Summary: Inuyasha has a problem and its following him. His human heart always gets him into the worst messes. He learned his lesson. This is the last time he feeds a stray. Elsewhere, the stakes have significantly increased.

notes: Both Ranma and Inuyasha feel like the other is very familiar, more than the encounters that they have already had with each other, but can't quite place how this is. hint: Ranma's dream was not a dream at all. (: Since Ranma and Inyuasha are essentially parallel characters, of course they easily butt heads. Both are stubborn and hot headed, though Inuyasha can be a little more rash than Ranma on average. They have similar personalities with different types of hurt and experiences driving their behavior. It will be fun teasing that out. Ranma has spent two months in the wood and not come across a single demon. hmmmm.

Chapter 6: To Feed a Stray

It had long since stopped raining. The earth was no longer permeated in its aftermath, having absorbed the puddles to nourish the grasses and vegetation while the sun had evaporated the droplets on the browning autumn leaves. There was a slight overcast, but the sun poured down through the heavenly gaps and warmed the meadow to a gently tepid state. The crisp chill of autumn on the winds had yet to take root, so today it was quite pleasant outdoors in Edo, even for humans. This was a time of quiet and peace that the silver maned, dog-eared hanyou was normally eager to take advantage of.

Then why? Why? For kamis' sake.

He been hoping that if he stayed quiet for long enough and went on his way, she would take a hint, but the pigtailed wench did not and this put him on edge. Usually anyone hanging around a hanyou was bad news (for the hanyou). More puzzling was that he found himself in the situation in the first place. Hanyous didn't have to give hints—they were the hint.

At some point the wench had closed the distance, trotting up beside him and peeking at his face from below. He furtively followed her gaze as it scanned over his hair and unsurprisingly lingered at the top of his head. It was only a matter of time before her eyes travelled down and landed on his, and the experience, like every time so far, was unsettling. He was quick to tear his gaze away, quick to do away with the ache of familiarity when her otherworldly emerald eyes met his own. It was a feeling that made his chest tighten and prickled the edge of his mind with the haziness of a dream. With an annoyed grunt he picked up his pace to push past the invasive gaze of the increasingly strange stranger.

His ears could hear each time she opened her mouth but when he thought she might say something, her mouth would clamp back shut. Considering how this wench had so brazenly pelted him with a rock and tried to tackle him in the trees, he knew she was not normal or shy. And so the silence seemed particularly tense and grating on his patience. As the sun declined westward for the afternoon, the chance of a relaxing post-storm afternoon was getting further from his reach. His ears flitted in annoyance and he could feel a growl beginning to rumble in the back of his throat as he did his best to continue minding his own damn business.

"so…yer a…uh…demon ?" the pigtailed woman asked, finally speaking. In the same breath, she collided into his back after he had abruptly stopped. Moments later a flurry of red made the wench rear back with quiet yelp and craned her neck to meet golden eyes which now hovered inches from her own. His eyes narrowed into suspicious slits.

He searched her eyes, her face and he gave a subtle sniff in her direction while the wench fought back a nervous smile and confused expression, her eyes now focusing anywhere but his face. If he didnt know humans as well as he did, he even might think she was holding her ground. She was looking a lot better since she had eaten and gotten some rest, a healthy pinkness imbuing her once pale skin (thanks to him). Clearly, she was not ill. A puzzled look knit his brow as he tried to make sense of her intentions. When a flare of recognition lit up his face, the rigidity and apprehension of his stance and demeanor seemed to melt away. He then turned on his heels to continue walking and ignoring her. She was not a threat.

The wench was just stupid. And perhaps a little insane.

"Yea. I am. Now go back to the village where you belong little girl." Inuyasha ultimately replied with a lazy yawn and a wave of the back of his hand. He gave no further thought to this interaction as his eyes honed in on a lofty branch that was calling his name. He had gifted her the nicer version of the 'now, get lost' he would have normally given, anyway.

"little girl?!" he heard the pigtailed ningen cry out, just as he approached the base. With a sigh that sounded more like a growl, he turned to the nuisance he had made the clear mistake of helping. He flinched back upon finding himself very close to someone he had never even heard approach. Unfortunately for her, he had a lifetime of interactions just like these. Well, maybe not exactly like this. Normally there ample personal space and the humans tended to have at least a shred survival instinct.

