Miscellaneous Debris

Chapter 2

Recommended listening: "The First Single", by The Format, off of their album Interventions and Lullabies

Ver. 0.2.1

I agreed to go with them, and then they drugged me. Chloroform, I think, but it could have been something else. Anyway, when I woke, I was bandaged up and on a plane. Strapped down, of course. "Sorry for the restraints, Ranma," said the man who had killed Ukyo, "but you understand, we aren't sure yet how compliant you will be in the future." And then he stuffed the rag in my face again, and everything went black.

That happened a couple more times before we got where we were going. I'd wake up, strapped to something or other, and we'd be moving – train, plane, even in the back of a van. Then they'd knock me out.

The last time I woke up, I was in a room. Small room, 'bout the size of a closet. Maybe a little bigger. You know, enough room for me to lay down, but not much else.

From what I could tell, it was a hut. Dirt floor, wooden walls with holes in them, that type of place. The door was locked, and I was still hurt pretty much everywhere, so all I could do was cry.

I was still really messed up. Ukyo had just died, for me. I didn't know how long it had been, but as far as I was concerned, the bus had hit her twenty minutes ago.

I stayed in that cell for about a week, I think. Food came to me via a slot under the door, and I nursed my wounds in silence. I dug a small pit by my feet, where I could relieve myself. Occasionally someone would come close enough so that I could hear them talk, but everything I heard was in Vietnamese.

After a time, the door finally opened. By this time I had healed for the most part, but I was getting sick from being so close to my own filth for so long. I tried to put up a tough front, but the woman who grabbed me could have snapped me like a twig, and I'd not have been able to stop her.

She started leading me somewhere, and I started in with my questions. Where the hell am I, what are you going to do with me, stuff like that. But she didn't even blink twice, just kept moving me toward some unknown destination.

We finally arrived, I guessed, because the lady stopped and shoved me through a curtained doorway. I picked myself up and looked around, only to find a panel of about seven older people staring at me, and Ukyo's killer standing off to the side.

I bared my teeth at him, but before I could move, one of the people said, "Wait. There will be no fighting in this room."

"All right," I snarled, "then can I take this joker out back and kill him there?"

I was surprised when everyone in the room laughed. The woman who had spoken before - I took her to be the leader in this situation - addressed me with an affectionate smile, of all things. "Well, you are more than welcome to try, but there are certain rules in this society concerning duels. It would be best to save that for a later date." She spread her arms, indicating the other seven people in the room. "Welcome to the village of Núi Phương tây, Ranma Saotome, and welcome to the Order of Lòng Trung Thành."

Then they all bowed to me, even the killer. I was a bit off guard at this point, so I just bowed back weakly. "Uh... what?"

Eloquent, I know.

"First things first," said the woman, "Let us introduce ourselves. I am the leader of the Village Council, Hoa Mới, and to my sides are the other members." She went on to introduce the others, but they didn't play a very large part in my life, so you don't need to know their names. "Collectively, we make up the ruling body of this village."

"Okay..." I said, when she paused and looked at me expectantly. "So, uh, what's all this about the Order of Long Trunk Tans, or whatever?"

But she just waved my question off. "We will get to that in good time. First, we want to welcome you to our village. After you are comfortable here, your training will begin. Nghe Tốt over there, whom you have already met, is the leader of the Training Council. He will be personally overseeing your training, as you are somewhat of a special case, Ranma Saotome."

"NO!" I screamed. "I want nothing to do with that murderer. I'm going to kill him, and that's it."

The most surprising thing, I think, was that Hoa Mới's entire personality changed so quickly and so terribly. "Listen to me, Ranma Saotome, you petulant child. You belong to us. You will do as we say, every minute of every day. There is no negotiation, there is no refusal. You do, or bad things happen."

Again caught off guard, I just stared at her until I could get my mouth to work. "What the hell are you talking about? I don't belong to you! You kidnapped me! You came and harassed me for a month before killing my best friend in front of my eyes, beating me half to death, drugging me and dragging me," I gestured around wildly, "who knows where!"

"You are mad at us, yes?" Hoa Mới was calm, calculating. "You feel we have wronged you, yes?" I nodded, and she snapped forward with such speed that I barely had time to twitch before my throat was in her hand. "Your father is the one who deserves your ire. He made a deal with us, and then reneged by running off with you. He is the one who condemned your friend to die. He is the one who cheated us," and she squeezed my throat for emphasis, "out of one million Japanese yen. WE are the victims here, Ranma, as much as you." She tossed me down onto the ground and I, of course, started coughing. "Our society works very differently from others with which you may be familiar." She gestured to the other Village Council members. "None of us here were born in the village. Very few children are born here, for various reasons which we will cover later. So how do we survive, you ask? We do favors for people who can not afford them, and in return, we ask for a small token: a child.

"Most of the time," she continued, pacing in front of me like a math teacher, "how this agreement works is that a poor family with too many mouths to feed asks us for something. Money, generally, for doctor's fees or more livestock, but it is not uncommon for a family to ask for protection from gangsters, or even a small village to request aid in clearing their roads after a particularly nasty monsoon. You see, we do favors, and in return, we ask for nothing more than our continued survival." She stopped and turned to look at me again, her gaze piercing. "Usually.

"Usually, these families have a half-dozen children, and no way to feed them. Usually, we are doing an additional favor to the family by taking these babes off their hands." She leaned down, and I involuntarily flinched. "But your father was a special case.

"He came to us and begged for money. He explained that he had a gambling problem, and had to pay off some gangsters. He'd heard about us from the local villagers. We tried to explain to him that he needed to give us something in return, that this was not a charity service. He assured us that anything of his was fair game. And so we said we wanted a child."

I wanted to close my ears, but I knew it was true. Pop had done some pretty crazy things, as you all know. Well, maybe the two new guys here don't know, but just ask your wives later. They'll tell you. My father was kind of a bum.

Anyway, she went back to her seat and spoke again. "He was very quick to agree to our terms. We, of course, wanted to see you before he went running off with our money. So he brought you here - you must have been seven or so at the time, and you were fast asleep. No doubt you remember nothing of the encounter.

"We immediately refused. We take babes young enough to mold, not grown children who have already begun to develop personalities and attachments to family. But he begged and pleaded, and assured us that you were more than worth the trouble. He said that he'd been training you in martial arts, and that when it came time to train you in our own ways, you would be head and shoulders above the rest of the initiates." Hoa Mới sighed and closed her eyes. "It was not an easy decision to make, of course. Our traditions are such that the mere idea of acquiescing to this bargain was repulsive. But your father is quite the salesman, Ranma Saotome, and he managed to convince enough of us to get the money." She opened her eyes again, but looked at the ceiling. "Including myself. What a fool I was."

Her gaze locked with mine once more. "As soon as he had the money he disappeared. The Council was thrown into chaos, and the predecessor in my position was forced to duel for his life. He was killed, and I ascended to the position of Village Chief. And as soon as the transfer of power was complete, I started to use my influence to fix this problem. I was in this very deeply myself, Ranma Saotome. I had also been in favor of the deal. I wanted your father caught and killed, and I wanted what was rightfully ours - namely, you.

"It took some convincing of the other Council Members, both in the Village Council and the Training Council, but eventually we decided to send people after you. Two of them, actually. And they have been searching for you ever since." She smirked then, and I thought that, despite all odds, she actually looked rather matronly. "You and your father left a swath of destruction a mile wide, but for some reason they could never quite catch up with you. Until last year, that is, when you finally stopped moving and settled in Japan. Naturally, when the two agents reported back that they had found you, I and the rest of the Council were ecstatic. We could finally erase this blemish from our past.

"But," she sighed, "your family is full of surprises and problems, and we were forced to sit idly by as ghosts and weirdoes from all over the globe came to fight you, Ranma Saotome. Thankfully for us, you dispatched them all quite handily, and we decided to wait, to let you accrue martial mastery at your own pace. After all, we are a society that exists in the shadows, and letting these... characters know about us would bring more harm than good.

"And then you defeated Saffron, and there were none left. None but us."

She spread her arms wide. "And here you are."

"And now you want me to, what, smile and play along?" Incensed, I jumped back to my feet. "I don't care what my father promised! I'm my own person, and I'm not joining your freaky cult!"

"Ah, but surely you see our predicament, no? We lost very much because of you." She was calm again, and that put me on guard.

"Look, if you want your money back, I can get it. That won't be a problem."

