Girl Talk

A Ranma Sailor Moon fic thingy.

By Josh Temple and Trimatter

 

Naturally, I own neither Sailor Moon nor Ranma. So here's the disclaimer

Ranma 1/2 and its characters and settings belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Kitty, and Viz Video. Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi, Koudansha, TV Asahi, and Toei Douga, and DIC.

 

Previous chapters and other works can be found at our  fanfiction websites.

http://home.austin.rr.com/trimatter/

http://jtemple.florestica.com/

 

Other website Temple of Ranma's Senshi Seifuku

http://fukufics.com

 

C&C as always is wanted.

 

Yes this is another co-writer project between both Sunny and Trimatter.  That should be all the warning you need.

---------- 

Ranma's bare feet padded along the wooden floor as she danced in a kata, one that she used to help clear her mind when she was troubled. She found great comfort in the familiar movements of the art, like a child with a favorite stuffed animal or blanket would. Whenever something bothered, disturbed, or just preoccupied her mind, she had found solace in the complex forms of the art. 

The only problem was that it wasn't working this time. 

"Damn it, why in the hell did I do something so stupid?" She groused to herself. "The past was dead and gone... then Nabiki had to spot me and bring it all back." 

Stopping her exercise, she glanced at a clock that rested on a low bookshelf. Sighing heavily, she wiped the sweat from her brow. "I have five and a half hours to decide whether or not I'm going," she mentally noted. "Damn, I wish Tenchi could be here right now.

Standing and trying to sort through her mixed emotions turned into a battle between keeping a promise and letting go of the past. Shaking her head, Ranma returned to the kata only to stop a short time later. She looked out the window into the darkness of early morning. 

"It's no good," she concluded. "I can't stop thinking about what to do." She cocked her head to one side and made a contemplative smirk on her face. "I'll think I'll go for a walk." 

Transforming into her Senshi form gently as to not alarm Tenchi, who could sense her now for some reason, she summoned her sword and paused. ""Where to go? Hmmm... doesn't matter, as long as it's daylight." 

With a shrug of her shoulders, Ranma - now Sailor Sun - sliced a long line into the air, reached in with the tip of the sword, and randomly picked a nearby universe. It was something she had only done a few times, mostly driven out of curiosity as to what was there in the multitude of different universes. Also the excitement of going to a completely alien universe and what might be found there was like opening a Christmas present – she never knew what she was going to find. 

Ranma consciously picked a universe not too far removed from her own. She didn't want to deal with anything too weird because she needed to think. And right now an alien, yet familiar, setting would do the trick. 

She used to do that with the myriad of small cafes and tea houses in the surrounding area, but lately it was harder to get privacy since the news of her pregnancy got out among her many friends. Ranma needed to think and "baby clothes shopping" was not going to solve the problem of her past coming up and smacking her in the face. She could have picked any point in the world to go to, but it was just as easy to move between dimensions as it was to move from one point to the next, so why not? 

Poking her head slightly through the newly made opening, she looked around to make sure that the coast was clear. Ranma did not really need to do that for her powerful senses had already told her that it was safe, but it was a force of habit that she could not break. She looked around the new world - and smiled. 

"An alley," she mused to herself with a slight smirk. "It's always an alley." 

Stepping completely through, her form wavered as her Senshi uniform changed into a nice, ordinary blue skirt while her top changed into a pale pink, button-up shirt. She was still in her Senshi form, but it was now disguised from the eyes of anyone who looked at her. Even though she never had any problems when she went "exploring", Ranma didn't want to take any chances - especially in her condition. 

Walking out of the alleyway into the bright sun, the first thing she realized that she wasn't in Japan. "Hmmm... well, all the better. I didn't want to see anyone I might even vaguely know anyway," she thought flippantly. "This is not too far removed from my home universe, so I should be able to find some decent tea somewhere." 

------- 

"Yeah, what do you want?" Ranma asked as she looked up from her breakfast in the Company commissary. She had been discussing things with her mother. It had been a depressing morning. Ironically, her father was one of the people trying to warn her about the problems with Kasumi. It seemed that she was the only one to not see it coming. Ranma took some comfort in her father's tacit acceptance of her and his earnest, albeit clumsy, attempts to help.

"We've got a favor to ask you," Colonel Jacob Edwards stated as he sat down next to her. He noticed the demon's tear-stained face. This breakup could be troubling, but he knew both parties were professionals. That would mitigate things. 

The demon eyed the officer. Part of her expected the other shoe to drop; that they would finally ask for something she would not do. "What?" She looked over to see her mother stiffen. 

"Twenty minutes ago we detected a spike in Hamilton." Jacob said, talking about the small city to the south of Toronto and at the Southern end of lake Ontario. 

"What kind, Sir?" Major Saotome asked as she removed an arm from around her daughter. 

"It was a teleport. Pattern Silver. More powerful than normal." 

"What's the big deal? Setsuna can do that, and so can Usagi with her friends." Ranma was still alert. Jacob's presence for what looked like a minor thing meant something. 

"The Tokyo section just reported in and all of the Pattern Silvers are accounted for." 

"You're thinking it's another Virgo? Or is Mercury setting a trap like the Assembly's?" Ranma asked. 

"That sounds a bit beneath her. She's not likely to sacrifice Virgo quite yet," Jacob said with no indication of humor.

Nodoka paused wondering if her boss had tried to crack a joke, which seemed as unlikely as him cracking a smile.

"But we have to consider the possibility," Jacob continued.

"Doesn't sound like her style anyway," Ranma shook her head. "They're just rebelling. Look at them, they're dressing in black and getting tattoos. Classic teenager. So, what do you want me to do?" 

"If it's a new Senshi. We'd like you to be our greeter," Jacob smiled. 

"Yeah.... I don't know if some unknown magical girl would react best to a demon." 

"You're better than one of us." 

"Not sending backup with me?" 

"Of course, I am." Jacob clarified. "But you'll do the talking, one magical girl to another." 

"So we've got some unknown Pattern Silver. What's her strength?" 

"That's why we're sending you. Our scanners... the first spike, though brief, was powerful," Jacob continued in a more serious tone.

Ranma sat and digested that tidbit for a moment. Something that big coming through and she missed it. Being busy trying to deal with breaking up with Kasumi did that.

"After the initial spike, the power faded to a more sane level. Then we had a helicopter try and get closer and triangulate the Silver's location, but it had faded by then." Jacob knew that Hilbert would be flying cautiously. "Now, unlike your Grandma, this visitor didn't break anything, but BlackSky can mask herself completely." He then went on to give a description of the recorded harmonics. 

"I suppose the analysis on BlackSky's signature paid off," Nodoka proposed. Though she did remember that BlackSky's arrival was undetected and she only melted those scanners when she showed off to Ranma. 

"Lovely," Ranma sighed. "So she could be anything. What about my kids?" 

"That's up to you. Though I feel a gaggle of demonic spawn might upset her. " 

"And if she's hostile?" 

"Then you can blow off some steam." 

Ranma raised an eyebrow. "You're not worried about my emotional state?" 

"No. I thought work would help distract your mind." Jacob's tone was its normal flat self, but a hint of something else slipped out. 

Ranma shook her head at the agent's sympathy. "Just as long as Kasumi's not on my backup detail." 

"Of course." 

"Have a helicopter on the base ready for my kids," Ranma said as she pulled out her Company cell phone. 

"What about the Inners?"

Ranma paused. She remembered Usagi soaked with her victim's blood and vengeance in her eyes. The memory then shifted to the hug with that sad blonde in the leather shop. "No... Usagi's got too much on her hands right now. Not with Ami and all." 

"Fine. Your helicopter's on the roof. You'll rendezvous with a team of plainclothes agents and a detachment of battle-dress troopers, that were already dispatched." 

"Do they have a lock on the Senshi's location?" Ranma asked as she got up. 

"A general area," Jacob confessed. 

Ranma nodded. 

"Good luck Dear. Remember she might just be lost, confused, and new to this." 

"If she is, I'll send her right over to the inners. Unless she'd rather work with professionals," Ranma grinned. 

"The Silver must have powered down after she teleported." Jacob added as they walked to the elevator bank. 

"I can find her easily enough." Ranma stepped into the elevator. After passing out of security and entering the main lobby of the Toronto Trust tower she was then led to another elevator that took her to the roof and the waiting WIC Blackhawk. 

------- 

When she first strolled along the streets, Ranma thought she was in the United States, but that was quickly proven wrong as she spied some signs in French as well as English dotted here and there. Curious, she investigated discreetly and discovered herself to be in Hamilton, Canada. Not only was she in a different universe and a different part of the globe than she was used to, Ranma found herself in the past relative to her universe; six years in the past to be exact. Satisfied where on the globe and when she was, she made her way to the first place that looked like it might have some decent tea. 

Seating herself near the large window, Ranma relaxed and took in the atmosphere of the coffee house. She watched as people walked by, some hurrying, others more casual in their pace and smiled at the wonder of it all. Smiling at the server who brought a steaming cup of tea to her table, Ranma fished out a handful of change to pay. "Heh - good thing I can use my senses to find spare change that others drop," she mused. "It's best to pay for everything using the local currency." 

Seeing that the tea was literally steaming hot, she placed it aside to cool a bit and returned to watching the world go by. It was quiet and she was the only person in the cafe at this time of the morning and that was fine with her. 

"What to do, what to do?" She pondered. "One part of me says 'screw it' and another part says 'give them a chance'. Gah, I thought I was over all this." 

------------ 

During the ride Ranma made another short call to Nariko and got another briefing, but the majority of the time was spent brooding. The redhead did not even really notice that this was the first time she had been in a helicopter since the forest fight. Part of her was relieved that there were just the two pilots in addition to herself in the vehicle. She did not think she was asking too much of a commitment from Kasumi. They were engaged after all. She had not even asked or suggested that Kasumi change. Ranma knew Kasumi's stance on that. 

It was disheartening. For both her sisters Kasumi chose demonhood over death. That Ranma could not understand Kasumi's decision made things worse. Almost as bad was when Ranma started crying about how her mate was leaving her. Kasumi did not react well to that word's use. Ranma was relieved when the helicopter safely landed on a hospital helipad in Hamilton. WIC was making sure to keep the helicopter at a distance from the area where the suspected Silver was. Anything to distract her from the breakup. 

"Jarvis?" Ranma asked as she jumped off the helicopter. She looked the agent over. "Well, it's nice to know you can wear something other than your uniform." 

