Man, I can't believe all the responses I got for this idea. I've decided to
continue it. If you read this part before, just skim down to the part where ya
last left off...Man, I can't believe I worte that much in one sittin'. Anyway,
enjoy ^_^



Jefffrey "OneShot" Wong

Ranma 1/2: Sentenced to life


     Ranma's life had been totally destroyed. Utterly and totally destroyed.
Framed for a murder he didn't commit, he had been sentenced to a life behind
bars with no eligible chance for parole. 
  Ranma looked down at his trayful of food, and it looked absolutely disgusting.
  "What the fuck are you lookin' at, asshole?!" someone gave Ranma a vicious
stare. The man was seated in a chair, but he soon got up, he size dwarfing
Ranma's. 
  "N-nothing" he said meekly. This was the first day in the penetentary, and he
had no idea how much trouble he was in.
  The man knocked Ranma's trayful of food into Ranma's face, the mashed potatoes
singing Ranma's face. Ranma didn't know what to do as he stared up at the man.
At a moment like this, Ranma would have gotten angry, but for some reason, he
didn't. He took a step away.
  "I think you need to be taught a lesson" the man said. He grabbed Ranma by his
jail shirt. He cocked his arms back...
  Before Ranma knew what happened, he found himself lying on the cold hard floor
of the cafeteria, blood gushing from a large gash on his face. He sat up to wipe
the blood off with his hand, but his arm wouldn't move. He tired to move it, but
it wouldn't respond. 
  He felt someone give him a kick on his back "Get up" It was one of the
corrections officers. The officer looked at Ranma with a cold heartless stare.
  Ranma wanted to get up, but he couldn't, his legs not responding. He tried
again, using his arms to bring himself up, but the pain prevented him "I-I
can't" He looked up at the guard meekly.
  "Get the fuck up!" Ranma heard before a club rained down on his back. The pain
was excruciating. Another shot struck him again, but this time on the back of
his neck. Luckily for him, it was hard enough to knock him unconscious.
   Ranma's unconscious body was dragged off as all the other prisoners watched
stoically. Things like this happened every day. It was all part of the system.
  
