Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Ranma ½ or Urusei Yatsura

A little help to the readers (more to come if needed):

"Hello." Speech
" (Hello.)" Thought
"Mouko Takabisha" Attack/ Technique
„U-chans" Signs
„/Hello/" Panda signs
„\Hello\" Telepathic
„/Hello\" Telephone

Part 15. Long Road Ahead

He wanted to dismiss it as a fever dream... but it felt too real to be that. While he was thinking about it, the woman using his chest as a pillow moved and pulled him closer.
The boy didn't mind it as much; they both had clothes on for starters! Even if his wasn't more than his underwear and hers wasn't more than a bootless bikini that seemingly was all of her wardrobe. The green haired girl mumbled something as she rested her head on his chest but he only caught the last words. "...darling, don't leave me." The following action he took could have been instinct or something he might have learned from his father or mother as a child. Fingers gently dug into the green mane and slowly caressed her, his hands running through the long jade tresses. Soon her whimpers ceased as she calmly slept and he couldn't help but smile as the girl.
He stayed like that for who knows how long, he could have went and checked what time it was but that meant getting out of the bed without waking Lum up. His mind worked as he thought about the events of the past few days. It felt as weeks have passed since all this started.

The pigtailed boy closed his eyes and searched for the link he shared with the spirit. He could feel that it was there as was the spirit but no matter how he tried the other didn't want to respond.
"\Damn it, Ranryu! Answer me! \" He tried to tug and pull but to no avail. Not one to give up he tried a few more times before he had enough. "Why won't he talk to me?" His annoyance came out as a whisper and he only realised it when he felt Lum lift her head up and stare at him.

Ranma smiled at her for a moment but his smile soon disappeared. She looked tired and she didn't like the sudden disturbance. The frown that adorned her up till now disappeared as she put her head back on his chest. "Something troubles you, darling?" Ranma didn't answer for a while, he was lost in her eyes and how good it felt to have her here. "(It reminds me of when Shampoo came over sometimes at night.)"
Had the girl not blown that trust he had for her the next day, the Amazon could have snared him in the end. "Nothing, that can't be solved, with a little this and that." Lum moved away from Ranma who seemed to be very preoccupied with something other than her. "What are you looking for darling?"

"A clock or something so I can check what time it is."

After a quick morning bath and a change of clothes Ranma and Lum went over to the Tendo home to get Ranma's stuff. Saying farewell was harder than Ranma had anticipated. Genma and Soun were instantly on the case to force him and Akane into marriage even after both denied it ever happening. Nodoka hugged her son and begged him to be careful and come back as soon as he can.

The two soon left the well known street, than the neighbourhood. "I really like your family darling. Still, calling that man father does leave a bad taste in my mouth." Ranma laughed at that, not catching the meaning behind Lum's choice of words. "Then what should I say? I don't have much of a choice." He quickly vaulted over the canal while Lum was hovering right beside him. A few minutes later the alien girl started questioning the pigtailed boy and he answered the best he could about the planet's culture and other fundamental things about human society.

- Outskirts of Tokyo -

It was already afternoon when the pair decided to make camp, Tokyo was still visible as it wasn't that far away. As it turns out Lum talked a lot while the two were setting up camp. Every time Ranma told her what she needed to do, it fascinated her. "I don't see what's so interesting about erecting a tent. I mean you got a SPACE SHIP! Compared to that making camp is nothing." The oni girl nodded at that. "True, but it's so new to me. I have seen many things here that resemble what we have back home and yet so different." Her fangs peaked out as she was smiling at Ranma. "(She's acting like a child on her first camping trip. I guess they must have self making shelters stored in little boxes or something.)"

After the camp was made Ranma went to exercise a bit and Lum decided to follow him. The exercise started with a light warm up. It was just a few katas nothing really fancy, yet whenever he saw Lum seemed she more than impressed by it. After that came the meat of the exercise.
"Darling what are you practicing for anyway? From what you just did at the race I'm sure you would give a fair number of oni a run for their credits."

The boy didn't budge or show any reaction.
"Darling? Are you listening - WOAH!" A white aura surrounded the pigtailed boy; it wasn't like the blue one Lum already experienced before. Not sure of this new phenomenon her curiosity won over her. Cautiously her hand reached out to touch the white light. "It is... warm."

The energy disappeared instantly as if Ranma reacted to her touching the aura. The pigtailed boy was sweating bullets but grinning like he just won the lottery for the next hundred years! He turned his eyes onto Lum who looked rather troubled. "Darling are you feeling alright? Maybe you should lie down; you did have a high fever."

The pigtailed boy's grin turned into a warm smile, it was a good feeling that someone cared for him this much. "Don't worry. I'm fine. This new aura I emit is hard to keep up that is all." Lum had a rather curious look on her hearing that. "What is a... au-ra? I never heard of such thing before." This time it was the pigtailed boy who didn't know what to think.

