Ranma ran as though his very life were at stake. He looked up at the sky, tears in his eyes, 'I KNOW SOMEONE HATES ME! Why, why... How did Kodachi spot me? I was so careful. Even Shampoo couldn't find me while I moved so slowly and cautiously through darkened alleys and large trees...'

He noticed that the air-piercing laughter had been silenced. He looked behind him and didn't see Kodachi bounding after him with her gymnastic ribbon. He sighed in relief and took to the trees. Once again, he searched through the streets and his mind for a safe place to keep P-chan's body. He saw that the sun was starting to look a little low in the sky, 'It's getting late. Maybe I should head back...'

He felt something cold wrap around his ankle and pull him out of the tree he was in. Ranma landed on his back hard and winced, 'What the...'

He kicked his foot and managed to get whatever had latched onto him to let go. He flipped over, holding P-chan's body tightly and got a good look at what had pulled him out of the tree. It was a hideous black creature with two beady red eyes. It... kind of looked like a spider, but it was bigger than Ranma and it had too many legs and too little eyes. Ranma stared at the creature a little dumbfounded.

"You are... Ranma Saotome," the creature said in a deep, grating voice.

Ranma glanced over the creature, 'It can speak...'

He stood on guard, "Yeah. I'm Ranma Saotome of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts. What are you? What... do you want?"

"What I am is none of your concern... because you'll be dead soon. Your body and your little friend's body will be so mangled, that it will be impossible for either of you to come back to life," the creature said.

Ranma got into a fighting stance quickly enough, but he was a little handicapped with P-chan's body tucked under one of his arms. He took a deep breath, 'I can't leave his body on the ground. That... thing might try and grab him while I'm trying to fend it off. This is going to be tricky. Maybe I can stall him... And maybe I can fish for some answers to while I'm at it.'

"How did you know my friend was coming back to life?" he asked.

"A simple matter of whose one sources are. But I should've done a better job of killing him. Then, I wouldn't have had to worry about it," the creature growled.

Ranma's eyes widened, 'It... killed Ryouga?'

He clenched his fists as a great fury raged inside him. Suddenly, Ranma wanted nothing more than to avenge Ryouga's death. The creature only seemed to mock him when it smirked, "It wasn't really anything personal... to me. I was just doing what I was told to do. Which is to kill every possible threat that frequents here."

Ranma charged the creature, unleashing a barrage of kicks. Every time one made contact he would shudder from the cold, unpleasant feeling of the creature's skin. He let loose a couple of good, strong punches, "You're not going to kill me or anyone here because... I'm going to kill you."

Everything felt like a blur to him because of the intense anger welling up in his system. It was rare that he'd get so angry. The creature took the hits as it moved rather slowly for something with so many legs. One of its legs caught onto Ranma's ankle again and threw him into the lengthy body of water over the fence. Ranma held onto P-chan as hard as... she... could. She didn't want to lose him in the water's current. She popped her head out of the water and started swimming to the water's edge. The creature got in the way and using one of its many legs pushed Ranma into the water and refused to let her come up. Ranma struggled, having a great deal of trouble with holding onto P-chan.

She gritted her teeth, 'I'm not going to die. Not today. I'm going to avenge Ryouga's death. I'm not going to let it kill anyone else.'

The energy continued to build up inside her, but no matter how hard Ranma tried to release it, the energy felt blocked. She was getting desperate to get up for air and her lungs burned inside her chest.

'I'm not going to die,' she thought.

She pushed against the creature's legs and managed to get up for a small gasp of air before being plunged into the water again. The small breath of air didn't last her for very long, 'I need to... breathe.'

But she couldn't get up for air because of the creature and her struggling became less and less. She couldn't think anymore. And then she was out of the water rescued by some guy with slicked black hair...

"Yusuke?" she said weakly.

Yusuke dropped her on the ground, "Stay down. I'll take care of this."

Ranma shook her head, "No... this is..."

