"Ryouga?"

"Yep," said Mousse.

Autumn couldn't believe what she was hearing. She sat down on the couch in her upstairs living room and rubbed the brow of her nose. "Ryouga Hibiki?"

"Yep," Mousse said again.

"The 'so sad he nearly blew up the entire town' Ryouga Hibiki?"

"Yep."

Autumn looked at Spring with an incredulous expression on her face. "I can't believe you! What in the world are you thinking?" Her younger sister looked at her with a lecherous grin. Autumn shook her head, "Ugh, never mind. I KNOW what you're thinking. I just don't understand how you could set your heart...or WHATEVER on him?"

"Are you kidding?" asked Spring. "Have you seen that bod of his?"

The elder sister raised an eyebrow and looked towards Mousse. "I'm rather happily involved, actually. So there's only one 'bod' I've been interested in." Mousse blushed.

Spring looked Mousse over again and nodded, "I know what you mean. But Ryouga is absolutely scrumptious! And I saw him in ALL of his glory." She thought back to the time they met at the bathhouse and started to drool. "Oh man, he's built like a mountain and I can't wait to climb him!" She shook her head clear and continued, "Besides, he did defeat me and according to the law of our tribe, he's earned the right to my hand in marriage...and everything else too." She grinned again.

"I suppose there's no getting around that," admitted Autumn. "He's not exactly the happiest guy around, though. I bet he could find the dark cloud in every silver lining."

"No worries there," the younger sister said. "I know I can bring him out of that. All he needs is a little of my special brand of TLC. My only real concern in all of this is that Ukyou girl. It seems she has feelings for him too and intends on getting in my way." She pulled out her sword, "Of course, any girl who gets in the way of my heart's desire will dealt with severely. Time for the hunt!"

"Erm...could you at least wait till morning to cause more trouble?" asked Mousse.

Before he could blink, she sheathed her sword and had her arms wrapped around his neck. "Are you offering to...tuck me in?" Mousse sweatdropped and looked at his fiancée, worried.

"Hey," Autumn said, standing up with a slightly irritated look on her face. "You're supposed to ask MY permission first."

"That's right," went Mousse. "I can't just do that to...wait, what?"

-

Dreamweaver Studios Presents

Ranma½

And the Beat Goes On

"Too Close for Comfort"

-

Kuno sat in his room, meditating on the situation the family has found itself in.

Soon, she would be there.

It seemed fortune has frowned upon him again. Not long ago, he was gifted with the power to finally defeat the knave, Saotome, freeing Akane Tendo and his precious pigtailed girl from the knave's clutches. All that was left was for him to perfect those skills and he was certain Saotome would be brought to heel once and for all. But with the news delivered by his father earlier that day, nothing was certain any longer.

What now?

The news was so disconcerting; he couldn't even finish his meditation. He was so close to his goals, he could taste it. He knew once she arrived, she would do everything she could to sabotage his designs. His loves would be lost to him forever, unless he was to do something before her arrival. Unfortunately, he was so out of sorts from the initial shock, he couldn't think of anything no matter how hard he tried.

He went over to his window overlooking the garden in their back yard. It was so peaceful...the calm before the coming storm. There was no way in the world he wanted to be mixed up in any of that again. Something clicked in his mind. There was one thing he could do, but he didn't relish the thought. Such a thing was the coward's way out, not the path of one of the noble Kuno lineage. But then, as they say, discretion was the better part of valor. Besides which, none of the other 'solutions' he came up with were feasible anyway. There was no other choice for him.

With his decision made, he began to pack.

----+----+----+----+----

The next school day came and went rather uneventfully. It was nice to actually have something resembling a normal school day with no demons, no rivals, no ninjas or anything stupid like that. It was helpful that Ryouga spent the day at home recovering from his bout with Hayate and the aftermath with her and Spring. It gave Ukyou the chance to cool off...not that she was all that cool about things still. Even now, she was seething over the whole thing. Ryouga told her point blank not too long ago that there wasn't anyone else he was involved with, and then boom, here this girl comes out of the blue.

Well...he did say no one he knew of. Spring was just as much a shock to him as anyone.

Still, he should've been more careful whom he got involved with. And he had absolutely no reason to have gone into that women's bath the way he did. Okay, so it wasn't as if he went in there on purpose. By now, Ryouga's lousy sense of direction was legendary. She shouldn't be surprised that he managed to wander where he shouldn't have been. In fact, she shouldn't be surprised if he told her he somehow managed to walk to the moon.

