The Exit
Ninnik Nishukan
Ranma, Akane and Kasumi were out walking to the market when Ranma noticed something odd.
"Uh…why is there a giant hole in Ryoga's roof?"
"Hmm?" Akane turned her head curiously.
Kasumi gasped. "Oh my!"
They went over to investigate.
Ryoga, having agonized himself sick all night, hadn't slept until he'd finally collapsed on the couch two hours previous. Now he was completely un-rested, disoriented and still in the same worried mental state he'd been in since Ukyo had left yesterday and he'd realized how out of luck he truly was.
When the door bell suddenly rang, he froze in terror for a moment before running towards the door, his mind in a frenzied state. He had to fix this somehow!
"Ukyo, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, please don't—"He began to wail as he flung open the door; then he saw who it actually was. "Oh. It's you."
Ranma frowned at him suspiciously. "What did you do to her this time, man?"
"What's wrong, Ryoga?" Akane asked, a look of concern turning up on her face.
"Ryoga?" Kasumi piped up politely. "If you want, I could give you the number of our carpenter…?"
"Uh…" Ryoga took a step back, starting to feel as if he was being harassed by a mob.
"Seriously, bacon breath, what did you do to her?"
"Did you have a fight, Ryoga?"
"I'm sure that hole in the roof could be patched right up if—"
"What are all of you guys doing here?"
They all turned at the sound of another voice suddenly joining the conversation.
"U-Ukyo!" Ryoga gulped.
"Hi, Ryoga…" Ukyo smiled nervously, suddenly shy in front of all these people. It was so strange to see him after what they'd done yesterday, and she really could've used some time to process what had happened and talk to him about it before she had to deal with other people.
"Hey, Ucchan!"
"Hi, Ukyo,"
"Hello, Ukyo,"
"H-hi…!" Ranma, Akane and Kasumi had said that almost simultaneously, and Ukyo was beginning to feel just a little overwhelmed. "Ryoga," she interjected, "aren't you going to invite them in for tea or something?"
Ryoga was sure he'd broken out in a cold sweat. "Uh…sure…" His spirits sank further down when he caught Ranma sniggering at him.
Lady Luck simply loved to punish him.
Ukyo noticed Ryoga's hands shaking badly as he was filling up the tea kettle with water. Frowning, she put what she thought was a soothing hand on his arm, but it only made him yelp and almost drop the kettle, a bit of water coming close to splashing his shirt. He was panting as he turned around and stared at her, looking deathly afraid.
"Ryoga, what's wrong?" She asked in a quiet voice, hoping the three guests in the living room wouldn't hear. "And why is there a hole in the roof?"
"U-Ukyo, I…I…" He stuttered, a living picture of misery.
A sudden fear struck her, her eyes narrowing. "You're not…I mean, do you regret what we…?"
"What?" He asked weakly.
"Don't tell me you're gonna say it was just an accident or something!" Her breath hitched in her throat, but she was starting to feel more angry than hurt. How typical! He was such a coward! "Because it was you who—"
"What? N-no, I— Ukyo, please just don't…don't hate me— "He clasped her hands between his. "I l-like you, it's just that I'm— th-there's something…something w-wrong with me…!"
Ukyo gasped, squeezing his hands reflexively. She hadn't expected this! "Oh, gods, you're not dying of some rare disease, are you?"
Ryoga blinked, his jaw going slack. "WHAT?" He blurted, then frowned at her closely, concerned. "Ukyo, have you been watching soaps?"
Ukyo reddened. "N-no! Only a little, but— hey, don't you try to distract me, Hibiki!"
"Sorry," Ryoga swallowed. "I don't know how to explain this to you, but…uh…" He looked into Ukyo's expectant, soulful eyes that would soon look at him in disgust, saw her mouth open slightly as she exhaled nervously, saw her pink, soft lips that she would never let him kiss again and held her delicate hands that would never again give him a formidable uppercut and then help him get to his feet afterwards and—
"ARGH! I can't say it! You'll hate me forever!" He bellowed with the agony of a major dilemma, letting go of her hands and slamming his fist through the nearest wall in frustration.
"R-Ryoga!" Ukyo cringed, shocked.
"Everything all right in here?" Ranma, Akane and Kasumi had popped their heads into the kitchen, curious about all the noise.
"F-fine!" Ryoga stammered.
"Uh…yeah…" Ukyo agreed lamely, staring at the hole in the wall.
"Um, e-excuse us for a second!" Ryoga exclaimed before opening the first and best door he saw and dragging Ukyo with him through it, slamming it behind him.
Kasumi looked confused at that. "Why are they going to the bathroom together?"
Utterly perplexed, Ukyo went to sit down on the toilet lid to wait for Ryoga to finish fretting and actually tell her what was going on.
"Ryoga?"
Sweating with fear, Ryoga took a deep breath. "Th-there's something I have to tell you. About me."
Ukyo nodded. "Go ahead." She said bravely, even as she wondered if she actually wanted to hear something that he thought would make her hate him.
