Twin Black Phoenix
A Ranma ½ and Sailor Moon Crossover
By Tomas Megerson

Note:  This is going to be dark in some places.  It will be extremely 
dark at times.  In fact, I suggest you think of this as a Dark Fic.  I 
don't have plans to kill off the main characters (too many times) but 
that'll probably change.  If you don't like dark fics, but then again, 
this may be the fic that gets you to like them, so give it a shot anyway.

Chapter 2


	Ranma looked into the mirror once more and sighed.  He couldn't 
stand the uniform.  The navy blue jacket and pants looked good with the 
tie and white shirt, but he would have preferred black.  And looser 
fitting.  And offering more protection.  And somewhere to put his katana.  
And a lot of other things as well.  If he could have had his way he 
would have just worn his armor and cloak to school.  He couldn't stand 
out, though.  This was a black ops mission.  He couldn't walk around 
letting people know who he was.  He ran his fingers through his hair 
once more and gave the image in the mirror a killer smile.  He grimaced 
and then looked at the terminal screen on the wall.

		Ranma, your background for school is as follows: 
		Your parents transferred you because of some 
		women problems.  Your idiot father engadged you 
		to three different girls.  You can't stand any 
		of them, but they are all madly in love with you.  
		Your mother took pity on your problem and has 
		sent you away to finish your education.  It is 
		her hope that while you are away you will choose 
		one of them.  You, on the other hand, are looking 
		for a girl that you like so you can marry her and 
		get the others off of your back.  You are a minor 
		noble in my court, so you don't need to worry 
		about getting into the palace if you need to.  
		Should Tomas get a chance to visit you, you and he 
		were sparring partners for the past three years.  
		Together you founded your own school of the art.  
		This will give you more creditable defense should 
		someone recognize him (which is most certain since 
		he will be spending a large amount of time in 
		court.)  Good luck, Ranma.  I'll let you know when 
		a more specific mission comes up.
		Setsuna

	"Great so I'm some sort of girl swamped noble.  At least she 
didn't tell me to keep my martial arts a secret."  He glanced at the 
clock.  "Great now I don't have time for breakfast.  Thanks a lot Lady 
Pluto."  He headed out the door and made his way toward school.

****
	At that moment, Pluto was getting out of her own bed.  She 
looked at her surroundings and sighed.  She had never really liked her 
quarters in the Royal Moon Palace.  They were always so dark and gloomy.  
She had to keep up appearances, though.  She had to make Queen Serenity 
believe that she was under her sway.  It was hard, most of the time, but 
she managed, somehow.  Knowing that she couldn't stay in bed all day, 
she slowly got up and pulled on her robe.  She opened her bedroom door 
only to stop after a single step.  "What in the..?"

	Tomas looked up from where he was sitting.  He was dressed in a 
solid black shirt, a black doublet, black pants, and his black gloves.  
She couldn't see them, but she was sure that he had his black boots on 
as well.  The only color once more was his white sword hilt and his 
green eyes.  She came back to reality as he raised an eyebrow at her.  
"Are you alright, Lady Pluto?"

	"I'm sorry, Captain, I wasn't paying attention.  What did you 
say?"  She smiled slightly at the look of discuss that came across his 
face as she used his newly acquired title.

	"I said that the Queen has requested us for breakfast in a half 
an hour.  Would you like me to make excuse for you not coming, or would 
you prefer to join us?"

	Setsuna sighed as she new what would happen if she refused.  
"I'll be joining you, of course.  Give me fifteen minutes to freshen 
up."  She turned and headed into the bathroom for a quick shower and to 
get dressed.  As the water ran over her skin, Pluto shook her head in 
disappointment of herself.  (I should have known that Tomas would be 
here.  I wonder if he got any sleep last night.  He doesn't tend to be 
one to trust others.  He probably spent all night watching my door to 
make sure no one hurt me.)  She turned the water off and dried herself 
with a quick heat spell.  After pulling on one of her royal gowns, she 
left the room and approached Tomas.  "Shall we go?"  Tomas took her arm 
and the two left for breakfast.  (I wonder how Ranma's doing?)

***
	"I am Ranma Saotome.  It is a pleasure to meet you all."  Ranma 
gave a bow to his class and tried to ignore the whispers of the girls.  
He had more important things to do while on Saturn then get involved 
with a girl.  His eyes swept over the class and across the windows, of 
which there were too many for his taste.  He headed toward the seat that 
he had barely heard the teacher assign him to and sat down.  With his 
mind still going through the different ways that he could get an 
assassin team into the school undetected he started answering the 
teacher's questions.  He wasn't about to play the part of a dumb jock.  
After about a half-hour of this he finally got annoyed enough to stop 
the process.  "Sensei, if your not going to be doing anything relevant 
for today besides try to grill me on stuff I learned years ago, then 
why don't you let the rest of the class leave.  I'm sure they wouldn't 
mind."  The rest of the class nodded vigorously to no avail.

	"Forgive me class, I seemed to have gotten carried away.  Turn 
your books to page 189 and answer the questions on pages 197 and 198."  
And so the class continued uneventful.  In fact nothing exciting 
happened until the fourth class of the day, self-defense.  All people 
of Saturn were to be part of the military, at least reserves.  So 
starting in high school a class of self-defense was taught for one 
semester.  After that everyone would go to the military academy for 
one year and then choose to stay in the active military or enter the 
reserves.  Now Ranma was being forced to listen to one of those reserve 
officers talk about how to launch into an assault bare handed, and 
getting it all wrong.

	When the teacher was finally done and asked for questions Ranma 
raised his hand.  "Yes, Saotome?"

	"You don't actually expect that to work, do you?  I mean, I 
could've stop that on your first change through when I was thirteen."

	The teacher didn't like having one of his students talk back to 
him.  After all these kids hadn't had any true training yet, and they 
all thought they knew what they were talking about.  "Do you want to 
prove that, Saotome?  You're more than welcome to try."  Ranma just gave 
him a slight smile and stood up.

	It wasn't a fair fight.  In fact, you couldn't even say that it 
was a fair slaughter.  On the teacher's first punch, Ranma slid around 
him and gave a jab to the man's elbow, causing it to lock in place.  A 
knee followed that to the gut and an elbow smash to the head.  The 
teacher was out in less than three seconds.  Ranma ignored the surprised 
looks of his classmates and headed for the shower muttering under his 
breath..  "God, a bet Tomas is having a better time than this.  I knew 
it would be bad, but this is ridiculous."

****
	Tomas calmly sat outside the dressing room of the princess of 
the moon kingdom.  To everyone who might have walked by (her mother and 
a couple of the Senshi) he appeared to be a calm mask of steel and ice.  
Inside, though...

	(DOES THE TORTURE EVER END!!!!  I've been here for the past two 
hours just so she can get ready to go to some damned sermon by Mars!  
This is ridiculous!  I've never been so insulted in my life.  Maybe I 
should just say screw it to the time stream and kill the little brat 
now!  It'll save me a whole lot of pain, that's for sure!)

	Finally, after what seemed like ages, the Princess came out.  
She was dressed in what seemed to be a nightgown along with a thin 
tiara.  When she asked Tomas how she looked he just shrugged.

	"Come on, how do I look?  I want to know what you think!"  She 
spun around for him.

	Tomas just shrugged again.  "I am not here o advise you on 
fashion, I'm here to protect you.  If you want to know how you look 
then ask one of your friends."

	"You're no fun!  Well, if your going to be that way, then come 
along.  I don't want to be late for the sermon."  A hungry look entered 
her eyes.  Tomas took quick note of it and began to go over what it 
could be.  Pluto never told him what happened at one of Mars's sermons, 
just that it would be bad.  If she said something would be bad he made 
sure to listen.  He followed Princess Serenity out the door and towards 
the Church of Mars.

As the two approached the building an uneasy feeling began to settle 
over him.  He couldn't tell whether it was from the Church or from the 
Princess.  Both of them seemed to be radiating ungodly amounts of 
negative energy.  He began to look around for demon gateways to begin 
popping up because of it all.  He couldn't even comprehend how such 
vast amounts of evil could be totally ignored by the general populace.  
Behind his mask he grimaced as he realized how sheltered an upbringing 
Setsuna had given him and Ranma.  They may have killed in cold blood, 
fought in battles were the losers were eaten, and betray those who had 
trusted them for he greater good, but this was insane.  As he stepped 
through the doorway of the temple he almost gagged on the sheer amount 
of evil the perpetrated everything.  (When I get out of here, I'm going 
to have to give Ranma a report on all this.  Everything is worse than 
what Setsuna told us.  He's going to be relieved that we're on the 
right side.  After that ball yesterday, neither of us was truly sure.)  
Tomas took a position along the back wall of the church and watched as 
the Senshi of Mars strode in with an unearthly grace to begin her 
sermon.

