This is a story I originally posted to the Anime Addventure before deciding to upload here. I have edited the story somewhat, changed a few characters, and generally worked to improve the story.

Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma 1/2. It is the property of Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Kitty Films, and Viz Media.

Akane in Chains

Chapter One: The Journey to Prison

Akane Tendo stared out the window of the van, trying to distract herself from the steel restraints pressing down on her skin. Handcuffs were locked around her wrists, legcuffs encircled her ankles, and a chain belt was wrapped around her waist. Her handcuffs were locked to the front of the chain belt and another length of chain ran down to her legcuffs. Her chains served to reinforce her new status as a convicted criminal on her way to prison.

Several other recently sentenced women also sat in the back of the van with her. She had drawn curious stares the moment she'd been loaded in with the rest of them. Of all the women being taken to prison today, she was clearly the youngest by at least several years. And yet, she was the most securely chained. The other women only had handcuffs around their wrists, not the additional legcuffs and chain belt. What did this young woman do to earn such heavy chains, much less get herself sent to prison?

Akane ignored their stares, immersed in her own thoughts. She knew she could easily escape if she wished. She was strong enough to snap the chains and overpower the guards holding her captive, but she didn't desire to escape what she saw as just punishment for her actions. No one guilty of her crime deserved to be free.

Akane's life as a free woman came to an end about a month ago. School had let out after an exhausting day of finals, but she'd stayed afterwords to help plan for the upcoming graduation party for her senior class. She had asked Ranma to wait for her, promising not to take too long. When the meeting concluded, she exited the school only to find he wasn't alone. Ukyo Kuonji, owner of Ucchan's Okonomiyaki and Ranma's so-called cute fiancée, was with him. Whatever they were talking about, they apparently found it either entertaining or enjoyable as the two of them were smiling and even laughing together. Before she could get close enough to hear what they were saying, Ukyo headed off as Ranma waved goodbye.

"How'd the meeting go?" Ranma asked as he noticed Akane approaching.

"It went well," Akane answered slowly. Was Ukyo trying to pull another scheme to get Ranma to marry her? Her curiosity began to morph into suspicion. "So, what were Ukyo and you talking about?" she asked, trying to sound nonchalant. In the two years she'd been engaged to Ranma, she'd learned to always be suspicious of anything involving the other fiancees.

"Ucchan wanted to invite me to a cooking competition she's participating in next Saturday," Ranma answered. "Apparently, restaurants all over Tokyo are competing and she wanted me to come cheer her on."

"And what did you tell her?" Akane asked.

"I said sure," Ranma replied, not picking up on the warning tone of his fiancée's voice.

Akane's so far neutral expression morphed into one of annoyance. Ukyo inviting Ranma alone somewhere definitely set off warning bells in her mind. "I don't think you should go."

"Huh, why not?"

"Well, I was thinking maybe we could do something next Saturday instead. Maybe we could go on a picnic? Kasumi's been showing me new recipes and I'd love to try them out."

Ranma struggled real hard to hide his abject horror at the thought of eating any of Akane's food. If there was anything on the planet that scared him as much as cats, it was his fiancée's cooking. "T-That's great, Akane, but I'd feel bad if I told Ucchan I couldn't make it after I already said I'd be there."

Akane's expression darkened further. "So, you'd rather spend time with Ukyo than me?"

"No," Ranma replied quickly, scrambling to think of something to say. He knew he couldn't tell Akane he hated her cooking; that would only make her angrier. "I'd love to have a picnic with you, but I already promised Ucchan I'd go to her competition. I can't just break my word, you know."

"Ranma, promise or not, you cannot expect me to be okay with you going off alone with Ukyo!" Akane said through gritted teeth, tired of dancing around the issue. "For that matter, why are you so determined to spend the day with her?"

"Look Akane, I promised Ucchan I would go and that's the only reason. I'm not going because I like her more than you!"

"Oh really, Ranma? Then how come you looked so happy when you were talking with her? I saw the way you were smiling when she left! You really would rather spend time with her than me!"

"I was smiling because she was kind enough to invite me to her competition! Don't jump to conclusions!"

Now, Akane was really furious. "Why shouldn't I jump to conclusions when you clearly love having Ukyo and Shampoo fawn all over you!"

"What are you talking about?! That's not true!"

"Oh yeah? Remember the Reversal Jewel incident?"

Ranma paled as a foreboding feeling came over him. "Y-Yeah..."

"Thanks to the Reversal Jewel, Shampoo was finally gonna leave us alone! But you couldn't have a girl ignore you, even one you claimed you didn't like! So what did you do? You went out of your way to get rid of the jewel, so she'd flirt with you again!"

"W-Well, I... Uh, you see..." Ranma stuttered, trying to come up with an explanation.

