Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / You're Under Arrest Fan Fiction / Tenchi Muyo Fan Fiction ❯ Officer Saotome ❯ What Goes Around, Comes Around ( Chapter 5 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

IMPORTANT!!!!!!! If this is the first time you're reading
this fic, you must read starting from Chapter 1 completely
first! This story will seem very ridiculous and out of
place if you don't.

This fic is a crossover with Ranma and the Tenchi
OAV/Universe series. Hopefully you readers know some basic
knowledge about both Ranma and Tenchi:) Compared to movies,
I would rate this as a "R" fanfic, because of some of the
harsh language used. This ain't a lemon though, I don't plan
on having any sex scenes at all.

*Special Note. For those of you who are not mature enough to
handle extremely graphic descriptions of violence and gore,
I suggest you do not read this chapter. You have been
warned. But if you like that kind of stuff, go on ahead.*

Here are a few things you must know while reading this:

-For all of you readers, PLEASE read the notes at the end of
the fic before you start flaming me for things that you
don't understand or think is bogus, my notes just might
answer all your questions. If that doesn't do it, feel free
to pound away at my mailbox.

-The Ranma aspect of the story takes place after manga 38
and the Tenchi aspect takes place after the TV show/OVA.

-At the end of manga 38 Ranma was at the end of his
sophomore year in Furinkan High School and the year is set
to 1992. Don't ask why, I chose that particular date out of
convenience. This is to punctuate the times that Akane and
Ranma met during their lives.

-Also Ranma still has his curse, but his female form has
black hair (like the manga) and is now just as tall as his
male form.

-For now in this universe Ranma's curse is accepted just
about everywhere with a quick explanation by Ranma. Don't
ask why, it just makes the story easier to understand.

-Ranma will seem very out of character, but you have to
completely read from the first chapter to understand why.

-SgtRanma

Please visit my website at http://sgtranma.anifics.com! New
fics will always appear there first! And I update often!

------------------------


Chapter 5: What Goes Around, Comes Around


April 19th, 2001.
Back alley, Kyo's Corner Arcade - Okayama, Japan. 12:42 PM.

"We got ourselves a live one here!"

Ranma hurried out of his car and ran to the big trash
dumpster where Kiyone was crouching next to a body.

"What do you got, Lieutenant?"

Kiyone signaled Ranma over to what looked like a wooden
handle stuck to the back of a young kid's head. The kid was
wearing what looked like a school uniform, complete with a
light jacket. Kiyone sighed and rolled the kid over to his
front.

"I think he's still alive," Kiyone said. "He has an
irregular pulse. Paramedics are already on the way."

Ranma gave a hard look to the young kid's face, he
couldn't have been more than seventeen or sixteen years old.
He was most likely a kid still in high school. The kid had
some streaked yellow and blue hair dyed into his wild,
juvenile haircut, complete with gelled up spikes. It was
amazing how much more liberal kids of yonder were these
days.

"What do you guys know about him so far?" Ranma asked.

Kiyone turned the kid over, his blue blazer flipped
open, and his legs and arms twitched slightly. The kid let
out a ghastly moan from his lips, an almost gurgling sound.
Any attempts to resuscitate him now would be left to
paramedics.

"The kid ain't gonna make it," Ranma said grimly. "He
has an ice pick or some kind of rod stuck in the back of his
skull, he's probably if not already going brain dead," he
sighed. "Why the fuck is there a dead kid here behind a damn
arcade alley? I thought I wouldn't see any of this shit
after leaving LA," he said, blowing a frustrated breath and
swinging his arm and gesturing towards nothing in
particular. Seeing young kids getting killed still
penetrated morbid feelings into the depths of Ranma's cold
heart.

Kiyone winced at Ranma's cold comment, yet he was
telling the harsh truth. She searched his body anyways
despite moving around his body and decreasing his already
low chance of survival. She reached inside a jacket pocket
and smirked, she pulled out several crude needles and small
packets of heroin and cocaine.

She held them out for Ranma to see. "I guess whoever
killed him was sloppy at getting rid of any incriminating
evidence. We responded to a kid who dialed for emergency
services when he saw the body. He thought he was just
unconscious. We told him the same thing and told him that he
was no longer required."

Ranma nodded, and opened up a pig plastic evidence bag
for Kiyone to put the drugs in. At that moment, an ambulance
came through the alley with sirens and lights blazing. It
wasn't one of those huge American style ambulances with the
big box cab in the back, it was just a regular passenger van
converted with medical equipment.

"Damn." Ranma looked over to Kiyone. "I'll tell them to
transport the kid to a hospital or to a coroner if he's
dead, in the meanwhile I want you to ask around the local
people, the schools, probe anyone who could have info on
this little drug dealer." Ranma sighed. "I guess we'll have
to cancel dinner together tonight."

Kiyone nodded and started walking away with a note pad
in one hand and a pen in the other.

"Oh yeah, and lieutenant?" Kiyone turned her head
around for a moment. "If it is required, you are to
interrogate with the utmost efficiency," Ranma finished, his
voice cold and void of emotion.

Kiyone nodded with a stiff look in her eyes. She knew
exactly what he meant.


* * *

April 19th, 2001
38th floor War Dept. - Jap. Defense Agency - Tokyo, Japan. 1:50 PM.

Nabiki typed furiously away on her computer keyboard,
inputting info onto a computer database that was secured
inside of her computer only.

Her office was quite large for someone of her position,
a GS-10 level civilian government worker. Nabiki had lied to
all her friends and family about her occupation as a vice
president of finance for some bigwig corporate company. It
wasn't all a lie; she was involved in finance, albeit for
the Japanese government. The Japanese Defense Agency, in
fact. Director of Finances and Assets. Many saw it as quite
an oddball occupation. But unbeknownst to those who did not
know, this young brunette controlled every single firearm
and every single bullet that came through Japan by sea or
air. That didn't necessarily mean she knew much about the
weapons that she approved, she didn't know jack shit about
them actually. She was a master at managing money. Guns and
tid bits about them were someone else's concern. She did
what she knew best, managing money, and the handling of
sensitive information. This was HER niche.

So of course the room had to be large, not because she
was an important person, but because her room required lots
of hardware that aided in the security of all that sensitive
information that passed through her computer day in and day
out. She had a corner office, with a great view of Tokyo, 38
stories up. But the windows were pitch black from the
outside, and coated with several layers of polycarbonate
film and a thick layer of almost indestructible polymer on
top of that. Enough to stop a barrage of high power rifle
fire before the steel armor inside of the office covered up
the windows for further protection. It wouldn't do if a
sniper decided to take her out from an adjacent skyscraper.

The Ice Queen loved her money, but she loved the power
as well. For someone so young, at the age of 27, Nabiki
commanded a lot of authority. Not just the power of money.
That was chump change compared to what she could do with the
power of supreme authority over the majority of the public.
THAT was something money just couldn't buy. The power of
supremacy was an earned privilege.

Nabiki paused for a moment and took her hands away from
the keyboard. She leaned back in her big, ergonomic office
chair with cheap cloth trim, not the luxurious Italian
leather clad executive kind that she wished she could have.
Oh, how she would treasure the feeling of buttery soft Nappa
leather with rich walnut armrests, and a huge executive desk
lined with laser cut glass and the finest gold trim for all
her drawer handles. She just loved thinking about all the
high class, impractical, goodies she could have, just for
the hell of it. Who gave a shit if it was all superficial
happiness anyway? But that's life, Nabiki knew that. Beggars
can't be choosers.

The thought that Ranma was a lot higher than her in
rank put a frown on her face. Heh, the more she thought
about it actually the more she scowled. A dumb jock idiot
like him held one of the highest-ranking military/police
positions in the country. Nabiki on the other hand had
worked savagely and mercilessly to climb her way up to where
she was now.

"It's no use thinking about something that's already
happened," Nabiki said absently to herself. She heaved a
heavy sigh and placed her slender fingers back on the
keyboard.

She had to complete these orders when she had the time,
or else someone would notice what she was doing.

RING RING.

Nabiki stopped and looked at her telephone before
picking up the receiver.

"Moshi, moshi."

"Is this Nabiki Tendo?"

"Director of Finances and Assets, JDA Agent Tendo
Nabiki. How may I help you?"

"Why hello, Nabiki."

Nabiki frowned for a moment, her hand moved to the
telephone, which was fused to her desk, and pressed a big
red button. The earpiece emitted an audible click,
confirming a switch to a secure channel routed to a digital
signal scrambler that deterred eavesdropping. From there on
the digital phone transmission would be passed through an
encoding machine that carefully made sure to add a bunch of
random garbled signals and alphanumeric binary codes to
further mix up the call. But that wasn't the end of it
either, it passed through a shit load of other gadgets
unknown to the users of the phones. It was practically fool
proof.

"Who is this?" Nabiki asked suspiciously.

"You know, there is no replacement-"

"-For cubic displacement. A saying said by many
automobile enthusiasts. How UN-clever a password." She
sighed mentally at the ridiculous catch phrase. "You're the
liaison for the contract, yes?" Nabiki said cautiously,
cleverly choosing which words to say to prevent her from
being arrested in case this phone was somehow being tapped.

The voice on the other line laughed. "Why yes. I wanted
to have an update of the shipment."

"A small amount already has been sent, I'm sure you
already received some instructions."

"Yes we did."

"Check the location given tonight after midnight,
everything should be there. I'll send the rest like I have
agreed to later on. For now I will only give you a small
portion of what you have asked for, more than enough I
hope."

"Yes, it is. We will give you the rest of the money as
promised right before you send us the rest of the shipment.
We have already put 10 million yen in the account you gave
us, I hope that will satisfy you."

Nabiki closed the window to the database she was
working on and accessed one of her bank accounts on a secure
internet line. She smiled at her newfound cash. "Thank you."

"Nice doing business with you Agent Tendo."


* * *


April 19th, 2001.
Forensics Dept, National Police HQ - Tokyo, Japan. 2:00 PM

The rubber clad forensic scientist casually pulled the
white sheets off several corpses on steel examining tables.
The stench from one of the bodies was horribly repulsive,
both Kiyone and Ranma winced. The scientist was fortunate
enough to have a filtered surgery mask on.

"What have you got for us guy?" Ranma asked.

"I've got about enough info on all these bodies to help
out officers," the scientist said. He picked up a clipboard
full of notes from a table and handed some papers to Ranma.

"What can you tell us?" Kiyone asked.

"That there's an amazing coincidence, that's what."

Ranma perked his head up from looking at the papers in
his hand. "Eh? What do you mean?"

The scientist gave a grin that showed even with his
mask, and pointed over to the dead pregnant women and the
dead drug dealer from last night. "These two homicides are
OBVIOUSLY connected to each other. This poor woman is the
wife of a narco cat, and this poor bastard was the person
was the guy interrogated by that detective."

Ranma winced at the mention of a cat, but maintained
his composure.

"What I'm guessing according to what you two have
submitted, is that the woman was killed to deter any further
investigation, and the guy was killed to get rid of some
loose ends. I'm also guessing you guys were already at the
same conclusion, correct?"

The two detectives nodded. "Go on, I still don't see
anything new, you're basically repeating what I wrote in my
fucking report," Ranma said, slightly irritated.

"Hold on, I'll get there," the scientist said, taking
his mask off. He tried his best to ignore Ranma's
intimidating censure.

He walked over to the other body they had found today,
the kid with the object in the back of his head. "The
motives and people for these two murders are completely
different from the dead kid you found today. But..."

"But what?" Kiyone said.

The scientist picked up two little plastic bags of
white cocaine from a counter. "This bag of narcotics," the
scientist shook it to point it out, "is the sample you gave
as evidence when you arrested Misano." He shook the other
bag. "This bag is from the kid you found a couple hours ago.
The chemical signatures are IDENTICAL."

"What?!" Ranma and Kiyone exclaimed.

"That's right. Identical. These two homicides and the
one from a couple hours ago were committed for two
completely different reasons, but the cocaine chemical
structure and mixture is identical. And you know what that
means."

Ranma gave a small smile. "They're from the exact same
supplier. We got ourselves a lead."

Kiyone gave a smirk too. "Can you tell us more about
the bodies though doc?"

"Yeah, I was gonna get to that. Nothing much to say
about the pregnant woman, she was stabbed first then smashed
in the skull. Nothing unusual or special, except for how
brutal her death was. The other one, Misano Hashimoto, was
shot twice in the back of the head, close range execution
style, two .380 slugs on the ground, and ejected casings.
Fired from a very crude pistol, I might add. The shells were
quite dirty and scratched, most likely from the extractor.
And the firing pin signature on the primer is very light.
All features of a poor handgun. I put all these notes in the
papers I gave you."

Ranma nodded. "What else?"

The scientist pointed out some various bruises on
Misano's corpse. "He was tortured, for one thing. Beaten
quite heavily, most likely for intel. Then probably
whacked."

"I doubt the guy knew much, he certainly didn't know
who I was," Ranma said.

