The Exit

Ninnik Nishukan

As a horrible cacophony erupted downstairs, Ryoga sat bolt upright in bed; it took him a few seconds to realize that somebody was ringing the door bell and banging on the door—both at the same time! It couldn't be his parents; they each had a house key.

More or less tumbling out of bed, he pulled on his pants, threw on a discarded, old T-shirt from the floor and ran out of his room and downstairs, so shaken up that he evidently even forgot to get himself lost.

As he opened the front door, the sight that met him was Ukyo, gym bag in hand, looking quite flustered, slightly sweaty and not to mention irritated.

"U-Ukyo? What are you doing here this early?" He asked in a groggy voice.

"Don't tell me you just got up?" She let out a huff. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"Uh…no?" He shook his head slowly, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes with his knuckles.

"It's gone past four already!" She exclaimed.

"Oh. Well…looks like I needed to catch up on some sleep, then…" He mumbled.

So do I, Ukyo thought, but I still had my restaurant open during the lunch rush! "Well?" She looked at him expectantly.

"Well, what?"

"Are you gonna train me or not?"

Ryoga blinked; it looked like she'd really been serious about it, then. "I guess…just, uh, I could really need some breakfast…"

For a second or two, Ukyo looked like she was about to get annoyed again, but then she took in his horribly messy hair and bare feet and sighed, relenting. "Okay. More like a late lunch, though," she added, not quite under her breath.

Why she was in such a mood, Ryoga could only guess to. The best approach would probably just be to refrain from comment, he figured. He shifted a little, gesturing for the hallway. "Uh…if you wanna come in, just…um…are you hungry?" He added, remembering his manners.

She considered this briefly before shaking her head. "No, but a little something cold to drink would be nice, anyway…I feel like I'm dying out here…!" She sighed irritably as she brushed a few tendrils of damp hair out of her face.

He stuck his head out the door, looking around, feeling the air. "Huh. Yeah, it is kinda hot out."

"Yeah." She echoed.

They stood looking dumbly at each other for a while before Ryoga sprang into action. "Please, come in," He offered, ushering her into the house.

"Do you think I'm, y'know…pretty?"

It only took five minutes into one of his very, very seldom social visits from a girl before said girl had started asking him complicated questions. He'd been standing by the kitchen counter, calmly fixing them both some ice tea and himself some breakfast, lost in thought and humming under his breath because he was glad to be home for once, and then she just had to go and throw him that curveball!

"What?" Ryoga knew right away that this was one of those questions he'd heard that women asked that there was no right answer to; you were in trouble no matter what you said! Turning around, she saw her sitting at the kitchen table, self-consciously fiddling with the tablecloth.

"I know it's stupid," Ukyo said apologetically. "I just really need to know."

"Wh-why would you need t-to know if I…?" Ryoga asked nervously, his Adam's apple bobbing.

Ukyo sighed heavily. "Listen, you directionless idiot, I'm not coming on to you! I just need an objective opinion from a guy about my appearance!"

"Oh." Ryoga looked relieved and insulted at the same time.

"Well? Why aren't you answering?"

Ryoga didn't have to think twice about it. "Because I wouldn't be able to give an objective opinion."

"What?" Ukyo could feel a faint blush springing to her cheeks in her shock. What could he possibly be thinking…? "Why?"

"Because my opinion would be highly influenced by the fact that I know that if I got the answer wrong you might make an attempt at beating me into my own kitchen floor." Ryoga explained dryly.

"You stubborn jackass!" Ukyo snapped. "Just answer the question!"

Ryoga felt a drop of perspiration run down his temple. There was just no way that this was going to have a nice ending to it. "And you're not gonna hit me?" He asked cautiously.

Ukyo searched his apprehensive face and swallowed, feeling almost worse than after the bus yesterday, but only almost. I'm getting to be worse than Akane, she thought, trying to threaten a compliment out of a guy like this… "I'm sorry," Ukyo said meekly, "It's just that it…it would mean a lot to me. I just don't really know what I think about myself right now, so it would be nice to get second opinion." She admitted.

Regarding her suddenly softened features, her fierce frown gone, her teeth no longer gritting in annoyance, her hands no longer clutching her spatula threateningly, Ryoga could almost come to appreciate that she was in fact a rather attractive girl. She had long, long, dark hair framing a finely featured face, big, soulful, dark-lashed eyes and a delicate mouth— well, it seemed delicate now that it had settled and her lips weren't stretched to their fullest as she opened her mouth wide to yell at him as loudly as she possibly could— and like all Ranma's other suitors, she had the firm, trim body of a martial artist, though the outfit she was wearing today showed that she definitely had some curves as well...

