Night Shift 6

[LawOhki]

A little something.

---

“Setsuna-- skipping class doesn’t have any appeal when it’s just for lunch.” Ranma casually remarked, sitting with his fellow Senshi on a park bench. He had thought she had wanted to go be proactive about the situation with Ryoga but instead it seemed she wanted to do nothing more than enjoy the nice day and watch some kids out on a field trip as they played with a kickball.

He noticed the dark skinned woman next to him was picking at the dress she had made herself, clearly unhappy with how it had bunched up when sitting down. Far more important was the glittery silver chain laying in the woman’s lap and the old fashioned keys clipped onto it.

“Puu-- why do you have the keys?” He asked suspiciously, knowing how immensely precious each one of them was.

“Oh-- reasons.” She avoided answering looking off into the distance at nothing before turning to regard him. “You’ve gotten taller.”

“I have?” He asked distractedly and sat up straighter, trying to compare himself to his green haired companion. “Nobody else has noticed anything-- except that little bastard, Happosai.” He added, remembering the evil master’s remarks about his female forms posterior getting fat. Which was a complete and utter lie.

‘Where did I send the old pervert anyways?’ He idly mused until a flash of red made him look down.

His head rocked back and there was a loud bwonk noise as a rubber kickball bounced off his face. Cursing as the ball had struck him straight in the nose, he watched the red rubber ball wobble as it reached its apex straight up into the air before falling back down to land in Setsuna’s waiting hand.

“I’m sorry!” A young girl cried out in distress.

Ranma rubbed at his nose irritably and finally looked down at the trio of preteen girls that stopped in front of them. All three looked to be around eleven years old, two were quite average but the third who was rapidly bowing and uttering apologies had short spiky green hair with a darker skin tone.

“Way ta go Sets, you bopped that guy right in the nose!” One of the other little girls teased.

“Bam! Ouch!” The other animatedly grabbed the ball from Setsuna to act out him getting hit in the face.

“It’s alright, he’s much tougher than he looks.” Setsuna slid forward on the bench and patted the girl on the shoulder. Ranma almost gaped at the sight before him, watching as the green haired woman pulled a key free from her belt, and placed it reverently in the smaller girl hands. “I was hoping to give this to you, today.”

“Me? For me?” The little short haired girl asked and looked up to stare at Setsuna excitedly. “Why? What does it open?” She asked as her two friends crowded next to her to see the ornate old fashioned key.

“It’s very special-- a magic key.” Setsuna whispered, trying to sound cryptic and mysterious. “If there’s ever a time where you are lost, it will guide you to the door it opens. And this door will let you find your way home. So I want you to promise me that you’ll always keep it with you, to keep it safe. You promise?”

“Uh huh!” The wide eyed little girl nodded enthusiastically. “I promise!”

“I’ll know if you didn’t. Now you three go and enjoy the day, it’s supposed to rain tomorrow.” Setsuna instructed the three preteens.

“Thank you very much, nice lady.” The little green haired girl quickly bowed before running off with her two friends in tow begging to get to hold the pretty key.

Ranma slumped back on the bench and stared at the retreating children. “That-- that was--.”

“My younger self, yes.” Setsuna clarified for his half formed question. “A day, maybe two, and she’ll awaken. Even with a key to assist, her powers will leave her lost in the chaotic void outside of time and space until she gains enough control to find herself in the past on Pluto. Alone-- until travelers from a long way away gave her a future.”

“Queen Serenity and Theia.” He added, halfway remembering Theia, only a year younger than he was now, finding a young child senshi. She was clutching at the garnet rod, barely able to hold it up, and utterly alone in a lifeless solar system.

“After so long-- I finally get to have closure of the loop.” Setsuna sighed as she slumped backwards against the park bench, her hands clutching at the chain and keys.

“But if you know what’s going to happen, why didn’t you give-- you some real advice?” He asked still in shock, feeling that Setsuna’s cryptic message wasn’t very good considering what would be happening to her younger self.

“Of all the things I thought I could say, not one of them were worth saying.” The green haired Senshi admitted with a sardonic chuckle.

“I guess-- in that case you said all the right things.” He told her and put a reassuring hand over Setsuna’s. It felt a little awkward to be touching her as a man but there was no immediate way to remedy that.

“Thank you for coming with me. I know you have a lot on your mind as well.”

He waved his hand dismissively. “It’s no problem. Besides I was able to get the sensor in place over the dojo so I’ll know if any monster comes within four blocks of it. Now that I got how figured out, I’ll be able to install one at Furinkan, and then I’ll work on one that’ll cover all of Nerima.”

“You’ll have some free time after school though?”

“Kind of, I have to escort someone home from school but that shouldn’t take too long. Why do you ask?”

“Oh-- I had a few plans.”

[Dumbledork]

It's been a while. Nice part with Setsuna, but was there any particular reason to have Ranma involved? And when does the scene happen? In the present or did Ranma and Setsuna time travel?

[LawOhki]

It's been a while. Nice part with Setsuna, but was there any particular reason to have Ranma involved? And when does the scene happen? In the present or did Ranma and Setsuna time travel?

It's in the present. The young Setsuna will end up time traveling back to just as Serenity/Theia are arriving in the Earth's solar system due to not being able to control her powers properly. (And the key will likely be used later as the basis to create more keys and the time gates)

Ranma is involved because it's an important moment for Setsuna and she wanted a close friend like Ranma to be there to witness it and to act as psuedo emotional support. As Setsuna said earlier to Akane, she's known no one longer than Ranma. Also had young Setsuna have short hair because she decided to grow it out in the past to imitate Theia who was a big sister/mentor figure.

[ckosacranoid]

nice little bit for the story that while it does not seem to add much to the story, it still is neat to see something that might not other wise be seen in a story with pluto and its nice to see a different side to her though.

[LawOhki]

nice little bit for the story that while it does not seem to add much to the story, it still is neat to see something that might not other wise be seen in a story with pluto and its nice to see a different side to her though.

Well much of the rest of this chapter is going to be Ranma/Setsuna and then Nodoka together with an amount of background hints thrown in. So it's not just a single throw away scene with a twist not usually seen.