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 12: Trying something new, and old terrors.
The meal was rather good, if Ranma was being honest with himself. Well, himself because he had changed back once the food had been prepared, at least. He would never have imagined sitting around talking to Shampoo over a meal would become a common thing, much less one of the things that he looked forward to, but here he was, doing just that. It helped a lot that both of them were not the same people they had once been. Maybe a touch of humility had been what they both had needed.
Or maybe just losing everything.
Ranma shook his head and pulled his thoughts back to the here and now while they finished their meal and decided on what to watch.
They both decided that a comedy was in order. Or, at least what they had found they considered comedy.
High-end martial arts movies.
They had tried some of the movies that were supposed to be martial arts spoofs, and found that they seemed much too familiar to really find them all that funny. Even what were supposed to be crazy, silly ideas had been much too close to what they had encountered themselves.
It did kind of ruin the fun.
What Xian Pu had found she liked was the chance to sit next to Ranma on the couch while they watched whatever they had settled on for that night. And if she happened to slowly get closer to him, that was okay. Just how things worked, right? It was only natural that she would end up eventually with her body against his in some way. The only way it could get better was if they had a blanket to be under.
Perhaps during the winter and fall that would be possible. Maybe she should even consider getting a kotetsu. It wasn't an outlandish thing to add to the apartment, after all.
The pair sat quietly, and neither chose to comment on the proximity of the other, or the eventual contact, no matter how it seemed to come about. They just had come to accept it as something that each sought out in their own way to find the comfort that each had found that they needed.
Just like when Xian Pu would lay down with Ranma when they were distraught. It was something that helped both of them, that borught comfort and security to each of them.
After the movie, the pair lingered for a long moment before they made their ways to their beds. Xian Pu looked at Ranma with a quizzical look on her face. "Have you thought about what you would like, Ranma?"
Ranma paused, and he could feel the heat that crept slowly up his neck and over his body. "I've thought a little about it, but… I will tell ya when I get the job for sure, okay?" He paused and turned to look at Shampoo again. "Practice session after work tomorrow?"
Xian Pu laughed and smiled. "Of course, I am looking forward to continuing to work with you. See you in the morning for our run and breakfast." Xian Pu said with a smile before she slipped into her room to change.
Ranma looked after her for a bit, before he shook his head and got ready for bed as well.
It had been a good day, as long as his head left him alone, Ranma thought to himself before he settled in for the night.
They both slept peacefully that night.
Ranma woke up to the smell of fish cooking, and the sound of Shampoo moving about in the kitchen. He rose smoothly to his feet and walked quietly to the entrance of the kitchen, and leaned against the wall to watch the former Amazon as she moved about the kitchen. She cast a quick glance over her shoulder at her roommate before she turned her attention back to the food. At the hint of motion behind her she smiled and moved over smoothly as Ranma stepped up beside her to collect the first bit of food for their breakfast..
Xian Pu bit her lip as she cast another glance over her shoulder at the retreating form of the tall, dark haired martial artist. In all of her years of chasing Ranma, she had never actually been as close to him as she found herself now.
And all it had cost them both was everything that they had known.
Xian Pu shook her head and took a cleansing breath before she turned her attention back to their food. Letting herself dwell on the negative sides of things wouldn't make anything better, or do anything right now but make those old wounds bleed and fester. No, she had to look forward, to seek the path ahead, or she would end up just like pig-boy with his constant laments and blaming everyone else for everything that went wrong.
She might no longer be an Amazon, but she still had her pride and the self-respect that had taken years to rebuild. Regardless of what her former tribe said, she still had the same nature. If anything, she thought that she had forged herself anew, into someone that had grown to be more than the foolish, headstrong warrior that she had been. She had a responsibility to both her and Ranma to not let herself slip into those old, dark ways. She would not fall into that pit again.
