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    C&C welcomed. MST's too.None of the characters here belong to me. They belong to their owner, Rumiko Takahashi.

    "Inu Yasha, please don't die," Kagome sobbed as she rested her head on Inu Yasha's slow rising chest. She should never had interfered in the fight between him and
Naraku. He had taken a serious blow while trying to protect her as usual. Although Naraku had been beaten, the wound had been serious enough that it looked like
he was going to die.

    "Pfeh, don't worry. I...won't die..that easily," Inu Yasha managed to say weakly as he tried to comfort Kagome. It was a lie though, he could already feel his heart
start to slow down, could feel the blood draining from him, out of the wound and onto the floor. "Don't....worry," he said as his eyes went slowly cold. Was this what
death felt like. He had no idea, being a half demon he had lived for years beyond any mortal. He was slightly scared.

    "Inu Yasha!! No!" Kagome screamed as his eyes glazed over.

    -----

    Inu Yasha found himself drifting in a strange place, a grey void that appeared transparent in some ways. For some reason he was back in the body of a child.

    "Inu Yasha," a voice called out warmly. He turned suddenly, hoping against hope that it was who he thought it was.

    "Mother!!" he cried out, surprised at first but it soon changed to joy as he embraced his mother.

    "My dear, sweet Inu Yasha," his mother said, hugging him tightly to her as tears of joy trickled down her cheeks. "My dear, sweet child. I'm afriad we can't be
re-united permanently now."

    "Huh?" Inu-Yasha lifted his face up to look at his mother. "What do you mean? I'm dead."

    "Yes," his mother replied, stopping down until her face was level with his. "But you have something more to do in the realm of the living. You have to help Kagome
find the rest of the Shikon shards, you must prevent their power from ever being used for evil. It is your destiny." Those four simple words shook Inu Yasha to the
core.

    "But I'm dead!" Inu Yasha protested, he didn't want to part with his mother again. Not again.

    "Yes, but have you ever heard of re-incarnation?" She smiled as she saw Inu Yasha nod. "Be a good boy now," she said patting his head affectionately like she
always did when he was young, he would never allow anyone else touch him like that.

    "Make me proud son," she said as she disappeared into the void.

    "Yes I will," Inu Yasha said, trying to hold back the tears. The same tears that had spilled out when his mother had died. "I will make you proud."

    ------

    "No!!" Kagome screamed as Inu Yasha's body started to disappear. Wasn't it enough that he was dead, had been taken from her. Would she have the final trace of
him disappear too? "No!!"

    -----

    "Ugh," Ranma grunted as he woke up. For some reason, he had a pounding headache. It was like something was trying to drill out of his skull. For that same reason,
he hadn't been able to sleep well the whole of last night.

    Since he was already awake and it was morning, he might as well go and see what was for breakfast. He remembered the old saying his pop's always said to him,
'Nothing is better than a good breakfast...unless it's a good lunch and dinner.'

    He walked down the stairs. *Strange, something seems clearer than usual,* he thought. Not that he had bad eyesight like Mousse, but everything seemed sharper,
more in focus. He could even smell whatever Kasumi was cooking. *It sure smells nice, but then it's made by Kasumi," Ranma thought, chuckling to himself.

    "Hey Kasumi, what's for breakfast?" he chirped, popping into the kitchen only to see Kasumi busy with something.

    "Oh, sit down Ranma, breakfast will be ready soon," Kasumi turned to face him, with the same cheerful expression she wore every morning(and afternoon and
night). "Oh my!" she exclaimed when she caught a glance of Ranma. It was the most emotional outburst he had ever seen from her, the only time she had seen her
this surprised was when Akane cut her hair.

    "Kasumi? What's wrong?" Ranma asked, concerned. She seemed to be looking at something at him.

    "Your hair, what did you do to it?" Kasumi said.

    "My hair?" When Ranma pulled his pig tail forward, he saw what Kasumi was so surprised about. Every single strand had gone totally white. "What!?" he yelled as
he rushed to the mirror to confirm his suspicions. Sure enough, every strand had gone white, not just the pigtail. "Okay who did this!" he growled. Who ever dyed his
hair white was going to regret it very soon.

    "It's probably a side effect of something Shampoo gave you yesterday," Nabiki said ,yawning as she stretched herself. "What's the big deal waking us up with all this
commotion?"

    "So that's where you went when I cooked dinner last night!!" Akane accused angrily as she began to advance on Ranma, mallet drawn for some heavy-duty damage.

