A/N: Well here goes another chapter. I'm hoping that this chapter will be longer that the last one. I will be wrapping this fic up in the next 2 or 3 chapters. Have fun reading.

Chapter 13: Unexpected battle

"That's perfect!" said Sango maybe a little too enthusiastically when Kasumi finished explaining the plan.

"Keep your voice down Sango." said Lotion, turning to see if anyone was coming. "We are still faced with one problem though. How are we going to get Koga to cooperate?"

~*~*~*

Ranma and Inuyasha stood glaring at each other, sweat dripping off their faces and onto the wooden floor of the dojo. Inuyasha was breathing in short gasps. He had ki burns on his face and arms and a small trickle of blood ran from his mouth. Neither dared move. Ranma, whose ragged breathing and pale face was beginning to make him look frighteningly ghostly, stared at Inuyasha with blank determination, his eyes glazed as blood seeped slowly from the four parallel gashes that streaked across his abdomen. Their "little" practice match had, somewhere along the line, turned into a full fledged battle between the two fighters. Ranma staggered as his vision blurred from loss of blood.

"No…" he thought to himself. "I can't give up so easily!" but his knees buckled beneath him and he knew he had lost. As blackness gathered at the edges of his mind, he managed to mutter only two words before unconsciousness claimed him.

"You win."

Inuyasha smirked, but soon realized the seriousness of the situation and rushed out of the dojo to call Kasumi.

~*~*~*

Akane was now finished packing and sat next to her suitcase, trying to think if there was anything that she might have forgotten. Satisfied that everything was in order, she went to go see if Kagome was done yet. Sure enough, Kagome was lying on her futon, clearly lost in thought.

"Hi there." said Akane happily as she walked in. "I hope I'm not interrupting your thoughts."

"Oh!" said Kagome, snapping out of her trance. "No, it's ok. Did you want to ask me anything?"

Just as Akane was about to answer, she heard someone shouting from downstairs.

"It sounds urgent." she said, turning to Kagome "I think we should go and check it out."

"Right!" replied Kagome swiftly and they hurried toward the commotion.

Just as they got to the bottom of the stairs, they came face to face with a very frantic Inuyasha.

"What's wrong Inuyasha!" asked Kagome, her face tainted with worry.

"It's Ranma!" he said, paling slightly.

"What's going on here?!" yelled Akane, grabbing hold of Inuyasha's haori. That was when she noticed the ki burns of his arms and her eyes widened suddenly with realization..

"Come with me, I'll show you." he said and blushed as he realized how close Akane's face was to his.

The three ran to the dojo and the girls gasped at the sight.

"We have to call Dr. Tofu." said Akane, her voice barely above a whisper.

Kagome felt tears slipping down her cheeks as she saw the reason for Ranma's ill condition.

"How could you Inuyasha!" she thought, a flurry of cold hatred ebbing through her veins.

She walked cautiously up to Ranma where he lay in a growing puddle of his own blood.

"R-ranma?" she said softly, not really expecting an answer.

He just lay there, his face the color of rice paper.

Suddenly, Kasumi, Lotion, and Sango burst through the door of the dojo. Sango looked murderous, she had Inuyasha by the scruff of the neck and she was doing her best to make him feel humiliated. Lotion seemed worried, but didn't let her face show anything more than mild surprise. Kasumi just stood wide eyed, put her hand to her cheek and said

"oh my!"

Inuyasha ended up having to carry Ranma to Dr. Tofu's office, much to his resentment, while Akane led the way and Kagome followed behind, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears.

Dr. Tofu took one look at the injury and immediately stated that Ranma would have to stay the night.

"So much for going camping." thought Kagome to herself as she and Akane walked home. "I can't believe Inuyasha would do something like that.

Meanwhile, Akane had different thoughts on the matter. "Ranma you dummy…you forced Inuyasha into doing that didn't you. Those burns…you must've hit him really hard with that ki attack. It's your own fault really. You should've known he would resort to that, he had no other means of defense." Akane sighed. The sun was beginning to set. "I wonder why those two were fighting like that anyways…it was almost like they were enemies."

A/N: Well, what did you think? Please review! Sorry for the shortness.