I would like to thank Ghost in the Machine pre-reading this chapter with his trusty baseball bat and microscope.

Constructive criticism is always welcome.

I don't own any of these characters or situations. They belong to someone else. Also this is done purely for fun, not profit. Any resemblance to persons living, dead, yet to be born, or visiting from other dimensions is purely coincidental. I'm doing this for fun.

Boldly going where others had gone before and meekly going where few have been.

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University Part 12

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The grayness of the season gripped the campus as a blanket of fresh snow powdered the ground. The blandness of nature contrasted sharply with the man-made structures that dotted the campus. The blue skies disappeared in favor of the gray, dreary overcast that hovered above the city like a huge, dirty wash-rag.

The depressing weather went unnoticed by one Ranma Yonai as she spent the first two weeks dividing her time between catching up on the assignments that she had missed during Akiko's funeral and fighting robots that dropped in on the average of twice a week. Ranma found the distractions welcome after losing Akiko, but she was so absorbed in her activities at first, that Tenchi started to feel slightly displaced.

Tenchi was slightly frustrated by the uncertainty as to what to do. On one hand, he wanted to take Ranma into his arms and make the pain go away. On the other hand, Ranma had a stubborn streak of independence a mile wide and he was afraid that he might offend her or worse, push her away. In the end, Tenchi adopted the simple tactic of being near Ranma, but not crowding her personal space.

It was a tactic that was both wise and appreciated by Ranma. He was there when Ranma needed a shoulder to cry on and absent enough for her to get herself together. For Ranma, the death of Akiko was more painful than being disowned by a certain panda-man and kicked out by the Tendos all those years ago.

Happosai sensed Ranma's grief and concentrated on teaching her the more mediative and spiritual techniques of the art and less on the physical aspects. It had helped Ranma some in dealing with her loss and instead of pushing it aside like she head been doing, she began to deal with it. Even though Happosai's guidance had eased the pain, the death of Akiko left a void in Ranma - a void that Tenchi was filling.

Then there was Tenchi...

Ranma found emotions were now gravitating around Tenchi.

Of course every silver lining has a cloud.

"He been so nice to me...," Ranma thought to herself as she doodled on what was supposed to be an essay. "What am I going to do?" she lamented to herself. "I want to... I don't know... but if these damned attacks keep up, something's going to give."

Ranma pushed that troubling thought away and focused on enjoying the moment. Ranma was currently seated across from her love interest in the small cafe that Tenchi and Ranma frequented. The place welcomed them with its warm drinks and somewhat homey atmosphere. The coziness of the interior was in stark contrast to the cold and foreboding night that surrounded them. The two were taking a brief break from their studies to savor their drinks and to make small talk. Occasionally one would laugh at the other's joke or both would fall silent as they each plowed through the school work they brought with them, Ranma's looking more like a small mound compared to Tenchi's.

This had become a welcome routine for the two, that and snuggling when they could. Ranma smiled at the little joke that Tenchi made and Tenchi returned the smile.

"It's good to see her smile again after the death of her grandmother," Tenchi thought. "I just wish I could shake the feeling that she is hiding something from me."

The gaiety of the conversation was interrupted by the cellphone-sounding buzz of Ranma's communicator. Ranma sighed heavily as she reached into her purse and removed it. She expertly, and with practiced ease, killed the video and speakerphone part of the communicator and held it up to her ear like a cellphone.

"Hello?" she said into the small device.

Tenchi watched with curiosity as Ranma spoke into her phone. He idly noted that these interruptions had been more frequent lately as he silently watched the conversation unfold on his end. He studied the changing expressions that crossed Ranma's face. First there was a mixture of weariness and concern, then Ranma's brow furrowed before it turned fully to worry, and then resignation.

"Where?" Ranma said into the phone emotionlessly. This was followed by a moment of silence.

"Okay," Ranma said through a heavy sigh. "I'm on my way."

As Ranma put away her phone, she cast a worried look at Tenchi as she shove her communicator back into her purse. "I gotta go," she explained. "My friend is in trouble... again."

"Ranma," Tenchi said as she was quickly gathering her books, "is there anything that I can do to help you and your friend?"

Ranma smiled at Tenchi's offer, but answered with a shake of her head. "No. It's something I - we have to deal with." Ranma then looked at the expression on Tenchi's face and felt the pain of guilt from lying to him. "Look... I'll call as soon as I get back."

"I... see," Tenchi replied carefully. He then gave the redhead a measured look - one that clearly showed doubt. "I'll walk you," he offered as he began to rise from his seat.

Ranma's brain froze momentarily. "Ahhh... that's all right. I can find my way," she said in a uneven manner.

"Are you sure?" Tenchi asked in a firm tone, feeling rejected.

Ranma sensed Tenchi's mood and was lost. "I'm sorry," she said softly as she returned to quickly shoving her books and papers into her backpack. "But...," her voice then trailed off.

"Ranma," Tenchi said softly as he laid a hand on Ranma's, making her hesitate. "Is there something you need to tell me?" He continued weakly, "Is... there someone... else?"

Ranma head jerked up and she looked at Tenchi's in the eyes. Her own eyes widened as she studied the almost 'kicked puppy-dog' expression that Tenchi was wearing.

"No. No there's no one else," Ranma answered quickly. "It's just... personal. I can't really talk about it."

Tenchi looked back at Ranma and slowly removed his hand from hers. "I see," he said evenly.

"Tenchi," Ranma pleaded. "I'll tell you all about it... sometime, but not now. I have to go."

"Call me when you get back."

"It might be late," Ranma said as she stood to leave.

"I'll wait," Tenchi state firmly as he touched her arm, causing her to look down and make eye contact with the seated boy. They stared at one another for less than a second. The urgent call from Sailor Mars was forced from Ranma's mind for a split second. But only for a split second.

Ranma regarded Tenchi with wide eyes and swallowed the lump in her throat that had formed there. "Okay," she said. "I have to go.... but I'll be back as soon as I can."

Tenchi nodded as Ranma hurried out of the cafe.

"I can't keep doing this," Ranma thought angrily to herself as she walked with quick steps away from the warmth of the cafe and the warmth of Tenchi's company. "I know he knows I'm lying, but what the hell am I supposed to do? Say 'excuse me but I have to go help save the world'?"

