Forbidden Feelings by James M. Zema The characters used within this piece of fiction are by no means mine, Rumiko Takahashi owns all of these characters along with Shougakukan Video and Viz Communications. I have the utmost respect for all of her creations with the exception of Akane, just kidding, and will hopefully not butcher her creations too horribly within. I'm currently placing this as a month or so after Ukyo reaches Nerima and the entire course of events concerning her restaurant and embracing the engagement to Ranma. Anyway on with the fanfiction. ><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< Forbidden Feelings: Chapter 1 ><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< Ranma whistled casually as he jogged down the street ducking his head periodically to avoid the satchel being swung at his head. Thinking about the events of the day he sighed slightly at his big mouth, which had once again gotten him into trouble with Akane. Cheering up a little bit as he noticed the Ucchan just down the block he decided to go in and have an okinomiyaki. He looked back just in time to get a satchel in the face, which ended up sending him ahead of her right through the front door of the restaurant he had been thinking of just a second ago. Akane blinked a few times at finally hitting him after all the time she had spent chasing him then looked at exactly where he had been thrown. Her face slowly reddened as she looked upon the Ucchan with an angry expression distorting her face, "RAAANMAAA!!!," yelled Akane, "Come back here, you pervert, I'm not done with you!" Putting on a burst of speed as she chased after her wayward fiancee Akane soon pushed through the doors, only to get a view of Ranma calmly sitting on one of the stools eating a deluxe okinomiyaki. Ranma rolled his eyes slightly at Ucchan as Akane started ranting about his latest misdeed, only listening with half an ear as he concentrated on his food. It was when she finally got around to the fact that he wouldn't eat her cooking, coincidentally right after he had finished his meal, that he finally started paying attention. "...and you never even try it. You try Ukyou's and Shampoo's, you even eat Kodachi's cooking but you won't even touch mine. You just insult it every time the subject even comes up. You don't even try it before you insult it," Akane raged as the subject of her speech turned towards her. Ranma looked up briefly before grinning at Ukyou and drawling, "well I couldn't very well insult it after I'd eaten it, could I Akane...." The red flush which had decorated Akane's face for the past hour or so started to fade, only to be replaced by the beginning of a blush. Akane, apparently thinking she was about to be complimented, looked down at her fingers and began poking them together while stammering, "you really mean..." Ranma winked at Ukyou and finished his statement, "...after all its hard to say anything while you're lying on the ground unconscious." At this Ukyou could apparently no longer hold in her amusement and began laughing, Ranma joining her until he became aware of the glowing blue aura beginning to surround Akane as she tightly gripped one of the stools between her hands. Ukyou's laughter trailed off weakly when said stool came up out of the floor and began swinging wildly at Ranma however, generally hitting everything but him as he nimbly dodged the brute strength attacks which Akane loved to employ. Ukyou stared on, appalled, as Ranma taunted Akane a bit more, and Akane, taking no notice of her surroundings, began to smash the tables and the counter around her. "Akane!! Look at what you're doing," yelled Ukyou as she began to pull out her battle spatula, only to gain a horrified expression as her shout caused Ranma to pause and look around him. Akane, taking her opportunity, swung with all her might, casually flinging Ranma through the wall behind the grill and immediately giving chase. When she reached the room where Ranma lay, a growl rumbled deep in her throat and she raised the now battered stool a little bit higher. "Just WHAT do you think you're DOING, Ranma!" Akane's yell filtered through the fog in Ranma's brain as her gaze came to rest upon him. Realizing his head was lying in Ukyou's lap while she attempted to check his condition Ranma slowly raised himself to a sitting position. "Huh? What do you mean?" muttered Ranma before placing a hand on his head, "Just because my _CUTE_ fiancee actually cares a little about my well being you have to get all mad, you are so uncute!" With this final comment Ranma braced himself for the pain he knew would come and chuckled weakly as he thought However