Quick note some people may have read this before ffnet changed their rules about song lyrics in stories. So if it seems familiour thats why. Maybe one day I'll make a web site and put the originals back up.
Stories in Song Chapter 1:
My December
"My December"
By Linkin Park
It had been a slow day at Ukyo's Okonomiyaki Shop. But then it was always slow on the 24 of December. Ukyo didn't really mind the slow business; she never had on this day. After all, why would she mind not having to work on her birthday? Since it was slow it meant she could close and spend time with her family and friends. Well that's what she would be doing if it wasn't for the fact that she felt that she no longer had friends in Nerima. And her father, her last remaining family, had abandoned her until she upheld her honor and married Ranma. But trying to do just that is what made her lose her friends in the first place.
When, six months earlier, Nabiki had told her about the wedding Ukyo had felt her heart break. She had spent the next few hours in her room, crying until she thought she would dehydrate and die. Not that the thought of death worried her much, she had thought of it more than once over those long hours. But then Shampoo showed up, not crying but in a murderous rage. She had some convinced Ukyo to help her stop the wedding. So, armed with a few of her okonomiyaki bombs she and Shampoo crashed in before Akane and Rancha- er- Ranma could be wed.
The wedding was a mess anyway. There had been a cask of Nanniichaun sent by the Guide, so all the male cursed victims had shown up trying to get it and Happosai ended up drinking it. Then Kodachi had shown up in a black wedding dress, claiming that Ranma was really marrying her. The wedding had eventually collapsed into a mass brawl with Ranma doing his best to protect Akane from Shampoo and Kodachi. Ukyo had been aiming at Ranma and Ranma alone.
Afterwards, back at her shop Ukyo couldn't believe that that she had done what she just did. She cried herself to sleep wondering what she had become. The next day she had gone back to the dojo with the intent of apologizing to Ranma but was told quite firmly, by Kasumi of all people, that she was not welcome there. Nabiki also gave her a bill for the damages that she had caused. Ukyo had paid it and then left with tears in her eyes. Ranma and Akane had both glared at her so fiercely the next school day that she had left school before it began and had transferred out all together. She later found out that Ranma and Cologne had a huge confrontation that had completely destroyed the Nekohanten. The Amazons had departed for China the next day.
That act brought Ukyo to a fact that she had never wanted to face before; Ranma loved Akane and had before she ever showed up in Nerima. She had never had a chance. And now, because of her own actions, she had lost her best friend. That thought still brought tears and a sorrow that threatened to overwhelm her.
"No use crying now, girl you've got no one to blame but yourself." Ukyo said to herself, wiping away her tears.
"I think I'll go for a walk to clear my head."
Grabbing her coat in case the weatherman was accutualy right for a change and it was going to snow Ukyo turned off the lights put the closed sign up and licked the door.
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"I'm finally here." Ryoga said wearily as stared at house in front of him. His house. His home. He hadn't seen it in months. Not since Ranma and Akane's failed wedding. A wedding that he had helped to make fail, and a cure for Ranma that he had help destroy. After he had gotten lost while trying to find Ranma he had time to actually think about what he had just done. He had just help to destroy the wedding of the woman he thought he loved to a man he felt didn't deserve her. The man who he thought had made his life a living hell. The man who had protected her from everything whether she wanted him to or not. A man who had killed for her. And he didn't kill just anyone; he had killed a person who was supposed to be an unkillable god. All for her sake, all for Akane. Ryoga had begun to have a glimmer of realization but angrily he suppressed it. He had found Ranma the next day. He hadn't said anything when he saw him standing with Akane, he just charged him. He had attacked him with the strongest punch he had. The punch was hard enough to shatter a mountain. It should have killed him.
Akane had screamed as soon as his fist hit Ranma's head, but it died off suddenly as she noticed that Ranma's head had only moved a fraction of an inch. Both she and Ryoga had stood stunned as Ranma had turned to Ryoga, glaring at him. The glare had then turned to a smirk that Ryoga had never seen on Ranma's face.
"Hey there P-chan good to see ya. Ya know ya should have stayed after the wedding, Nabiki decided that she was in Akane's debt for her part in destroying everything and told her to ask her anything she wanted for free. Can ya guess what she asked? She asked why it was that I always kept ya from getting splashed with cold water. I'm sure ya know the answer to that one, don't ya."
