Ukyo's Little Adventure
"Secret of Ukyo" Side-story. By Wanderer D
Author's note: Well, "Secret of Ukyo: Book Two" is coming along nicely I must say, but recently I got a-hold of an interesting movie, which made me rent another one, and eventually find and buy a hard-cover version of the original book plus the DVD of said movie. There's not much I can say other than this movie has inspired this side-story, helping me broaden the world which I and Ukyo are just beginning to explore. I hope you all like this story.
- D
Disclaimer: Stuart Little was created by E.B. White, and the movie versions were adapted and filmed by the guys at Columbia-Tristar. Ukyo, and all Ranma ½ characters are the intellectual property of our beloved Rumiko Takahashi. This is a fan-based work of fiction which has absolutely no relation to the original intent of the characters as the original authors & creators viewed them, but it's still entertaining. I gain no money from this, and it can be distributed freely, just have a mind to give credit of this fanfic to me if you do so.
***
Nabiki waited patiently as the stewardess announced the plane to New York was ready to be boarded. Hearing a small clamor she turned around and looked up, seeing Ukyo running and jumping to get to her.
"Well then, where were you, Uchan?" Nabiki asked her friend as she came running down the last part to the waiting room, where people were already being ushered into the plane.
"Oh, sorry, Nabs," Ukyo said, blushing slightly. "I just remembered I didn't have gloves packed and stopped to buy a pair at the Duty Free."
Nabiki shook her head, smiling lightly. "I do remember telling you that it's cold there at this time of the year."
Ukyo shrugged helplessly.
"Well, never mind that now, Uchan, let's go, we can board already," Nabiki said after a friendly sigh of exasperation.
As they fell into line behind a couple of newly weds, Ukyo glanced at Nabiki. "Hey Nabs, have you ever gone to New York?"
Nabiki nodded. "Yeah, once about two years ago."
Ukyo nodded. "Good, I guess you'll know a good place for Uchan's then."
Nabiki just smiled reassuringly. "Oh, I have an idea."
***
Ukyo couldn't move too much. Her usual sprint and energy had been spent fighting against an enemy she was unable to defeat. she shouldered her bag again and tramped into the hotel room she would share with Nabiki and let everything fall alongside her on the bed.
"I choose this one." She muttered from under the pillow, which she had put over her head to try to block all the sunlight.
Nabiki gave a dollar to the bellboy and slumped on the other bed, looking at the ceiling. "We'll look at the place tomorrow if you don't mind, Ukyo." she began, when Ukyo's soft snoring let her know she had her friend's unconditional support on that motion.
***
The next day, the sun's first rays found a weary Ukyo stepping out of the bathroom after a hot bath. "Your turn, Nabs." She muttered throwing the pillow to her friend, who woke up with the soft blow and slowly got up from the bed to take her turn at the shower.
After a few minutes both of them were dressed in winter clothes. Ukyo opened the window and risked a look outside. White.
It had snowed while they slept, and it was considerably cold out there. She almost wished they had waited until summer, but business was business, after all, and she was the one that had insisted on coming to New York for a start just before Christmas.
She followed Nabiki out of the room and down the elevator to the lobby. "So, where is the place?" Ukyo asked Nabiki after they had eaten breakfast.
"You'll see soon enough, Uchan. Don't worry too much over it." Nabiki deadpanned. Then she smiled at her. "Or, if you give me 20 dollars, I could spoil the surprise for you."
"Nabs." Ukyo sighed, hitting her friend softly on the shoulder. "Don't even think about it."
Nabiki laughed out loud and walked with Ukyo to the entrance of the Hotel. Beyond the crystal doors they could see people walking on the snow-covered sidewalk, most of them freezing by the looks of it. At that moment, Ukyo seriously considered parting with 20 bucks to avoid the cold, but Nabiki seemed to be able to read her thoughts.
"Oh, no you don't, we're walking there. I want you to see the place for yourself!" Nabiki said pushing Ukyo out the automatic doors. And into the sidewalk, a breeze passed and it chilled her to the bone. "'sides, we're signing the papers today and I don't know much about kitchens and restaurant-specific needs."
Ukyo surrendered to the inevitable and started trudging through the snow, following Nabiki and taking her first good look at the Big Apple.
***
"Nabs, this is incredible!" Ukyo said, as she hanged her coat on a nearby stool. The place was a little bigger than the original Uchan's, but it was inside a building, with the basement completely at their disposal. It seemed it had been a café once, but it hadn't really worked at all.
It was just in front of the Plymouth Theater, a perfect place for a small restaurant like Ukyo had planned. "How did you find it?!" she asked, turning around to face her friend, who was just checking her watch at that moment.
Nabiki looked up, the edge of her mouth twitching up into her usual 'I know something that you don't' smile. "Oh, I have my sources." she started. "Speaking of which, he should be here soon."
Ukyo started down the basement when someone knocked on the door. She turned around as Nabiki was just opening it to let a man in. He was dressed in jeans, lots of sweaters, boots and a black trench-coat that covered most of his dirty face. He fidgeted a little as he moved, sometimes stopping to move his head around, staring at something, then sort of stalked forth until he discovered it wasn't important.
"Ukyo, this is Mr. Grim Shineplume, an old acquaintance of mine." Nabiki introduced the man, who stared so long at Ukyo's red gem that she started to become worried. Nabiki elbowed him and he snapped out of it. "Grim, this is Ukyo Kounji, my partner."
"Pleased ta meet ya." The man said, shaking hands with Ukyo. "Nabi here sais ya wanta buy da place. Nice joint, I've to admit." He smiled at them both, showing a clearly rotten tooth.
"Uh, yeah." Ukyo answered.
Grim smiled uneasily, looked back to the door, up to Nabiki and then back to Ukyo and then, seeming to come to a decision, offered her a folder. "Good. Nabi has all da papers in order, so all I need is yer autograph here on these papers."
Ukyo took the folder and read through the papers carefully. "All seems to be in order." she murmured, looking up at Mr. Grim and arching an eyebrow.
"It is." Nabiki said offhandedly "I checked it all up from home, as Grim said, all we need is the signatures."
Ukyo only considered for a few seconds. On one hand, she wouldn't have let Mr. Grim close enough to talk (from the looks of him) if it wasn't for Nabs, on the other hand, Nabs liked things to be straight in business. she signed, then passed the papers to Nabiki, who also signed. "Well, it's done." Ukyo said, sighing.
Mr. Grim nodded and stood up. "I'll leave you these." he said, taking a few copies from the folder and giving them to Ukyo. "The rest are for da record," He clarified.
Nabiki also stood up. "Well Uchan, I have a few things to do around the city today, think you can handle yourself without me?" she asked Ukyo with a small smile.
"Sure, Nabs!" Ukyo answered. "But, what do you have to do?"
Nabiki stopped by the door, and Mr. Grim, who was right besides her gave her an amused look. "I have a meeting." Nabiki said. "A small one today, with a few old friends, and the day past tomorrow I'll have the big one." Nabiki smiled and winked at Ukyo. "But if I don't go today I might lose on the 'questions and answers' game at the end."
Ukyo blink-blinked, and Mr. Grim closed his mouth with an audible snap. "Uh. right. Good luck, I guess." She managed to say. Soon, Ukyo was alone in the place. "Well, might as well start." She said, and picked up a broom.
Morning went by as Ukyo picked up things, looked around in the basement, took measurements of the place and left everything clean, which wasn't much work, since the place had been kept mostly clean since it had closed up. She then looked at her watch. "twelve thirty." she mused aloud. "I think I'll go shopping."
***
By three o'clock, Ukyo had already found the things she needed for a good start on the new "Uchan's": a couple of new freezers, a new grill, and had followed Nabiki's instructions to contact the people who would help them with the ingredients. Really knowing what you were looking for, and checking prices and places on the internet before even getting to NY helped a lot in buying things quickly.
The grill and the rest of the things would be brought the following day by the stores and installed. Upon checking the basement, Ukyo had discovered that there were many tables and chairs already there, ready for them to use whenever they wanted.
She never grumbled about Nabiki not going with her to do the shopping, and going instead with her friends. As her friend had said, Ukyo was the one that really knew what was needed in the restaurant, and Nabs had actually done the web investigation, handled the paperwork and found the place.
The only thing they were missing was someone to work at the grill so they could get started and later on return to Japan, leaving the place in capable hands. Having finished with the shopping for now, Ukyo didn't have much to do, other than wait. But it was still way too early to actually go back to the hotel, and if she fell asleep then she wouldn't get used to the daytime in this side of the world.
And so, Ukyo started walking. It was a couple of hours later when she stared at the weird sight of a small, country-like house between two very large buildings. The place was cute, but it made too much of a contrast for Ukyo's tastes. She started walking again until she reached the park.
That's when she saw them. Three kids that couldn't be older than ten, playing in the snow. with a mouse. She couldn't hear what they were yelling, but the snowball fight was clearly aimed at the mouse! The fact that the mouse was doing pitiful attempts to get into cover made her jump into action.
Just as the newly made snowballs left the kids' hands, Ukyo had two of her small spatulas flying. The spatulas punched more than sliced through the soft snow with no problem, stopping the attack perfectly and ending up embedded on the cold, hard, ground.
"Wow!" was the general consent among the kids, as they stared wide eyed from the person that had thrown the spatulas, to the pieces of snow, to the spatulas.
Ukyo slid to a halt between the kids and the mouse. "Listen kids, if you want to hit him with snowballs, you'll have to get through me!"
"Uh." One of the kids started to say. "'Uh', nothing!" she growled. "It's not fair to attack someone who can't defend himself against you guys!" She glared down at them.
"But. he's not alone!" another kid, the only one with glasses started to say. "He's got Margalo, and that gives him advantage of height!"
"Yeah!" Another kid interrupted. "We have to score points before she comes back from Stuart's house!"
"Will's right." the third began to say, when suddenly a snowball hit him on the head.
"Score!" said a voice from above.
Ukyo looked up and saw a small canary flying around and doing a. victory spin? The kid with the glasses scooped up a piece of snow and yelled in defiance as he threw the ball in a futile attempt to hit the canary, who just swooped out of the way.
As the kids, the canary and the mouse, which Ukyo just noted was dressed in winter-clothes, carried on with their game, Ukyo picked up her spatulas and reclined against a nearby tree and sighed. Weirdness it seemed, was much more normal than she had imagined. so why call it weird in the first place?
She felt something light on her shoulder and looked at the canary, Margalo, resting on her shoulder. "Hey," Ukyo said.
"Hey," Margalo greeted back. "so you tried to help Stuart?" she asked pointing with her wing to the mouse as he dodged another snowball and threw one -considerably smaller- of his own back.
"Well, yeah, but it seems he doesn't need it." Ukyo answered, smiling back at the canary, who nodded.
"Yeah, his brother wouldn't let anyone hurt him." Margalo clarified.
"His brother?" She asked looking around for another mouse, until Margalo's laugh interrupted her.
"No, not another mouse, the one you were talking to... the kid with glasses!" Margalo said.
"What?!" Ukyo almost shouted, but a snowball hit her in the face as she was about to holler.
"Uh, uh..." said the kid that had thrown it as Margalo flew up with a laugh and Ukyo glared at him. He turned around to run, and he had taken two steps before a snowball hit the back of his head. After that, the battle started in earnest, with Ukyo on the mouse and canary's side.
Mrs. Little opened the door and found a very, very soaked kid, a mouse, a canary and a young woman, this one almost completely clean, standing outside her door.
"Stuart! George! I was getting worried about you two!" she said, looking at the young woman a little surprised, she was about 23 or so in her estimation.
Ukyo smiled at that and put Stuart and Margalo down. "Well guys, I escorted you back home, but I can't answer to you being late." She said. "I'm off then!"
"Oh, can't you stay?" George asked. "Only for a little while?" He tried to use the puppy eye attack with almost devastating effects.
"Yeah!" Stuart shouted from way below. "Tell us more about Japan!"
Mrs. Little quickly took charge. "You took care of my children, miss.?"
"Ukyo Kounji, Mrs. Little, and I only played with them for a while and reminded them to come home when it was getting late." She bowed slightly.
"And she told us wonderful stories of faraway lands!" Margalo added.
Ukyo frowned. "Yes, but you guys still owe me an explanation on how you're all family!"
Mrs. Little laughed lightly. "Well, everyone seems to want you to stay, so why don't you stay for dinner and we can talk all you guys want." She stepped away from the door and motioned everyone inside.
"Oh, I couldn't impose." Ukyo started, but she knew what would happen next, from previous experience with another worried mother.
"I insist, Ms. Kounji." Mrs. Little said, inviting her in. "We're having meatloaf tonight!"
***
"So, only Stuart and George are your sons, and Margalo is Stuart's girlfriend?" Ukyo asked as they sat around the table.
Mrs. Little had prepared a cup hot of chocolate for each of them and had told her about how Stuart had come into the family and how they had met Margalo. Ukyo was amused by the story.
Mrs. Little nodded while Margalo and Stuart blushed slightly.
"Still, you are very brave, Stuart!" Ukyo said brightly. "Not many people would've done so much! Or acted like you did in the face of danger!"
Stuart smiled shyly at the praise. "And what are you doing in New York, Ukyo?" Stuart asked eventually.
"Well, I came over here to start a new restaurant in town." Ukyo answered after a sip of chocolate. "I'm opening my first "Uchan's" in New York."
"Uchan's? Now, why does that sound familiar?" Mused Mrs. Little.
At that moment the door closed and Mr. Little came in. "Little hey, little ho! Did I hear correctly? Uchan's?"
Mrs. Little nodded as he walked up to them. "Well dear, that's the restaurant I took you when we went to San Francisco," he said. "But, what about it?"
Mrs. Little introduced Ukyo and explained that she was about to open an Uchan's in New York. "So, the San Francisco Uchan's is also yours?" Mr. Little asked a little surprised.
"Well, I was there when it was founded, but the restaurant is a franchise of the original Uchan's from Nerima." Ukyo answered when Mr. Little had said his hellos and sat down.
"Wow, so you've got your very own restaurant in Japan!" Stuart said happily. "That's incredible!"