when he heard the stool come down he was shocked to realize that he hadn't felt anything. Wondering how she could have missed a sitting target he slowly opened his eyes, briefly noted the still furious expression on Akane's face, and turned around, gasping as he saw Ukyou passed out on the floor, a large bump slowly rising near the back of her head. "How could you do that Akane?" he asked as he scrambled to his feet to look Ukyou over, "I can't believe you'd hit Ucchan like that." Moving carefully he gently picked up his childhood friend and turned to gaze coldly at Akane, finally snapping her out of her tantrum, and spoke in a chilling tone as he said, "get out--now! I just got back my best friend and you have to go and do something like this. I'm putting Ucchan to bed and I don't know if I'll be home tonight." At this point he lost the uncharacteristically chill tone he had been holding. Turning his head to the side he looked out the window and away from Akane, "I need some time to think about the situation, Akane," he said softly, "and you've given me a few things to look at, please...just go." He then turned his back on her and left up the stairs, at the back of the kitchen, that led to Ukyou's room. "Ranma? I-I...," Akane slumped down, letting the now broken stool drop from her limp fingers, "...I'll go I guess." Ranma felt Akane's eyes upon his back as he climbed the stairs and restrained the urge to turn around, it was only when he reached the top where she couldn't see him that he turned. He sighed as he watched her half-heartedly attempt to clean up the mess that they had made in their fight, a little grimace distorting her face as she did so. Finally giving up, she turned towards the stairs with a somewhat saddened expression on her face before she left the kitchen and presumably the store. ><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< Later that evening, Ranma-chan slumped down on one of the stools tiredly as she gazed around the once more clean and now empty restaurant. There were still a few things which couldn't be fixed immediately such as the stool Akane had been using and a few of the tables but the lack of those hadn't slowed down business much once she reopened the restaurant for Ukyou. She figured that with the damage she and Akane had caused, the Ucchan couldn't really afford to close down for the day and so she had borrowed one of Ukyou's okinomiyaki uniforms and changed out of her somewhat ragged clothes. It had been hard, but she had managed to keep all the customers happy, even if it hadn't been with okonomiyaki, her own culinary skills had apparently been sufficient for today at least. Raising her head as she heard a slight moan, she quickly jumped to her feet and ran up the stairs into Ukyou's room. "Are you okay, Ucchan?" she questioned as she walked over to the bed, felt Ukyou's forehead and otherwise began fussing over her self appointed charge. "I...ow...think I'm okay, Ranchan," replied Ukyou, "I'm just feeling a little dizzy, Akane has one heck of an arm." She muttered something about a temper crossly, then flinched as the fierce emotion put a bit too much strain on her headache. She moderated her tone a bit, "I can get back to running the restaurant at any rate." "I don't think you're ready to be up and about, Ucchan, don't think I didn't notice that wince just now," said Ranma-chan as she looked down doubtfully at Ukyou, "maybe I should stay and make sure you're ok." "I-I'd love for you to stay R-Ranchan but don't you think it's a little...you know...early for that," Ukyou stammered as she began to blush brightly, "I mean we aren't even m- married yet, even if we are fiancees." Finishing she peered up from beneath her bangs at Ranma-chan's still form, her breathing increasing in tempo and a flush creeping up her neck. Ranma-chan flushed slightly under the scrutiny, a bit like that of the boys at school when she was splashed, and decided she must be imagining things. . She laughed, "you know you do have a guest room Ucchan, so it's not like I'd be sleeping in your bed," then she got a bit more serious and stated, "I'd really appreciate it if you let me stay though, I-I don't think I want to go back to the Tendo's just yet and..." Ukyou yelped and hurriedly interrupted her fiancee as a blush spread across her face, "of course you can stay Ranchan." Ranma-chan looked on slightly bemused as the cook quickly moved to get up and get a room ready, only to fall into Ranma-chan's arms as her face rapidly lost its color and her eyes fluttered shut. When Ukyou came to a second later she briefly snuggled against the soft pillows supporting her, before