I do not own Ranma 1/2 or its characters nor do I make any profit from writing these stories.
Ukyo had been serving the Ono family in her restaurant since before their daughter, Kisa was born and they were some of her favourite customers, they came to eat at her place at least once a week and were a kindly couple and generous tippers. Their daughter at three months of age was a cute little girl with quite an abundance of soft black hair for her age, pale skin and large blue eyes, who always seemed to be smiling whenever Ukyo saw her. She showed them to their table and couldn't help noticing that they looked stressed over something. Ukyo couldn't help overhearing them as they discussed where to find a babysitter on short notice.
"This is an opportunity we can't miss" Akio Ono said.
"Yes it would be great for our jobs, but what to do about Kisa? There simply isn't time to find someone to babysit her for a week, if we have to leave the day after tomorrow" her husband, Tama said.
"Excuse me I couldn't help overhearing. Are you looking for someone to watch Kisa?" Ukyo asked them.
"Yes we were offered the job of hosting a presentation booth for our work in American and would be gone for a week" Akio explained. "We can't take her with us because we would be working the booth all day long."
Ukyo looked at the super cute and amiable baby and thought it would be a great opportunity to learn parenting skills for when she had children of her own...even though she had hardly ever even been in the same room as a baby on a personal level, let alone minded one even for a short time. But then she decided it couldn't be that hard. "I'll be happy to look after her while you are gone" she volunteered.
"That would be wonderful! But how are you going to manage your restaurant and school at the same time...and take care of Kisa too?" Akio asked her.
"Piece of cake, she can stay in the restaurant with me and I'll take her to school with me too" Ukyo assured her.
"You're a lifesaver" Akio said, hugging the teenaged girl. "We'll drop everything you need off tomorrow with a list of instructions and all the contact numbers you will need," she assured her.
Ukyo was alarmed by the amount of stuff that was required for having a baby stay over, they seemed to have brought their entire nursery and she felt overwhelmed at what half of it was for and the lists of instructions seemed endless. The young parents had seemed to be reluctant to leave her, but soon Ukyo was alone and picked up the napping Kisa; she yawned widely, opened up her beautiful eyes...and started wailing to be in unfamiliar surroundings with a stranger.
Ukyo was frantically pacing the floor an hour later with a red-in the-face-infant as she shoved against her and Ukyo obliged her by carrying her at arm's length. "Come on Kisa, are you hungry, you do need to be changed, are you hot? Please answer me" Ukyo begged, not having a clue how to handle the situation. She was almost glad when there was a knock on the door and answered it to find Kuno there. "Hello Ukyo Kuonji, I've come to pay you the balance I owe you for hosting the Kendo.." he started and he actually seemed to at a loss for words as he studied the unfamiliar sight of his schoolmate holding a shrieking baby. "What is that?" he asked, pointing at Kisa.
"A baby" Ukyo wondering if the somewhat dense Kendo jock had suddenly gotten denser.
"I can see that. What I'm wondering is where it came from?" he replied.
"Her name is Kisa Ono and I'm babysitting her for while her parents are away on business" she said above Kisa's howls
"Oh, I see. In that case, here is the balance owed" Kuno said, handing it to her.
"If you wouldn't mind" Ukyo said handing Kisa to him and turning to write him an updated receipt, when she realized the small girl had gone silent. She turned back in shock to see him expertly cradling her and she had stopped crying and snuffling and was studying him.
"How did you do that?" she asked him. "She hasn't stopped crying for over an hour."
"Babies just seem to like me" he said with a shrug. "I think she needs changing" he added, wrinkling his nose.
"Yes I was just about to look up the instructions on how to do that" she commented.
"Instructions? Didn't you learn how to do that from your previous experiences in babysitting?" he asked her.
"I've never babysat before" she explained.
"Have you taken a course on how to mind infants?" he asked in a hopeful sounding voice as dread settled over him.
"No, I volunteered as I was trying to help the Onos' out, they're a great couple and figured; how hard can it be?" she said with a nervous chuckle.
"How hard can it be? Parents take classes in preparation for the coming of their offspring, they read literature on the subject and receive instructions from their obstetrician. And there is normally two of them for one infant. Also people take classes prior to taking on the responsibility of babysitting; and you figured you could just wing it on your own?" he said in an incredulous voice. "Do you even know how to prepare a bottle of formula?" he demanded.
