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A thousand thanks to the following pre-readers:
Gary Klepp - who had not only given me a lot of ideas of how to
mordify it, but had taken the time to sent the story to VARIOUS
other prereaders as well.
Torrence A. Griffin - who warned me about the wrath of the Akane
Lovers shall they read this :)
Zen - for liking the story SO MUCH (you will see why) and helping
with the grammar for the FINAL product. He will probably do an
Akane side story for this fic as well if he has time and/or
inpiration.
Tzigane - for commenting on Ranma & Ryoga parts as well as
agreeing to write a Kodachi Side Story for this.
Ryan Anderson: For liking the story so much that he is now
writting the Shampoo side story for me.
Sean Connor: For pointing out various wrongs in the story, and
agreeing to write the Ranma side story for this fic.
There are others that have C&C for the draft on the FFML. I
thank them here as well.
Now on with the story (which is in the attached file due to its
size) and ONCE AGAIN, PLEASE C&C! A writer like me can NEVER see
the faults in my own writting without others to comment on it!!!
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All relevant characters copyright by Rumiko Takahashi and some
others. This story is copyright by Adrian Wong, 1997.
Prelude:
In a tidy, medium sized restaurant that hadn't even opened
yet, a chef was already cooking on the griddle. With intense
care, despite her unusual speed, a large piece of starch was
flipped over and over to ensure that it could solidify completely
without being burned. The chef smiled at the enticing scent
coming from the pastry: the product of exceptional cooking
skill.
If only that chef could have had the same skill in the art
of loving as well.
She sighed as she added in the meat and vegetable to the
pastry, turning it into an extra large okonomiyaki. A slight
panic ran through her body. What if he was actually angry at
her? Should she still go, and made a fool of herself? Maybe it
would be better for everybody's sake if she could just give it
all up.
But she couldn't. Despite all the barriers between them,
some set by him, some by her rivals. . . mostly by his honourless
father, she could still feel the yearning emitting from the
captor of her heart, whether the others realized it or not.
The same yearning for companionship that had attracted her
like a moth to fire since she was six. She hadn't ever seen
anyone who could be dazzling both in his happiness as well as
sadness.
She could still remember that day as if it was yesterday:
############################FLASHBACK############################
After one of their more intense sparring sessions, two
little martial artists rested under the shade of a large tree.
The armed one wiped the sweat from her face as she breathed
out a sigh. "Ran-chan . . . you can REALLY be tough when you
want to . . ." Not getting a response, she turned sideways, and
saw her friend already fast asleep, looking as innocent as an
angel.
The little girl smiled as she stared at that face. Even
though her macho disguise as a boy had restricted her to being
his friend, there was always something about him that led her to
think that they could have been a little bit more.
Suddenly, the little boy rolled over, and encased the little
girl in a hug, causing her to yelp. "Ran-chan! What do you think
you . . ." Not wanting that hug to be broken off, she silenced
abruptly.
"Ucchan . . ." Ran-chan mumbled as he smiled with
contentment in his sleep.
Ucchan was shocked, a thousand possibilities going through
her child's mind. Finally, though, she settled on one of them:
Ran-chan had found out that she was really a girl, and genuinely
liked her!
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It was then that she had asked her father to arrange for a
formal engagement between her and Ran-chan, so they could live
happily ever after.
What an awful mistake.
Ten years later, as they met again, he tried shutting her
out with his apparent obliviousness. Yet there was no way that
she would give up on a bet before all the cards had been shown.
Before her devotion and sacrifice had been shown to be
one-sided and futile.
Dark eyes hardening in determination, she packed the
okonomiyaki into a delivery box. "Konatsu!"
"Yes, Ukyou-sama?" A long-haired, slender young ninja
appeared in front of her, seemingly out of nowhere.
Being used to his skill demonstrations, Ukyou didn't even
raise an eyebrow. "I have some business to attend to this
morning; mind the shop for me until I come back, okay?"
"Ukyou-sama! You've finally allowed me a chance to prove
myself to you! I'm so happy!!" The overly pretty boy exclaimed
excitedly.
Ukyou liked his enthusiasm. . . even though it often
resulted in disasters that she was left to clean up after.
"Just remember, for any type of okonomiyaki that you sell, DO NOT
LOWER THE PRICES DOWN TWO 2 YENS LIKE THE LAST TIME!!"
"HAI!" The ninja boy saluted her, and skipped over to set
up the assortments from behind the grill. Happiness was written
all over him.
As she walked down the streets under the glistering but hazy
sunrise, Ukyou couldn't help but marvel once again at the amount
of devotion Konatsu was giving her. If only this was the night
and there was a wishing star, she'd make a wish that her Ran-chan
could be the one loving her like Konatsu did.
It was then that she caught sight of a cross far away, on
top of the pointed tower of the newly finished cathedral that
towered over all the household rooftops on this side of Nerima.
Ukyou didn't know much about Christianity. But she knew
enough of the bits and pieces about it from past religion
teachers as well as some of her customers.
The cross . . . the symbol of the son of God.
A thought entered her mind at remembering that.
Shouldn't He, who stays with His people always, be much more
powerful than a wishing star that comes and go in a flash?
Ukyou's dark eyes flashed with a suddenly playful thought as
she stood still to stare at the far away cross, intending to make
a quick wish for herself.
{I wish for Ran-chan to lov-}
She stopped, remembering Shampoo's and Kodachi's repeated
attempts to accomplish just that through various potions, all of
which somehow managed to push Ran-chan further away with
distrust. Perhaps it wasn't such a great wishing line after all.
Ukyou started again.
{I wish for the ability to reach out to Ran-chan once more .
. .}
Yes, that's a better start. Ran-chan had been gradually
shutting her out nowadays . . . and even after that successful
reunion with his mother, he still looked tired and sad . . . when
he thought that nobody else was watching him.
{. . . to see his dreams and learn his nightmares . . . to
help in defeating the darkness haunting him . . . and to rejoice
in the light of his triumph.}
Ukyou shivered at the melodramatic turn that her wish had
taken. Yuck! She was even worse than Kuno. She stood there for
a moment, idly trying to rephrase her wish. Then she noticed the
shops on the streets beginning to open up for business.
{It's getting late. Better not waste time day-dreaming
here.}
With that, Ukyou looked away from the cross and took the
short cut to the Tendo Dojo via the rooftops.
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by: Adrian Wong
A DARK Ranma 1 / 2 Fan Fiction.
All relevant characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi. This story
copyright 1997 - Adrian Wong
Author's Rambling:
Special thanks to all those on and off the FFML that had
contributed ideas about the good and bad points regarding POISON.
In the beginning, I was merely trying to create a long version
of POISON. As time passed by, however, I've changed the story
too much to be called a "long version". Inspirations, some of
them contrasting, came in a frenzy. . . all of which eventually
led to this somewhat familiar but NEW story. Only several tiny
clips were remained from POISON in this finished monstrosity, and
even they had been modified considerably.
Warning:
This story is guaranteed to be even more controversial than
my previous work, POISON. Situations of adult nature are ahead,
even though this is NO lemon fic (at least I don't think it is).
Young readers and those with weak stomachs. . . be prepared for
anything.
Note: Dialogues are in " "
Thoughts are in { }
Songs are in * *
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