IF YOU HAVEN'T READ MY REVISED AND ALMOST COMPLETELY REWRITTEN VERSION
OF CHAPTER 3 OF OFFICER SAOTOME, CHECK IT OUT!

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.

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

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

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

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

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

-Ranma will seem very out of character, but you have to completely
read from the first chapter to understand why. I guess that's what you
call character development?

    -SgtRanma

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

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

Chapter 8: Reciprocity

April 28th, 2001.
Shindo Metal Works - Nerima, Tokyo.  1:57 AM.

    Ichiro Itoh looked around for anything else left behind that could
be a clue. He watched as his men mopped up the blood from the floor of
the office.

    A scruffy man in a black suit and a dark blue silk shirt came up
to the middle aged Itoh, the boss of all the men in the room. His eyes
were watery and glistening. "Aniki*, All we found were some bloody
footprints and pieces of Masa's shirt on Leo's body. There's nothing
else."
*Formal term for older brother, in this case referring to a gang boss.

    Itoh took a moment to look at the deceased man being carried out
of the room. He had just closed Leo's eyes earlier with his own hands.
"Poor kid. He just stuck around with the wrong men."


    The other men in the room were just as somber. Leo was a guy
everyone liked and never caused trouble on his own. They all had
similar thoughts of bloodlust in their heads as they watched Itoh walk
out of the office with a fresh lit cigarette.

    The steel grated catwalk platform clicked under Itoh's black
leather Ferragamos. He looked at his cell phone and browsed through
all the calls he made to Masa Hirotaki's phone. None of them had
connected.

    A Eurasian man in his early thirties came up behind him. "What are
you going to do? That asshole Masa ran off with nearly a third of your
weapons. He was only supposed to hold them for us till tomorrow."

    Itoh looked at his advisor and hired hand. He pinched the bridge
of his nose and took a drag of his smoke. "That stupid, stupid son-of-
a-bitch."

    South African national Joshua Terrance Kelly pulled back the
sleeve of his suit to check his Rolex. "It's the drugs. Your boys got
out of control."

     "I think I see that," Itoh hissed. He looked over at Mr. Joshua,
as everyone called him. "What can you tell me that's useful?"

    Mr. Joshua leaned over on the catwalk railing and leaned his head
over to Itoh. "Well for starters, you need to replace your cache. Then
you need to hire some better drug pushers. Third, we need to get over
this quick and not dwell on it."

    "Damn," Itoh muttered. "We still have more guns coming in. I'll
need to contact our provider. We need to find Masa as soon as
possible, he's a loose cannon and knows I'm going to kill him for
screwing up tonight."

    "Your insiders in the police told me they have three bodies in
their custody. It's only a matter of time before they find out who and
where they're from."

    Itoh shook his head. "I have plenty of ways to misdirect them. We
can pin the blame to Masa and his small gang. Our gunrunner is an
expert at slipping away."


    "I hope you're right. The guys who are bringing on the heat aren't
cops," Mr. Joshua said. "It's like what I saw on the harbor when one
of them managed to find me and I had to run away. I don't know how
many of them there are, but they're onto us and I bet they're the ones
that got to Masa and his boys tonight."

    Itoh grunted. This was never what he had planned for.

            *   *   *

April 28th, 2001.
46th floor, JNSA Headquarters - Tokyo, Japan.  2:01 AM.

    She stared at her reflection in the bathroom as the faucet ran
cold water over her hands. Ranma looked straight into the irises of
her cursed form. She felt blood pulsing through her face, coursing
through the side of her temples. Another close call, another life
taken by her hands. She briefly considered sneaking out of the
building to find another drink.

    Ranma flecked her hands in the sink and splashed her face with
cool water again and proceeded to turn the handles for warm water. The
door to the restroom swung open and Kurosawa walked in, eyes also
bloodshot.

    He stopped dead in his path, and looked at the shapely young woman
in front of him. His eyes completely ignored the urinals that were in
the same plane of view. "I'm so sorry, maam! I didn't see the sign!"

    "Wait!" Ranma yelled, watching Kurosawa scurry out the door. The
man hadn't seen her cursed form yet. She hastily wiped her hands dry
and ran out the door, the sink still running.

    Outside of the bathroom, Kurosawa shuffled his way back into the
large shared office space of the 46th floor, the MaxFor base of
operations. He joined Jackson and Takayama along with another man in
his late forties at a roundtable.

    Kurosawa wiped his brow, cheeks flushed from embarrassment. "I
can't believe I just walked into the women's restroom. I thought I
went the right way because I saw Ranma go in there. Man!"

    "It's because you did see me go in there," Ranma replied from
behind.

    Jackson and Takayama looked up and didn't seem surprised. The new
guy at the table just gave the attractive pigtailed girl a good look
up and down. Kurosawa looked completely lost.

    Ranma sat down on a chair and she pulled out her Washu thermos.
"Don't worry, I'll explain in a sec."

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

    Ranma carefully regarded the JNSA agent he was collaborating with,
who had flown in straight by helicopter earlier in the night. A one-
time visitor's ID clipped over his breast pocket was a reminder that
he was a guest in his own work building as MaxFor was a secure wing of
the Public Safety Commission. On loan from a separate department
within the agency. He was a sharp talking ex-military man from the
Self Defense Forces, and very thorough in his report to the group. He
had come to brief Ranma, Jackson, and Kurosawa on the current welfare
of the Yakuza in Honshu and especially the greater Tokyo Metropolitan
Area. It was his specialty. And they needed an immediate expert on the
subject at the moment.

    The loaned agent dismissed himself and was thanked for his help,
leaving the four other MaxFor men at the table with folder of various
documents and photos scattered amongst them. Takayama had been on the
phone for half the time trying to relay orders and handle damage
control to the public, while the others were busy piecing together the
relationships between the businesses targeted and the men Ranma shot
dead in the street. The bodies were at a morgue at the Tokyo
Metropolitan Police's headquarters where the police were zealously
investigating on their own. The JNSA agent who had just left the room
was on his way to the morgue to represent the agency.

    "It's too late," Takayama sighed. He pocketed his phone into the
breast pocket of his leather jacket. His hair was disheveled as he had
been called up late at night to join his men. "The news outlets are
reporting the robbery and it's out in the open there was a gunfight in
Tokyo streets."

    Jackson shook his head. "That can't be good."

    "No cover at all?" Kurosawa asked.

    "We managed to spin it," Ranma said. He had also worked with
Takayama the moment he had arrived to the building to control the
media. "They think it's a robbery gone wrong."

    "Our Yakuza specialist thinks that as longs as these don't happen
too often and too close together, we can shift blame to a turf war,"
Takayama said.

    "Well, it IS a turf war. But we've managed to omit a few things,"
Ranma replied.

    "I say let them kill each other," Kurosawa said.

    Jackson scowled. "Is that the answer for everything?"

    Takayama leaned over and whispered in Ranma's ear. "Kurosawa's
like you. He has the warrior ethos and all that Marine Corps moto in
between his ears. Jackson's spent his whole career doing hostage
rescue. He comes from the school of deadly force as an absolute last
resort."

    Ranma blinked and looked at his partner bantering with Kurosawa.
He read up on his partner's past, but didn't think his boss had
something to say about Jackson's merciful sentiments. "Is that why the
son-of-a-bitch carries an M-60 in the trunk?"

    "I showed him a lot of Chuck Norris and Charles Bronson movies
when he was a kid." Takayama shrugged.

    Kurosawa stood up and pushed in his chair. "Any of you want some
coffee?"

    Ranma was the only one who accepted. "I managed to find out the
drug pipeline at Furinkan High School."

    Takayama nodded. "Let's have it."

    "It's a senior boy named Yukado Shiro. I managed to become friends
with one of his lackeys, a kid in my class named Okuno Hiroko." Ranma
tapped his finger on the desk. "I can handle the onsite surveillance
and stay deep and find out more about how they work. We need wiretaps
on all their phones."

    "I can have SIGINT* on him setup by morning. We can set up ELINT**
surveillance from here with our techs and monitor any emails or
computer activity," Jackson recommended.
*SIGINT - Signal Intel.
**ELINT - Pronounced E-Lint, short for Electronic Intel.

    Ranma turned to Takayama. "We also need someone to get his paper
file at Furinkan. Maybe talk to the principal and ask a few questions.
My other undercover, Kiyone, is out until Monday."

       He turned back to a listing of businesses owned in the area by
syndications. It reminded him of something. "By the way, Jackson.
Could you do a search for me on an old acquaintance? I was wondering
if you could look up her financial past," Ranma asked. He wanted to
learn more about Nabiki's past with Akari, among other things. He
scribbled her name on a piece of paper and handed it to Jackson.

    "Tendo, Nabiki?" Jackson said, reading the scrawl.

    Takayama blinked. "Oh, your old housemate?"

    Ranma nodded. "How'd you know? I lived with her when I went to
high school. I was engaged to her younger sister at the time."

    "She works across the street," Takayama said. "Right over at the
Japanese Defense Agency."

    "Excuse me?" Ranma bit his lip in surprise, he wasn't quite sure
he heard him correctly.

    "I guess you really didn't know then," Takayama said. He got up to
go to his office and brought back a folded sheet of paper that he had
tossed into the wastebasket. "She's an agent for the JDA."

    Ranma waved his hands in refusal. "No, no. She's a financial
consultant of some sorts, not some government agent. Trust me, this
must be someone else. Nabiki is all about working with money."

    Takayama arched an eye. "She works with money, all right. She's
the Director of Finance for the Bureau of Finance and Equipment. It's
a GS-10 grade, sensitive position. That's why she's an agent.
According to this she's been working for them for six years."

    "It can't be." Ranma snatched the printout from Takayama's hand
and read it for himself. "I heard she was working with banks and loan
sharks! That's the Nabiki I know, anyway."

    Jackson's head peeked up. "Loan sharks?"

    "Someone I knew from a long time ago was telling me about her just
the other night," Ranma said. He was confused by the printout, it had
Nabiki's photo on it and a brief description of her. "She helped her
get a loan that went bad and now she's fucked for life."

    "She's an important government official. She's the comptroller for
the entire JDA, I'd say that's right in line with the money business,"
Takayama said.

    Ranma's eyes wandered nervously. "I told her what I did for a
living. She knew who and what I am. She never told me any of this."

    Jackson frowned. "Neither should've you, really. We're not in an
occupation that you can blab to just anyone."

    "Can it." Ranma bit his tongue. "How'd you guys look her up?"

    As Takayama explained, Kurosawa came back with two mugs of black
coffee. He looked at the printout in Ranma's hand as he handed him a
cup.  "Who's this tasty little cunt?"

    "Someone's sister," Ranma replied. Juggling this new find in his
head was like dealing with a hurricane. He had no idea what to make of
it.

    "It's nothing special, really," Takayama said. "There's a lot of
star risers in the government like her who were talented and interned
early. You just happened to know her."

    Ranma nodded. He decided to leave the issue for later. He turned
to Jackson again. "I still need to know her personal details. I have
to do this for a friend." He scribbled Akari Unryuu and Ukyou Kounji
on another piece of paper and gave it to Jackson. "She had some
personal dealings with these two. I just want to know what went on
with them."

    Takayama stole a sip of Ranma's coffee. "Do what you need, just
don't let it get in the way of work."

    "Yes, sir."

            *   *   *

April 28th, 2001.
Minami Azabu Mansions - Minato, Tokyo.  10:06 AM.

    Nabiki cradled her head in her arms as she clutched her phone to
her ears. She was still feeling sluggish from last night's sake.

    "I thought we agreed this wouldn't happen again," Nabiki spoke to
the phone. "Did you watch the news this morning? The whole city's in
an uproar!"

    The voice on the other end was just as agitated. "We'll punish our
men for what they did, if that makes you rest easy at all. But there's
no use crying over spilled milk."

    "It's one thing if they actually got away with it." Nabiki paused
and took a deep breath and held it in. "But now the cops have a bunch
of dead bodies in the morgue!"

    "The cops think it was a freak incident gone wrong. You may have
been too young, but I remember the days when the Yamaguchi-gumi went
to war in the eighties. Things were hot then like it is now. It'll
boil over."

    Nabiki lit up a cigarette as she walked out into her balcony. The
bright sun made her change her mind and she slammed the sliding door
shut. "We can't do business like this, Itoh-san. Not anymore. I regret
that I have to say we'll have to suspend any other shipments until
things completely die down."

