Ranma 1/2

Disclaimer: I don’t own Ranma, Rumiko Takahashi does. I just borrowed some of the characters. Rated: NC-17

Shades of Home

Chapter 22

When Ranma woke up he wondered vaguely why he wasn't in his room then he remembered. Looking around he saw Sunny at the foot of the bed. She had her head resting on her arms on the mattress. He tried to put his hand on his chest but a tug on his wrist stopped him. He was restrained, but the restraints were standard soft canvas straps.

"Huh? What's this? Sunny, baby; wake up!" Ranma decided he'd better find out what was up before he threw a fit. "Sunny, wakie, wakie, Ran-chan here. Come on baby "

Sunny woke up slowly, she screeched and yawned. Ranma had patience with her; he hated being yanked into wakefulness so he let her get it together before demanding

"Why am I tied down? What did I do? Who did I hurt? Talk quick or . . . "

"Oh damnit, Ranma you baka." Ranma flinched, "Why do you do that what's the matter with you we had to restrain you just to keep you from pulling your IV"s out rolling over. Every time I call you a baka you flinch like I'm gonna hit you. what's the matter? Damn that B..witch. she made you that way. Never mind . . . you didn't hurt anyone you're the only one who got hurt. The whole team is outside wanting to see you you've been out for a day and night and part of another day that deamon blood held your healing up. The team is all rested they just got here a few minutes ago so I'll let the whole pack in.."

Sunny went to the door and called the men in. Skeeter went to take Ranma's pulse with one hand while fishing in a thigh pocket for his stethoscope. Everyone else just gathered at the bed side and looked.

Ranma, resenting being flat on his back, started to get up. Skeeter pushed at him, "Lay down. No, get up so I can listen to your chest, here . . . What the hell? Damnit, they've got him restrained. He didn't do nothin' to deserve that! Get him outa' . . . "

Sunny just reached for the strap, "I'll get it"

"Naw, Sunny, I got it." Ranma snapped the restraints without even straining, he just sat up and reached over for Rio's hand. "Man I'm sorry about your knife. And it was a real nice one too. But Momma's still got it. I couldn't get it out a' her chest. stuck it in the breast bone and I couldn't pull it loose."

"Never mind the knife. We're glad t' see you're back t' full health. Broke those straps like thread . . . I'm glad you're on our side."

Sunny mean while was fussing at Ranma. "Ranma don't pull out those IV"s you still need the fluids. You're dehydrated and should have all that bag and another one as well will you stay down and be good damnit We had to wait until you were almost conscious to start IV"s you thrash around too much."

"Aw Sunny I'm fine, just pull the needles out and let me up. I'm thirsty. I need a drink and I want t' talk t' the team. I have t' go t' debriefin' and all that."

Conroy took over, using his command voice he put Ranma flat. "Saotome lay down! If you rip those needles out they'll just have to go in somewhere you won't like as well. Here, drink this and debriefing isn't till tomorrow. Be careful. You don't want to undo all Miss Sunny's good work. I don't believe what she can do. Man, she healed ya in a second and healed Doug too."

Ranma plopped back on the bed without arguing. He was waiting for Sargent Conroy the Pissed to show up, and he did, with a vengeance

"Now I have a few choice things to say to you Mister. If you ever leave your team again without express permission, I'll have you up on Courts Martial, stripped of rank and hung out to dry. Damnit! You don't just walk into the jaws of something like Momma without backup! Crazy, damn kid, too young to use your brain and too brave to run. Stupid, stupid brat." Conroy ran down. The others were all looking grim and pissed.

Ranma, flat on his back, had spent the time picking the straps off his wrists without pulling out an IV. Now he just sat up and hung his head.

"I never had anybody t' depend on before. I just got the people here, like you guys and Kuno an' Ryouga, but he's a bit iffy, he gets lost too much . . . oh . . . and Danny an' Shuba an' Leela an' Sunny but that's more friends than I had all together in my whole life before. So I guess I was afraid t' lose any a' you fools, an' ya can't Court Martial me, I'm not military. I"m a George. Besides I think ya have t' be 18 t' sign up with you crazies" Ranma peeked out from under his bangs blinking at his teammates like an owl.

