Author's Rantings: Here's chapter 4 then, hopefully it can live up to expectations. As usual, reviews are more than welcome. I realized that I should actually thanks Slade3 for correcting me. Sorry! I forgot to credit you, it was an embarrassing mistake too. Just to answer some questions: No, this will not be an Inuyasha/Kagome pairing, in fact, I'm not going to pair at all beyond the mangas and animes because, truthfully, I can't write things like that. Also, Inuyasha did not completely believe Ranma back there but decided on a most likely conclusion once he had stopped jumping to conclusions – its not that complicated as I was hoping that readers could imagine what Inuyasha was thinking most of the time. This chapter is where you find out where the Inuyasha storyline diverges slightly.
"What are you planning to do then?" Kaede handed the bowl of congee to Ranma.
"Well, you said that Inuyasha went north right?" At Kaede's affirmation, Ranma continued, "I decided that I should go over there and wring some answers out of that guy."
Kaede raised an eyebrow, "do you even know what this world is like?"
"Well… it's Japan, but earlier right?" Ranma scratched his head.
"There are many wandering bandits, armies and yokai wandering around, do you know that? You look like a strong young man to me, but you need to be more than that to survive alone out there."
"Bah! I'll crush whatever's in my way, that's not important. But I promised something, and I don't want to break that promise."
"You say one thing, but can you back your words with actions?" Kaede said wisely. Looking back at Ranma, she realized he wasn't listening to her and was drinking up the congee strait from the bowl. A little bit annoyed, she told Ranma, "Inuyasha is half demon, he runs fast, I doubt a human like you would be able to catch up with him without some help."
Ranma snorted again, "What do you take me for? I haven't finished my fight with that guy and no way is he going to be able to get away from me!"
"You fought Inuyasha?" Kaede looked at Ranma skeptically.
"Of course! I wouldn't have beaten him too if our fight hadn't been interrupted."
Kaede rolled her eyes, "Fool, Inuyasha is the most persistent person I know, I doubt he could lose to a human boy."
Annoyed Ranma got up, "Look, I'm grateful for the food, but I think I'll take my leave now." Turning to the door, he prepared to leave for the second time.
The ground shook a little bit and there was some shouting outside.
"Huh?" Ranma and Kaede said simultaneously and both ran out of the hut.
***
Outside, a giant snake demon was fighting a group of village men and winning.
"What the heck is that?" Ranma asked.
"Strange, I thought Inuyasha had killed all the yokai around here so far." Kaede thought out loud.
"So this is one of the yokai you've been talking about? Doesn't look so tough, I've seen bigger." (Albeit only once), Ranma thought, but they don't need to know that. "Well, it's a martial artist's duty to protect the weak." Ranma quoted his father, and rushed at the snake.
"What are you doing?" Kaede shouted after Ranma, "fool!"
Ranma shouted indignantly over his shoulder, "I'm protecting the village!"
The snake flicked its tail at Ranma. The tail smashed into the ground, but had missed Ranma by a long distance. In fact Ranma had jumped far above where he had been moments ago and was closing in on the snake's head. Hissing, the snake spit a stream of liquid at Ranma, who dodged it in midair. Under him, the ground dissolved slightly where the liquid had touched.
"This things big, but not that special," Ranma commented as he spun around and connected a roundabout to the side of the snakes head. Maybe it was because Ranma was fighting a yokai, or maybe he was too annoyed at Kaede, but instead of knocking the oversized snake away, his foot went through its head. Blood spurted out as the head was split in half. The body of the yokai dropped lifelessly to the floor.
"Uh…" Ranma stammered out, after touching the ground again.
Kaede was staring at him again, this time with suspicion. "I don't sense any youki about you, but are you really the human boy you appear to be?" Behind her, the villagers were whispering about themselves.
Ranma saw red – nobody questioned his masculinity, "I don't know what problems you've got with me, and I don't really care, but I am fully one hundred percent MALE!" The last word was shouted rather forcefully, taking everybody around aback.
"I wasn't questioning your gender, you realize that don't you?"
"Whatever," Ranma said sourly, "I'll see you when I come back."
The whole village watched him strangely as he left and headed towards the north.
"That boy has got all his priorities wrong doesn't he?"
"Yeah, a lot like Inuyasha, he's a strange one."
"Heh, imagine being unsure insecure of your gender of all things!"
