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 36

Ranma was shoveling down breakfast to the amazement of some new recruits who had gathered just around the corner to watch him, when a Sergeant walked up and saluted.

“Don’t salute me. I’m not enlisted. What do you want?”

The Sergeant dropped his salute saying, “When I went through orientation they said, ‘Salute all the Georges.’ So I’m saluting you. You gonna bust my chops or take the message?”

“Sorry. What’s the message?”

Ranma sighed, he knew what it was going to be; a summons to Steven’s office for an obligatory ass chewing.

“Steven says, when you’re done with breakfast he wants you in his office. I think he’s kind of pissed. What’d you do now?”

“Do I know you? Or is my business all over the . . . never mind; my business is always all over the Compound. The latrine-o-gram works way too good around here. I’m leaving. Will you take care of my tray for me? I’d appreciate it.”

Ranma waited for the Sergeant to nod, then he left for Steven’s office, knowing he was in for a lecture and probably more.

~ * ~

Steven eyed the memo from his commander, they were all under a microscope right now and couldn’t afford a slip. But he could interpret his orders in a lot of ways and they wouldn’t question him. He just hoped the publicity died down soon.

Ranma walked into the office and sat down in the chair in front of Steven’s desk. He waited as Steven fished the memo out of the folder and took it without a word. After reading it he thought for a moment.

“What do you consider an appropriate punishment? You know that getting Akane to do or not do anything is almost impossible. Really impossible, if you’re me . . . Steven, I won’t hold anything against you, no matter how hard you beat me. You know that. So let’s get it over with. Do we need a witness?”

“Yeah, after breaking the story of all the incursions, and some of the other stuff reporters got their hands on. We’re treading on really thin ice. The public doesn’t know exactly what to think of us and if they decide to be scared of us, we’re in trouble. But if we can carry off the next few weeks without scaring them half to death we’re probably home free. So appropriate punishment and a witness . . . Doris, will you come in here, please.”

Dorie walked in and gave Steven a look. One of her ‘will you quite messing around’ looks.

“I’m here. What do you want now? I’ve got a lot to do, what with the reporters calling every three seconds and all the written questions we have to answer. I have Ranma to thank for that and it was a good idea too. We have time to compose a good answer without trying to dodge half a dozen other questions at the same time. Good on you, Ranma. Smart thinking.”

“Well, Sugar, you read the memo. I know you read all of them, so don’t say you didn’t. And I need a witness to the punishment. You’ll do.”

“Steven, if you’re gonna stand there and tell me you’re actually going to punish Ranma for not trying to get that girl to do . . . well, not do. Damnit, I’m getting involved. You know what I mean and I’m not standing here and letting you. Or . . . Steven Campbell do not stand and smirk at me like that. What are you up to?”

Ranma, who by now was thoroughly confused, decided to get things back on track.

“Look you two, argue later. I’d like to get this over with. I’ve got a dance class to go to. I kinda lied to Akane. I told her I already had a diploma, so I’d like to get these last classes over with as soon as possible.”

Doris frowned at Steven; Steven just looked at the memo.

“It says here that I’m to decide upon and administer an appropriate punishment. They left it all in my hands . . . ok . . . here goes. Ranma, you should have found some way to keep Akane out of the combat zone. She’s a civilian even if she is a class six martial artist. Shame on you . . . Put out your left hand.”

Ranma blinked, this was it? He put out his hand and waited.

“Palm up, please.”

Ranma turned his hand over palm up. Steven smacked him with a ruler across his upturned palm.

“Huh? . . . What the hell was that?. . . that’s it?”

“Yeah, that’s an appropriate punishment for not trying to get a mule-headed class six martial artist to stay out of the line of fire. If she’d gotten hurt, it might have been different, but I doubt it. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting the young lady and, in my opinion, she needs a good spanking. She’s too stubborn for her own good, but I hear she’s in therapy, so maybe she’ll learn. I hope so. She’s not high enough level to work for us but she could help out in other ways, if she could take orders from you.”

Ranma, who was absently rubbing his palm, snorted.

“Akane take orders from me? Yeah, right. Hell freezing over comes to mind. Look, if you’re done, I got to get to that class, before Sunny has my hide on a stretcher. Bye . . . Steven? Thanks for . . . well, you know.”

