A pulse of energy lifted him out of his light doze, but he kept his eyes closed, body unwilling to move until he had more information; He didn't want to bother moving from his comfortable perch unless he needed to. Provided the lighter impacts to the earth, he assumed that the rustle in the meadow was some smaller animal bolting to shelter. He could sympathize with the critter—open places were dangerous ones, as he learned from a very early age.

His eyebrows shot up when he could discern its direction of movement: towards him. At the sound of approaching footsteps his white ears swiveled and his confusion grew. The steps sounded clumsy enough to be human but quiet enough that he still had doubts. His nose flared, inhaling to extract more information. The input he received made him cock of his head and furrow his dark brows in concentration.

Definitely human. female. Wait, No…male? He was thrown off a little, struggling more than he usually did in scent identification.

Nope. Human female. He was more certain. Wait….

Golden eyes popped open, the curiosity getting the better of him.

No intelligent human walks toward the forest at night (especially a female), unless provided a VERY good reason. He wasn't a snoopy individual, but he was curious if this human woman looked as crazy as she was acting.

He couldn't immediately see through the leaves so he carefully adjusted his position, and his eyes honed in on the movement below just in time to see the human walk the remaining few paces to the tree line. The furry white appendages atop his head perked up and his pupils widened a fraction. He leaned further into a crouch.

Red.

It was the first thing he saw. He had never seen such a shade in a human before. The stranger gazed out into the forest, her bangs hiding her eyes from him.

Under the moonlight, it was still particularly vibrant and in the breeze, it danced like a flame. He could imagine how much she stood out because of it during high sun, the thought alone making him squint. It briefly crossed his mind that it could just as easily make her an outcast.

Her skin glowed in the moonlight in a contrasting fashion and the way that it framed her face was close to perfect. Her skin was fair, but not untouched by the sun—it was well balanced and healthy. Her clothes were particularly strange, looking quite foreign. The long sleeved top held a bluish glow and being reflective suggested it was a smoother fabric, like silk. It was cinched steeply at the waist by a belt, where the extra fabric puffed out slightly and hung loosely on her frame except for where it pulled more taut at the swell of her chest.

Definitely female. He confirmed, a pinkness rising in his cheeks.

At further observation, her bottoms appeared to be pants, cinched at the ankles like his own, and were just as baggy as the top, fitting best where her hips sloped out of side slits in the top garment. Both garments, he judged, looked oversized on her frame—a much better fit for a man.

He was torn from his garment intrigue by the salty scent of tears. His eyebrows knit together before he could decide otherwise. He was always shit weak when it came to women's tears; It just made him restless and uncomfortable, bringing up memories he would rather not entertain.

His heart jumped up his throat when he looked back upon her face. Her eyes, as green as the leaves that hid him yet many times more stunning, looked upon him. Directly upon him. He was almost certain he was making direct eye contact with the stranger. No part of him dared to move or breathe.

After a moment, however, he was able to relax again. From the lack of focus in her gaze, the integrity of his location had remained uncompromised. Nonetheless, it was unsettling how she stared at his specific section of the tree. While she looked up, her vision began to swim, and according to her frustrated expression and how rapidly she was blinking, she was trying very hard not to. Reaching upward, her hand arrested a trembling lip for its offenses, tweaking it. He was very hard-pressed to NOT feel guilty as she looked at him, the perfect image of anguish and betrayal as if he had done something unforgivable. His ears pinned to his head when a quiet whimper tore through the background noise of the forest, her tears barreling down her cheeks, and she collapsed to her knees in defeat. His agitation was growing, making him distracted–that was a recipe for mistakes.

shit!

Leaning forward as far as he was, his foot slipped when shifting positions. As a result, he jostled the branch below. Like he dreaded, she was looking at him again, this time alert and uncertain. She broke eye contact first to dry her eyes and he could breathe again.

Very little of the entire interaction made any sense to him. The way she dressed, the way she looked, the way she smelled, the way she moved. Especially what the hell she was doing near the tree line. And also—though it was none of his business—why she was crying.

She was a peculiar human.

A growl gurgled in his throat at the memory, soft enough that it couldn't rise above sounds of the wood. He frowned in annoyance as her head began to bob forward and her breathing was slowing. The idiot was beginning to fall asleep. He debated making some noise to wake and scare some sense into her, but the hollowness under her damp eyes made him hold back. It looked like she hadn't slept for a long long time. With a quiet sigh, he gave in.

Although it was none of his business whether or not she was gobbled up, since he was already here…he supposed he could keep an eye out.

Leaning back against the base of his perch, he reclined into his usual resting position. Her sad green eyes were seared into his brain, an afterimage imprinted onto the back of his eyelids. He hoped it wasn't permanent. That's a pretty shitty gift to give someone. He mentally jeered.

It was funny because nobody gives a gift to a hanyou.

…

Little twilight flame

Burned by divine caress

Its red light, a beacon

It's sorrow, a gift.

….

Ranma was the best martial artist, or so the motto goes. So it was fair to say that Ranma knew that someone was following him. The feeling had been pretty consistent, off and on since arriving here in this….this—place. Whatever this place was called. Edo. Feudal Japan.

Happosai's era. Ranma thought with a snicker.

In the last trip to a village, they looked at him as if he had sprouted horns when he had asked where he was. While it was not the smoothest social interaction, there were other reasons why Ranma make for a hasty retreat. For no discernable reason, looking at the villagers, interacting with them spurred a crippling sense of deja vu that made his hair stand on end and a sharp pain erupt in his abdomen. It was only when she was far enough from the village periphery where the sounds of human activity were barely audible that the bile would settle and the phantom pain in the abdomen would subside. This continued to happen each time Ranma approached human civilization and it was even more unbearable in his female form. So far, transformation to the male state was required for trips to the village–but that was another problem entirely, as Ranma had soon found out.

Ranma let out a groan while she stretched side-to-side, her muscles still aching from the rugged sleeping environment. Then, with pants hiked all the way up above her knees, Ranma treaded through the shallows of the river back toward the bank and collected a smooth souvenir for her unsuccessful fishing attempt. Crouching down on a sizable river rock with her back facing the hidden figure observing her, Ranma considered her options.

Ranma wasn't exactly scared of the observer, but she definitely was growing increasingly irked. She had already tried to confront them several times without success. So far the first attempt ended up with her ambushing an empty tree and taking a hit to her pride. In the second attempt, Ranma was certain that she had briefly glimpsed a swish of royal blue robes until she was given a hearty 'thwack' of a tree branch into her view. Ranma huffed at the memory, the taste of leaves and bark not a pleasant one. It wasn't until her stomach growled that she had made a decision.

Oh hell with it!

"Oi creep!" Ranma called out. "Havin' fun?"

With a graceful leap Ranma pivoted in the air, yanking her arm back and pelted with a whip like movement of her arm. Ranma watched as the stone burrowed past the branches and landed with a thump beyond her view before richotteing and tumbling to the base of the tree. Her face lit up and a cheeky smile pulled her lush lips upon hearing muffled swear. She got him.

HA! Ranma was gonna teach this coward a lesson or two. Ascending through the foliage, she was surprised by the tail end of bright ruby red robes, not blue ones. Ranma faltered for only half a second, and they were nearly out of sight. Shit. He's gonna get away!

"Oi! Get back here you bastard!" Ranma yelled, her legs pumping hard as she wove through the tree top branches, smashing through the smaller twigs and branches. Every time she got close and reached for the robes they danced just out of reach. In the few short minutes since the chase began, Ranma was breathing heavily and beginning to slow down. Eventually her legs were refusing to move all together.

This guy is fast.

Dammit! Ranma cursed between pants as she came to a stop, arming encircling the tree base to keep her balance. Ranma could hear the sound of the stranger moving through the trees without slowing down and she clenched her jaw in discontent. Ranma's legs trembled from the exertion on a very empty stomach. Ranma had trained on an empty stomach regularly, so Ranma's explanation for this was her and her muscles were punishing her for it. Ranma blinked rapidly as the leaves multiplied in her vision and populated with black dots, which was a bad sign. The big mistake was when the bark moved around like smoke under her hands, and Ranma reflexibly yanked her arms away.

On the way down, Ranma did all she could to break her fall, slicing her arm and hands in the process and landing with a "guhff" on her back. She had instinctively pushed off the tree base at the last moment, curling a protective arm around her head so that she could disperse impact vertically by skidding. From what Ranma could hear as she lay on her back, gasping to get the air lost from the landing, she could no longer hear the stranger retreating. They were probably long gone. Maybe pelting stones and chasing someone down was a less than desirable way to approach people. Now, instead, Ranma lay in silence, her own worst company in this absurd world.

Ranma couldn't help but feel disappointed and frustrated. The weakness in her limbs and the gnawing in her stomach were reminders of her ineptitude. If Ranma had been able to transform, that fucker would have never been able to get away! Staggering to her feet, Ranma felt the sting of her eyes as she supported herself with her forearms on the bark of the tree. The trembling legs, the sore body, the panting, the black dots in her visual field—none of them as bad as the self-resentment for the weak emotions that clouded her judgment at every step! How did Akane, Nabiki and Kasumi do it every damn day? If that's what womanhood is, Ranma wanted nothing to do with it.

Rubbing a very bruised shoulder, Ranma jolted to the voice behind her and whirled around to face the voice emanating behind her. On autopilot, Ranma slid into a ready stance only to find herself to still be alone. Ranma knew better than to assume that.

"W-who's there?" Ranma asked, trying not to sway like the world in her vision. Ranma grimaced at the feminine ring of her voice and cleared her throat and she could hear her fathers voice echo in her head. "Never let your opponent know you're vulnerable"

"Who's there?" she attempted again, forcing a lower register. It was all quiet except for the sound of the river nearby and that made her nervous. Ranma stepped forward tentatively, senses on high alert despite the growing disorientation. Ranma, through her previous experience knew she a light concussion, at least.

"Helloooo?" Ranma asked, feeling an inkling of fear at the precarious situation she was in. There was a light ruffle of the foliage. It was very likely just the passing breeze, but, of course, Ranma continued to make bad decisions. By turning her head in its direction, the front heavy center of balance-yet another disadvantage of being a woman- made her over compensate and stumble out of her stance. Ranma's face lit up with embarrassment, taking a few steps back until she felt her back to a trunk and she leaned onto it, shoving her hands in her pockets and hoping to play off the temporary loss of balance. In character, she looked to examine her nails and instead saw the nasty gash on her forearm that was still bleeding.

God dammit.

For the first time in this situation, Ranma realized how bad she had messed up. Every part of her body hurt, her stomach growled, she couldn't even keep her balance and she didn't even know for sure if somebody was there or what their intentions were. She had run after this stranger for what exactly? Because she was lonely? Hangry? So used to being a man at peak physique and talent, Ranma had never even had second thoughts about challenging after some rando who was also very fast and strong. No matter how much Ranma wished otherwise, the tables were different now and that sting ran deep. Ranma was supposed to be the best martial artist, dammit! None of this was fair!

"Yer a coward! Scared of some injured girl!?" Ranma rasped out to the trees, her angry eyes welling over and finally spilling. Using her elbows she pushed her back off the tree but her foot caught on on a root and Ranma stumbled forward onto her knees, cursing under her breath.

"You think I'm weak like this don't you! Like everyone else does!" Ranma screamed out into the forest, panting through her teeth. To her surprise, Ranma actually heard a soft thump on the forest floor several feet away, confirming that there was a person in the trees actually hearing her words. Looking up, she could make out a blurry red figure stepping out from behind a tree and coming to a stop just out of her reach. Ranma wobbled to her feet and settled into a flimsy fighting stance.

"What are you waiting for?!" She shouted at the figure as she began to sway again. "Why don't you fight me!" She croaked, pained desperation beginning to saturate her tone. Against the weight of gravity, it was only a matter of time until her knees gave way.

When she fell, this time, Ranma didn't feel the impact.

….

A downpour like this one definitely was a surprise, even for a hanyou who smelled it coming. The rains were getting unusually heavy and far more frequent for this time of year. Usually his nose could accurately distinguish a future drizzle from an outright rain, but not lately.

He watched the strange girl sleep, tucked under an old hide he had found while he turned the skewers of fish over the fire that lit up her unusual ruby hair. He had first seen her several weeks ago when the idiot decided to fall asleep at the forest edge. He was still salty about having to ensure she wouldn't get gobbled up. The next day, while they had gone their separate ways, he felt a strange feeling of guilt. No doubt it was because of the gift she had seared onto his eyes but also a tinge of something else, something familiar. The gods knew this dumb wench didn't know how lucky she was both times she had run into him. Before she had pelted him with a rock he had been keeping watch in case that creep in the blue robes showed up again. That guy didn't smell human at all, or even demon for that matter and Inuyasha did not like him.

At least he knows who's territory it is. Inuyasha relished with a cocky smile.

Inuyasha grumbled when he stood up, adjusting the skewers of fish over the fire. What was with this human? He reached into his sleeve and thumbed over the stone she had pelted at him. Man, she had an arm on her for sure. Had be been a human, he would have been knocked out cold. Ragarding that, he supposed even humanhood was up for debate considering, well—considering her. She was definitely different looking.

His golden eyes stared at the flames, his ears flicking as she shifted in her sleep. He found it interesting that she seemed to avoid the village. Humans were weak creatures that needed each others support to get by-not like him. Inuyasha took a moment to consider her red hair again and the green eyes that go with them and his ears dipped a bit. Knowing humans like he did, perhaps it made sense. He remembered the first night he saw her several weeks ago, at first assuming she was not a human himself. He shuddered at the memory of her pinpoint gaze, teary-eyed and filled with anguish. The god damn wench had nearly made him almost lose his balance!

And now here he was, same tactic got him all tangled up in this mess now with nothing but a bunch of questions to frustrate him.

Like how long had she even known where he was? This woman couldn't catch a single damn fish but stands up after falling from a height that could severely injure most humans? And then—AND THEN this woman challenges a demon to a fight? Sure, she eventually collapsed, but, for a moment, Inuyasha had been genuinely convinced—not that she would stand a chance at all, but that she was very convinced that she did. If that was all for show, he would have still been impressed.

By now the fragrance of the cooked fish was filling the cave. Inuyasha made himself busy by removing them from the flames and jamming the skewers upright into a soft part of the ground to let them cool. The incessant growls from the wenches stomach told him that she would be hungry when she awoke. It was no surprise considering what he had seen of her fishing skills.

Inuyasha froze when he heard her begin to stir. To be frank, he hadn't thought this far ahead. To be franker, he was still trying to understand what came over him to help her in the first place. He looked at the cave entrance for a moment, his brain gears shifting to high as he considered his potential actions. The safest bet would be to keep his distance, should she react like every other human. He couldn't just leave however, because if she actually was crazy and went out into the rain, he would…he would feel guilty dammit! It was not like it was his human night, so why was he feeling this way?

Placing his face in his clawed hand he sighed and walked toward the entrance. The opening of the cave was such that it allowed him to sit just outside with his back against the rock, sheltered by the vines and overgrown roots. He took a deep breath, expanding his lungs and smelling the earth and rain. Tucking his arms in his sleeve, his ears twitched in annoyance and anxiety while he waited.

Further inside the cave, Ranma had been gradually gaining consciousness but had been fighting back. Ranma was reluctant to leave this dream where she was roasting a nice fat fish, the aroma was so real and absolutely mouthwatering. Eventually Ranma sat up with a stiff groan and rubbed her sleepy eyes to look around. After a moment her memory collected itself, her eyes went wide and she leaped to her feet—or rather, she tried to. On the second try, Ranma opted to use the cave wall as a crutch which proved more successful. Ranma scanned the cave carefully, crouching low and nearly jumping out of her skin when the fire crackled out loud. Last thing she remembered was the man in red jumping down from the trees when she called him out for being a coward. Ranma winced sheepishly, aware that taunting was likely not the best way to have handled the situation. She really hoped she could make amends with that guy later.

Ranma had scoped the majority of the cave she was in but nobody was there. It was raining heavily outside but the fire was still running very strong. Whomever had brought her here had just been here recently, at least. Ranma entertained the idea of going towards the entrance to check but before she could even begin that venture, her eyes landed on the source of the delicious smell permeating the space. They were glorious, sitting on sticks out of the ground like beacons of delicious light. Licking her lips Ranma tip-toed cautiously towards them. This close, the smell was making her light headed, and seeing the steam float away from the crispy skin was making her drool. Ranma pulled her hands away with a whimper and plopped down on the hide she had been using as a blanket. The growling in her stomach seemed to escalate in protest, much to her dismay but Ranma couldn't just thank the person who saved her by eating up all of their fish. With a sigh Ranma scooped up her legs and smashed her face into her knees, ignoring the shiver she felt from the damp clothes she was wearing. When she opened her eyes to look into the flames, a fish landed right in front of her face.

"Just eat already!" a gravelly voice growled. So your damn stomach will shut up. The hanyou looked away with his hand extended, waiting for Ranma to take the fish. The seconds that he waited made him grow increasingly restless but eventually he felt a hand take the fish from him. Once she took it he span on his heals and dropped to a seated position facing away from her, unwilling to showcase just how relieved he was that she took it.

Ranma sat there, looking at the fish and back at him and back at the fish. Man did Ranma want to dig in! The guy even told her it was okay but…

She wasn't eating. He knew she was hungry—she was practically drooling. So why, instead, he could feel her eyes burning into his back was a sure fire way to deepen his irritation. Probably because he touched it, probably because he was a hanyou, he concluded with a scowl. So busy jumpingin to conclusions, he didn't hear her approach, or even sit next to him until she cleared her voice and spoke.

"Thanks. I owe ya one. but…uhm…are you going to eat too?" The pigtailed girl asked before jutting her arm out with another skewered fish towards him, her eyes downcast. In the process of holding it out, the woman didn't seem to care when the back of her arm touched the front of his chest.

Didn't she know what he was? And why the hell did she sound almost guilty? Dammit, this wench. She's the one stuck here with me. Not the other way around.

Inuyasha watched with a narrowed gaze and relented, snatching the skewer she extended to him, taking a huge grumpy bite. He looked away when he saw the pearly smile bloom on her face, pretending to look out at the rain. For a split second, despite her feminine features, Inuyasha could note a flare of something charming and boyish that was not unpleasing to the eyes. On the other hand, Ranma had other preoccupations. Primarily, she ecstatic about the fish in her hands and grasped the tail end and head with her arms winged out before chomping down viciously onto the delicious steaming flesh. She was already taking another bite before she had swallowed the first one, and she was practically humming with delight.

"Yeesh. When was the last time you ate?" he asked, while taking another bite and trying not to stare at her green eyes.

With her mouth stuffed, Ranma looked back up at the man beside her. "Errrrrglm" she thought about it a little bit, still smacking on the fish that blew out her cheeks like a chipmonk. "Boutfgh uh-eek" she said, swallowing the rest of the fish in her mouth and going in again with a nod. From his peripheral view, his gold eyes followed several streams of fatty juices dripped down the sides of the mouth as she continued at the ravenous pace.

Inuyasha's mouth switched and he snorted. "What?" he asked, peering out at the pattering rain again.

"A week", the girl said in the small moment her mouth was empty, while wiping her chin for the first time but never taking her eyes off of the skewer. But with that answer, the pigtailed girl paused for a moment, as if not sure. She counted on her fingers while she chewed, juice running down her chin again. Holding up eight fingers while the remaining 2 held the skewer in place, was her more official calculation. She then proceeded to lick the juices running down her hand and cleaned off her fingers the same way with absolutely no regard for manners in the presence of a stranger. She probably didn't feel the need to in his presence he figured.

Inuyasha's eyes almost bugged out of his head when he registered what she had said. "eight days?!" he choked out. For a hanyou, that was no big deal but for a human…that must have been a miscalculation on her part. She definitely hit her head, he saw it. This woman had nearly chased me down after EIGHT DAYS? yeah right.

"Yea." She said with a stretch, answering his spoken and unspoken questions. Inuyasha watched her with disbelief as she got up, taking his third bite as he digested what she had just said. She was already grabbing another skewer, when he realized something and jumped to his feet.

"whoa! Slow the hell down! If you eat like that—" he said, swiping the fish out of her reach and holding it away from her.

"Oi!" She growled at him in protest, looking ready to swipe it back when she suddenly went rigid. She whimpered a bit and staggered, the blood draining from her face. She looked at him for a moment with huge eyes before she bolted to the entrance of the cave with hand clamped over her mouth.

"You'll get sick…" Inuyasha mumbled with exasperation, wincing as he heard her wretch.