Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma ½ or any of its characters.

Chapter One: Travelling.

The brilliant sphere of light shot through the trees and rocks like a bullet, leaving a cleared path behind it. Ryoga collapsed on the ground, exhausted. That Shi Shi Hokoudan had left him completely powerless, it would take a while for him to pull another one. He wondered idly if Ukyo was making breakfast already.

He closed his eyes for a brief moment, composing himself. The Shi Shi Hokoudan was a very powerful attack, but it had its bad side: he was always left with little or no strength at all after the blast. Pressing his body hardly into the grass, he glanced at the early morning sun, surrounded by a few clouds that were puffy and almost grey.

I hope it doesn't rain.

He thought that spending the whole day as a pig wasn't a very tempting idea. Specially since Ukyo would have to carry both of their backpacks and everything, and then she'd be in a very bad mood.

In spite of the occasional breeze, the atmosphere was very humid, and the sun was getting higher, it was a really hot day. He took his already sweated yellow shirt off and left it beside him; he should take a short bath on the lake now since the water probably wasn't that cold for him to change. Standing up groggily, he picked up the thick clothe and trudged to the lake.

He'd been right, the water had been perfect. He hadn't seen his unwanted companion when he went to grab his bathing stuff from his backpack, but since there was a steaming pot above the fire he assumed she was somewhere near.

Hanging his washed shirt over a tree branch, he stepped into the campsite only in his thin trousers. He hated travelling clothes, but with his sense of direction he could never be too careless… As far as he knew, he could end up in Alaska in the blink of an eye. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

"Hey jackass! Breakfast's almost ready!"

And there she was, her and that stupid nickname. Didn't she know his name was Ryoga?

Of course she does, she just likes to insult me.

He bitterly thought. She handed him a bowl with a curious look.

"What's wrong with you?" She asked sincerely.

"Nothing." He replied dryly. He failed to notice the slight blush on her cheeks as she glanced shyly at his bared torso.

"You're grumpy, more than always."

"I'm not." He frowned, earning a giggle from her. He put his red shirt on, taking the bowl again to start eating.

"See?"

"Why do you have to mock me all the time?"

"I'm not! I'm just trying to cheer you up, you jackass."

"Great way of doing so." He muttered, not entirely under his breath.

"Oh forget it! You're hopeless."

"Whatever you say…" He dismissed, ignoring the way she sighed.

A moment passed by in silence.

"Where do you think we are?" She asked idly, scanning the small clearing and the trees around them.

"As if I would know…" He responded acidly.

He still didn't understand why he had let her spend the night with him. He should've left her lost in the woods for all he cared. After all, it'd been her who attacked him in the middle of the night, beating the crap out of him with that goddamned spatula of hers for no apparent reason. And she wouldn't tell him, either. But he knew he wasn't able to leave her alone like that; after all, she was a girl. Besides, he'd been unconscious.

"Are you gonna tell me now?"

"Tell you what?" She feigned ignorance.

"Why were you trudging around in an unknown forest alone, in the middle of the night?"

"I was just lost, I went for a walk and couldn't find the way back." She explained emotionless, with a tone that said that she wouldn't say anything else.

"And why did you attack me?"

Here she sighed, "I didn't know it was you, Ryoga. And besides, you're the one who walked in on me when I was undressing behind the bushes!" She pointed out, a pink shade on her cheeks.

This made him jolt out of surprise. "what? I'd never… what?!"

"You did!" She crossed her arms above her chest, looking away. She was really embarrassed about that; she'd been trying to change her shirt for a warmer one, when the jackass had suddenly appeared in front of her, taking a good gape at her bra. Of course, this only resulted in beating the hell out of him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't see anything, I promise!" He flailed his hands in front of him, desperate. Truth was, he'd been curious about the sounds coming from behind those bushes next to his camp, so he went investigate. All he remembered was getting into the bushes and then CLANG, CLANG, CLANG!! The next morning he'd woken up with a hell of a headache and a sleeping girl on the other side of his tent.

"You promise?"

"Yeah," he raised his hand. She seemed to calm down a bit.

Another moment of silence.

"Ukyo?"

"Yeah?"

"You said you got lost taking a walk, right?"

She nodded, "so?"

"Then why do you have that?" He pointed to her little backpack resting besides the tent, "it seems like you've packed enough clothes for a month."

"Uh…It's my clean laundry, I picked it up before getting lost."

"Oh," he said and she relaxed; lying was easy.

"We should get going if we want to find Nerima soon," Ryoga stood up, already gathering the cooking gear.

They'd been walking at a rapid pace; Ryoga leading the way. The logical option would've been to let Ukyo lead, but neither of them had said a word about it. Ryoga because he knew he would find the city soon; Ukyo because she didn't want to. She stared at her companion's back; she wanted to break the uncomfortable silence, but she knew that he'd start asking questions she didn't want to answer.

"Hey hon, I think I recognize this path, we should follow it to Nerima."

"You sure, Ukyo?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Ok, let's go."

She smiled as he missed the sign that pointed to Nerima. It was the opposite way.

"Can't believe we're not there yet."

"You're the one leading, sugar." She snickered.

He glared at her, pitching up camp. He had to admit that he was a little nervous about sharing his tent again; the night before he'd been unconscious, but now he was pretty much aware of the situation. And Ukyo'd been acting funny all day.

