Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / You're Under Arrest Fan Fiction / Tenchi Muyo Fan Fiction ❯ Officer Saotome ❯ 09 The Return of Dawn ( Chapter 9 )

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

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. Actually I've used this
same intro for years to all my fics, and since it's chapter 9 and by
this point you've already read this far and know what I'm talking
about, I want to add this: This fic basically isn't for the soft. Case
closed.

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
for things that you don't understand, my notes just might answer all
your questions. If that doesn't do it, feel free to pound away at my
mailbox. Actually, if you want to comment on anything regardless go
for it, I love hearing from you guys and appreciate each and every
reply.

-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 set a
timeframe where Akane and Ranma met during their lives.

-SgtRanma

Please visit my website at http://www.sgtranma.atfics.com or email me
at sgtranma@yahoo.com

For you guys reading from fanfiction dot net, and you can't see the
links above, click on my profile and check out my homepage. There's
some cool stuff on there, worth checking out. You might like it.

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

Chapter 9: The Return of Dawn

April 29th, 2001.
Tendo Home - Nerima, Tokyo. 12:36 AM.

Ryoga kissed Akane on the forehead as she bent down to fit her
heels into her shoes with her fingers. They both embraced in a hug
before she reached for the door handle.

"Don't be too long, I'll be waiting for you at the hospital, OK?"
Akane said.

"I'll be there," Ryoga replied. He looked at her with puppy dog
eyes and looked ready to whimper as she left the house, leaving him
alone.

A sore bump inside of his left elbow elicited an uncomfortable
itch, breaking Ryoga out of his worried trance. He looked down and
remembered the events of the evening, shuddering at the sudden
onslaught of adrenaline fraying his senses.

He walked back to the tearoom and found Nabiki smoking one of the
cigarettes that Ranma had bought on the way home. Her fingers were
jittering nervously as she powered through several forced hits of the
lit tobacco.

Nabiki looked up at him and eyed the open path to the kitchen.
"Come in and close the door behind you."

Ryoga's face started to harden with subdued resentment. He did as
he was told and felt the furnace in his stomach churning upwards.



"Listen to what I have to say. I know you can't stand the sight of
me right now, but let me finish. Ranma's out in the kitchen right now,
I'll be quick," Nabiki said. "You're going to help me out of this."

"Help you?" Ryoga squeezed the bridge of his noise and felt his
hot breath as it blew back from his hand. "Help you with what, Nabiki?
You're already in a world of trouble. Tofu's dead. You nearly got all
of us killed."

Nabiki grabbed the front of his shirt in a fist. "Stop that!"

"And your life is over," Ryoga continued. "What the hell are you
thinking?"

"I'm not going down like this, not after all I've had to do."
Nabiki's eyes were glistening with welling tears and they trembled as
she let Ryoga go, fingers shaking. "I never meant for it to happen
like this. You don't know how sorry I am for what happened to Tofu and
Kasumi. To you and Akane. But I don't want to go away either, locked
away with the same kind of people who kidnapped us."

Ryoga looked away at his sister-in-law. Despite the hatred and
remorse he felt for all the tragedy that had occurred in the span of
the day, it hurt to see her like this too. She was still a part of his
family. "I don't know what to say. Ranma's going to make you pay for
what you did."


"No!" Nabiki started grinding her teeth and looked around
nervously. Ranma had gone into the dojo to be alone and had gone
through the kitchen. She was able to hear the doors opening and
closing in case he came back in. "We have to do something about him."


Ryoga's frowned incredulously. "Do something about who? Ranma?"

"You owe me," Nabiki said quietly. "We have to get rid of him so I
can buy some time."

"We?" Ryoga spoke through clenched teeth. "I don't have any damn
reason to get rid of him. I don't like him but I sure as hell ain't in
a position to do something bad to him considering what he's done for
me. And what the hell do I owe you?"

"I've done everything for you! I kept your marriage intact, helped
you set up the dojo business, remodeled your home, taught you how to
handle your finances and support my sister!"

Ryoga fought to keep his voice low. "And I appreciate it all! But
how the hell does that rationalize what you're asking of me? And what
the hell do you think you and I can do to Ranma anyway?"

Nabiki darted her eyes away. She reached into her suit blazer, the
same clothing she had worn all day. A small black pistol with a
cylindrical can attached to the muzzle dangled from a breast pocket.
She pulled it out and set it on the table. "Take it."

Ryoga's face recoiled in horror. "Where did you get that?"

"It's Ranma's partner's. I saw them take it off of him when he was
caught. It was dropped on the floor when Ranma came in and killed
everyone I picked it up when we were escaping."

"Why would you do that?" Ryoga asked, eyes fixed on the gun.

"Because I thought we were going to get killed! We had to fight
for our lives!"

Ryoga shook his head, amazed. "And you had that hidden this whole
time? Why do you still have it?"

Nabiki shoved it forward. The metal slid across the wooden table
like she was passing a bowl of rice. "Take it. Shoot Ranma."

Ryoga stared past Nabiki's eyes. His first thought was the drug
lingering in his system was making him hallucinate. He was still
feeling nauseous and unstable from the opiates. "You're crazy."

"Take it."

Realization dawned on him. Ryoga saw her rabid face, the excited
twitch in both of her eyelashes, and the jaw numbing clench of her
teeth. "No way. Get the hell out of here."

"I'll fucking ruin you," Nabiki hissed. "You and your life as P-
chan for starters."

"I can live with that," Ryoga said, shaking his head. His head
shifted back bit by bit, eyes still wide. "That's nothing compared to
what you're asking for and what's going to happen to you anyway."

Nabiki's mouth twisted. "Oh, I'm not done yet. I'll tell Akane
that you played Akari like a fool. You cruelly left her behind without
it cutting it off before you started with Akane. That she was the only
one you trusted to show your pig side."

"It was as clean as I can make it, I always got lost trying to
find her again." Ryoga's eyes started to waver. "Not enough. You won't
faze me with that."

Nabiki growled. She couldn't hide it anymore. She couldn't hide
how desperate she was. "I'm not finished! I'll bring you down with me,
I'll lie and make things up and have you turned into my accomplice!"

"That's enough, Nabiki!" Ryoga felt his lips start to quiver,
tears forming in his eyes too. He felt terribly hurt to be blackmailed
like this, it was something he didn't expect Nabiki to take so far.
Not to him, who was still part of her family and they had treated each
other over the years as such.

"I'll do it," Nabiki said, tears streaming down her cheeks. Her
voice started squeaking lightly. "I swear to god I'll do it. I have
everything I need to turn it on anyone I want. I can't go down like
this, Ryoga. I can't."

Ryoga shook his head firmly. "This is madness."

"Take it, or prepare to live your life alone and miserable. I'll
take it all away from you. Don't corner me. You always said you wanted
to kill Ranma-"

"I didn't mean it like this!"

"Well, I'm going to kill you worse than if you were dead."
Nabiki's bloodshot eyes pierced through Ryoga's. "I don't have enough
time to keep saying this. I'm not going to ask again. If I go in
tonight, you're going down."

Ryoga felt a single, bitter tear stream down his own cheek. His
whole body shook and he looked at Nabiki with the ugliest of hatred.
He grabbed the gun and pointed it at her. "And what if I kill you
first?"

This time Nabiki froze up, her eyes stuck on the barrel of the
suppressor. "You couldn't."

"You certainly deserve it." Ryoga's breathing went shallow and his
hands were wet with perspiration. Thoughts of his settled life, his
work, his students, and his wife flashed through his head. "I'm not
killing anyone for anybody."

Nabiki bit back her lip. "You kill me and it's over anyway. You'll
go to jail, you have everything gone. You don't do as I say, I'll do
the same thing anyway. You can say it was the drugs that made you do
it!"

Ryoga threw the pistol at her and hit her on the top of her arm as
she jerked to avoid it. "Why are you doing this to me?"


Both of them heard the dojo pathway entrance door open from the
kitchen. Nabiki pierced Ryoga with her swollen eyes one last time.

"No more time." She threw back the gun at Ryoga. "Do this, or it's
all over for everyone. I'm not talking anymore. I told you what I'm
going to do."

Ryoga gulped and held the pistol in his hand again. He took a good
look of Nabiki. She was crazy, but she looked serious. The aura of her
ki was erratic and tinted with wisps of black. His brain was whirled
up in turmoil to think straight as well.

His deepest fears and darkest sorrows clinched his resolve. Ryoga
stood up and wiped away his eyes. "You're not my family anymore."

Nabiki looked up. "Do it," she whispered.

She watched Ryoga walk out of the room, shoulders slumped like the
life was sucked out of him. He closed the doors as he left her alone
in the tea room. Nabiki crumbled in her seat and laid her head down on
the table, sobbing quietly.

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

The way Ranma's eyes momentarily went white and his body convulse
violently made Ryoga's throat dry. He dropped the pistol on the ground
and his eyes traced the thin trail of gunpowder smoke that wafted from
the end of the muzzle.

Ryoga wanted to clap his ears shut at the grotesque sound of Ranma
wheezing for breath. He looked up and saw that Ranma wasn't
retaliating. His hands were still and hanging at his side. Ryoga had
kept thinking over and over for the past few seconds that his life and
livelihood was safe again, secured from Nabiki's treacherous grasp.

But he didn't feel safe at all. He watched the hole in Ranma's
shirt start oozing out blood, sickly and thicker than he could ever
imagine as it slowly streaked down his clothes. Ryoga felt a void in
his own chest and didn't know what to think just yet, but there was
something filling up quick. He just didn't know what it was.

In the split-second frames that guided his conscious self, Ryoga
watched as Ranma's breathing came back to normal. Then it slowed
further. And further.




Ryoga wondered with grim fascination what was going through
Ranma's mind right now with his unresponsive, glassy eyes. Ranma was
staring straight at him, yet Ryoga was compelled to match him. At
last, a weak smile that curled onto Ranma's lips made Ryoga's blood
run cold.

The loudest words Ryoga had ever heard pierced his eardrums with
deafening clarity.

"I'm glad...it was you."

The contents of Ryoga's stomach thrusted out after he saw Ranma
close his eyes. He didn't quite make it to the sink as he turned
around and tried to catch some of it in his hands.

Nabiki popped into the kitchen, fluttering the doorway overhang as
she came in. The suppressed gunshot sounded like a balloon popping
from the tea room. She watched as Ryoga heaved and moaned with the
water running in the kitchen sink.

She looked at Ranma's prone body on the seat, peacefully slumped
over. She felt like throwing up too, but gagged it back. Nabiki
wordlessly walked over to the counter and grabbed some paper towels to
clean up the spilled plops of vomit on the floor. Her eyes blankly
glanced over to Ranma's body. The blood from his chest was soaking up
on his pants and shirt.

Ryoga clutched his head and started crying. He blubbered out
nonsensical noises and started shaking his head back and forth. Nabiki
came up behind him and shook him rapidly and he turned around to grab
her by the throat. She gasped for breath as he lifted her off the
ground.

Ryoga twitched his arm in anticipation of mashing his grip on her.
"You-you-you!"

Nabiki had the gun in her hand with a paper towel wrapped around
the grip. In a panic, she raised it and fired off several shots. One
of them hit Ryoga's shoulder and he dropped her in a pained hiss, the
other rounds hit the backboard of the kitchen counter.

"We don't have time for this," Nabiki croaked, coughing and
gasping for air.

Ryoga looked at the new flesh wound on his shoulder with
fascination. "You shot me."

"You were choking me to death you son-of-a-bitch." Nabiki pushed
herself up and looked at him haggardly.

"Why?" Ryoga mumbled. He put his hands in his face and the tears
starting coming back. He looked up at Nabiki with misery. "Why didn't
you just aim higher?"

Nabiki grit her teeth and started panicking again. The sight of
Ranma's dead body was already enough, watching Ryoga break down just
now threatened to do the same to her. "Come on, it's over. I'll get
rid of the evidence, you dump his body outside. Tell them you were
shot by the same guys who came to get you and you were ambushed. You
can live your happy life again with Akane."

Ryoga wanted to believe her with every thread and fiber of his
being.

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

He was quickly advised to throw the body out, the buzz and horror
of committing murder for some reason made him much more anxious to
move around and do it as quick as possible. In his haste Nabiki had
somehow remembered to attach his GPS unit to his pants, lest he got
lost and implicated himself in Ranma's murder by being a missing
suspect. Ryoga never noticed that Ranma's curse still activated as he
dragged the body out into the heavy rain and into the empty streets.

Nabiki had told him to drop him inside of the garbage dumpster
around the corner, the only place either could think of amidst their
nerve-wracked state. Ryoga saw a trail of bright blood washing out
from Ranma's clothes in the white streetlights, swirling beautifully
with the rain water as it streamed off into the nearest gutter.

Ryoga made it around the next block when he heard a single moan
through the loud pouring rain. He dropped Ranma's body and noticed the
round, protruding breasts sticking to her wet shirt. Ryoga saw her
chest twitch lightly and ran off into the night.

* * *

April 29th, 2001.
Galaxy Police Cruiser Yagami, Forward Cockpit - Nerima, Tokyo. 12:51
AM.

Kiyone yawned and let Mihoshi take over the wheel as she made her
way back to gather her things.

