Tomoe Souichi leant against the railing of the balcony he was standing on and ran a hand across his face, sighing into the darkness that hid him from the world.

His wife was dead and he didn't know how to carry on.

But for Hotaru's sake he had to. His wife would never forgive him if he abandoned her daughter just to be with her. So he remained, shrouded in the darkness in which time passed more slowly, trying so very hard to find a way so his family could be together again. So his wife could come back to him from where ever she had gone.

He glanced at the wrought iron table sitting on the balcony and the bottle of sake it held. His hand moved towards it then jerked back. Alcohol didn't work. If anything it made the loss seem greater than it already did, hard though that might be. He sighed again.

"Otousan?"

Souichi turned to the doorway and forced a smile onto his face as his daughter, Hotaru, joined him at the balustraude.

"Hello, Hotaru-chan. What is it?" he asked gently, his voice barely louder than a whisper.

"I can't sleep, 'Tousan. C-could you tell me a story? Please?" A small black teddybear was clasped within the circle of her arms, a purple bowtie around it's neck, and Souichi's smile became both more sincere and more pained.

She looked so much like her mother.

"Of course, Hotaru-chan." He held out his hand towards her and walked with her back into the mansion to read the story and tuck her in. The way his wife had done.

He brushed the hair out of Hotaru's flushed face and bent to kiss her forehead before heading back for the balcony.

He glanced again at the bottle of sake and picked it up to return to the cupboard. His hand closed around the neck of the bottle when a movement at the corner of his eye attracted his attention. He turned towards the corner it had come from and searched the shadows for whatever it was that had moved.

"Tomoe Souichi."

He started at the quiet voice that whispered his name, feeling his heart begin to pound heavily and adrenaline beginning to work it's way through his body.

"Tomoe Souichi. You wish to be with your wife. Let me help you."

"W-who are you!? W-what d-do you want?" Souichi took a deep breath trying to bring his voice back under control.

The voice laughed softly. "I wish to help you be with your wife."

Another movement came from the shadows and Souichi found himself able to pick out a figure. It emerged into the dim light thrown across the balcony by an inside light and lifted it's head.

Souichi gasped and took a step backwards. It looked alot like him. It had the same pale lavender hair, fine features and was of a height. But he didn't wear any aid to sight, he didn't wear the glasses that graced Souichi's face, and his eyes glinted red instead of the purple his own did.

"W-who are you!?"

The figure smiled a toothy smile. "I am Cait Sith. I am here to help you return to your wife. You might call me a...guardian angel. Yes. A guardian angel." His smile widened.

"W-what? How?"

"I will remain here and take care of your beautiful daughter and you will join your wife, where ever she is."

Souichi stared while he tried to take in Cait Sith's statements. Then his eyes widened and he took another step back, glancing around in a panic.

"Oh, don't bother trying to run. You won't get away."

The figure blurred forwards and Souichi choked, blood rising to his mouth and dribbling down his chin and neck to soak into his shirt.

Cait Sith smiled again as he felt the body in front of him go limp. He withdrew his hand from the corpse and stepped back, allowing it to fall to the floor of the balcony.

The man would be thanking him, if he could. Now he was with his wife and they would never have to be apart again. And now it was his turn, to find his mother and bring her back so *they* could be together for always.

His soft laughter hung in the air after he had cleaned up the mess Souichi had made and walked inside, ready to take over Souichi's house, position and his research into reincarnation and resurrection.

<Osaka Naru. 15 years old. Student of Juuban Junior High School, Tokyo, Japan. Father - Osaka Kazuo. Mother - Osaka Yoshiko, divorced. No siblings...>

<She's cute.> Ranma thought absently as he yawned and rubbed at the bridge of his nose as he read the file on his computer. He leant back and stretched before going back to reading.

So this is my next client. Better set things up so she can make the call. <Her mother owns a jewellery store in Juuban, let's see, she's going to be helping out there when she gets home from school...hmm...how about...? Good, that'll do. And until then I guess I'll go tell Skuld and the others my news.> Ranma pressed a few keys on his keyboard, downloading his computer to Midgard so he could coordinate his client base from there and keep a close eye on Cait Sith and his activities at the same time. He was glad he had gained Kami-sama's permission to take his computer with him or he'd have to use Skuld's and it was set up for her convenience, no one else's. He'd had a few run-ins with her OS's before and didn't want to repeat the experience.

Ranma smiled as his computer dematerialised and with a brief flexing of his own power he followed it, rematerialising in a beam of sunlight that had managed to break through the clouds and reach his room. With a little help.

An unfamiliar tinkling sounded in his left ear as he swung his head to examine the new set up. His hand went to his ear, playing with the earring that now sealed his powers, Kami-sama's mental lock having been removed. He was back to being a god, first class, unlimited. He smiled.

Hooking up his computer to the local networks and power lines, he straightened the screen on the lowset table provided and flicked it on, the voice-control system having been nuetralised by Security during transit. It was also disguised as a PC to avoid suspicion.

Finishing the set up, he turned back to the rest of his room and blinked. Urd hadn't changed it after he'd gone and the orange and blue patterned blankets and curtains still jarred on his eyes. Sighing, Ranma began a spell to change it to something he could live with.

The door banged open and Urd and Belldandy dashed into the room with their powers blazing, prepared to take on any demons or hostile gods that had decided to invade their home.

"Hi, guys."

The two goddesses stumbled to a halt and glared at Ranma.

"You know, Ranma, you could have warned us you were back before using your magic. You could get youself killed that way."

"Oh, sorry. It's just that I'm still not really used to being a god again, I keep forgetting things I shouldn't."

"That's okay, just warn us if you're going to be using magic."

"You're going to have to get used to my magic signature again, huh?"

Urd and Bell looked at each other. "Well, yeah."

"Gotcha. I'll tell you, or at least try to remember to."

"Y'know, Ranma, you were only a 'mortal' for 14 years, how could you forget so much in sch a short time?"

Ranma blinked then went into introspective mode for a few moments, "Um, well, humans, though they have short lives, seem to pack a lot into them. Veeerry intense. You get immersed in the life and, well, it seems, in some ways, more real than when I was back in Asgard."

Belldandy nodded, smiling. That was why she, a goddess a few thousand years old, could love an incredibly young mortal like Keiichi. Urd began to look thoughtful as she contemplated the difference between her life here in Midgard and what it had been in Asgard.

"So, how'd your meeting go?" Belldandy stirred and lead her siblings out of the bedroom.

"Good. I'm back on the wish-granting roster, I've already set up the phone call which should come later on this afternoon. I've also been cleared to tell you about last night so you might want to sit down. I'll go get Urd and Kei."

Ranma-chan was lying on the floor in the passageway, next to the table that held the phone, waiting for it to ring. She stared at the ceiling blankly listening to the tapping of her fingernails against the wooden legs of the table thinking back to that morning and her sisters' reactions to the news that someone was trying to ressurrect the mazoku. All of them knew it was a Bad Thing, in fact they knew it fell into the even more worrying category of a Really Bad Thing, they just weren't too sure what to do about it.

The phone rang and Ranma sat up, grabbing the receiver.

"You have reached the Goddess Help Line, a consultant will be there shortly."

"Eh? Um, sorry, I..."

Ranma hung up on the strongly accented voice and caught a beam of sunlight. Time to go to work.

She reappeared in a small office occupied by a young redhead who was hanging up the phone slowly. Ranma waved her hand and a small slip of paper containing the temple's phone number disappeared from the desk in front of her.

Naru sighed and reached for the paper that had been sitting in front of her holding the number of a client. It wasn't there. She began looking through the other papers on the desk, then moved out to look at the floor and found Ranma who was standing quietly in the beam of sunlight that cut through the slight gloom in the office. Her white robes almost glowed and Naru blinked.

"Ah, who are you?"

Ranma bowed, "I am Ranma, God of Destiny, Goddess of Change and I'm here to grant you a wish."

Naru blinked then recovered. "Yah, right. Customers aren't allowed back here, could ya' please wait in the shop until someone can assist you." Naru motioned towards the door and ushered Ranma out. Or tried to.

With a twist she slipped away from Naru and went back to stand in the shaft of sunlight. "I forgot that people find it hard to believe in stuff like this. Um...look, could you do me a favour and make a wish? I can't go home until you have."

The fear that had been lurking in Naru's eyes since first discovering Ranma in the room became more pronounced at her lack of cooperation. In the past year a lot had happened to her, to the point where she was unwilling to trust her own eyes. Her mother had turned into a youma and her first love, Nephlite, had turned out to be a general in a strange dimension called the Negaverse. And she had lost her best friend of fourteen years. In the entire year not one good strange thing had happened to her so what was the likelihood of it happening now? Naru opened the door and took a quick glance into the shop outside. She saw her mother who was busy talking to one of their best clients and knew she would not be happy to be called away if it was nothing.

Ranma sighed where she stood and then sat on the floor, folding her legs beneath her and tilting her head to one side as she continued to regard Naru.

"I'm not really surprised you don't believe me if that's what's happened to you in the last year."

Naru's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

"All your run-ins with the Sailor Senshi and the Negaverse."

"How did you know..."

"I am permitted to read your mind for the duration of this consultation." Ranma recited the standard answer in a monotone.

Naru was really scared now. The girl sitting on the floor looked harmless but she was picking her brains. She started wishing that Umino was still in that Tuxedo Umino Kamen stage where he was always hanging around somewhere.

Ranma dropped her head into her hands and sighed deeply. "Did I always have this much trouble?"

She stood and began to glow, the light obscuring her form though it looked as though her silhouette was changing. The light faded and Ranma stood revealed in street clothes, a pair of black, ankle-tied pants and a scarlet silk shirt cut in the chinese style with knotted fastenings that started at her throat and marched across almost to her shoulder. Naru stared.

