Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Ranma ½ or Inuyasha. . .
though I really wish I did. . .
A/N: First off, I want to thank everyone for their reviews. I'm taking this story very seriously and working my hardest to make it it's best, so they really do mean a ton to me. ( and EEK! Last time I forgot to thank my Beta, Wingsong. She helped me work out some plot points and pointed out a few instances where I had them OOC. Go read her stories, they're AWESOME! *** E2K - I'm glad you're enjoying the story. Akane doesn't exactly hate Ranma. . . but her feelings toward him have changed. Read on!
L-Chan - You're right. There is something going on that I haven't talked about yet regarding the jewel shard and how it got into that old man's hands. Thank you for your review!
fukaimori-inu - Thank you! I'm glad you like the story!
Terpischore the Whirler - Thank you! If you can't tell, my favorite thing to write is dialogue, meaning that character interaction is a big deal to me. About length, the chapters do get longer as they go along. . . I admit that the prologue was short, but the rest of the chapters WILL be longer! (
CaraBera - Hehe. . . I'm glad you like the story so much! I promise to keep updating! *** Please read and review!!
**********************************************
Lost Time Chapter 2
In Feudal Japan, five hundred years before, Inuyasha sat on the grass with his back to the time well. He glanced back at it, and then quickly looked away. Shouldn't she be back by now? It was getting late, and if she was still home at this hour, then she probably wouldn't be back until morning.
It was dark, Inuyasha thought as he looked up at the starry sky. In two nights time, he would have to find a secure place to hide, but he wasn't so worried about that just then. What he hated was waiting around for Kagome to show up.
Only one shard of the Shikon jewel was missing, and if Kagome knew what was good for her, she'd hurry up and come through the well so they could finish their search. Inuyasha shuddered to think of what would happen if Naraku happened to find it before they did.
Fed up with almost everything, Inuyasha stood on his feet and stomped over to the well. He looked down to the black bottom, glaring down into the nothingness. He was going to have to go and bring her back, and that was all there was to it.
Without another thought, he jumped.
*****
Ranma flinched as Akane slammed the door on his nose.
"This is getting really stupid," he muttered as, for the second time that evening, he pounded on his fiancé's door. "Akane!" he yelled. "I'm really, really sorry that I said those things about your cooking. It really wasn't that bad, I swear!" He was about to pound again when the door swung open, and Akane stood there, looking up at him with tears in her eyes. Her fingers were wrapped around the pink stone.
"Really?" she said as one of the tears made its way down her cheek.
"Aw, Akane, don't cry. I swear I didn't mean it."
"I'm not crying," she insisted, an obvious lie.
"Okay, okay," he said, putting his hands up in defense. "So, you're not. Just know that I'm really sorry, okay?"
"Oh, Ranma," she sighed and threw her arms around his neck. "Next time I'll try even harder to make you a perfect dinner!"
Ranma felt his cheeks heat up significantly and resigned to patting her back. He was confused. Why was Akane acting so weird?
"And thank you for the necklace, Ranma."
Ranma pushed her away and grabbed her arms so he could look at her. "What did you just say?"
"I thanked you for the necklace," Akane said, her eyes blinking back up at him.
"But, Akane. . . I didn't give it to you. Ryoga did. Remember?"
Akane looked at him, still blinking, and Ranma was suddenly worried. After all, Ryoga had just given it to her moments ago.
"Oh," she said. "I guess you're right." But then she threw her arms back around him. "Thank you, Ranma," she whispered in his ear.
Ranma tried to push her away, but she held him too tightly. He gave up. "What are you thanking me for now?"
This time, Akane was the one who pulled away, but only a little until they were looking right into each others eyes. "I'm not sure," she admitted.
When her face started getting closer to his, Ranma jumped away. "What are you doing?!" he exclaimed.
Now, Akane looked even more confused. And what was worse was the fact that she seemed embarrassed, too. "I'm going to bed. Goodnight," she muttered quickly and slammed the door in Ranma's face.
