Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction, I do not claim any rights to any of the characters or concepts created or owned by Viz Video or Rumiko Takahashi. This is just the work of one fan to the others. The only characters or concepts that I claim are the ones I created or introduced. That said, I bring you:

Ranma ½: When you are lost in a sea of grief, look for a light to guide you home.

Chapter 10: Affection found at the end of a fist..

The two faced off and bowed to each other. They had a complicated past, but at this moment they were two practitioners of the Art who wished to improve themselves. Not rivals, or enemies. Not pursuer and pursued, unwanted fiancee and elusive man.

A chance to redefine their past selves through a friendly application of force and skill.

Ranma had been rather proud of the place he had found. An abandoned building provided a nearly perfect place for them. The courtyard in the middle was the right size, and the roof would allow them room to really move. It was also not in one of the better sections of town, so they didn't have to worry about attracting too much attention.

A good chance to start to reclaim what they had each lost of their skills since everything had changed.

The pair ran through their warm up exercises as they worked the kinks out. When they Squared off to begin their spar, Ranma paused for a moment as he looked over Shampoo's stance. It was fundamentally different, the placing of her feet and hands, the angle of the body. None of it matched her previous stance.

Ranma held up his hand as he confirmed his suspicions. "Shampoo? Did you change your style? That stance… It doesn't fit into your village's martial arts."

Xian Pu blushed a bit and shifted from foot to foot. "I did. I.. saw a demonstration of Taido, and had a chance to talk to the sensei and both really impressed me."

"But… You're a master of your village's style. Why would you want to change?" Ranma asked with a perplexed look on his face. "Were you forbidden from practicing your Art?"

Xian Pu shook her head and sighed. "It wasn't like that… I wanted to change myself. I've always been very.. aggressive. Very straightforward. Completely linear. It's a martial art for the modern world… And I want to be part of that world now."

"I getcha there. And… Yeah, I have to agree. It's one of the reasons I was able to beat you, after all." Ranma said before he moved off to the side. "Okay, show me your katas, and we will go from there."

Xian Pu took a breath and nodded before she moved to the center of the area and settled into her stance once again, then she started to move through the katas with the surety and grace of one of the greatest martial artists of her generation, even if it was a style she had only started to practice relatively recently. He could see the karate in it, but at the same time quite a few elements of gymnastics. Honestly, it reminded him of Brazilian Capoeira. Ranma nodded as he stretched.

"Interesting. It's pretty, and seems to generate a fair amount of power using the spins, tumbles and rotation. Reminds me of Capoeira." Ranma said as he moved to take his place.

"And where do you know Capoeira from?" Xian Pu asked as she settled back into her stance.

"Oh, that? I ran into a practitioner a while back, before… everything… at a Martial Arts dance competition." Ranma said as he loosened himself up before he nodded at Shampoo.

Xian Pu shook her head and sighed. "Of course you did." She said and then started to move. She already knew that Ranma would expect her to be the one to start the engagement, especially since he wanted to assess not only her skills, but the style as well.

Xian Pu started her attack, as she kept the fluid flow of the style as she transitioned from one movement to another. It really was like a dance, or a piece of choreography. Honestly, when she had watched the demonstration for the first time she had dismissed it offhand, but the more she had watched it the more she realized that it reminded her in ways of Ranma himself.

The fluid flow, the smooth transitions, the constant improvisation combined with a carefully planned series of movements had reminded her so much of Ranma. It had been one of the many reasons that she had started to learn Taido. Now, she had a chance to test it against the greatest martial artist of their generation, even if both of them had gotten a bit rusty. She could tell that Ranma had been holding back, and before it would have aggravated her. Now, she knew that it was a measure of respect and that he wanted to see her improve.

It had been one of the things that none of them had understood at the time.

