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Akane-Chan
----
Chapter Four
The sun slowly rose over the continent of Nerima to the sounds of
clattering armor. A group of nearly thirty men dressed in leather
under-clothing stood out in the courtyard of the Tendou castle putting
on their brightly polished plate armor. At the front of the group was
Sir Kunou, already fully armored.
"To believe my love is alone with those... those curs." Kunou shook
his fists in frustration. "We must hurry. There is no guessing as to
what those animals might do to my delicate flower of purity! We shall
ride in one hour, prepare thine selves," With that note, he quickly
stormed off, his young squire giving chase.
The group quickly finished their task at hand, donning their helmets
and gauntlets. As one by one they finished, they started lining up in
formation. Within moments, Kunou reappeared followed by a group of
young boys leading horses. The soldiers quickly went to their
appropriate squire and mounted their horse. They then took their
weapons of choice, which were also being carried by the young squires.
The last to mount his horse was Kunou.
"Alas my beautiful Akane, fear not! For your true love shall save you
from the clutches of those wretched creatures," Kunou proclaimed as he
slung himself onto the back of his solid white warhorse. "Onward!"
At Kunou's command, the soldiers let out a unified battle cry and
urged their horses forward. As they passed through the city gates they
sped the horses up into a full gallop in the direction of Akane's
departure.
(-\*/-)
Akane woke to sunlight spilling onto the bed from the single window in
the room. She slowly rubbed her eyes and sat up, throwing the covers
off of her. She slung her legs over to the side of the bed and stood
up stretching. As she went to step forward, she tripped over a lump of
chain-mail and fell onto another lump. A rather large, soft, human
shaped lump.
"Umm, My Lady?" Ranma asked turning underneath Akane so that he was
looking up at her.
Akane blushed furiously, quickly hopping up and dusting herself off.
"If you wanted to sleep with me, all ya had to do was ask," Ranma
grinned as Akane turned a rather pleasant shade of crimson.
Akane started to backing up trying to think of something to reply
with, when she tripped over her pile of plate-mail. She stumbled a bit
before falling to the floor with a loud crash.
Ranma jumped up quickly and extended a hand to her, which was quickly
slapped away angrily by a rather embarrassed Akane.
"I do not need your help."
"Well jeez. If I knew you were that much of a klutz I wouldn't have
said anything."
Akane stood up. "I am not a klutz!" She turned in place and started to
storm off. Unfortunately her foot caught her breast plate, laying at
the foot of the bed, and slid forward sending Akane straight
backwards.
"Not a kultz, huh?" Ranma asked as he caught her. "Sure fooled me."
"Ranma! What are you doing to Lady Akane?" Ryouga growled as he stood
up rubbing his eyes, awoken by the noise.
"Aww who would want to do anything with this kultzy tomboy anyway. Go
back to sleep pork butt," Ranma said, quickly letting go of Akane.
"When we return, my father will hear about how you refuse to treat me
with respect," Akane growled.
Ranma started to stick his tongue out when he was hit in the head by a
flying boot. "Ow! What did ya do that for?"
"Dammit, Ranma!" Ryouga shouted. "If you keep this up we'll never get
paid. You jerk, think about some one besides yourself for once! If we
don't get paid, we don't eat. What do you think about that?"
"Oh." Ranma put a hand behind his head. "Guess I didn't think of
that."
"What a surprise," Akane said sarcasticlly.
"Nobody asked you," Ranma pulled down an eyelid and stuck his tongue
out at her.
"Just how old are you supposed to be anyway?" Akane asked picking up
pieces of her armor and placing them on the bed.
Ranma started to speak but was cut off by Ryouga. "I think we should
get going soon. The orcs should be sleeping now that the sun is up. We
might be able to make up some ground."
"I agree. At least some one around here is still thinking about our
objective," Akane responded as she clipped on her breast plate.
Ranma grumbled under his breath and snatched his chain-mail from the
floor. He quickly pulled it over his head and sat down on the floor.
He grabbed his boots and pulled them on, still mumbling as he tied the
laces. As he was standing up, he grabbed the boot Ryouga had threw,
and tossed it in his direction.
