Ah My Goddess Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Sailor Goddess ❯ Planning for a Replacement ( Chapter 12 )

A Ranma One Half/Sailor Moon/Ah! My Goddess crossover Fan Fiction

By Michael A. Ivins

 

Ranma, and all of his/her friends and family are the creation of Rumiko Takahashi. I do not own any of them, nor do I own any of the characters from Ah! My Goddess or Sailor Moon. I'm writing this for fun, not profit. I'm so poor that suing me wouldn't do you much good.

 

WARNING: This is a sequel to a previous fic I wrote called, “Nodoka's Lessons.” That was a Lemon fic. While there won't be as much emphasis on sex (it will be more implied than described) in this sequel, it will deal with subjects like incest. If these subjects offend you, stop reading.

 

 

Chapter 12

Planning for a Replacement

 

That afternoon, shortly after Ranma arrived someone came to the door of the Saotome home. Ranma had been planning to sit down with his love interests to bring them up to speed on the situation with Sailor Pluto.

 

When Ranma got to the door she looked out and saw a familiar face. Ryoga seemed confused, but that wasn't unusual. The goddess could see the chain around his neck. That chain went under his shirt. Underneath that garment was the solution to the Lost boy's direction. He now constantly wore a talisman called the Pathfinder's Charm.

 

When used by a person with a normal sense of direction, the charm turned them into something like a human GPS receiver. One couldn't get lost with the charm. Even if knocked out and carried away, a person wearing the charm could find their way back to someplace they had been before. Legends said that some of the greatest explorers in history had worn the charm.

 

When the charm was used for someone with Ryoga's lack of directional sense they got a completely normal sense of direction. If he tried to go to someplace he hadn't been to before he could still get lost if he didn't consult a map. Going to places he'd been before was no problem. Once he started wearing the charm, Ryoga never got lost on the way to the bathroom.

 

The former Lost Boy looked up and said, “I'm sorry to bother you, Miss. I thought this was the home of Saotome Ranma. I must have gotten turned around. Could you give me directions?”

 

Ranma gave a small sigh of resignation. “Ryoga, how many red haired women do you know?”

 

Startled, Ryoga looked again and said, “Ranma?” After a pause he commented, “I thought the idea of Toshi's spell was to make your female form the same height as your male form. Why are you so tall now? And when did you get tattoos on your face?”

 

She felt grateful at least that he was not shouting “Prepare to die.” She invited, “Come on in and we can talk about it.”

 

The former lost boy came in and sat on the couch. Shortly he was sipping from a cup of tea that was handed to him by Nodoka. After taking a bite of a cookie he looked at Ranma and said, “So what's the story with the tattoos?”

 

The goddess prefaced her account by saying, “I'm going to have to leave some stuff out because it involves other people and their secrets that I've sworn to protect.”

 

Ryoga nodded. “I can respect that.”

 

Ranma started out. “You heard that Toshi had tried to stop my curse of chaos attraction or at least to cut it down a bit?” Ryoga nodded again.

 

“Well, it didn't work the way he thought it would.” Ranma tried an analogy. “Do you know what happens if you try to dam a creek by dumping some loose dirt in it?

Although it was not something the Lost Boy had thought of before but it wasn't hard to figure out. “I'd guess the water would build up behind the dirt until there was enough there for it to go around or wash away the dirt.”

 

“Exactly,” Ranma confirmed. “When the water does break through there's a big rush before it returns to a normal flow. Toshi's spell was sort of like that pile of dirt. It blocked the weirdness, but didn't stop it from building up. When it did let loose, I got a concentrated dose of weirdness all at once.” She proceeded to give an edited account of the last few weeks.

 

The bandana wearing boy was quiet through most of the story. At one point he commented, “Twins… wow! Congratulations.” To himself, Ryoga thought, “Even if I do turn into a girl now, I'm not having any babies.” A little later he said, “A goddess?”

 

Ranma handed him one of her business cards and instructed him on how to get it into its booklet form. He did and read the booklet. When he was finished he squeezed the corners again to turn it back to a card and gave it back to Ranma. To emphasize her point she manifested her wings.

 

The Lost Boy leaned back on the couch and considered what he had just been told. “That's a new level of weird even for you. I just came by to tell you Akari and I are going to get married in two weeks. You are invited.” He handed over the printed invitation.