"You're pretty when you're not screaming orders into my face." He settled on this conclusion.

Ukyo blinked at him in bafflement. "Okay…?"

"Like now." He added by way of demonstration, pointing at her. "Now you're pretty."

"Uh…" Ukyo shrank back a little, abashed at the way he was pointing directly at her, especially now that he'd made her face flush.

"Is…is that good enough?" Ryoga asked anxiously.

She just nodded.

"Good, because it's the best I can do." He relaxed a little. "Complimenting a girl isn't exactly what I do for a living."

"Right." Ukyo agreed absently.

"So, I hope you feel better…?" He asked hopefully. He was still kind of mentally if not physically tired and really wasn't up to dealing with a depressed Ukyo all day.

"A little." She assured him. "Thanks."

He sighed. "No problem…"

"Um...Ryoga?"

"What?"

"And…" Ukyo swallowed, not sure if she should ask the next question or not, but far too curious not to, now that she finally had the chance. "And on the train…yesterday…would you have kissed me?" She asked haltingly, her voice small.

She saw his shoulders twitch and knew she'd just surprised the hell out of him.

Ryoga cursed inwardly; she just had to ask that question! As if it hadn't been humiliating enough being ordered to kiss her of all people and in a public place of all places and with Akane and Ranma of all people as on-lookers— now she had to go and make him answer a question he himself didn't even know the answer to?

If he said no, she'd be offended and hurt, but if he said yes, it would all get very awkward and she would think he was some sort of weirdo and was going to stalk her or something…so what in the world was he supposed to say?

Suddenly, inspiration struck.

"M-maybe." He said in a quiet voice, after a beat. "If I'd known if it was welcome or not...maybe."

"Really?" Ukyo asked uncertainly.

Ryoga shrugged, keeping his gaze fixed on the floor. It was the truth.

"Why?"

"No real reason." Ryoga brushed it off. The tips of his ears going red and he still wouldn't look at her. It was such a difficult, awkward topic! "I guess because…b-because I've never…kissed a girl before and because there could be…w-worse people to kiss." Why was he telling her these things? She didn't have to know he'd never kissed a girl before! Nobody needed to know that! Now she'd make fun of him and—

"Okay."

"Okay?" He parroted incredulously.

Ukyo gave him an odd look. "Um, yes?"

Ryoga brightened. "So that's a good enough reason, right?"

She nodded firmly. "It's good enough."

Placing a cup of ice tea in front of her, he frowned as he suddenly thought of something. "I was going to teach you to fight without weapons, right?"

"Right," Ukyo said as she gratefully sipped the cold beverage. "What's your point?"

Ryoga sat down by the table with his plate and cup and nodded meaningfully at the giant spatula resting against his kitchen wall.

Ukyo reddened slightly. "Force of habit," she grumbled into her ice tea.

Ryoga grinned fleetingly and dug into his lunch.

Except for the gentle sound of the chopsticks against the plate as he ate, there was silence for a while before Ukyo spoke. "The pattern on your kitchen floor looks like chopsticks…" She commented moodily.

Ryoga rolled his eyes. This wasn't going to be easy.

"We'll take it a little easy today since we're still all covered in gauze and stuff." Ryoga told her when they'd moved to the vacant lot beside his house. "And now…come on and show me what you can do!" He challenged.

"Okay!" Ukyo said enthusiastically, readying herself for charging at him.

"Without the spatula!" He added, exasperated. He heard Ukyo cursing quietly as she flung her spatula to one side. "And you accuse me of being scatterbrained?" He couldn't help himself; he simply had to say it.

Ukyo growled and charged.

They'd gone through a bit of basic sparring…well, it had been basic, but it had been going on non-stop for more than fifty minutes before she had to call it quits. It had been exhausting, especially because it was so hot out! And that was supposed to be his idea of taking it easy?

It seemed as though she was a bit quicker and agile than Ryoga, but she didn't have the strength and stamina that he possessed in bundles; nothing seemed to touch this guy, he just went on and on! Apparently standing behind a grill all day wasn't as good for your health as constantly running in a crisscross pattern around Japan. "How was that?" She asked, panting as she stood bent double, resting her hands on her knees.