"This practically is a uniform," Jarvis said as he fingered his button-down shirt. Business casual was the standard dress for plainclothes agents. "And you're impeccably dressed as always. We're not exactly sure where the Silver is, but the rough bearings we got put her somewhere-" 

"Don't tell me," Ranma said as she closed her eyes and expanded her senses. There was a faint trace of... something, but a trace was all she needed. "She's that way," the demon stated pointing to the South-west. 

"Want a lift? It is daylight." 

"Sure, but only to just a few blocks near her. It'll give you guys a chance to do your thing too." 

"Fair enough." Jarvis nodded. The two walked to the waiting van. "How are you holding up, Red?" he asked after the van had pulled away from the hospital and traveled several blocks. 

"Wow, news travels fast," Ranma grumbled as she watched buildings pass by. 

"Especially among secret agents." 

"Yeah, I'm okay. I guess... I dunno. I thought she was..." 

"What? The One? Don't kid me, I saw you two. You were a couple but never an item." 

"Let's just do this," Ranma stated flatly. She ordered the van to stop. They were close enough. 

"Right," Jarvis relented. He closed the sliding door after she got out and the van drove off. 

Ranma shook her head and started walking down the sidewalk. It was a brisk day. She wore a jacket but more to fit in and for style than out of any need. The scent she followed was definitely that of a Pattern Silver, but not any that Ranma knew. It was definitely a new Senshi. 

She quickly closed in on the location, and soon enough only a large window separated her from her quarry. Before entering, Ranma called in her status. She knew the agents would want to start to set up. 

------------- 

Scrunching her mouth up in thought, Ranma didn't bother to note the customers as they entered and left the shop, jiggling the bell that hung over the door. Pondering the problem of revisiting her past like she promised or moving on with her life. Ranma sat, pondered, and took an occasional sip of her now much cooled tea. Ranma knew that you could only be angry for so long before letting it go, but six years was a long time... but maybe not long enough.

Ranma was literally in a universe where no one knew her, so she was not expecting anything to intrude into her thoughts or for anyone to bother her. That's why she was surprised when someone addressed her. 

---------- 

Ranma smiled as she entered the coffee and tea shop. At least a bunch of agents dressed like yuppies would not stand out here. They would fit in well with... well... the cafe was currently empty of patrons save one. 

She studied the lone woman. She had bright red hair that was long and loose and, although sitting, it was obvious that she was a couple inches taller than Ranma. She looked to be in her early twenties and was dressed in a pale, light pink button-up shirt with a blue thigh-length skirt. It was something that Nariko or Nabiki would wear... or try to get their mom to wear. 

Ranma smiled. An outfit like that would look good on her, but it was not her style. She went back to looking over the Senshi. There was an odd sensation from her - Ranma could not shake it. She seemed to be in deep troubled thought. 

With a shrug Ranma went for it. This was the Senshi, and she looked preoccupied with something.

"Visiting or lost?" She asked, sliding in front of the woman's view. She was leaning towards lost. 

As the Senshi paused and looked at Ranma, the demon made her own observations. Her senses confirmed that this was a Sailor Senshi, but not much on power levels. The Senshi was clearly masking her abilities, and doing it well enough. Ranma was reminded of her grandmother. Though BlackSky could do more than merely mask her power. BlackSky could conceal any indication that she was even masking anything.

--------- 

"Visiting or lost?"

Shaken from her thoughts, Ranma looked up at a - biker chick? The woman who spoke stood over her wearing leather - nothing but leather. Leather bodice, leather jacket, elbow length leather fingerless gloves, leather thigh-high boots, and a short leather skirt - all of it form-fitting like a second skin. Ranma wondered how many cows had gone into creating the outfit. 

Of the woman herself, she had alabaster skin, deep red hair, purple eyes that were penetrating, and for a second what looked like horns or something appeared on her head. When Ranma looked again she saw that it was just a trick of the light on the teased shape of the strange woman's hair. Ranma's eyes widened at the hair. It was a rich and full mass that tumbled down and had a character all it's own.

The strange woman stared down at the still seated Ranma as if trying to bore into her. What made Ranma feel slightly ill-at-ease was that the leather-clad woman seemed vaguely familiar 

"Excuse me?" Ranma asked cautiously, masking her surprise at being caught off guard. "I think you have the wrong person." 

The standing woman then gracefully slid into the chair off to Ranma's right and looked into Ranma's eyes, almost as if she were trying to find something. She then leaned forward slightly and sniffed the air. She then cocked her head to one side, never breaking eye contact with Ranma, and seemed confused by something. 

"No mistake," the leather-dressed woman said in a voice that was slightly musical. "You're not from around here." 

Ranma blinked at the strange woman. In the back of her head, alarms were going off. Her ever-present tactical thinking was already devising several defensive measures as well as escape routes, plus she had subconsciously raised the level of her shielding. Something was very wrong with her table companion. 

----------- 

"Excuse me?" The Senshi asked. Her face masked her surprise, but her scent gave it away. "I think you have the wrong person." 

Ranma sat down and took a more detailed look. There was something familiar about the Senshi's scent too. Not her power, per say but something more basic. Something fundamental. She was human, or as human as a Pattern Silver could be. Ranma made eye contact and kept it; she wanted to show respect. This Senshi had to have some power, but more importantly she had to have skill. The scale of both quantities was completely unknown. 

"No mistake," Ranma lilted. "You're not from around here." 

Ranma noted the Senshi's blinking. She was surprised? Did she think she could set off every detector within fifty miles and no one would notice? A new Senshi showing up was pretty obvious. Again Ranma thought of her grandmother. BlackSky teleported from another plane. Maybe this Senshi really was lost. 

"I'm just passing through," the Senshi stated, in an almost embarrassed tone. "This is my first time through here." 

Ranma leaned back and smiled triumphantly. She was right. Before she could ask her questions her companion spoke. 

"You're a demon," the Senshi said in a measured voice. 

Ranma blinked. It looked like the Senshi was making observations of her own. 

--------- 

"I'm just passing through," Ranma admitted evenly as information was being fed into her consciousness about the nature of the biker-chick seated next to her. The findings were alarming. "This is my first time through here." 

As if picking up on the changing mood of the redhead, the biker-chick leaned away and smiled in a most disarming way - revealing her extra long canines. This action had the effect of making the alarm bells in Ranma's head blare louder as she stared at what she knew was some type of demon. The tactical part of her mind kicked in as she developed several different attack options and raised the level of her shielding even more. 

"You're a demon," Ranma stated flatly. 

----------- 

Both women were wrapped in a blanket of silence as each seemed to size up the other. 

"Yes," the demon agreed in a tone that was better suited to a comment about the weather. "That all you can see about me?" she asked, almost disappointed.

The redhead paused and looked over the biker-demon again. It was true that she was not making any threatening moves, but there was something else. Something unsettling.

"I guess we'll start simple," the leather-clad demon began. "Who are you, why are you here, what Senshi are you?"

The redhead's skin turned almost as pale as her demonic companion's at being discovered. "How did you know?" Behind the eyes of the redhead, senses started to feed additional information that was gleaned from the demon. Patterns within patterns, ones that were very familiar and alien mixed together.

"My god.... you're a Senshi too," the redhead said as she tried to wrap her mind around the idea of a demonic senshi. The redhead's eyes seemed to burrow into the demon's as if looking for something of their own. 

"Isn't being a Senshi supposed to be a good thing?" the demon seemed genuinely confused.

The redhead's skin turned even paler before a mask of fear crossed her features. It was obvious that she recalled something unpleasant -  very unpleasant. She suddenly slid back in her chair slightly, the demon also moved back slightly as she sensed the other's power-up; it was shielded but directed at her as a definite warning. It was almost overwhelming. "Stay back!" The redhead said firmly. 

The demon sighed. "I told them I wasn't the best choice for this mission. Some random Senshi might not react well to a demon. Especially a pregnant Senshi. A mother's drive to protect is an amazing force." She seemed to speak from experience. She also hoped that her words would at least calm the other woman a bit.

"You know?" The redhead's eyes narrowed as she maintained her guard.

"One mother can spot it easily enough in another," the demon noted absently. She frowned. "I guess you're not going to answer. Least you're being civil." She then ordered some tea of her own.

"So are you, I've never heard of demons being well-mannered," the redhead replied somewhat evenly. 

"You've never met my eldest." The demon smiled fondly. "She's such a sweet and gentle girl."

"Sweet and gentle?" The redhead repeated. "In a demon?" 

The demon's piercing gaze returned. "Is that a problem?" She asked sharply, hurt in her voice. "I guess you wouldn't think our kind was capable of that."

The redhead wore a look of confusion for a second. She was visibly wrestling with some internal thoughts before her face changed to a neutral expression. "You're insulted?" The redhead commented softly. 

"Of course." The demon snorted. "You're a bigot. Maybe to you we're all the same," the demon spat.

A weird sort of stalemate rose and fell just as quickly. The redhead's shoulders sagged a bit as she came out of her defensive stance and relaxed a bit.

"I'm... er, sorry? I've never really met a demon, not a real one," the redhead offered with a slight bow to the demon next to her. "But all the demons that my friends had to face were more interested in stealing heart crystals or people's life energy than being civil. I'm sorry if I assumed wrong." 

An uncomfortable quietness fell between the two for a brief moment. 

"Our reputation does precede us," the demon admitted and relaxed. "Can you at least tell me your name?"

The human redhead cocked her head slightly and shrugged her shoulders. "My name is Ranma. I'm pleased to meet you." 

The demon blinked once. Twice. Three times. "Ranma?" 

The redhead who claimed the name Ranma looked back at the demon. "Yes. That's my name. Er, what's yours?" 

The demon smirked, then giggled a giggle that was pleasant to the ears. "You're not going to believe me, but my name is Ranma." 

---------- 

After hearing the giggling demon use her own name, Ranma's brain when into overdrive. "That's why she seemed so familiar!" Her mind howled. "She's me! Well, a version of me... that is, this universe's version of me." 

It was at that point that the demon named Ranma leaned toward the redheaded Ranma and took a deep sniff. "Why is she sniffing me like that?" Ranma thought self-consciously. "I bathed this morning."

Human-Ranma was slightly taken aback by being sniffed at again and as discreetly as she could smelled herself to see if she was malodorous. Finding nothing, she mused that maybe it was just something demons did. Sensing an awkward silence building, demon-Ranma felt the need to break it before it began. 

