[soundtrack for this one: 銀閃の風 (Ginsen no kaze), by 鈴木このみ (Suzuki Konomi)]

"Seriously?" Yui said in a small voice as she looked around in a panic while Riko moved closer to Ranma nervously.
Ranma nodded. "I need to get you all out of here. I'll take Nabiki first and come back for you." He said urgently as he grabbed on to Nabiki tighter and tensed to jump. She shook her head and pushed hard on his chest in a signal to let her go.
For the second time, ever, he didn't respond instantly to her unspoken signal. He looked at her in confusion and kept his grasp tight around her. Normally his body heat pressed against her was comforting, but it wasn't at the moment.
"Nabiki ... I have to get you out of here." He repeated. "I can't protect you if a lot of them attack, with all these people around."
She shook her head again and pointed to her friends. "What about them? Won't the Amazons attack them too?" She asked urgently.
He blinked and looked at her and them, and she could see him warring with what he saw as his duty against what she was asking him. She could tell he wanted to take all of them, but there was no way he could carry the three of them at the same time. She also knew his feelings for her meant he prioritized her over her friends. He kept looking around urgently then back to her. She shook her head again firmly.
He locked eyes with her and sighed as he let her go. "I can't carry you all at the same time, so we'll have to run for it." He said heavily. She could tell he didn't think this was a good idea.
"Nabiki, what's going on? You're scaring me." Yui said.
She smiled at Yui. "You don't need to be scared. Ranma's here." She said softly, but with quiet confidence in her voice.
He frowned at her. She knew he didn't like her to make promises on his behalf. She shrugged at him. Whether he liked it or not, she had absolute faith in his abilities and his ability to protect her.
He sighed and went along with her though. "Yeah, don't worry, it's no big deal. I can handle a few Amazons, no sweat. Let's go quickly though, no reason ta give 'em a chance to cause problems. Don't run yet, but walk fast." He said in a strained voice as he waved them towards the school buildings. Yui and Riko nodded and started walking together without a word. She could tell they were scared. They kept looking back at him and her as they walked. She followed close behind them, and Ranma followed her. He was still openly displaying his battle aura.
"Get ready to run." He said quietly after they had been moving for only about half a minute.
She nodded and repeated his message to her friends in a tense whisper. They also nodded with shaky jerks of their heads. It wasn't a game for them to joke about anymore. She could tell they were scared and getting more scared by the moment. Yui was starting to stumble as she walked as fast as she could while she tried to not outright run.
"Run!" Ranma yelled at the same time that he put his hand on her shoulder to push her to move faster.
Riko and Yui took off as fast as they could. She kept right on their heels. Out of her peripheral vision she could see dark shapes darting around and getting closer to them. The Amazons were closing in on them.
A moment later Ranma's hand left her shoulder and she felt the heat of his battle aura blur to her right as he leaped to intercept something. She heard a heavy impact of his body hitting something solid and she saw something human-sized fall to the ground to her right as she ran.
Yui screamed and stumbled. Her friend would have fallen, but she darted forward and caught her and pushed her back up to keep her on her feet and running. Riko glanced over at them with wide eyes.
She felt the heat of Ranma's battle aura shift to the front of them as he blurred to intercept another attacker. He ended up right in front of Riko as he slapped some sort of weapon out of the air that had been aimed at Riko. Then he blurred again and another Amazon fell to the ground heavily with the sound of another heavy impact of fists meeting flesh. He wasn't fooling around.
They continued to run, and he kept darting around them to stop weapons and Amazons from touching them. They were about a hundred paces from the nearest school building, near the leading edge of the side of the building, when he yelled again.
"Stop! Surrounded!" He yelled as he stopped blurring long enough to stand in front of them with his hands up in a signal to stop. He then resumed moving so fast that he blurred. Riko and Yui grabbed on to each other and stood huddled together, absolutely terrified. Yui kept squeaking like she wanted to scream, but was clearly fighting herself to keep from doing it. Riko was darting her eyes around nervously trying to see where the threats were.
