Disclaimer: I do not own either Ranma or Inuyasha. Rumiko Takahashi has that honour. I'm just borrowing them for a little while.

"You really don't have to walk me home, you know," Ranma glanced towards the man walking beside him, feeling a little more than embarrassed. He was a martial artist, one of the best around and the best at the Anything Goes Martial Arts style. He didn't need someone to walk him home.

"I kinda do," Inuyasha snorted in reply. "If you hadn't noticed, my wife was kinda set on it. You'll understand when you get married." Ranma stiffened at the thought of being married and his situation with his fiancée's. "Something I said?" Ranma sighed, shaking his head. "Look, we got a long walk to get you home. You in some kind of trouble?"

"What do you mean?" Ranma turned to look at the man, seeing his raised eyebrow, his cheeks colouring as he realised what he meant. "No! No, no nothing like that!"

"Then what?" The black haired man chuckled lightly, wondering what the young man was so worked up about. "Come on, maybe an outside perspective could help."

"Well . . ." With that Ranma told Inuyasha all about his situation with the girls and how his father had seemed to engage him to half of Japan while they were on their training trip, oftentimes just to feed his hungry belly. He told him all about Shampoo and the ridiculous Amazon laws stating that he had to marry her because he had defeated her and she had given him the 'Kiss of Marriage' even though she had been knocked out with her own weapon. He told him all about how it wasn't just Shampoo he had to deal with but her great-grandmother egging her on and Mousse (Inuyasha chuckled at the name) continuously attacking him for stealing 'his Shampoo' even though he didn't want her in the first place. He told the other man all about Kodachi and how she scared the living daylights out of him and her brother who was always attacking him to try and get him to release Akane and 'the pig-tailed girl' completed unaware of the fact that the two of them were one and the same.

He then moved on to Ukyo and how he valued her as a friend but nothing more but nothing he did or said seemed to get her to understand that. He didn't want to lose her friendship but he didn't know what else to do to get her to drop the whole fiancée thing.

And then he moved on to Akane. With her he didn't know how to start. Inuyasha didn't really have a high opinion of her considering she was the one that had hit Ranma hard enough with a mallet to knock him several miles and render him unconscious for a day. Ranma admitted that maybe he didn't handle Akane as well as he should have and probably deserved some of the whacks that she gave him but there were so many times that she had just jumped to conclusions, not waiting for him to even try to explain something that wasn't his fault. The physical pain he could handle, but there was only so much ones' spirit could take. And Ranma was almost at breaking point.

Listening to the young man as he talked, Inuyasha couldn't help but feel sorry for him. It seemed that the people around him threw whatever they wanted to at him but never really stopped to survey the damage they were causing. He winced a little when Ranma admitted to calling Akane 'un-cute' whenever she made him mad but as he spoke, Inuyasha realised that he wasn't talking about her looks but her character and attitude towards him. After hearing the young man talk, he was rethinking taking him home.

Especially with what he had come to very quickly realise.

Ranma felt lighter when he finished, feeling a little embarrassed at having carried on the way he had. Inuyasha waved him off as he tried to apologise, stating that sometimes you just needed to let go. He didn't know whether it was because Inuyasha was a stranger and therefore had no opinion on what happened or whether it was the relaxed demeanour the slightly older man gave off but Ranma felt at ease around him. More so than he did with the other people in his life. They were constantly trying to force him into something he didn't want or trying to kill him.

Neither of which held much appeal.

"Well," Ranma sighed, "here we are." They stopped outside the dojo gate, Inuyasha making a quick mental note of the location in regards to the shrine. It wasn't too far so that he couldn't get back on his own but it was far enough away for Ranma to have some kind of retreat if needs be.

"Hey, kid," Ranma turned to face Inuyasha as they walked down the path, "this might sound a little weird but if you ever wanna get away from all the madness, the shrine door is always open to ya."

"You sure?" Ranma's eyes widened slightly at the offer.