"The kid you found a couple hours ago, however, is a
different story. We've already ID'd him. His name is
Kusanagi, Hotaru. Only 17 years old, high school student.
The wooden handle in the back of his head was actually an
ice pick," the scientist said. He shook his head sadly.
"Poor kid, died suffering. My diagnosis says he was stabbed
last night, but he was still alive for hours on. He did
become brain dead after a while though. By the time you guys
must've found him he should have been a vegetable."

Kiyone breathed a nervous sigh. "Poor kid. Can you tell
us what high school he came from? All the people I
interrogated confirmed he was a drug dealer, but no one knew
where he was from." Kiyone scowled mentally, rubbing her
reddened knuckles. She had to punch and beat the shit out of
several thugs that she talked to on the streets for even
that much info.


"Well, that's an easy one. He's from Furinkan High
School, down over in the Nerima district."

"What?!" Ranma's eyes opened wide, he grabbed the
scientist. "He's from Furinkan High School?"

The doc tried to shove Ranma off. "Yeah, I confirmed
that."

"What a coincidence, the name of the supplier that
Misano confessed is also a student at Furinkan," Kiyone
added.

Ranma stared wide eyed at Kiyone as well. He sighed and
turned to the scientist.

"Thanks for the info doc. I want you to put these
bodies in the morgue, but make sure you don't make it public
that they're dead, is that clear?" Ranma asked.

"Yes sir, Detective."

-----------------

Ranma and Kiyone got back into their car, a brand new
Mitsubishi Legnum VR-4. It looked like a very inconspicuous
vehicle, an average station wagon in a very conservative
pewter color. But for those who knew their automobiles, the
Legnum VR-4 was a serious sports car, a perfect sleeper for
the streets, surprising those who undermined its
performance. Ranma's big Chevy looked out of place in Japan,
and it was unsuitable for undercover duty. It was basically
the government's gift to Ranma for being generous enough to
work for them, nothing more. There were enough huge full
size trucks around Tokyo from the American army base for the
car to be seen as a legitimate government vehicle. Commander
Takayama had given him instant approval and access to
another car.

"So Ranma, why were you so surprised about that high
school kid?" Kiyone asked. She was curious as to what was
going on inside of Ranma's mind.

Ranma sat in the right hand side driver's seat, he
hadn't started the car yet, he was tapping the steering
wheel pondering something. "Kiyone, the bodies we found
yesterday are still being held secret right? Held from the
media?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I put out a media blackout like you
ordered. And Detective Juzo is under some psycho care at the
moment, he won't be doing anything rash for now, he's very
unstable."

"Good. Good. Keep it that way."

Kiyone looked at him for a moment, still waiting for an
answer. "You still didn't answer my question Captain."

Ranma looked over and stared at her eyes, he seemed to
have been thinking something. "That kid's high school,
Furinkan of Nerima, is where I used to attend."

"......" Kiyone blinked. Her eyes tightened. "You've
gotta be kidding me."

"Nope," he answered simply. "I'm not. I'm guessing
you're thinking exactly what I'm thinking, right?"

"Let me guess, going undercover as students there?"

Ranma nodded with a smirk. "I know a teacher there who
will probably help out."

He brought his hand to the keys in the ignition and
twisted. The engine came alive with a high-pitched growl and
a vacuumed whir from the turbochargers, signaling their
spooling. Ranma shifted the manual gearbox to reverse and
started driving away, carefully modulating his left foot on
the clutch and his right on the throttle. "Oy, the Japanese
National Police doesn't let you use firearms, right?"

Kiyone shook her head. "No, they don't. All part of the
strict gun control in Japan."

"You know how to shoot a firearm?" he asked with a
grin.

"Ha!" Kiyone let out a laugh at Ranma. "I've been a cop
way longer than you have, working in different parts of the
universe. I can hold my own in marksmanship."

"Is that so?" Ranma unlatched the holster for his Sig
Sauer P226 from his back and handed the pistol and holster
to Kiyone. He also pulled out the suppressor for it from his
jacket. "Use this as your piece, it's the one Washu tweaked
for me so you'll never have to reload it. There is a laser-
aiming module that is built in to the guide rod, you
activate it by pressing the latch release button on the
right side of the frame. The silencer should come in handy
too."

"You know, that sounds so cheesy. Like something out of
an action movie," Kiyone smirked, not noticing the gloomy
look on Ranma's face at the playful joke. She pocketed the
suppressor and examined the full sized pistol in her hand.
It was light enough and felt very solidly built in her hand.
It didn't excuse the fact that it was still horrible
compared to her GP issue blaster. "This is such a primitive
gun, light years away from Galaxy Police weapons."

"Ehehe..." Ranma sweatdropped. "It works fine enough
for me."

"How do you work it? Besides pulling the trigger? It
has these 3 levers on the left side, and who knows what.
Only thing I recognize is the hammer, magazine release and
the trigger."

"The lever on the farthest left is the disassembly
latch for field stripping. The middle lever is the slide
release, and the lever on the left side of the gun grip is
the hammer decocker. The gun works on cased ammunition, you
pull the slide, it loads a round by pushing a case from the
magazine to the feeding ramp and onto the barrel. You pull
the trigger, the hammer lands on firing pin, which lands on
bullet, and poof, the gun fires. When the magazine is empty,
the slide stays locked back and open after the last shot,
which you won't have a problem with this gun, since Washu
made it so that it never goes empty," Ranma finished. He
took a deep breath from saying all of that at once.

Indeed it never goes empty, he thought. That night when
he was going home from the Masaki's he stopped on the side
of the road in the mountains and spent thirty minutes
straight shooting his gun at the ground with his silencer
attached. He must've fired about seven hundred rounds before
he stopped. It boggled him to no ends as to how fantastic it
was.

"Oh, I see. I know how to use these. I thought I
remembered something about them. I read about them in
ancient history books at the Academy."

"......"

----------------

April 19th, 2001.
Classroom 1F, Furinkan High School - Nerima, Japan. 2:46 PM.

"So, you've moved up to the senior classes, Hinako-
sensei?"

A young and hyper Hinako flurried around the room with
candy in her hands along with some kind of doll strapped to
the top of her head.

"Wai, wai! Saotome-kun! It's been so long since we've
seen each other!" Hinako cheered. She had a huge cutesy
smile plastered on her kawaii face.

Ranma arched his eyebrows and tried to give out a smile
to cover his irritation toward Hinako-sensei's behavior in
her younger form. He rubbed his temples slightly to get rid
of the habitual frustration he formed whenever he was with
Hinako-sensei. Even after 9 years since he first met her,
she hadn't changed much. Still acting like a little kid in
her younger form, she now looked to be in the early teens
instead of a prepubescent adolescent.

"Anyway, Hinako-sensei the reason we're here is
because..."

"Let me guess, you want to become a teacher like me?
That's so wonderful Saotome-Kun! Wai!" Hinako cheered.

Kiyone chuckled with her hand around her mouth. She was
leaning against the wall near the doorway observing teacher
and former student talking away. Ranma had warned her
beforehand about the peculiarities of Hinako, but she didn't
think it would be as bad as he said it would be.


Ranma gave out a sigh. "Actually Hinako-sensei, we came
here for something else."

"Oh? What is it?" she asked with a cute smile.

"It's quite a serious matter, we came here to
investigate the activities of a possible criminal in the
school campus," Kiyone said, stepping forward.

"Eh?" Hinako turned to face Ranma.

"Yes, we're detectives sent to investigate," Ranma
nodded. He hoped the Hollywood-esque description of who they
were didn't sound too corny.

"Oh, ok then. Happo go yen satsu."

Hinako sat down on her desk chair and pulled out a
five-yen piece. She aimed it at Ranma and drained his
energy. He was caught by surprise, oddly his reflexes didn't
react to Hinako's slow actions since it had been so long
since she had drained him.

"Ack!" Ranma stood helplessly as Hinako drained out his
aura. It wasn't as bad as during his teen years since he was
much stronger now, but it still felt tiring. No, hold that
thought. It felt like shit.

Hinako's body turned bigger, more mature, and of course
the small clothes she was wearing as a child stretched
almost to the point of bursting. Ranma mentally sighed as
his strength withered. Everything was still the same.

Kiyone was unfazed by the transformation of a small
child to adult. Weirder shit happened in the Masaki
household on even a boring day.

"So Ranma-kun, what is it that's so serious?" Hinako
asked in her sultry voice.

Ranma stumbled around for a moment, still fazed by the
draining of his ki. He smacked himself in the head and
focused his tired eyes.

"Well, first of all, I gotta tell you what we are.
That's my partner over there; her name is Kiyone Makibi," he
pointed out. "We're both detectives, she's a lieutenant from
the Japanese National Police, I'm a captain from the
National Security Agency."

Hinako gave an impressed nod and smirk to Ranma.
"Sugoi, you've turned into a law man! So that's what you did
with all that studying and hard work."

"Eh, it's a long story. Back to the subject. We need
your help to stay undercover inside of Furinkan. Can you do
that for us?"

"Hmmm..." Hinako frowned. "I want to have some more
details on what you two are investigating."

Kiyone went up closer to the teacher's desk where
Hinako was sitting to talk to her directly. "This past week
there has been a string of murders around Okayama, we traced
them to some narcotics dealers and a lead points out to this
school. We are suspecting that there is a student here who
is a drug liaison for some big drug dealer somewhere around
the Okayama or Tokyo area."

"A drug dealer here? Surely you're mistaken," Hinako
nervously said.

Her reaction didn't go unnoticed by Ranma. "It's true.
We can't tell you how exactly we came to that conclusion,
but we need your help to clean up the crime here. Will you
cooperate?" Ranma asked.

"Of course, I'll do whatever is necessary to rid this
school of delinquents."

Ranma smiled and pulled out a folded note from one of
his pockets and handed it to Hinako. "Here's a list of
things we want you to take care of, they should be pretty
easy. I'll take care of the rest. I also want you to know
that every word that has been said in this room is
confidential, and you tell no one Ms. Hinako. Starting
tomorrow, we're going to be enrolled seniors in Furinkan
High."


* * *


April 19th, 2001.
Living Room - Tendo Home - Nerima, Japan. 6:25 PM.

"Itadakimasu!"

Akane sat down in between Ryoga and her older sister
Kasumi who happened to be visiting along with her husband
Tofu. The two had married about a year before she and Ryoga
had, and even then Ranma had not come over to Japan to
attend the wedding, even though he was sent an invitation.

The entire table was gorged with platters and platters
of food, all made by Akane. Years and years of hard
persistent practice paid off. Everyone forgot about her bad
cooking, thanks to constant lessons from Kasumi.

Genma and Nodoka were present too, it was the first
time they had come over since Ranma arrived in Japan. They
had called beforehand that they were going to visit to have
a conversation with them. With Tofu and Kasumi, Ryoga,
herself, and her father, Akane had agreed to make a feast
for dinner. In fact the only person who couldn't make it was
Nabiki, who said she was far too busy with a certain project
to join them.

Soun, Akane, and Ryoga always acted humble towards the
Saotomes, after all, they were being extremely generous in
even bothering to associate with the Tendo's, let alone
eating dinner together. Although Genma and Nodoka didn't
have any hard feelings towards Akane, she and her father
Soun were still very uneasy around them even after 5 years
of her relationship with Ryoga. After all, it was almost
entirely Akane's fault for dishonoring the Tendo family, yet
the reason why the Saotomes didn't spit on their family name
and kill Ryoga was because Ranma had explicitly told his
parents to forget about it, that their honor should be of no
concern to the Tendos anymore and that it was none of their
business.

"So, Auntie and Uncle, what brings you here?" Akane
asked while scooping some rice into a bowl.

Nodoka laid her bowl and chopsticks down on the dining
table and folded her hands on her lap. She looked sternly
over to Akane and Ryoga. "We have come here to discuss some
matters between you and Ranma. Since it's been nearly 2
weeks since he came back to Japan unexpectedly, we figured
we should hurry up and talk to you about it."

Genma nodded quietly next to his wife. Actually,
instead of sitting here having a serious conversation with
the Tendos, he much rather wanted to finish his dinner as
quickly as possible and have a shogi match with Soun. But
his wife had clearly explained to him what would happen,
polishing her sword in front of him to let him know how
serious she was.

"What is it you'd like to discuss, Saotome-obasama?"
Ryoga asked. He was feeling very tense, he tried to show his
best smile towards the matriarch.

Soun, Tofu, and Kasumi stopped eating and put their
eating utensils down on the table. They gave their utmost
attention to Nodoka and stood silent.

Nodoka cleared her throat, and quietly sighed. "It's
been two weeks since Ranma came here. I know that for all of
us this was quite a shock as well as a surprise," Nodoka
said. She looked over at her husband, and then fixed her
eyes on everyone else around the table. "Genma and I
couldn't be any happier, but it seems that even in the first
day he arrives here he seems to have gotten into an
altercation with this family," she said, in a cold voice.

Ryoga bit the inside of his cheek to keep from
frowning, his temper started to rise. "Excuse me," Ryoga
said snottily, "but--"

Before he could even finish his remark, Nodoka abruptly
cut him off. "Silence! Wait till I am finished please!"
Nodoka said sharply. These kids were just way too spoiled,
she thought.

