Disclaimer: If this fic were rated like movies are, it would be rated 
"R" for language, violence, and graphic depictions of gore and blood.  
That, and the fact that everything outside of Disney cartoons seems to 
be rated "R" recently.

Ranma Saotome and anybody else whose name can be recognized from the 
canon Ranma are characters created by Rumiko Takahashi.  (That said, 
Hiroshi Juzo is not the same person as Hiroshi from the canon Ranma.)  
They are used, brutalized, and nearly killed several times without her 
permission.

Finally, I don't pretend to know much about the structure and 
operations of Japanese police, and there's not much information offered 
online about them.  The police system depicted in this fic is one-third 
the American system, one-third the British system, and one-third my own 
imagination.  It may or may not bear any resemblance to the real 
Japanese police- more likely not.

            ------------------------------------------------

Tokyo, Japan
12 years AM (after manga)

	Hiroshi Juzo shivered as he opened the door of the small unmarked 
car and quickly climbed in.  He closed the door, then nestled down as 
far as he could into the passenger-side seat.  He cupped his hands 
around his newly-purchased cup of coffee and sipped it.  He ignored the 
searing pain on his tongue and sighed contentedly as the warmth of the 
coffee flowed through his body.

	His partner looked over, frowning.  "This is supposed to be a 
stakeout, you know.  As in do nothing to draw attention to ourselves?  
As in not get out of the car, but instead keep watch for the suspect?"

	Hiroshi frowned.  "Look, you may be able to stay alert after four 
hours of doing nothing but waiting, but not me.  I need my early 
morning dose of caffeine.  Besides," he sipped his coffee again, "it's 
freezing in here."

	His partner looked at him disapprovingly but said nothing.  
Hiroshi turned to her, annoyed that something so little as stepping out 
for a cup of coffee could irritate her this much.  "Sure you don't want 
anything?  The store's only maybe twenty meters away.  I'll be happy to 
go get you a cup of coffee or something."

	She responded in an icy tone of voice, and her reply was short 
and clipped.  "That's all right."

	He looked over at her as she stared intently at the apartment 
building on the other side of the street.  At first glance, she 
probably would be considered beautiful by most men.  In fact, her 
brilliant red hair alone was enough to classify her as 'stunning.'

	Most men, however, didn't have the unfortunate luck of being 
partnered with her on a police assignment.  And if there was someone 
nobody wanted to be partnered with, it was Officer Saotome.  She was a 
good police officer, true, but her devotion and drive toward police 
work bordered on the obsessive.  People under her command thought of 
her as something of a slavedriver, and well, Hiroshi's friends in the 
force had been more than willing to share various horror stories of 
what happened to people she had been partnered with.  Most of them 
probably weren't true, but they all painted her as willing to do 
anything to get a job done, regardless of the risks to herself or 
others.  She was a reliable cop, but something of a loose cannon.  
Well, this assignment was simple enough; Hiroshi hoped that risk-taking 
wouldn't play a big part of it.

	A light slap to the back of the head snapped him out of his 
thoughts.  "That caffeine isn't doing a very good job of keeping you 
alert."

	"Sorry," he said harshly before he resumed trying to pay 
attention.  He sighed, and fidgeted in his seat.  "I just don't know 
how you can stand assignments like these."

	"It's what we're paid to do."  She resolutely stared out the 
windshield.

	She clearly wanted to end the conversation.  Hiroshi decided to 
irk her a little bit by not doing so.  "That's the only reason?" he 
asked, sounding sarcastic.

	It was Saotome's turn to fidget.  Hiroshi smiled- she was 
definitely uncomfortable.  It was interesting how much better that made 
him feel.  Apparently it's true what they say, he thought- misery loves 
company.

	His partner crossed her arms and stared off into the distance.  
"It's just that part of being a police officer is that sometimes you 
get the boring stuff.  If an assignment seems dull, then oh well- I do 
as good a job as I can on it, hoping the next assignment turns out 
better.  Besides," she shrugged.  "You never know.  It may get 
exciting."

	Hiroshi sipped his coffee, glad that he had finally gotten her 
talking.  "Yeah, right.  And maybe riding in police cars will 
eventually be phased out in favor of riding on the backs of giant 
flying pigs."