"Look, maybe it'll make you feel better if we go somewhere less...private. An ice cream parlour or something?"

Naru saw Ranma's eyes light up at the thought of ice cream and almost began relaxing. Going out would be a good idea, she might be able to get away from the crazy girl in front of her.

"How 'bout if I spring for the ice cream? I think my budget could stretch to that. What do you say?"

Naru considered for a few moments until something else occured to her. "But I can't go out, I'm working."

"It's always something," Ranma muttered. "You finish at seven, right? I'll come back and we can go then. In the meantime, why don't you try to think of something you'd like to wish for. And I'll see you later." So saying, Ranma disappeared through the sunlight and reappeared again in a park just in time to avoid crashing into a small blonde girl that was flying down the previously deserted path.

"Ah! Gomen, gomen nasai." The girl bowed apologetically before taking off again at full speed, two long pigtails flying behind her until gravity finally caught up with them when she barrelled into a young man who smiled at her tenderly whilst enduring the hug. He looked up to see who was watching, not particularly self-conscious but still wanting to know if people were watching.

His eyes met another pair the same colour as his own and he blinked at the girl standing in the dappled shadows under the trees. Just because he had a true love didn't mean he couldn't appreciate true beauty when he saw it. The girl smiled at him and his own smile widened in response as he nodded an acknowledgement of her presence.

Then his Usako said something and his full attention turned to her.

Ranma watched the couple as they headed out of the park, intercepted by a young girl whose pink hair was styled similarly to the blonde's and then turned to contemplation of what they were. All three of them had kami blood, something to look into.

But that was for later. Just now, she had a free hour before going back to grant Naru her wish and she didn't want to waste it. All she had to do was decide how not to waste it. And, these days, whenever she had free time it meant training. Well, that or trying to figure out the curse-control trigger. But since Naru would be expecting a goddess to turn up she supposed it meant staying as she was. She would therefore have to avoid all hot water till after the meeting.

Ranma dropped into a kata and began a workout which encompassed the entire area beneath the trees. She swung from branches, bounced off tree-trunks and pulled hundreds of leaves from bushes using the Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken, the words yelled at a volume much lower than normal. She was working on making those words unnecessary.

After half an hour of workouts, avoiding all pedestrians, Ranma turned straight into one. Blinking up from where she had landed after rebounding off the aforementioned pedestrian, she found herself staring into a very familiar face framed with short, black hair and a yellow bandana covered in black spots.

"Ryouga?"

Ranma ducked to the side just in time to avoid a thrust from Ryouga's umbrella.

"What the heck didja go 'n do that for, P-chan!"

She jumped to her feet and stood facing her arch-rival looking the very picture of outraged, feminine indignation. Her hands were even planted on her hips.

"How could you do that to Akane-san!?" Without waiting for an explanation, Ryouga attacked again, sending his unfurled umbrella spinning through a few trees that happened to get in the way and drove his fist through another. Ranma, having dodged both attacks, grinned briefly and cracked her knuckles.

"You wanna fight? I haven't had a good fight since I left Nerima." Ranma weaved through Ryouga's next series of attacks and threw an Amaguriken of 618 punches, which predictably, had almost no affect on the strongest boy in the world.

Some time later, in a different part of Juuban, a beeping could be heard echoing through a spatious apartment a few floors up at one of the better addresses around. The blonde who had been running through the park earlier rolled over onto her back and lifted her watch in front of her face.

"Yeah?"

"Usagi-chan, there's a job for the Sailor Senshi over at the park. Transform and get there as soon as you can. Bring Chibi-usa, these daimons seem to have different energy signatures from anything we've faced before." The tiny colour LCD screen went blank and Usagi moaned in dismay before pushing herself into a sitting position and turning to Mamoru, whose arms were still resting lightly on her waist.

"Another job for the Sailor Senshi." She pulled herself slowly to her feet and walked over to Chibi-usa. "C'mon, we've got another daimon to fry."

Chibi-usa looked up from where she was putting the finishing touch to her homework assignment and climbed to her feet.

The trio made it's way out of the apartment, stopping only to lock the door before heading for the park.

Ranma laughed as she ducked another of Ryouga's punches, exhilarated by the exercise.

"Man, I haven't had this much fun for ages!"

She swept a low kick at Ryouga's legs, he jumped and drew a number of bandanas from his forehead. Ranma dodged the rain of black and yellow, at the last minute changing the direction of a dodge till he was in position to catch one of them. The deadly blade stopped it's whirling and again became a piece of cloth.

Ranma considered it, still dodging puches and kicks then bounced off Ryouga's head, flipping out of range and smiling. He began to spin the bandana and watched it carefully as his opponent spun around, his anger still at full fury. Finally judging the bandana ready he let it go with a flick of his wrist and watched as it headed for Ryouga, cutting easily through the cloth of a sleeve as the Lost Boy tried to dodge.

Neither of the two noticed the arrival of four fuku-clad girls who stopped as soon as they had reached the scene of the battle to watch.

This was not what she had expected. Mercury pulled her computer out of sub-space and keyed her visor into existence to study these strange daimons that were actually attacking each other. She watched the complicated list of data roll up the screen of the computer but again found them to have energy signatures different than the usual daimons. There were also differences between the two opponents, one had as much power as he was using, but the other seemed to be holding back.

"Uh, Venus, why don't you try to get the guy with your Love-me Chain. Mars, you go for the girl, Jupiter you're back up."

"Shabon Spray!" A cloud of fog burst from Mercury's hands to cover a large area of the park and the other Senshi charged in, each with their own task in mind.

"Ranma! Where did you go!? How dare you run out on our man-to-man fight!? Again!?" A muffled shout could be heard in the fog, it's volume fading in and out in eerie cadence before fading out entirely.

"Burning Mandala!"

"Sparkling Wide Pressure!"

An orange glow illuminated one area of the fog followed shortly afterwards by a flash of white and electric blue. Then silence until the fog began to clear.

Mercury looked around and found Mars, Jupiter, Venus and the red-haired human-looking daimon, but she couldn't see the male anywhere.

"Eh? Where'd he go?" The redhead asked the air then shrugged. "Probably got lost again."

Sailor Moon and Sailor Chibi-Moon chose that moment to appear, accompanied by Tuxedo Kamen. Moon looked around with a mixture of disappointment and relief on her face, she wouldn't have to fight, but nor would she get to make a speech. And she'd had a good one ready.

All the Senshi remained frozen in an awkward tableau as they all looked around wondering what to do next. The daimon wasn't reacting the way it was meant to.

"Oh, hello. You guys are the Sailor Senshi, right?"

Venus nodded. "Yeah."

"So it was you who threw the lightening and fire around? And the fog?"

"Yeah."

Tuxedo Mask was frowning. He had seen this girl somewhere before, somewhere...Ah! She was the girl from the park earlier.

"Um, I don't think she's a daimon, Sailors. I passed her earlier and didn't get anything from her."

"A daimon? You thought I was a daimon? Why?"

The Senshi all looked at Mercury who had been the person to first suggest the possibility.

"Oh, well, I was getting alot of strange power readings from here and there had been reports of a fight. Most strange power readings mean something bad, so... If you're not a daimon, what are you?"

Ranma looked thoughtful for awhile. "Well, I'm a god. Maybe that's what you picked up."

Everyone's mouths dropped open and there was an audible gasp to accompany the rustling in one of the bushes off to the side. Turning their heads towards the disturbance, the Senshi watched as two futher Senshi clambered their way through the leaves to stand upright before them.

The expressions on the faces of all the Inner Senshi, except Sailor Moon, became hostile. Neptune and Uranus ignored that and faced Ranma. "You're a god?"

"Uh huh. You are too, a bit. In fact I haven't seen so many people with kami blood around since last time I was up in Asgard. Strange, to find that here."

"Um," Mercury asked diffidently, "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, I noticed you three," Ranma nodded in the direction of Sailor Moon, Sailor Chibi-Moon and Tuxedo Kamen, "Earlier. I can sense the kami-blood in you. And the rest of you guys have the same feel. Some weaker than others but it's still definately there. Come to think of it...You're Sailor Uranus, right?"

Uranus nodded her eyes narrowed.

"Thought so, you look kind of like him and Sailor Mars...?" she lifted an eyebrow in Mars' direction.

Mars nodded.

"Looks like Mars. The same eyes, you know."

"So, we're all descended from kami? The ones our Sailor forms are named after?"

"Guess so. I'd have to check in with Yggdrassil to know for sure, but it does make sense. So where's Sailor Pluto and Sailor Saturn?"

"Pluto's..."

"Right behind you."

Ranma spun around. "Yo, Setsuna! Hey, haven't seen you in ages."

"Who are you?"

"Eh? It's me, Ranma."

"Ranma? But Ranma's a..."

Ranma looked down at himself and shrugged.

"A guy? I had a little accident on that last job and ended up with a way to make those illusions, well...real."

Pluto's eyes narrowed. "Can you prove that?"

Ranma blinked and went all thoughtful again. "I suppose...Sailor Neptune, your attack is a water one right? And Mars' is fire, I've already found that out so... Okay, can you two combine your attacks? And fire them at me."

"But, you could get hurt!" Sailor Moon exclaimed.

"Nope. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Carry on, you two."

The water of Neptune's Deep Submerge and the fire of Mars' Fire Soul combinded to provide the hot water Ranma needed to trigger his transformation since he still hadn't worked out the mental control.

"AAGH!" Ranma quickly worked a change clothes spell as the shirt and pants he had been wearing began to pinch. And he'd thought that being kami again he would be safe wearing clothes that fit his female form properly.

His clothes became his kami uniform and he sighed in relief. "I'll have to remember that in future."

Tuxedo Kamen came out of the sympathetic wince and Jupiter tried to keep from laughing.

All of a sudden Sailor Pluto smiled and glomped onto Ranma's arm, "Ranma! You're back!" She released him and a fierce glare came over her delicate features. "Why didn't you call me? I haven't heard from you since before you went off on that wish-granting job and never came back!" Her voice had risen as she went on, ire rising at Ranma's neglect. The rest of the Senshi looked on in shock.

"Wish-granting? Oh, man, I'm late! Sorry, gotta go, bye."

And Ranma disappeared up one of the last rays of sunlight that was dappling the ground of the park in the late evening.

Pluto ground her teeth in frustration and muttered under her breath as she opened a portal, stepped through it and sealed it behind her. A single word echoed in the air behind her.

"Jerk."

Ranma appeared outside the OSA.P and walked inside to find Yoshiko, Naru's mother, serving a customer. Naru wasn't in the store. He sighed and moved across to the till and waited for Yoshiko to finish her sale then stepped forwards to make an enquiry.

"Hi, um, I'm a friend of Naru-chan's. I was meant to meet her here after she finished work but I was delayed. Would you happen to know where she is?"

Yoshiko looked the young man up and down taking in his clean-cut appearance. Even the earrings didn't leave the same impression it normally would have. "One moment, please."

"Thanks, I'll wait outside."

Yoshiko headed for the back room. "Naru-chan? You have a visitor. He's waiting outside."

Naru looked up from where she was finishing off her maths homework while she waited for her mother to finish up before they went to find something to eat. She had also been waiting for the return of the girl that called herself a goddess; not because she believed her, though she had some reason to, but because she was curious.

Naru nodded up at her mother and stood, straightening her skirt. The only guy she could think of who would visit her was Umino. She smiled and went out to meet him.

"He said he'd wait outside."

"Okay, thanks, Mom."

Naru walked across the shop to the front door that slid open with a gentle whoosh of air and she stepped out onto the pavement looking around for her boyfriend. He wasn't there. The only person she could see who wasn't rushing down the sidewalk purposefully was a young man in white with his black hair tied back in a pig-tail. He smiled at her and made his way over.

"Hi. Sorry I'm late but I was delayed by the Sailor Senshi."

"Ah...who are you?"

"Eh? I'm Ranma... Oh." Ranma looked around to see if there was any water around he could use to change. No such luck. His father had a warped sense of humour. He sighed.

"Well, I am Ranma it's just that I can, uh, change genders. That's why I'm the God of Destiny and the Goddess of Change, like I said before. I'd show you if I had some water but I don't at the moment. Anyway, you decided on anything?"

Naru shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other and wondered if it was her fate to get saddled with all the weirdos. But one thing she'd have to say, this guy took the cake; claiming to be a god was one thing but also insisting you could change gender...even the Senshi and Umino weren't that weird.

"Hey! I'm not that bad. Besides most of it's not my fault. You'd have to blame my families for that."

Naru looked up, startled. "You..."

"I did say I was allowed to read your mind for the duration of the consultation. Which hasn't finished yet, since you haven't made a wish."

Naru was silent digesting that. Unless he was who he said he was, him and that girl whom she met earlier were in cahoots and they were good at reading people. Coincidence was stacking up in such a way that she was seriously considering that he was telling the truth. First there was his supposed mind-reading and repetition of what the redhead had told her. Combined with that were the physical similarities between the two. And if they were the same person, just inhabiting a different form, there was also the appearing out of nowhere and disappearing again the same way followed by the change of clothes.

"Look, the easiest way to sort this out would be if you could get me some cold water. Then I'd be able to show you me and her are the same."

Ranma looked at the doubt in Naru's mind and eyes and tried once again to trigger the curse. He pictured a bucket of water suspended over his head and mentally overturned it, trying to feel the first shocking coldness followed by the tiny trickles that ran down his neck and between her breasts before ending up at the waist of whatever she was wearing and being absorbed into the cloth. He even conjured up the usual tingling that accompanied the change without success.

Naru turned and headed back inside. She was gone for a couple of minutes before returning holding a mug of water.

Ranma reached for it when she offered it and looked around for somewhere less conspicuous to change.

"Um, come on. It's probably better if I change over there so I don't freak people out." He gestured to the gap between the OSA.P and the building next to it.

Naru followed Ranma but stopped before she could be obstructed from view by passersby. She knew what could happen to girls who weren't careful around strange men. But her reluctance vanished when Ranma turned around to face her and tipped the water over his head.

Naru watched in surprise as the water seemed to push down on him until he was much shorter and also washed the black out of his hair, leaving it the same bright red it had been earlier in the day.

Ranma shook her head to get rid of most of the water and sighed at the sleeves that insisted on getting in the way when she tried to brush the worst of the water off her face. Uttering the change-clothes spell for the third time that day she stood revealed wearing a different red silk shirt and drawstring pants.

"That's better. So do you believe me now?"

Naru nodded dumbly.

"Great. So what do you say we go grab something to eat while you decide what it is you want to wish for?"

Outside the Crown Fruit Parlour an hour later, something strange could be seen. A glow began in the window and continued to grow until light streamed out onto the sidewalk. Small droplets of airborne food splattered across the windows and ran down them in multicoloured rivulets of slime.

Naru looked on in horror as the petite redhead sitting in the booth across from her began to glow. Her bangs lifted in an unfelt breeze and revealed the marking on her forehead. The four-pointed star was also glowing. It expanded a little and a burst of light shot upwards forming into a column of blue-white light that reached the heavens.

Closer to home, Naru noticed things starting to move. The salt and pepper shakers danced across the table-top and her napkin went swirling away to join the whirlwind that had begun with Ranma's glowing.

The other patrons of the Fruit Parlour, those that hadn't fled, ducked under tables, trying to avoid the bits and pieces flying through the room. Naru decided that might be a good idea and headed for the floor.

She didn't notice her teacup being sent flying by an ice cream spoon that came out of nowhere, nor did she see the hot liquid arc across Ranma's torso, effectively deactivating the curse. The pillar of light took on the slightest tinge of purple, but continued on in the same manner.

All of a sudden things began dropping to the ground. Plates shattered and salt spilt across the floor in tandem with milkshakes and half-melted ice cream. Naru poked her head out from under the table and blinked at the now male Ranma.

"Well, Naru-chan, your wish has been approved."

"W-wish? Uh..."

"Yep. 'I wish I knew why Usagi's been avoiding me lately' you said. So, wish approved. We'll do the leg work...tomorrow?"

Naru, still dazed, nodded her head without thinking.

"Great, then I'll meet you at the OSA.P at...um, when's a good time?"

"No school." She shook her head and the glazed look in her eyes receeded. "Um, but I'm meeting my boyfriend in the morning so it'll have to be evening. Um...same time?"

"As today? Sure."

"I-I don't know whether I really want to know why she hasn't been around. Maybe she just doesn't like me anymore. I don't know if I want to know something like that."

"Oh, I'm sure it's nothing like that." Ranma stood then reseated himself, wincing. "Oh boy, do I have to key that change of clothes spell to the change of gender thing."

Naru giggled. "Thanks for listening to me, Ranma-sama."

"Hey, no problem. Besides, you're cute, I can handle listening to cute girls for looong periods of time."

A blushing Naru stood and smiled down at Ranma as he muttered the necessary spell and joined her.

"I'd better get home now."

Ranma nodded, "I'll walk you back."

They fell into step and leaving money on the table headed through the shards of broken plates and glasses. Something shattered further under Naru's feet and she winced. Ranma noticed and sighed.

"Guess I'd better do something about this, hunh?" He stopped when he reached the front door and turned to the now fully deserted shop. The exodus had continued on after the energy storm had died down. He raised his hands, chanted a spell of restoration and watched as everything that had been broken was restored. Glass fragments melted into one another, plates regained the meals they had lost and chocolate sprinkles that had found their way to the floor rained backwards into the container they had fallen from. Clapping his hands together with a satisfied smirk, Ranma began the walk back to the OSA.P to drop Naru home before heading back to the temple.

He found Megumi waiting for him.

"Where have you been, Ranma? We were supposed to go to that movie, remember?"

Ranma smacked his forehead and shook his head in contrition glancing at Megumi through slitted eyelids and the accompanying curtain of eyelashes.

"I'm sorry, Megumi-san, I forgot." He looked around and noticed the silence that covered the temple grounds. "I take it everyone else has gone?"

"Yeah. So, where were you?"

"Would you believe I was accosted by eight cute, superhuman girls in short fuku who all happened to have names beginning with the word 'Sailor'?"

Megumi gasped. "The Sailor Senshi? But I thought they only worked in Juuban!"

Ranma grinned. "They do. I had to head over in that direction to talk to a client and managed to...er, attract their attention. They insisted on speaking to me after that until, finally, I convinced them I was late. The movie's started by now?"

Megumi nodded.

"Great, so we have the temple all to ourselves." Ranma's voice dropped seductively and his eyebrows waggled suggestively as he sidled closer to the brunette. "Whatcha wanna do, now that you've managed to get me all to yourself?"

"Y-you can tell me all about your meeting with the Senshi." A slight flush of red adorned Megumi's cheekbones but she was determined that Ranma would not get to her the way he had to so many of her girl friends when he had visited Bell and Kei on campus that day a couple of weeks ago.

Ranma's face fell into an expression of mock-disappointment but his eyes still sparkled brilliantly. He threw a casual arm across her shoulders and guided her inside. "Weeeell. If you're sure that's what you want. Still, can't do a real story-telling without snacks. Lets go raid the kitchen."

"Did you really meet the Senshi?"

