Chapter 6

            Ranma poked his head up from out of the well and climbed out, and D-chan came flying out afterwards. He decided to travel through the well instead of the wardrobe due to the fact that the well was closer.

He stood, staring at the well for a few moments before deciding to go home. He walked slowly through the grounds of the shrine that were Kagome's home. He had never been there before and didn't know what to say if some one from the shrine saw him. So he just walked slowly and quietly. Quietly because of his training in the art, slowly because Ranma felt like he had lost something, or left it behind in feudal Japan. But that couldn't be. All he had with him was the shard and D-chan. There was nothing else he could be missing. Right?

            Ranma took a deep breath and sighed. He was somewhat glad that he was home. After all, he did miss his mother, and he didn't want to worry her. Ranma loved his mother, and always wanted to make her happy. He felt horrible when he lied to her about being Ranko Tendo, Akane's cousin. He finally had a parent that loved him and would do anything for him. But even though he was glad to be home. Part of him wasn't there. Part of him was in feudal Japan.

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"So, Ranma. You are leaving now?" Kikyou asked. It really wasn't a question.

            Ranma took a while to get his answer out. All of a sudden his throat had dried up and it had become hard for him to speak. D-chan of course, was coiled around Ranma's shoulders, and could feel the difference between the laidback Ranma and this Ranma, that was so tense he could be passed off as a statue.

"Yeah. I think I should get home…Kagome said that my mother was really worried…and I don't think I should make her wait any longer." He hesitated after every sentence to find the right words.

            Kikyou hesitated as well. Unlike Ranma though, she was still as calm and graceful as ever. She just wanted to choose her words wisely. Though she would never admit it. She had somewhat enjoyed Ranma's company. It was better than being alone.

"I see… It has been nice knowing you Ranma Saotome. Goodbye." Kikyou said bowing. And as soon as the bow was over with, she walked off. She did not want this goodbye to drag out any longer than it had to. She might start to miss him.

"Goodbye…Kikyou." Ranma said, hesitantly. Then jumped into the well. Was it really good-bye? Would he really never see her again? Even if he did decide to go back to feudal Japan, what were his chances of finding her again?

            These were Ranma's last thoughts as he traveled through the well that would take him back to his own time.

            Kikyou walked through the forest towards nowhere in general. This time was different however. Even though this was no different than how she usually lived her life. This time she felt truly and utterly, alone.

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            Ranma found his way to the shrine steps. He was practically home free. No one had spotted him yet. Ranma sighed once more before deciding to walk his first step down the ridiculously long stairway. To bad he was spotted before he could actually take his next step.

"Wait young man! Did you know that there is a demon resting on your shoulders?" Kagome's grandfather asked, getting his spirit wards ready.

            Ranma turned to face the old man. He was going to reply with some cocky remark like 'gee…ya think?' or something along those lines, but decided against it. A), he just wasn't in the mood, and B), his mother said that these people are friends of the family. And unlike the Tendos, a nice caring family that wouldn't try to force him into marrying anyone. There was also a young boy with him. Ranma assumed that this boy was Kagome's brother.

"Yeah. It's my pet. His name is D-chan." Ranma said, having the feeling that he was about to go into story mode.

"You must be careful of that one. It might try to steal your soul!" The old man said, throwing his arms up into the air for extra emphasis. Ranma smiled.

"Yeah, I know. The person who gave this to me used it to collect souls to sustain her life. She had a lot, so let this one stay with me." Ranma said, patting D-chan's head.

"Cool! Can I pet it?" The young boy asked with excitement in his eyes. Ranma looked at D-chan for a few seconds, and D-chan nodded happily.

"Sure."

"Cool!" The boy yelled, running up to Ranma. D-chan lowered himself from Ranma's shoulders and floated above the ground so that the boy could actually reach him. D-chan seemed to be enjoying himself as the boy excitedly pet the soul-collecting demon.

            Mr. Higurasi edged up to Ranma. Trying to stay clear of the demon. Inuyasha was one thing; he was at least half human. But a soul collector was something entirely different. When he got close enough to Ranma he finally decided to speak.

"He won't hurt Sota will he?" Mr. Higurasi asked, slightly worried.

"Nah, he won't hurt him. He's a good little demon."

"…Right. I have two questions though. Who are you? And what are you doing here? We rarely get visitors and its even more rare for them to bring demons." The old man asked. They were good questions actually. If someone was bringing demons into your home, I bet you would be a bit curious too.

"I'm Ranma Saotome, and I just came from feudal Japan." Ranma answered truthfully. He didn't feel like coming up with a good lie. He was a terrible liar anyway.

