The All-Americans
By
Joshua Trujillo

Part 18 - Love and War

Dawn broke. It was the lazy kind of dawn that comes in the middle 
of the Fall, knowing that there was little time left before the chill of 
Winter set in, and it had better get as much rest as it could. Shafts 
of light streamed across the landscape, a brush to sweep away the 
shadows of night from every hidden corner. Across the South, it 
woke to a much happier warmth than it did in the North, but in the 
Midwest; the golden shafts of something or other waved gently in 
the morn. The sun sparkled especially on each little golden grain, 
just because it could.

It sped across the fields until it came upon a house. It had a certain 
underexpectation to it, as if the dawn were nothing more than the 
signal that they were damned well late. Voices arose and fell in the 
morning. Female voices. Four of them. Two of them got out the 
front door and sped off in a car. That had been Nabiki and Akane, 
and they knew that they were late for class. The sun smiled. It was 
Friday as well. That kind of thing happened sometimes.

The third voice was that of their foster mother, Nodoka. She was 
worried about the girls, especially Akane. Nabiki had a good 
handle on relationships, especially with her son, Ranma. Nodoka 
didn't mind that, but sometimes wondered how it would affect the 
family. Akane, on the other hand, seemed more interested in 
schoolwork and swimming than in relationships. It was fine 
because they would get her to college, but the relationships would 
help her through life. Nodoka sighed as she watched from the front 
door as the car sped away. She'd have to remind Nabiki about 
being a better driver...

The sun smiled again. Some things never change...Ah, but some 
things do. Such as the fourth female voice. It belonged to the 
female that just sat herself down on the roof of the house. She 
closed her eyes against the brightness of the sun and relaxed as she 
let the warmth seep into her bones. She stretched and the sun 
smiled again. The sun WAS a guy, after all. She fiddled with her 
pigtail absently, as if something were bothering her about the 
whole of life. Her deep ocean blue eyes cast a shadowy 
counterpoint to the happiness in the golden sunshine. The sun 
frowned and wondered if there was anything that he could do, but 
the girl turned back as a voice rose from below.

"Ranma..." Nodoka called.

"Coming," the girl shouted back.

The girl picked up the jacket from beside her seat and vaulted over 
the roof of the house, swinging into the window below. The sun 
smiled again. Yes, the next few days would certainly be 
interesting.

***

Akane set her tray down next to Nabiki, who was putting her 
calculator through its paces. She sighed. It seemed that something 
was entirely different in the family since Nabiki and Ranma broke 
up. Akane hoped that her sister would talk to her about it, but it 
was like pulling teeth to get her to say anything anyway. Akane 
looked across the room and spotted Shampoo. Akane sneered 
unconsciously. She disliked that...That...Parasite. She'd attached 
herself to Ranma and that pervert didn't seem to mind. Akane let 
out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. Akane turned back 
to the table in order to keep from getting madder. Yuka was 
chittering happily because of something that she and Hiroshi had 
done a couple nights ago.

Akane smiled as Ukyou sat down. Akane noticed that Sayuri 
smiled as well. It was good to have Sayuri back. She hadn't been in 
school for a couple days and Ranma had told Akane what had 
happened with Toma. She silently wondered what else went on. 
Both he and Ukyou were tight-lipped about the whole thing, which 
didn't set well with Akane. Like they were hiding something. 
Ranma did say that Sayuri and Shampoo found out about Ukyou. 
Akane could understand why she wasn't in class then; it was sad, 
but true.

Apparently Hiroshi, Daisuke and Yuka were the only ones that 
didn't know. The guys noticed how Sayuri cuddled up to Ukyou 
and were not letting him get away without details. Akane noticed 
as well and this disturbed her. She hadn't thought that Sayuri was 
like that...Maybe she didn't know? Akane looked over to the 
couple. Sayuri looked at Akane and quickly shifted her gaze to her 
shoes, blushing furiously. Ukyou simply mouthed, 'Later'. Akane 
nodded mutely and went back to her meal...Such as it was.

"Akane?" Ukyou asked, thankfully diverting her attention away 
from the tuna surprise.

Akane looked up.

"Where's Ranma? He should be in class," Ukyou whispered as well 
as she could.

Everyone pretty well ignored them, as Ukyou still wouldn't divulge 
any juicy details. As days went, it was rather boring. Akane just 
shrugged. Hiroshi finally got to the table and began complaining 
about the food. Yuka shushed him as he sat down. Sayuri excused 
herself and went up to get an ice cream bar from the snack line. 
Ukyou was grateful for the little relief on her arm.

"Oh, it's just that time of the month," Akane said, realizing too late 
to whom she was talking.

Nabiki didn't get it late. She sprayed her drink all over Hiroshi, 
who had just begun to eat. He stopped eating and began to wipe, 
wearing the smug look of those who know that the day CAN'T get 
any worse. At least Yuka helped him mop up the Coke. With the 
show winding down, Ukyou wondered for a short second what 
Nabiki's problem was. She leaned to Akane.

"So, where is Ranma anyway?"

Akane looked at her like she was supposed to realize the oddness 
of her own question.

"Um, Ukyou..." she began, "There was a full moon last night."

Ukyou slowly nodded her head. Yes, there was indeed a full moon 
out the night before, and the memories that returned of that moon 
only held the softness of Sayuri's lips on her own. Ukyou closed 
her eyes and shook the memories away, as pleasantly confusing as 
they were. But as far as any other special goings-on that 
happened...

"Yeah, so?" was all she could bring up.

Akane started, but caught herself. Ukyou could tell she wanted to 
say something, but something she knew or didn't know kept her 
from saying it.

"You mean..." Akane asked quietly, "You don't know?"

"Know what?"

Akane shot a glance towards Nabiki who shook her head 
imperceptibly. If Ukyou hadn't been watching her, she would have 
missed it, but whatever was meant by it, Akane took it to heart.

"Ah, Ranma'll be back in a couple days," she finally said, 
"He's...Um..."

And now she was reaching and both of them knew it.

"Sh-HE'll be back in a couple days, Ukyou."

Ukyou shook her head slightly. Did Akane almost say she? What 
was going on here? It didn't make any sense. It was obvious that 
whatever was going on, Akane wouldn't say anything and Nabiki 
never gave up information without a fight. Ukyou sighed and then 
remembered why she asked in the first place.

"But," she began, "Doesn't he have a game tonight?"

Nabiki looked up from her paperwork, a shocked wrinkle crossing 
her forehead. She passed a look to Akane, who just nodded and 
shrugged. They both seemed to almost deflate in front of Ukyou's 
eyes, to almost be resigned to what had happened-

"He's not hurt, is he?" she ventured.

Akane perked at this and shook her head. Sayuri sat down again 
and unwrapped her ice cream sandwich. She tapped Ukyou on the 
shoulder and began to lick the ice cream from between the two 
cookies. Akane laughed at Ukyou's reaction, partly for the curious 
look on her face, partly for the shiver that went up her own spine. 
She coughed and shook her head. She never thought like that 
before. Well, before Ranma anyway.

Nabiki closed up her books and put them back into her pack as she 
finished the remainder of her drink.

"I gotta use the phone," she said to Akane, "See you after school."

Akane nodded as her sister left. Ukyou frowned. Something was 
up concerning Ranma, and it wasn't like him to keep anything from 
her. Especially with everything that happened concerning Toma. 
Maybe she'd have to go and find out for herself; there was only one 
little problem that she'd have to take care of before then, though. 
And she was currently making more of an ice cream sandwich than 
one really should.

"Ukyou..." Sayuri purred next to her, still lapping at the ice cream.

***

Ukyou crept along the outer wall of the gym towards the back 
door. A few more steps and she'd be out, hopefully with no one 
noticing her gone. She thought that it'd be a drag to have gym last 
period, but Ranma was in it, and it left the door open to skip it 
when necessary.

Ukyou trotted out to her Mustang and threw her bag into the back 
seat. Sayuri had wanted a ride home, but she was also concerned 
about why Ranma wasn't there on a game day. So she let Ukyou 
go. The car purred to life under her and she quickly pulled out of 
the lot, skipping down a near side street to get out of the way of 
any truant officers that might be lurking nearby.

The car spun lazily onto the side streets and onto the highway, 
headed south, out of town. A sense of deja vu crawled up through 
her skin. Ukyou knew what it came from but refused to think that 
the results would be the same. She just wanted to know what was 
wrong with Ranma, if anything was wrong? No, something MUST 
be wrong just from the way Nabiki and Akane were almost 
accepting of what happened...

Happened. Which meant that it occurred in the time since the last 
time she'd seem him, which had been at school the day before 
yesterday. Now that she thought of it, he seemed to be rather 
depressed that day. Perhaps he suffers from Seasonal Affective 
Disorder? Ukyou didn't know. She wasn't a shrink. She was his 
friend, and dammit, she'd help him.

***

The last time she was here was the day after the football game with 
Arlington. Something had been wrong with Ranma then too. The 
idiot had fought the whole Arlington football team by himself. 
Well...Metaphorically, of course.

The doorbell chimed out across the quiet landscape around her. 
Ukyou wondered who worked the fields around the Saotome 
house, but was brought back around when the door opened. Ukyou 
frowned at the woman who stared back at her. She was fairly short, 
red haired and extremely well built. The door, having only been 
open a couple seconds, slammed shut. Ukyou could hear the 
woman bolt into the background and the door opened again.

"...honestly, Ranma, why-" the older woman quickly came around 
as she saw Ukyou, "Oh. Come in Ukyou, aren't you out of school a 
little early?"

Ukyou came in under the request and heard small footsteps 
ascending the stairs to Ranma's attic room. A horrid thought began 
to spill across Ukyou's heart. If she...And Ranma...But 
they...Ukyou shook her head and nodded to Nodoka.

"I got out a little early because I wanted to find out what was 
wrong with Ranma," Ukyou said, looking over her shoulder to the 
stairs.

Nodoka's smile never wavered.

"He's not in dear," she said, "Every few weeks, he has to go to 
Elyria to help his ailing gran-"

"Mom?"

The red head was standing at the base of the stairs. Ukyou took a 
better look now. She was wearing a pair of cut-off black 
sweatpants with a red t-shirt. Both fit her sinfully well and Ukyou 
suddenly found herself fighting back her new found "other" side. 
She'd have to figure out how to control that better, as it was 
becoming annoying. Now that Ukyou had a chance to see, this girl 
could be Ranma's younger sister, for the features in her face and 
the way she held herself were almost identical. It was almost eerie.

"Mom," the girl said, "Ukyou has been a friend and has seen me 
through my worst times. I can't lie to her."

Nodoka just nodded.

"Ukyou, it's me. Ranma."

"W...Wha-?" was all Ukyou could mutter.

"Can you come up to my room?" the girl asked, "I want to prove to 
you that I really AM Ranma Saotome."

Ukyou nodded mutely and numbly followed the girl up to Ranma's 
room. She opened the door and crossed the space to an old steamer 
trunk at the foot of the bed. From it, she pulled a large photo 
album. She closed the trunk and plopped sullenly down on the bed. 
The girl waited patiently until Ukyou snapped out of her stupor 
and pulled the chair up to the bedside. If this girl wasn't delusional, 
then at least she knew where Ranma...

But his mother had called this girl Ranma, hadn't she? And she 
seemed to accept the fact of it as well. Ukyou was so confused, so 
she just pushed the whole thing into the back of her mind until the 
whole thing was spelled out. At least then, maybe the truth could 
sort it out.

***

"So," Ranma sighed as she closed the album, "That's everything. 
Every little sordid detail that happened after Pop took me away."

Ukyou just shook her head. It was almost too much to fathom, but 
there it was, every detail of Ranma's life in intimate detail. This 
girl, this Ranma, knew it all. She seemed sad and angry and a few 
dozen other emotions all at once whenever she talked about 
Ranma's father, which would be consistent with Ranma's feelings 
toward the old freak. Ukyou seethed. Genma would pay, she'd 
make sure of that. One thing that she had prided herself on was the 
contacts that she had kept with her old ties. Oh yes, Genma would 
pay.

