Author's pre-note...
     "Itsu mo, 'Ucchan'" takes place a couple years after the 
     Ranma � series (V38) ends.  Keep this in mind while you
     read this story...
==============================================================

     <Tok><Tok><Tok><Tok>

     "Huh?" Akane looked around as a last <tok> sounded. "Oh,
it's the door. Don't worry, I'll get it!" she called out to
anyone that might be in the vicinity.

     "Konichi-" she said, only to find the doorstep empty.
Curious, she looked around. On steps of the dojo's entrance were
four sharpened spatulas, a bento box, and an envelope next to the
unopened bento box.

     Puzzled, Akane picked up the spatulas, the bento, and the
letter, and went into the house, placing all of the items on the
low table. 

     Akane headed toward the dojo where Ranma was busy doing a
kata. Not bothering to wait till he was done, she called "Ranma!"

     "Ne?" Ranma asked, stopping his kata to look at Akane. "Hey,
is something wrong?"

     "I don't know..." Akane replied, motioning for him to follow
her into the house, which he did.

     "You okay?" Ranma asked Akane, "you look kinda upset."

     "You have a message from Ukyou," she replied, motioning
toward the objects on the low table.

     Ranma cocked an eyebrow, sitting down at the table. "Why are
you so upset? I thought you two were friends..."

     "We are," Akane replied, joining him. "But that's not what
I'm worried about."

     "Oh hey!" Ranma opened the bento, revealing a freshly
cooked, deluxe okonomiyaki. "It was Ucchan! Why didn't you invite
her in, Akane?" he asked, already starting to eat the pancake.

     "That's just it, you baka," Akane replied, rolling her eyes.
"You didn't give me time to explain before you started stuffing
yourself," she told him while Ranma made a face. "She didn't come
and deliver it.... When I opened the door, there was no one
there! I guess she threw the spatulas at the door to knock, and
left the bento and the letter."

     "Letter?" Ranma asked. Akane rolled her eyes at Ranma again,
who ignored her, and handed Ranma the envelope which he'd put
aside upon opening the bento box.

     "Oh, letter," he replied, his mouth stuffed full of
okonomiyaki. Swallowing, he looked at the envelope. "Saotome
'Ranchan' Ranma... yeah, it is Ucchan..." He suddenly looked at
the envelope. "This isn't like Ucchan to just leave a letter
though... I wonder..."

     "Read it, Ranma..." Akane asked. "Something's gotta be going
on..."

     "All right..." Ranma opened the envelope and took the letter
out, all the while taking small bites off the okonomiyaki.
 
<Dearest Ranchan,

     <Well, Ranchan, I've known you  for almost fifteen years
now, and I've finally decided that it's time for me to move on...
away from Nerima, away from my okonomiyaki-ya... and away from
you...>

     "Huh?" Ranma said aloud, swallowing the bite of okonomiyaki
he had in his mouth without bothering to chew it. "Ucchan's...
moving away?"

     "Nani?!" Akane asked, trying to reach for the letter. But
Ranma held on, reading.

     <I'm sorry Ranchan, for not having told you sooner. I've
been thinking about it for awhile now.... I know that if I'd told
you, or Akane-chan, both of you would have tried to stop me, like
good friends would.> 

     "Yeah," Ranma muttered, "we would have..."

     <It's been one the hardest decisions in my life to make; the
only other really hard one I could think of was my decision five
years ago to run away from my family to find you.

     <Five years... it seems like a lifetime, ne, Ranchan? I
remember I tried to kill you because you left me so many years
before.> Ranma smiled, memories coming back to him of the girl he
thought was a boy. Back then, everyone was a guy to him. <I'm
glad I didn't though.... After I found out about your having
another iinazuke, I was really hurt. But then I saw you and
Akane-chan. You guys didn't get along so well back then, ne?
Remember, Ranchan? I remember when you introduced us... what was
it you said? Oh, yeah... "Kawaii iinazuke, meet kawaiikune
iinazuke." Back then I thought it meant something special....

     <"Kawaiikune"... that's what you always called Akane-chan
back then. Ranchan, will you ever learn? It's "kawaiiku _nai_"...
not "kawaiikune"; you still say it wrong after all these years. 

     Ranma smiled. Leave it to Ucchan to point out something like
that....

     <At first, I thought that you really meant that you thought
Akane-chan was uncute, and I thought that maybe... well, just
maybe I could show that I was cuter than Akane-chan. Back then, I
still had hope...

     Ranma frowned, a little upset. He didn't know what he was
doing back then.... <I was young,> he found himself thinking,
reflecting on events in the past.... Finding some memories
painful, he stopped, and continued reading Ukyou's letter.

     <As time went by, I started to see through everything, the
name-calling, the face-making, the mallets... and I saw what all
of us didn't want to see. You two loved each other, a lot... and
you still do. But even you and Akane-chan tried to hide it from
yourselves... and then, as you both discovered the truth, you
tried to hide it from each other. I remember the day you told me
that you loved Akane, Ranchan.> 

     Ranma put the letter down for a second, remembering, looking
over at Akane as he did so. Akane looked at him in confusion as
Ranma handed her the letter and told her to read it. She skimmed
it, and then looked back at him.

     "Out loud?" Akane asked. "You sure? You don't look..."

     "No, read it, Akane... I think she wants you to see this,
too..."

     "Okay," Akane replied, beginning to read.

     "<You were so confused, but you were happier than I'd ever
seen you, Ranchan. You wanted to know what to do about it..... So
I gave you my advice, and a fresh-cooked deluxe okonomiyaki. You
scarfed it down like always, never bothering to see what I'd
written with the sauce. I still remember the message, too... "I
love you, Ranchan", same as almost all the other okonomiyakis
I've made since I found you again. I've always wondered whether
you saw them or not.>" Akane stopped reading as she noticed Ranma
looking guiltily at the okonomiyaki that he'd been eating.  

     "<That day, you left my shop with a smile on your face and a
'Thanks for being my best friend, Ucchan.' You gave me a hug; I
can still feel the warmth of that hug, Ranchan. And then, I
watched you jump on a fence and head home, that smile still on
your face. That night was the first night of many nights that I
cried myself to sleep.

     "<You asked me on your wedding day why I looked so tired. I
never wanted to tell you why... how could I? You were, and you
are, my best friend, and I didn't want to make trouble for you...
not on what was going to be the happiest day of your life.>"

     "And it really was," Ranma said, peering over Akane's
shoulder as she read aloud, kissing her on the cheek.

     Akane blushed, and kept reading the letter. "<So I made
something up about worrying about the bills for the shop. I
didn't cry at your wedding. I had a real smile on my face when I
congratulated you and Akane-chan. I was happy for you two, you
both looked so happy. After two years of "kawaiikune" and "Ranma
no baka", it was nice to see you both together, happy, and in
love.>" Akane read that over again. 

     "I-I knew for a long time that she loved you, Ranma..."
Akane told him, looking up at him. "But to her, being your friend
was her way of showing her love... that what she told me awhile
back."

     Ranma nodded. "Yeah... that's Ucchan...."

     Akane resumed reading the letter, "<Since that day, I've
tried to get over you, Ranchan. For awhile, I still cried myself
to sleep, thinking of you. I loved you, and it made me glad to
see you so happy with Akane-chan, but it hurt me to know that the
man I loved didn't love me.>" Akane paused. She could remember a
time when she felt the same way about Ranma... when he was still
calling her "kawaiikune". "<But, having friends to help me
through this time is something I can never pay back. Konatsu
being here has helped a lot, and he's almost as good a friend to
me as you are. Akane-chan, too... >" Akane smiled a little and
gave the letter back to Ranma, who also started reading aloud. 

     "<I know she's reading this with you, Ranchan; I hope she's
not mad at me.>" Ranma looked up at Akane. "Are you, Akane?"

     Akane smiled at Ranma, and shook her head. "No. I knew all
this time that she loved you like this... but I know that she
knew that you were my husband, and you'll stay my husband. I know
that I'm the lucky one, Ranma...."

     Ranma smiled back at Akane. "<She's been just as good a
friend to me as you have, Ranchan. Don't worry, Akane-chan, I'm
not trying to steal Ranchan away. He's yours, just as he wants
himself to be, and just as he should be. Take good care of him,
Akane-chan... I'm sure glad you learned how to cook!>

     Both Ranma and Akane chuckled a little at this. Her terrible
cooking had improved with, as Kasumi and Nodoka had foreseen,
Akane's slowing down a little in the kitchen, as well as some
preliminary supervision. Ukyou had even taught her to cook
okonomiyaki.... It was never quite as good as hers, of course,
but Ranma ate it with no ill side effects....

     "<Because I've had good friends like you, and time, I've
gotten over you, Ranchan. I still love you; I'll always love you.
You were my first love, and you and Akane-chan are my best
friends in the world. But, I realized a few months ago that I
can't stay here much longer. It's nothing against you or Akane-
chan... I know I'll miss you two, a lot. It's not painful
anymore... it hasn't been painful in awhile, to see you together.
Really, it makes me very happy. As my best friends, I'd have
nothing less than have you two happy together.> Yeah, that sure
is Ucchan," Ranma said quietly for the second time. "<My pain has
healed, but scars remain.

     "<Like Ryouga-kun said at your wedding, 'I'm going off on a
long journey....'>" This made Ranma and Akane laugh again.
Ryouga, upon watching their wedding, had claimed that he would be
"off on a long journey to clear his mind", when he showed up
about half an hour later with Akari. 

     "<So am I, but I'm not going to be back for awhile! I'm
going to visit my family for awhile, and I'll be back as soon as
I'm ready to come back... which I hope won't be long. Konatsu is
staying here with "Ucchan's", and I've given him instructions to
make sure that you two always get a free deluxe okonomiyaki
whenever you come in... just like always! I hope you'll still
feel at home there.>" Ranma shook his head, as did Akane.
"Ucchan's" was home for them when "Ucchan" was there. Even though
Konatsu was also a friend of theirs, and they were sure they'd
visit him (and Ranma was sure to take advantage of the free
okonomiyaki), both Ranma and Akane knew that Ucchan's just
wouldn't be the same without Ukyou; she was the heart and soul of
the place.

     "<Ranchan... Akane-chan... ookini, for everything you've
done for me. I'll be back... Yubikiri...? Please, welcome me when
I return...>"

     "Don't worry, Ukyou, we will," Akane nodded her head.

"<Itsu mo,

<Kuonji 'Ucchan' Ukyou>"

     Ranma folded the letter and put it away. "So Ucchan's gonna
go away on a trip, ne?" he said, sighing and leaning back a
little. 

     Akane patted Ranma on the shoulder and kissed him on the
cheek. "Ukyou's strong... she'll be back soon, Ranma."

     Ranmd stood up, and nodded. "I know, Akane... you're right,
she'll be back." He picked up the bento box, only to notice a
small piece of paper fall to the floor.

     "Another note?" Akane wondered, picking it up. Reading it,
she chuckled, and handed the note to Ranma.

     <Ranchan & Akane-chan,> it read. <The okonomiyakies said 'Ja
ne! I'll be back soon... Love, Ucchan'. Akane-chan, next time I
send you two okonomiyaki, make sure Ranchan doesn't eat yours,
too. Ranchan... next time, make sure that you leave the other for
Akane-chan.>

=================================================================
Author's post note and thoughts about Ukyou...

     ^_^; I hope you liked this story. The story of "Itsu mo,
'Ucchan'" actually popped into being in order to explain some
events in a series of fan-fics I'm working on that document the
lives of Ranma and Akane following the end (V38). But in
reviewing the story, and submitting it to pre-readers (thanks to
Mario "Lee-kun" Bansen III, Christopher Joseph, and John Bogan),
I decided that with a little pre-note, it might be feasible to
post just on it's own.

     Though my favorite characters in Ranma � are Ranma and
Akane, Ukyou holds a special place in my heart. I've always
thought that upon the marriage of Ranma and Akane, that Ukyou
wouldn't find someone else, and it's on this premise that I wrote
this story. Ukyou has the potential of being an extremely tragic
character, doomed to love someone that she knows loves someone
else. But, I think that Ukyou's a very strong person, and her
strength will someday carry her through.

Author's post note #2...

     In case you really liked the story and want to comment on it
(or in case you really HATED the story and wanna flame me...
please, be gentle!! ^_^; ), you can e-mail me at:
                                     
                           mi-chan@ix.netcom.com

     All comments are greatly appreciated. 

Ja ne!

Washu's #1 Student...
Michelle "Mi-chan" Mista

***************************************************
* Ranma � * Tenchi Muyo! * Dragon Ball Z *
***************************************************
   "Honto wa kantan-na no shiawase ni naru 
    koto..."
                       -"Positive"
                 Ranma � Nettouhen Ending
***************************************************
   "The simple truth makes me happy..."
                        -"Positive"
                 Ranma � Nettouhen Ending
***************************************************