 

Akane noted, “Not that we don't like to see you, but you could have mailed the invitation.”

 

Ryoga smiled, “I'm sort of enjoying being able to go places without getting lost. I had business in town, so I thought I'd drop this off in person.”

 

With a smile the goddess responded, “Toshi told us about the Pathfinder Charm. I glad you could find a cure to your directional curse. I was going to call you but got busy with stuff.”

 

The former Lost Boy said, “Hmm. Things have been pretty quiet on the farm, almost boring. After all the time on the road it seems sort of weird staying in one place so long.”

 

Ranma nodded. “Yeah, I can imagine it would. I know the way to the farm. I'll try to be there if some goddess business doesn't come up. I do have responsibilities now.”

 

“I'll understand. If you can't come, try to let me know.”

 

The goddess smiled. “I'll do that. We have your phone number.”

 

Shortly after that Ryoga left and Ranma was left alone with her “girls.” She sat down and gave them the story about Pluto, giving only the Senshi name.

 

After Ranma finished Akane spoke up. “Let me see if I understand this. This ancient woman (who still looks young) is required by Kami-Sama to train a replacement for herself. She wants that replacement to be a daughter she gives birth to and she wants you to be the father. She doesn't want to use one of the sperm samples from the fertility clinic, she wants you in your god form to have sex with her and make her pregnant after your twins are born. Did I sum that up properly?”

 

Ranma nodded. “Yes, that's pretty accurate.”

 

Akane sounded skeptical. “And you say Kami-Sama approves of this?”

 

“Yes.”

 

Akane scowled. “This isn't just some story you're making up to go have sex with another woman?”

 

The goddess reasonably pointed out, “If I was making up a lie, I'd come up with a better story than this.”

 

From the back yard there was a near deafening crack of thunder as a bolt of lightning struck. The three women rushed out to find the words, “I do approve,” burned into the grass.

 

For a few moments Akane and Nodoka both did a fairly good imitation of goldfish with eyes practically bulging out of their faces and mouths opening and closing. Finally Akane reached out her hand and patted her spouse on the shoulder. She said, “I guess I approve too. (Who am I to argue with Kami-Sama?)”

 

As the other two women went back inside Ranma looked up at the sky and said quietly, “Thanks. That could have gotten ugly without your input.”

 

The following day they began teaching Ranma how to teleport without using a transport medium. It turned out to be easier than she had thought it would be. Magic training turned out to be no more difficult than anything else. Much of it was simply a matter of re-awakening memories of previous lives.

 

Late in the afternoon Ranma teleported down to the Shrine where Rei worked for the Saturday meeting of the Senshi. Rei's grandfather was away for the day so they had the place to themselves. As they had previously stated, with no major enemy on the scene the meeting was more like a social gathering. Ranma brought some snacks her mother had made to contribute. She also had some cookies that Aphrodite had baked.

 

Ranma regaled the rest of the Senshi with stories of her crime fighting exploits as Sailor Terra. Her storytelling broke off when Pluto walked in. Ranma took her arm and said, “We need to talk.”

 

As the two teleported out of the meeting the other Inners exchanged looks. Minako asked, “What was that about?”

 

Makoto shrugged. “I don't know. Setsuna seems to have something bothering her, but as usual, she never shares it with us Inners.”

 

Rei asked, “Do you suppose she tells the Outers?”

 

Usagi sighed. “If she's having problems, I wish she'd tell the rest of us. We're her friends.”

 

Ami noted, “Whatever her problem is, it must involve the gods. That's the only reason I can see for her to be taking up so much of Ranma's time.”

 

On the surface of the moon two figures materialized near to the ruins of the Moon Palace. Ranma looked up at the Earth hanging in the sky and marveled at the view. Setsuna was in her senshi form, but Ranma was still looking like her normal goddess form. When she noticed, she changed into her Sailor Terra outfit.

 

Setsuna looked at her and said, “It's just a change of clothes for you, isn't it?”

 

Ranma considered that for a moment then nodded. “When I first transformed to this it was a power up but then the powers just added to my goddess powers. When I changed back I only changed my appearance. The powers stayed. I guess that's part of being a goddess and a senshi.”

 

“I see.” Setsuna thought about it for a while. Getting back to more important things, she asked. “What did Kami-Sama tell you?”

 

“He's willing to agree to the plan,” Ranma said. “After my babies are born you and I will get together and make a baby for you to raise and train as Guardian. My wife also agreed to it.”

