Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Grand Theft Auto: Nerima ❯ The Best Of You ( Chapter 27 )

The Best Of You

(Foo Fighters - The Best Of You)

 

 

The streets became nothing more then shear silence as every open mouthed, wide-eyed spectator stood frozen. All bets had been forgotten and the demolition displayed before them became the new center of attention. In a fight between two men a city block had been destroyed and a building had been leveled using only their fists and strange waves of energy. In two and a half years everyone in Nerima had almost forgotten what it looked like, but the way they had fought was different then before. It was murderous and sickening to watch, but like a horrible train wreck, they watched anyways and now one was standing over the other staring at him without any expression on his face.

 

The silence finally broke but it was only the sound of gravel beneath Ranma's feet as he reached down and grabbed onto Ryouga's shirt. Ryouga's body was limp with blood leaking out everywhere, and all Ranma did was start dragging the body with him to where his car was. Hundreds of heads turned to watch Ranma leave, dragging Ryouga behind him and only a few were brave enough to stay in the shadows and follow behind.

 

Ranma took the flaccid body in one hand and shoved it against the wall staring at the blood-smeared face. Ranma finally said something through clenched teeth after a good look, “Did you feel it?” Ryouga's neck was limp and his head was tilted to the side, pouring a sticky stream of blood and drool from his mouth. Ranma's answer was unheard, so he screamed at the top of his lungs and let a piercing shot from his gun go off, “HEY!”

 

Then the people in the ally watching jerked back as Ryouga's entire body vibrated and jolted around. Ryouga was alive and twitching around with a jagged breath. His eyes were half rolled back in his head and his hands shook frantically as they reached up to touch his forehead where Ranma had shot, but found nothing more then a burned spot. His breathing became throaty as he tried to ask something, but couldn't come up with the air to do so.

 

Ranma held his gun up in front of Ryouga and said, “They're called blanks. Here, have the rest.” He then pressed the gun to Ryouga's chest and emptied his clip with quick squeezes of the trigger. Ryouga screamed as he heard the repeated banging coming from Ranma's gun and when it was over he started crying. Ranma threw him to the ground to let him throw up, hyperventilate and what ever it was that he needed to do.

 

He was on his back with his hands in front of him shaking crazy and he couldn't rationalize what was going on. “W-white light… I-I saw a-”

 

“Shut up!” Ranma gave Ryouga a kick to the ribs and rolled him over. Ryouga was on his stomach with his face to the ground crying with everything he had. “Well you seem happy to be alive.” Ranma just sneered at Ryouga watching the pathetic display of self-pity. He reached down and grabbed Ryouga's hair to turn him over, “So tell me. Did you feel it? Did you feel that feeling of being utterly helpless?”

 

The tears just kept rolling off his face and he begged Ranma, “Please don't hurt her… For god's sake please don't hurt her…”

 

Ranma just balled up his fist and struck Ryouga across the jaw. “Fucking answer me! Did you fucking feel it!?”

 

Ryouga nodded his head trying desperately to look away. “Just don't hurt her… Please god…”

 

“God ain't here Ryouga! It's just you and me! And in this small shitty side street, I am god! I am heaven and I am Hell! I am the Alpha and Omega of your existence! I decided your fucking fate and I fucking decide when you live and when you die! Do you know who I am yet!?” Ryouga put his arms over his face so he couldn't see him, but Ranma just reached down, pulled them apart and started shaking the shit out of him while screaming in voice that almost broke. “Do you fucking well know who I am!?”

