(notes from the first posting)
I've changed POV for this one, I hope it's obvious who's speaking

I'm sorry if my interpretation of peoples hair color bothers you, but
I'm sometimes of the opinion that the only reason that anime people
have different colored hair is to make sure that people can tell who
is who if the animation quality drops ^_-

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#include "stddisclaimer.h"

			      Final Attempt III
			    Needs a good subtitle

	      A story by Suika Roberts, Saint of Eris Discordia
  Based on the manga by Takahashi Rumiko, without the permission of anyone.
     And here we draw in Sailor Moon further, which is Takeuchi Naoko's.

	I walk back into the house, wiping the grime from my fingers.

	``Ranma-mama, can we take the Fairlady to school today?  I've gotten
the engine back in, and she runs a lot better.  I still need to adjust the
clutch and shift linkages, and I thought we could do that on the way.''

	She looks up from her text, glances at the clock, ``Sorry, it's already
eight, so we don't have the time.  How about this evening?''  I look at the
clock, realize that she's right and give in.

	``OK.  So we're taking the Norton?''  Ranma-mama nods, shrugging into
her jacket and searching for the Norton's keys.  I rinse the degreaser off my
hands, then strip off the grey t-shirt I wear for working on things, and peel
the stocking-cap off my head, dropping both into the red can by the door marked
`caution, flammable.'

	I dry my hands before pulling on my jacket, then follow her out the
door, making sure it's locked.

*

	I look up from Ranma-mama's back as we turn the corner, feeling
something happening ahead.

	``Stop!''  She pulls over next to the barrier, where I climb off and
hand her my helmet before jumping up onto one of the posts.

	``Why are you picking on this girl?''  She's pretty, whoever she is.
Long black hair tied up in little Odango and a huge set of blue eyes.

	``She started it.''  Heh, right.  One doesn't even need to feel the
Force to tell that that isn't totally true.

	``Tell me another one.''  There are three of them, and one of them, the
one who was manhandling the girl, I recognize.

	The first one rushes me.  I hop off of the pole and give him a
little shove to the back, and he goes over the barrier, taking him out of the
fight until he gets his wind back.  The one I recognize, Robuwossname Gendou,
rushes me, leaving the girl.  I grab him by the throat, pick him up off the
ground in a one-handed lock, my thumb pressing into the nerve cluster between
his jaw and throat.

	``You, run away.''  The third punk runs, and I almost toss Gendou back
against the wall, but just drop him instead.  He collapses to his knees, then
cowers, hiding his head under his hands.

	``If I wanted to really hurt you, I would have.''  The girl's stare
finally penetrates, and I look up into an all too familiar face.  ``Look,
before you decide to fall in love with me you'd better know that I'm a girl.''
I almost snap at her.

	``How could anyone think otherwise?''  Her voice shows real confusion,
and that defuses my anger.

	``You'd be surprised.''  I check the time, continue, ``Sorry I took so
long.  Want a ride?  You do go to Juuban-chuu, right?''  She's wearing a Juuban
uniform at least.

	``Yeah,'' She checks her watch, ``and I'm gonna have to take you up on
the ride, or I'll be late again.''  Ranma-mama tosses me my helmet, and I help
the girl, Usagi, into it, explaining that she'd be in no position to escape if
an accident did occur.  I don't add that she's badly undertrained for whatever
gives her that aura of power.  It's a tight fit, and I feel like I'm going to
fall off the whole way, but we get to school with a few minutes to spare.

	We stop at the gate, and I stuff my helmet under the bunji-net on the
back seat after Usagi hands it back to me.  Usagi runs ahead, and Ranma
follows, her helmet under one arm, to help get me through the gates.

*

	``Look, I've told you four times already. _The school uniforms for this
school don't come in a size that will fit her._ At her last school she had to
wear a boy's uniform because they didn't have the girls uniforms in a big
enough size, and that led to some problems, but even the boys uniforms aren't
big enough here.''  The official glares at Ranma-mama, 'cause she's blocking at
least a dozen other girls, who will have to be excused for being late.
Officials don't like that kind of thing.  They don't like girl students who
show up dressed like me, either.  I'm dressed, as Kasumi-mama put it, `as
blatantly feminine as one can get without attracting attention,' which is just
what we were aiming for.  Quilted sleeve-less red Chinese shirt, black pants,
and my hair tied back in a single high tail.  I definitely look like
Ranma-mama's daughter, though.  After about four minutes more Ranma-mama starts
to lose her temper, and the official declares my attire perfectly fine as the
blue glow spreads.  It disappears at his statement.

	``Put that in writing, please.''  The official complies with remarkable
speed, describing both my current attire and `acceptable variations' of it,
then signs it.  He makes out another two copies while Ranma-mama watches him,
giving one to Ranma-mama and the other to me.