	Her only response was a depressed sigh.  Hiroshi turned away and 
studied the lid of his coffee cup intently.  Well, he had gotten her 
depressed, but that was about it.  He sighed and resumed staring out 
the window.

	Suddenly, she sat bolt upright and pointed out the window.  
"Isn't that our guy?"

	Hiroshi watched as a tall man dressed in a business suit walked 
out of the apartment building.  He opened the folder that contained 
their assignment and pulled out the fact sheet on the suspect, scanning 
it quickly.  Name: Kozuke Nagumo.  Charged with: Murder of Kaei Mikawa, 
VP of Research and Development, Onishi Technologies.  Suspected Yakuza 
member.  He looked down at the picture and back up at the man in 
question.  "Yep, that's him all right."

	They watched as he walked to the street.  He waited for a few 
minutes, until a white Toyota drove up with three other people in it.  
He climbed in the front passenger seat, and as the car pulled away 
Saotome started the car and executed a U-turn.

	Hiroshi had picked up the radio transmitter.  "This is police 
unit Forty Two.  Currently in pursuit of assigned suspect through the 
Kanagawa district, headed into central Tokyo."

	For a few more minutes, the atmosphere in the car was tense as 
Saotome tried to avoid losing the Toyota.  It wasn't too difficult, but 
traffic was picking up.  Hiroshi tilted his head back to try to get the 
last bit of coffee from his cup, just as Saotome made a sharp right 
turn, causing him to nearly spew coffee across the windshield.  He 
managed to avoid doing that, instead spewing it in his lap.

	"What the hell was that?" he asked angrily.

	She watched the road intently for a few seconds before 
responding.  "Sorry, wasn't expecting him to do that.  I think he knows 
he's being followed."

	The Toyota made a sharp left onto a side street, causing her to 
curse.  "Yep, he knows."

	She turned to him.  "Call for backup, will ya?  We might need 
it."  The car swerved as she turned right, and when he almost ended up 
sailing through the side window he decided that fastening his seat belt 
might be a good thing.

	"Are you crazy?" he half shouted, half asked her.  "If they know 
we're back here, why are we still following?  Normal procedure is to 
break off pursuit if we're noticed."

	She stared grimly out the windshield.  "If we lose this bastard 
now, we'll never get close again.  We were going to arrest him at some 
point anyway; since it's quite clear he won't be leading us to his 
bosses we might as well arrest him now."

	Hiroshi suddenly had an uncomfortable feeling that he would learn 
firsthand just how accurate those stories about her were.  "And how do 
you intend to do that, with us back here and him up there?  And with us 
outnumbered?  It's more likely we'll end up killing him, or being 
killed ourselves, than arresting him."

	Her voice was hard as ice.  "Quit whining and call for backup.  
We're almost certainly going to need it."

	Deciding that she was probably right, he reached for the radio 
and did so.  He was just leaning back against his seat when she said, 
"Duck."

	"Huh?" he turned to her.

	"Duck!" She pushed his head down under the dashboard with her 
left hand and swerved the car to her right just as several rounds of 
gunshot rang out.

	"Damn bastards."  She pulled her own gun out from under her seat 
and rolled down the driver's side window, firing off three rounds of 
ammo and shattering the Toyota's rear windshield.

	"What the hell are you doing?!?" yelled Hiroshi.

	More rounds of gunfire from the Toyota sent them ducking for 
cover, and a line of bullet holes appeared in the windshield.  She was 
about to return fire, but Hiroshi stopped her. "Forget it.  You 
concentrate on driving, and I'll shoot."  He pulled out his gun and 
cocked it.  "At least that way it's marginally safer."

	He rolled down his window and leaned out.  He tried to aim but 
was hampered that the car was going one hundred kilometers an hour, 
bumping up and down, and occasionally taking sharp turns at three times 
the speed limit.  He aimed as best as he could, and shot at the rear 
tires of the Toyota.  He shot twice and missed, but on the third shot a 
loud explosion confirmed that the right rear tire of the Toyota had 
been hit.  He grinned.  "We got 'em now."

	Then he realized that the Toyota had been going so fast that the 
loss of a tire had caused the driver to lose control, and it began to 
swerve.  The driver braked hard, which sent the car into a spin- and 
they were headed back onto a busy street.

