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Chapter Three: Fire Burning Brightly
Section First: Preparation
The moonrise found a very perplexed Hino sitting in sezia before the Sacred Fire in the shrine. Many complex questions lay heavily on her mind. The enigma that was Ranma Saotome and the secret revealed to her by him. The riddle of her supposed elder brother from the Silver Millennium, Shima, and the Champion Amongst Mortals for the Phoenix. Ranma’s claim to have defeated the Phoenix in battle. Her brief flash of second sight. All very puzzling dilemmas for such a young and beautiful girl.
But what all of those bewildering problems boiled down to was one central obstacle. Luna and Artemis, the Advisors to the Queen themselves, had asked, no, ordered Rei to use her control over the Mystic Fires to hurt... no, kill her cousin, and possibly even the reincarnation of her elder brother! That above all is what hurt Rei more than anything. Not the possibility that Ranma could ever be swayed over to the path of Chaos, nor the thought that she may never be reunited with her brother, nor even the remotest chance that she would cause the Fires to devour her family member. No, what hurt Rei the most, as she sat there contemplating her possible fates, was the fact that the two creatures that all five girls depended on to provide support and to answer questions could possibly be so ... so blood-thirsty!
Somewhere, deep inside herself, some small part of her was screaming about the injustice of it all. But the main part was saying that Luna and Artemis were right, and that the only way to get Shima back was through the Mystic Fires. But did she want Shima back? She barely even remembered her brother! And what was so wrong with Ranma that they had to destroy him? He was nice enough, for a guy. Besides, from what she could see of Ranma, he was happy. What right did she have to destroy someone like him?
Simple. She was a Sailor Senshi. It was her duty to protect the Princess and neutralize any possible threats to her Princess’ safety. And Ranma, as he was, was definitely a possible threat. Shima, on the other hand, was not. On the contrary, Shima was a powerful ally of the Senshi, according to the cats.
Rei sighed and rubbed wearily at her forehead, knocking away some of the sweat that had built up there from the long exposure to the Sacred Fire. Trying to figure out what the right course was was giving her a major headache. Besides that, she was growing tired. She groaned and scrubbed at her face with her fists, trying to stay awake at least long enough to figure something out.
She had never expected something like this to happen when she had first followed the orders of the strange, talking, black cat. A Sailor Senshi’s life was supposed to be straight forward, right? Everything black and white. The bad guys tried to hurt people and the good guys, namely the Sailor Senshi, stopped them. Well, what happens when the good guys start hurting people? Rei didn’t know.
Staring deep into the Sacred Fire, Rei never noticed drifting off to sleep there on the hard wooden floor.
**********
The young black haired maiden stretched and stood up from her place on the cool marble bench, idly noting as she did that she seemed a bit... smaller than she was used to being. For a moment, she gazed around and tried to figure out what she was doing in that particular part of the palace.
Then she remembered and a grin blossomed across her slightly chubby face. She leapt up and down and clapped her hands together joyfully. Today was the day! Her big brother was coming home for a visit today! Then she remembered that she was all of sixteen winters old and shouldn’t be behaving in such a manner.
A soft chime rang through the hall, echoing lightly off of the garnet-veined white marble walls and columns. With a squeal of delight, the very prim and proper sixteen year old girl scampered off down the hall as fast as any tomboyish street mouse.
Unfortunately, she wasn’t really paying much attention to her surroundings. Which was the reason that she stopped so abruptly when the handsome sable-headed man had stepped out in front of her. The fact that this halt was caused by her ramming face-first into his gold plated chest and causing her to achieve a rather nasty bloody nose didn’t seem to faze her much though.
Conveniently, though, the man was paying attention. Moving with the quickness and grace of a lifetime’s training in the Arts of War, he caught the falling damsel-in-distress in his strong arms. Smirking down at her through his wild bangs, his braid falling down over one aureate shoulder, he helped her back to her feet.
Her place on her feet didn’t last long though, for as soon as he released her to stand under her own power, she threw herself at him and wrapped her arms around his waist in a wild bear hug.
"Oniisan! You’re here!" She cried, completely ignoring the fact that she was dripping blood on her favorite dress.
"Yeah, seems like I am... did you know you were bleeding on your dress?" The older man replied, scooping her up in his arms and continuing on down the hallway. "We should go and take care of that, don’t ya think? Can’t have the prettiest princess on Mars dying on us now, can we?"
The ‘prettiest princess on Mars’ merely chuckled rather nasally through her now pinched nose and snuggled into her brother’s chest. "I’m not gonna die from a nose bleed, Shima-onii! I’ve gotten lots of nose bleeds in training!"
"Training?! For what, Reiki-imoto?"