Ukyou stopped...was she trying to make excuses for him? Yes, they were all very valid reasons for what happened and given just how crazy everything was where they were concerned, that was probably exactly what happened. She shook her head; the whole situation was driving her insane. That was when the million-dollar question came to her...

Just why did it infuriate her so?

It wasn't as if they were boyfriend/girlfriend or anything. He was just a friend, an employee and tenant, nothing more. She thought about what nearly happened in the nurse's office before Spring burst in and shook her head again, shivering. That was an aberration: she was just caught up in the moment and it got the better of her common sense, that's all. And surely, she wasn't disappointed that the moment was ruined; nor was she bitter or angry over Spring stealing the kiss that was meant for her.

...The witch.

With everything being as crazy as it had been, Ukyou had been neglecting her business. She had run dangerously low on much needed supplies and she desperately needed to restock. Ukyou eyed her surroundings suspiciously and fingered her battle spatula. She had been caught too many times without it and wasn't about to be caught off guard again, and she would be damned if she was going to let that whole kiss of death thing force her to cower and hide. The chef would not let the newest Amazon floozy in town have that much power over her. She adjusted the bandolier clasped across her chest and began walking towards mid-town.

Behind her, Spring emerged from the shadows of Furinkan's main building and smiled, eyeing her unsuspecting prey. Ukyou looked like she was prepared for battle. The fool; it didn't matter how prepared or how skilled she thought she was. When the time was right, she would never know what hit her. And once Spring had defeated Ukyou, Ryouga would be all hers! They would be married per Amazon law and he would be hers to do with as she pleased every night...and every morning...and maybe sometimes after lunch...she began to drool again thinking about it, earning her some disturbed looks from passers-by.

Spring composed her self the best she could and got back to the matter at hand. Her fantasies would come true soon enough once she defeated Ukyou. With a predatory grin on her face, she unsheathed her sword and began her charge...only there wasn't a target for her to charge towards. She looked around but couldn't see her prey anywhere close by. She cursed to herself for letting her daydream get the better of her, allowing Ukyou to escape. The ninja sprang into the nearest tree and from there, hopped rooftop to rooftop to try and find her lost target.

----+----

He may have been down, but he wasn't out. If Hibiki thought he had seen the last of him, he was sorely mistaken. Tsubasa Kurenai wasn't that easily dispatched. Disguised as a sign for a sushi restaurant, he sat in the middle of town watching the people of Nerima going about their daily business. He was at a loss as to what to do next. That transforming mailbox was one of the best disguises he had ever developed...one of the most expensive too. He wanted another crack at Ryouga, but there was no way in the world he could afford another one of those any time soon.

A loud, audible sigh came from the sign causing a patron to look at it with a raised eyebrow. Carefully, he got up and quickly walked away, hoping not to get involved in anything. Inside the sign, Tsubasa sulked, depressed and completely out of ideas. Ryouga was a lot stronger than he gave him credit for. Without another machine, there was no way he could stand up against his brutish power. But something had to be done, or else he would lose the woman of his dreams to the bandanna clad martial artist forever.

Speaking of the woman of his dreams, he poked his head out of the front of the sign as he caught sight of her. Ukyou was walking on the other side of the street in her boy's school uniform, decked out for battle and with an irritated look on her face. This was too good to be true. She and Hibiki must be fighting now. It must be pretty bad for her to be lugging all of her gear with her. This was just the opportunity he was hoping for! After listening to her complain for a while and a few soothing words in response, no doubt she would fall into his arms and proclaim her love! He would win without having to resort to fighting...the best kind of win there was.

Ukyou stopped at a restaurant supply warehouse that specialized in packaging beef and poultry. Instead of making a scene inside, Tsubasa decided it was best to wait where he was for her. As he sat, waiting for Ukyou to exit the warehouse, he noticed something in the periphery of his vision. Sitting on the roof of the building was another girl, with short blue hair and what looked like a ninja suit. Even with all of the martial artists in town, Tsubasa couldn't recall ever seeing a ninja before. He wondered why she was perched on top of the building.

