Disclaimer: I obviously do NOT own the characters of Ranma ½ which are the property of Rumiko Takahashi and obviously am making no profit. This is purely for entertainment purposes only.

Introduction: This story takes place during season four of the anime. This is what would have happened had Ranma started getting closer to Ukyo instead of Akane. With some outside help of course.

Ranma & Ukyo's Cupid

Chapter. 1 Introducing Yuzuki

It was Friday evening and Ukyo was serving up the last okonomiyaki of the day before closing shop. Just as she was flipping over the Open sign to read Closed, the bell rang and another customer entered. "Sorry we're closed for the night." she said before turning to see who it was. "Ranma honey! Come on in!" she said pulling up a seat for him. "I'll make you one on the house. What kind would you like sugar?"

"Squid." Ranma replied and sat down while she cooked.

"So what brings you here at this time of day sugar?" Ukyo asked.

Ranma sighed and said "Well, it all started when the old freak decided to make me try on a bra that he had. He splashed me with cold water and chased me into the kitchen where I accidentally knocked over the pot Akane was cooking in and ruined the meal she was making. I was splashed with scalding hot water and all Akane cared about was that I ruined the food that she was gonna poison me with later." he said between bites of okonomiyaki as Ukyo listened sympathetically to his complaints. "I'm so sick of their crap," he continued. "Happosai's perversion, Akane hitting me and calling me a pervert, the old men trying to get me hitched. It gets exhausting."

After ranting a while, Ranma looked at the clock and noticed it was getting late.

"Well, it's getting late, I better go back home. As much as I hate to."

"You know Ranma honey, you don't have to go back there tonight if you don't want to. You can stay in the guest room tonight. If you'd like." Ukyo said.

"Really?" Ranma asked.

"Yeah, it's no problem. Let me get you a pillow and a blanket."

XXX

Meanwhile at the Tendo's...

"Has anyone seen Ranma?" Kasumi asked, "It's getting late."

"It's not like him to not show up. I wonder where he is." Akane said with worry in her voice.

"He'll turn up. It's Ranma we're talking about sis." Nabiki replied.

"And I had this bra picked out especially for her." Happosai said sobbing.

XXX

"Night Ranma honey. If you need anything just holler." Ukyo said closing the door.

"Night Ucchan." he replied.

Ranma lay in the dark in Ukyo's guest room wondering if anyone was worried about him. He could have called and let them know where he was but if Akane or Mr. Tendo caught wind that he was staying the night at Ukyo's they'd get the wrong idea and there'd be hell to pay. "It's nice to spend a night away from all that craziness for once." he thought to himself.

XXX

Meanwhile, Akane sat up downstairs waiting for Ranma. "What if something happened to him?" she thought. "No, it's Ranma. He knows how to take care of himself." she reassured herself.

"Akane, it's really late. Why don't you come up and go to bed?" Kasumi said.

"I'll be okay sis." Akane said smiling.

"Alright," Kasumi said going upstairs, but coming back down with a pillow and blanket. "Here Akane, do try to get some sleep okay?"

"I will." Akane replied. She sat another half hour and began to get bored so she turned on the television.

"Tonight, on Unsolved Mysteries! The mysterious disappearance of a man with multiple fiancées! Did one of them commit a crime? Stay tuned!"

Akane felt a chill run down her spine. "Oh God, what if? No... Shampoo wouldn't. But that Kodachi is pretty insane! No, what am I thinking? That wouldn't happen. What else is on?" She flipped through the channels and looked for something else to watch. "Sailor Moon re-runs, an old Godzilla movie, hmmm a game show! I'll watch this."

The game show was pretty boring so Akane turned back to her thoughts. "Maybe I shouldn't have gotten angry. It was Happosai's fault for chasing him. But that goof could have run outside instead of into the kitchen, and he didn't have to call my food poison!" Finally she drifted off to sleep with the sound of white noise in the background.

XXX

The sun shone through Ukyo's window warming her face. She yawned and turned over. She tried to go back to sleep but was unable to because she had to pee really bad. Having forgotten that Ranma stayed the night she didn't bother to put anything on and walked out in her bra and panties. She walked down the hallway and opened up the bathroom door. There was Ranma sitting on the toilet.

"Aaaaaahhhhhhh!" both exclaimed at once as Ukyo shut the door and ran back to her room.

