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

Ranma shot up, chest heaving and sweat running down his face as he settled from the images that had been running through his head. They had to be another of Inuyasha's memories.

But unlike the first time, these had not been calm and tranquil memories as they had been before. He had been in the dark, surrounded by rock in some kind of cavern, senses dulled as he tried to make out some kind of definition through the moonlight streaming in through a crack.

"Is that really you as a mortal? You're as cute a human as you are a hanyou."

He shook his head, trying to dispel the voice from his mind, the image of the person uttering them fluttering in front of him. He could remember the way he had licked his lips as the sight in front of him and licking blood off his sword. Ranma shuddered at the memory.

He stood up, glancing down at the snoring form of his father, knowing it would take nothing less than an earthquake to wake him. He quickly dressed before quietly moving through the house and slipping out to slip his shoes on and silently move out of the house, deftly jumping over the wall and pushing the muscles in his legs to rush through Nerima towards the shrine. He had to find out whether what he was seeing in his sleep were memories or his mind trying to torture him in his dreams.

He was thankful for his speed now, knowing that at the rate he was moving, no one would be able to detect that it was him, seeing nothing more than a blur or feeling nothing more than a wind if they so happened to be out at this hour.

He quickly found himself at the bottom of the steps to the shrine before bounding up in two powerful leaps.

Inuyasha stirred in his sleep, the feeling of approaching youkai pulling him out of his slumber. He sat up, his gaze falling to Kagome who was still sound asleep beside him. He carefully disentangled himself from his sleeping mate, grabbing a t-shirt and putting it on as he walked over to the window, seeing Ranma landing at the top of the steps.

He glanced back to Kagome before sliding the window open and silently leaping down into the courtyard, meeting Ranma halfway.

"What's up, kid?" Something had to be wrong for him to come to the shrine in the middle of the night. Ranma stilled at his question, looking a little nervous. "Come on in, kid. I'll make us some tea."

Ranma followed Inuyasha through the house, knowing the layout well by that point. He walked into the main room, slipping the concealment ring off his finger and sitting on the cushion which had pretty much become his at this point, waiting for Inuyasha to come through. It didn't take long for the hanyou to reappear, carrying a tray with a teapot and two cups on it.

"Gotta keep it down," he said as he sat down, placing the tray on the table. "Okaa, Gramps and Sota arrived home yesterday so they're all asleep. Kinda surprised Kagome didn't wake up though." He shrugged, pouring the tea. "So what's going on, kid?"

Ranma took a breath, sipping at the tea that had been placed in front of him before looking towards his ancestor who stared resolutely back. "I've been having dreams. Well . . . the last one was a nightmare."

"What about?" Inuyasha placed his cup in front of him, leaning forward.

"I think . . . when you released my youki . . . something . . . stayed behind."

"What do you mean?"

"The first dream I had was a couple of weeks ago. I meant to tell you about it but with being back at the dojo and school, I kinda forgot." He shrugged apologetically, earning a slightly reprimanding look from the hanyou across from him. "It was you and Kagome."

"What do you mean it was us?"

"Kagome was pregnant. With Honoka." He admitted and Inuyasha looked at him slightly alarmed. "It was like I was seeing it from your perspective. I don't know why. Like I said, I meant to tell you but I didn't get the chance."

"What else happened?" He asked, wondering how much of his life the teen had seen so far. There were some parts of it that he didn't want anyone else to know. Not even his children knew some of the things he and their mother had been through on their quest to destroy Naraku.

"You named her," Ranma whispered and Inuyasha closed his eyes, remembering the moment Ranma had been talking about. He remembered the tranquillity of the moment, sitting there with his mate able to sense his pup within her belly. He remembered having stayed with her in silence for a great length of time, just enjoying her company as they had done after she had come back through the well after the three long years she had been gone. In reality, their three year separation had been but a drop in the time they had had and would have together but at the time, to him, it felt never-ending.

Of course, that peace had been shattered by their three rowdy pups announcing their presence.

"I'm sorry," Ranma said softly, looking down at his hands, taking Inuyasha's silence as displeasure that he hadn't been told about the dream before. "I should have told you before."

Inuyasha sighed softly, sensing the pup's trepidation from where he sat. "It's alright, kid." Ranma didn't look convinced and Inuyasha knew that he would need to figure out how to reassure him. Ranma's instincts were probably screaming at him to not displease his Alpha and Inuyasha needed to ensure this was put across. He let out a soft bark and Ranma answered with a responding noise. He felt the teens tension ease a little but not enough for him to be pleased.

"You said you had more than one." Inuyasha needed to know what he had seen, what had made its way into Ranma's dreams. "What were the other ones?"

