"What?" you say, "The rough draft for part 6 of Found? Surely you jest!!!"

well, no...people (myself included) wanted a more action-intense,
plot furthering chapter, and, hopefully, this is pretty much it.

As usual, any C&C at all is much appreciated, and I'm not on this
list, so please respond directly. . .thanks.

And if anyone needs previous parts of the story, they are kept at:
http://students.vassar.edu/~meerobin/found.html

or i can e-mail them to you.

and it's off we go...

The usual disclaimer: all Ranma 1/2 characters belong to 
Takahashi-sama and distributers, all Oh My Goddess! characters 
belong to Fujishima-sama and other distributers...


Found
Part 6
(A Ranma 1/2 - Oh My Goddess! Crossover by Mee Robinson)

     Birds chirped. Sunlight glistened serenely over the recently fallen 
snow. It was a beautiful November day.

     "AAAAUUUGH!!!!! IT'S MORNING ALREADY?!?!"

     Skuld wasn't noticing any of it.

     "Ite!" she muttered, as the echo of her shout ricocheted painfully 
through her head. Ice cream hangover headache.

     The door opened, and Belldandy poked her head into the room.

     "Good morning, Skuld. . .did you just say something?"

     Skuld winced guiltily, the aching in her skull secondary only to her 
shame. <A real first-class goddess would never resort to such a cheap 
gimmick just to get a job done!> she thought.

     "Ah, no, not at all, oneesama," she stammered. "Uh, you haven't seen
Urd around this morning, have you?"

     Belldandy shook her head thoughtfully. "No, she left sometime 
yesterday afternoon. I don't think she's come back yet."

     Skuld narrowed her eyes. <Typical,> she thought. <Typical of Urd to
say that she wanted to help, and then to disappear for hours on end 
doing, er, the Lord only knew. . .>

     Skuld sighed. Oh well. Was it such a bad thing that Urd couldn't  
concentrate on getting a single job done any longer than Yggdrasil 
could run without the inevitable appearance of bugs? It just meant 
that she, herself, could fix things up without any pesky and probably 
damaging interference. And it gave her that much more of a chance 
to get things done right the _first_ time. 

     She shrugged and smiled brightly at Belldandy, who blinked. 

     "Never mind," she said with a forced cheerfulness as she hurredly 
gathered up her laptop and teleportation device.  "It doesn't matter 
one bit!"

     "Oh. . ." Belldandy said in a small voice "As long as you're sure that 
everything's-"

     "No time to talk, oneesama!" Skuld cried as she feverishly keyed
in her destination. "I'll be back later!!!"

     Aaand. . .off to the Unryuu farm!

     Belldandy flinched back from the burst of light caused by her 
sister's departure.

     "Oh. . .my."

*****

     "Go ahead. Make my day."

     Konatsu woke with a start, sitting bolt upright on Ukyou's bed. 
He sat there gasping for long moments before he realized that it
was the television that had awakened him. He lifted a trembling hand 
to wipe the persperation from his forehead, and then leaned forward
to turn off the television, cutting off a vicious round of gunfire.

     The challenge! Today was the day of the challenge.

     He drew a shuddering breath, and clasped his knees to his chest.
Was that what he had dreamed about? And why had he been sleeping 
in Ukyou-sama's bed? Oh, he remembered. He had fallen asleep 
watching  TV, occasionally trying to imitate some of the more 
masculine actors that he had seen. 

     Yes, acting. This whole charade of manliness felt like a big, 
transparent act that was incapable of fooling anyone, least of all 
himself. He sighed, remembering the last time he had been dressed 
up as a man. Ukyou had been sick with a cold that day, and had left 
himself, Ranma, and Akane in charge of the restaurant. Akane had 
convinced him to dress up in a rather dashing get-up in order to 
attract a lot of female customers. It had worked too, even if they 
hadn't made very much money. . .

     But Ukyou-sama wasn't much likely to fall for him based solely
on a change of clothes. She just wasn't that kind of girl.

     Konatsu got up slowly, and walked to his own room to get ready 
for the day. He thought about the crowds of girls who had fawned 
over his "bishounen" persona. He could have easily gone out with one 
of them - but they had all seemed like such silly, shallow things. 
Ukyou-sama wasn't anything like that. She wanted someone who was 
a man, both inside and out, and it was the inner spirit that concerned 
her most. And no amount of posturing would change that.