The others, including Genma, were taken aback and
flinched. Ryoga shut his mouth tight, droplets of fear
perspiring through the pores of his forehead. Everyone there
knew that they should watch out for Nodoka when she was mad,
only because they DIDN'T KNOW what she would do. It could be
anything. The contradicting feature to that was also the
fact that the Saotome matriarch was a kind and gentle person
as well.

"All of you know that Ranma disappeared 4 years ago and
he lost touch with every one of you here. The only thing you
did know was that he became a cop somewhere in California.
What you don't know is the amount of stress he went through
while living there," she said.

The others nodded in return. Akane and Ryoga, on the
other hand, were trying their best not to pale at her
statement. They had already received a small glimpse of how
his life had been like.

Nodoka fixed a strong glare towards Akane, and
especially at Ryoga. "Even though he didn't speak to his own
parents much, he did tell us of some the problems he
encountered while living there. For the few days he's stayed
with us before moving out to Okayama, he was thoughtful
enough to tell us of some of the horrible things he's seen
and experienced, and yet... even now I still think he hides
his past from us. And that I can't do anything about."

"Oh my," Kasumi let out. "What happened to him while he
was in America Saotome-obasama?"

Soun lit his cigarette and took a strong puff, he
didn't have much of an appetite anymore, since BOTH Saotomes
had come to visit them. He sagely nodded, and looked towards
Genma and Nodoka. "What is it you would like us to do
Nodoka? We'll do anything you ask."

"We're not here to intimidate you, Tendo," Nodoka
replied harshly. "We're here to set up a truce, a treaty if
you may."

Lifting his cigarette away, Soun nodded. "Go on."

Before Nodoka could explain, Ryoga snapped in. "Hold on
there, what kind of treaty are you talking about Mrs.-"

Without even finishing his question Ryoga stopped as he
felt the tingling of cold steel caressing the base of his
throat.

"You'll hear everything you need to Ryoga-kun," she
gently said. "If you're a good boy and listen, you'll hear
everything you need to. For now, be a proper young man,
like my son would be, and allow me to speak," Nodoka coldly
said. The atmospheric temperature shot down to hell for a
couple moments.

Genma shifted nervously on his tatami mat, his wife's
cold hearted expression left him shaking in fear. How ironic
it was for a male who lives on the principle of being a man
among men. He looked over to his friend Soun, who was tense
as well. He hoped his wife wouldn't ruin the prospect of a
shogi game between him and Soun.

"Now, as I was saying. We need to make some amends with
each other for Ranma's sake." Nodoka pulled out a small note
from a pocket and unfolded it. "I wrote down a couple of
reasonable edicts for us to follow. I'm hoping the rest of
you will agree."

The sound of two people (namely a certain young couple)
gulping a lump down their throats could be heard across the
dining room.

Tofu and Kasumi sat in their places with the biggest
smile they could possible plaster on their nervous faces.
Kasumi winced internally as she watched Ryoga and Akane's
uneasy body language. They were practically screaming,
"CRAP!"

However, it didn't excuse the fact that they both
deserved this anyhow. Kasumi was VERY upset when Tendo honor
was compromised, if there was one thing she treasured along
with her family's love, it was her pride and honor. It was
by a slim miracle on Ranma's part that he didn't place the
blame on the Tendo's.

When people heard through the grapevine of what had
happened between Ranma and Akane over four years ago, they
were flabbergasted. For some reason, everyone who knew him,
whether they would admit it or not, acquired a newfound
respect for Ranma for being as merciful as he was. For a
person who spent the last couple of his years studying his
ass off for a girl he loved with all his heart, he took it
pretty well when she stabbed his heart and stuffed it down
his throat from a fucking platter.

Kasumi glanced at her husband, who was at the moment
sweating through the phony cheer on his face as Nodoka
talked to all of them. Getting married and breaking away
from her family for her own independence changed Kasumi
quite a bit, despite how protective Tofu was of her. It had
taken him a while to get over his zaniness for her, but he
eventually got the balls to ask her out once he finally got
the sense that neither of them were going to get any
younger.

In the background, Nodoka droned on and on about how
Ranma should be handled, and what precautions everyone
should take against him. Everyone sat patiently listening to
her every word, Akane was flushed red with shame and Ryoga
looked paler as every second passed by. Through all her talk
and rhetoric though, it really just narrowed down to a
couple of things. Do not provoke Ranma into violence, do not
bother or harass him unnecessarily, and try to make peace
with him somehow.

Twiddling his fingers, Genma let out a small sigh as
his wife made some finishing remarks to her long speech. It
had gone on for only about ten minutes, but it felt like
hours. Oh, if only at times like this he wished he could
temporarily have his panda curse. He could tune out the rest
of the world and not care a whit about the problems that
surrounded him.

"--and that is all I have to say on that matter. I have
nothing else to add," Nodoka finished. She immediately had a
kind smile on her face. "Now, let's enjoy this fine meal
that Akane has cooked for us."

The others let out their breaths, looking visibly
relieved. Genma being his hungry self started shoveling down
the food in front of him (although not as rudely as he used
to, with the vacancy of Ranma to fight over with). The
others started into some small talk and their chitchat,
talking about nothing in particular.

Akane looked over to her husband who was chatting along
with Tofu-sensei about martial arts and healing remedies.
Soun and Genma seemed to be talking about how much they were
looking forward to their Shogi game after dinner. Kasumi-
oneechan and Nodoka-obasama seemed to be talking about
cooking.

Not feeling much of an appetite, Akane sat to herself
picking around her rice and eating a couple of small bites.
She was pondering about what Ranma was doing right now.
Nodoka eventually noticed Akane.

"Dear, what's wrong?" the elderly woman asked.

Akane perked her head up and looked at her, scrambling
in her mind for something to say. "Oh, nothing, obasama. I
was just thinking for a second," she said lamely.

"Oh? What is it?"

"Um..." Akane bit her lip for a second, debating if she
should ask or not. She went with the former. "I was
wondering where Ranma lives right not, since he doesn't stay
in your house."

This caught the attention of the others, and especially
Ryoga, who had a scowl on his face.

"Well, as a matter of fact he has a condo up in Okayama
Akane-chan. Me and Genma were thinking of going there
sometime this week," Nodoka said smiling. "Would you like to
come with us?"

"I'll have to give you a rain check on that, obasama.
Thank you though." Akane looked over to Ryoga who had a
questioning look on his face.

"That's no trouble, dear. You tell us immediately if
you wish to join us."

Akane slowly nodded her head. "Yes, obasama."

---------------

After dinner was over, Kasumi and Akane cleaned off the
dining table while everyone else parted to do their own
thing. The two sisters stayed behind in the kitchen to wash
and dry the dishes.

While Genma and Soun were starting off their match and
Nodoka and Tofu talked about herbal therapies, Ryoga quietly
snuck into the kitchen behind Akane and Kasumi.

"Hey Kasumi, I'll take care of the dishes, it's my duty
as a host," Ryoga said.

A slightly startled brunette turned around to give
Ryoga a smile. "There's no need, Ryoga-kun, I enjoy doing
this."

"No, no, I insist. Please, let me take care of it,"
Ryoga smiled back.

"Well, thank you." Kasumi wiped her hands and arms with
a towel and left the married couple in the kitchen.

Akane watched as her sister exited the kitchen and
Ryoga dipped his arms in the sink to wash the dishes.

"Ok, Ryo-chan, what did you want to talk to me about?"

Ryoga didn't take his eyes off the dishes. "I was
wondering what we should do about what Nodoka-san told us,"
he replied.

"Ah..." understanding dawned her face. "Yeah, me too. I
guess we have to try to make amends with Ranma somehow, Ryo-
chan."

Ryoga's brow wrinkled slightly, his voice getting taut.
"I don't like that. I still have to beat him down and make
him pay for what he did to me."

"What he did to you?" Akane frowned at the bandanna
boy. "Ryoga, Saotome-obasama may be right. I mean... think
of all he must've been through while he was overseas. We
read his psychology reports and his videos with our own
eyes, he's been scarred for life."

While most people would think that a person would
mature as he/she gains wisdom and the experience of events
through the course of time, Ryoga just wasn't one of them.

"So what? That bastard has made my life miserable! I
trekked for years on my own with no one to help me out or
care for me or..." Ryoga looked over to Akane's pupils, with
a soft look in his own eyes.. "...or no one to love me.
Ranma was the cause for all of that! He bullied me in junior
high, humiliated me through our teen years, and even now...
Even a couple of weeks ago he comes back, ruins a happy
occasion, insults everyone there, and to top it all off he
breaks my damn arm." He pointed out his flexible elbow
splint, which was worn as a precaution in case his joint
dislocated again.

Akane shook her head and exhaled a breath of
frustration. "Jesus, come on Ryo-chan, we have to be careful
now. You know what I mean. I don't want to be Ranma's enemy
forever, I don't want to have bad blood among us because of
our stubbornness. Please tell me you won't do anything rash
and regretful, okay, honey?"

Ryoga shook his head and sighed. "All right. For you,
Akane-chan. You know I'll do anything for you."

With that, the shorthaired girl gave a smirk and
tiptoed to give her lover a sweet kiss to the lips.


* * *


April 19th, 2001.
Outside Kiyone and Mihoshi's Apartment - Okayama, Japan. 4:30 PM.

"I'll pick you up tomorrow, remember to dress in the
right stuff and find a way to hide your piece, if you can't
call me and I'll try to get a holster for you," Ranma said.

Kiyone nodded and grabbed her purse from the backseat.
"So, tomorrow morning, at 6:00 AM?"

Ranma scratched his head. "Yeah. I'm gonna go and set
up some undercover ID's for ourselves, and a place to stay
in Nerima temporarily in case anyone gets suspicious. You go
ahead by yourself with Mihoshi and take care of the
homicides that have been assigned to you."

"What are you going to be doing in the meantime?"
Kiyone asked.

"I have to report to my commander, he beeped me for
something."

"Oh, ok then," she nodded off. "I'll see you later
then, bye."

"Ja ne."

He shifted the car out of neutral and whipped the
Legnum around to make a U-turn, waving to Kiyone as he drove
past her. This car was equipped with a crudely installed GPS
system that was tacked onto the dashboard, unlike his Chevy
Tahoe, which had an instrument panel that neatly integrated
LCD screen on the console. This car actually had a laptop
module with a modified keyboard glued on.

He pressed one of the preset buttons on the receiver,
pinpointing and routing a direct course to JNSA HQ in
downtown Tokyo. Ranma frowned as he saw the data computing,
according to the CPU's calculations it would take him an
hour to get to his destination, especially in the rush hour
traffic.

Ranma paid no attention to the speed limit posted on
the street signs and downshifted the car from fifth to third
gear, in the blink of an eye he double-clutched (his
meticulous martial artist precision allowed him to be quite
a skilled driver) and perfectly matched the RPM while
slamming the throttle, causing the engine to howl loudly and
the car to bog and surge forward as the turbochargers kicked
in and picked up on the lag. "Might as well get a move on
it..."

----------------

"Stick it up your fucking ass why don't ya!?"

"Why don't you make me you fucking blind ass
cockroach!? It was my right of way!"

"Fuck you and your ugly fucking momma!"

"You son of a bitch!! I'll kill you!"

Two men climbed out of their mangled cars in the middle
of the street, clogging up traffic in the middle of downtown
Tokyo. The two jumped on top of their crumpled hoods and
duked it out with each other, throwing raging punches
wildly, in an effort to draw first blood. It seemed that
when the traffic light turned green one of the drivers had
tried to make a U-turn while a car from the other side was
going straight. The two met head on, shifting the cars
perpendicular to the street.

A dull gray Mitsubishi station wagon rounded the corner
block, the driver a dreary eyed irritated woman glumly
steering with one hand while trying to wipe water off her
face with the other.

"I can't believe this. I CANNOT believe this. How the
hell does that damn ladle lady find me? How? And in the
middle of Tokyo for crying out loud!" a red hot Ranma-chan
smacked her forehead in disbelief. The entire right panel of
her door had droplets of water beading off, and the window
was rolled all the way down.

Ranma absentmindedly kept her car straight on course;
she didn't notice the traffic pileup that was accumulating
in front of her. Of course, there were no other cars in her
direction; it was all on the other side, leading to a
collision course with the two men rumbling on the hood of
their cars.

One of the disgruntled drivers was about to execute a
sloppy uppercut on the others face when he saw a station
wagon speeding straight towards him with no sign of
stopping. The other guy turned his bruised his head to see
the same thing.

"Holy shit!" both blurted.

"Nani?" Ranma-chan blinked and her eyes opened wide in
comprehension. "Holy shit!"

Ranma instinctively double clutched and shifted the car
into first causing the engine to brake the engine, slamming
her brakes and swerving her car to the left while yanking
her parking brake lever as hard as she could. The car
skidded on its side, swiveling wildly, the tires smoked out
and screeched loud enough to paralyze the two men on the
hood.