"What the hell. . ." he mumbled as he stared at the closed door. Something wasn't right. He was tempted to open her door and ask her questions about her behavior, but he still had a bruise on his arm from the last time, and honestly, when Akane was angry, Ranma usually ended up at Dr. Tofu's, or taking a scenic aerial tour over downtown Tokyo.
*****
Inuyasha stood outside the time well and looked cautiously around. Kagome's house was still lit up. . . only he couldn't pick up her scent anywhere.
That was never a good sign.
He shoved a baseball cap over his ears and began to make his way outside the property. She'd probably yell at him about it later, but this was too important to ignore. Besides, it was her own fault for not coming back sooner when she knew perfectly well that the last Shikon shard was almost in their reach.
Two blocks away from Kagome's house, Inuyasha began to pick up a familiar scent. He followed it around the block and down the street. He was just about to turn the corner when someone flew out from behind a large wooden fence and ran right into him. He grabbed the girl's arms and held her out at arms length. The girl's hands immediately grabbed onto his sleeves.
"Kagome?" he said. "Why are you running?
"Inuyasha!" Kagome exclaimed, almost out of breath. "It's here! I sensed it!"
He tilted his head at her. "What's here?"
"The last Shikon shard! I was coming to find you so we could bring it back. Are you ready?" she wanted to know as she pulled him back in the direction that she had come from.
Inuyasha grinned at her. "I'm so ready slaughter that bastard, you wouldn't believe."
*****
Akane sat up in bed and looked around. She thought she had heard something, but now it was completely quiet. She wondered if Ranma had been trying to break in her room to apologize at all hours of the night.
Wait a second. . . hadn't he already said he was sorry? She couldn't remember.
Without another thought, she flopped back down on her bed. But the second she hit the pillows, the jewel around her neck poked into her skin, and she had to stop herself from screaming. She pulled the stone away from her neck, noticing the small drop of blood where it had punctured her skin.
"Ouch," she mumbled, wiping the blood away with the tip of her finger. "Maybe I should take you off."
But when she tried to lift the necklace over her head, the tiny pearls lit up in a bright blue light and stayed exactly where they had been around her neck. Akane pulled and pulled, but the pearls would not move an inch.
"What's with this thing?"
She thought about getting Ranma to take a look at it, but he was probably sleeping soundly, and she knew he wouldn't want to be bothered. Besides, the muscles in her arm hurt from trying to remove the necklace. . . and her eyes were so heavy. . .
*****
"I smell human blood."
"Oh, no. . ." Kagome said as she chased Inuyasha down the sidewalks of Nermina. "Do you think Naraku found the shard before we did?"
"If he did, then I'll just take it from him," Inuyasha growled.
Easier said than done, Kagome thought. Naraku had most of the shards already, and it was taking them from him that had always been one of their bigger problems.
A glint of light caught Kagome off guard, and she jumped. "That way!" she told Inuyasha as she raced past him and turned left at the corner. "We're almost there!"
The two of them raced down the block and came to a house that was enclosed by a white brick wall. They stared at it for a moment until Inuyasha pulled Kagome on his back and jumped the wall in one bound.
"Up there!" she hissed at him.
He looked up to where she was pointing; a small balcony on the second floor. "Hold on tight," he said back to her, and they flew up, landing safely on the balcony. Kagome crawled off of Inuyasha's back, and the two of them squatted down below the window. Kagome peeked inside to see a girl with black hair sleeping in a bed.
"I'm going in," he told her, and made a move to stand up, but she put her hand on the top of his cap and pushed him back down.
"You're not going anywhere. There's a girl in there! If she sees you, and screams. . ."
His amber eyes glowed in defiance. "I can do whatever I want," he said, shaking her hands away.
"No, you can't," she said. "You keep forgetting that people from my time aren't used to seeing weird half demons with dog ears."
"Do you think I care?"
"Just stay here and be quiet. I'll go get the shard and be right back. I'll call for you if I need you."
