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Chapter Text

It was the night after that girl disappeared. The night after Akane almost lost the Ranma she knew completely, the night after she got him back. The pigtailed boy was supposed to be in bed, resting from the amount of damage repeated bonks on the head could do. 

Ranma was on the roof, instead. 

“Hey, jerk!” Akane called as she climbed up a ladder to get to him, “What do you think you're doing!? Dr Toufu said-”

“Yeah, I know, ‘Kane, just…” Ranma was dismissive, but not aggressive, “I needed the air. Wanted to look at the moon. I kinda felt like this killed two birds with one stone.”

“... You like looking at the moon?”

There was a deep sigh from Ranma, and Akane was even more confused as he grabbed the water bottle he apparently took up there and let its contents wash over him. The resulting redhead had relaxed far more.

“I don't get homesick, Akane,” There was a softness placed back into Ranma's feminine voice, “I don't have a home to go back to. Whenever I slept out on the road, the only familiar part of my surroundings was the moon. It just calls to me, sometimes.”

“Huh… That's oddly wise sounding of you,” Akane chuckled a little, “Where's that when you need to study?”

In a snap, the softness that engulfed Ranma disappeared without a trace, leaving behind shock. “‘Kane, you know it ain't that easy!”

To be honest, the youngest Tendou didn't know that. She'd been offered to skip grades her whole life, only choosing not to in order to stay with friends. Akane was bored at school, sure, but it was worth staying for friendship, and now… Well, for Ranma, as much as Akane would hate to admit it.

“Alright, dummy,” Is how Akane responded instead, “Here, at least don't stay alone up here. Let me stay here with you.”

For a moment, for the slightest moment, Akane swore that the soft side of Ranma that briefly appeared was that girl again. After all, why else would he let his curse activate? Being a girl never felt right to Akane, it couldn't feel right to a boy like Ranma. 

… But the pigtailed boy was always full of contradictions and new sides of himself. Maybe this wasn't anything to worry about. Ranma was just that kind of person, alien to the world around him. And yet, Akane couldn't help but always find him familiar…

○●☆●○

It was after the moxibustion had been cured, Ranma back at the top of his game. After Akane had promised to Ranma that, if he was leaving, she was going with him.

Why was that?

Why on Earth did Akane feel comfortable with the idea of uprooting her entire life if she chose to? Why was it an easy decision? She had a family, a school career, a life she couldn't replace with travelling. She had a fiance.

… Well, her family wasn't the most appealing. They cared, but Nabiki was invasive and money hungry, Kasumi was… Complicated, regarding Akane's own struggles of femininity, and her dad felt like he never came home from his wife's funeral…

School wasn't much better. Classes were far too easy, and her social life with other students was an ever growing mess. Kuno, Gosunkugi, not to mention the principal. Even with her group of four friends, they had started seeming far too busy and absent since the start of year 1 to hang out with Akane all the time. Year 2 ahead wasn't looking any better.

Everything else? Well, there was an evil perverted old man from hell in her house. There were frequent life threatening situations. Akane had almost grown a beard, once! Every single day, including for the foreseeable future, there wasn't anything great to look forward to besides maybe adding to her wardrobe. 

Ranma… Was odd. Akane couldn't deny she had a crush on him, some times more than others. He was practically made for her tastes, and he simply felt familiar. But something about the way he forced himself to act made the whole appeal fall apart.

Akane had to admit it. Deep in her heart, maybe… Maybe it would be right to run away, start anew. She simply needed a reason to, and hopefully, hopefully… Ranma would be there, as his truest self, in the moonlight, sitting with Akane in this distant dream.

○●☆●○

To a degree, Akane was thankful the wedding didn't work out. 

The dress really didn't suit her, the whole thing was rushed, and really, she had almost died hardly a week or two beforehand. She… She was almost certain she did die, at least for a second, before coming back. 

And yet, there was Ranma. Ranma was the reason why Akane had gone through with the wedding, because he was the one she loved. She couldn't deny it, she had become desperately smitten. 

… It wasn't hard to tell she loved Ranma's girl form more.

It really didn't make sense why. Akane had crushes on boys before, despite her hatred of them. That date with Ryoga, while a failure, was genuine, and Shinnosuke had sparked her interest before. But it was Ranma, always Ranma, who blew Akane away. He, as a girl, felt familiar, like something Akane must've loved a long time ago. 

“GET BACK HERE, YA PERVERT!” Ranma's voice shook Akane from her thoughts, making her temporarily worry Ranma could read minds. Fortunately, it was Happosai getting hunted down by the redhead. 

“Not unless you- OUGH!” The old fleabag was tripped by Kasumi's broom, causing the (literal, not perverted) treasure in his hand to go flying into Akane's hands. 

While the eldest Tendou sister pretended it was merely an accident, the youngest examined the trinket in her hands. A pocket watch, one that resembled a star on the outside, with a face painted to resemble a cloudy night sky. 

“Nice catch, ‘Kane!” Ranma cheered, “No breaks in it or anything?”

“Not that I can see, no…” Akane almost mumbled, “It feels familiar, though…”

“Ah, you got it back!” Soun caught his breath after seeing the chase had stopped, “Your mother had that pocket watch, so I presume that's why you remember it at all.”

“Oh, so it ain't cursed?” Asked Ranma, “The oompa loompa was just being a dick?”

“Nope, just an heirloom.” The moustachioed man was already attempting to tie up his master to throw into an empty container.

Just an heirloom… But it felt different to Akane. In her hands, the slow ticking of the hands seemed to reverberate, reaching for something much deeper in her body, in her soul. A gentle pulse bringing all the way back down to Earth.

“... Can I keep it?” Akane asked her dad.

“Of course!” Soun had covered the pervert jar with duck tape, “I was going to give you it as a gift on the wedding, but…”

So Akane could've had her hands on the watch a week sooner… That felt odd, but it was in line with her life so far. The soothing ticks and tocks of the clock continued to click away in her head, and the familiarity brought her a small peace.

○●☆●○

“The Legendary Silver Crystal…”

Akane woke from her dreams with a start. The ticking of her pocket watch on the side table kept her company in the darkness of her room. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust, to will themselves into proper focus.

… That dream again. That woman's voice, that oddly familiar woman's voice, calling to her a single phrase. The dreams hadn't ceased the whole past week. They called to her, sung to her, made her wonder what distant memory that dream was.

This time, Akane had sworn she had caught a glimpse of long blonde hair, just barely.

She hadn't told anyone about the dreams, there was barely anything to talk about. A single sentence meant nothing. Every book in the public library on rocks refused to mention a Silver Crystal, as did the books at school before the summer holidays started. 

The only response at all was from Cologne. When Akane had gone and talked about both the dreams and the pocket watch, the elder Amazon seemed shocked, asked Shampoo to hold the small clock, and shushed Akane away. Shampoo had a bizarre look on her face as Akane left.

Supposedly, there was a library in Azabu-Jūban with far greater resources on stones, as well as plenty of jewellery stores and experts in the field. If only Akane could stay there until she had her answer…

Well, she had plenty of reasons to run away. If she kept minor contact with the people she cared about, she could do this as a solo mission, like she hoped Ryugenzawa would've been. A fake name, a fake identity, going to school there if she had to stay there too long.

Or maybe this was the nonsense words of a dream Akane was chasing. 

…

But she already knew what she wanted to do, regardless of if she should. 

Chapter Text

It took a month. A month without Akane. A full, nerve wracking month. And Nerima had become a war zone of two factions. 

Ranma had restricted his movement to between school and the Tendou dojo alone. He was never allowed to see peace at either. The outside world was dominated by the war between Ukyo and Kodachi, which extended into school with the addition of a furious Tatewaki over the disappearance of Akane. 

At home, Ranma had been held to the family standards of masculinity by his parents, and to the honour to unite the schools by Soun. Nabiki had been more aggressive at Ranma for supposed debt, and Kasumi was just kind of… Well, broken.

And Ranma was perfectly, undoubtedly, normally fine. He was so okay. It was absolutely fine that he hadn't had a chance to be in girl form all month. It was fine that he was being dragged around everywhere like some kind of hunting trophy. He was perfectly fine. This was normal.

“... Shit, this is normal.” He whispered to himself as he stared at the ceiling at night.

Shampoo had gone missing just a week after Akane did, and somehow, Ranma was missing her. Ryoga was looking for Akane, so he'd never be found. Mousse was… Well, just kind of Tatewaki Take Two at this point, fighting Ranma for ‘stealing’ Shampoo, apparently. 

The only sense of good in Ranma's life were the postcards. Every week, Akane, from an unknown address, had been sending little messages to let Ranma know she was okay. Not the rest of her family. They were for Ranma only.

That hadn't helped the situation at the dojo. 

It had been far too long since this place even felt like home. It had started to, sure, but not anymore. Ranma hadn't had the chance to look up at the moon in a month. He hadn't gotten to gaze into Akane's eyes from afar for a month.

He… He needed a way out. Every part within him, every little piece of his soul, yearned for a way out. Even if running away was stupid, even if it meant Akane… Even if it meant no one could find him again, Ranma had to get out. He needed a new, better normal.

○●☆●○

“I can help you, this once.”

Cologne turned back around to see Ranma staring at her with tears in his eyes already. The poor boy had begged, desperate, looking for a way out that wasn't going to get him found. And, if Cologne's suspicions were correct, then helping here wasn't just a simple matter of a favour. It was a duty.

“Your emotion drives you,” The elder continued, “It shapes how you are seen, how you behave. In the past, I've shown you how to suppress such a force into cold, hard ice. Today, I promise to teach you the opposite.”

“A soul of fire…” Ranma assumed. 

“No, that's too literal of an opposite,” Cologne cackled, “Think of it more like a soul of gas. An ever encompassing force, expanding to take up as much space as you will give it. Pure, omnipresent, yet invisible. The power of the great gas giants.”

It was at this moment that Cologne realised the trouble in using this terminology around a teenager. Ranma, while still upset, was clearly trying to hold in his laughter. “Wh-what does a giant that farts a lot gotta do with it?”

“You should pay more attention in your education,” Sighing, the old woman continued to pace back and forth, “This is a matter of the solar system. The thunderous power of Jupiter, and more importantly to you, the aspect of rebirth within Saturn.”

Ranma, when invested in something, was always a good student. His attention, however it waxed and waned, had always remained at full focus when it needed to. This was as true for Ranma Saotome as it was for that young woman Cologne had mentored in a past life.

Alas, she was many millennia too young to be mourning Princess Serenity.

“Reach for your core, the centre of all your ki,” Cologne said, sitting on the floor and inviting Ranma to copy, “You have to- What are you doing?”

The glass of water on a nearby table quickly became empty. “I… I feel more comfortable doing ki stuff like this. Maybe because there's less mass to reach through? I dunno…”

Perhaps, the princess as she had been really was closer to the surface than Cologne had thought. “That's okay. Now, sit with your legs crossed.”

○●☆●○

He had waited for one last postcard to arrive. One final memento of the tomboy he fell for. A postcard with a glittery graphic of Tokyo Tower. Maybe that's why Ranma felt like he should go to Minato. The pen ink seemed fresh.

“To Ranma,

“I am still safe, I promise. I know you're probably thinking I can't fight for myself, but I promise I can. There hasn't been anything like the hoard here, luckily. I still want to say how sorry I am for doing this.

“From, Ma-” That part got scribbled out, as if fighting muscle memory.

“From, Akane Tendou.”

With one more postcard in his bag, Ranma sat in the shut off emptiness of the bathroom. Legs crossed, posture upright, and cold shower water beginning to wash over him. The redhead breathed in and out, in and out, in and-

Focus. Ranma used the Amazon hair care product he had been given as an aid, both to his disguise and to his focus. The soap would wash away the old colour and replace it with something new, something unrecognisable. Wash and rinse all that bright red away.

Opening his eyes, for a moment, Ranma saw the result in the mirror. The girl staring back was blonde. It was a nice colour, and felt almost familiar. It wouldn't stop Ranma from standing out, of course, but at least he wouldn't be recognisably himself. 

The water was turned off, Ranma's hair was dried, and he returned to the meditative state. In and out, in and out. He kept digging into his body, imagining every muscle as he kept searching closer. He had almost considered giving up, until he visualised just behind the heart. 

There it was. That glistening inner emotion, small and silver. Ranma could imagine it perfectly, as if he could reach out and grab it. Instead, Ranma visualised it pulsating, beating like a crystalline heart, radiating blinding light outwards, further, beyond the confines of its imaginary shackles. 

Ranma picked up his bag and started walking. He jumped out the window, then over the wall surrounding the property so no one would see him like this inside the house.

The key to this was to amplify the inner self so that that's all anyone can perceive. The very core of one's being, expanding outwards to take up as much space as was allowed. To one who hid behind a false self, this was the most effective disguise. 

So, Ranma kept thinking, kept digging at the pulsing core of sparkling crystal. He craved a new normal. He craved stability. She wished to see the moon. She wanted to feel comfortable. She was why Akane ran away, she thought. She was why Akane wasn't found. She wasn't going to see Akane again. She… She…

At her core, she was a crybaby. She never got to grow up, to have normalcy, to love like she could. She needed, more than anything else, to shed the manly man facade and let herself cry. At her core, she was strong, but she wasn't the right kind of strong on the outside. 

She missed her beloved, she missed staring into those beautiful eyes. She missed her friends, the ones she could remember as if through a lost dream. She felt the pointed edge of a stone sword practically piercing through her chest as-

Ranma had made it onto the train before he even realised. He was leaving. He had spent long enough in that vulnerable mindset, though, that some of the feelings stuck. Cologne did say that was the price to pay, that the core of one's self couldn't be placed back the same after being forced outwards. 

… His hair had grown longer, long enough that he had trouble when he tried to sit down, the dinky little braid at the end doing practically nothing. A reflection of the inner core, shaping outside perception. Ranma Saotome wasn't a girl with extremely long blonde hair, nor a girl who'd raid Akane's closet directly for a cute but modest outfit. He was unrecognisable. 

The memory of Akane's smile taunted him again. Ranma held back the tears as best he could. 

○●☆●○

It had been a week in Juban. No luck finding work, no luck finding a home he could afford. Of course Ranma couldn't afford anything, he hadn't really thought through this whole process. And no one wanted to take in the stray teenager with knotted up blonde hair like some kind of thug…

It was getting to him again. The thoughts that he'd done this wrong, that he was only ever going to do this wrong, that he should have just let himself be torn apart by the chaos in Nerima. The sound of Akane calling him an idiot, and her actually fully meaning it.

Ranma had been crying a lot more lately. He looked like a girl, he was allowed to cry, he was currently just a normal girl in the eyes of everyone. So, as he sat on the curb, a mess, he wasn't at all surprised that the tears started to flow again. 

… If this was how he failed, it was his choice, free from others. Ranma didn't get homesick. He could see the moon every night as he slept in parks. He only missed the comfort, and he missed Akane no matter what.

“Hey, miss?” A man's voice said from just above her, “Miss, are you okay?”

It was around the time work let out for most adults, and this man in a business suit probably just wanted Ranma to be off the path… “S-s-sorry, I can go, I-”

“What's wrong?” Asked the man, “I don't mean to be rude, but you look like you've had a rough time.”

Ranma should have hidden his emotions better. What he should've done was run right then and there. That's what every instinct told him to do. But his core self was exposed, and that meant that there were waterworks. 

“M-my life's a wreck and I have nowhere to stay and and and I don't wanna go back to where I was and I'm just dumb and stupid and can't think clearly and not even that good at being a girl and-”

“Hey, shhh, it's okay, you're okay,” The man kneeled down to try and get on the same level as Ranma, “You don't have anywhere to go? Anywhere at all?”

Ranma shook his head, not making eye contact. 

“Huh…” The man thought for a moment, “Say, what's your name?”

There hadn't been any need to give a name yet, Ranma had often just been called bad nicknames this past week. Looking up a little, Ranma was lucky enough to have seen an ad with a couple rabbits on it. A gift from the moon, from home…

“U- Usagi. I'm Usagi, no family name…” The artificial blonde mumbled, “16 years old.”

“Nice to meet you, Usagi,” The man held out his hand, “My name is Kenji Tsukino. I can at least give you a place to stay for a small while, if you like.”

A stranger was taking pity on Ranma, showing kindness. Tsukino… The moon really did follow him everywhere. It was familiar to Ranma, and apparently, it could follow this false identity, too. Home to martial artists, home to normal girls…

“You're s-sure?” The teen asked, taking the offered hand, “I… I'll be okay alone, just…”

“I'm absolutely sure,” Mr Tsukino pulled up the blonde as he stood back up himself, “My wife and son are sure to agree, at least for a little while to begin with. At least enough to get you back on your feet.”

This was it. This is what this disguise was turning into. This exposed form of Ranma, tearful and wanting connection, was the kind of girl people pity. But it was kindness, and it was far from what people searching for a Saotome would look for.

“... O-okay, thank you.” Usagi sniffled through her tears. 

○●☆●○

Looking in the mirror, it was obvious. The braid wouldn't work for Usagi. Her hair, fully washed and brushed out, was far too long to make a braid that could be easily maintained. That was a mess waiting to happen. 

It was weird, seeing just how much she was engulfed by the pink bathrobe she had been lent. At least it was warm and cosy. She hadn't risked touching warm water, just in case someone walked in. She didn't even know what her hair would look like on her true body…

“- she's only in her second year of high school, we can at least support her these last few years,” Mr Tsukino was heard in the hallway, “Didn't you wish we had a daughter, too?”

“Yes, but…” Mrs Tsukino sighed, “She isn't mine. I wish I had a daughter to raise, not a stranger's teenager.”

Usagi’s heart dropped for a moment. Of course she was hardly welcome. She was some strange girl in a normal house. She would be kicked out within a week, she knew it. Ranma would be back at square one, he'd-

“But think about how much she'd appreciate it,” Mr Tsukino continued, “You could have real bonding experience, because it sounded like she didn't have that many good people in her life, let alone a good mother.”

“True…” Usagi had to stop herself from gasping at Mrs Tsukino’s response, “Maybe… Okay, we can give it a try. We have an extra guest room, anyway.”

“Great! We can let her know the moment she's ready. Shingo is going to be in for a surprise when he gets home from school.”

Usagi had a home! Or, at least, a place to stay! Her life was not completely in shambles, hopefully. And if she had somewhere to stay, maybe… Maybe she would meet with Akane again, if they were in the same place. It was unlikely, but…

Looking at herself in the mirror again, Usagi felt a gentle voice talking to her. A simple thought.

*We should do buns. I miss having them, and they look so cute on me!*

Ranma had never worn his hair in buns before, so even though the thought was weird, it was at least a good idea. It took a little bit to figure out how to do it, but looking herself in the eyes, the disguise felt complete.

Usagi was a normal girl, with blonde hair in twin buns. She was a bit of a crybaby, no matter how much she tried to fight it. And she was going to be okay, even if she missed someone from her life before this one. 

Usagi would be able to see the moon from her window. She found her new normal.

Chapter Text

Her hair was shorter, it was black, it was tied up wrong. In the realm of sleep, that boy felt like a distant memory, hardly the girl she was. In the waking world, at least Ranma was no longer staying a boy. It was hardly befitting of a p-

“Usagi! It's past eight!”

The call from downstairs woke the blonde haired girl with a start. Her mind settled from a weird muddled state into something vaguely resembling Ran- No, Usagi. She still had to correct herself, even after four weeks. 

As of last week, when she started as a late addition to Juban Public High School's second year students, she was Usagi Tsukino to all who met her. It didn't help that she had a test that week anyway, despite only just arriving…

“... OH NO!” She bolted out of bed, pushing aside the covers into a heap, “I'M GONNA BE LATE!”

The power of being a secret martial artist, in Usagi’s case, was the speed she could utilise at any point she needed. Her soft pyjamas were quickly tossed aside as she navigated her way through fully putting on the sailor fuku uniform of her school, practically in the blink of an eye.

Admittedly, this meant that she could have slept in and been safe, and being ableto follow normal human sleep patterns was a gift from the heavens. But she didn't want to seem like that was the case. She was Usagi Tsukino, normal girl, who happened to be a bit of a crybaby. 

… And also had, as far as anyone else was concerned, a really bad and embarrassing rash that appeared whenever she touched hot water. Yep. That's all. No tea, thanks.

“Mrs Tsukino, please wake me up earlier next time!” The blonde said as she rushed out the door.

“Usagi, please, you can call me mum,” The blue haired woman called back, “I took you bra shopping, young lady, you get to call me your mum.”

“Um… Okay, well I'm off to school!” Usagi did not want to relive that small embarrassment, even if it was a good thing, “Bye!”

There was something nice about having a nice mother, Usagi had to admit. This one owned a grand total of zero katanas! But there was this fear inside, fear that Usagi would make some kind of slip up to deserve the death penalty again…

A few tears started to form in the corners of Usagi’s eyes just thinking about it. She really had to admit, she was a bit of a crybaby. Disguise or not, she couldn't control it now. If she wasn't crying about mothers, she would have probably been crying over how much morning runs to school, to a normal girl like her, sucked.

This morning's run had a bit of a pause, however. Right on the path Usagi knew was the right way to get to school, there was a cat. A cat that, while still a little bit away, was peculiar. A cat with white fur and pink highlights, bells tied up in the fur as an accessory.

Shampoo was standing in Usagi’s way, despite having gone missing a while beforehand. The blonde didn't know what made it worse, the fact there was a cat, or the fact that this was someone who might recognise her. Someone who might hunt her down or hand her over.

… Something odd was poking out from the little kitty fringe Shampoo had, something she was pawing at to try and get it gone. And despite being a totally normal girl who didn't know this cat was a human and didn't get completely traumatised by cats as a child? Usagi sucked it up, at least trying to be a nice person.

“You're not real you're not real you're not an actual cat I'm fine I'm fine, I'm-”

Usagi’s panic continued as she ripped off the bandaid she found quickly on Shampoo's forehead, revealing a small crescent moon bald spot underneath. Was that always under the Amazon's fringe? Some kind of scratch or birthmark? 

Whatever, Shampoo was quickly dropped soon after. Usagi was late to school, anyway, she didn't want to be caught up in the mess of the Nekoken, or the Chinese Amazons, or any of that. This was just repaying Cologne for the escape route…

○●☆●○

There were five things Usagi really appreciated about Juban Public High School. 

1) No buckets when standing in the hallway. 

2) The English teacher, while mean, was not capable of martial arts, and wasn't an overgrown primary schooler.

3) The principal kept his interactions with students to a minimum.

4) The guy with swirly glasses, Umino, was just a nerd, and remembered to keep those milk bottle bottoms firmly on his face

5) Not a single kendo player in sight.

What she didn't appreciate was getting yelled at for getting a thirty on a test as if she had time to study English that well! It had been summer break, and she only joined the school a few weeks after term started. 

And for the thing she was the most conflicted on? 

“Usagi, over here!” Naru-chan called her over to a small garden area, “Here's where us young ladies sit! And Umino, don't mind him.”

The girl who was actually really a boy pretending had been adopted instantly by this pre-existing friend group, and it felt just as awkward as it did the first time at Furinkan. Not to mention Naru-chan, the most popular girl, was upper class, and insisted on the honorific. 

… It didn't help that, either due to the pressure of fiancees being gone, or due to mere desperation after Akane disappeared, Usagi couldn't help but notice how pretty Naru-chan was, and how cute addressing her like that sounded. Maybe it was all the girl hormones, too. Stupid easier and more comfortable disguise…

“And Sailor V stopped them!” Umino was in the middle of a passionate rant, “Jewellery store thefts are likely no problem for a crime fighter like her! She's simply the best there is!”

“It's a shame, though,” Yumiko, a rather plain girl, complained, “I couldn't win in a fight, even though I'd absolutely want to get my hands on some nice jewellery…”

“A diamond ring would be nice…” Another girl, Kuri, sighed, probably imagining someone putting that ring on her finger.

Usagi had never really thought about jewellery before unless it was cursed, however… “I… I guess I kinda like rubies and pearls. They're nice.”

“Well, girls, guess who's family runs a jewellery store with stuff on sale!” Naru-chan bragged and advertised at the same time, “Even we can afford some of it!”

The girly gossip continued over top of Umino's rants about this Sailor V lady, Usagi tried her best to keep up with all of it. She was torn between seeing what it was like being a girl properly and learning more about the closest thing to a martial artist she heard of since arriving in Juban… 

○●☆●○

“That jewel in the center? It's a one billion yen pigeon blood!” Naru-chan pointed through the glass.

“Ew…” Usagi, to her surprise, felt a bit squeamish at the name, “Is it really that expensive to turn blood into stone? Cos it ain't the pigeon that's hiking up the price…” 

“Usagi, it's just what it's called,” The popular girl giggled, “It's actually just a normal, really expensive, ruby!”

Before Usagi could try and save face, a pretty but intense lady approached with a kind expression, pushing her way through the extremely crowded jewellery store. “Ah, Naru-chan, I see you've brought friends with you! They can have a further discount, then!” 

“Oh, thanks, mum!” Naru-chan said as her mother walked back to focus on work, “... Maybe she's gotten more business-minded, but we never really had sales before.”

Maybe it was just the sea of women flocking the store, or maybe it was genuinely the jewellery itself, but Usagi felt like she was left out from all the fanfare. Maybe, if she didn't feel bad about how much the Tsukinos had spent on her already, with her room and wardrobe, she might’ve asked for some money for jewellery. But then again, she didn't feel like the thirty on that test was gonna be doing her any favours…

“At least this test score wasn't broadcast on TV…” Usagi mumbled to herself as she walked away, crumpling up the paper into a ball, “It ain't my fault English doesn't work right!”

Tossing the paper backwards so casually might have been a mistake, as Usagi needed to check her own strength. However, it didn't seem to do much to the guy wearing sunglasses and a tailored suit who got hit in the face with it.

“Hey, that hurt, Bumpy!” Suit guy complained, “Are you trying to cover my head in bumps, too!?”

Usagi turned to fight back, “They're not bumps, they're buns, dumbaaaaaa…aaa…a…?” 

Something was familiar about him, and Usagi couldn't pinpoint what as she trailed off. His voice, kind of? Or was that a bit too deep? Maybe his face if his eyes weren't hidden? Maybe just his demeanour, or his choice to be fashionable, even though he seemed like a snob…

“Really? Thirty in English?” The guy tossed the test back in Usagi’s face, “You should study harder, Bun Head.”

“I- NOBODY ASKED YOU!” Forget familiarity, Usagi was not dealing with this jerk. If she wasn't such a totally normal girl, she'd kick his ass, but instead she just walked off with a huff.

Mamoru didn't bother to question the oddly familiar attitude that girl had, not when a massive jewellery store was in front of him. If the Legendary Silver Crystal was in there, he'd pull a heist that would put the Saotome sealed techniques to shame. 

Hopefully, Ranma would get that letter, just so Mamoru could brag a little. Or, uh, Akane could. It got harder to think of himself with that name day by day…

○●☆●○

Usagi had to wonder yet again, why did her feelings have to be going haywire in the attraction department? Because if Naru-chan and this arcade guy were anything to go by, maybe it was just something about people in Juban in general.

That was wild, because Ranma shouldn't have been crushing on a guy at all! But then, Usagi shouldn't have a crush on a girl, so… But she was only really the first, despite preferring being the second… And then there was Akane, who she still yearned for beyond the kind of simple crushes she had here, and- 

“You did it!” Arcade guy cheered as he patted Usagi on the back, “Great job, newbie!”

“Oh, uh…” The Sailor V game cabinet was suddenly a lot more interesting to stare at than before, “... Usagi, I'm Usagi.”

“Well, nice to meet you, Usagi-chan,” There was a glimpse of someone else in that smile, a glimpse that hurt, “I'm-”

“Meooow!” 

Usagi jumped onto the cabinet with a scream, hiding away from the cat that entered. The pink and white cat with bell accessories…

“Sh-Sh-Sh-Shampoo!?” The blonde girl sputtered out a whisper. 

“Oh, is that her name?” Asked arcade guy while picking up the cat, brushing fur away from the crescent moon bald spot, “She's been hanging around here a lot lately, and-” 

“WELP I GOTTA GO BYE!” Usagi would've sprinted out the door if she hadn't bumped into the large window first, but reached the door eventually and made a mad dash. 

○●☆●○

“They're going to hate me…” Usagi panicked as she reached the front of the Tsukino house, “I got a thirty, they're gonna totally hate me.”

*If they restrict where we can go as punishment, that would be…* *Noooo! Don't wanna lose good dad and mum!* *Mrrrrrrrrr…*

The little voices inside Usagi’s head didn't help. It was noise added on to the stress and fear, the worry that she was going to have to start from scratch. Her whole day had been thrown out of whack, and now everything was just a shock to the system. 

“Bunny?” Shingo, the actual Tsukino child, walked up to the fake as she slumped to the ground in despair, “Bunny? Usagi? Did you forget how to open doors or something?

“I did so bad they're gonna hate me I should go I shouldn't be here I'm awful I shouldn't be a girl like this I I I-”

“Crap, okay,” Shingo pushed through the door, “Hey, mum! Usagi’s having a spiral again!”

This was part of the new normal. Usagi was a crybaby, after all, she couldn't control where her brain went with her core so exposed. Any hug could turn into a Cradle of Death. Any mirror could make a clone. Anything sufficiently hot could take all the water content out of someone she cared about, turning them into a doll and making them almost die and-

“We've got you, Usagi,” Her mum had gotten there, although when was lost to a shift in thought process, “Upstairs now, remember? Come on, now.”

Upstairs… Yes, inside and upstairs, and Usagi would be in a safe space. She'd be in her room, safe. Her room, modelled after the only girl's room she knew. Her room, with her own closet of clothes she had gotten with mum since coming here. Her room, a little reminder of who she missed.

She practically collapsed on her bed in tears, exhausted emotionally. The youngest sounding of the small voices enticed her into getting comfortable, fully enveloping herself in blankets. Usagi’s vision of a crystalline soul became all she could imagine, its pulses luring her into a dream of Sailor V, and a dream that told her that she, to a degree, missed martial arts…

Chapter Text

The cool air caused his cape to flutter, hiding his body shape under the light of the crescent moon. The lights were still on inside the jewellery store, except something felt far too strange about it this time. 

Tuxedo Mask had a little more investigating to do before going for the Legendary Silver Crystal. He took out the security camera nearby with a rose, the stem acting like a throwing knife blade. This was going to be simple.

○●☆●○

Sailor V had taken down many a giant foe before, a simple Godzilla wannabe was going to be nothing. Taking massive leaps and bounds, avoiding flames, rapidly firing back with punches that couldn't be seen to the naked eye. One large Mōko Takabisha attack came flying right out of her hands and into the lizard's face.

Her opponent burst into cartoonish confetti, and she landed on the ground with a cute pose. Sailor V, master of all schools of Anything Goes, had won yet another battle! With a victorious chiptune fanfare, she went to go and save that arcade guy, and Akane was there, and so was… So was… 

“Sh-Shampoo…” Usagi mumbled as she slept, only to be awoken by the feeling of someone poking her forehead.

“I do not know how you know my name,” Said a familiar voice from just above her, “But it is rude not to ask for it in the first place.”

Practically jumping out of bed, Usagi reoriented herself as fast as she could. She was still in her school uniform, in her room, and she was still very clearly Usagi Tsukino, no pigtail in sight. She had to register that last thing in particular mainly because Ranma Saotome had seen nude purple haired warrior women from China far too often. 

Only this time, a crescent moon symbol was visible under that fringe.

“W-why are you… Um…” The blonde blushed, looking away.

“Naked? Cats do not carry clothes with them everywhere, so-”

“In my room!?” At least the Amazon didn't recognise Usagi at all, otherwise this conversation would be heading in a different, painfully familiar direction.

“Oh, that is simple, Usagi!” Shampoo purred, “I have been looking for you! That bandaid stopped me from transforming with hot water, too, so-”

As Shampoo held up the kettle she had used to become human, Usagi backed up into the wall her bed was against. “NO! NO, YOU'RE NOT LOOKING FOR ME, I AIN'T WHO YOU'RE LOOKING FOR, I'M JUST A NORMAL GIRL, THIS IS A BAD DREAM, THAT'S ALL!”

“Crying Girl, this is not a dream! Look!” Shampoo held out a brooch, a rather cute one, “See? Touch it, you can hold it.”

Brooches, in past occasions, were cursed, something that could completely flip a personality if messed with. But… It was a pretty, girly brooch. Something that a normal girl like Usagi should want, and… She did, kinda. Genuinely. Even though, behind the disguise, she was… 

Never mind. The brooch felt smooth in her hands, a kind of calming coldness to it. The feeling of her thumb tracing the detail engraved on it seemed to reverberate, reaching for something much deeper in her body, in her soul. As serene as watching the tides shaped by the moon's orbit…

“There have been too too many strange crimes here in Tokyo, Crying Girl,” Shampoo continued, “Crimes that not even martial artists can handle. You are a chosen guardian, you have to assemble a team, defeat the enemy, find the princess and-” 

Usagi cut off her guest as soon as she faced Shampoo to find her in cat form again “W-Why are you a cat again!? And how are you speaking in that form!?” 

“No time for explanations! Hold out your brooch and repeat after me!” The apparently psychic Shampoo from this definitely-a-dream called out as the brooch glowed, “‘Moon Prism Power, Make Up!’”

… Well, there was no harm in indulging a dream. “... Moon… Prism Power… Make Up?”

The light blinded Usagi, filling the room, before she looked down at herself. Her vision seemed crystal clear, better now with the mask on her face. Her uniform had been replaced with a different, showier sailor suit, and she could feel the clips in her hair. The long boots with heels were… A choice, at least.

Suddenly, her mask shifted to show a vision of… Naru-chan? The poor girl was crying out for help, tied up and screaming in a dark room. When the video cut out, Usagi took off the mask and turned towards Shampoo. Cats were slightly less scary when Usagi could hear them talk like people, apparently…

“I don't know what kinda dream this is,” Usagi cried as she launched herself out the mirror, “But I have to save my friend, on my honour as a martial artist!”

“... Martial artist?” Questioned Shampoo as she followed behind. Usagi was very good at jumping long distances quickly. Almost like a rabbit. Almost like… No, she couldn't be…

The kettle was left behind, cooling. 

