Disclaimer: Ranma & Co. belong to Rumiko Takahashi.

Chapter Three

Tomorrow was her wedding day.

Akane opened her eyes and sat up in bed, trying childishly to blink away the canopy above her. If she squinted, she decided, it almost looked like her own canopy in her bed at Tendo Castle. Her eyes began to water from the effort.

There’s no help for it. Sighing, she sat up and scrubbed her eyes. A knock on the door startled her.

“Yes?” she called out.

A blond maid holding a silver tray entered, smiling at the princess.

“Good morning, your highness. I hope you slept well. It’s a lovely day outside,” she said liltingly, and dipped into a curtsey before placing the tray on the table next to Akane’s bed. “Your breakfast.”

“Breakfast?” Akane wondered. For the past two days, Ranma had shown up and dragged her to the dining hall. She’d wished he’d leave her alone, but the wretched man insisted on accompanying her to every meal. Or rather, having her accompany him. It was really annoying.

“Where’s the prince?” she asked.

The maid curtsied again. “His highness has ridden out to one of the towns this morning, and regrets he could not join you for breakfast.”

“It would be nice if the jerk told me his plans ahead of time,” Akane muttered to herself, as the maid removed the cover.

Immediately, the most wonderful smells wafted out.

“Oh my God, is that frost berry juice?” Akane gasped, leaning forward to grasp the porcelain mug brimming with cool pink liquid. She hadn’t tasted it in ages. It had a rather strong flavor, and you needed to acquire a taste for it, but Akane adored it.

She reached for the mug and took a big sip, enjoying it. “Mmm…” It tasted wonderful, but more importantly, it reminded her of sunny days at Tendo castle when a trader would bring frost berries carefully packed in ice, all the way from the frozen land of Sim, and their castle cook would crush it to juice for her sisters and her.

The maid curtsied again. “Enjoy your meal, princess.” She turned and hurried out of the room, leaving the door open in her haste.

Akane took a few more sips, enjoying the drink and looking out the window. It was true, it did look to be a lovely day.

She was raising the mug for another sip when she heard “Akane! Don’t!” and something came crashing into her and knocked her right off the bed, sending her rolling into the wall and sending the mug to skitter across the floor and smash into pieces, cold liquid spilling everywhere.

“What the…?!” Shocked, Akane looked up into eyes of bright cerulean blue, fringed by lovely feminine lashes.

A red-haired girl of Akane’s own age held her down to the ground, scowling down at her. “You idiot!”

Akane began to struggle. “Who the hell are YOU?” she demanded. “What do you think you’re doing?” The girl’s eyes widened in surprise for a second, and Akane used the second to flip the girl off her. The girl immediately jumped to her feet and yanked Akane up as well.

Standing, Akane noticed the girl was slightly shorter than her, and, her eyes strayed unwillingly to her bosom, amazingly well endowed.

The girl swiped a wash of frostberry juice off her cheek. She’d gotten a lot of it on her. It was in her hair, her short red braid, and across her shoulders, soaking into her tunic and even her trousers. Probably because she had covered Akane. Though since the girl was shorter, Akane wondered why the juice hadn’t splashed over the girl’s head onto Akane’s face as well. Only the sleeve of Akane's nightgown was drenched.

But that all faded with the mystery of who this girl was. And WHY the hell had she knocked Akane off the bed? She didn’t hold any kind of weapon…

“Who are you?” she demanded again. “And how do you know me?”

The girl looked down at the drenched sleeve of her tunic, then stared up at Akane consideringly. “I’m…Ranko. I’m a relative of the Saotomes. And everyone knows you. How do you feel?”

“How do I…?” Akane couldn’t complete the sentence because suddenly a cramp seized her stomach, and she groaned. She wasn’t a stranger to pain by any means, but the next cramp brought her to her knees. She doubled over in agony.

“Akane…” Ranko came closer and placed her hands on Akane’s shoulders. She bent closer in apparent concern.

Akane began to pant, sweat beading her face. “What’s…happening…to me?”

“Get up.”

