Sorry for the long delay of getting a story out.  Computer was down and is
still down for almost a month now.  As a result most of my other stories
are on hold until I get the problem fixed and will be using my school
account in the meanwhile.  If you've sent me any e-mail to my home account
in the last month or so, I won't be able to get to it for at least a week
or two.  Anyway, enjoy! ^_^

Disclaimer:  All characters portrayed in this story are the porperty of
Rumiko Takahashi and co.

This story takes place after volume 38 of the manga and also draws ideas
from the anime.

I Like Ucchan: Part 4

by

Donny Cheng

	Ukyo looked in the mirror and wondered if she should have tried
the other dress.  This one was a bit modest of elegant.  The other one
showed off more of her body.  She thought better of it as she thought of
who she was wearing this for.  He would probably bolt the minute he caught
a hint of cleavage.

	Ukyo glanced about the room one last time.  Everything was in
perfect order.  The soft sound of music could be heard playing in the
background.  The lights were dimmed slightly to enhance the atmosphere.
Most of all, the dining area was devoid of a single soul.  She had closed
Ucchan's for the night and given Konatsu the night off.  There was no way
she would let any outside interference mar this evening.  Tonight was the
night she would ask Ranma the question that plagued her for almost an
entire year.

	She had always been sure she knew the answer to it.  After all,
she is his 'cute' fiancee.  But lately doubts began to pop up in her mind.
The more time she spent around Ranma, the more she noticed little things
about him that suggested otherwise to her musings.  Though there was an
unspoken agreement between them that the topic of the engagements would
not come up in their conversations, there was no such agreement on
conversations about his other suitors in general.  The girls figured into
their lives so much it was impossible not to think of them whenever they
talked of their days.  This was the main cause of her concern.

	When Akane's name was ever mentioned, it would always draw some
sort of reaction from Ranma.  Laughter at her clumsiness, but there was
never any malice to it.  Anger at her stubborness, to which he promptly
forgets after a moment.  Sadness at her angry face, which often lasted a
very long time.  Last of all, guiltyness.  It tore Ukyo's heart when
his eyes started to roam Ucchan's for any sign of Akane whenever he came
here alone.

	However, if the name being mentioned was some other girl, like
Shampoo's, Ranma's face drew an utter blank most of the time.  Ukyo's
greatest fear was that outside of theis restaurant, Ranma's face also
pulled a blank if her name was ever to come up in his presence.  Before
she had been content to wait for Ranma to make his decision in his own
time, but events beyond her control were happening much to fast.  She had
to find out now whether or not she was right.

	She wondered if she was making the mistake of her life as she
waited for Ranma to show.

			* * * * *

	"Here you go, Ukyo," the grocer said as he passed to her a bag of
vegetables.  "Making something special for you and Konatsu tonight?"

	Ukyo grinned good naturedly, "Heh, a happy worker works harder and
forgets that he's being paid the lowest in the district."

	The owner nodded knowingly, "A good business sense.  Hard to find
that in one so young.  You'll make that Saotome boy a wonderful wife."  He
prudently moved to the side as Ukyo's huge spatula narrowly missed his
back.  A good girl and all, but she really needed to learn how to accept
compliments better.

	Ukyo blushed beet red as she put her spatula back into place and
mock punched the man in the shoulder instead.  "Oh, you!  We're still
young.  I mean anything can happen in these next few years."

	"Next few years?  Oh, hadn't you heard yet?  I just had a
conversation with Mrs. Saotome just this afternoon.  That woman just can't
seem to wait to have grandchildren.  She was considering on making plans
with her son to come up with a plan of action by the end of the school
year."

	Ukyo froze.  Ranma hadn't said anything to her about this.
"Auntie Saotome was here, today?"

	"Yeah, she and Kasumi often take turns buying the groceries.  She
was off on one of her favorite rants again.  You know the one.  A
conspiracy to by the government that stops her son from being manly.  I
really don't know how she can expect the government to allow the boy to
have four wives.  It seems she's now turning to the idea of just marrying
one woman and making mistresses of the rest.  Not that I can ever see that
Tendo girl, Kuno girl, or even that amazon consenting to that..."

	Ukyo turned a deaf ear to the grocer as thoughts of her own raced
through her mind.  Ranma loved his mother.  If she wanted him to marry a
girl by the end of the year, he might actually do it.  The question was,
who would he choose?  Well her of course, Ukyo strongly felt.  She was the
'cute' fiancee.  Who else could he chose?

			* * * * *

	Ranma's danger sense immediately started to wildly warn him of
impending doom the moment he stepped into Ucchan's.  Instictually he
dropped to the floor and rolled away from the doorway and into Ucchan's.
He glanced around and after a brief moment of looking around, he was
satisfied Akane had not followed him.  For a moment there he thought he
was in danger.

	"Oh, you came, Ranchan!" Ukyo exclaimed as she rushed to him and
gave him a friendly hug from behind.  It was then that she noticed Ranma's
clothes where ripped and shredded in some places.  "What the heck
happened to you?"  

	Ranma's fear rised up again almost immediately, causing him to
forget to answer her.  Ukyo was not wearing her chest wrap.  Afraid,
Ranma removed himself from Ukyo's arms, turned to look at her and stared.
A dress.  Ukyo was wearing a dress.  A modest one that someone like Kasumi
habitually wore, but a dress nonetheless.  Ukyo definately looked like a
girl, he couldn't help but notice.  "Uh..," he muttered intelligently as
he pointed at her.

	Ukyo quickly detected the fear in Ranma's wildly roaming eyes.
She sighed.  She would have to do it the hard way.  "Oh, this thing?  It
was a present from my mom.  It just arrived today.  Might as well make her
happy and tell her that I wore it once at least."