She knew it wouldn't help much, but she turned around and got into a fighting stance as she reached down to her core, grabbed her center, and pulled to tap into what she thought of as her courage, but Ranma had re-taught her was so much more. She stood facing outward with her back to her friends and waited for an opponent to attack her.
She could feel the heat of Ranma's battle aura bouncing all around them as he moved from attacker to attacker to protect them. She could hear his feet impacting and sliding around as he fought the Amazons. She could feel a circle closing in around them anyway. She kept her eyes open wide and watched for threats. She could see the Amazons when they darted around, they didn't blur like he did, but they were still really fast.
A moment later one of the Amazons stopped moving in front of her. She tensed to fight, then swallowed nervously as another one came to stand next to the first one. Then another, and another formed up into a group. There were dozens of them. The one in the lead smirked.
She blinked and realized that she knew the lead Amazon, it was Shampoo's older sister, Shona, the one who had sent her falling off a building. Shona was still carrying the marks Ranma had given her in their first fight, and some new ones too. She hoped those had been from the ambush yesterday, or that the old woman had given them to her for her failure. She growled at Shona and tensed to fight.
She would fight if it came to it, but she was starting to get a really bad feeling. Even with her faith in Ranma, the sheer numbers of the Amazons fanning out and encircling them were ... daunting. Her rough estimate put their numbers over fifty now. Ranma appeared in front of her a moment later and started backing up with her behind him. He had his hands up in a fighting stance, instead of spread wide protectively. She knew that Ranma would prefer to save everyone, but if push came to shove, he would choose her over her friends, even if she asked him to protect them instead of her.
She wanted to be angry about that, but all she really felt was numb. Her mind was having a hard time processing what was going on. She was getting more used to it all, but she still didn't have even a fraction of the experience with it that Ranma did. Hell, she didn't have even a fraction of the experience that Akane had.
More and more Amazons were arriving to encircle them. Ranma leaned back towards her and whispered to her. "You know how I said I could handle a few Amazons?"
"Yeah..." She answered.
"Okay, maybe I was wrong." He said reluctantly.
"What do you..."
"I don't know, maybe—" He started to reply, but before he could finish his thought, the Amazons surged forward to attack when Shona snapped her fingers. Ranma tensed and she felt his battle aura flare even stronger. She was too nervous to try to focus and see it. He shot a panicked look back at her, then forward again, then at her friends, and then back to her. Ranma was breathing rapidly, she knew he would never admit it, but he was afraid. He had to be terrified of what would happen to her if he lost. She knew he would also be feeling afraid and guilty about her friends. As the Amazons closed on them, he closed his eyes briefly like he was steeling himself to endure something.
She braced for what she knew was coming, Ranma would fight for a little bit, but at some point he was going to grab her and run. She looked back at her friends to yell for them to run for it, when she caught a flash of white behind them as someone darted forward from the direction of the school.
"Saotome, SHIELD!" A woman's voice yelled calmly. It was a heavy voice that commanded action. Hell, she felt like she should move, and it wasn't even directed at her.
Ranma tilted his head as he heard the command, and hesitated for a moment, then he blurred into motion and she suddenly felt him all around her, like he was everywhere. She didn't know what he was doing, but it felt sort of like what he had done when he had taught her to see using her Ki, only several orders of magnitude stronger. The world went silent as a vacuum formed around her and her friends. Riko and Yui both gasped and stifled little screams of fright as they moved to either side of her. Even as scared as they obviously were, they were moving to try to protect her. A heartbeat later she was sure a bomb went off. Whomever she had seen behind them, who had called for the shield, was incredibly powerful.
The world went white as the shockwave from the attack spread out in every direction, and the ground jumped underneath her. She saw in her peripheral vision both Yui and Riko stumble and fall as they lost their footing to either side of her. If Ranma's shield hadn't been there, she knew they all would have been picked up by the shockwave and thrown against the wall like a leaf in the wind. A heartbeat later sound returned as the bubble they were in popped, and the ground settled back down. The world was strangely quiet.
