A lot in 2096 hinges on the Hibikis. Rat and Sable are genetic sons of Ryouga and Ukyou, respectively, Erin Mills has brought everyone's favourite okonomiyaki chef back into the limelight with 'Envoy' (and the upcoming 'Vendetta'), and Skeride now holds a grudge against 'the Wanderer'.
So far, the series has covered Ukyou and Ryouga's descendants, their ghosts, their impact on future society...
But not their living selves.
Oh, the living Ryouga makes a brief cameo in some stories, and they're mentioned here and there, but everything's details. Simply details. We know that Ukyou destroyed half of Nerima from Episode 3, we know that they married and had a son from R-Files I and The Wanderer, and so on. But nothing else.
Jason Langlois noticed this vacancy in my storyline, and asked to write the tale. I agreed for two reasons - first, I was glad to have that load off my own back, and secondly, he seemed extremely enthusiastic about the whole idea.
As soon as I received the first partial draft, it was I who was blubbering with excitement.
'Jai-kun's' story-telling is wonderful - thorough and sentimental, but ruthless when it has to be. He understands the characters, and likes them, but (as he mentions in the author's notes), he realises he must put them through some difficult times for the sake of the plot. So, he does it as best he can, keeping Ukyou and Ryouga completely in character through the aftermath of the death of Ranma and Akane, on to their marriage, past the birth of Kioku and into Ukyou's entrance into the Sanatorium.
The work is beautiful - read it, and you won't regret it.
There's not much more I can say, really, so I think I'll stand back now, and let the text speak for itself.
-Christopher Willmore
December 5, 1996
Author's Note: The following brackets are used to express the ideals in those
brackets:
THOUGHT
*Spirit or imagined/dream voice*
***Dream***
SPIRAL
A Ranma 2096 side-story by Jai-kun
R2096 characters and situations used with permission. Takahashi's
aren't.
Kuonji Ukyou stared down at the darkened streets of Nerima. She hadn't had a customer in the three weeks since the... she didn't want to think about it. Too much had changed since that time. The Kunous were never out of that mansion of theirs, Shampoo, Mousse, and Cologne had gone off to China (Shampoo did have to be sedated and in cat-form before they left), and Ryouga was no where to be seen, as usual. She felt for him the most. He probably hadn't even heard the news...
She forced her mind away from that subject, only to have it turn directly to the Tendos. She hadn't seen them since... for a very long time. But that wasn't exactly true. Kasumi had come a week and a half ago to "see if Ukyou was OK." But to Ukyou, she had seemed... harder. Oh, she was still Kasumi, still as kind and gentle as ever, but it was almost as if instead of it being the driving force behind her, it was now a shield to protect her. Her eyes had lost the spark that made her kindness nourishing. Even so, Ukyou had been happy to see her. No one else had visited her since... for days.
Kasumi said she had been checking on all of Ranma and Akane's 'friends' to let them know that the Tendo family was available if they had needed anything, But something in her eyes had betrayed itself to Ukyou. Although she didn't know it, she asked the one question no one in their grief had thought to ask Kasumi.
"Kasumi... are you OK?"
Kasumi stopped then from going out the door. One hand braced her on the door frame while the other flew up to her mouth. Her body, which had been stiff when she came in, began to shake violently as a muffled sob escaped from the confines of her hand. Ukyou walked over and embraced Kasumi, who began to shake all the harder. For a while, there were only heart-wrenched sobs to break the silence. Then, from out of nowhere, one phrase cut through.
"It's all my fault, Ukyou..."
Ukyou's eyes went wide with unparalleled shock. She gently pushed Kasumi up to try to look into the eyes that were now avoiding her own. "What are you talking about?!?" she asked, somewhat louder than she had planned. Kasumi didn't flinch.
"It's all my fault." She was calm and collected, as if reciting facts from a book. "If I'd been there for her, if I'd seen the signs, maybe..." She trailed off, tears still flowing down her now stonily passive face. "I wasn't there for her, Ukyou!"
Ukyou took Kasumi's face in her hands. "Listen to me, Kasumi," she said as firmly as her shaking voice would allow, "what Akane did was not your fault. None of us saw what she was going through." Ukyou could see Kasumi's recaptured calm beginning to break again. Something inside of her told her to keep pushing. "Akane didn't reach out to us, she kept her anger inside. That anger is what killed her. Not you, not me, her anger. That's what drove her to do those horrible things, got that?"
Ukyou was nearly hysterical herself, and forced her calm facade back onto her face. Kasumi was crying, holding to Ukyou for dear life. "It's just so hard!"
Ukyou stroked her hair. "I know, honey, but we have to be strong. It's okay to be sad, and it's okay to grieve, but we cannot blame ourselves. It's what they both would have wanted."
Kasumi nodded, and wiped her eyes, and gave Ukyou another long hug. "Thank you, Ukyou. I think... I think I needed to hear that." Ukyou smiled and walked Kasumi to the door. But her words, the words that had comforted Kasumi so much, haunted her thoughts for the rest of the night. They plagued her the following week, and they drove her to tears now as easily as before.
It's what they both would have wanted.
The words broke through the barrier she had erected in the last week, for fear her sanity would give way under her like sand in the desert. ...they both would have... The memory, too long held at bay, struck her with snarling vengeance.
Ran-chan was gone. Taken from her by someone she hadn't even seen. And to make matters worse, it was a ghost that killed him. Not a creature she could hunt down, not a person she could seek vengeance on. A ghost. Akane had explained it all in graphic detail, in a cold, quiet voice that should have warned Ukyou of what was to come. In that respect, the ghost hadn't just taken her Ran-chan, it had taken her best friend. The only real friend she felt she had since she had come to Nerima. Akane had jumped off of a bridge on the day of the funeral, after having killed... No. Ukyou refused to dishonour her friend's memory by associating those acts with her. Akane's words flowed through Ukyou's mind like ghosts, salting the wound these memories had viciously re-opened. *He laughed at me, Ukyou. He took my soul away, destroyed all my chances at happiness, and then he laughed at me.* Tears splashed down on her clothing, as they had for many days now, until she had been afraid she would dry up and blow away. This time she let them come, didn't try to wipe them away or force them back into her eyes. She didn't sob, she just let the tears flow. Then, she heard the scream.