"Eh? I thought we'd already established that. You know I wouldn't lie to you, don't you, Megumi-chan?"

"Uh, well..."

The phone rang, interrupting the touching scene and Ranma sighed as he disengaged his arm and headed for the phone. "Stay right there. I'll be back shortly to tell you all about it and then we'll..." he waved his hand vaguely, "I dunno, watch a movie on television, or something."

Megumi nodded and leant back against the wall in earshot of Ranma and the phone. Ranma had told her to stay where she was.

"Moshi moshi?"

There was a pause as Ranma held the phone away from his ear. From where she was, Megumi could hear the tinny echoes of the caller coming from the reciever.

Ranma grimaced and waited for the caller to stop yelling before bringing the phone back up to his ear. Megumi grinned as he rolled his eyes at her.

Ranma focussed on whatever was being said over the phone.

"Hey, Setsuna. What can I do for you?"

Megumi frowned. It was a girl. One she'd never heard of.

"What? Oh, uh..." Ranma shot a look at Megumi and ran a hand through his bangs, "I can't just now..."

Setsuna obviously said something else as Ranma stopped speaking and listened, his eyes distant.

"Mm? No, I was meant to be working and I was late due to that run-in with Ryouga..."

"No, of course not. If I'd had the time I would have..."

"Now? Well, I'm with a friend at the moment..."

"No, she doesn't."

The volume of the caller went up again and Megumi winced in sympathy for Ranma's ear drums. It didn't take as long for her to calm down this time and Ranma went back to listening, then laughed.

"No, she's not my girlfriend. Why do you ask?"

Megumi felt a pang at his statement and told herself it didn't matter that Ranma had laughed at the idea of her being his girlfriend because she didn't want to be his girlfriend in the first place.

"I'm not that bad..."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Look, I need to get in touch with you and your friends tomorrow anyway so I'll talk to you then, 'kay?"

Megumi sighed. This was getting boring. Listening to one-sided conversations was all very well if it was interesting but apart from that one comment this wasn't. There was no way to tell what Ranma was talking about either. She crossed her arms over her chest and settled back to wait some more.

"Uhuh. Well, I'll see you soon then. Bye."

Ranma hung up and turned to Megumi with a resigned look that changed when he caught her look and he smirked. "Well, now that you really have me all to yourself, Megumi-chan..."

Megumi pushed herself away from the wall and glared at the martial artist.

"Shall we raid the kitchen?"

Miyu faded into the real world and looked around. Behind her, her servant-companion also appeared, hovering protectively, his mask in place.

"We must find Cait Sith. He has to be stopped."

Larva nodded. "And he is somewhere here, in Tokyo."

"Yes. Let's search."

Miyu took a step and another then began to run silently through the streets followed by the shadow that was Larva.

Cait Sith turned to face his subordinate and raised an eyebrow at the troubled expression on her face.

"Professor?"

"Yes, Eudial?"

"I've - I've been investigating the Holy Grail and there's something...strange. I keep seeing a shadow of someone. Someone who's connected to the Grail in some way."

Cait Sith nodded. "Of course. That would be the person who can use the Grail. If he is on our side, we will triumph."

"And if he isn't?"

"Then we will lose. But that is not an option, we will succeed."

"How can we be sure of that?"

Soft laughter emerged from Cait Sith's throat and Eudial shivered.

"Because, my dear Eudial, I know who that person is and the other side, does not."

Naru waited impatiently in front of the OSA.P, pacing back and forth as she waited for Ranma to turn up. She still didn't know whether she really wanted to know why Usagi had been avoided her but it would be a waste of a wish if she didn't go with Ranma, who had said it wouldn't be that bad, so here she was waiting.

"Oh good, you're ready."

Naru whirled around to see a male Ranma grinning at her.

"So how do you want to do this? Teleportation or walking?"

Naru looked at him in surprise at the question and shrugged. "Whatever."

"Okay then." Ranma took a hold of her shoulder and catching hold of her eyes disappeared, accompanied by Naru.

Reappearing outside of Usagi's house, Naru staggered and nodded gratefully to Ranma when he steadied her. She had no memory of the transition between places and the only difference apart from place was the lightheadedness that had caught her when they arrived.

"Okay, lets go."

Ranma turned and walked up to the door and pressed the doorbell before beckoning for Naru to join him.

The door opened and Tsukino Ikuko, Usagi's mother, stood there smiling pleasantly.

"Hello, can I...Naru-chan! Come in. My, I haven't seen for a long time."

"Hello, Ikuko-obasan. Um, we're looking for Usagi-chan."

Ikuko looked at Ranma, taking in his cleancut appearance and smiling delightedly at him. "Is this your boyfriend, dear?"

Naru blushed. "No. He's.."

Ranma bowed. "Just a friend. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Oh, you too...?"

"Ranma."

"Ranma-kun." There was a brief moment of silence. "Well, I'm afraid Usagi isn't here right now. I think she went shopping with Rei-chan and Mako-chan."

"Oh. Okay, thanks anyway, Ikuko-obasan."

"Anytime, dear. It was nice meeting you, Ranma-kun."

"You too, Tsukino-san. Arigatou."

The two turned away and headed back towards the street and headed off in the direction of the Crown Fruit Parlour and the mall Usagi frequented.

"So, what now?"

Ranma frowned briefly then smiled and pulled a cell-phone out of nowhere. "I'll just call Directory. They should be able to tell me where Usagi is."

He punched in a number and lifted the phone to his ear, waiting for his call to be connected.

//<Hello, Directory, Hermes speaking.>//

<Hermes? I thought you'd made it to Enquiries?>

//<Oh, that you Ranma?>//

<Yep.>

//<Oh, well, I did make it to Enquiries, but then, well... You know how I'm meant to be the 'Messenger of the Gods' and all that, right? Well, I was in my office playing darts with...>//

<The picture of Mercury? Oh man, I remember that thing. Mercury and his afro...he hated that picture.>

//<Yeah, that's the one. Anyway, I was sitting there playing darts, it gets boring now, what with all the instant transportation kami around now, when Aphrodite walked in carrying this data crystal she wanted delivered. So she asked me to deliver it and looked at me with those eyes of hers, her lips all red and pouty and she said...>// Hermes adjusted his voice and went on in falsetto.

//<Oh, Hermes, would you do me an teeny weeny favour...>//

//<She wanted me to deliver it to Vulcan and Hephastes over in the Phillipines where they were playing with a volcano and it had to get there as soon as possible. Made me damn well think it was a matter of life and death the way her eyes went all big and sad. So, of course, I said I'd deliver it...Aphrodite's not exactly easy to say no to...and I took the disk and was about to head off when she looks at me again and says 'As fast as you can, please?' Now what else can you do when Aphrodite asks so nicely, but do your best. So I...uh, kinda borrowed Helios' chariot since it's faster than I am and he wasn't using it at the time. It didn't take me long to get there and I was back before you'd know I'd left, but wouldn't you know it, I'd forgotten to extinguish the flames.>//

Ranma couldn't help it. He started laughing.

//<Hnn. Look if you want your enquiry answered you'd better shut up about now, Ranma.>//

<Oh, sorry man. So what happened then?>

//<Atheism and Agnosticism, etc, went waaaay down and worship waaaay up on the polls. I believe most of the people who saw me thought it was the End of the World, Armageddon, that sort of thing. So here I am, serving my time. I wish I'd gotten a license suspension like Urd instead, at least I wouldn't have been as bored.>//

<Oh well, it happens to us all the first time Aph asks us for a favour. Venus too, for that matter. At least it's not as likely to happen next time.>

//<That wasn't the first time, Ranma.>//

<Oh.>

There was silence for a few seconds.

//<So what was it you wanted anyway?>//

<Right. I need to know the whereabouts of a semi-mortal named Tsukino Usagi.>

//<Coming right up.>//

While Hermes was playing with the Directory computer, Ranma looked up to see where he and Naru were and found her glaring at him, her foot tapping impatiently on the footpath.

"You do know we stopped walking five minutes ago, don't you?"

"Uh..."

"Ranma-sama, I've been trying to get your attention for those five minutes because," she paused dramatically, "Usagi's...in there." She pointed to the small cafe they were standing in front of.

And sure enough, the blonde girl was sitting at a booth plying another blonde, whom Ranma pegged as Aino Minako, Sailor Venus, with energy drinks. Ranma's mouth fell briefly open.

<Um, cancel that, Hermes, I just found her.> He flipped his cellphone closed and made it disappear back to wherever it came from and smiled sheepishly at Naru.

"Sorry."

Naru sighed and followed him into the shop.

Minako brushed by them on the way out, not even noticing them. A car screeched to a stop behind them and they heard the report of a gun going off. They spun around in time to a crystal emerge from Minako's chest and an ecstatic expression appear on her face.

Usagi passed them, heading for Minako. Eudial was also heading in that direction.

"Minako-chan! Watch out!" Usagi yelled.

Minako looked at her and giggled then turned and ran, cradling the crystal in her hands.

Eudial did an about face and hurried to her car, setting off in pursuit. Usagi followed.

"Hmm. Well, we should probably go see if we can help, too."

"Of course."

Ranma and Naru took off after Usagi and Minako.

They didn't stick around long enough to see two cats and five girls emerge from various hiding places and join the parade.

Minako finally collapsed in a parking building, the heart crystal's absence finally taking it's toll. Eudial smirked as she jumped out of her car and headed for the softly glowing crystal that had fallen to the ground. Someone had to be very strong to keep going for that long after having their crystal taken, maybe she had finally found a Talisman.

"Stop!"

Surprised, she turned to see the same blonde with the ridiculous hairstyle that had been there earlier.

