In the immortal words of Samuel L. Clemens... "Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR."

Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 is the creation of Rumiko Takahashi and used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit.


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"In The Line Of Duty"
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

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"Saotome!"

Saotome Ranma swore in his mind before spinning around to grab Tendo Nabiki by the wrists to drag her around until her back was against the wall.

"Dammit, Nabs, you're gonna get us both killed," Ranma spat in her fact before slamming his lips against her own with a force born of frustrated anger.

Nabiki's gasp of surprise was cut off by Ranma covering her mouth with his, but her eyes still widened in shock as the man who was technically her sister's fiancee - even if he hadn't ever actually officially chose Akane to fulfill the Saotome/Tendo marriage contract - did his best to kiss her senseless. Despite the fact that her brain cells seemed to be shutting down from the uncharacteristically... romantic, part of Nabiki's mind wanted to say, actions that Ranma was taking, Nabiki tried her best to mentally retrace the steps that had led her to her current situation.

First, the Japanese government had intervened in Nerima Ward, declaring that events had become too disruptive to ignore any further. As foreign nationals, the Amazons had been escorted to a sea port and put on a boat out of the country by armed members of the Japanese Self-Defence Force. They were also informed that any attempt by any Chinese Amazon to re-enter the country would be considered a hostile act and Japan would respond accordingly. Not everyone had a chance to celebrate one less rival for Ranma's attentions, though, because while that was happening, representatives of the government were investigating further and made the announcement that because Kounji Ukyo had been registered in government records as male, and further because there had been no records made of any agreement between the Saotome and Kounji families, that Ukyo had no legal claim to Ranma and would be held financially and legally accountable for anything resulting from her actions in pursuit of Ranma. Kuno Kodachi recieved a similar statement of accountablity.

Then Ranma had started disappearing at all hours of the day and night, sometimes staying gone for days at a time, his entire attitude changing as he became more and more 'no-nonsense' every time he returned to the Tendo house. When Ryoga had shown up with his usual 'Ranma! Prepare to die!' enterance, Ranma showed the final proof of his change. Instead of his usual easy-going response, Ranma had quickly disabled Ryoga by breaking all four of his limbs and leaving the 'Eternally Lost Boy' halfway through a wall, half-crippled and scared to death. Thanks to her recording equipment, Nabiki was the only one besides them who knew what Ranma had said to Ryoga...

"Next time you threaten to kill me, Ryoga, you better succeed... or I'll be the one killing you and it will be 'in self-defence'."

Needing to know what had happened to change Ranma this way, Nabiki had decided to follow him the next time he went out. She had followed him to an apartment building in the Chiba Ward and when he came out, he was with four other people and had changed his clothes and his entire attitude, projecting an air of a lazy performer with the guitar he carried - she hadn't even known he could play a guitar. Then, Nabiki had followed him to this nightclub and watched as Ranma performed onstage under the name 'Kuroshiro Ryo', slipping backstage when his act ended with the intent to confront him. She had called his name and...

Nabiki whimpered against Ranma's lips, not knowing what was going on and suddenly afraid to find out.

"Come on, Ranma, drop the girl," Somebody said, grabbing the back of Ranma's shirt and giving it a hard tug, "Time to go before we get ourselves caught in the final act."

Ranma pulled away from Nabiki and answered, "Gotta take her, Boss, she knows me outside of this."

'Boss' swore, "Fine, grab her and let's go before they decide to do us in rather than each other."

"Sorry, Nabs," Ranma remarked before quickly jabbing a finger into one of Nabiki's pressure points, causing her to lose consciousness with one last thought.

'What the hell is going on?'