You may wonder why Ranko is bouncing back so well in this chapter. Well, partially it’s because She is who she is, and is as adaptable emotionally as she is physically. Of course, another part is simple stubbornness… and I don’t know if that’s truly a good thing or a bad thing in the end.

Also, I’m sorry about focusing so much on Kimiko in this chapter, but Ranko’s effectively catatonic at the start, to prevent from losing it again after confronting Nodoka. Also, Kimiko’s an OC, and I’m wondering why I’m not getting flamed and jabbed due to this fact… I thought people hated OCs?

Chapter 6, consolation and the second attack.

Ranko once more ignored a sound while trying to sleep, but this time it was a hard knocking on her apartment door. After coming five or six times, the noise faded away, and she went back to sleep, attempting to forget what had happened the day before. Truthfully, she was supposed to be on duty today, but she just couldn’t bring herself to care.

What exactly had she done to piss off the Kami who’d brought this down on her head? She’d tried to create something out of what she’d been tossed ten years ago, and now they were back, to take it all away again. Then again, they weren’t really doing anything to take away her life, such as it was. They were just reminding her of everything that she had once had. A family in more than name, a group of people who, at one level or another, had needed her, if not loved her. Growling in frustration, she rolled over quickly, accidentally sending herself off of the edge of her bed. That was what took her from the pool of self pity that she’d been laying in for the past half day, cracking her skull against the floor.

“The tomboy would be proud…” Ranko muttered, Rubbing the throbbing bump that was now present on the side of her head. Climbing to her feet, She decided to see if she could catch whoever had been knocking on her door and see what they wanted. “I may not be Ranma Saotome anymore, but I still ain’t gunna give up.” She said, then admonished herself for sounding so completely cheesy.

HR

Outside of Ranko’s apartment door, Kimiko sighed as she lowered her fist for the final time. It looked like her partner was bound and determined not to come out, and she wasn’t prepared to kick down the door… at least, not yet. By this point, however, she was getting very concerned about Ranko. The pigtailed officer had barely said two words to her for the entire day yesterday, at least after she had brought Genma in. The quickness with which she had seemed to regain her composure when she arrived at the police station was also startling. Of course, a lot of things that had happened when they got back to the station were startling, including how Sergeant Aido looked like he was going to hug her and Ranko in pure excitement for actually Catching Genma.

/Flashback\

“This is incredible! You two did great work here.” Sergeant Aido said, as he sat behind his desk, his feet not even resting on it for a change, and his posture perfectly straight.

“All we did was catch a thief, right?” Kimiko asked, confused. Ranko stayed silent, as she had been ever since her revelation in the car a few minutes earlier.

“A THIEF! This man is used as a case study in the police academy.” Aido said, as he typed up a few words on his computer, turning so that Ranko and Kimiko could get a good look.

Kimiko gaped at the long list of petty and major thefts, cons, and other crimes that were before her. She had skimmed his profile before, but profiles didn’t, as a rule, contain every incidence of illegal activity. As she scrolled down the list, she saw that Genma was even charged with cruelty to animals, and child abuse. At the last one, her eyes widened and she looked at Ranko. Was that why she hated Genma so much? If Nodoka was her mother, then Genma was her father and she was probably the child who was referenced in the files. As she thought about this, Sergeant Aido’s voice broke her out of her reverie.

“…And we think we can get him put behind bars for about seven years.” He said, causing Ranko to speak up for the first time.

“Isn’t that a pretty harsh sentence for one confirmed theft? I don’t think we could get away with it.” She said, neutrally.

Aido grinned. “A while ago, I found a charge that could work if we ever caught Saotome. Believe me, this is a dream come true for me. There’s an old law on the books, it’s never used and I think everyone’s forgotten about it, that states that a theft that endangers the livelihood of it’s victims is considered assault with intent to harm. Poor Mrs. Takahashi almost had a heart attack, it’s a wonder she’s not in the hospital.”