"Damn it!" Ranma tried everything she could to get the
car stable, it screeched to a halt centimeters away from the
two men and their cars.

Ranma looked out from her driver side window, seeing
how close she was to a TC. "Whew..." she sighed. She checked
to see if her transmission was mangled from the emergency
stop, fortunately it wasn't.

Both of the men who were fighting forgot what they were
doing for the moment and kneeled to face Ranma-chan with
bewildered looks on their faces.

"You stupid bitch! Watch where you're goin'!"

"Dumb fucking broad! Are you fucking retarded or
something?"

Ranma looked up with an irritated look on her face, her
destination was only a couple of meters down in the
underground parking entrance, she did not need another
obstacle after 50 minutes of driving in slow city traffic.

"Hey bud, it was a small mistake, gimme a break will
ya?" Ranma-chan sighed.

Both men sneered back at her, too enraged in what had
happened to notice what a knockout beauty she was.

"Fuck you bitch!" the man closest to her whipped his
arm to backhand Ranma-chan across the face.

Ranma-chan grunted her disapproval as she caught the
hand and twisted it to have the back of the hand pushed away
against the wrist. The man screamed in pain, his body
slipped to the side as his body squirmed.

The other man threw a clumsy punch towards Ranma's
face, aiming downwards from his awkward position on the hood
of the car. She merely pulled her head back and let the fist
fly past her. Ranma elbow jabbed the man fast and hard
impacting his jaw, she then pushed him away the best she
could and grabbed his head, slamming it through the
windshield of the car he was on. She noticed that the man
with the injured wrist was recovering and attempting to make
another strike, so she made a vice of her hands on the guy's
throat, activating a pressure point to send an overflow of
blood to one of the veins, causing him to pass out.

"Damn you two for wasting my time," she huffed. Ranma
picked up the receiver for her radio that was attached to
the center console and pressed a button. She brought the
mike to her lips and clicked the transmitter. "Tokyo Metro,
Tokyo Metro, please come in, this is a federal agent
transmitting, unit 5-King-90-16." Ranma had the opportunity
to choose any alphanumeric ID she wanted, she had chosen her
old one that she had gotten used to while working in LA.

The radio chirped back. "Tokyo Metropolitan Police, go
ahead."

"Yeah, I have two guys here who assaulted a peace
officer and a TC in front of the west wing of JNSA
Headquarters, requesting a patrol unit to reprimand them,
over." Ranma peeked over to see the two guys still
unconscious.

"10-4, Bokutou Traffic Division units are on the way."

Ranma snapped the receiver back to its plastic holding
rack and pulled her car away from the traffic collision. She
maneuvered around with her code 3 lights blaring to plow
through the sidewalk. She entered the garage of the JNSA
after showing her identification to a couple of heavily
armed sentries around the perimeter.

After parking the car and getting out, she headed
towards the elevator and into the lobby, where she had to
walk through to yet another elevator, one which was
restricted to only high ranking officers. Being a captain,
Ranma fell under this category.

She didn't notice the appreciative looks and the ogling
she was receiving from the men around her, and the jealous
glares of the OL's and female operatives who were walking
past her or being passed by her. Even the arrogant ones who
considered themselves beauties were shamed by how perfect
and damn good looking this 6-foot stranger was. And this was
all through Ranma's masculine clothes she usually wore in
male form.

After years of having a curse, Ranma sometimes just
forgot that she was transformed into a girl; after all it
was her own body. And after years of not having any fiancees
chasing after him, she didn't pay much attention to people
who checked him out for his/her looks.

She eventually came to the 46th floor, the Public
Safety Commission operations floor. Each floor of this
skyscraper was huge, some of them specially made to
intertwine staircases with adjacent upper and lower floors.
Ranma headed off to a large steel door outside the elevator
and in the corridor. The door had no knob, just a large
control panel next to it that had a retina scan, latent
scan, and a magnetic card scanner. The sign read, <Maximum
Enforcement Unit Command>

"Please identify yourself," an electronic voice
indicated.

Ranma pulled out her NSA card, and slipped it into the
scanner. She then put her hands on the latent scan and she
stuck her face in the rubber molding for her eyes.

A laser beam flashed through her eyes and a blue light
shimmered at her hands, a green light illuminated brightly
on the machine.

"ID confirmed. Welcome, Captain Saotome, Ranma," the
machine chirped.

"Weird shit..." she said, walking through the opened
door.

She walked in and out to a large area, there was a
flurry of people working on their computers and carrying
around files and boxes. They were all civilian workers
however, none of them were field agents. Ranma noticed the
vaulted armory across the huge room was open, yet nobody was
going near that area. The reason? No one would ever dare go
into a field agent's territory.

"Oy, Ranma! Over here!"

Ranma turned to see Commander Takayama waving to her
through an open door in another room. She walked over to
greet him.

"Hello, sir. What was I called here for?"

Takayama gave her an appreciative nod, looking her
over. "I must say, you look pretty damn fine in your female
form. First time I've ever seen it."

Ranma blinked. Oh yeah, she was splashed as she was
driving here, it didn't even occur to her to change back.
Old habits died hard. She idly wondered how Takayama
recognized her in girl form.

"Sir, where is Captain Saotome? I thought you said he
was a boy," said a voice from behind.

The commander stepped to the side, revealing a young
man with a crew cut and black tactical clothing. From first
glance, it looked like he was physically fit and muscular
underneath, and he was an intimidating 6' 3" tall. He had a
condescending look in his eyes, he seemed to be glaring
straight at Ranma, who was ignoring him at the moment and
looking at the commander.

"Commander, who's this?" Ranma-chan asked.

Takayama replied, "Meet your new partner, Ranma. He's
a-"

The young man cut the commander off. "My name is
Sergeant Jackson Samamoto, ex-French GIGN operative and
current JNSA MaxFor Agent," he arrogantly said, particularly
emphasizing the "GIGN operative" part. "And who are you?
We're expecting a Captain Ranma Saotome." He was giving a
chauvinistic ogle to the gorgeous girl in front of him.

Ranma gave him a glare. "He's already here," she said.

Takayama sighed and stepped back from the two, letting
Ranma introduce herself.

Ranma pulled out her mini Washu-thermos (he couldn't
think of any other special name to give to the contraption)
from her left pocket, she positioned it on top of her head
and pushed the red button, tilting her head back so that the
warm water would splash only her face.

In the course of a second her entire body morphed, the
clothes that were previously loose now fitted perfectly
well, Ranma's chest swelled down and now had a masculine
bishounen face. The soft, shiny hair from his girl form was
now a follicle of thick and rough hair, giving him a rugged
and handsome look.

Takayama nodded his head with an appreciative look.
Jackson on the other hand had eyes that were as wide as
saucers and a brain that seemed to be jammed in neutral from
the overload of what he just saw.

"Sugoi, sugoi! I've never seen you actually transform
in front of me before, it's quite an amazing feat to see!"
Takayama said excitedly.

Ranma wiped the excess water off his face, he rubbed
his eyes and faced his superior officer. "I've had it happen
so many times, sometimes I forget whether I'm in girl form
or boy form," Ranma said.

A few feet away from them was a flabbergasted Jackson,
his brain finally shifted out of neutral but it seemed now
to be parked in reverse. "Who-wha-when...how the hell did
you change from a girl to a boy!?" Jackson stuttered.

The now male Ranma gave a grin. "It's a curse. I'll
explain it to you later."

The elder Takayama had a huge grin plastered on his
face, he leaned over to Jackson and whispered something
lengthy in his ear. The young man's face dawned
comprehension, although his eyes still seemed a bit weary.

Jackson narrowed his eyes and fixed Ranma with a stare.
"So, it was true. You do have some kind of magical or
spiritual power that allows you to change genders."

Ranma ignored Jackson's glare, turning to face
Takayama. "So, where'd he come from?"

"He's one of the twenty two other MaxFor agents in this
country, he's been working for us for about four months
before you came. Unfortunately you're one of only three
agents who have any investigative experience and Jackson has
none," Takayama replied. Jackson seemed to scowl a little at
the last comment. "The other two are barely adequate at it,
not to mention they're both on the opposite ends of Japan.
So you're the only capable agent I can depend on."

"So, what's his background?" Ranma queried.

"His parents are Japanese and he was born here, but the
entire family moved to France while he was still young. He
went into the French Army after applying for citizenship,
eventually making his way into their top counter-terrorism
unit, the GIGN. He can speak English, French, and Japanese
very fluently, we recruited him the same way we recruited
you, and offered him Japanese citizenship," Takayama
finished.

"Is that so?" Ranma nodded. He turned to face Jackson.
"Do you know anything about me?" he asked.

Jackson nodded haughtily. "Yeah, you're the hot-shot
detective from the Los Angeles Police Department over in the
U.S., and some sort of martial artist," he said. He narrowed
his eyes. "You're the second in command of MaxFor after
Commander Takayama?" Jackson asked incredulously. He
couldn't believe this pigtailed guy who was only a year or
so older than him was one of the most authoritative figures
in Japan.

"You know," Ranma sighed, "I know what you're trying to
do, and I don't like it, so just shove it, capisce?" Ranma
replied back with one of his eyebrows raised. "I know you
think I'm some low-down, dinky, donut eating flatfoot who
got a lucky break just cause he's a nip detective in
America, okay? You and your pansy little French GIGN ass can
just suck it. I bet you've never even seen a second of real
combat in your entire service period."

The taller ex-French commando buckled slightly under
Ranma's overwhelming glare, he felt his knees weaken a
little but his pride didn't fall back. "Don't talk to me
like that you piece of shit! I'll take you on like a rag
doll!"

Takayama merely watched in the background, sighing to
himself. "I'll be in my office boys!" Takayama said. He
walked away leaving the two to themselves.

Ranma nodded, then stepped back gracefully as a
powerful but uncoordinated punch was swung across by the
opposing entity.

"Heh! That's a lot of hot air there don't you think?
Are you sure you can take me on like rag doll?" Ranma
scoffed. "Come on, gimme your best shot."

Jackson executed a fairly good sweep kick followed by a
roundhouse kick, swinging and shooting his arms out so he
could grab Ranma in an offensive body throw. "Don't worry,
I'm just getting warmed up!"

"Oh?" Ranma started shuffling his feet like a boxer,
bouncing himself left and right, almost dancing. "You're
wasting your time with all this fancy footwork, and you
still haven't touched me."

"Hmph, is that all you are? A boxer?" Jackson charged
Ranma with a powerful forward punch driving in all his
strength.

Ranma smirked, pouncing forward like a cheetah, his
right arm extended and horizontal. His forearm knocked
Jackson smack dab on the face, making him fall backwards and
hard on the floor. Ranma immediately hopped backwards right
next to Jackson's downed body and jabbed his fist at
Jackson's throat. Jackson croaked loudly, the muscles in his
diaphragm contracting in shocked surprise by the painful
blow. He rolled around for a few minutes, croaking in
agonizing pain.

"Don't be such a drama queen you little baby, I pulled
that punch so that you wouldn't even get bruised. You should
really learn how to fight before you even think about being
my partner. I'm gonna have to toughen you up," Ranma said
disgustedly.

Jackson eventually got to his feet, his shoulders
slumping in defeat. There was no way he could get Saotome
back, at least for now.

"Come on, let's get to the commander," Ranma suggested.

One walked and one limped over swiftly to a large
office that was in a corner of the floor, adjacent to the
armory. Inside was a large luxurious office, lined with
soundproof walls and surrounded by heavily tinted windows.

Takayama gestured the two to a seat in front of his
desk. "Get over here you two, I hope you're done fuckin'
around."

"Hai," both replied crisply.

The elder agent nodded, he pulled open a drawer and
threw out a case folder across the desk for Ranma and
Jackson.

"I've called you over here for two things, Saotome,"
Takayama said. He leaned back in his large chair. "First of
all, I've gotten wind of the case you're working on over at
Okayama. I'm pretty sure they're giving you their full
cooperation, no?"

"Yes sir," Ranma replied.

"Good," Takayama nodded. "In your daily report that you
turned in this afternoon you mentioned that there's evidence
of firearms circulating around, and there is a plausible
reason to believe that there is a professional cleaner
somewhere on the loose. This has raised a few eyebrows over
in our bureau as well as the Japanese Defense Agency. You
know who those pricks are right Saotome?"

Ranma didn't understand where he was going with this.
"I actually don't know too much sir, all I know is that they
are the only military capable force we have in Japan."

Takayama opened up the folder on the desk and laid out
each document for both Jackson and Ranma to see. "What
troubled us is the fact that you found .380 rounds that were
used on another person to end his life. Also contributing to
that is the fact that heavy narcotics are involved. The
rounds that were used in the .380 match that of the ones
used by some old police precincts in the country. I've
already contacted the Japanese National Police HQ, I've
forced the case over to our bureau so now it's a national
security matter."

"I'm already investigating the case sir, I have a
homicide detective in Okayama helping me out," Ranma stated.
But something tugged at his mind. "But why is it a national
security matter, sir?"