"You know," he started casually, starting a fire; "you haven't mentioned Saotome not even once today."

He missed her flinch as she heard the name, "so?"

"Nothing… It's just, he's the only thing you talk about, all the time. And you don't seem too eager to go back home, either."

"You think I actually want to be lost here with you? I have a restaurant to run, you know; I'm pretty sure Konatsu already freaked out. But I'm just trying to take this as best as I can, okay?"

"I know you do," he shot back, "I just think it's weird."

"Well, sorry if it bothers you that I'm trying to be a little optimistic and not complaining all day. I could do that, if that's what you want."

"Okay, okay; don't have to take it like that. I'm just curious that you still haven't come up with some of those wicked plans of yours."

"Maybe I'm not into that anymore." She shrugged, sitting on a log next to his.

"Really?... Well, good; cause they sucked."

She looked sharply at him, "well, you never complained about them."

"Not that you heard of…" he replied slyly.

She just stuck her tongue out at him.

"Why aren't you into them anymore?" The lost boy asked, intrigued.

"You won't let it drop, won't you?"

"Lemme guess: you realized just how pointless it was, right?" He mocked.

"Damn right."

He shut up at her straight answer, looking at her from the corner of his eye, "what?"

"I said you're right. It was pointless and stupid… and I'm done for." She stood up and started to prepare dinner.

Ryoga stood still, following her every move with his eyes; "what you mean you're done for?"

She started, as if he shouldn't have heard that, "with the plans." She covered.

"Right." But he knew she meant something else. What had happened in his absence?

She tossed around, carefully avoiding to bump into the boy sleeping next to her. He had insisted that she used the sleeping bag, laying himself on the tent's floor with a thick blanket around him. He was facing away from her, and she wondered what he looked like while he slept. His sleeping bag was warm and too broad for her, but she guessed Ryoga fitted comfortably. She felt a little guilty for making him sleep on the cold floor like that, but the other option was to share, and there was no way in hell she'd share with him. They were kind of friends, true; but that wasn't enough of a reason.

Seeing him move in the dim moonlight, she risked a soft 'Ryoga?'

"Yeah?" He responded sleepily, his voice barely a whisper.

"Thanks for letting me stay."

"Anytime." He replied and pretended to go back to sleep, but it had really startled him her gratitude. She never, ever thanked him for anything.

They'd been walking for quite a while when they reached a small town. Nearing a young man feeding his dog, Ryoga called his attention.

"Excuse me?"

"Hmm?" The boy looked up, meeting a wearied boy and a pretty annoyed girl.

"Could you tell me the way to Nerima, please?"

"Oh, yeah. It's that way." He pointed to the left.

"Thank you," Ryoga bowed and started walking, but Ukyo tugged at his sleeve.

"Jackass, you're going in the wrong direction." She pushed him to the right, "it's that way."

They resumed walking down the road when they saw the boy from before running towards them.

"Miss! You're going the wrong way!"

"What?" Ryoga stopped, waiting for the boy to reach them, but Ukyo kept tugging at his sleeve.

"Let's go Ryoga, it's gonna get dark!"

The boy skidded to a halt in front of them, panting; "miss, Nerima's that way. You were going the opposite way."

"Oh… R-right!" Ukyo looked sheepish as the boy waved and ran to his home again.

"Ukyo…?"

She looked down, shifting her feet uncomfortably.

"Ukyo."

"What?" she asked, not lifting her gaze.

"Why were you misleading me?"

"Was not."

He approached her, "Ukyo…"

She gazed up then, glancing towards his eyes; "don't wanna go back." The chef turned around and started walking the path she had chosen.

"Ukyo, wait!" He caught up with her, grabbing her arm, "what's going on? Why did you lie to me?"

"I'm sorry, okay? I don't want to talk right now." She snatched her arm away from his grasp and walked fast, Ryoga followed suit.

"You weren't really lost, were you?"

"Yes, I was!"

"And that's not really your laundry, either;" he motioned to her bag.

"I did get lost… On my way to the bus station…." She shrugged.

"Where were you trying to go?" he walked beside her, glancing at her every now and then.

"Osaka. To my father's house."

"Oh… May I ask why?"

She took a moment to think her answer, "I have some things to work out with dad."

"Okay… I guess… But you still shouldn't have lied to me."

"It stopped you from prying. Besides, I don't want anybody to know where I am; for now at least." She looked pleadingly at him.

"I won't tell, don't worry."

"Listen, I'm really grateful that you helped me out and everything, so swing by the restaurant sometime, okay? I'll find a way to pay you back." She smiled and started walking again, grasping the straps of her bag.

"Hey! Wait up!"

"Ryoga, you can go back now; there's a little town down this road, I'll take my bus there."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Thanks again."

Ryoga nodded and turned around, the path to Nerima stretching in front of him. Looking back after a few steps, he discerned the lone figure walking hurriedly towards the horizon, evening already starting to fall.

I hope she's okay…

A/N: Well, here's another one. I'm a little stuck with my other story so I started this one. Came out of nowhere, actually; and I have no idea where it'd go. Not much for a start, but hey, you know I suck at first chapters, lol. Let's see where it goes, shall we? Leave a little review! Thanks.