“No, I’m si…sick…”

“Get up, or I’ll throw you over my shoulder, and that won’t make you feel any better.”

Akane fought to her feet, and Ranko began to pull at her elbow.

“N…no…need….bed…”

“No. You need the privy.” She pulled/pushed Akane toward the indoor bath that was part of the en suite bedroom. The palace of course had indoor plumbing, and she led Akane to a marble basin set in the stone and bent her over the edge.

“Throw up.”

“Wh…what?” Akane blinked blearily up at her, her fingers curling over the edge of the basin as she struggled to fight the pain. “Are you crazy?”

Ranko sighed. “I don’t have time for this.” She grasped Akane by her hair, forcing her head back. She stuck two of her fingers into Akane’s mouth, making the princess’ eyes widen with shock as her lips were forced to part. She pushed her fingers deeper into Akane's throat, forcing the princess to gag and choke. Liquid surged between her fingers as she triggered Akane’s gag reflex, bringing up the juice Akane had so recently imbibed.

“You were poisoned,” Ranko said, impersonally watching Akane heave and bring up more fluid. “Don’t you normally eat your meals at the high table with Ranma?”

Akane shook her head, and gasped out, “The maid…said he was…out in one of the towns…” Before she could say more, she was caught by another heave.

“And you believed her?” Ranko shook her head. “Not a lot of people are happy with this union, princess. You need to be more careful. Frost berry juice is especially easy to hide poison in.”

Akane choked and coughed on her hands and knees, her head now hanging over the basin, dribbles of saliva clinging to her lips. Ranko raked back Akane’s hair and mercilessly forced her fingers back into her mouth. Akane wrapped her hands around the slim wrist, but the heaving and the pain had made her too weak to pull Ranko away. Rather, she was now grasping her wrist like a lifeline to stay upright.

Finally, she placed a hand on the ground and looked up, her eyes wet with tears from the last few minutes. “The cramps have stopped,” she gasped, trying to catch her breath.

Ranko said nothing, but released Akane and opened the tap, letting the water wash away all the juice. She washed her own hands and regarding Akane, dampened a washcloth and gave it to her to clean her face. Then she stood and left Akane’s side.

Akane rinsed out her mouth and lifted the washcloth to her face, feeling foolish at how she had nearly died, and so stupidly. She was furious at herself. She hadn’t survived Islay’s dungeons and made a deal with the devil to die so easily in her own room! She had to be more careful. If Ranko hadn’t come by…

The maid! Akane raised her head sharply, looking to warn Ranko, but she saw her talking to a palace guard at the entrance to Akane’s room.

Ranko nodded at the guard in dismissal and walked back in. “How are you feeling?” she asked.

“Better,” Akane said, standing. “Thank you, Ranko. If you hadn’t stopped by and reacted so quickly, I probably would be dead…”

“Yes, you would be…” Ranko said, looking away, and so was startled when Akane threw her arms around her in a hug.

“You may be the first friend I’ve found here!” Akane exclaimed, Ranko’s head still nestled against her shoulder. “I thought I’d never find a friendly soul in this place and here you saved my life!”

Ranko extricated herself from Akane’s embrace, flushing. She rubbed the back of her head. “It wasn’t anything,” she growled. “I…gotta go see about that maid.”

“And I need a bath,” Akane said ruefully, examining her ruined nightgown. But she said it to an empty room. Shrugging, she stripped off her clothing and began to run water in the tub.

“This is all they found.” Ukyou held up a frilly maid’s cap and apron. “She’s long gone.”

“She only has a head start of half an hour, tops,” growled Ranma as he finished upending a nearby pitcher of warm water over his head.

“Perhaps if you hadn’t stopped to make her throw up…” Ukyou began snidely.

“…she’d be dead!” Ranma yelled hoarsely. Ukyou’s silence told him what she thought of that idea. He turned and butted his head into Ukyou’s until they were nose to nose. Beads of water slid down his drenched bangs and splashed onto her cheeks.

“I know you think me marrying her is a waste of time, Ukyou, but as my right-hand man, you WILL support my decisions.” His gaze bored into hers.

