Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ A New Future 2 - First Blood ❯ The NWC Ride: The Once and Future Friend ( Chapter 21 )

This was originally published by me under the name Anduril at Anime Addventures, with the only changes being a few corrections in spelling, punctuation and the occasional word choice to make things clearer. If you like the beginning of my story but think I've gone off the rails, or have your own ideas for a great branch-off, or think I'm taking too long to update and want to continue the story yourself, come to Anime Addventures and join in the fun!

I claim no ownership rights to any of the works of Rumiko Takahashi, Naoko Takeuchi, or anything in the GURPS Ogre and GURPS Tales of the Solar Patrol settings published by Steve Jackson Games. Everything else is mine.

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The cute “waitress” finished wiping down the table as he looked over the last of the lunch rush — such as it was. Business had been dropping off for months, and even his refusal to continue accepting any wage at all would not be enough to keep Ucchan's from going under if something didn't change soon.

Or someone, Konatsu thought as he turned, his shiny, long dark hair falling along his waitress uniform swishing behind him. As he carried the tub of dishes toward the back, he shot a look toward the teenage girl behind the cooking station grill and carefully kept his despairing fear from showing. Ukyo didn't look different at a glance, her clothes were as clean as her career allowed, she seemed to move as smoothly as ever. But there was something missing — from her eyes, maybe, perhaps her hair was a bit dull. And her cooking had become routine — not bad, but without the magic that she had seemed to imbue her creations with.

He had had the dream again, where he found Ukyo's dead body, tanto still in her sliced open stomach, on the floor of her foreclosed restaurant, and it was looking more likely by the day.

At least the decreased patronage meant fewer men hitting on what they thought was a really cute girl.

Konatsu had just put the tub by the sink when he heard the door chimes indicating a late customer, and hurried back to the dining room. “Welcome to Uc —” he started to say in his high alto, then broke off in shock at the sight of the two people standing just inside the front door as the dining room fell silent.

/\

Ukyo finished up an order, put the plate out for Kontsu to deliver, and dully turned to the latest order that her “waitress” had handed over, wondering for just a moment why she was even bothering.

Since that day when everything had fallen apart, when the Freak had ... attacked ... Ranma and spectacularly and, thankfully, painfully died, she had moved through a world of dull, lifeless colors, every motion an effort. First, there had been Nabiki's words, a seed of doubt in her already cracked certainty that Ranma would choose her over the frigid, abusive bitch he was affianced to. Then, even after he should have recovered he hadn't come to see her, to let her know he was alright.

She had told herself that he hadn't known, that he had more serious concerns, that being molested had pushed him into hiding for awhile while he recovered. Then the rumors had started circulating. Of course, as usual they were all over the map — Ranma had killed Happosai and was on the run from the law; the Amazons had taken advantage of the situation to smuggle him back to China where he was recovering by acting the stud for any interested woman; no, Ranma had felt it was impossible to continue as a man and chosen to lock his curse; no, Happosai had locked the curse before he died and now they were trying to figure out how to unlock it.

Still, there was one thing all the rumors had had in common — when Ranma left, Akane went with him.

Ukyo had tried to find out the truth, but the only person left at the Tendo dojo had been the father, and he had been useless. Eventually she had succeeded in tracking down Kasumi at Dr. Tofu's clinic, but the eldest daughter had refused to talk about Ranma or her sisters.

Then the pre-movie newsreels had come out showing a girl that was obviously Ranma (the ponytail wasn't fooling anyone), and a whole new raft of rumors started up, mainly centering around just how the Senshi had managed to convince Ranma to wear the costume, anywhere from some form of mind control to dealing with the trauma of what happened to him to Ranma losing his memory or taking another blow to the head (though some argued that Ranma would rather die than wear that costume so it couldn't really be him).

Ukyo felt the world become that much more dull and heavy at her train of thought and forced her mind back to her cooking. Whatever else had gone wrong in her life, she still had her pride — even if even in her most important Art the life and energy had faded, leaving nothing but duty.

Suddenly something changed, something about the restaurant, and she slowly refocused on the world beyond her grill as she realized what was wrong — the low murmur of conversation that marked a restaurant in operation was not just diminished (as it had been for weeks, something she had been unable to make herself care about), but gone, the only noises in Ucchan's coming from outside.

Looking up, the young chef froze as she saw the pair standing in the doorway. The young woman in a Sailor Moon costume barely registered, as Ukyo stared at the redheaded busty form of Ranma's girl side. Then Ukyo was up over the grill, slipping when she hit the floor from the okonomiyaki on the bottom of a foot, and threw herself toward Ranma.