"Your smell... your underlying smell, is just like mine," The demon-Ranma said. "You weren't kidding when you said you were Ranma."

"She was smelling me out - literally," human-Ranma mentally concluded. She swallowed a bit before nervously asking, "So... what are you a Senshi of?"

"I'm Sailor DarkStar," demon-Ranma quietly replied. "You?" 

"Sailor Sun," human-Ranma replied, with a note of pride. 

"Oh.... that's ironic," DarkStar laughed. 

"What?" Sun asked. 

"I go to school under the name Sunshine." DarkStar replied. 

"I - see," Sun said with some hesitant sympathy in her voice. "Er, why did you pick that as an alias?" 

"Don't ask. It was the Drake's idea," DarkStar dismissed.

Sun blinked a few times before speaking. "Okay."

"It's okay. It could be worse, somehow," DarkStar sighed. "So, back to my first question, vacation or lost? Does it have to do with your baby? If you're running from something, we can help." 

"Thanks, but I'm okay. I was just visiting." Sun assured. She studied the demon. DarkStar's concern seemed genuine. Sun then remembered something DarkStar had let slip. "You're a mother too?" 

DarkStar's face brightened. "Yes, I have five daughters." 

Sun looked over her doppelganger's frame. She noticed the curves that were hugged by the tight leather outfit and for some reason wondered how Ryoko would look in it. There seemed to be advantages to having a demonic body. "Five kids?" 

DarkStar paused to thank the waitress who served her tea. She nodded affirmatively while taking a sip of her drink. "I have a seventeen year old, three sixteen year olds, and one that's now fourteen." 

Sun looked the demon over again and found that it was hard to tell her exact age. That was common enough Sun knew girls in college that could pass for junior high. "Er, how old are you?" 

"In this life... sixteen," DarkStar answered while placing her cup on the coaster. "But a couple records have me around thirty." She paused and regarded Sun a moment. "So is this your first child?" DarkStar asked as she smiled warmly and sipped at her tea. 

Sun blinked at the eager inquisitiveness and paused at the thought of five teenage daughters before answering. The strangeness in DarkStar's age was noted for later. "Yes, this is my first," She replied, happy that things were still civil, but things seemed to be getting stranger and stranger. In spite of the more relaxed attitude that fell between the two, Sun still maintained some of her defenses. 

Sun wondered if DarkStar was doing something similar. She could sense the demonic energies her double was giving off but had no idea if they were hostile or normal. DarkStar was maintaining an engaged posture, especially with the near constant eye contact. 

DarkStar nodded. "You'll love being a mother. It changes everything, but it's worth it." She paused and took another sip of her drink. "So... if you're not lost, why are you here?" 

Sun fidgeted uncomfortably. "I wanted some privacy, to think things over."

DarkStar's eyes suddenly narrowed. "It's not about your baby is it? Is something wrong?"

"What?" Sun was again shocked to see the concern and empathy on the demon's face. "No, no... the baby's fine. I'm worried about something else."

"Good. Sorry, I was just worried that you might be thinking of something... drastic." DarkStar bowed her head.

Another bout of silence revisited the pair as each seem to size up their thoughts. 

"I was just trying to decide if I did a stupid thing or not," Sun said. "I said that I would... meet some people and I think I've pretty much decided not to. They're not worth it." 

DarkStar cocked her head in curiosity. This was not unnoticed by Sun. 

"A few days ago I ran into someone from my past that I'd rather not have," Sun clarified. "For some stupid reason I told her to get everyone from... my past together. I'm supposed to meet them in," Sun glanced at her watch, "four and a half hours, but I think I'll just forget it." 

"Why is this a problem?" 

Ranma looked down on the table top. She fidgeted and swallowed. "These are the people that... basically stabbed me in the back six years ago. The only reason why I even thought of going was because Nabiki said my mother missed me - but now - I don't know now if I should have believed her." 

"Your mother?" DarkStar asked, puzzled. "What's she do? Sell you off to Genma?" 

"Worse. She gave me up to... Genma," Sun spat the name out like a curse word. "Then I come to find that if I didn't return as a man among men she would kill me." 

DarkStar looked at the young woman seated next to her. "Man among men?" 

Sun looked up at the demon and shrugged her shoulders. 

"You started out as a guy too?" DarkStar asked. 

Sun nodded, then stopped and looked at DarkStar. "You too?" DarkStar nodded, taking another sip of her drink. "I guess it just runs in the universes," Sun quipped. Both Ranmas giggled at the small joke that seemed to break the ice slightly between them. Each settled more comfortably into their chairs. 

"So... what's this about your mother?" DarkStar asked curiously. 

Sun sighed. "It's like... stupid Genma, he made mom a promise that if I didn't turn out to be a man among men, we would both kill ourselves." 

Sun watched the demon closely as she thought over what was said. In spite of the differences there were somethings that were eerily similar to herself. It made her feel creepy in an excited way. DarkStar gave Sun a gentle look and smiled. "Come on, your mother wouldn't do that, not make you kill yourself." 

Sun sighed and nodded. "Yeah, she would... well she can't anymore. I'm not a Saotome - haven't been one for years," Sun explained. "The only time I saw her I was a girl at the time and she didn't know it was me. Anytime anyone even suggested that I was unmanly, she would pull out that damn sword of hers and wave it around." 

"She was serious, and a sword?" DarkStar asked with surprise.

Sun nodded as she took a calming sip of her tea. "Yes - she was," she said placing her cup down. "She seemed nice enough, but what kind of mother holds their child - especially a five year old - to something like that?" Sun grabbed at her tea and took another calming drink. "Well, since I'm not a Saotome anymore, she could take that suicide pact and shove it." 

DarkStar sat there and quietly pondered the other Ranma's plight. Her own mother had made mistakes like that, and DarkStar had failed Nariko in an even more damaging way... 

The pause also gave Sun the opportunity to collect herself a bit - this was obviously an emotionally charged subject.

"Well, you're no longer a Saotome so she can't do anything to you," DarkStar pointed out. "Why let it get to you?" 

Sun sat in silence for a moment, then shrugged her shoulders. 

DarkStar sighed and took Sun's hands in hers. Sun found the touch surprisingly warm. "You said something about a Nabiki saying something about your mother missing you?" DarkStar asked. 

"Yeah..." Sun said softly. "But knowing the middle Tendo, she'd think of this as a cruel joke to pull or just to make money from. Bitch." 

DarkStar looked puzzled, but did not immediately say anything. She gave Sun a gentle squeeze of the hand. "Nabiki Tendo? You have one too? I know she... well I mean, my - Nabiki wouldn't." 

Sun sighed again as her shoulders sagged. "I don't know really anymore," she admitted. "If this was six years ago I would say: Yes she would, in a heartbeat. But now? I really don't know." Then she added softly, "She really did seemed changed, though." 

"Well, your mother can't touch you, and Nabiki - your Nabiki - can't hurt you," DarkStar said. "So why don't you go? You have nothing to lose and you might gain something." 

"That's not the point!" Sun shot out, gripping DarkStar's hands a little firmer, but not painfully, with her own. "A mother is supposed to put the well-being of her child over hers or anyone else's. She failed. I might not have my child in my arms yet, but I already know that I will be dead and cold in the ground before anything gets between me and my child." 

DarkStar smiled in approval. This one will make a good mother. 

"From what I see here, you'll make a wonderful mother, " DarkStar said, echoing her thoughts. "So you're here to work out some personal problems?" 

"Yeah, I guess you could put it that way," Sun said softly as she looked out the window. 

"Why here? I mean, why bother crossing universes?" DarkStar could accept crossing plans of existence to visit family, but not just to find a quiet place to think. 

Sun shrugged her shoulders. "Coming here is just as easy as crossing the street for me," she replied. "Also it's kind of exciting - I was hoping to take my mind off things for a bit before really thinking about it. Back home all my friends would want to do is talk about the baby and I wouldn't get anywhere with my problem." 

DarkStar seemed to weigh that. She hadn't detected anything but honesty, a guarded honesty, but honesty none-the-less. DarkStar nodded. "So what do you know about your mother?" She asked, picking up the conversation. 

Sun leaned back in her chair and pondered a moment before her face hardened. "My mother is a sword wielding psycho with an unhealthy fixation on manliness." She paused and looked out the window again. "She can go to hell for all I care." 

DarkStar studied the human version of herself; in spite of the differences, she picked up on the underlying problem. "You know, I was just as scared about seeing my mother as you are. Especially since she's a demon hunter, but... I'm glad I did." 

"I'm not scared," Sun defended herself. "There may be a lot of stuff that scares me and this is not one of them." 

DarkStar gave Sun a measured look as she sipped at her drink. "You're lying." 

Sun looked at DarkStar with wide eyes before narrowing them. "I am not!" She said defiantly. "Nabiki said that she wanted to see me curse or no, but knowing Nabiki..." 

"You're afraid of rejection," DarkStar said pointedly. "It's written all over your face." 

Sun looked at the tabletop between them, but remained silent. 

"Look," DarkStar said while taking Sun's hands once again into her own, "Rejection - it happens, but if you don't risk anything..." 

Sun still examined the tabletop and let the demon massage her hands. After a brief moment, she sighed heavily. Looking up she noticed a pain in DarkStar's eyes that wasn't there before. "The voice of experience?" She quipped with a half-sad tone in her voice. 

It was DarkStar's turn to study the table top. "Yeah. Actually it is," she said sadly. "I just... just broke up with my fiancee." Technically, it was Kasumi that did the breaking up. 

Sun opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She tried again with success. "I'm so sorry," she said sympathetically. "Here I am telling you my problems and here you are in pain too." 

"Thanks," DarkStar said with a sniffle and a brave smile. "I thought that she was the one, you know?... she didn't... she... didn't want to lose her humanity. I didn't even ask her for that, but she got... scared." Tears started to leak from the corners of the brokenhearted demon's eyes. 

Sun slid off her chair and squatted next to the still seated demon and embraced her. The demon stiffened in surprise at the physical contact but then went with the hug. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Sun repeated while hugging her with one hand and handing DarkStar paper napkins with the other. DarkStar accepted and began using them. 

"I thought she was the one, you know?" DarkStar repeated through bouts of sniffles. "I mean I was good enough to be a mother to her sisters, but... but..." DarkStar fell into another bout of tears, burying her face in a mass of napkins. Sun began rocking the distraught girl gently. 