**********
The flames flickered higher and higher as they leapt and danced about the man standing in the center of the marble throne room. Though everyone was staring at the strange golden man, he only had eyes for one person. The teenager sitting in the seat of the Heir to the Throne.
A young girl, maybe seven or eight winters old, sat on the floor nearby and watched fearfully as the fiery man approached her brother, who did not even flinch as the being came ever closer. Soon the entity was standing maybe one pace away from the Throne of the Heir. The flames roared higher and higher, whipping and snapping at the raven-haired teen. Still, he did not flinch, or retreat. He simply sat there, secure in who he was.
For a time the two stared at each other, one a being of fire and passions, the other seemingly a creature of ice and rationality. Finally, Shima let up on his cold aura and smirked at the spirit before him. The being smiled back in acknowledgement of one who was brave enough to challenge him.
"I am the Phoenix." The voice that emerged from the fiery man’s throat sounded like that of a child, singing sweetly. "Every five hundred years, I die and am again reborn. This has continued for eons of your time. Always I have stayed away from your kind. Yet suddenly, I find my existence interrupted. One of your kind, on the sphere called Earth, a king by the name of Solomon sought to confine me within a vessel as he had done to my fellow spirits so that he could draw from my powers as he does from theirs. I alone am now free. As this assault was from your kind, I come to your kind for justice. I seek one to be my Champion Amongst Mortals. One of your kind who shall have the ability to draw from me in his time of need. My Champion need not be of Royal blood, but as my Champion, he shall be a true Prince. He shall be known as the Phoenix Prince."
Shima stood from his seat and stepped more fully into the Phoenix’s flames.
"I shall go."
"You? You are but a boy! There must still be much for you to learn, is there not? Surely there is some other more worthy here, on the Sphere of War?"
"Perhaps there is some other more worthy, but I’ll take their place. Your flames are hot and burn very brightly. I’d not have any suffer when I could possibly take that risk in their stead. No, I shall go."
"This is your true wish, mortal? Realize that you can never go back once you have accepted. You can never return to what you are now. The Fires shall burn you and change you, until perhaps not even you yourself could recognize the result."
"That is not of matter, Phoenix. I cannot desert my people in their hour of need. I shall not. I shall go with you, and so, preserve them."
"Very well, mortal. Bid you your farewells, for in the morn, I shall take you away to become the Phoenix Prince."
**********
"Oniisan? I want you to meet my friends! Come on!" Reiki giggled as she drug her rather famous, gold, and tolerant elder brother down the hall.
After a time, she pulled him into a room marked with a rather out-of-place looking steel door. Inside the reason became apparent.
Three girls blasted away at various targets while another two waited off to the side. Normally, this wouldn’t have worried the valiant warrior being escorted by Reiki, but at the moment they stepped through the steel portal, one of the more active targets floated right into their faces. This, of course, drew the fire of the three girls fighting the targets.
Shima stared in shock as a bolt of lightning, a blast of hot water and some kind of laser beam came blasting towards him and his little sister, who was currently busy screaming.
"Fushichoo Hono’o Hogo Soochi!" Shima roared suddenly, casting his hands up before him.
Immediately a strange sort of cold flames leapt into being between the on rushing attacks and his hands. As soon as the attacks struck the barrier, they vanished as did the barrier. Shima let his hands down and exhaled while glaring at the girls.
Two, a leggy blonde and a tall brunette, actually looked rather sheepish at not paying attention at where they were throwing their attacks. The other however...
The midnight blue headed girl stormed over to Shima and latched on to his collar, hauling his face down to hers. Glaring into his eyes, she began her tirade. "Exactly what the hell possessed a stupid BOY like YOU to walk into our DOJO while we are TRAINING?!"
"um..uh... reiki made me..." was the only even mildly intelligent things that emerged from the stricken man’s lips.
"You DARE blame YOUR STUPIDITY on MY FRIEND?!"
"Um... Akai? I... um... kinda did make him come..." Reiki offered from behind her brother.
Akai’s glare turned into shock. "Why’d you, of all people, bring a stupid BOY in here?"
"Cause I wanted him to meet you all..."
"MEET US?!"
"He’s my brother... Shima, the Phoenix Prince."
"Akai. Please, calm down. I’m most certain that Reiki meant no ill bringing her dear brother in here in order to meet us." This was a new voice.
Shima’s eyes flicked sideways to appraise this new arrival. She was the same age as the other girls appeared to be and bore an uncanny resemblance to the firebrand currently clamped to his collar.
"Well, Reiki? Are you gonna introduce us to your cute brother?!" Another new voice. This time it was a blonde with a hair style that just screamed Lunar Royalty.
