Chapter Four----------

Akane hopped towards the door; her body had been frozen but she had tried a counter pressure point technique and had managed to undo part of the damage done to her. She could, at present, only hop as her feet were frozen. Her knees could move, so could her face and torso but her hands were stuck behind her back.

"I'll get out of here," she growled determinedly. She wasn't going to let herself get married off to some strange guy she didn't even know. "Ugh..." she moaned as her feet felt like thousands of pins and needles were poking through them. She pushed the door open with her shoulder and stepped out into the crisp, night air.

The place wasn't very dark; there was a lamp placed almost everywhere. If Akane wanted to escape, she had to be extremely discreet. If there were any guards, they might find he in the middle of her little escape attempt.

She hopped, both legs glued together, onto the hard gravel ground. Ranma had taken off her shoes earlier and now, the gravel were hurting her soles.

She moved past a fountain and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw a silhouette standing near it. She hesitated; it could be a guard. Akane walked closer cautiously and realised that the figure was a male and was dressed in black from head to toe and had a weird look on his face.

"H-how d' you do hic miss?" the man staggered to and fro.

Akane's jaw dropped open.

"I just w-wanted to hic con- hic- gratrulate you," he smiled crookedly and lifted some sake up. "Have a drink."

"Uh...no, thanks?" she answered tentatively. Obviously, the sentinel was too drunk to even notice her breakout. She felt the last of the paralysing effect disappearing and silently sent a prayer of thanks to the gods.

"C-C'mon...just a sip," the man snaked an arm around her waist and grinned cheekily. He seemed to have forgotten his place. The man tipped the drink up against her lips and forced it down her throat.

Akane would have retaliated but she felt reluctant. This man might not know how to fight and given her skills, she would kill him with a single blow. Instead, she drew back a fist to punch him. But he caught her fist effortlessly and brought it behind her.

"I'm very lonely...miss," he moaned and put the sake down on the uneven ground. "I've been away from women too hic long...and let's just play for a while, okay?" he laughed and pushed her onto the ground.

Akane quickly jumped up when tried to remove his clothes. She kicked him but he dodged. Damn, were the people here all better at martial arts than her? Akane managed to land a punch on his nose and it started bleeding. Akane bowed apologetically to show her regret at having hurt him when she felt him knock her to the ground

"You'll regret having punched me, bitch," he cursed madly and started pulling her hair back. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Akane gathered energy from the cold surroundings. She would douse him with water, that's all. A little water never hurt anybody.

The water flowed into a ball, which was the size of her two hands. She was about to hurl it at the man when she felt a rush of energy rush above her and knock the man off her.

She could still feel the remnants of the pain she received when the bastard had pulled her hair back mercilessly. Akane pulled herself into a sitting position and rubbed her burning scalp.

Then realising that somebody had actually saved her, she looked up to see who her saviour was. Her saviour was fighting- no, he was punching and kicking so furiously that it seemed that his aim was to maim the man permanently.

Ranma stood with his arms akimbo, supporting his weight on his right leg when he was done with the man. When he spoke, Akane could hear that his voice was laced with threat. "Hiroi," he addressed the cowering assailant, who was quivering as Ranma spoke. "Tell me something: why did you try to touch my fiancée?"

The sight of the frightened man dissipated Ranma's patience instantly. He fought the urge to remove the sheath of his dagger and stab the man a thousand times. When he'd seen her pinned under Hiroi, her sleek hair in his calloused hands, he'd thought that he would go insane and throw a fireball at him. But he'd known that a fireball could kill a low-ranked soldier such as Hiroi and had reprimanded himself for having even considered such a thought. All he'd done was wrench the bloody ass of her with his hot energy, punch him twice, kick him three times and thrown him onto the ground.

"I-I-I-I-I...have mercy, Lord Ranma, don't kill me!" Hiroi stuttered.

Akane noted that Hiroi suddenly didn't seem to be drunk anymore.

Ranma was going to remark about how he wouldn't want to dirty his hands by touching the bastard again when Akane tugged at his arm.

"Don't kill him, Ranma," she said, even though she knew it wasn't worth defending the bloodied man but still, killing wasn't something one should do; it was a sin, and one of the worst. "I know I shouldn't be helping him but- he's losing a lot of blood already! Look at him!"

Ranma appraised the terrified man before him. "I lost more blood than this when I fought against your clan, Miss Tendou, and I still survived," he murmured, remembering the time when he was lying helplessly on the ground, almost drained of all his energy, and surrounded by thousands of enemies. God, he had felt so pathetic. If Ryouga had not intervened on time, Ranma would most probably find himself six feet under.

Akane heard him mutter something but didn't quite catch it. "What?" she asked but he shook his head quickly and gave the bloodied man one more kick at the abdomen. The man cried out, more out of fright than of pain, and collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

Ranma picked Akane up and carried her on his back. He felt her wrap her arms around him.

A question suddenly occurred in his mind and he tried to push it away but curiosity got the better of him. He frowned and asked, "By the way, how did you get out here?"

Akane smiled weakly and brought her index finger to her lips. "It's a secret."

"Whatever," he shrugged indifferently even though not knowing how was practically killing him.

Irulan 24: I'm going to reveal it soon...very soon. Next chapter, in fact.

Lady Mokodane: I did mention before that Akane knew Ranma was a talented fighter...didn't I? I hope I did...well, still, he's a talented person and can choose the energy he wants to draw in and change the energy into its element. It's just that he's better at using heat energy to fight. The temperature thingy will be explained in the next NEXT chapter. .)

The vengence of the heavens: Thanks for the compliment!

sesshygirl3: I'll check them out asap! That is...if I manage to finish all my stupid schoolwork and assignments first...Heck, I hardly had the time to update my stories!

Hououza: Thanks for the blessings!