Disclaimer- Ranma ½ and all it's characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi and the song Not while I'm Around from Sweeny Todd was written by Stephan Sondheim.
Nothing's gonna harm you,
Not while I'm around.
Nothing's gonna harm you,
No, sir,
Not while I'm around.
"You touch my fiancée, you die!" Ranma stood, gazing fearlessly at the rather dangerous looking character standing much to near Akane for Ranma's comfort. "Stay out of this Ranma, it's my fight not yours!" The challenge had come the day before, no one knew who this person was, they wore a mask, a cloak, and hadn't given a name. "Who are you?" She shouted. "What do you want? Why did you challenge me?" The masked figure said nothing. "I'm not going to fight you unless you tell why I'm doing it!" Finally the person spoke, "You will fight, or you will be killed." It was spoken in such a tone that Akane shivered, Ranma on the other hand bristled, and no one threatened his Akane. When had her name gotten a possessive adjective in his mind? The urge to just take this guy out was going stronger and stronger every second, but he knew that interfering in Akane's fight would earn him nothing but a really big headache, induced with her really big mallet. "Be careful," he thought to himself. "If this guy shows any indication of being too much for her to handle, I'm going to end it, mallet or no mallet."
Akane struck a ready position and the cloaked figure came at her. He was fast, but not that much faster then Akane was. Ranma saw enough to worry him, but nothing to cause him to act, not yet. Akane blocked the person's first few attacks, but then one slipped through and hit her on the side; Akane had the breath knocked out of her, Ranma began to glow. Immediately getting her breathing back to normal, Akane faced the man again, just in time to block to punch to her face. "Cheap shot," Ranma hissed through gritted teeth. "No decent fighter aims for the head." The punches were coming faster now, Akane was completely on the defensive, but no more hits had gotten through. And then the figure managed to trip her; Akane landed on the ground, hard. Before he could curb the impulse, Ranma had reached the person standing over Akane and had hit him hard in the chest, sending him flying about thirty feet. But Akane had landed on the edge of the guy's cloak and it had ripped when he had gone flying and when he stood up, Akane whimpered. This was no man, it was a demon.
Demons are prowling
Everywhere
Nowadays.
I'll send 'em howling,
I don't care-
I got ways.
Ranma shot a glance at Akane. "Did he hurt you?" Akane shook her head negatively, not trusting her voice. She couldn't really be blamed, the creature was hideous, even with the mask still on. "What do you want with Akane demon?" The thing rose slowly and untied its mask. When it fell to the ground, Ranma had to keep himself from yelping; the creature's face was like nothing he had ever seen before. It was blotchy and deeply wrinkled, with warts of several shapes, sizes, and colors. But by far the worst part was its eyes. They were almost totally white, with a very small, glowing orange dot in the center. Ranma swallowed his revulsion and repeated his question. "What do you want with her?" "She is to be my queen." Akane seemed to find this almost amusing.
"How many times now have I ended up as a prize? Is there a single male in this world that doesn't want to marry me?" She paused a moment. "Yes, there's at least one." She said this very quietly and Ranma turned to look at her. Was she talking about him?
There was no more time to wonder about that as the creature continued, "She will return to my land and be queen. We will rule together, do not worry, she will have everything she could want. But I suggest you do not try to keep me from my bride-to-be" "Like hell she's-gonna-be, you have to go through me first." "Very well then, shall we begin?" It wasn't long before the demon was lying to a smoldering mound. "Do you think I overdid it?" Ranma asked. "Well from what I know about demons, it takes a lot to discourage them," replied Akane. "Although, I'm not sure he really deserved a chi blast quite that big, he wasn't all that good." A million things to say ran through Ranma's mind, but none of them seemed right and a number of them weren't exactly appropriate. "No one's gonna hurt you Akane, not while I'm around." "What was that?" "Oh, nothing."
No one's gonna hurt you,
No one's gonna dare.
Others can desert you-
Not to worry-
Whistle I'll be there.
All at once, a large hole appeared in the dojo wall and Shampoo appeared around Ranma's waist. Ranma looked panicked and Akane started to get very mad. Wincing in anticipation of the mallet that was certain to come, Ranma was rather surprised when he realized ten seconds later, that he was still there, but Shampoo wasn't. Opening his eyes, he saw Shampoo advancing on Akane, a mad glint in her eye. "We fight for husband yes?" Her voice had none of her usual playfulness in it. "Now who's the prize?" Shouted Ranma. Akane glanced over at Ranma for a second, then switched her gaze quickly back to the amazon, who kept coming, making her back up. Then she backed into the wall. "Ranma," said Akane quietly. "What?" "I'm not in any condition to fight her, that last battle took, um… quite a bit out of me."
His eyes widened, Akane was admitting that she couldn't beat Shampoo, meaning that she really was in bad shape. Shampoo got within inches of Akane, but instead of attacking her, she simply stopped and looked at her. She tilted her head slightly, staring at her. "Know what Kitchen Destroyer?" There was no answer from Akane and Shampoo continued, her grin growing even wider. "I not make good promise to you." "What promise?" Akane asked timidly, there was a gleam in Shampoo's face that filled her with fear. "The kiss of death. I think it time." Shampoo leaped at her, Akane crumpled to the ground, ducking her head, waiting for the deathblow. But it never came. Her head shot up; Shampoo was in mid-air, being held around the neck, by Ranma. He brought her face down to his. "Leave," he said. "I never want to see you again. If you so much as give her a scratch, you'll regret it very, very badly." He then threw her back out the hole she had come in through and rushed to Akane, pulling her into his arms. "Shush, shush, it's okay, I won't let anyone hurt you." Akane grabbed his shoulders and wept into his shirt.
