A Sense of Direction

by Frankie'N (formerly No one and Nobody)

A/N: Hi, readers! If you're new here, I hope you like this little oneshot. If you left a positive review/favorited this before: thank you for your support! I just wanna let you know that after— wow would you look at the time—ten years, I've decided to spruce up some of my old oneshots. The plot is the same: short, fluffy and almost embarrassingly simple. I just cleaned it up a bit.

And now without further ado, I present to you the new (and hopefully improved) version of "A Sense of Direction"

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma 1/2, but oh, the things I would do if I did.

Most people considered Hibiki Ryouga to be an unlucky sort of person.

He was cursed, in more ways than one. Cursed with a terrible temper, cursed with an actual, honest-to-goodness, ancient curse that sometimes turned him into a piglet, of all things— and cursed with an infamously unusual, impossibly hopeless sense of direction.

That is, until today.

Ryouga stared at the sign before him— wide-eyed, slack-jawed, breath lodged in his throat.

He knew where he was, and what was even more unbelievable was... he was where he wanted to be.

His mind and heart were finally in sync. They both knew where they wanted him to go, and this time they were in agreement. Gone were the days when he wandered around in a haze of misplaced infatuation. His mind was clear now, and his heart was in the right place. His legs obeyed because both mind and heart had wanted them to so, so much.

He read the words over and over again, completely in awe.

"Welcome to Nerima..."

Akane sighed for just about the hundredth time that day as she waited for her order, exhausted and restless all at once from the fight she just had with Ranma.

"...Akane? Akane!"

"Sorry!" she exclaimed, finally snapping to attention at the sound of Ukyo's voice.

The young chef gave her a sympathetic look. "Here you go, sugar." she said, setting the plate of okonomiyaki down in front of her friend.

"Thanks, Ukyo." she pulled the dish closer to her, but didn't have the heart to do anything other than stare at it. Her mind was, as usual, preoccupied with thoughts of a certain someone she'd never admit to ever thinking about.

"C'mon. Tell me what's wrong." Ukyo urged, sitting down to take a break. She looked at her expectantly.

Akane's responding smile was weak. "Ukyo... is love... worth it?"

Ukyo blinked a couple of times, thrown by the unexpectedly philosophical question.

"I mean, is it worth all the trouble?" Akane amended, her faint smile faltering even further.

Ukyo was silent for a while; for almost too long. Akane watched patiently as the other girl busied herself with scrubbing the countertop clean until it nearly glistened. Finally, she sighed. "Of course it is, sugar." She was, quite clearly, trying to be reassuring, but the smile she offered was just about as unconvincing as hers.

Akane lifted her head to study her. She seemed to be looking at a point somewhere at an unfathomable distance, a faraway expression on her face. Akane's curious gaze turned sad and worried. How could Ukyo be so strong? Akane knew she was having some problems herself...

"Are you okay?" Akane asked gently.

Ukyo's eyes to slowly shifted back to her. Her only response was a small, lonely smile and a soft, barely audible sigh.

Ryouga felt like he had been crawling down the streets of Nerima for hours. Or maybe days?

Alright. Maybe he still had a bit of a problem with directions.

He groaned in frustration. He ought to just give up altogether. Slowly, sluggishly, he pulled himself up off the ground, took one step forward— and walked right into something hard.

"Argh! Stupid door-" he growled, but cut himself off as his eyes landed on the sign directly in front of him. The sign that he had just rammed straight into.

"Ucchan's..." he read aloud in disbelief.

He had it... a sense of direction... he had it!

"Ucchan's…I-I'm home..." he mumbled to himself, still in shock. "I'm home... I'm home!"

Ukyo jumped in her seat as she was abruptly jolted from her reverie.

"Hey, is something wrong?" Akane asked concernedly, inching toward the edge of her seat, prepared to leap into action if necessary.

"Akane..." she started, turning to face her friend urgently. "Please tell me you heard it too."

"Heard what?"

"I'M HOME!"

This time, they both jumped. There was no mistaking it.

Ukyo hopped over the counter in her haste to reach the door, and raced to the entrance in a matter of seconds. Before she got the chance to fling the door open, someone barged out of it.

Ryouga threw his arms around her and made himself promise he'd never let her go again.

She wrapped her own arms around his waist and buried her face in his chest instantly, choking on the sob that threatened to escape from her throat. "I missed you." she whispered.

His grip on her shoulders tightened in response. "You'll never have to again," he vowed. "I've got a sense of direction."

She withdrew from him in shock. "What-?"

"And you know what else?" he asked, grinning at her like a fool in love.

She shook her head even as she began to grin as well, his happiness infectious.

"I think you gave it to me."

She laughed at that and smacked his shoulder lightly. "Very funny."

"It's true!" He insisted. "I only ever try to find one place now."

She looked at him then, and for once she wore the puzzled expression.

But Ryouga only smiled. "Home."

And just to be clear, he added: "That's you."