Calling upon one of her daimon she sealed the building. This girl's crystal had already been checked but even this girl would probably delay her long enough for the Sailor Senshi to arrive. Those girls had ridiculous amounts of luck. The grates over the entrances slammed shut, but not before four figures managed to make their way in. Eudial ground her teeth in frustration and ran for the crystal, setting the daimon to guard against the interlopers.

Usagi saw Eudial looking at something and looked over her shoulder to see four very familiar figures. She only hoped Ranma could do some useful things in the way of dusting daimons. Haruka, Michiru and Naru she could do nothing about. She had to help Minako.

Taking a firm hold of her brooch, she called out her transformation and as the flash of light claimed her she wondered, very briefly, if she maybe she could stop keeping secrets from her best friend.

Three pairs of eyes widened and Eudial turned back from her run to see Sailor Moon standing in front of the daimon. She dismissed it with a sigh of frustration and continued towards her goal, knowing the daimon would keep Sailor Moon away for long enough. It always took more than one Sailor to take on a daimon.

Unfortunately, she had discounted the other four people present.

Ranma went into action, dodging around the daimon and heading for Eudial and Minako. He reached the crystal just before Eudial did and managed to push it back into her chest. Eudial, looking angry, took out her gun again and pointed it at Ranma.

"Then we'll try your heart crystal!"

The gun went off.

The projectile released bounced harmlessly off the shield formed by Ranma's crossed arms. Eudial gaped and backed away, readying the gun once more, for defence this time.

On the other side of the building, Sailor Moon was being attacked by the daimon, and managed to dodge the bursts of energy being sent her way, with a minimum of wailing.

She had managed to get in a speech, finishing with her usual 'In the name of the Moon, I'll punish you!' but wasn't doing a great job of living up to her promise.

Michiru and Haruka watched with concerned eyes while Sailor Moon, their adorable little friend Usagi, continued to dodge. Then came the attack when she didn't quite move in time. The daimon's extendable appendages wrapped themselves around the Senshi of the Moon and began to exert pressure. Sailor Moon screamed.

Naru ran forwards and began to hit the daimon on an unprotected flank, hoping it would stop hurting her friend. She had had suspicions about Sailor Moon's true identity before, but finding out for sure was still a bit of a shock. Usagi was Sailor Moon, Champion of Love and Justice.

^Is this what Ranma was going to show me?^

She managed to get the daimon's attention, but instead of releasing Sailor Moon it merely swatted her away using one of it's arms that hadn't been used in trapping Sailor Moon.

"Leave her alone! Let her go!" Once her head had stopped spinning she began to verbally attack the daimon, knowing she wouldn't be effective in any other way. And probably not even that one.

Off to the side, Michiru and Haruka were still standing, but they were now watching each other as much as the battle. Should they help out, or not? The heart crystal was no longer available to inspect and they had a strict mission to fulfill, but they'd always had an urge to help Usagi and Sailor Moon. It was now that they would have to decide whether sometimes, just sometimes, a person could come between them and their quest.

Then it didn't matter any longer, because Ranma was there, having dismissed Eudial for the time being. A flying kick to the daimon's head and it was sent staggering back, allowing him to pull out the rapier that was part of his battle uniform. He slashed at the rubbery vines surrounding Sailor Moon and, snagging her around the waist, jumped out of the way of the recovering daimon.

Putting her down next to Haruka and Michiru he grinned at her then turned to his sword and frowned at it briefly. He swung it a few times and nodded. A blue glow surrounded the blade and became almost blinding for a split second as it became liquid. When the light dissipated he was left holding a katana, much like Nodoka's.

Satisfied, he turned to Haruka and Michiru.

"So, why didn't you two transform and help out?"

The pair's eyes widened and Haruka began to glare. Ranma was saved from whatever she had chosen to say by the appearance of Naru on the scene. She threw her arms around Sailor Moon and held her tight for a moment.

"Are you alright?"

Sailor Moon nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"I knew you were Sailor Moon! Well, I didn't know, but I thought you were. You always saved me and you knew my name and you have the same hairstyle and everything. That's why we haven't been spending as much time together, isn't it? You've been too busy being Sailor Moon and saving the world." By the time she had finished speaking, most of the group was feeling slightly breathless.

"Um, yeah."

Naru smiled brilliantly and Sailor Moon had no choice but to smile back.

"She also didn't want you to be in danger because of her."

Naru looked at Ranma then back at Sailor Moon who was looking sheepish.

"You always used to get attacked and I thought, maybe if I stayed away from you, it wouldn't happen. And I was right. You haven't been attacked for ages."

Naru nodded slowly, "I guess."

"Actually, that was purely coincidental. Except for the Nephlite part, none of the attacks were deliberate and could have happened to anyone. And you weren't unhappy with that attack."

It was unfortunate that the group was so busy talking they didn't see Eudial sneak closer and level her gun at the group. She got off three quick shots before it became imperative for her to back off.

The first shot headed for Ranma and hit. A slight shimmer of red appeared about him but nothing else happened, except that it drew his attention towards Eudial. The other two shots also hit, one getting Haruka, the other, Naru. Two heart crystals popped out of their respective chests.

Haruka collapsed, Michiru catching her before she hit the ground.

Naru was caught by Sailor Moon.

A group of four different daimons jumped on the group, forcing Michiru and Sailor Moon to set their friends down and dodge various projectiles.

Michiru took the first available chance to transform, knowing that now was not the time to worry about who would see her. The flash of light distracted the daimon she was fighting and also tore Sailor Moon's attention away from the big blue spider-like daimon she was up against. Thrown backwards, she crashed into one of the concrete pillars that were dotted throughout the building. She lay unmoving for a few moments while the daimon moved forwards, readying the hand-nozzle that was it's main weapon. Seconds later Sailor Moon found herself stuck to the pillar with strands of the sticky silk.

Sailor Neptune had powered up her attack, sending a wall of watery energy flying towards her chosen target, a daimon whose powers seemed based on fire. The energy collided with the daimon sending it staggering back, half of it's body mass having been dissolved away. Neptune followed up with a second Deep Submerge and washed the daimon away.

Meanwhile, Ranma had leapt to engage the third daimon, this one psychadelic with a snail shell attached to it's shoulders. His first leg sweep caught the daimon at knee level, sending him crashing to the ground. Ranma's second move caved in the creatures fore-head, the silvery viscous liquid that took the place of blood dribbling down its face. It's iridescent skin began to bubble and the daimon screamed, retreating. Ranma stood up and ducking the arm swipe of the fourth daimon, fired off a moko takabisha from the end of his katana.

"Venus Love-me Chain!"

A golden chain of stylised hearts emerged from a conscious Sailor Venus' fingers, smashing into the daimon that was advancing towards a wildly struggling Sailor Moon who couldn't wriggle out of the cocoon that held her fast.

"Fire Soul!"

Sailor Mars, flanked by Mercury, Venus and Chibi-moon stood a little to one side, having finally found their way inside the sealed building. The carefully controlled flames set the spider-silk on fire, burning it away and singeing Moon a little. Mercury and Jupiter ganged up on the daimon, weakening it while Sailor Moon finished yelling at Mars and fired off a Moon Princess Halation, dissolving the daimon into pretty sparkles of light.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ranma saw the original daimon sneak in and collect the two heart crystals, taking them to it's mistress. Moving to intercept, he was ambushed by the fourth daimon. Sent flying, he flipped, landing lightly on his feet then took a quick look towards Eudial who was accepting the heart crystals into her possession. His eyes narrowing, Ranma banished his katana and held his arms out above his head, rattling off a quick spell. The bolt of lightening usually associated with Urd broke through the ceiling of the building and burnt a hole into the concrete where the daimon had been standing before it too had been hit.

Eudial began to laugh triumphantly, tossing one heart crystal over her shoulder and holding the other up to her face, before disappearing.

Ranma growled and made to move towards where she had been.

A flash of light lit up the room and Sailor Pluto stepped out in front of him.

"Ranchan, what are you doing! The timeline's been altered thanks to you and there's nothing I can do to change it back. This fight was meant to take place but they weren't meant to get the Talisman yet!"

Ranma looked at her in surprise then he frowned. "What?"

"I said..."

"I know what you said. Do you mean to tell me you've been controlling the timeline?" Ranma's voice rose and by the end of the sentence he was shouting. "You can't do that! The timeline is meant to be fluid, dammit! It's why I'm in charge of Destiny and Change. The two work together!" He faded off into incomprehensible mutterings while everyone stared at him, Pluto having gone pale. Suddenly he looked at Pluto again. "Just don't do it again. You're meant to be guarding the time-gates, that's all. Nothing else. Chronos will not be pleased if he finds out about this."

Ranma turned away from her and looked towards the unconscious Naru and Haruka. He walked over and picked up the crystal that had been thrown away, taking it to Naru and pushing it back into her chest. Then he stood and looked at the Senshi surrounding him.

"Okay, Neptune, Pluto, I suggest you work with the Inners now that Uranus is out of commission. I also suggest you find something to keep her alive until we get her heart crystal back. And I'm out of here, I have a report to make."

A high-pitched giggle made him pause, having taken only one step. "One moment, please, Ranma," the voice called from within the shadows cloaking one of the corners of the building. A young girl stepped out, a cloaked man at her shoulder. "We've found Cait Sith. Why don't you save your report until after you've checked it out?"

Ranma smiled a welcome to his two new friends and nodded. "I'll just let Bell-chan know I'll be late for dinner and we'll head off, okay?"

Miyu's golden eyes shone as she inclined her head gracefully, sinking back into the comfort of Larva's cloak while Ranma took out his cell-phone.

The Senshi looked at Miyu curiously as Ranma talked, only Mars showing a different emotion. She was getting vibes from this girl and her companion, evil vibes.

