PermanentPermanent 
Part 27
Okonimiyaki means... What the hell?
The teacher stood at the front of the room and for once actually held the 
attention of most of the room. The object of interest was a sixteen year old boy 
who stood next to him with a scowl on his face and a large spatula strapped 
across his back. "Class, I'd like to introduce a new student..."
The boy spoke up. "My name is Ukyo Kuonji, my hobby's making Okonomiyaki." He 
skillfully flipped one over on the grill he had set up in the front of the room. 
This impressed most of the students present and Ranma glanced up from her book.
"Ukyo Kuonji?" she stared at the boy for a long moment as if trying to remember 
something.
The boy's attention moved to her immediately, she saw Ranma with a large book 
propped up in front of her face. The pigtail was unmistakable though. "Ranma! 
It's been a long time!"
Ryoga stopped cold and looked up from his nap in the back corner of the class. 
"He knows Ranma?"
Ukyo's arm flew in a wide arc and Ranma reached up instinctively to catch the 
Okonomiyaki. She glanced at it in mild surprise and frowned for a moment at the 
smiling face that looked at her on the top of the pastry. "I know him..." she 
glanced up at him and smiled slightly. "You're..."
Ukyo smiled and readied several small spatulas in his hand. "For ten years I've 
hunted you!" He threw the razor sharp utensils as Ranma jumped from her seat and 
rushed forward missing the weapons without noticing them. Ryoga caught one and 
his eyes narrowed as a few other boys scrambled away from the projectiles.
"You're Ucchan from the Okonomiyaki cart!" she cried cheerfully as she appeared 
out of nowhere in front of the boy. Ukyo jerked back in horrified surprise.
Ryoga leaned back and relaxed slightly with a confused look on his face. He 
didn't remember any Okonomiyaki cart on any of his travels with the sorceress. 
If it was before they met then it was something Ranma could handle easily on his 
own.
Akane blinked at the scene and stood up. "Ucchan? You were childhood friends?"
"Yea, for a while anyway," confirmed Ranma cheerfully. Ukyo remained silent as 
he watched Ranma in complete shock.
The male populace of the class gasped in shock, many of their faces fell at the 
appearance of this new rival. They turned to see a displeased look cross Ryoga's 
features as well. He remained silent though.
Ranma turned towards the class and smiled. "I met Ukyo when pop and I were 
training. Ucchan was a name I came up with. I would come to the cart and Ukyo 
and I would get into a fight, when I won I would get free Okonomiyaki 
practically every day!" The girl looked proud of this statement.
Akane twitched, she had never seen Ranma react to a situation this way. She was 
so... cheerful. She shook it off and took in what Ranma had just explained. "Uh, 
Ranma? Isn't that called theft?"
Ranma smiled at her and shook her head. "No, look." She held up the Okonomiyaki 
and showed her the face drawn onto the surface. "Ukyo used to draw little 
pictures with the sauce. He'd always have one hot n ready for me."
"Sounds like a childhood crush to me," noted Daisuke.
"I never knew Ranma had it in her," agreed Hiroshi.
Ryoga smiled from his spot in the back of the room. "I know he doesn't have it 
in him." He walked up next to Ranma and realized she had frozen in place. 
"Forgot about something Saotome?"
Ranma slowly turned to see Ukyo shaking in place as he slumped against the wall 
with a look of complete shock on his face. His eyes were firmly planted on 
Ranma's chest and his jaw was wide open. "It can't be..." he whispered quietly.
"Ucchan?" whispered Ranma as she noticed this. "I uhh..."
"Ten years...ten long years, and this..." he stood upright and stared Ranma dead 
in her eyes. "It all makes sense now. You didn't even know did you?" He turned 
on his heels and walked out the door into the hallway.
"Ucchan wait!" cried Ranma as she rushed after her.
"Now see here!" cried the teacher as he stood up from his desk. That was as far 
as he got, Ranma looked him dead in the eyes and waved her hand slightly. The 
man froze and shook his head, "Um, everyone take your seats and open your 
books."
"What about Ranma?" cried Akane in shock.
"What are you talking about Miss Tendo?" said the man with a confused look on 
his face.
Akane blinked and took her seat. "Never mind Sensei."
 