 

“I'll do anything you want.” Ryouga couldn't stop and his breathing was heavy. “I'll drink razor blades if you ask me, just don't hurt her…”

 

Ranma pulled Ryouga close to him and kept his glare heavy on him. “You think I wouldn't do the same if it meant bringing her back? But it ain't gonna help now is it?” Ryouga's sniveling started to go away and he attempted eye contact with Ranma. “That feeling you had when I put my gun against your head and pulled the trigger, is the same one I've had everyday since then…” He pulled out another clip from his pocket and reloaded his gun. “Alone… Scared out of my mind… Asking who ever was listening, why me? Why me?” He put the gun against his own head and said, “I even felt a little suicidal at times, and time ain't healing me.” He took the gun away from his head and pierced Ryouga's soul with his glare and saw all of his nightmares. “I have every excuse in the world to kill you right now… Revenge, self-satisfaction, closure, you name it, but I've only got one reason not too.” He pressed the gun against Ryouga's head and asked, “What's worth more to me Ryouga? My personal vendetta, or my best friend's happiness?” He pulled the hammer back with a click and said, “She's the only one unchanged by everything that's happened… I don't want her to look back on me with hate thinking only of the time I blew your head off…” He sniffed with a tear in his eye and looked down at Ryouga still using the same low raspy tone as before. “What the fuck's my choice?” Slowly he let the hammer down and clicked the safety on. “Against what every last one of my feelings is telling me right now Ryouga, I'm going to let you live and for the rest of the time I have left it's going to leave a bad taste in my mouth.”

 

Ranma got off Ryouga and popped the trunk to his car and pulled out the device Zero made for him. “I've already done you a favor. I bailed Ukyo out of the hospital.”

 

Ryouga's eyes went wide with both disbelief and relief. “Sh-she's safe?”

 

“I'd never hurt her you fucking idiot… She doesn't know it but I put a tracker on her this morning. Follow the dot on this thing and you'll find her…” Ranma tossed the thing onto Ryouga's lap and put his foot on Ryouga's head, pressing it slowly against the ground. “This in the one and only chance I'll ever give you to run away and disappear forever. If I ever see you again, you better pray to every god that she's within five feet of you and fucking facing me because I'll fucking shoot you dead.” He pulled his shoe away and gave Ryouga a kick to the side of the head. He walked away and got into his car leaving the door open and without looking at him he said, “Now get the fuck up and get out of town as fast as you can. I'm taking back Nerima tonight and I don't want her in the middle of a crossfire.” Ryouga got up but just kept sitting there dumb not knowing what to do, and that's when Ranma turned the safety off and fired a shot right beside Ryouga's head. “GO!” Ryouga scampered to his feet and ran away as fast as he could, and disappeared out of Ranma's sight.

 

 

Ranma rubbed his forehead and wanted to beat his face against the dashboard for letting him go, but he needed to keep his head just a little longer. He almost got around to closing his door but someone put their hand in the way and kept it open. Ranma wasn't in the mood to deal with anyone but he also wasn't in the mood to hurt someone, so he just turned and asked. “What the hell do you rummies want?”

 

It was a poor guy from the big crowd with a couple of his buddies and he seemed to be the only one with a voice. “I overheard you over there, sorry for eavesdropping. You said you were going to take back Nerima. What does that mean?”

 

Ranma tried to close the door again and said, “It means you should lay low for the rest of the night. Now get the fuck out of my face, I'm in a hurry.” The guy stopped the door again and Ranma's rage was starting to peak, but he just let out a breath and calmly asked. “Now what do you want?”

 

The guys all looked at each other and after a few moments the leader asked. “Does that mean you're going after Jasper Garino?”

 

Ranma raised an eyebrow and pulled back to hammer on his gun. “What's it to you? If you like the current placement of your teeth then I suggest that you guys make like a tree.”

 

They poor guy put up his hands and shook his head. “Hey, hey. I don't know who licked the red off your lollipop, but we're on your side, man. Jasper's the reason we're all in the shit hole. I'm sure that if you talked to some of the guys around here you'd find some help.”

 

Ranma was looking bored and said, “I don't think a couple tramps are going to help me any. Now let go of my door, I'm quickly loosing my patience with you.”

