Until the End
Chapter 9
Sabotage
Akane smiled demurely at the three men that entered through the front door, brushing at the snow that had collected on their shoulders.
"Welcome, please come in, Mr. Inafune is waiting for you in the living room."
The men bowed and followed Akane into the living room. Inside was Akari, who was serving tea and some food to the men that were gathered inside. Ishii was at the head of the table, talking softly to another man that was acquiring some very odd looks from the other men.
Akane moved quickly into the kitchen and grabbed another tray containing teacups and snacks for the new guests. She reentered the living room and handed out the tea and food.
Ishii glanced up at Akane.
"Has everybody been served?"
"Yes," Akane said.
Ishii nodded his head and turned to regard the men that were gathered around the table.
"Well, I trust you all arrived under the most pleasant circumstances."
The comment garnered a few snorts and sarcastic replies from some of the men sitting around the table.
"It would have been easier if we had not been forced to sneak into our home country on a barge ship, with the threat of the ocean freezing and us getting stuck in the middle of the Pacific," one man commented from the other side of table.
Ishii smiled. "Well, all it means is you were able to get here faster."
"True," the man on the other side admitted.
Ishii slapped his palm onto the table, signaling for all conversations to stop.
"Alright, before we begin, I would like to introduce you all to someone," Ishii said and turned to the man sitting beside him. He was also the man that had been acquiring all the odd looks from the other men. "Everyone, I'd like you to meet, Secretary Kimura, the man who runs the Japanese public relations office."
Twelve unbelieving faces stared back at Ishii and the man for a moment. At least, ten faces did, Akane and Akari were very quick to respond.
"Oh my god! It is you!" they exclaimed and dashed to Secretary Kimura's side and enveloped him in a fierce hug.
Even more bewildered looks came across the table. Ishii was oblivious, as he watched the two women cry as they held Isamu Kimura.
"I think we need some explanations Inafune," one of the men said softly.
"Of course," Ishii said, turning away from the scene. "I'll start at the beginning."
===============
Ranma watched silently as the Chinese officers directed the Japanese soldiers through the camp.
After a quick layover in Beijing, the military transport plane flew the remnant of the Japanese infantrymen to Harbin, a city less than five hundred kilometers from the Chinese-Russian border. Though Harbin was a small city, the Chinese military leaders had decided that the small town would fit perfectly as a remote temporary base for all soldiers about to invade Russia. Although the decision had come very last-minute, it had proven to be a smart move, as the Russian satellites had been concentrating on central China, searching all major military bases for any unusual activity.
Ranma wasn't very impressed with the city; it looked like it could have been built fifty years ago, when communism was first beginning to start. As typical to most cities that were a good distance away from Beijing, it was about to fall apart. Buildings were unsightly messes that looked to have been designed by a drunken architect, and the roads were chipped, and potholes were scattered about.
A deep sigh escaped his throat when his name was called for roll call. His commanding officer, a colonel Jin-something, looked at him with an angry glare and Ranma smiled and saluted.
"Here sir!" Ranma said crisply, though he felt like collapsing. The flight here had been anything but peaceful. The airplane seemed to have been built in the cold war, and the engine sounded like someone had stuffed a wrench into it. Sleep had not been an option on the entire thirteen-hour round the clock trip. Appealing to his CO wouldn't have been an option; Ranma had already come to the conclusion that the man would not take pity on his situation.
As the roll call moved further down the line, Ranma caught a cursory glance from one of the Chinese captains standing beside the colonel. Ranma smiled a little uneasily and tried a jaunty wave. The captain did not return it, but he did avoid looking at Ranma for the rest of the short meeting.
As the colonel dismissed the troops, Ranma realized that something was expected of him. He turned around and saw a group of men, all ages varying somewhere between eighteen and twenty-nine. They were looking at him expectantly.
Lieutenant Ranma Saotome cleared his throat and smiled a little uneasily at the men.
"I presume you guys are going to be my unit." Ranma said, it was more of a statement than a question.
One of the older looking men walked up, Ranma came to the conclusion from the stripes on his arm that this man was his NCO.
"Good morning Sergeant," Ranma greeted a little bit too cheerfully. "Do you think you could introduce me to these men?"
The sergeant gave Ranma a sullen glance before nodding.
"Of course sir," he said and turned his back to Ranma. His voice bellowed. "Platoon! Formation!"