****
 
	Ranma smiled slightly as the girl shyly sat down next to him.  
Since the self-defense class most people had been avoiding him.  They 
didn't really want to know what could make some one so young such a 
formidable fighter.  The news of his quick (and painful) defeat of the 
instructor spread like fire through the building.  The man had been an 
unquestionable bully, even if he did get results.  Since most people 
had taken to leaving him alone he had decided to enjoy his lunch under 
a cherry tree that was along side the building.  The transplanted tree 
had an unusual tint in its flowers thanks to the cloud cover above.  
In all, Ranma thought it made its looks more exotic rather then detach 
from the beauty.  (Kinda like this girl.  Interesting eyes, haven't 
seen golden before.  Almost like a cat's, now that I think about it.)  
He decided rather quickly that a silent lunch would be pretty boring 
and so decided to strike up a conversation.  "Hello there, beautiful, 
I'm Ranma.  You are?"

	Her eyes widened with surprise at his words.  She hadn't 
expected him to acknowledge her presence much less start a conversation 
with her.  It took her a few moments to process the question he had 
asked.  

Ranma, for his part, just sat there and gave her a smile that almost 
made her heart stop.  Amusement ran through him as his Ki readings told 
him of her increased heart rate and breathing.  He forgot how much fun 
it was to play such games with the opposite sex.  They always thought 
that they were the ones in charge, but all you had to do was look at 
them the right way and it would send there minds into a null zone.  He 
leaned forward slightly as though he was hanging on the breath of her 
response.

The attention she was getting just made the girl more nervous but 
eventually she managed to stutter out a name.  "S-S-S-Salina."

"That's quite a beautiful name, Salina, though it hardly does you 
justice."  Ranma smiled a bit more as he watched a rosy blush come 
across her face.  "So, Salina, where are you from?  Your name doesn't 
really sound Saturnine."

	"Well, m-my father was from the Moon, originally.  Where are 
you from, if you don't mind, that is."

	Ranma let his eyes bore into hers for a moment before he 
answered.  While Salina blushed as some not too clean thoughts entered 
her mind, Ranma struggled to remember what he had read this morning.  
He didn't want to start giving out conflicting stories.  "Well, Salina, 
I'm from Pluto.  My father was a Vise-Count in Lady Pluto's court 
before he made some mistakes with my life.  Mother wanted to help me 
out of them, so she got me transferred here a few days ago.  According 
to her, I now have my father's title.  Not much good, but its nice to 
know that I've a steady income."  (Hmm, maybe I said too much.  I'm 
sure that the story I just told will get around in the rumor mill.)  
He looked at her surprised face as she stared at him.  While it wasn't 
the first time he had been stared at by some girls, it was the first 
time he saw such awe in one's face.  "What's the matter?  Are you 
alright?"

	"Do you really know the Lady Pluto?  Everyone says that she's 
so secretive."

	(So that's what this is about)  "I've only met her once that I 
can recall, and that was after the problems my father created.  She 
said she wanted to know how I felt about everything.  I am good friends 
with one of her higher placed members of court, though.  He said he'd 
come visit me at some point, so if you want I can introduce you to him.  
He says he knows her quite well.   I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you 
asked him some questions, Salina."

	Salina blushed some more at that.  It was hard for her to get 
people to talk to her.  Everyone at the school knew how her family was, 
and they all thought that the curse led to her as well.  She struggled 
to fight with the pain of being alone everyday.  When your younger 
sister is the Senshi of destruction it tends to cloud peoples judgement 
of you.  She had so much more that she wanted to ask, but then the bell 
rang signaling the end of lunch. 

Ranma calmly got up and gave her a short wave before heading into the 
building.  (She looked familiar.  Maybe one of the Royal Family.  I 
think it would be good to get a friendship going with her.  It could 
give me more open access to the palace.)  He sighed as he headed toward 
his next class.  It would be a long day for him, and an even longer 
night.  If Salina was whom he thought then that would mean the Royal 
Family of Saturn was back from their visit to the Moon.  That in itself 
would mean his job had just started.  For now, though, he had to get to 
class.

****

	Tomas splashed more cold water onto his face and looked up at 
the mirror.  His eyes traced the long scar that was visible now that he 
was not wearing a shirt.  It started at the bottom of his ribcage under 
his left lung and came up almost to his heart.  Had Ranma been a tenth 
of a second late to his side that would have been the end of him.  He 
was lucky in that one fight.  He was wishing that his luck would have 
just held out.  He had the feeling that he was going to learn a lot of 
bad things about people while he served Serenity.  Tomas closed his 
eyes and once again splashed cold water onto his face.  Looking up and 
into his own eyes he sagged with a weariness that shouldn't have been 
there.  He stared into his own green eyes and as he looked into the 
black centers he seemed to be transported back to the early evening.

	He could smell the blood again, and the musk odor coming from 
the temple.  He closed his eyes trying to block the images that were 
appearing to no avail.  It didn't help him any.  He could still see 
Princess Serenity, the girl who had been asking him about her dress but 
hours before, on the ground lapping up the red blood like a dog getting 
its water from the floor.  He watched in his mind's eye as she raised 
her lips to the flow coming off of the table allowing it to gather in 
her mouth and run down her throat.  He stared in shock as he saw her 
once more covered in the red life of the poor victim embrace the 
priestess of Mars like a lover.  Tomas felt the pain enter his body as 
he realized that he had no ability to stop the atrocity that had taken 
place.  Collapsing to the floor he felt tears run down his cheeks as 
the pain and disgust he felt over powered him.  And he felt gentle arms 
encircle him and heard a soft voice whisper to him that everything 
would be all right.

	Tomas turned and buried his face into the shoulder of Setsuna.  
He felt that sobs wrack his body and the shivers run down his spine.  
He had known that the Senshi were bad, but for them to be so horrible, 
it was beyond his grasp.  And as he cried, his mind struggled.  It 
tried to come to grips with the fact that Setsuna had known such things 
were happening for years, and that she had to stand by and watch, not 
able to do anything.  Tomas came to grips that Setsuna was a lot 
stronger than he thought he could ever be.

	For her part, Setsuna sat there on the floor with Tomas.  She 
just held him, and whispered soft words of understanding.  Her own 
heart filled with grief with what had happened.  She had never seen it 
so bad as this, before.  The sermons of Mars were always evil, and 
always brought pain to her, but they had never been like this.  She was 
almost considering speeding up the timetable.  There was a way to do
 it, but she wasn't sure that she was ready to go that far quite yet.  
She felt Tomas start to pull away from her and she let him go.  He 
turned to face her and they stayed like that for sometime, sitting on 
the bathroom floor looking at each other.  Finally the silence got too 
much and she decided to break it.  "Do you wish to talk about it?  I 
know it was bad, worse than any I had ever been witness to.  I'm here 
for you, Tomas."

	He sighed and shook his head.  "I do, Setsuna, but not with 
you.  I'm going to send Ranma a message and let him know just what 
happened here.  He needs to know how bad everything really is.  We've 
speculated, you know.  About what could be so bad that would cause you 
to take us in.  This was far beyond anything we came up with, though."  
He slowly got up and offered her his hand.  Graciously she took it, 
and looked him in the eyes.  

	The pain was still there, she could tell.  It was being 
covered up, though.  Already his tear-streaked face was a mask of 
determination.  She smiled and then started to giggle at the contrast 
of his emotions.  When he raised an eyebrow in question all she could 
do was point at his face.  Glancing in the mirror he saw what he looked 
like and he too began to laugh.  Finally she had gotten it out of her 
system and switched back to a more serious attitude.  "Get cleaned up 
and dressed.  Dinner is only around a half an hour away.  We do not 
want to be late.  And wear your good clothes, there's another ball 
tonight.  Some Earth ambassador has come to pay his respects before 
going on to Venus."  After he nodded she left the bathroom to wait for 
another night of pointless parties to begin.

****
	Ranma sighed as he shut the door to his apartment.  School had 
actually been a challenge for him during the second have of the day.  
He may have had incredible amounts of knowledge in most of the courses, 
but when it came to the laws and regulations of planatary treaties he 
couldn't keep awake long enough to learn it.  So he had one course 
where he would learn something.  Well, two courses if he wanted to 
count the computer training class.  He had been as indifferent to the 
computers as he was to treaties.  Tomas usually handled setting up 
their missions, so he never worried about it.  It never occurred to him 
that they would get split up.  (I should have paid attention to Setsuna 
after all.)  He glanced at his terminal and blinked at the message left 
on it.  The black bird hates the fire.  "So, problems with Mars, huh.  
Can't wait to hear about it."  Ranma moved to his bedroom and opened 
his closet.  He removed the jamming equipment and the 
encryption/decryption device.  After setting them up and starting them 
he got the message.  It was rather long, which was unusual for Tomas.  
He usually got right to the point.

