Chapter 2

Ranma woke up to find she was strapped to a chair in a plain white room. And she was naked. She must have been stripped while she was out of it. The nakedness didn't bother her much; she'd been in weirder situations, and she had a change of clothes stored away in stuff space along with most of her gear. She didn't bother testing the straps on the chair; they were some sort of reinforced leather, but she was confident she could break out them easily enough. But, if the nakedness and the chair hadn't tipped her off, the bare white walls and one way mirror with multiple of ki signatures on the opposite side of it were a pretty clear indication that where ever she was, she wasn't going to be served cake and ice cream anytime soon.

The mirror helped her take in the cell, making the parts she couldn't see by turning her head visible. She could just make out a window with bars behind her the reflection. Judging from its placement and the odd shadows it cast, she was probably below ground. The window was too narrow for a person to crawl out of, and the steel bars running vertically across were embedded in the stone prevented anyone from opening it. The door to the cell seemed to pretty thick, but she couldn't gage accurately since it was set into the wall.

There was only so much examination she could do of the room, so instead Ranma played the fight over again in her mind, picking it apart. Where ever this place was, they had ninjutsu techniques that really worked - they weren't just cheap imitations and tricks like Konatsu used back home. The thought alone was enough to make her positively giddy. The woman she'd fought had a really interesting style. Ranma definitely liked the way she had held back until she struck; it made her body language hard to read and really useful in a fight. Plus, she delivered a decently powerful blow that the loss in power from her not telegraphing her movements was a decent tradeoff.

But she was kicking herself for the stupid mistakes she'd made. She'd been spoiling for a real fight so badly that she let it get in the way of her better judgment and ended up getting pummeled by some weird technique. Now that she knew they were capable of real damage, she wouldn't be caught so flat footed. She'd been hit harder than that by Ryoga many times, but even with her resistance, an unexpected blow totally caught her off guard. She silently vowed it wouldn't happen again.

Ranma contemplated breaking the straps on the chair just to see what would happen, but decided she needed to find out some information before she acted rashly. So far, no real harm had been done to her, and she'd been in enough hostage situations to realize it would be best to be civil, at least initially. To stave off boredom, she began some twitch muscle exercises, starting in her toes and working her way up to her eyebrows. The idea was basically to isolate a single muscle, flex it and hold for three seconds, then relax.

Depending on whom you ask the human body has as many as 850 muscles. Some are completely involuntary and impossible to control, so flexing each muscle in isolation was not only an incredible challenge, it provided ample amusement while she passed the time. It was all about mental control: once she worked her way through each muscle with three second intervals, she shortened it by half a second for each subsequent circuit until each flexion was little more than a rapid twitch. Even though she wasn't a kung fu master, Anything Goes had enough kung fu moves in it that that absolute muscle control was a great asset.

Next time she saw that woman in the mesh bodysuit, she take her down before she'd did any of her ninjutsu techniques. Grinning at thought of a rematch, she kept at her exercises until someone decided to talk to her.

=-=-

Morino Ibiki was watching the prisoner through a one way mirror when Anko came into the observation chamber. The prisoner was bound to a chair in the center of the interrogation room, with a spaced out expression on her face, completely relaxed. Occasionally, some muscles would twitch on her face before reverting back to her vapid expression. Ibiki wasn't alone, of course. Several other ANBU members were in the room, watching the prisoner carefully, taking notes and reporting their observations.

Ibiki had been watching her for at least half an hour. He normally wouldn't take part in a "routine" interrogation like this one, but there were just too many factors in this case that merited his attention. She hadn't moved the whole time, simply staring straight ahead and twitching randomly. Other than tugging at straps that bound her to the chair when she first woke up, she hadn't really done much more than gaze around the room. He'd let the prisoner stew for a couple hours more before he talked to her, but for right now he was content to monitor her reactions, trying to establish a baseline for when the questions came.

He had Anko run through the story of the fight again. All the physical evidence they had found during their examination of the prisoner matched her description of the fight. But, their search had puzzled Ibiki. They found no weapons on the prisoner, nor any other indications of where she might have come from. Her clothing was of a make unrecognized by the intelligence division and their origin of manufacture was untraceable.

He and Anko talked for a bit more, discussing her theories about the prisoner's lack of knowledge of jutsu. He had to agree with her - why make such a skilled taijutsu specialist but neglect training them in even basic jutsus and chakra manipulation? None of it made any sense. The prisoner was betraying none of the nervousness typically associated with even the most professional ninjas caught by the enemy. Being alone and naked in a prison cell made all but the greatest ninja fidget. This person just sat there and did muscle drills.

He recognized to some extent what she was doing. Flexing and relaxing muscles was a good way of keeping blood flowing when tied down or forced to sit in one position for too long. But this was the first time he'd seen someone doing twitch muscle exercises like this. It just further accentuated how skilled she must be in taijustu to have that level of muscular control.

It made him uneasy. He couldn't pinpoint why he was so wary, but unknowns had a way of being lethal in his line of work. A healthy dose of paranoia would keep him alive a lot longer. So, the watched, and waited, and talked about the prisoner. But they didn't have enough information, and until they were ready to start the interrogation, there was little else to do.

=-=-=-

It took a couple hours, but finally someone opened the door. A man in a white animal mask wearing a floor-length black cloak pushed a cloth covered cart into the room. Ranma noted it was a steel door about four inches thick, bolted into stone walls at least half a meter thick. She raised an eyebrow at the security measures, but wasn't surprised considering the fortifications around the window. All thoughts fled as the smells of food rose from the cart.

The mysterious masked person pushed the cart in front of the mirror and removed the cloth, revealing a scrumptious looking display of various foods. Soundlessly, the person retreated and closed the door, leaving the cart in the room. The smell was pretty darn good. Maybe not as good as Kasumi's cooking, but it was enough to make her mouth water, especially since she hadn't eaten a real meal like this in a long time.

The food was really far away from Ranma. It dawned her that when nobody came to release her from the chair that this was just part of the process. Genma used to do this to her all the time, that bastard. She wouldn't give them the satisfaction of knowing she was hungry. She went back to her drills, concentrating on her muscles rather than the food. Eventually the food grew cold and the smells dissipated. Sometime later another masked person entered the room and took the food away.

Ranma stared at the one way mirror, her mind churning. If they were anything like her old man, then after the food thing didn't pan out they'd start with threats of violence. She didn't know who these people were, but she contented herself with thinking of all the ways she could pay them back once they finally came into the room. The food came and went again a few hours later. Ranma ignored it, content to just gaze at the mirror, carefully monitoring the ki signatures that moved in and out of the room behind it.