"Make sure you set it on stealth before you descend," Kiyone said.
She remembered the last time she was dropped off by Mihoshi, they had
accidentally garnered the attention of neighboring Saitama's Air-
Defense Forces while they were on a routine training flight.

"I'm glad Ranma avenged Sergeant Kanemaki and his family," Mihoshi
said. "Can you give him a kiss for me as thanks?"

Kiyone smiled sadly. "I will, Mihoshi."

The spacecraft descended rapidly over a quiet suburban
neighborhood and caused an odd spot on the streets where the rain was
shielded by an invisible force in the air. Kiyone grabbed her duffel
bag and wore a baseball cap to cover herself the best she could from
the rain. Mihoshi had borrowed every umbrella that Kiyone had stored
on board and hadn't remembered to bring any of them back.

"We're right over the address Ranma gave us," Mihoshi said. "Hope
you stay safe, Kiyone."

"I will, Mihoshi. You take care." Kiyone walked over to the short
range teleportation booth. "I'll call you."

Kiyone materialized right below the floating, invisible hull of
Yagami and waved as the ship started flying away and exposed her to
raindrops. She started jogging down the street, just around the block
to the Tendo Dojo. She nearly ran past the body of a girl, sleeping on
the streets with her face down.

She backpedaled and shook her head in disbelief. Had this girl
gotten drunk and passed out on the street in the pouring rain? She
walked up closer. "Excuse me, are you alright?"

Her eyes widened immediately when she saw the blood washing away
from her clothes. "Oh my god, you're hurt!"

She dropped her bag on the street with a splash and flipped over
the girl. What she saw made her freeze.

Ranma. In female form. A small bullet hole gushing lightly with
blood over her right breast. Kiyone knocked back her baseball cap as
she grabbed her head in shock. She screamed Ranma's name and pulled
out her Galaxy Police info-cube, signaling Mihoshi on the radio.

"Mihoshi! Get back here now, Ranma's been shot!"

A roaring gust of wind and jet exhaust blew away all the rain as
Yagami's invisible form hovered over the skies again. Kiyone pressed
feverishly on the touch controls of her GP cube and beamed herself and
Ranma's body into Yagami's sick bay.

Mihoshi came running down the ship's main corridor, her breathing
ragged. "What happened?"

Kiyone's wet teal hair flicked around as she turned to Mihoshi.
"I'm putting Ranma in stasis! Call Washu right now and tell her we
have an emergency!"

With a clear nod Mihoshi ran back to the cockpit and set the
autopilot to return to Okayama at full speed as she simultaneously
hailed Washu over the communicator. Her eyes were dead serious and her
movements were deliberate and free of her usually clumsy and
indecisive self.

At this late at night the phone to Washu's personal line didn't
answer immediately. She was asleep, as was the rest of the Masaki
household.

Mihoshi forced her way into one of Washu's communicator intercoms
in her lab, using an emergency direct line that was accessible only on
Yagami and Yukinojo. "Mayday, mayday! Washu, we have an emergency!"

A hologram popped open with an annoyed Washu getting up out of her
bed. She lifted her eye-cover onto her forehead. "What the hell is it,
Mihoshi?"

Mihoshi immediately plugged the call into the medical bay where
Kiyone was frantically punching buttons into the computer to diagnose
Ranma's condition from head to toe.

Kiyone looked up at the holographic communiqué and felt her first
bit of relief. "Washu! We found Ranma shot in the chest and dumped on
the streets! I just put her body in stasis and I'm running over her
vitals. She's not breathing and I couldn't find a pulse!"

Washu stayed calm, grumbling as her right hand pecked on a
holographic keyboard as she set up from the bed. "Calm down, Kiyone.
I've opened up a direct hyperspace portal for you into my lab. You'll
enter it as soon as you're in range. I'm plucking the medical data off
of Yagami right now. I'll be ready."

* * *

April 29th, 2001.
Juntendo University Nerima Hospital - Nerima, Tokyo. 6:00 AM.

Akane woke up with a stir as her eyes fluttered open inside the
dark hospital room. She lifted her head off of Kasumi's hand, which
she'd held on to till she had fallen asleep. She turned around and saw
Ryoga standing behind her, a soulless, vapid look on his face. His
right arm was held in a sling.

She jumped up and grabbed him in a hug. "Ryoga! I'm so glad you're
here."

He didn't hug her back with the same fervor and avoided his eyes
when she looked at his face. Akane reached up with her hands to cradle
his cheeks.

"What's wrong? What happened to your arm?"

Ryoga wanted to bite his tongue off. He looked over at Kasumi
lying peacefully on the inclined hospital bed. She had an IV with
several different drips connect to her and tubes coming out of her
nostrils. He wondered if he would be as peaceful if he switched places
with her.

Jackson came into the room after he had listened in and waited
outside the unclosed door. He had followed Ryoga around the hospital.
"I'm afraid something bad has happened, Akane-san. Your husband was
shot in the shoulder at your home and both Ranma and Nabiki Tendo have
gone missing."

Akane felt her knees go weak and she was caught by Ryoga. "What?"

"Your husband told us what happened and I have some guys at your
home right now, investigating," Jackson said, nodding gravely.

Ryoga stayed silent, keeping his back turned to Jackson as he
continued explaining.

"There was blood trailed everywhere in the kitchen. No weapon, no
shell casings. No reports of gunfire by the neighbors. We have no idea
how it could've happened, but your husband says they were ambushed."
Jackson sighed and pulled out his phone. He looked at all the calls he
made to Ranma's phone, none of them had made it through.

Akane covered her mouth with her hand and sat down. This morning
was like waking up from a bad dream to a living nightmare. "And my
sister?"

Jackson shook his head. "No clue. We have the entire Public Safety
Commission and the police on alert."

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

Jackson cursed as he ended his call from Kurosawa. The Marine
officer had just arrived back from Okinawa at Narita Airport. He
grabbed his coffee cup from the machine dispenser in the hospital's
hallway. His hands brushed over his very large Desert Eagle pistol,
latched on a strong side holster outside of his hip.

That's one more pistol in the enemy's hands, he bitterly thought.
His Walther PPK was snatched by the punks that he had pursued and was
outnumbered by. When Ryoga had come into the hospital in the middle of
the night with a ghastly story to tell, Jackson took no chances and
sent the National Police's Special Assault Team to the Tendo Home to
secure it. An elite unit of SAT men assigned to the Tokyo region
converged on the house to find nothing but a mess.

He looked at his smart phone again and tried to trace Ranma's
location with his GPS tracker. It returned a blank for the umpteenth
time. He sighed in frustration, wondering how that was possible.


All of the MaxFor phones were sophisticated pieces. Fancy phones
with radio and location tracking devices built in. They were
purposefully made to never be able to be turned off. Ranma's last
traced signal was from the Tendo residence and then it had
disappeared, like a blinking dot on a radar screen.

Jackson sat down on a bench and sipped his coffee, keeping an eye
close to the door of Kasumi's room. He wanted to leave that family
alone, but at the same time he was obligated to protect them.

"Captain, where the hell are you?"

* * *

April 29th, 2001.
Holographic Hospital Simulation #226 - Hakubi Lab. 6:02 AM.

Ranma snapped up from her bed, gasping huge lung fulls of precious
air. She clutched her chest and winced as the pain of several needles
in her arms and catheter tubes going through her nose made their sharp
presence known. Her heavy, pained breathing was almost uncontrollable
as her body instinctually forced dizzying heaves, in and out.

Washu hopped and skipped into the room in a white nurse dress with
a little cap on her red head with the Red Cross symbol on it. She came
over and tickled Ranma on the nose and yanked the catheter tubes
painfully out of her nostrils.

"Ow!" Ranma screeched.

"Don't worry! It's good that it hurts because that means you're
alive and kicking!" Washu pulled up a clipboard with a chart on it,
one of her many fun but accurately placed props. "You sure did get
close to death, I don't know if the timing was coincidence or if
you're the luckiest guy- Er, gal, on the planet. Maybe the universe!"

Ranma looked around. It looked like a private hospital room with
antiseptic white walls, EKG monitors at her side, a sink for the
nurses, and a table with a fresh bouquet of roses in a vase. She had
no idea how she got here.

She looked down. She had no idea why she was female and what the
hell was going on. Even the time on the wall was mortifyingly
confusing.

Washu whistled out the open door. "Hey Kiyone, your girlfriend is
awake!"

Ranma finally started to think straight again and he cleared his
mind to get some answers. He remembered the little girl in front of
him from his visit to the Masaki Mountains. "Washu-chan, right? What's
going on?"

"I'll explain in a minute. I hope you don't mind what I did to
your hair, it's a bit more vibrant but I thought it was a fabulous
match for my hair." Washu pulled out a handheld mirror for Ranma to
see.

Kiyone walked in through the door with baggy eyes and her jaw
dropped at the same time as Ranma's when they both got a look at
Ranma's new red hair.

"What did you do?!" both of them yelled, simultaneously.

"Hey, it's the least you could let me do since I saved your life,"
Washu said. She hmphed indignantly. She smiled with one eye closed as
she eyed Ranma's reaction. She laughed mentally, waving a silver rod
behind her back. It was the same one she had used on Ranma the first
time she met him. "I found the most interesting thing while looking
over your gene sequence. Your female body revealed a recessive gene
for your hair, resulting in your potential to be a redhead.
Unfortunately I had a minor little bug in my systems that accidentally
triggered it and altered your gene sequence. Nothing big, these
viruses happen all the time. It looks great on you, don't worry.
You'll have black hair again when you turn back to a boy."

The cosmetic novelty wore off quickly for Kiyone and she pulled up
a chair to sit next to him for more important matters. "Do you
remember what happened, Ranma? Do you know why you're here?"

Ranma sighed as she brushed her new do, figuring it could be fixed
later. "No, I have no idea why I'm here. I don't know why I'm in a
hospital. The last thing I remember was calling you and sitting in the
room with Nabiki and Ryoga."

Kiyone looked at Washu who was nodding sagely.

"I thought this might happen. He's lost some of his memory. Not a
lot, but enough it seems that he can't remember who did this."

"I can't believe this," Kiyone replied.

"Hello?" Ranma lifted his arms and hands in question. "Can someone
tell me what's going on here?"

Washu tapped Kiyone's shoulder. "It's very possible he can have
total recall at any time. It might take something traumatic to bring
it back, but even I can't be completely sure when it comes to working
the brain."

Ranma stared at both the other women, lost in the conversation
they were holding concerning him. Kiyone took a deep breath and
sighed, she was going to give her best shot to explain what happened
to him.

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

Ranma frowned as he pulled a shirt over his head, now changed back
to his male form. He had taken a much needed shower and was glad to
see his hair did change back to black in the warm water. His protests
to Washu were cut short as she said she would trade his old hair color
back if he was willing to give back the life she had saved. He
grumbled as it was a self-centered, if playfully fawned, selfish
request. At least the red hair looked right on his cursed form, it
looked amazingly natural to see it on his female head when seen
through the mirror. He didn't know why it felt so comfortable despite
being unfamiliar.

His mind spun incredibly as the story kept repeating itself in his
head. It was like being told a fictional story to a chapter of his
life. He found it hard to believe that he was dead when Kiyone brought
him in and Washu's advanced technology managed to revive him.

The only remaining physical proof that it had happened at all was
a deformed .380 slug that was pulled out of his lungs, flooding them
and denying his brain oxygen to live. Washu jokingly said he had a
fresh start on his health since his old lungs were tainted with tar
from heavy chain smoking this past year. And in the quest to save his
brain she had conveniently wiped out the annoying pocket of his psyche
that had been hardwired into fearing cats. Apparently the Neko-ken was
no more.

Ranma was led out of the lab by Washu and looked around in
surprise again as he found himself inside the Masaki living room. He
turned around and looked at the closet door connected to the stairs.
Alien tech was amazing.

He saw Kiyone and Mihoshi passed out on the couch. Washu told him
they were both up all night, waiting anxiously in the lab to monitor
his condition. Mihoshi fell asleep earlier and Kiyone had done the
same only after she had seen Ranma's face after he had awakened.

Ranma saw the rest of the household up and about, waving and
greeting him as they gathered around the dining table for breakfast.
He went over to Kiyone's prone form and crouched in front of her to
stroke her cheek with his hand.

Kiyone slowly lifted her eyes open, breathing softly as she saw
Ranma's male face in front of her.

"You okay?" she softly asked.

"I'm doing good, thanks to you." He smiled, gently running his
hand through her long hair.

Kiyone shook her head lightly. "Don't thank me, thank Washu. She
was up all night reviving you."

Ranma nodded. "So were you."

He took a moment to stare into her eyes and then dipped his head
in to give her a kiss. She returned it lovingly, closing her eyes as
she savored his lips.

When they released each other a crowd of cheers erupted from the
bright faces of the rest of the household from the dining table.

"Wow, way to go Kiyone!" Ryoko whistled, pumping her arm into the
air victoriously.

"That's so romantic!" Sasami squealed with her hands on the side
of her face.

"Myaaaah!"

Katsuhito and Nobuyuki cackled like old men, amused.

"Hey, you owe me one too!" Washu yelped.