"I am not just talking about money." I could feel the jaws of a trap starting to close, and I didn't like it. "We have lost money, yes, but also a fair amount of honor, about ten years of time, and a very good Village Chief. No, Ranma Saotome, you have cost us more than you think. And now that we have you, we do not intend on letting you go again."

At that moment I felt more afraid than I have ever felt in my entire life.

"Minh Màu, tell Ranma Saotome how this will work, please."

The old man on the end, closest to the murderer, spoke. "Ranma Saotome, you are now a part of our society. This means that you will abide by our rules. You will perform tasks around the village as you become familiar with our society and customs. Toward this end, we have assigned you a guide, whom you will meet after this meeting is adjourned. She will teach you our ways, and also our language."

"But you speak Japanese."

Again, all assembled laughed. "The Councils do, yes, but not the general village population. No, you will learn Vietnamese, as well as any other languages we feel will benefit you. You will be assigned sleeping quarters, village clothes, and when the time comes, training clothes. You will be given a strict ration of food each day. And, most importantly," the man's eyes glinted dangerously, "you will not try to escape. You are ours, Ranma, and you will remain ours."

The killer spoke. I had to restrain myself from attacking him. "You will find that, though we wish you to have a degree of self-sufficiency, and even to learn to embrace life here in our village, we are not stupid. And we realize that you are not stupid, either. Which is why we want to assure you that any disobedience will be on your head." He had the audacity to smirk. "Do we understand each other?"

I couldn't even speak. I just nodded, once.

"Good." The Village Chief smiled and clapped her hands together. "Then our meeting is adjourned. Saya!" she yelled, "Come in here!"

A young girl came out of a side door I hadn't even noticed before. She couldn't have been older than thirteen, but she carried herself dangerously. "Ranma Saotome, meet Saya. She will be your guide for the next few weeks."

Her bow was formal, cold. I couldn't even look at her, let alone bow back.

"You will have to forgive Ranma Saotome, Saya. He does not mean to be rude; he has just been through a great deal lately." Saya nodded at the Chief, but her expression did not change. "Ranma, you will follow Saya until I personally inform you that you may stop. Understood?" Again, I refused to answer. I refused to even look at her. "...Very well. Saya, take him to your quarters. He should rest. He looks sickly." Saya made for the door, and the Chief addressed me again. "You would do well to follow her instructions carefully, Ranma. She is a sharp child. And you won't like the consequences if you rebel."

I held my head high as I walked out of that room, following the little girl that would be my guide. I tried to look proud, strong, but the tears running down my face betrayed my true feelings.

Saya was actually eleven, I would come to learn, but you wouldn't know it from how she acted.

The first night she showed me to our sleeping quarters - a cramped hut with nothing but two small cots, a small window, and the doorway. It was dark outside, so I couldn't truly tell where she was leading me, but it didn't matter. I was too... I don't know, sad? Sad. I was too sad to pay much attention to anything, anyway. Though I did notice that the meeting hall had been relatively modern in appearance, having a wooden floor and electricity.

Unfortunately, Saya's and my hut was decidedly less modern. It was a hut in every sense of the word, being made out of what appeared to be reeds or bamboo shoots. There was no door, just a curtain separating inside from out. The window, likewise, was left wide open, save for mosquito netting.

Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked.

As soon as we got into the hut, Saya started to undress. "Sleep. You will feel better in the morning."

I sat down on my cot heavily, heard it creak under my weight. There were so many things going through my head, still, that I didn't notice anything until Saya stood in front of me, naked but for underwear. "Sleep, Ranma Saotome. We wake early."

And she crawled onto her cot, covered herself with the small blanket, and was off to sleep.

I was completely flustered on top of being devastated, confused, angry, hurt, uh... what else is there? Pretty much every emotion in the book, I guess. I was disturbed that a girl of that age would still be totally fine getting naked in front of a stranger, but that was the least of my worries. I lied back on my cot, and thought.

I didn't sleep that first night. I was consumed with thoughts of my father, selling me for a million yen - something that is very much possible. I thought of Ukyo... I thought about a lot of things.

Man, that image of Ukyo's lifeless body... it haunts my dreams.

But I resolved to beat this, whatever it took. If they wanted to teach me martial arts, that was one thing. But if they thought I was going to just lie back and let them get away with murder, well, that was something else entirely.