It started low, barely audible, and welled up in both volume and pitch until it seemed it was in her very backyard. She raced down the stairs and almost out the front door to investigate, but the sounds of struggle and wood breaking from her training area halted her. It was in her backyard. She crouched and scuttled toward the door, and the cries of anguish made themselves clearer as the crunch sound of her targets being ripped apart began to subside. She was almost at the door, and the sound almost abated, when a heavy, screamed "NOOOOOOOOO!" pierced the air, and the battle resumed. Suddenly, she knew who the assailant was.
She ran outside and saw the imposing, flaming figure striking out at whatever was in reach. Breath filled her lungs, and she steeled herself for confrontation.
"RYOUGA!"
The crazed, desperate eyes of Hibiki Ryouga practically struck Ukyou, as if they themselves held the power of a ki-blast. She stepped back involuntarily as he stumbled toward her, worn out from whatever demons he had battled, both here and wherever he had come from. Tears flowed down his face, and for a moment Ukyou felt for him. His raspy voice barely touched her ears.
"Akane's dead."
She nodded slowly, not wanting to entice him to release a ki-blast. The battle aura surrounding him already threatened to tear up half of Tokyo. She could feel the heat from him as a palpable force, cause sweat to form unbidden on her brow. Then she felt the heat rise.
"Where is he?!?" he rasped, the repeated, louder, "WHERE IS HE?!?"
When Ukyou shook her head, he lunged toward her, stopping only when he was inches from her face. "WHERE'S RANMA?!? WHY COULDN'T HE PROTECT HER?!? I'LL KILL THAT BASTARD WITH MY BARE HANDS!!!"
Ukyou's eyes narrowed in fury.
"How dare you?" Her hand reached back, and she slapped Ryouga for all she was worth. Her hand burned, both from the contact and the ki energy boiling from his body. "YOU JACKASS! Ranma's DEAD, and all you can worry about is your VENGEANCE?!?" She began to beat hard on his chest. "You BASTARD!! He's the reason Akane-..."
She was halted by the horrified look in his eyes.
"H- he's... Ranma's... Oh my god..." He sank to the ground and began to weep with utter abandon. His ki energy abated, drained by the lack of anger needed to focus it's manifestation. He sunk to his knees as tears streamed down his face, and looked up at Ukyou. "H-how?"
She shook her head, her own tears and racking sobs forcing any answer back the way it would have come. She, too, fell to her knees and hugged Ryouga as he wept. Together, the shared pain became less, and the night seemed, if not welcome, then bearable.
***Ukyou stood in a dark void, shapes blurred unrecognisably. Her heart beat in anticipation of what she knew she was about to see. She didn't know how she knew, but she did know she was terrified of it, and tried to block it out by squeezing her eyes shut. The images remained, actually growing clearer, and her blood ran cold inside her.
I've been here before. This is... This is where...
As if responding to her, the image sharpened terrifyingly fast, and she saw the events of that dreadful October night in brutal clarity. Akane and Ranma were crouched low, in balanced fighting stances, Ranma shouting defiantly at a glowing, translucent shape before them. Ukyou ran toward them, shouting at them to run, to get away! As always, as she knew would happen, her friends didn't hear her. But the ghost did, and that was a surprise to Ukyou.
It looked at her.
It recognised her, stopping her flight with his look alone.
It grinned evilly at her.
With an upward gesture from the spirit, Ranma was lifted off the ground, red energy tearing at his body. He screamed in pain and terror, echoed by Akane. Ukyou was too stunned to scream.
The body slammed to the ground, unmoving. Akane screamed his name, tears flowing down her face as she ran to him, put his head in her lap, stroked the smooth hair, pleading with him to get up, get up, for god's sake!
Ranma was still, and Ukyou knew why. She'd seen it before.
Akane watched in horror as the body floated up, a new form coming loose from Ranma's charred and broken body. Ranma-chan, the one that this spirit had wantonly killed for, floated to the first ghost with a look of pure rapture as Ranma's body slammed one last time to the ground.
It was, had been, too much for Akane.
She screamed something intelligible and struck, her legs coiling, then releasing like a cobra, her mallet flying toward her foes.
The ghost laughed its ghostly laugh. Then it struck at Akane, with the same blast that had taken Ranma's life.
Ukyou screamed as Akane hit the floor. Then, in her dreaming mind, she knew it was over. She waited for the release of waking up.
But it wasn't over.
The ghost floated to Akane, and whispered something in her unconscious ear. Impossibly, they were next at the Tendo house, and Ukyou was seeing new images. Images she shouldn't have seen.
Happosai, the lech who had called forth the demon who killed Ranma. Dead, at Akane's feet.
Akane, running, running in fear, in pain, in desperate madness.
Then, through Akane's eyes...
Falling...
Falling...
Water all around, but not struggling...
And in the background, the spirit's laughter, congratulating Akane, and then-
Addressing Ukyou.
"You, too, shall fall!"
The image spiralled away, but the laughter did not.***
Ukyou's eyes snapped open and she sat bolt upright in her bed. She put a shaking hand to her chest, trying desperately to calm her ragged breathing. The same dream. It's only the same dream. A little different, that's all. Her thoughts did nothing to calm her fears. They never did. Her eyes darted around the room, until they fell on Ryouga, huddled in a corner of her room, sleeping fitfully.
