Epilogue

A few days after becoming a sailor senshi found Ranma in said role while flying to the moon, in order to meet her fellow sailor senshi per her own arrangement. She could have teleported there, but the novelty of flight had yet to wear off and taking the time to see what it was like in space had its own appeal.

However, between the Earth and the moon, she found her thoughts drifting back to the last few days. It wasn't hard, actually, since there wasn't a lot to look at in space unless she had a telescope or deviated too far from her destination. Since she didn't have the former, and the latter had people waiting for her arrival, it was a lost cause before it became a lost opportunity.

She still wondered how Akane, Ukyo, Shampoo and Kodachi were doing, since she had yet to see them since the day that they had gone to Elysium. She hadn't really bothered to check on any of them personally, for a variety of reasons, though she was pretty sure that Akane had yet to leave her bedroom. Gaea had assured her that they were all alive, even if they weren't very enthused about life at the moment (or of her).

Her father had yet to crawl out from whatever rock he had hidden under, though she was sure that it would only be a matter of time before he snuck back to check on the situation. Soun had spent most of his time in bed lamenting how things had turned out, partly because her father wasn't there to provide support. It probably hadn't helped when he had gone to enlist Akane's aid, to convince her fiancé to change "his" mind, because he had gotten the boot for his troubles.

As for her mother: things were looking promising. While they had spent more time looking for a new place to live and making other plans and preparations depending on what they found where, they'd had some time to sit down and finally get themselves acquainted. It was amazing how much they had in common, though her mother was either embarrassed or ashamed about having some of the interests that they shared since they were unbecoming of a lady. But most of their emotional bonding had come from relating their pasts, due to both of them having lonely and rough childhoods. Beyond that, they'd had an enjoyable time preparing a few meals together.

Being one of the few people to have an idea as to what had gone on, beyond those who were supposed to know, Nabiki hadn't had any difficulty in figuring out why she was now a girl and staying that way. Of course, since Gaea knew what the middle Tendo daughter had planned in the event that she became a sailor senshi, she had to buy her silence. Well, to be more precise, she had said that she wanted to show her how much her friendship would mean to her, and had given her the exact location (as well as one of the items as an example) of a sunken treasure. It would probably take her a few years to do what needed to be done to get it, but it would be legitimate, leave no mystery that would require an investigation, and there would be some notoriety as a bonus. It had been nice to sit down and have an intellectual discussion with her afterward, and she wondered if she might be able to get her and Ami together with her sometime.

Kasumi had decided to accept Cologne's invitation to go to the Joketsuzoku's village, and they were slated to leave in a few days. Once they were there, she and Gaea were going to perform a miracle to prove that Kasumi was the one spoken of in one of their bedtime stories. While the village learned of their past and regained some of their lost fighting styles and techniques, she hoped that they would rescind the "kiss of death" law. Gaea had explained that the law had started out innocently enough, where Joketsuzoku were chosen to follow outsider females to the ends of the Earth (because they didn't know where their lost princess would be) based on their ability to overcome the obstacles that might get in their way. Over time — and due to cultural changes — the reason for why they had followed outsider females had become obscure, so they had changed it so that it would make sense to them (at the time) rather than abandon a long-standing tradition.

One surprise had been Konatsu. Since she had been wondering where the kunoichi had gone off to, Gaea had told her that she was working at a ryokan as a nakai, and that the owner (a sweet, old lady) had been nice enough to take the new girl under her wing. After her meeting with the sailor senshi was over, she had planned on making a surprise visit to see how she was doing.

And then there was Gaea, who seemed so wise and mature in some ways yet so childish in others. She could already tell that they were going to be like sisters before too long, though it wasn't going to be easy getting there. While Gaea had some trust issues (because she said that she was accustomed to knowing what everyone in the world was thinking, yet she — as her sailor senshi — had become the third such person whose mind had become off-limits to her), she also seemed to need someone to trust, as a sort of security blanket.

Gaea had explained how she had lived as nothing more than a consciousness up until the time that she had become a sailor senshi, and that her potential was limited to that of the sentient life that she had arose from. Since no life native to the planet was omniscient, neither was she, and at best she could possess and control two or three individuals depending on the difficulty of what she wanted them to do. It was far from ideal, which is why planets usually needed a physical presence to be more proficient — thus the need for having sailor senshi.