"Tch" he clicked, returning her glower. "you heard me." He watched as the wench gaped and her face fell through a series of emotions before she settled into a restrained annoyance that made her cross her arms with a testy "hmmpf".

"Well" she said. "No need tell me then! I can already tell what you are!" she declared. A cocky asshole!

"Oh?" he sneered, his demeanor suddenly taking on a darker character. "And just what is it that I am?" he bit out while flaring his sharp fangs as a threat. She was clearly not prepared to be pinned with a venomous molten gaze and felt a familiar sensation from her first night here creep its way up her spine; Along with it came with the compulsion to take a small step back but Ranma wasn't willing to give in, especially when her ego was on the line.

Filthy half breed? a stinking abomination? Yeah, bet this is gonna be real original. Inuyasha guessed .

Her eyes were steadfast and unwavering, very unlike most other encounters he was used to with humans. She had only asked him a simple question! Sure, Ranma could acknowledge that is probably was not the most polite or well delivered thing to blurt out and with all things considered, she probably should have given it more thought. The last half hour was her failing to work up the courage to thank him but as she trailed behind him, she couldnt help but finally notice how different he looked. Surely none of the villagers dressed like him, and his silvery white long hair and golden eyes were definitely outliers, like her own. The longer she looked the more questions she had and eventually her curiosity had overridden control over her own tongue. Was this what the villagers referred to as a "demon"? For nearly two whole months, sleeping rough in the wood since landing in this forsaken place, Ranma had yet to see a single one of these so-called yokai which infested the forest, according to the village gossip Ranma had overheard the last time be was passing by. Ranma had not meant the question to be mean, but this guy was being so sensitive and rude about it and was pissing her off. Of course, Ranma had not intended it to go this way, but now her ego thirsted for the boost she would get from handing him his own arrogant ass.

She circled her full lips, blowing upwards to displace her bangs from her line of sight. She watched has his eyes followed it float back down and he smirked when it landed in the exact same place. Ignoring this, Ranma jabbed a finger into his chest to made her intentions clear. Or rather, the consequences of his being so rude. This idiot didn't know who he was dealing with.

"Im not scared of you so get off your fuckin' high-horse!" she snapped at him. "Do ya want me to make you sorry?" she challenged with a dark glint passing through the green of her eyes.

High…horse? What the hells was that? He tried to discern the quip with little luck before his canine ears perked straight up and he cocked his head minutely. Wait…no. she didnt just…

It was the low crunching sound of her feet sliding over the earth as she broadened her stance and the way her arms floated out in front of her defensively that had confirmed what he had indeed heard. His eyes widened, overtaken with disbelieve at the competitive mirth that danced in her eyes, the final straw which allowed what she meant to officially sink in. This human was thoroughly amazing. Incredible.

Did he have to brandish his claws and fangs to get it through her thick empty noggin?!

He peered over her, his lips curling at the corners in pleasure of the shadow he cast over her form and in her faltering smirk as he did so. Perhaps a relaxing afternoon was not so far away after all. He knew he could smell her bluff from a mile away.

"Wench. You wouldn't even stand a chance." he laughed, drawing a claw under her chin so she could soak in just how badly she had fucked up. His ears twitched when, instead, her feminine scoff plowed unceremoniously through the dangerous air he had to try so unusually hard to cultivate.

'Wench!?' scuse me?! This guy is a real prick! I should just—

"eh?"

A sharp prick where her jaw merged with her neck interrupted her thoughts and Ranma carefully looked down her nose to get a better look. Arching one unimpressed ruby brow at the pointed tips of his offending fingers, she met his gaze again with renewed determination. Ranma had seen weirder shit, she had lived in Nerima of all places. An impish delight filled her features when her action made it his turn to falter in surprise, and she took this opportunity to close her hand over his and pressed his claw into her neck until a red trickle ran the length its length.

Ranma finally had him figured out.