"Ukyou, I have to ask a favor," Ranma closed her eyes against the 
tears, "The Tendo sisters already know of it and so does mom. But 
no one else knows and I-"

"Of course, I won't tell anyone else," Ukyou took Ranma's hand, "I 
mean, you kept MY secret and I can only return the favor."

Ranma ripped her hand away.

"Do you think this is some kind of JOKE?!" Ranma jumped to her 
feet, "Because of father, I'm a freak!"

"Oh?" Ukyou raised an eyebrow at her, "Being a girl is freakish?"

Ranma huffed out.

"For me it is," she said, quietly.

"Look Ranma," she started again, "It's only a few times a month. 
No more than three or four, right? Then don't worry about it and 
we'll keep looking for a cure."

***

Ukyou looked back up the stairs toward the room that Ranma still 
occupied. She'd fallen into a fairly deep depression at the end of 
the conversation and nothing that Ukyou said to her would rouse 
her out of it, which worried Ukyou. Ranma even began to cry, 
which she'd only seen him-her...Whichever...Ukyou had only seen 
Ranma cry maybe twice in the entire time she'd known him. It hurt 
Ukyou to see him cry because there was not a whole lot she could 
do about comforting him. How could you?

"Is he all right, dear?" a gentle voice said from behind Ukyou, "He 
gets so touchy about being a girl."

"Then..." Ukyou stuttered, "It really IS Ranma?"

Nodoka nodded slowly and put her arm around Ukyou's shoulders, 
guiding her back towards the livingroom.

"Yes dear, that really IS Ranma," Nodoka sighed, "Much as I think 
it was impossible, it really is. I think it best if you just leave it 
alone for now, all right?"

"But-" Ukyou began, "Should we leave him like...?"

"I know it's hard," she replied, "But Ranma is one of those people 
that have to work things out for themselves, else they become 
depressed about it. He'll come to you and talk about it when he's 
ready."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes dear," Nodoka smiled knowingly, "Of that, I'm sure."

***

Ranma said nothing about it when he did come back to school the 
following Monday. His coach said nothing to him that day in gym 
class, Ryouga hadn't said anything or tried to beat him up for 
missing the game. Something about the whole situation brought up 
the hackles on the back of Ukyou's neck.

"So, are you coming out to my place for dinner tonight?" Sayuri 
asked, as she leaned on the locker next to Ukyou.

"Yuri," which was her pet name, "I don't think your parents would 
very much approve of me. Not to mention your brother..."

Ukyou looked back into her locker and gathered up the books for 
the final couple classes. Sayuri slid a hand across Ukyou's back 
and she began to play with her ponytail. It was a cute little habit 
that Sayuri had when Ukyou began to talk about how Sayuri would 
be better off with a real guy and other self-deprecating things.

"Ukyou, aside from my brother, who they don't listen to," Sayuri 
said, softly, "They think you're a guy. Who am I to disillusion 
them of that?"

Ukyou turned and gave Sayuri a tired look. She returned with a sly 
smile and she added a raised eyebrow.

"Well, yeah..." Ukyou sighed, "I would, but I wanna go out to 
Ranma's place and talk to him about a couple things."

Sayuri's face darkened.

"No, I'm not going to seduce him or anything," Ukyou shook her 
head, "It's just that, when I last went out there, he told me a couple 
things that happened after he left with his father and quite honestly, 
they were pretty bad. And I want to make sure that he wasn't 
permanently hurt by them."

"That bad, huh?" Sayuri frowned, "He never reveals any of it in 
school."

"Yeah," Ukyou agreed, "Which is why I want to talk to him about 
it. I've known him the longest and I want to help, if I can. If he'll 
let me help."

"Okay, well...How about coming out tomorrow night?"

Ukyou grinned as she closed her locker.

"You're not going to be happy until I meet your parents?" she 
asked.

"Well," Sayuri sighed, "They want to meet you."

