Nabiki Tendo is a lot of things. Being completely honest and truthful aren't what you'd normally see from her. She's made a living out of deceiving people and lying through her teeth. The same could be said of Tatewaki Kuno, though for him you would not expect him to be an observant of the obvious. But after the breakdown of the latter, the aforementioned attributes of the former have come to light. Yet the stubborn nuisance's of their past still dominate them. The best example of this being the last gifts he gave to her. Not listening to her sister's advice as to why he might be giving her one of those particular gifts, Nabiki decided to lie to him if the subject ever came up.

And sure enough it did. The day after she received the stuffed panda bear he asked her what she thought of it. She told him she loved it and then promptly changed the subject. When he wondered if she saw how special the gift was, she told him she did notice how well made the bear was and that it must've been expensive to buy before diverting his attention to something else. If Kuno had a keener eye he'd have been able to tell she was trying to avoid talking about it any way she could. Luckily for her the conversation was interrupted by the bell and the couple stopped talking about things and went to class holding hands.

Before parting ways for the day Kuno told Nabiki if she examined her gift closer that she'd be even more surprised by the secret that lay inside. She agreed to do just that, then she gave him a kiss and was on her way home.

When she was out of his sight she put her head in her hand, groaned and said to herself, 'Oh, great. That means tomorrow he's gonna ask about the money and the ring. Now what do I do?'

She spent half the night in her room coming up with a plan of action. She didn't even bother leaving her room when the incident between Ranma, Akane and Shampoo took place right underneath of her. She knew things would be solved quickly and that she didn't need to intervene. By the time she went to bed Nabiki still hadn't come up with anything to do besides trying the old tactic of lie and distract.

And the next day her so-called plan worked to some degree. Nabiki and Tatewaki met up at the front of the school and shared a quick good morning kiss.

He then asked her, "My sweet Nabiki, did you heed my advice and closely examine the bear to find the secret inside?"

"Yes I did," she confessed.

"And?" wondered her boyfriend.

"I thought the 20,000 yen was a nice gift too," she answered.

"There was more to it than just the money," he told her, "What about the ring?"

"I didn't really take notice of the ring, silver isn't really my style," she replied, before changing the subject, "How'd you do on the homework?"

Kuno ignored it and asked, "What did you do with the ring?"

"I still have it if that's what you mean," she said, "Why do you ask? What's so important about it?"

"Nothing," he told her, diverting his eyes.

Nabiki had a sly smile across her face before trying the homework question again.

Continuing to ignore the question Kuno asked one of his own, "Nabiki?"

"Yes?" she replied.

"You want to go on a date tomorrow?" he wondered.

"A date? Tomorrow?" she repeated.

"Yes, will you do me the honor of being my date for a night of dancing and dining?" he asked.

"My sister has a date tomorrow too," she told him.

"Akane?" wondered her boyfriend.

"No, it's Kasumi that has the date," she explained, "She's been dating Dr. Ono Tofu for a little while now."

"But how is that stopping you from saying yes to our date?" wondered the teenager.

"It's not," replied Nabiki.

"Then what is your answer, my dear? Is it a date?" asked the kendoist, insisting on an answer.

The middle Tendo sister took a little time before responding, "Alright, Kuno-baby. It's a date then."

"Great! I'll pick you up at seven," said Tatewaki.

"Okay," agreed his girlfriend.

At that moment the bell rang and the two of them began making their way inside the school together.

'If I go out with him that means Akane and Ranma will be all alone in the house with dad,' she said to herself, 'I'm sure nothing will happen while I'm gone, but I can't be too sure though.'

Nabiki thought about it some more the closer she got to her class, 'Why am I worried? It's Ranma and Akane. Sure their relationship is better than before, but to really think they'd go that far so easily is absurd.'

She separated herself from her boyfriend as they walked through the door and made their way to their seats.

'Instead of worrying about them I should worry about something more important, like what I'm going to wear,' she said to herself, concentrating on other things happening around her.

-------------------------

With school days now uneventful, the only thing Ranma and Akane had to worry about is the walk home and who might show up to cause problems. But for the last school day of the week luck was on their side and nothing happened. They made it home without a hitch in their plans. For Ukyo it was a different matter. She made it home no sweat, but there was one problem waiting for her when she got there. Well, sorta.

The female chef unlocked the door to her restaurant and went upstairs to her apartment to change into her cooking attire. She came back down and began to clean the cooking counter when she noticed something out of place. Someone appeared to be there, but she couldn't see their face because it was hidden behind a menu. It was only when she got closer to the person she remembered she didn't have a menu and on closer inspection it was one from a Chinese restaurant and it was upside-down. Ukyo smiled because she had an idea of who it might be. She decided to play along and pretend she was alone.