Ranma appeared behind her a moment later. He reached out and pulled her into a hug from behind with his arms wrapped around her shoulders and squeezed her tightly, almost too tightly, like he was trying to reassure himself that she was still there. He was sweating, and his skin was warm against hers. She could feel him breathing very hard, so hard in fact that he was pushing her back and forth every time his chest drew in air. It was obvious he was exhausted, he even leaned on her a little bit for support. She didn't know what he had done, but it had clearly cost him dearly to shield them all. She reached her arms up and grabbed onto his arms and hugged him back as best she could in the position they were in, as she unclenched, and slumped into him as well. She looked over to where Shona had been, and saw a woman in a white lab coat standing there calmly.
It was the nurse she'd met on Monday, Miso.
The substitute nurse was standing there nonchalantly. She could feel a battle aura coming from the woman. She couldn't tell what kind it was, or how big. She didn't know if that was because she still had trouble seeing with her Ki, or if Miso was doing something ... unusual? There was something odd about the battle aura she felt coming from Miso, it felt ... peaceful. It was hard for her to wrap her mind around it, but the feeling she got most clearly from Miso's battle aura, was calm and peace.
None of the Amazons were still standing. Many had fled, including Shona, but the rest were splayed around them in a semi-circle like they were felled stalks of wheat. None of them looked seriously injured though. They all just looked like they were sleeping. She could see several Furinkan students picking themselves up off the ground a little bit further out as well. Miso's attack had been ... strong.
Miso turned around and smiled at them. She smiled back as she felt another surge of gratitude for the woman who had now helped her three times, while tears sprang into her eyes. Miso walked over calmly with her hands in her lab coat pockets. She looked for all the world like she was just strolling through the infirmary without a care in the world.
As the older woman came to stop in front of her, she felt Ranma release her and step to her right side. He bowed to Miso politely. She was impressed. Ranma almost never bowed to anyone, especially women.
"Thank you." He said simply as he laced his left arm around her waist once he straightened up.
"It was my pleasure." Miso said with a smile as her eyes darted behind them.
She turned to see how Riko and Yui were doing, and smiled. Riko was crouching above the nearest Amazon and poking the unconscious warrior on the nose with a blade of grass while she muttered taunts to her. Yui was grinning ear to ear, and as soon as their eyes met, her friend threw her arms in the air and chirped out, "Again!" Yui had twin streaks on her cheeks from tears she had obviously shed in fright, but it didn't stop her from being silly.
She grinned back at Yui. Leave it to Yui and Riko to go right back to themselves once the immediate danger was over. She looked back at Miso and found her smiling as well.
"I think you two young ladies could use a trip to my office for a checkup and some lollipops." Miso said kindly.
Yui smiled and nodded, while Riko looked up from poking the Amazon and frowned suspiciously. "You have grape, right? I have to have grape every three hours, or I die." Riko said seriously.
"Well, we'll have to see. It'll depend on how good you two are on your way to my office. I may have grape, or I may only have lime." Miso said with a laugh in her voice.
Riko grimaced. "Lime makes me die faster." Riko then pivoted her fast-moving attention to Ranma, smiled like the shy schoolgirl she most certainly wasn't, and reached her hand up towards Ranma cutely. Ranma smiled softly and got the message. He moved over to her friend and grasped Riko's hand and pulled her up to her feet effortlessly.
Riko held his hand in the grasp for a moment, it almost looked like they were about to arm-wrestle, but Riko was staring deeply into his eyes instead. Then Riko smiled at him and yanked him forward into a hug. She saw Riko shudder for a moment as her friend let go of whatever emotions might have been weighing on her. Then Riko spoke loudly enough for everyone to hear, words she hadn't heard Riko say in a long time. "I owe you one, Saotome. Thank you."
