Blinded by the Light - Chapter 3

Synopsis: A part of the ATAC! group ganged up on Akane after school which resulted in Akane losing her sight. Akane tries to continue with her life as usual but is finding her new handicap making things difficult. Also, Nabiki makes a promise to Ranma to help find the guilty party involved in wounding Akane. In the meantime, Kouga and the crew are trying to find a plan to save themselves from the possible wrath of Akane and Ranma.

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Kouga stepped up to the door of the old mansion and frowned. It was night now, 7 pm, the appointed time. And apparently the place, too. Kouga rechecked the numbers on his scrap of paper against those falling off the old house. The paint peeled in little curls showing gray wood underneath. The dead trees in the yard, a lawn tall enough to hide a Mack truck. All it needed was a few crows and stormy weather and the place would be straight out of an American horror movie.

Not seeing a door bell, Kouga knocked on the door. It slowly swung open with a moaning creak which clearly said to him, “Get out.”

Kouga paused and rechecked the address. Yupe, the numbers matched.

“If that little twerp set me up, I’ll kill him,” Kouga growled under his breath.

Voices caught his attention and Kouga stepped into the dark entryway. A light in the hallway drew him closer to the sound. Stepping forward into the room, the whisperings abruptly stopped. Two puny boys turned to him. One Gosunkugi and one Makoto. Both looking a little panicked at his sudden appearance.

What made Kouga even more tense was the strange symbols, objects and smells that surrounded the room. The whole room had a sense of old and potentially dangerous, plus the two boys were still warily looking at him but said nothing.

Kouga was liking this less and less. They better have a good plan or he might just beat them up. Basic principle really. If he was unhappy, then everybody else would be more unhappy.

Deciding to act casual, Kouga asked, “So what’s the plan?”

Makoto glanced quickly at Gosunkugi before replying. “Well, we might not have to do anything.”

“Whadda mean?” Kouga took a few threatening steps forward, “You’re not backing out now, are you?”

The threat did its job as Makoto took the same number of steps back and Gosunkugi held in shaking hands some charm in front of himself for protection.

“I, I didn’t say that, Kouga. It’s just that there’s a rumor spreading around Furinken.”

Kouga backed down at that, “Rumor?”

Makoto nodded his head, “Uh, yeah. It seems the story going around school is that Akane has a deadly contagious disease brought on by our fight, er, I mean, by whatever happened at school.”

Kouga snorted at that, “Hmph, I know who started that nasty bit of business. But it won’t last. We didn’t exactly leave the school grounds clean of evidence, if you know what I mean. So, I’ll ask again, what’s the plan?”

“Well, Gosunkugi has a spell of protection,” Makoto nodded towards his cousin who coward again when Kouga glanced at him.

Kouga rolled his eyes at the pitiful sight of Gosunkugi’s quivering. “Uh, huh. And what does this require of me?”

Makoto bit his lip, flicking his eyes from his cousin then back to Kouga. “Um, nothing.”

Kouga nodded his head in approval. “OK, good answer. What does this spell of protection do?”

“Uh, well, it calls forth a submissive demon beast for your command and protection.”

Kouga chewed the thought around in his mind. The terms “submissive” and “demon beast” didn’t seem to fit all that well together. However, “for your command and protection” was too much of a tempting offer for a bully with dwindling followers. These thoughts let the shifty movements of the two others boys and their sneaky side glances be forgotten.

With a nod of his head Kouga asked, “So when do we start?”

Makoto smiled at Gosunkugi. If Kouga had caught it, he would have reconsidered his answer.

Gosunkugi finally spoke up, though his voice was so soft it was hard to tell. “Sit here and hold this candle. Don’t let it go out under any circumstances.”

“What happens if it goes out?”

“Not sure what. Something bad.”

Kouga shrugged seemingly unconcerned while Gos continued, “I’ll draw the symbols. You may feel a little tingle, but it’s just the magic.”

After shoving a lit candle in Kouga’s hand, Gosunkugi frantically started to work. Drawing symbols, chanting, placing strange objects in the symbols. The whole time Kouga watched the flame while Makoto stood to the side.

Gosunkugi finally stopped his scribbling and chanting. Symbols were everywhere. Floor, walls, people. Though a few candles were the only source of light in the room, Kouga could discern Makoto and Gosunkugi stood a couple of feet away in small hand drawn circles. However, Kouga found himself surrounded by arrows pointing towards him with several characters written in Japanese saying, “Get him.”