Ryoga bit his lip, leaning against the sink. "A couple of years ago, I followed Ranma to Jusenkyo…"
Ranma, Akane and Kasumi were waiting in the kitchen. Kasumi had put the forgotten kettle on and was searching for some rice crackers, Akane was looking worried and Ranma was looking both annoyed and bored. He wasn't allowed to eat any of the okonomiyaki from the box that Ukyo had brought before Ryoga and Ukyo came back, he couldn't hear what was going on from where he was and both Akane and Kasumi had forbid him to eavesdrop by the door.
First there was silence. Then more silence. He could vaguely hear Ryoga's voice, low and murmuring, but he couldn't quite make out what he was saying.
A couple of minutes later, however, it was quite easy to make out Ukyo's voice.
"YOU JERK! YOU JACKASS! YOU STUPID, DIRECTIONLESS— YOU JERK!"
There was a loud crash, then. As one person, the three guests stared at the door as they carefully sidled away from it.
"HOW COULD YOU—?"
"UKYO! P-PLEASE! PLEASE LET ME EXPLAIN!"
Then it went quieter, and Ranma could only hear Ryoga's voice, frantically talking in a desperate whisper.
Ukyo was angry. Ukyo was very, very angry. Not only had she just found out something quite shocking about Ryoga, but he also had the nerve to clap a hand over her mouth and grab her wrists so she couldn't hit him or break any more things and even worse, so she couldn't scold him with an hour-long lecture like she wanted to.
And she couldn't get loose, either; he was holding her just the tiniest bit off of the floor so she couldn't get a foothold.
"Please," he pleaded her in a stuttering whisper against her cheek, "p-please, I'm so sorry that I didn't tell you, d-don't hate me, just…I didn't mean to, okay? Please don't s-scream anymore, I don't want anyone else to hear...!" If Akane heard this, for example, he was dead meat. Pork, specifically.
"Mmnnph!" Ukyo growled against his hand, trying in vain to bite his fingers off.
"I…I just realized it yesterday that you didn't know and that everything— everything would be ruined, and I accidentally blew up the roof with a giant Shi Shi Hokodan…!" He told her in a panic, simply saying the first thing that sprung to mind. She was bucking against him, trying to elbow his stomach and knee his thigh, and nothing he said seemed to calm her down. "I felt so a-awful— things had seemed to go so well for once and— and, and then I realized you w-would never want to see me again!"
Ukyo gasped, her anger coming to a screeching halt. Ryoga had been forced to release a Shi Shi Hokodan…because of her? Because he thought she might reject him if she knew about his curse…?
Ryoga halted as well when he felt her go still in his arms, her shoulders sagging. "Can I let you go now?" He asked apprehensively, and felt her nod against his hand. Removing his hand from her mouth, he heard her sigh; he released her wrists and set her down gently on the floor.
Ukyo turned to face him, an indecipherable expression on her face. "…so, that's why there's a gaping hole in the roof?" She asked quietly.
Ryoga just nodded.
"Not seeing me again would make you that depressed?" Her gaze looked softer now, and he swallowed hard.
"Y-y-yes…maybe…" He looked down, twisting his fingers. Whatever it was that they had, it was very new and raw, and even if he'd had any idea what he felt about it, he wouldn't have wanted to admit to anything. Especially not when he didn't know what was going on in her head, either, and especially not when he'd just revealed his darkest, deepest secret to her. "I'm…I'm so sorry I had to do this, with the…I'm sorry I held my hand over your mouth…" He bowed his head humbly to her.
"No worries," Ukyo said, trying to meet his evasive gaze. "Just teach me how to get out of a hold like that and we're even."
Ryoga looked up, puzzled; his heart leapt at what she saw in her eyes. She actually seemed to be forgiving him…!
"Sorry about your bathroom cabinet," Ukyo whispered. They both looked down to where the poor cabinet lay, splintered pieces of wood scattered on the floor with old toothbrushes, half-empty tubes of toothpaste, hairbrushes, shampoo and a shattered bottle of cologne.
Ryoga shook his head solemnly. "You had every right to be angry,"
Ukyo grinned. "Looks like we've both done some material damage, huh?"
Ryoga sighed. "What else is new?"
"Don't think you're off the hook, though, jackass." Ukyo poked a finger into his chest. "We'll talk about all this later."
What was going on? Ranma glanced at Akane and Kasumi to see what they thought about it, and was puzzled to see them sharing some kind of amused, secret look of feminine understanding.
"What's going on?" He whispered curiously. Kasumi merely smiled mildly at him and handed him a cup of tea.
Fine. If they were going to be that way…! Ranma sulked as he drank his tea.
When they finally came out again, Ukyo was looking embarrassed but happy, and Ryoga was wearing the most sheepish grin Ranma had ever seen.
"Um, sorry about that," Ryoga said, bowing a little to his guests.
"Don't worry about it," Akane said dismissively, smiling.
"Tea?" Kasumi asked.
