Close Combat

Chapter 1

Old Friends

1145 Hours, 10 September, 2010

Tokyo, Japan

Despite what is a popular opinion in today's world, Japan does frequently participate in espionage throughout the global community. The Public Security Investigation Agency, or PSIA, functions much in the same manner as the CIA or FBI. Of course, considering that their entire employee roster consists of those born from Asian descent, it limit's the areas where operatives can effectively gather information from other nations.

The PSIA operates almost entirely in the Asian side of the world, at least as actual espionage is concerned. Actual espionage is however, a very small portion of what the PSIA consists of. Japan is one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world, and as such, they possess the ability to spy on other nations without having to go through the costly and dangerous act of infiltrating agents. The problem with being able to spy easily on other nations is the information that is collected consists of mostly garbage messages. The process of sorting through the information has been made easier over time, but it is still a lengthy ordeal and because of this, much information goes undetected.

Ranma Saotome was very much aware of that fact as he sorted through the papers on his desk. For the tenth time that day, he wondered why he had accepted the small office instead of the much larger one that Kimura had offered him. He admitted to himself that he did not want to seem greedy, but in retrospect, it had been a rather idiotic decision on his part.

Ranma, a tall muscular man with unruly black hair tied in the back with a simple pigtail had just recently celebrated his 30th birthday. Growing older hadn't done much to change Ranma's appearance from when he was a teenager, aside from his features became more refined and his shoulders grew broader. He was in his own honest opinion, devilishly handsome. An opinion he was careful not to express around his wife, for she was quick to bring rather blunt objects down upon his head whenever he was too arrogant.

Giving up on his futile attempt to organize the stacks of paper that littered his office, Ranma decided to go for a walk outside. The Diet building was too crowded for Ranma's taste, but the grounds outside were beautiful, and he often found himself walking, or practicing in them. Despite the desk job that he now possessed, Ranma had continued his martial arts training, taking every opportunity to hone his skills. Ranma practicing kata's was a rather common site outside the Diet building, and he had even acquired a few new students, actual Diet cabinet members, that joined him in his daily exercise routine.

As he walked at a leisurely pace, Ranma found himself musing over how different his life had been than he had expected it would be when he was younger. When he was 16, the only thing he believed he would do in his life would be to inherit the Tendo Dojo and spend his days teaching martial arts. A year later, that outlook had drastically altered when he and Ryoga met a man named Seiji Inafune.

Inafune, an unwilling participant in the Japanese Yakuza, had enlisted the help of Ranma and Ryoga to bring down the organization. They had done just that, but their actions had caused far too much attention to be brought upon them and they had run off to China to lay low while the heat died down. They had stirred up as much trouble in China as they had in Japan, and through that ordeal Ranma, Ryoga, Akane, and Akari had met Phil Parker. Seiji Inafune had died while in China, but his son Ishii took over his father's plight along with Isamu Kimura, a former Yakuza member that had assisted them in China.

Returning to Japan brought some semblance of normality back into Ranma's life, as he settled back into normal life though now with a few new friends thrown into the mix. It wasn't until a few months later when the People's Republic of China decided to invade Taiwan that things got out of hand once again. China was refusing to release Seiji Inafune's body, and Ishii enlisted the help of Ranma and Ryoga. The problem of getting into China was solved when Parker, who had helped foil an assassination attempt against the President of Taiwan, was going in with an American invasion force that was being sent into China to deal with the Politburo. Ranma, Ishii, and Ryoga had come along with Parker, who was a tanker officer in the Army. While under the guise of American soldiers, Ranma and Ryoga had been captured by the Chinese, and they, along with other American POW's had been taken behind enemy lines. Parker led his men in an attempt to rescue the prisoners, and when the Chinese realized they couldn't hold the line, they retreated, leaving the POW's, but not before they shot half of them.

Ranma had believed that Ryoga had been killed by the Chinese, but he had only been wounded, and the fact that he was of Japanese descent in an American uniform made him a desirable prisoner, and he had been taken back to Beijing, where he was eventually sent to a POW camp.

Soon China's superior numbers began to send the American assault in retreat, and the President of the United States panicked, ordering the assassination of the Politburo. The attack succeeded, but one member survived. Mai Zhisheng acceded to the title of Premier. The Americans pulled out of China, and for a while, it seemed that a stalemate had been made.