		Ranma,
		Things are a lot worse than we think.  I'm sorry for 
		laying this burden on you, but I need to share this 
		with someone who understands, and Setsuna already knows 
		it.  This is going to be hard, and I hate leaving you 
		with my demons to cope with, too.  Anyway, I had to 
		accompany Princess Serenity to a sermon led by Lady 
		Mars today.  It was unlike anything I had ever felt.  
		The first thought that came to my mind was the 
		overpowering stench of evil in the place.  The temple 
		just reeked of it.  Then Mars came in wearing black 
		robes.  That caught my eye first, but soon to follow 
		was the unearthly way she moved.  It was a grace I had 
		never witnessed in her before, almost like she was 
		floating.  When she reached the alter, she spoke some 
		words in a language I didn't understand.  Then she 
		dropped her robe.  She had nothing on undernieth, and 
		I mean NOTHING.  I was in the back of the place, but I 
		was sure that she didn't have a hair on her body except 
		for her head.  There was nothing appealing about it 
		though, in fact it made me frightened about what was 
		going on.

	Ranma blinked a few times.  (This actually made Tomas 
frightened.  What the hell happened in there.)

		She said some more words and a door in the back opened 
		up.  Out of it came two more women, also without 
		clothing.  Between them they carried a child no more 
		than nine or ten years old.  It was a girl (her cries 
		allowed me to make that notice).  They strapped her to 
		the alter.  Mars said a few more words in that strange 
		language, and then tore the poor child's clothes off.  
		After that one of the naked cohorts handed her a large, 
		curved knife.  It was then that I realized what was 
		happening.

	"A sacrifice.  That poor child.  Those bastards!  They killed 
that poor child."

		After her heart was cut out and tossed onto the fire, 
		the truly disgusting things began to happen.  Mars 
		cupped her hands and drove them into the whole in the 
		corpse's chest.  She brought forth the red blood and
		 drank it down.  She did it twice more.  Then I had '
		noticed that the others in the temple were ... 
		'entertaining' themselves if you know what I mean.  
		All but the Princess.  She was just as naked as Mars 
		and was with her by the corpse.  Princess Serenity 
		would lick what ever blood was on Mars's body off of 
		her.  When there was no more left she began to drink 
		the fallen blood off of the floor.  When she ran out 
		of that she moved to what was on the table.  While her 
		mouth was still filled with blood she embraced Mars 
		like a lover.  Then they... no, I don't want to talk 
		about it.  I'm sure that you get the picture.  The 
		worst part of all, Ranma, was that I couldn't do 
		anything about it.  If I took any action our whole 
		purpose would have been thwarted.  Setsuna told me 
		that this was the worst that she had ever seen it at.  
		She was watching from the Gates.  I'm sorry that I had 
		to tell you all this, but you needed to know.  Watch 
		Saturn carefully.  If she's fallen too we'll be in 
		deep trouble.  Keep safe, my brother.
		Tomas

	Ranma leaned back in his chair and sighed.  He had never thought 
it could be anything that bad.  Pluto had told them that things were 
dark in the Kingdom, but she never mentioned such evil to them.  He 
would definitely have to keep an eye on Saturn, though.  He couldn't 
let someone as powerful as her to join the Senshi in their evil.  If it 
came down to it, he might have to kill Karinna.  That wasn't something 
that he looked forward too, but it wasn't as though he had a choice.  
Ranma knew his job, and as he glanced at his clock, he realized it was 
time for him to go to work.

	It had taken him almost two hours to get through the message 
Tomas had sent and to come to grips with his own feelings about it.  
Even as he moved to his bedroom Ranma struggled to get his mind in 
order.  (First priority is to scout the palace.  I need to know if 
anything wrong is happening in there.  Second is to locate Saturn's 
room.  When I know where she is I'll be able to keep a close watch on 
her.)  He finished sliding his black armor into place and watched as it 
slid back into his skin.  He then sent the mental command to have his 
arm guards form and then had them join his armor.  Still gazing at the 
mirror, Ranma ran his hand through his hair getting it back into shape.  
Looking over his casual clothes, he nodded once and headed for the 
door.  (First dinner, the work.  Guess I'll be wearing my armor from 
now on, too.  I was almost use to not having it, too.)

****

	Tomas gazed into the mirror as he waited to be announced.  Once 
more Tomas was dressed in his total black dress clothes.  His black 
hair was still unruly, and still had that strange sense of style, as 
though it would take hours for it to get that way, but for him it was 
natural.  His face no longer bore any of the distress that it had 
earlier in the evening. His emerald eyes had pierced the soul of more 
than one person who had passed him that night, and he never let an 
emotion cross his face.  He was as calm and cool as the woman next to 
him was.  

	Setsuna was dressed in a dark green evening gown that portrayed a 
modest cut.  It wasn't her style to be daring in the first place, but 
it didn't matter.  The cut somehow made her more attractive than the 
women who were flaunting their bodies.  Her dark green hair was still 
in its normal straight cut, but brought about a sense of regality to 
her that only the Queen herself possessed.  Her face was impassive and 
held even less emotion than Tomas.  Her red eyes gazed over everything 
as if she was watching the stream of time flow by every person.  There 
was no one who would meet her gaze in the entire palace.

	Well, no one except Tomas.  Right now he was looking in her eyes, 
and he was worried.  There were times when he would see her and wonder 
whether she saw everything as time effected it.  Did she see everyone 
dead and the buildings destroyed, or was there a dark shadow that held 
her gaze and refused to let go?  He never could tell what was there, 
but the sadness he saw at times was almost too much to bare.  He owed 
her his life, and he wasn't about to forget that.

	Both snapped back to reality when the door to the ballroom opened 
up and a guard stepped out.  "If you two are ready, we will announce 
you, now."  Pluto nodded slowly and the guard headed back into the 
room.

	Tomas took Setsuna's arm and slowly walked with her to the door.  
As they approached it, Setsuna leaned up so she could whisper in 
Tomas's ear.  "How would you like a little revenge on Princess Serenity 
and Sailor Mars?"  At his shocked expression she actually smiled 
slightly.  "Prince Endymion is here and he and the Princess are sure to 
try to get the spotlight.  How would you feel to steal it from them?  
I know it's petty, but its all we can do right now.  Besides, I haven't 
danced at a ball in years."  Tomas's only response was a slight smile.

****

	"RYUUJIN SHUURAI!"  The bright lightning tore from Ranma's open 
hand slamming into one of the dark men.  He didn't know who they were, 
but it didn't really matter.  They weren't supposed to be in the palace 
so he was going to eliminate them.  He had been approaching the palace 
cautiously when he heard sudden sounds of fighting.  After summoning 
his armor to its full covering he slid through the shadows and on to 
the palace grounds.  What he saw surprised him.  A dozen black garbed 
figures were attacking the palace.  The Royal Saturn Guards had tried 
to stop them, but they all fell within the first five minutes.  Ranma's 
orders were to protect Sailor Saturn, so he wasn't about to let these 
people get into the palace.  His opening attack blew the chest out of 
one of them.  The other 11 turned to face their new foe.

	"TENCHI YOUGEKI!"  A bright aurora of blue and red energy 
surrounded Ranma as he moved into the battle.  His speed was like 
nothing ever seen before.  In the first minute of the fight three more 
of the enemies fell to him dead.  Huffing from the drain, Ranma slowly 
turned to face his opponents again.  He never expected them to be as 
good as they were.  If he had known he wouldn't have used the Heaven 
and Earth Assault, it was too draining on the body.  HE had to kill 
them all before Saturn showed up.  He was sure that she was their 
target, and the Senshi of Destruction would never stand a chance 
against them.  They were just too fast.  That was when he heard a voice 
that he dreaded since the fight began.

	"Stop right there.  You have caused much damage to the Royal 
Palace.  Now you will face me, Sailor Saturn!"  Ranma glanced up at the 
roof and saw the girl in the purple miniskirt.  Knowing he didn't have 
much time to get the work done, he gathered in all of his remaining 
strength.  He quickly wove a return spell underneath himself to open 
when he hit it.  Then he faced the attackers once more.

	They were saying something, what he couldn't tell.  The pounding 
in his head from the power he was containing was drowning everything 
else out.  Just as he had gathered in the last of his reserves the 
figures made to jump at the youngest of the Senshi.  They were too 
late.  "KUROI FENIKKUSU TOMURAI NEGAIGOTO!!!!!!!"  A gigantic column of 
black flames erupted under the black assassins.  They made no cries as 
they were incinerated since it happened to fast for them to know.  The 
flames abated and Ranma collapsed, only to disappear as he hit the 
ground.

****

	Setsuna sighed slightly as she and Tomas glided across the floor 
of the ballroom.  It had been a long time since she had had someone who 
she could dance with.  Most people were either intimidated to dance 
with someone who could see the future, or she couldn't trust them 
enough to let them get so close to her.  In fact the last time she had 
danced while at the Moon Palace had been before she had met Ranma or 
Tomas.  (Has it been so long?  I can hardly remember that time.  And 
Nephrite was hardly the dancer that Tomas is.)