"Fine," he agreed. "But hurry up. I'm getting impatient."
"You're always impatient."
He didn't answer her.
She went to the window and pulled it open slowly, being as careful as she could not to make any sudden noises that might wake the girl.
"Um, Kagome?"
Kagome looked down at Inuyasha, who looked away the second their eyes met. "What?"
"Never mind."
She rolled her eyes at him.
Once she had opened the window wide enough, Inuyasha helped her slip through. She landed safely and quietly on the other side, and held her finger to her lips for Inuyasha's sake. He only rolled his eyes and squatted back down to the floor of the balcony. She turned around, noticing how dark the room was. The only light was the small amount of moonlight that had followed her inside, and the soft glow of the Shikon shard that hung from the girl's neck.
This wasn't going to be easy, she thought as she crept toward the bed.
"Hey!" came a low voice from the window sill, and Kagome spun around.
"Get back outside!" she hissed. "You'll wake her up!"
*****
"It won't come OFF!"
"Be quiet!"
Akane opened her eyes open and found herself looking into a pair of big yellow ones and a ton of silver hair. A boy was trying to pull the necklace away from her neck! Her reflexes took over, and she hit the boy square in the nose, watching as he took a dive to the floor. There was a girl standing at the foot of her bed with a terrified expression on her face.
Akane screamed.
It wasn't more than three seconds later that the bedroom door burst open and Ranma, wearing a white t-shirt and boxers, came flying into the room. "Akane!" he breathed, sliding to a stop on the wood floor. "What's-" but Ranma didn't finish. His eyes met Akane's for a fraction of a second, and then drifted to the boy who was rising up from the floor with his hand over his nose. "What the hell are you?" Ranma asked. "And what are you doing in Akane's room?"
"I'm so sorry!" the girl said as she made a move to stand in front of the boy. "We didn't mean to scare you, it's just that. . . well, we really need that." She pointed to Akane.
"Her name is Akane!" Ranma growled.
"Not the girl," the other boy growled back. "The shard on her neck! You can keep the girl!"
Akane jumped out of bed and ran to stand behind Ranma. "You can't have it!" she cried. "Ranma gave me this necklace and-"
"I did NOT give it to you! Ryoga did!" Ranma turned his head to look at her. "Did you get knocked in the head or something?"
She held onto the back of his t-shirt. "Just make them leave, Ranma!"
The boy on the other side of the room stepped away from the girl and began making his way closer to Ranma and Akane. They walked backwards until Akane's back was pressed into the door.
The boy took off his hat and threw it to the floor, revealing two white ears at the top of his head. "We're not leaving without the shard," he said through clenched teeth. "So hand it over before anyone gets hurt."
"What the hell are you?" Ranma demanded as he backed up even further, pressing Akane into the door and keeping himself between her and apparent danger.
"It doesn't matter," the boy sneered, grabbing Ranma's collar and pulling him closer. "Give me the shard, and you'll never see me again."
Ranma hit his hand away. "Like hell," he said. "Who says it's yours, anyway? Ryoga gave it to Akane. It's hers."
The boy closed his eyes and took a step back. "Look," he said, opening them again and blinking at the couple. "I don't know who this Ryoga guy is, but it doesn't matter. If you don't give me the shard right now, I'll-"
Suddenly, the door flew open, and Nabiki had to jump back to keep Ranma and her younger sister from falling over on her. "If you wanted to have 'fun' with your fiancé, go ahead," she said as she pushed them back into the room. Once inside, her gaze met that of the two intruders. "But the next time you disturb my sleep with another kidnapping, you both owe me at LEAST two photo shoots."
Ranma visibly gulped.
Akane could hear the rest of the family pounding down the hallway. Nabiki turned to them and put up her hands. "Don't worry, everyone. It's just another kidnapping, but Ranma's got it under control."
The door slammed shut, leaving Akane and her guests in silence. The girl and the boy exchanged confused glances.