Tenchi and Ayeka chuckled to themselves, smiling at their show of
affection.

Even Mihoshi peeped an eye open from the adjacent couch, a tired
grin curling on her face. "Oh, you two are soooo cute. I'm jealous!"

Ranma looked behind at all the commotion and bit back a laugh of
his own. He looked back at Kiyone unembarrassed and pecked another
kiss on her lips. "I'm going to have breakfast."

"Wake me in an hour," Kiyone whispered. She snuggle herself warmly
in the sofa pillow and went back to sleep, a big smile plastered on
her features.

* * *

April 29th, 2001.
46th floor, JNSA Headquarters - Tokyo, Japan. 9:30 AM.

Ranma walked towards Jackson and gave him a handshake with a firm
smack. Kurosawa pat his back as they all clutched in tight, embracing
Ranma's safe return.

"Damn good to see the both of you," Ranma said.

Jackson slapped him on the back as he towered over him with his
height. "Glad to see you're still alive, we feared the worst."

Kurosawa looked at him with arms crossed and a twinkle in his eye.
"How many firefights you go through this week, Saotome?".

Ranma pretended to fall back from exhaustion and picked himself
back up, laughing. "Apparently not enough." He looked at Jackson,
eyebrow raised. "No one can beat me, I'll have you know."

Takayama came up to them as well, greeting his second-in-command
for his safe return. He regarded the young, teal haired woman next to
him with a visitor's badge attached to her front.

Ranma introduced her to the others. "Sorry guys, this is
Lieutenant Detective Kiyone Makibi. She's my undercover and she's
going to help out with today's agenda."

Kurosawa looked at her in surprise. "A lieutenant? This chick?"

Kiyone scowled. "I was a sergeant. Ranma had my department brevet
me for the case."

Takayama shook her hand and winked at Ranma. "And calling you by
your first name only, too? Not Captain?"

Both Kiyone and Ranma blushed. Kiyone covered her face with her
hands and then wiped her eyes, tired from getting little sleep.

"I'm going to the bathroom and freshen up," Kiyone meekly said.

"We'll be waiting over there in the briefing room," Ranma replied.

When Kiyone went around the corner and disappeared into the
restroom Kurosawa whistled appreciatively. Ranma gave him a funny
look.

"You're fucking her, aren't you?" Kurosawa asked.

Jackson snickered. "That's who you've been working with? Looks
better than the picture in her file."

"Give it a rest, guys." Ranma felt like freshening up too.

"Hey, didn't you say she's the one who's in Okayama for the
weekend? That she was coming back today?" Jackson asked.

Kurosawa was also curious. "I remember that being mentioned. How'd
you guys come together? Were you in Okayama with her?"

Ranma shook his head, unable to come up with an excuse.

"And you said you were shot too, but I just remembered we had our
vests taken away yesterday," Jackson said.

"I uh...had a spare." Sweat drops started to form on Ranma's head.

Takayama bellowed from inside the meeting room. "Will you guys get
your ass in here, already?"

Kiyone walked back out to see them scurrying into the room. She
was still drying her hands with a paper towel. "Boys, boys, boys."

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

Ranma ran over the layout and the plan one last time as it was
sprawled over the rear cargo floor of his JNSA issued Chevy Tahoe. The
wall to Furinkan High School overlooked him.

Kiyone was at his side under the rear lift gate, dressed in
teacher garb with jeans and sneakers to move easily and a light jacket
to conceal her handcuffs and Sig Sauer P226 in a holster.

Kurosawa was in contact with a sub-vocal communicator, walking
around the perimeter with only a pistol in plain clothes to make his
way around the back entrance.

Jackson was by a van on the other end of the school gate, covered
by the wall, conversing with several men in plainclothes. They were
SAT operators specifically dressed low key to provide support without
causing panic by appearing in full tactical gear.

"So do you get everything?" Ranma asked. He pointed out to several
points on the blueprints to the Furinkan High School building. "You
secure the faculty office, subdue any insiders they may have. Me and
Jackson are going to sweep my classroom and Yukado Shiro's room and
apprehend him."

"Any plans on what you're going to do with him after?" Kiyone
asked.

"Beat his fucking sources out him, that's what," Ranma said. "I
need to get rid of these parasites first and then I'm going after the
Oroshi-boss."

Jackson and Kurosawa both voiced their complaints through their
sub-vocal earpieces. They were still adamantly opposed to busting a
drug dealer before going to catch Ranma's attempted killer.

"I need to avenge my friends before myself." Ranma closed his eyes
and thought of Kasumi. "Are you guys ready to go?"

Each person acknowledged their readiness and moved out. The SAT
support stayed behind the gate while several others ran off to cover
the rest of the outer perimeter in case someone tried to run out and
escape. They were explicitly ordered to stay put unless absolutely
ordered, gunfire be damned. Ranma, Kiyone, and Jackson casually walked
into the grounds, making their way through the building to their
assigned targets.

Kiyone went into the administrative front desk of the school
first, flashing her badge at the lady who worked there. "Aomori-san, I
need that intercom. Right now."

She was confused as to why Toshikawa-sensei was announcing she was
a police officer. When Kiyone reached back and flashed the pistol in
her holster, the lady complied. Kiyone took a hold of the microphone
and ordered her to announce all the teachers to immediately gather in
the faculty room at once.

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

Ranma and Jackson hid in the hallways as they saw all the
classroom doors slide open with murmuring teachers heading downstairs.

"All teachers, grounds keepers, and administrators. Please report
to the front office immediately. You will be given further
instructions," the PA announced again.

They waited a few minutes to let everyone make their way into the
faculty offices and to give Kiyone a chance to do her part. Once the
hallway cleared they ran out and stopped short of their target
classrooms. Ranma took on his undercover homeroom, Jackson took Yukado
Shiro's. Both were across from each other. They stepped in.

Ranma yelled first for Okuno's name and ran to his seat to get him
on the ground. Confused and bewildered, Okuno was slammed to the floor
with his hands tied to his back.

Jackson did the same as he entered his classroom and scanned the
faces as he tried to recognize them from pictures he'd researched of
Yukado Shiro. He saw the shocked teenager in the back of the room and
raised his pistol, eliciting cries of panic from the students in the
room. "You're under arrest! Don't move!"

Shiro's friend Taki kicked up and knocked Jackson's Desert Eagle
out of his hands and he spun on his heel to give a roundhouse kick to
his stomach, toppling him over. He yelled at his friend, "Get the hell
out of here!"

Jackson watched as Yukado Shiro scampered out of the room,
tripping over the desks of his classmates as he dove out. Jackson
groaned and yanked Taki's feet from under him with a powerful swing
and then planted a left hook right into his crotch with a sickening
thud, right before he hit the ground. Taki's face turned several
shades of purple and blue while the class collectively moaned and
winced for him.

"Ranma, he's getting away!"

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

Kiyone watched as the last of the school's roster of employees
entered the cramped and crowded office. She leapt up and closed the
door and locked it. She raised her pistol and badge. "This is a police
raid! I want all of you to get down on your knees and put your hands
on your head!"

Everyone except for Hinako Ninomiya looked surprised. Several of
the female teachers fainted. A couple of the teachers looked pale and
looked guiltily at each other. They knew who they were. They tried to
jump out the windows.

"Stop!" Kiyone fired a warning shot and shattered a window,
stopping them in their tracks.

One teacher, a chemistry teacher with a bald head, had managed to
get his foot out. He was frozen in place, leg still in the air.

Kiyone jumped up on the desk and did a 360 to scan everyone. She
saw the head principal in his office look at her nervously and then
dashed to jump out his own window. She ran across the tables and jump
kicked him from the side, knocking him away.

She pointed the muzzle down and pressed it against the principal's
head. "Everyone's in a hurry to get out of here when they just came."

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

Ranma cuffed Okuno hard and dragged him out of the classroom
easily without a hitch. He threw him on the floor again, onto his
stomach.

Okuno cried out in pain. "What'd I do?"

"Shut the fuck up!" Ranma kicked him hard in the ribs and smacked
his head. He pulled on his ears painfully and flipped him over. He
punched him hard in the gut. "This is for Kasumi."

"Oof!" Okuno coughed and gasped for breath. "I don't know who the
hell you are! Who's Kasumi?"

Ranma grabbed his chin and came down close to his face. "She's the
sweet, bored, housewife you turned into an addict."


Okuno looked carefully at Ranma's face and it dawned on him with
disbelief. "Keisuke?"


"That's Ranma." He smacked him across the face again.

The doors to one of the other classrooms smashed open and Ranma
saw Yukado Shiro running out and away. He heard Jackson grunting from
inside.

"Ranma, he's getting away!"

Ranma smacked Okuno again and gave chase. It wasn't far, as Yukado
kept going upstairs and onto the school rooftop. He nearly tripped as
he made out the door outside as he heard a single gunshot from
downstairs. Kurosawa squawked into Ranma's earpiece and announced he
was making his way to the faculty office.

Yukado ran to the edge of the rooftop and looked for an escape. It
was way too high to jump and no way to climb down. He turned around
and saw Ranma near the doorway, walking slowly towards him.

"Don't come any closer!" Yukado drew a black 5-shot revolver from
his pocket.

Ranma drew his own Beretta and snapped on the laser sight. He
looked at the revolver, it was the same kind he carried in his back
pocket. "Put it down, you've got nowhere else to go."

"Who the hell are you?" Yukado demanded. His hands shook as he
pointed the gun at Ranma's face.

Ranma stood in place and aimed the laser dot still on Yukado's
upper lip. "I'm a police officer. I'm taking down your coke empire in
Nerima, you little bastard."

Yukado laughed nervously. "Do you know who the hell I am? My
cousin is Masa Hirotaki and he's a made man in the Oroshi group!"

Ranma took note of the name. "I don't give a shit, put it down,
now! Don't make me do this!"

"You think a cop can just get away with this?" Yukado glanced
around him nervously. He leaned back on the chain link fence barring
him from falling over the edge and felt the breeze in his hair. "I got
him to kill one of my lackeys for trying to set up his own drug
connection in Okayama! You don't think he'll do the same to you if I
get caught?"

"You what?" Ranma sighed in disbelief. That was one more murder
solved. "They won't get to me, not before I kill them all first."

Yukado gulped. He tried to stretch his arms further, trying to aim
with more intimidation if he could. The fear started to buckle his
knees.

Ranma read the signs of apprehension on his body. He started
walking closer to him. "It's over, kid. You try to shoot me, I'm going
to hit you back and then some. Don't make this difficult, now put that
gun down!"

"Don't move!" Yukado started whimpering and kept playing in his
mind that he was going to pull the trigger. He saw Ranma and lost the
resolve to shoot back with each closer step he took.

In a flash of panic and desperation, Yukado despaired with a
solution that seemed too easy as it entered his mind.

Ranma held his breath sharply. He dropped his gun and rushed
forward as Yukado aimed the revolver into his mouth.

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

Kurosawa ran in a speedy crouch as he strafed through the halls
and made his way into the faculty office, like the building plans had
shown. He jumped in and saw Kiyone manhandling several teachers,
clearly under control.

Kiyone gave him a thumbs up, flicking her bangs with her left
hand. "I'm good here."

He nodded and ran up the stairs where he met Jackson, struggling
to walk up as he stumbled in pain. "What happened to you?"

"Damn kid packed a hell of a punch," Jackson wheezed. The kid had
to be a trained martial artist. That kick to his stomach was
crippling.

Kurosawa tsked and grabbed Jackson by the shoulder. They both
hobbled up to the rooftop to hear Ranma and someone else exchanging
angry words. They both made it to the rooftop and came outside to see
Ranma suddenly rush after a teenager with blonde hair, with a small
revolver stuck in his mouth.

Ranma screamed. "Nooo!"

When Yukado pulled the trigger his eyes were blank and soulless,
completely unaware of how serious the last decision of his life would
be. It was a question onto its own, one that would never be answered
as a muzzle flash briefly illuminated the dark cavern of his mouth.
Those same vacant eyes went cross as a flap of his scalp grotesquely
pitched sideways over his left ear.

All three of the men watched as all too quickly the boy's body
dropped without theatrics, without any flailing Hollywood drama.
Yukado's form was supported by the fence, keeping his body upright and
legs splayed. Both of his nostrils ran twin faucets of blood, pumping
violently through the blown nasal cavity caused by the bullet.

Ranma turned away, holstering his pistol. "Call the coroner."


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

A massive free-for-all of police cars blocked away screaming
parents and angry students as Ranma pulled his Chevy away from the
melee. Kiyone sat at his side with Jackson and Kurosawa in the
backseat.

"I'm going to drop you off so you can go back to Okayama," Ranma
said to Kiyone.

She nodded. There was still a lot of work to be done that she had
suddenly left behind before finishing and she now had to process
another murder solved as it was revealed before Yukado Shiro's
suicide. All the teachers she had round up turned out to be useful
after all. The ones who tried to escape were all under the Yakuza
payroll to keep their mouths shut.

"Now it's time to find your killer?" Kurosawa asked.

"We're going to raid the Oroshi group, ASAP. We'll work it from
there. The boss for the Tokyo area is the chief of a steel mill right
here in Nerima. They specialize in textiles and light industry for a
business front."

