*Warning! If you have not read my first fic, Officer
Saotome, read it first! This story won't make much sense if
you don't.

This fic is a crossover continuation fic for both the
Ranma and Tenchi Universe. Hopefully you readers know some
basic knowledge
about both Ranma and Tenchi:) I would rate this as a "R"
fanfic, because of some of the harsh language used. This
ain't a lemon though, I don't plan on having any sex scenes
at all.

This is a divergence from my Officer Saotome series, found
at http://sgtranma.0catch.com . You MUST read the first
chapter in order to understand this story. Also, for you
Mihoshi fans, be warned, this fic can produce different
emotions from different people. Otherwise, I hope you enjoy!


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

People are fickle beings, they change themselves
constantly, physically, socially, mentally, and emotionally.
The only constant thing among us is change itself. This is a
story of a woman, a woman who took for granted something
special and copes with losing a loved one, and she copes
with the changes in herself. This is a story of how she
learns the first casualty in life, the lost of innocence.


Chapter 1 - Meet Mihoshi Kuramitsu


April 10, 2001.
Hitoki Karaoke Bar - Okayama, Japan 1:30 PM

There are many different types of bars in the world.
Some are made for parties, some are nudie bars, some that
are built in family restaurants, and then there are those
bars where people go to drain their sorrows by getting
wasted.

During the daytime, almost no one comes in to Okayama's
Hitoki Karaoke Bar, people were usually working or doing
something else during their free time. Bartenders usually go
nuts trying to find something to do during the day. What can
they do?

Especially this bartender. He was forced to work during
the day because he was new and there would be a more
experienced person working the counter at night when people
flocked in. Despite the fact that almost no one comes in
until night, the place had to be opened. The owner of the
place was just strange like that.

Today, however, a certain blonde was sitting in front of
the bar, having nothing better to do than to drink.

The bartender looked up at the beautiful blonde girl in
front him, she was tall, very curvaceously figured, had a
sexy golden tan, sported a white windbreaker with a black
tank top and some blue jeans.

She was holding her ninth drink, a vodka martini, and
she was looking down at it, her hair covering her eyes. Upon
closer inspection, he could see a shiny metal object
attached to her belt with an inscription on it.

"Say, you've been here for the past hour, and I couldn't
help but notice that it's unusual to see such a pretty girl
like you in a place like this at this time of the day."

The blonde looked up, and the bartender winced and felt
a tinge of sorrow for the girl, he hadn't noticed that her
face was tear streaked with red eyes and puffy eyelids. It
seemed like she had been silently crying to herself for
awhile.

"I'm sorry, I...I... didn't have anything else to do. I
don't know. I guess I'm just here to relieve my pains,"
stuttered the girl.

The bartender winced at her tone of voice, she sounded
very depressed and it seemed like she just went through
something traumatic.

"Oh. I'm sorry." He was looking again at the shiny
golden object attached to her belt, and it puzzled him as to
what it was.

"Excuse me, but I was just curious as to what that
little thing on your belt is."

The blonde looked at him again with a blank face and
reached down to unlatch her badge.

"This is a police badge," said the girl as she laid the
badge on the counter so the bartender could see it. "I'm
Lieutenant Mihoshi Kuramitsu of the Okayama Police
Department," she said in a monotone, mechanical voice.

The bartender looked over her in a surprise, he never
would have guessed that a copper would be here during the
day getting plastered, especially such a high ranking one.
Mihoshi simply shrugged at the bartender and gulped down the
rest of her drink in one fell swoop. She pulled out her
wallet and paid for her drinks, and just left the bar in a
drunken stagger.

The bartender only stared at her in wonder as she
wobbled out of the bar, he was mystified as to why such a
beautiful woman would come to a bar to drink during the
daytime.I wonder what's wrong with her, I haven't seen
someone that depressed in a long time, thought the
bartender.

Mihoshi walked down the sidewalk, or more like stumble
to her little apartment which was only a block away. She
pulled out a cell phone out of her pocket and pressed a
speed dial button. By the time someone answered Mihoshi was
already at the door to her apartment.

"Moshi, moshi?" a voice said.

"Hello Washu, it's Mihoshi."

"Oh, hello Mihoshi."

"How's the situation? Is it getting any better?" Mihoshi
asked in a hopeful voice.

Washu frowned on the other side, it made her sad that
Mihoshi had to suffer so much because of something that
wasn't her fault. She didn't have the heart to tell Mihoshi,
but she had promised on her honor as the greatest scientific
genius in the universe to not keep anything from her.

"I'm sorry Mihoshi. It's not getting better at all.
She's still in critical condition and the damage was too
extensive to tell if I could save her. I transferred her to
a complete life support machine last night because her
nervous system was having fibrillations," said Washu grimly.
"I'm still not sure whether she can live or not Miho..."