Ryoga stared; did she know that what she was doing was giving him a pretty good view down her— he could see her sports bra, peaking out a little from her thin, sleeveless top— he could see her, her cleavage, covered in a delicate layer of sweat—

Swallowing, he deliberately turned his back to her as he took a swig out of his water bottle, his hand shaking.

"It w-wasn't bad," Ryoga said, clearing his throat as heat rose to his face, and most prominently his nose; luckily he hadn't gotten a nosebleed, though. "But you need to build up your strength and stamina." Ukyo had agility and speed where she didn't have strength, and she'd avoided him somewhat easily, but when he did get a hit in—or, rather, when he even dared hitting a girl— she didn't take it quite as easily. Also, she wore herself out rather faster than him; it looked like she hadn't been doing any really hardcore training for a while.

Ukyo glared at him. "I noticed, thank you!"

"Hey, you asked!" He protested.

"I can't believe I'm paying for this…" Ukyo muttered as she stood up, dusting herself off and irritably snatching the water bottle from Ryoga, drinking deeply.

"Also," Ryoga went on, ignoring her comment and her rude behaviour; he himself knew how it could feel to have your abilities evaluated. "I riled you up way too easily with that insult before we began. You can't let yourself lose your temper like that."

Ukyo gaped, staring at him as if he'd just sprouted a propeller from his back and was circling around the chimney of his house. "Me? I need to control my temper? Coming from you, that is an insult! Have you seen yourself fighting with Ranma? You lose your head completely if he just calls you a name!"

The blush exploded on his face like a red paint bomb. "I do not!" She couldn't know what those names that Ranma called him really meant, right? Right?

Ukyo grinned evilly. "Am I supposed to reply with a 'you do too!' now?"

This time, it was he who charged.

So, he'd obliged her and had started training her in fighting without weapons. And she was getting good. Even after just the four days he'd so far actually managed to stay in Nerima before getting himself horribly lost somewhere, she was getting good.

She would come running over to his house every day before or after work and he'd been utterly perplexed. The sight of someone being that excited over spending time with him was a foreign concept to him. She'd been eager, she'd been enthusiastic, and after the first session or two, she'd carried him right along with her on the current. He'd felt cheerful for the first time since he could remember, he'd begun looking forward to seeing her, and he'd never smiled this much during training before.

It had the shape and feel to it of a game. A serious game, a dedicated game, but a game nonetheless. They'd been laughing— or mostly, she'd been laughing at him, but anyway, laughing had been involved— they'd been egging each other on, made each other continue, made each other push themselves harder when in reality they'd been too tired to go on. It'd just been too interesting to stop, that was all.

They'd started doing exercises to make her tougher, stronger, and she responded to them nicely, learned very quickly. She was brilliant. The best student he could ask for, even though she still had a long way to go. When he thought about her wasting away her potential like that—

If only she had more free time, so she could get better. As it was, they'd trained whenever she had time to get away from her restaurant, which she insisted on having open for business almost every day now that it was her summer vacation and she didn't have to go to school, and he knew it must've been tiring her out.

If they continued like this for more than a week or two, there was always the risk that she might collapse from straining herself too much. Then again, if he really managed to build up her endurance they way he hoped, she would be able to withstand it.

Still, she was getting so good at it. And besides, teaching somebody something that he actually felt confident at was a nice experience. He hadn't done that since he'd attempted teaching Akane martial arts gymnastics, but even he had to agree with Ranma that Akane hadn't exactly been the most, uh…graceful participant in the art he'd ever seen. And she certainly hadn't paid him for his troubles— not that he'd expected or demanded payment, either, though. The confidence that he'd felt when teaching Akane had been nice, however, and it was exactly how he felt now. Martial arts were one of the few things he tended not to be too nervous about. He wasn't used to receiving this much respect from Ukyo, either.

He didn't even become nervous when his neighbour, Mister Kobayashi, who sometimes used to step outside for a smoke because his wife didn't allow smoking in the house, sat and watched them practice from across the street a couple of times.

Ten minutes into their very first session, Ukyo had understood very clearly that her worries about his teaching abilities had been for naught. Ukyo had been bewildered at the odd change that seemed to come over Ryoga when they were dealing with martial arts.