Ryouga pulled his chain-mail on and stood up in time to be hit in the
arm by his boot. He bent over and picked it up, glaring at Ranma while
he put it on.
"Will you two cut this out? Honestly, I could do this myself. You two
will just slow us down with your bickering," Akane said as she put on
her brass leggings.
"I'd like to hear you say that when you have a bunch of ogres and orcs
breathing down your throat." Ranma walked past Akane and opened the
door. "After you, My Lady."
"I am perfectly capable of handling myself, thank you very much." She
grabbed her sheath and sword and stomped out the door.
Ryouga walked up to Ranma. "You really should try to get along with
her you know," he said as he left the room.
Ranma sighed and followed. The three left the inn and untied their
horses reins. After a short ride back out of town, they were back to
the mangled grass of the orc trail.
"Well, here goes nothin'," Ranma shouted as he spurred his horse.
(-\*/-)
"Halt!" Kunou shouted, raising a hand. The group quickly stopped their
horses behind him. Kunou dismounted and looked at the ground. "A
struggle took place in this very spot. Alas! They dared to stain the
purity of my love! They shall perish a thousand deaths!" He remounted
and waved his party onward.
(-\*/-)
After riding a few hours, Ranma, Ryouga, and Akane came to a massive
cavern. The orc trail through the tall grass ended at the rocky
opening of the cavern. The group quickly dismounted and let their
horses graze in the nearby grass. Akane stepped forward and peered
into the dark cave's entrance.
"I don't suppose either of you would be carrying a torch?"
"Nope, don't need one," Ranma said as he extended a hand, palm facing
upwards. A small sphere of light collected just above his hand.
"Show off," Ryouga muttered under his breath.
"Where did you learn how to do that?" Akane inquired as she inspected
the ball of light.
"Well, we had gotten into a fight with this wrinkled up little troll.
As she left, she kinda dropped some weird lookin' scroll. So I picked
it up and looked at it. Since Pop ran off, me an' Ryouga decided to
teach ourselves the stuff on it. We got into an argument over who
would use it first and we ended up rippin' it in half. So Ryouga took
the top half and I took the bottom."
"Oh, I see. I assume this is the same place you learned the little
fireworks display you demolished my door with?"
"Yep," Ranma replied as the group stared walking into the tunnel.
Ryouga quickly grabbed the tail of Ranma's chain-mail shirt. He looked
downward. "Hey, I think the ground is sloping down."
"Yeah," Ranma agreed, squinting to see deeper into the cavern. "Looks
like we're in for a long walk."
Ryouga sighed.
As the group progressed into the cavern, the white-noise of a gushing
waterfall could be heard in the distance. They walked onward, the
sound of falling water becoming louder. Eventually, they came upon the
end of the passage they were following. It opened into a huge,
circular room. Two other passages were connected to the opening, one
to their east, the other to their west. North of them was a large pool
of dark, foul-smelling water. A massive waterfall cascaded from a hole
high in the north wall down into the pool below.
"Wow," Akane said in awe. "How do we know which way to go?"
"Yeah, Ranma," Ryouga added. "How do we know?"
"Flip a coin? What do I look like?" Ranma growled.
"Calm down, we have to work this out." Akane interrupted, causing
Ranma and Ryouga to stop glaring at each other.
"Who died and made you our fearless leader?" Ranma demanded.
"You will if you keep talking to me in that manner!"
"I'm so scared!" He stuck his tongue out at her. "If you weren't a
girl..."
"If I weren't a girl what?"
"Umm, you guys?" Ryouga asked, tapping Ranma on the shoulder.
"Stay out of this bacon-breath."
"Quit picking on Ryouga! What did he ever do to you?"
"Will you two shut the hell up? We have company!" Ryouga shouted,
pointing the opposite way Akane and Ranma were looking.
"Wha?" Ranma and Akane asked in unison, turning towards the western
wall in time to see a spear hurdling through the air at Akane.
"Akane!" Ranma dove at her, knocking her to the ground. The spear flew
over them ricocheting off the wall with a metallic clang. A shower of
sparks fell around them as the cavern plunged into darkness, Ranma
having neglected to keep his light source ablaze.
