.
	When she looked up, she noticed that the boy was nowhere 
to be seen.  With a yell of anger, she ran out of the only other exit 
to the room, chasing after him.
	Ranma reflected that his current pursuer not only knew the 
Palace well, but was also in pretty good shape.  He wasn't running 
full out, but he still couldn't have been easy to keep up with.  She 
was holding her own, though she was starting to look winded.  He 
guessed that she was one of the Palace servants, probably a maid to 
the Queen or something.  Must have to run around the Palace all 
the time doing errands which kept her in shape, but what she was 
doing up and about at this time of night he had no idea.  Noticing 
the plate the girl carried, he supposed that if the Queen wanted 
milk and brownies in the middle of the night, no one argued with 
her.
	He could have lost this girl, leaving the Palace entirely, but 
there was something pleasingly familiar about being chased around 
by an angry girl.  It was too much fun for him to end the game so 
soon.
	"You'll never catch me with those thick legs, you uncute 
tomboy!" Ranma shouted over his shoulder and was rewarded by a 
sudden flush of anger in his pursuer.
	"What did you just call me?!" Usagi shouted in rage, 
picking up her speed, and closing the distance between her and this 
rude boy.  She couldn't believe that there was someone this 
underhanded and vulgar.  He was like the very opposite of Helios.
	"You're built like a brick, you're legs are too thick, and the 
sight of you makes me sick!" Ranma taunted, sticking out his 
tongue for good measure.
	Usagi howled incoherently in rage and flung the nearest 
thing at hand, which was her brownies and milk.  Ranma ducked 
the thrown sweets all with a smile, taunting her with "missed me, 
missed me" the entire time, which only made Usagi madder.  
Unfortunately for Ranma, he was paying more attention to the girl 
than where he was putting his feet and stepped right on a brownie, 
causing him to slip.  That was when Usagi's lamp hit him square in 
the face.  Down Ranma went.
	Usagi cheered and quickly closed the distance between 
herself and her fallen prey.  She attempted to apprehend him and 
was surprised to find herself on the ground a moment later, the 
stolen staff now laying across her lap.  She looked up to see Ranma 
grinning a few feet away from her, eyes shining from the light of 
the lamp which lay at his feet.
	"You can keep that staff thing," Ranma told her.  "I don't 
want it any more.  It suits you better and all.  Well, see ya."
	With a quick wave, Ranma moved to run away, but Usagi 
suddenly shouted, "Wait!"
	Ranma slowly turned around, eyeing her cautiously.
	Usagi tried to get up, but her legs had strangely gone numb.  
She stared in frustration at the boy who had just taunted her 
moments ago.  "At least tell me your name!"
	"Oh, it's Ranma, Ranma Saotome," he told her and then 
left.
	*Ranma,* Usagi thought as she felt sleep finally 
overwhelm her.  *I'll find you and get you for this.*

	Serenity was not an early riser.  She never had been and, 
being Queen, probably never would be.  After all, the ruler of the 
country was the one who decided when the business of the day 
could start.  Still, there were some things that couldn't wait for her 
royal majesty to get out of bed, or rather until her First Advisor 
could finally push her out of it (not an easy feat for a cat).  These 
duties, as well as much of the day-to-day affairs, fell to her consort, 
King Endymion, who few people still called Mamoru.  And to one 
very special person who was currently snoozing, Mamo-chan.
	Endymion was an early riser by nature, and found himself 
being quite restless lying in bed wide awake with the still 
slumbering, often snoring Queen.  He could only admire her still 
beauty for a short while before her snoring, or Luna's yelling, 
really got on his nerves.
	Sometimes tasks awaited him, but on this particular 
morning, there was nothing to be done until Serenity finally woke 
up.  Since Serenity always wanted to have breakfast with her 
husband, and he lacked the will to refuse her anything, he couldn't 
even eat until she rose, though occasionally he made himself a 
snack to tide himself over.
	When there was nothing  to be done, he liked to take a walk 
around the Palace.  Not only was it better exercise than sitting on 
his throne or in his office all day, but it did much to his piece of 
mind to find everything in order, from the long hallways free of 
dust, to the rose beds which he worked on as his hobby.  He 
thought it ironic that this time of peace only lasted until Serenity 
awoke, because after that he was normally knee deep in work until 
he could finally go to sleep again.
