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"Autumn and Spring"
by Angus MacSpon

Based on "Ranma 1/2" created by Rumiko Takahashi.

C&C Welcome!

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- 16 -

Ranma awoke late the following afternoon.  She yawned, scratched her arm
idly, and realised that Akane was snuggled up close to her.  She smiled
sleepily and threw an arm over her wife's shoulder, cuddling a little
closer.  That was when she noticed that she was female.  That was odd;
she never went to bed female if she could possibly help it.  She opened
her eyes, frowning slightly.  Then she realised that the woman she was
cuddling wasn't Akane.

[Whoops.]

The events of the previous day came back to her in a rush.  Moving slowly
and carefully, she managed to pull herself out of Ukyou's embrace without
waking the other woman.

She shook her head slowly, looking down at Ukyou.  They needed to talk
about this.  About a whole lot of things.  But in the meantime, there
were more urgent needs to attend to.

She found the lavatory and used it.  And the shower was right there, and
she was still filthy from the day before ...

A few minutes later, she screamed.

The door was flung open and Ukyou ran into the bathroom, eyes half-open,
evidently still half-asleep, but ready for action.  As long as the
action was half-asleep too.  "What? Where?" she shouted, blinking
and looking around wildly.

Ranma stood in the shower, pointing at herself.  "I'm not changing!" she
stuttered.  "The water's hot but I'm not changing back!"

Ukyou stared at her for a moment, then relaxed.  "Oh, that," she said.

Ranma's eyes narrowed.  "Wait a minute.  You sound like you expected
this," she accused.

Still blinking, Ukyou yawned and said, "Look, give me ten minutes.  I
can't think straight yet."  She closed the bathroom door, yawning again.
Ranma stared after her for a moment.  Then down at herself once more.
Then she finished her shower, wrapped a hotel bathrobe around herself,
and stalked out, glaring as Ukyou sprinted in behind her and she heard
the lavatory being used again.

"All right," a freshly-bathed Ukyou said a few minutes later, sipping
from a mug of coffee. "So hot water doesn't change you back any more.
Have you tried cold water?"

"Cold water?  But --"

"Humour me."

Glaring at her again, Ranma went back to the bathroom.  There was the
sound of running water for a moment and she returned, running a towel
through her hair.  Still female.  "So, talk," she demanded.

Ukyou grinned.  "Congratulations, Ranma.  You're the first person I
ever heard of to have a Jyusenkyo curse broken."

"But how?"

"Cologne did it.  She split you, remember?  Into your male and female
halves.  It looks like the split was pretty complete.  You ended up with
two _uncursed_ bodies.  One of those is ... gone now, and you're left
with a single, healthy, uncursed body.  You're normal again."

"But I'm _female_!"

Ukyou shrugged.  "Could be worse.  You're also young again.  That's got
to be worth something."

"Well ..."  But Ranma would not be mollified.  "Ucchan, I ... this just
isn't right.  I mean, I know I should be grateful, but this just ... I
mean, I'm just ... dammit, I'm a guy!  A _guy_!"

"Not any more."  But Ukyou was smiling.  "Relax, Ran-chan.  There's a
way out.  I said your body is uncursed, remember?  So you can go back to
Jyusenkyo and get a new curse.  The nannichuan will work for you now."

"I --?"  Ranma thought about it.  "I'll be a girl ... who turns into
a guy.  Hey, that could work!"

"There are other advantages.  As I think I've demonstrated, hot water is
much easier to avoid than cold.  Your new curse won't bother you as much
as your current one.  You'll probably hardly ever change at all if you
give up hot baths and showers."

"I won't even have to worry about those, if I track down the Chisuiton,"
Ranma said absently.  She was still thinking about the implications.  A
guy again!  And never having to worry about cold water!

"The what?" said Ukyou.

"The Chisuiton.  Remember, the Musk Dynasty relic?"  Ukyou shook her
head.  "Wait a minute.  You weren't involved in that one, were you?  But
I must have told you about it before ..."

"Maybe, but it's a very long time ago.  Why, what is it?"

"It's this magic dingus that locks you in your cursed form.  There's
another one that unlocks the curse again.  This guy named Herb came to
Tokyo looking for --"

"Wait a moment."  Ukyou was suddenly intent, her eyes wide.  "You're
telling me there's a way to lock me so I'll never have to worry about
changing back to my 'old' body again?"

"Well ... yeah."

"YEEEE-HAH!!!"