Basically, Gaea had been reluctant to hand over some of her control and an amount of power beyond what she herself could access to someone that she could no longer control directly, which included the inability to read her mind and possess her body. She was used to knowing exactly how to handle others because she could read their mind and know everything about them, so she had a lot of reservations toward those that she had to place hope and trust in, which had been multiplied by the thought that there could also be such a person who could also have access to her power.

Gaea had also admitted that her new connection to the physical side of life gave her the added quality of being emotional, rather than just being intellectual. That made it easy for her to be flustered by her, Usagi and Selene, the three people (to date) that she couldn't read the minds of and thus find the comfort that came with being the one in control. When she told Gaea that the inability to be in complete control of one's circumstances was very natural (which was ironic, really), it seemed to make her more relaxed to the idea that she would have to get used to it.

When she reached the moon and found the palace, she saw everyone waiting for her in front of the main entrance, who were illuminated by the lampposts along the path that they stood upon as well as by the light coming from the palace. And by "everyone," that included the guardian cats in their human guises (for her sake) and the "outer" sailor senshi. She'd never seen the former when they weren't cats before, and the latter because they'd had different duties than the guardian sailor senshi back in Hestia's time.

Upon landing before the group, Usagi (who was dressed as Neo-Queen Serenity) broke away from the others and greeted her with a hug. She both allowed it and returned it, feeling relieved that she could do so freely without feeling uncomfortable about it for one reason or another: not only did she consider herself a girl now, but she no longer had to worry about fiancées or what they might think if they'd seen or heard what she was currently doing with another woman.

After Usagi pulled away, she regarded Sailor Gaea with a look of concern and asked, "How are you doing? Is everything okay?"

Ranma responded with a slight nod of her head and smiled. "Things have turned out better than I would have thought." Her smile turned slightly sardonic. "Of course, I hadn't been expecting this to happen, so..."

Usagi looked her over appraisingly before making a good-natured response. "Well, I think you turned out pretty good. It's not fair that you get to wear those sandals, though... I'm kind of jealous."

"They're alright," Ranma replied noncommittally, with a shrug of her shoulders. "Anyway, I wanted to meet you guys so we could—"

With a look of excitement on her face, Usagi took one of Ranma's hands and began to drag her toward the others, who had — depending on the individual — been waiting with either an eager or reserved anticipation. "Right! Everyone's been waiting to see you! There's so much to talk about! And you can meet Setsuna, Haruka, Michiru and Hotaru, and..."

Ranma was suffused with a feeling of warmth in her chest and went along with Usagi, deciding that the business end of her reason for being there could wait a little while longer. She couldn't help smiling as the others began to crowd around her and tried to start several conversations at once.

"Nope," Ranma concluded to herself, "this isn't bad at all."

Glossary

Architrave: A lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of columns/pillars.

Bento: A container filled with a takeout meal.

Chúi: A melee weapon with a large, metal sphere at the end of the handle.

Genkan: A traditional Japanese entryway where shoes are removed to avoid dirtying or damaging floors.

Ginzuishou: Silver crystal.

Haiden: A building devoted to worshiping the kami.

Kinzuishou: Gold crystal.

Nakai: A female staff member with server and/or maid duties at a ryokan.

Noren: A curtain-like divider that usually has one or more vertical slits; they have multiple uses.

Odango: A double bun hairstyle, with or without pigtails.

Okonomiyaki: A food made of diverse kinds of batter, cooked like a pancake, and has a variety of options in regard to toppings.

Remiges: Flight feathers on wings.

Ryokan: A traditional Japanese inn that usually has a communal bathing area.

Saisen-bako: A box for receiving monetary donations.

Sandō: A path/road leading to a Shinto shrine or a Buddhist temple.

Seiza: A traditional/formal way of sitting in Japan, requiring one to sit on their folded legs.

Senbei: A type of cracker made of rice.

Seppuku: Ritual suicide.

Torii: A type of doorless, free-standing gate usually found at the entrances of Shinto shrines, or somewhere within them.