“Yeah, I know. Get to class. I don’t want to deal with Sunny in ‘I’m disappointed’ mode any more than you do.”

Ranma snickered all the way to the school building. He still thought it was a waste to have two people using a whole building for High School classes.

When he got to the building, he found out that Steven had already started using it for other classes. He walked in the door and ran into a crowd of men, all milling around in the entry way, with papers in hand. He tried to duck up the main stair case and was stopped by a Master Sergeant who wanted to see his class schedule.

“I don’t have one. All I’ve got is one class today and two tomorrow. Look, I’m late already, just let me by.” The Sergeant put his hand on Ranma’s chest and pushed.

“Hey, watch it. Don’t be gettin’ pushy with me. I don’t like it.”

Ranma grabbed his patience with both hands and held on. He was going to have trouble today, with all the new men in the building and everyone running around trying to get into some kind of routine, no one was going to know who he was or whether he was supposed to be here or not.

“RANMA!! You’re late! Come on, get up here and let’s get to class. If I have to do a detention because we’re late I’m gonna take it out of your hide. Move it, mister!”

Ranma rolled his eyes at the Sergeant and muttered, “Let me by before she has a shit fit. If I have to listen to another lecture today, I’m gonna go over the edge.”

The Sergeant dithered for a second and Ranma got impatient, so he just jumped over the man. He hadn’t meant to do something like this, it caused too much trouble and he probably was going to have to pay another visit to Steven’s office because of this but he was getting crowded and he didn’t like that.

The reactions to his jump weren’t what he’d expected. The Sergeant just muttered “Shit, that’s Saotome” and everyone else who’d seen the jump gasped in amazement or cheered. He landed beside Sunny with a soft ‘tup’--an amazing thing in itself since he was wearing combat boots.

“Ranma. Didn’t I tell you to wear your slippers? I don’t want you walking all over my feet in those boots. And since we’re taking dancing lessons again . . . “ Ranma shut Sunny up by kissing her, to the loud cheering of everyone in the vestibule and adjacent hall ways.

“Shut it, you perverts . . . Sunny, since when do you think I’m clumsy enough to step on your feet?”

“I don’t, just better safe than sorry. You know I trust you don’t you?”

~ * ~

Vignette

“Look, all I know is I pushed Saotome and I’m still alive to tell about it. I don’t believe half of what people say about him. He’s just a kid. He’s gotten a bad rep somehow. He’s not violent, he just doesn’t like being crowded.”

“Well, all you were trying to do was your job.”

“Doesn’t make any difference to some people. Did to him.”

~ * ~

The minute Ranma got through the door of the class room Sunny grabbed Ranma’s ass with both hands.

“Hey! Watch it! What’s that all about?” Ranma jumped three feet up and four feet forward, turning in mid air to stare at Sunny in surprise.

“I just want to heal you. I heard about you being called to Steven’s office.”

“Yeah.” Ranma grinned at Sunny. “He really gave it to me good. Here . . . I’m so hurt.”

Ranma held out his hand for Sunny to see. She took his hand in hers and felt it. “What? There’s nothing wrong . . . he didn’t punish you.”

“Yeah he did. Smacked my hand with a ruler. Didn’t give me any lecture . . . just said ‘shame on you’ like I was a naughty little kid or something. He’s really getting the idea that he’s in charge here. He’s a good administrator and he’d be better if he’d get over the idea he’s nothing but an ignorant gladiator. He knuckles under to the Board too easily, or he used to. I think we’re going to have a lot less trouble from now on. Especially now that Downs is in the Gulag.”

“The Russians really sent him to the Gulag Archipelago? That’s harsh. I like it. . . .” Sunny looked around. “Don’t see the teacher. He or she is late. That’s not good. If this crowd made Teacher late, whoever it is, is going to be in a real bad mood. . . . Damnit!”

Sunny’s curse wasn’t caused by the lateness of the teacher but by her elastic breaking and her hair falling down in a cascade across her back. She groped for it and managed to get half of it contained but it was still everywhere.

