*Warning* - This is a draft.  Though I have some serious problems with
the way that I've written it, enough of my pre-readers thought that I 
should post it to the ML...  I'm posting it as a draft, because I am very
open to revising it and would, in fact, like people to rip it apart, so
that I can find the major points that I need to work on.  
	Please read the notes I've written at the end, especially if you
disagree with how I've done things.  I try to explain what I tried to
accomplish - a good bit which I failed at...  Anyway, C&C welcome.
=======================
Michael Won <skeezy5@geocities.com>
=======================

Birthdays - Ukyou
        by skeezy5

=======================

Ranma 1 / 2 etc. all belong to Rumiko Takahashi...

=======================

	I stare at the mirror, my bow tie crooked for the sixth time.  
Shaking my head, I sigh, undo it, and start over.  Maybe I should 
just ask Pop to do it.  As I pick up both ends to try again, there's a 
light knock at the door, followed by three stronger knocks.  I loop 
the left hand side of the tie, while calling,  "You can come in, the 
door's open."
	I loop the right hand side of the tie as the door slowly swings 
inward. She comes in, opening the door just enough so that her slender 
body can slip through it, just as she always does.  I almost don't 
recognize her, her once long, brown hair now chopped at the shoulder.  
Her white dress is the one I had bought her on her 18th birthday...
	She hadn't owned dresses, having masqueraded as a boy for so 
long, but I had thought it would be appropriate for her to own one.  At 
the time, I had jokingly said that she could at least have something to 
wear to funerals.  She had laughed when I told her that, saying that she 
wouldn't need it since we would live forever and ever...  together.
	"Hi.  I didn't think you'd be coming here today."  As she silently 
shuts the door, I pull the knot tight, only to see that the bow tie is  
crooked again.  Idly, she looks about the room, noting the picture on 
the dresser.  Gliding across the floor, she picks up the photo - the one
we all took at Togenkyou Island...  
	"You always were a handsome devil, Ranma."
	"Always a devil, never quite handsome."  I undo the knot and let 
the ends fall down.  "You look like you're going to a funeral."
	She carefully replaces the photo on the table and turns her gaze 
on my back.  I stare at the reflection in the mirror.  Her face is pale 
and worn from burying her emotions beneath a mask of cheerfulness for 
so long.  Red eyes, still sore from crying, burn into my back with a 
fierce intensity.  The pain etches every curve and feature more sharply, 
beautifully accentuating the sculpted lines of her face.  "I'll be going 
to one soon."
	"Who's is it?"
	"Nobody important.  An insignificant person."
	"Anybody I know?"
	"You once might have known her."  
	"I didn't think that anybody I knew was going to die, Ucchan."  I 
keep my tone as calm as possible, but the strain is obvious.
	"Don't call me that, damn it!  Don't call me that!"  She spins 
away, not wanting me to see the tears that will soon form in her eyes.  
The first tear will collect, growing larger and larger.  A slight 
sparkle and then it will suddenly fall.  I can almost hear it drop as I 
imagine it hitting the floor.  I remember once,  watching her as she 
cried in her sleep, tormented by something in her dreams.  She was never 
one to cry when someone was watching, not even me.  Poor Ukyou, holding 
the sorrow to herself and swallowing its bitter poison...
	"I'm only Ukyou to you now.  Ukyou, the poor girl who got ditched 
by her fiance and his family.  Ukyou, who swore revenge and trained for 
ten years, forsaking her womanhood.  Ukyou, who attacked you that day at 
Furinkan, finally ready to return the pain you had caused me.  Ukyou, 
the girl whose heart you stole... the girl who became Ucchan to you
again.  Ukyou, who gave away everything once again to became Ucchan, 
just to be abandoned again.  Oh no, you never did pledge anything to me.  
You always told me that we were just friends, but I didn't care.  I 
thought you'd stay with me forever, watch over me, and be with me...  
But  no, stupid little me, things like that are too good to last!  The 
fairy tale's over, and Prince Charming's woken me up and left me in the 
forest!  It's not his fault though, only mine!"
	"Ucchan, I..."  As I call her by that name once more, she spins 
around, tears openly streaming down her face.  My hands drop to my 
sides, too unsteady to work on the tie.
	"When you call me Ucchan, you're still thinking of the six year 
old friend whom you thought was a boy!  Why couldn't you understand 
Ranma?  That's not the Ranchan and Ucchan that I wanted to be.  I wanted 
to be YOUR Ucchan and you to be MY Ranchan.  I tried.  I tried so very 
hard..."  Her voice is barely a whisper now, the resignation in her 
voice ripping apart my soul more than her rage ever could.  "I buried 
Ukyou on that day.  I buried ten years of hatred, suffering, and 
revenge.  All because I thought you wanted me to be your Ucchan..."  
	I can only stand there, not knowing what to say...  not even
deserving to say anything.  She was wrong.  I had known what she wanted 
from me, what she wanted me... wanted us to be...
	She takes a step forward, closer to me, probably wishing that I 
would turn around and embrace her, and that things would be the same 
again.  I had wanted her to stay, wanted her to be with me so I could 
try to help heal the wounds.  So I could try and make up for even a 
fraction of the decade of suffering I had caused her.  I reach my hands 
up to start tying the bow tie again.  "Ukyou, I apologize that it has to 
be this way..."
	"You apologize, huh?  Not sorry, never one to be sorry.  You and 
your silly code! But does your little code have anything to say about 
stealing a woman's heart and then ditching her?! Or does it not cover 
trivial things like that?"
	I let my hands fall again, unable to tie the knot.  Its hot 
wearing the tux.  Ukyou is now standing directly behind me.  I take a 
deep breath, inhaling her perfume.  Channel No. Five.  I was surprised 
when she asked me what it was when I bought it for her.  A boy's life 
doesn't have many feminine aspects, but you'd have thought that she 
would have known what it was.  I like the fragrance a lot.  Akane still 
wears it...
	"Well, mister Ranma Saotome, I'm sorry I can't stay for much 
longer, but I've got to bury somebody."  Her voice is shaking, trying to 
summon the last of her strength, trying to put an edge in her voice.  
She raises her chin slightly, defiantly.  I can't bare to watch her 
reflection anymore.  
	"Ukyou...  you're not..."  I turn around, looking at her right 
hand.  She is wearing a ring with an obsidian stone.  She told me that 
her Grandmother had given it to her as a reminder never to trust men 
because they always abandon their women, just as Ukyou's Grandfather had 
done to her Grandmother.  She hasn't worn that ring in years...
	"No, Ranma.  Try not to think so highly of yourself, though I am 
so greatly touched by your concern for my well being.  Today, Ucchan 
dies.  It is time for a new Ukyou to be born."
	I look up into her eyes, those beautiful eyes.  Nothing but pain 
and fury burning in them now.  She stares back at me, her eyes proud.  
It only makes her look even more pitiful.  I can almost hear her 
thoughts.  'Tell me that you love me and I'll take you back.  We can be 
together forever.  I would forgive you for all this; for leaving me for 
Akane.  Please.  Just say you love me and everything would be back to 
where it was.  Please.'  
	"Farewell, my dear Ranchan.  Farewell, my Love.  Aishiteru."  She 
turns around and walks toward the door.  She never says farewell.  She 
always complains that it has a ring of finality to it.  My hands rise.  
She opens the door.  I loop the left.  She slides out the opening.  I 
loop the right.  She shuts the door.  I tie the knot.  She had never 
used that phrase before.  Aishiteru.  Even in all those moments where 
she confessed her feelings to me, it had been sukiyo.  Aishiteru.  I 
stumble to the door.  The door knob turns.  I reach out and yank the 
door open.  Ryouga comes in, almost falling.
	"Hey there, tiger!  No need to be so anxious.  I just came to get 
you.  They're ready for you downstairs."
	"Oh.  Okay."
	"Right, now let's get going."  Grabbing my arm, he begins to drag 
me along, but then stops and spins around.  "Wait!"	
	"Huh?  What?"  At my look of confusion, he points at my neck.  
	"The knot's crooked."  
	"..."  I reach for my throat and find that once more, I have tied 
it incorrectly.
	"Here, let me fix it for you."  He quickly reaches for the bow tie 
and expertly reties the knot.  "There we go.  Come on, Akane's waiting."
	He starts again when I grab his arm.  He turns around and gives 
me a questioning look.  
	"Thanks, Ryouga."
	"No problem, Ranma.  That's what a best man's for, no?  Come on, 
you can't be late for your own wedding."

