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 28

Ranma was up and going at 4am. The guards didn’t believe it until he banged on the door and demanded to know if he was going to get to train, or were they all still asleep.

He did an hour of Iyengar yoga then switched to power yoga.

When he started on katas, the guards both groaned. He worked on individual attacks and defenses, doing each posture over and over for another hour. Then he started working on combinations.

One of the main strengths of Any Thing Goes is that there are no formal combinations. That makes it possible to attack or defend from any attack or defense. The body doesn’t have muscle memory to confuse it.

As he worked he went from simple two and three form combinations to combinations of twenty forms or more. He worked on combinations for two hours then he did tai che to cool off.

All together, he’d been exercising for more than five hours without a break and it was now 9:00 a.m.

“Lord in heaven. I never saw such a thing, that guy has been at it for over four hours without a break and he’s barely worked up a sweat.”

“Hey guys. I’m done for this morning. Can I get a shower before breakfast? I think I kinda stink.”

Ranma felt as good as could be expected. He was a bit nervous, as he didn’t know what to expect. He’d decided to just ask for what he wanted and settle for what he could get. {Plan for the worst, hope for the best and cope with what you get.}

“Breakfast is just about over, in fact you might not make it. But we’ll see that you eat. You’re new, so you can get away with it once. Come on, we got to get these cuffs on you.”

Ranma stood still as the men snapped cuffs on his wrists and ankles. The chains were heavy and the leg irons had a long chain between them, the hand cuffs were fastened to the belt, but not to each other, so it wasn’t as bad as it might have been. Of course, Ranma was going to have to be very careful not to snap the chains like string. He’d said he’d cooperate and he meant it.

Breakfast was interesting, at least for the guards and cooks.

Ranma was led into the mess just as they were getting ready to break down. So the cooks just let Ranma have whatever he wanted that was left over. He took all the leftover bacon and the scrambled eggs too. There were some pancakes and French toast and he ate all that as well. Then he proceeded to drink a gallon of milk and a quart of orange juice.

“Hey, that was pretty good. I’m full for a while. What can I do now? I don’t want to go back to my cell, if I don’t have to.”

“Well, you can go to the common room, guys play cards and board games, watch tv. If you have a player, you can’t have in your cell, you can listen to it. If you go back to your cell, we won’t lock you in.

“I’ve been told by Buck that you have a test and you have to go to your cell between four and seven to study for it. So what do you want to do?”

The guard who had spoken was old enough to be Ranma’s dad but seemed a lot more responsible.

“I’d like to go to the common room. I don’t feel like trying to study for a calculus test just yet. Thanks.”

Ranma thanked the guard as he caught Ranma by the arm before he tripped. It was hard to walk in leg irons, especially when he was trying not to hit the end of the chain and break it. It was about a foot shorter than his natural stride.

Ranma looked around at the common room, he was approaching this as if it was an attack on an objective instead of a social situation.

“Can I watch TV with you guys? I’ll just . . . “

Ranma ran down quickly as he saw the looks on the faces of the men sitting around the TV. They all looked like they had bitten into something nasty.

“Shit, he’s just a kid. Here, sit down in this chair.”

One of the men vacated a straight-backed chair and shoved it toward Ranma.

“Thanks, Mister. What are you watching?”

Ranma glanced up at the tv on the wall.

“We have our own station, in case you didn’t know. This time of day, they play local Nerima news and weather. We like to kinda keep up with the local poop.”

Just then the News Announcer started on what she called a Human Interest story. About Ranma. {damnit}Everything that he had done was splashed all over the screen. She put the worst twist she could on it, emphasizing the treason charges and implying that Ranma had collapsed half a building on purpose, as well as practically saying out right that he’d hit Steven just because he thought he could get away with it.

Downs was portrayed as a much put upon visiting agent from some other country.

Ranma just sat through the whole show and, after it was over, he started to get up and leave.

As he levered himself to his feet, the show turned to some footage from that night. It showed Ranma walking out of the black mouth of the tunnel he’d dug himself, like some filthy devil from the nether regions, a black scowl on his face and dirt and blood all over.

Everybody in the room started cheering, whooping and hollering. He got several pats on the back, and when the tv showed him slugging Steven, the room went quiet for about three seconds then everyone started laughing.

“Hey kid, that was great. I never saw Steven look so surprised in my life.”