The other men, hearing the tone in the sergeant's voice, quickly formed up in a line and stood at attention. Ranma walked up to the man on the end of the line and smiled at him. The man smiled back, if a little uncertainly.
"Private Nobunaga," the sergeant said in a clear voice from beside Ranma.
"A pleasure to meet you Private Nobunaga," Ranma said sweetly and shook the man's hand.
The next man looked like he was at least five or six years older than Ranma. Ranma was now the one smiling uneasily.
"Private Seijiro," the sergeant said.
Ranma shook the man's hand, a little uneasy.
As he made his way down the line, Ranma recognized some looks of disbelief on some of the soldier's faces. It made him wary at first but it soon became very annoying.
"What!?" he asked suddenly. "Why the hell are you looking at me like that!?"
A few of the troops turned their heads to the side to avoid looking at him, but a few remained staring at him.
"Well, you see sir," a private began. Ranma had already forgotten his name. "It's just that, we recognized you as one of the men that went through the training program at Okinawa, but you were a Private. We know about the promotion campaign, but I guess were a little uneasy about being led in combat by someone who is a lieutenant only because he can shoot straighter than the rest of us."
Absolute silence fell over the men. A few men shifted uncomfortable, and the NCO made it clear that he was very angry.
"You little shit!" the sergeant said angrily and reached forward to deck the private but Ranma quickly stopped him.
"It's alright sergeant," Ranma said calmly. He turned to the private. "Well, I understand your uneasiness Private, but I hope you can understand that I didn't have a choice in becoming a lieutenant, or a platoon leader. This is what fate has given me, and I'm going to try my hardest to become the best goddamned platoon leader in this entire regiment. If any of you have a problem with being in this platoon, then I recommend going to the CO and explaining to him your problems and you should be able to get a transfer. I promise that I will bear no man any ill will if they decide to leave this platoon."
He turned away and looked at the sergeant, who was staring at Ranma, and smiled.
"Lead them out into the barracks please Sergeant," Ranma said and walked off.
I almost lost it, Ranma thought. I wanted to rip into that skinny little bastard and beat the shit out of him. I've got to stay calm, if I go and lose my head it'll mean more than just my life is on the line, it'll be the lives of all those guys. I don't want to have anyone's deaths put over my head.
The day went fast, and it was already dusk when all the troops were able to have some free time to look around the base.
Ranma avoided contact with his platoon, and disregarded any offer to get some supper in the mess hall. He soon found himself walking around the officer's barracks. After walking for a few more minutes, Ranma had the distinct feeling that he was being followed.
Thinking quickly, Ranma slipped up onto the roof of a nearby barrack and carefully looked over the edge of the roof to see someone come around the corner and look quickly to see if he was there.
The man had a handgun, but it was in a holster and the safety strap was still securing it. Ranma concluded that it would be safe to approach him.
Leaping down from the roof, Ranma approached the man, who was peeking his head around another corner to look for him, and tapped him on the shoulder.
"Looking for someone?" Ranma asked lightly as the man jumped in surprise.
As the man spun around, Ranma recognized him to be the Chinese captain that had been staring at him during the procession that morning.
The captain looked to be contemplating what he should do, and Ranma decided to help him out.
"Is there some reason you were following me sir?"
The captain shot Ranma a death glare and tried to stand up straight, though he looked to still be on the edge after Ranma had surprised him.
"I know you," he said in broken Japanese.
"I beg your pardon sir?" Ranma asked confused.
"You were with the Americans when they come into our country before. You were prisoner," the captain said accusingly.
Ranma's heart nearly stopped.
"I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about sir," Ranma said to gain more time to recover from the shock he just received.
The captain shook his head. "You were with the other Japanese man, the one we shot."
The captain said exactly the wrong thing to say at that time.
Ranma's hand lashed out in a blinding arch and he wrapped his fingers around the Chinese captain's throat. His other hand reached forward and removed the captain's pistol from his holster and he threw it behind him.
"You. Son. Of. A. Bitch." Ranma said slowly, forcefully, as he strangled the life from the captain. As the captain tried to swing a fist at Ranma, Ranma's other hand came swinging forward and hit the captain in the stomach, with so much force the captain coughed up blood, which splashed over Ranma's face and tunic.
The captain's eyes were wide with fear, and he slowly began to realize that Ranma was not relinquishing his hold on his throat. Tears rolled down his cheek as he tried another punch at Ranma, only to have his fist caught in Ranma's free hand and crushed in an amazingly strong grip. He felt the bones snap.