=-=-=

"Hmm…" Ibiki muttered to himself as he looked back at the prisoner. He'd like to think it was just chance, but he knew better. Her eyes had followed him as he shifted around the room, even if the position of her head never changed. He watched as the food cart was wheeled out again. It hadn't had the effect he'd wanted – she'd reacted in a manner that said she'd undergone food deprivations before.

It was just one more thing to make him uneasy. There was little point to continue the psychological games since she seemed to be quite familiar with them. It was time to talk to the prisoner. He tapped Anko on the shoulder and told her to keep watch, just in case. The other ANBU in the room nodded and pulled out a scroll to take notes on the interview.

He turned to close the door of interrogation room was as soon as he entered, using the motion to hide a quick genjustu that would make him seem more trustworthy. It was a small thing, but that was the point. Most people in this situation expected pain and heavy handed techniques. They were so prepared to fight against it they missed the small subtle nudges that revealed the cracks he could exploit later to get to the information he was needed.

He pulled up a chair and sat down across from the redhead, just out of striking distance. He pretended to ignore her as he got comfortable, keeping a trained eye on her expressions as he did so. From this close he should have been able to see her nervousness, but she looked calm as ever.

Interesting.

He chuckled to himself, curious to see how long the calm lasted.

"Hi. I'm Morino. What's your name?"

The red-head blinked. "Ranma."

"I'm going to ask you a few questions, Ranma."

"Fuck that. What the hell did I do to deserve to be strapped down to some freakin' chair?"

And so the game began. Ibiki asked her questions, and Ranma generally avoided answering or said something rude. This was a crucial part of the game; Ibiki had to know what kind of baseline she had when facing questions so that he could know what was the truth, and what was the cover. The initial rounds of questioning stretched for nearly fifteen minutes, asking mostly benign questions that he already knew the answers too. Like, how had she found the village, which path did she take to get here, did she get in a fight with anyone? She simply refused to answer or asked to be released because she hadn't done anything wrong. So far, her personality seemed to match what he had seen in the observation room. She seemed to possess a fairly high intelligence level, good self control, and little shame of being exposed. She was still fairly civil, even if her language was a bit crude.

It was as he expected, so it was time to move to the next stage of information extraction.

At his signal, his assistant brought in a wheeled cart of his various implements of torture. Ibiki slowly began to ratchet up the strength of the genjustu during this round of questioning; incrementally instilling in his subject the perception that he was someone she could, and should, talk to. Without a word, Ibiki pulled back the sheet covering his tools and revealed the various knives, pinchers, and other implements. He picked up a small thin blade and tested the edge with his thumb. The prisoner cocked her head at him as he did and stared intently. Ibiki was pretty straight forward. He stated he wanted some answers, and they could make this as painful as Ranma wanted.

=-=-=-

Ranma's thoughts were racing. The guy standing in front of her was testing the edge of one of his blades, his body exuding a slight amount of ki that were doing funny things to her senses. She had no idea what it was, but it started when he closed the door and only got stronger as he asked her questions.

Fuck this.

Whatever this sicko wanted, she didn't want to take part. Time to pull a Genma, then. Ranma let her ki flood her muscles and pulled, parting the leather straps like wet paper. Before the guy in front of her could react, she kicked him in the chest, sending him through the mirror. She'd caught him just below the sternum, to make sure he was out of breath and unsteady for a couple of minutes and sent him flying into where two of the ki signatures were clustered. The guy's body broke through the glass and impacted heavily against the two masked people standing there, sending all three against the wall with enough force to put them down for a bit. The chick that she had fought in the first place was standing behind the mirror looking at her in shock. With a smirk, Ranma unleashed a small ki blast at her just as she started to move. The lady wasn't fast enough, though, and the ball of ki caught her in the back as she dove for the floor. Ranma raced to the window touched her fingers at the breaking point in each corner, sending dust and stone fragments flying into the air.

=-=-=-

Ibiki would have groaned if he had the breath to do so. It took him a while to get to his feet as his eyes watered from lack of oxygen. He wanted nothing more than to hunch over and clutch his stomach, but knew that it would only take him longer to catch his breath if he restricted his air flow. His head was spinning from the force of the blow, and between that and the lack of oxygen, he was afraid of losing consciousness. His two colleagues were unconscious already, having absorbed most of the force that sent him through the glass and into the back wall. Using the wall behind him for support, he forced himself to stand. Unfortunately, four loud explosions sent him to the ground again and made his ears ring.

He got back up as quickly as he could, but the dust made difficult to see. But he didn't need to see clearly to know that there was too much light in the room. Out of breath and in no real condition to fight, he pulled out a kunai and staggered through the broken mirror into the interrogation room, only to find a gaping hole where the window had been. With a curse, Ibiki crawled back through the mirror and shouted down the hall, calling for some medics and alert the ANBU to the security breach.

Ibiki knelt to check on Anko. Judging by how much she was swearing she was fine, but nursing a nasty bruise on her back. He shook his head. Another mystery. Why use a non-lethal technique with enough force to incapacitate, even temporarily, a special Jonin? She'd had the advantage of surprise, and with the access to weapons in the interrogation chamber could have easily taken him out given how fast she moved.

He stood back up and grunted. The red-head had hit him hard. Still, he needed to follow. Anko was starting to stir, so he didn't worry about her too much. Instead, he put the handle of the kunai in his mouth and walked through the decimated interrogation room to the broken window. He grabbed the fragment of steel sticking out of the upper portion of what was left of the window and pulled himself up into the shaft that lead upwards, shimmying up the culvert after the prisoner that had escaped.

=-=-=

The dust had settled a bit by the time Anko managed to stand. She was in no condition to really fight at this point. Instead, she headed to the cell and opened the door. The clean up team hadn't arrived yet, so she had the room alone for a few seconds. She walked to the chair, looking at the straps. They were definitely torn, too - not cut. What that red-head had done shouldn't have been possible; this chair suppressed chakra. And yet, she'd been able to get out of the chair and hit Ibiki hard enough to send him through the mirror and crack the concrete wall behind him.

From what she could see, none of the torture implements were missing from Ibiki's cart. The window was completely blasted, the four corners of the concrete shattered and most of the metal bars gone. Everything was covered with a decent layer of grit. Ibiki's footprints were very clear, as were the scuff marks his shoes made as he had climbed his way out. Anko frowned. There was something about Ibiki's footprints that bothered her.