Inuyasha shrugged, crossing his arms behind his head as Ranma often did himself. "Look after what you just told me, I'm surprised you ain't half insane. Everyone needs a place to chill every now and then. And you really think anyone would look for ya in a shrine?" Ranma shook his head. "Besides, Kagome likes ya and I got the feeling that if you didn't come back she'd come hunt ya down."

"I've got enough of that, thank you very much," Ranma chuckled nervously and Inuyasha nodded, a small smirk on his face. "Thank you, Inuyasha-san."

"No problem, kid."

The two of them looked towards the house as the light came on, signalling someone coming into the porch. Ranma and Inuyasha walked towards the door, Ranma sliding it open and allowing Inuyasha to enter first before following and sliding the door closed with a soft snick.

"Oh Ranma-kun, I'm glad you're alright," Ranma smiled at Kasumi, hearing the genuine relief in her voice as she looked him over. She dropped into a bow as she saw Inuyasha standing there beside him. "Thank you for taking care of Ranma-kun."

"Don't worry about it," Inuyasha waved her off as she stood up, nodding her head with a gentle smile that always seemed to grace her kind face and walking back into the kitchen.

Ranma gestured for Inuyasha to follow him and the two young men walked into the main room, seeing the usual scene in front of them. Tendo-san and Genma were sitting playing a game of shogi, Nabiki was working out some kind of sums in front of her – probably a tally from one of her latest schemes – and they could hear faint yells of frustration coming from the dojo. Thankfully the old letch didn't appear to be anywhere around. He was probably tormenting some girls' dorm somewhere.

"So, you're back, boy." His father addressed him, not looking away from the board in front of him.

"Obviously," he shot back, his arms crossing in over his chest.

"Ranma-kun, aren't you going to introduce us?" Kasumi asked as she entered the main room.

"Sorry," he glanced at Inuyasha, who smirked at him. "Inuyasha-sama, this is Tendo Soun, his daughters Kasumi-chan and Nabiki-chan and this is my father, Saotome Genma. Everyone, this is Taisho Inuyasha. He and his wife found and looked after me last night."

As he looked up to look at the young man, Genma was the only one that noticed the young stranger's eyes narrowed at him. It unnerved him as the man was familiar and yet not. He was sure that he'd never seen him before. He just hoped he wasn't someone he'd scammed during his travels with Ranma who had come to track them down.

"Taisho-sama, you must join us for dinner," Kasumi beamed as she extended the invitation. "As a thanks for looking after Ranma-kun."

"Thank you for the offer," he gave her a small bow of thanks, "but my wife and mother-in-law have dinner waiting for me at home."

"Well, you and your wife must come to dinner another time." Ranma had to admit, hard-headedness was definitely a Tendo trait, even if it exerted itself in different ways. If Kasumi had decided she was going to cook for someone, she would get them to that table no matter what. "Who knows what could have happened to Ranma if you hadn't found him?" Ranma let out an almost silent groan. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate that she was worried about him but did he have to make him sound so weak?

"I'll pass the message along." Inuyasha nodded once again and Kasumi returned it, seeming satisfied with the answer. "It was nice meeting you all but I must be going." Ranma showed him out, walking him to the door. "Remember what I said, kid," he said quietly, placing a hand on the teens shoulder. "If you ever need a place to escape for a little while." Ranma nodded, grateful as Inuyasha walked through the door and out the front gate.

Inuyasha waited for the gate to click closed before he ran, powerful legs propelling him faster than the human eye could follow. The few people he passed on the way back to the shrine knew nothing more than a brief gust of wind as he passed, clothes ruffling at the sudden shift of air.

He made it back to the shrine in a fraction of the time it had taken to walk there with Ranma, all human pretext other than his appearance gone. He leaped up the stairs clearing them in one large push from the base to the top. He ran towards the house sitting in the grounds, quietly entering through the front door, immediately catching his brother's aura and scent as he removed his shoes and made his way to the main living room, calling out a greeting to Kagome's mother as she worked in the kitchen making dinner.