"I guess I was good for a lay... but not for a commitment," the crying demon mewled into Sun's shoulder. Sun drew DarkStar further into the hug and continued to rock her gently and rubbing her back. Being unsure of what to say in this situation, she remained quiet. The two stayed like that for a long moment before DarkStar came back to herself. "Sorry," she said wiping her eyes with a damp napkin. 

"Are you going to be okay?" Sun asked as she gently untangled herself from DarkStar's embrace. It was... odd. One moment this demon seemed to be the jaded voice of experience, and the next she was crying her heart out. 

"It's okay," DarkStar said with declining sniffling. She smiled at the other redhead. "Thank you. I needed that. I normally cry on my Mom's shoulder. Actually, that's what I was doing before I came down here. She's helped me though my... changes." 

"It's good that she... understands," Sun allowed while a tinge of jealousy and depression formed within her. 

"My mom's been great though. She's been such a help. She helped me realize what my responsibilities were." She paused and cocked her head, wearing a crooked smile. "If you want... I could... call my mother. I think she would like to meet you." 

"Sure, I'd like to meet your mom," Sun said while handing off more napkins to the emotional demon. "I wish I was sure about mine... Maybe yours could help me with my problem." 

DarkStar smiled widely, but thinly. "Just a sec," she said as she reached somewhere, pulled out and flipped open her phone then casually punched a button. "Hello?" Pause. "Everything's fine. No. Yes. I was just talking about Kasumi - say, could you have my mom come over?" Pause. "No, but I think she'll want to meet our wayward Senshi." Pause. "Right." She then folded her phone and replaced it in a jacket pocket. 

"She's coming? But... you just met me." Sun felt honored but apprehensive. A bit of hope bloomed within her. After all, if this Nodoka can accept this Ranma, why not her Nodoka? 

DarkStar "Should I be concerned? You're a Senshi, you're me, and you're a good mother. You won't be the strangest person she's met," DarkStar sipped her tea again. She let her ancient demon queen of a grandmother meet Nodoka, this alternate her would be fine too. 

"You said she's a demon hunter? What kind?" Sun then noted that the demon's eye makeup was pristine again.

"She works for Willard International Consulting. They act like a scary secret organization. Sunglasses, black helicopters, all that stuff." DarkStar laughed as she caught the eye of a pair of young professionals at a nearby table. "But they're really good guys. They fight monsters and such. Dang professional at it too. They... care." 

"Do you work for them, too?" 

"Yeah, I fight with them, and they've been a big help with my family." DarkStar's smile turned bittersweet. She sighed and looked at the table. 

"So what does she do?" Sun asked quickly changing the subject. 

"She's the head of the Toronto base's Science and Technology section. Mostly she does armor and weapons. Making them lighter, stronger that sort of thing. Lots of composites, stuff I don't understand." DarkStar avoided mentioning any current projects of her mother's.

A surprised smile formed on Sun's face. "She's a research scientist?" 

DarkStar paused in recollection. "I guess so. She got her doctorate in materials science before joining WIC." 

Sun blinked at the overload of information before renewing her smile. "I just got my degree in chemistry," she said. "I was thinking about going for a doctorate, but," she paused and rubbed her stomach, "life had other plans for me." 

"Yeah," DarkStar said absently. "A year ago I never thought I'd be where I am today." 

Sun gave a nod. "I hear that - hell, six years ago I'd never imagined I'd be happily married - much less to a guy." 

"How did that come about? I mean you starting as a guy and ending up a girl?" 

"Difficult," Sun said flatly. "I was cursed... 

"Jusenkyo?" DarkStar interjected quizzically.

Sun nodded and continued. "Then I lost a fight and got stuck as a girl and disowned by Genma." 

DarkStar blinked at the human version of herself. She could almost see her father doing that. The way he looked at her, when she had first accepted being a mother... "You mean he disowned you because you got stuck?" 

Sun shook her head. "Not really," she admitted. "Because I wouldn't marry Soun to 'join the schools'." 

DarkStar frowned. The more she heard about Sun's Genma the less she liked. "Marry Soun?" She repeated with a shake of her head. She would rather marry the Drake. He was a much better parent. "Okay, but how does that explain how you ended up like you are?" 

Sun looked at the tabletop for an extended moment, lost in thought. "I - I have no idea how long, but I was living on the streets for a very long time... a lot of things can change when you're hungry all the time and digging through dumpsters for something to eat." 

DarkStar easily read from Sun's face that there was still more to this story.

"A lot of things change... things that you take for granted. Hell," Sun continued while looking up with a dismissive a wave of her hand, "I was so desperate at one point I seriously thought about..." her voice faded into nothing. She remained quiet for a few heartbeats, her gaze returning to the tabletop. "I even thought of selling myself," she said barely above a whisper. "All so I could just have something decent to eat. That's how far I sank." 

"But you didn't?" It was shameful, but DarkStar knew exactly what she would have done in that situation, and was pleased that her alternate was capable of a... nobler path.

Sun shook her head. "No. If it wasn't for Granny finding me when she did, I just might have," she explained. "Hell, if it wasn't for her I'd probably be dead." 

"Granny?" DarkStar questioned, thinking about BlackSky. 

"Yeah," Sun smiled. "She wasn't my real Granny, but she was more family to me than my own family had ever been. She took me in, cleaned me up, gave me a job, and finally saw me adopted me into her clan." 

"She sounds like a wonderful person," DarkStar commented as she took another sip of her drink, emptying it this time.

"She was," Sun agreed, the meaning of her words clear. "In fact," she patted her lower abdomen, " if this is a girl, I already have a name picked out for her." 

"Keeping the sex a secret?" DarkStar asked with a smile. 

Sun nodded with a smile of her own. "Yup, I want to be surprised." 

"I know I love my children," DarkStar said. "Everything else seems so unimportant compared to them." 

Sun leaned forward. "You wouldn't happen to have any pictures, would you?" 

DarkStar smiled and reached somewhere in her incredibly tight outfit and pulled out a hefty photo wallet. 

------ 

Across the room, sipping a coffee and pretending to read a newspaper, agent Morrison watched over the two women. "What are those two doing now?" he asked his partner, a young women seated beside him. 

Agent Andrea Lytle glanced over her laptop's screen. "It looks like Sunny is showing pictures of her kids again," she commented quietly. 

"I wondered if she is going to show the one with Nariko and Akane with the whip cream and-" he was interrupted by a loud burst of giggles from the two Ranma's. 

"I would take that as a yes," his table-mate deadpanned, while pretending to work a spreadsheet. 

-------- 

"Oh my god, they're adorable," Sun exclaimed gleefully. "You must have your hands full at times." 

DarkStar beamed at the compliment. "Yes, they're still very young," she said as she looked at the picture of her family. 

Sun studied the photograph. One face in particular stood out, a familiar one among others that were slightly less familiar. "Is that... your mom?" she asked pointing to a lab coat-wearing older woman who stood behind her daughter with a smile. 

"Yes, that's my mom. She wanted a family picture for the longest time," DarkStar said as she pulled out a couple more pictures. 

Sun's attention went from Nodoka to the others in the photo. Some of them looked familiar, but it had to be a coincidence. "Umm... what are your kids names?" she delicately asked. 

"Akane, Nariko, Ukyou, Misako, and Nabiki," DarkStar explained pointing to each of the girls. 

That creepy disconnect feeling returned to Sun. She now knew who her counterpart had just broken up with, though that meant that.... Her eyes went back to the two demons who were once her fiancee's. "Were... were they always demons?" Sun asked, knowing the answer. 

DarkStar looked at the still image of her daughters. "No. They were human, but they got turned." The demon's shoulders sagged. "It started with saving one person's life... and then it snowballed." 

"Turning saved their lives?" Sun asked. That fit with the demon's earlier comments. 

"When I turn someone, their body is remade. Side effect is that it heals mortal wounds," DarkStar said before ordering another cup of tea. 

"And since you turned them, you became their mother? That makes sense. I guess." Sun's eyes returned to the photo, changing like that... at death's door had to be traumatic, but they looked happy. 

DarkStar's frowned and looked at her photos. One was a picture of Nariko happily holding a test in one hand and an arm around her mother with the other. "I wish I had been able to see it that quickly. I... I didn't know what I was, what my daughter was...." DarkStar's eyes started to tear. "And it hurt her." 

Sun didn't know exactly what was happened to DarkStar's daughter, but she did understand that whatever it was, was not good. Sun found herself hugging and comforting a sniffling, emotionally-charged demon again. The napkin dispenser got another workout. 

---------- 

"They're hugging again," Morrison commented as he turned the page of his newspaper. He reminded himself to find something to give Red, It was the least he could do: he owed her. "I guess they're getting along. What do you think they're talking about?" 

Andrea lifted a cup of hot, black coffee to her lips and paused as she typed a few words into her laptop and looked at the responding feed. "Looks like plain old girl talk to me." 

Morrison cocked his head toward his partner while keeping the two Senshi within his peripheral vision. "Girl talk? Are you sure?" 

Andrea looked at her partner through half-lidded eyes. "Men," she snorted before returning to her laptop. 

--------- 

"If I only knew then what I know now," DarkStar sobbed a bit as Sun continued to hold her. "Nariko is special... because of... my cocky mistake." 

Sun nodded absently as she held and stroked the demon's back. She understood the price of being cocky. "It couldn't have been that bad," she said as she held DarkStar. "If your Genma is anything like mine-" 

"You don't understand," DarkStar interrupted, wailing into Sun's shoulder. "What I did was worse than anything Pops ever did to me." 

"You seem like a good person, I don't think-" 

"I pushed her away," DarkStar said into Sun's shoulder. "I didn't know and I didn't understand and I didn't want her, so I pushed my child away onto her father... and it hurt her." 

"But if you didn't know and really understand what was going on," Sun said, trying to comfort the distraught demon. "It seems to me you're doing the best you can to make right your mistake, so don't beat yourself up for it." 

"But... but," DarkStar started, before relaxing more into Sun's embrace. Calming herself somewhat, she began again. "Before Nariko.... I... was in denial. I kept pretending I was still human, still male. That wouldn't last. I see humans and I know what I can do to them. It's so easy. They're so fragile... and I know how good it feels." Her mind flashed to the fight against the Assembly.

DarkStar looked Sun in the eyes. She was not ready to tell Sun that experience had proved much of this. That she had happily torn into humans and feasted on them as they screamed. They were evil, and monsters in their own right, but... she had still fed and would continue to feed.

