--
Chapter Six: Fools' Second Chance
--

"Kuno sempai! Uh.. I mean, Upperclassman Tatewaki, verily tis' an elating and curious experience to have met with your wondrous person at this fine institution! Uh… how are you… eth?" Futaba-chan asked with a heavy bow.

"My dear, alas, I fear we will never properly educate you in the formality of the spoken word. But as you say, tis a fine day! And a pleasure to meet with you once again, my fine man. Or woman today. Might I say that you are as beautiful as ever?" Kuno asked with a bow of his own.

Futaba blushed. "Thanks Taki. How're you doin?" She said, dropping any pretense of being able to speak like him.

Tatewaki grinned when she dropped the false act. He was glad she tried but he much more preferred the girl when she acted natural. Just like Misaki. "Ah, quite well. Tonight myself and the beauteous Misaki will be dining at Linda's Café. I must say, for the humble atmosphere of the shop, it is quite possibly my favorite luncheon. But I digress, how are you today? And Ranma? How is she? Or he?" Kuno asked with a chuckle.

"He today. He's been in a he mood ever since we met up with an old friend of his a few days ago. Ryoga Hibiki? Ever heard of him?" Futaba told as they moved beside each other and began walking towards the modeling agency.

"That swine! Ah! I would ally myself with Saotome to destroy the porcine fool! The evil pig sorcerer who works his wiles on the lustrous Aka— er…" The harsh glare from Futaba brought his rant up short. "I… er… 'twas a force of habit!" He recovered quickly.

When the glare did not ease, Kuno settled for indignant. "I would never betray Misaki, Shimeru-chan. I promise on my honor, and the honor of the house of Kuno."

Futaba's glare held a few moments longer. Then it dropped, forgotten. "That's good. If you did, I would kill you."

A sweat drop trailed down the back of Kuno's head as the girl walked on ahead. He moved up beside her after a moment or two and they resumed casual conversation.

Until…

All of a sudden a body threw itself at Kuno's back.

"Oh… Kuno-sempai… I've missed you so muuch…!" drawled a voice that most definitely was not Misaki.

Kuno felt the two arms wrapped around his shoulders, hands clutching at his chest holding a small feminine body up in the air against him. Large firm breasts pressed conspicuously into his back and he violently fought the urge to twitch.

After a nervous gulp Kuno began, "Y-you know… If I had known how much a-attention I would get by simply ignoring you eight months hence you would have b-been mine today."

"Oh Kuno-sempai… You'd have swept me off my feet if only I'd been free from that sorcerer Saotome!" Exclaimed the girl attached to his back.

Finally recovering his balance, a simple thing to do upon noticing that the blonde beside them was writhing in furious flames, Kuno decided it would perhaps be best to end this comical bout with the wiles of the feminine persona of his arch-rival. "I believe your female counterpart is quite angered, vile pigtailed wench!"

"Eh…?"

"Jackass!" Futaba exclaimed slamming an elbow downward into the red-head effectively cratering her within the ground below.

Ranma eyes rolling, moaned heavily. "Waaas… a… joooke…" She slurred as her eyes swirled.

Kuno turned around and looked down into the feminine body of his arch rival. "A heavens justice is assured, Saotome, for attaching your filthy self to the person of Tatewaki Kuno!" Kuno claimed, condescendingly at the red-head.

Ranma, waking up a bit, looked up at the upperclassman and grinned sheepishly as she scratched the back of her head. "Heh heh. Aw c'mon...! Wasn't that bad was it?"

Kuno smiled and offered his hand down.

Ranma took it and once on her feet, promptly launched herself at the waiting blonde, locking lips in an instant, fiery, and passionate kiss.

The kiss lasted a bit longer then either intended, and a bit shorter than either wanted, but sooner or later Kuno coughed once or twice alerting them of their presence in public.

Of course they ignored him, bathing in both each other's presence and the sweet, tangy air of late spring.

And other things that were sweet and tangy.

Ranma awoke shivering. The summer was officially gone now. Fall had come on in its fullest and frost touched the ground everywhere, blanketing the still-green grass and leafless trees in a hazy white-filmed layer.

Wrapping his arms around himself in chill he looked across the grassland that had been his home for these past two or three weeks. Even with the shiver he smiled as he pulled the blanket closer.

