Omiyage:
Futari
By
Ninnik Nishukan
"Hey, Ucchan! Isn't that Ryoga's house?"
Seeing Ranma in high spirits was nothing unusual, but today he was positively...peppy. They'd bumped into each other at the market; Ranma out grocery shopping for Kasumi, and Ukyo out acquiring odds and ends for her small apartment above the Ucchan's. The ingredients she needed for her okonomiyaki restaurant were delivered to her directly, but she had to restock her private kitchen herself.
Ranma had been a whirlwind of enthusiasm and zealousness during the last fifteen minutes they'd been walking together now, talking her ears off about his day and offering to carry the stuff she'd buy. His good mood was probably in no small part due to the wonderful weather they were having— Ranma always seemed to burst with energy in early spring days— but also, as he had confessed to her, because these shopping trips provided him with an excuse to get away for a while from the house. Away from Soun's bawling, his father nagging him about honour and marriage and the art, Happosai trying to grope him in his girl form, Nabiki blackmailing him and Shampoo breaking down walls whenever she came for her unannounced visits.
He didn't mention anything about Akane being tiresome, though.
Funny, that.
On the other hand, Ranma hadn't mentioned Kasumi in that respect, either, but why would he? Kasumi was the one who gave him an excuse to leave in the first place.
Kasumi could be quite perceptive sometimes, in her own mild-mannered way.
Now Ukyo turned in the direction of where her enthusiastic friend was pointing, and sure enough; across the street laid the Hibiki residence.
"I don't think I've been there since Shirokuro had puppies!" Ranma grinned. "Why don't we pay old Bacon Breath a visit while we're here, huh?" He suggested amiably.
For a moment, Ukyo was about to ask him why, but held her tongue. If she thought about it, she knew to herself that it wouldn't be just to bother Ryoga— Ranma had always had a kind of grudging respect for his rival, as had Ryoga, and like Ukyo had told Ryoga herself, they always had each other's backs when it really counted. Besides, if you didn't count the perverts he hung out with at school, Ryoga was basically the only male friend Ranma had.
Last week, when they went to the movies together, Ranma had had a great time. Something as simple as that, and he had a great time, because he could finally be in the company of his best friends— can't be his girlfriend, can't be his only best friend! What am I, then? The thought snuck up on Ukyo without warning, and it made her want to kick herself.
There I go with the pettiness again, she gritted her teeth. It wasn't enough that I was jealous of Akane— now I'm jealous of Ryoga, too?
"Ucchan?"
Ukyo looked up. "Hmm?"
Brief concern flickered across Ranma's face. "You okay with visiting Ryoga?"
Nodding slowly, Ukyo joined him on the way towards Ryoga's house. Maybe this would give Ranma a new person to aim his overwhelmingly good mood at.
As they neared the house, she found herself conjuring up Ryoga's face in her mind's eye. For some reason, this had the same effect on her as when she thought about problems with her restaurant or with Ranchan; a considerable amount of concern resurfaced in her, then some disturbing, foreign ache—
She was actually worried about the guy. It dawned on her that they hadn't seen him for a few days, and no one had any idea where he was, if he was still in his house or halfway to Okinawa. To be honest, no one ever really knew where Ryoga was, she realized with a sinking feeling.
They rang the door bell, and, showing patience and foresight— for once, Ukyo thought affectionately— Ranma decided they should give Ryoga some time to find the front door.
When Ryoga finally answered the door a record-short six or seven minutes later, it creaked open haltingly, just a tad, just so he could get a glance at them. Ukyo could see only half his face, one eye blinking owlishly against the bright daylight. "Ryoga?" She asked incredulously. At hearing Ukyo's voice, he swung the door fully open, taking a step forward; then he saw Ranma and frowned, trying to compose himself.
"What's with you?" Ranma tilted his head, eyebrows rocketing skywards.
"I...there were some robbers here last night." He shrugged in an attempt to appear unfazed; judging by the looks they were giving him though, it was obviously way too late for that. Why do you always have to make such a big deal out of everything, Hibiki? He scolded himself. "I guess they thought the house was empty," He said quietly. They'd been no match for him, of course, and he hadn't really been startled, but it had still come as an unpleasant surprise to have the family home broken into. The real reason he knew he had be looking a bit strange, though, was that he'd been sitting alone in the dark for a couple of days, and he knew he hadn't had enough to eat.
"No wonder, either," Ranma looked past him, into the house. "Why are all the lights out?"
"They went out about two days ago." Ryoga shifted uncomfortably. "Mom and dad probably forgot to pay the power bill again. We hardly ever stay here, anyway."
Ranma frowned. "You don't have any candles?"
Ryoga looked down. "Couldn't find them." He mumbled.
Ukyo's eyes grew large with shock. "You mean to say you've been spending these last few days here alone in the dark?"
Ryoga kept his eyes trained on the floor. "I'm used to it." He replied simply.
"You...have you been eating?" She asked, concerned.
"A little." He muttered. "Rations are running sorta low."
"You look kinda pale..." Ukyo told him softly, reaching out a hand, touching his cheek before he even knew what was happening. He wasn't used to anyone touching him like that, except when he'd bump into his parents by chance once every few years. It happened so seldom— and this was a girl, too— that it was like lightning striking when Ukyo touched his bare skin. The touches he was used to the most were the slam of fists and feet in battle.
"Funny," Ranma smirked, "he looks kinda red to me."
After craning her neck around to send a brief glare Ranma's way— can't he see this is serious?— Ukyo turned back to Ryoga, moving her hand to his wrist. "You're kinda cold, too," She added. "Guess the radiators are out, huh?"
Ryoga just nodded.
Ukyo dropped his wrist, considering him for a moment. "Listen, why don't we go for a walk?" She suggested then. "Looks like you could use the air."
At that, Ryoga looked conflicted. "What about...?" He asked timidly, indicating the house. Ukyo smiled wryly. "Just lock it up. We won't be gone for long. Besides, I doubt there'll be any daylight robbers."
"O-okay," Ryoga relented, avoiding their gazes.
"Got your stuff?" Ukyo asked.
Ryoga nodded. "Right here," He said, picking up his backpack from a corner in the genkan, as well as his shoes.
Ukyo couldn't help noticing the massive pile of old mail that cluttered the genkan, most of which were commercial leaflets and crumpled envelopes. It wasn't hard to tell that this was a house that was frequently deserted.
As they turned from the house when Ryoga had locked the door, his whole body tingled with a strange sense of relief, maybe freedom as well as fear. Ryoga was used to being alone, always alone, but he was used to wandering as well, and there were always some people around then, but now he'd been sitting alone in the dark in that house, unfamiliar even if it was his own, and—
"Hey, let's get some dinner!" Ranma piped up only a few steps down the sidewalk.
Ukyo grinned lopsidedly, shaking her head. "I swear you have as much enthusiasm for food as your dad— even when he's a panda!"
"What?" Ranma shrugged. "It's dinner time, isn't it?"
Grinning overbearingly at Ranma, she turned to Ryoga. "How 'bout you, sweetie? You look just about ready to eat a whole horse there."
"Wouldn't mind some dinner." Ryoga mumbled, slightly embarrassed over all the attention he was getting from the two of them.
"So, where should we go?" Ukyo asked, glancing back and forth at the two of them expectantly.
"How 'bout—" Ranma cut himself off short, rattling the bags of groceries demonstratively. "Oh, dammit, I was s'posed to take these home to Kasumi! She's making dinner at home." He shrugged one shoulder apologetically at Ukyo. "Some other time, okay?"
