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 13: Truths unspoken
Xian Pu followed the trail of destruction that was a sure sign of Ranma locked in a panic-induced Neko-Ken. She worried for a moment about what she would do when she caught up to Ranma, since the last time she had an encounter with neko-Ranma it had… Not exactly gone well. Without Akane, or even Kasumi, to calm down Ranma she was not sure what she could do besides try to draw Ranma away from other people until the fear-induced psychosis ended on its own. Another good reason to wish a very unpleasant end, and an even more unpleasant afterlife on Ranma's so-called father. Honestly, most of the problems that had plagued Ranma could probably be tagged to the fat, useless panda in one way or another. Even a lot of the issues that Rnama managed to get into on their own were often able to be traced back to something stupid that Genma had taught. Honestly, if she had a clue about what kind of rampant idiot Genma had been, she would have fought him instead of Ranma-chan. Of course, if she had just ASKED the Guide about the strange redheaded outsider instead of just rushing ahead like she had pretty much always done, then perhaps things would have turned out differently.
Of course, that would probably mean that Ranma would never have entered into her life, and she would certainly not be living under the same roof with the aforementioned aqua-transexual.
Of course, then she would not be chasing through the woods after said martial artist who had delusions of cat-dom, and could slice through steel girders with their bare fingers, lest she forget about that little fact. At least it made following Ranma a bit easier, she could just follow the trail of destruction.
At least, until it suddenly ended.
Xian Pu froze in place where she stood in the middle of a small clearing, with no further signs of where Ranma might have gone. She knew that Ranma had been here some time ago, but now she had no easy trail to follow. And she had the sinking feeling that following Ranma was only going to get harder if they had calmed down, but not slipped out of the Neko-Ken yet.
There was the very real possibility that she might go from the pursuer to the one that was being stalked and chased. That would be pretty much par for the course. Still, she decided to press onward regardless. Ranma was in no shape to take care of themselves right now, and who knew what kind of trouble Neko-Ranma could get into.
Ranma-chan had chased off the other cars and staked out her own territory. It had taken a bit of time to drive the others off, especially since others had kept coming to check her out for some time. Still, it had quieted down at last and she had found a nice branch to perch on and watch over her territory. It seemed like every time she had started to relax, another interloper had tried to take away what was hers
Ranma-chan cocked her head to the side when she caught a hint of something, something familiar and Intriguing. It wasn't quite a scent in the air, or a sound that drew her attention. It was something other, but it interested her. It intrigued her. It made her curious, and it made her want to play.
Ranma-chan stretched and started to move through the trees, as silent as a shadow and as quick as the wind as she moved towards that feeling that seemed to pull her closer. She only . .when there was no other option. It was always better to be higher. To look down on everything and everyone. It was safer that way.
It made it harder for everything and everyone to hurt her.
It didn't take her long to find the source of that feeling, that urge that drove her. It was a human woman, one that seemed familiar in some way. One that caused a series of conflicting and confusing sets of impulses and emotions to clicker through her mind. Ranma-chan felt a tug at the edge of her mind, like there was something that she could almost remember, but it slipped away like a shadow that flitted over a rock.
It must not be important, certainly not more important than stalking this human. This human reminded her of another cat, for some reason.
And she knew quite well what other cats were there for.
Xian Pu jumped to the side at the last moment as her finely trained mind and body reacted to the sudden pounce from the cat-minded cursed martial artist. She tumbled and spun out of the way of the quick series of slashing strikes as Ranma-chan bounced after her with a fixated, focused look on her face. As cute as Neko-Ranma could be at times, the very real threat that they posed when locked away in the Neko-Ken kind of ruined it completely. It was a shame, really. The intense focus that Neko-Ranma showed was the most true nature of Ranma with all of the rest stripped away. The oddities of the cat-personality were things that you could almost look over if you thought of them like the antics of Drunken Boxing, or other strange martial arts like that.
Xian Pu snapped out of her ruminations as she dodged another series of quick swipes and slashes as Ranma continued to pursue her around the clearing with that single-minded determination of theirs.
Xian Pu hated to admit it, but this situation, the danger and everything excited her more than a little. Even if there was a very of ending up like one of those trees from earlier. It had always been one of the exciting things about pursuing Ranma, the very real danger associated with the chase.
But there was more to it than that, Xian Pu admitted to herself as she parried another claw hand strike, then rolled under another to launch herself clear before avoiding another pounce. There was the compassion and insight, the open heart that dared to trust and welcome others regardless of how many times they had been hurt. There were the awkward, sweet moments and even the times that the Saotome foot in the mouth tendencies reared their head. All of it defined Ranma, and made the whole so very precious to her.
Even when that same precious person might just happen to kill or maim her.
Ranma-chan had not been this happy in a while. Not only had she recently found the absolutely ideal place to lounge in the sun, she had also found a human who reminded her very much of another cat to play with. It had turned into a very exciting day indeed. The human woman who reminded her more and more of a fellow cat by the moment had managed to keep her entertained so far, unlike the others. She knew to dodge at the last second, and moved in ways that Neko-Ranma found fascinating and only served to make her want to play with her even more. If she had had a tail like the other cats that she had played with earlier, then it would surely be expressing her abundant joy proudly. As it was, she found herself making a sound that only made her more content by the second, a nice soothing sound that filled her with joy.
Neko-Ranma had started to purr.