Ranma's breath trailed behind her in the air like a thin fog as she made her way deeper into a nearby alley. Looking about to see if she was alone, Ranma transformed. "I hate this," she thought bitterly. "I can't stand by and let those things hurt innocent people, but I can't keep telling Tenchi that I have a friend in need."

She quickly made a portal and widened it. "I just hate lying to him," was her final thought on the matter as she stepped into a war zone.

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The bridge of the command-ship was mammoth. The room was about the size of a small auditorium with the curved walls forming a sphere with a transparent floor that bisected the room. The rows of control consoles, chairs and screens were floating, supported by invisible means, ringed a wide open space where the command chair floated. Each ring of controls and readouts served an important function of the gigantic ship. From fire control, damage control, engineering, and environmental, everything was in reach and can be overlooked by the commanding officer.

The outer curved walls, above and below the clear floor, were nothing but display screens that normally showed what was going on outside the ship, that gave the effect of being surrounded by nothing but the stars. The views could be changed to match the tactical needs of combat. Other floating screens could be overlaid against the outer walls for further tactical enhancements.

The room was massive, roomy and practical for carrying out large operations like what was planned. Unfortunately everything came to a grinding halt when the order to 'stand by' was issued and the Forth Grand Fleet was pulled aside for escort duty.

Admiral Karikachi paced back and forth on his bridge in frustration. "I can't believe that the Fourth Grand Fleet was called back by special orders," he thought irritably for the umpteenth time. "Probably some bloody paper pusher wanted to justify his job by having a diplomatic liaison aboard during the operation."

He stopped in his pacing to look out among the gathered ships that filled the star field. There were literally thousands of ships of various size and shapes. The largest of the ships were easily three to four miles long, sporting very evil looking main guns used for planetary bombardment and smaller secondary guns capable of blowing small, half mile, asteroids to dust.

The Admiral was very proud of the three massive fleets that were gathered for this operation. Though the reports on the remains that were found of the last fleet suggested that the enemy possessed powerful weaponry, he wasn't perturbed at all. That was just a small, nothing patrol in comparison to the forces he commanded.

"There is more firepower gathered here than anytime in the history of the Jurai Empire and probably any other time," the Admiral thought with more than a touch of pride and satisfaction. "This will be like the hand of God reaching out and crushing anything that dares get in our way."

The Admiral strode away from the screen and back toward his command chair. "With this much firepower at my disposal," he thought smugly, "whoever or whatever destroyed the standby fleet will not dare show themselves - ever."

Feeling his anger wane as he studied the vast fleet, the Admiral couldn't help but smile. "If it does show... we'll teach our enemy what it means to attack anything Jurai - before we deal with it once and for all."

-------------

Light snow fell on the steep roof of the Folk Crafts Museum. The fluttering of the snow created an almost magical haze that hid the surrounding buildings in a white, semitransparent veil. Inside one of the traditionally built buildings that made up the museum, Ranma rummaged around the welcome desk, desperately looking for something to do.

Ranma was bored.

Bored. Bored, bored, bored.

She sighed and once again paced the room, broom in hand, inspecting it for any signs of dirt. Visitors to the museum had trickled down to next to nothing between the weather and the sporadic attacks that naturally made people leery of going out.

"It's nice that it is slow, but man," Ranma groused to herself as she swept up an insignificant amount of dust. "And what in the hell is going on with my Senshi senses? Ami hasn't been able to help and Pluto is no damn good either."

Since the death of Akiko, Ranma had noticed that her highly tuned senses seemed muted by something. At first she dismissed it as the shock of Akiko's death, but weeks later her senses still were just as muted.

"Maybe I'm still getting over it," Ranma thought with a sigh. "Oh granny...," the last though with an added pang of grief. Ranma sighed again and emptied the collected dust into the trash. "Gotta think through the problem... it's like... almost being blind."

Ranma sighed. She didn't like to think about what she had lost. It made her depressed and that much harder to focus on anything, Senshi related or not. Still, not thinking about it wasn't helping much either, but Ranma didn't feel too motivated in dealing with.

Being bored, Ranma's mind wandered to another subject.

"I wonder what Tenchi wants to do tonight?"

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Later found Ranma and Tenchi engaged in a classic 'lip-lock' as their hands roamed freely over the others body. The kiss deepened.

"How'd my hand get inside his shirt?" Ranma briefly mused before abandoning that train of thought in lieu of enjoying the moment. She concentrated instead on the feel on Tenchi's skin against her fingertips as they traced over his well formed chest.

Tenchi was doing his part as his hands were busy exploring parts of Ranma's body that before now, were untouched by no but her. Ranma's kiss deepened and her breathing quickened. She shivered when Tenchi drew one of his fingers down her spine.

Still in close embrace, they broke apart and panted for air; their faces just a scant distance apart, the youths gazed into each others eyes. Ranma's face was flush as she panted for air, her chest heaving with every breath. She looked into Tenchi's eyes with wide, sparkling ones of her own; her heart pounded in her chest.

"Wow," she whispered with a smile.

"You said it," Tenchi replied, adding a smile of his own.

Both leaned into one another, their lips a hairbreadth away from contacting when the moment was spoilt by the unwelcome sound of Ranma's communicator going off loudly in her purse. Ranma sighed heavily in disappointment. Her disappointment was echoed by the sound of Tenchi's own frustration.

Ranma untangled herself from Tenchi and reached for her purse - and hesitated for just a moment before extracting the communicator from its place. Tenchi just watched her with a feeling of loss as she spoke into the cellphone-looking device.

"Hello?" Ranma said into the mouthpiece. Tenchi watched as Ranma's shoulders sagged and as she brought one hand up to massage her forehead. He studied Ranma body language as he always did when one of these calls came and it began to suspect that there was more going on than 'a friend having problems'.

One was Ranma's total reluctance to discuss or accept any help with the situation.

"I wish she would let me help," was a thought that revisited Tenchi in these moments as a mixture of different emotions flowed through him.

Helplessness because he couldn't be part of helping whatever problem that was consuming Ranma's time, loss knowing that Ranma was going to have to leave soon, and jealousy over whatever was taking her away from him. The last emotion he actively suppressed, but it lingered beneath the other emotions and like a small fire, burned there.

