Path of Chaos: Ascension of Supremacy

by Lord Rance

A powerful entity has been reborn after so many eons being dead, but what if the entity doesn't want to go back to what he used to be? This is a story of a powerful god, who doesn't want to become a god.

9. Chapter 5

PATH OF CHAOS: ASCENSION OF SUPREMACY

- Lord Rance

Disclaimer: Seriously, I don't own any of the anime characters that appear in this entire fanfic, otherwise I'll just make sure you'll know if I do make new characters.

Author Notes: Finally, the weather in my area changed drastically. It's now raining every day, stopping only for about minutes of intervals before starting up again. The cold is easier to deal with than warm weather, so I'd choose to have cold weather anyday. So yes, I'm gonna update quickly for the next few months.

I would like to thank Cory D. Rose (http/shihanna. and St Longinus sorry for misplacing your email add the last time ) for pre-reading this stuff.

Ancient Language (used by gods and goddesses, Ancient Gods): "-Ranma-"

Thoughts: ((Ranma))

Telepathy: "((Ranma))", ""((Ranma))""

English/Chinese/Other languages specified: ""Ranma""

Electronic Communications: ("Ranma"), (""Ranma"")

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CHAPTER 5 - THE THREE 'DEMONS' OF JAPAN!

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Ranma and Rin-Ohki stared as the wall that signified the end of the tunnel submerge itself into the ground. They bigsweated as the ground opened up and revealed a lower cavern. According to the amount of moss on the lower walls and the stagnant smell that wafted on the air, it hasn't been explored for quite a while before.

Rin-Ohki slapped her long ear on Ranma's head, eliciting a yelp from the pigtailed boy. "Miyaah! Miya mi-miyaaah!" she... well, meowed... as she glared on the boy.

Ranma scratched the base of his pigtail rather nervously. He added a really raspy chuckle with it as well. "I wonder how that happened. I had no idea it would happen, really!"

"Miyah." The cabbit snorted.

Ranma looked to his shoulder where the cabbit was perched. "Really, you heard Washuu. I'm not a Juraian, so how the heck did I pull that rusty sword anyways?"

Rin-Ohki seemed to shrug when she realized that Ranma might have a point.

Her master just sighed. "Whatever. Since we're here anyways, why don't we go and explore some more? I get to see what Ryoko's tomb is like first hand!"

Rin-Ohki rolled her eyes as she clutched tighter on Ranma's shoulder to balance herself. As Ranma floated towards the bottom of the descent, he raised his palm at chest level and concentrated, until a small sphere of blue light emerged from his outstretched palm. The surroundings immediately lit up because of it. The light revealed a wide passage to their front, which ends with a small tomb of some sort.

Curious, Ranma and Rin-Ohki slowly approached the intricate sepulcher at the end of the hall. Despite Rin-Ohki's warnings within their mental link, as well as her loud meows of protest, Ranma felt his hands slowly lifted themselves from his sides and touched the cold tomb that housed Ryoko's mummified remains. In his home world, he knew all these, but now with him touching it evoked powerful emotions from him just the same. He could feel the immense loneliness she felt all those years being left here, all alone. Perhaps her body hasn't degraded too much as of what happened to her in his home world, but still even two hundred years is such a long time for anyone to be trapped alive underneath the earth.

As Ranma's hands brushed against the grave, a bright flash of light encompassed everything. Ranma backed away from the grave as the top cover exploded outwards, showering everything with dust and debris.
Ranma's eyes bugged out as pale hands reached out of the open tomb and grasped the sides for support. Cyan hair emerged as the hands pulled their body out. Slitted golden eyes suddenly opened and looked around its surroundings. Those eyes zeroed in unto the paralyzed Ranma, who just stood there gaping like a fish. The same eyes snapped its gaze to Ranma's shoulder, and saw the cabbit that was perched unto it.

"R-Ryo-Ohkiiiii?" A raspy voice emerged from the figure as she struggled to sit up.

"Miyaaah..." Rin-Ohki said in a soft voice as she tightened her hold on Ranma's shoulder.

"I know... she's kinda creepy..." Ranma whispered to the cabbit as they slowly but surely backed away from the rising body.

The body shook the slick moisture that have gathered around it during its dormancy. It stood up inside the tomb and took a leap, landing a little in front of the frozen Ranma. Once again, the slitted yellow eyes glared at the boy.

"Nottt... Ryo-Ohkiii... who... are youu?"

"Err.." Ranma bigsweated. This was not expected at all. "Ermm... Saotome Ranma. Is that you, Ryoko?" ((Oh sure, nice question you baka! She just rose from the dead and all you can ask is that silly question?)) he mentally chided himself.

The body jerked as it heard the name. "H-How did you know? Who... are you?"

"Look." Ranma said as he tried to placate the reawakened space pirate.
"Let's just all calm down and discuss this in a dignified manner."

The body finally finished its regeneration. Ryoko's face slowly reformed out of the quite wrinkled face that it had once before. Her eyes slowly glowed angrily as she glared at Ranma. Her wrists started to glow red as well, at the same time with a gem on her throat. She took menacing steps towards Ranma, who started stammering excuses.

Just as she was about to reach out and grab Ranma, her aura dissipated,
leaving her staring at Ranma in shock.

"What... what happened?" Ryoko gasped as she examined her wrists.
"These... are not my gems. Where are my gems!" Then a momentary light of comprehension lit up in her head. "Yosho..." she growled out,
remembering how the Juraian stabbed her before that darkness knocked her out before.

"Yosho took out my gems!" Ryoko bellowed as she dropped to the ground.
Before she hit the hard surface, a pair of arms caught her. Momentarily immobile, Ryoko struggled to turn her face, and her eyes met with the nicest shade of blue she had ever seen in her lifetime. Sensing that she stared at him too long as Ranma's face adopted a curious look, she blushed heavily.

Ryoko struggled to control her emotions. "What the hell are you staring at!"

Ranma sighed as he placed Ryoko on the ground and cradled her head on his lap. Ryoko watched the cabbit hop from his shoulder and sniff at her tentatively.

"Relax... you expended too much energy on your anger." Ranma said in soothing tones as he caressed her hair.

Ryoko shivered a bit as she felt his fingers kneading deliciously into her scalp. "That... that cabbit... is it yours?"

Ranma blinked, but continued to administer his massage, much to Ryoko's secret glee. "Yeah, I guess. Her name's Rin-Ohki... she was just born yesterday."

"Miyah!" Rin-Ohki replied as her name was mentioned. She was curled near Ranma's hip.

Ryoko sighed as she settled down on his lap. "I'm sorry for my outburst before. I dunno why, I just felt so angry before. And about the cabbit,
I had one before..."

Ranma nodded. "Ryo-Ohki, right?"

Ryoko almost started at that. "That's right. How'd you know?"

The boy shook his head sadly. It was then that Ryoko finally noticed that he was a bit younger than her. But there was something in the boy's aura that was a bit off and was very familiar to her.

"It's a story even someone as well-traveled as you would think impossible." Ranma said softly.

"Try me." Ryoko said in a very serious tone.

Ranma looked thoughtfully at Ryoko for a moment. He nodded slightly and closed his eyes. "You've been trapped here for more or less two hundred years..."

The cyan-haired girl tilted her head to one side. "Sooo... what does that have to do with anything?"

Ranma chuckled. "There is another world out there where you were trapped for several hundred years." Seeing her disbelieving look, he continued,
"It's true. I am not from this world, or time, or reality... I really don't know how to explain it. In my world, it's not me who's gonna free you, but my cousin, Tenchi..."

He lifted Ryoko to his lap until her body became comfortable in his arms. "Many legends were created out of your battle with Yosho. They say you are an evil demon that threatened to wipe out everything and the descended god Yosho defeated you. He imprisoned you in this temple for several hundred years. His descendant, that was my cousin Tenchi, freed you of your captivity."

Ryoko sniffed. "It was a Juraian that did this to me." she pointed out her wrists, which one of them has no gem in it.

Ranma shrugged. "You were being controlled. You had to be stopped, or else everything would perish, right?"

The space-pirate wilted. "Yeah. Kagato brainwashed me. It's bad enough that he was able to use me for his own gains, but to remember them as I did all those things... those people I killed... I feel guilty and angry at the same time..."

Ryoko felt her body being hugged tightly. "Shhh... it's okay Ryoko. It wasn't really you." Ranma whispered in her ear as he started to rock her body with his own.

Suddenly, his ears picked up the subtle sound of footsteps from the opening of the tomb area. Ryoko managed to catch his silence so she too strained to listen. Sure enough, footfalls padded the ground above the crypt, accompanied by various voices talking in hushed tones.

Ranma slowly stood up, pulling Ryoko with him. He bent down to pick up Rin-Ohki, who was meowing at him quite loudly.

"The seal has been broken!" A voice Ranma recognized as Yosho wafted through the opening.

"So what! What are ya yappin' about now old man?" Oh, that was definitely Inuyasha all right.

"Inuyasha! SIT!" A loud yell of indignation followed by something hard meeting the floor echoed in the cave. A small quake was even felt after that. Judging from the volume and the irritation towards Inuyasha,
that voice must've belonged to his would-be cousin, Kagome.

"Well, shall we go down then?" It's the one carrying a staff and wearing monk clothes, Miroku, if he remembered right.

"Do we need wards or anything else?" That one is the boomerang lady,
Sango, Ranma scratched his head as he thought about it.

((Sango has one mean boomerang... kinda reminds me of Ucchan...)) Ranma thought morosely.

As Ranma was about to shout that he was in there, a cloud of dust emerged as soft thuds came from the bottom of the hole. When the dust finally settled down, it was revealed that Yosho, Inuyasha, Kagome,
Miroku and Sango came down from the upper floor. Ranma took note that Yosho had his hands on the real Tenchi-ken. The main gem out of the three was a bit larger and far more defined than the faked one.

Yosho quickly looked around the tomb area, and finally saw Ranma.
"Ranma! What are you doing here? Don't you know it's dangerous in"
His voice trailed off when he finally saw who was hiding behind Ranma.
"YOU!" he screamed, igniting the Tenchi-ken as an afterthought.

Inuyasha just looked confused but followed suit. He pulled his old sword out of the scabbard and let it transform into the real form of the Tetsusaiga. Behind him, Kagome readied her bow and arrows, while Sango unlatched her giant boomerang from her back. Miroku tightened his hold on his staff.

Ranma quickly jumped between Ryoko and the assembled group. "What the heck are you doing! She's done nothing wrong! It's my fault the seal broke!" At his shoulder, Rin-Ohki miyah'd in agreement.

Yosho angrily waved the Tenchi-ken in the air. It hummed menacingly as it cut through the thin air that was in the room. "She is EVIL! She must be sealed back!"

"NO!" Ranma replied angrily. "She's been manipulated by someone, and YOU know it! Stop living in the past, Yosho of Jurai!"

Behind Ranma, Ryoko was quite surprised at Ranma's outburst. It has been a long time since someone defended her honor. Her mother abandoned her while she was trapped in the Soja. For some reason, her mother and creator disappeared. She was then subjected to mind control that had been a nightmare for her. She can see and feel what she's doing, but she couldn't control her actions at all. Those horrible acts she did while under that person, Kagato's control was remembered up to this day.

