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 31

Ranma lost his temper and threw the book at the wall. It hit hard and exploded, scattering pages all over the room.

“Damnit I’m never gonna get this shit. I hate it. I’m so stupid."

Gunnie Polk stuck his head in the room. When someone as even tempered as Ranma started throwing things and shouting it wasn’t good.

“What’s wrong, Ranma? Can I help?”

Ranma just kicked the broken book and snarled, “Yeah, call the guys from Psycho and tell them to come get me. I’m done.”

“Geeze, Ranma don’t even joke about that. Tell me what’s wrong, maybe I can help. At least let me try.”

“There’s no help for me. I’m just stupid. I don’t get it. This calculous just ties my brain in knots. It don’t make any sense. I did good in geometry and even managed respectable grades in trig. But all these formulas and shit, I don’t get. What the hell am I even gonna do with it. I don’t know. I’m just gonna get held back. I’ll have to take the whole class again. By myself. Shit, I don’t believe how stupid I am.”

Ranma started picking up the pages of the broken book, a defeated slump to his shoulders.

“Look Ranma, I don’t know about calculous and that stuff. I dropped out and joined this circus when I was eighteen and I hadn’t reached this crap yet. I don’t know why you’re taking it at your age. Let me ask around and see want I can come up with. There’s got to be someone who can tutor you. This stockade doesn’t just have a bunch of head breakers in it.’”

Grumbling, Ranma slapped the pages into some kind of order and dumped them on his desk.

“Just lucky that computer is in the desk instead of on it. I feel like throwin’ the whole thing out the window.”

“Damnit, Ranma you don’t have a window.”

“Does that really make a difference to me? I want a window I’ll have one.’”

Buck hurried to see what he could do. Ranma was really in a bad mood.

.

“Hi Carp, what’re you doin here. I’d like a nice game of chess with you. But I’m here to meet my tutor. Damn calculous.”

Ranma sat beside Carp and looked wistfully at the chess board.

“Well, chess later, Calculous now. I’m your tutor. Let’s start with the problem you’re having. What’s up?’

Carp smiled at Ranma. He had a suspicion what the problem was and he knew a quick fix for it.

“I don’t understand it and I can’t figure out what I need it for.”

“Well you probably don’t need it. And that’s why you can’t understand it, your subconscious is blocking it as useless. I’ve got a quick fix for your problem. I’ve got a test here. You take the test and, if you can pass it, I’ll give Steven a heads up. All you need to make is a D. You won’t be taking any higher maths. So that’ll get you by."

“Damnit, I don’t want to just get by and as far as I’m concerned, a D isn’t passing. At least not by much. Ryouga got a B- and I’m as smart as he is. At least I thought I was.”

Carp looked at Ranma with new respect. If the boy was that determined, he’d get him his B

“Ok, We’ll start with this work sheet, work until you can’t do anymore problems and then I’ll start tutoring you on enough more to get your B.”

Ranma sat down and started on the test. It took him almost an hour to finish up.

“Oh boy. Kid, all you need to do is finish up the next three chapters and you’ll have an A, A- easy. You’re smarter than you think.”

“Yeah? Well, it’s really hard when I’m doin' it all by myself. Between killin' Imps and rescuin' my friends from Witches, I haven’t had time to study enough. All I want to do is get this over. I’m in jail anyway so just torture me with maths and drive me round the bend while you’re at it.”

Ranma smiled at Carp to show that he was just kidding, Carp had given him hope that maybe he’d manage to pull this one out of the fire too.

Carp eyed Ranma and had to laugh, this kid was a perfectionist and was harder on himself than anyone else could ever be. He was going to make it fine.

"Here, do this work sheet. If you have trouble, I’ll be around. When you’re through and I’ve graded it, I’ll help you with the ones you’ve gotten wrong and then we can have a game of chess. How’s that?”

Ranma looked at the work sheet. There were only ten problems on it but he knew that it was going to take him some time to get them done, as most of the problems had multiple steps and he had to show them.

“Carp?”

Yeah

Why do I have to show all these steps? It makes it even harder for me to do the problems. I have to back up and redo everything so I’m sure I’ve shown them all. And it’s driving me to distraction. Why can’t I just write down the answers like I did in geometry and trig.?”

Carp went cold. {Oh, shit. Don’t tell me.}

"Saotome Ranma! Don’t you dare tell me you can do that in your head.”