In a conversation about social matters he'd either babble her head off in his nervousness, revealing way too much, or he'd just clam up completely, but when he was teaching her things like how to use her opponent's strength, how to angle and how to move her fists so she wouldn't hurt herself and where to hit to do the most damage the fastest to get out of a pinch— well, she'd never seen him with this much confidence! He seemed like a completely different person, almost.

It wasn't as if she feared he was taken over by a Pod Person or anything, it was just that he carried himself a bit differently and actually spoke in complete sentences. He was a pretty good teacher, not too strict, but far from lenient, and it made for interesting sparring sessions, and it made it easier for her to take him seriously as a teacher and easier for her to respect him.

He didn't hold back a lot just because she was a girl. He didn't go easy on her, telling her there were things she could and couldn't do because of her gender; if she wanted to learn something, she simply had to ask and he'd try his best to teach her.

She figured it was because he'd been on the receiving end of her wrath enough times to make him unable to think of her as some delicate little flower or something, like a lot of male martial artists tended to feel about their female colleagues.

He could tell he was pulling his punches a little, though. Obviously he'd been brought up under the same School of No Hitting Girls that Ranma had studied under. She should probably be mad about it, but at the same time it felt a little flattering to be treated like a girl. It was a gentlemanly thing to do.

Besides, she knew how frighteningly strong he truly was and she wasn't keen on ending up with all of her ribs broken and her arm in a cast. She had a restaurant to run, after all.

Before their session started today, she finally had to ask about his behaviour. As he stood next to her, waiting for her to finish as she sat on the curb beside the vacant lot, lacing up her shoe, she looked up at him. "Ryoga?"

"Yeah?"

She got to her feet as she wondered how to articulate her curiosity. "Um, I was just wondering…how come you always seem so different when we're doing this?"

He looked slightly confused. "What do you mean, different?"

She rolled her shoulders, getting ready. "I dunno, more confident."

Expecting him to blush and be all shy about it, she felt nonplussed when he simply cocked his head to one side, frowning a little in thought. "I guess…I guess it's because this is the one thing I know I'm good at." He told her by way of explanation. "Everything else tends to be hard for me, but martial arts is where I've proven that I can do things that nobody else can do."

Ukyo raised both eyebrows, clearing her throat pointedly. "Except Ranma."

Ryoga flinched. "Except Ranma," He admitted grumpily. "Still, I can hold my own against some of the best there are and I've learned some techniques that are pretty damn powerful." He looked down fixedly at his feet for a moment before returning his gaze to her. "I feel like when it comes to martial arts, I can basically do anything as long as I try hard enough, and I always do."

Ukyo nodded slowly. It was an unusually cocky speech for Ryoga, but she let it slide exactly because this was Ryoga; had he been talking about anything else, girls, school, his future, whatever, he'd be anything but confident about it.

"Let's go," Ukyo said, walking across to one side of the vacant lot.

The training session had started.

Twenty minutes later, her arms were already covered with tiny bruises as she was being re-introduced quite painfully to exactly how she shouldn't be blocking people's attacks; this was the one thing she'd sadly failed to grasp completely. She'd always been able to rely on her spatula taking all the blows and had rarely been forced to use her bare arms before. Obviously starting to feel bad over the state of her arms, Ryoga suggested they take a break from blocking and move over to practicing how to give somebody a good old-fashioned judo throw.

Now this she knew. She knew how to do it, but unfortunately she tended to lack the muscle power to flip her opponent over if he or she were much bigger than herself. Ryoga was quite well-muscled and had a broad frame, but since he wasn't that much taller than her, she could just about flip him over without straining herself all too much. Ryoga, however, lifted her like a feather as always, and the world seemed to slip into slow motion as she fell backwards and eventually hit the ground.

He hadn't expected her to struggle while he was doing it, however; a well-placed foot tripped him up so that he tumbled with her and fell ungracefully on top of her. His face burning like a furnace due to the awkward position he seemed to find himself in, he shakily tried to lift himself up on his arms so he could get up from her as quickly as possible, but the sound of her voice, alluring, made him freeze up.

"Ryoga?"

"Hmm?" His eyes looked slightly glazed over as he stared openly down at her, lying below him, her face and her bangs damp with perspiration, her long, dark ponytail trailing across the grass, her chest rising and falling with her breath— which he couldn't help but notice was making her breasts move in all sorts of fascinating ways— and her eyes sparkling with merriment. He gulped.