She briefly wondered if it were all a dream, even this, when vivid memory of the night before flooded past the cobwebs of sleep into her aware mind. Her hand went to her mouth as she remembered her finally being able to tell him everything, literally forcing it past tears at times, at others having to wait until he had again stopped weeping. The news that Akane had taken her own life hit him the hardest.
Together they had wept on, screamed at, and held onto the other for the better part of the night. When they had exhausted themselves of their shared grief, Ukyou had found she didn't want to be alone. She'd asked Ryouga to stay the night. Having nowhere else to go, he agreed.
She watched him sleep. His face was still contorted from grief, and every once in a while a tongue of yellow-green fire would spring from his still form as his despair manifested itself as ki.
With a start, as if he knew eyes were watching him, he awoke. His eyes were red with the night before's tears, and his face betrayed his heavy heart. But when he saw it was Ukyou, he relaxed, if only a little.
"G'morning," he slurred sleepily. In truth, it looked as if he had gotten no sleep at all. Ukyou knew she didn't look any better. Still, to lighten the already too depressing mood, she quipped, "It's afternoon."
Ryouga just looked at the clock.
"So it is."
The day wore on into evening. Ryouga prepared to leave, his heart obviously still heavy. To Ukyou's own amazement, she found she didn't want him to.
"Where will you go?" she asked, not quite willing to face him as he packed.
"I don't know. Wherever I end up, I guess. Believe it or not, I've never actually tried to get lost," he finished, with a grin that only managed to expose the tip of one fang.
Ukyou turned to face him. She, too, wore a sad little grin.
"If you're trying to get lost, sugar, you'll only end up back here!"
"Shut up," he whispered. But the small glint in his eyes let Ukyou know he wasn't angry. He turned to her suddenly and gave her a quick hug before he spun to run out the door.
Half an hour later, Ukyou's prophecy came true. He knocked on the back door of Ucchan's for directions. Ukyou laughed for the first time in three weeks. Ryouga, for his part, blushed and turned to go.
"Ryouga," Ukyou called to him softly.
He turned, slightly confused and still embarrassed.
Ukyou blushed lightly. "Don't go."
The next month, they found at last the mutual courage to visit the graves. They had been inseparable for that entire time, acting as one another's conscience, confidant, and friend. They walked up the path together on that cold December day, each one's stomach churning along with their minds, each one dreading the emotions they knew would overwhelm them.
They approached the stone markers with trepidation, and laid the incense and flowers down next to the names. They paid their homage to the two souls they had each cared most about, then paid homage to their respective rivals. Ukyou was calm inside. She had fought too long against her emotions to break down now. Ryouga was another story. Ukyou didn't notice until she heard sobs next to her. Ryouga had his hand on Ranma's name as if he could erase it with his bare hand and therefore bring Ranma back. Tears were running down his face, washing the gravestone.
"If only I'd been there... Maybe I could have helped... Ranma... Akane... I- I'm so sorry..."
Ukyou pulled Ryouga to her and let him weep against her chest.
"It's OK, Ryouga-honey... It's going to be OK."
***Ukyou's night was wonderful.
Ryouga was caressing her gently, holding her from behind, his hot breath comforting on the back of her neck.
"Aishiteru, Ukyou-chan"
Ukyou smiled.
Darkness crept behind them.
A shape reached out of the darkness, almost passing through Ryouga, before he jumped out of the way.
*You have what I want, Hibiki!*
Ukyou's head shook in terror. "NO! Ran- Ranma had what you wanted!"
Ryouga dropped into a defensive stance in front of his beloved. "Get out of here! Leave Ukyou alone!"
The ghost smiled at the lost boy. *Oh, that I shall!" He lifted a hand, red, angry energy flying from it and slamming Ryouga in the chest. Ryouga flew through the air and crashed down, unmoving, smouldering.
Dead.
Ukyou rushed to him, cradling his bloody head in her lap, weeping bitter tears.
"Ryouga!! Not you!! NOT YOU!!" She shook him violently, as if the motion would make him open his eyes. "Don't leave me, dammit! I need you." Her shaking slowed, then stopped as the reality of it sunk in.
"I need you."***
Ukyou awoke, instinctively calling Ryouga's name. Then she remembered. He was gone.
We've been together for six month's. He's OK.
She couldn't remember how it had all started. It actually seemed as if it had always been this way, at times.
Not that this time was one of them.
Ryo-chan was missing. Again.
She paced back and forth, slightly worried since he'd been gone for six days this time. Sometimes she'd think she'd gotten over his lack of direction, but when he was gone for days at a time, like this, then... then...
She didn't know why she bothered worrying. It's not like he hasn't been lost BEFORE. Ryouga's been wandering his whole life!
But Kuonji Ukyou was worried. She kept having a painfully vivid nightmare of Ryouga being stalked by a ghost piglet. She worried about losing him. Worried he might be hurt. Worried that he'd left her...
That was it. The real reason for her fears, and tears began to flow as she remembered. If he doesn't come back, it'll be all my fault...
[Ucchan's, Six days ago]
Ryouga had woken up cheerful this morning, quite a change from his usual depressed state.
Ukyou put a plate of breakfast okonomiyaki in front of him with a smile and chirped a bright 'good morning'.
The lost boy dove into the okonomiyaki with a fervour she had only seen with one other customer. Ran-chan. She smiled at him as she made her own breakfast, a routine she had fallen into without any desire to get out of it. When she thought about it, he was very much like her lost love. He was an avid martial artist, a big eater, sometimes a little slow when it came to romance (at least, he had been...), and she still had to keep a kettle of hot water on the stove, just in case.
When he had finished, he cleaned up after himself, handed her the plate, kissed her hand (causing Ukyou to blush mightily) and whispered clearly, "Thanks, Uc-chan."
Ukyou's heart had grown cold, as the words, whispered in
love, both fulfilled her dreams and shattered her. She had begun to tremble.
Ryouga grabbed her hand again.
"Ukyou, what's wrong??"
