This is just a draft version. I just want some input on what you guys think of
the fic so far.
Jeffrey "OneShot" Wong
Ranma 1/2: Ranma's girls 2
Note: This is NOT a sequel to Ranma's girls. It basically has the same
style to it. I haven't decided on a true title yet. However, reading
Ranma's girls will greatly show the character's personalities and past,
especially Ranma's.....
Ranma was the most successful person to have grown up in Nerima. He
and his mother had moved there when he was a little boy, shortly after
his father had been sent to jail for child abuse. Her mother had taken
up a job as secretary the dojo of a family friend. However, shortly
after their arrival, Ranma's mother died due to a drunk driver, leaving
him alone to face the world, leaving behind nothing for her son to
inherit. Luckily, the friend of the family, a man named Ken, the sensei
with his own dojo, took Ranma under his wing and raised him as his own.
At the age of seventeen, Ranma dropped out of high school to take over
his uncle Ken's business of running the dojo. Ken had suffered a heart
attack and was no longer fit to continue running the school. As much as
he wanted Ranma to finish school, Ken could not convince him to do so.
A year after having dropped out of school and taking over the dojo,
Ken died of a second heartattack, the second one claiming what the first
hadn't. He had left everything to Ranma. Once again, Ranma was left
without a family. With nothing much else to concentrate on but the dojo,
he had sworn to his father and Ken that he would become someone they
would be proud of, and proceeded to work himself to the limit, expanding
the school.
By the time Ranma turned twenty seven, he had moved overseas to the
United States where he would proceed to open up several martial arts
schools. Before his twenty nineth birthday, Ranma had opened up his
fifteenth martial arts school, a chain of school that dominated the
martial arts industry, people from all over the world wishing to train
in one of his schools. Only few were ever so fortunate to train under
Ranma himself, him being too busy traveling the world than to teach.
By the time he turned twenty eight, he had decided it was time to move
back to the town where it had all started, Nerima.
He wanted to get finish school and get his degree.
Ukyo sipped her morning coffee. She was in the teacher's lounge along
with the others. She was new and had only taught at Furinkan High for
two years. Before then, she used to be a substitute teacher,
moonlighting as a waitress to pay the bills. Once she finally because a
full time teacher, she quit her waitressing job, something she had no
regrets about. She was an English teacher and very proud of it.
"Hey, Ukyo," a fellow teacher said, a young looking woman that was in
her thirties, "So, how was your vacation?"
Ukyo sighed, "Fine, I guess. Sometimes, I wished there were more
time,"
Junko smirked, "Still looking for a man?" She and Ukyo were good
friends and usually had lunch together. However, Junko had went to visit
some relatives up in Hokkaido over the whole summer and had gotten back
last night. She also added, "Well, don't worry, you're not the only
one,"
Ukyo smiled a bit. Misery loved company.
Ranma looked at his school schedule. The room number matched the one
on the paper.
He smiled slightly as everyone walked past him, everyone a lot shorter
and younger than him. However, at age twenty eight, it didn't bother him
one bit that he was perhaps the older student in the high school. It was
good to be back.
"Excuse me, sir, but can you tell me where room two twenty is?" a
young student, a freshman, asked.
Ranma remembered passing the room. He pointed down the hall, and said,
"It's down there. It's the third door on the right,"
He smirked quite a bit. He couldn't believe children were actually
calling him sir. Sure, adults called him 'sir' because he was their
superiors, but no stranger had ever called him that before.
He watched the student head down the hallway, maneuvering past all the
other students and enter his rightful classroom. After a moment, he
turned around to enter his classroom, only to bump into someone.
"Sorry," he said.
"I'm sorry," Ukyo said, dropping her envelope of papers. She quickly
bent down to pick them up. Ranma was down by the floor right next to
her, helping her pick up the papers. When she finally looked up to thank
the student, she almost dropped her envelope again at the sight of the
man kneeling right next to her.
"Hello," Ranma said, smiling.
"Um, hello," she replied, her heart aflutter. She recognized that
gorgeous face of his. She had definitely seen him somewhere. It took her
several moments before she could finally place the face. She had seen it
on the cover of a magazine before.
They both stood up.
"Well, I have to go," Ranma said, realizing that she didn't seem
intent on conversing with him. He had to admit that the woman was quite
attractive, more attractive than all those women he had met when he
lived overseas.
Ranma smiled one last time before turning around and entering the
classroom behind him.
Ukyo's eyes widened. This man was a teacher?! She wondered why she
hadn't seem him during the teacher's meeting.
At that moment, the bell rang.
She gazed into the classroom one quick moment, steeling a glance at
the young man before she turned around and rushed toward her classroom.
So, he was a teacher like herself.
She smiled as she entered her classroom.
Ranma sat in his chair, surrounded by young girls. They were so eager
to know more about him. It seems that one of the students had recognized
him from a magazine she had read several years ago. The classroom had
been filled with tension as all the girls impatiently waited for
lunchtime so they could barrage the man with questions.
