The usual disclaimer...

Found
Part 2
(A Ranma 1/2 - Oh My Goddess! Crossover by Mee Robinson)


     "Hmm..." said Dr. Tofu, as he took the lost boy's pulse. "How long 
has he been like this?"
     "Uh...about...an hour?" said Ukyou, looking on with large, worried eyes. 
"He seemed fine when I first ran into him...Do you think he'll be all 
right, Doctor?"
     Dr. Tofu nodded. He'd come as soon as he could when Ukyou called him. 
He knew both Ryouga and Ukyou vaguely as friends of the Tendou family, 
and they both seemed like good kids. He frowned slightly and poked the 
sleeping boy in several places.
     "Well," he said, "You were right to call me - he _is_ running a very 
high fever, but I've activated a few pressure points that should take care 
of that. He's got a cough, but he doesn't seem to be having any trouble 
breathing...other than that, I'd say he was just suffering from a bad case 
of the flu."
     "That's _it_?" said Ukyou, breathing a sigh of relief before shaking 
her head. "That jackass! Scaring me - us - like that!"
     Dr. Tofu blinked, then patted her gently on the shoulder. "Well, you 
don't have to worry any longer. He'll be fine, he just needs rest."
     Ryouga moaned a little and stirred, blinking open his eyes.
     "Hey, Ryouga, hear that?" said Ukyou, "You're gonna be fine, so just 
stay put, you stupid pig."
     Ryouga squinted as he tried to focus. "Mom?...Where am I?"
     Ukyou rolled her eyes. "You're at my restaurant, you jackass."
     "Huh? I didn't...know you had a restaurant."
     "It's good to see you awake, Ryouga," said Dr. Tofu, "How are you 
feeling?"
     Ryouga squinted a bit harder. "_Dad?_ What are _you_ doing home?"
     Tofu shook his head. "He's still a bit disoriented, which is isn't 
unusual." he said to Ukyou. "But it shouldn't last too much longer. Just let 
him rest for a few days, and I'm sure he'll be completely healed."
     "Okay. Thank you for coming, Doctor - I'm sorry to bother you so late at 
night, but..."
     Tofu shook his head and smiled at the exhausted girl. "It's no 
bother at all - it's my job. If you have any more problems with Ryouga, 
just give me a call. Now, have a good night - and get some rest yourself
 - Ryouga is going to be fine."
     "Hai. Thank you, Doctor. Good-night!"

*****

     "Yo, Ucchan!" 
     Ukyou looked up from where she was wiping off the grill and smiled her
 best smile.
     "Ranchan!" she called out cheerily. "Hi! One special deluxe okonomiyaki,
 coming right up!"
     Ranma smiled back uneasily as he took a seat at the counter. He'd been
 rather cool toward her for the first few weeks following what _would_ 
have been his marriage to Akane, and their friendship had been truly 
strained. But Ukyou was his oldest and best friend, a rarity for someone 
who'd spent most of his life training in the martial arts, and they had 
gradually been able to laugh and talk together once again. It was still a 
bit awkward though, and both were guarded when it came to the topic of 
Akane, marriage, and fiances in general. So, for once, they both made an 
honest effort to steer clear of those subjects.
     "So, ah, how's business?" Ranma asked, glancing over the counter. 
Ukyou was stirring something in a pot that looked suspiciously unlike 
okonomiyaki.
     "Hmm. It's good. How's training with your pop?"
     "Fine, fine." Ranma said as he watched her flip the okonomiyaki with 
one hand and stir whatever it was with the other. "Hey...Ucchan," he said 
hesitantly.
     "Yes?"
     "Ucchan," he continued slowly. "I've been thinking..."
     <For once.> she thought, and immediately squelched the unkind 
thought. <What's the matter with me?>
     "Ucchan...have you ever thought about, you know, what life would 
have been like if pop _hadn't_ left you behind?"
     She kept her eyes lowered as she stirred. "Every day of my life, 
Ranchan."
     Ranma sighed. "That's not what I meant. We were best friends back 
then, sure, maybe more than that, but I don't think we were old enough to 
be _in_ love, if you know what I mean. If you hadn't been so dead set on 
following me all those years, if me and pop hadn't been training all that 
time...Who knows? Anything could have happened. You and me, we could 
have fallen in love with anyone, had _normal_ lives..."
     Ukyou removed the pot from the heat. 
     "You think I don't think about that?" she said, not quite angry, a little 
hurt. "I spent ten years of my life looking for you, Ranchan. I gave up my 
family. I gave up being a girl." She sighed tiredly. "You know I love you, 
Ranchan, but sometimes...sometimes I wish I never met you."
     "Ucchan," he said, surprise and pain evident in his eyes. Ukyou felt an 
answering pang in her own heart.  
     "I always thought," she said quietly. "That _I_ was the best fiance 
for you. You always said I was cuter than Akane, and I _know_ I'm a 
better cook, and I know you better than Shampoo does...but you still chose 
Akane, and I think maybe I don't know you as well as I thought I did... 
And you've been so _mad_ at me, Ranchan!"
     "H-Hey," Ranma said, reaching out to touch her shoulder. "C'mon Ucchan, 
don't be like that. I mean, I was mad. I'm _still_ kind of mad, but I don't 
wanna bear a grudge against my best friend."
     Ukyou nodded. Before, unlike Akane, she'd never had any trouble 
expressing her affection for Ranma, reaching out, embracing him...all 
those careless gestures. Now, his touch felt heavy and strange on her 
shoulder, and it was all she could do to keep eye contact. 
     She cleared her throat, reached under the counter and pulled out a soup 
dish, which she filled from pot.
     "Hey, Konatsu," she called.
     "Yes, Ukyou-sama?" Konatsu said, stepping out of the back room. 
     "Take this up to the lost boy, will you?"
     "Right away, Ukyou sama!"
     "Ryouga's here?" said Ranma, grasping thankfully at this new subject, 
any new subject.
     "Yeah," said Ukyou, also relieved to be talking about something less 
painful. "I met him when I was coming home from the market last night. 
Spring of Drowned Pig, huh?"
     "Yeah. Hey!" Ranma blinked in surprise. "How'd _you_ find out?"
     Ukyou shrugged. "There was a lot of nasty weather last night, 
Ranchan."
     "Oh yeah. Well just...just don't tell Akane about it, okay?"
     "About her cute little pet piglet? I wouldn't dream of it. Anyway, he 
was really sick last night, scared us both half to death. We even called 
Dr. Tofu-"
     "Wait, back up a sec. Ryouga was sick?"
     Ukyou nodded. "Dr. Tofu said it was just a bad case of the flu...but 
his fever was really high, and he was worrying us-"
     "Ukyou-sama!" Konatsu had returned, still carrying the bowl of soup. 
"He's gone! I can't find him anywhere!"
     Ukyou slapped herself on the head. "That jackass!...Okay...I didn't see 
him come through this way. That means, unless he went through a window - 
and I wouldn't put it past him - he's still gotta be in the building 
somewhere..."