Her eyes filled with tears. She looked up at him, angry at him for reminding her of that name.
"Don't you ever call me that," she hissed.
Ryouga looked confused.
"Huh? Uc-chan, what are you talking abo-"
"I SAID DON'T CALL ME THAT!" She
screamed at him, and slapped him in the face, so hard it whipped his head around. He
turned back toward her,
the hurt in his eyes as vivid as the growing palm print on his face.
They looked at each other in silence for a few minutes,
while she tried to gather the courage to admit she'd been wrong, to tell him she was sorry
she'd hit him, but the memories, the OUTRAGE... She COULDN'T forgive him. She just
couldn't... That name... That name wasn't for HIM to use... It... It just WASN'T.
Ryouga finally turned and left into the street, running at
full speed. Ukyou stared at her hand for minutes before she realised he'd run off.
She bolted to the door, knowing it was probably already too late to catch him, but wanting desperately to apologise, explain, and most of all- Not be alone.
After too many tries, she crumpled to the floor, and wept.
"Ryouga... I'm so sorry..."
Now, six days later, he still hadn't come home.
The worry had become a private hell for Ukyou. You lost one love, and drove the other away...
Ukyou heard a scratching at the front door. She walked quickly to the door, not realising that she was holding her breath until she let it out, until she saw what was making the noise.
In the rain, shivering from cold, stood a small black piglet, dragging a little satchel behind him by a string.
"Ryouga!" Ukyou cried, scooping the little pig up into her arms and holding him tightly. He seemed to tense up, and then relaxed into the hug, 'hugging' her back by snuggling against her. Ukyou put him down, holding back tears, and ran into the kitchen. There, she grabbed the ever present kettle of water and a bundle of clothing from under the sink, then ran back into the dining area to a patiently waiting Ryouga.
She poured the water on him and turned around, allowing him to get dressed. She didn't turn back to him until he tapped her on the shoulder. After that, she couldn't hold herself back. She grabbed onto him, crying into his chest.
"Ryo- Ryouga, I'm so sorry! I... When you called me that, I... it hurt so much..."
Ryouga stroked her hair more gently than someone who was supposed to hate her, shushing her lightly. When her crying began to subside, he whispered, "I understand."
Ukyou looked up at him, her tear-filled eyes both happy and surprised. "You do?"
He smiled sadly at her.
"I do now. I didn't when it happened. I had only called you-" Ukyou's eyes narrowed slightly. "I only called you... that because I thought it would make you happy." Ukyou began to tremble again, on the verge of tears. He put a gentle finger to her lips before she could apologise again. "Shh, let me finish. I was hurt when you hit me, and I ran out because I didn't want to yell, or anything like that. When I was outside, I got splashed. To make a long story short, I ended up... near the Tendo's..." Ukyou could feel him tense up against her. But she didn't try to interrupt. "The gate was open, and I walked in, just like I always would. Kasumi was there... and she saw me... and she came up to me and started... started to cry... and..." it was obviously a painful memory for him still as the words caught in his throat, but he went on anyway. "She picked me up and held me... and said, 'Oh, P-Chan...' She couldn't say anything else, she just said P-Chan over and over... and each time it was like she was stabbing me in the gut. Anyway," he straightened then, trying to compose himself, "after I was able to get away, I just thought about it for the longest time... 'If I felt like that because Kasumi called me... what Akane always called me...' Ukyou, I'm sorry... I just didn't realise..."
Ukyou squeezed him tighter.
"Shh, Ryo-chan, you have no reason to be sorry..." They held each other for a long time, then Ryouga looked at her, blushing.
"Uc- Ukyou?" She looked into his eyes. "I'm... hungry." He blushed a deep shade of red as Ukyou giggled.
"So that's why you came back, hm?" she teased, jumping over the counter to start up her grill.
As he ate the hot okonomiyaki, he smiled up at her.
"Thanks, Oko-chan." When her face turned thoughtful, he tensed.
"Oko-chan? Why Oko-chan?"
"Well, it's because you cook okonomiyaki and it's a nickname, and it's just silly nevermind haha..." Ryouga stammered, red faced, in her seeming disappointment... until she beamed.
"I like it. Oko-chan..." After dinner and clean up, Ryouga went to the satchel he had draggedas P-Chan from Gods knew where. From the small bundle, he pulled a tiny little box. Looking down at it, his back still to Ukyou, who was cleaning the grill, he knew he was going to do the right thing.
"Ukyou?" he spoke, softly, as he turned.
Ukyou smiled at her grill, too happy at having him home to look up. "Yes, Ryo-chan?"
A shiny, round object slid into her vision, stopping her methodical movements and sending her heart pounding through her chest.
"It's not the biggest, or the best, but... will you... umm..."
Ukyou began to cry, instantly sending Ryouga into a panic. "I'm sorry, oh, god, Ukyou, I'm-" Ukyou leapt over he grill and counter, hugging him fiercely.
"YES! Oh, Ryo-chan!"
They spent that night in each other's arms.
To those who thought they knew the couple, this wedding had been long enough in coming.
To the couple themselves, it was still kind of surprising it was happening at all. They certainly wouldn't have believed it would have happened three years ago.
Ukyou sat in the small area of her restaurant set aside for her to await for the ceremony to begin. Her hands nervously wiped themselves down the wedding kimono she wore, having agreed with Ryouga that a traditional Japanese ceremony was best. After all, ran through both their minds, we're not in enough of a hurry to try a western ceremony.
Ukyou had almost giggled aloud when she thought of who would've been in such a hurry... but that almost happy thought quickly turned into one of melancholy.
Kasumi walked into the room, glowing with happiness and pride. To Ukyou, she had every right to be proud. She had recently won the heart of Dr. Tofu. They were going to get married in the next two months, and Ukyou was grateful that Kasumi had taken time out of her own busy schedule to help with the chef's wedding.