"Damnit don't do that! It makes you look like you're ten. Then I don't have the heart t' be mad at ya anymore. Stupid! Just promise you'll be more careful. Seeing ya bleedin' and pale like that just about killed us all. Promise, damnit, or I'll . . . "

Ranma grinned at Conroy "Turn Rio loose on me. I don't understand this obsession with blistering my butt danmit! Then ya raise hell when someone really does it."

Rio just grinned back at Ranma. "No? When we say it, it's just hot air but I'll turn Sunny loose on you an' she'll nag ya in t' next week."

Sunny had been watching Ranma closely. "You need to go soon. Ranma has recovered almost completely but it will be another day before he has replaced all his red blood cells so he's going to tire quickly until then. And he's going to pull out that IV if he doesn't quit flapping his arms around."

Ranma extended his right arm to Sunny, "Take this one out at least. I hate needles! Come on Sunny . . . Pleeeeease! I'll be so good you won't believe it . . . Sunny . . . come on. I'll lay right back down . . . Seee . . . I'm down." Ranma wheedled like a four-year-old. He thought he could tease her out of keeping him in bed.

But Sunny had other ideas. "I'm not taking out either IV, if you want to get better quickly you have to get re hydrated. You need to drink all this." Sunny handed Ranma a bottle of gatoraid, "And you need all the fluid in both bags plus another one. If you keep the IV's in, you can get up tomorrow, if not you'll stay there until next day. And if you don't mind me I won't speak to you for a week. Do you understand me, Saotome Ranma?"

"Ma'am! Yes, Ma'am! I'll be good . . . Sunny you wouldn't really not talk to me for a whole week not even one word? Wouldja?" Ranma replied to Sunny as if she was a drill Sargent and he a new recruit.

Sunny gave Ranma her ‘Healer and you better mind' look and nodded firmly. "Oh yea I would. It would hurt me more than it hurt you but when I say mind me, I mean Mind! And I want you pack of mad men out of here. You've seen he's going to be fine so get out and let him rest. Ranma you will rest!" Sunny shooed Ranma's team out.

Only to have everyone else show up just twenty minutes later.

"Hey! Get me outta here. Sunny has me stuck full a' needles and all I wanna do is go back t' the dorm." Ranma was tired of being good, he hated the smell of hospitals and the bed had lumps where he needed dips.

Kuno looked at Shuba. Everyone looked everywhere but at Ranma. Finally Leela spoke up, "Ran-chan, it's more than our sanity is worth. She's been on a real rampage since you came in. I never saw so much blood in my life and besides you need to be here incase something happens."

"What could possibly happen, except that I'm gonna go crazy here. It stinks and this bed's not mine. All I wanna do is lay down in my own bed. Is that askin' too much?" So the teens decided to sneak Ranma out, they failed

"Stop right there! Just exactly where do you think you're going? Ranma! I'm going to chain you to that bed. You can't go any where and if you think I'm going to let you go running off looking for . . ."

Sunny clamped her hand over her mouth but the damage was done.

Suddenly Ranma knew what had been bothering him. In the distraction of everything going on he'd forgotten to count noses.

"Fuck! Where the hell is Ryouga? Please don't tell me he's . . . " Ranma clutched his chest; all of a sudden he felt weak.

"No! He's ok as far as we can tell. He's . . . well . . . He's lost! I didn't want you to know yet. That's why I didn't want you to go back to your room. I... you can't go running off to find him. You really do need to recover more and anyway what can you do that Cen. Ops can't do better."

Ranma just leaned against the wall trying to gather the strength to be mad, or something. Ryouga had gotten himself lost and he couldn't do anything to help.

{I'm too young for this shit!}

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Ryouga swore. He couldn't believe he'd lost both his phone and GPS; one or the other, yes, but both? The odds were high but he'd foolishly kept them both in the same pocket. When he realized he was lost he'd reached for his GPS and found a hole in his pocket, he'd caught his pants on something and ripped them.

So here he was sitting in the middle of nowhere with nothing. An unpleasant situation he was not unused to but one he'd hopped to avoid forever.