Ukyo looked up at him, her eyes travelling across him out of their own will. It was as hot as ever outside, and he was only wearing a thin muscle shirt, which was already covered in sweat. The muscles in his arms tightened as he held her wrists above her head, his heavy bangs limp with sweat and his dark eyes advertising his distraction as he regarded her. This looked like the time to strike! She smiled coyly, her eyes narrowing impishly. "Truth or dare?"

Ryoga sucked in a breath, shock written across his face. "Wh-wha—"

She could already feel his grip weakening with her clever diversion tactics. Swinging her leg up and planting her foot firmly in his stomach, she kicked out for all she was worth, twisting her wrists as she went, forcing him to let go of them, and flinging him off of her and onto the dusty ground. The odd, sharp sound he made told her that she'd just knocked the wind out of him. With a whoop of triumph, she jumped to her feet and started dancing around.

"Hah! I got you, Hibiki!"

"Y-you tricked me!" Ryoga exclaimed, looking dazed.

"Hey, we're doing anything goes, right?" Her attempt at shrugging innocently was rather spoiled by her giant, smug grin.

"You…you bitch!" Ryoga blurted, the complete and utter humiliation burning hotly in his mind as he got to his feet. How could he have fallen for that? How stupid was he? And how could she be taking advantage of his insecurities while they were doing this, the one field were he felt self-assured? Gods, he was just getting to be oh, so very tired of people toying with his shyness when it came to the other gender! Ukyo was going to pay!

Ukyo only started laughing loudly. "You need to control your temper, Hibiki!" She shouted, skipping away from him when he started towards her, his fists cocked. Knowing now that she was faster, she grinned tauntingly at him and danced away playfully. "You'll never catch me!"

Ryoga growled and ran after her, accelerating surprisingly fast. Ukyo let out an involuntary, embarrassing little squeak as she caught sight of the human bulldozer thundering towards her and took off at a run, jumping onto the first roof top she spotted. Unfortunately, he was right on her tail.

Okay, so Hibiki Ryoga seemed to be able to able to run just a little faster when he was really pissed off…

On and on the chase went, over rooftop after rooftop, until Ukyo had had enough and decided to turn back. Jumping down from the last house, she confused Ryoga when he followed off of the roof and she suddenly turned right around, dodging and weaving past him before she jumped right back up on the roof and started running back where they'd come from. Judging from his loud curses, he hadn't expected that, either. Oh my, wasn't she just full of surprised today?

It gave her some leverage, but not much; it didn't take long before she could hear his furious footsteps behind her again. A giddy laughter bubbled up in her; she hadn't been chased like this since grammar school! Even though the guy who was running after her was someone who could make giant boulders explode without as much as breaking a sweat, she just couldn't help laughing.

Hearing Ukyo's laughter ringing out over the rooftops only made Ryoga feel angrier and more humiliated. When they'd almost reached the vacant lot and his house again, running across some neighbour's lawn, Ryoga decided to finish it once and for all and simply jumped at her and tackled her around her waist. It was quite satisfying, really, hearing her gasp as her breath was knocked out of her like she had done to him.

"Now," he panted as he pinned her down. "Now who's g-got…who?"

Ukyo gasped and wheezed for air as she struggled beneath him. "J-jeez, Ryoga…you didn't…didn't have to…take it that seriously...!" She panted as well, trying to turn around. "Now let me go, you jerk!"

He flipped her around, scowling down at her. "Say you're sorry first!"

Ukyo frowned at him. "It was only a joke." She couldn't quite force the defiance she wanted into her voice, for some reason.

Letting go of her wrists, he looked away, his bangs heavy in his eyes. "I don't…I don't like jokes like that." Ryoga told her quietly. He was still keeping her from moving much by straddling her legs, and she swallowed as she could feel him trembling quite badly against her. He wasn't just angry; he was hurt, his dignity thrown to the dogs.

"Listen," Ukyo began hesitantly, embarrassed on both their behalves, "I'm sorry, I just didn't think…I'm sorry, okay?"

"R-really?" He met her gaze reluctantly, looking too vulnerable for her own liking; this wasn't the Ryoga she knew! Or maybe she just didn't know him? If she'd known he wasn't going to take a joke she would've never have done this…because it hadn't been a cruel joke, right? It had been funny, right? Teasing him like that hadn't been wrong, right? Right?

Wrong.

"Really." Ukyo nodded, trying to smile encouragingly, which wasn't very easy right then, what with the sudden, overpowering feelings of guilt and all.