Then one of the men asked the question that everyone wanted to.

“Hey, if you’re that strong, how can those irons hold you? Can’t you just break them?”

Ranma raised his hand and examined the chain dangling from the cuff.

“Yeah. I could. But where’s the point? They’re already scared of me. They don’t want me to get hurt or hurt anyone. I’m stayin’ here and servin’ my time, so I don’t lose the best home I’ll ever have. So I let them chain me and I try really hard not to break them. Anyone else have a question?”

Ranma hoped he wasn’t making a mistake by taking these men into his confidence. They were prisoners just like he was and he’d heard about military stockades from Rio and Pete, who both admitted to spending time in them. From them he’d learned that the prisoners usually kept as many secrets form the MP’s as possible.

“Yeah, what are you doing in Department 13 at your age?“

So Ranma sat back down and endured a quizzing that took most of an hour, every man had a question and Ranma knew that if he was going to live with these men for 90 days, he’d have to answer as many questions as he could stand. They asked every question there was and at the end of the hour one of the men, who looked more like a teacher or clerk that anything else, sent them on their way

“Ok, guys, the poor kid is starting to show grill marks, give him a break. He’s practically told you his life story. Go on, take a hike.” He made shooing motions.

As the men started to move away, Ranma realized that they were leaving him to the tv.

“Hey! That’s not fair. I’ll go. I still . . . shit . . . calculus test. Damnit, I still have a test to take and I have to study for it.”

At that, the question he’d been hoping not to have to answer was asked.

“Un calculus test? . . . Just how fuckin’ old are you?”

Ranma clenched his fists, he couldn’t reach his pigtail without breaking the chains and so he just clenched his teeth and mumbled, “Sixteen . . . don’t make a big deal. Please?”

But at that little piece of news all hell broke loose, a bunch of lonely, cooped up, protective men {most soldiers are in the military because they have a well developed need to protect} found out that the newest prisoner wasn’t even old enough to drink legally.

Guards came running at the uproar. Finding that it only seemed to be a swearing riot, they demanded to know what was going on. When they heard what the problem was, they rather heatedly called the speaker a liar.

“Well, that’s what he said. Look at him. He looks like my nephew. Better check the records.”

~ * ~

McIntosh called a meeting of as many guards and support people as could get there. He flatly told them that they weren’t to give Ranma any special treatment, he was a dangerous prisoner and the only reason he hadn’t been kicked out was, he was desperately needed.

“I don’t understand exactly why we need him so much but even the top dogs have called me, trying to impress me with how necessary it is to keep him here. We’ll cope with him as best we can.

“One last thing. In my personal opinion he is just some kid who got caught up in political maneuvering among the powers that be. He seems like a good kid, so while his records indicate that he’s dangerous as hell, I have a feeling that there is more to this than meets the eye. Be careful of him. Don’t push him into doing something that will come back to bite us in the ass. Ok people, that’s all, dismissed.”

McIntosh, in an effort to understand things a little better, got hold of a school regulation book and nearly had a heart attack.

“Punishment for attacking a civilian; 10 lashes, insubordination to a teacher; 15 lashes . . . fuck . . . leaving compound without permission; 20 lashes.

“Danmit, what kind of hell hole is that place. No wonder that kid is so hard. They . . . and . . . “ McIntosh threw the book at the wall and slammed out of his office, headed for the gym to work off some of his temper.

Buck, hearing the door slam, went in to find out what the problem was. When he saw the book on the floor, he naturally picked it up to put it away. When he saw what it was, he sat down to read it too. His swearing brought Polk into the mix.

“We gotta protect that kid. Polk you got to find a way to convince McIntosh.”

“I think we need to leave well enough alone. Don’t embarrass the kid by singling him out. You know how kids that age are. We’ll just have to make sure that every man in here knows what happens to anyone who gives that kid a hard time.”

Buck thought about it and then reluctantly nodded, he had a brother about that age and shuddered to think what might happen, but knew also that Polk was right. Too much help would put Ranma in as much difficulty as not enough.

~ * ~
Ranma decided to go to the gym instead of studying {I’m never gonna figure out that calculus. I’m sunk.}

The guards unchained him at the door saying that, as there was no one there, he could use the equipment without them in his face.

Ranma rubbed his right wrist. The cuff kept pinching his skin between it and his bracelet.

