Disclaimer:  All characters portrayed in this story are the porperty of
Rumiko Takahashi and co.

This story takes place after volume 38 of the manga and also draws ideas
from the anime.

I Like Ucchan: Part 4

by

Donny Cheng

Ukyo looked in the mirror and wondered if she should have tried the other
dress.  This one was a bit modest, but elegant.  The other one showed off
more of her body.  She thought better of it as she considered who she
would be wearing this for.  He would probably bolt the minute he caught a
hint of cleavage.

Ukyo glanced about the room one last time.  Everything was in perfect
order.  The soft sound of music could be heard playing in the background.
The lights were dimmed slightly to enhance the atmosphere.  Most of all,
the dining area was devoid of a single soul.  She had closed Ucchan's for
the night and given Konatsu the night off.  There was no way she would let
any outside interference mar this evening.  Tonight was the night she
would ask Ranma the question that had been plaguing her for almost an
entire year.

She had always been sure she knew the answer to it.  After all, she was
his 'cute' fiancee.  But lately doubts had begun to pop up in her mind.
The more time she spent around Ranma, the more she noticed little things
about him that suggested otherwise to her musings.  Though there was an
unspoken agreement between them that the topic of the engagements would
not come up in their conversations, there was no such agreement on
conversations about his other suitors in general.  The girls figured into
their lives so much it was impossible not to think of them whenever they
talked of their days.  This was the main cause of her concern.

Whenever Akane's name was mentioned, it would always draw some sort of
reaction from Ranma.  Laughter at her clumsiness, but there was never any
malice to it.  Anger at her stubborness, which he would promptly forget
after a moment.  Sadness at her angry face, which often lasted a very long
time.  Last of all, guiltiness.  It tore Ukyo's heart when his eyes
started to roam Ucchan's for any sign of Akane whenever he came here
alone.

However, if the name being mentioned was that of some other girl, like
Shampoo's, Ranma's face drew an utter blank most of the time.  Ukyo's
greatest fear was that outside of this restaurant, Ranma's face also
pulled a blank if her name was ever to come up in his presence.  Before,
she had been content to wait for Ranma to make his decision in his own
time, but events beyond her control were happening much to fast.  She had
to find out now whether or not she was right.

She wondered if she was making the mistake of her life as she waited for
Ranma to show.

                        * * * * *

"Here you go, Ukyo," the grocer said as he passed to her a bag of
vegetables.  "Making something special for you and Konatsu tonight?"

Ukyo grinned good naturedly, "Heh, a happy worker works harder and forgets
that he's being paid the lowest in the district."

The owner nodded knowingly, "A good business sense.  Hard to find that  in
one so young.  You'll make that Saotome boy a wonderful wife."  He
prudently moved to the side as Ukyo's huge spatula narrowly missed his
back.  A good girl and all, but she really needed to learn how to accept
compliments better.

Ukyo blushed beet red as she put her spatula back into place and
mock-punched the man in the shoulder instead.  "Oh, you!  We're still
young.  I mean, anything can happen in these next few years."

"Next few years?  Oh, hadn't you heard yet?  I just had a conversation
with Mrs. Saotome just this afternoon.  That woman just can't seem to wait
to have grandchildren.  She was considering on making plans with her son
to come up with a plan of action by the end of the school year."

Ukyo froze.  Ranma hadn't said anything to her about this.  "Auntie
Saotome was here, today?"

"Yeah, she and Kasumi often take turns buying the groceries.  She was off
on one of her favorite rants again.  You know the one.  A conspiracy by
the government that stops her son from being manly.  I really don't know
how she can expect the government to allow the boy to have four wives.  It
seems she's now turning to the idea of just marrying one woman and making
mistresses of the rest.  Not that I can ever see that Tendo girl, Kuno
girl, or even that amazon consenting to that..."

Ukyo turned a deaf ear to the grocer as thoughts of her own raced through
her mind.  Ranma loved his mother.  If she wanted him to marry a girl by
the end of the year, he might actually do it.  The question was, who would
he choose?  Well her of course, Ukyo strongly felt.  She was the 'cute'
fiancee.  Who else could he chose?

                        * * * * *

Ranma's danger sense immediately started to wildly warn him of impending
doom the moment he stepped into Ucchan's.  Instinctively he dropped to the
floor and rolled away from the doorway and into Ucchan's.  He glanced
around and after a brief moment of looking around, he was satisfied Akane
had not followed him.  For a moment there he had thought he was in danger.

"Oh, you came, Ranchan!" Ukyo exclaimed as she rushed to him and gave him
a friendly hug from behind.  It was then that she noticed Ranma's clothes
where ripped and shredded in some places.  "What the heck happened to
you?"  

Ranma's fear rose up again almost immediately, causing him to forget to
answer her.  Ukyo was not wearing her chest wrap.  Afraid, Ranma removed
himself from Ukyo's arms, turned to look at her and stared.  A dress.
Ukyo was wearing a dress.  A modest one that someone like Kasumi
habitually wore, but a dress nonetheless.  Ukyo definitely looked like a
girl, he couldn't help but notice.  "Uh..," he muttered intelligently as
he pointed at her.

Ukyo quickly detected the fear in Ranma's wildly roaming eyes.  She
sighed.  She would have to do it the hard way.  "Oh, this thing?  It was a
present from my mom.  It just arrived today.  Might as well make her happy
and tell her that I wore it once at least."

