I had a sudden burst of writing energy tonight, so here's another chapter... Hope you'll like it!

The Fifth Night

The stars were climbing higher onto the sky as the sun disappeared beneath the horizon, darkening the path Ranma was silently trying to follow. He was hungry, but not very tired yet, having missed lunch and dinner thanks to the gang that interrupted his and Akane's school-day by kidnapping her in their gymnastics class.

#God damn it! Stupid rocks, stupid trees!# Ranma silently rambled, almost stumbling. He didn't want to make his presence known just yet, having just caught up with the small gang of men. He wanted to sneak up on them to assess the situation before he decided how to make his next move.

Earlier that day he and Akane had been on their way to school when they literally ran into a gang of five dark-faced men. Akane had apologised deeply, and Ranma had been about to apologise too when Shampoo – his Amazon fiancée – had made one of her classic 'jump-on-Airen-with-bicycle' stunts, giving Ranma a slight concussion and making him forget about the apology in the ensuing fight to pry off his Chinese wannabe-wife. Forgetting the apology had been a bad mistake, since the offended men had followed him and Akane to school, and as soon as Akane was out of Ranma's sight, they'd knocked her out, hauling her off with them as a revenge for their dented honour, and as a consolation prize. Ranma didn't know she was missing until Sayuri and Yuka, Akane's best friends, had come sprinting over to him when they couldn't find Akane. They were all used to things happening to either Akane or Ranma at their school, so no one so much as lifted an eyebrow when Ranma took off in the middle of the class. The men had left a note written in bad Japanese, stating that they'd taken Akane to teach Ranma a lesson in manners, and that he would never see her again…

#No way am I gonna let her get away that easily, not after all the things we've been through! If they've so much as thought a bad word about her, I'm gonna make them pay… I'll make them wish they'd never been born!#

At the sight of their camp fire with Akane placed before it, still in her t-shirt and gym-shorts, tied on her hands and feet but looking unharmed, Ranma sighed in relief. For a couple of minutes he just watched the camp, almost chuckling at the sight of the men respectfully keeping their distance to the fuming girl, all of them sporting bruises or scratches of some kind.

"You'd better cut me loose this instant, or my fiancé will kick your butts!" she growled, sitting straight with royal dignity. "It wasn't his fault that his Chinese bimbo decided to make her untimely entrance…!"

Ranma felt weird listening to Akane defending him, happiness tickling his stomach. Using his famous martial arts abilities, he snuck closer, wanting to free Akane and take her back home with him. Before he could decide whether to free Akane or take out the men first, one of them approached her.

"You be silent, woman! You be all trouble! We tired of your resistance… I loosen bonds now, and you do women's work and cook for us men…!" the man said in broken Japanese, halting in front of Akane with a giant knife at the ready.

Ranma held his breath as Akane's eyes flared with anger. She closed her eyes momentarily, and when she opened them again she had her control back, nodding her consent. The other men pulled their weapons closer to themselves as Akane was freed, obviously needing the protection of their rifles and knives and swords against the little girl. She just smiled sweetly, and started making a meal for the thugs with the ingredients they supplied her with. Ranma gaped, not understanding how she could give in so easily. Then he noticed a wicked smile momentarily flashing over her otherwise calm face, and he realised that she was probably planning her escape by cooking something to knock out her captors. Grinning, he pulled back and decided to wait and watch the consequences of her cooking, feeling strangely proud of her being able to use it as a weapon.

Soon Akane had a stew brewing over the fire, and as she started serving it, Ranma noted that she didn't touch her own portion.

"Here you go, mister." She smiled cutely, handing the last plate to the man that had freed her.

He didn't even thank her, but just grunted as he shoved the food into his mouth. Akane kept playing the cute girl, and served them their third portions before the first man started moaning slightly in pain. The one that appeared to be the leader became alarmed as a second and third man started sweating, and he stumbled towards Akane with his sword pointed threateningly at her. This made Ranma react instantly, jumping out in between Akane and the leader, shielding her. Standing casually in front of the man, looking perfectly relaxed, he smiled quickly at Akane.

"Hi 'kane… I've been looking for you. Have you had your fun yet so we can go home, or is there anything else you'd like to do first?" he drawled with cockiness dripping off of him.

"Ranma! What took you so long!" First Akane sounded delighted, but it soon went over to a mix of real anger caused by her built up fear, and old habits.

"Sorry, but I haven't been here long, just long enough to admire your cooking-skills. Is it lethal?" As Ranma talked with Akane, the leader had unfrozen and started attacking Ranma with his sword. Ranma easily avoided the blade, and he'd just been dancing around for about 15 seconds when the man fell to his knees, clutching his stomach in pain much in the same way as the rest of his gang were.

"No, it'll just make them really sick. I was planning to get away from them now, but I'm glad you're here so I don't get lost on my way home."