    Itoh was silent on his end of the phone. "You've already been paid
in full. There's no backing out."

    Nabiki took an equal pause of silence, taking a slow, pained drag
from her smoke. "I'll give back half. You have 70%. I'm taking a 20%
cut in losses from what was agreed upon. It's more than fair."

    "What's a fair value isn't the concern here. We were promised and
expecting another shipment of goods. Our couriers have already gone
over to your side, you crafty bitch. I don't care if we get our money
back, what's done is done."

    Nabiki sank her nails into the headrest of her leather sofa as she
walked over to it. "It's too hot! We're all going to get pinched if I
keep shoveling weapons into your hands! Don't you get it? Someone's
out there and they're on to you guys!"

    "So let us worry about it, and finish your end of the deal. I'm
not about to have this conversation with you."

    "It's not worth jailtime," Nabiki spat.

    Itoh sighed. "This family has been good to you for years, Tendo.
You've been dealing with the Oroshi group since you dated the son of
the head boss. Is this how you repay us?"

    "And you pay back your own boss by building up a coup with your
own personal army? He who is without sin," she ridiculed.

    Itoh smacked his hand down on something that was heard on the
other end. "Enough of this fucking chit-chat, Nabiki. This isn't a
negotiation. We paid you for a service, and we want it completed.
Let's not let it go beyond that."

    Nabiki flared. "Are you threatening me? Do you have any idea what
I can do to you? I'm not one of your goddamn call girls. Don't even
fucking try me, Itoh."

    "Oh?" Itoh growled. "Was that a threat to me, Tendo?"

       "Either wait a year, or take your money back. I'm sick of being
patient too."

    Before she could hear a reply Nabiki mashed her finger down to end
the call and tossed her phone across the room. She walked to the front
of her sofa and fell back, exhausted.

            *   *   *

April 28th, 2001.
Ucchan's Okonomiyaki 2 - Sumida, Tokyo.  10:32 AM.

    Ranma rubbed his eyes and took another sip of his tea. He had
slept in the MaxFor offices and took a shower in the locker rooms
before he came out to meet Ucchan at her second restaurant. He
wondered briefly what Okuno was up to at Furinkan, as he had called
him early in the morning to tell him he would be absent from school.
He was worried one of Ryoga's students would be gunning after him for
retribution in Ranma's wake.

    He looked behind him from his seat in front of the grill to see
Konatsu cleaning up the dining area, as this was his restaurant to
manage. They barely spoke, as they didn't have much to say to each
other. The only thing Ranma managed to find out was that Konatsu had
been gratefully living his own life under Ucchan's help and he had a
steady girlfriend. Ucchan had said she was on her way, and due any
minute.

    The entry door's bell lightly jingled as it opened and closed
behind Ranma and a pair of arms wrapped around him. Ukyou turned his
head around and planted a kiss on his lips, catching him by surprise.

    "How are you, Ranchan? I was waiting for you to call," she purred.

    He nearly caught himself wiping his lips, feeling guilty by the
kiss. "I've been busy. How are you, Ucchan?"

    "I always have something to do with the restaurant." Ukyou
whistled a light tune as she made her way behind the counter and
washed her hands and put on a cooking apron over her purple sundress.
The griddle top was already oiled and heated up for the restaurant
when it opened at the start of the next hour.

    Ranma watched the way she hummed about as she started cooking,
something he'd seen her do countless times just for him while they
were alone. He found he had trouble looking her in the eye.

    "So this is your second place, huh?" Ranma said aloud. He looked
around and appreciated the simpler decor of this location, it reminded
him of Ucchan's shop in Nerima before it was renovated.

    Ukyou flipped some ingredients on the griddle. "Sure is. Opened it
up a year and a half after you left for college."


    He held out a clean plate as Ukyou lifted up a finished plain beef
okonomiyaki. It had a smiley face drawn with sauce. "This brings back
memories."

    Ukyou smiled. "Doesn't it?"

    "Yeah." He chewed quietly as she fried some noodles to offer as a
side dish, one of her off-the-menu specials. "I wanted to ask you
about Nabiki, Ucchan. I heard something interesting about you two from
someone we knew?"

    "Really?" She continued to cook, scraping her spatulas together on
the hot surface to make sure the food wouldn't burn. "What are you
talking about?"

    "I heard you got a loan from her," he said. "That's how you
managed to expand your restaurants right?"

    Ukyou shrugged. "Yeah, that's right. I paid her back completely
three years ago, I never imagined my restaurants would do so well.
Nabiki offered me a loan that no bank could ever offer a young woman
with little collateral. It worked out for me."

    Ranma continued to eat as Ukyou landed the fried noodles onto a
plate. She brought it around on a tray along with a bowl of rice and
another plate with random bits of cooked beef, chicken, and pork.

    "What's that?" Ranma said, his mouth full of food.

    Ukyou winced. "I get sick of eating okonomiyaki, sometimes."

    Ranma gulped down his food with a goofy grin. "But that's almost
blasphemy in your own restaurant, isn't it?"

    Ukyou shrugged again and started eating her own food. "So what
brought up Nabiki?"

    "Oh, I bumped into Akari Unryuu. She was telling me all about it."

    "Akari Unryuu." Now there was a name Ukyou hadn't heard in years.
"Wow, how'd you meet her?"

    Ranma picked at his food, nibbling smaller bites. "Oh, that's not
really important. I literally bumped into her out in Shinjuku. She's
real different."

    Ukyou blew on a piece of sizzling beef. "I can imagine. Ryoga told
us they broke it off clean and we never heard about it again. I always
thought it was bogus since they were all lovey-dovey for each other,
remember?"

    Ranma gripped his chopsticks. "Broke it off clean, he said?"

    "That's what we heard. Then before you know it Ryoga's with Akane
while you were gone, and it wasn't ever brought up again. What did she
do again? It was pig farming, right? I just remember that huge sumo-
pig of hers."

    "Katsunishiki." Ranma broke his chopsticks as his hand became a
trembling fist.

    "Yeah, that was his name." She looked over at his broken utensil.
"What's the matter? What does Akari have to do with me and Nabiki
anyway?"

    "......" Ranma stood silent, figuring out how to go about this.


    Ukyou frowned and cleaned up the broken wooden chopsticks and
grabbed a new set from a tin full of them on the counter. She noticed
Ranma's clenched hands and grabbed them, massaging them to relax them.

    "What's up with you?" Ukyou raised his hand to her lips and pecked
kisses on his knuckles. "Something bad happen?"

    Ranma shivered and tried to pull his hand back, but she grabbed on
firm and leaned closer to him. "It's a long story. I don't want to
talk about it right now."

    "So." Ukyou tried to switch up the topic. "What have you been up
to the last couple days?"

    He tried to pull his hand away again, and succeeded. "I've been
swamped with work. Things haven't been too nice, lately."

    Ukyou tried to put a hand on his shoulder and was shrugged off by
the advance. Her lips thinned. "You doing anything tonight? I could
use a play date."

    "Sorry, can't do it. More work."

    Ukyou's balled up her fists and she arched her eyebrows slightly.
She looked around, Konatsu was out of sight. "I thought we shared
something the other night."

    Ranma took a deep breath. He counted backwards in his head. "We
had a good time, I was hoping we could leave it at that."

    "A good time, huh." She looked down at her fingernails. "There's
more good times ahead, no?"

    "Ucchan." He paused and tried to keep his teeth from chattering.
Ucchan was the first girl he had ever had a one night stand with, and
she was a friend at that. As a grown man with vicarious experience
from friends, he belittled himself for his involvement. "I'm not the
right guy for you, I never was."

    Ukyou pressed her eyes closed and got up from her seat. When she
opened them her eyes had a steely look fixed a stern expression. She
grabbed Ranma and dragged him towards the back, where the restaurant
was connected to the living quarters.

    Ranma gave little resistance and helpless followed her into her
private dorm, a sparsely finished studio bedroom. He watched as Ukyou
locked the door shut as soon as they came in.

    "Please, Ucchan. Don't make this any harder than it is."

    Ukyou's expression was neutral as she quickly and gently placed a
finger over Ranma's lips to keep them shut. She took a step back from
him, her eyes fixed on his.

    "What are you doing?" Ranma wanted to yell at her and demand what
was going on.

    "Just look." Ukyou slowly slipped off the straps of her sundress
and let it fall and crumple to her feet. In the same motion she
unhooked her bra and dropped it on the floor, leaving her bosom for
Ranma to see.

    Ranma drew a sharp breath and felt his entire body seize up. He
stared at Ukyou's large breasts, the most ample by far among the girls
he'd been with. Their soft touch was still fresh in his mind.

    "We did it several times that night and that morning," he said,
gulping.

    She walked up to him, a sad look taking over her features as she
got closer and snaked her bare leg against his groin. "I've got you
here, after all these years. You don't want me?" She reached up and
placed her arm around the nape of Ranma's neck and stole a kiss off
his lips.

    He tried to pull away, feeling his knees go weak. "I find you
attractive. I always have, Ucchan. But I don't see you like that. I
don't see you beyond a friend."

    "You can change. Everyone can change," she whispered, desperation
entering her voice. "What's wrong with just giving it a shot? After
that you can go, no regrets."

    Ranma tried to back pedal against the wall with Ukyou still
latched to his body. His hands fumbled against the thermos flask in
his pocket, and he hastily pulled it out. Cold water splashed over his
head and triggered the curse.

    When she realized another set of breasts were pressing back
against her chest, Ukyou recoiled back and stared with shock at
Ranma's changed form. She immediately covered herself up, scrambling
for her bra on the ground, as if she was sobering herself up from a
sudden trance.

    "I'm sorry," Ranma said, her head hung low. "I have to go. I'll
see you around."

    Ukyou let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. She
silently watched as Ranma left the room and out of her restaurant. She
sat down wordlessly, an empty void covering her face.

    She saw her cell phone peeking out of a side pocket of the dress
she'd left on the floor. A brief thought entered her mind, and she
wondered if a certain someone was still in her phonebook.

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

    Ranma slammed the door of his station wagon shut and he ripped
apart the brown bag from the supermarket he had just left. He took out
a pint bottle of domestic Japanese whiskey and took a painful slug.

    "Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

    A text message beeped its arrival on the dashboard's LCD screen,
sent from Jackson. Ranma read it aloud, "Return to HQ. Important
briefing."

    He closed the cap back on the pint flask and tossed it on the
passenger seat. The car was brought to life and Ranma squeezed the
steering wheel tight, nearly bending it as he screeched the car away.

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

    The elevator doors chimed open at the same time Ranma checked his
wrist watch.

    Several of the office workers who recognized him after seeing him
come through a few times waved and acknowledged him. A couple of them
cringed and looked back as he passed them, as they could've sworn they
had caught a whiff of liquorish aroma in the air.

    Jackson was already waiting for Ranma outside the same secure
meeting room he had been in a few days ago. The lights inside were
already dimmed.

    "What's going on?" Ranma asked.

    "Something good, and not so good. It's pretty big," Jackson said,
holding the door open as Ranma walked in. He flinched, and loudly
sniffed around Ranma's head. "The fuck? Have you been drinking?"

    Ranma sat down on a seat and saw Takayama was already in the room
as well, standing by one of the projector screens. "Don't worry about
it."

    Jackson looked skeptically at his partner as he walked over to the
front where he had a laptop set up. "This is big, Ranma. Really big. I
don't know how you stumbled upon this, but it's almost a miracle."

    Ranma shook his head. "The hell are you talking about?"

    Takayama stepped in and took over. "First, we need to talk about
the guys you shot and killed last night."

    "I'm all ears," Ranma said.

    Takayama resumed. "Tokyo MPD* and National Police think they've
ID'd three complete nobodies that a local Yakuza faction hired for a
dumb robbery gone wrong. All three men had completely authentic
records matching their drivers licenses and credit cards, addresses,
and car registrations. They also had matching birth certificates and
social security numbers that were all conveniently new. Not much else
other than that, which is weird. But it's legal, and they exist as
real people on paper."
*Metro. Police Dept.

    Ranma nodded, looking intently as Jackson presented these various
facts on the projection screen.

    "Our guy brought back the same data which you see here for us to
examine," Takayama continued. "We did our own research and our techs
checked using the same cross referencing that they used to find those
car robbers who had inside help. It's the same guy who works inside
the Department of Transportation, and all they had to do was change
their names and info legally on one government document and then
connect the dots by falsifying the rest."

