*****
ONION TEARS
Continuation (part 2)
I stood there in the kitchen as Ukyou-sama and Nabiki wept and
embraced.
Nabiki, newly aware of Ukyou-sama’s pain at losing Ranma,
had just made
a solemn oath to stop tomorrow’s wedding at whatever
cost. Ukyou-sama
sobbed with joy at Nabiki’s pronouncement. I could
only stand there,
helpless. I had a nagging feeling that something
was wrong with this,
but I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what it
was. But at any rate,
the atmosphere in the kitchen was getting
uncomfortable; I decided to
return to work.
I pushed open the door, and was stunned at the sight before me.
Everyone was still bawling their eyes out; no one had left, and no
one
had finished the okonomi-yakis before them. Some people had
joined the
salarymen in loudly singing a number of maudlin love
songs. When they
saw me emerge, one of the salarymen called out to
me. “Hey, cutie...
c’mere... can we have another round?” He was
waving a 10,000 yen bill,
more than enough to cover another round.
I walked over to the table.
“Shouldn’t you guys being checking in with the office?”
“Ahhh... we
called ‘em again and tol’em t’fuck off. We ain’t going
in today.
C’mon, honey... another round, ne? Please?” As sad as
they looked,
only Tanaka-san still reflected the true agony of lost
love. By now,
the others had pretty well managed to drown their
enchanted sorrows; in
fact, they were starting to get a little
belligerent.
This did *not* look like it was going to be a good day after all.
“Fine. One more round. But I really think you gentlemen,” and
I
resisted the urge to put a sarcastic edge to my voice on that last
word,
“have had just about enough. It’s not even noon yet; it’s far
too early
to be getting drunk, you know.” I turned on my heel,
without even
bothering to take the proffered bill -- it would still
be there when I
returned with the drinks.
I suspected there was going to be a confrontation when I returned to
their table, so I put it off as long as I possibly could. I checked
at
each of the tables to see if any of the other customers needed
attention. What they all really needed were tissues; other than
that,
nobody needed much. Finally, the burliest of the salarymen
called out
to me: “Hey girlie... we’re not gettin’ any younger over
here!”
Fine,
fine...
I took six more sake bottles from the cooler and placed them on my
tray.
As I wove my way to their table, I noticed the burly one
whisper
something to the fellow who had offered the money for
this round.
“I’m
sorry about that, sirs,” I said as I set the bottles down
in front of
each of them. “Had to attend to the others. Been
neglecting ‘em a bit,
now, haven’t I?” I forced a smile as best
I could, but as I
straightened up, the burly one rose from his
chair and strode heavily
(so as not to fall over, I suspected)
over to me. He was holding the
Y10,000 bill.
“Yerr doin’ a good job, here, cutie-pie... herezher ten grand...”
He put
his arm around my waist and carefully, deliberately stuffed
the money in
between the padding on my chest, patting each mound
once for good
measure. The only good thing was that he was far too
deeply into his
cups to notice they were fake. “Y’know, therez more
where that came
from. Whaddya say you come with us and help us
cheer up our ol’ buddy,
Tanaka, huh?” The others were starting to
grin, and I was beginning to
feel as if I had been set up.
“Please, sir.. this is Nerima, not the Yoshiwara. Why don’t you go
to
Soapland or somewhere like that if you need it that badly?”
“Hey, you said it yourself, girlie... it’s still morning. Soapland’s
pretty much shut down right now, ain’t it? C’monnn...” at which
point,
he quickly wrapped his other arm around me. “We all could
use some
cheering up; whaddya say, fellas?” The responses from his
colleagues
ranged from the glum look on Tanaka’s face, to a diabolical
leer on a
skinny younger man, to a hoot of enthusiasm from an older
man in a
rumpled suit. “And seein’ as yer the cheeriest one in this
place, we
thought you might be able t’come with us, hmm?”
His grip
around me was getting tighter, and I was forced to hold my
hands in
the air as he closed in.
“I’m not that kind of girl! Let me
go!” I brought my hands down;
I intended to rabbit-punch him in the
chest -- even when I fight, I
feel I ought to do so in a feminine
fashion -- but as I did, there
was a hollow sound of bone against wood.
The man suddenly dropped
me, and then dropped, himself. There was a
considerable knot on
his head.
It was at that moment that I realized I had a mallet in my hand.
<So...
*this* is how Akane does it...>
“Ahh..!” So did the other salarymen. “Look what she did to
Kotegawa!”