"Ah, I see now. You came from the well…did you say Saotome?" The old man asked. He was somewhat happy to meet the legendary son of Nodoka Saotome. The son she had talked so much about, and the son that had gone missing.

"Yes. Sorry 'bout this." Ranma said, giving a deep bow.

"That explains where you were! Your mother is worried sick about you. You should hurry home!" The man said, frantically waving his hands in the air.

"I was just on my way home actually." Ranma said, scratching the back of his neck. He was hopping that he could just hurry things up and get out of there.

"Then we shouldn't keep you! Drop by any time. I'm sure Kagome would be happy to have visitors!" The man said, with his hands behind his back.

"Right…Come on D-chan!" Ranma said, as he ran down the steps of the shrine, D-chan chasing after him.

"Next time ya come over bring D-chan too, okay!" Sota yelled down the steps. He seems to have forgotten all about poor Buyo.

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            Else where in feudal Japan, our favorite half demon begins to wake up with a splitting headache. He notices that he's in a small clearing in a hut, and that Kagome, Sango, Shippo, and Mirouku are looming over him with worried looks on their faces…some of their faces anyway.

"What hit me?" Inuyasha asked rubbing his head.

"This human shot this weird light at you Inuyasha, and it hit you really hard!" Shippo said, waving his hands in the air, jumping up and down.

"What!!! That human…beat me? Ranma beat me? THIS CAN'T BE!" Inuyasha yelled, hitting the ground at the end of his last sentence, a look of pure rage on his face. A human has beaten the mighty Inuyasha.

"Inuyasha it's not the end of the world…" Kagome began. She never got to finish her thought though.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN BY THAT!" Inuyasha yelled at the top of his lungs. This caused Kagome to fall backwards from the sudden outburst.

"THAT LOUSY GOOD FOR NOTHING HUMAN BEAT ME! I LOST TO A HUMAN KAGOME, A _HUMAN_! HE WASN'T EVEN USING A SHARD!" Inuyasha continued.

"But Inuyasha you don't understand. I've heard stories from his mother. He killed a god not too long ago! At first I thought she was blowing things out of proportion or that he was using the power of a shard, but he wasn't. His dad took him on a ten year long training trip ever since he could walk!"

"So that's the guy you were talking about earlier?" Inuyasha asked, still pretty ticked.

"Yeah. I had no idea how he got here though. He said something about a wardrobe..." Kagome said, placing a finger on her chin, to act as if she were in deep thought.

"What the hell was he doing with Kikyou though? That's what I wanna know!" Inuyasha began yelling once again.

"Perhaps He got lost and ran into her, so he started traveling with her." Mirouku said, trying to keep the situation under control.

"*Snort* I need some fresh air. I'll be back later." Inuyasha said, leaving the hut.

            Inuyasha started walking at a somewhat fast pace once he left the hut. He was angry, very angry. He felt so weak. Inuyasha, who has demon blood coursing through his veins, has lost to a regular human. He could care less how much Ranma trained, he still shouldn't have been able to beat Inuyasha. It was unthinkable.

            Inuyasha started to walk outside of the town, and into the small forest next to it. If there were any demons close by, they knew enough to stay away from him when he was like this. He was in a complete rage. He was pacing back and forth at a rapid race, breathing deeply and heavily. He was stepping so hard; footprints were being left in the dirt.

'How could this have happened to me! How! Am I useless? AM I!'

"RANMA SAOTOME! I'LL KILL YOU!" Inuyasha yelled, punching through a tree, causing it to brake into splinters at his feet.

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            Ranma finally came to his mother's house. His house. Was it really his house? He lived there, but something wasn't right. Ranma knocked on the door, and waited for someone to answer. What he saw surprised him to say the least.

            His mother had answered the door, and she was a total wreck. She had bags under her eyes, Her hair had split ends, she walked sluggishly, and she looked as if she had been crying. As soon as she answered the door and saw Ranma standing out side waiting for her, She ran right up to him and gave her son the biggest hug she could muster up with the little strength she had left. She hadn't slept well lately.

"Ranma, where were you! I thought you were hurt or even killed! No one could find you! You would tell me if you were going to run away right? Right?" She said between choked sobs. Ranma just put his arms around his mother. Kagome said that she was a wreck. He didn't know it was this bad.

"I'm okay mom. That shard you got me…it really is magic…it sent me to feudal Japan. It turns out that the wardrobe in my room is made out of something called the time tree or something like that." Ranma said, trying to choose his words very carefully.

