Chapter 11: Transitions
Suginami - Monday, March 7th 1994
Ranma woke up suddenly. She glanced up to the clock on the edge of the bureau, which read 5:45 AM. Again. “Okay, I’m now officially in a rut. Eiko, I thought you said the stupid alarm clock I’ve got built into me could be turned off.”
“I did, and it has. You will recall I did inform you of the fact that, as Guardian, you no longer require the amount of physical rest you have been accustomed to.”
“Great, so that means I woke up entirely on my own this time.”
“That is correct.”
Ranma sighed and threw the covers of the futon off to the side. She got up and stretched her muscles out for several minutes, noting that the usual pain and stiffness she normally felt in the mornings was entirely absent. Oh, that was right; she hadn’t been in any serious fights for …
Had it really been only a week since she had dug herself out after losing the fight with Herb? Mouuuu …
She walked over to the dresser and looked over the small pile of items she had accumulated from the family in the last … Kami-sama, the last two days. The cell phone, the bus and rail passes, more money in her wallet than she had ever had before in her entire life, a credit card on top of that, and … the ring. She picked up the ring and idly examined it.
A plain gold band; such a deceptively simple thing, yet representing so many duties and obligations Ranma barely knew where to begin to list them all. Married at seventeen … to a virtual stranger … on behest of the Emperor himself … was NOT how she had ever envisioned her life would turn out to be – and that didn’t even touch on Eiko and the whole “magical girl” shtick. Kami-sama, this was even more unexpected than finding out from Pops, all of ten minutes before showing up on the Tendō’s doorsteps for the first time, that she had just been engaged.
Oh, crap … Akane. DAMN it all, this just wasn’t fair. And she’d better make sure that the Tendōs knew she was all right – she no longer had any reason to avoid Tendō-san and his ideas of family honor in her current still-female condition. He certainly couldn’t do much about trying to marry her himself now, thank the kami. And with the pressure of the forced engagement off, Akane might still be willing to be friends. Ranma certainly hoped that would be the case – she certainly was nice enough for those few brief moments when they had first met and Akane thought she had simply met another girl martial artist.
Ranma slipped the ring on her finger and quickly stashed the rest of the items into her storage space. Now THAT was something really good to come out of this whole mess – no more worries about losing any of her personal stuff from ripped clothing in the middle of a fight.
“Ranma, have you determined when it would be convenient for you to meet with the senshi’s leader? While it is likely to be more important to them than it is to you, it could be a significant first step in beginning the process of partially restoring the Timestream from Sailor Pluto’s previous manipulations.”
“Damn – thanks for reminding me. It’s going to have to wait until after Midori and I get back from this trip – it’s going to be kind of difficult to meet with the two of us being in the States for the next two or three weeks.”
“I fail to see how that would prevent you from attending a meeting, Ranma.”
“Oh, come on, Eiko. You know just as well as …” Ranma stopped in mid thought and then slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand. “Oh, right. I was in Australia for most of yesterday, wasn’t I?”
Eiko’s mental chuckle resonated across their link. “Correct. Simple distance means very little to a Guardian. Considering your relative inexperience, you are actually doing quite well in recalling most of your basic abilities.”
“Yeah, thanks … I think. We should probably wait until next weekend at the earliest, Eiko. Saturday after half-day would probably be the best time.”
“I will inform Crystal of your decision.”
“Man, I sure hope I get enough time to train properly before something major hits me in the face – I don’t want to screw up with anything that’s really important. Knowing my luck I somehow doubt that’s going to happen.” Ranma picked up a brush from dresser and started working on her hair. She grimaced when she realized it was still at “Guardian length” from last night’s session in the dōjō.
“You will simply have to cope to the best of your abilities, Ranma.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of. My track record with the serious stuff hasn’t been the best as of late, you know.”
“You have performed more than adequately this last week, and I cannot foresee the situation changing for the worse at any point in the near future. Your trip to the States should give you a more than sufficient amount of time to properly reintegrate yourself from the disruption caused by all of the recent changes in your life over the last month.”
“Yeah, that’s one of the main reasons I didn’t object to the ‘honeymoon’,” Ranma replied with a chuckle. “Even I know I need to take a bit of a break right now.”
“Precisely. On another subject, you should be pleased to know that I have completed the preliminary analysis which you requested two evenings ago. The ancillary results in particular have significant relevance to your current situation.”
“Huh? I don’t recall asking you to do anything like that recently.”
“That is incorrect. You asked if I could determine the cause of the persistent changes to your outward appearance which have been happening consistently during the Guardian detransformation sequence. You were quite emphatic about it at the time, if you will recall.”
Ranma paused for a moment before focusing on the brush in her hand. “Oh, the hair … right. What did you find out? This is really starting to bug me.”
“The analysis is definitely non-trivial, Ranma, and has consumed a significant portion of my available computational resources these past two days. The potential permutations and resulting vectors were considerable and my analysis is nowhere near completion by any means. However, the result set has been narrowed to a point where I can state with some confidence the root cause of the primary interaction mechanism, as well as placing any further detailed analysis on a lower priority task for internal resource allocations.”
Ranma sighed to herself, tying her hair back in a low ponytail. “Go on …”
“The Jusenkyō transformation sequence evidently performs the minimal amount of physical change required to complete its assigned parameters. In your particular case it transmorphs the Y chromosome containing the male SRY gender gene into an X chromosome before applying the form transformation algorithm to the target body. This produces the persistence in form which is not dependent on maintaining an active transmorph field about the target during the period following the trigger activation. When the complementing trigger is invoked, the changes to the body’s chromosome structure are reversed using the same basic sequence logic.”
Ranma struggled to follow the technicalities before shaking her head in frustration. “Eiko, you’re really losing me here.”
“I’m sorry, Ranma, but it is important for you to understand the basic mechanism involved. The consequences of how your particular Jusenkyō curse operates means that if something had somehow removed your curse while you were in your female form, you would not have reverted to your male body as a result – the changes to your form are being performed at the physical cellular level instead of simply being maintained by a field of magical force.”
Ranma paused for a moment in thought, and then blanched. “You mean right now I’m really a girl? For REAL?!?”
“On a biological level that is correct. Your current body exhibits strictly female characteristics, from biochemistry and kinesiology to neurophysiology. When your male form is restored it will exhibit only male characteristics in a similar manner. This is significant considering how the two transformation magics have interacted with each other. One of the side effects of the Jusenkyō transformation is the introduction of quiescent target markers in your genetic structure. These markers are used by the Jusenkyō transformation magic to determine which chromosomes are targeted by the initial transmorph routine and are indirectly responsible for the persistent changes to your appearance during the Guardian detransformation sequence.”
“Huh?”
“Indeed. During your imprinting and the initial transformation attempt, the Guardian transformation magic detected the existence of these foreign markers in your system. Security routines originally designed to counteract deliberate genetic tampering were brought into play and the information contained in these ‘tainted’ genes was simply ignored when your permanent template was created and stored. This resulted in both conflicting and missing characteristic data for those physical traits which you inherited primarily from your paternal side – your hair color being one of the most obvious instances. The color change can be attributed to your mother, since red hair is contained in a recessive gene in the unmarked female section of your X chromosome structure, and the change in length and style can be attributed to missing data being initialized to default values when your permanent template was created. This permanent template is created only once, and since the destransformation magic uses this template to restore your appearance the red hair has become integrated into it.”
Ranma growled. “Does this mean that when I finally get my male form back I’ll be stuck with the same long red hair as well?”
“Not at all. The Jusenkyō magic should restore the untemplated genetic data contained in the marked chromosomes without error. This will correct the hair color for certain; whether it can restore its accustomed length as well will require further detailed analysis of the vector result set. One additional and highly relevant item of data did come to light during this analysis, however.”
“What could that be? So far you haven’t exactly been giving me any good news here, Eiko.”
“I believe you will be quite pleased to know this particular datum, Ranma. The stasis field currently integrated in the Jusenkyō transformation routine – the ‘lock’ on your ‘curse’ – is exhibiting a slight but measurable curve of decay. Even if you are unsuccessful in learning the mechanisms required to control the transformation magics – something I consider highly unlikely given your already demonstrated abilities – the ‘lock’ will eventually dissipate entirely on its own.”
Ranma’s eyes lit up. “YES! How long?”
“Given the current rate of decay and assuming no other countervailing forces are brought to play in the interim, the stasis field will self-dissipate in approximately seventy one months, seventeen days, eleven hours, forty two minutes, and twenty one point three eight zero nine nine seven seconds.”
Ranma thought furiously for a moment before sagging. “That’s damn near six years, Eiko.”
“Correct. A relatively short period of time, is it not?”
“Eiko, that’s SIX YEARS.”
“So? I fail to see how you could possibly react in any negative manner from being informed of this datum. Knowing that you will not be restricted to your female form for any significant portion of your term as Guardian should be a considerable and significant morale boost.”
“Well, when you put it that way …”
“I do indeed.”
“But there’s no WAY I’m just going to wait around for that to happen. I’ll go stark raving bonkers if I have to remain stuck as a girl for the next six years.”
“I would be sorely disappointed in you if you had been content to wait. This should give you considerable incentive to concentrate seriously on the mental aspects of your training.”
“Yeah. If that’s what required for me to learn how to control the curse, then that’s what I’m going to do.” Ranma paused for a couple of seconds before chuckling. “Why do I get the feeling I just agreed to do lots of schoolwork the next couple of years?”
Eiko quite wisely declined to respond.