Ranma lowered his guard slowly.  "Hehehe!  I should have known.  I haven't
seen you wear many different clothes other than that okonomiyaki outfit.
Where the heck are all your customers or Konatsu for that matter? You'd
think this was a date or something.  I mean just the two of us eating
alone."

"Didn't I tell you over the phone?  Since finals are coming up in a month
most of the students are home studying at nights.  I figured, I'd close
the restaurant down once every other night to save on salary and expenses.
That's why Konatsu has the night off.  He didn't want to spend it here so
it made all the food I made go to waste.  That's why I called you."

Ranma laughed nervously at nothing in particular.  "I guess the dimmed
lights and music just gave me a scare.  Because you know Akane.  And
Shampoo and Kodachi of course.  If any of them caught word of a date, who
knows what might happen."

"Yeah," Ukyo muttered as she thought frantically of an excuse.  "Well,
since it was just the two of us, I didn't want to open all the lights.
Costs money you know.  The stereo is busted and will only play music from
this channel.  I was trying to get the news station, but I gave up after
awhile.  I'll try again after dinner."

A grin finally found it's way on to Ranma's face as his worries subsided.
"So, when do we eat?"

                        * * * * *

"So that was why you looked afraid when you came in the door?" Ukyo asked.

Ranma glared indignantly at Ukyo, "I was not afraid!  Just cautious.  Like
a bunch of shool boys could ever make me scared.  If Happosai hadn't
dumbed a pail of water on me and then destroyed most of my clothes with
that stupid bomb technique, I wouldn't have ran from those jocks.  Man,
and I thought Happosai was lecherous.  Those boys could give him a lesson.
Every time I hit them, they would just come back for more.  Now I know
what Akane felt like."

Ukyo couldn't help but laugh out loud at Ranma's plight.  "It was just
your luck to be in a part of town that didn't know about your curse."

"Tell me about it.  Why do these things always happen to me?" Ranma
sulked.

Ukyo looked at Ranma closely and imagined he was a girl.  With his clothes
in such a disarray and his face all pouty, he would have looked very
provactive the the average hormonal teenaged boy.  Even in boy form right
now, he looked so pitiful and vulnerable.  It made her just want to wrap
her arms around him and...

"Hey, pervert!" Ranma yelled out to get Ukyo's attention.  He
self-consciously held his tattered clothes closer to himself.  The look
Ukyo was giving him right now was exactly the same he had received earlier
from those boys.

Ukyo blushed furiously, "I am not!  Listen to yourself for crying out
loud.  I'm the girl right now, remember.  You're the guy that's half
naked.  I should be the one saying that."

"Er, yeah.  I forgot," Ranma said, sheepishily scratching the back of his
head in that all-too-familar gesture of his.  Plainly embarrassed, he
started to laugh nervously at his situation.  Ukyo soon followed suit and
added her own throaty chuckle to the sound.

Seeing that Ranma was starting to lower his guard even more, Ukyo decided
to go in for the kill.  "You know, Ranma, I've been thinking of us
lately."

Ranma stopped laughing.  He didn't like the direction the conversation was
heading.  "What about us?"

"Well, the future in general.  That assignment we got a week ago got me
thinking more and more.  Heh, the stupid thing was that I forgot to put in
the person I intended to marry," Ukyo said in a tone of voice that left no
mystery as to who that person was.

Ranma slowly backed his chair away from the table.  If he pushed just a
little bit farther, he would have a clear path to the door.

Ukyo narrowed her eyes at the sight of her prey looking as if it might get
away.  She had to slow him down.  She decided to try to shock him into
immobility.  "Stupid, right?   Wondering what brought this on?  Well, to
tell the truth, I was feeling a bit naughty just a second ago."

"W-what!?" Ranma stopped backing up and stared at Ukyo.  Her face was calm
and composed now except for her eyes.  They stared at him with the same
intensity as before.  "Haha, Ukyo.  Very funny."  But Ukyo didn't laugh
with him this time.

"I mean, why not?  We have known each other for about a year now and we
are engaged.  It's natural for me to have these feelings for you.  I mean,
don't you?" Ukyo asked directly and was inwardly shocked at her own
forwardness.  Just a moment ago she had been too shy to even wear so
modest a dress in front of him while she was finding something to wear for
this special night.  It was just that the mood was so romantic.  Both she
and Ranma were having a good time and she felt so at ease with him.

Ranma found himself rooted to the spot.  Ukyo's eyes seemed to drain every
ounce of energy from him.  Her frankness and the speed at which she was
taking things were playing hard on his current state of mind.  The truth
was, he did fantasize.  However, the girl he often thought of had shorter
hair.

Ukyo seized on Ranma's stunned reaction.  Time to finish him off.  Slowly,
she walked over to his chair and lowered her head to where his was.  A
soft whisper escaped his lips as she neared them with her own.

Ranma fought off the dizzyness.  He thought of something, anything, to
say.  Without thinking he plucked the first thing in his mind.

"I like okonomiyaki."

                        * * * * *

Ranma stepped out of the restaurant.  He looked at the night sky.  It was
clear out tonight and he could make out a few stars.  Damn.  How was he
going to hide this hand print on his face?

Wearily, he started on his way home.  He felt a drop of water land on his
hand as he walked.  Touching his cheek and avoiding the red hand print
imbedded in his face, he felt more water. Funny, the night sky had seemed
to be clear to him.

                        * * * * *

The End. (maybe)


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