She felt too weak to respond anymore and laid on the ground too exhausted to move. P-chan's body was still clutched tightly under her arm. Yusuke turned to the creature that had tried to kill Ranma. The creature was looking a little intimidated, now, "Spirit detective? You're not suppose to be here!"

Yusuke shrugged his shoulders, smirking slightly, "Guess it just isn't your lucky day. You don't seem like a very strong demon to me, but you're not really weak, either. You're working for somebody, aren't you?"

The demon backed away a little bit, "Not bad, detective. But that's all you're ever going to know! I'm out of here!"

Yusuke frowned and quickly charged up his spirit gun to shoot the demon. The demon suddenly melted into the grounded. Yusuke blinked, 'He's gone. I can't sense him anymore.'

His eyes narrowed and he kept a sharp look-out for a few moments, but the demon did not come back. Yusuke cursed under his breath and let the spirit energy in his finger die down. He walked over to Ranma, who had either gone asleep or slipped into unconsciousness, and picked her up. She dropped the pig. Yusuke looked at the dead little black pig on the ground for a few moments before sighing and picking it up, too. He walked on the way to the Tendo Dojo, 'Definitely a weird place. What is this guy doing carrying around a dead pig for? Unless...'

Yusuke looked at the pig under his arm closely, '...Nah. What am I thinking? Why would Spirit World try to give a second chance at life to a pig?'

He stepped into the Tendo household and was instantly greeted by Akane who turned slightly hysterical at seeing Ranma.

"What happened, Yusuke?" Akane asked.

She took Ranma from him and frowned, "He's soaking wet..."

Yusuke shrugged, "Well, yeah. She almost drowned. What do you expect?"

Akane's eyes looked like they were about to pop out of her head, "Drown? But Ranma can swim!"

Yusuke started to say something until he saw Botan behind her gesturing wildly. Botan pointed to the pig, "Hide him from Akane, Yusuke!"

Casually, he hid the dead pig behind his back. He'd have to ask Botan later what was going on. He turned his gaze back towards Akane, "Swimming doesn't do anyone any good if they're being forced under the water."

"W-what?" Akane asked.

Yusuke grumbled impatiently, "In other words, something tried to drown girlie guy over there."

Akane gaped at him, "Are you serious?"

Yusuke started to cross his arms, but remembered that he was still hiding the pig behind his back, "Why wouldn't I be?"

Akane carried Ranma to the guest room and laid him on the floor. Yusuke followed and while Akane's back was turned to him, threw the pig into the closet. Akane sat on the floor a little dazed. She glanced at Yusuke and frowned, "Why are you acting so casual about it? Who tried to kill him? What happened exactly?"

"Why do you ask so many questions? It was just...," Yusuke started.

He thought for a moment, 'Eh... Do I really want to explain demons to her? Do I really want to tell her I'm a spirit detective who was, at one time, dead? Hmm. Well, she'd probably find out, eventually. What with me living here now and all...'

The concerned look on Akane's face pleaded with him. Yusuke crossed his arms and sat on the floor next to her, "A demon. It was a demon that tried to kill Ranma. Why? Don't know. As for what exactly happened, I don't really know that, either. I just saw him... her... whatever! In the water. So, I did the whole save the day rescue thing. Then, just when I was about to blow the demon into a million little demon pieces, it did this fading into the ground thing and got away."

Akane only stared at him for a while, unable to say anything. Ranma slowly opened her eyes. Akane was relieved, "Ranma!"

Ranma looked at her for one moment and then turned to glare at Yusuke, "You... What happened to that creature?"

"It got away," Yusuke said.

Ranma growled and sat up, "You let it get away?"

Yusuke shrugged nonchalantly, "If you want to blame it on me, go ahead. At least I wasn't the weakling who had to be rescued."

"I am NOT weak! I didn't ask for your help! I would've gotten out of the water myself!" Ranma said.

Yusuke smirked mockingly at her, "Yeah. I believe that."

Ranma stood, "I'm a great fighter! I'll prove it to you! Outside... right now! And no falling asleep this time!"

"Guys...," Akane began.