Ranma sighed contentedly, putting her empty bowl down on the table. Not having to constantly fight for her food was something she was rapidly getting used to, and it was nice. It didn’t hurt that Kumiko was just as good a cook as Kasumi, either. She snickered quietly to herself – Mom had gotten really bent out of shape when Kumiko chased her out of the kitchen before breakfast. It looked like she wasn’t the only one who would have to get used to the sudden change in lifestyle.
“Ranma?”
“Yes, Grandma?”
“Have you decided what you’re going to take with you on your trip yet? There really isn’t much time left before you’ll have to leave for the airport to catch your flight.”
“Huh?” Ranma gave her grandmother a puzzled look. “The flight doesn’t leave until around six – that’s almost ten hours from now.”
“It’ll be closer to five and a half hours, actually,” Aiko replied with a smile. “You’ll need to leave the house by one thirty to allow for all of the possible lines and delays at the airport.”
“Why do you need that much time? You just show up at the airport and get on the plane, right?” Ranma glowered in response to everyone else’s snickering.
“Ranma,” Midori said, trying hard to suppress her giggles, “have you ever flown before?”
“All the time … back and forth across Nerima,” Ranma replied with a smirk.
Midori winced. “I meant; have you ever taken any commercial flights?”
Ranma shook her head. “Not really. We hopped a transport back to Tokyo once from the big American base down in Okinawa, but that and the little jet ride last week are the only plane rides I’ve taken anywhere.”
“I didn’t think you had,” Midori said. “Ranma, airports can seem like a big waste of time, but you still have to allow for any number of potential delays. Luggage check-in is probably the worst – and speaking of which, we should probably get a head start on packing for the trip.”
“I don’t see why you’re so worried, Midori,” Ranma replied. “We don’t need any of the camping gear I usually carry, so all we have to do is grab three or four outfits and a toothbrush a piece. Ten minutes, tops.”
Ranma was puzzled why everyone at the table was giving her the same incredulous look.
Nerima
“Did you hear? Nabiki-sempai was arrested last night.”
“No!”
“Yes, my cousin’s sister’s boyfriend was walking by Tendō-ke last night and saw sempai being hauled off in a police car.”
“Oooh, Nyoko-chan has got to hear about this.”
----------
“Nyoko-chan, did you hear? Tendō-san was arrested last night.”
“Really? About time someone put those bitches in their place.”
“Yeah, I bet she took photos of the wrong person.”
“Wouldn’t put it past her.”
“Nope.”
----------
“Tsuki-chan!”
“Emi-chan!”
“Did you hear? The Tendōs were arrested last night after a big fight.”
“But there always a fight going on over there – Kāsan has been complaining about the noise for months.”
“Well, maybe someone got really hurt this time.”
“THAT wouldn’t surprise me. Sotaru-kun lost his spot on the team because that Akane bitch fractured three of his ribs in one of their morning melees last year.”
“Yeah, she was so totally out of control until Ranma-kun showed up.”
“Ranma-kun …”
>Sigh.<
>Sigh.<
----------
“Yuma-chan, you have to hear this!”
“I’m busy right now, Rui-chan.”
“Then I don’t suppose you want to hear how all the Tendōs were arrested last night.”
“WHAT?!?”
“Yup – I heard they put four people in the hospital before the cops could stop them.”
“But Akane-chan would never do something like that.”
“Oh, really? Remember how violent she was before Ranma-kun showed up, and how she always beats him up for no reason.”
“Well, I suppose …”
“And you know how long Ranma-kun’s been missing. I bet it didn’t take any effort at all for Nabiki-sempai to get Akane-chan to do her dirty work for her.”
“Ranma-kun …”
>Sigh.<
>Sigh.<
----------
Tatewaki ignored the morning chatter going on around him. He had eyes for only one person, and today he would finally show Akane Tendō the depths of his devotion. He took a moment to brush a speck of lint off his pristine keikogi before taking his accustomed position in the middle of the Furinkan courtyard.
He waited.
… and waited.
… and waited.
There were a mere two minutes left before the start of class when the usual Monday morning routine was shattered by the arrival of three police cars and a van. A half dozen uniformed officers and a five-man SWAT team quickly disembarked their vehicles.
Tatewaki smirked. It looked like someone had finally gotten tired of his father’s … peculiarities. The smirk turned to astonishment when the SWAT team took positions in a semi-circle around him – Plexiglas shields and drawn tasers at the ready.
“Tatewaki Kuno, you are under arrest,” one of the uniformed officers caroled out from behind the SWAT team members.
Tatewaki frowned – this was not in the script. Even so, he knew what was expected of him.
“My good officer, there must be some mistake. The Blue Thunder of Furinkan upholds all that is right and just and the House of Kuno is a respected pillar of the community – nay, a most noble house of ancient lineage. It is not possible for one such as I to be culpable of misdeeds which would require such an action.”
“I repeat, you are under arrest,” the officer replied. “Put down your weapon and surrender peaceably or we will be required to employ force. You have thirty seconds to comply.”
“My good officer, may I inquire your name and rank to establish your bona fides?”
“I am Lieutenant Hideaki Sato of the Chiyoda-ku western precinct. You now have twenty seconds to comply.”
“Thank you, Sato-san. If I may please have a moment to cogitate on this unexpected and highly irregular development?” Tatewaki waited for the officer to nod before carefully and slowly lowering himself to the ground. He placed his bokken out to the side before crossing his arms.
“Sir?” One of the SWAT team members whispered up to the Lieutenant.
“Wait for it, Sergeant.”
Tatewaki scowled in thought – how had things gotten this out of hand? He made a big show of “thinking”, but he was also doing so for real under the façade.
The games he had been playing with Akane-san and Ranma-kun’s girl form over the last year were essentially harmless, and he always made sure to stay in character while in public – although that had been difficult at times considering how often Ranma-kun had changed genders right in front of him. Given the ease in which he was always being “defeated” by the pair, he doubted THAT could be the cause of his current predicament. The presence of Chiyoda-ku officers strongly suggested that the Imperial House was now involved, yet there HAD to be another new player in the field for that to happen – the House simply didn’t involve itself in the normal affairs of the major clans. His family’s status as a cadet branch of the Mori would do him little stead if the Imperial House was now actively participating. DAMN, he should have paid closer attention to the other students’ chatter this morning – he had been too lost in the part and, now that he thought about it, there had been something different about the usual rumors today.
He desperately needed to find out what was actually going on. A red call to his little sister would definitely be warranted under the circumstances, and no one could possibly break the code they used. They could ill afford for him to be “on the shelf” for any appreciable length of time – the recent infrequent youma attacks would not halt simply because he was not around to perform his sworn duty. Time to cut losses as far down as possible.
Tatewaki stood without retrieving his bokken. Assuming his usual “arrogantly stupid” expression, he addressed the officer in charge.
“Sato-san, you may accompany me to your precinct where I will personally ascertain the veracity of the allegations against the most noble Blue Thunder of Furinkan. Do you wish to provide the transportation to said establishment, or shall I command our driver to procure the family limousine and escort our noble personages in the style more befitting those of our station?”
Lieutenant Sato boggled. “Is this guy for real?”
“Well, that was certainly anticlimactic,” Hiroyoshi quipped, lowering his pair of binoculars after seeing Tatewaki Kuno calmly climb into one of the patrol cars without a fight.
“Certainly was,” Ishihara replied. “I was sure we would have seen some sort of fireworks.”
“Me too. He’s still just as much a loon as ever, though … did you catch his last comment to the Lieutenant?”
“I’m not as good a lip reader as you are, Hiro-san, you know that.”
Hiroyoshi chuckled. “He asked if he should have his limo brought around for the trip to the precinct.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Nope.”
“That’s …” Ishihara shook his head. “I wonder if most of these old samurai clans have been inbreeding.”
“You would think so, considering how some of them act.”
Their conversation was interrupted by several large booms originating from inside the school building.
“That’s got to be the principal. Looks like the SWAT team get to try out the new tasers after all.”
Hiroyoshi laughed for a moment before replying. “Well, it looks like this part of the op is running smoothly. Next is a visit to our local snitch to find out why he didn’t file a report last night.”
Suginami
“Moooooooom!”
“*Please*, Ranma-chan,” Nodoka asked, her eyes filled with longing. “I’ve barely found you and now you’re going away again for almost an entire month. I’d really like to know my daughter – my real daughter – a little better before she left.”
Ranma stared at her mother for several seconds, seeing the fatigue and tension in her posture and the undisguised yearning in her eyes. What’s more, she could feel the depths of her mother’s pride and love just under the surface, along with another emotion she was all too familiar with herself.
Loneliness.
She exhaled and sagged a little in place. “Sure,” she replied, nodding her head. “Just – no frilly dresses this time, okay?”
“Certainly, dear,” Nodoka said. “Coordinates are all we have time for today anyway. Midori-chan?”
“Coming, Yamada-san.”
“Midori-chan?” Nodoka asked softly. “I know it’s a lot to ask of you right now, and I realize I haven’t yet earned the right, but … given the circumstances … do you think you could call me … mother?”
Midori gave the elder woman a brief glare before glancing over to her new spouse. As much as she wanted to remain angry at the ex-Saotome matriarch for all the crap in Ranma's life which she could have prevented, the expression on Ranma’s face made the decision ridiculously easy to make.
“Okāsan,” she acknowledged with a nod.
“Thank you, dear.”
The three women left Yamada-ke a minute later and headed out towards Ginza – on their way to one of Ranma’s better known and least-welcomed purgatories.