Well, it sobered them up in a hurry. Even poor
Tanaka-san, who I really
did feel sorry for, rose with the others
and bolted out the door,
leaving Kotegawa pretty much at my mercy.
Well, I decided to show him
mercy. Ukyou-sama might have scooped
him up with her spatula and thrown
him out to the trash, but I
figured that would be a little excessive.
It had been a hard day
for all of us. I simply dragged him outside, and
propped him up
against the building in the alley next to the
restaurant.
Once I walked in, all eyes, tear-stained as they were, were on me.
I put
on a big (admittedly fake) grin.
“Okay...” I said with a slight sigh., “I
think we’ve had enough
excitement for one day. In fact, I think the
Ucchan will be closing
early today. I’m very sorry about this, but if
you all will be so
kind as to finish up...”
I hardly needed to say more. Slowly, everybody got up from their
tables
and stools, laid money down by the places, and left into the
bright mid-
afternoon sunshine. It pleased me to note that the sun
was out, and
shining brightly; maybe it could offset whatever damage
those onions may
have done to our customers.
After hanging out a sign mentioning that the Ucchan was closed for
the
day (with an apology for the inconvenience, of course), I tallied
all
the checks the customers had left behind, and compared it to our
receipts. Even as short as the working day had been, it had been one
of
our most profitable days for as far back as I could remember.
Must have
been the drinks -- we don’t usually sell a lot of liquor,
and the profit
margin is much better on it than on the food. Not to
mention the tips!
Still, that incident with the salarymen just went
to show *why* we
rarely push the drinks. Truly, I would rather
have peace and a morsel
than bounty and episodes like this that it
brings about.
***
Now that I’d taken the liberty of shuttering the Ucchan for the day,
I
figured I had the responsibility of informing Ukyou-sama of what
I’d
done. I really didn’t know how she’d take it; I guess I figured
if she
wasn’t happy about it, I could just, well, show her the money.
The kitchen was empty. Somehow, in the bustle of closing down, the
two
of them had slipped out on me. I sighed. I have been told that
I have
the talent to be a genius, a super-ninja. I’d love to believe
it. Most
of the time, I feel more like an idiot savant. Emphasis
on the ‘idiot’
side of the equation. This was one of those times.
There were no
tracks to follow, no way to figure out where they’d
gone.
On the other hand, I knew what their objective was. So once I
finished
locking the restaurant, I headed off to the Tendo’s house.
Most likely,
that would be where I could find them. And even if
they couldn’t be
found there, Akane should be warned.
***
I decided not to announce my presence when I arrived at the dojo as
I
had done that last time. Instead, I leapt up, onto the roof -- and
nearly crashed into Ranma himself. Indeed, if he hadn’t rolled to
avoid
me, I probably would have landed right on him.
He righted himself, and stood in a fighting stance, ready for
anything I
might throw at him. Then, he got a good look at me, and
nearly
facefaulted. “Konatsu? What the heck’s the idea?”
I decided the best way out of this was to apologize. Profusely.
I fell
onto my face before him. “Ranma-sama! I’m so sorry! I
had no idea
that you’d be up here! Please forgive me!”
When I looked up, Ranma actually looked rather amused. “Relax.
Accidents happen, now, don’t they? And please, don’t call me
‘Ranma-
sama,’ okay? This whole wedding thing’s crazy enough without
you
putting thoughts of Kodachi in my head. And speaking of the
wedding,
c’mon... where *else* didja think I was gonna be, huh? I
don’t wanna be
in the middle of all that fooforaw. Between Mom and
Kasumi trying to
fit my tux and Pop and Mr. Tendo trying to get me
drunk, the roof’s the
safest place t’be -- at least, until you came
along. Anyway, get up,
will ya, and tell me what’s going on.
Aren’t you s’posed to be at the
Ucchan?”
“Well, that’s true, Ranma-san..” He nodded... evidently that form
of
address was preferable. “But Ukyou-sama’s left, and something’s
really
strange with the ingredients today, so I decided to close the
shop down
for the day. Besides, I came to warn you that there’s
probably going to
be an attempt made on the wedding.”
I guess I should have expected his reaction, under the circumstance,
but
at the time, it took me by surprise: Ranma simply snorted at the
news.
“Someone’s gonna try and break up the wedding, huh? Well,
*there’s* a
news flash. I think we can handle it.”