=======================
[Author's Notes]
	Okay, before you shoot me or somethin', read through this, 'kay?
I like Ukyou.  I like Ukyou a lot.  Its just that I don't like her as
much as I like Akane.  Now, I've read plenty of Ranma-Akane marriages,
and I always thought Ukyou took it too well.  I mean, when she got 
ditched, she destroyed who she was and became Revenge in the flesh.
Ten years man...  Then, on that fateful day, she buried that Ukyou
and became Ucchan.  
	Ranma and Ukyou have always had a fundamental communication 
problem in that when Ranma says Ucchan, a lot of it is tied to the boy
he was friends with when six years old.  When Ukyou says Ranchan, its
a totally different, loaded reference.  What's in a name, you ask?  I
say there's a lot in a name.  
	Anyway, so Birthdays-Ukyou refers to the fact that she is once
again getting rid of the "Ucchan" that she had been for the past few
years, and becoming "Ukyou".  Her life for the past few year has been
centered around Ranma, and with Ranma's marriage to Akane, that person
cannot exist anymore.  She has essentially died.  A new person must 
arise out of those ashes.  That is just who Ukyou is...
	Argh...  What's the use.  I can't explain what I want to say in 
words, and you'll all hate this anyway.  Shrug.  Flame me, ban me, 
whatever.  Tell me that you hate me if you want, but don't tell me that 
Ukyou is going to recover from not getting chosen by Ranma as easily as 
some other people seem to portray...
	Shrug, more on the literary level, I tried to work in the bow
tie as Ranma's attempts to confront Ukyou.  He will attempt to tie the
knot, but either gives up, or does it crooked.  The ending sequence,
with the exchange between the bow tie and Ukyou leaving, is supposed
to make the reader wonder, as Ranma finally "ties the knot."  
	Whatever it was that Ranma decided to do becomes a moot point, as 
when Ranma opens the door, Ryouga is there, and Ranma cannot follow 
Ukyou.  Without Ryouga to point out that the bow tie is crooked, 
however, Ranma (the reader) does not know the fact.  Am I making sense 
here?  Without knowing what state the tie is in, one can assume that it 
is both crooked and correct.  The correctly tied knot represents Ranma 
fixing things with Ukyou, yet fixing things involves only one thing...
	An observation by one of the pre-readers was that for a first 
person POV, I skimp a lot on the thoughts of the story teller.  That is
because I allow you, the reader, to fill in the thoughts of Ranma.  The
ending sequence between Ryouga and Ranma is espcially that way, with
the only narrarrtion being for action.  No thoughts.  Why?
	The reader is supposed to be left wondering what would have been
the result, had Ryouga not been there.  Ranma's final "Thank you"...
What is he thanking Ryouga for?  Could it be that Ranma is thanking him
for being there, for stopping him from going after Ukyou, for reminding
him of his commitments?  Don't ask me, I'm as puzzled as you are.  After
all, I only wrote the thing.  ^_^