A disappointed expression crossed Ukyo's face fleetingly, but then she rallied, nodding. "Yeah, let's see if we can't squeeze lunch in sometime this weekend or something."
"Spoken like the true business woman," Ranma remarked, chuckling as Ukyo shook her head, trying to look exasperated even as she forced down a giggle. "See you 'round." Ranma added, pleased. "Bye, pork face!" He grinned at Ryoga, waving at the two of them as he took off at a brisk jog.
As she turned to him, Ukyo noticed Ryoga's fists clenching, his mouth a tight line, and she tilted her head, curious. "Don't mind him, he doesn't mean anything by it." She said soothingly. Ryoga looked up, startled. Oh, he meant something by it— but if her expression was anything to go by, luckily Ukyo was oblivious as to what.
"Uh...yeah, probably not." He mumbled, unconvinced, forcing his fists and shoulders to relax. "So I guess I'll see you whenever." Ryoga said dejectedly, turning to go find his house again. That'd probably keep him occupied at least for a day or two, he figured.
"Hey!" Ukyo exclaimed, growing angry. "Where are you going?"
Jumping a little at Ukyo's yell, he looked over his shoulder, confused. "What?"
Ukyo stomped over to him, elbows sticking out, fists bunched. "Are you ditching me?"
Ryoga's eyes went wide as saucers. "But-but Ranma's not coming, so I thought—"
"You only wanted to come if Ranma—" Ukyo's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"No!" Ryoga yelled, upset. "I thought you wouldn't wanna, I mean, if he didn't..."
Suddenly Ukyo smiled, chuckling a little. "I see." She took his arm, pulling him along the street. "Come on, kiddo, it's you and me."
"O-okay." Ryoga gulped, his whole body full of the jitters as he could feel the warmth of her against his upper arm even through her jacket. He just wasn't used to this; having a friend who was interested in spending time with him for reasons other than sparring or battle, and, if it came to that, having a friend who was a girl, to boot.
He looked sidelong at her as they walked, and found he liked what he saw.
Ukyo had let her hair, which had been just past shoulder length before, grow until it now reached past the small of her back. She wore it loose, streaming behind her, and she had a small smile on as she pulled him along at a casual, yet eager pace. Due to the mild spring weather they were having, she was wearing jeans and a long-sleeved, green top under a light, open jacket; green was a good colour for her, he noted. Set beneath her mocha-coloured hair, it reminded him of the forest during evenings.
In the back of his mind there was the sudden knowledge that from now on, the forest during those lonely evenings would remind him of her, of this day. Abruptly, he tore himself from his reverie, swallowing; what was up with these weird thoughts? Ryoga invariably felt like a moron each time he started waxing poetical— Nerima only needed one Kuno Tatewaki. Luckily, he hadn't said anything out loud, at least— the 'heart of glass' thing the last time he'd met Ukyo had been bad enough.
Shaking his head, he turned his attention towards the other people on the street, and found himself looking at other girls. They were pretty, sure, but he realized his gaze met with an unhealthy amount of pastels, frilly skirts, make-up, dainty handbags, and above all, high-heeled shoes. They'd never last one second in the mountains or in the forest, he thought, and mentally slapped himself. Those girls probably had no interest in dragging themselves through such ordeals, anyway; they doubtlessly all had school or jobs and boyfriends and friends and hobbies and—
Akane dressed like that, he realized. On the other hand, she also wore her karate gi or jogging outfit more often than not, and he'd seen her hiking in the mountains; she was good at it. Still, she liked all those girly things, and supposedly so did Ukyo as well, though she didn't really show it that much. She'd started dressing in a more feminine manner, yes, but she didn't seem to want to get into a skirt. If he saw Ukyo in a skirt, he'd be likely to choke on his tongue in shock, he thought; it'd be that much of an unusual sight.
"Ryoga!"
"Huh?" He looked blearily at Ukyo; by her annoyed expression it was obvious that she'd been trying to get his attention for a while. That's what you get for letting your thoughts wander, Hibiki.
Ukyo whapped him over the head. "I said, what do you want to have for dinner?"
"I, uh..." Ryoga floundered.
Rolling her eyes and sighing impatiently as she realized he wasn't about to suggest anything useful, Ukyo dropped his arm, halting. "How about pork katsudon?" She looked at him expectantly.
Ryoga found that other things would make him choke on his tongue in shock as well. "P-pork...?"
Ukyo stared at him oddly. "Now what?"
How about a delicious side dish of human flesh to go with that? Ryoga thought, dizzy with nausea, but what actually came out was: "Um...how about beef instead?"
Still rather thrown by his the paleness of his skin and his suddenly basketball-sized eyes, Ukyo nodded reluctantly. "Sure, Hibiki— you're the one's who's been locked up in a house with almost no food, so you get to choose." She shrugged, taking his arm again.
As Ryoga caught up with his equilibrium, he realized he should be wondering why Ukyo insisted on clutching his arm like some boy scout helping a little old lady across the street.
"Ukyo?" Ryoga asked tentatively, plunging ahead before she answered. "What's with the...uh..." He glanced down, indicating her hand gripping his arm. Ukyo's gaze travelled downwards with his; she dropped his arm like a hot potato when she caught the strange note in his voice, the hesitant look in his eyes.
Putting a little distance between them, she glued her eyes to the pavement as they walked. She swallowed as she felt her heart crowd her throat before sinking like lead to her stomach. What was it with her and boys? What was she, poison ivy? Toxic waste? The plague?
Another guy shying away from the okonomiyaki transvestite— and it wasn't even as if she was interested in him! What was he thinking, that she was some deprived weirdo who was pretending that this was a date or something?
A cloud of gloom was gathering above Ukyo's head, her feet dragging where her steps had been light, quick before. Maybe the girls from her old school, where she went until she started junior high, had had the right idea about her back then, maybe—
"You know Ukyo, right?"
"Well, have you smelled her?"
"Have you noticed the way she always reeks of grease and fried cabbage?"
"I had to sit next to her in class for two entire periods, and I thought I'd die from the stink!"
"And what's with the boy's clothes? Is she all 'confused' now or something?"
"Yeah, her name must be really convenient for her, I mean…"Ukyo"? Could it be any more sexless?"
"Isn't that actually an old-fashioned name for boys?"
"Oh my gods, that's pathetic!"
"Yeah, and the way she binds her chest down even if she's barely started growing any breasts at all, she'll end up being more flatchested than any boy, if you ask me—"
Well, who asked you? Ukyo thought, a sob dying deep in her chest. Suddenly she gasped, halting abruptly.
A downwards glance told her that yes, Ryoga had indeed taken her hand. Ukyo let her eyes drift up to his face, and what she saw made her stiffened frame turn to rubber with relief. Although his hand felt large, warm and the grip was firm, he looked just about as nervous as a young school boy speaking in front of class for the very first time. This fact made her feel much better, for some reason.
He stuttered something unintelligible, and she smiled a little, deciding to bail him out. "Good idea," she said, starting to walk again, pulling him with her by the hand. "This way you won't get lost."
They both knew he'd done it because he'd inadvertently wounded her ego, but apparently both had agreed silently to leave the subject alone.
But Ryoga realized now why she'd been dragging him by his arm earlier. Enough association with him in the past had taught her that he really did wander off in whatever direction unless guided. He figured he should be feeling ashamed, but if she'd found a solution to his problem, if even just a temporary one, that was at least something to be grateful for. If anything, it was better than being dragged along by his shirt or his ear, like she used to do when provoked.