“Kid, you gotta do something about that bracelet, I know it has a curse and you can’t take it off. But couldn’t you shove it up your arm or something? You’re gonna have a hell of a bruise other wise.”

Ranma frowned at the bracelet.

“I don’t know, it seems to be fairly flexible. I can try.”

So Ranma started slowly pushing the bracelet up his arm, it obediently stretched until he had it pushed up under his sleeve where it settled around his biceps.

McIntosh, who had walked in unnoticed, watched this exchange with relief.

All the guards had taken Ranma under their collective wing and, while McIntosh thought that was a good thing, it also worried him. What if Ranma got out of hand? Would they be able to do what had to be done? Or would they choke?

McIntosh sighed, he wanted to punch someone, preferably whoever had written that double damned rule book.

He looked at Ranma out of the corner of his eye, then he decided, he‘d said take him at face value but that was to protect his people from a possibly psychotic inmate. However, he could and would take chances with himself.

“Here Saotome. Hold the heavy bag for me will you? I don’t like it jumping around. It rolls on me too much.” McIntosh pointed to the heavy bag and then began pulling on gloves.

“Ok, what do I do? I don’t use punching bags much.“

Now Ranma is a very smart person. He realized that the Captain was trying to get to know him and he was more than willing to cooperate.

Ranma held the bag as McIntosh punched it.

He wondered if the man had had an accident or something to make him so weak, then he realized that for a normal, the Captain was fairly strong. He wondered at the frailty of normals. It was just plain scarey. They threw themselves into combat with a disregard for their fragility that made him reconsider some of his attitudes.

“Saotome, I need to talk to you about the rule book I got from Steven. . . . “At Ranma’s nod, he continued in what he hoped was a calm voice. “You won’t have to worry about that kind of shit here. We’re run on the American system. You may wind up in solitary, but I doubt it. But we don’t whip or beat our prisoners.”

Ranma blinked for a moment looking very like an owl.

“Well, that’s good, I guess. But I really don’t see what the problem is. Steven doesn’t abuse his authority. He really takes it easy. I mean Pop hit me harder for forgetting to duck than Steven did when he . . . “ at the look on McIntosh’s face he snapped his mouth shut.

“I don’t understand how you can talk about being beaten like that. Like it was an everyday thing.”

“Well, it kinda was, even my girl friend got hers. It’s not that big a deal. I heal quick.”

Ranma’s jaw fell at the look of pure unadulterated fury directed at the ceiling by McIntosh, who seemed to be having trouble deciding exactly what he wanted to do. He finally started punching the heavy bag like a lunatic. Ranma held it until the man ran out of steam and calmed down.

“I don’t know what I did to make you so mad but I’m sorry. If you tell me what it was, I won’t do it again.”

Ranma decided that apologizing couldn’t hurt anything, after all, the man seemed to be mad on his behalf somehow.

“Besides when they sentenced me from your courts they did say one punishment was a flogging.” Ranma glanced askance at McIntosh who ground his teeth so hard they squeaked. “I think I’d rather be flogged.”

“What the hell kind of life have you had that you would even consider such a thing.” McIntosh looked like he was going to explode.

“Well, it would be a lot more convenient. Damnit, don’t look at me like that. It would be. I heal quick. Thirty lashes takes about ten, fifteen minutes; then clean up an hour, depending on how picky they are. Two or three days to recover and it’s all over, but 90 days is a long time . . . . oh well, make your bed and lie in it. “

McIntosh dragged his gloves off, threw them into a corner and left at a trot, swearing all the way.

The kid wasn’t psychotic, he wasn’t sure exactly what he was to discuss being flogged so calmly.

Ranma looked after the guy and muttered, “Well, it is. It’s not like I’d enjoy it, but it is over quicker. Wimp!”

Ranma went to the treadmill, set it for 10 miles and started running.

A guard stuck his head in the door and yelled over the racket the over-stressed treadmill was making. “Hey, when you’re through wearing that ‘mill out, Captain wants you in his office. He said to tell you, no hurry.”

~ * ~

McIntosh picked Buck and Polk up on the way back to his office. He hated it when things moved this fast. He was a methodical type of person and liked having time to worry at things, but when he had to move fast, he could.

