The Ambush Continues

Disclaimer: See before.

….

The sight of a cat momentarily held Ranma immobile. He fleetingly forgot about the two shadow sprites, about Ryoga behind him, and Akane getting to her feet as she took in the situation. All he could think about was the pit from so long ago with the glowing eyes. Luckily the shadow sprites appeared just as paralyzed as he was.

As Akane leapt to action and tackled the nearest shadow sprite, Ranma shook himself out of his stupor and ran to stop the remaining evil spirit. Unfortunately it was the one closest to the cat.

The demon shadow sprite was in a standoff with the snarling feline. When Ranma reached them he was unsure how to proceed. On the one hand the calico cat effectively blocked the sprite on the one side and Ranma was closing in on the other. This gave him an ideal opportunity to get rid of the shadow; Ranma recalled something about biting the sprite's neck from the "lessons" as a method of removal. However, Ranma really had no desire to get any closer to the cat.

Watching as the sprite snarled and swiped its claws at the hissing cat, Ranma shook himself. The evil spirit was worse than the cat, he told himself trying to strengthen his resolve. Growling he swiped his claws at one of the shadow's leathery wings. Dodging at the last minute the demon moved to the side leaving Ranma staring face-to-face with the calico.

He felt his fear consuming him immediately. Seeing this, the shadow sprite sniggered at his plight and tried to move past her two foes. The cat did not allow it and pounced on the demon's arm.

Shrieking the sprite shook the attacker off, but the damage had been done. Her arm smoked where the cat had touched it. Eyes flashing the demon threatened, extending her claws, "You're going to die fur-ball!"

Through all of this Ranma, absorbed by his fear, had backed away terrified by his ally. He had forgotten his surroundings once again. Out of nowhere Ryoga sank his teeth into Ranma's heel and the male shisa roared loud and long.

The demon sprite dropped to her knees in front of the calico cat and covered her ears. The corpse sprite, whom Akane had been fighting, screeched. Ranma's attention jerked toward the sound. Akane took the opportunity to jump on top of the corpse and bit the shadow's neck. The scream became a wail as the sprite's body fell as a thin layer of ash.

Ranma had stopped his roar when he had been distracted, and the demon sprite seized the opportunity to fade to smoke and escape from the temple grounds. In the aftermath Ranma was only able to take a few paces toward where Akane crouched before the inhabitants of the Temple arrived and he and Akane froze.

…

Akane, her mouth open, stared frozen as the Godling, the Servers, the Amazons and her sisters all came to investigate what had happened. She could still feel the adrenaline from the recent fight running through her veins. It made her itch for the newcomers to return to what they were doing.

The Servers were by far the worst. They stepped out into the yard and exclaimed in puzzlement at everything. Even more unusual were the Amazons who curiously stood meekly to the side. Since when had Shampoo and Mousse been so docile? At one point Shampoo rescued Ryoga from the curious Servers by picking the piglet up.

Ryoga Hibiki the piglet, Akane growled to herself, when had he gotten here? Akane still felt hurt and betrayal at the discovery of his curse. She never did hear the boys' explanations. Now it appeared that Shampoo and Mousse had been aware of the black piglet's true identity as well. Had everyone else but her known?

The Servers and the one apprentice continued to examine the shisa, the pile of ash, and the piglet. It was the Godling, in female form, her short hair slick against her skull, which stopped the Servers from prodding everything in sight. "Go back inside," the puppet commanded them, "the shisa have defended the Temple-Palace for The Great One."

As the Servers left eager to oblige, the shisa found themselves able to move again and stretched. Akane immediately focused on the redhead who descended the temple steps.

The puppet obviously held no fear of the purring cat as She walked over and picked the calico up. Yet Ranma still was terrified of felines, evident when he cringed as the Godling still holding the cat passed by him. The short haired redhead indifferently assessed the situation before speaking authoritatively, "I see the shisa eliminated a shadow sprite. The shisa also chased away a decoy heedless one and another shadow sprite."

Ryoga, still in Shampoo's arms, squealed in confusion drawing everyone's attention to him.

"You were lucky," the puppet addressed the piglet; "if you had been a man when you entered the grounds the shisa would not have been able to help you."

The piglet froze and Mousse, adjusting his glasses, spoke, "You know of his other form?"

The Godling's lip twitched, "Nothing is hidden from the divine."

Shame washed over Akane at that and she growled, shaking her head. How long had Hibiki stayed hidden in front of her face? Add to that the sight of the fake Ranma calmly holding a content feline, her tired sisters watching with confusion after having spent hours searching for a way to restore her humanity and the Amazons calmly, sedately talking. This scene was not right. She stood up, intent on walking to the far side of the tree and pretending everything was normal.

