Disclaimer: All characters portrayed in this story are the property of
Rumiko Takahashi and co. I don't own any of them. Please don't sue me.
This story takes place after volume 38 of the Ranma manga. It draws
ideas from both the anime and the manga. This is part 3 of "I Like
Ucchan".
C & C welcomed.
I Like Ucchan: Part 3
By
Donny Cheng
Akane stared into the mirror. Her thoughts wandered back to the boy
that always seemed to be lurking in the deep recesses of her mind. Was
he thinking about what she was? She could still hear her friends
teasing her about the English assignment.
* * * * *
"You're so lucky. When you and Ranma marry, the both of you are going
to be living in such a nice home. You'll both be teaching in the dojo
and taking care of your babies at the same time," Yuka sighed.
"I'm not only going to be teaching. I want to perform on stage too...
and who said anything about marrying Ranma!?"
Sayuri giggled. "You didn't deny it outright. So you must have been
thinking about it. This assignment is going to be a piece of cake for
you."
Yuka and Sayuri then began to sing while they ran away from their
friend. "Ranma and Akane, sitting in a..."
"Hey!" Akane yelled out as she chased her two giggling friends.
* * * * *
Akane looked into the mirror again. Damn. She just couldn't stop
blushing. She sighed and decided to just give up and face the music.
After trying unsuccessfully to compose her features again, she got up
and walked out of her room to Ranma's room in the dojo. She walked in
to see him sprawled on the floor, biting his pencil with a look of
frustration on his face. Her heart became flustered as Ranma turned and
smiled as he looked up at her.
"Great, you're here Akane. You've got to help me with this dumb
assignment."
Akane was slightly disappointed that he only smiled because of that.
Not to be put off from her good mood, she walked over to sit where he
was and put her own books down on the floor. "You should really learn
to do your homework yourself, Ranma."
Ranma wouldn't have complained if he had seen Akane's face. He would
have seen that she didn't mean what she said at all. "Aww, you know
this stuff is harder for me. You stop going to school for almost a year
and they suddenly change everything on you."
"Anyway, wh... what are you having problems with?" Akane asked, though
she already knew the answer. She hoped Ranma wouldn't notice the
wavering in her voice.
"The English assignment. 'Write your plans for the future using only
English in a short paragraph'. My worst subject and of course it would
have to be Ms. Hinako that teaches it." It really wasn't worth the
effort to touch his teacher's pressure points as he would invariably be
pounded on anyway. But, his pride wouldn't let his teacher get the
better of him. It usually resulted in him bruised and sore from attacks
by any and usually all of his various suitors afterward. None of them
liked him touching Hinako in any way.
"Here, why don't you write it out in Japanese first and then we'll
translate it after?" Akane asked helpfully. The blood rushed to her
face as she continued. "I could show you mine as an example."
"Hey, would you? That'd be great. Here let's see. This is what you
wrote in Japanese first?"
Akane nodded slowly, afraid to speak. She fought it off and finally
found the nerve to recite what she had written.
"I plan on finishing high school. I will follow up with a degree in
performing arts when I get to university. After that, I plan to have a
career on the stage and later acting. I hope to make room for the other
interest in my life which is teaching the Tendo-ryu half of anything
goes at my family's Anything Goes Dojo."
Akane finished and managed to risk a glance at her fianc�e. She had
deliberately kept the name of the dojo different. Her eyes met Ranma's
for a moment.
Ranma suddenly found himself staring into Akane's eyes. The dojo and
the engagement. Without even meaning to, Akane had reminded him of his
inheritance. Their inheritance. It seemed this business about the
fianc�es popped up more frequently ever since his near marriage to
Akane.
In truth, he really couldn't decide on what his feelings on the matter
were. He knew that he would like to eventually marry HER, if he could
only find away to do it without hurting the others too much. His
thoughts on his half of the dojo, however, were another matter
entirely. On one hand, he loved it. It was nice to be able to train in
one place once in awhile. The dojo would always be here for him. His
parents and friends lived here.
However, he could never think of it as his own. His mind would
remember back when he first came here. His father had engaged him to a
Tendo in hopes of uniting the two schools. In hopes of this
inheritance, Ranma was also sure. He would be master of the dojo simply
because of a simple engagement made so long ago. He felt it cheapened
his relationship with HER. That reason alone made him sick of it.