Besides, this hand holding business...well, it was definitely something one could get used to.
The small size of her hand made him feel...protective somehow, like he was responsible for her safety even as she was actually the sole thing standing between him and the Lost Adventures of Hibiki Ryoga. Sure, she was fast, but she wasn't as strong as him or Ranma, so she'd be pretty helpless once someone got a hold of her, someone like, say, Pantyhose Taro or whatever freak with a claim for vengeance due for a visit to Nerima next.
Gods, he was one of those freaks once, he knew that, but he would never— Nerima sorely needed some peace and quiet, that was sure. He would get his cure, and once he'd gotten rid of P-chan he was pretty certain he'd be able to let himself make peace with Ranma and then he'd...he'd give up on Akane. There was nothing there for him. She was his friend and she stood up for him, but she didn't love him, he knew that, painful as it was, and she never would, not like he'd wanted.
If he kept holding on to that ghost of a chance, he'd hurt himself even more than he'd already had, and he'd just keep on doing it until it killed him.
This conclusion had come to him the hard way, and—
He jumped.
"So...how about shabu shabu for dinner? It's kind of expensive, but..."
Ryoga craned his head around to be faced with one of Ukyo's high voltage, sunny smiles, as if she hadn't just jabbed his side with her elbow.
Ukyo shrugged. "And I haven't had it in ages, so…" She added.
He smiled back tryingly. "All right." As he watched her cheery smile, though, he felt a brief stab of pity for the girl.
Ukyo would learn the hard way as well.
Ryoga listened to the sizzle as Ukyo dipped a thin slice of beef into the shabu shabu pot in the middle of the table. It was kinda cozy, eating straight from the pot, filling him with a rather calming sense of familiarity as it reminded him of camping. Of course it was frustrating never knowing were he was, but the actual camping itself was kind of his life style, and he didn't really mind that part of his curse so much.
The huge backpack with the red umbrella strapped on top that he'd placed beside him on the restaurant floor earned him a few strange looks from the other customers, but otherwise they could've been just another young couple or pair of friends out for dinner. Well, just another pair of martial artist friends, anyway, one of which had a curse that turned him into a little black piglet at the drop of a hat, used a battle technique fuelled by depression and had a severe lack of any kind of sense of direction, and the other, who'd turned okonomiyaki into a fighting style and okonomiyaki ingredients into weapons and who had a history of cross-dressing for a decade in order to pose as a boy.
He could tell that one or two of the younger people in the restaurant knew who they were and most likely wondered what they were up to. They were probably pupils from Furinkan or possibly even St. Hebereke, and if so, had witnessed fights between himself and Ranma, Ukyo and Ranma or maybe even the one between Ukyo and himself. No wonder if they were curious.
Ukyo looked pretty normal right now, but he was aware that he was dressed kind of oddly. Correct attire for hiking? Sure. Correct attire for a restaurant? Nah.
Ukyo looked at her companion, miles away as usual, and prodded his shoulder with her chopsticks to get his attention. It wasn't a very ladylike thing to do, but then she'd had a very relaxed attitude towards those kinds of things for a long, long while. It didn't do to curtsy or giggle when you were supposed to be a suspiciously pretty, yet tough and masculine martial artist guy. Luckily she hadn't forgotten how to giggle, but some things, male things, like a few aspects of body language, they just... remained.
When Ryoga looked at her, she tilted her head and raised her eyebrows demonstratively to give him a little wake-up call. "You enjoying the meal, Sugar?"
She smiled a little as he nodded furiously, slightly embarrassed. "Sure, yeah, it's delicious, it's just...I don't eat out much. I mean, I eat outside all the time, but not out, like out-out, y'know, restaurant-out...?" He trailed off, seemingly realizing that he'd just bought himself a one-way ticket on the babble train.
Ukyo didn't seem to mind, though. She laughed, actually; the soft, rich laugh he'd only heard once or twice before from her. He's kinda, sorta cute, she thought, but he has no clue that he is, and he probably wouldn't believe it even if one of those girls over there went up to him and practically spelled it out for him. She regarded him as he blushed before lowering his eyes to the table, and she felt a sting of sadness, watching him trying to curl in on himself. Why was it always the decent people who went through life without compliments?
"But you're enjoying it so far?" She asked lightly, smiling.
He just nodded, picking up a mushroom and sticking it in the shabu shabu pot. Her smile became crooked, amused. Well, whaddaya know, first he was dead quiet, then babbling his head off, then with the tomb impression again. He really was kinda weird. Ukyo conceded she didn't really have a problem with weird, though, seeing as her love interest was an aqua-transsexual martial artist with two other fiancées besides herself and a panda for a father.
"Ryoga?" She asked patiently. "Why were you sitting there alone in the dark? In your house, I mean? Why didn't you just leave?"
Ryoga swallowed the mushroom and looked at her solemnly. "I...I guess..." Ryoga licked his lips nervously, his eyes starting to dart from her to the table top and back again before finally settling on her. "If I leave," he said simply, "I won't be able to find it again."
Ukyo just stared at him. "But...but there was no electricity, no food, no other people..."
"I'm used to it." Ryoga said for the second time that afternoon.
Ukyo gaped a little. "But still, I mean, you shouldn't be sitting there all alone and freezing...and starving, for crissakes!" She gestured, upset. "If you're out walking somewhere, you'll always find something to eat sooner or later, but if you think you're not able to leave..."
Ryoga wrung his hands. "It's...it's the family home. I only stumble across it every few months or years, so I kinda wanted to stay for a while..."
Ukyo didn't know how to respond to this, and so she decided to leave it alone. Obviously he had his reasons to do what he'd done, even if she thought it was crazy. "So, uh..." She floundered a little. "What were you doing? You know, to keep yourself busy?"
"I had a flashlight at first, so I was able to read a little, but the batteries went dead pretty quickly." He shrugged. "After that I read during the day, by the window."
"You read?" Ukyo looked mystified.
Not surprisingly, this offended him. "What, you didn't think I could?" He asked sourly.
Ukyo scowled. "I know you can read, don't be stupid! I just meant...like, what're you reading?"
He twiddled his thumbs, settling down. "Well...among other things, I read Akutagawa Ryuunosuke."
Ukyo's eyes went as big and round as footballs.
"What?" Ryoga asked warily.
"Akutagawa?" Ukyo raised one eyebrow.
"Uh-huh?" Ryoga frowned.
"Akutagawa Ryuunosuke?" Ukyo raised the other.
"Right." What was she getting at?
"Akutagawa Ryuunosuke." Ukyo said flatly.
"Yes!" Ryoga grew increasingly irritated. "What are you—"
"Akutagawa Ryuunosuke as in the his-mother-went-mad-after-she-gave-birth-to-him, killed-himself-at-a-very-early-age Akutagawa Ryuunosuke?" Ukyo exclaimed, standing up abruptly.
"Uhh..." Now it was Ryoga's eyes that widened as he backed away in his chair, seemingly trying to melt through the back of it. Ukyo was acting really weird! "What's your point?"
"You were sitting alone in the dark, in the cold, you were lost, starving— and you were reading Akutagawa Ryuunosuke!" She grabbed him by his ear, pinching him. "What is wrong with you? What'd you read as a kid, Franz Kafka?"
"Oww! Hey, I can read what I li—" Ryoga protested, squirming in her grasp.
