Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from Ranma ½ or Inuyasha! They are humbly borrowed from Rumiko Takahashi, to whom I'm eternally thankful.

The More the Merrier
A Ranma 1/2 and Inuyasha Crossover Fanfic

"…and you gotta bring a picture of your fiancé! I wanna see who this guy is! Anyhow can't wait to see you! Later! – Kagome…."

Akane smiled. 'Just one more day!' she thought. It had been a while since she saw Kagome. They've been writing letters for years, but never got around to visiting one another. Nermia had just been rather busy.

She watched as a rather large panda dangled a bag of crisps in front the young man it was sitting on. Suddenly the panda went flying into the air, but not before booting the laughing young man into the koi pond. Moments later, a VERY disgruntled red haired girl emerged muttering under her breath.

Akane sighed. Busy wasn't the word for her life at the moment.

The soaking wet girl sat down with a 'squish' on the front porch. "Hey Akane – whatcha' reading?"

"Oh, just a letter I got. It's from Kagome."

"Is that the friend you're going to see this weekend?"

"Yeah. It'll be great. I haven't seen her in years!" she exclaimed. Ranma looked sideways at his fiancée. She hadn't seen Akane this excited in a while.

"What are you guys gonna do?" Ranma asked as she shook the water from her legs.

"Well, she mentioned meeting a few of her frie -- RANMA! Ugh! Just go take a bath already!" Akane snapped. Ranma had removed her shirt to wring out, exposing a wet, see-though undershirt. Before Ranma could reply, a gnarled creature suddenly appeared beside her.

"HAPPOSAI! Get off me! Kiiyyyyaaaa!"

The old lecher was trying to hug a very unwilling Ranma. Akane got up in disgust and made her way upstairs to pack. She was really looking forward to getting away.

(Back in Feudal Japan)

Kagome meanwhile had problems of her own. She and the gang had spent several days tracking a pair of snake demons, one of whom possessed a shard. It had been an unusually long day of hiking and the effort had taken its toll on her. They had managed to catch up to the pair and fought a lengthy battle, killing one of the demons. Unfortunately that one didn't have the shard. Sensing their fatigue, the remaining snake escaped into the forest. But by then, everyone (mostly) was too tired to go on and reluctantly they returned to the village.

Back in Kaede's hut, Miroku, Sango and Shippo were discussing their next move for the night. Kagome listened as she silently packed. Suddenly two golden eyes appeared right in front of her.

"Just what are you doing?"

"What does it look like Inuyasha?" Kagome wasn't in the mood to banter. His eyes watched her as she hurriedly stuffed another shirt into the bag.

The hanyou crossed his arms. "You can't go back yet! We're hot on the trail of another shard!"

Kagome sighed. She knew this wouldn't be easy to get out of. She looked at her friend Sango. The other girl smiled in understanding. She had seen this scene many times before.

"Inuyasha, she's got a friend visiting." Sango braced for the outburst.

"Friend!" he snarled.

"Yes, MY friend whom I invited to visit me!" Kagome closed the lid to her pack. "She's arriving this afternoon. Besides I've told you about this last week, AND this morning!"

"Feh." Inuyasha remembered. But he still wasn't very happy with it. Kagome looked haplessly at the fuming half-demon. She didn't have the energy to bother today. She turned to the others.

"I'm sorry to leave you guys." Kagome began.

"Nah – it's ok! Just have a good time!" said Miroku cheerfully, ignoring Inuyasha's growl.

"Yeah we'll be fine. You go ahead!" Sango added, "Don't worry. Things will calm down in a while." She arched her eyebrow in Inuyasha's direction. Kagome giggled.

"Have fun! Come back soon!" hugged Shippo. Inuyasha stomped off outside.

After one last wave, Kagome hefted her pack and began the short walk back to the well. She made her way up the path hoping not to run into the angry hanyou. Kagome groaned inwardly as she spied the brooding figure leaning against the well.

"When are you going to be back?"

"In a few days."

"How many days?"

She sighed. "Oh….at LEAST 3 days, possibly more!"

The hanyou frowned. "Why so long? We have a lot to do Kagome!"

"We ALWAYS have a lot to do!" She felt her hands clench. "If you're in a hurry why not go hunting without me!"

"Feh! We need your powers to find more shards!" Inuyasha stood before her, blocking her way.

The long the day had ebbed the last of her patience. "What powers!" she snapped "If that's all you want me for, then I'm sure YOU know some other priestess who can replace me!"

Inuyasha looked away, fists clenched. Kagome let out a slow breath to try to calm her temper. She regretted the outburst, but was too annoyed to apologize. An uncomfortable silence settled and for a moment, neither spoke.