“No, I’m serious, Ranma-san.”
“So am I. It’s not like it hasn’t happened before, Konatsu. And
sure,
this might delay things again. But everything will work out.
None of
the usual suspects ever tries to kill anyone,” <Oh, no?> ran
through my
mind at that... “so we’ll be fine. Don’t worry about it,
‘Natsu-chan.”
“At least listen to me, Ranma-san. I’m telling you, you won’t be
ready
for this.”
Now his temper was starting to flash. Accusing Ranma of insufficient
skill or preparation was probably the worst thing I could have done.
“And I’m tellin’ ya, we’re gonna be FINE, okay? So just shut up and
leave me alone.”
Damn. Now I *knew* he wouldn’t listen.
“All right, Ranma-san. I’m
going. Please forgive me for bothering
you.” I put on a happy face,
much the way Ukyou-sama does whenever
Ranma walks into the Ucchan.
“Good luck tomorrow, then... big fella.”
Once again, Ranma’s face took on an amused look at my (deliberately)
poor attempt at macho camaraderie. “Yeah, sure, whatever. Uh...
see you
at the wedding?”
My voice was as flat as I could make it. “Oh, yeah. Sure. Wouldn’t
miss it for the world.” And I stepped off the roof, landing lightly
in
the courtyard of the Tendo compound.
I looked up at the residence. Dusk was slowly creeping over the
sky,
and the lights were beginning to come on in the Tendo girls’
bedrooms.
One of the rooms was brilliantly lit, with shadows moving
back and forth
across the light emanating from it: that had to be
Akane’s room, with
all the preparations going on. Two windows
down, the room was dark. It
stood to reason that this was Kasumi’s
room -- after all, she’d be in
with Akane and (most likely) Mrs.
Saotome; why would she (or anyone
else, for that matter) need to
be in her room?
Which meant the middle room had to be Nabiki’s. The light seeping
from
her window was an eerie blue glow, as if aliens had landed in
her room
(which would come as no surprise to anyone living in Nerima
these past
few years, but why would they pick Nabiki’s room?) There
was no
discernible movement going on -- the light shone with a steady
luminescence. Despite that, I had a bad feeling that something was
afoot. I skibbled up the side of the house, up to where I could
cling
to Nabiki’s windowsill. I lifted my head just enough to see
what was
going on...
The eerie glow was coming from Nabiki’s computer, which I could
see
clearly. Judging from the uniform which she hadn’t bothered to
change
out of, Ukyou-sama was sitting at the keyboard, with her back
to me.
Nabiki, on the other hand, was in profile; evidently she was
talking
with Ukyou-sama about her plan. She looked pained, as if
bearing up
under a severe migraine headache. I pressed my ear to
the glass to
discover whether I could listen in. The voices were
muffled, but
audible.
“How did you learn how to do this, Nabiki? It all seems so...
complicated.”
“Hardly. Cut-and-paste is a simple procedure; the only difficulty
is in
moving an *irregular* shape like Ranma-kun across the photo
like so...”
“Oh, wow!” Evidently, she liked what she was seeing. I removed
my ear
from the glass so that I could see the computer screen.
Unfortunately,
Ukyou-sama’s head was blocking my view, so I couldn’t
tell exactly what
she was looking at that she liked so much. What
was clear was that the
two girls were doctoring photographs. It
seemed rather late to try and
blackmail Ranma out of this wedding;
and after all, why was Nabiki doing
this?
Suddenly, she paused and
put a hand on Ukyou-sama’s knee. I set my ear
to the glass again.
Nabiki’s voice sounded like it was coming from under
a crushing
weight.
“Ukyou... I gotta ask you... how do you deal with this?”
“Deal with what?” Ukyou-sama’s response was cheerful and perky.
The
prospect of calling off Ranma and Akane’s wedding had so lifted
her
spirits as to render her unaware of Nabiki’s pain; or rather,
Nabiki’s
reflection of Ukyou-sama’s pain.
“With Ranma-kun. How do you deal with the fact that he’s supposedly
getting married tomorrow, and not to you? You know you’ve got every
right to him; as much as Akane and maybe more. You sure seem to
*want*
him more than she does. And yet, it looks like she’s gonna
win. I
mean, it’s gotta hurt -- in fact, I know full *well* it does.
This is
unbearable, and I’ve only been dealing with it for a few
hours. You’ve
been living with this for what? Eight, ten years?”