***
Ranma walked along a path that seemed to be heading north, pondering as he walked. "Actually, its true, I have no idea how I'm going to find that Inuyasha guy, all I know is that he went north. Oh well, how hard can it be? I'll just ask around if anybody has seen a dog eared person."
An hour later, Ranma had arrived at another village. Stopping a random passerby, Ranma asked if he had seen Inuyasha, describing him in detail. "Guy with dog ears, yellow eyes? Have you seen him?"
"Oh, him? I recall him passing by our village and asking us if we had noticed any evil. We told him that a great evil had gone up to the north. He headed that way after that."
Thanking the man, Ranma kept going on his journey. For the rest of the day, Ranma had progressed steadily forward, having no luggage to weigh him down. However, this also meant that he had had nothing to eat for lunch and probably nothing for dinner.
"This is not good." Ranma commented as his stomach once again started complaining. Maybe I can work for food in the next village." In the distance, Ranma noticed some smoke, "Aha! A village, I'll try my luck there."
Shock, however, was what met the young martial artist upon reaching the village. The buildings were in ruins and there were dead villagers everywhere. Ranma felt like vomiting, he had never seen death to such an extent. Searching around, Ranma was unable to find a single survivor. Sighing, he started digging a grave for the dead, "you can't just leave bodies around like this," he reasoned, "it's just not done."
It took the rest of the day to bury the dead and by nightfall, Ranma decided to get some sleep, despite being on an empty stomach. Walking away from the main part of the village, Ranma found a secluded hut and decided to sleep there. Strained and tired from the work needed to dig graves and haul bodies, Ranma fell asleep upon his head hitting the floor.
That night, it rained.
The hut was leaking.
***
Ranma swore as he, now she, continued on her journey north. "I do a good deed, and this is what I get in return," she muttered, "must be the story of my life." She plodded along bitterly in the road which had turned muddy throughout the night. In the distance was another column of smoke, the same as the day before.
The martial artist broke into a run, hoping that perhaps she could stop whatever destruction was happening there. Her prayers were answered as when she arrived, the huts were burning, but there were several people running away from a smaller figure. As Ranma got closer, she noticed that it was a yokai, this one looking very different from the last one he fought. It was human shaped, but two bull horns protruded from its head. In its hands, it held a whip which it was currently using to kill villagers, laughing manically as it did so.
"Souls! Give me your souls so that I can grow stronger" It cried as it sliced a villager into two with its whip. Ranma noticed that instead of the victim's chi disappearing, it seemed to be sucked into the yokai.
"Stop! You're killing them!" Ranma shouted as she rushed up to short distance away from the yokai.
"So you want to give me your soul as well, little girl?" The yokai asked disdainfully looking away from the other villagers.
Holding her anger in check, Ranma took up a fighting stance, "I'm not that little," she muttered, as she ran at the yokai, "and I'm definitely not a girl either!"
The yokai looked at Ranma strangely, before lashing its whip at her. Ranma easily evaded the attack and in a blink was in front of the yokai before executing a blow to its stomach. The punch hit the yokai a small distance away. Stunned the yokai slowly got up.
"You better start taking me seriously." Ranma said.
Angry, the yokai got into a fighting stance as well, "you're going to regret not running away!" it snarled and shot out its whip at Ranma.
Ranma dodged each strike as she looked for an opening. Suddenly she was engulfed in scalding hot water.
The yokai laughed, "That is very hot water! No normal human can withstand such high temperatures!" it stopped laughing when Ranma jumped out of the water with only minor burns – and male. "Wh-what are you?" It asked before Ranma did a swift knife hand chop to its neck, breaking it, and killing the yokai instantly.
Around him, villagers had gathered and were thanking Ranma for saving them. "How can we ever repay you?" the head of the village asked.
Ranma's stomach growled. "Some food would be nice?" he suggested.
At the village head's house Ranma was stuffing his face, while the the village head asked him what he was doing. Ranma explained how he was looking for Inuyasha and asked if the head knew anything about him.
"Oh yes," the village head told Ranma, "I heard that he has gone up north towards Mt. Hakurei."
"Mt. Hakurei?"
"Yes, its rumored to be a mountain so pure that even the most sinful can atone there."
Ranma laughed, "so that dog-boys feels impure does he?"
"No, not really, apparently, he's searching for a great evil." The village told him seriously.
"Oh well, I guess it shouldn't really concern me, I'll just continue on my way until I meet him." Ranma commented before asking for another bowl of rice.