 

The Senshi of Time sensed something in the other's tone. “There's more to it than that, isn't there?”

 

Ranma nodded. “He has asked me to be your divine advisor.”

 

“You?”

 

The redhead shrugged. “That was my reaction at first. I don't know anything about time manipulation other than some incidents with the Nanban Mirror. He said you would teach me.”

 

Teach Ranma? “Does he want you to be the new Guardian?”

 

Ranma shook her head. “No. He explained it to me. Guardian of Time is not a position for a god to have and keep. But he feels that a god should be trained to step in if you were to be killed fighting evil or something. The idea is that I would be a back up who could take the job while I was training a replacement.”

 

Pluto looked angry. “Is He serious? Does He realize what is involved in teaching the operations of the Gates? My mother taught me for five years and that was only half of what I really needed. I had to teach myself the rest and that took a couple decades without a teacher.”

 

Ranma placed a hand on Pluto's shoulder and said in a soothing tone, “I'm a really a quick study. Kami-Sama said that I could learn in one year what it would take a normal mortal ten years.”

 

Pluto looked at her companion closely. “Really? Is that because you are a goddess now?”

 

“Nah, I've always been like that,” Ranma explained. “Most martial arts techniques I only had to see once before I would learn them. Before too long I would be able to improve on those techniques and come up with my own variations.”

 

The green haired woman had noticed something Ranma said and wanted clarification. “You said he asked you. As your boss, can't he just order you to do it?”

 

“Yeah, he could,” the redhead confirmed. “But He said this is so far beyond the scope of the normal duties of a sex deity that He is offering me the job instead of assigning it. If I don't agree to it, He will find some other god to take the job, but said He didn't think it will be easy to find someone you would get along with as well. He seems to think I'm the best one for the job.”

 

Considering Setsuna's association with past incarnations of this goddess, that seemed to make some kind of sense. She asked, “When do you have to decide you want the job?”

“He gave me until Monday.”

 

Hesitantly she asked, “Do…you want to do it?”

 

The red haired goddess nodded. “Yeah, I think I do. It would all sort of go along with the thing of fathering a child with you. You know, sort of a package deal. I don't really think I can find a reason to say no. It looks like it would be a challenge and I never back away from a challenge.”

 

“If you do agree, when would we start?”

 

“Good question,” Thought Ranma. “Probably right away. I don't know what that would do to my schedule of goddess training. If I have to do that and train in the operations of the Time Gates, I'm wondering when I'm going to find time to do anything else. I do have a wife and mother that I need to spend time with. About the time I have my babies, Akane will be giving birth to my son and two months before that my Mom will be giving birth to our daughter.”

 

She paused in thought. “I've been told there is something like a legion of divine volunteers to be babysitters. While I'm flattered that they would think enough of me to volunteer, I have to question the qualifications of some of them to do that kind of job. As an example there's Ares, the god of War. I'm not sure I would trust him taking care of my children. The same goes for Bacchus, the god of wine.”

 

She looked at Pluto and asked, “How would you feel about me bringing a couple of babies with me to the Gates of Time sometimes?”

 

“What?” That was not a question Pluto could ever remember being asked before.

 

Ranma elaborated, “It's just that some of the time they are going to need to be with their mommy and I'm not sure how well I can trust goddesses to be babysitters.”

 

“Why don't you think you can trust them?”

 

Ranma explained, “I may have mentioned that goddesses get pregnant only if they want to. Since they're immortal they really aren't encouraged to have a lot of kids. Divine children are something of a rare event, so most goddesses are not very experienced at taking care of kids. Few of them have little brothers and sisters to use as examples. They mean well, but I'm not too sure of their skills. From stories I've heard it sounds like divine kids are either neglected or else spoiled rotten. I suppose that's part of the reason why so many deities have attitude problems”

 

Spotting a flaw in that argument, Setsuna asked, “Aren't you an only child?”

 

The goddess nodded. “That's true for this lifetime but I've had several dozen past lives where I was either a father or a mother. When I became a goddess I gained the ability to draw from all of those memories.”

 

Pluto thought for a moment. “Maybe we could rig one of those child safety railings in front of the Gates. It wouldn't do to have babies or even toddlers wandering through the Gates of Time by accident.”

 

“Good thought.”