Ranma fished a brush from her back pack and sat on the window sill. He motioned for Sunny to sit on the floor in front of him and began to brush her hair.

“I really like it that you’re not dying your hair every color of the rainbow anymore. I like the real color much better. Especially now that it’s grown out and long enough to do something with. . . . here, give me the elastic.”

Ranma efficiently wrapped the elastic around the end of the twisted braid he’d made and flipped it over her shoulder for her approval. She nodded and patted him on the thigh, then leaned back against him to wait for the teacher.

“Sunny? Do you know why we’re meeting in the little Dojo? It seems kinda odd to me.”

“Well, I think it’s because we’re going to be studying Ball room dancing and need the room. Also, I bet they just dumped us here for all our classes so they could have the rest of the classrooms for the college classes . . . we get the short piece of the candy bar again. Oh, well.”

Ranma thought about what Sunny had said and decided that they weren’t really being shorted. The room was nice; large and well lit by the wide expanse of windows along the far wall. The floor was hard wood, excellent for dancing--or martial arts. If they were going to do more dancing than anything else it was a good choice.

“What else are we taking besides dancing? I didn’t get a class schedule. I was a little busy recovering from the fight with that wyvern; I think I slept through the orientation and all the rest of it.” Ranma leaned over Sunny, resting his chin on the top of her head and wrapping his arms around her shoulders. “I think I heard something about Kuno and Ryouga but I was out of it enough that I don’t remember. Do you know what is goin’ on with Kodachi?”

Sunny sighed, she’d known that Ranma wasn’t listening so she gave him a quick rundown.

“Kuno is going to have to stay in Switzerland for a while. Kodachi is really screwed up, none o f the meds work for her and without meds, therapy is a waste of time. Ryouga is coming back in three days, Leela has been assigned as his--” Sunny snickered wickedly ”--keeper--permanently. I think they’ll be married in two or three years. They really make a cute couple; Ryouga is devoted to her and she just plain looks silly every time she looks at him. Danny is in OCS and has said he won’t be back for at least a year because there’s a lot they can teach him. I think he’s going into administration. Shuba won’t be taking any of these classes, he’s just refused--dug in his heels and said he’ll take administrative failure. Stubborn ass.”

“What’s administrative failure?”

“That’s where you just skip classes and fail because you’re not there. We could do that but you want to get an A average; if we take a fail on the three classes we’re short we’ll get a C at best.”

“I want to graduate with the best average I can get, and even if it’s only one semester it might make a difference. I might want to go on to college some day soon and I don’t want to have trouble getting into a good one.”

Sunny sighed, she hoped Ranma could get into college courses here in the Compound. Steven had arranged with one of the best universities in Japan to have extension classes here but the requirements hadn’t been waived. If you didn’t measure up, you couldn’t get in.

“Ok, so we take classes that I’m going to hate, so you can get into a good university. That’s doable, but you are so gonna owe me, mister. And I’m taking it out of your hide.” Sunny reached over her head and tickled Ranma, who squirmed and squeaked.

“Excuse me, young man. Are you Saotome Ranma and Yao Sun?”

Ranma and Sunny jumped apart looking at the woman who had startled them. She was tall and elegant with a regal look that said class.

Ranma clutched the end of his pigtail and eyed the woman hesitantly, people like her usually took one look at him and turned up their noses.

“Yuh, I’m Saotome, that’s Sunny. Hep ya? Wha’ch need?”

Sunny sighed and let her shoulders slump. The lady gave Ranma an odd look and sighed also. Her next words stunned both teens, Ranma especially.

“Oh dear. I had hoped that it wasn’t as bad as Kuno-sama said it was. However, he has said that you are both very smart and that I should let you test out of as much as possible because you’re so busy with some supernatural business. He explained it, but I didn’t understand much.

“So the first thing we do is see what you know. Kuno-sama got me out of retirement and asked that I teach you social graces.”

Ranma looked at the Lady closely. “Hey, I recognize you. I saw you dance when I was little. You’re Svetlana Dubrovskia. I sneaked into the opera house to watch you dance. I really remember because Pop had a fit.”

“I’m pleased that you remember me. You must have been very young. I’ve been retired for almost six years. It’s too bad you got into trouble.”