All too soon, he got his answer. As soon as Ukyou exited the building, the ninja girl unsheathed a rather nasty looking sword and jumped. 'OH NO!' he screamed internally. 'UKYOU!' His mind raced. There was no way he could stop a trained ninja, especially an armed one. Even if he could, there was no way he would be able to reach them in time to save Ukyou. But there had to be something he could do. In a panic, he reached for the nearest thing to him and threw it at the attacking ninja girl.

Ukyou stepped out of the warehouse, feeling a little better. A fresh order of chicken and beef were on the way. That was one less thing for her to worry about. Now, she was off to the next restaurant supply warehouse to place an order of napkins and cooking oils. Putting the receipt of her purchased items in her pocket, she spun on her heel to start to her next destination, when her senses tingled, warning her of danger. She grabbed the handle of her mega spatula and readied herself for anything.

-CRASH!-

Well, almost anything. Turning back to the doorway, Ukyou found Spring lying in a mangled heap among a bunch of empty trashcans. While she was making her attempt to strike, something large and wet landed on one of her eyes, impeding her vision and totally throwing off her trajectory. Usually, this breed of warrior was conditioned to block out all manner of distractions and discomforts to complete whatever mission they were on successfully. But this was so vile a substance, even a ninja would be hard pressed to ignore it.

Removing the substance from her eye, Spring made a disgusted face, "Ugh, sushi. I hate sushi!"

"Well, isn't this a pretty picture?" Ukyou said with a smirk. "Seems fitting."

Spring threw away the offending piece of raw fish, grabbed her sword which was lying beside her, and stood to her feet. "Okay, maybe the landing stunk. But I'm not beaten yet! Prepare to di-"

-CLANG!-

The okonomiyaki chef re-sheathed her battle spatula as she watched the ninja girl fly off somewhere over the horizon. Even with the assassination attempt averted, Ukyou growled. When she got back home, she was definitely going to give Ryouga a piece of her mind. She stomped off to her next destination. All of the other pedestrians, seeing the irate look on the young martial artist's face, gave her a very wide berth.

Across the street at the sushi restaurant, Tsubasa wasn't feeling that much better with the situation. He had no idea who that other girl was, nor why she was after Ukyou. As much as he wanted to continue pursuing his love and getting that Hibiki guy out of the picture, this had to take precedence. He would have to be her guardian angel, watching from afar, stopping any subsequent attempts on Ukyou's life. Tsubasa smiled; if he played his cards right, this could be a way to win Ukyou over also. He began following Ukyou to her next stop; grinning to himself thinking of how she would show her gratitude once she found out he was keeping her safe.

One of the waiters working at the sushi restaurant watched Tsubasa as he left. He turned to his supervisor, "Sir...did you just see that?"

"Nope," the supervisor said, shaking his head. "I didn't just see our sign just get up and walk away. And neither did you, understand?"

----+----

After what turned out to be another long, eventful day, the sun began to set, turning the sky a vibrant orange. Moving the "closed" sign out of the way, Ukyou took out her house key, opened the front door and stepped inside her restaurant. She went over behind the grill, put her numerous receipts down on the counter and kicked her shoes off. She took out a drink from the refrigerator and sat down, letting out a long sigh...it was good to be home. Twisting off the top of the bottle, she took a sip of her drink. Her stomach let her know that it appreciated her giving it some attention, finally, but that it required more solid sustenance. She shook her head, realizing she hadn't had anything to eat since lunch earlier that day. She would have to cook something to eat before she could really relax.

Taking another swig of her drink, she grudgingly stood up and went back over to the refrigerator to rummage around for something suitable to have for dinner. Doing so, she came across something she hadn't noticed before; a plate covered with a plastic wrapper. On top of the plate was a note scribbled on a piece of scratch paper, "Ukyou, left this for you. –Ryouga." She raised an eyebrow and uncovered the plate. Steamed rice topped with stir fried vegetables and some grilled chicken.

"He still thinks he can cook, huh?" she said, thinking back to his attempt at making okonomiyaki while they were on Togenkyou Island. Well, he wasn't Akane, so it had to be eatable. Besides, it would be rude of her to just throw it away after he went through the trouble. After running it through the microwave for three and a half minutes to reheat it, she sat back down, putting the plate in front of her. After a deep sigh, gathering up her courage, she took a first apprehensive bite. As it rolled around her palate, her eyes lit up, "Wow! He may not do okonomiyaki well, but he can cook!"

