Dawn broke. It was the lazy kind of dawn that comes in the middle of the Fall, knowing that there was little time left before the chill of Winter set in, and it had better get as much rest as it could. Shafts of light streamed across the landscape, a brush to sweep away the shadows of night from every hidden corner. Across the South, it woke to a much happier warmth than it did in the North, but in the Midwest; the golden shafts of something or other waved gently in the morn. The sun sparkled especially on each little golden grain, just because it could.

It sped across the fields until it came upon a house. It had a certain underexpectation to it, as if the dawn were nothing more than the signal that they were damned well late. Voices arose and fell in the morning. Female voices. Four of them. Two of them got out the front door and sped off in a car. That had been Nabiki and Akane, and they knew that they were late for class. The sun smiled. It was Friday as well. That kind of thing happened sometimes.

The third voice was that of their foster mother, Nodoka. She was worried about the girls, especially Akane. Nabiki had a good handle on relationships, especially with her son, Ranma. Nodoka didn't mind that, but sometimes wondered how it would affect the family. Akane, on the other hand, seemed more interested in schoolwork and swimming than in relationships. It was fine because they would get her to college, but the relationships would help her through life. Nodoka sighed as she watched from the front door as the car sped away. She'd have to remind Nabiki about being a better driver...

The sun smiled again. Some things never change...Ah, but some things do. Such as the fourth female voice. It belonged to the female that just sat herself down on the roof of the house. She closed her eyes against the brightness of the sun and relaxed as she let the warmth seep into her bones. She stretched and the sun smiled again. The sun WAS a guy, after all. She fiddled with her pigtail absently, as if something were bothering her about the whole of life. Her deep ocean blue eyes cast a shadowy counterpoint to the happiness in the golden sunshine. The sun frowned and wondered if there was anything that he could do, but the girl turned back as a voice rose from below.

"Ranma..." Nodoka called.

"Coming," the girl shouted back.

The girl picked up the jacket from beside her seat and vaulted over the roof of the house, swinging into the window below. The sun smiled again. Yes, the next few days would certainly be interesting.

***

Akane set her tray down next to Nabiki, who was putting her calculator through its paces. She sighed. It seemed that something was entirely different in the family since Nabiki and Ranma broke up. Akane hoped that her sister would talk to her about it, but it was like pulling teeth to get her to say anything anyway. Akane looked across the room and spotted Shampoo. Akane sneered unconsciously. She disliked that...That...Parasite. She'd attached herself to Ranma and that pervert didn't seem to mind. Akane let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. Akane turned back to the table in order to keep from getting madder. Yuka was chittering happily because of something that she and Hiroshi had done a couple nights ago.

Akane smiled as Ukyou sat down. Akane noticed that Sayuri smiled as well. It was good to have Sayuri back. She hadn't been in school for a couple days and Ranma had told Akane what had happened with Toma. She silently wondered what else went on. Both he and Ukyou were tight-lipped about the whole thing, which didn't set well with Akane. Like they were hiding something. Ranma did say that Sayuri and Shampoo found out about Ukyou. Akane could understand why she wasn't in class then; it was sad, but true.

Apparently Hiroshi, Daisuke and Yuka were the only ones that didn't know. The guys noticed how Sayuri cuddled up to Ukyou and were not letting him get away without details. Akane noticed as well and this disturbed her. She hadn't thought that Sayuri was like that...Maybe she didn't know? Akane looked over to the couple. Sayuri looked at Akane and quickly shifted her gaze to her shoes, blushing furiously. Ukyou simply mouthed, 'Later'. Akane nodded mutely and went back to her meal...Such as it was.

"Akane?" Ukyou asked, thankfully diverting her attention away from the tuna surprise.

Akane looked up.

"Where's Ranma? He should be in class," Ukyou whispered as well as she could.

Everyone pretty well ignored them, as Ukyou still wouldn't divulge any juicy details. As days went, it was rather boring. Akane just shrugged. Hiroshi finally got to the table and began complaining about the food. Yuka shushed him as he sat down. Sayuri excused herself and went up to get an ice cream bar from the snack line. Ukyou was grateful for the little relief on her arm.

"Oh, it's just that time of the month," Akane said, realizing too late to whom she was talking.