○●☆●○

Infiltration was easy. One watches the Saotomes and that horrid old pervert steal things enough times, and they can pick up on quite a few techniques. Tuxedo Mask, AKA Mamoru Chiba, AKA Akane Tendou, was so lucky as to have lived with all of them.

The hard part was staying quiet. A wicked voice had been taunting a poor, screaming girl, and it echoed through the jewellery store. Just the screams alone made Mamoru want to break something, to fight, but he was aiming for minimal collateral damage, and minimal evidence a martial artist was in Juban.

He was turning the corner, black suit and cape following behind him, when he saw the awful sight. The girl had been pushed to the ground by an imitation of a human, some grotesque entity holding roughly a human shape.

“Your mother is in the basement, starving to death!” The monster bragged. 

That was it. Mamoru had to do something. Sneaking closer in the shadows, he got closer, trying to find any weak point to take her out without causing a scene. After all, a mallet wasn't particularly stealthy, and-

BAM! The front door slammed wide open, the silhouette of a girl with a cat running in behind her framed by moonlight. “LEAVE NARU CHAN ALONE, YOU OLD MONSTER LADY!” 

That voice was familiar, and the girl was fascinating. The shock of her completely unstealthy arrival made Mamoru jump back, trying not to be seen by the very sparkly blonde intrusion and the monster. The cat, however, was more observant, and Mamoru made temporary eye contact with who he swore was Shampoo.

The monster glared at the girl. “Who are you!?”

“Whuh- Um, I'm… Uh… Y'know…” Blondie seemed to sweat, only gathering her thoughts after Shampoo meowed at her, “GYAH! O-oh, got it!”

Regaining composure, the girl let the sudden cool wind flow around her, striking several poses as she spoke. “I'm the pretty guardian in a sailor suit! Guardian of Love and Justice, Sailor Moon!”

“Sailor Moon? I've never heard of you!” Shrieking, the monster pointed at the self proclaimed pretty guardian, “Awaken, sacrificial slaves of our supreme ruler! Destroy her!” 

Mamoru had no time to register what Sailor Moon was even doing, given the army of sleepwalking women marching onto the property. He immediately registered one as a threat when she broke a bottle to act as a weapon. 

This wasn't the time for sneaking around, then. This was time for action, and if this Sailor Moon girl thought she could take on the monster, then Mamoru knew what he had to do. It had been a long while since he'd gotten into a one vs many brawl, but for once, he had to quietly thank Kuno for the training opportunities beforehand. 

○●☆●○

Usagi didn't see the man in all black swooping in to block the army. No, instead she was more focused on the monster. The monster that, with speed Ranma had never seen before, clawed forward. She almost dodged it, but there was a large scratch on her arm when she looked down at it. 

“What kinda dream is this!?” Usagi complained as she dusted herself off and pushed herself back on her feet, “That… That…”

It wasn't the worst pain Usagi had ever felt, but it was a surprise, and it was the worst she had felt in months… It slowed her down, that was for sure. And pretty quickly, she found herself feeling even worse when Shampoo the cat jumped onto her head.

“It is not a dream, Crying Girl!” The cat insisted as Usagi panicked, “You have to fight! Take her down!”

*Hisssssssss!* *I just want to be home, please…* *W-why? W-why am I here? Why is there fights? Is it Pops? Is there more? I… I don't wanna do more!*

That last little voice won out, and Usagi found a sudden force trying to pull her out of control. She wasn't supposed to be here. She could visualise that silver core in her heart, pulsating with blinding light and deafening sound as she started to cry.

“Urgh!” The monster keeled over, “Ultrasonic waves? How?”

“Now! Take off your tiara!” Shampoo commanded, “Your Moon Tiara Boomerang!”

“My Moon Tiara Boomerang?” Usagi asked through sniffles, pulling the thing off her head, “And what, do I just throw it?”

She did throw it, jokingly, and the tiara flew off way too well. It flew right through the monster's abdomen, in fact, cutting it in half. As the tiara flew back into Usagi’s hands, the monster practically melted, although leaving behind sand rather than a puddle.

Usagi felt like she was going to be sick watching that. 

“Well, I didn't find the Legendary Silver Crystal,” A very, very familiar voice called out, causing Usagi to turn in shock, “But that was a good fight! What an interesting show!”

Looking up at the man taking his leave, his mask did nothing to hide his brilliant smile. Fit with a well tailored suit and cape, he held his hat in his hand so as not to hide his hair, black enough to look blue. 

“My name is Tuxedo Mask,” The man bid his farewell, “And I'll be remembering you, Sailor Moon, awright?”

And, like a gentleman thief, Tuxedo Mask flew off into the night. A dashing rogue, smile as pure as snow, leaving behind the incapacitated army he fought behind. He was so cool, probably a martial artist, and… 

“He's gorgeous…” Compared to every other crush Usagi had gained since leaving herself vulnerable, this one felt different. This felt like Akane felt. 

“It is as I thought!” Shampoo meowed, ignorant, “The enemy can invade by disguising themselves as humans! Do you unders- Usagi! Focus!”

The blonde couldn't, though. Poor Ranma Saotome, man amongst men, was having a sexuality crisis over a pretty boy. Usagi Tsukino was being a normal teenage girl, even if still dressed in a sailor suit with a really short skirt. What a strange but beautiful dream…

○●☆●○

“And then, right as I could've been killed, this guardian in a sailor suit came to rescue me!” Naru-chan bragged to the whole class before the lesson started, “If only I could've seen her face before passing out from fear!”

There were a few small coughs from around the class. 

“Um, Naru-chan?” Yumiko asked, “Are you sure this wasn't a dream?”

“Or Sailor V?” Umino interjected.

“I swear, it's almost all on security footage, but the tape got damaged!” Pleaded the upper class girl, “A rose bush exploded or something, because there was a flower in the tape!”

No one seemed to believe Naru-chan, which, while sad to see, was very fortunate to Usagi, who had been avoiding the conversation. The brooch on her school uniforms bow, a heavy reminder that last night wasn't a dream.

Usagi really did get into a fight, aided by Shampoo, dressed up in a sailor suit. She really did make a lady dissolve into sand, bringing her kill count to two after Saffron. She really did have feelings for a guy she didn't know, and it wasn't even one of the small crushes. 

Ugh, what would Akane think…

*He reminded me of a prince, although I can't think of why…*

“UGH!” Usagi slammed her face onto her desk in response to that particular very vocal thought. 

“Tsukino-san! No disrupting class before it starts!” Haruda, the English teacher, yelled out, “I have an announcement, so you all better listen!”

The class shuffled to sit down in their seats, the gossip train slowing but never stopping as murmurs continued. There was clearly a person standing outside the door, silhouette visible through the frosted window.

“Ughhh… So many late additions…” Haruda complained quietly before properly giving the announcement, “Another new student will be transferring here, so please be sensible for once with her.”

The door opened, and Usagi’s heart dropped for a moment. Seeing the new girl in a school uniform was bizarre, that was for sure, but she wore it well. Too well. Her purple hair flowed behind her as she walked in, writing her name on the board in Chinese, then Japanese. 

“Ni Hao, I am Shampoo!” The Amazon introduced herself, smiling directly at Usagi “Please take care of me!”

Usagi swore she heard someone ask why both new kids wore their hair in buns before she nearly passed out from shock and exhaustion.

Chapter Text

Mamoru woke up, yet again, from that dream. That woman speaking to him, giving him his only hint towards uncovering that strange, distant memory that made so many things feel familiar. The Legendary Silver Crystal…

Last night, of course, was a bust. There was no sign of anything like the crystal in question, at least as far as he knew, the same as every other jewellery store he had snuck into as of late. Although, he had only really been looking within Minato, not expanding outwards, and he had barely seen half of the stores in the ward anyway. Maybe expanding to museums would help…

What was very interesting about last night was the appearance of Shampoo, alongside that Sailor Moon girl. Strange people who knew how to fight were one thing, those were a dime a dozen in Nerima. But specifically Shampoo? That meant Mamoru's time as… Well, Mamoru, might be in jeopardy. 

The Amazon was more focused on Sailor Moon at the time, though. What was up with that girl that made Shampoo follow her instead? The only logical answer would be if the pretty guardian was actually…

Well, while the voice was similar, there was no way Ranma wouldn't just go into battle as himself. He disguised himself often, but he couldn't ever imagine Ranma fighting in that particular style, crying, using a thrown weapon, while Shampoo was in cat form.

Mamoru didn't really have too much time to consider what he would do if Ranma found him. He hoped the postcards back home were enough to stop too much panic, at least. But if Mamoru got seen and recognised while being treated like a boy, then he wouldn't know what to do.

He looked over his seemingly infinite closet of tailored outfits. There wasn't anything in here a girl would normally be expected to wear. Given the chance to pretend to be a guy, he hadn't hesitated. It simply made himself feel better, and helped keep his temper in check, bringing him back down to Earth. 

He picked out his outfit for the day, ready to go and get to the campus of K.O. University. Hopefully he could get his jog around the campus in today. He might be cutting it close, but it was worth keeping in shape. Being able to skip grades like he did gave him some more free time, but not enough for the full routine he would have liked to have. 

At least there weren't any fiancee wars going on.

○●☆●○

“So, what was your old school like, Shampoo?” Naru-chan had dragged the new girl to the lunch group, just as she had Usagi, “And why did you move here?”

“Yeah, why…” Usagi mumbled under her breath.

“I was homeschooled, actually!” Shampoo explained, “My Great-grandmother is a wonderful teacher. Very wise.”

Usagi didn't need to know how wise Cologne was. She already knew, after all. Trying to act like this was new information was the real challenge. After all, Shampoo was acting friendly towards Usagi for now. If she knew, though…

“Something important came up here, so she and I have moved here with our restaurant!” Shampoo continued, oblivious to just how shocked Usagi was, “Here, a brochure!”

The moment the small brochure was held in Usagi’s hand, she wanted to explode. Back in Nerima, it was bad enough having the Nekohanten a few streets away, a twenty-five minute walk if going slow. The address provided on the brochure had only two houses between it and Usagi’s home. 

Shampoo must've been determined to stay close with this whole Sailor Moon business, at least, and that meant is was going to be a lot harder for very normal girl Usagi Tsukino to have a normal life. 

“Hey, Usagi, don't you live in that direction?” Naru-chan asked, “Maybe you could walk to school together!”

The blonde had gotten caught off guard. “Oh- I- Uh-”

“I would greatly appreciate it, thank you!” There wasn't a chance to breathe before Shampoo intervened.

“It's probably better if you go together, anyway,” Naru-chan suggested, “If there's more monsters out there, it might be safer in groups.”

“But I-” Usagi cut herself off, realising she couldn't exactly be known as a martial artist while being a normal girl, “... Fine.”

○●☆●○

“Well?” Asked the figure in the dark, “Haven't you found the Legendary Silver Crystal yet?”

The young looking person before the dark royalty bowed. “No, my queen. You have my humblest apologies.” 

“Tsk.” The queen sounded like she was trying to contain anger and disappointment, “Our supreme ruler desires power and energy. So gather more energy and find that crystal, there's no time to lose!”

“Yes, Queen Beryl,” Standing tall, the youthful looking commander made a promise, “As the Dark Kingdom's commander of the far east, I, Jadeite, will not let you down.”

As they were dismissed, Jadeite did have to ask themself internally: If there was no time to waste, why did you only retrieve us Four Heavenly Kings after we witnessed the Moon Phase pocket watch in the hands of some human? 

○●☆●○

“Why must every important person I know be scared of cats?” Shampoo pouted as much as she could in her feline form, “It is no big deal! Cats are great!”

Usagi walked beside the cat with enough room for at least five grown men between them, Shampoo's schoolbag in her hand with her own. “Yeah… Haha… Funny how that works… Say, why did you turn into a cat again.”

“It is comfy, that is all,” The cat psychically projected in a matter of fact tone, “Being a human was not something I was supposed to be all the time.”

“Huh?” The blonde was a little confused by that. Sure, she liked the name she chose for this disguise, and liked when the Tsukinos called her Bunny, and occasionally wondered what it would be like to fall in Tuzinīchuan, and- 

*I always did like mochi…* *Bunnies are cute! Hop hop hop hop!*

No, those weren't thoughts for a man amongst men OR a normal girl! Never mind, Usagi just would let Shampoo be, and hope, just maybe, that she wouldn't actually have to be guardian of justice if she just ignored everything. 

… Including the fact that Shampoo just walked right into the Tsukino household with her.

“I'm home!” Usagi called out as the cat scampered beneath her feet. 

“Welcome back!” Mrs Tsukino responded from the living room, smiling as she saw the teen walk in, “Oh, you brought Pinky!”

“Pi- Oh, her name is Shampoo, Mrs Tsukino,” Usagi watched as her former foe/fiancee got picked up and coddled by the woman, “She's gonna scratch you if you crowd her too much, probably.”

“Aww… But look at her!” Holding out a very happy purring kitty, Mrs Tsukino didn't notice how Usagi flinched, “I've just read a really sad news article about cats, anyway, so I'm a bit emotional. They apparently found these two cats in these weird little space capsules, both frozen and passed on, and-”

Shampoo, for whatever reason, froze up with a small amount of sadness in her eyes. “... Artemis…” 

The cat wriggled her way out of Mrs Tsukino’s hands, running off elsewhere into the house. The fact that a door could be heard slamming shut from that direction wasn't exactly a good sign, as if Shampoo needed space in someone else's house.

“Oh, I guess she didn't like that…” Mrs Tsukino sounded genuinely disappointed, “Poor little thing must not like sad cat stories…”

Usagi hoped and prayed that this, beyond this moment, wouldn't turn into another P-chan situation. “Yeah, guess she doesn't…”

○●☆●○

Shampoo couldn't be a cat right now. Or a… She had some other name for what she was, just on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn't find it. Regardless, as comfortable as it was to use her cursed form, especially as of late, something about what she had heard…

Why the name Artemis? Why did she remember that all of a sudden? It was as clear as those dreams, telling her to find the guardians and protect the princess, whoever they all were, startimg with Usagi Tsukino. It was as sudden as that feeling she had after Akane let her hold that old pocket watch…

Whatever it was, hearing that news made Shampoo feel sick. She skittered off in the direction of the bathroom, grateful that this family had invested in a better heating system that allowed for hot water taps in the sink. Tsukinos 1, Tendous 0.

Using the little lever tap, Shampoo was quickly able to go from cat to human in an instant, although that little crescent moon on her forehead remained. It was getting increasingly familiar, at least, so it wasn't a shock. 

Cologne had refused to say why she helped ‘unlock’ the symbol, easily covered by Shampoo's bangs. It was clear, though, that whatever that pocket watch Akane had found before she went missing was, touching it did some weird stuff to Shampoo's memory, stuff that Cologne was very keenly aware of. Stuff that meant Shampoo had earned these minor psychic powers as was her apparent birthright. 

Shampoo tried to calm down, her breathing just a little too harsh for her liking. She had techniques to centre herself, at least. Being raised a warrior made that necessary. Breathe in, breathe out, simple and slow. 

The door handle started to jiggle, slightly shocking Shampoo out of her serene state. “Shampoo? It's Usagi. I'm coming in, okay?”

Sighing, Shampoo opened the door, dragging in the blonde in the blink of an eye before slamming the door shut again. It was obvious exactly how shocked in turn the blonde was, and exactly why.

“I had my clothes in my bag, remember?” Shampoo explained to the girl going beet red.

“Y-yeah, I just, uh, I, uh…” Usagi regained her composure, “... Never mind. I just wanna check on ya, and I wasn't expecting you to be human again while in this house.”

“Ah… I felt too too sad from that news, that is all,” It wasn't the complete truth, but it wasn't a lie at all, “You were worried about me?”

“Well, duh,” The blonde shrugged like it was no big deal, “I mean, I dunno what I'd do to cheer you up, but I'm not gonna leave you high and dry.”

And then, Usagi murmured under her breath, heart on her sleeve but trying to remain hidden. “I actually missed ya after Nerima turned to hell, anyway…”

“What? You were in Nerima?” Shampoo jumped forward, curious, “I do not recognise you from there, how do you know me?

“Oh, uh-” In trying to dodge Shampoo's incoming jump forward, Usagi stepped back, knocking the hot water tap on the sink and getting her arm thoroughly drenched in it, enough that it would've triggered Ranma's curse if he was-

… Here.

The blonde girl shifted in proportion, hair turning a shade of dark green while remaining its full length and style. The school uniform, normally a bit baggy on the girl, suddenly fit a lot closer. While definitely having different hair, the face shape and curse alone gave it away. 

“A-airen!?” 

Ranma looked mortified, and very uncomfortable to boot. Since when did he leave Nerima!? Probably after Shampoo started looking for Usagi Tsukino based on the name said in her dreams… But since when did Ranma actually be the kind of person to just make a new life like that!?

“... Why?” Was all Shampoo could ask. She was looking for a girl who didn't exist, a girl she tried to marry, a girl she tried to kill. Of course she could only ask why.

Ranma was too stunned to answer, until he realised just how easy it was to get cold water. With a quick splash, Ranma was blonde again, a girl again. He seemed to relax a bit more, letting go of the breath he didn't know he was holding until it escaped him.

… And he cried. “It got r-real bad, Shampoo. Real bad. A-and I… I had to leave. The old ghoul helped and… W-well, I'm Usagi Tsukino, normal, l-lovable young lady who happens t-to be a crybaby…”

Shampoo didn't understand fully. Sure, she had disappeared from her old life already, technically twice if counting how she left Nǚjié zú to pursue the Kiss of Death and Marriage. But to be someone new, and someone Shampoo's strange dreams recognised…

Would Cologne know if Shampoo asked her? Did the elder know that Ranma had been the girl Shampoo was dreaming off? If Cologne knew, and even helped Ranma run away and become that girl, did that mean…

“... Usagi, Crying Girl, I am sorry,” Shampoo sighed, “We can… We can work all of this out later. No marriages, I promise. But in return, you have to fight back against the enemy. You have to find the other guardians and protect the princess! It is not normal, but it is right!”

“More monsters I have to kill sounds rough…” Usagi sniffled, “But… More guardians, huh? And a princess? I swear, Hiroshi mentioned some game with a princess in another castle last I talked to him… Like, a month ago… Hey, would Sailor V and Tuxedo Mask be on our side? They both seem great!”

Whatever had gotten into Usagi between Shampoo last seeing her as Ranma proper and now, it made her apparently very easily distracted by the whims of love. Fitting somewhat for a guardian of Love and Justice.

“Actually, I have my eyes on someone else already,” Shampoo said matter-of-factly while going to splash herself back into cat form, “But Great-grandmother is expecting me home for the first shift. See you at school, Crying Girl!”

“Whuh!?” Usagi sounded almost offended as Shampoo scampered away under her feet, “You can't just leave me hanging like that! Shampoo!? Just tell me, dammit!”

Chapter Text

“Hey, did you see those results for the practice test?”

“Yeah! That girl must be a young Einstein!”

Usagi heard the gossip from her peers, but she was hardly registering any of it. Any girl would be smarter than her, so what was a super genius by comparison? No, there was something else running through her head at high speed.

“Mizuno-san’s scores are the best in the country, nothing less than 100% in all subjects!”

“I hear she's basically a supercomputer with 300 IQ!”

Usagi’s heart, both the biological kind and that imaginary crystalline core, were racing. It was dumb, and stupid, and she was stupid, and also dumb, because she couldn't keep herself under control. She had a crush, and it was strong enough to compete with at least Tuxedo Mask, maybe even Akane if only going off of first meetings.

Sigh. Maybe Usagi just had a thing for people with short blue hair. 

“Um, actually? Mizuno-san only gets that smart because she goes to a test-prep school,” Umino corrected while pushing up his glasses, “It's that Crystal Seminar that just started up!”

“The one near the arcade?” Naru-chan asked before sighing, “Daddy told me that's way too expensive…”

“Well, Mizuno-san’s mother is a doctor, so-” 

“Hey, Umino?” Usagi briefly interrupted, “How d’ya exactly know all this junk? It's kinda creepy.”

No one paid the blonde any attention, though, as Naru-chan just continued. “She's smart AND rich!? She might as well be from a whole other planet! Although, she never seems to have any friends…” 

“Oh, Crying Girl, is that why you were so popular before?” Shampoo injected herself into the conversation by force, “Because you do not study?”

“Usagi’s popular!?” Half the class seemed to ask in shock, drowning out the poor girl's embarrassment by pure sound alone.

“Quiet!” Haruda drowned out the class in turn, “You can look into strange interpersonal relationships and backstories after class!” 

○●☆●○

Trying to juggle an extra schoolbag in her hands while looking at her own test results, Usagi could imagine a voice in her head. Not like the usual ones, no. This was the sound of Genma Saotome, and his disappointment with Ranma's failures, the feeling projected onto the test scores rather than martial arts. It hurt, how easy it was to picture Mr and Mrs Tsukino saying the same despite no evidence…

“Maybe I should do test prep too…” Usagi sighed, not at all willing to follow through, “Shamps, what do you- Shampoo?”

The girl who immediately turned into a cat the moment the school bell rang had disappeared. However, she was nearby. Usagi had gotten used to to knowing when the Amazon was nearby. 

And ‘nearby’ apparently included pouncing onto another student's head.

“EEK!” Ami Mizuno jumped at the sudden cat attack, resulting in Shampoo jumping into her arms, “... A cat? Aww, you startled me! I wish I could have a cat at my condo…”

The way Ami started cooing over the cat made the ice cold genius seemingly melt, a departure from what Usagi and her classmates assumed. It was hard to think of someone as distant when she was obsessing over how soft a cat was.

“Sorry about… Uh, my cat!” Usagi ran over, trying to clean up whatever mess this might cause preemptively, “She didn't bother you too much, huh?”

Turning to face Usagi, the blue haired girl had a brilliant smile on her face, the kind that made this stupid crush on her ache even more. Why, if Usagi didn't know better, she'd assume…

[Ranma avoided a strong kick. “Don't you get tired of being angry all the time.”]

“Your cat dropped out of the sky,” Ami giggled lightly, “I thought she was an angel!” 

[“That's my business!” Akane punctuated with a whiffed punch.]

As if embarrassed by her sudden amusement, the blue haired girl blushed heavily. Of course a girl of science would probably feel awkward acting like any other teen, and being one to think angels were real.

[It was so easy to tease Akane, but truth be told… “Okay, but y'know…”]

“You're pretty cute when you smile!” Usagi smiled, somewhere between crushing hard and being amused, “You're Ami Mizuno, Class 5, right? I'm Usagi Tsukino from Class 1, and this cat is… Shamps. Sorry ‘bout this.”

There was a look of shock on Ami's face, clearly not expecting the compliment. Hopefully it wasn't too much. Usagi, outside of everything, could probably use extra friends here. Even from a more selfish angle, it built up her alibi as a normal girl…

And maybe Ami would help her study. That'd be good too.

Shampoo sighed, as if tired of watching the two girls accidentally flirt around each other, amd started to walk off. “The fiancees really are just natural for you, Crying Girl. Sigh… Meet me at the arcade, okay?”

“I- Uh- Um- Uh-” Poor Usagi was left stammering, much to Ami's confusion, “Uh- You… don't want to go to the arcade, do you, Mizuno-san? Or… Do you?”

○●☆●○

Ami wasn't a person who frequented arcades by any means, not when she could be studying. Although, she didn't even really need to do that, either. She could've skipped all the way to the end of university if she wanted, although she didn't, preferring to be well prepared for future classes rather than rush them

However, here she was, watching this girl she hadn't met before attempt to brute force her way through one of the games. Leaning against a wall, Ami saw how Usagi’s nose tended to scrumple up a little like her animal namesake.

“Ugh! This Sailor V game is sooooo hard!” Usagi whined, “And none of the kicks are even close to realistic!”

Even with the lack of skill Usagi had with the game, Ami was making perfect sense of it. Every combination of inputs, their damage output, every little frame of data clicked in her mind despite the blonde girl's struggles. Ami's mind was a strategic machine, piecing together all the optimal pathing. It was all ready for her.

“Aww, that was my last ¥100 coin…” Huffed Usagi as the game over fanfare played, “Hey, Mizuno-san, do you want a go? It's okay enough stress relief.”

And with that, it was time to execute on that data.

The coin slipped into the machine, and Ami cracked down. Monster after monster turned to virtual dust as the small pixel avatar of Sailor V wiped the floor with them. Ami hadn't even noticed the small crowd that had formed around her by the time she was finally finished. 

A small clunk came from within the machine, revealing a cute and sparkly pen. “Oh, a prize? Hey, Tsukino-san, look at- GAH!”

The blonde was right behind Ami, practically in her face, surrounded by onlookers, shocking the poor supergenius. “THAT WAS AMAZING, MIZUNO-SAN!”

“Oh, it was n-nothing…” Ami blushed at what was probably the sixteenth compliment she received from Usagi that day.

“It's never given me a prize before, though!” Usagi pouted, “That has to be worth something! Actually, I wonder…”

Usagi struck some weird pose, with a weird facial expression, which made Ami giggle. But, like a ghost, the blonde soon disappeared from sight. The whole gathered crowd was shocked, until she miraculously appeared again, sitting on top of the arcade machine with her own sparkly pen.

“Hey, Mizuno-san, look! We match!” Usagi said, sticking her tongue out in response to Shamps meowing at her, “It's so sparkly!”

“Snrk!” Ami hadn't laughed like this in a while, “You're so funny, Tsukino-san!”

“Pfft, please, call me Usagi,” The blonde shrugged it off, as if her family name was really so unimportant, “And can I call you Ami-chan?”

“Yes,” It was cute how quick the ‘-chan’ got added, a little extra token of friendship, “Yes you may.”

From the angle Usagi was sitting at, she looked especially pretty. It didn't exactly compute how someone Ami's age could be so supernaturally pretty. Unfortunately, the view also gave her a good view of the clock on the wall.

“Oh no! Look at the time!” Ami gasped, grabbing her school bag, “I really should get going, I have test prep!”

“Oh, at that Crystal Seminar place nearby, right?” Usagi asked, “I heard so,e friends talking ‘bout it. Is it any good?”

“Only if you're willing to go daily,” It was kind of funny watching Usagi’s jaw drop, “Studying is the only thing I'm actually good at, and I have to work hard if I want to be a doctor like my mother.”

“Studying's the- Hey, wait! You-” 

Usagi could've tried saying anything, but Ami was already out the door of the arcade. She was practically a machine, after all, and she had to be on time if she wanted to remain a functional one. 

Ami's teacher had been assuring her that superior humans were the ones to push the world forward. That she was the ever rising bar that everyone strived to reach. If Ami kept her focus on her work, kept plugging away at the information fed to her by the system, she could continue to operate smoothly in a world that sometimes didn't make sense. 

Hopefully class would go well. Her mild sensory processing difficulties wouldn't get in the way if she focused on nothing but studying. She had to do nothing but study. 

○●☆●○

Usagi was a normal girl who did normal things. She couldn't punch at light speed, she couldn't use literal energy blasts made of positive emotions, and she couldn't make tornadoes by shrinking her soul into solid ice. She did normal at sports. 

Which is to say, she fucking killed it.

“Way to go, Usagi-chan!” Naru-chan cheered in the locker room, along with all the other girls in there, “Where did you learn to play volleyball like that?”

“Uhhhhh…” The attention was far too much, but luckily, Shampoo took action.

“Some people are better built for physical activity than others, Fancy Girl,” The purple haired girl said dismissively before eyeing Usagi up and down, “Crying Girl would actually be a really good martial artist with that physique. Have you considered it?”

“Why you- Uh, no,” There was a need in that imaginary crystalline heart to punch Shampoo in her smug human face, “It just isn't for me, I'm too much of a crybaby…”

“Well, I still think we should celebrate with ice cream!” Naru-chan insisted, “There's that Fauchon shop on the corner!”

“... They wouldn't happen to have parfaits,” Usagi thought with her gut, “Would they?”

“Ooo, of course you have a sweet tooth!” The popular girl giggled.

Several girls in the room who had gotten changed already suddenly pushed past, leaving with hardly a word. It was hardly the energy of a bunch of teens who were just doing sport moments earlier, more like sudden sleeper agents. 

“Ugh, everyone's going to that Crystal Seminar these days…” Naru-chan complained as she tried not to fall over from the push, “Apparently those computer classes are so fun, too. People have been taking the disks around with them so they can learn wherever there's a computer around.”

“... Disks?” Both Usagi and Shampoo asked in unison.

Naru-chan seemed shocked. “What, were you both raised away from tech and everything?”

“... I'll get back to you on that,” Usagi said quickly, running off without getting changed out of her sports clothes, “Gotta check on someone.”

There was no way Usagi was going to fully understand this computer thing when she was pretty sure she'd never even seen one. She had to ask someone smart enough to dumb it down for her. The audio-visual classroom had to be the only option.

After ducking and weaving through the halls, past more students acting almost like zombies, Usagi ended up in the unfamiliar room of computers. And, just as she hoped, the classroom wasn't empty.

Ami sat, clutching at her head with a sparkly pen in her hand, desperately glancing between her computer screen and her page on the desk. The fuzz on the screen made no sense to Usagi, and it was hard to believe even a genius like Ami would get it either without a headache. 

“Ami-chan? Hey, you're still studying?” Walking over to get close, Usagi tried to be very careful in case something was wrong, “Oh, hey, you're using the prize pen, cool! Uh… Wanna come grab ice cream or parfait or something with me?”

The poor blue haired girl shook a little, still trying to hold herself together from whatever was happening. It, admittedly, made Usagi a little bit jealous that she couldn't do that anymore, but this really didn't make it seem healthy at all.

“I… I have to get to the Crystal Seminar, sorry,” Ami mumbled while pressing the eject button on the computer and packing up her stuff, “Sorry. I'm sorry.”

“Oh, it's fine, but…” Usagi hoped this wouldn't sound offensive at all, “Are you okay?”

“Fine.” That was the only answer given as Ami stiffly picked up her bag and left, brushing shoulders with Shampoo without saying anything more but mumbled apologies. 

Shampoo walked right up to Usagi, the blonde still standing alone at the computer. “Is Robot Girl okay?”

“Well, she just ditched me…” Usagi said, confused, “She looked so out of it. Probably studying too much. Maybe I should just head home, too…”

“Wait, look,” Shampoo pointed at the flat circular thing coming out of a slot in the computer, “Did she leave that behind? It is almost…”

“Disk shaped…” At least the Saotome family branch of home-schooling had taught Usagi shapes. 

Holding onto the disk and placing it inside what Usagi assumed was its case, the blonde headed off to get changed. She would work out what was wrong with Ami the moment she got the chance. 

After all, she didn't want the streak of blue haired girls she made cry in front of her so soon after meeting to continue any further than past Akane, wherever that tomboy was now…

Chapter Text

“Come on and sign up! Enrollment is completely free!” 

Attempting to get to the arcade (she may have become a little, teensy bit addicted), Usagi was blocked by a crowd of people, several handing out fliers to match what the… Oddly familiar leader of this advertising campaign was saying.

The speaker reached out for Usagi to grab a pamphlet. “You too can become a super genius!”

As the blonde looked over the pamphlet, Shampoo the cat perched on Usagi’s shoulder. It wasn't exactly as terrifying to be so close to a talking cat anymore, but Usagi still tensed a little. Besides, Shampoo could've at least been in human form to carry her own damn schoolbag. 

“Hey, that's Ami-chan, right?” The words and pictures on the pamphlet were a little blurry, but not much more than things normally were.

“Yes, that is Robot Girl,” Shampoo confirmed, “This is probably for the Crystal Seminar. ‘Use the disk to see scores soar’. It sounds overly complicated and fake to me.”

Usagi couldn't help but think of her poor test scores. “... Maybe, if I- ACK!”

“Hey, Bun Head, don't just stop in the middle of the sidewall!” Complained the guy who bumped into Usagi from behind.

“Well excuuuuse me, your majesty, but-” Usagi finally turned around to see the guy in the suit, “... Oh, of course, you're that guy!”

“Crying Girl really likes making enemies everywhere,” Shampoo meowed, “Is that intentional? At least this one is not a martial artist.”

“Hey, you know I'm a martial artist, Sha-” The guy in the suit took his sunglasses off, “... Since when could you talk in… I mean, could cats talk?”

Both Usagi and Shampoo tensed, and while the cat tried to take a better look at the boy who recognised her, the bunny was much more focused on escaping. “CATS CAN’T TALK SILLY AHAHHAHAAHAH BYE!”

“He recognised me…” Shampoo sounded extremely confused, “He… How?”

*He feels so familiar, like a dream…*

Usagi shook that thought out of her head, even though it came right back anyway. She was supposed to be a normal girl, and this was making it really, really hard to be normal. Someone knew that she knew Shampoo, which meant, at any moment, the life of Ranma Saotome could come pulling her back in…

Mamoru watched as the girl Shampoo seemed attached to ran off, and he panicked for a second. Shampoo didn't seem to recognise him, but he wasn't ready to risk that. He still hadn't found what he was looking for.

“Young man, come and sign up!” A flier in his face shook Mamoru out of his thoughts, “Don't you want to get into a good university?”

“Oh, no thanks,” He got to say somewhat smugly, “I'm already in one.”

○●☆●○

“Arcade Boy?” Shampoo asked, holding out the disk in her unfortunately human hands, “Do you have a computer I can borrow?”

“Oh, what for?” The guy who ran the arcade asked while Usagi worked away at levels in the Sailor V game in the background.

“I want to check what this has on it,” Admitted the purple haired girl with slight embarrassment, “... But me and Crying Girl do not know how computers work.”

“Ah, well you came to the right place,” The guy took the disk and placed it in his computer off to the side, “Here, it goes in like this, and… Voila!”

All that appeared on screen was a long string of text, detailing some historical events in the United States that Shampoo really didn't understand. It was so long and arduous in fact, it could only be described as torturous.

“Ugh, it is just normal homework!” Shampoo complained, “And it seemed so fishy! This is why I only started school this year, I swear…”

“REALLY!?” Usagi slammed her hands against the arcade cabinet in frustration, “I totally dodged that attack, come on!”

The thud from the tantrum managed to shake the whole arcade, and the computer seemed to glitch the screen for a second. “Usagi-chan, please don't break the machines!” Cried out arcade guy.

Shampoo, however, was a bit distracted by the sounds that started coming from the computer. The volume must've been adjusted on it, because a voice could be heard coming from it as it still displayed the text on screen.