"Yes, please!" Ukyo sounded almost giddy.
"L-let's sit in the living room," Ryoga suggested, attempting to play the gracious host.
"If anybody wants any okonomiyaki, there's plenty for everybody," Ukyo offered, holding up the box she'd brought. Ryoga raised his eyebrows as he looked at the giant box of okonomiyaki; he felt very touched that she'd even bothered to bring him lunch, but it looked as if there was enough food for an entire old-fashioned, big family of three generations living under the same roof.
Ukyo, noticing his baffled look, blushed hotly. "I…I guess I went a little overboard." She mumbled, embarrassed; she hadn't cooked for someone that wasn't a customer in a long while, so she'd probably put a little too much effort into it. But she'd also seen what his lunch had been the last few days and definitely thought he needed to eat more.
"No problem," Ryoga gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile as they gathered the food and some plates, cups and chopsticks to carry them into the living room.
The soft, yet calculating looks Akane was giving Ranma as they ate were making Ranma feel uneasy.
Women always got ideas into their heads around new couples, didn't they?
After dinner, the girls chatted in the living room while Ranma dragged Ryoga into the garden in a friendly headlock for a little chat of their own.
Ranma wasted no time cutting to the chase.
"So…you and Ucchan, huh?" Ryoga had never seen Ranma grin quite that wide or leer quite that much.
Ryoga groaned. "Don't start."
Ranma nudged him. "But it's true, ain't it?"
Ryoga sighed wearily. "I don't know, we don't really…I have no idea what's going on. So don't ask."
Ranma was suddenly looking a little angry. "You do like her, don't you?"
Surprised, Ryoga took a step back. "O-of course I do, otherwise I wouldn't have kissed her! What do you mean?"
"What I mean is I'm not havin' any of you playin' 'round with Ucchan if you're still hung up on Akane or something—"
"I'm not!" Ryoga objected fiercely.
"—'cause I ain't gonna think it's funny if she gets hurt again! And I'm here to tell you—"Ranma stopped, bewildered. "Wait, you actually have kissed her? When?"
The blush seemed to appear instantly on his face, from zero to 300 m/h like a race car. He hadn't even noticed that he'd said it! "I, I…none of your business!"
The leer was back. "Heeey! So that's what you were doing in the bathroom! Wasn't it?"
"NO!" Ryoga yelled, trembling with embarrassment. "Don't be stupid! We…we kissed yesterday, okay?"
Ranma laughed out loud. "I can't believe P-chan got to kiss a girl before me!" Shampoo had kissed him, and it had beenwithout his consent, so that didn't count, and out of the two kisses he'd had with Akane, one had been with his mouth taped over and the other he couldn't even remember because he'd been under the influence of the Neko-ken, and Mikado— well, that one he was still trying to repress, as the memory made him want to throw up. Or break something and then throw up.
Ryoga glared at him.
"Makes me think we're gonna see flying pigs soon— which we will see if you don't treat Ucchan right, by the way!" Ranma went on. "But you should worry more about her than me if you mess up!"
"I have no intentions of messing it up." Ryoga said coldly.
"Okay." Ranma grinned, deciding to leave it alone for now. "So what do you guys do together, anyway? Except sucking each other's face, I mean."
Ryoga glowered at him, his fists clenching. "I've been teaching Ukyo how to fight without weapons." He said in a tight voice, refusing to get angry again.
"Really?" Ranma's eyebrows shot up as he became immediately interested. He obviously hadn't expected that answer. "I've always thought she could use some of that. How is she coming along?"
Ryoga began to calm down again as he recognized Ranma's attempt at friendliness for what it was, and sat down on the engawa. "Well, I noticed right off that she was fast and agile enough, but that her endurance and physical strength weren't quite up to it…"
Ranma sat down next to Ryoga, going into martial arts mode; now this was a topic he never got tired of. "Yeah, I can see that. So what did you do about it?"
"Basically I started her on the same training I did when I wanted to develop my strength further in the last year of junior high school…"
"What, you have her get lost in the woods and pull up trees by their roots or something?"
Ryoga's eyes narrowed as he was beginning to get angry again; it was just like Ranma to say something like that when they'd almost been having a civilized conversation. Ryoga was getting tempted to just get up and shut his mouth with his fist— Hey, wait…! Ryoga frowned as he realized he now had the upper hand over Ranma in one quite important area, so he didn't actually have to use violence this time; he could just make Ranma embarrassed instead. The question was, though, should he really be gloating about such a thing?
Hell, yes!
"Shut up." Ryoga said, smirking mercilessly. "You haven't even kissed a girl."
"H-hey!"
Kasumi smiled at Ukyo as she poured another cup of tea for her. "I hope we're not intruding on you and Ryoga…?" She asked politely.
Ukyo looked down, her hands clasped tightly in her lap. "N-no…by all means…"
Akane leaned forward in a companionable manner. "Listen, Ukyo, I'm so sorry for what Ranma did on the train. I mean, trying to make you kiss in public like that…!"