Jackson sat by on the sidelines trying to follow the
conversation; only problem was he didn't know what the fuck
they were talking about.

Takayama put his hands up and nodded. "I know, I was
pretty sure you were already on it. I'm just saying that
along with this case I need you to carry out a couple of
night assignments. Some reconnaissance, if you will. We need
to take care of a few weeds and sneak out a little intel.
The national security part you don't have to worry about for
now."

Ranma raised an eyebrow. "What do you want me to do?"
he asked suspiciously.

"You should be familiar with this." Takayama pulled out
three documents from a drawer, each profiling a different
person. "These three goons are heavily affiliated with a
Yakuza ring controlling several prefectures in the greater
Tokyo area. We don't have actual hard evidence, but enough
to know that they're running a heavy load of drugs, more so
in the past month, and they're making a fucking killing in
profits off the streets. It extends even to Nerima, in case
you were wondering."

This definitely got Ranma's attention.

"These two bastards here," Takayama pointed out, "are
drug lieutenants and info couriers for their crew boss. The
third guy however is a top notch bloodsucking, son of a
bitch lawyer. They're all bad guys pretty much, we've caught
them doin' things they shouldn't be doing, and we need to
sacrifice them for key reasons. Doing this will trigger some
activity within this particular Yakuza family and we'll be
able to investigate further as they operate. JDA Internal
Affairs and the NSA believe that they're financing some kind
of weapons operation, possibly firearms, by some unknown
faction that we have yet to hear from."

Ranma nodded. "Alright, how do you want me to whack
'em?" His voice showed no questioning or hesitation to his
own cruel words.

Jackson's eyes bulged slightly, but the other two
didn't notice.

"I really don't give a shit actually, you can do
whatever you want. But the trick is, I want you to
assassinate them in a way so that this Yakuza faction will
think it's a rival gang, or something like that," Takayama
shrugged. "And as for the lawyer, he should be carrying a
suitcase of confidential files that'll help us determine how
they're financing their dope. So remember to get that."

The pigtailed boy cautiously read over the files.
"Let's see, both these assholes have outstanding criminal
records, the lawyer has been suspected numerous times of
bribery and illegitimate activity..." He nodded and gave
Takayama a look of approval. "I'd say these guys are
scumbags. Triangulate where they are and I'll take them out
tonight."

Jackson's face turned a shade whiter, but the other two
still didn't notice.

The commander gathered up the documents and stuffed
them back into the folder, handing them to Ranma. He gave
him a nod and looked over to Jackson with a small frown.
"What's wrong, Sergeant? Looks like you've seen a ghost
son."

"Huh?" Jackson shook himself out of his reverie. "It
was nothing sir, I was just pondering something that's all."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever, let's get out of here shall we?"
Ranma signaled over. He looked back to his superior. "I need
to pick up a couple more guns from the armory Takayama-san,
is that fine with you?"

"Sure," Takayama replied. "Just make sure you sign them
out."

"Hai."

The pigtailed boy opened the door and proceeded to walk
out, with Jackson right behind him.

"Oh yeah, Captain, by the way?" Ranma looked behind to
see his boss with an evil grin. "Make sure you kill them
real messy. The sloppier the better. Those Yakuza bastards
can't tell a rifle bullet from a pistol round, so use
whatever you want."

"Uh..." Ranma stammered a little. "Sure, if you want I
guess."

Ranma walked out and shut the door behind him, Jackson
overheard the commander and his face was starting to get a
little sweaty with anxiety. Ranma didn't really notice, he
was headed straight for the armory. The armory was as huge
and impressive as Ranma remembered it from a couple of weeks
ago when he first came here. Except this time he had to
answer to a person behind a counter.

"Can I get some help here?" Ranma asked.

A young lady in a light blue officer's uniform looked
up from the manga she was reading. "What can I help you with
Captain?"

This seemed a little awkward, it wasn't like going to a
grocery store and asking for a slice of porterhouse.
"Anou... I need some guns I guess."

"What is it you would like?" she politely asked.

Ranma looked over to Jackson, who was patiently waiting
for Ranma. "Yo Sarge, you go first actually."

Jackson nodded and stepped forward. "I'll need an IMI*
Desert Eagle .50 AE pistol, a Walther PPK chambered in
7.65mm, an M60 with a box mag conversion, and an MP5SD A2
fitted with nightvision, infrared, dual laser sighting,
digital zooming, pressure plate flashlight, and a heat
sinker on the barrel. All of them with 2 spare clips each,"
he said boastingly.


Ranma sweatdropped heavily in the background, his jaw
dropped and his face turned into a frown. What the hell was
up with this fucking cherry? His choice of weaponry was very
amateurish and unsuited for their particular line of work.

"What kind of ammo would you like outfitted for your
firearms sir?" the young lady asked.

The sergeant frowned. "What? Just give me rounds that
fit the calibers of the guns I told you."

"I know that sir, but what kind of ammunition would you
like chambered in them?" she asked again.

"You know, the regular ones, the ones that shoot out
with loud noises," Jackson said, confused and frustrated.
The young girl behind the counter stifled a sigh as well.

Ranma intervened. "Just give him some full metal jacket
rounds for the 7.62 hog and the strongest hollowpoints you
have for the rest."

"Hai!" she chirped, relieved. "Are you ready with your
order sir?"

"I need a Ruger MK-II .22 with an integrated suppressed
barrel and with tritium night sights. I don't need any spare
clips." Yeah, he could just get a mod job by Washu. "And
load it up with aluminum jacketed tipped rounds, something
that won't cause too much penetration but doesn't deform.
You have something like that?"

"I'm pretty sure our gunsmiths can accommodate you
Captain," she said. She tapped on her keyboard and pointed
both men out. "I'll have these delivered to you immediately
to your car sirs. Thank you!"

The two headed out and hitched a ride on the elevator,
going down to the garage. Jackson frowned at Ranma, looking
down at him. "You picked out a wimpy little pea shooter?
What the hell for? Do you carry anything else?"

Ranma lifted up part of his shirt to reveal his mundane
police issue Beretta neatly packed in a tan leather holster
right at his hip. "We're peace officers, not commandos. I
don't need a cowboy's arsenal to fuck me up around here.
Personally I think you went overboard with a couple of those
guns you picked. Remember we're in Japan, not a war zone.
What the hell are you going to do with all those extra
accessories on your SMG* if you can't even use your own
eyes?"
*SMG - Submachine Gun

"Shows how little you know," he snottily replied.

"You're gonna regret it, I'm telling you now. And as
for why I chose a tiny peashooter? Let's just say they're
really handy in some situations," Ranma replied. He didn't
want to waste his time bickering with this knucklehead. "By
the way, you never did answer me. Have you ever experienced
any real combat yet?"

Jackson hesitated for a moment, and then continued
walking. "Uh, yeah. Of course! I've seen plenty while I was
with the GIGN. Way more than even you I bet!"

"Really?" Ranma looked at him incredulously. "I hope
you're telling me the truth. I don't want you to become a
liability if you hesitate in the field."

"I'm telling the truth here," Jackson cautiously said.
He silently gulped; his pride was getting the best of him.

"When Takayama contacts us for the hit, I'll come pick
you up from wherever the hell you are and we'll go together,
understood?" Ranma told him.

"I got it maestro."

Ranma sighed as his cocky newfound partner walked to
his car. "You fuckin' prick," he muttered under his breath.


* * *


April 19th, 2001.
Nekohanten - Nerima District - Tokyo, Japan. 8:02 PM.

"Hmm...so the first battle of the American Revolution
was in Lexington, and the Civil War ended in 1965 at
Appomattox, the US entered into Somalia in 1993..."

A blue haired girl was sitting in an empty table in the
corner of the large Chinese restaurant, doing the homework
that was assigned to her from the local community college.
She put the pencil she was holding against her lips, it
didn't make much sense to her as to why she had to learn the
history of a country she had no interest in.

"Shampoo, where did you put the ginger?" a male voice
from inside the kitchen asked.

The beautiful Amazon put her pencil down, brushing a
hand through her silky lavender hair.

"I think I put the ginger in the far right cabinet at
the bottom," she replied in almost perfect Japanese.

"Oh, I see where it is. Thanks, Shampoo."

Shampoo scratched a side of her head and closed the
American history book she was studying for a test that would
be tomorrow. She pulled out her Japanese grammar textbook
out of the book bag she had next to her and flipped it open
to study it next.

A longhaired and well-built Amazon boy walked out of
the hallway of the kitchen, strolling his way over to where
Shampoo was. There weren't any people in the restaurant
tonight, except for one lone person who was eating dinner by
himself.

Shampoo looked up to see him sitting down across from
her, he was wiping his hands off with a towel after cooking
all day.

"Are you ready for these exams tomorrow, Mousse?" she
asked.

"I need to review some areas myself," he said, smiling.
It still amazed him how a little bit of educating corrected
Shampoo's ridiculously impaired spoken Japanese.

After Ranma had disappeared four years ago off the face
of the planet, with his parents not telling anyone anything,
Shampoo had no fiancee to chase after or rival acquaintances
to quarrel with. The three years that Ranma had spent
overseas for college was excused by their elder Amazon
matriarch Cologne, she believed it was important that Ranma
received a good education to train his mind and not just his
body. He didn't need any distractions to throw him off.

So therefore Mousse and Shampoo were perplexed as to
what they were supposed to do. Shampoo had no one to chase
and Mousse had no one to fight off. Oh sure, the others in
Nerima had the same problem, but they at least were going to
school or doing something for their future.

But in reality, the truth was that Shampoo and her
grandmother simply could not afford to travel all the way to
the US in a fruitless attempt to search for someone in a
land that spans over 3000 miles wide. Cologne had plenty of
access to money from the Amazon homeland, but it would
probably have been wasted.

Thus the reason for Shampoo and Mousse's enrollment in
a community college. They weren't capable of applying to a
high-end college such as Tokyo U, they had to study
rigorously for the community college alone, and they left it
at that. Cologne had no problem whatsoever to either of them
expanding their intelligence, she was already busy herself
running the Cat Cafe, handling Nyuuchiezuu matters from
overseas, and giving a moderate effort in trying to find
Ranma, wherever the hell he was. Because Mousse and Shampoo
had to run the Nekohanten while going to school, their
schedule was compromised, and it forced them to take years
of college. But in the past couple of weeks, now that Ranma
was back in Japan, Cologne was spending a lot of time to
herself trying to find any info that she could about Ranma.

But this was none of their concern, at least for now,
Shampoo and Mousse had to study.

"So, how far did you get?" Mousse asked.

"Not much, but I think I got the history down and I
have to study just a bit of the grammar," she said. It took
some effort to talk well, and most of the times she could
have a normal conversation with a native Japanese person
without being mocked. However, sometimes when she was
excited or panicked her grammar broke and she reverted back
to her old clumsy style of talking in the third person.

"So are you confident about everything?" he asked. He
took off his glasses and rubbed his tired eyes while trying
to read the history book Shampoo was using before.

"I guess," she lamely replied. She blew away a stray
strand of hair that was on her lips.

Mousse looked a little concerned, Shampoo seemed to be
more tense than usual, even if there was a test the next
day. "Is there something wrong? You look uneasy about
something."

The usually perky Amazon was slouching a little; she
blinked a couple of times, the strain on her eyes apparent.
"I was thinking about Ranma, and about all of us," she
replied to Mousse. The blind eyed Amazon boy had stopped
pestering her a long time ago, they actually became even
closer as friends while Ranma was gone, although not much
had progressed on the romantic side.

"What were you thinking about?" Mousse asked in
Chinese. These sorts of conversations required some complex
talking that they just couldn't achieve with their Japanese.

Shampoo looked straight at him with a serious face,
leaning against the table with her arms crossed in front of
her bosom. "I was thinking about the incident at Ukyo's
restaurant with Ranma challenging great grandmother like
that," she said in Chinese. "I just can't shrug off this odd
feeling that something bad will happen as time goes by. Just
look at him, my perspective of him has changed a lot; I
never thought he would go against her like he did.
Threatening to kill someone so brutally is something the
Ranma I know would never do."

Mousse frowned; obviously she had also pondered the
situation at hand as he had. Ranma's violent and vicious
behavior towards Ryoga and Cologne were something completely
out of this world. "Your grandmother has been fueled by
either rage or vengeance since that day, she's been trying
to get information about his life overseas ever since."
Cologne was either trying to find out a way to kill Ranma or
get him to marry Shampoo by analyzing him. Either conclusion
was something Mousse did not want to happen.

"Her interest in him is growing again," she simply
said. "Weird how things always seem to turn back into the
way it was."

"Still... for a guy like him coming back after years
and years... he probably has a bitter feeling towards us,"
Mousse pondered.

Shampoo snapped her finger. "I know! Let's set up a
welcome party for him! Something to make him feel welcome! I
bet he'd love it."

"Eh? What?" Mousse said hesitantly. "I don't know
Shampoo-"

"Don't worry about it you stupid duck, I'll find out a
way," Shampoo scolded.