    Jackson took the turn to talk. "They've been identified as
associates of the Oroshi-clan, a smaller scale operation in the
greater Tokyo area. They have their muscle more up in the North and
around the coastal outskirts of Honshu. Our one dead body from the
dock really was a nobody and we didn't have an association to pin him
on. But I think those men were chosen for that exact reason, in case
they got caught."

    "That's great," Ranma said. He smacked his knee and pointed to the
screen. "Now we have a strong lead on who to start tailing and what to
bust."

    "That's not it though," Jackson said, wagging his finger. His feet
tapped excitedly as he started punching some keys on the computer. A
new set of data popped up.

    "Your three acquaintances you told me to look up. Well, I checked
them," Jackson continued. "Nabiki Tendo, Akari Unryuu, and Ukyou
Kuonji."

    "What is it?" Ranma lifted a finger to his mouth, and he bit into
it lightly.

    "I don't know what you were trying to look up with these three,
but two of them have some sort of financial connection with each
other. Nabiki Tendo has no financial dealings with either of them, but
the other two received large loans from a private lender in the area.
Unryuu defaulted and her property was repossessed, Kuonji managed to
pay off her debt several years ago despite borrowing a very impressive
sum of money."

    "What are you getting at? I just wanted to find out who Nabiki had
dealt with when Akari was screwed over," Ranma said anxiously.

    "That two-bit banker is a young guy, our age and a legitimate man
in his area. But he's listed as a known associate of the Oroshi clan,"
Jackson replied.

    "And if what you said last night was true," Takayama spoke. "Then
Nabiki Tendo knows who this man is, and has dealt with him before.
That's Director of Finances, of an internal bureau of the Japanese
Defense Agency, Tendo."

    Ranma interlaced his hands together and lifted them up to cover
his mouth. His index finger pointed to both Jackson and Takayama.
"What's the connection?"

    "This is hard to swallow, and this is thin," Takayama said.

    "Real fucking thin," Jackson added.

    "But it's the closest thing we got." Takayama walked over and sat
next to Ranma. "Nabiki Tendo works in a high level and sensitive
position with the right access and privileged channels to, say, setup
a weapons deal for leftover surplus arms or mislabeling and misleading
contracted government weapons. The same could be said about accessing
coordinates for Maritime JDSF forces and times tables for roving
patrols. The JDA handles all domestic defense issues and as the
comptroller she has access to everyone's budgets."

    "Kurosawa's in Okinawa right now interrogating our friends from
the PT boat at the dock. Depending on how much he extracts out of
them, we'll be able to know just to what extent their prior intel was
when they made their deliveries." Jackson pulled out the list of
scribbled names Ranma had given him last night. "When you gave me the
names of these girls, we just may have accidentally discovered who our
inside mole was."

    "No." Ranma calmly shook his head, eyes closed. He smacked his
lips before speaking again. "Nabiki has always been a shrewd bitch
since we were kids, but she wouldn't do something like this."

    "I know it's hard to swallow for you personally, but in this
business we can't handle coincidences lightly," Jackson said.

    "Yeah, but this coincidence is just that. It's too farfetched,"
Ranma stubbornly replied.

    "Get your personal biases out of the way and think straight for a
moment, damn it," Takayama spat. "Whether she did it or not, ask
yourself. Is she capable of this? And what the hell do you really know
anyhow?"

    The back of Ranma's hairs rose, and he felt a twitch of
uncontrolled ki spark through parts of his tense muscles.  "I just
never thought Nabiki would manage to get in to trouble with earning
money, of all things. Her of all people, she knows how to watch
herself."

    "Such is life," Takayama said. He frowned and his nose twitched.
"Have you been drinking, Saotome?"

    Ranma got up from his seat and stopped at the door. "It's none of
your concern, sir."

    Takayama shot up from his seat and stomped the floor. "Damn right
it is. It's not even noon yet and you're getting liquored up? Get your
fucking head on straight. At least stay on board with the team here."

    Jackson stood silently as he watched the exchange. He saw Ranma
silently fuming in shame.

    The weight of the world made a heavy impression on Ranma's
shoulders. He tried to gulp, and found his throat was bone dry. "I'll
check it out on my own. I need to talk to some more people."

    With a slight bow, Ranma exited the room and left behind the
morose atmosphere. Takayama sighed, his lips narrowed and a glint of
disappointment hanging in his eye. Jackson also let a frustrated
breath, worried for the conflicted welfare of his partner.

    "Jackson, I want you to recon Nabiki Tendo right away." Takayama
looked up at him. "What can you set up?"

    "I'll borrow some surveillance equipment upstairs and tail her
with a kei-car* around the city if I need. I'll be on her like white
on rice. No one's better at this than I am."
*Super subcompact vehicle. Popular in Japan, very discreet.

    Takayama looked at the door where Ranma had just left. "Go, now.
Make it happen."

            *   *   *

April 28th, 2001.
Mukajima Auto Shop - Sumida, Tokyo.  12:49 PM.

    Masa Hirotaki tossed his friend another stack of bills in cold
hard cash. It was the least he could offer for the amount of business
his friend was losing to help keep the place closed for him and his
men to use as a safe house.

    He watched as the men made themselves comfortable in the large and
lofty body shop, their go to place for chopping up and storing stolen
cars. Masa refueled himself with several more bumps of coke up his
dome as his emotions struggled to balance his fear of screwing up with
his syndicate and the loss of his best friend. Last night's screw up
was something he never even thought possible. It was the declaration
of his own death warrant within the Oroshi-clan.

    Thank god the boys were smart enough to move all the weapons with
them, Masa thought. They had all taken the liberty of arming
themselves, shoulder straps slung with rifles that none of them knew
how to efficiently wield. Firearms he himself hadn't wielded properly
last night, and it had cost him dearly.

    For now, all there could be done was to wait. Today was a day to
lie and rest.

            *   *   *

April 28th, 2001.
Saotome Residence - Juuban District, Tokyo.  1:00 AM.

    It wasn't very bright of him to come see his mother after sipping
a pint of whiskey all by himself. Even worse was walking in with
another, bigger bottle of Jack Daniels. But of all the people around
right now, Ranma felt his mother was the only one who wouldn't kick
him away.

    His mom had asked him what the matter was, but Ranma nonchalantly
waved it off and told her everything was fine. As a mother, she was
naturally worried her son was drinking early in the day and worsening
his already tired condition by consuming more.

    Nodoka looked him over carefully, and wondered how to approach her
alcoholic son. It only took one look to guess, it came from years of
experience of seeing it and hearing it from the people she shopped
groceries from and exchanged conversations with out in the
neighborhood.

    "Mom, where's Pops?" Ranma said from the couch.

    "He's with Mr. Tendo to chase and appease Happosai in some
neighboring town," she replied. "They won't be back till this evening,
I believe."


    "Mmm." Ranma swigged from his fifth* of Jack and stared into the
TV in the living room with bloodshot eyes. He wasn't paying attention
to whatever show was on. He saw his mother walking towards him.
*Fifth - A 750ml bottle for you metric-fags.

    "Sit up, Ranma," Nodoka gently said. She took a seat next to him.
"Tell me what's wrong."

    "Nothing's wrong, mom. Just had a rough week, and wanted to have a
drink."

    She raised a brow at the bottle he kept taking tiny sips from.
"Drinking in the middle of the day is something I used to see your
father, soun, and the perverted old master do together. But watching
you drink alone, like that. How can I just leave you alone?"

    Ranma tried to shut her voice out, and failed miserably. He had no
idea why he'd come here in the first place. He tried to lie back down,
and rested his head on his mother's lap. "Mom, can I take a nap? I'm
exhausted."

    Nodoka's forehead crinkled with worry. She smoothed her hand over
her son's hair. She couldn't remember the last time she had done that
for him. "Of course, son."

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

    The cacophony of ringing bells and whistles made Ranma tumble off
the sofa and onto the ground, knocking over his bottle that he had
left. He instinctively reached for the bottle first as it rolled away
before he pulled out and answered his phone. "Hello?"

    "It's Kurosawa, I'm calling from Okinawa."

    Ranma yawned and wiped his stinging eyes clear of crusted mucus.
"Shit, what time is it?"


    "What time is it? What the fuck have you been doing, sleeping?"
Kurosawa asked incredulously. "It's half past four."

    Ranma moaned as he looked up and saw the clock on the wall. It
read 4:35. "Goddamn. What's up?"

    "I struck a deal with these pirates in exchange for their release.
This whole thing was one really odd shit-bird," Kurosawa said.
"There's someone of great interest who didn't exactly want these guys
put away in jail, so there was some creative negotiating taking
place."

    "I have no idea what you're talking about," Ranma slurred. His
head started pounding. He reached for the hair of the dog that bit
him.

    "Someone from CIA in Thailand claims this ship crew is an asset of
note, and claimed we can't force them into our investigation. The ship
is some two bit pirate courier called the Black Lagoon."

    Ranma's lips made a pop as he removed the tip of the bottle from
his mouth. "What does that mean, an asset of note?"

    "In spook talk, an asset of note means it's not quite untouchable,
but it isn't quite expendable either."

    "So what'd you do about it?"

    "I handled it." Kurosawa chuckled shrewdly. "The request was made
by some low-rung NOC* operative. I reeled it in to our favor with my
leverage."
*Non-Official Cover.

    Ranma rubbed his forehead, wondering what kind of leverage
Kurosawa had. "Good job, I guess."

    "We got four suspects. One's a deserted Marine, he owns the boat.
There's a Japanese national, this faggot was wearing a dirty white
dress shirt and slacks when we brought him in. Third person is a
wanted man in the US and a kike from Florida. Supposedly he's the
electronics expert on board. Finally, there's that feisty little trick
that you shot on the harbor. Chinese American, your age, and a jacket
file of crimes committed that's probably as stank as her fucking cunt.
Only thing hotter than this bitch's temper is her sleeved up tattoos."

    Ranma smirked. "What was the deal you struck?"

    "Psh! It was beautiful. I think they were counting on the fact
that their friend in Thailand was going to bail them out, scot free.
These guys are real pros, they never expected to be tracked or caught
under any circumstance. When they realized I was going to fuck them
over and gave them a chance to get away in return for their route
blueprints, they gave in."

    "That simple?" Ranma was surprised.

    "Like I said, they never dreamed they were going to be caught the
way they were. They didn't know the connections I'm dealing with."
Kurosawa was smiling on the other end.

    "Bravo."

    "Thank you. I heard from Takayama you've accidentally landed
yourself on a hot plate."

    Ranma grit his teeth. "I don't want to talk about it."

    "I think I have to agree with both the Commander and Jackson,
Ranma." Kurosawa clucked his tongue. "These pirates told us what we
needed except for how they got paid. That one turned out to be a dead
end. But they were given just about everything you would need to
infiltrate the country by sea without getting caught."

    "There's no proof that it's Nabiki," Ranma replied. "This is all
speculation."

    "We're gathering the proof right now. I bet you it's only a matter
of time," Kurosawa sighed.

    Ranma bit his lip. "Keep me posted, I'm out."

        *   *   *

April 28th, 2001.
Japanese Defense Agency HQ - Tokyo, Japan. 5:02 PM.

    Jackson started walking again slowly as he saw his target leaving
the JDA building. She was an easy one to tail, but it did no good for
him if he couldn't gather any hard evidence against her.

    The last few hours of Jackson's time was spent stalking and
surveilling the attractive Nabiki Tendo. She was a girl he had no
problem spotting as she resembled the familiar face of Akane Hibiki,
whom he'd met with Ranma. She had come out of her apartment home in
upscale Roppongi Hills and came straight to the JDA building, where
her office was located. Jackson had been forced to inform Takayama
that he was unable to stick around in her sight as her office was a
high-security area with strong electronic countermeasures to thwart
unauthorized individuals. She made few phone calls on her private cell
phone, and the few he'd eavesdropped on were conversations between her
and her family.

    And there had been no way to tap her office phone either, as it
was a built in security measure that the JNSA had thought of. Any
calls monitored from high level and sensitive positions could not be
covertly tapped without alerting the parties involved. It was a double
entendre measure that was never intended for domestic spy fare.

    Even though he was taller than most, average Japanese men, Jackson
was an expert in blending in. His skills as a counter-terrorist
operator included urban intelligence and reconnaissance expertise,
disappearing in plain view was an instinctive function.