Riko let go of him then, and stepped back with a wink before turning to grab Yui and linking arms with her. The person who called herself Miso, who claimed to be a nurse, and quite clearly was much more than that, stepped up behind her friends and smiled at them.
"Well, let's get to it then. And if you want grape lollipops, I suggest you be good girls on the way to my office." Miso said as she stepped forward and inserted herself into the linked arms of Riko and Yui, creating a chain with herself in the middle.
"T-thank you again, Miso." She called out after them as the nurse started walking towards the building with Yui and Riko happily skipping next to her.
Miso paused and looked back over her shoulder and smiled kindly. "It was, and always will be, my great pleasure, Miss Tendo. As I told you, while you are here at the school, you are being watched over. You have my word on that."
She nodded quickly as she felt a tear escape and slide down her cheek as she shuddered under the dual weight of relief and gratitude.
She didn't know what it was about Miso, but the woman reminded her of something, and made her feel safe and vulnerable and happy all at the same time. The substitute nurse held her gaze for a moment more and communicated to her some of the peace and calm she radiated. She nodded again. She knew what Miso was trying to tell her.
Miso smiled and turned around again and resumed walking. The nurse then called out to Ranma over her shoulder without turning around again. "Saotome, you're up. Take care of Miss Tendo for me. That's an order, boy." Miso said with a laugh as she disappeared into the building with Riko and Yui.
Ranma turned to her and raised an eyebrow. "She's awfully bossy for a nurse, isn't she?" He said in a falsely wounded tone. She could tell he wasn't actually upset. Miso had saved her friends. She had no idea who Miso really was, but she suspected who might know.
She linked arms with Ranma and started walking with him towards the building their classrooms were in. She fully intended to collect Akane and go home. It simply wasn't safe at school anymore. It was an unnecessary risk to be at the school with the Amazons a continuing threat.
As they walked, Ranma looked over at her and smiled. "That was nice of Riko to say that, I hardly ever have anyone say stuff like that." He said softly.
She smiled at him. "Ranma, you don't even know the half of it." She said with a grin.
"What do ya mean?" He asked.
"How do I explain this ..." She wondered out loud as she looked at him and grinned. "Let me put it this way ... you are the first person Riko has pledged a favor to in a long time. I know you have no idea what it means for Riko to owe you a favor, so let me explain. Riko hasn't sworn a debt to anyone since she was in grade school. Besides me, Riko is probably one of the most powerful people in this city. She could make you mayor if she wanted to. She knows everyone. She's as well-connected as I am, she just doesn't have quite as many favors owed to her as I do. Don't blow your favor on something stupid like asking her to get you gum, okay? Wait until you are really in trouble before you ask for her help." She said as sincerely as she could. She wanted him to know she wasn't joking.
"Whoa ... really?" He asked as he blinked in surprise.
"Yup, Riko is the real deal, and she pays her debts. If your home is going to be foreclosed unless you get a loan from a bank, Riko can make it happen for you, guaranteed. If some lowlife is threating you with a lawsuit to close your business, Riko can make it go away, with extreme prejudice. She can be a force behind you that can change the course of your life. Don't call for her help unless you really need it. If you never need it, pass her favor down to your kids — Riko's favors are worth more than money or property. Don't waste it." She said with a slow smile growing on her face. She loved how awesome her friends were.
"Nah, I doubt I'd ever ask her for anythin'." Ranma said quietly.
She arched an eyebrow at him and looked at him askance. "What do you mean? Why not?" She asked.
"I know you." He said with a wink.
She smiled at him and pulled him in to a hug as she stopped walking. "Damn right you do, Saotome, and don't you forget it. I owe you a few favors as well, don't worry, I'll take care of you too." She whispered to him.
"I don't need nobody ta take care of me, but thanks." He whispered back to her as he hugged her in return. A moment later he slowly picked her up off the ground and hugged her even more tightly. She sank into the hug and did all she could to let go of the stress she was carrying. She couldn't let go of all of it, but she managed to let go of a lot of it, at least for the moment.