"Th-that's okay…" Ukyo mumbled evasively, her cheeks blazing as she remembered how much more of a big deal their actual public display of a kiss had become yesterday. A quick, innocent smooch on a train would probably have been less embarrassing than getting caught rolling around on Ryoga's neighbour's lawn.
"I tried to tell him that you might not have…um, I mean, we don't really know anything about your relationship, do we? So we shouldn't be trying to butt in!"
Isn't that what you're doing right now? Ukyo thought irritably, but felt a little guilty when she saw how genuinely bad Akane was feeling about the awkward situation Ranma had caused her and Ryoga.
"Because, um…we didn't know if…uh…" Akane fidgeted a little, trying to find the appropriate words, before she decided just to be straight about it. "Well, I'm wondering…had you and Ryoga already kissed then?"
Ukyo felt a twitch go through her entire body; she stared at Akane. "Wh-what? No!"
"Oh," Akane sat back demurely. "Then I really have to apologize. You know how insensitive Ranma can be about these things."
"It's such a pity," Kasumi went on cheerfully. "Ryoga is such a sweet, polite, young man, but he really is very shy, isn't he?" She gave Ukyo a look of good-natured sympathy. "I think you might have to take the initiative there, Ukyo."
Suddenly, Ukyo was starting to feel a little annoyed. She knew that Kasumi meant well, but the look she was giving her now was almost as if she was feeling sorry for her or something for not having progressed any further, and who was she to talk? Dr. Tofu was way worse than Ryoga when it came to girls, and he was older, too! Shouldn't he have gotten past that by now? Ukyo seriously doubted that Dr. Tofu had ever managed to kiss Kasumi, yet there was something about Kasumi's motherly expression that was making her feel rather young and foolish.
"Yes, it's true," Akane giggled a little. "He's so nervous around girls!"
Okay, that did it. Everything they were saying was kind of true, of course, but even so she got the sudden urge to defend Ryoga. What he'd done was very brave, really— kind of thoughtless, maybe, but brave; she wouldn't have dared to do it, anyway— and he deserved to get some credit for it! And what did she care if they knew?
"I don't have to take the initiative because he's already done it for me!" Ukyo blurted as she stood up abruptly from the couch.
Akane's eyes went as wide as saucers. "What?"
"Yes! That's right!" Ukyo went on carelessly. "Ryoga kissed me!" She said, pointing to her chest for emphasis.
"Oh my…" Kasumi gasped.
"B-but I thought you said you had never k-kissed…?" Akane stammered; to hear such things about people she knew always shocked her just the little tiniest bit because she was so inexperienced herself, and it was strange to think that her friends that were the same age as her might be doing all sorts of things…and it made her envious, since Ranma hadn't really made a move in the almost two years they'd been engaged. If even Ryoga managed to do it, why couldn't he?
And it was too bad that Ranma wasn't more forward, she thought miserably, because she herself was too scared to take the initiative with him…
"That was then, this is now! He kissed me yesterday and that's the end of that, okay?" Ukyo almost added a triumphant "So there!" but she figured there should be some kind of very definite limit to how immature she allowed herself to get, and she felt she had already begun to use up her quota for the day.
"Oh my…" Kasumi repeated, starting to look impressed. Both sisters were silent for a moment as they looked in the direction of the garden, where they knew Ryoga was at that moment.
Ukyo felt an irrational burst of pride as they were left momentarily speechless. Maybe they'd look at Ryoga a bit differently from now on, she thought smugly— not too differently, though, she added to herself, or things might get violent.
And then she blushed as she realized she'd just had a decidedly possessive thought about Ryoga; she felt a bit uncomfortable over the fact that she was capable of jealousy when it came to him, but she decided to forget about it for now and file away the thought for future reference. It was easy to forget it, too, because Akane's next question made Ukyo's face redden so hotly that she thought for a moment it would explode.
"How was it?"
Oh, gods, now they wanted details? Okay, so she could understand that Akane would be curious since she and Ranma had never kissed before, but…had they no shame? Couldn't they see she wasn't ready to talk about it like that? It had happened only yesterday, for goodness' sake!
Ukyo groaned as she hid her face in her hands, shaking her head. Well, they could forget about details, she thought, fervently hoping that Ryoga wasn't telling Ranma anything she would have to kill him for later.
When Ranma, Akane and Kasumi had finished torturing them and left to go on their shopping rounds and Ryoga and Ukyo had tidied up the dirty dishes, the house seemed suddenly very big and quiet.
They were alone again.
"Um, so…" Ryoga began reluctantly as he finished wiping off the last plate with a dish towel. "I guess you want to talk about...about what I told you earlier?"
"Actually?" Ukyo sent him a disarming little smile. "I think I'd like us to do some training first. Kinda clears the mind, you know?"
Ryoga blinked; he'd forgotten all about training. "Training? Now? I…I don't know, maybe we should—"
He didn't even get to finish the sentence before Ukyo was in his face, her expression telling him that somehow, he'd just provoked the hell out of her about something.