Ryoga just sat there, gazing down at her with a strange look in his eyes, chewing his bottom lip in a sort of faraway manner for a while. Just when she'd started getting really nervous, he suddenly swooped down out of the blue, fumbled his way to his lips as he tried to avoid bumping into her nose, and then he kissed her, smack dab, right on the lips!

"Nnn!" The unexpected intrusion made her attempt an objection, but it was rather hard to speak as he was covering her mouth with his and he was…his lips were…warm and soft and moist, just like she'd thought…and— and she gave in to him, muscles unclenching. "Nnn…"

As he leaned further forward, easing his weight off of her tired legs and beginning to kiss her in earnest, some part of her brain decided it was time to respond. Sliding her hands up his bare arms, clutching his solid biceps as her fingers found them; she pulled him closer and hummed her willingness into his mouth. Even though he obviously wasn't quite sure how to do this, and even though they were both sweaty, dusty and dishevelled, the simple warmth, the flesh, the intimate contact just made it so— this was…this was so good…

Ryoga moaned with the relief of being accepted, his nerves melting away as she opened her mouth to him, drawing him closer instead of pushing him away. Pulling back briefly to draw a breath and wet his lips, he re-connected them at the mouth before she even had any time to notice his absence. It felt like every little hair on his body stood on end as he lost himself to the delicious, hot, wet, sucking pressure of their lips moving against each other, revelling in the salty taste of the sweat on her lips, the only thing barely anchoring him to this Earth her tight grip on his arms—

"What are you doing on my property?"

The world came rushing back with the nasty scare of suddenly acquiring an audience.

"Nngh?" Ryoga lifted his head, looking at the intruder blearily. It appeared to be the elderly man living across the street from his house, Kobayashi.

"Get the hell out of here before I call the—!" Kobayashi quieted abruptly. "What the— Hibiki? Is that you?" He squinted at his young neighbour, lying prone on his lawn; on top of that girl he'd been sparring with, no less! "What are you doing here?"

Ukyo, growing frustrated at his inaction, shoved Ryoga off of her and grabbed his arm, pulling him upright. "Come on, you jackass, let's go!" She hissed, dragging him along after her as she made a break for his house.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry!" Ryoga wailed, apologizing to his puzzled neighbour even as he was being pulled away. Would his humiliation know no boundaries today?

"S-so…" Ukyo began timidly.

"So, uh…yeah…" Ryoga still couldn't believe he'd actually done it, let alone be ready to actually deal with any consequences yet.

Having escaped, they found themselves back in his kitchen, and neither of them had any idea what to do. Ryoga was searching his mind in a panic, desperately trying to figure out something to say. Somehow, offering her tea again felt like a lame gesture after what had transpired. Besides, right now he didn't think he'd even be able to carry the tea cup over to her without spilling half the contents.

"Wh-what are we…um…supposed to…" He asked haltingly. He'd always imagined his first kiss to be slow, careful, almost a planned event, set during some sort of romantic date— not him wrestling a girl to the ground because she'd been teasing him during a sparring session and then kissing her on a complete impulse! Not that it hadn't been any good, because it had— that just wasn't the point…!

"I…I think we should take a shower." Ukyo suggested. It was the only thing she could think of to say, seeing as she was covered in sweat, dust and grass stains and seeing as she was trying not to look at him. Showering would require that she moved to another room, which would be a good thing. Ryoga suddenly kissing her had come as one of the biggest shocks in her life! She hadn't actually minded it as it was happening, sure, but that wasn't the point!

"Wh-what?" He exclaimed, sitting up so abruptly that his chair fell over, clattering noisily on the kitchen floor.

Ukyo's face coloured, partly with anger, but mostly because she instantly knew what he was thinking about. "I didn't mean together, you absolute…you…you!" She spluttered, managing to get quite a lot of venom into just one syllable, Ryoga thought. It sounded like she'd just said a particularly bad word, and not what she'd actually said.

"I didn't mean— I just m-misunderstood!" He pleaded, cowering. Why was everything he said somehow the wrong thing with her? "You didn't have to get so angry!"

Ukyo slugged him in the arm. "You didn't have to kiss me!" She retorted, taking a blind stab at him.

She was alarmed by the way his face fell then, his shoulders sagging and his eyes radiating such disappointment that it felt like a tangible presence in the room. "Is that why you're mad at me?" His voice sounded so dead to her, so devoid of hope.