The phone was cut off as Mihoshi cut the transmission
and violently chucked the phone at a wall inside her
apartment. The phone just bounced off without a scratch and
landed on the floor. It was unbreakable because Washu had
toyed with it when she had given it to her for a radio
modification.

Mihoshi fell to her knees and started crying
uncontrollably, she ended up on the floor curled in a ball,
crying and shaking at the same time.

How could she have made such a stupid mistake? Because
of her... because of her... she practically killed the one
person she loved more than anyone else.

Mihoshi stumbled over to a cabinet and pulled out a big
bottle of sake. She started gulping it down, trying to
forget the pain, those horrible memories still extremely
vivid from two days ago.

The day she lost Kiyone.

------------------------
Flashback

April 8, 2001. Earth Moon Orbit, Solar System. 3:45 PM
Japanese Earth Time

Kiyone was no stranger to danger. She had seen more
action than just about every senior officer in the Galaxy
Police. She made a record breaking amount of busts during
her years as a Cub Detective and patrolman. She had battled
alongside Tenchi, Ryoko, and Ayeka during the Jurai civil
war. Her new job with the Okayama Police Department was
enough action to make any normal person quiver in fear.

And most dangerous of all, Kiyone Makibi had Mihoshi
Kuramitsu as her partner. Many GP Officers who had Mihoshi
as a partner before misunderstood her and saw her as a
dangerous, reckless cop who went to all means to get a job
done. Of course those weaklings had her as a partner for
only a week at most. Kiyone had lived with her for nearly
her entire life.

They weren't always partners, but they were always
somehow close to each other. Despite how Kiyone acted in
front of Mihoshi and everyone else, she still loved her and
was her best friend. They did everything together, and
despite Mihoshi's mistakes and clumsiness, she was overall
very happy to be with her, but she didn't show it.

However, what she was doing right now was more dangerous
than anything she had ever done. Kiyone and Mihoshi were on
their weekly patrol of the Earth orbit when the Yagami
received an emergency call. A dangerous smuggler was going
to cross their paths and they were to stop and apprehend the
suspect. Of course Kiyone accepted and intercepted the
smuggler, but right now, she was knee deep in shit.

Kiyone and Mihoshi were onboard the smuggler's ship,
they managed to get rid of the cache of illegal weapons in
the cargo bay by releasing them into space. The smuggler
found out about this, and was furious. And right now, all
three were engaged in an intense gunfight with each other in
the cargo bay.
This fight was different from all the other battles
Kiyone and Mihoshi were involved in. This time there was no
Tenchi, no Ryoko, no Ayeka, no Washu, no Ryo-ohki. No one
here to help them out. Not even Mihoshi's famous luck would
help them in the shit they were in right now, unless Mihoshi
had the magical ability to survive a bunch of bullets in her
head. This was a serious, all out gunfight where only one of
them would survive. And right now, the good guys were in
danger of being killed.

"This is Galaxy Police Detective First Class Kiyone
Makibi access number 6991-Moon-Ocean-Stanton-Stanton-
Palmer,!" screamed Kiyone into a little radio. "We're under
heavy fire and we need backup in the moon orbit solar system
patrol! I'm transmitting our coordinates right now!"
finished Kiyone as she pressed a button on her radio.

"Negative, you are the only unit out on patrol in the
Solar System today, the closest cruiser to your position is
3 light hours away," replied the dispatcher on the radio.

"Shit!"

Mihoshi was behind a large metal box that shielded her
from the automatic gunfire of the smuggler's pulse rifle.
She was too scared to do anything and she watched in despair
as the smuggler was getting closer to both of them. Kiyone
was unfortunately hiding behind a bunch of empty cargo boxes
that provided little protection from the intense rifle
action. Every once in a while Kiyone got up to shoot but the
smuggler was taking cover behind some metal beams.

Kiyone was an excellent Galaxy Police officer, by no
means was she incapable of doing anything the headquarters
dished at her. But right now, the situation just wasn't in
her favor, if she had known she would have brought out her
own proton cannon to blow this guy away.

"Die you fucking cops!" the smuggler said while shooting
wildly.

While Kiyone was desperately reloading her blaster, the
smuggler bravely decided to run after her and shoot her
down. Kiyone sensed this and immediately ran to get the hell
out of there.

Unfortunately, she wasn't fast enough.

Two 7.62mm rounds of hot aluminum pierced through her
back and out her chest at the speed of light. Kiyone let out
a scream of pain and dropped to the floor on her front and
rolled to her back, clutching her chest in agony.

"NOOOOOOO!!!!" screamed Mihoshi.

The blonde haired GP clutched her own chest, a
disorienting, burning sensation coursing through her veins.
This couldn't be happening, thought Mihoshi. This just can't
be happening. NO!

Mihoshi saw the whole thing in slow motion. She had seen
the smuggler start running toward Kiyone. She saw Kiyone
trying to run for her life. She saw Kiyone get two bullets
in the chest. She saw her friend dropping to the floor in
pain.

What she didn't see was herself defending Kiyone.
Mihoshi was frozen in fear when she saw the smuggler start
running. She could have put a bullet in his head, and
everything would've been all right. But no, she hesitated in
fear, and just saw her friend getting shot to death.

The smuggler was laughing, and walked over to Kiyone's
body. Mihoshi noted that Kiyone was still alive, she was
clutching her chest in pain. There was still time to save
her. But the smuggler noticed that Kiyone was still alive
too, so he put his rifle against her head. He was too stupid
to notice a wide eyed Mihoshi a few meters away from him.

"It's time to finish you off bitch."

Something inside Mihoshi snapped. It all happened in a
millisecond. Her mind went through a million different
memories of her and Kiyone spending time together. From the
time they were playing together as kids, their first days of
school, their first boyfriends in high school, their first
breakups, the day they both graduated from the police
academy, and the day they all celebrated happily with Tenchi
and everyone else after the defeat of Kagato.

A few tears squeezed out of Mihoshi's eyes, which were
now red with fury. Her teeth were clenched so hard she could
feel them grinding in place, her fury was about to burst
right out of the top of her head because of the adrenaline
she was being overloaded with. She wasn't acting ditzy and
stupid right now. There was a guy with a gun to her best
friend's head, and she wasn't gonna take any of it.

She snarled viciously. Damn it to hell if she was going
to let her best friend, no family member, who she loved more
than anyone else, die by some asshole's hand.

Mihoshi raised her blaster, and pointed it at the
smugglers head. Dead on.

The smuggler had a huge grin on his face and was about
to pull the trigger, but he heard the sound of a hammer
cocking from a few meters away. He saw a blonde girl with
vicious, red, bloodshot eyes and blaster pointed straight at
his head.

"What the fu-"

The smuggler was cut off as a titanium bullet went
straight through his skull and a hemisphere of his head
exploded onto the surrounding wall. His body fell down a
small pit in the bay, and his brain fragments and blood
flowed freely out into a small river of crimson.

Mihoshi paid no attention to the splattered gore in the
pit, right now she didn't give a shit about what she just
did to that guy, she just ran over to Kiyone's side, but at
the same time she put another round in the smuggler's
remaining head to make SURE he was dead. The rest of the
head just exploded into nasty chunks but didn't go near
Mihoshi and Kiyone.

"Kiyone! Kiyone, speak to me! Tell me you're still
here!" cried Mihoshi, her tears flowing freely as she held
Kiyone in her arms. Mihoshi gasped in despair when she saw
how badly hurt her partner was. A bullet had gone right
through her lung and another had clipped her heart. The
wounds weren't bleeding yet, the muscles in the wounds were
contracting tightly out of the shock of tissue that was
missing all of a sudden.

Kiyone was conscious and still alive, she managed to
speak to Mihoshi.

"I can't believe it," she croaked. "For once you
actually did the job right. You blew that guy away," she
coughed and blood dribbled out of her mouth and down her
chin.

"No!" despaired Mihoshi. "Save your energy Kiyone, we'll
get you fixed, you'll be all right, just you see!"

Mihoshi carried Kiyone in her arms and dashed into
Yagami. Mihoshi was almost working at a subconscious level,
she was putting Kiyone in the medical bay, setting up the
autopilot for earth, and making a call to a certain person
there, all at the same time. Her brain was working overtime
as she needed to work fast if she wanted to save Kiyone. And
as stupid as she was, even she knew there was only one
person in the universe who could do the job, and that person
was Washu Hakubi.

Within five minutes Yagami made an emergency landing in
front of Tenchi's house, where Washu and Tenchi were waiting
with Washu's medical equipment. The entire household heard
of the bad news and were quite upset with what happened.

Mihoshi ran out of Yagami pushing a hover stretcher with
Kiyone on it. Kiyone's wounds had stopped contracted and the
muscles relaxed, letting precious blood flow out of Kiyone's
helpless body. Kiyone's breathing was also becoming ragged
and her face was ghostly pale. Washu and Tenchi grimly
rushed Kiyone into a dimension portal to Washu's lab, where
a bunch of futuristic surgery equipment was set up.

Mihoshi was still crying, and was begging Washu to save
her life. Washu promised that she would try everything
humanly possible to save Kiyone's life. Mihoshi looked down
at Kiyone, who was trying to mumble something.

"Mi..Mihoshi..." croaked Kiyone.

Mihoshi came closer to Kiyone and held her hand tightly.
"I'm right here Kiyone."

"I'm sorry for being so mean and cynical to you in the
past, I never meant it. I... I'm proud to have you as a
partner, and now... I don't regret spending time with you at
all. Even the times you were an airhead..." Kiyone said as
she tried to muster a smile.

"Oh, Kiyone," Mihoshi cried, this was too much for her,
this just couldn't be happening. "Don't say that Kiyone.
Don't leave me alone here... I love you Kiyone," Mihoshi
sobbed as she hugged her.

Kiyone was crying too, she couldn't admit it before, but
she didn't want to leave Mihoshi, ever. "I love you too
Mihoshi. You were always my best friend. It looks like
you're on your own for karaoke now," she coughed. Kiyone was
scared, she could feel herself slipping away, she didn't
want to die, there were so many things ahead of her life! It
scared her that she couldn't live her life out.

She felt a sudden, sharp, unbelievable pain in her heart
as it started to contract and spasm.

"Shit!" yelled Washu as she started pressing a bunch of
buttons on her holographic laptop. "She's going into cardiac
arrest!"

Kiyone was crying out, clutching onto Mihoshi, crying,
scared of what was gonna happen to her. "I don't want to
die! Mihoshi! Don't let go of me, please!" pleaded Kiyone.
She was shaking violently and two rods popped out of a
machine from the surgery table and shocked her.

Kiyone's heart was stabilized, but not fixed, now it was
slowly dying off.

"Kiyone!" sobbed Mihoshi. "No, don't go, don't!"

Kiyone's face was tear streaked and she tried to use her
last ounce of strength to smile for Mihoshi. "Goodbye,
Mihoshi. Thank you for being my friend," Kiyone said with
her last breath. Her eyes were half open, her face was
still, and her body was completely limp.

Her eyes were still halfway open, seemingly staring
straight into Mihoshi's soul, her lips forming a weak smile.
But the heat from her body was dissipating slowly.

There was a brief silence, and the only sounds that
could be heard were the fine mechanical tunes of medical
equipment whirring around.

Mihoshi shook Kiyone and noticed she had stopped
breathing. She looked over to Washu desperately who had a
frown on her face, shaking her head. She turned to Tenchi
who was silent and had tears going down his face. Mihoshi
shook Kiyone fervently to try to wake her, but nothing
happened. She tried to feel for a pulse, but felt nothing.
Mihoshi slapped Kiyone, but still nothing happened.

She angrily tried slapping her over and over, screaming,
"You can't give up this easily Kiyone! I know you're
stronger than that!".

No response. Mihoshi gritted her teeth, her tears
falling on Kiyone's face.

"GET UP!! DAMN YOU! You're tougher than that Kiyone!
You've never shown weakness ever!! GET UP GODDAMMIT!" tears
streaked down Mihoshi's face, she was completely out of it.
"PLEASE! I... I... can't live without you Kiyone!!"

Washu and Tenchi were taken aback and took a few steps
away from Mihoshi, she being extremely erratic and they
couldn't even recognize her at the moment.

Mihoshi's futile attempts at resurrecting Kiyone were
failing miserable, and she slowly let Kiyone's body back
down on the table and softly closed Kiyone's eyes shut. She
just stared in silence, and looked over to Washu and Tenchi,
who had their heads down. Mihoshi saw drops of sparkling
tears dripping off of Tenchi's chin, and she saw a gleam of
moistness around Washu's eyes as she turned around and put a
hand to her aching head.

She silently bursted into another cry and sobbed,
whispering, "No...Kiyone..."

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

About an hour later, Mihoshi was sleeping on a sofa in
the Masaki home, her face was still tear streaked, and it
looked like she was having a nightmare. Washu had to
administer a sedative to calm her down after she realized
Kiyone was dead. The entire household was mourning for her,
even Ryoko, who had tried to hide her feelings but failed.

Washu however, was busy at work trying to revive
Kiyone's body. After some analysis it appeared that Kiyone's
brain was still alive, but her heart and lungs were
destroyed. The brain was kept alive and in stasis with the
help of life support machines. However, there was the
problem of fixing Kiyone's organs. Washu was a genius, but
she wasn't a magician. Getting Kiyone's organs to work again
would be a problem, and finding a way to keep her alive
after that would be a problem as well.

This was going to take some time for her to find out a
practical solution, and the chances of Kiyone surviving
through completely was grim. Even worse, Washu had promised
Mihoshi on her honor that she would tell her everything
about what was to happen to Kiyone.

Oh well, she has to tell her one way or another, Washu
decided. She walked out of her chaotic lab and walked over
to the Masaki living room. Washu winced and felt sorry for
poor Mihoshi. Washu let her mask slip and showed a bit of
emotion in her face since no one was watching. Mihoshi was
shivering and silently crying in her sleep, mumbling
incoherent words.

Washu gently shook Mihoshi awake, patiently waiting for
her to regain consciousness and the sedative to wear off.
Mihoshi slowly woke up, dazzled, feeling like she just ran a
marathon. Her eyelids felt heavy and she felt like her chest
was burning. No, it was something deeper, it was the feeling
of heartache.

Mihoshi looked into Washu's eyes, her face was void of
emotion, it was just a blank tablet of stone.

"Mihoshi. Are you awake?"

Mihoshi nodded.

"I've got something very important to tell you, and I
need you to listen to me very carefully Mihoshi," Washu said
in a very serious tone.

Mihoshi's eyes narrowed, and looked straight into
Washu's eyes. "I'm listening."

Washu sighed. She wasn't sure how she was gonna tell
this to Mihoshi, she would probably go into a fit, or a huge
depression, or something erratic.

"Mihoshi, I've got some good news and some bad news.
First, the good news. When you saw Kiyone die in my lab, she
didn't really die right there, it was only her organs that
stopped working. Her brain was still technically alive, and
I managed to save and revive it. That part of her body is on
life support as we speak."

Mihoshi's eyes widened like saucers, and whispered,
"Kiyone...is still alive?"

"Yes, yes she is, but only her brain."

Tears started welling up in Mihoshi's eyes, she couldn't
contain the joy that was filling inside of her. "She's
alive?! She's still with us?!"

"Yes, Mihoshi, but wait and listen," Washu said in a
serious and tight voice that caused Mihoshi to calm down. "I
haven't told you the bad news yet Mihoshi, this is not the
time to be celebrating."

Mihoshi's eyes turned dull and desperate, and her face
was an expression of horror. "What's the bad news Washu?"

Washu's serious face softened a bit, and she closed her
eyes. "The bad news is, the only part of her that is alive
is her brain," Washu said. She opened her eyes again to meet
Mihoshi's gaze. "The fact of the matter is, her heart and
lungs were severely damaged when she was shot. Her lung has
a huge torn hole and her heart has a chamber that was
completely disintegrated. I haven't put her organ system on
life support* quite yet, they're still being used as best
they can with electrical shocks. Kiyone is truly amazing,
she was still alive on her own even with a busted heart."
*Washu's definition of life support is complete machinery
takeover for vital organs.

"But you can fix her back to normal right? You can make
her better right Washu?" pleaded Mihoshi in tears.

"I don't know," Washu said sadly. "Mihoshi, I may be the
greatest scientific genius in the universe, but I'm not a
magician. I won't be able to find an organ donor anywhere
around here, you and Kiyone are Megami life forms, you may
be very similar to humans, but your genetic structures are
much more complex and sophisticated than Earth humans."

"So what'll happen then? Is Kiyone ever gonna get back
up?"

"The bottom line is, without functioning major organs,
Kiyone might as well be dead right now. I can't do anything
right now, I'll try my best to keep her alive, but we might
never know when she'll fully heal."

Mihoshi had a stern face, and asked in a cold voice,
"Tell me the truth Washu. What are the chances of her
surviving through this thing? Don't sugarcoat it, you
promised me that you'd tell me everything."

Washu frowned, she hoped Mihoshi wouldn't ask this, it
would only cause her to fall deeper in despair. It also
bothered Washu on how deadly serious Mihoshi was talking.

"Kiyone's chances of living on her own are nil. I would
say it's a one in a million chance of me getting her to
survive," Washu said before pausing. "We are gonna have to
accept the fact that Kiyone is dead, clinically at least.
There isn't much we can do for her, but I promise you that
I'll try my hardest to find a solution as long as her body
is physically alive."

"I see," Mihoshi said simply. Tears started flowing
again, tears of pain and despair, yet Mihoshi kept
absolutely silent. "Please try your best Washu, for Kiyone's
sake. I'll pray day and night for her life."

"I'll do my best Mihoshi, don't worry," Washu smiled.
She put on a cheerful face to lift her spirits. "Oh, and in
case you wonder, I already called the Okayama Police and
fabricated a report of you and Kiyone in a serious accident.
You guys are currently hospitalized for "On the Job"
injuries, and won't be able to work until you guys are
better."

Mihoshi managed her first smile, although forced, in
hours, "Arigatou gozaimasu Washu-san."

"No problem."

Mihoshi lied back down on the couch when Washu
disappeared back into her lab. She started pondering about
the things Washu told her, and she didn't like what she had
heard. Kiyone's chance of surviving were almost impossible,
and Washu herself would have problems trying to fix this
one. She felt extremely exhausted, and closed her eyes as
she cried herself to sleep, having to swallow the
possibility of a dark future without her childhood friend.

End Flashback
---------------------

Mihoshi had polished off about half of the bottle of
sake she was holding, she was feeling extremely depressed
while thinking of the events of the past two days.

She didn't feel too good, and her stomach felt like it
was doing hula hoops around her ass. She clumsily stumbled
over to her bathroom and onto the western style toilet.

She looked down into the toilet bowl, breathing deep,
labored breaths, her eyes wide, and her stomach cramping in
pain. Her eyes turned wide, and she tasted her stomach acids
rushing up to her mouth, right before she vomited the
contents of her stomach into the bowl. She had eaten a lot
of food and drunk quite a bit of alcohol today, and her body
couldn't handle the abuse.

Mihoshi continued throwing up for another ten minutes
until she vomited nothing but water. She flushed the toilet
and weakly got to the sink to rinse her mouth and brush her
teeth. She barely got it done and collapsed in the bathroom
with a bad headache and a terrible stomach ache. The last
thing she thought of before passing out was singing karaoke
and drinking with Kiyone. She idly wondered if life would
ever get better for her again...