"You!" she began by seizing his red robes for yanking him down to her eye level while he was still stunned. "You think that just 'cause yer kinda handsome you can get away with being a dick. I has some sorry news for ya pal! You can take yer fake ears and cosplay shit elsewhere, you pretentious bastard!" she snapped as she launched an arm upward and clamped down on what she assumed were oddly realistic props. Her soaring confidence screeched to a halt as soon as her fingers actually made contact with one, finding it warm, pliable and definitively attached to his skull and she elicited a surprised squeak.

How had it ended up this way? When? He floundered and blinked, finally aware of the rough bark of a tree digging into his spine that he had apparently been inching back towards. Him. A hanyou. Retreating from some tiny ningen woman.

As the cogs in his brain tried to work themselves out amidst growing overwhelm, something inside him was beginning to thrash defensively and helplessly. A feeling he had not felt since he was a weakling pup. His claws began to twitch when he felt a puff of her hot breath roll out into his neck from the proximity and drag him to the present, where the sensation of warm fingers probing his burning ears made him go rigid and shudder.

"Oi wench! Don't you know anything about personal space!" inuyasha protested loudly as the last of his patience dangled dangerously by a thread. He was getting precariously close to giving her what she wanted. With his dissipating self-control, his hands pushed out to her shoulder to put some distance between them but they didn't land on anything. Instead she fluidly swiveled and ducked out of his reach, marching right back the same place and leaving him blankly staring at her like some idiot.

"I ain't no girl !" He heard her exclaim defensively "and I aint little !" she hissed out.

"Pfffft, right." Inuyasha scoffed, having made quick work of recollecting himself. The air was simmering with irritation and defensiveness both ways, both holding their ground and daring the other to lose control. Just one slip. For him that meant he got to carve her out. For her it meant she could wipe that condescending look right off his face. Savior or no savior.

"then yer what, exactly? A boy?" he asked, a patronizing fang sticking out to taunt her. He enjoyed the way her eyes seemed to glow. She was getting closer to the edge.

"im not a boy either! Imma mahhh…". She ground out. She faltered on the last word, as the dog-eared stranger's dark brow arched upward and her confidence withered away, leaving only the high ring of her voice to echo in her mind. The light pull of her clothes in all the wrong places suddenly felt like a suffocating force, her red locks dangling in her vision all the more enraging. The belittling tone and condescending actions of the man before her made it clear that he thought she was some sort of idiot, some dumb 'little girl", as he so nicely put it.

Well Ranma wasn't stupid. This situation was stupid! Everything was so damn stupid.

"Im—im. GAH!" Ranma snarled in exasperation, her chest heaving out emotionally and pressing against the man she had yanked in a vice grip to her eye level. A frown pulled at the corners of her mouth in an almost in a cute way had the situation not been so emotionally charged.

The dog-eared man had tilted his head, his frustration mixing now with bewilderment. What could this wench be so upset about that she was willing to temp death? When his eyes followed the now drying trail of blood down her neck, his face reddened a shade just short of his robes and he was quick to look away from where her chest melded to his. Then, as if a light had gone off in his mind, his eyes widened.

Oh. Oh .

For fucks sake.

"Yer right! Yer not a little girl." He announced with a roll of his eyes, finally capturing the sputtering wenches' attention for a few short seconds. "Yer actually a full grown bitch !" He snapped.

"A Puny. Weak . Woman !" He finished off, grinding his forehead into hers as his pupils sharpened into knives.

He panted at the end of his sentence, having put more vitriol into the words than he had expected to. He watched as she had stumbled back a few paces in the aftermath of his explosion before diverting his gaze to the receding warmth of the afternoon sun as it sank over the mountain with lost opportunities. He shoved his arms into his billowy sleeves and hissed through his teeth with a scowl. It had been a long time since he had felt so…so—whatever this was called. No longer pinned to a tree by a human wench with a surprisingly strong grip, he was out of here. This was the last time he made the mistake of helping a human. Turning without another glance, he would make his far overdue leave. But only a single step later, his nose twitched and he froze in his tracks, spinning back to face the infuriating wench once again.

"Woah. h-hey! Don't—I didn't mean!" He stammered, his rough voice cracking in an edge of panic and his clawed digits dancing around her. Ranma blinked back at him, her ruby brows contorted by the abrupt change in demeanor. At the passing wind she stiffened and a lightning quick hand bolted to her cheek, pulling it away with everything she needed to know.