Before he could start asking important questions, the hairs on the back of his neck lifted. A breeze from no where tugged at his shirt.

Kouga palmed the candle to try to keep it lit as a shadow grew from the floor in front of him. The darkness shifted and shaped until a humanoid form stretched into life.

The creature growled loudly. Hands above its head with fingers arced, ready to slash its prey. It paused for a moment, taking in its surroundings. Kouga’s pupils dilated to pinpoints as it leaned over then blew out the candle.

A scream pierced the night, then just as quickly died.

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Ranma ran down the street on top of the fence trying to button his mandarin shirt while scarfing down the last of his breakfast. As he swallowed the last bit, he yelled, “Akane! Wait up!”

Akane had left early this morning. Determined to make it on her own, Ranma guessed. Stupid idiot. Didn’t she realize she was going to get herself hurt? Especially since now Kodachi, possibly Shampoo as well, knows of her handicap.

Ranma continued to curse his fiancée’s stubbornness when he turned a corner and came to a complete stop. Streets signs were bent at all angles, cars mangled, cracks in sidewalks and walls. He wondered briefly if some bumbling construction crew had passed through before the sense of déjà vu shook down his spine.

What the hell happened here? And where was Akane?

Ranma felt his heart jump a little. The line of destruction followed the same path he and Akane always took to get to school.

/That stupid, stupid idiot better be alright,/ he thought to himself as he jumped back into a run. The school was approaching in the horizon when he started to hear crashes. A blue haired girl could be seen slowly walking towards the school and Ranma sighed in relief.

Until he saw the car next to her crumple.

“Akane!” Ranma called out to her.

Akane turned around to the sound of his voice and propped what looked to be an extraordinarily long and thick log on her shoulder.

“Ranma?” She asked, then added a bit irritated, “About time you got up.”

Ranma jumped off the fence and took in the stock of damage. The car next to them had a solid v-shaped dent in its roof, like a tree had fallen on it. No destruction lay ahead. And Akane had a rather big stick in a ready position.

/Well, mystery solved./ Ranma didn’t know if he should laugh or hang his head.

“Akane, do you realize what you’re doing?”

Akane’s eyebrows creased in confusion, ”I’m going to school. What does it look like?”

Ranma glanced at the car again, “Well, it looks like you’re declaring war on Nerima.”

“What?”

“You just took out most of the cars on the way to school with that weapon of yours.”

Akane growled, “This is NOT a weapon, Ranma. It’s a walking stick.”

“A walking stick?” Ranma said in disbelief.

Akane placed a loving hand on the log resting on her shoulder, “Yes, I made it myself last night. Dr. Tofu said it might help me get around.”

“Figures.” Then Ranma added with an exasperated sigh, “You can’t do anything right.”

Akane was starting to feel her anger rise, “And what’s that suppose to mean!”

“A walking stick is suppose to help you from tripping or bumping into something not take down an entire city!”

“I didn’t trip or bump into anything on the way here!”

“That’s because you forcibly moved it from your path with that brute strength of yours!”

Akane was about to see how well her walking stick could remove a certain fiancée from her path when they heard the late bell ring.

“The late bell!” They both cried.

Ranma grabbed Akane and began to run. Fortunately for Ranma, Akane was too busy trying to maintain her hold on her walking stick and school bag to physically protest. With a few well placed jumps, the pair made it to the classroom before roll call.

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“Finally, lunch time.” Akane sighed under her breath. She made her way to her favorite spot under the tree. Without her walking stick, things were a bit harder, but the teacher absolutely refused to let her use it inside the school grounds. Akane couldn’t understand why people were having such a problem with a simple stick.

Leaning back against the stable tree trunk, Akane sighed again. Today was possibly worse than yesterday. She failed her quiz for English. The teacher gave her an oral examine but Akane wasn’t able to read the material and therefore, was unable to study for it. The teacher tried to be nice but in the end told Akane she might be better off transferring to a special school or at the very least have home schooling. She wasn’t the first teacher today to offer such advice, and unfortunately, Akane knew she wasn’t the last.

Akane also wasn’t looking forward to the rest of the day. Gym was up soon and Akane already knew that basketball would be played again. And that meant she would be sidelined for the period. She’d never been sidelined before.

