Permanent Part 28 Five fools and a demon. Akane Tendo stood on the roof of her home overlooking Nerima as she did every evening. The expanse of the city spread out before her, and a breeze shifted her bangs away revealing the dark scar that covered the left side of her face. She frowned and tightened her cloak before jumping into the shadows again. As she roamed her thoughts wandered to the drastic changes the young sorceress had brought into her world. Her new powers were probably the most drastic of them, but there was a lot the girl had brought into her life, most of it not good. Despite that, she found she really did love her Ranma Saotome was probably the best friend she had ever had. Their relationship had almost been lost because of her own stupid mistakes, but things were stabilizing now between them. Ryoga Hibiki was another matter, she knew she cared for the boy, but whether or not she was in love with him was another matter. She had enough trouble dealing with Ranma, much less him as well. Fortunately she had been able to beat back the engagement between them. He seemed just as relieved as she was about it, but for his own reasons. Ranma or her actions had destroyed almost everything in her life; but the girl had also done her best to rebuild it. For some strange reason she could not even imagine disliking her. Akane paused on the roof of a small business as she thought about Ranma again, a slight blush formed in her cheeks as she looked out over the darkened streets. She shook her head and turned away pulling the hood of her cloak down over her face again. She tended to spend her evenings away from home as of late. She didn't need to sleep any longer and was restless at times. As to not disturb her family she found herself roaming about the city aimlessly. Unfortunately that also entailed many of the dangers of a demon roaming the street alone at night. "Shit!" Akane rolled away as a shadow loomed up behind her in the moonlight. She spun around just in time to catch a shadowy figure standing silhouetted in the moonlight behind her. It was a girl with long flowing hair that blew dramatically in the wind behind her. "Damn it Keiko! Can't you take a night off every once and a while?" A soft laughter floated over the rooftops towards Akane and she froze as another figure appeared nearby, and then another, and another, until five girls stood around her in the shadows. "Ha! Evil creature who knows no love for mankind! I shall end your evil plot tonight! On behalf of the stars, I shall punish you!" Akane raised her eyebrow slightly and stared at her. "What evil plot? What the hell are you talking about?" "Don't try to play dumb!" cried one of the girls off to her right, even in the minimal light it was easy to see that her hair was darker than the first girl's. "We know you're plotting something! I shall punish you in my economical and comfortable pumps!" "I was just gonna go for some ramen. Who the hell are you people anyway? Why are you bothering me?" said Akane a little irritated at these strange newcomers. "I am Sailor Sol!" cried the lead girl dramatically as she posed in the moon light after stepping forward so Akane could see her better. She had two long flowing braids and blonde hair. "I'm Sailor Betelgeuse!" cried the brunette girl with the ponytail as she moved forward as well. "Sailor Polaris!" called a shorthaired girl who looked remarkably similar to what Akane had once looked like. "Sailor Novis!" said the dark haired girl firmly. "And I'm Sailor X-23!" said the final girl, she was blonde with long hair that went below her waist. All five of them were dressed in sailor fuku. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me," muttered Akane as she fell down to her knees and sighed. "What is it with you people? Can't you leave me alone? I haven't done anything!" "Y-you haven't?" said the lead blond as she almost fell out of her pose. "NO!" screamed Akane angrily. The shorthaired girl put her hand up to her ear and blinked. "Stella, are you sure this is the source of dark energy you found? I mean, she doesn't seem like any youma I've ever seen." Akane blinked, for the first time since the whole mess had started someone was actually taking the time to listen to her? It seemed almost too good to be true. "I'm positive! We have to destroy it now! The enemy is getting smart, she must be deceiving you!" cried another strange voice. Akane glanced around for a moment and then noticed the small headset that rested in the girl's ear. Sailor Sol simply stood and looked at the girl sitting in the middle of their group and blinked. "But Stella, she isn't doing anything. She's just sitting there." "Are