"There was once a time that I wondered if I was human," Sun whispered gently into DarkStar's ear. "Knowing that you were created in a lab - turned into a weapon." 

The two broke apart with their arms still around one another. Both gazed into each others eyes and found as they found an understanding. "There's nothing like being turned into a weapon of mass destruction - being a weapon of mass destruction - that makes you question your humanity." 

"At least it's still just a question for you. I know the answer." DarkStar sighed, as she looked at her companion. "You were created?" DarkStar asked in a voice filled with curiosity. 

"I was -," Sun paused in thought for the right word, "- turned into a weapon. I was a human before the Techno-mages got a hold of me. Afterward, it was training, honing my powers for the time that I might be called upon." 

DarkStar continued to look into Sun's eyes. "Wow, it's almost like you are - were more inhuman than me," DarkStar said while wiping stray tears from her eyes. "Sure I'm a demon, but you... you were made to be a thing. Man that sucks."

The two shared a quiet moment as their emotions ran down. Re-seating herself back into her chair, Sun studied her demonic twin. "I got over that. My husband helps." A smile crept across her face. "When I'm with Tenchi, I know I'm human. No doubts." 

"You're lucky," DarkStar said sadly. "I thought I found a mate, but..." she ended with a even sadder sigh. 

Sun took up DarkStar's hands into hers. "You'll find someone!" she said in a positive tone. "I'm sure of it. It always happens when you least expect it and you have so much to offer." 

DarkStar gave a weak smile. She was a single mother demon still in high school with five children. "Thanks. I... I thought Kasumi was the one. But she... well I can't blame her. She's the last human among the Tendo sisters." 

Gently squeezing DarkStar's hands, Sun smiler re-assuredly. "Don't worry, you'll find someone. Trust me." 

DarkStar tilted her head so that she was looking at their joined hands. "Yeah. If things get too bad, I can just ask - well -Jarvis or some other agent." She sighed depressively. "One of them would be willing to take one for the Company." 

Sun opened her mouth in shock at the casualness with which DarkStar seem to take her love life. She swallowed hard before speaking. "What about love?" 

DarkStar sighed heavily. "Love is easy for my kind... and it would keep me sane. I hope it doesn't come to that, but... sometimes life forces things on you." 

"I know what you mean about life," Sun replied while nodding. "I know I never asked for any of this, but still... shouldn't love count for something?" 

"Yes," DarkStar admitted. "But... I-I've had hopes," she added sadly. In many ways a mating of convenience would be easier. Biology would take care of the details. 

Sun squeezed DarkStar's hands. "Don't give up then," Sun implored. "So what if it didn't work out between you and Kasumi? Is there anyone else that you are interested in? I'm sure there has to be someone that's caught your eye." 

DarkStar looked uncomfortable. "Yeah. But it's even a longer shot than-" 

"There you are," a voice called out. "How is everything?" 

Both Ranmas looked up at the newcomer. She was very familiar to both of them. 

"Hi Mom," DarkStar said with a smile. "Everything's fine. We were talking about - stuff." 

"I see," the older redhead said with a warm smile while eyeing the human-Ranma. "And who do we have here? Our wayward Senshi?" 

"Um, Mom, I'd like to introduce you to... Ranma," DarkStar said a little nervously. "Er, Ranma this is my mom. Um, Mom, Ranma's from somewhere else." 

"So I gathered," Nodoka said dryly still maintaining her warm smile as she slid into the seat between the redheads and addressed Sun. "So, you're just visiting?" she asked with the intention of quickly breaking the ice. 

DarkStar and Sun looked and each other, then back at the older woman before bursting into a fit of giggles. 

--------- 

Morrison cleared his throat slowly. "Look alive, Andrea," he said out of the corner of his mouth. "It must be more serious than we thought, look who just showed up."

Andrea paused in her typing and stretched, using it as cover to scan the room. 

"Major Saotome brought some reinforcements," Andrea said as she made like she was looking over some papers by her laptop. "It may be nothing... I mean the Major's S&T not Operations. They're getting together like old friends. Stay alert, though - it may be nothing, but we can't afford to get too comfortable now." 

Morrison grunted a positive response while pretending to work the crossword. Their job was just to watch and provide support if things went bad.

---------- 

Major Saotome raised an eyebrow as she sat down. "You seem in better spirits dear," she said, putting her hand on her daughters. 

"I've been getting some... perspective." DarkStar allowed. "This is a me that's from another universe or something." 

"That could explain the variance in the inter-dim signal we detected," Nodoka mused as she appraised the other Senshi. The scans that WIC had taken and were still taking confirmed her Pattern, if not her power. She was clearly masking her full power and doing it quite well. 

"That's how you found me," Sun thought aloud. "You picked up my space fold... Hmmm... Washu did say that I could be tracked through primitive technology. I guess yours was primitive enough, er - no offense." 

"None taken," Nodoka said, brightly. To her being able to be seen by "primitive" technology was a major oversight. It was like making a plane invisible to radar and then not bothering masking its thermal output or giving it a concealing paint job. "So I take it you were surprised?" 

Sun nodded. "Yes. It's not that often that anyone can find me." 

"Really?" a much interested Nodoka asked. She was interested in gathering any information on this new Senshi. 

"Er, when they made me, I was designed to be invisible to every form of detection," Sun explained, "But what they didn't do was to bother to test that against, er - 'cruder instruments of detection'. So while I'm invisible to 'more modern' scanners, more primitive ones can pick me up on a wide-scale." 

Nodoka nodded in understanding. "It's usually the things that are considered unimportant that cause trouble later on." 

"It's also arrogant." DarkStar sourly noted. "Though, those mages or whatever were playing god." 

"In combat, teleportation is a frightening ability," Nodoka noted. Which was why it was an ability she hoped her daughter and granddaughters would figure out.

"It's not really teleportation," Sun clarified. "I don't like doing that - it makes me a little dizzy." 

Nodoka cocked her head. "Then what would you call it?" 

"Folding space," Sun answered plainly. "I create a slit in space/time, find a another point in space where I want to go to, fold the ends together, and then pass through." 

DarkStar thought on Sun's words with a frown on her face. After a brief moment she asked, "Isn't that the same as teleportation?" 

Sun looked at her other self and cocked her head and reconsidered. "Well, I guess it could be," she admitted before shrugging her shoulders and addressing Nodoka. "So you're Ranma's mom? I'm Ranma Masaki, I'm pleased to met you." 

"I'm Dr. Nodoka Saotome, and I'm also pleased you met you as well," Nodoka answered. She declined to give her military title. That might spook the girl. "I understand that you are having family problems?" 

Sun blinked at the older woman. "Er, how do you know about that?" 

DarkStar looked puzzled at Sun for a moment, before her eyes widened. "Oh yeah, we're being monitored. You understand, we didn't know if you were a friendly or not." 

Sun nodded. "I... see. I guess that's understandable, er - I guess. After all, you know nothing about me." 

The conversation lulled as a waitress came up to the table. Ranma took the time to study DarkStar's mother. She was dressed in a nice pair of khakis, blouse, and light jacket and was not carrying the family honor blade with her. Though it was hidden by the jacket, Sun detected the handgun that Nodoka was carrying. 

Nodoka absently nodded to Sun's statement as she placed her order with the waitress. "You two want anything to eat? I hadn't really eaten much for breakfast." 

"I'll take a slice of pie," DarkStar said. "I didn't eat much this morning and I'm starting to feel it." 

The waitress wrote the order down and looked expectedly at Sun. "I'm fine," she said. "I ate." 

The waitress departed with a nod and Nodoka continued where they left off. "Masaki? Your husband's name?" 

Sun nodded with enthusiasm. 

"How nice. My daughter wants a mate," Nodoka said while eyeing DarkStar. "You have any pictures?"

DarkStar's eyes widened in irritation. Her mother could still sometimes find ways to embarrass her.

Sun blinked at the question. Not seeing anything wrong with the request and since DarkStar shared hers, she fished around in her subspace pocket for a small photo wallet. To the others at the table, it was as if Sun reached into thin air and extracted the light blue photo album. Sun looked at it and frowned for a brief second, before shrugging her shoulders. She flipped to the first page. "This was our wedding," she said as she handed the small book to DarkStar. 

"Wow," DarkStar commented as she leaned toward Nodoka so she could see as well. "A western ceremony. You made a beautiful bride." Both DarkStar and her mother looked at the group picture and noted the familiar faces of the Senshi.

"Thank you," Sun said with a slight blush. "That's my husband, Tenchi, the girl next to me is my sister, the one next to her is Ryoko," Sun's tone changed with the mention of the name, adding an affection to it, "then there's Usagi, Ami,... you probably recognize the rest." 

The two Saotome women nodded as they began flipping through the book. "Tenchi is a handsome young man," Nodoka commented as they continued to flip through the book. Though a professional, she found it fascinating to be seeing so many faces that she knew at a event that happened universes away. 

DarkStar stopped flipping and lingered over a photo. Nodoka raised an eyebrow, looked at Sun, then back at the picture. DarkStar then rotated the book and mimicked the elder Saotome's motions, looking between Sun and the picture that they were looking at. 

This did not go unnoticed by Sun. "What?" she asked. 

DarkStar smiled as Nodoka addressed the redhead. "You are very flexible," she said in a approving manner, "and you seem to enjoy Shibari very much." 

Sun looked confused for a moment, then her eyes widened. The blue album! With the wedding and honeymoon pictures! "Eeep!" she embarrassingly exclaimed as she made a grab for the book in DarkStar's hands. DarkStar clutched the small book protectively to her chest. 

"Hey! I'm getting ideas here," DarkStar said somewhat defensively. She then looked down for a quick peek and whispered, "Very interesting ideas." 

Sun's face turned as red as her hair. "Hee, hee, hee," she giggled uncomfortably. "I grabbed the wrong one," she explained. "I meant to show you the red one. Hee, hee, hee.... Can I have those back, er - please?" 

Sun should have known better than to carry that around... but it was exciting, fun and kinky at the same the time. 

"Don't worry about it," Nodoka reassured. "Ranma, my daughter that is, is a succubus. There's nothing to be embarrassed about." 

"A succ-?" Sun began. Part of her thought that might be what DarkStar was, but still... "Err.. Um, I'm not quite sure what that means." Sun did not want to make another faux pause. 