"No, I— oh, for goodness sake, would you stop looking so sad!" She ordered, feeling absolutely wretched. "Don't you know that I— that it— do you have any idea how confused I've been this past week, ever since we went to that stupid ghost cave and I heard that he— that he doesn't—?" She clutched her head in frustration. "And now this! Do you think I have any idea how I'm supposed to feel about all this?"

To his own horror, tears were beginning to form in his eyes, prickling and hot. "Well, I don't know, either! I just did it! I'm sorry! I just did it!" This wasn't exactly how he'd imagined the aftermath of his first kiss would be! This was awful! Why did everything he touched always turn out wrong?

Ukyo sighed. "Why did you do it?"

"How in the world should I know?" He demanded in a thick voice. "I just wanted to, so I did it!"

Ukyo looked at him disbelievingly. "You just wanted to?"

Ryoga nodded, avoiding her eyes. He could probably come up with some other reasons, like the fact that she was fascinating and utterly provocative, always working him up into some sort of fit, and the fact that she'd looked too appealing to resist, lying there all sweaty with her hair in a tangle, her breath rapid and her eyes bright, but he knew he wouldn't be able to get any of those things out without sounding like some sort of pervert, and the core of the matter was that…that he'd just wanted to.

Well, she thought, astonished at how logical it sounded despite its banality; what reason should there really be for a kiss other than the fact that you want to?

Her gaze softening, Ukyo stepped closer to him and touched his arm carefully. "Ryoga…?" She murmured, and as he lifted his face and was about to answer, she took her chance and pressed her open mouth against his. When his shoulders sagged this time, it wasn't because of disappointment. Embracing her, he sighed against her mouth moving against his as she hugged him back, her palms on his back warm through the thin cotton T-shirt separating her hands from his skin. His hands sliding down to her waist, he took notice of the nice, curvy slope they travelled across.

Breathing hard, she broke off the kiss and leaned against him, holding him to her. "It's better this way…isn't it?" She asked him in a soft voice that sounded so little like the Ukyo he knew that he felt it necessary to check to see if it was really her.

"What…what way?" He replied, trying to catch his breath as well.

"Not lying down on somebody's lawn," She chuckled. "And… and standing up like this, I mean…it's just easier to, to make things work…you know?"

He didn't have anything to say, he just nodded against her hair; she could hear his breath hitch in his chest before he clutched her to him and virtually attacked her mouth with his own. Giving a sort of overwhelmed moan, she threw herself into the kiss with all she had, surprising him by slipping her tongue past his lips and rubbing it against his. He screwed his eyes shut with the sensations running through him as she started sucking gently on the tip of his tongue. When she finally released his tongue, he gave her a hard, lingering open-mouth kiss before her knees buckled and he had to ease her into a kitchen chair as he was barely standing, himself.

"I was wondering what this would be like…!" She said giddily after they'd been allowed some oxygen.

"Hmm?" He looked questioningly down at her from where he was hunched above her, leaning against the kitchen table.

"After the game, you know…I kinda couldn't stop myself from wondering what would've happened." She confessed shyly. "It was just really unexpected that Ranma would suggest something like that!"

Ryoga nodded absently. "I think it would've been awful."

"What?" There she was, the Ukyo he knew, hands curling like claws into the front of his shirt, teeth bared in a snarl, her voice going dangerously low. He'd been wondering how long it would be before she got mad again. Suddenly, he just couldn't keep from grinning.

"Having my first kiss in front of Ranma on a train full of nosy people isn't exactly my idea of a good time," He said bluntly.

Her fingers uncurled from his shirt. "Oh." Then she grinned as well. "But tackling me in a fit of rage and making out with me on your neighbour's lawn is?"

As predicted, his face went bright red. "A-at least I can say that nobody forced me to do it," He shot back defiantly.

"Which is more than I can claim," Ukyo quipped gleefully, never missing a beat.

"U-Ukyo!" He cringed, shame shining in his eyes.

"Oh, come on! I was just joking!" She protested.

"Not funny," He growled, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Okay," she gave in, "no more of those kinds of jokes today, all right?"

"Fine." He agreed, a bit reproachfully.

Satisfied, she patted his arm as she gave him a short peck on the lips, and then picked up her bag, turned on her heel and went to the door. "I think I'll take my shower at home."

"Y-you're leaving?" Ryoga asked in a small voice.