Trying to conceal the frown on his face, Mousse walked
back in the kitchen nodding his head in defeat.


* * *


April 20th, 2001.
Daihatsu Corp. Factory Plant #6 - Yokohama, Japan. 12:06 AM.

Gear cogs and broken piles of steel pipes littered the
floors of the abandoned warehouse, reflecting what once used
to be an area where people flourished in their work areas,
creating motors and other automotive mechanical parts for
cars and bikes. But with different economic fluctuations and
changing times, this old Daihatsu factory faced it's end
years ago, with the owners unable to salvage anything.

It was a dark and abandoned area near the harbor and
kilometers away from the closest town. Perfect for secret
activities.

"Shinji, I think that's the box. Go check it."

Two men followed by a small horde of others navigated
their way around the trenches of steel, they all wore
regular street clothes, and all were regular thugs, the kind
you see on the streets.

The two men were higher level Yakuza operatives, the
family they worked for entrusted them to do tasks that
required high risk.

"I found it Heero. Give me that crowbar."

Heero ordered his men to stay put, while he went to
Shinji to hand him the crowbar. "This is it, it's our
payday."

The young men cracked open a large and dusty wooden box
that was placed underneath a pile of rubble, it was
specifically placed to make it look as if it were from the
factory. The top splintered, allowing a cleverly built in
seal to be broken apart, allowing the sides of the box to
neatly fall back in place.

"Hol~y shit," Shinji said, breaking out a huge grin.

"That bitch actually delivered," Heero added.

The other men were giving their own "oohs" and "ahhs"
as well, it was an impressive cache of weapons that was
stored in there. A bundle of brand new M16A2 assault rifles,
five used M60 machine guns that were abandoned by the US
Army, and twenty HK USP .45 Tactical pistols, which were on
top of boxes and boxes filled with ammunition.

The two Yakuza operatives gawked in awe at the awesome
firepower, an impulsive urge to use them growing within
them. But before that, they had an important phone call to
make first.

After fumbling for a couple of minutes for a phone
number, the call finally went through, handled by Heero.

YAWN. "Hai, hai. Who is it?" a tired voice asked.

"Daihatsu corporation, volatile materials division."

She immediately woke up on the other end after hearing
the code words. "Yes, this is JDA Agent Nabiki Tendo."

"We've received the shipment, it looks like everything
is in place."

"Ah," Nabiki smiled, pleased with herself. "You need
instructions for the rest of the shipments, yes?"

"Yes we do," Heero replied. "How many more are there?"

"Two. One again tomorrow, and the other one I have yet
to set up."

"How big is tomorrow's shipment, and where do I pick it
up?" Heero asked.

Nabiki chuckled, "Same time, same exact place. Oh, and
you'll need a lot more men than what you probably brought
now, since the shipment will be around ten times bigger than
what you received tonight."

An evil smile crept onto Heero's face. "I'll be looking
forward to it Tendo. As soon as tomorrow's shipment is in,
we'll deliver your full payment as the contract promised.
Good night."

"Oyasumi."


* * *


April 20th, 2001.
Some crack lab house - Juuban District - Tokyo, Japan. 12:07 AM.

Tonki and Ghiro walked out of their little crack
factory in one of the many slums in Tokyo, it was a sleazy
place turned bad because of drug dealers liked them. They
carried their duffel bags full of heroin and cocaine in
small pouches.

Once again tonight they were determined to sell it all
off, making a killing off of teenagers and young men and
women alike at popular hangouts and night clubs.

These two were the roots of the many chains their
Yakuza family controlled, it was a large source of monetary
funds, gained quick and easy. They kept two percent of
whatever they made every night, the rest were turned up the
hierarchy of the Yakuza family they worked for. Being the
prime drug lieutenants in the area, the ones who knew them
feared them, for they were ruthless and merciless to whoever
disturbed them. That included another Yakuza faction which
was nearby, they constantly tangled with each other, but
neither side really went in for the real kill. Their crew
boss had warned them repeatedly that one day they would
probably have to fight to the death, but these two arrogant
young men didn't really care.

Ghiro pulled out the keys to the 1995 BMW 740iL that
was parked on the curb, it was bought from the blood money
him and his partner conjured up from unsuspecting college
and high school students.

Tonki settled himself into the soft leather passenger
seat of the Beamer, closing the door with him. "I sure could
use a blowjob after we're done with tonight."

"We'll stop by one of those cat houses before we head
back home then," Ghiro snorted, climbing into the driver's
seat.

As soon as he started up the engine, he snapped in his
seatbelt, and reached for the steering column to turn on the
headlights.

When he saw the light brightly illuminating the cluster
of bushes in front of him, the last thing he saw was the
glass of his windshield cracking at his chest level.

A barrage of silent gunfire violently smashed into the
old BMW, the trajectory of the bullets were mainly aimed at
the windshield where the passengers were.

Ghiro and Tonki's bodies danced wildly in the seats as
their bodies were repeatedly riddled by high velocity
firepower, the seatbelts keeping them in place. The whizzing
of bullets at supersonic speeds echoed eerily in the misty
night, several rounds which were randomly sprayed exploded
on the concrete walls of the adjacent buildings. Most were
projected on the car itself, making an awful sound of
twisting and tinkering metal and shattering glass.

After ten seconds of full on automatic fire, a small
red laser dot illuminated itself on Ghiro's forehead, a
moment after a single round broke out, smashing in a large
one inch entry cavity and blowing out a large mass of brain
matter and blood into the back seats and windows.

The same happened for Tonki's corpse.

The two cadavers bled freely inside of the vehicle, for
there was no brain activity in their heads to keep their
muscles from contracting around the bullet wounds. Tonki's
head shot wasn't as precise as Ghiro's, the bullet hit
between his eyes causing his split apart nose to run blood
like a faucet due to a torn nasal cavity.

A garbled, tone shifting, alarm tried to ring itself
out of the mangled BMW, which was now smoking with riddled
bullet holes. Another short burst of automatic fire from
nearby put the car out of its misery, putting additional
scars on the body panel and popping the tires with a high
pitched whiz, while blowing out the headlights at the same
time.

---------------

April 20th, 2001.
Behind some bushes near a crackhouse - Tokyo, Japan. 12:03 AM.

"Stop whining and get your ass over here!" Ranma
hissed, irritated by his partner's nagging.

"Come on Captain, the Commander must've been kidding,
we're not really going to shoot these guys to death are we?"
Jackson said nervously. He silently closed one of the
passenger doors of Ranma's Mitsubishi wagon and slowly
crawled on all fours towards Ranma, who was trying to cut
through a small field of vision in the bushes with what
seemed to be a glowing object in his hands.

Ranma already had a little mat of carpet for him to sit
on while hiding behind the bushes in the dark night. His HK
G36 assault rifle was leaning against his back with a sling,
attached with a laser sighting module and a large suppressor
(a silencer) canister attached at the muzzle.

Jackson was shivering slightly, he tried to convince
Ranma that it was really the cold weather that made him
jumpy but it was actually the anxiety in his chest. Jackson
had his overly large sidearm, the Desert Eagle .50AE, and
nothing more. He didn't really believe that they were going
to massacre someone.

"They should be out here any second, along with their
products," Ranma said, shaking out his hand after using a
bit of ki to cut through the bush. He pulled out a small
mesh net from a knapsack he had, he hooked it onto the side
of the gun where the case ejection port was, creating a
little makeshift sack that hung on the right side of the
rifle.

Jackson was curious as to what the hell it was, but
didn't bother to ask.

Satisfied with the clear line of fire he created, Ranma
took his G36 and readjusted his sitting position. With his
right leg tucked under in an Indian sitting position and his
left leg bent up perpendicular to his right as a bipod
allowing him to sit on his ass comfortably, Ranma balanced
the rifle using his left elbow on his left knee.

It was a standard field sniper stance, one that was
also suitable for precision mid range rifle attacks or quick
acquisition short range assault rifle attacks. It was handy
for situations where there was nothing to lean or rest the
rifle on.

Since he needed a lot of maneuverability, Ranma held
the rifle conventionally with one hand on the trigger and
another on the fore stock.

"For crying out loud, I can't believe the only thing
you brought was a pistol, Jackson. What kind of special
forces guy are you?" Ranma asked, half irritated, half
joking.

Jackson fidgeted sheepishly. "I didn't think we were
going to take out a fucking brigade. How was I supposed to
know you'd bring an assault rifle?"

Ranma simply shook his head and breathed an exasperated
sigh. "Well, make sure it doesn't happen again. Good fortune
comes to those who are most prepared," he said sagely.

Jackson frowned. "What the hell does that have to do
with anything? And what's with the fishnet on the side of
your rifle? It looks like a nut sack."

"Shut up, they're here," Ranma pointed out, ignoring
what Jackson said to him.

The two NSA agents saw in their shrouded vision behind
the bushes two men emerging from a shoddy looking building
complex, one that was slightly isolated from the other
complexes on the peculiarly empty street.

"That's them all right," Ranma said. He remembered
those two faces from the photos Takayama gave. "We'll make
it look like an ambush."

He readjusted his grip one last time and lifted the
rifle to aim, the shrubbery kept both men well camouflaged
and virtually impossible to see. Ranma's breathing gradually
slowed after a few deep breaths, his fingers and his eyes
completely still and never twitching.

Jackson felt himself getting excited, the blood was
rushing through his ears and to his head and he could feel
the adrenaline rising in his body. He'd done countless
training sessions and scenarios for the French government,
but this was the first time he was in a real situation.

The two men from across the deserted street finally
entered their fancy European sports sedan, slamming the
doors shut. The driver on the right side seemed to fiddle
with his keys, having trouble turning the engine on. Right
then the headlights flooded the bushes.

As soon as the bright bluish white xenon lights came in
view Ranma gently held his breath, squinting his left eye
slightly from the bright light and looking through the
integrated anti-glare 1.5x zoom optical sight of the G36
rifle with his right. With a positive squeeze to the trigger
the assault rifle shot off full blast, the heavily modified
gun from Washu gave nary a recoil, the silencer muffled
every controlled explosion to a refined whistling of air
while at the same time hiding every trace of a muzzle flash.
The aforementioned mesh net that was neatly hooked to the
right side of the rifle safely caught every spent casing of
ammunition that was ejected from the gun, emitting a light
clank-clank-clank at a furious 700 RPM pace.

In the cold night, the only evidence of the firearm
being discharged were the long and continuous puffs of steam
that was precipitated from the hot air being discharged from
both the muzzle and the special gas exhaust of this
particular rifle.

Ranma concentrated an even spray of hot lead on the car
and the adjacent building, making sure it looked like a
frenzied massacre. After nearly ten full seconds of
automatic rifle fire he stopped. Thanks to the special
magazine given by Washu, Ranma had shot off 116 rounds from
a magazine designed for only 30.

The pigtailed boy didn't lower his aim, however.
Instead he clipped a lever near the trigger with his thumb
switching the action to semi-auto fire, and he activated a
pressure plate at the top of the rifle handle near the
optical sights, activating a hi-power laser.

A red dot brightly illuminated the forehead of the dead
and bloody driver, without a second thought Ranma squeezed
the trigger. He quickly shifted a couple degrees right and
shot the passenger in the head, although not as clean as the
first one.

Jackson was crouched next Ranma with his teeth clenched
and his fists tightly packed near his chest. He watched in
horror and fascination as the man next to him tore apart two
people who were absolute strangers to them, and he was doing
so in a manner that showed no remorse.

Ranma quickly stood up and jumped over the bushes.
"Come on Jackson, get over here!"

Jackson numbly jumped up and followed Ranma who was
dashing his way over to his car with his rifle in low-ready
tactical position. By instinct Jackson took out his own
sidearm, trailing Ranma close by with his pistol raised in a
Weaver* stance. What he saw next made his stomach leap to
his throat.

Carnage. It was carnage neatly packed in a steel can.
Blood here, blood there. Chunks of unknown red and white
stuck on the upholstery.

It was too much.

"Oh fuck! Oh man!" Jackson panicked.

"Shut the hell up, we're not done yet!" Ranma yelled at
him. They were short on time, they had to do this and do it
right before anybody noticed either of them.

Jackson breathed heavily and cringed his eyes. "Oh,
fucking shit man! This is sick!"

Ranma smacked him on the back of the head. "Don't act
like you've never seen a dead body before!" He pointed to
Jackson's huge pistol. "Since you have a big bore handgun, I
want you to shoot them close range, wherever you want. We
need to make it messier and make it look as if there were
many people here."

"Wha-?" he looked up at Ranma in confusion and
frustration. "I ain't fucking doin' it man! No way!"

His suspicions were answered; Ranma narrowed his eyes
giving Jackson a dangerous look. He slung his own rifle
across his back, the net full of casings clanking along with
it. Ranma wordlessly snatched Jackson's large .50 caliber
pistol out of his hand and aimed it through an open window
in the car. He brutally shot both corpses repeatedly until
the seven round magazine of the pistol was depleted. This
time with no silencer, the gunshots rang out loudly in the
night. Jackson watched in awe and frozen terror as he
watched the chunks fly.