"Just one," Ranma swallowed and Inuyasha felt his curiosity pique even more. What had he seen? "Tonight." Inuyasha understood. What he had seen tonight had prompted him to come to the shrine tonight. It had to have been bad to unsettle the teen that much.

He explained what he had seen in the nightmare that had spooked him so much that he had come to the shrine. He described the cavern and his dulled senses, just about able to make out the definition around him as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. He described the cruel voice that had chased him through the darkness, taking pleasure from the pain he was inflicting, yellow kimono standing out in the darkness as the individual followed him, licking the blood off of his blade.

"Shit!" Ranma flinched as Inuyasha's youki flared, ducking slightly at the expression on the elder Inu's face. He was furious. Whether it was at what Ranma had seen or that he had seen it at all, Ranma didn't know but he knew that his Alpha was not happy.

Jakotsu.

Why did it have to be Jakotsu that he kid saw?

Not even his own children knew the extent of what he and his group had been through at the hands of the Band of Seven, Jakotsu being the most disturbing of them all. Inuyasha hated thinking of how the spectre had become obsessed with him, the comments he had made disturbing him even now.

A low, painful whine pulled him out of his thoughts and his gaze flicked to Ranma, coming to his senses when he saw the pup hunched over, ears flattened to his head, a look of extreme discomfort on his face. Inuyasha took a breath, standing up and making his way over to Ranma quickly, trying to reign in his youki as he knelt down next to Ranma, knowing it was that that was disturbing him.

"Sssh," he wrapped his arms around Ranma, pulling him to him, rumbling low in his chest, threading his fingers through his hair, finding the base of one of his ears and rubbing gently. "It's okay. I'm not mad at you. I'm not mad at you."

"Yash?" He turned, seeing Kagome on the stairs, on the alert despite looking exhausted. Inuyasha cursed inwardly as he realised that his youki would have woken her up, even if Ranma's approach hadn't. "What's going on?" She moved quickly towards where he and Ranma were sat, placing a hand on the arm wrapped around Ranma.

"He's been having dreams," Inuyasha whispered softly. "Memories. My memories."

"From your youki?" She said softly, her other hand coming to rest on Ranma's back as Inuyasha continued to try to sooth him, pulling his youki back in even further. He had to make sure the teen knew that it was not him that had Inuyasha riled up. He didn't want Ranma to be wary of confiding in him. "What did he see?"

"Daddy?" The two of them turned, seeing Izumi, Masaru and Kazuhiko standing in the doorway, watching the scene in sleepy confusion. "What's going on?"

Inuyasha looked to Kagome who met his eyes, seeing the pain in her mate's golden orbs. "He saw Jakotsu." His words were barely audible but Kagome stiffened, breathing in sharply through her nose.

"Go back to bed, you three." She stated simply and they looked at her in confusion.

"But Ma-"

"Go. Back. To. Bed." Inuyasha growled and the three of them stepped back, not having heard that tone coming from their father, directed at them. "Now!"

The three of them let out their own answering sniffs and snorts before turning and making their way back upstairs. The three of them shared the loft space of the Higurashi house when they were here, often curling up together in a mound of blankets and the furs Inuyasha had used with Ranma when he had changed, which made trying to find them in the morning an adventure in itself. The three of them were close and they would continue to sleep that way until they were mated.

Inuyasha nodded when he knew that the three of them were all the way upstairs and settled once again.

"He dreamed about Jakotsu?" Kagome enquired, her hand coming up to Inuyasha's cheek, her other hand rubbing Ranma's back as Inuyasha continued to express through his behaviour and consoling that it wasn't Ranma that he was upset with but with the contents of what he had seen in his sleep.

"If one can call it a 'dream'?" Inuyasha snorted, resting his cheek on top of Ranma's head. "He saw what happened at Mt Hakurei." Kagome sighed, closing her eyes. While she had not been there during Inuyasha's confrontation with Jakotsu at Mt Hakurei, he had told her about it and how much it had disturbed him. He had admitted to knowing that if Sango and Miroku hadn't managed to bring the barrier down at that moment, he would have met his end at the end of Jakotsu's twisting blade. "I lost control of my youki."

"I felt that." Kagome gave him a soft smile. "And so did our children by the looks of it."

"I hate that he saw that." Inuyasha whispered, burying his nose into Ranma's hair. "Unfortunately, his instincts are telling him that he's the one that I'm upset with." Inuyasha grit his teeth as he looked at his mate. "He came to me for understanding, to try and figure out what was happening and all he got was me exploding at him. No wonder he's freaking out."