It wasn't until 4 years later, when UN sanctions against China began to take their toll, and China began to look north at Siberia with hungry eyes, that Ranma's life was again thrown for a loop. The Central Intelligence Agency had intercepted a message that contained information that seemed to point out that American soldiers had been captured during the war with China 4 years prior, were still alive and being help in a POW camp. Brigadier General Parker had received the report courtesy of his father, who worked for the CIA, and had sent the news off to Japan. Ryoga might not have been killed.

Before Ranma, Akane, and Akari, who had given birth to Ryoga's son during his absence were able to swallow that bit of information, the Japanese Prime Minister Shizuko, had made a military pact with China, agreeing to invade Siberia. Ranma had been conscripted and found himself in Siberia, working with the country that was holding his best friend prisoner. After several months of sparse fighting, the Russian and American forces in Siberia, who were under the command of a Russian General and General Parker, held the line outside of the city of Alden.

The battle was close, but Russian and American forces prevailed, and the Chinese and Japanese forces were pushed back, 30 000 Japanese soldiers taken prisoner in the process. Chinese Premier Zhisheng had been livid, ordered the immediate detainment of all Japanese soldiers, and then declared war on Japan. Ranma had not been captured by the Americans during the battle, but had been injured by Parker. Consequentially he was taken off the line and was arrested by the Chinese He and the other Japanese soldiers remaining had been sent back into China to a POW camp. Ranma, coincidentally wound up in the same cell as Ryoga, who had endured 4 years of harsh treatment.

Parker, who had found out about the Chinese taking the remaining Japanese forces prisoner, had staged an assault on the POW compound with the help of a Russian Lieutenant, Gregory Gogol. Ranma and Ryoga were rescued, along with the other prisoners, and were shipped off to a hospital ship. Ranma and Ryoga were given a short reprieve from the fighting while they recovered, but it did not last long.

The Chinese had reinforced its invasion force, and were pushing into Siberia once more. The Russian and American forces couldn't hold the line on their own, so Parker, who had taken over control of the entire force when the Russian commander was killed during the battle outside of Alden, requested permission to use the Japanese POW's. China had declared war on Japan, so they would be fighting against a common enemy. Parker received his permission, and all Japanese soldiers were to be sent back to Siberia. This caused Ranma and Ryoga to be sent back into the war as well. They found themselves on the front line of the final battle of the war. Ranma and Ryoga performed beyond what anyone had expected, even Parker who had seen them in action before, and they had essentially single-handedly won the battle.

Back in Japan, Akane, Akari, Ishii, and Kimura had not been idle while the war was going on. They staged a coup and overthrew the government. Kimura had revealed to the public that the Prime Minister had been developing nuclear weapons, and had been responsible for the assassination of the Emperor before the war. Kimura then became the front man for the new government, though not by his own choice, and was named temporary Prime Minister while the old government was slowly expunged from the system.

Ranma and Ryoga returned to Japan, to the waiting arms of Akane, Akari and their children. Parker led the charge into China, handled the unconditional surrender of the Chinese forces, and then placed Mai Zhisheng under arrest.

Ryoga had been placed in a hospital for a little while, same with Ranma. Ryoga had stayed longer than Ranma, since he was not yet fully recovered from his 4 years of prolonged malnutrition. He had also been placed under psychiatric evaluation. It had been rough for little while, but Ryoga got through the problems he faced.

Once Ryoga was fully recovered, they were approached by Isamu Kimura, who was still acting as temporary Prime Minister for the country. He asked them if they wouldn't be interested in coming to work with him. Kimura was still trying to get rid of all the Diet members that had supported Shizuko, and he was facing an uphill battle and considered anybody that he could actually have by his side that he knew he could trust to be a blessing. However, they had only a few months prior just returned from what was probably the most stressful times in their lives, Ranma and Ryoga went to work for Kimura.

Both men had a few duties around the Diet building. The PSIA sent over daily briefs on everything that they received, often in the forms of large folders containing hundreds of documents. Ranma often found himself poring over those documents from 5am to 8am. He chose which ones Kimura needed to see, and which ones the few other people around the Diet building that could still be trusted could see. Ryoga was often spared this mundane task, but only because he was Kimura's personal assistant/bodyguard. Kimura could get away with having Ranma cleared for all the intelligence gathered by the PSIA, but bringing another civilian off the street would have caused more attention than he wanted to be brought to the situation. So Ryoga was named Kimura's bodyguard, but he spent very little time doing so aside from driving with the Prime Minister from his home to the Diet building every morning.