"Oh-ho! I see!" She sneered sarcastically. "You're gonna start treating me like some sort of helpless little girly-girl now just because we've kissed, aren't you?"
"What? No, I—"
She crossed her arms firmly over her chest, scowling. "If I have to start dressing like a boy again for you to take me seriously, I will, you know!" She warned.
Ryoga put up his hands in a placating manner, completely disoriented. What was she suddenly being like that for now? What did he do? "There's no need to— listen, Ukyo, why would you—"
"Or maybe we'll just never kiss ever again, how does that sound?" She went on mercilessly.
"What…?" His face fell, and his arms dropped to his sides. Again. It had happened again. No matter how many times Ranma had dressed up like girls and tricked him into thinking that he was wanted, that someone cared, and no matter how many times he'd let himself believe that Akane was interested in him, only to be disappointed, he had still believed Ukyo yesterday and today, no matter how many times he'd been fooled in the past.
Somewhere, some kind of deity had to be laughing at him.
"You really…you never w-wanted to kiss me in the first place…" He said in this small, broken voice, utterly painful to listen to. "Did you?" It had taken a lot out of him to even dare to do it in the first place, and he couldn't bear it if it turned out that she hadn't even liked it, if she'd just pretended. Or maybe even worse, if she had liked it, but taunted him by refusing him to ever do it again, just to be cruel.
Ukyo blinked; he looked, suddenly, like a small boy that somebody had stolen a bag of candy from, total shock and disappointment shining in his eyes. Okay, so maybe it hadn't been very mature of her to make a threat like that. What, was she supposed to act as if she wielded some sort of power over him now?
Well, judging by the look on his face, she did, but it was up to her if she wanted to abuse it, and quite acutely, she knew that she really, really shouldn't. And she really, really shouldn't try to trick him into thinking that she didn't care whether they ever kissed again or not, either, because she did.
She had the newly acquired ability to make or break this boy, and to be honest, it scared her; she got the feeling, now, that that was a big part of why she'd just said all those silly things. It was so much easier to just be angry than to have to actually deal with this thing with Ryoga. It had just been a little too much, too soon for her; it had been emotionally overwhelming. It took so little to hurt him, and she wasn't exactly the most sensitive or most patient of girls…but she really wasn't a quitter, either.
"Ryoga," She sighed, trying to be patient; she'd been so stupid. "If I really didn't want to kiss you, don't you think I would have stopped you? And do you really think I would have taken the initiative to kiss you again if I didn't want to?"
"Oh…uh…well…" Ryoga suddenly felt at a loss for words.
"Ryoga…" Ukyo said kindly as she went over to him, "Please forget every single stupid little thing I just said earlier about dressing up like a boy and never kissing again, okay?" She told him, looking imploringly into his eyes. When he finally nodded hesitantly, she smiled, grasping his face with both hands and bringing their lips together. This was a whole other experience than yesterday; this was all hot and melty and slow, slow, slow…and he was clinging to her like a lifeline; she could practically feel the relief and joy radiating from his body, pouring into hers and surrounding them both. And it felt as good as it felt frightening, the fact that she could make him feel like that.
Okay, so maybe she did want to kiss me, after all, Ryoga thought, feeling a little silly. Maybe he'd gotten himself hurt a lot over the years by letting himself get carried away by his own emotions, but he realized now that it could go both ways. He could also risk missing out on something good, he thought, as he grasped her hand, weaving their fingers together.
Even though he was still reeling from having told her his darkest, deepest secret today and even though they'd just basically had a fight, Ryoga felt like they had all the time in the world, suddenly, and the kiss became long, long and longer, nice and savoury, but impossibly slow and tender; more than yesterday, it felt like they were connecting, sinking into each other…and her hand was touching the small of his back, under his shirt, against his bare skin; she hadn't done that yesterday, either…
He felt her shift closer to him and make an appreciative little sound when he dared to let his fingers slip under her top to rest on her hip, but then she broke the kiss off with a soft little pop. Ryoga stared at her, dazed. What now?
"Now," Ukyo said firmly, pushing him gently away. "Tell me why you didn't want to train with me."
Ryoga raised both eyebrows, looking confused. "Um…I do want to train with you. I just thought we should wait half an hour or something since we've just had enough okonomiyaki to feed an army."
When his words started to sink in, Ukyo's eyebrows skyrocketed, an expression of complete incredulity on her face. "That's what you were gonna say?"
"Yes!" Ryoga insisted.
Ukyo stood completely still for a moment, just staring at him as her face went gradually redder and redder. She suddenly felt very, very small and stupid. "Why did you let me go on and on about— why didn't you stop me?" She complained as her mind finally snapped back into action.
"I tried! You wouldn't listen!" He blurted.
"Oh, this is just perfect…" Ukyo groaned as she hid her blazing face in her hands. "I'm sorry…" She mumbled, her voice muffled by her hands.
Ryoga leaned down towards her face, peering at her worriedly. "Are you okay? Do you want a glass of water or something?"