Nabiki didn't get it late. She sprayed her drink all over Hiroshi, who had just begun to eat. He stopped eating and began to wipe, wearing the smug look of those who know that the day CAN'T get any worse. At least Yuka helped him mop up the Coke. With the show winding down, Ukyou wondered for a short second what Nabiki's problem was. She leaned to Akane.

"So, where is Ranma anyway?"

Akane looked at her like she was supposed to realize the oddness of her own question.

"Um, Ukyou..." she began, "There was a full moon last night."

Ukyou slowly nodded her head. Yes, there was indeed a full moon out the night before, and the memories that returned of that moon only held the softness of Sayuri's lips on her own. Ukyou closed her eyes and shook the memories away, as pleasantly confusing as they were. But as far as any other special goings-on that happened...

"Yeah, so?" was all she could bring up.

Akane started, but caught herself. Ukyou could tell she wanted to say something, but something she knew or didn't know kept her from saying it.

"You mean..." Akane asked quietly, "You don't know?"

"Know what?"

Akane shot a glance towards Nabiki who shook her head imperceptibly. If Ukyou hadn't been watching her, she would have missed it, but whatever was meant by it, Akane took it to heart.

"Ah, Ranma'll be back in a couple days," she finally said, "He's...Um..."

And now she was reaching and both of them knew it.

"Sh-HE'll be back in a couple days, Ukyou."

Ukyou shook her head slightly. Did Akane almost say she? What was going on here? It didn't make any sense. It was obvious that whatever was going on, Akane wouldn't say anything and Nabiki never gave up information without a fight. Ukyou sighed and then remembered why she asked in the first place.

"But," she began, "Doesn't he have a game tonight?"

Nabiki looked up from her paperwork, a shocked wrinkle crossing her forehead. She passed a look to Akane, who just nodded and shrugged. They both seemed to almost deflate in front of Ukyou's eyes, to almost be resigned to what had happened-

"He's not hurt, is he?" she ventured.

Akane perked at this and shook her head. Sayuri sat down again and unwrapped her ice cream sandwich. She tapped Ukyou on the shoulder and began to lick the ice cream from between the two cookies. Akane laughed at Ukyou's reaction, partly for the curious look on her face, partly for the shiver that went up her own spine. She coughed and shook her head. She never thought like that before. Well, before Ranma anyway.

Nabiki closed up her books and put them back into her pack as she finished the remainder of her drink.

"I gotta use the phone," she said to Akane, "See you after school."

Akane nodded as her sister left. Ukyou frowned. Something was up concerning Ranma, and it wasn't like him to keep anything from her. Especially with everything that happened concerning Toma. Maybe she'd have to go and find out for herself; there was only one little problem that she'd have to take care of before then, though. And she was currently making more of an ice cream sandwich than one really should.

"Ukyou..." Sayuri purred next to her, still lapping at the ice cream.

***

Ukyou crept along the outer wall of the gym towards the back door. A few more steps and she'd be out, hopefully with no one noticing her gone. She thought that it'd be a drag to have gym last period, but Ranma was in it, and it left the door open to skip it when necessary.

Ukyou trotted out to her Mustang and threw her bag into the back seat. Sayuri had wanted a ride home, but she was also concerned about why Ranma wasn't there on a game day. So she let Ukyou go. The car purred to life under her and she quickly pulled out of the lot, skipping down a near side street to get out of the way of any truant officers that might be lurking nearby.

The car spun lazily onto the side streets and onto the highway, headed south, out of town. A sense of deja vu crawled up through her skin. Ukyou knew what it came from but refused to think that the results would be the same. She just wanted to know what was wrong with Ranma, if anything was wrong? No, something MUST be wrong just from the way Nabiki and Akane were almost accepting of what happened...

Happened. Which meant that it occurred in the time since the last time she'd seem him, which had been at school the day before yesterday. Now that she thought of it, he seemed to be rather depressed that day. Perhaps he suffers from Seasonal Affective Disorder? Ukyou didn't know. She wasn't a shrink. She was his friend, and dammit, she'd help him.

***

The last time she was here was the day after the football game with Arlington. Something had been wrong with Ranma then too. The idiot had fought the whole Arlington football team by himself. Well...Metaphorically, of course.

The doorbell chimed out across the quiet landscape around her. Ukyou wondered who worked the fields around the Saotome house, but was brought back around when the door opened. Ukyou frowned at the woman who stared back at her. She was fairly short, red haired and extremely well built. The door, having only been open a couple seconds, slammed shut. Ukyou could hear the woman bolt into the background and the door opened again.