	It was during his walk that he ran into one of the guards 
that watched over the Palace day and night.  Something that both 
he and the rest of the senshi had been insistent up even though it 
had been a long time since anyone was bold enough to attack the 
Palace directly.
	The guard seemed agitated as he bowed shortly and said, 
"Sire, I have just discovered something that you should see 
immediately."
	One raised eyebrow was the only sign of Endymion's 
surprise as he nodded and replied, "Lead the way."
	The guard lead him to one of the hallways that was part of 
the Palace which was frequently open to the public, though it 
looked much like any other hallway in the Palace.  That was except 
for the squished brownies and spilled milk that litter the floor, 
along with a broken plate and a tipped over lamp.  Had two guards 
held a food fight last night to stave off their boredom? Endymion 
wouldn't have minded as much if they had just cleaned up their 
mess afterwards.
	"Why haven't you called a maid to take care of this?" he 
asked.
	The guard looked uncomfortable again, and Endymion 
finally realized why.  The normal captain was out sick and this 
man had to take his responsibility on himself, and being new to 
that responsibility, feared making a mistake.  That Endymion could 
understand, he still felt sometimes that he was playing king more 
than being one, but it was still too strong a reaction for such a 
small matter.
	"It was a maid who discovered all this this morning.  She 
wanted my permission to clean it up just in case it was something 
important somehow.  I decided to let it be until I showed it to you 
or Lady Jupiter when I discovered this."
	And with that the man pulled back the heavy drapery that 
lined the walls to reveal Endymion's daughter Usagi fast asleep on 
the floor, clutching a staff that her mother had once used as Sailor 
Moon.  He knew it belonged in a display room not far from there.  
Since it had lost its power some time ago, it was no more than a 
pretty trinket, and as such was something they could show to the 
public.
	Careful not to rouse her, Endymion gently picked up his 
daughter in one arm, carrying the staff in the other.  "Why was it 
that a maid noticed this and not a guard?"
	The guard took a step back from the edge of anger in his 
voice.  "Actually, I was just about to patrol this hall when the maid 
contacted me.  Even then, she couldn't have been here for very 
long.  I spoke to the guard who had been on duty for this section of 
the Palace before me and he swore he didn't notice any of this."
	Endymion thought about it.  In still darkness of the early 
morning, combined with how peaceful everything had been lately, 
he didn't find it too hard to imagine a guard passing by all this 
without really noticing.
	"I want a full report on this incident in my office 
immediately," he told the guard.  "You are dismissed."
	The guard bowed curtly and practically sprinted on his 
way.  Endymion smiled a bit, sure that he could expect a prompt 
report from that man.
	He was frowning though as he gently put his daughter back 
in her bed.  He would have to question her about this later.  With 
Helios gone, he had to wonder just who Usagi was having a late 
night food fight with.

	Endymion wasn't the only person up early or frowning that 
morning.  Makoto frowned as she studied the early forensic report 
on her desk.  So far, nothing that already wasn't already known had 
turned up.  Just a lot of mysterious damage to the body and no 
solid evidence of how the damage had been caused.  They were 
definitely acid burns, though there wasn't even a trace of the 
compound which had caused them.  Going over the previous two 
cases, she noted that there were similar damage in both of those 
victims, but it was much less prominent.
	And the only scraps of DNA on the scene that didn't match 
the victim were much too old to have been the killer.  Makoto 
frowned at her coffee.  Three deaths already, three weeks, and she 
still had no leads.
	"I know, it isn't good."
	Makoto looked up from her report to see Ami walk into her 
office, already wearing a lab coat.  Neither of them bothered with 
transforming while still in the Palace, though they were expected to 
for official functions.  Even as they were now, they were still 
known to most as only Lady Jupiter and Lady Mercury.  Neither 
were entirely happy with that, the awe with which the 'normal' 
people looked up to the immortal senshi.  Even their closest 
subordinates that they'd been working with for years still treated 
them akin to minor dieties.
	"I hope today's autopsy will change that, Ami," Makoto 
told her, offering her a chair.
	Ami took the chair with a smile.  "I hope so too.  I'm going 
to try every procedure I can think of, and probably make up a few 
along the way.  And if that doesn't work, I'll try them all over 
again."