"That means she's a sex demon," Nodoka explained while DarkStar carefully examined Sun's honeymoon pictures. "She literally thrives on this, so there is not much that can surprise her." Reading BlackSky's books to the brood had been quite informative on the nature of that species. 

"How'd you get your ankles that far back...," DarkStar muttered absently as she paid special attention to one photo. "... and tied that way too..." 

Sun's face flushed. 

"So what about your mother?" Nodoka asked, distracting Sun from her current predicament. "You really should see her." 

"I know," Sun lamented. "But what if Nabiki lied to me? What if she... hates me." 

"You're her child, why should she hate you?" Nodoka asked as DarkStar shifted in her chair, ignoring the two other women. 

"Because I'm a girl and pregnant," Sun explained. "That's about as unmanly as you can get." 

"Unmanly?" Nodoka questioned. She paused to thank the waitress who placed a slice of pie in front of her and her daughter, who was now jotting some notes down on a napkin. Sun notice this and sweatdropped. "This-" Nodoka continued while motioning to DarkStar, "-isn't very manly." 

"Hey!" DarkStar said indignantly. She gave a pretty little pout directed at her mother as she handed the embarrassing photographs back to Sun while pocketing her own notes. 

"Well, I'd like to think that she has changed," Sun said as she quickly stuffed the photo album back into her subspace pocket. "I guess I'm just getting cold feet." 

"Understandable," Nodoka said after she swallowed a bite of food. "When was the last time you saw her?" 

Sun thought a moment. "I haven't seen her in about six years, but she didn't know it was me... so its been... sixteen - seventeen years for her." 

"So you really have no idea how she is today?" Nodoka asked pointedly. 

Sun shook her head in admittance. "Only what Nabiki has told me." 

"So spy on her," Nodoka suggested as she dug into her pie. "Figure out what she does, how she treats other people. That way you're not going in blind." 

"Umm... Mom," DarkStar stressed. 

"I can't do that! She's my mom!" Sun objected to Nodoka's idea. 

"Why not?" Nodoka countered with a wave of her fork. "You're her daughter." 

Sun opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. She then sighed heavily. "It doesn't matter," she said. "I've only got," she glanced at her watch, "three hours. I wouldn't have any time to spy on her even if I wanted to." 

"Just give her the benefit of the doubt then," DarkStar suggested. 

"It's just that- what kind of mother abandons her child?" Sun asked. She was dismayed and embarrassed to find both Nodoka and DarkStar sadly raise their hands. "Oh yeah....." Sun sighed. "Sorry... about... that..." 

"And it's not like your mom locked and disowned you. How could she if she never knew who you were?" DarkStar suggested. 

"Yeah, you're right. Setsuna was the one who arranged for me to get locked," Sun admitted, "and a lot of other... stuff too..." 

"What?" DarkStar's brow furrowed. "She's not that evil. Sure, she made me a demon, but that was because of her incompetence. She wanted me human." 

"Well, it was because I had to be totally female and accept who I really was, otherwise I couldn't access my Senshi powers. It was also an emergency at the time," Sun explained. "Setsuna had to break me from my current life to re-awaken me. It pretty much killed who I was, but brought back who I am. She did what she felt was necessary." 

Sun notice that her table mates were very quiet, with a glance she was looking upon their horrified faces. "What?" 

"So she just thought the ends would justify the means? How... monstrous." Nodoka shook her head. 

"It wasn't that- okay, it was that bad at first, but I'm now who I was meant to be, what I should have been in the first place," Sun said. "Besides, I forgave her." 

"You forgave someone that destroyed your life to turn you into a weapon?" Nodoka was aghast.

"It's okay, Mom," DarkStar said with a bit of sarcasm. "Ranma spent a long time living on the streets but eventually she made her own life, so it worked out in the end. So who cares about the means?" she added her voice now dripping with sarcasm 

"That's a simplification." Sun glared. 

"I see... let me see if I understand all of this correctly," Nodoka said while setting her empty plate aside and looking at Sun with firm eyes. "Setsuna arranged to lock you as a girl and thereby leading to you being disowned by your father." 

Sun looked at the older woman briefly before nodding. 

"Then you spent lord-knows-how-long living on the streets, barely living just above the level of an animal," Nodoka continued unrelentedly. "Destroyed the life you had, just so she could have you back - as a weapon..." 

Sun looked uncomfortable and showed it by shifting around in her seat. 

"... and after basically making your life hell, breaking you and remaking you into what she needed - you forgave her?" 

Sun sat, biting her lip and looking like she rather be anywhere but there. "Well... yeah... basically... kinda...," she finally said. "But... umm... it's... more complicated.... it's... umm..." 

"You forgave Setsuna for her transgressions, yet you can't forgive your own mother." Nodoka interrupted Sun's stammering while taking a sip of her coffee. 

Sun's mouth dropped open as she was rendered speechless by the stinging words of the older Saotome woman. As she mentally grappled, trying to find a way out of the corner she found herself in, DarkStar reached over with a dainty hand and casually closed Sun's mouth with a gentle snap. 

"Your capacity for forgiveness is.... odd," Nodoka finished with more than a hint of disapproval. 

"That's different," Sun finally said in a weakly defensive tone. "It's not that simple! My mother abandoned me! Sure Setsuna ruined the life I had, but I can't hate her... if... I did... if I did..." 

"You would have to kill her?" Nodoka asked over the rim of her raised cup.

Sun was quiet for what seemed like a long moment before nodding weakly. She had seen first hand what hate, especially self righteous hate, could do and how dangerous it was. Hate was not an emotion to be taken lightly. 

"I don't want to hate." She said as the top of the table seemed very interesting at the moment. "I saw... I've seen what hate can do... to someone like me." 

The succubus nervously ran her tongue over her teeth. Among other things, Alexia had given DarkStar her fill of hate, both Alexia's and her own. 

The two Saotome women's curiosity was aroused, but they both to set it aside to concentrate on the matter at hand. "So, are you going to give your mother at least the chance for forgiveness?" Nodoka asked. 

Sun sighed and her shoulders sagged slightly. "Yes. Yes, I will," she said lowly. "You're right," she sighed out in defeat. "If I can forgive Setsuna for what she did to me, I should at least give my mom the chance." 

Nodoka smiled warmly at the younger woman. 

"And remember, " DarkStar added. "Even if it doesn't work out, you have friends and family of your own to fall back on. You're not alone." 

Sun looked across the table at her new... friends? She smiled in amusement at the thought and nodded. "You're right," she agreed. "I'm just being a coward about it. I'll go and see her." 

"Good for you," Nodoka chimed as DarkStar smiled broadly.

The three women sat in companionable silence for a minute, gazing outside and watching the world go by. The sun was higher in the sky and was now streaming in through a skylight as well as the windows brightening the interior of the cafe. Each woman was lost in her own thoughts. 

"So, Ranma tells me you're a scientist," Sun said breaking the silence before it became awkward. "What do you do?" 

If Nodoka was alarmed or suspicious of the question, she did not show it. Instead, she was prepared to answer such things in broad terms. "When Genma disappeared with Ranma, I joined WIC. This was all after I got my Doctorate in Materials Science," she said in a conversational tone. "I do research into developing armor and weapons." 

"What school did you go to?" Sun asked, propping her head up with her arm braced against the table. She was fascinated with this version of her mother. The officer was clearly intelligent, articulate, and very accepting of her demonic daughter. There was also a grim and pragmatic aspect to her. Sun was reminded of a play she read in college. Not only was Nodoka aware of the Sword of Damocles, but she seemed to know exactly how thin the thread holding it up was. 

"Tokyo University," Nodoka answered. 

Sun smiled broadened. "Tokyo U?" she said merrily. "I just graduated from there not long ago. I got my degree with a major in chemistry." 

"Really now?" Nodoka said in a somewhat delightful tone. "How marvelous, how did you do?" 

"Well, I like to say I was the top of my class, but I made a few mistakes here and there and ended up fifth in my class in my major," Sun replied. "You know what was really cool? I was - well with my powers, I was able to see the chemical interactions on a molecular level. It was so cool!" 

Nodoka smiled as she finished taking a sip of coffee. "One of the things I'm finding pleasure in is the challenge of making materials that resist energy claws." She was also designing demon-specific weapons both bladed and ranged, but her guest need not know that. 

DarkStar's eyes started to glaze over as boredom started to set in. She would be more interested if her mother was talking about weapons for her daughters, that was always interesting . The brood mother idly wondered if she could get that photo album back from Sun. 

"Energy claws?" Sun mused aloud. "Unfortunately, the only way to have matter that's resistant to energy is to either have it dense enough," Sun paused as she thought over the problem more, "or if the atomic binding between the molecules is being reinforced by another energy field." 

"Look at it from a logistics standpoint," Nodoka said thoughtfully. "Armor that is dense enough to resist energy claws would be too heavy to carry. You could rely on an energy field to make lighter armor as strong as heavier ones, but - well... batteries are finite and it wouldn't do to have dead batteries in a combat situation." And WIC troopers carried enough electronic equipment already.

DarkStar's boredom was complete as she stared off into space, looking out into the street through the window, but not really seeing anything. The two older women continued to "talk shop". 

"If the armor has to resist the energy blades and has to be light enough to be carried, then you have to go with some type of reinforcing field," Sun countered. "True, there is the power supply situation, but-" 

"That's for total resistance," Nodoka interrupted; she was clearly enjoying the conversation. "You are overlooking dissipation. You can have the right refraction and have it weaken the field. The trick isn't to block the energy, but to make it lose coherence." 

"Like how a bullet-proof vest dissipates the energy of a bullet," Sun said, grasping at what Nodoka was getting at. She blinked and looked at Nodoka. "Wow. Against an energy weapon? I mean - wow, that is a challenge." Sun then turned to the spaced out DarkStar. "What do you think?" 

DarkStar blinked a few times before coming back to the here and now. "Um... I'm just a line grunt?" She blinked a few more times. "Mom's stuff is great though. Saves a lot of agent's lives." 

Sun blinked at DarkStar. "I take you're not majoring in chemistry." 

DarkStar shook her head. "I have to get out of high school first." 

"Oh yeah, I forgot," Sun said. "This is six years in the past - that is your universe is six years behind mine." 

DarkStar shrugged her shoulders. "I don't really understand the science behind it, but Ucchan does like those guns you made for her, and Misa practically sleeps with hers." Which was a bit of a problem given that the IGMG weighed about a hundred pounds in total, and that the brood slept as one group.