 

The Senshi of Time considered that. “Well, you and I did raise two families together. I'm not exactly a stranger to motherhood.”

 

The redhead smiled. “True, but it has been a while.”

 

Ranma thought for a while before asking, “So are you willing to train me in the operation of the Gates? I didn't want to make any final decision until I could hear what you had to say on the idea.”

 

After weighing her options Setsuna finally said, “Well, if I have to have a divine advisor I'm glad it's you and not some random deity. You're a fellow Senshi whom I remember from the Silver Millennium as well as my former husband. (I won't say `ex' because the marriages ended when you died. We never divorced and we were happy together.)”

 

“So, is that a yes?”

 

Pluto nodded. “Yes, I agree. It still means that in eighteen to twenty years I'm going to have to give up the Guardianship of the Gates to my daughter. After for having the job for so long I'm still not happy about this.”

 

“You still get to stay a Senshi, don't you?”

 

Pluto nodded.

 

Ranma reasonably pointed out, “Then it's not like you are being asked to go live in a home for senior citizens. You will still keep busy. After that long on the job I'd think you'd be glad to finally get a break. Just think, you'll finally have someone to share the load.”

 

“Maybe…”

 

A new thought occurred to Ranma. “I was told that not even gods get put on the same job for 20,000 years at a time. They get moved around to different assignments. That doesn't mean that you won't ever come back to the same job again in the future. If your daughter does a good job you could maybe trade off every couple of centuries or so.”

 

The Senshi of Time didn't think that possibility had been mentioned before. “Do you think Kami-Sama would go for that?”

 

“He might,” the redhead answered. “It would also mean your daughter wouldn't have to stay on the job for thousands of years at a time. She could get breaks. Besides that, once I get trained I could watch the Gates sometimes when you and your daughter want to go out and do something together.”

 

Pluto nodded. “This is beginning to sound like a better idea. I wonder if you would get your own Time Staff. Mine is keyed to me now. I could transfer it to you but I don't know if it is possible to have it work for two people.”

 

Ranma considered that before saying, “You said Hef was making you a staff that would let you do your Senshi job without controlling the gates, right?”

 

Setsuna didn't think she'd heard that name before. She asked, “Who's Hef?”

 

“Sorry, Hephaestos, the smith of the gods,” the goddess clarified. “He acts all gruff and forbidding, but he's really a nice guy. He's been by to talk to me about making a special weapon that can morph. He said my talent with weapons is too broad for me to be stuck with just a sword, staff or spear. He told me that for me he was going to create what he called the Proteus Blade. It is a weapon that would be bonded to my soul and could take the shape of any offensive or defensive weapon I might need. I wouldn't be surprised it I could also make it into a Time Staff when I need it.”

 

That sounded like a weapon that would even be beyond the capabilities of the Silver Millennium. “He can do that?”

 

“Hef is a genius,” Ranma said. “If he says he can do something, he is stating fact, not boasting. He has also taken well to modern technology too. He was one of the people who helped to design the Ygdrassl computer that runs Heaven.”

 

“Sounds like a talented guy. He also sounds like he made quite an impression on you.”

 

Ranma shrugged. “Well, I guess. More like an uncle or friend than anything else. In addition to his intellect he has this `older than dirt' feel to him.”

 

Now curious, Setsuna asked, “Do you get that feeling about me?”

 

The goddess shook her head. “Not really. I know you're thousands of years old and the rest of the Senshi talk about you like you're always so omniscient and mysterious. For some reason that's not how you come across to me. I get the feeling that in spite of the thousands of years there is still a young spirit in you.”

 

Sailor Pluto hugged Terra and smiled. “Thank you, Ranma.”

 

Ranma smiled back. “Ok, I'm going to come by your place Monday morning. I'll take you with me when I go to tell Kami-Sama of my decision. We'll see how things go.”

 

Ranma teleported them back to Earth and dropped Setsuna back at the Outers' home. From there she used dirt to transport back home to the Saotome House.

 

That Sunday was a quiet day and the Saotomes mostly stayed home and did work around the house. It was nice having a quiet day together now that Ranma had to spend so much time away.

 

The following morning found Ranma and Setsuna standing in the reception area outside of Kami-Sama's office. The secretary said, “He's ready for the two of you. Just so you know, Ranma, He is looking different from the last time you saw Him. Don't be alarmed. It's still Him.”