“Twelve.” Ukyou-sama’s voice had turned somber. “You get used
to it,
Nabiki. I have my okonomi-yaki to take my mind off my
troubles. I
suspect you’d be able to drown it out, too. You’ve got
your businesses,
your gambling, your...”
“Yeah, yeah... I guess. But man, this really hurts. I just want it
to
end.”
I thought I heard a derisive snort, and then Ukyou-sama spoke up
again:
“It never ends, Nabiki. Never. Either you live with it, or
you
overcome it.” Then, it brightened. “And we’re gonna overcome
it
tonight, eh? This looks like a great plan. Now, we need some
latex...”
I heard a chair scrape. Uh-oh. I let go of the portion
of the wall I
was clinging to and dropped back to the ground. It
would do me no good
to be spotted when those two got up.
I hid myself in a bush as I mulled over the situation. So who’s
harmed
by Ukyou-sama finally getting her man, after all? Nabiki
will be
feeling much better, or at least that’s the conclusion she’s
come to.
Ukyou-sama will certainly consider herself better off,
and I’d have to
agree with her that she is ideal for Ranma-san.
But what about Akane? Maybe I should ask her...
I stood up. The brilliant light was still shining from her window,
while the glow from Nabiki’s room had been extinguished. I didn’t
consider where the two girls might have gone, but simply scrambled
up to
Akane’s window. Peeking in, I noticed that she was alone in
the room,
at least for the moment. An opportune time to approach her.
I shunted the window aside and slipped in as quietly as I could.
I
suppose, what with the lights on and all, any secrecy to my
movements
was a waste of effort. But old habits die hard. Actually,
Akane was
still looking at herself in the mirror, admiring the
Western-style gown
she had on, and so didn’t notice my entrance;
at least, not until I rose
to my feet and coughed to get her attention.
I got it, all right. She nearly jumped a foot in the air. Then,
upon
realizing it was me, she relaxed considerably. “Konatsu!
You gave me a
start. What are you doing here?”
I held a finger over my lips, and then walked over to her and
touched
her. “Please... not so loud, Akane-san. I don’t want your
sister to
know I’m here. She and Ukyou-sama might not appreciate
this...” Her
eyes popped wide open at the suggestion that Ukyou-sama
was *here*, at
the dojo, and that one of her sisters might be in
league with her.
“Uh.. I realize this is a bad time for you, but we
haven’t much time
to lose...”
Akane shook here head rather violently; evidently in an attempt
to
clear it and digest this information. Then she looked up at me
brightly. “Why, no, not really. I’m finished getting fitted for
this
gown, and the kimono’s done, too.” There was something behind
her eyes
that belied the chirpy tone of her response. “I think
Kasumi and
Auntie Saotome went looking for Ranma..”
“He’s on the roof.”
“Yeah, that’s what I told them, too. So they’re probably fitting
him
for his outfits for tomorrow. Let me change, and we’ll go
somewhere
where we can talk.”
“How about the Ucchan?” She gave me a very strange look; I waved
my
hands in front of me. “Look, Akane-san.. You’ve got to trust me
on
this one. The restaurant’s closed, but you and I can go there
and talk
privately.”
I guess she believed me. “All right, Konatsu. Just a moment...
where
are my jeans? Oh, and can you get these hooks on my back?”
I walked
over and unfastened the back of her gown. It tumbled to
the floor,
leaving her standing in a white camisole and panties. I
backed off
in a hurry and covered my face. Akane reacted with a
measure of
surprise until she remembered who I was. “Oops. Sorry
about that,
Konatsu.” She headed behind a screen to finish changing,
still
chattering away: “You know, you really ought to dress more
like
the man you are, Konatsu. I keep forgetting you’re not a girl,
and
I get too comfortable around you...”
“I’m sorry, Akane-san. I’ll try harder to do that. But old habits
are
hard to break. And everybody seems to like me as a girl.”
“Yeah, but the first guy that tries to take you out on a date is in
for
a nasty surprise. Unless, of course, you and he are both, uh...”
For once, I found myself smiling at what she was trying to say.
“No fear, Akane-san.
I’ve had guys ask me out. It’s a waitress’
occupational hazard.
A few words to the wise tend to be sufficient.”
She came out from behind the screen, casually attired in T-shirt
and
jeans. “Ah, that’s better.” She looked up at me, still smiling.
“And a knee to the groin works pretty well for the unwise, eh?”
“Don’t know about that. Did you ever use that on Kuno-san?”