 

Finally one of the others spoke up and pulled out a sawed-off shotgun and asked, “Who're you callin' tramps?” But before he could take any steps Ranma had already gotten out, put a gun to his head, and held a sturdy grip on the double barrel.

 

The leader got between them with his hands out trying to break them up. “Whoa! Stop this! Eddy put that thing away! We ain't here to fight him.”

 

Eddy just kept glaring at Ranma trying to get his gun up and ignored the gun to his head. “I know that Mr. Tankashi! But I'm not going to let this prick call us tramps!”

 

Ranma nodded. “You're right, that was wrong of me. You're just some hotheaded punk with a death wish. Think you got what it takes?”

 

Mr. Tankashi started shoving roughly at both of them grabbed Eddy's gun. “I told you to stop it Eddy!” His voice rang out with a defining tone that told Eddy he wasn't going to ask again. Eddy scowled and slowly loosened the grip on the gun, until it was just Mr. Tankashi holding it. He turned to Ranma and got between Eddy and the gun. “You're that Ranma Soatome guy aren't ya?” Ranma didn't say much but he didn't deny it. “Look Mr. Soatome, every one around here has heard about you and word on the street says that you're after Jasper. We didn't know how to contact you, but here you are now. I call it Karma and we want in.”

 

Ranma looked at them and almost laughed. “You guys don't seem to have much to offer.”

 

Mr. Tankashi pointed to all the people on the street that hadn't left. “That over there is an army Mr. Soatome. I can get most of them to fight as long as they know they aren't alone. We've got guns, ammo, and street smart, you name it. I think it would be in your best interests.”

 

Ranma chewed on that for a moment and lowered his gun. “It takes more then street smarts to take down a guy like Jasper.”

 

Mr. Tankashi took a step back to get some distance between them. It was a personal bubble thing. “I used to be a weapons dealer for that asshole. He found a better seller and took everything I had. I know how the game works Mr. Soatome, and I'm in it to win. I know a guy like you isn't doing this alone, I know you've got ties somewhere, so why not expand on that.”

 

Ranma looked at his watch and thought for a moment. He was on a tight schedule as it was and a few more guys on his side wouldn't hurt. “If you're serious about helping, then defend east-side road and all of the west end town. What's your gang name?”

 

“Uhhh… We don't have one…”

 

“Figures…” Ranma looked at all their stained clothes and finally said, “How about The Brown Streaks.” Mr. Tankashi didn't really think about it and just agreed. “Good, I'll tell my guys to check for brown streaks. They'll approach you and the password is Bananarama.”

 

Mr. Tankashi then failed to be impressed and his face dropped. “Are you fist fucking me?”

 

“Not in the least. You're going to look for a guy named Jerico on east side road, he's got tattoos all over his face, so you won't miss him.”

 

“Anything else?” Mr. Tankashi was starting to get the impression that Ranma was openly mocking them with a straight face.

 

“Yeah.” Ranma got in and started up his car. “You've got less then an hour to get there and you have to do it as inconspicuously as possible, or you're gonna blow our cover over there.”

 

“This isn't a wild goose chase is it?”

 

Ranma just smiled something evil. “As I said if you're serious then do as I say. If not, then go do what all the other poor people do and make some hats out of old popcorn bags or something. It's entirely up to you.” He slammed his door shut and drove off to the meeting point, while the three guys stood silent and watched him leave.

 

Mr. Tankashi was feeling a little shit on at the moment and his confidence was shot. Eddy took his gun back and shoved it back down his loose fitting pants. “Where does that fucker get off talking to us like that? He's got a serious attitude problem Mr. Tankashi. I say fuck'em.”

 

Mr. Tankashi shook his head. “I didn't realize that things would have been moving this fast… I'm not sure if I could rally enough guys to help…”

 

Good old, short weasely, Eddy was walking away. “I ain't helping that stuck up jerk Mr. Tankashi, and you shouldn't either. That fucker will be done in long before he sees Jasper.”