"Stay out of this, Akane! This is between me and him!" Ranma declared.

She ran into the bathroom and poured some hot water on herself, changing back into a guy. He was then followed outside by Yusuke. The Tendo household gathered around to watch. Nabiki sighed, "Its such a shame this couldn't have happened outside of Furinkan High..."

Akane glared at her momentarily and then glanced back outside, 'I have a bad feeling about this. Ranma might still be exhausted... And Yusuke, he can hold his own in a fight apparently. But just because he beat me doesn't mean he's any match for Ranma. Yusuke is younger... he might not have as much experience.'

Ranma stood in his fighting stance and waited for Yusuke to do the same. Yusuke stood with his arms uncrossed, but didn't make any move to get into a fighting stance. Ranma grew frustrated with waiting, "Hey! Aren't you going to get into a fighting stance?"

Yusuke looked only slightly puzzled, "Fighting stance?"

Ranma gritted his teeth, 'Don't tell me this punk doesn't even...'

"Ranma! Yusuke doesn't know any Martial Arts! He street fights!" Akane told him.

Ranma grinned, 'Well, I guess that puts me at an advantage. He's probably all talk.'

"Don't think I'll go easy on you! You've ticked me off too much for that!" he shouted to Yusuke.

"Whatever! Just get on with it already," Yusuke said.

Ranma rushed at Yusuke, starting off with a couple of punches and a few kicks. Yusuke let one of the punches hit him to get a feel for how strong Ranma was. The punch stung his cheek.

'Stronger than Akane, at least. Maybe I can have some fun,' Yusuke thought.

He dodged the other punches and blocked one of the kicks. A few kicks got him in the side. Yusuke winced slightly, 'Hmm. Pretty fast.'

He slammed his fist into Ranma's abdomen. Ranma got the breath knocked out of him, but didn't let the punch stop his movement. He grabbed Yusuke's arm and threw him behind him. Yusuke in turn grabbed Ranma and dragged him into the throw. The two of them ended up in the pond near the house. Yusuke came up first and pulled himself out of the pond. Ranma, as a girl, came up and scrambled back onto land. Her outfit had became slightly undone in the pond. Yusuke reacted in a way that had been unprecedented in Nerima, "You offering me a free peep show, now?"

No one could believe that Yusuke had just said that. Ranma, for the first time in her life, felt a little self-conscious and quickly did up her shirt. She clenched her fists, "You're really going to get it, now..."

"URAMESHI!" a voice shrieked.

Yusuke paused, frowning. He knew that voice...

Sure enough, it was Kazuma Kuwabara. He did not look happy, but the menacing look on his face didn't seem quite so menacing with the kitten he was holding in his arms. Yusuke smiled, "KUWABARA! Its so good to... I mean... What are you doing here?"

"Don't talk to me like you're happy to see me, you punk! You skipped out on the fight we were suppose to have! Do you know how long it took me to find you? And now here I am... Finally, having found you... AND YOU'RE PICKING ON SOME POOR, INNOCENT GIRL! You make me sick, Urameshi!" Kuwabara said.

"Hey, what's going on here? Who are you? And hey! I'm not some poor, innocent girl!" Ranma protested.

'You got that right,' Akane thought.

"Don't worry, miss. He won't pick on you, anymore," Kuwabara said.

He gave his cat to Ranma, "Hold her while I beat the stuffing out of this jerk for you."

Ranma stared at the cat for all but a few seconds. Then, she started making a few squeaky, choking noises, "C-c-c... CAT! GET IT OFF OF ME!"

She ran around with her arms waving in the air as Ikitichi clutched onto her for dear life. Akane ran over to Ranma and took the cat from her, getting a good distance away before Ranma finally calmed down enough to speak sensibly. But Kuwabara and Yusuke had already started fighting and were too focused in what they were doing to pay attention to her.

"Hey! This is suppose to be my fight! Don't ignore me! HEY! I'm talking here!" Ranma shouted.

"I don't think they're listening, Ranma," Akane said.