Once the daily intelligence was sorted and taken care of, Ranma would join Ryoga in Kimura's office and more often than not be given jobs that Kimura needed to be taken care of. Ryoga would leave Kimura's side at that point, and go around the city putting out the fires that Kimura believed needed to be put out.

More often than not Kimura would need them to do something each day, but on rare occasions he would give them free reign for the day. This would often have Ranma and Ryoga stopping by the offices of Akari Hibiki, and Akane Saotome. Both women were acting presidents of Inafune, Powell, Saotome, and Hibiki. It was an investment banking firm that Seiji Inafune had owned 51 of the stock and which he had left to both his son Ishii, and Ranma and Ryoga. Ranma took over the company along with Akari, who had taken over for Ryoga, considering he was unable to run the company for obvious reasons. When Ranma was drafted into the Japanese Army, Akane had taken over the reigns that he had once held and both she and Akari ran the company.

Akane quickly showed everyone that she could handle the role, and even made a few improvements in Ranma's absence. It had therefore not been much of a problem when Ranma returned from the war and didn't bother going back to work for the company.

To say that everyone was happy now would be the epitome of the word understatement. For the first time in a long time there hadn't been unseen problems, and no insane world leaders had decided to attack a nearby country. Of course, with Ranma's position in the new government, he'd at least get as close a heads-up as possible if that were to occur.

Smirking to himself at that thought, Ranma almost failed to detect the aura fast approaching him. Reacting quickly, Ranma back flipped up and over the threat, sending a twisting scissor kick towards their midsection. His attack was evaded, and Ranma's foot touched the grass just as the attacker threw a snap kick at his throat. Ranma simply leaned back, letting the leg stop an inch from his neck. Continuing his movement, Ranma leaned back until he was falling towards the ground, and brought his leg out to knock the attacker's remaining leg out from under him. The person anticipated this, and jumped just as Ranma's foot was about to impact his leg. Ranma used his arms to push himself up quickly, using he motion his leg sweep had produced to jump backwards a few meters from where the attacker had landed.

"What did I do to tick you off this time Ryoga?" Ranma asked evenly as he eyed the man carefully.

Ryoga smirked and dropped his offensive stance.

"Just trying to keep you on you're toes Ranma," he replied as he walked over and clapped Ranma on the shoulder. "You finish going through the morning intelligence?"

"Yeah, took me 3 hours," Ranma complained. "Tomorrow your gonna skip driving with Kimura so you can help me go through tomorrow's debrief."

Ryoga laughed in reply and nodded his head.

"Sure thing, with someone that can actually read going through them, it should only take 10 minutes."

That comment elicited a growl from Ranma and it was several more minutes before they headed back inside. They were just passing through the metal detectors when a man they both recognized as Kimura's secretary approached them.

"The Prime Minister wishes to see the two of you at the moment," he announced in an almost regal tone.

Ranma and Ryoga traded a look. Both were quite aware there were several members of the Diet and their lackeys that regarded them as whores in a church. To the Diet members, Ranma and Ryoga were severely lacking when it came to giving the Prime Minister the respect that the title warranted. Despite the fact that it was well known around the building that both men were friends with the Prime Minister. If that wasn't bad enough, Ranma and Ryoga were low-ranking soldiers, yet they were privy to any information that they deemed was worth their attention.

Once the clean up after the war had been completed, Kimura had decided to keep Ranma in the military and had arranged a commission for Ryoga, believing correctly that it would be easier for them to get around if they were soldiers rather than civilians. Ranma had been promoted to Captain, now Major, and to keep things even between the two of them, Ryoga had been promoted to Major shortly after Ranma's promotion came through.

What made both of them privy to whatever information they wanted to see, was the small leather-bound booklet that they carried on them at all times. Inside was a single sheet of paper. What was written on the paper often made the person's eyes widen in surprise when they read it.

By Direction of the Prime Minister

This document authorizes the following individuals the authority to see all documents/information that they wish to see:

Maj. Ranma Saotome

Maj. Ryoga Hibiki

These individuals are acting under orders of the undersigned.