Tenchi knew the next words that Ranma was going to say. It was like a script that kept repeating itself and Tenchi had quickly learned the lines by heart.

"I'm on my way," Ranma spoke into the phone, before closing it and replacing it in her purse. She turned to Tenchi sitting on the edge of his bed. "I gotta go," she said plainly.

"Your friend again?" Tenchi asked with doubt clearly in his voice.

Ranma sighed as she nodded her head. "Yeah," she replied and then added softly, "I'm sorry."

Tenchi sighed himself as he watched the redhead gather what little she had with her and stood, staring down at him.

"Look," Ranma said pleadingly. "I'm really sorry... but I gotta go. I know it's not fair, I know it's a pain, but please understand."

"Let me help," Tenchi said as Ranma's voice trailed off. "Why won't you let me help you with your friend. Why?"

Ranma sagged her shoulders. It was a question that Tenchi had been asking more and more frequently as the calls continued. Ranma looked at Tenchi with lost eyes.

"I'm sorry," she whispered out. "I can't... it's complicated." She noticed the hurt look on Tenchi's face. She sighed. "Look, I promise that I'll explain when it's over with, but I can't, I'm sorry..."

Tenchi nodded his head and stood to walk Ranma out of the dorm. He sighed again. "Okay," he finally said. "I know you have to go, but I want you to know if there's anything I can do..."

Ranma smiled at him, leaned up and kissed him. "I'll let you know."

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Five of the Senshi were gathered in Usagi's room, discussing battle plans.

"This is getting old," complained Minako. "Can't we do something to prevent these things from landing in the first place?"

"And what's up with Pluto?" Michiru asked. "I didn't think it was supposed to take this long to fix the Gates.

"I spoke with her yesterday," Ami piped in, "she has run into complications."

"What kind of complications?" Usagi asked.

Ami sighed. "Something about temporal distortions in the matrix."

Three of the girls blinked at their friend. Ranma, having already heard the report from Pluto, just half listened.

"W-what does that mean?" Michiru asked. "In plain Japanese, please."

"It means...," Ami paused a moment to think of the best way to describe the situation. "We've all seen fountains with the lights on the bottom, right?"

She was greeted by three girls nodding their heads like bobble-head dolls.

"Well think of the lights on the bottom of the pool as the reference points, and the water itself as space/time. When the water is undisturbed, the light doesn't get scattered," Ami explained. "But when the water is full of ripples, the light gets scattered and distorted."

"And why is that happening?" Minako asked.

Ami shrugged her shoulders. "Not really sure, but we - that is Pluto and I, don't think it's natural."

"No shit," said Michiru tiredly.

"At first we thought that they might be the 'aftershocks' of whatever destroyed the reference points," Ami continued. "Because it's too constant, we think our 'friends' are using this as a sort of jamming."

"What about the space fleet that Pluto said was coming?"

"It's either still on it's way or already here," Ami answered plainly.

There was a collective weary sigh from the girls in the room.

"What about you Ranma?" Michiru asked. "You always had built-in sensing, aren't you feeling anything?"

Ranma blinked as she realized that she had just been asked a question. "What?"

Michiru sighed. "I asked if you can feel anything - you know the robots. The bad guys?"

"Um, no," Ranma answered with a shake of her head. "Somehow my senses are being dulled. Ami thinks it's related to the distortions in the space/time continuum."

"Whoever they are, they know how to limit our intelligence gathering," Usagi said. "What about the early warning system?" She asked thoughtfully. "Is it affected?"

"No," Ami answered. "But it is so primitive that it won't detect the distortions as anything more than background interference. Because of that it can't pick out when these things come in unless there are a whole lot of them."

"So much for that being a help," Minako said with a sigh. "We'll just have to be on guard."

"What I don't understand is why they just drop one at a time," Michiru commented. "I mean, they have to have the means of dropping a hundred of these things in. Why don't they?"

"Who knows?" Ami asked rhetorically. "Who can understand the workings of an alien mind?"

One of the girls filled the following silence with a heavy sigh.

"Any change in the robots and the guys piloting them?" Michiru asked.

"The robots attacking in the last few weeks are probably probes to see how strong we are." Usagi said more to herself that anyone else in the room. "It's like a few years ago when the Protectors came."

"But this is different," Ami pointed out. "There is no rhythm or reason to the attacks."

"Any clues on who's responsible?" Minako interjected.

"Nothing more than what we already know," Ami answered. "These things just drop out of the sky... and you know the rest."

Usagi sighed as she massaged her temples. "We don't know anything more that we did a month ago," she complained. "Pluto is still messing with the Gates of Time so we're still blind there and..."

Silence fell among the girls. "We need to start making plans to strike back."

"How?" Ami asked pointedly. "We don't even know where to strike."

"When Ami, Pluto, or Ranma detects this fleet that we're expecting, we'll send Ranma to intercept," Usagi answered. "We'll try to deal with them on a diplomatic level, but if that fails we must be prepared to use force."

Silence ruled the room for a few heartbeats.

"Are you alright Ranma?" Usagi asked. "You seem quiet."

"I'm fine," Ranma replied. "I just got stuff to deal with."

"Anything we can do to help?" Rei asked as she leaned forward, towards to the redhead.

Ranma and Rei's eyes locked for a moment. Ranma sighed. "No... nothing yet. I just gotta decide how I'm going to handle something."

"Oooo, boy problems?" Minako asked in a voice full of curiosity.

Ranma's eyebrow twitched.

"Minako, don't tease her," Usagi said mindfully, noting Ranma's reaction. "If something's bothering her, she'll tell us when she's ready."

The room fell silent again as all eyes turned expectedly at the redhead. Ranma blink-blinked at her surrounding friends that wore a 'well?' look on their faces and sighed. "Look," Ranma began, "I'm just having problems making up excuses to keeping leaving, that's all. I know that there is nothing we can do about it, we can't pick the times when these things drop in... but... damn..."

"I know it's hard, Ranma," Minako said as she rested a comforting hand on the redhead's shoulder. "We're all having problems with our personal lives because of this, but we must keep our... extracurricular activities secret."