He turned around to look at Jackson, who was busy on a laptop.
"Any word on Nabiki?"

Jackson shook his head. "No sign. Either she's dead or she's fled
somewhere. I doubt she kept any money in accounts under her real name.
Intel is still working on it."

"Can't we shut down the airports?"

Kurosawa laughed. "For one fuckin' bitch? No way. There's an alert
with her face posted at all airport security, even with that all that
bitch has to do is put on a disguise or better yet go to Korea on a
ferry and fly from there."

"Yep," Jackson added, agreeing with Kurosawa. "Let the
intelligence department handle this. We need to wait this one out."

* * *

April 28th, 2001.
JR Kyushu Ferries - Fukuoka, Japan. 11:55 AM.

Nabiki stepped aboard the hydrofoil with her simple roll-on
luggage bag. She had big sunglasses on and a large straw hat on her
head. She presented her ticket to an attendant.

"Thank you, enjoy your ride."

There wasn't an outdoor deck to this boat. Nabiki made her way to
an assigned seat in the corner and guarded herself carefully. She
hugged her purse close to her as she sipped a can of coffee, intent on
staying awake for the entire ride to the port city of Busan, South
Korea.

"This is your Captain speaking," the loudspeakers announced
scratchily. "We will be departing in 35 minutes."

Nabiki sighed and rubbed her temples. She discreetly checked
through her large purse to double check everything she needed.

There were her first-class tickets to Los Angeles International
Airport on a non-stop flight scheduled within two hours of her
expected arrival time from the boat ride.

There was an envelope with ten thousand US dollars, cold hard
currency for immediate use. There was more to pull out later as this
would suffice her well enough for a sustained period of time.


Her US passport was a genuine forgery with her picture on it and
an easy to remember first name chosen by the contracted couriers who
had made it. Naomi Hibiki. The last name she had specified.

And underneath it all, beneath the wallet, feminine toiletries and
some obligatory makeup, was a black pistol. The suppressor was still
attached. Nabiki wasn't about to let someone screw it up for after
she'd come this far. Not until she was on that plane, safely on her
way to America. Before she went to the airport she was going to dump
it in a trashcan somewhere where it would never be found again.

She pulled out one last item, a pocketbook. She didn't conceal it
out of view and opened it up out of her purse, where others could see.
It contained pictures of her family.

Nabiki sighed as she flipped through them, painfully flicking
through the faces and memories. She closed it and kissed the tip of
her fingers, pressing them to the leather-bound cover.

* * *

April 29th, 2001.
Shindo Metal Works - Nerima, Tokyo. 1:30 PM.

"Aniki, we finished loading up! The drivers are already taking the
weapons out on their routes."

Ichiro Itoh wracked his brain and then nodded weakly at his
underling. He barely managed any sleep the night before and his
resources were taxed as he struggled for a way to get out of this.

There was no more coup d'etat or the possibility of controlling
the Oroshi Empire. No more grand plans to overtake the Yamaguchi-gumi
and the rest of Japan. He turned around and saw his men scattering
about on the grounds, marking their escape and getaway before imminent
doom. His own bodyguards and loyal team of gangsters were in the steel
mill offices behind him, armed to the teeth. Their faces flashed
through his head, memories of watching them grow older through the
years and being invited to some of their weddings and the birthdays of
their children. All of them had started with him or under him before
they were hardened punks, swearing to protect him and fight till their
deaths. He certainly hoped that wouldn't be the case.

Kidnapping Nabiki Tendo had been a mistake. He didn't know how,
but the same people who had ruined his plans had been tracking her.
The arrogant woman wasn't as impermeable as she thought she was, but
his own foolish attempt to extort her had led them straight to Mr.
Joshua.

And Mr. Joshua was the best man he had, the only reason Itoh was
one step ahead of the game with his life intact. Now that the South
African was dead, Itoh held no grand delusions that he could carry on
with anything at all. His responsibility was to break free with what
he had, take the men that were loyal with him and then start anew with
a fresh base. He had to disappear and survive. He had a responsibility
to uphold amidst his failed gamble.

His thoughts were disrupted as a loud bang erupted from behind
him. Shots started ringing out along with the shouts of his men
followed by several more explosions. He turning back to face the
railing and yelled of his men to come up, when a bright flash and
explosive percussion blasted from behind him. Itoh dropped to the
ground, clutching his ears. Another set of bright explosions blinded
his sight and he heard the panicked clamor of his men.

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

"Once we get up to those offices, Jackson and I will cycle in as
entry men and clear the rooms with flashbangs. You stay behind and
cover us as the rear guard."

Ranma nodded as Kurosawa instructed him. They looked at some basic
plans for the steel mill grounds, the only ones they could muster in a
short amount of time. They were overlaid in the rear cargo bay of
Ranma's Chevy, once again. He listened carefully as both Jackson and
Kurosawa plotted their movements on the map. These two were skilled
close quarter combat specialists, the masters of tactical raiding.
Ranma had some exposure to the choreography and discipline but it was
a whole different animal to see it being discussed with these two. It
wasn't the martial artist's caveat.

Jackson tossed Ranma some skiing goggles. "Wear that in case the
banger smoke and dust blinds you. We're going in hard and we're going
in fast."

Kurosawa cocked back the T-handle of his suppressed AR-rifle. He
was decked out in a full tactical vest with several pouches for
magazines and a row of MK-84 stun grenades at his torso for easy
reach. Jackson had something similar, but with the items placed
differently to his preference. His MP5SD was held in the crook of his
arm with the sling secured to an attachment on his vest.

Ranma wore a thick armored vest and his G36K, looking relatively
unprepared in comparison. They all still had their sub-vocal earpieces
in place to communicate with each other.

"All right, I'll take point," Kurosawa said. "Let's go."

The three men ran into the compound from their hidden spot behind
the concrete walled perimeter of the steel mill. They avoided
detection with ease as the number of obstacles and machines in the
place made it easy to duck and hide at a moment's notice. The plant
was mostly automated with a few workers who were in the control center
and a select few on the grounds observing the operations.

Further into the steel jungle, the three JNSA men halted behind a
gigantic hydraulic press. It whirred and hissed with steam as they ran
around it.

The office was in front, a raised platform warehouse with rooms
inline and filled with several men. The windows revealed them walking
about with a full range of small arms on them. Ranma looked over to
several empty storage lots on the side, where pallets of boxes were
being driven out.

"Those could be the guns we're looking for," Ranma said.

Kurosawa nodded. "We need to move, now."

They approached the office setup from the rear and went up a
construction ramp as quietly as they could. Kurosawa held on to the
door handle with a flashbang in hand. He crouched against the sill and
counted down his fingers with his free hands. Three, two, one...

The pin on the first grenade was pulled and exploded halfway into
the room as the men stared at the black cylindrical device. Kurosawa
swung the door wide open for Jackson to run in and he took down two
men standing with M4 carbines in their hands.

Kurosawa came in right behind him and ran for the next door where
Jackson had his hand on the knob with a flashbang in the other.
Jackson yanked the pin with his teeth and tossed it in, waiting for it
to erupt before he opened the door for Kurosawa to breach in.

Ranma came in and kept his rifle aimed at the entrance,
backpedaling his steps as the rest of his team kept pushing forward.
Kurosawa double tapped two more men with shots sent downrange, center
mass to the chest. He quickly repeated the same tactical entry at the
next door by setting up Jackson to enter the next room.

The smoke from the discarded grenades triggered the fire alarm,
causing the sprinklers to go off. Ranma looked up as she followed the
men into the second room and felt the curse change his body and wiped
away the goggles for water. Now female, the armor vest she had worn
around her felt loose and clumsy. She struggled to unlatch the Velcro
and adjust the fit. Right as she finished fiddling with her vest a man
with a MAC-10 came in from the warehouse entry. Ranma saw him through
the opened doors and took aim, firing three rounds center mass.

Jackson ran up behind them with a prisoner being pushed in
front. It was Itoh, bagged with a black sack around his head and a
plastic zip-tie securing his wrists behind his back. Kurosawa ran in
front of Ranma and turned around to motion her to follow him. He did a
double take as he looked up at the running sprinklers and Ranma's
fiery red hair. Jackson kicked her from behind and yelled at her to
keep moving.

Before he peeked his head out the door Kurosawa exchanged the
magazine on his rifle for a fresh one. It was still full with 26
rounds, but it was a trained tactic. He sidestepped, crouched and
hunched low, slicing the pie around the corner with his rifle at
ready. No one was waiting for him around the elevated ramp and he
signaled it was clear to both Ranma and Jackson with hand motions.

The three and their prisoner made it down the platform and saw
most of the people in the mill running out. Itoh was unable to see
that the rest of his men turning tail and running like cowards. Only
his dead bodyguards were loyal enough to stick around and fight back.

Ranma took the opportunity to jump up high, on the roof of the
warehouse. It gave her a clear, unobstructed view of the entire steel
mill. All the trucks had gotten away and the few men left running on
foot had abandoned their weapons on the ground.

Both Jackson and Kurosawa gawked as she jumped back down from
several stories up, cushioned the land with her knees. "We're in the
clear. Everyone else bugged out."

"You just leapt up that building and jumped back down," Kurosawa
said. "How the hell did you do that?"

"When the hell did you dye your hair?" Jackson asked. "It was
black when you were a guy just now."

Ranma winced. "Don't worry about it." She yanked the cover off of
Itoh's head. He was still reeling from the blinding light of the stun
grenades. "Are you Itoh, Ichino?"

Itoh wanted to desperately rub his eyes but all he could do was
squeeze them rapidly to relieve the pain. "I am. Who the hell are
you?"

Ranma swept his feet from under him as she pulled out her thermos
to change back into a guy. Itoh groaned in pain and looked up to see
the outlines of two men and a woman looking down on him. It was
terrifying to see the blurred outlines of armed gunmen hanging over
him.

"Who are you?" Itoh murmured. His ears were aching from the
flashbang and a high pitched squeal deafened all background noise.

Kurosawa searched his pockets and his body thoroughly for any
hidden weapons. He pulled out Itoh's wallet and read through the
contents. "We're asking the fucking questions, you understand?"

"My men...what have you done with them?" Itoh asked.

"The ones in the office?" Kurosawa lifted a brow. "Dead."

Itoh closed his eyes. "All of them?"

"They were all armed," Jackson said.

"Who did you send to the Tendo Dojo and where is Nabiki Tendo?"
Ranma took a knee and had the barrel of her rifle poking Itoh in the
ribs.


"I have no idea what you are talking about." Itoh looked to the
side and spat on the ground. He thought of the men and ran through
each of their wives and kids' names. It was all over.

"I wouldn't be acting so tough right now you old coot. Mr. Joshua
worked for you, right? I gave that asshole a quick death for what he
tried to do to me and my friends." Ranma grabbed his chin and squeezed
enough to make it hurt. "Guess what I'm going to do to you since one
of your men was actually successful in almost killing me last night?

"Spare me the tough cop routine! And I still don't know what the
hell you're talking about, son! I've never seen you before in my life!
Who the hell are you?"

"The name's Ranma Saotome. You attacked my friends. You tried to
kill me."

Itoh matched his eyes. "You're the son of a bitch who killed all
my men, huh? I sent them to kidnap Tendo and her family happened to be
there with her. After that, you came in. I didn't do anything else."

Itoh received a series of rough smacks and kicks to the side by
all three standing men.

"Then how the hell do you explain me getting shot at the Tendo
home, huh?" Ranma screamed.

"Don't think for a second you can intimidate me! Even if you kill
me!" Itoh bellowed, trying to catch his breath from his aching ribs.
"After you took out my hired specialist I've been busy trying to save
the rest of my men! On top of that I have a rogue underling who's
taken a chunk of my weapons and is out in the open. I didn't have the
resources or the interest to sending my men into the lion's den again
to shoot a person I don't even know!"

Jackson looked up at Ranma, who was looking at a puzzled Kurosawa.
The explanation was unsettlingly logical.

Ranma gulped. It really didn't make any sense for the syndicate to
retaliate at a place where they most likely knew was being guarded.
The holes in his memory also tightened on Ranma's chest. It was still
fuzzy, but he felt something there. But it wasn't enough to dispel the
notion that it was still the most likely thing that happened.

"Maybe it was your rogue men," Ranma said. "Maybe they were
following your orders?"

"How the hell would I know," Itoh replied. He was dragged back
onto his feet, his wrists still tightly bound together with plastic
clips. "You can do me the favor of killing them for me since you
killed everyone else I fucking cared about, you sons-of-bitches."

"So you really do have a group of men who were under you that went
astray?" Kurosawa asked.

"I would've killed them first before even bothering with getting
back at whoever the hell you guys are. They shot up those casino
parlors in Shinjuku a couple of nights ago. They're the reasons
everything got screwed up."

Ranma's eyes grew wide. "Awful mouthy, aren't you? I thought you
Yakuza were honor bound to the brotherhood?"

Itoh looked up at his empty office up above. "I have no more."

"Give us a name," Jackson asked.

"Masa Hirotaki."

"And the men in those trucks who tore ass out of here. Who were
they?" Kurosawa asked.

Itoh huffed. "No dice. I'm not ratting out my faithful survivors."