He loved frost. He always had. When he was younger it signaled a time when he could be away from his father and spend time training with the monks. At the Tendo's, it represented a time when women could no longer wear provocative clothes and therefore weren't half so clingy throwing themselves at him. All in all, frost was usually the beginning of good times.

Not this year though.

He'd found a small business in the shopping district to work for. It was a small shop that he, as a girl, tended when the owner didn't feel like working, that sold vacuums of all things. It had given him more than enough to buy a new blanket, tent, and plenty of food for whenever he wanted. A very good thing.

It still wouldn't last him through the winter though. If he was lucky he could find an apartment with a cheap heating bill, but that was unlikely. The most probable event that would occur was him leaving town to find one of the shrines over in one of the other wards. He'd visited quite a few during his wanderings before he'd met Futaba.

Futaba…

The thought of her brought a tingling shiver of mute joy through him, waking his tired bones a bit faster than even coffee could. He found himself dreaming about the girl form of Futaba. He preferred the blonde while male, and while Futaba's male form only brought physical attraction to him when he was female, the opposite was quite false. He assumed it was the same for the blonde.

Despite how well things seemed to be going, he refused to ask for help. 'No,' 'nadda,' and 'not-a-chance.' Especially not from his girlfriend. It just wasn't in him to want to depend on someone like that. Not again. The fact that they, he and his father, had been freeloading for so long at the Tendo's had always panged at him a little bit. More at his pride than anything else but also at his morals.

The only reason it hadn't been there strongly in the first place was because he hadn't known the people he was staying with. They'd been just another random family that Ranma figured he and his pop would be leaving in another couple of months anyway, so there was no use worrying about freeloading for a while.

When those few months had stretched into years the sting had began to burn, but it was easily ignored due to the fact that they had been living there so long that moving out would feel like… abandoning them.

Well… everything was different now. He wasn't going to make the same mistakes, and even though this one hadn't been his fault, he could see what laid down the road of milking a place to stay for the winter at the Shimeru's.

With thoughts pounding his mind, he strode out into the middle of his small grass-laden courtyard and began his morning kata. The flows of movement laying to rest his uneasy thoughts.

Kick. Punch. Turn-reverse. Spin-kick. To-the-air. Flip. Left Kick. Right. Left. Barrel-roll Punch. Land. Back-hand. Roundhouse.

Hours he spent, perfecting his form. His art. His hobby, his joy, and his life all wrapped into one. Really, no matter what his life involved it always rolled back to the martial art that was his foundation.

Hi-kick. Roll. Jump. … Flip around for the fun of it for a bit. Jab. Jab. Haymaker. Land.

His own strange combination of katas and fluid styles from hundreds of different forms blended seamlessly, accentuating his flexibility and power.

Jab-twist. Uppercut. Ki-empowered swipes. Jump-kick. Fall to leg sweep. Amaguriken.

… Block?

Instantly, Ranma felt himself on the defensive as a heavy attacker barreled down on him. Impulsively, reacting at first, the strikes came like those of a restless hyena, without mercy or remorse.

A stray kick flew over Ranma's head and he reacted instantly; his enemy's kick was wild, and overbalanced. A perfect opening! His returning roundhouse flew faster then he could even think, but impacted with nothing but air. His opponent danced like water. The lopsided balance had been a ruse, and Ranma paid dearly as a heavy side kick impaled him in the shoulder.

He sprawled, rolling with the kick to minimize the damage, landing on his feet, cat-like reflexes aiding him, as his breath picked up.

He stared up, noticing his opponent's hesitation.

The enormous Panda was no fool. It knew Ranma's fury and vigorous ability with counterattacks. No. Any hit scored on Ranma was the only hit scored on Ranma. If anyone knew that, his pop did. If anything, the raven-haired boy seemed to take a personal offence to any scored hit and would return fire ten-fold in self punishment for the sin of allowing damage.

Genma was proud. His son knew the art, and was better then he was, even at this young age. He did not doubt that his son would surpass the master someday, but those thoughts were merely lingering in the back of his mind now. The main thought permeating the Panda's mind was how he was so unbearably happy that his son seemed to be alright.

The boy had been nigh on impossible to find. He'd searched all of Tokyo, but he'd never assumed Ranma would go too terribly far. Genma was not a man ignorant of that feeling of utter hopelessness and betrayal. He had seen his son's emotions while living at the Tendo's. And after Ranma had left, Genma bid them his goodbyes. The pact was ended, and would not be coming to light again.