Ranma narrowed her eyes and backed up a little, "Just keep away from me, Akane."

Akane sweatdropped and Ikitichi looked up at her with wide eyes.

"Meow?"

Akane smiled, "What an adorable cat you are."

Kuwabara jumped away from a powerful punch delivered by Yusuke. He grinned, "I've gotten a lot better since the last time we sparred, Urameshi. I've been working on a couple of techniques."

Yusuke frowned, "Talk, talk. Why don't you show me these new techniques of yours?"

"I will!" Kuwabara shouted.

He summoned two spirit swords in his hands, shocking nearly everyone present. Ranma stared in awe, 'That's... I HAVE TO LEARN THAT TECHNIQUE!'

'Where'd he learn to do that? Who is this guy?' Akane wondered.

"I've never seen anything like it before, Tendo," Genma said.

"Me either, Saotome," Soun replied.

"Spirit Scissor Cut!" Kuwabara shouted.

He came at Yusuke wielding the spirit swords like in a cross like a pair of scissors. Yusuke jumped about to avoid being cut by the spirit swords. He jumped onto the outer wall of the Tendo dojo and aimed his index finger at Kuwabara, "SPIRIT..."

"RANMA!"

Yusuke was suddenly thrown onto the ground and flattened by a bicycle. He laid there twitching on the ground. He was so focused on the fight he hadn't noticed the ringing of the bicycle's bell. Kuwabara's spirit swords faded and he stared in disbelief at the Chinese girl who rode the bicycle. Shampoo looked down at Yusuke, got off her bicycle, and then moved it.

"Ooops. Sorry. No see you there," she said.

Yusuke stood and rubbed the tire marks off his face. He closed his eyes and stuffed his hands in his pockets, trying to look as tough as possible to make up for the embarrassing incident. Shampoo ran over to Ranma with a container of ramen, "Airen, where you be all day? I look, but no find you. Until now. Shampoo make too too delicious ramen just for you!"

"Uhh... Shampoo. Now's not a good time. We have... uhh... company over! See!" Ranma said.

She pointed to Kuwabara. Kuwabara blinked. Shampoo looked at him and then back at Ranma with a puzzled expression on her face, "You want Shampoo kill Ugly Face for you?"

Kuwabara narrowed his eyes, 'Hey, I'm not ugly...'

He kept silent, though because he didn't want to sound rude to a lady. Ranma slapped her forehead, "No! Listen, I..."

"RANMA! How sweet!"

Happosai, appearing seemingly from nowhere, dropped his bag of women's underwear and latched onto Ranma's bosom. He started rubbing his nose to her, "You changed into a girl just for..."

Ranma tensed and punched the old man off of her, "GET OFF ME, YOU FREAK!"

Kuwabara started to step in to protect the "poor, innocent girl's honor", but Yusuke stopped him. His eyebrow twitched as he put his hand on Kuwabara's shoulder, "Let's go inside."

"What? But we still gotta fight!" Kuwabara said.

"It's too crazy out here to do anything. Trust me," Yusuke said.

He walked inside with Kuwabara coming in after him. Akane turned her attention away from Ranma, Shampoo, and Happosai. She stood and followed the two boys with the cat still in her arms. Yusuke went inside the guest room and sat on the floor. Kuwabara sat in front of him.

"I guess you're wondering why I'm here," Yusuke muttered.

"Yeah. It's not like you to skip out on a fight, Urameshi. I still got to beat you, you know," Kuwabara said.

Yusuke smirked, "Like that'll ever happen."

"Oh, it will, someday, Urameshi. You better watch your back," Kuwabara said, crossing his arms.

Yusuke grinned, "Much as I hate to admit it, it's good to be talking to you again, Kuwabara."

Kuwabara glanced at Yusuke and rolled his eyes, "Yeah, okay."

"Detective, if you're done with the emotional greeting, would you get on with why you're here?"

Yusuke blinked and looked around, spotting Hiei in the back corner of the room. He blinked a couple of more times, "Hiei? When did you get here?"