Also, somewhere deep in his mind a question and a face rose up whenever
the dojo popped up in his mind. What did he really want? Another girl
besides HER started appearing more and more in his mind in the recent
weeks. He felt very content about this girl, almost as content with the
girl in front of him.
<Growl>
Akane blinked. Her eyes broke contact with the warring emotions on
Ranma's face. Trust Ranma to ruin the mood. "I didn't know it was so
late. Auntie and Kasumi both had plans today, so everybody else is
fending for themselves tonight for dinner. I'll go make something for
us to eat."
Ranma panicked. Though, Akane had improved slightly because of his
mother's influence, four times out of five she messed up. Without
supervision, he hesitated to think what would happen. "Oh, wait Akane!
This will be the third time in a row you cooked for me. It's not fair
of me. I should help out once in awhile. Besides, I've got some free
coupons Ucchan's."
Akane frowned suspiciously, but couldn't find a reason to get angry
with that. It was funny in a way that Ranma would need coupons now.
Ukyo had taken to charging Ranma for all the food he ate and giving him
a free meal only when he ate enough to cover the expenses. Maybe Ukyo
was starting to get the idea that Ranma was taken. She wondered what
brought that change about.
Seeing that Akane didn't disagree with him. Ranma headed out the
door. "I'll be back with the orders soon."
* * * * *
Ukyo tried very hard to remain optimistic, but was finding it
increasingly difficult. She had seen the look on Akane's face and was
not at all happy about it. She had heard Yuka and Sayuri's teasing of
their friend very clearly. They had been right. Akane did not deny her
engagement to Ranma as fast as she would have liked. She was normally
confident that she would win out over Akane in the fianc�e race, but
lately that had begun to change.
For some reason, Ranma seemed to a much nicer person these days and did
not insult Akane as much. As a result, Akane hardly hit Ranma anymore.
They got along very well when she watched them together which caused the
pain she felt in her heart to become more acute as well. The look on
Akane's face was one of confidence, much like she once had. She groaned
and wondered if she was reading too much into things.
She then noticed Ranma walking outside of her window. She looked down
at the homework, Hinako had assigned. She wished that she could be as
confident as Akane had appeared.
* * * * *
Ranma grinned warmly as he walked into Ucchan's. With the initial
dinner rush over, the number of people in the restaurant dwindled to
only a few people. Ranma liked the quiet atmosphere of the cozy place
best. Konatsu was behind the grill and was handling the orders. Ranma
had to hand it to the ninja's speed in learning the fundamentals of
okonomiyaki cooking. He gave his order to Konatsu before looking for
his old friend.
Ukyo sat by one of the stalls, no doubt doing her homework. Ranma
shook his head admiringly. He still wondered how she was able to go to
school, manage a restaurant, and train in the art. "Hey, Ucchan!"
Ukyo's spirits lifted as she watched her fianc�e walk up to her.
"Ranchan! I was wondering when you would come and redeem those
coupons. Wasn't like you to give up a free meal."
Ranma grimaced. "Since you started charging me for food, I've had to
save every coupon I got. Came in handy too. Mother and Kasumi are out
shopping. We're left finding food for ourselves. Anyway, what's up?
You looked liked someone died when I came in here."
Ukyo spirits fell again as she remembered her problem. "It's this
stupid assignment. I can't think of what to write."
Ranma was surprised. He remembered all the gossiping after class was
finished. It seemed everyone in the room had big plans. Hiroshi and
Daisuke planned to be hentai manga artists. Akane's two friends all
wanted to join his fianc�e in acting. There were talks of doctors and
engineers floating around. Ranma had felt a slightly uncomfortable when
talk turned to how he was going to become some big time trophy winning
martial artist. He gagged at the thought. "What? I thought you would
have it easy. Become a world famous okonomiyaki chef and run a chain of
restaurants."
"Not you too? Everybody had been assuming that the whole day. It
sounds like a great idea, but I personally don't care for it."
Ranma blinked. "Why not? I thought okonomiyaki was your life."
Ukyo's face became wistful as she thought. "It is my life. I want to
be the best okonomiyaki chef in the world. Having a chain of
restaurants doesn't prove that. Before me, I always believed my father
was the best. He didn't even own a restaurant. We traveled throughout
Japan selling okonomiyaki with only the yatai. Everywhere we went
people would flock up to him and proclaim him the best."
