During the figure skating competition, the Goodbye Whirl fails but sends Ranma and Akane hurtling towards a wall. At the last minute Ranma flips Akane behind him, taking the blow for her and falling motionless to the ice, never letting go of her hand. After a moment he gets up, but it's obvious by the way he shudders that he's in considerable pain. But the match continues nonetheless and Ranma seems to have gotten over his pain.
This story takes place right after the match, between the events of episode 21 and episode 22.
~~~~~
Ranma limped into the girl's changeroom, followed by Akane. No point in going to the men's changeroom while he was in his stupid girl form. He needed hot water right now, and not just to change back into a guy.
Everything hurt.
Getting slammed into a wall wasn't a pleasurable experience, never was and never would be. He'd gotten slammed into walls before, it was an occupational hazard when you and your dad weren't exactly best friends, but his dad had less force when he was a panda than Mikado had used in just one attack. Still, he'd nearly collapsed when he'd stood up again and to bring him to that level of pain took some considerable strength, considering the levels of endurance and stubbornness he possessed. All he'd managed to do was bring the dude to his knees. Humph.
The walk back had been a journey through the fiery pits of hell. He was surprised he made it at all, considering his condition right now. Akane was still in her figure skating outfit and he had to go grab his. Well, both of his. Shoulda bright them with him when he left, why didn't he think of that? Would'e saved him this agony. Oh well, he was wearing his clothes now and that was taken care of, whoop-dee-doo. At least he had a comfortable bed to look forward after this.
"Don't walk into the door."
Ranma looked back to see Akane with a look that screamed "idiot". He rolled his eyes and opened the door, stepping in and instantly sitting down. His entire body was on fire. No wait, that was the boiling water being poured on him. "GAH!" He leapt into the air, backing away in surprise. He realized he was a guy again and sighed before glaring at Akane. "Mind giving me a warning next time? That stuff's hot!" He snapped.
Akane rolled her eyes. "Next time I'll let you stay a girl. Now come on!" She ordered.
"Come on what?"
Akane rolled her eyes. "Take off your shirt dummy, let me examine you." She muttered, sitting down next to him.
"Nuh uh."
Akane glared at him. "Ranma you nearly fell over when you stood up after you got slammed into that wall. Just let me take a look!" She reached for his shirt, determined to make sure he hadn't broken anything.
Ranma jumped away, holding his shirt with his hands and glaring at her. "No way, are you crazy? I told you before, I'm fine!" He lied, ignoring the burning pain in his arms. Tears sprang to his eyes and he blinked them away, continuing to glare at her.
Akane raised an eyebrow. "Fine then. Walk without limping." She challenged.
Ranma chuckled. "No problem!" He got up, steadying himself as he shuddered slightly. He looked back at Akane, who still observed him with her questioning yet challenging gaze. He looked ahead, gulped and took a step. Instantly an intense pain burned through his leg and it folded underneath him, bringing him to one knee. His hands instantly shot to his leg and his face contorted in pain, his teeth gritting and his eyes screwing shut. Tears pricked at the corners of the lids and he let out a grunt of pain. "My-My leg..." He moaned.
"Ranma!" Akane gasped and ran over, kneeling down beside him. Stupid, stupid, stupid her, why'd she have to be so stupid! He was obviously in pain, she probably just went and made it worse! She wrapped an arm around his shoulders, using her other hand to help him to his feet. She took his arm and brought it over her shoulders, keeping her other arm around his back to steady him. She suddenly noticed how bad of a condition he was in. He was barely putting any weight on his left leg, his right arm was pretty much limp against his side, she could feel the heat pulsing from his back, which seemed swollen and he still looked like he was in pain even with her help. She gently sat him down and went to get the medical kit.
Ranma opened his eyes as Akane sat down with him again. He watched as she took out a roll of bandages, set the kit beside her and looked back up at him expectantly. He looked down and blushed, avoiding her gaze. There was a pause where neither of them spoke for a few moments before he sighed in defeat. "Alright fine. I'll take off my shirt." He grumbled and moved to take it off. "Urk!" No point in hiding his pain now he supposed, he could barely move his arm!
Akane placed a hand on the crook of his elbow. "I'll get it." Her voice was unusually soft. She pretended not to notice the look of surprise on Ranma's face as she gently took hold of his shirt, pulling it up above his abdomen but pausing at his chest.
Ranma blushed even deeper. "Stop staring and get it over with already." He harrumphed, looking pointedly at the wall.