Xian Pu managed to pull off another close dodge, as she moved at the last possible moment. She knew how fast Ranma could react normally, and in this state their reactions were only faster, so she found herself pushing the envelope of what was safe more and more, leaving her even closer and closer to what could be a rather unpleasant experience. She sprung over Ranma at the last moment as Neko-Ranma came at her low again.
As Xian Pu rotated in the air and twisted so that she would land on her feet, she caught a quick look at Ranma while she was inverted and spinning. For a brief moment, their eyes met and Xian Pu swallowed hard. She knew that Ranma was fast, but she had figured that she would have time to land and recover, not that Ranma would somehow manage to twist around and not really lose any momentum as they pivoted to come back to bear on Xian Pu.
It was all too obvious that she must have underestimated just how agile Neko-Ranma was in their female form. She had just enough time to reflect on that as she raised her arms into a defensive position as she tried to finish her flip before she was met with a pouncing Ranma-chan.
Neko-Ranma had dug her claws in from her left front paw as she had touched the ground, and used the drag to spin around before the rest of her touched the ground. The human she had been playing with had spun and twisted in the air, and was currently upside down as they faced each other. Neko-Ranma could feel herself quivering in joy as she launched herself at the human woman, her front paws spread wide and curled to the inside. Some part of her mind remembered this human woman doing this often for . some part of her mind even had names it a fun name, but she didn't know why.
It had been named a glomp.
Xian Pu had a moment to brace herself as she desperately tried to speed up her spin and rotation so that she could at least get her feet pointed towards the ground before the ball of chi-claws hit her. It might not give her much of a chance, but it had to be better than none. She had halfway succeeded when Ranma-chan slammed into her and the pair when tumbling across the ground of the clearing.
Xian Pu quickly found herself in a tangle of limbs and Ranma-chan. It reminded her of wrestling an octopus in some ways. Honestly, it somehow reminded her of something that seemed familiar. Very familiar, in fact. Like something she had done many times, but never been on the receiving end of before.
That was when she realized there was no pain, no flaying flesh or splattered blood. On top of that, it seemed that Ranma-chan was…. Purring.
Yes, definitely purring.
It was at that moment that she realized why this particular grapple seemed so familiar. It definitely was not clinch she had found herself in before with Ranma. That one was definitely different, and still had her waking up a sweaty, hot mess. No, this one was far more insidious and proved that Ranma had most certainly been paying attention over the years. And she now knew why it seemed to annoy and frustrate him so much when he had been the recipient of it
She had experienced her first Amazon Glomp, and from a purring Neko-Ranma no less. Still, it was better than the alternative, and it might even prove that Ranma did not, in fact, still hate her on some level.
Ranma had always been at their most honest when the Cat took over.
Once the human stopped wriggling and struggling, Neko-Ranma settled in nice and close. The human under her was warm and soft, the sun felt nice on her back. Then her level of bliss rose a full ten points when the human started to gently stroke her back and head. Neko-Ranma purred louder and wriggled to get just a bit more comfortable as she nuzzled at the soft, warm human and started to slowly drift off. It was nice. This was nice.
It was safe to retreat back into the comfortable dark, and wait for the next time she needed to wake up.
Xian Pu gently stroked Ranma-chan's back and hair as they slowly relaxed and started to breathe slower. She could see the last of the panic as it slowly faded from Ranma's face, and the last of the tension slowly faded as she kept gently stroking the little redhead that had sprawled across her. She couldn't help but think about her previous encounters with Neko-Ranma, and what she had learned about how the Cat acted. Not only was Ranma a force of nature while locked in the Neko-Ken, you could see their unfiltered thoughts as well in how they interacted with people. The affection that Ranma had hidden away for Akane had always shown in how the Cat reacted to her, and the trust that Ranma had in Kasumi had been evident as well. As had his disdain and hidden hostility towards herself. Now, though… It would seem that things had really changed. What was not clear was whether Ranma had realized that things had changed, that his feelings had changed. Xian Pu was still not completely certain what all of this meant for her and Ranma, but she would take the good part that she was now sure of. Ranma no longer hated her, and at least trusted her enough that if he succumbed to the Neko-Ken again, she would at least be able to help him.
In the end, those were the things that really mattered the most to her.
For now, she would just relax with Ranma, and let them rest as much as they needed to. The sun felt nice, the grass was soft and Ranma was a warm, comforting presence sprawled across her.
All in all, it was a better ending than what she had anticipated, and she was not one to look down on good fortune.
Meanwhile, at the Women's Center….
Hinata looked up from where she stood at the counter when one of the other workers laid the mail down for her. She looked through the various letters, mostly bills or correspondence, before she found a manilla envelope that was addressed to her. She looked at it, then noticed that there was no postage on it. Cursious, she opened it and noticed that all it contained was a sheaf of photographs. She pulled the photographs from within, and looked at them curiously for a minute as she tried to understand what had just been left on her counter. After a minute, she called one of the other women over to watch the front while she walked back towards her office, the sheaf of pictures in her hand.
Once she had reached her desk, she carefully laid them out, and tried once again to understand just what it was that she had before her. The pictures were of two people that she knew, but the content and what it seemed to show were what confused her. It had to be a prank, she told herself. Someone's sick idea of a joke, perhaps. What the pictures showed her made no sense, none at all.
She laid three of the pictures next to each other and poured herself a fresh cup of coffee before she looked at them again, and tried to make some sense of what she saw.
After a minute, she bit her lip and gathered the pictures up once more before she returned them to the envelope. She would call the pair of them tomorrow, and ask them both to come in and explain just what the story was behind these photographs.
Hopefully, Ranma and Ranko would be able to help her understand better.