But worse was the whispering. It had changed over night. Before it was wild stories and theories, curious and annoying. But now it was... Akane couldn’t quite put her finger on it except that it was definitely worse. She couldn’t hear words very well, their meaning were being held better.

She also noticed none of the students would have nothing to do with her. Even her friends. Yesterday, a lot of people were helping her out, finding her desk and what not. But today she struggled with everything on her own. It felt as if the entire school had extricated her to some corner alone.

Except Ranma.

Somehow, when she was about to scream in frustration, he would be there to give a quick hand then, just as suddenly, disappear. Akane was having problems placing this behavior into her world. Except for this morning when he poked fun at her walking stick, Ranma had been almost…kind to her the whole day. It was a side she rarely saw since his machoism would usually step in after doing something nice and botch it all up.

Akane smiled to herself. She hoped Ranma managed to keep it up.

Approaching footsteps halted Akane’s thoughts. “So Tendo, how’s the eyes?” a familiar and much disliked voice asked.

“They feel fine, though I’m still blind. Thank you for asking, Sakura.” Akane said in a dismissive tone.

“I’m sorry to hear that. I also came to tell you how sorry I am to hear about your condition.”

Akane felt her hairs rise a little. Sakura was a known rumor starter. They were always malignant and unfortunately, usually believed. “My condition?”

“Yes, rumor has it that your…disability is attributed to a strange contagious disease.”

“What? That’s idiotic! I was in a…a fight.” Akane’s brows creased as she tried to pull together her memory of what did happen that fateful day.

Sakura placed a finger to her lips, “Ah, that incident no one heard and you apparently remember so well. Now come on Tendo, you must admit. You’ve disappeared often for extended periods and return with these wild stories. Really, you could of just told your classmates the truth.”

Akane clenched her fists as she stood, “It is the truth! Why would I lie?”

“Well, I’m sure it would be hard to tell others about a potentially dangerous disease when every boy at Furinken is fighting for you. I mean, you wouldn’t want them to give up their chase, would you?”

The under lying implications of the statement made Akane’s blood boil. That people were believing it made her face pale. The change in the rumor mill and how no one would help her. It had to be the reason. She could almost picture Sakura standing in front of her with a smug smile of triumph that she had hit a mark and that Akane could do nothing about it.

“Yo.” Akane heard Ranma drop down by her. “You OK, Akane?”

Ranma found his fiancée extremely pale after being held up by some guys asking him stupid questions about Akane. What’s with this disease they keep talking about? The other girl who was talking to Akane was smiling something akin to an evil Nabiki smile. He didn’t like it one bit and decided to step in. He liked it even less that neither answered his question.

“Well, I best be going. Have a good day, Akane.” Sakura flashed a fake friendly smile as she turned to leave. Ranma’s eyes narrow as he decided he really didn’t like that girl.

Ranma glanced back at his fiancée and found her entirely too quiet and pale. “Come on, Akane. You don’t look so good. Why don’t I take you home?”

The fact that she didn’t protest when he picked her up and ran home made Ranma worry all the more.

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Ranma was normally a heavy sleeper. Having a snoring panda as a bed companion and a rough martial arts training life did that to a person. However, too many things weighed heavily on his mind. And they all circled around Akane.

Dinner had been….difficult tonight. Akane spent the entire afternoon alone in her room, only coming out when Kasumi called for dinner. He knew things were going to get bad as soon as Akane tried to feed herself. Kasumi offered help and Akane almost snapped at her. Ranma had watched his fiancée’s frustration and embarrassment build as she fumbled with her chopsticks sending rice and other bits of food all over the place.

It was if the trap was set and Mr. Tendo had to play with it. As Akane became more and more violent with her food, he started asking questions about school. Akane growled that things were OK. The tone of Akane’s voice sent alert systems off in Ranma’s brain. He knew it very well. It said clearly, “Back off, I have a mallet.”

Mr. Tendo, apparently, was unfamiliar or oblivious to the warning and continued on about how worried they were about her well being and how vulnerable she was to another attack. Kasumi interjected that she would be happy to home school Akane. Of course Genma sided with Mr. Tendo and Nabiki just watched the whole thing unfold.

Ranma started to inch away from Akane as her chi flared up. Akane slowly stood and her chi dropped to a low burn. The table went dead silent in the presence of her battle aura. She held her chopsticks tight in her hand and merely said, “Excuse me.”

