alhuang@hcs.harvard.edu
http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~alhuang/

  Why do some people think that Ukyou's efforts to thwart the marriage
in V.38 of the manga suddenly is considered a murder attempt, indeed?
  All characters used and mentioned in the following work are the
property of Takahashi Rumiko-san.

And now, Oddzilla Productions presents....

"Talking About It" by Andrew Huang

<...>: thoughts

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  Ukyou wiped her grill a few more times with the rag, then sat down. It
was the day after the miserable failure of a wedding that she had, in a
large part, brought to its ugly end.

  When she thought about it, she couldn't believe what had happened. It
was a rather vicious thing that she had done, storming into the wedding
with her "gifts" for the married-couple-to-be. <What the hell was I
thinking?! Now, Ranchan probably hates me....>

  That last thought shook her rather badly. She had, after all, come
close to hurting a lot of people yesterday...Ranma probably wasn't too
pleased. What worried her the most was that he hadn't spoken to her
since--

  "Ucchan?"

  Ukyou was shaken out of her reverie. <Wha....> "Ranchan! Ranchan...."

  Ranma walked in the door and sat down in front of the grill. "Hi,
Ucchan. Sorry I didn't stop in earlier. I need to talk to you...."

  Ukyou walked around the grill to stand in front of Ranma. "About
yesterday." Ranma nodded.

  Suddenly, he found himself holding Ukyou in his arms, as she cried
into his shoulder. "God, Ranma, I'm so sorry so sorry so...." Her words
were cut off by her sobbing.

  Ranma was clearly caught by surprise. <Whoa....> "Ucchan, Ucchan, it's
okay! You don't have to...it's okay, it's okay, calm down...."

  Ukyou did so, after a few more minutes. Collecting herself, she took a
deep breath, and started talking about. "R-Ranchan, I'm so sorry about
yesterday. I don't know what came over me. It was stupid, so stupid....
God, I'm so stupid...." She was on the verge of tears again.

  "Ucchan..." began Ranma, taking one of her hands in his own and
squeezing. "I accept your apology. It did surprise me, though, I must
admit. It's not like you to try something like that...." Ukyou nodded.
"Most of all, the fact that you and Shampoo teamed up together--" Ranma
stopped and shook his head.

  Ukyou looked down at her feet, guiltily. "I--I know that I almost hurt
a lot of people. It was...inappropriate of me.... I guess that the idea
of losing you to Akane was...was...too much. And when Shampoo came to me
saying that she had a plan...." She wiped a hand across her eyes again.
"I should never have listened to her."

  Ranma laughed a little. "Like I said, Ucchan, it's okay. I mean, we've
all been through things much worse. It's not the first time that you and
Akane and Shampoo got into something. Those bombs? Remember what
Happosai uses. Those Happodaikarins of his are worse than what you
tossed around. I guess I'm a little hurt that you pulled that stunt, but
I think you're overreacting somewhat."

  "Me? Overreacting? I think you're underreacting."

  Ranma sighed. "Ucchan...you're too important to me. You're the best,
oldest friend I've got. I understand how you felt, I think. I mean, if 
I...." Ranma was about to continue, but thought better of it. "Never
mind. Just--you're taking this all too seriously. I think.... I think
it's less that I need to forgive you...than it is that you need to
forgive yourself."

  Ukyou finally managed to smile. "Arigato, Ranchan. You're too kind."
She gave him a tight hug. "So.... Are you hungry?"

  Ranma shook his head. "I'm okay. Besides, Kasumi is cooking something
special tonight, she says." He smiled back. "I'll see you tomorrow, at
school, okay?"

  Ukyou nodded back at him. He turned and walked out the door. She
returned to cleaning up the grill, but this time, with a much lighter
heart.


>From Andrew Huang, multi-ethnically minded Harvard Student
Brought to you by his computer, Oddzilla
Oddzilla says, "Ryouga and Ukyou! Ukyou and Ryouga!"
http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~alhuang
Kurimoto Shiro's manager, DBTFH