Disclaimer: Rumiko Takahashi owns the rights to the Ranmaverse. I'm just borrowing her awesome characters for a little while.

My thanks once again goes out to my wonderful friend and proofreader Angela Jewell. Thank you so much for helping me shape this chapter. I don't know what I'd do without ya! ^_^

To all you waiting for an update... this one is for you!

- R 1/2 -

The first thing Akane noticed as she pulled up in front of the dojo was that it looked like every light had been left on. She got out of the car and went to the door, certain that it would be locked. To her surprise she found it opened quite easily. The bell overhead jingled noisily as she stepped inside, and she waited for a moment to see if it would call anyone's attention. When it didn't she took another few steps inside.

"Hello?" she called out, inching forward slowly. There was no reply, and she began to wonder if he had merely forgotten to turn out the lights after closing up.

And I suppose he left the door open too? her mind retorted instantly.

Either that, or someone broke in after the fact and was still here, lying in wait. She gave a small smirk at the thought. If that were the case they were going to be very sorry indeed.

Before she could take another step a harried voice rose up from somewhere out back. It came to her in a harsh whisper, full of fear and dread.

"Stay away from me!"

"Sensei?" she called out, moving slowly toward the voice. The only answer she received was a low, pain filled groan. Her heart lurched at the sound.

Reaching out, she gently pushed the office door open and stepped inside. She spotted him instantly, his prone form stretched out across an oversized blue sofa. He seemed to be asleep, yet his slumber was anything but peaceful, as whatever haunted his dreams began closing in on him. She watched as he tossed and turned, his arms coming up as if trying to ward something off. He let out another low moan.

"Leave me alone..." the words came in a whispered rush, the desperation in them enough to send chills down Akane's spine. He looked so vulnerable lying there, not at all like the strong, confident teacher she'd come to know. The sight nearly broke her heart.

The feeling only became more compounded when she noticed the multiple injuries he had sustained. The long gash running just below his eye and the bandage wrapped around his forearm were worrisome enough, but it was the injury to his ankle that made her gasp out loud. The bandage was thick. It looked as if he'd wrapped it several times around, and yet it was completely soaked through as blood poured out from all sides, forming a perfect crimson circle.

What the hell had happened?

He had sounded so desperate on the phone, so lost and alone. At first she couldn't believe the voice had been his. Then, she remembered their earlier conversation. How he had explained his wife's tenacity for violence. Had she done this to him?

"Akane..." her name fell from his lips, so full of longing that she inhaled sharply, a slender hand coming up to cover her mouth. It was exactly how he had sounded on the phone. So full of aching need that she hadn't been able to get his voice out of her head. She'd had no choice but to follow it here, if nothing else but to make sure he was okay.

She made her way towards him, perching herself lightly on the edge of the sofa. Slowly she reached out a hand and laid it gently on his arm, her touch feather soft and comforting.

"Ranma," she whispered soothingly. "Wake up."

Somewhere in the depths of his torment, Ranma heard her calling for him. Her voice slicing through his isolation, drawing him up towards the light. He desperately held on to it, riding it away from the darkness of his despair.

"Akane...?"

"I'm here," she assured him, gently brushing back the hair from his forehead in a soothing gesture.

Slowly he opened his eyes to stare wistfully up at her.

Ranma thought he was still dreaming. He had to be. She couldn't really be sitting here, comforting him with her warm touch, a tender smile lighting on her sweet face.

That smile...

He felt his heart squeeze painfully at the sight.

"How...?"

"Simple," she explained, her soft smile growing. "You called. I came."

"But..." he started, still not believing she was sitting here in front of him.

"You sounded so distraught on the phone," she interrupted, her voice growing serious with her concern. " You really had me worried."

He gave a small sigh. "Yeah... about that," he said, regrettably. "I'm really sorry. I never meant to drag you into this mess."

She shook her head. "Don't be. I came because I wanted to come."

"How did you know I was even here?"

She gave a slight shrug. "I didn't, but I had to start somewhere. The door was open so I just came in."