Akane glared at him. "I'm not staring stupid, I need you to lift your arms." She muttered, relaxing when he complied. She pulled off his shirt and he relaxed, letting her inspect him. His back was horribly bruised and she unrolled some bandages, wrapping them around his waist, tight but not tight enough to hurt him.
Ranma just looked at her in surprise. He still remembered when she'd dislocated pretty much every bone in his body. Hell, his arm had been twisted backwards! Sometimes she was just so uncute. It was hard to believe that the very girl who had repeatedly landed him in Dr. Tofu's office was bandaging his injuries right now, but he decided it was a rare moment where he really could come to admire her. He felt her hand on his right shoulder and flinched away, gritting his teeth and gripping his arm. "Dammit." He hissed through his teeth.
Akane noticed this and lifted her hand, pushing herself up as she finished bandaging his midsection. "Turn a bit, lemme see." She instructed, looking at his shoulder as he turned. Her eyes widened and she let out a small gasp. The bruising was horribly dark and it looked incredibly painful. His shoulder looked pretty swollen to, that was when she realized he'd been holding onto her with his right hand when he hit the wall. While he was still holding her he must've yanked his arm sharply and with her added weight... Poor guy. She placed her hand gently on the bruising and felt it lightly, making him hiss in pain each time she applied pressure. She stopped at one part that made him give a sharp cry as he pulled away, face tightening as he held his arm again. This lead her to conclude that he'd dislocated his shoulder. Probably when he refused to let go of me when we were spinning and I tried to push him off... "This is gonna hurt... A lot." She warned, placing one hand on his other shoulder and the other just below his injury.
Ranma didn't even have time to nod. There was a hard pressure, a loud snap as his shoulder popped back into place and he howled in agony, tearing away from her and clutching his shoulder. He opened his eyes and looked at his arm, surprised to feel less pain. Looking at her raised eyebrows, he blushed and scooted back, holding out his arm to let her wrap his shoulder. He barely even noticed, he was stuck on the thought that she had a heart.
Akane severed the bandages and clipped them together, having wrapped his shoulder down to his elbow. "That should do it for that one, now let me see your leg." She patted her lap with one hand and waited expectantly.
Ranma pretended not to notice. "My leg is fine, I think you've bandaged me enough." He protested, standing up. A jolt went through his ankle and he sat back, groaning. "Alright fine. But just please be gentle." He muttered.
She scooted over as he twisted around, lifted his leg up and placed it on her lap. She tried to keep her hands from resting on any sore areas to move up his pant leg, but her hand brushed his ankle as she started rolling the material up. He let out a yelp and tensed as she moved her hands back.
Ranma winced and placed his hands on his leg again. "Ow! Careful Akane!" He snapped, a bit harsher than he intended to. He saw her eyes fill with even more concern and he instantly felt guilty, looking down at the bench. "S-Sorry, I didn't mean to sound so harsh. Do ya think you could just be a bit more gentle though?" He looked back to see her smiling softly, a nod answering him.
Akane rolled up his pant leg and her eyes widened in shock. How did he managed to get this banged up? If she didn't know better, she would've said he'd busted his ankle because of how bruised it was. But it was just a bruise, a really, really bad one. "How did you managed this one?" She looked at him in confusion.
Ranma looked away and mumbled something incoherent.
"What?"
More mumbling.
"Ranma you need to speak up."
"Nuh uh."
"Why not?"
"I don't wanna. It's stupid and you don't need to know."
"Ranma just tell me, this is serious! I have no idea if this is just a bruise or a sprain, I need you to tell me what happened."
There was a long pause as Ranma pouted. Once again he looked at the now familiar part of the bench. "I might've banged my ankle against the wall..." His voice was pouty and he wouldn't look into her eyes. When nothing answered him he looked up to see her with her eyebrows raised. "I get it, it's stupid now just hurry up!" He grumbled.
Akane looked back at his leg and sighed. "Ranma it's not stupid, stop acting like a child." She told him, starting to bandage his ankle. He hissed in pain with every tug of the bandage, he must've hit his ankle pretty hard. She finished and clipped the ends together, pulling his pant leg back down. "Alright, does it hurt anywhere else?" She asked.
"Everywhere."
Akane rolled her eyes, something she had been doing a lot today. "Haha very funny, anywhere I haven't bandaged?"
"No, just sore." He admitted. He grabbed his shirt and pulled it back on, wincing as he moved his bandaged areas. Man that hurt like hell. He stood up shakily, his bad leg trembling as weight was put on it. Walking back did not seem like a fun prospect. He started limping forwards, his ankle protesting until his leg gave out. "Woah!" His good shoulder bumped the wall and he leaned heavily against it, face screaming "dear god make it stop!" He took all weight off his left leg and groaned softly.
