Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma or Inu yasha.
Chapter 26Ranma crept into the storeroom, Kasumi and Akane trailing behind him like twin shadows. The door inched open beneath his hand, swinging inwards silently. The three of them slipped inside and closed the door behind them without a sound.
They were alone with the boxes and crates and open barrels that littered the dirt floor. Ranma's eyes scanned the darkness until he was satisfied they would find what they were looking for. He signaled with a movement of his hand to Kasumi and Akane, and they all dispersed around the room, searching through the containers. Both of the hanyous stayed close to Kasumi because it was her shielding that kept them from the guards' senses.
They weren't the only ones searching tonight. There were three other groups of the same number. Tomorrow, at dawn, they would offer to form a treaty with the Joketsu, even though it wouldn't be accepted. Then they would have to fight, and they would be severely outnumbered. So now they were evening out the odds by getting rid of the biggest threat. Arrows.
The bow and arrow was a main weapon of the Joketsu, and crippling that would cripple them. It was underhanded, but… now they would both have a handicap. Ranma couldn't bring himself to like it, but they would surely lose if their opponents were able to pick them off from afar. Especially if they picked them off from afar with sealing arrows. It wasn't fair, really. But…not everything can be fair, can it?
The jagged heads of many arrows glinted at him in the moonlight like teeth in a great, carnivorous jaw. Ranma signaled Kasumi and Akane and they glanced from him to the arrows and back before searching the area around the open barrel he discovered. They were all three soundless as the shadows around them as they moved about the room.
They returned to the night, the storeroom thoroughly searched. The stars passed silent judgment on them as they crept out of the sleeping village. Guilt weighed on Ranma as heavily as the burden of stolen weaponry on his back. The wind and the cool night air bit into their skin like a thousand tiny knives as they trundled back to their camp.
The sounds of battle raged across the village of Joketsu, ringing in Ranma's ears. There was a tension in the air all around the fighters, dispersed among them like mist. It was a rush just to be there, in the midst of the din and the combat. Where there could have been peace.
The Joketsu had promptly turned down the offer to treaty with battle cries and bloodthirsty war whoops. That was to be expected though. If the fight had been fierce then, it became only more heated when the Joketsu discovered their missing weapons. The battle aura of the entire Joketsuzoku tribe had been daunting – a giant apparition of their warriors – but Ranma and the rest of his fighters were beyond that sort of trick now.
Amidst the sea of the Joketsu were four rings of destruction. Four rings of demons, each surrounding a miko who protected them from magical attacks. If there had been more mikos there would have been more rings, but the strategy seemed to be working fine so far. It was a challenge though, not to kill their opponents.
It wasn't their goal to destroy the Joketsu, as Ranma had told everyone who was fighting for him. Killing was unnecessary, and it didn't weigh well on his mind, more so in this fight than any other. He wasn't sure they would listen to him just yet, but if the majority of the village were spared it would… make him feel less guilty. So he didn't actually care about the Joketsu and the only reason he didn't want them dead was because he didn't think it was a fair fight. He wasn't going to kill as many people as possible, did it matter what his motives were?
Ranma ducked a jab from a man wielding a bladed mace and knocked the weapon out of his hands expertly. The man was downed with a few well-placed blows, and Ranma stepped over the fallen to greet the next wave with the rest of his circle. Akane was fighting on one side of him, next to her was Mousse, and the rest of their circle was made up of demons they weren't well acquainted with. Shampoo was in the middle, grimfaced, but still fighting with them and not against them.
The stronger fighters were circled with the weaker ones in order to even out the power of each circle. Shampoo was a part of Ranma's group because Mousse seemed to be the only one she wouldn't turn against. And they hadn't been able to split up Inu-Yasha and Kagome, but other than that the circles were made for power.
Ranma slipped behind his opponent, sending his fist to the back of her head while dodging a kick from outside the circle. The first one fell, and Ranma was able to flip his second opponent by her outstretched leg, making sure she stayed down. He moved on to the next, and the next after that, in a fast-paced dance that rivaled that of the fighters he faced. Beside him, Akane flew through the moves just as gracefully, her expression fierce and her hair flying.
The dance was all around them, a brutal, beautiful clash of wills and weapons. Flames of hatred and regret burned resiliently behind the death-black pupils in the eyes of every warrior. The battleground was littered with blood and unmoving bodies and fallen weapons. Labored breathing, battle-cries, metal upon flesh, and the stench of the dead and the living hung in the air all around the restless sea of Joketsu and the ringed islands of their opponents.
Then the sea parted, and through it came the wilted figure of Kho Lon. Her inhuman eyes met Ranma's gravely as she approached, untouched by her fighters. Instead of fighting, the withered miko leapt high above Ranma and into the center of their circle. Her pointed staff hit the ground with a thunderous crack in the exact spot where Shampoo had been standing just before she stumbled backwards, a mixture of shock, fear and anger across her features.
Around them the dance ended, and there was a silence as deafening as the clap of Kho Lon's staff on the ground. She looked down scornfully upon Ranma and his circle from her perch atop the gnarled end of the stick, glancing at her great-granddaughter as if she too were nothing more than a demon.
"Enough!" Kho Lon's voice was a sound like the slap of flesh against flesh, quick and cold and hard. She sneered at Ranma. "This is foolishness. Surely you didn't think you could win with such a pitiful force?"
"I don't know," Ranma said, a dark smirk coloring his features. "Seemed to be working pretty well to me."
"You will die," Kho Lon hissed, "by my hand."
"Should I feel honored?" Ranma asked, and though his tone was facetious his mind was reeling in confusion. Kho Lon narrowed her eyes, and raised a bony hand, one finger extended towards a scarred log suspended above the ground horizontally.
"The Challenge Log."
She met Ranma's eyes for a moment before hopping away to take her place on the old tree trunk. He stared after her cautiously. So, the ghoul wants to fight? He was about to meet the challenge when a hand on his arm stopped him. He knew it was Akane before he turned around.
"Ranma…" she looked up at him through the curtain of her hair. "Remember… you can't lose. Not because everything depends on this. Not because you have to prove yourself to anyone. Not because you have to, or you want to. You can't lose because… that's who you are. Ranma Soatome never loses, right?"
"Akane," he began softly. He wasn't sure what he had been planning to say, but as their eyes met it slipped from his mind. " I love you."
Her features slowly softened as her eyes turned glassy and a smile stole across her face. Just as time had sped up during the battle, it slowed incredibly as Akane raised her face and brushed his lips with hers. A bare feather-light touch. She dropped back on her heels with a small, satisfied smile. Ranma watched her for a moment.
"Hey, aren't you going to say anything?" he asked, and he could have sworn she was smirking.
"Maybe after you've won."
Ranma rolled his eyes with an exasperated sigh and turned to go.
"Just don't die, okay?" Akane called to him. He grinned at her over his shoulder.
"I won't."
Ranma took his place on the Challenge log.
A/N: You know that log you see Shampoo fighting on in China? Isn't that called the Challenge Log? I wasn't sure, so I might be wrong, anyway, I got that out pretty fast I think. Considering I don't get to the computer any earlier than 6:30 anymore, it's pretty fast. Well, I don't really have much to say about this chapter, except that this story is almost finished. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far. All I have left to say now is PLEASE REVIEW!! Ok, thanks, c ya.