"Are you trying to get depressed?" Letting go of his ear, Ukyo showed her face into his, lowering her voice to a whispering hiss. It was too late to start whispering now, however; they were already commanding the attention of every single person in the restaurant.
"Um, Ukyo..." Ryoga said quietly, nodding his head towards the rest of the lunch crowd.
Blinking, she turned to look at everybody else, and lightning fast, she was seated again, already clearing her throat and smoothing down her top. "A-hem." She bathed a square of tofu in the shabu shabu pot before dipping it in the soy sauce and then in the sesame sauce and popping it into her mouth along with some steamed rice. She kept chewing for a long while, shoulders squared and eyes half-closed demurely, the very picture of composed calm. Finally she dabbed at her lips with her napkin and looked up at her companion.
"Sorry 'bout that." She told him in a small voice.
"It's okay." Ryoga said automatically, eyeing her carefully.
"It's just...you really frustrate me sometimes." She went on in the same subdued tone.
"Wha..." Ryoga's voice trailed off, stunned.
"I mean...I know you've got your problems," Here she chuckled mirthlessly. "Don't we all, huh? But...but it's like you're deliberately adding to the pile, you know?" She looked into his eyes sincerely. "Why are you always so gloomy?"
"Depression does wonders for my Shi Shi Hokodan," He attempted levity. By the look on her face, he was failing miserably at it. "Well, it does," he persisted, his lips pursing spitefully. He hadn't expected Ukyo going all Psychology 101 on him, and so he wasn't prepared to deal with it. He busied himself with his food so he wouldn't have to answer, eating generous helpings of rice and cooking vegetables and meat in the pot before dousing them liberally with soy sauce and sesame sauce.
She just kept looking at him, though, her chopsticks hovering over her plate, and so in the end, he felt he had to say something. "Let me pick up the bill this time, okay?"
Luckily, this seemed to divert her. "Why the sudden burst of chivalry? I thought you didn't have any money?"
He shook his head. "I didn't, not the last time I met you, but I do now. I worked a little in construction in Osaka while I was gone last month, and my salary should've been put into my account yesterday."
Ukyo tilted her head. "Construction?"
"Yeah, I walked by a construction site one day and happened to lift this I-beam that was in my way, and for some reason they hired me on the spot." He shrugged.
"Gee, I wonder why," Ukyo rolled her eyes.
He pointedly ignored the comment. "I also did some work for a sister company of theirs, a wrecking company. They said the Bakusai Tenketsu was particularly useful."
"So, did you like it?" Ukyo put her chin in her hand, leaning forward. "Would you work in construction again?"
Ryoga thought for a moment. "I don't know. It was kinda boring sometimes, 'cause I had to basically stay in the same spot all the time to keep from getting lost, and they all watched me like hawks for the same purpose." He looked at his hands then, resting on the table top. "I think...I think maybe some of them were kinda, y'know...scared of me." He didn't meet her gaze. "Th-they said I was freakishly strong, always joked about me taking all their jobs away, said I did it all too fast and too effortlessly." He added in a low voice.
Ukyo didn't quite know what to say, but her thoughts strayed to her own past in Osaka, the bitter, jealous looks of other okonomiyaki chefs as they claimed she defied the laws of physics in how quickly she prepared the traditional Kansai dish.
Suddenly Ryoga cleared his voice, sat up and looked at her again. "Anyway, I needed the money." He said in an almost convincingly careless tone.
Ukyo simply nodded; she knew exactly how he felt. "Okay, Mr. Knight in Shining Armour, it's your treat." She smiled at him, and for a moment, it seemed like he felt better for it.
He smiled at the moment of repose he discovered then, listening to the hiss of the shabu shabu pot as Ukyo cooked the vegetables and meat, finding both the sight and the sound to be peculiarly serene.
"Hey," Ukyo remarked once they'd stepped outside the restaurant (they'd managed to pay their bill and vacate the premises with only a few odd looks) holding her palm up, her face tilting skywards as she smelled the slightly metallic-scented atmosphere. "It looks like—"
She heard a sound like 'FLOOMP' behind her, and turned to see that Ryoga had already opened his big, red bamboo umbrella.
"—rain." She finished, slightly put out. His behaviour warranted a couple of raised eyebrow and a quirked mouth. "See, right now I don't know if you've got unearthly quick gentlemanly reflexes or if you're just plain weird."
Ryoga blinked doubtfully, looking a little trapped. Then he did something curious indeed. "Both." He said cockily, with what could only be called a saucy smirk. Those looked really strange on Hibiki Ryoga, who was usually the one being smirked at.
No matter what he was, though— simply weird or a gentleman with good reflexes— it made Kuonji Ukyo laugh. "Hibiki, you are so—"
The sky chose that moment to rain cats and dogs on them. Well, just ordinary rain, of course, but you could never be too sure in Nerima.
Ryoga winced, as he always did in the presence of enormous amounts of cold water, and hunched his shoulders underneath the umbrella, grateful for the instant shelter it always provided him with in such emergencies. He just didn't have a clue what he was supposed to say if Ukyo found out—
"Oh, jeez!" Ukyo squeaked in surprise as the heavy sheet of rain bore down on her. She jumped underneath the umbrella with him, clinging to his backpack and arm and ducking her head, pushing her long hair over one shoulder to hang down her front so it wouldn't get wetter. "You got a handkerchief or anything? I think I'm already soak—"
He'd already handed her one of perpetually many from his ever-present bandanna storage on his head. "Thanks," she said after staring at it for a moment. She took it and started wiping her damp face and throat. "Hurray for unexpected downpours, huh?" She asked ironically, handing him back the bandanna. He stuffed it into a pocket somewhere and glanced down at her.
"Hurray." He agreed in an equally flat voice. Of course, she had no idea how much he really hated unexpected rain, or why.
She couldn't help but laugh again. "Let's get indoors, okay?"
He nodded. "If you wouldn't mind just showing me to my house again, I'd—"
She looked horrified. "What! Do you honestly plan to spend more time alone in that dark, cold— get a grip, Ryoga! Do you wanna get sick? You're coming with me to my well-lit, warm apartment where there's plenty of food and—"
"U-Ukyo, I don't want to impose...i-it wouldn't be right..." Ryoga swallowed; was she actually asking him to stay with her? Borrowing her bathroom was one thing, but this...!
Ukyo was scowling hard now, one fist on her hip. "If you're worried about 'imposing' on me, don't be, and as for owing me any debts of gratitude or whatever, well— you've got money now, right?"
Ryoga just nodded.
"Look, I gotta do some shopping on my way home, so if it'd make you feel better, you could pay for it." She looked at him expectantly. "That sound all right with you?"
"We-ell, if you put it like that..." He was still hesitant, but she could tell he was relenting.
"Besides," She cocked her head, preparing to slam down the Hammer of Reason. "You don't expect me to walk all the way home by myself in this weather without an umbrella, do you?"
His eyes travelled searchingly across her face for a moment, then he chuckled quietly at what he saw. "The first hand of this round goes to Miss Kuonji," He shook his head in amusement. "By playing her trump card, damsel in distress."
"Team Hibiki, zero points!" Ukyo went on gleefully.
Ryoga rolled his eyes. "Let's just go."
"Zip, zilch, nada..."
"Come on."
"...niente, nil, void...all in all; nothing!"
"Okay, okay...!"
During the walk home, Ukyo noticed a number of things about her friend.
Hibiki Ryoga was taller than she'd thought. Being that Ranma, who was of about average height, was a little taller than Ryoga, Ukyo had always had this odd mental picture of him being short, but he really wasn't, and certainly not now.