"The wardrobe? Your father and I got that from the Higurasi family as a wedding gift." She looked up noticing D-chan for the first time. Nights without sleep and the shock of seeing a real demon next to her son had caught up with her and she fainted, but not before muttering a quick "Oh my…"

            Ranma picked his mother up and put her on the couch. He then took a bath and got into some cleaner clothes. He went back into the living room and began to wait for his mother to wake up.

"She took that better than I thought she would. Right D-chan?" Ranma said looking at his pet demon. D-chan nodded in agreement.

            A little while later Nodoka Saotome finally woke up. The site of D-chan looking right into her face greeted her. This caused her to scream… Loudly.

"Ranma! What is that thing?" Nodoka asked, edging away from the creature in front of her. Which was hard, since she was still on the couch.

"It's my pet! His name is D-chan. Don't worry he won't hurt ya." Ranma said, leaning up against the wall.

"Are you sure?" Nodoka said, calming down a little bit.

"Yeah. You can pet him if you want." And as if on cue, D-chan poked his head out to let Nodoka pet it. She pet it for a little while, happy that it wasn't going to attack her then went back to questioning Ranma.

"Now what's this about feudal Japan?" Nodoka asked.

"Well you see… It's like this. The shard you gave me…"

"The piece of glass?" Nodoka interrupted.

"Yeah. It's part of something called the Jewel of four souls, and the wardrobe is made from the wood of the 'time tree'. Combined with the wardrobe and the jewel shard, I was able to travel to feudal Japan. I found out that Kagome goes there all the time, actually." Ranma put in as an after thought.

"I was wondering where she was my last few visits before you began to live with me? Oh yes, I forgot. Why didn't you just come through the wardrobe again?" Nodoka asked, wanting a really good answer.

"That is simple. The shard was taken by a wasp demon thing, and I had to find another one to get back. I met this girl named Kikyou, she's the one who gave me D-chan, and we traveled together for a while before I found the new shard…" Ranma said, realizing that he should have left that part out at the last second.

            Nodoka's eyes seemed to go from the sleep deprived baggy eyes to the shinny glimmering eyes of a teenage girl who just got asked out by the most popular guy in school. She clasped her hands together and Ranma could have sworn that a tear rolled down her cheek.

"My son is so manly!" Nodoka squealed. "When are you going to introduce me to your new girl friend Ranma? You should invite her to dinner one of these days!" Nodoka said, practically dancing around the room.

"Uh…mom…she lives in feudal Japan. I don't think she'd want to come to the future or anything like that. Besides, I'll probably never meet her again anyway." Ranma said, his usual cheerful tone dropping a bit.

"Why not?" Nodoka asked, going out of 'my son is so manly' mode.

"We only traveled with each other until I found a shard. I found one, so she left." Ranma said, sitting down in a chair across from his mother.

"Oh. Well you can go back to feudal Japan anytime right? If you ever see her again, invite her over."

"Sure…I'm going to go upstairs for a little while…I'm kind of tired." Ranma said, heading up the stairs, D-chan following him.

"I understand." Nodoka said, 'understanding' all too well.

            Ranma was lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He knew he was only going to stay with her for a short time, but he wished it had been longer. She had been a good friend. At least Ranma thought so. Though she sometimes ignored him, she was still there, traveling with him, like what he and his dad had done. She hadn't hit him when he did something stupid, and there was just something about her that he respected. He couldn't place his finger on it, but it was there.

"D-chan, you can find Kikyou any time you want, right?" Ranma asked. The demon nodded in the affirmative.

"Good. It's still early, isn't it?" Ranma asked. Again D-chan nodded in the affirmative.

            That's what Ranma liked about D-chan. It understood the human language. It wasn't like a pet that learned certain commands and responded to them. D-chan could actually understand what Ranma was saying. And sometimes when D-chan made the right movements, Ranma could understand what he was saying too. It also helped that it could draw pictures in the dirt for really hard things to say. Sure could beat Lassie any day.

"I missed so much school. Not that I care, but It's already the weekend." Ranma said, sitting up. D-chan cocked his head to the right. As if asking what school was.

"School is where I go to learn stuff. It's boring but I have to go. They don't allow pets though." This caused D-chan to droop his head.

"Don't worry man, that gives you a chance to get to know mom." This perked D-chan up.

            Ranma lie back down on his bed again. Ranma stared off into nothing for a short while then sighed. He stretched a little bit then got up again.

"I'm _so_ bored D-chan! I wonder what Kikyou's doin' " Ranma said, before heading back down the stairs.   

To be continued.

AN: Inuyasha officially hates Ranma. People are starting to be weary of D-chan. And Ranma is BORED!

What could this all mean?! …

… … … … This is really going to bug me until I right the next chapter ^_^