“I was eleven. Pop wasn’t best pleased with me but he only gave me a taste of the strap and tied me up and left me in a ditch overnight. Wasn’t nothin’.”

Ranma blinked at the look of fury on the woman’s face.

“I had hoped that what Kuno-sama told me was an exaggeration but I think he toned it down quite a bit. Well, I don’t believe in punishments. If you want to learn, I’ll teach; if you don’t, I go away. My time is too precious to waste it on people who don’t want what I have to offer. However, I don’t think I’ll have trouble like that with you two. Will I?”

“No ma’am.” Sunny blessed Madam Dubrovskia with one of her best smiles. “We’ve been swing dancing for a while. We had a club but it broke up because everyone couldn’t get together at the same time. I like dancing and Ranma is good at anything physical.”

“Excellent, I want to see what you know. Dance for me!”

Ranma suddenly exploded into motion. Madam had started across the floor and slipped, her high heels skidding on the slick wooden floor. He scooped her up and held her until she got her feet under her again.

“Easy there, that floor is slick as a greased eel. You better take those heels off before you bust somethin’ you don’t want to. Here,” Ranma handed her a pair of Dojo slippers, “put these on. They got rubber soles.”

“Thank you. Now I have to correct you. It is properly ‘something’ with a g and also ‘they have’. Your English is good. I haven’t heard you speak Japanese yet but Kuno-sama says that it is problematical at best.”

“Naw. I’m not sure what problematical means but if it means it’s bad, you’re wrong.” Ranma switched to Japanese. “I talk like a rice farmer. Don’t got nothin’ but bad and worse. Pop jappered me up gooder n’ shit. I get by if I think ‘bout every word out . . . hey! What’d ya do that for?”

Sunny had pinched Ranma and was glaring at him like she wanted to really smack him.

“Ranma you speak a lot better than that. Why are you talking like a hick?”

“Because if I don’t watch every word out of my mouth, that’s what I’ll talk like. I do good until I get upset, then everythin’ I learned goes out of my head. It’s why I speak English as much as I do. I actually speak better English than I do Japanese.”

“Oh! Ranma, I never thought about that. I wondered why you did that, but I thought it was because you needed the practice in English.”

Madam smiled. “Your English is very good but I see that you really do speak like, as you put it, a rice farmer. However, I think that you will do quite well, all you need to do is think about what you want to say and then say it. Take your time. If you’ve got anything important to say people will listen. And after a while you’ll get better. My Russian was horrible when I first went to Moskva but I learned to speak with elegance and you can, too.”

“You learned . . . I thought…” Ranma looked at Madam with interest.

“Yes, I grew up on a cooperative in Siberia. I went to Moskva at the age of seventeen and entered the Russian State Ballet School. I was taught. If I can learn, so can you. Just don’t get discouraged.”

Sunny was nodding, glad that someone else was telling Ranma the same things she’d been telling him forever.

“So . . . I went from a beet farmer to a lady. You can go from a rice farmer to a gentleman. All it takes is a little hard work, some application and a desire to better yourself. Do you understand me?”

Ranma nodded. Madam was making a lot of sense. “Yeah, unless I’m upset I do pretty good. I’ll never speak as nice as Kuno but I don’t sound like a real hick most of the time. I guess I just keep at it ‘til I get it right. Huh?”

Madam smiled at Ranma. He was so intense, she enjoyed working with people like Ranma, people who would give it everything they had and keep at it until it was right. This might even be fun.

Fifteen minutes later Madam was sighing in ecstatic contemplation of the gently swaying duo as Ranma and Sunny demonstrated their waltzing skills. After the waltz they went through schottische, polka, tango, Maringa, samba, two-step, and foxtrot.

“Stop . . . stop . . . stop. It is quite painful. It make me vant do cry. It is . . .”

Sunny interrupted. “I didn’t think we were that bad. I mean we’ve just learned from watching the Ballroom dancing contest on tv, but Ranma’s real good at figuring out moves of any kind and dancing is just kata of a sort to music.”

Madam got her emotions and English under control. Patting Ranma on a slumped shoulder, she sighed,

“Nyet, nyet. It is painful to me because I know that you will never compete in those same contests you learned from. You are so good that it is a shame before God that you will never show the world your skills.