She continued to wipe down the counter and even went by the person without so much as an acknowledgement to their presence. After wiping down the entire counter she sprayed a light coating of non-stick grease, turned the cooking counter on, picked up her pitcher of okonomiyaki batter and asked, "What'll ya have, honey?"

There came no response from behind the menu, but it started to tremble in the person's hands. Ukyo was certain by now who it was, but wanted to play a little more.

"Come on, sweetheart, if you don't tell me what ya want I can't make it," she said with as much kindness to her voice that she could muster.

The upside-down Chinese menu continued to shake while the person behind it remained silent. Rolling her eyes, the okonomiyaki chef reached out and snatched the menu from the person's grasp.

"Hi, Ryoga," she said, finally seeing his face.

He turned his eyes down and started to tap his index fingers together as his face went pink, "H-hi, U-u-ukyo. H-how did-did you know it-it was me?"

"I had a hunch. What can I get ya?" she told him, asking again, handing him back the menu.

Turning his gaze away he said, "I'm not really hungry."

"Oh," she replied, "Just visiting then?"

"Well....umm," he started, before blurting out, "Gifts!"

Ryoga reached for his backpack and began pulling things out of it as Ukyo put down her pitcher. The lost boy gave her a Chinese samurai sword and sheath, a pair a wooden sandals, Chinese fireworks, a kimono and a geisha fan with matching setting sun designs.

"Ryoga, I don't know what to say," she told him, overwhelmed with his generosity as she started to blush.

"Y-you don't have to say anything," he replied, still not looking at her, "Kn-knowing you like them is-is enough."

"Ryoga..." she said, putting the gifts down, "I'm beginning to think there is more to these visits than just gifts. You wanna talk?"

He didn't answer her question.

She took his face by the chin and made him look at her.

He stared into her sparkling blue eyes and his face turned bright red, "S-sure we can t-talk."

"Okay," she said. 'Good,' she thought, 'Now that I'm getting him to talk I want to hear it from him, not that I don't believe Ranma and Akane, I just want him to say it.' "I've heard some things from Ranma and Akane," she told him, letting him go.

"L-like what?" wondered the lost boy, his face getting redder as he dropped his head again.

"They gave me their opinions of why you're acting the way you are, like with the blushing and the gift giving," she explained with a smile.

"Wh-what is it they're s-saying about me?" asked Ryoga, unable to look up.

"What does it matter? Is what they say true?" Ukyo responded, asking him her own question.

"That depends on what they're telling you," he replied, the redness in his face fading a bit.

"They say the reasons you're doing the things you do is because you love me," she revealed.

"I don't know where they got that idea," answered the lost boy, turning his head away.

"So you don't like me?" she asked without a hint of anger in her voice.

Ryoga jerked his head back and shouted, "I never said that! Ukyo I lo-ike you, alot."

The girl gave a slight gasp and stared out at nothing, 'Oh my god. He nearly said it, but it's there, I know it is!' It was her turn to look down at the floor and blush. "That's good, because I like you too, Ryoga," she said in a shy kind of way.

Ryoga dropped his head as well, "Oh, that's nice."

Neither of them said anything for about a minute, they just remained still, unable to look the other in the eyes. Behind the counter of her restaurant Ukyo was always more confident than out in public, mostly because she was where she felt the most comfortable. Otherwise she would act about the same as Ryoga: shy and unassertive. But there was something behind his statement, even though he didn't actually say it, that unnerved her and put her out of her element. She happened to glance up and saw Ryoga moving a finger along the counter in a circle and she decided to take a risk. Ukyo walked from behind the counter and sat on the stool next to him. He watched her do this before returning his sights to the ground.

"Ryoga?" she said, trying to look in his eyes.

"Yeah?" he answered, averting her gaze.

She took one of his hands in her own and asked with a bit of uncertainty, "Would you like to....go out on a date sometime?"

He quickly looked up and repeated, "A d-date?"

"Yeah," she replied, her cheeks pink before quickly adding, "Though it doesn't have to be anytime soon, we can go when you feel ready."

"Well, I.... that is....umm," stuttered the young man, his face turning red again.

He looked down at his hand in hers and felt a knot in his stomach. He then looked up at her as she gave him a small smile and he blushed some more.

"Well?" she wondered.

"I.....I.....I gotta go!" he told her, quickly pulling his hand from her grasp. He picked up his pack and was out the door without another word.

"Ryoga, wait!" pleaded Ukyo before he was gone. Tears started to form in her eyes, 'So close,' she thought, turning her eyes down.