Genma had once thought he would give his right arm to see the two schools joined at last. But, when faced with the loss of his son, he found that his right arm was little more then a passing interest; the joining of the schools? A trifle. A crumb.

The very real fear that had been developing in him that his son had actually lost himself to that depressed stupor and perhaps… Well, he had never let his thoughts run so far as to actually believe his son may commit suicide. But he knew his son, despite their seeming mutual disdain for each other.

Ranma had loved Akane. With all that he was. She'd betrayed him. She was an homerless wench in his eyes from that moment on and he did his best to show it at every chance he had. Nodoka had been worse!

That had been the final straw with his old friend. Ranma wasn't a knight in shining armor or anything, but dammit his boy deserved better. Adultery was the most honorless act a woman could commit, even though this wasn't technically adultery, it was damn close.

And so, that was the end of it.

Little more then a week after Ranma's departure, with no signs of a return in sight, Genma left the Tendo's. Much as it pained, him he did not think he would be returning.

Besides! He had other friends! Good ole' Katsuhito always was a fine old geezer! And he'd heard tell that he had a granddaughter these days! Or was that grandson? Meh. Didn't even matter! Hah hah!

Again. None of this actually crossed his mind as he fought his son, the entirety of his concentration pouring into the punches and kicks flying, and the sonic booms erupting in Ranma's wake.

Sonic-freaking-booms!

Crouching back in an almost unholy state, listening to his aging bones crack with the outstanding maneuver, Genma only had a tenth of a moment to realize that he had slipped up when the bottom side of a fist slammed into his gut. He took the hit as best he could, making sure to follow the basic forms, rolling back as far as he could with the attack, though it didn't help how his feet left skid-marks on the perfectly frosted soil at his feet. The frozen grass tips felt like hundreds of tiny blades against his heavy panda paws. It all helped little. He was feeling the burn already. Ranma hadn't been slacking.

Pity. He'd almost hoped the boy had been, just so he could beat him for once, but it appeared the opposite had occurred.

Ranma was charging in again. A deft and uncanny slide, along with that insufferably cocky grin led the small form of his son directly through and between his furry legs. Genma hauled to swirl around but even that backfired as the nimble little raven attached itself to his arm, swinging gracefully around him as if her were a sideways trapeze, flying around to his front, feet together in an outrageous kick.

Perfectly delivered to the same spot on his by now, aching gut, the Panda chocked inward on the howl he wanted to expel, while Ranma pogoed off his stomach, happily.

The Panda slumped while Ranma basked in his victory.

"Clumsy as ever pop. You're just not fast enough in that form. Might wanna adapt another heavier style into there, now that your speed's slackin'." Ranma tipped, surprisingly, in a completely non-derogatory way.

Genma pulled out a sign reading "That I might, son." in his usual rugged bold style of font. He huffed a bit, before finally finding his breath. Though his sides and lungs were still heaving from the ferocity of his son's attacks.

A moment of silence passed. Neither wanting to break it too badly. They stared at one another, the calm surroundings soothing both of them, while birds flew to the southern islands of Indonesia and Australia overhead.

Finally, Ranma gave a sigh and sat down on one of the rocks surrounding his still-slightly-smoking campfire. "Alright, Oyaji, lets get this over with."

Genma twitched as he too sat, and reached for the kettle there. Finding the water to be just warm enough, he dumped it on himself, transforming back to his normal form. Though he shivered a bit, he focused his attention on what was important. "Get what over with?"

"You're rant. I know you've got one. "Be a man, and forgive Akane!" All that crap. I know it's coming so just get it out so we can disagree and go on our way, okay?" Ranma fired off, starting a different kind of battle.

One Genma was better at, if only slightly.

The elder paused for a time, taking in Ranma's word while his son stewed in annoyance at Genma's pondering.

"Do you… really think I care for you that little, Son?" He asked, and was immediately greeted with an elbow plunging into his face.

"I'm scared shitless of cats pops. Cats." He replied, as if that said everything that needed to be said.

Genma sighed in reply. It pretty much did. That didn't mean he had no reason to be angry either! "I… Look, What Akane did to you was a dishonor of the worst sort. She is scum of the worst sort and I—"

"Don't talk about her that way!" Ranma bellowed, surprising even himself.

Genma flinched. He'd known his son's feelings for her had gone deep… he should've known better. Why, he himself had been betrayed once or twice before finding Nodoka. "I'm… sorry M'boy. I've left the Tendo's though. If you want we can return to your mother's or… just you and me on the road again."