“Now all we have to do is have you two demonstrate some sort of extreme social skill you’ll never need to attend a banquette or cocktail party, so I’m not sure what to do.”

Ranma brightened. “Tea Ceremony! I can do that easy.”

“Ranma you never said you knew tea ceremony. When did you learn that?”

Ranma filled them in on how he’d come to learn the Tea Ceremony. Finishing up with, “I’ll have one for you on . . . ” Ranma cocked his head thinking. “Can you be here Tuesday night at seven? There’s a full moon and we can view it.”

~ * ~

Vignette

“I don’t believe it. That kid is actually grooming the path on his hands and knees.”

“Yeah, but he’s having a Tea Ceremony, it’s really important that everything is just so. I bet he cleans the house from top to bottom himself too.”

“That’s just stupid. What difference does it make if the rafters are clean. Who’ll notice?”

“He will. I don’t understand it myself. But I heard that he learned from a Master that tied his legs so he’d learn to move in just the right way. Really strict.”

“Still think it’s nuts but I know he’ll do well.”

“I hope so. Go through all that work and not get a good grade. That’d be a real shame.”

~ * ~

Tuesday night came and Ranma held the Ceremony with all the formal touches that could be expected from a Master First Class. The moon viewing was phenomenal as there was an eclipse that night.

“Well, that went well. I thought the view of the moon from the engawa was especially beautiful on the pond water.”

Ranma yawned and led Sunny toward the dorm. Sunny leaned into him and allowed him to cuddle close-- it was getting chilly this late in the year.

“I think it will be beautiful when the snow is on, too. I’d like to have a ceremony for Steven on the first snow fall.”

“Suits me. Kuno would like that too. You know I really miss the nut. And I really need to talk to Ryu about a few things. I’ll be glad when he gets back.”

“He should be back tomorrow. Good night.”

Sunny went into her room and Ranma stood in the hall for a moment, thanking his lucky stars for his friends and for Sunny.

~ * ~

Ranma woke the next morning and headed out to train. He got in his run and spent extra time on kata since he’d slacked off some and felt guilty about it. When he got back from the mess hall, the dorm was in chaos. There were men everywhere, wandering in and out the door, and the halls were crowded with commissioned officers obviously moving in.

“Excuse me, what’s going on?”

“Watch it, kid. Steven finally cleared this building for occupation. The hot shots living here are going to have to get used to living like the rest of the hoi-ploi, it’s about time too. I can’t believe that anyone could think that they are going to keep this whole building for themselves.”

Ranma called Steven and asked him what was going on. Steven explained that Kuno wasn’t going to come back for at least six more months, so they couldn’t hold his room; Ryouga had asked that he have a house available ASAP as he and Leela were engaged and he wanted to have a home ready for her when they got married. So that left only Sunny and Ranma in the whole building and they couldn’t afford to let a hundred eighteen units go empty anymore. Housing was too short.

Ranma snapped his phone shut and headed for his room. He arrived just in time to see a Staff Sergeant getting ready to use a master key to open the door.

“Hey! That’s my room. You got no business in there.”

“You Saotome Ranma?”

Ranma eyed the Sergeant with some disfavor. “Yeah, what’s it to ya?”

“This is your room mate Lieutenant Franz.”

“No way! I ain’t havin’ no room mate. It’s too dangerous.”

Ranma knew he was fighting a losing battle but he wasn’t having a room mate without giving notice that he wasn’t happy about it.

Franz took this opportunity to butt in. “If he doesn’t want a room mate maybe you should just let it slide. I’ll go back to the barracks until there’s a room available.”

The Sergeant just shook his head, he had everything settled in his head and he wasn’t changing his mind: this kid could just get over it.

Ranma exhaled through his nose so as not to piss off anyone. He didn’t want trouble, he had enough without having a pissed-off roomie. He took out his key and opened the door revealing a room that pointed up the fact that Ranma wasn’t an ordinary teenager, it was neat and clean. Everything had a place and everything was in its place.

~ * ~

Vignette

“Steven, Ranma has passed every class--aced them. Madam says that she never saw a nicer Tea Ceremony.”