	Luckily, traffic was moving quickly, so most of the cars managed 
to avoid the spinning Toyota as it laid rubber across four lanes of 
traffic.  Hiroshi suddenly realized their own car was not slowing 
down.  "Shit!!" he screamed as their car followed the Toyota's path, 
skidding to a halt beside the Toyota and two other cars it had hit on 
its way across the street.

	Three men were getting out of the Toyota, two of them raising 
guns toward the police car.  Hiroshi whipped his pistol around, 
shooting one of the men in the stomach as Saotome jumped out of the car 
and shot the other one in the head.  Hiroshi gasped a sigh of relief 
before he heard her scream, "Crap!  He's getting away!"

	Sure enough, getting out of the far side of the Toyota was the 
tall man in the business suit.  As soon as he was out of the car, he 
sprinted away.  Before Hiroshi could say anything, though, she was 
chasing after him.  The man ran across the street, causing two cars to 
slam on their brakes and go skidding.  Hiroshi watched with a knot in 
his stomach as he realized one of the cars was on a direct collision 
course with his partner as she crossed the road.  He winced in 
anticipation of the crash, but at the last moment she flipped onto the 
car's roof, pushing off and landing on the roof of the second car, then 
jumping off and landing on the opposite side of the street a few feet 
behind Nagumo.

	Hiroshi gasped in some deep breaths, trying to get his adrenaline 
back under control.  He saw her catch up to Nagumo, knock him off his 
feet, and arrest him.  He noticed two other police cars pull up- the 
backup he had radioed for earlier.  His main thought, however, was that 
he no longer had any trouble believing what his friends had told him 
about her.  Saying that Saotome was 'willing to take risks' was like 
saying the ocean was 'damp'.

            ------------------------------------------------

	Japan's strict gun control laws were well known throughout the 
world.  In fact, gun control was strict enough that even most police 
were forbidden from carrying firearms.  The unfortunate reality of 
Japanese society, though, was that despite the laws it was still not 
impossible to obtain firearms, given that you had the right connections.

	It was because obtaining firearms was difficult, but not 
impossible, that the Special Operations division of the Tokyo Police 
existed.  Trained especially in the use of firearms, Special Operations 
officers operated like normal cops, except they carried guns.  It was 
not a commando operation, at least not most of the time.  Smuggling 
rings, terrorist threats, and a lot of organized crime in general fell 
under the jurisdiction of Special Ops.  When the criminal was likely to 
be armed, it only made sense the law officer should be armed, and that 
was the purpose Special Ops filled.

	It was deep inside the Special Ops division that Ranma Saotome 
was trying to withstand a storm.  Specifically, the storm was centered 
in a corner office and its source was her superior officer, Lieutenant 
Jiro Kusaka.

	"Just what the hell do you think you were doing out there?!?"

	Ranma stood and said nothing.  She figured this was about the two 
hundredth time he had given her some version of this lecture.  One more 
time couldn't hurt.

	"You chased the suspect without permission to do so.  You fired a 
weapon- multiple times- in a residential area, without regard for the 
safety of civilians.  One of those shots caused a three car accident 
that blocked traffic for an hour and a half.  Then, you have a 
shoot-out on a busy street!  Our job is to keep civilians' lives 
peaceful, Saotome, not to bring a goddamned bloodbath to the streets!"

	  Ranma was struggling to keep her temper under control, and she 
spoke through clenched teeth.  "Sir, I felt I had no choice.  If we had 
lost Nagumo then, we might never have had another shot at him."

	Kusaka slammed his fist down on his desk.  "Damn it, you just 
don't get it!  The regulations are there for a reason.  They are not- I 
repeat, they are not- to be ignored just because they're inconvenient."

	Ranma's fists were clenched at her sides, and her nails were 
digging into her palm so hard that they were on the verge of drawing 
blood.  "Sir, I caught Nagumo.  There were only minor civilian 
casualties.  In the end, I succeeded."

	"The end does not justify the means, Saotome.  Anyway, in the end 
you were successful because you were lucky.  If the traffic pattern had 
been slightly different, or if the gunfire exchange had gone a little 
different, there could very well be dead civilians and you could very 
well find yourself sent to the Division of Traffic Control!  Do I make 
myself clear?"  

	She stared straight ahead.  "Perfectly clear, sir."

	"Now, get out of my office before I decide to be less lenient.  
And find Hiroshi Juzo, and send him in here."