     But who was he really? He was tired of this charade - Ukyou
would never love him for who he wasn't, but what else could there
be?

     <I don't know.> he admitted, looking hopelessly at one of his 
secret shirts, the ones that bulked generously around his slender 
frame, having been cut for a much larger man.

     But he would be damned if he would let Tsubasa see that.
   
*****

     Ukyou woke slowly to the feeling of something warm and wet
licking at her neck.

     "Whuh. . .?" she muttered drowsily, and was answered by a yip.

     She blinked several times and shook her head, trying to make sense 
of the bright, unfamiliar blur that assaulted her senses.

     "Owoo!" said a small, moving part of the blur that was very close 
to her face. She rubbed her eyes and focused on it, and was rewarded 
by the sight of a tiny black and white puppy. She reached out a hand and 
stroked its head. It panted happily. 

     <Ryouga's place,> she remembered, as she allowed her eyes to examine 
the living room. <Ryouga's dogs.>

     "Okay. . .down you go," she said to the puppy as she stood up and 
stretched. Her back felt stiff after spending the whole night curled up 
in a chair.

     "Unnn," she muttered, "Better get back to the restaurant soon. Gonna
be a full day today." Suddenly she frowned. She had the nagging feeling
she was forgetting something.

     Unfortunately, before she could figure out what it was that was 
bothering her, her train of thought was interrupted by an ear-splitting 
scream.

     "OH NO!!! RYOUGA, WHERE ARE YOOOOUUUUUU?!?!?!?!"

     Ukyou winced as she pulled her fingers out of her ears.

     "Um, Akane?" she called out as quietly as she could.

     There was the sound of running footsteps, and then Akane's worried
face peered down at her through the banister.

     "Ukyou, what is it? Have you found him?. . .What are you doing down 
there?"

     "I spent the night down here. Ryouga's in the master bedroom - I saw 
him go in there last night."

     "Oh." Akane frowned quizzically. "I wonder what he's doing in there.
I mean, I can understand if he wanted to see his parents' room, but. . .he 
could've just _asked_ one of us to lead him there - he knows how 
easy it is for him to get lost!"

     Ukyou shrugged. "I think he might have been sleepwalking," she 
suggested. "And I saw him do it - I would've stopped him if I thought 
there was any danger of him wandering off."

     Akane sighed. "I guess. . ." she said hesitantly, as a bleary-eyed Ryouga
crashed out of the master bedroom.

     "A-Akane-san! Are you all right?! I thought I heard you. . .shout -" he 
stammered, blinking when he saw Ukyou at the bottom of the stairs.

     "Oh, everything's fine, Ryouga-kun," said Akane, laughing a bit 
nervously. "I just didn't know where you were."

     "Heh heh. Oh."

     Ukyou shook her head in disbelief. And then suddenly remembered 
what it was she had forgotten.

     "Oh, HECK!!!" she bellowed, slapping her forehead.

     Ryouga and Akane froze in position at the top of the stairs and 
stared at her warily.

     "Uh. . ." Ukyou said, embarrassed. "I just remembered, I've gotta
hurry back to the restaurant! There's, um, there's supposed to be a 
big. . .mummphle mummer grmmph."

     "Umm, what?" Akane asked in a tiny voice, still looking rather 
frightened.

     Ukyou sighed. "There's supposed to be a big duel between Konatsu 
and Tsubasa today. Over. . .well, you know. . ."

     "Oh." Akane nodded, not needing or wanting to know any more. "Well,
you can go on without us, if you want," she offered. "Ranma and I can
take care of everything else here. You just run along."

     Ukyou's eyes narrowed. She wasn't _that_ eager to see the face-off 
between her two transvestite suitors, and she _definitely_ didn't
want to leave Akane alone with Ranma. True, Ryouga would probably
head off any romantic overtures between the two of them, but even
with her newfound feelings of sympathy toward the lost boy, she wasn't 
about to bet on the effectiveness of his mental capacities just now, 
thank you very much.

     But. . .but, Konatsu was a truly caring soul, and right now, she was
the best friend that he had in the world. And even if she could never
have any romantic interest in him at all, she knew he had led an 
extremely  difficult life, starved of love. As much as she disliked 
his attention, and the constant yearning in his eyes, she didn't want 
him to think that she had deserted him. She owed him that much.

     "Okay," she said, nodding to Akane in agreement.

     This time.