Ranma, however, didn't relax into the hug. Instead she felt the muscles in his body stiffen.
"What's wrong?" She asked him.
"They're back." He whispered to her.
"What? Seriously? Already? Why in the nine he—" She began to curse as her stress and anger returned in full force, but Ranma was already moving.
"Down!" He yelled as he plopped her back to the ground, and then pushed her on the shoulder to drop her even further down as he stepped forward and placed himself between her and the attacking Amazon.
His head snapped back as the Amazon landed a solid hit on him. His right hand was still on her shoulder, and he'd used his left hand to block some sort of a weapon strike aimed at her. So he simply took the hit to his head from the Amazon's other hand.
He staggered back a step, and moved her with him by pushing on her shoulder. His head rocked back again, and he grunted with pain as he pulled her up to her feet again without looking, and quickly ran his hand from her shoulder down her chest and to her belt where he yanked her strongly forward so she was literally right behind him, then he exploded into motion.
He stepped forward aggressively with his right foot into the stance of the attacking Amazon. It was an Amazon she didn't recognize, but she could tell the warrior-girl was good. The Amazon had a black armband on her left arm. Ranma wasted no time in turning the tables on the attacker.
She could just barely follow the motions as Ranma moved to respond to the latest punch the Amazon was throwing with her right hand. As he stepped into the Amazon's stance he slammed his left fist into the lower nerves of the Amazon's forearm. His right fist he smashed into the bicep muscle of the same arm.
As soon as the Amazon's energy had been deflected, he shifted his stance so more of his weight was on his forward right foot, while his rear foot shifted into a twist stance. He carried the motion into a chop to the Amazon's neck with his right hand while his left hand he left up in a parry to the punching arm the Amazon still had extended.
The left parry hand turned into a palm strike to the Amazon's face as he finished the twisting motion with his stance and pulled his right hand back towards his body carrying the motion through from the chop. As soon as he reached the pivot point he reversed the motion from the fully loaded twist-stance and shot out an uppercut with his right hand to the Amazon's solar plexus.
The Amazon started to double over with a grunt of pain as Ranma rebounded his right hand from the punch and brought it circling backwards as he twisted his stance. At the same time he shot a chop out to the Amazon's neck with this left hand that turned into a crane-hand which he used to yank the Amazon's head further down. As soon as his right hand reached the top of the circle it shot forward again and he brought it down strong as a hammer-fist to the back of the Amazon's head where the skull met the neck. The Amazon dropped to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.
She was about to cheer for him when he tilted his head up like he heard something. He swiveled his head to look behind her as his body launched forward towards where she was still standing.
He darted in and slapped his right hand across her body and parried a strike away from her that a new Amazon had been launching from behind her. She didn't recognize this one either, but the Chinese girl had a white armband on her right arm. She hadn't seen any other Amazons with armbands until now.
Are these ones special, or just snappy dressers? She wondered as Ranma fought. She felt detached and surreal again. She wasn't particularly scared, because she knew Ranma would protect her, so she found her mind focusing analytically on the skills of the two combatants.
Ranma had continued his forward motion to step across her path into a guarding position in front of her while he slipped his left hand back and pushed her out of danger. He smoothly recovered his momentum by whipping his right hand back in to his stance in a figure-eight motion as he danced back and parried once more. Then his left hand rejoined his right and he threaded the Amazon's attacks so he was squared up again.
The Amazon sneered and stepped hard into his stance and punched to his face. Ranma didn't give ground. He caught the Amazon's fist in his right hand, then grabbed the wrist with his left, and twisted sharply with his hips and legs as he held the Amazon's wrist immobile.