"Well, brother?" He sat down next to Kagome, across from Sesshomaru, removing the ring that rested on his right index finger, the concealment spell attached to it melting away.

Kagome watched with a small smile on her face as his black hair turned to silver, the human ears that rested on the side of his head disappearing and the adorable dog ears she loved so much appearing atop his head. She knew that the deep brown eyes that adorned his face when under the concealment spell had bled back into the vibrant amber and she could now see the elegant claws that tipped his fingers, powerful and strong. As always, her eyes flicked to the purple slashes that ran across his cheekbones, no longer the jagged stripes that had appeared with his first transformations but now the smooth and elegant markings of an inu-youkai. She pushed away the memories of the moment the markings became permanent that always tried to make their way to the surface when she hadn't seen them for a while. What with the visitors to the shrine, he spent far more time in his human appearance than he did his hanyou.

While she had to admit, he was extremely attractive in his human appearance, it was the hanyou she had fallen in love with.

"It's him," he said simply and Kagome let out a small gasp, biting her lip to try and control her tears. "If I hadn't known it before, seeing his father sure as hell convinced me."

"What is your plan, then?" Sesshomaru asked as Inuyasha wrapped an arm around Kagome, pulling her to him in comfort. "Do you wish to tell him the truth?"

"In time, yes." Inuyasha sighed, downy ears twitching slightly. "But I think we need to be cautious. Let him come to us to begin with. He told me some of what's going on in his life right now and he's got a hell of a lot happening."

"What do you mean?" Kagome pulled back slightly, looking up at the hanyou she called her own.

"His life . . . chaos is the only way I could describe it." Inuyasha turned to look at Kagome as her jaw clenched. "He's being pulled in so many directions he doesn't know which way is up. I told him that if he ever needed to get away, then he could come here for some peace."

"Providing him with an escape," Sesshomaru smirked, seeing his little brother's plan. "Giving him allies in a world where he may not be able to see them."

Inuyasha nodded, not surprised his brother had followed his train of thought so quickly. He knew now that they were not so different. There had been a time, long ago, that he would have been insulted at the very inclination that he and Sesshomaru had any kind of similarities other than their father's blood and appearances. As he had gotten older and the animosity and hatred between the two Inu's had faded to become feelings of family and brotherly love (not that either of them would ever admit that to anybody) he had come to see that they did have much in common besides being the sons' of their father.

"Of all of them there, there was only one girl that seemed to care that he was okay. I don't know if that's because they don't care or because they just don't show it but . . . it's not right." He felt himself tensing at the lack of reception there had been in the house when Ranma had returned.

"Don't go making another hole in the floor, Yasha." Kagome chided and he made himself relax, ignoring his brother's smirk. Like he was one to talk. Rin had him wrapped around her little finger. "Maybe if we tell him about us."

"What do you mean?" Inuyasha looked down at her as she bit down on her lip.

"You said that his life seems chaotic, right?" Inuyasha nodded, ears twitching slightly and she had to resist the urge to reach up and run her fingers over the soft silver fur encasing them. It was a problem she'd had ever since she had first seen him pinned to the Goshinboku five hundred years before.

And it wasn't just because she loved the sounds he made when she rubbed in just the right spot.

"Well, maybe hearing about someone else's life might make him seem more at ease with his own situation," she suggested earning raised eyebrows from the demons present.

"What? Like 'hey, I know your life seems like it's a mess but how about a story of a girl who fell down a well and ended up five hundred years in the past'?" Inuyasha questioned and she shrugged as if challenging him to come up with a better idea. He thought about it for a moment.

"If you're going to tell him the truth, maybe it is best if you tell him the story." Sesshomaru supplied and Inuyasha hummed in response. To the demons of the world, Sesshomaru may still be the Lord of the West with Inuyasha as his heir apparent due to Sesshomaru and Rin only having had one daughter but the three of them knew, in the end, the decision was Inuyasha's to be made.