She watched him as they walked, huddled up together under the roof the umbrella made, in a sort of cocoon of rain-deafened silence, a peaceful little bubble of him and her and the backpack, and then, after a trip to the store, several bulging bags of groceries— odds and ends for her private kitchen and more rations for him, including batteries for his flashlight, and candles— and her scrutiny brought her to the conclusion that while he was still a little shorter than Ranma, he'd grown since she'd first met him.
Not only did his arms and legs look longer, but they, as well as his torso, had increased in girth. Didn't they say something about a boy when he began to near the age of eighteen? That he finally started resembling a man?
And indeed she noticed with fascination the same changes she'd noticed in other boys at school; the broader shoulders, the sharper jaw and the pronounced Adam's apple. She'd noticed things in herself as well, of course, things that raced through her body with a vengeance, refusing her to ever pretend to be a boy again, scolding her for her past. How could you bind this chest down, her growing body seemed to say, how could you wear those clunky shoes? And those unflattering pants, her full hips added accusingly. How could you tie your hair back in that low, boyish ponytail? And of course she'd started paying attention to the scariest of all; the almost completely unexplored area between her thighs.
All these things told her that she was a woman. Under the quiet of the umbrella, she listened to her long hair swish back and forth and felt her hips sway with a small but very satisfying weight that hadn't been there before.
Then there were the other things she'd noticed about Ryoga. He seemed nervous, and at first she'd thought it was because of her, but then she'd caught his expression as a drop of water strayed too close to his face. It was pure and utter terror.
Every time a rain drop dripped from the umbrella and landed on his sweater-clad shoulder, his shoe, anything, he'd scrunch his face up in fright and disgust, resembling a cat hissing at water. He was afraid and uncomfortable, and she wondered why.
As they reached her shop, she leapt underneath the banners as she unlocked the door, shivering a little with the slight dampness of her clothes and hair. She dropped her bags tiredly on the floor in the shop and kicked her shoes off. By the door, Ryoga was very carefully shaking the water off his umbrella, holding it out from his body at arm's length.
Refraining from comment, she took the umbrella when he was done and put it in the umbrella stand. She flashed him an encouraging smile before turning to walk upstairs with her grocery bags. He removed his shoes with haste and followed her.
It was a small kitchen, obviously built for one, or possibly two. He'd seen it briefly before when he'd passed it the time he'd used her bathroom shower, but they'd had their dinner down in the restaurant, so he hadn't actually been in here before. She put the bags on the counter and turned to him. She could tell all this silence was starting to unnerve him a little, so she smiled again. "Just put your bags there in the corner, okay?" She told him helpfully, pointing. He nodded and gathered his few bags in a small heap in the corner. "Wait here a sec." She threw this over her shoulder and disappeared into the hallway. When she returned a few moments later, she had changed into a thick cotton yukata and soft terrycloth slippers, her hair slightly ruffled by having patted it with a towel.
"Tea?" She asked politely, already turning on the electric water heater.
Feeling the urge to join her in filling the silence with words, rather than just nodding, he said: "Tea would be great."
"Comin' right up!" She said while getting out the tea and two mugs from the cupboards, much in the perky manner he'd heard her use with her customers.
There was a rumble of thunder outside, but it went mostly unnoticed by the two. Ryoga settled against the kitchen table as he waited, taking some weight off of his legs. He sighed, rubbing his neck as he watched her prepare the tea, listening to the rain pitter-pattering against the kitchen window, glad to be inside.
"How 'bout some TV?" She suggested after a while, filling up their mugs.
Accepting the mug from her, Ryoga grunted indifferently. "Sounds fine."
"Here, just put your backpack there by the table." She nodded towards the small kitchen table. "C'mon," She ushered him into the hallway when he'd set his backpack down, and guided him into another room he hadn't been to before.
He halted.
"Uhh...isn't this your b-bedroom?" He asked timidly, twiddling his thumbs. Thunder again, and he thought he caught a zip of bright lightning outside Ukyo's window.
"Yeah, so?" She asked absently, putting her mug aside on a small table so she could crouch down to turn on the television set.
Biting his lip, Ryoga shifted a little. "Sh-should I be in here, I mean, um..."
"Wow, you really love making a big deal out of things, don't you?" Shaking her head, Ukyo sighed. "Look, this is a small apartment, you know, so this isn't just my bedroom, it's my living room as well. Hence the TV and the couch." She got up and grabbed the remote control. "Does that stop your maidenly heart a-fluttering?"
Ryoga's face reddened quite harshly and abruptly at this unexpected assault on his person. She really could've refrained from making that last comment. "You know, it wouldn't hurt if you actually started acting a little more sensitive and polite once in a while. You know, like a girl?" He growled through clenched teeth, and she whipped around, outraged, opening her mouth to bark a reply—
With a flicker and an electrical groan, the entire house went dark.
"Oh, great." Ukyo groaned.
"What happened to that so-called 'well-lit house' you were advertising earlier?" Ryoga remarked dryly, unable to help himself, as he was still stricken by her earlier insult.
"Shut up," Ukyo muttered. "And don't move." She warned, stalking out of the room.
Scowling by himself in the dark, Ryoga put his mug beside Ukyo's and plopped down on the tatami mats, leaning his chin in his hand. Honestly, Ukyo could be so—
There was loud bang, as of bone and flesh hitting wood. After having spent many years practicing martial arts, Ryoga was quite familiar with that particular sound.
"OOWW!"
He was on his feet in a flash. "Ukyo!"
"Fuck...!" He heard her exclaim, and thought to himself that he hadn't been too far off about the un-ladylike behaviour.
"Ukyo, are you okay?" He asked tentatively.
"Yeah, I just stubbed my toe," He heard her hiss in pain. "Stay put, Hibiki."
Ukyo hopped back to her room, dumping candles, matches and the flashlight with batteries onto the tatami floor. "Here, replace the batteries while I light some candles."
After a while, Ukyo had lit several candles and put them on a plate, and he regarded her in her loose, chequered yukata, hair around her like a halo in the candlelight, watched her soft mouth and wondered how such a creature could talk like a boy and curse like a sailor. He saw her wince and momentarily forgot about the flashlight.
"Let me look at your foot," He urged her softly, reaching out to pull off her slipper. She gave him an odd look, but offered up the foot in question. Ryoga laid her heel in his palm and drew off her slipper carefully, setting it aside. There was some slight discoloration beneath the nail of her big toe, and she was bleeding a little, but otherwise she looked fine. "It doesn't look too bad." He assured her. "Does it hurt when I do this?" He asked, pressing gently on her toenail.
Ukyo grimaced. "A little."
Ryoga released her foot, settling it on a small pillow from the couch. "Sorry about...what I said...about how you could use to act more like a...uh..." He looked down, pushing the last battery into the flashlight and clicking the lid into place, trying to distract himself.
Ukyo grinned lopsidedly. "I probably had it coming."
"No, you didn't, I'm—"
She held up a hand. "No, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said..." She cleared her throat. "You're just shy, and I shouldn't be making fun of it." She got up laboriously and took the flashlight from him, hobbling into the hallway. "I'll just go and put a cold cloth on my toe. Be right back."
Ryoga was about to offer to do it for her when he remembered he couldn't. With his sense of direction, he wouldn't be able to find the bathroom, and with his Jusenkyo curse, he wouldn't be able to prepare a cloth soaked with cold water for her. He rubbed his eyes in frustration. He was so useless!