She noticed he left his umbrella in his haste, picked it up and went outside to see if she could catch up to him. She ran out the door only to almost run right into him. Ryoga didn't look like he was ready to go anywhere, he was just staring at the ground in an almost disgust with himself.

"Ryoga, you forgot this," she said, trying to hand his umbrella back to him.

"Keep it," he told her, "I'll come back for it," and he started walking.

"Wait!" she replied, "Why won't you answer my question?"

He stopped.

"Because, I'm afraid," he confessed, refusing to turn around and look at her.

"You think you're the only one afraid?" snapped Ukyo.

Hearing that tone in her voice made him turn to face her, "I didn't say that. I can tell you're afraid too."

"Really?" she wondered, "You can tell we're in the same boat? That we each loved someone else only to have our hearts broken? That we're both afraid to try again?"

"I know," he replied, "And that's why I'm afraid to answer. The same exact reasons you were afraid to ask."

Holding the umbrella in front of her the girl lowered her eyes.

"You understand, right?" asked Ryoga.

Ukyo nodded.

"I'll come back, I promise," he told her, turning away, "Maybe by then I'll have an answer for you."

She allowed him to take two steps before blurting out, "Wait!"

"Yeah?" he asked, turning to face her again.

She walked up to him, looked up into his eyes and said to herself, 'Now or never, if I don't do this I may not get another chance.'

On an impluse she reached up and brought his face down to meet hers and she kissed him. It wasn't a long kiss, only lasting a second. She pulled away, her face red and both of them were unable to speak.

"I.....um....guess.....I should be going now," he said finally, before turning once again and walking away, "Bye."

"Y-yeah, bye," she replied, watching him walk away.

Ryoga turned a corner and said to himself, 'I can't believe she did that.'

She on the other hand went back inside, locked her door, closed up shop and went up to her apartment, carrying his umbrella with her.

"Good going, Ukyo," she said outloud, throwing his umbrella onto the floor, "Ya kissed him. Why did I do that? And he didn't even try to kiss me back! Now what? Am I gonna wait around for him to come back?"

Sighing, she answered her own question, "Isn't it obvious?"

It may have been the middle of the afternoon, but the young woman went to her room and laid herself down on her bed, hoping to sleep off the feelings and thoughts swirling around in her mind and heart.

"Well at least I know what his feelings are," she said aloud with a small smile.

-------------------------

Ryoga kept walking in an undetermined direction and wound up in front of the Tendo home.

He read the sign out front, realized where he was and said to himself, 'Maybe I should have a word with those two,' and went inside to knock on the door.

Before he could knock a very pleasant smell caught his senses and he walked around the house towards the kitchen to check it out. Peering in through the kitchen window he watched as Kasumi was preparing dinner. He stood there and started thinking about how long it's been since he's had a real home cooked meal when he felt someone tap him on the shoulder. Startled, Ryoga turned and was face to face with a smiling Akane.

"Oh, hi, Akane," he said relieved.

"Hey, Ryoga. What're you doing here?" she asked.

Thinking quick he told her, "I happened to be close by, so I thought I'd visit."

"You just wandered over here, didn't you?" she wondered.

He dropped his head and admitted, "Yeah, I did."

Akane laughed and Ryoga did as well half-heartedly.

"It's okay," she assured him, "You wanna stay for dinner? I'm sure Kasumi won't mind."

"That sounds nice, I'd like that," he replied, adding, "Where's Ranma?"

"Where else would he be? I was on my way to meet him in the dojo," explained Akane, leading the way.

Sliding the door open she said, "Hey, Ranma, guess who I found wandering outside."

From his meditating stance, the boy opened an eye and saw who his fiancée was talking about. Getting off the ground he said, "Hey, Ryoga, long time no see, man. Where've you been the last few weeks?"

"Here and there," replied the lost boy.

"Oh," responded Ranma, asking, "So what brings you to our neck of the woods?

Turning his head down Ryoga answered, "I need someone to talk to."

"You know you can always come to us for that," said Akane.

"Yeah," agreed her fiancé.

"Yeah, I know," said Ryoga.

Ranma and Akane ushered their friend to the middle of the floor where they all sat down in a circle.

"What's on your mind?" asked the girl.

However the lost boy didn't answer, he just kept staring at the floor. Akane looked over at Ranma and his face matched hers. The worried look in his eyes meant he was thinking the same thing as she was: that something must be bothering their friend deeply if he didn't want to come out and say it right away.

"You gonna say something or not?" wondered Ranma.

But still the lost boy would not speak up.

"Maybe we're going about this the wrong way, Ranma," said Akane, before turning her attention to her friend, "Ryoga, did something bad happen?"