Demons'll charm you
With a smile
For a while,
But in time
Nothing can harm you,
Not while I'm around.
Ranma held her, getting more and more nervous. Now that there wasn't anything threatening her, he didn't know what to do, how to act around her. He cursed his pop again. It was all his fault, he'd never had a real childhood, never been taught how to act around people, and Akane was paying the price for that. He fought down the urge to run, to escape. It felt so good to have her in his arms and he realized how soft her hair was as he laid his cheek on the top of her head. His grip around her shoulders unknowingly tightened. How many times had he almost lost her? There had been so many close calls, but he'd never stop protecting her, he didn't have a choice in the matter, it was the only outlet he had to show her how much he loved her. Words had never been of any use to him. All he ended up doing was saying the thing he really hadn't meant to say. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath; no one would take her from him.
"Ranma?" Akane's words broke through the whirl of emotions and memories in his mind. He made an indistinct noise to show her he was listening. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize that I was so tired, I thought I was fine." Ranma rocked her gently. "It's all right," he said. "I'm used to having to save you." Opps, he thought. "RANMA!" He jumped back to try and avoid being hit with the mallet, but for the second time that day, it never came down. Instead Akane swayed, the mallet disappeared and she crumpled to the ground. Well, not quite to the ground, Ranma (of course) caught her before she hit. He looked at her. She didn't wake up. "Help me!" He cried. "Someone help me!"
Not to worry, not to worry,
I may not be smart but I ain't dumb.
I can do it,
Put me to it,
Show me something I can overcome.
Not to worry, mum.
Kasumi came in immediately. "Oh my, what happened?" "I don't know," said Ranma hysterically. "She just fainted." "We should bring her to Dr. Tofu," she suggested. "Yeah, good idea," Ranma agreed, on second thought… "How about I bring her to Dr. Tofu and you stay here." "Very well," said Kasumi. She sounded a little sad and Ranma had a flitting thought along the lines of, I wonder when Tofu is going to get over that stupid thing he does around Kasumi? Then he left through the hole that Shampoo had just exited herself and ran to Tofu's office. Bursting through Tofu's door, Ranma was breathing hard, not from the effort of dashing full speed with an unconscious girl in his arms, no that part was easy. That hard part was the horrible thoughts going through his head. Is she all right? What's wrong with her? And, is this my fault? "Dr. Tofu, I need help!"
Hearing the desperation in Ranma's voice, Tofu hurried over there. What's going on now, he wondered. As soon as he saw Akane in his arms, Tofu went into doctor mode. "Put her down here Ranma." Ranma put her down and watched anxiously as Tofu examined her. "What happened Ranma?" "She had been fighting this demon, except I didn't know it was a demon, once I realized that, I took care of it, but then Shampoo came and tried to kill Akane, I stopped her, but the funny thing was, Akane acted really scared and weak, then I said something wrong and she was about to mallet me, but then she just fainted and I caught her and brought her here." Ranma looked so worried, Tofu almost smiled, that boy can't see how much he loves her, can he? But there were more important issues at hand.
Being close and being clever
Ain't like being true.
I don't need to, I won't never
Hide a thing from you,
Like some.
After a few tense moments, made tenser by the fact that Ranma was breathing down his neck, Tofu sighed in relief. "What is it?" Ranma immediately asked. "The demon you guys met must have sucked her chi. Some demons have that ability you know." "No, I didn't, know I don't feel bad about melting that guy down." Tofu raised an eyebrow at this, but declined saying anything. "I'll just get her chi flowing again and you can take her home." He touched several pressure points on Akane and Ranma felt a wave of relief wash over him as Akane blinked her eyes open, looking confused. Her gaze locked with Ranma's and Tofu decided to give them a few minutes alone together. Ranma never noticed Tofu slowly backing out of the room, his entire being was focused on the beautiful eyes of his fiancée, the only one he'd ever wanted and the only girl, he'd ever needed. "Don't scare me like that Akane, you uncute tomboy." Even Akane couldn't mistake the affection in his voice for taunting. She placed one hand against his cheek. "I'll try harder next time, baka."
A second later the magical moment was gone, leaving behind only vague wishes and a slight yearning for something… more. Ranma just smiled half-heartedly and said, "well, we should get back." For the first time since waking up, Akane looked around. "How did I get here?" "You, um… fainted." "I what?" "It was that demon, he did some sort of chi-sucking trick." "Really. If I ever see him again…" "I'll melt him so bad, he'll never pull himself together," interrupted Ranma. The two left Tofu's clinic and were heading slowly back to the dojo, when suddenly Akane let out a squeal of delight. "Look Ranma, it's P-chan." Ranma glared at the little black piglet, now nestled happily in Akane's arms. "Welcome back pig," Ranma said coldly. "Now Ranma, you be nice to my P-chan, or else." Ranma bit down the response that rose automatically in his throat, bit down so hard, he tasted blood. But he said nothing and they continued on their way.
*Author's notes- I've never written a song-fic before and I never really planned on writing one, but this song was just too perfect not to use. I mean except for the "not to worry mum" line, but Sweeny Todd takes place in London, so it's not that odd a line really. Anyway, I hope this wasn't too bad and a review would be nice, if you can take the time to send me one. Oh and it's no use telling me that Ranma and Akane should get together in the end. I know that, but this is not the fic for that to happen, it's a simple songfic that's written so that it could hypothetically fit anywhere in the manga series. Note the hypothetically part.