    "Wait!! I wasn't at Shampoo's!! I didn't even go there the whole day!" Ranma protested, backing himself into a corner. "And I've a witness, go ask Ukyou if you
don't believe me! I was at Ucchan's the whole while!!" A few seconds later, the brain finally caught up with the mouth. *Oops,* he thought.

    "So you rather eat Ukyou's cooking than my cooking is that right!" Akane said with a threatening tone.

    *Great this is all your fault!!* the brain blamed the mouth.

    *Hey, if you weren't so slow...* the mouth trailed off. *Relax, I know how to get us out of this.*

    "Geez, what are you getting so jealous for? Can't I spend any time with my friend?" Ranma complained. " Sure, it _just_ happened to be on the night you were
cooking dinner, so?"

    "I am not jealous!!" Akane screamed. "Fine, you can go flirt with as many girls as you want, you pervert!!" she said before walking off in a huff.

    *She's just going to be madder at us later," the brain observed.

    *Ah, relax. We'll worry about that when it comes to that,* the mouth said.

    If the brain had a mouth and respiratory system, it would have sighed right now. That attitude always got them into trouble.

----

    "See ya Kasumi," Ranma shouted as he raced off to school, and after Akane. Hopping onto the fence, he continued trying to talk to Akane without falling off and
making a fool of himself, no mean feat indeed. "Hey Akane! I'm trying to talk to you here," he said as diplomatically as he could.

    Her only response was to 'hmph' and turn away to look at anything but him. He sighed. "Shoulda known better than to think a tomboy would listen to reason," he
said, slumping his shoulders down in mock defeat.

    "Who's a tomboy!!" Akane said, swinging her bookbag at him which he easily jumped over. Landing on his feet, he walked backwards so that he was facing Akane.
"Who's the one trying to hit me," he said, glad that he got her to at least speak to him. Okay so she had also tried to knock him down too but you had to take the
good with the bad right?

    "Ranma!! How dare you insult Akane!" Ryouga's voice yelled out as Ranma managed to duck the incoming umbrella.

    "Hiya P-chan!" Ranma taunted as he landed on the ground, unharmed. He watched as that got the expected response from Ryouga.

    "Who's P-chan!" Ryouga screamed as he charged for Ranma, first unwavering in it's flight to Ranma's chin.

    "Ranma!!" Akane yelled, which cause Ranma to turn to look at her for a split second. Unfortunately, a split second was all Ryouga needed to make his fist connect.

    ^Thud^

    *Eh?* Ranma thought as he looked down to find Ryouga's first embedded in his chin. The surprising thing was that it didn't hurt as much as it should have. "Hey,
Ryouga. You okay?" Ranma asked, wondering if Ryouga had come down with some illness that made him weaker than normal.

    Ryouga however couldn't answer. Mainly because he was too busy gaping at Ranma with his mouth wide open. "H...how?" Ryouga managed to croak out. "Didn't
that hurt at all?"

    "Well...not very much," Ranma said as he looked at Ryouga.

    In response, Ryouga started punching Ranma again. "Damn it, fall down already! Don't tell me I'm losing my strength!" Ryouga said, with a trace of panic in his tone.

    "Will you cut that out!" Ranma said after the umpteenth punch. He punched Ryouga in the face, only to send Ryouga crashing back into the school wall. *Whoops,
he must be weaker than I imagined!* Ranma thought as he ran towards Ryouga.

    "Hey! You okay, Ryouga?" Ranma said as he gripped Ryouga by the shoulders and started shaking him vigorously.

    "Cut that out!" Ryouga snarled, annoyed as he punched Ranma in the face.

    "Ranma! Stop picking on Ryouga!!" Akane screamed as she came up behind, her mallet in her hands. She raised the mallet to strike Ranma and brought it down just
as quickly.

    Nothing happened. Except that the mallet shattered into two. The top part, the heavier part seperated from the bottom part by a long jagged tear in the wood.
Akane stood there dumbly as she first looked from her mallet, to Ranma, and then back to the mallet.

    *What? How?* Ranma thought, *How did that happen!?* Something wasn't entirely right here. In fact, it smelled downright fishy. *Did I eat some of that Super
Soba?* Ranma thought, that could account for his new found strength. *Maybe I should go and ask Cologne what's going on--Urgh!* That was before another one
of his headaches gripped him, this one so intense that it sent him sprawling to the ground, clutching his head in agony.

    *It is your destiny...* a voice echoed through his mind. *Who! Who's there!*he mentally screamed. *It is your destiny...* *It is your destiny...* *It is your
destiny...* *It is your destiny...*

    "What! What's my destiny!?" Ranma screamed, the pain in his skull becoming almost too much for him to bear. "What's my destiny!! Stop the pain!! Please stop the
pain!" he pleaded as he pounded the ground, trying to distract himself from the pain.

    Finally he could stand it no longer and he ran, trying to leave the pain behind. Ran like a crazed beast. All the while the voice echoed within him, *It is your
destiny...*

    "Poor guy's finally snapped," Hiroshi remarked to Daisuke.

----

    Kagome froze as something struck her. It wasn't something physical nor definable. It was more like a gut feeling. *Is that.....Inu Yasha?* she thought with some
surprise and shock.

    Authors Notes: Why Ryouga?? Well it's because he's the only who might be able to show much Ranma's powers as half demon should be. Personally I've got
nothing against Ryouga...honest! Well other than him sneaking into Akane's bed as P-chan.

Sining

shihlin@pacific.net.sg

----

"Mom, I'll be going out!" Kagome shouted as she quickly put on her shoes and rushed out the door.

"That's nice dear," she heard her mother reply just before she closed the door. She could have chided herself for rushing out on a whim. Inu Yasha was dead, she had seen him die with her own eyes. Yet there was this nagging feeling that he was out there somewhere and she felt compelled to find him.

----

"Damn it!! Get out of my head!!" Ranma yelled, clutching his head fiercely in both his hands. Visions ran amuck in his head, of places he had never seen, of people he had never seen. A sword, so battered and rusted that it seemed more like garbage yet at the same time it was also made out of what appeared to be a fang, so long and sharp that it seemed like it could cleave through anything. Two women superimposed over each other, both with long hair and looking like twins, except one wore a modern school uniform and the other a traditional garb of a priestess with her hair tied up into a pony-tail. Yet the most vivid was of a jewel sphere which had a strange glow emnating from it. And still the faint echoes, *It is you destiny...*

"Get out! Get out!!" he yelled, raising enough of a ruckus that people looked aglance at him. And, suddenly without warning it stopped as if the voice had heeded his command.

Trembling slightly, he looked into a puddle of water left by the recent rainfall(which thankfully had been before he had gone for school). He gave a sharp gasp as he saw his image, jerking back as if burned. What was happening to him? Where his head yesterday had been a raven's hue, it was now snow white, making look older than he really was. And his teeth, he ran his tongue over them absent mindedly, they were getting longer. In fact his canines had extended into fangs that could give Ryouga's a run for their money. *Damn it!* he thought as he touched his face tentatively with both hands, feeling it, *What's happening to me!*

"Inu Yasha?" Kagome said, shocked. She hadn't expected to really find but she had gone out because she knew that if she didn't, she would never be able to sleep. But seeing him here, in the flesh brought back so many memories, the painful memories of his death. She had to cry herself to sleep for weeks after his death, only to be haunted in her sleep by how Inu Yasha had taken the blow meant to kill her. "Inu Yasha, is that you?" Kagome asked, her voice nearly breaking up as she reached to touch him, to make she wasn't just hallucinating.

Ranma turned around only to find a school girl of around his age standing before him. He got a shock however when he recognised her as one of the girls from his dream. He heard he say something that sounded like 'inu yasha' and she seemed to day it as if she was saying his name. He jerked back slightly as she reached out to touch him. "Look lady, you must be mistaken. My name's Ranma Saotome not this 'Inu Yasha' guy you seem to have me mistaken with," he said as politely as he could.

Kagome couldn't understand it. The stranger looked so much like Inu Yasha yet he said he wasn't. Also the stranger's eyes were a startling blue instead of the burnished gold of Inu Yasha's. Had she been mistaken? How could it be? She looked down dejected at the floor.

Ranma couldn't help but feel a tug at his heart when he saw the girl look down at the floor, all the spirit having gone out of her. It looked like she had just lost her best friend in the world. Still there was nothing he could do for her.

Kagome panicked when she saw the stranger walk away. But why did it matter, the guy's name was Ranma, not Inu Yasha....suddenly she remembered vividly she met Inu Yasha. He had thought he was Kikyo at first but she had said her name was Kagome, the same thing this Ranma had done. And she had turned out to be Kikyo reincarnated, could this Ranma be Inu Yasha reincarnated? That could explain why he looked so similiar to Inu Yasha. But he was rapidly going out of view.

Ranma had been walking perfectly fine one minute and then he heard the girl shout "Sit!" and the next thing he knew, he was pressed against the ground, feeling as if a small elephant was on his back.

Kagome sighed as she rushed up to Ranma. At least that had worked in stopping him. "Will you at least listen to me please?" she half pleaded, half yelled angrily at Ranma, angry at him for just brushing her off like dirt and pleading because, no matter what she didn't want him to go without at least some questions being answered.

----

Akane fumed. Usually her anger had three levels, the first where she hid it or ignored it, the second where she outwardly showed her anger without doing anything else, and finally the third where she went into, what was commonly called around Nerima as the 'Mallet-happy mood'. Right now she was rapidly approaching the third level as she sat in the living room, waiting for her errant, and as far as she was concerned, 'unwanted' fiancee to come home.

She had not seen Ranma since this morning, where he had somehow started picking on Ryouga again, flaunting his new-found prowess in front of Ryouga. And somehow he had to tease her even further, by breaking her favorite mallet. *Oooh!! I bet he's off at Shampoo's or Ukyou's! How dare he skip school to flirt with them!* Her battle aura started to shimmer slightly at that thought.

It was at this moment that a certain black pig chose to enter the room, somewhat bedraggled with a flimsy thing tied around it's neck.

"P-chan!" Akane cried, her anger forgotten as she welcomed her pig back. She ran towards her oft-lost pig and bent down to pick him up. As she did so, she noticed that he appeared rather beat up.

*Ranma!! I thought I told you to stop picking on P-chan!* Akane thought to herself, it had to be him. Who else could bear to hit such a cute pig except an insensitive jerk like him? It was then she noticed the pantyhose tied around P-chan's neck.

----

"Watch out!" Ranma yelled, grabbing Kagome as he leapt to the side. He had been lying down, arguing about he had slipped rather than some sort of 'mystical' enchantment had forced him dowm when he had felt his danger sense react, except it seemed sharper this time. Usually his danger sense was like a blunt knife, if he was concentrating too hard on something else he could just totally miss the early warning his danger sense gave him. But now, it seemed like a finely-honed knife, piercing through any other thoughts he had.

He landed just as water, which he suspected was probably cold, splashed down on where he had been just seconds ago. He stared grimly at the figure on top of the fence, wrapped as he/she was.

"What do you want?" he yelled, irritated at almost having changed into his cursed form. He waited for the figure to reply as he stood there, at the ready to either evade or attack. Usually new people showing up in town did not bode well for him, since they either a) out to kill him, b) marry him or c)do both.

When the figure finally spoke, it was not an apology or a statement of challenge like Ranma had thought it would be. "You seem different than the rest," the figure said in a cold voice that could freeze hell over, managing to sound like Nabiki yet the voice possessed a ruthless edge the middle Tendo daughter either lacked or managed to hide. Without warning, the figure leapt backwards...straight into the canal.

*What a chump--!!!" Ranma's eyes bulged out of his head as a minotaur-like creature with wings and a snake's head for a tail burst out from the canal, roaring as it charged towards him, it's fist plummeting down at him.

Ranma's first instinct was to leap away to avoid the attack but he noticed Kagome beside him, staring speechless at the monster that had seemingly risen from the deep. If he jumped away, Kagome would be squashed and she seemed like an innocent party in all this, unless the monster was really after her. Maybe it needed some kind of virgin sacrifice. But then he couldn't let a girl suffer, innocent or not and by now it was already to late to grab Kagome and leap away. So he gritted his teeth as he placed his arms above him, crossed in an 'X' to try and stop the monster's fist from descending.

He closed his eyes as he waited for the blow to come. After a few seconds, he opened them when he felt nothing. He nearly gasped in surprise when his eyes saw that the fist was indeed being stopped by his twin arms and he wasn't exerting too much effort at all. Grinning suddenly with new confidence, he grabbed the monster's fist with both of his arm, swinging it back and then forth, like a baseball bat before throwing it into the canal.

His grin widened as the monster, with look of almost human surprise on it, crashed into the canal, sending water splashing everywhere. Unfortunately, enough water splashed him to activate his curse. Almost immediately, he felt himself shrink. Usually that was the extent to it but now, his senses seem to dull as he changed. With a growing suspicion, Ranma-chan grabbed one lock of his hair only to confirm that it had indeed turned back to it's normal cursed-form colour. A scarlet red...