"Oh, of course I am! Shima-onii, I’d like you to meet Minanoai," she gestured towards the rather bashful looking blonde, "from Venus."
"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Minanoai-chan." Shima stated straightening up to his full height, and dragging Akai off the ground with a squawk as she refused to release his collar.
"Nice to meet you, Shima-sama." She seemed shy... ‘probably because of the embarrassment of our meeting’, Shima decided.
"Beside her is Kina from Jupiter." This time the gesture brought his attention to the rather sad looking brunette.
‘That simply will not do.’ Shima thought "Kina-chan. It is always an honor to meet such pretty young lady, such as yourself. Surely things are not as terrible as you seem to think. Cheer up! And you shall brighten the world!"
"T-thank you, Shima-sama." Kina replied, then quickly looked down again. Then and there, Shima decided to help out the younger girl.
"Shima-onii? This is Amilia, she’s from Mercury." The gesture took in the peaceful looking girl besides the Lunar Royal blonde.
"A pleasure, Amilia-chan."
"Likewise, Shima-sama."
"Reiki, before you go on, care to introduce me to this little firebrand so that I can get her to release me?" Shima interrupted, pointing down at the spitfire dangling from his lapels still.
"Gomen, Oniisan. That’s Amilia’s twin sister, Akai. Gomen."
"That’s alright, Reiki-imoto. Akai-chan, I’m very honored to make your most interesting acquaintance but could you kindly let go now?" Akai coloured slightly red, but she let go, and proceeded to fall towards the ground with a yelp. Shima reacted like a gentleman and caught her in his muscular arms well before she smacked into the ground. "Come now, Akai-chan! Wouldn’t you feel ever so much safer standing rather than falling?"
Akai fumed, but allowed herself to be set on the ground without further argument.
"Finally, Shima-onii, I’d like you to meet her Royal Highness, the Princess of the Moon, Serenity-sama!" At last, Reiki bowed towards the Lunar Royal blonde.
"Serenity-hime! It is an honor most profound to be graced with your illustrious presence!" Shima replied, dropping his most courtly and graceful bow to the Heir to the Lunar Throne.
"Oh, stop it, Shima-san! It is an honor to be allowed to meet the Phoenix Prince himself! I hear you’ve been to Earth lately?"
**********
"Alright, Imoto. Let your consciousness flow into the Sacred Fire here."
Reiki sat and stared at the fire. Then she stared some more. Finally, she gave up.
"I can’t, Oniisan! I just can’t!"
"You can, Reiki-imoto. I believe in you. All you have to do is relax. Trust the Flames. They will guide you as you learn to walk through the Fire. In time, you will learn to guide them, as is your rightful place as the Senshi of Fire." Shima smirked at his rather frustrated little sister who was glaring at the Sacred Fire he had taught her to build.
Reiki just growled.
Shima sighed slightly and shook his head.
"Listen. You want to be able to talk to me when I’m away, don’t you?" He asked.
Reiki frowned in puzzlement, but nodded her agreement with the idea.
"Okay. Well, the only way that you are going to be able to do that is by sending your thoughts through the Sacred Fire. That way, no matter where I am, I can hear you."
Reiki nodded again, then sat down in sezia before the Sacred Fire. She took a deep breath, let it out, then took in another and closed her eyes. By the time she let out the second breath, she was deep into a trance state.
She reached out gently with a tendril of thought towards the Fire. In return, the Fire reached out and caressed her thought with a gentle warmth. Shima had been right! The Fire would be her guide!
She smiled in the trance, and Shima just shook his head with a grin. He knew she could do it, he just had to convince her that she could.
**********
His terrible Firesword rested firmly in Shima’s grip as he sat astride the restless charger. Behind him, clinging to his waist, was a young peasant girl who was either blessed or cursed with a shocking mass of bright scarlet hair and was wearing his spare shirt. He had found her earlier as he rode with Endymion and his soldiers towards the bandit lair. The other’s had preferred to leave her, but he, for some unknown reason, hadn’t. So, he had swung her up behind him and charged off into battle.
They had been fighting for some time before the others began to notice how the Phoenix Prince was battling with the bandits.
"Oji-sama! To your left!" the red-headed maiden might shout.
"Hai!" Would come Shima’s rejoinder as he swung his Firesword in a great arc and cleaved the bandit head from its shoulders.
Before too long, the bandits had either surrendered, fled, or died on the battlefield. However, Shima and co apparently did not think that the battle was over, for they raced after the fleeing bandits.
"Hurry, Oji-sama! Hurry! He’ll get away!" The red-head would shriek, gesturing wildly towards the departing bandits.
Shima spurred his charger to its fastest gallop as he raced after the bandits, finally overtaking and passing many of them.