Ranma ducked his head, flushing.

"Un . . . ok? I won’t tell you I can. But I really can."

Ranma was frustrated, no one believed him when he told them that he really could work most of these problems in his head. It was easier to just write the answers down, but when they wanted all the steps and he couldn’t do it. It was too hard to back up and do steps when he knew the answer. He had to make each step a separate problem and it took forever.

“Look, Saotome. I know you hate to be called a liar so I won’t but you do know that doing these problems in your head is almost impossible don’t you?"

"Carp, I don’t care. All I know is, I can. And it’s really hard to have to break each problem down into steps. First I have to figure out what the steps are . . . “

Carp interrupted, ”Saotome . . . just shut up for a minute. I need to think. . . . mmmmm. . . . here gimme that work sheet. “

Carp took the work sheet back and gave Ranma a different one.

"Don’t worry about trying to do the steps, just give the answers.”

Ranma took the sheets of paper and started to write. It took him almost half an hour to finish the papers while Carp watched him go through almost all the problems like they were simple math.

“Well, how bad is it? I can’t stand much more of this. It’s driving me crazy. I know I’m stupid but gimme a break here.

"Saotome, I don’t want to ever hear you say you’re stupid again, this is one of the most amazing tests I’ve ever seen. You’ve gotten more right by just answering them than you did by doing the steps.

“That’s one of the reasons I quit teaching. The system is set up to teach kids to fail. If you are a little different or have problems. They don’t want to have to deal with you. It’s an exercise in futility for any kid to try to rise above the herd. You’re smart, real smart, and the system is set up to crush any differences, not celebrate them.”

Ranma grimaced at a memory that was less than pleasant.

“Yeah and standing in a hall holding buckets doesn’t endear anyone to the faculty, especially if they take sides and have pets.”

“Holding buckets? What the hell!” Carp wondered why Ranma would have unpleasant memories of holding a bucket.

"Yeah Principal Kuno made me hold four five-gallon buckets for hours at a time. It wasn’t too hard on me but it got really boring and I don’t handle boredom very well.”

Carp did the math, in his head, “Damnit, that’s eighty pounds per arm! For hours? It’s cruel that’s what it is. You . . . “ He sighed, and gave up. Saotome was looking at him like he’d lost his mind.

"What’s cruel? Being bored to death never really killed anyone. I’d rather hold buckets than be beaten. Even though taking a beatin' is over quicker.”

Carp just sighed and gave up. He’d heard things and some of the things that Ranma tossed off as nothing made most of the men in the Stockade cringe. Ranma’s show had really opened the eyes of even the most skeptical of men.

"Here, quit givin me the creeps. Let’s play some chess.”

"Yeah how about that paper.”

"Well, I tricked ya. It’s the real deal. I have to send it in to be officially graded but, unless I’ve lost my mind completely, you’ve got an A. Chess!”

Ranma poked Carp in the arm. The old guy was as sneaky as they come, by having him take the test without knowing that it was real, he’d made sure that Ranma didn’t get test nerves. He wondered how well he’d really done.

Ranma played several games of chess with Carp and spent most of the after noon wandering around the exercise yard watching different activities and just enjoying the freedom of being unchained.

~ * ~

Vignette

“Damnit, I’m tired. Kuno, how many assignments have you gone on?”

“Six or seven, I forget. And there are a lot of incursions that we didn’t need to go to. They were all just shoot em ups, but we really need Ranma. Even Steven says we need him back.”

“Ryouga, that Warden says he’s not letting Ranma be coerced into fighting. I don’t think it’s right either. Either he’s a free agent with the right to decide whether he’ll fight or not or he’s a slave, forced to fight. You know how Steven feels about that and I don’t feel any different. He doesn’t fight while he’s locked up. Serves the ‘powers that be’ right anyway. They have to explain to the officials why we’re short handed.”

“Yeah, but I’d really like a piece of that Downs prick.”

~ * ~

"Steven, we got Downs. I mean, we really got him. But damn, it all depends on . . . as if you couldn’t guess, Ranma. We’ve got to bring him into court to testify. I just hope he’s up to it.”

Steven looked at Dorrie and just grinned.