	"Yes, sir."  She turned on her heel, and was out the door.  The 
less time she had to spend in that office, the better.

            ------------------------------------------------

	Ranma got home late that evening.  She had stayed at the office 
in hopes of reading the results from Nagumo's questioning, but as the 
interrogation dragged on she eventually was told to go home by 
Lieutenant Kusaka.  It was not a relief to be home.  It never was.

	She opened the door and flipped on the light, which promptly 
burned out.  She cursed under her breath and went into the kitchen, 
flipping on the light in there.

	She looked out over her apartment.  Those who knew her, and the 
fanaticism with which she pursued her career, would probably have 
assumed her to be a neat-freak at home, with everything tidy and 
orderly.  Instead, her apartment was almost the exact opposite of that.

	Empty drink cans and dirty socks littered the floor.  There was 
very little furniture, but what there was was almost unusable.  On the 
coffee table, there were empty microwave dinner trays piled up.  On the 
couch, except for one seat, there were potato chip bags, a couple old 
dirty pairs of boxers, and some dirty t-shirts.

	The kitchen was no better.  Dirty dishes were strewn across the 
countertop, and the floor needed to be mopped and swept.  She rummaged 
through a drawer, finding a light bulb.  She went into the living room 
and screwed it in.  She turned on the light- and nothing happened.  If 
the bulb was burnt out already, she thought angrily, how the hell had 
it gotten back in a drawer?!  "Damn it!" she yelled to anyone who cared 
to listen.

	Giving up on the lightbulb, she went back into the kitchen, 
opened the fridge, grabbed a beer and went about preparing a package of 
instant ramen.  Five minutes later she was seated on the one empty seat 
on the couch with her feet resting on a stack of old news magazines on 
the coffee table.  She grabbed the remote off the coffee table, and as 
she ate she flipped through the channels on the TV.  She watched the 
news for a few minutes, but upon seeing a story about a police chase 
ending in a three-car accident she kept surfing.  She finished her 
dinner, tossed the empty bowl onto the coffee table, turned off the 
television, and sighed.

	The problem with being alone, she mused, was that it gave her 
time to think.  Her decision to chase Nagumo had not gone over well, 
despite its eventual success.  Maybe her problem was that she was 
willing to do anything in the line of duty, whereas her colleagues 
weren't.  Maybe she was too reckless.

	When she was out there doing her job, it was difficult to 
remember that there were consequences.  She was so caught up in the 
here and now, that she didn't think about the future.

	Maybe that was because her future consisted entirely of police 
work.  Not that that was a bad thing- she enjoyed it, certainly.  It 
made her feel worthwhile- like her life counted for something.  It 
certainly didn't count for anything else.

	There had been a time when she had entertained higher hopes for 
her life.  But her memory of that time was overwhelmed by the pain of 
its ending- the pain of hope dying, of love destroyed, and of dreams 
shattered.

	She looked over the corner of the room, where a glimmer caught 
her eye.  She knew what it is, for it caught her eye frequently.  She 
got up, walked over to the corner, and unwrapped it, revealing the 
source of the glimmer- it was a beautifully polished katana.  It had 
been her mother's katana many years ago, and it was the only thing from 
her childhood that she still owned.  She knelt down on the floor next 
to it, and idly ran her hand lightly along the blade.  She gripped the 
hilt of the katana as memories came back to her, simple flashes and 
images quickly going through her mind.

	Reading from an old scroll.

	Sitting in the middle of a room, taking verbal and physical abuse 
from a fiancee once again.

	Shock and fear as an expected change fails to happen.

	Drenching herself with water so hot that hospitalization is 
required for the treatment of second-degree burns.

	Losing friends, family, and even enemies as a life is stripped 
away to nothing.

	Now the katana rises high, flashing silver in the dim light from 
the kitchen.  With a swift thrust, it plunges deep into her belly until 
the blade bursts from her backside, red with blood and tissue.

	Soon the walls and floor are soaked with blood.  She falls 
forward, gratefully embracing the terrible darkness that represents 
escape from life- a life shattered and destroyed by those she loved the 
most, a life once full of hope and promise, a life dominated by 
memories so terrible that a soul is ripped apart.  A life whose 
happiest moment is its final moment, as the darkness obliterates pain, 
obliterates torture, and peace is finally found in death.