you sure that thing isn't broken Stella?" said Sailor Novis. "No it isn't!" screamed the voice angrily. Polaris shuddered slightly and winced. Akane finally got up enough nerve to speak. "Who are you talking too?" "You'd better answer our questions first! Who are you? Why are you on the roof?" snapped X-23 bitterly. "I don't have to answer any of your questions!" cried Akane defensively. "Just leave me alone! Why do you always have to bother me!?" "Why is Stella reading you as a demon then? At least tell us that!" cried Polaris. Akane sighed and glanced around noticing that she was surrounded. She wouldn't escape without going through at least one of them. "I've been tainted with demon blood." "Tainted?" said Betelgeuse in confusion. "I got into a fight with a demon, we managed to kill it... but some of its blood got inside me through my injured; I was also attacked by some weird monsters that helped make it easier for the blood to taint me. That's what Ranma says anyway." Akane stood up and dusted off her pants before adjusting her cloak. "Stella?" inquired Polaris. "It's unlikely... but possible." The voice reluctantly agreed with Akane's story and was silent after that. "Who's Ranma?" said X-23 suspiciously. "None of your business," replied Akane curtly, a little more so than she had intended. The girls stood around silently for a long moment before one of them finally spoke up. "Are you sure you aren't draining energy from humans to help your nefarious plot?" said the lead girl. "What? What the hell are you talking about? I can't drain people's energy," said Akane in confusion. "You can't?" said the shorthaired girl in disbelief. "I don't think so... I've never tried that before," admitted Akane. "We can't trust her," said the voice over the intercom. "You shut up! You don't even know me!" cried Akane defensively. "She's right about that," noted Sol calmly. The voice was silent after that for a long moment. "I suppose you're right, back off... for now," it replied reluctantly. The five girls jumped away from Akane leaving her alone. "Honestly," snorted the girl as she watched them leave. She stood up and dusted herself off before bounding away into the night. A small pink rodent of sat behind the controls of a computer glaring at the screen for a long moment. She sighed and turned the power off before falling back on her back and looking up at the ceiling of the small control room she was sitting at. "I'm disappointed in you Stella," commented the cloaked figure that stood behind her. "We aren't mercenaries you know. If she hasn't done anything wrong yet we can't do anything about her," commented the rat calmly. "You may be our sponsor, but we do have to keep some standards." "She is evil, I will see her destroyed," said the thing calmly. "When she starts rampaging across Tokyo call us and we'll help out. I don't have any reports fitting the description of a girl like that," said Stella firmly. "I understand, I will not ask this of you now. The code I placed to your kind still stands. We will find another way to deal with this problem. Devil hunters are still considered mercenaries after all." The figure stepped out of the shadows revealing a long white cloak with locks of golden hair flowing from the hood. "She is too dangerous to be left alone in this world." "I know, we'll be watching her closely," commented the rodent. "Don't bother, I'm always watching." The man turned towards the door and paused for a moment. "Just don't let your guard down." "As if we ever would," snorted the creature playfully. "Soon the battle will begin, I will seal off her kind from this world once again, no one will stop me." He looked back over his shoulder. "The devil hunters are clearly outclassed. Perhaps I will bring in outside help on this one." "Be well Azrael," said the rat as he left the room. Fire, all around her it was all she had known in her life, as far as she knew anyway. Fire and pain, tortures beyond imagination. It was the way of the world. She sat on the pillar overlooking the blinding light that surrounded her and the screams that had always filled her ears. "The time will arrive soon," said a deep booming voice. "What do you want from me?" She looked up and saw nothing, only the blinding light. "Power," she didn't know why she had said it. The words just came to her mouth, no reasoning behind it; she didn't even understand what the words meant. "Give me power!" A laughter filled her ears, a strange sound, something horrible that she had never known even in all of her torments. "So be it." Hikaru Gosunkugi sat at his desk as he did every evening. A strange book in front of him lulled him to sleep. He