"Poor guy," Kagome whispered, knowing that this was something Inuyasha had to deal with on his own. She pressed her lips to the top of Ranma's head, in between his still flattened ears and gave her mate a soft kiss before making her way upstairs.

Inuyasha ducked his head down, brushing his nose under Ranma's jaw, going with non-verbal reassurance over words. Ranma was reacting to the release of Inuyasha's youki more than anything else and he had the intuition that he would be more receptive to actions over words.

He knocked Ranma's head up, forcing the young hanyou to move, tucking his own chin over Ranma's shoulder, his rumbling continuing as they sat there. He clutched Ranma to him, feeling the teen relax against him. He had done the same to his pups when they had been upset when they were younger but he noticed that it was taking Ranma far longer to calm down than it had with them.

He mentally cursed Genma Saotome once again. He didn't doubt that the boy had had very little in the ways of comfort as he was growing up and quite possibly little to no physical contact that didn't include some form of training. No wonder he was closed off. He didn't know what it was to receive comfort from family. His instincts as an Inu were warring against what he knew from growing up and Inuyasha fought the urge to growl in frustration once more.

"I'm sorry," he heard Ranma whisper gently and he pulled away, tucking the pup under his chin once more, his fingers once again massaging the base of Ranma's ear.

"No, kiddo." Inuyasha rumbled softly. "You didn't do anything wrong. I'm not mad at you."

"But earlier-"

"Was a reaction to realising what it was that you had seen," Inuyasha sighed, looking down at Ranma, seeing the wariness in his descendant's glowing golden eyes. "I didn't control my reaction well. I should have. I'm sorry."

The doubt in Ranma's eyes dissipated slightly, his ears perking a little before flattening once more. Inuyasha's blast of youki had really unsettled him and Inuyasha knew it. It would take time for Ranma to realise that he was safe at the shrine and within the Inu family. It would take time for Ranma to realise that he wasn't alone any longer.

Ranma started slightly as he realised the sun was starting to rise and that he had to get back to the dojo. He started to move away but Inuyasha's grip tightened around him.

"You're not going anywhere, kid." Ranma looked up at him, curious, his head spinning as Kagome walked down the stairs. "You're all over the place. You're not going anywhere."

"How you doing?" Kagome settled down next to where they were sat as Inuyasha rested his chin on the teen's head between his dipped ears. The fact that his ears were still ducked down told her that he was not completely settled. She had seen Izumi like this after an attempted raid on the Fortress when she was a pup. A group of panther demons had decided that Sesshomaru instating Inuyasha as heir showed weakness and that the Fortress was ripe for the taking.

They had quickly learned that this was not the case.

Izumi had been shaken for a while, being a young pup at the time and while she had been safely tucked away with her mother while the Inu's and guards of the Fortress took care of the intruders, she had been able to pick up on the sounds and scents around her and had been desperate to get back to her father when he had reappeared. She had not wanted to let him go for a long time and Kagome could see the same kind of thing happening.

Kagome could see that intellectually, Ranma knew he should be going back to the dojo however she could see within him the same instincts she saw in Izumi all those years ago. He had been disturbed to his core, probably both by what he had seen in his sleep and Inuyasha's reaction to what he had seen. He wanted to be somewhere he felt safe.

The three of them started as the phone rang and Kagome quickly got up and answered it before it disturbed the rest of the household. They would be waking soon anyway but why rouse them earlier than they had to be.

"Hello?"

"Kagome?" She winced as she heard Akane's panicked tone on the other end of the phone, knowing that Ranma would most likely be able to hear her. "It's Akane. I'm sorry to call so early but Ranma's gone."

"Akane, easy," she said softly, trying to calm the panicked girl over the phone. "It's okay. Ranma's here."

"He's there?" She sounded slightly relieved.

"He turned up last night. He had a rough night and needed to speak to Inuyasha." She explained, knowing that the girl would be worried. "He's a little distressed right now so he's going to be staying here for today. He's alright but being at school or the dojo wouldn't be the best idea right now."

"He's okay?" Akane sounded relieved and worried at the same time.

"He will be," Kagome reassured her. "Like I said, he's going to stay with us here at the shrine for today. Being around a lot of people wouldn't be a good idea today. I'm sure he'd benefit from your company after school though."

"Are you sure?"

Kagome glanced to where Inuyasha and Ranma were, seeing Ranma's golden eyes watching her closely, one of his ears focused in on her and she knew he could hear everything. He nodded, indicating that he wanted Akane close. "Absolutely."

She reassured Akane that everything would be okay and that she should make her way to the shrine after school before hanging up. She made her way back over to her hanyous and gently reached up and placed her hand on Ranma's cheek gently, giving him a small smile.

