Disclaimer: Sailor Moon is the property of Naoko Takeuchi, Toei Animation, and Kodansha. The American rights are owned by DIC. Ranma ½ is the property of Rumiko Takahashi and Shogakukan. The American rights are owned by Viz Communications.

The weekly Sailor Scout meeting usually just consisted of the Inner scouts, barring a real crisis involving at least the end of world. Then the Outers, except Setsuna, who required at least the end of the universe, might show. This particular one found Ami off on some research field trip for school, and Minako going off somewhere with her parents.

"You know, maybe a visit to a cellular chromatography exhibit might have been interesting."

The other two just stared at Rei.

"But probably not."

"It's not fair," Usagi finally brought the topic they really wanted to talk about up. "Ranma is our age. He isn't as cute as Mamo-chan, but he is cute. It's not fair that Haruka keep him all to herself."

Luna contemplated reminding them that 1) Ranma got there yesterday, late in the evening and school had gotten out 45 minutes earlier 2) That Ranma was NOT being kept by Haruka alone, Michiru and Hotaru were also around, and 3) this was a Sailor Scout meeting and could they please concentrate but decided that since they were probably going to ignore her away, it was not worth the trouble. Instead she said, "If you want to go, go. I'm going to stay here and sleep."

She curled up and went to sleep. The three ignored the Guardian Cat.

"Ranma-kun needs someone who understands him, knows what he is going through." Little hearts glowed in Makoto's eyes

Rei leaned back, "I wonder if fate lead him to us. A bishonen trainer for the bishojo Senshi."

Makoto giggled, "Maybe he is one of us." She snapped her fingers, "Sailor Io, perhaps."

"I can see her in a fuku, but him? Nah."

Usagi was staring at her friends, "Remember what we said last night. Ranma is a boy. Imagine what Ranma would think if he heard you two talking."

The other two reddened at the thought.

-At the racetrack

Haruka whirled away, taking a breath to calm herself, as the 'pinhead', a more printable name then some of the others she used for Disukaki, called his sister away. "He's trying to get to you. Anger clouds the mind. Calm."

She strapped on her helmet and nodded to Disukaki and the starter, one of the group who hung around with Disukaki, checked that both drivers were ready. He raised his hands with the starting flag… The drivers tensed… The flags started to fall

…Haruka poised her foot on the pedal… And the starter vanished, carried off by a red and black blur. "Wha…"

She half pulled her transformation pen out as she took in the rest of the scene.

A couple of the guys who had been working on their car were running out onto the track after their car… Ranma was putting the starter down by the side of a grandstand, and kicking himself backwards, spilling the starter on the ground… Ranma soared though the air, landing on the top of the errant racecar.

Ranma swung his head through the window of the car, as Haruka stopped her motion with the pen, and opened her car door. It was obvious that the extra controls in a racecar were outside of Ranma's experience, "Aim it at the bales!" Haruka and Disukaki both yelled in a rare moment of complete agreement.

Ranma did so, riding the top of the car until the instant before it crashed into the bales, and then casually jumped off.

Still in complete agreement, Haruka and Disukaki turned to the pair who had stumbled to a stop…

After a short 'lecture' on pit safety, Disukaki turned to Ranma, bowed. "You saved the life of a friend of mine. If that car those idiots had let loose had hit him, he would have been killed. I owe you a debt of honor."

Ranma bowed back, still looking a bit shaken, "Ya don't owe me anything. If you really think you have to do something, stop going after my cousin. It annoys her, embarrasses your sister, and it would satisfy any claim I may be able to make against you now."

"It embarrasses Kurumi?" Disukaki looked sick for an instant, "Does it, sister?"

She blushed and nodded.

Still looking abashed, he turned to Haruka, "I let my feelings toward what you are master me. I, Disukaki Matshimri, apologize to you, Haruka Ten'ou. I seek your forgiveness for my actions toward you." His face hidden from view, he let the trace of a smile wash over it. <Disukaki Matshimri apologized to Haruka Ten'ou. Seneschal said nothing to Sailor Uranus.> he thought. Then he carefully erased the smile.

Haruka looked at the back of Disukaki's head. <A homophobe,> she thought, "For the sake of these two, I accept your apologies." Left unsaid was, 'If not for these two, any acceptance would be a lot more grudging and slower in coming.'

He held the bow until Haruka returned it, then held it for an instant longer. He looked in Haruka's eyes, <Relax, Haruka-chan. Message understood.>

"Want to call the race off?"

Disukaki bowed again.

Ranma and Haruka climbed into her car as Disukaki walked back toward his sister and his fallen friend. "Sorry I couldn't show you a car race. They are really very exciting up close."

