Jeffrey "OneShot" Wong

Ranma 1/2: Ranma's girls 2

Note: This is NOT a sequel to Ranma's girls. It basically has the same 
style to it. I haven't decided on a true title yet.


     Ranma was the most successful person to have grown up in Nerima. He 
and his mother had moved there when he was a little boy, shortly after 
his father had been sent to jail for child abuse. Her mother had taken 
up a job as secretary the dojo of a family friend. However, shortly 
after their arrival, Ranma's mother died due to a drunk driver, leaving 
him alone to face the world, leaving behind nothing for her son to 
inherit. Luckily, the friend of the family, a man named Ken, the sensei 
with his own dojo, took Ranma under his wing and raised him as his own. 
  At the age of seventeen, Ranma dropped out of high school to take over 
his uncle Ken's business of running the dojo. Ken had suffered a heart 
attack and was no longer fit to continue running the school. As much as 
he wanted Ranma to finish school, Ken could not convince him to do so.
  A year after having dropped out of school and taking over the dojo, 
Ken died of a second heartattack, the second one claiming what the first 
hadn't. He had left everything to Ranma. Once again, Ranma was left 
without a family. With nothing much else to concentrate on but the dojo, 
he had sworn to his father and Ken that he would become someone they 
would be proud of, and proceeded to work himself to the limit, expanding 
the school.
  By the time Ranma turned twenty seven, he had moved overseas to the 
United States where he would proceed to open up several martial arts 
schools. Before his twenty nineth birthday, Ranma had opened up his 
fifteenth martial arts school, a chain of school that dominated the 
martial arts industry, people from all over the world wishing to train 
in one of his schools. Only few were ever so fortunate to train under 
Ranma himself, him being too busy traveling the world than to teach.
  By the time he turned twenty eight, he had decided it was time to move 
back to the town where it had all started, Nerima. 
  He wanted to get finish school and get his degree.

  Ukyo sipped her morning coffee. She was in the teacher's lounge along 
with the others. She was new and had only taught at Furinkan High for 
two years. Before then, she used to be a substitute teacher, 
moonlighting as a waitress to pay the bills. Once she finally because a 
full time teacher, she quit her waitressing job, something she had no 
regrets about. She was an English teacher and very proud of it.
  "Hey, Ukyo," a fellow teacher said, a young looking woman that was in 
her thirties, "So, how was your vacation?" 
  Ukyo sighed, "Fine, I guess. Sometimes, I wished there were more 
time,"
  Junko smirked, "Still looking for a man?" She and Ukyo were good 
friends and usually had lunch together. However, Junko had went to visit 
some relatives up in Hokkaido over the whole summer and had gotten back 
last night. She also added, "Well, don't worry, you're not the only 
one,"
  Ukyo smiled a bit. Misery loved company.

  Ranma looked at his school schedule. The room number matched the one 
on the paper.
  He smiled slightly as everyone walked past him, everyone a lot shorter 
and younger than him. However, at age twenty eight, it didn't bother him 
one bit that he was perhaps the older student in the high school. It was 
good to be back.  
  "Excuse me, sir, but can you tell me where room two twenty is?" a 
young student, a freshman, asked.
  Ranma remembered passing the room. He pointed down the hall, and said, 
"It's down there. It's the third door on the right," 
  He smirked quite a bit. He couldn't believe children were actually 
calling him sir. Sure, adults called him 'sir' because he was their 
superiors, but no stranger had ever called him that before.
  He watched the student head down the hallway, maneuvering past all the 
other students and enter his rightful classroom. After a moment, he 
turned around to enter his classroom, only to bump into someone.
  "Sorry," he said.
  "I'm sorry," Ukyo said, dropping her envelope of papers. She quickly 
bent down to pick them up. Ranma was down by the floor right next to 
her, helping her pick up the papers. When she finally looked up to thank 
the student, she almost dropped her envelope again at the sight of the 
man kneeling right next to her.
  "Hello," Ranma said, smiling.
  "Um, hello," she replied, her heart aflutter. She recognized that 
gorgeous face of his. She had definitely seen him somewhere. It took her 
several moments before she could finally place the face. She had seen it 
on the cover of a magazine before.
  They both stood up.
  "Well, I have to go," Ranma said, realizing that she didn't seem 
intent on conversing with him. He had to admit that the woman was quite 
attractive, more attractive than all those women he had met when he 
lived overseas.
  Ranma smiled one last time before turning around and entering the 
classroom behind him.
  Ukyo's eyes widened. This man was a teacher?! She wondered why she 
hadn't seem him during the teacher's meeting. 
  At that moment, the bell rang.
  She gazed into the classroom one quick moment, steeling a glance at 
the young man before she turned around and rushed toward her classroom.
  So, he was a teacher like herself. 
  She smiled as she entered her classroom.
 