 

Ranma had been warned to expect that sort of thing so she just shrugged and went through the huge doors when they opened. In the circle of furniture off to the side there was now a silver haired woman of surpassing beauty and regal bearing. She wore her hair long in a style similar to Usagi's but lacking the odangos.

 

“Queen Serenity…?” Ranma took a moment to get over the shock. “Wait… Kami-Sama, is that you?”

 

The regal woman nodded with a smile. “That's right, Miss Saotome. I take this form for the sake of your companion. You also know this form from your past life during the Silver Millennium.”

 

Ranma grinned. “Yes, I do know it. I'm here to give you my decision on your offer.”

 

The silver haired woman smiled. “The simple fact that you brought Meiyoh-San with you is an answer. You have decided to accept, haven't you?”

 

Ranma bowed. “Yes sir, I have.”

 

“Thank you,” Kami-Sama said. “It will mean a lot of work for you but I think you will find it worthwhile. Very well, I won't keep you then. You should go to Hephaestus' workshop. He currently has the Time Staff to give back to Miss Meiyoh and for you Ranma, a newly crafted weapon suitable for the broad range of your skills. I was notified that it is ready for you.”

 

The young goddess felt a surge of excitement. “Proteus Blade is finished?”

 

“It is indeed.”

 

Ranma's grin got wider. “Cool! Isn't there any paperwork or something that needs to be done?”

 

The Chief deity smiled. “Actually not this time. While Heaven has a substantial bureaucracy, in this case your acceptance was anticipated and all the paperwork was prepared in advance.”

 

“How did you know I would accept?” Ranma wanted to know.

 

“It comes from being a good judge of people. I know the kind of person you are. You could say it was a safe bet.”

 

While Ranma didn't like to be this predictable, this was the Almighty she was dealing with. She said, “I guess we'd better get going to Heph's workshop then. I've been there before so I know the way.”

 

The Chief Deity addressed the Senshi of Time. “Miss Meiyoh, I know you feel that you have been ill used. You think of what you are going through as a punishment. I ask that you try to not see it that way. You have served in your position longer than anyone could have ever been asked. You have earned some time off. Once you have your daughter trained you could take a decade or two off. It would do you a world of good.”

 

The Senshi of Time wasn't sure how to respond to that. She said, “I suppose so. I think I will enjoy working with Ranma, anyway.”

 

They left the office and teleported to the workshop of the smith god. The building was large and fully soundproofed so none of the noise of the work inside would penetrate. A lesser godling met them at the door and told them, “The boss is expecting you.”

They were ushered into an office to meet the Smith of the Gods. The god was ugly but in the way that some dogs are ugly. His ugliness was not threatening or frightening. He wasn't very tall but massively muscled from his work. He walked with a limp.

 

The workroom they went to was not currently in use so it was quiet enough to talk and be heard. There was some leakage of noise from other rooms, but not enough to interfere with conversation.

 

Pluto was surprised when Ranma walked up to the ugly god and gave him a hug. After being a short girl for so long, the redheaded goddess was happy that she was now tall. She nearly towered over the heavily muscled smith and inventor. “Hey, Heph. It's good to see you, you butt-ugly troll,” she said in an affectionate tone.

 

The muscular god chuckled and in a similar tone said, “It's good to see you too, you redheaded bimbo.”

 

The goddess seemed to take no offense at the teasing, replied, “The Boss said you had something for me.”

 

“Yes. Before we get to that, lets get this other business taken care of.”

 

He turned to a worktable and picked up the key-shaped Time Staff and handed it to Setsuna. “Here you go. I didn't do anything with your Staff other than study it. The techno-mages of the Silver Millennium were pretty clever. I don't think I could have done that good back then either. If you'd ever like to get the Staff upgraded, let me know. I could add some features to it that you'd probably like.”

 

Setsuna looked at the Staff. “What kind of features?”

 

“How'd you like to be able to use your Talisman for more attacks than just the Dead Scream?”

 

Pluto frowned. “But the Dead Scream isn't a function of the Staff. I can do the attack without it. I just use the staff as a focusing device to channel and direct the attack. It comes out a lot more powerful that way.”

 

The smith god grunted and frowned to acknowledge that. He said, “True, but with a staff better tuned to channeling your energies, you could learn some new attacks. As it is you're lucky that using it to channel your attack doesn't interfere with its control functions on the Gates.”

 

“Uh… I'll have to think about that.”