A moment of odd silence passed between the two, both sets of eyes trained on the other.

"It's okay, pops. It's not like a loved the stupid tomboy or anything." Ranma gave in, making his father break out in a smirking grin. The tension seemed broken in an instant. The black-haired martial artist had a hard time keeping the utter shock at his father's apology from showing on his face, but somehow he managed.

Perhaps his son wasn't even as bad off as he'd thought.

"So!" Genma said in a way that implied a definite change of subject. "You've obviously been keeping up with your training. What else have you been doing Ranma?"

The old man couldn't help but notice the blush that crept up Ranma's cheeks. So! He'd met someone! Maybe that was why he wasn't in the depressed funk Genma had expected. He didn't hesitate in voicing his assumption. "So you've met someone. How is she boy?"

Ranma's blush reddened but he forced himself calm. "None of your business!"

"Can't a father look out for his son's well being!?" The old man questioned humorously.

Ranma burned, standing in fury. "One like you can't, baka-oyaji!"

Genma could do little but laugh while his son stewed in fury and embarrassment. He gave the boy a hearty pat on the back, glad and dodged a few half-assed punches that were his reply.

"I'm not letting you get in the way, pops!" The boy shouted, as he turned to the fire and began to coax it back to life to begin a breakfast.

For a time, Genma only laughed a bit more as he watched his son begin to cook as he'd learned to ages ago, while they'd been on the road. He thought of the turmoil he'd gone through; those stray thoughts that the boy might have gone and off-ed himself. That he'd never see his son again.

"I'm glad you're okay, son."

Hidden by his back, Genma couldn't see the smile that crept onto Ranma's face.

"Mae wo muitereba mata aemasu ka

Mirai wa doko edemo tsudzuiterunda

Ookina kanban no shita de

Jidai no utsuroi wo miteitai na."

"Aiyah! Airen sing too too good song! When Ranma learn to sing like that?" She questioned her companions in mute awe.

"No idea sugar. No idea." Ukyo replied, her own jaw gaping.

It was a strange friendship that they had developed, but it seemed that all it had taken was the absence of one gender-bending individual for them to all band together. Strangely enough the friendship, though it had been at first, wasn't really even feigned. Neither Ukyo, nor Shampoo felt threatened by Akane any longer, as she was quite adamantly with Ryoga. After that had occurred, Akane had found fast friends in the only other two sane female martial artists she knew.

Fast and strong friends. It was almost uncanny.

Shampoo and Ukyo though, had a slightly more… shaky alliance. They all wanted to find Ranma, though only Akane had reasons not involving dating or marriage anymore. Even so, with the boy gone, their friendship was becoming known to all. They'd even tried to hide it, but how could they? Their personalities were so similar that without a cause for battle, they were almost drawn to each other.

"Omoidaseba haruka haruka

Mirai wa doko mademo kagayaiteta

Kirei na aozora no shita de

Bokura wa itsu mademo nemutteita

Aozora no shita..."

The words drifted immaculately about the incredible arena, all eyes staring unrelentingly at the beautiful redhead singing in the middle. She wore a soft, intricate dress of a deep blue hue, sewn with designs of no known figure or item, swirling with every shade of blue imaginable covering the deep lowest shade. Gloves of a significantly lighter blue stretched all the way up to her elbows, while her shoulder hung exposed.

Hands clasped around a microphone she sang as none of those who knew her before could have possibly believed, finishing on one long low, almost sad note.

Silence held sway for a time after the final notes had been played, and instantly, the crowd burst into applause. A roar of hundreds of thousands of voices cheering unabatedly in praise for the voice and beauty of one Lakara Uundo.

Shampoo, Ukyo, and Akane, couldn't help but be one of them.

Nabiki, not one for cheering, stood in the background. Inwardly she wished she'd discovered and harnessed this talent of Ranma's long ago. If only she'd known!

Many of those who knew Ranma when she lived in Nerima were present. Many didn't even know the girl they now cheered for truly was Ranma, such as Daisuke, Yuka, and Sayuri.

Ryoga himself wouldn't have believed if he hadn't seen the girl not two weeks ago. Who could have known that this, lay under that damn bastard, seven months ago when he'd been nothing more than Ranma 'man-among-men' Saotome.

Who could have known?