Thoroughly impressed with the food, she continued to eat. It almost made her sad when she came to the last fork full. She would definitely have to convince him to cook more. In fact, this could be the opportunity she was looking for to expand her menu. The thought of growing her business completely made her forget about the confrontation she intended to have with him about the ninja amazon situation. She stood up and went to the sink to wash off the plate. There, she noticed the door leading to the back yard was wide open.

Ukyou shook her head, "That idiot. He must've gotten lost trying to go to the bathroom or something. I just hope no one's broken in again." She put the cleaned plate away in her pantry and went over to the opened door. Looking through it, she found Ryouga in the back, performing a kata. It was strange. From what she saw of Ryouga's fighting style, it was all power-based requiring him to use his brute strength to bulldoze through any situation he found himself in. She never figured him as the type to do these sorts of exercises.

She stood in the doorway, watching as he went through the motions of the kata smoothly. She didn't want to admit, even to herself, that she was mesmerized or anything. Still, watching him working through the exercise so fluidly, with the added effect of he not wearing a shirt and his sweat soaked torso gleaming with the last few rays of sunlight was...captivating. What really caught her attention, though, were his eyes. While his overall expression was one of grim determination, she could see the intense pain he was in through his eyes. What was worse was the look that it was something he was used to.

He entered a particularly taxing routine of the kata and stopped in the middle of it, clutching his ribs. Ukyou shook her head and stepped out with him. "Ryouga."

Ryouga looked up, "Ukyou? When did you get back?"

"Not too long ago. What do you think you're doing? You know the Doctor said you need to take it easy to give your body a chance to recover."

"I couldn't stay cooped up in bed all day. It was driving me crazy. I just had to get up and do a little exercise. Besides, Hayate is still out there waiting for another shot at me. I can't afford to get rusty."

"All the good it'll do if you permanently injure yourself." She walked up to him, but he took a step back, eyeing her suspiciously.

"You're not going to hit me again, are you?"

She was genuinely hurt by the question. And here, she was trying to help him. Of course, now that he mentioned it, she did have that in mind for him not too long ago. It seemed he had a right to be so defensive. She spread her arms out to each side and reassured him, "I come in peace, sugar, I promise." Seeing that he was somewhat placated by her words, Ukyou finished closing the distance between them, put a hand on the middle of his back and nudged him back towards the house. "Now get yourself back inside before you hurt yourself anymore."

"Okay, okay. Sheesh."

It was a good thing she was slightly behind him. Ukyou didn't understand why, but she felt herself blushing. It felt as if there was some sort of energy channeling through her hand where she touched him and it was causing that reaction. She couldn't comprehend what was going on. She had held him many times before, a lot closer in fact. But none of those previous times had ever elicited this reaction before. She chanced a glance up towards the bandana clad warrior and notice he had a slight blush as well. Quickly, she cast her eyes back in front of her. She didn't know what was going on, but she could feel a palpable tension falling between them. This wasn't good; something had to be done to break the silence...

"Um...hey! I appreciate the dinner you left for me." Not something to start a long conversation with, but Ukyou did hope Ryouga would have a decent enough response to keep the uncomfortable silence from returning...at least until she got him to his room. Fortunately, they weren't far. They were at the base of the stairs leading to their living quarters. Just a little more...

"Thanks," Ryouga replied with a smile. Ukyou had to turn away from him quickly. Dammit! Why did he have to smile like that? "I was hoping you would like it," he continued. "I haven't had to cook for anyone else in a long time, and I wasn't sure if it was going to be any good or not."

"It was really good. Ever thought about becoming a chef?" Why was the staircase so long all of a sudden? Did someone add a few thousand more steps while she was gone?

"I hadn't really thought about it. I've never really stayed in one place for very long to think of careers and stuff."

Finally! They had reached the top floor! Now, to direct him to his room and it would be over! For now... "Think about it. I've been thinking about expanding my menu for some time to compete with the Nekohaten and the other places around here for some time and I could use a good man...to, um...to help me with that. We could even become partners...business partners." Crap, where WAS his door already?

Ryouga considered what she said. "That sounds good. I'm open to the idea. I kinda like the thought of being paired with you. I think we'd make a great couple." Ukyou blushed. Did she just hear what she thought she heard? "...Of chefs. We'd make a great couple of chefs," he amended.