“That’s good, but we’re going to have trouble with him living in the dorm now. He’s not going to like all the commotion that comes with living with three hundred plus people in one building.”

“Well, I’m just glad that he won’t have a roomie.”

~ * ~

“Look kid, I gotta get some sleep. I’m on duty in six hours. I hate second shift, but I’m stuck with it until a new group comes in.”

Ranma rolled his eyes. This wasn’t working out at all. It had been a week and all they did was argue. Franz didn’t like Sunny in the room, he didn’t like Ranma’s music, he didn’t want him on the computer. He seemed to think that Ranma should knuckle under since he was the younger of the two.

“Yeah, well, ya shoulda thought of that before ya stayed up half the night drinkin’ with that mob of jerks ya hang around with.”

“Damnit! What the hell did you just say? I can’t understand you. Why don’t you learn to speak English?”

“Aa, shimatta, Kisama! This is Japan. Why’nt ya learn to speak Japanese. Omae aho ya de. Nan dai yo! Egg in your beer. Baka yamero yo! Nani! Yaru ka? Kuso! I’m leavin’!”

The Lieutenant stared after Ranma shaking his head. He had no idea what Ranma had said or why he was so mad, after all he was a lieutenant and Ranma wasn’t, and he was older.

Ranma knocked on Sunny’s door and--completely forgetting that she had a room mate--walked in.

“Fuck! Sumimasen. Damnit! I’m sorry. Tell Sunny I need her. I’ll be in Steven’s office.”

The lady that Sunny was rooming with was luckily good natured and hadn’t been upset with Ranma barging in on her.

Ranma headed for Steven’s office at a hard trot. He wasn’t putting up with this, he didn’t have to. Steven had said he could have anything he wanted and he wanted a private room.

“Steven. Ranma’s here and he’s in a state. You better see him now. Be sure to tell him that he needs to catch up with all those reports in his office. I don’t think he’s read a single one.”

At Steven’s arrested look, Dorie slapped a pile of folders down on Steven’s desk and glowered at him, hands on her hips

“Steven Campbell, you did tell him he had an office and needed to read those reports? . . . No . . . you forgot, didn’t you?”

Steven admitted that he had and Doris snarled at him, “Steven, I swear, I don’t know where your head is sometimes. Now that poor kid has weeks of reports to catch up on. Well, I’ll show him in and you can explain to him how this happened.”

Ranma stomped into the office and leaned on Steven’s desk with both hands.

“I don’t ask for much. You know I don’t. I can’t stand that room mate of mine. I’d like a private room. I can’t sleep, I can’t work out, all he does is complain about everything and anything and had the nerve to tell me I needed to learn to speak better English. Well, my English is better than his Japanese. Steven, do something.”

Steven shook his head. Ranma wasn’t supposed to have a room mate. That was one of the things he’d insisted on. He’d even had a special meeting with the housing officer and explained to him about Ryouga, Kuno, and especially Ranma.

“I don’t think I can; I had a meeting with the Housing Officer and he told me he’d make sure that you didn’t have a room mate nor would Ryouga or Kuno. Sunny said she’d like a room mate, so I didn’t worry about her. I’ll look into it, but with housing the way it is, there may not be much I can do.”

“Well, his blood is on your hands. You know if he wakes me up suddenly, he’s a dead man.” At the look on Steven’s face Ranma waited for the rest of the bad news. He was getting real tired of surprises.

“Un . . . and while you’re here . . . I messed up. I was supposed to tell you about your office and remind you to come in every few days to read the reports. And I haven’t been reading them because I thought you were. So I need for you to go to your office and start on them now. I’ll get back to you on the room mate situation. Ranma, I’m sorry about this.”

“Well . . . I know you are, but I just can’t have a roomie. At least not this guy. All he wants to do is argue and boss me around and I’m not taking it much longer. If nothing else is available, I’ll move up to that little cottage I stayed in when I first came. But if he messes with me too much more I’m not gonna be responsible for my actions. He touches me too much.”

Ranma didn’t even blink over the office; he’d suspected that he was supposed to be doing something else because life was way too easy just now and he was waiting for the whammy.