Then his fiancée disappeared back into her room. Nabiki was the only one to speak up after that, “Now that was interesting, eh, Ranma-kun?”

The look in her eyes suggested he go up and find out WHAT that was all about. However, Ranma’s self-preservation told him to let Akane have time alone.

He didn’t understand what was wrong with the crazy chick. Her family was worried about her, that’s all. Why was she so upset with them?

Ranma’s thoughts were dropped when he heard his door open. No one comes in at this time of night unless their looking for trouble. His many experiences with Happosai and Shampoo taught him that the hard way.

[Well, if they’re looking for trouble, I guess I’ll have to give them some.] He grinned a bit wickedly as he tensed up. It was the new moon and little light entered through the window making it impossible for Ranma to distinguish who the intruder was and, it seemed, making it hard for the trespasser to get through the room. But it didn’t matter, for whoever it was passed by the panda and came towards Ranma’s futon. They were definitely here for him.

The person dropped to their knees and began to reach out to him when he jumped up. With a sweep of his arm, Ranma grabbed both wrists. He slapped his hand over their mouth before the intruder could make a noise. Continuing with the forward momentum, Ranma pushed the person to the floor with his weight on top to stop them from running or getting a good position to fight back.

His mind working in fight mode quickly took stock of the situation and potential dangers. It took merely a second before his mind realized that the intruder was female. A physically fit and well endowed female at that. The blush he radiated preceded the second brain wave which took note of the short hair and wide blank hazel eyes which were only inches away from his. Both of which he could recognize even in this light.

He could feel her soft lips pressed into his palm and her body moved slightly underneath him as she tried to escape his grip. With the beginnings of a tickle in his nose, he leaped away.

“Akane?” he whispered in disbelief while holding back the blood flow.

She sat up quickly, looking flustered but not angry at the attack, “Uh, hi, Ranma.”

“What are you doing?”

“I, I couldn’t sleep so...”

“So?”

“I came here. To sleep. I guess.”

Ranma was puzzled as to why Akane would want to be in the room with him and his father. He wouldn’t be in the room with his father if he could help it. Actually Akane sounded a little confused herself.

“Why don’t ya just sleep with one of your sisters?” he asked a bit irritated for being woken up.

Could see a blush running across her cheeks, “I can’t.”

“Why not?”

Her flush continued to deepen, “Because I kick in my sleep.”

“Oh, so it’s OK to beat up on me?”

“That’s not what I said! Besides I’m not asking to sleep in your futon, you pervert!”

Ranma smiled cockily, “Oh, really? Just admit it, Akane. You came here to sleep with me.”

That hit the right button as he saw her flash in the darkness but it guttered out just as quickly.

“I just wanted...I thought...Oh, never mind, Ranma. I’ll just go.” She tried to make an angry retreat but her new handicap caused her to shuffle and fumble as her hands grabbed only air trying to find the door knob.

Hot tears ran down her face. She was so angry. Angry at Ranma for being a jerk. Angry at herself for being unable to find an exit. Angry at her weakness for needing comfort.

A hand on her arm stopped her feeble movements, “You’re such a clumsy tomboy.” He said softly with an exasperated sigh.

Before she had time to react he was guiding her out the room. Her tears turned cold at the humiliation. How true those words were. Especially now. She couldn’t do anything. Even walking was a challenge. And apparently Ranma wanted no part of her but was kind enough to stop her from embarrassing herself further and show her to the hall.

But the warmth on her arm never left as she heard the door shut quietly behind her. “Come on, let’s get you back to your room.”

He slowly pushed her along with a hand at her back and one at her wrist for guidance. His help was comforting. Very unlike the annoyance of Kasumi who would prattle on about nothing trying to ease the awkwardness of the situation. Akane felt him release his gentle hold, and heard her duck plate knocked softly, before guiding her to the bed. Even before she had a chance to sit, he left her. The warmth, more than of his touch, quickly cooled as he walked away. Her heart grew dark as her vision and painfully heavy with each step she heard.

[He’s walking away. I’m like an annoying animal. Something that needs tending to. Watched but not...not truly cared for.] But when the door finally closed, she could still hear his breath.

“Ranma?” she asked with small hope. She tried to keep her voice strong but it still trembled a little, afraid she would get no response.