I just had to be very careful.

So anyway, that first day was strange. This little girl...

(Ranma sighs and leans back, resting on his hands.)

Here's the deal: I have ten years to get through, and if I'm going to do it in a night, I'm going to have to gloss over some of the more boring stuff. Sorry.

The important things about that first couple of weeks, in summary:

It was a fairly large village, a little more than a square kilometer. The training facilities were separate, but almost as big.

We were in the Kon Tum province of Vietnam – I didn't find that out right away, but you should know that bit of info.

The majority of the village did not have electricity, but was mostly built out of wood. There were only a few huts.

Everyone worked, no exceptions. I was doing labor as of noon the first day.

They were almost completely self-sufficient, growing their own food and everything.

Baths were not separated by sex, which explains why all of the women completely lacked modesty.

They had a very rigidly defined daily schedule.

All members of the society were trained in combat, and were a part of the Order.

And the big thing, the reason they were training all the time? When the Order was not tending the fields, they were hiring themselves out as mercenaries. That's how they made their money, the stuff they lent to poor farmers in exchange for babies. They whored themselves out to everyone from governments to terrorists.

Mostly, when the Order went to work for a different organization, they would end up training ground troops or police officers. Sometimes assassinations were requested, and sometimes squads of up to 15 were hired for surgical strikes - but that was the largest number of people allowed outside in a group. Strict secrecy was the only way to ensure that their home would not be attacked by unhappy employers or bitter rivals or whatever.

So after a few weeks of working the farms, I had been eating and sleeping - if not regularly, then at least more than before - so I was feeling better physically. I also had a pretty good idea of the layout of the place. Plans were starting to develop.

I had planned out my escape route, even gone so far as to stash bits of my food ration every day for traveling. Then one morning Saya woke me up and said, "Today is the day we start your training. Come." And she was off. I had to shake the sleep out of my limbs as I was running to catch up. She took a different route that morning, and moved away from the village.

I panicked. I don't really know why; I guess I thought of this training as the last step before I became one of them. So I let her get ahead of me and as soon as she was out of sight, I bolted.

I didn't even make it out of the village. A couple of guys stopped me just before I got out of the town proper.

I put up a pretty good fight, really. In fact, in the ten years since, I'd have to say that I'm most proud of that day's fight.

I took those two guys out with virtually no problem. Then a few more people showed up, and I was able to lead them into a Hiryu Shoten Ha, so I thought that was that. But then the villagers around me started attacking. I was able to fend off the guys, but the women were pretty darn good, and of course at the time I still had an aversion to hitting women. (Ranma clears his throat and looks around the table nervously.) I mean, hitting women who were attacking me, of course. I'd never hit a woman in a domestic situation. That's just wrong.

(Ranma fidgets nervously, fighting off the stares from around the table.)

Come on, you know what I meant.

The fight. Right.

The people just kept coming. The old ghoul's training – sorry, Cologne's training had really helped with my speed and strength, and I was able to last a good while due to the endurance training from fighting with Ryoga and Happosai and Pantyhose Taro and… you know the list, I don't have to finish.

But they eventually wore me down, primarily because I wouldn't actually strike any of the girls. At least, that's what I tell myself.

Long story short, I ended up in front of the Village Council again, and the leader lady was none too happy. "Well, Ranma Saotome, I can't say that I expected you to completely surrender, but neither did I imagine that you'd take out almost five percent of our population. I'm impressed, but also disappointed." She looked me square in the eye – hell, she looked deep into my soul, it felt like. "That's strike one." Then she waved her hand, and I was brought of to a detention cell for two weeks.

That was pretty bad. The place they brought me was a bamboo hut, like the first one I'd seen. I broke the walls a couple of times, tried to escape, but they'd assigned guards. I got moved to another hut, where I tried to escape again. The third time they got fed up and chained me to the ground.

They kept an electric light on at all times; they removed the mosquito netting, so I got positively eaten alive every morning and evening; they fed me once a day, and not much; and of course I had to defecate on myself.

Two weeks of that. The whole situation kept me from sleeping, and whenever I actually managed to pass out, the guards would kick me or pour water on my face.

Heh. You think you get strung out after an all-nighter, try a two-weeker.