Akane stepped closer to Ranma, rubbing her bare arms, and smiled sincerely up at him. He frowned as he noticed how chilled the night was, and knew that she needed more clothes if she wasn't going to get sick. Rummaging through the men's backpacks, he not only found makeshift clothes for Akane, but also lots of unspoiled food supplies. Grinning happily, he took what he needed and put it all in one backpack, while Akane used a couple of safety-pins to wrap herself in some thicker blankets. Before they walked out of the camp, Ranma knelt by the crying leader, and held his head so their eyes met.

"You got out of this easily this time… But if you try to follow us, or if you ever try to take away Akane against her will again, I will be forced to take more drastic actions…" Ranma's words were simple, but the meaning behind them combined with the look in his face, made the man nod his head eagerly, just wanting to get away from the scary boy and the even more terrifying girl.

Ranma took the backpack and hoisted it easily onto his back, and lead the way back into the thick forest with Akane close behind. It was dark in between the trees, the few stars that shone didn't do much to light their path, and the moon was covered by heavy clouds. Stumbling along, Akane tried to keep up with him without tripping in the long cloths hanging around her, and when Ranma suddenly stopped she crashed into him.

"We won't make it back tonight, and making our way through the forest in the dark isn't the safest thing in the world. Would you mind if we find a place to camp, where we can make something to eat and get some sleep?" Ranma asked her as he helped her stand upright.

"Well… Those guys back there will soon start to throw up and then get the diarrhoea, followed by fever and chills, so we have plenty of time to eat and rest." Akane smiled innocently, pulling her blankets tighter.

Ranma raised his eyebrows, happy that she felt he was on her side this time. Automatically taking her hand in his, he led her along for a couple of kilometres before he found a spot he thought was good enough to use as a camp. There was a small, hidden clearing with a drizzling stream, and a couple of trees had fallen over, making a nice roof over a small, flat, grass filled spot on the ground.

"Akane, would you mind making us something to eat while I prepare a place for us to sleep?"

"No, I don't mind… What kind of supplies do we have?" Akane asked, trying to take a peak into Ranma's 'borrowed' backpack.

"Here, you take this, and I'll go get some firewood and something to make a better shelter with."

Ranma took off his backpack, and before Akane had finished looking through it he'd returned with dry firewood. Helping Akane make a fire the 'old fashion' way, he used his chestnut-fist speed to rub two sticks together, creating enough heat to make some dry leaves catch fire, and soon they had a crackling fireplace. Disappearing again as Akane started her cooking, he returned with several long, leaf-filled branches that he used to thatch the 'roof' of their shelter, making it stronger and more isolated against the chilling drafts. Finally satisfied with his work, he went looking for more leaves, moss, and dry grass, using it to soften the ground before he stretched out one of the extra blankets he'd 'borrowed', on top of his make-shift mattress. Returning to Akane by the fire, he sat down next to her as she served something that looked suspiciously similar to what she'd made for her kidnappers. He waited until she'd taken a mouthful of her own portion before he tasted his own.

"Don't worry, Ranma, I did it correctly this time. I don't want to make you sick too, especially since you haven't annoyed me seriously for a long time now." Akane grinned at him, her eyes dancing with mirth.

Ranma smiled back at her, nodding his approval happily as the thick stew made his taste-buds dance with joy. Soon he'd eaten two thirds of the stew, and patted his stomach with great satisfaction.

"Yum, Akane… It was delicious!"

Akane smiled happily at him, her eyes drooping with tiredness. Ranma got nervous as he thought about the shelter he'd prepared, and how he hadn't thought about making them separate sleeping places.

"Uh… Now don't take this the wrong way!" Ranma waved his arms disarmingly. "But I've made just one sleeping place… If you want to, I can sleep here, by the fire…"

"Nonsense! I trust you, Ranma… I know you won't try anything, and I think that it would be best if we could share body warmth tonight… Unless… unless you'd rather sleep alone… It's up to you." Akane finished with a slight blush, shivering as a particularly cold wind swept through their small clearing.

Looking closely at her, Ranma realised that Akane would probably grow cold during the night, her small body not being used to the outdoors, and not even being properly dressed.

"If it's really up to me… then I think we should stay together, to best keep what little warmth we have." Ranma also blushed, barely daring to look at her.

They got ready for bed as best they could, and soon stood awkwardly together in front of the small crawl-in shelter. Both were blushing, and were uncertain about what to do next. Finally Akane sighed deeply, dropping to her knees and crawling in under the trees.

"This is stupid. Come on, Ranma, I'm tired. Let's go to sleep… We can use one of the blankets I've used to keep warm, so we have something covering us also. Now get in here…!"

Ranma gulped, but carefully made his way in after her, his eyes widening at the sight of Akane unwrapping herself slowly. He knew she still wore her shorts and t-shirt underneath, but still he almost panicked at the sight. When Akane drowsily laid down underneath the blankets, gesturing for him to lie besides her, he made a conscious effort at calming down. Gingerly he slipped underneath the blankets, trying to relax. Sucking in a harsh breath as Akane slid closer to him, mumbling about him being much warmer than her, he was staring stiffly into the leaves surrounding them for almost half an hour before he managed to relax enough to fall asleep. The last thing he registered was Akane's content sigh as she snuggled into him, with his arms tightening around her.