    He watched as Nabiki Tendo got into a taxi-cab at the curb.
Looking at the heavy mid afternoon traffic, he was confident he would
have enough time to get to his own car and trail her.

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

    Nabiki shifted in her seat as she sat through the slogging Tokyo
traffic. Despite expensive fares and the slower commute, Nabiki didn't
mind riding in them. Her employer picked up the bill for any
transportation fees.

    She felt her purse vibrate. She pulled out her cell phone and
looked at the closed flip screen. It was an unknown number.

    "Hmph." She silenced the rumble and waited for the call to go to
voicemail. She didn't feel like picking it up, despite a hunch on who
it was.

    After the call ended, Nabiki flipped open her phone and dialed her
family home. Akane picked up after a few rings.

    "Hello?"

    "Akane? It's Nabiki. What are you doing right now?"

    "Oh, hey! I'm about to make dinner. Kasumi and Tofu came over, and
she's going to give me a cooking lesson in the kitchen."

    "Who's home right now?"

    "It's just us and Ryoga. Father went out for a town meeting and
won't be back till late."

    "Do you mind if I come over? I'll be there in a while."

    "Oh, sure. I'll setup a place for you at the table."

    "Thanks, Akane." Nabiki hung up the phone. She tapped on the taxi
driver's shoulder rest. "To Nerima, please."

        *   *   *

April 28th, 2001.
Nekohanten Cafe. Nerima, Tokyo. 5:15 PM.

    Shampoo closed up the windows as she saw the sky haze up with dark
clouds. There hadn't been any reports of showers or rain in the news.
She wondered for a second if Mousse was going to be alright as he was
still going to be in class for the rest of the evening, but it was
more likely he would splash himself by tripping in a puddle than
getting hit by rain. For all she knew he had a dozen umbrellas in
different colors hidden under his clothes.

       She turned around and focused her attention on the surprise
guest she had bumped into while coming back from school herself.

       Ranma sat on the barstool, leaned over an unfamiliar counter
that had been renovated into the restaurant since he was a teenager.
The Nekohanten bar had been put in place to attract a bigger group of
customers. He sat directly behind the beer taps, nursing his little
shot glass full of distilled Chinese baijiu, a foul smelling white
liquor that tasted like gasoline. His mother had taken away and
discarded his bottle of Jack and gently told him to sober up and get
back to work. His current location was just another excuse to be
distracted for a little longer.

    Shampoo excused the Amazon girl who had been tending the bar and
took over herself. She regarded Ranma warily as this was a side of him
she didn't know nor she knew how to approach. When he had offered a
ride for her while walking out in the streets, she had been shocked to
find him reeking of alcohol and driving.

    "What's wrong, something bad happen to you?" Shampoo asked. She
cleaned a wine glass that was in the sink.

    "Just having one of my days, Shampoo." Ranma cradled his head in
his hand. He was too drunk to make sense of the fact that he was
drinking recklessly in front of an old friend.

    "I'm here to listen if you have anything you want to say," she
replied.

    Shampoo brushed her hair aside and looked down at the sink. A part
of her remembered younger, more carefree days. It was urging her to
play and banter with Ranma. The girl she was now was more level headed
and reserved.

    "Have a drink with me, then," Ranma offered. He motioned his cup
and lifted it for a toast. "I could use someone to match shots with."

    Shampoo frowned. "Hibachan left me to watch the restaurant while
she's gone. I can't do that."

    Ranma shrugged. "Fine then."

    The Amazon worker that Shampoo dismissed returned from the kitchen
area and came by her side to help clean up. The other two Amazon girls
in the restaurant were handling the cooking and the waiting. Shampoo
looked at Ranma and bit the inside of her cheek.

    "Ok, fine," she said. Shampoo went around to sit next to him, her
own shot glass in hand. Maybe he'll open up, she thought.

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

    Ranma munched on a fried pot sticker and clumsily tried to grab
another one with his chopsticks. His vision was starting to blur, and
even his stout drinking constitution had to take a bow to 100-proof
Chinese liquor. He looked to his side at the purple haired Amazon he'd
known for close to a decade. As hammered as he was, he felt guilty for
asking her to keep him company.

       She wasn't a strong drinker, and halfheartedly sipped on her
drink as Ranma poured multiple of his own. She became more reluctant
still, shrinking in on herself and looking nothing like the headstrong
warrior Ranma remembered.

    "This wasn't the way I envisioned spending time with you if you
ever came back," Shampoo said. She developed a mild case of the
hiccups, a side effect of her weak tolerance.

    Ranma cursed and thanked the numbing powers of alcohol. He didn't
expect to come here to feel worse, either. He learned that years of
Shampoo pining over him with nothing to show for it and her own
feelings unanswered for had left her awkward with other men. To make
it worse, the years had made her confidence erode.

    He sipped some more from his cup, despite losing all sensation in
his face by now. "Why didn't you just hook up with Mousse? I can't
imagine the man having given up on you."

    Shampoo digressed, her bangs matting onto her forehead as she
shook her head. "No. It's too weird. He's not the right man."

    Ranma scowled in disdain. "There is no right man or wrong man.
Everyone has to settle down. I heard from Ucchan you're still a
virgin, even."

    A look of stunned shock colored Shampoo's features as she glared
at Ranma, slack jawed. She picked up what was left in her cup and
splashed it on his face. It wasn't enough to trigger his curse.

    Ranma coughed and groaned as the liquor stung his eyes like fire
and the strong fumes invaded his nostrils. He cracked his inflamed
eyes open to see Shampoo looking away from him and at the bar, tears
in her eyes.

    He sobered up a little in the head, realizing what he'd just said.
"I'm sorry, Shampoo. I didn't mean to say it like that."

    Shampoo's eyes darted to the side and she looked at him with hate.
She focused back to the front, her lips were murmuring and trying to
form words. "You prick fuck."

    Ranma took a deep breath and hung his head. He stared at his
reflection on some spilled liquid on the black counter. "I deserve
that."

    She reached over and grabbed his hand, squeezing it for a moment
and then letting it go. She covered her face with her hand and leaned
on the bar with her elbow. "I can't hate you, Ranma. I could never
hate you."

    Both of them sat in silence. Neither looked at each other and
wallowed in the void.

    "Goddamn Nabiki," Ranma suddenly muttered.

    Shampoo's head slowly lifted up. "Nabiki? Nabiki Tendo? Mercenary
girl?"

    Ranma smiled ruefully. "Yeah, her."

    "What about her?"

    "She's causing all sorts of damn trouble with money," Ranma said.

    "Oh, that's just like her," Shampoo said. Her speech was slightly
slurred. "She came here a few years ago and offered to help us expand
her restaurant. But Hibachan told her no."

    Ranma's eyes perked. "She did? She did the same for Ucchan, I
hear. And to Akari Unryuu, Ryoga's old girlfriend."

    "Ukyou?" Shampoo let out a chuckle. "Nabiki introduced Ukyou to
the banker who gave her the loan and they started going out. They were
good friends from before. He was her boyfriend for a while, I
remember."

    Ranma dropped his shot glass as it reached his lips. "What?"

    "Yeah, they even came by here a few times. Really slick, expensive
looking man."

    The gears in Ranma's head started to turn. He vaguely remembered
through drunk connection that Ucchan had told him that Nabiki
introduced her last boyfriend to her.

    "Are you sure, Shampoo?" He had to ask again. It was too
incredible. "The banker was Nabiki's friend? He went out with Ucchan?"

    Shampoo looked uneasy by Ranma's sudden change in behavior. "Yes,
I'm sure."

    That was it. The proof had been there all along. It was enough to
smack him right in the face and back to reality. He got up from his
seat and pulled out some money to leave on the counter. He looked at
Shampoo's startled face and lifted his hand to caress her cheek with
his thumb. He pulled her in for a tight hug.

    "I'm sorry, Shampoo. I have to leave right away. Thank you," he
said.

    Shampoo hugged back weakly, overwhelmed by the sudden show of
affection. She rubbed her cheek with her hand as Ranma ran out the
door.


*   *   *

April 28th, 2001.
Tendo Home - Nerima, Tokyo. 6:47 PM.

    The cloudy weather delivered a slightly chilled breeze across
Nabiki's hair as she lit her cigarette in the front yard. She sighed
in content to the nice home made meal she just finished, her favorite
cure for life's anxieties. Home with your family was where you were
most comfortable, no matter how rich or powerful you were.

    She heard her cell phone ring from her purse on the edge of the
patio. She concealed her cigarette behind her palm in case Kasumi and
Tofu came out from the kitchen.

    The phone display showed an unknown caller. Grimacing, she decided
to pick it up this time.

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

    Jackson sat in his car around the block from the Tendo home and
listened to his frequency scanner. Connected to his mobile computer,
it locked onto a signal from Nabiki's cell phone. He listened in.

    "Hello, this is Tendo."

    "Nabiki."

    "Itoh-san." Nabiki sighed and paused before answering again. "What
can I do for you."

    "I'll cut straight to it. I'll give you a second chance."

    "Second chance?"

    "Deliver the rest of what was promised and everything will be
fine."

    Nabiki huffed through the phone. "No can do. We already talked
about this. I'm not changing my mind."

    "I don't have the time or patience to argue this with you over the
phone. I'm doing this out of kindness since you're not exactly a
stranger, Tendo. Deliver, or else."


    "Or else what? Don't play games with me, Itoh," Nabiki said
angrily.

    "Don't do something you're going to regret. This is your last
chance."

    "And that was yours. Goodbye, Itoh."

    Jackson heard the phone call end and he checked his laptop to see
if it recorded the conversation. He started working right away to
trace the other caller by transmitting the data to JNSA HQ.

        *   *   *

April 28th, 2001.
Sakuragi Investments - Nerima, Tokyo. 6:50 PM.

    Kei Sakuragi wanted to slam the phone down. He gravely regretted
telling his Aniki that his ex-girlfriend had come to visit him. He
nervously glanced over to the other room, where she was sitting in his
private office.

    "Please, Itoh-aniki," Sakuragi hissed. "There's no need to hurt
her!"


    Itoh was in no mood to take any backtalk from anybody at the
moment. "You keep her there, and you wait like I said otherwise I'm
going to kill you too. And your parents and your sister."

    Sakuragi clutched his dress shirt to his chest, breathing hard.
"No, please. Not that," he pleaded.

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

    Ukyou Kuonji sighed as she heard Kei in the other room arguing on
the phone. She looked around in the office and wondered just what the
hell had possessed her to call him just so they could "talk". She
glanced outside and looked up at the dark clouds. They looked ready to
rain.

    From the horizon and just above the rooftops she saw a figure
jumping across the rooftops and towards her direction. She squinted to
see who it was, as few in Nerima were capable of such.

    "Ranma?" Ukyou got up to run out the door.

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

    Ranma jumped from the rooftops with his phone to his ear,
listening for further instructions from Takayama for directions to his
target.

    "Sakuragi Investments, it should be right ahead. 200 meters,"
Takayama said from the phone.

    "Thanks!" Ranma pocketed his cell phone and hopped on a roof tile,
nearly tripping from his inebriated state.

    He heard a car screeching its tires from behind in the narrow
streets below. A quick glance revealed it was a black sedan,
recklessly barreling towards the same direction he was heading.

    A sign that said "Sakuragi Investments" appeared in Ranma's
sights, and he saw the door opening with a girl coming out. He blinked
as he wondered why she looked so familiar.

    The girl yelled as Ranma came closer. "Ranchan? Is that you!?"

    Ranma tripped and fell. He grabbed onto the ledge of a rooftop and
rolled himself back up to his feet. "Ucchan?" he yelled back.

    The same black car from before screeched to a halt before making a
left turn at the corner where Ukyou was. From Ranma's point of view,
he saw Ukyou's eyes widen and saw her duck to the side as the car
accelerated violently again while passing the building.

    Ranma's ears fell deaf when he heard and saw a loud muzzle flash
come out of the window as it passed Ukyou. It had the unmistakable
booming thud of a shotgun round. He saw her tumble to the ground like
a rag doll as she clutched her stomach. His eyes locked onto the car
as it tried to make its getaway.

    "Ucchan!"

    Making a dive off the roof and onto the street, Ranma somersaulted
and landed on his feet. His right hand rocked back his 1911 pistol
from his holster and he started shooting before he even had the sights
in his eye's aim. The rounds pounded through the back windows,
shattering them, but the car continued to drive away.