  Ranma sat in his chair, surrounded by young girls. They were so eager 
to know more about him. It seems that one of the students had recognized 
him from a magazine she had read several years ago. The classroom had 
been filled with tension as all the girls impatiently waited for 
lunchtime so they could barrage the man with questions. 
  "I never knew that," Ranma replied. Some girl had commented that she 
had seen a picture of him on a business magazine. It had an extensive 
aritcle about how he had helped out Nerima by donating a large sum of 
money toward the development of a recreational center. It was created to 
help kids off the streets, and it seemed to do just that.
  The boys standing on the other side of the room truly disliked Ranma. 
However, none dared to do anything, everyone in all of Japan knowing 
that he was considered one the greatest martial artist alive. They 
seemed to watch him with contempt, most likely plotting of a way to get 
rid of him. He was too old to be in this school.
  The bell rang, signalling the end of lunchtime. All of the students 
quickly scampered to their seats.
  Ranma's eyes widened as he saw the teacher entering. It was the 
beautiful young woman he had bumped into earlier that morning.
  Ukyo's nearly gasped as she caught sight of the young man sitting in 
his seat near the window in the front of the room. What was he doing 
here? Didn't he have a class to teach? She took a deep breath, knowing 
that there must be a explanation for this. However, she didn't really 
know what to do.
  Everyone stood up, even Ranma. 
  They all bowed, "Good afternoon, sensei," 
  Ranma sat back down and continued to watch Ukyo. For some reason, she 
was avoiding his gaze. 
  Ukyo shuffled through her attendance sheet, looking for the one to 
this classroom. After a few moments, she found the corresponding room 
number. Her eyes widened as she scanned over the names and came across 
'Ranma Saotome'. That was the name of the man on the magazine. She was 
absolutely sure of it. What was going on here?
  She looked at Ranma and said, "Saotome?"
  Ranma nodded, "Yes?"
  "May I speak to you?" she asked, heading out of the classroom. 
  Ranma followed her out into the hallway. Once outside, Ranma gave the 
teacher a curious look and smiled slightly, "Yes? You wanted to speak to 
me?"
  "I remember seeing you somewhere before," Ukyo commented, crossing her 
arms over her chest, wanting an explanation.
  Ranma said, "Well, a girl said I was in a magazine before, but I never 
knew that,"
  "Yes, I remember seeing your picture before," she said after a moment, 
"But why are you here?" 
  "I'm here to get my diploma,"
 
  Ukyo entered her home. It was a tiny apartment in a somewhat rundown 
apartment complex. Although the place could use a bit of remodelling, it 
gave a cozy feel, which was mattered to her. She felt comfortable living 
here, at least for now. She would like to move out and into a house 
however but that probably won't happen for a while, not at her present 
salary.
  She closed the door behind her, placing her envelope of papers on the 
tiny desk next to the door, and went immediately to her closet, where 
she kept her old magazines. For once, she was actually glad not having 
found it.
  It took close to a half an hour before she found the stack of 
magazines, all of them buried underneath some useless junk, and an 
additional half hour to skim through all the magazines for the article 
she was looking for. When she found it, it was an hour well spent. 
  With the magazine in hand, she walked into the kitchen where it was 
the only place to sit, the couch too uncomfortable due to a loose 
spring. She needed a new couch. 
  Sitting down, she began to read the article, finished in under five 
minutes. Afterwards, she gazed at the tiny thumbnail picture of Ranma. 
The article was over three years old but the young man in the picture 
looked everybit as handsome as he did now.
  She placed the article down. The article said very little about Ranma 
himself, explaining mostly about the recreational center and its impact 
on Nerima. There were only several lines that mentioned Ranma directly. 
  She read the lines again.
  'Ranma Saotome, as handsome as he is kind, had decided to contribute 
his great wealth to the city of Nerima, the city from where he grew up. 
Having gone through the hardships of a rough childhood, Ranma had become 
a very successful businessman by the age of twenty, despite the 
obstacles in his life,' she read. She looked at the second line more 
intently. What did the writer mean by 'hardships of a rough childhood', 
she wondered. Her lips curled slightly as she read the first line, 'as 
handsome as he is kind' obviously meant that the person who wrote the 
article was female. Looking at the name at the bottom, she read the 
name. 
  "Well, isn't that a suprise?" she said sarcastically when she realized 
it was a female name.
  She placed the article down. She couldn't believe it, this man was one 
of her students.
  Her phone rang, startling her. It took her a moment to realize what 
the ringing was and finally answer it. On the other line, it was her 
friend, Junko.
  "Hey, Ukyo, you won't believe this," Junko began, excitement in her 
voice.
  "What?" she asked, curious. 
  "I think I'm in love," Junko replied, "I just met the most wonderful 
guy,"
  "Who?" Ukyo asked, Ranma's image crossing her mind not once.
  "His name is Ranma. I met him outside of the school," Junko said in a 
happy tone, "God, you have to see this guy. He's drop dead gorgeous. I 
don't know why, but I somehow mustered enough courage to walk up to and 
talk to him. We chatted for a few minutes before I had to leave,"
  Ukyo's grip on the phone when she had heard Junko mentioning Ranma's 
name. She slowly said, "Um, that's good to hear. What did you talk 
about?"
  "Nothing much," Junko replied, "Just your average day to day stuff. 
However, I found out that he moved back to Nerima just yesterday. It 
seems that he used to live here when he was young,"
  Ukyo remembered that she had only moved her three years ago, meaning 
she would have known nothing about Ranma ever having lived here before. 
She had move into town just shortly after before recreational center had 
been built.
  "Um, what else did you talk about?" she asked, trying to keep herself 
from getting angry. Why was she getting angry in the first place? Could 
it be because Junko knew something about this man that Ukyo didn't?
  Junko sighed, "Nothing much else. Man, I wonder if I could see him 
again. Perhaps we can go out to dinner together,"
  Ukyo gritted her teeth slightly. That could very well happen. Most men 
found Junko very attractive, even more attractive than herself. However, 
it seems their shyness toward the opposite sex had prevented them boy 
from every having a steady boyfriend. What annoyed Ukyo a bit was that 
Junko was never courageous enough to initiate a conversation with a man. 
Why all of a sudden?
  "Well, enough of that, how did your day go?" Junko asked, changing the 
subject.
  Ukyo shrugged her shoulders, "It went okay," She wondered if she 
should tell Junko that Ranma happens to be one of her students. She 
chose not to. "And you?"
  "So so," came Junko's reply, "The day didn't go so great, but after 
meeting this guy, my day seems to look much better,"
  "Can we please not talk about Ranma?" Ukyo said, a bit annoyed, angry 
also.
  "Is something the matter? Did I say something wrong?" Junko asked, 
concerned for her friend.
  Ukyo took a deep breath, "No. Nothing's wrong. Perhaps I had a worser 
day than I thought. Um, I'm feeling a bit sore. I'm going to go take a 
shower now,"
  "All right. I guess I'll talk to you tomorrow, bye," Junko said in a 
cheery voice again.
  "All right. Bye,"
  
