"Have a good night!"
Ukyou bowed deeply as the last customer left. With that, she closed the door to her restaurant and locked it, officially ending her business day. Turning around, she gazed at her place of business thoughtfully as Ryouga was sweeping up refuse some of the messier patrons left behind. She went through a lot and opening up the restaurant was one of her greatest accomplishments. But the reason why she opened it in that particular location weighed heavily upon her.
Ryouga, having picked up the trash from the floor and thrown it away, sat down in one of the chairs and let out a long sigh. He couldn't explain it...even with his long journeys, the arduous training regiments he had undergone and the grueling fights he experienced in the past, he couldn't remember ever being this tired before. Truth be told, he had no idea what he was getting himself in to when he agreed to help Ukyou run her restaurant. Constantly having to run back and fourth between increasingly demanding customers wore on him. He would've preferred fighting against three Ranmas with his hands tied behind his back.
Ukyou looked at him and smiled, "Don't tell me you're tired?"
"Exhausted," answered Ryouga. "I don't know how you do it."
"It's just because it's still a new experience for you, sugar. Once you get into the routine, it'll be a breeze."
"If you say so." She sat down beside him, still looking thoughtfully at her shop.
Ryouga noticed her rather odd behavior. "Hey. Something wrong?"
"No...yes...I dunno." Ukyou laughed at herself, knowing how little sense she was making. "I'm just considering closing the restaurant. Possibly moving to a new location." Ryouga blinked. So soon after having him move in and hiring him? "Don't worry, my new employee, I'd take you with me, of course. I just think a change in scenery would do us both some good. Don't you think so?"
"Where's this coming from?"
"Do you REALLY have to ask that question? The whole reason why I moved here and opened this shop was so I could win Ranma over. Now that he's out of reach...again...I really don't see why it should stay. Too many memories here...I think moving would help us to get on with our lives."
Ryouga shook his head. "I can't believe you're going to let Ranma dictate how you live your life like that."
Ukyou glared at him. "I'm sorry, which one are you again? The pot or the kettle?"
"That's different. All I ever had was my revenge. But you have all of this talent and business sense. There's no reason for you to let our current situation force you to throw it all away. Tell me something; did you do all of this JUST for Ranma? Or do you enjoy being a chef?"
"Of course I enjoy it. After all, I never said I wanted to give it up."
"Well, look at all of the other things you would be giving up. You have friends here. You have a loyal customer base that would hate to see you go. There's no guarantee you'll get either of these anywhere else you run to. You shouldn't throw those things away just because of him. Maybe you came here and opened for Ranma, but you don't have to pack up and leave for Ranma. And you don't have to move away to move on."
She sighed, "But it's going to be so much harder here..."
"I know," said Ryouga, nodding. "I'm going to be stuck with him and Akane in class for most of the day. So, I definitely know. But I'm sure if we keep helping each other, we'll be able to get through it. Just don't give up on everything you've earned so far. What do you say?"
Ukyou smiled again and nodded. She hated to admit it, but their conversation left quite an impression on her.
-
Dreamweaver Studios Presents
Ranma½
And the Beat Goes On
"Rumor Mill"
-
Finally. It was the dawn of a new day. And this was the day Ryouga Hibiki would finally get what was coming to him. Ever since the newcomer found out that his prey did, indeed, live in the area, he began to scout around, trying to figure out his travel patterns. For one who was perpetually lost, this was usually a daunting task. But lately, the newcomer noticed a consistent travel path.
He was perched on the ledge of someone's apartment waiting. If the patterns held true, any minute now, Ryouga would come walking along the road below him, walking hand in hand with...someone. The someone in question did appear to be a rather attractive girl, but the person was dressed in a boy's school uniform. Most troubling was the wickedly huge weapon the third party had strapped to their back. He would've preferred going against Ryouga one on one, not getting anyone else involved in their fight, but if he had to, he wouldn't hesitate to take him...her...whatever, out.
The newcomer clenched his umbrella tightly in anticipation. He had waited a long time for this, endured a lot of hardships in his pursuit. His blood boiled as he remembered the indignities he had gone through because of Hibiki. Today, he swore, would be the day of Ryouga's reckoning. The lost fool was going to pay...was going to finally be defeated at his hands, or his name wasn't-
"PERVERT!"