she realized exactly what they were. Wincing as she lifted her head, slowly this time, she moved it back against the real pillows on her bed. "I'm sorry, Ranchan," apologized Ukyou as she turned her wide soulful eyes to Ranma-chan in apology, "I didn't mean to, really!" Ranma briefly wondered exactly why Ukyou would make such a big deal out of what she just did, a few stray thoughts flashing through her mind before she shook her head ruefully, , "that's ok Ucchan I know you didn't mean it," she murmured as she tucked Ukyou into bed again. "Just lie down for now, I can get myself settled in and you need to rest." Briefly attempting to fight the lure of sleep, Ukyou mumbled, "ok, sure thing Ranchan, no trouble...at...," she yawned briefly, "all." She trailed off as she faded into a peaceful sleep, smiling slightly and mumbling a little under her breath. Ranma smoothed a little bit of her erstwhile fiancee's hair from her forehead and blushed as she thought she caught the word 'kawaii' slip from Ukyou's mouth at her touch. thought Ranma, She then slipped out the door and headed down the hallway towards where she thought she remembered the storage room to be, slipping inside briefly to get a futon, blanket, and pillow. Ranma placed these in a spare room and then headed into the bathroom, grimacing as she looked upon the only set of clothes she had and realized they were completely ruined in the fight with Akane, rather than just slightly damaged as she had thought. With that oh so pleasant thought she stripped off the clothes she was wearing and placed all but the boxers and tank top into the hamper. she thought briefly as she shivered in the cold water which cascaded from the bucket over her head. Sighing as she began to scrub her body, she noticed she was still rather tense from talking with Ukyou and it was affecting her in an odd, not entirely unpleasant manner which she had never felt before. Nonetheless she continued with her task in a methodical manner before rinsing herself and slipping into the steaming bath. Ranma then paused as, for possibly the first time since he got the curse, the change rippling through his body didn't quite seem to return as much as normal. He briefly wondered if he was actually getting used to being a girl, then grinned wryly and said out loud, "no way, I'll never get used to turning into a girl," though if anyone had been listening they might have heard a noticeably different quality to his voice as he said it. ><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< The next morning Ranma slowly woke up, clad only in his boxers and a tank top, and slowly stretched as he wiped a bit of the sleep from his eyes. He briefly wondered where he was when the unfamiliar surroundings registered, and then groaned shortly as he recalled the events of the previous night. he thought as he paced slowly around the small room he was staying in above the Ucchan. He continued to ponder what he should do about that situation as he headed towards the bathroom again, he reasoned. Upon reaching the bathroom he froze for a second then remembered to knock on the door as a flash of himself and another bathroom went through his mind. Not hearing a response he walked into the empty bathroom and quickly went over to the towels, pulling one off the shelf. He then reached up and hesitated only briefly as he turned on the showerhead and hit himself with just enough water to trigger the change. She quickly toweled her hair dry and headed up to Ukyo's room, where she knocked on the door and asked, "is it all right if I come in and borrow some clothes, Ucchan? Mine are a mess and until I can head over to the Tendo's I don't really have anything to wear." Dimly heard through the door Ukyo's slightly muffled reply came, "sure thing, Ranchan, come on in." With that she opened the door and slipped inside before looking up and suddenly blushing beet red. "Ucchan!!" she exclaimed, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry...I really thought you said it was alright to come in." "I did Ranchan," affirmed Ukyo curiously, "What's the matter? Its not like you've never seen this before." At this Ranma-chan's blush became even more pronounced if possible as she said, "umm, I suppose you could say that." Then steeling herself she slowly tilted her head. "I'll just get some clothes and go..." she started to say, before she looked more closely at what Ukyo was doing. Frowning slightly she asked, "I thought you only umm...bound yourself when you went to school, Ucchan?" Ukyo flushed slightly and exclaimed, "I'm sorry, Ranchan, but even though I have this curse for a body, I can't accept being a