RANMA 1/2
TORTURED ECHO Parts 1-6
by Trakal (Trakal@map.com)
DISCLAIMER: Ranma 1/2 and its characters are the creation and
property of Rumiko Takahashi.

WARNING: This fanfic contains a short scene of POW rape and 
scenes of military violence. 



                          CHAPTER 1:
                       -----------------

The invasion came without warning. There had been no declaration
of war, no news programs to say it was going to happen. It simply
happened. It wasn't aliens, or monsters from another dimension or
even people from strange lands with weird powers this time. It
was soldiers. A military invasion.

The soldiers were dressed in various military style uniforms. It
was clear that whoever was behind the invasion didn't want the
people of Nerima to know which country was actually responsible.

"Such cowards these invaders be." Were the last words of
Tatewake Kuno as they gunned him down in the street.

Kodachi's last fragile link to sanity snapped and she rushed the
soldier who'd slain her brother, grabbing his gun. She wrestled
it free, then pistol whipped the soldier until he was upon the
ground, where she shot him in the mouth, laughing hysterically.
She took out two dozen other soliders before returning to her
brother's side and using his bokken to end her own life,
collapsing onto the body of her brother.

"Mistress Kodachi! Master Kuno! NO!!!" Sasuke screamed in
anguish and fury. "I, your loyal manswervant, Sasuke, shall
avenge you." He drew his own sword and stood between the soldiers
and the fallen bodies of his master and mistress.

But the soldiers ignored him and moved on to other conquests.

One of these conquests was Akane Tendo. They advanced upon the
attractive girl with less than honorable pursuits on their minds.


Akane Tendo, however, was not the type of girl to be taken
easily. With years of Martial Arts training under belt, she was a
formidable opponent and managed to fend them off for a good
twenty minutes before they managed to pin her down.

"Leave her alone!"

The soldiers stood upon, a couple continuing to hold Akane, who
they forced to stand up.

"Why should we?" Asked one of the soldiers as he groped rudely at
Akane's breast.

Akane kicked the man in the balls, causing him to drop to his
knees. She smiled with grim satisfaction, but the smile was
replaced by a shocked cry of pain as another soldier slapped her
across the face.

The boy who had spoken faced the soldiers with a look of grim
determination upon his face. He bared his teeth, fangs gleaming
somehow. His eyes narrowed beneath the bandannas he wore upon his
brow.

"If you don't let her go," he said, "I'll kill you."

"Ryoga!" Akane shouted. "Help me!"

A soldier turned his gun upon Akane and shot her. She went limp
in the arms of the other two soldiers, who released her arms and
let her fall to the ground.

"AKANE! NO!!!" Ryoga felt his ki build up to incredible levels.
"YOU FUCKIN' MURDERERS!" he cried out at the soldiers as a ki
sphere the size of a medicine ball formed in front of him.
"SHISHI HOKODAN!!!!"

Then, exhausted, he collapsed.


                            CHAPTER 2
                  ----------------------------

Akane Tendo woke in the hospital to find Dr.Tofu standing over
her.

"Dr. Tofu." She said, looking around the room. "I didn't know you
worked at the hospital."

"I don't." Dr. Tofu replied. "I volunteered. The hopsitals are
overflowing with wounded from the invasion a couple days ago."

"A couple days?!" Akane sat up. "Ryoga..."

"They still haven't found him." Dr. Tofu told her. "Look, I'm
sure he's fine."

"The doc's right." Ranma said from the doorway. "Ryoga gets lost
all the time, right. He probably wiped them all out and then got
lost trying to find help."

"You're right." Akane smiled, but in her heart, she knew he was
anything but.


                          * * * * *



Ryoga Hibiki woke, naked and sore, in an iron cell. He was
secured, face down, onto a steel table with steel shackles and
clamps about his neck and waist.

"What the hell...?" He tried to remember the events that lead to
him being there. Something about Akane, and people in some kind
of uniform. Soldiers? But why? Why were there soldiers in Nerima?
It couldn't be right. But it was. He was sure of it. Nerima had,
for some reason he couldn't fathom, been invaded. But what did
that have to do with Akane.

Akane's dead, he remembered, they murdered her and I killed most
of the ones that were there with my shishi hokodan. I must have
drained myself. That's how...

That's how they'd been able to capture him.

But why was he naked. A thought crossed his mind and he pushed it
away.

No, he thought in flat denial, that did *not* happen. I refuse to
believe it. No one is going to make me believe it for one second.


A soldier walked into his cell and pushed a finger up into his
ass.

Ryoga tried to struggle free, but the clamps held him firmly and
he was too weak to try the breaking point technique.

"Feisty one, aren't ya?" The soldier whispered in his ear,
pulling his finger back and then pushing it back in, this time
with another finger beside it. "You may as well relax and enjoy
the ride, this isn't the first time I've had you."

"Liar!" Ryoga sobbed in fierce denial. "You NEVER had me!"

"Oh, but I have." the soldier told him as he unzipped his pants.
"I had you three other times. Just like this!"

Ryoga screamed in torment, shame, and rage as the soldier's cock
was rammed up his ass, over and over. He tried to struggle,
despite his weakened state.

"I would have had you more than three times," the soldier told
him, speaking as casually as one might speak to friend over
coffee, "But there are so many other soldiers who had to have
their turns, too."

"You son of a bitch!" Ryoga snarled. "You murdering, raping son
of a bitch. I'll kill you. I swear it."

"I don't think so." The soldier thrust deep into Ryoga and came
hard, deep inside him.

"Save a little for me," another soldier said from outside the
cell.

Ryoga trembled in humiliation.

He saw it, he thought, I was just raped and...

Ryoga stopped dead. His mind frozen with horror at what it had
just thought. He could no longer deny the truth. It had happened.
He had been raped.

Ryoga sobbed, his tears pooling on the steel table. His body
ached with the pain of the multiple rapes, and his heart ache
with the need for revenge.

He just needed the chance to recover his strength. Once he did
that, he could free himself. Then he would kill every soldier
there.

                         CHAPTER 3
                    -------------------

Sasuke stood outside the building the soldiers had transformed
into their headquarters. A building that had once been Kolhotz
High School. Unseen. Unheard. He could hear the screams of a
prisoner being tortured and he shuddered, his eyes going wide
with terror.

"Stop that." He told himself. "You're a ninja. You don't feel
terror, you inspire it. Now, get in there and avenge Master Kuno
and Mistress Kodachi."

He'd been telling himself that for two days, and for two days, he
had backed down.

This time, however, there was no backing down. Once was
understandable, twice might be overlooked. But to back down a
third time would, in his heart, be unforgivable.

Carefully, he pried open a window that lead into the basement and
slipped inside.

Upon landing, he realized that the room he was now in had been
transformed into a cell.

A body lay upon a steel table. Male, naked, badly hurt. Sasuke
checked the boy's pulse.

"Still alive." He told himself. Then he noticed the bandanna.
"Wait a minute. This is Ryoga Hibiki, the boy who's been
missing."

"Is that his name?" The soldier asked.

Sasuke eyed the window for just a moment.

"Oh, leaving so soon are we?" The soldier unzipped his pants,
unaware that Ryoga was now fully awake and aware of Sasuke's
presence. "Pity. You'll miss the show." He pushed his cock into
Ryoga's mouth, leering evilly.

Then the soldier screamed in agony and backed away, his hands at
his groin, but in an akward position. As he dropped to his knees,
holding himself, Sasuke drove a dagger into his head.

Ryoga spat out the man's severed cock. "Sasuke, get me free."

Sasuke grabbed the dead man's keys and unshackled Ryoga.

Ryoga pulled the uniform off the soldier. He hated it, but he had
to wear something. Unless...

"Get me some cold water." He told the diminutive Ninja.

Sasuke opened the cell and went out into the corridor. Looking
around, he found the downstair's janitor closet. He filled a
small pail with cold water and returned to Ryoga's cell with it.

"Thank you." Ryoga told him. He picked up the pail and
overturned it onto himself.

The pail landed upside down on the ground where it stood
rattling in front of the stunned eyes of Sasuke.

"BWEE!!!" echoed from beneath the pail.

Sasuke picked up the pail. "P-Chan?!" he almost laughed. "You're
P-Chan?!"

Then Sasuke heard the footsteps. "Uh oh. We'd better get out of
here." He picked up P-Chan and slipped through the opened window,
closing it just as a new soldier arrived.

P-Chan bristled as he saw the new soldier. He wanted to attack,
but Sasuke knew better.

"If you attack now, they'll recapture you." He told the little
piglet. "You have to recover first If they recapture you, they
won't rape you again, they'll kill you."

P-Chan conceded. It wouldn't do to be killed before he could
avenge Akane's death and his own violation.

Sasuke carried P-Chan away from the school-turned-prison as fast
as he could. Ryoga would make a formidable ally against these
invaders who had killed his master and mistress. He would help
Ryoga recover, then they would attack together.

"We'll need help." He told himself. "The question is where to
find it."

"Eat this." Sasuke said, handing a plate of rice and fish to
Ryoga. "I'm not the best cook in the world, but it should do in a
pinch."

Ryoga picked at his food. "I'm not hungry." he moped.

"Look," Sasuke told him, "I know you're upset about Akane and
what they did to you, but..."

"They tore my heart out and spat on it, then they dishonored me."
Ryoga growled. "I'm not upset. I'M PISSED OFF!!!"

"I understand." Sasuke replied. "They killed Master Kuno and
Mistress Kodachi right in front of me. I was too late to stop
them."

"Kodachi committed..."

"I know. Sasuke glared. "But they caused it. Its was *their*
fault."

"So, we attack them at midnight." Ryoga decided.

"Not alone." Sasuke reminded him. "We still need to find others
to help us. If we're going to fight an army, we'll need an army
of our own."


"Ranma Saotome," Was Ryoga's first selection. He would want
revenge for Akane just as badly as Ryoga, and he was a very
capable Martial Artist.

"I agree." Sasuke considered. "What about Mikado?"

"'Emperor' Sanzenine." Ryoga thought about it. "Kind of prissy,
but that Assault of a Hundred Foes move of his could come in
handy.  Shampoo?"

"Any other girl, I'd say no." Sasuke admitted. "But Shampoo's an
Amazon and she can hold her own in a battle. Mousse?"

"No. Once he loses his glasses Mousse would become a liability."

"Good point." Sasuke conceded.

By morning they'd worked out a list of potential rebels:

Ranma Saotome, Mikado Sanzenine, Shampoo, Ryoga, and Sasuke.

"There's not enough of us." Ryoga told Sasuke as the Ninja took
him by the hand and led him in search of a base of operations for
their group.


One building seemed to be empty. They went inside and were both
surprised when Ryoga's head was very nearly cut off by a sword
which stopped just short of his neck.

"You startled me." The youth clutching the sword said, as he
sheathed his shining blade. "I almost killed you."

"I noticed." Ryoga blinked as he recognized the boy. "Prince
Toma?"

"Its just Toma now." Toma replied. "I moved here this past
summer. I was looking forward to attending your high school next
fall. A chance to learn about your country and people, and meet a
nice girl while I'm at it. And now..."

"Well, maybe you'll get your chance after all." Ryoga told him.

"What do you mean?"

"Sasuke and I are trying to put an army of our own together to
take back Nerima." Ryoga told him. "We could use someone with
your talents. Will you join us?"

Toma considered for a moment. "I accept." he replied.

"We need to set up a base of operations." Sasuke told Toma.

"This is probably the most secure location." Toma pointed out.
"This used to be a warehouse. There's a lot of stuff we can use
downstairs. Follow me."

Sasuke and Ryoga followed him downstairs. There, they found
dozens of unopened crates.

Having recovered enough to use it, Ryoga broke the crates with
his breaking point technique.

"Let's see what we have." He suggested, smiling.

In the first pile of rubble, they found various stuffed toys. In
the second, they found clothing. Women's clothing.

"Those two were a complete wash." Toma complained.

The he and Sasuke turned as they heard a machine-gun clip snap
home behind them.

Ryoga was standing there with a machine gun in his grip and a
cold and deadly look on his face. With the bandanna upon his brow
and the gun held as it was he looked almost like Rambo.

"Put it down." Sasuke told him. "As a true Martial Artist, you no
need for such a crude weapon."


                          CHAPTER 4
                          ---------

The bricks broke easily as Akane brought the edge of her hand
down upon them.

She moved on to the next object, a practice dummy, which grew
quickly boring. She forced herself to think of what happened,
hoping her anger would alleviate her boredom.

It worked like a charm.


"No one gropes *me* and gets away with it." She snarled. "No
one!! If I see that jerk again, I swear I'll..."




"...kick him in the crotch so hard he'll have to open his mouth
to piss." Ryoga unknowingly finished Akane's sentence as he aimed
yet another kick at Sasuke, who swiftly dodged it.

"Don't let your anger get the better of you." Sasuke reminded
him. "It will make your attack sloppy and make you vulnerable.
Remember how you were captured?"

Ryoga thought back on it. He had thought Akane had been killed
and had released a very powerful Shishi Hokodan. That had
weakened him and he'd been taken hostage as a result.

Toma sat nearby and watched.

"You should also train." Sasuke told him.

"My illusions are powerful. I do not need training."

"Don't rely only on your illusions." Sasuke reminded him.
"You may be forced to face an enemy who they are useless
against."


"Akane," Dr. Tofu called, "let me check that bullet wound."

"I think its healed, doctor." Akane smiled as she approached him.

"That's funny." Dr. Tofu smiled, charmingly. "I thought I was the
doctor."

"You are." Akane beamed. Despite any claims she might make, part
of her, at least, was still in love with him, still clung to that
tiny hope that one day he might love her back, that he only
thought he loved Kasumi because he saw parts of Akane in her
older sister.

Dr. Tofu examined the wound and cleaned it, carefully. "Hmmm...
Looks like you need a little restitching." He told her. "And we
should go over your routine to find out how they were torn in the
first place, so we can eliminate those parts of it for now."

"I didn't know you could do stitches, doctor." Akane mused.