"I wish I could fly to Japan and see it with my own eyes. But it's many hours of flight, I would guess!" Margalo said.
"About 14 in an Airplane from here." Ukyo clarified.
Margalo looked downcast for a moment, but Stuart placed his arm on her shoulders. "I'm sure we'll get to see Japan someday soon, Margalo." he said.
Ukyo looked at the clock and gasped. It was almost 10 PM! "Well, it was nice to meet you, Mrs. Little, Mr. Little, Stuart, Margalo, George... but I really have to go now, or Nabiki is going to kill me!"
"And who's Nabiki?" Stuart asked. "Your boyfriend?"
Ukyo laughed a little. "No, she's my partner in crime. She's my friend and partner with Uchan's" she winked at them.
"At least let us call you a cab..." Mr. Little said.
"It's okay, Mr. Little." Ukyo said smiling. "I still want to walk for a while."
Mr. Little sighed, but nodded. Ukyo said good-bye to everyone and went out.
***
Ukyo walked down the street enjoying the view of New York by night. She had been on the look out for any mugging attempts, but so far nothing had happened. A sudden "Caw" made her look up. A couple of big, black birds passed by. She thought those were crows... Ukyo shrugged and walked on, feeling the look of the crows as she passed under a branch where both were staring at her. She walked faster.
***
She closed the door to the hotel room with a sigh.
"Had a good time?" Nabiki called after quickly checking if it was her from the desk.
"Yeah, met a few interesting people. How about you?" she called back as she prepared to take a bath.
"Hn... I've heard of some interesting people that live here in NY..." Nabiki said, glancing to the bath as Ukyo took her clothes off and entered the shower. She waited until her friend had closed the shower's doors and she could barely see her reaching for the handles. "By the way, Uchan..."
"Yes?" Ukyo asked as she turned the hot water on. She let out a startled yell and Nabiki watched her friend's form disappear from view. "I should warn you that it takes a couple of minutes for the water to come out hot...." she finished with a small laugh, and turned back to work in her laptop.
***
"That was mean." Ukyo said, throwing her pillow at Nabiki, who was already in bed by the time she came out. "You don't know how annoying it is to get wet fur!"
Nabiki laughed, throwing the pillow back to Ukyo's bed. "Then be glad you don't turn into a bird! I've. read that they get the worse part if their wings get wet."
"Ha, ha. Nabs, I'll ask Margalo and prove you wrong." Ukyo grumbled as she got inside the bed.
Nabiki looked at her for a moment. "Margalo?" Ukyo nodded slowly, and yawned. She was getting sleepy. "Yeah... she's a canary I met..." Nabiki stared at her, but Ukyo was already asleep.
"A canary, eh?"
***
At times, she asked herself why she stayed in New York in winter. After all, she wasn't really being forced to stay as before, in a life that seemed to have happened to someone else. Certainly her life had been much more relaxed ever since Falcon had disappeared.
Margalo sighed and jumped from the branch she was perched on and glided into the snow-covered city. She stopped again and perched on a telephone line in front of a hotel and looked down at the people.
"Hm, lots of birds around, for this time of the year." A voice said from behind her.
"Yeow!" Margalo shouted turning around in mid-jump to look at the big black bird that was perched next to her on the line. "Don't do that! I almost had a heart attack!" Margalo stared right at the bird, ready to jump if she tried anything. She was not on good terms with big birds. "So what's a crow doing here in NY?" she asked diplomatically.
"Crow!" The bird lifted her head in indignation. "A CROW?! Do I look like a crow to you?" She did look quite scandalized at the apparent confusion.
"Uh." Margalo started, but stopped as the Crow-like bird opened her wings in a very dramatic way and looked to the heavens.
"By Amaseratsu, Canary! Do I look like someone who would perch on a mime's shoulder and caw cryptically whenever he gets shot?!"
Margalo was a little taken aback by that. "Eh. mime?"
The other bird sighed. "I'm a Raven. R. A. V. E. N. not a crow! Kids these days! It's almost as if. oh, forget it." The raven stopped grumbling and looked amusedly at Margalo. "Nice pin." The raven said.
"Uh, thanks." Margalo answered rather warily, hiding her pin inside the folds of her blue scarf. She knew ravens AND crows were addicted to shiny things. "So," Margalo said, once the raven had started looking at the people below again. "Uh, why are you here?"
"Ah, nothing much, taking care of a few business, meeting old friends, introducing new ones to the wonders of NY and hearing interesting stories about mice, hawks and planes." The raven answered snidely.
"Oh?" Margalo tried to appear nonchalant about the whole thing.
"Yeah, you wouldn't believe what they say! Tales of daring-do and adventure." The raven answered. "So, is this Stuart Little as brave as they say, Margalo?" she asked after a small pause, and Margalo was quick to answer. "Well, he's a little shy, really and." the canary stopped. "What did you just call me?"
"I didn't call you anything, what do you think I called you?" the raven answered after a moment.
"You said my name's Margalo!" the canary accused.
"I did?"
"YES!"
"And it isn't?"
"No!" Margalo shouted, then stammered, "I mean, yes! But that's not the point!"
"Then why are you complaining about that? If I had said your name was, say, Kimberly, then you would have a good reason to complain."
Margalo almost growled.
The raven looked at her with even more amusement.
"Okay, how do you know my name?" the canary tried again.
"You just told me." The black bird answered.
"You knew before I said it." Margalo said a little annoyed.
"Yesss." said the raven.
"Okay, so, how come you knew my name?" Margalo asked.
"That information is going to cost you." The raven said.
"I'm a canary! I don't have money!" Margalo answered.
"Well then, Margalo, I'll keep my secret."
At that moment Margalo almost said 'fine' and was about to fly off her own way. except. this one knew about Stuart and her! What if it was another enemy like Falcon? "How can I pay you?" She asked in resignation.
"You wouldn't know Martial Arts of any sort, would you?" The raven wondered, and then answered her own question. "No, of course not. how about. that pin you have in the scarf, and a question of my own?"
"You want my. pin?" Margalo asked, but then took it out. It was for Stuart. after all. She handed over the pin. The raven looked at it closely and hid it inside her wing. "Well?" Margalo asked.
"Okay kid, tell me why you speak human English and I'll answer whichever one question you want me to answer." The raven stated.
"I don't know," Margalo answered honestly. She hadn't really stopped to consider about that. "Do I?" she had always thought that the Littles were the ones that spoke her own language.
"Well, to answer your question, yes, you do. Rather good actually, no accent at all. And you can pronounce an S without problems." The black bird noted.
"Well. so can you." Margalo answered.
"Yes, indeed." The raven answered nodding. "Well, nice talking to you, kid, I had hoped for more information from you, but, a deal's a deal, and I do have business to attend to, I'd ask you where I could find a good place to buy knives but that would start another round of questions, and, as fun as that is, your credit IS rather dry."
The raven jumped and started flying away. Margalo didn't wait a second before going after her. "Hey! You cheated! You didn't answer my question!" She heard the raven's voice just as she turned around a building.
"Yes, I did! You do have very good English, as I said!"
"Hey! Wait! That's not fair! Hey!" Margalo shouted as she flew around, looking for the raven, but unable to find her.
Far up, a dark figure watched Margalo fly desperately around the building until she gave up and flew away.
"Soon, little one, soon you'll pay for all you did." the dark figure muttered, and with a flutter of pastel-blue feathers it was gone.
***
"Hmm." Ukyo pulled out one of the knives and put it on the counter of the store. "Are you sure this one's good enough? We ARE going to cut very fine strips of fish at times."
The clerk nodded. "Yes, those will do. We haven't had any problems so far with that line, and we've sold quite a lot of those."
"Okay," Ukyo said, this was after all the last of the stores she had visited and so far the best. "I'll take them, and these spatulas too." After paying, Ukyo went outside into the cold breeze of early morning NY. "Ok," Ukyo said to herself as she checked her watch. "I'll have to hurry if I want to get in time for the interviews." she started hurrying back.
Another of the things Nabiki had taken care of all the way from Japan, was to find some prospect cooks from local Colleges and job finders. Most would come that same day to talk with Ukyo and prove their skills, the others would stop by the next day.
As she walked she heard a few shouts from above. Curious, she looked up and saw a canary fluttering about as if looking for someone. She only knew of one canary that would still be in NY during winter. "Hey! Margalo!" she shouted and waved, ignoring the strange looks of some people.
Margalo heard her name and looked about, noticing a girl waving her hand at her. For a moment she couldn't place her, but immediately after she remembered Ukyo and swept down to land on Ukyo's extended finger. A few people grunted in surprise at a canary in winter, others' eyes boggled when the canary spoke.
"Hello, Ukyo!" Margalo said with a soft smile. If Ukyo hadn't seen Jeremy do that she'd have said it was impossible for birds to smile so. "Say, you haven't seen any ravens about, have you?"
"Ravens?" Ukyo asked and thought for a moment, finally she said, "Last night I think I saw a couple, but I couldn't really be sure." she was thinking of the two crows she had seen outside Stuart's house.
Margalo sighed. "Oh well."
"Why, what happened?" the Japanese cook asked, sensing the canary's plight.
"Well, a raven tricked me into giving her my pin!" Margalo confessed a little flustered.
"That's terrible!" Ukyo answered, remembering how cute the canary looked with that pin. "I wish I could help you right away, but I've got to go to the restaurant."
Margalo nodded. "It's lost now. and I couldn't find anything on how that raven knew about Stuart and I."
Ukyo tensed a little. She had just met them, but she had grown fond of the Littles' and their simple and happy view of the world. "Listen, Margalo, I will help you find out what the raven wants and how she knows you guys."
Margalo beamed. "Really?! Neat!" Ukyo nodded. "But I still have to go to the restaurant, want to tag along?" Margalo nodded and jumped to Ukyo's shoulder.
***
"Wow, nice place!" Margalo said when Ukyo had walked in. The canary jumped from her shoulder and made a sweep about the restaurant. Ukyo set down the knives and spatulas and started preparing some green tea.
"So, how did this raven make you give her your pin?" she asked Margalo, who had perched on the back of a chair.
"Well. she knew about me and Stuart." Margalo started as Ukyo checked about for the cups she knew she had put somewhere. Finally, Ukyo took out two and motioned with one to Margalo, who nodded and continued as Ukyo poured some Tea into the cups. She made sure it wasn't too hot.
"She then said that should I pay her for telling me what she knew," said the canary. Ukyo sat down in front of her and placed Margalo's cup on the table and took a sip of her own, nodding to Margalo to continue.
After a quick sip, the canary did. "I said I didn't carry money, so she asked something about me or Stuart knowing martial arts." Margalo frowned. THAT had been a weird question. "but she- Ukyo?"
Ukyo had put down the cup and was choking with the tea. She hit her chest a couple of times before she could wheeze air back into her lungs. "Martial. Arts?"
"Uh. yeah." Margalo answered. "But she dropped it of immediately after. uh. why are you making that face? Is that important?"
Ukyo was frowning, trying to grasp something that had just sprung in her memory but still eluded her. "Please continue, Margalo, maybe we can solve this problem sooner than I'd thought."
Margalo nodded, enthusiastic about the possibility of getting her pin back. "Anyway, after all of that she told me that she would answer any one question I wanted if I answered another and gave her my pin in payment. so I gave her my pin and she asked me how it was that I could speak human English."
That was a good question, Ukyo herself had wondered why she, Stuart and probably others in their immediate circle could do that, but hadn't done so out of respect.
".and?" she prompted.
"Well," Margalo answered a little ashamed. "I told her that I didn't know I spoke English any differently from other animals."
"About that." Ukyo interrupted. "Margalo, only you and Stuart speak like that, but don't you have problems to speak with other animals?"
Margalo shook her head. "No. we can speak like that with everyone."
Ukyo nodded. "It's strange. normally if you spoke only English you wouldn't be able to talk to animals, since everyone but humans speak "animal" language."
At that moment there was a knock on the door and Ukyo looked outside to see a young girl waiting outside. She had a brown hair tied in pony tail and was a little taller than Ukyo. As she stood up and walked to the door, she noted that the girl seemed to be Japanese but had unusually green eyes.
She opened the door. "Hi, how can I help you?" Ukyo asked.
"I'm here for the job application?" the girl half asked.
"Oh! Sure come in!" Ukyo stepped aside and the girl walked inside and out of the falling snow. She hadn't noticed that it had started snowing. "I'm Ukyo Kounji, nice to meet you." She said with a bow.
The girl seemed pleasantly surprised and bowed back. "Kino Makoto, I didn't expect to meet the famous Ukyo Kounji in person! I'm very honored to meet you, Kounji-sama."
Ukyo smiled. "Uchan will be enough, Kino-san."
Makoto beamed back a smile. "Oh, then please call me Makoto or Mako-chan, as my friends do." She said bowing lightly.
Ukyo bowed back, and then looked curiously along with Makoto at Margalo as she perched on her shoulder. "Uh, Margalo, this is Makoto, Makoto, meet Margalo." Ukyo said.
"How cute!" Makoto said immediately taking in the canary's pilot cap and blue scarf.
The canary had watched amused all the bowing, title adding, name changing and had been a little confused at the whole deal.
"Why all the bowing and name changing, Ukyo?" Margalo asked.
Ukyo noticed that Makoto's eyes bulged a little in surprise but that was all. That was good.
"Well, Margalo, in Japan it is customary to refer to someone you've just met with an added title of respect, and this title normally stays until both persons have agreed to change it. but let's just say it's just out of respect."
"Oh." Margalo said, impressed.
"Anyway," Ukyo said walking to the table. "Why don't we get started, Mako- chan?" Makoto accepted a cup of tea from Ukyo. "So, how come you're here in NY?" Ukyo started.
"Well, I came here to study Culinary Arts in the Art Institute of NY. and graduated a few months ago."
They started talking and Margalo clung to every word with outmost interest. She liked Makoto; she seemed easygoing and tough at the same time. Much like Ukyo herself, she noted.
After half an hour of the interview, they had finished talking and Makoto was about to leave. "It was nice meeting you, Mako-chan." Margalo said from Ukyo's shoulder.
"You too, Margalo!" Makoto answered honestly. "Uchan, it was a pleasure to meet you."