  Shortly after waking up the next day, Ranma finally realized just how much
trouble he was in. He sat alone in his tiny jailcell, not daring to move. He
knew if he moved, massive bolts of pain would surge through his body. 
  "Okay, time for the morning cell check" an officer, a young female officer. As
she opened his cell door, she regarded Ranma with soft eyes. She was the only
corrections officer in the entire penetentary that showed some form of remorse.
Although Ranma was in no shape to move, she still regarded him rather
cautiously.
  Ranma slowly looked up at the young girl, tears streaming down his cheeks. It
wasn't from the pain that caused those tears, but from the realization that he
was all alone. He gazed up at the young officer through a one swollen eye and
spoke "I-I don't think I can"
   The young officer was still cautious "I'm sorry, but you're going to have to"
She was looking at the newest addition to the penetentary, and deep down inside,
he looked like he didn't belong there. She remembered his name was Ranma.
Although she had been there for no more than a year, there had been no prisoner
that looked more innocent than this young man she was looking at.
   "I really suggest you do so, or the other officers are goin' to beat you" she
said matter-of-factly. She hated the way the penetentary was run. The entire
place was corrupted. All the officers abused their authority.
  Ranma gritted his teeth as he slowly got to his feet. The pain was too much
for him for he fell forward to his knees.
  The young officer had instictively stepped forward to grab a hold of him, but
she managed to keep herself from getting too close. Who knows? He might have
been faking it. She stepped back, still watching him cautiously.
  Ranma cluched at his ribs and moaned. He must have had a few broken ribs. But
he gritted his teeth again as he tried to get up. Through extreme pain, he
managed to finally stand upright "N-now what?" he said softly. His words were
barely heard. Every breath he took hurt.
  "Just step forward out of your cell and wait for the other officers to check
it" she said, stepping back and out of Ranma's way. She made sure she was far
enough away from him so that she would be able to react quickly incase Ranma
attempted to bumrush her, which was most unlikely.
  Ranma stepped out of his cell and gave the young girl a weary look "N-now
what?"
  "Just stand there" she said. She gave Ranma one more look before she headed
off toward her superior officers as they walked down the small corridor that had
cells to each side. Ranma watched he intenly as he noticed her pet the dog that
burly officer was holding the leash to. When she had walked past him, he could
smell the faint scent to her perfume. 
  Ranma watched as the burly officer and the young girl were headed his way. He
noticed the dog entering each cell and sniffing around for narcotics. The dog
took about two minutes before the officer moved onto the next cell. As he stood
there, he looked down the corridor and the line of inmates standing uniformly in
front of their individual cells.
  "What are you looking at?" the burly officer said as he caught sight of Ranma
watching him "Didn't you learn your lesson back in the cafeteria the other day?"
Ranma said nothing. He looked down at the officer;s knuckles and noticed they
were bloody. It was probably from beating the other prisoners.
  "Hey, boy, speak when you're bein' spoken to" the officer grabbed Ranma by the
collar of his blood stained shirt and shook him once. The dog began barking
loudly, its bark echoing throught the corridor. None of the oher prisoners dared
to gaze in their direction.
  "I-I was lookin' at nothing, sir" he said weakly through clenched teeth. All
that jostling was causing his ribs to hurt.
  The young girl watched quietly, not knowing what to say. She wanted to tell
her superior officer to stop the harassing, but that would easily mean her job
and she really needed the money the job provided. As she watched, she noticed a
small blood stain forming around Ranma's chest. She gasped as she realized that
one of his ribs must have punctured his skin.
  She had to do something before Ranma got hurt even more. He was in bad
condition as it is, and there was no need for his conditioned to be worsened.
She reached forward and placed one of her hands on the burly officer's shoulder
"Y-you don't need to do that"
  The man turned toward her "Of course you do" he said "You hafta show 'em whose
boss" He turned toward Ranma and gave him a nasty look "In here, they're nothin'
but garbage, and that's how they deserve to be treated"
  "I-I'm aware of that...b-but you don't have to be so rough" she said. For the
first time since she started her job here, she was glad that she had good looks
because the man she was talking to seemed to have a soft spot for pretty women.
Even though she hated, no, detested the leers she got from the inmates, she was
now glad that her looks could do much more than get sexual looks. Although none
of the inmates dared to say anything toward her, she knew what they were
thinking. And judging by how the officer looked at her, she knew his thoughts
weren't any different from the inmates.
  The officer pushed Ranma off to the side as he let the dog sniff through his
cell "You're lucky today, boy. If she hadn't said anythin'..." he didn't bother
to finish his sentence. After a few moments, he went on to check the other
cells.
  The young girl stayed behind for a moment "A-are you okay?"
  "Y-yeah, I-I'm fine" he said weakly, still holding his ribs. He bowed polietly
out of respect "T-thanks"
  She was a bit surprised by Ranma's politeness, but she mangaed to say "Don't
worry about it, Ranma" She wanted to kick herself for saying out his name when
she noticed Ranma cock an eyebrow up. She had always made it so she would never
get to know the prisoners' names, yet when she came across Ranma's picture, she
had to know his name for some reason.
  "You know my name" he said. It was a statement, not a question "But I don't
know yours"
  The young girl thought for a moment, wondering if it was all right to give him
her name. When she looked up into his soft, warm eyes, she felt commpelled to.
She smiled warmly, which seemed to make Ranma's day brighter, for he smiled back
every bit as warmly.
  "My name's Ukyo"

