And now for something completely the same...
All characters are Takahashi's, except Zongo the Wonder Llama.
Matthew Trotter, its different trust me...
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A Long Period of Waiting of Several Months
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A collection of short stories
by
Matthew Trotter
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Ukyo
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Ukyo looked at the grill. It looked back at her the way it always
had. It was waiting for her to fire it up and get to work. She sighed,
it always seemed like such a hassle...here she was slaving away, while
Akane was just hanging around with Ranma. Well, that wasn't entirely
true. Akane had a way of ruining her time with Ranma. Sort of... Then
again, Ranma seemed bent on remaining loyal to their engagement.
Ukyo put down the spatula and sighed again. That was the problem.
Ranma. She wasn't sure whether he loved her or not.
She looked at the grill. It was sill waiting for her. It was like an
addiction. She knew that once she got started she'd be cooking all day.
No worries. No problems. It was great, but she had to stop at the end
of the day. And then it was too late. She couldn't go see Ranma. She
couldn't do anything. It would be nice to take the day off, but the
expenses would pile up. It was a vicious cycle.
She looked at the grill and then out the door. It was a nice sunny day.
Perfect for taking Ranma on a little date in the park...She sighed and
fired up the grill. Ranma wouldn't want to go for a nice date in the park.
Not with her. It hurt to admit but he would probably rather go with Akane.
The first customer wandered in and placed an order. She smiled at him and
started cooking.
---------
She was glad that she had decided (as usual) to go ahead and open.
Things were going well, even after Ranma...she was going to have to close
soon. That was when Ranma was really going to upset her. When she had
time to think. Ukyo sighed (again), it couldn't hurt to stay open
another hour...
Apparently whatever gods controlled fate had been tuned in. Why else
would Shampoo have come for a visit just before closing?
"Hello, spatula girl."
"Hello, bad dye job girl."
"Why you make fun of Shampoo bad grammar?"
"Why you come in shop and give customers indigestion?"
"You sound just like Akane greedy sister."
Ukyo's hand dropped to her combat spatula, there was no way she was
letting Shampoo compare her to Nabiki, "Them's fightin' words, honey."
"Shampoo no afraid of stupid spatula."
"Ohhohoho, I see the two hussies are squabbling over my darling Ranma."
Ukyo lowered her voice, "god hates me..."
Shampoo whispered back, "what mean hussy"
Ukyo thought about it, "she means you have to steal someone else's
husband because you can't get one on your own"
"Shampoo have husband before you, crazy girl!"
"Ohhoho I doubt that, you amazon trollop. You lack the basic
femininity that Ranma craves."
Shampoo might not have spoken very fluently, but she had a dictionary
and a couple of cheesy romance novels...and embarrassingly it did seem that
men wanted a docile quiet woman. Of course, Shampoo had to wonder where
Kodachi got off thinking Ranma was going to fall head over heels for some
laughing lunatic. "Shampoo think you have brain injury. You no act like
lady."
"She's gottcha there, Kodachi."
"And what would you know about femininity, you cross dresser."
Ukyo ground her teeth, "At least I can cook!"
"Shampoo can cook!"
"Ohhoho, do you really think my Ranma is going to want ramen or
okonomiyaki every night? I can cook a wider variety of exquisite foods
than the two of you courtesans can think of."
"what courtesan mean"
"you got me"
"Whispering will do you no good. I assure you, The Black Rose, can
cook more that three dishes."
"Kodachi, what are you doing here?"
Akane. Was there anything else that could go wrong? Anyone else she
didn't want to see? Then again, there wasn't really anyone else she
would hate to see walk in the shop just before closing...
"Akane, you what we just talk about, people no can cook."
Akane looked mad, "I can cook!"
"Shampoo see what you cook do to people. Worse than crazy girl."
Suddenly Kodachi smiled. Ukyo grimaced, this was sure to be bad.
"If you three are so confident in your abilities why not prove who is
the best."
"If crazy girl want contest Shampoo win hand up."
"I think you mean 'hands down', honey."
Shampoo reached into her blouse and pulled out a dictionary...
"How did you do that?"
"It a girl trick. You not know how, Akane?"
---------
Ukyo headed up stairs. In addition to having to run the store, now she
had managed to get herself involved in a cooking contest. It had been
Akane's idea for them to use the school's Saturday picnic as the
contest. Each of them was to bring something. Whoever's meal Ranma
like the most would win a date (free of interference from the others)
with Ranma. The date had been her idea. It was stupid. She knew damn well
who's meal Ranma would SAY he liked...
Sometimes it just didn't seem like it was worth it. Discouraged, She sat
down on her bed. Why did Ranma have to be such an idiot? She sighed. It
seemed like she was doing a lot of that lately. She wasn't sure she could
really blame Ranma. It was her fault for letting him steal her heart. He had
thought she was just some guy he knew as a kid. In all honesty she ranked
right up there with Ryoga. It was sad. The more she thought about it, the
closer it seemed to fit. She had even shown up "burning" for revenge.
Ranma must have thought she was a real nut case. No wonder Ranma didn't
think of her as his fiancee...
Today had been a typical Ranma episode. Ranma had come in around lunch
looking a little ragged. In traditional Ranma fashion he grumbled about
Akane while devouring a big plate of okonomiyaki. After another plate,
she finally got the whole story out of him. He and Akane had gone to the
park for a picnic. (it figured) He had thought Kasumi was making their
lunch, but of course, Akane had made an Akane special. And Ranma, being
Ranma, couldn't have the presence of mind to make an excuse not to eat
it. He had to tell he it looked like a plate of worms. Akane had
booted him out of the park and into the Kuno estate pond. Kodachi had
chased him around for about an hour before he had lost her. After all
of that he naturally decided to come pay a visit to his good friend (and
free lunch) Ukyo.
It was irritating to remember how stupid she had acted. She had sat
there giving him great advice on how to make a woman happy. What to do
to make amends. Anything she could think of to help. And (of course)
Ranma ran off to do just that. There was something about the guy. She
could plot all she wanted, but the minute he was within sight she
couldn't stop herself from being his best friend. It hurt but it was
true. She wanted to be more to him...but she just couldn't make herself
treat him any differently.
Down stairs there was a sound of something falling over, she grabbed a
spatula and headed for the stairs. She hoped it was a burglar. She
needed to pound someone right about now.
----------
It looked familiar. She couldn't quite place it. There had to be
something...something she just wasn't remembering. Ukyo was sure she'd
remember a large wooden horse with a hand painted sign on the side...how
had that gotten in her shop? The sign said, "Ukyo, I love you! Please
forgive me!" The "v" in love was a big heart. It didn't really seem his
style, but then she had told Ranma about showing a softer side...was this
really from him? And why a large wooden horse? Was it a play on his
name? Was that why the sign wasn't signed? She walked closer...
The top of the horse snapped open and Tsubasa popped out. He landed in
her arms.
"Ukyo! I knew you loved me!"
"AAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGG!!!!"