"I’ll talk to him before we make any final decisions. I don’t know how he’s going to react to having to come to court again. His last experience wasn’t too pleasant. And this is going to be more difficult because he can’t lose his temper. And they are going to try really hard to make him look like a loose cannon. We can’t afford that."

Dorrie nodded, she knew a lot about the legal system. She was a lawyer herself and she knew all the tricks that the defense would pull and she didn’t see Ranma being able to withstand most of them.

"Steven, we’ll just have to get him in and work him over, let him know what he’s going to be dealing with. If he’s prepared, I think he will be ok, but you know how he is about surprises, he hates them more than you do.

"OK. Let’s drag him in here and haul him over the coals until he learns to keep his temper. I want Downs in the worst way. “

Steven and Dorrie were prepared and they were going to make sure Ranma was prepared too.

.

"Ranma, you can’t lose your temper. If you do, you’ll let Downs get away with everything. The Defense is going to drag every mistake you’ve ever made out into the court room and shove it in your face.”

Ranma snarled, he was trying to keep his temper but it was really hard. Dorrie kept asking him the same questions and drilling him in the answers so that he wouldn’t have a bad reaction. The only one that kept pushing all the wrong buttons was why he had gotten whipped. It just caught him the wrong way every time.

"If they ask me that question, I don’t think I can keep my temper. It just hits me the wrong way every time. I didn’t want to kill that man, but after the first one, I didn’t have much choice. How could I let them whip him to death? I gave him a clean fast death rather than one that could have lasted hours. What am I supposed to say? I . . . “

Dorrie just gave up. She knew that any answer wasn’t going to be a good one, not to the Judge, luckily this wasn’t a full trial, it was a preliminary hearing. It would give Ranma a chance to get used to the court room and procedures.

Two days later, Steven and Dorrie were informed that Downs had waived his preliminary hearing and they were going straight to trial, the next day.

"He what? I can’t believe that idiot waived his preliminary hearing. That puts most of the witnesses without any experience in a court room."

"Son-of-a-bitch. I can’t believe that ass actually did that. What the hell is he thinking? We’ll fry him like and egg.”

Steven was sure that the evidence they had would convict Downs of all kinds of crimes from falsification of documents to attempted murder and treason, hopefully he’d be in prison until he rotted.

Dorrie just sighed. Steven would never understand the reasoning behind legal maneuvering like this. Most of the people who would testify had some kind of experience or were at least adults. The only one they had to worry about was Ranma. He was going to be a problem, his inexperience could lead to him acting out in court and that wouldn’t impress the Judge.

"Steven calm down. We just have to figure out how to get the court on Ranma’s side. The Judge has read all the charges against Downs and we gave him the transcripts of Ranma’s trial as well. The briefs are damning in and of themselves. That ‘s why Downs attorney waived the preliminary hearing. It’s not necessary and you don’t want to annoy the Judge."

Dorrie looked at the papers she’d gotten from the court. All she could do was read them and reread them to make sure she was reading correctly.

"Oh! Oh, Dear! Oh, my goodness.”

"What?! What is it? Damnit woman, don’t go off on me, what the hell is it?"

Steven thought he’d made a mistake. He wasn’t in the right office. Dorrie didn’t look like that nor laugh like that in a crisis.

"That stupid shit has agreed to go before a Military Tribunal, one made up of three of the most honorable men I’ve ever met, and they are aware of all the facts, not just what that nasty man representing him has put in his briefs. My briefs are practically the exact opposite. There’s going to be a lot of testimony by character witnesses. You should see the lists. It’s going to be a slaughter. And Downs is the goat.”

~ * ~

“Look I don’t know what to do now. Dorrie drilled me and now they’ve changed everything. What do I do?”

"Ok, Ranma, all you are going to do now is get up and testify to what you did and why. Refute or confirm the testimony of character witnesses. Just answer any question as truthfully as you can. It’s a Military Tribunal instead of a Civilian Court. You’ve got a better chance with them.”

Carp hoped Ranma didn’t succumb to an attack of nerves. If he got too nervous, he’d make a bad impression on the Judges. With all he’d read in the briefs, he knew Ranma had to impress the Judges or everything was going down the tubes.

"Look, the first thing you’ve got to realize is that the Defense is going to have a hay day with your reputation. You can’t lose your temper. They’re going to do everything in their power to make you uncomfortable and off balance.”