"And Ukyo, your 'cute fiancee'!" Akane continued. "You tell me over and over she's your friend, but you've never, not once, told her that you only see her as that! Instead, whenever she comes up with some new scheme to go out with you, you just play along with her, lapping up all the attention!"

Ranma found himself on the verbal defensive as Akane laid into him. It didn't help that she had a point. He did love the attention from all his fiancees, even if he didn't want to admit it. Frustrated and unable to come up with a good answer to her accusations, he instinctively resorted to what he always fell back on in an argument. Insults.

"Yeah, well if you weren't such an annoying, built like a brick, thick legged, uncute tomboy maybe I wouldn't spend so much time with them!"

Ranma knew it was the wrong thing to say as soon as the words left his mouth. Akane stared at him in stunned silence for several seconds. Her body began to tremble and her right hand formed into a fist.

"Ra… Ran… Ranma…" Her eyes locked on to his; each brown orb bore into him with a look of intense fury. He was taken aback for an instant. He'd seen Akane angry before, but this time she looked downright terrifying. Suddenly, she stopped trembling and her body flew into rapid motion as she drew her fist back.

"How dare you!" she screamed as she swung her fist toward his face with all her might. All she could see was red and all she wanted was to beat him into a pulp. Ranma jumped back at the last possible instant, barely escaping her reach.

He knew he'd gone too far this time. She was pissed, far more so than usual. "Look, Akane, I'm sorry," he tried to apologize, "I didn't mean to-"

"Don't you dare try to talk your way out of this!" she shouted as she lashed out again. "It's been two years, Ranma! Two years and you haven't done a single thing to get your 'cute' fiancées to leave us alone! And you insult me and say its my fault?!"

Ranma kept on evading Akane's attacks. Seeing she wasn't about to calm down anytime soon, he decided discretion would be the better part of valor. The next time she missed, he turned and began running as fast as he could.

"You're not getting away, Ranma!" Akane yelled after him.

The youngest Tendo's eyes caught sight of a small stone statue that was beside the doorway of a nearby building. Acting solely on her anger, she hastily lifted the statue over her head and lined up for a throw. With a scream of rage, she threw it towards Ranma.

Hearing Akane's scream, Ranma turned and saw the statue hurtling towards him. He leapt into the air, dodging the projectile. As he turned back around, he was suddenly overcome with dread as he saw several children were playing right in the path of the statue. He put on a burst of speed, but knew he'd never make it in time.

"Look out!"

The children looked up, but it was too late. The stone figure slammed into one of their group, a young girl with brown hair in pigtails. She fell to the ground with a sickening thump. A frightful chorus of screams filled the neighborhood as the other children cried out. People exited their homes in confusion, which was replaced by panic as they noticed what had happened.

Ranma pushed through the forming crowd towards the girl. He knew an ambulance would take a while to make it and the girl needed treatment immediately. He made his way to a couple who held the girl in their arms. He could only surmise that they were her parents.

"An ambulance will take too long! I can get her to the hospital quickly, if you'll let me try!"

The mother was too shocked to say anything, but the father had seen the boy around Nerima before, including some of the fights he had been in over the years. He knew about Ranma's martial arts training and knew he could travel the distance to the hospital easily.

"Alright, but please hurry," he said as he gently handed his daughter over to Ranma.

Ranma held the girl carefully as he began leaping over rooftops like mad, desperate to make it to the hospital. The crowd watched as he disappeared from view.

And a little distance from the crowd, Akane watched these events in stunned silence. She looked at Ranma's departing form and then down at her hands in shock. All her anger and rage had fled as quickly as it had come, replaced by disbelief and guilt at her own actions.

"Wh-What have I done?"

Ranma was able to get the girl to the hospital and the doctors were able to stabilize her. The pigtailed martial artist ended up hailed as a hero. Akane's actions, however, had not gone unnoticed. Several people had witnessed her violent attack on Ranma and knew she was responsible for hurting the girl. It didn't take long for the Nerima police to be informed.

When the officers arrived to take Akane into custody, she offered no resistance. Her gaze remained on the ground as she calmly held her arms in front of her, allowing the police to handcuff her.

Akane was charged with criminal negligence and reckless endangerment, and was held in police custody until her scheduled trial. Said trial turned out to be rather short as she refused to defend herself. There was no point, as multiple witnesses had seen her commit the crime and she truly felt remorse for her actions. She pled guilty to the charges.

Her arrest and trial had become big news around Nerima and the courtroom was packed full of people on the day of her sentencing. The Saotomes and Tendos sat amongst the crowd, looking on in sadness and disbelief at what was happening. At the defendant's stand was Akane, dressed for court in a fine white blouse and beige skirt. She stood in silence with her hands clasped and head lowered in shame, refusing to meet anyone's gaze. Eventually, the judge entered the chamber, causing everyone to quiet down as he took his seat.

