I tried to post this a few days ago, and you all know what happened 
to the list...so here it goes again. Gomen nasai if this shows up 
twice.

Ranma 1/2 owned by Takahashi Rumiko, etc etc. I'm not getting paid, 
so the legal types can kiss off.

          Faux Existence

   Yamaguchi Kotomi sighed wearily as she finished wiping down the 
last table in the now empty supper club. Leaving her rag in the 
kitchen, she headed into the locker area and began changing out of 
her work uniform.    "Kuso...I wish we didn't have to wear this tight 
thing," she complained to nobody in particular.
   One of her co-workers laughed. "Hey, at least it pays the bills, 
ne Kotomi-chan?"
   Kotomi sighed. "Yeah, pays the bills. Not what I'd prefer to be 
doing, but at least I'm not out on the streets."
   Adjusting her Chinese-cut black blouse and making sure she didn't 
miss any of the ties, she grabbed her purse and left the club.

   A block away from the club, Kotomi was stopped by three large, 
scruffy men. The largest of the three, bald and stupid-looking, 
leered at her. "Hey koneko, let's you 'n me 'n my boys go have a 
little fun, whatcha say?"
   "I say go to hell," Kotomi growled.
   The two other men laughed, while the leader glared down at her. 
"You stupid little bitch, when I say you're gonna come with me, 
you're gonna do it or I'm gonna hurt ya!"
   "Try it," Kotomi ground out, scowling. 
   "Little WHORE!" the bald man shouted, and pulled out a wicked 
dagger. As he thrust it, intending to cut her blouse open, Kotomi 
dropped into a crouch and swept his legs out from under him, then 
sprang up and flipped backwards, landing in a ready position. 
   The other two street toughs pulled their weapons as their leader 
righted himself, snarling. "You'll pay for that, little bitch." 
   As he charged again, Kotomi dashed to the side, turned, and 
hammered his side with surprisingly powerful punches. Gasping, the 
large man dropped to one knee. With anger clear in her sapphire eyes, 
Kotomi delivered a sharp kick to his kidneys. He fell over, barely 
conscious and in a lot of pain.
   "Alright, guys, your turn," Kotomi said evenly. The other two 
hoods seemed rather uncertain about facing her, but their boss was 
down and they had to do something. They attacked, but discovered too 
late the mistake that was, as they too were downed by the slight 
young woman.
   Straightening her blouse, Kotomi spat on the leader. "Bastards," 
she snarled, and turned to continue down the street, swatting at a 
stray lock of her long green hair which had gotten in her face.

   As she neared her apartment, Kotomi was greeted by an exuberant 
shout.
   "Kotomi-chan!" cried a young woman running up to her. The girl had 
shoulder-length blond hair, and was, like Kotomi, rather pretty. 
Kotomi smiled at her, and waved.
   "Hi Megumi-chan!" Kotomi called as the other woman neared. The two 
hugged, and Megumi gave Kotomi a little peck on the cheek. "How was 
work, Kotomi-chan?"
   Kotomi shrugged. "Same as usual. How about you?"
   Megumi grinned. "I got a promotion! I'm assistant shift manager 
now."
   Kotomi beamed. "Congratulations! We should go out and celebrate."
   Megumi got a mischevious look in her eyes. "Yeah...or we could 
celebrate right here at your place." 
   Kotomi's eyes widened, and her grin became somewhat lusty as the 
two made their way upstairs.