"Another kidnapping?" the boy said, raising an eyebrow. "This isn't the first?"
Akane stared at him.
"Not that we're kidnapping you, or anything. . ." the girl said hurriedly.
"Never mind," the boy interjected. "Just give up the shard before someone gets hurt."
"They'll never give it to you if you ask for it like that!" her voice rose. "You're so rude, Inuyasha!"
"Shh!" Ranma pleaded. "If we wake Nabiki up again. . ."
"Fine," Inuyasha said, ignoring Ranma and folding his arms as he turned his nose in the air. "If you think you can get it from them, then you try!"
"I will," she said, and then looked back at Ranma and Akane. "Hi, guys. . ." she smiled. "My name is Kagome, and this is Inuyasha. He seems kinda mean, but he's really not. . . well, not all the time, anyway. We don't really have time to explain to you why we need that shard around your neck, but it's really important. Do you think we could have it? Please?"
Akane stared at Kagome from around Ranma's shoulder. "But Ranma gave it to me," she told her.
"I did not!" Ranma hissed at her
"Yes, you did! Don't you remember?"
Ranma turned his head, looking at her as though she was crazy, and that's when it happened; the tears came to her eyes, and she buried her face into his shirt.
"Stop crying!" Ranma demanded as he turned around and grabbed her arms. "This is getting really sickening, Akane. Why are you so emotional all of a sudden?"
"I. . . I'm sorry," she told him as she wiped her tears. "But you don't have to yell at me!"
"Aw, jeez, Akane, I'm sorry. Just stop crying. . . please!" Ranma pleaded, but when Akane couldn't stop sobbing, he shoved her back behind himself and looked back toward Inuyasha.
"Leave," he snarled. "Before I kick you out myself."
Inuyasha almost looked bored. "You wanna fight?"
"Of course I wanna fight!" Ranma turned to Akane. "Go stand over there while I kick this guy to the curb," he said, and Akane went to stand by Kagome
"You overconfident bastard," Inuyasha chuckled. "Let's see what you got."
Ranma straightened up. "That's my line!"
*****
Inuyasha didn't want to hurt the human boy, but if he didn't get a hold of that last Shikon shard, then they all would most likely end up dead anyway. He reached down for his sword, Tetsusaiga, and pulled it from its sheath. "You're asking for it, pal," he said, raising the huge white fang above his head.
Ranma's grin grew larger, and he placed his palms opposite of each other. A yellow orb, the size of a basketball, appeared out of nowhere and lit up the room along with Tetsusaiga's white glow.
"Stop!" Kagome and Akane called out as they jumped between the two boys. "You'll destroy the house!"
Inuyasha stared between their heads at the yellow orb that quickly diminished until it popped into back into nothing. He was only slightly curious about how a normal human could conjure up something so unnatural. "Get out of the way!" he growled at the girls. "This jerk is keeping us from the shard, you idiot!"
"You can't just fight him here, Inuyasha," Kagome told him as she grabbed his wrist and pulled it and the sword down below his head.
"Why not!?"
"Because this isn't your house!"
"Who cares!?"
"ME!" Kagome yelled. "Now, put Tetsusaiga away!"
"Be quiet!" Ranma hissed. "There are already enough pictures of me floating around school!"
Inuyasha, annoyed and infuriated, stuffed Tetsusaiga back into its sheath. "Look, Kagome," he growled. "If you don't want me to do this my way, then get the shard from them right now! This is your last chance!"
Kagome looked down her nose at him. "Don't boss me around," she said before turning to Ranma and Akane. "C'mon, you two. . . can't you see that he's serious here? You have to give us the shard, or Inuyasha's gonna lose it!"
Inuyasha turned his back on them. "Hmph!" he grunted.
"Sometimes I think he's a little crazy. . ."
Inuyasha spun around. "Hey!"
Ranma was still staring at Tetsusaiga's handle, probably wondering what kind of sword it was. "Okay," he said. "You can have the stupid necklace. Akane, take it off."