  Ranma entered his house, the house where he had grown up when he had 
been younger. Although it had been completely empty for close to a 
decade, all the furnishing were still there. The last time he had been 
in this house was three years ago, when he had come back to Japan for a 
short while, leaving for the States shortly afterwards.
  He sat down on the sofa, stretching out, tired. It was barely even 
evening, but he felt a bit tired. But then again, having this kind of 
relaxation could do that to a person. 
  The phone rang. It was lying on the coffee table. It was the cellular 
phone he carried with him everywhere he went. It was his personal phone. 
However, it had been specifically stated that he was not to be disturbed 
when he was attending his classes. Period. Not if, ands, or buts.
  "Moshi Moshi?" he answered.
  "Daddy!!" a young girl said happily. 
  "Meggie," Ranma said in English with a smile, "How's my little 
darling? Everything okay? Is Jessie with you?" It was his eight year old 
daughter on the other line.
  "I'm fine, Daddy," his daughter said, "Jessie's right here,"
  "Hi, Daddy!" the phone seemed to switch to another person before 
coming back onto Meggie. Their voices were exactly alike, them being 
twins. Despite that, Ranma could tell them apart, even if they were 
identical, whether voice, appearance, or cuteness.
  "How is everything going? I miss you," he said, smiling. He hadn't 
called his daughters just prior to leaving for school this morning. He 
was lucky to have caught them while they were about to goto sleep. It 
was now daytime over in the United States.
  "We miss you, too, Daddy. I can't wait to come to Japan," Meggie 
pipped up, "Mommy says we will catch the next flight. It's too bad we 
couldn't come with you,"
  Ranma chuckled a bit. He loved talking to his children. Speaking to 
them seemed to wash away any worry or stress he got from the day. He 
said, "Well, I'm looking forward to having you and Jessie visiting my 
native country,"
  "Do you think we will fit in?"
  "Of course you will," Ranma assured her. His children would make 
friends in no time, "However, you're going to be spending the next year 
or so brushing up on your Japanese. I kinda wish I had spoken more 
Japanese around you when you were little, but you know how it was, I 
constantly had people visiting the house,"
  "Don't we know enough Japanese to get by?" she asked
  "Well, yes, in a way. You and Jessie can understand everything I say, 
but we just have trouble responding," Ranma said, "But don't worry about 
it. I'll find someone that knows English that will help you learn to 
speak Japanese,"
  "Yeah!" Meggie said happily.
  "Is there anything else you would like to ask?" Ranma asked patiently.
  "Not much else," she replied, "You wanna speak to Mommy?"
  "Sure, why not?" Ranma said.
  After a short moment, the children's mother came on the phone, "Hi, 
Ranma. How was the flight?" came a  female voice. It was a sensuous 
voice that could make a man's blood stir. However, it didn't seem to do 
that for Ranma, not anymore. 
  "The flight was fine," he replied, "I'm looking forward to see the 
girls. I want to show them around my old hometown,"
  "Don't you look forward seeing me also? I'm going to be coming with 
them," the woman asked teasingly.
  "I dunno, will you perhaps be staying to help take care of them?" 
Ranma asked. It was always the same thing. He already knew the answer. 
Her job came before her family.
  "I'm sorry, I will only be staying for a short while," came an rather 
sad voice, "You know how it is,"
  "Yeah, work work work," Ranma said softly, sighing a bit. "Well, 
anyway, I'll be at the airport to pick you and the girls up. I'll show 
you around town before you leave back for the States. How much longer 
before you leave? It's around eight in the morning there, right?"
  "Yes, we'll be leaving in an hour. We'll be there at around  nine 
tomorrow in Japan," came the reply.
  "All right, I guess I'll have to cut school to pick you guys up," 
Ranma chuckled a bit.
  "How is school anyway? How was your first day?"
  "It went fine," Ranma replied.
  "You know, you don't really have to go back to school. You're more 
than a success,"
  "It doesn't matter, I want a diploma,"