I started hallucinating, talking to myself, got really sick, too. After about six days, I blacked out.

Dr. Tofu can fill you in on the details of sleep depravation, I'm sure. I must have gotten some sleep during that period, or I'd be dead, but I can't imagine I got a lot.

The next thing I remember is Saya helping me back to our little hut, and then sleeping. I stayed in bed for another few days, writhing from feverish dreams where I relived Ukyo's murder, or I watched Kasumi and Nabiki get flayed alive, or my father sell the whole Tendo family on an auction block.

Eventually I woke up for real, and my roommate nursed me back to health. We worked on my Vietnamese – which is a damn hard language to learn – and I learned a little more about her. I was still psycho from the improvised sleep depravation tank they'd left me in, and I needed any human contact I could manage.

I'd ask her questions like, "How old are you?" and "Do you know where your real family is from?" and stuff like that, but for a long time she just ignored me.

My persistence finally paid off late in the second day. "If I answer your questions, will you shut up?"

"Uh… yeah, sure, why not."

"Fine." She sat down on her cot and glared at me. "Ask."

The interview didn't last long; only a few minutes. But I found out that she was originally from Japan, as well. Her parents had sold her when she was four, making her somewhat of a special case like me. She still remembered a little bit of her family, but wasn't really connected to them in any way. "They aren't my family anymore. The people here are."

Then I was out of questions and she was out of patience. I ate some weak broth she'd brought for me. I was about to go back to sleep, but she said, "You stink. We're going to take a bath."

Let me tell you, having an eleven year-old girl wash you because you're too weak to do it yourself… it's pretty crazy.

Oh, hell, I almost forgot. Sorry about this, but it's kind of second nature to me now.

Yes, I was still cursed, and I still am. (Ranma rubs a hand over his bald head.) And let me tell you, my female body has aged much more gracefully than my male body.

But yeah, the Village Council knew about the girl curse. They'd been following Pop and me for ten years, after all. The villagers found out pretty quickly, too, 'cause I took a bath the first day I was there.

Heh. Some international assassins. There was a virtual riot when I changed the first time. But the Council soon got things under control, and some of the villagers had heard of Jusenkyo after all, so no big deal.

Back to the story, then.

So Saya took care of me for the next few days, and then I started in on work again.

Cut to three weeks later, when Saya woke me up early. "Come, you start your training today." She turned away, but glanced back long enough to intone, "And no escape attempts, this time."

Well, you know me. Always up for a challenge. And I'd been feeling extra perky that week, finally recovered from my stay in the detention cell. So I followed Saya to the edge of town, and when she went off one direction, I went the other.

After that I was gone. North, or as north as I could manage. I figured that north would be China, and from there I could make my way east, back to Japan. Maybe take me a couple of months, but I'd make it, and then I could get to rooting out these assholes and getting their little society erased.

So I'd probably been going for a half an hour or so, but they caught up with me. Saya caught up with me, actually. Of course I was surprised, and I bolted as soon as I saw her; but other people were there too and they caught me up in an ambush.

I was able to hold my own for a bit, but they eventually wore me down, knocked me out.

When I woke I was back in the village. I couldn't see much, but I knew I was in a cell of some sort – about as big as the first room I'd seen in the village. Hoa Mới came to the door and said, "Strike two." Then a guy came in and hauled me off to be tortured.

And yes, this was real torture. Red hot irons, bamboo spikes under my fingernails, the whole shebang. They didn't even speak; they just doled out my punishment, completely stone-faced and silent. I've still got scars from that.

I blacked out a lot over that next week – which is how long it took. A week of torture. I didn't know that at the time, but I figured it out.

Eventually they brought me to their infirmary area and I recovered for over a month. Saya came by every day to help with the Vietnamese lessons, but she didn't once mention the escape attempt.

Hoa Mới did, though. She visited once a week, at least, just to rub in how I'd already used up two strikes – whatever that meant – and it hadn't even been four months yet.

I spent that time steeling myself for escape attempt number three. I worked out every angle, every trick, every detail. I knew how, where, when. I even knew who they had tailing me – though 'tailing me' is an exaggeration because I was still laid up in recovery.