Akane stepped over and put his arm across her shoulders on his left side, wordlessly offering her assistance. She felt him shift and lean heavily on her, but she gladly took his weight and they started walking forwards, having to slow considerably so that they could walk at an even pace. She could feel his trembling, he was still in pain and was probably gonna spend the next week in bed, but at least he was walking... Somewhat.
Ranma wasn't looking forward to the next week. He'd been banged up before and most of the time when it got to stuff like this he was confined to bed. He vividly remembered that one fight with his dad a couple years ago where he'd left it with a broken wrist. He hated being confined to bed, it was so boring! He'd rather break every bone in his body than stay in bed for a whole week, wait that already happened when Akane dislocated every bone in his body at he had to stay in bed for a week, even though he could walk. He looked down at Akane's head and blinked, wondering what he should say.
"Hey Akane?"
Akane looked up at him. "Yes Ranma?" They stopped for a moment, as they looked awkwardly into each other's eyes.
Pause.
Then he smiled at her.
"Thanks. For taking care of me I mean."
Akane smiled back. "It's no problem."
Just this once, Ranma decided not to poke fun at her. Hell, if she could be nice then so could he. Just this once though.
Akane chuckled. "You're still an idiot though." She teased.
Ranma gave her a mix between a pout and a glare. "And you're still a stupid tomboy." He retaliated.
"At least I can walk."
"You wouldn't be walking if I hadn't taken the blow for you."
Akane stopped and looked down, her face tinting pink. "Yeah... I guess you're right. Thanks for that Ranma." She answered.
"No problem."
They hadn't noticed they were back at the house, both of them just wanted to sleep. The family (plus one panda) stared at them as they went past. There was a chuckle from Mr. Tendo and Kitsumi smiled softly. The panda let out some grumbling noises and Nabiki flat out laughed.
Akane helped Ranma into his bed and even tucked him in. "Get some rest, this is what you'll be doing for the next week." She instructed.
Ranma laughed. "Ok. G'night mom!" He called mockingly, snickering to himself.
Akane rolled her eyes. "Idiot."
"Tomboy."
Akane closed the door behind her and walked out, looking back at the door again when she heard a loud yawn come from a certain boy. She rolled her eyes again and walked away. "G'night Ranma." She murmured to herself.
~~~~~
This story takes place right after the match, between the events of episode 21 and episode 22.
~~~~~
Ranma limped into the girl's changeroom, followed by Akane. No point in going to the men's changeroom while he was in his stupid girl form. He needed hot water right now, and not just to change back into a guy.
Everything hurt.
Getting slammed into a wall wasn't a pleasurable experience, never was and never would be. He'd gotten slammed into walls before, it was an occupational hazard when you and your dad weren't exactly best friends, but his dad had less force when he was a panda than Mikado had used in just one attack. Still, he'd nearly collapsed when he'd stood up again and to bring him to that level of pain took some considerable strength, considering the levels of endurance and stubbornness he possessed. All he'd managed to do was bring the dude to his knees. Humph.
The walk back had been a journey through the fiery pits of hell. He was surprised he made it at all, considering his condition right now. Akane was still in her figure skating outfit and he had to go grab his. Well, both of his. Shoulda bright them with him when he left, why didn't he think of that? Would'e saved him this agony. Oh well, he was wearing his clothes now and that was taken care of, whoop-dee-doo. At least he had a comfortable bed to look forward after this.
"Don't walk into the door."
Ranma looked back to see Akane with a look that screamed "idiot". He rolled his eyes and opened the door, stepping in and instantly sitting down. His entire body was on fire. No wait, that was the boiling water being poured on him. "GAH!" He leapt into the air, backing away in surprise. He realized he was a guy again and sighed before glaring at Akane. "Mind giving me a warning next time? That stuff's hot!" He snapped.
Akane rolled her eyes. "Next time I'll let you stay a girl. Now come on!" She ordered.
"Come on what?"
Akane rolled her eyes. "Take off your shirt dummy, let me examine you." She muttered, sitting down next to him.
"Nuh uh."
Akane glared at him. "Ranma you nearly fell over when you stood up after you got slammed into that wall. Just let me take a look!" She reached for his shirt, determined to make sure he hadn't broken anything.
Ranma jumped away, holding his shirt with his hands and glaring at her. "No way, are you crazy? I told you before, I'm fine!" He lied, ignoring the burning pain in his arms. Tears sprang to his eyes and he blinked them away, continuing to glare at her.