Eudial slammed her way into the laboratory underneath the Tomoe mansion and screeched to a halt in front of the Professor, still breathing hard. She held out her hands, revealing the Talisman heart crystal.

Wildly elated, she cast a triumphant look across at Kaoru and the other four members of the Witches 5, her smug gaze resting longest on Mimete, her closest rival. The blonde scowled but made no further move.

"Ah, one of the Talismans," Professor Tomoe took a hold of the crystal then waved his hand at the Witches. "Go and find the others." He turned away towards the door leading out of the laboratory. "Kaoru, go and get the girl. Meet me in the throne room."

Kaoru bowed and followed the professor out of the room, taking the opposite direction that led to the public parts of the mansion.

Eudial's triumph began to feel a little sour at the complete lack of praise. But an order was an order so she made her way back to the office with the others. From now on this was going to be a joint effort since the Professor hadn't specified any one of them over another and the others would make sure they played a part in what would happen.

One of the mini-Ranma's exploring the Tomoe mansion froze at the sound of the door closing behind him. Footsteps came closer and he slowly turned around, wondering if whoever it was had seen him. Then the red-headed woman swung onto the stairs and made her way up, the heels she wore clicking ominously against the wood. Mini-Ranma peered after her then, with a shrug, followed. None of the other hims had explored upstairs yet and now was as good a time as any. He bounced his way up the stairs, having as much fun as if he were roof-hopping.

He flattened up against the wall next to the opening door when the woman reached her destination and slipped through, dodging the spiked heels that entered the room.

She walked across to the canopied bed where a small lump lay curled up.

"Hotaru-chan? Hotaru-chan? Your father wants you to come downstairs. He has something for you."

The lump moved and a pair of large violet eyes blinked up at Kaoru. Hotaru nodded and climbed off her bed, picking up her little black bear and clasping it to her chest as she followed her father's assistant.

Mini-Ranma followed again.

A different mini-Ranma stood in the corner of a shadowed room watching the lavender-haired professor tweaking a curtain back into place over a strange-looking contraption that made him shiver. The glow of the tiny stars within the globular-centrepiece was too real to be anything else, which meant...well he wasn't sure what it meant, but he knew it wasn't good.

It was then that mini-Ranma saw what the professor held in his hand and frowned. What did Cait Sith want with the Talisman? Again, the answer had to be nothing good so he resolved to try and get it back. Haruka wouldn't last very long without it, though the fact that she was part-kami protected her somewhat.

A third mini-Ranma snuck into the room that held the Witches 5 and began listen carefully, taking mental notes for future reference.

In the undergroung laboratories, Miyu appeared, her eyes gleaming gold and a chime sounded, in a separate dimension. Out of the darkness behind her a white mask appeared, it's one ruby eye scanning the area. But the room was silent, deserted, even the daimon-vats were still.

Miyu stepped forwards to investigate laying eyes on the computer standing on one of the benches. She looked it over, noting all the buttons, but she had no idea how to turn it on. Banishing Shinma back to the abyss did not prepare one for the material plane's technology. She glanced back over her shoulder at the silent Larva then shrugged and moved on. Maybe she could find something else.

Behind her the screen lit up and the beep of a computer loading sounded loud in the shadows. Miyu spun, Larva throwing his cape protectively around her as they searched for the culprit.

Standing in front of the keyboard, waving at them brightly was mini-Ranma-chan, her red hair haloed by the glowing screen. Behind her stood Marller who had managed to turn up at the same time. Turning back to the screen, mini-Ranma-chan began jumping across the keyboard trying to access useful information. Marller watched and waited for her to find something for a few moments before getting impatient. She took hold of mini-Ranma-chan around the waist, firmly set her to one side, pulled up a chair and began typing. Mini-Ranma-chan placed her hands on her hips, glared until she realised nothing was happening then began to direct Marller's search.

Miyu smiled and left, Larva following, his ruby eye somehow conveying amusement.

Back with the Sailor Senshi and Naru, the last of the mini-Ranma's currently in existance sat comfortably on Setsuna's shoulder and watched as Michiru and Mamoru settled Haruka onto the bed she and Michiru shared. After this was accomplished they all stood around staring at each other until Setsuna directed everyone into the lounge where they could talk.

Mini-Ranma jumped off Setsuna's shoulder when she sat and began pacing across the table and watching his reflection in the glass top. He listened as the Senshi began to talk.

"It's time you knew what was really happening, Inner Senshi."

"About time."

"Past time."

"Yep."

Usagi stared down her friends until the muttering stopped and turned attentively back to Setsuna, pulling Mamoru's arm more comfortably around her shoulders at the same time.

"The daimon's are being sent out by the Deathbusters to find the three Talisman's, which together can summon the Holy Grail. It will appear when the need is greatest, at the time of The Silence. But the Grail can be used by two people. The Messiah and the Dark Messiah. One good, one evil, and the results of the Grail's use depends on who uses it..."

Michiru handed her a drink from the tray she had bought in. Setsuna took a sip then put it on the table in front of mini-Ranma who took the opportunity to take a drink himself. Hoisting himself up the side of the glass he balanced himself on the rim. Looking down at the liquid below his feet he paused then knelt. Grabbing hold of the edges with his hands to keep from falling in, he lowered his face until it was in position for him to drink.

Setsuna realised that her audience had found something more interesting than her lecture and glared down at mini-Ranma. She looked at him leaning over her drink and a wicked smile appeared on her lips. Reaching out, she tapped mini-Ranma lightly on the back, sending him sprawling forwards into the glass.

Sputtering, mini-Ranma-chan emerged from below the surface and vaulted out of the glass to land furiously on the table.

The Senshi tried not to laugh, really they did, but it just wasn't possible not to.

Mini-Ranma-chan glared some more, then humphed and decided to ignore everyone.

Setsuna coughed, calling everyone's attention back to herself, and continued her explaination. She didn't want to do this, would rather continue being mysterious and protecting the Queen from the possibilities that a monitored timeline could throw at her. The protecting part would be so much harder now that she didn't know what was going to happen, but Ranma had warned her of the consequences were she not to back off. And when a god told you to back off, you did, even if you were half-god yourself. Setsuna had always been fascinated by the difference between Ranma's professional and private personas, and after this last sojourn on Earth, the contrast was far more pronounced.

After her explaination, she leaned back and waited for questions and comments. She hadn't expected Ranma to be the first person to speak.

"She's right about what's going on, mostly. Things have changed a little. The professor isn't actually the person in charge of all this, that's actually Cait Sith, and he's not trying for Pharoah 90, he's trying to raise himself a mazoku. And I suppose he could use the Talismans to do that as easily as if it was Pharoah 90."

Setsuna frowned. The timeline had changed that much, that fast? She looked at mini-Ranma-chan, still standing on the table, and sighed. She expected he would have that sort of effect on things even if he wasn't the God of Destiny and Change.

But she had more important things to worry about. Pharoah 90 would have been bad enough, but a mazoku, depending on which one was called, was much worse.

"So what do we do? We can't let them resurrect the mazoku."

"No. We can't," Rei remembered the legends as did everyone else. They all nodded in agreement, silently offering their services.

"We've also got to get Haruka back," Michiru stated quietly.

A further round of nodding.

Mini-Ranma-chan looked around and slowly joined the nodding. She wouldn't normally let mortals face a threat like this, but these weren't your run-of-the-mill mortals and they weren't going up against Caith Sith alone. Miyu, the shinma, Marller, his sisters and himself would also be there. And if the mazoku arrived there wasn't going to be much chance for them anyway. They'd all go challenge it like the protectors they were, and they'd all die. So mini-Ranma-chan watched as they all transformed into their Senshi-forms then led them to the mansion where Cait Sith was slinking around, planning.

Marller and mini-Ranma-chan hid as Eudial entered the laboratory and moved to the computer consol they had just vacated. She typed in a few things and the computer beeped as data began flying up the screen.

This was what she would have used to find the Talismans had she not stumbled across the first one earlier that day. She'd been working on the programme for a number of weeks and had finally finished it last night but hadn't had the chance to implement the search. But there was nothing to stop her now and perhaps she could still salvage her position as the first of the Witches 5.

The computer beeped twice in rapid succession, and Eudial straightened from where she had been leaning against a nearby table, focusing her attention on the screen.

Two red dots were blinking as they moved down a street on the map of Tokyo that took up most of the screen. Two images also took up space, each of the green-haired women wearing familiar-looking tiaras. Eudial's eyes widened in surprise, then a smirk appeared on her lips. So the two other Talisman-bearers were Senshi. That was a bonus.

The smirk slipped though, when she saw the two dots running down a street that turned into the street the mansion was on. And sure enough, when they reached that corner, they turned and made their way closer.

Eudial turned and went to find the other Witches 5, they needed to ready themselves for their visitors.

She didn't see the blonde who stepped up beside her, carrying a blunt object she had found in the shadows of the laboratory.

Marller looked down at the unconscious Witch at her feet then looked at the screen.

"Shall we go meet them?"

Mini-Ranma-chan nodded from her shoulder and the two turned to go and find the group converging on the Tomoe mansion.

Unfortunately they found themselves faced with another of the Witches 5 who had been following Eudial. Tellu smirked as the power she had gathered in her fist burst against Marller's chest, knocking the demon unconscious. Mini-Ranma-chan managed to land gracefully on her feet after falling off the blonde's shoulder and immediately felt the pressure of a hand closing around her.

With a silent promise to come back for the demon she disappeared with a whoosh of displaced air, leaving Tellu to deal with Marller.

The witch looked at her empty hand for a few seconds then shrugged and bent to lift Marller to her shoulder. The professor would want to know of this and maybe, just maybe this woman would have a heart crystal they could use.

