Demon's Angel

Chapter 5

AN: the characters and settings of Gundam Wing AC do not belong to me, I'm just borrowing them to play with. OOC, AU, future Yaoi, and X-over warnings.

Thanks go to the following reviewers: Kuno-Baby, Innortal, Jerry Unipeg, and ranma hibiki. The encouragement helps keep me writing...

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Helen had a ritual, one she performed every night before going to bed. It was something that she had started doing soon after she'd arrived at St. Mary's Church and Orphanage on L2. It was now a habit, one that was started when two of the older boys were caught picking pockets when they should have been at the orphanage asleep in bed. Every night before she went to her room, Sister Helen double checked the locks on all the doors and windows and checked to make sure everyone was presesnt and accounted for in the dorms. That done, she would go to her own tiny room, say her prayers, and get ready to go to sleep.

In the last few days an extra stop had been added to her routine. At first she'd almost forgotten about Ranma and Duo's little cubby hole but catching the younger boy in the halls after lights out had reminded her. Now every evening she made sure to check that the two children sleeping in the old closet were settled in just like the rest.

What surprised her was that Duo was less of a problem since he had been moved in with Ranma. While he was in the dorms she could count on Duo disappearing before bed time at least two of three times a week. Since Ranma had shown up, he'd only taken off once, and he was back with in half an hour of her noticing he was gone. The most interesting thing was that with him he brought half a dozen books and a few other items that either she or Father Jim had given him that had subsequently disappeared.

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Father Maxwell was furious.

He'd finally managed to get young Ranma alone once he'd 'convinced' Duo to resume going to school a few days after the black -haired boy woke up. It had taken a lot of talking on his part and nearly dragging the younger boy out the door to get him to go back to school with out Ranma. In fact he didn't think he could have done it without Ranma's help. The older boy had been quite upset to learn that Duo had been skipping school to watch him and had insisted that Duo go back because he was perfectly capable of taking care of himself, thank you very much. The boy had seemed almost relieved, watching his shadow dissappear for at least seven hours.

That relief had left as soon as he was asked to join Father Maxwell in his office.

At first Father Maxwell just looked at the boy, wondering where to start. He knew from experience over the last few days that anything more subtle than asking the boy directly would be deliberatly misunderstood if it was something the boy didn't want to answer. So he said it flat out, giving the boy no choice but to answer yes or no. He didn't think he'd ever forget the conversation that followed.

"When we were cleaning you up after I found you, I noticed some odd scarring Ranma. I hate to ask this way, but were you raped?"

"Yes."

The boy seemed fascinated by the top of his desk as he sat bolt upright in his chair hands clenched tightly together.

Father Jim almost smacked himself in exasperation when he heard the next question out of his mouth. Of course the boy didn't want to talk about it! The response to his question suprised him however. Ranma said no, he didn't want to talk about it, but that he probably should. Seeing the boy's eyes for the first time since he came into the office, Jim could see that the boy was scared but determined, so he asked him to tell him what happened.

The story that haltingly followed left the priest enraged. How could a father sell his own child as a whore like that? And so damn young! He resolved to keep the boy safe and out of his father's hands, although by what Ranma said, the man was long since dead. He almost wished it wasn't so. At the moment, there was nothing he would have liked better than the ability to break the man's jaw and send him to prision.

It took a few moments, but when he finally came back to himself, he found Ranma watching him with wary eyes, apparently expecting Father Maxwell to take his anger out on him. He seemed rather suprised when the priest simply asked him if he was sure his father was dead and seemed disappointed when he confirmed that fact and that no, none of this happened on L2 so there wasn't anyone he needed to look out for.

After that the conversation switched gears and Father Maxwell began asking him questions about his schooling. Apparently he was planning to register Ranma at the local school as soon as he was well enough and they had figured out what level of classes to put him in. The priest seemed rather pleased by his level of knowledge for some reason and told him that they would try to get him into one of the classes at Duo's school after he took some placement tests.

He did seem a bit taken a back when Ranma asked him about a place to meditate and excercise. After figuring out that Ranma was looking for someplace quiet, out side and about the size of his office, he showed him a good sized flat spot on the rood of the orphanage that could be reached by a door at the top of the back stairs. It was a place that at one time had held a small flower garden when the neighborhood had been more prosperous.

After watching the boy stretch and begin an odd almost dance that reminded him of the Tai Chi he'd watched his mother do when he was a boy, he left the boy alone and returned to his office to resume working of the never ending paper work that came with running the orphanage.

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Ranma could feel the eyes on him as he began the first kata he'd ever learned. At half speed it looked quite peaceful, yet when used in earnest, it was very effective. Tuning out alal distractions yet remaining aware of his surroundings, Ranma continued his evaluation of his current physical strength, speed, and endurance. he was pleasently suprised to find that he had not lost as much as he had feared.

Soaked in sweat he settled down and began thinking about what he'd told Father Maxwell. He'd told the man only part of what his father had done seslling him for food, money, and liquor, but had left out most of his training as a martial artist.

Father Maxwell already had enough to try to understand about his past.

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AN: I'm sorry it's a bit short but I hope you'll all enjoy it anyway. There's going to be a bit of a time jump between this chapter and the next. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed.