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"Until we can find her parents, we need protective custody for this girl and we need it now." The taller officer continued. "And by protective custody, we mean protection against magical crap."

Ranma waited with anticipatory dread. Here it comes...

"Magical crap like the sort you already protected her from." Hanata continued, letting the statement hang while waiting for a reaction.

"Wait a minute." The reaction didn't come from the direction he was expecting, and instead turned to the younger of the sisters present. "You want to put this girl into protective custody... With Saotome?"

"Yeah, not sure if that's such-"

Ranma began, only to be cut off by Nabiki as she produced a derisive laugh. "You realize that's like feeding chum to a shark with his life?

"Now Nabiki-chan, Ranma's kept us quite safe," Kasumi volunteered helpfully, overriding them younger sister and martial artist all in one swoop. She began ticking off examples on her finger. "There was the boy that turned into a flying bull-yeti-octopus, that giant Phoenix, the Lucky God Martial Artists... Oh, and remember little Plum?"

"How can I forget?" Ranma mumbled darkly while Nabiki simply stared at her sister.

"There is also the fact that she was quite taken with you, according to the report I read." Officer Hanata added, attempting to hedge their odds that the teen would accept the offer he was about to make.

The black haired teen frowned, remembering that quite clearly. On any other day, it would have just been another martial arts incident to be filed and categorized amongst them myriad of other battles and challenges he received regularly. That night had been tougher, only because the girl in question threw an unholy fit upon being separated from his- then her -person. She bawled all the way to the ambulance and hadn't stopped even after the doors were closed and it drove off.

It drove a spike of guilt straight through Ranma's core that night, but there wasn't anything he could do. The girl had parents and a home. What was he going to do that night, take her himself? And now, against all odds, it was looking like he almost should have in the first place.

"We're barely making ends meet now, Saotome." Nabiki whispered not so subtly upon seeing her future brother in-law waver. "How the hell are you going to take care of a kid when you can't even contribute to the dojo, let alone keep it from getting destroyed? Not even counting the fact that you would have to somehow balance your crazy life, a kid and school..."

Ranma blinked at her, almost stunned by the amount of passion the middle Tendo was expressing.

"...On top of demonic stalkers?" She continued, all but oblivious to Ranma's staring. "This is a very bad idea. For all of us."

"Only until we can find her parents," Officer Hanata appended calmly, retaking the teen's attention. "We're simply seeking a more hardened environment with which to protect the child until we can dig up some information on her."

"A monthly stipend would be allocated to your expenses," The Shibuya Officer added. "It would help to offset any expenses you and your sister would accrue in caring for the child. We can likewise make any arrangements you would need for schooling. Hours, Tutors. Location. You name it."

"Ranma isn't even age of majority yet," Nabiki countered, folding her arms with what she thought was a winning hand "This would have to go through his father or mother."

Officer Hanata turned on Nabiki with a very serious look that instantly chilled her to the bone. "Miss Tendo, do you really think involving Mister Saotome in this is such a wise idea?"

"I..."

"Because I can assure you that we would have some very pointed questions for him. Questions we have seen fit to overlook for the time being." The officer continued and Nabiki's mouth sat open, but silent. "And once we start to ask those questions, we would have to interview Mister Tendo as well; especially concerning a certain panty thief regularly frequenting this area."

Her mouth snapped shut.

"What I am trying to say is simple, Miss Tendo," His gaze upon her took was hard as stone now, and she dared not move. "Butt. Out."

"Please, sister," Kasumi, placed a restraining hand on her sister's arm in spite of her prenaturally calm expression. "Let the kind officers conduct their business."

Nabiki looked like she was about ready to protest until Ranma cast a sidelong glance back at her. "Nabiki, shut up."

Her eyes bulged, but she did so much to his surprise.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6825553/2/