“Submit…Obey… Submit to our supreme ruler… Find all the data you can… Find the Legendary Silver Crystal…”

“That… Doesn't sound good.” Usagi said as her attention was finally drawn away from her game.

“It is brainwashing, of course!” Shampoo started to drag her former fiancee towards the arcade exit, “No one does it traditionally anymore, there is no heart in it unless you put your own hands on their scalp! This is lazy!”

“It's also just bad, Shamps, did you forget that!?” The blonde quickly got the gist of where they were going, ducking into the alleyway just beside the arcade, “Brainwashing ain't exactly a good thing in general!”

“It is useful, but shush!” Looking around the corner, Shampoo saw the people heading towards them and forced Usagi to look too, “There are kids going to the seminar!”

Instantly, the blonde was distracted by her current major crush in the crowd. “There's Ami-chan! She looks awful… Has she been brainwashed, too!?”

Well, this was Shampoo's old airen she was dealing with. If anyone was going to be motivated by her feelings, it was Usagi, especially as of late. So, to get a good start on saving the day, it required just the right push.

“Does Crying Girl still like disguises?” Shampoo asked, “And do you still have that pen from the arcade on you?”

○●☆●○

Usagi had to admit, as much as her current main identity was supposed to be a disguise and nothing permanent? She did miss this thrill.

“University hospital staff, coming through!” Yelled the blonde in the nurse uniform as she dashed through the halls, “Everyone out of the way! It's an emergency!”

A crowd of students were visible just down the hall, all highschoolers, and Usagi could see that blue hair of her peer shining through the rest. So, she did what any reasonable doctor who was actually a normal girl who was actually a martial artist would do.

Usagi grabbed Ami and dragged her to the side in the blink of an eye. “AMI-CHAN! Don't let them brainwash you! Please! It's not good for your health! Uhhh… Remember me! I never called you any insults so I don't know what to say but-”

“Usagi! There is a larger crowd of students to deal with in here!” Shampoo gestured into the classroom with her whole tiny kittycat body, “Get them all out of here first, then we can handle the one!”

“Ughhhhhh… Everyone! Away from those computers!” Usagi called out, upset she had to leave her friend behind, “Doctor's orders!” 

That person who handed the pamphlets for the seminar turned around in shock, clearly the master of this operation. “What!? Who's there!?”

“I'm-” Yet again, Shampoo reminded Usagi she was doing something wrong, this time by loudly coughing, “... Ugh, okay! Moon Prism Power!! Make Up!!!”

The light was blinding, that imaginary crystalline heart pulsed, and in the blink of an eye, Usagi was yet again fuelled by the power of the moon as her sailor suit appeared when she called for it.

“Even if I don't get it personally, these students love learning! Don't abuse them and brainwash them with that love!” The blonde struck a pose, “The pretty guardian in a sailor suit, Guardian of Love and Justice! I'm Sailor Moon, and in the name of the moon, I will- OW, FUCK!”

The enemy had already started to launch paper that cut like razors towards Sailor Moon, and they stung like hell. At least when Mousse attacked Ranma with projectiles, they were easy to deflect. Usagi found the papers just too damn small! 

*I really don't like the scars… I'm too frail to be damaged like this… I… I…*

“Sailor Moon! Focus!” Shampoo called out, clearly seeing the start of some water works, “Start crying and the whole building could go down! Remember the jewellery store?”

Right, the ultra sonic cries or whatever… Ami and the other students had to be moved out of the way first. Usagi, as anyone would, did have a bias, though. Running towards Ami, she halted when she found that monster holding the blue haired girl in a chokehold. 

“WHY. AREN'T. YOU. BRAINWASHED!?” The monster teacher screeched in Ami's face, “YOU'VE BEEN NEGLECTING YOUR DISK!”

Ami could hardly breath, but still had to respond. “I… I work better from textbooks… I…”

“Robot Girl! Ami!” Shampoo yelled yet again, “Use your pen!”

From Usagi’s perspective, all she could see was a sudden icy mist filling the room, making it impossible to see even past her nose. There was a faint glow of blue light, but hardly enough to pierce the dense mist.

“Shamps! Ami-chan! Where are you!?” Usagi cried, “I can't see a thing!”

And then she felt it. Blood-lust. Someone was coming to attack her in an instant, and she was too overwhelmed to dodge. That was, until someone much safer wrapped their arms around her. 

“High kick,” Ordered the voice of her rescuer, “Now!”

Now that, Usagi could do in her sleep. 

The monster was clearly in front of her, as the large thud that came from it hitting the ground dispelled a small amount of fog. Then, the mysterious saviour turned Usagi to face him, and the blonde's heart skipped a beat.

“Don't go disturbing too many classes, Sailor Moon,” Said the gentleman thief with a warm grin, “Now, go rescue your friend. I'll cover her classmates.”

“Tuxedo Mask…” Usagi nearly swooned, her flustered red face only barely getting cooled by the icy mist in the room. And just as soon as they met again, he disappeared to get his work done.

*So dreamy…* *So cool!* *Prrrrrrr…*

But there was still no time to be crushing that hard. Usagi, by instinct, summoned the mask that came with the sailor suit, and used the clearer vision to cut right through the fog and find her target. The monster was frozen stiff.

“It isn't killing if she's sand it isn't killing if she's sand it isn't… OKAY!” Usagi hyped herself up, “Moon Tiara Boomerang!”

The tiara in question sliced through the fog and the monster with equal amounts of ease. And though the beast screamed like a human, the way it dissolved into sand, thankfully, meant that everything was okay. Still not like Saffron.

As the mist cleared, it was obvious that Tuxedo Mask made good on his promise. The classroom was clear of the other students, and unfortunately for Usagi, of him. She really needed to get her mind focused away from blue haired wonders like him, Ami, and Akane…

However, it was a shine of blue that caught Usagi’s attention next. Amidst all the fog was Ami Mizuno, awkwardly trying to get herself back up on her feet, clearly not used to any higher heels than the flat shoes she normally wore, even the heels on the boots of her new sailor suit.

… Dammit. Usagi thought Ami looked really pretty in the sailor suit. 

“Just as I suspected!” Shampoo proclaimed, scampering towards the newest magical girl, “You are the brains of the group! The Guardian of Water and Intelligence! Welcome, Sailor Mercury, we have been looking for you!”

“She's really a Guardian, too?” Usagi felt oddly excited by that, “That's so cool!”

“A Guardian!?” Ami sounded confused, but her hands started to flap around as she talked pacing at the same time, “Sorry, that sounds interesting, but what does it mean? What are we guarding? Did I pass some kind of test? Why am I Mercury when the moon is a satellite and not a planet? What just happened in the first place!?”

“It will all be explained, Robot Girl,” The cat said calmly, “Know for now that-”

“HOW IS SHAMPS TALKING!?” Ami continued, more confused. 

“It gets… More complicated than that, trust me,” Usagi sighed, “Don't let her near hot water unless she asks for it, by the way. She doesn't transform with clothes on.”

Chapter Text

“Jadeite…” Queen Beryl hissed, “You have failed me twice, now. I assume you know the consequences?”

“I-” Now wasn't the time to ask if it was going to be simply high school detention, “... Yes, my queen. I offer my deepest apologies.”

“Heh, well maybe your soldiers wouldn't fall apart so easily if they weren't made of clay,” A friend in human childhood, the commander right behind Jadeite laughed before bowing, “My queen, you'll find I, Nephrite, far more capable of gathering both energy and The Legendary Silver Crystal!”

Another old friend turned ally in war spoke up. “Those sailor-suited guardians… They wouldn't happen to be searching for the Crystal, too, would they?”

Nephrite stood forward. “Queen Beryl, what even is The Legendary Silver Crystal, if I may ask? I have my theories, of course, but…”

That was a dangerous question to ask, pushing up against the queen's authority like that. However, Nephrite's curious nature did pay off.

“... From what I'm told…” The queen regaled, “The Legendary Silver Crystal is the source of all energy, a stone of unfathomable infinite power. Whoever holds it in her hands would become the ruler of the universe!”

That did sound powerful, indeed, but as Jadeite realised the pure scope of the situation, there was a nagging feeling that this wasn't right. Jadeite shouldn't have been there. Two lives said so, but the commander was incapable of listening. 

“All who oppose the Dark Kingdom shall face our wrath, absolutely no mercy!” Riled up, Queen Beryl made a statement out of harshly pointing, “Jadeite! We have little time to lose! You have one final chance!”

“Understood,” Jadeite kneeled in servitude, “I will not fail you. Those foul guardians shall be destroyed!”

○●☆●○

“All of these girls in my class were talking about this bus on the Sendaizaka Route,” Shampoo gossiped at the table, “If you are on it when it passes Sendaizaka-ue at six o'clock, you are very very dead. Right, Crying Girl?”

“Hmpf?” Usagi tried to speak through her mouthful of noodles, only now looking up during the conversation while eating.

“Ah, you were asleep in class, right,” Sighed the currently human cat, “Should have known.”

Ami giggled a little, and suddenly Usagi felt a lot more embarrassed. Maybe she shouldn't have slept in class, or focused so hard on food, or just been such a mess in front of her new friend and maybe definitely crush…

“It's good to see some things don't change,” Cologne laughed as she walked towards the table of girls in the new Nekohanten, “It's good to see you well, Miss…?”

“O-oh! Usagi Tsukino,” The blonde said awkwardly, “Sorry ‘bout… Well, everything back then, elder…”

“Water under the long burnt bridge, I promise,” The old ghoul took a seat of her own, perching on her walking stick, “I helped you for a reason, young lady.”

Being called a young lady felt… nice. It felt nice, especially hearing it from someone she already knew. Cologne reassuring Usagi was surprising, given that the escape from Nerima had been assumed to be a one and done favour. But being called a young lady…

*It sounds so refined for a girl like me!*

Maybe the disguise was getting to her.

“Shampoo, Ms Cologne, a quick question:” Ami asked somewhat shyly, “We really are Guardians of Justice? And have magical powers? Why, and more importantly, how?”

“All shall be revealed in time, don't worry,” Cologne had an unfortunately familiar cryptic air around her, “But your curiosity is very understandable. Why, I had my whole life turned upside down when I had a personal realisation at 56…”

“Wait, are you a Guardian too!?” The blue haired girl turned to face Usagi in shock, “Is she!?”

“Please don't make me imagine her in a short skirt, Ami-chan,” Usagi shuddered, “I don't wanna throw up my food.”

Cologne cleared her throat, reminding everyone to get back on track. “Your duty, why you are Guardians, is to safeguard the princess and the sacred stone, The Legendary Silver Crystal.”

And there it was again, that magic artifact that kept coming up. To Usagi, it wasn't really important, no more compared to any other magical trinket she had seen before. And, if she really had to look at a silver crystal for whatever reason, she could just look inside at her exposed heart and soul.

But Ami? She had this wonder in her eyes, experiencing this all for the first time. Of course, that girl was like a living computer, ready to take in all the information she could. It was no wonder that magic and action was so interesting to her.

“Great-grandmother, should I…?” Shampoo asked, implying something Usagi couldn't quite pick up on.

The old ghoul looked directly at her ward with an unusual smile. “That is your judgement to make here. This is your duty, I'm merely here to supervise.”

“Right…” With some unsure responsibility, Shampoo held out two wristwatches, “Here, Crying Girl and Robot Girl, communicators. For when you are on the field.”

“Guess I ain't gotta shout across a battlefield or something…” Usagi mumbled to herself. 

“And they still function as watches too, look!” Ami gasped, although not so much in amazement but instead a very mundane worry, “I'll have to leave now, I'm so sorry. English study waits for no one.”

“Oh, let me walk you home!” Despite her normal girl disguise, Usagi still had to act a little bit like a true man on instinct, helping those who need it, “I'm happy to come back home solo.”

“Only if you'd want, Usagi-chan,” Ami giggled, “Although I would love the company.”

Oh, Usagi was following along no matter what, now. There was no helping it. Maybe being love oriented made it easier to follow along with those she crushed on. That's it. It had to be the sailor suit's fault…

○●☆●○

“Look, there she is!” Ami pointed out as a girl got on the bus, “The one in the T. A. Girl's Academy uniform! I told you she was really beautiful, didn't I?”

Ami was right about a lot of things, Usagi had found. She was right about homework, about video game combos, about this being that rumoured demon bus of death. Usagi, on the other, was frequently wrong about things.

For one, her new crush at first sight had black hair, not blue hair, and yet she was still falling just as hard and fast as she had on Ami, Tuxedo Mask, and even Akane.

There was a specific air to the beautiful girl from a different school. Usagi had plenty of time to learn how to tell if someone was supernatural in any way, and there was no doubting it here. The stranger had links to something beyond mortal understanding, and it had Usagi transfixed.

“Well, this is my stop!” Ami said at some point, though Usagi was too dazed to respond, “See you at school tomorrow, Usagi!”

Admittedly, Usagi had no clue where this bus route went to for every stop, but she'd be able to run back to the Tsukino house pretty easy. She was a martial artist who could leap across rooftops, after all, and-

Oh, right, normal girl's didn't do that. Well, she could maybe still do it with one of the magic pen disguises up. That was a valid use of that power, right? Shampoo wasn't here to tell her off if it was. 

Getting off the bus, it was almost accidental that it was at the same stop as the beautiful girl, and the same stop the rumours said people were disappearing at. The stranger, however, was nowhere to be seen, only the nearby shrine showing any signs of people at the oddly quiet stop.

And that's when the crows attacked. 

Usagi was familiar with fighting ducks and phoenixes, but those were largely only one bird fights. Two crows on one, especially when she was trying to figure out her way home from here, was particularly distressing.

*Scary birdies, bad birdies ACK THAT HURTS DON'T LIKE THE BIRDIES!*

There was the sound of a slamming door as Usagi tried to shoo away the birds, her crybaby nature coming to the forefront as she hoped that someone, anyone, would come and save her…

“Akuryo-Taisan!” 

The poor bunny didn't even get to register what demon was getting exorcised before getting knocked out in one shot by the paper that thwapped against her forehead at high speed. Between this and that one monster's paper attack, it was getting embarrassing. 

○●☆●○

Rei Hino wasn't normally one to worry for strangers this much. However, given how her instinct had been to knock out the currently very disoriented blonde girl in front of her, it made this her personal responsibility. 

“I'm so sorry… Usagi, was it?” Rei asked with an apologetic bow.

“... Mmm, ‘m a Bunny,” Was the response, with wide, innocent, glassy eyes, “Um… Usagi, yea…”

The girl with her hair in buns was clearly still recovering from being knocked out, but Rei was no doctor. The most she could do was treat this girl with some respectful understanding until her mind was somewhere clearer.

“I mistook you for something horrific and supernatural,” Rei still tried to explain, “Although, I do still sense an otherworldly presence.”

“Hmm…” Usagi seemed to be slightly uncomfortable by that, but that was natural. Anyone would if you told them you could sense a curse on them.

Holding out her arm, Rei let her dual crows perch on her calmly. “Phobos and Deimos would normally never attack someone like that. They're rather kind and intelligent birds.”

Usagi wasn't as receptive to that display of the crows’ natures as Rei had hoped, silently backing away a little. Understandable, but not that respectful of the attempt at kindness. Unfortunate, but not unusual. 

“Please, bring my daughter back to me,” Someone praying at the shrine caught Rei's focus, “Please, bring Mii home…”

“Excuse me,” Rei recognised the woman, and the name, “Did something happen to Mii-chan?”

“Ah, Rei-chan!” The woman sounded shocked, “Well… My daughter is missing, you must've heard about it on the news. All that gossip of the six o'clock demon bus, and it really was the one she used to catch home from here… N-not to imply your shrine is dangerous!”

A very young girl, gone… Rei had just talked to Mii yesterday, and yet the poor primary schooler had been kidnapped, or worse, taken by the surreal and otherworldly. This was a cruel twist of fate indeed…

The woman left, gossiping to a man in a suit with sunglasses. There wasn't much Rei could do, though, given that rumours always spread about her. She was an oddity, ethereal to some, monstrous to others…

“Could… Could you be the princess?” Usagi whispered to herself, incoherent to the Shinto priestess. 

“What was that?” Rei asked.

“Huh?” Strange, the blonde's eyes seemed a lot more focused and less innocent now.

Whatever was said, it didn't matter. Rei was a servant of the gods, and currently, it was her duty to watch over those in danger from the horrors of the world. If Usagi was ready to leave, there was one thing to do.

“Sendaizaka-ue is a rare place,” Rei started, “One where five hill slopes meet. Legend says there's a sixth. That sixth slope, according to the rumours, is where the six o'clock demon bus disappears to. Those who disappear like that?”

Something was odd about Usagi. She seemed transfixed, and admittedly, it was nice having an audience. It was a shame she carried an aura of chaos and curses. Now that she was coherent, she seemed like any ordinary girl on the surface. 

“Many say they're spirited away,” Walking to return to her duties as a Miko, Rei looked back once, “Please, remain careful.”

○●☆●○

“You're going soft, Jadeite.” Nephrite had the gall to taunt.

This did indeed feel cruel, yes, but that was exactly why it was chosen. Jadeite had to bring out the big plays to hold on to any chance of staying… Alive? Staying like this, at least. Continuing to work for the winning team.

“This is the best way to lure them out of hiding,” Jadeite explained, “More hostages mean more attention put on the situation.”

Before the two commanders were a pile of primarily teenagers, though there was a primary school student in the mix. People who might’ve been peers before Jadeite had awoken. But that was not be thought of, not when organising a Martial Arts Hostage Situation. 

“Instead of taking their energy, we offer them as living sacrifices to our supreme ruler,” Continued Jadeite, refusing to acknowledge the inner disgust being felt, “Them, along with the sailor guardians’ heads!”

Chapter Text

There were rumours flying around the classroom, all about the mysterious disappearing students on the demon bus. Frequently girls, all from different schools, missing. There was even theories looping in these missing persons cases from over in Nerima. Several girls and one boy might’ve been lost to the bus earlier than anyone thought…

Usagi knew that the boy they were talking about was safe. The girls, not so much. She only knew where Shampoo was, and otherwise only knew that Akane had gone missing. There was no way of knowing what girls were safe or not back home…

“Mysterious supernatural kidnappings…” Shampoo yawned at the desk behind Usagi, “I smell the enemy. We should look into that bus, Crying Girl.”

“There is this shrine there, with this beautiful girl, and…” Usagi paused for a moment.

*She was real pretty and magic and strong! Like a princess!*

“There's something about her,” The blonde trusted the childish voice in her head, “Like she might be one of us… Or… Maybe one of the enemy…”

“Oh! So you are capable of intelligent thought!” It was insulting how genuine Shampoo sounded, “Well, we should go after school!”

“No physical cats on the bus.” Usagi quickly said, trying not to take the insulting personally. 

“Dammit.” Pouted Shampoo. 

○●☆●○

Mamoru found the bus to always be pretty quiet, which had helped him really settle in to his life in Juban. It was pretty easy to just take a break, read over his course work if he needed to, and generally think through his day. 

Admittedly, there wasn't much to do on the bus today. Group projects were impossible to start solo, and with that Kousako guy from class busy with his girlfriend, and Mihari working on some… Arguably maybe gender studies, Mamoru's partners for this coming presentation were completely absent.

So, he simply had nothing to focus on but his thoughts, alone, on the back of the five o'clock Sendaizaka route bus…

“Come on, Crying Girl!” Shouted a very familiar voice running onto the bus, “What happened to all of the speed!?”

“Shamps, please, y'know I'm rusty!” Complained another, strangely more familiar voice, coming from the girl rushing on the bus and collapsing in the seat next to Mamoru, “You really think a normal girl should be seen outspeeding a train?”

“Yeah, Shampoo, what's up with that?” Mamoru said smugly, making very direct eye contact with the Amazon through his reading glasses.

“AAAAAAAHHHH!” The blonde had a far bigger reaction than the simple stealth approach Shampoo opted for, “You again!?”

“... Thanks for shattering my eardrums, Bun Head,” As if to emphasise the actual non issue, Mamoru put a hand to his ear like it was hurt, “You really like running into me, huh?”

“What!? More like you run into me!” Maybe the girl took it a bit too personally, “What are you even doing here?”

“Taking the bus home from classes, dummy.” It seemed obvious, but some people really didn't think things through, just like… No, it wasn't the time to think of Ranma.

“Oh, so you're just a high schooler?” Bun Head asked, “Some fancy boy's school, if that's your uniform.”

Mamoru scoffed, pulling out his university ID. “I just like to dress nice, okay!? I'll have you know, I'm a university student!”

Shampoo took a good look at the ID, and Mamoru forced himself not to seem any more suspicious as she read out the details. “Mamoru Chiba, K.O. University, started this year… Hmmmm…” 

This might be good. Shampoo would be completely thrown off Mamoru's trail since he clearly had an ID that showed he wasn't Akane Tendou. There was still risk in simply being near her, sure, but it would seem weirder if he did panic even more.

“So… I'm guessing you know this is the demon bus, right?” Bun Head tried to move on to small talk, “With all the missing persons and stuff?”

“I've only heard rumours, I don't really check the proper news,” His focus hadn't been on people, at least, but news regarding crystals instead, “As if there wasn't enough weird stuff around already…”

For some reason, the blonde looked at Mamoru with an odd sense of awe, and Mamoru realised a strange possibility. If this girl knew Shampoo, then maybe she'd be someone who would see through the disguise that was Mamoru Chiba.

But, when looking to see if he could recognise the girl from anywhere, something strange happened. He saw two faces, two separate entities he only briefly associated by similar voices. The Guardian of Love and Justice, Sailor Moon, and…

“Ranma…?” 

The guess wasn't meant to be said out loud, but clearly it meant something to the blonde, because she practically choked on her own breath. Shampoo was clearly shocked, too, but nowhere near as much as Bun Head.

“I'M USAGI!” The blonde finally spat out, still recovering from her surprise, “N-not… Whatever you said, rumba or Randall or whatever! Hahahaaahhahahaaha…”

“Oh, look, our stop!” Shampoo tried to save the situation, grabbing Usagi by the long twintails of her hair buns and dragging her off the bus, “Come, Crying Girl!” 

… So, Usagi at least knew who Ranma was, or at least someone with the same name. That was, in combination with the presence of Shampoo and the whole Sailor Moon scenario, highly concerning…

○●☆●○

“I think I'm going to be sick…” Usagi said as she and Shampoo walked towards the shrine, “Dunno why, but I feel sick.”

*He looks like Tuxedo Mask, and even… Someone I can't remember…* *He looks like Akane and knows the bad name and oh no oh no oh no.* *Mrrrrrrr…*

“He is very clever, and very very tricky…” Shampoo hummed with the chorus of voices only Usagi could hear. 

The small walk across the road to reach the shrine was tense, partially due to the risk of Rei being the enemy, and partially due to the name-shaped rock forming in Usagi’s gut. She was supposed to have that name, but it just made her feel horrible…

There wasn't enough time to start tearing up, though, even for a crybaby like what Usagi had become. No, the short time to walk to the shrine revealed a concerning crowd, all gathering and closing in on Rei.

“So you see…” One woman at the front bargained, “All we want is for you to use your sixth sense to divine where our daughters are.”

Murmurs of doubt crept through the crowd as Usagi made her way through, Shampoo close behind. Claims of psychic powers, that of which Usagi only knew applied to sensing curses and maybe talking to birds. Powers that wouldn't find lost girls.

“Sixth… Sense?” Rei seemed slightly confused, and only barely maintaining the crowd's calm, “It isn't as if I can pinpoint exact locations, though… Perhaps police, or those weird wandering martial artists that you hear about, may be able to help?”

The whole crowd scoffed in unison. “How dare you not even try!?” “We're patrons of this shrine, you should treat us better!” “I haven't seen her grandfather lately, I bet this is some family scheme!”

And Rei, the poor girl, simply couldn't take it. “P-PLEASE, LEAVE!”

Covering her mouth in shock, it didn't matter that the crowd was dispersing. The shrine priestess ran off the property, and only barely out of sight. It all must've been too much, and Usagi really couldn't blame her…

“... She cannot be the enemy,” Shampoo sighed, “That seemed so bizarre if she was trying to steal the Legendary Silver Crystal.”

“Right, I guess they're who we're trying to protect it from…” Usagi figured, “Makes sense. I guess I can't let ‘em have it. At least Rei is safe, then.”

“Yes, and- Ugh, there goes the bus home!” As both cat and bunny left the shrine, Shampoo complained at the sight of the passing bus… with a flashing red sign instead of the route name… and Rei inside, unconscious. 

“REI-CHAN IS ON THE DEMON BUS!” Usagi chased after the bus anyway, even as it went through a mysterious vortex on the wall, holding up her sparkly pen, “Moon Power! Turn me into a flight attendant!”

Shampoo looked confused as the costume change happened. “Crying Girl, what the fuck!?” 

“For safe trav-AAAAHHH!” Having used her natural speed to catch up to the door of the bus, Usagi instead found herself pulled into the moving vehicle as the world closed up, only a glimpse of Shampoo and, if only slightly, Tuxedo Mask, as the hole between worlds closed up.

… Aside from Rei, who was unconscious, Usagi was helpless. Her nature as a crybaby was on full display at that moment.

○●☆●○

“I came as fast as I could!” Ami ran towards Shampoo at the payphone, wheezing just enough to be concerning, “Where's Usagi?” 

“With the demon bus!” Shampoo pointed towards where the bus had driven through, "I was hoping you could communicate with Crying Girl with the watches.”

“O-oh, yes!” It was a bit silly that Ami hadn't tried that yet despite how logical it was to do so. Although, she hadn't been able to figure out how to operate the thing, and-

There was the sound of quiet sniffles starting to come from the watch. Perhaps it functioned when desired, based purely on thought alone, or maybe there was some secret button Ami accidentally tapped, or- NEVER MIND! FOCUS, MIZUNO!

“Usagi? Come in, Usagi!” Ami thought that was how they always talked over coms in movies, at least, “Usagi, is that you? Where are you? Over.”

“A-Ami-chan? Is that you?” Usagi’s voice came through the small speaker, “Uh… It's like a castle thingy, after going through the wall, and I got kicked off the bus, and… It's not looking good.”

At least Usagi was alive, but it was only a little annoying to Ami that walkie talkie conventions were being thrown to the wind. “Alright, you'll be okay, if you-”

“Transform, now!” Shampoo interrupted, “Save those girls!” 

Ami thought it'd be better to calm Usagi first, but so much for that strategy. “O-okay…” Whimpered the cute blonde.

“Shampoo, is there any way to get me to her location?” The idea of teleportation would absolutely be something to over-analyse later, but that was another matter of needing to focus, “Perhaps using the energy from our transformations, or some kind of-”

“You use too, too much detail,” Shampoo shoved a pen into Ami's hands, “Go, and take this. Now transform!”

Usagi’s voice came through the speaker again, but Ami couldn't focus on that. She didn't know how to teleport, but maybe, if she just imagined Usagi, just of how naturally cute and silly the otherwise normal but very attractive blonde was… And in a platonic way, ideally…

“MECURY POWER! MAKE UP!”

Teleporting, it turned out, felt like that one time Ami tried going to a haunted house when she was in primary school and had to stick her hand in peeled grapes as fake eyeballs. Her whole body felt that feeling, though. It was a really bad sensory input to feel.

“Ami-chan!” The voice of Usagi, thankfully, snapped Ami out of peeled-grape-feeling hell, and instead into weird-castle-that-might-actually-be-hell hell. 

A voice gasped from behind the glittery duo of girls. “So, you decided to Grace me with your presence, did you, Sailor Moon!?”

Ami turned around to see that pretty girl from the bus, held hostage by an androgynous figure in what she swore was a cosplay of that Oscar guy from that shojo manga a few of her classmates talked about loudly. 

“Let go of Rei-chan!” Usagi really seemed to like calling girls cute, “I won't stand by and let you take girls away to whatever kind of dingy dungeon this is! In the name of the moon, I, Sailor Moon, will punish you!”

Rei, as the pretty bus girl was apparently called, seemed to stir in recognition of Usagi’s voice. Had the two been talking lately? Of course, two pretty girls who both were probably better socially than Ami would talk together and hang out and- FOCUS!

“Usagi, here's some cover!” Ami struck a pose, “Mercury Aqua Mist!”

The mist engulfed the room, almost opaque without the masks that formed with the sailor suits. And it would've made perfect cover, if the enemy wasn't causing it to freeze into ice and become useless asides from the sheer volume of it.

“Ugh, you bastard!” Usagi got mad, and decided cover wasn't necessary if all the cackling enemy was doing was getting rid of it, “Moon Tiara Boomerang!” 

Taking off her tiara, Usagi threw it at the enemy with incredible force, only for it to latch onto the opponent instead of slice right through. This did, fortunately, mean Rei was free to fall to the floor.

“... Huh, didn't know it could do that.” Usagi shrugged, clearly having expected to cut through her enemy as well.

“ENOUGH!” Shouted the bound opponent, a cold blast of wind knocking both sailor guardians backwards and the spare magic pen out of Ami's grip. 

The pen slid across the ice covered floor, right into Rei's grip, and something began to change. The room started to heat up, all while the priestess seemed to fill with a righteous fury. Ami swore she could hear the caws of crows from somewhere. 

A blinding flash of light radiated from the brand new guardian as she aimed towards her kidnapper. “AKURYO-TAISAN!”

Ami had never seen anyone burn alive before, but she really didn't want to keep looking. As the ice melted and hot water pooled along the floor, Ami used this moment to run towards a pile of unconscious girls. With the energy radiating off of Rei alone, Ami channelled the same teleportation power as before to send them out of this realm and back to Sendaizaka-ue. 

The heat died down, and steam rose from the flooded floor. There stood Rei, clad in a sailor suit, the symbol of Mars burning bright where her foe once stood. In the dying heat of battle, she seemed disoriented, far more than Ami was when she awoke to her powers 

… And right there, on the floor, was someone else in the uniform of Sailor Moon, with the same hairstyle in green, shaking and cowering, trying to hide. 

“... Cold water…” Pleaded the hushed, slightly deeper voice, “Ami-chan… Cold water… Please…”

And suddenly, the lack of surprise Usagi had regarding Shampoo's shapeshifting made a little more sense. But… Why a boy?

○●☆●○

In Nerima, Hiroko woke up in her bed with a fright and a burning fever. She didn't remember falling asleep, but she must've had some horrible nightmare. 

Strangely, there was a vase of flowers on her bedside, along with several little cards. People sending well wishes, and hoping that someone would come home soon. She never had any of these here before. 

Hiroko also wasn't normally one to wear jewellery, as she was too invested in trying (and failing) to mimic the true martial artists of Nerima to risk damaging any expensive accessories. 

And yet, there was a necklace on her, a green stone that she somehow knew was jadeite. She wasn't a geology nerd, though… Maybe one of her friends told her something about it? Akane was always good with fashion, so maybe it was just a jewellery thing?

… But Hiroko knew Akane had gone missing. Then Ranma. And soon after… She couldn't remember a thing.

It was probably a good idea to do something about her temperature. It felt like she was burning alive under her quilts.

Chapter Text

“Fire and passion?” Rei asked, looking at her hands, “I suppose that explains… What I did…”

To think that Rei Hino was capable of burning someone alive was a terrifying and mystifying thought. Sure, she always had strange powers, but those were almost exclusively tied to visions and reading one's soul, not summoning purifying flame.

“It is your gift as Sailor Mars,” Shampoo the cat explained, “Psychic Girl, you have the duty to help find and protect the princess, as well as the Legendary Silver Crystal. Do you accept?”

“I… I suppose I should, even if I am a busy woman,” There was no way Rei could say no, after seeing what this enemy was willing to do to innocent people, “Are my other powers related to being a guardian? And what about you and Usagi?”

“I am unsure regarding you, sorry,” The cat sighed, looking towards where Usagi was sitting with Ami, “Crying Girl and me are different. Separate curses that helped our bodies align with our true selves a little better. Although I guess only one spring was allowed…”

Curses were the kind of thing to pick up on Rei's radar, so at least that made sense, but… “Springs?”

“In China, there is a land of springs that give curses like ours. I was born human, but I feel as if I am supposed to be feline, so the springs helped me,” Shampoo stretched as if to show off, “I assume… Usagi was meant to be a girl, when she was not born that way. Though, a rabbit curse could also work for her, not that she knows that.”

The blonde haired girl in question was sitting on a nearby bench, clearly in a state of panic. She didn't seem to like her boy form at all. Ami was clearly trying to ask questions about how the curse functioned on a technical level, but Usagi really wasn't there to answer…

“She must be a girl at heart, then,” Rei decided, “Which is good. I find it rather hard to trust men.”

Shampoo snickered a little. “She really does have a type, then.”

“W-what!?” That caught Rei off guard, “... And wait, a rabbit?”

○●☆●○

Hiroko’s legs were a little wobbly as she got out of bed, which made her wonder just how long she'd been asleep for. She was an early riser, there was no way she slept until the afternoon unless something was really wrong.

She didn't even bother to change out of her pyjamas as she walked downstairs. If she spent the day sleeping in, what was a little more time to be lazy today? She could really use something to eat, and clothes didn't matter for that.

“Hey, Hiro- Hiroshi?” Entering the kitchen, there was someone who looked a lot like Hiroko’s twin brother getting a glass of water, just dressed like a girl.

Said girl dropped her glass immediately. 

“Hiroko!?” The familiar girl ignored the mess she made and tackled Hiroko in a hug, on the brink of tears, “When- Where- I- You- Huh!?”

“I was just in bed, uh, whoever you are?” Hiroko didn't hug back with her arms, both a result of being confused and being squished.

“O-oh, uh… Chihiro. I'm Chihiro now. I'm your sister…” The hug disbanded suddenly, as if Chihiro was scared of rejection, “A lot changed since you went missing, a-and- Wait, you were in bed?”

“I went missing!?” 

Both twins looked at each other with fear and shock, all mixed into one distressing emotion that couldn't be named. Clearly, Hiroko had something happen to her, and the necklace made of jadeite heated up as if to make her worry about it even more…

“... How long have I been gone for?” Hiroko asked, scared to hear the answer.

“About… About 2 months, almost?” Bewildered, Chihiro clearly had to recount how long it had been, “Too long…”

○●☆●○

Mamoru had seen Sailor Moon transform right in front of him. From school girl to… A flight attendant, for some reason. It wasn't the costume proper, but it was enough to indicate that Usagi was Sailor Moon. It was enough to indicate that Sailor Moon liked disguises. 

