Part Five - Care

Disclaimer: The concept of Ranma 1/2 and Naruto belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, and Masashi Kishimoto. This is a product of pure amusement values, with no profits made.

Ranma rolled down his shirt with a muffled groan, his hands shaking as he patted down the dark cotton around his hips, the pain was ever constant, burning and tearing along his back. Experience told him that it will fade within an hour or two, the fact eased him, if only a little.

"Was it you?" He whispered the question that had plagued him, caged by the presence of his guards for almost every single moment of his living, breathing existence he felt he was going to snap into a mass of dark hysteria, until he finally worked up the courage to demand.

Pause, followed by a small nod.

"Why?"

The medic-nin's hand shook for a moment, before she resumes wrapping up her pouch of acupuncture needles, milky-eyes deliberately kept away from him. "I am a ninja of the Hyuuga Clan, of the Hidden Leaf, Ranma-san, do not forget that."

"That doesn't expl…"

"Ranma-san." She cut him off forcefully, "You do not understand. My duty to my clan, to my village, rises above my personal beliefs…"

As Hokage, I am under the obligation of protecting the Hidden Leaf Village, that obligation outweighs any personal opinions I may, or may not have on this matter.

Bitterness swelled within him, Ranma choked it down. "Have I willingly entered my prison?"

"We live in a dangerous time," The woman continued as she shuffled the small pouch into the medic box, "You have refused us the truth while seeking aid, Ranma-san." Milky-eyes softened as she brushed a hand over the metallic container, "Confinement is quite reasonable in your situation… despite all evidence to the contrary, you are dangerous, Hokage-sama knows."

Click. The box snapped shut.

"Everything has a price." She paused, her hand pressed against the doorframe. "Swallow your pride, and pay for it. After all…" Her eyes hardened once more into expressionless, almost mockingly, "You're in our hands now."

And she was gone.

-------

A noise made him look up.

"Umm… Hi." Tsunade gave him her 'Guilty Smile', shuffling her feet at the door nervously before slipping into the room. Ranma caught a flash of white as the door closed, and resisted the urge to shudder, cursing mentally at the bane of his existence: his guard, member of ANBU, who just happened to wear a mask resembling THAT.

And constantly making him feel rather… twitchy… about the terms of his confinement.

A soft cough broke him out of his darker thoughts as Tsunade gave him another 'smile'. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, with ash-blond locks framing her delicate face, she had put on a darker shade of lipstick since the last time he saw her, the cherry-red bringing out the color of her eyes. It was only a darker shade of gold, yet it was so warm and open and human on her. Unlike…

Ranma blinked, and frowned, recalling that embarrassing morning, months ago.

The 'smile' wilted, leaving a large number of sweatdrops trailing down her temple.

Ranma crossed his arms across his chest, then winced, as the movement brought another sharp burst of pain across his shoulders.

"You're hurt again." Tsunade murmured, quickly moving to his side, surprise in her voice. A hand, aglow with Chakra, paused above his shoulder blades, then pressed down gently, after receiving a small nod of acceptance.

She's good. Ranma thought to himself, enjoying the numbing sensation that traveled down his back.

Akane slapped the band-aid on his cheek, hard. "Quit complaining! It's your fault for being a pervert in the first place!"

He winced again, this time not in pain. "Tha…"

"Sorry about… that time, Ranma-kun!" She suddenly burst out, "I… we… we were just, just curious. Didn't mean to get you drunk and look through your stuff… I mean!" Tsunade bit her lips, her hand was shaking on his back, fingers curling into the soft fabric of his shirt, "Sorry."

Slowly, Ranma twisted around, looking up to her eyes, "You looked through my stuff?"

Wince. "Really sorry."

Sigh. "It's… fine. I suppose. Not that there were much to begin with."

Awkward silence.

"So… Ranma-kun." Tsunade gave him a genuine smile, fidgeting her hands for some reason, "Want to… ah… get a drink together?"

Ranma blinked.

"I mean!" Tsunade hurriedly cleared her throat, seeing blue eyes widening in confusion. She gestured wildly with her arms before grabbing him by the elbow, "Jiraiya wanted to apologize too, he's at the ah…bar! Why don't we head over?"

"Ummm…"

"Great! Let's go then."

"Urk!"

-------

"Jiraiya, just apologize to him!"

"Why the hell should I do that? It was AGES ago, you flat-chested bi… ow!"

Why am I here? Ranma silently asked himself, keeping his eyes pinned to the single bottle of untouched sake on the table in front of him. Then he remembered his guard, who had literally been bullied 'off-duty' by Tsuande. Oh yeah, that's why. Still…

"Don't they know we can hear them?"

"Unfortunately, no." Orochimaru replied in dry amusement, sitting across from his pig-tailed companion, and looking exactly the same as the first day Ranma saw the man.

Ranma hmphed. Upon their arrival in the dingy little bar, Tsunade had immediately dragged Jiraiya out of his alcohol-induced stupor, flashed Ranma a smile before dragging her cursing friend a few tables over, were the two were soon indulged in a whisper-argument that had tuned up on the volume as it progressed.

Oh well. Ranma thought to himself. At least I have something to do… I think.