As soon as he was done Ranma held his rifle and took
off the net full of spent cases. He opened it up and ran
around dropping the cases everywhere and even threw some
near potential ambush spots. He pocketed the net and clicked
the slide of the Desert Eagle back into place with the empty
magazine and shoved the gun back into Jackson's hand, giving
him a mad and burning look in his eyes.

"I..."

"Shut up, Jackson. Just shut it. We don't have much
time, the people around here are gonna flock here like
locusts. We still have one more of these fuckers to kill.
And don't you ever lie to me again. MOVE your ass."

Jackson meekly responded. "Yes, sir."

---------------

April 20th, 2001.
Keila's Bar and Karaoke - Bokutou District - Tokyo, Japan. 12:45 AM.

A sleazy, middle-aged man stumbled out of the double-
decker doors of the popular bar and karaoke which was
located on a street full of other similar bars. They were
all thinly disguised whorehouses, attracting salary men and
other easily impressionable young and wealthy men who wanted
to satisfy their perverted desires by taking advantage of
underage and exploited girls. The use of minors in sexual
acts was still a problem in some areas of Japan, despite the
Clinton Administration's efforts to pressure the Japanese
government to fix it in the past.

The mid aged man was a lawyer, a bloodsucker for the
Yakuza family he worked for, with his expensive black suit
and his Florsheim Italian shoes. He was currently busy
zipping his pants back up after having sex with a young 16
year old girl who was trying to earn money to pay for her
crack addiction. His liberal use of alcohol impaired his
vision and his ability to walk to his car which was parked
on the curb.

The street was lit with signs from the buildings
advertising drinks and entertainment. There were no other
people walking around, it was far too early in the night to
go home already.


From an alley a couple meters away, two men peeked
around a corner to see their target coming towards them.
They were lucky to have good intel to be able to find this
guy at the right time.

"Okay, Jackson. You stay here and cover me while I'll
go over there and shoot him. I want you to stay put, and
don't do anything unless you think it's absolutely
necessary. Is that understood?" Ranma said.

Jackson nodded. "Yes, sir." It was his chance to redeem
himself, to make him look like a professional when the
situation came for it. He no longer doubted Saotome's skill
and experience. The pigtailed boy who was nearly the same
age as him put chills in his spine.

Ranma had a gray sweater with a hood on, he slowly
jogged out of the alley towards the target with both his
hands in the large sweater pocket. He had his new Ruger .22
in his right hand, along with a roll of duct tape in his
left.

The drunken lawyer didn't really notice Ranma jogging
towards him, he just assumed it was some idiot getting some
exercise in the middle of the night. Just as Ranma passed
the lawyer he stopped and turned around. Ranma pulled out
his silenced pistol and walked behind the lawyer with the
gun raised.

Just as the lawyer pulled out his car keys, Ranma
squeezed the light single action only trigger aiming behind
the left ear at point blank range. The silenced .22 emitted
a solid and audible ka-thunk sound (it wasn't modded by
Washu yet), along with a light cloud of smoke that rushed
its way out of the ejection port and muzzle. The sound of
the ejected casing falling on the ground finished off this
neat and tidy execution.

The lawyer trembled abruptly with only the sound of
"Erk" escaping his lips. His body fell dead on the ground,
Ranma could see an abnormal pea sized dent in the forehead
which signified that the low power .22 round had not
penetrated out but instead bounced around in the cranium,
making it just as lethal as a big bore round. The entry
wound was small and precise, the surrounding hair and flesh
around the ear was sizzled by the instantaneous muzzle flash
of Ranma's pistol.

Ranma pocketed his gun and pulled out the duct tape
without any delay as soon as he gave off the shot. The entry
wound although small was still in the head, and it was
pumping out blood already as soon as the body had hit the
ground. Ranma hastily sealed up the small hole the best he
could with a small patch of duct tape, he needed to drag the
body around the alley to where Jackson was.

This time Jackson ran up to Ranma and helped him drag
the body. "Jesus, you gotta tell me some stories about your
previous life man."

"Don't worry about the body, you go get the keys on the
ground and try to find this guy's car. If you find a
briefcase or a bag or anything bring it," Ranma said.

Jackson obeyed him and picked up the keys. He pressed
the unlock and lock buttons repeatedly on the remote fob to
see which car it belonged to. He saw a white Nissan Fairlady
with blinking lights near the alley he was hiding in.

Ranma in the meanwhile had already dragged the body
into the alley. He ripped off the duct tape from the man's
ear letting the blood flow all over the floor. Ranma took
out a switchblade from one of his pockets and flipped it
open. He grimaced slightly for what he was going to do next.

He took a deep breath, then violently grabbed a hold of
the corpse and slit the throat wide open from ear to ear.
Next he eviscerated the stomach, a horrible stench churned
its way out causing Ranma to wince. He took out two steel
stakes from a small pouch that Takayama had given him along
with a sledgehammer. With each hand Ranma drove a stake
right through the wrists against the brick alley wall,
making a crude crucifix. The Commander had specifically told
him to do this to rile up the proper emotions in the Yakuza
they were targeting.

Ranma backed off from the cadaver before the pool of
blood touched his shoes. He pulled out his thermos and
washed off the red stained switchblade with warm water.

Jackson came back running at Ranma with a briefcase. "I
got it, Captain. Are you done here...Holy shit!"

"Shut up, Sergeant. Let's get out of here," Ranma
signaled. He noticed the briefcase. "Did you remember to not
leave any fingerprints?"

"Yeah," he said, gulping. He felt his stomach getting
weaker again.

"Good, we're done then. Let's get outta here."

Jackson watched as he wondered at how his newfound
partner could be so coldhearted and callous.


* * *


April 20th, 2001.
Harako Street Park - Bokutou District - Tokyo, Japan. 12:59 AM.

"License and registration please."

"Gimme a break, girl. I didn't do nothing!" whined the
coy looking man in the driver's seat.

Officer Miyuki Kobayakawa wouldn't take any of it.
"Please, sir. You were driving recklessly even though
there's no one around. You deserve this ticket."

"Give 'em hell, Miyuki!" laughed her partner Natsumi
Tsujimoto. She was munching on a bagel sandwich in their
patrol car.

There were five men packed in the compact Toyota
Progres sedan, all in expensive looking suits and expensive
accessories. They weren't expecting any police officers to
be on duty around this area. Apparently they were wrong.

But it wasn't like these officers were too much trouble
anyway. Just one lousy ticket and they would be home free.

"Come on honey, just let us go and we can all have a
peaceful night," one of the passengers said. He sneered at
the attractive policewoman.

From the other side of the street near the
intersection, one pigtailed man and another guy who seemed
to be sweating bullets waited at the red light in their
Mitsubishi Legnum VR-4.

"It's a long night, I gotta get some sleep."

Jackson seemed to be thinking hard, for the first time
in years he started to regret ever entering a profession
that involved killing others. While the greater benefit was
to help and save people, it appeared that killing was an
unavoidable aspect of the job.

Ranma took a look at his partner, who seemed to be
sulking to himself in his eyes. Ranma gave him a pat on the
shoulder. "Don't worry about tonight Jackson, it happens to
everybody. I'm sorry I got mad at you. It wasn't because you
hesitated in the field, it was the fact that you lied to me
about your experience. If you had told me the truth, I
could've taught you some valuable lessons tonight. So just
forget about it for now and let's head home, ok?" Ranma
tried offering words of comfort.

His partner gave a weak smile and nodded. Jackson
finally gave in to the fact that this guy next to him, who
was the same age, was a much better operative than he was.
There was no substitution for real experience. "Thanks,
Captain. I'm sorry I was a jerk to you when we first met. I
guess I made the wrong impression."

"That's fine," Ranma said smiling.

Jackson nodded again and looked up, seeing the traffic
cop from across the street writing up a ticket. He peered
his eyes to get a closer look at the driver who was getting
the ticket. "Oh shit. I know who that is!"

"Eh? What?" Ranma said puzzled. He looked up and the
light was green, but he paused to hear what Jackson had to
say.

"That driver!" Jackson pointed out. "I recognize him
from our case file! He's one of the known accomplices for
the Yakuza faction we're tracking. His picture was in the
supplement file Commander Takayama gave us!"

"You're shittin' me," Ranma said, his eyebrow raised.
He reached back in the backseat and opened up a manila
folder and scanned through some pictures. "Well I'll be
damned, you're right," he said, amazed. He closed the folder
and threw it back. "Let's go check it out."

Ranma turned on the internal code 3 lights in his
vehicle and drove over to the small patrol car across the
intersection. He blipped the siren a couple of times to get
the attention of the two patrolwomen.

Natsumi stepped out of her car with a suspicious frown
on her face. "What the hell is this?" she mumbled.

"Oh great, you pathetic pigs had to call in backup for
this?" scoffed the driver in the Toyota. His friends laughed
along with him.

Miyuki walked towards the station wagon, puzzled as to
who these two men were. "May I ask who you two gentlemen
are? This is official police business."

Ranma stepped out of the car, tugging his sweater down
so that his strongside holster wouldn't show. "Good evening
officers. I'm Detective Sakamichi and that's Detective Li
over there," Ranma lied. "We're HQ officers, we just wanted
to help you two out."

"We don't need any help, this is a routine traffic
stop," Natsumi said. She didn't like these two. Her danger
sense was going rampant.

"We're not here to intrude, we'd just like to ask those
men in the car a couple of questions, that's all," Ranma
tried delegating. Years of living with Akane in the past
gave Ranma an uncanny sense for detecting angry women.

The feisty short haired brunette was about to argue
with them some more but her partner grabbed her shoulder.
"Let's just let them do what they want to do," Miyuki
whispered. "It's still our collar, if they try to arrest
them we'll take control, okay?"

Natsumi calmed down and nodded her head. She'd let them
go for now. If they tried anything funny...

Ranma walked over to the driver's side of the Toyota,
looking inside through the window. "How are you guys doing,
having fun tonight, hmm?"

"What's it to you?" the driver said arrogantly.

Ranma took a good look at every passenger. They
appeared to be in their late twenties, maybe mid twenties,
all with clothes that were far too expensive for some of
them to be wearing. Armani and $2400 Bally Italian leather
jackets were something that definitely caught his eye, along
with the expensive Rolexes.

Natsumi narrowed her eyes against Ranma, he was
actually pretty cute for a guy around here but he didn't
look like a detective at all. Wearing a hooded sweater made
him all the more suspicious. "Do you think these guys are
really detectives, Miyuki?" Natsumi whispered.

"I don't know," she replied. "They seem to have an
unmarked detective's car, but other than that..."

"I'll be right back, gentlemen," Ranma said. He walked
back to his wagon. "Jackson, I want you to take care of
those guys up there, I need to use the radio real quick."

"Sure," Jackson said. He walked over to the driver,
Miyuki and Natsumi were right behind him.

Ranma sat back in his car and activated the secured
satellite phone inside the car. He called the Commander.

BEEP. BEEP. "Moshi, moshi?" A tired voice answered.

Ranma hoped the Commander wouldn't be too upset about
him calling in the middle of the night. "Commander? This is
Saotome."

"Oh, Saotome," Takayama answered. He shook himself out
of his sleepiness. "Are you calling about the assignment?"

"Yes sir, we've already accomplished our primary
objectives. We've encountered another situation though. I've
located another small group of drug couriers at the
northeast corner of Harako Street Park. Jackson recognized
one of the men as Ryu Nagoro. He's one of the known drug
lieutenants in Tokyo from the file you gave us."

"That's good. Try to arrest them if you can, but I
grant you to use force if necessary."

"Yes, sir."

CLICK.

In the meanwhile, unbeknownst to Ranma, Jackson had
asked Ryu to open up his trunk to search the vehicle. Ryu
nervously agreed, he signaled a couple of his thugs to get
out of the car with him. The three law enforcement personnel
and Ryu went to the back of the car. Ryu popped the trunk
open with his key revealing the contents of what was inside.

The three officers were packed close together in awe of
what was inside. There was more crack, weed, and heroin than
they had ever seen in their entire lives.

Ryu backed away and surrounded the three officers along
with two of his friends, lurking behind them.

At that moment Ranma had clicked off the phone, and he
looked up. His eyes widened as he saw the three thugs
closing up on the three unsuspecting cops.

It was something he learned from working in the LAPD.
It was the most fatal move any cop could make, the kind of
mistake inexperienced or careless cops made.

'Oh fuck, you fucking idiot, Jackson!' Ranma thought in
his head. "Get the hell out of the kill zone, Jackson!!"
screamed Ranma. "GET THE FUCK OUTTA THERE!!!"

One of Ryu's thugs clocked Natsumi right in the back of
the head, causing her head to slam into the trunk lid. She
screeched in pain but wasn't knocked out.

Ryu tackled Jackson to the ground from behind, catching
him completely by surprise and letting him get beaten
senseless.

Miyuki was given a chop at the neck, she groaned loudly
in pain and fell back, letting her attacker get another
punch across the cheek.