Ranma watched, astonished, as Ukyou danced around the room, yelling and
whooping.  Singing, stamping her feet, waving her fists in the air ...
Then she remembered what this meant for Ukyou.  Redemption.  For eight
years Ukyou had lived in perpetual fear of hot water.  Now, suddenly,
unexpectedly, she was being given a way out.  No wonder she was happy.

"Hot baths!" Ukyou sang.  "No more cold baths!"

[Then again ...]

                **********

Later, when things were calmer, they sat picking at a poorly-cooked Room
Service dinner.  Both were still wearing bathrobes, as their own clothes
(and their borrowed shirts) were down in the hotel laundry.

"The police want to see us again tomorrow morning," Ranma said.

"Have they managed to verify our story?"

"I dunno."  Ranma poked around in her food, searching for anything that
looked edible.  "They've brought your flitter back, and it was parked
outside a cave nobody's ever seen before.  That's all they'd say."

"I guess it is a pretty hard story to swallow."

"Yeah.  Well, we'll work it out in the end.  What did the hospital say
when you called?"

Ukyou shrugged.  "She's still in critical condition.  They think she'll
make it, but even so ... she's wasted away almost to nothing, her
muscles have atrophied ... she may never be able to straighten her arms
and legs again, after all that time curled up in a ball.  They're pretty
sure that she'll never walk again."

Ranma winced.  "She may be better off as a cat."

Ukyou eyed her for a moment.  "You have made progress.  You don't
stutter when you say that any more."  Ranma shrugged.  "Well ... she
may, yes.  We can ask her.  I guess if my old body had a heart condition
but this one doesn't, then her cat-form may still be healthy.  But being
a cat for the rest of her life isn't much of an alternative either."

"Sometimes there aren't any good alternatives," Ranma said glumly.  For
a moment she thought of a dead body, lying on the floor of a cavern far
underground.

"There could have been if I hadn't waited so long," Ukyou said softly.
Ranma started to answer but she cut her off.  "No, it's true!  You were
right, the night before last.  I waited for twenty years because I was
afraid.  Afraid of what I'd found out, afraid of facing Cologne.  But I
was also afraid of ..."  She took a deep breath.  "Of you."

"Ucchan ..."

"Yes!  _That's_ what I was afraid of!  Of 'Ucchan.'  I was afraid that
I'd hear you call me that and it would all start over again ... and it
would all end up the same way and I'd be left alone again, and Ranma, I
just didn't think I could take that again."

"But you did come back," said Ranma gently.

"Oh ... Seiji left a message to say that Akane had died.  He was worried
about you.  And I was pretty sure that you'd be making some grand,
stupid gesture.  I was worried you'd kill yourself, or something ..."

"And you hoped that with Akane gone, you might have a chance again."

"No!"  Ukyou looked furious.  Then her face sagged.  "Yes.  Well ...
maybe.  I don't know!  I wasn't thinking that, I swear it!  But I
suppose ... deep down, I may have hoped."  She bent her head, staring
down at her empty plate.

"I'm sorry," she added after a moment.  "It was wrong of me.  And I ...
I'm sorry I never told you I was all right.  I could have done it ... it
might have made things easier, in the end.  I was just afraid that I'd
only end up more alone that I already was ..."

"Ucchan," Ranma said.  She did not look up.  Ranma reached out, took her
by the chin, and pulled it up so that their eyes met.  Ukyou was crying
silently.  Ranma's own eyes were moist.

"Ucchan," she repeated.  "You don't have to be sorry.  Look, you got
scared, and you made mistakes.  Everyone does that.  I know I have,
often enough.  Look how crazy things got, back when we were teenagers,
all because I was scared to make a commitment!"  That wasn't a good
subject to bring up right now, she realised.  Hastily she went on, "What
counts is that, when it mattered, you were willing to admit you'd made a
mistake, and do something about it.  Without that, Shampoo would still
be down in that hole."

"But --"

"I mean it.  You messed up, sure.  But it's _over_, Ucchan, it's over.
You've done the best you can to make up for it ... and now it's time to
move on."

Ranma scowled.  "I'm the one who should be sorry.  I ... I said some
horrible things to you, two nights ago.  I was upset about Shampoo, and
I ended up taking it all out on you.  That was wrong.  I just ... well,
I'm sorry, okay?"

Ukyou stared at her for a few seconds.  Then her lips twitched.  "You
never did find it easy to apologise, did you?"

"What?" Ranma said indignantly.  Then she relaxed.  "Oh, man ..."

Ukyou reached out and touched her hand lightly.  "I'll forgive you if
you'll forgive me," she suggested, slightly mockingly.