 

“You don't know who that was do you Eddy?” Mr. Tankashi said, with something of a sigh in his voice.

 

“Nah, should I?”

 

Mr. Tankashi turned to their very large and very silent friend. “Please tell me you knew who that was.” The man just nodded with a calm cool about him. “See, even Big Al knew who that was. That was Ranma Soatome. Nerima's savior from a few years back.”

 

Eddy shrugged. “He's a prick to me. Mr. Hero ain't gonna help us, you heard that bullshit he fed us. He ain't saving nothing no more.”

 

Mr. Tankashi rubbed his forehead a little in frustration and started to pace. It was true that it sounded mostly like BS, but it came out too naturally to sound like a lie. Finally he turned to his large friend and asked. “What do you think Al?”

 

Big Al crossed his arms and let out his low booming voice for the first time in a while. “I've never been too good at makin' paper hats.”

 

Mr. Tankashi's eyes seemed to light up and he became energetic. “Same here Al. Same here.” He turned to his smaller, yet volatile friend, “Come on Eddy. This kind of opportunity doesn't just come around all the time. This could get us, and the rest of the gang out of the hole for good.” He put out his hand and said, “So are ya in or are ya in?”

 

Eddy shrugged and sighed and shook Mr. Tankashi's hand, “I guess I'm in, but I ain't takin' any orders from that prick. What do you suggest we do?”

 

Mr. Tankashi looked at the old dirty watch on his wrist and thought. “If we're on a deadline then I suppose we're going to have to take the sewers. We've only got a few minutes to round up the boys, you guys take care of that, and I'm going to go get my stash.”

 

Eddy started to look a little upset. “You gonna just give your guns away? You made me pay for mine!”

 

Mr. Tankashi started his light jog to his hidden place and simply said, “There's business and then there's freedom Eddy. One's worth more then the other.”

 

“Bastard! I couldn't pay rent after buying this piece of shit!”

 

 

The Saber pulled up between a couple of buildings where Hikori and Jerry were waiting and when the door opened up they saw a very badly beaten and bloody Ranma. Hikori was sitting on a garbage can talking into a cell phone and after seeing Ranma he said, “I'll call you back in a second.” And flipped the phone shut. He gave Ranma the look up and down and came up with, “Well, you look like five miles of bad road work. I take it ya killed him.”

 

“Not exactly.” Only about five minutes before was when Ranma had started to feel the pain from the fight. Adrenaline can do many amazing things for the body, but when it's gone it becomes something like an addiction making you want more.

 

Hikori wasn't looking too happy with that and had to ask. “How does that work? You couldn't kill him.”

 

Ranma was looking a little tired and probably needed to sit down. “I had some moral issues.”

 

“So you let him go?” Hikori seemed like he wanted to yell at him, but for some reason he held back.

 

“Hey, there were more factors then just myself to take into consideration. It took everything I had to not kill him, and if you don't like my decision then just say it. For all I care he's fair game now, I just gave him a chance to run is all. Nothing more.”

 

Hikori shook his head in disappointment. “She'd hate you forever for letting him go.”

 

Ranma limped over to Hikori's car and put a hand on it for some support. “I'll be honest. I could practically hear her screaming in my ear to shoot him dead… but Ukyo… I couldn't put her through that shit. I've been in the center of too many vicious circles to think this wouldn't destroy her. I know revenge and I know it only keeps getting bigger and bigger with each victim.”

 

Hikori wanted to spit, but instead he lit a smoke and took a quick drag from it. “You're too selfish Ranma… Always doing things your way…”

 

“I know…”

 

“But now he's fair game. You said it not me. If I see that guy ever again I'm gonna blow his fucking head off, ya hear me?”

 

“Yeah, I hear ya…” Ranma felt a pull on his sleeve and it was Jerry dragging him away. She opened the back door to the four-door sedan and told him to sit. “What?”