Ranma sighed, damnit he’d known that a lot was going to rest on his shoulders but this was ridiculous, it was really down to his word against Downs. Character witnesses all round. He just hoped that whoever they called in his behalf wasn’t mad at him at this particular time.

~ * ~

"Well, gentlemen, we’ve really got our work cut out for us. These briefs and bios’ are telling in the extreme. We’ve got to get some realtime testimony into the records but quite a bit of this is easily admitted without review."

All three Judges sighed resignedly and prepared for boring testimony from both sides as to the character of the interested parties. Yes, boring and Ranma in the same sentence.

~ * ~

The Defense Attorney, Mr. Cash, looked at the young man and gritted his teeth. He really didn’t want to do this. He found that he didn’t trust his client as far as he could throw the overweight pain in the ass.

"Well, Mr. Ryouga, I understand that Mr. Ranma tried to murder you more than once. Would you care to tell us about this? Remember, you are under oath. Your current friendship with the gentleman in question cannot be allowed to influence your testimony in any way."

Ryouga grinned, sending a cold chill through Mr. Cash.

"I understand. Oh ... and, Mr. Cash, it’s Hibiki-san, if you don’t mind."

Ryouga cleared his throat, “Hem . . . as to Ran-chan trying to kill me. I don’t ever remember a time he tried. If he’d tried, he’d have succeeded. However, I’m not sure how many times I tried to kill him. It seems to me it was at least four or maybe five.

“I was always blaimin’ all my problems on him but he never did anything but try to get me to get my head outa my ass. I wouldn’t say I object if I was you.”

Ryouga’s look verged on homicidal and Mr Cash decided that prudence was a very good thing, “Where was . . . oh, yeah, so, when I kinda flipped out over something or the other and made him dig his own grave and after he beat the hell outa me for it, instead of crackin’ my skull and leavin’ me in that grave, he just offered me his hand and said ‘Hibiki, we’re rivals, not enemies. I wish you’d get that through your pig stubborn head.’ I had an epiphany, I got myself together and finished school, got a degree and I owe my life today to Saotome Ranma. Without his patience and goodwill, I’d probably be a murder or in a nut house by now."

Cash gulped, damnit Downs had turned this one completely on its head.

"Well, that was very enlightening, thank you."

The Prosecutor stood and said “No questions at this time, thank you Hibiki-san.”

~ * ~

Mr. Cash ground his teeth, he didn’t want anything to do with questioning this self possessed arrogant young man, he was obviously extremely rich. Not the sort to be trifled with

"I understand that you have testimony that Mr. Ranma indulged in white slavery."

"I'm sorry, I don’t understand the question. Perhaps you could state it again?"

"Did Mr. Ranma or did he not have some untoward control over a girl that is referred to as the ‘pigtailed girl’?"

"Ah, yes, her. He certainly possesses her body and soul."

"I see. And you don’t think that could be considered slavery?"

"Well no, since they are one and the same." Kuno-sama shot his cuffs and smirked at Cash.

"Excuse me. I don’t think I understood the answer." Cash did a double take.

"Saotome Ranma and the pigtailed girl are one and the same person. She is usualy referred to as Ranko, by the way."

"I see. Are you sure. That seems to be a bit . . ."

Kuno interrupted the lawyer, he was getting bored.

"Yes I’m sure. I’m insane, not stupid. And that’s another thing, I have a chemical imbalance which causes me to be some what annoying at times and homicidal at others. Like Hibiki-san, I too attempted to kill Saotome-san several times. Instead of defending himself to the utmost and making an end of me, he befriended me. He has been nothing if not understanding. After all, he didn’t have to become my friend. He could have done just as well, if not better, if he’d just tolerated me."

Kuno gave the lawyer a condescending look and stroked the knife like crease in his trousers, drawing attention to the suit. It was Armani and extremely expensive.

"However, I feel that, as I am under oath, I must admit that Saotome-san has had experience in slavery. From the other side. I believe that your client neglected to mention the fact that his father sold him."

After having the Senior Judge quash the uproar and overrule the objection, Kuno-san remarked, "Yes, I find it objectionable too."

~ * ~

"My name is Tendo Akane. I was Ranma’s fiancee. We didn’t get along very well. I am in anger management classes.”

"I’m not sure what that has to do with the fact that he beat you up on several ocasions."

