After all, people didn't really come for the food so much anymore. Sure, Ukyo could still make a GREAT okonomiyaki... But that was only when she was distracted...
"DAMN IT!" the words echoed through the restaurant, as Ukyo cursed, coming to the realization that she had burned yet another okonomiyaki. "Damnit, damnit, DAMNIT!" Ukyo thought. "I keep letting my mind wander. That's not good for business..."
Sighing, Ukyo took one of the spatulas from her bandoleer and started trying to pry off the burrnt piece of okonomiyaki from her grill. As she was scraping her mind was wandering yet again. "Sigh... It's the same thing, day in... Day out... I wake up, go to school, come home, cook for ungrateful customers, clean up, go to sleep, and then start the whole damn cycle all over again the next day..."
A sparkle came to Ukyo's eyes as she thought, "But one day... He will return. Ranma will come back, triumphant, and declaring his love for his Ucchan..." A smile came back to Ukyo's face. "And then we'll marry and settle down and have a family to help run the restaurant..."
Meanwhile, as Ukyo was daydreaming as she was scraping yet another destroyed meal off from her grill, Ukyo's faithful 'Kunoichi' servitor, Konatsu, watched and shook his head sadly. His mistress was in such denial over the disappearance of Ranma... She was accepting about how most of the Tendos and the Amazons disappeared practically for good, but she would not give up on the possibility Ranma was out there... "And somehow, I get the feeling this will be no good for her, when he does come back..." Konatsu sighed.
He couldn't explain it. But deep down, it was like a gut instinct. "The shit is going to hit the fan when, and IF Ranma returns..." In Konatsu's mind, if Ranma was alive, he would more than likely have married Akane, heck, in the time they've been missing, Ranma and Akane could have had a kid already. "And mistress wouldn't like that... Not one bit..."
(------)
In a room of the Kuno estate, Kodachi Kuno lay in bed. She was filthy, and was beginning to become a overweight. Her beauty had faded considerably since her Ranma-sama had disappeared.
Without care for personal hygeine, Kodachi's looks have suffered greatly. Her hair was no longer in a ponytail, nor was it smooth as silk. It was now ratty-looking and rather long. A good 8' long. Her skin, which was a tad pale before, was now so sickly, it was practically translucent. And to top it off, her fingernails and toenails were no absurdly long, not having been manicured in a long while. And there was a horrendous smell of bacteria odor that her body was emitting; proof of her desperate need for a bath.
And even in her horrendous state of being, Kodachi did not care for her looks. Ranma had become her world the moment he saved her from falling off the roof of the accursed Tendo Dojo. And without him, her entire universe had fallen apart.
"Ranma... Sama..." Kodachi muttered before she burped and planted one side of her face down in her pillow which was covered in stale and rotten bits of food. A fly landed on her cheek and she didn't even notice...
(------)
Tatewaki Kuno, scion to the house of Kuno, sat in a meditative stance in his family's training hall. The walls were now covered in total by pictures of both Akane Tendo and the 'Pigtailed girl'. Kuno had made his training grounds into a memmorieal for his two lost 'loves'.
Garbed in 400-year-old samurai armor, the family katana to his side, Kuno stared intently at the two largest pictures, which were side-by-side on the wall. "Akane Tendo..."
Kuno growled. He knew that the vile sorceror Saotome had hidden both women, keeping them to himself. And he knew that the mercenary, Nabiki Tendo had a hand in it. After all, she knew EVERYTHING that went on. Otherwise, how would she had been able to give him all the photos he had collected?
Chuckling to himself, Kuno knew he had shown that villain. With his family's 'esteemed' contacts with the Yakuza, and triade, it wasn't too hard for Kuno to arrange a secret meeting with Nabiki. "The foul cur dared to hold back information... And spit lies in my face..." Kuno growled to himself. The frantic whore was trying to feed him lies, telling him that Ranma Saotome and the Pigtailed goddess were the same. "UTTERLY IMPOSSIBLE!"
Sighing, Kuno knew Nabiki Tendo was no longer a threat. He had taken care of her personally. Now, all that was left was to find the pigtailed menace. That foul, despicable sorceror, Ranma Saotome...
Standing up, Kuno unsheathed his katana. Holding it high, Kuno shouted, "SAOTOME! WHEN YOU RETURN, I WILL KILL YOU!!!"
(------)
In the backyard of her home, Nodoka Saotome was working on her garden. Applying fertilizer to her flower bed, Nodoka was making sure to pact it down, but not too tightly, as to make sure that the soil would still be loose enough for the flowers to grow.
Taking of her work-gloves, Nodoka grabbed a nearby towel she had brought out with her, to wipe her eyebrow. It was a hot day out. "Ah, screw it." Nodoka thought. "I've done enough work today."
And she had. She had been working on her garden since early that morning, and the summer afternoon sun was proving to be murder. "I could use a cold drink..."
Going back inside her house, Nodoka headed to the kitchen, and walked over to the sink to wash her hands. With that done, she walked over to the cupboard and pulled out a drinking glass, which she then placed on the table. Walking over to the refridgerator, Nodoka retrieved a carton of lemonaide, and also brought that to the kitchen table, after closing the refridgerator door.
Nodoka sat for some time, drinking a cool glass of lemonaide. Nodoka was not as sad as she had usually been. She had kept herself busy enough. Not enough to completely dull the pain, but enough so that she was doing something productive with her life.
Looking across the room, at the wall, Nodoka's sight settled on a picture of her son, when he was just a baby. Nodoka let out a sad sigh again. She had barely known her son, and there was a good chance he would not come back. But she still held hope that he would. "After all. He is my son. I am not a quitter, and I know that Ranma is not either. After all, from what Kasumi told me of the craziness in Nerima, Ranma was more than willing to do anything which he felt was necesarry to accomplish what was right... Even if it was more trouble than it was worth..."
Pouring herself another glass of lemonaide, and taking a sip, Nodoka began to wonder what Ranma would be doing now. "Kami-sama willing, I know he's being a manly man..."
(------)
While holding Gina in his arms, Ranma turned his head away from his wife and let out a sneeze. "ACHOOOO!!!"
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(Posted Tue, 27 May 2003 22:19)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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