Sun looked between DarkStar and Nodoka. "You can magically enhance your guns?" 

"Just the ammunition," Nodoka said while motioning to the waitress for more coffee. She was a bit disappointed that this girl immediately thought to magic for enhancement. There were other ways, did not their talk about armor just show that?

"When I was first awakened, the Senshi infused some of their power into ordinary guns," Sun mentioned casually. "It turned them into real demon stoppers." 

"Yeah," DarkStar agreed while rubbing her chest and side. "Anti-demon weapons are... effective." 

Sun noted this and decided to change the subject slightly. "So, are you going to go to university and follow in your mother's footsteps?" 

DarkStar looked into her older near-twin's eyes. "No... I'd rather... find someone and settle down." 

Sun cocked her head, not quite understanding. 

"It's okay," Nodoka said while patting her daughter's hand. "There's nothing wrong with wanting to be a... homemaker." 

Sun realized what was meant and smiled. "You know, I never thought about it, but I'm heading that way myself. Not that I'm complaining." 

"My kids are everything to me," DarkStar said with conviction. "I still do my freelance work. Hmmm... I could train agents more regularly." 

"Don't forget your singing," Nodoka reminded. 

"Mom... that's just a hobby," DarkStar countered. "It's not serious." 

"Singing? Oooo... I love to sing," Sun added happily. "Every weekend my husband and I still hit the karoke bar. You?" 

"Uh... I usually do a couple sets, a night or two a week at the 'Red Turtle', " DarkStar answered. "Um, that's an agent and succubus bar." 

"That's cool," Sun said. "I don't go out as much as I used to. Since I got married I've, er, that is, I've been doing other things," she finished with a slight blush. 

"Yes... I'm now single. Unfortunately," DarkStar sadly said. 

Sun looked at Nodoka and back at DarkStar, who was starting to fall into a funk. Looking back at Nodoka, it was as if an unplanned plot was being hatched between the two. 

"Maybe there is something we can do," Sun ventured. " I mean, surely you have someone in mind. There was that long shot you mentioned." 

"If not," Nodoka interjected, "I could compile a list of candidates."

"Oooo... who? Who?" Sun asked eagerly. 

"Just no Jarvis, Mom," DarkStar said with a cringe. "He's a good guy, a great friend, but... I mean he... I think he wants to be a succubus."

"But don't you want someone who will accept you for who you are?" Sun asked. 

"Well, yeah," DarkStar uncomfortably said. "That's a big part of it. But he's kinda... kinda of that ilk - I mean given his job." 

"His job?" Sun queried. 

"His job is information extraction and command," DarkStar answered with a chill in her voice. "I can respect his reasons for wanting to get rid of his humanity though..." 

"Er, I don't think I quite understand, but if you're not comfortable with him, then he's a no-go," Sun said agreeably. "But you were saying something before your mom showed up." 

DarkStar shifted under the gaze of her table mates. She sighed. "Umm... Usagi... but that's too much of a long shot. I need someone who can accept me and... eventually... is willing to give up their humanity." 

"Usagi?" Sun said with surprise. "Ol' meatball-head?" she added with an affectionate smile. "But what about Mamoru?" 

"He died," DarkStar shrugged. "His death was what awakened me in the first place. It was the start of all this mess. I was the backup." 

"Oh," Sun blinked. That changed things. "Well, she's a good person in my world. Strong-willed, too." 

DarkStar was clearly distracted and softly thinking aloud. "The way she handled those cultists... ," she whispered. "She was covered in blood and her eyes... in that moment I saw..." her voice trailed off as she looked at the table top. 

Nodoka leaned toward her daughter. "Have you talked to her?" 

Blinking as her mother's question registered, she cleared her throat. "Um, not since the mall." 

The two women studied the demon as she appeared lost in thought again. The talk of being covered in blood was a bit disturbing, but the emotions that were betrayed in the demon's behavior were unmistakable. "Man, you have it bad," Sun said. "Have you at least asked her for a date?" 

"No... no not yet. I was... Kasumi," DarkStar sadly said. "And she's dealing with Ami right now." She let a bitter chuckle escape. "Who would have thought Janet, well..  Naru, and Ami would turn evil?" 

"Ami? Evil?" Sun said, surprise clearly in her voice.

DarkStar chuckled again with very little humor in it. "Putting on a black corset and beating up the Senshi – well that ain't much when there's a squad of demonic Senshi." She raised her eyes to meet Sun's. "Usagi wants me to hold back - she doesn't want Ami to be turned by me... or killed... nor Naru neither. She wants to save them herself." 

Sun took DarkStar's hands into her own and gave then a sympathetic squeeze. "I won't pretend to understand what's going on, but if you care about Usagi, you should be there for her. You seem to have someone in your corner," the last said while sharing a look at Nodoka. "You can be there for Usagi like that." 

"I'm trying to help her, I've dealt with stuff like this before," DarkStar sighed out. "But she's... You know who Naru is? It turns out that Usagi's best friend from before... well she was taken and changed. Changed into a girl that fell in love with Ami." 

"Oh my!" Sun exclaimed. "Ami must feel terrible." 

Nodoka was well versed in the situation between Ami and the other scouts, so remained silent. She instead used the time to study the interaction between the two Ranmas. They were oddly complementary. 

"She would if she wasn't so enamored with being a dark Mercury," DarkStar continued with another dark chuckle. "Of course... Sailor Dark Mercury is nothing compared to Sailor DarkStar." 

"Power is seductive," Sun said in a lost voice. "That's something I can tell you for certain." The tone in Sun's voice called to DarkStar and Nodoka. "It's almost like a living thing that worms into heart and soul." Sun paused a moment. "I know about power. I hope Ami walks away from it... she won't regret it." 

"Yeah... you see.... Ami was brainwashed," DarkStar corrected. "She wasn't seduced by power. She was seduced by something more... well... powerful, love." 

The two women sat, hands still joined, pondering the problems that faced them. Nodoka sat and marveled on how different and how much alike the two were. 

"So...," Sun said breaking the silence, "back on the subject. When are you going to make a move on Usagi?" 

"I can't go too fast," DarkStar said. "I don't want her to think it's my powers seducing her. It has to be real." 

"But you haven't told her how you feel?" Nodoka asked, rejoining the conversation. 

"No," DarkStar answered. "Of course not. I had... I thought I had Kasumi... and, that is, I'm a demon and she's... she's..." 

"You need to tell her," Sun said. All this talking had finally taken its toll and she motioned toward the waitress. "You at least owe her that much." 

"I can't tell her," DarkStar complained, "I'm just getting over Kasumi, Usagi has her hands full with Ami and Naru, and-" 

"You're scared," Sun interrupted. 

"I'm not scared," DarkStar defensively said.

Sun gave DarkStar a smirk as she sipped her just served tea. "You're lying." 

DarkStar looked at Sun with slight surprise before giving her a pretty pout. Nodoka laughed and clapped her hands with glee as her daughter started to blush at the unwelcome attention. 

Sun giggled lightly and looked at Nodoka with mischief in her eyes. "You know maybe we should take matters into our own hands." 

"Yes," Nodoka mirthfully said. "It would probably be very beneficial for my daughter to move on with her life." 

DarkStar was dismayed at what was unfolding before her. It was like watching a horrible accident in slow motion - one that you were powerless to prevent. It had to be a bad dream. 

Sun stood up, nearly spilling some of her tea as she did. DarkStar was surprised and further dismayed as her mother mimicked Sun's actions.

"It's Ranma's -" 

" - and Nodoka's: -"

" - Operation: Get Sunny a date!" 

The two standing women howled in laughter, drawing curious looks from everyone in the cafe, civilians and agents alike. As the laughter died down the two women were facing an empty chair that once housed DarkStar. Blinking, they looked at one another and then back at the vacant chair just in time to see DarkStar's head poke up from under the tabletop. 

"Scary...," she whimpered, her eyes shifting between her mother and the other redhead. 

---------- 

"I wonder what that was all about," commented Morrison as he looked at the trio of women cackling in laughter. 

Andrea smiled. "I think they're working on Red's love life." 

Morrison shook his head. He'd never understand women. Through his shirt, He idly fingered the "D" stamped into his dog tags, knowing his luck he might get a chance to understand.... 

---------- 

"Sit back down, Honey," Nodoka said with laughter still in her voice. "We were just having fun." 

"It's too far fetched," DarkStar sighed as she reclaimed her seat. "I mean... she's the Moon Princess. Line of Serenity, and I'm a demon." She dropped and looked at the table. 

"If you have feelings for her.... it doesn't matter," Sun reassured. 

DarkStar looked her in the eye. "You're a Sailor Senshi. What would you do if a demon came sniffing around the princess and wanted her?"

Sun bit her lower lip as she thought a moment. It probably was not what DarkStar wanted to hear, but she had to be honest. "I - or the other Senshi in MY universe would do everything to prevent that - unless Usagi said otherwise," she answered as carefully as possible.

"Gee, thanks. So for your Usagi it's no, but mine's fine?" 

"Hey, I said if Usagi said it was all right. Besides, mine's married. Yours is a widow," Sun reminded. "Things are different here, so that doesn't count." 

"How do you know that?" DarkStar asked in a pressing way. "How do you know what the Senshi are like here?" 

"Because you haven't mentioned having to kill any of them yet," Sun shot back.

"I owe Setsuna for that one." DarkStar stated flatly. "She actually explained to them what I was, and I guess it helped. But you're forgetting something. I haven't shown too much of an interest in her. What if when I try to make my move Rei or someone blasts me? What if it divides the Senshi? Well… divides them even more." 

"Look," she continued on in a patient manner, "what's important is are you going to let a chance of finding love go by you?" 

DarkStar sat and looked at her other self. "But... you'd stop if it was yours...." Sighing, she shook her head. "I can't... not yet." 

"Lord," Sun exclaimed, "I hope I wasn't this unreasonable about seeing my mother." 

"Yes you were," Nodoka said in bemusement. She then chuckled. "You two are so much alike, it's amazing." 

She was answered by two pouting Ranmas. Nodoka covered her mouth as she giggled at the sight, but it did lighten the mood considerably. The three relaxed a bit into their seats as each quietly sipped their drinks. A companionable silence fell as a sense of camaraderie was felt between them.

"So daughter-" Nodoka said in a way only mothers could master. DarkStar herself was proficient, but still not as skilled as Nodoka. "-what are you going to do?" 