… Ranma liked disguises…

It was out there, and probably stupid, to believe that Usagi was Ranma. They fought nothing alike, the Guardian of Love and Justice relying on emotion and that tiara of hers. Although, Ranma did have the Moko Takabisha… No, no drawing connections between things like that. Emotion powers are normal things that anyone can have.

Besides, Sailor Moon had super sonic cries of sadness or something. Ranma's whole deal was bright expressions of manly confidence, not a sad girl caught up in a fight she didn't want to be in. But they had such similar faces, and the response to the name…

Mamoru wished he could get a response to the letters he wrote to Ranma. Grabbing a postcard, he went to go and write the next one. Maybe this time he'd mention Sailor Moon, see if he can get a specific response when he next sees Usagi, and confirm that he was just going crazy.

A newspaper was on the table, and the last sighting of Sailor Moon had made the front page. She'd probably make it again with the demon bus incident today. Mamoru would let himself get a closer look at her face if she could, but it was only security footage, obscured by mist, and she had her own mask on.

The headline below, though… ‘Nerima Teens Still Missing, Only One Found’... 

As far as Mamoru knew, the only teen that should be missing was Akane Tendou, and even then, there were still the letters to let people know he- Well, she, was okay. By the looks of things, there was just confusion when Shampoo moved away, but otherwise? 

Hiroko, Asami, Yuka and Sayuri. All four had gone missing mysteriously, a month and a bit after Akane had run away. The four closest, normal friends Akane had… And Mamoru didn't know if he'd ever see them again now. They were missing, without a trace.

But below that came just as bad news. He was printed in black and white, that cocky grin pointed at the camera, probably getting his photo done by Nabiki. It was hard to tell what form he was in with how the shading blended weirdly, but still.

Ranma had gone missing. For two months, Ranma had been missing, with no one to say where he'd run to, or even that he had planned to run off. He had disappeared, just as the girls had, and all they could do was think it was all connected. 

Apparently, the last potential thing Ranma had left at the Tendou dojo was a strange magic hair care product. 

That was it. Ranma could be blonde now. Ranma could be connected to Shampoo. It wasn't a crack theory anymore, it was all but stated. Plain, simple, and grounded in facts. Something happened, something supernatural, something tied to the Amazons, and it happened to Ranma. 

It always happened to Ranma. 

If ‘Usagi’ was like that, such an open book of emotions, because of some scheme Shampoo had put him through, there would be hell to pay. It wouldn't matter if it gave Mamoru's identity away, even if it would feel like a punch to the gut. 

The only missing person should have been Akane Tendou.

○●☆●○

“Okay? Okay, thank you. Thank you so much. Yes. Good evening to you, too.”

The phone hung up before Kasumi could even think about it herself. The news had come short, sweet, and succinct, when it really shouldn't have. This news was huge, and there was no way to explain the most positive emotion Kasumi had felt since… Well, three months prior.

Although, even though he was the first person Kasumi had seen… Genma probably wasn't the right person to tell first. He'd immediately harass the poor girl who had been found, alerting both Ukyo and Kodachi, causing yet another violent search party into the night. Kasumi was still making house repairs from the last thirteen.

This meant no Nodoka, either, as much as it hurt to let that woman weep. But her searching always lead to some unfortunate soul experiencing their life flash before their eyes as her katana almost pierced them. Not tonight. 

Soun, Kasumi's own father, would be unresponsive, having drank himself to sleep. He didn't know what to do since he couldn't turn his sadness over Akane into anger at Ranma, and that made all of his worst habits worse.

So, that left one person in the house, intolerable old perverts not counting, who Kasumi could share the news with.

“Fuck, Kasumi, you look like death,” Nabiki said upon Kasumi's entrance, pausing the VHS and TV set up she moved to her room, “What's-”

“They found one of Akane's friends,” Kasumi rushed speaking, “In her bed, reappearing with no memory of what happened.”

“Wait, really?” Getting a nod in return, Nabiki slouched over in annoyance, “Ugh, and I swear, I almost got Akane!”

“... You have?” Kasumi hesitated to ask, her hopes risking getting high.

“Yep,” Nabiki handed over last week's letter from Akane, “Take a look at this, first.”

“To Ranma, 

“I hope everyone is coping at home. I still miss all of you, and I'm still sorry I had to run. Have you been seeing those sailor guardians on the news at all? I thought you may be interested in their fighting skills. Hoping you can give me a good fight when I get back. 

“From, Akane Tendou”

“Sailor guardians?” Kasumi hadn't heard of them before.

“Yep, girls in sailor suits in Juban, been spotted a few times taking down monsters,” Pointing at the TV, Nabiki highlighted the rerun of the news feed she'd been watching, “And if you look at this one here…”

The security camera footage shared by the news station was blurry with mist, but clearly a school's computer room. The main focus was on a masked blonde girl, but there were two others in the shot. There was a silhouette of a cat, and more visibly… A girl with short blue hair.

“Oh my…”

“I've been checking this footage back and forth since recording it, so unless she magically appears like her friend?” Nabiki hit play on the VHS player, “You have my bet.”

○●☆●○

Usagi walked right up to the front door, knocked so someone would open it for her, and collapsed right into that person's arms in exhaustion. 

“Usagi?” Mrs Tsukino almost fell backwards from the sudden hug, “Hey, little bunny, are you okay?”

“Mnnnnnnggggghhhhhh…” Usagi couldn't even try to use words. She felt gross and distressed and absolutely exhausted.

Ami was kind, pretty, and incredible, but she was unfortunately painfully curious about the curse. She still treated Usagi like a girl, which was perfect for maintaining this life, but it all made the blonde completely worn out and icky feeling. 

“Alright, a tough day, then, I see,” Why couldn't Usagi have ever been hugged so gently by either of her biological parents? “Come on in, you're safe now.”

It was clear that she was being guided to her room, but Usagi didn't want to be alone. She wanted to feel right, like she didn't have to risk her life falling apart at every moment. Her fellow guardians all knew she was born a boy, but it'd be awful if her family found out, right? 

They'd, at best, probably start treating Usagi as a boy, make her go to school as one, get rid of all the girly things she owned now, expect her to be so good at being a man that she could be one even if life depended on it. Usagi could imagine her hair going green again. Not her own blonde, not even the black or red of Ranma, but a boy's ugly green colour that wouldn't feel right ever and perfectly matched just how bad hot water felt and-

“Shhh, I've got you,” They were stopped halfway up the stairs, “You're okay, I've got you. No matter what happened to you, it's all over now.”

That's what made the Tsukino household feel so safe. They knew Usagi had problems that hurt to think about, so they just let her not think about them. They didn't know her pain, or her fears, but she was safe. She could tell them when she was ready.

*I missed so much time with my mother…*

“... Mum?” Usagi squeaked out a little once she caught her breath, “Could you… Maybe… Um… Help brush and redo my hair?”

“Oh!?” The woman seemed surprised to finally be called Usagi’s mum, but no other title made sense to the blonde in that moment, “Of course! I'm surprised you haven't asked at all before! Come on, my little bunny, let's get you all sorted.”

Usagi liked when her family called her Bunny, or a bunny, or any variation on it. It felt sweet and soft, just making everything feel nicer. A bunny from the moon, the most consistent home Ranma had known, and home that Usagi belonged to now. 

Fully in her room, Usagi picked up one of the girliest things she owned, a pink bunny plush, and held it tight. The moon rabbit waited for her good mum to come in and be nice to her, to be a comfort that a pigtailed boy could never have.

Chapter Text

“Usagi, Shampoo, you're here!” Ami cheered as the girl and cat in question walked into the arcade.

“They're late,” Rei scoffed, “Later than the police checks should've made them, in fact.”

“My teacher really likes holding me back, I guess…” Usagi laughed awkwardly, deliberately avoiding bringing up the cause being her low test scores.

“All these police for a jewellery empire heiress seems like too, too much,” Hoping on top of the Sailor V game cabinet, Shampoo sighed, “Though, her coming with a large, crystal could mean-”

“On that note, how are we supposed to find our princess?” The newly minted Sailor Mars asked with a hair flick, “Where is she, what is she like, and why isn't she here? And furthermore, why do you happen to know all of this while we don't!?”

There was a pause, and Usagi had to hide the fact that really, this was normal to her. Everything about the Chinese Amazons was a weird mystery and riddle, and all of this barely felt any different aside from her own more vulnerable emotional state.

“... You probably would not believe me, no matter how much you say you would or how much I try to explain.” Shampoo meowed, downtrodden. 

“Can you at least tell us about the enemy?” Ami suggested, “We need as much data as we can get.”

The cat only looked more guilty. “There is not supposed to be an enemy. You are only guardians to protect the princess. The enemy was a surprise to me, too.”

This conversation wasn't really aimed at Usagi, so it was easy to get distracted. She wouldn't go to the Sailor V game that the rest were crowded around, though. No, instead she wandered over to the window, watching the usual crowds and cars be halted by police.

“I think the princess herself in under a seal,” Shampoo continued in the background, “She has the Legendary Silver Crystal, probably, and knowing what it is may make it harder to hide. She has hidden herself away from everyone, even us.”

“So, in theory, we'd have to awaken her and remove the seal,” Ami pieced together, “Just like our awakenings as guardians, right?”

“Except we didn't wake up knowing our duty, and we still don't completely,” Sighed Rei, tired of how little information there was, “So it's probably something grander.”

“It will take gathering all guardians, but the seal will break, and you should know everything then,” Shampoo confirmed, “... I think. That is truly all I can tell you.”

The three went quiet, and Usagi simply took in the sights and sounds outside. A large limousine had been pulled over by the police, gaining permission to pass after a few checks. However, with the jewellery company branding on the side, that meant the young lady seated at the back…

“Usagi, get your head out of the clouds!” Rei commanded, to no avail. Instead, Usagi grabbed Shampoo and shoved the cat's face against the window. 

“You know how bad I am with faces, yeah?” The blonde said, exasperated, “Please tell me Princess D ain't just Mousse with those glasses.”

○●☆●○

“This ‘D Kingdom’... They have a mythical royal treasure?” The commander spoke to the contained pile of ashes held within the main chamber, “I've already connected the dots, Jadeite, and I promise to revive you.”

Nephrite of The Four Heavenly Kings proceeded to march forward towards the queen at the end of the hall. They were fuelled by vengeance and curiosity, far greater than the duty given for the greater good of the kingdom. 

“Queen Beryl,” They addressed with a bow, “Permission to seek out the Legendary Silver Crystal by following this particular lead?”

Holding out a newspaper, Nephrite waited for the queen to read through thoroughly before being scared back by her wicked cackle. “Of course you may! The Legendary Silver Crystal shall be ours, ready to resurrect our true supreme ruler!”

Nephrite had other plans on who should be brought back from death, but it was worth the lie. After all, they themselves didn't know what the crystal looked like, or how it functioned. If they could just find out… 

“Of course, Queen Beryl, thank you,” Nephrite smiled fakely, “I shall succeed.”

○●☆●○

“I'm home!” Taking off her shoes, Usagi was a little caught off guard by all the hustle and bustle. 

She had never seen anyone truly pull off a suit, except for maybe herself at the failed wedding… But her dad, her good, current dad, was pretty snazzy. He probably couldn't actually fight Genma, but Usagi could hope that Mr Tsukino would win that hypothetical fight.

“Dad, why are you all dressed up?” Usagi asked, still not recognising the pure surprise in her family's eyes that she was finally acknowledging them as such.

“Oh! I'm going to the D Kingdom Embassy,” Mr Tsukino said while adjusting his tie, “I'm writing a piece on the masquerade ball tonight for my magazine.”

Her dad was going to this ball, there was this whole potential Sailor Moon business at this ball, it was a masquerade ball which meant fun disguises… Back at Furinkan, there was only murmurs that there'd be a masquerade party, and not one Usagi would experience now…

*A ball? It's been so long since I've last been to one…* *Dress up? Can I dress up really pretty!?*

“Could… Could I go?” That small imaginary crystalline heart pulsed a little, forcing the question out of her.

“I'm so sorry, Bunny, but I only have a ticket for myself,” Gently, Usagi’s dad gave her a fatherly headpat before walking out the door, “I'll make sure to bring back plenty of pictures, and it will all be on TV, okay?”

“O-okay…?” There was nothing to do but feel an odd pain in Usagi’s heart, all while watching her dad walk away. 

Usagi shouldn't have wanted to really go, to dress up like some kind of royalty, but something in her yearned to be the prettiest girl there. It wasn't a thing a normal girl would do, but it was something a normal girl might want… And there'd probably be no French people there, so…

No, it wasn't what she should've wanted behind the disguise. She was a man behind all of this, she should just not imagine going and be done with it. Even if she would eternally be jealous of that princess in glasses and how pampered she must be…

*Prrrrrrrrrrrrrr…* 

“UGH, NOT YOU, TOO!” Usagi yelled aloud at the most familiar voice in her head.

“... Sure, Bunny, not me, too,” Shingo stared at her as he passed, seeming very concerned about his adoptive older sister, “What are we talking about, by the way?”

“... I'm going to see if some classmates are up for a study session,” Lying, Usagi at least was honest about going to see Shampoo, “Tell Mum I can handle dinner myself if I'm not back in five or ten minutes.”

○●☆●○

“I still think this was a poor use of the communicators,” Rei pouted, slightly ruining the regal vibe her dress gave off, “Right, Ami? … Ami?”

The blue haired girl was paying very careful attention to both of her friends, having an even harder time maintaining eye contact than usual, though. Rei, supernaturally beautiful as ever, and Usagi, radiant enough to outshine the moon. 

“Um… Never mind,” Trying to maintain some composure, Rei turned to face the blonde in the group, “Usagi, I hope you understand that- That… That… Uh…”

Another Sailor Guardian fell to the toughest enemy yet: Usagi’s outfit choice. She so often hid in slightly baggier clothes for disguise and comfort sake, that seeing the blonde's perfect proportions and toned martial artist muscle was doing things to poor hormonal teenage brains. At least Usagi was just as stunned as the other two.

“Useless lesbians, all of you…” Shampoo sighed, the cat slinking between the feet of other crowd goers.

“I-it might be easier to go looking for the princess if we all split up,” Rei very clearly diverted her eyes away from Usagi as she dragged away Ami, “Come on, let's go.”

Before Usagi could say a word, her team was gone, and she was left alone in something out of a foreign film. The Chardins must've been on the lower end of aristocracy, because the pure size and scope of this particular party was off the charts. 

Amongst a ballroom of masked upper-class party-goers, the atmosphere felt romantic beyond belief, a fairytale. A celebration so lavish, the moon shining clearly through the windows as if this whole party was truly meant for Usagi, framing her as the… As…

A tray of various drinks fell out of a waitresses hand, and while the last to spill on Usagi was thankfully cold, it was only after a hot one had stained her dress first. Her body twisted, stretched, and contoured back and forth in the blink of an eye, and that brief moment of manhood made her feel gross.

The waitress apologised profusely, but Usagi was too busy searching for the nearest restroom to, at bare minimum, summon a new disguise without being seen. She was still a girl here, she still wanted to look pretty, she still wanted at least one dance, she… 

She wanted to feel like a princess. A stained dress wouldn't stop her.

○●☆●○

The blonde dropped a handkerchief as she ran off, one reminiscent of a royal's. It matched the general princess appearance Sailor Moon was pulling off. It was engraved with ‘Usagi Tsukino, Class 2-1’, as well as a rabbit wearing a bow. 

Moon rabbit. Ranma had said the moon called out to him…

Mamoru, suited and masked, had simply snuck into this party on account of searching for the Legendary Silver Crystal from his dreams. But, of course, Sailor Moon was there yet again. She was searching for the same thing, probably.

And, then and there, the proof was given that this was indeed Ranma. Mamoru saw the transformation before his very eyes. It was a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, but unless someone else went to Jusenkyo, everything lined up. 

His mind had to be altered. There was no way he would let some superhero identity be the one to take all the credit for saving the day. Dressing like a girl, yes, Ranma would disguise himself easily, but it would be the Man Amongst Men getting the fame for fights.

Was… Was this that girl again? Had Ranma been hit on the head, just like that day? Did Shampoo lure her out for her own nefarious scheme? Though, the girl had been a general pacifist… But it wasn't impossible. 

The most Mamoru could do was try to snap Ranma out of it. So, handkerchief in hand, he waited by the restroom entrance, his mind racing about just how to handle this entire mess. How to handle Ranma, like this, being so, so familiar…

The door opened, and Usagi was wiping away faint tears. How often had Ranma cried so gently and openly? It was heartbreaking, and pulled Mamoru out of his righteous fury towards Shampoo and back down to Earth, grounded.

“Excuse me, your beautiful highness,” He said, the words feeling familiar on his tongue, as he reached out to hold Usagi’s hand, “May I have this dance?”

The blonde gasped, but let herself get carried away. “Tuxedo Mask?!” 

… It almost sounded like she whispered another name under her breath, but the ballroom swept it away in the music and atmosphere. Still, she blushed as she was lead across the dance floor.

“... Usagi, Sailor Moon…” The next few words nearly got caught in Mamoru's throat, “... Ranma Saotome, who I hope has been getting my postcards.”

As expected, the blonde froze, and the name she said quietly got repeated. “... Akane.”

“Mamoru, for now,” The old name stung, but it wasn't the time to dwell on it, “I… I missed you.”

There was a moment of doubt, where Mamoru was scared that this was the wrong course of action, that he ruined everything in trying to save Ranma. And yet, the blonde with hair buns pulled herself closer towards Mamoru's chest, desperate. 

“I missed you more…” The gentle whisper came with a few sniffles, “And I'm just Usagi, please.”

“Awright, Just Usagi,” The joke landed as well as it could have, although Usagi’s chuckle was a lot softer than it had been months before, “Blonde looks cute on you, though I'm still mixed on the buns.”

“Says you, sudden menswear enthusiast…” Usagi’s red eyes looked deep into Mamoru's soul, “... Why'd you run away? Everything fell apart without-”

“Crying Girl!” Shampoo called from somewhere, and was clearly coming this way, “We have found Princess D!” 

There wasn't enough time to move forward with saving Ran- Usagi, not if it meant making a huge fuss at the ball. The cat approaching, Mamoru reluctantly let go of his fiance from a previous life, and ran off into the night before Usagi could turn around. 

○●☆●○

It felt like a dream. It had to have been a dream. Because just as soon as Akane, as Mamoru, and as Tuxedo Mask appeared, the dark blue haired apparition vanished completely. Likely the night, the atmosphere, and the loneliness getting to Usagi as cruelly as possible, even if it had felt real…

“I do not sense that Princess D is our princess, but-” Shampoo briefly pawed at Usagi’s feet, “Crying Girl, are you listening? Something is wrong with Princess D.”

“... Do you think you could pinch me, Shamps? Just to be sure?” The fact that cats don't have fingers to pinch with wasn't even registering to Usagi as she stared at where her strongest love had been.

“CRYING GIRL! THERE IS SOMETHING BAD HAPPENING!” Yelled Shampoo, turning to push Usagi towards the large central door of the ballroom by nudging the blonde's ankles, “WE HAVE TO GO!”

“Okay, okay, yikes!” Usagi stumbled forward, “What's the ru-”

The door slammed open, and in the center, a young girl with swirly milk bottle bottoms for glasses stood like a raging bull. Her large ball gown was treated with no care whatsoever, and a jewellery box of sorts was held right underneath her very poofy sleeves.

“THE MYTHICAL ROYAL TREASURE IS MINE!” Princess D cackled wildly, charging forward towards the balcony facing outside, as if about to jump. 

While all other party-goers were stunned, and the guards were too slow, Usagi couldn't help but sprint forward at a wicked pace, a blonde blur across the dance floor to save an innocent, as both a guardian and a martial artist should. 

“Princess D, snap out of it!” Usagi cried out as she enveloped the young heiress in a protective embrace.

However, something akin to a battle aura flared up within the glasses wearing girl, a shadowy force that allowed her to fling Usagi off of her and over the balcony's edge. “Let go of me!”

Landing from this high up wouldn't have been an issue, not when Usagi was capable of jumping far higher. However, she wouldn't be able to walk easily for quite some time afterwards, rendering her useless to her fellow guardians for this event…

And Mamoru caught her by the wrist before she could fall too far. A quick sweeping motion from his strong arms meant Usagi could gracefully land on the balcony beside her dear Tuxedo Mask… 

“You weren't moxibustioned, were you?” Whispered Mamoru as he took a familiar fighting stance.

“What? No!” That almost offended Usagi, she hadn't been slacking enough to become totally weak, “Just watch, I've got this!”

Before Usagi could reach for her pen, a thrown dagger just barely missed grazing her face.

“Usagi-chan!” Ami's voice rang out from the tinny speaker of the communicator, “The princess must be possessed! The whole crowd back here is just as weird and shadowy! Over.”

As impossible as it was to see past her thick lenses, there was still something wicked in Princess D's eyes, something supernatural. With a sweep of her arms, several other blades came flying from the sleeves of her ball gown, an evil grin spreading despite Usagi dodging all of them.

“SHAMPS, YOU TOLD ME SHE WASN'T MOUSSE!” Usagi quickly turned to yell at the cat as she narrowly dodged a spear.

If cats could shrug, Shampoo was easy proof. “The art works in mysterious ways!”

With several weapons in play, it'd be impossible to get a clean way in. Fortunately, with his cape and sheer strength, Tuxedo Mask provided cover as a jewel encrusted training potty came flying towards the two. “Do your thing, now!”

Nodding with affirmation, Usagi prayed the transformation wouldn't blind her fellow martial artist. “Moon Prism Power, Make Up!”

As the princess dress turned to the sailor suit, there was a clear absence of the tiara lost to the flames of the last fight. However, a new, warm and gentle feeling filled Usagi, the imaginary crystalline core pulsing, and a new tiara formed. 

Sailor Moon stepped away from her masked saviour, striking a pose as if to taunt her way into getting hit. Unfortunately for the possessed princess, the pretty guardian grabbed the shoe that had been chucked at her and threw it right back, knocking Princess D out the moment it hit her forehead. The treasure slipped out from inside her sleeves…

… Revealing a diamond statue of the princess herself. 

“So much for that lead…” Tuxedo Mask sounded truly dejected, as if that treasure was supposed to be something else, like, say, a Legendary Silver Crystal. 

“Sorry we're late!” Sailor Mars dashed up to the balcony, already in uniform.

“The crowd's been handled!” Called out Sailor Mercury, following suit. True enough, the possessed crowd was struggling within a very brand new indoor pool that Usagi would not be entering if she could help it.

… A pool that was starting to have a small whirlpool form in it, as if a sink plug had been pulled. The abyss forming under the water looked a lot like the forced route the demon bus took to that other realm. 

“Thank you, you foul sailor scum!” A shadowy face emerged from the unconscious heiress, “I, Nephrite, won't claim this phony treasure for our supreme ruler, but I can still take these many living sacrifices!”

“Oh no you don't!” The caws of crows coming from seemingly nowhere, Sailor Mars took aim at the apparition, “Akuryo-Taisan!”

The blast of fire did nothing but phase through the shadow of Nephrite, a scorch mark now fresh against the building's interior. The sailor scouts all looked out in shock, but at least one person pieced together what to do.

“Sailor Moon!” Called out Tuxedo Mask while pointing towards the true moon through the window, “Light can cut through shadows! What can that sparkly tiara of yours do?”

The tiara, once Usagi took a look at it in her hands, did seem to have a jewel that light could pass through… 

“MOON TWILIGHT FLASH!” Usagi screamed out of buried instinct, holding the sign of princesshood upwards to let the light of the moon blast that shadow monster into oblivion. 

The air became clear as the shadows were dispelled, and the makeshift pool Sailor Mercury summoned started to spill out doors and windows, rather than down a horrific drain. Usagi, in fact could see a specific person among the recovering crowd, coughing harshly.

“Dad!” Usagi practically jumped off the top floor to reach her father, “Sorry, I've gotta help with clean up! Stay right there, ‘Tuxedo Mask’, I'll be back for you!” 

Throwing a quick and flirty wink back at her true fiancee, Sailor Moon then did her best to remain professional. Her dad couldn't know she was his daughter like this, or that she was head over heels in love with someone from a life that wasn't hers anymore. 

Hopefully, Mamoru would stick around. Even if they were both in what were probably disguises, especially in Usagi’s case, it would be a dream come true just to have him there, her sweet… Her sweet, charming…

Her prince. Her very, painfully familiar, prince.

○●☆●○

Shampoo, from the sidelines, took a good look at Tuxedo Mask. The boy was a mystery, and always in all the wrong places. Plus, it was almost impossible to find any information at all on Mamoru Chiba, which proved recon a pain.

“Masked Boy, who are you?” The cat questioned, watching the boy prepare to leave via balcony, “Why are you always around?”

There was an odd sigh of relief, as if Tuxedo Mask was glad to have not been fully found out. “Probably the same reason as you, Shampoo. The Legendary Silver Crystal… So don't make an enemy out of me.”

Cape flowing in the night air, he adjusted his mask slightly before looking back one more time. Looking back into the ballroom, seeing Usagi helping her current self's father. There was a pained look on his face.

“Though, maybe I'm already against you.” Suddenly making direct eye contact with Shampoo, Tuxedo Mask sounded furious before leaping into the black of the night.

Another who knew about the Legendary Silver Crystal… Shampoo didn't know what to make of the boy she didn't recognise, the university student, the gentleman thief who had managed to steal Sailor Moon's heart. He was, all in all, a threat.

Chapter Text

So many things were uncertain in the thickness of the fog. There was no way to tell where she was, a blank white space that could only be likened to the purest of snow. The girl, unsure if she was Usagi Tsukino, Ranma Saotome, or someone else entirely, reached out to the figure calling out to her…

“And that's all I really got from that dream,” Usagi huffed, her recollection of the dream only interrupted by the downpour over the streets of Juban, “Any clue what it could mean?”

Shampoo sighed as she clutched hard to her umbrella. “It means Crying Girl should stop sleeping in. Why worry so much about dreams? You have a mission as a guardian! You have gotten too, too distracted like this.”

“What!? No I…” There wasn't any denying it, Usagi was a lot less proactive than she had once been, but it wasn't her fault that being a normal girl was actually kind of nice!

“It is true, and you should be more careful!” The Amazon's face turned sour, “For example, you are far too trusting of Masked Boy! We do not even know who he is! You could, maybe, try not to get close to him.”

Just the mention of Mamoru, Tuxedo Mask, Akane, set Usagi’s heart a flutter. There was no comment from her internal thoughts, but… Well, she could feel how happy that gentler voice in her mind yearned for the feeling of her love's arms around her.

But Shampoo didn't know who Tuxedo Mask was, let alone who Mamoru was. She was already on high alert, and… Given Shampoo's usual track record back in Nerima, even with the current hold on any marriages occurring, reintroducing the biggest threat to her might go sour in an instant. 

“You just wouldn't get it, Shampoo.” Sighed Usagi, stepping out onto the road-

Getting tackled off of it in an instant, a car whirring past as Usagi was reminded of how incredibly small she could be in someone's arms. 

Someone arguably as tall as Kasumi Tendou, with rose shaped earrings and a perfume to match, had saved Usagi. A girl, strong, beautiful, clearly incredibly kind, and enough of a good first impression for Usagi to yet again start crushing hard.

“Be careful out there, alright?” The tall brunette said as she started walking off.

“Y-yes, ma'am…” The blonde felt a little weak in the knees.

The heavy, exhausted sigh Shampoo gave in response to the whole scene could've probably been heard across Tokyo, and emotionally felt at least as far as Jusenkyo. The purple haired girl decided to walk ahead as Usagi was left flustered.

○●☆●○

“Soooo… Did you leave that letter for that girl you like?” Mihari hounded Mamoru the moment he sat on the chair opposite her in the library, “Is that why you're late?”

“S-since when did I say I had a girl I like!?” To say that Mamoru blushed pink would be an understatement.

“Since you left this at our last study session, about a week ago,” A familiar handkerchief was pulled out from the pocket of Mihari's ever present lab coat, engraved with Usagi’s current name and classroom, “She didn't jump grades with you either, huh?”

Caught, all the blue haired boy could do was surrender. “... She's not exactly the smartest person out there. But she's mine. I wish I could just see her more often like I used to…”

“I couldn't relate more…” Mihari sighed before pushing over a stack of papers, “Anyway, could you proofread this for me? My little sister had a rough night last night and I couldn't spell check everything.”

“Oh, sure, if you can read through mine.” Mamoru got out the writing assignment he had for his medical course, but the work he had gotten in return to proofread was gender studies, “‘Effects Of Insistent Affirmation On Closeted Transgender Individuals’?”

“Oh, yeah, that's my current major study project! It's going along really well,” If Mihari was trying not to brag, it wasn't working, “I was actually hoping to get your point of view as a trans man to add another perspective than just my solo test subject.”

“... Trans… Man?” Mamoru wasn't in gender studies for a reason, apparently. 

“... Is that not a binder?” Mihari pointed to the article of clothing visible underneath Mamoru's rain-soaked white button up shirt, “And you frequently had to correct yourself saying your own name back at the start of the term, I assumed because you were so used to your deadname in high school.”

Unsure how to answer, Mamoru thought inwards. He had chosen to disguise as a boy because no one would suspect he was once Akane, and because being a boy was easy. It felt right. He would go back to being Akane, but…

“... There's words for liking being something you weren't born as?” Asking the question made him feel like an idiot, no matter how quietly he whispered it.

○●☆●○

“Oh my gosh, Usagi-chan!” Naru-chan squealed as she walked and talked, “That's so cute! I wish boys would leave letters in my locker…”

Usagi still couldn't believe it. Rather than a postcard, mailed off to the Tendous, Mamoru had somehow snuck a letter detailing just how much he missed her into her shoe locker. It was enough to make every girl in class gossip.

“What's he like? What school does he go to?”

“How do I convince my boyfriend to write me letters!?”

“Can I be your bridesmaid, Usagi-chan?” Asked Naru-chan, far too genuinely, “I already know what it's like to do dress fittings!”

Arguably, that last part was said in jest, as high school was too young for normal, average girls to get married. But Usagi almost had been married, and that suit had itched like hell. If it wasn't going to fall apart, then… 

An image of Usagi and Mamoru at the failed wedding of Ranma and Akane filled the blonde's mind, except for a key difference. They both looked as they did now, blonde girl instead of black haired boy, with Mamoru in the tux and Usagi…

No, no, she was still supposed to be a guy underneath everything. But when she tried to imagine her next to a bride, she was still all dolled up, next to Ami. Trying again only brought up Rei, then both girls, then the girls and Mamoru in a white tux again and-

“I want to be a bride…” Said both Usagi and the gentle voice in her mind at once, hardly audible above a whisper.

“As long as my future groom doesn't go missing, me too,” Naru-chan sighed, “My cousin's fiance is nowhere to be seen… Though, have you heard of that arranged couple in the news that went missing from Nerima a month apart?”

“Uhhhhhhh… No, I- WAAAA!” In shock, Usagi managed to trip on her own feet in the halls.

… Only for the tall girl from before to save her once again. “Careful there.”

There was some fighting over why the new girl wasn't wearing the school uniform as a teacher walked by, but Usagi was stuck to her spot, watching the brunette. From how she held herself, not to mention the tone in her arms and legs that Usagi was staring at a normal amount, it was clear.

The new girl was a martial artist.

○●☆●○

Once the rain had cleared up, it was obvious that the courtyard had a nice little tucked away spot. After the day Makoto was having, filled with rumours and gossip, it would be nice to have a little bit of space away from it all. 

*What do they know about me? They can't even get over my naturally wavy hair!* 

That little voice in Makoto's head clearly wasn't over all the drama. It had always nagged at her in little ways, and apparently she couldn't even eat lunch in peace without her own personal peanut gallery. 

Although, it was clear that she was being watched, regardless. You spend so much time on the outskirts in one school environment, you learn quickly how it feels to have eyes boring into the back of your head.

In the distance, the sound of a baseball hitting a metal bat could be heard, and the cheers from the players were thunderous. Maybe it'd be nice to join a sports team while here, given how few martial artists there probably were in-

*Cute girl about to get hurt, on your left!*

Instinct guided Makoto to leap forward, grabbing the high speed valley just inches before reaching a girl's face. That explained who was staring at her, at least. Makoto hurled the ball back with as much force as she could back at the baseball players before properly facing the blonde.

*... Why is she so familiar?*

“Oh, the girl from this morning!” Makoto ignored that nagging feeling, “You get into trouble really easily, huh?”

“Y-yeah, haha…” The blonde clearly knew how much trouble came to her, “I guess I can't help it…”

Something about the way the girl held herself was interesting. Something Makoto could almost recognise… And, with the slight amount of muscle visible behind blondie's baggy uniform, it gave Makoto a bit of a hunch.

“Well, a martial artist's life is filled with peril,” The brunette couldn't help but smirk at how the stranger's face lit up a little more, “Although you look like you already know that. What do you specialise in?”

“Any- Uh… A little bit of everything, y'know?” It was clear that she was trying to hide her true school in the art, for whatever reason, “N-not that I do much at the moment, I'm kinda busy, but-”

Makoto propped herself for a punch, slightly exaggerating the wind up to make it obvious. The fastest way to get a sense of someone's fighting style was to put them in the heat of the moment, after all. And blondie? That girl jumped far into the air and out of of way, landing gracefully behind Makoto.

“... Okay, you need to teach me how to do that,” Makoto said with wide eyes. “It'd be great to know another martial artist around here, and just someone who knows her way around. Know any good arcades?”

○●☆●○

“Are ya sure you don't have anything? Nothing at all?” 

“Really, Ukyo, I promise I'd tell you if I knew what happened!”

Nabiki was not impressed that her third year of high school involved watching students try to force information out of others with brute force. There was an art to it, a hint of espionage and financial persuasion, that was lacking. 

The way Ukyo was harassing Hiroko, for example, was pathetic. Hiroko held no information due to the memory blank since she returned, and thus Ukyo had been putting in effort that could've gone to better places. And yet, ever since the formerly missing girl reappeared, the okonomiyaki chef kept at it.

On the bright side, at least Kodachi was remaining off of Furinkan High's grounds. That was an extra layer of chaos Nabiki didn't need. One Kuno trying to constantly look for both Akane and Ranma at school was enough. 