  Ranma sat by himself as he ate quietly in the cafeteria. He had been in there
for a few days already, but his wounds had healed quite a bit. He was no longer
experiencing any form of pain. 
  A frail young man, somewhere around Ranma's age, sat down next to him "Is it
all right if I sit down next to ya?" Ranma regarded him for a second but said
nothing. The young man looked like hell. He had a black eye and several bruises
were quite visible on his face. It looked as if he had been beat up just
recently.
  "I'm Ryuichi" the young man said as he scooped up some indiscernable food and
put it in his mouth. The site of food he was eating made Ranma want to gag "I
saw what happened to you the other day. So, what are you in for?"
  Ranma looked up "I'm Ranma, and I was framed. I don't belong here"
  Ryuichi chuckled "That's what everyone says. Everyone's innocent in here. But
in here, it doesn't matter if you're innocent or not. All that matters is
protecting yourself"
  Ranma looked at Ryuichi curiously. The man was very skinny and frail. There
was no way in hell that man could defend himself. Except for Ranma, every inmate
must have outweighed the man by a hundred pounds. And judging from the bruises,
it was obvious he didn't know self-defence "How do you defend yourself in here?"
  "I get someone else to do it" he said. When he noticed Ranma looking at his
face full of bruises, he continued "The person who was supposed to protect me
was stabbed last night so he couldn't protect me"
  Ranma gasped as he realized how violent this place was. He wondered how a man
this small and frail managed to survive for so long.
  "Well, I won't be worryin' about that. I can protect myself" Ranma said. He
turned his gaze toward that inmate that had beat him up the other day. The man
was on the other side of the entire cafeteria, chatting with his buddies. Ranma
clenched his fist. He's going to pay for what he did.
  "Maybe you got hit in the head too hard," Ryuichi said "but you were beat
pretty bad. I didn't see you tryin' to defend yourself" He took another mouthful
of food from his tray.
  "I had somethin' on my mind" Ranma replied. He turned his attention back onto
Ryuichi "He took me by surprise. That's all"
  "Well, whatever" he said "In here, you better know how to fight. That's the
only way your ever going to get respect from the guard and other inmates. Hey,
look at that, it looks like there's another new addition to our family. It seems
your....friend....is welcoming him"
  Ranma turned his attention toward where Ryuichi was pointing. His gaze rested
on the same man that had beat him up the other day. The man looked like he was
picking on a new inmate. He was holding the new guy by the collar. Ranma cluched
his fists as he got up off his seat "What's with that guy? Why's he like that?"
  "He's the local tough guy. That's all" Ryuichi replied "He seems to get a
hard-on from picking on people"
  Ranma cracked his knuckles "Well, it's about time someone taught him a lesson"

  "Hey, what do you think you're doin'?" Ryuichi managed to say to Ranma's back.

  Ranma made his way past all the other inmate. He felt a surge of adrenaline
flow through his veins as he made his way toward the man. He didn't know what he
was going to do once he got there, but he wasn't going to allow that man to
continue on with his ways. Someone was going to have to teach him a lesson and
it seems Ranma was going to be the one to do it.
  Ukyo was pacing back and forth on the balcony that overlooked the cafeteria.
She was hodling a mandatory shotgun in her arms. Today was definitely one of her
better days. Only one fight had broken out earlier and it was only between two
prisoners over something as petty as a drink at the water fountain. She was the
first one to arrive at the scene and the prisoners easily backed down when they
caught sight of the shotgun she was carrying. That had happened early in the
morning, nothing else occuiring since then.
 She sighed when she noticed Riko picking on the new prisoner that had been
transferred into the penetentary. She hated that man. All he ever did was pick
fights with prisoners. Ukyo sighed. That man belonged on death row. 
  "Hey!" Ranma shouted at the man, his voice echoing throughout the cafeteria.
Everyone, who was minding their own business, turned their attention toward
Ranma and the man.
  "Well well well, it seems our new ho is back for more" the man said, causing
the room to burst out in laughter.
  Ukyo looked down at the source of the commotion. When her eyes rested on
Ranma, her heart lept. She watched intently from the safety of balcony as Ranma
stood faced to face with that tower of a man. She noticed that Ranma's head only
reached up to the man's shoulders. 
  Ranma said nothing. All he did was stare directly into Riko's eyes.
 "Well, aren't you going to say something?!" Riko said with a smirk. He grabbed
Ranma's collar like he did the other day.
  "You got lucky the other day" Ukyo heard Ranma say "I had a lot on my mind at
the time" 
  Ukyo felt a bit of concern for Ranma. He had no idea what kind of man Riko
was. Riko wouldn't hesitate to kill Ranma then and there. But it wasn't only
Riko that was vicious, but also his buddies. His buddies would most likely
bumrush Ranma and hold him down while Riko rained blows down on him. And by the
time the other guards managed to make it there in time to break up the fight,
Ranma would had been beaten into a coma by then. 
  Ukyo took the walkie talkie off her belt and talked into it "Umino, you better
get your ass to the caefeteria. Hurry! Someone's going to get killed" She was
the closest to the two men, but there was no way she could intervene. She wasn't
trained to deal with fights and was physically too weak to fight anyone off if
she were to ever get attacked in the heat of battle.
  Ukyo turned her attention to the fight, just in time to catch sight of Ranma
landing a vicious blow to Riko's jaw. She watched in disbelief as Riko's
unconscious body was thrown backwards several yards fromt he shear impact.
  "Watchout!!!" she screamed noticed two guys ruch from the crowd behind Ranma. 
  As if on instinct, Ranma's landed two vicious kicks on each of the inmates'
chin, knocking them out. Several more inmates bumrushed him, only to get the
same treatment as the three before them. After a dozen people had attemped to
rush him, meeting the same fate as their fallen comrade, did the fight stop, no
one wanting to attempt to knock Ranma down.
  The commotion had ended within seconds. A circle had formed around Ranma,
everyone not knowing what to do. They just stared at him. Ranma stood there,
awaiting for the next incoming attack. After a few tense moments, the crowd
parted as three guards with clubs made their way to Ranma.
  One of the guards looked down at the doxen of unconscious inmates before he
turned his attention up toward Ukyo "What happened?" the guard asked her.
Without receiving an answer from her, the guard turned his attention toward
Ranma "You're in deep shit for this"
  