“No, but it wouldn’t have worked on him. All you can do with Kuno
is
put as much distance between you and him as possible. That’s
when ya
gotta punt.”
Even despite her eyes, her affected attitude was contagious. I was
unable to suppress a grin. “I’ll keep that in mind. Though I think
Kuno actually knows I’m a guy.”
Akane’s smirk was genuine, albeit a bit surprised at the news.
“Really. Now if only he’d wise up to his ‘Osage-no-onna’.”
***
Tokyo as a whole may not ever go to sleep, but the Nerima business
district at night was a dark, quiet and rather spooky place. As we
walked through the streets to the Ucchan, I felt Akane’s hand in
mine more than once. And as I felt it resting there, searching for
security and comfort in the darkness, I also felt a slight twinge
inside of myself. This is the hand, or so I was told, for which the
entire male population of Furinkan High School once fought...
regularly. And here it was... in mine.
“You know... this is really strange...”
“Mm? How’s that, Akane-san?”
“Well, it’s different to be walking along next to a boy who’s not
looking down on me from the fence rail. It’s kinda odd to be
actually holding hands with somebody... And it’s *really* weird
that it’s not Ranma.” At this, I dropped her hand, quickly -- maybe
she’d rather not do so. She picked it back up and patted it a
couple of times.
“It’s okay, Konatsu... really. I said it was strange, not bad.
Besides,” and she looked around through the dark paths we were
taking to the Ucchan, “I still need you to lead me on.
“Anyway, what’s the story with your boss and my sister? Why’dja
need to drag me out here in the dead of the night so that they
wouldn’t know what you were doing?”
So I told her everything I knew.
***
Akane was sitting on a stool alongside the grill, right next to the
cash register. After hearing about the onions, she insisted she try
one. At the very least, she wanted to see if they would help her to
understand how Ukyou-sama was feeling. “The one thing I don’t get,
though, is...”
“Gomen nasai, Akane-san. Could you hold that thought? I’ve gotta
head into the kitchen for the batter.” She nodded, and I headed for
the kitchen, and the walk-in cooler. I opened it up, and checked the
stainless steel bowl that held the oniony batter. After having sat
all afternoon and evening, the eggs had separated from the rest of
the mixture. I’d have to mix up the entire bowl before it would be
ready. I decided it would be easier to just whip up a single-serving
size batch instead. So I merely grabbed one chicken egg and one
quail egg and stepped out of the cooler.
Let’s see... bag of flour, cup of stock... okay, that should be enough
for now. I pushed open the door to the dining area with
my back, as
my hands were full. "Alright, then... you were saying?"
Akane looked up from where she was staring at a spot on the grill.
“Huh? Oh... I forget. Sorry. No, wait... you said Nabiki offered
to help stop the wedding?”
I nodded. “Uh-huh. Said she couldn’t take Ukyou-sama’s pain. And
you know something? I think she’s still feeling it. I suspect she
figures that by getting Ranma-san and Ukyou-sama together, that
pain
will go away, because Ukyou-sama’s will go away, for sure.”
I began opening the cabinets below and around the grill, looking for
a small mixing bowl. “I don’t know whether to be happy about the
situation or not, to be honest. I mean, this has been Ukyou-sama’s
life goal, to marry Ranma-san; unlike you, the engagement between
them was her idea. And I think Ranma-san really does like her; she
is, after all, the closest thing to a friend he’s got, no? Isn’t that
a *good* place for a marriage to start? As friends?”
“Well, I guess so...” Something was wrong with Akane’s voice. As
soon as I got my hands on the mixing bowl, I stood up to look at her.
Her face wore a look of utter defeat.
“Akane-san..? Is something wrong?”
There was a momentary flash of fire in her eyes; then, she lowered
her
gaze. “What do *you* think, Konatsu? I’m getting married
tomorrow...
or rather, I’m *supposed* to get married tomorrow.
I really do care
about that idiot, and I always dreamed that he
might care about me...
someday. But there’s always somebody who’s
a little bit better than me
somehow or another who wants him as bad
as I do. And while I always
had the advantage of a good, solid, stable,
loving family as my ace in
the hole, now even that’s starting
to fail me.” She looked up, the fire
having returned to her eyes.
“Of COURSE there’s something wrong!”
“I... I’m sorry, Akane-san... I didn’t mean to offend you.”