 
"Ukyo! Where are you going?" cried Ranma as she chased the boy down in the 
hallway.
"I've been looking for the wrong Saotome," he said coldly as he pushed open the 
door to the school and walked out into the courtyard.
"Wait! Tell me what's going on!" cried Ranma as she caught up with him.
Ukyo turned to look at her and frowned. "Did you know?"
Ranma blinked obliviously and stopped. "Did I know what?"
"I can never be sure," replied the boy simply. He paused, "Where is your 
father?" He dared to hope that she might help him, perhaps after the old man was 
gone they could even rekindle their friendship, as it should be, not with him as 
he was now. He knew Ranma would never forgive him though after he finished what 
he had to do. All that was shattered in an instant though.
"Pop?" she looked at Ukyo quizzically. "Ukyo, he's gone."
Kuonji froze and stared at her in shock. "What do you mean gone? Did he abandon 
you too?"
Ranma paused and looked at her. "Too?" she thought to her self. "No Ukyo, I mean 
he's gone. It happened in China."
The cry that the boy let out could only be described as anguish and pain. 
Everything he had lived for over the past ten years was for nothing. Now, even 
revenge was denied him. "No! How could this happen! He was mine damn it!" He 
fell to his knees and clutched the dirt while hyperventilating. 
Ranma took a step forward and crouched down next to him. "Ucchan? What happened? 
Why are you here?"
Ukyo looked her dead in the eyes with a stare of contempt that faded instantly. 
"You really don't know do you?" With that said he stood and turned his back on 
her before walking away from Furinkan.
"Ucchan?" Ranma wanted to follow and find out what was going on, but her legs 
would not let her for some reason. She felt her heart tighten slightly as she 
watched him leave. Her eyes narrowed as she realized that she had the answers 
she was looking for right under her nose.
 
Ranma appeared inside the Cat Café and cracked her knuckles. "Ranma, what are 
you doing home so early?" said Cologne as she hobbled out of the kitchen.
"Where is my father?" asked the girl calmly.
"I sent the fool to take the trash out, he should be back any moment now. What 
is this about?" asked the old woman carefully.
"That's what I mean to find out," said Ranma coldly.
 
Genma froze when he saw her sitting at a table waiting for him when he walked 
back inside the restaurant. "Uh oh. I don't like that look," he thought as he 
glanced towards the door looking for an easy escape.
"Don't even think about it old man," commented Ranma as she indicated a seat at 
the table. Genma took it and stared at her waiting for whatever it was.
The panda looked at the pen and paper that was set down before him in confusion. 
"What's this for?" said the sign.
"You're going to tell me what I want to know pop, if you don't I have other ways 
of finding out," she told him calmly. The panda froze with a fearful expression 
on his face, he knew she was right. "You remember that boy Ukyo, from the 
Okonomiyaki cart? He showed up at school today."
Genma stared at Ranma and tried to mask his surprise. "He?" the animal thought 
carefully.
"I want to know why he was looking for you old man," snapped the girl angrily. 
She kept herself under control though as her father might actually have a reason 
for this. She couldn't think of a single one though, but there was always the 
chance. 
Genma merely nodded his head and started to write. "He thinks I stole the 
Okonomiyaki cart from his father."
Ranma blinked as another memory came back to her. It was the one of her as a 
young boy sitting on top of the cart while Ukyo chased after them with tears in 
her eyes. "Pop, I'm going to kill you!" she screamed as she reached across the 
table and grabbed him.
Genma held up a sign and waved his paw around frantically. "But her father gave 
me the cart!"
Ranma paused and dropped him. "What?" Genma might be stupid, but he was smart 
enough to come up with a better lie than that. "What do you mean?"
The conversation was interrupted as a cheerful voice chimed in from the door. 
"Nihao!" Talcum marched through the door followed by Ko li. 
"Hey Ranma," noted the girl calmly as she passed by.
Ranma looked back and saw that her father had vacated the table. She sighed 
heavily, only her father would take four hours to take out the trash. "We'll 
finish this later old man." She would have to track down Ukyo later and ask a 
few more questions. The boy had seemed deeply hurt, and she was sure there was 
more to this than a stolen cart.
Ryoga stepped into the restaurant and sat down across from her. "So did you 
catch your old friend?"
"Yea, it only got more confusing from there," she told him.
"Really?" Ryoga didn't look surprised and that bothered Ranma slightly.
"What's that supposed to mean?" she snapped.
"Well, if I found a childhood friend that I thought was a boy ten years later 
and he had breast, I'd probably be confused too." He offered her a fanged grin 
as he said this.
"Shut up Mr. P. I think there's more to it than that," she looked towards the 
kitchen and turned a few thoughts over in her mind. "What the hell am I gonna do 
about it though? That's the real question."
"Well, he seemed angry at first, but he calmed down real fast," noted Ryoga with 
a shrug. "Maybe he thinks you're cute?"
Ranma winced at this, it was very possible. Still, it didn't fit the way he was 
acting when he left. "What is it that I don't know?" she asked herself out loud.
"More than you'd like to think sometimes," commented Ryoga dryly.
"Mr. P, shouldn't you be getting to work now?" grumbled Ranma angrily.
Cologne sat on the counter sipping tea. "This could be interesting."
 