“Yes, lord.” Ukyou muttered. Then she exhaled and looked away. “Yes, you’re right. I’m sorry. I don’t know why but I still see her as a threat to us.”

Ranma chuckled darkly as he turned from her and ruthlessly tousled his hair with his fingers to get the water out. “She would be, no doubt about it. She’d have my head on a platter if she could, but I have her on a short leash at the moment. I need you to watch her when we’re out across the border in Hidden Lake.”

Ukyou sighed in relief. At least Ranma wasn’t so taken with Akane that he’d become blind to her potential threat. Ukyou had seen how he’d watched his betrothed when they were together. Most wouldn’t catch it, but Ukyou had been Ranma’s right hand man for two years, after all. “Yes, lord. I’ll go see about finding that maid, then.”

“And Ukyou…”

“Yes?”

A warning tone. “She doesn’t know I’m Ranko.”

Akane had slept the morning away, exhausted by her earlier ordeal. But it could only keep her down for so long. Ranma turned up to take her in for lunch, which she ate cautiously, then hungrily.

Ranma watched her. “Learned your lesson about food trays, I hope?” he asked snidely.

Akane paused with her fork to her mouth, then looked up. “You could have warned me that there’s a death threat against me.”

Ranma snorted. “You’re royal; you were born with a death threat against you.”

“That’s ridiculous! No one has ever tried to kill me before.”

“Or were they simply caught, and you were never told?” Ranma prodded. Akane opened her mouth to deny it, but then her memory slowly brought up times when servants had mysteriously disappeared from her home, her father had a pinched look on his face, and everyone had tiptoed around him for days to avoid his bad temper.

“Some of my people aren’t happy with this union, Akane,” Ranma warned. “You need to remember that especially before the wedding.”

“That’s what Ranko said, too,” Akane mused.

Ranma’s head came up, and an odd expression entered his eyes. “Ranko…”

“Yes! She’s amazing! You really have her to thank for saving me,” Akane exclaimed. She looked around the table, obviously searching for her.

Ranma smirked. “Ranko is here….infrequently. I doubt you’ll see much of her.”

Akane pouted. “But that’s too bad,” she said. “I liked her!”

And she liked you too, Ranma thought, curling his fingers, the ones that he’d thrust into Akane’s mouth, into a loose fist at his side. He could still feel the graze of her teeth against his index finger, the soft touch of her tongue against the pads of his fingers; see her wide eyes, her parted lips and the panicked working of her upturned throat.

Damn, but he was sick that his betrothed had turned him on even as she fought for her life, and given that he’d been in female form at the time…

“You only have to worry about me liking you, Akane,” he said crudely, reaching for a distraction. “And there’s one surefire way to accomplish that.” He leered at her, and as expected, she glared at him, leaning away from him as far as possible.

“You’re disgusting,” she whispered.

“Sleep well tonight, because you won’t be getting much rest tomorrow night,” he hissed in her ear and walked away, knowing she was shooting daggers into his back with her eyes. But having her hate him was a more familiar feeling, and distracted him from the memory of her mouth, at least.

He headed back to his war room.

Akane paced the room she’d been given all afternoon. Ranma was closeted with his war council in yet another session, fine tuning the details of their incursion into Hidden Lake. Akane had sat through hours and hours of it in the last two days, but finally the discussion had devolved into the merit of this weapon or that, of which rations to take and she didn’t care about any of that. She just wanted to get in, rescue Soun and Kasumi, and get the hell out so they could plan how to take Hidden Lake back. Well, actually that wasn’t all she needed to do.

And she really didn’t want to see Ranma. If she saw him, she’d break her promise and do her best to physically hurt him as much as possible.

You won’t be getting much rest tomorrow night…

She shuddered as his words came back to her, taunting and cocksure. Oh, yes, he had it all planned out, didn’t he? She’d sold him her body, and he would take advantage of that. There was nothing to be done about it, but still, for him to taunt her so cruelly…

“ That’s it!” she stopped in her tracks, annoyed. “I can’t take this any longer.” She stripped out of her silver trimmed grey gown and changed into a plain tunic and a pair of loose trousers, then pulled her boots on top. They were the only gear that had survived her trek through the forest, and they felt like old friends on her feet.