* * *


April 11th, 2001. Okayama Luxury Condos, Apt #420 - Okayama,
Japan. 7:00 AM

Breakfast was always Ranma's favorite meal of the day,
he was very hungry after sleeping all night and he could eat
a lot more than he could in other meals. He loved having
grilled fish, especially mackerel and salmon, something that
was a special treat during his years under the Tendo roof.
Kasumi was an excellent cook, and he could just about eat
everything that ever came out of her kitchen. Yep, Ranma had
a lot of fond memories at the breakfast table, despite the
fact that he and Akane bickered and fought, it was something
that became a habit and was fun at times.

Now, in front of him, Ranma had an impressive selection
of fish to choose from, he had mackerel, salmon, swordfish,
halibut, and even some salmon eggs on the side to eat. He
had his favorite Japanese sides arranged around on his
table, and he had a large bowl of rice to eat it all with.

Having a great job that gave you a huge salary let you
do anything you want. And right now Ranma was enjoying the
luxury of having great food.

He happily opened up a notebook computer and flicked
open a tiny little satellite receiver built into the
notebook. Ranma connected to the internet and started
looking at some local news websites to check out clues for
any major illegal activities in the city.

He couldn't help but feel great, his move back to Japan
from his sadistically grim job in the LAPD was the smartest
choice he had ever made. Although his new job wasn't THAT
different, being in the JNSA's MaxFor sector was just the
same as the LAPD SIS, but this time around at least how
won't be killing too many people.

But that wasn't the great part. He had come back to
Japan expecting to have some trouble with his past, after
all he hadn't left Nerima on good terms with everybody, and
not many people approved of the things he did.

Ranma and Akane had parted on terrible terms with each
other back when Ranma had graduated college. Akane had
fallen in love with Ryoga somehow while Ranma was gone,
leaving him bitter and hateful towards both of them. A lot
of things went wrong, and it seemed like when Ranma
returned, he was in for a world of frustrating pains and
hassles from everyone.

What really did happen actually surprised him.

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

Flashback

April 2nd, 2001.
Ucchan's Okonomiyaki of Nerima - Nerima, Japan. 4:09 PM.

The room was filled with laughter and joy as the sake
was being passed around and the beer mugs were being
distributed among the table.

It was a fine day for celebration for the Tendos and the
Nerima crew, just about everyone had gathered around for a
day of fun and good food. There was no particular reason to
why this was being held, it was just deemed that a gathering
would be held, and for once everyone, including the
residents of the Nekohanten, decided without the use of
violence to go eat at Ucchan's Okonomiyaki.

Ukyo Kuonji was quite pleased, unlike Shampoo, who was
given ownership of the Nekohanten from her great-grandmother
to see if she can handle responsibility, Ukyo had taken some
college classes in her spare time years back after Ranma had
left for America. She got a masters degree in business, and
with a little, relatively inexpensive help from Nabiki,
Ukyo's restaurants took off like a rocket.

Clever advertisements, carefully executed samples to the
public, and great patience paid off for Ukyo, over the past
nine years, she slowly built up a small chain of Okonomiyaki
restaurants spreading through Japan, her original in Nerima,
one in Southern Osaka, one in Hokkaido, and another opening
up soon close by in Okayama.

Yes, life was good, Ukyo was on her way to fulfilling
her dream of becoming the best, she was scheduled for a
magazine review from some big publishing company in a few
weeks. Nothing could possibly get better for her.

Of course... she had forgotten most of it, but deep in
the abyss of her mind Ukyo still had to remember her dear
Ranchan. It broke her heart four years ago when Ranma said
he didn't want anybody or anyone, she thought that maybe
after breaking up with Akane that he would come back to her.
Instead he just shut himself out from the rest of the world,
and it crushed her when Ranma went back to the U.S. after
they had a little talk with each other. It seemed they were
only gonna be best friends, nothing more.

She had known for awhile that Akane was falling in love
with Ryoga while Ranma was away in college, and she was
tempted many times to call him or write to him what was
going on.

But Akane knew about this, and she asked her to not tell
Ranma, that it was nothing and that it was just a good
friendship between her and Ryoga.

Ukyo sighed, she knew this would hurt Ranma badly, but
it was none of her business to tell Ranma about Akane and
Ryoga. In the end she did keep silent through all of it.

Ukyo walked back to the large VIP room and brought over
some more okonomiyaki and plates of yakisoba for everyone.
She looked over at each one of them and just shook her head
in wonder.

Tofu and Kasumi were quite a happy couple, they had
married two years ago, and they were planning on maybe
having children soon. When Kasumi had finally decide to go
back to college, Tofu struck up the nerve to help her out
and eventually gained enough courage to go out with her,
leading to Kasumi falling in love with him. Kasumi was now a
nurse for Tofu's expanding clininc.