Ukyo let out a sound somewhere between a laugh and a squelched sob. "Jeez, no, I'm okay…I'm okay…!"
"Do you still want to train later?"
"You know what?" Ukyo sighed as she dropped her hands from her face, looking up at him. "Maybe I'd better not." She laughed weakly. "At the rate I'm going, I'll probably do something really intelligent like trip over my own feet."
"If you say so." Ryoga shrugged. "Um…let's go sit in the garden for a while, okay?"
"Okay…" Ukyo sighed again, holding a hand to her still hot forehead as she followed him.
The garden was, like all the gardens in the neighbourhood, quite small, but nice. It had an ornate stone lantern in the corner under a small tree on the lawn, and there was a small gravel path. With the lack of any lawn chairs, they'd simply settled down right on the tiny lawn.
It was very hot outside, so they simply sat listening to the crickets chirping for a while, eating some Popsicles that Ryoga had found in the freezer the other day. He didn't remember buying any— things like that always melted before he ever managed to get them home— so it must've been either his mom or dad, but how they'd managed to get them here either was a mystery to him. For all he knew, they could be poisoned Popsicles left by robbers. He'd take his chances, though.
Again, it was Ryoga who felt he needed to start up the conversation. "So, um…about P-chan… y-you don't hate me, right?" He smiled feebly at her, fiddling with the Popsicle stick once the Popsicle was eaten.
She shook her head, her only concession to his attempt at a joke a small twitch at the corners of her mouth. "No, but I gotta admit I'm pretty spun by all this."
Somehow he got the feeling she wasn't just talking about his curse. "…by what, specifically?"
"Well, you know…" She shrugged, picking at a thread on her shorts. "This was all very sudden, wasn't it?" It really was, and she'd had so little time to sort it out by herself before she had to deal with other people, like Akane and Kasumi practically interrogating her. Maybe getting to know what he thought would make it easier for her to figure out her own feelings. She really hoped so, anyway.
Once more, Ryoga felt a small stab of fear that she was about to decide she didn't want this after all, whatever this was. He knew he couldn't ask for some sort of definite answer, either, because he didn't know what was going on between them any better than she did.
"Don't you think so?" She asked hesitantly, peeking up at him under her bangs.
"If…if you mean to ask if I'm confused…then yeah, I am." He looked down at her hands, following their movements as they nervously started pulling up the blades of grass near her side one by one. That couldn't bode well, could it? Then again, what did he know about girls? Were they supposed to be nervous when they liked someone or when they didn't like someone?
"Me too…" Ukyo agreed, playing with the soggy Popsicle stick, bending it back and forth; when it suddenly snapped, she jumped just a little, as if she hadn't even been aware that she'd been doing it. "Look," she went on, focusing on his face again, "I don't really know what's going on here, you know, but maybe that's not even the question…" She trailed off thoughtfully. Maybe she was just going at this from the wrong angle? It had to be less complicated than it felt, right?
"Wh-what do you mean?"
"Maybe the question isn't what we're doing or what's going to happen…maybe we should just ask ourselves…" She paused, meeting his gaze. "…do you like it?"
"Like it…?" Ryoga gave her a puzzled look; what exactly was she referring to?
"I don't know…do you like it when we're training?" She suggested, "And do you like, you know, this? Us just being together?" She asked, gesturing between them.
There were a lot of things she liked about spending time with him, but she was completely fumbling in the dark when it came to relating to a boy who actually reciprocated her feelings; it made her so confused, so full of tension and self-consciousness.
Dealing with Ranchan had mostly been a breeze, because all she had to do to show him affection, she felt, was to cook for him, and she could do that with a hand tied behind her back while wearing a blindfold; that was easy! Dealing with Ryoga, though, who was nervous around her and looked at her like he wanted to touch her but didn't dare to, well…that wasn't easy at all. She just felt so painfully young, so inexperienced, and she was; if she'd even freaked out just because Ranma had called her cute that one time, what didn't it do her when Ryoga actually went and confessed things like the fact that the thought of looking dishonourable in her eyes made him so depressed he actually blasted away parts of his own roof?
"Y-yes…" He admitted shyly, trying not to seem too eager but not too uninterested, either, which was hard.
"And this…?" She leaned forward, pressing their lips somewhat chastely together, lingering for a while but not trying to deepen the kiss.
Ryoga licked his lips when she leaned back on her haunches, looking at him. Her lips had been a little cool to the touch, but also soft and moist, and she'd tasted like pineapple-flavoured Popsicle.
"Yes…" He decided; yes, he definitely liked that part, he thought as he stared at her lips, appealingly red and puffy from the cold Popsicle and the kiss. Not quite consciously, he reached out and ran a hand through her long, soft hair, falling in thick locks around her face. When he brushed her hair off of her bare shoulders, he noticed that her skin had begun to freckle because of the days they'd spent training together in the sun; shyly, he dropped his hand to his side again.