"Ukyou," Kasumi said softly, proudly, "you look so beautiful."
Ukyou smiled a small, nervous smile. "Thank you. I doubt I could look even presentable without your help, Kasumi."
Kasumi smiled again, and helped Ukyou straighten out a few minor wrinkles that had appeared since Ukyou started thinking about her two lost friends. Finally, Kasumi, noticing Ukyou's distraction, took her hands. Ukyou looked up at the older Tendo in surprise.
"Ukyou," Kasumi began, as gently and lovingly as she had done everything in her life. "Almost three years ago, you helped me with something. Now it's my turn."
Kasumi softly brushed Ukyou's cheek. "You're thinking about what Ranma and Akane would think if they were here, aren't you?"
Ukyou, again surprised, only nodded.
Kasumi smiled. "I think... I think they would be happy for you. Ryouga is such a nice man, and he was always a good friend to Ranma and Akane both..." Ukyou softly choked back a laugh. If you really only knew, Kasumi... But Kasumi proved that she had. "Yes, Ranma and Ryouga fought a lot, and mostly over Akane, but they both looked out for each other, too."
Ukyou stared at Kasumi, not realising it, the surprise rapidly turning to shock. Kasumi giggled slightly. "Come, Ukyou, you didn't think I didn't see, did you?"
Ukyou, too, giggled despite herself.
"Well, you never seem to be bothered by anything..."
They had a nice laugh, the nervous tension draining from Ukyou's shoulders. Kasumi continued. "Ryouga is a nice man. He was always there for Akane... if not as Ryouga, then as P-Chan."
Ukyou stopped smiling and blanched, wide eyed.
"H- how did you know?"
Kasumi smiled again, her ever innocent eyes revealing no animosity toward Ukyou's soon-to-be husband. "I think it was last year. I was hanging up some clothes when I spotted Akane's pet. I picked him up and began to cry on him, saying his name over and over. When I let him go, I knew that it was really Ryouga..."
Kasumi's smile turned a little sad, but not angry, as Ukyou expected. Ukyou swallowed hard.
"But... how?!?"
"Well, when I let him go, he began to walk away slowly. Up until then, I'd never seen a pig glow with ki before." Kasumi blushed slightly. "I'm sorry, Ukyou. I've obviously upset you..." Ukyou smiled nervously.
"No, Kasumi, don't go. I'll be OK, and I don't want to be alone." Kasumi sat back down, and the conversation turned to the wedding about to begin.
Ukyou's mind flew through the wedding and reception afterward, allowing her to enjoy it without dwelling on it too much. The guests, the ceremony, the kimono, all seemed to conspire to overwhelm her, but she was able to smile at the guests without being completely swamped. Before long, it was only her and Ryouga left.
The couple looked at each other, the trying day behind him. Ryouga still looked as if he'd faint, or at least fall over. He walked to Ukyou and gently wrapped his arms around her. "Busy day, ne, Oko-chan?"
Ukyou smiled softly into his chest, still desperately trying to lose the nagging doubt that something was wrong. It's only wedding day jitters... But despite all of her efforts, she couldn't relax in her new husband's arms.
Ryouga somehow knew. "Are you all right, Ukyou?"
Ukyou smiled and stammered. "H-hai, hai, Ryo-chan. I'm only a little tired."
Ryouga smiled a sweet smile at her. "Come, then, let's go to bed." He picked her up and carried her easily up the stairs of the Ucchan. At the top of the stairs, he turned left.
"Ryo-chan? Our room's that way."
***The night was empty and grey, and fear was tangible.
Ukyou watched the scene again, her mind reeling, her body straining to react to forces that were beyond her control.
The ghost was back.
She watched in silence as he destroyed Ranma, forced Akane off the bridge.
Then, to her horror, he didn't disappear.
He blasted Kasumi into a wall, shattering bones. He literally tore Nabiki to shreds, her screams echoing in Ukyou's dreams. He tore Ryouga from her arms, dragging him to an ungodly darkness, dragging him away. He blew her restaurant to smithereens as she battled against him, ineffectually. Finally, when she thought she was most alone, he advanced on her own pregnant form, his face clouded, indiscernible, but smiling an evil smile.
*Oh, no. We can't have an unstable wench like you raising a child now, can we?*
He reached inside of her, and pulled her baby out of her, its screeching cries fading as he disappeared from sight.
"NOOOOOO..."***
"...OOOOOOOO!" Ukyou gasped, bolt upright in her bed, and frantically put her hand to her swollen belly. She felt her baby kick, and her heartbeat almost faded to normal.
"Oh, Ryouga, I had the most horrible dream..."
She looked over to where her husband lay... and he wasn't there. Her heartbeat jumped back into it's panicked speed. "Ryouga?!!"
She jumped from the bed, trembling, and stumbled out the door, all the while hoarsely whispering for her lost husband. Her voice, though she tried to force it to, would not raise its volume.
She heard a thump in the closet, and then saw the closet door slowly open. She huddled in a corner of the hallway, too terrified to move, too frozen to cry out.
A shape the size of a man slowly crawled from the closet door... "Oko-chan?"
Her tear filled eyes widened. "Ry- ryo-chan?"
He walked into a stream of moonlight and caught her as she bounded to him and clutched to his chest.
"Oh, Oko-chan... another bad dream?"
She nodded against his chest as he picked her pregnant form up and, with her directions, carried her to bed.
As she calmed, she whispered angrily at him, "Where were you?"
He stroked her hair, used to her foul temper after these nightmares. "I had to go to the bathroom. I didn't want to wake you, but I couldn't find the room again."
Ukyou's anger faded. It wasn't his fault he got lost for days at a time. It wasn't his fault that there were times when she had to run the restaurant alone, or that she would spend weeks with out him. None of it was his fault.