A/N: First off, I want to thank everyone for their reviews. I'm taking this story very seriously and working my hardest to make it it's best, so they really do mean a ton to me. ( and EEK! Last time I forgot to thank my Beta, Wingsong. She helped me work out some plot points and pointed out a few instances where I had them OOC. Go read her stories, they're AWESOME! *** E2K - I'm glad you're enjoying the story. Akane doesn't exactly hate Ranma. . . but her feelings toward him have changed. Read on!
L-Chan - You're right. There is something going on that I haven't talked about yet regarding the jewel shard and how it got into that old man's hands. Thank you for your review!
fukaimori-inu - Thank you! I'm glad you like the story!
Terpischore the Whirler - Thank you! If you can't tell, my favorite thing to write is dialogue, meaning that character interaction is a big deal to me. About length, the chapters do get longer as they go along. . . I admit that the prologue was short, but the rest of the chapters WILL be longer! (
CaraBera - Hehe. . . I'm glad you like the story so much! I promise to keep updating! *** Please read and review!!
**********************************************
Lost Time Chapter 2
In Feudal Japan, five hundred years before, Inuyasha sat on the grass with his back to the time well. He glanced back at it, and then quickly looked away. Shouldn't she be back by now? It was getting late, and if she was still home at this hour, then she probably wouldn't be back until morning.
It was dark, Inuyasha thought as he looked up at the starry sky. In two nights time, he would have to find a secure place to hide, but he wasn't so worried about that just then. What he hated was waiting around for Kagome to show up.
Only one shard of the Shikon jewel was missing, and if Kagome knew what was good for her, she'd hurry up and come through the well so they could finish their search. Inuyasha shuddered to think of what would happen if Naraku happened to find it before they did.
Fed up with almost everything, Inuyasha stood on his feet and stomped over to the well. He looked down to the black bottom, glaring down into the nothingness. He was going to have to go and bring her back, and that was all there was to it.
Without another thought, he jumped.
*****
Ranma flinched as Akane slammed the door on his nose.
"This is getting really stupid," he muttered as, for the second time that evening, he pounded on his fiancé's door. "Akane!" he yelled. "I'm really, really sorry that I said those things about your cooking. It really wasn't that bad, I swear!" He was about to pound again when the door swung open, and Akane stood there, looking up at him with tears in her eyes. Her fingers were wrapped around the pink stone.
"Really?" she said as one of the tears made its way down her cheek.
"Aw, Akane, don't cry. I swear I didn't mean it."
"I'm not crying," she insisted, an obvious lie.
"Okay, okay," he said, putting his hands up in defense. "So, you're not. Just know that I'm really sorry, okay?"
"Oh, Ranma," she sighed and threw her arms around his neck. "Next time I'll try even harder to make you a perfect dinner!"
Ranma felt his cheeks heat up significantly and resigned to patting her back. He was confused. Why was Akane acting so weird?
"And thank you for the necklace, Ranma."
Ranma pushed her away and grabbed her arms so he could look at her. "What did you just say?"
"I thanked you for the necklace," Akane said, her eyes blinking back up at him.
"But, Akane. . . I didn't give it to you. Ryoga did. Remember?"
Akane looked at him, still blinking, and Ranma was suddenly worried. After all, Ryoga had just given it to her moments ago.
"Oh," she said. "I guess you're right." But then she threw her arms back around him. "Thank you, Ranma," she whispered in his ear.
Ranma tried to push her away, but she held him too tightly. He gave up. "What are you thanking me for now?"
This time, Akane was the one who pulled away, but only a little until they were looking right into each others eyes. "I'm not sure," she admitted.
When her face started getting closer to his, Ranma jumped away. "What are you doing?!" he exclaimed.
Now, Akane looked even more confused. And what was worse was the fact that she seemed embarrassed, too. "I'm going to bed. Goodnight," she muttered quickly and slammed the door in Ranma's face.