"She really cares about you," she whispered and Ranma looked down, slight conflict in his eyes. "You care about her, don't you?" He looked back up at her and nodded gently. "Then you need to show her that."

Inuyasha snorted and Kagome reached up to tweak his ear, earning another, slightly agitated snort from him as he moved his head out of the way of her abusive fingers.

"Oh!" The three of them looked to the stairs, seeing Natsuko standing there, a hand covering her mouth, her eyes squarely on Ranma. Ranma tensed as she walked towards them, not having seen her since he had become hanyou and instinctively wary, especially when she moved behind him to get closer, seeing as the table was in the way in front of him. Inuyasha could see that Ranma was wary, the skittishness he had had held in the days after his youkai blood had been brought out returning.

"Come on," Ranma suddenly found himself facing the other way, firmly ensconced against Inuyasha as he reoriented himself. He shot the elder hanyou a look, his ears creasing back in displeasure at the sudden movement. "Enough of that." He ducked back when he realised how close Natsuko was to him. "Easy, pup, she just wants to see ya. Don't forget, she's your ancestor too. She's just curious to see ya, that's all."

He peered up at Natsuko, seeing the soft smile on her face. He ducked back as her hand reached over and in a practised move began rubbing the soft fur of his ear. His eyes drifted closed at the sensation and Inuyasha smiled down at the quickly relaxing pup.

"Oh, Kagome," Natsuko breathed, her voice exuding awe at what she was seeing. "He's beautiful."

"He is, isn't he?" Kagome grinned at her mother, seeing that she was completely enthralled with her great-great-grandson – she still refused to acknowledge the extra generations in there.

"Wha's goin' on?" Kagome turned to see Souta standing at the bottom of the stairs, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"It appears we had a visitor during the night," Natsuko responded, not taking her eyes away from the newest hanyou to join their family. She turned to face her son, placing a finger to her lips to indicate he should be quiet.

Souta walked over, his eyes widening as he took in Ranma's new appearance. He could see the distinct differences in Ranma's looks. He noted the claws on the ends of Ranma's fingers, the indent of the canine on his lower lip as he rested against Inuyasha. He could see the streaks of silver in his hair where he remembered it had been solid black before. He had his eyes closed but Souta would bet that if he could see them, they would be the same colour of Inuyasha and the other Inu's currently slumbering upstairs.

And of course, he had the ears that appeared to be a genetic trait among Inuyasha's offspring and descendants. Souta had to say, Inuyasha had strong genes.

"He okay?" He asked, watching as his mom continued her machinations on his ear. "Takes after Inuyasha huh?"

Kagome giggled lightly, nodding as Ranma's eyes opened, fixating on Souta as he stood there. Souta found something unnerving about the scrutiny of the steady golden gaze directed at him. Inuyasha, sensing Souta's unease, nudged Ranma slightly, directing his gaze towards him. Souta gave him a grateful glance and Inuyasha nodded.

"He'll get used to you." Inuyasha said softly, watching as Ranma turned his gaze back to Natsuko who smiled back at him. "This is the first time he's met you since his change. He's gonna be a little wary. Just give him a little time and he'll be alright."

Natsuko gasped a little when Ranma turned his head sharply, his nose coming close to her wrist before sniffing gently. She went to pull away before catching sight of Inuyasha shaking his head, indicating that she should leave it where it was. Thinking back, she realised that he was taking in her scent and she held her hand steady, allowing him to take his time. She smiled down at him when he moved away, seemingly okay with her scent and leaned back down against Inuyasha.

"Souta," Kagome turned towards her brother, gesturing him forward. "Come here. Let him take in your scent."

Natsuko moved away so Ranma didn't feel crowded as Souta knelt down, moving slowly. He had enough experience with Inuyasha to know that if he was running on instincts he would be easily startled. He slowly held his hand towards Ranma, holding his gaze. Ranma blinked, his gaze going towards Souta's hand as he held it by him. Much as he had with Natsuko, Ranma sniffed at Souta's hand and Souta felt the warm puffs of air as the hanyou took in his scent.

"You're okay, pup." Inuyasha let out a low rumble as Ranma deemed Souta's scent okay and settled back into his Alpha as he had done before. "They're family."

"Will he know that?" Souta asked as his mother cleared away the tea things that Inuyasha had prepared before and moved off into the kitchen to get everything ready for breakfast.

"He'll be able to tell through your scent. Both you and your mother share an aspect of your scent with Kagome, who's scent he knows and will link with his own. Once he settles down a little, he'll be able to recognise you as family." Inuyasha explained and Souta nodded, wondering why he was so skittish. "Because you're new." Souta blinked, wondering how he knew what the was thinking.