Somehow, it was hers. Ryouga stroked her hair, speaking in soft, smooth tones. He cradled her in his arms, almost rocking her, promising that he was trying, so hard to conquer his directional sense. Soon, her eyes began to droop, lost in the sweet soft tones of her Ryo-chan, remembering why she loved him, why she married him. She drifted off to a thankfully dreamless sleep.
By some miracle, Ryouga was there when the baby arrived.
Dr. Tofu urged Ukyou to push, just one more time. It's been 'just one more time' three time's now, she thought nervously through her pain. Is there something wrong with the baby?
Finally she felt the sudden emptiness that marked her child, the little one she'd carried for nine months, leaving her belly. She smiled, but couldn't help feeling a little... lonely. Ryouga squeezed her hand and smiled through the mask at her, then glanced at the baby.
Ukyou noticed him blanch. "Oh, God, what's wrong?!?"
In a blur of motion, Dr. Tofu rushed the baby to a nearby table. Ukyou's frantic eyes followed the doctor, and noticed the bluish tinge to the baby. He wasn't crying, and Tofu was working in frantic efficiency.
"Doctor, what's wrong," Ryouga asked, his voice falsely steady, his hand squeezing Ukyou's in support now, rather than joy.
"The baby isn't breathing..." The doctor trailed off as his concentration gave way fully to saving the child's life.
Ukyou stared on in horror. Her nightmares were coming true before her eyes. Ryouga was gone now more often than not. It was getting harder and harder to keep her shop open. And the last thing, the thing she was afraid to tell, even to Ryouga.
She was seeing the ghost while she was awake.
The thought that she was going crazy chilled her bones, and terrified her to the depths of her soul.
She watched as the doctor's confident hands worked on her baby that not hours before had seemed so lively. She began to weep, losing all hope of holding her own child in her arms, when it appeared, filling her with dread.
The ghost from her dreams was bent over her baby.
Her body cried out in agony, but her throat was so constricted that breath hardly passed through. She stole a glance at her husband, but his gaze was locked on Tofu and the baby. He hadn't seen. Knowing she had to do something, her hand went to the small throwing spatula she kept with her, always, and wrapped around it.
The baby's cry froze her arm before she had a chance to throw it.
The ghost disappeared.
Dr. Tofu relaxed, and Ryouga's hand went limp in hers as he, too, began to weep. They held each other tightly, almost laughing hysterically at times. Then the doctor wrapped the baby in a blanket and carried him over to the expectant couple. Ukyou reached her arms out, nervously eager, the horror of her vision temporarily washed away in the joy of motherhood. Ryouga placed a gentle hand on her shoulder as she held her little one, her son, as the doctor had said, and watched him begin to sleep away his tiring ordeal.
Dr. Tofu smiled at the new parents, always happy to see joy in these two particular faces.
"What will you name him, Hibiki-san?"
Ryouga's face went blank and he looked to Ukyou.
Ukyou smiled sadly at the baby, the vision and it's implications settling into her mind. "We'll name him Kioku*." Because they are what is haunting me.
***Ukyou stood before the creature, her spatula ready in
her tense arms. "Get away from my husband, get away from my restaurant, and get
AWAY
FROM MY BABY!"
The ghost before her blinked in surprise, then callously laughed at her attempt to thwart it. *You are NOTHING to me, 'Ucchan'!*
That name. He DARED to use that name against her! With a cry of rage, her spatula came down on the ghost's head. The ghost gasped in surprise as he was smashed to the ground by the large blade, and began to bleed red energy.
Then the energy focused in the eyes.
The ghost re-inflated itself to full height, a tower of red and black energy. Ukyou flinched and tightened her grip on the spatula. The ghost disarmed her with a swipe.
*You arrogant FOOL!!* It advanced on her, energy literally flying off of it in the spirit's rage. *I will destroy you, insolent whelp!*
Ukyou's arm tensed, her spatula shuriken flying from her fingertips. "You HAVE destroyed me, monster! I'm losing everything, all because of YOU!"
The creature burned the spatula in the air. *No, woman, you only think you've lost everything!* In a fiery blur, he was on her son, draining the life from him. Ryouga was a charred shape on the ground just as quickly.
"NOOOOOOOOO!!!! Kioku!! RYOUGA!!!!"
Then the spirit was on her, and the world filled with red and black.***
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"
Her eyes snapped open, and Ukyou once again cursed the morning.
In the crib next to her bed, Kioku's lower lip began to tremble.
Ukyou got out of the futon slowly, cooing a gentle lullaby out of instinct. "It's OK, little one. Momma just had a very scary dream."
Hearing the soft tones of his mother soothed one-year-old Kioku, and he began to sleep once again. Ukyou looked out the window of her apartment. The sun was high in the sky, and something wasn't quite right...
Oh, my GOD! It's afternoon!
She began to get dressed to open the restaurant... and stopped, holding back tears.
I've lost it. I've lost the restaurant.
She began to cry quietly, careful not to wake the baby. How could I have let myself go like that?!? Why didn't I ask Ryo-chan for help?? Her tears abated as she came to terms with her pain. There was nothing left to do but to take care of the baby and wait for Ryouga to come home. We'll be able to handle it. He's... he's always there when he can be.
*No, he isn't*
Ukyou whirled toward her baby's crib.
There, in the shadows behind the crib was the object of her nightmares. The creature that took Ran-chan and Akane, and started her down this long and lonely spiral of despair.
Ukyou dashed to the closet and grabbed her spatula, shrugging into he bandolier of throwing spats. The ghost laughed as she swung madly at it, trying to manoeuvre it away from the baby, then trying to fling it out of her life.
"BASTARD! BASTARD, I'LL KILL YOU!"
*You can't kill me, 'Ucchan', I'm already dead!*
The spirit laughed mercilessly as it floated out the window. Without a second thought, Ukyou flung her self out and chased it down the fire escape.