The first day I felt one hundred percent, I was out. I didn't even wait for Saya to come and take me back into the hut they wanted me to call home. Middle of the night, I snuck out of the infirmary and disappeared.

I did actually make it as far as China, I think. It had been more than two weeks, anyway, when they caught up with me.

(Ranma sighs heavily.)

If the fight earlier was my best in the last ten years, this was the worst. Four of them came at me, from all sides, while I slept. I managed to wake up in time and fend off the first two, but the others grabbed me and held fast.

I was NOT going back to that damn village.

I…

Look, this is still hard for me. This was a big turning point in my life.

(Ranma runs his hands down his face slowly, working up the courage to speak.)

I killed for the first time that night. Or second, if you count Saffron. Whatever.

Dead.

Was a woman, too. I didn't know it at first; it was night and I'd just been woken out of sleep.

But she was dead, sure as I'm here talking to you. I grabbed her neck and just twisted. No chance of survival. I looked down, shocked at myself, at how my hands had just moved of their own accord, and I… stared at her for a second.

Then the other three got to me and dragged me back to the village. Literally, I mean. I kicked and screamed the whole way. But when I got back...

(A full minute of silence.)

You… you have to realize that I didn't know what I was doing, what I was risking. I was scared out of my mind, every minute of every day, and I thought that they had already done their worst to me. Physical torture, mental torture – I'd survived, and they could do no worse.

Well they took me to a room in the main building and your father was there, bound and gagged.

(More gasps, and a choked sob.)

(Ranma drops his voice to a whisper.) I know. They told you he'd just disappeared, that they'd looked everywhere but couldn't find him. Well I found him. He was still alive, but they made me watch while they… they…

(Kasumi starts to sob, and Nabiki's water glass shatters in her hand.)

(Ranma slams his fist down on the table.) Damnit, I didn't know! I didn't know they would do that! Up 'till that point it had been all bluff and bluster!

(Ranma begins whispering again.) I didn't know what the strikes meant.

Nabiki lunged for Ranma and grabbed his shirt, her bloody hand dripping a trail across the table. "Are you telling me that it's your fault our father disappeared, Ranma? And answer your question very fucking carefully."

Ranma didn't even move. He simply looked back at Nabiki, unshed tears glistening in his eyes. "You don't know what it's like to feel responsible for someone's death. For the last ten years, every time I close my eyes, I see Ukyo's pulverized face, or hear your father's screams. The few times I do manage to sleep I dream of…" The man turned his eyes toward the floor. He aged thirty years in the span of a few seconds. "I've done horrible things, Nabiki. You want me to rationalize, or give you excuses? I can do that. I've been telling myself those things for a long time. But I didn't come here to lie to you. So I guess the answer is yes."

Kasumi's sobs redoubled, and Akane had to grab Takeshi's shoulder to keep from fainting. "I'm impressed that you'd own up to it like that," whispered the other sister. And then she balled her good fist and started pummeling Ranma about the face and head.

Ranma didn't even try to stop her. He just took her punishment as calmly as he could. Kasumi managed a weak, "Nabiki!" but couldn't manage to dissuade the suit-clad Tendo on the table.

Nabiki eventually stopped when Ranma's nose broke a second time. Ranma dropped back to the floor, and she spoke. "I'm done with this bastard. I'm calling the police, and he's going to jail." She slid off the table and went for her purse.

Akane, pale as a ghost, stopped her. "No. Nabiki, no. Father has been gone for nine years. We've all come to terms with that in our own ways."

"But now we know what happened. Ranma and his friends kidnapped and killed him!"

Kasumi tried to speak through her tears. "Nabiki, have you been listening? I don't think he chose to have Father…" That was as far as she got before she had to bury her face into Tofu's chest.

"You're kidding me!" Nabiki's incredulous shriek cut through the night air like a knife. "You're actually defending this guy?!"

One of the men spoke up; Takeshi had taken his wife's hand and was looking to Nabiki. "We all know how important family is to you, how badly you took your father's disappearance. But Akane doesn't blame Ranma any more than she could blame me; things were out of his hands." Akane swallowed hard and nodded. "And she's the one with the most reason to hate Ranma, yes?"

Nabiki shook her head. "Et tu, Takeshi?"