Ranma didn't smile.  She looked down at their hands and said quietly, "I
think we both already have."

A companionable silence fell.  Ranma found herself thinking about what
lay ahead.  Had Ukyou realised yet the full implications of using the
Chisuiton?  Locking them both in youthful, unaging bodies?  It was a
rather daunting prospect.  Immortality was for the young; at eighty-five
years old, Ranma was beginning to appreciate how much pain there could
be in an endless lifespan.

And there was Akane.  Seeing her illusion in the cavern had been agony;
speaking to her in the void had brought a kind of peace.  But it had
also raised the issue again of what -- if anything -- there could be
between Ranma and Ukyou.  Ranma loved Akane still; and the idea of a
relationship (call it that) with Ukyou still felt like a betrayal.

But ...

["I'm saying it's all right,"] Akane had said.  ["Nothing is forever.
We'll be together again, in the end.  In the meantime, you still have a
life to live ..."]

It was permission.

Akane had understood.

And maybe an ageless life could be filled with joy, too.  Ranma bowed
her head, and let the tears flow: tears of regret, and love, and thanks.
Ukyou, seeing them but not understanding, got up and came to her; and
Ranma clung to her and wept.  For what had been, and for what would be.
It was a beginning.

                **********

Their clothes eventually showed up again, and they went out for another,
better meal.  As they walked through the lobby, Ranma reached out and
stopped Ukyou.  Ukyou raised her eyebrows inquiringly.

"You said you were afraid of being alone again," Ranma said.  Ukyou
nodded, her expression serious.  Ranma went on: "To tell the truth, I'm
not too keen on the idea, either."

She took a deep breath.  "What I'm saying is ... that you don't have to
be alone any more.  If you don't want to."

Ukyou did not speak; she only stared at Ranma, her eyes bright.

"I won't abandon you again," said Ranma softly.  "If you won't abandon
me either."

Slowly -- almost hesitantly -- Ukyou reached out and took Ranma's hand.
Ranma did not try to pull away.

They walked out of the lobby, hand in hand.  For now, it was enough.

Outside, the streets were bustling.  People moved to and fro, intent on
their regular evening business.  The streets and the air were filled
with flitters.  It was an evening like any other.  An evening when
anything could happen.

"One thing you never did tell me," Ranma said as they strolled along,
looking for a restaurant.  "When you came to me at the cemetery.  The
name you gave me.  Why did you pick 'Pandora?'"

Ukyou looked down at their clasped hands.  "Because I kept hope," she
said.  And she smiled, and Ranma laughed softly; and they walked on.
Together.

                THE END




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Author's Notes
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Well, that's the end of my second big fanfic.  It's about three times
the length I originally intended it to be; but I'm pretty happy with the
result.  I think I've found one or two new things to say about the Ranma
universe along the way.

Coming up with a convincing way to get Ukyou and Ranma together can be
tricky.  It's perfectly clear in both manga and anime that Akane is the
one Ranma loves; Ukyou wouldn't even be in the running if she weren't
also a childhood friend.  (It's also pretty clear that, out of all
Ranma's fiancees, Ukyou is possibly the one who loves _him_ the most.
At least, she loves him unreservedly, which Akane does not.)

In most fanfics, getting them together is usually accomplished through
either a change in the premises of the story (ie, an Elseworlds story),
or through some new factor that drives a wedge between Ranma and Akane.
But I wanted to try another way ...

The idea of Cologne's true nature is drawn from the tendency in many
fanfics to paint Cologne as a villain (which, in the manga, she is
_not_).  I thought it would be interesting to take the idea to its
logical extreme.  What if Cologne really _were_ an "old ghoul"?   Or
something worse?

A few other points:

1. In the anime, Cologne arrived in Japan in a rather bizarre, um,
vehicle that was towed behind a jet airliner and held up by trained
birds.  I have conveniently ignored this for the purposes of this story.

2. At the beginning of chapter 8, when Ranma contemplates setting out
from Ukyou's house on foot, confident that he can find a town, he is
deluding himself.  Qinghai province, China, is very mountainous and very
sparsely populated.  Ranma would probably starve to death.  Just thought
you'd like to know.

3. The idea that cursed forms might not age is taken from Richard
Lawson's series "Thy Inward Love: Magic."

But enough from me.  Comments and (polite) criticism are welcome, of
course.  (As indeed are large wads of cash, but I suspect I'm going to
be out of luck there.)

--

Angus MacSpon




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Angus MacSpon                                                Allen Gainsford
http://shell.ihug.co.nz/~macspon/          http://shell.ihug.co.nz/~macspon/