When they stepped back and assessed each other, Xian Pu could almost feel the shift as Ranma adjusted to what he had just seen. As he shifted slightly, Xian Pu swallowed hard for reasons that she was not sure she wanted to think about as she licked her lips before they both moved to re-engage. Xian Pu could tell that Ranma had already started to adjust, to adapt to what he had seen.

Even now, without being in the same shape or having practiced as diligently, he was as he had always been. An almost impossible goal to chase after, an insurmountable peak to climb.

As they moved away from each other again, Xian Pu took a second to look at what she had thought, and really assessed it. It would be impossible to live up to that ideal, and unbearably lonely to be seen that way.

Another thing that they had all missed before.

Xian Pu narrowed her eyes as she shifted her stance slightly and watched as Ranma arched an eyebrow before she tumbled in to engage him again, using the fast, fluid movements of Taido to close the distance in unexpected ways. She transitioned from a rolling front punch to a cartwheel kick, and then into a spinning reverse sweep. As she had expected, Ranma flowed along with her attacks with an ease that would have driven her mad before, but now she could see the effort, the skill that made that possible.

And she wanted to prove to them both that she could stand next to him, and that neither of them had to be lonely on their mountains.

She just needed to invite him, she thought as she planned out the next series, and with a smile she began to execute it..

It was time to invite Ranma to dance.

Xian Pu twisted through the gymnastics of Taido combat, as she went from spinning foot sweep to spinning back thrust kick and followed through into a roundhouse kick. Just as she expected when her foot finished its arc and she had returned to an upright position, Ranma had inserted himself very close into her personal bubble.

Xian Pu smiled at Ranma, who went from looking smug to slightly confused as she moved into the next sequence, and smiled as Ranma responded as she had expected him to. Whether she had figured him out, or he was just going along with it didn't matter at this moment. All that mattered was that they had fallen into sync, and moved through the elaborate dance of combat as one.

Ranma smiled as he moved along with Shampoo. It really did resemble Capoeira in principle, but this Taido had its own way of doing things. For the first time in a long time he found himself actually having fun during a spar. It was something that he had thought would never happen again. Things had become so serious, and the weight had grown so heavy it had started to crush him flat under it's impossible burden.

And seeing Shampoo like this, he could tell that she had found the joy in doing what she enjoyed again.

Xian Pu moved into her next series of maneuvers with a growing sense of confidence as cartwheel moved to spinning roundhouse, then the motion continued as she sidestepped Ranma's counter and felt his fist as she evaded it closely. Another spinning snap kick saw Ranma duck and weave under it as she dropped and attempted a rotary leg scissors.

That was when she remembered the exact name of Anything Goes. The Saotome School of Indiscriminate Grappling.

And she had just entered a ground game with him as he moved with the scissors and tumbled with it.

The position they ended up in was… Unexpected, to say the least. Pressed chest to chest with Ranma above her, Shampoo found one leg stretched up her body and her foot pressed to the ground next to her ear. The other was held to the side, forcing her more open than she had ever been before. She knew she had to feel like a furnace against him, and she could clearly feel his own heat as he pressed against her core. When he leaned down and spoke softly in her ear, Xian Pu was certain that she was going to lose her mind.

"I think I got you on that one." He said breathlessly, and Xian Pu shuddered as liquid fire rolled through her body like a blazing inferno that left her limp below him.

Ranma shook himself as he stood up and looked down at the sweaty, limp form of Shampoo as her chest heaved as she tried to regain her breath. He took a few calming breaths as he tried to focus, before he reached down to Shampoo to help her back to her feet. The two exchanged a look then averted their eyes from each other as they tried to calm down.

"Ummm… maybe we should take a break or something?" Ranma suggested without looking at the blushing woman before him.

Xian Pu bit her lip as another wave of liquid heat rolled through her and she nodded. "Probably not a bad idea.." she said as she also avoided looking at the source of her frustration.

Ranma stood and walked over and picked up a towel for himself and Shampoo, along with a pair of water bottles. He smiled awkwardly as he handed one of each item to Shampoo and then hesitated for a moment before he sat down behind her and rested his back against hers.