And friends here in Islay were few and far between.

She found the servants’ staircase and made her way down to the palace grounds. The exit brought her out near the stables, and within a few moments of checking, she found it- the fighting grounds. At this time of evening, no one was left on the field. All the weapons had been packed away but someone had carelessly left a wooden practice sword lying near the gate. Akane picked it up and gave an experimental swing. It had a decent weight. It would do.

She closed the gate behind her, and walking out into the field, stood for a moment with the sword upright between her clasped hands, her eyes closed and breathing deep, letting her focus pool within her. Eventually, she began her katas, eyes still closed, moving gracefully and slowly through them, then speeding faster and faster. Her muscles began to protest, then stretched and lengthened, warming up, allowing her to leap further and slash quicker.

She imagined that Ranma was her opponent, that he hacked and slashed at her, but that she was too fast for him. She’d heard of his martial prowess even in Hidden Lake, of course, but surely he couldn’t be THAT good. She was good, too! She slashed at his imaginary shoulders and chest, causing blood to spurt from his wounds.

His eyes took on a satisfyingly desperate look, and he looked as if he wanted to beg her to stop.

She smiled, and brought her sword around in an arc, then whirled, and brought it up to slice Ranma’s neck open, only to have her sword clash shockingly against another.

She opened her eyes and looked up, startled. Ranma’s eyes gleamed blue over the edge of his blade as he pressed her blade back. For a split second, Akane wondered if she had simply brought her imaginary Ranma to life, but the eyes were different. There was nothing desperate in them. If anything, they looked mocking. He truly stood before her.

Her own eyes widened as she assessed the sudden opportunity. A chance to defeat Ranma Saotome, her hated enemy?

“Well, what are you waiting for?” Ranma taunted. “Do you always strike at shadows or can you handle a real opponent?”

Akane’s eyes narrowed in rage, and she pressed forward a furious attack. Ranma, his hair tied back in the braid she’d first seen him in, and a tunic and trousers, seemed very hard to catch, though. He deflected many of her blows, and some of them he merely avoided completely.

The sun began to set as the opponents continued their fight.

She had to force him into an attack and perhaps get his guard open. But how?

She increased her speed, but Ranma was faster. She was trying to hit him but she couldn’t seem to reach him and do both. Akane slowly came to a surprising and disheartening conclusion. She realized she would have to completely sacrifice precision for speed.

She feinted, and when he turned to duck, she placed her sword at chest height and concentrated on a burst of speed. So fast she didn’t even have time to aim her sword. She hit something, and then her speed bowled her over. In a tangle of arms and legs, Ranma and Akane went down.

She lay there gasping for breath, and finally turned to see Ranma. He was examining a bruise on his forearm.

“You got a hit on me,” he said, slowly.

Akane grinned fiercely up at the sky. Suddenly her world seemed brighter. “Don’t sound so surprised, Ranma. I’m a warrior, too, you know.”

She got to her feet and found Ranma standing as well. He surveyed her with something like…wariness. It may not be respect, yet, but at least it wasn’t mockery anymore.

A/N- The most important thing to know here is that this story is now moving permanently to the 'M' rating for the next chapter. And I'm confused. I thought there was an MA rating? Or does just not use that?

The other thing to know is that the manga Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler) influenced me when I was writing this chapter. If anyone cares, it's a beautifully drawn anime (especially if you love people like evil Ranma) and manga. A good, super-quick intro to it is the 'Black, black heart SebastianxCiel AMV' on Youtube.

As usual, reviews are much appreciated and provide fuel for the story. And telling me which part of the chapter you enjoyed most are the reviews I enjoy reading the most! :) Especially because it gives me a hint on moulding future chapters! Just in case you were wondering. Though knowing you are mining the chapters for clues about the future makes me nervous....:)

Thank you for reading and reviewing!