	The pair was currently the center of attention at the ball.  The 
dance that Tomas was leading her through took her by surprise.  It was 
a deceptively simple dance, and yet it set the heart racing.  There 
were moments in it that seemed like pauses for a fraction of a second, 
but for those dancing it seemed like hours.  Setsuna couldn't remember 
the last time that such emotions had run through her.  She had 
suppressed any attractions that she had for the opposite sex years ago, 
when she had learned just what the other Senshi were like.

	It had been her predecessor that had shown her the truth.  It 
turned out that the Former Sailor Pluto had a past time that Setsuna 
never would have imagined.  She took an unnatural delight in torturing 
teenage boys.  She would seduce them into joining her in her room and 
then proceed to take some of the … more important parts from them.  She 
had even kept a collection of all the "trophies" that she had gotten.  
It had been her first time taking her apprentice to such an evening.  
Unfortunately she hadn't broken Setsuna as much as she had thought.  
Setsuna watched what happened, and then had slipped a knife into the 
elder's back.  She had been sure that she was going to be executed for 
it, when Serenity laughed the problem off.  She had then been informed 
that she was the youngest at that time to do such a thing and was then 
dismissed from the court.

	There was another slight pause in the dance and her breath 
caught.  Her face was no more that an inch from Tomas's.  She could 
see his emerald green eyes staring deeply into her own.  Her heart 
started to pound as thoughts of what could happen raced through her 
mind.  Another portion, the one that normally controlled her was 
telling her to back away, to ignore the temptation since it would only 
interfere with the mission.  The part that was in control right now, 
however, was sending a different message entirely.  It was telling her 
to stop being the Guardian of Time.  It was informing her that now was 
not the time to be refusing her inner most feelings.  That it was time 
for her to put aside the horror that she had witnessed so long ago and 
to start being what she was always meant to be: a woman.

	And then the moment was over.  The dance had started again.  
Setsuna sighed slightly once more at the lost opportunity to let some 
feelings show.  No matter what happened something would occur that 
would make her argue over whether to express her feelings or not.  Age 
really had no meaning to her.  It also had no meaning to her two 
Knights.  One of the gifts bestowed in the Gates of time had been an 
enhanced life force.  One that would last thousands of years.  The 
eight or nine years that separated her from the two seemed too small 
to even care about.  It had take her time to start to notice the two, 
but as they grew from that original 13 years of age, she came to 
realize that neither had been a child for some years.  Her mind 
wondered were the time had passed when she realized that they were 
adults to be trusted.

	As all these thought ran through her mind she forgot about the 
petty revenge that she and Tomas were taking against Princess Serenity.  
Only the dance had become important to her, the reason for it had 
ceased to matter.  It did have the desired effect, however.  Princess 
Serenity was filled with fury as she tried to recapture the attention 
of the crowed.  She had a deep craving for the spotlight, and nothing 
she and Endymion had danced could get anyone's attention.  This is why 
she was glad when a messenger came in to speak with her mother.  The 
ball was unceremoniously ended early, and the Senshi were required to 
meet with the Queen in private.

****

	Ranma's eyes slowly opened.  His gaze took in the ceiling of his 
apartment with a critical gaze.  He tried to move but found that he had 
little to no control over his own limbs.  Thinking back to the fight 
he had been in, he came to two conclusions.  The first was that he 
needed to watch over Saturn a lot more carefully, for a lot more time.  
If the people were going to be attacking the palace, he had to be there 
as much as possible.  It wouldn't do to have someone sneak in and slit 
her throat when he was supposed to be guarding her.  His second 
conclusion was that he did some massive overkill, and now he was 
paying for it.  Using the Tenchi Yougeki in the battle was a mistake.  
He didn't need the increase of power to win the fight.  It would have 
taken him longer, but he would have still won.  He also never should 
have called upon the Kuroi Fenikkusu Tomurai Negaigoto.  He was now so 
weak that it would be days before he could fight again with any 
effectiveness.

	"This is just wonderful."  He stopped talking out loud after 
that, though.  The pain that coursed through his jaw was nothing 
compared to the headache that surrounded his mind.  Gathering his 
little strength he moved his hands underneath himself and slowly began 
to make his way toward the table in the middle of the main room.  He 
had still not gotten any furniture besides a single table and a futon.  
The prices on Saturn for anything wood were worse than those on the 
moon.  The price of the table alone almost took half of his money 
allotment for the month.  After over an hour of puling himself along 
the floor he finally made it to his objective.  With his last strength 
he reached up to the table and brought his hand down upon a small 
rectangular device.  He let his fingers trace over the device until 
they came across the smallest button on it.  The button was pushed 
down rapidly twice just before Ranma slipped into the blackness once 
more.

****

	Tomas glanced down at the buzzing in his right wrist.  The black 
gem imbedded in his armor began to pulse and vibrate as it received a 
signal from far away.  Being stuck in the main council room with the 
Queen, however, kept him from doing anything about it.  Of course, the 
way the discussion was going, he had a fairly good idea just why that 
specific signal was going off.  (Ranma, I hope you're okay.  I can't do 
anything to help you until I get out of here.)  He brought his 
attention back to the Queen just as she looked up from some documents.

	Queen Serenity looked over the people gathered before her.  When 
her eyes came to Tomas he knew that something bad had happened, 
and something even worse was going to.  His body tensed in 
response to his worries.  His eyes shifted around the room to see 
everyone else who was in it.  While it was only the Inner Senshi 
it was still more power than he wanted to take head on.  When he 
heard his name spoken his attention shifted back to the Queen.  
"Captain Tomas, you will accompany Jupiter, Mercury, and Pluto 
while they escort my daughter on a tour of the system.  The tour 
will go from Mercury to Saturn with the stop in this sector being 
Earth.  You will NOT leave her at anytime during the tour.  When 
she sleeps you will be inside her bedroom.  When she showers you 
will be immediately outside the door if there are no windows.  If 
there are windows to the bathroom you will be inside the bathroom 
with her.  The Senshi will be staying on there own worlds when 
they reach them, so you and Pluto will remain a constant in her 
time away.  Do you understand your mission?"

	"Yes my Queen, I understand completely."  (My god, she wants me 
that close to her.  What the hell is going on with this.  I can't 
believe that any parent would want to put their child in a position 
like that.  Can't contradict orders, though.  I need to get to Ranma 
too.  This just keeps going from bad to worse.)  After a few more 
directions such as scheduled leaving times the Queen dismissed the 
group.  

	Tomas quietly followed Setsuna to their rooms at the very end of 
what had become known as Senshi Hall.  It was here that all of the 
Senshi had their rooms inside the Moon Palace.  Tomas opened the door 
to Pluto's chamber and waited for her to enter before following.  He 
headed toward the kitchenette to prepare the two a small snack to eat 
while they discussed the events of the day and what had happened in 
the meeting.

Setsuna, in the meantime, headed into her bedroom to change out of the 
gown she was in.  She slid out of the beautiful green dress and laid 
it across her large bed.  As she moved toward her closet she stopped 
in front of a large mirror built into the wall.  Starting at the top 
of her hair, her eyes traced over her beautiful features until they 
reached a point just below the center of her breasts.

It was there that the bruises started.  From that point until just 
below her waistline, Setsuna's body was a mass of bruises and welts.  
She had incurred the wrath of her queen by not informing her of the 
two knights she had trained.  The other Senshi participated 
enthusiastically in the beating of their fellow Senshi.  They took 
pleasure in the pain that they had caused her, pleasure and excitement.  
All of the Senshi who stood with the Queen enjoyed inflicting pain and 
suffering upon anyone.  Setsuna's eyes filled with tears as she 
recalled the looks of joy that flooded their eyes as they struck her 
repeatedly.  She gently traced one of the larger welts.  This 
particular welt had been caused by Sailor Venus's Love Me Chain.  As 
her fingertips touched a particularly sensitive spot she gasped in 
pain.  Her eyes went to the door and watched intently for a moment.  
When no one knocked on it, she relaxed.  Ranma and Tomas were extremely 
protective of her and if Tomas ever got a look at the mass of bruises 
on her body she doubted anything could stop him from taking revenge.  

A slightly lost look came into her eyes as she realized that she had 
trained the two far more than she should have.  Their strength was 
beyond that of any save the Queen.  And if both of them got involved 
in the fight, Setsuna doubted that even Queen Serenity could hope to 
come out of the fight alive.  The Ginzuishou might be powerful enough 
to revive planets, but it took a long time to gather enough energy.  
By the time Serenity had enough to kill the two, she would already be 
dead.