"I guess so. This was okay, not really that exciting, though." Haruka never figured out whether Ranma was kidding or not.

Entering Juuban, Ranma nudged Haruka, "Can we stop for a bit? I think I just saw a store I want to check out."

"Sure." She swung the wheel of the car, cutting across three lanes of traffic, and beat out a car to the one available parking place. "What do you want to look at?"

Instead of answering, Ranma lead her down a side street and to a store selling Chinese style clothing. Haruka took in his red tunic, pants and slippers. "You are looking for some extra clothes?"

"Yeah, but I really wanted to get Hotaru some training gear."

"What about a gi?"

"Well, Pop always wore a gi. He usually wore glasses and a bandana around his head." The last sentence was said very quietly then he stood in silence.

"Anyway, Hotaru won't have a chance to change into a gi if she ever has to fight. I wanted to get her to train in some special clothes, but not a traditional fighting uniform."

<Ranma-chan, I hope you never get to see what she changes into when she has to fight.> Somehow, as Haruka thought that, she had a feeling that was one hope doomed to failure.

When the pair arrived home; they found Usagi, Rei and Makoto sitting by the front door with Hotaru, Usagi puffing a bit as she recovered her breath, having just sat down, "H… H… Hi. We were in the area and decided to drop by."

"Hi." Ranma shifted the package he had under his arm, and handed it to Hotaru, "Present for you. I think it should be your size."

She took the box, and after getting permission via a glance from Haruka opened it. "It's gorgeous."

She took out a purple Chinese style tunic that mimicked Ranma's red silk top, a pair of black pants, and some slippers, also providing a close match to Ranma's attire. "Thank you, onii-san."

He blushed and rubbed the back of his head, "Heh, heh, as my student, you gotta look good. I saw a park nearby. Maybe after dinner, I can show you a few moves."

Makoto was faster by a hair, "Oh, can I watch? I'd love to spar with you." She leaned toward him and he backed up a pace.

Rei elbowed her, "You saw how good he is, you should ask him if he could teach you."

"I'm a martial artist, I'm sure Ranma-ku… san will spar with me."

The girls sucked in their breaths wondering how Ranma would react to Makoto's brashness, then looked disappointed as he seemed to miss it altogether. "That's okay, I'll spar. Do you want to spar around or really spar?"

Rei thought to herself, "If we do this right, maybe we can get him to train the whole bunch of us. Wait a second, what did he say?"

"Huh?" Makoto replied.

"Usually when people spar, they are somewhat equal in skill, so both learn from each other. It's slow and you can pick up bad habits that way, and generally you work only with one style. The other way is sparring with somebody a lot better then you, Your partner aims for your weak points and attacks." Ranma smacked a fist in to his palm making everyone jump. "You learn to cover that weakness and then you work on a new one, fix it and so on. It'll leave you sore, but it's fast and effective"

Makoto and Hotaru both gulped.

"Hotaru-chan, Makoto here is a dan level in Kempo," Ranma continued waving toward Makoto.

Makoto, who was, stared at him.

"You are just learning. As your sensei I would not start you sparring in any way, until you learn the basics. I didn't start off really sparring until I had about two years on the road under my belt.

Usagi may not have liked school but she could do basic math. "You mean you were good enough eight years ago, seven years old?"

"Yep, and I sparred daily with my master for a couple of hours a day. And Pop was good. It wasn't until near the end that it got to be more even."

Rei shook her head getting the subject back on her original line of thought, "Ranma, I bet some of the others might be interested in lessons too."

-Meanwhile, somewhere else

"Curse you, Ranma Saotome! You die!"

"Cute line. Dale Carnegie would be proud of it." A dry, amused sounding voice came from out of the trees.

"Who?"

"Dale Carnegie. Wrote a book called "How to Win Friends and Influence People"

"Oh, I'll influence Saotome. Yes, I will." The dark haired youth smiled, a gleam of sunlight glinting off a small fang, as he pounded his fist into his palm. "Uh, who are you?"

The other smiled, "I am Gypsy." The tall dark haired woman smiled as she stepped forward, her long skirts swinging around her bare ankles. "And you are?"

"Err, Ryoga Hibiki."

"Err, Ryoga Hibiki, cross my palm with silver and I will tell you your future." She twined her finger through his hair.

"Urk."

"Wha… Oh, he seems to have fainted." Gypsy drew off her shawl and wrapped the passed out lost boy in it, resting his head in her lap.

To be continued.

Teaser for Part five

Makoto hurried up to the park wearing her exercise clothes. "I wish Artemis had been someplace where I could find him. I'm sure that Ranma must have been someone in the Moon Kingdom. Maybe my old boyfriend!"

Webmaster: Larry F
Last revision: May 21, 2007