The battle raged, the spirit laughing and dodging, Ukyou swinging and throwing miniature versions of her giant spatula, all trying to eradicate this monster, the DEMON from her life.
The demon that took her first love.
The demon that made her lose her restaurant.
The demon that almost took her little son.
The demon... that made her drive her husband away.
The demon that left her alone.
She was vaguely aware of people now, some throwing themselves before her, trying to stop her. Couldn't they see the evil in front of her? Didn't they know she HAD to stop this... MONSTER?!? Violently, she tore through the people trying to stop her, only half registering the thuds of people who had gotten in her way.
*Follow me, 'Ucchan'! This way! Not much further now!*
He's taunting me! Dammit, he's TAUNTING me!!
Ukyou flew through the streets of Nerima, desperately trying to end the existence of the floating form before her. The form jumped backward, laughing at her attempts to flip the smile off of it's face with her giant spatula.
*I killed him, 'Uc-chan',* the eerie voice intoned, *I killed him, and took him away from you, and you'll never have him back!*
Ukyou's spatula burned a blur through the air, crossing in front of her as she struck at the menace again and again. "I DON'T CARE IF YOU ARE A GHOST! I'LL DESTROY YOU, YOU BASTARD!!"
The crowd fled, panicking , from Ukyou. They had no idea who she was angry at, or at whom she was screaming obscenities. All they knew was that the once kind Ukyou had gone on a rampage. The first few who had tried to calm her had fallen hard, cut by her throwing spatula or their heads almost caved in by the larger version. From everywhere came the cry: "Hibiki Ukyou has gone mad!"
She had torn a path of destruction from Ucchan's all the way to the business section of Nerima. There, in her vision, the ghost stopped, and laughed.
*Ukyou, darling... how would you like to see your dearest 'Ran-chan' again?*
Ukyou stopped then, her eyes narrowing. "What do you mean, see Ran-chan again?"
The spirit laughed, reached behind him, and pulled...
Oh, deity...
Ranma's battered form appeared before her as if by magic . Ukyou clutched her spatula in her trembling hands, burning with fury at the being before her. "What are you doing with him?!? He died years ago!"
An evil look crossed the spirit's face. *He was so amusing when he was alive, I decided to have more fun with him.*
"YOU CAN'T HAVE HIM!" she screamed at a being the police couldn't see. The policemen hung back, not willing to startle this madwoman before them. Besides, none of them had any desire to see the business end of her spatula.
To Ukyou, Ranma was reaching for her, pleading with his eyes and voice.
*Uc-chan... help... please...*
Her eyes widened in her fury and desperation, and she lunged to grab Ranma away from the evil hands... but succeeded only in passing right through them both.
Ranma began to scream in agony as painfully red energy transferred itself from the ghost who had taken Ranma's life to Ranma's own battered soul.
"Let him GO," Ukyou screamed in rage, swinging her spatula through the pair. The spirit, no, demon, locked her eyes.
*The time has come to dispense with the child's play, ne, 'Uc-chan'?* the spirit hissed, pronouncing the last word as a curse. *You spent years wasting your heart on this... worm, knowing he didn't return your affections.* Ukyou staggered back, shaking her head.
*You wasted the time you could have had with Akane fighting with her, and then have the nerve to call her your best friend only after she's gone!* Ukyou staggered as a vision of a heartbroken Akane stepped beside the ghost.
*You marry a man, have a child with him, out of your own fear of being alone, only to drive him away!* Ryouga's weeping face floated between Ranma and Akane, the hurt in his eyes burning her with it's intensity.
*You are a pathetic fool, who deserves to be alone!* Ryouga's image vanished suddenly, embodying her worst fear, and causing her to gasp in grief. She fell to her knees, tears streaming down her face.
Around her, the police saw she was giving up steam. The first line of them slowly stalked toward her.
They didn't notice the bluish-green tinge around her.
The ghost picked up both Akane and Ranma and held them high in the air by their throats, ignoring their struggles. *You don't deserve even happy memories of these two, 'Uc-chan'! Your life is a waste, a pathetic existence!*
The red energy flared from his arms and writhed through the two embodiments of Hibiki Ukyou's happier life. With a scream that shattered the air, Ranma and Akane disintegrated into a ghostly cloud. The spirit, laughing at Ukyou's pain, disappeared from sight.
Then there was silence, broken moments later by the spiritual crunch of a heart breaking, and the wet tear of a soul torn in two.
Ukyou began to wail in the pent-up grief of four long years. Her body glowed, noticeably now, with a violent blue green aura. As the scream continued, she raised her hands and spatula in the air, only desiring to release her grief, escape the pain of the vision she had just seen. A bright ball of energy glowed about her hands. The police had almost reached her when, with a final screech, she released it into the air.
Years of grief, pain, and sorrow burst into the air to hover hundred's of feet over the okonomiyaki chef.
Then, as her head bowed in exhaustion, it crashed down to earth again. Ukyou, for the first time in her life, had performed the ultimate Shishi Houkodan.
The shock struck the ground and rolled in wave upon wave along it, blowing the policemen surrounding her back with it. Ukyou, in the centre, sat almost unaffected, but the shock-wave began to tear apart the nearby buildings. As it subsided, she collapsed in the middle of a wasteland.
She looked up at the torn streets, the battered shops
and signs... the people, moaning in pain, holding their heads or stomachs or arms...
bleeding.
I did... that?
"Oh, God. What have I done?"
The second division of police, a special force designated to handle "special problems", stalked toward her. She raised her head to see them coming, but had not strength left to defend herself. She watched as the burly men were almost upon her. Then, in the corner of her eyes, saw the blurs.
Yellow blurs, that knocked two of the seven away.
"SHISHI HOUKODAN!!" A blast of energy flung two others back into a crumpling wall.