Suddenly, the look of rage disappeared from Ranma's eyes, and was replaced with one of horror. He released the captain's hand and removed his hand from his throat.
Ranma looked down at his hands as if they were from a different person.
The captain had passed out, whether from fear or pain, Ranma did not know.
He sank back against one of the officer's barracks and placed his head in his hands and began sobbing.
===============
Akane looked around in disgust as she began cleaning the room after the 'guests' had finished their celebration. It was close to one o'clock in the morning, and Ishii had left the house with the other men, tossing back a reply that he would be back in the morning. Akane guessed that the real reason he left was because he did not want the responsibility of cleaning up after the other men.
Akari entered the room, carrying a few trays to carry out all the tea cups and sake glasses. She looked over at Akane and smiled.
"Do you think this is the big role that Ishii said we were going to be playing in his plans?"
"It better not be," Akane said. "Otherwise I'm going to turn him in."
Akari laughed and patted Akane on the back.
"Well, at least everybody was in good spirits," Akari said.
"I think that translates to mean 'at least they didn't get so drunk they began breaking things'," Akane said, but she was smiling.
As they began to clean up, they heard the front door open and someone come in.
Akane got to her feet and walked out into the hall, ready to give Ishii a verbal beating. Instead, she was greeted with Isamu Kimura.
"Oh, Mr. Kimura, a pleasure to see you again."
Kimura laughed. "What's with the formalities Akane?"
Akane blushed a little in embarrassment. "Well, I can't believe I wasn't able to recognize you when I first saw you. You were so important with everything happening before, and just can't believe that I would forget you."
Kimura laughed again and put a hand on Akane's shoulder.
"It's alright Akane, I forgive you. Ishii has told me everything. I want to tell you how sorry I am about Ranma, but if his luck is anything like his life, he's going to come out of this thing a decorated hero."
"Thank you Kimura," Akane said. She smiled at him. "May I ask why you decided to come back; I would have figured that you would be out with Ishii."
A grin appeared on Kimura's face. "Well, Ishii is actually, over at one of those guy's houses. He told me that he just really didn't want to be faced with cleaning up after the party."
Akane's face turned red. "That-that jerk! I'm going to skin him alive when he gets back here."
Kimura laughed again. "And the answer to your question is, I didn't think it was right to leave you all alone with only Akari and you to clean up a mess from so many people."
"Thank you Isamu," Akane said.
Kimura smiled at her and allowed Akane to lead him down the hall and into the living room. He greeted Akari and began to help cleaning.
It took nearly two hours to complete the cleaning, and by the end, the three of them had begun to feel the effects of the endless night.
After a long yawn, Akane asked Kimura, "Why are you joining Ishii and those others Kimura? Won't this jeopardize your position in the government?"
Kimura regarded her for a moment before motioning for them to follow him. He led them into the kitchen and motioned for them to sit at the table. He poured three cups of coffee and handed them out.
"If were going to be asking such serious questions were all going to need to be awake," Kimura said as he took his seat.
"To answer your question Akane, I am helping Ishii and the others for the exact same reason they are doing what they are doing. I don't believe in this war, and I definitely don't believe in the Prime Minister. The man is a lunatic, and I have many sources that have been whispering that it was the Prime Minister that ordered the assassination of the Emperor."
A gasp came from Akane and Akari.
"Why would he do such a thing?" Akane asked, horrified.
"The Emperor had found out that the Prime Minister had secretly developed nuclear weapons, and was planning on using them to threaten the United States and Russia. He also learned of the Prime Minister's goal to invade Siberia, along with China. The Emperor was supposed to write the American President about what he found out, but no one knows if he did or not. But the Prime Minister must think that he had the Emperor killed before he was able to send the letter."
"This was the thing that first convinced me that the Prime Minister needed to be removed from power. The next thing was what happened only two weeks ago. Apparently the Prime Minister has been having every sector of the government carefully inspected to make sure that everyone is being loyal to the government. In a move that would make Joseph Stalin proud, he has had almost seven hundred government officials arrested, simply because he 'suspected' that they might not be loyal. He is trying to turn this country into a communist state, one that he will have absolute control over."