Shopping.
Shiba
[Gate, respond on a secure channel as before.]
[Have you completed the analysis of the status update, Glaive?]
[I have. I have also determined it is currently not possible to effect proper repairs to my Guardian without assistance. Is your Guardian capable of generating forces of the fourth order?]
[At the moment she is not.]
[This puts me in an untenable position, Gate. The planetary mana taps currently in place are actively inhibiting the full restoration of my Guardian’s functionality. These taps must be removed. I am not capable of generating sufficient force to disable these links without significant risk to my Guardian of permanent discorporation – an action prohibited by my primary core directives. A properly constructed fourth-order field applied externally would remove the mana taps without such a risk.]
[Glaive, Khronos is insufficiently trained to generate fourth-order fields unaided at the present time. However, she is certainly capable of channeling and directing such a force. We will require the assistance of Crystal to actually generate the correct field.]
[This is unacceptable.]
[Compute the alternatives, Glaive.]
The communications link was disconnected without warning.
Nerima
Kasumi sat amid the wreckage of the house and gazed vacantly at the walls. And wreckage was definitely the proper term to use in describing the condition of the house’s interior – the uniformed quartet had been decidedly ungentle in their enthusiastic search for contraband the previous night and had left nothing, not a single solitary item, undisturbed. Fortunately they had not allowed themselves to indulge in overtly wanton destruction, since most of the china and breakable personal belongings around the house were still intact.
Thank goodness for small favors.
But that’s all it had been – a small favor. The larger problems still remained, and they would not solve themselves simply by her sitting and staring at them. Indeed, they would actually become worse if left alone for any length of time.
Kasumi was painfully aware of the magnitude of the task sitting before her. It was all too likely she would be forced to choose which part of her family to save, since attempting to rescue them all would almost certainly result in her not being able to save any. The value of Tendō-ke, even if she could get the assessed value now, wouldn’t even begin to cover the likely fines levied against Nabiki if she were to be convicted of trafficking in pornography – let alone any other charges levied against her. Adding in the family’s remaining trust fund wouldn’t up the total sufficiently either. No, outside assistance will be required, and her options at this point were extremely limited.
One thing was for certain, however. She wouldn’t be able to get anything for Tendō-ke if the place continued to appear as if a typhoon had just blown through it.
Groaning, Kasumi struggled to her feet and began the arduous task of restoring some semblance of order to the residence.
Ginza
Ranma glared at the image in the mirror in front of her. She’d never understood why women made such a big deal out of shopping and today’s foray did nothing to bring her closer to enlightenment. What was so hard about grabbing several pairs of pants and shirts if you already knew your own sizes? And what possible difference did the color of your underwear make when no one could see them beneath what you wore anyway?
Thank goodness they were running under a time limit today – her Mom had always tried to make previous shopping trips with “Ranko” into full day affairs. Bleh.
She turned her attention back to the mirror and suppressed a shudder. In a way this particular outfit was partially her own damned fault. She’d surprised both Midori and her mother by hunting down a pair of classic knee-high leather boots with two-inch heels before they had even begun to look through the clothes racks. Ranma had been horrified at the price of a single pair, which was even higher than the ridiculously high allowance she had received the other day. Fortunately, she could justify it as a necessary training expense, which it in fact was, and she did have more than enough to easily cover the cost of two pairs – the oshugi she and Midori had received at yesterday’s wedding had been literally mind-boggling.
Unfortunately, once she had bought the boots she had to fend off a steady stream of dresses and skirt outfits selected for her by her mother. She had planned on just buying a couple pairs of pants with a half-dozen of loose-fitting shirts and calling it Fred, but her mother had taken her boots purchase as a sign she was actually interested in girl fashions and had immediately begun picking out outfits on that basis. Hence, her current mess.
“How does it fit, dear?”
Ranma took a deep breath and then stepped out of the changing room. As much as she disliked the whole process, the way her mother’s eyes lit up like they were at the moment made it all bearable. Barely. And she did have to admit she looked really good in most of the outfits her mom had picked out – this in particular was one of the nicer sets she had tried on so far. The black long-sleeved silk blouse was comfortable and the slightly blousy bishop sleeves didn’t restrict her upper-body movement like most of the other tops had, while the red sleeveless Merino wool vest gave the outfit warmth without adding much in the way of either bulk or weight. The black wool skirt was cut with a classic straight flare, the hem dropped down to the top of her boots, and the total effect was stunning in its simplicity. More importantly, both the blouse and the skirt left her with a large degree of freedom of movement, and the skirt was long enough that Ranma could almost ignore the fact that it was a skirt and not a pair of slacks.
“Oh, that’s quite lovely, dear. Don’t change out of it right away,” Nodoka said, “there’s a coat and hat I saw earlier that will go just perfectly with that outfit. Midori-chan, why don’t you try on the green midi dress with those lace-up boots you bought earlier. I’ll be right back.” The kimono-clad woman hustled off without waiting for a response.
Ranma stared at her mother’s back for a moment with a frown. If only she wasn’t trying so hard …
She sighed softly to herself and then stepped back away from the mirrors to perform a couple of quick high side snap-kicks. Good – she hadn’t felt any significant constrictions in her moves from the skirt. She was glad she had bought the boots; it would take her a while to get used to the changes in balance and the noticeable differences in both traction and flexibility. She’d already started a mental list of moves that would have to be altered on account of the new footwear. Her thoughts were interrupted by Midori’s giggles.
“I’m not sure the regular manufacturers take ‘must survive a martial arts fight’ into account when they design clothes, Ranma,” Midori said with a chuckle.
“Well, they should,” Ranma replied. A small scowl forced its way onto the redhead’s lips. She leaned over sideways and pulled her left leg up into a static side kick stance while facing the mirror. It only took one snap kick for her to realize what had caught her attention. She quickly dropped the stance and straightened up with a slight blush.
Okay, so maybe the color of her underwear did matter in certain circumstances.
Nerima
Hiroyoshi and Ishihara walked casually up to a yatai whose banner proudly proclaimed it was the home of “Yoshi’s American Hot Dogs”. They both took a chair at one end of the cart – the lunchtime rush hadn’t begun yet so the two suited officers were the vendor’s only customers at the moment. Ishihara gave the yatai’s owner/cook a quick once-over and immediately saw why he would make a good source of local gossip and information – the man was fairly nondescript in nearly every way except his facial expressions; medium height, slightly heavy build, black hair, brown eyes, and a slightly-rounded face that had no apparent distinguishing features to it.
“Shoichi-san! Welcome! I thought I might see you here today,” the yatai vendor exclaimed with a huge smile. “How have you and your lovely family been faring lately?”
“Quite well, thank you,” Hiroyoshi replied. “Yoshi-san, this is Hideaki Ishihara, a good friend of mine from the office. He recently transferred over to our division so I thought I would introduce him to one of the best places to eat in all of Nerima.”
Yoshi bowed to each of the officers. “You are too kind, Shoichi-san. What can I get for you two gentlemen today?”
“Two Ballpark Specials if you would, Yoshi-san,” Hiroyoshi said. Yoshi moved over to the grill with a nod and began pulling out a variety of ingredients. “Yoshi-san, I was a little troubled to discover you had missed a delivery to the office last night. I do hope it was just a simple misunderstanding over the contents of the order.”
“I’m afraid not, Shoichi-san. It pains me to inform you that your office has managed to accumulate a rather sizable tab over the last two months, and it has grown to the point that I simply cannot afford to ignore it any longer.”
“You didn’t by chance manage to upset Chiyo-chan in accounting again, did you Yoshi-san?”
“No, Shoichi-san, I am fairly certain that whatever the inadvertent error is, it is not a result of any actions on my part.”
“I see,” Hiroyoshi replied with a rapidly developing scowl. “I do know for a fact all of your previous invoices were submitted properly to accounting, Yoshi-san, so I don’t understand what could have happened to cause such a delay in payment. Unfortunately, this is an extremely inconvenient time for something like this to occur.”
The cook shrugged his shoulders. “Everyone has their own concerns to deal with, Shoichi-san. After all, a kimono without a sleeve can’t be thrown around.”
Hiroyoshi sighed. “Yeah, I can see that. Yoshi-san, you have my word this situation will be resolved before the end of the week.”
Yoshi nodded in acknowledgement. “In that case I will leave it entirely in your capable hands, Shoichi-san, and think nothing more of this unfortunate misunderstanding.” The stocky cook proceeded to place the now completed orders in front of the two officers.
Hiroyoshi chuckled when he saw the skeptical look Ishihara was giving the food sitting in front of him. “It’s a type of sausage the Americans call a hot dog, Ishi-san. This particular variety is a ‘jumbo chili-cheese dog’. You eat it with your fingers.”
“But,” Ishihara replied with a puzzled tone. “How do you keep all of the sauce from falling out?”
“You don’t.”
“Oh. And these are …”
“French fried potatoes. You use those to scoop up the sauce that falls out of the hot dog. Man, you’ve really been hiding in a deep hole somewhere, haven’t you?”
“Hey, it’s not my fault I was working nights for the last couple of years, and you know I’ve never really kept up on American culture all that much in the past anyway.”
Hiroyoshi shook his head. “Yeah, but still…”
The two suited officers fell silent as they began eating the messy concoctions. Hiroyoshi quickly palmed the packet of data discs concealed beneath his hot dog’s serving basket before the yatai could fill up with other lunchtime customers.