  Ukyo sipped her morning coffee as she sat in the teacher's loung. As 
she did so, she figured she should stop being so dependent on her 
coffee. However, she had trouble sleeping last night and needed the 
coffee to wake up. She had had dreams of a certain man that she had met 
briefly in one of her classes. What was she thinking?! He was her 
student!! Also, it didn't help with matters when she awoken and found 
out that the rent of her apartment will be raised by the end of the 
month. She would have to really be strict with her budget or perhaps 
find an additional job to pay the month's rent. Either that or move, but 
to where?
  She sighed, at least she had two years of not having to worry about 
waiting on tables prior to today...
  "You look like hell," Junko commented, sitting down next to her.
  "I feel it also," she replied, "I just found out my rent's going up,"
  "That's horrible,"
  "It's either restrict my budget to eating bread and water for meals, 
get second job, or move," Ukyo sighed, "And two of those choices are not 
an option. I'm not going to starve myself nor am I going to move,"
  Junko shook her head, sighing in sympathy, "You going to go back to 
waiting tables?"
  "I might have to," Ukyo said, sad, "I don't need that many hours, just 
enough for food and miscellaneous items. I don't want to have to worry 
about a lack in funds all the time, that's all,"
  "I would help you if I could," Junko said.
  "I know, and I'm grateful for that," she replied. She took another sip 
of her coffee. It didn't seem to taste all that great anymore for some 
reason. Perhaps it was her mood. 
  "I guess I better get started in looking for a second job as soon as 
possible,"

  Ukyo entered her apartment. She had had a long day. Although she loved 
teaching, the day seemed to be longer than usual, as if dragging itself 
out forever. Even though it was wrong, her expecting to see that Ranma 
student of hers and perhaps converse with him for a change, she had been 
assuming that bumping into him would brighten her day. She didn't get a 
chance to test out her assumption for Ranma didn't show up in school 
today.
  "I wonder why he didn't show up?" she asked herself as she headed over 
to the bedroom, flopping down on her bed. She felt a bit disappointed 
when she had read the attendance sheet aloud, yet Ranma hadn't been 
there to let her know that he had been present for class. Everyone 
seemed to have noticed this too. It was funny that a whole classroom 
could have a conversation on why a particular student could be absent 
from class during their lunchbreack.
  She giggled a bit. It was kind of funny now that she thought about it. 
On several occasions, she had wondered if the students knew more about 
what had happened to him than she did and had wanted to actually ask a 
student that question, about where Ranma could have been.
  She didn't find out the reason until the school had received a phone 
call from him at around, him telling the school attendance his reason 
for being absent. All Ukyo knew was that he had to be somewhere at a 
particular time. 
  Ukyo closed her eyes. She must be really desperate for a man to have 
her mind plagued with thoughts about a man she knew very little about, 
and had only talked to for a second when they had bumped into each other 
in the hallway the other day.
  She fell asleep shortly after closing her eyes.
  She would worry about getting a second job tomorrow.
  
  Ranma waved goodbye as the children's mother waved back from her 
plane. The woman waving back was a beautiful woman, her beauty only 
ecclipsed by her children's beauty and shear adorableness. It was no 
doubt that the children seemed to have aquired some or her good looks as 
well as Ranma's. 
  She and Ranma and the children had spent the whole day together, 
wandering around Tokyo, seeing the sights, visiting local tourist 
attractions. They had visted the local zoo, saw a movie, and even went 
to the amusement park, Ranma getting sick after riding the merry-go-
round.
  It was now nearing eight at night. They had only spent around twelve 
hours together, as a family for a change, but now it was time for 
reality to jump in, as the children's mother had chosen to take the next 
flight back to the United States and back to her work.
  Ranma and Meggie and Jessie waved their goodbyes, even as they watched 
the plane take off for the skies, disappearing as it soared up and above 
the clouds of the darkening skies.
  "Well, guys," Ranma said in English, "Let's go to your new home. We 
have to get you two ready for bed. You two will have school in the 
morning,"
  "Do we hafta?" Jessie pouted. She was an adorable little girl, every 
bit as adorable as her twin sister. She had long flowing hair that was 
the same color as her chocolate colored eyes. 
  Ranma chuckled a bit, "Don't worry, you'll like it there. You'll both 
make some new friends. I already bought all of your school things early 
this morning in preparation of your first day at a new school,"
  Meggie looked up at her Daddy, Jessie doing the same. They stood as 
high as his waist. Meggie asked, "Are we going to have trouble fitting 
in?"
  "Not really," he replied, "You'll have a bit of trouble at first, what 
with you knowing mostly English. However, I'm going to find you an 
English speaking tutor to teach you Japanese. That way, it will take you 
only half as much time to learn the language instead of just going to 
school to learn it,"
  "Okay," Meggie said, beliving her Daddy. 
  Ranma extened his hands forward, Meggie and Jessie obediently sliding 
their hands into his, as he said, 
  "C'mon, let's go home,"
  