Ranma tsked. "You're making it a whole lot harder on yourself. And
I'm not even going to get started on how much more painful."

"You can't get me. I just gave you Masa's name to settle a
vendetta. My other men know enough that I'm captured and gone
forever."

"You just have to do this the hard way, don't you," Ranma growled.


Ranma grabbed one of Itoh's arms with Kurosawa securing the
other and started walking him out.

Itoh chuckled. "You can kill me, but the others won't stop. That's
one thing we're good at, we never forget our enemies. That's where
Tendo paid for it. Even her friend, that okonomiyaki chef."

Ranma halted abruptly and looked at Itoh like a hawk locked down
on its prey. "You did that?"

"You're a cop or something, aren't you? You that surprised us
Yakuza would do such a thing?" Itoh rolled his eyes and ignored
Ranma's glare.

Ranma ground his teeth as his ears started to pulsate.



Jackson and Kurosawa nearly yelped in surprise as Ranma forcefully
dragged Itoh back into the steel mill. Itoh grunted his disapproval in
being handled roughly, resigned to whatever cheap punches and kicks he
was going to be subjected to next.

To the surprise of everyone else, Ranma scooped Itoh's body into
his arms and leapt up onto a machine press. He dumped Itoh's body into
a large metal tub, as big as a swimming pool. It was a horizontal
extruder, meant for pressing hot softened metal into many pieces of
thinner rods of raw steel. It was like one big ram rod to make metal
spaghetti.

"Ranma what the hell are you doing!" Kurosawa yelled.

Ignoring all the yells, Ranma leapt to another platform and
started mashing down buttons until the whole assembly started up. The
hydraulic arms of the press came to life and started inching forward
to compress the empty cavity where Itoh was trapped. Ranma leapt back
in time to see Itoh struggling, unable to use his arms to jump up and
hoist himself out.


"Not afraid of death, huh?" Ranma said. "We'll see about that."

"Don't do this! We have to take him in!" Jackson yelled at Ranma.

"But this is so much quicker than hours and hours of interrogating
that'll probably get us nothing from a veteran gangster like this
guy," Ranma replied. He shrugged his shoulders, his expression cold.

Itoh scrambled around in his shrinking box, staring at the metal
wall in front of him inching towards him. He saw Ranma from above,
standing next to the control panel. "You're going to kill a
restrained, unarmed man, in a steel press? How are you going to get
away with that one!"

"I'll think about it while they're cleaning up what's left of
you," Ranma said. His arms were crossed.

Jackson bit his fingers as he saw everything unfold. He saw the
icy stare in Ranma's eyes and the calm collected look on Kurosawa's
features. He shook Kurosawa frantically. "Sir, we have to stop him! We
can't let him kill an unarmed prisoner!"

Kurosawa sighed and shook his head. "He's the boss. What are you
going to do, shoot him?"

Jackson groaned and looked back up at Ranma. "Captain! Stop this
right now!"

"You shut your goddamn mouth Jackson!" Ranma shouted back. He
started breathing heavily and looked back down.

Itoh stayed silent the whole time, waiting for this charade to
stop. He glanced around and noticed the slow press was deceptively so,
since the first time he had checked his space had shrunk by half. The
illusion was frighteningly novel to his senses and the fear of
claustrophobia started to choke him up.

"Alright, you've made your damn point with the tough cop thing,"
Itoh stammered.

"Tell me what you know," Ranma calmly replied.

"You really going to kill an unarmed man?"

"As long as he isn't an innocent man."

The phenomenon of the shrinking walls fully engrossed Itoh's mind
at this point. The scraping sound of metal on metal as it silently
roared closer to him shredded his composure even further. "I told you
I don't know anything about who shot you."

"Maybe you're lying?" Ranma replied flatly.

"Maybe it was Masa!" Itoh yelped. He got up and tried to
helplessly budge his shoulder against the moving wall and slow it down
with his feet planted on the ground.

Ranma's eyes narrowed. "And how about your men in the trucks who
drove away from here? Where are they going?"

Itoh whimpered. "I don't know! They were going to make up their
own groups and come back to me when things settled down in the city
again! I sent them out on their own for their own safety!"

"That's not good enough for me!"

The walls were soon going to be close enough for Itoh to brace
with his leg up. "That's all I know, damn it!"

Ranma smashed the control panel with an axe-kick.

Jackson jumped up and tried to climb up to reach him. "You can't
do this, Ranma!"

Mouth agape, Ranma casually made his way down onto the moving
block of the press. He crouched down. "Then how about blasting my best
friend with a shotgun, you piece of shit? What the hell did you do
that for?"

Itoh started blubbering and buckled his knee against the
unstoppable force. "She was Nabiki's friend, I didn't know she was
your friend. I don't even know you!"

"Well now you know what it's like to be a victim, like Ucchan
was!" And Tofu, Kasumi, Ryoga...and Akane.

"Oh god, please!" Itoh sobbed and hyperventilated. "I'm sorry! I
don't want to die like this! God, help!"

Jackson just barely managed to grab a hold of the awkward
platform, above from the machinery where Ranma was standing on. "Don't
be like him, Captain! We're the good guys!"

Ranma continued to ignore him. The walls of the press were close
enough to hop across from the top edges.

Jackson's eyes started tearing up. "I'm your partner, goddamn it!
Listen to me!"

Ranma's ear's perked. He reached down and yanked up Itoh by the
neck and bolted up. The metal press clamped shut just as Itoh's feet
cleared the top. Ranma dropped Itoh back down on his face as a small
crease of his pant leg was caught and pinched at the bottom.

Jackson took a seat on the platform, wiping his brow and breathing
a sigh of relief. Kurosawa climbed up and sat down with his elbow on
Jackson's shoulder.

"I'm impressed with both of you," Kurosawa said. He looked back
and forth between Ranma and Jackson.

Ranma flipped over the sobbing, simpering Itoh over onto his back
and crouched back down to get closer to his face. He looked at him for
a moment, his glare still rock solid.

"I want you to know," Ranma started. "For the rest of your life
when you see my face, I'm the person you begged for your life like the
people you terrorized."

As a grown man, he couldn't remember the last time he curled his
body in a fetal position. Itoh shut his eyes and wept freely.

* * *

April 29th, 2001.
Juntendo University Nerima Hospital - Nerima, Tokyo. 2:30 PM.

Akane handed a can of iced tea to the plainclothes police officer
guarding the door to Kasumi's room. He accepted with a slight bow and
a grateful smile.

"Is your father doing well, miss?" the officer asked.

Akane nodded. She shied her face away a bit to cover the dark,
tired circles around her eyes. "He's doing just fine. My father's best
friend and his wife are with him." She remembered the special plain
clothed officer who guarded her father's room. "Your friend asked to
say 'hi' by the way."

He smiled. "Thank you."

Akane bowed slightly and entered the room. The ambient noise from
outside was well damped by the door and walls, allowing a comfortable
solitude inside the darkened room for Kasumi. The multi-layered
curtains were drawn and closed together tightly and all the lights
were off, with only the soft glow of the LEDs on the medical
apparatuses barely illuminating the room. Akane sat on a sofa next to
the bed that had been brought in especially by the hospital staff.
Akane had briefly wondered if hospitals were ever so accommodating.

She looked at her oldest sister's prone form. Kasumi was knocked
out with powerful sedatives and was expected to sleep well into the
day. Her gunshot wound was cleaned and stitched up expertly by the
surgeons. Gauze wrapping covering an entire side of her collarbone was
all that was left.

Akane leaned back on the sofa and lolled her head towards the
armrests on the edge. She pulled out her cell phone and tried dialing
for Ryoga again. It went straight to voicemail. The same thing it had
done for the past few hours. She grabbed a spare hospital blanket
crumpled on the side of the sofa and bit into it with her mouth in
frustration. She wanted to scream, but instead she let out a pained
moan, muffled by the blanket. Between her family in the hospital, her
missing sister, her dead brother in law, missing husband, and Ranma's
disappearance, Akane was starting to unravel. Nothing in the past 24
hours made any sense to her or was looking to made sense of. It felt
like a cruel joke being played in her head.

The doorjamb clicked open as the handle was turned and Akane
shielded her bloodshot eyes from the bright fluorescent light flooding
in from the hallway. A figure came in and closed the door quickly,
noticing Akane's apparent discomfort.

"Akane?"

She nearly froze at the voice. Her throat felt coarse and she felt
her tears threatening to cascade. She lifted her face and quickly
adjusted to the silhouette, her eyes immediately dawning onto a
pigtail. "Ranma!"

Ranma nearly fell back as he received Akane's strong embrace. She
jumped up into his arms and her head fell right into his chest, her
tears soaking into his shirt.

"I was so worried about!" Akane kept shaking her head back and
forth and lightly pounded on his chest with her fists, bawling. "I
thought they had gotten to you or-or-"

"Shh...it's okay, Akane." Ranma stroked her hair and hugged her in
closer. "I'm right here."

"Oh god, I'm so glad you're okay," Akane continued. Her soft
weeping continued and she rocked her body back and forth like a baby
with her arms wrapped around Ranma.

Both of them fell back on the sofa, exhausted physically and
emotionally. Akane continued to sob into Ranma's chest and they spent
some time in each other's embrace. They were closely intertwined,
almost like lovers.

The minutes passed and Akane finally calmed down.

"They didn't hurt you at all?" Ranma said.

"No, I was just pushed around a bit. Nothing like Kasumi-neechan
or Ryoga," she whispered.

"Are you sure?" Ranma asked worriedly. "Did they check you up?"

"Yes, I'm fine," Akane said, her eyes closed. She snuggled her
forehead comfortably against Ranma's chin.

"Have the guards been good to you? Jackson told me he pulled them
from Tokyo police's elite Special Action Team."

Akane chuckled. "Yes, they're very kind too," she said softly.

"How's your father?"

"Your parents are with him, he's doing just fine. The doctors say
he's had a miraculous recovery. He'll make a full recovery soon."

Ranma made a mental note to avoid his parents until this fiasco
was finished with. "Your sister? How's she?"

"Which one? You know anything about Nabiki?"

"Nabiki has disappeared. No one knows where she is. Maybe even out
of the country. How's Kasumi?"

Akane sighed. "She's fine now. I'm afraid of how she'll be when
she's awake."

Ranma gingerly stroked the side of Akane's cheek."That's why
you're here for her, right?"

Akane nodded, her tear streaks wiped away by Ranma's hands.

"And your husband, where's he?"

"Ryoga's gone. You heard what happened to him right?"

Ranma nodded. "I heard about him getting shot. I want to talk to
him, find out more about what happened to him and me."

"He got lost. His GPS is on the table over there. He must have
been stressed out and forgot it. And you know what it's like to find
Ryoga when he's lost."

"Yeah." Ranma groaned. "The only one who can find him is himself
when he shows up again."

They laid together on the couch for a little longer, comfortable
in each other's silence. Ranma finally got up and brushed a hand
through Akane's hair as she sat upright. He stepped back towards the
door.

"Where are you going?" Akane asked.

"I need to go. There's still a lot of work that needs to be done."

"Can't you stay here a little longer? Please?"

Ranma shook his head softly, his brows soft and relaxed. "I'm
sorry. I need to go."

He reached for the door handle and turned it until it clicked
before he was interrupted.

"I love you," Akane blurted.

Ranma swiveled around and let the doorjamb lock. His moist eyes
fell upon Akane's trembling lips. "I love you too. I always have."

Akane gasped a pained breath as she tried to hold back from crying
any more than she already had. Ranma walked back to her and gently
grabbed her right hand and lifted it to his face. He gently kissed the
tip of her fingers and walked back out.

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

Ranma reached the end of the corridor to Ukyou's room, marked with
a plainclothes police officer next to the door. On a hallway bench
nearby was another man in a suit. He looked familiar as Ranma came
closer.

Kei Sakuragi pulled his face out of his hands and looked up to see
a pigtailed man approaching Ukyou's room. He recognized the man from
outside his office after Ukyou had been shot.

Ranma recognized him too and completely ignored his greeting as he
flashed a badge to the officer next to the door to be allowed in. Kei
was stopped and aggressively shoved back by the officer as the door
closed behind Ranma.

The curtains inside Ukyou's room weren't completely shut but were
drawn just enough to allow her to comfortably sleep in her bed. Ranma
pulled up a chair next to her body and accidentally awoke her.

"Who is it?" Ukyou asked in a stupor.

Ranma winced. "I'm sorry I woke you, Ucchan."

Her eyes fluttered open and she smacked her lips and smiled when
she saw that it was Ranma. She groaned a bit as she cradled her
stomach and clicked enthusiastically on the morphine drip before
crudely grinning.

"Does it hurt bad, Ucchan?"

"It's really sore after all the surgery," Ukyou mumbled. "But the
morphine is awesome. I can totally see myself getting addicted to this
stuff."

Ranma tapped Ukyou's nose and started laughing. "Well, I don't
think you'll want to get shot again just so you can get doped up on
painkillers."

"Oh you~" Ukyou weakly wagged a finger at Ranma. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For saving my life. For coming to see me."

"You're my best friend, aren't you?" Ranma said, smiling.

"I'm glad for once it was that," Ukyou said, shoving her face into
a pillow. She breathed deeply and sighed. "So did you get them all?
You put away the bad guys?"