"I wouldn't call it 'bad' really," he answered, "And I'm not sure if you can call it 'good' either."

"If it's not bad and it's not good, then what is it?" asked Ranma.

"I guess you could say something weird happened," responded his friend.

"'Weird'?" repeated the engaged boy, "Like how?"

Unable to explain, Ryoga kept his mouth shut instead.

"The silent treatment again," said his friend, frustrated, "Akane, I think we're getting the run-around here. He's not gonna tell us what happened."

"Getting mad at him isn't going to help, Ranma," argued his fiancée. She turned to Ryoga again and told him, "If you don't tell us what happened we can't help you."

"Okay, I'll tell you," agreed Ryoga.

He then started to explain things, "Before I came here I was over at Ukyo's."

"Wait a minute," interrupted Ranma, "Ukyo's involved?"

"Yeah," replied the other boy quietly.

Glancing at his fiancée, who gave him a small smile, the engaged boy said, "I think we might understand this a little better, but continue."

Picking up where he left off, the lost boy went on, "Anyway, I gave her a few gifts and we started talking. That was before...."

"Before what?" wondered Akane.

"Before she...," said Ryoga slow to respond, "Asked me out on a date."

"And what did you say?" asked the girl.

"I didn't. I had to get out of there," admitted the other boy sheepishly.

"Hold it. Ukyo asked you on a date and you didn't say yes?!" said Ranma, shouting the last part.

"I couldn't, I was too scared," confessed Ryoga, raising his voice a little.

"So you left her out to dry, is that it?" wondered his friend.

"No," said the lost boy, "As soon as I left, I felt bad about not answering her. But before I knew it she followed me outside. I had forgotten my umbrella. I told her to keep it, that I would be back for it and I might be able to give her an answer then. Then she did something I never would've expected from her."

"Well, what did she do?" wondered Ranma.

Again Ryoga kept his mouth closed.

Sighing, the teen's friend said, "Spit it out, man!"

"She kissed me, alright! How's that for spitting it out?!" shouted the lost boy.

Blinking a few times, Ranma started to say, "She...," but Akane finished it, "Kissed you?"

"Yeah, she did," said Ryoga, calming down, "Not a real long kiss, about a second or two."

"Then what happened?" asked Akane.

"Nothing. We said goodbye and went our seperate ways," answered her friend.

"So what are you going to do?" she wondered.

"I'm not sure right now," admitted Ryoga, "My mind is totally messed up with what happened, I can't think straight."

"Well I'm sure you'll come up with something," the girl assured him.

"In the meantime," started Ranma, "I might know of a way that could help ease your mind, for the time being that is."

"What's that?" asked Ryoga.

"Join us for a little sparring match. You can go up against the both of us if you'd like," suggested the engaged boy.

Giving a half-smile the lost boy said, "Yeah, I'd like that. It's been a while since I've had a good workout."

-------------------------

In the time before dinner, Ranma and Ryoga started out with a light workout, neither really keen on wasting alot of energy before eating. They barely sparred at half-strength. And like Akane said, Kasumi didn't mind the lost boy was sharing a meal with them. After the food settled enough came the real workout. When the 3 teens got back to the dojo Ryoga thought he was going to face Ranma more than Akane, but the girl wanted to start.

"Hang on, Akane. You sure you want to do this? Wouldn't you rather watch me and Ranma really go at it?" he asked.

"Nah," she replied, "I need a little workout too, you know."

"Yeah, but aren't you afraid I'm gonna hurt you?" wondered Ryoga.

"Nope," said the girl in a casual way.

"But I might," argued the lost boy.

"Ryoga, I've been training hard these last few weeks, I'm alot stronger than I used to be. I really want to test myself on someone strong like Ranma without it having to be him," she explained, "Don't worry, I'll be fine."

"Alright," said Ryoga reluctantly, getting in his battle stance, 'There is no way she's that much stronger than the last time I was here. I know she doesn't want me to go lightly on her, but I'm not going to be held responsible for hurting her, so I can't fight her like I do with Ranma.'

Right after Akane got in her battle stance the lost boy attacked, charging forward with his fist pulled back. He closed his eyes as he launched his punch, but didn't feel it make contact. Opening his eyes, Akane wasn't in front of him. He looked back and watched her as she landed on her feet from flipping over his attack.

'How did she do that?' he asked himself.

Letting her return to her battle stance, he tried again with a Side Kick only to have her avoid it with a Split-legged jump. Ryoga kept up his attack this time with a right and then a left punch when Akane landed, but she swayed side to side effortlessly to dodge. The lost boy went in close with an Uppercut and the girl jumped back to avoid the hit.