The fire dissipated as quickly as it had come. “Oh, that’s all
right,
Konatsu. I shouldn’t lose my temper at you.”
“Well, I guess it *was* a rather dumb question...”
She grinned weakly. “Yeah, it was.” There was a long pause during
which we just stared at each other, trying to collect our thoughts.
Finally, Akane spoke up: “Anyway, you said you had mixed feelings
about this whole thing, right?”
Her voice snapped me out of my reverie, and I began to mix the
okonomi-yaki batter as I replied. “Well, you see, the things is
that
I think the she and Nabiki may be going about it the wrong
way.
I don’t know what the right way would *be*, but trickery and
blackmail -- Nabiki’s stock in trade -- would *definitely* be
uncalled-for.”
Azusa’s onion was still sitting there by the grill where she had
dropped it this morning, and I picked it up. I took a large knife
out of a nearby drawer, and readied myself to attack the onion
before
it had a chance to affect me. As I chopped, I began to
think about
the other reason I was concerned about what Nabiki
and Ukyou-sama
were planning, a reason sitting right in front of
me. Where would
this leave her? I had heard all of Ukyou-sama’s
arguments before,
about how she would be the perfect wife for Ranma,
and I admit I
believed them... mostly. But despite all her denials all this
time,
Akane had grown to love Ranma, and I would imagine that her
love
would to some extent have been reciprocated. What would happen
to
that? And while Ranma would have Ukyou-sama, what would happen
to
Akane?
And then there’s this betrayal by her own sister. Now granted, it
would seem as if Nabiki can’t help herself on this, but still...
the
first emotion she ever experiences besides greed, and it pits
her
squarely against her little sister. Such crushing news.
All at once,
it didn’t seem too good of an idea to prepare this
okonomi-yaki for
Akane.
“Wow, Konatsu, that was really fast!” Was I done with the onion?
I hadn’t noticed a... WHOA! The smell rose up from the finely
chopped onion pieces; it had finally caught up with both of us.
Akane covered her eyes with her eyes. “Ow. I see what you were
saying about it being strong.”
I squinted and blinked tears from my eyes as I dumped the onion into
the batter. “Yeah; that’s why I have to chop it up so fast. Once
that
acid stings your eyes, you’re in trouble. Ukyou-sama looked
awful
this morning after about a half-hour of this. Of course...”
and my
voice dropped a bit as I recalled, “she didn’t look all that
good
when she got up first thing, either.”
Akane looked a bit sad at this comment. “I suppose Ranma’s Tenshin
Amaguriken technique would be invaluable under the circumstances,”
she murmured. I sighed. No matter who wound up with Ranma, someone
was going to get hurt -- badly. I didn’t want it to happen to either
of them, but I didn’t know how to change that. I decided to change
the subject.
“So... whaddya want on your okonomi-yaki, anyway?”
***
It wasn’t long before I had a beef okonomi-yaki sizzling on the grill.
Akane shifted on her stool. “So tell me, Konatsu, what about you
and Ukyou?”
“Hm? What about us?”
“Well, don’t you have a thing for her?”
I shrugged as I flipped the okonomi-yaki over. “That’s true, but...”
“Ha! So you have an ulterior motive for trying to stop her,
don’t you?”
“Well... maybe. I don’t think so, though. All I really want is
for Ukyou-sama to be happy. And if that means she’s happy if
she’s
married to Ranma, then so be it. I just don’t think she’d be
happy
to win him by less than honorable means. And I always
thought...” and
I presented the finished okonomi-yaki to her with
a slight flourish,
“that she’d try and make sure there were some
acceptable alternatives
for you. She’s always tried to be on
reasonably good terms with you,
after all. She wanted to be your
friend, too, believe it or not.
Remember that time she tried to
set you and Ryoga up?”
“How’d you know about that?”
“She’s told me. I’ve heard a lot of stories since I started working
here, Akane...
“Eat up, now... or it’ll get cold.”
She responded with a sardonic grin. “You sound just like... like
your mistress, Konatsu.” On the verge of disaster, and she can
still make jokes. An incredible woman...
She took a piece with her
chopsticks and brought it to her mouth.
I watched her intently;
thankfully, she was too busy studying the
okonomi-yaki to be
offended at my staring at her. She took the bite,
chewed,
and swallowed...
She took a deep breath as the onions began to take effect. “Gosh,
'Natsu-chan, you’ve really improved at this! This is terrific...”
and then the chopsticks fell from her suddenly numb hand, and
clattered onto the plate. Her forehead grew wrinkled with lines,
and she began to return my own intense stare. But not a tear fell.