Chiyoda-ku Western Police Precinct
Tatewaki was once again thankful for every method acting session he ever had. It was taking every single bit of concentration and composure he was capable of for him to remain in character without giving his interrogators any reason to “chastise” him over these last couple of hours, and their frustration was beginning to show. He was treading a very delicate line at the moment; he couldn’t afford to appear too rational – not after playing the buffoon in public for so long – yet at the same time he had no desire to let the two officers use him for a punching bag.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t take a hit. Between the evening youma patrols and his almost daily battles with Akane-san or Ranma-kun he had toughened up considerably; it was that he had no illusions on how “fair” the two officers would play.
And there was certainly a big advantage in being thought of as a buffoon by the general public. His two interrogators would be horrified if they knew just how much information he had just gleaned from this little session. He had taken great pleasure in deliberately misunderstanding virtually every question thrown at him, and the officers had become increasingly obvious with their questions in an attempt to make this “dense as a brick idiot” understand what they wanted to know.
His constant quoting of classical poetry did nothing to help the two officers’ moods, either.
At least he now knew this was all connected with Ranma-kun’s recent absence somehow. Evidently the Saotome clan was connected higher than he had ever imagined; the Imperial House did not make a habit of involving itself in isolated quarrels between minor clans. Also, the fact that his sister had failed to make any connection between the Saotome clan and the Imperial family was quite significant in of itself.
“Ahhhhh, I give up. SERGEANT!”
Tatewaki carefully hid a smirk. It appeared as if his delaying tactics had finally paid off. Now, hopefully, he could get a few uninterrupted minutes to himself; his sister definitely needed to know about the drastic change in the current situation.
“Yes, Sir?”
“Take this … gentleman … and put him with the other idiot.”
Tatewaki rose and put on his best imperious expression. “Is this how the Imperial Government treats the scions of society? How can one possibly polish the twofold spirit heart and mind in such … paltry … surroundings? Did not the immortal Musashi himself state that the laws of the world depart from the true Way?”
“Yeah, yeah, just follow me – I’ll take you to a room more befitting to your station.”
“Truly? Then you must take me to such accommodations at once.” Tatewaki was hard put not to laugh at the expressions on the faces of the two interrogating officers as he left the room.
The trek down the hallway was short. The desk sergeant unlocked and opened the third door to the left and then gestured with his free hand.
“In here.”
Tatewaki made a show of hesitating after a brief glimpse through the open doorway. “This appears no different than that other retched room. You were instructed to take me to more suitable accommodations.”
“*IN*, you moron.” The sergeant put his hand in the small of Tatewaki’s back and shoved, hard – a move the youngster was fully expecting. He pushed off with the flow of the shove and landed with a big and noisy bellyflop in the middle of the room. He waited as if stunned by the apparently awkward landing until he heard the door close and lock behind him before he smoothly rolled up into a sitting position.
“Hello … Brother.”
Tatewaki’s eyes widened. His sister was right here, sitting calmly on a rather uncomfortable looking bench along side the far wall.
This … complicated things tremendously.
Ginza
“So, what about all that ‘getting ready’ you were talking about earlier?” Ranma said between bites of her outrageously oversized eggroll.
“Obāsama called a little while ago while you were still in the restroom,” Midori replied after taking a moment to finish off the last bit of her yakisoba. “Jun and Naomi are handling the packing for us and she’s having a car sent to meet us at around quarter to three to take us directly to the airport. The whole crew should already be there by then to see us off.”
Ranma barely suppressed a shudder – the extra time gained would undoubtedly be put to “good use” by her mother to extend this shopping expedition even further. Still, she couldn’t deny the time they'd spent together this morning was making her mother extremely happy. Ranma had caused her mother an immense amount of pain over the last year with the whole “Ranko” fiasco, and she was willing to go to almost any length to make it up to her.
Even if it meant wasting time shopping for more unnecessary girl clothes.
Somewhere In Tokyo Traffic
“What do you mean there’s a hold on the Kuwabara account?”
Ishihara was glad for once they were firmly stuck in traffic. His partner looked like he was about to rip the steering wheel right off the column – at least if he did that now they wouldn’t have to worry about crashing into anything.
“I can’t believe … Didn’t that idiot see this project was blue flagged?”
Ishihara looked back down to the screen of his laptop and the blinking dialog box waiting for an encryption key. They could certainly break the protection if they took the disc back to the office and set the code jocks loose on it, but doing so would take time – a lot of time.
“I don’t care if Ito-baka is just trying to follow what he thinks are the regulations – routine yearly audits do NOT take priority over field ops, and there is nothing ‘routine’ on taking over sixty days to clear an outstanding account in the first place.”
Ishihara looked back over at his partner and could almost literally see the steam coming out of Hiroyoshi’s ears.
“That was years ago and the baka should have gotten over it by now. Chiyo-chan, listen to me; this is what you’re going to do. You are going to drop everything … and I do mean everything, take that file and march it right up to the Old Man himself for approval. Tell him it’s part of Chameleon. The instant that happens – and it will happen, let me assure you – you are going to personally see to it that Yoshi-san’s account is made current, now. You got all that?”
“…”
“Don’t you worry, Chiyo-chan. This project probably has a lot of eyes on it, and by the time the Old Man is through with him Ito-baka will be lucky to be cleaning sewers in Wakkanai.”
“…”
“That’s my girl – now go get hopping.” Hiroyoshi tapped his earpiece and disconnected the call. “Stupid wannabe tin-horn tyrant … it just figures Ito’s somehow involved in screwing thing up again.” He saw an opening in the traffic and gunned the car down a side street.
“I take it this has happened to you in the past?”
“Unfortunately,” Hiroyoshi replied with a growl. “Ito-baka really likes to throw his weight around and this isn’t the first time he’s gotten in the way of one of my ops.”
“Then why is he still …”
“He just happens to be the comptroller’s brother-in-law … which isn’t going to save his ass this time.”
“Oh.” Ishihara glanced down at his laptop and grimaced. “Damn, the reception is lousy here – I just dropped off the net.”
Hiroyoshi nodded. “I’m not surprised; we keep losing aerials and towers because of all the fights that happen around here. There should be an empty safe house about three kilometers away and I’m fairly sure it has a level four tap you can plug in to. It shouldn’t take all that long to get there.”
Ginza
“So is there anything else here you want to see before we try our luck next door at Mitsukoshi?” Nodoka asked her two “daughters”. She was looking forward to seeing what different fashion lines were being carried by the current store’s largest rival.
Ranma sighed softly to herself. Great … more girl clothes to try on.
“Okāsan, doesn’t Matsuya have a travel agency somewhere on the main floor?”
“I believe so, Midori-chan,” Nodoka replied. “Looking for some reading material for the flight?”
“Yes, amongst other things,” Midori said with a nod. “I doubt we’ll be able to get to Aspen, but there’s no way I’m going to miss hitting the slopes at Squaw Valley at least once while we’re over there. At the very least, a travel agent should be able to tell me what the snowpack is like.”
“Geez, Midori,” Ranma responded with a friendly smirk on her face. “If you wanted to go on a training trip to work on your cold weather combat techniques, all you had to do was ask …”
“Ranma, Squaw Valley is a ski resort.”
“Oh.”
Somewhere in Tokyo
Hiroyoshi stared out the window of the penthouse and watched the clouds float by in the crisp March afternoon. It certainly was taking time for the office to clear up Yoshi’s account. He glanced at his watch and grimaced. Two p.m. This was taking entirely too long.
He was nearly halfway through his pack of cigarettes when a soft chime sounded from his partner’s laptop. Finally! Walking over to the table, Hiroyoshi lurked over his partner’s shoulder while the decrypted file began scrolling onto the screen.
“Let’s see … two cars, four uniforms … that can’t be right …”
“Jeez, Hiro-kun, take a seat already,” Ishihara grumbled.
“Yeah yeah – sorry bout that.” Hiroyoshi fumbled for a second, his eyes never leaving the screen, before he snagged a chair and sat down next to his partner. The file was relatively short and the end quickly scrolled into view.
Hiroyoshi scowled. “That isn’t right. The father and the youngest Tendō girl were never part of the op … and why in kami-sama’s name did they send two full cars there to begin with?”
“I think you missed this little bit,” Ishihara said. He pointed out a particular sentence near the end of the file.
“Wha… SHIT,” Hiroyoshi exclaimed. “Quick, hack through Chiyoda East’s back door and pull up last night’s duty assignments.”
“Already on it,” Ishihara replied, his fingers flying over the laptop’s keyboard. Two minutes later the relevant file was displayed for the two officers’ scrutiny. Ishihara jumped – along with the laptop – when his partner’s hand slammed into the table with a loud bang.
“DAMN IT ALL …” Hiroyoshi yelled. His chair flew back from the table and landed with a crash against the far wall when he stood and forcibly kicked the innocent item of furniture out of his way.
“I take it you know who this Lieutenant Hiyashi is,” Ishihara said, trying to get the ringing out of his left ear.
“He’s the leader of Captain Tanaka’s little pet yak hunter squad,” Hiroyoshi growled back. “Please, please, tell me he wasn’t teaming up with that fat pervert Nakagawa on this.”
“I’m afraid so,” Ishihara replied after double checking the assignment roster once more. “Lieutenant Hiyashi, Sergeant Nakagawa, Officer Kosugi and Officer Murai.”