DarkStar sat and pondered. "I have... I need to move slowly," she said. Sun opened her mouth to say something, but was stopped by DarkStar's upheld hand. "It's important to me that Usagi's feelings for me are real and not something made by my influence." 

Sun nodded, even if she didn't fully understand the whole meaning behind what DarkStar just said. "There's nothing wrong with slow," she agreed. "Hell, when I fell for Tenchi, I wasn't even looking." She paused and looked at DarkStar. "So what do you have planned?" 

DarkStar sighed softly. "I don't know. What am I supposed to do? Walk up to her and ask her if we could go out for lunch or something? 

"Well that would be a start," Sun deadpanned. 

"You don't want to be too clever," Nodoka cautioned. 

"But how can I even approach her?" DarkStar asked, looking at Sun in the eye. "She has nightmares about being with me." 

"Nightmares? About you? Are they nightmares or... wet dreams?" Sun asked boldly. 

"Er, both," DarkStar admitted. "Also she was influenced a bit to fall for me... stupid Murdock." 

There was a pause as Sun considered something. "Tuxedo Highflyer?" she asked. 

"No, the same guy who corrupted Ami and Naru," DarkStar answered, looking confused, but she let it pass. Nodoka gave Sun a blank stare and shook her head slightly. Sun noticed the looks and shrugged her shoulders. Maybe the Alpha Guard didn't exist here. 

"Doesn't matter," Sun said with a frustrated wave of her hand. She then leaned toward the demon. "Does it change the way Usagi feels about you... or how you feel about her?" 

"Yes, yes it would!" DarkStar growled. "That's what I was trying to say." 

"Calm down, dear," Nodoka advised putting her hand on her daughter's shoulder. 

"But do you know? It sounds like you're using that as your excuse," Sun pointed. 

"I - I guess it is an excuse," DarkStar finally admitted after considering how smooth the table top was. "But I can't take advantage of her," she said looking up, "not if what she feels isn't real." 

"How do you know that what she's feeling is real or not and how she really feels about you?" Sun pressed. "Maybe she is just as interested in you, but is just as scared." 

DarkStar looked down on the table's surface again. "She did... she just lost her lover... and I guess she could be scared." She looked up with a firm look. "I guess it couldn't hurt... I have to be slow." 

"Are you that afraid of love?" Sun asked. She would never have guessed that a sex demon would be so hesitant. 

"Yes. Love is powerful. Love changes people," DarkStar pointed to a photograph of her children. "Literally and permanently for my kind. My girls weren't always like this. I helped them as best as I could and that meant some things had to be let go. Love saves too. It saved their lives... their souls." 

Sun paused. A demon talking about souls.... but her twin had a point. For a sex demon love was more primal, and more... dangerous. 

"I held back around Kasumi, and even then she felt that I was pushing her, forcing her to commit," DarkStar's hands shook. "It was just so easy to see her as my mate. We had sex, sex as lovers, not as a demon feeding on a human." 

"Explain to her, Usagi may understand," Sun offered. 

"You're not getting it are you?" DarkStar sighed. "If Usagi and I start dating then what?" 

"Get married?" Sun said hopefully. 

"Oh, I see," Nodoka noted as she gently put down the mug she was about to sip from. 

DarkStar nodded sadly. 

"What?" Sun inquired. 

"You said you and your Senshi friends would only back off if Usagi agreed to the demon's advances. But what if... what if somehow-" DarkStar smiled despite herself. 

Sun looked at DarkStar with a look of incomprehension on her face. She then remembered one of the reasons Kasumi broke up with Ranma. Her eyes slowly widened as realization struck her. "Oh God."

DarkStar frowned at the last word. "Yes, can you imagine your princess like that? Like this?" DarkStar said showing her fangs. Her expression faltered and she leaned onto her mother. "At least your species isn't the embodiment of female lust." 

"It's okay," Nodoka comforted. "It's okay." 

"I think my husband would disagree with you on that point," Sun quipped a bit glibly, and then paused as she truly studied the display. It was too much Usagi... doing that, but true love.... "It will be okay, if it is true love," Sun reaffirmed. "Then... then it will overcome any obstacle." 

Keeping her head on her mother's side, DarkStar looked over at Sun. Her eyes were suspicious and Sun noted how predatory they really were. "Love, true love finds a way. It always does," Sun assured in a voice barely above a whisper as she turned and peered out the window. "It always has." 

The two Saotome women studied the other as a quite moment stretched on. 

"Voice of experience?" DarkStar softly asked as she basked in the warmth of her mother's embrace. 

Sun continued to look out the window. After a slight hesitation, she answered the question with a jerky nod. 

"Wanna talk about it?" 

Sun faced the two, who were still embraced, and smiled thinly. "Maybe later," she said with a hint of something undefined in her voice. "Right now let's talk about you." 

"What? What about me?" DarkStar asked as she lifted her head up. 

"Well, why do you have an interest in Usagi? Is it just physical?" Sun inquired. 

"You two do have stuff in common," Nodoka interjected. 

"You both lost someone," Sun ventured. 

"There's that," Nodoka smiled. "You're both single mothers. You both have groups of Senshi you're in charge of. You've had daughters turned evil. There's also your willingness to do what is right no matter the personal cost." 

DarkStar smiled slightly. "I... guess."

Sun noted other similarities. The emotional displays and raw affection were similar too. "You respect her, don't you?" 

"Well of course," DarkStar raised an eyebrow. "I've seen her fight, and how much she cares for her girls." 

"Does she respect you?" Sun inquired before sipping her tea. 

"I have no idea," DarkStar pouted. 

"Perhaps you should try and find out," Nodoka suggested. "There are two ways to approach the problem: Direct and subtle." 

"Mom, I'm not spying on Usagi. I'd come across as a stalker," DarkStar said with a hint of frustration in her voice. 

"Then that leaves the direct method: Ask her," Nodoka stated. 

DarkStar sighed. She looked at her mother and then to her human twin. "I'm not getting out of this until I promise to talk to Usagi am I?" 

She was answered by two shaking heads. 

DarkStar sighed again, then remained silent for a few moments. "Okay, I'll talk to her - BUT not right now. I'm still getting over Kasumi and I don't want to distract Usagi while she is dealing with Ami." 

Sun nodded. "Okay, fair enough," she said, "but you will be there for her in case she needs you?" 

"Of course I will," DarkStar said, slightly offended. "I don't leave my friends when they need me the most." 

Sun smiled back at DarkStar. At least they were getting somewhere. Silence revisited the table as all three women took sips of their drinks and shared looks. 

--------- 

"Looks like things are winding down," Morrison commented as he shifted in his chair. His butt was getting sore from all the sitting.

Andrea smirked. 

--------- 

"Can I ask you something?" Nodoka said in a pleasant voice. "I noticed in your photographs that none of the Tendo girls were present." 

Sun thought a moment before answering. "That's because I haven't seen any of them in the last six years," Sun replied. "They - turned their backs on me." 

"Oh dear, that doesn't sound like the girls I know," Nodoka said after emptying her cup and motioning for the waitress. "They're all such nice girls." 

"Well... I was engaged to Akane," Sun said. "She was a real tomboy-type and she always seemed to want to help whether she was capable or not. Kasumi was a very sweet, typical Japanese-house wife type, and Nabiki was a gold-digging bitch that would have sold me into prostitution if she had the chance." 

"I couldn't imagine being engaged to Akane," DarkStar chimed, "and your Nabiki... Well mine went though...." she shook her head. "Your Tendos seem a lot different than mine. I mean your Kasumi.... no military, not even police?" 

Sun blinked, and sipped her drink. "No.... not unless she had a breakdown or something. It has been six years, but Nabiki didn't mention anything." 

"That's what got my- our - Kasumi into WIC in the first place." DarkStar shrugged. "But engaged... to Akane?" 

"Well Akane wasn't bad - she wasn't afraid to show her disapproval, though," Sun said with a smirk. "It was just that... when I needed help the most... when I got stuck as a girl permanently... when Genma," she spat the name, "disowned me... no one helped me." 

"It's funny," DarkStar said absently. "When I first was locked as a demon, there was one guy that helped me... stupid Murdock - but later on, after I... finished... with Alexia, I ended up locked and not really caring." The demon smirked. "I didn't even notice I was locked until Ucchan asked me about it. Kasumi seemed to take it harder than me." Her expression soured. "Guess she wanted the human me." 

Sun smirked. "Nothing wrong with being a girl." 

"True, so true," DarkStar said dryly in a fake English accent. 

The two girls giggled. 

"It is horrible that the Tendo girls turned their backs on you though," Nodoka said in a disappointed way. "What good is someone if you can't depend on them when it counts?" 

Sun sighed. "To be fair, I think the Tendo girls were surprised by what Genma did. I know they knew that Genma wanted me to marry their father to join the damned schools, but I can't honestly say that they thought he'd go as far as throwing me out. I don't know... I think maybe they thought that me getting locked was something that would work itself out like all the other messes that I got into." 

"Other messes?" DarkStar asked. 

"Yes, my life back then... It was a mess - multiple engagements, and a constant stream of piddling little adventures," Sun smirked. 

"Ick, that kind nonsense must have worn you down," DarkStar stated. 

"You have no idea." 

"But, are you going to visit them?" Nodoka asked. "At least to get some closure?" 

Sun lifted the almost empty cup to her mouth and paused. "I'll see them today along with my mother," she said before completing the motion with the cup. 

Nodoka nodded in an approving way as Sun finished her tea. 

"Well, we talked about me," DarkStar said, "we talked about you," she continued while looking at Sun, "now we going to talk about you, mother dear." 

Nodoka blinked at her daughter. "Me? I'm perfectly fine, dear." 

"Right," DarkStar snorted. "You've been alone for ten years - is there someone you're interested in?" 

Nodoka looked at her daughter and Sun. They both had the same scheming look in their eyes. It was right then she knew she was in trouble. "I'm a WIC officer. I'm...."

"Not allowed to have romance?" DarkStar laughed. "I know for a fact that the Company's not that restrictive." 

"Does anyone interest you? Any hobbies?" Sun asked inquisitively. 

"I have my work and my family," Nodoka quietly said. For a long time she just had work. 

DarkStar reached out to her mother. "Don't you want someone for your own?" 

"I have you and my grandchildren," Nodoka said with a smile. "I don't need anything else." 

"Mom," DarkStar began in a half-pleading way, "you've been alone for too long. I know you don't need a mate like I do, but you should have someone."