"Oh my God!" Ukyo said blushing. Her heart was racing. "How did I forget Ranchan had stayed the night with me?" She quickly threw on some clothes and came back out.

When she stepped out again, Ranma was in the hallway with his hand behind his head.

"Um... Sorry about that I..." he trailed off, unsure of what to say.

"It's okay Ranma honey. It was my fault. I forgot that you had stayed the night. I should have knocked first."

"Wow how cute," he thought. "Akane would've called me a pervert and smacked me!" Then he realized Akane and the others would be wondering where he was. Ranma went downstairs and waited until Ukyo got out of the bathroom.

"They'll be worried about me so I had better get going." he said.

"Oh..." Ukyo said sadly, realizing that he was going back home already. "Well at least let me cook you breakfast before you go."

"Thanks for breakfast Ucchan." Ranma said on his way out the door. Not even giving Ukyo time to say goodbye.

"Bye Ranma..." she whispered. A small tear ran down her cheek. She felt very sad. Why couldn't he spend more time with her? It seemed like Ranma didn't care at all. He always just stopped by, ate her food for free and then went running back to Akane who would just smack him and call him a pervert again. She was angry and hurt. She had listened to his problems, cooked for him, and given him a place to stay the night and yet he couldn't even spend the morning with her. All she wanted was to spend time with him.

Ukyo looked at the open/closed sign. It was almost opening time, but she was in no mood to deal with it today. Okonomiyaki Ucchan's would stay closed for the day. She went back to bed, buried her head in the pillow and cried. "Ranma! You stupid jackass!" she sobbed into the pillow, crying herself to sleep.

XXX

Ranma walked along top the fence thinking. He couldn't get the image of what he had seen this morning out of his mind. Ukyo was wearing nothing but her underwear. He had seen almost everything. A drop of blood ran out his nose. Ukyo had quite the figure. Wiping the blood away Ranma remembered that he needed an alibi for last night. He couldn't just tell Akane that he had stayed the night with Ukyo. She'd get the wrong idea. Seemed like she always got the wrong idea.

"Oh, hello Ranma." Kasumi chimed.

"Akane! Ranma's home!" Nabiki yelled upstairs.

Thump. Thump. Thump. "Where were you last night? I was worried!" Akane said.

"I needed to clear my mind so I went to the woods and did some training through the night." Ranma replied.

"You could've told us. I stayed up all night waiting for you. Jerk!" Akane responded.

"Sorry Akane, next time I will." Ranma said going upstairs to the room he and Genma shared.

Ranma decided to change clothes and opened up his drawer. There sat the bra Happosai picked out for his girl form, which reminded him of seeing Ukyo earlier.

After changing clothes he went outside to do his morning katas. But he had trouble focusing. He couldn't get Ukyo off of his mind. "Why is this bothering me so much?" he asked himself. "I've seen both Shampoo and Akane completely naked before. So why is seeing Ucchan in just her underwear getting to me?" Then his thoughts turned to Akane. Had she really stayed up all night worried about him?

Before he could answer any of the questions on his mind he felt the splash of cold water and that weird feeling of his chest rapidly expanding. No matter how many times it happened, he never ever got used to that!

Poking her head out of the water, she looked at Genma and spoke her famous line, "What d'ya do that for!?"

"You're katas were sloppy boy. You're getting rusty." said Genma.

"That's it old man! You're goin' down!" Ranma yelled as she jumped through the air to kick Genma.

"Bring it on boy!" Genma shouted charging forward to attack.

The usual fighting ensued and Genma got tossed into the pond and transformed into a panda. Ranma kept attacking so Genma held up a sign that read "Be kind to animals."

"Oh shut up! You're the reason we're both stuck with these curses!" Ranma said, punching and kicking.

"Honestly Ranma," Akane said. "And to think I was actually worried about you."

"I don't need you to worry about me!" Ranma snapped back.

"Fine then, I won't!" Akane yelled, stomping back upstairs to her room.

"Uncute macho chick!" Ranma called back before hopping over the gate and walking the street.

"Can't we all get along?" the panda's sign read.

"Oh my!" Kasumi said.

"Just another day at the Tendo's eh sis?" Nabiki remarked dryly while Soun showed the usual waterworks.