     Ranma swept his gaze around Ukyou's room, even bending down to peer 
under the bed. No Ryougas here. Not even a single small black piglet. It was 
a tiny room, without much furniture, but it was warm and clean, 
obviously cared for lovingly. He noticed the photograph on the dresser, 
taken during the Togenkyo Island vacation, the same photograph he had 
gotten framed for Akane. He sighed. Did Ukyou really wish she had never 
met him? That in itself, he could understand. Ukyou had gone through a 
lot of pain because of him. But, once she had given up trying to kill him 
and had settled into being his "cute" fiance, she had always seemed so 
vivaciously happy. He never suspected she kept all these regrets and 
resentments.
     He sighed again as he left the room. <Why does life have to be so 
complicated?>
     He was almost at the top of the stairs when he heard a muffled sneeze 
from behind him. He quickly turned around, but there was no one there.
     "Ryouga?" He peered down the short hallway. "A-ha! I _knew_ I was 
missing something," he said as he opened the broom closet. "Hey, P-chan
 - whoa."
     The lost boy had looked better. His face was flushed and his eyes 
were feverishly bright. His hair was damp and it was sticking up.
     "Ranma?" he said, sounding hoarse and confused. "What are you doing 
here? Where's Skuld?"
     "Where's what?" said Ranma, pulling Ryouga out of the closet. [auth: 
No, no, no. It's not like that at all!] "Man, you look like a wreck."
     Ryouga coughed, looking around a little woozily. "Where am I?"
     "We're at Ucchan's," Ranma said, dragging the lost boy along by 
his sleeve. "Now come on, man, you're worryin' her!"