"Japan can't survive as a communist state. If the Prime Minister succeeds, than we are going to lose the support of all superpowers, America, Canada, Russia, Britain; all of them are going to leave us high and dry. The only country on our side at this point is China, and probably some Middle Eastern countries, but that's about it. And once they're through with us, China is going to eliminate us as an ally. The Prime Minister of course doesn't see this. He believes that simply because he has developed nuclear weapons he can get away with anything. When he is finally proven wrong, it's going to be costly, but not to him, it will be costly for the people of Japan."
"I am not going to wait around and see if we eventually do get wiped out, I'm going to fight back. Even if it is as simple as getting the information to the public, I'm not going to sit back, I'll never allow this country to fall back into the dank pit that it used to be."
"The Prime Minister will pay for what he is trying to do to this country, and he will get what he deserves, whether it be from the people, or from other countries, he will not be allowed to continue on the path that he is on.
===============
Author's Notes: Whew! Sorry about the long delay, writer's block struck me down like a thunderbolt.
For those wondering who Kimura is (you obviously didn't read BoP, or maybe you just have really bad memories) I'll give you a quick recap.
Isamu Kimura is about thirty one years old in this story. In Balance of Power, he was a member of the Yakuza. He had a sexual encounter with the Oyabun's (the leader of the Yakuza) daughter, and was blackmailed into staying in the organization. When he met up with Minoru (you should definitely remember him) he was in China. They followed Ranma, Ryoga, Akane, Akari, Phil, Ishii, and Seiji to Qing Hai, and eventually to Jusenkyo. Once there, Kimura betrayed Minoru, and joined Ranma and the others, just when the PLA showed up in Jusenkyo and a firefight ensued. Seiji was killed during it, and Kimura went to America, where he was used as an informant for the United States government. He found out about China's plan to assassinate the Taiwanese president, and the United States was able to stop it. He then worked with the American and Japanese police to break down the Yakuza and have the organization destroyed. He then married the Oyabun's daughter and started a career in politics.
Whew! There you go.
Ranma is experiencing a great deal of stress. But don't expect him to snap like he did in Balance of Power. He's just going to be very cranky for the next chapters, and depressed.
Oh, and I sort of lost the notes my husband left for me on this chapter, so I had to improvise. That means that if anyone has a slight problem with the military aspects in the first part, it's my fault, and as soon as I can recover those files with the notes, I'll change it.
Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing.
Akane smiled demurely at the three men that entered through the front door, brushing at the snow that had collected on their shoulders.
"Welcome, please come in, Mr. Inafune is waiting for you in the living room."
The men bowed and followed Akane into the living room. Inside was Akari, who was serving tea and some food to the men that were gathered inside. Ishii was at the head of the table, talking softly to another man that was acquiring some very odd looks from the other men.
Akane moved quickly into the kitchen and grabbed another tray containing teacups and snacks for the new guests. She reentered the living room and handed out the tea and food.
Ishii glanced up at Akane.
"Has everybody been served?"
"Yes," Akane said.
Ishii nodded his head and turned to regard the men that were gathered around the table.
"Well, I trust you all arrived under the most pleasant circumstances."
The comment garnered a few snorts and sarcastic replies from some of the men sitting around the table.
"It would have been easier if we had not been forced to sneak into our home country on a barge ship, with the threat of the ocean freezing and us getting stuck in the middle of the Pacific," one man commented from the other side of table.
Ishii smiled. "Well, all it means is you were able to get here faster."
"True," the man on the other side admitted.
Ishii slapped his palm onto the table, signaling for all conversations to stop.
"Alright, before we begin, I would like to introduce you all to someone," Ishii said and turned to the man sitting beside him. He was also the man that had been acquiring all the odd looks from the other men. "Everyone, I'd like you to meet, Secretary Kimura, the man who runs the Japanese public relations office."
Twelve unbelieving faces stared back at Ishii and the man for a moment. At least, ten faces did, Akane and Akari were very quick to respond.
"Oh my god! It is you!" they exclaimed and dashed to Secretary Kimura's side and enveloped him in a fierce hug.
Even more bewildered looks came across the table. Ishii was oblivious, as he watched the two women cry as they held Isamu Kimura.
"I think we need some explanations Inafune," one of the men said softly.
"Of course," Ishii said, turning away from the scene. "I'll start at the beginning."
===============
Ranma watched silently as the Chinese officers directed the Japanese soldiers through the camp.