He'd been doing so well. He hadn't been lost since arriving at the Compound. Steven had set things up with Cen Ops. There was one operator who did nothing but see that he got where he wanted to go.

All he had to do was call Cen Ops; they would use the tracer in his phone to locate him and then down load a map that would get him where he wanted to go. He was bad with regular maps but these were locator maps with a red arrow, all he had to do was keep the arrow pointed straight ahead; it even led him around obstacles.

He could feel the old helpless rage building. He gave in to it and, screaming until he literally foamed at the mouth, he destroyed every thing around. When he finished ripping every tree, bush, and rock out of the ground, he broke the trees into splinters.

Finally he dropped into a sitting position; wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and fell asleep.

When he awoke it was dawn so he started walking straight ahead, in the direction of central China.

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In order to try to forget his worry over Ryouga Ranma made a mistake. He allowed his team mates to talk him into going out on the town. They invited Shuba, Kuno, and Danny but they refused on the grounds that they were going out with their own teams.

"Hey we're not breaking up!" Ranma examined the three faces around him.

"Most assuredly not, we are still the George team but it bodes well that we are invited out with the Grunts and amenable relations should be cemented by drinking with them."

"Besides what Kuno isn't saying is, we can drink with them but without them we're Shirley all the way." Danny smirked knowingly and Shuba nodded grinning. "Besides even Leela's Amazons are going out. I just hope the bunch of us don't all wind up at the same place. I don't think it would survive."

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Ranma was throughly drunk and silly. He'd been careful to pick something that was light on alcohol he'd thought. But Long Island Ice Tea has no tea in it and more alcohol than it tastes like.

By the time anyone realized what he was doing, he was hammered. The reason no one noticed how much he was drinking was that they were all too busy watching the strippers.

Ranma decided to take exception to the dancers.

"They got du . . . the coordination of a two-year-old not one of ‘em can chew gum and walk at t' same time not t' mention fact ‘at they're either too thin or they're flabby and some a' those costumes are simply shtupit"

Ranma blinked at the current girl. He was right she looked so thin she was practically emaciated and she wasn't used to the high platform soles and six inch heels of the boots she was wearing so she kept stumbling. The tassels glued over the salient parts of her breasts flopping oddly as she did so.

"That one looks like . . . I donowhat she shu . . . a" Ranma ran down and poked Skeeter

"Huh? Oh. Yeah she dosh . . . does look like a crack ‘ho. n' a clumshy un at'tat. Say . . . Bet Ranko could out do her." Skeeter was just running off at the head, like any drunk would, but Ranma took his remarks as a challenge and challenged Ranma never backs down.

Ranma became Ranko; stripped off his jacket and shoes before anyone knew what he was about and jumped on the stage. The immediate effect of this was to have every man in the bar start drooling. Ranko was so far above the usual quality of girl on that stage that they might have come from different planets

Most of the girls here were used up, tired and bored; they did their jobs but couldn't have cared less if anyone even looked. Ranko was fresh faced, young and enthusiastic. Very enthusiastic. She did a slow grind and a sharp bump, then sauntered to the edge of the stage swinging her hips in time to the music. By the time the rest of the team realized who the dancer was she had already done a drop and crawl followed by a slow push up that stuck her breasts almost into the face of a startled Doug.

"Damnit Get him . . . I mean her . . . Shit!.. off the stage, now." Conroy wasn't as drunk as Skeeter or Doug and Dave, Pete, and Rio were very nearly sober. Conroy's ‘Sargent' took over. "Rio! You muscle Skeeter and Doug. Dave, Pete with me! We got t' get that kid off the stage, pronto. Fuck! Steven's gonna kill all of us then put us on report for life."

Rio grabbed Skeeter and Doug and headed for the back exit. They were sobering up quickly and helped Rio block the bouncers who tried to interfere with Conroy, Dave, and Pete's rush on the stage.

By the time they got there Ranko had begun unbuttoning his shirt while doing a spread legged kneeling hump right on the edge of the stage. Dave had his jacket off and wrapping it around Ranko and snatching her up, dumped her over Pete's shoulder head down.

"Hey leme go. ‘M no' done. Gotta finish challenge"

"Shut up Ranma! You're gettn' outta here now before someone sees you. Damnit, how did you get this drunk I should have been watching you better."