Soon, word had traveled of a powerful boy who helped villages in need that was looking for Inuyasha. Since Inuyasha had also traveled past these villages, Ranma would often be able to obtain information as well as a good meal before setting off north again. In this way, Ranma managed to travel without being too hungry as well as learn the way towards Mt. Hakurei.
"What are you planning to do then?" Kaede handed the bowl of congee to Ranma.
"Well, you said that Inuyasha went north right?" At Kaede's affirmation, Ranma continued, "I decided that I should go over there and wring some answers out of that guy."
Kaede raised an eyebrow, "do you even know what this world is like?"
"Well… it's Japan, but earlier right?" Ranma scratched his head.
"There are many wandering bandits, armies and yokai wandering around, do you know that? You look like a strong young man to me, but you need to be more than that to survive alone out there."
"Bah! I'll crush whatever's in my way, that's not important. But I promised something, and I don't want to break that promise."
"You say one thing, but can you back your words with actions?" Kaede said wisely. Looking back at Ranma, she realized he wasn't listening to her and was drinking up the congee strait from the bowl. A little bit annoyed, she told Ranma, "Inuyasha is half demon, he runs fast, I doubt a human like you would be able to catch up with him without some help."
Ranma snorted again, "What do you take me for? I haven't finished my fight with that guy and no way is he going to be able to get away from me!"
"You fought Inuyasha?" Kaede looked at Ranma skeptically.
"Of course! I wouldn't have beaten him too if our fight hadn't been interrupted."
Kaede rolled her eyes, "Fool, Inuyasha is the most persistent person I know, I doubt he could lose to a human boy."
Annoyed Ranma got up, "Look, I'm grateful for the food, but I think I'll take my leave now." Turning to the door, he prepared to leave for the second time.
The ground shook a little bit and there was some shouting outside.
"Huh?" Ranma and Kaede said simultaneously and both ran out of the hut.
***
Outside, a giant snake demon was fighting a group of village men and winning.
"What the heck is that?" Ranma asked.
"Strange, I thought Inuyasha had killed all the yokai around here so far." Kaede thought out loud.
"So this is one of the yokai you've been talking about? Doesn't look so tough, I've seen bigger." (Albeit only once), Ranma thought, but they don't need to know that. "Well, it's a martial artist's duty to protect the weak." Ranma quoted his father, and rushed at the snake.
"What are you doing?" Kaede shouted after Ranma, "fool!"
Ranma shouted indignantly over his shoulder, "I'm protecting the village!"
The snake flicked its tail at Ranma. The tail smashed into the ground, but had missed Ranma by a long distance. In fact Ranma had jumped far above where he had been moments ago and was closing in on the snake's head. Hissing, the snake spit a stream of liquid at Ranma, who dodged it in midair. Under him, the ground dissolved slightly where the liquid had touched.
"This things big, but not that special," Ranma commented as he spun around and connected a roundabout to the side of the snakes head. Maybe it was because Ranma was fighting a yokai, or maybe he was too annoyed at Kaede, but instead of knocking the oversized snake away, his foot went through its head. Blood spurted out as the head was split in half. The body of the yokai dropped lifelessly to the floor.
"Uh…" Ranma stammered out, after touching the ground again.
Kaede was staring at him again, this time with suspicion. "I don't sense any youki about you, but are you really the human boy you appear to be?" Behind her, the villagers were whispering about themselves.
Ranma saw red – nobody questioned his masculinity, "I don't know what problems you've got with me, and I don't really care, but I am fully one hundred percent MALE!" The last word was shouted rather forcefully, taking everybody around aback.
"I wasn't questioning your gender, you realize that don't you?"
"Whatever," Ranma said sourly, "I'll see you when I come back."
The whole village watched him strangely as he left and headed towards the north.
"That boy has got all his priorities wrong doesn't he?"
"Yeah, a lot like Inuyasha, he's a strange one."
"Heh, imagine being unsure insecure of your gender of all things!"
***
Ranma walked along a path that seemed to be heading north, pondering as he walked. "Actually, its true, I have no idea how I'm going to find that Inuyasha guy, all I know is that he went north. Oh well, how hard can it be? I'll just ask around if anybody has seen a dog eared person."
An hour later, Ranma had arrived at another village. Stopping a random passerby, Ranma asked if he had seen Inuyasha, describing him in detail. "Guy with dog ears, yellow eyes? Have you seen him?"