"What the hell. . ." he mumbled as he stared at the closed door. Something wasn't right. He was tempted to open her door and ask her questions about her behavior, but he still had a bruise on his arm from the last time, and honestly, when Akane was angry, Ranma usually ended up at Dr. Tofu's, or taking a scenic aerial tour over downtown Tokyo.
*****
Inuyasha stood outside the time well and looked cautiously around. Kagome's house was still lit up. . . only he couldn't pick up her scent anywhere.
That was never a good sign.
He shoved a baseball cap over his ears and began to make his way outside the property. She'd probably yell at him about it later, but this was too important to ignore. Besides, it was her own fault for not coming back sooner when she knew perfectly well that the last Shikon shard was almost in their reach.
Two blocks away from Kagome's house, Inuyasha began to pick up a familiar scent. He followed it around the block and down the street. He was just about to turn the corner when someone flew out from behind a large wooden fence and ran right into him. He grabbed the girl's arms and held her out at arms length. The girl's hands immediately grabbed onto his sleeves.
"Kagome?" he said. "Why are you running?
"Inuyasha!" Kagome exclaimed, almost out of breath. "It's here! I sensed it!"
He tilted his head at her. "What's here?"
"The last Shikon shard! I was coming to find you so we could bring it back. Are you ready?" she wanted to know as she pulled him back in the direction that she had come from.
Inuyasha grinned at her. "I'm so ready slaughter that bastard, you wouldn't believe."
*****
Akane sat up in bed and looked around. She thought she had heard something, but now it was completely quiet. She wondered if Ranma had been trying to break in her room to apologize at all hours of the night.
Wait a second. . . hadn't he already said he was sorry? She couldn't remember.
Without another thought, she flopped back down on her bed. But the second she hit the pillows, the jewel around her neck poked into her skin, and she had to stop herself from screaming. She pulled the stone away from her neck, noticing the small drop of blood where it had punctured her skin.
"Ouch," she mumbled, wiping the blood away with the tip of her finger. "Maybe I should take you off."
But when she tried to lift the necklace over her head, the tiny pearls lit up in a bright blue light and stayed exactly where they had been around her neck. Akane pulled and pulled, but the pearls would not move an inch.
"What's with this thing?"
She thought about getting Ranma to take a look at it, but he was probably sleeping soundly, and she knew he wouldn't want to be bothered. Besides, the muscles in her arm hurt from trying to remove the necklace. . . and her eyes were so heavy. . .
*****
"I smell human blood."
"Oh, no. . ." Kagome said as she chased Inuyasha down the sidewalks of Nermina. "Do you think Naraku found the shard before we did?"
"If he did, then I'll just take it from him," Inuyasha growled.
Easier said than done, Kagome thought. Naraku had most of the shards already, and it was taking them from him that had always been one of their bigger problems.
A glint of light caught Kagome off guard, and she jumped. "That way!" she told Inuyasha as she raced past him and turned left at the corner. "We're almost there!"
The two of them raced down the block and came to a house that was enclosed by a white brick wall. They stared at it for a moment until Inuyasha pulled Kagome on his back and jumped the wall in one bound.
"Up there!" she hissed at him.
He looked up to where she was pointing; a small balcony on the second floor. "Hold on tight," he said back to her, and they flew up, landing safely on the balcony. Kagome crawled off of Inuyasha's back, and the two of them squatted down below the window. Kagome peeked inside to see a girl with black hair sleeping in a bed.
"I'm going in," he told her, and made a move to stand up, but she put her hand on the top of his cap and pushed him back down.
"You're not going anywhere. There's a girl in there! If she sees you, and screams. . ."
His amber eyes glowed in defiance. "I can do whatever I want," he said, shaking her hands away.
"No, you can't," she said. "You keep forgetting that people from my time aren't used to seeing weird half demons with dog ears."
"Do you think I care?"
"Just stay here and be quiet. I'll go get the shard and be right back. I'll call for you if I need you."