Ukyou chewed it over for a minute and nodded her head. Sayuri 
squeaked with delight and threw her arms around Ukyou's neck. 
She planted a huge kiss on Ukyou before bounding away, happy as 
a clam. Ukyou wondered about that. Just how did anyone know 
that clams were happy?

Well, that, and why she enjoyed kissing Sayuri so much...

***

"Ukyou?" Nabiki answered the door at the Saotome-Tendo home.

"Hey Nabiki," Ukyou waved, "Is Ranma in?"

"Yeah, come on in."

Ukyou stepped through the door and looked around. Normally, you 
could hear Ranma before you saw him. Whether it was playing 
along with Alex at Jeopardy, or on the practice field at school, he 
had a big mouth.

"Where's Akane?"

"She's down at the Y," Nabiki began, making her way back to the 
abandoned bowl of popcorn on the counter, "Their pool is the one 
place that you can rest assured of being occupied in the winters by 
Akane."

"Um, it's not winter yet?"

Nabiki shrugged.

"To Akane it is," she smiled back at Ukyou, "It's always winter if 
it's too cold to swim outside. Ranma's up in his room."

Ukyou nodded and walked up the stairs as Nabiki went back to 
whatever she'd been watching in the family room. The stairs went 
up from the first floor to a landing on the second floor, then there 
was a slight jog to the right and another flight up to a smaller 
landing. At the top of that landing, one door was at the end of the 
hall while another was on the left. She didn't know where the one 
at the end of the hall went, but the one on the left was Ranma's. 
Ukyou knocked.

No answer, so she knocked again. She was about to knock a third 
time, but figured if he hadn't heard it before, why should he hear it 
this time. So she tried the door handle, which turned without 
resistance. The door was open. Sounds of grunting and other 
undefinable sounds drifted down the short flight up to his room. 
Almost like...

But, Ukyou hadn't seen Shampoo's car out front? And Ranma 
didn't have a car. Well, to speak of anyway. Ukyou was almost 
afraid to go up the stairs. What if they were...? She sighed to 
herself. If they were, then she'd just talk to him some other time. A 
laugh broke through her thoughts. It was Ranma's laugh. A bright, 
short tone that sounded so far off, and then, more talking. Ukyou 
shook her head and went up the final few steps to Ranma's attic 
room.

A couple of floor lamps illuminated the vast space that seemed 
only to compensate for its vastness by Ranma's sense of 
decorating, which was spartan to begin with. Ukyou looked around 
and spotted Ranma off to one side, hanging from one of the rafters 
by his left hand. He had the telephone in his right and was talking 
to someone, while pulling himself up repeatedly to chin the rafter. 
Ukyou watched in slight awe at the physical shape that Ranma was 
in, not only to do this exercise, but to do it so effortlessly. Ranma 
turned as Ukyou cleared her throat.

"Ukyou," Ranma smiled, "Hang on a sec."

Ukyou nodded and Ranma dropped to the floor.

"Okay. Tomorrow night then," Ranma said into the phone, "Yeah, 
I'll be careful. Bye."

He hung up the phone and dropped it gently to its cradle. He 
looked back to Ukyou and smiled again, sheepishly.

"That was Shampoo," he said, "Apparently, before we go out 
anymore, I have to meet her Grandmother. She's supposed to be 
really torturous on Shampoo's past boyfriends, and Shampoo 
wanted to warn me ahead of time."

Ukyou nodded and sat down on the bed.

"Yeah, I have to go out and see Sayuri's parents tomorrow."

"They know about-?" Ranma waved a finger at her.

Ukyou shook her head.

"Hmph," he huffed, "Well, just be careful, okay?"

"Okay DAD..." Ukyou sighed, "Listen, I didn't come up here to 
argue. I just wanted to talk about your curse."

A cloud descended on Ranma's face and he went to the chair 
opposite his bed, where he retrieved a large white towel. He sat 
down in the chair and shook his head.

"No," he said, "That's something I don't want to talk about."

He saw the look that he was getting from her and shrugged his 
shoulders.