Cologne, had known. She sighed dismally at another loss at the hands of Ranma, though this one the gender changing individual hadn't even known she'd been fighting. Cologne had known all along what kind of person Ranma could be once she finally let down her pride. She'd known from the very beginning. This beautiful girl, developed in the aftermath of heartbreak, was the very epitome of the Amazon she'd wished for.

Now though, she was lost, even though her great-granddaughter did not seem to think so. Didn't the fool girl realized that there had to be someone behind Ranma, pushing her to brave this? Someone who had replaced Akane in his… her heart?

Kuno, having been conspicuously absent from Furinkan as of late, stood somewhere far away from any of the others in the audience, his right arm wrapped dutifully around the waist of his black haired girlfriend.

"Ranma's so incredible, isn't she, Kuno-chan?" She asked, her voice saturated with amazement.

Kuno grinned. "She holds not a candle to your beauty, Misaki. Not a candle."

He leaned his lips in, kissing her in full amidst the raucous cheers and shouts.

Truly though, the only one who carried true fury in those of the Nerima crowd who had not been in contact with Ranma and now knew her identity as the second greatest idol star in Japan, was Mousse. In his eyes, there was no difference from this beauty to the man who had stolen his Shampoo away from him.

Well. Even he had to admit that that singing was damn good. Other then that? None whatsoever.

Thus prompting the incredibly unusual scenario that occurred during the endless array of cheers directed at the blushing girl. While none of the girl's held any want to interrupt this show, as the sheer number of people watching would be baffling, Mousse held no such compunctions.

"Ranma Saotome! Prepare to meet your end!" Cried the black haired hidden weapons master as he gracefully leapt above the stage, descending on the waving redhead. The words, and intent were almost completely drowned out by the sea of cheering fans.

Instantly, Lakara was gone, and Ranma was back. She dodged like a demoness, her dress not receiving a scratch as exploding eggs decimated the stage, and razor sharp yoyo's were dodged as if they were nothing.

Cologne sighed in dismay. Would that boy never learn?

Mousse landed and began throwing punches that were blocked or dodged seemingly without effort. Ranma hadn't been lax it seemed, but Mousse had trained harder than ever! This time he would win for sure, with all these people as witness!

"For leaving my dearest Shampoo and making her search for you for eight months, I'll make you pay, Saoto—Urk!" Mousse screamed, as he suddenly found a large cane impacted on his head, slamming him to the ground, dazed and completely out of it.

Ranma blinked, as a bit of the Lakara in her seeped back in her hand shockingly going to her mouth as she gasped. The crowd had not yet stopped cheering! They all thought it was part of the show!

"I'm very sorry, miss Lakara. For the trouble this dolt has caused you." Cologne sighed, balancing expertly on her cane.

"N-No problem at all! M-Miss—?"

Cologne grinned. "Cut the crap, Muko-dono. We've found you. I must say, you have an incredible voice."

Ranma blushed. "Uh… th-thanks Cologne."

Cologne pouted. "What? No 'Old Ghoul'? Hmph. And just when I was starting to like the nickname…"

Ranma giggled.

"Miss Lakara, it's time to go!" came a male shout from the back of the stage.

At once Lakara improvised. She grabbed Cologne and hugged her, causing a cheer for the "Old Lady, Savior." Ranma grinned inside, watching as the attention had shifted to Cologne. It was fun to watch others be in the spotlight, but she had to go. Futaba was waiting! She hoped he was impressed... but judging from the crowd's reaction, he probably would be. Oh, she hoped so, but she knew the other girl was a bit better in this arena.

She lifted a hand into the air in a goodbye wave, and began to walk off the stage. Cologne giggled this time, pogoing along after Ranma, waving in the same way, with a wide grin spread across her face.

Gliding off the stage into the building behind it that kept the roaring crowd at bay, Ranma quickly found herself and Cologne along with her ushered into a waiting stretch limousine. She dashed inside and found herself in a squeezing hug.

"You were amazing, Ranma-chan!" The black haired boy exclaimed excitedly. To Cologne's gaping surprise, the boy leant down and kissed the girl full on the lips, as she shut the door behind her.

They broke apart, slowly, and Ranma gazed up into the boy's eyes. "Y-you really thinks so?"

Futaba gave a definite nod along with a beaming smile. "Best I've ever heard!"

"Eh hem." Cologne interrupted, drawing their attention. "So… I suppose you are the one behind all this…" The elderly woman gestured to the fanciful articles of clothing worn by her 'once-son-in-law.'