 

Jerry had a medical box in one hand and a cigar between her fingers in the other. “You're gonna die from blood loss if you don't get patched up. You're lucky I know how to sew.” Ranma just groaned and looked away. “Quit bitchin' and take off your pants.”

 

“Pants?”

 

“I said `shirt' you idiot.”

 

“Oh.” Ranma took it off and to his surprise, most of his cuts were on his face and only a few were about his torso and arms. It was mainly large bruises and a lot of tender areas, but some were still stitch worthy wounds.

 

Jerry ruffled around in the medical box for a few seconds and pulled out a small syringe. “You want a small shot of morphine before I start?”

 

Ranma let out a breath of relief and said, “Jerry, you're my fucking savior.”

 

 

Jerry got him patched up within fifteen minutes and he was bordering mummified when Jerry had finished having his way with him. It was an embarrassing process for him because he had a twitchy face on him and Jerry remedied this problem by putting a knee on his chest and another on the side of his head. Essentially he had a crotch full of Jerry in his face half the time and he couldn't help but think it was on purpose. It was a good thing he was a little funny on morphine at the moment, or else all the butterfly closures along with the stitches would have hurt and he wouldn't have been able to relax like he did. He was relaxed to the point where he was getting ready to fall asleep in the back seat of Hikori's piece of shit car, and at one point he must have because when he opened his eyes they were moving and the street lights were going by at just over the speed limit.

 

It was a shame that Hikori didn't know that Ranma had in fact woken up because just as he was about to sit upright in his seat, Hikori threw an open water bottle blindly behind him to wake Ranma from his sleep. He was expecting some sort of retaliation for his actions against Ranma, however what was not expecting was the speed in which Ranma would react. In seconds too small for any digital stopwatch to clock, a now female Ranma had Hikori, the driver, in the Mongolian Neck Lock and was now choking the life out of him. This was hardly new to Hikori, but the surprise caught him anyways and the car started to swerve from side to side until he hit the sidewalk and took out a mailbox. It left a large crack in the windshield in front of where Jerry was seated, and as it bounced and skid across the hood, flinging loose mail high into the air, it left a wake of letters behind like falling leaves. The car screeched and peeled along, fishtailing as Hikori hit the gas hard while in the middle of an attempt to push himself up so he could breathe. The car eventually straightened out and it wasn't so much due to Hikori's immense driving skills as it was Jerry pulling the emergency brake and grabbing the steering wheel, which Hikori decided to abandon while fighting off Ranma. Too say the least, Jerry wasn't happy and was now driving with two passengers she scared into silence. “If either of you two ever pull that shit again, I'll rip your tongues out and lick my ass with them!”

 

 

It took a few minutes to rake up the courage to speak again, but Hikori found it and it came out as a question. “Hey, I got a call from Jerico before you came and I forgot to ask.”

 

“What?”

 

“Well he said that a bunch of guys covered in shit approached him, loaded with guns and said `Bananarama.' You wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?”

 

Ranma scratched her head and spoke innocently. “I may.”

 

“Ok, well they said that you sent them, but we were suspicious of the Bananarama. We've had snipers on them for a while now. I guess we can call them off… Can I just ask though…? Why Bananarama?”

 

“The radio was playing that Iko Iko song and it was the only thing I could think of.”

 

“You scared the shit out of Jerico. How would you feel if a giant group of dirty men, armed to the tooth, approached you demanding Bananarama? Our guys had to leave their positions just to disarm the bunch. There were like fifty guys, it wasn't easy.”

 

Ranma shrugged almost passively and didn't seem to care much. “I told them that if they were serious about helping they'd do as I say, I didn't actually expect them to do it. Especially if the password was Bananarama.”

 

“First and foremost this is a very hush hush job we're pulling here. It would be nice if we didn't have a bunch of half drunken louts with guns blowing our cover. Secondly there is no password to get in, and thirdly, Bananarama. Why couldn't you think of something cooler?”