“This is a pretty big misuse of legal authority.” Kimiko said, uncertainly.

Aido nodded. “In any other case, I wouldn’t dream of doing it.” He said, completely seriously. I, and the department, have been tracking Genma Saotome since he got here twelve years ago.”

“So you…” Ranko said, hesitantly.

“Yes, I know.” Aido said, looking uncertainly at Kimiko. “Figured it out when Officers Neomoto and Aida made a comment about it on your second day. Your secret’s safe with me.”

“Thank you, sir.” Ranko said, nodding. This was one of the very few things that had gone right for her today. “Do you know how to contain him?”

Aido nodded as well. “We’ve got him in a MA holding cell down stairs, and everyone has standing orders not to open the doors, even if he can’t be seen.”

“A MA holding cell?” Kimiko asked, being temporarily distracted away from Ranko’s previous exchange with the sergeant.

“They’re special cells that we’ve got in the basement here, in case we have to hold one of the stronger Martial Artists in the district.” Aido said, smiling. “We had Ryoga Hibiki test them, and the only way he could get out was by getting lost.”

Ranko flinched at the name, but then smiled slightly. “Yeah, if Ryoga couldn’t get out of one, I doubt Genma could.” She said, nodding. “May I go now sir?”

Aido nodded, and Ranko walked out of the room leaving Kimiko alone with the Sergeant.
“Sir, what was that Ranko said about you knowing something?” She asked.

“If she hasn’t told you, I’m afraid I can’t.” Aido said, as he reclined in his chair again and put his feet on the desk, relaxing.

“But sir…” Kimiko said, and was interrupted.

“All I’ll say about that kid is that she’s a lot better than her parents.” Aido said. “Nothing else. You’re going to have to ask her if you want more information.”

Kimiko sighed, but nodded.

/End Flashback.\

‘Unfortunately, Ranko won’t tell me anything.’ Kimiko thought, as she sat down on a bench next to her partner’s apartment building’s front door. She didn’t know why this secret of Ranko’s bothered her so much, except that it seemed to cause the redhead a lot of pain, and even if she was kind of inept at it, she did try to help Kimiko whenever she was feeling upset.

“Hey, kinda figured it was you.” Ranko said, causing Kimiko to snap her head around from contemplating the street to see the redhead, standing in the doorway of the building.

“Ranko?” She asked, trying to resist laughing. “Nice outfit.”

“Huh?” Ranko asked, before feeling a draft on her legs and looking down to see that she was still wearing the T-shirt and boxers she’d passed out in the night before. “Eap!” She said, backing into the building a little.

Kimiko couldn’t hold it in anymore, and started laughing hysterically at the look of absolute embarrassment on the redhead’s face, and that little embarrassed squeak she’d made.

“Hey, it wasn’t that funny!” Ranko called, from inside of the apartment building, which only got Kimiko going further.

HR

Five minutes later, Kimiko was sitting in Ranko’s rather small kitchen, while the redhead was sitting in the only other chair in the apartment, across from her. “So, what did you come here for?” Ranko asked, setting a cup of Coffee on the table for Kimiko to take.

Kimiko thought of trying to interrogate Ranko about yesterday, but what had happened earlier had made it almost impossible for her to think seriously, so she shrugged. “You were supposed to meet me at the train station two hours ago, you know.” She said instead, picking up the coffee and taking a sip.

“Oh, right.” Ranko said, as she shot up from her seat. “We’re pretty late…”

“Let’s not go in today.” Kimiko said, out of the blue.

“What?” Ranko asked, stunned. “Why?”

Kimiko shrugged. “Well, after yesterday, I’d figure you would need a day off, and we’re already going to get flack for being late, so we may as well get yelled at for a good reason right?” She said, reasonably.

Ranko just looked at her partner for a second, before laughing. “And I suppose you wanna drag me all over Tokyo while you’re at it, right?”

“Right.” Kimiko said, deadpan.