“Psst, Nabiki,” Kikuko, sitting on Nabiki’s left as per usual during lunch, whispered sharply, “You did say you heard something about your sister in Juban, right?”

“ Yeah, but I'm thinking of giving up that trail,” There hadn't been another postcard since Nabiki caught another glimpse of that blue haired sailor-suited guardian on TV, during that ball, “Blue hair doesn't mean necessarily Akane…”

“Really? You're giving up the chase now?” Ryonami on the right nearly dropped her lunch, “Even though a tomboyish martial artist has apparently transferred to Juban Public High School?”

“And the Nekohanten apparently moved over there, with a blue haired JPHS student visiting frequently?” Kikuko added, “Because my cousin, Umino, has been huge on all the gossip, and was very curious about some things he's been seeing lately.”

“Wait, really!?” So there were more threads for Nabiki to chase… “Did you get names!? Home addresses!? Bank details!?”

Shampoo being over in Juban likely meant she held the key to Akane being there, and a tomboyish martial artist definitely sounded like Akane. Add on the blue haired school student, the sailor scout, the lack of letters to Ranma…

“... Akane and Ranma ran away together, at separate times so no one would expect it!” The Ice Queen pieced together, “Ranma does disguises enough that it explains why he hasn't been seen, and Shampoo… Well, her timing was off, but I think I got it!”

“Oh?” 

The cold edge of a large spatula blade was pressed lightly against Nabiki’s arm. Information is power, but physical strength could overpower information. And Nabiki just gave up her leverage to save herself from Ukyo Kuonji.

“So, where do ya think Ranchan is?” The chef said, desperate. 

Chapter Text

“I heard that bridal shop was haunted,” Ami gossiped as the trio passed through the shopping district, “Right there, the one with the mannequin in the window. Apparently the mannequin comes to life and steals away men.”

“It does have a strange aura to it…” Rei looked at the building with a cautious glare, “Although, if a man goes missing to a ghost bride, that's his fault. Men, I swear…”

There was always a sense of painful familiarity Shampoo felt around Usagi’s friends. The fact that the current conversation was about weddings didn't help. Nerima followed her, and the kiss of marriage followed her too.

The temporary peace between Shampoo and Usagi made things weird, especially while Shampoo was following her strange dreams that encouraged the formation of the sailor guardians. Usagi was foundational to this mission, and only as Usagi, not as Ranma… So the engagement really was on hold. 

But everything reminded Shampoo of what was a matter of honour. Something she couldn't uphold at the moment… But something she still would, eventually, have to do. Marrying Ranma Saotome, no matter how many people were in the way…

“I would rather not talk about weddings,” Shampoo huffed at the planetary pair, “Haunted mannequins or otherwise.”

“No need to get so snappy over it…” Rei mumbled under her breath. 

The plan, initially, was to meet at Rei's place after school, largely to try and plan the next move after the masquerade. However, a certain artificial blonde happened to ‘Really really really need to go to the arcade after school’, so Shampoo and Ami went to gatherl the priestess. 

The arcade, as per usual during these meetings, had Usagi by the Sailor V cabinet, though she wasn't the one playing. No, that would be the tall, brown haired girl who saved Usagi from the car earlier that morning. 

“You can make V transform and stuff!?” The blonde asked as she leaned over the brunette's shoulder, “How'd you even do that!?”

“Here,” The taller of the two dragged Usagi into her lap, then moved the flustered bunny's hands onto a specific set of buttons, “This combo has the harp player form, and you'll want to spam these if you want to use it.” 

“O-okay…” Usagi didn't seem as focused as she implied she was, and looking at Rei and Ami…

Well, Shampoo was pretty sure she was the only one there not attracted to girls. Ami stared with wide eyes, a blush creeping up her face as she covered her mouth. Rei's blush was similar, but with more of a shocked stammer and dropped jaw. 

It really was up to Shampoo to do everything around here. “Crying Girl, care to introduce us to your new friend?” 

Unfortunately, Usagi seemed a little too out of it to answer herself, the cause of such flustered behaviour responding herself. “I just transferred to Juban Public High, class 2-6. Makoto Kino. Nice to meet you. Are you martial artists too?”

Usagi. Had. A type.

“Shampoo, and yes,” The Amazon's grin went sweet and sharp, “What do you specialise in?”

“Oh, a little bit of everything,” Makoto laughed as Usagi looked awkwardly at the floor, “How about you?”

“Various melee weapons and… Some mind-based practices,” The eyes of the two civilian sailor scouts seemed to be entirely on Shampoo as she revealed a little bit more about herself, “Traditions from my home, very, very rare.”

“Huh, well… Sounds neat,” The air felt tense and charged with electricity, “But I'm not too aware of mind alteration techniques. I'll let you girls have your fun, thanks for showing me around, Usagi!”

Makoto excused herself from the arcade by bridal carrying Usagi over to Rei and Ami, placing the blonde in her teammates’ arms before leaving. The sailor scouts stood as a collective surprised mess, watching Makoto as she walked away.

“... Would it be strange to suggest that we found the next guardian?” Rei blinked, the only one remotely coherent. 

“No, Psychic Girl, it would not,” Shampoo felt something strange about Makoto Kino, only needing to pinpoint what, “We will have to see…”

○●☆●○

The earth shattering revelation that people could simply be a different gender than the one they were given had made it very hard to focus for Mamoru. All the way into the late evening, he couldn't stop thinking about it.

It didn't need a curse, it didn't need anything but simply identifying as something else. Was that really what Mamoru was doing? He hadn't thought of himself as Akane the girl for a while now, after all… 

Was that what Usagi was doing? Her birth form had been a no show, Shampoo kept calling her a girl, she was definitely going to school as a girl… But it all could still be something Shampoo had set up, some strange manipulation. 

It was a mess to sort through, even just trying to account for his feelings alone. Mamoru had planned all this time that he'd be a girl again once he was done with this disguise, but if he just stayed a boy…

Would he be Mamoru Tendou then? Or would it be better to stay away from everything and remain Mamoru Chiba? Would he even be allowed home as a boy? Usagi didn't mind the existence of Mamoru, it seemed, but that could be a separate thing, based on the nature of disguises.

This was a disaster to try and focus on at the same time as walking through an increasingly dark street. It felt darker than it should've been, an ever enveloping darkness that felt like it was supposed to suffocate someone. Something a little like…

That aura from every monster Sailor Moon had fought. It radiated off of a muscular red haired woman, dragging away a girl into a building as its clothes became that of a ghostly bride. The brunette in the monster's arms seemed helpless.

Mamoru wasn't fast enough to land a punch, that's for sure, but if the monster was like the one from the ball, it'd take a whole other kind of power to defeat the thing anyway. The kind that would require Usagi. 

… It might’ve been a little lucky that he'd scouted the area around the new Nekohanten location in the last week.

In a flashy quick change that'd make a Saotome proud, Tuxedo Mask was dashing through the night towards the Tsukino household. Perhaps, given his history of wishing to play Juliet, it was ironic he'd be knocking at a girl's window like Romeo.

Sweeping around the outside of the property, it wasn't long before he found the sleeping Usagi on the top floor. Her hair may have changed, and her pyjamas were actually long sleeved and feminine, but the way she laid messily on the bed was familiar. 

… It was bizarre, though, how much Usagi’s room mirrored what was Akane's in the Tendou household. The layout was identical, the only differences being a lack of martial arts equipment and posters. Usagi’s idea of girlhood was…

Never mind, that was another piece of gender crisis Mamoru couldn't handle tonight. Instead, he knocked gently on the side of the window, ready for Usagi to wake…

○●☆●○

It felt like a continuation of a dream, with her sense of self blurred and a figure calling out a name, her name, but not one she recognised. Only for Bunny’s eyes to have opened and seen Tuxedo Mask. Mamoru.  

She was still sleepy, being silently dragged through the streets in her big girl pyjamas, but she was still plain giddy. Her hand in Mamoru's, like some kind of happy ending. But she knew it wasn't truly right, somehow. She knew something was wrong.

Maybe it was a nightmare, as Bunny never had any good dreams about weddings, only horrific flashbacks to broken walls, explosions, that suit that fit awful on her and felt gross to even try to think about…

It was part way through the building that Tuxedo Mask let go, fading into the darkness as a scream echoed from the room next to her, darkness giving way to emit a putrid pale light. 

“... Makoto? And… A ghost bride?” Bunny whispered to herself, “Tuxedo Mask brought me here to save Makoto… I…”

Usagi’s brain really started to wake up now that danger was involved. Launching to the forefront of her thoughts was all her combat training, thinking about that fastest way to kick that ghost's ass! 

… Except ghosts can't normally be kicked, in the ass or otherwise. No, the way Usagi, or really, Ranma, was used to defeating ghosts was with disguises and wooing them. And if this was a bride, well, there was only one option.

The words caught in her throat, but she had to force them out to save Makoto. “Moon Power… Turn me into a groom!”

Her pen glittered, and it complied. In a whirlwind flash of light, Usagi’s outfit changed, and her body changed to match. It should've been a familiar change, something that felt normal, but it was almost as if the disguise wanted to taunt her with what she thought herself as a groom would look like. 

Black hair, with a pigtail. The exact same wedding suit. 

“USAGI!?” Makoto, obviously seeing the light from the transformation, had witnessed it, snapping out of the ghostly bride's trance.

She had been seen. She had tried to be the hero, and she'd been seen. He had been seen. And the wedding went wrong again, and he had to check if Akane was still alive again, and everyone hurt, and it was all blamed on-

“What did you do to her!?” Makoto yelled out, furious as she grabbed the apparently not-a-true-ghost bride and tossed it to the floor, “You dare mess with a girl's pure heart!? I- You weren't even my own bride! You tricked me, AND hurt her!”

The red hair beneath the wedding veil splashed outwards on the ground as Makoto ran to protect the disguised Usagi. The pyjamas and blonde buns returned while the pit in Usagi’s grew heavier. 

“Crying Girl, what were you th-” Shampoo in feline form came charging through the doors, suited up sailor scouts behind her, stopping as she saw the scene, “Mars, Mercury, the enemy!”

“On it!” Ami called out, preparing to take aim with her red outfitted partner.

“Flower Hurricane!”

Before fire and water could attempt to slay the monster, a barrage of razor-sharp petals tore through the false bride in an instant. A strong glow, even without Usagi looking, indicated exactly what she'd see if she looked up.

… She wasn't going to look up out of respect due to just how short those sailor suit skirts can be.

“So, you tore apart my shadow again?” A familiar voice laughed, the same one from the ball, “Heh heh heh… You can't reach me from all the way down there, with your dear Sailor Moon out for the count!”

So, maybe looking up was necessary. Out the window, on top of the building across the street, a figure recognisable as Nephrite from the masquerade ball cackled, as if the storm swirling outside was for him.

Something about! Makoto seemed to shift, just a little. A bit more protective of Usagi, a bit more in control. Thunder cracked in the far distance as the air grew electric, a far cry from the plants Makoto had summoned previously. 

“Jupiter, home, bring me a storm!” The way her voice echoed, it felt like watching someone else act entirely, “Let your lightning rain down on those who wish to hurt Pri-”

The lightning that struck Nephrite in a precise instant left a deafening roar that obscured any further conversation, the rumble of it lasting longer than any Usagi had heard before. Kuno would be so jealous.

“... He made me think my biggest crush was here,” Makoto said, so clearly herself now, but with a whisper, “A Martial Arts Cheerleader girl I saw once at my old school, when she repped her own school at a competition before switching teams. I should have known it was too good to be true…”

If cats could pale, Shampoo did so in sync with Usagi.

○●☆●○

In Nerima, a girl woke up with a shocked scream. Asami must have had some horrible nightmare, her hair standing up like static. 

Chapter Text

“Queen Beryl's growing tired of having to gather energy,” A voice rang out into the hall, “So, what's the plan, Zoisite?”

“Can I have some time to grieve Nephrite first!?” Snapped back the other of two remaining Heavenly Kings, “I swear I'm working on it, but this is hardly good scheming conditions!”

“Jeez, when you call it a scheme, it almost makes us sound like the assholes.”

There were no remarks from the missing commanders. Just Zoisite and Kunzite alone in a room together. Compared to the past few months, this was something that felt familiar. Closeness with no one to intervene. If only they could-

“We're following the queen's plan, as best as possible,” Zoisite sighed, “If anything, it's those sailor guardians that are the assholes! They're the ones getting the way of the Dark Kingdom, preventing the rightful ruler from taking over!”

“There's the spark in you,” A pet name lingered on the tip of Kunzite's tongue, and he couldn't tell why, “You'll craft up a plan in no time, I know it.”

○●☆●○

Mamoru had seen a glimpse of who had once been Ranma Saotome, a picture perfect recreation of a boy, crumble apart into the appearance of Usagi Tsukino. As if there was ever any doubt. The weight of simply being that man amongst men, though, revealed something more.

Usagi was not a girl for the sake of a disguise only. She really did feel wrong being a boy.

As much as he hated slipping into the shadows to remain unseen at the bridal store, he had known that Shampoo was trailing close from the moment they had passed the new Nekohanten. Staying out of her sight, playing around whatever potential mess she was causing, was Mamoru's only real option at that moment.

Afterwards, though? Perhaps, when he was done with lectures for the day while Shampoo was still at school? That was an almost perfect time to try and gather intel the way he knew best regarding the Amazons. 

Tuxedo Mask stood in the window of the restaurant's kitchen, present enough to get Cologne's attention the moment she walked through. He had to play this out as a heist, breaking in not to steal an artifact, but information, and-

“Tendou, it's been a while,” The old woman said plainly as she walked in, “For you, at least. Please, come in.”

“Wh- How did you know I was here before walking in?” Mamoru thought he had gotten at least pretty good at stealth, and was shocked to be proven wrong, “And how did you know I'm… Her…”

“Oh, are you going by a different name now? My apologies,” Cologne offered out the end of her walking stick as if it were a hand to lean on while getting down from the windowsill, “Some things are still surprises to me after hundreds of years, when one chooses a name is one of them, miss…?”

It was easy enough to jump to the floor himself. “... Mister. Mister Mamoru Chiba. Or Tuxedo Mask at the moment.”

“Good,” There was an indecipherable smile from the elder, “More memory has returned to you than you realise. Although, I'm surprised you managed to make a name of your own. Between ‘P-chan’ and now ‘Tuxedo Mask’, I can't say I was expecting a proper name.”

“Hey!” Mamoru was perfectly fine at coming up with good names, in his opinion, “... Okay, maybe I did take this name from somewhere else, but it was still very intentionally picked!”

“And I didn't claim it wasn't. Come, we can discuss what you want in my office.” Cologne perched on her walking stick and pogoed away.

The plan was already off the rails, so there was nothing to do but to follow. That's just how it always went with the Amazons, there was no reason to assume otherwise. It was an embarrassingly large wrench in the plan for a gentleman thief to not account for.

The small office upstairs was more of a magic item containment room, though oddly nothing close in number to how much was at the old Nerima location. Hopefully it had all been placed somewhere safe. 

“Now, what is it you wished to ask me, young man?” Cologne asked as she sat on her desk rather than the seat behind it.

“What did you do to Ranma?” There was no point in beating around the bush, “I know Usagi’s acting differently, she's fighting differently, what did you and Shampoo drag her into?”

The smile from the elder remained a mystery. “We didn't drag her into anything. That would be destiny, and the Moon Phase Pocket Watch. Your pocket watch. And it dragged us all back with it.”

“My…” The watch felt heavy in the inner breast pocket of Mamoru's tuxedo jacket, ticking away, “The dreams, they dragged everyone here?”

Those dreams had been getting harder to ignore the longer they went. A figure calling out to him, a woman with long hair. Always repeating the name of what he'd been searching for, the Legendary Silver Crystal. 

“Well, you and Shampoo. From there, Usagi had to follow you by becoming more of herself than she's ever been in the last millennium or two,” Cologne explained, “A soul of gas, expanding out to provide cover, far more in tune with her emotions than ever before.”

To let one's emotions out like that… “She made herself vulnerable to find me?”

“And to run away, but those go hand in hand in this scenario,” Sighed the elder, “This was unavoidable, the very nature of your lives required you get where you are and where you're going. If you like, I-”

The bell of the restaurant door jingled downstairs, catching both teen and elderly off guard.

“... You should go,” Cologne's voice reached a whisper, “Shampoo knows to use the back door when the restaurant is closed.”

With a quick poke from her walking stick, Cologne opened the window for Tuxedo Mask's escape. The blue haired boy was left alone as she walked out calmly but sternly, and all that could be heard of her before he left was a simple question to herself:

“Archerusia, you old fool, you really didn't expect to protect the princess's arm candy into this life, too, did you?”

○●☆●○

“Come on, Rei, it's fun!” Makoto assured as she held up both the hands she was holding, “Since when have you seen someone turn this bright pink so easily?”

“Regularly for the past few weeks, actually…” Rei commented, ignoring how much she had shared in being a blushing mess in that time.

Now, Usagi would've said something if she hadn't been completely stunned out of speech by something as simple as handholding. She was still feeling awful from the groom disguise a bit back, plus general discomfort for anything that could remotely show she was a guy, so Makoto took it upon herself to be distracting. 

Of course, that led to Ami being cute and coy about wanting to hold hands as well, so Makoto was in between two flustered girls much shorter than her. Add in how Rei was being jealous, and it was clear that this was-

Totally just a normal group of friends. Gals being pals. Usagi wasn't ready to unravel the mess of her sexuality at the moment, especially not when she knew who Mamoru was. ESPECIALLY especially when thinking about weddings again only added Makoto to the group of people Usagi was a blushing bride to.

“Can you save it for after leaving the Nekohanten?” Shampoo gave an exasperated sigh from up front, adjusting her school bag, “Crying Girl's house is close, you can all be polyamorous lesbians there…”

As disappointed as Shampoo sounded for even suggesting it, Usagi had at least one question. “... Polyamorous?”

“Having multiple partners.” The should-be cat grumbled.

All around the rest of the group, looks were shared. Ami's mind seemed to be working overtime. Rei's face was burning absolutely red hot in an instant. Makoto looked at the hands she was holding, suddenly blushing as hard as the shorter girls were before letting go.

And Usagi was actually kind of pissed. “You mean that was an option!? All that time I was pulled between will-they won't-they marriage bullshit, and I could've just not picked!?”

“No, because I am not polyamous or a lesbian,” Huffed Shampoo, “You could have only picked me or no one at all!”

The wave of realisations among the sailor scouts came crashing to a halt as Shampoo just spilled another piece of this huge puzzle out for all of them to see. 

“... You two are exes?” Ami asked, the first to piece any of it together.

“We are still married!” Came one answer.

“We never got together!” Came another.

“Shampoo, you shouldn't be pursuing Usagi if she's a girl, then,” Rei hummed, “Unless there's some exceptions to you being straight, although aren't there other terms for that?”

“I am still straight because Crying Girl is really a boy! Airen is a boy, and when all of this is over, I will have my Airen back! Ranma promised!” 

The group halted only a few steps away from the Nekohanten. Time seemed to stop just as fast. Usagi could feel that imaginary crystalline heart of hers pulsing, though it had sunk harder than lead. Her insides felt condensed, her outside felt hollow.

Shampoo, despite everything, despite working towards a greater goal, still saw Usagi as a boy and as a prize to be won. Even though a truce was called, even though it had all seemed easier in the past few months to deal with her…

*Hissssssss!*

It was the right idea to not tell her about Mamoru. 

“I'm not in love with you, Shampoo,” Usagi spoke painfully clear, terrified, teeth dangerously close to being beared, “Not now. Not if that's how you treat me.”

“You always say stuff like that, and then come right back!” Shampoo had tears in her eyes, “With me, with Spatula Girl, with anyone but Violent Girl! But you are engaged to me, and-”

“Great-granddaughter, what's going on out here?” The door to the Nekohanten opened, Cologne in the doorway, “Is everything alright?”

“No! Ai-” The vicious speed at which Shampoo turned around just to be bonked in the head by a walking stick was almost too much for even a well trained eye. 

Whatever Cologne said next, Usagi couldn't understand. One would think she'd have picked up on a little Chinese after everything, but this wasn't any kind of familiar language. It was something even Shampoo seemed surprised to understand. 

“What's taking so long?” A voice Usagi couldn't forget came from behind the door, “I thought ya said we were-”

Ukyo Kuonji and Shampoo locked eyes for a long time. Furious, angry eyes. The kind that made Usagi happy only one of them knew who she had been, even if things were moments away from turning truly shit.

“... Shamps.” Ukyo acknowledged. 

“Spatula Girl.” Shampoo replied.

“I'm taking Kuonji to Ranma, so everything is under your control while I'm gone, okay?” Cologne directed to her younger relative, “Remember everything you have to protect. It's all up to you.”

“But-” Usagi and Shampoo both were silenced with a quick shush. 

As Cologne walked out of the Nekohanten, Ukyo followed suit, only briefly stopping to look very intently and harshly at Ami. The Guardian of Water tried her best not to shake from the mere intimidation in that staredown. 

“... You're not Akane. Figures,” Sighed Ukyo before following behind the elder Amazon, “Wrong blue haired girl, of course… Dammit, Nabiki…”

And in the blink of an eye, both Cologne and Ukyo left. 

“She is buying us time…” Shampoo whispered to herself, thinking for a moment before looking at the sailor scouts. 

No one seemed impressed with Shampoo after what just happened. Shock, anger, and pure disappointment fuelled the planetary trio. But Usagi in particular was dealing too much with the discomfort of her own existence, of her lives collapsing in on themselves. 

So, Shampoo bolted inside the empty Nekohanten, and returned in mere seconds. A wand of sorts, with a crescent moon on its end, was what the girl with the same moon on her forehead practically tossed into Usagi’s hands.

“There. There are four of you. Go protect the princess and crystal,” Holding in tears, Shampoo spoke robotically, “Take the damn Moon Stick and lead, cheating rabbit.”

The door to the restaurant slammed shut with Shampoo inside before Usagi could even find out what the wand did.

“... Come on, Usagi,” Rei was the first to speak up, “Can we go to your house? It's her fault she mistook you for some stupid boy, let's just ignore her.”

“I live a few streets from here if my place is better,” Makoto offered, “I can cook something if that helps make up for anything. Food's the best way to heal a maiden's heart, I find.”

“Usagi-chan?” Ami walked right up to the blonde and held her hand, “Are you okay?”

The only thing Usagi was really feeling wholly was disgust with herself. She felt gross. She felt like her guts had been ripped out and laid bare. She just wanted to cry, to break apart. But she had people who cared about her with her. Not Ranma Saotome, they cared about Usagi Tsukino. 

“... I'm happy to go to my place, at least,” Usagi smiled a little through the tears, “My parents might like to actually meet my friends.”

Chapter Text

Usagi woke up, eyes sore from crying. Although, it was early enough to not remember why. It was too early to even get up from under the weight of her blankets and pillows, or to remember what plushie she was holding, or-

Someone snored. That's right, her impromptu sleepover with the other sailor scouts after what had happened with Shampoo. They were all in her room, where she had been reassured that she was a girl, and that she was wanted. The thought alone was nice, and Usagi held her soft blue plushie to her chest a little closer out of fondness.

… Usagi didn't own any blue plushies. And she didn't have spare futons in her room.

Panicked at her realisation, Usagi tried to let go of Ami. The poor blue haired girl was squished against Usagi, somehow the little spoon. And yet, when Usagi did let her friend go, Ami just sleepily snuggled back in as close as she could.

Preventing Usagi from pushing Ami away was the sleeping body of Rei, arms and legs wrapped as far across blonde and blue haired sailor scouts as possible. So much for being a refined lady in her sleep, at least.

And, when Usagi tried to sneak backwards, she realised that she herself was functionally trapped by Makoto. There were no blankets holding her down. Usagi was restrained by the tall brunette, like a plushie in her own right. 

And these were all girls who, at bare minimum, knew Usagi had once been a boy. Girls who liked her as Usagi. Girls who weren't trying to kill her or others close to her. That was nice… A good, new normal for Usagi Tsukino…

Although, all the blood rushing to her face from her blush was slightly concerning. 

… And this wasn't necessarily a normal thing now, was it? All this love and affection could disappear any moment. Usagi wasn't a permanent fixture in Juban at all. The life of Ranma Saotome had almost dragged her away already. And even if she stayed, there was no guarantee that this cuddle pile was anything but out of pity. 

*But it feels safe to me now. Safe and familiar…*

And thoughts like that of the quiet voice was why it hurt so much more to expect it all to fall to pieces. 

… Maybe, after the close call with Ukyo and Shampoo yesterday, it'd be better to come clean about everything once everyone is awake. No pretending, no hiding. It'd be easier for them to reject Usagi then.

○●☆●○

Shampoo didn't sleep at all that night. Or… Luna didn't? 

When her great-grandmother spoke to her, just before leaving, it wasn't in Japanese. It wasn't in Chinese, or any language that Shampoo should've been able to recognise. And yet, she did. Furthermore, she knew which name said in that language referred to her. 

Shampoo understood words from beyond the stars. She had been directed to protect the princess, to protect the Legendary Silver Crystal, as a citizen of the Moon Kingdom. She was of the far flung planet Mau. All the rest was in her great-grandmother's desk drawers for her to find herself. That was what she was told, and that was when she was let go.

Even without the supplementary material, thoughts came running through her mind at a lightning pace. Not memories, but directives, purpose. Working together with Artemis to find the Guardians and to assist in the ones intended to reincarnate while she and her partner remained the last living remnants of the Moon Kingdom…

Luna was supposed to be alive. Shampoo was instead. 

The sleepless night was induced by a few things. The first, obviously, was Ranma. It was always fucking Ranma. But Arche- Col- Ugh, stupid additional knowledge. Great-grandmother. She had left notes on how the whole marriage was called off. After all, it wasn't Usagi Tsukino affected by the kisses. It was a lazy work around that relied on a lie, but sure. Maybe it'd count. 

But Luna knew Usagi. She knew her by name from the get go. She was looking for Usagi Tsukino a month before the blonde girl even existed, because her gut instinct told her to! And that's where the records of the Moon Kingdom came in to keep Shampoo awake even longer. 

Records recreated by only the best tutor of The Silver Millennium reincarnated in the modern day. Tracing the lineage of extraterrestrial royalty, all the way down to where the souls of said royalty finally ended up after a universal reset. Familiar names and faces, now, and that included Usagi Tsukino. The bunny from the moon. 

The third thing to keep Shampoo awake was working out the additional communicator hidden away with the records. Shaped like a cat head with the same crescent moon she had imprinted on the forehead, it was undoubtedly important. All she could send out was a simple message. 

“WHO IS ON THE OTHER END? - LUNA”

No response came before the break of dawn, and none seemed to be coming. Regardless, by that point, something else had caught her attention, something as simple as the newspaper thrown against the front door. Something dangerous on the front page.

Whoever Tuxedo Mask was, Shampoo currently despised him.

○●☆●○

“- And my hair grew out because of it, and I got on the train, and then I ended up at Juban with nothing.”

Usagi grabbed another tissue to wipe her eyes with, done with basically reliving the worst of her life's problems. If there was a time to be a crybaby, it was after explaining all of that mess, leaving herself exposed for her friends to tear her apart if they wanted…

But no one did. 

“I'm too tired for this... All in favour of never stepping foot into Nerima?” Rei asked, to the agreement of the other two planetary sailor scouts. 

“If I do, I'm returning with a panda skin rug,” Makoto wrapped her arm around Usagi protectively, “But you really are the cute cheerleader from Furinkan, then. I guess that explains why I already liked you.”

“So, when you said that you left because Akane did, I guess that means she means a lot to you,” Ami did sound a little downtrodden, “Would she… Um… If you found her… Be open to polyamory? Just in case we- If you wanted- And it's only hypothetical so- I completely get if you don't after all that…”

All of that exposed chaos, and nothing had changed… Usagi didn't know how to feel. She was still the same girl, the disguise had stuck like glue. Although, retracing her steps like she had, was it really a disguise if it required exposing herself via the soul of gas? 

“... I mean, I do kinda know where she is,” Usagi admitted, “But I don't know how willing she'd be to even show her face, let alone… Wait, do you mean it?”

All Ami could respond with was a shy nod, blushing. She heard what happened the last time any group of people fell for Ranma, and yet she still wanted to try and find a way to make it work. Although, she hadn't fallen for Ranma. She fell for Usagi. 

“That's the one you cheered for at Seisyun, right?” Asked Makoto, “It wouldn't be right separating you from someone you love that much.”

“I won't trust her until I meet her,” Huffed Rei, but she reluctantly sighed afterwards, “... But I suppose it isn't my choice if you're already head over heels.”

“... So, does this mean we're-” Ami got cut off by voices downstairs.

“Bunny! You have another friend here!” Called out Usagi’s mum, interrupting the conversation, “I'm sending him up to you!”

“O-oh, okay, thanks mum!” Usagi called back. 

Usagi looked at her… Whatever they might be, if they had the chance to come up with an answer. The sudden sleepover was unintended, and she didn't have any plans for anyone else to come over today either. 

The door opened, and despite suddenly worrying about how messy her room might’ve been, Usagi’s mood lightened significantly. The sweater vest wasn't as sharp and pretentious as any of the suits, but it looked just as good on Mamoru as any of his fashion choices past.

“... I didn't realise you had other guests over, I'm probably bothering you, I'll just”

“Oh no you don't, dummy!” Usagi practically leaped up, tears still drying, right into Mamoru's arms, “You can't just show up and then leave!” 

“And who exactly is this guy?” Piped up Rei, probably a bit annoyed to see a guy interrupting something important. 

“This here is Mamoru Chiba!” The smile trying to form on Usagi’s face was stubbornly successful as she turned to face the boy properly, “Mamoru, this is Ami, Rei, and Makoto. They know about… The pigtailed boy. I trust them.”

Usagi’s other name felt harsh in her throat, hence the refusal to say it. At least Mamoru understood regardless, and was clearly thinking through how much he'd be willing to share. Right, Usagi didn't exactly think that through. 

“Uh… Nice to meet you all,” He was oddly stilted, probably still caught off guard, “I was one of Bun Head's fiancees, so we're really close, and-”

“Not the French guy, right?” Ami gave a long, calculating look. 

“Usagi’s too affectionate with him to be the French guy,” Analysed Rei, “... Usagi, I don't think I can date you if you're that into feet. It's just not for my refined tastes.”

“WHAT!?” Even after all this time, Usagi and Mamoru still find ways to fall back into unified shock.

“... He's the kendoka Usagi cheered for, the one she proclaimed true love for,” Makoto thankfully recognised the truth, “Dark blue hair, fashionable. You're a boy now, like Usagi’s a girl, right?”

Mamoru clearly didn't want to give up that much information, but it was too late. “Yes… Though, last I heard, Usagi was just a disguise. Did you realise some things too?”

“I… Yeah, I don't think it's disguise at all, especially after yesterday. Shampoo kinda- Wait,” What her biggest crush said to Usagi finally clicked, “Are you really a boy full time now? After… Y'know…”

“We really need to get on the same page some time,” That smile had always been dashing, and it was just as charming now, “But yes, I think. Anyway, I got some news regarding your… Um, night time job. But if you're busy, then maybe not…”

Night time… “Oh, the girls all know about that! It's safe!”

Usagi didn't want to necessarily reveal who the sailor scouts were without their express permission, but it wasn't necessary as Makoto simply raised her hand. “Jupiter here.”

“Mercury,” Added Ami, “It's probably worth trusting my girlfriend's boyfriend with this… Right?” 

“You're wh-” Mamoru got shushed by a suddenly very flustered Usagi, who would have to explain herself soon enough. 

“... Ugh, fine. I'm Sailor Mars,” Rei pouted, “And who are you to know about all of this?”

“Tuxedo Mask,” Sighed the boy, “I guess it makes sense you would all hang out together… Anyway, I have two things you might like to know. The first is that Cologne told me that, supposedly, it's fate leading us towards where we're going. The second…”

From a pocket in his pants, Mamoru pulled out a newspaper clipping and held it out. An article, brandishing a blurry security camera image of Tuxedo Mask, and mentioning the very existence of the Legendary Silver Crystal. 

“... Is that I may have found an unorthodox way of looking for that crystal,” Mamoru made direct eye contact with Usagi, “We're looking for it at the same time, right? All I want is to know what it is, so hopefully the collective public can bring it to our attention. Then it's all yours.”

○●☆●○

“THIS IS ARTEMIS”

That was the message sent back on the communicator, as well as a location and a pass code. As if to cruelly mock her, it was the arcade. It was always that damned arcade, a chance to see Usagi and company. 

She'd find something to say to the faux blonde eventually, though. Her life as a warrior woman from Nǚjié zú told her to not back down. The directive currently pulsing through her very soul was telling her to apologise. It was incredibly conflicting for one person to work through alone. 

Paws hit arcade carpet, and thankfully the man who ran the place treated her warmly. He always did. Maybe it'd be worth learning his name eventually, not that she would ever use it if she did. Names were so hard to remember compared to descriptions and titles. 

Like Crying Girl. Or Airen. Or Princess.

Right at the Sailor V cabinet, she spoke the pass code. It was in Mau, a tongue foreign to her and familiar simultaneously. It sounded so right, so unlike her, so much more like her than anything before. Arcade guy didn't notice the way the machine opened, thankfully, and the secret passage closed behind her. 

An expansive control centre awaited. She was going to find Artemis, she was going to fulfil her duty. If only she could figure out how to work all of these computers! A Nintendo was easy to just plug in and play, but these monoliths were a whole other beast! Of all the knowledge from converging lifetimes to take its dear sweet time…

One screen, at least, powered on by itself. “Hello? Hello, is Luna there?”

Running over, she glanced in what she assumed was the camera of the computer. “Yes, this is Luna! Or Shampoo. But yes!”

“Wait, you actually have a feline body again!?” Said the guy looking back through the screen, “Archerusia said… Never mind. If the Saotomes were any indications, shapeshifters can pop up like flies. Nice to meet you again, lady.”

Chapter Text

“And we'll be right back with more news on this mysterious Legendary Silver Crystal, featuring an expert who should help us finally get to the bottom of this.”

The commercials started, the news anchor disappearing from the screen, and Asami finally found her eyes free from the screen. She'd been so jumpy lately, it had been easier to focus heavily on singular things instead of letting her senses try and warn her of every little potential detail.

“I'm back with the snacks!” Even just Hiroko’s voice caused Asami to jump a little when it wasn't expected, “Oh, shit, sorry, forgot about the whole… Sorry.”