After a quick layover in Beijing, the military transport plane flew the remnant of the Japanese infantrymen to Harbin, a city less than five hundred kilometers from the Chinese-Russian border. Though Harbin was a small city, the Chinese military leaders had decided that the small town would fit perfectly as a remote temporary base for all soldiers about to invade Russia. Although the decision had come very last-minute, it had proven to be a smart move, as the Russian satellites had been concentrating on central China, searching all major military bases for any unusual activity.
Ranma wasn't very impressed with the city; it looked like it could have been built fifty years ago, when communism was first beginning to start. As typical to most cities that were a good distance away from Beijing, it was about to fall apart. Buildings were unsightly messes that looked to have been designed by a drunken architect, and the roads were chipped, and potholes were scattered about.
A deep sigh escaped his throat when his name was called for roll call. His commanding officer, a colonel Jin-something, looked at him with an angry glare and Ranma smiled and saluted.
"Here sir!" Ranma said crisply, though he felt like collapsing. The flight here had been anything but peaceful. The airplane seemed to have been built in the cold war, and the engine sounded like someone had stuffed a wrench into it. Sleep had not been an option on the entire thirteen-hour round the clock trip. Appealing to his CO wouldn't have been an option; Ranma had already come to the conclusion that the man would not take pity on his situation.
As the roll call moved further down the line, Ranma caught a cursory glance from one of the Chinese captains standing beside the colonel. Ranma smiled a little uneasily and tried a jaunty wave. The captain did not return it, but he did avoid looking at Ranma for the rest of the short meeting.
As the colonel dismissed the troops, Ranma realized that something was expected of him. He turned around and saw a group of men, all ages varying somewhere between eighteen and twenty-nine. They were looking at him expectantly.
Lieutenant Ranma Saotome cleared his throat and smiled a little uneasily at the men.
"I presume you guys are going to be my unit." Ranma said, it was more of a statement than a question.
One of the older looking men walked up, Ranma came to the conclusion from the stripes on his arm that this man was his NCO.
"Good morning Sergeant," Ranma greeted a little bit too cheerfully. "Do you think you could introduce me to these men?"
The sergeant gave Ranma a sullen glance before nodding.
"Of course sir," he said and turned his back to Ranma. His voice bellowed. "Platoon! Formation!"
The other men, hearing the tone in the sergeant's voice, quickly formed up in a line and stood at attention. Ranma walked up to the man on the end of the line and smiled at him. The man smiled back, if a little uncertainly.
"Private Nobunaga," the sergeant said in a clear voice from beside Ranma.
"A pleasure to meet you Private Nobunaga," Ranma said sweetly and shook the man's hand.
The next man looked like he was at least five or six years older than Ranma. Ranma was now the one smiling uneasily.
"Private Seijiro," the sergeant said.
Ranma shook the man's hand, a little uneasy.
As he made his way down the line, Ranma recognized some looks of disbelief on some of the soldier's faces. It made him wary at first but it soon became very annoying.
"What!?" he asked suddenly. "Why the hell are you looking at me like that!?"
A few of the troops turned their heads to the side to avoid looking at him, but a few remained staring at him.
"Well, you see sir," a private began. Ranma had already forgotten his name. "It's just that, we recognized you as one of the men that went through the training program at Okinawa, but you were a Private. We know about the promotion campaign, but I guess were a little uneasy about being led in combat by someone who is a lieutenant only because he can shoot straighter than the rest of us."
Absolute silence fell over the men. A few men shifted uncomfortable, and the NCO made it clear that he was very angry.
"You little shit!" the sergeant said angrily and reached forward to deck the private but Ranma quickly stopped him.
"It's alright sergeant," Ranma said calmly. He turned to the private. "Well, I understand your uneasiness Private, but I hope you can understand that I didn't have a choice in becoming a lieutenant, or a platoon leader. This is what fate has given me, and I'm going to try my hardest to become the best goddamned platoon leader in this entire regiment. If any of you have a problem with being in this platoon, then I recommend going to the CO and explaining to him your problems and you should be able to get a transfer. I promise that I will bear no man any ill will if they decide to leave this platoon."
He turned away and looked at the sergeant, who was staring at Ranma, and smiled.
"Lead them out into the barracks please Sergeant," Ranma said and walked off.
I almost lost it, Ranma thought. I wanted to rip into that skinny little bastard and beat the shit out of him. I've got to stay calm, if I go and lose my head it'll mean more than just my life is on the line, it'll be the lives of all those guys. I don't want to have anyone's deaths put over my head.