 

The god frowned deeper. “Humph. Think about it as long as you need. I'm not saying it doesn't work fine as it is now. I'm just saying that it could work better and do more if you'd let me tinker with it.”

 

“Like I said, I'll think about it.”

 

He raised an eyebrow for a moment then turned back to Ranma. “Alright Red, now it's your turn.” From a pocket in his leather apron he pulled what looked like a bracelet. There was a highly polished finish on it and a little bit of ornamental scrollwork engraved on it but was otherwise plain enough that it would not be an embarrassment to wear when Ranma could get back to her male form.

 

When the piece of jewelry was placed in her hand, Ranma studied it. It was large enough that she could pull it on over her hand but small enough that it would stay on her wrist by itself. “Is this the Proteus Blade?”

 

The Smith of the Gods looked slightly offended as if Ranma had doubted him. “As with so many things that I make, there is more to it than meets the eye. Look at it with your magic senses.”

 

Ranma did as instructed and could see intricate patterns of magic woven around it. In addition to that she could also see ghostly patterns of numerous weapons.

 

 

“The idea is simple enough.” The smith explained, “When you apply the activating magic the bracelet can change into any one of dozens of weapons or a suit of armor if you want that. There're several styles of swords, knives, shuriken, bows, boomerangs and so on. One of the beauties of this is that when you use it for a ranged attack, you can summon it back to your hand. That means that in a battle of ranged attacks you have what amounts to an endless supply of ammunition.”

 

Ranma looked again at the simple seeming bracelet and said, “Cool.”

 

With a nod, the smith said, “I thought you'd like that. I've also got this configured to take the shape of the Time Staff so you can use it to control the Gates with it. I've also fixed it so Proteus Blade can form itself into a duplicate of the Terra Wand, the talisman of Sailor Terra. The original wand was lost after the Fall of the Moon Kingdom. It's probably still somewhere on Earth, but not even the Gods know where.”

 

The redhead goddess pushed her hand through the bracelet and looked at it.

 

Hephaestus commented, “You will notice that I kept the design on the bracelet simple. It looks nice enough that a woman won't be ashamed to wear it but not so girlish and frilly that a man would be embarrassed being seen with it.”

 

Ranma bent down and planted a kiss on the smith's forehead. “Thanks Heph, you're the best.”

 

“Humph. You'd better believe it.” He picked up a thick book from the table and handed it to Ranma.

 

She hefted the book in her hand. “What's this?”

 

The smith god rolled his eyes. “It's the manual, dummy.”

 

“You had time to write a manual?”

 

The god rolled his eyes. “I have people to do that stuff for me. This manual will tell you about all of the configurations of the Proteus Blade. Every weapon and every function is covered. I've also given a complete briefing to all of your combat instructors so they can drill you on these things.”

 

“So I'm going to get practical instruction as well as just the book?”

 

The smith god nodded. “That's right. The practical instruction will be in the main configurations. You will need to look through the manual and figure out for yourself if there are other configurations that you want to try out. It's almost certain that there will be some configurations that you will like using that your instructors won't anticipate. That's why I designed in so many possible configurations. If you encounter a different kind of weapon that isn't included in the design, the Blade can scan and keep a memory of it so you can bring it back to me to engineer it into the next upgrade.”

 

“Sounds good to me.”

 

He let out a sigh. “You're going to have to get going to your training, Red. I'll teleport your friend back to the Mortal Plane and she can `port from there to the Time Gates. Having been away for a couple weeks she may want to run some system checks and get it ready to start teaching its functions to you, Red.”

 

As Ranma got to the door a telepathic voice spoke in her mind. “Take a look inside the front cover of the book. There is a not there you should read when you're out of the building.”

 

After Ranma left Hephaestus said, “We need to get you back. Will the back yard of your house be good enough?”

 

“Why do you call her Red instead of her name?” Setsuna asked.

 

The barest trace of a smile tugged at the ends of the god's lips. “Ranma's a good kid. But I've got a reputation to maintain and I can't let myself get too attached to her.”

 

Pluto nodded. Before she had a chance to say anything else she found herself standing in the back yard of the house she shared with the rest of the Outers. Hastily she stowed the Time Staff in stuff space and headed inside.