"Its not difficult." Dr. Tofu told her. "I just need a little
novocaine gel to numb the skin.

* * * * *

Toma and Ryoga crossed the street, taking care not to be seen by
the multitude of soldiers who were policing the streets.

Ryoga started to run toward one, but Toma grabbed the hem of his
pants.

"You'll ruin everything." Toma hissed. "We need more people
before we can.... "

"Shhh," Ryoga whispered. "listen..."

>From the window in the building they now stood against, they
could hear voices. A man and a girl. Both sounded familiar to
Ryoga and he felt a tear of happiness trickle down his cheek.

"Akane." He whispered. Then he ran into the building with Toma
right behind him.

* * * * *

"Do you really think Ryoga made it out alive?" Akane asked.

"I'm sure he's fine." Dr. Tofu smiled. "He's probably somewhere
in China by now."

"Or Australia." Ranma chimed in.

"Or behind you." Ryoga suggested.

The other three turned.

"Ryoga!" Akane gasped.

"P-Chan!" Ranma added, cheerfully teasing Ryoga.

"Shut up!" Ryoga snarled. "Who're you calling P-Chan?"

Akane hugged Ryoga. "Thank kami-sama you're all right."

"I'm not." Ryoga admitted. "But I'm alive and now that I know you
are, too, at least I can be happy again."

"Ahem." Toma cleared his throat.

"Prince Toma?" Akane asked.

"Just Toma." Toma corrected her. "I moved her recently. Tell me,
are things always this exciting here?"

"The soldiers aren't as dangerous as some things around here."
Ranma assured the former prince. "Like Akane's cooking."

Akane's mallet came crashing down on Ranma's head.

"Ranma no baka!" she screamed at him.

"Please, let's not kill each other." Dr. Tofu suggested, calmly.
"We need each other right now."

"He's right." Ryoga said. "Ranma, about that bread you stole from
me..."

Ranma groaned inwardly. Why did Ryoga have to keep bringing it
up? Couldn't he just...

"I forgive you, Ranma." Ryoga said, quietly.

Ranma started to protest, then stopped himself. "I... I guess I
could have been a bit nicer to you." He admitted. "I mean, taking
food from someone who was starving was kind of... well..."

"You were only acting like your father raised you." Ryoga
replied. "Can't expect too much morality from someone raised by a
man who would trade him for a fish."

"Hey!" Ranma protested. "He got rice and pickles for me, too."

Both former rivals started laughing.

They froze, suddenly brought back to reality by the sounds of
gunfire outside.

The soldiers were still gunning down people in the street. Or the
were taking prisoners out an summarily executing them.

Either way, the sound sent chills down the spines of Ranma and
the small group of survivors that huddled in that room with him.

CHAPTER 5:
--------------

A solitairy figure knelt before the ruins of the Cat Cafe. A
single tear ran down his scarred young face. The remains of his
glasses fell from his hands, but he did not bother to pick them
up. They were useless now, because he had no eyes.

Taking a scissors in his hand, Mousse cut off the long tresses of
hair that flowed down his back. Then, crying out in anguish, he
drew his dagger and was about to commit seppuku when a voice
spoke to him. A woman's voice.

"Mousse," the voice said, "heed my words. I am Foam, the first
Queen of the Amazons. You will avenge those who killed Shampoo
and Cologne."

"I can't even see them."

"You need only follow my voice." the female voice. "I will guide
your blows."

"I shall not fail you." Mousse vowed as he removed his robes.

                             CHAPTER 6:
                              -------------------

"No... stop...STOP!" Ryoga sat up in the cot and tried, vainly,
to look around in the darkness. "Oh kami, I'm blind!" he
screamed.

"You're not blind," Ranma told him. "its the middle of the night
and its dark."

"Where am I?" Ryoga asked.

"We're in hell." Ranma replied, bitterly.

"I always knew I'd end up there eventually." Ryoga sighed.

"Don't worry," Ranma told him. "We'll get Nerima back."

"Ranma. When we go after the soldiers, I'm going to kill them."

"Ryoga..." Ranma tried to reason with him.

"No." Ryoga cut him off. "I'm going to. And don't ask me why. I
have my reason."

"That reason have something to do with you screaming and waking
me up?" Ranma asked, not expecting an answer.

"It has everything to do with it." Ryoga replied, giving him one.
"Ranma, about Akane. You can tell her about P-chan if you want."

"Ryoga..." Ranma began.

"There's no reason for her not to know." Ryoga told Ranma. "I
can't marry her. Not after..."

There was a long silence. Ranma wasn't sure if Ryoga had fallen
asleep or if he simply didn't want to tell Ranma what had
happened.

As he waited for Ryoga to speak again, Ranma drifted back to
sleep.


(continued in the next post.)