 

“I though Bananrama was good code name. Who'd think of it?”

 

“You and only you would think of Bananarama.”

 

The vein on Jerry's head was starting to throb on the verge of popping and she somehow managed to glare at them both at the same time. “Can you guys stop saying Bananarama!?”

 

“You didn't kill the guys did you?”

 

Hikori looked at Ranma like she was a savage that ate her own young. “That would be classified as a mass murder Ranma, no I did not have them killed.”

 

Ranma went quiet for a second and finally asked, “So what do we do?”

 

Hikori just blinked as he had just seen a man hack off another mans head with banana. “What's this `we' thing? This is YOUR little mess.”

 

“Do we got any more morphine Jerry?”

 

“Fuckoff!” Jerry's knuckles were white as she gripped the steering wheel hard and her speech was quickened to the point where all her words came out as on.

 

Ranma looked at Hikori and said the obvious. “I think Jerry's mad at us.”

 

It was that statement that sent Jerry into her rage. In truth she wanted nothing more then to drive in silence without hearing the stupidity of their voices, but things just didn't work that way and she used the only solution she could think of. She laid on the brakes. As it turned out this was yet another thing that failed to help the situation for Ranma was not wearing her seatbelt. The sudden stop caught Ranma off guard and before she could find a way to secure her seat, she was sent flying head first between the seats and landing somewhere between the steering wheel, the shifter, and across the laps of Jerry and Hikori. It was through weary eyes that Ranma thought that landing head first in Hikori's lap would have moral issues, but still be a far better choice then the one she had landed in. She looked up at Jerry with some knowing of what was about to happen to her and she uncontrollably shook a little. Much like that thing from Alien, Jerry's hand grasped onto Ranma's entire face and did not let go.

 

Ranma was now sporting a few new bruises then she originally had and she walked between Jerry and Hikori, whom were all now out of the sideways car in the middle of the road. The walked was dead silent until they got to the next meeting place.

 

 

They were just under a block away when Jerry's cell went off and she looked miffed that the silence had been broken so close to their destination. “What? … Yeah, he's here, why?” After a moment Jerry handed Ranma the phone with a look of concern in her eyes.

 

“Yo.”

 

“It's Bugsy. You didn't kill that Ryouga guy.”

 

Ranma rubbed her head and didn't feel like being chewed out at this particular point. “No, I gave him a chance to walk.”

 

“I think you fucked up then.”

 

“What's this about Bugsy?”

 

“He was followed here.”

 

Ranma just stopped from walking and stood very still. “By Who?”

 

“I'm taking a stab in the dark here, but I'm thinking they're Jasper's guys. There's a bunch of them in the underground parking and they're on radios. I've also got some cameras on them out front. They're all packing heat.”

 

“Did he know we were planning something?”

 

“Looks like it. And I think Ryouga verified it for them.”

 

Ranma started heading towards a car parked on the side of the street and said, “Sit tight, I'll be there in a second.” Ranma hung up the phone and tossed it back to Jerry. “We didn't make the first move as planned, he did.”

 

Jerry was looking angry again and she grabbed Ranma's arm to stop her. “What the fuck's going on?”

 

“Jasper is going to attack the Jade garden. He's got all his boys in the basement and out front. That guy saw through all this shit… We need a new plan.”

 

Jerry started going towards the car with Ranma and said, “No you ain't going alone.” She looked back at Hikori and said, “Get the guns and think of a way to deal with this shit.”

 

Hikori wasn't looking too happy and in the back of his head he knew that this was somehow Ranma's fault. He lit a smoke to calm himself and started calling up Jerico on his cell while formulating a plan of sorts. He started thinking that all those rummies may come in handy after all. With all the extra guys he now had, he could do something special. He watched idly as the car fired up, pulled a 180 and sped off. “Jerico, we've got a problem and I think we can fix it. Give the bananarama's their guns back.”