"Step aside, Ranma, or I will cut you down just to get to her." Yosho intoned seriously.

Ranma just snorted as he crossed his arms across his chest. Unnoticed by him, a silver corona of power erupted from his body, much to the surprise of Yosho and the rest of the people inside the tomb. "Do what you will, but I will not be beaten just because you said so." Ranma turned to his shoulder and said, "Rin-Ohki, please protect Ryoko."

"MIYA!" The silver-furred cabbit replied enthusiastically as she jumped from her position and took her place in front of Ryoko. She hissed angrily at the attacking group.

Ryoko just stared dumbly at her two protectors as she used the tomb that imprisoned her as leverage for her to stand up. Her energy reserves were still too low for her to be able to combat such threats. Battling a Juraian and four other unknowns are a bit too much, even for her fast-healing body.

Yosho quickly raised his sword and slashed a feint to the left side as he swerved to the right. He wasn't really planning on hurting Ranma, but he has to get him out of the way to get to Ryoko real quick. Besides,
the cabbit that Ranma has with him was still a wild card for him,
because nobody really knows what she can do.

Ranma was about to follow Yosho's bait, but he saw the slight change in posture. He realized that Yosho would use the momentum and use his other foot to pivot out of the way, so that he could sidestep Ranma and be able to encounter Ryoko without any hassles from him. In the corner of his eyes, he saw Inuyasha tensed up and dashed to take a swipe at him,
but it was too late. Ranma already saw the feints and was able to divert his direction towards where Yosho's sword swerved. Ranma saw that the most dangerous right now was the Tenchi-ken, so he quickly raised his hand up in a desperate attempt to stop Yosho's downward swipe towards Ryoko.

Yosho smirked at the wide-eyed expression on Ryoko's face. He knew that her powers were nothing right now, and she will not be able to summon her shield to block this strike. He took out her gems before he imprisoned her, just to be on the safe side, and he was right all along.
As the sword was about to strike Ryoko, a bright flash of silver exploded from the strike, flinging Yosho to the air.

Ranma watched in shock as he saw Yosho blown back by some force. He was about to summon some of his aura to throw and at least redirect the blade from slashing Ryoko. Yosho flipped in the air and landed in a ready position, his face reflected a shocked expression. Inuyasha on the other hand took his chance and slashed at the monster Yosho pointed out.
He got the same results as Yosho had, which resulted in him being blown back and his sword returning to its dormant state. Ranma saw a flicker of blue at Ryoko's foot, and caught the cabbit's eyes glowing menacing blue as a silver shield emerged in Rin-Ohki and Ryoko's position.

Ryoko had crossed her arms over her head when she saw the weapons approach her, but was quite surprised when she felt nothing afterwards.
When she opened her eyes, she saw everyone staring dumbly at the silver shield that flickered just ways away from her, which had protected her from the strikes. Her gaze lowered and saw Rin-Ohki's eyes glowing blue,
as it would seem that she concentrated on raising the shield.

Yosho's momentary shock turned to a bit of anger. "Damn! That cabbit can produce high-powered shields at this young age! Time to use the big guns." And with that, he concentrated until a small glow covered his whole body, shredding his old clothes and morphing them into a white garb armor.

Ryoko gasped. She remembered the summoned armor. "Ranma!" she called out to him, "Be careful! That's a Juraian Battle Armor!"

"I know." Ranma said grimly, without looking back to Ryoko. Instead, his aura began to intensify more as the seconds trickled by. He glared angrily at Yosho. "Stop this Yosho, please." he asked once more.

The Juraian Prince just furrowed his brows in concentration as the Tenchi-ken's lit blade widened its arc.

Ranma's face hardened. "So be it." he said softly. His anger grew, as well as his energy levels. He hadn't noticed it yet, partly because he thought the limiters placed with his bracers would stop unnecessary energy explosion. Yosho noticed the strained expression on Ranma's face,
but it was far too late for him to back out. As he was about to leap in and attack once again, Ranma finally snapped his head back and roared an inhuman growl from within his throat.

"GRRRRRAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! YOOOOOOOOOSSSHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The ground shook as Ranma's silver aura exploded violently outwards his glowing body. Yosho and Inuyasha, as well as those behind him took quick steps backwards as they remembered what had happened the last time this occurred.

Yosho whirled to his companions and yelled, "Get out of here, now!" He saw the confused and terrified expressions on their faces, so he dashed to the bottom of the opening and quickly transversed the steep steps to set an examples. To his relief, he heard other footsteps rapidly following him.

Ryoko on the other hand was rooted to her position, as Rin-Ohki protected her from the flying debris that was dislodged thanks to Ranma's sudden outburst. The silver cabbit seemed to be totally unafraid at the sight, as if she was expecting it. The cyan haired woman gaped when she saw Ranma's hair color slowly changed from black to dark red.
Not only that, but Ranma also started to float off the ground.

"Ranma!" Ryoko called out over the roar of pure energy that seemed to echo across the whole tomb. Large cracks and fissures appeared across the walls of her prison.

The boy in question circled around to face Ryoko. The space pirate gasped, because the blue-gray of his pupils now covered most of his eyes, and in place of his blue-gray pupils, a more menacing golden color of pupils glowed against the dimness of what's left of the cave. She also took note of his red tail swishing violently at his back. The hard on his face slowly melted as he spoke, "I will not let anyone hurt you,
Ryoko."

"Ranma..." Ryoko's eyes widened in comprehension. "You're... you're a..."

The enraged boy turned his back to her. "I'm a monster."

Before Ryoko could retort to that, Ranma lifted his hands and released a silver ball of energy towards the walls, effectively blasting the whole area apart.

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Yosho and the others just got out of the dark cave when the whole mountainside erupted in silver energy. The group managed to duck into the huge carpet of trees as a huge explosion rocked the whole vicinity,
showering everything around it with dust and debris.

When they finally opened their eyes, they saw the former opening of the cave much much larger than it was before. Most of the mountain face that stood in front of them now sported a huge gaping hole. Not only that,
but a bright light emerging from the middle of the huge dark cavern that was once the prison for the world destroyer Ryoko pierced through the remaining dust that swirled around. Figures were silhouetted by the dust, which was slowly dissipating as the group stared dumbly at the devastation. When the dust finally split, they were quite unsurprised when Ranma stepped out, with Ryoko slowly staggering behind, and an alert Rin-Ohki leading in front of her.

The Juraian Prince's eyes widened slightly when he noticed Ranma's hair color changed from black to the fiery red color. The color Yosho clearly remembered when the boy was in a berserker state during the fight with the Manticores. But he noticed that Ranma's eyes were a bit different from before. When Ranma was in berserk, his eyes turned into a blue color with no pupils. But now, his eyes still had those blue no-pupil eyes, but now there were golden pupils that really looked intimidating when one stares at it too long. Ranma's tail was unwrapped from his waist, twitching agitatedly as the boy stared at them.

"Yosho..." Ranma growled out, "I will not let you hurt her."

Yosho sighed softly, biting a scalding remark down. "We have to seal her again, Ranma. You know the stories... you know how dangerous she is.
she might revert back to that state of mind and---"

Whatever Yosho was about to say was effectively cut off when a small ball of highly condensed energy flew inches past his head, veering off to one side that exploded strongly against a few clumps of trees.
Inuyasha and the others just watched amazed when they saw the small ball destroyed everything that stood in its path, and the fantastic explosion in the end as well.

"Spare me the monologue, Yosho." Ranma said in an eerie calm. "All I felt was a lonely girl that was left in that cave for kami knows how long. The control in her head that once forced her to do those things before is already gone."

"Still..." Yosho said softly as he took his position, "It never does me anything wrong to be sure..."

Ranma shook his head and floated above the ground. Yosho lifted his sword in the air and charged. As Ranma met him head on, Yosho blurred and swiped at Ranma's right side. The pigtailed boy grunted as the sword whistled past his head. He had sidestepped just in time to avoid the swipe, but was not ready for the follow-up kick from his left. Ranma was twisted himself for balance as he wobbled in the air. Yosho took the momentary pause as a sign for attack and struck the sword into Ranma.
The boy just floated there as he watched Yosho rise up from the ground towards him, with the Tenchi-ken's tip pointed towards his abdomen.
Ranma quickly spooled his resources but was too slow when he felt the hot blade rip into his abdomen. All Ranma heard was a soft swish as he watched Yosho's triumphant smile when he impaled the boy unto his sword.
As Yosho finally spent his upward momentum, he let himself drop,
dragging the bloodied sword with him downwards. Ranma staggered as he clutched unto his stomach, grimacing as he floated a little higher to gain ground as well.

As he saw Yosho smirk a bit at his accomplishment, Inuyasha darted towards Ryoko, who was by now a bit more oriented than she was before.
Ryoko narrowed her eyes at the incoming demon and raised her hand. A red crackling ball of energy emerged from her outstretched palms. Kagome on the other hand fired her enchanted arrows toward Ryoko, while Sango released her boomerang as well. All the projectiles were deflected by Rin-Ohki's shield, much to the girls' dismay.

Satisfied by the amount of energy gathered, as well as being careful not to strain herself too much, Ryoko released the ball to the hanyou's direction. Inuyasha stopped from his dash and raised his sword to block the energy ball. A loud clang followed by fritzes of energy sounded off as the ball collided with the sword. Inuyasha was pushed back by the ball, until he angled his sword to let the energy pass to his side. The red menacing energy remained on its disturbed path and disintegrated in the air.

Back to Ranma and Yosho's battle, the pigtailed boy stared at his bloody hand as he floated high up in the air. His body started cackling with energy, and the tendrils slowly wafted into his wound. The cut slowly healed, leaving only a dull ache for Ranma. But the feeling of betrayal was fresh in his mind.

The boy took his tail in his hand and wrapped it around his waist. With a low growl, he quickly launched himself towards Yosho, who was waiting at the bottom of the descent. As Ranma was about to reach Yosho, the boy suddenly vanished, leaving a surprised and unbalanced Yosho, who had his sword at a ready stance. The Juraian frantically searched around the vicinity, only spotting various members of his party that were as confused as he was. Yosho momentarily stiffened as he felt the hairs at the back of his head raise up. He quickly ducked from a horizontal swipe and rolled forwards, avoiding another downward slash from some unknown source. When Yosho completed his roll and stood up, he saw Ranma crouched on the ground, the same long blue energy blades jutting out from his knuckles. Yosho fought off a shudder as he watched Ranma slowly pull out the long blades from the ground, which left four deep holes.

The two main combatants stood face to face with each other, both glaring all the time. With an unseen signal, they both snarled and leapt for each other. As they were about to deal blows with the other once again,
a loud shrill voice stopped their movements.

"STOOOOP!"

Everyone in the battle froze immediately. They all looked at the source of the voice, and saw a small redhead who had her hands on her hips. Her green eyes flashed dangerously as her foot tapped against the ground.

"Washuu... san." Yosho said lamely as he tried to hide the Tenchi-ken,
its blade sputtered out all of the sudden. In all truth, he was quite happy with the intrusion. He had to control his fear when he found out what his little trick did to Ranma's psyche. Yosho was really only trying to get Ranma to back off, so a minor gash and a little scare would suffice, but he never realized how serious Ranma was in protecting Ryoko. Because of his little prank, Ranma became enraged and transformed once again into the red-haired demon that annihilated those Manticores back then. But there was a difference though, this time Ranma was in control, and his eyes hadn't taken the complete blue hue. Instead, his pupils became golden in color, and frankly for Yosho, it was more intimidating.