"I never knew that," Ranma replied. Some girl had commented that she
had seen a picture of him on a business magazine. It had an extensive
aritcle about how he had helped out Nerima by donating a large sum of
money toward the development of a recreational center. It was created to
help kids off the streets, and it seemed to do just that.
The boys standing on the other side of the room truly disliked Ranma.
However, none dared to do anything, everyone in all of Japan knowing
that he was considered one the greatest martial artist alive. They
seemed to watch him with contempt, most likely plotting of a way to get
rid of him. He was too old to be in this school.
The bell rang, signalling the end of lunchtime. All of the students
quickly scampered to their seats.
Ranma's eyes widened as he saw the teacher entering. It was the
beautiful young woman he had bumped into earlier that morning.
Ukyo's nearly gasped as she caught sight of the young man sitting in
his seat near the window in the front of the room. What was he doing
here? Didn't he have a class to teach? She took a deep breath, knowing
that there must be a explanation for this. However, she didn't really
know what to do.
Everyone stood up, even Ranma.
They all bowed, "Good afternoon, sensei,"
Ranma sat back down and continued to watch Ukyo. For some reason, she
was avoiding his gaze.
Ukyo shuffled through her attendance sheet, looking for the one to
this classroom. After a few moments, she found the corresponding room
number. Her eyes widened as she scanned over the names and came across
'Ranma Saotome'. That was the name of the man on the magazine. She was
absolutely sure of it. What was going on here?
She looked at Ranma and said, "Saotome?"
Ranma nodded, "Yes?"
"May I speak to you?" she asked, heading out of the classroom.
Ranma followed her out into the hallway. Once outside, Ranma gave the
teacher a curious look and smiled slightly, "Yes? You wanted to speak to
me?"
"I remember seeing you somewhere before," Ukyo commented, crossing her
arms over her chest, wanting an explanation.
Ranma said, "Well, a girl said I was in a magazine before, but I never
knew that,"
"Yes, I remember seeing your picture before," she said after a moment,
"But why are you here?"
"I'm here to get my diploma,"
Ukyo entered her home. It was a tiny apartment in a somewhat rundown
apartment complex. Although the place could use a bit of remodelling, it
gave a cozy feel, which was mattered to her. She felt comfortable living
here, at least for now. She would like to move out and into a house
however but that probably won't happen for a while, not at her present
salary.
She closed the door behind her, placing her envelope of papers on the
tiny desk next to the door, and went immediately to her closet, where
she kept her old magazines. For once, she was actually glad not having
found it.
It took close to a half an hour before she found the stack of
magazines, all of them buried underneath some useless junk, and an
additional half hour to skim through all the magazines for the article
she was looking for. When she found it, it was an hour well spent.
With the magazine in hand, she walked into the kitchen where it was
the only place to sit, the couch too uncomfortable due to a loose
spring. She needed a new couch.
Sitting down, she began to read the article, finished in under five
minutes. Afterwards, she gazed at the tiny thumbnail picture of Ranma.
The article was over three years old but the young man in the picture
looked everybit as handsome as he did now.
She placed the article down. The article said very little about Ranma
himself, explaining mostly about the recreational center and its impact
on Nerima. There were only several lines that mentioned Ranma directly.
She read the lines again.
'Ranma Saotome, as handsome as he is kind, had decided to contribute
his great wealth to the city of Nerima, the city from where he grew up.
Having gone through the hardships of a rough childhood, Ranma had become
a very successful businessman by the age of twenty, despite the
obstacles in his life,' she read. She looked at the second line more
intently. What did the writer mean by 'hardships of a rough childhood',
she wondered. Her lips curled slightly as she read the first line, 'as
handsome as he is kind' obviously meant that the person who wrote the
article was female. Looking at the name at the bottom, she read the
name.
"Well, isn't that a suprise?" she said sarcastically when she realized
it was a female name.
She placed the article down. She couldn't believe it, this man was one
of her students.
Her phone rang, startling her. It took her a moment to realize what
the ringing was and finally answer it. On the other line, it was her
friend, Junko.
"Hey, Ukyo, you won't believe this," Junko began, excitement in her
voice.
"What?" she asked, curious.
"I think I'm in love," Junko replied, "I just met the most wonderful
guy,"
"Who?" Ukyo asked, Ranma's image crossing her mind not once.
"His name is Ranma. I met him outside of the school," Junko said in a
happy tone, "God, you have to see this guy. He's drop dead gorgeous. I
don't know why, but I somehow mustered enough courage to walk up to and
talk to him. We chatted for a few minutes before I had to leave,"
Ukyo's grip on the phone when she had heard Junko mentioning Ranma's
name. She slowly said, "Um, that's good to hear. What did you talk
about?"
"Nothing much," Junko replied, "Just your average day to day stuff.
However, I found out that he moved back to Nerima just yesterday. It
seems that he used to live here when he was young,"
Ukyo remembered that she had only moved her three years ago, meaning
she would have known nothing about Ranma ever having lived here before.
She had move into town just shortly after before recreational center had
been built.
"Um, what else did you talk about?" she asked, trying to keep herself
from getting angry. Why was she getting angry in the first place? Could
it be because Junko knew something about this man that Ukyo didn't?