Suddenly wary, she looked up, scanning the room.

In the corner of the room opposite of the window and closest to the mirror, the redhead was braced against the ceiling, a wicked grin on her face. Anko didn't even have time to shout before she saw stars, followed quickly by merciful unconsciousness.

=-=-=-

Ibiki frowned as he took in the scene. It was funny, if you thought about it, but Anko didn't seem to agree. She was currently tied down to the very same chair that the redhead had been in previously, naked and gagged.

The ANBU captain next to him was enjoying the show. Ibiki sent him away with instructions to notify the Hokage. With a silent nod, the ninja slipped out of the room, leaving Konoha's interrogation chief alone with Anko. He admired the handiwork of the escapee and took in a bit of the scenery. Anko glared at him, of course, but he figured her anger was worth the view.

He had only been gone a couple of minutes when he figured out he'd been duped. In that time, the prisoner had managed to incapacitate Anko, strip her, and turn her mesh bodysuit into strips to tie her to the chair. And then she slipped out of the ANBU interrogation unit, completely unnoticed, through the front door, having the courtesy to leave Anko's trench coat hanging on a hook by the entrance.

He was starting to really like this girl. Too bad he'd have to kill her whenever caught her. He pulled off her gag as he reached for a scalpel and cut away her bindings. Anko spit out the gag as soon as it was loose enough.

"When we find that bitch, I'm going to kill her."

=-=-=-

Ranma munch contentedly on an apple, finally male and fully clothed. Sure, he wasn't exactly thrilled about what he was wearing, but it fit and didn't make him standout, which was more important. The first thing he'd done upon escaping was to find some hot water. There had been a local Ramen not far from the exit, and under the cloak of the Umisenken, he'd been able to slip in unnoticed and grab some hot water. He then stole a couple of items of clothing from various houses until he had enough for an outfit and grabbed some fruit from another house, but was careful not to take enough of anything to really be noticed.

Because right now, he wanted just to watch. For the last couple of hours he'd been sitting unobtrusively in a quiet spot with lots of foot traffic, trying to understand exactly what kind of city this was. Lots of people he saw looked like they were straight out of an NHK Japanese samurai drama, walking around in kimono and wooden sandals. He'd labeled them as civilians, as they didn't seem to have any type of combat training but didn't seem bothered by the large amount of combat ninja he'd seen jumping around the city.

There were loads of those combat ninjas she'd followed to this village hopping around the rooftops in masks, trying to be unobtrusive. For the most part, they had succeeded, as the people around didn't seem to notice. Other people, mostly younger but dressed similarly, had noticed, though. They looked up to the roof-tops and nervously fingered weapons strapped to their thighs, whispering furtively to each other whenever civilians were out of earshot.

The city was some weird fusion of old Japanese architecture, modern skyscrapers, and outdated electrical equipment. The whole town was dominated by a large mountain with some faces carved on it, visible from pretty much any part of the city. Immediately below the mountain sat a rather large fortress looking building, and most of the combat ninja he'd seen were either coming from there or going there.

Making a note to avoid that place if at all possible, Ranma couldn't decide if he wanted to stay around or get the hell out of Dodge. They'd already proven that they were willing to hit first and ask questions later. A quick check of his remaining supplies in stuff space decided for him, though. He was too low on supplies right now to go back into those woods. Supplies meant money, and money meant he had to appear in public. Considering the number of ninjas running around, though, he wasn't sure it was worth it.

He slid into the pedestrian traffic and headed towards the central market, hoping to find some way to solve his money problems without getting in over his head.

=-=-=-=-

Sarutobi frowned as he listening to Ibiki with half an ear, scanning the damage report on his desk. The Hokage didn't need Ibiki to finish his recounting the prisoner's escape. The very fact he was here was enough to tell him everything he needed to know.

"The prisoner remains at large, then?"

Ibiki nodded. "Yes."

Sarutobi pointed at the list on his desk. "I see no casualties reported."

"There were none, sir."

This caused him to raise an eyebrow. "You're telling me this person broke out of one of our fortified interrogation cells without a single loss?"

"Yes sir. There were minor injuries, but nothing debilitating. Anko probably received the worst injury, and the medic nins cleared her to return to active duty already."

"Interesting. Your thoughts?"

"Based on the limited data we were able to collect is that even though the subject in question is highly trained in some fields, I do not believe she has been trained as a ninja."

Sarutobi could tell he had a theory, so he instructed him to continue. He listened in with interest as the head of his interrogation division theorized that the escaped prisoner may have been trained to fulfill some sort of enforcement roll. After analyzing the attacks favored by the subject, her attack patterns seemed focused on non-lethal incapacitation techniques.

"That gets to the root of the problem. Where did she come from, Ibiki? Why is she here?"

Ibiki shrugged. "It may be possible she didn't know where she was. She showed no recognition of any of the leaf symbols that Konoha uses on our uniforms. She seemed also to be completely unaware of the significance of different uniforms. As unlikely as it seems, she may have legitimately been lost."

The Hokage nodded. "Have you contacted Kakashi or the Inuzaka's yet?"

Ibiki nodded.

"Ibiki?"

"Yes sir?"

"Take her alive if possible. But don't risk anyone."

Ibiki bowed and left. Sarutobi refilled his pipe, reflecting on the strange report he'd just heard. Things like this made him deeply uneasy. His responsibility to Konoha meant he couldn't relax until this issue was resolved. Like any old ninja, he was scared of the unknown. The Hokage had a responsibility to protect his people from danger, and he couldn't do that if he didn't know what the danger was.

=-=-=-

"What have you got, Pakkun?" Kakashi knelt next to the dog as he followed the scent. The dog looked confused.

"It just… disappeared. The scent leads up to here," he pawed at the ground, "and then… nothing." Pakkun stuck his nose back in the dirt. "But then a new scent begins just a couple of feet away."

Kakashi's one visible eye narrowed as he thought furiously. He could only think of a few things that completely erased scents, and there was little evidence to suggest any of them had been used here. Sure, there was a small puddle of water on the ground near where the scent vanished, but not enough to wash it away.

"Let's follow the new scent. Send the rest of the pack around looking for the old scent to see if you can find it somewhere else." Kakashi took out a small scroll the size of a cigarette and opened it. He took a second to scribble out a brief note on it for the Hokage. "Do you think we should include this scent in my letter so the Inuzaka know to look for it too?"