     "Here," said Ukyou tersely, pushing the bowl of soup in front of him. 
     Ryouga stared at it for a moment, uncomfortably. It was so 
humiliating - both she and Ranma were treating him like a sick child...
and Ukyou knew he was P-chan! He wanted to leave, to run away, to lose 
himself in the great maze of streets and buildings, deserts and 
mountains that was Nerima. But he was still a little unsteady on his 
feet, and Ranma had kept a firm grip on his arm when he'd led him to 
Ukyou's counter. Besides, both Ranma and Ukyou seemed preoccupied 
about something, and neither of them even mentioned  his weakness, 
instead opting to make small talk.
     "Say, Ucchan, I didn't know you could make soup," said Ranma.
     Ukyou smiled a bit wistfully. "Yeah, I'll bet...I haven't made it in 
years, not since I left home anyway." She sighed, and Ranma looked 
acutely uncomfortable. 
     "Well," Ranma said, looking down at the counter. "Maybe...you 
should start making it again...Right, Ryouga?"
     "Huh? Oh...yeah, sure, why not?"
     Ukyou shrugged.
     "I mean," said Ranma, stopping to glare at Ryouga for a moment, 
"I never thought I'd see the day when I didn't recognize one of your 
recipes, or that you'd ever cook anything but okonomiyaki - it's kinda 
cool, Ucchan."
     "You really think so?" said Ukyou, suddenly interested. "There's - 
there's a lot more where that came from, Ranchan."
     "Yeah, well," Ranma said, slapping his hands down loudly on the 
edge of the counter. "Anyway, I gotta go. Places to go, training to do, 
so...Hey, look after Bacon Breath here, will you? Otherwise, he'll 
probably end up in Alaska, or somethin'."
     "Hey! What's wrong with Alaska?!"
     Ranma looked at Ryouga incredulously for a moment, then shook 
his head. "Anyway, see ya later, Ucchan!" he yelled as he departed.
     "Bye, Ranchan," Ukyou said quietly, following him with her gaze. 
     Konatsu watched the entire exchange silently, with a sinking 
heart. It hurt him to see Ukyou so sad, and hurt him even more that 
she didn't consider turning to him for comfort. <Oh, Ukyou-sama,> he 
thought, <I try so hard to be worthy of your kindness...but...can't you 
love me back...even a little?>
     Ukyou sighed, something inside of her empty and aching. "You done?" 
she said without really looking at Ryouga.
    "Um, yeah," said Ryouga, once more at a loss for words, not fully 
comprehending what had just happened. He stifled a cough with his 
hand.
     Ukyou glanced at him absently. "Take him upstairs, will you, 
Konatsu? Make sure he doesn't go anywhere. I've gotta mind the shop."
     "Hai, Ukyou-sama!"
     "What? - Hey, wait a minute!"
     "Look," Ukyou said sternly, "Dr. Tofu said you wouldn't get better 
if you didn't rest, and _Ranma-honey_ told me to look after you, so 
GO UPSTAIRS."

     Ryouga found himself back in upstairs room, where Konatsu had 
left him a pitcher of water (which he kept _far_ away from), and 
another set of strangely well-fitting clothes. They were black ninja 
garments, which meant that they were Konatsu's, not Ukyou's, and 
Ryouga wasn't sure how he felt about wearing a cross-dresser's clothes. 
He decided not to think about it, dozing off finally in the excessive 
warmth of the room, the strange, lingering scent that tinged the air. 
     Konatsu, on the other hand, thought a great deal about those clothes, 
which, although they were a perfect fit for Ryouga, bagged generously 
around his own smaller frame. He sighed as he carried the clean laundry 
up to his own room to be ironed, Ryouga's among them. He picked up the 
familiar yellow sweater and held it up to himself in front of the mirror, 
frowning at what he saw. 
     A slender, pretty girl who had, perhaps, borrowed a shirt from her 
boyfriend or older brother, some tall, broad shouldered, muscular man. 
Konatsu closed his eyes, not wanting to face his reflection. He'd always 
believed he was a girl, if not in body, then in spirit. It was who he was, 
who he was meant to be. A servant girl for his family. Then he had met 
Ukyou, a beautiful, incandescent angel of kindness...his savior, really. 
Konatsu had never expected to fall in love, had never even dreamed of 
having the chance, but Ukyou...she...completed him.
     Unfortunately, she never saw him in quite the same way. Because 
she was in love with Ranma...Ranma, who, despite his curse - or perhaps 
because of it - was fiercly adamant about his manhood. Konatsu spent 
many hours quietly observing Ranma, and later, Ryouga, as models of 
masculinity. He had purchased the larger clothes, hoping to fill them out 
someday soon. He practiced in secret, deepening his voice. "Ukyou-sama," 
he almost whispered in a hesitant tenor, trembling with the effort, "Will 
you...could you...be m-my...bride?"
     Konatsu shuddered slowly. It just seemed so wrong, completely 
transparant, nothing but a sham. He sighed. Oh well, there's be time for 
more practice later. He had errands to run. He quickly donned a tasseled 
wool hat and a cute, cherry red overcoat (Christmas gifts from 
Ukyou-sama), and then paused, his hand hovering over his purse, once 
more eyeing Ryouga's slightly worn sweater. He slowly unbuttoned the 
coat.

*****

     It wasn't pretty, the girl - the _person_ - reflected in the shop 
window, whose figure was mostly obscured by the bulkiness of the 
sweater. The hair was tied back, but the bangs surrounding the face were 
damp and matted by the sleet. The face itself...seemed  a little tired, due 
to the vigil held on the previous night, and a little sad too. Wait, there 
was someone else standing beside him in the mirror, staring at his 
reflection. Another girl. Embarrassed at being caught scrutinizing 
himself, Konatsu turned to face this newcomer, who was about his 
height.
     "Wait," he said, scowling, and for a moment losing that appealing, 
waif-like quality that had caused many a passerby to cluck over him 
sympathetically. "I know you."
     "And I know you, Kunoichi Knonatsu." she said coldly. "My name's 
Tsubasa. Kurenai Tsubasa."

*****

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this is not a conclusion, and no revolution, just a little confusion,

                  where your head...has...been...

                - tori amos, ode to the banana king (pt. 1)

We're human; we're amnesia machines.

                - douglas coupland, Microserfs
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