Ahh!! I got reviews! ::does the happy Frodo chicken dance™:: Thank you so much!! Onwards comrades!
Chapter One
Ukyo hummed to herself as she wiped down the grill. Lunch crowd had just past, so now she had to start preparations for the dinner crowd and get done anything else that needed doing, like homework. Tossing the dirty dish cloth on a stack of dishes that needed washing, she took the dishes into the back room, dropped them in the sink to do later, and went up stairs to get her algebra book so she could start on her homework.
Just as she bounced up the stairs, Hotaka and Natsuko walked into the restaurant. Hotaka slung off his oversized backpack with umbrella strapped to the top and put it near the door. Natsuko didn't hesitate for a minute to walk over to the grill and take Ranma's usual seat at the counter. Hotaka was just about to join her behind the grill until a picture on the wall caught his attention. It was a photo of Ukyo standing outside the restaurant.
Strange, he thought to himself. She hasn't had that up before…
"Yo! Hotaka!" Natsuko called over to her companion. "You gonna make us a late lunch or what?"
"S-sure," he replied, walking behind the counter to the grill and started cooking up two okonomiyaki. Resting her elbows on the counter and head on her hands, Natsuko watched absentmindedly as he mixed up the batter and poured it onto the grill along with other toppings.
"So where do you think everyone is?" she asked. "Banna should be skipping merrily around the restaurant by now."
"Not necessarily. I think she's going over one of her friend's house to play today."
"You _think_?" Natsuko asked. Instead of responding, Hotaka flipped over both okonomiyaki and suddenly became very transfixed with the sizzling sound they made. "Well, you're a _great_ older brother."
"Shut up, Natsuko."
"Where's your parents? I mean, I can understand if your dad wandered off, but your mom's generally around at this time. Hotaka."
"Hmm?"
"I haven't seen anyone familiar since the old ghoul threw us. Not even Perfume or Kazuma."
Hotaka winced inwardly, but covered it up by flipping the two okonomiyaki onto plates and putting them both down on the counter. "Maybe they're—"
*CLANG*
Hotaka went flying across the room and into the back wall of the restaurant as an oversized spatula connected with his skull. Natsuko jumped up to see a really mad Ukyo standing in a battle stance, giant spatula in her hands.
"U-Ukyo?!" she managed to stutter out in shock.
"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY RESTAURANT?!" she screeched, taking a swing at Natsuko. Natsuko managed to dodge the swing, but just bearly.
"Ukyo! Please! Let me explain!"
Ukyo stopped, but didn't drop her spatula. "You've got thirty seconds, sugar, and I better like the explanation."
"Can I do one thing first?"
Ukyo glared at her. "Make it quick."
Natsuko nodded, then raced over to Hotaka. Ukyo watched very carefully as Natsuko whispered something to Hotaka who nodded.
Jeez, I try to get good grades and algebra and _this_ is what I get, she thought, tapping her foot impatiently for the two teens to explain themselves. Watching the girl pull the boy to his feet and then poking his shoulder only to be swatted at and given a nasty glare, something dawned on Ukyo.
That girl looks like Ranma… she thought in confused awe as she scanned the girl over. Long braided pigtail, muscular but not bulky, and clear, sparkling blue eyes. If she didn't have blue hair and was a little taller, she could probably pass for Ranma's girl half.
Ukyo's eyes trailed from Natsuko to her male companion. Brown hair, bandana, also muscular, and…fangs? Was this guy a Hibiki? Ukyo's eyes darted to the door where an oversized backpack sat with a green umbrella strapped to the top, defiantly the mark of a relative of Ryoga. She looked closer at the two teens.
The resemblance is just too much to be a coincidence. If the girl isn't related to Ranma and the boy to Ryoga, I'll eat my spatula! But if they really are related, how come neither has ever mentioned them? Heh, knowing Ranma and Ryoga, they probably don't even know they exist! Ukyo thought.
"Are either of your family names Saotome or Hibiki?" Ukyo blurted out. Both teens looked suddenly nervous, Natsuko even accidentally dropped Hotaka who she was supporting.
"Argh! Natsuko!" Hotaka cried out angrily at Natsuko. Natsuko didn't seem to hear Hotaka, or even notice she had dropped him.
Panicked, she asked, "What would give you _that_ idea?"
"Well, you see," Ukyo explained, "I know these two guys, Ranma and Ryoga, and—" She turned to the boy, mentally searching for his name. "What his name?" she asked.
"Hotaka," Natsuko supplied.