	Ranma-mama walks me to my classroom, and explains things to the
teacher, who nods understandingly.  Ranma-mama is just too cool sometimes.

	``Saotome-sa. . . no, Kino-san, you can sit next to Tsukino-san.''  I
bow to the sensei, then notice that Tsukino is the girl I'd rescued this
morning.  A few moments later I notice that she's doodling hearts on her paper
and really start to worry.  I'm glad all three of my adoptive parents have been
teaching me, because I pay almost no attention to my classes all morning, too
busy worrying about the girl beside me.

	When Usagi follows me off away from everybody at lunch I shift from
worry to fear.

	``Where'd you learn to fight like that?''  Not the question I was
expecting, but one I'd had used on me before.

	``Ranma-mama has been teaching me since I was 11, and Ukyou-mama helps
her sometimes.''  That is usually enough to get most people to back off, but
she perseveres.

	``Cool.  Do you think they could teach me?''

	``Probably.  Someone needs to.  You stick out like a sore thumb, so
much power and so little control.''  Her look changes, from hero-worship to
something else, something a lot less predatory.  I fish out my bentou as she
chatters away happily about the school, all the people, and starts radiating
hunger vibes the moment I have the food out.  I'm forced to feed her, realizing
as I do so that I've just earned myself a friend for life.

	``Wow, your mother cooks really well!''

	``Actually, it was my turn to cook this morning.  Both Kasumi-mama and
Ukyou-mama have early morning classes today, and Ranma-mama is going to cook
Wednesday.''

	``Then you cook really well,'' Usagi mumbles around a mouthful of
onigiri.  She finishes it in silence, then asks the question I've been
dreading,

	``Why'd you switch schools in the middle of the term?  Does it have to
do with what you said about not falling in love with you if before I knew you
are a girl?''  There's no-one in earshot, so I answer truthfully.

	``Yes.  I was going out with this girl for a month, and we'd just
kissed for the first time when she brushed her hand against my chest.  She just
panicked.  I've still got the bruises from where she squeezed me.  That I could
have coped with, I've known for a while that things aren't as easy in same-sex
relationships as one would think, but that punk who was beating up on you
started causing trouble.  He called me a fucking dyke,'' Usagi gasps at that,
``I'm not.  I find more women attractive than men, but it's about a six to four
ratio.  I didn't feel the need to deny it to him, though.  He then called
Mai-chan a dyke.  I told him to shut his yap.''  I shrug, ``He replied with
something vulgar to the effect of how he'd show me what a woman needs, and put
his hand on my shoulder.  I slammed him into the wall and said that if he ever
tried to touch me again I'd make sure he'd regret it.

	``The mints,'' I answer Usagi's unspoken question, ``administrators,
didn't like the way I handled it, and said that if anything else happened like
that I'd get expelled,''  I sigh, continue, ``As if that would solve the
problem.  Kasumi-mama checked about, Juuban was chosen, we filled out a lot
of paperwork and I was transferred here.'' I sigh again.

	``What was that for?''  I can pick up her meaning fairly easily, so I
answer.

	``Oh, just that I'd kept myself out of any fights for two and a half
years when that happened.  All that work, and it only took one incident to muck
it all up.''

	``How does one. . .''  Usagi trails off, her concern masking the rest
of the question.

	``Ask.  There's no one else in earshot.''

	``How do you gather up the courage to tell a girl that you like her?''

	Hoo boy.  ``I don't.  I just hide the fear in the back of my head, talk
to her for a while, try to find out if she likes me, then I just tell her.  I
must admit that I don't have a very good success rate.  Three boys and four
girls, and only one of them actually said she liked me back.''

	``And she's the one who freaked out when she realized that you are a
girl, right?''  I nod miserably, thinking back on my relationship with
Mai-chan.

	``I'm so sorry, Mako-chan.  Is it OK for me to call you that?''  She
looks very worried, so I reassure her.

	``It's fine.  All of my friends do,'' even if most of them are collage
students.

*

	The rest of the school day floats past, and I manage to pay attention
through the rest of my classes.  Usagi is still doodling hearts, but it doesn't
bother me as much now that I'm fairly sure she isn't doodling them about me.

	After classes let out Usagi invites me out with her friends.  I go
along, making a mental note to call and warn Kasumi-mama that I'll be out
late.  She drags me to the `Crown Gesen' [gesen is the standard Japanese
contraction for `game center' or arcade --S.]