The newcomer sighed heavily. He had been called 'pervert' so many times since he had moved to that town; it may as well have been his name. He craned his neck and found himself face to face with yet another attractive girl. She seemed familiar to him for some reason, though. He cleared his throat and tried to be as dignified as possible, despite his precarious position, "May I help you?"
"What are you doing up here?" the girl asked. "You're trying to steal my underwear, like that old lecher, aren't you?"
Underwear? What WAS she talking about? That's when he noticed, for the first time, the line of various women's undergarments well within his reach. In fact, some were hanging on the rail of the ledge...and he had a very firm grip on a pair of her panties. He blushed slightly "Ah, I see now. This has been a big misunderstanding, I assure you."
"Yeah, right! You creep!"
"I'm sorry, I have to ask...have we met somewhere before?"
The girl blinked. "What, are you trying to come on to me now?"
"No! No! I just have this feeling we've met somewhere before."
The girl studied him closely. Now that he mentioned it, he seemed familiar to her as well. Then it clicked. "Hey! That's right! We caught you before with the old man's sack of stolen stuff. The brigade taught you a lesson already, but it looks as though it hadn't sunk in yet."
Oh brother. This was just getting better and better. " 'Brigade'?"
"That's right," she said proudly. "We are the Perversion Elimination and Resistance Volunteer Squad...a group of girls who have taken it upon themselves to fight off perverted individuals like yourself!"
The newcomer stopped and processed that bit of information. "So...let me get this straight...you're P.E.R.V.S?"
She was going to let him have it with both barrels because of the insult she felt he laid on them, but then it dawned on her what exactly he was saying. "Aw crap...I knew we should've come up with a better name than that!"
"Erm...right." The newcomer looked down and spotted Ryouga and his sexually ambiguous friend walking below him. He almost missed his chance. "I'd love to stay and chat some more...actually, no I wouldn't. Gotta go!" He leapt off of the ledge initiating his attack. Unfortunately, he still had possession of the girl's panties.
"HEY!" She grabbed the nearest item she could find, which was a heavy metal bucket, and hurled it at him. The bucket clocked him upside the head, causing him to fall into a patch of bushes, unconscious.
----+----
Hearing a noise, Ryouga stopped and turned around. However, he didn't spot anything out of the ordinary.
"What's the matter?" Ukyou asked.
"Thought I heard something." Ryouga shrugged. "Guess it was nothing."
----+----+----+----+----
"Did Ryouga seem depressed to you, yesterday?" Akane asked. She and Ranma managed to get to school rather early for a change that day. They figured they'd need the extra time to deal with the supercharged Upperclassman Kuno, but he was nowhere to be found. So, counting their lucky stars, they decided to sit under the tree where they usually spend lunch to talk with a modicum of privacy.
At Akane's rather silly question, Ranma glared at his fiancée. "Ryouga? Depressed? Naw..." The question was akin to asking if water was wet
"More depressed than usual, I mean. Since we ran into him and Ukyou that time, he seems so down in the dumps. I wonder what could've done that to him?"
Ranma shook his head, "I couldn't tell ya." At least in this, Ranma was telling the truth. He did know why Ryouga was unstable more than was typical. It just wasn't his place to say anything. And if Ryouga couldn't bring himself to say what he felt, then, as far as Ranma was concerned, Ryouga's feelings would remain a secret. Still, something had to be done about his depression. If things continued the way they did, then Ryouga could snap and go on another rampage at any time. And who knew if anyone could stop him from destroying the town this time.
"Say, Ranma..."
"Hmm?"
"I was just thinking...you don't suppose Ryouga is still in love with Ukyou, do you?"
Still? Were they ever in love? "In love? Why would you say that?"
"Don't you remember the time in that cave? They seemed to be so close, but since then, Ukyou's been pursuing you hard...like..." Akane blinked, as if a light bulb just clicked on in her head, "Like she felt the same way about him, but was in denial...like we were."
Ranma scratched his head, "I dunno..."