'Man, how did she get so fast? It's almost as if I'm up against Ranma,' he thought, 'But why isn't she attacking back?'

He continued his attack with relentless punches and kicks of various kinds, but to no avail, she dodged each and everyone a different way each time. They encircled the entire dojo with their match. After awhile Ryoga forgot about not wanting to hurt her, he'd settle for just making contact against her instead. Soon, even with his amazing stamina, he was beginning to get winded from all the attack attempts.

'Jeez, you'd think I'd be making progress by now, but I haven't even come close to her. What kind of training could she have gone through to get this good at dodging?' he wondered to himself, breathing a little heavy, wiping his forehead with his arm.

Akane however had barely broken a sweat.

"You're not giving up, are you, Ryoga?" she asked.

"No," he replied, "But I can't figure out how you did all that?"

"I told you I've been training hard, though to get this good I had a little help, " she answered.

"'A little help', huh? Like what?" asked Ryoga.

"Wait right here and I'll show you," Akane told him, leaving the two boys alone.

When she was gone the lost boy let out a big sigh and plopped down onto the floor, 'At least now I can catch my breath.'

"She wore ya out, didn't she?" wondered Ranma, sitting next to his former rival.

"A little bit, yeah," replied Ryoga, "It was like I was up against you."

It wasn't long before she returned and both boys were on their feet immediately when she entered the dojo.

"This is what was helping me," she said, handing him a leather belt with gold fasteners.

'This belt,' he thought, looking at it, 'It came from that other world. She's been training with this? No wonder she's gotten so fast.' But when he spoke he acted like he didn't know what it was, "What's this?"

She went into an explanation of how she received the belt from Prince Tshugo and how it worked, "But I can't seem to get the intelligence to stay, watch."

She then tried to perform a Fierce Tiger Shot. Akane went through the motions, pushing her energy to her hands, putting her palms out and shouting, "Moko Takabisha!" but the energy formed a bubble over her hands, lasting a second before popping loudly and then nothing else would happen.

"It works when I have it on, but not after I take it off, " she finished.

"I see," said Ryoga, understanding it now.

Akane tossed the belt aside and asked him, "You wanna pick up where we left off?"

"Nah, I got a good workout. I think I'll sit out for now," he responded, taking a seat on the sidelines.

So for the remainder of the time the 3 spent in the dojo it was Ranma against Akane. One would attack with varying kicks and punches while the other would dodge, then after a few of those attacks they reversed roles with the one defending and the other attacking. It went on for about an hour or two before they decided to call it a night. Closing the door behind them the 3 teens made their way to the house.

"So, Ryoga, you gonna stay the night? It's kinda late to be wandering on the streets," said Akane.

"Well, since your offering I guess I'll stay," he replied.

"Good, you can sleep in Ranma's old room," she told him.

"'Ranma's old room'?" he repeated, confused.

"Yeah, my old room. I sleep somewhere else now," responded his former rival.

"Where?" asked Ryoga.

"With me," answered Akane casually.

It took the couple a second to notice the lost boy had stopped walking.

"What's wrong?" wondered the girl, looking back.

"You two are sleeping together now?" said their friend.

"For about a week now, yeah," she replied.

"So you two have....?" he started.

"What? No!" the other teens said quickly with Ranma adding, "We're not that far yet." They glanced at each other and gave the other a half-smile.

Akane put her head down in embarrassment, "I guess we should've told you sooner, sorry."

Shaking his head and beginning to walk again, Ryoga said, "You don't have to be sorry. I should've seen this coming, since you two are going to be married soon. So why shouldn't you two start sleeping in the same bed now, you're going to be sleeping together for the rest of your lives and the sooner you get used to it the better."

"You're taking it a lot better than I thought you would," admitted Ranma.

"Just goes to show how much I'm over the little crush I had for Akane," said the lost boy as all 3 teens entered the house.

The couple showed their friend to his room, said goodnight to him and went upstairs to their own room.

"Sounded like he was feeling better after that workout," said Ranma.

"Yeah, he did," agreed his fiancée, "But do you think Ukyo did the right thing by asking him out on a date?"

"I think so. She took a big step by asking him and when Ryoga finds out what a big oppourtunity it was, he'll go back and set things right," answered the boy.

It didn't take them long to change out of their clothes and into their sleeping attire and climb into bed together.

Laying her head on his chest, Akane said, "I hope you're right."

"Not even Ryoga is that dense to not figure out he's got a great girl viaing for his attention," smiled Ranma, putting an arm around his soon-to-be wife.

"We'll just have to wait and see," countered the girl, closing her eyes.