Ranma took in this last bit of information with some surprise. He silently cursed himself for being so careless. Here he'd been trying to get away from Kodachi and yet he'd forgotten to do the simplest thing like lock the door.

He was pulled from these thoughts as he felt her warm hand slip over his. "I'm glad I found you," she said, her voice one of comfort, the soft smile once again returning to her face.

It was infectious and he found himself returning it instantly with one of his own. "Me too," he admitted, startled to find how true the statement was.

"So," she asked, eyeing him curiously. "Do you want to tell me what happened?"

He felt his smile fade as the memory of his encounter with Kodachi suddenly flashed through his mind. The stark imprint of that ribbon encircling his ankle, reeling him in for kami only knew what other kinds of sadistic horrors. He shuddered inwardly at the thought.

Talking about it was actually the last thing he wanted. He wished with all his might that he could simply forget what had happened. Not to mention how embarrassing it was to find himself in such a predicament. Still, he supposed he did owe her an explanation after she'd gone to the trouble of coming to check on him.

Resigning himself, he began to shift into a sitting position, an action he instantly regretted as his ankle suddenly began to protest in earnest. He let out a stifled groan, gritting his teeth against the fresh onslaught of pain, as a steady throb began to hum throughout his foot. He closed his eyes, trying desperately to shut it out, even as he felt fresh blood begin to flow from the now reopened wound.

Akane watched with difficulty as he tried diligently to control the pain. She had to admire his determination, even as she fought the sudden urge to throttle whoever had done this to him.

Instead she sprang up and moved into the bathroom. There she began riffling through the medicine cabinet in search of something to dull his pain. She finally came across a bottle of extra strength aspirin and snatched it up, extracting a few pills along with a glass of water before rejoining him in the office.

When she reached him his eyes were still closed, only now there was a thin sheen of sweat that clearly marked his brow. It could have merely been due to all his concentrated effort, but it still scared her to see it all the same.

"Here take these," she said sitting back down beside him. He opened his eyes slowly as she held out the medication along with the glass of water. He made no protest, but simply did what she asked.

"Alright, now let me take a look."

He nodded and she began to gently unwrap the bandage. She pulled it back slowly, taking extra care not to cause him any further pain. When it was finally removed she couldn't help but let out a sharp gasp, for what she saw there both shocked and infuriated her.

There were numerous lacerations that crisscrossed each other at several different points, some so deep they had cut through quite a few layers of skin. The area surrounding them was inflamed with angry red welts, some of which were starting to ooze with fresh blood.

"Kami..." she whispered, the distress evident in her voice. It was obvious what she was looking at was a clear cut ligature mark, as if some sort of rope had been tied around his ankle and then pulled taut. The crisscrossing marks indicated this had been done more than once.

"It's bad isn't it?"

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "It's not good," she said ruefully, before meeting his eyes with an intent stare. "Some of these gashes are very deep. To be honest, I'm worried about infection."

Ranma once again closed his eyes. He didn't know why he had even asked the question. He could already tell it was bad. His ankle felt like it had been set on fire.

"We really should get you to a hospital."

He shook his head instantly. "No, I can't."

She gave him an incredulous stare. "What do you mean you can't? This is a serious injury. You have to."

"I said I can't," he repeated, his frustration evident. She felt her own kick up a notch at his insolence.

"Why not?" she insisted, her brow furrowing slightly. He turned his head away, almost as if he were embarrassed to answer. She saw this and felt her heart squeeze painfully for him. "Ranma," she pleaded. "Please, talk to me."

He let out a long and tired sigh, turning his head back to meet her gaze. "Her family would know," he finally managed. "They have connections everywhere. I really don't need her showing up at the hospital with a bouquet of flowers laced with paralyzing potion."

She merely started at him in confusion. "Paralyzing potion?"

"Didn't I tell you?" he asked bitterly. "She's a whiz at mixing up all sorts of different drug cocktails."

