The actual life-bonding spell (the performing of which doubled as an “uber-marriage” ceremony, to use Setsuna’s phrase) was really pretty simple. Sailor Moon had had a few doubts that she could pull it off without any practice, but with a little encouragement from Pluto (and the assistance of the Mercury Computer’s magical field display), the Moon Princess was confident enough to give it a shot, and the spell went off without a hitch—though it did leave Ranma feeling a bit woozy for reasons he couldn’t quite explain.
It wasn’t until well after the life-bonding ceremony (and the brief impromptu celebration that followed it) was complete that Ranma really had time to reflect on what had happened. The Inner Senshi (or just “the Inners,” as they were called by his wife and roommates, who were the Outer Senshi, or “Outers”) and Mamoru/Tuxedo Kamen had returned to Rei’s shrine—along with Haruka, who wasn’t about to let her precious Shelby stay out all night without a chaperone. Hotaru had decided to turn in for the night, while Setsuna had left to make sure that her new bond with her husband hadn’t had any adverse effects on the Time Gates. Thus, Ranma was sitting in the living room, not so much watching TV as he was staring at a television that happened to be turned on at the time, when Michiru emerged from the kitchen and decided to start a conversation with the martial artist.
“Well, this was certainly an eventful night,” the violinist began with extreme understatement.
“Ya got that right. This is all kinda hard ta believe, though.”
Michiru smiled at her roommate. “It is a lot to take in, I suppose—and so far, you’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg. After all, you still have to learn about the Silver Millennium and Crystal Tokyo, not to mention the specifics of everything we’ve done in the last couple of years.”
“Huh. Dangerous stuff?”
“Well, I guess you could call it dangerous—unless I’m mistaken, every single one of us except Usagi has already died at least once.”
“What, ya mean like ya died a long time ago, an’ got reincarnated or somethin’?”
“Actually, that’s true, but I meant that we’ve all died at least once in the last three years.”
“Huh? So… how are ya still here?”
“The Ginzuisho—the Crystal that Sailor Moon used in tonight’s ceremony—it gives her a lot of power… though to be accurate, I should probably say that it allows her to use the power she already has much more efficiently. I don’t know; I only have a passing knowledge of magical theory. You’ll have to get more of the details from Setsuna…” It was then that a troubling thought came to the violinist. “You’re not going to try and stop…”
Ranma didn’t let her finish. “Given what I’ve seen tonight, I doubt I could stop Setsuna. Not that I’d wanna—this is obviously way too important ta her for me ta raise a stink over just ’cuz it ain’t ‘safe.’ After all, she hasn’t tried ta stop me from trainin’ with my Pops, and the stuff he makes me do can be flat-out insane.”
“Well, it’s a moot point. Setsuna says that all but one of the major threats to humanity has passed, so we should all be relatively safe.”
“Uh huh. So why am I gettin’ the impression ya don’t think that’s so?”
“Experience.”
Anthracite hadn’t really intended to recruit a second “silo” for his stockpile of magical energy quite so soon; as far as silos went, Gosunkugi was performing his function very well (in fact, the teenager hadn’t even reached a quarter of his capacity yet) but experience had taught Anthracite to take advantage of every opportunity fate threw his way. He snapped his fingers and summoned the leader of his second brigade of ninjamarketers. “Check!”
The aforementioned demon, clad entirely in black (to cover his scaly green skin), appeared before Anthracite and dropped to his knee. “My lord.”
Anthracite was never really one for honorifics, but all of the youma he’d hired for surveillance and “other” work seemed hell-bent on taking this whole “ninja” thing to the extreme, so he usually let it slide. This instance was no different, and the ex-Dark General turned immediately to the matter at hand. “Has anything notable happened to your candidate recently?”
Check knew exactly who his boss was talking about. “Nothing that would suggest that her psychological makeup is undergoing a radical shift—though she has been troubled by the recent events in Nerima.”
Anthracite smiled. “As I had hoped. This will make recruiting her much, much easier… but I digress. Does she have any plans for tomorrow night?”
“I believe she intends to see a movie with one of her friends. Do you require us to interfere with those plans?”
The former Dark General’s smile morphed into a full-on grin; this couldn’t have gone any better if he had planned it! “No, Check, that won’t be necessary—in fact, you should do everything in your power to make sure that she follows through with them.”
“As you wish, sir… though….”
“You have a comment?”
“Not really. I’m just not sure what you’re trying to do.”
“Isn’t it obvious? I’m priming the candidate for my sales pitch. Trust me, Check—if everything goes as I think it will, we won’t have any trouble recruiting Naru Osaka.”
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(Posted Tue, 29 Aug 2006 06:13)
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