Wild Hamster
By Firehedgehog
Chapter Ten- Nodoka's Heart

'Bored, I'm so bored' Yami thought. As of now he had a whole new definition of the word bored.

The ebony hamster sighed and peered through the bars of his cage with bright sapphire eyes, there had to be something he could do.

As it was, there were only so many times he could nap, run around his cage and use the wheel.

Yami sulked a bit, why did his mother have to be always in the house... couldn't she go out for a few hours... he so needed to go out of this cage.

It was not as if he hated Nodoka, she was his mother even if she didn't know it. He loved her and all, but she never left the house, he was going super stir crazy.

'Must not go crazy from boredom' Yami thought, he repeated that a few more times... maybe soon he would have some freedom again.

OoOoO

In another room of the house Nodoka sneezed, she then blinked.

'Strange, I could have sworn someone was talking about me in the house' the red haired woman thought, but no that was not possible. She was alone in the house other then Yami; and Hamsters could not talk.

She was not going to believe: that silly nonsense of someone sneezing when someone was talking about them.

"It's just silly," Nodoka said to herself, she then yawned.

'I didn't realize I was so tired' she thought as more yawns followed, but she hadn't been sleeping very well over the last week... looked like it was finally catching up to her.

'I should lay down a bit' she thought, she walked to her room and lay down on her bed.

For a few minutes she looked at the bare white ceiling, then finally her eyes began to droop, and sleep claimed her.

OoOoO

Ebony ears twitches as certain sounds made their way into them, one of those sounds was that one Nodoka finally falling into the depths of sleep.

At that moment Travis walked into the room Yami's cage was in, Sapphire eyes gazed up at the dark haired human.

"Here Yami," Travis said opening the cage, slipping in a hand he picked up the small hamster.

"KEH?" Yami said in confusion.

"I'm heading to the park, I'm taking you with me," Travis said, Yami cheered in his mind.

Finally he was getting out of the damn cage.

Travis grinned and placed the Hamster in his pocket; with a little struggle Yami got himself into a position he could see outside the pocket.

OoOoO

It had been a wonderful day; Travis had spent the entire day with him.

Ami yawned, while he missed being human… he knew he wouldn't trade today for anything.

Tired, the neo-hamster fell asleep happily.

OoOoO

He woke.

Something was wrong; this the once human knew. Yami sniffed the air, hoping it would give some trace of what was wrong.

'That small seems familiar' he thought, but the way humans smelled things and hamsters smelled things were different.

The half asleep hamster yawned and stretched, then looked at the room's only clock.

'Two in the morning; that means no ones awake' Yami thought, he then frowned. If no one was up, then why was there that strange smell originating from.

A scream ripped through the air, Yami's fur stood on end… he was right. Something was dreadfully wrong.

At the moment, at that moment the furnace in the basement exploded… an intruder probably dead by the sound of the scream before.

'Oh oh' he thoughts, as items from to the floor and broke, he could hear everyone waking up yelling, or falling out of bed.

"Fine… just what we don't need," Yami said unhappily, the explosion had tumbled his cage to the floor totaling it into scraps of twisted metal.

"Ow-chi-chi," Yami said as he got up, the tumble to the ground had caused multiple bruises. Thankfully, that was all the damage to his small furred self.

Flames quickly began spreading through the house: they were huge and extremely hot. Yami knew he had to escape now; it was very unlikely one of the humans would be able to come get him. Anyway, he knew that if he didn't move fast... he'd be fried to a crisp

Quickly Yami scampered to the nearest exit: Unfortunately that was a small half open window in the next room.

OoOoO

"Yami… where are you Yami," the dark haired boy called, hoping that wherever the ebony hamster was it wasn't trapped in the flames.

He coughed violently, the smoke was very thick and he had to hurry before he became trapped himself.

Travis gnawed at his bottom lip, he knew it beyond stupid that he had re-entered the flame filled home. But to abandon his pet, especially Yami who was still a baby.

That was beyond wrong.

His parents had to be horrified, and he knew his Aunt Nodoka was hurt for he had pushed her out of the way to get back inside.

'I'll apologize when Yami and I get out' he thought, avoiding the thoughts that he might not get out.

No one knew how the fire had started, just an explosion of some type… he'd leave it to the specialists for that.

"Please Yami, come out of wherever you are," he cried, he had found the mangled cage but no Yami.

He looked up as a sound caught his attention, he could only cry out in terror as part of the veiling fell. Travis whimpered, his lower body was covered by a large slab and the rest of his body hit by smaller pieces. One of his legs felt wrong, broken.