	"And if that doesn't work?" Makoto asked her with a small 
smile.
	"I don't know.  Maybe ask Serenity.  She can be very wise 
at the strangest times.  She's been unusually quiet on this whole 
thing, hasn't she?"
	Makoto nodded.  "Yeah, but I hear that there are some 
political problems right now.  Not my forte, of course, but I gather 
things are rather delicate outside Crystal Tokyo at the moment.  
She just told me to handle this however I see fit.  That, and to keep 
the princess out of it."
	Ami nodded herself.  "I'm afraid I've been too busy with 
my work to pay much attention to politics, so I wouldn't know 
about that, but I agree with keeping Usagi out of this.  We've faced 
things a lot stranger than this as senshi before, but I don't know, 
this feels different somehow.  Maybe because it is so mundane in a 
way, but it scares me a bit.  I can't shake the feeling that this is 
about more than three mysterious deaths."
	Makoto took a final sip of her coffee.  "Why don't we get 
this over with?  The sooner I can erase that image from my mind, 
the sooner I'll be able to eat."
	Ami stood.  "Let's go."

	A girl officially known as 'Ranko Tendo' was busily having 
breakfast and answering her mail on a laptop at an open-air cafe, 
far enough away from the city center that only the tallest spires of 
the Palace could be seen.  When she had been first given the 
laptop, it took her forever just to type a single sentence.  But being 
bored and frustrated at her inability to not do anything, Ranko had 
treated typing like a kata and now had a typing speed equal to that 
of the better OLs.
	She was grinning as she wolfed down her breakfast with 
one hand and answered her mail with the other.  Somehow, it was 
fun to tarnish the reputation of the infamous cat burglar Ranma 
Saotome by refusing this latest job, saying it couldn't be done.  She 
refunded the partial payment to her client, minus expenses, with a 
small note of apology, saying that the Palace defenses were simply 
too good.  She found it even more amusing that the great Ranma 
had been foiled by a pink-haired maid, not that anyone was likely 
to believe that. She thought there was a certain freedom just to be 
able to fail and not have to worry about the consequences.  Failure 
had never been an option to her before, whether it was due to the 
situation or her father breathing down her neck.
	She never noticed the exact moment when the green-haired 
woman took the seat opposite her.  Instincts honed from nearly a 
lifetime of practice should have sensed anyone who had 
approached, but she had never been able to catch this particular 
person off-guard.  She was starting to think that she couldn't be 
caught off-guard.
	"Good morning, Setsuna," Ranko told her, finally looking 
up at the woman who sat opposite, who was dressed in a light  
purple business suit as if she were just another office lady.  Ranko 
doubted that this woman ever did that sort of work, not that she 
was entirely sure of anything about her.
	"Good morning, Ranko," Setsuna returned the greeting with 
a smile.  "Finishing up your latest job?  How did it go?"
	*As if you didn't know already,* Ranko thought.  Setsuna 
had no difficulty in finding Ranko wherever she happened to be 
and seemed to know everything she had ever done somehow.  The 
only thing she couldn't do was send Ranko home, or so she 
claimed.
	Setsuna always appeared either to help her out of a jam 
when she needed it, to give her tips to prevent her from getting in a 
jam in the first place, when she needed Ranko to perform some 
strange task for her benefit, or simply to check up on her.  Ranko 
couldn't help wondering what it would be this time.
	"The job was going fine until some pink-haired fan of 
Sailor Moon decided to stop me, all for love and justice," Ranko 
told her with a smirk.  "Must have been a maid or something."
	She was surprised to see the smile that suddenly appeared 
on Setsuna's face, and the accompanying twinkle in her eye.  "Oh?  
And just what did this 'maid' look like?"
	Ranko frowned slightly in thought.  Why was that 
important?  Setsuna did ask the oddest questions sometimes.
	"Well, she was a little shorter than me, and maybe a little 
younger, with pink hair done up in twin ponytails like the Queen.  
She was wearing these silly pink pajamas with white bunnies all 
over 'em.  She got so mad over me stealing that stupid staff that I 
just didn't have the heart to go through with it."