Pakkun nodded. "It would be a good idea."

"Show me where I can get a good sample, then."

Pakkun sniffed around and found a spot where there weren't too many competing odors. "Here."

Kakashi nodded and rubbed the surface of the scroll on the spot indicated. He held it up to Pakkun's nose for approval, and satisfied it carried enough scent to be useful, he rolled it up and sealed it before summoning a falcon with a small whistle. A bird arrived in a couple of minutes. Kakashi tied the scroll to the bird's leg and launched it into the air, watching as it took off in the direction of the Hokage's tower. With a nod from Kakashi, Pakkun took off after the new scent, the copy-cat ninja following closely behind.

=-=-=-=-

The afternoon hunt had not been a successful one for Ranma. Frustrated, hungry, and increasingly nervous, he turned away from the group of civilians rolling dice in an alley and continued searching for some pit fights. He wasn't holding his breath, though. The few times he'd mentioned it, people had just given him a funny look, even in the seedier places he had visited. He guessed it made sense. With so many trained combat specialists running around, it would be pretty foolish to fight in an underground circuit.

That just left the typical forms of vice people engaged in around the world – gambling, drinking, and whoring. He had no particular desire to engage in any of those. But he was in a catch-22; he needed some cash for supplies, and pit fights were about the only way of making some quick cash without having any money. Gambling required having some money to bet, and he sucked at it anyway.

The same was true of various games of skill he'd witnessed. All of them required some initial cash outlay, and most of them were being played by the very ninja's he was trying to avoid, it all but ruled it out. If he didn't figure something out soon he'd eventually have to steal some money. He was loath to do that unless absolutely necessary because he didn't want to be like his useless old man.

The alley turned out onto a minor thoroughfare lined with shops and stalls. Ranma slid into the crowd, winding his way through the people while scouting for other possible opportunities to make some quick cash. Above him, masked ninjas jumped to and fro, but he carefully avoided looking up like the rest of the crowd in order not to raise suspicions. He let the flow of bodies pull him along until the street emptied into a minor square that he'd been in a few times before.

Unlike the last time he was here, however, a large pocket of empty space surrounded a ninja on the other side. He had spiky hair and no mask, but his face was covered. Worse, he was kneeling on the ground next to a dog, and that dog was sniffing a crate that Ranma had sat on earlier.

Shit.

This was not good. If they were using dogs in their search, it would only be a matter of time before they found him. No longer caring about supplies, Ranma decided it was time to get the hell out of Dodge. Careful not to draw attention to himself by suddenly pushing against the crowd, he worked his way towards the outside edge of the traffic so he could head in the direction of the nearest exit of the city. Moving as nonchalantly as he could, he headed down an alley that lead in the direction where he estimated the city wall would be.

It took him nearly fifteen minutes to find it, but when he drew within site of the massive gate he'd seen earlier, he saw a pair of ninja with a dog standing by the exit, sniffing each person as they walked past. Rather than risk it, he turned around and headed for another gate. His speed was constrained so as to not raise attention; it took him nearly thirty minutes to walk. No dice. This one was also manned by a dog, examining people as they left. One gate would be chance, but two gates meant that all public exits would probably be guarded as well.

He turned away and wandered at random, sticking to the back alleys and smaller streets so he could move a bit faster. Jogging lightly through a deserted side street, he didn't have time to react as he got hit in the face with a large quantity of dirty water tossed out a window above him. Sputtering and stumbling as her vision was obscured, he became a she right as the alley turned onto a main street.

She stepped out into full daylight, female, wet, blinded, and cursing her luck. She wasn't paying attention to where she was walking as she dried off her face with her sleeve, causing her to bump into someone. She apologized and looked up to see who she'd bumped into. The shock on the other person's face must have mirrored her expression.

Ranma cursed bitterly as she ducked the lighting fast punch that came at her, just barely dodging in time. Of all the fucking people she had to bump into, why did it have to be the chick she'd tied to a chair with her own body suit? Ranma didn't ponder fate's sense of humor, though. She unleashed a withering barrage of kicks and punches against the woman in front of her, crushing her defenses and sending her careening against a wall.

The crowd instantly vanished. Ranma didn't give the woman a chance to recover. She crossed the distance in a flash and hit some pressure points on the side of her neck, sending the woman into unconsciousness. She caught her as she fell and leaned her gently against one of the walls, but there was no avoiding the fact that she'd been discovered. She could feel several powerful ki signatures heading her way.

With no reason to try and act like a civilian anymore, she leapt to the roof tops and headed towards the wall that towered over the buildings and lead to freedom. She ran as fast as she could, hoping she had enough time to make over the wall before she was caught. However, several of the ki signatures she could feel coming towards her would cut her off before she could make it.

With an oath, she poured on a touch more speed. The wall was still half a click away when she ran into her first opponent. It was one of the masked combat ninjas. She didn't even slow down as she dodged the sword swipe that came in her direction. She weaved under the strike and planted her fist in the man's stomach, knocking the breath out of him and blasting him off the roof. She couldn't afford to pause because more ninjas were arriving by the second.

By the time she was only a hundred meters from the wall, she was surrounded by a loose ring of masked ninjas. Even though there were only six of them, they all had swords out and looked ready. Ranma carefully evaluated her opponents, and decision made, sprinted towards the one she judged to be the slowest, anticipating a sword strike. She wasn't disappointed. She spun under his slash, grabbed his wrist as she moved and using her strength, flung him at the ninja that stood between her and the direction she wanted to go. The other ninja was able to react in time and move out of the way, but by doing so gave her an opening she could sprint through.

At fifty meters out, she was forced to dodge again as a green blur streaked through where her head had been just a millisecond before. The man was wearing one of the most horrible green spandex outfits she'd ever seen, and had an equally hideous haircut to match. But the man was fast and he could fight, because she suddenly, was forced on the defensive, dodging through a flurry of kicks and punches. Even with her skills, a few blows still managed to get through. A punch took her in the face, knocking her head back. A kick slid through her guard, catching her in the thigh.

She gave as good as she got though, managing to land an elbow to the sternum in exchange for the blow the face, and a punishing punch to the attacker's knee in exchange for the kick. But the real problem was that this exchange brought her forward momentum to a complete halt, and the sounds of feet landing on roof tiles resonated with each additional person that arrived.