"I've been here," Hiei said.

Akane stood in the doorway, staring at not one, but two strangers in her home, "I'd like to know why you are in my house. And why this guy attacked my younger half-brother..."

Kuwabara choked, "Younger half-brother?"

Hiei's eyes widened momentarily in surprise, but it was only a second before he returned to being cool and collected. Yusuke looked from his friends to his half-sister. He shrugged in a nonchalant kind a way, "All right. Akane meet my friends, Kuwabara and Hiei. Kuwabara and Hiei meet my older sister Akane."

The group of three glanced at each other then turned their gaze back to Yusuke. Hiei was scowling, "I'm no friend of yours."

Yusuke smirked and shrugged again, "Okay. You're my acquaintance, then."

Hiei said nothing in response. Akane relaxed a little and sat next to Yusuke, "Okay. So long as you know them..."

Yusuke began to relay to his friend and "acquaintance" just what had happened to him in the time that he had been absent from his home city. Kuwabara sat shaking his head in disbelief, "Crazy stuff. Urameshi, you know you're going to have to explain all of this to Kayko, right? She's been worried sick about you. You could've at least called her."

"Get off my case, Kuwabara! I was going to call her," Yusuke said.

'Well, I would've if I hadn't forgot her phone number,' he thought.

'Pathetic,' Hiei told him.

'Get out of my head, Hiei,' Yusuke thought.

A sly look appeared on Akane's face, "Kayko, huh? Is she your girlfriend?"

Yusuke was caught off guard for a moment. He started to say something, but Kuwabara cut him off.

"Kayko and Urameshi here have known each other since they were little kids. Since they've grown I'd definitely say they got the hots for each other."

Yusuke glared at Kuwabara, "You're a real big mouth, you know that?"

"Yeah, and you're a real punk, Urameshi. You still haven't told me why you were picking a fight with that helpless...," Kuwabara began.

Ranma, now in boy-form and soaking wet, opened the door and searched around frantically. He totally ignored the two strangers.

"It took me forever to get away from Shampoo. I just can't believe this! I lost him. I can't lose him. He was counting on me...," Ranma muttered.

He paused for a moment and glanced at Akane. He smiled charmingly, "Ah, Akane! Hello! How ya doin'?"

"What are you looking for, Ranma?" Akane asked.

Ranma frowned, "Uhh... well. Uhh..."

He finally noticed Kuwabara and Hiei. He quickly diverted all attention to them, "Hey! Who are those guys?"

Akane started to say something, but yet another interruption came barreling in through the room. Happosai poured a bucket of cold water onto Ranma and held up a bra, "Come on! Put it on! Put it on!"

Ranma changed into a girl right in front of everyone. Kuwabara and even Hiei gaped openly. It took a few minutes for Hiei to recover, but Kuwabara hadn't ceased at gawking over what just happened.

"He... Urameshi! What's going on with the water around here? That guy just changed into that... Hey! Isn't that the girl you were picking on?" Kuwabara asked.

Yusuke felt a headache coming on, 'I hate this place... I hate this place...'

The black creature fidgeted nervously in the surrounding darkness, "You didn't tell me that the spirit detective was going to be there. I'm not powerful enough to stand up against him..."

A sigh, "So, you didn't kill anyone is that it? Not even that moronic high school student wielding the wooden sword?"

"Well, uhh... You see, I was going to, but I was threatened," the black creature said.

"By the spirit detective?"

"No. By a being like you, sir."

"Like... Oh. Him. So he's going to be a problem, afterall."

"What should I do? That spirit detective is going to be on guard, now. I'm not going to be able to get near anyone."

"You aren't going to do anything. I'm just going to have to come up with a different plan. I have... no use for you."

"W-what? G-g...ack."

And the black creature was no more.

(Author's Note: Sorry for the long period of not updating this fanfiction from the last chapter. I had some internet problems. But they're fixed, now. So... to make up for it. I'm going to give you this chapter! Without even a month of waiting for it:) )