  Early in the morning, Ranma smiled and even chuckled as he and Meggie 
and Jessie went about getting ready for school. They seemed to have 
gotten up at around the same time, at around seven in the morning. Ranma 
had taken them out to town where they ate a big breakfast together.
  "What's so funny, Daddy?" Jessie asked curiously. She was trying to 
hook her arm through one of the straps of her new book bag.
  "Here, lettme help you with that, honey," Ranma said as he helped her 
put her schoolbag on. He then said, "Well, if you want to know, all 
three of us are getting ready for school. I'm pretty sure there aren't 
that many households around that have it where the parent and his or her 
kids school," 
  "That must mean we're a special family," Meggie said, smiling.
  Ranma smiled as he ruffled Meggie's silky hair and said, "It's you and 
your sister that makes this family special," He helped her into her 
schoolbag and added, "There, we're all set for school now,"
  After checking one last time to be sure he hadn't forgotten anything, 
Ranma and his daughters lef the house at around seven forty that 
morning, all three of them heading toward a nearby elementary school. 
The walk was short and the beautiful sunny morning while conversing with 
his two bright daughter made it all the more enjoyable for Ranma.
  When they reached the front of the school, Ranma said, "Remember, I'm 
going to always have my cellular phone with me so you can reach me 
whenever and wherever I am. You both have my number right?"
  The twins nodded and said in unison, "Yes,"
  Ranma was greeted by a young teacher. She smiled warmly as she 
approached the three of them. She had been expecting them. Ranma had 
called the school earlier to let them know that they were on their way.
  "Hello," Ranma smiled warmly at the teacher, speaking in Japanese now. 
"I'm Ranma Saotome. This is Meggie and Jessie,"
  "Hello," Meggie and Jessie said, speaking Japanese the best that they 
could do. Since they were on either side of Ranma, it sounded like the 
'hello' was in stereo.
  "I'm Nanami Yui," the teacher smiled back, regarding the children's 
father a bit longer than she was supposed to. When she noticed this, she 
blushed a bit and turned her attention onto the children, "I'm going to 
be your new teacher," 
  Although Ranma had told her that his two daughters didn't know much 
Japanese, she hoped they knew enough to understand her. "We're going to 
have a great year together. Don't you think?"
  The two children nodded.
  The teacher guestured for the children to follow, "I'll show you to 
your class. Just follow me. You're going to love it here in Japan,"
  Meggie and Jessie turned toward Ranma and gave him a very affectionate 
hug that would make any mother envious of having such loving children 
and said, "Bye, Daddy," before they let go and courteously followed the 
teachering into the school.
  Ranma stood outside the school for a few minutes before he turned 
around and began his trek to his own school. As he was about to leave 
the school grounds, a young mother approached him. She had been eyeing 
him since he had arrived on school grounds.

  Arriving at his school, Ranma immediately walked up to the 'Help 
Wanted' school bulletin board and posted up a sheet of paper that he 
took out of his pocket. The paper read, 'Person with knowledge in 
Japanese and English wanted for personal tutoring after school. 
Experience with teaching children preferred. Must be fluent in both 
Japanese and English. Ask for Ranma.' Below that was his phone number. 
Below his phone number, he wrote the job description in English.
  He wanted a tutor for his children as soon as possible. He figured 
since he was in school, he might as well post up a job offering, not 
that anyone from here would choose to take it. However, he was hoping 
that through word of mouth, the job wanted post would spread quickly.
   As he headed for class, he would put a post in the newspaper right 
after school. He needed to advertise and the newspaper was the best way. 
However, he didn't have time to do so right now since class would be 
starting in about five minutes.
  Quickly, her rushed off toward his classroom.

  Ukyo was walking down the halls at around noontime. She was expected 
to be in her next classroom in ten minutes. The classroom was on its 
lunchbreak right now, and she having gotten back from her own 
lunchbreak. Although she had a pretty bad start in the morning, what 
with her accidentally spilling some of her coffee on her shirt and 
having to change into a spare shirt she had in the trunk of her car, but 
as time passed, the day seemed to get better. 
  One good reason was that she had spotted Ranma earlier this morning. 
That meant he was in school today. She would be teaching his class in 
just ten minutes.
  As she walked down the halls, she passed by the bulletin board and 
spotted a piece of paper tacked onto it which hadn't been there 
yesterday. Since it was a 'Help Wanted' bulletin board, she figured she 
might as well check the piece of paper out. Sure, it was most likely a 
job meant for a kid, but it was worth a shot. 
  She was in for quite a shock when she read the job description. The 
requirements for it fit her perfectly. Since she was an English teacher 
in a Japanese school, she knew English and Japanese fluently. She also 
had experience with children, that didn't need to be explained. 
  When she read the name, she was in for a second shock, her heart 
skipping a beat. Was this the same 'Ranma' that was in one of her 
classes? It could be since he attends this school and the job being 
posted on the school's bulletin board.
  Could he be having trouble with English, Ukyo wondered herself.  That 
can't be. He looked like he understood what I was say and translating 
perfectly. So if it isn't for him, then what or who would this job be 
for?
  She read the phone number several times aloud, memorizing it. 
  She would call the number right after school. Actually, she would wait 
about an hour afterwards before calling. If it was Ranma Saotome, she 
had to give him to get home to answer the phonecall.
  She smiled to herself as she headed toward the halls toward her next 
classroom.
  Maybe if she got lucky, she wouldn't need to wait on tables as a 
second job.

