A Lesson in Love
Chapter XIV: Lost Causes
By Marisa Price
(Copyright to Marisa Price, 1996, All Rights Reserved)
mdp102@york.ac.uk

This part is dedicated to:
Christopher Willmore ^oo^ buki! buki!
^_-

PART II

"She's so nice!" Akari commented.
	Ryouga nodded, his head spinning, thinking that Ukyou
was ANYTHING but happy. Ryouga managed to stand, and looked down
at the adorable girl in front of him. He had forgotten how cute
she was.
	Akari, as if on cue, smiled up at him and stood on her
tiptoes to give him a kiss. She said, softly, "I missed you so
much! Why didn't you CALL if you had found your way back to
civilization?"
	"I, um, l...lost the number," he lied lamely, trying to
buy himself time.
	A few loud bangs came from the kitchen.
	Ryouga sat Akari down at the table, and she looked up at
him, finally noticing his mood and wondering what was wrong.
	"Ryouga-sama? Is there something wrong?"
	Ryouga sighed for the fiftieth time that day and sat down
next to Akari, taking her hands in his.
	He finally managed to say, "Akari. I didn't get lost.
Well," he amended, "Actually, I DID get lost, but only after 
leaving your house purposefully."
	She stared at him blankly, and then said, "You mean..?"
	Ryouga nodded and added, "I just needed some time to 
think; you see, there was this girl that I had a crush on for a
long time, and I felt like I needed to tell her how I felt."
	Akari's eyes melted, and she hugged him, saying, "Oh,
Ryouga-sama. I KNEW how you felt about Akane, you thought you
were in love with her. But... you DO know that she and Ranma-kun
belong together now, don't you?"
	Ryouga stared at her and gulped, about to tell her that
he WASN'T talking about Akane, when suddenly Ukyou stormed back
into the room. She was dressed in her male cooking outfit, 
and slammed down two okonomiyaki on the table in front of them.
	She said, with a wicked grin, "Enjoy. -I- am going to 
bed."
	Ryouga grimaced, and looked down at the okonomiyaki. She
had drawn little pigs with hearts and the words "Akari and Ryouga"
all over them. He mentally groaned, but started to eat
it anyway.
	Akari also took a small bite and commented again, "Gee,
your boss is SO nice!" Then she realized.
	With a tiny scream Akari dropped the okonomiyaki down on
the table and said, "Ryouga, don't eat it!!!"
	Ryouga had just polished his off and looked at Akari in
surprise, asking, "Why?! What's wrong!"
	Akari looked horrified, and she was pale. She said,
quietly, "It was PORK okonomiyaki."
	Ryouga suddenly felt a bit sick, and then had a sudden,
irrepressible urge to burst out laughing.
	Point to Ukyou, he thought.
	Ryouga looked at her and said, "Oh... Well... I guess 
it's too late now..."
	Akari shuddered and asked, "But... don't you feel like 
you...."
	He interrupted and said, "Well, I ate pork before I 
became a pig, and I suppose I can still eat it. It doesn't bother
me much as long as it's not ME that's being..."
	Akari put her hand over his mouth and said, horrified,
"Don't even SAY it!!"
	Ryouga again suppressed an urge to laugh, she looked so
upset.
	"Akari," Ryouga said, taking her hand off of his mouth,
"We need to talk."
	She finally tapped down her bile, and nodded. Ryouga
took her out to the front porch, Katsunnishiki tagging along
behind. They sat down, and Ryouga looked up at the waning
crescent moon. He almost flinched as she leaned her head on his
shoulder and whispered, "Oh Ryouga, I missed you so much..."

*****

	Ukyou looked down at them and tried not to cry. Here she
had thought that she and Ryouga had been building up to something
together, and then this little hussy comes along and says that
she is his fiancee.
	She stiffened as she realized that she must feel like
Akane did when first Shampoo and then Ukyou had burst into her
life, claiming to be Ranma's fiancees.
	She wondered though. Unlike Shampoo or herself with
Ranma, this girl actually seemed to have received Ryouga's 
affections in return.
	But, if he did care for Akari, why was he living at HER
house? Why was he going to kiss HER? WAS he going to kiss her,
or was she just misinterpreting?
	Ukyou thought back to the scene at the table earlier and
shook her head. No, she definitely HADN'T been imagining things.
	Which meant that Ryouga was a two-timer.
	What a baka, hentai, JERK!
	She pulled the curtains closed and sat down on the bed,
vowing to throw him out on his arse as soon as possible.