Ranma just lowered his arms and let the blue blades disappear. His red hair slowly turned black as he turned around and walked towards Ryoko,
who was staring at Washuu weirdly. Rin-Ohki meowed as she floated up beside the bewildered Ranma.

"You can fly, huh?" Ranma asked the cabbit as she floated past his head.

"Miyah!" The cabbit nodded enthusiastically.

"AHEM!" Ranma finally faced Washuu, who was a bit miffed at being ignored. Once she saw Ranma's eyes, though, she gasped. "Y-Your eyes.
they're..."

"What?" Ranma asked irritably.

"Tokimi's eyes... they're of Tokimi!" Washuu replied in a livid manner.

"She's my mother." Ranma commented simply. "Of course my eyes... wait what's wrong with them?"

Washuu gaped like a fish for a while, then pulled out a mirror from her subspace pocket. She tossed the hand mirror to the boy, who caught it expertly.

Ranma looked at the image that the mirror reflected back at him. His eyes widened when he finally saw what had happened. His eyes were solid bluish-gray all over, except for his pupils which was golden in color,
which seemed to glow every now and then. Ranma looked back to Washuu with a panicked expression on his face.

"What the heck happened to me? Are these my mother's eyes!" Ranma almost screamed in terror as he fervently wished that the condition were only temporary.

Washuu shrugged as she shook her head. "Not exactly like Tokimi, but it is basically the same. Your body is slowly adapting and assimilating each of the attributes of your ancestry. One is your tail, and now your eyes. I don't know what will happen next..."

Ranma slumped down to the ground. "Is... is this permanent, then?"

The redhead nodded sadly. "Yes, I'm afraid so."

Ryoko, having recovered somewhat from the weariness of battle, slowly strode towards the sulking boy, at the moment confused of what to do. It has been years since she last cared about someone, and she had been betrayed every step of the way. Kagato's control over her actions really put a great big chasm in her heart, that prevented her from feeling much emotion towards anyone. But the young boy in front of her stirred a bit of the emotions she lost before in her heart. Slowly, she knelt down to Ranma's level and took him in her arms. "It's... it's alright, Ranma"
she whispered in his ear. She felt him nod a bit as he muttered a soft 'thank you'.

Rin-Ohki hurriedly hopped up towards Ranma's shoulder and nuzzled his free cheek lovingly. She sent waves of comforting emotions through their link, which was greatly appreciated by Ranma in return. The boy lifted his hand to Rin-Ohki's ear and scratched her there, which made her purr softly.

"Ryoko-chan!" The red-haired scientist quickly made her way towards the trio as they hugged themselves. Ryoko looked up to the scientist (she was kneeling, and Washuu was standing... go figure) and gasped as comprehension finally lit up in her eyes. The same eyes narrowed after a while when she suddenly stood up and growled.

"Don't Ryoko-chan me, Washuu! You left me alone with that... that.
monster!" Ryoko screamed to the scientist's face, who stopped her advance when the cyan haired woman stood. "I was all alone... even though I was controlled, I was aware of what I was forced to do! Do you have any idea how bad I feel! Do you have any idea how relieved I felt when that Juraian finally struck me in the throat! Do you have any idea how happy I felt when I knew I was going to DIE!" Her eyes now sprouted tears, which leaked down her cheeks.

Washuu slowly changed to her taller adult form, which earned sharp intakes of breath behind her that she pointedly ignored. She slowly approached the fuming Ryoko and gathered her in her arms. Ryoko struggled violently at first, screaming obscenities at how unfair her life has been when she was being controlled. Washuu couldn't really blame the girl. Compared to her imprisonment, Ryoko has been forced and was aware of what Kagato had her do. To remember each and every innocent kill she did was a bit too much even for Washuu to handle. She just let Ryoko vent her frustrations.

Ranma cradled Rin-Ohki as they gazed sadly on Ryoko and Washuu. Ranma had already heard the story behind everything, and he had already shared it with his partner through their mental link.

"Forgive me, Ryoko..." Washuu's much richer voice reverberated in the air as she placated the still struggling Ryoko, "I was imprisoned by Kagato in his ship as well... I was just freed yesterday." Her voice was full of anguish.

Ryoko slowly abated her struggles when she heard Washuu. ((She had been imprisoned as well?)) she asked herself. "Is... that true?"

"Yeah, it is." The duo turned to face Ranma, who was looking up to them.
"Kagato imprisoned Washuu-chan in the Soja, and was lost in space.
Kagato stole you from her and used you to attack the planet Jurai, to get Tsunami's source of power, which he believed will make him the most powerful in the universe." Ranma sighed. "It was a coincidence... that both of you are here..." Ranma's eyes narrowed. "You know what? That IS weird. Washuu shouldn't have been here at all. In my home world, some Galaxy Police detective named Mihoshi accidentally rescued Washuu.
Washuu didn't crash land on Earth at all."

Ranma shook his head. "Anyway, that's not important as of now. Washuu hadn't abandoned you intentionally, Ryoko. She's just as trapped as you were back then."

Ryoko turned to Washuu, who was staring at her intently. "W-Washuu.
I'm sorry... for what I said earlier."

"It's alright, really." Washuu said with full emotions, "I think I deserve that. I'll examine you to be sure you are free of any contamination and the controlling device in your brain is gone. I'm sure Kagato hid something in there that could reactivate his control."

Turning to the crowd and the still sitting Ranma, Washuu asked, "Now,
can someone PLEASE tell me what happened!" She gestured to the destroyed surroundings. "I leave you for a few hours and this happens!"

Yosho chose the moment to speak up. "Ryoko is free. I swore an oath to keep her locked up because of her crimes."

Ranma angrily stood up, his eyes glowing in ethereal light. "I keep telling you she's not in control that time!"

Before the discussion degraded into another shouting match, Washuu finally stepped in. "Is that what this is all about?" She whirled around to face Yosho and glared at him. She mentally smirked when she saw the Juraian Prince wilt under her even gaze. "I agree that what she did was wrong, but how can you still hold it up to her when she wasn't in control at that time? So it's true then, how stubborn and prideful Juraians are... even in front of their mistakes!"

Ranma couldn't help but snicker when he saw Yosho's pout when Washuu snorted, "Yosho no baka." Despite their skirmish, he still considered the older man a good friend. Oh yeah, also the hanyou who was gaping at the background as well, as well as those who were trying to hide among themselves.

Yosho sighed and approached Ranma hesitantly. The Juraian was a bit queasy looking into Ranma new eyes right now. The seemingly luminous golden glow left him wanting to run away in fright. He steeled himself as he offered a hand up. "Sorry about that, Ranma-kun. You have to understand that I was doing it out of duty." Yosho turned his gaze to Ryoko. "I've chased Ryoko far too long, and our battle wasn't all that nice. A lot of planets were decimated because of it, so the memory was a bit bad for me." Ryoko nodded her acceptance in Yosho's explanation.

Kagome stepped up and hesitantly added, "We're sorry too. We just got rallied up with Yosho, I guess. So on behalf of everyone from my group,
I want to say we're so sorry for the misunderstanding."

The pigtailed boy took the offered hand and stood up. "I understand how you feel. But I won't let anyone get hurt just because of old presumptions about them. People change... especially in Ryoko's case.
And I'm sorry too, knowing you are doing your duty, but I don't want to see her hurt anymore."

"Why?"

Ranma and Yosho both turned to look at Ryoko, who was gazing at Ranma curiously. "Why did you protect me? even though I was controlled back then, Yosho was right. I am dangerous, and could be used again."

Ranma shrugged. "When I entered your tomb, I felt the aura of loneliness in there. It was so strong that I started to feel lonely as well. I just felt like I don't want you to suffer like that anymore. Besides, Washuu is here. She can check up on you to be sure."

Turning to Ryoko, Ranma continued, "Let's get you checked up, shall we?
So that we can all be sure."

Ryoko nodded and floated off the ground. As she went to Ranma's side,
she was a bit put off as to why he's not surprised by it at all. Her question was answered when Ranma smirked at her and floated as well. Her surprise caused Ryoko to wobble unsteadily on the air as she gaped on Ranma.

"Y-You're...?" Ryoko stuttered, still livid at seeing Ranma float past her.

Washuu interjected, "That's right, Ryoko. Ranma has Masu heritage, like you do."

"Sooo..." Ryoko cocked her head to one side. "You can teleport?"

Ranma nodded.

"Form energy swords?"

"For me, I think I used energy claws. At least that's what I saw earlier..." Ranma replied thoughtfully.

"You can split yourself into two?"

Ranma got into a introspective mood. "Hmmm... not that I can remember.
Nope! Haven't tried that yet." He eyed Ryoko for a moment before continuing, "Say... can you teach me the stuff 'we' can do?"

Ryoko was taken aback. "But... why me? I mean..."

"Why not?" Ranma pouted innocently.

Washuu smiled. "You know, that is a great idea. Ryoko can teach Ranma all the tricks there are on being Masu. But... lessen the damages will you?"

Ranma and Ryoko, as well as Yosho and the rest of the group looked around warily. They all nodded meekly, even though it was only meant for Ranma and Ryoko.

As Ryoko followed Ranma floating from behind the boy, Ryoko was left to her thoughts.

((Someone... someone who's like me...)) she silently thought.

"((Thinking about something, Ryoko-chan?))" Ryoko almost fell down when her telepathic link with Washuu, which was unused for more than five thousand years, was finally used once again.

"((N-Nothing! I'm not thinking anything!))" Ryoko mentally shouted.

In front of the group, Washuu winced a bit. "((Calm down. I'm just asking a question, you know.))"

Ryoko huffed silently. "((Well, just leave me alone about it!))"

Washuu mentally shrugged. "((Fine, fine. Just remember though, take your time. Don't force him to love you...))"

Ryoko growled. "((And how the hell would you know, huh?))" She stopped the thought as she realized something. "((Nevermind. I think I'm gonna practice turning this link off.))"

The cyan haired space pirate could hear Washuu laughing hard in her mind, which greatly irritated her. She also remembered, that she had to revive her cabbit, Ryo-Ohki, in a little while. The sight of Ranma's own cabbit, Rin-Ohki, on his shoulders, made her feel a little envious.

O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O

"There's nothing that could be used by Kagato to recover control of your body, Ryoko. There is no need to worry anymore." Washuu's small chirpy voice echoed all over the subspace laboratory. The scientist reverted herself back to the child-like appearance again once they entered the office.

Ryoko lay on the white covered table that held Ranma the day before. She was nude, and was quite undisturbed about it. Ranma had accompanied her inside, just to keep an eye on her he claims, but the etch of worry in his newly transformed eyes were quite obvious. Rin-Ohki followed them inside as well, but for some reason she disappeared somewhere in one of the doors of the lab. Ranma received only one response from her when he asked about her whereabouts, and that was 'hungry'. Feeling that it was unimportant, he shrugged it off and kept it to himself. His companion might've found a hidden cupboard or something inside the huge lab, and he wasn't about to go between a hungry cabbit and her meal.