  Ranma used on of his arms to cluch at his ribs again as he sat upright in the
bed he was in. He surveyed his surrounding, realizing that he was in the
infirmary. He brought his hand upto his face to feel for any cuts. There weren't
any. He took a deep breath and winced in a little bit of pain. Some of his ribs
must have been bruised. He was in a lot better condition than last time. It
would be better within a day or so.
  He was about to get up off the bed, but he realized that one of his arms was
chained to the bedpost. He gave it a quick jerk, knowing that if he really
tired, he could break the chain, but he chose against it. It would make people
think he was trying to escape. He sighed, lying back down on the bed again.
  A few hours passed before someone entered the room. To his delight, it was
that young woman he had met this morning during the cell check. He remembered
her name was Ukyo. There was no way he would forget a name like that.
  Ukyo sat down in the chair next to the bed, a chair that wa just far away
enough that there was no way Ranma could reach her if he tried to attack her.
Even though he was in no condition to move, she still had to be cautious. She
sat crossed her leg as she grabbed a notepad thattook a pencil from her shirt
pocket and began to talk.
  "What happened?" she said. She knew what happened, but it was standard
procedure to have the incident written down for the records. The incident where
the guards had beaten him into unconsciousness would have been left out.
  "He got it comin' to him" Ranma said. He eyed her rather fondly. He had never
seen a woman as beautiful as her. She was absolutely gorgeous "I just paid him
back for what he did to me earlier"
  Ukyo giggled. She liked Ranma's reply. She knew that Riko had it coming to him
sooner or later. It was just a matter of time. She was just glad that she was
there to witness someone beating some sense into that man. She was also glad
that it was Ranma, it made watching all the more enjoyable. Even though she
didn't like seeing human suffering, she knew Riko deserved it.
  Ranma smiled a bit. He liked the way she laughed. It gave him a warm feeling,
something that he could definitely get used to. He adjusted himself so that he
was one his side facing Ukyo, his head propped up by his free arm.
  Although she wasn't looking at him, Ukyo could feel Ranma's gaze on her. It
made her feel a bit nervous. She knew how everyone looked at her. They always
looked at her licentiously. But when her gaze met his, she noticed  nothing but
kidness in his eyes. For some reason, it made her more nervous because of the
way her body seemed to respond to his eyes. She noticed that he heart seemed to
have sped up.
  "Thanks" he said warmly after a few silent moments. He was still regarding her
with warm eyes.
  "For what?" she asked curiously. She had no idea what he was thanking her for.
  "For what you did back there" he said "Thanks for tellin' me about those guys
behind me. They would have caught me by surprise if it weren't for you" Ukyo
wondered exactly what would had happened if she had never told him to look out.
If she hadn't, they would had easily overwhelmed him and he would be in a coma
by now, most likely on the verge of death.
  Ukyo smiled a bit. She was glad that she could help. It was just too bad she
couldn't do anything when the guards were beating him. All she could do was
refuse to hit him. She would had quit a long time ago if it weren't for the fact
that she needed the money.
  "Okay, back to the subject" she began again, her tone a bit more seriously
"What happened back there?"
  Ranma stopped for a moment to think of a good answer "He beat me up the other
day, and I'm just paying him back for it. And yes, I started the fight"
  "Do you know they're going to do to you?" she said. She wished this wasn't
happening. Ranma didn't deserve this. It was Riko that deserved this. But just
because the guards like Riko because they enjoyed watching him pick fights with
oother prisoners, Riko wouldn't get into any trouble. Ranma, on the other hand,
was in a heap of trouble.
  "No" he said. He had absolutely no idea.
  "They're going to put you in solitary confinement for at least a week" she
replied, cluching her notepad tightly.
  "What's that?" Ranma asked.
  "You're going to be put in a tiny cell without any human contact" she replied
"There's going to be no light. Nothing. The only light you'll ever see is when
they open a tiny grate to give you food"
  "It seems a lot better than where I am now" Ranma remarked. He laid back down
on the bed, looking up at the bland ceiling "At least I won't have to worry
about the guards"
  Ukyo clenched her hands into fists. She knew Ranma was right. The guards were
worse than the prisoners. But she knew Ranma had no idea what he was getting
himself into. Prolonged periods of time in solitary confiment usually drove
people insane. 
  "It doesn't matter though" he began "Even though I don't belong here, there's
nothing I can do about it. If they're going to give me solitary confinment, I
can't do anything about it. If I refuse, I'd probably get shot. Am I right?"
  Ukyo said nothing. He was abslutely correct. 
  "How come you're not like them?" he asked.
  "W-well," she began. She didn't really know if it was all right to tell him.
She hesitated for a moment. She wasn't like them because she detested seeiing
human suffering. She would never get pleasure from seeing someone get hurt,
especially by her own hands.
  "Maybe you better not tell me" he said "I don't want you to get in troble or
nothing"