XXX

"Stupid old man. Stupid Akane." Ranma muttered as she walked down the street. "I knew she wasn't worried. How uncute." Saying that reminded Ranma of how cute Ukyo's response to him seeing her almost naked this morning was. Thinking of that she decided to go to Ucchan's again.

The sign outside read "Closed."

"Hmmm that's funny she's usually open at this time. The hours say she's supposed to be open. Oh Ucchan," Ranma called, knocking on the door. "Anybody home?"

Ranma heard the door unlock and it opened up. "Ranma?" Ukyo said surprised.

"How come you're closed Ucchan?" Ranma asked.

"Well I felt a little ill earlier, but I'm okay now. Come on in. I'll put a kettle on." she let him in and shut the door behind them.

Ranma transformed back into a male and took up a seat. Almost instinctively, Ukyo began cooking for him. "So, ya had to come back and spend some more time with me did ya?" Ukyo said happily. Maybe Ranma did want to spend time with her, she thought.

"Well," Ranma said biting into a fresh shrimp okonomiyaki, "Pops threw me into the water and started fighting with me. Then me and Akane got into an argument, and..." he went on.

"Oh... I see..." Ukyo said. It seemed like it was always about Akane. Never about her. She had thought Ranma came back to see her. But it was just to complain about Akane again.

"So, you thought you'd just come back to good ol' Ucchan's and get yet another free meal and have me listen to all of your problems, giving me nothing in return, just so you can turn around and run back to mallet girl at the end of the day! Well I'm not having it Saotome! GET OUT!" Ukyo shouted through tears.

"Wait a minute Ucchan, I..."

"Don't call me that!" she yelled pointing to the door. "Out!"

Ranma obeyed and left. He walked down the street wondering what on earth had made her so mad. "I haven't seen her like that since the day she first came to Nerima." he thought.

Ukyo locked the door and went back up to her bedroom crying her eyes out. "Stupid Ranma!" she said. "He doesn't care about me at all. I'm just free food to him. He always goes back to Akane. What does he see in her that he doesn't see in me?"

As he walked along top the fence, Ranma did some more thinking. "I guess I don't ever really go over there just to talk to her. It's always when something happens between me and Akane." Ranma hated seeing girls cry. Especially if he was the reason. "I guess she does have feelings for me." he thought. Up to this point, Ranma had thought of Ukyo as just a friend, another one of the boys. But seeing her this morning made it clear to him that she was most definitely not just one of the "boys". She was very much a girl. Quite a girl actually. Ranma felt weird. He didn't know what this feeling he felt was. "Why do I feel so strange?" he asked himself.

XXX

Ukyo woke up in her bed. The pillow was still wet from her tears. She hadn't slept long. She replayed the day's events through her mind. "Wow, I really blew it. He probably hates me now. I feel so stupid."

Ukyo picked up the phone and called her friend Yuzuki. Yuzuki Takeda was still a fairly new student at Furikan. She had come only four months ago. She was tall for a girl and had blonde hair, blue eyes and tannish skin. She had been living in Hawaii, no relation to Principal Kuno thank heavens. She was born in Japan and claimed to be Japanese although people were skeptical. Ukyo had quickly befriended the odd girl with her friendly demeanor and now they had become quite good friends.

Yuzuki picked up the phone, "Moshi Moshi!"

"Yuzuki?" Ukyo said.

"Oh Ukyo! What's up? Are you crying!? What's wrong?" Yuzuki asked, concerned.

After Ukyo told her everything that had happened, Yuzuki responded, "Hey don't be so hard on yourself. Why don't you come over and we'll talk about it."

XXX

Meanwhile, Ranma had decided to go to the forest off the edge of Nerima to clear his mind and to think over what exactly had just happened. Ranma had gotten along so well with Ukyo up to this point, he didn't like having her angry with him. Akane had been mad at him since the day they met, so it felt normal when she yelled at him. But with Ucchan it was different. He was used to her smiling and being cheerful and friendly, not angry or upset. "I think that's the first time I've seen her cry." he thought to himself. "I should do something to make her feel better. But what?"

XXX

Ukyo knocked on the door. "Coming!" Yuzuki called and ran to the door. When she opened it, there Ukyo stood, her eyes still red and puffy. She had been crying more on the way over. Yuzuki hugged her and then brought her up to her room.

"So what got you so upset in the first place?" Yuzuki asked while rubbing Ukyo's shoulders.