Ranma reluctantly nodded in reply.

-------------

"Sir, the Fourth Grand Fleet has arrived. They have detached a small escort fleet and the special passengers are going to be arriving here within the hour," the communications officer reported to the Admiral. "Until then, we are to continue standing by."

"It's about bloody time they got here" Admiral Karikachi bitched. "Keeping us here on standby for over two bleeding weeks. What the hell were they thinking?"

"Yes sir," the communications officer agreed somewhat tiredly.

Admiral Karikachi eyed his subordinate. "What's this about special passengers?" He asked with frustration in his voice. "We're a warship not a bleeding cruise ship. What the hell kind of operation do they think this is?"

"I don't know, sir," the communications officer responded, this time keeping the tiredness out of his voice. "All I know is that the order to stand by came from the Imperial House."

Admiral Karikachi rose from his seat and started to pace back and forth in front of his command chair. "Damn right it came from the Imperial House. If it didn't I would have told those paper-pushing, worthless, self serving a-holes to stick it and continued on as planned."

The communications officer stood silently, wishing that the Admiral would dismiss him so he could go back to other doing things rather than hearing yet another rant from him. The Admiral's rantings were coming more and more as the desire for action over boredom was wearing down on him.

Admiral Karikachi stopped his pacing and eyed the now bored officer before him. "Within the hour you say?"

"Yes sir," the communications offer responded automatically.

"Probably some stupid paper-pusher trying to use this as an excuse to inflate his self worth."

"Yes sir."

The Admiral sighed. "Very well, carry on," he finally said, dismissing the officer. Admiral Karikachi retook his command chair and grumbled on the injustice of having to suffer fools in a time like this.

----------

Ranma's communicator buzzed. Tenchi let out a long, disappointing sigh as Ranma pushed herself off of him.

"Dammit," she muttered as she stood, rearranged her clothing and reached into the inner pocket of her purse. Holding the damning device in her right hand, she hesitated a moment, lost in thought. Then she flipped the cellphone-like device and held it up to her face. "Yes?" She asked tiredly into the mouthpiece.

Ranma let out a very long sigh as she listened to the voice on the other end. "Okay," she said. "I'm coming."

She folded the communicator and placed it back in her purse. She stood silently and stared at the purse for a few heartbeats.

"You have to go, don't you?" Tenchi asked. The redhead nodded.

"I'm sorry," she answered in a tiny voice. "I can't ignore this."

Tenchi sighed. "Go ahead, I'll wait for you."

"I don't know how long I'll be," Ranma pointed out.

"Doesn't matter," Tenchi replied. "I want to see you again tonight."

Ranma gave Tenchi a understanding nod before silently closing the door behind her.

----------

"Sir," the communications officer said loudly, "the special passengers are ready to beam aboard."

Admiral Karikachi grunted a response and nodded his head. he then leaned back into his command chair and concentrated on the terse things he was going to give his 'guests' when they arrived. "Damn idiots," Admiral Karikachi thought with a touch of malice. "Holding up this important mission so that they can score points back home. All I have to say is those bundling, self-serving bureaucrats better stay the hell out of the way or I'll have them confined to quarters."

"This is the Flagship Shosha," the communications officer said into the floating screen before him. "We are ready to receive."

On that, the opened space of the large bridge was filled with light that was like one broad beam, running floor to ceiling. The beam then separated into individual strips of light that then dissolved into human beings. Admiral Karikachi's 'guests' have arrived. Whatever terse and belligerent words that Admiral Karikachi was going to say to the officials for delaying the operation was lost when he saw exactly whom had boarded his ship.

"Your Majesty," he croaked out as he faced the Emperor, his wives and heir. "Welcome aboard."

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Because of the park's abundant trees, the wind was broken up and offered relief from winter's grip. The air was still cold, but not having the wind deprive Ranma of her body heat was an improvement. The couple made their way to a bench under a leafless tree where Tenchi sat down and motioned Ranma to follow suit.

Ranma emotions were in turmoil as she watched Tenchi visibly gather his thoughts together. Ranma fidgeted as she waited for Tenchi to speak. She distracted herself by taking in her snow covered surroundings and the bright morning sun. The park looked so different for some reason now, than in the times that they were practicing martial arts .

"I heard a rumor," Tenchi began suddenly making Ranma jump slightly, "that because of the attacks, they're thinking about closing the school down for awhile."

Ranma sat and watch Tenchi carefully. "What would you do if the school closed?" She asked.

"I'll go home until this blows over," he answered a shrug. Tenchi paused for a moment and swallowed. "I... I would like you to come with me if they do close the school."

Ranma sat at stared back at the boy she loved. After a few heartbeats, she smiled. "I can't do that. My home is here is Tokyo. I can't leave my friends and family behind."

A small silence fell between them.

"I understand, but I don't want anything happening to you," he protested gently.

Ranma smile at his concern. "You don't have to worry about me," she said. "I have family that lives in Kawageta. If the school decides to close down and it gets too rough to stay in Tokyo, I will go there with my sister and uncle's family."

Silence revisited the young couple. "I see...," Tenchi said as he shifted in his place on the bench, unconsciously putting himself closer to Ranma. "Kawageta? Where is that?"

"It's in Fukushima prefecture. It's near Lake Inawashiro, about thirty-five kilometers south-west of Fukushima," Ranma replied automatically, having answered the same question from her roommate not more than two hours earlier.

"Oh...," Tenchi said slowly. "That's kinda far, isn't it?"

Ranma nodded.

"I know that's really far from Okayama, but can I, er, visit you?" Tenchi asked hopefully.

Ranma smiled a smile that reached her eyes and warmed upped the cool morning. She knew that Kawageta and Okayama were a good one day, if not more, travel. "Of course, silly boy," she answered playfully. "But let's not worry about it until they decide one way or the other if they're going to close or not."

Tenchi returned the smile and nodded.

-----------

In southwest Japan, a huge, tree-like thing wavered into existence above a large, three story house by a sizable lake.

When it wavered out of existence three and a half seconds later, the house by the lake was gone.

------------

"What's going on?" a highly alarmed Washu asked. "Why were we taken from the Earth?"