“You weren't that loud, it's okay…” Asami tried to reassure as she fidgeted with her strange nephrite pendant, “Anyway, you haven't missed much. Still all the same talk of that crystal in Juban. It's a bit boring…”

“Really?” From the tray of snacks she had brought in, Hiroko handed her friend a cold soft drink can as she sat down before grabbing her own and putting it to her forehead, “It really does seem like a big deal to me, at least.”

“That's why I said it's boring, not that it's unimportant. I've already connected the dots. Don't you dare roll your eyes at me.”

“I didn't, I swear!” 

Both girls broke out into giggles, a welcome relief that they even could amidst all the stress of being former missing persons cases. But it didn't hide the fact that Asami really did have a theory about all that was going on.

She and Hiroko had been missing, and now had these weird rock necklaces. There was a weird rock being looked for. Sayuri and Yuka were still missing, but so was Ranma and Akane, and whenever something happened to that latter couple, it always involved some kind of magic that could disappear several girls only to have them wake up in bed months later. 

Add in that the Tuxedo Mask guy who was looking for this crystal according to the news had Akane's blue hair, that blonde Sailor Moon girl and the Amazon hair care found at Ranma's last known location, the fact Akane was acting weird before she disappeared, the general extremely gender vibes that both martial artists had… 

Yeah, Asami was ninety-eight percent sure she had it all figured out, but ever since returning home, she had been too easily spooked to say anything. Everything just shocked her far too easily now. 

“And we're back,” The news anchor said on screen as the ads ended, “Here with us is Dr Izono, a renowned geologist. Thank you so much for being here, Dr. What can you tell us about this Legendary Silver Crystal?” 

“Well, you see, the Legendary Silver Crystal is most well known for giving the owner ageless immortality, and-”

“Move out of the way!” Chihiro barged into the room, a bizarre look in her eyes that Asami noticed once she caught her breath from screaming in fear, “Where is it… Where…”

“Sis…?” Hiroko dared ask, only to get a crazed look in return.

“SHUSH!” The otherwise normally gentle girl kept digging. Something strange was happening, especially given that Chihiro was muttering something about the Legendary Silver Crystal herself…

○●☆●○

“Shingo…? Little bro?” Usagi watched as her adoptive brother tore through his own room like he was practically possessed. 

“Outta the way!” He growled in response. 

Usagi had only come running into her brother's room because she heard the loud crash that came with the sudden search. Admittedly, ever since she got taken in by the Tsukinos, Shingo's room was a dump, but this was looking ridiculous. 

“WHERE IS THAT CRYSTAL!?” Screeched Usagi’s mother from downstairs. Her father wasn't even making coherent words by the sounds of it.

One newscast, and the world had gone mad. Mamoru probably didn't mean for any of this, he hoped it'd help the crystal be found but not like this. The whole plan had gotten hijacked, it seemed, and people simply trying to watch TV had been caught in the attack of the enemy. 

Usagi could feel it. The corruptive force on her family's ki, whether they knew they had it or not. She could feel it pulling and tugging at the pulses let out by her crystalline core, shadows and malice and the will to kill.

She hated how painfully familiar that was. Battle aura.

She wasn't going to worry about dinner. She wasn't going to let her family crash and burn like this. She wasn't going to stick around until nothing could be done. Usagi rushed to her room, grabbed the gear necessary for her job as a Guardian of Love and Justice, and prepared to spend one more night out on the road, hopefully the last night she'd ever need to.

And right before she could jump out the window, right before she could potentially pull off the most heroic vanishing act a martial artist could, she simply felt so, so sleepy. Judging by the thuds to the floor and sudden silence? So did her family. 

The window was no longer an option, not when Usagi’s legs felt weighed down to an absurd degree. She had to pull herself along, to get herself out and save the day, to check on her friends / team-mates / still-not-fully-confirmed-girlfriends. To see if Mamoru was okay.

“Thank you, foolish humans…” Said some well dressed guy on the TV, likely to himself but not realising the microphone on his sweater was still on, “For your hard work, your energy, and now your sacrifice to the Dark Kingdom…”

… The TV station was the bad guy. Or the guy on it. Or something like that. Ugh, why couldn't Usagi just be smart like Ami to work stuff out like that!? She'd probably already have figured out where to go by now. Usagi might’ve been able to, if she had a certain cat nearby…

Too bad. Shampoo probably only wanted Ranma, and not Usagi. That was her loss, her impossible chase. Right in the here and now, Usagi Tsukino, Sailor Moon, was going to the biggest television broadcast tower she could think of to kick some ass. 

“Girls, I'm going to Tokyo Tower!” Usagi basically yelled into her communicator, “I repeat, Tokyo Tower. You don't have to follow. I got this.”

Usagi had no clue how she had this in the bag, but she was damn certain she'd work it out when she got there.

○●☆●○ 

How could Mamoru have been so stupid!? Of course everything would go wrong, it was more than him, Usagi, and Usagi’s…

Friends? Team-mates? Girlfriends, maybe, somehow, according to Sailor Mercury? 

… Usagi and the other sailor guardians. It was a race to get the Legendary Silver Crystal from some greater unknown evil, and now those monsters were literally dragging all of Japan into the hunt via the television. If only all those rumours of square eyes were the worst thing to come from TV…

The plan was simple enough to deal with this, though. Step one, Tuxedo Mask makes an appearance at the newsroom. Step two, either tear that monster to shreds with his own hands or wait for Sailor Moon to do the same. 

Dragging his feet through the streets as his energy drained was nothing compared to some of the magic martial arts bullshit he had been through before. While civilians were collapsing to the floor in exhausted agony, Tuxedo Mask ran with the type of vigour only someone who could once move as a haunted doll could. 

The entrance to Tokyo Tower was quiet, bar for the pained groans of staff getting their life sapped away. This was a fast mission, the kind that would need no stealth but brute force to find that newsroom. Mamoru had to thank the extreme capitalists who decided to place increasing amounts of advertisements towards a specific hallway for making his job easier.

The newsroom led to the greenrooms, leading to the tech closets, leading to a singular moving wire trying hard to keep up with the person managing to walk away under these soul destroying conditions. 

A corner, another corner, and one impressive Saotome-esque jump into the shadows, and Mamoru knew he had his eyes on the right guy. The pure shadowy energy radiating from him… 

Tuxedo Mask lunged forward and lifted his foe into the air by the collar like some kind of dark knight. “You have ten seconds to tell me how to fix your mess before I crush you to sand!”

“You think you can- Wait…” The monster in human guise had some serious gall to make commands about waiting, but it had a pained and confused expression on its face, “... A… Akane?”

More than ten seconds had passed by the time Mamoru even registered that this monster somehow recognised him and knew him all the way back from before he ran away. He kept trying to look deep for familiar features, and while the beast definitely had similar eyes to Sayuri…

The injured and drained news staff began to stir. The monster was buying time to force an army upon Tuxedo Mask. There was a smug look on the monster’s face as its temporary dark army came forward.

And then everything paused.

A loud thud from the wall caused both the masked hero and caught villain to turn their heads. And another thud. And then finally, a rip in the wall appeared to forcefully let whoever was on the outside in. 

It was two figures, actually. One was a very muscular boy, ripping a full blown wall apart, a face that Mamoru hated that he already knew. And the other, a blonde girl in a sailor suit, although quite unlike those of Usagi and company, jumping forward to make her first big move. 

“FREEZE!” Commanded the girl with the kind of power that really could stop an army.

As the monster used Mamoru's shock to fade out of that plain of reality, the suited boy couldn't help but curse out the fact that the Yama-Sen Ken had been unsealed. That was just his luck.

○●☆●○

“Make it to the tower… Kick the bad guy's ass… Make it to the tower… Kick the bad guy's ass…”

Usagi was talking herself into madness as her destination came into view. She had to keep going. She had to stop the broadcast, or dismantle the tower, or push it somewhere else, or whatever. Her brain wasn't cooperating with coming up with plans. 

*IT'S HARD AND ‘M SLEEPY AND I WANT MY PARENTS BACK, STOP YELLING AT ME, WAUGHHHHH!*

… Admittedly, her thoughts had several good reasons.

She had to save her life as Usagi. She had to save her family. Her loved ones. She had to keep strong, and collapsing in front of her destination wasn't going to do her any good. Sailor Moon or master martial artist, she had to keep going. She had to fight on. Her soul pounded with the need to fight on. She could feel her heart, her silver crystal core, pounding out the willpower needed, projecting on the world around her, a soul of gas. 

“Usagi-chan, wait!” It almost sounded like Ami was calling out to her, “What's the plan!?”

The plan was to kick monster butt solo, then get a good nap!

“Don't be hard on yourself like that, dummy!” A voice like Rei's cried out.

Usagi wasn't a dummy! She knew exactly what she was doing, she was powering onward straight to the source.

“What about these people on the floor!?” Makoto's voice asked, “What about you!?”

What about… Well, Usagi didn't matter if she was just going to save the day anyway, but the people who were helpless? The people alone, sore, hurting? What was the point in helping if she didn't help them first? But she had to fight… She had to…

There was a fighter in her very DNA, her bones and body were molded into lightning fast weapons, but that wasn't at the core of her soul. Deep down, and projected onto the world, was Usagi Tsukino the crybaby.

Usagi Tsukino, the support. The healing light from the moon. Her loved ones’ moon rabbit. The girl with powers she never knew she had. The girl who existed to help first, fight later. The girl who's long repressed emotions were her biggest strength now, in combat, in living, in love.

“... I want everyone to be healed…” She felt like she whispered, “I wish everyone was healed…”

“What are you doing?” The voice of Ami asked. 

“Since when did we get glitter powers?” Asked Rei in return.

“When do we learn something that cool?” Makoto rounded out the trio of imagined voices.

*I want…*

“I WANT TO HEAL EVERYONE!” Sailor Moon cried out as a pulse from her crystalline heart felt a little more real than before. 

Usagi didn't get to see the people beginning to stand. She didn't get to see just what her powers could do. But she saw her loved ones approaching at a high speed, and she knew she was going to be safe as she finally collapsed into sweet sleep.

Chapter Text

A man's voice. A familiar voice, calling out again. A silhouette that almost looked like… Like…

○●☆●○

“Mamoru!” Usagi bolted up from bed in a way she hadn't for a long time. 

“Sorry, lady, but he's having breakfast with the rest of your friends and my sister downstairs,” A boy sitting in a chair by the corner responded, “They were all worried sick about you. You've got a pretty good team on your side, Sailor Moon.”

The room was unfamiliar to Usagi. Star maps, idol posters, shelves of souvenirs from across the globe, polaroid pictures of a blonde girl with various other people taped to the walls. The boy sitting in the chair, however, was awfully recognisable. 

“Although, it would be nice if we didn't have to run into each other while in action,” Ryu sighed, “I take it that no one's being Ranma Saotome right now, right?”

“No… Not that I know…” The blonde sighed, “... I'm Usagi Tsukino, sorry ‘bout this. And a lot of past stuff.” 

“Hey, I can't be upset at some girl I definitely haven't met before,” The boy winked, “Ryu Aino, formerly Kumon, at your service, lady. Glad to know I'm not the only one who found people to take me in.”

“Yeah…” It was strange how impossible it was now for Ryu to ever be mistaken for Usagi. It was largely changes in Usagi, sure, but Ryu himself… He seemed happier, there were far more healed scratches than fresh ones on his arms, and…

The crescent moon on his forehead, just like Shampoo.

“Anyway, I'll tell Minako it's safe for her to use her room again,” Getting up, Ryu stretched in a manner almost catlike, “We can talk about sailor guardian stuff downstairs. We've been wanting to join up with the rest of you for a while now, Sailor Moon.”

There was no chance to ask about the moon marking before Usagi realised it was even there. Ryu had already gone. There were so many questions, ones she could only hope were able to be answered downstairs now.

Without the former doppelganger in the room, though… Usagi was admittedly still feeling a bit lost. Her heart ached in a much more literal manner than from romance, more so just plain exhausted. She tried to trace her steps, and she could remember her heart, that imaginary crystalline core, pounding with all its might…

Well, if she was awake, and people were having breakfast, presumably she did something right. She was a good fighter, she was a hero. Usagi Tsukino had gone out to save the day, and save everyone she did. 

… Her parents were probably so worried about her.

○●☆●○

Mamoru, despite the seriousness of the situation, did have to hold himself back a little from laughing. It was a little bit funny in a way only two people in the room could really comprehend, and he didn't want to disturb everyone else…

But it was a little funny that Ryu, former Ranma Saotome impersonator, was adoptive siblings with someone who could be an Usagi Tsukino impersonator. 

Now, that really shouldn't have been a defining trait of Minako Aino. Sailor Venus was the supposed princess the sailor guardians were looking for, and she was quick to show kindness to the group. Not to mention, anyone trained by Ryu, who could rip walls apart and freeze people with a single word, was likely a formidable fighter. 

Something just felt off about the whole thing, though. Something kept Mamoru from really accepting this girl was a princess from the moon, like Ryu had briefed the conscious members of the team. She was Sailor Venus. Why, if anyone was going to be from the moon, wouldn't it be-

“Usagi!” Ami, dropping the astronomy book she had borrowed, practically darted to the bun-headed blonde at the bottom of the stairs, “How did you heal like that!? Are you okay!? We found the princess, she's Sailor V, did you know she's from the moon!? Oh, and-”

“Woah, I'm still half asleep, there's no way I could catch all that,” Usagi accepted the hug, followed by the two extra tackles from Mars and Jupiter, “You all missed me?”

“N-not that much…” Rei pouted.

“Yes. Yes, that much.” Makoto added. 

Mamoru could only sigh as he stood up. The girl he liked had girlfriends, that made too much sense given the all past romantic shenaniganry. But Usagi still loved him, and he loved her and if Usagi was being openly herself as much as possible, then of course she would love as much as possible. 

“Please don't pass out on us again, Bun Head,” He said with a smile, though refusing to join the group hug without an invitation, “If you can help it, at least.”

“You know I can't promise that, dummy,” Usagi stuck her tongue out, though her taunt was obscured by the taller girls hugging her, “So, what's this about moon princesses?” 

“That's where I come in!” Minako cheered, “Minako Aino, Sailor Venus, Princess Serenity, take your pick. It's nice to meet you all, finally. Although, I was watching you through the Sailor V arcade machine, so I feel like I already know you well!”

The hug disbanded, and Makoto looked at the veteran sailor scout kind of funny. “That sounds a little creepy…” 

While the girls started to debate the creepiness of being watched through an arcade machine, something in particular was sticking out to Mamoru. That name, that third name in the list… 

Something felt weird about the name Princess Serenity, and that pocket watch in Mamoru's suit jacket noticeably ticked away. Serenity… It hit close to home. It wasn't a name he thought he could associate with Minako, though, even though he barely knew the blonde with a bow. But where he knew it, unless it had to do with all this fate stuff, he had no clue…

“Enough calling my sister creepy,” Butted in Ryu, “Moon and Mask know me already, but I'm Ryu. I'm supposed to be Artemis, but apparently cats don't do well in the cold vacuum of space… Right, Luna?”

“I am not coming out…” The voice of Shampoo was painfully clear coming from behind a door in the hall, “I did bad and the princess probably hates me and I never want to feel this bad again!”

“I get why we'd all hate her,” Rei said bluntly, causing Usagi to stare at the floor a bit sadly, “But what did she do to you, Minako?”

Minako just shrugged, although looking oddly guilty about something. “She's been going through a lot since we made contact with her, gaining memories of her past life while coping with some other personal things.”

The three other planetary sailor scouts muttered under their breaths different things, all roughly implying little sympathy for a certain part of that ‘personal’ stuff. From what Mamoru knew, if Shampoo was feeling guilty about how she treated Usagi, then she could handle feeling at least a little bad about that. However…

“Past lives… So, is reincarnation what Cologne meant by this all being predestined?” Mamoru asked before showing the Moon Phase pocket watch to the group, “Because she told me that it had to do with this.”

“Ohhhh, that's the watch Archerusia mentioned!” The apparent princess grabbed the trinket without asking, “There's other ways to recover memories, but this is the most direct way. It would have made it a lot easier for us, right, Artemis?”

“I still think I did a pretty good job improvising after we got reached out to.” Huffed the reincarnated cat.

“Still, this will be great!” Minako gathered the other three planetary sailor scouts and shoved the watch into their hands, suddenly looking deathly serious, “Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, I need you to remember some things, for the universe's sake.” 

“Hey, what about-” Usagi almost got her question out before seeing a look on her teammates’ faces she hadn't seen before. Mamoru had, though. Once on Shampoo, once on his four friends back in Nerima. All while looking at that same watch. 

It was, oddly, Sailor Mars who collapsed to the floor first. An overwhelming psychic migraine that practically radiated off of her like heat, unable to be contained. Usagi rushed over to aid Rei, but the raven haired girl was only the first of her worries. 

Sailor Mercury's breath started to become audibly rushed, stiff, robotic. Her eyes darted everywhere, even as her bun-headed girlfriend roped her into the panicked hug on the floor. Ami's head was swimming in dangerous waters.

“What the fuck!?” Mamoru could only ask as he watched the scene play out, “It's done nothing like this for me!”

“Silicate Planets are supposed pretty stable, but they already had hints of their lives beforehand,” Shrugged Minako, “I think, at least. I don't know how you were before the pocket watch.”

“What on earth is a Silicate Planet!?” Space wasn't exactly Mamoru's forte. 

“Mercury, Mars, Earth and Venus,” Answered Ryu nonchalantly, “Otherwise you have moons, Gas Giants, Ice Giants, and the various smaller planets and asteroids like Pluto.”

“So we all should be pretty stable except for Moon and-” Minako's proud face turned sombre when she realised what was wrong there, “... Jupiter.”

Indeed, Sailor Jupiter was still standing strong, though her eyes were hazy and distant. She blinked, and based on posture alone, the girl with the rose earrings seemed a lot less like Makoto before. There was a light crackle of static at her fingertips as if to punctuate the shift.

“... I should have remembered sooner…” Were the words that spilled out of the brunette's mouth in a slightly higher register, in a slightly archaic manner. 

“... I'm not touching that watch.” Usagi remarked in response. Mamoru thought that was probably for the best as he helped manoeuvre the disoriented sailor scouts to a comfier spot.

○●☆●○

Usagi comfortably sat in Mamoru's lap, a long casual cuddle the two desperately needed. It was a handy benefit of giving the recovering trio of girls some physical space. Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter all needed the distance while they sorted through their thoughts.

“I guess that's why it's work harder, not faster…” Minako mumbled guiltily as Usagi watched her girlfriends recover from the memories flashing forward.

“It's ‘work smarter, not harder’,” Ryu corrected, “... Which we didn't really do. We should've stuck to the handshake method. That might have been gentler on them.”

“It would cause issues anyway, all of this past life recovery is too, too much already…” Shampoo complained, hiding away from view by sitting in Ryu's lap in her cat form.

Maybe it was good that Usagi hadn't laid a finger on that pocket watch. She was dealing with a past life of sorts already, the separation between Saotome son and Tsukino daughter didn't need to be messed with by some third identity on top of it.

*Mrrrrroaw...* *I really, really, REALLY want our friends to be okay…* 

… The cat and child in her thoughts were unfortunate additions to this whole mess, but they meant nothing. Rei and Ami had no signs of separate people in their head, it might not have been a reincarnation thing. Though, the girl that should've been Makoto just… Wasn't.

*Princess Tempestas is quite beautiful, though. I swear, I should know her…* 

Of course this other girl in Makoto's body was beautiful, that kinda came with the whole possession/memory ghost/whatever this was territory. Usagi didn't know where the ‘Tempestas’ name came from, though. It wasn't like she was told it.

“O-okay, I think…” Ami spoke softly from her hiding spot in the corner, “It isn't all there… B-but… There's h-home, there's a… A whole castle… There's… I'm…”

“Princesses,” The modern incarnation of Princess Serenity smiled despite her earlier guilt, “Of your respective planets.”

The gentle and feminine voice in Usagi’s head gave her something to work from, straining to provide. “Pelagia for Mercury, Isidis for Mars, and Tempestas for Jupiter, right?”

Maybe it wasn't right to bring up what felt natural, given it caused all Minako, Ryu, and Shampoo to staredown Usagi with shock. She wasn't supposed to remember now, in fact she couldn't remember now, so the names were an oddity. 

However, upon hearing her old name, Rei shuddered a little. “I recall another… But…”

“Yes, I don't know why Usagi would be Serova,” The girl with rose earrings, arguably Princess Tempestas of Jupiter more than Makoto right now, hummed, “It's a bit hard to match faces to names right now, but she… Serova was definitely taller.”

“I'm not that short!” Usagi huffed in retaliation.

“I wouldn't think that height, or really any appearance would cross between reincarnations,” Mamoru thankfully came to his girlfriend's defence, “Especially not for Usagi or me…”

“... There's a lot of things I can't tell you,” Minako sighed, “But I promise, you're both totally on the right track. It's just dangerous right now to say too much to you specifically.”

Well, that wasn't concerning at all, Usagi thought sarcastically. She wasn't unfamiliar with working with some information withheld, it was practically most of Nerima's martial artist's bread and butter. This, however, when she was so involved as to be the first sailor guardian, was too strange. 

Although, Sailor V was here first. She had all the cards, she had the arcade machine, she was, through the memories slowly getting gained by the team, recognisable enough as Princess Serenity. Minako was more in charge than Usagi had been. 

Did Usagi even want to contest for control? She knew that memory gain was weird for apparently her and Makoto, and given that Sailor Jupiter literally seemed to have a separate person in her head as the remnants of her past life, maybe this was for the best unless she was secretly actually Sailor Earth or something. That was unlikely, though, she liked the moon too much.

“... We'll work through it, then,” Mamoru asserted, “We've taken down bigger foes than a little memory, right, Usako?”

“Yeah, I guess…” The sole lunar sailor scout sighed, “Wait, Usako?”

“Everyone else was calling each other different names and stuff, so I figured you wouldn't want to be left out,” With a gentle squeeze, Mamoru made sure the hug was still felt, “I know I'm bad at names, but it's the best I got.”

Usako… It felt cute, the kind of nickname any normal girl could have. “It's perfect, Mamo,” Usagi said while leaning in more to the hug, “Better than U-chan, at least.”

“That was one pig!” There clearly was no actual offence taken, thank goodness. 

Chapter Text

“We're so sorry again, Mr Tsukino,” Makoto apologised for the umpteenth time, “Really, we promise not to keep stealing her from you.”

“It's okay, I'm just glad she has friends at all,” The man simply sighed in relief, standing in the doorway while the four planetary scouts stood outside, “You didn't see her when we first found her, it's nice to see her settling in so much.”

“Yeah, we've heard a lot of… Stories, I guess.” Only recently, and Makoto was pretty new to the group, so she caught Usagi after a lot of of her apparent self improvement so far. 

“Well, I hope our Bunny has been making better stories with you,” Slowly closing the door, Mr Tsukino flashed one more smile, “Have a good night, girls.”

Usagi was reunited with her family again. Mamoru, insistent on keeping an eye on the increasingly sleepy bun-headed blonde, was sticking by her side when the sailor scouts couldn't out of the exhaustion today had caused. 

*But we aren't done yet,* The voice in Makoto's mind, the one that finally got to take over briefly earlier, spoke in the background, *There's a lot of catching up to do, starting with Serova.*

Right, there was a much fuller person in place of the vague memory of one in Makoto's mind now. A girl with a name, Tempestas, princess of a former kingdom on Jupiter. Because of course she had a dramatic past life to match her dramatic current one.

But, out of all the things Makoto and her roommate-but-for-heads had to deal with, a pretty big one was right behind her. A blonde haired girl with a big bow, apparently identical to someone Makoto's past self knew, and not in the way that had been shown to Usagi.

“Alright, now that Princess Serenity really is safe,” Makoto addressed the rest of the group, “Let's go recover at my place, I'll make dinner. I need you to explain some things, Minako. I don't like lying to one of my girlfriends.”

○●☆●○

Mamoru had seen enough of Usagi sleeping for one lifetime, just within the span of the last 24 hours. She was an otherworldly kind of beautiful and serene while asleep, as if her body knew it wasn't at risk of being piloted into chaos, but it wasn't what made him fall for her.

A lot of those genuine feelings that peaked through behind a pigtailed facade in the past had been shining brighter with Usagi’s new self. She was capable of being someone beyond fighting, even if she was still incredibly stubborn about getting herself into trouble.

It was incredible, seeing Usagi just capable of comfortably flopping over into sleepy cuddles. She had leaned into Mamoru's side while sitting on her bed before she passed out properly, and that alone was intimacy she never would have shown before.

Still, Mamoru wasn't tired like his partner was. He had helped her lay down gently, tucked the blanket over her, put a nearby rabbit plush in her arms and turned off the light before leaving the room, leaning against the door after closing it.

“What do you plan to do with Bunny?” A blonde haired middle school boy jumpscared Mamoru in the hallway, “You're not some creep, are you?”

Something about being on the other end of being called some variant of perverted felt like karma almost. “No, I'm not. I knew her before she started living here. I'm her boyfriend, Mamoru Chiba. And you are?”

“... Hmph. Shingo. Bunny's basically my sister,” The boy's eyes narrowed in suspicion, “She never mentioned you. She doesn't talk about her past much, but still…”

“I can catch you up on some of it, but it's… a lot,” Mamoru made the understatement of the year, “It was kind of lucky that we found each other again. I… I ran away from my past a bit before she did, so I'm sorry I've been stealing her away lots. It's making up for lost time.”

“Oh. I guess that's good enough,” Shingo said while fully taking a long look at Mamoru, “... I could beat you up if you hurt her, anyway.”

Mamoru had to stop himself from laughing instantly. “I… Really doubt it. I used to do a lot of martial arts with Usagi because of our old families, I'm pretty tough.”

“Pfft, yeah, I think I'd know if my sister was able to fight at all!” The youngest Tsukino said with full, but fading, confidence, “She wouldn't hurt a fly. Half the time, it feels like I'm the big sibling, just because she's… scared of getting hurt… Oh.”

“I promise to keep taking care of her if you keep helping too,” Mamoru suggested, “She's already a lot better now that she has a family that cares about her.” 

While Shingo seemed to think through the logistics of his crybaby sister, Mamoru felt a little bad suddenly. He had gone from an okay enough family to none. Sure, his dad was a husk of himself that tried to marry him off, and Nabiki had been invasive and cold, and Kasumi was just the ultimate neutral party, though how she'd react to having a brother was unknown…

It didn't matter. His family cared about him enough, and now he had nothing but external connections. It was just him, an empty family tree he picked out from some 10 year old news article about a car crash, and Usagi. Mamoru Chiba, as the world knew him, was an orphan with nothing.

… If his one connection to any sort of family was through Usagi, and these were better people than the Saotomes, then it'd be worth building on it. He was going to be a good partner, and while Usagi had multiple partners now, she was far and beyond the only person in his metaphorical gravitational pull. He had to make the best impressions on the Tsukinos as possible.

“Hey, would you like to know some martial arts basics?” Mamoru asked, “It'd help you be even more tough if you wanted. And with all these Sailor Moon things going on, it might be good to help protect yourself and your family.”

Shingo thought about it for a moment. “... Yes, that'd be cool.”

“We might need to be in your yard for the extra space,” The older blue haired boy started to head downstairs, “And don't expect me to do any fancy laser blasts, those aren't my thing. You'll have to ask Usagi about the Moko Takabisha.”

“Okay, now that part definitely sounds made up!” Shingo laughed as he followed along, “No one can make laser blasts, especially not Bunny! Just teach me how to throw a guy!”

Mamoru chuckled a little under his breath. “Now that, I can do.”

○●☆●○

Ami needed an ibuprofen. Or… 

No, not Pelagia. The data for Princess Pelagia of Mercury had been crammed into Ami's brain, but she was still solidly herself. She just had too many memories to work through, too many additional thoughts, and it was making her head spin.

At least she had the comfortable beanbag in the corner of Makoto's living room. It was big enough to hold at least the three shortest scouts, but Usagi was at her home, and Rei had chosen to plainly sit on the floor. 

Rei, also, probably needed an ibuprofen, but she had stubbornly insisted otherwise. It was as if Mercury and Mars went in opposite directions with memory gain. Ami's thoughts had to be sorted through before her migraine, but Rei recovered her headache before getting to sift through the memories of Isidis from Mars. 

The room was dead silent. That was probably for the best, both for Ami's head and for the guilty looking Minako on the other side of the room. Even all throughout eating, there had been silence. Stressful, undecipherable silence. 

“Okay, the dishes are put aside, let's get down to business,” Makoto asserted as she re-entered the room, sitting on the same beanbag as Ami, “I'm not working with Tempestas’ full memory, so please, why are we lying to Usagi? And Mamoru, for that matter?”

“Because Serenity and Endymion are at the heart of all of this,” Minako sighed sadly, “Remember? We were supposed to watch over her, then they fell in love, and that's when the people of Earth became misguided.” 

“The war, yes,” Rei seemed impatient, “But I don't see why-”

“First of all, how would you feel telling them about how they died? Why we all died?” That argument from Venus brought the room back to silence, “As much as we all were normal human teenagers before remembering, I know from Artemis just a portion of the shit Usagi has gone through. Do you want to add to that?”

If Ami was going through a hard time reconciling simply having lived in a castle once, and actively avoiding thinking about anything death related, then she absolutely couldn't compute how bad it would be for Usagi, knowing far more of that girl's problems.

“Besides, our enemy is after the Legendary Silver Crystal,” Minako continued, “And that's hidden as part of Serenity. It's better I pretend to be her as a diversion than put her and the universe at risk.”

“That doesn't add up, though!” Ami realised, “Usagi is just as much on the front lines as any of us, probably more so. If she's in danger regardless, it isn't logical to hide her from more of it if it might target her anyway.”

“We don't know if it will, things have gone… Well…” A chill visibly shot through Minako's spine, “... Artemis and Luna were supposed to have arrived on Earth as Mau, not reincarnate. That on its own is different to what Roche said when resetting the universe…”

Roche… Roche… Sorting through far too much data resulted in remembering the princess of Saturn with a reverence, but no memory of her resetting the universe properly. Pelagia wasn't there for that event, she was too busy… Too busy…

There wasn't anything Ami could remember overlapping with the time of the reset. She'd have to search through the memories she'd been given to work it out, but not remembering the end of the universe while the leader of the sailor guardians did was potentially grim…

Minako continued as Ami spiralled. “Not to mention how we were awakened three years later than we were supposed to, or how we've had an extra guide in Serenity’s old tutor, or that

Usagi and Mamoru shouldn't already have known each other…”

“So there's lots of messy parts, okay,” Makoto gripped Ami's hand tight, recognising the panic, “Maybe we do keep Usagi a bit out of it then. It's not like she'll remember it all out of the blue, right? She doesn't have the pocket watch.”

“... But Mamoru does.” Ami said with the horrific realisation of where the boy was. 

The four girls in the room looked at each other with increasing panic. They had left the memory inducing pocket watch in the hands of a guy who would probably hand it over to Usagi in a heartbeat if asked.

“... Well, they both seemed very against Usagi holding it anyway,” Rei reasoned, “And it hasn't quite seemed to click for Mamoru. I normally wouldn't trust a boy with something so precious, but I think this is still safe until we can hold the watch.”

“Then that's what we'll do. We get the watch away from Mamoru and Usagi the moment we get the chance, and then we hand it over to Shampoo so she can contain it,” Minako made the authoritative decision, “As easy as giving candy to children.”

“I don't think that's quite right…” Makoto doubted the metaphor, both Ami and Rei nodding in agreement. 

“You get the gist, though,” The true leader of the sailor guardians reaffirmed herself, “Everything will be simple, we'll defeat the enemy, and then we know we've done our jobs.” 

It wasn't a formulated plan with easy steps to understand, but it was better than nothing. Ami would have to ask for the step by step run down later, because she wasn't good with these big broad strokes. But panicking more about it would just cause more headaches, and there wasn't enough processing power in Ami's brain to work through that, so she let it be for now.

Chapter Text

It was so peaceful, Usagi might as well have still been sleeping. The fact she was just able to eat breakfast along with her family and Mamoru, who had stayed the night, was a blessing. Even while being caught up in all this sailor guardian chaos, Usagi got to feel like a normal girl.

“So, my sister's finally back in Tokyo, and she just has to call me in the middle of the night!” Usagi’s mum sleepily laughed, “Her sense of other people's schedules just got worse ever since she got married, I think. But Usagi, she would love to meet you!”

“Really?” Usagi having an extended family wasn't something she ever thought was possible…

“I mean it,” Something about her mother's reassurance felt incredibly nice to Usagi, “It would be a small trip to Suginami, but we should be able to meet up if she feels like staying put for once.”

Suginami, where Usagi’s old middle school was, along with the house of one Ryoga Hibiki. The last time Usagi had seen the fanged boy, he had run off the instant ‘Akane’ had gone missing to go searching. If she went to Suginami, it'd be unlikely that she'd see her old rival, but the fact that it was a risk still made her a little nervous.

“Hey, relax,” Mamoru noticed how tense his girlfriend had gotten, holding her hand while explaining to her family, “A boy we used to know lived there. He hasn't exactly seen us like this.”

“He'd be pissed that we're dating,” Usagi huffed, “Stupid sausage breath…”

“Well, if he sees you and tries to hurt my daughter, he's going to have to get through me,” Usagi’s dad said proudly, “I may not be one of those fancy martial artists, but I used to be the best arm wrestler back in university!”

Mamoru leaned over to Shingo and loudly whispered. “You're better off using that overhead throw I showed you last night.”

The youngest Tsukino gave a thumbs up, and Usagi had to wonder just what kind of chaos happened while she slept. At least her family and Mamoru got along, but if Shingo started breaking through walls, there was going to be some kind of discussion. 

… Usagi could hear electricity. Okay, well, she could always hear the light buzz of it, it was a sensory issue, but she could actually hear it crackle loudly, the kind that had radiated from Sailor Jupiter, the kind that shattered light bulbs from too much energy.

The dining room light bulb burst open, glass hitting fortunately no one. Usagi did hold her boyfriend's hand a little tighter from the surprise, and everyone in the room flinched at the sound and sight. 

“Crap, I'll go check the breaker box…” Usagi’s dad left in a rush, hopefully going to be safe while trying to sort out the power. 

