A/N: My second hand so far at an Ukyo-centric fic. Slight Ry/Uk implied. Comments are always, always welcome. :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ or any of its characters. Just this story.

All The Difference

By The Azure Penguin.

Night time in Nerima. The sky would have been a beautiful sight, full of stars and wonders, but with all its effort to shine on the world, she couldn't bother to pay attention to it. Not now. Not when the tears kept coming.

She wiped them angrily, almost making red scratches at her face. She wanted to scream, to hit something, to do ANYTHING that would make this nagging, raging hole in her chest disappear.

But she didn't want to cry. She wanted to do anything BUT cry. For her, crying was always a sign of weakness. She grew up pretending to be a boy, after all. She hated the feeling of tears streaking down her face, and having her chest heave while she bawled out her misery. She hated the depression, the sadness it would bring. For some, crying would be a comfort, a release, if you will. For her, it just meant you had nothing better to do with your problems.

And as the tears streamed down, she hated it.

She was only a block away from her restaurant, when she saw him. But she didn't know that yet.

A black piglet, lying on the ground. She ran to it, and wondered if it was dead. She hoped not. It looked like it was Akane's pet, P-chan.

She touched the animal, and it gave no signs of moving. It was breathing, though. She picked it up, wrapped it in her scarf, and went home.

For a moment there, she forgot about the soon-to-be-wedding, the sadness, the tears.

As soon as she got home, she went upstairs and turned the heater on. The pig was on her lap, still in her scarf. "I wonder what it was doing at a time like this? And in the middle of fall..." she mused. Unconsciously, she began stroking it and humming a melody while the heater warmed them both.

Slowly, he began to awaken.

He could hear a low, humming sound. He realized that it was someone humming a melody he didn't recognize. It stopped, but he could distinctly feel that someone was stroking his fur. It felt warm and comfortable.

Then the sobbing came.

"I know, I know, this is pathetic. But I don't have anyone right now, sugar, and I know you're just a sleeping little piglet. But I sometimes wonder,you know, if Akane ever talked to you like this...? Maybe she did...after her fights with Ranma."

His heart twisted with a pang, just like everytime he heard a girl cry.

"I...I think I knew it already from the start, sugar. I think I already knew that I had no chance against her to win his heart. But I'm the cute fiancee, aren't I? I'm his best friend, the best chef...I could be everything he needed."

"I was on the road for ten years! Ten years of pretending, lying, and suffering. Ten years...but what did they all do the minute he called me 'cute'? I know it's kinda pathetic to fall for someone like that...but I've never been called that in my life, you know...I was never appreciated that way."

"I've missed him, all these years. I still do."

"And...now, they're getting married. My Ran-chan and... Akane. Married. The wedding I wanted all this time...actually belonged to another girl way before I even knew it."

Here, she choked out the words.

"But...but I love him. I know it will never seem that way for him, but I do. He was...still is...everything to me. I could give up anything for him."

"I have no one, sweetie. Everyone here has someone, you know? And...I feel so alone. In everything. Most of the time, I'm not even there or aware whenever the gang has fun."

The girl hesitated, looked at the seemingly asleep piglet, and her voice broke out into a soft whisper.

"Well...it might sound strange...but there's this one person. Aside from Ran-chan, I mean. He probably doesn't even know it, but...he's the closest person to a friend I have in my life."

"I...I guess I realized it when we were on the Island in Togenkyou. He never meant to find me...but I was glad he did. He meant to rescue Akane...who didn't? But when he burst through the door, I felt... relief. That someone, no matter how unintentional, was going to save me."

"Of course, I had to beg him to stay. I sometimes wonder what would have happened if he just chose to walk out the door, walk out on me."

"Was I really that unimportant to everyone? That they could just turn their back on me like that?"

At this, she sighed. The piglet in her arms trembled a bit, and she patted it gently.

"But he stayed. I'll never forget that. I sure wish I had the guts to tell him all this, sugar, but...with Akane and Ran-chan and everything...it might just get all confusing..."

She trailed off, the tears still trickling down her face. Surprise shot through her when the little pig, who was now awake, nuzzled her hand comfortingly.

She looked down at him then, with tears in her blue, blue eyes. But she was smiling. A small smile, but still.

At that moment, he had never seen a girl look so...It was impossible to describe. Akane had never looked at him like that. Never will.

Ukyo Kuonji looked out the window, at a sky full of stars and wonders, as did Ryouga Hibiki.

For some strange reason, the both of them felt just a little better in each other's company.

The words were inadequate, the gestures small, but it made all the difference in the world.

A/N: I didn't want to get so heavy on Ukyo's emotional rant back there, so I tried to keep it light. This came to me in the middle of the night…so forgive some of the story's more fragile parts. Waking up at 1 am just to type a story is never a good thing, lol. But I just couldn't get the darn thing out of my head! Anyways, reviews are very much appreciated!

EDIT: Thank you very much to anyahibiki for correcting the Atami mistake. :)