Shampoo and the other Amazons were laughing it up and
enjoying themselves, Shampoo was still stuck on Ranma and
was still determined to get him, yet she was also tired of
waiting around and she gave up pining over him years ago.
Cologne was the same old same old, she didn't stay in Nerima
as often as she used to, she gave Shampoo and Mousse
responsibility of the restaurant while she had been handling
delicate government matters with a correspondent from the
Chinese government. Mousse was still going after Shampoo, he
still was clumsy and plagued with Shampoo rejecting him,
although these days they were more out of habit rather than
from annoyance.

Ukyo looked over to Kuno, he was still pompous and
carried around his bokken, he opened up his own dojo near
his home, dedicated to teaching people the art of kendo and
the art of classic literature. It was a strange approach,
but it peculiarly became a hit with the public. His sister
Kodachi however, disappeared from Nerima after Ranma had
gone to college almost eight years ago, it was rumored that
she worked for some big pharmaceutical company.

Happosai? Nothing different with him, same old freakish
pervert.

Akane and Ryoga were happy with each other, they had
both pretty much forgotten about Ranma, he was just a
figment of the past now. They had married not too long ago,
both seemed pretty happy with it.

Soun however, didn't take it too well. Superficially he
looked happy for them and wept tears of joy, but inside he
was a wreck, he knew that his youngest daughter desecrated
their honor by refusing Ranma even though he was willing to
marry her in the end. He was happy for her, but he still
grieved for his destroyed dream of uniting the Saotomes and
Tendos. He still went over to Genma to hang around with him,
but he always had a haunted look in his face.

Nabiki? Well she was still a very shrewd person and had
a killer instinct in business, she never talked much about
her career, but she seemed to make a decent amount of money.


Ukyo smiled, she suspected maybe her and Kuno were
attracted to each other, despite how they acted in high
school, the two seemed to be good friends and hung out with
each other every once in a while.

"Hey Ukyo! This stuff tastes great! Could you bring some
more! I love it!" said Akane with some noodles in her mouth.

Ukyo gave a huge grin, "Sure Akane-chan! Coming right
up!"

She walked out and headed for the kitchen, she noticed
someone standing in the doorway waiting for service, she
might as well give him a seat.

Ukyo put on a big smile, "Irrashaimase! Please choose
any seat you want!"

She looked up, and her heart froze at what she saw. She
couldn't believe it, those same blue eyes, that same
pigtail, those same old Chinese clothes.

"Ranchan!!" squealed Ukyo.

Ranma couldn't help but break out a huge smile, "Ucchan!
How you been!"

"I can't believe it! How long has it been! Four or five
years!" she glomped onto him and gave him a tight hug. "Come
with me! Everyone is here celebrating! What a coincidence
huh?"

Before Ranma could even argue, he was dragged off into
the VIP room where everyone was. Ranma looked around and
glanced nervously, everyone was staring at him in wonder.
Ryoga he noted, was glaring at him.

"Hey everyone, I'm back in Nerima," Ranma said lamely.

Shampoo was the first to respond, "Ranma, is that you?"

"Yes it is."

"What are you doing here Ranma?" Ryoga growled.

Ranma frowned, he didn't want things to turn hostile.
"Whoa, whoa, calm down there Ryoga, I didn't do anything
yet."

"What have you been doing for the past four years Ranma?
No one has heard from you or even knew if you were alive
since then..." said Akane, her face was twisted into sorrow
and sadness, but she was actually exceedingly happy about
seeing him after all this time.

"I dunno... I've just sorta been unattached from the
rest of the world..." he said. He suddenly felt depressed
and lonely, he was surprised at his sudden change of
emotion, he felt like everyone was rejecting him.

Ryoga regarded Ranma closely, he noticed how he suddenly
appeared crestfallen. He mentally sighed, Soun had had a
talk with him before, he had told him that if Ranma were to
ever come back, he was to make up with him and try to
apologize to him so that he may associate with the Tendos
again. Ryoga had to agree to that for permission to marry
Akane, along with keeping the Tendo last name instead of
Hibiki. It seemed like a small price to pay at the time.

"So, how have all of you been doing?" Ranma asked,
hopeful to as if someone would respond to him.

Ryoga grimaced himself, he had always called Ranma a
jerk, but right now he was being one. He mentally slapped
himself, he was turning into an asshole. He now had
everything Ranma once had, he inherited the dojo, won
Akane's love, and he wasn't even getting lost anymore thanks
to his GPS tracker. Life couldn't possibly get better for
him, and Ranma on the other hand probably lived a miserable
life for the past four years.

Ryoga sighed, "Come on Ranma, sit down with us, we'll
talk about how you've been doing, we'd be glad to have your
company."

Everyone including Ranma surprisingly stared at Ryoga,
Ranma had expected Ryoga to be the last person to accept him
among them.

Nevertheless, Ranma wordlessly took a seat right across
from them.