Ranko, head down over Pete's shoulder, managed to change into Ranma and start to struggle.

"Damnit, I'm not drunk. I'm still standin' ain't I?"

"No, you're not! You're over my shoulder, stupid kid."

Everyone headed for the rear exit. The bouncers, recognizing them as Grunts, gave up any hope of stopping them.

In the alley behind the bar they formed up around Pete and Ranma. After stuffing a still protesting Ranma into the van, a disgusted bunch of now semi-drunk marines headed back to base.

"Damnit! We're in real trouble. What possessed me to take my eyes off that boy for that long? What the hell was he drinking?" at someone's mumbled response he gagged, "Long Island Ice Tea? Son-of-a-bitch, what the hell were you idiots thinking? What was I thinking to let him drink that stuff? How many did he have?"

Skeeter who had been counting the cups, more or less for future reference, mumbled an answer. Conroy managed to hear him even though Skeeter tried to keep his answer low enough that he couldn't.

"Six doubles. Sorry Boss, he's really tanked."

"Six . . . You stupid . . . he's not used to drinking . . . Better make him puke he's liable to get Alcohol poisoning."

So they pulled over and just in time. They didn't need to make anyone empty their stomachs Ranma and Skeeter both lost it. Skeeter because he needed to and Ranma because he smelled Skeeter.

That settled Ranma. He finally quit complaining and sat down in his seat. After a few minutes he fell asleep/passed out. The rest of the men spent a very subdued ride back trying to figure out what they were going to tell Steven.

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Did you see that? That boy turned into a girl. I know someone who's been offering good money for information about magical objects. Real good.

Yeah? If Tendo Nabiki dosn't know about that guy, we can clean up. I know who you're talking about. She pays real good. If you can get the money out of her without being turned into something nasty, I don't like doing business with a witch.

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Ranma woke with the definite impression that all was not right with his world. The light streaming in his window was far too bright, he had a nasty taste in his mouth and suddenly his head and stomach were telling him: Alcohol bad! Ranma stupid!

"Aaaagggghhh! Ooo, too loud . . . Oow! . . . my head. My god I'm dyin'!" Ranma held his head then he rolled over pulling his pillow over his head to block out the too bright light of early dawn. He fell back to sleep but not for long.

"RANMA!! WAKIE!!" Ranma jumped so hard that he rose a few inches off the bed. Sunny at this hour; his hung over head realized, was too shrill and way too loud. {Alcohol bad!} "Steven wants to see you right away. Get up! Take a shower! Get going!" Sunny slammed the door and snickered. {That'll teach him.}

A few minutes later Kuno stuck his head in the door. "Saotome, you'd best get going, Steven is in a real state. While we managed to have a good time without getting inebriated or even in a fight. Wonder of wonders . . . you've managed to create a disaster. Your whole team is on report."

Ranma sat up holding his pounding head {Ranma no baka} "Where's Sunny? Can she . . . " Ranma just sighed at Kuno's head shake he'd hoped against hope she would do something for him. "I thought not."

Ranma looked around, his room was fairly orderly. Last night's clothes were scattered over the floor and one drawer was still half way out of the dresser. He didn't see what he wanted.

"Kuno-kun, find my knife."

"Why?"

"I'm gonna cut my throat."

"What?! I thought you were over that suicide shit! I'm calling Steven!"

"Just gimme my knife!"

"No! Why do you want to kill yourself? It isn't that bad!"

"Yeah, it is!"

"So . . . You wan t to kill yourself because . . . ?"

"I don't I tell ya! But my head hurts so bad it's either cut it off or die."

"Ranma, you are a total moron. Buffoon! Get up, get dressed and go see Steven . . . And I'd hurry if I were you." Kuno left before Ranma saw him laughing.

Ranma scrambled through a shower and into some clothes, he just grabbed whatever he could so he wound up in BDUs and boots; which seemed proper after he got to Steven's office. {Damnit, I wish my head would just explode and be done with it}

"Well Saotome, I'm glad to see that you are still in the land of the living. I was beginning to wonder if you had died on us. You've kept these men waiting for more than thirty minutes so I hope you're happy."