Junko sighed, "Nothing much else. Man, I wonder if I could see him
again. Perhaps we can go out to dinner together,"
Ukyo gritted her teeth slightly. That could very well happen. Most men
found Junko very attractive, even more attractive than herself. However,
it seems their shyness toward the opposite sex had prevented them boy
from every having a steady boyfriend. What annoyed Ukyo a bit was that
Junko was never courageous enough to initiate a conversation with a man.
Why all of a sudden?
"Well, enough of that, how did your day go?" Junko asked, changing the
subject.
Ukyo shrugged her shoulders, "It went okay," She wondered if she
should tell Junko that Ranma happens to be one of her students. She
chose not to. "And you?"
"So so," came Junko's reply, "The day didn't go so great, but after
meeting this guy, my day seems to look much better,"
"Can we please not talk about Ranma?" Ukyo said, a bit annoyed, angry
also.
"Is something the matter? Did I say something wrong?" Junko asked,
concerned for her friend.
Ukyo took a deep breath, "No. Nothing's wrong. Perhaps I had a worser
day than I thought. Um, I'm feeling a bit sore. I'm going to go take a
shower now,"
"All right. I guess I'll talk to you tomorrow, bye," Junko said in a
cheery voice again.
"All right. Bye,"
Ranma entered his house, the house where he had grown up when he had
been younger. Although it had been completely empty for close to a
decade, all the furnishing were still there. The last time he had been
in this house was three years ago, when he had come back to Japan for a
short while, leaving for the States shortly afterwards.
He sat down on the sofa, stretching out, tired. It was barely even
evening, but he felt a bit tired. But then again, having this kind of
relaxation could do that to a person.
The phone rang. It was lying on the coffee table. It was the cellular
phone he carried with him everywhere he went. It was his personal phone.
However, it had been specifically stated that he was not to be disturbed
when he was attending his classes. Period. Not if, ands, or buts.
"Moshi Moshi?" he answered.
"Daddy!!" a young girl said happily.
"Meggie," Ranma said in English with a smile, "How's my little
darling? Everything okay? Is Jessie with you?" It was his eight year old
daughter on the other line.
"I'm fine, Daddy," his daughter said, "Jessie's right here,"
"Hi, Daddy!" the phone seemed to switch to another person before
coming back onto Meggie. Their voices were exactly alike, them being
twins. Despite that, Ranma could tell them apart, even if they were
identical, whether voice, appearance, or cuteness.
"How is everything going? I miss you," he said, smiling. He hadn't
called his daughters just prior to leaving for school this morning. He
was lucky to have caught them while they were about to goto sleep. It
was now daytime over in the United States.
"We miss you, too, Daddy. I can't wait to come to Japan," Meggie
pipped up, "Mommy says we will catch the next flight. It's too bad we
couldn't come with you,"
Ranma chuckled a bit. He loved talking to his children. Speaking to
them seemed to wash away any worry or stress he got from the day. He
said, "Well, I'm looking forward to having you and Jessie visiting my
native country,"
"Do you think we will fit in?"
"Of course you will," Ranma assured her. His children would make
friends in no time, "However, you're going to be spending the next year
or so brushing up on your Japanese. I kinda wish I had spoken more
Japanese around you when you were little, but you know how it was, I
constantly had people visiting the house,"
"Don't we know enough Japanese to get by?" she asked
"Well, yes, in a way. You and Jessie can understand everything I say,
but we just have trouble responding," Ranma said, "But don't worry about
it. I'll find someone that knows English that will help you learn to
speak Japanese,"
"Yeah!" Meggie said happily.
"Is there anything else you would like to ask?" Ranma asked patiently.
"Not much else," she replied, "You wanna speak to Mommy?"
"Sure, why not?" Ranma said.
After a short moment, the children's mother came on the phone, "Hi,
Ranma. How was the flight?" came a female voice. It was a sensuous
voice that could make a man's blood stir. However, it didn't seem to do
that for Ranma, not anymore.
"The flight was fine," he replied, "I'm looking forward to see the
girls. I want to show them around my old hometown,"
"Don't you look forward seeing me also? I'm going to be coming with
them," the woman asked teasingly.
"I dunno, will you perhaps be staying to help take care of them?"
Ranma asked. It was always the same thing. He already knew the answer.
Her job came before her family.
"I'm sorry, I will only be staying for a short while," came an rather
sad voice, "You know how it is,"
"Yeah, work work work," Ranma said softly, sighing a bit. "Well,
anyway, I'll be at the airport to pick you and the girls up. I'll show
you around town before you leave back for the States. How much longer
before you leave? It's around eight in the morning there, right?"
"Yes, we'll be leaving in an hour. We'll be there at around nine
tomorrow in Japan," came the reply.
"All right, I guess I'll have to cut school to pick you guys up,"
Ranma chuckled a bit.
"How is school anyway? How was your first day?"
"It went fine," Ranma replied.