	Ranma lowered his guard slowly.  "Hehehe!  I should have known.  I
haven't seen you wear many different clothes other than that okonomiyaki
outfit.  Where the heck are all your customers or Konatsu for that matter?
You'd think this was a date or something.  I mean just the two of us
along eating."

	"Didn't I tell you over the phone?  Since finals are coming up in
a month most of the students are home studying at nights.  I figured, I'd 
close the restaurant down once every other night to save on salary and
expenses.  That's why Konatsu has the night off.  He didn't want to spend
it here so it made all the food I made go to waste.  That's why I called
you."

	Ranma laughed nervously at nothing in particular.  "I guess the
dimmed lights and music just gave me a scare.  Because you know Akane.
And Shampoo and Kodachi of course.  If any of them caught word of a date,
who knows what might happen."

	"Yeah," Ukyo muttered as she thought frantically of an excuse.
"Well, since it was just the two of us, I didn't want to open all the
lights.  Costs money you know.  The stereo is busted and will only play
music from this channel.  I was trying to get the news station, but I gave
up after awhile.  I'll try again after dinner."

	A grin finally found it's way on to Ranma's face with his worries
subsided.  "So, when do we eat?"

			* * * * *

	"So that was why you looked afraid when you came in the door?"
Ukyo asked.

	Ranma glared indignantly at Ukyo, "I was not afraid!  Just
cautious.  Like a bunch of shool boys could ever make me scared.  If
Happosai hadn't dumbed a pail of water on me and then destroyed most of my
clothes with that stupid bomb technique, I wouldn't have ran from those
jocks.  Man, and I thought Happosai was lecherous.  Those boys could give
him a lesson.  Every time I hit them, they would just come back for more.
Now I know what Akane felt like."

	Ukyo couldn't help but laugh out loud at Ranma's plight.  "It was
just your luck to be in a part of town that didn't know about your curse."

	"Tell me about it.  Why do these things always happen to me?"
Ranma sulked.

	Ukyo looked at Ranma closely and imagined he was a girl.  With his
clothes in such a disarray and his face all pouty, he would have looked
very provactive the the average hormonal teenaged boy.  Even in boy form
right now, he looked so pitiful and vulnerable.  It made her just want to
wrap her arms around him and...

	"Hey, pervert!" Ranma yelled out to get Ukyo's attention.  He
self-consciously held his tattered clothes closer to himself.  The look
Ukyo was giving him right now was exactly the same he received earlier
from those boys.

	Ukyo blushed furiously, "I am not!  Listen to yourself for crying
out loud.  I'm the girl right now, remember.  You're the guy that's half
naked.  I should be the one saying that."

	"Er, yeah.  I forgot," Ranma sheepishily scratched to back of his 
head in that all too familar gesture of his. Ryoga would laugh at him for
acting girlish if he had heard that.  In fact, he felt himself starting to
laugh at the situation, to which Ukyo's throaty voice joined him in.

	Seeing that Ranma was starting to lower his guard even more, Ukyo
decided to go in for the kill.  "You know, Ranma, I've been thinking of us
lately."

	Ranma stopped laughing.  He didn't like the direction the
conversation was heading.  "What about us?"

	"Well, the future in general.  That assignment we got a week ago
got me thinking more and more.  Heh, the stupid thing was that I forgot to
put in the person I intended to marry." Ukyo said in a tone of voice that
left no mystery as to who that person was.

	Ranma slowly backed his chair away from the table.  If he pushed
just a little bit farther, he would have a clear path to the door.

	Ukyo narrowed her eyes at the sight of her prey looking as if it
might get away.  She had to slow him down.  "Stupid, right?   Wondering
what brought this on?  Well, to tell the truth, I was feeling a bit
naughty just a second ago."

	"W-what!?" Ranma stopped backing up and stared at Ukyo.  Her face
was calm and composed now except for her eyes.  They stared at him with
the same intensity as before.  "Haha, Ukyo.  Very funny."  But Ukyo
didn't laugh with him this time.

	"I mean, why not?  We have known each other for about a year now
and we are engaged.  It's natural for me to have these feelings for your.
I mean, don't you?" Ukyo asked directly and was inwardly shocked at her
own forwardness.  Just a moment ago she had been too shy to even where so
modest a dress in front of him while she was finding something to wear for
this special night.  It was just that the mood was so romantic.  Both she
and Ranma were having a good time and she felt so at ease with him.

	Ranma found himself rooted to the spot.  Ukyo's eyes seemed to
drain every ounce of energy from him.  Her frankness and the speed at
which she was taking things were playing hard on his current state of
mind.  The truth was, he did fantasize.  However, the girl he often
thought of, had shorter hair.

	Ukyo seized on Ranma's stunned reaction.  Time to finish him off.
Slowly, she walked over to his chair and lowered her head to where his
was.  A soft whisper escaped his lips as she neared them with her own.

	Ranma fought off the dizzyness.  He thought of something,
anything, to say.  Without thinking he plucked the first thing in his
mind.

	"I like okonomiyaki."

			* * * * *

	Ranma stepped out of the restaurant.  He looked at the night sky.
It was clear out tonight and he could make out a few stars.  Damn.  How
was he going to hide this hand print on his face.

	Wearily, he started on his way home.  He felt a drop of water land
his hand as he walked.  Touching his cheek and avoiding the red hand
print imbeaded in his face, he felt more water. Funny, the night sky had
seemed to be clear to him.

			* * * * *

The End. (maybe)

(okay, okay... to be continued ^_^)

Mainly just a build up to the conclusion (maybe) in the next chapter. ^_^

Fanboy and fanfic writer. ^_^
Homepage at http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Ginza/4537