Ukyo nodded. "Same here! I'll call you tomorrow, okay?"
Makoto nodded and waved a little as she walked into the street. The door closed behind her.
They interviewed two more girls that same day, one screamed when Margalo talked, but calmed down a little while later, and the next one spent almost the whole interview in a half-stupor staring at the talking canary.
"Well, that was the last one," Ukyo said looking out the window to make sure the girl didn't get run down by a passing car -with her walking zombie- like and all- out of the restaurant.
"Hey, I'm sorry I scared those two so badly!" Margalo said when Ukyo sat next to her with a sigh.
"No worries, sugar." Ukyo said smiling and picking up the cups. "You actually helped a lot." She left the cups in the washer.
"I did?!" Margalo asked surprised. "But the first probably won't come back, and the second is still in shock, probably." They both tried to ignore a claxon sounding very close by and the sounds of screeching tires coupled with a few shouts.
"Well, Margalo, it's a requisite to be able to handle talking canaries if you want to work at "Uchan's"."
"Why?" the canary asked.
"Well, you'll understand soon enough, but let me tell you that weird stuff happens around me and my gang all the time. It's just the way things are. And NY is no exception! I wouldn't want someone who would freak out if you or Stuart came to eat here!" Ukyo clarified.
"Makoto seemed to be able to do that." Margalo commented.
"Yeah. she's quite a find, really knows how to cook, already knows the basics of most of the dishes here, good martial arts training, has seen a few fights, used to weird stuff, knowledge of basic aura detection, good looks -which helps a lot in this business- good sense of humor and an overall feeling of being nice. I'm giving her the job, if she chooses to accept it."
The canary was impressed. "You. saw all that?! How? All you talked about was her studies in Culinary school, about boys, sempais, -whatever those are- and a little about Nerima and Jubaan."
Ukyo smiled. "It's one of the good things about leading a weird life, Margalo. You learn many things." She winked at the canary. "Well, let's close the place. That was the last interview for today. I hope I find someone else tomorrow, or it's going to get tough for Makoto if she has to handle things alone."
Ukyo bolted the door from the inside and started turning off the lights. "Anyway, we're going to start looking for more information about your raven friend as of this moment." She said over her shoulder as she closed the curtains.
"Really? Cool! But. then why did you close the door? Are you going to use a computer from here, or what?"
"No, sugar, we're going out, but you'll have to promise me you'll keep my secret." Ukyo said from behind the counter as she held up a small paper cup with water in it.
"Sure Ukyo. but what." Margalo started to assure her, but stopped when Ukyo nodded and poured the cold water on herself.
Margalo watched the girl disappear behind the counter, and heard the cup as it fell to the floor and rolled. ". secret?" she finished in a much smaller voice. "Ukyo?!" Margalo shouted as she flew to the bar, lighted on it and looked down.
"Looking for someone?" Came Ukyo's voice from behind her.
The unexpected voice made Margalo jump in fright and turn around. "Ukyo, I thought- who are you?!"
Before her stood a brown mouse with long hair, tied back with a white ribbon to hold it in place. She had a spatula tied to her back, and was watching Margalo amusedly, as the later put a wing to her heart, trying to calm down. Ukyo laughed a little and swirled around, letting Margalo have a good look at her. "So, what do you think of my little secret?" she asked winking at her.
***
"Margalo?" a voice asked into the darkness. "Hey! That's not funny! Wake up!" the voice insisted after a moment of silence, and then, slowly, light crept into the darkness and the fuzzy image of a mouse appeared.
"S.Stuart?" Margalo stammered, then her sight focused and she leapt back. "Ah! You?!"
The brown female mouse smiled shyly at her. "Hey, sugar. Sorry for scaring you like that. I didn't expect you'd black out!"
The canary took two steps forward and, extending her wing touched Ukyo's face. "How."
"Long story." Ukyo sighed. "A while back I fell into a magic spring that turned me into a mouse, and now I turn into a mouse whenever I get splashed with cold water." She explained motioning to the paper cup.
"Oh." Was all the canary could say.
"Well, Margalo, I hope this doesn't change anything between us." Ukyo said, taking Margalo's wing in her hands. "I mean. we're still friends, right?"
The canary smiled a little, she still was shocked, but Ukyo had warned her that weirdness seemed to follow her around. "Yeah, sorry Ukyo, but you did surprise me."
***
Ukyo looked down from the top of the building she was standing on. She couldn't see any ravens around. It was a little frustrating.
Hearing a flutter of wings, she turned to face Margalo and shook her head. For a talking canary Margalo wasn't really taking Ukyo's transformation as the latter would've expected. she still looked in disbelief at her from time to time.
"I didn't see anything either." Margalo started, when a large shadow passed over them. Ukyo barely had time to shout as sharp talons wrapped around her tightly and she was flying higher than she had ever flown. Straining a little, she managed to look up at the scarred face of a blue feathered falcon.
She heard Margalo shout in the distance. "Hey! Give her back you overgrown turkey!"
"My, my. What language!" Falcon laughed as he slowed to match Margalo's speed. Margalo glared at him.
"Is that the way you treat your father?" he asked.
"You're not my father!" Margalo snapped. "If you were, I'd had talons sharp enough to tear you to pieces!"
Falcon just laughed and sped up, quickly leaving Margalo behind. "Same place!" He shouted back at her. "Bring your other mouse friend. and no humans!" With another burst of speed, Margalo was left behind.
***
"Stuart!" Margalo shouted landing next to him in his room; where he currently was jumping on the buttons of the videogame controller. "What is it Margalo?" he asked, jumping on the 'start' button, then turning to look at her.
"Stuart! I. a raven tricked me into giving her my pin, but when I tried to look for her she had already disappeared! So when I found Ukyo I accompanied her to her restaurant for a few job interviews, but when we finished she turned into a mouse! And then we flew around town trying to find the raven, but instead Falcon found us and took Ukyo with him, I tried to catch them, but Falcon was too fast, so he shouted to me that he would meet you and me at the same place as last time, so I think he means the building where you almost got killed but he doesn't want humans to be involved in this!" she paused for breath. "What are we going to do?!"
Stuart put a calming arm around her shoulders. "Uh, listen Margalo, why don't you repeat that slowly? I thought you said Ukyo had turned into a mouse and that Falcon had carried her away," he said laughing a little.
"But I did! I mean, she did turn into one!" Margalo said.
Stuart just stared.
***
"Now I know how Brisby felt," Ukyo sighed. She was hanging on a cage very, very high above the ground inside one of the largest buildings she had ever seen.
"Feeling lonely?" a voice from above asked. The cage tumbled precariously as Falcon perched on it.
"Not really," Ukyo answered. "There's always the village idiot fluttering around with blue feathers to keep me company."
The falcon scowled, but Ukyo just smiled. "So, tell me, what do you gain from all of this? From what I heard, last time you got kicked about and tossed into the trashcan. What makes you think it'll be any different right now?"
"That, little mouse," Falcon growled, "is NOT your problem. Once those two cretins get over here in a futile attempt to save you, you and the other mousy friend of Margalo are plummeting to your deaths while she watches."
Ukyo glared at him. "Won't work." She said simply.
"Oh?" Falcon asked mockingly. "And why is that?" he glared at her, trying to cower her.
"Simple," Ukyo answered. "I'm not going to let you!" She grabbed Falcon's talons and held them tight as she swung her spatula and hit the link where the chain and cage met.
Falcon shouted in surprise when the full weight of the cage pulled him down. "Let go you little furry bastard!" he shouted to Ukyo as he strained to lift the cage, himself and Ukyo, flapping his wings desperately.
"In your dreams you blue feathered freak!" Ukyo shouted back as she used her other hand to bend the bars around his talon. Once this was done, she went to the other side and bent the bars apart. Falcon started shaking his leg furiously trying to get the cage off.
Ukyo finally managed to climb to the top of the cage and jumped on Falcon's back just as he got rid of it. From his back Ukyo saw the cage falling down to the ground, where it clanged and bounced, ending in a twisted heap of metal. Okay, maybe it had not been a good idea to do that. But she was already here so.
"Down you overgrown turkey!" she shouted, burrowing Margalo's insult and passing one arm around his neck and then squeezing.
Falcon didn't follow orders, instead he started flying higher. "Oh no, you don't!" he sneered.
"If you choke me you're also dead!" He then did a barrel turn trying to shake Ukyo off, grunting in annoyance when she held on.
"Ukyo!" came a shout from somewhere above them. The mouse looked up and saw Margalo flying down towards her.
"Hello, Margalo!" Ukyo shouted as she undid the ribbon that held her hair back.
"MARGALO?!" Falcon shouted, looking up. His eyes widened when he felt the ribbon slip into his mouth.
Now Ukyo held him by the beak with a make-up bridle. "Having fun, sugar?" Ukyo asked from his back and he shivered with anger. This mouse was worse than the last one! Speaking of which. if Margalo was here.
He heard the sounds of a motor nearby and glared at Stuart as he came flying next to him in a new toy-sized plane.
"Hello, Falcon!" the white mouse shouted, waving a hand at him. Falcon growled then dived down.
"Damn," Stuart muttered as he followed the bird of prey down, along with Margalo, who flew down as fast as she could. Still, neither of them was as fast as Falcon. Falcon felt the 'bridle' tighten, and Ukyo's legs let go of him. She was holding the ribbon as tightly as she could. With a grin, Falcon stopped in mid flight and ducked. Ukyo flew over his head, and he gripped the ribbon with his beak.
"Uh-oh." Ukyo half-squeaked in terror, her eyes followed the blue ribbon to Falcon's beak, which was twisted into a smile, and then to his eyes. He then let go. Ukyo didn't even have time to shout as she fell down, more than a hundred meters above New York's buildings.
Margalo flew past Falcon, who quickly dropped and caught her with a talon. "Ukyo!" she gasped. As Stuart flew down past them, Falcon also snatched him, pulling him out of the cabin, and letting the plane fly down. Stuart saw the toy plane smash into the window of one nearby building, about 50 meters below them.
"No, no, my little friends," Falcon said, smiling. "You're not helping her. I'm afraid she got what was coming, trying to fight me." Stuart shut his eyes, anger rising at the big bird.
"You. bastard!" he shouted. Margalo also shut her eyes, small tears escaping. "Ukyo."
"Oh, my little misguided daughter," Falcon sneered. "You don't need to worry, you two will meet with her soon enough." he flew down, spiraling towards one of the buildings.
***
Mrs. Little was washing the dishes when her older child, George walked into the kitchen holding the remote control of one of his toy planes. She wasn't very fond of those things, since the last time, her other son, Stuart, had piloted one and got in an aerial fight with a falcon over the park and almost got killed.
"Mom," George asked. "Have you seen my plane? I'm sure I left it in my room before I went out to play with Will." He looked pretty miserable.
"I'm sorry George," she answered without turning back. "I'm afraid I haven't, why don't you ask Stuart?"
"I would, but Stuart's not here." George answered gloomily.
She stopped cleaning the dishes. "He's. not here?" she asked, turning to glare at her son.
"Well. he is, in a way." A voice from outside answered her. She turned towards the window and the dish she was holding fell to the floor with a crash.
On a branch just outside the window, Falcon was pinning Margalo and Stuart down. Both were a little beat up, and tied with a piece of rope. Stuart's mother took half a step back, but George almost jumped on the stool in anger. "What do you want? Let them go!"
Falcon smiled. "I want your ring." The blue bird said, staring at Stuart's mother. "I will have it or these two die."
She looked at the ring. She had placed it on a ring-holder shaped like a woman's hand next to the sink. "There it is!" she pleaded. "Just. just let them go."
Falcon laughed. "It's not that easy, Mrs. Little. I won't let them go until I have the ring where no-one else can get to it. So, if you're so kind as to throw the ring over the roof so I can get to it without any risk to myself, I'll let Stuart go. And when I have it in my beak, Margalo goes. It's that simple." He said as he grabbed them both and flew up.
Without pausing for a moment, Mrs. Little grabbed the ring and ran outside, where she could see Falcon perched on the roof. She silently wished farewell to her wedding ring as she threw it over the roof. It landed a few feet away from Falcon. He sneered. "Why, thank you, Mrs. Little. Now say goodbye kids. Say goodbye to your mother, Stuart!" Falcon laughed as he jumped to get the ring.
Realizing that she had been played for a fool, Stuart's mother started to despair. "Wait! You said you'd let Stuart go!"
Falcon stopped and smiled. "Yes. I did say so. but not where, or rather. From how high!" he finished with a loud laugh.
It was then that a black shadow swooped in front of Falcon, who stopped for a moment then swore in rage when the diamond-decorated ring had disappeared. He looked around and saw another large bird, a raven, inspecting it as she held it with one of her wings. "Hmm. not even five karats." she sighed. "Oh well, it shines, though." And then she somehow made it disappear.
"Hey!" Falcon complained, as Margalo watched bewildered. "That's mine!" Falcon growled, taking a step towards the raven and dragging his two victims with each step.
"Are you sure?" the raven asked, glancing at Falcon and not at all worried by the sharp beak or the talons. "It didn't have your name. or, are you Mrs. Little?"
"I am not," Falcon started "Mrs. Little. But that ring is mine, and if you value your life, you're giving it back." He took another menacing step.
"Oh, I do value my life." The raven said. "But I very much doubt you could do any harm, much less permanent and even less lethal enough to kill me." She ruffled her feathers in a dismissing way. "..That such barbaric idiots exist in this world." she looked down at his talons, taking special interest on the left one, where Margalo and Stuart were both tied. "And I can't say much about your attempts at decorating your talons. Didn't you know that fur is usually dead when you use it for dressing?"
Falcon growled and launched into the air, trying to ram into the raven. But the black bird had predicted her opponent's movement and had jumped off first.
"Stuart!" his mother shouted helplessly as Falcon followed the raven.
***
Stuart stopped struggling with the rope as they climbed higher into the air. A few moments ago, while they were on the roof, he had started working on getting free, almost completely ignoring his mother's pleas and the strange crow's words.
But now, he was again hundreds of feet into the air, and getting free was the same as being dead. Falcon was flying as fast as he could, but he couldn't catch up with the raven, who dodged him and flew around him laughing all the way.