The beam of electric light told him she was coming back, and he got up quickly and went over to her, taking her arm and steadying her frame, lowering her gently to the couch so she could sit. He was astounded to find that this actually made her flush a little. "Chivalry isn't dead, I see," She commented in a bashful voice as he slid the small pillow back under her aching foot.
"Least I could do," He mumbled evasively, moving over to the low table and retrieving their mugs, handing Ukyo hers.
"Thanks." Ukyo said as he sat down beside her. "Usually I love thunderstorms, but this is ridiculous," They both took a long sip of their tea. "Kinda wanted to watch some TV." She pouted. "There's supposed to be a Cowboy Bebop marathon on tonight."
Ryoga shrugged; he had no idea what Cowboy Bebop was, or probably none of the other shows she watched, either. His particular lifestyle didn't allow much for TV. "At least we're not outside in a tent," Ryoga said, trying to console her. "I got hit by lightning once."
Ukyo gaped. "You're kidding?"
Ryoga shook his head gravely. "Nope."
"What h-happened?" Ukyo asked tremulously, shocked both at the story and at the casual tone in which he told it.
Ryoga shrugged. "Dunno, got knocked out, I guess."
"You are one tough bastard, Hibiki," Ukyo breathed, shaking her head incredulously.
He shifted a little, trying to ignore her rough speaking habits. "But when I woke up..." He sighed a bit. "I love thunderstorms, too. Everything smells so, y'know, fresh and invigorating afterwards, like Nature's been swept clean." He glanced at her shyly; he'd never told anyone that before.
Ukyo nodded. "I got caught out in a thunderstorm with my yatai once, and it really is like...like a slap in the face, but in a good way. Like your mind is suddenly as clear and brisk as the air. It feels so strange...and you can smell the earth, wet and heady..." She took a sip of tea.
"Especially summer thunderstorms, it's like they're hot and cold at the same time, you feel clear and fuzzy all at once." Ryoga interjected softly. "Like sleep-walking awake." He went on, staring at his hands, folded in his lap.
It was mushy and slightly cheesy, and the kind of thing you'd only say when there was only you and one other person in the room, not the kind of thing you'd talk about with your friends at lunch time. They'd probably think you'd gone soft in the head.
"You're a poet and you don't even know it," Ukyo chuckled, and this seemed to pull Ryoga out of his reverie. He looked up, looked into her eyes, and her smile told him that now they were sharing some vague little secret together. Insignificant as their feelings about thunderstorms may have been, it was still their secret. "Ryoga... I'm sorry for the way I freaked out at you at the restaurant today." She regarded him, searching his face for a reaction. "It's just...I was like that for awhile, back when I was in junior high school, and I didn't want you to be doing those things." These last words fell out of her mouth in a rush, as if she'd just decided on saying them and wanted to get them out before she changed her mind.
"Hmm?" Ryoga frowned, confused.
The cozy, private and calm atmosphere had got her feeling like this was the time to get things out into the open, to explain herself, but now she'd grown insecure of what to say. "When I was fourteen, I didn't...I d-didn't have any friends and I'd more or less given up on ever getting my revenge on the Saotomes, and I was always, you know, hiding in my room with the lights off and thinking all sorts of...bad stuff." Ukyo gestured vaguely.
The words were light enough, but he could tell this was a tenderer subject for her than she let on. This seemed to be one of those things she hadn't told anyone. "I was always being all depressing and reading those kind of seriously— well, you know that old bestseller by Tsurumi Wataru? What's it called again?" She looked to him for an answer.
At the mention of this particular author's name, Ryoga felt a chill in his gut. "The Perfect Suicide Manual?" He asked reluctantly, wincing inwardly.
The realization dawning on her face became evident as she gaped. "You've read it?"
Ryoga could sense his own face burning with shame and embarrassment. "I...I didn't really, uh, it wasn't..."
"You weren't really thinking of...?" Ukyo let the rest of sentence hang in the air, insinuated. Here in the dark, in the flickering candlelight, the question seemed even more terrifying in its implication.
Ryoga squirmed a little, trembling. "No...maybe, when it was..." He took a deep breath, collecting his wits. "No." He said firmly, and watched her exhale with relief; the sight did something to him, made him want to give her a promise. "I thought about it at times, but...no." He shook his head. "I wouldn't, Ukyo."
"Shouldn't scare a girl like that, Sugar." Ukyo said, reaching over and squeezing his hand, her eyes a little moist and sparkly with unborn tears.
That was when he realized it. She might love Saotome Ranma, but she actually did care about Hibiki Ryoga too, even if it was just as a friend. Being Ukyo's friend, though, he thought, wasn't just "just".
He smiled back.
"You know," Ukyo said thoughtfully, as the storm went on outside, the rain against the window and the occasional burst of thunder, flash of lightning and the howl of the wind creating a strange ambiance inside the house. "Right about now, there should be a crack of lightning, and the door should creak open with the moaning wind to reveal—"
"The hallway." Ryoga said flatly. "Besides, paper sliding doors don't creak. It'd be more like this "swoosh!" kinda sound—"
"Ooh!" Ukyo squealed in frustration, bopping him on the head. "Have you no sense of dramatics?"
Ryoga shrugged, as unfazed by blows to the head as he always was; it'd been nothing but a light smack, anyway. "I dunno, I've never really went for those kinda stories." He scoffed. "I've seen enough weird stuff to last me a lifetime just by passing through Nerima. Why would I want to read about it, too?"
Ukyo huffed. "I don't care, I like it. Chills, thrills, suspense— what's not to like?"
Ryoga shuddered, looking like he'd just sucked a lemon. "Suspense...! Blagh! Suspense is just...awkward." As the evening went on, Ukyo had fetched them a plate of senbei to snack on, and now he helped himself to another one. He was getting kind of thirsty, though, seeing as there was no power to heat the electric water boiler, sending them into a tea shortage.
"It's just entertainment." Ukyo protested, irritably snatching a senbei from the plate between them on the couch.
Ryoga gave her a look. "Didn't think a level-headed girl like yourself would—"
There was a whip-crack of lightning, the wind moaned, and the window of Ukyo's room creaked slowly open behind their backs with a piercing keen of wood and metal.
"Aaaahhh!"
"Eeeek!"
Ryoga whipped around to the window, the skin on his back having turned into a hundred per cent goose bumps, and therefore failed to see Ukyo jumping with fright and lunging for him, still screaming and now also kicking, her foot catapulting the plate of senbei into an airborne arch, clattering to the floor with a racket, crispy senbei flying everywhere, breaking.
Just as he discovered that there was nothing outside the window but a tree branch, he found himself with an okonomiyaki chef attached to his neck, screaming her head off while seemingly trying to create a hole in his chest by burrowing her nose into it. He could feel her shaking uncontrollably, and put his hands on her back in an attempt to calm her down.
Ukyo started again; something was touching her back! Her scream reached a pitch only heard by dogs as she reached behind her to grab whatever it was and throw it off of her. Unfortunately the 'something' was Ryoga's hands, so she propelled them both off the couch and down to the floor in a tangled heap of limbs.
This was the moment the power chose to come back on.
Ryoga sat up, rubbing his shoulder, which had taken the brunt of his weight as he landed. Blinking against the suddenly bright lights, Ukyo clutched the back of her head in pain. "Uhh..." She mumbled intelligibly as she looked up at him looking down at her lying crookedly on the floor, her yukata riding up, leaving her long legs exposed.