   The next day, Kotomi and Megumi sat together in a small 
okonomiyaki-ya that that had opened a few weeks earlier. As they 
talked and ate, Megumi frowned at something. "Say, Kotomi..."
   "Yeah?" Kotomi asked around a mouthful of shrimp okonomiyaki.
   Megumi pointed a chopstick in the general direction of Kotomi's 
head. "What's up with your hair?"
   "My hair?" Kotomi asked, confused.
   Megumi nodded. "Yeah. Umm...I know that red and green go together 
for Christmas, but it just doesn't look right on a girl's head, 
y'know?"
   Kotomi's head snapped up, a look of alarm on her face. "Red?" 
Megumi nodded. Kotomi dug around in her purse for a compact, and 
checked herself in the mirror. As her friend had indicated, the roots 
of her green hair were a bright copper color. "Kuso!" she hissed. "I 
can't believe I didn't catch that last night."
   Megumi looked confused. "Catch what?" Suddenly it dawned on her. 
"Oh...Kotomi...you mean you dye your hair?"
   Kotomi sighed and nodded. "Hai."
   "But...why? I mean, you'd look pretty either way...you're really a 
redhead?"
   "Hai, it's really red." Putting away her compact, Kotomi shrugged 
and started on her okonomiyaki again. "Mm, this is really good. It 
kinda reminds me of..."
   "Of what?" Megumi asked.
   Kotomi sighed. "Nothing. Just an old memory from when I was a kid.
"
   Behind the grill of the okonomiyaki-ya, a young woman wearing 
traditional okonomiyaki-seller's clothes paused for a moment to show 
the new young cook a better cooking technique. A waitress came up to 
her and said, "Kuonji-san, there's a phone call for you. Seems pretty 
important."
   "Hmm? Who's it from, sugar?"
   "I'm not sure. They mentioned the name Saotome though..."
   Kuonji Ukyou looked up sharply. "Ranchan!" she yelped, and dashed 
into the back.
 
   At their table, Kotomi was staring at the swinging door behind the 
counter. She'd heard the waitress call the owner "Kuonji-san", and 
the entire restaurant had heard her exclamation. Kotomi wiped her 
mouth, and grabbed her purse, tossing some yen on the table. "Let's 
go Megumi."
   Megumi looked down at her half-eaten okonomiyaki. "But...I wasn't 
finished..."
   "Wrap it up and take it with you. We need to leave, now."
   Puzzled, Megumi barely had time to find something to put the dish 
in as her friend practically yanked her out the door.

   "Moshi-moshi? This is Kuonji Ukyou."
   "Hey Ukyou, it's Nabiki."
   Ukyou blinked. That was the last voice she'd ever expected to hear.
 "Nabiki? What's up?"
   "Listen, I know something important, and I figured since you set 
up a new shop in Kyoto you needed to know this."
   Ukyou was confused. "What's this about, Nabiki?"
   "Listen, I've been doing some heavy detective work and tracing, 
and I think I finally found Ranma."
   "Ranchan!? Where is he!? Tell me!!!" Ukyou hadn't seen Ranma in 
seven years, not since that day...
   "He appears to be in Kyoto. I couldn't get much on him, but it 
looks like he's set up a new life for himself as a girl. All I know 
is he took a trip to China, showed up in Japan again, and vanished. 
But it looks like he was headed for the vicinity of Kyoto."
   "Thanks Nabiki. I'll keep an eye out, see if I can spot him 
anywhere."
   Ukyou hung up the phone, and walked out into the restaurant proper.
 Her waitresses were puzzling over a wad of bills. "What's goin' on 
out here?" she asked.
   Her head waitress indicated the wad of money. "Those two women 
that come in here all the time. They just took off all of a sudden. 
Overpaid the bill too. We're just trying to figure out how to split 
up the extra cash."
   Ukyou blinked. She'd seen her new regular customers, the two women 
who looked like they were more than friends, often enough, but had 
been too busy to get a chance to greet them herself. She chuckled. 
They always ate plenty, in fact...
   She gasped. "Anou...the one with the green hair...she usually 
orders a lot of okonomiyaki, doesn't she?"
   The head waitress nodded. "At least three, every time she comes in.
"
   Ukyou slumped against the wall. "Masaka..."

   Kotomi slumped against the wall of her apartment and groaned. 
Megumi stared at her with concern in her eyes. "Kotomi-chan? What's 
going on?"
   The green-haired girl sighed, then forced a fake smile on her face 
and shook her head. "Nothing, Megumi-chan. Don't worry about it."
   Megumi smirked. "Don't give me that. You don't run out of a 
restaurant like that over nothing."
   Kotomi sighed, and closed her eyes. "Alright...it's just, I know 
the woman who owns that restaurant. She's...kinda someone I don't 
want to run into."
   "Oh." Megumi seemed to accept that, and Kotomi didn't feel bad 
about the lie, since it was at least partially true. "So...what do 
you want to do now?"
   "Well," Kotomi said, "I think I need to do something about my hair.
 These roots *do* look pretty ugly."
   Megumi giggled. "Okay. I'll just hang out and watch TV while 
you're busy with that."