And she had to admit, she found herself more and more curious about the person that sat across from her as she settled in to eat her own breakfast. Who was Ranma, really? And how had she missed so many sides of the person that she had always insisted she loved? The brash, tactless fighter that she had known seemed to be gone, but perhaps this surprisingly sensitive, fragile and insightful person had always been there all along.
On top of that, Ranma had seemed to have found some peace with his curse. In the past, Ranma would never have accepted the job at the women's center if the only route would be spending so much time as a woman. Yes, Ranma had often used the cursed form bestowed on him by Jusenkyo to achieve some goal or other, but this was different.
This wasn't some short-sighted scheme, this was a job. Something that would require a long-term commitment. Something that could last for years, even.
Ranma had changed, and it made her want to get to know him even more. Him, her, it didn't matter what firm Ranma wore, because in the end they would always be Ranma.
And that would always be enough for her.
Ranma watched his distracted roommate as emotions and thoughts flickered behind her expressive eyes. He had never noticed before how thoughtful she seemed. How there seemed to be unknown depths to her, and sides that he had never cared to look for.
That he had never thought to look for.
Ranma smiled ruefully and shook his head as he regarded Shampoo intently. Perhaps he had dismissed Shampoo far too readily. Still, he thought that his request would probably throw her for a loop.
After all, he had always insisted that he was a man amongst men, after all.
As they cleaned up after breakfast, Ranma jumped as his phone rang. They exchanged a look before Ranma answered the phone with a nervous smile on his face.
Xian Pu took the dishes and started to take care of them as she watched Ranma out of the corner of her eye and listened to his side of the conversation. She couldn't help but notice how he smiled and seemed to gradually relax as he talked to the person on the other end, nor how she felt a twinge of something that could not possibly be jealousy.
When Ranma hung up, Xian Pu turned and leaned against the sink to regard her roommate and cocked her head to the side. "So, what did she say?"
"That Ranko can start next week, and also that I have an appointment with a dojo this weekend to get certified." Ranma said with a smile.
Xian Pu smiled and restrained herself for a moment before Ranma suddenly found himself with an armful of laughing and clinging former Amazon. He tried to fend her off for a moment, then sighed and hugged his buxom roommate.
"Thank you, Shampoo. I appreciate it, but if you could let go of me?" He said sheepishly before Shampoo grinned, thought about it for a moment then laughed and let go of him.
"Sorry, Ranma. I'm just so happy for you that I couldn't restrain myself." Xian Pu said with a sheepish grin.
Ranma rubbed the back of his head in a familiar display of nervousness as Xian Pu smiled a secret smile at that familiar display. She waited for Ranma to say what he obviously wanted to say with a happy little smile.
"So…. About that favor? Is that offer still on the table?" Ranma said without looking at Shampoo directly.
Xian Pu smiled and took a small step backto help with his nervousness. "Of course it is, Ranma. What would you like?"
"Not that I need your help with this, or anything… But, since I will be spending a bit more time in my cursed form… I.. was kind of hoping that you might help me with , you know, a few things…" Ranma said without looking at Shampoo.
Xian Pu smiled softly, and stepped forward to rest her hand lightly on Ranma's shoulder in a supportive manner. "Of course I will help with anything you want, Ranma. All you ever have to do is ask." She said with a relaxed, easy smile.
Ranma nodded nervously, and then blew his breath out and laughed. "I guess it must not be that big of a deal, after all?"
Xian Pu laughed and rested her hand on Ranma's shoulder for a moment loner before she slowly pulled it back. "It's never easy to ask for things, when you feel like it might expose you in some way. Now, was there anything in particular you wanted me to help you with, Ranma?"
When a nervous and blushing Ranma leaned in an said in a soft voice what he wanted help with, Xian Pu did her best not to show any surprise and only let out a slow, soft. 'Oh my."
By the time Xian Pu had left for work, both of them had returned to a more normal color, at least until Xian Pu left and Ranma sat at the table then slowly laid his face on the cool wood and wasn't sure if he would survive actually getting Shampoo's help.