"...honestly, Ranma, why-" the older woman quickly came around as she saw Ukyou, "Oh. Come in Ukyou, aren't you out of school a little early?"

Ukyou came in under the request and heard small footsteps ascending the stairs to Ranma's attic room. A horrid thought began to spill across Ukyou's heart. If she...And Ranma...But they...Ukyou shook her head and nodded to Nodoka.

"I got out a little early because I wanted to find out what was wrong with Ranma," Ukyou said, looking over her shoulder to the stairs.

Nodoka's smile never wavered.

"He's not in dear," she said, "Every few weeks, he has to go to Elyria to help his ailing gran-"

"Mom?"

The red head was standing at the base of the stairs. Ukyou took a better look now. She was wearing a pair of cut-off black sweatpants with a red t-shirt. Both fit her sinfully well and Ukyou suddenly found herself fighting back her new found "other" side. She'd have to figure out how to control that better, as it was becoming annoying. Now that Ukyou had a chance to see, this girl could be Ranma's younger sister, for the features in her face and the way she held herself were almost identical. It was almost eerie.

"Mom," the girl said, "Ukyou has been a friend and has seen me through my worst times. I can't lie to her."

Nodoka just nodded.

"Ukyou, it's me. Ranma."

"W...Wha-?" was all Ukyou could mutter.

"Can you come up to my room?" the girl asked, "I want to prove to you that I really AM Ranma Saotome."

Ukyou nodded mutely and numbly followed the girl up to Ranma's room. She opened the door and crossed the space to an old steamer trunk at the foot of the bed. From it, she pulled a large photo album. She closed the trunk and plopped sullenly down on the bed. The girl waited patiently until Ukyou snapped out of her stupor and pulled the chair up to the bedside. If this girl wasn't delusional, then at least she knew where Ranma...

But his mother had called this girl Ranma, hadn't she? And she seemed to accept the fact of it as well. Ukyou was so confused, so she just pushed the whole thing into the back of her mind until the whole thing was spelled out. At least then, maybe the truth could sort it out.

***

"So," Ranma sighed as she closed the album, "That's everything. Every little sordid detail that happened after Pop took me away."

Ukyou just shook her head. It was almost too much to fathom, but there it was, every detail of Ranma's life in intimate detail. This girl, this Ranma, knew it all. She seemed sad and angry and a few dozen other emotions all at once whenever she talked about Ranma's father, which would be consistent with Ranma's feelings toward the old freak. Ukyou seethed. Genma would pay, she'd make sure of that. One thing that she had prided herself on was the contacts that she had kept with her old ties. Oh yes, Genma would pay.

"Ukyou, I have to ask a favor," Ranma closed her eyes against the tears, "The Tendo sisters already know of it and so does mom. But no one else knows and I-"

"Of course, I won't tell anyone else," Ukyou took Ranma's hand, "I mean, you kept MY secret and I can only return the favor."

Ranma ripped her hand away.

"Do you think this is some kind of JOKE?!" Ranma jumped to her feet, "Because of father, I'm a freak!"

"Oh?" Ukyou raised an eyebrow at her, "Being a girl is freakish?"

Ranma huffed out.

"For me it is," she said, quietly.

"Look Ranma," she started again, "It's only a few times a month. No more than three or four, right? Then don't worry about it and we'll keep looking for a cure."

***

Ukyou looked back up the stairs toward the room that Ranma still occupied. She'd fallen into a fairly deep depression at the end of the conversation and nothing that Ukyou said to her would rouse her out of it, which worried Ukyou. Ranma even began to cry, which she'd only seen him-her...Whichever...Ukyou had only seen Ranma cry maybe twice in the entire time she'd known him. It hurt Ukyou to see him cry because there was not a whole lot she could do about comforting him. How could you?

"Is he all right, dear?" a gentle voice said from behind Ukyou, "He gets so touchy about being a girl."

"Then..." Ukyou stuttered, "It really IS Ranma?"

Nodoka nodded slowly and put her arm around Ukyou's shoulders, guiding her back towards the livingroom.

"Yes dear, that really IS Ranma," Nodoka sighed, "Much as I think it was impossible, it really is. I think it best if you just leave it alone for now, all right?"

