Author's Note: Sorry it took so long to get this one out, but I've been lacking for inspiration lately. This part is actually somewhat not depressing, too!
Disclaimer: All Ranma characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi. The song "Somebody for Someone" belongs to the Corrs.
Ukyo sat behind the grill in her restaurant, staring out the window at nothing. A sign hung in the front window, a sign reading ‘CLOSING SOON.’ She shook her head. Well, why shouldn’t she leave? There was nothing left for her in Nerima, not now that.... that Ranma...
Ukyo quickly steered her thoughts away from that. She had some more packing to do, after all. She did plan to re-open Ucchan’s, just not in Nerima. Tokyo, maybe, or Hokkaido. Anywhere but Nerima.
She wandered back into the storeroom, digging through large dusty boxes of ingredients, skillets, portable grills, and various other useful items. Each box was labeled in large red letters that stood out against the dark wood. Ukyo ran her hands along the side of one of the boxes, feeling something sink inside of her.
She wanted to stay. Nerima had been home to her when she had no home. She had made friends here. She had memories of joy unmatched that were tied to this place. But Ukyo didn’t think she could stay. She had come here for Ranma. She would leave without him.
“That’s almost everything,” she murmured. It had been hard work, packing all these things up. She had done it alone, too. Ukyo had made Konatsu leave, telling him that wherever she was going, she was going alone. It had been the right thing to do. But without him, without anyone else, she felt very lonely.
Ranma had only been by once in the past few days, when he first saw the sign. He had tried to convince her to stay, but even he couldn’t sway Ukyo. He was the prize she had lost. It was no business of his what she wanted to do now. None of his business at all. She had ordered him out, and he hadn’t been back since.
And now, in the musty storeroom, Ukyo almost wished that Ranma would come back. She was lonely.
Is this, she wondered, what it will feel like when I leave for good?
Ukyo shook off the depression threatening to overwhelm her and left the storeroom. There were still a few things left to pack, a few momentos left over to be put into sleek wood boxes with red letters on them.
The empty restaurant seemed larger than usual. The chairs and tables looked almost forlorn, begging for customers. For someone to fill the empty space between them.
Empty space. Ukyo felt the old longing again and closed her eyes. Better to forget. Leave and forget.
That was when the door opened. Ukyo looked up, preparing to tell the would-be customer that she was closed. Then she recognized who it was, and the words stuck in her throat.
“R-Ryoga? Ryoga, sugar, is that you?” Ukyo hurried over to the door where the Lost Boy stood, bent double under the weight of his enormous backpack, a bewildered expression on his face.
“Ukyo? I’m not--I’m back in Nerima?” Ryoga stared at her in surprise.
“I thought you were going back to Akari,” Ukyo said as she led him to a seat. Ryoga looked away.
“I--I did.” Ryoga sighed. “Things didn’t quite work out like I thought they would. I...” He stopped.
“Akane?” Ukyo asked. Ryoga nodded miserably. “I know how you feel, sugar. I know how you feel.”
“Hmm?” Ryoga looked almost surprised for a moment, then nodded. “Oh yeah. Him.” He didn’t trust himself to say the name without putting an irrational amount of anger in it. He knew he shouldn’t be mad at Ranma, but he couldn’t help it.
“I didn’t think you’d ever come back here,” Ukyo mentioned. “Shampoo packed up and left the day after the wedding, and I’m getting ready to go myself.”
“I wasn’t going to--You’re leaving?” Ryoga was startled. “But--your business--”
“I can start it somewhere else,” Ukyo said. She glanced out the window again. “You know, it’s kind of funny--I really want get away from here, but at the same time, I want to stay. Weird as it was, I had fun here. It was--it was nice.”
“I never thought about after,” Ryoga said quietly, picking up on her thought. “It seemed like everything would go on forever the way it was. I didn’t think that--that they’d ever really get married and leave the rest of us behind.”
“Same here.” Ukyo closed her eyes and remembered. Nerima hadn’t been a bad home. Not really.
“You shouldn’t go,” Ryoga spoke up, jolting her out of her thoughts.
“Huh?”
“I said, you shouldn’t go.” Ryoga looked uncomfortable. “I’ve been wandering around for a while, Ukyo. And--and I’ve been thinking some. I was trying to forget Akane, but that wasn’t working. Then I tried to remember her, remember how she was my friend. And it’s strange, but it made me feel better. It made me feel like I don’t want to forget. And then I thought about all my battles with Ranma, and all the times we all spent together fighting, and--and it made me feel less alone. I....I missed being with everyone.”
“I’ve kinda missed everyone, too,” Ukyo admitted. “Ranma came by a few times, with Akane. I didn’t want to see him, so I had Konatsu serve him. When I put up the closing sign, Ranma came back and asked me to stay. But I didn’t listen to him.” She smiled a little. “But for what it’s worth, Ryoga, I’ve missed you too. Nerima seems too quiet without you running around yelling ‘Ranma! Prepare to die!’” She laughed. “I never thought I’d miss that.”
“Neither did I,” Ryoga admitted, smiling for the first time in days. “I really wasn’t going to come back, but I, uh, well....I got lost.”
“And there’s something else I never thought I’d miss,” Ukyo laughed again, feeling real joy welling up inside her. “I wish we could have stayed the way we were. I might not have gotten along with everybody, but I was happy. Lately, I haven’t been.”
“So stay.” Ryoga shrugged. “If you were happy, then why not stay?”
“It won’t be the same.” Ukyo eyed him shrewdly. “And who are you to talk anyway? You weren’t going to come back. Heck, you’re probably not planning to stay yourself.”
Ryoga suddenly looked guilty.
“I don’t have anywhere to stay,” he defended himself. “Besides, you know my sense of direction. The minute I leave, I’ll probably end up on another continent.”
“What if you had somewhere to stay?” Ukyo pressed. Ryoga stared at her, uncomprehending.
“Well....I don’t know.” The Lost Boy shifted uncomfortably. Giving Ukyo advice was been one thing, taking it himself was a different matter entirely.
“You said you had a good time in Nerima,” Ukyo said. “You’ve been giving me all these good reasons to stay, so I know you must have reasons of your own. Why not take your own advice?”
“It’s different!” Ryoga defended himself. “You have a place here. You’ve got school, your business...I don’t even have a place to stay. There’s no job I can take, not with my sense of direction, and even if I found a cheap hotel I’d probably get lost going to my room.”
“Not if you had a guide,” Ukyo said thoughtfully. “I think I could be some help to you....if you want it, that is. We could take your advice together, and if it doesn’t work I can hit you over the head with my spatula and move to Tokyo.”
“I--I don’t know--” Ryoga hesitated. “Do you mean you’re going to give me a job?”
“If you want it,” Ukyo said. “If I’m staying here, I’ll need someone to help me unpack all those boxes. And Konatsu may come back to help around the kitchen, but an extra pair of hands is always good. Plus I’ve got an extra room upstairs. I could lead you around and keep you from getting lost. We could try it for a few months, and if things go well, maybe I will decide to stay here. It’s worth a try, isn’t it?”
“I--I guess so.” Ryoga smiled slightly. He was feeling a happiness that he hadn’t felt in a long time. “Which way to the storage room?”
“Just take my hand, sugar. I won’t let you get lost.”