Ranma blushed heavily, hand going to her chest in an completely unreasonable effort to cover what it was she was wearing. "I… well uh…"

"Yes, I am." Futaba said simply. "And you would be… Happosai?"

Ranma twitched. Cologne developed a glare that small woodland creatures would be killed by. "Boy. If you ever call me that name again, I will tear out your spine."

"Over my dead body!" Ranma cried.

Their eyes connected in heated fury and Futaba held up his hands. "C-cologne then? Right? Eheh!"

"Much better, though I would prefer you refer to me as Elder Cologne, weakling." Cologne said despondently.

"Hey, now." Futaba exclaimed indignantly. "I—!"

"Ranma." Cologne stated, directing her gaze intently towards the red-head.

Ranma blinked as she rolled her name around in her head. It sounded so weird when Cologne said it. She didn't think the old ghoul had ever called her by her name before. Regardless the woman always put her on edge.

"Y-yeah?" Ranma replied.

The old woman sighed. She'd supposed she'd scared the children enough. She'd had enough of these games. She wanted to return home. No more of this cat and mouse. Ranma was simply not a prey that Shampoo was going to be able to catch.

She would miss the dolt, though.

"I can safely assume that you will be against us taking you back to China, correct?" She asked, plainly.

"Over my dead body!" This time from Futaba. Hmm. Perhaps she'd underestimated the boy. Usually her aura alone scared little peons like this boy. At least he had some spine. A waste, though to be paired with someone so good as her ex-muko-dono.

"No. I won't be going to China, Cologne. Not now or ever." Ranma said in a straight and rational voice, showing a maturity that Cologne didn't think she'd ever heard in Ranma's voice before.

"I assumed as much when you first walked onto that stage." Cologne said with a sigh. "If I were a bit younger, I'd make you come, but I don't think the effort would be worth it. You always were a mediocre fighter anyways. It's no small wonder why you'd change to a softer art. That voice of yours sure is pretty."

Ranma twitched.

Futaba burned! How dare this woman insinuate that Ranma was weak? Sure, he knew he was! But Ranma was by no means the weaker of the two of them! Ranma could wipe the floor with this old bat!

Cologne blinked staring at Futaba. A blonde Futaba. "Well that is new!" She barked, laughingly. No wonder Ranma had been drawn to this girl! Heh heh. They were practically perfect for each other.

Futaba blinked too. She'd barely noticed the change, but when Cologne pointed it out she couldn't help but realize what had happened. Damn emotions! The shock evaporated the anger in all parties almost instantly.

"Driver! Let me out here!" Cologne ordered suddenly.

As the limousine pulled to the side of the now-fan-less road, Cologne turned back to the two girls focusing her eyes on the well-dressed redhead.

"I suppose this is goodbye. You would have made the best Amazon I could imagine. And I'd have loved to have you as a great grandson. Just… so you know. So goodbye. Ranma."

Cologne gave one final sigh. She wasn't looking forward to breaking this to Shampoo, but she was tired, and this had been the final straw. She wouldn't let this evolve into another battle between fiancées. She was too old for it.

And if it had been this difficult to separate Ranma from a girl he denied even liking, how hard would it be to separate him from a girl like this?

Frankly. Impossible.

And with that, she opened the door, and left.

"W-wow… I didn't know she cared…" Ranma breathed, staring out the tinted windows at the retreating form of the elderly woman. "Heh. You wouldn't have been so bad as a great grandmother. Old Ghoul."

Futaba just grinned. They'd been preparing for meeting Ranma's old acquaintances ever since they'd met Ryoga, but neither of them had predicted anything happening this easy. "One down!"

Ranma giggled again as they kissed.

They didn't notice the driver tilt the mirror subtly.

A/N: Hello all! It's been forever! Well. This story is starting to spiral to a close too! Bout three fifths done now and getting ready to converge the timelines. Still a ways left but the end is in sight.

So, if ya liked it leave a review! It's a fun write and I must admit, while it started as little more then something to pass the time it has developed into one of my most well-liked fics! I'm quite glad for it.

Annoyingly enough, my current system of scene breaks for this story is no longer useable as the hyphen is no longer available for use in uploading, so i've switched to the usual line used in most of my other fics that ff dot net offers us.

One final note. Japanesse lyrics milked from Kingdom Hearts II's main theme "Passion."

Thank you all!

Till Next!

MB