"You know, you don't really have to go back to school. You're more
than a success,"
"It doesn't matter, I want a diploma,"
Ukyo sipped her morning coffee as she sat in the teacher's loung. As
she did so, she figured she should stop being so dependent on her
coffee. However, she had trouble sleeping last night and needed the
coffee to wake up. She had had dreams of a certain man that she had met
briefly in one of her classes. What was she thinking?! He was her
student!! Also, it didn't help with matters when she awoken and found
out that the rent of her apartment will be raised by the end of the
month. She would have to really be strict with her budget or perhaps
find an additional job to pay the month's rent. Either that or move, but
to where?
She sighed, at least she had two years of not having to worry about
waiting on tables prior to today...
"You look like hell," Junko commented, sitting down next to her.
"I feel it also," she replied, "I just found out my rent's going up,"
"That's horrible,"
"It's either restrict my budget to eating bread and water for meals,
get second job, or move," Ukyo sighed, "And two of those choices are not
an option. I'm not going to starve myself nor am I going to move,"
Junko shook her head, sighing in sympathy, "You going to go back to
waiting tables?"
"I might have to," Ukyo said, sad, "I don't need that many hours, just
enough for food and miscellaneous items. I don't want to have to worry
about a lack in funds all the time, that's all,"
"I would help you if I could," Junko said.
"I know, and I'm grateful for that," she replied. She took another sip
of her coffee. It didn't seem to taste all that great anymore for some
reason. Perhaps it was her mood.
"I guess I better get started in looking for a second job as soon as
possible,"
Ukyo entered her apartment. She had had a long day. Although she loved
teaching, the day seemed to be longer than usual, as if dragging itself
out forever. Even though it was wrong, her expecting to see that Ranma
student of hers and perhaps converse with him for a change, she had been
assuming that bumping into him would brighten her day. She didn't get a
chance to test out her assumption for Ranma didn't show up in school
today.
"I wonder why he didn't show up?" she asked herself as she headed over
to the bedroom, flopping down on her bed. She felt a bit disappointed
when she had read the attendance sheet aloud, yet Ranma hadn't been
there to let her know that he had been present for class. Everyone
seemed to have noticed this too. It was funny that a whole classroom
could have a conversation on why a particular student could be absent
from class during their lunchbreack.
She giggled a bit. It was kind of funny now that she thought about it.
On several occasions, she had wondered if the students knew more about
what had happened to him than she did and had wanted to actually ask a
student that question, about where Ranma could have been.
She didn't find out the reason until the school had received a phone
call from him at around, him telling the school attendance his reason
for being absent. All Ukyo knew was that he had to be somewhere at a
particular time.
Ukyo closed her eyes. She must be really desperate for a man to have
her mind plagued with thoughts about a man she knew very little about,
and had only talked to for a second when they had bumped into each other
in the hallway the other day.
She fell asleep shortly after closing her eyes.
She would worry about getting a second job tomorrow.
Ranma waved goodbye as the children's mother waved back from her
plane. The woman waving back was a beautiful woman, her beauty only
ecclipsed by her children's beauty and shear adorableness. It was no
doubt that the children seemed to have aquired some or her good looks as
well as Ranma's.
She and Ranma and the children had spent the whole day together,
wandering around Tokyo, seeing the sights, visiting local tourist
attractions. They had visted the local zoo, saw a movie, and even went
to the amusement park, Ranma getting sick after riding the merry-go-
round.
It was now nearing eight at night. They had only spent around twelve
hours together, as a family for a change, but now it was time for
reality to jump in, as the children's mother had chosen to take the next
flight back to the United States and back to her work.
Ranma and Meggie and Jessie waved their goodbyes, even as they watched
the plane take off for the skies, disappearing as it soared up and above
the clouds of the darkening skies.
"Well, guys," Ranma said in English, "Let's go to your new home. We
have to get you two ready for bed. You two will have school in the
morning,"
"Do we hafta?" Jessie pouted. She was an adorable little girl, every
bit as adorable as her twin sister. She had long flowing hair that was
the same color as her chocolate colored eyes.
Ranma chuckled a bit, "Don't worry, you'll like it there. You'll both
make some new friends. I already bought all of your school things early
this morning in preparation of your first day at a new school,"
Meggie looked up at her Daddy, Jessie doing the same. They stood as
high as his waist. Meggie asked, "Are we going to have trouble fitting
in?"
"Not really," he replied, "You'll have a bit of trouble at first, what
with you knowing mostly English. However, I'm going to find you an
English speaking tutor to teach you Japanese. That way, it will take you
only half as much time to learn the language instead of just going to
school to learn it,"
"Okay," Meggie said, beliving her Daddy.
Ranma extened his hands forward, Meggie and Jessie obediently sliding
their hands into his, as he said,
"C'mon, let's go home,"
Early in the morning, Ranma smiled and even chuckled as he and Meggie
and Jessie went about getting ready for school. They seemed to have
gotten up at around the same time, at around seven in the morning. Ranma
had taken them out to town where they ate a big breakfast together.
"What's so funny, Daddy?" Jessie asked curiously. She was trying to
hook her arm through one of the straps of her new book bag.