"I'll be back tomorrow," she replied happily, "I'm still paying you to teach me how to fight properly, remember?"

"Oh." He blinked. "Right." He brightened. "So…so that means I'll see you again?"

She smiled at him. "Count on it."

As she started towards her home, Ukyo had to take one last look across the street at the lawn, looking slightly worse for wear in one particular spot.

Who'd ever think she'd get her first kiss by rolling around in somebody's front yard with Hibiki Ryoga of all people? She licked her lips, smiling to herself with feminine appreciation as she could still taste his lips and as she remembered how it had felt. There was a tingle in her gut as she thought about it; who would have ever believed that he'd have the courage to take the initiative like that? It was kind of impressive, really. And exciting.

She shook her head, smiling again.

Life was weird. And good. Good and weird.

Of course, she wasn't suddenly trouble free just because of this; her issues with Ranma weren't going to away just like that, but at least now she had something to look forward to, something that was just hers and didn't focus around him. Even if she had no idea what it was, how it happened and what was going to come of it.

Sometimes you had to do things just because you wanted to.

Ryoga's body, sitting in the kitchen, suddenly reeled his mind down from floating on Cloud Nine as his stomach made a loud sound to tell him that training all afternoon and then getting his first, second and third— and fourth?— kiss had given him a formidable appetite. He began rummaging through the kitchen cabinets looking for something to eat. Hopefully there would be something there other than instant ramen.

A five minute search yielded nothing but a scary-looking bag of miso paste and a packet of biscuits that were both past their expiration date and three portions of instant ramen, but this didn't bother him one bit— even if it was really too hot to eat ramen— as he was now filled with a warm, fluffy feeling of euphoria from head to toe. He'd actually done it! And she hadn't rejected him! For the first time in his life, he felt like he could truly call himself a man! For the first time, he felt as if cowardice and shyness would no longer hold him down like a stone around his neck!

Ryoga had no idea what was going to happen tomorrow, how she was going to act or what things were going to be like between them from now on— it was just a few kisses; they weren't exactly engaged or anything— all he knew was that he wanted to kiss her again, and he decided to leave it at that because now that he finally felt good about himself for once, now that he actually felt proud of himself, he was not about to worry about problems that might not even be problems.

He hummed happily as he ate his ramen standing up by the kitchen counter because he felt too energetic to sit down. The moment of happiness hadn't come to him as a blessing to those who wait, he thought; he'd had to go out and get it himself. What a blissful day, what a happy occasion, what a—

Hot soup splashed against the hem of his pants as the ramen bowl fell from his suddenly weak grip, clattering loudly against the floor, the noodles landing on his bare feet with a soggy splat.

His eyes were that of a man seeing his own doom looming on the horizon as he stared at the wall, his mouth open and his eyes as wide as saucers, his arms limp with terrible, terrible realization.

She didn't know. Ukyo didn't know. That why she'd accepted him. Ukyo didn't know about his curse because he still hadn't told her; there just hadn't been a reason to, but now she'd kissed him and she was coming here tomorrow and what if it rained and she was going to know, he just knew, she was going to know, she was going to know—

Kobayashi, having his third cigarette of the day out on his front porch, jumped with fright as he heard an agonized, almost inhuman howl coming from the Hibiki house. Just as he was calming himself down, clutching is heart, he heard another yell; this one had words which he recognized, but he still didn't understand what it was supposed to mean.

"SHI…SHI…HOKODAN!"

Two seconds later, he fell off his chair as bright red light flashed out of all the windows on the first floor, and the house suddenly got a brand new skylight in a very unorthodox way.

As she stood in the shower, enjoying the feel of the water washing away the sweat and grime, Kuonji Ukyo hummed to herself as she wondered idly what she might put on the okonomiyaki she was planning to bring Ryoga the following day.

Tomorrow would be interesting.

END.

Author's note: It's finally over, but there will also be some sort of epilogue. Soon, I hope. Thanks for reading!

Originally, I wasn't going to have them kiss in this story, but I figured that jeez, I've written how many Ryoga/Ukyo stories now (I have more, but most have been scrapped), and they still haven't kissed in a single one of those so far!

Call it fan service.

Also, it seemed like this particular story called for a kiss, what with the first chapter. I don't know. Okay, two, three, four kisses— whatever. I enjoyed it, anyway, and I think Ryoga and Ukyo did, too. :)