"There is a highly dangerous life form in this solar system," an officer explained. "We had orders to remove all of you for your protection."

"This has to do with the destruction of the fleet stationed here, doesn't it?"

The officer in charge nodded. "Yes, with the obvious hostile intent of this creature, we felt it best to get the royal family out of harm's way before dealing with it."

Washu berated herself, she should have seen something like this coming. She was so caught up in her own investigations into the power suits that she neglected other things. Distrations. So many distrations, she was having problems keeping up with everything. She sighed heavily, but before she could issue a comment, the officer she was speaking with was communicating with the Admiral.

"Sir! We are missing one," the officer spoke into the small device. "We are missing Tenchi."

"Stand by," the order came tersely.

On the brigde, the Admiral turned to Yosho. "Sir, do you know where your grandson would be?"

Yosho blinked a few times and thought a moment before a look of realization passed over him. "He's at school," he said. "I'd forgotten, being away all these months. He should be in Tokyo."

"We need to retrieve him," the Admiral said. "Do you know where to find him?"

"I know where his dorm is," Yosho responded.

"Show us and we can monitor for him there," Admiral Karikachi said in a controlled way. What was a simple operation had already been confounded by delays, misinformation, and now a missing heir to the throne. It didn't help that the Emperor himself was on board. "We can then pick him up when he goes back."

Yosho nodded as he spoke. "We'll also need to be discreet about it to minimize the amount of contact with the people of Earth. They don't know about us and we need to keep it that way."

Admiral Karikachi nodded himself, parroting Yosho's movements. "We'll send down a few scouts, dressed in local costumes," he offered, but annoyed by the restrictions placed on him. "When one of them sees him, we can transport him up and get all of you to a safer space."

-----------

Ranma was annoyed, irritated, and pissed. She untangled herself from the wanting arms of Tenchi, sighed heavily, removed herself from the very comfortable lap she was sitting in, and stalked crossed the room to her purse.

"This is the umpteenth time since those damnable robots, power-suits, or whatever the hell they are called started dropping out of the sky that-" Ranma's internal rant was broken by the shrill sound of the communicator going off again. "And it's every single time I try to make time with Tenchi! Dammit!"

Of course it didn't help that her highly tuned Senshi sense failed to detect the arrival of the attackers either. In frustration, Ranma snapped the device open with enough force that it made a loud 'crack' sound as the flip-top hit the stop.

"What?!" Ranma said irritably into her communicator.

Holding the phone-like device up to her ear and clenching and unclenching her other hand, Ranma managed to bring herself to a somewhat calm state. "Okay," she said flatly into the communicator. "I'm on my way."

Tossing her communicator back into her purse, harder than she should have, she snagged the strap and threw it over her shoulder.

"Gotta go," she said with great reluctance and a bit of frustration at the still seated Tenchi.

He nodded and replied. "I understand."

After Ranma closed the door behind her, Tenchi sat in thought for a moment. A few seconds ticked by and a determined looked formed on his face. Standing, he slipped into a heavy coat and exited his room, determined to find out what the pressing problem that Ranma or her friend had, and hopefully help solve it.

The cold evening air bit into Tenchi's face as he exited the dorm and he quickly ducked as a snowball sailed his way. He smiled at the sight of dozens of fellow students, male and female, engaged in a light hearted snowball fight.

"Hey Tenchi!" Tetsuyuki, Tenchi's roommate, called. "Are you looking for Ranma?"

Tenchi nodded in response as he dodged another errant snowball.

"She headed that way," Tetsuyuki said while pointing in said direction before ducking under another snowball. "She looked upset. You guys have a fight or something?"

Not bothering to answer him, Tenchi headed off in the direction indicated and soon spotted the back of the quick stepping redhead. Tenchi followed Ranma at a safe distance. Ranma was so preoccupied with what she needed to do, she failed to notice that Tenchi was tailing her.

"This is driving me crazy," Ranma fumed to herself as she dodged around a woman overloaded with shopping bags. "On one hand, I'm not really lying to Tenchi by telling him I have a friend in trouble, but I'm not being entirely honest with him either."

Ranma weaved around another group of people. "Where are all these people coming from? I couldn't transform back behind the dorms because of the stupid snowball fight... gotta stay focused... where can I- Ah! Here's a good spot."

Several yards behind her, Tenchi weaved around the same group that Ranma had dodged earlier. "I know you said you didn't need my help," Tenchi thought to himself as he weaved around more strollers that dotted the sidewalk. "But it has to be serious and-"

Tenchi thoughts trailed off as he spied Ranma ducking into an alleyway. Picking up the pace, Tenchi made it to the mouth of the narrow alley and peeked around the corner. He spotted Ranma as she made her way deeper into the alley, her form easily defined in the shadowed, deserted, and narrow street.

"This should be good enough," Ranma thought carelessly. "I'll just duck behind this dumpster and then I'll be hidden from the street."

Tenchi's eyes locked on Ranma as she made a turn, she was suddenly hidden by a large dumpster that jutted into the alley. There was a flash of light, as if a doorway were being opened and closed then nothing else. Hurrying, but being cautious as to not to slip on the ice on the ground and in making any unnecessary noises, Tenchi worked his way to where Ranma was last seen.

Rounding the dumpster, Tenchi's mind froze at what he found. It was a doorway.

The back doorway to Chirp-Chirp Love Hotel.

------------

Ranma, now Sailor Sun, compressed time the instant she stepped through the rent in space/time that she had made. The world froze around her.

The large humanoid-shaped robot had an arm raised and pointed in the direction of Sailors Mars and Uranus. The two scouts looked almost comical as they hung in mid-air. Sun noted Neptune off to one side in the midst of preparing her attack.

"Three of them here and they still called me," Sun thought with a certain amount of annoyance. "I gonna start having Happosai train them if the three of them can't handle one little robot."

Turning her attention back the source of her problems, Sun saw that the forearm to hand of the robot was glowing as it was in the middle of powering up what Mercury had described in one of their meetings as a "high energy particle beam". Sailor Sun just thought of it as just a nasty way to cause mass destruction. Sun sighed.

"This is getting old," she though with a great deal of malice toward the metal man.