"Aw, did the big sea-gull miss the whale?" the raven teased as Falcon flew past. "Too bad you're so slow a slug could out run you!" she teased again as Falcon did another ineffective pass. "I'm sure you want to blame someone on this, but seeing how you fly, I can only guess it's your own lack of ability."
"Shut up!" Falcon shouted at the raven. "You're not weighed down by these two idiots!"
The raven flew past him with a barrel turn. "Really." She asked. "So, who's the idiot? Those two?" she pointed to the tied couple. "Or the idiot that carries them and then also misses the treasure?" with an angry shout, Falcon used his beak to untie the rope.
"Goodbye, little pests." He muttered and let them go. Stuart and Margalo shouted as the wind rushed around their ears and they began to fall. Stuart closed his eyes, his last thoughts being of his family, but over all Margalo's brown eyes.
He felt a yank on the rope and wondered why it had been a yank and not a 'splat'. He opened his eyes and looked up the rope. He didn't know what to say, but Margalo, who also was gaping up at the brown mouse with long hair that had saved them did say something.
"U-Ukyo!?" she gasped in surprise.
***
One hand controlling the small plane as best as she could, the other holding them both by the rope Ukyo struggled to pull them up. When they were as safe as possible on the wing, she used her spatula to cut it, setting them free. "Hi!" she said, smiling as she traded places with Stuart. The white mouse started flying down towards their home, but Ukyo stopped him. "Wait, we have to take care of Falcon." she pointed to the two black dots flying away.
***
Falcon was gaining on the raven as they both flew over New York city. With a small, evil grin he flew up gaining altitude. The raven was fast, but he was a falcon, and thus much faster. As soon as he had gained on the raven from above, he dashed down.
But somehow the raven knew he was coming and veered of to the right just as he swooped past. Falcon gritted his beak as he heard the damnable black bird's laugh. Just how had it known?
The raven laughed at his confused expression. "Idiot! Falcons, hawks or eagles- they all attack from above! You're predictable!"
With a shout Falcon swooped right at her, but the raven swerved to the right and again he missed her, then tilting her left wing she caught another current and she was swept up higher above New York city spiraling all the way. Almost growling, Falcon followed her up.
Below them, and unable to feel the movements of the wind that would take them up, Ukyo, Margalo and Stuart were watching the fight as both birds slowly went towards the docks.
"That raven sure is pulling her luck fighting Falcon like that." Margalo said.
"I just hope she knows what she's doing." Said Stuart.
As they flew over the docks it was the raven that now swooped down in an attempt to lose Falcon. She dived with the other close behind spreading her wings as soon as she was above a steam boat and then flew in a spiral around it until she was almost skimming the water.
Falcon was close behind her and as soon as she went under the dock he pulled just over it. As soon as she tried to go up he rammed her, talons first into a nearby boat where she landed rather heavily.
Victorious, Falcon tightened his sharp talons just where the wings met the back. She cried out below him and he smiled as he felt blood oozing out of the wounds. "You also became predictable, dear." Falcon sneered. "And now you can't fly anymore."
"T-that remains to be seen." The raven gasped out as he tightened his grip again. She glared at him.
"Now," Falcon said. "I believe you have something of mine with you." He lowered his head, placing his beak just next to her eye.
"I've got nothing of yours." The raven stated calmly, still glaring.
Falcon glared back at her and just as he was about to say something, he was batted away.
"That will be enough, Falcon!" Ukyo shouted as she jumped over the raven to hit him once more.
"Are you alright?" Stuart asked as he and Margalo helped the raven up.
She nodded and with a flutter of feathers Mrs. Little's golden ring fell on the floor. "I will be as soon as you take that ring. it weighs me down."
A little surprised, Stuart picked it up. The raven extended her wings again and groaned.
"Careful!" Was Margalo's warning. "Falcon did a lot of damage with his talons; if you try to do anything rash you might hurt yourself worse!"
The raven ignored her, though. "I'm okay. But for what he tried to do." the raven's eyes flashed. "He should pay." She jumped into the air.
"What do you think she means?" Stuart asked Margalo.
"He tried to take her ability to fly away." Margalo answered. "It's something terrible to do to any bird."
In the meantime Falcon had managed to get up into the air with Ukyo clinging to his back. He was tired, battered and humiliated. The worst beating of his life had come from the mouse on his back; the same mouse that was now using her spatula to try and choke him.
As soon as he got hold of a current he started gliding and turned his head to look at the mouse on his back. She was strong and very brave. In another time. another distant, half forgotten life, he would have admired her and maybe even tried to be friends, but now. he could only envy Margalo even more.
"If you don't let go." Falcon groaned. "You'll die along with me."
Ukyo just growled back at him. "I'm not letting go." She answered, and tightened her hold.
Falcon flew over to the sea, where he started wheezing. Ukyo considered letting go when Falcon's head swayed, but she only let go a little, to keep him conscious, but it didn't help much as Falcon dropped altitude. Ukyo looked at the direction they were headed, and gulped.
They were headed directly at a steamboat full of tourists that were taking pictures at the Statue of Liberty!
As the boat suddenly seemed to loom in front of them, Falcon's head snapped back up and he climbed as quickly as he could. But their speed was too much for an effective evasion, and just as they were about to crash into one of the chimneys the raven plucked Ukyo from Falcon's back.
For a few frightful seconds all she could feel was a wave of heat as steam floated into the cool air in front of her. And between the clouds of steam she saw Falcon crash into the inside of the chimney, bouncing from the metal wall into the furnace within.
She winced as she heard him cry out one last time, and then she was being deposited down by the raven, who disappeared into the air soon enough.
A few minutes later, as people started taking notice of the small mouse, and an old lady screamed in fright, the Captain was about to take care of the little pest when a small toy plane landed just next to the mouse.
The Captain sighed. "It's Stuart Little." He explained to one of his sailors, who started telling everyone that everything was okay, and that the white mouse in the plane was none other than the famous Stuart Little from New York City, another wonder from 'The Big Apple'.
Stuart and Margalo ignored the staring tourists and ran towards the still dazed Ukyo. "Ukyo! What happened? Are you okay?" Stuart asked as he helped her up.
"Where's Falcon?" Margalo asked worriedly.
"Dead." Ukyo said. "I didn't want him to die, you know?" she said miserably.
Margalo sighed and placed a wing on her shoulder.
"What happened to your mother's ring?" Ukyo asked, suddenly remembering the reason for all the chaos.
Stuart smiled and held up the ring. It glistened in the sun, and the diamond made a small rainbow of light at their feet. "The raven gave it to us." He said.
"Where is she, anyway?" Margalo asked, looking up, but seeing no sign of the bird. The canary sighed. "I wish we would have been able to thank her at least."
As Ukyo was about to speak a shadow covered them all up, and they heard the Captain discussing something with someone.
Ukyo looked up, and her eyes opened wide.
Stuart and Margalo both looked with interest as a Japanese young woman pushed aside the Captain and squatted next to them, kneeling between the small animals and the plane and looking intently at Ukyo.
"Nabs!" Ukyo squeaked.
"I thought it was you." Nabiki said grimly. "Only a couple of days in New York and you're already causing trouble." Nabiki closed her eyes and shook her head. "What was that all about, Ukyo?"
She looked at the little mouse as Ukyo tried to explain between squeaks and mimicry what had happened. "Ukyo... I don't speak mouse. Remember? You'll have to tell me later what's going on."
"Everythin' okay, Nabi?" Asked a voice from behind and Nabiki took a look over her shoulder at Grim and a few others that were all clustered around with bags and a few items.
"Yeah, everything's okay." Nabiki answered standing up. "I was just asking Stuart for help on making some promotion for the restaurant." Nabiki explained, and handed her bag to Grim. Grim looked in interest as she wrote down something on a white card and gave it to Stuart.
"Here, Stuart." Nabiki said. They all saw the restaurant's address written on it. "I would love it if you'd help us out with it."
Stuart nodded and took the card. "Sure thing, Miss Nabiki!"
Nodding, the Japanese woman stood up and walked away with Mr. Grim to their group of friends.
"Nabi, Nabi," Grim said amiably. "Yer always look'n fer ways ta make money, ain't ya?"
Nabiki smiled wickedly. "Of course!" they lost themselves in the crowd of their friends.
"We should go now," Ukyo muttered as she walked towards the plane. "Your mother will be very worried, Stuart."
Stuart nodded and jumped into the plane, followed by Ukyo, who sat in the passenger's seat.
"Ouch!" Ukyo shouted suddenly and pulled herself out.
"What is it?" Stuart asked, his question echoed by Margalo.
Ukyo reached into the back seat and, without a word handed a golden object to the canary.
"My pin!" Margalo shouted happily. Letting Stuart put it in place on her blue scarf. "How did it get there?!" she asked Ukyo.
"I wonder." Ukyo said, already suspecting. "Anyway, let's go!"
The little plane lifted into the sky after a run through the hall full of tourists, with Margalo flapping her wings and falling into a comfortable glide next to them.
***
"Cheers!" everyone shouted, lifting their glasses into the air as Ukyo and Nabiki cut the red ribbon opening the doors of the newest "Uchan's" to the public. Both young women smiled as flashes covered them as a blanket for a moment.
"Well, let's go in!" Ukyo shouted happily.
The guests filed into the restaurant, which had been decorated with a Christmas tree, ribbons bells and mistletoe with the combined efforts of Makoto, Mrs. Little, Margalo, another cook named Rosy and Ukyo.
As the guests walked into the restaurant, they were led to their tables by a couple of waiters. Nabiki had put all of her friends together in a large table. There were about 20 of them. As for Ukyo, she would share a table with the Littles, Makoto and Rosy.
Rosy had come as a blessing the last day when Ukyo had watched the previous girl run screaming out of the place when Stuart had walked into the restaurant. She was already a married woman, and had two kids, who had come to the party as well. She had lived in Japan for a while and had learnt how to cook Okonomiyaki and other Japanese dishes while she stayed there.
She had considered little Stuart cute. So no problem there, and she had many ideas on how to run a healthy restaurant that appealed to Ukyo.
So, she had been taken into the group, along with two waitresses, a young girl called Chiyo, who was another student from Japan and a local girl by the name of Mary Jane, both had brought a couple of friends from college too.
As soon as everyone was served, the doors closed and the music on, the party started.
Ukyo approved of the way everyone behaved with enough respect for their jobs and put work first, then fun. It was just preparing food though, and the drinks were already cool and ready.
When the clock struck twelve, Chiyo stopped playing with Stuart and the other kids, smiling as she opened a bag of lollypops. "Merry Christmas!" she shouted as she started giving candy to everyone.
Ukyo made her way among the congratulating groups to Mr. and Mrs. Little. She smiled and gave them a hug each, giving them each a small box and receiving one herself. She opened it and found a golden chain with a golden miniature spatula on it.
"You two are great!" She said, hugging them again. "I will miss you, but I promise to come back and visit!" she said with a laugh.
"We will be delighted to have you back, Ukyo!" Mrs. Little said.
"Yes, and you can be sure we'll be coming here a lot!" Mr. Little added. He had loved the Okonomiyaki.
Ukyo smiled at them, and excused herself, going around to look for Stuart and Margalo.
She found Rosy and Makoto first, and gave each a small envelope.
"And what is this?" Makoto asked with a smile as she started opening it.
Ukyo smiled back. "It's half the franchise for the New York's Uchan's in each envelope." she said.
Both Makoto and Rosy stared at her. And Ukyo nodded.
"Yup, I think you two will make great partners!" she said with a smile.
Leaving them to discuss what to do next she finally found Stuart and Margalo. Picking both up in her hands, she let them down on a table and gave them a miniature box each.
Margalo opened hers and found a rainbow of scarfs, neatly folded inside the box. She flew up to Ukyo's shoulder and hugged her neck. "Thank you Ukyo! They're great!"
Stuart opened his box and found a small whistle in it, an 'Uchan's T-shirt' and a pair of new tennis shoes. -all in his size-.
"Thank you, Uchan!" Stuart said with a smile and a kiss to Ukyo's cheek. Then he held up the whistle. "And what's this for?" he asked.
"That would be my present to you two." Nabiki said, walking up to stand next to Ukyo. "Whenever you're in serious trouble, try using it. And I mean serious." She smiled enigmatically. "Wouldn't want to spoil the surprise, would we?"
Stuart shook his head and put it into his bag. "Thanks." He said, smiling up at her.
Nabiki grinned. "Hey it was the least I could do after you flew around the city in your plane with the "Uchan's" add!" She patted Stuart softly on the back. "Well now, let's dance!"
***
Back in the Hotel Room, the morning they were about to leave, Ukyo waited patiently for Nabiki to come back. They would leave the room in an hour, so they had most of their things packed up, except for some clothes for Nabiki, since she was going to take a bath when she got back.
Finally, the door opened and Nabiki walked in, cleaning some snow from her black coat and putting it to dry next to the heater. She threw something on the table and smiled at Ukyo. "I'll be quick, Uchan!" she said, heading for the bathroom.
Ukyo smiled. She had something prepared for Nabiki. As Nabiki laid her change of clothes ob the bed, Ukyo took a glance at the contents of the rainbow-colored envelope Nabiki had tossed on the table.
Pictures. She browsed through them until she found one that got her attention. Jumping up she turned to shout a warning to Nabiki.
"Nabs wait!" she shouted too late.
Nabiki opened the door to the bathroom and was instantly drenched in cold water, as the bucket Ukyo had placed on the top of the door fell on her head.
"AAAAAH!" Nabiki shouted in surprise. She glared at Ukyo. "WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!"
Ukyo smiled sheepishly, and shrugged. Furious, Nabiki kicked the bucket out of the bath and slammed the door, turning on the water. Ukyo could hear the muttering coming from the inside.
She sighed and started thinking for an excuse as she took another look at the picture she had in her hand, a picture of Nabiki standing in the boat, smiling and doing a victory sign as Falcon and Ukyo flew past behind them, a blur in the sky.
***
Inside the bathroom, Nabiki sighed as the hot water splashed on her head. She started washing her arms, only wincing slightly when she pressed the ring-shaped red mark on the palm of her hand.