    Ranma lifted his arms and pointed his palms at the car. "Shi-shi-
hokodan!"

    A heavy collection of ki shot out of Ranma's hand in a dull yellow
ball and exploded on the back of the car, flipping it over. The
shockwave blast ricocheted from the surrounding walls and pounded back
like a vacuum on the steel frame of the car, crushing it and killing
the men inside.

    Sakuragi ran out from the building and yelped in horror when he
saw Ukyou's crawling body on the ground. Her shirt was tattered at the
right half of her stomach and slowly seeping with blood.

    Ranma swiveled around and saw Sakuragi picking up Ukyou's body,
wondering who this man was. In the heat of the moment, he nearly
forgot what he came here for. He shoved him away and grabbed Ukyou's
body himself. The other man was knocked over on the ground from the
violent push.

    "You! Call a fucking ambulance right now!" Ranma yelled.

    Sakuragi crawled backwards from his position on the ground and
complied. He went straight for the phone in his office.

       *    *   *

April 28th, 2001.
Tendo Home - Nerima, Tokyo. 6:51 PM.

    All five men surrounded the yard, each with a weapon pointed at a
victim.

    The blonde Eurasian among them had a revolver in his hand, whereas
the others were holding rifles. Mr. Joshua took a good hard look at
Nabiki, and then the others.

    Ryoga stood at the sliding doorway of the patio and grit his teeth
and fists. His left hand slowly slipped a couple of bandannas into the
other, ready to slice these intruders in half. He looked around one
last time to see where the others were. His wife was standing several
yards from him on the grass. Nabiki was next to Kasumi, standing
closer to the dojo. Tofu was by himself, directly in front of the
blonde gunman.

    "Let's make this as easy as possible, shall we?" Mr. Joshua
announced to them.

    Nabiki screamed at him. "What the hell do you think you're doing!
Let us go!"


    Mr. Joshua had his gun trained on Tofu, who had his hands above
his waist. His eyes darted between the man and the bandanna and the
man in glasses in front of him. Both of them felt like aggressive
hostiles.

    Without warning, he squeezed off two shots of .38 Special into
Tofu's sternum. With a sharp breath, Tofu fell back and crumpled like
a puppet with its strings cut. His eyes were still open as his head
hit the floor, knocking his glasses off him.

    Kasumi shrieked.

    Ryoga dropped his bandannas, frozen in fear.

    Akane stepped back and didn't feel her legs give out from under
her.

    Nabiki stared.

    As soon as he saw his victim hit the deck, Mr. Joshua aimed at
Kasumi's head next. His thumb cocked back the hammer. "Any of you
move, she dies. Do you get me?"

    The three Tendo sisters and one Hibiki stood perfectly still as
each of them awaited a captor with a rag doused in chloroform.

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

    Jackson banged his head against the window when he heard the
gunshots from over the wall. He hastily threw his surveillance
headphones off and scrambled to the rear hatch of his tiny car.

    He jumped out and hugged the wall of the Tendo residence, his
MP5SD in low-ready position and cocked for fire. He heard several
shouts and shuffling from behind the perimeter and cautiously
approached the front gate.

    Jackson cursed himself for parking far away. He hadn't seen the
van full of armed gunmen pulling up to the entrance. He made it around
the corner, just in time to see a girl bound up in ropes being tossed
into the sliding door of a cargo van and a lone man with an M4 carbine
slung off his chest.

    "Stop!" Jackson yelled.

    The man reached for his rifle and tried to take aim. He was
quickly taken down by a camera-shutter fast double tap to his chest
along with a round delivered through his nose. The van's door slammed
shut and the tires screeched as it sped away. Jackson didn't take any
more shots, he was afraid of who he might hit inside.

    With his MP5SD still raised, Jackson ran up to the person he'd
just fired at and confirmed the man was dead. His nasal cavity was
shredded with the flesh punched in like a petal of ground beef. The
blood from his head was already liberally soaking and spreading across
the pavement.

    Jackson ran inside the gates of the Tendo complex and quickly
scanned the area with his submachine gun sights. He ran up to a prone
body that was lying close to a pond, dressed in a dark gi. He checked
the man for his pulse.

    "Shit," Jackson growled.

       He looked at the house and wondered for a split second if there
was anyone else in there but decided against it. He ran back to his
car, weapon clicked on safety. The van was getting away.

        *   *   *

April 28th, 2001.
Sakuragi Investments - Nerima, Tokyo. 7:08 PM.

    Ranma wiped away his streaming tears as the paramedics folded in
Ukyou's stretcher into the ambulance. A growing crowd of police
officers were forming behind him, more interested in the obliterated
sedan down the street than the victim of the scene.

    His cell phone rang with a special tone that let Ranma know that
it was an emergency call. He sniffled his nose as he picked up.

    "What is it?" Ranma yelled.

    "Captain! This is Jackson!"

    Ranma was about to climb into the ambulance to ride to the
hospital with Ukyou when he heard Jackson blurt into his ear what just
happened. He stood still as Jackson quickly explained what he had been
doing all day and what had just happened.

    His pigtail bristled as he talked on the phone. Ranma was livid.
"Where the hell are you?"

    "I'm in pursuit of the van, heading towards the inner city! I've
left my beacon on so you can follow me in your car!"

    "Shit!" Ranma held off his phone and hopped into the ambulance and
looked down at Ukyou's eyes. Her eyes were half open and her oxygen
mask fogged up and cleared as she breathed laboriously. "I'm sorry
Ucchan, I gotta go. I'll come back for you." He brushed her hair and
lifted up her hand, kissing it.

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

    Ranma slapped himself to focus harder as he drove through the
crowded Shinjuku streets, the wailing siren of his Mitsubishi was loud
enough to split his head open. The blinking beacon on his LCD
navigation screen signaled Jackson's location only a few more
kilometers away. It had stopped moving long ago since Ranma's started
his own pursuit.

    A conference call on the car's speakerphone had brought up
Takayama and Kurosawa up to date as Ranma explained what had happened
with Jackson and himself. Kurosawa was of no help and was still in
Okinawa while Takayama had managed a clean-up crew to lock down the
Tendo dojo. Ranma had trouble thinking straight through all the
excitement happening around him at one time and he found himself
barely biting back panic. The slow drizzle from the overcast skies
forced him to turn on the windshield wipers.

    He pressed the push-to-talk button for a direct radio line on
Jackson's phone. There was no response. There hadn't been any contact
with him for the past few minutes, in fact.

    The beacon to Jackson's position brought Ranma to an alleyway
behind a large nightclub. He saw a small car, a little Subaru R2,
hastily parked next to a dumpster. The windows were shattered.

    He parked his car further away and got out in the rain. Feeling
the transformation take place, Ranma made her way to the wagon hatch
and pulled out her G36K rifle and switched pistols for her Washu
modded Beretta 92FS. She attached the suppressor to the muzzle and
racked back the charging handle. She set the safety catch to semi-
auto.

    Ranma carried the rifle over her neck in a sling and made her way
deeper into the alley. She looked up and down carefully at the tall
brick sides of the adjacent buildings. Her senses weren't as keen they
should've been, as her veins were still coursing with a strong
concentration of alcohol.

    The alleyway led to a single door on the side of the nightclub,
recessed under a concrete flight of stairs leading down. Ranma slowly
walked down, trigger finger straight and ready. The door was locked at
the handle and was easily forced with her powerful grip. The metal
hinge creaked and protested under the torque and finally gave way,
bending to fatigue.

    The door opened up to an unlit room, much to dark to make anything
out. Ranma flipped on the switch for the rifle's night vision module,
and used it as a viewfinder. The lack of ambient light as she stepped
away from the outside door made the view grainy and difficult through
the scope, but it was enough to show the room was empty. The next door
was unlocked and Ranma crouched as she slowly opened it, peeking
through the crack first.

    Another set of stairs were revealed, steel grated and lit with a
single light bulb to an open corridor. Ranma stepped down slowly, ears
alert for any noises as she approached. The corridor was a path to
steel grated walkway in narrow passage of water pipes. It was clear
that no one was around. Ranma jumped down and avoided yet another set
of stairs, opting to take a shortcut. There were several doors this
time, steel hatches with glass windows at eye level. She gasped as she
looked through the first one.

    Akane and Nabiki on some chairs placed side by side to each other.
Their hands were tied behind their backs and their faces were red and
swollen. The view was obscured by several large boxes and an assorted
mess of leaking steam pipes. Ranma grit her teeth and opened the door,
slipping her presence away in the best Umisen-ken trance she could
muster through her foggy brain. Adrenaline wasn't enough to cut it.

    Ranma heard the loud whelps and cries of several girls, and angry
protesting of a man whose voice she recognized. Carefully sidestepping
her way and making around some boxes, Ranma had a clearer view. Kasumi
and Ryoga had been captured and brought here too. Ryoga in particular
looked like he was convulsing and twitching, his eyes half closed.

    The clunky rattle of a gun froze Ranma as she felt a barrel
pressed behind her ear. She dropped hold of her rifle and let it hang
on the sling. Hands raised, she turned her head to see a scruffy man
who had somehow managed to spot her.

    Ranma's hand snatched back and grabbed the man's shooting hand by
the wrist and twisted it to release his finger from the trigger. In
the same motion her feet swept him from underneath him and caused him
to fall, knocking over a box as the back of his head smacked the cold
ground. Ranma's hand lifted up and smashed down for a killing blow,
caving down on his chest with a sickly crunch.


    Shouts of alert traded off in the large boiler room. Ranma slid
across the floor to get a clear view of the room and raised her rifle
to shoot anyone she could. To her surprise, no one was out in the open
and she spotted four men hiding behind their own sufficient cover,
their own weapons raised in defense. One of them hid behind Kasumi
with the barrel of a revolver stuck forcefully in her mouth.

    "Drop your fucking gun!" Mr. Joshua yelled, his blonde head
peeking up next to Kasumi's terrifed face. "I've pulled the trigger
and I'm holding the hammer with my thumb. You kill me, she dies! Got
it?"

    Ranma felt her blood run cold. She didn't hear the pained cries of
her name from her friends under captive. All she saw were four
enemies, all with the upper hand. She lifted her rifle sling off her
neck and dropped it on the ground.

    "Get your hands up," Mr. Joshua said. His face remained stern, and
he kept his eyes on Ranma's eyes. Girl or not, he wasn't about to take
chances.

    Ryoga was trying hard to keep his head straight, as it kept
lolling around. "Ranma! What the hell is wrong with you! Why'd you
surrender?"

    Akane, Nabiki, and Kasumi were collectively babbling in tears.

    "Let them go! What do you need them for," Ranma bellowed.

    Mr. Joshua eased his trigger finger and rested the hammer back
down into double action. He regarded this attractive pigtailed women
carefully and then pointed his gun at Nabiki. "This doesn't concern
you. This is business. I don't know who the hell you are, but you must
have followed that tall boyfriend of yours here, didn't you?"

    Ranma's eyes widened in horror, she had forgotten about Jackson.
"Where is he? What did you do with him?"

    "He's in interrogation. As will you be. Now surrender quietly to
my men here, and no one's going to have to hurt more than they need
to," Mr. Joshua said. He looked at one of his men that had just been
killed. His mouth was oozing out blood. "You're no ordinary bitch. No
funny moves."

    The other men in the room hesitantly approached Ranma as she had
her arms raised high. She turned around as they came up to subdue her.

    When the first man put a hand on her shoulder to cuff her arms
behind her back Ranma spun around with a roundhouse kick to his neck.
The force was powerful enough to launch him off his feet and break his
neck from the impact and further shattering his skull as it impacted
the wall. Her right hand shot out to rip out the next guy's heart
right out of his chest when she was stopped by the sudden pop of a
gunshot in the room.

    The momentary lapse of hesitation was enough for the other men to
knock Ranma down, and she looked over to see Mr. Joshua with a smoking
revolver in his hand and a gunshot wound in Kasumi's right shoulder.
She was catatonic with shock.

    "Noooooo!" Ranma screamed.

    Mr. Joshua forcefully nuzzled the hot barrel against Kasumi's
temple and screamed back, outraged. "I told you not to try anything!
Next one I'm going to blow her brains out! Is that what you want?" He
walked over and whipped Akane and Nabiki hard, cracking them with the
butt of the revolver.

