Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma and co.
4am
By: Chrissy H.
Prologue
If I don't make it, know that I loved you all along Just like sunny days that we ignore because we're all dumb and jaded And I hope to God I figure out what's wrong. 4am - Our Lady Peace
What happened? Akane thought as she started to regain consciousness. She looked down and saw a deep red stain on her shirt that went across her abdomen. She leaned against the wall that was behind her and started to look around. On her left was Shampoo, unconscious against a wall. Akane could see a dark bruise on Shampoo's shoulder, where there was a rip in her purple Chinese dress. Her hair fell unceremoniously around her face but you could see she was breathing. Mousse was crawling towards Shampoo and for once, he had his glasses on. His hair tousled and his white robe burned in many different places. On her right, she saw Ryouga in a small crater which she was sure he had created when he landed. He was trying to stand as he pushed his hair out of his eyes and reached for one of his yellow and black bandannas. Ukyo was unconscious on the mouth of the crater; her giant spatula bent next to her, hanging loosely from her hand. Her hair half out of her pony tail and her shirt covered in dirt. And then, Akane focused in front of her and there was Ranma, standing no more than 10 feet in front of her, his body obviously protecting her as he stood between her and the current threat. His black hair was wild and his hands were out to his sides as if he were trying to hide her. What is going on here? Akane thought again as her consciousness started to come back more fully and her memory started to return. Ranma's traditional red shirt was torn open in many spots and Akane could see blood stains and burn marks. There was a large tear on the side of his shirt and she could see a deep gash along his side. She winced at the sight of it. He was slightly favoring his right leg in his stance and she watched him slowly put his arms in front of him. Finally, she looked beyond him and saw the creature. No, not creature, demon. The demon standing no more than 50 feet in front of Ranma stared at him with red beady eyes and she could see that the demon was hurting. This demon had 4 arms with claws that looked like they were 2 feet long. It had to be at least 10 feet tall and its fangs were yellow with green ooze dripping off of them. And then she saw it, she saw the ki ball that the demon was making between its top two claws. And then the world went into slow motion. She saw Ranma stand up straighter as he turned around at looked at her. In the split second of eye contact, she could see in his eyes that he wasn't going anywhere, that he was going to protect her, and that he wasn't going to let her die. He wasn't going to leave his spot as long as she was behind him. He turned back around with a new resolve as he made his own ki ball. Akane started to stand up. She couldn't let Ranma take a hit just 'cause he wanted to protect her! He had saved her so many times and now he was going to take a potentially fatal blow. Akane's knees buckled as she finally got to her feet. And as she got to her feet, she heard Ranma yell "Mouko Takabisha!" She looked up and saw two ki balls, one coming towards Ranma and the other going towards the demon. She didn't even think, she pushed her feet against the ground and flung herself at Ranma. She felt herself push against him when she was surrounded by a blinding pain. If I don't make it know that, I loved you all along…was the last thing on her mind before she lost consciousness again.
Ranma's eyes opened wide as he felt something push him to the ground. He quickly recovered and turned around to see Akane get hit by the ki ball. "NOOOOOOO!" Ranma yelled as he ran towards her. Stupid tomboy! I was supposed to take that hit. He stumbled to his knees as he cradled her in his arms. He turned to see the demon on the floor, smoking from where his ki ball hit it. The demon no longer moved. "Akane…" Ranma spoke quietly as he looked down at her, brushing some of her blue black hair out of the way. He saw that she was still breathing, labored but breathing. He let go of the breath he didn't know he was holding. She had bruises all over her arms and her school uniform was in shreds. He picked her up and looked around. Walking towards him was Mousse holding Shampoo and Ryouga holding Ukyo. They looked at each other and nodded as they started to make their way to the hospital. "Hold on Akane…" Ranma whispered. Where did we go wrong? He thought as they all walked in silence. What led to this?
To be continued…
A/N: Hey. So, I plan on going into a flashback now, and explain the events that led up to this. Obviously, this is a RaAk pairing, not sure about the rest. To be honest, I'm not really sure about what I'm going to be writing yet. It's my second fanfic ever and my first multi-part fic. Comments are always welcomed.