"Here, lettme help you with that, honey," Ranma said as he helped her
put her schoolbag on. He then said, "Well, if you want to know, all
three of us are getting ready for school. I'm pretty sure there aren't
that many households around that have it where the parent and his or her
kids school,"
"That must mean we're a special family," Meggie said, smiling.
Ranma smiled as he ruffled Meggie's silky hair and said, "It's you and
your sister that makes this family special," He helped her into her
schoolbag and added, "There, we're all set for school now,"
After checking one last time to be sure he hadn't forgotten anything,
Ranma and his daughters lef the house at around seven forty that
morning, all three of them heading toward a nearby elementary school.
The walk was short and the beautiful sunny morning while conversing with
his two bright daughter made it all the more enjoyable for Ranma.
When they reached the front of the school, Ranma said, "Remember, I'm
going to always have my cellular phone with me so you can reach me
whenever and wherever I am. You both have my number right?"
The twins nodded and said in unison, "Yes,"
Ranma was greeted by a young teacher. She smiled warmly as she
approached the three of them. She had been expecting them. Ranma had
called the school earlier to let them know that they were on their way.
"Hello," Ranma smiled warmly at the teacher, speaking in Japanese now.
"I'm Ranma Saotome. This is Meggie and Jessie,"
"Hello," Meggie and Jessie said, speaking Japanese the best that they
could do. Since they were on either side of Ranma, it sounded like the
'hello' was in stereo.
"I'm Nanami Yui," the teacher smiled back, regarding the children's
father a bit longer than she was supposed to. When she noticed this, she
blushed a bit and turned her attention onto the children, "I'm going to
be your new teacher,"
Although Ranma had told her that his two daughters didn't know much
Japanese, she hoped they knew enough to understand her. "We're going to
have a great year together. Don't you think?"
The two children nodded.
The teacher guestured for the children to follow, "I'll show you to
your class. Just follow me. You're going to love it here in Japan,"
Meggie and Jessie turned toward Ranma and gave him a very affectionate
hug that would make any mother envious of having such loving children
and said, "Bye, Daddy," before they let go and courteously followed the
teachering into the school.
Ranma stood outside the school for a few minutes before he turned
around and began his trek to his own school. As he was about to leave
the school grounds, a young mother approached him. She had been eyeing
him since he had arrived on school grounds.
Arriving at his school, Ranma immediately walked up to the 'Help
Wanted' school bulletin board and posted up a sheet of paper that he
took out of his pocket. The paper read, 'Person with knowledge in
Japanese and English wanted for personal tutoring after school.
Experience with teaching children preferred. Must be fluent in both
Japanese and English. Ask for Ranma.' Below that was his phone number.
Below his phone number, he wrote the job description in English.
He wanted a tutor for his children as soon as possible. He figured
since he was in school, he might as well post up a job offering, not
that anyone from here would choose to take it. However, he was hoping
that through word of mouth, the job wanted post would spread quickly.
As he headed for class, he would put a post in the newspaper right
after school. He needed to advertise and the newspaper was the best way.
However, he didn't have time to do so right now since class would be
starting in about five minutes.
Quickly, her rushed off toward his classroom.
Ukyo was walking down the halls at around noontime. She was expected
to be in her next classroom in ten minutes. The classroom was on its
lunchbreak right now, and she having gotten back from her own
lunchbreak. Although she had a pretty bad start in the morning, what
with her accidentally spilling some of her coffee on her shirt and
having to change into a spare shirt she had in the trunk of her car, but
as time passed, the day seemed to get better.
One good reason was that she had spotted Ranma earlier this morning.
That meant he was in school today. She would be teaching his class in
just ten minutes.
As she walked down the halls, she passed by the bulletin board and
spotted a piece of paper tacked onto it which hadn't been there
yesterday. Since it was a 'Help Wanted' bulletin board, she figured she
might as well check the piece of paper out. Sure, it was most likely a
job meant for a kid, but it was worth a shot.
She was in for quite a shock when she read the job description. The
requirements for it fit her perfectly. Since she was an English teacher
in a Japanese school, she knew English and Japanese fluently. She also
had experience with children, that didn't need to be explained.
When she read the name, she was in for a second shock, her heart
skipping a beat. Was this the same 'Ranma' that was in one of her
classes? It could be since he attends this school and the job being
posted on the school's bulletin board.
Could he be having trouble with English, Ukyo wondered herself. That
can't be. He looked like he understood what I was say and translating
perfectly. So if it isn't for him, then what or who would this job be
for?
She read the phone number several times aloud, memorizing it.
She would call the number right after school. Actually, she would wait
about an hour afterwards before calling. If it was Ranma Saotome, she
had to give him to get home to answer the phonecall.
She smiled to herself as she headed toward the halls toward her next
classroom.
Maybe if she got lucky, she wouldn't need to wait on tables as a
second job.
Ukyo stood in front of her phone. It was around five thirty, a perfect
time for her to call and inquire about a job and set up for an
interview. In her hand was a small piece of paper where she had
scribbled down the phone number. There was one thing holing her back
from calling.