  Ukyo stood in front of her phone. It was around five thirty, a perfect 
time for her to call and inquire about a job and set up for an 
interview. In her hand was a small piece of paper where she had 
scribbled down the phone number. There was one thing holing her back 
from calling.
  Should I speak in English or Japanese, she wondered. She remembered 
the post asking for someone fluent in both Japanese and English. Since 
she was bilingual, she didn't know which language to use on the phone. 
And it didn't help that the job description had been written in both 
languages. 
  This is more nerve racking than calling a boy, she thought. She 
remembered calling a boy from one of her high school classes. She had 
been terribly nervous, which was odd because she was only calling him to 
ask for any missed assignments since she had been absent that day. That 
had been many many years ago. Way too long.
  Her heart was racing as she knew she had to call if she wanted that 
job. She took a deep breath, deciding that she was going to talk to her 
potential employer in Japanese. Afterall, Ranma was a Japanese name. 
Also, it was a good chance that it was the same Ranma from one of her 
classes, since that name is rather unique.
  She dialed in the number and waited for a few moments as other line 
range.
  Ranma and his kids got back home from school and entered the house at 
the same time, just in time to hear the phone ringing. It was around 
five in the afternoon. They would had gotten home earlier but Ranma had 
chosen to take his kids out for a meal, his way of apologizing for 
having forgotten to make them lunch.
  "Aren't you gonna get that, Daddy?" Jessie asked, pointing at the 
ringing phone as she took of her shoes.
  Ranma walked up to the phone and picked it up. 
  "Moshi moshi," he said. He assumed this was probably a call in 
reference to the help wanted note he had put up on the school bulletin 
board which surprised him quite a bit since it had only been several 
hours since. And above that, he hadn't even posted a help wanted ad in 
the local newspaper.
  "Hello," a female spoke in English. "I'm calling in regards to your, 
um, help wanted post,"
  On the other line, Ukyo almost bopped herself on the side of her head 
as she realized she had accidentally spoken the wrong language. 
  "Do you speak Japanese?" Ranma asked, smiling a bit. The voice on the 
other lines sounded nervous. But then again, this phone call was 
equivalant to a job interview because it was.
  The woman quickly reverted back to Japanese and said, "I'm sorry. Um, 
I didn't know which language to speak," She gave a weak laugh before 
continuing, "Um, anyway, I saw your post earlier today and wanted to 
apply for the job. Um, is this Ranma?"
  Whatever the job was, she said silently to herself. She didn't have 
time to be picky. Not considering the bind she will soon be in with 
paying her rent on time.
  "Yes," he said.
  There was an awkward silence. Ukyo didn't know whether to wait for him 
to speak or perhaps he was witing for her to speak instead. She assumed 
the latter and said, "Your post said you were looking for someone fluent 
in English and Japanese and have experience with children. Um, I happen 
to have all three qualifications and was wondering if there is an 
appropriate time to set up for an i-interview?"
  Ranma chuckled slightly and said, "Set up an interview? But this is 
the interview,"
  "It is?!" Ukyo nearly shouted. She couldn't believe this phone 
conversation was the interview. "You've gotta be kidding me!" She caught 
herself and quickly said, "Y-you mean this is the interview?"
  Ranma smiled. It was obvious that whoever this woman was, she fluent 
in both English and Japanese, what with her easy transition between the 
two. The most impressive thing about her was that he had no real idea if 
she were Japanese or not.
  "Yes, this is the interview," he replied.
  From the kitchen, there was a sound of glass shattering. Ranma quickly 
turned his attention away from the person on the other line and said 
aloud in English, "What happened? Are you all right?"
  "We're okay," Meggie's voice came from the kitchen, "I accidentally 
dropped my glass of orange juice,"
  Ranma breathed a sigh of relief and said, "All right, stay away from 
the broken glass, I'll come in and clean it up in a minute,"
  "Okay," she replied back.
  He turned his attention back onto the phonecall, "Um, I'm sorry, but 
I'm going to have to cut this interview short. Can you please give me 
your phone number?" He then realized he was speaking in English but 
didn't bother reverting back to Japanese. 
  Ukyo, without even realizing that her interviewer had reverted back to 
English, gave him her phone number.
  "And your name? Who should I ask for if I call?"
  She said, "I'm the only one here so I'll be the only one picking the 
phone up. My name's Ukyo Kuonji,"
  "All right, I'll give you a call in a day or so. You happen to be the 
first person to call since I posted that help wanted. I want to check 
out some other potential tutors before deciding,"
  Ukyo took a short moment before she decided it was best to reply in 
the same spoken language as Ranma and said, "That's a good idea. If I 
were in your position, I would do the same,"
  Ranma's eyes widened as her realized something. They had been speaking 
Japanese most of the time, but somehow, they were speaking English and 
he didn't really have any idea when this had happened. However, he 
realized that he had been speaking in English also and the woman on the 
other line seemed to have understood him perfectly. 
  "You know what?" Ranma said warmly.
  "Yes?"
  "You've got the job,"
  