Ryoga had turned to Akane to see her glowing with a red aura stronger than he had ever seen before. She also had tears in her eyes.
"How could you?" Akane had asked in a small voice, "I trusted you. I thought you were a friend. But you just used me. You used me to hurt Ranma and to feel good about yourself. How could you?"
"Akane I, I, I-", Ryoga had tried to say something but Akane began screaming at him.
"HOW COULD YOU? I TRUSTED YOU!" Akane said with tears streaming openly down her face. "I HATE YOU! JUST GO AWAY! I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN!"
And with that Akane had turned and ran. Ryoga had started to follow her but stopped when Ranma jumped in front of him.
"Ya hurt her Ryoga. Ya hurt her worse than anything since her mother died. Ya seemed to want a fight earlier. What do ya say we do that."
It had been the most brutal fight of Ryoga's life. Ranma was faster than he had ever been. And the blows were stronger than Ryoga's punch earlier had been. It had lasted less than a minute. Ryoga wasn't conscious for the end.
He had woken up in a hospital two days later. His left leg was broken in two different places, his right hand was almost crushed, and all but three of his ribs were broken. The rest of his body was covered in ugly purple and black bruises. It had taken him two months to completely heal. Ryoga had a lot of time to think in those two months. When he had finished healing he had left Nerima, hoping to not return for a long time.
The first thing he had gone searching for was a cure to his curse. He found the Jusenkyo guide and got enough water to cure his curse…and send some to Ranma to use. While at the hospital, he had realized that Ranma had really considered him a friend. Every time he got in trouble Ranma was right there to help him out. And whenever Ranma had found a potential cure he had asked Ryoga to join him to also get cured. He had made sure to send the casket with the water to Ranma's mother so that a repeat of last time wouldn't happen.
As he walked up to the gate of his house he wondered, not for the first time how things had turned out in Nerima since he had left. He never even noticed that it had started to snow.
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Ukyo was starting to get very cold. It had begun snowing sometime ago and she hadn't noticed till she began shivering. It was at that same time that she noticed that she had no clue where she was. She had been walking blindly while thinking and paid no attention as to just where she was going.
"Well this is just great. I guess I'll just stop at one of these houses and ask where I am and how to get back to somewhere I know." Ukyo thought to herself.
She chose a house at random and walked up to the door and rang the bell.
"Just a minute." Said a familiar from within the house.
Then the door opened and Ukyo saw a face she never thought she see again.
"Ryoga, is that you?"
"Ukyo! What are you doing here? You look ready to freeze to death! Come in and get warm." Ryoga said as he opened the door all the way for her to come in.
"I'm just a little cold, sugar. As to what I'm doing here, I was out for a walk and got a bit lost."
Ryoga chuckled a bit as he answered, "Yeah I know how that goes. Come on let's go into the living room and sit down. Would you like some tea?"
"Sure. That'd be great."
"Wait here I'll be right back."
"Are you sure, sugar? I mean you won't get lost will you?"
"Ha ha, no I got that little problem fixed, as well as some others."
As Ryoga went to the kitchen, Ukyo thought about the way he was acting.
"He never was this…happy. He always seemed so down in the dumps. He also was always way to shy about having girls around him. Wonder what happened…wait wasn't he seeing that Akari girl? Maybe she helped him." Ukyo's thinking was interrupted by Ryoga returning with the tea.
"So how have you been lately Ukyo?"
"Decent sugar. Business has been good for me especially with the Amazons gone."
"They left? Ranma didn't go with them did he?"
Ukyo's face fell as she answered, "No he's still here."
"Ukyo what's wrong?"
"Nothing. It's just that it still hurts to think about what I did and the consequences that followed"
"What do you mean?"
"Well you remember the wedding we crashed right?" seeing Ryoga's nod she continued, "Well afterwards I was told that I was no longer welcome there and at school Ranma and Akane's glares just made feel so…hurt that I transferred out."
There was a moment of silence as they were both lost in there own thoughts before Ryoga broke the silence.
"I know what you mean by how they acted towards you. Akane found out I was P-chan. She told me just what she thought of me and ran off with tears in her eyes. Then Ranma showed me how he felt about what I had done. I was in the hospital for two months after he was done."
"So where have you been since then?"