   Megumi quickly got bored with the television, and decided to poke 
around Kotomi's apartment a little. 
   "Hmm...what's in your closet, Kotomi-chan?" she muttered to 
herself as she dug through the myriad Chinese-style blouses and pants 
in the closet. She also found a few nice dresses she'd never seen 
Kotomi wear. 
   After a few minutes, she found a medium-sized shoebox and a photo 
album shoved in the corner of the closet. "Oh? What's this?" Removing 
the objects, she took them into the living room to examine them more 
closely.

   Kotomi finished with her hair and walked out into the living room 
to find Megumi leafing through..."Ack! Where did you find that?"
   "Hmm? Oh. It was in your closet. I hope you don't mind, I was just 
having a look around."
   Kotomi sighed. "Nah, it's okay." She sat down beside Megumi. 
   Megumi turned a few pages, and frowned. "Kotomi-chan...who's the 
little boy in all these pictures?"
   "Hmm?" Kotomi looked at the album, and cursed inwardly. Damn, she 
would have to find the stupid thing... "Oh, that's, ah, my brother, 
Ranma."
   "I didn't know you had a brother!"
   Kotomi nodded. "Hai. When I was little I lived with my mom, and 
Ranma and my dad went on a training trip...they were martial artists.
"
   "Oh, cool!" Megumi frowned. "So, where is your brother now?"
   Kotomi sighed. "He died a couple years ago. An accident in China. 
This is all that I have to remember him by."
   Megumi sniffled. "That's so sad..."
   Kotomi sighed inwardly. She hated having to keep lying like this. 
Of course, it's not like she had proof of the truth anyway... 
   "Yeah, it's pretty tragic. But at least he went out the way he 
would have wanted to." Another lie. Kuso.

   In Nerima, a short-haired figure, decked in camouflage, marched 
briskly through the gates of the Tendou residence. A few minutes 
later, a motorcycle roared out of the residence and down the quiet 
streets, headed south.

   Ukyou sighed as she wiped down the counter. 
   "What's wrong, Kuonji-san?" one of her waitresses asked.
   Ukyou sighed, and set her rag down. "It's some old personal 
business. A...friend of mine, from a long time ago. We...we didn't 
part on very good terms."
   "Oh? What happened?" The waitress then covered her mouth, and said,
 "Gomen nasai. I don't mean to pry..."
   Ukyou chuckled quietly. "No, it's alright. It's just...I never 
expected to see him again, but now I may know where he is."
   "Ah. And do you think he'll be happy to see you?"
   "I wish I knew, sugar."
   As the waitress went back about her business, the door opened, and 
a rather beleaguered figure stepped through it. Ukyou looked up, and 
blinked.
   "Welcome to the Happy Spatula! May I seat you, sir?" the head 
waitress asked. The figure was about to speak, when suddenly he found 
himself practically buried under a heap of soft okonomiyaki chef. The 
waitress bigsweated as her boss glomped the new arrival viciously.
   "Ryouga-kun! Long time no see!"
   Hibiki Ryouga righted himself as Ukyou backed away slightly, 
blushing and adjusting her blouse. He blinked. "U...Ukyou?"
   Ukyou nodded. "Hai! It's been a long time, sugar! What brings you 
around here?"
   Ryouga put his hand behind his head and chuckled. "Well, heh, 
actually..."
   "Got lost again, huh?" Ukyou winked.
   Ryouga blushed. "No! Actually, I was just in town for a bit, and 
decided to do a little sightseeing."
   "Uh huh. Right."
   Ryouga looked a bit miffed. "It's true! Actually I was planning to 
try to call you up later, but it looks like I found you first." 
Becoming slightly serious, he said in a low voice, "Did Nabiki-san 
call you?"
   Ukyou nodded. "Hai. I just talked to her earlier."
   "I figured as much. That's why I'm here."
   Ukyou's eyes narrowed. "You aren't gonna try and fight Ranchan are 
you?"
   Ryouga shook his head. "Ukyou...the years have given me a lot of 
time to think. I did a lot of stupid things when I was younger, we 
all did. I've come to realize that we all caused Ranma to leave the 
way he did. If we hadn't all been so...so..."
   "Crazy?"
   Ryouga nodded. "Hai, crazy...if we'd all tried to focus on what 
people felt instead of trying to beat everyone else into submission, 
maybe things would have worked out better than they did."
   Ukyou blinked. "Wow. You really *have* changed, sugar."
   Ryouga smiled sadly. "We all have. Losing Ranma affected everyone.
" Under his breath, he muttered, "Some more than others..."
   The roar of a motorcycle engine permeated the unsettling quiet 
that followed this statement. Ryouga's eyes widened. "KUSO! I almost 
forgot..."
   "Forgot what?"
   Before Ryouga could answer, someone stepped through the door 
behind them. The new arrival was decked out in camouflage trousers, 
shirt, and jacket, and wearing a black helmet. Removing the helmet 
revealed short dark hair, mirrored sunglasses, and a cigarrette which 
the figure quickly stubbed out on the helmet and tossed in a trash 
receptacle. Removing the sunglasses, the newcomer flashed Ryouga and 
Ukyou a broad grin.
   The color drained from Ukyou's face. "A...Akane-chan?"
   Ryouga turned slowly, and let out a gasp. "Akane." 
   Akane grinned as she took another step into the okonomiyaki-ya. 
"Oi guys. I hear we've got Ranma in the area?"