The late-comers joined in, taking potshots at her exposed back. She dodged a thrown knife with a jerk of her head, but not before it cut her cheek. Against this many opponents, she only had one option. With a snarl, Ranma moved with the blows, falling into the Soul of Ice as she stepped into the familiar spiral pattern, trying to keep her spandex clad attacker between her and the other ninjas. A shallow gash took her across the back from a sword blow not dodged in time, and other small cuts and wounds blossomed.

Blood flowed into her right eye as another throwing knife sliced her eyebrow open, blinding her somewhat and allowing the first throwing star to make it through her defenses to sink into her right thigh. Even though the damage was minimal, it slowed her enough that her opponent started landing more blows and opening her up to more thrown weapons. Others followed quickly, taking advantage of her reduced mobility striking her forearms, calves, and other exposed surfaces. She didn't have time to pull them out as she concentrated on finishing her spiral.

Near the end of her reserves, she almost sighed with relief when she felt enough ki was swirling in the air to trigger the attack. With a roar, she shouted "Hi Ryu Shoten HA!" and unleashed a burst of cold ki while delivering a punishing uppercut to the spandex clad ninja who'd caused her so much grief.

The tornado that sprang up was not as large as she expected, but it worked. The ninja around her were sucked into the air, trapped in the vortex. The way to the wall was clear, but she could see more ninja closing on her position in the distance. Tired and bloody, she made for the wall while pulling out throwing stars lodged in her body and flinging them at the ninja in the distance. Moving hurt; she was in worse shape than she cared to admit; her back burned where she'd been cut, and she was starting to feel a bit light headed from the loss of blood. The tornado died down just as she put her hand on the wall, and she listened with grim satisfaction to the sound of bodies crashing to the roof tiles.

The wall was perfectly smooth, offering no hand holds or other purchase. On any other day, the twenty meter span above her would have presented no difficulties to jump over. But right now she was too tired and too injured attempt it. Resigned, she turned around and put her back on the wall to see a wall of ninjas advancing on her position. With a smirk, she staggered away from the wall towards the nearest opponent. He underestimated her badly as he attacked, thinking her injuries limited her effectiveness. They did, but she still had enough reserves to make him pay. She disarmed her opponent with her right hand and knocked him out with a vicious rising kick, but it wasn't enough. For every one she person she took down, two more attacked. They were fresh and she was tired, and eventually someone managed to get in a blow that knocked her silly and sent her careening into the wall.

Unable to maintain balance, she slid down the wall desperately fighting to maintain consciousness. She could see the kick coming at her face but couldn't react in time to block it.

=-=-=-

The Hokage puffed on his pipe furiously as he looked down at the red-head in the hospital bed. She was covered in bandages, but none of her wounds were seriously debilitating. That was probably the part that frightened him the most.

"So you're saying that this girl managed to incapacitate or disable nearly fifteen ANBU, Anko, and you without a single ninjutsu technique?" The Hokage looked down at her medical chart. "And during all this, she only managed to sustain light puncture wounds, a major but not fatal laceration, and major contusions. Basically, if she hadn't passed out from blood loss, she was still functionally operational."

Might Guy nodded, his face completely serious. "Yes sir. Though, she did use a wind based technique that gave me this." He pointed to his left arm, currently in a sling. He was also limping slightly, but they were minor injuries. That didn't help the Hokage's mood any, though. "I don't think I have ever seen a more skilled taijutsu specialist in my life."

"Better than you?" The Hokage shifted the pipe in his mouth.

Guy hesitated. Finally, he nodded. "Hard to say, but it is possible. I hadn't removed my weights, but she was fighting against multiple opponents and still managed to disable me." He frowned. "But what puzzles me is she doesn't fight with the intent to kill."

"Explain."

Guy nodded. "It is easier to kill than to incapacitate. Someone this skilled certainly knows lethal moves. Had she used the more… expedient methods, she could have escaped and avoided injury. Why go through the trouble of disarming and then disabling an opponent when a simple surgical strike would remove that variable from the battle? It doesn't make sense."

"Nothing about this does." The Hokage frowned. Just what the hell had they gotten into here? "Anything else to report?"

Guy shook his head. "No sir. But, I think if she hadn't run into Anko, she would have made it out of here."

"I agree. It was just dumb luck that we managed to capture her." Sarutobi turned to leave. "Post a guard. I want her restrained as well. Use lethal force if she attempts to escape again. I don't care how much collateral damage it would cause. Notify me as soon as she wakes up. I want Kakashi, Ibiki, and you there as well. Oh, and Anko, too, if she's available."

"Are you sure that is wise, sir?"

The Hokage shook his head. "No, but I need to do it. Too much about this is bugging me."

=-=-=-

"She's coming too."

Ranma grunted softly as she woke up. It was a struggle to open her eyes due to crust that had formed on them, but finally she managed to get the left one open. Blinking stupidly as her eye adjusted to the light, the details of the room slowly came into focus. She was in some sort of hospital bed, and there were a number of stern looking faces looking down at her.

She recognized at least two of them with a sinking feeling. One was the sicko with the knife she'd escaped from earlier, and the other was the ninja lady she'd fought to start this whole mess. If those two were here, that didn't bode well for her.

A rather stern looking old man's face came into view. He was wearing some sort of funky hat that looked like a rice farmer's hat, but it had a red character for fire on it and trailing white fabric that draped around his shoulders. He spoke once her eyes had focused on him.

"Good. You are awake. Do you understand me?"

Ranma tried to nod but couldn't move her head.

The older man smiled. It wasn't a pleasant look. "You've been restrained. Do not attempt to move." He pulled out a small knife and held it up to her vision, then lowered his hand towards her chin. The blade moved beyond her range of vision but then she felt the prick of the blades edge resting lightly against her windpipe. "Any attempt to escape means we will kill you instantly. Do you understand?"

Ranma tried to speak but failed. Swallowing carefully to clear her throat, she could feel the blade just on the edge of cutting. She finally managed to rasp out that she understood. The old man stared down at her hard for a second before motioned out of her range of vision. The blade was lifted and she felt a straw hit her lips and fluid flowing into her mouth.

"Drink," commanded the old man. The old man pinched her nose shut. It was either swallow or spit it out, and the latter option didn't seem to wise a move given the looks of the people above her and the cold steel that had been against her throat. She swallowed, and the liquid had a bitter and slightly viscous taste, comparable to something Akane had cooked.

Making a noise of disgust, worked her tongue in her mouth to try and wash away the flavor with some saliva. "God, what was that stuff? That was horrible!"