Akane raised an eyebrow. "Fine then. Walk without limping." She challenged.
Ranma chuckled. "No problem!" He got up, steadying himself as he shuddered slightly. He looked back at Akane, who still observed him with her questioning yet challenging gaze. He looked ahead, gulped and took a step. Instantly an intense pain burned through his leg and it folded underneath him, bringing him to one knee. His hands instantly shot to his leg and his face contorted in pain, his teeth gritting and his eyes screwing shut. Tears pricked at the corners of the lids and he let out a grunt of pain. "My-My leg..." He moaned.
"Ranma!" Akane gasped and ran over, kneeling down beside him. Stupid, stupid, stupid her, why'd she have to be so stupid! He was obviously in pain, she probably just went and made it worse! She wrapped an arm around his shoulders, using her other hand to help him to his feet. She took his arm and brought it over her shoulders, keeping her other arm around his back to steady him. She suddenly noticed how bad of a condition he was in. He was barely putting any weight on his left leg, his right arm was pretty much limp against his side, she could feel the heat pulsing from his back, which seemed swollen and he still looked like he was in pain even with her help. She gently sat him down and went to get the medical kit.
Ranma opened his eyes as Akane sat down with him again. He watched as she took out a roll of bandages, set the kit beside her and looked back up at him expectantly. He looked down and blushed, avoiding her gaze. There was a pause where neither of them spoke for a few moments before he sighed in defeat. "Alright fine. I'll take off my shirt." He grumbled and moved to take it off. "Urk!" No point in hiding his pain now he supposed, he could barely move his arm!
Akane placed a hand on the crook of his elbow. "I'll get it." Her voice was unusually soft. She pretended not to notice the look of surprise on Ranma's face as she gently took hold of his shirt, pulling it up above his abdomen but pausing at his chest.
Ranma blushed even deeper. "Stop staring and get it over with already." He harrumphed, looking pointedly at the wall.
Akane glared at him. "I'm not staring stupid, I need you to lift your arms." She muttered, relaxing when he complied. She pulled off his shirt and he relaxed, letting her inspect him. His back was horribly bruised and she unrolled some bandages, wrapping them around his waist, tight but not tight enough to hurt him.
Ranma just looked at her in surprise. He still remembered when she'd dislocated pretty much every bone in his body. Hell, his arm had been twisted backwards! Sometimes she was just so uncute. It was hard to believe that the very girl who had repeatedly landed him in Dr. Tofu's office was bandaging his injuries right now, but he decided it was a rare moment where he really could come to admire her. He felt her hand on his right shoulder and flinched away, gritting his teeth and gripping his arm. "Dammit." He hissed through his teeth.
Akane noticed this and lifted her hand, pushing herself up as she finished bandaging his midsection. "Turn a bit, lemme see." She instructed, looking at his shoulder as he turned. Her eyes widened and she let out a small gasp. The bruising was horribly dark and it looked incredibly painful. His shoulder looked pretty swollen to, that was when she realized he'd been holding onto her with his right hand when he hit the wall. While he was still holding her he must've yanked his arm sharply and with her added weight... Poor guy. She placed her hand gently on the bruising and felt it lightly, making him hiss in pain each time she applied pressure. She stopped at one part that made him give a sharp cry as he pulled away, face tightening as he held his arm again. This lead her to conclude that he'd dislocated his shoulder. Probably when he refused to let go of me when we were spinning and I tried to push him off... "This is gonna hurt... A lot." She warned, placing one hand on his other shoulder and the other just below his injury.
Ranma didn't even have time to nod. There was a hard pressure, a loud snap as his shoulder popped back into place and he howled in agony, tearing away from her and clutching his shoulder. He opened his eyes and looked at his arm, surprised to feel less pain. Looking at her raised eyebrows, he blushed and scooted back, holding out his arm to let her wrap his shoulder. He barely even noticed, he was stuck on the thought that she had a heart.
Akane severed the bandages and clipped them together, having wrapped his shoulder down to his elbow. "That should do it for that one, now let me see your leg." She patted her lap with one hand and waited expectantly.
Ranma pretended not to notice. "My leg is fine, I think you've bandaged me enough." He protested, standing up. A jolt went through his ankle and he sat back, groaning. "Alright fine. But just please be gentle." He muttered.
She scooted over as he twisted around, lifted his leg up and placed it on her lap. She tried to keep her hands from resting on any sore areas to move up his pant leg, but her hand brushed his ankle as she started rolling the material up. He let out a yelp and tensed as she moved her hands back.