Tellu opened the door into what had been dubbed the Throne Room and walked down the long dark carpet until she stood in front of the throne where Kaoru and the professor were seating an unconscious girl and waited until they were ready to deal with something else. She set Marller down, keeping a close eye on this woman who had managed to get into the mansion undetected and take down Eudial. She also took the time to decide not to tell the professor of the tiny person who had disappeared from her grasp. Such admissions were generally bad for your health.

The professor finally turned back and eyed the crumpled figure on the floor. He smirked a little and glided down to crouch next to her.

Cait Sith turned her face upwards and nodded in recognition of the demon. Marller was one of the shinma, the demons who had had the most contact with the group he had recently left. Apparently she and Water Lipper of all people had become friends at the International Academy of Nefarious Deeds, where all the brightest shinma and demons were sent.

He had never even been considered for that honour. He sniffed. The high councils obviously couldn't recognise true talent when they saw it. Just look at him, he had devised this brilliant plan to resurrect the mazoku and no one had even discovered him yet. And in a few days, when his plan came to fruition all those people who didn't think he could do it would be proved wrong. They'd be forced to add him to the Abyssinian Hall of Infamy.

Cait Sith supressed the urge to laugh maniacally. He wasn't that sort of villian: he'd chosen to go for the cold, silent type back when he first decided on his course and he couldn't destroy his reputation now.

"Professor? We're ready."

Cait Sith came back to himself at the soft words from Kaoru and leaving Marller on the floor, turned to see what had been happening during his ego trip. He nodded his satisfaction at the sight of young Tomoe Hotaru tied to the Throne, her disconcertingly old violet eyes closed in unnatural sleep.

"Good." He pulled the heart crystal that held the Talisman from his pocket and turned it over in his hands. Then, giving a small nod of his head, he dug his fingers directly into the gem itself. It began to glow and the deeper his fingers delved, the brighter the glow became, until even with his eyes closed he could see it's brightness. Then he felt what he had been searching for, something hard in the liquid that filled the pocket dimension within the crystal. Taking a hold of it, he pulled, then took a firmer grip and yanked. With a splerch the hilt of a sword emerged from the crystal along with his hand. He kept pulling and was rewarded with the sight of the blade.

Aha, the sword.

Now all that was needed was a little luck and ingenuity and they'd have their mazoku without having to bother with the other Talisman's.

Cait Sith tossed the crystal over his shoulder and strode to the little alcove where the strange contraption he had built for this very purpose sat.

He looked at it then at the sword and heaved a deep sigh.

Why hadn't he thought to make an adjustable brace?

He looked around the Throne Room searching for something that would help him attach the sword to the contraption and stopped when his eyes fell on the ropes tying Hotaru to the throne.

"Kaoru, bring me some of those ropes."

The redhead nodded and bent to pick some up before she realised they were being used. "Um, Professor, they're being used."

"I know that. Undo them and cut a bit off then re-tie it and bring me what you cut off. I shouldn't think that was beyond you."

Kaoru looked at him blankly for a second until Cait Sith schooled his expression into one of disdain and contempt rather than the frustrated and annoyed one it was currently displaying. He would have to watch that.

A few moments later, his assistant set a length of rope into his hands and he used it to tie the sword to the contraption. He stepped backwards and surveyed his rather sloppy work then shrugged. A boy scout he had never been.

"Okay, Tellu," this to the witch who had been silently watching since she had arrived, "when I tell you to, you flip this switch. Kaoru, you take the handle." Here Cait Sith pointed to the handle of a crank which would be responsible for powering the contraption.

Kaoru looked at it in horror but accepted her orders, merely sending a glare towards Tellu and muttering under her breath, "Has he never even heard of electricity?"

"Begin turning."

Kaoru began turning the handle, slowly at first then faster and faster until her arms felt like they were going to fall off and she was getting dizzy just from watching it.

"Tellu, now!"

The witch flipped the switch and the trio held their breaths, waiting for the fireworks or whatever was supposed to happen.

Nothing did.

Mumbling, Cait Sith shuffled halfway across the room before standing up straight and falling silent.

'Reputation' rung as a refrain in his mind as he continued towards the contraption.

He stumbled over Marller whose unconscious presence he had forgotten.

Cait Sith blinked then grinned, stooping to her side once more. But this time, instead of merely looking at her, he tried thrusting his fingers into her as he had done to the heart crystal. A shimmering red light appeared briefly around her body, echoed by the one surrounding Cait Sith's arm. It solidified briefly then shattered and Cait Sith's arm was within her chest.

Marller's body jerked a little then became limp once more as the shinma drew a crystal out from within her chest. It was a crystal that was different from all of those the witches had extracted before, glowing in a rainbow of shifting dark colours.

Cait Sith let go, threw his head back and laughed as he held the crystal aloft. Then he stood and skipped over to the contraption. He balanced the crystal precariously on top of the globe containing the miniature galaxy then motioned his assistants back to their positions.

"And again!"

A long-suffering sigh emerged from Kaoru as she bent once more to the handle.

Seconds later, Hotaru's hair was floating as though caught by static electicity, which it was. Small blueish sparks began roaming up and down the strands and overflowing, passing down across her body and dispersing through the floor.

Slowly a glow built up as above her a small cloudy vortex began, writhing black swirls of fog and smoke with arcs of light jumping between the two.

A sound began somewhere in the distance, swelling until it could be quite clearly distinguished as a yell. Then there was a flash of light and a thud as a shadowy figure slammed into Hotaru's body, changing it.

Elsewhere in the mansion heads came up at the aura of evil that had appeared within the building. Each of the Ranma's shuddered, as did Marller. A golden chime indicated Miyu's awareness and Mars began fingering an ofuda bearing the spell to banish evil. Larva's reaction couldn't be seen, hidden as it was beneath the mask, but Mercury's computer began to beep loudly, essaying a rather louder round of hisses from her companions. All of them held their breaths for a few moments until they were sure no one had heard, before continuing on.

When Cait Sith's sight cleared someone he had never seen before sat on the throne. He rubbed his hands together in glee and moved to a place more convenient for conversation.

He noted the similarities between this creature and the girl that had been sitting there and wondered if perhaps that was why the resurrection had been so easy.

Then the eyes of the creature opened and he found a further similarity, though fortunately this pair of violet eyes were dazed.

"Welcome, mazoku."

The head turned in his vague direction.

"Would you grant us the honour of your name?"

The mazoku, still dazed from it's trip replied with the first phrase that entered it's mind, something it could remember saying often to a girl though he couldn't at this moment remember her name.

"Ah! That is a secret."

The mini-Ranma-chan riding along with Sailor Pluto blinked as she felt one of her other selves join with her. She took in what the other mini-Ranma-chan had learnt and then turned back to more immediate worries.

The group of Senshi had managed to find their way into the mansion and had decided to rescue Uranus' heart crystal first. After that they could deal with Cait Sith and his minions.

They snuck their way down a few corridors, following mental directions from the mini-Ranma still observing Cait Sith, past the blonde witch Mimete who was lying on one of the couches in the lounge giggling madly at one of the soaps that was screening.

Two steps past the door Jupiter stopped and frowned. Then she turned back, snuck up behind the Witch and with a grimace of distaste for such a task, chopped at the back of her vulnerable neck. Panic began in her when, instead of slumping to one side, the blonde turned an outraged look in her direction. Jupiter tried again and this time Mimete's amber eyes glazed and she fell.

It would be some time until she was a threat once more, hopefully.

Catching up with the others, Jupiter shrugged at the questioning gaze Venus sent her and continued to follow silently.

Then out of the shadows in front of the group, a gleam of white could be seen and Larva lifted his cloak revealing Miyu, her golden eyes laughing in private amusement at everything. Mini-Ranma-chan lifted a hand in greeting and followed with a brief conversation using hand signals, culminating in Miyu and Larva choosing to join them in their sneaking.

They made their way through another door into what looked like an ante-chamber and mini-Ranma-chan motioned them to stop. From behind the door on the other side of the room came the murmurings of voices.

Sailor Moon moved to the door and pressed her ear against it above where mini-Ranma was doing the same thing. He had arrived on the tail of Kaoru and the girl and had been listening ever since. He'd also been witness to Tellu and her burden, who from what he could tell, had yet to awaken from her involuntary sleep.

His female counterpart joined him at the door and the two merged, briefly appearing as a red-headed male before settling back into full male form.

Above them Sailor Moon shook her head and moved back.

"I can't hear a thing," she complained quietly.

"We need to know what's going on in there. We should see if we can find somewhere else," Venus whispered back, gesturing to the door they had just come through.

"Wait." Mini-Ranma flapped a hand at them to get them to stay and listened for a few more seconds before turning and looking at them all.

"Okay, from what I can tell, we've got Kaoru, Tellu, Cait Sith, Marller, Uranus and the mazoku in there..."

"Mazoku?! I thought we were here to stop that from happening!"

"We were, but it's a little late to stop this one and at the moment it doesn't sound as if he'll be too difficult to deal with."

The others weren't sure about this as they'd never run across mazoku before and didn't know what condition this one was in. Ranma wasn't sure about it either, but he was sure he could beat it.

None of the group noticed the incorporeal figure watching them from one side of the room, a long, bladed weapon held in her hands, glinting wickedly. Her eyes rested longest on Sailor Moon, a faint wistful smile appearing on her face before she drifted through the wall.

"Okay, so what happens now?" Venus asked, her blue eyes narrowed in concentration.

"Ah, now there's the question. As far as I can tell there's only the one entrance apart from any windows so we'll end up going through the door."

"We'll meet you in there," Miyu offered.

Ranma frowned breifly wondering how she'd manage that. Then his eyes cleared of their confusion and he raised an eyebrow, "The Spirit World?"