*****

     "AAARGH!" Ukyou grunted as she sprinted back home from the bus 
stop. "Couldn't they have scheduled this challenge a _little_ later in
the day?!"

     "Sorry, mister!" she yelled as she nearly plowed over a young
man in the street. "I'm in a hurry!"

     "Ukyou. . .sama?"

     *SCREEEEECH*

     Ukyou backpedalled as hard as she could, wincing at the amount of 
smoke raised by her shoe soles on the pavement. 

     "Ko-Konatsu?" she asked disbelievingly.

     The young man stared back quiescently.

     Ukyou peered closer.

     "Hey, isn't that one of my shirts?" she finally asked.

     "Yes," he answered slowly. "I didn't think you'd mind if I borrowed
it. . .just for today."

     His voice sounded different, Ukyou realized. It was quieter than usual,
but also deeper, a low tenor. He sounded like any number of the shy, soft 
spoken male students that came from all the local high schools to eat 
her okonomiyaki, and, perhaps more importantly to them, to watch her 
cook them. And, dressed in one of her school uniforms, with his long hair 
tied tightly back, he looked like one of them too. Which meant that. . .
today's challenge really meant a lot to him.

     "That's okay," she said, unable to fathom exactly how much this
transformation was costing him. She cleared her throat. "Shouldn't you,
um, shouldn't you be getting back to the restaurant? The challenge 
starts in a few minutes."

     Konatsu nodded. His face, devoid of any traces of make-up, was 
serious.

     "I know," he said, and then suddenly he was smiling as he held 
forward a bag of cooking supplies. "It's just that I noticed we were 
running low on a few things."

     Ukyou blinked incredulously at him for a few seconds. Then she 
grinned.

     "Same old Konatsu," she said, accepting the bag from his hands. 

*****

     *I could really get to like this place,* said Urd, as she and 
Shampoo meandered through the streets of Nerima, conversing 
freely in Mandarin. The latter was supposed to be making deliveries, 
but she had discovered that having a goddess for company had more 
than a few perks, not the least of which was that deliveries got 
_made_. Just like magic. 

     *Yes,* Shampoo answered quietly. *I have learned. . .to love it 
here.*

     Urd nodded, and for once there was no amusing comment or 
suggestively humorous remark. *So, your great-grandmother was telling
the truth, then,* she said softly. *You might never return to the 
village of the amazons.*

     Shampoo nodded, her face uncharacteristically grave. *I love my 
family,* she said haltingly. *And the village is a beautiful place, and,
in some ways, I love it too. And I always will. But. . .it's a small 
village. Everyone there knows who I am. Everyone knows _what_ I am. 
In order to overcome that, to be respected by my people, I have 
always had to fight. I won their respect. Because I was always the 
best. . .in everything.* Shampoo sighed, a deep and melancholy sigh that
would have surprised any of her Japanese friends. *But. . .it never 
felt like home.*

     *I know what you mean,* Urd replied, smiling a bit ruefully. *It
may come as a surprise to you, but I've never felt much at home in the
heavens, either.*

     Shampoo laughed, a little ghost of a laugh. *I know,* she said. 
*Great-grandmother told me something like that last night.*

     It was Urd's turn to laugh, and hers was a deep, rich sounding chuckle.
*I guess the old girl does know me well,* she said. "Even after all these
years. Hey,* she said suddenly. *Isn't that the okonomiyaki shop?*

     Shampoo looked ahead. The two of them had indeed come upon 
Ucchan's, but the storefront was partially obscured by a large crowd.

     *I wonder what's going on,* she mused.

     "LADIEEES AND GENTLEMAN!!!" a voice called loudly from somewhere
in the middle of the crowd. 

     There was a long pause, as if the speaker had suddenly run out of
steam.

     Ukyou took a deep breath, and tried to muster enough energy
to continue announcing. The turnout was quite surprising. Even if most 
Nerima inhabitants had become avid martial arts enthusiasts over the
past year or so, neither Konatsu nor Tsubasa was a big name around
these parts. But, then again, Tsubasa sure had made a lot of flyers.

     "Aiya!" Shampoo exclaimed, Japanese speech being triggered by the
sight of her bitter rival. "It Spatula Girl!"

     Urd gave her a look.

     *I mean, it's Ukyou.* she amended, rather self-consciously.