"There's nothing to talk about, really," Ranma explained, "It just is. 
I mean, there's nothing that can be done about it. I suppose that I'll 
have to go back out to the tribal areas to find someone that can 
undo it, but I don't know if I really want to now. It's kind of a part 
of me."

Ranma stood and walked to the small, circular window at the far 
end. He looked out across the fields to the west, where an autumn 
storm was brewing in the distance. It would only take a few hours 
before it blew into Earnest and even less time before it hit the 
house. A pretty nasty one too, from the look of the lightening 
coming off it. It was the coming storm of argument that he could 
feel would soon overtake them both about this damned curse. Why 
couldn't people just leave well enough alone about it? It was bad 
enough that it happened, bad enough that Ranma had to live 
through it every month, but why did they have to drag it back up 
by talking about it. Talking about it never changed anything.

"Ranma?"

He turned back to her.

"I remember something else that you told me about a long time 
ago," she said quietly, "Something horrible that you told me. That I 
was the only person that you could talk to. I was the only person 
that would listen. Do you remember that?"

Ranma nodded and crossed back to his nightstand, where a bottle 
of water was waiting for him.

"Well, Ranma, if you can trust me and talk to me about that," she 
said hopefully, "Then you can certainly talk about something that 
you've come to terms with?"

He sat on the other side of the bed, facing her, and took a long 
drink from the bottle before he spoke.

"You aren't going to leave until you hear me talk about it?"

"Certainly I can leave, if you're going to be a dick about it," Ukyou 
sighed, "When you told me all the stuff that happened, you began 
to break down and your mom told me that you had to work it out 
for yourself. But you know what I think, I think you're just too 
damned hard headed to ask for help. So you'd rather stew in your 
own depression and suffering than ask me for help."

Ranma didn't meet her gaze. He couldn't let her know that, at least 
for some things, she was right.

"So I'm not leaving until I know that, at least, you'll talk to me 
about it..." Ukyou bit her lip, "And, don't I deserve that much?"

Ranma smiled and nodded, his eyes closed.

"Yeah," he finally said, "I do owe you that much. Ukyou, listen. It 
IS hard for me to talk about my curse because there's so much that 
goes along with it. I told you about how I lived out in the 
desert...The stripping and the photos..."

Ukyou could only nod. She knew about them and wondered to 
herself if they'd ever come back to haunt him. Probably not, since 
he was far enough away from that and his female side only came 
out a few times a month. He could afford to keep it secret.

"Well, because of that, I know I have a real hard time with-" 
Ranma stumbled on the words, "Ya know. Bein' with a girl..."

"Intimacy?"

"Yeah," Ranma smiled, "Shampoo is kinda pressing to get me in 
the sack and I honestly don't want to with her. I mean, yeah, she's 
got a great body and everything, but she's not...I just..."

He was stumbling again.

"You don't love her?"

"Yeah. I mean, it'd be different if I loved her or some junk," he 
looked at Ukyou as she giggled, "But I mean, what Happosai 
did..."

He shuddered and drew his arms up around himself. Outside, the 
storm rumbled lightening to the quickening pace of his heart. He 
didn't want to think about what happened. Ranma didn't want to 
think about how his father left him at home. How the little, ugly 
man he later knew as Happosai came into the house like he owned 
it. Ranma shook his head fiercely as tears came to the surface. He 
jumped as he felt a hand on his arm. He opened his eyes. It was 
Ukyou.

Ranma smiled a weak smile and wiped away at the tears. He stood 
and made his way back to the small window and looked out into 
the storm, trying to calm his nerves.

"I mean, I can't expect you to understand about it," Ranma said 
quietly, "I hardly understand about it. Happosai hurt me in ways 
that you can't even begin-"

A shocked gasp escaped Ukyou and made him turn back to her. 
She was sitting on the bed, her face a twisted mass of confusion.

"I can't UNDERSTAND?" she shouted, "Why? Why can't I 
understand how you feel? Am I not allowed or something? 
Something else that you're hiding from me? Is that it?"