"Strawberry flavour?" She asked idly, smiling somewhat dreamily at him. She probably shouldn't be mixing kisses into what should be a serious discussion— she shouldn't be doing things that might sway him or herself to just jump into this without thinking properly about it first— but jeez, he was sitting there, all deep brown eyes and broad shoulders and dark hair and wet lips, squinting against the bright sunlight, smelling of earth and sun and strawberry popsicle, his body language giving her vibes as if he thought she was actually attractive—
"Strawberry." He agreed in a faraway voice, feeling oddly weak; he still wasn't quite used to the whole kissing thing. The sudden reality of having someone who was not just willing but even seemed eager to kiss him was something that it was sort of hard for him to believe. He'd been lonely for so long that he'd almost been on his way to simply accepting that loneliness was the natural state of his life— but then she had, much to his own shock and surprise, accepted his impulsive advances and now there they were, kissing on the grass of his sunny garden during summer break, holding popsicle sticks as if they were taken right out of some sort of idyllic postcard; and he should know, he'd seen too many of those sugary sweet postcards on his lonesome travels. It seemed too good, all of a sudden, and he almost feared that he was just about to wake up to find it was all a dream.
"But what we did just now was just the easy part of an actual relationship." Ukyo grinned apologetically, as if she was responsible for this unfortunate state of the world.
He halted, looking at her searchingly.
"I mean…" She frowned at her feet, toes curling into the grass. "I have school and I always work so much and you're almost never around, anyway…so if we even considered, you know, trying to make something out of this…how would we do it?"
Ryoga stared at her, heart thumping just a little too hard. He was flabbergasted; here they went from sharing a few kisses to her admitting she might actually be thinking of giving them a chance to…? Did she actually want to be his…?
"I don't know, I-I've never…I've never actually been in a r-relationship before," He stuttered. He thought himself to be such a hopeless case that he really hadn't expected her to even consider him as boyfriend material, he really hadn't hoped that she would look at him that way; kissing was one thing, this was something completely different. He'd been aware that there had always been a sort of weird energy between them, manifesting itself in fights and shouting matches and insults, but it had never occurred to him that it might one day turn into something like this and that she would be sitting here, at his house, telling him—
"Me, neither…" Ukyo sighed. "Well, you could start by telling me more about your curse…and just you in general, I guess." She tilted her head at him curiously. "I mean, we don't actually know that much about each other, do we?"
"No…" Ryoga drew a breath. "We don't, do we?"
"Okay, so, um…do you want to start? Is there anything you want to know about me…?"
He thought for a while, trying to gather his wits, before he remembered something. "Is your favourite colour really red?"
She shrugged. "Yeah."
"Good," He seemed pleased. "So is mine."
She raised her eyebrows in surprise; now she knew why he'd given her that little nod of approval on the train when he'd asked her about her favourite colour.
"What's your favourite ice cream flavour?" She asked quickly.
"Macha." He said, and jumped a little when she squealed in delight.
"That's mine, too!"
"Oh?" He looked bewildered, yet pleased again.
"This is kind of stupid, though, isn't it?" Ukyo laughed just a little then, feeling self-conscious. "I mean, we're seventeen, not five."
"Sorry…" He cleared his throat, trying to look serious. She was right; you didn't build a relationship on trivial stuff like favourite ice cream flavours when you were supposed to be an adult.
What are we doing, Ukyo thought, playing a silly game of do-we-match? She almost felt like they were back on the train, playing Truth or Dare. Still, she didn't know much about relationships, but wasn't it normal to try to figure out stuff about each other at this point? People didn't have to know every last little detail about each other before dating, did they? They didn't have to have been friends for a million years first, did they?
Still, from what she'd overheard from the girls at school, you were at least supposed to wait to kiss the guy until you'd been on a couple of dates, didn't you? Then again, she supposed there were no rules as to what order you had to do things in; how two people worked things out between them were their own business, right?
Besides, she'd been in an arranged engagement since she was six. Anything was normal after that.
Wait— she was still engaged, wasn't she?
They sat in silence once again as they tried to come up with questions that would actually spark some sort of meaningful conversation. After a while, Ukyo slipped her hand over his on the grass, absentmindedly playing with his thumb, and it suddenly dawned on him that while things were still very uncertain between them, there was just enough intimacy and friendship between them now for him to attempt to ask some of the questions he'd wanted to ask on the train during the game.
He'd have to start out small, though; he certainly wasn't going to spring the question about her experiences with cross-dressing on her before he knew she wasn't going to get upset; not when things were as fragile as they were.
Reaching a decision, he cleared his throat to get her attention."Ukyo?"
"Hmm?" She made an absentminded sound in her throat as she seemed to find the nail of his thumb immensely fascinating.
"Do you think…?" He began, fidgeting a little as he realized he hadn't really worked out beforehand how to ask her this. "I mean, would it be okay if we…um, I dunno, went to have some coffee together or something?"
Ukyo halted, blinking at him in astonishment, utterly surprised at his initiative. "A-are you asking me out on a date?"
