I don't own the fiction or characters of Ranma 1/2 and make no profit from writing this story. I just like to make the characters do naughty things once in a while-Sid
Ranma watched as the formally loud Kendoist walked the halls in silent contemplation as he had for months now since his only sister died in a freak gymnastics accident, since then he had withdrawn into himself and become if anything, a recluse. He avoided people for the most part, even Ranma, or rather his Pigtailed Girl and even Akane.
"I tell you something is going on with him" Ramna hissed at Akane as he watched the taller man pass them by with barely a glance.
"It's only been about six months since his sister died, I'm sure he's still grieving, she was probably the closest person in the world to him" Akane said.
"Yes but yesterday I caught him staring into space with this goofy look on his face; that sure didn't look like grief" Ranma explained.
"Grief effects everyone differently, I say we just leave him alone, he'll come out of his shell when he's ready to" Akane said. "Until then, not to be mean, but it's nice to get a break from his grand overtures of love."
"True but, I still think that something is going on with him. I mean Kasumi even offered to let him stay with us and he turned that down. Does that sound like the Kuno you know at all?" Ranma inquired of her.
"Definitely not, but whatever is going on is his business. Why do you have to know everything anyway?" Akane asked.
"Not that I miss his whole 'date with me thing;' I kinda like him as a friend and don't like to see him so down" Ranma admitted.
"Well then just let him be, I'm sure he'll be back to his old annoying self soon" Akane suggested.
The plot only thickened when a few days later, Ranma accidently overheard Kuno talking on his cell phone and even the one-sided conversation intrigued him. He managed to peek around the corner as Kuno checked the number and got a sappy look on his face that Ranma knew too well. "Hello Darling" he answered. Ranma could only wonder who that was and just deduced it must be a girl; he had never known Kuno to be gay, well not intentionally. "Of course I can meet you at La Scalla tonight. Sure eight works just fine. Yes I can wear that suit for you. Celebrating, what are we celebrating? So you plan to keep me in suspense until then? You're so mean. Stop calling me Tate-chan" he objected with a laugh and then rolled his eyes. "Okay, only you can call me that, but never in front of anyone else. Wear something nice for me. Are you sure you don't want me to pick you up? Okay fine, see you there, pretty lady. Yes I have it, I always carry it with me, fine you wear yours too then. Looking forward to a night with my special girl, bye. Love you." he said and then hung up, he seemed to glance around to see if anyone overheard him, then he seemed to be trying suppress a smile. He schooled his features into his customary dour expression and went about his day.
"Kuno has a girlfriend?" Akane said skeptically. "That's impossible, he's never seen with anyone. He's such a loudmouth that if he did; we would know."
"He calls her Darling and she calls him Tate-chan" Ranma added.
"Tate-chan? Oh dear, I couldn't see him allowing anyone to call him that; he even doesn't like it when Nabiki calls him Kuno-Baby" Akane pointed out.
"So why don't we find out who it is he's meeting? We know a time and a place where they are going" Ranma suggested.
"I think we should just stay out of it. If he's found someone to make him happy, that's his business" Akane reasoned.
"Aren't you just a little bit curious?" Ranma prompted.
"Well, maybe" Akane admitted.
"We don't even have to into the restaurant, we could just have a little peek at his dining companion through the window" Ranma suggested.
"Okay" she said.
Kuno was smiling all the way to the restaurant, wondering what her news was. It was funny how much she liked him in the plainest black double breasted suit he owned and red tie that she had given him as a present for their one month anniversary...out of his extensive wardrobe. Theirs hadn't been a traditional courtship but it had worked for them and he was the happiest he'd ever been in his whole life. "Hello Pierre, has Mrs. Kuno arrived yet?" he asked the maitre d'.
"Only a moment ago, she's already seated at your usual table" he said, leading him there.
"Hello darling", he said. "I'm sorry I'm a bit late" he apologized, giving her a kiss on the cheek and taking his place at the table.
"You're not late in the least" Ukyo said taking his hand and examining him tenderly. "You look a bit tired. Hard day at school, honey?"
"No I just was kept up late last night by the cutest girl in the world" he said, squeezing her hand back affectionately.
"Only cute? Sure girl-type Ranma gets called a goddess and I only get cute" she teased.
He admired how she looked in the soft light of the French restaurant, she wore a simple wine coloured sheath dress that he really liked on her slim, but curvy body. He knew that it had taken her no time to get ready to meet him; it never did. She wore no makeup as she didn't need any to enhance her flawless beauty. He had seen her roll out of his bed after of hours of lovemaking to be ready to go on a date in five minutes later by simply running a brush through her long, flowing hair and throwing on a dress. "How about gorgeous, adorable, mine? Take your pick," he said.
"That's better, Tate-chan" she said, admiring his good looks, finding it hard to believe he was the same person she had met over a year ago; his sister's death had really changed him.
"That pet name again?" he said good naturedly.
"Well I can't keep on calling you Kuno, now that it is my last name too and Tatewaki is such a mouthful. Besides, I like having a name for you that no one else calls you" she explained, idly playing with the platinum wedding ring on his left hand that matched her own. They always had them with them, but dared not wear them normally until they were ready to come clean about their actual relationship to others. Until then they ignored each other at school and hurried to his bed each night.
'Then I suppose I shall have to accept that" he said giving her a tender smile. "So what are we celebrating?" he asked her.
She smiled and then handed him a pregnancy test.
"No? really?" he cried in delight at the plus sign on it.
"I had it confirmed by a doctor this after I took this test; I'm six weeks along" she said with a huge grin and wasn't surprised when she got swept off her seat and he whirled her around and she hugged him back tightly. Then they blushed as another patron of the upscale restaurant cleared their throat at their display.
"Terribly sorry," Kono said, bowing to the room at large while still holding her bridal style "I just learned I'm going to be a father, Pierre, please bring a bottle of your best champagne for each table and sparkling grape juice for our own" and everyone clapped at the idea.
Ranma and Akane could only squint into the softly lit room, they could make out Kuno, but not who the long haired woman opposite him was as her back was to them. Yet Ranma thought there was something familiar about her. Then Kuno whirled her around and Ranma recognized his childhood friend... and entered the restaurant without intending to, in surprise at seeing her with Kuno, to be trailed by Akane.
"Ukyo what are you doing here?" he demanded of her. He noticed that she was wearing in a very elegant dress that he had never seen her in, that seem to add maturity to her tender years. He was surprised that she neither blushed or looked surprised to see him...or looked guilty in the least at her choice of dining companion, when she was supposed to be engaged to Ranma, himself.
"Sir, I said you can't just walk in and bother our patrons" Pierre softly said to Ranma.
"Ukyo, Kuno, what is going on here?" Akane asked them in confusion at their holding hands.
"It's okay Pierre, it looks like they will be joining us for dinner" Kuno said, requesting two more chairs be brought and places settings. Ranma could only look on at the sight of his friends so obviously on a date together and wondered what was going on, as Akane and himself silently took their seats.
"I suppose you must have a lot of questions" Ukyo cautiously said.
"How long has this been going on?" Akane asked.
"It started after Tatewaki's sister died in that freak accident, I know that you all tried to offer him support, but he needed more than kind words and the occasional visit. I knew how it felt to lose the last member of my family; so I went to him and offered him unconditional affection, nothing strange, just a hand to hold, hugs, someone to listen, that sort of thing" Ukyo explained, leaving out the parts about how often he had sobbed in her arms or how he would stay in bed for days, hardly eating due to his being in a deep depression. "I mean his father is still alive, but might as well be dead for all the good he was doing him."
"I was pretty needy back then" Kuno admitted. "At first I thought for some reason that Ranma had sent Ukyo to seduce me or something, but she pointed out that accomplished nothing, so I came to realize just how special a person she was and started to care for her."
"I guess we were both starved for affection, because soon I was coming to him just for cuddles of my own. I started to care deeply for him" she explained.
"She became everything to me" Kuno replied, giving her a tender look and stroking the back of her hand.
"The more our feelings for each other deepened; the more our innocent touches became more serious" Ukyo said with a slight blush. "We were starting to go too far; when I explained to him I couldn't as I had been saving myself for my wedding night."
"So we did some research and after realizing that Japan was the easiest place in the world to get a marriage dissolved if need be; we decided to take the chance and get married" Kuno explained.
"You're married!" Akane said in shock and then lowered her voice. "Seriously?"
"Five months now" Ukyo explained. "We filed our papers at the courthouse and then had a small private ceremony at his mansion with just Sasuke and a priest."
"My father gave approval and her aunt, who is her legal guardian,did as well" Kuno explained.
"My aunt and I don't get along, we tried living together when I was twelve and both of us hated it, so I live my life and she lives hers and as far as the authorities know, I'm still living with her until I move in with Tatewaki" Ukyo explained at Ranma and Akane's inquisitive stare as to the aunt they had never heard of.
"You guys got married so you could have sex?" Ranma said in shocked voice.
"Sorry if the woman you love wants to have sex with you right then and her only condition is marriage; you're not going to tell her to wait until you're older" Kuno explained. They looked at each other in amusement, Ranma felt a twinge of envy at how natural they seemed together.
"In a manner of speaking, yes. We did care deeply about each other, but teenaged hormones certainly did hold sway over us at first. But then it came down to the fact we just wanted to remain together" Ukyo explained. "When you live alone, it is novel to have someone to share the day to day small things with, eating dinner together or arguing over what show to watch, stuff like that. We found ourselves inventing reasons to seek out each other's company" she explained. "Like coming all the way to my place to borrow a cup of sugar" Ukyo reminded Kuno in amusement.
"Coming to remind me to replace the batteries in my smoke detectors in the middle of the night; as if I'm the one who does that at my place. I guess you wouldn't understand seeing how the both of you live in a packed house. Even when Kodachi was alive; we didn't hang out much" he explained.