Setsuna finally tore her gaze away from the mirror.  The pain of 
looking at her wounds was too great for her to bear much longer.  She 
headed over to her closet and removed a simple dark green dress from 
it.  Pulling it over her head she headed toward the door, stopping 
only to make sure none of the bruises could be seen.  Satisfied with 
the look, Setsuna headed out the door and made her way to the dining 
room table.

Tomas was just laying out some dishes for the simple soup he had 
prepared for them to eat.  At her raised eyebrow he spoke.  "We've got 
a problem.  The Queen contacted me and wanted to inform us that we'll 
be leaving in two hours.  That means I can't go help Ranma, and we're 
going to miss breakfast.  I'm afraid this soup is all I could put 
together in time."

Setsuna looked down and the simple peasant meal and sighed.  It was 
the same thing he always made.  That was most likely due to the fact 
that it was the only thing he could make that was truly good.  She did 
get tired of it after a while, though.  "Its fine, Tomas.  I know you 
did your best, but you are no cook.  Next time call the palace kitchen 
to send something up."  He laughed sheepishly and nodded in agreement.

***

	Ranma's eyes opened to the knocking on the door.  He glanced down 
at himself to see that he was still in his armor.  After a moment of 
concentration, the armor flowed back into his skin.  He slowly pulled 
himself up so that he was sitting on the table.  "Come on in.  Its 
unlocked, I think!"  The door slowly, almost nervously, opened.  In 
walked a girl with long black hair.  Ranma stared at her trying to place 
were he knew her from.  He just couldn't bring up any type of 
connection.  When she looked at him, though, her golden eyes gave her 
away.  He gave the girl a small smile.  "Hello Salina, what brings you 
to my humble home?"

	Salina walked over towards him, but stopped about three or four 
yards away.  She spoke in a very quiet voice.  "I was worried about 
you."

	Ranma blinked a couple of times at that.  "Why were you worried 
about me?"

	"Well, you haven't been to school in three days and…"

	"THREE DAYS!!!!"

	"Um, yes.  No one knew where you were.  I thought I'd come by and 
see if you were home.  You said that you had some problem and, well, 
I…"  Salina trailed off and began to blush.

	Ranma smiled and stood up.  Well, at least he tried to stand up.  
His legs gave out on him and he fell forward, right onto Salina.  A loud 
groan escaped his lips as he blacked out.

***

	There was blackness.  Nothing but an empty void before him.  And 
then there was nothing but light.  Ranma slowly realized tat he was 
staring at the ceiling of his apartment on Saturn.   After blinking a 
few times he slowly sat up and gritted his teeth against the pain.  
"Great, how long was I out this time?  And where the HELL IS TOMAS!!!"

	"Who's Tomas?"

	Ranma's head spun at the sound of the female voice.  He got more 
angry at himself since he never even sensed her presence.  Either she 
was good at hiding it, or he was still way too out of it.  (Probably 
the second.)  "Tomas is a good friend of mine, Salina.  I called him 
the day I go sick and he said he'd be here in two days.  I'm just 
wondering what went wrong that he couldn't come.  That's all."

	Salina gave him a smile.  Ranma was taken aback at the quiet 
beauty behind it.  It made him wonder why no one else had seen it 
before. "You do have a few messages saved on your terminal.  Do you 
want me to read them to you?"

	"No that's okay.  Tomas tends not to like people knowing just what 
it is he's doing.  I'll read them later.  How long was I out this time?"

	"Only two days this time.  Are you feeling okay now?" 

	Ranma slowly stood up and began to stretch.  Realizing that his 
shirt hadn't been changed in five days he pulled it off and tossed it 
in a corner.  Sighing with relief he began to stretch all of the kinks 
out of his joints and muscles.

	Salina's eyes widened at the site of Ranma's bare chest.  A rather 
deep blush rose to her face as she watched Ranma's muscles ripple as he 
stretched.  Not wanting him to see her in such a condition, Salina 
rushed from the room.  Ranma stopped to stare at her for a few moments 
before shaking his head.  Opening his closet, Ranma grabbed one of his 
nicer outfits and headed for the shower.

***

Ranma sighed as he watched Salina leave.  He had to admit she was a 
great cook.  And had a good personality too.  Not to mention a quiet 
beauty that most would over look.  He felt himself beginning to warm up 
to her.  It wasn't every day (more like never) that he met a girl that 
he was comfortable with.  Oh sure he new all the tricks to seduce them, 
and make them fall for him, but it was rare that he came across one 
that he liked to be with without some other motive present.  Tomas was 
the same way, he knew.  But with the type of life they lived it was 
hard for them to give any girl a small window into their hearts.  
"Speaking of Tomas, lets see why he isn't here."

	Ranma walked over to the terminal and brought up his mail program.  
He began running the decryption software and activated the shielding 
system to keep out any unwanted 'guests.'  There were three messages 
from his friend.  'Silver is a Pain', 'Water is Trouble', and 'Love 
Just Plain Sucks'.  Ranma sighed at the additional bad news.  He opened 
the first one.

		Ranma, got to make this quick.  The Queen is sending me on 
		some damn escort duty forThe princess.  We're going to 
		Mercury and From there out till Neptune.  Will be on 
		Saturn in three weeks Moon Time.  Leaving Now.  See you 
		then.  Tomas.

	Ranma just sighed.  Three weeks moon time.  That meant Tomas would 
be on Saturn at the end of the week.  Better late then never.  In most 
cases anyway.  He opened the second message.

		You're never gonna believe this, Ranma.	Mercury has turned 
		an entire science Instalation into her own private zoo.  
		She's doing genetic manipulation here.  Real nasty stuff 
		too.  These things were Once human, Ranma, and now... they 
		Remind me of those demons we trashed That invaded Asteroid 
		462.  Flesh melting Off the bone only to reform, eyes 
		hanging Out of the socket but still able to see.  Pieces 
		of bone sticking out of the skin.  They've gone cannibal, 
		too.  They eat each Other regularly.  Mercury only feeds 
		them Once a week.  I watched as what I think Was once a 
		woman get her throat torn out And others begin to rip 
		limbs off only To eat them in the way you go through a 
		Chicken leg.  It wasn't pretty.  And all She does is take 
		notes, smile, and nod. Then I learned something worse.  
		She is Planning on introducing the chemicals That caused 
		these manipulations in to A group of springs on earth.  
		She wants To find out how this type of shit effects A 
		society.  It's hard to stand this, I tell You.  Most of 
		these things will gladly Join Beryl.  Mercury is creating 
		an army That's going to want to destroy her.  I Wish them 
		luck.  Tomas.

	Ranma read the message twice.  "So Mercury wants to manipulate 
life, huh.  I'll be glad when her's is ended.  It's going to make life 
in general easier to bare.  Well, lets find out the problems with Venus.  
Man this is depressing."

		I hate this.  All I ever get to send you Is bad news.  
		Nothing I can do about It, though.  Anyway, Venus is 
		teaching Our little princess the  umm... adult Things in 
		life.  I'm sure you get the drift.  I'll admit that she 
		isn't that bad at it. Too bad my training is better than 
		the Potions she makes.  That and my Purification spells.  
		She wasn't all that Pleased when I refused to become her 
		Willing love slave.  Them's the breaks,  Though.  She 
		also makes some rather Mean poisons.  Almost killed me 
		with A few of the more exotic stuff.  Wish You had been 
		here.  You're a lot better At this healing stuff than I 
		am.  I'll be On Earth soon.  From there is Jupiter (we're 
		skipping Mars as the Senshi is still on the Moon) and 
		then I'll see you on Saturn.  Hang in there till then.  
		Keep the Senshi safe.  Toams.

	Ranma sat down against the wall and sighed.  Nothing was good.  
Absolutlly nothing that was going on with the Senshi had any bright 
spots.  And here he was, guarding the only one who hadn't fallen down a 
black path.  And to think that he was using the darkness to do it.  
Well, considering that the Silence and the Void were brothers in a 
sense, it didn't really seem all that out of place.  Of course there 
was no damned prophecy going with the Void.  But then, no one even knew 
that the Void was being tapped for power.  Except for the three who 
were using it, of course.  Though Pluto didn't really use it all that 
much, her access to Father Time was much more potent than the Void was.  

	Closing down the terminal, Ranma sighed and headed for the window.  
If he was good enough to go to dinner with Salina, then he was good 
enough to do his job.  Summoning his armor, he watched as the world 
shifted into thermal colors.  It was much easier for him to see at night 
like that.  Hopping onto the balcony he headed for the rooftops and a 
long night of watching a princess.

***

	Ranma rolled over after the fifth time the loud buzz sounded 
throughout his apartment.  Gritting his teeth he raised one hand toward 
the speaker that was built into the ceiling.  Concentrating, he summoned 
a small amount of the void into his body.  "KOKUEI NAGAREBOSHI!"  A 
pure black ball of energy leapt from his palm to slam into the speaker.  
The buzzing stopped instantly.  He rolled over and sighed with 
contentment.  Fifteen seconds later a pounding began on his door.