	``Drat.  Motoki-niisan isn't here,'' from the way she says it one would
almost think that Motoki wasn't a romantic interest of hers.  She then shows me
the Sailor V game, and I play for a while, even though I am very unskilled at
video games.  They just aren't _real_, so I prefer to watch other people play
them.  After I've blown my week's supply of game-coins Usagi introduces me to
her friends, calling the one with short hair `Tensai no Ami-chan' and the
long-haired girl, who's from a different school, `Ijiwaru no Rei-chan.'  Things
degrade quickly between the two of them, so I interrupt,

	``Usagi-chan, you shouldn't be so mean to girls you like.''  Usagi puts
her hand to her face while Rei facefaults.  The cat looks like she's dying to
say something.  Usagi's on her knees helping Rei up, and Rei is just looking
stunned.  It's so sappy I can't cope and feel for a distraction.

	The guy at the UFO catcher is _very_ interesting.  The dolls are
dropping _up_ into the catcher's claws, but he's not using the Force to do it,
and I can't feel any ki flow.  

	``I wanna learn that technique.''  I don't realize I've said it out
loud until I notice Ami looking at me funny.

	Someone says that he's `Crane Arashi no Joe.'  I follow him out of the
gesen, intending to corner him and either get him to agree to teach me or tick
him off badly enough that he'll demonstrate that technique for me.  The second
method can be a bit painful, so I don't use it much even though it is a lot
faster.

	This femme blond guy drops lightly out of somewhere in a swirl of
sakura petals.  _Blessed_, but I want to learn that technique.  He pulls this
black crystal out, and the raw contempt he is radiating intensifies as things
get a little bit weirder than normal; this something I can't identify reaches
out and grabs a part of Joe, pulling on it while this hole appears in his chest
around it.  Whatever is going on around here, I don't think it's good.  I
concentrate, ki-blast the femme guy, who thoughtfully stops trying to rip Joe
into two or more pieces.

	``How dare you mar my beautiful face!  I'll make you pay for that!''
I've heard that before, admittedly in jest while playing with Kodachi-sempai.
I laugh at him, and he disappears in another flurry of sakura petals.

	``Hey, do you know what that is about?''  Joe shakes his head, staggers
off muttering about not needing any help.  I follow him, noticing that Usagi is
following about a half-block back, and, now that I think about it,  showed up
just before that femme guy.  

	``Stop following me!'' Joe turns around to yell at me, wavers a bit,
then turns around and continues on his way.

	``I want to learn how you do that trick with the UFO catchers.''

	``You can't copy my method.''  He vanishes inside a kisaten, and
I sit down outside to wait.  The femme guy will probably be back for whatever
part of Joe he was after, and I'll have another chance to fight him.

	Usagi arrives, crawls under the field of view from the window to me.

	``You don't need to hide.  I'm waiting for that blonde guy to show up
again.  He knows some really interesting techniques.''  Usagi looks at me like
I'm slightly nuts.  Rei comes into easy sensing distance, about half a block
away.  I guess she's following Usagi.

	``Don't you think about anything else?''

	``Of course.  Your friend Rei is following you, that cat would be hard
for Ranma-mama to deal with, and I still need to adjust the clutch and shift
linkages on the Fairlady.''  Usagi just stares at me.

	``And there is a bit of envy about Megumi-neechan and her friend
Marler,'' I finish, turning back to watching,  ``Oh, and I want to learn how
Joe picks up those UFO catcher dolls.  It isn't by any remote manipulation
technique that I know.''  Usagi is staring at me.  ``Oh, and how are things
with Rei?''  I ask, since Rei is within earshot now.

	``Better than I'd hoped, what with how you dropped the secret.''

	``Really?'' Rei asks, squatting down next to us, ``What did you think
would happen?''

	``I feared that you'd freak out on me, and I hoped that you'd be
willing to consider it.  I didn't expect you to say that you liked me too.''
Goodness, what a silly bunch I've fallen into.  I'm somewhat mollified when Rei
kisses Usagi on the cheek, though.

	``I'm sick of you staring at me from outside.  Come in.''  I follow Joe
into the kisaten.  He says something foolish about superpowers, and levitates
an ashtray.

	``Could you keep that up for a moment?  I can sorta sense what is
happening, but . . . ''  I trail off concentrating on Joe and the area just
around him.  It takes a bit of twisting, but I manage to feel the energy he's
using after about two minutes.

	``Thanks.''  I smile at him, and he smiles reluctantly back.  I start
trying to lift the saucer from his cup of coffee.  I think I've almost got it
when the blonde guy shows up, that black crystal in his hand.  I punch him in
the gut, and he ki-blasts me.  I've never liked getting ki-blasted, and if I
had any sense I wouldn't have been sitting in a booth when he showed up.

	He flees, chasing Joe who's running as fast as he can.  Poor schmuck.
I follow, the residual effects of the ki-blast fading as I run.  The blonde is
about a half-block ahead of me, Usagi and Rei about a half-block behind, and
Joe is two blocks ahead of the blonde.  It's starting to get dark, and I
suddenly realize that I forgot to call Kasumi-mama, so I can expect Ukyou-mama
and Ranma-mama to show up in another ten minutes or so.  I speed up a little
bit, ki-blast the blonde from a quarter-block behind him.  He stumbles but
somehow manages to keep running.