"Sure, it all makes sense now! Ryouga's such a good person...he probably decided to let Ukyou go so she could continue pursuing you, wanting her to be happy. But then we decided to get together and it made Ukyou upset. Ryouga, still being in love with her and seeing her upset, got upset himself...which would explain that run-in where the two of them confronted us. Not to mention his concern for me, since we're such good friends."
"Err..."
"After that, Ryouga must've tried to comfort Ukyou and make her feel better. But she must've thought he was trying to make a move on her while she was in a vulnerable state and told him off. Since Ryouga IS rather sensitive, he went over the edge and started that rampage."
"I really don't think that's how that went..."
"What other way could there have been? I don't know if you noticed, but when he attacked us, he looked like he had given up on life. His eyes had no sparkle...no emotion to them. But once Ukyou showed up, he flared with fire and passion and attacked her in a way he didn't with us. And the way he just stopped when she apologized for treating him so badly..."
Ranma could only shake his head.
"Poor guy. He stayed with her to nurse her back to health from what he did to her...but I bet she still rejects him. No doubt everything she had been through to get you to marry her burned her out on love and relationships and needs time to heal emotionally too. It's no wonder he's so bummed."
Ranma sweatdropped, "Eh...if you say so."
"Hey!" called Yuka, as she and Akane's other friend, Saiyuri showed up. Ranma sighed in relief. Hopefully, they'll change the subject so Akane could stop going off on such weird tangents. "You two talking about Ukyou and Ryouga?" Ranma shook his head again...so much for that idea.
"Yeah," answered Akane. "What do you know about them?"
"If you weren't absent so much lately, you'd know they've been the talk of the school."
"That's right," chimed in Saiyuri. "We saw them a few weeks ago. From what I understand, she brought Ryouga in to take a placement exam to get him enrolled into school. Didn't seem like much at the time, but the way they hugged after they found out how well he did...seems like something's going on between them."
"Not to mention how they're always holding hands when they're coming and going," Yuka said.
"Of course, they'd be holding hands," went Ranma. "She has to. Ryouga would wander off and end up on the other side of the world if she didn't. At any rate, why are you so concerned about them anyway?"
Yuka shrugged. "No offense, but since you and Akane got together, you got kinda boring. We have to have SOMETHING to gossip about."
"Besides," added Akane, "if Ukyou and Ryouga are together, I think it'd make them happier. They are our friends after all. And you do want to see them happy, right?"
Ranma rolled his eyes at the jabber of the girls. But then, he thought about Akane's words. If they did get together, then they wouldn't be so lost in their disappointment. If he helped Ukyou to become happy, then it would work to pay her back for some of the mess he made in her life. The biggest plus of all, though, would be Ryouga. A happy Ryouga meant a Ryouga that wouldn't blow everyone up. He raised an eyebrow, "I guess getting Ukyou and Ryouga together would be good...for them. If they are hesitant to get together, then I guess the thing a 'good friend' would do would be to give them a nice little push..."
A big grin crept across Akane's face. "Looks like we're going to do some matchmaking!"
----+----+----+----+----
As they neared the front gate of Furinkan High School, Ukyou had a sudden feeling of foreboding. She didn't know how or why, but she had the feeling that someone was either watching her, or had something planned for her and it made her feel very uneasy. Probably had something to do with Ryouga and his hearing things. She turned back and noticed he had an uneasy expression as well.
While looking at him, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye that may have explained both of their feelings. She guided Ryouga to the gate and placed him just on the other side. "Could you wait here for me? There's something I need to take care of."
"Umm...sure," said Ryouga, confused.
She ran back out to the street and approached a mailbox that, she recognized, wasn't there just yesterday. As if she hadn't gone through enough in the past few weeks, this little annoyance had to come back on top of it. She banged on the top of the mailbox with her fist. "Okay, I know you're in there. Come on out."
The front of the mailbox opened up and the head of her 'annoyance', the cross dresser Tsubasa, popped out. He held his ears, as they were left ringing from her banging on his metallic disguise. "Owwwww! What did you do that for?"
"What are you doing here, Tsubasa?" demanded Ukyou. "Didn't you learn your lesson the last time you were here?"