There's the door! There's the door! Okay, don't fling it open too quickly. Just stay cool. "Well, don't just jump in blind. This business isn't as easy as it may appear. It's going to be a lot of hard and most times, tedious work. Just think about it for a bit, okay?" She took the doorknob and opened the door as calmly as she could.

"Okay, I will," Ryouga said with a nod. "Well, goodnight."

"Goodnight." He walked through the doorway and Ukyou closed it behind him. Once he was out of sight, she let out a huge sigh of relief. Thinking of the conversation, she mentally kicked herself. She felt she was getting too close to him as it was. She couldn't afford to have him even closer than that, practically breathing down her neck while she was in the kitchen. Ukyou shivered, thinking of him standing behind her and literally breathing down her neck. Unfortunately, the image progressed with his mouth inching closer to her neck and his arms wrapping her up from behind.

She bonked herself on the head. It was getting worse now. It was still too soon after the whole mess with Ranma. With how much it pained her to see him with Akane, it was obvious to her that she wasn't over him yet. With all of the hurt she still carried, she desperately wanted a break from all of that love and relationship business. Besides, Ryouga deserved better than to be a rebound guy. Taking another deep breath, Ukyou willed her feet to move, going back downstairs to lock up.

On the other side of the door, Ryouga was wondering just what in the world was going on himself. He's always had trouble with girls, sometimes to the point of falling over into a quivering pile of jello when one gave him even the slightest bit of amorous attention. It was especially true with Akane. That maddening tendency prevented him from ever telling her what he felt for her, which resulted in him losing her. But for some reason, that was never true with Ukyou. Even after that somewhat awkward way he found out she was really a she, he never really had trouble functioning while he was around her.

She seemed to have this good-natured, confident quality to her that sort of rubbed off on him...even though it was rare that she would actually demonstrate the 'good natured' part where he was concerned. Even still, they evolved into great friends and even better partners in crime, scheming to split Ranma and Akane apart, coming closer together than either ever had apart. But now that Ranma and Akane were out of reach, something seemed different between them. When Ukyou put her hand on his back, he felt as if his chest was going to explode. That wasn't how one felt when they were touched by a 'friend'.

He was especially confused trying to figure what Ukyou must have been feeling. Most times, she wasn't very pleasant to be around, ranging in moods from irritable to downright violent. Other times, she was a very sweet person. Complementary, helpful...she was almost clingy at times. And then there was that almost-kiss back at the nurse's office. He shook his head. He just couldn't figure her out for the life of him. He did observe one thing: the way she behaved with him was pretty close to how Akane acted towards Ranma.

Was it possible? Was it possible that Ukyou was developing feelings for him? Was it possible that he was developing those same feelings for her in return? It was. It was also possible that he took too many headshots from his fight with Hayate and it was making him delusional. Besides, that whole mess with Ranma and Akane left him rather burned out on the whole love and relationships thing. If Ukyou felt anything, she must feel burned out also. But then, there's that thing with Spring now...

It was all too much. He flopped down on his bed and stared at the ceiling, illuminated by the last few rays of sunlight. As he drifted off to sleep, one last thought popped into his head...he hoped that he and Ukyou weren't turning into another Ranma and Akane. That was a rather revolting concept...

----+----+----+----+----

With an irritated look on her rather filthy face, Spring trudged herself to the upper level of Autumn's herbal remedy shop. What an unmitigated disaster that day had been. As if getting that piece of sushi wasn't bad enough...and just where in the world did it come from anyway? After being batted away by Ukyou, Spring fell right into the cargo hold of a fisherman's boat. There must have been thousands of fish in there...live fish to boot. She hated fish.

Upon entering the living area, Spring's odiferous presence made itself painfully known. The pungent smell made its way into the living room before she did causing Autumn and Mousse, who were sitting on the couch reading, to yell in disgust and pinch their noses closed. "Oh by gooddess!" went Autumn. "Whad in da world habbened do you?"

"I'd rather not talk about it," groaned Spring.

"I dake ib your first addempt at killing dat Ukyou girl dibm't go bell?"

"Obviously not." The ninja girl let out a despondent sigh. "I need a few nice, long baths." She trudged over to the couple, grabbed Mousse and yanked him to his feet. Managing a devious smirk, she said, "Let's go!"

"Huh, w-wait!" went Mousse.

"Hey! I dold you, you bust ask by bermission first!" yelled Autumn.

----+----+----+----+----

----+----+----+----+----