"But he's met us before. A lot of times."

"That was while he was human," Kagome reassured her brother. "His senses are completely different now as a hanyou. He's had a bit of a rough night which set him on edge. You and mom coming down was a surprise so his instincts have taken over for the moment. I think if he met you any other time he would have been okay but this morning it was a little hard for him. He'll be okay."

"Souta," he turned to his mother, taking his eyes away from the hanyou in front of him. He didn't want to think about what his relationship to him was. It was too confusing to think about. "Go and get in the shower and breakfast will be ready when you're done." He turned back to Ranma and his mother chuckled. "Ranma will still be here when you come back down."

Souta reasoned that the way he was, Ranma wasn't going anywhere anytime soon and got up to jump in the shower.

"So what happened?" Natsuko asked, wiping her hands on a towel before sitting back down, an ear out for the time she had set for breakfast.

"He's been having some dreams," Inuyasha replied, smiling as Ranma's eyes followed Natsuko's hand as she reached for his ear again. He tipped his head back, snorting slightly and Inuyasha couldn't help but grin at the look on his face, reminding him of an inquisitive pup, pupils dilating as he followed her hand. "Unfortunately, it seems that they're actually my memories that have somehow stuck with him from when I drew out his youki. Some stuff that I'd rather he didn't know but it's too late now."

"And that's why he turned up here?" She asked, humour in her voice as she managed to secure his ear and rub it gently between her fingers. His eyes drifted closed and he let out a throaty rumble. "He's adorable."

Kagome giggled again watching contentedly as her mother and her descendant bonded through that simple gesture. "What are we going to do with him today?"

"I'm actually contemplating throwing him in with the pups." Inuyasha admitted. "If he's here then they won't be needed to go out and keep an eye on the chef and the Amazon. They've hardly had any rest since they arrived. I think they've earned a day to snooze."

Kagome nodded, knowing that that would please their three no end. They loved nothing more – just like most Inu's – than to lounge around. Inuyasha and Sesshomaru were guilty of that as well. Many times over the last few hundred years, they had been found guilty of shucking their work and could be found in the gardens or curled up somewhere out of the way.

Ranma's eyes shot open when the timer went off, the noise ringing in his ears. Inuyasha had to sympathise. He remembered the first time he had heard the timer go off all those years ago. He had freaked out, not knowing what it was or where it had come from. But, in his defence, he had just arrived from five centuries in the past and had no concept of the modern world.

Ranma was just skittish.

Souta appeared not much longer and Ranma watched as he sat down at the table, eating his breakfast before running out the door, shouting his farewells. Kagome shook her head at her brother's energy. How he was so lively at this time of the morning, she had no idea but then again, he wasn't five hundred years old, she reasoned to herself.

"I'm gonna go put him in with the pups. He should be okay up there." Kagome nodded and wondered how he was going to do that as Ranma didn't appear to want to let go anytime soon.

Inuyasha seemed to realise that as well as he wrapped an arm around Ranma and stood, taking him with him. While Ranma wasn't as tall as Inuyasha, the elder having matured and grown immensely over the centuries. He was now almost the same height as Sesshomaru who had, at one point, towered over the hanyou. In comparison, Ranma seemed so small compared to her mate.

She moved ahead of Inuyasha, pulling the ladder that led into the loft down and quickly making her way up to where her three children were buried in the mound of blankets and furs. She had no idea where any of them were so she let out a high pitched whistle, hearing three different groans coming from within. She made her way to where the closest sound came from, uncovering Kazuhiko who immediately tried to burrow back into the darkness of the blankets.

"Uh, hang on." Kagome reached out and grabbed his chin, smiling to herself as she blinked at her sleepily. "Your father is bringing Ranma up for some rest. Hopefully he'll settle okay up here." Kazuhiko nodded and Kagome folded the blanket back down, reaching out and locating where Izumi and Masaru were curled up.

"Mama," she smiled down as she saw Izumi blinking up at her much the same way Hiko had done. "Is Ranma okay?"

"He's had a rough night." Kagome knelt down as Inuyasha appeared with Ranma. "He needs some rest so your father is bringing him up here with you guys." Izumi nodded and Kagome reached out, scratching behind one of her ears gently.

Inuyasha pulled back the blankets near to where Izumi was and settled Ranma down. She covered Izumi over and smiled as she saw Ranma let out a yawn, showing off his impressive fangs before burrowing down into the blankets and furs just as his aunt and uncles had.

It wouldn't be long before they sensed the newcomer, even in sleep and all curled up in the mound. He would be safe up here with them.