  Ranma looked like he lost several pounds when he was finally released from
solitary confinement. But aside from that, he looked okay. He even managed to
crack a smile toward Ukyo when he was escorted with several guards toward his
cell. Ukyo was the only one who saw. She couldn't believe he did something like
that. If the other guards had caught sight of him smiling after leaving solitary
confinement, they would had thrown him back in and kept him in there for another
week just to get rid of his smile.
  After a few days had passed, Ukyo noticed Ranma had gained back his weight,
and was looking healthy again. When it was her turn to take her post on the
balcony that overlooked the cafeteria, she couldn't help but notice that she was
stealing more glances toward Ranma than she wanted to admit. For some reason,
she couldn't keep her eyes off him. 
  She found herself wondering what Ranma was saying when she noticed someone sit
down next to him.
  "You look better" Ryuichi said.
  Ranma nodded "I feel better now" He started to eat some of the slop that the
cafeteria staff gave him. It looked like runny mashed potatoes. His finished
that it in several bites "Man, this stuff's disgusting"
  Ryuichi's eyes widened "Hey, if you don't want it, I'd be glad to have it"
  Ranma turned his attentioned away from his meal and onto Ryuichi. He noticed
several new bruises on the frail man's face "Where'd you get those from?"
  "My boyfriend hit me" he replied, not bothering to looked up at Ranma.
  Ranma spit out some of the milk he was drinking "W-what didja say?"
  "Remember when I said I have others to protect me?" he said. When he receieved
a nod from Ranma, he continued on "Well, I give sexual favors to the man to
protects me, and he hit me a couple of times when we were...."
  "Oh man, I never knew things like that happened in here" Ranma said, his
stomach churning. But he managed to hold down his lunch when logic pushed his
way into his mind "Waittaminute. I don't get it. If you're getting beaten up by
the person protecting you, then that ain't what I would call protection"
  "Would you protect me?" Ryuichi said, pleading in his eyes "I'll do anything"
  Ranma couldn't believe Ryuichi was going through something that horrible. He
would had helped him out anyway. Ryuichi should had come to him first and asked
for his help. Even though they rarely talked to each other, Ranma considered
Ryuichi as close to a friend as he was ever going to get.
  "I'l protect you" Ranma said. He believed that no one should suffer. He
couldn't stand seeing the weak being taken advantaged of.
  "Thank you" Ryuichi said. He looked like he was about to cry, but he kept his
tears under control. He knew if the other inmates saw him cry, that he would get
a whole heap of trouble and so would Ranma since he was with him. He didn't want
to bring Ranma any trouble. Besides, if Ranma expected to stick to his word, he
would be doing a lot of fighting on Ryuichi's behalf.
  Ranma took a another bite of his lunch when he noticed Ryuichi's face wince in
pain.
  Ryuichi tried to say something, but ntohing was coming out of his mouth. All
the blood seemed to drain from his face as he tried desperately to speak. With
all his strength, he pointed at somone.
  Ranma looked over at what Ryuichi was pointing at. His gze rested on a man
walkign away from the two of them. He noticed that the man was stuffing
something into the sleeve of his jail shirt. Ranma realized that the man was
trying to conceal a knife. He turned his attention back onto Ryuichi, only to
see him slump forward, blood pouring from his mouth. He looked like he was still
trying to say something. 
  Ranma realized what Ryuichi was trying to tell him. Ryuichi had just been
stabbed and was trying to tell Ranma that that man he pointed twoard was the one
who did it. Without thinking twice, Ranma jumped out of his seat and caught
Ryuichi before he fell to the ground. He gently laid his friend down "I'll get
him for you"
  Ranma turned his attention toward the man. He clenched his hands into fists
"Get back here!!!" he yelled. His eyes flared with anger. The man turned around,
noticed Ranma looking directly at him, and then hurried his pace away from them.
  Ranma ran after the man, shoving a man whome happened to have stepped in front
of him, out of his way. Several other people semed to have accidentally stepped
in front of him, but Ranma knew they were trying to slow him down. Knowing the
assailant was going to get away, Ranma knew the best way to get him was either
through the people, which there were too many of, or by jumping up on the
tables. Rnama took the latter approach.
  Ukyo watched the whole thing from above. She watched as he hopped onto the
tables, food splattering everywhere, mostly onto hapless inmates, as he hopped
from one table to another, coming closer and closer to the assailant. Once he
was close enough, he lunged forward and onto the man, knocking him down to the
ground with a well placed kick to his back. 
  He quickly climbed onto of the man as he tried to fight back. The man
attempted to pull the knife out to stab Ranma, but Ranma quickly knocked it
away. Ranma then punched the man in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him.
As soon as the man managed to catch his wind, Ranma punched him in the gut
again. By now, a circle had formed around Ranma and the man, and they were
cheering for Ranma to kill the man.
  Two men rushed forward from the crowd, clubs in their hands, ready to club
Ranma. Ranma was forced to get off the man to protect himself. He managed to
deflected the first club, but the second one caught him square on the back. That
seemed to have angered Ranma more than anything else. He picked the man off the
ground and threw him into the two attackers, hitting them so hard that all three
were knocked out.
  "Break it up! Break it up!" one of the four guards shouted as he shoved
prisoners out of his way. He walked up to Ranma, his club at his side "Well,
look who it is?"
  Ranma pointed toward one of the three unconscious men "That man ober there,"
He then opinted toward Ryuichi, whom was lying still on the ground, a small
puddle of blood forming around him "he stabbed that guy"
  "Where's the weapon?" the guard asked.
  "I don't know. I knocked it out of his hands when he tried to stab me with it"
Ranma replied. He looked over at the spot where he last remembered where the
knife had landed, but the knife was no longer there. He clenched his teeth,
knowing that someone must had picked it up and had hidden it to hide the
evidence.
  "So where is it?" the guard asked, obviously showing his impatience. 
  "It was just there a second ago" Ranma said.
  "Sure it was" Ranma last heard before a club rained down on his head.