The End
"Secret of Ukyo" Side-story. By Wanderer D
Author's note: Well, "Secret of Ukyo: Book Two" is coming along nicely I must say, but recently I got a-hold of an interesting movie, which made me rent another one, and eventually find and buy a hard-cover version of the original book plus the DVD of said movie. There's not much I can say other than this movie has inspired this side-story, helping me broaden the world which I and Ukyo are just beginning to explore. I hope you all like this story.
- D
Disclaimer: Stuart Little was created by E.B. White, and the movie versions were adapted and filmed by the guys at Columbia-Tristar. Ukyo, and all Ranma ½ characters are the intellectual property of our beloved Rumiko Takahashi. This is a fan-based work of fiction which has absolutely no relation to the original intent of the characters as the original authors & creators viewed them, but it's still entertaining. I gain no money from this, and it can be distributed freely, just have a mind to give credit of this fanfic to me if you do so.
***
Nabiki waited patiently as the stewardess announced the plane to New York was ready to be boarded. Hearing a small clamor she turned around and looked up, seeing Ukyo running and jumping to get to her.
"Well then, where were you, Uchan?" Nabiki asked her friend as she came running down the last part to the waiting room, where people were already being ushered into the plane.
"Oh, sorry, Nabs," Ukyo said, blushing slightly. "I just remembered I didn't have gloves packed and stopped to buy a pair at the Duty Free."
Nabiki shook her head, smiling lightly. "I do remember telling you that it's cold there at this time of the year."
Ukyo shrugged helplessly.
"Well, never mind that now, Uchan, let's go, we can board already," Nabiki said after a friendly sigh of exasperation.
As they fell into line behind a couple of newly weds, Ukyo glanced at Nabiki. "Hey Nabs, have you ever gone to New York?"
Nabiki nodded. "Yeah, once about two years ago."
Ukyo nodded. "Good, I guess you'll know a good place for Uchan's then."
Nabiki just smiled reassuringly. "Oh, I have an idea."
***
Ukyo couldn't move too much. Her usual sprint and energy had been spent fighting against an enemy she was unable to defeat. she shouldered her bag again and tramped into the hotel room she would share with Nabiki and let everything fall alongside her on the bed.
"I choose this one." She muttered from under the pillow, which she had put over her head to try to block all the sunlight.
Nabiki gave a dollar to the bellboy and slumped on the other bed, looking at the ceiling. "We'll look at the place tomorrow if you don't mind, Ukyo." she began, when Ukyo's soft snoring let her know she had her friend's unconditional support on that motion.
***
The next day, the sun's first rays found a weary Ukyo stepping out of the bathroom after a hot bath. "Your turn, Nabs." She muttered throwing the pillow to her friend, who woke up with the soft blow and slowly got up from the bed to take her turn at the shower.
After a few minutes both of them were dressed in winter clothes. Ukyo opened the window and risked a look outside. White.
It had snowed while they slept, and it was considerably cold out there. She almost wished they had waited until summer, but business was business, after all, and she was the one that had insisted on coming to New York for a start just before Christmas.
She followed Nabiki out of the room and down the elevator to the lobby. "So, where is the place?" Ukyo asked Nabiki after they had eaten breakfast.
"You'll see soon enough, Uchan. Don't worry too much over it." Nabiki deadpanned. Then she smiled at her. "Or, if you give me 20 dollars, I could spoil the surprise for you."
"Nabs." Ukyo sighed, hitting her friend softly on the shoulder. "Don't even think about it."
Nabiki laughed out loud and walked with Ukyo to the entrance of the Hotel. Beyond the crystal doors they could see people walking on the snow-covered sidewalk, most of them freezing by the looks of it. At that moment, Ukyo seriously considered parting with 20 bucks to avoid the cold, but Nabiki seemed to be able to read her thoughts.
"Oh, no you don't, we're walking there. I want you to see the place for yourself!" Nabiki said pushing Ukyo out the automatic doors. And into the sidewalk, a breeze passed and it chilled her to the bone. "'sides, we're signing the papers today and I don't know much about kitchens and restaurant-specific needs."
Ukyo surrendered to the inevitable and started trudging through the snow, following Nabiki and taking her first good look at the Big Apple.
***
"Nabs, this is incredible!" Ukyo said, as she hanged her coat on a nearby stool. The place was a little bigger than the original Uchan's, but it was inside a building, with the basement completely at their disposal. It seemed it had been a café once, but it hadn't really worked at all.
It was just in front of the Plymouth Theater, a perfect place for a small restaurant like Ukyo had planned. "How did you find it?!" she asked, turning around to face her friend, who was just checking her watch at that moment.
Nabiki looked up, the edge of her mouth twitching up into her usual 'I know something that you don't' smile. "Oh, I have my sources." she started. "Speaking of which, he should be here soon."
Ukyo started down the basement when someone knocked on the door. She turned around as Nabiki was just opening it to let a man in. He was dressed in jeans, lots of sweaters, boots and a black trench-coat that covered most of his dirty face. He fidgeted a little as he moved, sometimes stopping to move his head around, staring at something, then sort of stalked forth until he discovered it wasn't important.
"Ukyo, this is Mr. Grim Shineplume, an old acquaintance of mine." Nabiki introduced the man, who stared so long at Ukyo's red gem that she started to become worried. Nabiki elbowed him and he snapped out of it. "Grim, this is Ukyo Kounji, my partner."
"Pleased ta meet ya." The man said, shaking hands with Ukyo. "Nabi here sais ya wanta buy da place. Nice joint, I've to admit." He smiled at them both, showing a clearly rotten tooth.
"Uh, yeah." Ukyo answered.
Grim smiled uneasily, looked back to the door, up to Nabiki and then back to Ukyo and then, seeming to come to a decision, offered her a folder. "Good. Nabi has all da papers in order, so all I need is yer autograph here on these papers."
Ukyo took the folder and read through the papers carefully. "All seems to be in order." she murmured, looking up at Mr. Grim and arching an eyebrow.
"It is." Nabiki said offhandedly "I checked it all up from home, as Grim said, all we need is the signatures."
Ukyo only considered for a few seconds. On one hand, she wouldn't have let Mr. Grim close enough to talk (from the looks of him) if it wasn't for Nabs, on the other hand, Nabs liked things to be straight in business. she signed, then passed the papers to Nabiki, who also signed. "Well, it's done." Ukyo said, sighing.
Mr. Grim nodded and stood up. "I'll leave you these." he said, taking a few copies from the folder and giving them to Ukyo. "The rest are for da record," He clarified.
Nabiki also stood up. "Well Uchan, I have a few things to do around the city today, think you can handle yourself without me?" she asked Ukyo with a small smile.
"Sure, Nabs!" Ukyo answered. "But, what do you have to do?"
Nabiki stopped by the door, and Mr. Grim, who was right besides her gave her an amused look. "I have a meeting." Nabiki said. "A small one today, with a few old friends, and the day past tomorrow I'll have the big one." Nabiki smiled and winked at Ukyo. "But if I don't go today I might lose on the 'questions and answers' game at the end."
Ukyo blink-blinked, and Mr. Grim closed his mouth with an audible snap. "Uh. right. Good luck, I guess." She managed to say. Soon, Ukyo was alone in the place. "Well, might as well start." She said, and picked up a broom.
Morning went by as Ukyo picked up things, looked around in the basement, took measurements of the place and left everything clean, which wasn't much work, since the place had been kept mostly clean since it had closed up. She then looked at her watch. "twelve thirty." she mused aloud. "I think I'll go shopping."
***
By three o'clock, Ukyo had already found the things she needed for a good start on the new "Uchan's": a couple of new freezers, a new grill, and had followed Nabiki's instructions to contact the people who would help them with the ingredients. Really knowing what you were looking for, and checking prices and places on the internet before even getting to NY helped a lot in buying things quickly.
The grill and the rest of the things would be brought the following day by the stores and installed. Upon checking the basement, Ukyo had discovered that there were many tables and chairs already there, ready for them to use whenever they wanted.
She never grumbled about Nabiki not going with her to do the shopping, and going instead with her friends. As her friend had said, Ukyo was the one that really knew what was needed in the restaurant, and Nabs had actually done the web investigation, handled the paperwork and found the place.
The only thing they were missing was someone to work at the grill so they could get started and later on return to Japan, leaving the place in capable hands. Having finished with the shopping for now, Ukyo didn't have much to do, other than wait. But it was still way too early to actually go back to the hotel, and if she fell asleep then she wouldn't get used to the daytime in this side of the world.
And so, Ukyo started walking. It was a couple of hours later when she stared at the weird sight of a small, country-like house between two very large buildings. The place was cute, but it made too much of a contrast for Ukyo's tastes. She started walking again until she reached the park.
That's when she saw them. Three kids that couldn't be older than ten, playing in the snow. with a mouse. She couldn't hear what they were yelling, but the snowball fight was clearly aimed at the mouse! The fact that the mouse was doing pitiful attempts to get into cover made her jump into action.
Just as the newly made snowballs left the kids' hands, Ukyo had two of her small spatulas flying. The spatulas punched more than sliced through the soft snow with no problem, stopping the attack perfectly and ending up embedded on the cold, hard, ground.
"Wow!" was the general consent among the kids, as they stared wide eyed from the person that had thrown the spatulas, to the pieces of snow, to the spatulas.
Ukyo slid to a halt between the kids and the mouse. "Listen kids, if you want to hit him with snowballs, you'll have to get through me!"
"Uh." One of the kids started to say. "'Uh', nothing!" she growled. "It's not fair to attack someone who can't defend himself against you guys!" She glared down at them.
"But. he's not alone!" another kid, the only one with glasses started to say. "He's got Margalo, and that gives him advantage of height!"
"Yeah!" Another kid interrupted. "We have to score points before she comes back from Stuart's house!"
"Will's right." the third began to say, when suddenly a snowball hit him on the head.
"Score!" said a voice from above.
Ukyo looked up and saw a small canary flying around and doing a. victory spin? The kid with the glasses scooped up a piece of snow and yelled in defiance as he threw the ball in a futile attempt to hit the canary, who just swooped out of the way.
As the kids, the canary and the mouse, which Ukyo just noted was dressed in winter-clothes, carried on with their game, Ukyo picked up her spatulas and reclined against a nearby tree and sighed. Weirdness it seemed, was much more normal than she had imagined. so why call it weird in the first place?
She felt something light on her shoulder and looked at the canary, Margalo, resting on her shoulder. "Hey," Ukyo said.
"Hey," Margalo greeted back. "so you tried to help Stuart?" she asked pointing with her wing to the mouse as he dodged another snowball and threw one -considerably smaller- of his own back.
"Well, yeah, but it seems he doesn't need it." Ukyo answered, smiling back at the canary, who nodded.
"Yeah, his brother wouldn't let anyone hurt him." Margalo clarified.
"His brother?" She asked looking around for another mouse, until Margalo's laugh interrupted her.
"No, not another mouse, the one you were talking to... the kid with glasses!" Margalo said.
"What?!" Ukyo almost shouted, but a snowball hit her in the face as she was about to holler.
"Uh, uh..." said the kid that had thrown it as Margalo flew up with a laugh and Ukyo glared at him. He turned around to run, and he had taken two steps before a snowball hit the back of his head. After that, the battle started in earnest, with Ukyo on the mouse and canary's side.
Mrs. Little opened the door and found a very, very soaked kid, a mouse, a canary and a young woman, this one almost completely clean, standing outside her door.
"Stuart! George! I was getting worried about you two!" she said, looking at the young woman a little surprised, she was about 23 or so in her estimation.
Ukyo smiled at that and put Stuart and Margalo down. "Well guys, I escorted you back home, but I can't answer to you being late." She said. "I'm off then!"
"Oh, can't you stay?" George asked. "Only for a little while?" He tried to use the puppy eye attack with almost devastating effects.
"Yeah!" Stuart shouted from way below. "Tell us more about Japan!"
Mrs. Little quickly took charge. "You took care of my children, miss.?"
"Ukyo Kounji, Mrs. Little, and I only played with them for a while and reminded them to come home when it was getting late." She bowed slightly.
"And she told us wonderful stories of faraway lands!" Margalo added.
Ukyo frowned. "Yes, but you guys still owe me an explanation on how you're all family!"
Mrs. Little laughed lightly. "Well, everyone seems to want you to stay, so why don't you stay for dinner and we can talk all you guys want." She stepped away from the door and motioned everyone inside.
"Oh, I couldn't impose." Ukyo started, but she knew what would happen next, from previous experience with another worried mother.
"I insist, Ms. Kounji." Mrs. Little said, inviting her in. "We're having meatloaf tonight!"
***
"So, only Stuart and George are your sons, and Margalo is Stuart's girlfriend?" Ukyo asked as they sat around the table.
Mrs. Little had prepared a cup hot of chocolate for each of them and had told her about how Stuart had come into the family and how they had met Margalo. Ukyo was amused by the story.
Mrs. Little nodded while Margalo and Stuart blushed slightly.
"Still, you are very brave, Stuart!" Ukyo said brightly. "Not many people would've done so much! Or acted like you did in the face of danger!"
Stuart smiled shyly at the praise. "And what are you doing in New York, Ukyo?" Stuart asked eventually.
"Well, I came over here to start a new restaurant in town." Ukyo answered after a sip of chocolate. "I'm opening my first "Uchan's" in New York."
"Uchan's? Now, why does that sound familiar?" Mused Mrs. Little.
At that moment the door closed and Mr. Little came in. "Little hey, little ho! Did I hear correctly? Uchan's?"
Mrs. Little nodded as he walked up to them. "Well dear, that's the restaurant I took you when we went to San Francisco," he said. "But, what about it?"
Mrs. Little introduced Ukyo and explained that she was about to open an Uchan's in New York. "So, the San Francisco Uchan's is also yours?" Mr. Little asked a little surprised.
"Well, I was there when it was founded, but the restaurant is a franchise of the original Uchan's from Nerima." Ukyo answered when Mr. Little had said his hellos and sat down.
"Wow, so you've got your very own restaurant in Japan!" Stuart said happily. "That's incredible!"