"Right, Hotaka. Well, Hotaka looks sort of like Ryoga and you—" She turned back to Natsuko. "—look sort of like Ranma in girl form, except a little shorter and with blue hair."
"Well, Miss Ukyo, I can assure you that Hotaka and I aren't Saotomes or Hibikis. Now if you'll excuse us…" Natsuko grabbed Hotaka by the bandana and hurriedly dragged towards the door. They were in the doorway when Ukyo registered what the girl had called her.
"Hang on there a minute, sugar." Both newcomers froze. "Just who are you, how do you know who I am, and what are you doing in my restaurant?"
Hotaka managed to get loose of Natsuko's grasp and staggered up and over to Ukyo.
"Are you kidding me? It's us. C'mon Mo—" He was cut off by a sharp jab in the ribs by Natsuko. Her glare spoke lengths because he immediately shut his mouth and looked guilty, like he had said something he wasn't supposed to. Ukyo's eyebrows raised as she stared at them questionably.
"I'm Natsuko Sa— um, and this idiot is Hotaka," she said, gesturing to said boy who glared angrily at her. "And we were here because—"
"Because my family is moving here in a few months and I came down to check it out. Natsuko got dragged down here with me because my mother didn't want me to come down alone," Hotaka continued coolly for her. Natsuko stared at Hotaka for a moment in amazement, then she regained her composure and nodded in agreement.
"Okay…" Ukyo said skeptically. "But that still doesn't explain why you were cooking on my grill."
"Oh, um, _that_, well…"
"We thought it was a serve-yourself. No one was down here to greet us when we came in."
Ukyo glared at the boy who met her stare evenly. If Ukyo had looked at the girl he was with, she would have saw a very panicked young woman, caught in the crossfire of two extremely strong wills and stares.
"Well, it ain't, sugar. And I hope you can pay for those okonomiyaki."
"Of course!" Natsuko proclaimed. She blushed slightly. "Sorry for the outburst."
"Ah, forget about it," Ukyo said, waving it off. "As long as you bought those okonomiyaki, you might as well eat," she told them, walking behind the grill. "Just _don't_ do it again."
Natsuko glanced at Hotaka nervously asking him with her eyes if it was all right. Hotaka caught her glance and responded with a nod. Hesitantly, Natsuko approached the stool she was sitting on before and sat back down, Hotaka taking the stool to her right.
"So," Ukyo started, watching the two eat their okonomiyaki, "you're moving to Nerima?"
"That's right," the boy said coolly.
"So where do you live now?"
Natsuko tensed up, but Hotaka seemed unfazed. "Kyoto."
"What grade are you in?"
"Junior."
"So that makes you about sixteen."
"Seventeen actually, my birthday's in January."
"I saw you cooking before; you seemed to have a general idea of what you were doing."
"My family owns a restaurant."
Stalemate.
Ukyo and Hotaka stared at each other coldly for a moment; it was clear that Ukyo's plan to see if he really was telling the truth was failing because he answered every question she shot out without a moment's hesitation.
The boy might be confident enough. Now let's try the girl, she thought to herself, turning her attentions to Natsuko who shifted nervously under her steady gaze.
"What about you, Natsuko?" Ukyo asked. "Do you live in Kyoto too?"
"Me? Well, heheh, yup!" she replied nervously, tucking her hand behind her head and smiling the way Ranma did. "Hotaka and me have know each other since eighth grade when he moved in."
"I see," said Ukyo. She was just about to open her mouth when—
"ARG!! WHERE AM I NOOOOOW?!"
With a sigh, Ukyo headed towards the door. "Don't worry about it, just keep eating," she said over her shoulder, expecting her new customers to be panicked or surprised or at least give her some type of reaction. Instead, they just looked at one another and shrugged. Natsuko went back to eating and Hotaka went to follow Ukyo.
"Mind if I join you?" he asked, opening the door for her.
"Somehow, I don't think it matters if I say no or not."
"Ya got that right!" Natsuko called from the counter. Hotaka glared, but she waved it off and went back to eating. Ukyo glanced at the two, then walked through the open door on to the street.
"Okay, let's see, I took the train, wandered through some huge gardens, hiked through the desert, when down the up escalator, strolled on the beach, climbed a mountain, up the down escalator and now I should be… Near the slot machines?"
"Don't tell me, you took a trip around the world?"