The old man nodded. "It should be. It was poison. Unless the antidote is administered within the next hour, your organs will start to fail. First your liver function will cease, then your kidneys. It won't kill you immediately, but by the time your heart starts to fail in twelve hours, you'll be glad to know you'll be dead shortly."

Ranma swallowed as sweat broke out across her body. The man had delivered that in a matter of fact tone that made her believe he wasn't lying.

"What do you want?"

The old man smiled. "Ah, good. Progress." He pointed over to the sicko she'd escaped from earlier. "This is my associate. He's going to ask you some questions. If he's satisfied with your answers, then he'll administer the antidote. If not… well, let's just hope you satisfy him."

=-=-=-

"Well?" The Hokage looked up from his paperwork as Ibiki came into his office.

Ibiki cleared his throat. "It is a… very strange case, sir."

Pausing in his work, the Hokage sat up straight, paperwork forgotten. Ibiki was never this… uncertain. "Tell me, then." Reaching to his desk drawer, he pulled out his pipe and stuffed it with some fresh leaf, listening with only half an ear to Ibiki's initial report as he went through the motions of lighting his pipe. The details were minor. Their unknown ninja was named Ranma Saotome, age twenty-four, born in Nerima, Tokyo.

The Hokage nearly dropped his pipe. "Excuse me? What? Tokyo? In which country is this Tokyo located?"

Ibiki shrugged. "That's just it, sir. Ranma stated that it was in a country called Japan. I've never heard of such a place, and I've had specialists checking every map we can find. There is no mention of this country anywhere."

Pipe forgotten, the Hokage leaned forward and rested his elbow on the desk before him. "Continue, please."

Ibiki's briefing was pretty concise. Ibiki claimed that Ranma seemed to have absolutely no knowledge of where he was, the name of the city she was in, or any other knowledge of the surrounding area. However, she was able to converse at length and in great detail about her supposed country of origin, and she had limited knowledge of chakra.

"And you believe this?"

Ibiki hesitated. "I have to. Her lack of knowledge of even the most mundane things is total. But his ability to discuss his supposed home is too detailed to be just a cover. Of course, it could be that her memory has been modified."

"Seems like an incredible waste of time to do a modification that extensive. Why erase all knowledge of any country in this world?"

Ibiki shrugged, clearly at a loss.

The Hokage leaned back. "And yet she speaks our language."

Ibiki nodded. "She speaks it. Although I must admit, the accent and terminology she uses I have never heard before." Ibiki hesitated.

"Yes?"

"There was one other thing, sir." Ibiki looked down at his papers.

The Hokage blinked. Ibiki looked… uncertain. "Yes?"

"This Ranma… she claims to be male."

=-=-=-

Ranma was sweating profusely as the old man came walking into the room. He was accompanied by the sicko. It had been over an hour since she'd drank to poison, and she could feel a burning sensation in her liver, and heat spreading throughout her limbs.

The old man walked up to the bed. She looked up at him defiantly. "What?"

He ignored her, instead turning to one of the ANBU guards in the room. "Hot water and cold water, please."

The guard nodded and vanished, returning moments later with two glasses of water. With some trepidation, the old man poured the hot water over her body.

The curse was triggered instantly, but unfortunately the straps didn't change to accommodate the change his body size. The pain was immense as various parts of his body were immediately crushed. With a scream Ranma thrashed violently, only to be given relief in the form of cold water hitting him in the face, reversing the change.

Panting furiously, she glared up at the old man. "Happy now, you old fart?"

The look of shock on his face was almost worth the pain. He blinked a couple times from beneath his hat, and then turned towards her interrogator.

"Administer the antidote." With that, the old men turned on his heels and left.

=-=-=-

The next week was spectacularly boring for Ranma, at least. Thankfully, they had loosened the straps a bit and allowed him to change into his natural form, so it wasn't all bad. He spent a majority of his time talking to the sicko, who he learned was named Morino. Ranma still called him all manner of unflattering names, but at least he wasn't being threatened with physical harm or weird substances again. There were other visitors, too.

The woman he'd tied up came as well, mostly just to leer at his body through the thin hospital gown and make suggestive comments. Her name was Anko, but he privately called her Psycho, because she and Sicko seemed to be best buds. She was occasionally funny but a bit on the intense side. Her outfits were ridiculously revealing and always tried her best to make him uncomfortable when she visited by posing suggestively and using blunt innuendo, but her body, as nice as it was, wasn't anything he hadn't seen before. He wouldn't give her the satisfaction of knowing that he found her attractive and so sank into the Soul of Ice whenever she visited to keep in control.

Whatever.

Occasionally, the old man would come and talk to him about stuff he'd been talking to Sicko about, and so Ranma was forced to retell the same stories. They seemed to focus almost as much on how he learned martial arts as about where he came from and how he got here.

The questions jumped from topic to topic. He sketched (well, actually he lay in bed as someone else held the paper and pencil and followed his instructions) a chart of the stars from back home, what a typical car looked like, and other stuff they wanted to know about. It was weird. He'd yet to really see any machines here, but they definitely had electricity.

They wouldn't let him out of bed, though. Frustrated and increasingly bored, he tried to make up training exercises he could do while pretty much completely immobilized. They hadn't tried to give him anything else besides food, but they still didn't seem to trust him, as they had at least four guards posted at each corner of his room. If he got too restless and started shifting around too much, then the guards got nervous and drew out their weapons.

So he just lay there and stared at the ceiling, wishing he could scratch the itching that his healing wounds caused. At least the food wasn't too rotten.

=-=-=-

The Hokage stood before the council, making his case. There was of course no way he could have kept Ranma a secret, but by going publicly before the council, he was able to do a bit of damage control, preventing unwanted information from leaking out, or at least buy some time.

It had taken a lot of maneuvering to present this to the council. Of course, as the Hokage, it was within his authority to accept missing-nin into the village. Given the rather public manner in which Ranma had been apprehended, thought, knew that if he didn't do so with the approval of the village council, then they would be plotting behind his back to discover what secrets they might and use that to their advantage. Of course, open disclosure wouldn't prevent that, but they'd have to be a bit more circumspect in their investigations, which took time. Time was always a valuable commodity.

They bickered and fought like little old ladies, but in the end were forced to bow to the "wisdom" of his decision. He managed to get an almost unanimous support for his decision, the one notable abstention being Danzo, of course. Pleased with this minor victory, the Hokage returned to his dreaded paperwork and summoned Anko. He drafted the orders while he waited.