"What? Ranma never layed a hand on me. I’m taking classes because I beat him up one time too many. He broke off our engagement because of it.”

"Well, surely, you could’t have done him much damage. You’re . . ."

"A breaker of considerable skill, I teach martial arts in my own dojo. The Anything Goes School of Martial Arts for Ladies. The only one who is a better breaker than me is Ranma and, possibly, Ryouga. It’s because of Ranma that I have a school of my own. Despite the fact that I nearly beat him to death with a bokken, he did his best to help me. Ranma dosn’t hit girls. Used to drive me nuts. “

"I see, no more questions."

The prosecution declined to question the witness.

~ * ~

Mr. Clark rubbed his neck. The first real testimony had been an unmitigated disaster. No one was going to say anything negative about Ranma and this insistence about calling him by his first name. These damned orientals were just too much, all the fuss about names and methods of address were distracting.

"Next witness please. I believe this witness is Mr. Ranma’s father."

“I don’t know what I ever did to have such an ungrateful son. All I ever did was to try to make a man of him."

Genma didn’t realize what an unappetising and villainous impression he was making. He had been brought in in chains and had done nothing but squirm and complain rather loudly since. Including remarking, in a rather loud voice, that he hoped that his ungrateful son would be taught a lesson soon

"Yes, I see. Could you tell us a little bit about your unceasing efforts to turn a sullen and ungrateful child into a worthwhile, contributing citizen?"

Mr. Clark had no idea what he was unleashing on an unsuspecting court room and the Senior Judge finally told him that, if he objected one more time to his own witnesses testimony, he’d be held in contempt.

Genma finished up his testimony with, “And no amount of beating or extra exercises has ever done a bit of good. He’s as arrogant and insolent as ever. Even if he is one of the best martial artists ever, he’s never done me a bit of good. He never makes any money."

Mr. Clark wondered briefly if he could just crawl under something and whimper quietly, he’d never had such a bad witness in his life. The man had impressed everyone negatively and his testimony only made Ranma look like the victim of severe child abuse.

~ * ~

"My name is Saotome Nodoka. I find Ranma to be an entirely unsatisfactory child and an undutiful son."

Nodoka left the stand and refused to return. The uproar in the court room reach epic proportions and the judges agreed to a short recess in order to restore order.

"I think that we need to get Saotome on the stand as soon as possible. However, I’m afraid we’re going to have Downs inflicted on us first."

~ * ~

Downs managed to make a very bad impression first thing. He’d obviously dressed with considerable care. But some how he managed to look vulgar. His suit was expensive but it didn’t quite fit right, he’d bought it off the rack and never had it tailored. His hair cut was bad and he greased it flat back, covering a bald spot with stuck down strands that only served to draw attention to it. His gaudy watch was a Rolex knock off and he’d worn (for Kami’s sake) a pinky ring and a heavy gold bracelet

His testimony was also wasn’t quit what it should be. He never understood that what he’d done was bad, wrong, immoral and illegal, in fact, he seemed somehow to be proud of the fact that not only had he gotten two teenagers captured and nearly sacrificed, he’d also set another up for incarceration in an adult prison.

"Of course I changed the ages. If I hadn’t, we wouldn’t have been able to use them. What difference does it make? They’re just brats. We need to be able to make use of their talents. The agency is not the place for the faint of heart. I was just doing my duty."

Clark finally did put his head down on the table, the judges looked disgusted and all Clark could do was thank his lucky stars he’d managed to impress on Downs that it was the height of impropriety to call Ranma a chink. Mainly by pointedly informing him that Ranma was Japanese not Chinese.

~ * ~

Ranma snickered. Downs had nearly hung himself and he, Ranma, was going to give the judges enough rope to hang him twice over.

The testimony of his parents had made him look like either a juvenile delinquent or some kind of pathetic looser

The testimony of all his secondary team had made him look like a solder, one of their own. Especially when they’d told about the collapsing tower and the imp attack.

Leela and Danny hadn’t testified yet but Shuba had told everything about the raid on the hotel.

So far, the Trial had taken four days and, while Ranma had been there every day, he’d never set foot in the court room. As a convicted, incarcerated criminal he wasn’t allowed in the court room until he was actually testifying. He was watching the proceedings through closed circuit TV.

Now it was time for him to start testifying.