"But-" Ukyou began, "Should we leave him like...?"

"I know it's hard," she replied, "But Ranma is one of those people that have to work things out for themselves, else they become depressed about it. He'll come to you and talk about it when he's ready."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes dear," Nodoka smiled knowingly, "Of that, I'm sure."

***

Ranma said nothing about it when he did come back to school the following Monday. His coach said nothing to him that day in gym class, Ryouga hadn't said anything or tried to beat him up for missing the game. Something about the whole situation brought up the hackles on the back of Ukyou's neck.

"So, are you coming out to my place for dinner tonight?" Sayuri asked, as she leaned on the locker next to Ukyou.

"Yuri," which was her pet name, "I don't think your parents would very much approve of me. Not to mention your brother..."

Ukyou looked back into her locker and gathered up the books for the final couple classes. Sayuri slid a hand across Ukyou's back and she began to play with her ponytail. It was a cute little habit that Sayuri had when Ukyou began to talk about how Sayuri would be better off with a real guy and other self-deprecating things.

"Ukyou, aside from my brother, who they don't listen to," Sayuri said, softly, "They think you're a guy. Who am I to disillusion them of that?"

Ukyou turned and gave Sayuri a tired look. She returned with a sly smile and she added a raised eyebrow.

"Well, yeah..." Ukyou sighed, "I would, but I wanna go out to Ranma's place and talk to him about a couple things."

Sayuri's face darkened.

"No, I'm not going to seduce him or anything," Ukyou shook her head, "It's just that, when I last went out there, he told me a couple things that happened after he left with his father and quite honestly, they were pretty bad. And I want to make sure that he wasn't permanently hurt by them."

"That bad, huh?" Sayuri frowned, "He never reveals any of it in school."

"Yeah," Ukyou agreed, "Which is why I want to talk to him about it. I've known him the longest and I want to help, if I can. If he'll let me help."

"Okay, well...How about coming out tomorrow night?"

Ukyou grinned as she closed her locker.

"You're not going to be happy until I meet your parents?" she asked.

"Well," Sayuri sighed, "They want to meet you."

Ukyou chewed it over for a minute and nodded her head. Sayuri squeaked with delight and threw her arms around Ukyou's neck. She planted a huge kiss on Ukyou before bounding away, happy as a clam. Ukyou wondered about that. Just how did anyone know that clams were happy?

Well, that, and why she enjoyed kissing Sayuri so much...

***

"Ukyou?" Nabiki answered the door at the Saotome-Tendo home.

"Hey Nabiki," Ukyou waved, "Is Ranma in?"

"Yeah, come on in."

Ukyou stepped through the door and looked around. Normally, you could hear Ranma before you saw him. Whether it was playing along with Alex at Jeopardy, or on the practice field at school, he had a big mouth.

"Where's Akane?"

"She's down at the Y," Nabiki began, making her way back to the abandoned bowl of popcorn on the counter, "Their pool is the one place that you can rest assured of being occupied in the winters by Akane."

"Um, it's not winter yet?"

Nabiki shrugged.

"To Akane it is," she smiled back at Ukyou, "It's always winter if it's too cold to swim outside. Ranma's up in his room."

Ukyou nodded and walked up the stairs as Nabiki went back to whatever she'd been watching in the family room. The stairs went up from the first floor to a landing on the second floor, then there was a slight jog to the right and another flight up to a smaller landing. At the top of that landing, one door was at the end of the hall while another was on the left. She didn't know where the one at the end of the hall went, but the one on the left was Ranma's. Ukyou knocked.

No answer, so she knocked again. She was about to knock a third time, but figured if he hadn't heard it before, why should he hear it this time. So she tried the door handle, which turned without resistance. The door was open. Sounds of grunting and other undefinable sounds drifted down the short flight up to his room. Almost like...

But, Ukyou hadn't seen Shampoo's car out front? And Ranma didn't have a car. Well, to speak of anyway. Ukyou was almost afraid to go up the stairs. What if they were...? She sighed to herself. If they were, then she'd just talk to him some other time. A laugh broke through her thoughts. It was Ranma's laugh. A bright, short tone that sounded so far off, and then, more talking. Ukyou shook her head and went up the final few steps to Ranma's attic room.