    Ranma started blubbering incomprehensibly. She struggled as the
men tried to chloroform her, trying to knock her out. Ranma head
butted the one with the rag away, and continued to yell at the
ringleader of the room.

    "I'll do what you want," Ranma said in between choking sobs. "Just
don't hurt them. Please, just let the me go."

    "Then sit still and take it," Mr. Joshua said. He motioned for his
men to continue with the chloroform rag.

    Ranma saw differing shades of red pervert her vision as she felt
the noxious chemicals slip her into unconsciousness.

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

    Ranma woke up to a blinding cramp embodying her entire length in a
jolt of pain. She looked up and saw her hands tied to a pipe with cold
water running down her head. She looked down and saw she was nearly
naked, dress only to her boxers from her male form. In front of her
were two of her captives, the blonde haired man and one of his lackeys
from the other room. Neither had focused on the fact that she was an
attractively nude woman.

    "I hate to do this to such a pretty girl, but my employer's
organization has to be comprehensive when it comes to the survival of
their welfare and my paycheck," Mr. Joshua said.

    Ranma looked around and saw it was the room right before the one
she had been caught in. Her clothes were strewn and thrown on the
other end of the wall. Next to the blonde man's lackey was a dolly
loaded with a portable generator connected to a car battery with two
jumper cables attached to some bath sponges. The sight of them made
Ranma's skin crawl.

    "Who the hell are you?" Ranma asked.

    Mr. Joshua grabbed Ranma's jaw and looked her in the eye. "That's
hardly important. What we need to know about you, is," he said,
carefully pausing between words for emphasis. "But if it matters you
may call me Mr. Joshua."

    "Mr. Joshua." Ranma looked up and saw her hands tied in thick rope
and hung like a Christmas decoration on a hooked indent on the running
water pipe. Her body felt weak, the combination of the chloroform and
her drunken state did not bode well for her strength. "What the hell
do you want from me?"

    Mr. Joshua smiled. He walked back and forth. "You're not a cop,
and with the weapons we found on you I can hardly believe you're
anything but normal. JNSA does law enforcement, it seems?"

    "What's your point?" Ranma saw her empty holster on her pants. The
lackey had her stainless Beretta tucked into his front belt.

    "Ms. Tendo is our business, and we were hoping to keep it that
way," Mr. Joshua said. "It's clear and obvious that you know each
other and that somehow you and your partner followed us here. I saw
the way you fought, and I saw the way your partner took out one of my
boys. To top it off, you smell like a goddamn liquored hooch."

    Ranma sucked back on her throat and spat on Mr. Joshua's face with
a splash of cold water flung from her hair. "And who the hell are you?
Some half-Asian pretty boy they hired to suck dick?"

    Mr. Joshua wiped away his face with a laugh. He turned back for a
moment and swung around with a full powered punch driven with his hips
to Ranma's stomach. To her surprise, it was devastatingly strong. She
almost felt the contents of her stomach come up.

    "I'm South African." He smiled, and pulled up his sleeve to reveal
a small tattoo of a golden sword surrounded by two ears of wheat on
his shoulder. "I was with the 'Recces', part of the 5th Special Forces
Regiment in Phalaborwa. Stuck around until the fall of Apartheid
ruined my country."

    Ranma frowned. "You're a mercenary?"

    "I prefer 'Professional Soldier', Mr. Ranma Saotome," Mr. Joshua
said. He held up Ranma's badge wallet and ID. "Funny, it says here
you're a male and it shows a male look-a-like of you, but obviously
you're female? Care to share?"

    Ranma looked at him warily, shaking her head. "You got me, Jack.
We're all tied up and followed you to a dead end."

    Mr. Joshua looked down at his shoes and clucked his tongue. "See,
I believe in being thorough. You tell me everything now, and I promise
I'll kill you quick." He snapped his finger for emphasis.

    "I don't have anything to say to you, I'm just hanging here,"
Ranma replied.

    "Well we'll just see, won't we." Mr. Joshua stood with his hands
at his sides, nodding with his crooked smile. "Well, Ranma. I'd like
you to meet Endo, then. I don't believe you've been acquainted with
him yet."

    Ranma looked at the lackey with a name. She saw him put on a pair
of heavy duty rubber glove and grab the jumper cables. "What the hell
is that?"

    Mr. Joshua raised a hand, motioning for Endo to pause. "Endo here
knows more about dispensing pain and discomfort than you and I will
ever know. He's got this toy here that had quite a reputation in the
Japanese underworld, I hear."

    Endo cranked up a knob on the dolly's powerpack, causing it
audibly buzz and crackle. He smiled as he spoke, "High voltage
electricity tuned to fry your muscles without burning your skin. How
do you think we woke you up?"

    The color in Ranma's face started to drain away. She didn't like
where this was headed. "Get that away from me."

    Mr. Joshua stepped to the side and pushed Ranma into the electric
sponges. Her body rippled in convulsions.

    Ranma recoiled back, splashing water everywhere as she struggled.
Her body still wasn't strong enough to break free. "I'm going to
fucking kill the both of you!"

    "Hit her again!" Mr. Joshua yelled.

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

    Nabiki prayed to god over and over as she sat in her chair, legs
shaking as she stared at the small collection of teardrops right below
her eyes.

    Akane continued to sob as she cradled her head against Kasumi's.
The elder sister had still been in shock, the pain from her shoulder
wound and the memory of her husband's murder still fresh in her mind
threatening to rip her sanity apart.

    The men had bandaged up her shoulder and patched it up from
bleeding any further. The bullet went through and made a clean flesh
wound without nicking any bones or arteries.

    Ryoga continued to wallow in his seat, fighting to keep conscious
as a trail of drool slid down his chin. He wasn't sure how to feel,
the heroin they claimed they injected into his veins was playing havoc
with his distress.

    Three men guarded the room and they patiently smoked cigarettes
while sitting on empty drum canisters. Everyone heard the loud yells
of pain from Ranma's female voice in the other room. The loud staccato
of techno music and punchy bass from the night club upstairs concealed
any amount of noise coming from inside the building.

    Mr. Joshua reentered the room, letting the room hear the louder
and more personal volume of Ranma's agony before the door closed
again. He was wiping his hands dry with a towel as he walked up to
Nabiki.

    "So, Tendo. Now that we have all our distractions out of the way,
I'm sure I don't have to convince you much to tell you what you need
to do for us."

    Nabiki gulped and was forced to look up as Mr. Joshua's rough
hands grabbed her chin and yanked it up. She meekly nodded her head,
leaving him to grab a phone with a landline from upstairs.

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

    Endo shook his head in wonder as the girl in front of him hung
lifelessly with only the heaving swells from her well formed breasts
to show that she was still alive and breathing.

    "No one can take that kind of pain," he muttered to himself. He
looked at parts of her torso. Light marks of electrical burns were
starting to appear on her ribs.

    "Time for you to say good night," Endo said. He lifted the sponges
up again and stepped in front to take a look at her beautiful
unconscious face before he electrocuted her to death.

    Ranma's eyes flipped open and she used what little momentum she
had to rock her head back and head butt him as hard as she could
against the narrow back wall. Endo dropped his jumper cables in
surprise, shorting out the entire power pack as they hit the water
cascading onto the floor.

    Her legs lifted up and grabbed Endo's neck as his head bounced
back forward from the concrete and she locked on tight with a scissor
hold. She started growling like a cougar and grunted with pleasure as
she felt his vertebrae snap like a twig and his airway crumple like
copper tubing. Endo dropped dead, head flopped at an impossible angle
as his corpse hit the floor.

    Ranma split her legs apart to grab a hold of the walls and lift
herself off of the pipe. She somersaulted forward and clear of the
cold water, shivering before she held her breath and forcefully ripped
apart her wrist hold. She scrambled for her clothes on the ground and
hastily put them on, snatching her Beretta out of Endo's belt last.

    Pistol in hand, Ranma ran up to the door where the others were
held and looked in through the window. The view was much better this
time, as the boxes had been cleared out of the way from her struggle
before. There were three men inside, but no Mr. Joshua. Ranma turned
to the other doors in the room this time, and peeked through them
both. The last one had Jackson sitting on a stool, facing away from
the door and blindfolded. There was only one bad guy in there, and he
was standing right in front of the door.

    She balled up her left hand drew it back at her hip. A red charge
of crimson ki formed like a fiery blanket around Ranma's fist,
enveloping the rest of her forearm. She punched through the steel
door, piecing it like a hot knife through butter and into the guard's
upper torso. She jerked her arm upwards, silencing any cry he could've
eeked, and then pulled out. The red ki flame extinguished itself,
without a trace of blood to be found on Ranma's arm.

    Jackson's bruised and bloodied head immediately jerked around as
he heard the door open and heard the guard behind him drop with a
gurgling death rattle. His blindfold was ripped off, and his face
glowed in elation at the sight of his partner.

    "Ranma!"

    She quickly untied his restraints. "Good to see you too, Jackson."

    "Did you get caught too? I heard you screaming in the other room."
Jackson got up when one of his hands were freed and undid the rest
himself. He saw the eviscerated remains of his torturer next to the
door.

    "I'm not leaving until I kill every one of these assholes," Ranma
growled. She kicked over the dead corpse on the ground and grabbed the
submachine gun he had been holding. It looked familiar. "This yours?"

    Jackson grabbed his MP5SD and slung it over his neck. He racked
the charging handle and checked the multiple vice-clamped magazines
for ammo. "Sure is."

    "Follow me." Ranma went back out and went to the door where the
others were held captive. She grabbed Endo's dead body off the floor
and kicked the door.

    No one inside knew what to think when they saw the steel door land
flat on the floor, busted right off its hinges. Ranma ran in screaming
and threw the body on the first man she saw, and went after the next.

    Jackson came in hot on her trail, aiming first at the gunman that
had the dead body thrown on him. Weapon set on full auto and aimed, he
riddled him with half a magazine of 9mm rounds center-mass.

    Ranma shot her legs forward into the second guy to set him up for
a double leg trip. She proceeded to clothesline slam him onto the
ground with the pistol hand but instead threw the gun to her left and
shot her right hand to the man's throat, grabbing a handful of his
larynx. She clawed in deep and dug into the soft flesh and ripped out
his voice box altogether, tossing it aside and leaving him for dead.
She quickly darted for the last man in the room, punching him in the
gut with her pistol, doubling him over. She fired off repeatedly as
the bullets came out his backside, tearing apart his black suit.

    None of them came close to matching her cheetah-like agility.

    "Who's fucking next?" Ranma roared. "Joshua!"

    Mr. Joshua dropped the phone from the top of the stairs as he had
reentered the basement. He came in just in time to see Ranma and
Jackson simultaneous shoot his men to death. The sheer speed of both
of them left him speechless.

    Ranma barely saw him escape back from where he came. She rushed
over to Akane's side, releasing her first. Ranma was immediately
swathed in a huge bear hug.

    "Ranma! I knew you'd escape!" Akane cried.

    Ranma rubbed her back up and down, returning the hug. "I need to
free the others."

    Jackson was already busy helping untie and carry Ryoga while Ranma
ripped apart both Nabiki and Kasumi's restraints. Nabiki immediately,
clung around her eldest sister's form, tears streaming down her eyes.


    "I'm so sorry, Kasumi, I'm so sorry!" Nabiki sobbed. "I never
meant for any of this to happen!"

    Ranma shoved her away and helped Kasumi to her feet. She was still
strong enough to walk. But she didn't seem to want to.

    "Why didn't you just let them kill me?" Kasumi whispered, choking
on tears.

    Ranma shook his head. It was no time for sentiments and positive
guidance. "Does it hurt Kasumi? Do you think you can get out of here?"

    She winced as she tried to shrug her shoulders, the pain of her
wound clouding her better judgment. "I can barely breathe."

    "Jackson, set Ryoga down real quick and take care of these two,"
Ranma said, pointing to Akane and Nabiki. She carried Kasumi away with
her back turned to the others. Ranma reached for the cross pendant on
her necklace.

    "No," Kasumi hissed. "No more."

    Ranma unscrewed the hollow tube and ignored her pleas. She
sprinkled some white powder on the back of her palm and lifted it to
Kasumi's face. "Just take it. It'll numb the pain till we get out of
here alive."

    Kasumi shook her head and then winced as another wave of pain
crippled her senses. She gravely complied and quietly sniffed it out
of view of the others who were far too occupied with shock to notice
what she was doing. Kasumi licked the remaining bits off of Ranma's
hand, slathering it over her gums.