We stared at each other for what seemed like an hour. I was waiting
for some kind of reaction from her; I had no idea what she was
searching for in my face... until she spoke:
"Konatsu... what’s going to happen to you?"
Hunh? "What was that?"
"I mean.. if Ranma marries Ukyou, what happens to you? If they set
up housekeeping here at the Ucchan, that sorta leaves you out in the
cold, doesn't it? Where are you gonna go?"
I hadn't thought about it, to be honest. It wasn't the sort of thing
that crossed my mind. I had been too worried about Akane and her
feelings to think about the possibility of eviction. "I don't know,
Akane-san..."
"I mean, you can't go back to the teahouse, now, can you?"
I considered this. "Well, I suppose I could..."
"But that's like putting yourself back in slavery to your step-mother!
You can't do that to yourself!"
"Akane-san... I'd lived like that for years. I can go back to it if
I have to."
She shook her head sadly. "There's got to be a better way. Maybe we
could put you up at the dojo for awhile. At least until we can get
you back onto your feet or something."
"That's very kind of you, Akane-san, but I'm more concerned about you
right now. Is there anything I can do for you?"
Her eyes took on a sort of glazed look. "Yeah... I think I need
somewhere to crash. Today has been *so* busy. I'm just... tired."
"Well, I guess... come on." I took her by the hand and led her
upstairs to Ukyou-sama's apartment. A voice in the back of my mind
was screaming at me how utterly *wrong* this was... taking a girl,
who was about to marry someone else, back to my quarters, and then
taking her into a bedroom that not only wasn't my own (not that I
*have* a bedroom to speak of), but that belonged to my boss, the girl
that I truly loved. But I argued back that I didn't have any designs
on Akane, and she really was starting to look as if she could collapse.
The day must have been truly hectic, and the emotional strain those
onions put on her -- it still amazed me that she never shed a tear;
such control! -- had quite clearly taken their toll. There was no
way she'd make it back to the dojo in her condition.
In fact, it turned out, she couldn't even make it up the stairs.
I wound up carrying her up there, Rhett Butler-style. As I did,
I could hear Akane's voice in my mind's ear...
"Whatever shall I do? Wherever shall I go?" Trouble was, I *did*
give a damn. And for the moment, she didn't.
***
She lay on the bed, looking around the room at all the pictures of
Ranma on the walls and ceilings. "Kami-sama..." she murmured, "this
girl’s got it bad for him." I nodded sadly.
"Yeah. It's a wonder she ever gets to sleep around here. Maybe she
doesn't. In fact, I *know* she hasn't for the past week now.
"Anyway, you rest well. I'll wake you in the morning, and we'll head
to the dojo about dawn, okay?" I began to walk out of the room and
turn the lights out.
"Please... don't go."
"What? What do you want me to do?"
Her voice was growing faint and she drifted away. "Please... could
you come here?"
I walked over and stood by the bed. "Okay, Akane-san. I'm here."
"Hold me... please?" Ulp.
Ooo-kay. I climbed into the bed, and put my arms around her.
"Is that better?"
"Uh-hnhn..."
"How long do you want me to hold you, Akane-san?"
"..."
"Akane-san?"
"..."
Asleep, evidently. And lying on top of one of my arms; I wouldn't be
able to get out of this with out waking her. I should have known this
was going to happen. Now I was stuck here; guess I'll just have to
make myself comfortable. Still, she seemed content enough, and that
was what really mattered, right?
That was my last thought as the darkness came and enveloped me as well.
***
Oh my...
As usual, this story is not going anywhere I planned for it to,
originally (Then again, I didn't actually *have* a plan when the
Introduction was released, now, did I?) But to cast Ukyou in a
somewhat villianous light, and possibly linking Akane and Konatsu...?
Fiction is stranger than fiction, or so it would seem.
I have a few sketches prepared for both the Conclusion and the Epilogue,
but it still may be a while before they're fit for human consumption.
Still, it is a relief to have this section taken down, and I really
hope you all like what's happening. Even if it is a bit strange.
Please, as always... comments, criticisms, flames even can be sent to
me at:
ukyoukwnji@aol.com
I really need to get a feel for what and how well I'm doing. And
there's more to come yet, so stay tuned. Until then, ja!
Itsu mo,
Ucchan ^_^
*****