sighed deeply as he closed the ancient tome and pressed the bridge of his nose. "I sure have been tired lately." He glanced at his watch and saw there was a reason for it. It was almost three a.m. he shoved the book aside and flopped down on his bed. There were no spells in the book to cure his condition; he couldn't remember any of them at the moment anyway. After a moment he flicked off his lights and turned on the nightlight. He wasn't afraid of the dark anymore, but it was the only way to sleep with the golden shadow glowing around him. It drowned it out just enough for him to fall asleep. "Man, I've got to do something about this," he rolled onto his side and dozed off with those thoughts. Ranma Saotome sat in front of a large crystal in her room after the Cat Café closed for the evening. She sighed heavily as the images were fuzzy and unclear. "This is strange." "Something is wrong Ranma?" asked Talcum as she entered the room with two cups of tea. Ranma smiled and accepted the drink thankfully. "My old man is hiding something from me, I've tried to find out what it was with a few items I've got, but nothing is coming through," replied the redhead in a slightly frustrated voice. "You need relax," noted the girl lazily in reply. She was dressed in a bathrobe at the moment and had her hair tied up on top of her head. A few tresses fell through along the side of her face. "Maybe, but I think it's being jammed somehow," said Ranma seriously. "Maybe Panda?" asked Talcum. "No, pops doesn't know any magic," replied the girl simply. "Nothing like this anyway." "Is bad omen," said the girl somberly. Ranma nodded in agreement. "If Ryoga was nearby I might be able to break through, but that wouldn't tell me who was doing this," said Ranma as she waved her hand and put out the soft green glow the crystal was giving off. "Want call pig boy?" asked the girl. "No, the Tendos are asleep. It can wait until tomorrow," replied Ranma simply as she plopped onto the ground just in front of Talcum's knees. The girl leaned forward and looked her dead in the eyes. "You looking tired." "Yup, I'm going to bed," said the pigtailed girl lazily with a small grin. "Good night Ranma," said the girl cheerfully as she leaned forward and kissed her dead on the lips lightly. Ranma froze in place as Talcum stood up and walked out of the room. "What the?" Ranma blinked and sat up for a moment. "What was that all about?" Ukyo Kuonji lay on his back staring at the sky above him. It was a nice night out and she decided to sleep under the stars. It was peaceful and gave him time to think. "Ranma, what am I going to do about you?" The question ran through his mind over and over. There really was no way she could have known about it. She had seemed so happy to see him as well. A small pain formed in his heart as he thought about it, the two of them were not so different. "A friend?" Memories of happier times came to him as he lay out on his travel blanket. Ranma had always been one of the best friends he had ever had, and now it seemed she had not betrayed him in the first place as he had long thought. He closed his eyes and tried to sleep. "Ranchan... maybe you can be Ranchan to me again?" "Perhaps she can," said a new voice in the back of her mind. It seemed gentle and calm, beautiful. "I came to offer you something Ukyo Kuonji, your revenge is pointless. I shall give you a new cause, a greater one. You will become the greatest of all my children." He sat up violently when he realized that the sound was not just inside his head, but all around him. "Who are you?" "Do you wish to become one of my children?" said the voice as it ignored his question. Ukyo had no time to think about his answer, the voice sounded urgent and firm; there was no way he could refuse it. "Of course..." he didn't know why he agreed to it. He wasn't even sure what he just agreed too. "My child, I shall grant you power beyond your wildest dreams..." At that moment a pillar of light shot down from the sky and seemed to absorb the boy completely, there was no fear or panic in his eyes, he simply accepted. On a hill a short distance away Azrael stood watching with a small smirk on his face. His eyes glowed slightly for a moment and he vanished with a small flash of light. TBC... Next time: Akane Vs. The Star Sailors! Ranma confronts her father again! Ukyo confronts Ranma yet again as well! C&C to Carrotglace@juno.com URL Http://www.geocities.com/tokyo/fountain/3203 Find It at Yahoo! Shopping More... Find It at Yahoo! Shopping Millions of products. Top retail brands. Express checkout. Everything You Shop for...All in One Place. Visit Yahoo! Shopping [Close] undefined [Close]