Ranma winced and placed his hands on his leg again. "Ow! Careful Akane!" He snapped, a bit harsher than he intended to. He saw her eyes fill with even more concern and he instantly felt guilty, looking down at the bench. "S-Sorry, I didn't mean to sound so harsh. Do ya think you could just be a bit more gentle though?" He looked back to see her smiling softly, a nod answering him.
Akane rolled up his pant leg and her eyes widened in shock. How did he managed to get this banged up? If she didn't know better, she would've said he'd busted his ankle because of how bruised it was. But it was just a bruise, a really, really bad one. "How did you managed this one?" She looked at him in confusion.
Ranma looked away and mumbled something incoherent.
"What?"
More mumbling.
"Ranma you need to speak up."
"Nuh uh."
"Why not?"
"I don't wanna. It's stupid and you don't need to know."
"Ranma just tell me, this is serious! I have no idea if this is just a bruise or a sprain, I need you to tell me what happened."
There was a long pause as Ranma pouted. Once again he looked at the now familiar part of the bench. "I might've banged my ankle against the wall..." His voice was pouty and he wouldn't look into her eyes. When nothing answered him he looked up to see her with her eyebrows raised. "I get it, it's stupid now just hurry up!" He grumbled.
Akane looked back at his leg and sighed. "Ranma it's not stupid, stop acting like a child." She told him, starting to bandage his ankle. He hissed in pain with every tug of the bandage, he must've hit his ankle pretty hard. She finished and clipped the ends together, pulling his pant leg back down. "Alright, does it hurt anywhere else?" She asked.
"Everywhere."
Akane rolled her eyes, something she had been doing a lot today. "Haha very funny, anywhere I haven't bandaged?"
"No, just sore." He admitted. He grabbed his shirt and pulled it back on, wincing as he moved his bandaged areas. Man that hurt like hell. He stood up shakily, his bad leg trembling as weight was put on it. Walking back did not seem like a fun prospect. He started limping forwards, his ankle protesting until his leg gave out. "Woah!" His good shoulder bumped the wall and he leaned heavily against it, face screaming "dear god make it stop!" He took all weight off his left leg and groaned softly.
Akane stepped over and put his arm across her shoulders on his left side, wordlessly offering her assistance. She felt him shift and lean heavily on her, but she gladly took his weight and they started walking forwards, having to slow considerably so that they could walk at an even pace. She could feel his trembling, he was still in pain and was probably gonna spend the next week in bed, but at least he was walking... Somewhat.
Ranma wasn't looking forward to the next week. He'd been banged up before and most of the time when it got to stuff like this he was confined to bed. He vividly remembered that one fight with his dad a couple years ago where he'd left it with a broken wrist. He hated being confined to bed, it was so boring! He'd rather break every bone in his body than stay in bed for a whole week, wait that already happened when Akane dislocated every bone in his body at he had to stay in bed for a week, even though he could walk. He looked down at Akane's head and blinked, wondering what he should say.
"Hey Akane?"
Akane looked up at him. "Yes Ranma?" They stopped for a moment, as they looked awkwardly into each other's eyes.
Pause.
Then he smiled at her.
"Thanks. For taking care of me I mean."
Akane smiled back. "It's no problem."
Just this once, Ranma decided not to poke fun at her. Hell, if she could be nice then so could he. Just this once though.
Akane chuckled. "You're still an idiot though." She teased.
Ranma gave her a mix between a pout and a glare. "And you're still a stupid tomboy." He retaliated.
"At least I can walk."
"You wouldn't be walking if I hadn't taken the blow for you."
Akane stopped and looked down, her face tinting pink. "Yeah... I guess you're right. Thanks for that Ranma." She answered.
"No problem."
They hadn't noticed they were back at the house, both of them just wanted to sleep. The family (plus one panda) stared at them as they went past. There was a chuckle from Mr. Tendo and Kitsumi smiled softly. The panda let out some grumbling noises and Nabiki flat out laughed.
Akane helped Ranma into his bed and even tucked him in. "Get some rest, this is what you'll be doing for the next week." She instructed.
Ranma laughed. "Ok. G'night mom!" He called mockingly, snickering to himself.
Akane rolled her eyes. "Idiot."
"Tomboy."
Akane closed the door behind her and walked out, looking back at the door again when she heard a loud yawn come from a certain boy. She rolled her eyes again and walked away. "G'night Ranma." She murmured to herself.
~~~~~