Ranma flinched at the mentioning of the yatai. It was something he
knew he could never repay Ukyo. "That's what you plan to do?"
"Maybe. Staying in this one place means I would only be able to touch
a few people with my food. With a chain of stores, more people can
enjoy it. But at the same time, I would never be sure. I can't be
everywhere at once. Here, I can at least supervise Konatsu and know
that he is doing a good job. So my best bet I think would be to hit the
road with my husband when I get married." Ukyo blushed red as she
looked at Ranma.
* * * * *
"This is the best okonomiyaki I ever tasted."
"Thank you. My husband made that one. He's almost as good as me now."
"Really? Give me a couple more made by you."
"Ranchan, don't feel bad."
"Don't worry Ucchan. You're the best!"
* * * * *
Ranma, of course missed Ukyo's not so subtle prodding. "That's a nice
thought, Ukyo. My idea is almost the same."
Ukyo was slightly disappointed in Ranma's less than preferred reaction
to her words. She was happy nonetheless that he had planned the same
type of future. "Oh? No trophies and expansion of Anything Goes?"
Ranma made a face at that. "Have you seen some of those guys on TV?
It wouldn't even be a challenge. I'd probably get laughed at by Ryoga
and Mousse if ever sank that low. As for teaching, I haven't learned
everything myself yet. I still have a long way to go before I even
think of opening up a dojo."
Ukyo's hopes raised even more at the sound of this. "Really? So what
exactly are your exact plans?"
"Now, don't laugh at this. I figure I'd drag pop back on our training
trips. No, not a ten-year long one. Ones that last a few months so
that we can visit mother every once in a while. Or maybe we'll take her
with us. It's not like she's never traveled before. Probably go down
to china again or follow Ryoga on one of his training routes."
Ukyo didn't like the sound of that. How long would it be until Ranma
decided to settle down? "That's it? Just training?"
"Actually, I just got that right now from talking with you. Expanding
Anything Goes won't prove that I'm the best. There are other arts out
there. Being the biggest doesn't mean you're the best. I want to train
against all the other arts out there and maybe when I'm ready, I'll
develop my own style just like pop and Happosai did."
Ukyo decided to try again, but the wistful look on Ranma stopped her
short. She imagined he looked as she did when she talked about her
goal. "I... I wish you luck, Ranma."
"Hey, thanks Ucchan! Maybe we can see each other on the road and
travel once in a while together," Ranma grinned.
Ukyo smiled back. Not the admission she wanted from Ranma but Ukyo
didn't feel like it was all that bad. She held Ranma's eyes as she
whispered back, "I'd like that, Ranchan."
Ranma gulped as he tried to look away but found that he could not. The
abrupt change in the mood did not go unnoticed by him this time
amazingly enough. The way she caressed his name with her voice
fascinated him and made him wonder about what his 'cute' fianc�e
intended to do as she leaned in closer to him.
"You're okonomiyaki orders are ready," Konatsu said as he crept up
softly towards his Ukyo-sama's table.
Ukyo suddenly found herself looking at the back of Ranma's head. She
briefly considered firing Konatsu. She secretly wondered if the ninja
was deliberately messing up the moments of closeness between her and
Ranma. "Um, I guess I better get writing on my assignment."
"Er, yeah, me too," Ranma said, all the while avoiding Ukyo's eyes.
His mind toyed with the idea that Kuno was starting to rub off on him,
but he quickly squashed any of that nonsense.
Ukyo gazed at Ranma's retreating back thoughtfully. She then looked
back at the piece of paper on the table. She jotted a few words down.
She read it again carefully for mistakes. Finding none, she smiled and
went to help at the grill.
Konatsu moved unnoticed towards Ukyo's empty seat. He passed his eyes
quickly over the paper on the table. His keen eyesight caught the neat
printing on the paper.
"I plan to cook okonomiyaki."
Konatsu went back to his cleaning.
* * * * *
"I plan to train in the art."
Akane read Ranma's homework again. "That's it? It's not even a
paragraph."
"Yep! Now that I'm finished, I think I'll go and get pop to train some
more."
Akane continued to sit there looking at the one line sentence. Well,
at least he didn't say that he was going to marry Ukyo, Shampoo, or even
Kodachi. That was something at least. Wasn't it?
* * * * *
The end. (maybe)