Why didn't you wait?

by

David Lindquist

Disclaimer:Ranma 1/2 and it's characters are
the property of Rumiko Takahashi and various licensed
companies. All other characters belong to me. All
rights reserved.

Acknowledgments: My thanks to Karaohki, Gary Kleppe,
Brian Randall, Lief Johnson, Kit, Doug and the FFirc Hour
Challenge groups that helped preread this. Also I
want to give my thanks to Lerche, the missing
prereader, who tried to preread this but couldn't
due to real life. C&C and comments will be greatly
welcome. Thank
you.

() means spoken in chinese.

Chapter 1 (Homecoming)


As they embraced outside the gate, Akane enjoyed the
warmth of Jo's lips on hers. Finally, he broke off the
kiss.

"Try not to spend all day training, okay?" he said
then looked at his watch. "Oh boy, now I'm REALLY
late! I'll see you later! Bye!"

*Hmm... nice,* Akane thought as she watched him
leave. A taste similar to honey and sugar lingered
in her mouth. It still amazed her that after almost
two years of their relationship, they still felt like
newlyweds. She shook her head.

*Stop it, Akane, otherwise you'll be standing
here all day with a stupid grin on your
face!* she thought to herself.

Despite her admonishment, she still stayed and
watched him go off to work. A part of her smiled at
the fact that she inspired a similar type of
scatter-brained reaction in her husband that Kasumi
did to Dr. Tofu.

*I'd never get a reaction like that from--* A small
sigh escaped her lips at the memory of him.
*--Ranma.*

The thought of her late fiance instantly killed her
good mood. An all too familiar pang of despair welled
up within her but she violently shoved it back down.

*Damn it! Why do I keep bringing him up?! That
idiot...* The rest of the thought trailed off,
then Akane let out a another sigh.

*No use in going through this again. What's done
is done.*

She turned around and walked back into the front
yard. On her way, she glanced at the dojo.

*Hmm,* Akane thought, then smiled. *If I hurry, I
can get a couple of hours practice before I have
to get the housework done!*

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

Ranma didn't know how long he stood and stared
at the gate. She had left a long time ago but that
didn't matter to him. All his mind could do was
replay what it saw.

Akane.

His Akane!

Kissing someone else.

It took a bit for him to gather his thoughts enough
to leave. He quickly jumped off the roof, and walked
away.

*How could she... Could she be under some sort of mind
control?* He shook his head. *No, I can't see Kuno or
Ryoga letting her be used like that. Unless they were
doing the using.*

Ranma paid just enough attention to where he was going
to keep from running into anything as he wandered the
Nerima streets. His mind kept mulling over what he saw
while trying to figure out why Akane would betray him.

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

"Thank you for coming to The Cat Cafe."

The smile plastered on the large, muscular man's
face lasted until the customer left, then it turned
into a scowl.

*I'm a fighter, not a waitress!* he thought
bitterly as he closed the cash register.

"(Husband!)"

The man immediately turned to the beautiful Amazon
that came out of the kitchen.

"(Yes, Shampoo?)"

"(Fix us some lunch while I finish up in the
storage room.)"

"(Of course, Love,)" His reply held no malice,
only admiration and affection.

Shampoo just rolled her eyes and went back
into the kitchen.

The man went into the kitchen then wrapped his long
braid of hair around his neck a few times to keep
it out of the way. The sound of the door chimes
drew his attention away from his preparations. As he
walked back into the dining area, he frowned at
the thought of having to serve another customer, but
one look at the woman who entered brought a small
smile to his face.

"Good afternoon, Ukyo," he said. "What brings
you here?"

"Hello Reno," the okonomiyaki chef replied. "Here's
those distributors' phone numbers you wanted."

She put down her bags, reached into one, and pulled
out a sheet of paper.

"Here you go," she said, then set it on the
counter.

"Why don't you stay for a bit while I make us
some tea?"

"I can use some."

The exhausted tone of her voice didn't go
unnoticed by Reno.

"So, how are you doing?"

The woman sat down near the counter and adjusted
the large spatula on her back.

"I'm okay, Reno," she replied wearily. "I guess."

The dark coloring under her eyes and the way she
kept running her hand through her short hair told
him a different story.

"Tsubasa getting worse?" Reno asked as he started
making two cups of tea.