Once the door outside was opened, though, the air grew heavy. Breathing wasn't impossible at all, but it took a bit more effort to let it in. And… Why was it dark outside when the sun had already risen? It was supposed to be morning, not night…

“... I think I might, um, go and do some homework.” Usagi blatantly lied as she started to go to her room.

“I'll help.” Mamoru got the memo, pushing through to run a little faster. 

The two teens stumbled into Usagi’s room, pushing through the doorway before slamming the door shut. Then, grabbing her broach and wand from their hiding spot deep in her underwear drawer, Usagi swiftly said the magic words. “MOON PRISM POWER, MAKE UP!”

In a flash of light, her sailor suit appeared on her. It felt just as much like home now as the rest of her, something that was a part of her, as consistent as seeing the moon in the sky. It felt like Usagi, not like Ranma. 

“I wish I could quickly change like that…” Mamoru sighed as he buttoned up a different plain white dress shirt than the one he'd been wearing already, still getting changed at a beyond normal pace. 

With both Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask ready, the martial artist duo jumped out the window and onto the roof of the house with an acrobatic flip. The vantage point was better for seeing exactly where they needed to go. And, based entirely on the massive glowing ball of toxic purple miasma in the distance, the two had a pretty good guess as to where to go.

○●☆●○

What was it with these opponents and Tokyo Tower? Mamoru knew Sayuri and Yuka had always been obsessed with the idea of romantic dates there for the view alone, but he doubted the enemy wanted anything but the pure broadcasting range. 

The atmosphere, just as it had been last time, was harsh and oppressive. The sickness radiating from the top of the tower made it still difficult to breathe, and there had unfortunately been a good number of civilians passed out on the ground on the way there. 

“Sailor Moon! Tuxedo Mask!” Sailor Mercury called out, already in uniform with her fellow guardians, Ryu, and Shampoo, following behind, “Over here!”

“You two could've called us to say you were heading here,” Huffed Mars, “I thought at least one of you would have the shared braincell required.”

“Yeah, well, you didn't call us either,” Usagi clearly took no offence, “What's the plan to deal with this?”

“The fastest way to hit them would probably be with lightning,” Suggested Venus, who seemed to have taken the leadership role, “Tempestas, do you think-”

“She's out of commission, actually,” Jupiter cut off her leader, “She's been quiet in my head since the power outage, and I think I only really know how to do the plant stuff. I could try throwing a coconut at the baddies if you want.”

“So, we just need to get up there to kick their asses,” Ryu squinted as he looked up, “That’s two of them, right? We can head up there from the inside, surround them at the top.”

“That would be too, too slow. It would be faster to climb directly from the outside, and the only person I can think to do that is…” Shampoo looked at Usagi with the kind of expression that showed she was thinking of a pigtailed boy instead.

“... Well, I'm a little rusty, but I should be able to do it and bring someone with me,” Sailor Moon looked her boyfriend directly in the eyes, “Whaddya say? Think I can still carry you like that?”

“You are such a dork, Bun Head,” Mamoru could only laugh, “The next time either of us carries the other, it better be you in my arms. My ‘pride as a man’ counts on it.” 

“Okay, that was uncalled for!” With a single swift movement, Usagi quickly grabbed her boyfriend in an unfortunately named princess carry. All the other sailor scouts, even Venus, looked on with a slight envy. 

“We'll go up from inside, then! Multiply and dominate!” Sailor Venus declared, and Mars very noticeably tried to hide her blush, “See you at the top, you two!”

It was as odd as it always had been, that weightless feeling of being carried through the air like it was nothing. But Mamoru knew it well, and could trust Usagi wouldn't drop him as she leaped up higher and higher, scaling the building in moments. Gravity meant nothing to her.

What would've been a harsh climb for anyone else passed by in a flash, and only the ticking of Mamoru's pocket watch kept him from thinking it had been any shorter. Higher and higher, the ticking felt even stronger…

Feet hit the floor once more, and Usagi put Mamoru down right beside her without properly letting go. The two stood behind their foes, almost identically looking out into the distance while embracing each other. It really felt like Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Moon had intruded on some date. 

“I hate to break you up, but in the name of Love and Justice, I, Sailor Moon, have to stop you!” Oh, the dork had been rehearsing. 

The two enemies turned to face the intruding heroes, and Mamoru was hit with a weird feeling. Sure, the shorter of the two shared Sayuri's eyes, just as it did in their last conflict, but he could see Yuka in the eyes of the taller enemy, too.

“You really didn't have to bother us,” The taller one sighed, “This could have been so easy, and there wouldn't be any fight over the superior kingdom winning.”

“Yeah, well I refuse to back down!” Usagi put up her fists, “You aren't getting anything outta this if I can help it!”

The shorter opponent looked at Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask with the same scrutinising eye as last time. “... Kunzite, that's… Akane and Ranma, right? I remember…”

“How do you know that!?” Mamoru was not up for him or his girlfriend being called the wrong names, “Tell me, and I might show you some mercy!”

“It… It is…?” Kunzite looked deeply at its opponents, then seemed to get a headache, “But… Who…? Zoisite, who- AAAAHHHHH!”

Some sort of dark entity engulfed Zoisite and Kunzite in that moment, a force made of the purple miasma filling the air, starting to move the enemies more like puppets than people. Mamoru swore he heard a woman cackling.

The energy blast the puppeted monsters let out only hit Mamoru in the chest, where his pocket watch was held. The attack was blocked. But it felt like a sword to the chest. It felt like a sword, piercing through his chest. 

Endymion had a sword through his chest.

And the ticking of the Moon Phase pocket watch echoed through the air, a pulse as if from Endymion’s very soul. 

○●☆●○

Pulse. Usagi was pushed to the back of her mind, her fury combining with sadness. She couldn't see Mamoru almost die again, not again. Not like Jusendo, not like… Like…

Pulse. Not like the feeling of a sword being pushed into the girl's heart. Not like seeing her beloved perish in front of her. Not like seeing their kingdoms destroy each other. Not like their forbidden romance. 

Pulse. She felt sick. She felt horrified. She felt like she had been shattered into a million pieces with the pocket watch that she could still hear ticking. She felt heartbreakingly alone in a way she never wanted to be again. She shouldn't have been alone. The princess shouldn't have been alone. 

Pulse. Her forehead burned beneath the tiara. There was no moon in sight to call on the power of, but the moon was with her, always. Her kingdom was with her always. Home was with her always. It was driving the poor girls her mind was shared with to tears, to rage, to blinding hope and divine fury and love and a need for justice. 

Pulse. The imaginary crystalline heart pulsed louder. It pulsed with each tick of the pocket watch that refused to die. It got louder with each tear, and as she reached her beloved, as a tear dropped onto his chest, the pulsing came from both within and out. Her very core, her crystalline core, her heart and soul, cried itself into existence, pulsing with a divine silvery light that only the moon could compare to.

The Legendary Silver Crystal dispelled the darkness. It dispelled the miasma. And it awoke Princess Serenity to her name and memories. 

The whole world healed under a power that would have otherwise shattered it. 

All the power required for such a stunt drained Serenity of energy she didn't have, and she was helpless to the horror she saw next. Zoisite and Kunzite dragging her dear Endymion into what remained of the darkness. Disappearing. 

The ticking stopped, as did the pulsing of Serenity's heart in her hand. The world felt still, and she felt painfully awake as she stood atop Tokyo Tower in the bright sunlight. She was so, so far from home.

“USAGI!” The unified voices of the sailor guardians, plus Artemis, called out from the door to roof. Luna wasn't far behind. But, even surrounded by her lovers and companions, Serenity's mind refused to become grounded. 

She had failed again. It hurt like a sword to the chest.

Chapter Text

The body they had dragged in continued to pulse with ticking, that infernal pocket watch refusing to break despite taking the blow. And, to make matters worse, it seemed only the two remaining heavenly kings could hear it. 

“You made The Legendary Silver Crystal reveal itself, that's certainly a step forward,” Queen Beryl praised, “And you brought us a captive. Good work, Zoisite and Kunzite. To think that Tuxedo Mask was just some teenage girl all along…”

“Um, Queen-” 

“You are dismissed, just focus on getting that crystal.” The queen interrupted Zoisite, and the world shifted as the generals teleported to the usual throne.

There was a moment to breathe, but only a moment. The ticking wouldn't get out of either of their heads, and things kept making sense in the worst ways possible. Pieces of memory slotted into place, and it became more and more horrific. 

“... Yuka?” Zoisite asked as she remembered herself, needing comfort now more than ever.

“... Sayuri.” Kunzite recognised her girlfriend despite their different bodies. 

“I think… I think we need to get Akane out of here, before anything gets worse.”

The whole history of their time as Zoisite and Kunzite was open to them. Their history as Sayuri and Yuka, just as present. The two girls in now unfitting bodies, dragged to be the pawns of some scheme to rule the world and resurrect a great evil. 

A great evil that had been the cause of Endymion’s death. The cause of Akane's death, or whatever he was going by in name when he wasn't Tuxedo Mask. The potential end of life as it's known across the universe. 

Sayuri and Yuka desperately had to meet up with the two other people they knew would believe them, who might be able to help them. They needed to find Jadeite and Nephrite, Hiroko and Asami. They needed to help Sailor Moon. 

○●☆●○

It had been two days since the incident atop Tokyo Tower. Despite the world seemingly unchanged and time marching forward, nothing felt the same ever since. Although, nothing could have been the same after remembering everything just beforehand. That was Ami's biggest struggle. 

Her brain was already reaching capacity beforehand, if she had to be honest. Studying was fun in ways but remembering it all was a little more difficult when stuck with knowing how to navigate a palace she'd never visit, or where the best study spots were on the rest of that belt that Pluto was a part of. 

… The fact she knew that Pluto was not, in fact, a planet properly, but a part of a greater belt of objects beyond Neptune was highly inconvenient seeing as she couldn't yet prove it, and thus had to likely answer with incorrect information if she ever wanted to pass tests on astronomy ever again. 

But tests had to be done, cram school had to be gone to, qualifications had to be gotten. Ami wasn't able to sit by Usagi, or more accurately, Princess Serenity, every waking hour to check on her. It hurt to not be able to help her girlfriend, but there was nothing that could be done. 

Mamoru, for one, couldn't be found. His pocket watch couldn't be tracked. There might have been somewhere, but nowhere the sailor guardians had access to. Princess Serenity was deep in mourning, and inside her, Usagi probably was too. 

The Legendary Silver Crystal was hardly doing anything, either. It was practically just a glass bauble in Serenity’s possession. Ami, Shampoo and Ryu had theories, combining their shared knowledge to make a pretty decent guess of where all that energy was. The Legendary Silver Crystal likely was lending its energy to keep Mamoru as safe as it could…

It was a massive mess, with so much to consider in how to go forward. And with all parts of Sailor Moon too distraught to even go to school, it made planning a course of action almost impossible, something that'd take an unlikely miracle to push forward with.

“Um, Mizuno-san?” Ami was so deep in thought that the girl that walked up to her almost made her drop her books in minor fright.

“O-oh, you're Naru, from Usagi’s class, right?” Thankfully, Ami was right, as the brunette nodded, “Please, just call me Ami.”

“I was just wondering if you've seen Usagi at all,” Naru seemed very concerned, “She hasn't come into class the last two days, and after that whole incident where the whole city became sick, I was just hoping she wasn't affected too badly…”

“She's… She's having some troubles, at least, but she isn't properly sick,” It wasn't possible to explain away the issue as sailor guardian business… “Why do you think it has to do with the other day, though?”

“It's actually a friend I've been talking to on a forum who came up with that…” There was actually a slight blush on Naru's face, “We've been theorising a bit about the entire Sailor Moon situation. I'm going to be meeting with her for chocolate parfaits on Sunday…”

Now, love may have been what Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus watched over the most, and both Mars and Jupiter were far more experienced in the field, but Mercury had experienced enough crushes on her three, maybe four girlfriends (she'd yet to talk to Minako about it) to tell that there was absolutely feelings Naru had towards this online friend.

“If it would put your mind at ease, I'm sure Usagi would be happy if you wanted to visit her,” Ami was maybe doing something stupid by impulsively skipping on cram school for this, but this was important, “I'm going to see her after school, if you want to walk over there with me.”

“Oh! If you're okay with that, then sure!” It was easy to see how Usagi had become fast friends with Naru, she was simply just charming, “I'll meet you at the front gate?”

“That sounds good, I'll see you there.” Ami returned the smile, and hoped that this would be good for her mourning girlfriend. 

○●☆●○

Rei wasn't exactly confident being on Moon Watching Duty on her own. 

It wasn't like she'd show it, though. No matter how much it'd be easy to lose her cool, to say something wrong, to just get even the littlest bit snappy, she wouldn't let it happen. She couldn't let herself mess this up.

Because, despite all reasonable logic, she cared about the Bun Head, no matter who was in control of the body. Rei cared about Usagi, her memories of being Isidis cared about Serenity, even that small girl behind those eyes Rei had seen when they first met was someone Rei stupidly cared about.

Yesterday, Makoto was the one who headed right over here to make sure the princess from the moon was some semblance of okay. It was basically necessary to keep an eye on her, preventing her from spiralling when possible. Everything reminded the poor girl of Mamoru, of Endymion, and while she was allowed to be upset, there's a point where it just isn't healthy to do nothing but cry.

“Um…” Serenity shook as she looked at the cards in her hands, “... Go Fish?”

“We're playing Snap, dummy,” Rei corrected, “You just place any random card down.”

“... Mamoru used to call me a dummy… Oh, Isidis,” She was already starting to tear up again, “I miss him so much, I can't… I can't play this…”

It was impossible for Rei not to groan in frustration. “So no Old Maid because of martial arts trauma, no game where I might insult you, I don't think you even have a poker face… Ugh, I don't even know what to do with you.”

“Sorry…” The moon princess shrunk in on herself. Great work, Rei, you made the poor thing sadder. 

The door to Serenity’s bedroom opened gently, and thankfully, it was Ami and some girl from Juban Public High School who entered. Rei was saved from accidentally being a horrible person, now she could take a back seat and play it safe. 

“Usagi!?” The brunette stranger probably didn't know about the whole princess thing, right, “What happened to your hair!?”

“Oh, it… It…” Distant as ever, Serenity looked at how her hair had grown to lengths it had been millennia beforehand. She looked at it with a sadness, then a hollowness, and then fear. 

And for the first time in days, those eyes became unclouded. “... Oh fuck, my hair! I thought that whisker expired, I haven't touched hot water, I- I- I-”

“Calm down, Bun Head, you're safe,” Rei cut in, “Welcome back. I… We missed you.”

Ami had taken Usagi’s hand, the blonde calming a little as a result. “Naru was worried about you, so I invited her. Is that okay?”

“Y-yeah, it's… Naru-chan?” Usagi stared up at her apparent friend, “I'm… I'm sorry you saw me like that, I… Crap, I said too much, and-”

“It's okay, Usagi,” Naru reassured, “I don't exactly know what I saw, or what all of that meant, but, it's okay.”

“It's a trauma thing, basically,” Rei explained, cutting out the supernatural details, “She gets into too much trouble. Nice to meet you, by the way. I'm Rei, one of her girlfriends.”

“... Girlfriends?” That was the strange part to Naru, apparently, “As in multiple?”

“You've got a problem with that?” Fire flickered in Rei's eyes. She wasn't taking any bullshit about this today. 

“No, I'm only a little surprised,” Naru did back off a little from the empty threat at least, “Umino's going to be heartbroken, but I never really thought he stood a chance anyway.”

“Wait, Umino likes me!?” It was as if Usagi had never left. 

“Please, you're dumb enough over one boy,” Rei huffed, “A boy who we plan on saving, so don't try to just immediately rebound.”

“I wasn't going to rebound, but... Right, we need to save Mamoru,” Usagi sounded sad yet again, “And… Do other things with our night jobs.”

“Yes, our night jobs,” It was a bit hard talking about sailor guardian business with Naru around, but Ami was definitely clear, “I was thinking, if we could somehow visit Serenity’s old home, that may have resources for us, at least until Shampoo's grandmother returns.”

“Wait, who's Serenity?” Naru asked.

“You basically just missed her,” Rei tried explaining again, avoiding too many details, “She's close to Usagi, and they share a lot of those trauma issues.” 

“Yes, and she's very important to our work.” Added Ami. 

“Weird, but… Okay. If you can't just go into this Serenity girl's old house, why not sneak in?” Naru suggested, “If it's that important, I mean. Don't actually do anything illegal.”

“Um, well, it's a bit hard to get into…” Usagi undersold the distance to the literal moon, although quickly seemed to have a thought, “... Serenity says it should be possible, though, since she used to go between, uh, here and there all the time.”

“And if you really have to be inside her old house, maybe there'd be a window open or something,” Suggested Naru, “Some time the her parents or whatever leave stuff open, maybe? I assume she ran away like you did, Usagi.”

“Oh, uh, kinda…” The blonde awkwardly giggled. 

“... Naru, I think you're on the right track!” Ami had a little eureka moment, “Shampoo might know more, but wouldn't the phases of the moon be a good place to start?”

“I would pick a normal watch, but sure,” Naru was clearly out of her depth, watching Ami slowly hype Usagi up with the possibilities, “Is… Is this normally how geniuses work? With weird connections to the moon?”

“It makes more sense the more you know both of them,” Again, Rei had to cover for all of this, though a bit more creatively, “It's a girlfriends only thing, sorry. A little too personal, I don't want to give their little secret creative processes away.”

Chapter Text

"I'll be back for the full moon, I promise," Usagi smiled as best she could, "You know I don't plan on missing that for the world."

"You better not," Rei huffed, "We're doing that mainly for you. And… Any longer would be too long."

Ryu spoke up from the back of the group, having been pushed in front of by the sailor polycule. "We'll keep looking for a way to properly get you all up there, so be ready. Right, Shampoo?"

The purple haired girl huffed a little, still trying to work her way to being closer to the group again. "… It will be done, for the sake of our universe."

The whole group of girls, plus Ryu, were gathered at the train station to see Usagi off. Her family, even with how her mood had been completely tanked since the incident at Tokyo Tower, still had plans to see and stay with family in Suginami. Time marched forward. 

As much as Usagi would absolutely miss her girlfriends, it would be nice getting to be a bit of a normal girl again. Nothing about the Legendary Silver Crystal she held, nothing about fighting monsters. Just introducing herself to her new family. Hopefully they'd approve of her.

Makoto handed over a pretty decent sized bento box, despite the fact Usagi told her she'd be fine for food. "Eat well and stay safe. I know you don't need me to kick ass for you, but if there's any danger, just call."

"We'll be right there for you, princess," Minako smiled while putting her hand on Usagi’s shoulder, "You only fight when you want to."

Usagi was warmed by the physical affection her fellow blonde gave, but she could hear Serenity squealing internally. *Oh, Serova, Venus as beautiful as Earth, a sight to behold… She touched me!* 

"Bunny! It's almost here!" Shingo called out as the train could be heard approaching, Usagi’s parents waving her over too.

The wheeled luggage bag's handle was shoved into Usagi’s hand by Ami. "Go, have fun. We have tests coming up next week so maybe study if you get bored at all."

"We both know I probably won't," Usagi wrapped her free arm around the blue haired girl, "But thanks anyway."

The rest of the sailor scouts huddled in for the hug, tight and cosy despite there being five of them and Usagi being the shortest. By the time Usagi would get back home after these few nights in Suginami, it'd be the full moon and time for action. But right now, these were young girls in love. That's what mattered.

The hug broke up as the train pulled in, as much as Usagi didn't want it to. She was still quick to run to join her family, the train wouldn't wait for her and she didn't want to ride on top of it like she used to on occasion, but she didn't feel good about it, waving sadly through the window.

… Even though it wasn't the same train, and wasn't going into Nerima, it couldn't help but click that the last train Usagi had been on was one that lead her to her new family, to her new life. It was kind of frightening, absolutely, but… Well, Usagi wasn't going back to that chaotic life. She was solidly staying with this new life, especially since the old one had no Mamoru to return to. 

○●☆●○

Naru's trip to Nerima was filled with a simple kind of giddiness, the kind that left her light on her feet the whole train ride. She did swear she saw Usagi on the other end of the platform, but her friend had been surrounded by a bunch of other girls, so she thought it was better to leave them be. 

Besides, she knew the moment she got off that train that today really was a better day for new friends than it was jumping in on her old friend's plans. The moment she saw the brunette girl with a bobcut holding up a sign with her chatroom username, Naru leapt forward to her new future. 

"SanguineString74?" Naru asked cautiously, though still bouncing on her heels, "Asami?"

The girl slightly jumped at the sudden appearance of her online friend. "Naru! Hi! It's great to actually meet you, you look great!"

"Says you, you're so pretty!" The two girls started walking off to their planned destination, "I love that necklace, is it nephrite?" 

"Ha… Yeah, it is," Asami held the pendant awkwardly with her hand, "That's right, you like jewellery stuff?" 

"Oh, not too much, it's just my mum's business," Naru shrugged it off, "You learn a lot, surrounded by rocks your whole life. But where did you get that? It looks really high quality."

"Oh, it's a really long story. How much are you willing to hear some really weird things about the monsters Sailor Moon is fighting?" It was a little hesitant, but Asami still smiled, "Because I have some facts and theories you might like based on our chats."

○●☆●○

"… You're kidding me, r-right?" Usagi shook beneath the shadow of the house her family stopped at, "This can't be the right place."

"Why? Do you know it?" Her mother waltzed right up to the door of the Hibiki household and knocked on the door. 

What was Usagi supposed to say? 'Hmm yes mother, the last few times I was here included getting dressed up like a younger girl and a maid, and I am slowly piecing together that my new cousin might be a guy who has frequently tried to kill me.' Not the best thing to say right here and now. 

Because Usagi loved her family, they were great! But they did not need to be wrapped up in all her old mess. She hadn't told them anything about the curse or her time as a man amongst men, so if anyone recognised her, then she was going to be forced to face that past right in front of her last truly 'No Chaos' zone. 

"Hello?" Calling out as she knocked on the door, Usagi’s mum continued to be unaware of her daughter's incoming panic, "Kiki! It's Ikuko!"

The door swung open, and a woman Usagi hadn't seen since middle school came out of it. "KOKO! HIII!" 

How Usagi hadn't seen familial relation between her rival's mum and her own until now was only a problem of her bad memory. The two women fit together in a way only close siblings could, and the hug they shared was clearly a long time coming.

And, just as enthusiastic about hugs, was Shirokuro, barging out of the house and charging towards an unfortunately familiar smelling girl. Usagi’s martial arts skills would have been stranger to show off, though, so she was resigned to getting tackled to the ground. 

"Hi, yes, good girl, good puppy," Usagi gave all the hugs and pets she could while not being too awkward as to give herself away, "You can get off me, Shirokuro, I know it's exciting but-"

"How do you already know the dog, Bunny?" Shingo asked. Usagi had fucked up. 

"It isn't a hard name to guess, she is just black and white," Thankfully Usagi’s dad suggested, "Although, she's not this friendly with strangers…"

Kisara Hibiki, the woman who had literally asked Usagi to guide her son to school back in the day, took a good long look at the bunheaded blonde. "Your face… Ranma? Ranma Saotome? From Ryoga's middle school?"

"Uh. N-no. Usagi Tsukino," She tried to correct as she got up off the ground, feeling slightly sick from hearing that old name, "… At least, that's my name now. So, um, yeah. Hi, Mrs Hibiki. Sorry 'bout this."

"… You're that missing persons case?" Usagi’s father asked, concern weighing down his voice.

"You're a boy?" Shingo asked far more invasively.

"I'm a girl, I just… It's… Okay so…" It was hard for Usagi to properly focus, given that a massive barrier had been torn down. The more childish thoughts in her head cried. The cat hissed. Serenity felt incredibly lost again. And Usagi couldn't meditate in on her core to focus again.

"Let's go inside, and then we can talk, okay?" Strangely, Usagi’s mum talked gently, "You're a girl. I believe you, my little Bunny."

And that's when Usagi felt herself shifting to the back of her mind.

Bunny was going to be safe. "Mmm… Gonna need a kettle but not for long.'

○●☆●○

It was the worst sleep Yuka ever had in her life. Her body felt frozen, twisted, all out of order. She was practically numb, sensations coming back to her painfully as her whole body creaked and ached. It wasn't an easy sensation to describe beyond awful. 

It was her apartment, the one her parents paid for so she could stay at one school while they worked abroad. It was her bed, big enough for one person to fit comfortably and two fine enough. It was her girlfriend, Sayuri, twisting and turning uncomfortably as she tried to wake up to in Yuka's arms.

Sayuri didn't have a necklace like the one she was wearing before. Yuka didn't have one like hers, either. Her little kunzite pedant, wrapped around her neck like it could strangle her if she dared to move wrong, if she dared breathe.

"… Akane. Endymion. Fuck…" Yuka felt everything click in her head like a loud, repetitive, unbreakable pocket watch's ongoing gears, "… FUCK!"

"Huh, whuh, I-" Shaken from her sleep by the noise, Sayuri still remained enveloped in Yuka's arms. "Yuka, what… What hap… Oh."

It was like a bright and violent flash. It was like a torrent of cold winds and blazing heat. It was as if an explosion increased to a volume so loud it could destroy a planet, and yet decreased so quiet that air itself was removed, a vacuum you couldn't scream in. 

That was Queen Beryl's attack on Zoisite and Kunzite, Sayuri and Yuka. They had tried to come close to their former leader, their high school friend, and steal him away from his bizarre stasis. And they had been caught doing so. They had been caught violently.

"We didn't get him out…" Yuka sighed. 

"W-what day is it?" Rushing out of the bed, Sayuri ran to get dressed in something other than the pyjamas she had on, "I need to get to my carer, she's probably worried as hell."

"And I should call my parents…" Shakily, still feeling the pain from the wrong body, Yuka got up to call on the phone. The answering machine attached must have been full…

The phone started to ring, a tone Yuka knew so well yet hadn't heard for months now. The handset had a layer of dust building up on it, and that disuse was distressing. It was hardly the fourth ring that Yuka picked it up. "Hello, Yuka speaking."

"… WAIT? YUKA!?" Hiroko’s voice came out tinny, but was still clear as day, "Yuka, you're back!? There hadn't been any sailor scout sightings or anything so Asami thought it'd at least be another day, not- How!?"

"Well, Sayuri and I found Ranma and Akane," Yuka practically coughed out, "And that royal pain in the ass didn't like that. Ranma's Sailor Moon."

"Huh… I guess I owe Asami ¥1000," Someone had clearly lost against a conspiracy board, "Meet up at my place in a few hours? Asami's talking with a girl who got saved Sailor Moon, so she'll be later."

"I think… Maybe not immediately," The pain still shook through Yuka's body, "I have affairs to get in order."

○●☆●○

How long had it been since he'd last seen Akane? Hell, since he last saw Ranma? Months of time apart was different when you knew you couldn't find them after. It was different to the only barrier being getting lost. 

Ryoga was just alone. He was tired deep in his bones, more than he had ever been. He'd been tracking down Akane for months, just as he tracked Ranma for years in the past, and he had nothing. It was as if she really had just disappeared. 

Maybe it was luck, maybe fate, maybe his cursed sense of direction giving pity on him, but he found himself in front of home for the first time in so long.His own house, the last time he saw it being- Ack, everything reminded Ryoga of his crush and rival. 

His keys eventually fished from the bottom of his bag, Ryoga walked in without getting tackled by Shirokuro. She must've been preoccupied, there were people talking in the house. People including who had to be his mother. He'd never forget his mother's voice. 

"Mum, I'm home!" Ryoga did his best to cheer as he entered the living room. 

"Augh, my dear Ryo! Welcome!" Smiled his mother from underneath the massive dog in her lap, "You remember your Auntie Ikuko, right?"

It had been a while, but the faces around the room rang some bells. The woman and man looked a few years older than he remembered of his maternal aunt and uncle, but it was enough. He also remembered their son, vaguely, though he had definitely grown in the years since last seeing the Tsukinos. 

… But there was never a blonde girl his age before. The girl was sitting on the floor in front of Ryoga's aunt, getting her hair dried despite no sign of it raining anywhere. She looked shaken and wide eyed, and despite his poor facial recognition, something managed to trigger a memory.

Yoiko.

"Ranma!?" His vision started turning red, "Where have you been!? Where's Akane!? What did you do to h-WAUGH!"

In a single overhead throw that felt far too close to the Tendou School of Anything Goes, Ryoga came crashing down at the feet of his younger cousin. "I did the thing!"

"Now, Ryoga, this is Usagi," His mother said sweetly but sternly, "And she's told us a lot. So, we're going to talk this out, you're going to be a good cousin, and everything will be fine. No fighting in the house."

Chapter Text

Usagi laid awake on the rooftop of the Hibiki household. 

It had been a long time since she did anything like it, actually. The last time she stayed outside at night had been just before Mamoru had ran away. She had stared at the moon since then, obviously, but from the comfort of indoors, a luxury she hadn't gotten consistently before.

Was it Serenity's fault the moonlight was comforting? Usagi didn't quite know. It used to just be because it was the only thing she could see consistently at night while travelling, even having an eye for it during the new moon. But that could have been the memory of Serenity, too, dormant. 

Still, the cool air and night sky were a comfort, but not Usagi’s comfort. This was the learnt habit left from when she was someone else, from when she was taught she had no choice but to take freedom by the horns. From when she was a boy. 

It had all come clean twice over. Usagi couldn't exactly recall what she said the first time, a more childish thought process was in control. But the instant Ryoga explained everything… The only ones who could handle being in control were Usagi and The Cat, and only the former could prove useful in that scenario. 

… And that meant her family knew. All of it, every single thing. They saw her body, twisted and contorted into a shape Usagi had been avoiding. They knew that Ranma Saotome, man amongst men, had shrivelled up inside and had become Usagi Tsukino. 

At least some things were still secret. Ryoga couldn't talk about Sailor Moon, for example, he probably didn't know who that was at all. He could tell them about Mamoru, though. Usagi had to clarify who that was with her own damn mouth, and it stung. It wasn't her secret to share, but it got Ryoga to stop calling him that other name.

Chaos liked to find Usagi Tsukino. It always did. It probably wouldn't be long for people to start connecting the dots between her arrival in Juban to the monster attacks. Hell, if one of Mamoru's old friends knew about Usagi’s current existence, it'd probably be conspiracy boarded and presented to chatrooms by now, although that'd be impossible. 

"Sitting on the roof again. Old habits die hard?"

Usagi nearly jumped at the sound of Ryoga's voice, her rival-turned-cousin climbing to sit next to her. "No, this is… This is me relapsing. Usagi doesn't do this, someone else did."

"You're not dead, you know," Ryoga had no clue about the whole reincarnation thing, "I… I get why you ran, at least, but you don't get to act like my rival died."

"For my mental health, I do," Usagi tucked her legs into her arms as she pouted, "I feel alive like this now! I haven't been you know who since dying my hair in the bathroom! I've just been me, and I'm Usagi Tsukino, a normal girl. No disguises."

"Except for the part where your new family only found out tonight," It might as well have been him spitting in her face, "It's nice to be unknown sometimes in a new place, but this was too long! You used to be proud of what you've done and where you've been, what happened?"

"I WAS ALONE, THAT'S WHAT!" Here were the tears, "I know that's hard for you to think I could be, but I was! Everyone wanted me to marry them or to die, and sometimes it felt like the former were better at the latter's job! And I had lost the one damn person I could stay for! So yeah, I didn't say a word about what I've been through. I didn't want to fight like Ranma Saotome had to."

There wasn't a response immediately. Of course there wasn't. It was Ryoga who was the second most torn up during the moxibustion incident, when he mourned those punches that hit like lightning. Of course the difference between Ranma and Usagi upset him.

"… How is he?" Was what Ryoga finally continued with, "What's he like as Mamoru?"

"… He's… He's incredible," The tears wouldn't stop, "Smart, snarky, handsome… I bet he still has an infinite closet, just of suits now. But he's… The last I saw of him… I… I couldn't…"

Usagi’s broach flickered with light. She had kept it on her just in case something happened while she was up here. And, without any catchphrase needed, just her emotion, the light enveloped her, leaving her in the uniform of her true duty.

"… I am a guardian. One of Love and Justice, Sailor Moon," She explained, "It's a secret I can't share with my family for their safety, but I know how strong you are. Mamoru fought alongside me, and the enemy stole him away… My team and I looking for him, but…"

"So he isn't even- Ugh!" A new crack appeared in a roof tile beneath Ryoga's hand, "… Of course he isn't safe. I… I don't blame you, you're trying to save him, but… Fuck!"

The one other soul awake in the street seemed to have heard the swearing, because she was soon looking up at the Hibiki house's rooftop. "Ryoga!? You're actually not lost, that's… Way too convenient."

"Oh, Ukyo," Ryoga slid off the roof while gesturing for Usagi to stay, landing and running to the okonomiyaki chef, "What's convenient about it?"

"Well, I just got done being dragged a buncha places, and- That doesn't matter," Ukyo sighed, "Look, Cologne knows where… Saotome and Tendou, are, and they're safe, so it's fine. We… We should stop looking." 

So Cologne would be around to ask questions again? Of all the times to be away from Juban… But Ukyo would never call the pigtailed boy she knew by that last name. Their old nicknames for each other were too important to her. Just what had Cologne known and shared?

*Archerusia has always been a complicated and tricky teacher…* Serenity acknowledged. 

"Yeah, I know they… They probably aren't coming back," When Ryoga looked back up to the roof, he couldn't see anyone up there, "Not the same, at least."

"… Have ya also heard about Sailor Moon?" Ukyo asked hesitantly.

"He's heard all the basics, I hope." Sailor Moon spoke.

Maybe it was her flair for disguises coming through as a flair for the dramatic instead, but Sailor Moon stood behind her oldest friend on a fence post, the light of the moon behind her illuminating her as nothing but a silhouette. 

"Hey, Ucchan," Usagi jumped off her perch and onto the pavement, "… Sorry I let you run past me before, I just-"

Usagi was cut off by the tight hug of a very clearly emotional Ukyo. "The next fuckin' time ya wanna run away cos of me, just… Say something, dumbass!" 

"It was more than you. It was far more than you…" Sure, the remains of the fiancee war was a big factor, but it wasn't Ukyo alone, "I hear you got an earful from Cologne?"