"Ranma! Light!" Ryouga commanded.
Ranma muttered a few words and the light sphere formed above his hand.
He and Akane stood up and dusted themselves off, exchanging a blush.
"Well at least we don't have to worry about which way to go," he said
looking in the direction the spear came from. A large amount of rather
annoyed orcs were converging in the westward passage. Ranma tossed the
light into the air, where it hovered above the pool of water. "We
don't have much time. The light doesn't last long away from my body."
When the group of orc had gathered at full strength, they charged
forward. The first wave bearing long wooden spears with metal spikes
at the tip. The group behind those were wielding massive double-bladed
swords.
Ranma, Ryouga, and Akane lined up side by side. The boys fell into
battle stances as Akane drew her sword. She swung her weapon in an
upward diagonal arch, and clove the points off three orcs' spears. On
her return swing, she swung her sword horizontally, disembowelling the
same three orcs. Ryouga and Ranma stared in disbelief. Akane shrugged
and went on with her orc slaughtering. The boys attention was quickly
diverted back to the battle when a pair of orc took a slash at them
with their huge swords down at their heads. They both side-stepped and
sent rapid kicks into their attackers' sides in perfect sync.
"I have an idea, Ranma," Ryouga said as he dodged as spear thrust at
his throat. He caught it and snapped it like a twig.
"Oh?" Ranma vaulted over a horizontal sword strike and landed on top
the offending orc's head. "Do tell."
"Make them gather up around each other."
Ranma shrugged and pushed hard off the orcs head, landing behind it.
"Hey you jerks! Your mothers smell like roses!"
All of the remaining orcs turned their attention to Ranma. All but
one, that is, who was locked in savage combat with Akane. That is
until it took a glance at its converging comrades. Akane took full
advantage of this. She thrust her sword into its side and twisted. It
grunted one last time, blood squirting from its mouth. She placed her
foot on the orcs stomach and pushed its body off her sword. With a
slight disgusted look, she shook the purplish blood off her weapon and
sheathed it. She turned to watch what the commotion was.
Ranma eeped and ran. "You better start putting that plan of yours to
work, Ryouga!" he yelled, running passed Ryouga.
Ryouga smirked and bent down, touching the ground. As the orcs passed
him he shouted, "bakusai tenketsu!"
The ground beneath the orcs exploded violently, sending orcs flying in
all directions, and slamming into the walls with a sickening crack.
Ranma walked up to Ryouga, glancing around at the carnage. "I have to
admit, that was pretty damn cool."
"Wasn't it?" Ryouga smiled, his fangs slightly showing.
Akane clapped, "Not bad. Shall we go now?"
"Might as well," Ranma shrugged and the three walked towards the
westward passageway.
(-\*/-)
Kunou and his men stopped outside cavern entrance. Kunou dismounted
and walked to the grazing horses. "My love's mount. They entered here!
Dismount men; we shall follow."
The group dismounted and let their horses join the others. Kunou
walked to the entrance and drew his katana. "They must have forced her
into this dank, cavernous hell," he sobbed and motioned for his men to
follow. "Satoshi, bring forth the torch and light the way. We shall
seek out those enemies of women and destroy them!"
"Yes, sir." Satoshi rushed forward from the back of the ranks and
bowed slightly.
"Well, go on. You shall light the way." Kunou shoved Satoshi forward
into the cavern.
Kunou followed after, followed by half the assembled army. The other
half stayed outside to guard the horses and cavern entrance.
After a while of walking the noise from the waterfall could be heard.
Kunou held up a hand for the group to stop. "I smell the stench of
death. A massive battle took place not far from here. I regret I could
not have been there to lend a hand. My precious Akane, has thou
survived the fray?" He ran forward into the opening of the circular
cavern.
As the group caught up with him, he was standing in the middle of the
massive count of orc bodies and dismembered limbs. He looked around,
noting the two passageways.
"Akira?" Kunou called out for his second in command.
"Yes, sir?" he replied stepping forward.
"Take half of the men and go down the eastern passage. I shall take
the other half westward."
"As you wish. You heard him, half of you come with me," Akira shouted
as he drew his katana. "Move it."
The group split up, and went in their designated directions.