indent"-in my days as a judge for the state of California have I seen a killer so cold blooded, so lacking in remorse or any form of human decency. Justice would almost assuredly be servedshould I simply set you free, for you would not live five minutes at the hands of the waiting mob outside this courtroom. But the mere idea that you might somehow escape your proper fate at their hands and therefore end up roaming the same streets that my family, my children, must walk in our day to day lives sends cold chills down my spine."
indentThe judge paused, and almost seemed to shake himself, as though trying to regain some semblance of his composure. Ranma turned his gaze about the courtroom, noting the almost surreal feel of the affair- almost as if he was watching some sort of feature length Anime from the back row of a darkened theatre.
indent-On second thought-, he thought to himself, -perhaps it's closer to an American murder mystery.- There was Pop and Mr. Tendo, staring death at the defendant. Akaner and Kasumi were conspicuously absent, but Nabiki sat there next to her father, her closed face quite studiously absent of any real show of emotion.
indentThe judge finally regained his composure. "Will the defendant please rise."
indentNumbly, Ranma stood up by remote control, a little imbalanced.
indent"Ranma Saotome, for the charge of Assault with a Deadly weapon, I sentence you to fifteen years in a maximum security State Penitentiary. For the charge of Grand Theft Auto, I sentence you to an additional ten years. And, with your third and final felony count, Murder in the first, I sentence you, on the basis of your third strike, Life imprisonment without the possibility of parole." The judge slammed his gavel on the wooden plate, the sharp crack like a gunshot. "Get this scum out of my courtroom."
indentRanma was grabbed by four huge men, men he knew he could easily have beaten senseless in nothing flat, but what would that prove? The armed guards at the doors to the court room would have levelled their shotguns at him, pulled the triggers, and ended his life in a maelstrom of noise, lead, and pain. As he was hauled from the room, he chanced a look back, and almost thought he saw tears in his father's eyes before he was taken from all their lives forver.

indentThe bus ride was long. Ranma saw more miles of highway on that last bus ride than he had ever travelled in a vehicle in his life. Still detached, he let his head slowly drift around, looking at the others on the bus with him. He chanced a glance around himself, and still couldn't believe that he was here, that any of this was actually happening to him. The guy he was both sitting next to and chained to by the wrists and ankles had tried to start a conversation with him, asking what he had done, by Ranma's dead eyed, flat stare in return clearly told him to take his questions and conversation elsewhere. Others also sat in the bus, many in the same numb state that he himself was, but none quite to the same degree.
indentHe leaned his head against the steel mesh covering the window, feeling the harsh vibrations rattle his skull and the steel mesh bite into his cheek. He closedhis eyes and waited for the nightmare to end.

indent"Ranma!"
indentRanma straightened up in the booth, directing her gaze towards Chris. "Um... What were you saying?"
indentChriss laughed. "Pay more attention when I talk to you, huh? I feel like I'm talking to the wall."
indentRanma giggled, the sound fitting in her higher pitched voice. "Sorry- I was just thinking. Remembering."
indent"Remembering what?" Chris asked.
indentRanma didn't answer, clueing Chris to leave well enough alone. "Um, right. Well, anyhow, at least that thing isn't chasing you around any more, right?"
indentRanma shrugged, dipping her spoon into her ice cream cup, then popping the cold bite into her mouth. "Well," she said around her mouthful, "I think it's gone for good this time. I mean, it was pretty mangled after that last blast-"
indent"Yeah, you're lucky you got out of there quick, or else you would have had to explain how the alley got blown up in the first place." Chris cut in, winking at her. "Canh you imagine trying to tell a policeman you destroyed a killer robot that kidnapped you from your country and dragged you to Area 51, and has been chasing you ever since you escaped until you finally finished it off with the chi blast from hell?"
indentRanma scowled, her own humor making the expression less severe. For good measure, though, she popped him lightly on the nose with her spoon. "Don't interrupt! As I was saying, it seemed pretty much mangled by the blast, so I don't think it CAN follow me anymore."