Ukyou jumped off the bed and was, in two strides, right up in 
Ranma's face. For his part, Ranma backed off, wondering what 
he'd said to anger his friend like this.

"I was just saying that this kinda thing's never happened-"

"What do YOU know, you arrogant prick?!" Ukyou shouted, 
"There, in fact, HAS been something like that that's happened to 
me!"

Ranma paled as he saw the first tears come from her eyes. Ukyou 
turned as they came, steadier now. She hadn't thought that she had 
any more to shed over the whole incident, but apparently she was 
wrong. She put a hand on the dresser to steady herself as her vision 
clouded with the sting of salty remembrances.

Oh God, Ukyou thought, Why does it have to be this way? Why 
can't I just forget?

Her tears shook her, but Ukyou brought herself back under control 
as Ranma touched her shoulder.

"It was Toma, wasn't it?" he asked softly, "I never knew, you 
didn't-"

Ukyou spun and cut him off with a sharp slap to his face.

"You arrogant bastard! You NEVER think! You think you're the 
only one with problems! You think that no one else could ever 
have problems like YOU!" she was shouting now, "The GREAT 
Ranma-SAOTOME! Got molested when he was a kid, and I help 
him! Now I get molested and WHERE WERE YOU?!"

Ukyou's sobs choked out the rest of her tirade as she just began to 
beat on his chest. Her fists ineffective, she just stood crying and 
trembling before him, naked in her raw emotions. Ukyou felt his 
arms wrap around her, but she didn't pull away, she just stood in 
his strong embrace, hearing the beating of his heart against her ear. 
It sounded so far away and yet so comforting. Ukyou could feel 
her sobs quiet and realized that he was rocking them both gently 
back and forth. Ukyou looked up from her spot at the nape of his 
neck and saw that he was crying as well, sobbing quietly, his eyes 
closed against the world. She put her head back against the nape of 
his neck when he heard him. It was quiet at first, almost less than a 
whisper, but it grew in intensity.

"I'msorryI'msorryI'msorry..."

An endless stream of quiet apologies that tore into Ukyou's very 
heart. She couldn't stand it. They had both endured so much and 
the last thing she wanted was to be the cause of more suffering. 
She pulled out of his embrace, but he wouldn't stop, the tears 
streaming down his face. She tried to quiet him, but it was to no 
avail.

"Ranma, please, we've both been through so much..."

But he continued, too scared to stop his own mantra of self-
flagellation. She was right. By God, she was right. He knew about 
Toma's power and he knew what Ryouga and Nabiki had told him 
about it, but he'd been so sure that it never touched him that he 
never thought about the others around him. Ukyou, Sayuri, 
Akane...God, even Shampoo. Guilt piled upon guilt as it swept 
through him. He would have dropped to his knees except Ukyou 
did something that surprised even him.

She kissed him.

She broke the kiss and chuckled softly as she wiped at her own 
tears.

"You know, I've always wanted to do that," she said as she wiped 
at his tears, "At least I got you to stop crying. That's a start. 
Ranma, I'm just as hardheaded as you, really. I didn't tell you what 
happened to me because I thought I could work it out by myself. I 
did, at least a little bit, but the hurt is still there. I just want you to 
know that you're not alone."

Ranma still had a dumbfounded look on his face as she hugged 
him. He returned the hug softly. Ukyou broke the hug and looked 
up into his eyes, those that asked for so much but wanted so little. 
Eyes that a girl could get lost in. Ranma let out a little urf as her 
lips met his once again. He didn't push her away though. Her lips 
felt good, comforting, like the way a comforting blanket will fold 
itself around you in the chill of the desert night. Blocking out the 
cold, but still allowing you to feel the presence of the night. Ukyou 
felt that way. Tasting of the salt of the tears, her tongue slid slowly 
and unsurely into his mouth. He gave her his tongue and allowed 
himself to be guided back towards the bed, gently yet firmly into a 
downrushing spiral as something rose in him that he hadn't felt in a 
long time.