After a while, Kagome stepped around the sulking hanyou and moved towards the well. "Look. I want to go home. I have a friend coming and I haven't seen her in years! I'm really looking forward to meeting her. Why can't you understand that?" Inuyasha remained with his back towards her.

Taking that as an answer, Kagome jumped into the well.

Inuyasha frowned and looked back at the well. He hated parting like this.

'Maybe I'll just talk to her later…' he mused.

(At the train station)

Akane reached up to grab her backpack. The train had arrived a little later than she expected but no matter. She was finally here! She made her way onto the busy platform and craned her neck for any sign of her friend.

"A…Akane?"

She turned around and found herself looking at the pretty girl walking towards her. She had beautiful long hair and was wearing a short skirt and a t-shirt – ideal for the summer day. Their eyes met and an Akane found herself beginning to run.

"Kagome?"

In an instant, both girls were squealing and hugging each other.

"Kagome it is SO good see you!" She held the other girl at arms length. To Akane's surprise, Kagome stood a few inches above Akane.

"You too Akane! Hey, what happened to the long hair? I though you were re-growing it!"

Akane laughed as they walked to the exit. "It's long story…" She began.

(At the Higurashi House)

After a peaceful dinner with Kagome's family (which Akane found quite refreshing) the girls sat in the temple garden, enjoying the sunset.

"…so then Ranma goes 'Get off creep!' and launches Happosai into orbit!"

"Wow Akane! Your life sounds pretty, uh, different to say the least!" The young priestess had sat listening to Akane's stories. Kagome was amazed that Akane lived with such extraordinary people.

"Well…it's never boring. I have to admit that!" smiled Akane.

"So this Ranma is your fiancée?"

"Uh...Yeah. Well, our dads arranged it for us. But I don't really want to marry that weirdo."

Kagome arched an eyebrow. "Weirdo! How! From what you written about him, he seems to help you out a lot."

"But then I'm not the only fiancée. I'm one of four."

Kagome gasped. "Four! I thought there was only the crazy Amazon and the psycho gymnast?"

Akane nodded. "No, there's 4 now, including me. The latest one showed up sometime ago, claiming that Ranma chose an okionamyi over her."

"Huh?"

Akane shook her head. "REALLY long story! Sorry, I guess it's been a while since I last wrote!"

"Ok…well, for starters, doesn't it bother you?"

The shorthaired girl tilted her head. "Uh…what do you mean?"

"I mean, Ranma's got 3 other girls after him. Doesn't that bother you?"

"HA! No way! That idiot can keep his harem!" she said heatedly. Kagome looked at Akane's face.

"Then you don't care about him?"

"Well...um, no. Ok ... well ... sometimes when he goes off to fight, I worry A LITTLE."

"Sure Akane."

Akane opened her mouth to spew a torrent of excuses, but closed it, seeing Kagome's knowing look. "Oh...I dunno. He just makes me so mad!" she finished lamely.

She turned to Kagome. "Anyhow what about you and this …uh…Inuyasha guy?"

Kagome looked towards the well. "He's, um, well, rather special."

"Really?" Akane looked at her friend. "From your last letter, you and him weren't together cuz some problems with his ex?"

"Well yeah. And, not really…well, it's really hard to explain…" Kagome twisted her hands together. 'Like the half-demon / 500 year time warp / shard / dead ex-girlfriend roaming the earth part.' she thought miserably

"That's okay Kagome. You don't have to tell me all the details. I know a little bit from the letters you've written." replied Akane, sensing her friend's discomfort. "As long as you're alright…"

"It's really hard y'know. His heart loves someone else but what do you do?"

Akane looked at her friend in awe. She found it hard to believe that Kagome would let herself be hurt this way.

"So he loves someone else! But you're still with him! ... Why?"

Kagome smiled sadly. "Cuz I'm stupid. Cuz I …" Her gaze fell back towards the well. "I want to be with him. It's not easy but…it's my choice."

Both girl sat in silence for a bit, watching the orange sky blaze before them.

"Anyhow…this is waaay to serious!" Kagome stood up and stretched. "Hey wanna snack? Mom's got some great chocolate lying around."

"Sure!"

"I'll be right back."

Kagome left Akane sitting on the temple steps as she walked towards the house. She had told her other friends about her problems with Inuyasha, though she wondered whether to tell Akane the rest of the details. 'Her life sounds about as crazy as mine…' she mused as she reached up for a block of chocolate.

Suddenly there was a loud scream.

"Kiiiyyyyaaaaa!"

'Oh no! AKANE!' Kagome raced back up to the temple.