"The instructions are on the package" she said holding a can out to him.
He seemed to shake his head and sighed as he read the can and then said, "let me come in and I'll help you in your venture" he offered.
"You know how to look after a baby?" she asked as he picked up a foldable pad that she had been puzzling over as to its purpose and set it on her dresser, while getting the diaper bag without seeming to have to guess what it was.
"Yes, soon after my father left, a well intentioned and newly divorced Aunt moved into our place with a view to looking after my sister and myself, bringing with her her three children who were all under the age of three, which consisted of a pair of twins girls and their brother. However her nanny quit soon after and it turned out my Aunt wasn't very good with small children, so the bulk of her children's care fell on me, she would order me to do something and I had to figure out how it was done. This went on for weeks until a new nanny was hired, suffice it to say I learned to master Kendo and childrearing all at the same time" he explained as he put Kisa onto the pad and opened her onsies. "Now watch and learn" he said as he put a fresh diaper underneath the old and peeled the dirty one back. "The first step is washing your hands as I already did."
"That's disgusting" Ukyo complained at the smell.
"Welcome to parenting" Kuno said as he handed her the baby wipes. "Now we have to clean her up" he explained.
"You expect me to touch that!" she cried.
"Some mother you're going to make" he muttered, "first you grab her ankles and gently pull them up to lift her bottom and clean like this, making sure you get into the creases her thighs and buttocks. Pat her dry with a cloth and then apply rash cream to make sure she doesn't get diaper rash and then you put on the new diaper and dress her" he explained, folding the tabs down and then redressing her in her onsie. "There, all done" he said holding a now smiling baby and he smiled back. Ukyo found it kind of strange to see the pompous, egotistical boy displaying a natural paternal side to his character that she would never have suspected him of having, but found it to be oddly endearing.
"That's amazing, you're really good at this stuff" Ukyo said in awe, seeing him in a different light.
"It's all a matter of practice. "Now where is your bottle heater and thermometer?" he asked her.
"I don't know" she admitted.
"Just how long is Kisa staying with you?' Kuno asked her.
"For a week" Ukyo said.
"Little lady, you came here with a death wish" he commented and rummaged around until he found what he was looking for in the pile Ukyo had put together and labeled in her head 'no clue as to use.' "Here you take her, I'll get her bottle ready. I'll need a pot to sterilize everything. Where do you keep them?" he asked her. She watched as he boiled everything and then prepared the formula and slipped the bottle into the bottle warmer.. "Now where is her travel cot or do you intend to have her sleep with you?" he asked her.
"I don't know" she said, trying to figure out how to cradle the young girl; Kuno had made it look so easy.
The tall man sighed a sigh that could only be described as world weary and seemed to be examining the pile of baby stuff, until with a cry of triumph, he picked up a zippered package and proceeded to set it up on the floor beside her bed.
"So now what?" she asked him.
"You get to feed her because I have done everything else" he said and she reached for the bottle. "Wash your hands first, I didn't spend all that time sterilizing everything so you could compromise Kisa's immune system" he ordered her, pulling it from her reach and shamefaced, she did.
Ukyo was almost blushing at the critical scrutiny of her by Kuno as she held Kisa on her lap. "Good, support her head a little higher, brush the nipple of the bottle again her lips and she'll latch on and when she rolls away from it, let her, she's had enough. " he explained. Ukyo followed his instructions and found herself being touched at how trustingly the tiny girl accepted the bottle from her. She felt a tightening in her chest when one tiny hand snagged a piece of her long hair, until the same tiny hand gave it a tug that would have been more expected from a baby Ryoga than little girl baby.
"Ow", she complained and glared when Kuno started laughing, clearly he seemed to be in a good mood that day.
"They can be rather strong at any age" he observed.
"So now what?" she asked him.
"You put her to bed and I leave" he answered. "But you might want to take this" he said holding a card out to her.
"What is it?" she asked.
"My private number if you have further questions." he said and hitched his bokken over his shoulder and walked into the sunset and at the very moment Kisa startled awake at the sound of the door closing and Ukyo let out a huge sigh, anticipating a long night ahead of her.