Miyu smiled her agreement and Ranma nodded.

"Right, we'll meet you in there then," He turned back to the Senshi. "I suppose we'll all just run in, spread out and hope they're all too focussed on the mazoku to notice?"

Sailor Pluto shook her head in disgust at the plan but had to admit she couldn't think of any other way to get in.

Miyu and Larva faded out of sight and Ranma took ahold of the doorhandle as the Senshi prepared to run. Ranma began mouthing the countdown and tensed his arm...

...three...

...two...

...one...

The door was flung in and Mars and Venus ran into the room, veering off to the sides as soon as they were in. Mercury, Jupiter, Moon, Pluto and Neptune followed with Ranma bringing up the rear, pulling the door closed behind him and locking it with a quick spell.

Cait Sith and his assistants had just turned, surprise written across their faces at the appearance of these people. Tellu, being the fastest to react, sent a globe of destructive energy speeding towards the door.

Ranma dove out of the way, rolling gracefully to his feet beside Mercury. He lifted his head and swept his gaze around the room, staring briefly at the purple-haired man sitting on the throne then turned back to his companions and the rather impressive light show they were putting on with the help of Tellu, Cait Sith and Kaoru.

A few of the drapes were already cheerfully blazing away and the edges of the carpet was smoking from where Mars' Burning Mandala had been deflected or dodged. One of Venus' Cresent Beams was still bouncing around a small alcove behind where Kaori had been standing and Mercury had managed to freeze Cait Sith's feet to the floor, accidently getting the still unconscious Marller's at the same time.

Ranma looked around at the chaos and smiled widely. Now this was fun. Then he looked at Marller again, her eyes closed, body limp and arm and shoulder frozen to the floor. He made his way through the various Senshi attacks, being tagged by the Love-Me Chain as it was winding itself around the spot where Kaoru had just been and snorting in disgust when the edges of Neptune's Deep Submerge tagged him.

He felt the change and almost immediatelt after that, the weight of eyes on herself. Surprisingly heavy eyes.

Then she was beside Marller and shrugged off the pressure that threatened to squash her. She placed her hands on Marller's stomach, closing her eyes to figure out what was wrong with her friend.

Her hand sunk downwards, merging into Marller's stomach. Ranma jerked her hand back in shock. The blonde's AT field wasn't there anymore and nor was her heart crystal. Her eyes narrowed as she looked up to search for the crystal and collided with a pair of brown boots that were resting on the other side of Marller.

The purple-haired mazoku that had previously been sitting on the throne was smiling down at him with his eyes closed.

"I suppose," he said, reflectively, his smile becoming a grin, "that since Lina isn't here, you look a bit like her and for the moment I'm stuck here, you'll do very well."

Ranma blinked in surprise wondering what the mazoku, who was obviously a fruitcake, was talking about. "Hunh? What do you mean?"

The mazoku laughed and wagged a finger at Ranma, "That is a secret!"

So saying, the mazoku disappeared, leaving Ranma puzzled and the slightest bit frustrated. Then he shook his head to rid himself of thoughts of the mazoku and turned back to his original purpose for looking up.

It didn't take him long to find Marller's heart crystal and get it back to her, pcketing Haruka's heart crystal on the way. He didn't want anyone to step on it the way he nearly did. That would be, well, tragic. No one could live without a heart crystal.

After making sure Marller was recovering he looked around to see what was happening.

Somehow, the Senshi had managed to take out Kaoru and Tellu, leaving Cait Sith to be dealt with. And from the looks of his damaged clothing and various bruises, it wouldn't be long before he was also dealt with.

Then he noticed to figures phasing into the room and his lips twitched upwards. Not long at all.

Red spirit-flames sprang up around the lavender-haired shinma and with a few words, Miyu banished him back to the abyss.

The Senshi's mana dissipated back into the atmosphere and they stood there, looking around in anticlimax, only then noticing the disappearance of the purple-haired, throne-sitting man.

Sailor Mars gasped, "The mazoku! It's gone!"

Ranma, helping Marller to her feet nodded. "Yeah."

"What are we going to do. We can't just let it run around free like that. Who knows what evil the monster is capable of!"

"I'm wounded! Insulting me before we've even met." the mazoku appeared beside Jupiter and opened his purple eyes, tears beginnning to shine within them. Then he laughed and bounced towards Ranma-chan.

"This is going to be so much fun! You've got to be this world's equivalent of a dragon! Dear Filia will be sooo jealous when I tell her about this. But I won't be able to stay and play long or Lina-chan will miss me!"

The mazoku reached up and grabbed the dragon-hair from Ranma's pigtail, her red hair unravelling until it fell loosely down her back.

"That's better."

"Why you...!"

Ranma lunged for the smiling mazoku who disappeared just in time leaving one final sentence hanging in the air.

"...By the way, my name is Xelloss..."

Back in the temple that evening, Ranma, his sisters, Keiichi, Naru, Marller, Miyu, Larv, Pazusu and the Sailor Senshi were talking after a silent dinner made with the combined talents of Belldandy and Makoto. Each now had a steaming cup of tea sitting in front of them as they discussed what had happened and what they were doing next. Not surprisingly most of their conversation had concentrated on the strange behaviour of the mazoku and possible motivations. None of them expected evil beings to act quite that cheerful and that he did was...disconcerting.

It was, perhaps, expected that Venus had been the one to suggest that Xelloss had fallen in love with Ranma's girl form at first sight. It was Xelloss himself who refuted that suggestion, appearing at the table next to Ranma and shaking his head in disappointment.

"Didn't you know? Mazoku can't love, so that's obviously not it. Maybe I'm waiting for the right time to..."

He didn't get any further before Ranma's hands wrapped themselves around his throat, "You know, fruitcake, you could knock!"

"Nagh! What...would be the...fun in that?" Then Xelloss' voice rose to a whine and he began to complain, "And...why did you...have to call me...that? I get enough...of it from... Zel-kun!"

Snorting in disgust, Ranma let go and began glaring, "So what do you want?"

"Want? That is a..." Xelloss grimaced, "Actually, I'm a little lost. This isn't exactly my world so I don't really have anywhere else to go. I'm not going to be here long enough to worry about making my own place, hopefully, so I thought I'd come annoy you for a while."

A collective blink later Belldandy smiled at Xelloss, "Oh my, yes, it must be horrible to have been taken from your home like that," She paused, her manners warring with the knowledge that this was a mazoku. Her manners eventually won out, after all technically speaking Marller was meant to be an evil demon and she was here.

"Would you like some tea?"

It was Xelloss' turn to look surprised, then he bowed his head politely, "Thank you..."

"Oh, I'm Belldandy."

What followed was a round of introductions, all those surrounding the table giving their names and Xelloss taking all of them in with a smile.

The last introduction was one that was unexpected by anyone.

From the corner of the room behind Sailor Moon, a shimmering figure spoke, drifting forwards a little as she bowed, "And I am Sailor Saturn, Senshi of Creation and Destruction."

Pluto's eyes opened wide, "S-saturn?"

"Hai," the black-haired spirit smiled gently and letting go of the glaive she held sat at the table between Sailor Moon and Sailor Chibi-Moon. The glaive disappeared.

Pluto cleared her throat and asked a question that occured to her, "Um, how come you're, er...?"

Saturn looked down at herself, "Half-invisible? Xelloss is currently occupying my body. I'm hoping to get it back when he leaves and returns to his own. Until then, I expect I'll be following him around." She smiled at the mazoku, a slight edge of maliciousness in her soft voice.

Xelloss looked unhappy, "Let me guess, you've still got a link to this body?"

"Yes."

"And you'll make sure I don't do anything...evil?"

"Yes."

"Then I definately want to get back as soon as possible. Who knows what certain people could be doing to my body if they think it's, er, dead."

Belldandy looked at Xelloss, "Would you like us to help you get back? I'm sure we can have you back in your own body in no time."

"Um, thanks for the offer, I'll think about it."

Belldandy nodded, "And in the mean time you're welcome to stay with us. We don't have any spare rooms but I'm sure Ranma won't mind sharing his with you."

Ranma looked at Bell in disbelief and Xelloss returned to full cheerfulness, "Why that would be wonderful. Thank you very much, Belldandy."

Belldandy nodded serenely and turned to Sailor Saturn, "You're also welcome to stay, though I think maybe you should share with Skuld?"

"Thank you, yes," the spirit replied.

Living arrangements organised, the group broke up, the Senshi heading home, Miyu, Larva, Pazusu and Marller heading back to there respective lairs or duties, leaving three goddesses, one god, one half-god spirit, one human and one mazoku to organise themselves for sleep.

In Ranma's room, the two occupants rolled out their futon's then looked at each other, Ranma with wariness, Xelloss with his habitual smile.

"If you dare try anything, fruitcake, I swear..."

"Yes, yes, I know, you'll kill me."

Ranma looked at him for a few seconds, "Er, well, something like that."

"So...how come you turn into a girl?"

Ranma growled, "None of your business. Just go to sleep."

Xelloss sighed, "I was just trying to make conversation. Everyone misunderstands me."

"Do they?" Ranma asked, sceptical.

"Yes," the mazoku laughed and settled onto his futon, "They do."

Ranma watched him for a few more seconds before sighing and turning the light off. He'd just have to live with it and at least Xelloss didn't spout Shakespeare like it was going out of style. Yep, at least there was something positive about all of this. He smiled into the darkness as he wondered what the mazoku would think of being favourably compared to that bokken-weilding idiot.

Ah well, at least if Xelloss annoyed him too much he had something he could use for revenge...

With that satisfying thought, Ranma turned onto his side facing the wall and slept.

• To be Continued
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