Should I speak in English or Japanese, she wondered. She remembered
the post asking for someone fluent in both Japanese and English. Since
she was bilingual, she didn't know which language to use on the phone.
And it didn't help that the job description had been written in both
languages.
This is more nerve racking than calling a boy, she thought. She
remembered calling a boy from one of her high school classes. She had
been terribly nervous, which was odd because she was only calling him to
ask for any missed assignments since she had been absent that day. That
had been many many years ago. Way too long.
Her heart was racing as she knew she had to call if she wanted that
job. She took a deep breath, deciding that she was going to talk to her
potential employer in Japanese. Afterall, Ranma was a Japanese name.
Also, it was a good chance that it was the same Ranma from one of her
classes, since that name is rather unique.
She dialed in the number and waited for a few moments as other line
range.
Ranma and his kids got back home from school and entered the house at
the same time, just in time to hear the phone ringing. It was around
five in the afternoon. They would had gotten home earlier but Ranma had
chosen to take his kids out for a meal, his way of apologizing for
having forgotten to make them lunch.
"Aren't you gonna get that, Daddy?" Jessie asked, pointing at the
ringing phone as she took of her shoes.
Ranma walked up to the phone and picked it up.
"Moshi moshi," he said. He assumed this was probably a call in
reference to the help wanted note he had put up on the school bulletin
board which surprised him quite a bit since it had only been several
hours since. And above that, he hadn't even posted a help wanted ad in
the local newspaper.
"Hello," a female spoke in English. "I'm calling in regards to your,
um, help wanted post,"
On the other line, Ukyo almost bopped herself on the side of her head
as she realized she had accidentally spoken the wrong language.
"Do you speak Japanese?" Ranma asked, smiling a bit. The voice on the
other lines sounded nervous. But then again, this phone call was
equivalant to a job interview because it was.
The woman quickly reverted back to Japanese and said, "I'm sorry. Um,
I didn't know which language to speak," She gave a weak laugh before
continuing, "Um, anyway, I saw your post earlier today and wanted to
apply for the job. Um, is this Ranma?"
Whatever the job was, she said silently to herself. She didn't have
time to be picky. Not considering the bind she will soon be in with
paying her rent on time.
"Yes," he said.
There was an awkward silence. Ukyo didn't know whether to wait for him
to speak or perhaps he was witing for her to speak instead. She assumed
the latter and said, "Your post said you were looking for someone fluent
in English and Japanese and have experience with children. Um, I happen
to have all three qualifications and was wondering if there is an
appropriate time to set up for an i-interview?"
Ranma chuckled slightly and said, "Set up an interview? But this is
the interview,"
"It is?!" Ukyo nearly shouted. She couldn't believe this phone
conversation was the interview. "You've gotta be kidding me!" She caught
herself and quickly said, "Y-you mean this is the interview?"
Ranma smiled. It was obvious that whoever this woman was, she fluent
in both English and Japanese, what with her easy transition between the
two. The most impressive thing about her was that he had no real idea if
she were Japanese or not.
"Yes, this is the interview," he replied.
From the kitchen, there was a sound of glass shattering. Ranma quickly
turned his attention away from the person on the other line and said
aloud in English, "What happened? Are you all right?"
"We're okay," Meggie's voice came from the kitchen, "I accidentally
dropped my glass of orange juice,"
Ranma breathed a sigh of relief and said, "All right, stay away from
the broken glass, I'll come in and clean it up in a minute,"
"Okay," she replied back.
He turned his attention back onto the phonecall, "Um, I'm sorry, but
I'm going to have to cut this interview short. Can you please give me
your phone number?" He then realized he was speaking in English but
didn't bother reverting back to Japanese.
Ukyo, without even realizing that her interviewer had reverted back to
English, gave him her phone number.
"And your name? Who should I ask for if I call?"
She said, "I'm the only one here so I'll be the only one picking the
phone up. My name's Ukyo Kuonji,"
"All right, I'll give you a call in a day or so. You happen to be the
first person to call since I posted that help wanted. I want to check
out some other potential tutors before deciding,"
Ukyo took a short moment before she decided it was best to reply in
the same spoken language as Ranma and said, "That's a good idea. If I
were in your position, I would do the same,"
Ranma's eyes widened as her realized something. They had been speaking
Japanese most of the time, but somehow, they were speaking English and
he didn't really have any idea when this had happened. However, he
realized that he had been speaking in English also and the woman on the
other line seemed to have understood him perfectly.
"You know what?" Ranma said warmly.
"Yes?"
"You've got the job,"
Ukyo did a little dance around her tiny livingroom. She couldn't
believe her luck. She had just gotten hired as a tutor after only
speaking for several minutes. Shortly after Ranma had told her she had
gotten the job, he gave her a phone number and an address. She had been
told to be at the address tomorrow, ready to teach, right before the
phone conversation was cut short so Ranma could attend to cleaning up
the broken glass.
She couldn't believe her luck. She had no idea how much she was going
to get paid, but whatever it was, it would definitely be better than
waiting on tables, that was for sure.
As she continued to do a little dance, her phone rang.
Her heart skipped a beat before shooting up into her throat. It was
probably Ranma to call her to tell her that he had made a mistake to
hire her so readily now because someone better had probably called
shortly after her.
Almost scared to pick up the phone, she walked over to where it was
and slowly picked it up. She took a deep breath and said, "M-moshi
moshi,"
"Hello, Ukyo? This is Ranma, we just spoke a few minutes ago,"
"Um, y-yes? Is there something I can do for you?" she asked, holding
her breath. It was going to be bad news, she knew it.
"Well, I was looking over the name that you gave me," he said
casually, the complete opposite of how Ukyo was feeling at the moment.
"The name Kuonji. You also mentioned that you were a English teacher.
You would happen to be Kuonji-sensei that teaches at Furinkan High,
would you?"
"So it is you! You're the Ranma in my class," she said. She had always
assumed this, but she didn't know one hundred percent. She had been
hoping it was him. Perhaps it was wishful thinking that made it that
way.
Ranma chuckled, "My, what a small world. Anyway, I was just curious
and wanted to find out. That's all. I'll leave you alone now,"
"Y-you mean you're not calling to say you've had second thoughts?"
Ukyo asked numbly. She was so sure it was that. She was more shocked
that with Ranma's reply.
"Of course not," Ranma said, "And now that I know that you are indeed
a good teacher, it is all the more reason to hire you,"
Ukyo sat in the teacher's lounge, reading a book. She wasn't longer
drinking her morning coffee. Junko entered the room about fifteen
minutes before the first class for the school day was about to begin.
"G'morning," Junko said warmly, sitting down next to her friend. She
looked around and noticed something different about Ukyo, "Hey, where's
your usual morning coffee?"
Ukyo smiled, "I don't need any coffee to get my morning started, at
least not today,"
"Oh?"
"I slept pretty well last night," Ukyo replied happily, "That was
because I already found a second job, and one that I'm looking very
forward to working. I got a job tutoring. And since I love to teach, it
wouldn't be considered a job for me, but more like a hobby," Of course,
she didn't bother to tell who her employer was. That also added to her
looking forward to getting out of bed this morning.
"That's great!" Junko said, placing a hand over Ukyo, "Now you can
rest easy and don't have to worry about the rent increase,"
"Actually," Ukyo said, somewhat sullen, "That's not totally the case.
The tutoring job will only be temporary. Afterwards, I'm going to be
looking for a job. However, I won't have to worry about that for quite a
while. By then, I'll probably moved into a nicer and perhaps cheaper
apartment,"
"Or have gotten married," Junko joked, giggling a bit, nudging at her
friend. She and Ukyo also traded jibes at each other since they lacked a
social life, especially amoung men.
Ukyo only gave a weak leaugh this time around.
Junko stopped her laughing and decided to change the subject, "Hey,
guess what?"
"What?"
"You know that hunk I was telling you about? Ranma? I met him again
today," she replied, "God, have you met him yet? He's so attractive.
This is the second time I've seen him, and my knees still get wobbly
when I see him," She sighed and added, "Anyway, I found him walking down
the street while I was on my way here,"
Ukyo pretended to act uninterested as she continued to gaze at her
book, "Oh? Did you stop and talk to him? What did he say?" Although she
looked uninterested, she wanted to know. If her book was upside down,
she probably wouln't have noticed.
"I pulled up next to him and just said hi," Junko replied, "He said hi
back, and by name. He remembered my name from the other day. Anyway, we
chatted about nothing in particular and I found out he was headed toward
this school for some reason. I offered him a ride but he-"
"Y-you offered him a ride?!?" Ukyo gasped, looking up from her book.
She then realized she was supposed getting angry at nothing, "Um, w-why
would you do that? I mean, y-you hardly know the guy. He could be d-
dangerous?"
Junko thought about it for a moment and said, "Well, I guess, but I
was just being friendly. But don't worry, he didn't accept the ride. He
commented on how it was a nice day and that he wanted to walk. Now, the
thing that's been on my mind is that if he's heading toward this school,
why would he be coming here?"
Ukyo sighed a bit. She figured it was best to keep Junko out of the
dark.
"Junko, I have a confession," she began.
Junko eyed her friend with a raised eyebrow, "Don't tell me he's here
to see you?! You and he are seeing each other?!"
Ukyo blushed a horrible shade of red that seemed to catch Junko's eye.
"N-no, w-we're n-not seeing each other! It's n-nothing like that!"
"Then why?" she asked, "What's this confession you were about to
make?"
"He's one of my students," Ukyo replied, "He's attending this school.
It seems he didn't get his diploma when he was younger, so he came back
to school so he could get it this time around,"
Junko got out of her seat and walked behind Ukyo, wrapping an arm
around her friends neck in a gentle chokehold, "He is?! Why didn't you
tell me that?! I should choke ya to death for this! I know why, you're
trying to steal him all for yourself!!" However, it was all said
jokingly.
Ukyo struggled against her friend and said, "Hey, you're jumping to
conclusions, Junko!"
As she struggled, she ended up tipping her chair backwards where she
fell back on top of her friend. That made Junko let go of her
immediately. They lay on the floor, on top of one another, and started
laughing aloud.
Several of the other teachers were regarding the two of them like they
were crazy.
After a moments, they both got up to their feet and brushed the dirt
off their clothes.
Ukyo turned toward Junko and said, "I'm sorry, Junko, it's just that I
didn't want to ruin your day. I mean, you seemed all bright eyed when
you were talking about you that I didn't want to spoil it for you,"
Junko smiled, "Ah, don't worry about it. We can talk about this
later," She looked at her watch and then added, "Well, we better get to
our classes now. They're going to start in two more minutes,"
Ukyo nodded.
"Just one question," she asked "When is he in your class? What
period?"
"He's in my sixth period class, why?"
"I dunno, I was just curious,"
About halfway through class, Ukyo, finished writing the notes on the
chalkboard for her students to copy, turned around and caught sight of
Ranma sleeping.
"Ranma!" she said sternly. He was a student in her class. He was a
studen first, a man second.
Ranma snapped awake, "Eh? Y-yes?"
His hair was slightly mussed, like he had just gotten out of bed and
had forgotten to comb his hair. It made him look very sexily and made
her wonder if that was how he looked every time he got out of bed. There
was this slightly dazed look in his eyes, like he didn't know where he
was.
For a moment, she could feel some heat flooding to her cheeks as she
thought that but was glad that it wasn't noticeable.
"Go stand in the hall," she said, smirking slightly.
Ukyo looked at the piece of paper in front of her. This was definitely
the right address for Ranma's house. Ever since yesterday when she had
called, she and Ranma had spoken more often in school. However, the
conversations remained light, mostly about something like the weather.
There was one instance where they shared a joke as Ukyo commented on
Ranma falling asleep in her class and Ranma replying that it was his way
of simply getting used to school.
"You mean you slept in class when you were young?"
"All the time," he smiled. "Heck, you sending me out into the halls
brought back memories,"
They had both laughed together.
That had been a few hours ago. It was now four in the afternoon. Ukyo
had left immediately from school toward the address since she didn't
know where the address exactly was, giving herself a bit of time in case
she had gotten lost. Luckily, leaving early proved useful because she
had lost her way for a short while, arriving at his house at four, right
on time.
As she stood there, she had been expecting to see Ranma after school
so she could perhaps have some instructions to the address instead of
just the address and nothing more. Instead, she couldn't find him, Ranma
long gone by the time school ended.
I wonder where he goes after school, she thought to herself.
"Hello, Kuonji-sensei" came Ranma's soft voice from behind her, giving
her a start, spoken in English. She quickly turned around to face him
and was shocked to see that he wasn't alone. There were two little
girls, each one having a hand in Ranma's, standing on either side of
him.
"Um, c-call me, Ukyo," Ukyo said nervously, also speaking English. She
regarded the children for a quick moment, wondering who they were. They
regarded her with soft chocolate colored eyes that seemed to envelope
Ukyo in warmth. They were wearing cute matching dresses that seemed to
emphasize how identical they looked.
"Ukyo, this is Meggie and Jessie," he said, guesturing to the girl on
his left and then his right. The twins bowed politely at her.
"Hello, it's nice to meetcha," Meggie said, smiling warmly.
"Same here," Jessie added.
"Um, are these two your..." Ukyo stuttered, the first thing popping
into her mind.
Ranma smiled,
"Yes. They're my daughters,"
<transition scene needed>
"Don't you think it's about time you got married, honey?"
Ukyo sighed. Everytime she called her mother, she would always bring
up the same thing, when she was going to get married. She wondered why
she every bothered calling. It was always the same thing.
"You're not getting any younger," her mom's voice came from the
receiver.
She sighed again. Of course she wasn't getting any younger. But then
again, she isn't anywhere near old. She was only in her mid twenties.
"Who says I'm not going to get married," Ukyo retorted. She was sick
and tired of being asked the same thing. She was going to stop this once
and for all. "For your information, mother, I now have a fiancee. And
we're going to get married next month. I was, um, about to surprise you
_after_ I get married."
Her mother was estatic "Y-you are?! M-my little baby's getting
married! Oh, I'm so happy!"
"Look mom, I've gotta go now." she said as soon as her mother started
askign tons of questions.
"All right, but we're gonna sit down and have a nice long talk. I want
to meet the lucky fellow as soon as possible" her mom said.
Ukyo said in an exasperated voice, "Okay, fine. I'll introduce you to
him,"
And then hung up.
Ukyo slowly put the receive back on the hook. Perhaps she shouldn't
have said that.
Afterall, she needed a fiancee to get married.
That's all I've got so far. I wrote all of this in two sittings, about a quarter
of this on one night, and the rest just yesterday. Anyway, tell me whatcha think
if possible ^_^
-OneShot
Jeffrey Keith Wong
Author of Ranma's girls,
The least one can do, and
the 'just won't die' series.
http://www.li.net/~jeffwong/index.htm