 

When Ranma got outside she stopped and pulled the note from the book. In neat, precise script it said, “I didn't tell the whole truth about the Time Staff. For you to learn to operate the Gates of time it would be best to have someone who knows about it train you. Considering some of the things she's done and the attitude she's demonstrated in regard to collateral damage and extraneous casualties, Kami-Sama had decided that it would be foolish to trust Pluto completely.”

 

The note continued, “To aid you in your job as Pluto's advisor, the Staff has been programmed to send a signal to Proteus Blade any time the staff is used for any functions other than simple observation of past, present or future. The Proteus Blade version of the Time Key has override control over the computer that controls Gates of Time. Anything Pluto orders the computer to do with the Gates you can cancel. If Sailor Pluto behaves herself, she never needs to know that this measure was taken.”

 

At the bottom of the note was a signature for Hephaestus.

 

Ranma thought about the contents of the note. She didn't like keeping secrets from her friends, but it did seem like a prudent precaution. Ranma made herself a promise: After Setsuna handed over the Time Key to her successor, Ranma would tell her about what had been done with the Staff.

 

At this hour of the morning the home of the Outers was deserted. Haruka was off preparing for a race while Michiru had to prepare for a concert that afternoon. Hotaru was at school.

 

Now that she was safely away from prying eyes, Setsuna pulled the Time Staff out and just savored the sensation of its comforting weight in her hands. The thought occurred to her of what she was going to do. For so very long the ideal of Crystal Tokyo had been her goal, the very focus of her life. In a way it was having such a goal that had kept her sane through the many of the long millennia.

 

Shaking off these depressing thoughts she turned to what she knew was coming up. She was supposed to have sex with a god and have a daughter by him. Considering the fact that the god in question was not just one but both of her past husbands put the affair on a really bizarre emotional basis.

 

On one hand there was the pleasant thought that she might get hooked up with a man who could stay with her through the millennia. On the other hand was the fact the man (or god) was already married to someone he apparently loved very much. With some of the lovers she's had in the past Setsuna had been the `other woman' and had broken up some marriages. When she had been in the middle of the affair she hadn't cared, but afterward she always felt shamed.

 

The internal debate continued. She shouldn't steal another woman's husband, but Setsuna was a far better mate for Ranma now. The martial artist was divine now and would eventually go through the pain of watching his/her wife grow old and die while he stayed unchanging. The Senshi of Time wondered if the pain of losing his wife and taking up with Setsuna would be easier to endure than losing Akane to old age.

 

Rationalizing, Setsuna argued with herself. Surely losing her husband to another woman wouldn't be as painful for Akane as growing old while her husband didn't age. If Setsuna stole Ranma, Akane would suffer anger, pain and grief, but it would be short. After she got over it, she could move on with her life and find a mate who could grow old with her. If Ranma stayed with her, Akane's pain would be prolonged for many years. Yes, it would be best for everyone concerned if Ranma was matched up with another immortal.

 

Hmm? What would be the best way to approach that? It needn't be anything pushy or blatant. Since she had already been intimate with Ranma once and would be again for procreation purposes, that would likely be one of the best ways. They were going to be working together for some time and there would likely be lots of opportunities for sexual intimacy.

 

With some tentative plans in mind, Setsuna turned on her computer and logged onto the Internet. She went shopping for a few items that she wanted to have ready to take to the location of the Gates. For the start of her program she ordered a futon that was big enough for two people. For later, after the relationship had progressed a bit more, she ordered a massive four-poster bed with a king sized mattress. She idly wondered if a baby conceived in the odd pocket universe of the gates would have any effects on a baby conceived there. Better check the archives on that. There had to have been precedents back in the Silver Millennium.

 

Keeping in mind Ranma's comments about bringing her babies along, Setsuna looked at a site with baby supplies. She's probably better prepare for her own baby as well. She ordered cribs, diapers, toys, feeding supplies and one of those child-safety railings to put in front of the Gates.

 

After she finished this she shut down her computer. She glanced around the room as if to check to see if she had forgotten anything. A sudden though came to her and she went to the guest room to get a spare futon to take with her. She would have to see how things developed with Ranma, but it was wise to be prepared. She then teleported to the Gates of Time.

 

 

Author's Note: Hmm. Even when Pluto is plotting how to win Ranma's love, she approaches it from the mindset of a cold, manipulative bitch. SETSUNA NO BAKA! It seems some habits really do die hard. She hasn't properly considered the character of the person she is trying to woo. Hopefully she can still learn.