"Look!" Tsunade smacked Jiraiya loudly on the head, then blushed, as she noticed Ranma's look of curiosity, along with several other patrons of the bar. Turning back to her white-haired companion, she lowered her voice once more to a soft hiss, though Ranma was still able to catching a few mumbles here and there.

"Hm." Ranma commented intelligently. His silent companion laughed… inward, while maintaining his stoic appearance on the outside.

A few more minutes passed before Tsunade looked up with a cheerful smile, a suddenly disgruntle Jiraiya trailing behind her. "Ranma-kun!" She began with another smug smile, "Jiraiya's ready to apologize to you now… aren't you, Ji-rai-ya."

Jiraiya stomped over, muttering under his breath, slamming a hand on the table, knocking the bottles of sake all over, he started, "Hey, you…"

Ranma watched, with a growing sense of dread, as his bottle of untouched sake toppled over towards him in slow motion.

Splash.

Silence.

A fine red brow twitched, taking in the sight around her. Orochimaru was… blinking, for the first time since she met the man, and somehow the fact that Orochimaru was blinking creeped her out beyond words. Tsunade was suddenly huddling herself into a ball, a dozen horizontal lines of blue appeared around her head, mumbling something that sounded suspiciously like 'bigger breasts' into her knee.

"I LIKE YOU!" Ranma found herself grabbed around the shoulders by Jiraiya, a drooling Jiraiya, to be exact. The man bounced on his toes, looking Ranma up and down with a flushed face, talking to himself rapidly. "Awesome shape! Large up here, slim down here, and so round down there!"

Ranma twitched, clenching her hands into fists. It's like Happosai, only younger. Although he's already gotten the hair color in place.

Jiraiya raised his hands from Ranma's shoulder, fingers wiggling in the air, his eyes pinned to Ranma's sake-soaked chest, "Let's test the firmness, shall we?"

Punch.

Her fist was slammed into Jiraiya's jaw with all her strength, before the white-haired pervert could react. From the corner of Ranma's eyes, he noted that Orochimaru had snapped out of his surprise, and Tsunade out of her self-depreciation.

Jiraiya blinked as Ranma removed her fist, fiery red bangs hiding the anger blazing in her stormy blue eyes. "You sure you're supposed to be a guy? You're pretty weak, I hardly felt that punch."

Weak.

Ranma's face snapped up, glaring at Jiraiya with such intensity that he hurriedly took a step back.

"Weak." The man said as he slit the child's throat with a single, merciless stroke.

The taste of copper in her mouth suddenly overwhelmed her, and she lurched to the side despite the broken ribs, loosing the content of her stomach.

Cruel fingers dug into her scalp, forcing tears of pain into her eyes. Though blurry vision, the man smirked down at her, crooning mockingly. "Protect? You can't even protect yourself. You ignorant, pathetic little girl."

Ranma coughed, a thin trail of blood and vomit trailing down one corner of her mouth, slowly, she raised her arms across her chest, in all her cowering femininity. The man laughed, his fingers tightened on her scalp.

"Kijin Raisu Dan." She whispered softly, snapping her arms apart with lethal speed.

Her arms were pressed across her chest tightly, shaking from the restraint. The two were still watching her from the side, she disliked the calculated look Orochimaru was giving her, and Tsunade's hesitation did little to ease that sense of… senselessness swelling within her. Jiraiya was fidgeting, clearly uncomfortable from the level of hostility she was directing at him.

Weak.

Ranma turned, and ran.

-------

The village looked beautiful under the moonlight. The streets were empty of life and sound, save the occasional rustling, caused by the biting breeze. The same breeze that sliced his face, ruffling his bangs away from eyes closed in a simple moment of lost.

A noise behind him startled Ranma from his thoughts, turning, he caught a dark blur landing neatly in front of him, the frosted roof tiles made a soft 'click' upon the figure's arrival. Jiraiya.

Ranma looked around, noting the absence of his visitor's two almost constant companions.

Jiraiya shuffled his feet, upsetting the neat rows of tiles on the roof, Ranma frowned, but refrained from speaking, it wasn't his roof, after all.

Jiraiya mumbled something.

"Hmm?" Ranma inquired 'politely'.

"…sorry about today."

An arched eyebrow of incredulity was his response.

"Grr! Fine!" Jiraiya huffed, stomping his feet, "Tsunade said she'll kick my ass if I don't apologize, happy!?"

"Should I be?" Ranma retorted.

Jiraiya glared.

Ranma glared back.

"Look." Sigh. "I'm sorry, seriously, I am." More shuffling.

"Why should I believe you? You could just be taking pity on the weak!" He spat back venomously.

Brown eyes softened suddenly, Jiraiya pulled something out of his pouch. "Here."

It was a small bottle of sake.

An arched, and twitching eyebrow.

"I know we didn't get a good start, with… everything. But…" A casual shrug, black eyes suddenly clear in their wisdom. "Sometimes, it's easier to forget, if you…"

Blue eyes widened in surprise.

Ranma slowly took the bottle from Jiraiya's hands. "Thank you."

"You're welcome!" The white-haired man grinned, shedding the previous tense atmosphere with his exuberance, "By the way."

"Hmm?"

A lecherous grin. "I think your female bod's hot! Let's hang out more often!"

"Oh shut up!"

Laughter.

-------

TIMELINE – Year Four, late February.

And we have... progress! Woohoo!