  Ranma woke up in the infirmary again. This time, he wasn't in any from of
pain. Although he was hit in the head, he had faked being knocked unconscious.
Although he could easily endure the onslaught of attacks, he would rather have
less than more, and faking unconsciousness was the best way to avoid it. He felt
angry, angry at what had happened earlier. He never managed to catch the person
who stabbed Ryuichi. But he knew he would be able to identify the man if he saw
him, and when their paths crossed...
  Ranma noticed Ryuichi lying in the bed next to him. He noticed his chest
rising and loweirng, meanign he was still alive and breathing. Although Ryuichi
seemed like he was okay, Ranma had no idea how bad his friend's condition was.
  "I'm sorry. I couldn't catch him" Ranma said softly, tears slowly forming
arond his eyes. He couldn't believe he had just let his friend down. Ranma sat
upright, realizing once again that his arm was chained to the bedpost. He wanted
to break the chain, which he could easily do, and rush to Ryuichi's side, but he
knew the guards would have a ball with him if they noticed that he had broken
the chain.
  "You okay?" Ukyo asked as she entered the room once again. She closed the door
behind her and sat down in a nearby chair. This time, she wasn't as far away
from him as last time. 
  Ranma looked at Ukyo for a few moments before turning his attention toward
Ryuichi "Is he all right?"
  Ukyo looked at Ryuichi for a second before replying "He'll be all right" She
couldn't believe how compassionate this man was. Here he was, lying in bed with
his own injuries, and he was worried about someone he had only met a short while
ago. Men like this didn't belong in places like this. They belonged on the
outside, with loving families, with children and wives. Ranma definitely
definitely didn't belong here.
  "Man, I'm in here more than my cell" he joked, which made Ukyo laugh. He sat
up and looked at the chain confining him to the bedpost "Do they have to keep
this on? It's very uncomfortable. It makes me feel like I'm some kinda animal"
  "Yeah," she replied "it's all a part of the procedure. They don't want inmates
roaming around free after they wake up" She looked at Ranma's arm. She had the
keys to the lock on the chain, but she wouldn't allow herself to do something as
stupid as unlocking his chain just because he was uncomfortable or felt like an
animal. Sure, it must be degrading, but it was for her and the other guards'
safety.
  "Well, I suggest you use stronger chains" Ranma said guesturing toward the
ones attached to his arm "These are pretty old and they would break if ya give
'em a good yank like this" Ranma was just trying to show her something, but it
turned out all wrong. The chain broke, the locked lock falling to the floor
right next to Ukyo.
  Ranma looked at Ukyo "Oops. I didn't mean to do that"
  Ukyo's heart leapt up into her throat. Here she was, in a room with a loose
inmate. She was the only person in that wing of the penetentary, meaning if
Ranma decided to rush her and attempt to rape her, no one would hear her
screams. She had never felt so scared in her life. Her heart was racing,
threatening to explode. At that moment, she was very keenly aware of just how
vulnerable she was. The only form of protection she had was the tiny can of mace
that was attached to her belt.
  She quickly fumbled for her can of mace before he managed to have time to rush
her. But because she was doing it in a state of panic, she accidentally dropped
the can and it rolled underneathe the bed Ranma was on. At that moment, she
realized that the door to the room was closed, and she wouldn't have enough time
to open it and make a break for it before Ranma gets next to her.
  Ukyo felt dizzy as she realized she was at the mercy of this man. She felt
lightheaded. Her world was spinning. Before she knew what happened, she could
see Ranma rushing toward her just as everything went black.