"How to explain it... shortly it is the ki that surrounds the body." Lum nodded. "What is this ki?" The young Saotome didn't know what to say. "Well... ki is the energy in all living beings. There are two types... as far as I know at least. One of them is emotional ki and one is pure ki. What you just saw was the later." The oni nodded at this, intrigued by this new found knowledge. However, before her curiosity could be sated it suddenly started pouring on them. "Aw... crap."

- Inside the tent -

Getting into the two chambered tent, Ranma quickly started to wring the water out of her clothes.
"Strange, the weather forecast didn't mention rain for today Darling." The oni was rather surprised by the sudden change of weather. "Is the wheather on this planet so unforeseeable?" Ranma snorted at that. "It's the curse. It will bring water in ANY form to change me when it thinks I had enough of being a guy." The oni girl was still curious about the 'curse' judging by her expression.
"Are you sure this isn't a genetically mutation or a latent ability of your race?"

Time went quickly as the redhead tried to convince the oni girl that the Jusenkyo curse WASN'T a new strain of genetic evolution/mutation or a latent ability that resurfaced! Barely any light remained outside so the two decided to stay inside where it is dry. With not much to do in the shelter, the earthling and the oni continued talking and shared stories, which ended up with Ranma telling about her adventures and Lum couldn't get enough of it.
"So she turned out to be cursed like you?" The oni girl was really excited hearing the tales Ranma told her.
"Yeah, Herb was a rather nasty opponent. I kind of miss that jerk. He would probably be a good training partner now that I think about it." Even though Ranma rarely told stories since not many of her acquaintances were interested in her adventures, it turned out she was a decent enough story teller.

It was a long day, stuck in the tent because it was raining cats and dogs... and the pigtailed girl could swear that when she last looked out she saw fish flopping around on the ground!

-The next morning-

The pigtailed martial artist was slowly waking up when he felt weight on her chest. Then it came to him that he was female at the moment... but her breasts weren't this heavy! Taking a quick look she found the green haired oni girl using her as a pillow!
"I thought I gave Lum her own sleeping bag." Luckily for the redhead, Lum WAS in her own sleeping bag. She just decided to use her as a pillow.
"At least she didn't climb into my sleeping bag." As the redhead whispered this to herself Lum grabbed the redhead's sleeping bag.
"What is that smell? I think I felt it somewhere before... and why is the hair on my arm-"

"I said that I'm sorry, Darling." The green haired alien hugged the now male Ranma, whose hair and pigtail was defying gravity at the moment.
"Fine... be that way. Then I won't speak to you either." Ranma decided not to acknowledge this statement, instead he continued to try and get the kettle off his face that just didn't want to come off!
"Mind -OW- telling me about -DAH- this little electro therapy?" Lum nodded and watched as Ranma finally got the kettle of his face... and instead it is now stuck to his hands.
"Well... sometimes I give off sparks in my sleep. It just happens. This kind of level is very rare, maybe I had a nightmare or... what do you think?"
"YES! I got rid of the kettle!" The pigtailed boy was glowing from happiness as his hands got free from the kettle and the hair on his arms didn't defy gravity that much. The moment of triumph did not last long.
"DARLING!"

After the second and by Ranma's opinion unneeded electro therapy of the day, the two set down to prepare breakfast. Lum glowed from happiness as she volunteered to make the morning nourishments but she soon ran into problems.
The pigtailed boy was searching in his bags for something he called 'Calamity Control'. After finding the small box the pigtailed boy closed his pack and went out of the tent to see the tiger striped girl looking rather puzzled about the kitchen equipment he brought. "Is something wrong?"
"No! Nothing is wrong. I'll whip up something good in a second don't worry." Not sure what to say the pigtail boy nodded and left, though he did have a certain alarm going off in his head.

Once Ranma was outside of hearing range, Lum looked at the contraptions before her. NONE of them looked like the ones she saw in her father's camping gear! The pans and pots were no problem, however building the cooking platform...
"Okay... the campfire will probably be the heat source I need to get this going." Placing the metal 'stove unit' she gladly acknowledged that the fire goes through the space between the horizontal bars. Quickly grabbing the biggest pan she found on the makeshift cooking utility to heat up, Lum started chopping and tasting what ingredients she found edible.

After a few minutes of slicing and dicing the pan was full of all kinds of vegetables and some meat she found. There was plenty of that small white stuff, it didn't have much taste to it but there was plenty so she threw in a few handfuls as well. Happily acknowledging that she lived up to the challenge of making a meal with ingredients that she had very little to no knowledge about really made her proud. It did taste a little bland until she found a sauce that gave it a little push it needed.
"Maybe all of the dishes they serve on this planet are tasteless? Like the Klyverians who care only about nutrients since they can barely feel any tastes or smells. Could Earthlings be a strain of that race?" While pondering on the scientific question she reached for the water bottle she left next to her leg. Her hand bumped into the container and the content quickly emptied itself on the fire.
"Oops. How am I going to, WAIT! Darling used some sort of lighter fluid yesterday in the tent to cook!"