It was a matter of family, after all.

~I~R~I~R~I~R~I~R~I~R~I~R~I~R~I~R~

"Ranma-kun?" He paused as he made to walk out the door, turning to face Kasumi as she stood behind him. He needed to get going otherwise he was going to be late for school . . . again. And he really didn't feel like holding buckets this morning. "I was wondering if you wouldn't mind extending the invitation to dinner tomorrow night to Taisho-sama and his wife. I really do feel bad about not being able to properly thank them for looking after you."

He flushed a little at the reminder that they had needed to take care of him like that in the first place. He hated that he had been so vulnerable, especially in his female form. What if it hadn't been Inuyasha-san that had found him but someone with less than honourable intentions. He repressed a shudder at the thought of where he could have wound up.

He nodded at her request, stating that he would go round after school and see if they were free and Kasumi beamed at him, retreating back into the house. He waited until she had gone back inside before bolting out the door, not even bothering to use the fences as he normally did.

It had been a week since Inuyasha and Kagome had taken care of him after Akane's mallet attack. He found his thoughts straying to the couple more often than he could count. There was something about the two of them that stuck in his mind. He felt as though he should know them somehow, that they were familiar to him but he was certain he didn't know them. He didn't dare ask his father. Knowing Genma, he had managed to swindle them or a family member of theirs out of something previous and as soon as he mentioned it, they would probably want it back.

He shook his head as he ran. No, most of the people that came after Genma had actively sought him out. Inuyasha had found Ranma by chance. As a girl. If they actually knew Genma then they would have known he had a son.

But then Inuyasha had known about Jusenkyo.

That was something he had to ask the older man about.

And then there was the thing with his scent. Inuyasha had clearly caught the male scent coming off of him. Not that he was too upset by that. He was glad that even though the rest of his body changed, his scent was still remarkably male.

He coughed, spluttering slightly as he found himself covered in cold water and now undoubtedly female. Without slowing, he pulled a thermos out of his pack and poured it over his head, feeling the shift back to his male form as he ran, tucking the thermos back into his bag. It had been an idea of Kasumi's to carry that around after she noted that his curse seemed to almost attract water.

He couldn't say he disagreed with her.

For once he made it to school with time to spare, neatly flattening Kuno who came at him with his daily challenge to 'unhand the pig-tailed girl', leaving him face down in the entrance yard before entering the school. Ranma shook his head as he slipped his outdoor shoes off, switching them over and placing them into his cubby hole, thinking about how, like Akane, Kuno never seemed to alter his attacks. It was always the same thing every morning.

No imagination.

"Ranma!" He turned to see Akane coming towards him, a frustrated look on her face. "What was that about this morning?"

"What do you mean?" He tried to think about what he could have done or said that would have aggravated her before leaving the house. When nothing came to mind, he shrugged, waiting for her to answer.

"On the way to school, you just ran past," she slipped off her outside shoes and, like him, swapped them for her school shoes. "Didn't you hear me calling you?"

"Sorry," he shrugged, honestly not having heard her. "Was thinking about some stuff and trying to not be late. Didn't see you."

She shot him a look not seeing or hearing any deception. Brilliant at many things he may be but lying was not one of them. Realising he was telling the truth, she let it drop.

"So what did Kasumi-chan want before you left?" She asked as they walked into their classroom.

"She wanted me to ask Inuyasha-san and Kagome-san round for dinner tomorrow night." He explained as he slipped into his seat behind his desk, eyeing Akane as she did the same. She hadn't been too pleased to find out that the older man had left without being introduced to her and she had made that known.

"So, I actually get to meet them this time?" She bit out, obviously still smarting.