	Setsuna nodded, the smile still on her face.  If anything, it 
was even wider than before.  Ranko was starting to feel a bit 
creeped out by it.  "That wasn't a maid, Ranko," Setsuna told her, 
pausing for effect.  "That was Princess Usagi."
	Ranko blinked in surprise several times.  "That was the 
princess that I...?"
	"That you what, Ranko?"
	Ranko looked nervously at the smiling face of the woman 
who sat across from her.  "Nothing, nothing.  I just got to get out of 
Crystal Tokyo now, that's all.  I knew I should have paid more 
attention to stuff like that before coming back here."
	"You can't leave Crystal Tokyo right now," Setsuna said 
firmly, most of the humor gone from her voice.
	This stopped Ranko immediately.  "Why not?" she asked 
slowly, not sure if she'd get a straight answer or not.  Setsuna 
seemed to get some sort of thrill at being mysterious all the time, 
but Ranko had learned the hard way that it was a bad idea to ignore 
her advice.
	"Your presence is needed here for the time being.  It would 
be bad if you were to leave, for you and others."
	"You're not going to tell me why, are you?"
	Setsuna shook her head.  "Much as I'd like to, I can't.  It 
would have too much of an effect on events yet to occur.  You 
have nothing to worry about anyway.  No one would recognize you 
as you are now.  Besides, whatever happened between you and the 
princess couldn't have been that bad, could it?"
	"I sort of insulted her," Ranko muttered.
	"What was that?"
	"I called her names to make her mad," she said a bit louder, 
though she was staring down at the half-eaten meal before her, not 
wanting to make eye contact.
	"That doesn't sound so bad," Setsuna mused.  "What did 
you call her?"
	"You know, normal kind of stuff you'd say to a girl to get 
her mad."
	"I don't know.  I've never had any reason to do so.  Give me 
an example."
	"I sort of called her an uncute tomboy and that the sight of 
her made me sick.  Then I sort of knocked her down, using a 
pressure point to numb her legs so she couldn't chase after me."
	Ranko's head snapped up at the sound of laughter, but by 
then Setsuna was only smiling.  Ranko had never heard the woman 
laugh before, though she smiled frequently.  She wasn't sure if she 
had really heard it now.
	"I have to go now," Setsuna said, standing up suddenly.  
"Until next we meet, take care of yourself, Ranma."
	"Yeah, you too," Ranko replied a bit uneasily.  "Are you 
going to tell me when I can leave Crystal Tokyo?"
	"I'll let you know," Setsuna replied as she began to walk 
away.  "Though I have a feeling you won't need me to."

	Usagi was in the middle of a very odd dream.  It was so odd 
that she could tell it was a dream almost immediately, though that 
realization didn't seem to help her any.  She was running though 
the darkened halls of the Palace with Ranma far in front of her.  No 
matter how hard she ran, she never seemed able to shorten the 
distance between them.  Then suddenly he was right in front of her, 
with the same mocking smile as before, bonked her in the nose 
twice, and sped off again.  She'd blink in surprise and chase after 
him.
	Usagi wasn't sure how many times this had happened 
before she finally opened her eyes to find another set of eyes close 
to her own, though not Ranma's this time.
	"Good morning, Small Lady," Diana told her, tapping her 
on the nose with one of her paws.
	"Good morning, Diana," Usagi replied, yawning and 
holding the moon cat in her arms as she sat up.
	"You've overslept.  Breakfast has already started.  The King 
said to let you sleep, but I did not think you wanted to miss 
breakfast."
	"Thank you, Diana.  I had a strange night, I guess it kept 
me up," Usagi informed her as she put the cat on her shoulders and 
got ready for her bath.  Something Luna-P would normally help 
her with, but she had sent it with Helios to keep him company.
	"Oh?" asked the moon cat with interest.
	Usagi frowned slightly, thinking of Ranma again.  "I'll tell 
you all about it later."

	Makoto and Ami were grateful that there was no one else in 
the dining hall at the moment, everyone having eaten breakfast 
while they were still conducting the autopsy.  It was still currently 
going on, but they were automatic tests that would take a long time 
to complete.  They had turned up nothing particularly useful so far, 
and it didn't look hopeful.
	"Maybe I'm getting numb to all of this," Makoto 
commented as she methodically worked on her breakfast, her mind 
elsewhere.
