Ranma Half Moon Season Two, Phrase White: Cold opening, part 4

A lonely stretch of highway is illuminated only by the light of the half moon.

A blond boy bursts out of the nearby brush and sticks his hand out to hitchhike. The boy looks exhausted and fearful and small cuts from running through the woods cover his face. The boy, though pretty, looks like a mess.

A car pulls over.

"Mister, can you give me a ride?" The boy sounds hysterical.

"For a boy as pretty as you, sure."

The man's attitude and lascivious tone of voice sobers the boy up. "Wait, wait a second. It's not like that."

"I can drive off now."

"Wait, don't do that."

Suddenly, they hear the sound of three scooters coming closer.

The man becomes anxious. "Come on, get in. You don't want it to look like I'm cruising for boys, do you?"

Before the boy can move, the three scooters drive right up to the stopped car. The riders wear face obscuring helmets and dark clothing.

The tallest of the riders gets off his scooter and confronts the driver, speaking in a low menacing voice. "I know a place in the bay where if a body is dumped it will be dragged out to sea, never to be seen again. Does that sound like ... fun?"

The driver looks unnerved. He sees the other two riders dismount from their bikes with threatening body language. "No."

"Am I going to see you anywhere near this town again?"

The driver looks at the blond kid. "Sorry kid, you're on your own!" The driver peels outs and drives away at maximal speed.

The blond boy looks at the three bikers and quivers in fear.

One of the other two bikers takes off his helmet, revealing short dark hair and a penetrating stare. "Did you even look in the back seat of that car? He had rope. Rope that probably would have been used on you if you had gotten into that car." The boy's voice is low and condescending.

"What are you going to do to me?" The blond boy is on the verge of tears.

The third biker pulls off his helmet, showing long brunette hair. "Maybe you should ask what will happen to that driver? I just sent in his license plate by text message. Don't you think he's dirty? I'll bet there's the blood of innocent boys in that car. Don't you think he's going to disappear?" The brunette boy talks in an affected, effeminate way.

"Are you them?"

The tallest biker takes off his helmet revealing long light blue hair. He smiles at the boy and raises the pitch of his voice to seem less menacing. "We're not the Snatchers, Jadero."

The boy's eyes double in size with fear. "That's not my name!"

"Well then, Jadero, my name isn't Kunochi either. But, on the other hand, it is."

The boy with the short dark hair smiles at Jadero, trying to calm him down. "Towa is my name. I kind of admire you, Jadero. I thought of doing exactly the same thing when I first came here. But, you actually had the guts to do it." Towa smirks. "And, you almost got raped and killed for your efforts."

"Zoiki here." Zoiki winks and gives Jadero a peace sign.

Jadero relaxes a little. "So, you guys are in the same boat as me?"

Kunochi nods. "Yes. And, I know how you feel. It was rough for me at first as well. I had horrible nightmares the first week."

Zoiki snickers. "Kunochi is so sensitive. I didn't like my previous life that much, so I adjusted a lot faster."

Jadero looks at their scooters. "You're like me, but you're not using these scooters to escape?"

Towa leans against his scooter. "Escape? I dreamed of escaping a lot in the beginning. But, soon it dawned on me that I had nowhere to escape to."

Zoiki smirks. "Towa no longer wants to escape. He now has me and Kunochi. We're a biker gang now."

Jadero looks at Zoiki funny. He almost cracks a smile. "Yeah, those wimpy bikes are really intimidating."

Zoiki pouts. "Strange, that driver seemed scared."

"So, what are you going to do with me?"

Kunochi drops the pitch of his voice. "That's a good question. We'll probably do a lot to you. You might like some of it, but you probably won't like all of it."

Jadero looks at Kunochi in fear.

Kunochi smiles and then starts talking normally again. "For starters, we're going to give you a ride back to your house. Then, at school on Monday, we're going to meet you normally and you're going to become our friends. The other students might look down on you for hanging out with a bunch of punks, but a few might think that you're one of the cool kids."

"This doesn't sound any better than hanging out with Mister Rope."

"You'll get a trainer who will teach you how to defend yourself, and how to hurt people quickly and silently. Once you have adjusted, you'll get a scooter and you can join our gang. Our gang is called White."

"You guys are a gang? What sorts of things does this gang do?"

Towa puts on a stoic game face. "Panty raids."

Jadero falls to the ground giggling, unable to picture the three macho bikers doing such a thing.

"I'm glad you're feeling better, however, that is one of the things that we do. We scout houses and wait for the houses to be vacant. Then we break in, take cell phone pictures of whatever ladies' undergarments that are there and then we get out, without leaving any trace of our presence."

"Do they make you do this?"

Towa smiles. "Of course. The houses we break into are the houses of the field agents. After an operation they'll go over the house professionally to see if we did our job correctly. If they find so much as one hair or one piece of furniture out of place, then we'll be shamed for doing an unworthy effort."

"Totally stupid."

Kunochi smiles. "It does sound really stupid, I agree. Most of the stuff they teach us is weird. But, you need to give them a chance."

"I'd rather run."

Towa cracks his knuckles under his riding gloves. "I'm afraid you don't have that option. You already know too much. You know about us, and this town. There are people out there who would love to know this and would torture you to get that information. So, we have no choice but to prevent you from running."

Jadero looks wildly around for an escape route.

"And, there are three of us, and we are all much fresher than you are. You wouldn't get fifty feet."

While Towa is talking to Jadero, Zoiki sneaks up on Jadero from his blind side and puts his arm around Jadero. "Come on, why don't you give it a week? At least learn how to defend yourself in case you meet Mister Rope again."

...

Towa sits in the back of his homeroom class. Ever since I became a member of White, my friends had started distancing themselves from me. I haven't changed my behavior towards them, but apparently hanging out with someone like Zoiki has its social consequences in a small town.

The teacher enters. "Class, we have a special occasion today, we are getting a transfer student."

The student enters and writes his name on the blackboard. "My name is Jadero. Blood type B. Please take care of me."

Towa smiles. One step at a time.

To be continued