"Fine," he agreed. "But hurry up. I'm getting impatient."
"You're always impatient."
He didn't answer her.
She went to the window and pulled it open slowly, being as careful as she could not to make any sudden noises that might wake the girl.
"Um, Kagome?"
Kagome looked down at Inuyasha, who looked away the second their eyes met. "What?"
"Never mind."
She rolled her eyes at him.
Once she had opened the window wide enough, Inuyasha helped her slip through. She landed safely and quietly on the other side, and held her finger to her lips for Inuyasha's sake. He only rolled his eyes and squatted back down to the floor of the balcony. She turned around, noticing how dark the room was. The only light was the small amount of moonlight that had followed her inside, and the soft glow of the Shikon shard that hung from the girl's neck.
This wasn't going to be easy, she thought as she crept toward the bed.
"Hey!" came a low voice from the window sill, and Kagome spun around.
"Get back outside!" she hissed. "You'll wake her up!"
*****
"It won't come OFF!"
"Be quiet!"
Akane opened her eyes open and found herself looking into a pair of big yellow ones and a ton of silver hair. A boy was trying to pull the necklace away from her neck! Her reflexes took over, and she hit the boy square in the nose, watching as he took a dive to the floor. There was a girl standing at the foot of her bed with a terrified expression on her face.
Akane screamed.
It wasn't more than three seconds later that the bedroom door burst open and Ranma, wearing a white t-shirt and boxers, came flying into the room. "Akane!" he breathed, sliding to a stop on the wood floor. "What's-" but Ranma didn't finish. His eyes met Akane's for a fraction of a second, and then drifted to the boy who was rising up from the floor with his hand over his nose. "What the hell are you?" Ranma asked. "And what are you doing in Akane's room?"
"I'm so sorry!" the girl said as she made a move to stand in front of the boy. "We didn't mean to scare you, it's just that. . . well, we really need that." She pointed to Akane.
"Her name is Akane!" Ranma growled.
"Not the girl," the other boy growled back. "The shard on her neck! You can keep the girl!"
Akane jumped out of bed and ran to stand behind Ranma. "You can't have it!" she cried. "Ranma gave me this necklace and-"
"I did NOT give it to you! Ryoga did!" Ranma turned his head to look at her. "Did you get knocked in the head or something?"
She held onto the back of his t-shirt. "Just make them leave, Ranma!"
The boy on the other side of the room stepped away from the girl and began making his way closer to Ranma and Akane. They walked backwards until Akane's back was pressed into the door.
The boy took off his hat and threw it to the floor, revealing two white ears at the top of his head. "We're not leaving without the shard," he said through clenched teeth. "So hand it over before anyone gets hurt."
"What the hell are you?" Ranma demanded as he backed up even further, pressing Akane into the door and keeping himself between her and apparent danger.
"It doesn't matter," the boy sneered, grabbing Ranma's collar and pulling him closer. "Give me the shard, and you'll never see me again."
Ranma hit his hand away. "Like hell," he said. "Who says it's yours, anyway? Ryoga gave it to Akane. It's hers."
The boy closed his eyes and took a step back. "Look," he said, opening them again and blinking at the couple. "I don't know who this Ryoga guy is, but it doesn't matter. If you don't give me the shard right now, I'll-"
Suddenly, the door flew open, and Nabiki had to jump back to keep Ranma and her younger sister from falling over on her. "If you wanted to have 'fun' with your fiancé, go ahead," she said as she pushed them back into the room. Once inside, her gaze met that of the two intruders. "But the next time you disturb my sleep with another kidnapping, you both owe me at LEAST two photo shoots."
Ranma visibly gulped.
Akane could hear the rest of the family pounding down the hallway. Nabiki turned to them and put up her hands. "Don't worry, everyone. It's just another kidnapping, but Ranma's got it under control."
The door slammed shut, leaving Akane and her guests in silence. The girl and the boy exchanged confused glances.