Sun quickly charged up a very small Solar Flare sent it on it's way. The sphere of energy shot toward it's time-frozen target at a speed that seemed to slow as it left Sailor Sun's time compression field. It was still moving at a good clip, but far slower than reality.

Upon contact, Sun watched in fascination as the large robot was quickly blow apart and pieces of it flew high in the air until the energy of the attack was spent. All in slow motion. Smoke hung like a solid cloud as jagged pieces of metal seemed to suddenly hang suspended in mid air. The robot, with a large jagged hole in it was cocked backward, away from the initial point of contact.

"Well that was easy... as always," Sun thought as she relaxed. She sighed. "Every time, it's the same shit."

She scanned the area with her highly developed Senshi senses and found nothing. "It takes me longer to get away, find someplace to transform, and make it here than it does to deal with these things."

Sailor Sun straightened the hem of her skirt and was about to deactivate her time field when something caught her eye.

Movement.

Where there shouldn't be any.

Sailor Sun blinked. "Must be a trick of the light," she thought as she eyed the small stationary store across the street. "I'm still in compressed time - there shouldn't-"

Her brow furrowed as she definitely spied movement where there shouldn't be any. Sun double-checked herself. "I'm definitely in compressed time. What the hell going on?"

She extended her senses again and directed them toward the small stationary shop where she thought she saw the shadow move. "Nothing," she concluded. "Had to have been my imagination-"

Her thoughts were interrupted again and her eyes narrowed as she studied the insides of the shop with her eyes. "There is definitely someone moving around inside!" Her mind shouted. She quickly double-checked her Senshi senses. "Still nothing..."

Alarmed, but curious, Sun concentrated on a variation of 'The Soul of Ice' she learned from Happosai to compensate for the friction of her movement against the air. She cautiously made her way across the street, keeping one eye on the shadowy outline of the figure that seemed to move about, as if looking for better vantage points in which to watch.

Half-way into the street, the mysterious shadow stilled.

Sun froze as the shadow faded into nothingness.

Taking one last look around, Sun reentered normal time and finished crossing the street, ignoring the robot as it finished blowing up into scrap metal behind her. Sailors Mars and Uranus recovered from the blast and caught a glimpse of Sun as she entered the stationary store. Neptune de-powered her attack and followed.

Just inside the door, Sailor Sun carefully studied the environment of the small shop. Inside there were racks of notepads, reams of paper and small 'gift size' photo albums. Having gotten a good bearing to where the watcher was standing, Sailor Sun made her way to the back of the store and as expected, found that there wasn't any way of getting out of the shop except the front door. She looked up and down the narrow row, using her Senshi sense to find any clue.

She found one.

A small one.

"Someone created an opening in space/time right here," she concluded. "But I'm the only one that can do that."

"What's wrong?" Mars asked as she came upon Sun.

"Someone was watching us from here," Sun answered. "I saw them still moving when I was in compressed time."

"When you were... how's that possible?" Mars asked.

Sun studied the sealing rupture in the fabric of space/time. The tear was hauntingly familiar to what space/time looked like after she used it. Sun blinked again to reexamine the distortion closer, but in that moment space/time had healed itself and there were no traces. She blinked again and considered something, then shook her head.

"I'm not sure," Sun finally said as she straightened. "But this looks like - like when I-"

The other two Scouts joined them, interrupting what Sun was about to say. Sun's ire from earlier returned and derailed her train of thoughts as she pursued another subject.

"Looks like you three had the situation under control," Sun stated, forgetting the mystery at the moment. "Why'd you call me?"

Neptune and Uranus blinked at Sun's non-greeting.

"It was just me at first," Mars answered defensively. "I didn't know Neptune and Uranus were in the area."

Sun sighed heavily. "We need to get better organized," she said. "We need to know who is out and where to avoid calling in extra help when it's not needed."

"Why should that make any difference?" Uranus asked. "We're a team, aren't we?"

"That's not the point," Sun snapped. "Some of us are running out of excuses to give friends and coworkers on why we need to step out at the damnedest times."

The moment turned tense for a few heartbeats. "Sun," Mars said evenly in a very controlled way. "I know it's hard, it's hard on all of us. You're not the only one that is running out of excuses."

Sailor Sun stared at her fellow Senshi and nodded with a sigh. "I'm sorry," she apologized softly. "I know... I'm just tired. Okay?"

The others smiled back at their redheaded friend and nodded in understanding.

-------------

Tenchi staggered around the snow-covered streets, not really paying attention to his surroundings.

He felt hurt, he felt, betrayed, he felt unsure. He had heard rumors of some of the girls that were financially strapped finding work in places like soaplands or imageclubs of some other adult business, but Ranma worked at the museum...

"Why?" Tenchi asked himself.

----------

After de-transforming, a mentally weary Ranma made her way back to the campus with quick steps. The sidewalk wasn't as busy as it was when she left and she had hopes of picking up where she left off with Tenchi.

"Brrrr... it's cold," Ranma thought as she hugged herself for warmth. "I hope I can get some hot chocolate with good company soon."

Entering the through the front gate, Ranma headed in the direction of her dorm. Outside, sitting on the steps was the 'good company' she was just thinking about.

"Hi Tenchi," Ranma merrily said as she walked up to the pigtailed boy. "How's' it... going?" Ranma's voice trailed off.

Ranma immediately sensed something was wrong when Tenchi didn't smile as he usually did when they got together. Ranma also sensed the coolness, that felt colder than the season, directed at her.

"Ranma," he said in a neutral tone, "we need to talk."

Ranma stared at Tenchi with wide eyes. "What about?" She asked worriedly.

A heavy and tense silence fell between them. Tenchi sighed and looked around the bustling campus. "Not here. The park."

Tenchi stood and walked away, heading off in the direction of the park where they usually did their sparing sessions. All Ranma could do was follow Tenchi and ponder at what could be the matter.

"I'm losing him," Ranma thought. "All these damn interruptions and half-truths have finally gotten to him. Dammit! It's not my fault. What am I going to do?"

All too soon they arrived at the park. Being in the middle of the winter, it was devoid of anyone except themselves. Tenchi sat on a bench and looked lost for a moment. He then motioned for Ranma to sit next to him. All was quiet between them as the moments dragged by. Ranma felt the need to say something, anything, but was lost on what to say.