indentChris nodded, looking down at the table top. Ranma suddenly recalled the other night once more, and a flush came to her face. She instantly felt extremely uncomfortable.
indent"Listen, Ranma, about the other night-"
indentShe shook her head. Couldn't he leave well enough alone for longer than five minutes? "What happened, happened. We can, we can, move on or something. Forget it."
indentChris looked at her pleadingly. "No, I CAN'T forget it. It's not like I can turn my memory on and off, and especially not with something like... that." He averted his eyes, then mumbled, "Not with my feelings, not with you."
indentRanma wanted to rebut him, to remind him the she was a guy, but she couldn't. She couldn't utter that hypocrisy, not now. Not to him.
indentAnd that was what had her so distracted- as a girl, she felt secure, complete, whole. As though this was how nature had meant her to be, and her birth as a guy had been a mistake that circumstance had corrected by dragging him to Jusenkyou.
indentAs though Nature, seeing her error, had taken measures to correct it and give Ranma the life she was meant to lead.
indentAs a guy, he was insecure, brash, foolhardy, and competitive, always trying to prove himself to everyone, so that there would be no doubts as to his manliness. Except way down deep, where it counted, where he could always try but never quite succeed at turning his eyes away from it.
indent"Ranma!"
indent"Huh?" She looked around, then rested her forehead on her hand, realizing she had zoned out again. "I'm sorry, Chris." She looked down, seeing the melted puddle the rest of her ice cream had become in the cup. "Um, you want the rest of this?"
indentHe shook his head, then looked Ranma in the eyes. "Isn't there something we could work out?"
indentShe hesitated, knitting her fingers together. What did she want?
indentDid she want to be a guy again, and go back to Akane? Even if she was mean a lot, for no reason, sometimes, when she thought he wasn't looking, she looked at Ranma with something that made his heart melt.
indentDid she want to live live as a girl? It felt so much easier, so much more natural, so free, and Chris- he was so sweet.
indentRanma was torn. What did she want? She wanted- She wanted-
indentShe wanted to follow her impulses. And on her impulse, she took Chris's hand. "We'll- we'll see."
indentShe bit her lower lip, and her eyes half closed, still looking into his. Chris took the cue, leaning forward-

indentA horn blasted Ranma from sleep. He pulled his head up, and suddenly everything was clear, crystal clear, and very real. The horror wasn't happening to someone else, not a doll or a puppet, but HIM, that was experiencing this, and was shortly going to be locked away for the rest of his natural life. His armor, which he had built up during the whole fiasco, was suddenly disintegrated by the instantaneous onslaught of reality.
indentHe shivered.
indentHe took a look to the front of the bus- there were only two couches in front of his, so the view was reasonably clear- to see out the dusty windshield. They had stopped in front of a large, walled structure, like a fort, but with guard towers pointing their guns inwards, rather than out. Exactly between the towers was a pair of huge, steel gates, slowly hauled open as the bus waited.
indentThere was an eternal pause as the gates swung open, a pause which ended all too soon as the finished their arc of motion.
indentWith the gates opened, the bus started forward again, and rolled on in. Ranma did not hear so much as FEEL the huge doors shut behind them, sealing him in. He looked out his window again, and saw a chainlink fence lined the path they drove, skirting the outer wall, to stop under and overhang. And all along the fence, rowdy, blue clad men shook it, shouting and yelling their savage welcome to the new entries, calling them home. Scattered fragments of their words made it through the closed windows, but not enough for sentences.
indentThe bus finished moving, andRanma was roughly haulled to his feet by a guard. Rough hands hammerlocked Ranma's arms behind his back, and Ranma had to fight his reflexes in effort to preserve his life, fight to keep from counterattacking. The chains tying him to his neighbor were unlocked, and he was shoved forward ungently.
indent"Move it, con." A rough voice growled, more than likely a voice belonging to the someone who had his arms hammerlocked. Ranma complied.