The boy, who made a better girl than most actual girls, looked at her and smiled. "It's been a while, Ukyou. I heard you were on the outs with Ranma and just thought I'd stop in to see how you were doing."
How glibly he said that. It was as if he took a dagger with a jagged blade and plunged it in her heart. The way he was so caviler with her pain made her want to rip him out of that mailbox, beat him to within an inch of his life, then dump him in a river where he could be washed out of her life for good. But knowing him, he'd find a way out and back to her. Getting physical with him would do no good; since, where she was concerned, he was a real glutton for punishment. She'd have to go about getting rid of him in a different manner.
She turned away from him and dramatically sighed. "Yes, you're right. Ranma did choose Akane over me. I've been distraught over it for quite some time now."
"I'm sorry to hear that," said Tsubasa. "But that's why I'm here. I want to do what I can to help you feel better." And hopefully, get into her good graces so she would fall in love with him and they could have their happily ever after. Of course, he didn't verbalize that little detail.
"I appreciate the offer," she lied. "But, to be honest, I have someone else who's doing that for me."
Tsubasa's jaw dropped. "Whaaaaat?"
In an overly flowery voice and using a microphone that came out of nowhere, she continued to embellish, "It's true! We've been friends for a long time now, while pursuing other people. It's a coincidence, but we were both passed over in the game of love around the same time. Naturally, we shared our pain with each other and leaned on each other for support. During that time, our feelings for each other grew." She took a peek at Tsubasa and he looked as though he wanted to break down into tears. She hated to do this to him, as the pain of losing someone she loved to someone else was still fresh. But it had to be done. Hopefully, it would stick this time and Tsubasa would move on with his life as well, finding another girl who would appreciate him and his...hobbies. One last push should do it.
"We've fallen in love, and now, we're to be married!"
She almost heard the poor guy's heart break. He cast his eyes downward and raged silently. She almost wanted to reach out to him and give him a long hug. But he would have a better chance of reacting the way she wanted if she kept her distance. After a minute passed he looked up at her again and said, "It's that Ryouga guy, isn't it?"
"Huh?"
"I've seen the two of you together a few weeks ago...in fact, you were just walking with him, holding his hand."
"W-wait, I didn't say it was-"
"I'm not going to just let this go like I did the last time."
"Like...That was just letting it go?"
"This time, I'm going to fight! And this time, I'm prepared, just in case he's one of those martial arts muscle heads like Ranma!" After making his ominous threat, he bounced away.
Ukyou slapped her forehead. This was not going the way she hoped.
----+----
Ryouga, still standing in the place where Ukyou asked him to wait, tapped his foot to the ground wondering where in the world Ukyou had run off to. It was getting dangerously close to the time for the first period to begin. He was still early in his new scholastic career. With all of that studying it took for him to get in, not to mention that placement test, he didn't want to be threatened already with being thrown out because of excessive absences.
"Ryouga!"
He turned around and found her running back onto school grounds. "There you are. I was wondering what happened to you. Is everything okay?"
"Not exactly..."
"What's wrong?" he asked, concerned. Ukyou bit her bottom lip. She didn't know how to break it to him that she may have gotten him into a bit of trouble. She wasn't that concerned that Tsubasa could actually hurt Ryouga, but she had to admit the little transvestite was clever and could be quite an irritation when he set his mind to it. There was also the little detail about all those things she said to him. The last thing she wanted was for the things she said to get out in the open.
"Hey, did you hear," said a random girl to her random group of girlfriends. "The Kuonji girl said she was in love with Ryouga. They're engaged already." Ukyou sweatdropped.
"Aww, not him too," said a second girl. "I was hoping I could get a shot at him...such a shame. He was hot too."
"So where did you hear this," asked a third girl.
The first girl answered, "She said so herself to that talking mailbox outside."
Ryouga's eyes widened, hearing the conversation taking place next to him. He looked at Ukyou incredulously. "I...I don't believe this..."
The okonomiyaki chef waved her hands in front of her, "Ryouga, wait! I can explain..."
"A talking mailbox?"
Ukyou facefaulted.
----+----+----+----+----
----+----+----+----+----