“Saotome is coming in in a little while. I want to hear what you two have been sitting on. I realize that you both think that I’m some kind of book junkie. But if the rules need bending for a good reason, I can and will make pretzels of them. The security of this stockade and the safety of all my people is my first priority. My ambivalent feelings are causing me problems. I need input from you both.”

When Buck told him about the ‘rope a dope’ incident, he just gapped, deciding to find out later how long that had been going on.

Then Polk produced his file with all the pictures he’d taken and watched as both men had the same reaction he’d had when he’d seen it.

“How the hell do you get scars like that and don’t tell me by being whipped. Who the hell whips anyone anymore. Shit. No wonder that kid is so messed up. It’s . . . .it’s “

Ranma walked right into it. He tapped on the door and stuck his head in.

“Uh. Captain you wanted me? I’m sorry it took me so long but I wanted to finish my run and take a shower. I hope I didn’t keep you waiting. Sorry.”

He found three grown men looking at him like he might explode or something.

“What? What’d I do? I didn’t mean it. I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.”

The looks on their faces scared Ranma. They had the same furious look, all three of them, that Genma had when he’d royally screwed up on a kata. That always led to trouble, extra exercises being the least of it.

“Stop it. You didn’t do anything wrong and I’m beginning to believe it when I’m told you got railroaded. We didn’t get a bio on you and we have to have it. So start talking. Where did you get those scars that don’t show? And that really weird note that you’re a girl? What kinda crap is that.”

Ranma groaned, “Aa, Demo . . . Chikushou. Shimatta! Konoyarou! I just hate talking about it.”

But he took a deep breath and started talking. Telling them everything he felt they needed to know. By the time he was finished, he was getting the looks he hated. All big eyes and 'sorry, I didn’t know.'

“Still didn’t explain the girl note. And that’s the one I really want to hear about.”

So Ranma just fished the bracelet out of his sleeve and changed for them.

“Oh. . . . My . . . God. I don’t fuckin’ believe it. That is so freaky.”

"Let’s get one thing clear now. I . . . Am . . . Not . . . A. . . . Freak. I’m not a sideshow and I don’t change on request. If there isn’t a good reason, I stay a guy. I was born a boy and I stay that way. Ok? If you don’t have any more questions, I think I better try to study.”

Buck was the first to react. Smacking Polk in the back of the head he snarled, “Ass hole.“

Then turning to Ranma, who had changed back while he was talking, “I . . . He didn’t mean it that way. It’s just kinda weird. You have to admit that. And it . . . damn, I’m shutting up before I stick both feet in my mouth.”

Ranma couldn’t help but smirk.

“You shoulda seen Steven, he just about pissed himself. Told me I was hot. Look, I’m sorry if I was a shit. I just get tired of the same ol’ same ol’ and you guys go over your notes and I really do have to study.”

Ranma made a disgusted face.

~ * ~

The next few days went well. All the men in the stockade seemed to have adopted Ranma, even the ones that would have wanted to fight with a George, and most of them had fits at the sight of Ranma in transports.

He spent most of the morning training, to the amazement of the entire stockade, lunch was also interesting, as some of the men got up a pool on how much and what he’d eat. Afternoons were spent in the common room but he usually left early, as he kept getting ugly looks, even from men who were polite to him everywhere else. He even tried to study for his test.

Conversations flitted all over the place.

“Did you see him this morning?”

“Yeah I hate guarding him, makes me feel like a . . . a sadistic bastard. Ya know? Especially when he has that look on his face. Like when he got that thing he was working on right. If he slugged someone, they needed it. That‘s what I say.”

~*~

“Shit! Did you hear him screaming last night. I wonder what the hell he was dreaming about.”

“I got to read some of his bio so we would know what was goin’ on. I think he was dreaming about being sold. I so want to get my hands on his old man.

“I really wanted to . . . I don’t know hug him or something. But you can’t get near him. The jacket says not to touch him and I’d rather not get my head torn off.”

~*~

“He is the sweetest kid. But strong, not so much physically, as mentally. He won’t see any of his friends. Even though it’s tearing him up.”

“Yeah, I heard him talking to you. Doesn’t want to upset them. Shit, I’d be clinging to every buddy I had for dear life. I’d want them to visit every day as long as they would stay. But not him, thinks so much of that one called Sunny that I heard he nearly threw up when he turned her away.

