Hey, hope you enjoy this WAFFy fic.

A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic
By Kiwi Noriega

A GENTLE TOUCH

All rights are of Rumiko Takahashi and Viz Video.

Author's notes:
	Hi! Yup, got another one for all of you, hope you enjoy it! If you want to
read any of my other works, just mail me and I'll send them to you!
Enjoy!
-Kiwi :Þ

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A Gentle Touch


	Ukyou sighed as she wiped the crumbs on the counter. A whole week without
Ran-chan could make her feel like this. But she still denied the rumors she
had heard that Ranma and Akane were getting closer by the minute. She
denied it, but she felt alone. 
	"Hmph, maybe Akane's cooking finally got the better of him." Ukyou sat
down and looked outside the window, as the first drops of rain fell down
from the gray sky. 
	"So this is how it feels to be really lonely." Tsubasa had taken time
off-actually, Ukyou had _forced_ him to take day off. She had thought that
it would be better if she spent some time alone with herself. She only
found out now that she was really wrong. 
	"Oh well, can't do anything about it."
	She gazed out the window and saw something little thing moving outside her
store. She stood up and opened the door to the cold wind. A small black
piglet lay huddled in its clothes with its red umbrella. P-chan didn't even
recognize Ukyou as she picked him up and took him and his clothes inside.
	"Poor Ryouga..." Ukyou took some hot water and hung up his clothes. She
noticed the pig squealing and told him, "Why are you here Ryouga?" 
	P-chan started to squeal and grunt until Ukyou put a hand on his snout,
"Do you think I understand you, huh?" P-chan blushed and pointed to the hot
water.
	After hastily dressing in a bath robe Ukyou gave him, he sat down on the
counter and said, "Thanks Ukyou, if you hadn't found me I would have frozen
to death and find out later I was already some guy's dinner."
	"It was nothing, sugar." Ukyou said smiling at him. It was different when
she was with Ryouga
	Ryouga blushed, he wasn't used to be called names like that. "Uh, hehe."
	A brief moment of silence passed and Ryouga suddenly spoke, "Um, I'd
better go huh?"
	Ryouga started to stand up when Ukyou stopped him with a hand on his arm,
"Wait! I mean, um, it's still raining, you might get wet or something." 
	Ryouga stopped as if thinking of something then turned to face Ukyou, "Oh,
yeah."
	Ukyou suddenly stopped and noticed her hand was still on his arm. She
blushed hard and let go. "Here, you must be hungry, I'll cook you something
hot."
	"Thanks, Ukyou." Ryouga sat down and looked on as Ukyou expertly made
okonomiyaki. She was so different than any other girls he had met-not that
he had met a lot. She was just so natural and warm. Akane was that too, but
almost never paid attention to him when Ranma was around. Somehow, Ukyou
made him feel all warm inside. <I wonder what that means?>
	When Ukyou had finished cooking the okonomiyaki, Ryouga ate it slowly,
savoring the taste in his mouth. <Ukyou is really an awesome cook.> he
thought and continued eating it smiling all the way.
	"Does it taste good?" Ukyou asked not really caring, something else was on
her mind. <Hmm, he's really taking his time tasting the food.> As Ryouga
ate, a smile suddenly bloomed on Ukyou's face causing Ryouga to almost
choke at how pretty Ukyou really is. 
	"What is it?" Ukyou asked, wondering.
	Ryouga coughed and drank a glass of water, hiding his face. "It tastes
really great, Ukyou." Ryouga bent down, pretending to be looking at
something under his seat. But instead, he touched his nose and smiled.
<Good, no blood, yet.> He sat up straight again and grinned.
	The cook smiled and said, Thanks, Ryouga." Ukyou sighed as she stood up
and sat in front of the large window, looking out into the rain.  
	Ryouga noticed this and said, "What's the matter, Ukyou?" 
	"Oh, nothing, just thinking." 
	Ryouga stood up and pulled a chair to sit beside her, "What's bothering
you?"
	"I...feel so lonely, Ryouga. Yeah, even when people are around me, I still
feel lonely. Like no one cares for me..." Ukyou felt like crying, but she
held it in, swallowing the emptiness. She didn't understand why she felt so
comfortable, opening up to Ryouga and telling him what's been bothering her
for quite a while.
	"I feel that too, Ukyou. When I'm out in the wilderness, cold and
starving, I feel lonely. Almost everyone feels lonely sometimes. But it
passes, something's gonna come up and suddenly you're not alone anymore,"
Ryouga felt the cold emptiness surrounding him and pushed it away. 
	Ukyou didn't even notice that she had started to cry. She felt lighter as
if a heavy stone was lifted from her back. She looked down at her trembling
hands and felt Ryouga turning her to face him, then he said in a soft
voice, "All you need is a friend to wipe away your tears."
	Her tears had stopped, and Ryouga's fingers were drying her cheeks with a
gentle touch.
	They looked into each other's eyes and a feeling of warmness surrounded
them, and for once, they didn't feel alone anymore.

-End 


***
Well, hope you all liked it. 
Oh, yeah, I personally think that Ryouga has a side to him that's really
sensitive and caring, which is why he's one of my favorites. 
I'm trying to make a web page for my stories but I'm completely clueless as
to what to do first. I have free page with infinet and a free page with
geocities. 	I've started _trying_ to make a page, but nothing I do seems to
work, well, I guess I'll have to suffer then. Anyway, if you have any
comments, suggestions, criticisms or tips on how to make a web page, please
e-mail me at becknkal@addax.bc.ca
See yah!

-Kiwi :Þ