"Not yet."

"Well what are you waiting around here for? Get out there. You
have a job to do."

Ranma nearly cackled in surprise. "What, you want to get rid of me
that quickly?"

"No, seeing you here was enough. You saving my life like that
yesterday was enough to prove that I'm more than just a fling or a
friend or whatever you want to call it." She tapped her chest. "I can
finally let you go, from here."

Ranma cracked a wink at Ucchan and grabbed a hold of her hand and
squeezed it tight. "I'm glad to hear you're doing fine, Ucchan. I'll
go out and catch the bad guys now."

"You go do that. And remember to bring one back with a ribbon tied
on 'em for me."

"By the way, Ucchan. Your ex-boyfriend? I don't want you around
him or see him again. He's part of the reason you're lying here."

Ukyou sighed and shrugged. "I figured as much."

Ranma nodded. "I'm glad you understand."

Ukyou shook the wired remote to the morphine drop before he could
walk away. "Wait, wait! Before you go you have to teach me or find out
if there's like a cheat code for this morphine switch. It'll only let
me have a drip every few hours."

Ranma nearly burst out in laughter as he came close to the bed and
leaned over to grab the remote clicker. He handed it back to Ukyou. "I
think there's a reason for that, Ucchan."

"Oh, poo. I guess I'll just settle for this." She reached up and
grabbed Ranma's head and kissed him with some tongue.

Ranma jolted his head back in surprise with a giggling Ucchan
squirming in her bed. "Hey!"

"I promise that was the last one!" Ukyou squealed. "It was just as
good as the morphine, I swear!"

Ranma raised a brow as he reached for the door. "Almost as good?"

Ukyou waved him off as he exited.

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

Kei stubbornly pleaded with the man who guarded Ukyou's door for
the umpteenth time. The only other visitor he had seen was a short
haired girl who was apparently a VIP at this hospital for some reason.
It was painfully obvious to Kei that the man was fully capable of
kicking his ass and then some, so strong arming his way into seeing
Ukyou had not been an option.

The door opened again and Ranma stepped out. The plainclothes
officer acknowledged him with a nod and stepped out of the way for
him.

Kei's eyes widened at the sight of Ranma. "Hey, mister! Remember
me? My name is Kei Sakuragi, I was there yesterday to help you with
Ukyou-"

Ranma cut him off. "Shut your fucking mouth." He poked Kei in the
chest and gave him an icy glare. "You're a scumbag and I'm going to
bust all of your scumbag friends."

Kei stammered. "I regret that my associations allowed this to
happen, but believe me, please. I never ever would've wanted Kuonji-
san to get hurt."

"Don't!" Ranma shouted. "Don't even utter her name! You shut your
mouth!"

Kei clamped his mouth shut.

"Now tell me, asshole. Do you know who Akari Unryuu is?"

"Huh?" Kei's forehead creased and he scratched his head. "I don't
know, maybe. Sounds familiar."

"You don't remember loaning money to a girl with that name and
then allowing her to default on a ridiculous rate of interest?"

Kei huffed in exasperation. "I've dealt with clients like that a
dime a dozen in the financial industry! I can't remember a single name
out of the sea of names that have defaulted on their loans."

Ranma grabbed a handful of Kei's shirt tightly around his fist and
then drove down a kick to break each of his kneecaps. Kei crumpled
down on the ground and shook uncontrollably at the pain, unable to
handle the shock.

"You bastard! You broke my legs!" Kei yelped.

A nurse from around the corridor popped out and ran towards them.
"What happened?"

Ranma looked over to the plainclothes SAT officer to his side. "I
think he tripped. What do you think?"

The officer smiled. "Looks like an accident. I didn't see shit."

* * *

April 29th, 2001.
Lotte Mall Garage Parking, Underground Level 3 - Sumida, Tokyo. 5:45
PM.

The lens on Miyuki's camcorder generously zoomed far beyond that
of the model's original limit thanks to the addition of her high-tech
telephoto lenses. The digital camcorder saved directly to her laptop,
which Natsumi observed on the passenger seat. She saw what Miyuki was
capturing through the viewfinder.

They were perfectly disguised as regular women on a trip to the
shopping mall with their car parked in the basement levels of the
Lotte plaza. Miyuki's diminutive Toyota roadster hid nicely among the
other cars as she spied on the activities of the car thieves she was
taping. The top was up and the interior was dimmed, making them
difficult to spot.

However, coincidence had it that they really were just being
regular women on a trip to the mall when both of them had noticed
several men walking around snooping into car windows as they were
searching for a parking spot. After some quiet observation, their
suspicions were confirmed. Their targets were confident thieves,
scoping around the lot as casually as possible, dismissed by the
casual passerby as just another mall patron.

Natsumi clicked her tongue as she watched the footage through the
laptop screen. "I don't know whether we're incredibly lucky or unlucky
on our day off," she said. "Who'd have thought we'd stumble onto the
car theft ring like this?"

"I'm glad I kept this equipment with me," Miyuki said. "I feel
like a real detective. Ne, Natsumi?"

"I'm not exactly sure, but I guess its close," Natsumi replied."

Miyuki set down the camcorder onto her lap and pulled out her cell
phone. "Think we should call the JNSA?"

Natsumi frowned. "Why bother? They haven't stolen anything yet.
Let's make the catch first. It's not like these guys are armed to the
teeth."

"Who knows? We should call Ranma Saotome first and then-"

"Oh?" Natsumi narrowed her eyes. "Ranma now, is it? So was that
his real name?"

"Well, yeah," Miyuki said, evasively.

"You want to call HIM, not just the JNSA. Is that it?" Natsumi
said.

Miyuki's face flushed. "He told us to observe and report in.
That's all I'm suggesting we do."

Natsumi looked at her partner and best friend, a hint of disgust
mixed into her sigh and worry in her eyes. "Look, I'm not going to
drag this out on you or put you on the spot. But if you have a little
crush on him, be straight about it. And be careful, he's a dangerous
guy. Even though he's one of the good guys."

"I'm just trying to do the right thing," Miyuki said. She started
looking through her phone's contact list for the number.

Natsumi smirked. "You already have the guy's number saved in your
phone? Who are you trying to kid?"

Miyuki blushed furiously as the call connected.

* * *

April 29th, 2001.
46th floor, JNSA Headquarters - Tokyo, Japan. 6:00 PM.

Four men gathered around a round table under a bright lamp.
Scattered among them were various scribbles and printouts with
multiple highlights. On one end of the table Ranma tapped the ashes of
his cigarette into a ceramic ashtray with his other hand glued to his
cellphone on his ear.

Takayama kept flipping through the sheets as if there was another
piece of info hidden away, waiting to be found. "There's nothing more
about this guy we can use? He couldn't even touch Ranma let alone
sneak up and ambush him."

Jackson perused through his copies of Masa Hirotaki's jacket
files. What little searching found was hardly useful.

The fourth man at the table was a technician from one of the lower
floors, the same one who had helped out Jackson previously. He held
the only picture they could find of Masa Hirotaki, taken from a
juvenile arrest. It was enough for Ranma to recognize him from the
botched Shinjuku shooting.

Ranma scribbled furiously onto a notepad as he talked on the
phone. He ended his call with an exasperated puff of smoke exhaled
into the air. "We just got lucky. Our two lady friends from Bokutou
Station said they caught onto a group of professional car thieves at a
mall in the Sumida area."

"The ones we saved?" Jackson's head tilted to the side. "What did
you tell them to do?"

"I told them to keep an eye on them and not do a damn thing. Let's
get moving."

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

Jackson drove as Ranma scoped out the windows to gather his
surroundings. The address they were give to the chop shop was near the
riverbank and thankfully an industrialized district of the
neighborhood with fewer people around.

"We can't let any fighting spill out onto the streets." Ranma
looked over at Jackson. "If these guys are it, we have to contain
them. Got it?"

"Loud and clear." Jackson turned into a dusty alleyway and spotted
a blue coupe. He turned off the lights as he parked.

"Any word on Kurosawa being here?" Ranma asked.

Jackson got out of the car. "He's helping the search on Nabiki
Tendo. She's one of the JNSA's top priorities and a case all by
herself now."

The Bokutou policewomen saw the two agents come towards them.
Miyuki managed to get a good view of their transportation in the dim
lit alleyway. It was the same turbocharged, all-wheel drive station
wagon from their first meeting.

Ranma walked up to the convertible roadster. "Is it that building
over there?" He pointed to a grayed out auto repair business that
looked half abandoned.

Miyuki nodded. "They took in three trucks, a van, and a BMW sedan.
No one has come out since they've returned."

"How many people did you see?" Jackson asked.

"Six from the mall," Natsumi replied from the passenger seat.
"Possibly more inside because someone opened the door for them. We
took a walk around too and heard some voices in there."

Ranma scowled. "That was pretty dangerous. Now we appreciate your
help up till now, but I would really like to insist you leave and let
us take care of this."

Natsumi scowled back. "No way! This is our case!"

"We have a responsibility as police officers too," Miyuki said,
joining in. "This car theft ring was assigned to us by our station
detectives."

The howl of creaking metal caught all of their attention as the
garage doors to the chop shop opened up to allow a sedan to exit. Four
men were seated inside, all with sunglasses.

Jackson ran to the backseat of the Mitsubishi Legnum and pulled
out his MP5SD and activated the night vision sights aimed towards the
passengers. "I'm pretty sure that the man in the front passenger seat
is our target. We need to get moving, now!"

"We're coming with you!" Natsumi said.

Ranma walked over to Jackson and grabbed his suppressed submachine
gun and aimed it at the engine of Miyuki's car. "No, you're not. I
don't want either of you involved. This is for your own good. Go home
and get the hell out of here. Please."

Miyuki got out and protested as Ranma and Jackson got back into
their cars to tail the Bimmer. "We helped you! You can't just leave us
out like this!"

Jackson was already backing out as Ranma stuck his head out the
window. "We can and we will."

Natsumi also got out of the car and came up next to Miyuki as they
were left in the dust by Ranma's departure. "That jerk!"

"C'mon, let's go."

Natsumi looked over at Miyuki. "What?"

"I said let's go. If anyone can tail them, I can."

"You heard what he said, it could be dangerous. Last time we
tangled with him, it nearly killed us."

"And you're going to let that haunt you forever? Are you my
partner or not?" Miyuki demanded.

Natsumi bit her lip. "Ok, you win."

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

"What is that over there?" Ranma said, looking out through his
binoculars.

Jackson rubbed his chin as he looked through his own pair of
binoculars. "That looks like the sign for the Tokyo Star Bank. I
wonder what a bank is doing in the middle of nowhere?"

Ranma set his sight away from Masa and his men as they pulled up
to the side of a large, mostly unmarked building that was devoid of
windows. They were near an area full of local fish mongers and
distributors, all them closed down for the night. He typed in an
address into the car's onboard computer mounted crudely onto the
center console.

"Anything come up?" Jackson said.

Ranma shook his head. "It's still searching. I put in Tokyo Star
Bank."

Jackson nodded and continued to observe their suspects. They were
taking out something from the back. "They pulled some pipes or
something out of the trunk. I wonder what the hell they're doing?"

"They armed?" Ranma continued to fiddle with the computer.

"One suspect has an AR-type rifle with 100-round betas. Two others
have FN FALs with 20-round magazines." Jackson's eyes squinted as he
focused on the odd tube Masa had taken hold of. "He's fiddling with
the pipe. I can barely see in this dim light."

"Should've packed some more night optics," Ranma said. "It looks
like something's starting to show up. The computer said it's a branch
of the bank, alright. But it's not for normal clients."

Jackson continued to scrutinize the odd pipe in Masa's hands. He
saw Masa struggle and extend it, with another portion being pulled out
of a sleeve. "He lengthened it."

"Odd, I wonder what kind of bank this is?" Ranma asked aloud. He
glanced over at Jackson. "Good thing there's no people around here at
night, huh? We won't have to worry about collateral damage."

A lump started to form in Jackson's throat. He watched as Masa
flipped up a lever on the pipe. It looked alarmingly familiar.
"Captain, I think you should take a look at this-"

"Aha! It says here it's a reserve bank." Ranma tapped on the
screen. "Tokyo Star has a branch out here for the local merchants to
make large cash deposits. That's why it said it wasn't for regular
customers!"

Jackson's eyes grew wider and wider as he saw Masa walk over to an
open face wall on the side of the wall with the pipe in his arms. As
soon as Masa lugged it onto his shoulders, Jackson recognized what it
was.

"It's a fucking bazooka!"

Before Ranma could reply in horror a loud flash illuminated the
area followed by an ear-piercing crackle from the explosive
projectile. The deafening boom was gone quicker than it had come,
leaving a cloud of dust where the bank's wall had been.

Neither Ranma or Jackson needed binoculars to see all four men
scramble into the exposed bank vault. Ranma jumped out of the car
along with Jackson and he grabbed his rifle from the backseat. Jackson
already had his primary long gun strapped over his neck.

A single gangster jumped back out of the hole and saw Ranma and
Jackson running their way from across the street. He immediately
opened fire, peppering single shots in their direction with his FAL.