He answered and that small hope grew, “Come on, Akane. You need some sleep.” Ranma pushed gently against Akane’s shoulder to get her to lay down, then he covered her with the blanket.

It took a few minutes to calm her heart to realize he still did not leave the room after tucking her in. She could hear him moving things around, shifting objects, pausing for brief moments, cursing slightly under his breath when a solid thunk of head hitting her desk sounded in the room.

“Ranma, what are you doing?”

The noise stopped. “Uh, just looking.”

“Looking? For what?”

“Um, just some things, to make myself a bed.”

Akane fiddle with her fingers a bit, “But...”

“I thought, you know, that when you came into my room, you just wanted, well, you just wanted a little company.”

Akane felt her cheeks heat up, “Well, yeah, but…”

Ranma stopped dead in his tracks. [She didn’t really want to *sleep* with me, did she?] “I’ll be right here, Akane.”

“But...” Akane could feel her frustration growing, mixed with a bit of fear. [I can’t SEE that, you idiot.]

That look on her face. God, how he hated that look, especially since there was something he could do about it.

“OK, how about this.” He sat on the floor, scooting himself up to the edge of the bed then after a moment’s hesitation took Akane’s hand.

Akane smiled some but it was more amusement than relief. “You can’t sleep comfortably like that, Ranma.”

“Well, what else am I suppose to do?”

Akane released Ranma’s hand, moved to the far side of the bed and patted the open spot.

There was a very, very long pause were Akane couldn’t hear Ranma’s breath and she thought for a moment he had bolted. Considering the invitation she just gave him, she wouldn’t blame him. Not too much. The mallet was surely enough to warrant self preservation. But all the same, it still hurt to receive his refusal.

She just didn’t want to be alone and lose another night of sleep. At least when you can see, you can be sure that the strange movement of the house wasn’t a creepy ghost or an equally creepy Kodachi hanging over you. But she wouldn’t force him to do something he didn’t want to do. No matter how much she wanted him to stay, Akane refused to be like their fathers.

“Ranma, if you don’t want to...You don’t have to stay.”

The crumpled expression was the final push and Ranma found himself willing climbing into Akane’s bed against all the terrified screaming voices of warning in his head. It was the longest five minutes of both their lives. Neither occupant moved laying side-by-side.

Ranma turned his head slightly to Akane to see how much longer he had to live and whether he should make a run for it like his instinct told him. She was breathing a bit oddly, taking small gulps of air. Before Ranma could ask if she was alright, Akane threw herself into his arms.

Her body shuddered hard with each sob that was muffled into his shoulder, “Akane!? What’s wrong? I’ll leave if...”

“No!” Akane grasped him so tight Ranma thought his ribs would crack but it was only a brief moment as her muscles released and Ranma’s lungs filled with air.

“Please, just tonight. Hold me.” The desolation and pain in her voice brought his arms to encircle the shaking girl.

“Sshh, Akane. It’s alright, “ he whispered into her hair. For what was a very difficult hour, he held her tight, not knowing what else to do and feeling he should do more. All range of emotions ran through her until she was spent and fell deeply into sleep.

She laid in his arms completely trusting that he would protect her from whatever danger. He wondered briefly how she could sleep with his heart hammering so loudly. Her skin fairly glowed under the moonlight and her hair felt soft and silky between his fingers. Her eyelashes were spiked from her tears and her face had relaxed from the usual anger he saw. She looked like an angel.

Deciding he would leave after a few minutes to ensure she was really asleep, he gave her a slight squeeze which made her mumble softly in her sleep. Somehow that made her all the much more cuter. Ranma grabbed the blanket which had fallen from Akane’s shoulders and with her still in his arms, he pulled the blanket over them both.

He could feel the heat of her body pressed softly against him and had to admit to himself he didn’t really want to leave. When he first came into her room he kind of hoped P-chan was here. Granted he didn’t care for the little pervert, but he did tend to bring comfort to Akane. Ranma never had to do that before and didn’t know where to begin. But now he would have willingly ate this very woman’s cooking to hold her like this. It surprised him how much he liked it.

It wouldn’t hurt to just shut his tired eyes for a few minutes, would it? Besides the warmth from Akane was so comfortable. Nothing like his father’s fur. This was much, much better.

Thirty seconds later Ranma was lightly snoring, his last conscious thought wondering how things become so different.