"Sir! No Sir! I'm not happy. Sir!" Ranma took a page from Rio's book when you know you've fucked up, brace and take it on the chin. He snapped to and hoped Steven didn't hear his moan. Steven did.

"Had a little too much to drink did you?" Steven turned to the other men. "I hope you guys are in the mood to serve some time. Let's see what we have. Contributing to the delinquency of a minor, procuring alcohol for a minor, endangering the safety and welfare of a minor and drunk and disorderly, destruction of private property, need I say more? You men are in a world of hurt." Steven had pitched his voice for maximum effect and everyone was wincing and trying to stay at attention while Skeeter and Doug were turning paler by the second. Sargent Conroy was wondering how much of Steven's speech was real threat and how much just dressing down. They were in very real danger of big trouble which could include time in a stockade the charges were not good to say the least.

"Time in a stockade should teach you to take better care of Ranma and his crew. You forget that they are all minors and everyone but Kuno not yet 17. You are the only combined team that managed to bring home a drunk minor. Ranma what the hell?"

Ranma had jumped over Steven's desk, grabbed the cane from its place and slammed it down on the desk.

"Do what you want to me, but leave my team mates alone. They didn't force me. I drank it all on my own. You can beat me; lock me up; I don't care but leave them alone. Ya hear me? .... I'm responsible for myself. Ow! My head! Just shoot me now and put me outta my misery. Shit!" Ranma scrambled for the men's room, his rolling stomach finally unable to keep up with hangover and upset.

After dry heaving for a few minutes Ranma wiped his mouth and started to stand up. He was surprised to find Steven offering him a hand. He followed Steven back to his office and found six very ashamed looking Marines standing At Ease; a rather rigid At Ease.

"Stand down." At Steven's command they all relaxed and surrounded Ranma.

"Damnit, kid. I never saw anyone who would offer so much t a bunch a' loose cannons like us. What did we ever do to deserve it?" Rio took over talking for once. Conroy couldn't find his voice.

"You're my friends. Wouldn't you do the same for me?" Ranma turned to Steven. "Does this mean you're not gonna send them to jail?"

"No, I'm not going to send them to jail. That was just notification of what could happen if I wasn't the nice guy I am. You men get out of here. You're all on report and confined to quarters for the week. Get out. Oh! I'm not going to hit Ranma. That doesn't mean he's not going to be punished"

Ranma groaned, Steven had some very imaginative punishments. He didn't think his head could take much more it was pounding so hard he still felt slightly sick; as his friends filed out they all patted his shoulder or whispered words of encouragement.

"How's your head, Ranma? Still hurt?" Ranma nodded then clenched his teeth. Pressing the heels of his hands to his pounding temples, he just stood for a minute trying to get his head to stay on.

"Steven, I"m really sorry. I know better than to get drunk. Pop drank, not a lot, but enough that I've had booze before. Not American whisky and stuff. I've been drunk before too, so I know better. Really I do. Please don't punish the guys. I ... they didn't make me drink. Not even by teasing me into it. I just didn't know that Ice Tea was so powerful. It didn't taste strong. I know I'm gonna get it an I'm man enough t' handle it but they shouldn't be punished for my mistakes."

Ranma bent over the desk hoping that he didn't disgrace himself by getting sick again. His head was still pounding and he was slightly nauseous. He wished Sunny had helped him out but he knew she was punishing him in her own subtle way.

"Come on, Steven, let's get this over with. I'm hung over like a bitch and I'd like t' get some juice and go hide somewhere till my head quits feeling like it's gonna pop."

Steven just wondered how he'd been blessed with anyone like Ranma. He was proud to a fault and couldn't pass a challenge to save his life but he was the kind of person who admitted his mistakes and was proud enough to correct them, no matter what the cost. How anyone who had spent more than an hour with him could call him arrogant and stupid wasn't paying attention.

"Ranma I think getting drunk is it's own punishment. How's your head again?" Steven smacked Ranma's butt with the flat of his hand, one gentile smack. "Get out! Get your juice and the next time you're in here for the same thing. You'll be confined to your room for a week. Understand?'