The Amazon had no choice but to dive to the side or her wrist would have broken. Ranma stayed in place in front of her with a fire in his eyes. She could tell that he was angry. The Amazon rolled out of the dive and charged right back at them. Ranma again didn't give ground. He simply stayed in his guard and parried everything the Amazon threw at him. His hands were a blur as he slapped the Amazon's attacks up, down, side to side and back again. Abruptly his back foot lashed out and landed a solid side-kick that launched the Amazon away again. He hadn't changed the stance of his front foot, or even rotated until the last second with his hips. He hadn't telegraphed it at all.
The Amazon slowly got back up to her feet a few meters away and eyed him with respect. The Chinese warrior took a hesitant step towards him, then stopped. She could tell the Amazon was having seconds thoughts about attacking him again. The first time he had simply thrown her. The second time he had kicked her away pretty hard. The young warrior had to be wondering what he would do for a third attack.
The Amazon growled and launched herself at him again. Clearly retreat was not an option for an Amazon sent on an assassination mission by a Joketsuzoku elder. Ranma growled back and readied himself, still without giving any ground.
The Amazon threw three front snap kicks rapidly with her lead right leg. They were feints though. As soon as Ranma's hands were out of position, the Amazon threw a much stronger kick with her rear left leg. Ranma moved like he had been expecting it.
He stepped fully back with his left leg, changing his stance. At the same time he struck low with his left hand in a hammer-fist strike that swung like a pendulum with the motion of the kick. She saw his fist impact on the Amazon's calf muscle. As soon as his left foot touched down at the rear of his stance, he sprang forward again with the same foot and kicked out the lead knee of the Amazon as his left hand swept up and arrested the Amazon's forward motion as he braced it on her shoulder. He grasped the fabric of the Amazon's tunic as he twisted his stance, and lashed out with his right leg to kick out the Amazon's other knee. As the Chinese warrior collapsed downward, he pulled on the fabric he had in his hand, twisting the Amazon's body towards him, and punched her jaw hard with a strong cross-punch. The Amazon dropped to the ground and didn't move.
She couldn't really explain it, but she was relieved to see that the Amazon was breathing as she watched the Chinese girl's chest rise and fall where she laid, unconscious. She knew she was the one who had urged Ranma to finish off Shona the other day. And she knew she had vowed a war against Shampoo earlier ... but for some reason her desire for bloodshed against a defeated opponent seemed to be waning. Maybe it had something to do with the feelings Miso had pulled to the surface earlier? She weirdly felt like someone was watching her, and she should be ashamed of wishing for bloodshed.
She didn't have time to worry about it though. She heard a twig snap behind her, and knew it would be another Amazon. Ranma glanced back, swore darkly, grabbed her, and ran.
They didn't get very far. The Amazon darted in front of them and blocked their path as they neared the building Ranma had headed for. Ranma swore again and set her down and pulled her behind himself in one smooth motion.
She peeked out from behind him, and sighed. It was Shona. The only Amazon she recognized on sight besides Shampoo, Mousse, and the old woman.
I wonder what they did with Mousse? I haven't seen him in a while. I wonder if they sent him back to China, or have him tied up somewhere? Surely he would have caused a problem with the old woman waging a war to bring Ranma home to Marry Shampoo. She thought as Ranma danced into fighting range with Shona and brought the fight to the young Chinese warrior. He was acting more aggressive than he had in the past. Clearly the Amazons were straining his control.
She watched Ranma with a critical eye again. He really was breathtaking when he used the Art when he was serious. The fight between him and Shona seemed ... weird ... though, but she couldn't put her finger on what it was that seemed odd to her.
Ranma's movements were very crisp. Shona would snap out a kick, and Ranma would crack his hands into a striking block to stop it, then flow into a counter attack high or low.
Shona would punch, and Ranma would whip a hand out, and grab her fist out of the air and squeeze it hard. Shona would strike with the other hand, and Ranma would either parry the strike with his other hand, duck it, or simply exchange hands he was holding.
