Slowly catching up:

    Time is Funny

Except I seem to get older and have less of it as it moves along. Still so
much to do...

    ---------------------------

    Time was a funny thing.  She could see, in a sense, her past laid
out before her, as though looking down the slope of a mountain.  The
side of the mountain occasionally obscured events from her memory, but
the gist of it was clear.  And from her perch, she could see the base
where her journey began.

And the paths not taken traveling into the unknown. It's not a perfect view
by any means.

    That long-ago past, with the path of bitterness winding up the
slopes of memory, and then rudely turning aside.  Did that mean, she
wondered, that her future was towards the peak, and that endless hatred
was a dead end?

Perhaps a touch of both.

    Blinking away her distraction, she forced herself to sit up straight
before the teacher threw chalk at her.  The daydream landscape of her
gardens of memories faded away, and she turned her attention to the
notes she had taken.  "Society's progress," the teacher lectured, his
eyes rising from his notes to sweep the class briefly before returning,
"has been marked, historically by violence, until the latter half of
this century."

Nah. There's always a war going on somewhere. Violence is always an option
to achieve one's goals when they are in conflict with anothers.

    Progress came from turmoil?

More like turmoil serves as an impeteous. :)

    "I'm just thinking about lunch," Ukyou said, making a face.  "Too
much thinking."

% That doesn't happen a whole lot of time in the Ranmaverse.

    Ukyou sat back on her heels, still waiting for the portable grill to
warm up.

And giving Ranma  more time to talk. :)

    When she said nothing, the boy

just use 'Ranma' here, I recommend.

 >     "But the thing is ... I've been in a lot of fights.  And they never

solve anything.  Everything stays the same."  His eyes rose to meet
hers, and she flinched from the depth of emotion in them.  "Why does it
have to be that way?  I can fight all day.  I can be ... well, no.  I am
the best.  But it doesn't change nothing."  He looked at the bento on
the ground.  "I could fight Kuno, for whatever reason.  I'd beat him,
just like always, and tomorrow when I came back to class, no one would
say a thing out of the ordinary.  Or maybe he'd come up with some trick
that throws me, and gets him the upper hand."

temporarily (I recommend adding)

    Snorting, Ukyou dryly remarked, "I doubt that."

    Ranma shrugged.  "Who knows?  And if he did, maybe he'd beat me ...
for a while.  Then I'd come back, figure out whatever, and beat him.

nevermind

  Or

Ryouga.  Or Mousse.  Or ... someone.  Anyone, I guess.  I always win,
because I'm the best.  And it gets me nothing.  If this is progress ..

there are different sorts of progress, though.

    The epiphany made her dizzy, and she shook her head.  Why pick a
path at all?  She could forge her own; it was that simple.

Depends on what's in front of you.

    "Is that all?"  Ranma eyed her as though considering it, then
sighed, and shook his head.  "I don't know.  It's really hard ...
because I don't know how to get what I want."

Heh. Welcome to the real world.

    "I know what I want," she said quietly.  "And I think that it's not
how to get it, as much as realizing that I want to be the person who has
it.  I guess that's kind of confusing."  She looked at the grill in
dismay.  "I think I'm trying to say, that, maybe, I'm looking at things
wrong, and it's not about doing something, it's about _being_ somebody.
And I just ... need to be the person I want to be."

Perhaps.

    "Oh," he said quietly, leaning back against the tree and staring
upwards into the sky.

    "What ... are you thinking?" she asked.

Ranma; That cloud looks like a bunny.

Ukyou: So much for Deep Thought with Ranma Saotome.

    "The sky is pretty big," he answered after a moment.  "Its

It's

 like it

never ends ... and you know, looking at it ... I guess anything could
happen.  I used to think maybe, that

don't think you need that comma

    "Do you?" he asked, raising his head.

    "I think so."

    And then he leaned forward, and kissed her.

Ahhh. A sweet Waffy moment. :)

    "If you meant what you said, absolutely," he said with conviction.
"I think that's exactly what I want."  He smiled slightly, his cheeks
flushing very faintly, and stared at their clasped hands.  "Variety may
be the spice of life, but I think I've had too much seasoning.  It'd be
nice to have ... a plain okonomiyaki."

And we have symmatry with the title.

Nice work. Look forward to seeing more out of you.

DB Sommer



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