Only a thin white blanket covered Ryoko's body from whoever was with her, but still Ranma didn't take the chance and turned around. He floated on a random corner as he examined the interior of the lab. Ranma was quite impressed at how big the scientist's domain was. He even accidentally opened a door somewhere, and he found himself floating in outer space. For a moment, Ranma forgot his none-dependence on air as he held his breath. He almost slapped himself when he did remember about it, though.

Ryoko lifted her head to look over Washuu. "So... I'm all set to go,
right?"

Washuu frowned. "Not so fast. I still need to take your gems back from Yosho's Master Key. Although before I go yanking them from the Key, I have to make sure Yosho's space tree Funaho takes roots somewhere safe,
perhaps a new ship for Yosho."

The space pirate slumped back to her bed. "Sigh... I wonder when I could summon Ryo-Ohki back again..."

"Well..." Washuu tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I could ask Yosho to return two of the gems. I mean, he could still siphon energy from the remaining gem without any problems. I'll ask now."

Pressing something on her really cool watch, Washuu started typing on the astral computer that appeared opposite the watch. A second later, a shimmering figure of Yosho appeared in the lab in front of them, frozen on a sweeping motion with the broom still on his hands. Yosho shook his head and frantically looked around him, as if trying to wake up from a dream that suddenly turned into a nightmare. As the Juraian's gaze finally locked to the smirking Washuu, he sighed.

"You... summoned, Washuu-san?" Yosho said warily, twirling the broom idly on one hand.

Washuu beamed at the young man, who in turn paled when he saw the twinkle of mischief in the scientist's eyes. "Please return the gems you took from Ryoko, rather, only two of them for now, until I finish creating an ideal environment for your space tree."

Yosho dropped his broom as his fingers fumbled suddenly. "You can't be serious!"

The small redhead glared slightly at Yosho. "Let me rephrase that, then.
Return the two gems, NOW."

Yosho squeaked a small 'eep' and pulled the hilt of the Tenchi-ken out.
He flared it for a moment, then pointed the blade towards Ryoko. The gems let off a small glint of light and with a 'pop', two gems detached themselves from the hilt. The two gems floated past the gaping Ranma and the smiling Washuu, and went directly to Ryoko. The cyan haired woman held out her hands gratefully, and the two gems latched themselves on the circular sockets that seemed to have appeared on Ryoko's wrists.

A huge miasma of energy filled the large laboratory, bathing everyone in red light. Ranma's whole body tingled as he felt the huge gobs of power leaked off from Ryoko's floating body. Ranma suddenly jolted, as he felt some slight burning in some parts of his body. The pains were pulsating in sync with the blinking crimson glow coming from the gems.

After several moments, everything stopped. Ryoko slowly fluttered down back to the bed and slumped, while Ranma's pain in his body slowly abated.

Ryoko's eyes fluttered open as her face split into a glorious smile.
"Finally!" she jumps up, almost giddy with excitement, "I can summon Ryo-Ohki again!"

Before he could say anything, Ranma was grabbed by the arm and was dragged outside the laboratory. Yosho just looked at Washuu quizzically,
while the scientist shrugged back. Outside the lab, Kagome, Sango,
Koneko and Kaede gaped in shock while Inuyasha, Myoga, Shippo, Miroku,
and the four shrine priests sweatdropped as they saw a blur, which turned out to be Ryoko and Ranma, phase out of the cabinet doors. Ryoko was pulling Ranma so hard and was flying so fast that Ranma was like a flagpole flapping against the wind as they passed the main shrine office. The group's gazes locked unto the two as they watched them pass through the door leading outside of the office as well.

Ranma finally got his bearings back when his eyes were assaulted by the harsh glare of the sun. He realized that he was outside, and he was still being dragged by Ryoko. "Ryoko! Lemme go! I can follow you just fine you know!"

The joyful Ryoko quickly disengaged and continued on her flight path.
"Fine! Just follow me then."

Sighing, Ranma followed Ryoko by the air in a more sedated pace. Having thought about Ryoko's cause for being excited, he chuckled. It seemed that Ryoko would gain her friend back. He thought about his own companion, Rin-Ohki, and was quite confused as to why he could 'see' her in his mind as she was eating those scraps of metal. For some reason,
the background in his mind was recognizable.

"Ranma! Hurry up!" Ryoko called to him. Ranma shook his head to clear it and accelerated towards the girl.

He found Ryoko standing at the edge of the shrine's lake. She turned her head to one side and addressed him, "Watch and learn, Ranma-chan." Ryoko smirked as she raised her hand perpendicular to the lake surface. Her two gems glowed brightly as she gathered the energies within the orbs,
while the lake glowed with the same color as Ryoko's gems.

Once she was satisfied with the energy she had gathered, Ryoko shouted in a loud voice, "Ryo-Ohki, come back to me, NOW!"

Ranma felt the ground shake as the middle of the lake lit up in red light. A loud 'MIYAAH' came from somewhere in the lake. The waters suddenly split open, drenching Ranma without delay, who was standing at the water's edge. A large crystalline ship emerged from the lake, which suddenly shrunk into a small black ball of fur. Ryoko gleefully caught the ball and hugged it to her chest.

"Ryo-Ohki!" Ryoko laughed out loud as she clutched at the black ball.
She opened her arms and revealed a small black furred cabbit with rounded ears and golden eyes. The cabbit looked about her and meowed softly.

"Ranma! Look at her! Isn't she... eh?" Ryoko sweatdropped when she turned and saw a wet and fuming female Ranma tapping her foot against the ground.

Ryoko and Ryo-Ohki suddenly lurched as they heard a mental shout from a rather infuriated red-haired scientist.

"((RRRRRAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNMMMMMMMMMMMMMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!))" Ryoko grimaced and clutched at her head as an almost incomprehensible chatter echoed in her mind, while Ryo-Ohki's ears furled into themselves in response.

Ranma saw this and immediately went to her side. "What's wrong?"

Ryoko struggled to balance herself as she used Ranma's body as a crutch.
"Wa-Washuu... she... she says that... Rin-Ohki... ate half her... lab"
she stuttered out.

The boy turned girl blanched as she explored her own link to Rin-Ohki.
Sure enough, Washuu's angry face welcomed her as she saw what was happening through the cabbit's eyes. Washuu was screaming at the cabbit's face, which was held by the scruff of her neck so it seems.

Ryoko continued, "Washuu says your cabbit ate... EMP generators and shielding, several prototypes of particle beam cannons, the only two samples in existence of those banned Black Hole Cluster cannons... hmmm I never knew she still had those, they were considered banned coz they're too dangerous... a lot of rare crystal samples she collected,
tons of deflector shields, some new stealth components... those rare metal alloys... phase disruptor arrays? Wow... Rin-Ohki really did a number on Washuu's lab, eh?"

Ranma sweatdropped as Rin-Ohki meowed piteously in their link.

O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O

"I wish I could stay, but I can't..." Kagome said sadly as she stood in front of the Bone-Eater's Well. She used the counterpart of this same well in her time five hundred years in the future to travel back through time. Now that Naraku has been finally vanquished, her job was done.

When the thought hammered itself to her head, her thoughts of going back to her own time were hampered when she realized that Inuyasha would be lost. Her feelings for the half-youkai were strong enough, and even though Inuyasha was still peevish in showing it, Kagome knew that the hanyou loved her just as well. If she goes back, her chances of meeting her in the future would be zilch, especially since she gave the Shikon no Tama to Inuyasha. It was said that the jewel would grant extra powers to a youkai, but it also could turn Inuyasha into human. The hanyou still haven't told her his decision as to what path he would take, and it didn't appease her one bit.

"That's right, you can't stay here." Ranma said sagely as he floated in front of the group while holding Rin-Ohki in his arms. Truth be told,
Ranma actually liked being with Kagome, although she didn't really belong in this time. Neither was he, but Kagome was here for a duty.
Ranma's own trip was his choice.

A small gap of silence filled the air as they all looked at one another.
Ranma spoke once again, "But we'll meet again. I don't exactly have a normal lifespan anymore, anyway. I'll see you... soon in your time probably." Ranma smiled towards Kagome. The girl smiled back.

"I didn't really get to be with you for long, but I feel good vibes from you. As Ranma had said, I'll meet you soon as well, with Ranma of course." Ryoko chuckled as she floated near Ranma's position. Ryo-Ohki meowed in response as well. Ranma just blushed deep red as he tried to fly away from the sexy girl, but Ryoko's grip was somewhat stronger than normal.

Kagome smiled gently at the floating woman. She had been able to get used to the idea that she can fly effortlessly, and so was her cousin as well. There were still so many secrets that she still didn't know about them, but it was enough to pacify her. She felt no ill thoughts from the cyan haired young woman, and besides, the wards don't work at her at all anyway. So there was no way Ryoko was a demon at all. It was all presumption.

Koneko shyly waved at her. The girl was silent most of the time, except when talking to and about Ranma though. "Have a safe trip back,
Kagome-san, although I still don't understand anything about time-travelling and those other things..."

Kagome smiled in return. "Call me Kagome anyway, Koneko-chan."

"Hai, Kagome..." Koneko nodded.

Sango took a step forward, and wrapped Kagome in a hug. "I'm sorry you can't stay as well, Kagome. But this is not your time, or place. You have to go back." She then held Kagome at arms length. "Thank you for everything you have done..." Kirara rubbed herself on Kagome's legs as the two girls hugged each other once again.

Miroku placed his hand on Kagome's shoulder. "Thank you, Kagome... for helping us defeat Naraku. I wished we could say the same that we shall meet once again in the future, but we can't live that long. Nor do we want to."

"That's right." Sango nodded in agreement as she stepped back to Miroku's side. "Sadly, we're just humans, and five hundred years is way too long for us to wait for you."

"I know." Kagome sighed. "I'm gonna miss you guys..." She really would miss them. Sango still had to search for her lost little brother,
Kohaku, who after the battle suddenly disappeared. They had believed that he was dead, but lack of evidence hereof gave them hope that the boy was still alive. Somehow maybe, Kohaku had survived even without the evil Shikon Shard that Naraku stuck at his back to revive him the last time.

Sango and Miroku nodded. "We are going to miss you as well." Miroku responded for the both of them. They stepped back and allowed Kaede to face Kagome.

"You are going to be a great miko someday... no. You ARE already a great miko, Kagome-chan." Kaede said with a smile on her old face.

"Kaede-baasan..." Kagome began, but was interrupted when a mass of brown fur suddenly glomped unto her.

"KAGOMEEEEE!" Shippo cried out, as the little kitsune hugged desperately on Kagome. She was like a mother/sister that he never had,
and now he was going to lose her just because she doesn't belong in their own time. In his childish mind, he knew that he really can't tell Kagome to stay, because he knew it was not right. So he just contented himself on hugging her with all he had for the last time, that is until he meets her again in the future. Probably at that time, he would be all grown up.

Little Myoga hopped up on Kagome's shoulder as Shippo jumped down, with a forlorned expression on his face. "It's too bad you have to go, you have good blood to suck for me!" When Kagome finally released her finger that crushed Myoga flat on her shoulder, the flea demon puffed up back to shape once again and resumed his serious expression. "I'm sorry Inuyasha couldn't be here. You see, he is..."