	Joe collapses ahead of us, unable to continue, and the blonde catches
up to him, pulling out that black crystal.  I come running up as he rips that
red crystal out of Joe, and it starts back towards him, only to be intercepted
by a familiar combat spatula.  The crystal bounces once, leaving a gouge in the
concrete, before Ukyou-mama picks it up.  Ranma-mama has the blonde in a
throat-lock, his feet dangling as Ranma-mama glares at him.  From behind me two
familiar people in much shorter skirts than they had been wearing show up,
stumble to a stop.

	``Usagi-chan, Rei-chan, these are Ranma-mama and Ukyou-mama,'' I point
as I speak,  ``I've got this feeling that you're the people who're supposed to
deal with this, so what should we do with the blonde?''

	They stare at each other, then Usagi speaks, ``The blonde's name is
Zoicite, and he's from the Dark Kingdom,'' Why does that name sound so familiar,
``and I really have no idea of what to do with him.  If he was just another
youma we'da killed him already.''

	``Killed him?  So, do you want me to let him go?''  I suddenly realize
that Ranma-mama is in male form, like usual when I'm late.

	``Um...''  Usagi seems to be totally unhelpful right now.  The cat
suddenly speaks up.

	``No, don't let him go, and don't let him get that crystal.  This,''
She does a backflip, and a pink-handled crescent-moon sickle clatters on the
pavement.  Ranma-mama looks at the sound and sees her.  Ranma-mama has been
working on her ailurophobia, but loses it when the cat continues, ``may be able
to heal him.''  Ranma's fingers loosen, and Zoicite slams him in the gut with
one knee, attempting to break free.

	I suddenly feel a burst of telepathic energy from the blonde, but it
isn't aimed anywhere that will do him any good, I think.  I change my mind when
I feel some return from the same place, so the portal opening doesn't take me
by too much surprise.  Ranma-mama spins, flinging Zoicite into the man who is
trying to come through, knocking them both back through the portal, which
closes quickly, but slow enough that we could have followed.  The sudden scream
of pain from behind me makes me turn, just barely in time to see Joe transform,
and I move to block his attack on Usagi, dodging the silly tethered weapons
he's using.

	I smack one of them, burying it in the dirt, and backhand him just hard
enough to knock out an untrained human.  He shakes his head and charges me, so
I throw him, just enough energy to re-direct his.  He tumbles to the ground,
and I almost miss the cat walk up.

	``Here, this is yours.  Take it and say `Jupiter power, make up!'''  I
look at her funny, but I snatch the pen up off the ground where she dropped it;
startling her badly, I fear; and whisper the words, for they are too
embarrassing to say out loud.

	There is a sudden flashing of light, and I'm spun around at least once.
I stagger to a stop; dodge as the youma attacks again.  A firm press down on
his back as he falls past, then I'm sitting on his back and he's in an
arm-lock.

	``Mako-chan, I think I know how to use this thing now.''  Usagi doesn't
sound convinced.

	``OK, I'll dodge when you get it to work.''  Hope to Eris that I'm not
being overconfident.  I feel the power build, and Usagi swinging that sickle in
a circle.  When she gets to the end of the first complete circle I let the
youma go and jump back.  He only has time to get his hands underneath him
before the attack hits, and he turns back into Joe.

	The cat is saying something silly to the effect of Usagi having to be
the leader and protect the princess.

	``Isn't that a bit contradictory?''  I interrupt, feeling Ukyou-mama and
Ranma-mama moving to back me.

	``What?''  the cat blinks at me in astonishment.

	``My memories are returning.  You're Luna, right?'' the cat gives a
very human-like nod, ``Can't you even remember what Serenity looks like, or
that Venus is the leader?'' the cat shakes her head, ``They told me that the
cold-sleep capsules scrambled your memory, but that is ridiculous.  Usagi-chan
is the princess.''  Luna facefaults hard.  Harder than I though a cat could,
since they are so short.

	``Mako-chan, you will explain all of this on the way home, right?''
Ukyou-mama asks.

	``Yeah.  I gotta go home now, so I guess I'll see you at school
tomorrow, Usagi-chan, and I'll probably see you around, Rei-chan.''  The two
girls nod, somewhat stunned, I guess by what I said.  I drop back into my
normal clothing.

	Ukyou-mama and Ranma-mama rode the Triumph.  ``Who's gonna ride in the
sidecar?''

	``You.  You can start explaining things now, or we can wait 'til we get
home.''

	``Home.  It is a _really_ long story.''

---
log:
Long time gone:	Written, posted to FFML
2004/Jan/4:	Title block and log added.

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