"Well originally I was going to stay at Akari's until I got my head together, but when I got there I found her on the floor of her living room having…uh, sex with some guy. I left before she knew I was there. After that I wandered around for a while as I thought about my life and how Ranma actually wasn't the root of all my problems I noticed that the more my thinking changed the easier it was to tell where I was going. Eventually I ended up in Jusenkyo and got my other curse cured. I also sent a cask to Ranma's mother as a sort of apology for my actions to him."
"Wow you have gotten around lately haven't you?"
"Yeah I guess so."
They sat in for a time, telling each other of some of the things that had happened lately.
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"…and so Konatsu went with them hoping to use his skills to help them in their fight."
Ryoga was enjoying Ukyo's company immensely when she noticed the time.
"Oh hell, it's already past midnight! I'm sorry sugar; I didn't mean to keep you up this late."
"It's alright Ukyo I don't have anything pressing to do tomorrow. Let me show you out."
When they got to the door and Ryoga opened the where almost covered in the snow that fell trough.
"Oh looks like it kept snowing while we were talking." Ryoga said stating the obvious.
"Damn it! How the hell am I supposed to get home now?" Ukyo said angrily while staring at the snow.
"Well you can stay here for tonight if you want." Ryoga said a bit nervously.
"Are you sure sugar? I don't want to intrude."
"Don't worry about it. I've got an old shirt you can wear if you don't want to keep wearing the clothes you in."
"Well alright. You talked me into it."
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Ukyo lay in the guest room staring at the ceiling while struggling to understand the feelings she was experiencing. She felt safe here, knowing Ryoga was in the other room made her fell safe and warm. And yet, at the same time she had the strongest feeling of loneliness. A feeling that there should be someone next to her. And for the first time it wasn't Ranma she felt should be there. It was…Ryoga.
The realization hit her so hard that she actually gasped out loud when she had it. She couldn't believe it. Was she so fickle that she got over Ranma that quick when another guy talked to her? But as she explored the feeling she realized that she had always had these small feelings for Ryoga. They had been pushed to the side when Ranma was around. The more she thought about it the more she remembered the different tomes that they worked together to try and break Ranma and Akane up. Everyone had eventually started to think that they were a couple as well. Hell even those damn ghosts at that Broken Loves cave had thought they were a couple.
The more she explored the feeling the more she realized that they were strong indeed. She then came to a decision: she was going to do her best to make Ryoga love her as well. But how should she handle this. Her first thought was to wake up early tomorrow and cook him breakfast, but the more she thought about it she felt that wasn't enough.
"Waiting is part of the reason you lost last time girl." She had thought to herself. "This time maybe I should move first."
She got up out of the bed and quietly slipped out of the room. She moved down the hall towards Ryoga's room. She paused in front of his door and almost lost her nerve, but steeled herself and opened the door.
Ryoga had been asleep with his back towards the door, but years of martial arts training and having to sleep as a food source for most predators had made him a light sleeper.
As he heard the sound of the door opening he had rolled over and was a bit surprised to see Ukyo.
"Ukyo, what's wrong?"
Ukyo said nothing. She walked over to his and bed and, still without a word, got in under the covers and snuggled up to him. Ryoga was a bit shocked and didn't even think to move away as Ukyo wrapped his arm around her.
"It was a bit cold in there. Lonely too. So I decided to come join you."
"But, but, but-"Ryoga began but was cut off as Ukyo put a finger to his lips.
"Shhh, don't say anything Ryochan. You don't mind if I call you that do you? Good, now go to sleep."
Ukyo snuggled closer and closed her eyes while Ryoga was still stunned. She was soon asleep. As she slept Ryoga noticed the contented smile on her face. He too smiled and closed his eyes. As he drifted off his last thought was, "Maybe some good did come from that mess of a wedding."
End
I promised myself that I would never write a songfic because all the ones I had read were just quick little things with no real plot. They were mostly just funning little shorts. My mind was changed a few months ago when I read "Sway" by Ko-chan to Ya-chan. It was a really well done songfic and made me want to try and do one.
This was originally going to be Ranma think about his life and actions. But as I listened to the song Ryoga kept butting in then Ukyo came out of nowhere and belted me in the head and when I came to I was in front of my computer and this was sitting here. Seriously though, this thing wrote itself and I like it. I may do some others based on the same events of after the wedding. But only if you people review and ask me to. Or not I may just do it anyway. I've already got some ideas for the other cast.
Revised 7/24/06
TTFN!