Kagome smiled faintly as she glanced outside her bedroom window, pen stilling on the paper before her as she watched the fight between Shippou and Ranma, Souta and Grandpa on the sidelines shouting encouragement or insults as the mood struck them. Boys, apparently some things never changed.
She was pleased to note this morning, that the dazed look in Ranma's eyes had disappeared after spending the night with them and that right now he appeared to be moving with his usual grace. Shippou's suggestion, of sparing together, had been the right one. Fighting was the one thing that had been a constant in both his lifetimes and it would allow that stick line that Ranma had erected between himself and his soul to bend. Something that desperately need to happen if he was to remain sane.
Kagome sighed softly as she slouched back into her seat, mentally kicking herself for not seeing the possibility that he would fight himself. It was something that was so typical for Inuyasha to do, why would Ranma be any different?
Sighing again, she dropped her pen and pushed back from her desk. She'd lost interest in her essay so it would be best to leave it be for now. Looking back out the window and listening to the insults traded between the foursome outside, she decided it was probably best if she called them in for lunch.
She smirked, if nothing else it would cut down on the cuss words being shouted.
. . .
Ranma smirked at Shippou as the fox barely managed to dodge from yet another School of Indiscriminate Grappling technique. Revelling in the sense of freedom that fighting always brought, particularly now as the Other made no move to fight for control and instead was entirely content to fight with him.
The Other snorted as he dodged the fox's returning blow, taunting gleefully "You're going to have to do better than to use something I taught you!"
Kagome's sudden appearance in his vision almost caused him to stumble, leaving him to scramble away from Shippou's second attack, internally fighting the Other who suddenly insisted to be with the older woman.
He remembered the Other's surprise upon realising that this body was younger than the woman it was promised to, but soon after that had been its glee at realising the advantage that it gave him. Ranma grimaced, remembering quite vividly just what 'advantages' it had thought about. Shit, he'd never had sex with anyone before and suddenly all he could think about was the heated memories of doing so five hundred years ago!
"Yo, you okay?" Shippou questioned, his own demon senses sensing the sudden shift in his opponents own aura. The presence of the demon had suddenly gotten stronger, and spotting his mother out of the corner of his eyes, he could very accurately guess why.
"Fine," Ranma muttered as he shook his head, trying to dislodge the memory fantasies.
Shippou chuckled, remembering clearly his own reaction around Souten after meeting her again two hundred years after their first meeting and her 'challenge'.
"I'm sorry," Kagome said with an apologetic smile, "I didn't mean to interrupt, but Mama will have lunch ready shortly."
"No problem," Shippou said with a grin, "I was just about to give youngest a break."
"Youngster?" Ranma protested, "You calling a youngster, kit?"
Kagome's smile grew, relieved and deeply pleased to hear such things from Ranma. Speaking like he was meant that he was slowly accepting who he was.
"Ha!" The nine-tail's retorted, "I'm not nineteen years old!"
Ranma glared right back, "This body's nineteen twerp, the soul's over five hundred!"
Kagome giggled at the argument the two were engaged in as they began to make their way to the house, Souta and Grandpa stifling their own laughter as they trailed behind.
Ranma blinked as a thought struck him, "Huh, pray I never have to tell it to them."
"Them?" Kagome questioned curiously, Ranma had made comments like that before, but she'd never really been curious enough to ask before now.
"Yeah," Ranma said with a grimace and shrug of distaste, "The Tendo's and the others."
Kagome looked back at him as the group made their way into the kitchen. He'd mentioned the Tendo's before, something about living with them, and there'd been bits and pieces about the others such as being engaged to too many women, but not much.
"You've mentioned the Tendo's before, who are they? And what about these 'others'?" Kagome asked as she began to help her mother distribute the food.
Ranma grimaced again, figuring that he should probably talk about them. "The Tendo's are the family that my old man and I are staying with, there's Soun with his three daughters, Kasumi, Nabiki and Akane. Kasumi's nice, Nabiki's a mercenary bitch, and Akane's a hot-headed tomboy."
Kagome blinked at the descriptions.
"The other's I guess you could say are the weirdoes that my life got involved with someway or another. One of them is 'cause of the curse, another one is because my old man was selling me off in marriage to half the Eastern world and she actually tracked me down, same reason for the other two, marriage that is, and the rest is 'cause of school."
Kagome and the rest present all blinked. That had been confusing. But fascinating.
"So these 'other's'," Kagome questioned teasingly, "Do they have names?"
"Yeah," Ranma replied with a snort, "But it's easier just callin' them the Nerima Wrecking Crew."
Silence. Broken only by Ranma's contented slurping of his lunch. Slowly the silence dawned on him, looking up he blinked at the thunderstruck expressions of those before him.
"What?" He asked self consciously.
"The Nerima Wrecking Crew?" The chorus of voices was high and flabbergasted.
"You're a member of the Nerima Wrecking Crew?" Kagome finally managed to croak out.
"Yeah…" Ranma drawled slowly, getting the itchy feeling between his shoulder blades that now might be a good time to get the hell out of Dodge.
Kagome gave a little chuckle as she slouched back into her seat, "Why am I so surprised? You did have a knack for making trouble."
Ranma cautiously began to relax, maybe there was no need to flee.
"But still," Kagome said with a glint in her eye as she straightened. "That's no excuse for all the damage you guy's have done over the years. Isn't that right Shippou-chan?"
"Right," Shippou replied with a bloodthirsty grin, recognising his mother's mischievous glint.
"And you know what that calls for." Kagome said suggestively.
"Yes!" Five voices chorused.
Ranma decided that he'd relaxed too soon as he found himself buried underneath a pile of bodies, with one intention on their minds as they followed General Kagome's orders.
It seemed he'd been sentenced to death for past misdeeds—by tickling.
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