Doris led him to the office and opened the door. Ranma looked around and was pleasantly surprised; the office was large and airy with a nice view of the mountains, unfortunately his desk was large. Unfortunate because it was loaded with files that he had to read all at once. Shrugging he sat in the chair, got up, adjusted it and sat back down.

Taking the file Dorie handed him, he absently unlaced his boots and leaned back in the chair. Kicking off his boots, he opened the file; he started to read, and read, and read. He managed to get through half the reports before his (damn) roommate showed up looking for him.

“There you are. What are you doing in this office? I’m sure the real occupant won’t appreciate you dirtying it up. Come on, I want you to iron my shirt for me. I’ve got a hot date. And I need my shoes polished.”

Ranma couldn’t believe it. This idiot wanted him to serve him. He’d been avoiding a real confrontation with him. Typically, Ranma just wanted to skirt around the whole thing, waiting for it to go away. But it didn’t seem that he was going to get away with ignoring the situation. They were already arguing on a daily basis and this was the outside of enough.

“If you think I’m gonna slave for you, you’re nuts. I didn’t escape from one slave farm to let some freak like you walk all over me. Iron your own shirt! And while you’re at it, clean up your mess. If I come home and find another mess, I’ll bitch slap you into next week. You’re a bigger pig than Ryouga.”

Ranma slapped the report he’d been reading down on the desk and grabbed the Lieutenant by the arm to drag him to the door and put him out. Ranma felt like his life had finally spun completely out of his control.

“Look, I got three months of reports to catch up on. I don’t have time to mess with you. I’m not foolin’ around. “

“Jesus! Damnit! That hurts. Let me go.” Franz tried to pull his arm out of Ranma’s grip but it was too late. The sharp crack of a bone breaking filled the air.

“Damnit! Steven! Steven, come quick. I think I broke his arm.”

Ranma banged on Steven’s door and headed down the hall to Dorie’s office to call the medics. Luckily Sunny was there, gossiping with Dorie about whatever it is that women find to talk about.

Sunny looked up at Ranma’s entrance and went to hug him, but he just grabbed her hand and tugged her after him, filling her in on what had happened as they hurried down the hall.

“Ok. I can heal it. If you haven’t crushed the bone too much. . . . Here let me see that.”

Sunny reached for the man’s arm, but he jerked away. “NO! I need a medic. And you can be sure that I’ll have words with your commanding officer about this. I’m a lieutenant! Assaulting a superior officer . . . ”

“I’m a civilian. I don’t have a superior of any kind. Now hold still and let Sunny see to that arm. I’m sorry I broke it. I don’t usually get that careless.”

Ranma was now hotly embarrassed: he had been careless with a ‘normal’ and now they would both suffer for it. He knew Steven was going to have more that just something to say about this particular mess.

“Ranma, I want you to do it. You need to learn how to heal. You have the ability, I don’t know why you were never taught. Look . . .”

“Sunny, I don’t have any talent that way. At least, I don’t think I do. How do you do that? It’s . . . well . . . oh.”

Sunny guided Ranma’s hands and pushed a tiny bit of her power through them, which triggered him to reinforce the flow with his own ki. Franz sighed softly as the pain of his broken bone faded.

“I never . . . that felt really weird. Thanks for healing me, but I’m still talking to whoever is in charge of you. You need a keeper. You’re entirely too young to be wandering around on a military base without supervision. My little brother is older than you and I wouldn’t trust him as far as I can throw him.”

Ranma got sullen and defensive, snarling, “Yeah? And I suppose your baby bro could kill assorted nasties, survive--not only being sent to the arena--but having a building fall on him? Don’t think so. I don’t ask for much but you will treat me with respect. I think I earned it. You’ll be moving out or I will, you’re too stupid for words.”

Ranma turned to see Steven looking at him with fury written all over him; not only his face, but his stance. Ranma decided then and there that he had to get out for a while.

“Steven, when you’re through beating me, I’d like to make arrangements to take a leave of absence. Not for very long, but the psychic says that there won’t be any major incursions for at least a month. I’ll keep my cell and you can always track me by my watch. I’d wait for Ryouga but I don’t think talking to him is what I need. Everything just seems to keep falling apart on me and I can’t keep adjusting. I need to be able to concentrate on my job, not on a bunch of peripheral stuff like living in a dorm that makes me jump forty times a minute. I can’t sleep for all the banging doors and stuff. And he won’t let me study--he’s on second shift and stays up till all hours then he says my typing keeps him awake. I…shit, now I’m whining.”