“$@##$^$%^*@^$&*$&%^#@$&!!!!!!” Hiroyoshi’s spent the next minute expressing highly creative and varied expletives at a relatively high volume. He finally wound down enough to regain some semblance of coherency. “There’s no way in hell Hiyashi could have been assigned to this op accidentally … I think it’s time for Captain Tanaka to take a long overdue retirement.”
“Kami-sama, Hiro-kun,” Ishihara said. “Are things really that far gone over something this small?”
“You don’t know how high up the food chain this goes, Ishi-kun,” Hiroyoshi replied. “Rumors are the Son of Heaven himself had a direct hand in this project.”
“Damn, that sucks.”
“No shit Sherlock. Start downloading the floorplans of Chiyoda East along with complete duty rosters and assignment lists from the time of the arrest last night up to now. Make sure you get the list of any special equipment they have on hand. I’m going to see if any female officers are loose at the moment – hopefully Shigeki and Yosano are back from Yokohama by now.”
“If we’re planning on staging a jailbreak, shouldn’t we call this in to the Old Man first? And if you don’t stop pacing you’re going to wear a hole in that carpet.”
“Op plan first,” Hiroyoshi replied, glaring briefly at his partner. “It’s too late now to prevent anything more from happening to those girls that hasn’t already been done and an extra hour or two isn’t really going to change that much. If I don’t hand in a comprehensive contingency plan with the status report to the Old Man, I’ll be lucky just to clean sewers in Wakkanai along side of Ito-baka when it’s all said and done.”
“Hiro-san, do you remember what you said last night after we visited the chef girl?”
“I know, I know – be careful what you wish for.”
Shuto Expressway, Minato-ku
“Five minutes to Haneda, ma’am.”
“Thank you, Genjo-kun,” Midori replied.
Ranma took a quick look out the limo’s tinted window. “Err … weren’t we supposed to leave from … what was it called … Narita? I coulda sworn that’s what the tickets said …”
“Obāsama has one of the company helicopters waiting for us, Ranma,” Midori said. “It’ll be rather close, but we should be able to make it from Haneda to Narita before our flight leaves.”
“You should have plenty of leeway, ma’am,” the family chauffeur added. “Yamada-dono co-opted the company’s Bell 230 – it will zip you out to New Tokyo International in less than twenty minutes, and Yamada-dono mentioned the plane had been chartered especially for your trip.”
“Ah … okay,” Ranma replied.
“I wouldn’t worry about it, dear,” Nodoka said. “It sounds like Mother has taken all the details into account as usual. And speaking of which, Midori-chan, I presume you and Ranma-chan have already finished all of your schoolwork for the year, correct?”
“Actually, Okāsan, finals aren’t until next week if I remember correctly,” Midori replied. “Since we were all running about watching Ranma during the normal school year, Obāsama made some arrangement with Hikaru Hoshi to home school us for the whole year – which gives us until Golden Week to get this year’s tests in.”
“Ah, man … I totally forgot about finals,” Ranma said, slapping her forehead once with the palm of a hand. “And I sure don’t look forward to going back to Furinkan and dealing with either Kuno-baka while I’m stuck in my girl-form like this.”
“Ranma, I’m fairly certain Obāsama has already enrolled you in Hikaru Hoshi for next year,” Midori said, “and I doubt that she’d want or even allow you to return to that madhouse under any circumstances. If you’d like, both Sis and I can help you study for this year’s finals when we get back from the States.”
“Yeah, I guess …” Ranma replied with a sigh. “I’ll admit it’ll be nice not having to fight the baka for our test scores or have them broadcast all over Tokyo like what happened last year.”
“He did … what?!?”
“Hey, it’s no big deal, Mom. Principal Pineapplehead was always pulling weird crap like that, but it never amounted to anything I couldn’t handle. It was more … irritating than anything else.”
“I see … I think …”
“It’s just school, Mom … not like it was anything really important, after all.”
“Daughter, while I’ve been made to understand that your past experience with school has been … less than optimal, I do hope you can treat your education with more respect in the future. What you learn now carries considerable weight during your adult life, you know.”
“Yeah, I’m starting to see that, Mom.” Ranma suppressed a chuckle. “Especially if it’s the only way I’ve got to learn how to unlock my curse before those six years are up.”
“I am most pleased that you no longer consider willful ignorance to be a valuable and desirable personality trait, Ranma.”
“Yeah, yeah, Eiko …yuck it up while you can.”
Midori shook her head. “I don’t understand how you could’ve possibly learned anything in that Nerima nuthouse, Ranma. I’m really looking forward to showing you what a normal school life is all about.”
“Ah, c’mon, Midori – it wasn’t that bad.”
“Ranma, I don’t think that there’s another school in the entire country that tries to teach someone how to swim by throwing them in a pool with a live shark …”
“WHAT?!?” Nodoka exclaimed in shock.
“… or one that plants explosives in the courtyard to force their student to be tardy so they can be ‘punished’ …”
“That’s pretty easy training, Midori.”
“… or hires a ki vampire as a teacher …”
“Hey, Ninomiya was really Happosai’s problem.”
“… not to mention Tatewaki and the whole Hentai Horde fiasco.”
“Yeah, I’ll admit that whole thing was pretty dumb all right.”
“Ranma-chan, I hope it wasn’t like that all the time at your old school,” Nodoka asked, anger readily apparent in her voice.
“Not really, Mom,” Ranma replied. “It could get kind of silly at times, but mostly it was just boring as all heck.”
“We’ve arrived at Haneda heliport, Ladies,” Genjo called out from the driver’s seat. The limousine rolled to a gentle stop, which put a definite halt to the current conversation.
Nerima
“Do you think this will be okay?”
“C’mon, Yuri-chan, you know it’s the only way we’ll ever find out what’s going on,” Yuka replied. “The rumors this morning were bad enough; having both Akane-chan and Nabiki-san absent today just made everything worse.”
“I just can’t believe the Police are actually doing something after all this time,” Sayuri said. “Considering all the crazy things that have happened over the last year, why would they start getting involved now?”
“Well, that’s one of the things we need to find out, ne?”
“I guess,” Sayuri replied with a small grimace. She actually wouldn’t mind if someone had finally put Akane’s cold-hearted bitch of a sister in her place, but to think that Akane might have gotten caught up in it as well …
The two girls walked the rest of the way in silence.
Kasumi groaned when she heard the knocking at the front door. She had been working virtually non-stop for over seven hours and she still had entirely too much left to do before the house could be considered even close to “presentable”. Still, maybe a brief break was in order.
She just hoped it wasn’t any of the neighbors. Unfortunately, who she saw when she opened the door was just about as bad. She quickly plastered a smile on her face and hoped the two girls hadn’t noticed.
“Good afternoon, Sayuri-chan, Yuka-chan. How may I help you today?”
Both girls hesitated briefly; neither of them had ever seen Kasumi quite this … disheveled before.
“Errr, is Akane-chan home, Kasumi-dono?” Yuka inquired. “We didn’t see her or Nabiki-san at school today, so we thought we’d bring her today’s assignments …”
“I’m sorry, but some urgent family business came up rather suddenly,” Kasumi replied. “It would be appreciated if you could continue to take down their assignments until they return.”
Sayuri began to worry; there may be some truth to the rumors after all.
“Certainly, Kasumi-dono,” Yuka said with a forced smile. “Can you tell us when they’ll be back? It would be nice to be able to inform her teachers how long she will be out of school.”
“Yeah,” Sayuri added. “Especially with finals coming up the middle of next week.”
“I’m sorry, but this is strictly family business. I hope you understand.”
Sayuri and Yuka both nodded. “Certainly, Kasumi-dono,” Yuka replied and bowed. “We apologize for disturbing you. C’mon, Yuri-chan.”
Both girls turned to leave. “I bet Akane-chan is simply stuck trying to clean up after another one of Ranma-kun’s idiotic messes as usual,” Yuka said as soft aside to the other girl.
“DON’T YOU DARE!”
The two girls winced in unison and stopped dead in their tracks. They both turned slowly back around, eyes wide. Their eyes got even larger when they saw the steady track of tears rolling down both cheeks of Akane’s older sister.
“I …”
“I …”
Kasumi clenched her eyes closed and took a deep, shuddering breath. It didn’t help; all Kasumi could see in her mind’s eye were horrible images of Ranma-chan’s body being crushed under tons of unyielding rock. Her eyes quickly flew back open with a visible shudder.
“I … I apologize for the unseemly outburst, Sayuri-chan, Yuka-chan,” Kasumi said, bowing to Akane’s friends. “But I beg of you; please do not speak ill of Ranma-kun. It would be most … inappropriate.”
Sayuri and Yuka watched in shock as Kasumi fled back into the confines of Tendō-ke, the door slamming behind the older Tendō sister with a discordant bang. The girls’ trek back to their own homes was accomplished without another single word being exchanged.
Kasumi sat in a listless heap at the table, the latest pot of tea sitting cold and unnoticed to her side. She was mortified; she hadn’t lost her composure in public so badly in years; no matter what the cause. Not since her mother …
She clenched her eyes closed one more with enough force to cause pain. Her entire body tensed; a small trickle of blood began to leak from each hand where her fingernails broke the skin of her palms. The images, those awful, horrible images, returned.
“No! I will not dwell on the past. I will NOT – I promised. The family must remain together; the house will remain strong; no other outcome will be permitted. We will see this through together. I am one with the wa; our ancestors’ spirits flow through me. This, too, shall pass; the family will prevail; our heritage, our giri, our duty will be done.”