"This is all your fault, Shampoo…" Ranma groaned into the table before he got up and shook his head before he sighed and started on his run, unaware of the figure that watched him silently with a malicious grin on their face.
"I hope you enjoy your little surprise, you baka…. And a Tate of the hell you left me to!" The figure said softly before it slipped back into the shadows once more.
When Xian Pu walked back into the apartment, she called out "I'm home!" with the expectation that she would hear Ranma respond with a "Welcome Home." like had become the norm for them. When there came no response, Xian Pu paused for a moment, then made her way into the apartment and looked around. She didn't find the pigtailed martial artist, and his casual shoes were still by the door. The running shoes that they had bought for his male form were gone, but the others were there. The chance of him going out for a run when he knew that Xian Pu would be home soon was hardly likely, so that made the former Amazon wonder what had happened, and worry a bit that perhaps something had happened.
After another quick look around the apartment, Xian Pu quickly changed out of her work clothes and into her own running clothes as she stopped just long enough to leave a note for him to call her if he came home before she returned, before she made her way out and onto the route that they usually followed each morning for their run.
It was at about the half-way point that Xian Pu found the first signs that something might have happened. Along one of the wooded paths that ran through one of the local parks, she could see where someone had scrambled off the path, and broken through some of the branches away from the trail. With a heavy sensation in the pit of her stomach, she followed in the wake of the broken and bent branches, and the disturbed undergrowth until she found something that made her blood run cold and fear grip her thoat like a massive hand.
A tree had been, well for lack of a better description, shedded. Long, claw-like cuts raked through the trunk of the tree, and the tree next to it had been neatly cut into sections. There were only a few things that could do damage just like this, and she had seen one of the sources all too close before.
Xian Pu let out a worried breath and muttered one thing before she started to move deeper into the wooded section, and hoped that she would be proven wrong.
"The Neko-Ken… Oh Ranma, what happened to you?" A worried Xian Pu asked softly.
Earlier that morning….
Ranma paced about the apartment again, then squared his shoulders and changed into his running clothes. No point in loitering about the apartment and stewing in his own thoughts. Shampoo would be at work until that evening, and he felt restless. It seemed like a perfect chance to run off his anxieties and get some exercise in. Things had started to really look like they were on a good track, so there wasn't a good reason for him feeling like this. It was clear to him that he just needed to get his mind off of things for a while.
As he started his run, he wasn't aware of the figure that watched him, or the malicious smile that crossed their face. He wasn't aware of the glee or anticipation that twisted what most would consider a cute contenance into something far more sinister. Far darker than what those who had seen that face before would associate with them.
"Enjoy your run, Ranma. And welcome to hell." They said before they vanished once more into the shadows to make their way to watch the spectacle as it goes infolded.
Ranma let his mind drift as his body handled things in its own, even moving around people by instinct. Long years of intense training had given him an ability to detach his mind from what he had considered common tasks, so much so that he had become barely aware of anything that didn't set off his finely honed sense of danger.
The soft rattling of a bell pulled him from his reverie as he instinctively looked to the source of the sound and spied his one true nemesis. A striped tiger lay in the path ahead of him where it towed with the bell with its cruel claws and wicked teeth. The feline monster turned it's head to regard Ranma intently, then rolled over and stood up.
That was when Ranma noticed movement in the bush, and saw more slitted eyes as they regarded him intently with the cruel curiosity that he had come to know oh too well.
That was when Ranma broke and ran into the light woods, and away from the horrid beasts that stalked him. And directly under the bucket that had been placed in the branches to the side of the path.
A wet, panicking Ranma-chan bolted ever farther off the path as the tiger-striped kitten decided that the noisy human that smelled good was less interesting than the small bell it had been playing with.
Neither noticed nor cared about the camera that clicked and whirred as it caught it all.