Ranma bolted out of the car and sprinted over to where
Natsumi was. She was being pummeled badly across the face
and in the gut by the merciless thug. Ranma gave a strong
power house punch to the side of his ribs, probably
shattering all of them and forcing him to let go of the
chokehold he was putting on Natsumi. He gave a quick kick to
one of his knee caps, cracking it, and grabbed his head and
smashed it against one of the pillars of the Toyota. The
harsh contact from the nose onto the steel drove the nose to
the back of his head.

Ranma swiftly made a roundhouse kick to catch Miyuki's
attacker in the back of the neck, the kick was so agile and
precise it jolted the thug's spine without breaking it,
rendering him motionless.

Next was Ryu, who stopped beating on Jackson and stood
up to fly a punch at Ranma. Ranma merely avoided the punch
and in one swift fluid motion gave a backhanding punch to
the center of his ribs and the neck, causing Ryu to moan in
agonizing and disabling pain. Ranma remembered that he had
to get these guys in jail instead of exterminating them.

In all this excitement, the remaining backseat thug was
cowering in fear while the front seat passenger struggled to
pull out his smuggled S&W Model 19 4-inch .357 Magnum
revolver. He tried to aim it towards Ranma from the front
seat through the back window. With one pull of the trigger
there was a loud bang, startling Ranma and the two female
officers. Jackson was on the floor moaning in pain with his
head slightly disoriented.

The single shot missed Ranma, instead it put a large
crack through the window. Ranma immediately pulled out his
Beretta from his holster and leaped sideways, getting a
clear view of the shooter. He had the gun in a standard
double hand dynamic grip and shot away ten rounds through
the window and door of the front passenger side of the
Toyota, killing the gunman. The remaining thug saw the thick
coat of blood on the windshield from his friend's bullet
wound in the back of the head, which punched out through the
temple. He hastily grabbed the dropped revolver from the
dead corpse in front of him and jumped out the car, catching
Ranma by surprise. The thug shot off two rounds of .357
Magnum into Ranma's chest, catching him square in the
middle.

Ranma's body skidded back from the two powerful shots,
groaning loudly in pain. He recovered immediately and saw
his shooter running away frantically. Ranma raised his gun
and saw the remaining bastard in his sights.

He smoothly squeezed the (now) single action trigger of
his Beretta, shooting off four rounds. Three rounds hit the
suspect's back, creating a dusty pop-pop-pop in the back of
his jacket and one round to the head, creating a fine mist
of red in the bright lit street.

Ranma lowered his weapon and with his left hand he
painfully scratched at the smoking bullet holes in his
chest. He pulled out two deformed slugs that were stopped by
the ballistic vest he was wearing underneath.

"Put the fucking gun down now, copper!" yelled a voice
from behind.

He slowly shifted his body slightly and turned his
head. Ryu wasn't knocked out completely, he now had Officer
Miyuki Kobayakawa held by the waste along with a small .38
revolver to her head. Ranma simply gave a sigh.

"I'll fucking kill her! I swear! You put that gun down
and I walk, or else this fine piece of ass gets it!" Ryu
madly screamed. His dirty hand snaked up her torso and he
violently grabbed her breasts and played with them. Miyuki
let a cry of anguish, tears were streaming down her cheeks.
Her partner and best friend Natsumi stood helplessly at the
side, not knowing what to do.

"Do as I say asshole! Put your fucking gun down! I'll
fucking kill-"

Like the splatter of a watermelon falling from a high
rise building the left hemisphere of Ryu's head exploded out
in a messy fashion, a large flaccid patch of scalp hung on
the side, chunks of red and white flew across the pavement.
Miyuki immediately dodged to the side before she even knew
what was happening, knowing only that this was the most
instinctive thing to do in this moment of crisis.

Ranma immediately shot three rounds center mass into
Ryu's chest out of pure reflexive instinct as the corpse
fell lifelessly to the ground. The largely exposed head
literally flooded out blood and bodily fluids which flowed
down to the curb.

From behind the Toyota Ranma saw Jackson getting up, a
serious look in his eyes. He saw in his right hand his
Desert Eagle sidearm, the muzzle was still smoking. Jackson
helped Miyuki to the sidewalk where Natsumi was to avoid
getting blood on their shoes.

Ranma walked over to the trio, he could hear several
sirens in the background rushing to get here. "Are you two
gals okay?" Ranma asked. They were both shaken up and badly
bruised in some places, but they looked to be in stable
condition.

Miyuki looked up at Ranma with her big brown eyes while
hugging her friend Natsumi. She started crying again. "You
two have saved our lives. H-how can we ever repay you Mr-?"
she said shakily. She went up to hug Ranma around his neck
for a bit of comfort. Natsumi stood up and hugged her
friend, crying as well. The two were long time experienced
police officers. But what happened tonight blew their
perception of police work out the door. They were
traumatized beyond repair.

"Shh...shh...it's okay," Ranma comforted them. "Don't
worry, you're both still alive. I'll have an ambulance help
both of you. And my name is Detective Sakamichi."

Ranma looked up to Jackson who was still frozen with a
pained look on his face. He too appeared to have been
crying. He walked over and gave him a strong hold on the
shoulder. "You did good tonight Jackson. You saved that
woman's life and pretty much saved all of us as well."

Jackson's lip quivered, he looked down at his partner
who was trying to make him feel better. The feeling of
killing someone was just too much to bear. "I-I didn't have
to...I-I-I could've..." he stuttered.

"NO," Ranma firmly said. "There was no other fucking
choice. You saw the shot, and you TOOK it. The best choice
isn't always the easiest, Jackson. You've gotta live with
it."

"I didn't mean to do it, Captain," Jackson cried. "I
didn't mean to kill him!"

"Don't worry about it," soothed Ranma. He knew how his
first kill felt like. For the second time in his life he
would be comforting his partner after a shootout with
casualties.

Miyuki stood up and walked over to Jackson who was
sitting down against a wall, curled up. She hugged him
tightly, and whispered into his ear. "Thank you for saving
my life from that psycho, I'm in debt to you," she said.
"You had to kill him, otherwise he would have killed me and
everyone else," she comforted. Natsumi came over to him and
hugged him as well, just for the sake of finding comfort and
giving comfort to someone.

Jackson lifted his head up to reveal his red eyes to
the two officers, he looked over to his partner and superior
officer.

"Captain, was life as an SIS detective always like
this?" Jackson asked in English. "Is this what being an JNSA
agent is all about?"

Ranma gave him a steeled look. "No," he replied back in
English. "You stick with me kid, this is only the
beginning."

[End Chapter 5]



Disclaimer: This is fanfiction, I don't plan to make a
profit out of someone else's work, just don't sue me.
Jackson Samamoto is mine, all mine!

Author's Ramble: Wow! That took me forever to finish!
Although in truth I didn't really finish at all. The reason
why I was so delayed was because of constant working stress,
inflexible scheduling, and other personal matters. This
chapter was supposed to be a lot longer, however as time
passed I found myself working on other projects as well
(like the complete prose rewrites of chapters 1 and 2!). I'm
sorry if you've been anxious. At least I'm not like Hawk,
where I lag forever and ever. ^_^ I didn't want to torture
people with my slow lagging, so I made the hard decision of
stopping the chapter here and releasing it to the public.

Author's Notes: Hoo boy, let's see. First off the JDA. The
Japanese Defense Agency is actually a real government agency
in Japan, and I know this much that they are indeed the only
military capable force that the Japanese government has. I'm
not 100% sure on this, but hopefully I researched it
correctly. I pretty much made up Nabiki's occupation in the
JDA, I just made everything to my own convenience. Sue me if
you have a problem with it. :p

For those of you who participated in the poll located
on my website concerning Nabiki's occupation...it's amazing
how the second least chosen criteria was actually the
correct one. You never guessed Nabiki would be a spook, did
ya? ^_-

If you've noticed, I have an annoying tendency to
describe in full details about anything concerning
automobiles. ^^;; For instance all the fancy gear and foot
work Ranma does in his Mitsubishi Legnum VR-4 (which is a
tight ass sports wagon sold only in Japan and it's packed
with a turbocharged 276PS engine) is real, double clutching
to downshift and sprint, as well as double clutch downshift
emergency engine braking. If you don't know what I'm talking
about, tough luck. You'll have to e-mail me or ask someone
who knows lots about engine mechanics (and not just some
snotty idiot who reads a lot of car magazines).

I've added Jackson as a cool, tough guy type yet soft
natured partner for Ranma. His previous occupation is being
part of the GIGN, which stands for Groupe de Securite et
d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale. They are
France's best counter-terrorists, unfortunately not one of
the world's best. I haven't said enough about his character
yet, so expect me to describe him and develop his character
some more in the next chapter. If you want a better idea of
what he looks like, imagine an Asian Kurt Russell. Don't
ask, that was just the picture I had in my head when I
created him.

IMI stands for Israeli Military Industries. They are
the manufacturers of the Desert Eagle pistols, as well as
the Jericho pistol (known as the Baby Eagle in the US) and
the famous Galiel (I think that's how you spell it) assault
rifle.

And for you people who constantly criticized me for
giving Ranma super weapons that were modified by Washu,
voila. I've shown you here in this chapter they are used
(and modded) for a practical reason, not for me to turn him
into a fucking indestructible super hero. See, even Ranma
can get shot in the line of duty!

The Weaver Tactical Stance. The Weaver Stance that
Jackson used while trailing Ranma for the first hit is the
(probably worldwide) standard for a mobile tactical shooting
stance. To describe what it looks like, a right handed
shooter has both his hands on the pistol in a double hand
dynamic grip, with the right arm straight and the left arm
slightly bent in a comfortable position for assisted recoil
absorbance. The shooter also has his body angled to a side
so that he/she is a thinner and smaller target, and the feet
are placed relatively close to each other. There are two
phases of this stance, the ready-fire position and low-ready
position. Ready-fire position is basically having the pistol
raised and ready to shoot. Low-ready position is having both
arms bent downwards so that maneuverability is restored and
the firearm is in a safer position. There is much
controversy to the effectiveness of the Weaver Stance. Some
people believe that for law enforcement a competition style
stance is much better(which is similar to the Weaver Stance
except that the body is not angled, both arms are bent for
somewhat easier targeting, and feet are spread wider apart
for somewhat better rapid fire positioning) than a Weaver
Stance because peace officers wear (or should be wearing)
ballistic vests to protect the chest and torso. A Weaver
Stance leaves the side of your body vulnerable, even if the
target is smaller, which is unprotected by a bullet proof
vest.

The car that Jackson spots, the Nissan Fairlady, is (or
used to be when it was still sold here in the US) the Nissan
300ZX. An excellent sports car in my opinion.

The two female cops at the end of this chapter, if you
can't recognize them, then... I don't know what to tell you.
You've been seriously deprived of some great anime. ^^;;;

The so called "kill zone" that caught Ranma's immediate
attention when Jackson, Miyuki, and Natsumi were inspecting
the trunk is actually a very important police term. The kill
zone is the area between a suspect's vehicle and the law
enforcement vehicle. One thing that the LAPD teaches very
well (I'm sure the NYPD do this as well) is to control the
kill zone. The most fatal mistake any police officer(s) can
make is turning their back on criminals while they are in
the kill zone. In addition to that, any small radius of area
where a suspect stands is considered a moving kill zone.
There are many ignorant peace officers out there who make
the mistake of handling three or more guys at once by
themselves (or with only one partner for that matter)
without calling for backup. By doing this, they can't
control every suspect, and they eventually turn their back
to do something (calling the radio, checking the trunk,
etc...) and they get attacked. Even those who don't turn
their backs but don't call for backup are easily overpowered
and manhandled, even with partners. There have been many
poor officers who have been killed in the line of duty
because of this simple, yet fatal error. In this fic Ranma
recognizes this danger, and he takes action immediately when
he sees it.

In case any of you start whining about how it's
impossible that Ranma survived a .357 Magnum to the chest
even with a ballistic vest, all standard issue vests for
police officers (we use the cheapest and least protective
ones) can stop .357 Magnum rounds at close range. For those
officers who shell out extra bucks for a ceramic or steel
chest plate, those stop 5.56mm NATO rifle rounds.

So next time, expect to see the aftermath of this most
recent incident, Ranma's SPECIAL training for Jackson, Kiyo
and Ranma's first day of high school, and much more!

Big praise to Kenneth "KPJAM" Payne and RedPriest17
(and a small thanks to Therm for pointing out a problem with
my dialogue grammar in his usual, professionally pessimistic
way ^_^) for prereading my work. Thanks to you guys, I get
to look just a bit more intelligent. ^_^

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE SEND ME FEEDBACK!!! I write way
faster when people give me feedback! My e-mail is
SgtRanma@yahoo.com .

Visit my website at http://sgtranma.anifics.com, or go
to http://sgtranma.anifics.com/guns.html to take a look at
some of the weapons Ranma uses in Officer Saotome. I always
update there often, and fics always come there first.

Finished December 31st, 2001. Revised for final edition
January 22nd, 2002.