Kasumi brought out a cheerful smile, "It's been such a
long time Ranma-kun, how have you been doing?"

Ryoga smiled too, he decided even Ranma deserved a
break, he might as well try to start a friendship with him
since there was nothing to fight over him for. "Yeah, I'd
like to know what you've been doing in America."

A warm smile lit Ranma's face, he had only come to talk
to Ucchan, but this was even better.

"Well, I recently got a job offer from the Japanese
National..."

End Flashback

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

Ranma finished his breakfast, nothing could ruin his
happy mood today, the entire week had gone by without any
troubles, and this Thursday he was going to have dinner with
Akane and Ryoga.

Ucchan was also setting up to open up another restaurant
in Okayama, he had promised to help her out. He sipped a bit
of his left over coffee and cleared the table.

"Oh well, I'll have to start getting acquainted with the
local law enforcement here," he said to himself.

He grabbed the keys off his table and headed out the
door, on his way to the Okayama Police Department.


* * *

April 11th, 2001.
Mihoshi and Kiyone's Apartment - Okayama, Japan. 9:48 AM.

Mihoshi leaned back against her dresser, she had been
awake for about an hour and she was just lying there,
pondering mindlessly.

She kept thinking about Kiyone, their childhood
memories, the fun they had, her last breathing moment.

Mihoshi tried to cry, but she had no more tears left to
shed. She was still in a drunken stupor, the first thing she
did when she woke up was swig some sake.

Mihoshi eyes were a dull, lifeless blue. They shifted
around the room, she kept thinking that maybe, just maybe
Kiyone would just pop in the room and they would be singing
karaoke together.

But no. Washu's words replayed in her mind, "The chances
of her surviving is nil, she might as well be dead."

"NO!!" screamed Mihoshi, she clutched her head with her
hands and sobbed.

She lowered her arms , and looked at her right hand.
She was holding her Galaxy Police standard issue blaster.

Those words kept repeating in her head, "The chances of
her surviving is nil, the chances of her surviving is nil!
THE CHANCES OF HER SURVIVING IS NIL!!! SHE MIGHT AS WELL BE
DEAD!!!"

Mihoshi closed her eyes, and opened them back again. She
took her pistol, pulled the slide back, and checked to see
if it was loaded.

There was one round in there, it had armor-piercing
inscribed on it. She slammed the slide back into place.

Mihoshi slowly got the gun, and put the barrel on her
forehead.

Her hands trembled, she sweated wildly, her emotions
kept screaming at her. "DO IT! DO IT!" it yelled, "End it
all! Just blow your fucking head off and end it!"

Mihoshi kept trembling, she instead put the gun in her
mouth, her thumb on the trigger, she cocked the hammer with
her index finger.

Two parts of her mind raged, should she shoot or not?
Mihoshi's empty mind was now filled with complex thoughts.

Then, Mihoshi saw in her mind the same picture she saw
in her nightmares, Kiyone getting fatally shot from behind.
That did it.

Mihoshi grunted and engaged the trigger.

BAM!!

Huh? What happened? Mihoshi opened her eyes, her head
was still in one piece. She cried out in despair and pushed
the trigger with her thumb again.

Still, nothing happened, the hammer struck but the gun
didn't fire.

Mihoshi took the barrel out of her mouth and looked at
the gun, a tiny LED read, "Self-inflicted gunshot prevented,
standard firing pin locking mechanism activated," it read.

Mihoshi through the blaster against the wall, it bounced
off and landed on the floor with a thud.

She collapsed to the floor and curled up into a ball
again, crying for her stupidity.

The stupidity of not being able to even commit suicide
right, she just kept crying and crying, falling deeper into
the abyss of despair...

End Chapter 1


Disclaimer: I disclaim any of the characters used, whatever,
yadda yadda yadda... Just don't sue me bitches, I don't have
anything...


Author's Notes:

Well, there it is, my Mihoshi+Ranma fic. I purposefully made
it extremely dark and depressing, I just can't think of any
normal scenario where Ranma and Mihoshi would meet and
somehow fall for each other, seeing how ditzy Mihoshi is, so
I had to create a tragedy that would screw up Mihoshi's
mind. This universe is actually a divergence from my Officer
Saotome series, it diverges right when Ranma meets the
Nerima gang at Ukyo's restaurant. If you want to understand
this story, you MUST read chapter 1 of Officer Saotome,
which could be found at my website,
http://sgtranma.webjump.com

As of this point, I'm not sure how I'm gonna resolve things,
it is possible that in the end I might have Mihoshi REALLY
kill herself even when she falls in love with Ranma, but
that's highly unlikely. I've been working on this fic for
quite awhile, and put it on hold from publishing.

This story is gonna be almost purely drama (or at least I
hope so) I'm not gonna try to take any humor in it.

Please send any comments, criticism, flames, or complaints
to [email protected]
And visit my website at http://sgtranma.0catch.com . New
fics always appear there first!