"No one else has met Kagome-san as it was just Inuyasha-sama that came back to the dojo," Ranma sighed, not wanting another fight with the girl. He didn't have the energy for it anymore. "And it wasn't my fault you were out in the dojo. He had his own dinner waiting for him at home. He had to go." She let out a huff and didn't comment, turning her head away as the teacher walked into the room.

He let out a sigh, oddly grateful that Kasumi had asked him to pay a visit to the shrine after school. He was thinking about taking Inuyasha up on his offer of a place to de-stress.

Thankfully he had managed to avoid Shampoo for the last few days, hiding out whenever she decided to deliver some ramen to the dojo, not trusting that she wouldn't jump on him or that the ramen wasn't spiked with some kind of potion like those mushrooms or something worse. Ukyo had been harder to avoid considering she was in the same class as he and Akane but he still tried to make himself scarce during lunchtimes. He had taken to spending a lot of time in the park to avoid everyone else.

It had worked so far but he knew it wouldn't hold up for much longer.

He wondered if Inuyasha's offer was still on the table.

He managed to make it through the day with only one accidental transformation, courtesy of Daisuke in the lunch room. The teen had failed to lace his shoes up correctly after gym and had subsequently tripped and the contents of the water bottle he was carrying flying all over everyone at the table, including Ranma. Thankfully a quick trip to the nurses' office for some hot water had sorted that out. Ranma had become quite a regular in there after the occasional mishap so since his curse had been discovered, she always had some hot water on hand.

Not too bad a day, all in all.

He waved Akane off as she asked whether he wanted her to come with him to Inuyasha's, not wanting her to have any inclination of where he was going. He intended to find out whether the shrine was still open to him and possibly hide away there for a few hours.

He managed to find it with little difficulty as he asked one person for directions when not recognising the street he was on before turning down a street he did remember from his walk back with Inuyasha. He saw the mountain of steps and the huge shrine gate at the top, wondering if they'd added more since he had left the week before.

Making it to the top, feeling a slight burn in his legs from the repetitive action of climbing so many stairs, he stopped and looked around the spacious yard in front of him. He hadn't really been able to have a look the week before.

He noticed one or two people coming out of a large building he guessed was the actual shrine itself, his gaze moving from that to a large tree, standing tall over the grounds. He also noticed a small building which from the bar across the door and the large padlock securing it in place, looked to have been locked up pretty well. His curiosity made him wonder what could be in there.

Finally, he turned towards the house, walking over to it and knocking on the door. He started when an older woman with short brown hair and large welcoming eyes opened the door. She was wearing an apron and wiping her hands on a towel, much in the same way Kasumi did when she had just left the kitchen. Her mouth opened slightly as she saw him, stilling in surprise as her eyes scanned his face.

"Hello, there," she smiled at him, her deep brown eyes shining at him.

"Um . . . hi, I was looking for Inuyasha-sama." He felt a little uncomfortable as the woman looked at him, her eyes moving over his face as though she knew him or saw something she recognised.

She seemed to snap back to herself, giving him a bright smile as she gestured for him to come in. He gave a small bow before entering the house and slipping his shoes off. "Inuyasha-kun," she called out as she led Ranma through the house.

"Hai!" Ranma looked into the main room as he heard Inuyasha's voice call back. She waved for him to follow her and the two of them found Inuyasha sitting on the sofa, reading a very large book. He turned to look around and grinned when he saw Ranma standing behind his mother-in-law. "Hey, kid." He closed the book, standing up and placing it on the table. "How you doing?" Ranma shrugged, a grim smile on his face. "That good, huh?" He chuckled.

"Inuyasha-kun, who is your young friend?" The two of them turned to look at the woman who seemed fixated on Ranma.

"Sorry, Ranma-kun, this is Higurashi Natsuko, my mother-in-law. Okaa-san this is Saotome Ranma, the kid we told you about from last week." Inuyasha introduced the two of them and Ranma gave Inuyasha's mother in law a lower bow than he had before.