"Fuck, you have no idea…" Sighed Ukyo, who also sounded like she was tearing up, "I ain't sure how the fuck to handle reincarnation being real, or space kingdoms, or-"

"Wait, what!?" Ryoga cut in, "Sorry, space stuff I can believe, and I saw, uh… Sailor Moon here get dressed up, but reincarnation?"

"It's complicated," Usagi wouldn't want to give herself a headache over explaining it, "But yep."

"I don't know how ya handle Cologne for more than an hour per week," Ukyo sounded slightly dead inside, "I had to fight an American priest in a boxing match and collect these rocks before she even told me I'd already seen ya."

"… Somehow that's weirder than what I've dealt with," It was somehow stranger than Princess D had been, at least, "And I learnt me and my girlfriends are from space."

"YOUR GIRLFRIENDS!?" Both old friends of Usagi seemed extremely confused. 

Right, Usagi being polyamorous might have saved a little more pain during the fiancee war situation. Although, Shampoo was explicitly not interested, and Kodachi was still a no go, and Ukyo really just felt better to have as a friend… 

"I have a photo of all of us in my bag, lemme go get it," Usagi leapt back up to the roof, "But no trying to kill or steal or replace them!"

They didn't need to be roped into the Mamoru rescue. They weren't reincarnations of immortal space royalty sworn to do this. They weren't cursed with the life of Ranma Saotome. They didn't need chaos coming with them. Maybe… 

Maybe Usagi could just have them as normal friends and family.

○●☆●○

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. 

There was a pulse there, something clicking away, unstoppable, unending. It was half-hearted, though. Sluggish, even. A force that pounced in the chest with all the sharpness of a rusty knife, a sword driven slowly through the chest to kill. 

The ticking came with thoughts and no feelings. Legendary Silver Crystal. Serve Queen Beryl. Seek out the Legendary Silver Crystal. Seek out the true Prince Endymion. Find and kill Sailor Moon. Be a good little doll.

That's right. What had awoken was a doll. Had that happened before? Dolls don't get to ask questions. They get to serve Queen Beryl, they get to aid The Dark Kingdom. They are disposable, in most circumstances. 

But this doll could find Sailor Moon. Queen Beryl knew the doll could get close to Sailor Moon. The doll had already pretended to be something else to get close to Sailor Moon before, right? The doll was shaped like a teenage girl, but pretended to be a boy. 

It was cruel how being a doll meant she couldn't find the emotion to be a boy again. She couldn't find any emotion at all, in fact. She had only ways to fake things, and wasn't it easier to fake being a girl? Isn't that what people would want of her? 

So she had been made pretty. Queen Beryl's doll was made pretty for the mission. It wasn't much. It was only cute clothes and growing out that ugly, boyish haircut. Sailor Moon was a girl. Of course she'd want to make friends with a cute girl instead of some kind of tomboy.

The doll waited at the train station in Nerima. Sailor Moon was stationed in Juban, but searching the doll's dying memories said so much more time was spent with Sailor Moon in Nerima. It was best to be thorough. Be ruthless. Anything Goes. 

And the doll saw a real human girl getting on the platform. A girl heading to Juban. Had the doll seen the girl before? She didn't know. But her school uniform made the doll think of Juban. It made her think of Sailor Moon. 

It was best to stand back. The girl already in uniform so early in the morning had a group of other girls with her. The four friends were saying goodbye, thanking the uniformed girl. Each friend had a crystal on their necklace, none the doll was looking for.

They felt familiar…

The doll waited for her target to be done hugging one of those friends in particular. She stood close enough that it'd be easy to get on the same train car as the uniformed girl. She was a smart doll. A social doll. 

The train rolled in, and on walked the doll. The train car was perfectly empty except for the doll and the target. The doll did wait to act until they were truly unseen, though. Those four girls with gemstone necklaces made direct eye contact with the doll as the train rolled away, confused and mortified. 

No one could see the doll approach the girl except for the target herself. It was stiff, quiet, ominous and analytical. Sitting right next to her target, ignoring the entire empty train car, the doll knew what she had to do for Queen Beryl. 

She had to make this the perfect cover.

A manic, magic look filled the doll's face to match a plastered on smile, a look meant to entrance and drag in the uniformed girl. "I'm Kiseki Maboroshi. Do you want to be friends?" 

The uniformed girl blinked for a moment. And then she simply stared. The look shared between the two was long and painful, they had almost reached the next station by the time the real human of the two spoke.

"I'm… Naru Osaka… I'm…" The girl shook herself out of it, "I'm glad to be friends, Kiseki! Do you have the homework for today done already? I can let you look at mine, I did it while staying with an online friend last night."

"Thank you, Naru-chan," The doll feigned interest, and did so with no flaws, "I was so focused on trying to figure out all that Sailor Moon stuff going on, I couldn't focus on homework OR sleep last night."

Chapter Text

"I'd rather not do this, please," She walked along the path, drenched from the rain that had only just passed, "I know there's some important political kind of connection between our families, but-"

"No buts, young lady," The taller woman said smugly from beneath her parasol, completely dry, "This is a matter of honour first, duty second. I thought your teacher would have let you know that much."

"She probably did, she's just so… So…" The word was on the tip of the younger girl's tongue, "Crotchety? Ghoulish, maybe? How many generations of us has she taught?"

"Too many, and yet too few, my dear daughter," Laughed the ethereal woman, "It wouldn't surprise me if Archerusia taught your own daughter, too. If the other kingdoms allow her to, of course. I wonder which of your guards will-"

"MOTHER!" Almost stopping in her tracks right there to go into a flustered tantrum, Princess Serenity of The Moon Kingdom found herself still moving with how easily the Queen lifted her up over the shoulder, "WAUGH!"

"Don't worry, I don't intend to be a grandmother until you're ready to have a child," Queen Serenity carried onwards as if nothing was wrong, "But I support you all wholeheartedly. Why, perhaps I could take the time to teach you proper courtship of a group."

"I'd really rather not…" The Princess hated the idea of her mother sitting her down to teach her 'the ways of life', as that was just plain gross. 

Even though they were on Earth, the Queen's laugh echoed as it always did on The Moon, not tied down to the physics sound needed to work for most. Undoubtedly, the two royals must have been heard from even at the far end of the embassy gardens they were approaching. 

The goal of today was to meet with the current king of Earth and his three heiresses over diplomatic issues, although really it was to introduce the younger royals to each other more than it was to organise much else. The Moon and Earth Kingdoms were forever intertwined, it was always better for positive relations between monarchs to start early.

The gates of The Moon Kingdom Embassy were large and pearlescent white, as if someone took the Princess's bedroom doors and slapped them right on a fence. It was gaudy, to a degree, but it reminded Princess Serenity of home, right here on the beautiful blue planet. 

"Introducing, Queen Serenity and Prince Serenitatis…?" The guard at the gates looked confused as he tried to introduce the incoming royals. 

"Princess Serenity the Second, actually," The Queen corrected as she continued to carry her daughter through to the pavilion, "The prince isn't making any public appearances at the moment, sorry."

Once they passed the rather apologetic looking guard, the Princess sighed in relief as she got put on the ground again. "Thank you, mother…"

"It's okay, young lady, I only pray for your happiness," Marching onwards, Queen Serenity gently lifted her daughter's chin up as a reminder of proper posture, "Now, that should be them there. Remember, no pressure. You don't have to like them, but just get along well enough, for our kingdoms."

"Yes, understood." Princess Serenity the Second put on what she liked to call her Politics Face. It was happy enough of an expression to seem content, while serious enough to be seen as mature. It was the perfect neutral expression, and she wouldn't be dist-

The first person to catch her eye was her poor heart's immediate downfall, and she couldn't at all pin down why. That was odd, Serenity knew what made her heart tick. She knew it was rarely a man she fell for.

But the way he swung his sword into that training dummy before landing a heavy kick, the way his blue hair glistened in the sunlight, the way he smiled. It was love in a different way to any of her girlfriends. This was falling for a boy, an attraction formed from different traits than what Serenity adored in girls. 

The king of Earth greeted Queen Serenity like an old friend, hugging her close. "Ah, Selene! Safe travels, I presume?"

"Yes, Festus, very safe," The Queen of The Moon returned the hug before backing away a step and gesturing at the Princess, "This here is Princess Serenity the Second, my daughter."

"Sorry for any intrusion…" The girl was incapable of looking away from the blue haired boy, starstruck to a degree. 

"Hey, dad, I thought The Moon Kingdom had a cute prince instead," Nagged one of Earth's two apparent princesses, "That's what our teacher said, at least."

"Don't be so rude about it!" The handsome and charming boy sheathed his sword and walked right up to Princess Serenity, hand out to shake hers, "I'm so sorry about her. I'm Prince Endymion of Earth, I hope we can be good friends."

"O-oh, yes! I would like that!" Serenity II held the boy's hand perhaps a little too tight, completely forgetting the fact there were supposedly three daughters when all she could see was two girls and one really handsome boy, "I would like that a lot!" 

○●☆●○

"You remember how often you went down to Earth for him, don't you? To be young and in love… Your heart was always so full of love, Serenity. It's why what happened to you hurt so, so much. I wanted a good life for you and your loved ones…"

Serenity could remember too clearly. The reincarnated princess had a whirlwind of every smile, every kind word, every time Endymion had swept her off her feet, all rushing through her mind, along with every other memory that could drag itself to the surface. 

Really, she'd been reminiscing since getting to The Moon. The process of getting there was what Usagi was mostly concious for, her reunion with her girlfriends being far too short with the little time they had to reach The Moon in the blink of an eye. A hug, then channelling energy from their transformations, and suddenly every guardian was far beyond where most humans would think to step. 

The holographic ghost of Serenity's mother smiled at her daughter. "I know that look, young lady. Please, don't mourn here once again. Let The Moon Kingdom bring only good memories, let it be a defender of Earth."

"Mother, I…" 

"Your highness, we've been protecting Earth from a threat of monsters, The Dark Kingdom," Sailor Venus stood forward, leaning slightly on the sword pulled from the pedestal the dead Queen projected from, "We came seeking advice, actually."

"The Dark Kingdom…" The hologram was too ethereal to shudder, "There was a day when something horrid came from the sun, all with intent of corrupting Earth and stealing the Legendary Silver Crystal. It plunged us into war, and though I hope you wouldn't keep that memory…"

Serenity saw an awful image echo through her mind. The roaring sound of humans that had been twisted and corrupted by wicked forces. The battlefield completely overturned. Prince Endymion impaled right in front of her on a soldier's blade.

And Serenity willingly pushing the sword Sailor Venus was holding now into her chest.

"… I see that was too much to hope for." The Queen sighed sadly.

"So, you succeeded in sealing it away for this long," Sailor Mars sighed, sombre, "But it wasn't ever going to be permanent, was it?"

"I was vulnerable, of course there were cracks in the seal…" Disappointed in herself echoed in the hologram's artificial voice, "Princess Roche of Saturn said they might have closed up as she reset the universe, but it seems we weren't so lucky."

"And there wasn't anything we could've done?" Sailor Mercury asked with a strange, innocent look, "I don't recall ever hearing you were going to reset the universe."

"Yeah, Tempestas doesn't have anything on that either," Tapping her head, Sailor Jupiter joined in, "Her memory just goes blank before anything like that, apparently."

"Because only five people were alive for it," Sailor Venus, despite being Minako, sounded so much like Princess Serova of Venus in that moment, "Queen Serenity, Roche of the Kingdom of Saturn, Luna, Artemis, and… Me. Past me."

The Moon, the ruins on Mare Serenitatis, were dead silent for a moment. Serenity was having trouble comprehending it all, and everyone else must have been the same. It's one thing to die painlessly with everyone else in the universe. It's another to have died on your own, all eyes on you. 

"My daughter," Queen Serenity the First reached an untouchable hand out, gesturing to lift the girl's chin up, "My beloved daughter. Please, use the Legendary Silver Crystal to destroy this evil once and for all."

"I… I can't," The bauble that was once so powerful felt empty in Sailor Moon's open hand, "The power was drained, it all seemed to flow into Endymion when I tried to save him."

"Endymion has the energy of it inside him?" Relieved almost, The Queen smiled, "Then surely he's safe now. That energy may as well ensure he's immortal."

*THANK FUCK!* Usagis didn't have to hold her breath inside her body's mind, but she sure stopped with that wonderful news.

"Strong convictions, an unshakeable will, and deep love," The Queen's memory continued, "Serenity, please remember that your heart controls the Legendary Silver Crystal. You have the power to eliminate all evil if you can channel that energy. Be proud to be a princess, be proud to be Sailor Moon, and be proud to be a normal girl. Love your rebirth, my daughter."

"My rebirth…" Serenity and Usagi were overlapping in a blur, the message hitting home in ways Queen Serenity couldn't have known. Did the hologram know of martial artists, of cursed springs, of a girl running away as she exchanged her pigtail for buns and twintails?

"Princesses of Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus," The ghostly hologram began to flicker, "Please, keep my daughter safe. Serenity, restore our kingdom. I pray for your ha- Your hap- Happiness…"

And what remained of Queen Serenity the First powered down. 

The Legendary Silver Crystal, empty and depowered, refused to fix the issue. The Earth, visually as stunning as a glass Christmas tree ornament, hung suspended in space, indifferent. And the four girls assigned to watch over Sailor Moon saw her collapse onto the pedestal, upset. While the powers that let them transform allowed them to communicate on The Moon, the cold vacuum of space mercifully absorbed the sobs and wails of Sailor Moon, missing one of her selves' mother. 

"Serenity? Usagi?" Makoto was the first to run to the bunheaded blonde's side, Tempestas as caring as ever, "… Bunny? Come on, we… We got all we could, okay? And we know Mamoru's safe, now. Uh, more than we knew before, at least."

Sailor Moon didn't even know who was in control at this point, but she did know what she had heard. "We… We knew that?"

"It's only a theory, but… Um…" Ami got close enough to help support Usagi up, conflicting thoughts in Pelagia's eyes, "It might be for the best for you to see at school today. It should almost be morning, anyway."

"Don't get her hopes up," Rei said with a slight dismissiveness, the passion of Isidis being channelled into distant concern, "I don't believe it one bit, Bunhead, but… I don't know, if it helps find your boyfriend, it's worth a shot."

"I trust Jupiter, Mercury and Luna to take good care of you at school, regardless of theories," Minako trailed behind the group as they got to a better clearing for teleporting back to Earth, Serova keeping the sword that pierced Serenity's heart once from doing so again, "I'll meet with you after. We'll defend you every step of the way."

Every step of the way was a lot, but… Well, the reborn princess had taken a lot of steps before, her feet worn and weary. It always better to travel the long harsh roads with company. Hopefully, whoever she was, the bunheaded blonde would get to travel it with everyone she loved. Hopefully, her twice rebirth to being Usagi Tsukino would remain so lovely. 

Chapter Text

There were many things Usagi liked about Juban Public High School, based on past experiences with other schools. Especially going there as a girl who had once experienced a boy's only middle school, there was plenty to compare and contrast. 

"Rabbit Girl, maybe… Maybe you should avoid class." Shampoo tried to drag Usagi out the doorway and into the hall.

There were a lot less fights, for example. None of Usagi’s recent battles were at school. There were more normal people, with her girlfriends and Shampoo as notable exceptions. There were times of genuine peace, where all Usagi had to worry about was actual normal school work. 

"There is that sword to research, and… You… Um…"

And even the uniforms were better at Juban Public High, particularly the girl's uniform. Usagi hadn't properly registered how much she preferred the skirt and shirt combo over that tacky teal pinafore. It wasn't something she had ever thought of before. There was just one positive the Furinkan High girl uniform had over Juban Public High's. 

"… You already see it. Of course."

That ghost in the window seat looked better in Furinkan's option.

Long blue hair, tied up with a ribbon as if nothing had ever happened. As if there wasn't that loud crying session at Dr Toufu's clinic. As if Kasumi had never helped neaten it out. As if Ryoga never even entered the lives of a girl and boy who were now a boy and girl. 

Usagi was generally awful at facial recognition, though not the worst, but there was no doubting it here. She knew the face of Mamoru, of Tuxedo Mask, of Prince Endymion, of… Of who he had been before. It felt gross to recognise a Tendou instead of the sole Chiba. 

Naru was chatting to the new student as if they'd been friends forever, and while she had done the same with Usagi, it felt so unnaturally natural this time. One of the most popular people at Furinkan, slotted right in place here. 

"Oh, Usagi, welcome back!" Naru called over the blonde, "This is my friend-"

"Kiseki Maboroshi. It's nice to meet you," The new student smiled, "Do you want to be friends?"

As if the different name didn't give it away, the smile sure nailed it into Usagi’s head. This wasn't her boyfriend, no matter how much reminded her of him. That wasn't Mamoru's smile. It was eerie, far too deep in the uncanny valley. Not too mention her eyes were the wrong kind of distracting. It reminded Usagi of one awful night at a haunted onsen…

"-gi? Usagi?" The hand of Naru Osaka waved frantically in front of Usagi’s face until the bunhead focused in again.

"Oh, uh, I'm Usagi Tsukino, sorry 'bout that," She bowed to the new student awkwardly, "And… Yeah, sure, Maboroshi-san."

Usagi never used honorifics for Mamoru. Initially, it was to be disrespectful and show she disliked the arranged marriage. Eventually, it was out of closeness. But this clear stranger who looked like Mamoru didn't want to be was making Usagi want to push herself as far away as possible. And Kiseki winced at it.

"You can just call me Kiseki," That voice was to hollow to be real, "… Say, your arms look pretty strong. Do you fight at all? Maybe do kempo?"

This was all too suspicious now, and also making Usagi slightly paranoid about how her years of training affected her public appearance. "No. No I don't. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I heard this Sailor Moon girl running around is a martial artist," Gossiped the newbie, "Or guessed it, at least. I was thinking if I could find a martial artist here, I-"

The bell rang before Usagi’s heart could sink any deeper. That wasn't only someone wearing Mamoru's old face and personality. That was someone searching for Sailor Moon and getting really fucking close, coincidence or not. 

It was going to be nearly impossible to pay attention to anything today.

○●☆●○

Going to a different school than the rest of her team was arguably the biggest pain in Minako's neck. 

It already wasn't helpful that Rei was from a separate school than the rest, and that Ryu didn't bother to try school as a holdover from his wandering days. To have so many locations to plan around was a massive hazard! Especially when it meant Mars and Venus couldn't immediately come protect Serenity should the worst case scenario happen. 

Fortunately, there was something she could do to discuss important business with her girlfriends while even far apart. All it'd take was sneaking away during lunch to somewhere unseen. Couldn't have anyone catch her with alien communication tech in a compact, after all. 

Flipping it open, it wasn't long until the connection got made. "Roll call, do we have everyone?"

"Not Usagi or Makoto," Ami's voice came through the speaker, "They're a bit held up with something."

"Ugh, figures…" Sighed Rei through her communicator, "I know this is urgent and all, but don't we already know what that sword is all about? It's the one that someone used to kill the prince before Serenity… Used it."

"Well, yes, but I did have some theories I had to confirm on the school computer," Ami answered, "Because we have no clue what kind of material it's made of. We don't have any known substance on earth that could last that long gone with decaying far more from erosion."

"And I don't even know why it was chosen as the Queen's hologram key," It felt like a let down to Minako, "The Queen never told me. I suppose she thought we would never have to use it if we were living as normal girls…"

"So much for that plan…" Rei's pout was audible. 

It sucked, how The Dark Kingdom were such sore losers as to come back all this time later. They had already destroyed everything, they had, by all means, won the first time asides from not taking the Moon. There was nothing for them to gain, in Minako's outside opinion. 

"… I suppose it does mean we have an additional, likely guaranteed way to get rid of enemies," Ami spoke up again, "If it was capable of piercing both Endymion and Serenity, it should be able to take down the higher ups of The Dark Kingdom."

"Didn't we already get rid of those guys, though?" Asked Rei, "We haven't seen any sign of men in the same uniform since losing Tuxedo Mask. They have to be on their last legs."

"That just means the leader is vulnerable," Minako pointed out, strategy lining up perfectly, "Cut off one head, none grow back."

"I think you're a bit confused about hydras, but it works in this case." Affirmed Ami. 

Rei chuckled quietly. "Unless our enemy is a hydra. You never know."

"I think I would remember fighting a hydra, though…" The sarcasm flew right over Sailor Mercury's head. 

"So, we bring the sword to the final fight," It was Sailor Venus' duty to bring things back on track, "We'll stay prepared, and they won't know what hit them until it's too late."

Both of her fellow guardians hummed affirmative, and Minako felt proud. She was doing a good job as a leader, and could make her old memory proud. Serova would have been proud. They would protect Serenity this time, there was no doubt.

"MAKO!" Speak of the devil, Usagi’s voice could be heard screaming from the background of Ami's voice channel. It didn't take a command for all three girls on call to start panicking. 

○●☆●○

It didn't only wear Mamoru's old appearance. It wore Mamoru entirely. Usagi would recognise the way it threw Makoto across the field as Tendou School of Anything Goes in a heartbeat, the tall brunette having landed heavy on her back and disrupting the normal ordinary atmosphere. 

"I guess she isn't Sailor Moon, because her martial arts weren't good enough," Kiseki chuckled as if nothing happened, "Are you sure you're not a martial artist, Tsukino? Do you want to try?" 

There was something so deeply wrong here. It had to know that Usagi was Sailor Moon, and had to know that Usagi had once been the world's best martial artist, because Sailor Moon hardly used her proper physical combat skills while on the job. It had to know.

But Usagi didn't have to fight, and she didn't want to. She didn't want to hurt any of her partners, especially not the one she'd seen die a few too many times. Serenity shouldn't have seen Endymion get stabbed, Ranma shouldn't have seen Akane dehydrated, Usagi wasn't going to see her own hands rip Mamoru to shreds in any circumstance. 

"I already told you, I'm not a martial artist like that," Usagi lied, knowing that the art would probably always be part of her, no matter what she tried, "So what makes you think I'll fight you?"

There was something that had previously been unbreakable about it, but something seemed to snap quietly. "… Sailor Moon fights everyone else she needs to, so why don't you fight me?"

"I'm not Sailor Moon," The lie was far more blatant this time, but far easier, "That's all."

"Step away from Rabbit Girl, Fake Dirt Boy." A chui was protectively held out in front of Usagi, Shampoo stepping in an oddly familiar yet different way. This wasn't claiming. This was protecting. 

"Yeah, you and I aren't done," Makoto dusted herself off, having picked herself up off the ground, "And you aren't hurting my girlfriend."

Whatever snapped inside the imposter before was breaking again. It was as if watching something meant to be a perfect puppet slowly lose strength in its strings, not yet cut loose but getting increasingly closer.

"… I never get to fight you properly," It still wasn't talking like current Mamoru, but it sure sounded painfully like the old one, "And… And… I can't let this hussy and an actual tomboy take this away from me!"

What could have been a deadly punch to Usagi’s face was dodged thanks to barely rusty reflexes, and all hell broke loose. It was rough to watch fist hit chui, a painful sense of deja vu washing over seemingly only Usagi. 

The only difference was that Kiseki fought like nothing had changed for Mamoru since maybe that time Mousse tried to turn him into a duck. Meanwhile, Shampoo knew these punches and kicks, dodging easily, and Makoto fought in her own way no matter how much this puppeted body mistook her for Ukyo.

The result was totally uneven. Usagi could only watch the flurry of attacks that pummelled the faker, not really taking it in. It didn't even quite feel like she was the one watching, but it wasn't possible to properly tell who was. 

Even as Makoto got kicked in the stomach and fell over, even as Shampoo's chui flew out of her hand and onto her head after one failed dodge, the blonde didn't quite know who was watching an echo of the past be forced to fight the present.

It was almost too late to dodge the soon to be summoned mallet, it only missing because there wasn't a mallet at all.

It held in its borrowed hands a single red rose that wilted black in an instant, and it froze. Serenity watched the rose fade away as a light finally filled her Endymion's eyes, if only for a second before dulling again. And when that face settled…

"… Goodbye for today." The voice that came out sure sounded dead, and Serenity silently prayed it wasn't a reflection of her beloved Endymion himself. 

It walked away, clearly conflicted by some kind of inner conflict from how stiff it moved. Serenity swore she almost heard a clicking pulse coming from it as it marched away. Clicking away, like that little pocket watch…

Chapter Text

"Usagi! A friend's calling for you!" Mrs Tsukino could be heard on the other side of the phone line, "Now, Miss…"

"Kuonji, Ukyo Kuonji," The chef swapped the phone to her left hand while picking up a spatula in her right, "From Nerima."

"Oh…" It sounded like the woman didn't know how to feel about that connection to her daughter, "Were you, um, one of those fiancees I've been told about?"

On one hand, saying yes would be an awful first impression, although one probably well deserved. On the other, Ukyo wasn't wanting to lie to her old friend's new mother, especially not after having seen first hand signs that Usagi liked her new life more.

"Yeah, but I was a friend first," Ukyo decided, "Knew Usachan since we were five. I just want to be there for her instead now, as a friend."

"Good, our Bunny could always use more friends and support," There were some footsteps in the background falling oddly heavily for someone who was once always light on their feet, "Oh, here she is. Usagi, it's Kuonji."

The phone clearly got handed over to the blonde, sniffles coming from the other end. "U-Ucchan?" 

"Hey, sugar," Usagi had said she'd been more of a crybaby lately, but this was still a surprise to Ukyo, "Is everything alright?"

"I… I found Mamoru, kinda…" The was a small hiccup in between Usagi’s sniffles, "It was like he got possessed again, but had to be… Um..."

"I think I get it, don't worry," Ukyo faced the girls she was making okonomiyaki for, "Hey, you four. He is a boy now, but he's possessed at the moment."

Asami looked over from the table with slight bewilderment, pulling out a notepad to correct her theory. Sayuri and Yuka both looked at each other, simultaneously relieved and distressed. Hiroko seemed particularly sombre about Mamoru's situation. 

"What was that about?" Asked Usagi on the other end of the line.

"His friends from Furinkan were real worried when they saw him looking like that, boarding a train to Juban. It's what I rang ya for, actually," Ukyo sighed, "Guess you already got it sorted, though." 

"Not really…" The frown on Usagi’s face was practically audible, "I don't wanna hurt him, Shampoo just pissed the possessing thing off more, and Makoto doesn't know Anything Goes well enough to see its weaknesses, just more traditional styles."

That was tricky, then. If the best martial artist Nerima had ever seen couldn't lay a finger on it, then… "Wait, I thought you fought using magic sparkly stuff from space now?"

"Yeah, on actual monsters," Corrected Usagi, "Not on enemies with fully human bodies, and not on people I already saw die…"

"But it's a ghost or something like it, right? That's how possession works? You've fought ghosts before," Ukyo paused for a second, "Well, ya lured ghosts out on a date a few times, but otherwise you've handled spirits before."

"That was a wandering martial artist's duty," Usagi’s morale wasn't getting any higher, "I'm a normal girl with a home now, and when I do fight, it's barely martial arts anymore."

This wasn't going anywhere, but Ukyo couldn't get too upset at Usagi. The blonde was going through so much that it was hardly understandable to someone on the outside. Ukyo couldn't just assume that Usagi cope with doing what the pigtailed boy once did.

… But Ukyo was a wandering martial artist. She knew several others, too. If the expert on the subject said that handling spirits and ghosts were a wandering martial artist's duty to get rid of, that it was their job to help those who couldn't help themselves, then that was likely the truth. And Ukyo had fought Mamoru enough times before to probably read him like a book.

"I have an idea, Usachan," With a determined flick of the wrist, Ukyo dished up the four okonomiyaki and got to scheming, "Do you think ya can show me where to find him?"

○●☆●○

Akane was in some kind of onsen.

Hadn't she just left one? She swore, just moments ago, she had walked out of those doors over there. She could even see her footprints on the floor, puddles on a dusty red floor that made the colour as vibrant as blood. She could see the same trail made repeatedly.

The water was the perfect temperature, the kind of heat that made her stay in place just a little longer. The kind of heat that made sure Ranma stayed on the other side of that large wall. Even if Akane wanted to get close to him, they just couldn't be together…

The ever present pitch black sky isolated Akane ever further, a timeless air holding her deep under its spell. How long had she been here? How long had it been since she last left? How many times had she been here? It felt a little bit like the onsen with that haunted doll, but not quite…

… Was there even a boy side? Was there even something on the other side of the exit? Akane couldn't see through the doors, and there was a lot less sound then comfortable on the boy side. Akane couldn't even manage a wheeze when she tried calling out for something. She had to leave, he had to get out of here, he had to run through the doors and find Usagi and-

Mamoru felt an overwhelming emptiness from the sheer nothingness behind the doors.

…

Akane was in some kind of onsen. Didn't she just leave one, though?

○●☆●○

The doll could feel that ticking feeling getting momentarily stronger again. 

It had been doing that non-stop since the fight with that purple haired hussy and the girl with the rose earrings. The doll could feel her non-existent emotions bubble to the surface in an unending loop, something knocked loose in the cavity where a metaphorical heart should be. 

Something that stopped her from hurting that bunheaded girl. The doll knew that girl had to be Sailor Moon, if she could only prove it. There was something about Usagi Tsukino, something chaotic and magical that latched onto the lack of memories in the doll's head. 

Speak of which, the ditz was up to something else entirely at the moment. The doll didn't know what, but no one watches the classroom clock so intently at the beginning of the day without planning something. If Tsukino was going to leave early, then maybe that'd be the time to attack and drag out Sailor Moon.

… Kino and that cat-like hussy were also on high alert, if just out of the doll's peripheral. The doll had a window to her left, so a swift escape would be easy should her opponents on the right aim for her. If this body broke, then who'd really care about-

The clock struck a quarter to nine, and Tsukino screamed. "LOOK OUT!" 

The bunhead ducked, giving the doll a hint as to where the incoming attack would be coming from. So, the doll ducked down herself, narrowly avoiding- 

Why was there a kunoichi waiting under the desk? "My apologies for us meeting for the first time in a while like this, Mister Mamoru." 

Konatsu proceeded to launch the doll into the air as if it was effortless, a clone then spiking her to the ground with a nearly invisible downward kick. The doll bounced off the floor just high enough to see the classroom wall be shattered to pieces.

○●☆●○

A painful feeling rocketed through every nerve, a shock to the system in both how it was a surprise and how it felt like being thrown to the floor. 

Akane was… Mamoru. Mamoru was in an onsen, again. The same one, if it wasn't for the wall blocking off this bath from the men's one being shattered as easy as glass by some sort of shadowy figure. Did he recognise that shape as someone? 

Whoever it was, it revealed several other enemies beside it, along with some that had been there the whole time. Shadow monsters in the shape of people, filling the onsen, all aimed at Mamoru and trying to fight him. 

He ducked under one swinging a phantom chui, climbed onto the giant spatula of another, and used that as a spring board to try and grab the monster moving fast enough to make clones of itself. That simply resulted in crashing into the suddenly dry floor of the bath. 

○●☆●○

The doll flat on the floor, all hell broke loose as students ran away from these martial artist freak shows that had broken into the building. There was no time to hate that cursed ticking, its pulses feeling stronger as it guided the doll through the motions to fight back. 

It rocketed up again, noticing that Tsukino was still there, watching with fear. That ditz had to know something, she had to have hired body guards like these hard-hitting, dimwitted, fiance-stealing, life-ruining-

The punch the doll had wound up for Tsukino was caught by a cat-like boy with a single hand. "Endymion, snap out of it!" 

○●☆●○

Whatever the shadow creature said sounded like gibberish, though vaguely the same tone as Ryu making a booming command. Memories and thoughts kept crashing back into Mamoru's head, these monsters clearly trying to break through to something. If only it wasn't so literal!

Pulling away for another attempt at punching the silhouette most resembling Usagi and her hair buns, the unmoving target, Mamoru found himself dragged backwards to the floor, the shadow with kunoichi skills having snagged a chain around his waist and pulling him into the way of the giant spatula.

○●☆●○

The doll was strong enough to fight back, pulling the kunoichi forward instead so she'd ram into the chef's spatula. The incoming projectiles made of hardened fabric were narrowly dodged at the same time, and the doll was able to use that dodge to sweep the hussy off her feet at the same time. 

It was now or never, as the majority of the group had to swiftly recover. If anyone was going to be taken out first, once and for all, it had to be Tsukino. All the doll had to do was lunge forward at a speed her body wasn't built for, and-

○●☆●○ 

The figure resembling Ryoga melted into the real deal as Mamoru felt his hair get cut short once again. 

The whole onsen fell apart piece by piece afterwards. The walls became that of a rather damaged classroom, any sign of water vaporised away, and the shadowy figures transformed into, surprisingly, a group of martial artists Mamoru hadn't seen in so long.

Mamoru could actually breathe, and he let himself fall to the floor rather than harm the beautiful blonde haired girl he was lunging towards. That knocked the wind right out of him, but he was able to push himself up into a seated position on the floor soon enough. 

"… Is it over?" Usagi asked, her voice a tragic whisper, "Is… Is he back? Are you back?"

"I…" All Mamoru could remember was up to the fight on top of Tokyo Tower, he didn't know why he was here at all, "… What happened, Usako?"

Usagi had no words, just wide eyes tearing up at an extreme pace, mouth trembling before she rushed right into Mamoru's arms, almost bowling him over. She clung to him tight, similar to how hard she held him at Jusendo after…

"… I'm not dead, Usagi," Mamoru returned the hug, "I'm back."

"Dummy…" Usagi mumbled into the sleeve of the school uniform Mamoru definitely didn't remember ever having on before. 

"Sailor Moon can fight monsters, but it takes martial artists to deal with magic bullshit," Ukyo said from behind, leaning against her spatula in relief, "Nice to meet ya properly, Mamoru. Congrats on still kicking ass."

"Actually, the magic martial arts things are exclusively for you weirdos," Sighed Ryu, who would be relatively normal if not for the reincarnation thing, "But yes, it's good to have Prince Endymion back."

Prince Endymion… The pocket watch ticked a few more times, held against Mamoru's chest by seeming magic, before it finally gave in to the damage. 

"I'm going to need to ask all of you how you did those techniques," Makoto said excitedly, having watched from the sidelines, "But that can wait until we leave the ruins of my classroom. I'll make us lunch."

"Please," Mamoru sighed in relief, still holding Usagi close, "I feel like I haven't eaten in days."