"Ranma, I know you been having... problems," Tenchi started in an uneven tone. "And you've been... not wanting to talk about it."

Ranma stared at Tenchi with worried eyes. Tenchi swallowed hard before continuing. "I wanted - want to help you and this morning when you got called... I... followed you."

Ranma looked at Tenchi, not certain at first to what the implications of what he had just said. Then realization hit her like punch to the gut.

"H-how much did you see?" She asked, very afraid.

"Enough," Tenchi said. "Does your friend work there?" He asked hopefully.

Ranma blinked at him. "Where?"

Tenchi sighed. "I followed you until you got to the backdoor of the Chirp-Chirp."

Ranma thought on that in confusion, then it dawned on her what Tenchi was talking about. "No!" She said firmly. "I - no. No way in hell."

"Then what were you doing there?"

Ranma remained silent. Tenchi was determined to wait it out.

"I- I have to go talk to my friend," Ranma finally said. "If she says it is all right to tell you... I'll explain everything. Okay?"

Tenchi nodded.

"Look," Ranma continued, "if it were just me, I would tell you in a heartbeat... but there is more than just me involved and...," Ranma finished by waving her hands around in a lost way.

Tenchi sighed. "Okay... but I want to know what's going on."

Ranma nodded.

Ranma leaned back against the freezing back of the bench and pulled her communicator out of her purse, thought about it and put it back. Digging around some more, she extracted her cellphone and dialed a number she knew well. Holding the phone up to her ear, she counted the number of rings as she eyed Tenchi out of the corner of her eye.

Tenchi seemed to understand Ranma's unasked questions and stood and moved away from her, giving Ranma a certain measure of privacy.

"Looks like things are going get complicated," Ranma thought as she waited for the phone to be answered. "I... have to deal with this."

"Hello?" a voice on the other end asked.

"Um... it's me, Ranma," Ranma said carefully into the phone. "I need to talk to you."

"Sure, what's on your mind Ranma?" Ami asked, picking up on the tone in Ranma's voice.

Ranma sighed.

"I'm with Tenchi," Ranma explained. "I want to tell him... everything."

There was an almost dreadful silence. Ranma thought maybe the connection got broke or something.

"Ranma," Ami said breaking the silence, "I know that this may seem... callous, but have you considered that having a boyfriend right now might be a liability?"

Ranma stared off into space, not wanting to consider that possibility. "I know that, but-"

"What I'm trying to say is that our first duty is to protect those who can't protect themselves," Ami explained. "If having a boyfriend gets in the way..."

Ranma continued to stare at nothing.

"... then... maybe you should reconsider having one," Ami finished softly.

Ranma continued to stare off into space. She recognized the grain of truth in Ami's words. She glanced over to Tenchi who was now pacing back and forth at a respectful distance.

"Why does my life always seem to mess up when I have something good going on?" Ranma lamented to herself. "Akiko was there for me when I literally had nothing... not even hope... now she's gone. Now I have Tenchi and I have to give him up... it's not fair!"

Ranma brought her errant thoughts under control before they strayed too far. "There has got to be another way. I love Tenchi and... I have lied to him enough. If I can't trust someone I love, who can I trust?"

Ranma thought deeply of a few moments before narrowing her eyes. "You're right, Tenchi... Tenchi is getting in the way," Ranma said in a low and slightly angry voice.

"Ranma?" Ami's voice leaked from the phone.

"I'm going to tell him," Ranma said firmly into the mouthpiece. "Everything."

The silence on the line was more deafening then before. The wind picked up rustling the leaves in the trees.

"What?!" Ami exclaimed loudly.

"I said," Ranma said in the same soft, clear voice. "I'm going to tell him the truth."

"Ranma," Ami said in an imploring way. "You know that's impossible. No one is suppose to-"

"Granny knew," Ranma said, trying to keep her voice flat.

Silence revisited the line. Ranma imagined Ami with her mouth hanging open on the other end. "How long had she known?" Ami asked.

A certain silence fell between the two friends. Ranma broke it with a soft sigh. "She knew from the beginning, even before I met the rest of you," Ranma finally replied.

The silence returned and grew between them.

"I... see," Ami finally said. "But Ranma, this is different. You don't-"

"What the hell am I supposed to do?" Ranma snapped at her friend over the phone. "Fight for love and never have any? Be a good little weapon of mass destruction and the hell with having any life? What the hell kinda life would that be anyway?"

Ranma eyed Tenchi who was now giving her an odd look, over the phone all she heard was the ragged breathing from Ami.

"I love him," Ranma said firmly. "So I should trust him. I shouldn't have to lie to him."

There was more silence from the other end that lasted a few heartbeats. "Ranma, I still don't think it's a good idea," Ami implored over the phone. "What if doesn't work out for you and him? What if you decide to break up later? What are you going to do then?"

Ranma considered that for a very short moment. "I love him," Ranma repeated. "You can't love someone and plan on it being over... it's like admitting defeat before the fight."

Ami sighed on the other end, but said nothing. Ranma closed the cellphone and looked over at Tenchi. He was staring back at her from a respectable distance from the bench she was sitting on. Ranma sighed, smiled warmly at him, and tried to control her nervousness as she thought of the best way to tell Tenchi.

"Now... what am I going to say?" Ranma's mind raced. "I can't say: 'Oh Tenchi, I'm a Sailor Scout. A reincarnated warrior from a long dead civilization and I'm here to fight for love and justice'. How lame."

----------

A shadowed figure stood in the narrow opening between two buildings across from the park, spying on the pair though a small device held up to his face.

"Target sighted," the man said.

"Roger, stand by," came the barely audible reply.

"Be aware that target is in company of another," the man whispered.

"Roger that."

The man continued to watch the pair closely, ignoring the curious and odd looks that were given him by the passersby.

------------

During Ranma's thoughts, Tenchi returned her smile. Ranma patted the place next to her on the bench. He approached, brushed off some snow and sat next to her. The wind decided to pick up.

"Brrrrr," Ranma commented as she hunkered against the wind. "It's cold."

Tenchi scooted closer to the redhead. All was quiet for a moment.

"Tenchi?" Ranma said softly.