"Why not just tell us what was going on?" Akane asked.
"Because of Ranma; we both have noticed that the only way one of his fiancée's can get his attention is for her to tell him it is over. This time was about us building our new relationship, without the distraction that a challenge from you would have brought on" Kuno explained.
"Haven't you ever wished that everyone else would just go away and give you some alone time with the object of your affection? We have been keeping to ourselves for months for this reason." Ukyo explained to them and they shared a glance, wondering what it would be like not to have so many people meddling with their lives.
"I'm not that bad!' Ranma objected.
"They're right; you would have challenged Kuno for Ukyo, like she was giant trophy, as you always do" Akane agreed, earning a glare from Ranma.
"And then I would have leapt to his defense and might have gotten hurt at the time" Ukyo explained.
"At the time?" Akane questioned.
"She got pregnant on our wedding night; we didn't know it because she miscarried early on" Kuno explained.
"I'm sorry" Akane said.
"It was a painful time for us; there's one thing about being horny teens...and another about suddenly becoming adults by missing something that we never knew existed that forces people to either grow together or apart; we grew together. He told me he loved me that night" Ukyo explained.
"And she said 'right back at you' because she so hates sharing her feelings" he teased.
"You are still a sentimental fool for a jock brain" Ukyo dryly commented.
"I love you too" he said, "and I'll have you know that I'm on the honour roll"
"So when are you going to admit your marriage to everyone?' Akane asked them.
"Have to be soon, everyone is going to figure it out when I start to show' Ukyo commented.
"Show what?" Ranma asked.
"They're pregnant" Akane explained.
"What-what?" Ranma stammered, his face practically glowing in the dark.
"If people have unprotected sex, babies can result" Kuno explained to him. "Though in this case, it was a planned pregnancy."
"Aren't you a little young?" Akane asked them.
Kuno shrugged, "I have the advantage over most teenaged boys, that I can afford to support children. Neither of us have much family, so saw no point in waiting to start our own. Arrangements will have to be made when I graduate and go to University, but babies are portable and housing easy to come by when you can afford it."
"Besides, when it comes time for me to go to University, the child will be older and a decent daycare shall be found" Ukyo pointed out.
"What if your marriage doesn't work out?" Akane asked.
"We shall cross that bridge if we come to it, for now we just are working on our relationship. We have time, love and mutual respect for each other on our side and a baby on the way," Ukyo said, placing Kuno's hand over her belly and giving him a quick kiss, that he eagerly returned.
Akane could only examine the unusual pair and feel...envious that they had reached a mutual understanding on such a big issue without interference. 'What would it be like to just say to someone, "I choose you" and everyone just accept that?' she questioned as she looked at Ranma and wondered if he would ever make a decision who he wished to be with.
Ranma was also looking at them and thinking something along the same lines. "Well Akane and I should leave, thank you for dinner" he said as he rose, sensing that the couple wanted to be alone and go straight home to bed...and not for sleeping...at least not right away. He imagined himself and Akane in their shoes and hoped it would happen someday for them.
"Good luck" Akane said shaking Ukyo's hand.
"No good luck to you. I have the man I love, whereas, you are still battling for yours. Hope you win him" she whispered in her ear. "Now that you have eliminated some of the competition. It's just Shampoo and yourself now and I truly to know that he loves you the best. As for me, I'm moving into the mansion with my husband tomorrow, I've had enough of hiding."
"Well congratulations on your marriage. She's a great girl and keep in mind, I grew up with her. If you ever hurt her, you will answer to me" Ranma said shaking Kuno's hand.
"I will bear that in mind. Oh by the way, it took some doing, I will admit to be being rather blinded by desire when it comes to pretty girls, but Ukyo did manage to explain that my Pigtailed Girl was you all along. I wish to say thank you for all those times you flirted with me and you're a great kisser" Kuno said in a mild voice that made Ranma blush painfully red to have been caught out by Kuno-The-Dense.
Akane walked away thinking of the revelation that she learned about her friends and hardly noticed when Ranma took her hand in his own and they walked together that way.
"Why don't we do it?" Ranma asked her.
"You can't mean what...they're doing? I'm too am waiting for ou...my wedding night" she corrected in a flustered voice, blushing at the Freudian slip.
"No I don't mean that! I mean find some alone time without anyone pestering us. Or see if we can dose Mousse and Shampoo with the dried love mushrooms we picked at the mushroom temple. I wonder what effect it would have on a pair of Amazons? They sure seem to love their mushrooms"
Akane smiled at the idea, remembering how mushy she and Ranma had been at the time while under their influence and said "I'm sure that Kasumi has some great recipes for dried mushrooms" she said encouragingly, loving the idea...and then wondering what else might be in their collection of various potions that they had acquired over the past year, that might put their families to sleep or go on vacation without them, for some much needed alone time with Ranma. If that is what offering someone unconditional innocent affection could lead up to. Who knew what she and Ranma would do given time?