Ukyou saw a blur of black and yellow land before her, and then strike at the ground. "BAKSAII TENKETSU!!" The ground exploded in a radius around them, toppling the last three. One of the men, the largest, got up and made a mad grab at Ukyou. A red blur caught him in the arms, bringing forth a crunch and scream of pain. Then, a flash of fang, a low, menacing growl.
"Leave. My. Wife. Alone!"
Ukyou looked up to her saviour. Ryouga stood between her and the rest of the men, his umbrella in his hand, pointing at the large policeman, who was cradling his broken arm. The men who were left conscious backed away. Ryouga bent down, scooped her up, and walked away into the sunset. She snuggled against her husband's chest. "I knew he was wrong about you."
Ryouga pulled her to him gently. "Are you OK?" When she nodded, he gently kissed her forehead. "Let's get you home, Oko-chan."
Ukyou snuggled to Ryouga, then giggled. "Ryo-chan? Home's that way."
The next day, Ryouga answered a knock on the door. Men in white uniforms pushed their way past, and walked toward Ukyou. Ryouga dashed in front of them, blocking their way to his wife. "Don't even think about it!"
"Hibiki-san, your wife is responsible for major destruction. She has been summarily tried, and deemed in need of psychiatric evaluation, for her own good, and that of the people. If you do not allow us to escort her away, we will use force." The uniformed policeman unholstered his night-stick and pointed it at Ryouga.
In a blur of motion, Ryouga's hand snapped to his head and came down. The front half of the night-stick clattered to the ground, and Ryouga's bandanna whirled in his hand. "Get out of my house and leave my wife alone!!"
The men surrounded Ryouga and began to close in. Just as Ryouga prepared to strike out, Ukyou cried out, "STOP!"
They stopped, Ryouga whirling around. "They want to take you away from me!! I can't..."
Ukyou smiled a sad smile. "They're right, Ryouga. I... I need help. It's OK, sugar, it'll only be for a little while..."
Ryouga's shoulders slumped. "But... what about... I can't let you go, Oko-chan. I can't take care of Kioku alone... he needs you... I need you..."
Ukyou hugged her husband. "You'll do just fine, and I promise, when I get out, we'll be a happy family. Maybe Kasumi can help you?" She smiled up into her husband's saddened eyes. "I need this, Ryo-chan. I need it."
Ryouga nodded once, biting back the searing depression, and watched as Ukyou went to gather clothes for her time away. When she came back, she hugged Ryouga one last time. "I'll be back soon," she whispered into his ear, hugging him tightly. Before she let go, she gazed into his eyes. "Ryouga?"
Ryouga looked back, hoping that she'd say she wanted to stay.
"Y-yes?"
"Say it for me. Just once?"
Ryouga gave her a sad little smile, a glint of fang near each lip. "I love you... Uc-chan."
Ukyou smiled as the men walked her away from her home.
The next day, she was put in her cell.
__________________________________________________________________________
* Kioku means "Memory".
EPILOGUE
October 21, 2024
Doctor Takamoshi put the idea of a journal in my head. I agreed with him. But this one is MY thoughts, MY journal, and I have no plan to share it with anyone.
"Ryo-chan" has stopped visiting me altogether. I think he is ashamed of me. He won't even bring my son to see me, the bastard!
Sometimes I can't believe what an idiot he can be! First, he sells the restaurant, then, he gets lost with our six year old son, and now, just when I think he's gotten better, he... he...
He leaves me alone.
They came again today, claiming that they needed more tests. I asked them when I could get out again, and they ignored me. I hope they let me out soon. I want to see my son again... And, even though I hate him, I want to see Ryo-chan again. I could never truly hate him.
I DO hate these doctors and their damn tests! They poke me, they prod me, they cut me and take chunks of my flesh... and when I complained about it to Dr. Takamoshi, he just went white and tried to convince me I was hallucinating. Can you believe that!!! I even showed him the scars, and he moved me to the ward for people who are violently insane!!
I hate this place. The okonomiyaki sucks.
-Hibiki Ukyou
FIN
How can I express the joy and hardship this fanfic brought me? I love this storyline, the whole Ranma2096 idea. When I found that he, too, was a proponent of a Ryouga/Ukyou coupling, I jumped for joy. The tragedy was delicious, the characters were handled with care, and the idea was definitely original. But not everyone was accounted for. Where were Ryouga and Ukyou?
Like most things I enjoy greatly, I got as much information I could. I downloaded every story, I asked to be included on the Mailing list, and I downloaded the peripheries. From one of those, I found that Ryouga and Ukyou married. Leap for joy! I then found that bad things happened to them. That's when the feeling hit me.
I had to write their story. Who else could I personally trust to tell their story with the care those two deserved?
So, I wrote to Chris, three-quarter expecting him to laugh in my virtual face. I mean, let's face it, when I asked this, I hadn't posted anything. I was a complete unknown. Well, Chris surprised me. He seemed more excited than I was about the whole idea! He will probably tell you more about this, but suffice it to say, I got the part.
I tried to treat these two characters, especially Ukyou, who is my third favorite character of all (Ranma and Akane being 1 & 2), with as much compassion as I could while still putting them through what they needed to be put through. And for the most part, how I wrote the character is how I believe they are, and would act in these circumstances. Ryouga is really a sweet and caring guy. I don't think he really got over Akane, but I do think that he would take great care of Ukyou. Ukyou is caring almost to a fault, sometimes putting her own problems aside to help others. And I truly think, despite the conflict, these two see Ranma and Akane as their best friends.
I can honestly say I hated writing some of it. I had to do some hateful things to Ukyou, and some of this dredged up some ghosts of my own. But I still think it is my best writing to date. Here's hoping you agree.
Lastly, I'd like to thank Chris, for allowing me to write this story. I hope I have done him justice. I'd also like to thank Erin Mills for his story "Envoy", which helped me get out of my writers block. I hope I haven't stepped all over your story, Erin! As always, any C&C or commentary is not only welcome, but encouraged and desired!
Jai-Kun