A couple of floor lamps illuminated the vast space that seemed only to compensate for its vastness by Ranma's sense of decorating, which was spartan to begin with. Ukyou looked around and spotted Ranma off to one side, hanging from one of the rafters by his left hand. He had the telephone in his right and was talking to someone, while pulling himself up repeatedly to chin the rafter. Ukyou watched in slight awe at the physical shape that Ranma was in, not only to do this exercise, but to do it so effortlessly. Ranma turned as Ukyou cleared her throat.

"Ukyou," Ranma smiled, "Hang on a sec."

Ukyou nodded and Ranma dropped to the floor.

"Okay. Tomorrow night then," Ranma said into the phone, "Yeah, I'll be careful. Bye."

He hung up the phone and dropped it gently to its cradle. He looked back to Ukyou and smiled again, sheepishly.

"That was Shampoo," he said, "Apparently, before we go out anymore, I have to meet her Grandmother. She's supposed to be really torturous on Shampoo's past boyfriends, and Shampoo wanted to warn me ahead of time."

Ukyou nodded and sat down on the bed.

"Yeah, I have to go out and see Sayuri's parents tomorrow."

"They know about-?" Ranma waved a finger at her.

Ukyou shook her head.

"Hmph," he huffed, "Well, just be careful, okay?"

"Okay DAD..." Ukyou sighed, "Listen, I didn't come up here to argue. I just wanted to talk about your curse."

A cloud descended on Ranma's face and he went to the chair opposite his bed, where he retrieved a large white towel. He sat down in the chair and shook his head.

"No," he said, "That's something I don't want to talk about."

He saw the look that he was getting from her and shrugged his shoulders.

"There's nothing to talk about, really," Ranma explained, "It just is. I mean, there's nothing that can be done about it. I suppose that I'll have to go back out to the tribal areas to find someone that can undo it, but I don't know if I really want to now. It's kind of a part of me."

Ranma stood and walked to the small, circular window at the far end. He looked out across the fields to the west, where an autumn storm was brewing in the distance. It would only take a few hours before it blew into Earnest and even less time before it hit the house. A pretty nasty one too, from the look of the lightening coming off it. It was the coming storm of argument that he could feel would soon overtake them both about this damned curse. Why couldn't people just leave well enough alone about it? It was bad enough that it happened, bad enough that Ranma had to live through it every month, but why did they have to drag it back up by talking about it. Talking about it never changed anything.

"Ranma?"

He turned back to her.

"I remember something else that you told me about a long time ago," she said quietly, "Something horrible that you told me. That I was the only person that you could talk to. I was the only person that would listen. Do you remember that?"

Ranma nodded and crossed back to his nightstand, where a bottle of water was waiting for him.

"Well, Ranma, if you can trust me and talk to me about that," she said hopefully, "Then you can certainly talk about something that you've come to terms with?"

He sat on the other side of the bed, facing her, and took a long drink from the bottle before he spoke.

"You aren't going to leave until you hear me talk about it?"

"Certainly I can leave, if you're going to be a dick about it," Ukyou sighed, "When you told me all the stuff that happened, you began to break down and your mom told me that you had to work it out for yourself. But you know what I think, I think you're just too damned hard headed to ask for help. So you'd rather stew in your own depression and suffering than ask me for help."

Ranma didn't meet her gaze. He couldn't let her know that, at least for some things, she was right.

"So I'm not leaving until I know that, at least, you'll talk to me about it..." Ukyou bit her lip, "And, don't I deserve that much?"

Ranma smiled and nodded, his eyes closed.

"Yeah," he finally said, "I do owe you that much. Ukyou, listen. It IS hard for me to talk about my curse because there's so much that goes along with it. I told you about how I lived out in the desert...The stripping and the photos..."

Ukyou could only nod. She knew about them and wondered to herself if they'd ever come back to haunt him. Probably not, since he was far enough away from that and his female side only came out a few times a month. He could afford to keep it secret.

"Well, because of that, I know I have a real hard time with-" Ranma stumbled on the words, "Ya know. Bein' with a girl..."

"Intimacy?"

"Yeah," Ranma smiled, "Shampoo is kinda pressing to get me in the sack and I honestly don't want to with her. I mean, yeah, she's got a great body and everything, but she's not...I just..."

He was stumbling again.

"You don't love her?"