-----

     "Hey, did you hear that?" said Ranma to Akane as they approached 
Ucchan's Okonomiyaki from a few blocks away. "Sounds like it's 
about to begin."

     Akane nodded, a tad breathlessly from running so fast. "Guess, 
we'd better hurry, huh, Ryouga?. . .Ryouga?" 

     There was a long moment of silence before both Ranma and Akane 
turned to survey the empty street behind them.

-----

     Meanwhile, Ukyou, who was too tired and distracted to notice any 
strange new arrivals in the crowd, took another deep breath, and 
continued. 

     "IT'S THE FIGHT OF. . .THIS WEEK!!!" she hollered. <Heck,> she thought. 
<It's a fight of Konatsu versus Tsubasa. . .I might as well have
a sense of humor about it.>

     Konatsu, who was nervously standing by, shot her a ruefully amused
grin. Tsubasa was busy garnering crowd support and missed the entire
exchange.

     "IN TRUE NERIMA FASHION, IN AN ANYTHING-GOES FIGHT TO THE 
FINISH, LET THE BATTLE OF THE CROSSDRESSERS BEGIN!!!!!"

     "Aiya," muttered Shampoo. 

     "Crossdresser?!" Tsubasa snorted, pointing indignantly at Konatsu.
"Who are calling a crossdresser?! Look at him, he's nowhere near as 
cute as me!!!"

     Konatsu glanced over at Ukyou, one corner of his mouth quirking 
upward as if to say: "He's got a point, you know."

     Ukyou shrugged apologetically and winced. It was definitely true. 
Tsubasa's ribbons and frilly pastel dress were definitely cuter than
Konatsu's unassuming school uniform. 

     "HEY, WHO'S THE JUDGE HERE?!" she yelled in Tsubasa's direction. 
"ANY MORE OUT OF YOU, AND YOU'LL BE DISQUALIFIED!"

     Tsubasa gasped. "Ukyou-sama," he murmured in a hurt voice. "Can it 
be - you're siding with _HIM_?" This last word was aimed at Konatsu, who
was quietly leaning against the store wall. Tsubasa began to tremble
in fury.

     "CHAAAAARGE!!!!!" he screamed as he launched himself at the ninja's 
head-

     -which, of course, suddenly wasn't there anymore, leaving Tsubasa 
to crash into the solid brick, making what would be an impressive crack, 
if everyone wasn't already used to this sort of thing.

     "Auugh - I'll. . .get you for that," Tsubasa growled as he staggered 
upright.

     Konatsu stood impassively several meters away.

     "Listen," he said, in a voice so low that the crowd had to lean forward
to hear. "Whatever else I may be, I _am_ a ninja. Don't you think this 
challenge is a little silly?"

     "CHAAAAAAAAAARGE!!!!!" came the familiar battle cry as Tsubasa 
rushed Konatsu again.

     *SPLAT*

     And yet another one of Nerima's overly abused telephone poles 
crashed to its doom.

     "Unngh!!! Stop dodging around, and. . .CHARGE, I SAY!!!" Tsubasa gasped.

     Konatsu stared back coolly, but he could feel the blood rushing through
his veins, and the unbridled beating of his heart. He was almost dismayed
to discover how much he was enjoying this fight. 

     <But why?> he wondered. <Why do I feel this way, when he isn't 
even _close_ to being a worthy opponent? I've fought plenty of _far_ 
more competent martial artists before today, so why do I feel this way
_now_?>

     Because, he suddenly realized as he leapt to avoid Tsubasa's next charge,
this was the first time he'd ever fought for _himself_.

     With this sudden knowledge came a joyful rush of heat, and an almost
painful tingling in his limbs.

     <So _this_ is what it feels like to be one's own person!!!> he exulted as
he leapt on top of his opponent, forcing him to the ground. <This is what
it feels like to be a man!!!> 

     The crowd was shouting its approval, and he heard Ukyou's voice above
the rest, yelling his name. He laughed giddily in amazement that he was
really doing this. _Him_, Konatsu, the weak one, the useless one, the one
they always said would _never_ win-

     "HOW DO YOU LIKE IT?!" he yelled gleefuly, lifting his opponent -
so easily! - getting ready to throw - "HOW _DO_ YOU LIKE IT?!"

     "KONATSU!!!!!" Ukyou shrieked, appalled, as she rushed into the
fray. "STOP!!!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!"

     Konatsu faltered, the strange light fading away from his eyes, but
not before he let go.