"Ukyo?" Ryoga asked, looking up from his Mohegan Sun visitor's map. "What are you doing in a Mohegan Sun?" [Before you all jump on me, I have no idea if there are Mohegan Suns in Japan, but this is my fanfic so I can do whatever I want. Nyahh!! ^_~]
"Jackass," she grumbled. "You're in Nerima, Ryoga!"
"Serious?"
"Yeah. Now c'mon and stop screaming, you're scaring away my customers."
"Ukyo! Lemme go!"
"No way, sugar," she replied, dragging Ryoga into Ucchan's by the arm. Hotaka stood watching and automatically opened the door for her. "Thank you."
"Er, no problem."
Natsuko watched half interested as Ukyo dragged Ryoga into the restaurant and plopped him down on a counter stool. Ryoga sat there grumbling until Ukyo whipped a plate of okonomiyaki out in front of him. Chowing down on the food, all his grumbles stopped. Natsuko leaned over to Hotaka who was just sitting down again.
"Just like your parents back home, ne?" she whispered playfully.
"Watch it, Natsuko," he grumbled back at her.
"Aw, Hotachan, you know I'm just playing with you!" she said, laughing. Then she walked over to Ryoga and leaned over his shoulder so her face was next to his. "Name's Natsuko! And you are?"
"Gah!" Ryoga screamed, jumping up. "Don't do that!"
She walked over and tugged on his bandana playfully. "I'm just playing with ya. Seriously though, my name's Natsuko. Yours is Ryoga, right?"
"H-How did you know that?"
Natsuko's face faltered for a minute, like she had just said something she shouldn't have, but she recovered fairly quickly. "I heard Miss Ukyo yelling it. That is your name, correct?"
Hotaka looked at his companion surprised. Those acting classes she had to take for the dance recital are really paying off.
"Er, th-that's right. You wouldn't happen to be related to Akane Tendo, would you?"
Her eyes widened and she began playing with her pigtail. "Wh-what ever gave you that idea?"
"The hair for one," he said, pointing to her head. "It's the same color as Akane's. And Akane's smile looks just like yours."
"Now that you mention it, she _does_ look a lot like Akane. Ranma too. How odd," Ukyo added.
"Like Ranma?" Ryoga asked Ukyo, his eyebrows raising.
"Well, yeah. Look at her eyes, and the pigtail."
Natsuko immediately stopped playing with her pigtail and turned a shade of red. Ryoga circled her, inspecting her.
"She _does_ look like Ranma." Ryoga looked up at Ukyo.
"That's what I said, if the two aren't related I'll eat my spatula." She snapped her fingers and pointed at Hotaka. "Hey, Ryoga. Is he one of your relatives?"
"Mine?" he asked, turning his attentions to Hotaka who suddenly stiffened up. "He sorta looks like me, but he looks more like you."
"He's certainly not _my_ relative; and you're wrong, he looks like you." She opened Hotaka's mouth to reveal his fangs. "See? He even has your weird fangs."
"He has your hair though."
Ukyo ticked things off on her fingers. "Not to mention your bandana, his backpack by the door…"
"Your hair, your okonomiyaki obsession!"
The entire room stared at Ryoga.
"How the heck did you know that?" Natsuko asked, stunned.
Ryoga began to turn pink, pushing his fingers together. "Well, I, erm, um…"
"At least _I'm_ not some idiot that can get lost going to the bathroom!"
"Well, at least _I_ don't drool over Ranma and hatch evil schemes to make him fall in love with me! I bet _your_ relative is the same way!"
"He is not my relative! He's _yours_!"
"Am I really all that revolting?" Hotaka asked coldly, a green aura being generated around him. "You're treating me like I'm dirt."
"Oh my gosh! I'm sorry Hotaka," Ukyo exclaimed.
"Forget it," he grumbled, throwing some money on the table. "Keep the change Miss Ukyo." With that he marched out, everyone's eyes following.
"Hotaka, don't you dare get yourself lost!" Natsuko screamed after him. She bowed hastily to Ryoga and Ukyo. "Please excuse his rudeness, he doesn't take criticism well." After that, Natsuko rushed out the door after her male comrade.
"Who were they anyway?"
"Beats me, Ryoga. I was have way to finding out if they were engaged to anyway when you walked in."
Silence.
"This is all your fault, ya know."
"_My_ fault? Ukyo, how is any of this _my_ fault?"
"You started it."
"Did not!"
"You just keep telling yourself that Ryoga." I wonder who they really were…
I hope I'm not being TOO obvious with all this. Anyway, please review! I have cookies! More reviews, more I know what you think, faster I'll be able to write it! Ja ne! ~JenJen-chan