"Yeah. I mean, it'd be different if I loved her or some junk," he looked at Ukyou as she giggled, "But I mean, what Happosai did..."

He shuddered and drew his arms up around himself. Outside, the storm rumbled lightening to the quickening pace of his heart. He didn't want to think about what happened. Ranma didn't want to think about how his father left him at home. How the little, ugly man he later knew as Happosai came into the house like he owned it. Ranma shook his head fiercely as tears came to the surface. He jumped as he felt a hand on his arm. He opened his eyes. It was Ukyou.

Ranma smiled a weak smile and wiped away at the tears. He stood and made his way back to the small window and looked out into the storm, trying to calm his nerves.

"I mean, I can't expect you to understand about it," Ranma said quietly, "I hardly understand about it. Happosai hurt me in ways that you can't even begin-"

A shocked gasp escaped Ukyou and made him turn back to her. She was sitting on the bed, her face a twisted mass of confusion.

"I can't UNDERSTAND?" she shouted, "Why? Why can't I understand how you feel? Am I not allowed or something? Something else that you're hiding from me? Is that it?"

Ukyou jumped off the bed and was, in two strides, right up in Ranma's face. For his part, Ranma backed off, wondering what he'd said to anger his friend like this.

"I was just saying that this kinda thing's never happened-"

"What do YOU know, you arrogant prick?!" Ukyou shouted, "There, in fact, HAS been something like that that's happened to me!"

Ranma paled as he saw the first tears come from her eyes. Ukyou turned as they came, steadier now. She hadn't thought that she had any more to shed over the whole incident, but apparently she was wrong. She put a hand on the dresser to steady herself as her vision clouded with the sting of salty remembrances.

Oh God, Ukyou thought, Why does it have to be this way? Why can't I just forget?

Her tears shook her, but Ukyou brought herself back under control as Ranma touched her shoulder.

"It was Toma, wasn't it?" he asked softly, "I never knew, you didn't-"

Ukyou spun and cut him off with a sharp slap to his face.

"You arrogant bastard! You NEVER think! You think you're the only one with problems! You think that no one else could ever have problems like YOU!" she was shouting now, "The GREAT Ranma-SAOTOME! Got molested when he was a kid, and I help him! Now I get molested and WHERE WERE YOU?!"

Ukyou's sobs choked out the rest of her tirade as she just began to beat on his chest. Her fists ineffective, she just stood crying and trembling before him, naked in her raw emotions. Ukyou felt his arms wrap around her, but she didn't pull away, she just stood in his strong embrace, hearing the beating of his heart against her ear. It sounded so far away and yet so comforting. Ukyou could feel her sobs quiet and realized that he was rocking them both gently back and forth. Ukyou looked up from her spot at the nape of his neck and saw that he was crying as well, sobbing quietly, his eyes closed against the world. She put her head back against the nape of his neck when he heard him. It was quiet at first, almost less than a whisper, but it grew in intensity.

"I'msorryI'msorryI'msorry..."

An endless stream of quiet apologies that tore into Ukyou's very heart. She couldn't stand it. They had both endured so much and the last thing she wanted was to be the cause of more suffering. She pulled out of his embrace, but he wouldn't stop, the tears streaming down his face. She tried to quiet him, but it was to no avail.

"Ranma, please, we've both been through so much..."

But he continued, too scared to stop his own mantra of self-flagellation. She was right. By God, she was right. He knew about Toma's power and he knew what Ryouga and Nabiki had told him about it, but he'd been so sure that it never touched him that he never thought about the others around him. Ukyou, Sayuri, Akane...God, even Shampoo. Guilt piled upon guilt as it swept through him. He would have dropped to his knees except Ukyou did something that surprised even him.

She kissed him.

She broke the kiss and chuckled softly as she wiped at her own tears.

"You know, I've always wanted to do that," she said as she wiped at his tears, "At least I got you to stop crying. That's a start. Ranma, I'm just as hardheaded as you, really. I didn't tell you what happened to me because I thought I could work it out by myself. I did, at least a little bit, but the hurt is still there. I just want you to know that you're not alone."