Akane Tendo walked through the streets of Nerima towards her home. She paused 
when she saw a familiar looking boy in the street with a large metal spatula 
strapped across his back. He turned and glanced at her as she approached, but 
quickly looked away uninterested. "Hey, you're that guy Ukyo, Ranma's friend 
aren't you?"
The boy frowned at her. "I wouldn't call her a friend at the moment."
Akane blinked at this. "Why not?"
Ukyo sighed and hung his head. "Who the heck are you anyway, why are you 
bothering me about this?"
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry. It's just that Ranma is probably my best 
friend. I'm a little worried about her," said Akane in embarrassment. 
Ukyo laughed out loud at this. "Why am I not surprised?"
"You aren't angry with her about something are you?" said Akane with a worried 
look on her face.
Ukyo looked at her and paused in thought. "No, I'm not angry, not with her 
anyway."
Akane grabbed him by his arm and smiled. "You've got to tell her that then! I 
know it's none of my business, but I've never seen her look that happy before! 
When she saw you it was like she was a child again! Like she forgot about her 
problems completely!"
Ukyo looked at her as she released him. "Ranma isn't happy you say?"
Akane blushed and looked around as if checking that no one would hear. "Well, I 
wouldn't say she's unhappy. She's just so serious all the time, it's like she's 
been depressed or something. She's getting better since she came to Nerima. I 
think it has to do with her father dying in China."
Ukyo looked at Akane and sighed again. "What kind of person is Ranma to you? I 
haven't seen hi-uh, her in years."
Akane blinked and stepped back from the boy. "Well, she's really nice. I think I 
trust her more than anyone else I know. She goes out of her way to do things for 
people sometimes. I think she's probably the best friend I've ever had. You 
wouldn't believe some of the things she's done for me in the past."
Ukyo smiled at this, "Try me."
Akane laughed nervously, she had been speaking literally about the disbelief. 
Somehow she doubted if she had been a sorceress back when she knew Ukyo. Not 
from the way she had described things anyway; if Ukyo didn't know he wasn't 
going to find out from her. "Well..."
"Evil demon!" screeched a familiar voice. Akane stopped her conversation and 
whirled around with a shocked and horrified expression on her face. 
"No! Not now! It isn't even night time!" cried Akane. Ukyo gasped as he caught a 
glimpse of the black scar hidden behind her thick bangs.
 
Keiko dropped her shopping bag as her eyes fell from the cute boy that walked by 
her to the strangely familiar figure walking with him. "It can't be!" she 
gasped. "Evil demon!" She pointed towards Akane and saw the girl grow rigid for 
a moment.
Auska pushed her glasses up her nose and frowned. "Where? It's too early for 
that Keiko!"
"I guess evil does not know the difference between night or day!" cried the girl 
dramatically as she pulled a ring from her pocket. She placed it on her finger 
and jumped into the air as her clothes vanished only to be replaced by a green 
dress and long sword. "Foul demon! I, demon slayer Keiko shall teach you to 
defile the sacred sanctity of the shopping district! How dare you tempt innocent 
young men so!"
Akane cursed under her breath and dashed into the crowd leaving Ukyo and Keiko 
behind. The boy was looking at the demon hunter in shock. "Uh, did you say tempt 
young men?"
She blushed slightly and smiled at him. "I hope that evil monster didn't hurt 
you good sir."
Ukyo frowned at her and glanced into the crowd searching for Akane. "What the 
hell happened to her?"
"The cowardly beast ran away," said Keiko proudly.
Ukyo merely shook his head and turned away. "Whatever." He started to walk off 
and glanced upwards. He stopped as a figure appeared on the rooftops. Just as 
quickly it was gone. "Who?" 
 
 
Keiko stood next to Auska and smiled broadly as she lifted her shopping bags 
back into her arms again after changing back to her so called, 'civilian 
identity'. "So?" asked her companion.
"So? So what?" muttered Keiko.
"Did you get his number?" squealed the girl cheerfully.
"No, he wandered off before I could ask him. He was a real babe too," grumbled 
Keiko a little dejectedly.
 
 
 
Up on the rooftop the white cloaked figure watched the scene again in silence. 
His smile widened slightly. "Ranma? I wonder what her connection is with this 
demon? I suppose I'll find out soon enough, my role as passive observer will end 
soon." he thought to himself before he vanished in a wave of light.
TBC...
Next time: More Ukyo, and Ranma grows closer to learning the truth, or does she? 
All kinds of gender confusion to come.
C&C to Carrotglace@juno.com
URL: Http://www.geocities.com/misatira/
 
 
            Try Yahoo! Mail



            More...


                  Access your email from anywhere.
                  Yahoo! Mail provides you with a free email account which you 
                  can access from home, from work, or on the road.
                  Sign up for Yahoo! Mail

            [Close]


            undefined
            [Close]