  Ukyo slowly woke up. She had no idea where she was. She soon realized she was
in a bed. When she sat upright, she noticed a wet cloth fall down into her lap.
She picked it up and looked at it. Why was there a cloth on her head? Then,
suddenly, she realized where she was. She was in the infirmary.
  "W-what happened?" she asked herself. 
  "You fainted" came a voice. Ukyo turned toward it, and her gaze rested on
Ranma. At that moment, she realize what had happened. She remember seeing Ranma
break free from his chain, fumbling for her can of mace only to drop it, and
then seeing Ranma rushign toward her before all went black. She cluched at her
chest, not wanting to believe what he might have done to her while she was
unconscious. She looked down and noticed that she was still wearing her clothes,
that her shirt was still buttoned. She looked over at Ranma and noticed that he
was in his chains again.
  "I managed to catch you before you hit the floor after you fainted. I put you
on the bed and placed the wet cloth on your forehead" he said "I took you keys
and unlocked the lock. Since I only broke a few links to the chain, I managed to
salvage it. I locked myself back up and threw the keys to you"
  Ukyo checked for her keys. It was nowhere to be found. She did, however, find
the can of mace hooked back on her belt.
  "It's under the bed" Ranma said meekly "I kinda have lousy aim. I was aiming
for the bed, but I missed. It slide under you bed" 
  Ukyo checked under her bed, and there it was. She picked up her keys and
hooked it up to her belt "I don't get it. Why'd you do that? You could have
taken my keys and made a break for it"
  Ranma laid down and looked up at the ceiling "No thank you. They'll think I'm
trying to escape, and I would probably get shot. Besides, I'd just get hunted
down like some dog"
  Ukyo said nothing. She couldn't believe Ranma did something like that. He
could had easily escaped. He had the keys to the control booth meaning he could
had disabled the security systems, and he would had made easily vanished into
the night since all the guards would be overwhelmed by the security systems
going down.
  "Ukyo, I'm innocent, and if I did somethin' like escape from jail, it would
make people think I wasn't" Ranma said.



Um...I think this is there place where I tell you it's not finished, and that
I'll continue it ^_^

If ya want to send comments, go ahead. I'd like that. It's really nice receiving
a lotta responses based on an idea I was a bit skeptical about ^_^ 

-OneShot
Jeffrey Keith Wong: jeffwong@li.net
http://www.rit.edu/~jkw7063/fanfic/index.htm
http://www.li.net/~jeffwong/index.htm
The latter site has been updated on Aug 4th.