He was trapped even if he could get the slab off.

Travis felt consciousness leave him, smoke and pain too much for him.

'I'm so stupid' he thought, he was going to die and more then likely Yami had escaped the house already.

"Che…" a small voice said, Blinking he realized that Yami was at his side, looking at him with worried sapphire shaded eyes.

"Run.., cough… Yami, get to safety," he whispered; then darkness claimed him.

OoOoO

"Damn it!" Ranma swore, his owner had come back inside looking for him. He had almost been outside when he heard Travis calling for him, inside. He'd hurried back, knowing the boy wouldn't leave till he found yami.

It was too late, Travis was KO'D and Ranma stuck in a hamster's body that was nowhere strong enough to move the pieces trapping his owner.

Wait… what was eh thinking, Ranma Saotome never gave up.

With tiny fragile paws, Ranma struggled with the slab holding Travis captive. He ignored the fast moving flames, and the fact his fur was becoming singed and Ash covered.

He struggled to breath through the smoke: thankfully there was less smoke near eh floor then above.

Kami-ama he had to hurry, if Travis died... he could never forgive himself.

"I never give up!" he cried, he wouldn't loose his first true friend.

The slab was suddenly off Travis; Ranma looked in disbelief and looked at his paws.

"Hands…" he said in disbelief, he was human again.

OoOoO

Nodoka paused, her mom senses were tingling. That meant her son was being heroic or manly, hopefully grandbabies.

OoOoO

Carefully picked up Travis, he didn't want to agitate the boy's injuries. Quickly he looked around for an exit.

Grinning he spotted a window, an open window… one he could easily reach in his birth form. He took a running leap. He landed carefully on green grass, once far enough away from the blazing building he placed Travis on the ground.

To his surprise though, Travis woke and looked at him.

"Who…?" the boy questioned: already drifting off again.

"Ranma..." he answered, Travis once again entered darkness.

"Travis! Where are you!" screamed a worried voice, Ranma frowned and leapt away.

He wasn't ready to face anyone; he had to find out what happened.

Why he was human again?

After that he'd be back.

OoOoO

"Travis…"

Someone was calling his name.

"Travis, please wake up!" a frantic voice called.

"Mom…" he said, opening sore eyes from smoke and heat.

"Thank Goodness you're safe," she cried, hugging him tightly to her chest.

"Mom… did Yami get out too?" he asked horrified, she shook her head sadly and he cried. It wasn't fair, he had failed.

Epilogue- To seek

"Quite a problem you have," a silver haired woman smirked, eyes that had seen more then any mortal stared at him from under silver bangs.

"Are you Urd?" he asked, it had taken nine months to track down this person, nine months realizing his curse was… just gone.

"That's right, and you're Ranma. Father said you had a special wish, one not for yourself," she said.

"Well... it's hard to explain," he said; then taking a deep breath he started telling her his story up to this point.

"Yes... I can d o it, but what you want will be painful. You'll never be whole, not until you die," she explained.

"Please, do it," he said gritting his teeth.

Then he could only scream.

OoOoO

Travis dug through his pocket; he couldn't seem to find the keys to his family's new home. It had taken quite awhile to recover from the fire, but his friends had helped.

"Did you try the other pocket?" an amused voice asked, Travis checked and blushed finding the keys there. Then he turned, he didn't recognize the voice.

"You!" he said in shock, standing there was the half remembered teen who had saved him.

"Yep, me," the boy said, what was his name again… Ranma? Yes: Ranma.

"Thank you for saving me Ranma," Travis said bowing.

"Actually I came to return something to you; I hadn't realized he had hopped a ride till I was far away. I hadn't had a chance to get back to Japan till now," Ranma said to a bewildered Travis.

Then he pulled something from a shirt pocket, and placed it in the pre-teens hands.

"Kami-sama," Travis gasped. "Yami," he cried. It was his pet, healthy, happy. A bit older: but still wearing his scarf.

"Thank you," Travis said, then realized Ranma was gone.

OoOoO

Ranma sighed silently as he walked away, he wanted to stay but couldn't. His mother as here, heck… Yami was here who was a shard of his soul containing memories in the form of his cursed self.

Yet…

He couldn't stay here.

Genma had screwed his son over, and Ranma had to fix it if he ever wanted to live without so many problems. Like too many engagements.

It might take awhile, but he promised himself he'd be back.

Ranma Saotome always kept his word.

END