Ukyou's Other Woman
by Trisha Sebastian
[insert standard disclaimer here]

Start Time: 12.06

        Sometimes I wonder if the fates were smiling on me that day.  I was
walking home from school alone, something my parents had taught me
never, ever to do.  But it was a beautiful day, and I decided to take the 
shortcut through the temple gardens.  After all, what harm could come to
me there?

        I was wrong, because I had just reached the middle when
I saw them.  They were some boys from the all-boys school just
down the street.  I recognized them immediately.  They were bullies,
plain and simple.  And they were after my brother because he tattled on them.  

        One day, they'd stopped by the house whem my parents weren't
home, to see if they could catch him off guard.  But I sure put a stop
to that.  A quick flick of the wrist, a leg extension and an arm lock sent them
scurrying away from me.  Now they were after me, too.

        Usually, I don't like to pick fights, but when it's family, there's
when 
I draw the line.  I also know my limits.  I can fight small groups, but the
group
that was laughing and kicking the cherry trees in the gardens was larger
than I could handle.  So naturally, I ran in the other direction.

        Unfortunately, one of them spied me.  It was Kaneda, the ringleader of
the little gang.  He shouted, and they all gave chase.  Normally, I could 
outrun them, but I twisted my ankle during the track meet last week, so
they caught up to me just as I had reached the temple wall.

        One of them grabbed my arm and yanked me back towards him.  I tried
to punch him in the gut with my other hand, but another goon
grabbed it and together, they pinned me to the wall.

        I had no leverage whatsoever, since they were so close to me.  I tried
to knee them in the groin, but they evaded the blows easily.  They laughed
in my face, the whole lot of them, before Kaneda finally spoke.

        "What have we here?" he sneered.  "A pretty girl like yourself all
alone?"
He tsked in a condescending manner.  "Didn't your parents ever teach you
not to walk alone from school?"

        "What do you want?" I spat in his face.  He recoiled and wiped the
spittle
from his cheek.  His eyes narrowed.  Kaneda grabbed my chin with one hand,
squeezing until tears blurred my vision.

        "What do I want?  I'll tell you want I want.  I want you to
apologize for
gettine me in so much trouble.  I want you to apologize for kicking me in
the head
last week.  And most of all, I want you to hurt, like you hurt me."  Kaneda
laughed
harshly and I flinched away from the sound.  He released my chin and gave me a
sharp slap in the face.

        "Get her boys," he commanded, eyes glittering.  One of the goons who 
was standing behind Kaneda replied, "With pleasure," as he advanced towards me.

        His name was Hikaru, and I'd kicked him in the shins, before kneeing me 
in the chest.  Something told me that was going to do the same to me.  I
braced for
the impact as his foot swung back--

        --and then he howled in pain, hopping around on his other leg.  He
fell to the
ground, and I saw that a small spatula was embedded in his calf.

        "I wouldn't do that if I were you," said a voice above me.  I looked up
and saw that a young boy was perched on the wall.  He was wearing the usual
school
uniform, but he'd added a bandolier of spatulas, and slung a larger spatula
on his
back.  His brown eyes were flat as he surveyed the scene.

        "Get out of here," Kaneda snarled.  "It's none of your business.  We
were
just having a little fun, weren't we sweetheart?"

        "In your dreams," I retorted, and I wriggled out of their grasp.  I
was about 
to run for the gate, when Kaneda grabbed my arm and put a hold on me.

        "You're staying here, kid, and you--" he pointed to the boy on the
wall, "are going
to butt out."

        The other boy sighed, and brushed his hair back from his shoulder. 
"I see I'm going to have to do this the hard way."  He leaped down from the
wall,
landing close to Kaneda.  With one deft movement, he unslung the large 
spatula and brought it down hard on Kaneda's arm.

        Kaneda howled and released me.  I backed into Kaneda and elbowed him
in the guts.  Turning, I lashed out and struck him with a forward kick.
Then I crouched
down and swept his legs out from under him.

        The goon squad had recovered by that time, and charged me.  The boy
took two
of them out with two swings of his spatula, while I punched one in the nose,
and another in the chest.  Then, he swung again, and knocked out the one I was
fighting.  Hikaru hobbled up to us, and yanking out the spatula in his leg,
he taunted the boy.

        He answered by throwing more of his smaller spatulas towards Hikaru,
pinning him to the wall by his clothes.  Then as he kicked a final goon in
the knees,
I lashed out and punched him in the back of the head.

        It was all over in a matter of seconds.  Above the groans of the felled
goons, I heard the other boy muttering about girls and how boys weren't
supposed to gang up on them.

        "Thanks for the help," I said, sticking out my hand to him.  "You fight
well for a boy.  My name is Megumi."  He looked at my hand, and then gave
me a strange look before shaking it tentatively.

        "I'm Ukyou," he said.

        I grinned up at him.  "So, you do this sort of thing often, saving
lives?"

        He grinned back.  "Not normally, no.  Are you okay?"

        "Sure, I'm fine," I said, taking in a deep breath through my teeth.

        He looked at me again, and said, "No, you're lying.  You've hurt
your ankle,
haven't you?  I can tell because of the way you're standing on it."

        "But I'm not," I protested.

        Ukyou smiled.  "See what I mean?  Let me help you home."

        And that's how my friendship with Kuonji Ukyou started.  He walked me
home, and explained to my parents how I hurt my ankle without mentioning
Kaneda and his goons.  We started talking that evening at supper when he
insisted
on preparing okonomiyaki for dessert.  We found out that we liked the same
sort of things, felt the same way about martial arts and we started training
together.  He explained about his fighting style while giving me pointers
on my own and we got along great.

        There's one thing that he never told me about, though, and that was why
he hated his own gender so much.  Everytime I talked about the stupid things
that the boys in my school did, his eyes would darken and he'd start muttering
about revenge and something about a wild horse.  Then, one day he disappeared.

        A week later, I got a letter from Ukyou.  It said that he was taking
a long 
trip out of town and that he was going to finally seek the peace he'd longed
for since he was six years old.  He said that he'd miss me, and that we'd
always be friends.  The postmark read Nerima, Tokyo.  My eyes watered
up, and I pounded my fist on my bedspread.  It was then that I realized
that I was in love with my best friend.

        There was only one thing left to do.  I finished my studies as quickly
as I could, and then packed my bags.  I kissed my parents goodbye,
ruffled my younger brother's hair and boarded the train for Nerima.

        I just hope Ukyou still remembers me.


End time 12.56


AUTHOR'S NOTES:

No, I'm not doing this to deliberately antagonize the Church of Ukyou.
I'm not sure if this really counts for the challenge, either, since this fic
was based on an idea I've had floating around in my brain for the last year
or so.  The title came first, then the scenario.  I could continue this
if I wanted to, but I'm not sure if I should.

C&C is requested, almost recommended.
Flames will be treated in an appropriate manner. <BBBBRRRZZZTTT!!!>


Foxtrot the Furryous, CBTFH, ret.