"I wish I could fly to Japan and see it with my own eyes. But it's many hours of flight, I would guess!" Margalo said.
"About 14 in an Airplane from here." Ukyo clarified.
Margalo looked downcast for a moment, but Stuart placed his arm on her shoulders. "I'm sure we'll get to see Japan someday soon, Margalo." he said.
Ukyo looked at the clock and gasped. It was almost 10 PM! "Well, it was nice to meet you, Mrs. Little, Mr. Little, Stuart, Margalo, George... but I really have to go now, or Nabiki is going to kill me!"
"And who's Nabiki?" Stuart asked. "Your boyfriend?"
Ukyo laughed a little. "No, she's my partner in crime. She's my friend and partner with Uchan's" she winked at them.
"At least let us call you a cab..." Mr. Little said.
"It's okay, Mr. Little." Ukyo said smiling. "I still want to walk for a while."
Mr. Little sighed, but nodded. Ukyo said good-bye to everyone and went out.
***
Ukyo walked down the street enjoying the view of New York by night. She had been on the look out for any mugging attempts, but so far nothing had happened. A sudden "Caw" made her look up. A couple of big, black birds passed by. She thought those were crows... Ukyo shrugged and walked on, feeling the look of the crows as she passed under a branch where both were staring at her. She walked faster.
***
She closed the door to the hotel room with a sigh.
"Had a good time?" Nabiki called after quickly checking if it was her from the desk.
"Yeah, met a few interesting people. How about you?" she called back as she prepared to take a bath.
"Hn... I've heard of some interesting people that live here in NY..." Nabiki said, glancing to the bath as Ukyo took her clothes off and entered the shower. She waited until her friend had closed the shower's doors and she could barely see her reaching for the handles. "By the way, Uchan..."
"Yes?" Ukyo asked as she turned the hot water on. She let out a startled yell and Nabiki watched her friend's form disappear from view. "I should warn you that it takes a couple of minutes for the water to come out hot...." she finished with a small laugh, and turned back to work in her laptop.
***
"That was mean." Ukyo said, throwing her pillow at Nabiki, who was already in bed by the time she came out. "You don't know how annoying it is to get wet fur!"
Nabiki laughed, throwing the pillow back to Ukyo's bed. "Then be glad you don't turn into a bird! I've. read that they get the worse part if their wings get wet."
"Ha, ha. Nabs, I'll ask Margalo and prove you wrong." Ukyo grumbled as she got inside the bed.
Nabiki looked at her for a moment. "Margalo?" Ukyo nodded slowly, and yawned. She was getting sleepy. "Yeah... she's a canary I met..." Nabiki stared at her, but Ukyo was already asleep.
"A canary, eh?"
***
At times, she asked herself why she stayed in New York in winter. After all, she wasn't really being forced to stay as before, in a life that seemed to have happened to someone else. Certainly her life had been much more relaxed ever since Falcon had disappeared.
Margalo sighed and jumped from the branch she was perched on and glided into the snow-covered city. She stopped again and perched on a telephone line in front of a hotel and looked down at the people.
"Hm, lots of birds around, for this time of the year." A voice said from behind her.
"Yeow!" Margalo shouted turning around in mid-jump to look at the big black bird that was perched next to her on the line. "Don't do that! I almost had a heart attack!" Margalo stared right at the bird, ready to jump if she tried anything. She was not on good terms with big birds. "So what's a crow doing here in NY?" she asked diplomatically.
"Crow!" The bird lifted her head in indignation. "A CROW?! Do I look like a crow to you?" She did look quite scandalized at the apparent confusion.
"Uh." Margalo started, but stopped as the Crow-like bird opened her wings in a very dramatic way and looked to the heavens.
"By Amaseratsu, Canary! Do I look like someone who would perch on a mime's shoulder and caw cryptically whenever he gets shot?!"
Margalo was a little taken aback by that. "Eh. mime?"
The other bird sighed. "I'm a Raven. R. A. V. E. N. not a crow! Kids these days! It's almost as if. oh, forget it." The raven stopped grumbling and looked amusedly at Margalo. "Nice pin." The raven said.
"Uh, thanks." Margalo answered rather warily, hiding her pin inside the folds of her blue scarf. She knew ravens AND crows were addicted to shiny things. "So," Margalo said, once the raven had started looking at the people below again. "Uh, why are you here?"
"Ah, nothing much, taking care of a few business, meeting old friends, introducing new ones to the wonders of NY and hearing interesting stories about mice, hawks and planes." The raven answered snidely.
"Oh?" Margalo tried to appear nonchalant about the whole thing.
"Yeah, you wouldn't believe what they say! Tales of daring-do and adventure." The raven answered. "So, is this Stuart Little as brave as they say, Margalo?" she asked after a small pause, and Margalo was quick to answer. "Well, he's a little shy, really and." the canary stopped. "What did you just call me?"
"I didn't call you anything, what do you think I called you?" the raven answered after a moment.
"You said my name's Margalo!" the canary accused.
"I did?"
"YES!"
"And it isn't?"
"No!" Margalo shouted, then stammered, "I mean, yes! But that's not the point!"
"Then why are you complaining about that? If I had said your name was, say, Kimberly, then you would have a good reason to complain."
Margalo almost growled.
The raven looked at her with even more amusement.
"Okay, how do you know my name?" the canary tried again.
"You just told me." The black bird answered.
"You knew before I said it." Margalo said a little annoyed.
"Yesss." said the raven.
"Okay, so, how come you knew my name?" Margalo asked.
"That information is going to cost you." The raven said.
"I'm a canary! I don't have money!" Margalo answered.
"Well then, Margalo, I'll keep my secret."
At that moment Margalo almost said 'fine' and was about to fly off her own way. except. this one knew about Stuart and her! What if it was another enemy like Falcon? "How can I pay you?" She asked in resignation.
"You wouldn't know Martial Arts of any sort, would you?" The raven wondered, and then answered her own question. "No, of course not. how about. that pin you have in the scarf, and a question of my own?"
"You want my. pin?" Margalo asked, but then took it out. It was for Stuart. after all. She handed over the pin. The raven looked at it closely and hid it inside her wing. "Well?" Margalo asked.
"Okay kid, tell me why you speak human English and I'll answer whichever one question you want me to answer." The raven stated.
"I don't know," Margalo answered honestly. She hadn't really stopped to consider about that. "Do I?" she had always thought that the Littles were the ones that spoke her own language.
"Well, to answer your question, yes, you do. Rather good actually, no accent at all. And you can pronounce an S without problems." The black bird noted.
"Well. so can you." Margalo answered.
"Yes, indeed." The raven answered nodding. "Well, nice talking to you, kid, I had hoped for more information from you, but, a deal's a deal, and I do have business to attend to, I'd ask you where I could find a good place to buy knives but that would start another round of questions, and, as fun as that is, your credit IS rather dry."
The raven jumped and started flying away. Margalo didn't wait a second before going after her. "Hey! You cheated! You didn't answer my question!" She heard the raven's voice just as she turned around a building.
"Yes, I did! You do have very good English, as I said!"
"Hey! Wait! That's not fair! Hey!" Margalo shouted as she flew around, looking for the raven, but unable to find her.
Far up, a dark figure watched Margalo fly desperately around the building until she gave up and flew away.
"Soon, little one, soon you'll pay for all you did." the dark figure muttered, and with a flutter of pastel-blue feathers it was gone.
***
"Hmm." Ukyo pulled out one of the knives and put it on the counter of the store. "Are you sure this one's good enough? We ARE going to cut very fine strips of fish at times."
The clerk nodded. "Yes, those will do. We haven't had any problems so far with that line, and we've sold quite a lot of those."
"Okay," Ukyo said, this was after all the last of the stores she had visited and so far the best. "I'll take them, and these spatulas too." After paying, Ukyo went outside into the cold breeze of early morning NY. "Ok," Ukyo said to herself as she checked her watch. "I'll have to hurry if I want to get in time for the interviews." she started hurrying back.
Another of the things Nabiki had taken care of all the way from Japan, was to find some prospect cooks from local Colleges and job finders. Most would come that same day to talk with Ukyo and prove their skills, the others would stop by the next day.
As she walked she heard a few shouts from above. Curious, she looked up and saw a canary fluttering about as if looking for someone. She only knew of one canary that would still be in NY during winter. "Hey! Margalo!" she shouted and waved, ignoring the strange looks of some people.
Margalo heard her name and looked about, noticing a girl waving her hand at her. For a moment she couldn't place her, but immediately after she remembered Ukyo and swept down to land on Ukyo's extended finger. A few people grunted in surprise at a canary in winter, others' eyes boggled when the canary spoke.
"Hello, Ukyo!" Margalo said with a soft smile. If Ukyo hadn't seen Jeremy do that she'd have said it was impossible for birds to smile so. "Say, you haven't seen any ravens about, have you?"
"Ravens?" Ukyo asked and thought for a moment, finally she said, "Last night I think I saw a couple, but I couldn't really be sure." she was thinking of the two crows she had seen outside Stuart's house.
Margalo sighed. "Oh well."
"Why, what happened?" the Japanese cook asked, sensing the canary's plight.
"Well, a raven tricked me into giving her my pin!" Margalo confessed a little flustered.
"That's terrible!" Ukyo answered, remembering how cute the canary looked with that pin. "I wish I could help you right away, but I've got to go to the restaurant."
Margalo nodded. "It's lost now. and I couldn't find anything on how that raven knew about Stuart and I."
Ukyo tensed a little. She had just met them, but she had grown fond of the Littles' and their simple and happy view of the world. "Listen, Margalo, I will help you find out what the raven wants and how she knows you guys."
Margalo beamed. "Really?! Neat!" Ukyo nodded. "But I still have to go to the restaurant, want to tag along?" Margalo nodded and jumped to Ukyo's shoulder.
***
"Wow, nice place!" Margalo said when Ukyo had walked in. The canary jumped from her shoulder and made a sweep about the restaurant. Ukyo set down the knives and spatulas and started preparing some green tea.
"So, how did this raven make you give her your pin?" she asked Margalo, who had perched on the back of a chair.
"Well. she knew about me and Stuart." Margalo started as Ukyo checked about for the cups she knew she had put somewhere. Finally, Ukyo took out two and motioned with one to Margalo, who nodded and continued as Ukyo poured some Tea into the cups. She made sure it wasn't too hot.
"She then said that should I pay her for telling me what she knew," said the canary. Ukyo sat down in front of her and placed Margalo's cup on the table and took a sip of her own, nodding to Margalo to continue.
After a quick sip, the canary did. "I said I didn't carry money, so she asked something about me or Stuart knowing martial arts." Margalo frowned. THAT had been a weird question. "but she- Ukyo?"
Ukyo had put down the cup and was choking with the tea. She hit her chest a couple of times before she could wheeze air back into her lungs. "Martial. Arts?"
"Uh. yeah." Margalo answered. "But she dropped it of immediately after. uh. why are you making that face? Is that important?"
Ukyo was frowning, trying to grasp something that had just sprung in her memory but still eluded her. "Please continue, Margalo, maybe we can solve this problem sooner than I'd thought."
Margalo nodded, enthusiastic about the possibility of getting her pin back. "Anyway, after all of that she told me that she would answer any one question I wanted if I answered another and gave her my pin in payment. so I gave her my pin and she asked me how it was that I could speak human English."
That was a good question, Ukyo herself had wondered why she, Stuart and probably others in their immediate circle could do that, but hadn't done so out of respect.
".and?" she prompted.
"Well," Margalo answered a little ashamed. "I told her that I didn't know I spoke English any differently from other animals."
"About that." Ukyo interrupted. "Margalo, only you and Stuart speak like that, but don't you have problems to speak with other animals?"
Margalo shook her head. "No. we can speak like that with everyone."
Ukyo nodded. "It's strange. normally if you spoke only English you wouldn't be able to talk to animals, since everyone but humans speak "animal" language."
At that moment there was a knock on the door and Ukyo looked outside to see a young girl waiting outside. She had a brown hair tied in pony tail and was a little taller than Ukyo. As she stood up and walked to the door, she noted that the girl seemed to be Japanese but had unusually green eyes.
She opened the door. "Hi, how can I help you?" Ukyo asked.
"I'm here for the job application?" the girl half asked.
"Oh! Sure come in!" Ukyo stepped aside and the girl walked inside and out of the falling snow. She hadn't noticed that it had started snowing. "I'm Ukyo Kounji, nice to meet you." She said with a bow.
The girl seemed pleasantly surprised and bowed back. "Kino Makoto, I didn't expect to meet the famous Ukyo Kounji in person! I'm very honored to meet you, Kounji-sama."
Ukyo smiled. "Uchan will be enough, Kino-san."
Makoto beamed back a smile. "Oh, then please call me Makoto or Mako-chan, as my friends do." She said bowing lightly.
Ukyo bowed back, and then looked curiously along with Makoto at Margalo as she perched on her shoulder. "Uh, Margalo, this is Makoto, Makoto, meet Margalo." Ukyo said.
"How cute!" Makoto said immediately taking in the canary's pilot cap and blue scarf.
The canary had watched amused all the bowing, title adding, name changing and had been a little confused at the whole deal.
"Why all the bowing and name changing, Ukyo?" Margalo asked.
Ukyo noticed that Makoto's eyes bulged a little in surprise but that was all. That was good.
"Well, Margalo, in Japan it is customary to refer to someone you've just met with an added title of respect, and this title normally stays until both persons have agreed to change it. but let's just say it's just out of respect."
"Oh." Margalo said, impressed.
"Anyway," Ukyo said walking to the table. "Why don't we get started, Mako- chan?" Makoto accepted a cup of tea from Ukyo. "So, how come you're here in NY?" Ukyo started.
"Well, I came here to study Culinary Arts in the Art Institute of NY. and graduated a few months ago."
They started talking and Margalo clung to every word with outmost interest. She liked Makoto; she seemed easygoing and tough at the same time. Much like Ukyo herself, she noted.
After half an hour of the interview, they had finished talking and Makoto was about to leave. "It was nice meeting you, Mako-chan." Margalo said from Ukyo's shoulder.
"You too, Margalo!" Makoto answered honestly. "Uchan, it was a pleasure to meet you."