Isamu Kimura, Prime Minister

"Lead the way," Ranma offered. Kimura's secretary nodded stiffly and turned around to take them to the Prime Minister's office. Once they arrived he motioned for Ranma and Ryoga to wait, pushed an intercom on his desk, and announced that they had arrived.

"Send them in please," Kimura's voice ordered and they were sent in.

"Hey Kimura, I hear you carry a little authority around here so I was wondering if you might use some of it to take the stick that's shoved up everyone's ass and take it out a few inches," Ranma said once the door was closed behind them.

Prime Minister Isamu Kimura shook his head slightly but had to smile at that. He was a tall man, already into his early 50's with hair that was beginning to show the first signs of turning gray.

"The Royal Guard not treating you guys right?" Kimura inquired with a smile. He was well aware just how much duress the presence of Ranma and Ryoga caused to the somewhat security conscious people around the Diet building.

"That'd be putting it lightly," Ryoga interjected. "Your secretary acted like he was shepherding a couple of lepers."

"You have to understand, a lot of the people remaining from what the media has dubbed my 'purges', have a severe case of self importance. They float around the throne, and consider themselves to be the old nobles of the Shogun Empire. You two are a heavy dose of reality to them, and just how unimportant they are most of the time," Kimura explained.

"Akane likes to say that there's only 3 people in this whole building that actually do anything other than run around in circles," Ranma said.

"Oh? I know I'm one of them, but who would the other two be?" Kimura asked, an innocent expression plastered to his face.

Ranma and Ryoga both gave Kimura a rude gesture and then laughed.

"All complaining aside," Kimura began, "was there anything noteworthy in this morning's intelligence Ranma?"

Ranma shook his head.

"No, Parker fed us some info on the situation in Iran, seems that things are going to turn ugly over there pretty fast. Other than that, North Korea is still being unnaturally quiet. Estimates show that since the American sponsored UN aid sanction, the NK's should just about be running out of food, and usually when that happens they promise to stop building up their army and nuclear enrichment plants. Then we send food and money in, which just goes straight to the military and not to the people," Ranma said. "However, this time they've been quiet, and satellite imagery that Parker sent over has shown nothing out of the ordinary."

Kimura grunted. "Any new intel on the supposed meeting Jong Il held a couple days ago?"

"Nope, it'll be awhile before Parker can confirm it, if he ever does, and even if he does it doesn't begin to explain just what might have been said in there."

Kimura took that in at face value and digested the news for a moment before turning to Ryoga.

"You were in South Korea watching over Ishii while he was at some inane banquet in Seoul last week, did you get a feel of the people there?"

Ryoga took a moment to gather his thoughts before starting.

"The South Korean citizens are in pretty much the same state of mind that they've been in for the past 50 years. They think the first Korean War never happened, and consider the American occupation, however small it may be, to be a plague upon their soil that should be removed at the earliest opportunity. The thought that North Korea could possibly be planning to move south past the 38th parallel doesn't seem to cross many of their minds. Most people would sooner think that United States would try and take them over."

Kimura sighed and Ranma swore softly. Ryoga smirked at Ranma's response before continuing.

"During the banquet I got the chance to meet up with Gregory Gogol while the more important guests mingled. He told me that some Russian nuclear sites have been abandoned in the past few months or so, and the scientists haven't been heard from since. The Russians aren't making that bit of information privy, even to Parker, but Gogol saw the chance to get the news out and took it. I don't want it to get back to the Russians that Gogol told me so if we tell Parker about this I'd feel a lot better if it was a hand courier that delivered the message."

"That would probably be best," Kimura agreed. "Parker and you two may have kept them from having Siberia taken away but the politicians in Moscow are still loath to admit that everything isn't as hunky dory as they say it is over there."

"So what do you want us to do?" Ranma asked, sensing that Kimura was on the verge of issuing some orders.

"Parker needs to hear about the Russian scientists bugging out, and I can't think of any two people I trust more to deliver the message than you two," Kimura said with a smile. "Pack you're bags, you two or on your way to Washington."

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Author's Notes: Well, there we go, Ranma and Ryoga are back. But oh my, their practically old men. Don't worry, their not going to be suffering from a mid-life crisis in this story.

Sorry about the long recap of the last two stories in here. People complained about their short memories, and I figured it'd be a bit nicer to have them have to read a couple pages to get back in the game instead of 300 pages.

Next chapter is underway, keep an eye out, and please give me your thoughts on this chapter.