"He's here." Everyone turned to look at Inuyasha, who was walking slowly towards the group. He ignored the looks he was given by the others and concentrated on reaching Kagome.

"Inuyasha... I..." Kagome tried to explain something, but was stopped when a finger shut her mouth up.

"Listen..." Inuyasha growled out, grabbing the Shikon no Tama out of his hidden breast pocket, "I'm gonna meet you in the future, alright"
Seeing the questioning look in Kagome's eyes, he continued, "Well... I'm not gonna use the Shikon no Tama to become human, nor to become full demon. I'm just gonna guard it with my life, and wait for you, alright?"

Kagome gave him a shaky smile and nodded her head furiously. She quickly gave Inuyasha a quick peck on his lips, which shocked the poor demon stiff, and backed away. She slowly made her way to the well, her transport back to her own time.

Kagome's eyes were filled with tears as she gazed back at her friends.
Ranma and Ryoko stood quite apart from the crowd. Ryoko still felt the animosity between her and Yosho, so she thought of leaving the Juraian himself to decide about it. Ranma stayed by her side, saying that nobody should be left lonely like she was before her freedom. There was a hint of experience from Ranma's eyes when he talked about loneliness. The cabbits lay content in their respective masters/partners' arms. They were very intelligent, and if they could only speak normally, it would be easier to understand them.

Washuu stood behind the two floating egomaniacs, tending to her sensors or whatever. The scientist was quite curious as to how her way of travel worked.

Inuyasha stood ever so stoic in front of her foster family here for many months, avoiding her eyes as much as possible. Or was he still in shock at the kiss?

Yosho stood beside Kaede. For some reason, the two have talked about pasts and stuff when they were together. Yosho had the eyes of an old man in a younger man's body, and it was greatly appreciated by Kaede.
She had someone to talk to whenever the days are slow.

Miroku and Sango stood hand in hand. The months of battles against Naraku had been fierce, but it didn't stop the budding romance between the two. Nevertheless, it didn't stop her from loving the hanyou herself, so she wasn't any better. Kikyo, her own rival on Inuyasha's love, died in that battle. Miroku's lecherous ways toned down drastically after they got together, but he still had the urge every now and then. Kirara and Shippo stood at the couple's feet, the latter bawling his heart out.

With a final wave and a soft goodbye, Kagome turned and jumped into the well, back to her own time.

O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O

Parallel present, Parallel World...

After waking up from her momentary forced sleep, Kagome stood up and dusted herself. Light wafted through the darkness of the well, which illuminated the abyss she was in.

Kagome sighed. She's back to the future, back to the giant robot wars that existed in her time. The world was at war as to who will own the alien artifacts that have been unearthed years ago. Two factions emerged from the fire, one was the Global Defense Forces, the other was the Rara Forces. They used the technologies they found from the ruins and pitched them against each other, betting land areas and stuff.

She slowly climbed out of the well, and opened the well shrine door. Her footsteps were heavy against the ground, and even after a short time she already missed her friends. She made her way to the house and opened the door.

"Tadaima!" Kagome called out, but stopped when she finally realized that her family had guests. The chatter from the tea room died down as her mom's voice called out to her, "Kagome! Come here quickly! There are these people who wanted to meet you!"

Kagome sighed and walked faster towards the tea room. When she opened the door, her jaw fell to the ground. "Wha-what!" she stuttered out.

At one side of the table, Kagome's mom, her grandfather and Souta were chatting with three other people, who sat on the opposite side of the table. The three visitors were sitting with their backs turned on Kagome. The first one on the left had black hair tied in a pigtail. He was wearing a dark blue long sleeved high school uniform, with the upper part removed and draped over his left shoulder. He was wearing a red undershirt beneath it. He had a tail that was twitching ever-so-slightly at the floor. He also wore dark tinted sunglasses for some reason. On his side was a silver-furred small animal that had really long ears. It was playing with the red tail that was curled beside it. The second one had cyan hair that was spiked beyond cosmetic help. She was sultry by the way she was leaned to the left side, and was evidently blessed with abundant curves. She was dressed in a female school uniform, which if Kagome remembered was from Furinkan High School across town in Nerima.
To her side, another one of those weird creatures but it has black fur.
The last one caught her attention though. He had long white hair with fluffy white ears at the top. He was also dressed in a red yukata and had a worn out sword at his side. Her family was staring at her, as Kagome gaped on.

The three guests turned, and the one on the left smiled brightly.

"Yo, Kagome!" The young man removed the glasses, and exposed his blue eyes with golden orbs.

The silver cabbit on his side ran up to her leg and rubbed herself to it. "Miyaaah!"

"R-Ranma? Rin-Ohki?"

The cyan haired young woman snorted. "It's as if you've seen a ghost!"

Ryoko's own black cabbit ran to Kagome's other leg and sighed. "Miya miya!"

Kagome turned to her and gasped out, "Ryoko! And Ryo-Ohki too!"

The cabbits meowed loudly and ran back to their respective partners as the white haired young man stood up and rakishly bowed towards Kagome.
"Kagome... good to see you again."

"Inuyasha..." Kagome said as she slowly made her way to the young man and caressed his cheek. When she was close, she finally noticed the difference between the one he met before and the one that stood now. The hanyou aged a bit since the last time they saw each other. His face was more angular, and his eyes were matured. Gone was the hotheadedness that easily denotes the young hanyou she had met five hundred years ago. His yellow eyes were soft and teasing, not the angry and irritable orbs that she was oh-so-infuriated most of the time before.

Inuyasha grew up.

Kagome suddenly lunged into Inuyasha's startled arms, and held on tight.
For her, even those few minutes of loss were too much for her. What about Inuyasha? He had waited for more or less five centuries to catch up with her once again. Tears slowly started to spring out of her eyes,
as she burrowed her head deeper into Inuyasha's tight chest.

Kagome's mom, grandfather and brother were all smiles as they watched the scene unfold in front of them. The sight of two lovers reunited was really wonderful for them. Ryoko leaned her head unto Ranma's shoulder.

"I wish we could be like that right now." Ryoko sighed wistfully.

Ranma started at that, but Ryoko continued, "I know, I know... I have to wait for the one you've been waiting for too, right?"

Ranma nodded somberly. "I'm sorry, Ryoko-chan..."

Ryoko smiled softly and patted Ranma's chest. "It's alright, Ranchan.
Akane better be good to you this time, or else. Besides, it's not as if you're really limited to one wife, ne? I'd rather have Akane or any other girls as a co-wife than be without you..."

Ranma looked at Ryoko lovingly, and bent his head to peck on her lips lightly. "Thanks, Ryoko-chan."

"Y-You... haven't changed a bit, Ranma..." Kagome said softly as she looked at him from her vantage point in Inuyasha's arms.

Ranma and Ryoko looked at each other and laughed loudly, earning a curious gaze from Kagome. In their embrace, Inuyasha chuckled as well.

"Not changed at all?" Ranma asked as he stood up, facing Kagome. "If you mean I haven't aged, then that's true. But then again, I could control my physical aging, and thanks to Washuu's lessons I perfected it"
Ranma grumbled the last part, "But there has been a few changes actually..." At this, Ranma started to glow.

Kagome gasped. "By the kami... Ranma! That's... those are..."

O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O

Parallel past, Parallel World...

After Kagome's ki finally vanished from their time, Ranma raised his palm towards the well. "Yami no Ha." He whispered, and a small ball of black ki erupted from his hand. The ball zeroed in to the well and detonated, obliterating the well and a little bit of land around it.
When the dust cleared, only a deep crater was left of it.

After that, everyone turned and left except Ranma, Ryoko, and strangely enough, Inuyasha. The hanyou stood a bit far from the two, and gazed longingly at the remnants of the well. The cabbits were playing nearby,
jumping and scurrying along the green clearing that housed the Bone-Eater's Well.

Ryoko slowly floated towards Ranma. The boy was staring at the blue sky,
which was highlighted by soft touches of clouds.

"Ranma..." Ryoko said softly, but it gained her the attention of the pigtailed boy. "I can see it in your eyes, your wanderlust is acting up again." She reached her hand to Ranma's red tail, and slowly stroked it.

Ranma closed his eyes and groaned softly. His tail was a sensitive part of his anatomy, and Washuu had explained that this was because it was connected directly to his spine. The feelings he get from it were a hundred times more powerful than those from his feet. He turned to face Ryoko, but didn't take any steps in removing the girl's hand on his tail.

"It's not just that. I need to find the Manticores and destroy them"
Ranma explained as he gazed on Ryoko's yellow slitted eyes.

Ryoko sighed. "I know that. If ever you decide to leave, know this. I will not be left behind here."

"But Ryoko..."

"Ranma." Ryoko said simply, effectively stopping any protest from Ranma.
"I will not let you out of my sight, ever."

The pigtailed boy almost whined at that, but relented as he grunted his annoyance. He turned to stare at the sky once more as Ryoko held his tail within her soft hands, stroking it periodically.

"Fine." Ranma said finally. "But only after you get your final gem from Yosho. We will need all the strength we have against them."

Ryoko squealed as she launched herself unto him. Ranma squawked in indignation as the two of them fell down the ground, with the cyan haired young woman on top of his body. She quickly bent down and gave Ranma a loud kiss.

A soft pop sounded when Ryoko disengaged her mouth from Ranma's, who was struggling to say something.

"W-Waddya do that for!" Ranma almost screamed as he got his voice back.
His face was flushed red as he tried hard to glare at the shapely girl on top of him.

Ryoko placed her hands on her hips and smirked at him, making her breasts jiggle a bit. Ranma blushed some more.

"Oh hush, you prude!" Ryoko laughed loudly as she noticed Ranma's eyes set on her prominent figures. She was proud of her body, and was very glad that the boy appreciated it, even though he was quite shy in expressing it. She also knew that the body he was in was just a ruse,
which maybe at one time was thought to be his permanent one because of a magical mushroom, but now that he can control his physical looks, it was all a mask. Also, it was obvious at the way Ranma acted, which was too mature for his age, although sometimes he acts like a child,
understandable for Ryoko. She suddenly felt something poking at her inner thigh, which caused her to grin evilly at Ranma, who blushed deep purple.

"Uhhmm... could you, you know... get off... please?" Ranma squeaked. As hard as he tried to keep in control, Ryoko was one sexy girl. In response, Ryoko literally purred and draped over Ranma, who ack'ed loudly and sank into the ground, much to Ryoko's chagrin.

"RANMA!" Ryoko yelled indignantly as she pushed herself to standing position. She saw Ranma emerge from underground, but was quite ways away from her.

Before Ranma could respond, Inuyasha cleared his throat and made his presence known. "If ya two lovebirds're done, I'd like ta come with ya when you go."

"EHHH!" The two floating aliens asked.

The hanyou nodded. "Yeah. I mean, I got nothin' to do here anymore, so I better help you get rid of those things and stuff... besides, I need somethin' to do while I wait for Kagome, ne?"

The impending argument dissolved at their comical expressions as Ranma and Ryoko alternated on staring at one another and at the weirdly serious Inuyasha. They nodded dumbly at the hanyou nevertheless in response to his request.

