“That’s right officer, this is the man you want. My minions managed to capture and subdue him for you,” Niijima told the policemen in the body armor and helmet, the leader of the Super Martial Artist Retrieval Team as he held up his palm pilot and showed a recording of Ryoga blowing up the train.
Minions? both of the girls thought with a frown as they glared at Niijima.
Unaware of the looks Ranma and Miu were giving him, Niijima continued on and clasped his hands together. “So, I take it there is a reward for brave citizens who’ve risked their lives for appending this dangerous fugitive?” he asked with a gleam in his eye.
Turning her attention away from Niijima, Ranma looked down at the young man with a frown. One of the policemen were injecting something in Ryoga’s neck and his struggled breathing and attempts to rise quickly stopped.
She found herself wondering, if the world had been a little different, if she would have ended up like Ryoga. Well, not the wandering mass murderer obsessed with killing someone, but someone who had become so consumed by their instability that he was nothing more than a raving animal. Although the Elder had told her the truth of it, she hadn’t really believed him in her heart until now.
(-3 Years Ago-)
“IDIOT BOY!”
Ranma skidded across the dojo floor, and slammed into the wall on the far side. A moment later, the much larger man came thundering after to grab Ranma before he could take his first breath. “How dare you show my granddaughter that technique! Did I not tell you that whatever happens in the mountains was for you and I alone to know?” Hayato shouted as he held Ranma up against the wall.
Ranma trembled from the force of the old martial artist’s rage as he was held between a wall and a fist the size of his chest. “B-But you said Miu could do ki blasts to if she knew how! All I did was explain how-”
“AND why do you think I haven’t taught her such things yet?” Hayato demanded before pulling Ranma back to himself, then slamming him against the wall again. “Do you even THINK AT ALL? Or did you just see a girl getting closer to another boy because of what happened on that mountain, and want her to pay more attention to you?”
After gulping down some air, Ranma frowned, and looked away from the man. The point about his reasoning had been correct. Miu had always said how she was jealous that Ranma was always taken away into the mountains ever weekend by Hayato for special training. The past few days, ever since Shirahama had saved her from that guy from YOMI, she had been getting a lot closer to him than usual.
Ranma didn’t like to think it, but as a person… he couldn’t really compete with Kenichi. The guy was kindhearted, gentle, smart, and knew how to be humble. Against someone like that, Ranma’s egotistical jock personality didn’t stand much of a chance. But as a martial artist, the score was ridiculously in his favor.
“I don’t know!” Ranma told him
Hayato threw the boy back to the ground. “And ignorance is the only reason I haven’t snapped your neck.
“Control, discipline, restraint… why is it that I have forced you to practice all of these things three times as much than any move or stance? Because you’re stupid little boy that jumps to conclusions and never thinks about his actions?”
Ranma opened his mouth to answer, but the old man pointed his further at the boy and continued before he could reply. “NO! I do it because the path that your martial arts training has taken! You have already learned to focus and shape your ki. Such a thing is never taught before the age of twenty one, except by the most deranged or foolish of teachers.”
“Huh?” Ranma blinked at the explanation. “What do you mean?”
As Hayato took a breath, he seemed to calm down and dropped his arms to his size. However, there was still a harshness to his voice. “Ranma, what happens at the age of twenty one?”
“Um… you can get into bars legally?”
Hayato frowned at the answer, despite the fact that was the only thing Ranma could think of. What were they teaching in school these days? “Your brain,” he began.
“A boy of five years is unable to solve mathematical equations that a boy of fifteen is able to. It isn’t a question of talent or ability, it is simply that the five-year-old cannot grasp certain mathematical concepts that older people can; his brain simply isn’t developed enough to comprehend the questions. This is also true in the case of emotions. During puberty, and for several years afterwards, an underdeveloped frontal lobe causes quick shifts in emotions as well as an inability to control them properly.
“As if that weren’t enough, when you begin to use martial arts that feed off emotions, manipulate them, it effects the development of the mind if not properly controlled. If left unchecked, the person who does such things become emotionally unstable, and a good deal dangerous to everyone around them.”
Ranma frowned as he picked himself up. “If that’s all then just tell her to stop. Geeze, you make it sound like it’s serious or something.”
“And why do you think I just didn’t tell you the same thing when you came to this dojo?”
(-Present Day-)
Ranma walked out of the building behind Niijima as the demonic businessman counted a large wad of bills in his hand. “Three million for one moronic martial artist. This looks like a rather profitable new business we’ve just discovered.”
“Ranma caught the criminal, I saved everyone, just what the hell did you do?” Miu grumbled.
For his part, Niijima smirked and crossed his arms. “As the leader of Shinpaku, I must always have an equal cut of the profits for organization expenses, and uh… because I’m the boss!”
Although the argument did little to dissuade her, Miu found herself unable to beat Niijima up for monetary reasons. Great, so now we’ve gone from being a gang, to full-on Yakuza, she told herself. The woman shook her head, then looked over to Ranma and the frown on her face. “If you start blaming yourself for this, I’ll beat you to death.”
Ranma blinked, then looked over to Miu’s face. “Naw, just wondering what’s gonna happen with Ryoga. A normal jail isn’t going to hold him.”
“He’ll be put into a medically induced coma until he’s tried in absence, and then executed,” Niijima answered without looking up from his money.
Meanwhile, inside the police station…
“We have another one for you,” the SMART leader said as he spoke into the phone. “This one has had his left ribcage destroyed, and his right arm is completely ruined, will that effect the amount?”
After waiting for a moment, he spoke again. “Understood. I’ll arrange him to be shipped to the usual place after he’s been treated at the hospital. Have the money transferred into my foreign accounts.”
“Don’t worry, no one cares about these people. Even if it looks suspicious, as long as the trouble disappears, no one really cares what happens to them.”
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(Posted Mon, 27 Jul 2009 06:41)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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