*****

	Ryouga knew he had to make a decision: here, now,
immediately.
	He thought about how he had felt living with Akari, and
tried to sort out his feelings for her. He was attracted to her,
and she was a sweet and wonderful girl; she would make a perfect
wife. But... He had been so much happier living in Nerima, with
Ukyou, even though her affections were hidden. He just felt a 
certain SPARK with Ukyou, a spark that Akari didn't summon.
	How to tell her?
	He slowly pulled away from Akari, and she sat up, her
eyes bright. She reached a hand up to touch his cheek and said,
sweetly, "You are so handsome in the moonlight..."
	"And you are beautiful... But, Akari..." he moved her
hand down from his face and continued, "I... I don't love you,
Akari. At least, not the way that I should. That's why I left."
	Her eyes filled with tears and she looked away, patting
the pig that slept at her side. She said, quietly, "I thought it
might be that, but I didn't want to believe it. It was because I
was so pushy about the training when you were there, right? You
aren't ready to settle down and learn how to train the pigs. I
should have known that... I know you need more time."
	"Akari," Ryouga said, frustrated, "It ISN'T about the 
pigs. Well, actually it is. I HATE pigs. I didn't like them much
before I became one, and now that I -AM- one I REALLY can't stand
them. And I DEFINITELY don't want to spend the rest of my life 
training sumo pigs!" He felt a bit cruel, and ammended with, "I'm
sorry...."
	Akari stiffened and then shouted, throwing her arms 
around him, "I'll give them up! I would give them up for YOU!"
	Ryouga held her for a minute, and then pushed her away
again, looking into her eyes and saying, "Akari. You can't do 
that. You SHOULDN'T do that! Martial arts are my life, and they
are your life too, except you train others and I train myself. I
wouldn't give that up for the world, and neither should you. Not
for me, not for -anyone-."
	She started to cry again and protested, "But!"
	He shook his head and reached down to lightly kiss her
forehead before saying, "Akari, you are so sweet and wonderful,
I really wish that we had more in common. But, as much as I LIKE
you, I just can't love you..."
	She asked, somberly, "And you don't think you ever could?
Not even with time?"
	"Akari..." Ryouga apologized, "I'm so sorry... But I'm
in love with someone else... And it isn't Akane."
	"Oh Ryouga-sama, no...!" she cried, and then pulled away
from him, standing up, and then ran away from the restaurant, her
pig close at her heels.
	Ryouga stood, wondering if he should go after her. He
turned and noticed that the light was still on in Ukyou's room,
and her shadow showed through the curtains. Suddenly he knew, he
knew that she loved him too. And he let Akari go.
	He managed to make it inside and bounded up the stairs by
twos, not even getting lost as he made it to her room. He didn't
get lost because he had finally found what he was looking for.
	Ryouga opened the door, not bothering to knock, and
walked into her room. She turned to look at him, and he could see
the pain in her eyes, the pain HE had caused.
	Ukyou said, dejectedly, "Well?"
	"Ukyou... I thought I was in love with her once. I was
with her during the time I disappeared. But... When I left her, I
had one reason for coming back to Nerima. And that reason was 
YOU. I finally figured out that I DIDN'T love Akari, my mistake
was not making that clear to her before I left." Ryouga looked at
Ukyou with intense eyes.
	She whispered, "And?"
	Ryouga gave her a wan smile, and said, "It's you I love.
Not her. I love you, Ukyou. She's gone."
	Suddenly Ukyou was in his arms, holding him tightly, as
if she never wanted to let him go. She looked up at him with
joyous eyes and said, "Oh Ryouga, you idiot. I love you too,
though god only knows why..."
	Ryouga smiled and teased, "It's because I am such a great
guy."
	"You're a pig," she giggled, sticking her tongue out at
him.
	He laughed and said, "Well, that too. But not for long."
	Ukyou smiled, and said "Well, somewhere along the way
I found I liked fangs and bandannas."
	Then she tweaked his nose and said, calmly, "Should I
pinch this for you?"
	Ryouga looked blank and asked, "Um, why?"
	She smiled at him and said, "Because I don't want you to
bleed all over me when I kiss you."
	Ryouga became intense suddenly, and pulled her toward
him, noting that they fit perfectly together, and looked into her
beautiful dark eyes.
	Softly he said, "I wouldn't worry about it."
	"Mmmm?" she asked, looking happily at him.
	He leaned down and kissed her, fumbling at first, but 
then gradually figured out what to do, and she pulled him down
to her bed, enjoying the sensations.
	A little while later, Ukyou reached her hand over and
turned out the light.


End of Chapter XIV

Note: This Also brings a close to the first part of _A Lesson
in Love_. Next part: China!

P.S. no they don't do "it"