After one step the sharp pain in her side made her stop and sit down. The adrenaline rush had caused her to forget that the corpse shadow sprite had gotten a lucky hit in on her right side, in front of where her leg met her hip. Now that the hormone had left her system the throbbing ache returned. Quickly she curled her tail up and over the slash to hide it. Glancing around guiltily, Akane was somewhat relieved to find everyone else's attention on Nabiki who had marched up to the piglet in Shampoo's arms. She didn't want to worry the others with her injury.

Turning her attention back to her sisters she watched as Nabiki glared. "You are Hibiki, aren't you," the middle sister accused the piglet.

Kasumi looked shocked, but she quickly recovered. Shaking her head, the eldest Tendo sister reached out to restrain her sibling. "Nabiki let it go."

The puppet jerked Her head up. Turning toward Ryoga, Mousse and Shampoo the redhead commanded them to return inside. Akane watched perplexed as the Amazons obeyed, Shampoo still hanging on to Ryoga. The Godling with the cat followed them inside.

Their departure did not calm Nabiki down. She hissed at Ranma, "You knew didn't you?" He flinched and she turned her attention back on Akane, "What about you?"

Baring her canines Akane snarled. Part of her realized that her sister was just venting. There was a time when the middle sister seemed to know everything that went on. For Nabiki to realize several important facts had escaped her notice had to be more than a little upsetting. Akane, however, was just as upset for the same and different reasons.

Kasumi, in her placating manner stepped between her siblings, "We all know now; there is no point in dwelling on the past. I know you two are not mad at each other so do not fight over trivialities."

Akane relaxed as Nabiki let out a frustrated sigh. The shisa watched as her middle sister knelt before her. "Why can't things be normal?" Nabiki lightly stroked Akane's head.

The eldest sighed as well, "I was so close to finding something just now, too."

"Really?" Ranma walked over to them, his eyes bright with hope.

"Yes," Kasumi smiled slightly, "one of the scrolls was about removing the soul and creating a new body for it… I dropped it in my rush to see what was happening here."

"Alright then, let's get back to work and take a look at it," Nabiki briskly stood up and grabbed her elder sister. Kasumi smiled lightly back at the shisa as they walked away.

Akane, feeling exhaustion, watched them go. She almost didn't notice that Ranma had started to speak.

"This madness might finally be over," his excitement broke through her weariness. It was more than a little infectious.

She hummed and smiled in agreement and shifted her weight intending to face Ranma better, but pain spread from her side and she winced. Unfortunately for her, Ranma noticed.

"What's wrong?" He was abruptly up close examining her for injuries.

Akane tried for nonchalant, "Oh, it's nothing; I'm just a bit stiff. I didn't get to stretch before the fight, after all."

"Akane," Ranma growled out in a frustrated tone, "I smell blood." He pulled her tail out of the way and inhaled sharply at the sight of the revealed gash.

"So the shadow sprite got a lucky hit in, she certainly won't be bothering us anymore."

In response Ranma shoved her and Akane fell on her good side.

"What was that for?" She was even more astounded when Ranma draped one forelimb across to hold her still and brought his head closer to her side, "W-What are you doing?"

"Cleaning the cut," was the curt reply. With that he began to lick her wound.

The feeling made her whimper; her cut stung. In contrast every time he missed and licked her side it tickled. As an unconscious response to the sensations she began to knead the air with her claws.

Eventually he finished and turned his head toward hers. After a pause he spoke, "I'm not sure what else I can do for your cut. A bandage wouldn't work very well with all the fur, not that I would be able to put it on you."

Akane sighed, "Just leave it and let it heal on its own, I guess."

Ranma shifted so that while Akane still lay on her side he was spread across her legs, preventing her from getting up. He rested his chin on her forelimbs. "Hopefully soon we'll be back to normal."

Glancing at him curiously Akane asked, "What are you going to do when someone enters the gate and sees us now?" She referred to their current position.

He hummed, "If it's a stranger, I don't care." A brave response from someone who was as embarrassed as she was last time they were in an awkward position.

"What if it's my sisters? They are going to have to walk past when they go home, if they don't come out sooner to tell us what they found."

He gave her a look, "Then I would explain how reckless you were for getting hurt and how necessary it is for me to sit on you so that you don't move."

Akane huffed.

Ranma licked her forelimb, "Don't misunderstand. I care for you, Akane."

…

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I want to thank my editor; she has this amazing ability to find the grammar errors I miss, as well as serving as an excellent sounding board for ideas.