    Ranma took her back to her sisters, both uninjured and capable of
taking care of her. Ryoga had his hands full carrying Ryoga, who was
still not himself.

    "What's wrong with you? What did they do to you?" Ranma asked.

    "They shot him full of heroin," Jackson spat. "I saw the whole
thing. Your boy here was tougher than they could handle."

    "Jesus Christ." Ranma scanned the room and saw her G36K on top of
a box. She grabbed it and handed it to Jackson. "You take this, I'll
cover from the front."

    "I already have a long gun, you take it," Jackson said.

    Ranma shook her silver pistol. "I don't have to reload with this.
You won't either with that. Now let's move!"

    All six approached the top of the stairs in single file, with
Ryoga perched on Jackson's back and Ranma at the front of the pack.
The door led to an empty corridor, echoing with loud music from the
nightclub nearby. They shuffled quickly, unable to take the chance
that they might get ambushed again and retaken hostage.

    Thankfully, the next door led straight into the club itself. Ranma
swung the door open to see a large wall mirror reflecting a stocked
bar and a lone man in a dark suit sitting on a stool in front of the
bartender. The room was darkened with disco lights and strobes
flashing in typical nightclub fashion.

    The suit turned around as the door opened and reached for the gun
in his shoulder holster as he realized it wasn't one of the men. Ranma
aimed quick and fired a single shot into his chest, dropping him like
a fly and concealing the shot in beat with the music blasting in the
room.

    The bartender ducked down and cowered to the ground as Ranma and
the rest made their way out and navigated through a growing sea of
people. The dance floor took up the majority of the room and in
combination with the loud music and dark atmosphere did a good job of
concealing six raggedy looking individuals making a caterpillar line
towards the exit.

    Jackson noticed several men scrambling out from behind the DJ
booth, armed with carbine rifles. Ranma noticed the same, and raised
her pistol to shoot but was bumped into another man. She immediately
recognized him as one of the same as the other gangsters and kneed him
in the stomach.

    Jackson took aim and squeezed off two consecutive silenced shots
at both offenders as they ran towards them, knocking them both down.
Ranma stuck her pistol under her opponent's stomach and fired off
multiple times. This time the noise wasn't concealed, and the entire
dance crowd shrieked at the explosion of gunfire.

    Pandemonium broke out amidst the dizzying strobe lights flashing
the room. More men came from behind the DJ booth and from some of the
private rooms of the club, hastily brandishing pistols and various
subcompact machine pistols aimed at Ranma and Jackson.

    Jackson dropped down Ryoga who managed to crouch and hide on his
own. The Tendo sisters huddled in fright as the people around them
stampeded towards the exit. Ranma flicked on the guide-rod laser of
her pistol to aim through the confusion of the dark room and let his
trigger finger go to work.

    Most of the Oroshi men ducked, unable to fight head on with the
skilled pair on the dance floor. Ranma took out several men hiding
behind leather couches, unfortunate souls who watched too many action
movies thinking hiding was adequate cover for gunfire. Jackson picked
off his targets through sheer firepower, the unusually strong 5.56mm
jacketed rounds of Ranma's suppressed rifle punching through steel
pillars and getting those who had managed to get adequate cover.

    Mr. Joshua appeared at the large entrance of the club, shoving
away panicking club-goers as they crowded their way out the ramped
walkway to the exit. He held a very large belt-fed monstrosity in his
arms.

    Jackson screeched. "M-60! Get down!"

    Ranma dropped right before a buzz saw of 7.62mm lead barely missed
her duck and tickled the follicles of hair on her head. She raised her
hand and saw the laser beam illuminating and dancing around Mr.
Joshua's standing form. "Motherfucker!"

    "I'll see you in hell!" Mr. Joshua screamed, spraying to hit as
both his targets had ducked. He didn't notice the red beam from
Ranma's pistol illuminating all over his body and jerked back with a
scream when a bullet took off his right thumb. He dropped, barely
missing a couple of pot shots from Ranma as she continued to fire at
him from her dropped position.

    Mr. Joshua picked up his machine gun and ran out the door. He
didn't want to lose his life outgunned like this.

    "Joshua!" Ranma screamed as she jumped back up and started running
after him. The club emptied out in a flash, and there were no more
obstructions in the way. She ran out the door, bloodlust coursing
through every living fiber of her being.

    The clouds had doubled up as the night had progressed and the
streets were in a full down pour. Ranma scanned the hectic streets,
packed with cars and pedestrians. She saw Mr. Joshua forcing a man out
of his sports car and taking it as his own. He sped away quickly and
without hesitation. Ranma looked around the tall buildings, there were
no low rooftops for her to traverse quickly.

    Ranma wasn't about to let him get away. She ran up to a biker on a
brand new Suzuki GSX-R1000, the same kind that Ukyou had bought
recently. "Sir, I'm requisitioning this bike for a police emergency,
get off!"

       She side kicked him off the bike, flinging him onto the
pavement. He looked up with a bewildered look behind the lens of his
helmet and watched as some drenched girl tore his bike a new one as it
slipped and slid on the wet road.

       Mr. Joshua floored the pedal of his car, a Nissan Skyline GT-R
that just happened to be in his lucky sights. The all wheel drive
proved uncannily helpful in the rain as he was speeding in the most
illegal manner possible through sidewalks and scraping through traffic
grid locked vehicles.

       Ranma barely held control of her powerful motorcycle. The
muscle memory reflexes were all still there, old memories of learning
to ride with his other ex-fiancee coming in with crystal clarity. She
planted a near 12 o'clock wheelie when she yanked the throttle too
hard, nearly losing the front end to speed wobbles as it touched back
down. Her small profile and nimble vehicle caught up in a flash to Mr.
Joshua's hijacked sports car, her silhouette too small for him to
notice that she had been chasing him.

       With a battle cry, Ranma dumped the bike and jumped onto the
roof of the car at high speed. She punched down on the roof, easily
tearing through like aluminum foil and serving double duty as a hand
hold when the car started swerving out of control in surprise. She
lifted an open palm and aimed it at the engine bay, sucking in a huge
breath.

    "Mokotaka Bisha!"

    The front end of the Skyline imploded and the inertia lifted the
back of the car to flip it forward. Ranma was launched off the roof
and catapulted onto the streets, horrifying a large group of onlookers
who were split between watching the automobile disaster and a pretty
young woman landing on the painted lines of a crosswalk with a
crackling thump.

    An arm flapped helpless from the interior of the mangled, upside
down Skyline. Mr. Joshua groaned pathetically as he tried to pull
himself away from the wreck with his hands. Both of his legs felt
crushed and broken.

    A crowd of worried bystanders gasped aloud as Ranma picked herself
up, dusting off her shoulders and cracking her neck as if nothing had
gone wrong. Pistol still in hand, she walked over to the crash site to
watch her prey squirm under the weight of scrap steel.

    Ranma came close to him, and then stopped to see all the
rubberneckers surrounding them in a circle. She thinned her lips. This
wasn't the place for an audience. She carefully gauged the excited
heat emanating from the curious pedestrians around her and shot a fist
of cold ki into the air, summoning a non-lethal Hiryu-Shoten Ha into
the street to blow up dust and wind up into the air and drive everyone
away. Those who weren't moving shielded their eyes, unable to see
through the cyclone.

    She continued letting off cold energy, fueled from her merciless
heart as she stared down at the man who threatened something very
important to Ranma. Whether she liked to admit it or not, even if it
was from years of trying to pretend to forget or a heartbreak that
changed the course of her life; this man had tried to take them away.

    Mr. Joshua looked up at Ranma, his back flat on the ground and his
hands fumbling with a cheap pistol. A .380.

    Ranma looked at it, and saw the make. A Norinco. Chinese model.
She easily kicked it away, breaking his hand in the process.

    "So you're the one," Ranma said softly, eyes narrowing.

    Mr. Joshua had no idea what he was talking about. He looked at her
proudly, not a hint of pity cowering his eyes as he summoned every bit
of his willpower not to show the pain of his freshly broken hand. "I'm
just a professional, doing my job."

    Ranma nodded. She holstered her gun and lifted her right hand in
the air, pointing her index and middle finger downward. It struck down
and entered through solid bone skull like gelatin, deep down to the
knuckles.

    "So am I," Ranma replied.


        *   *   *
April 29th, 2001.
Tendo Home - Nerima, Tokyo. 12:01 AM.

    Somber wasn't even close to the right word to describe the Tendo
home as the four adults, once childhood friends, gathered around the
tea room. At the moment, none had anything to say. Nothing had been
exchanged for a great while as they sat facing each other, each person
transfixed on their own trivial spot on the stained table.

    Akane squeezed tight on Ryoga's hand, feeling the sweat from his
clammy palms. He had recovered quickly, regained his wits after they
had escaped from their nightmarish prison. He insisted with no regard
for his own well being that he wanted to stick by Akane's side before
he checked into the hospital himself, putting his wife first and
foremost before anything else.

    Kasumi was immediately placed in an ambulance and sent to the
closest hospital for immediate treatment for her gunshot wound and her
shell shocked distress. Tofu's body had long been placed at the
morgue, collected by JNSA agents and put under great care until his
body could be properly examined before the spouse could claim him for
funeral arrangements. The patriarch of the Tendo household had come
home to a complete shock and had a minor cardiac incident. He was
placed in the same hospital as his daughter to be watched and examined
for preventative reasons.

    Jackson had accompanied Kasumi to the hospital to treat his own
injuries and also to serve as a surrogate bodyguard for the targeted
family member. As a testament to his tough pedigree and his top-class
training, Jackson was on full alert and as able bodied as he ever was
with just a cup of coffee and a clean shower.

    Nabiki sat on her shins next to Ranma, fists balled up at her
knees and hair covering her entire face. The guilt of Tofu's death and
the rest of her family's ordeal was just a part of the puzzle that
swirled thoughts of suicidal plots and uncontrollable rage through her
aching chest. She kept alternating between grinding her teeth and
licking her lips, repeating over and over in her head on a magic word
or a phrase that could make this whole mess disappear.

    Ranma sat with legs and arms crossed and a lit Marlboro Red stuck
between his lips. A freshly opened pack sat in front of him on the
table. He ran through a checklist of things that were taken care of.
From Jackson being treated and briefed, to detaining Sakuragi which he
missed earlier, to informing Kurosawa and Takayama of the fantastic
incident that had occurred in the night. Ranma had also called Kiyone,
swept by an impulsive urge to seek her companionship and share with
her what he had just gone through. Kiyone promised to fly back to
Nerima on Yagami to pick him up tonight, as soon as she had taken care
of some quick business before leaving Okayama.

    He swam through a distant memory in his head, one that he hadn't
recalled in a long time since he was a child. He remembered being on
the road with his father, getting caught up in one hair brained scheme
after another whenever their travel money had been depleted and they
were forced to use creative measures to eat another day. It didn't
happen often, but a couple of incidents had left him wondering to what
risk and danger he and his father were willing to go to steal food or
catch dinner in the wild.

       Times were simpler back then. If he had been caught stealing,
which both him and his father had several times, the only punishment
was washing dishes or doing free work or enduring the humility of
running away like thieves in the night. Consequences and punishment
were never a sorrow or worry when training, as the next day brought
upon a clean slate.

       He opened his eyes now and released a puff of smoke aimed at
the ceiling, directing it away from the other people in the room.
Ranma looked around and saw the silent musings of the family, after he
had explained in painstaking and excruciating detail just what Nabiki
had done to them. He expected the looks of hurt and shock,
disappointment and undisclosed hatred. But they were all cycling
emotions that vanished as quickly as they appeared, and no one, Ranma
included, had found the energy to continually assault Nabiki for what
she had done.

    One thing was made clear, with no room for ambiguity as Ranma saw
to it. He let Nabiki know under no exceptions would her life ever be
the same again. Without blatantly mentioning the judicial punishments
and legal backlash that would come to collect on her dues past, Ranma
delivered the full weight of his message regardless.

    "Be grateful," Ranma finally said, breaking the silence. "For a
moment I was thinking the only way to handle this was to put a bullet
in your brain myself."

    Nabiki's eyes hardened and her jaw set a little tighter. The
swirling typhoon of emotional blunder in her heart dissipated and
stabilized just a bit as his comment pushed at one of her buttons.

    "Ranma," Akane started.

    Ryoga looked up. He saw Akane's lips trying to form words as she
looked at Ranma, and then she stopped. She gathered her head down
again.