"A pleasure to meet you, Higurashi-sama," most people he knew thought that he was crude, rude and didn't know how to act in an appropriate situation. He did. He'd just never had the chance since coming to the Tendo household.

"Don't be silly," she gave a little laugh as he straightened, "we're not formal around here, as I'm sure Inuyasha's already told you. Call me Obaa-san."

"Okay," Ranma gave her a small smile as he turned to follow Inuyasha's direction to sit down, not seeing the look passed between the two others in the room.

After both Inuyasha and Ranma were settled in the main room, comfortably settled on two cushions on the sides of the dining table they had, Natsuko brought in some tea, her gaze once again lingering on Ranma before she exited the room. Ranma wondered what that was about but didn't question it.

"So what brings you here, kid?" Inuyasha asked as he poured them both some tea, placing one of the cups in front of Ranma before picking up his own.

Ranma let out a sigh, watching the steam from his cup rising for a few moments before meeting the other man's gaze. "Well, Kasumi asked me to come and invite you and Kagome-san to dinner tomorrow night. If you're not busy that is."

"She was serious about that, huh?" Inuyasha chuckled, shaking his head, his long hair, this time neatly wrapped up in a long braid that reached the floor as he sat brushing against his back.

"Yeah," Ranma chuckled remembering the determination in Kasumi's gaze as she requested he speak to them after school. "She doesn't give up when she wants something. Her cooking's amazing though so it's not too bad."

"I can't think of anything we have on tomorrow so we'll be there. Any particular time?"

"Early evening, around five should be fine." Ranma shrugged and Inuyasha nodded.

"There's something else, isn't there?" He asked and Ranma sighed again. "They bugging you again?"

"They never stop," he took a sip of his tea, the sweet taste pleasant on his tongue. "I was wondering if your offer still stands."

"To hang out here?" Ranma nodded. "Of course it does. Look," Ranma looked back up at him as Inuyasha placed his cup on the table in front of him. "I know it probably seems weird, a stranger offering that but . . . I can kinda see myself in you, kid. I know what it's like to be in a situation you don't completely understand, let alone have any control over." He could hear the slight bitterness in his own tone as the memories of Kikyo and that whole situation surfaced in his mind. "I know what it's like to need a place to separate yourself completely. If you need to, you can come here to do that."

"And they won't mind?" He nodded behind him to the kitchen to where Natsuko was busying herself with her own dinner preparations.

"Nah," Inuyasha waved off his concerns, smiling at him.

They talked for a little while longer, Ranma venting some of his frustrations and Inuyasha telling him vaguely about small snippets of his past. He didn't go into too much detail as if he did, it would be clear that it didn't take place in a time that Ranma was familiar with but just enough for the teenager to know he wasn't alone in what he was feeling.

Inuyasha could see that the young man in front of him – who was little more than a child, a mere pup – was being pushed mentally and emotionally to his breaking point. If things kept going the way they did, it wouldn't be long before he either shattered completely or exploded.

Inuyasha was solemn as he watched Ranma leave down the steps to the shrine, having walked him out. Kagome had come home not too long ago but she had a mountain of work to do so had only popped her head in to say hello. Inuyasha told her about the invite and she'd beamed saying that they would be there. Inuyasha had shrugged at Ranma's bemused face clearly showing that what the wife wants, the wife gets.

"That was well handled, little brother," Inuyasha turned his head to see Sesshomaru appear out of the shadows to join him as Ranma reached the bottom steps, walking down the streets.

"You gonna keep skulking in the shadows or are you going to introduce yourself to him any time soon?" Inuyasha asked, turning back towards the house.

"Maybe once he has become more comfortable here," the younger inu nodded in understanding.

"From what he was saying, I think he's going to be a regular visitor here." He sighed, looking to his older brother and giving a small shrug.

"That, little brother, is not a bad thing."

Inuyasha shook his head, agreeing with Sesshomaru. "No, it's not."