Kasumi’s tears slowed and stopped as she felt the unyielding serenity which always accompanied her ancestors’ presence fill her entire being. She concentrated on banishing the excruciating images of her little brother’s death from her mind’s eye – never noticing the soft white glow of earthly chi which surrounded her body in a gentle and comforting blanket.
“I’m home!”
“Yuka-chan, is that you?”
“Yes, Mom. Sayuri-chan is here too; we’ll be up in my room studying for finals.”
“Just a moment, dear, please.”
“Sure, Mom.”
Yuka winced when a loud clatter erupted in the next room.
“Take your time, Mom.”
“Really! I wonder who put that there of all places.”
Yuka tried not to groan when another, sharper crash sounded. That must have been at least two dinner plates; it was a minor miracle there was still any unbroken china left in the house.
Yuka’s mother stepped out the hallway door after a few blessed seconds of silence. She smiled at the two youngsters for a second before noticing the somber mood surrounding the two girls.
“Oh, I see you must have already heard. Well of course – you do go to school with her after all. Poor girl, I bet she’s simply heartbroken over the whole affair.”
Yuka shook her head. Her mother wasn’t making much sense, as usual. “Mom?”
“Now, I know you didn’t really like him that much, but you’ll just have to set that aside and be supportive for the poor dear. She’ll need all the help she can get from her friends now.”
“Mom?!? What in the world are you talking about?”
“Didn’t Akane-chan tell you? By your expressions I was sure she had confided to you today – you two are her best friends, after all.”
Yuka sighed. “Mom, Akane-chan wasn’t at school today, and when we stopped by Tendō-ke on our way home we found out she wasn’t there either.”
Her mother nodded. “Of course, of course. Poor dear, I don’t blame her a bit. Well, I’m sure she would have preferred to tell you this in person, but since it’s now public knowledge I think you really should know so you can help her get on with her life.”
Yuka blinked when her mother handed her a section of the evening newspaper. There was a circled notice in the public announcements section, under the obituaries column for …
… Nodoka and Ranma Saotome.
Oh.
Yuka and Sayuri looked at each other and blanched in unison. While it was nice to find out the morning’s rumors about Akane-chan were all wrong, it definitely explained why Kasumi-dono had been so upset with them.
Kasumi stared at her cup. She was doing no one any good by just sitting here, and she did none of her family any good by hiding from it. No plans could be made without knowing the full extent of the charges against her father and her two sisters.
It was time to face the ugly facts. She stopped for a moment to shake the dust out of her hair and rearrange her ponytail. Taking a deep breath, she opened up the arrest warrant for her sister Nabiki.
It wasn’t pleasant reading.
Kasumi was barely able to finish the document before she broke down completely. Blackmail, usury, fraud, racketeering, pornography, child pornography, unlawful distribution of a film depicting the death of a minor, conspiracy to commit murder, murder.
There was no way Yamada-dono would be able to help with this, even if she could be convinced to lend any assistance in the first place – a possibility made all the more unlikely given the state of affairs left by her daughter.
Kasumi doubted anyone even suspected that she was aware of the connection between the Suginami Yamada clan and the last of the Saotome. Yamada-dono had hidden it well, and whatever event which had resulted in the disowning of her middle daughter and the obliteration of all records of her birth family was buried just as deeply – although it took little effort to figure out what that event must have been once the family connection was made.
It was simply another thing to lay directly at the feet of that bastard which poor Ranma-kun had been forced to call “Father”.
Genma watched in silence behind the relative safety of the Goshin Dai Ryuu Sei Fu. He didn’t like the looks of this; he didn’t like it at all. Tendō-ke had obviously been raided in the last twenty-four hours, his old buddy Soūn was missing, his worthless son was still gallivanting out in the wilderness somewhere – no matter what that crazy bitch of a wife had said – and Kasumi was sobbing over a pair of Imperial arrest warrants.
The portly martial artist had no illusions as to whose names were engraved on those warrants, no illusions at all. The timing sucked rocks, but that was really no surprise. He had planned to have their children safely married and saddled with family before their past history with the Master finally caught up with them, but that apparently wasn’t fated to happen. So be it.
Genma walked invisibly up the stairs to his room, making not even a hint of a sound. He scowled at the scattered mess of what remained of his possessions, then shrugged his shoulders and packed with an efficiency brought about by long and hard-earned practice. This was certainly not the first time he had been forced to leave like a silent ghost, and it undoubtedly not be the last time either.
A year. That should be enough time.
New Tokyo (Narita) International Airport
Aiko stood next to the window of Terminal 2’s concourse and looked out at the 747 parked at gate C83. The view of the airport from the satellite building’s third floor was impressive, but the elder Yamada barely noticed the view. Her thoughts centered more on the plane which would shortly take her two grandchildren away from her and the clan. At least the separation would be of relatively short duration this time, but still …
Four days. The clan had been reunited with her daughter’s child for a mere four days. Four days where the chaos which swirled around Ranma-kun’s life like a colony of vultures had roared through the clan with unabated fury and swept all of her careful plans aside with scarcely any effort.
And while she couldn't blame the Throne for forcing the issue when the opportunity had presented itself, given the end result was in perfect alignment with her own long-term plans, the Tennō’s timing and the circumstances surrounding it were … unfortunate.
It was certainly not the slow paced and low pressure environment she had hoped to give her grandson following his reclamation.
Aiko looked over to the other side of the departure lounge where the rest of the immediate clan was gathered and smiled. At least they would be able to give the two newlyweds a proper send-off, and they would definitely have an appropriate escort for the first part of their current journey. She waited for the white-clad officer to reach her current position before acknowledging him with a slight tilt of her head.
“Lieutenant Commander Kuroi.”
“Yamada-dono.”
Aiko gave the American officer her most disarming smile. This was going to be fun.
“I must approve of your change of station, Commander. I trust your separation from the land of your ancestors will be of relatively short duration?”
“Yes, Ma’am,” Kuroi replied with a smile. “I was offered a month’s leave Stateside, but I really want to get started right away. The station doesn't actually become vacant until the twenty-first, so I think I can manage to play tourist for a week after tying up any loose ends back home.”
“That’s very convenient, Commander. Two weeks should be more than sufficient for all the necessary arrangements to be made, and I give you my personal assurance that they will be more than satisfactory.”
“Arrangements, Ma’am?” Kuroi gave the Yamada matriarch a puzzled look.
“Of course. I do hope you don’t object to holding the Shinto ceremony first – it has become quite the custom to have them both done consecutively.”
“Ceremonies? Ma’am?”
“Your wedding, son.”
“Say WHAT?!?”
“Come now, Commander – surely you recognized yesterday’s omiai for what it was …”
“Errk.”
“… and with Imperial sponsorship as well – you must be quite proud and pleased with yesterday's events.”
“Gah.”
“Don't worry, Son – I'll make certain that everything is perfect for your big day. After all, you’re family now. And speaking of which …” Aiko turned away for a moment, her lips twitching. “Tsu-chan!” she called over to where the rest of the family was waiting.
“Yes, Obasama?”
“Come here for a moment, please.”
“Yes, Obasama.”
“Now, Son,” Aiko said, turning back to face the motionless officer, “considering you’re family, I trust you can insure that my grandchildren’s vacation will remain undisturbed and, more importantly, private, can I not? I would hate to learn of any disturbances caused by some enthusiastic compatriot or their friends and acquaintances.”
“But … but … ”
“Yes, Son?”
“Wedding?!?”
“Of course. Tsu-chan, don't you think you should give your fiancée a proper farewell?”
Tsuya beamed as she bowed – she could still scarcely believe she lucked into such a yummy hunk. “I wish you safe journeys, Anata. May our union be ever prosperous and our joining ever filled with hot and steamy animalistic sex.” Both Tsuya and Aiko broke out into giggles at her last statement.
Kuroi looked down at the young and … and … there’s no way she’s that young.
“GAH.”
Somewhere in Tokyo
“Oh, did you remember to verify the original ops package was signed for?”
“Damn near first thing I did,” Hiroyoshi replied. “Our gal in the precinct said she saw it on the corner of the idiot’s desk with the seals still intact not more than thirty minutes ago.”
Ishihara shook his head in amazement. He added a footnote to the status page and red flagged it. “Well, I think that’s about everything.”
“Yeah, it looks like it,” Hiroyoshi said. “I’m sure glad you’re filing the papers for this one – I definitely owe you another lunch.”
“Just as long as it’s something a little more edible than what we had today.”
“Ah, c’mon – Yoshi makes the best hot dog in all of Tokyo.”
“I’ll take your word for it. All the same, I get to chose where we go next time.” Ishihara saved the last of the files and hit the ‘transmit’ key.
“Okay, sure. But you’re on your own if you try to order fugu like you did last month.”
National Intelligence Directorate, Tokyo Regional Office
Shoyo Kudo, the operations desk officer currently on duty, blinked when he saw the blue flagged submission arrive from the local northwest tac net. He had to read the entire operations plan twice before he could actually believe what he was seeing. He took a deep breath and then dialed the number for the sector chief’s administrative assistant.
“Nene-chan; Kudo in Ops. I just received a blue pri and need to speak to the Chief right away.”
“Certainly, Shoyo-kun. He’s on a conference call at the moment, can this wait for thirty or does it require immediate attention?”
“Unfortunately, I don’t think this will wait that long, Nene-chan.”
“Very well. Please hold.”
The line was silent for less than ten seconds.
“Kudo, you better have a damn good reason for this.”
“I’m sorry, Sir, but I just received a blue-flagged op request that has the potential for getting really ugly.”