    "I think I'm going to go see father and Kasumi now," Akane said.
She got up from her seat and wiped her tired and baggy eyes. It hurt
to rub the inflamed skin around her eyelids as she had spent more time
crying today than anything else she could remember from recent memory.

    Ryoga got up to join her. "I'm coming with you."

    Akane looked at him and then led him outside of the room. She made
sure they were out of hearing range from Ranma. "I want you to stay
here and keep an eye on Nabiki."

    "What? I'm not sticking anywhere near that disaster," Ryoga
adamantly said. "Besides, Ranma's here."

    "I can't deal with everything that's happening right now," Akane
said, shutting her eyes forcefully. "I need you to stay by Nabiki
because of Ranma."

    "What?"

    "Who knows what will happen if we leave them alone. You heard what
happened. I can't just ignore the fact that Nabiki almost got all of
us killed. Ranma's not the best person to stick her alone with
either."

    Ryoga grimaced. "But I can't just leave you alone either. I can't
lose you."

    Akane shook her head. "I need some time alone with Kasumi at the
hospital and take care of father. You can join me later whenever they
part ways or if Ranma is forced to put Nabiki-oneechan in jail." Akane
felt tears rising up again. They hurt and stung to have welling up
underneath her skin. "Just do this one thing for me, and come to the
hospital later to check yourself in, OK?"

    Ryoga stood still and watched as Akane took his hands into his,
cuddling her swollen face into it. He sadly complied, mustering his
lips to widen well short of a smile.

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

    After getting through the awkward and intimidating tribulations of
revealing all of Nabiki's at the coffee table, Ranma's thoughts kept
going back to the same peculiar moment from several hours before.

    Sitting in the kitchen of the Tendo home, he lost himself in
thought as the same scene played over and over again. After opening
that steel door the first time around, he wondered how he had allowed
a gunman to come sneak behind him and get the jump on him in the first
place. He shallowly reassured himself that the situation would have
panned out the same way whether he was captured or not, thanks to Mr.
Joshua's ruthlessly efficient tactics. But it still grated on him, as
he dared to find the reason why his awareness had slipped so
carelessly when he needed his wits the most.

    Of course he knew the answer all along. It was just a cycle of
admitting and denying it, playing "what ifs" and "why nots" in his
mind as he continuously rationalized and then belittled himself for
getting so drunk and out of control with his fine tuned body.

    The strongest argument in his mind was that he wasn't a stranger
to drinking, and that nothing had ever gone wrong before in the past.
People tended to continue to do the things they did the way they did
them as long as it all worked out in the end. It was his diehard
motivation and bedrock haven to fall back on for when times had gotten
rough and life was too difficult to manage on his own. Completely on
his own.

    But it had become more than that. He didn't dare have the courage
to ask himself further just what the hell he had become. All he knew
was the burning truth of the moment. His own recklessness almost
ruined everything and he was lucky to survive to realize it.

    Ranma sighed. He looked over beyond the kitchen door and wondered
what Ryoga and Nabiki were doing, as they were both left alone in the
tea room. He got up to fix a kettle on the stove and searched the
cabinets for some instant coffee.

    The cloth over hangs covering the kitchen entry fluttered as Ryoga
walked in, looking haggard and even more depleted than he was before.
Ranma turned around and raised an eye.

    "Hey, P-chan. Want some coffee?"

    Ryoga looked at him with a neutral expression. "No thanks.
Actually, let me make you some."

    Ranma's lips formed a ring, surprised by the kind gesture. He took
a seat by the coffee table. "How you holding up?"

    Ryoga tilted his head lightly from side to side. "I'll live."

    "Going to the hospital to get your system checked?"

    "Yeah, in a bit." Ryoga gathered a coffee cup and a coaster from
the cabinet.

    "I don't envy you," Ranma said, shaking his head. "I can't believe
those bastards stuck you full of heroin. That's low."

    Ryoga shut his eyes. He reached for the instant coffee powder.
"Please, don't remind me."

    "I'll get them for you, Ryoga." Ranma's brow firmed. "I promise
I'll get them back. For all of us."

    "And what about Nabiki?"

    "She has to pay for her sins," Ranma said simply. "We all do. It's
not something we can escape. Even you."

    Ryoga paused as he reached for a stirring spoon. "Even me?"

    "Yes, even you." Ranma jaw felt unsettled. "Akari."


    Ryoga turned off the stove range for the kettle and poured it into
the coffee cup. The room felt like it dropped a couple of degrees.
"Akari? Huh? What about her?"

    "Don't."

    "Don't what?"

    "Don't play dumb with me, Ryoga."  Ranma rested a leg over his
knee as he crossed his arms. "I know all about her."

    Ryoga sighed. He mixed the boiling water with the coffee spoon and
watched the instant coffee crystals dissolve. The aroma alone seemed
to lift his spirits. "I dumped her, so what. I didn't do it right, but
I did it clean. Nabiki said she went on with her life and did her own
thing."

    Ranma paused. He looked over Ryoga's body language. As far as he
knew, ever since they were little kids, Ryoga was never a good liar.
"Is that what she told you?"

    Ryoga shook his head, genuinely confused. "Tell me what?"

    "Damn, so you don't know then," Ranma said. He considered it for a
moment. It wasn't the confessional outcome he had been expecting.

    Ryoga walked over with the cup of coffee, served in a traditional
miniature European style mug with matching ceramic coaster. His
fingers trembled involuntarily and clattered the enamelware as he
handed to Ranma.

    "Well I'll be damned," Ranma said, accepting the cup. He looked at
Ryoga's hands. "Must be the withdrawals. Hope you don't get addicted,"
Ranma joked.

    Ryoga turned his back against Ranma. "Yeah."

    "I'm just messing with you, Ryoga." Ranma sipped his coffee, and
hummed in appreciation. "Hey, not bad! I like the taste of this..."

    The first thing Ryoga did as he turned on his heels was close his
eyes as he lifted his right hand. The slender Walther PPK and its
elongated tube suppressor matched with black, parkerized finishes.
Ryoga squeezed the trigger and felt the slide clack back and the
recoil course through on the straight axis of his forearm. It was
tamer than he ever imagined.

    The subsonic .380 ACP bullet hit Ranma on the right side of his
chest, popping a clean hole through the fabric of his shirt. The first
thing he heard was the hollow pneumatic thud of a nail gun, followed
by the hissing pop of the suppressor can.

    Ranma jolted involuntarily as his eyes rolled back and his feet
clattered on the ground, sliding his back forward and slumped on his
chair. His first instinct was unusual, as he tried to set down the
coffee cup on its matching coaster with an refined click before he
looked up to see the smoking barrel still pointed in his direction. It
looked hauntingly familiar, exactly like the one Jackson carried.

    Ryoga didn't breathe. He felt his grip loosen and let the pistol
go with his finger still in the trigger guard. The balanced of weight
rotated the pistol forward with the barrel pointing back towards
Ryoga, spooking him and causing him to drop the gun to the ground.

    He looked back at Ranma who was snorting and wheezing through
breaths, eyes still wide open. He was too terrified to pick it back
up, too astonished to think of anything but that direct moment and
only that current moment, frame by frame as it flashed by in his
conscious mind.

    Ranma looked at Ryoga, unable to afford the energy to keep his
eyes and head pointed anywhere but at him. His arms and legs didn't
respond, but he did feel the warm essence of his life trickling from
his chest and down to his torso and pant leg. His breath calmed, and
he started inhaling in whispers.

    He thought back to simpler times again. He remembered Ryoga the
lost boy, his favorite challenger of the week. Ranma opened his lip
just enough to part them, a gentle draft of noise trying to form words
from his mouth.

    "I'm glad it was you."

    His eyes said it was bright out, but Ranma felt like closing his
eyes and fell asleep.

[End Chapter 8]

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: This one was hands down the quickest piece I've ever
written out of all the chapters thus far. Made in a little over 17
days, in fact. It took a little bit of strategic change in the way I
wrote, but to be honest a lot of it has to do with just a kick-ass
muse that has been giving me some excellent writing vibes and a lot of
free time that I've previously had not available for this kind of
work. And a huge inspiration and influence came from Ariolander, who
inspired me by working hard and setting up a custom webpage for my
fics (something I've direly missed for a long time since my anifics
site went down) in a matter of days. I don't think I could ever pay
back that kind of hard, generous work. And I thank you for that.

Author's Notes: If you're reading this and wondering what the hell
just happened, I apologize. You'll just have to patiently wait for the
next chapter to come out. I'll guarantee and promise you right now
however that you won't find the next one anytime soon. At least no
where near the speed in which this chapter was brought out. Besides,
despite what it seems I didn't leave any of you hanging really, if you
caught all the little details.

Over the years, I received MANY complaints over the quality of my
stories in regards to pacing and flow since I favor making such long
winded out scenes and chapters. On retrospect, I absolutely agree 100%
after rereading my own works long after I've finished writing them and
the whole "writer's pride" glow has worn off and I'm able to somewhat
objectively critique my own work. I delve unnecessarily into tedious
exposition and get caught up in sluggish scenes that do little to
progress the story and much to frustrate the reader. I like learning
from my mistakes, or at the very least doing something different to
see what else can work. I first experimented with a newer, more rapid
paced writing style in the last chapter with a couple of scenes, and
used it almost exclusively in this one. If anyone feels this chapter
went by too quick, glossed over way too rushed, or any other
sentiments, please email me and tell me. If it seemed too slow still
and there are still hang-ups with badly paced scenes, email me and
tell me. I'm sure there will be examples of both.

**Last minute add: Ok, when I refer to the story's pacing and what
not, I wasn't referring to the purposefully sudden and jarring end of
this chapter. I was talking about the whole thing before it. The
ending was purposefully engineered that way because obviously I wanted
to work with it later, hmm???? *HINT HINT, WINK WINK. Sigh.

So this chapter finally answered the big question and conflict that
has been building up for the past few years and chapters regarding
Nabiki's shady dealings with the Yakuza. I had lots of fun writing out
the rapid cut action sequences and the entire "reciprocity" section. A
huge portion of this fic was written in one long, continuous session.
I was possessed like a demon to connect these scenes while I had my
mojo running strong, and my instinct tells me for now that I think
I've done the right thing. Of course, the end result is for you, the
reader, to decide.

If the hostage situation and Ranma's capture and torture sounds
similar, well don't worry because you most likely have seen it
somewhere. Some details were copied verbatim for fun, but I'll
acknowledge that fact here but I don't feel like pointing out exactly
what's what and what's not. It's basically highly inspired by the
amazing climax in the first Lethal Weapon (1987) movie, one of the
best action sequences I think ever filmed.

My version of Mr. Joshua was modeled after a South African special
forces soldier (I did a quick Wikipedia search and gleaned his
pedigree), inspired in part by Leonardo DiCaprio's badass fucking role
in Blood Diamond (2006). It's just a shame I had to give him an
awesome death scene though.

And I know I'll get flack for this, but I told you I'd make Kasumi's
little drug habit useful again and play a (semi) pivotal role in the
next chapter. It's just she gets the raw end of the deal, out of
everybody. The thing is, her scene and her outcome was written in my
outline and plot for this story for YEARS. It's not just some spiteful
detail I conjured up out of nowhere.

The only fun details (if you can call it fun) that I thought up on the
fly was Shampoo's introspection with Ranma, because I thought she
needed just a bit cameo since I love her so much. I wonder how you
guys liked that portrayal. The other improvised detail was Ryoga's
little heroin trip to suppress him. So evil, but it ended up being a
great idea in my opinion. Alas, it has NOTHING to do with the ending
of this chapter, however. The ending of this chapter was always
planned the way it is. Which by the way that last scene is also
inspired by another good movie, but I won't tell you what it is. Can
you guess it? Even if you're right, I'll tell you right now it has
nothing to do with what happens next in the plot.

So this is, guys. Next chapter will be quite a while, but when it does
come that's it. Officer Saotome is coming to a close. It's one more
chapter, ALONG with another short epilogue, and that's it. 10 chapters
total. I can't believe how long it's been...

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!!! Apparently people got the
message last time, and it worked this time around. Finished this baby
in less than a month, how do you like that?  My e-mail is
SgtRanma@yahoo.com . For the fanfiction.net people, you'll have to
click the links on my profile.

Finished November 20, 2008. Currently considered a rough draft,
subject to further revision.