     "AIYA!!!" Shampoo cried as the transvestite plummeted toward them.

     Urd muttered something in an anchient language, and made a cryptic
gesture with her hands.

     Tsubasa, who had closed his eyes in anticipation of the impact, found,
to his surprise, that he didn't seem to be falling anymore.

     He slowly opened his eyes, and found that he was suspended upside
down in midair, face to face with that Chinese girl from the ramen
shop, and another, older, and very beautiful woman with long white hair.

     "I must be dreaming," he muttered to himself.

     The white-haired woman looked amused. "Nope, this is no dream,"
she informed him.

     "Then it must be. . .magic?"

     The Chinese girl folded her arms against her chest and scowled at 
him.

     "You live here whole life, and this is surprise?" she said. 

     "I guess. . .not," he managed to gasp.

     The white-haired woman chuckled. "Must be all that blood rushing
to your head," she said. "I'll let you down now." She muttered something
in a foreign language and placed a hand on him. There was a warm glow,
and suddenly he was upright and standing on the pavement.

     "Th-thank you," Tsubasa stammered, trying to regain his composure.
"You saved my life." He stuck his hands awkwardly into his pockets, and
was rewarded with a small bouquet that he'd meant to present to dear
Ukyou at the end of his duel. He found himself thrusting the flowers
toward the voluptuous stranger. "Here," he said. "These are a. . .token. . .
of my gratitude."

     Urd, who was not completely unamused, accepted the bouquet 
with a grin. Shampoo looked disgusted and started to walk away. 

     "Well, thank you very much," Urd said to the now-blushing transvestite.
"But I really was just doing my job."

     "What's your name?" Tsubasa asked.

     "Well, it's Urd. . ."

     "Dear, dear Urd," Tsubasa rhapsodied. "You truly are a goddess among 
women!"

     Urd shrugged, nonplussed.

     "Well. . . _yeah_."

     Meanwhile, Ukyou had taken hold of Konatsu's shoulders and was 
shaking him. Her eyes were wide and scared. "What did you think you were
doing?!" she yelled as she shook, "You could have hurt him, you know!!!"

     "What, Ukyou-sama?" Konatsu rasped, his voice deeper than it had 
been that morning.  He began to catch his breath as the blood stopped
rushing in his ears. "I beat him, didn't I?"

     Ukyou violently shook her head. "You were _BULLYING_ him!" she 
yelled, not knowing why her eyes were suddenly stinging with tears.
"You know Tsubasa's not a martial artist! You know better than to
attack him!"

     Konatsu felt his face redden. Ukyou-sama was yelling at him. At
_him_. And he had won. . .

     "Did you see me?!" he suddenly exclaimed. "Did you _see_ me, 
Ukyou-sama? I beat him! And now. . .I. . .I. . .know what it feels like -
to be a real man-"

     Ukyou slapped him. "What are you talking about?" she said, her voice 
wavering. 

     Konatsu raised a hand to his tinging cheek, his eyes wide with hurt.
"Ukyou-sama. . .you hit me. . ."

     "If I recall correctly," said Ukyou, her voice suddenly tight and hard, 
"The winner was supposed to be the one I liked best! And up until this
morning, I was certain it was going to be you - now I'm not
so sure."

     Ukyou stood up and backed away from him. "I'm not even sure if
I want to be near you right now. . .No, I _am_ sure - I _don't_ want
to be near you. Gods!" she said, spinning on her heel and starting to walk 
away before abrubtlyturning back. "I just don't get it," she said. 
"Why is it that all the men I know always turn into stuck-up. . .macho. . .
IDIOTS?!?!"

     "Ukyou-sama," Konatsu murmured. 

     Ukyou fumed, suddenly remembering being abandoned at the age of 
five by the man she loved, how she later forgave him, and how he'd since 
strung  her along for most of the past year.

     "Ukyou-sama. . .Ukyou. . ." Konatsu shook his head dumbly, at a loss
for words.

     "I HATE YOU ALL!!!!!" She shouted, and stalked off.

     "Ukyou. . ." But his voice caught painfully in his throat, and she was 
already out of earshot.

     *Well, that was. . .unexpected,* Shampoo said to herself quietly 
in her native tongue. She hesitated for a moment more, and then took 
off after her rival in all things, her footsteps as fleet and as silent
as the wind.

-----------
End part 6
-----------