Ukyou's body was cool as he removed her clothes. Ranma didn't 
know if it was from the far window which was open, or if his own 
heat outshined her own. Ranma felt her lips play along his stomach 
and down to his shorts, which she quickly removed from him. The 
bed squeaked in answer as they twisted back and forth, hungrily 
devouring the other. Her on his, the delightful electric sensations 
shooting up his spine. His around hers, the same sensations driving 
the coolness from every corner of her body, making her breath 
come shorter as they gathered below her waist.

Ukyou was shocked in her own passion when Ranma entered her. 
It quickly subsided though as sensations warred with emotions that 
battled with her own passions. She wanted him like she'd never 
wanted anything else, like she never believed was possible. She 
wanted him to remain inside her, she quietly begged him to stay, 
but through the passion, his own mind played out and he didn't 
stay. Ukyou sighed. There would be another time.

***

The tears dropped quickly. She shivered in anger. How could they? 
How could they do something so wrong? She sniffed to herself a 
couple times and closed the little notebook to keep her tears from 
further staining the...Evidence.

And then, abruptly, the tears and the shaking stopped. And Nabiki 
knew that the time for tears was over. She got up from her perch at 
the top of the third landing and made her way to her own bedroom.

***

Ranma felt her fingers in his hair. It was a good feeling, 
comforting. Like the rest of what they'd been doing for the past 
couple hours. It felt good. Ranma has his arms wrapped about her 
waist and up to her shoulder blades, holding his head to her 
stomach, just above her belly button. He sighed.

"Ranma?"

He looked up.

"Did we just do what I think we did?"

He nodded and put his head back down.

"Ranma?"

He looked up again.

"Do you understand why we just did that?"

He shook his head and put his head back down again. He breathed 
out and began to kiss her stomach lightly, working his way up.

"Ranma?"

He didn't look up this time. He had kissed his way up to just under 
her breasts.

"Hmm?"

"Are you as confused by this whole thing as I am?"

He stopped and looked up at her. He nodded slightly and smiled.

"Yeah," he said softly, "I don't know what my emotions are 
supposed to be about this. Are we still gonna be friends?"

Ukyou laughed lightly and pulled his head back down to her chest.

"Yeah, I think I can safely say that this hasn't really affected our 
friendship," Ukyou said, "Maybe made it a little more complicated, 
but it hasn't affected it."

Ukyou sighed and closed her eyes as his held knelt to her chest 
again. She shivered as he kissed her breasts, the ripples against her 
spine making her moan slightly.

"Ranma?"

"Hmmmmm..." he drew out the hum against her nipples, which 
sent more shivers.

"What..." Ukyou had to catch her own breath, "What about 
Shampoo?"

Ranma stopped and looked up into her eyes. Ukyou's heart began 
to beat faster as she thought that this might have been the wrong 
question. Ranma then smiled quickly and gave her a kiss before 
returning to her breasts.

"What about Sayuri?" was his reply.

They both laughed as Ukyou began to tickle him. He pulled her on 
top of him and she could feel him stirring underneath her once 
more...

***

The lightening flashed heavily outside. It was a cold rain that 
splashed in through the far window, but Ukyou didn't feel cold. 
Ranma was lying at her stomach again, but this time he was asleep. 
She ran her fingers through his hair again and sighed. So many 
things changed so fast. In the middle of the argument, she was 
about ready to kill him. Now, if he asked for her hand in marriage, 
he'd have it. She knew that it wasn't logical to feel that 
way...Perhaps that was the true nature of love. To be unlogical. To 
confound those that most need an answer.

He shifted and she pulled the comforter up to his shoulders. Did 
she love him? Ukyou didn't know. Maybe. Maybe not. There was 
still the question of her feelings for Sayuri, which, when she was 
with the brunette, were JUST as strong as they were holding 
Ranma to her. She was so damned confused.

Ukyou sighed as it finally came to her. That damned saying that'd 
plaguing her for the last week.

"Time counts and keeps counting..." It was from the last Mad Max 
movie. She couldn't remember it exactly, but it went something 
like...

Time counts and keeps counting. We light the city so that him and 
all those like him can find the way...

...Home.

***