"Shit" she whispered. This was happening way too often, it was mortifying and emasculating. Ranma looked at the ground instead of looking up, her pride unable to bear that look, the one someone has when they hurt someone weaker than them. Ranma didn't want anything to do with it. Gods! Ranma hardly knew this guy! So why the hell did it feel like being sucker punched in the gut by Ryoga on steroids?

"I-I uhm…" Ranma sniffed and shuffled further away from him. While fumbling for the words she wanted to say, she scratched the back of her head and felt her own guilt begin to seep into her chest as things came back into perspective.

She had attacked this man. Called him a coward. He had saved her. Even fed her. Fed her again after she barfed it all up. Was this how she thanked him for it? The realization made her gnaw at her lip and deflate. Reluctantly, Ranma's green orbs peeked up at him, observing how the white fuzzy triangles had burrowed deep into his silver hair as his eyes nervously darted back and forth between her and to some point on their left. Refocusing on her feet again, Ranma managed to speak.

"I had just…I just wanted to say 'thank you' 'bout earlier. Ya know, for the fish 'n stuff." with a sheepish chuckle, Ranma explained. "S'pose I shoulda led with that instead of…well" Asking if you were a demon .

Taking a deep breath, Ranma exhaled slowly and swallowed the remains of her ego. When she peered up into his mystified face, she did something absolutely baffling.

Arms firmly at her sides, he watched as she bowed deeply. To him.

"Thank you" The pigtailed girl said.

He said nothing. The quiet sound of voices carried over the hilly meadow at some distance. she quickly straightened up and snapped her head into the direction they were coming from as the phantom pain pulsed painfully at her side.

"Hey, uhm, I gotta go n–" Ranma trailed off into silence when she turned to face him to find dog-eared man was already gone.

...

Earthen pools and puddles

memories of the rain.

Phantom on the bygone breeze

Hazy like a dream.

...

"What do you mean she almost died!" The looming figure bellowed, swishing his robes as he turned to face a trembling celestial servant. The violet of his eyes flared an otherworldly hue, nearly consumed by a sheen of red. The servant bowed deeply, touching the ground in front of themselves with a whimper.

"Forgive me, Omoikane-sama!" they begged. Daring to look up at the towering figure and see his damning gaze, he snapped his head back to the porcelain floors, his hair pooling on its surface. "I did not expect that the villagers would…act in this manner." he stammered, trying to sooth the burning fury of his superior. He swallowed hard at the consequences if he could not manage to do so: Condemned to the lowest rank, unable to speak or walk in human form for hundreds of years–a lowly animal. The thought made him shiver.

"You were entrusted with her care. You knew what was at stake, did you not?" Omoikane stated, regarding the heavenly servant bowed before him. He could smell the sickening scent of fear radiating from him. With his long slender digits, he placed a punishing hand on the head of the messenger, a cold emotionless veil in place of the rage he felt. He could feel the stiffening of form at his mercy and hear the choking sound that caught in their throat.

In a manner of seconds, he could turn this failed servant into a form fit for his doings but he reigned in this impulse, as it would end up having undesirable consequences. To do so to such a high ranking messenger would reveal the dire circumstances to the entire celestial palace, and panic that it would stir...no. It was not an option. Contemplating this, his hand stroked his long silver beard and he gazed down on the divine messenger before dropping his hand to forgo the deserved punishment.

"Yet she was salvaged." Omoikane-sama spoke with a forced calm before turning to face the massive wall of scrolls behind him, the secrets of ages. None of which gave him the answers he needed now, that they all needed now. The phrase he spoke was more a statement than a question.

Peeking upward, the inferior regarded Omoikane-sama with stunned bewilderment before examining his hands, and noting the lack of paws and red fur he had been so certain would be there. It took a moment for him to find the voice he had assumed was also gone.

"Y-yes, Omoikane-sama." The messenger replied after a prominent hesitation. Technically, that was correct. But to share the complete truth might result in consequences he had just barely escaped. Someone had saved her at their own expense, indeed, but it was not him. By the time he had arrived the timeline was already reset.

"Make sure it stays that way." The elder ordered before waving him away. The mistake of his assistant had created much more work for him to do. It also meant this was their last chance. Resetting a timeline can only happen once.