*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.webjump.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. 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. ------------------------ 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. --------------------- 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. ------------------------- 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..." ------------------- 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... 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 SgtRanma@yahoo.com And visit my website at http://sgtranma.webjump.com . New fics always appear there first!