   "<So, he's really here, then?>"
   "<That's what Tendou Nabiki said.>"
   "<You don't suppose she called everyone, do you?>"
   "<Afraid you'll run into Tatewaki?>"
   One of the two Chinese walking along a sidewalk in downtown Kyoto 
blushed deeply. Eyes half-lidded, the woman swept back her luxurious 
purple hair and shot back, "<You're just jealous.>"
   The man barked a short laugh, his glasses flashing with reflected 
sunlight. "<Riiight. Like I have a reason to be jealous of *him*...

"

   The two continued along, chatting idly, unmindful of anything 
around them. If they'd been paying more attention, they'd have 
noticed a green-haired young woman casting nervous glances their way.


   "CHIKUSHOU!!! What are *they* doing here?" Kotomi wondered as she 
made her way home from the corner market. She'd been picking up a few 
things she'd discovered she needed, as Megumi was going to stay and 
have dinner with her that evening since they both had the night off 
for once. As she was walking, she heard two familiar voices 
conversing in Mandarin. Stopping out of sight, she caught a glimpse 
of a head of all-too-familiar purple hair, and a young man she didn't 
recognize at first, but by the way he carried himself, he could only 
be one person.
   Kotomi glanced around nervously as she walked home as quickly as 
she could, fairly sure a number of other people would pop up 
unexpectedly.
   As she walked, a rather nervous young woman, wearing a demure blue 
dress, cleared her throat. "Excuse me, miss?"
   Kotomi stopped and turned around, on her guard. She relaxed as she 
got a look at the woman, whom she didn't recognize. "Yes?"
   "I--I'm looking for someone, an old friend. She runs a little 
okonomiyaki place, downtown?"
   Apprehensively, Kotomi suggested, "The Happy Spatula perhaps?"
   The young woman nodded. "Hai, that's it."
   Kotomi gave her directions to the shop, and continued on her way 
nervously. "I think I'm gonna go nuts at this rate," she mumbled.

   Back in Nerima, Nabiki smiled as she spoke into the telephone. 
"They have? That's good. Maybe we can finally settle this thing."
   The door slid open, and a young child zoomed into the room. 
"Auntie Nabiki!!" the little boy shouted as he flung himself at the 
middle Tendou girl. Nabiki chuckled and caught him, grunting slightly 
as she stumbled. "Whoa there, Ken-chan, you're getting big!"
   "Kentarou-chan is just excited to see his aunt again," intoned a 
sweet, motherly voice from the entrance. Nabiki looked over, and 
smiled at her elder sister. "Kasumi-oneechan!"
   Kasumi entered the house, with Tofuu right behind her. "We got 
your letter," Tofuu said, adjusting his glasses. "So you really think 
you found him?"
   Nabiki nodded. Kentarou looked confused. "Found who, tousan?"
   Kasumi took her young son, and sat down, with him in her lap. "You 
remember the stories about your uncle Ranma, don't you?"
   "Hai! I love hearing all about him!" The boy frowned. "But I don't 
think I ever met him."
   Kasumi smiled slightly. "You might get to meet him really soon."
   "Honto?"
   Kasumi nodded. "Hai!"
   The boy clapped. "Yay!"
   The adults in the room exchanged nervous glances.

 

____
------------------------------------------------------------
"If it looks like a duck, and walks like a duck, and quacks like a 
duck...pour hot water on it."

The Eternal Lost Lurker
squn29a@prodigy.com
EtLostLurker@hotmail.com
http://pages.prodigy.com/RMorrison