  Ukyo did a little dance around her tiny livingroom. She couldn't 
believe her luck. She had just gotten hired as a tutor after only 
speaking for several minutes. Shortly after Ranma had told her she had 
gotten the job, he gave her a phone number and an address. She had been 
told to be at the address tomorrow, ready to teach, right before the 
phone conversation was cut short so Ranma could attend to cleaning up 
the broken glass.
  She couldn't believe her luck. She had no idea how much she was going 
to get paid, but whatever it was, it would definitely be better than 
waiting on tables, that was for sure.
  As she continued to do a little dance, her phone rang.
  Her heart skipped a beat before shooting up into her throat. It was 
probably Ranma to call her to tell her that he had made a mistake to 
hire her so readily now because someone better had probably called 
shortly after her.
  Almost scared to pick up the phone, she walked over to where it was 
and slowly picked it up. She took a deep breath and said, "M-moshi 
moshi,"
  "Hello, Ukyo? This is Ranma, we just spoke a few minutes ago,"
  "Um, y-yes? Is there something I can do for you?" she asked, holding 
her breath. It was going to be bad news, she knew it. 
  "Well, I was looking over the name that you gave me," he said 
casually, the complete opposite of how Ukyo was feeling at the moment. 
"The name Kuonji. You also mentioned that you were a English teacher. 
You would happen to be Kuonji-sensei that teaches at Furinkan High, 
would you?"
  "So it is you! You're the Ranma in my class," she said. She had always 
assumed this, but she didn't know one hundred percent. She had been 
hoping it was him. Perhaps it was wishful thinking that made it that 
way.
  Ranma chuckled, "My, what a small world. Anyway, I was just curious 
and wanted to find out. That's all. I'll leave you alone now,"
  "Y-you mean you're not calling to say you've had second thoughts?" 
Ukyo asked numbly. She was so sure it was that. She was more shocked 
that with Ranma's reply.
  "Of course not," Ranma said, "And now that I know that you are indeed 
a good teacher, it is all the more reason to hire you,"

  Ukyo sat in the teacher's lounge, reading a book. She wasn't longer 
drinking her morning coffee. Junko entered the room about fifteen 
minutes before the first class for the school day was about to begin.
  "G'morning," Junko said warmly, sitting down next to her friend. She 
looked around and noticed something different about Ukyo, "Hey, where's 
your usual morning coffee?"
  Ukyo smiled, "I don't need any coffee to get my morning started, at 
least not today,"
  "Oh?"
  "I slept pretty well last night," Ukyo replied happily, "That was 
because I already found a second job, and one that I'm looking very 
forward to working. I got a job tutoring. And since I love to teach, it 
wouldn't be considered a job for me, but more like a hobby," Of course, 
she didn't bother to tell who her employer was. That also added to her 
looking forward to getting out of bed this morning.
  "That's great!" Junko said, placing a hand over Ukyo, "Now you can 
rest easy and don't have to worry about the rent increase,"
  "Actually," Ukyo said, somewhat sullen, "That's not totally the case. 
The tutoring job will only be temporary. Afterwards, I'm going to be 
looking for a job. However, I won't have to worry about that for quite a 
while. By then, I'll probably moved into a nicer and perhaps cheaper 
apartment,"
  "Or have gotten married," Junko joked, giggling a bit, nudging at her 
friend. She and Ukyo also traded jibes at each other since they lacked a 
social life, especially amoung men. 
  Ukyo only gave a weak leaugh this time around. 
  Junko stopped her laughing and decided to change the subject, "Hey, 
guess what?"
  "What?"
  "You know that hunk I was telling you about? Ranma? I met him again 
today," she replied, "God, have you met him yet? He's so attractive. 
This is the second time I've seen him, and my knees still get wobbly 
when I see him," She sighed and added, "Anyway, I found him walking down 
the street while I was on my way here,"
  Ukyo pretended to act uninterested as she continued to gaze at her 
book, "Oh? Did you stop and talk to him? What did he say?" Although she 
looked uninterested, she wanted to know. If her book was upside down, 
she probably wouln't have noticed.
  "I pulled up next to him and just said hi," Junko replied, "He said hi 
back, and by name. He remembered my name from the other day. Anyway, we 
chatted about nothing in particular and I found out he was headed toward 
this school for some reason. I offered him a ride but he-"
  "Y-you offered him a ride?!?" Ukyo gasped, looking up from her book. 
She then realized she was supposed getting angry at nothing, "Um, w-why 
would you do that? I mean, y-you hardly know the guy. He could be d-
dangerous?"
  Junko thought about it for a moment and said, "Well, I guess, but I 
was just being friendly. But don't worry, he didn't accept the ride. He 
commented on how it was a nice day and that he wanted to walk. Now, the 
thing that's been on my mind is that if he's heading toward this school, 
why would he be coming here?"
  Ukyo sighed a bit. She figured it was best to keep Junko out of the 
dark.
  "Junko, I have a confession," she began.
  Junko eyed her friend with a raised eyebrow, "Don't tell me he's here 
to see you?! You and he are seeing each other?!"
  Ukyo blushed a horrible shade of red that seemed to catch Junko's eye. 
"N-no, w-we're n-not seeing each other! It's n-nothing like that!"
  "Then why?" she asked, "What's this confession you were about to 
make?"
  "He's one of my students," Ukyo replied, "He's attending this school. 
It seems he didn't get his diploma when he was younger, so he came back 
to school so he could get it this time around,"
  Junko got out of her seat and walked behind Ukyo, wrapping an arm 
around her friends neck in a gentle chokehold, "He is?! Why didn't you 
tell me that?! I should choke ya to death for this! I know why, you're 
trying to steal him all for yourself!!" However, it was all said 
jokingly.
  Ukyo struggled against her friend and said, "Hey, you're jumping to 
conclusions, Junko!" 
  As she struggled, she ended up tipping her chair backwards where she 
fell back on top of her friend. That made Junko let go of her 
immediately. They lay on the floor, on top of one another, and started 
laughing aloud.
  Several of the other teachers were regarding the two of them like they 
were crazy. 
  After a moments, they both got up to their feet and brushed the dirt 
off their clothes. 
  Ukyo turned toward Junko and said, "I'm sorry, Junko, it's just that I 
didn't want to ruin your day. I mean, you seemed all bright eyed when 
you were talking about you that I didn't want to spoil it for you,"
  Junko smiled, "Ah, don't worry about it. We can talk about this 
later," She looked at her watch and then added, "Well, we better get to 
our classes now. They're going to start in two more minutes,"
  Ukyo nodded.
  "Just one question," she asked "When is he in your class? What 
period?"
  "He's in my sixth period class, why?"
  "I dunno, I was just curious,"