O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O

"What! You three are going to leave!" Sango asked loudly as everyone sat around the dinner table in the shrine office. Washuu was not present, because she was set at her work on building a rather large house just ways down the trail. She also planned to build a long flight of stairs along the path, but Yosho reminded her that he did not own the place. They have to get permission from the Masaki Clan, who are currently in a religious pilgrimage around the world.

"Uhm... yeah." Inuyasha was a bit surprised at Sango's outburst.

Yosho nodded. "Going after the Manticores, Ranma?"

The pigtailed boy nodded. "Yep. I have a score to settle with the critters. Besides, I can't let them run loose around the world now, can I?"

"No way! You might get hurt like you did before!" Koneko remarked.

"Don't worry! I'll be with him!" Ryoko scoffed imperiously as she brandished her newly acquired third and final gem. Washuu succeeded in transferring Funaho from Earth's soil to a small skeleton of the actual layout of its own container ship and preserving it. With the help of Tsunami, her job was a lot easier than she thought, and rejuvenating the tree was easy to the one who made them in the first place. With that done, Yosho returned the main gem eventually, after much bickering.

"That's what we're afraid off." The rest mumbled under their breath.

Ryoko bristled and stood up. "WHAT WAS THAT!"

Everyone cringed. "N-Nothing!" They all replied.

The cyan haired woman growled and sat back down. "As I was saying, I'll be coming with Ranchan and help him with his quest... what? Why're ya staring at me like that?" She noticed everyone gave her a look of varied amounts of shock on their faces.

"You... you called me Ranchan..." Ranma said softly.

Ryoko grimaced. "Is... is that bad? Should I..."

"NO!" Ranma placed his hand on her shoulder. "It's okay. It just reminded me of some people back in my time... don't worry about it. You can call me that." Ranma smiled at her.

"Ahem! Anyway, don't you want me to go with you?" Yosho interrupted the by-play between the two.

Ranma snickered softly. "Nah. Not that I don't appreciate the extra help. But you're needed here. Besides, I'm from the future... where or whenever it is, and I think you must stay here, for future's sakes."

Yosho shook his head. "The fate of the world is much more important than that!"

Ranma sighed. "No. Who knows how much of the future have I changed already? I don't want to change it much more than it is. I think Ryoko,
Inuyasha and me are sufficient enough to hunt down the rest of the Manticores. You have a responsibility here, which must take precedence when the other responsibility has options. I am not really part of this timeline, so whatever happens to me doesn't really affect the timeline... Ryoko was released a tad too early, and her participation won't be due in the next four centuries or so... and Inuyasha has to wait for Kagome. All three of us have no responsibilities whatsoever on the timeline. However, you are important, but I can't tell you in what way. Please understand and trust me on this one."

Yosho went silent for a few moments, but afterwards he sighed as well and nodded. "Alright. I still wished I could've been by your side fighting, but I guess I'm also needed here as well."

"That's good." Ranma commented. "Don't worry, we'll visit every now and then."

With that, everything was set in place.

The next day came by quickly and we see Ranma, Ryoko and Inuyasha standing at the bottom of the small incline that led to the shrine itself. The two cabbits were at their feet as they were half-finished on the carrots they were eating for breakfast. The rest of the group were inside the grounds, saying their farewells to the departing trio. The four priests elected to stay at the shrine for their duties, while Kirara and Shippo continued to slumber away.

"Before you go Ranma-chan, I would like to present this to you"
Washuu stepped forward and handed a small device to Ranma. The three looked at it curiously. To Ranma, it looked like the small pocket televisions that he saw once at the stores back in his time.

"Uhm, that's good." Koneko commented, although she wasn't really sincere about it.

Seeing the blank look on their faces, Washuu snorted. "That is my patented Manticore Detector! Guaranteed to find those pesky monsters wherever they are on this planet. I launched a small satellite probe into space early this morning, and with that up there we can pinpoint their exact locations."

"Ah!" Ranma nodded enthusiastically. "I understand! This will help us very much... thank you Washuu-chan!"

Washuu beamed and cackled. "Muahahahahaha! Ain't I the greatest!
Hahahahahaha!" Two small puppets mysteriously popped out on her shoulders and started waving victory fans and confetti around, declaring how great Washuu was.

The rest stared and sweatdropped as they slowly inched away from the madly laughing scientist.

"Ooookay. So we have everything, right?" Ranma asked after recovering from his nervousness. A cackling Washuu is something he was uneasy about up until now.

Ryoko smiled. "I guess..."

Inuyasha sighed and approached Kaede, taking her hand into his. He reached into his robes and handed something to Kaede's outstretched palm. The old miko gasped when she realized what it was.

"Inuyasha! This is..." Kaede began as she looked at the hanyou in a new light.

"Yeah... better keep it for a while, old woman." Inuyasha grumpily said as he nodded towards Sango and Miroku, who nodded back as they understood the hidden message.

"Well... we better get going then." Ranma said softly as he turned and floated down the rest of the path. Rin-Ohki quickly flew to Ranma's shoulder. Ryoko said goodbye mentally to Washuu and waved to the crowd as she hurriedly followed Ranma. Ryo-Ohki floated at her side. Inuyasha sniffed and turned, trailing the two floating persons in front of him.

"Goodbye, Ranma-kun! Good luck!" Koneko chirped as she watched the three walk away from them.

"Take care now! And if ever you encounter trouble you can't handle,
don't hesitate to come back here!" Yosho called out to them. Ranma waved his hand in response.

As they watched the trio with two cabbits on their tails disappear on the horizon, Sango commented, "I can't help but think that we just released three powerful people in Japan."

Washuu snickered. "Oh yes! The 'three demons of Japan' are very suitable for them!"

Yosho, Miroku and Kaede blanched at that.

O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O

In the Alpha Prime Point of Existence...

Deep in the recesses of space and time, where the ancient rubbles of the first civilizations of planets floated freely, the Alpha Prime Point of Existence was still enveloped in a massive shield of dark matter.

The Chaos Disruption caused the surrounding space outside the first planet of the universe to fold and screw itself beyond recognition,
causing everything to get in contact with it to disperse and return into non-consistent matter, just like the unlucky comet or planets that came in contact with it. There were no explosions, no fantastic light shows... just the quick disintegration of matter.

Inside the dark matter trap lay the Alpha Prime planet, which housed the Ancient Gods and unfortunately for them, it is also their prison.

"+How fare our endeavors, Hypnos+" The ancient leader of the former rulers of the universe asked as he gazed upon the darkness of their prison. For thousands of thousands of years he has watched the same scene, and he was growing tired of it. Revenge towards the universe is at hand, and the current rulers of the said universe are going to suffer for his and his fellow giants' imprisonment.

The one horned giant turned to his lord, with his instruments still at hand. "+The barrier breach is still going slow, my lord, but the Manticores were successfully deployed in that planet where the vast powers we seek to defeat the so-called gods are located. Sadly, most Manticores we sent to that one planet... the Jurai... were destroyed after some time. For some reason, those Juraians had some sort of power that can hurt the beasts. Nevertheless, the planet we sent most of our Manticores to was out to the boondocks, and is primitive to boot. Too bad we have to destroy it soon.+"

"+Ah... that planet called Earth, right+" Chronos said disdainfully.
Their probes indicated that the planet housed a great source of power that was quite familiar to him, but he could not place where it was. He turned to Hypnos and said, "+How fare the battle in the planet, then+"

Hypnos looked at the screen of his rather large computer and replied,
"+Surprisingly, some Manticores went missing. It seems that the planet has some fight left in it after all.+"

Chronos shook his head. "+Instruct the Manticores to assimilate prominent figures in that planet. I want the source of that energy found and if we can't claim it for our own, dealt with. Prepare the Carrions as well... we might need them.+"

Hypnos nodded grimly. "+Yes, my lord+"

O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O

"Atchoo!" Ranma sniffed as he looked around suspiciously.

"Miyah?" Rin-Ohki asked as she looked down to him from her perch on his head. Ranma just shrugged.

"I don't know. Must be the wind..." Ranma replied as he continued walking. Behind him, Ryoko and Ryo-Ohki were drinking on the scenery of green trees around the forest they were in, while Inuyasha guarded the back of their little entourage.

"So... where to, Ranchan?" Ryoko asked after a while of walking.

Ranma stopped on his tracks and pulled out the tracker. He pressed the button that indicated the power and the device flared to light. He was surprised when he saw a grid-like pattern on it, and an approximate map of the world in it. There were five dots blinking blue, which indicated their own positions, while a bunch of red dots covered most of the areas in Japan. Ranma frowned further when a lot of red dots, with a mental count of at least thirty-six red dots, were concentrated in China.

Ranma turned to his companions and answered, "We have to get to China first. That was where Yosho and I saw that meteorite that crashed there which housed the Manticore eggs while in space." Ranma readjusted his dark glasses that covered his eyes, which were not normal by any means.

Washuu gave the glasses to him to hide his new eyes from the public, so as to avoid questions regarding his origins. The red-haired scientist also took the liberty of developing a special battle suit for Ranma that Washuu has made based on Ryoko's own, with some slight alterations. It automatically adjusts itself when he shifts forms. The suit was also upgraded to be more resilient against physical attacks as well as energy blasts. Ryoko's own battle suit was upgraded when his was. Where Ryoko's suit was black and red, Ranma's was black and blue.

They breached into a clearing outside the forest they were in. Ranma looked back up from where they were from, and saw a faint outline of the shrine in the horizon. They have gone pretty far in just a few hours,
which was good in his book.

"I'll set camp here. It's going to be dark soon." Ranma declared as he let his huge backpack fall down to the earth with a thud. Ryoko looked at him oddly at first, then followed his example by dropping her smaller backpack beside Ranma's as well.

Ranma looked at his two companions. "Ryoko, can you please gather some firewood from around here? Inuyasha, you can hunt right?"

Ryoko smiled at him and nodded as she sauntered around their chosen spot for a while before taking off with Ryo-Ohki into the forest. Rin-Ohki looked back at Ranma, asking for permission to go with them. Ranma nodded his permission, and watched amused as Rin-Ohki bounced after the two. Inuyasha had long disappeared into the forest, probably to hunt for something to eat.

Ranma sighed as he removed his glasses from his eyes. His blue eyes with golden pupils almost lit up into the slowly darkening surroundings. He took out the three tents from their backpacks and quickly assembled them. Since the change in his eyes, his sight became much more acute,
with him being able to see pretty well even in total darkness. He sighed... he still remembered that Washuu had mentioned something about it being like his mother's... the goddess Tokimi's. Even the Neko-ken had its own manifestation in his body in the form of the long energy blades from his hands. He had subconsciously used them twice before, and had been training hard to control them since then, much like Ryoko and her own red menacing blade. After he had reawakened Ryoko, she was eager to have someone to spar with, aside from Yosho that is. Ryoko was still peevish when it comes to dealing with the Juraian, because Yosho had been the one who trapped her in the first place.

Ryoko was a welcome addition in his life, although sometimes she acts pretty much like Shampoo once did. The only difference was that this time, the cyan-haired woman was easier to talk to and if he didn't like what she was doing, all he had to do was say so and she'll stop. Ryoko listens to him, because she feels she understood his own loneliness. In a way, he agrees with her. Even if he put her down most of the times she sneaked her way into his arms, she takes it in a good natured kind of way and doesn't hold it against him. But that didn't mean that she'll stop trying, so she says. For some reason, he didn't mind at all.
Perhaps his loneliness was catching up to him.