She was munching on some dango as she was ushered into his office. "Sit." He pointed to towards a chair as he finished the second set of orders. Waiting for the ink to dry, he placed his stamp at the bottom of the document and fished out a seal and some sealing wax and lit it on fire. Satisfied it the wax was properly hot enough, he rolled up the scroll and smeared a blob of hot wax on edge and pressed his seal into it, making an impression and also keeping it shut.

He blew on it gently to help it harden, and after a slow ten count pulled the seal away. He grabbed one of the scrolls on his desk and tossed it to Anko, who snatched it out of the air.

"May I?"

The Hokage nodded.

Anko broke the seal and unfurled the scroll, her eyes scanning down the text rapidly. She looked back at him. "You're fucking kidding me, right?"

With a grin, the Hokage stood. "Nope. I'm not. Now, keep in mind, this is still conditional."

"On what, exactly?" She asked, warily.

"On Ranma, of course." He walked to the door. "I'm going to see him right now. Do you want to come, or not?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"No."

With a sigh, Anko pocket the scroll and stood to follow.

The Hokage paused as he passed her. "I was expecting a bit more… argument."

Anko shrugged. "Given how good he is, I'm not expecting this to take long. I can put up with anything for a little while."

=-=-=-

Ranma was busy chowing down when the Hokage walked into the room. It was quite amusing to watch, actually, considering he was still strapped to the bed and didn't have much use of his arms. Most restrained patients were fed via tube, but Ranma had asked for solid food. Given that he couldn't really reach his mouth, he'd found a rather clever solution by requesting self contained finger foods and enough mobility in one hand to flex his fingers. They place the tray next to his waiting hand and the pig-tailed martial artist used his fingers to launch food into the air to land with great precision into his waiting mouth.

He hadn't missed yet in the two days he'd been doing this. There was a running bet among the ANBU about how many shots he could make before he missed.

Ranma swallowed his mouthful of food and squirmed a bit while waggling his fingers. It was about the closest he could manage to a wave given his current state.

"Yo, how ya doing." Ranma grunted as Anko came into his line of sight. "Oh, and Psycho too! Heya, Psycho! 'Sup?"

"Shut up, Ranma."

He stuck his tongue out. "Gonna make me?"

"Yes, actually."

The Hokage cleared his throat. Anko blushed a bit and backed down. "Ranma?"

"Yeah?"

"How would you like to be released?"

Ranma's posture stiffened. "You kiddin'?"

The Hokage pulled a scroll out of his pocket. "No. But you present some… unique challenges to us."

"So?"

Sarutobi stepped up closer to the bed. "I've managed to secure your release, but you have surely realized by now that we have certain… security requirements. My most pressing priority is the safety of this village and its inhabitants. Until I can be sure of your intentions, I cannot allow you leave Konoha. As such, the council that agreed to your release imposed certain conditions."

Ranma's eyes narrowed a bit. After dealing with Nabiki so much, he was wary of any sort of strings. "What conditions?"

The Hokage opened the scroll. "Firstly, until such time that your intentions towards Konoha has been proven to be harmless, you will be under twenty-four hour armed surveillance. This will be both overt and covert. Any attempt to evade your escort will result in immediate use of deadly force."

Ranma blinked. "Are you shittin' me?"

"Not one bit. The alternative is indefinite imprisonment."

Ranma grunted.

"Indeed." The Hokage looked down at his scroll again. "To that effect, I've assigned Anko as your overt security escort, effective immediately."

Ranma wrinkled his nose. "I don't get a choice?"

"No, you don't." Sarutobi stared directly into Ranma's eyes. "Do you have a problem with that?"

Ranma blinked. "Not really. She's easy enough on the eyes, but I'm afraid she's try to either beat me up or jump me. I can't tell at this point which one it is."

Behind the Hokage, Anko growled. Sarutobi chuckled. "Be that as it may, I think she is suited for the task. At any rate, the second condition is that you will regularly be interviewed by our interrogation department and evaluated by the Hokage."

"Who's the Hokage?"

"Me."

"Oh, right!" Ranma grinned sheepishly.

"Shall I continue?" The Hokage hefted the scroll.

Ranma nodded, or at least as much as he could given the restraints.

"Thirdly, you shall not be permitted to leave the village unsupervised until you have proven your intentions towards the village."

"Prove my intentions? What the hell does that mean?"

"It means that we need to be assured that you harbor no malice towards us."

Ranma snorted. "Doing a great job of that so far, old man!" Ranma narrowed his eyes. "You want me to be friendly with you guys? Well, how about you let me the fuck up? 'Cause, let me tell you, being tied down is how I usually go about making friends! I made an honest mistake and came here by accident, and now you guys are limiting my freedom and threatening my life. How in the hell am I supposed to prove I mean no harm if you're treating me like a criminal?"

Sarutobi nodded. "A valid question. But lives – a lot of lives – are on the line here, Ranma. I cannot afford to take that chance." The Hokage clutched the scroll in both hands behind his back. "It will take time for you to prove yourself to us. One of the ways I intended to do that is to offer you a job within my forces."

"Wait. What?" Ranma blinked. "Why? First you threaten me, and now you're offering me a job? What's the catch?"

"You are the catch. You are… skilled. I want those skills to protect my village."

Ranma frowned. "I'm not a mercenary."

"I know. I wouldn't have made this offer if you were. Mercenaries are not trustworthy. You, however, have the opportunity to prove that you are worthy of my trust. You made an honest mistake. However, I would be a fool not to try and turn this to my advantage. You'll have the chance to train under an instructor appointed by me. Once you've attain the rank of Chunin, some, but not all, of the restrictions upon you will be relaxed. Your ANBU guard will remain constant for some time, I fear."

"ANBU?" Ranma gestured with his eyes to one of the cloaked sentinels in the corners of the room. The masked dudes, right?"

"Right." The Hokage cleared his throat. "The final condition is that you will pay all medical bills and renovations as necessary you caused to ANBU and the environs during your fight."

Ranma winced. "Hey, that's not really fair, is it? I mean, I didn't want to fight them. I wouldn't have hurt them if they'd a let me go."

The Hokage shrugged. "Be that as it may, the council still holds you responsible. You owe quite a hefty sum." The Hokage sighed dramatically. "You have an opportunity to serve Konoha and repay the damage caused in your escape. It's either that, or we keep you locked up for the rest of your life, or we simply kill you. The final solution is much cheaper and easier for us, but I'm reluctant to use it, considering you were considerate enough not to kill any of my men during your escape."