About a few minutes of walking away from the camp, Ranma was training. Practicing the teleportation move proved harder than he thought. Sure he DID advance. The first time he used it, he barely advanced a few centimetres. Now he could change location in about an arm's reach. Anyone who learned some form of this technique and reached this point would be proud.

"I'm missing something." He was sweating as he marked the new record he reached. "There has to be something I'm not thinking of." As he found out in the short span of an hour the farther he travelled the more energy he needed. This was logical and understandable. However the amount had a tremendous spike in it!
"Only if Ranryu would answer he could help me." He suddenly stopped the train of thought waiting for the mentioned person to start talking. "And here I thought he liked his entry scenes. Well I guess it's up to me to figure it out. The biggest I have done yet was... when Ryoga and I were fighting! That's a start, if I start to assess the battle than maybe I can - "A feminine scream stopped his words. A moment later, he realised where the scream came from: It came from the camp!

Running at a break neck speed, the creature he fought the last time he was in a forest came into his mind. His eyes caught the outline of the tent but no movement!
"(Please be safe! Just hold on for a few seconds!)"

Entering the camp, all he saw was an inferno where the campfire should have been! The flames licked the tent and the pigtailed boy quickly looked around for something to stop this blaze! Jumping into the tent and out, he now had something to fight off the flames. While it was only a kettle full of water, it might just be enough to stop the flame! Dousing the flames with all the liquid content, the high-temperature exothermic reaction danced as if the army of full with platoons of hydrogen and two oxides just tickled it.
"Who was I trying to fool?" The fire roared up again and Ranma took a step back! "I knew we should have made camp at that lake but nooo that would be a sensible idea... I hope this ISN'T the signs of something I got from pops!" Looking for something to use, the pigtailed boy caught something flying into the fire.
"(Pills?)" As the pills landed in the fire they exploded! Where once was a slightly out of control fire was now a huge pile of white... something. "What in the world is this?" A sudden touch on his shoulder made him jump like two floors high and grabbed onto a branch. Looking down, it was Lum, who was at the moment somewhere between awe and giggling.
"DON'T DO THAT!"
"Sorry, Darling! And to answer that question: It is foam like sustenance we use in our ships against fire. Our scientist made it to combat fires and that foam has a certain sealing quality. Just in case there was a breach on the ship. Usually we store it in capsules like these that quickly burst after it is exposed to a certain level of heat. " While listening to the very interesting equipment Ranma climbed down from the tree with the remainder of his dignity. Looking at the campsite which was not much at the moment, a long sigh escaped him.
"Well I guess we just have to pack up and continue on"

"...so anyway, the panda ghost calmed down and returned to the picture. That bastard also drew me next to her as a reminder of sorts." The alien girl's beautiful laughter chimed in the pigtailed boy's ears and as he found out it became an enjoyable part of telling his adventures. Grinding away a tear, the girl floated closer to the boy.
"And when did this drawing fiasco happen?" If anyone else would have asked this, Ranma just might have made a joke about it being every day in his life... but he was no longer in Nerima to get a testimony so it was a moot point. "I think it was slightly after Kumon Ryu's masquerade with him pretending to be me." The pigtailed boy could already see sparkles in the girl's eyes at the hope of another fascinating story.
"That is a long story and we haven't even found a place to camp." The girl agreed but had an idea. "What would an optimal place to camp be?" This question was equal to 'how do I breathe' to Ranma but he quickly pushed the retort that formed in his head, this travelling partner wasn't like the ones he usually gets. "Well, we would need a somewhat clear space, just enough to pitch the tent. A close water source wouldn't be bad either but we can live without it." Lum nodded and flew away.

Realising that he might as well just follow her the pigtailed boy continued on the ground. He really wanted to practice that flying technique but there were too many things to do at once!
"(I got the flying technique, the teleportation one, and then the pure ki which I still have to refine and get used to and... Oh boy! I never thought that I would think this, but me kind of regret learning so many things at once.)" The boy let out a loud sigh, than perked up, after all this trip was mostly so he could learn them and nothing will hinder him from doing that!

Right?

Author's note:
I'm sorry people, this fic has been sitting on my hard drive that I didn't remember where I wanted it to go. So I had to go back read the whole thing, read Ranma AND Urusei Yatsura so I could get a feel for it.
Entertained a few ideas, I wanted to write but NONE of them would be a one shot and I don't want to make another series. I can't even finish one before I make another from the looks of it!
Also a quick question to those who sail the seas of DBZ fanfics... WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED!? When did this neck biting and inner beast thing happened?! I mean I could MAYBE understand it at the Inuyasha fics with Sesshomaru and stuff... but here it's mindboggling! Even worse is the DBZ/Sailormoon ones. It's like watching Twilight, True Blood and every Latin-American soap opera mixed into one!
I like a good romance story, IF it is well written and the characters are recognizable by their personalities. But from just two chapters I felt uncomfortable and later on violated. I'm not going to give those authors the joy that I mention them, I'm probably sure (if you do a little reading) you will know who I'm talking about.