"Oh, him? I recall him passing by our village and asking us if we had noticed any evil. We told him that a great evil had gone up to the north. He headed that way after that."
Thanking the man, Ranma kept going on his journey. For the rest of the day, Ranma had progressed steadily forward, having no luggage to weigh him down. However, this also meant that he had had nothing to eat for lunch and probably nothing for dinner.
"This is not good." Ranma commented as his stomach once again started complaining. Maybe I can work for food in the next village." In the distance, Ranma noticed some smoke, "Aha! A village, I'll try my luck there."
Shock, however, was what met the young martial artist upon reaching the village. The buildings were in ruins and there were dead villagers everywhere. Ranma felt like vomiting, he had never seen death to such an extent. Searching around, Ranma was unable to find a single survivor. Sighing, he started digging a grave for the dead, "you can't just leave bodies around like this," he reasoned, "it's just not done."
It took the rest of the day to bury the dead and by nightfall, Ranma decided to get some sleep, despite being on an empty stomach. Walking away from the main part of the village, Ranma found a secluded hut and decided to sleep there. Strained and tired from the work needed to dig graves and haul bodies, Ranma fell asleep upon his head hitting the floor.
That night, it rained.
The hut was leaking.
***
Ranma swore as he, now she, continued on her journey north. "I do a good deed, and this is what I get in return," she muttered, "must be the story of my life." She plodded along bitterly in the road which had turned muddy throughout the night. In the distance was another column of smoke, the same as the day before.
The martial artist broke into a run, hoping that perhaps she could stop whatever destruction was happening there. Her prayers were answered as when she arrived, the huts were burning, but there were several people running away from a smaller figure. As Ranma got closer, she noticed that it was a yokai, this one looking very different from the last one he fought. It was human shaped, but two bull horns protruded from its head. In its hands, it held a whip which it was currently using to kill villagers, laughing manically as it did so.
"Souls! Give me your souls so that I can grow stronger" It cried as it sliced a villager into two with its whip. Ranma noticed that instead of the victim's chi disappearing, it seemed to be sucked into the yokai.
"Stop! You're killing them!" Ranma shouted as she rushed up to short distance away from the yokai.
"So you want to give me your soul as well, little girl?" The yokai asked disdainfully looking away from the other villagers.
Holding her anger in check, Ranma took up a fighting stance, "I'm not that little," she muttered, as she ran at the yokai, "and I'm definitely not a girl either!"
The yokai looked at Ranma strangely, before lashing its whip at her. Ranma easily evaded the attack and in a blink was in front of the yokai before executing a blow to its stomach. The punch hit the yokai a small distance away. Stunned the yokai slowly got up.
"You better start taking me seriously." Ranma said.
Angry, the yokai got into a fighting stance as well, "you're going to regret not running away!" it snarled and shot out its whip at Ranma.
Ranma dodged each strike as she looked for an opening. Suddenly she was engulfed in scalding hot water.
The yokai laughed, "That is very hot water! No normal human can withstand such high temperatures!" it stopped laughing when Ranma jumped out of the water with only minor burns – and male. "Wh-what are you?" It asked before Ranma did a swift knife hand chop to its neck, breaking it, and killing the yokai instantly.
Around him, villagers had gathered and were thanking Ranma for saving them. "How can we ever repay you?" the head of the village asked.
Ranma's stomach growled. "Some food would be nice?" he suggested.
At the village head's house Ranma was stuffing his face, while the the village head asked him what he was doing. Ranma explained how he was looking for Inuyasha and asked if the head knew anything about him.
"Oh yes," the village head told Ranma, "I heard that he has gone up north towards Mt. Hakurei."
"Mt. Hakurei?"
"Yes, its rumored to be a mountain so pure that even the most sinful can atone there."
Ranma laughed, "so that dog-boys feels impure does he?"
"No, not really, apparently, he's searching for a great evil." The village told him seriously.
"Oh well, I guess it shouldn't really concern me, I'll just continue on my way until I meet him." Ranma commented before asking for another bowl of rice.
Soon, word had traveled of a powerful boy who helped villages in need that was looking for Inuyasha. Since Inuyasha had also traveled past these villages, Ranma would often be able to obtain information as well as a good meal before setting off north again. In this way, Ranma managed to travel without being too hungry as well as learn the way towards Mt. Hakurei.