Ukyo nodded. "Same here! I'll call you tomorrow, okay?"
Makoto nodded and waved a little as she walked into the street. The door closed behind her.
They interviewed two more girls that same day, one screamed when Margalo talked, but calmed down a little while later, and the next one spent almost the whole interview in a half-stupor staring at the talking canary.
"Well, that was the last one," Ukyo said looking out the window to make sure the girl didn't get run down by a passing car -with her walking zombie- like and all- out of the restaurant.
"Hey, I'm sorry I scared those two so badly!" Margalo said when Ukyo sat next to her with a sigh.
"No worries, sugar." Ukyo said smiling and picking up the cups. "You actually helped a lot." She left the cups in the washer.
"I did?!" Margalo asked surprised. "But the first probably won't come back, and the second is still in shock, probably." They both tried to ignore a claxon sounding very close by and the sounds of screeching tires coupled with a few shouts.
"Well, Margalo, it's a requisite to be able to handle talking canaries if you want to work at "Uchan's"."
"Why?" the canary asked.
"Well, you'll understand soon enough, but let me tell you that weird stuff happens around me and my gang all the time. It's just the way things are. And NY is no exception! I wouldn't want someone who would freak out if you or Stuart came to eat here!" Ukyo clarified.
"Makoto seemed to be able to do that." Margalo commented.
"Yeah. she's quite a find, really knows how to cook, already knows the basics of most of the dishes here, good martial arts training, has seen a few fights, used to weird stuff, knowledge of basic aura detection, good looks -which helps a lot in this business- good sense of humor and an overall feeling of being nice. I'm giving her the job, if she chooses to accept it."
The canary was impressed. "You. saw all that?! How? All you talked about was her studies in Culinary school, about boys, sempais, -whatever those are- and a little about Nerima and Jubaan."
Ukyo smiled. "It's one of the good things about leading a weird life, Margalo. You learn many things." She winked at the canary. "Well, let's close the place. That was the last interview for today. I hope I find someone else tomorrow, or it's going to get tough for Makoto if she has to handle things alone."
Ukyo bolted the door from the inside and started turning off the lights. "Anyway, we're going to start looking for more information about your raven friend as of this moment." She said over her shoulder as she closed the curtains.
"Really? Cool! But. then why did you close the door? Are you going to use a computer from here, or what?"
"No, sugar, we're going out, but you'll have to promise me you'll keep my secret." Ukyo said from behind the counter as she held up a small paper cup with water in it.
"Sure Ukyo. but what." Margalo started to assure her, but stopped when Ukyo nodded and poured the cold water on herself.
Margalo watched the girl disappear behind the counter, and heard the cup as it fell to the floor and rolled. ". secret?" she finished in a much smaller voice. "Ukyo?!" Margalo shouted as she flew to the bar, lighted on it and looked down.
"Looking for someone?" Came Ukyo's voice from behind her.
The unexpected voice made Margalo jump in fright and turn around. "Ukyo, I thought- who are you?!"
Before her stood a brown mouse with long hair, tied back with a white ribbon to hold it in place. She had a spatula tied to her back, and was watching Margalo amusedly, as the later put a wing to her heart, trying to calm down. Ukyo laughed a little and swirled around, letting Margalo have a good look at her. "So, what do you think of my little secret?" she asked winking at her.
***
"Margalo?" a voice asked into the darkness. "Hey! That's not funny! Wake up!" the voice insisted after a moment of silence, and then, slowly, light crept into the darkness and the fuzzy image of a mouse appeared.
"S.Stuart?" Margalo stammered, then her sight focused and she leapt back. "Ah! You?!"
The brown female mouse smiled shyly at her. "Hey, sugar. Sorry for scaring you like that. I didn't expect you'd black out!"
The canary took two steps forward and, extending her wing touched Ukyo's face. "How."
"Long story." Ukyo sighed. "A while back I fell into a magic spring that turned me into a mouse, and now I turn into a mouse whenever I get splashed with cold water." She explained motioning to the paper cup.
"Oh." Was all the canary could say.
"Well, Margalo, I hope this doesn't change anything between us." Ukyo said, taking Margalo's wing in her hands. "I mean. we're still friends, right?"
The canary smiled a little, she still was shocked, but Ukyo had warned her that weirdness seemed to follow her around. "Yeah, sorry Ukyo, but you did surprise me."
***
Ukyo looked down from the top of the building she was standing on. She couldn't see any ravens around. It was a little frustrating.
Hearing a flutter of wings, she turned to face Margalo and shook her head. For a talking canary Margalo wasn't really taking Ukyo's transformation as the latter would've expected. she still looked in disbelief at her from time to time.
"I didn't see anything either." Margalo started, when a large shadow passed over them. Ukyo barely had time to shout as sharp talons wrapped around her tightly and she was flying higher than she had ever flown. Straining a little, she managed to look up at the scarred face of a blue feathered falcon.
She heard Margalo shout in the distance. "Hey! Give her back you overgrown turkey!"
"My, my. What language!" Falcon laughed as he slowed to match Margalo's speed. Margalo glared at him.
"Is that the way you treat your father?" he asked.
"You're not my father!" Margalo snapped. "If you were, I'd had talons sharp enough to tear you to pieces!"
Falcon just laughed and sped up, quickly leaving Margalo behind. "Same place!" He shouted back at her. "Bring your other mouse friend. and no humans!" With another burst of speed, Margalo was left behind.
***
"Stuart!" Margalo shouted landing next to him in his room; where he currently was jumping on the buttons of the videogame controller. "What is it Margalo?" he asked, jumping on the 'start' button, then turning to look at her.
"Stuart! I. a raven tricked me into giving her my pin, but when I tried to look for her she had already disappeared! So when I found Ukyo I accompanied her to her restaurant for a few job interviews, but when we finished she turned into a mouse! And then we flew around town trying to find the raven, but instead Falcon found us and took Ukyo with him, I tried to catch them, but Falcon was too fast, so he shouted to me that he would meet you and me at the same place as last time, so I think he means the building where you almost got killed but he doesn't want humans to be involved in this!" she paused for breath. "What are we going to do?!"
Stuart put a calming arm around her shoulders. "Uh, listen Margalo, why don't you repeat that slowly? I thought you said Ukyo had turned into a mouse and that Falcon had carried her away," he said laughing a little.
"But I did! I mean, she did turn into one!" Margalo said.
Stuart just stared.
***
"Now I know how Brisby felt," Ukyo sighed. She was hanging on a cage very, very high above the ground inside one of the largest buildings she had ever seen.
"Feeling lonely?" a voice from above asked. The cage tumbled precariously as Falcon perched on it.
"Not really," Ukyo answered. "There's always the village idiot fluttering around with blue feathers to keep me company."
The falcon scowled, but Ukyo just smiled. "So, tell me, what do you gain from all of this? From what I heard, last time you got kicked about and tossed into the trashcan. What makes you think it'll be any different right now?"
"That, little mouse," Falcon growled, "is NOT your problem. Once those two cretins get over here in a futile attempt to save you, you and the other mousy friend of Margalo are plummeting to your deaths while she watches."
Ukyo glared at him. "Won't work." She said simply.
"Oh?" Falcon asked mockingly. "And why is that?" he glared at her, trying to cower her.
"Simple," Ukyo answered. "I'm not going to let you!" She grabbed Falcon's talons and held them tight as she swung her spatula and hit the link where the chain and cage met.
Falcon shouted in surprise when the full weight of the cage pulled him down. "Let go you little furry bastard!" he shouted to Ukyo as he strained to lift the cage, himself and Ukyo, flapping his wings desperately.
"In your dreams you blue feathered freak!" Ukyo shouted back as she used her other hand to bend the bars around his talon. Once this was done, she went to the other side and bent the bars apart. Falcon started shaking his leg furiously trying to get the cage off.
Ukyo finally managed to climb to the top of the cage and jumped on Falcon's back just as he got rid of it. From his back Ukyo saw the cage falling down to the ground, where it clanged and bounced, ending in a twisted heap of metal. Okay, maybe it had not been a good idea to do that. But she was already here so.
"Down you overgrown turkey!" she shouted, burrowing Margalo's insult and passing one arm around his neck and then squeezing.
Falcon didn't follow orders, instead he started flying higher. "Oh no, you don't!" he sneered.
"If you choke me you're also dead!" He then did a barrel turn trying to shake Ukyo off, grunting in annoyance when she held on.
"Ukyo!" came a shout from somewhere above them. The mouse looked up and saw Margalo flying down towards her.
"Hello, Margalo!" Ukyo shouted as she undid the ribbon that held her hair back.
"MARGALO?!" Falcon shouted, looking up. His eyes widened when he felt the ribbon slip into his mouth.
Now Ukyo held him by the beak with a make-up bridle. "Having fun, sugar?" Ukyo asked from his back and he shivered with anger. This mouse was worse than the last one! Speaking of which. if Margalo was here.
He heard the sounds of a motor nearby and glared at Stuart as he came flying next to him in a new toy-sized plane.
"Hello, Falcon!" the white mouse shouted, waving a hand at him. Falcon growled then dived down.
"Damn," Stuart muttered as he followed the bird of prey down, along with Margalo, who flew down as fast as she could. Still, neither of them was as fast as Falcon. Falcon felt the 'bridle' tighten, and Ukyo's legs let go of him. She was holding the ribbon as tightly as she could. With a grin, Falcon stopped in mid flight and ducked. Ukyo flew over his head, and he gripped the ribbon with his beak.
"Uh-oh." Ukyo half-squeaked in terror, her eyes followed the blue ribbon to Falcon's beak, which was twisted into a smile, and then to his eyes. He then let go. Ukyo didn't even have time to shout as she fell down, more than a hundred meters above New York's buildings.
Margalo flew past Falcon, who quickly dropped and caught her with a talon. "Ukyo!" she gasped. As Stuart flew down past them, Falcon also snatched him, pulling him out of the cabin, and letting the plane fly down. Stuart saw the toy plane smash into the window of one nearby building, about 50 meters below them.
"No, no, my little friends," Falcon said, smiling. "You're not helping her. I'm afraid she got what was coming, trying to fight me." Stuart shut his eyes, anger rising at the big bird.
"You. bastard!" he shouted. Margalo also shut her eyes, small tears escaping. "Ukyo."
"Oh, my little misguided daughter," Falcon sneered. "You don't need to worry, you two will meet with her soon enough." he flew down, spiraling towards one of the buildings.
***
Mrs. Little was washing the dishes when her older child, George walked into the kitchen holding the remote control of one of his toy planes. She wasn't very fond of those things, since the last time, her other son, Stuart, had piloted one and got in an aerial fight with a falcon over the park and almost got killed.
"Mom," George asked. "Have you seen my plane? I'm sure I left it in my room before I went out to play with Will." He looked pretty miserable.
"I'm sorry George," she answered without turning back. "I'm afraid I haven't, why don't you ask Stuart?"
"I would, but Stuart's not here." George answered gloomily.
She stopped cleaning the dishes. "He's. not here?" she asked, turning to glare at her son.
"Well. he is, in a way." A voice from outside answered her. She turned towards the window and the dish she was holding fell to the floor with a crash.
On a branch just outside the window, Falcon was pinning Margalo and Stuart down. Both were a little beat up, and tied with a piece of rope. Stuart's mother took half a step back, but George almost jumped on the stool in anger. "What do you want? Let them go!"
Falcon smiled. "I want your ring." The blue bird said, staring at Stuart's mother. "I will have it or these two die."
She looked at the ring. She had placed it on a ring-holder shaped like a woman's hand next to the sink. "There it is!" she pleaded. "Just. just let them go."
Falcon laughed. "It's not that easy, Mrs. Little. I won't let them go until I have the ring where no-one else can get to it. So, if you're so kind as to throw the ring over the roof so I can get to it without any risk to myself, I'll let Stuart go. And when I have it in my beak, Margalo goes. It's that simple." He said as he grabbed them both and flew up.
Without pausing for a moment, Mrs. Little grabbed the ring and ran outside, where she could see Falcon perched on the roof. She silently wished farewell to her wedding ring as she threw it over the roof. It landed a few feet away from Falcon. He sneered. "Why, thank you, Mrs. Little. Now say goodbye kids. Say goodbye to your mother, Stuart!" Falcon laughed as he jumped to get the ring.
Realizing that she had been played for a fool, Stuart's mother started to despair. "Wait! You said you'd let Stuart go!"
Falcon stopped and smiled. "Yes. I did say so. but not where, or rather. From how high!" he finished with a loud laugh.
It was then that a black shadow swooped in front of Falcon, who stopped for a moment then swore in rage when the diamond-decorated ring had disappeared. He looked around and saw another large bird, a raven, inspecting it as she held it with one of her wings. "Hmm. not even five karats." she sighed. "Oh well, it shines, though." And then she somehow made it disappear.
"Hey!" Falcon complained, as Margalo watched bewildered. "That's mine!" Falcon growled, taking a step towards the raven and dragging his two victims with each step.
"Are you sure?" the raven asked, glancing at Falcon and not at all worried by the sharp beak or the talons. "It didn't have your name. or, are you Mrs. Little?"
"I am not," Falcon started "Mrs. Little. But that ring is mine, and if you value your life, you're giving it back." He took another menacing step.
"Oh, I do value my life." The raven said. "But I very much doubt you could do any harm, much less permanent and even less lethal enough to kill me." She ruffled her feathers in a dismissing way. "..That such barbaric idiots exist in this world." she looked down at his talons, taking special interest on the left one, where Margalo and Stuart were both tied. "And I can't say much about your attempts at decorating your talons. Didn't you know that fur is usually dead when you use it for dressing?"
Falcon growled and launched into the air, trying to ram into the raven. But the black bird had predicted her opponent's movement and had jumped off first.
"Stuart!" his mother shouted helplessly as Falcon followed the raven.
***
Stuart stopped struggling with the rope as they climbed higher into the air. A few moments ago, while they were on the roof, he had started working on getting free, almost completely ignoring his mother's pleas and the strange crow's words.
But now, he was again hundreds of feet into the air, and getting free was the same as being dead. Falcon was flying as fast as he could, but he couldn't catch up with the raven, who dodged him and flew around him laughing all the way.