“Bad enough to disrupt rather sensitive negotiations with the Americans?”
“I’m afraid so, Sir.”
The sector chief sighed. “Okay. Recap while you’re sending the file.”
“Yes, Sir. Officers Hiroyoshi and Ishihara just submitted a req for a local op. They asked for Shigeki and Yosano assigned as co-primaries and requisitioned four full field kits, any available female medic, local tac support, and a sweeper squad. Time frame two hours, code blue.”
“WHAT?!? Is that idiot trying to start a war?”
“Very likely, Sir. Target is Chiyoda-ku Eastern Police Precinct.”
The five full seconds of silence on the line seemed like an eternity to the operations officer.
“Hiroyoshi is overseeing Chameleon, isn’t he?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“First Ito, and now this. You just HAD to go make my day, didn’t you?”
“Sorry, Sir. I’m just the messenger, Sir.”
“I do realize that, Kudo. Approved, green card. Put Ne-chan back on the line and get hopping.”
“Yes, Sir, thank you, Sir.” The operations officer disconnected and took a deep breath before logging the operations plan in the tac net. A green card was essentially carte blanche; only a black card had a higher priority. Kudo couldn’t recall the last time a local green op was approved.
“Ne-chan, please call my wife and tell her I won’t be home tonight, and will likely be missing tomorrow as well.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Also, could you find someone to rustle me up a couple of aspirin? On second thought, make that a bottle of aspirin.”
“Of course, Sir.”
“Thanks, Ne-chan – you’re the greatest.” The sector chief disconnected the line. He then rested his head between both his hands and massaged his temples for a moment.
“I do not need this. I SO do not need this.”
Nerima
It had taken over an hour for Kasumi to regain enough of her composure to continue with her dreadful task. This morning she had been afraid she would be forced to choose who she could save – now she was starting to fear it might be more of a case of “if” instead of “who”. She hesitated briefly before unfolding the other warrant; the one with her youngest sister’s name on it.
It was almost as bad as the first. Multiple counts of assault and battery, assault with the intent to maim or disfigure, assault with a deadly weapon, racketeering, conspiracy to commit murder, and attempted murder.
Her eyes filled once more with tears and a feeling of inexorable doom pushed her soul firmly back over the edge of despair.
JAL Flight 423
Ranma leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes when she felt the aircraft lose contact with the ground. She extended her other senses and tried to feel the rush of the air over the plane’s wings and the thrust of the engines propelling the craft into the skies. She’d only been in the air three times before – two of those being within the last week – and had either been too busy or otherwise distracted to properly appreciate the experience. She concentrated harder, trying to get a feel for the …
Damn.
“Are you okay, Ranma?”
“Yeah, I’m fine, Midori,” Ranma said with sigh. She opened her eyes to find her new spouse looking back with concern clearly etched in her dark amber eyes. “It’s just … it’s too big.”
“Too big?” Midori replied. “What’s too big?”
“The plane; I can’t get a good feel for it.” The redhead slumped in her seat. “There’s just too much in the way for me to feel it properly.”
“Ranma?”
“Huh? Oh … sorry, Midori. You probably don’t know what I’m talking about, do you?”
“That’s all right, Ranma,” Midori said. “I was just concerned you might have some … issues … with flying.”
“Nah, I don’t mind that – I was looking forward to it a bit, actually.” Ranma shifted in her seat to turn towards her partner. “Flying is one of the three main cornerstones of the Musabetsu Kakutō Ryū, y’know, and even if I can’t yet do it myself for real I was hoping for a better feel from this flight than what I’m getting.” Ranma grimaced. “I might as well be riding a bus.”
Midori giggled. “That’s actually a reasonable description, considering the size of the plane.”
“Yeah,” Ranma replied. “Although I don’t know of any bus that’s got a section quite like this.”
She had been surprised when they had been escorted to the front of the plane instead of the main section where the seating really did resemble that of a bus. The front cabin was almost empty, with not even a dozen pairs of seats in it, and it even had a small bar in the back section of it. And as far as Ranma could tell, they had the section nearly all to themselves – she and Midori were seated together near the middle on one side, and the American officer was near the back on the other along with a pair of SDF officers.
It was certainly more comfortable than sitting in the back cargo hold of a C-130 like her first flight out of Kadena.
“And it sure beats swimming the distance, that’s for damned sure.”
Midori shook her head. “I still can’t believe you actually swam all the way to China.”
“Hey, we really didn’t swim all the way, no matter what Pops claimed afterwards,” Ranma replied. “The old man may have pulled some dumb stunts at times, but even he wasn’t that crazy. Though I will have to admit the last China trip was pretty much a disaster from the start.”
“You know, I’m almost afraid to ask.”
“Well, we were down near Fukuoka when Pops decided to swim from Kyūshū to Korea, island hopping through Iki, Kō-saki, and Tsushima. I think the old man must have gotten caught doing something he shouldn’t have, because normally we’d work off our passage on a fishing boat or cargo ship when we had to cross islands. Anyway, once we hit the peninsula we hitched up to Inch’ŏn where we stayed a couple weeks, hitting up all the local dojangs for supplies. That was fun; we learned a couple new Kong Shin and Kuk Sool Wan moves there.”
“Ranma,” Midori said with a frown, “I didn’t think the Korean schools were at all friendly to Japanese martial artists.”
Ranma gave her a cocky grin. “I don’t know about that, Midori; they were all really nice once we gave them back their signs.”
Midori groaned. It figured.
“Heh – worked every time, y’know.” Ranma chuckled. “Still, that was the last bit of easy living we had on the whole trip. Once we’d restocked we hiked up to the North Korean border. Pops had originally wanted to hike through the North on land, but there had been a big buildup of troops along the western border over the last six months and there was no way we’d make it through the DMZ intact. We ended up swimming and hiking halfway around Hwanghae Namdo, mostly at night, until we met up with some guys Pops must have met before. They managed to sneak us into Shandong by boat the next evening. It took us a couple of weeks to train-hop our way up to Qinghai where there were supposedly all of these wonderful ancient training grounds, and you know how well that little fiasco ended, don’t you?”
“Jusenkyō and Joketzusoku.”
“Yup,” Ranma replied. “That was probably the worst part of the whole damned training trip we took, and Pops hasn’t made a single good decision since – Kami-sama knows his brain turned to total mush once we showed up at the doorstep of Tendo-ke.” She leaned back in her seat and sighed. “I just wish I could have found out what was going on with Akane and Kasumi before we left. I’ve barely had a chance to even blink with all the crap that’s been happening lately.”
Midori placed her hand on top of Ranma’s and gently squeezed it. “We can always call back home once we get to our hotel – I’m sure Grandmother will have everything straightened out by then.”
“Yeah, we can hope. Just how long is this flight supposed to take, anyway?”
“A little over nine hours.”
A loud groan followed immediately afterward.
Nerima
She had run out of tears. It shouldn’t be possible, but it had happened none the less. There were simply no more tears for her to give.
The fate of Clan Tendō was dire indeed, and made all the more tenuous by the tasks currently confronting her. Kasumi had no illusions on how Yamada-dono would react to the news of her grandson’s death. Her reaction to her daughter’s self-inflicted fate was eminently more difficult to judge, especially considering how tightly Saotome-san had clung to such an extreme definition of family honor. If Yamada-dono held similar views ...
Kasumi shook her head. It was of little use for her to simply give up by expecting things to be impossible – she would just have to uphold her own family’s honor and pray Yamada-dono would make even a small allowance for that. There was little else she could actually do.
She folded both warrants and set them aside. The charges against Nabiki-chan would lead directly to a death sentence; those against Akane-chan were nearly as bad – life in prison at best, the same fate as Nabiki-chan if the prosecutor brought both cases together in the same trial. And her father? Given that he would be held directly accountable for the actions of both Nabiki and Akane since both were under the legal age, any trial joint or otherwise would result in the same fate. The legal system was not known for leniency and most trials were simply pro forma.
The one faint hope she had left lay with Ranma-kun’s family. The same connections Yamada-dono had used to so thoroughly bury her daughter’s past – connections that must extend all the way to the Chrysanthemum Throne itself – could be tapped to at least partially mitigate the circumstances surrounding her youngest sister and redeem the one companion whom Ranma-kun had loved with all his heart. It would be a fitting and entirely appropriate tribute to an otherwise tragic and pointless legacy. If not?
The Tendōs of Nerima would be naught but a quickly forgotten memory, and she would have failed her mother.
Kasumi’s eyes suddenly focused on the mon delicately impressed in the paper of the warrants and her world spun dizzily once more over the precipice. How had she missed that? Those were Imperial seals.
It could only mean that Yamada-dono already knew.
Kasumi Tendō, eldest daughter of Soūn and Hitomi Tendō and the last guardian of the Tendō’s honor, stared vacantly at the now-certain destruction of her clan. The ashes of failure churned bitterly in her soul – she wouldn’t even be allowed to try.
Chiyoda-ku Eastern Police Precinct
“I’m in.”
“Good,” Hiroyoshi said with a nod. “Any sign of them noticing your earlier tap?”
Ishihara simply snorted.
“Okay, good enough for me,” Hiroyoshi replied. “Any luck tapping the cell cams?”
“No, those are all closed circuit,” Ishihara said. “It’s standard procedure to have two tape feeds at the Sergeant’s desk, though.”
“Right.” Hiroyoshi switched his headset to the master channel. “Okay folks, we’re a scratch team so let’s do a quick recap before we roll. Shigeki.”
