Kirara rested comfortably in Sango's lap, who sat across from the cursed boy, as she and the others waited for a kettle of water to warm up over a fire outside of Kaede's hut so they could change Ranma back into a guy. While they waited the boy-turned-girl was asked to go into detail about her recently exposed secrets. It was easier for Ranma to talk about the physical problem than her psychological one. She has no problem telling them about that fateful day he and his father arrived at the cursed springs training grounds in China. Or of how they both ignored the guide's warnings as the two martial artists began to spar on top of the bamboo stalks sticking out of the over 100 different springs in the area.

Nor was it hard talking about when he kicked his father into one of the springs, only to have a giant panda jump out of the same spring moments later. The difficult part of the story was when he got pushed into a spring and come out with red hair and as a girl. Ranma waited for laughter when she finished, but not even Inuyasha found it funny anymore. After returning to his original form the boy went into detail about the Neko-ken. Kagome and her friends found it painful to watch Ranma shiver and shake as he described the feelings of being thrown into a dark pit with fish sausages tied around him and having dozens of hungry cats biting and clawing his skin. The female hanyou nearly threw up after hearing her cousin's fiancée had to endure the torture two more times.

"He still has nightmares about it," added Akane in a hurt tone. "I do?" asked Ranma. "Yeah, I've heard you a few times crying in your sleep not to be tossed into the pit again," explained the girl. "Why didn't you tell me this?" wondered the boy. "Because I didn't think you wanted to talk about it!" shouted Akane.

There was an awkward silence between the two of them before Kagome said, "But why did your father do that to you?" "He read it was the ultimate technique, but what the idiot didn't read was how the training was so severe it was banned due to the mental damage it causes," said the boy. "Stupid old man," agreed Inuyasha. "Yeah, he is," said Ranma, looking down at the ground.

What he didn't tell them was the one good thing to come out of his father's stupidity. Akane could tell what he was thinking about and decided to change the subject, "Hey, why don't we all eat and get some rest for tomorrow?" Luckily for her the others agreed and they got things ready for dinner. In the mean time, Ranma changed back into his original form. He then sat back down, continuing to stare at the ground. "Ranma, you okay?" asked Kagome. "Huh? Oh, yeah," replied the boy, jerking his head up. "Then get over here and pick something to eat," said the female hanyou. "Alright, I'm coming," said the cursed teen, standing up.

What would you like?" the hanyou asked as the boy approached. Ranma shrugged. "Ramen I guess." Kagome chuckled and said to herself, "Since that's about all we have." Ranma laughed too. "Don't you get tired of it?" he asked. Kagome shrugged. "I know Inuyasha doesn't." she said, and looked to the male hanyou and smiled. He caught her glance and smiled back.

Ranma rolled his eyes and started to turn to walk away, when he found himself doused in water. "Oops. Sorry." Sango said, embarrassed and turned to get more water from the near by river. Kagome went with her and Inuyasha followed, being his protective self. Miroku, seeing an opportunity, stood and reached for the red-haired girl, who, having been highly trained, jumped up and karate chopped him on the head causing him to go down and a welt to form.

"Stupid monk. No one sneaks up on Ranma Saotome." Said the girl and crossed her arms across her chest. "You okay, Ranma?" asked a voice from behind Ranma, causing her to suddenly jump up and grab onto one of the poles. She did a quick double take and then heard the voice again. "Ranma, come down will you?" She looked down to see Akane.

"Oh. It's you." Ranma said and jumped, landing on her feet. "I've got water for you." The short-haired girl offered. "Thanks." Ranma said and poured the water over her head. "I thought Kagome just went to get some." Ranma said, putting the kettle down. "She did. That was for my ramen." Akane explained. "Oh. Why'd you do that?" Ranma asked with a slight smile. Akane's face light up a bright scarlet. "I wanted to help you." She said.

Ranma smiled at her causing the girl to blush even more. Despite that, she smiled back. Then Ranma leaned in to kiss her. "Oh, are we interrupting?" asked Sango, who had been hushed by the female hanyou next to her. Ranma pulled back, and looked at the trio standing in the door. All of them were smiling. Kagome gave her cousin a I'm so happy for you look which was returned by means of a bright smile from the other girl.

--

"Come on, get up." Kagome said, nudging her cousin awake. The short-haired girl yawned. "What time is it?" she asked, noticing it was still dark. "Barely sunrise," replied the hanyou, "We have to get an early start." Akane looked over to her fiancée who was still dead asleep. "Yeah, I'm having trouble getting him up." Kagome said and turned to wake up Shippo. Akane stretched and looked around to see everyone besides Ranma was awake.

The female hanyou turned to the still sleeping boy. She grabbed a bottle of water and poured it over him. "Ranma, wake up!" she shouted. Ranma sat up in a split second. "Agh! Cold! What'd ya do that for?!" Ranma yelled at the hanyou. Although, picking a fight with her was a very bad idea. But Ranma didn't know that, he was about to learn. "If you had just gotten up, I wouldn't have had to do that!" she shouted.

Inuyasha stood next to his mate and put a hand on her shoulder. As if to say 'calm down'. "Don't pick a fight with her." Inuyasha warned, "She'll destroy you." Kagome rolled her eyes at this exaggeration. Ranma snorted. "Half-demon or not, there is no way you can beat-" he never got to finish because Kagome hit the boy-turned-girl over the head with her fist. "Ow!"

"Stop being so stuck up and hurry up so we can leave." The hanyou demanded and turned away. "What's her problem?" Ranma asked as Akane poured hot water on him. "You don't want to know, trust me." his fiancée said, looking over to her cousin.

About an hour later, they were traveling. Miroku, Sango, Akane and Shippo were riding Kirara and the two hanyous were running beside the demon cat. Sango had offered Ranma a ride on Kirara, but he refused to ride a cat, demon or not. "You're such a pain," Inuyasha had said when he was being forced to carry Ranma since he wouldn't ride Kirara and Kagome couldn't do it.

The rest of the day was uneventful. Well before sunset, on Inuyasha's command of course, they stopped and settled in the woods for the night since Miroku's classic evil spirit line didn't work on the near-by mansion guards. "Sorry bout this." Kagome said for the hundredth time that evening. She knew her cousin and Ranma weren't used to sleeping outdoors, and in the woods no less.

"It's okay." Akane assured her cousin as they were getting ready to bed down. "Ya sure?" Kagome asked. "Relax. It's fine." Akane said trying to calm her hanyou cousin. Kagome gave her an okay glance and went to sit by the small fire with Inuyasha. "You okay so far?" she asked. Inuyasha nodded, his now piercing violet eyes met her amber ones.

"Say Kagome," Akane began, coming out with the question that was bothering her, "How come you don't become mortal on his night, too? You're both inu hanyous so wouldn't it be the same night?" Kagome shook her head, her dog ears moving as she turned her head. "I transform on the full moon. Now get some sleep. It'll be a long day tomorrow." Akane nodded and crawled into her sleeping bag. "Goodnight, cuz." She said. "Night, Akane." The hanyou responded then yawned.

--

Kagome opened her eyes and saw there was still a figure sitting by the fire. Inuyasha she figured. She got up and sat next to him. It was still pitch dark and everyone else seemed to be sleeping. "Still up?" Kagome asked as she sat down. She got no response. "You awake?" she tried.

A pair of steel-blue eyes met hers. She figured it was a trick of the light. The scent radiating was that of Inuyasha. She couldn't find any words to say, so she gently kissed his lips. When she opened her eyes, the face she saw wasn't what she'd expected. His face was easily read: shock.

Oops.

Ha Ha! Cliffhanger for ya! evil laugh and you'll never really know what happened until the next post, so ha! XP don't worry, we'll get working on it. So until then! Ja ne!

- Inu Hanyou Babe and Ranmano1fan