Akane took in this explanation with both sorrow and a touch of anger.

"Was your wife the one who did this to you+?" she asked, almost afraid of the answer.

She watched as he gave a reluctant nod.

"How long has this been going on?" she asked, with just a hint of anger.

At first she didn't think he would answer but then in a small, weary voice he said: "Long enough. Although I've gotten pretty good at avoiding most of her attacks." She watched his brow furrow, anger suddenly filling his voice. "I was almost home free. If that damned ribbon hadn't snagged me..."

"A ribbon did this?" she asked, glancing back down at his wounds, a stunned lilt radiating in her voice.

"A rhythmic gymnastics ribbon to be exact," he explained. "She uses all the tools in rhythmic gymnastics as weapons. It's her specialized martial art."

Akane merely stared at him incredulously. Those crisscrossing marks... She thought sickly. She must have kept yanking it tighter and tighter around his ankle then dragged him... Akane abruptly cut the thought off, not wanting to picture it any further.

"I take it your face and arm are also victims of her so called tools?"

He shrugged. "All in all, I'd say I got off pretty easy."

Her eyes grew wide at the statement. "You call this getting off easy?"

He gave her a knowing stare. "Believe me, I got off easy." He gave a small shudder, as he remembered the look of pure lust in Kodachi's eyes.

Akane felt her stomach give a small roll at his words. It was the way he'd said them, as if there were something more he wasn't telling her. And his reaction, she thought, her eyes widening as the answer suddenly came to her. Oh kami, he couldn't mean... But in that instant she knew that it was exactly what he meant. My god, what kind of monster is he married to?

At least that final injustice hadn't actually happened, that was something. Akane felt her heart go out to him instantly. She knew this couldn't be easy for him. His pride had been hurt along with his body. For him to have to swallow that pride and simply take the abuse was the ultimate humiliation. She could see the last thing he wanted was her pity, and how could she blame him? If she were in his position she thought she would have had the same sort of reaction. Knowing this, she decided to quickly change the subject.

"Well," she stated plainly, almost bluntly. "If you won't go to the hospital, then I guess you'll just have to come home with me."

At the suggestion he quickly turned to face her, his eyes widening at the prospect. "Ah, Akane..." he began, his heart rate already picking up speed. Even with all the pain he was in he didn't trust himself with her. Especially after what had happened with Kodachi. He was just desperate enough to do something crazy. Not to mention the danger she'd be putting herself in. "I'm not so sure that's a good idea."

"Nonsense," she argued. "That ankle is not going to heal itself."

"But I..."

"Listen, my sister is married to a physician," she continued, cutting off any further protest he might have made. "He's a wizard at making miracle cures. I just happen to have some of them back at my house. One might just do the trick." She met his gaze, her eyes boring into his, her voice growing firm. "If it's not looking better by tomorrow though I'm taking you to see him. Now, do you have any more clean gauze so I can rewrap your ankle?"

He saw that she was determined to see this through and knew instantly to argue with her would be futile. He'd seen that determination first hand. Once implemented, nothing could stop it.

'Ranma?"

"It's in the cabinet under the sink," he said resigned, pointing towards the bathroom. She nodded getting to her feet and discarding the old blood soaked bandage as she went.

After retrieving the new roll she gently lifted his foot, gauging his reaction to make sure she wasn't causing him any unnecessary pain. Ranma bore the movement with a slight grimace, grateful for the minor relief the aspirin afforded him as it finally began to take effect. As of now his ankle had settled into a low and steady throb.

He watched as she wrapped it thoroughly, if a little overzealously, the stark white material instantly taking on a tinge of red. He wondered absently if he were even going to be able to stand on it.

"There," she said when she'd finished, obvious pride in her voice. He had to smile at the dressing as his ankle was now encased in what looked like a three rolls of gaze. It bulged outward with ridiculous enthusiasm.

"What?" she asked, noticing the slight grin on his face. He merely shook his head, still smiling.