"You'd better believe it, sugar! Yesterday, he
disguised himself as a bag of flour and jumped out
at me when I went into the pantry. And last night I
attacked my laundry because I thought it was him
in disguise!"

He nodded slightly, then handed her a cup.

"You going to call the cops?" he asked.

"Feh!" she snorted. "They won't do anything!"

"Well, why don't you-- *KLANG!*"

Ukyo jumped when she saw the frying pan bounce
off of Reno's head. Both of them immediately turned
and looked where it had come from.

"Husband! Why no fix lunch?!" Shampoo growled as she
walked in.

"I-I was talking to Ukyo."

"Can talk and cook at same time!" she said. "Stupid
male!"

"Y-yes, love!" he stammered, then turned to
Ukyo to apologize but she just waved him off.

"I have to get going anyway. Thanks for the tea."

Shaking her head, Ukyo picked up her bags and left
the restaurant. As soon as she was out of sight, Reno
frowned.

"(There are better ways to get my attention, my
love.)"

"(You shouldn't be so friendly with her,)" Shampoo
said simply.

"(I'm just greasing the spokes,) he replied. "(We
need her to tell us if Queen Heart shows up.)"

"(When, not if,)" she said irritably, then sighed.
Shampoo walked up to him, locked her arms around his
waist and nuzzled his back. "(Don't worry. He will be
here and when he does arrive, we'll get everything
settled.)"

The Amazon warrior didn't see the worried look on
his face.

**************

After she left the Cat Cafe, Ukyo shook her head.

*I can't believe the way they act sometimes,* she
thought.

For a moment, the okonomiyaki chef wondered how the
two of them had ever got together, then she shrugged her
shoulders. It was none of her business anyway and Ukyo
had enough problems as is without butting her nose
into other people's personal affairs.

As she walked past the various stores along her
route home, she noticed the lingering looks
some of the guys gave her. Despite her slight
discomfort at the thought of strangers checking
her out like a throughbred racehorse before the
Kentucky Derby, the attention made her smile.

*It's nice to know men find me attractive,* she
thought, then her troubles of the past two weeks
brought her back to reality. *Too bad only the weirdos
pursue me.*

The aroma of baked bread vaguely registered in her
mind. Ukyo cast a glance at the small bakery as she
walked by.

*Not far now,* she sighed.


**************

A whiff of fresh baked goods stirred Ranma from his
thoughts. It reminded him that he hadn't eaten since
yesterday. A large part of the troubled martial artist
wanted to ignore the hunger, but spending most of his
life on the road had taught him to grab food when he
could regardless of how he felt.

He looked up and started searching for the source of
the smell, but stopped when a woman with a bag
of groceries entered his field of vision.

Her black hair was cut extremely short, like he'd seen on
a few US soldiers during his travels. The blue sundress
she wore accented her figure almost perfectly. Despite
how nice she looked, her face showed a weariness that
just didn't fit at all. Normally, he wouldn't have given
her a second look except for what was strapped onto her
back.

A large spatula.

Before Ranma realized it, he had shouted her childhood
nickname.

"UCCHAN!"

**********************

A vaguely familiar voice dragged Ukyo from
her thoughts. She looked up and searched the street
for the person who called her name. The only
person there was a handsome, muscular man with a
pigtail braid in his hair. The moment she saw him, the
okonomiyaki chef froze.

It was impossible.

*No...,* Ukyo thought as the color drained from
her face. *It can't be!*

She almost took a step back but stopped
herself.

*That isn't Ranma! Ranma's gone! He's been...*

The rest of her protests stopped as one name jumped
into her mind and it began to fill her with a growing
rage. She knew he would stoop pretty low to get her
affection, but this was way out of line!

"Ucchan?"

Ukyo ignored him as she placed her groceries down,
then unsheathed her battle spatula.

*The bastard even got his voice right!*

He seemed to become even more confused when she leapt
into the air and slashed her weapon towards him and
shouted:

"TSUBASA! YOU ASSHOLE!"

******************

As Ranma dodged her swing, he struggled to figure
out why Ucchan was acting like this. First, she looked
like she had seen a ghost and now, Ucchan was trying to
kill him!