Ryoga reached out a hand to help her up, averting his gaze from the gracefully curved limbs. "And that's why you shouldn't read horror novels." He told her sagely.
Ukyo couldn't help it, it was all just so silly; here she was, lying on her back in a pile of crushed senbei, with a stubbed toe and a dishevelled yukata, having just screamed her head off and probably frightened poor Ryoga half to death, and all because she let herself get scared by imaginary spooks. She let out a thorough belly laugh, unlike any he'd ever heard from a girl before. With other girls, especially the ones wearing the frilly pastel dresses, it was always the girlish tee-hee-hee's, hidden coquettishly behind their hands. Ukyo's laugh was loud and happy and slightly obnoxious, and all in all, completely wonderful. He watched her for a while, grinning at her laughter until she'd ridden it out, and then offered to help her up again.
"Woo..." She said on an out breath, looking tired but content as she let him lift her from the tatami floor. Then she winced a little as she put her weight on her stubbed toe. "Ooh, it still kinda smarts." She said, hopping over to the couch. "Could you close the window?" She asked absently as she examined her toe, pressing the cloth more firmly around it.
When he'd locked the storm outside again, and gathered up the plate and the broken pieces of senbei, Ryoga turned to her. "You screamed, too." Ukyo said triumphantly, a pixie-like expression in her eyes and a smug smirk on her lips.
Ryoga glowered. "I was just...startled. Wasn't like I thought there were any ghosts outside like you did."
"Whatever you say, Hibiki." She said nonchalantly.
"Well, the power's back on..." Ryoga said hesitantly, uncertain as to how long he was welcome to stay. "Did you want to watch television?"
Ukyo shook her head. "Actually, I'm kinda tired, and it's getting kinda late, so I think I just wanna go to bed."
"Oh." He said dully before sidling a little towards the door. This probably meant he had to go. "Um..."
"There's a spare futon under the bed." Ukyo said warmly, rising to his aid. It was clear he had no idea what she intended, whether he was supposed to leave or not. "Would you mind laying it out?" She continued, getting up to go to the bathroom to get ready for bed. "By the way, you've got a sleeping bag, right?" When there was no answer, she glanced over her shoulder.
Ryoga was busy doing a very fine impression of a stunned deer. "I...uh..."
Ukyo sighed a little before giving him a friendly look. "Ryoga...it's not like I'd let you get yourself lost in a storm like this, and there's plenty of room here, so I don't mind if you stay." She examined his nervous expression. "All right?" She asked patiently.
This seemed to snap him out of it. "Yeah, um," He shook his head as if trying to dislodge a thought. "Sorry, Ukyo. I'll get the futon."
It felt strange, Ryoga thought, spreading his sleeping bag across a soft futon in a girl's bedroom in a nice, warm apartment instead of on the ground or on a thin inflatable mattress in his tent.
It also made him feel strange when Ukyo came out of the bathroom in a modest cotton nightdress— the only dress he'd seen her in so far— and with a freshly scrubbed face. He'd never seen a girl getting ready for bed, except maybe a few glimpses of Akane when he was stuck in his pig-form, and then he'd kept his eyes closed most of the time to give her her privacy, even if she was fully dressed. Now, in Ukyo's apartment, it was like entering a whole new world, it was like being whispered tiny secrets to.
It was the little things he noticed now, like how she didn't look much different with her make-up off than she did with it on, because she hardly wore any. When she came and guided him to the bathroom so they could brush their teeth, he noticed a lot of things that he'd been too busy to notice the last time he was in there. Here, he noticed a small pile of hair grips, elastic bands and bows and the hairbrush she'd let him borrow, and there, he noticed— and he blushed at the discovery— a box of tampons. He also spotted a bag of cotton balls and a bottle of make-up remover. The small black bag next to it had to contain make-up, he reckoned. He was on unfamiliar ground, though, so he couldn't be sure.
It was odd to see Ukyo's bathroom if you knew her. Even if she didn't exactly have a pink, fuzzy rug in front of the toilet, floral-patterned walls and one of those vanities that he'd seen in the movies with the little light bulbs all around the mirror and a ton of perfume and paper flowers, it was still obvious that this bathroom, with all its little feminine odds and ends, belonged to a girl.
A girl which he was now standing next to, brushing his teeth. He kept glancing side-long at her, watching her loose hair, the bit of foam around her mouth growing as she brushed her teeth, and her legs peeking out from under the baby blue nightdress. She caught him looking at her and chuckled a little, which made for quite an amusing sound, what with the toothpaste lather currently occupying her mouth. Then she leaned down and spat it out in the sink without reservation. He raised his eyebrows; that was Ukyo. No fuss, no muss.
He choked a little on his toothbrush as Ukyo's nightdress rode up when she leaned forward, and he caught sight of her well-toned upper thighs.
Seeing her bathroom, or indeed, her upper thighs, was no match for actually sleeping in her room, however. After saying goodnight, she crawled into her bed and more or less fell asleep instantly. She must've had a tiring day in the restaurant before he met her.
It was relaxing, listening to her steady breath in the dark. It was an unfamiliar sensation to hear another human being, a girl, sleeping so peacefully this close by when he was just Hibiki Ryoga the young man, and not P-chan the pig. As soothing as her presence was, though, it still kept his mind busy, all these new experiences he'd just had.
He had a friend, suddenly. Someone who cared.
But it still bothered him, the thought that he might be a bother. Did she ask him to stay simply out of pity?
"Ryoga?"
She was awake; he hadn't noticed the change in her breathing.
"Mmm?" He asked tentatively, glancing at her.
She smiled wryly in the dark. "Can't sleep, huh?" How strangely comforting it is to wake up during the night and have someone to talk to, she reflected.
"Sorry." He mumbled.
"Never mind that. What are you thinking about?" Ukyo whispered, looking up into the ceiling.
"Uh...nothing." He dismissed it.
"Ryoga?" She asked softly, and he relented.
"I...um...why did you let me stay here?"
Ukyo scoffed. "What do you mean? There's a storm out there! You know, the kind with rain and thunder?"
"No, I...you didn't have to..."
Ukyo took in his words; he was still unsure as to why she was letting him stay here. And in truth, she hadn't given him a good explanation yet, not really. "You're good company, Ryoga." She rolled around so that she was lying on her side, attempting to see his face in the dark. "You don't think I get lonely sometimes, too?"
"Uh, s-sure," He stuttered, "Um...don't we all?" He added lamely, feeling out of his depth. "But I m-mean, here I am, in your room, and I'm a guy, and...um..."
Ukyo smiled softly. "Listen, I know you're kind of nervous around girls and all, but don't worry about me. I'm pretty much used to this, sleeping in the same room as guys, I mean. I did go to an all-boys school, remember?" She shrugged. "It's no big deal."
So that was why she didn't have any trouble falling asleep, he thought. "But, um...you're engaged..." He reminded her carefully.
In the dark, he heard her draw a slightly shaky breath. "Ranma...Ranma wouldn't ca— wouldn't mind much. He trusts me. Besides," She added sternly, narrowing her eyes. "You wouldn't try anything...indecent, would you?"
She heard Ryoga splutter with embarrassment and offence, and knew she had the upper hand. "O-of course not!" He hissed finally. She waited for a moment while he composed himself, heard him clear his throat. "But...but what about...Ukyo, I know I can be a lot of trouble, what with my lousy sense of direction and with my tendency to break stuff, and— are you sure you want me here? Wh-what if something happens to your restaurant? I could leave right now, no sweat, I have my umbrella—"
"You hate yourself that much?" Ukyo asked sharply.