"Well, uh…yes. I…I mean, if it's okay with you…" As Ryoga nodded in affirmation, she blushed despite herself. It might be stupid to be shy about this after what they'd been doing, but nobody had ever asked her out on a date before except Tsubasa— and he didn't count, she decided firmly, because she was pretty sure he was only interested in her because of the whole 'my fellow cross-dresser' thing and because he loved a challenge. Ryoga, on the other hand…good gods, was she really being asked out on a date by someone she actually liked?
When she didn't answer right away, Ryoga went on nervously, desperate to explain himself, to just keep on adding words and adding words until she was swayed. Because she had to say yes, didn't she? Didn't she? "I mean…um, isn't that what people do when they want to know stuff about the other person? When they want to figure out, you know…if they're c-compatible or not?"
Finally Ukyo seemed to tumble out of her shock, and she smiled coyly at him. "Okay, I'll go out with you." She accepted, feeling oddly giddy as she saw the relief and elation lighting up his eyes like fireworks at her positive answer.
Ryoga immediately brightened, letting out an excited breath. "Y-you will?"
Ukyo nodded. "I will if you promise to tell me more about your curse."
Ryoga halted; did that mean that she might decide not to date him if she heard something she didn't like out of what he told her? Then again, what choice did he have? It wasn't as if she was just going to forget about it, and besides, she deserved to know these things if she was even considering dating him.
Ryoga let out a heavy sigh. "In that case we'd better make some tea or something. This is gonna take a while."
Ukyo hid her giggle behind her hand, following him into the kitchen.
"There's only one problem about that date, though…" Ukyo began, causing him to turn around.
"Wh-what?" Ryoga gulped as he caught her dead-serious expression. Was she having second thoughts? She was having second thoughts, wasn't she? It was the curse, wasn't it? She hated him because of P-chan after all, didn't she?
"I'm still engaged," she said, and the words struck his mind like lightening; the Popsicle stick made a pathetic plunking noise as it dropped to the floor out of his now weakened grasp.
"Ukyo…" In his mind he could see her slipping away; his heart was tumbling, no falling, no hurling like a comet to end its days as a splotch mark down in his feet, and the pain was—
"… should go talk to Ranchan and end the engagement before we go out." Ukyo went on, and he hadn't caught the beginning of the sentence, because like on the train, he'd gone momentarily deaf with shock, but now he felt a jolt in his body as his heart skyrocketed upwards again, as his mind thawed itself when he heard some of the sweetest words ever spoken.
Ukyo was going to end her engagement with Ranma.
"…because otherwise it would almost be like cheating in a way, wouldn't it?" Ukyo said, her cheeks reddening. "Although…" she ventured thoughtfully,"…I suppose that technically I already cheated on him when…wh-when we kissed…" She pointed out shyly.
She really was, Ryoga thought dizzily, she really was going to end her engagement with Ranma! And because of him, too! It was unbelievable to say the least.
"Either way, I think it's for the best, don't you?" She looked up at him with big, bright, hopeful eyes and he could've kissed her right then, but it looked like she was waiting for an answer.
Why she even had to ask was beyond him. "Y-yes," he said, somewhat hoarsely but with great determination, nodding his head vigorously. "Yes, I think it would be for the best."
"Okay, then," Ukyo gave him a contented smile. "Now where's that tea you promised me?"
They had tea again, and Ukyo got the reluctant, yet lengthy tale of what it was like to live with the Eitonnichuan curse. Much to Ryoga's surprise, it didn't change her mind about dating him.
So the next day, as promised, Ukyo ended her engagement with a more than willing Ranma and went on a date with Ryoga, who still couldn't quite believe his luck.
Later, Ryoga taught Ukyo how to get out of the hold he'd used on her in the bathroom.
THE END (again).
Author's note: So I did it. I just couldn't let it end with chapter three after all, so I planned an epilogue, but now I'm planning an epilogue for chapter four. These things happen, I guess. I was going to finish chapter three of Between this weekend, but lost inspiration and suddenly ended up finishing chapter four of The Exit instead. I'm sure nobody's disappointed. I haven't updated The Exit since November.
I know. There's probably too much smooching again, but seriously…all I know is that when you're seventeen, once you first kiss the person you're attracted to and gradually fall in love with, it's pretty much all you want to do. Well, that and other things, but this isn't a lime.
Anyway, my point is that in addition to that, Ryoga and Ukyo were both first-time kissers, and so it's only natural for them to want to explore.
Mmm, Ryoga/Ukyo kissy face summer goodness…makes you long for spring, doesn't it? Jeez, I just realized I've written a summer vacation romance! Groan. Oh well, it only counts as cheesy if the relationship doesn't last past the summer, right?
I take back what I said in the A/N in chapter three; I just remembered that I did have Ukyo and Ryoga kiss in my short Ry/Uk story Stillness in Time.
I guess I forgot about it because it's just an old one-shot.
Epilogue coming up, too! Waaaaait for it!