Ranma ducked and ran for cover in an adjacent building with entry
recesses. Jackson managed to side step and fall into a stubby brick
wall that was used as a sign. He was pinned down and curled into a
ball to conceal his body from harm.

Unable to see where the shooter was, Ranma tried to distract him
by shooting a distractive barrage to save Jackson. His thumb switched
his G36K from semi-auto to full-auto and he peeked out from his recess
to fire downrange into the general direction of the gangsters.

Masa ran back out the hole in the wall with his other two men at
the sound of the gunfire, enraged that his heist was foiled. They were
fish in a barrel, stuck in a narrow alleyway with walls on both sides
and little to no cover. He saw the corner wall on the intersection on
the opposite side of his underling exploding into crumbled bits as
Ranma fired indiscriminately.

Jackson poked his head up and saw Ranma laying down suppressing
fire and ran down the street so he could get to an area where he could
triangulate fire downrange with his partner. He ran into a scrubby
little alleyway with a metal dumpster that would provide perfect
cover.

Masa and his men saw Jackson's lone form running down the street
and fired back. Their rounds trailed and ricocheted off the
surroundings as they barely missed Jackson's body.

Jackson juked to the side and dove into refuge just in time as the
metal dumpster sparked from bounced bullets. He shouted in surprised
when he was simultaneously greeted by a couple of terrified high
pitched screams from behind the dumpster. He barely stopped his finger
from pulling the trigger to his MP5SD as he stared down the sights to
see Miyuki and Natsumi huddled in fear.

"What the hell are you two doing here!?" Jackson yelled.

Their response was to scream even louder as more rounds ricocheted
and bounced around them and the front of the dumpster. Jackson cursed
and positioned himself to get back into the fight and lay back some
firepower.

Masa yelled at the rest of his men to get in the car. "I'll draw
their fire, let's get the hell out of here!"

His underling Suguru ran over to his boss and shoved him into car
instead. He held his M-16 with its 100 round magazine. "I'll cover it!
You get out of here, aniki!"

Ranma peeked his head out to see a lone man sloppily spray rounds
in a wide semi-circle as the nose of a BMW poked out from the
alleyway. He saw the headlamps explode and the pops of the hood from
gunfire coming from Jackson's position. Ranma took aim as well and
riddled Suguru's back before he could hop into the car.

All of the windows of the BMW shattered as the occupants inside
fired back at whatever they could after they saw their comrade shot to
death right as he had tried to jump into the back seat. The car burned
its tires as it peeled off into the street and immediately turned into
another to escape as Ranma ran out to chase them.

Jackson, Miyuki, and Natsumi also ran out from their hiding spot
to meet Ranma in the middle of the road. The sight of both female
officers made Ranma gawk.

"What the hell are you two doing here!? I thought I told you to
stay back!" Ranma yelled at the top of his lungs.

Miyuki had gathered her wits as soon as the gunfire stopped and
she saw the car get away. She immediately started running towards
Ranma and Jackson's Mitsubishi. "We have to get them!"

They all followed her in a frenzy as Miyuki jumped into the
driver's seat. She fired up the car with the key that was still left
in the ignition.

Ranma jumped into the passenger seat and grabbed the steering
wheel. "What the hell do you think you're doing? Are you trying to get
killed?"

As soon as Jackson and Natsumi slammed their doors shut in the
back Ranma was silenced as the turbocharged wagon surged forward from
a perfectly engaged launch. His head bounced off the head rest and the
window as Miyuki aggressively cornered out into the street and gave
chase.

Miyuki reached over Ranma's seat and fastened his seatbelt for him
as he was too dazed to do it himself. "You'll never catch up to them
without pushing this thing to the limit!"

Driving through cramped industrial quarters, Miyuki anticipated
the path of the BMW and quickly spotted it as she turned into yet
another street at breakneck speed. Ranma gave up on arguing with her
and tried to aim his rifle out to fire but was unable to in the tight
confines of the car's interior. He tossed it into the back seat with
Jackson and pulled out his 1911 from his holster instead.

Ranma rolled down his window and unlocked his seatbelt, hanging
his arm and shoulder out to fire on the BMW. Miyuki swerved and
avoided a return of gunfire as it skidded off the sides of the wagon.

Jackson and Natsumi ducked in the backseat, with neither able to
contribute as Miyuki and Ranma would've been in the line of fire.

"Eeep!" Ranma smacked the dashboard. "Easy! I almost flew out the
window!"

"I can handle a little slalom!" Miyuki said.

The chase between both cars settled into a sophisticated dance of
thousands of pounds of moving steel as Miyuki expertly dodged all
return of automatic gunfire for every few paltry shots Ranma was able
to return. He reloaded his pistol with a fresh mag as Miyuki continued
to give chase.

"You know how to pull 360s?" Ranma asked.

"Easy!" Miyuki replied.

"How about catching up and pulling ahead of that asshole, can this
car do that?"

Miyuki sniffed. "A VR-4 Legnum versus a 525? It'll dart right
out!"

Ranma clicked the slide release and rammed a fresh round into the
chamber. "Well get up there and do it!"

Without thinking it through, Miyuki followed his request in the
heat of an adrenaline fueled impulse and launched the car forward with
a perfectly rev-matched downshift. The turbocharged four-cylinder
engine whirred violently as the car bucked forward and nearly rammed
into the BMW as it passed it on its left.

In the high speed chaos Masa and his men fired but missed the
rapidly moving station wagon as it passed right by them and leapt
forward half a car length.

Miyuki tugged the steering wheel to the right and popped clutch
while the engine was in the peak of its powerband to upset the
traction of the wheels and induce spin. She controlled it with
pinpoint precision as the car rotated smoothly like a spinning top.

Ranma had his pistol aimed out the window and aligned his shots to
the occupants of the front seat of the BMW. He emptied his magazine
across the windshield as the car completed its revolution, slamming
into its side and hurling it out of control and onto a curb where it
flipped over.

Miyuki slammed the brakes and nearly hit the curb herself as she
tried to keep the car in control. She spun the car back with a 180 and
launched it back towards the flipped BMW.

Masa kicked out his door from the backseat and ran out with two
rifles in his arms, salvaged from his dead men. His left leg was
lacerated and he hobbled towards a chained door and shot it out,
leading into an empty storage facility for fish packing.

Ranma and Jackson heard the screams of several people from inside.
They too ran out of their car and went into the building on foot.
Jackson discarded his MP5SD in the car as it was out of ammo and he
didn't go for the spare magazines stored away in the wagon's cargo
hold. Natsumi gripped the back of Miyuki's headrest as she gripped
tightly onto the steering wheel. They decided not to follow the other
two into the breach.

Ranma went in first and barely escaped a volley of rounds as he
ran through the door and tumbled on the ground. Jackson came in next
and was grazed on the back by an angled shot that bounced off the
ballistic vest he wore. It was a lucky shot that didn't penetrate and
slid off, but it knocked him down.

"Don't fucking move!"

Both JNSA agents looked up and to their dismay Masa had an
innocent man hostage, with a rifle barrel stuck under his chin and his
body used as a shield. Masa's enraged face was clearly exposed.

Both Ranma and Jackson warily eyed each other as they tried to get
back on their feet. Ranma managed to stand but Jackson was yelled at
before he could get up. When he fell his Desert Eagle pistol had
fallen out of his hands and knocked across the room. He immediately
spotted Ranma's backup revolver, which had slipped out of his pocket
when he tumbled. Jackson grabbed it and aimed it at Masa.

"Let him go! We can all talk this out!" Ranma said, his hands
still on his own pistol.

"There's nothing to talk about! You killed all my friends!" Masa
cried. "You drop your guns right now, or this guy gets it!"

"You should've shot me and made sure I was dead when you came to
ambush me, you asshole!" Ranma countered back.

"I remember you!" Masa snarled. "I should've killed you in
Shinjuku if I'd only been more careful!"

"And that's why you came back to murder me, right?"

Masa looked at Ranma incredulously. "Come back? I don't even know
who the hell you are, you son of a bitch!"

Ranma shook his head and looked back at Jackson, who also looked
perturbed.


"Now I'm going to count to three!" Masa yanked back the hair of
his hostage, who was whimpering quietly. "If you don't put down your
guns and let me walk out of here, I'm going to blow his head off!"

Ranma looked down at Jackson, who was lying prone on his back with
his snubbie pocket revolver aimed dead straight at Masa.

"One!"

"Hey, Jackson. You got him?"

Jackson fanned the hammer of the revolver back with his thumb,
engaging the action with a smooth click. A thin smile spread to his
lips. "Yeah, I got him."

"Two!"

Ranma cleared his throat.

"Three!"/"Take him."

A single shot of .357 Magnum entered Masa's throat as he finished
his last word and eviscerated the base of his brain at 1800 feet per
second.* His body fell back against the aerated spray of blood from
the back of his head.

The terrified hostage walked forward with eyes wide before
fainting a few steps away. Ranma looked at the open space where Masa
had just been standing, alive and breathing like any other human
being. He looked back and saw his partner still on the ground, with
his backup revolver still firmly in his grip. Jackson looked back at
him sagely.

"Good shot." Ranma lent out a hand for Jackson to grab.

Jackson smacked his lips and looked down on the ground and back up
at Ranma before grabbing his hand. "Especially when it counts."

*Or 500 meters per second for you metric fags. xxoo to Canadians.

* * *


April 29th, 2001.
Juntendo University Nerima Hospital - Nerima, Tokyo. 10:02 PM.

Ranma sighed as he listened in to Jackson on the other end of the
line of his cell phone. He continued to walk down the corridor,
stopping short of a break room.

"So we couldn't track down a single one of them?" Ranma couldn't
believe it. The rest of Masa's men in the chop shop had made a run for
it when they were given a surprise phone call in the midst of their
earlier chase. "That's another cache of weapons and explosives
unaccounted for and out in the open."

"It seems so," Jackson replied on the phone.

"How's our race car driver and her partner holding up?"

"They're a little shaken up, but they're doing fine. I'm going to
recommend a citation for them, despite following us out there."

"Yeah, give them my blessings too, Jackson."



"Officer Kobayakawa requested if she could meet you when you
become available." Jackson sniggered. "You know, I think she has a
crush on you?"

Ranma sighed exasperatedly, smiling. "That'd be nice if it were
true, but I'm already taken anyway. Tell her I'm busy."

"Will do, Cap'n." Jackson hung up.

Ranma pocketed his phone and noticed there were vending machines
in the break room. He stepped in and took a look at the coffee machine
as he pulled out some change for a cup of black coffee.

When he took out the paper cup out of the dispenser he blew on the
steaming liquid. He took his first sip as he turned around and dropped
it on the ground when he saw who was sitting on the plastic bench in
the back of the room.

"Shit!" Ranma stepped away from the splashed coffee on the ground.
He wiped his mouth clean and stepped closer to the bench. "Ryoga?
Where the hell have you been?"

Ryoga had his face buried in his hands and slowly looked up at the
sound of Ranma's voice, his bloodshot eyes and baggy eyelids haunting
his features. He eyed Ranma up and down, lips trembling. His feet
scrambled as he scooted to the side of the bench to get away from
Ranma, repelled by his presence.

"For christ's sake man, what's wrong with you?" Ranma said,
irritated. A migraine like twitch pained the back of Ranma's head for
a split second and disappeared. "I heard everyone's been looking all
over for you! Where'd you go?"

"You're ok?" Ryoga stammered, looking at him like a ghost.

Ranma sat down next to Ryoga, worried for his old friend. He
rubbed the back of his head. It felt like he had a sudden onset of a
headache. "Yeah man, I'm fine. I heard a little bit about what
happened last night, but I survived. Who the hell ambushed the house?"



Ryoga's eyes started to water and he pointed a single finger at
Ranma's chest. "Your chest...It-it"

"Yeah, the bastards shot me in the left lung, left me for dead. If
Kiyone hadn't found me I would've been a goner." Ranma put a hand to
his forehead and winced, this headache was alarmingly painful and it
came out of nowhere.

Ryoga looked up at Ranma's face, then down at his hands. He got
off the bench and onto the floor, sitting down on his shins. He buried
his face in his hands again and started weeping openly.

Ranma went down to pick him up, alarmed. "What the hell is going
on? What's the matter with you Ryoga?"

"I'm so sorry!" Ryoga said in sobbing gasps. He grabbed onto
Ranma's shirt with his hands and continued to cry with his head down.
"I'm so sorry!"

This sudden outburst in combination with his now pulsating
headache alarmed Ranma to a frightening level. "Sorry for what? You're
not making any sense!"

Ryoga cried even harder, his hands still gripping on to the front
of Ranma's shirt. He finally let go and scrambled back against the
wall looking around in confusion and breathing heavily.

Watching Ryoga's erratic behavior left Ranma at a loss and he
wondered how he should have reacted. He stood up and watched carefully
as Ryoga continued to hyperventilate and then slowly calm back down.
The crying however, continued.

"It was Nabiki," Ryoga wailed. "She made me do it. Said she'd take
everything away. Blame it on me. I'd go to jail."

"Hnnng!" Ranma fell down to a knee as a bolt of debilitating pain
jolted his brain. "Nabiki? Do what? Why would you go to jail?