"Look, everyone here is skeptical at best. But if anything he's told us so far is true, then things really were out of Ranma's hands." Ranma was cleaning off his face with his windbreaker, but managed to snort. "Not everything is his fault. Leaving Akane, throwing your family into chaos? Partly, yes. But can you honestly tell me that he wanted your father to die? That if he knew what they'd do, he would have kept on trying to escape?"

"I don't put a damn thing past this insect."

"Nabiki!" Akane screamed. "How many times did Ranma save me, or any of his other friends? How many times did he save you?" Kasumi cried softly. "Ranma is at fault for many things, but not father. Now sit down. I want him to finish the story."

"You're shitting me," came a masculine voice. Ranma had finally managed to wipe most of the blood off of his face and had reset his nose again. "You actually want me to keep going?"

"In a minute. First, go clean yourself up. You remember where the bathroom is." The Saotome man shook his head and departed, leaving the rest of the family in the room.

"Well. I don't believe a damn bit of this story." Shin opened another packet of Pocky. "Total BS. I'm with Nabiki; I say we call the police."

Dr. Tofu spoke. "Shin, you were not here for the majority of Ranma's exploits. Neither was Takeshi, so I say this for both of your sakes: everything he has said thus far is totally within the realm of reality. Ranma has had a great deal of contact with both natural and supernatural forces. If you don't believe me, fine. There is a pitcher of water on the table, yes?" He nodded his head toward the glass carafe. "Just pour some water on him when he gets back."

Shin turned to look at Takeshi, but he shook his head. "I believe my wife. You don't."

"Fine," he mumbled around a mouthful of snacks. As he poured a glass of water, Tofu spoke again.

"Nabiki, come here, let me take a look at that hand. Do you have any gauze?"

Takeshi fetched some bandages, then busied himself with cleaning the table. Kasumi got her own emotions under control as Tofu cleaned and bandaged Nabiki's injured hand. "Nothing major, should heal up in a couple weeks. But you should be more careful. If you keep on crushing glasses in your hand like that, you might do some serious damage."

Through gritted teeth, Nabiki seethed, "Yes, I'll be sure to watch myself from now on."

Akane and Kasumi locked gazes from across the table.

Ranma walked back into the room. His nose was extremely swollen, his face was bruised, and his lip was still bleeding. He had discarded his bloody windbreaker. "Well," he started, when Shin's water hit him in the face.

Ranma's white undershirt, now soaked with water, left no doubt as to her new gender. "I see that you did not believe me, Shin." Ranma's head, now covered in vibrant red hair, shook once to rid itself of excess water. "I'll be back: I need to get another towel." And she left again, stumbling over her now too-long pants.

Shin just said, "Huh. Guess I was wrong."

"She's pretty hot as a woman." Takeshi received a belt to the side of his head for his trouble.

A few silent moments went by before the redhead sauntered back into the room. Indeed, Ranma's female body had aged rather well, still looking to be in its early twenties. The only thing that had changed, as far as the Tendos could see, was that Ranma seemed to have gained some feminine modesty. Her windbreaker was back on, but inside-out. "Sorry about that. And I'm sorry for the jacket, but I don't have any extra shirts. Even a bloody coat is better than being virtually naked at the table."

"Since when do you care about who sees your chest?" Nabiki was clearly still angry.

Gathering her hair into a ponytail, Ranma replied, "A lot has happened to me, Nabiki. And if you'll allow me to continue..."

POSTSCRIPT:

Respectable, I guess? At least I'm getting the main points across, so there's that.

It's super hard for me to complete coherent thoughts. When I speak – hell, when I think – it's all about completing six ideas at once. So you can hear the commas when I speak. And as I try to refine my writing voice, I have to consciously avoid using those blasted punctuation marks. I throw in some hyphens or semicolons, but I still find that the pacing of the story gets thrown off. It's bumpy, like driving over a gravel road; some places move along just fine, and then you come to a section where the road gets bad and you have to slow to ten miles an hour.

In other words: I'm sorry that I don't have any proofreaders.

The music suggestions are new; I'm trying them out. Take it or leave it, I guess. It's just music that seems to have the same feeling as either the whole chapter or a large part of it.

Um... sweet.

POSTPOSTSCRIPT: The song I chose for listening is really a good song for the chapter, but only for the second half. So if you're actually taking my advice and listening while reading, just be patient. You'll get there.