"Aw, did the big sea-gull miss the whale?" the raven teased as Falcon flew past. "Too bad you're so slow a slug could out run you!" she teased again as Falcon did another ineffective pass. "I'm sure you want to blame someone on this, but seeing how you fly, I can only guess it's your own lack of ability."
"Shut up!" Falcon shouted at the raven. "You're not weighed down by these two idiots!"
The raven flew past him with a barrel turn. "Really." She asked. "So, who's the idiot? Those two?" she pointed to the tied couple. "Or the idiot that carries them and then also misses the treasure?" with an angry shout, Falcon used his beak to untie the rope.
"Goodbye, little pests." He muttered and let them go. Stuart and Margalo shouted as the wind rushed around their ears and they began to fall. Stuart closed his eyes, his last thoughts being of his family, but over all Margalo's brown eyes.
He felt a yank on the rope and wondered why it had been a yank and not a 'splat'. He opened his eyes and looked up the rope. He didn't know what to say, but Margalo, who also was gaping up at the brown mouse with long hair that had saved them did say something.
"U-Ukyo!?" she gasped in surprise.
***
One hand controlling the small plane as best as she could, the other holding them both by the rope Ukyo struggled to pull them up. When they were as safe as possible on the wing, she used her spatula to cut it, setting them free. "Hi!" she said, smiling as she traded places with Stuart. The white mouse started flying down towards their home, but Ukyo stopped him. "Wait, we have to take care of Falcon." she pointed to the two black dots flying away.
***
Falcon was gaining on the raven as they both flew over New York city. With a small, evil grin he flew up gaining altitude. The raven was fast, but he was a falcon, and thus much faster. As soon as he had gained on the raven from above, he dashed down.
But somehow the raven knew he was coming and veered of to the right just as he swooped past. Falcon gritted his beak as he heard the damnable black bird's laugh. Just how had it known?
The raven laughed at his confused expression. "Idiot! Falcons, hawks or eagles- they all attack from above! You're predictable!"
With a shout Falcon swooped right at her, but the raven swerved to the right and again he missed her, then tilting her left wing she caught another current and she was swept up higher above New York city spiraling all the way. Almost growling, Falcon followed her up.
Below them, and unable to feel the movements of the wind that would take them up, Ukyo, Margalo and Stuart were watching the fight as both birds slowly went towards the docks.
"That raven sure is pulling her luck fighting Falcon like that." Margalo said.
"I just hope she knows what she's doing." Said Stuart.
As they flew over the docks it was the raven that now swooped down in an attempt to lose Falcon. She dived with the other close behind spreading her wings as soon as she was above a steam boat and then flew in a spiral around it until she was almost skimming the water.
Falcon was close behind her and as soon as she went under the dock he pulled just over it. As soon as she tried to go up he rammed her, talons first into a nearby boat where she landed rather heavily.
Victorious, Falcon tightened his sharp talons just where the wings met the back. She cried out below him and he smiled as he felt blood oozing out of the wounds. "You also became predictable, dear." Falcon sneered. "And now you can't fly anymore."
"T-that remains to be seen." The raven gasped out as he tightened his grip again. She glared at him.
"Now," Falcon said. "I believe you have something of mine with you." He lowered his head, placing his beak just next to her eye.
"I've got nothing of yours." The raven stated calmly, still glaring.
Falcon glared back at her and just as he was about to say something, he was batted away.
"That will be enough, Falcon!" Ukyo shouted as she jumped over the raven to hit him once more.
"Are you alright?" Stuart asked as he and Margalo helped the raven up.
She nodded and with a flutter of feathers Mrs. Little's golden ring fell on the floor. "I will be as soon as you take that ring. it weighs me down."
A little surprised, Stuart picked it up. The raven extended her wings again and groaned.
"Careful!" Was Margalo's warning. "Falcon did a lot of damage with his talons; if you try to do anything rash you might hurt yourself worse!"
The raven ignored her, though. "I'm okay. But for what he tried to do." the raven's eyes flashed. "He should pay." She jumped into the air.
"What do you think she means?" Stuart asked Margalo.
"He tried to take her ability to fly away." Margalo answered. "It's something terrible to do to any bird."
In the meantime Falcon had managed to get up into the air with Ukyo clinging to his back. He was tired, battered and humiliated. The worst beating of his life had come from the mouse on his back; the same mouse that was now using her spatula to try and choke him.
As soon as he got hold of a current he started gliding and turned his head to look at the mouse on his back. She was strong and very brave. In another time. another distant, half forgotten life, he would have admired her and maybe even tried to be friends, but now. he could only envy Margalo even more.
"If you don't let go." Falcon groaned. "You'll die along with me."
Ukyo just growled back at him. "I'm not letting go." She answered, and tightened her hold.
Falcon flew over to the sea, where he started wheezing. Ukyo considered letting go when Falcon's head swayed, but she only let go a little, to keep him conscious, but it didn't help much as Falcon dropped altitude. Ukyo looked at the direction they were headed, and gulped.
They were headed directly at a steamboat full of tourists that were taking pictures at the Statue of Liberty!
As the boat suddenly seemed to loom in front of them, Falcon's head snapped back up and he climbed as quickly as he could. But their speed was too much for an effective evasion, and just as they were about to crash into one of the chimneys the raven plucked Ukyo from Falcon's back.
For a few frightful seconds all she could feel was a wave of heat as steam floated into the cool air in front of her. And between the clouds of steam she saw Falcon crash into the inside of the chimney, bouncing from the metal wall into the furnace within.
She winced as she heard him cry out one last time, and then she was being deposited down by the raven, who disappeared into the air soon enough.
A few minutes later, as people started taking notice of the small mouse, and an old lady screamed in fright, the Captain was about to take care of the little pest when a small toy plane landed just next to the mouse.
The Captain sighed. "It's Stuart Little." He explained to one of his sailors, who started telling everyone that everything was okay, and that the white mouse in the plane was none other than the famous Stuart Little from New York City, another wonder from 'The Big Apple'.
Stuart and Margalo ignored the staring tourists and ran towards the still dazed Ukyo. "Ukyo! What happened? Are you okay?" Stuart asked as he helped her up.
"Where's Falcon?" Margalo asked worriedly.
"Dead." Ukyo said. "I didn't want him to die, you know?" she said miserably.
Margalo sighed and placed a wing on her shoulder.
"What happened to your mother's ring?" Ukyo asked, suddenly remembering the reason for all the chaos.
Stuart smiled and held up the ring. It glistened in the sun, and the diamond made a small rainbow of light at their feet. "The raven gave it to us." He said.
"Where is she, anyway?" Margalo asked, looking up, but seeing no sign of the bird. The canary sighed. "I wish we would have been able to thank her at least."
As Ukyo was about to speak a shadow covered them all up, and they heard the Captain discussing something with someone.
Ukyo looked up, and her eyes opened wide.
Stuart and Margalo both looked with interest as a Japanese young woman pushed aside the Captain and squatted next to them, kneeling between the small animals and the plane and looking intently at Ukyo.
"Nabs!" Ukyo squeaked.
"I thought it was you." Nabiki said grimly. "Only a couple of days in New York and you're already causing trouble." Nabiki closed her eyes and shook her head. "What was that all about, Ukyo?"
She looked at the little mouse as Ukyo tried to explain between squeaks and mimicry what had happened. "Ukyo... I don't speak mouse. Remember? You'll have to tell me later what's going on."
"Everythin' okay, Nabi?" Asked a voice from behind and Nabiki took a look over her shoulder at Grim and a few others that were all clustered around with bags and a few items.
"Yeah, everything's okay." Nabiki answered standing up. "I was just asking Stuart for help on making some promotion for the restaurant." Nabiki explained, and handed her bag to Grim. Grim looked in interest as she wrote down something on a white card and gave it to Stuart.
"Here, Stuart." Nabiki said. They all saw the restaurant's address written on it. "I would love it if you'd help us out with it."
Stuart nodded and took the card. "Sure thing, Miss Nabiki!"
Nodding, the Japanese woman stood up and walked away with Mr. Grim to their group of friends.
"Nabi, Nabi," Grim said amiably. "Yer always look'n fer ways ta make money, ain't ya?"
Nabiki smiled wickedly. "Of course!" they lost themselves in the crowd of their friends.
"We should go now," Ukyo muttered as she walked towards the plane. "Your mother will be very worried, Stuart."
Stuart nodded and jumped into the plane, followed by Ukyo, who sat in the passenger's seat.
"Ouch!" Ukyo shouted suddenly and pulled herself out.
"What is it?" Stuart asked, his question echoed by Margalo.
Ukyo reached into the back seat and, without a word handed a golden object to the canary.
"My pin!" Margalo shouted happily. Letting Stuart put it in place on her blue scarf. "How did it get there?!" she asked Ukyo.
"I wonder." Ukyo said, already suspecting. "Anyway, let's go!"
The little plane lifted into the sky after a run through the hall full of tourists, with Margalo flapping her wings and falling into a comfortable glide next to them.
***
"Cheers!" everyone shouted, lifting their glasses into the air as Ukyo and Nabiki cut the red ribbon opening the doors of the newest "Uchan's" to the public. Both young women smiled as flashes covered them as a blanket for a moment.
"Well, let's go in!" Ukyo shouted happily.
The guests filed into the restaurant, which had been decorated with a Christmas tree, ribbons bells and mistletoe with the combined efforts of Makoto, Mrs. Little, Margalo, another cook named Rosy and Ukyo.
As the guests walked into the restaurant, they were led to their tables by a couple of waiters. Nabiki had put all of her friends together in a large table. There were about 20 of them. As for Ukyo, she would share a table with the Littles, Makoto and Rosy.
Rosy had come as a blessing the last day when Ukyo had watched the previous girl run screaming out of the place when Stuart had walked into the restaurant. She was already a married woman, and had two kids, who had come to the party as well. She had lived in Japan for a while and had learnt how to cook Okonomiyaki and other Japanese dishes while she stayed there.
She had considered little Stuart cute. So no problem there, and she had many ideas on how to run a healthy restaurant that appealed to Ukyo.
So, she had been taken into the group, along with two waitresses, a young girl called Chiyo, who was another student from Japan and a local girl by the name of Mary Jane, both had brought a couple of friends from college too.
As soon as everyone was served, the doors closed and the music on, the party started.
Ukyo approved of the way everyone behaved with enough respect for their jobs and put work first, then fun. It was just preparing food though, and the drinks were already cool and ready.
When the clock struck twelve, Chiyo stopped playing with Stuart and the other kids, smiling as she opened a bag of lollypops. "Merry Christmas!" she shouted as she started giving candy to everyone.
Ukyo made her way among the congratulating groups to Mr. and Mrs. Little. She smiled and gave them a hug each, giving them each a small box and receiving one herself. She opened it and found a golden chain with a golden miniature spatula on it.
"You two are great!" She said, hugging them again. "I will miss you, but I promise to come back and visit!" she said with a laugh.
"We will be delighted to have you back, Ukyo!" Mrs. Little said.
"Yes, and you can be sure we'll be coming here a lot!" Mr. Little added. He had loved the Okonomiyaki.
Ukyo smiled at them, and excused herself, going around to look for Stuart and Margalo.
She found Rosy and Makoto first, and gave each a small envelope.
"And what is this?" Makoto asked with a smile as she started opening it.
Ukyo smiled back. "It's half the franchise for the New York's Uchan's in each envelope." she said.
Both Makoto and Rosy stared at her. And Ukyo nodded.
"Yup, I think you two will make great partners!" she said with a smile.
Leaving them to discuss what to do next she finally found Stuart and Margalo. Picking both up in her hands, she let them down on a table and gave them a miniature box each.
Margalo opened hers and found a rainbow of scarfs, neatly folded inside the box. She flew up to Ukyo's shoulder and hugged her neck. "Thank you Ukyo! They're great!"
Stuart opened his box and found a small whistle in it, an 'Uchan's T-shirt' and a pair of new tennis shoes. -all in his size-.
"Thank you, Uchan!" Stuart said with a smile and a kiss to Ukyo's cheek. Then he held up the whistle. "And what's this for?" he asked.
"That would be my present to you two." Nabiki said, walking up to stand next to Ukyo. "Whenever you're in serious trouble, try using it. And I mean serious." She smiled enigmatically. "Wouldn't want to spoil the surprise, would we?"
Stuart shook his head and put it into his bag. "Thanks." He said, smiling up at her.
Nabiki grinned. "Hey it was the least I could do after you flew around the city in your plane with the "Uchan's" add!" She patted Stuart softly on the back. "Well now, let's dance!"
***
Back in the Hotel Room, the morning they were about to leave, Ukyo waited patiently for Nabiki to come back. They would leave the room in an hour, so they had most of their things packed up, except for some clothes for Nabiki, since she was going to take a bath when she got back.
Finally, the door opened and Nabiki walked in, cleaning some snow from her black coat and putting it to dry next to the heater. She threw something on the table and smiled at Ukyo. "I'll be quick, Uchan!" she said, heading for the bathroom.
Ukyo smiled. She had something prepared for Nabiki. As Nabiki laid her change of clothes ob the bed, Ukyo took a glance at the contents of the rainbow-colored envelope Nabiki had tossed on the table.
Pictures. She browsed through them until she found one that got her attention. Jumping up she turned to shout a warning to Nabiki.
"Nabs wait!" she shouted too late.
Nabiki opened the door to the bathroom and was instantly drenched in cold water, as the bucket Ukyo had placed on the top of the door fell on her head.
"AAAAAH!" Nabiki shouted in surprise. She glared at Ukyo. "WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!"
Ukyo smiled sheepishly, and shrugged. Furious, Nabiki kicked the bucket out of the bath and slammed the door, turning on the water. Ukyo could hear the muttering coming from the inside.
She sighed and started thinking for an excuse as she took another look at the picture she had in her hand, a picture of Nabiki standing in the boat, smiling and doing a victory sign as Falcon and Ukyo flew past behind them, a blur in the sky.
***
Inside the bathroom, Nabiki sighed as the hot water splashed on her head. She started washing her arms, only wincing slightly when she pressed the ring-shaped red mark on the palm of her hand.
The End