The day went fast, and it was already dusk when all the troops were able to have some free time to look around the base.
Ranma avoided contact with his platoon, and disregarded any offer to get some supper in the mess hall. He soon found himself walking around the officer's barracks. After walking for a few more minutes, Ranma had the distinct feeling that he was being followed.
Thinking quickly, Ranma slipped up onto the roof of a nearby barrack and carefully looked over the edge of the roof to see someone come around the corner and look quickly to see if he was there.
The man had a handgun, but it was in a holster and the safety strap was still securing it. Ranma concluded that it would be safe to approach him.
Leaping down from the roof, Ranma approached the man, who was peeking his head around another corner to look for him, and tapped him on the shoulder.
"Looking for someone?" Ranma asked lightly as the man jumped in surprise.
As the man spun around, Ranma recognized him to be the Chinese captain that had been staring at him during the procession that morning.
The captain looked to be contemplating what he should do, and Ranma decided to help him out.
"Is there some reason you were following me sir?"
The captain shot Ranma a death glare and tried to stand up straight, though he looked to still be on the edge after Ranma had surprised him.
"I know you," he said in broken Japanese.
"I beg your pardon sir?" Ranma asked confused.
"You were with the Americans when they come into our country before. You were prisoner," the captain said accusingly.
Ranma's heart nearly stopped.
"I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about sir," Ranma said to gain more time to recover from the shock he just received.
The captain shook his head. "You were with the other Japanese man, the one we shot."
The captain said exactly the wrong thing to say at that time.
Ranma's hand lashed out in a blinding arch and he wrapped his fingers around the Chinese captain's throat. His other hand reached forward and removed the captain's pistol from his holster and he threw it behind him.
"You. Son. Of. A. Bitch." Ranma said slowly, forcefully, as he strangled the life from the captain. As the captain tried to swing a fist at Ranma, Ranma's other hand came swinging forward and hit the captain in the stomach, with so much force the captain coughed up blood, which splashed over Ranma's face and tunic.
The captain's eyes were wide with fear, and he slowly began to realize that Ranma was not relinquishing his hold on his throat. Tears rolled down his cheek as he tried another punch at Ranma, only to have his fist caught in Ranma's free hand and crushed in an amazingly strong grip. He felt the bones snap.
Suddenly, the look of rage disappeared from Ranma's eyes, and was replaced with one of horror. He released the captain's hand and removed his hand from his throat.
Ranma looked down at his hands as if they were from a different person.
The captain had passed out, whether from fear or pain, Ranma did not know.
He sank back against one of the officer's barracks and placed his head in his hands and began sobbing.
===============
Akane looked around in disgust as she began cleaning the room after the 'guests' had finished their celebration. It was close to one o'clock in the morning, and Ishii had left the house with the other men, tossing back a reply that he would be back in the morning. Akane guessed that the real reason he left was because he did not want the responsibility of cleaning up after the other men.
Akari entered the room, carrying a few trays to carry out all the tea cups and sake glasses. She looked over at Akane and smiled.
"Do you think this is the big role that Ishii said we were going to be playing in his plans?"
"It better not be," Akane said. "Otherwise I'm going to turn him in."
Akari laughed and patted Akane on the back.
"Well, at least everybody was in good spirits," Akari said.
"I think that translates to mean 'at least they didn't get so drunk they began breaking things'," Akane said, but she was smiling.
As they began to clean up, they heard the front door open and someone come in.
Akane got to her feet and walked out into the hall, ready to give Ishii a verbal beating. Instead, she was greeted with Isamu Kimura.
"Oh, Mr. Kimura, a pleasure to see you again."
Kimura laughed. "What's with the formalities Akane?"
Akane blushed a little in embarrassment. "Well, I can't believe I wasn't able to recognize you when I first saw you. You were so important with everything happening before, and just can't believe that I would forget you."
Kimura laughed again and put a hand on Akane's shoulder.
"It's alright Akane, I forgive you. Ishii has told me everything. I want to tell you how sorry I am about Ranma, but if his luck is anything like his life, he's going to come out of this thing a decorated hero."
"Thank you Kimura," Akane said. She smiled at him. "May I ask why you decided to come back; I would have figured that you would be out with Ishii."
A grin appeared on Kimura's face. "Well, Ishii is actually, over at one of those guy's houses. He told me that he just really didn't want to be faced with cleaning up after the party."