Xian Pu tensed for a moment, then laughed as she leaned back and settled into his warmth. "That was a good spar. and I definitely learned something."

Ranma shifted a little as he answered without turning his head. "Oh? And what would that be?"

Xian Pu laughed and relaxed. "Not to get into a ground game against a practitioner of Indiscriminate Grappling. I just hadn't ever seen you actually use it like that before."

Ranma shifted and chuckled a little. "I don't usually get into a grapple with a lot of the people I end up fighting. Ryouga is ridiculously strong, and you used to break through walls all the time."

Xian Pu laughed and laid her head back against Ranma. "I am sorry . I was such a rude barbarian back then…"

"Just back then?" Ranma said with a laugh.

Xian Pu leaned forward enough to twist and punch Ranma in the shoulder before she settled back against his back. "Jerk. Even if it was true. So…. Honest opinion? Am I… Wasting my time on Taido?"

Xian Pu felt Ranma go still as he thought about her question seriously. "Are you going to try to combine it with your village's style, or are you sure you are going to completely walk away from it?" Ranma asked as he leaned back into her in a show of support.

Ranma listened as Shampoo took a deep breath and let it out slowly, very much aware of how much thought the former Amazon must have put into this, another big change in the usually impulsive lavender haired woman.

"I want to walk away from it completely. It's… a big part of who I was, and it just… Doesn't fit who I want to be." Xian Pu said as she shifted a little to draw her knees up and lower her head. "It's stupid, isn't it." She said in a quiet voice.

Ranma could hear the uncertainty and doubt in her voice and pressed gently back against her in support. "I don't think so. If what you were doing before doesn't suit you now, then there really isn't a point in keeping at it?" Ranma grimaced and rubbed at his head. "I'm not very good with words…" He stilled when he heard an honest giggle from his sparring partner and relaxed when she pressed back against him.

"You really aren't good with words, but I understand what you mean. My whole life before was linear. A straight line towards my objectives. And.. it just destroyed everything in my way. I had thought about one of the softer arts…" Xian Pu laughed. "But it suited me even worse. I will never be a soft person, I won't ever give or go with the flow of events. I'm a storm, a hurricane. I just want to learn to be a bit more… Of a nicer storm cloud "

Ranma laughed as he laid his head back against hers. "It suits you, Shampoo. I'd like to see a nicer storm cloud." He said, then Xian Pu went stock still when she felt his hand rest tentatively on hers as they sat back to back. Her only response was to spread her fingers slightly, and allow him to settle his between hers.

The pair of martial artists sat there for a while in quiet contemplation.

On a nearby rooftop, a figure bit it's thumb in anger as it put down the camera it had been using and stowed the telephoto lens with quick, angry movements. With a little growl and a softly spoken "Baka" the figure turned with a swirl of her skirt and stomped towards the doorway down. She pulled a few objects from her bag as she put the camera in its case back in, then there was the sound of a hammer driving a nail into the wood of the door frame before the door was opened and slammed shut in an angry huff.

The pair of martial artists rested together a bit longer, before Ranma stood up and stretched before he looked down at Shampoo. "Ready for another round?" He said without a hint of knowing just how badly that could be taken.

Xian Pu blushed, sure that she was probably the only one with her mind that far into the gutter, but she still laughed and stood up as she flexed the hand that had until moments ago been interlaced with his. "I'd like that. Another round with you. I… Just don't think I will be trying to get into another clinch with you again." Xian Pu said, then mumbled under her breath. "Not unless I bring another pair of panties, at least."

Ranma smiled and nodded as he bounced on his toes. "What was that last bit, Shampoo? I didn't quite catch it."

Xian Pu shook her head as she settled back into her stance. "Don't worry about it, Ranma. You wouldn't get it." She said with a sigh before they once again moved to start their dance again.