"Nothing, it's fine." Slowly he began to once again shift himself into a sitting position. Here, help me up." She obliged him, holding out a hand for him to take.

"Easy," she told him. "That's it, now lean on me."

He slipped an arm over her shoulder, shifting his weight into her side as she braced him from below.

"Can you put any weight on it?" she asked.

"I don't know," he said, somewhat skeptically. "Let's find out."

Gently he placed his foot down and leaned slightly away from her, testing it. Although there was pain it didn't seem too unbearable. Of course walking was probably going be another matter altogether. Taking a deep breath he braced himself and motioned her forward. She obliged him, taking a small step as he did the same.

They began to shuffle forward slowly, every step becoming a bitter agony that Rama did his best to hide. As he suspected walking was as difficult as he imagined it would be. He could feel the wound reopening in places where his ankle was forced to bend as he pushed off of his foot.

"You okay?" she asked, feeling him tense beside her with every step.

"I'm fine," he lied, biting his bottom lip to keep from crying out as his ankle once again began to scream in earnest.

"You are not," she told him, seeing through his charade instantly. "Honestly, stop being so stoic and lean more of your weight into me. Let me help you, dummy."

He felt his lips curve upward slightly at the insult. "Oh yeah," he remarked. "Well, maybe I don't need your help."

She gave a small snort and rolled her eyes at him. "Only a dummy would say that," she returned playfully, to which he gave a slight chuckle. The sound warmed her heart, and she was glad to be able to distract him from his pain, even if it was only for a moment.

Ranma took another step and nearly fell as his ankle twisted slightly and a steel bolt of pain ripped up his leg. Shit... his mind cried out, even as he did his best to stifle a scream. He was panting with his exertion as a new sheen of sweat now covered his brow, once again soaking his dark bangs.

"Do you want to stop for a minute?" she asked, her concern evident. They had gotten halfway across the dojo floor by this time, and Akane, seeing his obvious pain was reluctant to go any further.

He shook his head vehemently. At this point Ranma wanted nothing more than to stop, but he knew if he did so he'd never get going again. His ankle roared with white hot pain, blood now seeping steadily through the bandage, tainting it a bright crimson.

"Let's just do this," he gritted, calling upon his sheer determination. She grasped him tighter, resolving to harbor as much of his weight as she could.

They pressed on, finally managing to get to the front door. Akane pushed it open and Ranma welcomed the coolness of the light breeze that greeted them.

Fortunately for him, her car was parked right out front. He pushed through the final few steps as she opened the door and eased him inside.

Ranma leaned his head back against the seat and closed his eyes, silently willing the fire in his ankle to subside.

"Where are your keys?"

At her question he open his eyes and simply stared at her in confusion.

"I need your keys to lock up the dojo," she explained.

Of course, how could he have been so stupid as to forget yet again? He reached inside his pocket. "Here," he said, pulling them out and handing them to her.

"Will you be alright?"

"I'll be fine," he forced the words out, trying to give her a reassuring smile. It pained him to see the look of worry on her face. As she turned to go he reached up to grasp her hand. "Akane..."

She stopped in her tracks and turned to look down at him, watching as a weak smile surfaced on his lips. "Thanks..."

She felt her heart give a slight pang at the sentiment, her eyes tearing slightly. She gave a quick nod and gently closed his door before heading back to kill the lights and lock the dojo behind them.

Before long she was back at the car and slipping into the driver's seat beside him. She threw a glance over to where he sat. His eyes were once again closed, his bangs and shirt completely soaked with sweat, his breathing slow and shallow.

"Ranma?" she called, her voice rising with her apprehension. He gave no response and it only took a moment to realize that he fallen asleep. The whole ordeal must have simply exhausted him, her mind reasoned. She supposed it was just as well, any modicum of relief was a godsend at this point. She just hoped one of Dr. Tofu's concoctions would help him.

She started the car and headed for home, wondering, and not for the first time what she had gotten herself into.

- R 1/2 -

Well there ya have it! Hope it was up to par! I'd be interested to hear your thoughts!