Ryoga was struck dumb. "...huh?"
Jeez! Will he ever stop torturing himself? This boy's confidence went up and down like a frikkin' seesaw! It was so dizzying! She was starting to honestly worry if maybe he wasn't one of those manic-depressives she'd heard about. Ukyo didn't know whether to laugh or to cry, so she did neither. "Go back to sleep, sweetie. I like having you here." She whispered kindly.
"R-really?" Ryoga swallowed, still unable to utter more than two syllables.
"Uh-huh." Ukyo nodded. "And tell you what...it's Sunday tomorrow, so how 'bout you keep me company on my day off, huh? That is," she added hastily, "if you want to."
"R-really?" Ryoga repeated. "But don't you already have plans? I wouldn't want to...r-ruin..."
Ukyo laughed a quiet, self-deprecating laugh. "Sugar, I'm a single, working girl who uses most of my time on my restaurant and on school, which doesn't exactly leave much time for developing a rich social life. What else am I gonna do with my spare time? Knit mittens?"
Ryoga didn't quite manage to quell the surprised bark of laughter. "Heh, sorry," He whispered.
Ukyo grinned a little. "Glad to hear you're feeling better." She turned over on her stomach, making herself comfortable again. "While misery loves company, laughter is much more contagious..." She yawned into her pillow. "'Night, Ryoga."
"Good night, Ukyo."
For the second time in less than a week, he'd had someone to wish a good night to, and who'd wished him one back. For Hibiki Ryoga, that was without a doubt a record.
It was kinda nice for Kuonji Ukyo, too.
Author's note: Someone pointed out that it was weird to describe Ryoga as shorter than Ranma. I don't know about the anime, but if you check out the manga, especially the later books, like the koi rod story in issue 23 (Japanese version) and the Ryugenzawa story (24 and 25, Japanese), you can tell that Ryoga's the shorter of the two. It might not be that much of a height difference, but the fact is that he is shorter. It wasn't really a major point to this story, though, so let's just forget about it.
Corrections: I put some more clothes on Ukyo since it's supposed to be February. I also got rid of the whole baseball bat thing because Ryoga would only need his own hands to take care of some common burglars. I'd been a bit sceptical about the whole thing, and then Ghost reminded me about it in a review, so I decided to change it. I also want to thank Ghost for pointing out how Ukyo would've been able to lift the tanuki by herself in chapter one, something which had also bothered me but I'd never gotten around to changing since I was worried it would ruin the plot, but luckily I found a way around it.
You'll have to excuse all the references to Japanese literature; it was just an idea that popped into my head sometime after I had an oral exam in contemporary Japanese literature.
Akutagawa Ryuunosuke has, in my opinion, a very depressing style of writing and I wanted to have Ukyo yell at Ryoga for reading his works. If you want some idea of what happens in his novels or short stories, there's little fate in love, people are often depressed, there are a lot of suicides, and in the short story I read for my exam, the main character wound up in a mental institution. I like to think of him as the Kafka of Japan, and I actually think they were authors at about the same time, in the beginning of the 20th century. So, yeah, this is the kinda thing I would imagine Ryoga reads to keep up the Shi Shi Hokodan, or just because it fits his state of mind. Who knows? Actually, I'm not exactly sure why I wrote this, I just thought of Ryoga when I read Akutagawa because it was so bleak and negative.
I wanted to put a real life spin on the Ranmaverse, like a lot of authors have done before me, and wanted to dig deeper in Ryoga's psyche (ooh, clichés aplenty!) and find out why he is so odd that he is, because if you think about it, these people's life's would be incredibly tragic in real life without the trademark Takahashi Rumiko humour to provide comic relief.
I especially admire Firewind's Heart of Glass, where Ryoga just completely breaks down and attempts suicide on several occasions, something that forces Ranma to 'grow up' and help him. While I think this may be a little extreme, it is well written, and it works in its own way, but my version of Ryoga, as he states in this chapter, promises Ukyo that he'd never end his own life. My Ryoga is very shy, has a somewhat low sense of self-worth and is very socially inapt, however, which Ukyo is trying to rectify. The question is whether she'll grow so frustrated in the end that she'll give up on the Lost Boy.
This isn't just about Ryoga, though, because Ukyo has definitely got some issues of her own.
Hmm, so what else...oh, right, Japanese words. Let's see...
Futari: Two people/persons. (One person, hitori, two persons, futari, three persons, sannin, etc...)
Katsudon: Usually pork or chicken cutlets placed in a big bowl of rice, with a little sauce poured over it, and maybe with some garnish like spring leeks or thinly shredded nori (seaweed) sprinkled on top.
Shabu shabu: Shabu shabu is a Japanese style meat fondue. Thinly sliced meat, vegetables, mushrooms and tofu is dipped into a hot soup and then into ponzu vinegar or a sesame sauce before being eaten. You kinda 'make' your own food in a hot pot at the table. As mentioned, I chose it because I figured it would remind Ryoga of a camping kitchen, thereby calming him down. Shabu shabu means "swish-swish," referring to the swishing action when you cook a very thin slice of beef in hot water.
Genkan: The hallway of a Japanese house, where you have to take off your shoes before entering the home.
Senbei: Japanese rice crackers. Crispy, tasty and often spicy, and certainly not the cardboard-like kind you buy in Western stores, which is why I didn't want to simply write 'rice crackers'.
Yukata: A light, cotton kimono; a layered robe. It has many uses: Bathrobe, summer daily wear, simple night attire, etc...
As for The Perfect Suicide Manual, you can probably guess as to what it's about? I haven't actually read it, I just read about it for a project I wrote concerning suicide in Japan, but it really is a manual on how to kill yourself, by hanging and other methods, and it really did make the best-selling list in Japan in the nineties. I guess I just figure that Ryoga is attracted to depressing literature. ;)
The storm was something I put in on a whim. It was only supposed to be raining, to make Ukyo suspicious of Ryoga's aqua-phobia, but it turned into a storm all by itself. The cozy little evening with Ryoga and Ukyo in the storm, and the fact that she's fond of horror novels and horror films, is a tribute to one of my favourite Ryoga/Ukyo stories, called 'Stormy Birthday' by RuroiniGochan, which can be found right here on this site. I highly recommend it. :)
Oh, and by the way— if you wonder why the characters are seventeen or eighteen instead of sixteen, it's because I wanted them to be somewhat more mature while still maintaining the 'confused teenager' angle, and because while this is based on a comic, and everyone's gonna be that age forever, I still feel that some time must have passed since Ranma and his father first came to stay at the Tendo house. Furthermore, I feel that some time needs to have passed in order for Ryoga to have started to think that his pursuit of Akane is futile. I'm not sure where on the timeline I'm placing this story, but definitely after the after the Fishing Rod of Love story, and after the Cursed Tunnel of Lost Love story as well.
I chose Cowboy Bebop as one of Ukyo's favourite shows because I imagine she's got a sense of humour and has more of a grown-up taste when it comes to animé. I also chose it because I had no idea about TV shows in Japan at the time when I wrote this chapter, and had only watched the things that are exported to the West, which is mostly animé.
I've watched Japanese TV now and I can safely say that a lot of the shows suck, so I stand by my decision. A very large amount of the shows are extremely lame game shows. Some of the drama series are supposedly good, but I never got into them, so...
I don't know about cable TV, though, as we only had very few channels where I lived.