	As can be expected Ranma was pretty upset with this persistent 
person.  He reached the door and literally tore it out of the wall.  
Since it was made of stuff that makes steel look like hot butter that 
was an impressive feet.  At least Salina thought so.  Until she looked 
at Ranma's dressed state.  Or a better way to put it would be his 
undressed state.  Her face turned beat red and she started to babble 
incoherently.

	Ranma stared at her for a few minutes before looking down.  When 
he noticed his state, he just shrugged and headed toward a pile of 
clothes on the floor.  Grabbing a pair of his school pants, Ranma pulled 
them on and took up a white shirt.  "So what brings you hear this 
morning Salina-chan?"

	"Sc-sc-school."

	Ranma glanced out the window at the rising sun.  Judging by its 
position Ranma realized that they were going to be late.  Since he still 
wasn't in top shape, especially after only two hours of sleep.  Do to 
his job of protecting Princess Karinna Ranma didn't make it home until 
almost dawn.  And then Salina just had to come by and get him for 
school.  He knew that their was a good reason to turn down her offer of 
going out to dinner, but unfortunately his stomach decided to take 
control of his brain.  (Man, that happens way too often for my taste.)  
Ranma threw on the shirt and jacket that were part of the school's 
regulation dress and headed for the door.  Salina was still blushing 
deeply when he got there and had replaced the door on its track.  After 
waving his hand in front of her face a couple of times and getting no 
response, he simply took her arm and led her toward school.

***

	Ranma and Salina were walking home from school when Salina finally 
brought up the question that Ranma was hoping for.  "Ranma, do you know 
who I am?"

	"You're my friend, and a beautiful young woman, right?"

	Salina blushed at the compliment.  She had no idea why Ranma's 
words could do this to her, but they did.  She had been complimented 
many times before, but none of them had ever seemed as sincere as when 
Ranma said them.  "That's not what I meant.  Do you know who my family 
is?"

	Ranma sighed.  "Yes, Salina, I do.  You're a member of the royal 
house, correct?"

	"You do know?  Then you know my Sister is.."

	"Sailor Saturn, yes I know.  As a member of the court I have to 
know all important members of the Royal houses of all the planets.  Or 
at least that's what my mother always said."  (God please let her buy 
that please, please, please!)

	"Your mother seems rather strange.  But she also seems a lot 
better than your father."

	"Yeah, Oyaji is really rather, well, to put it bluntly, stupid.  
I still can't believe all the problems he caused me.  Um, Salina, why 
did you bring this up?"

	Salina blushed again.  "Well, there is going to be a Royal ball 
in two days and I was hoping that you would accompany me."  Then in a 
small voice, almost a whisper, "Please?"

	Ranma looked at the girl and smiled.  She was so kind and gentle, 
how could he refuse her.  "Of course I will, Salina, I'd be glad to."  
The smile that came across her face lightened Ranma's heavy heart 
immensely.  He started to ponder whether he would be able to have a 
life after the Great Fall, or if that too would be taken from him.  And 
more to the point, he wondered if this girl would be there to share it 
with him.

***

	Tomas stared out the window of the Star Cruiser.  It was a luxury 
ship for use by the Queen and her daughter.  That being said, he was 
currently in what could best be described as a cafeteria.  It was for 
those passengers who didn't have a high enough rank to eat with the 
Royal family in the dining room.  Tomas had more than enough rank to eat 
in the dining room, he just hated the formality of it.  Which was the 
main reason that he was sitting where he was right now.  The cafeteria 
had an enormous viewing window so passengers could look out at the 
stars.  He was currently sitting at a table for two by himself and 
gazing into the deepness of space.

	As he watched the sea of stars float by, he could only think of 
how much it seemed to resemble his mind.  A blank sea of blackness 
holding all of the nightmares and pains that he had received through out 
his short life.  Any type of kindness or hope was but a small speck of 
light in the distance.  Occasionally one of the specs would grow beyond 
a small white mark, but it took a lot to bring that about.  In fact, 
there were currently only two people who had brought that small star 
into a blazing sun, Ranma and Setsuna.  Of course he never let the mark 
blaze in public, but when he was alone with the two all barriers would 
drop.  

      He raised his mug of coffee to his lips and savored the bitter 
taste as it went down.  He was glad that the ship he was on was an Earth 
vessel.  It meant that he could get a good strong cup of coffee.  For 
some reason all of the other plants drank only tea.  It was just 
something that he couldn't fathom.  The tea did nothing for waking up in 
the morning, like he was doing now.  Or at least relative morning.  It 
was hard for him to tell on a spaceship. 

      Tomas turned his head toward the interior of the ship and looked 
around.  It seemed that this was a popular time to catch breakfast, as 
it appeared that all of the tables had at least one person at them, most 
of them more.  Not seeing anything interesting happening around him, he 
shifted his gaze back to the stars.  As he looked through the glass, he 
shifted his gaze.  Instead of staring at the stars he watch the 
reflection of the room play on the glass.  He smiled as he watched a 
couple of female crewmembers walk by chatting.  It was that which he 
was there to protect.  The happiness and joy of the people were the most 
important thing.

      As he stared into the glass, the scene changed.  Once again he saw 
Sailor Mars cut out a young girl's heart.  That image faded into a 
pitiful creature locked in a cage on Mercury as that planet's Senshi 
explained how slicing the genes she change a normal human into such a 
monstrosity.  Once more the image in the glass shifted and became Earth, 
were a pair of villages water supply was contaminated by Mercury and all 
of the people began to change.  And then the scene shifted and once more 
simply showed the reflection of the people in the cafeteria.

      Folding his arms, Tomas rested his forehead on the table.  The 
images just wouldn't leave him alone.  He tried to get rid of them, but 
nothing seemed to be able to be done.  Whenever he slept the nightmares 
began, and when he woke up it was as though he had never bothered to 
sleep.  It finally reached the point where he had stopped sleeping.  He 
simply meditated at night.  He was feeling a lot better than when he had 
tried to sleep.  A small sigh escaped his lips as the thoughts went past 
his mind's eye again.

      "Boy, you're looking down.  What's wrong?"

	Tomas raised his head to take in the girl who spoke to him.  She 
had reddish blonde hair going down a little past her shoulder blades.  
Her eyes spoke of a general care to the world.  Tomas, however, was 
never one to share his thoughts to strangers.  At least not in detail.  
"Just remembering some stuff I wish I could forget.  Nothing for you to 
worry over."

	"You don't want to talk about it, do you?"

	"No."

	"Don't let it pull you down, whatever it is.  You've got to be 
strong.  See you around, maybe."  The girl turned and headed out of the 
room.  Tomas followed her with his eyes until she was gone.

	(Wonder what her name is?  Oh well.)  He turned his gaze back to 
the stars.

***

	Ranma looked over his image in thew mirror.  He was dressed in his 
solid black tuxedo.  The last time he had worn it was at the ball on the 
moon.  Now he was dressed up for another ball.  He wasn't too thrilled 
about going, but it was his job.  Sure he'd enjoy being with Salina but 
he had to keep his eyes on the princess.  This would be a good chance 
for a quiet assassination, and he had to make sure nothing like that 
happened.  And he had to do it discretely too.  

	The last time he had this type of mission things got a little out 
of hand.  (Damn Tomas for screwing that one up!  Couldn't he do a simple 
thing like NOT throwing fireballs around in a crowed ballroom.)  "Sigh… 
It will be good to see him again, though.  And Lady Pluto of course.  
Hope that she hasn't been corrupted by Tomas too badly, though."  

	Glancing at the clock on the wall, Ranma saw that it was time for 
him to leave.  He had to make his grand entrance soon.  After checking 
his hair one last time he headed for the door making sure to lock it.  
After he had broken it he was told that under no conditions was anything 
in the apartment supposed to be damaged again.  He was hoping that Tomas 
would be able to fix the door buzzer, or at least knew someone who 
could.  Ranma really didn't want to have to explain how that had 
happened.  The door had been bad enough.

	As Ranma left his apartment complex into the cool night, he 
breathed in the air deeply.  He was finally getting used to the heavy 
air that was under Saturn's massive cloud cover.  As he started a casual 
walk toward the royal palace he gazed at the swirling clouds.  While the 
shifting reds and oranges was rather pretty, Ranma missed the stars.  
He remembered long nights when he had been living on the streets of 
Serenity's capital with Tomas.  Back then the only constant in their 
lives was the stars.  They had spent many long evenings gazing into that 
infinite void and questioning whether they would leave the Moon, see the 
other planets up close, or just get a chance to move through that void.

