Hotaru sighed as she pulled her covers closer to herself, sad that once again, her father wouldn’t be there at night to tuck her in. His new experiment had been consuming more and more of his time, and as such, he found less of it to spend with his only child. Even her mother was busy helping her father.
“I wish they could be here with me,” she said sadly.
“They love you, you know.”
She eeped as she sat up, looking around for the source of the voice, only to see a veiled boy sitting on her windowsill. “Who—who are you?” she stuttered.
“A friend,” he answered, as he looked at her. Ranma sealed a pang of sadness he felt for the girl, knowing that it was a weakness, but that she was also not the girl he knew in two timelines. He tried to reassure himself that the only reason he was helping her now was because it was advantageous for them to keep Mistress 9 from gaining a foothold, at least until he was recovered enough to deal with Pharaoh 90 ... personally.
“What do you want?” she said, still hiding behind her covers.
Smiling, he looked at the moon from her window. “On your dresser, you’ll find a scroll. It’ll help you keep from being so tired when you heal people.”
The sheet dropped as she stared at him. “What?” she asked, not really believing what was occurring.
“Your main problem is you have so much power, that when you try to use it, you spend most of it healing yourself. You’re not controlling your ki enough, so it’s burning you out. That scroll will help you fix that.”
“Ki?”
“You’re a ki-adept; it means you can naturally access something most martial artists spend decades trying to. You’ve been given a gift, and that scroll will help you use it.”
“Why are you helping me?” she asked.
Ranma gave her a small smile, finding her ... too innocent ... to stay so cold with. Cursing himself for discovering a weakness he needed to deal with, he turned back to face the moon. “Let us just say that in a previous life, we were close friends.”
Hotaru could only nod.
“Also, it is my duty to inform you that you are a powerful magic girl.”
THUD!
Ranma sighed as he looked at the now unconscious Hotaru on the floor. “Well, she took that well.”
“So I am a Senshi?” asked Hotaru, holding a cold compress to her forehead.
Ranma nodded, his disguise field still on. Even if Hotaru could access memories from the other timelines like he had been able to, she still would be unable to match the two Ranmas to the boy before he. “You are Sailor Saturn.”
Hotaru smiled at that. She had read about the Sailor Senshi, as had most school girls. And to think that she was actually one...
“Concentrate on this symbol,” said Ranma, unfolding a piece of paper that had the symbol of Saturn drawn on it.
Hotaru nodded, not questioning the nice guy who was helping her so much, as she searched within herself for the power that he had said was within her.
Ranma smiled as the symbol began to form on her forehead. “Keep going, you’re almost there,” he said.
His plan was very simple, and according to the Gates of Time, his best chance to keep the Death Busters from Earth for a while. By getting Hotaru to access her Senshi abilities, and then sending her a few minutes earlier to her parents before the experiment would fail, she would be able to save them both. Then all he needed to do was direct the remaining Senshi there, and the Death Busters would be dealt with. Without a host to grow strong, they were extremely weak.
Well, maybe not the top two threats. But they would be unable to come through the opened portal physically, only by energy. And since they wouldn’t have a host to merge with...
“Saturn Planet Power, Make-up!”
Ranma blinked as he focused on the girl before him, as the magical energy flooded around her, forming her Senshi uniform.
Sailor Saturn gasped as she opened her eyes, looking at herself. She felt ... whole, once again. “Thank you, Mister...?” she paused, looking for the guy who had helped her.
But he was gone, a single note remaining.
Hotaru,
Go see your parents tomorrow for lunch. Be there early, and you can be their hero.
A friend
Nodding, Hotaru smiled as she looked out the open window, and silently thanked him ... for making her special.
Ranma looked on as Hotaru returned to her civilian form and shut her window, going to sleep soon afterwards.
“Was it wise to give the Senshi such an advantage?” asked his secretary.
“Perhaps,” he replied. “But by giving her to the Senshi now, it helps us in several ways. It’ll keep the Death Busters at bay until we are ready to deal with that wannabe god and his loyal bitch. It will also add credibility that we are not their enemy by doing such, though I do suspect it will give Rei Hino an aneurism from trying to figure out an angle for it.”
“Agreed,” said the youma.
“Also, by getting her with the Inners, it will make it that much more difficult for Pluto to present a ‘rabid killer’ image of her like she had planned. It will make them that less likely to believe her, and may damage the unity of the Outers.”
“Understood,” she said.
“Plus ... I felt like it.”
She paused at that. “Why?”
Ranma turned to her. “Let’s just say I understand her more than she knows and leave it at that.
“Anyway, how are things going with Jadeite and his operations?”
“He expects to reach similar levels of productivity in less than two weeks. All Dark Syndicate operations have either been revised or eliminated.”
Ranma nodded as he stood up. “Then we should turn in for the night, it’s been a busy day.”
Nodding, the secretary put away her clip board. “I shall see you tomorrow then, sir.” With that, she faded from sight.
Ranma shook his head. “One weakness dealt with, only a few more ... that need to be solved.”
See other episodes by The Demented Redhead
(Posted Sat, 09 Dec 2006 14:14)
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