  About halfway through class, Ukyo, finished writing the notes on the 
chalkboard for her students to copy, turned around and caught sight of 
Ranma sleeping.
  "Ranma!" she said sternly. He was a student in her class. He was a 
studen first, a man second.
  Ranma snapped awake, "Eh? Y-yes?" 
  His hair was slightly mussed, like he had just gotten out of bed and 
had forgotten to comb his hair. It made him look very sexily and made 
her wonder if that was how he looked every time he got out of bed. There 
was this slightly dazed look in his eyes, like he didn't know where he 
was.
  For a moment, she could feel some heat flooding to her cheeks as she 
thought that but was glad that it wasn't noticeable.
  "Go stand in the hall," she said, smirking slightly.
  
  Ukyo looked at the piece of paper in front of her. This was definitely 
the right address for Ranma's house. Ever since yesterday when she had 
called, she and Ranma had spoken more often in school. However, the 
conversations remained light, mostly about something like the weather. 
There was one instance where they shared a joke as Ukyo commented on 
Ranma falling asleep in her class and Ranma replying that it was his way 
of simply getting used to school.
  "You mean you slept in class when you were young?"
  "All the time," he smiled. "Heck, you sending me out into the halls 
brought back memories,"
  They had both laughed together.
  That had been a few hours ago. It was now four in the afternoon. Ukyo 
had left immediately from school toward the address since she didn't 
know where the address exactly was, giving herself a bit of time in case 
she had gotten lost. Luckily, leaving early proved useful because she 
had lost her way for a short while, arriving at his house at four, right 
on time.
  As she stood there, she had been expecting to see Ranma after school 
so she could perhaps have some instructions to the address instead of 
just the address and nothing more. Instead, she couldn't find him, Ranma 
long gone by the time school ended. 
  I wonder where he goes after school, she thought to herself.
  "Hello, Kuonji-sensei" came Ranma's soft voice from behind her, giving 
her a start, spoken in English. She quickly turned around to face him 
and was shocked to see that he wasn't alone. There were two little 
girls, each one having a hand in Ranma's, standing on either side of 
him.
  "Um, c-call me, Ukyo," Ukyo said nervously, also speaking English. She 
regarded the children for a quick moment, wondering who they were. They 
regarded her with soft chocolate colored eyes that seemed to envelope 
Ukyo in warmth. They were wearing cute matching dresses that seemed to 
emphasize how identical they looked.
  "Ukyo, this is Meggie and Jessie," he said, guesturing to the girl on 
his left and then his right. The twins bowed politely at her.
  "Hello, it's nice to meetcha," Meggie said, smiling warmly.
  "Same here," Jessie added.
  "Um, are these two your..." Ukyo stuttered, the first thing popping 
into her mind.
  Ranma smiled, 
  "Yes. They're my daughters,"



<transition scene needed>








  "Don't you think it's about time you got married, honey?"
  Ukyo sighed. Everytime she called her mother, she would always bring 
up the same thing, when she was going to get married. She wondered why 
she every bothered calling. It was always the same thing.
  "You're not getting any younger," her mom's voice came from the 
receiver.
  She sighed again. Of course she wasn't getting any younger. But then 
again, she isn't anywhere near old. She was only in her mid twenties.
  "Who says I'm not going to get married," Ukyo retorted. She was sick 
and tired of being asked the same thing. She was going to stop this once 
and for all. "For your information, mother, I now have a fiancee. And 
we're going to get married next month. I was, um, about to surprise you 
_after_ I get married."
  Her mother was estatic "Y-you are?! M-my little baby's getting 
married! Oh, I'm so happy!"
  "Look mom, I've gotta go now." she said as soon as her mother started 
askign tons of questions. 
  "All right, but we're gonna sit down and have a nice long talk. I want 
to meet the lucky fellow as soon as possible" her mom said.
  Ukyo said in an exasperated voice, "Okay, fine. I'll introduce you to 
him," 
  And then hung up.
  Ukyo slowly put the receive back on the hook. Perhaps she shouldn't 
have said that.
  Afterall, she needed a fiancee to get married.