	Turning the last corner, Ranma walked to up to the main gate of 
the palace.  Approaching the pair of guards, Ranma removed the 
invitation from his pocket.  As he looked over the guards he noticed 
their young age.  (Great, they've got trainees guarding the front gate.  
Talk about light security.  If anyone attacks from the front these two 
are as good as dead.)  Shaking his head in disgust, Ranma handed the 
nearest one the invitation.  After a few moments of looking over the 
card Ranma was waved through the gates.

	As he entered the Palace he noticed two problems.  The first was 
that there wasn't a guard in site.  After the relaxed guards at the 
front he had hoped there would be at least something serious inside.  
The second problem was that there didn't seem to be any servants around 
to direct people to the ballroom.  If Ranma didn't already know the 
inside by hart after his many long nights of guarding he could have been 
seriously lost.  As it was he headed straight for the ballroom, hoping 
that something interesting would happen (though not dangerous to the 
Royal Family).  

	As he approached the doors to the ballroom he spied another two 
guards who were on duty.  That made a total of four who were actually 
prepared for something.  These two, like the others seemed to be 
rookies.  Neither had the hard edge of veteran solders, and neither were 
in any sort of ready position.  They both were leaning against the 
doorframe and showed no sign of being anything more than ceremonial 
fluff.

	Ranma gave the two guards a polite nod as he stepped through the 
doorway.  The first thing that he did was to allow his eyes to sweep 
over the room and mark the entrances and exits.  Only a single door, but 
the entire back wall was glass.  That didn't exactly make Ranma feel 
safe, but he didn't have much say on the matter.  All he could really do 
is keep a close watch on it and stay between his ward and the glass 
wall.

	Moving toward what appeared to be the largest crowed, Ranma began 
putting names to faces.  He didn't know much about the Saturn nobility 
even after his time on the world.  After all, he was never invited to 
the general dances or the sessions of court.  This was the first time 
that he had openly walked anywhere on palace grounds.  Nearing the large 
group of people, Ranma spied a much smaller group with a rather large 
breathing area around them.  He gave a small smile at the way people 
kept glancing at that small group.  Well, group would be overstating 
it.  There were only two people in it.

	Before Ranma could approach his old friend and his ruler, a small 
figure in a purple dress.  Salina sent a shy smile up to Ranma.  "Hello 
Ranma.  Thank-you for coming."  She then lowered her face to try and 
hide the blush that was there.

	Ranma put a pair of fingers under her chin and lifted it so she 
could see his face.  He then gave her the most killer smile that he 
could come up with.  "Thank-you for inviting me, Your Highness.  It is a 
pleasure to be here."  Ranma's eyes quickly left her blushing face to 
find Tomas and Pluto only to find the two gone.  As he swept his gaze 
over to the dance floor he found them on the edge, dancing a slow, 
stately dance.  After a moment of blinking in surprise, Ranma looked 
back at Salina.  "Would you like to dance, Salina?  I'm sure that a new 
song will be starting soon."  After seeing her slight nod, Ranma led 
her to the dance floor.

	As a new song began, Ranma led the Princess to the floor.  As the 
next song began, He started to lead Salina into a dance that was 
developed on Earth some time in the past.  It was stately, very proper 
for a Princess to dance, and most importantly it would end with the 
pair next to Tomas and Setsuna.  Ranma paid little attention to the 
dance as he watched the large glass wall.  A small spot on his head 
began to itch.  Something bad was going to happen, and he had to know 
where and when.

	The song came to an end and Ranma's head was turned straight 
toward Tomas's.  "Since when did you dance?"

	Tomas released Pluto and turned toward his friend.  "Since I got 
stuck attending all of these Royal Balls.  Let me tell you, I'd rather 
be in those High School classes with you.  At least then I wouldn't 
have to sleep standing up."

	Ranma laughed at that.  "I doubt you'd sleep in class, Tomas.  You 
always did manage to stay awake, somehow."

	"Practice, it all takes practice.  Besides this way I can handle 
your end of the load when you mess up."  Tomas gave Ranma a grin.  
"Besides, the way this pretty young lady is hanging on you, I think you 
have been spending more time studying something other than your text 
books.  So are you going to introduce us?"

	Ranma looked down at Salina to see that she was indeed hanging on 
his arm, and she was blushing bright red.  After giving Tomas a look 
that would have killed a lesser person "This is Salina, Princess of 
Saturn, and my date for the evening?  Why don't you introduce 
yourself?"

	Tomas gave Salina a sweeping bow, "I am Tomas, Your Highness, 
Knight of Pluto, Captain of the Planetary Knights, and Lord of the 
Southern Reaches.  Not that the Southern Reaches really has very much 
to offer me, however.  If I can remember correctly I own a total of 
three sheep and a horse.  Not impressive, which is why I spend most of 
my time in the Royal Palace.  I'm I correct, Lady Pluto?"  Tomas smiled 
at his green hair companion.

	"You forgot the cow, but otherwise, yes, that about covers what 
your family owns."  Setsuna turned toward the princess.  "I don't 
believe that we've been introduced, Your Highness.  I am Lady Pluto.  
How is your father?"

	After the introduction Salina just stood there with a gaze of 
disbelief on her face.  Her arms had released Ranma and now hung at her 
side.  After a few moments of silence Tomas quietly took Ranma's arm 
and led him away from his stunned date.  "I guess meeting with someone 
who can see the future is quiet a shock huh?"

	Ranma shook his head.  "You don't know the half of it.  The first 
time we met she asked me if I knew the Lady, and when I offered to 
introduce her she almost broke up.  I think she feels like she's meeting 
a legend or something."  

	The walk that the two young men had gone on led them out of the 
ballroom and on to the balcony.  Neither spoke as they stared up at the 
shifting clouds of Saturn.  After a few minutes the two turned around 
with a like thought that the elder Princess of Saturn would have snapped 
out of her trance.  The itch on Ranma's head got a whole lot worse.

	"YOU TWO! Who are you!  What are you doing here!"

	Ranma and Tomas shifted to face the scream.  Before there eyes 
was none other then the Senshi of Destruction, although she was 
currently in a gown and not a fuku.  Ranma gave a sigh of despair and 
Tomas started to swear under his breath.  The night had been going far 
too well to last.  Tomas stepped forward to try to talk their way out 
of the situation when Ranma caught movement out of the corner of his 
eye.  "TOMAS GET HER DOWN!"

	Tomas never even bothered to look at what caught Ranma’s 
attention.  He trusted him far more than that would allow.  Diving 
forward his body slammed into the Princess of Saturn knocking her to the 
floor with his own body pressed on top.  A flash of light lit her 
shocked face followed by an explosion above them.

	Ranma, meanwhile, had already called forth his armor and was 
heading toward the point where the shot came from.  Half way across the 
lawn, an explosion caused him to halt and turn back towards the part.  
The entire roof above Tomas and Karinna collapsed.  Ranma swore as he 
saw over a dozen of those black things that he had battled before land 
on the pile of rubble.  Turning back toward the palace wall he could 
make the outlines of at least twenty more of the beings charging 
straight at him.  With the hope that Tomas could handle the dozen 
inside, Ranma moved to meet the charge of the outside intruders.

	As Ranma approached, he caught a small glimpse of metal reflected 
in the moonlight.  Almost snickering at the pointless using common 
weapons was against him, Ranma dove into the fight.  His cockiness 
quickly ended as he felt one of the knives bit into his skin.  Leaping 
away from his opponents, Ranma looked down at the long gash in his arm.  
There was red blood seeping from the slice in his armor.  Ranma stared 
dumbly at the cut for only a moment.  While he had thought there was 
nothing that could cut through his armor, he was fast to adapt a new 
strategy to the fight.

	Moving in quickly, Ranma called forth his Ki claws.  The black 
figures paused for a moment trying to take in the appearance of three 
foot long golden claws coming from their intended target’s hands.  For 
Ranma, however, that moment was long enough.  Springing forward, he 
drove the claws on his left hand through one opponent’s head.  The claws 
on the right hand were used to slice another in half as Ranma passed 
him.  As Ranma passed his first to victims, he rolled his body and 
cupped his hands in front of himself.  “RYUUJIN SHUURAI!”  The lightning 
bolt the tore from his hand rammed into one of the figures, blowing a 
hole through it and splintered, frying three more.

	Moving himself so that he could face his last six opponents Ranma 
grinned.  “DEATH’S SHADOW!”  Blackness darker than anything climbed up 
Ranma’s body and devoured him.  The six figures didn’t know what to do, 
until they began to explode one by one.  In only a few seconds only one 
was left standing amid a field of gore and blood.  From a shadow being 
cast by a nearby tree, Ranma walked out.  Grinning behind his mask at 
the last of his enemies he once more summoned his claws.  Before he 
could move in to finish the job, however, a large explosion turned night 
into day behind him.  Without thinking Ranma used a bit of his Ki to 
propel the claws on is right hand forward.  The golden blades cut 
through the opponent’s neck as Ranma turned to speed back to the now 
destroyed and burning ballroom.