Akane's face turned red. "That-that jerk! I'm going to skin him alive when he gets back here."
Kimura laughed again. "And the answer to your question is, I didn't think it was right to leave you all alone with only Akari and you to clean up a mess from so many people."
"Thank you Isamu," Akane said.
Kimura smiled at her and allowed Akane to lead him down the hall and into the living room. He greeted Akari and began to help cleaning.
It took nearly two hours to complete the cleaning, and by the end, the three of them had begun to feel the effects of the endless night.
After a long yawn, Akane asked Kimura, "Why are you joining Ishii and those others Kimura? Won't this jeopardize your position in the government?"
Kimura regarded her for a moment before motioning for them to follow him. He led them into the kitchen and motioned for them to sit at the table. He poured three cups of coffee and handed them out.
"If were going to be asking such serious questions were all going to need to be awake," Kimura said as he took his seat.
"To answer your question Akane, I am helping Ishii and the others for the exact same reason they are doing what they are doing. I don't believe in this war, and I definitely don't believe in the Prime Minister. The man is a lunatic, and I have many sources that have been whispering that it was the Prime Minister that ordered the assassination of the Emperor."
A gasp came from Akane and Akari.
"Why would he do such a thing?" Akane asked, horrified.
"The Emperor had found out that the Prime Minister had secretly developed nuclear weapons, and was planning on using them to threaten the United States and Russia. He also learned of the Prime Minister's goal to invade Siberia, along with China. The Emperor was supposed to write the American President about what he found out, but no one knows if he did or not. But the Prime Minister must think that he had the Emperor killed before he was able to send the letter."
"This was the thing that first convinced me that the Prime Minister needed to be removed from power. The next thing was what happened only two weeks ago. Apparently the Prime Minister has been having every sector of the government carefully inspected to make sure that everyone is being loyal to the government. In a move that would make Joseph Stalin proud, he has had almost seven hundred government officials arrested, simply because he 'suspected' that they might not be loyal. He is trying to turn this country into a communist state, one that he will have absolute control over."
"Japan can't survive as a communist state. If the Prime Minister succeeds, than we are going to lose the support of all superpowers, America, Canada, Russia, Britain; all of them are going to leave us high and dry. The only country on our side at this point is China, and probably some Middle Eastern countries, but that's about it. And once they're through with us, China is going to eliminate us as an ally. The Prime Minister of course doesn't see this. He believes that simply because he has developed nuclear weapons he can get away with anything. When he is finally proven wrong, it's going to be costly, but not to him, it will be costly for the people of Japan."
"I am not going to wait around and see if we eventually do get wiped out, I'm going to fight back. Even if it is as simple as getting the information to the public, I'm not going to sit back, I'll never allow this country to fall back into the dank pit that it used to be."
"The Prime Minister will pay for what he is trying to do to this country, and he will get what he deserves, whether it be from the people, or from other countries, he will not be allowed to continue on the path that he is on.
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Author's Notes: Whew! Sorry about the long delay, writer's block struck me down like a thunderbolt.
For those wondering who Kimura is (you obviously didn't read BoP, or maybe you just have really bad memories) I'll give you a quick recap.
Isamu Kimura is about thirty one years old in this story. In Balance of Power, he was a member of the Yakuza. He had a sexual encounter with the Oyabun's (the leader of the Yakuza) daughter, and was blackmailed into staying in the organization. When he met up with Minoru (you should definitely remember him) he was in China. They followed Ranma, Ryoga, Akane, Akari, Phil, Ishii, and Seiji to Qing Hai, and eventually to Jusenkyo. Once there, Kimura betrayed Minoru, and joined Ranma and the others, just when the PLA showed up in Jusenkyo and a firefight ensued. Seiji was killed during it, and Kimura went to America, where he was used as an informant for the United States government. He found out about China's plan to assassinate the Taiwanese president, and the United States was able to stop it. He then worked with the American and Japanese police to break down the Yakuza and have the organization destroyed. He then married the Oyabun's daughter and started a career in politics.
Whew! There you go.
Ranma is experiencing a great deal of stress. But don't expect him to snap like he did in Balance of Power. He's just going to be very cranky for the next chapters, and depressed.
Oh, and I sort of lost the notes my husband left for me on this chapter, so I had to improvise. That means that if anyone has a slight problem with the military aspects in the first part, it's my fault, and as soon as I can recover those files with the notes, I'll change it.
Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing.