Chapter IV
Okonomiyaki and Jealousy

	Ukyou looked at Ranma and Ryouga in surprise. It was strange enough that
both had shown up TOGETHER, of all things, into Ucchan’s about ten minutes
before, but even more shockingly, they seemed to be actually getting along.
	The restaurant was quiet, all the patrons from dinner had disappeared at
least an hour before, and Ukyou had been cleaning up the tables and dishes
when the pair walked in through Ucchan’s door. Ukyou had quickly set them
down at a clean table and made them each an okonomiyaki, and then sat down
with the two. Ukyou watched as they munched happily and hungrily, wondering
what was going on. Then, Ranma had asked the question which so surprised her.
	"You... you... you want a -JOB-, Ranchan?" she stuttered out.
	Ranma, his mouth full, just nodded.
	Ukyou still looked surprised, and turned to Ryouga, asking, "You too, Ryouga?"
	Ryouga nodded also.
	The look of amazement just wasn't fading. Finally Ukyou got out, "You two
want to work... HERE.... together?!"
	Ryouga and Ranma looked at each other, wondering if they hadn’t been clear
enough. Ryouga swallowed and then smiled at Ukyou and decided to add,
"Well... Ranma here mentioned that Konatsu had gone off and found himself a
new job.... and the two of us have found that we really need to get some
money together."
	"What could you possibly need money for? Do you owe some debt to Nabiki?"
	Both Ryouga and Ranma looked surprised, and then Ranma said, "Uh... not
exactly."
	"What else could make the two of you start being so friendly to each
other?" Ukyou wanted to know.
	Ranma gulped down the last of his okonomiyaki and took a few slurps of
water from his glass before he answered Ukyou. Ranma began by telling Ukyou
that he and Ryouga and probably Mousse, Shampoo, and Genma, were thinking of
going back to China to find out if there were any other cursed pools or
cures for curses besides Jusenkyo.
	"I’ve heard THIS one before.." she said, but she still put her elbows on
the table and relaxed as she listened to Ranma and Ryouga’s plan, cupping
her face with her hands.
	She nodded once or twice as Ranma talked, and afterwards turned to look
curiously at Ryouga.
	"Ryouga," she asked, "Why on Earth do -YOU- want to go on this journey? I
mean, you aren’t cursed, and Ranchan has never exactly been your favorite
person..."
	Ryouga gulped, started to twiddle his thumbs together, turned bright red,
and started to stutter out, "I.... I..... I..."
	Ranma finally sighed, grabbed his now half-full glass of water, and
muttered, "Sorry to do this to you, man, but if we are going to work here we
need to tell her the truth," and poured the cool liquid on the shocked and
incoherent Ryouga.
	"Bwee!!!!" Ryouga screamed, now P-chan, and started to chomp on Ranma’s
hand. Ranma just let him do it, ignoring the pain, and turned to see Ukyou’s
reaction.
	She had her hands over her mouth, obviously in shock, and went from a
sickly pale to a bright blush. Ranma wondered if she was going to faint or
scream or something. She did neither: instead, she burst out laughing.
	Ukyou giggled and choked and pointed her finger at P-chan, gasping,
"Ryouga... YOU are P-CHAN?!!"
	Ryouga stopped chewing on Ranma’s hand, and sank to the table in despair.
Small tears formed at the corners of his eyes. He looked miserable.
	Ukyou noticed Ryouga’s tears and tried to calm herself. It was, to say the
least, difficult. She got out, "Oh....Ryouga....I am so-so-sorry!" Then she
giggled again. "But it is SO funny!"
	Tears of laughter started to stream down her face, and Ranma and Ryouga
shared a look of bafflement. Every time Ukyou would start to calm down she
would turn her eyes to P-chan and simply start laughing again. She said,
finally becoming a bit more coherent, "No WONDER Ranma always called you
P-chan... No wonder he got so mad considering you were cuddling up to Akane
all the time!"
	Suddenly, Ukyou stopped laughing completely, and looked serious. Both
Ryouga and Ranma exchanged a look of puzzlement before Ukyou asked quietly,
"Ranchan?"
	Ranma looked worried and said, "What?"
	"Does this mean you were jealous of Ryouga all this time? Does this mean
you really DO care about Akane?"
	Ranma turned a bit red and glanced down at the table. Finally, he looked
up, his eyes a bit sad, this being the hardest person to hurt- his oldes
friend, and nodded. He got out, "Uh....Ucchan...I...uh...I don’t know how to
tell you this, but I have thought a lot about it... and I... uh...I think I...."
	"Love her?" Ukyou supplied.
	Ranma just turned his gaze to the table again.
	During this little heart-to-heart, Ryouga decided to go find some hot
water. He looked over to the grill and noticed a pot of water being heated.
It was nice that all of Ranma's friends were always prepared with hot water
for situations just like this. Ryouga got up from his pile of clothing, went
over to the grill, managed to knock the teapot over and splash the hot water
on himself. He was a bit red and scalded when he walked back over to the
table, also completely nude (covering his private parts though, of course),
but needing to get his clothing.
	Neither Ranma nor Ukyou noticed either Ryouga or his nudity; Ranma was too
busy contemplating the table and Ukyou was even busier contemplating Ranma.
	Ryouga shrugged (as best he could while still covering his essentials) and
began to look for a door, any door, to a room where he could go change.
Ryouga decided to try the big door with the red curtains. Suddenly, Ryouga
saw sunlight. And people staring and pointing at the nude boy who had just
wandered  out of Ucchan’s.
	 Ryouga turned bright red when he realized he was standing in the street,
and turned to run back into Ucchan’s. His face flaming, Ryouga looked over
to see Ukyou and Ranma still absorbed in their conversation, and he finally
decided it would be safe enough to hide behind the grill and change.
	Not meaning to eavesdrop, but deciding it was unavoidable lest he get lost
again, Ryouga heard Ranma say to Ukyou, "It isn’t that I don’t care about
you, Ucchan. You are one of my best friends... I do care about you... more
than any of my other friends..."
	Ukyou interrupted with, "You just love her more."
	Ukyou’s eyes dropped and she decided to contemplate the table herself.
Suddenly, a single tear fell with a splash to the wood surface. Ranma
shuddered, hearing the drop magnified a thousand times, and reached one of
his hands out to cover Ukyou’s.
	"Please don’t cry, Ucchan."
	She looked up, her eyes shining with tears, but still gave him a watery
smile. She sighed and said quietly, "I... understand. I can’t say that I am
happy for you, or that I am not jealous and hurt, but I understand."
	Ranma smiled back at her, knowing she was hurting, but thankful that she
wasn’t going to be persistent like Shampoo. Of course, Shampoo and Ukyou
were as different as two women could be.
	"Thank-you, Ucchan."
	"You're welcome, Ranchan."
	Ryouga decided that it was time to interrupt this little touching
interlude, and coughed loudly to remind the two that he was there. Ranma
turned and looked at Ryouga and asked, curious, "Where have you been?"
	"I went to go get dressed, idiot. SOMEONE turned me into a pig if you
remember..." Ryouga growled.
	"Uh... sorry."
	"Humph."
	Ukyou was giggling again, mixing tears with laughter.
	Ranma looked to Ukyou who was starting to look better after the chuckle,
her eyes were drier. Ukyou smiled and asked in a still slightly-choked
voice, "So, do you two still want jobs? I COULD really use some help, but
the pay won’t be much."
	Ranma grinned and said, "No problem. Sure beats working at the Nekohantan."
	Ryouga looked happy too, but then his smile faded.
	"Ranma..." Ryouga began.
	"What?"
	"Uh.... Where am I gonna stay, Ranma? I mean... my usual place isn’t
exactly practical anymore...." Ryouga paused and looked up at Ranma
cautiously. Ranma, as Ryouga expected, was looking more than a little peeved
at Ryouga’s reminder of a certain P-chan’s sleeping habits.
	Ranma growled, "And your point is....?"
	"Well... uh... If I try to get back to my house you might not see me for a
long time... and I can’t just camp out in some park for several months..."
Ryouga continued.
	"Why not? You do it all the time!"
	"RANNNNNNMMMMAA!!"
	"I have an idea," Ukyou interrupted quietly.
	Both boys turned to Ukyou, who had a small smile on her face.She said,
"Ryouga. Why don’t you move into Konatsu’s room? I mean it isn’t exactly
luxurious, but at least it is warm and dry and it would be pretty hard for
you to get lost on your way to work."
	Ranma chuckled at that and said, "You would be surprised, Ucchan..." Ranma
then ducked, expecting to be decked by Ryouga.
	Ryouga, however, was still gaping at Ukyou and finally said, "Wha...?"
	It hit Ranma that this meant the Ryouga would be out of his hair in BOTH
forms around the Tendo dojo, and suddenly Ranma was practically bouncing up
and down. "You know, this is a GREAT idea, Ucchan!"
	Ukyou flushed.
	Ranma added, "But it isn’t going to be easy having him around, Ucchan! I
mean you will have to keep an eye on him constantly... or else he might get
lost or become Cantonese style pork....."
	Ukyou giggled, she had heard about Shampoo's little "lunch" for Ranma, made
an even funnier story now that she know that Akane's pet pig was RYOUGA.
	Ryouga, tired of being put down, could say only "RAAAAAANNNNNNNNNMMMMAAA!"
at that point.
	Ranma let Ryouga chase him around a bit before he finally said, "Shouldn’t
we be working or something?"
	Ryouga stopped and muttered, "Uh. Yeah. So, Ukyou.... when do we start?"
	Ukyou smiled and ordered, "Right NOW! Start cleaning those tables! Ranma!
You can go home when you finish. Ryouga! I will show you to your room when
this place is SPOTLESS!!"
	Ryouga and Ranma frantically began to clean and Ukyou just sat down and
sighed in contentment, glad to be off her feet for once.

********

	Ranma was LATE. VERY late. Akane didn’t understand it. Ranma was never
late. He had missed snowcones, and Ranma NEVER missed food. It was now 11:00
PM, way past bedtime, and both of them had school tomorrow. That was also
not like Ranma. He would never give up on sleep unless he had a really good
reason. After all... Ranma’s favorite things in all the world were sleep and
food.... only beat out by martial arts, and even that didn’t ALWAYS beat out
sleep and food ALL the time. In fact, Akane realized, several of Ranma’s
battles were OVER food and sleep.
	Where was he? She had expected him to come and talk to her hours ago about
what had happened… But he hadn’t shown up. So, desperate to know the truth,
she went looking for him. No one had seen Ranma since right after dinner…
which was right before the kiss.
	"Did he finally decide he can’t stand me and took off?" She thought to
herself, a single tear running down her cheek; she wiped it away furiously.
	Tears were not the answer in a situation like this. ANGER was what she
needed… an emotion she was comfortable with. She hated worrying. Why should
SHE have to worry about a no-good hentai jerk baka with no brain whatsoever.
What was his problem! 
	But it just wasn’t working.
Akane looked at the clock again and sighed. 11:04. Where WAS he?
	She thought back to the kiss they had shared earlier. She still hadn't
figured out what it meant. One minute he had kissed her back, and the next
minute he went to hide in the bathroom.
	"Coward," she muttered.
	She had looked for him around the dojo after that, but there was no sign of
him. She figured he had run off somewhere, but she didn't have the
inclination to go wandering about in the dark looking for him. Was he mad
because she had kissed him? Did he not like her? But… it had seemed like he
had responded to the kiss.
She sighed.
Where WAS he ANYWAY? Baka. The least he could do would be to come TALK about it.
	Suddenly, she heard someone knocking at her window. She looked out over her
desk and saw the dark head and bright blue-grey eyes of the baka she had
been wasting her time worrying about. But a spark of joy erupted in her
chest, and it was difficult for her to hide her happiness that he HAD come home…
Akane did her best to push down the emotion, and strode over to the window,
slamming  it open to let Ranma bounce in. Akane placed her hands on her hips
and said fiercely, "You better have a GOOD reason for being so late."
	"What, are you my mom?" Ranma asked, surprised at her behavior.
 	Akane looked like she was ready to hit him and shouted, "Shut UP!!!"
	He wondered what was wrong, and guessed that she could still be mad about
the kiss in the bathroom. But mad about WHAT? SHE had kissed HIM. Or maybe
it was that he hadn’t come to talk to her about it until now…? He stared at
her, confused.
	He looked into her eyes and noticed they were a little red and puffy… as if
she had been crying.
	Suddenly, it dawned on Ranma, and he said quietly, "You were worried about me."
	Akane turned bright red and said sharply, "I was NOT! You take your..."
	Then she realized how quietly he had said it, as if he was GLAD she had
worried about him; he wasn’t just using her caring against her as he usually
did. He had made a statement, not a taunt.
	Akane looked slowly up at Ranma who was staring at her with a strange soft
glow in his eyes.
	"Ranma....?" She asked, a bit cautious.
	Ranma just looked at Akane. She looked beautiful in a pale yellow nightgown
and he could tell her hair was still slightly wet from taking a bath or
shower. He could smell a soft, sweet scent like lilacs coming from her. He
sighed and said, "Akane, you look really nice tonight."
	Akane looked shocked, and began to blush, the pink flush blooming on her
cheeks. Suddenly, Ranma was coming toward her, and he slowly put his arms
around her. She looked up into his eyes and saw something there that could
be....might be.....was it? was it love? Then his eyes closed, and so did
hers. She waited, anticipating his next move, but not quite believing it was
going to happen. But it did.
	Ranma slowly lowered his lips to hers and kissed her.
	It wasn’t quite as awkward as earlier, as Ranma was prepared this time, and
both were not quite as scared.
He started at first by kissing her lightly, enjoying the soft petal-like
quality of her lips. His eyes closed and he drew her closer to him, reaching
his hand up to stroke her soft hair. Akane stroked her hands down his back,
enjoying the feel of his slightly tense muscles. It was wonderful.
	Suddenly Ranma deepened the kiss, and Akane jumped a bit, not used to the
feel of his tongue in her mouth, and also a bit shocked by the intimacy she
was experiencing with Ranma. It was too new... and a bit frightening... and
so different from anything she had ever shared with Ranma... different from
anything she had shared with ANYONE as a matter of fact. At first, she was a
bit disgusted by this intimate act, but she began to enjoy it. It was nice
to be so close to someone that you could feel the heat from their body
warming your own.
The sensation send chills up her spine. She thought about the kiss and
Ranma, finding it so strange that she could even taste a certain flavor in
his mouth, not a bad flavor, more like.....
	Suddenly, Akane froze. She might be the worst cook in all of Japan and not
know table salt from baking soda, but she prided herself on knowing the
flavors and tastes of several different kinds of foods. She could tell a
fine meal from a bad one, which was why she usually didn’t try her own food.
She could identify flavors as second nature.
And she knew exactly what she tasted with Ranma.
	Akane’s hand flew back and suddenly slapped Ranma soundly across the cheek.
Ranma’s hand flew to his face and he looked shocked.
"What didja do THAT for?" he wanted to know, looking more hurt on the inside
than on the outside.
	Akane yelled at him, "Get OUT of my ROOM! Go BACK to Ukyou’s!! That is
where you have been all evening, RIGHT? You IDIOT! I could taste the
okonomiyaki! If you prefer her company…. I mean, you had your chance today
to talk to ME!" she started to cry and screamed, "JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!!!"
	Ranma began to babble, "No. NO!! Akane, you are SO wrong! That isn’t it at
ALL...."
	Akane would hear none of it and punted Ranma out the still-open window. She
heard a splash as Ranma landed in the pond below and leaned out the window
to shout, "I, unlike SOME people, need to get my sleep for SCHOOL!!" Akane
slammed the window shut and fell to the bed, the tears starting again. She
reached up and touched her lips; they still felt strange from Ranma’s kiss.
	"Ranma no BAKA!!" she muttered, before going to turn the light off and
crawling under the covers. Sleep was bound to be difficult after this
strange day. However, after a bit of tossing and turning, and several bouts
of tears, Akane managed to sink into the depths of slumber.
	Ranma-chan climbed out of the pond, wringing out her shirt. HE wanted to go
explain to Akane. Ranma wanted to tell her he was sorry and to tell her the
truth. He had to admit it: he also wanted to kiss her again. He put his
hands to his lips and sighed... wishing it hadn’t ended the way it did… the
way EVERY intimate situation seemed to end.
He looked up at the moon, but all he saw was how Akane had looked in her
nightgown with her freshly washed hair, superimposed over the cool white globe.
	Ranma smiled at the image and said quietly, "Kawaii....."

Marisa Price
marisa@gladstone.uoregon.edu
Anime Page!!! includes my Ranma and MI picture pages!!
http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/~marisa/
Mermaid Saga Web Page!!
http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/~marisa/mermaid.html
Member of COR and UDIC.
Anime otaku forever! Medieval Studies and English major.