Ranma shook his head as he concentrated on clearing a small patch of grass where he assembled a circle of stones. This was going to be the place for their campfire.

A rather loud snap broke Ranma's thoughts. He turned and saw Ryoko with an armful of dried tree branches frozen in midstep glaring at Ryo-Ohki,
who was also frozen in midbite at some fruit she probably got from the forest. On the cabbit's foot was a broken twig. Rin-Ohki floated beside Ryoko with a bemused expression on her face, and in her mouth was a different fruit as well. Just as Ryoko was about to chase Ryo-Ohki, the cabbit scampered towards the forest, with Rin-Ohki hot on her tail as well. Ryoko sighed loudly and walked towards Ranma. She dropped her load on the ground and flopped down beside him.

"Welcome back." Ranma said with a smile, as he picked up a handful of the branches and placed them strategically in the small stone circle he made earlier. He pointed his index finger to the clump and shot a narrow beam of ki into it, lighting the branches immediately.

Ryoko snorted. "Damned Ryo-Ohki... it was a nice time to surprise you,
too. But she just had to ruin it, doesn't she?"

Ranma laughed lightly, which earned him a glare from his companion. "Ah,
forget about it. She didn't mean it. Besides, I would've felt you when you get close, anyway."

"I guess." Ryoko slumped down. "I really miss being playful like this. I never got to play like this since I got out from that chamber I was kept in. And when I did come out, I was forced to..."

"Ryoko." The girl stopped and looked up to Ranma's serious expression.
"I know how you feel." Ranma bent down and added some more twigs to the fire. "When I was able to walk, my father... or foster father,
whatever... he took me into this training trip... to become the best martial artist of my generation. I wasn't given much choice in it either. I was forced into those insane trainings and those nearly killed me. I never got to play normally like those other children also." Ranma looked back to Ryoko, who was watching his expression intently. "In a way, I understand real well how you feel."

"It must be fate that I have to live that kind of life..." Ryoko mused.

Ranma looked at her sharply, his blue eyes with golden pupils blazing much to her surprise. For a moment, she noted that Ranma's forehead glowed as three faint silver dots in an inverted triangle appeared. "I don't believe in fate." He said flatly, "I would hate the thought of not being in control of my life, no matter what happened in my past. We need to take charge of our own fates, and go through with what we wanted to do, regardless of what this... 'fate'... dictates."

"R-Ranma..." Ryoko blinked when the faint dots slowly disappeared from his forehead. It disappeared as sudden as it appeared, which caused Ryoko to doubt the integrity of her eyesight at that time. She might be a bit sleepy at that time that she hallucinated about it... maybe. Ranma shook his head and looked straight into the fire.

"Sorry about that..." Ranma said absentmindedly, "I kinda got carried away. I just would hate the thought of being someone else's puppet.
That's how I felt in the early years of my life." Ranma's face seemed to glow in ethereal light as Ryoko continued to gaze at him against the firelight. It was pretty late, and the sky had turned dark a while ago.

Their conversation effectively ended when Inuyasha emerged from the forest, with six deceased rabbits over his shoulder. Behind him, the two cabbits seemed to eye the poor white animals that looked like their very distant cousins or something. Ryo-Ohki meowed softly to Rin-Ohki, who nodded back sadly. After reassuring their respective cabbits that what Inuyasha brought back were not cabbits at all, they all settled down to cook their dinner and eat.

The night was clear and the stars were out and shining brightly. Ranma opted to stay outside his own tent to gaze at the stars. He didn't remember how long he stayed out there, but he drifted asleep after a short while. Rin-Ohki was pleasantly curled at his side, twitching every now and then.

He was dreaming about his life, how he came to be. Now that he remembered a bit more after the Neko-ken incident, much more of the things were suddenly put into place. His quick healing ability, as well as his luck that seemed to teeter between extremes were now explainable.
Why he felt quite distant with his father, and why he didn't look much like him in the first place. The Neko-ken blunder on Genma's part was the death of him, but Tsunami, he figured by the voice, pulled him out of that hellhole and brought him to Washuu's pocket laboratory. The red-haired scientist had saved him from certain death, but not without any consequences. Now he had to live with the fact that he wasn't human at all, and that his life was basically a lie. Not that it was such a bad thing, but he wondered when he could meet his mother, his real one that is. Ranma also realized how lonely his real mother must've been.

His dreams shifted to the first time he, or rather she, appeared at the Tendo household. It has been an uncomfortable experience, and that pervert crack from Akane didn't help matters to his self-confidence at all. Nobody really stopped to think how hard this would be to anyone who contracted the curse, and they just jump into conclusions that he was some sort of a freak.

Then it was followed by series of old friends, which turned out to be enemies and rivals afterwards, trying to kill him. Then his father, no,
Genma's sins caught up with them, and was dumped to his lap just like that. The old fat martial artist was good at running away from his responsibilities.

Various princes came and go, kidnapping Akane one way or another, with him on a 'sacred mission' to save her. Things would settle down for a while, and the violence towards him lessened, but it was doomed from the start. Everything escalates again once the dust settles, and Ranma gets caught up once again in the chaos that he didn't ask for.

Chaos... his name really suited him. After learning that his real mother was THE dubbed Goddess of Chaos herself, Ranma accepted this one fact.
Chaos is stuck with him like a plague, and he can't really escape it.

That was why he was Ranma anyway...

Saffron... he regretted what he did to the demigod. Ranma knew that it was really their fault, and that they had disturbed a ritual that had lives of a whole civilization on the line. Saffron had to transform into adulthood and lead his people to prosperity. What did they do? They barged in and destroyed most of their home, along their leader with it.
Although he really hadn't regretted saving Akane, the whole thing would've been avoided if everything was discussed in a civilized manner.

Then came the wedding... where everything fell into chaos. People almost got killed because of those bombs Ukyou and Shampoo threw into the crowds, which they claimed that they were aiming for Akane... as if that was any better. Actually, he really grew to love the tomboy. even though it was a bit early, it would've happened anyway. Well, not anymore.

Ranma felt betrayed.

Despite what others think, he treated Ukyo and Shampoo as friends. He knew their feelings for him, but he just can't abandon any one of them.
Honor is a trap for him, where his honorless father threw his own out of the window, to Ranma it is the only thing that he had. Everything in his life was dictated for him.

Ten years of Ukyo's life were lost because of her chasing after him for revenge, for something that he didn't even realize he did to her. That simple choice that he barely remembered in his childhood, when his stupid father asked him to choose between okonomiyaki or Ukyo. At first Ranma was confused, and was also starving. His father thought it was a very good training module for him to fast for several days, eating those okonomiyaki that Ranma had won in the mock-fights with Ukyo. Of course,
who would've thought of choosing his friend when he was six years old and desperately hungry. He quickly latched unto the okonomiyaki, being the child he was back then. The angry look on Ukyo's face when Ranma sat on top of the fleeing yattai was misinterpreted as his best friend being angry with him because he was leaving.

On top of all that, he never knew Ukyo was really a girl.

His own defeat of Shampoo was a bit of his own fault, however. But it was his father who dragged him there in the first place. Fresh out of Jusenkyo and of being cursed, he felt dejected and alone. The guide had led them to the Amazon Village, where they watched the annual tournament. As usual, his father dug into the untouched food table without asking any questions. His father had always thought of his stomach first, before realizing the consequences of his actions. Or he could just pass it on to Ranma, his scapegoat as always. even though it was his father's idea to eat the food in the first place, Ranma was the one who was forced to fight Shampoo, who at that time was the winner of the tournament. The food was supposed to be her food, and as compensation he must fight her. He was in his cursed form at that time.
He won too, with a dreadful price.

That stupid law of the Amazons, to kill the culprit if an outsider female won against an Amazon. Shampoo had hounded them for months,
chasing them all over the countryside. She even followed them in China,
Ranma accidentally knocked her down in his male form. There he learned another stupid law of the Amazons.

If an outsider male defeats a female Amazon, marriage.

Ranma felt as if it was all an elaborate trap for him.

His mind flashed and saw that scene he spied upon, where Akane and Ryoga snuggled on a blanket in his secluded point in the park, kissing. Yes,
kissing... and he felt betrayed. Akane claimed that she had waited months for him to come back, while he took more or less two years, and not once did he break his vow to Akane.

Was she easily swayed like that? He really didn't want to stay and find out.

He had to hand it to Ryoga, though. He really moved in fast. But his methods disgusted Ranma. His revenge was also a bit too stupid for Ranma to even consider. The bandanna-clad boy was totally late for their duel,
and it was Ranma's fault? How could that be... especially since Genma had knocked Ranma out for him to be able to drag Ranma out of that lot.
Ranma had no chance to tell Ryoga that, though, because the pig-boy was so focused on his revenge that he will never listen anyway. Was it his fault that Ryoga followed them into China? Even if Ranma did wait for Ryoga, chances are things are going to be the same anyway. Ryoga might come after him as revenge for losing.

Then Ryoga reappears out of nowhere, trying to kill him.

That night, when Ranma caught him as a pig, he didn't even remember if he really promised Ryoga to keep the secret, but he kept it anyway.
Again, because of his honor, he was to keep this important tidbit from Akane. Ryoga took advantage of it, rubbing into Akane's bosom every chance he got. More than several times, Ranma tried to protect Akane from Ryoga's lecherous advances, but got malleted for it. Ranma got branded as the pervert, instead.

Ranma turned to go, away from everyone who hurt him, but Ryoga just had to nail the lid on his coffin. The pig-boy, which Ranma believed that he still hadn't told Akane about yet, force-fed him those Aging Mushrooms,
which caused him to revert back to childhood.

That was the final straw, and he felt he just had to go away from there,
even away from that dimension.

His mind flashed again, and saw everyone he knew circling around him. He felt small, insignificant, as they laughed at him from every angle.
Akane even put out her mallet to bear and bashed him repeatedly,
exclaiming how stupid he was to believe that she loved him.

Ranma couldn't bear it. He cried out in pain.

Ryoko was currently snuggled in her own bedroll, with Ryo-Ohki on one corner of the tent. She was dreaming of something which involves a ruler, an apple, three cans of whipped cream and Ranma when suddenly, a loud scream broke her sleep. She sat up sharply on her bedroll and heard another wail of despair, which she followed and led her just outside their tents. She spied on Ranma's sweaty form, with Rin-Ohki doing her best to pacify him. Rin-Ohki was licking Ranma's face as the boy continued to twitch wildly around his bedroll. Miraculously, the cabbit was able to hold on.

The cyan haired woman looked on helplessly as she watched Ranma twist and turn in his sleep, who seemed to be disturbed about something.

"No... I'm not... not a pervert... not a... failure... Akane... why.
why... betrayed me..." Ranma was mumbling loudly. Rin-Ohki winced as she caught a glimpse of what Ranma was dreaming about in their link. She knew her partner had such a hard life, but to actually feel the emotions he was feeling at the moment, it was a bit too much for her to handle.

"Hey! Make him stop before I go out and kick his ass!" A shout came from Inuyasha's tent was heard.