/\

Sailor Moon smiled down at her sister sitting at her feet, Ranma's lap full of crying, laughing girl, then looked up at the cute waitress approaching the trio. No, wait — this had to be Konatsu, Ukyo's self-appointed servant, the male kunoichi, and so highly skilled as to make ranking meaningless. Incredible, that anyone so cute could be a guy.

The “waitress” bowed. “Are you truly Sailor Moon?” “she” asked softly, wide-eyed.

“Yup!” Moon replied cheerfully, then looked down again at the pair at her feet. “Come on, Ranma, I think you and Ukyo need to take this somewhere more private.” Good thing I suggested leaving off the emotion-reading thing going in this time, I hate to think of what would have happened if Ranma had been hit by that at the same time Ukyo piled into her. And little sis wanted to use it as training!

Ranma nodded and somehow rose to her feet with the larger girl in her arms, Ukyo still clutching her tightly. “Yeah, I'll take her ta her bedroom. Why don't ya see ta seein' off the customers? I don't think Ukyo's gonna be cookin' any time soon.”

“You leave the cooking to me,” Sailor Pluto said from behind them, and they turned to find the emerald-haired Senshi of Time standing in the doorway to the street.

“Pluto, you can cook okonomiyaki?!” Moon asked, stunned.

Pluto shrugged. “Not at a professional level, but I suspect it'll be good enough,” she said with a smile, looking around at all the staring customers. “So Ranma, take Ukyo and have that little talk while Moon and I help Konatsu see to the customers.”

Ranma nodded. “You got it,” she said, and started for the door to the back with a beaming Ukyo still in her arms while Pluto headed for the grill.

“But I don't know how to be a waitress!” Moon protested.

“It's not that hard,” Pluto said nonchalantly as she scraped off the overcooked okonomiyakis currently on the grill. “You get the customer's name, ask what he wants, write it down and give it to me, then when I'm done take it to the customer and give him the bill. Konatsu can give you some pointers. Oh, yes — don't stop smiling.” Konatsu nodded eagerly. When Moon seemed distinctly unreassured, Pluto added, “Don't worry, just be yourself. I suspect who you are will make up for any lack of professionalism.”

Moon looked around at the staring customers and took a deep breath. “Right! Can't be worse than facing Beryl.” Pasting on a smile she turned to Konatsu. “So, got an extra notepad?”

Konatsu nodded with a smile, then the two turned to stare as customers began rising from stools and chairs to rush toward the pay phone.

/\

“So you're locked,” Ukyo said from where she sat facing a kneeling Ranma on her bedroom's futon.

“Yeah, worse than locked — the curse is gone, I'm just ... me,” Ranma replied. “And like I said, there's no way ta change that. I have a new protection, magic can't touch me now.”

Ukyo jerked to her feet and turned her back on the girl to stare out her bedroom window for a long moment, then turned back around. “And Akane's fine with this?” she asked quietly. “I didn't think she swung that way.”

“I ... I don't think she does, not really,” Ranma replied hesitantly, eyes dropping. Taking a deep breath she forced her eyes back up to Ukyo's. “She says I'm enough, and I'm not gonna argue with her.”

Ukyo stared at the redhead, eyes wide. Akane's not a lesbian?! And she's still — “Ranma ... are you and Akane ... lovers?” Ukyo forced herself to ask, then turned back to the window, hugging herself, when Ranma silently nodded. I've lost. If Ranma and Akane are sleeping together, as honorable as Ranma is ... and even if they weren't, with Ranma like he ... she ... is, could you do what Akane's done? Take Ranma as he is, however ... she ... is? The former cute fiancée examined her heart, her feelings, how she had always reacted to Ranma's girl side, and came to the reluctant conclusion that, no, she couldn't. It was over.

Still gazing out the window, she asked, “Why didn't you stop by on your way out of Nerima? At least let me know what had happened? Why didn't you at least call?”

“Ukyo, I ...” Ranma broke off for a few minutes, then in a voice that shook with anger, continued, “Ukyo, ya blew up my wedding! I mean, sure, I didn't really want ta get married then — all sorta irony in that. Sure, I didn't even know about it and I might have wanted ya ta toss around bombs as a way ta break it up, but it should have been my call, ya didn't even ask! Sure, I was used ta the fathers actin' like that, like what I wanted didn't matter, like I was just a tool for whatever they wanted. Sure, I wasn't surprised when Shampoo did the same thing. But you — I expected better of you, thought you were my friend. And if that wasn't good enough for ya, if you were gonna treat me like somethin' ya owned instead of a person ya respected, then there wasn't any point in tryin' longer.”