	"Hmm?" Ami inquired over her cup of tea.
	Makoto took a sip of her miso and explained.  "Before I 
couldn't eat for hours after seeing a dead body, but now even a 
mutilated corpse doesn't seem to affect my appetite."
	"I never had that particular problem," Ami admitted.  "I'm 
not sure why.  Plenty of people in medical school were practically 
throwing up at the sight of the cadavers, but it never seemed to 
bother me.  Maybe it's our experiences as senshi."
	"Maybe," Makoto echoed, sounding a bit uncertain.
	"I think you're worrying too much about this," Ami told 
her.  "In other places, murders happen all of the time."
	"Not in Crystal Tokyo.  Not at Serenity's feet."
	Ami nodded, a slight smile on her lips.  "We still protect 
her from the world, don't we?  No matter how old she is, or no 
matter how much she has faced, we still treat her like a child in 
some ways."
	Makoto smiled too, grateful for the change of subject.  
"Luna is the worst of us, though.  She's been over-mothering the 
Queen for over a thousand years now, and she doesn't look ready to 
stop any time soon."
	"It might be how little Serenity has changed in all that time.  
She still oversleeps, eats too much, steals Rei's manga.  I'm 
beginning to think that the only reason Rei buys manga anymore is 
so the Queen can steal them.  I don't think I've ever seen her read 
them herself."
	"But when she's being the Queen..." Makoto said, not 
needing to finish her sentence.  They both knew that when it came 
to something important, the sometimes ditzy girl could 
immediately become serious and commanding.  "Her power can be 
overwhelming."
	"Love is her power," Ami said slowly.  "She inspires it in 
everyone she touches.  We love her so much that we're willing to 
march right into hell with a smile for her, and many of her subjects 
would do the same.  There are people who are afraid to meet her 
and fall under her spell."  Ami grinned, amused by the idea of 
Serenity thought of as some sort of temptress.
	Makoto frowned.  "That's not always a good thing."
	Ami nodded, understanding what her fellow senshi had 
meant.  People had gone to some extraordinary lengths to possess 
their Queen in the past, of which Diamond was only one example.
	Makoto and Ami were down to exchanging gossip by the 
time that Usagi finally made her way to the dining room.  She was 
quite late, but the cooks had no problem in making something up 
quick for the princess and her cat.  Serenity's daughter was loved  
by Palace staff nearly as much as the Queen herself.
	"Aunty Makoto!  Aunty Ami!" Usagi said gleefully as she 
made her way over to them, tray in her arms and Diana around her 
shoulders.  "May I join you?"
	The two senshi smiled to see her.  "You are always 
welcome, princess," Makoto told her.
	Usagi nodded gratefully and took a seat.  "So what were 
you talking about?" she asked as she set Diana on the table so they 
could both start on their breakfast together.
	A look passed between Makoto and Ami.  The recent 
murders were not to be discussed in front of the princess.
	"Oh, random things," Ami said casually.  "Not much 
interesting going on for us senshi not involved in politics."
	"Something interesting must have happened to you, 
princess," Makoto noted in an attempt to steer the subject away 
from her and Ami's activities.  "You're usually not so late getting to 
breakfast.  What happened?  Did Helios sneak into your room last 
night?"
	Usagi blushed.  "Helios would never do such a thing!  At 
least he's a gentleman, not like..."
	"Not like?" Ami prompted, suddenly interested.  She 
noticed that she wasn't the only one.  Makoto was staring at the 
princess curiously.
	Usagi's blush disappeared, to be replaced by a frown.  
"Some boy broke into the Palace last night and tried to steal one of 
mom's old staffs.  Can you believe that?"
	"What?" Makoto nearly shouted.  As chief constable, the 
security of the Palace was her prime duty.  No one had told her of 
this.  "Did he try to hurt you?  What did he look like?"
	"He didn't try to hurt me, but he was very rude and 
annoying.  He was about a little taller than me, black hair tied into 
a pigtail.  Red shirt, black pants.  He said he was Ranma Saotome."
	"Ranma Saotome was here?" Makoto said in surprise.  "I'm 
surprise the Palace is still in one piece then."
	"You've heard of him?" Usagi asked, blinking in surprise.