Steven just eyed Franz, then told him to go pack Ranma’s stuff and bring it back to his office. Then he turned to Ranma and just jerked his head. Ranma went into his office and waited.

“Hey! You’re not going to. . . . damnit, you can’t.”

Franz was finally beginning to realize that Ranma wasn’t just some kid. All the men in the dorm turned barrack had tried to tell him that his room mate was different, but he’d not wanted to listen, he’d wanted him to be the little brother he missed, so he’d put them both in a mess.

“Ranma’s a George. The punishment for hitting a ‘normal’ is severe; I could give him as many as thirty lashes with a cane on bare skin and no one would say anything. Think about that and get his stuff back here ASAP and don’t miss so much as a sock. Understand me?”

Franz gulped, saluted and ran. Steven slammed his office door and confronted a pale and shaking Sunny and a sad and sullen Ranma. “Ok, I heard that. You need to go away for a while, don’t you? Tell me about it.”

“When you’re through beatin’ my butt we’ll talk. I’d rather get it over with first.”

“I said could, not will. So get your head out of your ass and talk to me.”

Sunny tucked herself under Ranma arm; she already knew what was going to happen, and she’d been expecting it for a while. Too many things had happened to Ranma in too short a time, he was completely off balance and needed time to mentally center himself

“I gotta go away and ‘find myself’. I know, that’s as trite as it comes. I’m right here and I know where I am, but who am I? I’m not who I was even six months ago. I’m growing up. But what do I grow up into? I know what I’m gonna do with the rest of my life, but I need to figure out some other stuff. I need to get away from here and think things through. I’m gonna go ‘walk about’ and see if I can’t get straight with myself. I don’t like the way I handled the wyvern and I . . . I don’t even know how to explain, I don’t understand it myself, all I know is if I don’t go, I’m gonna bust.”

Steven rubbed the back of his head. He’d seen this coming too and had hoped it wouldn’t happen quite so soon but he knew if he tried to stop Ranma it would just come back to bite him later. Ranma was more mature than some people twice his age.

“Ok, Ranma. I’m not even going to try to argue with you. I don’t have that right. Take a credit card with you and I’ll see to it that you have your choice of vehicle. I’ll tell your secondary team what’s going on so you don’t have to argue with them, too.”

Ranma grinned at Steven. He hadn’t dared hope that it would be this easy. But Steven had an uncanny ability to do the right thing, most of the time.

“Look. I’ll turn my watch to active. I’ve got a credit card and I’ll go by the Bursars office and get some more cash. I’ll keep my cell on. I won’t be out of touch. I just need to get away.”

Ranma lead Sunny away to say his good-byes, he hated to leave like this, but if he didn’t get his head sorted out, he wouldn’t be any good to himself or anyone else. He just couldn’t see any worth to himself outside of a weapon that everyone was afraid of. Or a kid that no one respected.

After taking Sunny back to her room, Ranma went to his room to find his ex-roomie trying to pack his things and not having much luck. Ranma didn’t even flinch. He just emptied his dresser, desk and locker, piling it all on his bed.

He got his laptop and case, dumped his desk drawer and sorted through it, packing everything he’d need for his classes into it. Then he packed a duffel with an amazing amount of clothing, toiletries and other necessities.

“Take the rest of that shit to Steven. He’ll keep it for me. Look . . . I’m sorry about the arm, but I hate being grabbed and touched. I’m a George. I thought everyone knew about us.”

“I know all about the Georges, but no one told me you were one. How are we supposed to be careful of you if no one knows what you look like?”

“Well, I’d have thought you would treat a roommate with more respect, no matter what they look like. If someone is here, they’re good at whatever they do. Better check yourself or you’re gonna get in a fight with someone who’s not as patient as me.”

Ranma hefted his duffel and stuck his briefcase under his arm; he looked around the only real home he’d ever had, sighed and left without looking back.