indentWith Ranma in the lead, the members of the bus ride were escorted forward from the vehicle indoors to a large concrete room with a drain in the center.
indent"Strip down, boys- you're going to get your first lesson in hygeine." Slowly, they all stripped down to the buff, standing self consciously in front of one another.A sneering man holding a hose and smoking a cigarette laughed raucously and said, “Rule number one: Water.”
indentBefore Ranma could react, or even protest, stinging icy cold water was sprayed over him and the entire group, activating his curse, the one thing he dreaded more than anything in this prison.
indentHis, or rather, HER, secret was out.
indentLooks of stunned surprise and exclamations of shock echoed across the room as she dropped to the floor, covering herself with a scream and glaring at the smoking man with the hose. The cigarette drooped on his lip for a moment before it fell to the floor.
indentSeveral guards grabbed her and hauled her into the warden’s office. Smoking boy walked in, lit a cigarette, and looked at her with vague hostility. Ranma shivered, trying to huddle herself up and keep warm, as well as cover up.
indent”What the hell is this?” The warden snarled, glaring at her. “A woman, sent to my prison? Is this some kind of a joke?”
indentRanma snapped back at him angrily, “I’m NOT a woman.” As the warden raised an eyebrow and commenced a visual examination to counteract this argument, she blushed and said, “I’ve got a curse.”
indent”Let me guess: You’re a guy, trapped in a woman’s body?”
indent”NO!” Ranma shouted. “I’m a guy, but I’ve got a curse from training in China. It turns me into a girl temporarily.”
indentThe warden nodded, skeptically. “Cursed.” He puffed on his cigarette.
indentRanma glared back at him harder. “It’s the truth!”
indentNodding and puffing, he warden replied, “Temporarily? How long?”
indent”Until I get splashed with hot water.”
indentThe warden thought about this for a moment. “So getting hosed down like that made you a girl, and hot water changes you back? Interesting story.”
indent”I said it’s the truth!” Ranma said scathingly.
indent”I believe you. No-one but a nut could come up with a story like that, and you don’t seem nuts to me. I’ve seen some pretty weird shit in this prison but you, son- miss- What the hell am I s’posed to call you? –take the cake.”
indentRanma sighed, not liking the way the warden’s eye followed the motion. “I need hot water. It’ll change me back. Cold water activates the curse, and hot water deactivates it.”
indentThe warden looked at her a moment, then asked, “How did you get it?”
indent”Long story.”
indentThe warden grunted, and puffed again on his cigarette. “What if the water’s lukewarm? Does it make you a boy or a girl?”
indent”Um...” Ranma shrugged. “It doesn’t affect me either way- I stay how I am, if it’s tepid.”
indentNod. Puff. Puff. “Just water, then?”
indent”Any hot or cold water based liquid.”
indentThe warden dispassionately snatched his coffee cup from his desk and threw it in Ranma’s face, the hot coffee sparking the change that made him male again. “Mmm-hmm. Hadn’t seen it myself the first time, I’d’ve likely thought you were crazy when you said it.”
indent”You’ll keep this a secret, won’t you warden?” Ranma asked.
indent”I will. What would happen to the solitary girl in a lifer’s pen? Especially one that looked like you? No, I don’t care what you did, no-one deserves that.” The warden took one last puff on his cigarette before mashing it out in the ash tray on his desk. “But depending on how close lipped the rest of today’s shipment are, you may get it anyway. For what it’s worth, I pity you, son. Now get your ass in the next room.”
indentFace burning, Ranma mutely walked out into the hose room and into the door he hadn’t yet entered, to be met with a stinging cloud of white dust. Mixing with the water on his body, it burned, and the dust he inhaled made him cough and sneeze.
indentCoughing, itching, he was prodded into an isolation room to finish delousing overnight.
indent”I swore I’d never break your secret, Chris, Ranma thought to himself. But God help you if you ever end up in here with me.
indentSo the sun set on the first day of eternity in hell.