Their fighting was more like a choreographed dance than a fight. The motions were slower than usual, and the movements were very crisp. She couldn't figure out what they were doing, until Ranma missed one of his strikes, and hit the wall behind Shona instead.
The wall exploded!
He's trying to kill her! She realized. That's why his strikes are so clean and crisp, he's using only power-attacks. He's really, really serious! She thought in fear. She wasn't in fear for him, she was afraid of what he would do to the Amazon.
Why do I suddenly care? What is wrong with me? She thought as she battled with her irrational fear for the safety of the Amazon. She felt like she was coming apart inside. She could feel things straining inside of herself that weren't connected with the fight or Ranma, or anything that was currently happening. Something was wrong with her.
Ranma's eyes were hard and emotionless. They weren't blazing with hate, they were dead. She could tell he didn't have much restraint left any more. She didn't know if he'd actually kill the Amazon if he got the chance. But she could tell he was striking at Shona in a way that absolutely had the intent of causing a lot of damage.
Shona was straining now. The Amazon was probably one of the best in her village, but aside from Shampoo's grandmother, none of the warriors she'd seen from that village were in the same class as Ranma. Especially not when he was serious.
He was dead serious right now. She could see a yellow battle aura flickering around him, and she could feel the waves of heat coming from him.
As Shona's endurance faded, the Amazon's strikes sped up. Shona tried to sacrifice strength for speed. It was a mistake. While Ranma ended up eating a few of Shona's punches and kicks, he was conditioned to take hits. And Shona's strikes were much weaker when she struck with speed. Ranma started hammering into Shona's pressure points in her bicep muscles when she punched, and her calf and thigh muscles when she kicked.
A moment later he got through Shona's guard, and landed a cross-punch to the Amazon's gut. As Shona gasped and folded into it, he straightened up and knocked Shampoo's sister off her feet with a rising uppercut with his other hand. Shona sailed up into the air, crashed into the remnant of the wall, and lay still.
Ranma stalked towards Shona with a dark purpose in his steps. She didn't know what he intended to do, and she didn't want to find out.
"Ranma!" She found herself yelling at him. He immediately turned and looked at her in a fighting stance. He looked to either side of her, and behind her, looking for threats. She ran to him and hugged him. "Breathe." She said as she held him. If someone had offered her a million Yen right then and there to explain why she had saved the Amazon who had attacked her multiple times now, she would not have been able to explain it.
She felt him clench his muscles almost like he was going to knock her off him, then he unclenched and deflated as he came back to himself and put his arms around her and held her. "Are you all right, Kiki?" He whispered to her.
"I will always be all right, as long as you stay with me, Ranma." She whispered back. Her heart soared as she heard him use the nickname Riko had given her, not just because she loved to hear him say it, but also because it was a signal between them that he was all right. Still ... she wanted to hear him say it anyway. "Are you all right?" She asked him.
"I ... yeah, I'm fine. Just getting tired of this, you know?"
"I know." She said tiredly as she fought back the confusing wave of emotions she was battling.
...he promised...
He stepped back from her then and let go of her as he swept his gaze out in the now-familiar pattern he used to watch for danger.
"We need ta get Akane and go home, it isn't safe here right now." He said as he reached for her hand. His hand was shaking. She would have bet any amount of money that it was taking a huge psychological toll on him to have to hit women for real. He was backed into a corner though, in order to protect her and her family from lethal force, he was being forced to use increasing levels of force himself. He wasn't quite at lethal force levels yet, but he was getting very close. And as his most recent fight had just shown, what he had to do to himself to tap into the will to fight against people using that level of force brought his level of control down dramatically.
If they keep pushing him, I don't know what's going to happen, but it won't be good. She thought as she watched him with concern. Ultimately, she didn't care what happened to the Amazons, but she didn't want Ranma punishing himself for the rest of his life because of what the Amazons might make him do to save her.
"Let's get Akane and get the hell out of here before more of them show up." She said with a tight smile as she laced her arm through his and tugged him to start walking towards Akane's classroom.