"Before I pronounce sentence, does the defendant wish to make a statement?"

"Yes, your honor," Akane replied, trying to keep her voice steady. "I-I know what I did was wrong and I know I deserve whatever punishment this court decides. I just want to say, I didn't mean to hurt her and I am sorry."

"Akane Tendo," the judge began, "while you may feel remorse, the actions that have led you to appear before this court cannot be condoned. Your reckless actions resulted in the grievous injury of an innocent child and could have potentially harmed more people. Furthermore, you have apparently engaged in similarly violent behavior routinely in the past. This may be your first offense, but the nature of your crime leads me to believe you need to understand the severity of your actions. I hereby sentence you to one year imprisonment. Your sentence is to be served at the Fujimi Women's Prison. In addition, you will not be eligible for parole or early release. It is my hope that your time in prison will teach you the importance of obeying the law and showing restraint."

Once the judge had pronounced sentence, two policemen proceeded to shackle Akane. Even though she was a first time offender, her status as a skilled martial artist meant she was to be placed in maximum-security restraints for transport to prison. She stood in shock as the officers chained her up, trying to come to terms with what was happening to her. A whole year in prison!

As she was led away, she could hear her father crying and wailing her name, a sound that broke her heart and brought tears of sadness to her eyes. Not only was she responsible for hurting an innocent child, but she also hurt her family with her deplorable actions. She could not bring herself to look at them, not wanting to see the sorrow and disappointment on their faces. Most of all she didn't want to see Ranma's face, not after she'd hurt that poor girl while trying to hurt him.

Akane was drawn out of her thoughts by a sudden jerk as the van came to a stop. She and the other new prisoners looked up and saw they had arrived at their new home.

Fujimi Women's Prison was a complex of gray buildings surrounded by a large stone wall with guard towers. A massive gate set into the wall allowed access to the actual prison. Once clearance was granted, this gate swung open. Akane stared nervously as the van passed through into the courtyard beyond. Even though she had spent her whole life training to be a martial artist, she was still apprehensive about spending the next year surrounded by hardened criminals. The van stopped next to a set of doors labeled Prisoner Admission. Several guards stood by the doors, awaiting the new arrivals.

"Ladies," one of the guards greeted the women in a stern voice as the door to the van was opened, "welcome to your new home. Now, on your feet! Everybody out!"

One by one, each new arrival rose from her seat and exited the van. Akane's legcuffs audibly clinked as she carefully navigated the vehicle's pull-out steps.

"Line up and keep your traps shut unless we tell you otherwise!" another guard commanded.

The new prisoners hurriedly formed a line and waited for whatever was to come next. Most of them were clearly frightened and didn't want any trouble. One of the guards stood before the line of assembled prisoners. She had long, dark hair in a ponytail and an expression of contempt as she glanced over the chained women.

"Alright ladies," the guard addressed them, "listen up, because I don't like repeating myself. I am Chief Matron Hououji and I am in charge of the correctional officers at this institution. You will address me as such or as ma'am, if you prefer."

Chief Matron Hououji began to pace before the line of prisoners, looking each of them in the face in turn as she continued speaking.

"Now, if you were expecting to be treated with kid gloves just because of your sex or because you are a first time offender, I am afraid I have to disappoint you. As you may or may not know, Fujimi Women's Prison has a reputation as one of the strictest correctional facilities in the country. There is no 'easy time' here. You will be subjected to a strict set of rules and will submit to a regime based around correction and discipline, designed to turn each of you into proper, law-abiding ladies. Failure to follow the rules and commands given to you will result in serve punishment and believe me; we don't shy away from punishing disobedient or violent convicts."

She glared directly at Akane as she said the last part about "violent convicts." Akane averted her eyes, unable to meet the accusatory stare the correctional officer gave her.

"Now then," the chief matron continued, "my officers and I are going to take you inside and process you into the facility. As long as you do exactly what you are told without resisting, the experience will be much easier. But, if any of you cause trouble, I can promise you an introduction to the kind of discipline we practice here."

With that, the line of new prisoners was ordered to march inside. As she entered the prison building, Akane looked back toward the heavy steel gate at the entrance to the prison yard and the world beyond its bars.

"Stop dawdling and keep moving!" One of the guards barked at Akane as she shoved her inside. She stumbled and nearly tripped thanks to her restraints, but managed to catch herself. She hurriedly shuffled forward as fast as her legcuffs allowed to keep up with her fellow prisoners as the door to the outside closed behind her with a loud clang.

Akane's prison sentence had begun.

Next: Akane gets her first taste of prison life.

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