Ryoko glared at the tent and turned back to Ranma. She didn't have anyone to ask what to do in this situation. She reluctantly agreed with herself that she was still a bit immature to handle this. Inuyasha definitely was no help at all, so she would just have to grope blindly in the dark with this. Ryoko didn't really have any experience in dealing with emotions, since her own childhood or whatever you call her past was anything but normal. Now she met someone who can understand her, and they both have little knowledge about feelings and whatnot.
What an odd couple they are...

Couple? Is that what they are now? Ryoko was wondering how she got the notion. Her confusion was evident, but having so little knowledge about it, this was the only time someone spent time making her feel better.
Ranma had saved her from the abyss of emptiness that might've doomed her for probably a lot longer than she already spent in that darkness. She might feel a bit grateful for that, but she realized that it was something deeper. Ryoko looked down on Ranma, and was surprised when she found herself hugging the shivering form to hers. When did she kneel down and embrace Ranma? She hadn't expected herself to act this way in an instinctive level. Ranma had stopped shivering and was now breathing deeply. Suddenly, his body emitted a soft glow, which tempted Ryoko to let him go. Instead she looked fascinated, as Ranma's form grew a little, and his features matured a bit. Washuu had mentioned that Ranma knew how to control his physical aging, but the release of pent-up emotions must've broken Ranma's dam of control over it. Ranma finally stopped growing, and was now a young man that looked like a little over eighteen or nineteen years of age.

"So... this is what you really look like..." Ryoko muttered as she continued to gaze at the young man that was still in her arms. Ranma's tail was unfurled from his waist, and was waving back and forth on the floor, brushing on Ryoko which gave her shudders of thrill. The fur on the pigtailed boy's tail was silky smooth, and Ryoko was rather surprised how Ranma kept it like that in the first place.

Ryoko was still staring at Ranma when the boy decided to turn and wrap his hands around the waist of the flustered former space pirate. Ryoko tried to pry herself loose, but to no avail. Even when asleep, Ranma's grip was like stone. After struggling for a few moments, Ryoko finally sighed and settled herself to a much comfortable position on the bedroll. She would need to if she wanted to get any sleep any time soon.
Beside her, Ranma's peaceful face reflected a peaceful smile.

Never mind the fact that Ryoko could phase or teleport out of the embrace. She totally forgot about it.

When dawn arrived early the next day, Ranma was still outside his tent.
He sleepily hugged something on his side closer, feeling the warmth emanating from it.

((Eh? Something warm? It's too big to be Rin-Ohki...)) Ranma opened his eyes and found his face so close to Ryoko's. He caught his breath as he watched a small smile displayed on her face, which greatly accented her serenity. Ranma looked over her and found Rin-Ohki splayed haphazardly on a stray pillow that managed to find itself outside his bedroll. He also noticed that his roll was zipped tight, so Ryoko was crammed inside it with him. He suddenly felt self-conscious as the woman in his arms wiggled slightly, mashing her body against his. Her soft features were burning against his own skin, as Ranma blushed hard. His black undershirt and boxers were thin enough that he felt as if Ryoko was naked beside him. Ryoko was wearing a thin nightie, probably because it was really warm last night. But that didn't help matters for him at all.

A soft moan caught Ranma's attention. He watched in horror as Ryoko slowly emerged from her slumber. Her eyes fluttered open, her eyes still dilated with sleep. She turned to Ranma's scared face and smiled dreamily. She closed in on the distance between their faces and kissed his nose with a giggle. Finally done with her dream, Ryoko let her head fall down on the bedroll, asleep.

Ranma was blushing in the end, and was about to sigh with relief when Ryoko suddenly lifted her head back up once again. Her eyes now displayed her awakened state as she stared at Ranma owlishly.

Ranma managed to let out a weak chuckle as he lamely greeted, "Good morning, Ryoko."

Ryoko blinked and replied, "Uhmmm... what the heck were we doing?"

The young man blanched. "I swear, this is not what it looks like!"

"Eh? What? We weren't doing anything bad, right?" Ryoko commented. She tried to remember what happened last night, and everything came back to her. "Oh, I heard you screaming when you were having a nightmare last night. I came by to comfort you, and when I was about to go, you latched yourself to me."

It was Ranma's turn to blink. "Really? Oh, then... thank you,
Ryoko-chan."

Ryoko blushed. "You're welcome, Ranchan." ((He probably didn't notice what he called me...)) Ryoko thought to herself.

"Uhh... could you, you know, let go now so that we can get out of here"
Ranma said weakly as he tried to squirm inside the closed bedroll.

Ryoko looked at him. "Why didn't you just teleport out then?"

Ranma paused in his struggle and thought for a while. "You know, you're right..." He slowly shimmered from view and disappeared. For some reason, Ryoko felt empty when she encountered nothing in her arms. Ranma materialized beside the roll, but was now outside its confines.

"I'll prepare breakfast, and I think Inuyasha's waking up already. There are still some leftovers from the stew we cooked last night." Ranma remarked as he began to rummage for the food that was left the night before.

Ryoko nodded in agreement.

Ranma paused at his work and finally noticed his changed appearance.
"Eh? I returned back to my original age?"

"Washuu did mention that you can control it, right?" Ryoko deadpanned.

The young man made a spectacle by smacking his forehead loudly. "I know that, but it wasn't as easy as before... the last time I did that, I lost much of my energy, and I wasn't able to transform for about a week."

At this moment, Inuyasha emerged from his tent and stretched. He froze in mid-yawn as he glimpse on Ranma's new form. His first instinct was to grab at his sword, but stopped once he found that the young man was also sporting the same pigtail and clothes as one of his companion, Ranma.

"Ranma? What the hell happened to you!" Inuyasha demanded as he pointed a shaky finger towards the embarrassed boy. He noted that Ryoko was still in Ranma's bedroll.

Ranma sighed. "A growth spurt or something." He said wearily.

Inuyasha snorted and threw an amused glance at Ryoko. "I didn't think the saying 'making a man outta ya' sounded really cool right now... now that's takin' it literally or somethin'..." he commented slyly.

Ryoko blushed, fully understanding what the hanyou meant. Ranma just got confused.

"Huh? What the heck do you mean?" Ranma asked curiously, eyeing the beet red Ryoko.

Inuyasha jerked his thumb over Ryoko. "You an' Ryoko spent the night together, same bed I figure coz she's on your bed right now, with you in boxers and her in that tight number. Go figure..."

Ranma's eyes widened as the statement registered in his mind. His face quickly turned red as he sputtered, "HEY! It wasn't like that! We weren't doing anything in there!"

Inuyasha grinned. "So, ya don't protest bein' in the tight bedroll with her?"

"That's not the point!" Ranma replied loudly.

The hanyou ignored him and turned to Ryoko, "So, ya enjoyed yourself last night, didnt'cha?"

Ryoko finally recovered. "That is NONE of your business, dog-boy!"

"So you did enjoy yourself..." Inuyasha commented with a smirk.

"Shut up!" Ryoko growled out.

"Make me." Inuyasha taunted.

Ryoko was about to throw an energy ball at the laughing hanyou when Ranma quickly stepped between them.

"Hey! Stop that!" Ranma said, then turned to Inuyasha, "What happened to you? You were all silent and all back there at the shrine, and now you get all talkative?" His tail flicked angrily side by side as he said this.

Inuyasha's brow went up. ((Ranma really looks like a cat right now...)) He thought as he crossed his arms across his chest. "Well, if ya really want ta know, I was the one gettin' the pranks and stuff back when I was with Kagome. But now, I understand how fun it was if I ain't the one getting dissed by the joke." He chuckled loudly.

Ranma groaned and looked up to the heavens, muttering, "This is going to be a long travel to China."

Ranma shuddered as the sky grumbled in response.

O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O

To Be Continued...

O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O

Author Rants:

Why is Ryoko affectionate with Ranma?

Remember how she reacted when Tenchi freed her? It's the same, although her feelings for Juraians in general when Ranma freed her were still a bit queasy about associating with them because she was released a bit too early (more or less five hundred years earlier). The fact that the one who imprisoned her was still alive gave her the willies. So her emotions are set on Ranma this time. Some might ask if Ranma has problems with her being his cousin, but if you remember, Ayeka was Tenchi's great aunt. Go figure.

How did Ranma have the power to free Ryoko?

Juraian powers are given form by Tsunami's powers, and Ranma has the blood of Tokimi in him. Everyone with the powers derived from the goddesses can free Ryoko from her prison. He didn't expect it, but he was just too curious. This time, it was all Ranma's fault.

Why is Ranma a bit more emotional here?

People change, especially when they mature. Ranma isn't always going to be an arrogant and irritating sexist, but he's still a bit of those nonetheless. The point is, Ranma might be clueless most of the time, but he knows sexual advances with his experiences with Shampoo and Ukyou most of the time. He still doesn't know how to act when he encounters these things though, but he's learning. He is a bit understanding at how Ryoko acts because he already saw how she acted with Tenchi back in his home world. No matter what other people think, Ranma is forgiving and understanding most of the time, and he really hates it when girls cry.

Besides, Ranma knew loneliness, so he can understand.

Why did Yosho give up the gems easily?

Being threatened by Washuu is a really bad thing, you know. Believe me,
it isn't worth it. Besides, he still believes he can defeat Ryoko easily if the need arises.

Where the heck is Ayeka?

Hmmm... stasis pod, somewhere in space, in her ship Ryu-Oh I think. Her ship's sensors won't detect Ryoko's reappearance until it gets within the Solar System, and I think her ship is still cruising somewhere on the other side of the galaxy.

What's the deal with Ranma's age?

Yes, Ranma can control his physical aging now. It is a modified disguise field of the Juraians, coupled by Washuu's own technique. Now, his age is more of a realistic sense, rather than the shroud of bending other people's perception regarding his physical looks. If Ranma shrinks to a twelve year old, he really is a twelve year old. If he grew to a twenty five year old, he really is a twenty five year old, by physical looks.
Blame Washuu, it's all her fault.

Isn't Inuyasha too harsh here?

Inuyasha was still a bit arrogant, because of his youkai heritage. He hides his emotions by rough speeches and angry responses. You don't believe me? See the anime. He was mostly being irritable and usually arguing with Kagome. Don't worry, he gets easy-going after a while.

What changes did Ranma have when Kagome got to see him in her future?

Uhhh... well let's just say it's... nah. Can't say much of it. Just that it will turn a few heads if he goes around exposing it. It was a freak accident, actually, and he doesn't really need it. But it's there,
and if he doesn't let it out once in a while, it cramps bad. At least that's how Ranma will feel... not that I know about it.

What happened to Tokimi and the rest of them?

Oh, this one you're gonna find out in the next chapter. Also, the ones who got the tri-circular marks will be revealed, to those who still didn't figure them out.

NEXT CHAPTER:

Aside from what is mentioned above, we shall see what happened to Akane,
Ryoga and the rest of them back in Ranma's home world. Tokimi and Tsunami finally arrives at the Tendo Dojo.

Also, what happens when Tokimi meets Nodoka? And Genma for that matter?

Can you imagine what happens when Happosai attempts to glomp unto Tokimi?

Ja ne.

- Lord Rance

In case you need my email for some reason at all, those who will send flames, well, I'll just douse it with my trusty bucket of cold water!