***

	Tomas, in the mean time, had been on his hands and knees above the 
Senshi of destruction.  Karinna might have been a little put out with 
him except for the fact that there was about two tons of stone resting 
on his back.  She had quickly come to realize that he was all that was 
between her and a rather flat fate.

	“Could you lean upwards for me?”

	“Huh?”  Karinna looked into the eyes of her savior.  She took a 
moment to pause and look again.  She then realized that she couldn’t see 
his eyes.  It wasn’t that it was dark underneath the stone, because in 
truth it wasn’t.  The angle of the stone allowed for light to shine in 
from outside.  The reason that she couldn’t see his eyes was the fact 
that he had a mask covering his face, and where the eyes used to be, 
there was now a pair of red, slightly glowing gems could be seen.  She 
was taken aback bye the sight.

	“Would you hurry up and move?  I can’t hold this all night, Your 
Highness.”  Tomas was annoyed at the princess for simply ignoring his 
request.  He could hear the violence going on in the room above and as 
long as he was trapped under the stone he couldn’t do anything about it.  
Glancing back at the princess he saw nothing more than her face as she 
had finally leaned forward pushing her body against his.  Without a word 
of thanks, Tomas shifted his weight to be supported on a single hand and 
placed the other hand against the stone above him.  “RIPPER BLAST!”  The
 entire section of stone roof that had been on his back a moment before 
was now stone spikes being propelled forward and upward by the force of 
his Ki.  

	Karrina closed her eyes against the dust that was pushed back.  
When she tried to drop away from Tomas, but his arm slipped from the 
rocks above to grab her and hold her tight to him.  Then all at once she 
found that she was on her feet.  When she opened her eyes she noticed 
that Tomas was no longer with her.  Looking around she caught a black 
figure diving through what had once been the glass wall in the ballroom.  
At first she thought that Tomas had somehow gotten outside and was 
coming back in.  A scream from behind her caused her to turn in time to 
see another black figure identical to the one coming through the glass 
cutting one of the strange figures in half with a golden sword.  Then 
the world went black.

***

	Ranma looked down at the unconscious form of the princess of 
Saturn.  He didn’t really take much pleasure in knocking out the 
princess, but she would have tried to get involved in the fight.  That 
would not have been helpful when it came down to protecting her.  
Spinning around he cut the head off of an assassin that came too close.  
Turning his body again he caught the blade of another dark figure on the 
claws of his left hand.  Whipping the right hand up he tried to impale 
the figure.  However, this one threw itself backwards to avoid the 
strike.  It didn’t get it any breathing room as Tomas’s sword cut the 
creature’s head clean off.  It stood prone for a moment before 
dissolving into dust.

	Tomas looked at the spot blankly for a split second as what he saw 
caught up with him.  Moving his blade over his left shoulder to catch an 
attack from behind he called out to his partner who had missed the 
dissolving figure so that he could go against another creature trying to 
get to the downed princess.  “Ranma, be careful!  Some of them are 
demons!”  Spinning around he knocked his opponents blade aside and 
brought his own blade up to cut through the figures neck.  As this one 
fell dead blood burst from the wound drenching a nearby noble, who 
screamed at the sudden shower.  Turning once more he saw the area around 
Ranma littered with bodies.  Most of them were the attacker’s, but a few 
were of nobles of the planet.  As he turned again he caught a slight 
shimmering in the corner of his eye.  Then from the rift another dozen 
of the monsters appeared.  These however did not charge the two warriors 
like all the others had.  These turned the opposite way and charged into 
the crowed of nobles who were gathered against the back wall.  The wall 
without a door.  Tomas dashed forward even as he knew that for some he 
would be too late no matter how fast he moved.

	Before he was even halfway to the crowed Tomas saw a geyser of 
blood shoot upward.  Another ten steps and the crowed was almost 
completely dead.  The creatures that had come through the portal this 
time were a lot more efficient than the first batch.  As his sword 
cleaved through the nearest one the rest turned to him.  There were now 
over two dozen former members of the Court of Saturn on the floor 
drenched in blood.  Tomas planted his feet and brought his sword into a 
high guard with the tip pointed at one of the creatures throats.  There 
was total silence for a moment with neither Tomas nor his opponents 
moving.  Then a scream pierced the air and the final battle of the night 
started.  Half of the creatures moved off toward the side and went 
straight for the area that Ranma was in.  Tomas charged the remaining 
half that faced him knowing that Ranma could handle those that came his 
way.  He did want to take much time with the fight, however.  He noticed
that those who were left for him weren’t moving.  Grinning at the 
simplicity of it all he tightened his grip on his sword and dove into the 
middle of the pack.  “KUMORIGACHI KOUKUUKOUGEKI!”  Tomas’s blade and 
body seemed to turn into a fine mist that penetrated all the way through 
his opponents.  After a few seconds of this he became solid again.  His 
opponents, with dozens of wounds apiece, dropped to the ground dead.  
Turning toward Ranma he blinked.  Ranma was down, but all of the black 
demons were standing.  “What the hell…?”

	Not bothering to think about what was going on, he drove his 
golden sword into the ground.  “KAZAN BAKUHATSU!”  The ground underneath 
the majority of those surrounding Ranma instantly melted and exploded 
upward.  The heat of the created lava caused the figures trapped with it 
to be incinerated instantly.  As the lava cooled and turned into a stone 
tower, Tomas took in what was left standing.  Only two figures besides 
himself.  One was one of the attackers; the other appeared to be a place 
guardsman, who was standing over the princess.  Both figures appeared to 
be dazed after the intense heat.  Tomas took this opportunity to close 
with the last of the creatures and cut its head off.  Nodding once as 
the decapitated body hit the ground he turned to check up on Ranma.

	“Oh no.”

	There right next to Ranma was the head of Salina.  Her body, 
however, was no where to be seen.

***


Author’s Notes:   Done Done DONE!!!!!  After all this time I got it 
done.  This is the largest chapter of anything I’ve written besides 
Immortal Series.  Tell me how you like it.  Please, please tell me!  I 
want to know!  Shees, I got to get off of this sugar and caffeine.  I 
got a feeling that its bad for my system.  Oh well, that’s the way 
college life goes, huh?

Listed below are all of the attacks used by Ranma and Tomas.

Black Fireball: Tomas gathers black flames from the Void and uses them 
to create a fireball.  Much more powerful than those created with red 
flames from the astral plain.

Ryuujin Shuurai (Dragon God Lightning Strike): Ranma uses his Ki to draw 
electricity into his body and then releases it as a horizontal lightning 
bolt.

Kokuei Nagarebosshi (Dark Shadow Shooting Star): Summons a small amount 
of Void energy into the palm of the hand and launches forward.  The ball 
in roughly the size of a tennis ball.  It shoots forward at close to 100 
mph.  Upon impact it will enter what it hits and corrupts the target, 
thus doing internal damage instead of external.  When used on electronic 
devices it will totally short them out because of an energy overload.

Ripper Blast:  Causes rock to explode upward in the form of spikes.  
Tomas can either cause it to explode in a line or in an area.  They tend 
to impale things on a scale that makes the Bakkusai Tenketsu training 
look like kid stuff.

Kumorigachi Koukuukougeki (Broken Cloud Air Strike):  Tomas spins with a 
speed that seems to make him semi transparent like a clouded figure.  He 
then trusts his sword out making it seem like a cloud was formed around 
him.  Great attack when surrounded, useless if your opponents don’t rush 
you.

Kazan Bakuhatsu (Volcano Eruption):  Tomas heats the rock underneath his 
opponent(s) until it melts and then causes it to explode upward.  He can
control the flow and contain it to a specific area.  This allows him to 
use it even when allies are close by.  Controlling it like this takes a 
lot of concentration.

Death’s Shadow:  Ranma pulls shadows around him to swallow him up and 
take him into the void.  From there he can emerge from any shadow.  He 
must do so quickly, however, because extended time in the void will 
cause him to go insane.

Tenchi Yougeki (Heaven & Earth Assault): Ranma forms an aurora of magic 
and Ki around him and reinforces his body with it.  It makes him 
stronger, faster, have better reflexes, and increases his senses but can 
only be kept up for a minute (two at the most) but normally that’s all 
he needs.  It’s very draining and he needs to rest quiet a bit 
afterwards.

Kuroi Fenikkusu Tomurai Negaigoto (Black Phoenix Funeral Prayer): The 
final attack of Ranma and Tomas.  This technique is done by a single 
person.  They only use it in the most important of situations since it 
will leave them as weak as a newborn kitten for days afterwards.  This 
attack opens a portal to the Void underneath their enemies.  From the 
Void great sheets of black flames sprout from the portal incinerating 
everything caught within them.  They actually incinerated a Lava 
creature during their training using this technique.