            ------------------------------------------------
	
	Her eyes snapped open.

	She wasn't at peace.  She wasn't dead.  She was still kneeling in 
the dark, katana raised high with the tip poking at her stomach.  With 
a cry of anguish, she cursed herself for her cowardice and hurled the 
katana away, wetting her face and hands not with blood but tears.

	For what seemed like an eternity, she sat there curled up on the 
floor.  Occasionally a tear would run down her face, but she ignored 
it.  She felt herself sinking deeper and deeper into the cloud of 
sadness and pain that had become the center of her soul, but she didn't 
care.  In a strange way, a way she couldn't explain, the pain was 
comforting even as it threatened to destroy her.

	She sat in the corner brooding until a harsh sound interrupted 
her sad meditation.  Then she heard it again.  And again.

	She realized it was the phone.  She got up, wiping her face with 
her hand and composing herself as she walked over to the kitchen 
counter and picked up the phone.

	"Hello?"

	"Saotome, this is Kusaka. I just received a phone call regarding 
Nagumo's questioning.  I thought you'd like to know that he told us 
exactly what we need to know."

	Ranma smiled and clenched her fist.  "Excellent.  What did he say?"

	"That's the thing.  If he told the truth, then this goes very 
deep.  It was something we suspected it already, but Nagumo apparently 
confirmed it.  The exact results of the questioning are classified, so 
I'm not at liberty to say more over an unsecured phone line, but it was 
apparently successful."

	"Well, that's good news."

	There was a pause on the other end before Kusaka talked again.  
"I really shouldn't say it, Saotome, but- good work today.  You took 
some risks that as your superior officer I can't condone, but if you 
hadn't done what you did we might have lost Nagumo for good.  It took 
guts to do what you, and the tenacity you displayed in capturing him is 
to be commended."

	It took quite a bit of self-control to not say 'I told you I knew 
what I was doing, asshole' but she decided insulting her superior 
officer was one stupid thing she wasn't going to do.  Instead, she 
sufficed with a simple, "Thank you, sir."

	"I expect you to display the same determination and tenacity 
tomorrow.  A new investigation is being opened based on what Nagumo 
revealed, and I want you in charge of it."

	Ranma's grin grew wider.  "Thank you, sir.  I'll do my best."

	"That's what I'm expecting.  Good night, Saotome."

	She hung up the phone and laughed triumphantly.  She walked back 
over to where she had thrown her katana.  Picking it up, she carried it 
gingerly back over to the corner, wrapped it in the cloth, and rested 
it against the wall.  Maybe someday, she thought.  It wouldn't be 
anytime soon, though.  After all, she had work to do.

            ------------------------------------------------

	*RING*  *RING*

	"Hello?"

	"It's me."

	"I thought you didn't want to communicate by telephone."

	"This line is secure.  Besides, there are urgent matters at 
hand.  Your man was captured."

	"Yes, we know.  It doesn't matter."

	"How much does he know?"

	"Nothing of value.  We purposely kept him in the dark.  He 
doesn't know anything about our deal."

	"You'd better be right."

	"Trust me."

	"That sounds funny, coming from someone like you."

	"This shouldn't affect our deal at all."

	"It won't.  It's just disturbing, that's all."

	"The only reason he was even captured is that the arresting 
officer was unusually persistent."

	"Yes.  I heard.  Ranma Saotome.  That's another thing that 
disturbs me..."

	"What?"

	"Ah, it's nothing important.  Name sounds familiar, that's all."

	"Is that the only reason you called me?"

	"I wanted your assurance that this was a minor setback only.  I 
also wanted your assurance that this will not happen again."

	"It won't."

	"Good.  Our business together has been profitable so far.  I 
would hate to see it ended because of something like this."

	"So would I."

	"As long as we understand each other on that point.  When do you 
plan to make the next strike?"

	"Soon."

	"Soon?  Is that all you can tell me?"

	"Yes.  It's information you don't need to know.  It'll be soon 
enough for you.  I still have some details to work out."

	"All I ask is that you understand this: I will tolerate no more 
mistakes.  Don't disappoint me, Rosuke."

	"I wouldn't dream of it, Tendo."

	"That's what I like to hear.  Good-bye."

	*CLICK*