Ukyo whirled. “Ranma, I didn't ... !” You did. “I didn't mean to ... !” You did. It didn't even occur to you to ask, did it? Why? Were you secretly afraid that you wouldn't like the answer? Ranma's right, what you wanted was everything, what he wanted was less than nothing. Ukyo swayed as the blood drained from her face, the world going gray, and even as she started to fall Ranma was there, catching her, keeping her on her feet. Again, she found herself clutching at the redhead, tears pouring down her cheeks, but this time there was no laughter. “Ranma, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!” she found herself repeating over and over between sobs as Ranma gently held her.

Eventually, the tears eased off as she fought for control. She fell silent and simply stood for a time, arms around the redhead in a mutual embrace. Finally she broke the embrace and stepped back away from Ranma and wiped at her face, then sighed and looked at her former fiancé, or so she'd thought. “Ranma, I really am sorry. I know I don't deserve it after the way I treated you, but ... can we be friends? Just friends?”

Ranma gave her a long, searching look, then her smile lit up the room. “Sure, I'd like that!” she said happily.

Ukyo sagged with relief, then plopped back down onto her futon and pointed at a spot a few feet away. “If you're going to be a girl, you have to learn to gossip properly! So sit, and tell me everything you and Akane have been up to in the months since you left.”

Ranma laughed even as she winced, but sat down at the ordered spot. “It isn't gossip, it's just ... catchin' up.”

“And what do you think gossip is?” Ukyo asked with a grin. “Girls are just better at it than guys, that's all. So spill!”

“Alright, alright! Well, I guess it really started when the Freak ... well, you know ... and it turned out I'm not exactly who I thought I was — no, that's not right, better said not just who I thought I was ...”

/\

“ ... so I came up with a ki-shield on the fly, and instead a' knockin' me into next week, she just knocked me out the window. She was really sorry about it after, too. Now I'll have to train her in how ta do that, along with the sword. It'll be fun.”

Ranma's last statement was slightly shaky, but Ukyo's head was whirling too hard to notice. Ranma the reincarnated sister of Sailor Moon? An ancient kingdom — excuse me, queendom — ruling a good-sized chunk of interstellar space? Ranma the reluctant Princess of the Amazons? Ranma trying to make Akane angry and Akane trying to control her temper?

Ukyo shook herself out of her stunned bemusement with a laugh. “Only you, Ranma, only you,” she murmured even as she felt another piece of her dream belatedly die. Ranma had come alive as she'd spoken of her training, her battles; and then there was the zaniness of her life — and where did that fit in with Ukyo's dream of a restaurant chain showcasing her recipes and talents? Where had it ever fit? And why hadn't she really listened earlier?

With a sigh, the chef straightened and frowned at the redhead. “When the final showdown happens I'm going to be there, right? If Akane's going to be in the middle of it you aren't going to go all macho-protective on me!”

“Uh, yeah, sure, glad ta have ya,” Ranma quickly agreed, blushing. “Actually, that's why I came by — we're gonna need all the top martial artists we can get.” Sobering, the redhead straightened with a sigh. “It gonna be worse than practically any other fight I've been in, but it's for everything — the whole world. We hafta win it.”

“Well, I'm glad something finally forced you to come around,” Ukyo said, then glanced at the clock hanging on the wall and shot to her feet. “It's been over an hour! What's going on downstairs? Please tell me you didn't leave Konatsu to try to cook again!”

“No, that would be Puu,” Ranma said, rising to her feet. “She said she isn't professional but probably good enough. She couldn't be worse than Konatsu so ya oughta have some lunch business, but we probably oughta see how things are goin'.”

The two headed for the dining room, only to freeze in the doorway. The room was packed, with a line of waiting customers — men, women and children — going out the door. A serene Konatsu breezed about the room cleaning tables and seating new customers while a frazzled but beaming Sailor Moon rushed from customer to customer and Sailor Pluto worked on four okonomiyakis at once.

Ranma ducked back out of sight, and Ukyo turned to find a human whirlwind in the corridor. Within seconds the spinning flashes of skin and cloth came to a stop to reveal the Vanguard she'd seen in the news reels. “Looks like big sis and Puu could use a hand,” Vanguard said with a grin as she finished tying up her ponytail. “So let's go give `em a show!”

“After you,” Ukyo responded, straightfaced as she bowed and motioned toward the doorway, then followed her once and future friend out into the busy restaurant.