*Has everyone gone crazy?!* he thought and dodged
another blow. By reflex, he countered with a kick to
her side. Ranma realized to his horror that he had put
all his power into it. Fortunately, Ukyo blocked with her
spatula but the force of the blow easily broke it in half
and sent her flying back.

****************

She sat up and looked at her now broken weapon. She was
in shock over the easewith which Tsubasa had destroyed it.

"Wha..?"

"Are you okay?!"

Ukyo nodded absently and continued to stare at the two
halves of her spatula.

"How..." she said but noticed that Ranma had grabbed her
arms.

"What the hell are you doing?!" he demanded.

Ukyo could only stare at him. There was no way Tsubasa
could have gotten that good in a day. She then examined
him closely. He definitely needed a bath. For some reason,
his hair was longer and more unruly. It didn't look like
a wig at all. His face though... Sharper. More defined,
like he was older?

"Oh my god!" She blurted out "It's not a disguise!."

"Yeah!" He said.

"R-Ranma?"

"Nice of you to remember me!" he replied
sarcastically.

The okonomiyaki chef just looked at him for a second then
began to pass out.

The last thing she heard was Ranma voice saying, "Aw,
man..."

************************

On a nearby rooftop, a lone figure watched the events of
Ranma and Ukyo's meeting unfold. The figure paid
particular attention to Ranma's reactions during their
fight.

*You've gotten stronger,* it thought then frowned, *and
angrier.*

As the figure observed Ranma pick up the unconscious Ukyo
and leap on the rooftops towards Ucchan's, the individual
couldn't help but feel a great sense of foreboding and
sorrow.

"You should have stayed away," the figure whispered. "Now
the die is cast."

***********************

With Ukyo and her packages precariously balanced in his
arms, Ranma entered her restaurant.

"KONATSU!"

His voice echoed throughout the building without any
reply. He set the packages on the counter, then took a
quick look around.

*Everything looks the same,* he thought. *Now where's
Konatsu?*

"Konatsu! Ukyo needs some help!"

After another minute of silence, Ranma decided that
it would be up to him to take care of Ukyo. At least
until the cross-dressing ninja came back. Walking
to the stairs, Ranma gently carried her up to the
living quarters.

He slid back the door, then entered the room. Ranma
laid her on the floor, dragged out her bedding and
began to get it ready for use. As he turned to finish
the job, the martial artist gaped at what he saw
sitting at the far end of the room.

A picture of himself sat there, bracketed by two
almost completely melted candles. In front of it
was a small offering plate. It appeared to have
been recently used.

*What the... ? I know she had a thing for me but
this is just too much! I'm gonna have to have a long
talk with her.*

Once he set up her futon, the martial artist
carefully lifted up his childhood friend and tucked
her in. Ranma was somewhat relieved to see that
some of the color had returned to her face. He sat down
on the floor, leaned back against the wall and
wondered why his friend had reacted the way she
did.

*It was like she was scared of me. She did think
I was Tsubasa until I grabbed her. Maybe she's having
problems with him again.*

The martial artist made a note to find Tsubasa and
have a chat with him. He owed Ukyo that much at
least. Ranma unconsciously nodded his head in
agreement. He then noticed the grime and dirt that
covered his clothes and hands.

"Oh, man, I didn't think I was this bad!" he
said.

He got up and grabbed his stuff. After one last
check on Ukyo, Ranma quickly walked into the
bathroom.

*It'll be nice to get at least some of the grime
off. I hope Ukyo will forgive me for
not asking permission.*

After setting the backpack on the counter, he opened
it and looked inside.

"Now what shall I wear?" Ranma said sarcastically.

There were three sets of clothing: A slightly torn
red leotard, the suit he had received after a
very short stay at a U.S army base while
they sorted out how he had stopped a group of
terrorists from destroying the place, and
finally, a black Chinese pant and shirt set. He
still remembered the day they were
given to him.

*The villagers really didn't need to be that
grateful. After all, it was only a small group of
bandits that were harassing them. They barely made
me work up a sweat. Not like some of the other
times.*

He took the set out and put them aside. They would
have to do for now.

Once that was done, Ranma stripped off his clothes,
then sat down to rinse himself off. He ignored the
activation of his curse as the cold water hit him.

*I hope Ucchan wakes up soon. Maybe she can tell me
what's going on around... *

The rest of his thought was interrupted when he saw
movement out of the corner of his eye.