Ranko appeared to consider this for a moment, before nodding. “All right.” She said, exiting the kitchen into the main room.

Curious to see what Ranko was doing, Kimiko looked through the opening between the two rooms to see the redhead’s back as she pulled off her shirt. She let out a soft gasp as, with the light from a fixture in the kitchen shining on it, she saw many little white scars pock marking the normal colored flesh. Of course, the only other time she had seen Ranko’s bare back it had been dark, and the two of them had been more than a few sheets to the wind.

Ranko looked back over her shoulder at the sound of Kimiko’s gasp, and blushed before hurrying to a part of the room where she couldn’t be seen to continue changing. “Kimiko no hentai.” She muttered, just barely loud enough for the brown haired woman to hear.

“Hey, I’m not a pervert!” Kimiko objected, indignantly.

“Sure, sure.” Ranko said, as she emerged wearing a white blouse and black slacks. “You ready to get out of here now?”

Kimiko just nodded.

HR

The next morning, Ranko felt much better as she walked into the police station, Kimiko walking next to her. The day before had been a much needed break from the insanity of the past couple of weeks, and she was feeling, if not good about the idea of working around Nerima, a lot better about it than she had the morning before. That was, of course, until she saw someone standing at the counter, talking to the desk clerk there.

“And thou havest the presumption to tell I, the blue thunder of Kuno Investment Corp, to wait here like a lowly common street walker for the love of my life, the woman for whom I pine daily! This is a travesty. Thou art not the bringers of justice, but the fools that stand in its divine way!” Kuno bellowed, as he swung his wooden bokken around the hapless office girl.

“I, I’m sorry Mr. Kuno, but she’s not here, Oh. There she is!” She said, pointing at Ranko with a trembling hand.

“Thanks a lot.” Ranko muttered, as the blue thunder oriented on a new target. Kimiko backed away as he charged towards her partner, and reached for her folding baton. “I hope this works…” She said, as she stretched it out and Kuno fell to the ground with a resounding thud, and a whimper.

Ranko winced in sympathy with the blue thunder, and Kimiko looked rather embarrassed as she realized where she had just struck him. After two male officers carried Kuno off to the station’s small infirmary, Ranko and Kimiko hurriedly headed for the garage, the latter throwing the occasional guilty glance backwards.

“I think we should take Juuban today.” Ranko said, wanting to avoid anymore of this strangeness.

HR

‘Be careful what you wish for…’ Ranko thought, as she stood at yet another police barricade while a body was being wheeled out on a stretcher. Fortunately, this time she and Kimiko hadn’t been the ones to discover it, but she had to feel sorry for poor Hiroshi and Daisuke. They had never worked anywhere other than Nerima, where it seemed like, no matter how much was done, no one actually died.

They both looked as if they were going to pass out. This time, it hadn’t been a middle-schooler, at least. The man who was being wheeled out on the stretcher seemed to be about twenty five, and the only commonalities with the school girl were the massive quantity of pockmark like surface burns that covered his body, and the fact that he had been found in an alley. He hadn’t even been found in Juuban, this time the rather panicked report having been called in by a teacher at Furinkan high who found him when she was taking the garbage out.

Seeing a flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye, Ranko looked up rapidly, to see a small figure leaping away from the scene. She considered leaping after it, but it was going too fast for her to catch, and had only seemed to be there for a fraction of a second before disappearing.

“Ranko, what are you looking at?” Kimiko asked, as she pushed a curious tourist back over the “Police line, do not cross” tape.

“Oh, nothing.” Ranko said, shaking her head. ‘must have been my imagination.’ She thought, before returning to helping Kimiko keep the crowd back.

END.

Notes:

I know Sergeant Aido is playing fast and loose with a LOT of rules, but this is Nerima. The police there would have to be lax in order not to get in the way of forces that they have no way of coping with, and He’s just been there for so long that it’s kind of part of his nature.

Damn, this fic’s chapters are so short… I suck.