~*~

“Keepin’ that little kid chained up like an animal. They make me sick. I’m one of the worst ass-holes here and all they do to me is tell me to keep my nose clean. Just sucks. What’s up with that?”

“Don’t know man, but Ron Rio is part of his secondary team and he told me, if I didn’t see to it that the kid got taken proper care of, he’d have my gut’s for boot laces.”

~*~

The entire compound was ready to riot. Ranma moved through the mess, oblivious to the trouble brewing.

“Steven, I am going to kick your ass. You’ve unloaded a landmine in this compound. One with the sweetest smile you’d ever want to see, he’s got every goon in the place mothering him like an orphan kitten. Whoever wrote that jacket didn’t have a brain in their head.”

Steven rubbed his neck, he’d known there was going to be trouble in the stockade. Ranma looked his age now, and when he wasn’t being an arrogant little prick, he did have a really sweet smile.

“Look, I’m sorry. That shit Downs wrote the file before they jacked him up. Because of politics, Ranma’s stuck there. I didn’t think he’d cause problems. He’s a good kid, I got a look at the jacket you got. I’ll send over his records from here. “

McIntosh kicked at his trash can, “Ranma’s not causing trouble, it’s everyone else. I’ve got grown up men, vets with supposedly hearts of stone, babying a boy with such an indomitable will that it’s positively scary.

“He hates being cuffed with a flaming passion but he stands there and lets them do it. It’s only been five days but I’ve got near riots on my hands and insubordination among the guards. I wish you could just come and take him home with you. Why don’t you send his friends to see him?”

“Damnit, Mac. He won’t see them. It’s driving me crazy. I’ve had each and every one of them and all his secondary team in here having fits. They tell him they are coming and he says no.”

“I know that he said he won’t see them, but I think it would be good for him. If they come, I don’t think he has the heart to turn them away. I know I certainly will do all I can to get him to see them. Oh fuck, what a mess. What is going on Steven?”

Steven didn’t have the heart to tell McIntosh exactly what had happened.

Ranma was paying for Department 13's new sanctions with his freedom. Because he was willing to do what he did, the investigations into abuses of Department 13 personnel were on going. Almost everyone who borrowed their people seemed to believe that they were expendable, not looking beyond getting rid of the current problem. Now it was all coming to light. And the financing problems were going the way of all bad things. They were being funded in full by concerns with top priorities, all very top drawer and hush-hush.

He’d still rather have Ranma home and safe but that couldn’t be until he served his sentence. Ninety days was going to be an eternity.

~ * ~
Vignette (Sunny)

Why? I don’t understand he didn’t do anything wrong if he smacked Steven he deserved it I took care of him and Ranma pulled his punches big time he didn’t even have any broken bones. When I get my hands on someone in charge over there I’m going to give them a piece of my mind. I hate this I just hate it I was just gettin him so he didn’t flinch every time someone tried to touch him unexpectedly.

Maa Yao sighed. “Sunny don’t go over to the stockade and start something. Ranma’s going to have hard enough time of it without his girl friend starting a . . . thing. Look when it’s time he’ll let you visit. Then you have to be reassuring and gentle with him. He’s going to need all the support you can give him.”

“Damnit I love him so much Ninety days is forever I’m gonna die.” Sunny cried herself to sleep again that night.

~ * ~
Vignette (Kuno and Ryouga)

“Kuno, I know you want to help him but sending him a bunch of special stuff isn’t the way. He’ll just have trouble with the other men envying him. When it’s time, we can visit him and talk to him, find out what he really needs. I need to see him as his therapist but they won’t let me see him either. They say he’s got a guy in the stockade. I’d like to meet the man. I don’t think he’s going to be able to do much for Ranma.”

“Ryouga, stop pacing you’ll wear out the carpet. I didn’t think about that, all I want is to let Ranma know that we haven’t abandoned him. You know how proud he is. He’s going to think that we won’t like him anymore. Or he doesn’t want us to see him in prison clothes.”

Kuno grabbed his hair suddenly and shoved his bangs out of widened eyes.

“Damn or chains. I bet they chain him up. He’s going to be a target for every ego and rep in the place.”

“I wish you hadn’t given me that specific image. I won’t sleep a wink.”

Ryouga and Kuno both sat on the sofa and stared at the TV, not seeing a thing.