"I didn't want to do it, I swear!" Ryoga continued, drool
slobbering out of his mouth. "I didn't want to kill you like some
animal and live my life like that. She had the gun with her and told
me I'd be good as dead if I didn't."

This time another bolt of pain brought Ranma down to both knees
and clutched his head in agony. Ryoga's blubbering chaos and his pain
were intertwined with a tingling sensation in the back of his mind.

Ranma shouted with eyes squeezed shut from pain. "Ryoga what the
hell are you talking about?"

He felt himself getting lifted onto his feet by a violent force.
When Ranma opened his eyes he saw Ryoga's tear streaked face in front
of him, his fists clinging to his shirt again. They were both
standing.

"It wasn't an ambush. I shot you," Ryoga said. "I shot you!"

And like a soap bubble popping as it reached its limit, the pain
went away. Ranma gasped and rattled back a choke as he remembered in
full detail what had happened. He remembered Ryoga holding Jackson's
Walther PPK with the suppressor screwed on to the muzzle. He
remembered feeling his limbs lose strength as his body convulsed. The
tea cup on the coaster. Closing his eyes and falling asleep.

Ranma whimpered back, all the strength in his body momentarily
lost from him. "I remember now. You shot me. You did shoot me. It came
back to me in a flash."

Ryoga let go of Ranma's shirt and grabbed onto his shoulders and
brought his head down, hanging his head as he looked down on the tile
floor. "And I haven't been able to live with myself since!"

"Oh my god," Ranma said, disbelief coloring every emotion on his
own features.

"I don't deserve Akane like this," Ryoga growled this time. "I
can't become a good man for her after what I've done."

Ranma stepped back. "And that's why you fucking disappeared."

Ryoga shook his head, his tears run dry now. "I want you to kill
me."

Ranma blinked. "What?"

"You heard what I said!" Ryoga screamed.

Ranma heard the worried shuffle of the hospital staff starting to
convene on them. He looked at Ryoga worriedly and with pity. "No, I
can't."

"I killed you! Why wouldn't you want to do the same for me?"

Ranma squeezed his eyes shut, hurt. "Two wrongs won't make a
right, Ryoga."

Before he had a chance to open his eyes again Ranma felt Ryoga
reaching for his pistol inside of his waistbaind. In a panic, Ranma
wrestled Ryoga to the ground and tried to manipulate his arms to
release his hold. After a sloppy shuffle, Ryoga jumped back up with
Ranma's 1911 in hand, with the safety snapped off in the confusion.

"Give that back, Ryoga!" Ranma demanded.

Ryoga looked at him with soft eyes, reminiscent of the lost boy in
his youth. "I'm sorry, Ranma."

Time slowed down to frames as Ranma saw Ryoga stick the muzzle
into his mouth. Ranma's legs jumped forward with all the speed he
could muster but it all appeared to him in slow motion. He released a
wail of his own as he saw Ryoga's finger squeeze back on the trigger
and the muzzle flash illuminated the caverns of his mouth like it had
for Yukado Shiro. A modest spray of blood painted the antiseptic white
hospital wall in the direction of the barrel like a quick fling of a
paint brush on a canvas.

Ranma got to Ryoga only in time to catch his falling body in his
arms as the pistol fell from Ryoga's mouth along his limp arms.


*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+


*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+


May 4th, 2001.

Akari Unryuu hummed a soft tune as she tidied up her tiny studio
apartment as she awaited her guest. She had a kettle of hot water for
green tea ready with some rice crackers on a plate. She certainly
hoped it wouldn't ruin his lunch.

The doorbell rang and Akari's face brightened as she ran over to
get it. She anxiously turned the deadbolt and opened up the door to
see Ranma in front of her, dressed in a black suit and tie. She
giggled as it looked strange on him. She couldn't picture him in
anything so serious.

"It's such a surprise to have you see me!" Akari said. "I'm glad
you really called back."

"Oh, it's nothing," Ranma said, trying to manage a smile. "May I
come in?"

Akari beamed. "Oh, absolutely! Come on in, I made some tea."

He stepped inside with a manila envelope in his hand and took a
seat in the cramped little space that was hardly livable for one
person. This entire floor shared a single communal bath and toilet. He
looked around at Akari's sparse belongings and the crudeness of the
apartment. There was a rusty sink for a kitchen with a single electric
heating element plugged to a socket in the wall. There wasn't even a
table.

"I know it's a bit cozy in here, but its home," Akari said. She
carried the kettle with a homemade mitt shaped like a pig. She poured
some into a tea pot with powder inside of it and mixed it thoroughly
before pouring some for Ranma and herself.

Ranma gratefully accepted it and sipped it enthusiastically.
"Thank you, it's delicious."

"You're welcome," Akari replied.

"How have you been?" Ranma asked, his cup at his mouth.

Akari took a sip and smiled. "The same since we last met. Glad I
met my old friend again."

Ranma chuckled. "Glad to see you again too." He handed Akari the
envelope.

"What's this?" she said, taking it.

"I'm sorry I can't stay long, but I just wanted to visit you and
also hand that to you."

Akari opened up the contents and looked at the documents inside.
She put a hand to her mouth and looked at Ranma in shock.

"From this moment on, you're nobody's slave. You don't have to
live like this."

It took a few moments for it to all sink in for Akari as she
stared at a document she had long signed away with her name,
contracting her to a loan that she had never been able to repay. The
accompanying documents with it stated that all of her debts had been
forgiven and it meant she could start on a fresh clean slate.

"Oh thank you!" Akari leapt over and hugged Ranma around the
waist.

Ranma gladly returned the hug, patting her back. "You don't have
to go back to that awful cabaret club anymore. You can do the things
you love again, like that pig farm."

Akari released him and nodded happily, wiping away a tear from her
eye. But it was replaced softly with a wistful smile. "Thank you,
Ranma. I don't know how I can ever pay you back."

"You don't have to. We're friends. That's what friends are for."

She nodded. "I know," she whispered. "But I can't leave where I
work. I'm stuck at nothing, even without my debts. I don't know how to
do anything else."

Ranma felt a horrible pang of guilt and sorrow in the pit of his
stomach. "You're going back there?"

"My friends I work with are all I have left. And all they have
left is me, too."

"I just want you to live the life you deserve, Akari." He gently
laid a hand on her shoulder.

"And I will. I'm not going to waste this. Please, believe me."

Ranma nodded. He set down his cup on a counter and headed for the
door. "I need to get going now."

Akari cleared her cup away as well and went out the door with him.
"Where do you have to go?"

Ranma sighed. "I was on my way to a funeral, actually."

Akari's brow creased as she lifted a hand to her mouth. "Oh, my.
Whose funeral?"

He shook his head. "No one you know, Akari. Well, take care."

"You too." She gave him one last bear hug before he headed towards
the stairs. "Thank you for being my friend."

Ranma smiled as he patted her on the head playfully. "Thanks for
being mine."

* * *

"And so we lay to rest a brave soul who dedicated his life for
good. Who cherished all those around him and paid the highest price
for the justice he swore to uphold."

Ranma shifted his feet as he stood next to Kiyone in her full-
dress Class-A police uniform. Mihoshi was next to her, also in full
dress with her uniform impeccably starched and pressed.

The hundreds of mourners around the cremated remains in the middle
laid their eyes to give their final respect to the dearly departed.
Ranma looked at the many uniformed police officers around him, the
equestrian units who flanked them with dignity and the color guard
with the flags of Japan, the National Police Department and the
insignia of the Okayama Police Department standing proudly at
attention. He solemnly appreciated how the Japanese took care of their
fallen with grace and gratitude like American police did.

Kiyone hadn't acknowledged Ranma at all since he appeared for the
burial. He stood silently and watched as the funeral took place,
concluding finally with a honored tribute to the kin of Officer Juzo
Kanemaki as he was buried alongside his wife and unborn child.

The honor guard concluded the ceremony with a military gun salute
and with a heavy heart the procession was dismissed.

Ranma stood by Kiyone and Mihoshi's side as most of the people
sifted away while family members and the few police officers who knew
Juzo Kanemaki well remained.

He glanced down to see Kiyone had been holding his hand, squeezing
it tight as she mourned steadfast without crying. Mihoshi had grieved
quietly, but didn't hide it unlike her partner. He had unknowingly
squeezed her hand back the whole time, never noticing when they had
reached out for each other.

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

"How are you holding up?"

Kiyone looked up at Ranma as they walked side by side with hands
together in the cemetery. The sun was starting to set. "I'm fine. I'm
glad he was put to rest."

"I didn't see you cry or shed a single tear there," Ranma said.

Kiyone took a deep breath. "I shed my tears for Kanemaki-san, but
his funeral didn't feel like the right place for it. Not to me, at
least."

Ranma was taken aback. "Why not at the funeral, of all places?"

"Because he's a police officer," she said. Kiyone looked deep into
Ranma's eyes. "As police officers we have a duty to be brave when it
matters the most. I wanted to offer Juzo that much of my resolve to
him as he was honored one last time."

"You're a funny gal," Ranma replied. He gave her a skeptical look,
but with a grin attached to it. "That was downright stoic."

"And why weren't you at the wake, earlier?" Kiyone asked.

"I had some important private business to finish with in Tokyo,"
he said. "I had to give her something."

Kiyone brow crinkled and her lips also curled up to the side. "A
girl? You ditched attending most of the funeral with me for another
girl?"

Ranma shook his head, unwilling to fall for it. "No, she wasn't
just some girl. It was a friend. She was in trouble and I saved her
when no one else could."

"Oh," Kiyone nodded.

She thought perhaps if her playful jab had led her foot to her
mouth as they walked back to their cars. She was stopped suddenly as
Ranma tilted her back and kissed her.

"Oh!" she responded excitedly.

Ranma lifted her back up and released her from his embrace. He
held both of her hands and gave her a look that felt like it bared his
soul for her. "You're my girl. No one else."

Kiyone looked at him incredulously for a moment without
responding. She rolled her eyes and started laughing much to Ranma's
puzzled amusement.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

Kiyone kissed him back with a peck on the lips and squeezed his
hand tight again. This time she wrapped her arm closely around his
too. "Nothing. Let's go back."

[End Chapter 9]

Disclaimer: This is fan fiction, I don't plan to make a profit out of
someone else's work, just don't sue me. All respective trademarks,
copyrights, whatever-rights, theirs and not mine.

Author's Ramble: The end is near. All that's left after this is the
epilogue, which I will talk about in a bit. A couple of parts of this
chapter was written when I was tired, frustrated, and very exhausted
at times. This piece took just a wee bit longer than I expected, but
not outrageously so. For my oldtime readers, I'm sure you know by now
that two months is like a blink compared to how I usually update ^_-

Author's Notes: Originally at the end of chapter 8 I stated I would
release chapter 9 with the epilogues attached. The epilogues
themselves were the final "chapter" of my story, alas now that I've
planned it out and started it, it is turning out much longer than I
expected. Not quite a full chapter, but it ain't short either. I
started writing the epilogues along the same time I started this
chapter as to preserve the integrity of my original outlines.

Alas, I also will not have a lengthy notes section for this chapter
either. I'm doing this on purpose, as to not spoil shit.

Hope you guys liked the way chapter 8's excruciating cliff hanger
played out in this chapter. Like I mentioned before, all of this was
semi-meticulously planned. And by the way, the movie reference to that
scene was from LA Confidential. One of the finest examples of noir and
diaspora in film. It's an excellent film in general.

Although I originally started off having Ranma's female form with
black hair (as the manga had interpreted), over the years I realized I
didn't like this very much. Washu's bit hijink where she screws up on
the gene sequence thing was actually someone else's idea, James
Axelrad, a longtime reader of mine and also the prereader and proof
reader (thank you ^_-). At first I had something else planned, but I
warmed up to his idea over mine after some time. Ranma-chan without
red hair seemed like a bad thing, even for me.

Also, despite lots of requests for Ranma and Miyuki's relationship
with each other being further explored, alas this fic will not go
further into it. Miyuki and Natsumi were always intended to be fun
cameo character, not another subplot to add to the story. Same way
with my other cameos. Also here is another scene shamelessly inspired
by The Untouchables (1989).

The police funeral at the end was something I had tried to do research
on but even the power of Google managed to fail me. I didn't want to
make a project out of it, so I just winged it with a very hackneyed
and modified version of what I expect from an American police funeral.
It was all for setting anyway and not something I was particularly
concerned with.

I'd like to finally thank you guys again for reading my fic,
especially those of you who have stuck with me for a long time over
the years. Your words of encouragement, comments, ff net reviews,
emails, criticisms, everything has served to help me write this and
bring it one step closer to completion and hopefully help me into
being one step closer to improvement.

I'd like to also give a special thanks to Ariolander who graciously
spent the time and effort to create a new webpage for me at
http://sgtranma.atfics.com. The AtFics concept he came up with is a
wonderful one and I sincerely hope you can start a burgeoning trade of
fanfiction camaraderie with it like the good old days, my friend.

Check out my new website at http://sgtranma.atfics.com . Lots of cool
stuff there, in addition to my fanfics!.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE SEND ME FEEDBACK!!! My e-mail is
SgtRanma@yahoo.com . For the fanfiction net people, you'll have to
click the links on my profile.

Finished January 15, 2009.