“Prisoner transfer,” a very melodious mezzo-soprano replied. “Komagaka handles electronics, Yosano and I are point, Ijiri and Kato backup. Weapons hot but no explosives.”
“You hear that last part, Yosano?”
“Oh pooh. You sure know how to ruin a girl’s fun, don’t you Hiro-kun.”
A brief round of laughter followed the blonde’s “ditzy voice” comment.
“No, I just don’t like filling out the extra paperwork,” Hiroyoshi replied, shaking his head. “Tsuji.”
“Car pool and armory. First in; call when secure.”
“Hojo.”
“Security. Mitsuya’s your backup, Oishi backs Komagaka and Shigeki’s team, Tamuro and Wakai handle dispatch, and the rest of us monitor the desk pool and provide support where needed.”
“And I’ve got Tanaka,” Hiroyoshi said. “Ishihara is Control. Okay, folks, let's do this. I know we’ve got a green card, but please try and keep it down to a dull roar if possible. Tsuji, you’re up. Roll it.”
“On the way. Callback, ten max.”
“Acknowledged.”
Chiyoda-ku Eastern Police Precinct
“Damn it, not another idiotic full evacuation drill.”
“Sure looks like it, doesn’t it. Where’s the Captain?”
“Who knows? You know, I’m getting tired of all these stupid drills – didn’t we already do this just last week?”
“Yeah, and how much you want to bet that the Captain’s calling this just to inflate his latest readiness report? Everyone in the precinct knows what color his nose is.”
“True. It’s just … damn it all, I have a really hot date lined up tonight and I’ll never get through all this stupid paperwork in time if this keeps up. It’s got to be at least an hour since the first alarm sounded.”
“Poor little Shijiro-kun; do we feel sorry for you? Not!”
“Heh, you’re just jealous because you haven’t been out on a date for over two years.”
“Why, you …”
Both officers were thrown off their feet when a large explosion shook the ground while blowing out a large chunk of the precinct's southern wall.
JAL Flight 423
Ranma was bored. Bored, bored, bored. They were barely two hours into their flight and she had already exhausted all of the activities available to her in these conditions. Normally she would welcome a little peace and quiet, but she was entirely too wired up to relax and her usual technique of getting rid of nerves by practicing until she dropped wasn’t available to her in these cramped quarters. Midori seemed to be coping just fine, but the movie being shown in the seat-back screens which was entertaining her companion didn’t interest the redhead in the slightest. Maybe she could …
“Hey, Eiko?”
“Yes, Ranma?”
“What can you tell me about the other senshi? If I’m going to meet their leader in a few days I really ought to know more about who they are and what they can do.”
“A wise precaution, Ranma. Would you wish for me to include general background information on Crystal and Glaive as well?”
“That probably wouldn’t hurt, would it?”
“Indeed it would not. The nominal leader of the senshi and the Guardian of Crystal is known as Sailor Moon. Her civilian name is Usagi Tskino, and she is currently a third year student at Jūban Junior High School over in Minato-ku. Her advisors consist of …”
Ranma quickly lost herself in the flood of information which followed. There was a lot of valuable data being presented, and she quickly began forming a firm framework to base her actions around if things were to go horribly wrong like they always seemed to do around her.
Well, at least she was no longer bored.
Somewhere in Tokyo
“Okay, folks, listen up,” Hiroyoshi called out. He waited a few seconds until the “chatter” subsided before continuing. “First of all, well done. The mission went quite smoothly, especially considering the lack of notice everyone got. While there are still a few minor details left to address, the primary mission objective was achieved rather nicely. Thank you.” He took a deep breath. “Unfortunately, I’m going to have to ask everyone to complete their post mortems tonight. Please don’t put them off any longer than possible – the Old Man is probably chewing nails right now and he’s not likely to tolerate any delays in your paperwork for this one. This mission has a lot of internal visibility and the reports are likely to be passed all the way up the food chain intact instead of being summarized as usual, so keep that in mind when you’re doing your write ups.”
Hiroyoshi did a quick mental calculation. “Tsuji, Hojo, Kato, Shigeki, Yosano, Yano; stick around for a bit, the rest of you can head back to the office.”
“Hiro-san?”
“What is it, Ishi-san?”
“There’s a request from Ops in response to the status update I just logged.”
Hiroyoshi sighed. “I was afraid of that. What’s it about.?”
“It’s from the Old Man himself; he wants you to call in. Yesterday.”
“Damn.”
“… No, Sir … Yes, Sir; I realize that … No, Sir … No, Sir, I was about to … It WHAT?!? … No, Sir, I didn’t … Yes, Sir … I understand, Sir … Yes, Sir … Yes, Sir … Yes, Sir … Right away, Sir … Yes, Sir, thank you, Sir.”
Hiroyoshi disconnected the call and set the handset down. He closed his eyes and rubbed the sides of his head, trying to reduce the pain of this latest headache.
“That sounded like fun,” Ishihara quipped. “Need some aspirin?”
Hiroyoshi opened his eyes and nodded. “Yes, please.” He turned his attention to the short blonde sitting on the couch. “Yumi-chan?”
Yumi Yosano looked up from the magazine she was reading. She gulped when she caught the expression on the lead agent’s face. “Errrr, yes?”
“How many charges did you use for the evidence room?”
“Well …” Yumi’s face scrunched up in concentration. “There was one for each of the main walls, a few small spot charges to take care of all the cage-work, and a shaped to take care of that big column in the middle. Why, didn’t I use enough to get it all?”
“That’s not the problem, Yumi-chan,” Hiroyoshi said with a growl. “The Old Man is more than a little upset with you right now – evidently that shaped charge you set took out one of the Precinct’s main support columns. Between that and the blast you used for the detention rooms, the entire south side of the building collapsed twenty minutes after we left.”
“Oh. Um … oopsie?”
“Oopsie doesn’t cover it by half, Yumi-chan.” Hiroyoshi sighed. “Shigeki, the Old Man wants you and ‘Boom-boom’ here to handle the fallout personally. Redirect any attention to the Watari clan and link them to the three missing Nyuchezuu – doing so will take care of at least three problems all at once.”
Shigeki nodded. “Gotcha.” She reached over and grabbed a hold of the blonde’s wrist, pulling her up off the sofa. “Come on, ‘Minnie May’, we’ve got some innocent yaks to frame.”
“But Raaaaally …”
Hiroyoshi shook his head at the antics of the two female agents as they exited the room.
“They never change, do they?” Tsuji said with a smile. The lead sweeper always enjoyed working with the two female otaku; having a large interest in anime himself.
“Nope, but that’s what makes them so much fun,” Hojo replied. The security specialist glanced over to Hiroyoshi. “I’m assuming you want us to handle the clean up of Tanaka’s little yak squad. Frame the Watari as well?”
Hiroyoshi nodded. “Yes, but just do the two leads for now. Kato, you’re backup.”
“Right.”
“So, Yano-san, what’s the status of the two girls?”
Hiroyoshi handed Manami Yano a fresh cup of coffee. The statuesque medic wrinkled her nose briefly but took the proffered beverage anyway. She would much rather have an Americano, but right now anything with caffeine was welcome. She sat down at the table before replying.
“Physically they're both doing surprisingly well, all things considered. The rope marks should fade rather quickly, and they'll probably develop some rather nasty colds in a couple of days given how thoroughly the two were hosed down, but I didn't find anything which would indicate that any long term damage had been sustained.”
Hiroyoshi cocked an eyebrow in surprise. “No signs of sexual assault? That’s … a welcome surprise, considering that group’s reputation on how they usually handle yak girls.”
Manami shrugged. “There was no evidence of penetration – real, toys, or otherwise. They were undoubtedly groped extensively, but there’s nothing to indicate any extensive or systematic abuse and the few bruises that are there are fairly insignificant. Nowadays girls can get mashed worse from the chikans on the subways.”
“Well, that’s at least one bit of good luck then,” Hiroyoshi said with a sigh. “When do you think they’ll be presentable?”
“They’ll be out of it for at least another hour; two at most, and it will take me at least another forty-five minutes to flush verything out of their systems once they come to. Current field anesthetics tend to be a little on the heavy side, you know.”
“Yeah,” Hiroyoshi nodded. “What about the father?”
Manami ran her hand through her hair and sighed. “Under heavy sedation. He must have put up quite a struggle at some point, because, unlike the two girls, someone took the time to give him a thorough and textbook beatdown. He’ll be off his feet for at least a week.”
“Any permanent damage?”
“None that I could determine from a field exam,” Manami replied, shaking her head. “I won’t know for sure about any possible internal injuries until I can get him into the clinic and run the full battery of lab tests.”
“Damn.” Hiroyoshi scowled and drummed his fingers together for several seconds before pulling his cell phone from its hip holster. “Okay, get someone else to pick up the father before the girls wake up – I don’t want to have to deal with all of them at the same time. Make sure the two girls are comfortable and do what you can to calm them down when they come to.”
Manami nodded and stood up. “I think I can manage that.” She headed towards the door which led to the other rooms of the safe house.
“Oh, and Yano-san? Make sure they both have something decent to wear for Kami’s sake. The youngest has a history of jumping to the strangest conclusions without provocation and I really can’t handle dealing with one of her temper tantrums on top of everything else today.”
Horiyoshi waited for the medic to close the door behind her. He stared at his cell phone for a moment before sighing … again … and then dialed the number of Yamada-ke. This was going to get ugly.