"I don't know. It just seems like all he cares about is Akane, Akane, Akane. He's always running back to her instead of spending time with me. I cook for him, give him free food, am nice to him, listen to his problems, I can't understand why he's not interested in me." Ukyo said with her head down, eyes looking at the floor.

"There are tons of guys in Nerima, Ukyo. There's that one boy with the yellow bandana that fights with Ranma all the time. He's kind of cute if you ask me."

Ukyo grimaced. She didn't think much of Ryoga. "But Ranma is my fiancé. We've been engaged since I was six years old. I can't imagine being with anyone else."

"But that was when you were both six years old!" Yuzuki exclaimed, "Besides, Ranma never agreed to it. At the time he thought you were a boy!"

Ukyo frowned, "Sometimes I think he still does."

"Well, show him that you're not!" Yuzuki said standing up. "I'll help you. I've got lots of cute outfits you can borrow."

Ukyo wasn't sure how she felt about wearing some of Yuzuki's ultra girly clothing. Yuzuki's room was ultra girly too. Pink walls, pink carpet, pink curtains, pink bed spread, Hello Kitty and Sailor Moon stuff everywhere. "I don't know about this." Ukyo said with hesitation in her voice.

"Come on, it'll be fun!" Yuzuki assured her.

"Fun for you maybe." Ukyo mumbled.

XXX

Ranma sat next to a river pondering things. He wanted to cheer Ukyo up and get her over being mad at him, but how?

"What's the one thing that would make her happiest?" Ranma asked himself. Then he realized what it was. It was him!

"I could set up a date with her." he thought. "But then she'd get the wrong idea and think I have feelings for her."

Ranma started to think of the friendly way Ukyo always greeted him, the way she always listened to what he had to say, and how great her food tasted. Not to forget how beautiful she was. Ranma hadn't really thought much about girls up to this point. His life had been dominated by martial arts. He hadn't spent much time around other people. Most especially not girls! He didn't even know his own mother. He also didn't have anyone to talk to about these things. He couldn't talk to his father about it. Mr. Tendo would just try to force him to marry Akane, and the old freak was so perverted. Dr. Tofu was so inept with Kasumi, who else was really left?

XXX

Ukyo was wearing a long frilly hot pink dress. Yuzuki put a pink bow in her hair. "Oh Ukyo, you look so pretty!"

"I don't think I care much for this. It's so... ugh... girly!" Ukyo groaned.

"Well duh! You're wanting to look like a girl aren't you?" Yuzuki asked.

"Not really, I just want to attract Ranma." she replied.

"Ukyo," Yuzuki said firmly. "If someone isn't attracted to you as you are, then they aren't worth attracting in the first place."

Those words hit Ukyo hard. She looked down at the floor and fought back tears. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I'm wasting my time on him. It's just that, I've been engaged to him so long and, well, when I first came here he told me I was cute. He really told me that. No guy had ever told me that. Except that nut Tsubasa and well, nevermind. But Ranma was different! Ranma's a real guy. Sure, he transforms into a girl, but still..."

Yuzuki hugged her. "I know. I know."

Yuzuki decided then and there that she would have to do something to set the two up. "Oh boy! Finally a chance to be matchmaker! I'll be Ukyo and Ranma's little cupid." she thought and then said aloud, "Don't you worry Ukyo, everything will work out. Just leave it to me."

"Um... okay." Ukyo said, not sure of what to make of her friend.

XXX

Ranma headed back home. He had decided to apologize to Ukyo, but he wanted to give her a couple of days to cool off first. He wasn't sure about asking her out on a date though. He knew it would cheer her up but he also knew it would give her the wrong idea about how he felt toward her. Also, Ranma wasn't exactly sure how he felt about her now either. Was he really ready to start taking girls seriously?

XXX

After Ukyo went back home, Yuzuki laid in bed awake, thinking of what she could do to try to set Ukyo and Ranma up. Yuzuki wasn't even sure the two were compatible. But she knew Ukyo was in love with Ranma, so for her friend's sake she would try.

XXX

No matter how hard she tried, Ukyo couldn't go to sleep. She was worried about what would happen to her relationship with Ranma. "Can Yuzuki really help me?" she wondered. That night Ukyo had a pleasant dream of her and Ranma walking through the park, hand in hand.