~ * ~

Vingyette

Ranma leaned aganst the bars of the cage. He was bored, the testimony was all about what Downs had done in America. It wasn’t good. But it just kept on and on.

Sunny walked up smiling, the guards had gone somewhere on important adult business, leaving Ranma unguarded. *snicker*

"Hi bad boy."

"'Lo, little girl, want some candy?"

"Ranma, you are just too bad for words. “

Sunny threaded her fingers between Ranma’s through the bars and leaned her forehead against his. Ranma pressed up against the bars, needing the feel of Sunny against him.

Ranma gave Sunny a quick peck of a kiss, then another, nuzzeling his cheek against hers, he whispered to her. He nipped at her lower lip, coaxing her to open her mouth.

"Mmm, Ran-chan love you. Miss you.”

Sunny licked Ranma’s lower lip and then . . .

“Hey, get away from there. You don’t have any business necking like that.”

Sunny snarled, "I hope you get the . . ."

Ranma clamped his hand over Sunny’s mouth, preventing her from saying something crude.

“Sorry, about the door thingy.”

The guard looked at the heavy bared door, it was bowed out by several inches.

~ * ~

Ranma groaned, they were going to restrain him again. He was so tired of this shit, it was unbelievable. He knew Steven had told them it was no use. It pissed him off no end, so he decided to be a shit about it

The guard had hold of Ranma’s wrist, he wasn’t resisting exactly, but he had frozen his arm exactly one half inch too far from the cuff so the guard couldn’t get the ratchet to catch. He also had his feet just exactly that much too far apart, another guard was on his knees trying to get cuffs around his ankles.

Ranma looked at Sunny over the head of the first guard, he looked sulky and sullen

Sunny smiled at him with her heart in her eyes and Ranma couldn’t resist that smile, he gave Sunny a heavy lidded look slightly pursing his lips, then he licked his upper lip slowly and pursuing his lips more made an air kiss in Sunny’s direction

Sunny made a catching motion and pressed both hands to her breast, dramatically swooning into Kuno’s arms. He of course caught her and, snickering, fanned her wtih a folding fan. Ryouga choked and Danny Leela and Shuba all started giggleing

That made Ranma break out into merry laughter, startling both guards, who looked at him like he’d gone completely crazy.

Steven walked out of an office to see his prize brat pack standing around laughing like a pack of hyenas while two sweating guards tried to put shackles on Ranma

"Damnit Ranma, stop messing around and let those guys do their job. It’ll all be over soon.”

Ranma gave Steven a sloe eyed look and moved his hand and foot so the guard could get him chained. {I’m so gonna make that idiot regret this}

“The Defence Attorney, Clark, is insisting that you are too dangerous to be left free. I hope you’ve thought of some way to make him regret this, and demonstrate your cooperativeness . . . Hhhmmm?”

Steven couldn’t wait to see what Ranma was going to get up to in the court room. He’d just been in with the judges and they weren’t going to do anything about Ranma and the Restraints. He’d warned them that it wasn’t a good idea, as Ranma was tired of fooling around with that kind of thing. The judges weren’t afraid of Ranma (Ooops) but they didn’t want to have to mess with arguing with Mr Clark, “It won’t hurt him for this little bit.”

"Yeah? Well, he’s put up with this shit with good grace for three weeks, it’s time to give the poor kid a break.”

"What’s he going to do about it?"

"I don’t know and that’s what scares me. He can be unpredictable at times. He’s not dangerous, like Downs says, but he’s only sixteen and can be a little impulsive at times. I’ll laugh my head off 'cause I know he’s gonna make a fuss."

Now he came out to see this in the hall {Ranma you little devil, hope you make it good. I need a good laugh}

~ * ~

When they reconviened court, Ranma was already in the stand. The first problen was with the oath.

"Do you swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing bu the truth so help you God?”

"Don’t believe in the Christian God. I’m an animist myself. Ya know?”

Ranma crossed his legs, snapping the leg irons with a sharp report.

The clerk chose to ignore that and concentrate on the oath, all three judges jumped or flinched and the guards just gulped.

"OK, do you swear, vow or afferm that your testimony will be truthfull to the best of your abilities?”

Ranma raised his right hand and said. “I swear to tell the whole truth on my honour as a man.”

Steven bowed his head into his hands and laughed himself sily. "Oh lord. They have no idea what they have gotten themselves into.”