"Speaking"

'Thoughts'

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma 1/2 or Yu Yu Hakusho.

Chapter 7 The Morning After

Ranma sat on Genkai's roof, watching the sun rise over the horizon. He thought about the latest development in his life. Being a spirit detective. He had gone through some pretty amazing things before, but this was one was out there. He never knew there was a world beyond the one he lived in. A world where demons lived. A world where spirits lived. It was a lot to take in one night. He hopped off the roof an headed to the kitchen for breakfast.

In the kitchen sat Genkai, Yukina, Shampoo, Ryoga, and Mousse. He took a seat next to Genkai. He looked around the table.

"Where's Kyle?"

Genkai took a sip of her tea before answering. "He went to school."

"Your kidding me."

"I don't kid. He does care about his education."

"So, what are we suppose to do until he gets back?" Mousse asked.

"Genkai and I will escort you back to Nerima. Kyle will be there once he gets transferred to Furinkan." Yukina answered.

"Hmm, it will be nice to have a long chat with Cologne about the wedding."

Shampoo's tea cup broke into pieces at the mention of the wedding. For one reason or another, Genkai chose to ignore this and continued. "After all we will be in-laws soon."

"How's that? You look to old to be Kyle's mom." Ranma said. After doing so he received a large bump on his head.

"Learn to respect your elders boy! That mouth of yours will get you into more trouble than you want."

"You have no idea." The boys said.

"Back to the question. I adopted Kyle since he had no family to take care of him."

They gave and 'oh' face. After breakfast they helped clean up and took a walk around the temple. Mousse walked close to the forest again only to get that same feeling of uneasiness. Gathering his courage, he slowly walked towards the forest. There were ropes outlining the edge of the it with some sort of papers. Upon taking a closer look he realized they were some kind of spells. There he stood looking into the dark forest. Again, a shiver went up his spine. He was about to step over the ropes when all of a sudden he was stopped by a voice.

"STOP!"

Mousse almost fell over in surprise. He regained his balance and turned around to face the person. Genkai walked up to the blind boy with a stern look.

"Do not go into the forest."

"What's in there? I always get this uneasy feeling when I get too close."

"The forest is full of demons."

"What! How can you live out here with demons in the forest?"

"The demons that reside in the forest are weak and pose no threat to me. These spells are enough to keep them out. They fear me more than I fear them. However, you are a different story. Should you go in, you could be mauled by them."

Mousse gulped. "Come we must gather your friends and take you back to Nerima."

"They are not my friends, especially Saotome."

"Hmm, the way you get along with each other reminds me of another group of boys. I only assumed you were friends as well."

Mousse didn't respond and followed her. Meanwhile Ryoga and Ranma where having a little discussion of their own.

"I guess it will be hard to train if I keep getting lost……."

"Don't worry so much P-chan."

"What did you say?" Ryoga grabbed Ranma's shirt.

"Calm down will ya! We can't be fighting if we are going to be partners!"

Ryoga let go. "Hmph. I'm not doing this because I want to. I'm only doing this to repay Konema for curing me of my curse."

"Too bad he couldn't cure your bad sense of direction. I mean you get lost in a room with one door!"

Ryoga punched Ranma into the ground. Ranma laid there twitching. Genkai and Mousse arrived and looked at the scene. Ryoga stood over Ranma who was slowly peeling himself off the floor.

"Come on you two. We have to get Shampoo and take you back to Nerima."

The two boys nodded and followed Genkai into the temple. They glared at each other from the corner of their eyes. They gave each other a friendly hand gesture before entering the temple. Inside, Yukina and Shampoo were having a girl talk.

"Are you excited about getting married?"

"No, Shampoo no want marry Fan-boy." she said as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Why not?"

"Shampoo only love Ranma."

Yukina smiled sadly. "That's too bad. Kyle is a really nice guy once you get to know him."

Shampoo suddenly looked happily at her. "You marry fang-boy!"

Yukina turned really red. "N-no! I couldn't!"

"Why? You say he nice guy. You like fan-boy?"

If possible, Yukina turned more red. "No, I mean he is very handsome in a tall, dark, and mysterious way, but I already like someone else……."

Just then the boys and Genkai walked in. "Are you ready to leave?"

Shampoo nodded. Yukina and Shampoo stood and walked outside. Genkai walked towards the forest.

"What are you doing?" Ryoga asked.

Yukina's face lit up with realization. Genkai whistled into the forest. Something jumped out of the forest and into the arms of Genkai. The others gathered around her. In here arms was a puppy. It was black with a patch of blue fur on its head. It kind of looked like a wolf. Genkai put it down.

"Go tell Kyle that I will be in Nerima for a while. He might want to stay at his apartment tonight."

The puppy barked in response and ran towards the temple steps. The Nerimans looked on in confusion.

"Umm, what was that?" Ranma asked.

"That's Kyle's spirit beast. It's name is Shadow."

"A Spirit Beast? Looked more like a puppy to me." Ryoga said.

Genkai sighed. "I'll explain more about Spirit Beast and the Spirit World on the way to Nerima. Unfortunately, Botan gave you the condenses version last night."

So, the group walked down the steps of the temple. As you can imagine, it was easier to walk down than up. At the bus stop, Genkai explained to them more about Spirit World and Spirit Beasts. Once the bus arrived they climbed on. It was a relatively quite ride back to Nerima. Once in a while, Ranma and Ryoga would start to insult one another, but it didn't get out of hand. The ride ended and they went their separate ways. Ranma took Ryoga with him. He didn't want to wait a month for Ryoga to show up again so they could start their training. Shampoo lead the way to the Nekohaten. Cologne was outside like she was expecting them.

"I was wondering when you would return."

"There was a….situation. Lets go inside and talk about it." Genkai explained to her the results of their visit. Shampoo was in the kitchen making something for them to eat. Mousse served them some tea while the food was being made.

"Well, this is certainly unexpected. However, I'm sure we will be able to work it out."

"Indeed. Now lets discuss Kyle's living arrangements."

"Kyle will be staying here. I'm sure sharing a room with Shampoo will help them get to know each other better."

There was a loud crash in the kitchen. Shampoo came running out of the kitchen with trays of food. She stomped over to the table and put the trays down with a crash.

"I no share room with Fang-boy!"

Mousse also put in his two cents. "You can't do this! This will give him a chance to do something with my beloved!"

"That's the point." Cologne said calmly. "Shampoo is going to marry Kyle and she might as well get use to being with him."

Shampoo continued to protest and so did Mousse. Cologne decided to tune them out and continued to discuss Kyle's move to the Nekohaten. Yukina watched in amusement as Shampoo pounded Mousse into the floor for attempting to hug her. Genkai was reluctant to agree with Cologne; she knew Kyle was not going to be happy.

"No! No, no, no, no! I will not let him put a single finger on my beloved!"

Yukina then giggled. "What's so funny!" Mousse exclaimed.

"I'm sorry to butt in, but Kyle wouldn't do something like that." Yukina spoke up.

"And why not? He is going to be sharing a room with Shampoo!" Mousse continued to argue.

"Kyle isn't the type of guy that would take advantage of girl like that. It's like I told Shampoo, once you get to know him, he is a very nice guy." she said with a smile.

"Then it's settled. Kyle will move into the Nekohaten and share a room with Shampoo."

"But great-grandmother……"

"No, buts Shampoo. Ranma is no longer in your reach. It's time to move on."

Shampoo said no more and stormed back into the kitchen to clean up the mess she made.