	"Heard of him?  I really would be falling down on the job if 
I hadn't.  The infamous cat burglar Ranma Saotome.  They say that 
there isn't anything he can't steal, no matter how well-guarded."
	"Well, he failed this time," Usagi said proudly.  "I stopped 
him from getting away with it."
	"You stopped him?  I'd think that even Sailor Moon would 
have trouble with the likes of him."
	Usagi looked embarrassed.  "Well, actually, I couldn't stop 
him no matter how hard I tried, but he gave me back the staff for 
some reason anyway.  If I'd been transformed into Sailor Moon, I 
would have stopped him for sure though."
	"I wouldn't be too sure of that," Makoto told her.  "A lot of 
people have tried to capture him over the past year, but none have 
ever succeeded yet.  Him giving back the staff was odd though.  
Maybe it was a diversion so he could steal something else, but 
that's not really his style.  I'll make sure nothing of importance is 
missing anyway."
	"You can ask him when I bring him in," Usagi said firmly.
	Everyone, even Diana who had already heard most of this 
story in the bath, looked up at her in surprise.
	"What do you mean by that, princess?" Ami asked.
	"Sailor Moon is going to go out and bring this criminal to 
justice!"
	" I doubt that he's even in the city anymore--" Makoto 
started to say when Ami cut her off.
	"I think that's a great idea, princess.  It would be quite a feat 
for Sailor Moon to capture such a famous criminal."
	"Right!" Usagi declared enthusiastically as she finished off 
the remains of her breakfast.  "I'll get going on that right away!"
	The two senshi watched as the princess marched off with a 
determined look on her face.
	"Why did you tell her that?" Makoto asked once she was 
gone.
	Ami smiled.  "We want her busy so she won't get involved 
with these murders.  What better way to send her after an 
uncatchable cat burglar?"
	"I don't know.  Like I was going to tell her, I doubt Ranma 
would linger that long here after finishing a job, successful or not."
	Ami shrugged.  "So Sailor Moon chases phantoms for a 
while.  It might be cruel, but it's better than getting her mixed up in 
his murders."
	That at least Makoto could agree with.

	Cutting through the park on the way back to her room, 
Usagi was surprised and delighted to run across an old friend.
	"Pu!" she shouted, embracing the senshi of time.
	Sailor Pluto looked down at the pink-haired girl fondly.  
"And how are you doing, Small Lady?"
	"Pu, you'll never believe what happened to me.  Some boy 
named Ranma tried to steal one of mom's old staffs last night, but I 
managed to stop him, somehow.  Anyway, it turns out that he's this 
really famous cat burglar and now Sailor Moon is going out to 
bring him to justice."
	Then Usagi suddenly seemed to deflate, her smile turning 
to a frown.  "But then I don't know how I'll be able to find him, 
much less capture him.  Aunty Makoto doesn't think he's even in 
Crystal Tokyo anymore."
	Sailor Pluto smiled.  "Oh, I'm sure he's still somewhere 
close by.  You can do anything you set your mind to, Small Lady. 
You'll find him."
	"Do you really think so?" Usagi asked as she looked up, her 
eyes filled with hope.
	Sailor Pluto nodded.  "But I want you to be careful.  This 
Ranma seems like a dangerous individual."
	"I will, Pu.  Don't worry," Usagi told her as she scampered 
away, her enthusiasm having returned in full.
	Sailor Pluto smiled again to see her go.  "She doesn't know 
what she's getting into," she whispered to herself and vanished.

	In the darkness, it lingered.  Always, always away from the 
light, so that no shape could be discerned, only a feeling, a sort of 
presence one is aware of when one is being watched.
	It made a sound that could have been interpreted as a sigh.
	"Another failure," said a voice that was neither distinctly 
male nor distinctly male, though clearly human.  Not _it_.  "I am... 
disappointed as well.  I think we may have to speed up our time 
table."
	It made another sound, though more inquisitive this time.
	"The senshi?  We'll have to still move carefully around 
them, of course.  They pose no danger to us at the moment, 
however, as long as we remain careful.  I'll deal with them if they 
become too... inquisitive.  Allow me to worry about them.  You are 
busy enough as it is."
	A short sound, a sort of growl combined with a bark.
	"Yes.  Soon."