"Another kidnapping?" the boy said, raising an eyebrow. "This isn't the first?"
Akane stared at him.
"Not that we're kidnapping you, or anything. . ." the girl said hurriedly.
"Never mind," the boy interjected. "Just give up the shard before someone gets hurt."
"They'll never give it to you if you ask for it like that!" her voice rose. "You're so rude, Inuyasha!"
"Shh!" Ranma pleaded. "If we wake Nabiki up again. . ."
"Fine," Inuyasha said, ignoring Ranma and folding his arms as he turned his nose in the air. "If you think you can get it from them, then you try!"
"I will," she said, and then looked back at Ranma and Akane. "Hi, guys. . ." she smiled. "My name is Kagome, and this is Inuyasha. He seems kinda mean, but he's really not. . . well, not all the time, anyway. We don't really have time to explain to you why we need that shard around your neck, but it's really important. Do you think we could have it? Please?"
Akane stared at Kagome from around Ranma's shoulder. "But Ranma gave it to me," she told her.
"I did not!" Ranma hissed at her
"Yes, you did! Don't you remember?"
Ranma turned his head, looking at her as though she was crazy, and that's when it happened; the tears came to her eyes, and she buried her face into his shirt.
"Stop crying!" Ranma demanded as he turned around and grabbed her arms. "This is getting really sickening, Akane. Why are you so emotional all of a sudden?"
"I. . . I'm sorry," she told him as she wiped her tears. "But you don't have to yell at me!"
"Aw, jeez, Akane, I'm sorry. Just stop crying. . . please!" Ranma pleaded, but when Akane couldn't stop sobbing, he shoved her back behind himself and looked back toward Inuyasha.
"Leave," he snarled. "Before I kick you out myself."
Inuyasha almost looked bored. "You wanna fight?"
"Of course I wanna fight!" Ranma turned to Akane. "Go stand over there while I kick this guy to the curb," he said, and Akane went to stand by Kagome
"You overconfident bastard," Inuyasha chuckled. "Let's see what you got."
Ranma straightened up. "That's my line!"
*****
Inuyasha didn't want to hurt the human boy, but if he didn't get a hold of that last Shikon shard, then they all would most likely end up dead anyway. He reached down for his sword, Tetsusaiga, and pulled it from its sheath. "You're asking for it, pal," he said, raising the huge white fang above his head.
Ranma's grin grew larger, and he placed his palms opposite of each other. A yellow orb, the size of a basketball, appeared out of nowhere and lit up the room along with Tetsusaiga's white glow.
"Stop!" Kagome and Akane called out as they jumped between the two boys. "You'll destroy the house!"
Inuyasha stared between their heads at the yellow orb that quickly diminished until it popped into back into nothing. He was only slightly curious about how a normal human could conjure up something so unnatural. "Get out of the way!" he growled at the girls. "This jerk is keeping us from the shard, you idiot!"
"You can't just fight him here, Inuyasha," Kagome told him as she grabbed his wrist and pulled it and the sword down below his head.
"Why not!?"
"Because this isn't your house!"
"Who cares!?"
"ME!" Kagome yelled. "Now, put Tetsusaiga away!"
"Be quiet!" Ranma hissed. "There are already enough pictures of me floating around school!"
Inuyasha, annoyed and infuriated, stuffed Tetsusaiga back into its sheath. "Look, Kagome," he growled. "If you don't want me to do this my way, then get the shard from them right now! This is your last chance!"
Kagome looked down her nose at him. "Don't boss me around," she said before turning to Ranma and Akane. "C'mon, you two. . . can't you see that he's serious here? You have to give us the shard, or Inuyasha's gonna lose it!"
Inuyasha turned his back on them. "Hmph!" he grunted.
"Sometimes I think he's a little crazy. . ."
Inuyasha spun around. "Hey!"
Ranma was still staring at Tetsusaiga's handle, probably wondering what kind of sword it was. "Okay," he said. "You can have the stupid necklace. Akane, take it off."