Ranma still had a dumbfounded look on his face as she hugged him. He returned the hug softly. Ukyou broke the hug and looked up into his eyes, those that asked for so much but wanted so little. Eyes that a girl could get lost in. Ranma let out a little urf as her lips met his once again. He didn't push her away though. Her lips felt good, comforting, like the way a comforting blanket will fold itself around you in the chill of the desert night. Blocking out the cold, but still allowing you to feel the presence of the night. Ukyou felt that way. Tasting of the salt of the tears, her tongue slid slowly and unsurely into his mouth. He gave her his tongue and allowed himself to be guided back towards the bed, gently yet firmly into a downrushing spiral as something rose in him that he hadn't felt in a long time.

Ukyou's body was cool as he removed her clothes. Ranma didn't know if it was from the far window which was open, or if his own heat outshined her own. Ranma felt her lips play along his stomach and down to his shorts, which she quickly removed from him. The bed squeaked in answer as they twisted back and forth, hungrily devouring the other. Her on his, the delightful electric sensations shooting up his spine. His around hers, the same sensations driving the coolness from every corner of her body, making her breath come shorter as they gathered below her waist.

Ukyou was shocked in her own passion when Ranma entered her. It quickly subsided though as sensations warred with emotions that battled with her own passions. She wanted him like she'd never wanted anything else, like she never believed was possible. She wanted him to remain inside her, she quietly begged him to stay, but through the passion, his own mind played out and he didn't stay. Ukyou sighed. There would be another time.

***

The tears dropped quickly. She shivered in anger. How could they? How could they do something so wrong? She sniffed to herself a couple times and closed the little notebook to keep her tears from further staining the...Evidence.

And then, abruptly, the tears and the shaking stopped. And Nabiki knew that the time for tears was over. She got up from her perch at the top of the third landing and made her way to her own bedroom.

***

Ranma felt her fingers in his hair. It was a good feeling, comforting. Like the rest of what they'd been doing for the past couple hours. It felt good. Ranma has his arms wrapped about her waist and up to her shoulder blades, holding his head to her stomach, just above her belly button. He sighed.

"Ranma?"

He looked up.

"Did we just do what I think we did?"

He nodded and put his head back down.

"Ranma?"

He looked up again.

"Do you understand why we just did that?"

He shook his head and put his head back down again. He breathed out and began to kiss her stomach lightly, working his way up.

"Ranma?"

He didn't look up this time. He had kissed his way up to just under her breasts.

"Hmm?"

"Are you as confused by this whole thing as I am?"

He stopped and looked up at her. He nodded slightly and smiled.

"Yeah," he said softly, "I don't know what my emotions are supposed to be about this. Are we still gonna be friends?"

Ukyou laughed lightly and pulled his head back down to her chest.

"Yeah, I think I can safely say that this hasn't really affected our friendship," Ukyou said, "Maybe made it a little more complicated, but it hasn't affected it."

Ukyou sighed and closed her eyes as his held knelt to her chest again. She shivered as he kissed her breasts, the ripples against her spine making her moan slightly.

"Ranma?"

"Hmmmmm..." he drew out the hum against her nipples, which sent more shivers.

"What..." Ukyou had to catch her own breath, "What about Shampoo?"

Ranma stopped and looked up into her eyes. Ukyou's heart began to beat faster as she thought that this might have been the wrong question. Ranma then smiled quickly and gave her a kiss before returning to her breasts.

"What about Sayuri?" was his reply.

They both laughed as Ukyou began to tickle him. He pulled her on top of him and she could feel him stirring underneath her once more...

***

The lightening flashed heavily outside. It was a cold rain that splashed in through the far window, but Ukyou didn't feel cold. Ranma was lying at her stomach again, but this time he was asleep. She ran her fingers through his hair again and sighed. So many things changed so fast. In the middle of the argument, she was about ready to kill him. Now, if he asked for her hand in marriage, he'd have it. She knew that it wasn't logical to feel that way...Perhaps that was the true nature of love. To be unlogical. To confound those that most need an answer.

He shifted and she pulled the comforter up to his shoulders. Did she love him? Ukyou didn't know. Maybe. Maybe not. There was still the question of her feelings for Sayuri, which, when she was with the brunette, were JUST as strong as they were holding Ranma to her. She was so damned confused.

Ukyou sighed as it finally came to her. That damned saying that'd plaguing her for the last week.

"Time counts and keeps counting..." It was from the last Mad Max movie. She couldn't remember it exactly, but it went something like...

Time counts and keeps counting. We light the city so that him and all those like him can find the way...

...Home.