Tenchi blinked at the redhead.

"Yes Ranma? What's wrong? Can you tell me now?"

"No. Yes. Maybe."

Tenchi sighed. Dealing with women was never his strong point, but Ranma was different. She didn't try to own him or make him change into something he wasn't. Their relationship had grown over the months. Though it was scary at times - especially admitting what they were feeling, Tenchi liked the idea and wouldn't mind that he was... hers.

"What?"

Ranma sighed, this was hard.

"Tenchi, I... like you and everything," she said carefully. "But..."

Silence fell between the two. The silence stretched out into one minute, then two.

"But what?"

Ranma raised her head and looked and Tenchi in the eyes. She swallowed hard.

"I have to tell you... something," Ranma stammered out.

Tenchi at this point was growing concerned for his... girl. Her feelings for him hadn't changed, had they?

"Ranma," Tenchi said in a quiet voice. "Do you still love me?"

Ranma's eyes flew open wide at the question.

"Yes" she blurted out. "I still love you. I just that..." her voice trailed off.

Tenchi moved closer to the nervous, fumbling redhead. He encircled her with his arms and drew her close to him. There he rocked her gently back and forth.

Ranma felt safe with Tenchi's arms around her. Her mind had locked up - this was not going as she had hoped. She basked in the warm and feel of Tenchi's body against hers as she gathered her wits.

"Tenchi?" she said quietly from his arms.

"Yes?" he answered as he continued to rock her.

"If I told you a secret - and important secret. Could you swear never to tell anyone?"

Tenchi stopped rocking and pulled back from Ranma a bit to look at her eyes. He still kept her in his arms. Looking into Ranma's eyes he can tell the importance of what she had to say.

"Yes," Tenchi answered unflinchingly. "I could."

"You swear?" Ranma asked in an imploring way.

Tenchi nodded as he answered, "I swear."

Ranma's eyes looked wild for a moment before refocusing. "It would be easier just to show you. Let's go somewhere private."

-----------

"Strike team in position, sir," the communications officer announced. "Waiting for orders."

Admiral Karikachi nodded. "Tell them to go."

"Attention all recovery teams," the communications officer said in a thin voice over the comlink. "The prince has been located. Prepare to begin recovery operations."

"Command, be aware that the prince is still in the company of another," the man on the other end replied.

"Roger that team three," the officer paused. "Is that the only human around?"

"Yes, sir. They are in a deserted, open area."

The officer looked to the Admiral for direction. The Admiral gave a single, curt nod. "Your orders are to separate and recover the prince immediately."

"Roger that, stand by for our signal."

"Confirmed. Teleporters on standby."

----------

Ranma walked closely beside Tenchi as they made their way towards the park entrance. She was thoroughly enjoying just being near Tenchi and her attention was divided between him and what she was about to reveal. Because of the numerous distractions, Ranma failed to notice two oddly dressed men until they were almost on top of the couple and why she was caught so off guard by what happened next.

The two men, one dressed in an undersized Shinto Shrine Maiden uniform and other in a loud Hawaiian shirt with shorts, literally barged into the park as Ranma and Tenchi were exiting. Ignoring the oddity of their garb, the couple mistook the two men as nothing more than as fellow students going through some weird club initiation. So Ranma and Tenchi separated to allow the men passage.

The man in the Shrine Maiden outfit reached out and grabbed Tenchi by the shoulder and pulled him a few feet back into the park, the Hawaiian shirted one pushed Ranma back and away from Tenchi before dashing into the park himself. Thinking now that it was mugging or some other assault, Ranma quickly went into a defensive stance and prepared to defend herself and come to the aid of Tenchi.

She never got the chance.

With a flash of blinding light, the men and Tenchi were gone.

Ranma eyes widened at what had just happened. The roller coaster of emotions of being incredibly happy one moment and having it ripped away in the next was too much for her to grasp. Her legs folded and she fell onto the frozen ground. There she sat, coming to terms of just what happened.

Wide eyed and lost, she did not feel the cold dampness that was invading her posterior as her body heat melted the snow beneath her. It had all happened so fast that she was slightly in shock from it. One moment she was strolling happily along with Tenchi by her side, the next she was on the ground, unharmed physically, but shaken emotionally.

"W-what?" Ranma's mind repeated until it came out of it's self imposed mantra.

Rising from where she fell, Ranma snapped out of the shock and concentrated on the matter at hand. Extending her senses, she felt the slight tale-tell markings of the folding or tearing in the fabric of space/time from high above. Using what she could without transforming, she trailed the marking until it disappeared beyond the orbit of Mars.

Ranma hyperventilated from the emotions that were welling up inside her. "The enemy! They took Tenchi," she thought with grief. She drew a deep, ragged breath. "They took Tenchi," she echoed aloud in a quiet, forlorn voice.

Wrestling control of her breathing, she wheezed out a faint "No."

Then the reality of the situation came crashing down on her. "They took Tenchi," she thought.

"No," she whispered again.

"They took Tenchi," her mind repeated.

"No," she said loudly.

"They took Tenchi!" her mind roared.

"No!" She screamed to the heavens. Shock was quickly replaced by an anger that flowed through her body, making her blood boil and her heart cold - and with it came power. They took Tenchi...

... and they would pay.

----------
----------

I would like to thank everyone on their patience on this. I know it took me long enough, but on the bright side I have the last three chapters firmly outlined and it is just a matter of working on it.

I am so guilty of wanting to finish "Final Approach Ranma" first, doing a few smaller projects, and hanging around the chat room and, er, chatting with other writers that hang out there. This, and fighting off and then succumbing to every other idea that invaded my mind from time-to-time. I'm sure y'all understand when I say "so many ideas, so little time".

Should I mention ferrets that try to make off with my brain? Tupperware is a good place to hide brains, but you have to "burp" the container "just so" to preserve the freshness. Store at room temperature, please.

About the funeral robe that Ranma wore in the last chapter: Depending on where you are, funeral rites and wear vary from place to place. I tried to make it as generic as I could, and while it is true that white robes are more common than black, wearing black (among family members of the deceased) is not unheard of. This, of course, is what I've been able to learn from online sources which I can't vouch for the reliability of.

Thanks for reading.