"UKYO! I LOVE YOU!"

A pair of hands suddenly wrapped around her chest
in a tight embrace. Before she could react, Ranma froze
as a memory flashed across her mind....

Queen Heart's ribs hurt.

Renard Lacroix, her opponent in this match, was
good but nothing she normally couldn't handle. However,
ever since the fight started, the pigtailed girl had
been in a mental fog, unable to do more than defend
herself against him. Their last exchange ended when
he connected with her side. She barely dodged another
series of blows, then rolled to the far corner of the
combat platform.

Over the cheers of the arena crowd, she could hear his
taunts clearly.

"Come on, beautiful! It won't be so bad! In fact, I
gar-run-tee you'll enjoy it!"

She snorted slightly and fought down the urge to
throw up. As the martial artist began to circle her
opponent, she wished that her guardian, The Gambling
King, had never made that stupid 'If you can defeat
her, you can date her' challenge. Despite three
years of effort, no one had done it, but if she didn't
pick up the pace....

*I just need to get it together,* she
thought as the martial artist cast a glance to
where her mentor sat. Her eyes widened when she
saw him shouting for the 'Cajun Assassin' to knock her
out.

"Wha..?"

As if it was a signal, Renard lunged at her,
wrapping his arm around her waist. She tried to shove
him back but he had pulled her off the ground and
pressed her against his body. She glared at him as she
struggled to break free.

"Let me give you a taste of what'll happen later," he
said then pressed his lips onto hers. Despite the almost
paralyzing feelings of disgust and revulsion at the
kiss, Queen began to lash out her foot to break the
hold. However, she froze when he brought his other hand
up and grabbed her breast. Her eyes again grew wide in
shock.

*What sick piece of garbage are you?!?* she
thought. *I'm a guy, Dammit! A GUY!*

Rage filled him to the core as his memories came
flooding back. He wasn't 'Queen Heart', The
Gambling King's prize student, fighter and
accomplice. He was Ranma Saotome and he was
mad....

"LET ME GO!!"

The force of Ranma's ki field sent Tsubasa slamming
into the wall. The angry girl spun around in time to
see her attacker trying without success to stand. Ranma
noted absently that the main reason for the disguise
expert's failure was that he couldn't get out of what
was left of his 'clothes hamper' disguise.

Tsubasa looked up in horror as the enraged girl grabbed
his t-shirt and hoisted him off the ground.

"You... you're not Ukyo!"

"Doesn't matter, you sick freak!" Ranma growled. She
slammed him against the wall. "How dare you grope
me like some piece of meat!"

Tsubasa's eyes seemed to grow even wider.

"But... but you're dead!"

"DO I LOOK DEAD?!?!" Ranma yelled.

"AHHH! Don't kill me! Please!"

All the color drained out of the martial artist's
face and she began to tremble.

"K... kill you?" she stammered. Her face mirrored
her assailants own fear for a second before she
was able to regain control.

"I promise I'll never do anything like this
again!"

Ranma ignored his pleas and threw him to the side
like a sack of potatoes.

"Get out, Tsubasa," she said quietly. "Now."

***********

*THUMP!*

"Mmm?"

Ukyo shifted in her bed. Her ears barely picked
up the pounding sound from her furo. She almost
ignored it and went back to sleep when the chef
realized that she didn't remember how she had
gotten home.

She jumped out of bed just as a louder thump came
from the wall and scrambled for her weapons. After
a few seconds of frantic searching, she grabbed the
only ones she could find, her throwing spatulas, and
ran out of the room. Just then, Ukyo heard what
sounded like a woman's voice shouting at someone. She
reached the furo door in time to see a terrified Tsubasa
come racing out like the Hounds of Hades were after
him. Ignoring the current bane of her existence as he
scrambled down the hallway, she looked into the
furo.

Her eyes widened as she saw a familiar girl standing
in the center of the room. The girl in question
looked up and gave her a weak smile.

"Hey, Ucchan," Ranma-chan said. "Sorry about the
mess."

End of chapter 1

David Lindquist
fido@rma.edu
http://karaohki.anifics.com/fidolibrary.htm
Quote= "Fanfic writing is like building a car with C&C being the tune-up!"