Ranma straightened up, "Yes sir! Thanks Steven It won't happen again. And thanks for taking it easy on the guys." He headed out the door and back to the dorm. He hoped Sunny wasn't mad at him anymore. He didn't need to be on the receiving end of one of her long, shrill scolds but she met him at his room.

"Sunny, I love ya but if you're gonna scold me, please wait till later. My head's killin' me an' I feel sick. I'd like t' get some juice or somethin' to settle my stomach and some aspirin wouldn't hurt."

Sunny looked like she was going to say something but then she shrugged. "Ok Ran-chan, I wish I knew what you feel like but I don't want to get plastered to find out. Let me touch you, I'll fix you up this once but only once."

"I don't wish you could feel like this. I feel like dyin' would be a relief." Ranma led Sunny into his room where he eased himself down on the bed and stretched out on his back.

Sunny touched Ranma's head and decided to try an Empathetic technique she'd just learned. She collapsed across Ranma's chest with a small whimper.

Ranma freaked, "Sunny! Sunny, sweetie. What the hell. Kuno! Leela! Someone help! Damnit, what's wrong?" Ranma cradled Sunny in his arms, completely forgetting his own pain.

"Ooohhh! My head, my stomach. I"m gonna hurl. Let me . . . " Sunny sat up and pushed Ranma away.

Kuno and Danny rushed in just then. "What'd you do to her?" "Let her go!"

Both boys jumped to the wrong conclusions and got the dirtiest look Sunny was capable of and a hurt look from Ranma

"I didn't do anything to her. Akane may have called me hentai but I'm not . . . I . . . "

"Shut up Ranma! I tried a new technique and it hurt . . . Ranma how could you sit there so calmly when you were in so much pain?"

"I'm used to it. I hurt pretty much of my child hood. What do you think I felt like after training with Pop? Especially when I was small." Ranma rubbed the back of his head. His hangover had faded when Sunny touched him "What'd you do?"

"I took your pain. I used the Empaths' Exchange technique. I don't think I'm going to use that one much." Sunny held her head, which was splitting.

Kuno just pushed Danny out the door whispering, "I've got them, go back to Leela. Shuba's not back from the search team yet."

Ranma heard Kuno whispering, he just got up and went into his bathroom, when he came out he gave Sunny some aspirin and a glass of water. "Here take this and never do that again.. I'll handle my own pain. You do enough just healing me, lay down for a while."

As Ranma pushed Kuno out the door, he pinned him with a tell all look; "What's wrong with Leela?"

Kuno sighed; Ranma wasn't good at feelings, especially girls' emotions.

"She's upset because Ryouga is lost. You could go talk to her; maybe you can convince her he's not going to die on us."

Ranma heard Leela crying before he got half way to her room. She sounded half way hysterical, she even had hiccups.

"Leela, honey, don't cry. He'll come back, really he will. Ranma says he gets lost all the time."

Danny was sitting on his sisters' bed patting her shoulder while she cried into her pillow

"Ranma says . . . " Leela sobbed, "What does he know?"

"I know that Ryu will show up fairly soon . . . Six months is the longest he ever stayed gone but it averages out at two to three weeks. He knows more about survival than anyone else I know. From the Sahara to Antarctica he'll be fine. Don't cry anymore Leela. If he finds out I let you make yourself sick he'll pound me t' bloody paste. Come on. If you cry anymore your eyes well get all puffy. He won't like that. Silly girl!"

Ranma succeeded where everyone else failed Leela was so relieved to hear Ryouga would really be all right and so indignant that Ranma would point out her puffy eyes that she sat up and threw the pillow at Ranma.

"Brat! My eyes aren't puffy! Stupid boy! Three weeks is forever. I miss him so much already it's awful. Go away!" She jumped off the bed and ran into her bathroom slamming the door.

"That went well! Ranma, you are the rudest guy I know, telling her she had puffy eyes . . . sympathetic you're not."

Danny was ready to defend his sister.

"Yeah, I know, but it worked. She stopped bawlin' like a calf. She'll probably be ok now. Ya know?" Ranma clasped his hands behind his head and skipped backwards to avoid Danny's half hearted swing.

"Ha! Ya missed me! Bleah!"