One bandit in particular tried to get away by running off at a tangent.
Shima felt something tug at his waist, then, as he turned to see what it was, he spotted the red-head leaping from the back of his charger with his dagger in hand. She landed hard upon the fleeing bandit and struck once with the dagger, plunging it deep into his heart. As the bandit fell dead, she stood triumphant, bloody dagger in hand over his body.
Shima reined in the charger and cantered back over. With a smirk, he reached down and hauled up the girl. When she tried to return his dagger, he just shook his head.
"No, you keep it. You’ve earned the right to wield that weapon, Kodomo no Ran."
‘Ranko’ grinned back at him and stuck the dagger through the piece of rope that served her for a belt.
Elsewhere, Reiki shook her head to clear it from the gore of the battle.
**********
"Hurry, girls! Hurry!" Shima roared from the point, his Firesword cleaving the life from the Youma surrounding him as he cleared a path for the five girls behind him.
At his side, Akai the firebrand sent gout after gout of hot water blasting into the attacking creatures. To his other side, Kina doomed the beasts to death with her electrifying attacks, willing to die to help her ‘old boyfriend’, as she jokingly called Shima. Next to Kina, Reiki incinerated fiends to the left and right. Over by Akai, Minanoai was shooting down daemons overhead with the accuracy of a trained sniper. In the center of their informal arrowhead formation, Amilia used her computer to locate weak points and used her powers to provide defensive shielding.
It would have been a great battle. One for the history books. Only one problem. The person that they were fighting so hard to get to was already dead with her beloved. It was over before it had even really began.
One by one they fell, and were sent forward by Queen Serenity. First, Kina fell, impaled upon a beast’s claw, she took out more than a hundred more with the explosive release of all of her powers at once. Next Minanoai. A lucky hit knocked her off balance and she went down to be trampled underfoot, but not before letting off the most powerful Shower that anyone had seen. It was Amilia that was laid low next. A flying daemon came down and picked her off the ground. Minutes later, its and others’ frozen carcasses came thudding down.
For a while, it looked as though they were going to win. Akai and Reiki and Shima. All three were fighting for each other. The Youma were thinning faster and faster, until there were almost no more.
It was one of the last few that got Akai. It came up behind her and raked its claws down her back. She never even had a chance to wreak her vengeance. Shima did that for her. With a wild, unforgiving roar, he leapt into the fray, Reiki at his side. His Firesword left huge swaths of destruction in his path, his fists and feet, glowing with power, did no less. Finally, it seemed all were gone.
Shima made his way slowly back over to Akai’s still form. Unlike the other’s she had not vanished. Shima and Reiki both knew why. It was because only one could be sent from each royal family. Shima fell to his knees and gathered Akai’s cooling body to him as tears ran down his face. Reiki couldn’t help but cry herself, as she watched her manly elder brother in tears over the loss of his beloved.
"Phoenix! I call!" Shima screamed, his voice thin. "I have need of your powers! Send Akai and I into the future! Find us a place where we can be together and send us there!"
The flames were blinding. They leapt up and consumed Shima and Akai, taking them away from Reiki and the moon forever.
The last thing Reiki remembered after that was looking down to see the long claw of a not-quite-dead Youma piercing her chest. She fell to the ground as her life bled away.
"This really sucks." She whispered as she died.
**********
Rei woke up from her slumber to the rays of the sun hitting her face. She sat up and yawned. Stretching, she popped her back and rotated her neck until she didn’t feel quite so stiff. Finally she stood.
"That was weird... I mean really weird..."
At length, she remembers what she had been pondering the night before.
"No! I can’t do it! I can’t destroy Ranma! I don’t care what the cats say! B-but... the only way to remind Ranma of what he was..."
**********
Meanwhile, the moonrise had lit the face of a curious young man creeping about the district after dark.
It was Saotome Ranma, and he had an idea.
Since his cousin, Hino Rei, turned out to be Sailor Mars, he figured that the girls he had seen her hanging out with could be the idiots that had attacked him the other day.
A few checks had proved him correct so far.
The brain, Mizuno Ami, shared the aura he had seen around the blue-girl.
The ditzy blonde, Aino Minako, not only looked like Goldie, but she wasn’t anywhere near her house either.
His guide, Kino Makoto, shared the aura of the green-girl.
All that was left was pig-tail girl, Tsukino Usagi.
He crept across the roof of the Tsukino residence and peeked into windows until he finally found Usagi’s. Normally, he would have just hung there and studied her until he figured out her aura. Except for one thing. There was a cat. And not just any cat. A BLACK cat. And it was sitting on the window sill. Right. In. Front. Of. Him.
Ranma never did find out if Usagi was blue-and-red-girl.
**********
End Section First