Ranma snorted. "Tough choice. Option one, please."

"Glad you agree." The Hokage looked down at Ranma. "Unfortunately, an oath of loyalty would never be enough to satisfy the conditions of the council. They also insisted you swallow this." The Hokage held up a blue pill the size of a gumball.

Ranma's eyed the blue pill nervously. "That ain't candy, is it?"

The Hokage shook his head ruefully. "It isn't, unfortunately. Like before, this is a poison. Only, unlike the last one, it's been designed to kick in at some point between a week and a month in the future. Once it kicks in, you'll have about twelve hours to get an antidote from me."

"What's the point, then?" Ranma glared up at the old man, making no point at hiding his anger. "Why sugar-coat it like you're doing me a favor when I don't have a choice?"

"We are a suspicious bunch. It comes with the territory. This," he hefted the pill, "is a little insurance policy." The Hokage was unfazed by Ranma's glare. "Once we are satisfied about your loyalty, this will no longer be necessary."

"Trust is earned, old man. Not forced."

Sarutobi nodded. "I know. However, this is one way in which you can begin to earn my trust."

"I never break my word."

The Hokage shrugged. "That may be true. But we are shinobi. Your word means nothing to us. We don't trust until you've proven it, and we'll remain suspicious afterwards. It's unfortunate, but this type of thinking keeps us alive." He held the pill over Ranma's lips. "Swallow."

Ranma glared at him, his anger manifesting as a slight red sheen around his body. The bindings that held him to the bed creaked he flexed his muscles slightly. The ANBU snapped to attention, and Anko pulled out a knife and moved to the edge of the bed on the opposite side of the Hokage so she could place it against his jugular.

"You can be angry at me if you like. However, at this point I'm the only person keeping you alive." Sarutobi placed the pill on his lips. "This is your choice. Not everyone is as nice as I am."

Eventually, Ranma's aura died down and he relaxed into his bindings. "I'll remember this."

The Hokage nodded. "I'm sure you will. Just remember that my responsibility is to keep every person in this village safe. I won't hesitate for a moment if I think you are a danger to Konoha."

Ranma didn't say anything else. He simply opened his mouth and accepted the pill, swallowing it as he stared the old man down.

The Hokage stood up straight, a small pleasant smile on his face as he did so. "Will you swear to serve the Hokage of Konoha faithfully and to the best of your ability?"

"Fine."

"I need something a bit more formal that that." He turned to the ANBU in the room, and Anko. "If you'll serve as witnesses, please?"

Ranma took a deep breath. "I, Ranma Saotome, swear upon my honor to serve the Hokage and Konoha faithfully and to the best of my ability." He closed his eyes and exhaled. Opening his eyes, he looked up at the old man. "That good enough?"

He nodded.

"Good. Can I get out of these things now?"

Again, the Hokage nodded. He motioned to the ANBU to release Ranma, but to his surprise the martial artist twisted and slid his right hand out of the restraints and started undoing his own buckles. It didn't take long before he was free and sitting up in the middle of the bed. He cracked his neck and stretched a bit. "Oh man, that feels good."

The Hokage chuckled. "How long have you been free?"

Ranma thought back. "Um… bout two days now?"

"And why didn't you escape?"

Ranma shrugged. "Well, food's not too bad here, and I didn't want to have to fight for my life just yet." Ranma leapt off the bed, walking a bit unsteadily as muscles long confined to a bed protested at the unexpected movements.

"You seem to be taking this rather well."

Ranma paused, his back to the Hokage. "You just don't know me yet. I'm pissed."

Sarutobi nodded. "Good. Then channel that anger into demonstrating that you are trustworthy. I don't like these methods either, but I will not hesitate to use them if I have any questions about your integrity. Understood?"

Ranma didn't turn around, but he did nod stiffly. "Got it. So, who's my teacher gonna be?"

The Hokage stepped aside and pointed at Anko.

Ranma balked. "You're kiddin', right?"

The Hokage shook his head.

Ranma muttered. "Man, why couldn't have been that dude in the green spandex? At least he could fight."

Normally, Ranma would have been able to dodge the haymaker that caught him in the eye, but his confinement had left him at a bit less than peak performance.

Anko glared down at him as Ranma winched and held his cheek. "So, if she's my teacher and my chaperone, where the hell am I staying?"

The Hokage just smiled.

Ranma groaned and fell back to the floor. "Man, I always get stuck with the violent ones!"

=-=-=-

The walk across town had been a pretty silent one. The Hospital had been nice enough to give him some clothes to wear out. He followed Anko through the town, taking time to memorize the way as he ignored the woman next to him. Anko was less than pleased about the arrangements as well, and Ranma was perfectly happy to let her brood as he thought about his options.

Her apartment was pretty sparsely furnished, but nice. It had a decent kitchen, if unused kitchen, bare living room, couple of bedrooms, and western style bathroom. "Here." Anko dropped the futon and some bedclothes in her spare bedroom. "This is your place until you can get out of that stupid chaperone requirement. So you better learn fucking quick because I don't want you ruining my sex life."

"Don't you normally turn tricks at your customer's place?" Ranma just barely managed to dodge the knife thrust that came his way. Even still, she'd managed to cut a thin hole in his shirt. She gave him a nasty grin. "Sleep tight, dick."

"Yeah, can't hope the same for you, though. You might wanna do a few Keigels first, just in case."

Anko looked at him weird. "I don't get the reference, but I'm sure it isn't nice. Don't worry. I'll get you for it tomorrow."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Ranma started messing with the futon, spreading it out on the floor of the empty bedroom. "So, what time tomorrow we gonna start training?"

"That depends on if you live through the night."

Ranma's smirk matched hers. "Do you worst, then. But don't go crying to your precious Hokage when you get all hurt."

Anko closed the door as she left. Still bursting with energy after being "confined" for so long, Ranma ran through a silent, slow kata to both stretch her muscles and burn off some nervous energy. She had a feeling tomorrow was going to be a long day.


Questions, comments, reviews, welcome. Flames used for BBQ. Enjoy.

Edited slightly because some people pointed out a few very salient points. I don't know why, but this one seems to be very controversial. People either love it or flame the bejesus out of me. I've never gotten so many negative PM's, which means I must be doing something right.

12/15/2010 - Edited again because I realized I neatly painted myself into a corner. Every-time I tried to write the next chapter, I was stuck because of how I ended this one. Hopefully some of these changes will help with the subsequent chapters.