women just like that. I want to look as much like a man as poss..." she broke off when she felt the hand on her forehead and saw Ranma-chan frowning up at her. "You don't seem to have a fever," Ranma-chan pondered as she slowly pushed Ukyo back into her bed. "What are you doing, Ranchan?" Ukyo exclaimed as she struggled fruitlessly against her fiancee's efforts, "I'm fine and I need to open the restaurant." She peered into Ranma-chan's concerned face and softened her voice, "really, I'm fine, you don't need to worry so much." Then she perked up and said, "and just to prove it to you I'll take you on a date tonight," smiling brightly at her ingenious idea before her lips turned down again. "Not that you'd want to go out with me while I'm stuck in this woman's body," Ukyo sighed, "never mind, it was a dumb idea anyway." Briefly stunned by what she was hearing Ranma-chan let go of Ukyo and hurried to her dresser, quickly grabbing one of Ukyo's masculine outfits she pulled it on and turned to Ukyo. "Umm, sure, Ucchan, I have to go somewhere now though," she said hesitantly, "would you, just for me, rest one more day? Please?" Ukyou paused as the expected rejection didn't come and she registered Ranma-chan's acceptance, then exclaimed, "Yatta!" Finally settling down on her bed with a beatific smile on her face, "all right, Ranchan. If you really feel that strongly about the whole thing I'll rest one more day." Ranma-chan flashed her a brilliant smile and said, "thanks Ucchan, this really means a lot to me," before jumping out the second story window and roof hopping toward Doctor Tofu's. thought Ranma- chan with concern, She thought briefly upon what might cause such an odd condition then shook her head and doubled her speed as she headed for the Doctor's office. ><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< Upon reaching the clinic Ranma-chan hopped down to street level then entered the comfortable doctors office while calling, "Doc? Doctor Tofu are you here?" Coming out of the backroom Doctor Tofu wiped his hands briefly on the gi he wore and asked, "what can I do for you Ranma?" Peering closely at the young man turned woman who had entered his office, a brief frown crossed his face as he noted an unusually high level of tension in his frequent patient. "You gotta help me Doc, or rather you gotta help Ucchan," gasped Ranma-chan hurriedly, "she thinks she's a boy for some reason!" Dr. Tofu blinked and then stated, "Hmm, judging from the fact that you're breathing rather hard it has to be a ways to wherever she is at the moment, correct?" Ranma-chan just nodded her head slightly and continued her efforts to calm the ragged breathing which Tofu had noticed. Smiling slightly, Dr. Tofu continued on in a calm tone of voice, "perhaps we should be off then and you can tell me what I'll need to know on the way there." Pausing to take a deep breath and calm herself, Ranma-chan reflected on all the problems which had cropped up in her life, though she didn't consider Ukyo one of them anymore. "Well, first things first I suppose," she said after catching her breath, "I don't think you've actually met Ucchan, but she's an old friend of mine who I thought was a guy. Only when she finally tracked me down here it turns out that she was a girl all along and she's also engaged to me." "Hmm...," pondered Tofu, "why did you think Ucchan..." "Actually her name's Ukyo," interrupted Ranma-chan, "Ucchan is just the name I use for her, just like she calls me Ranchan." "Oh, ok then, anyway as I was saying, why did you think Ukyo was a boy-or for that matter why was she tracking you down?" asked Tofu as he puzzled frown creased his brow. "Well it turns out that not only did Pop engage me to her, but we were supposed to bring her with us on the training trip," continued Ranma-chan, "when we left without her she ended up giving up her femininity and swearing revenge on us." Ranma-chan paused at this point to mutter a few imprecations against her so called father, however Dr. Tofu was used to this and just waited patiently for her to continue the tale. "Anyway, the reason I thought Ukyo was a boy was mainly because I hadn't seen her since we were six years old," answered Ranma-chan, "and when I did see her again she had gotten _really_ good at disguising herself as a boy." "Hmm, so what happened after she found you," questioned Tofu, "surely she didn't just give up a ten year feud like that?" Ranma-chan placed her hand behind her head in embarrassment and stammered, "well, umm, actually she did do that." Ignoring the slightly bemused expression on Dr. Tofu's face she continued with her story, "she found me about a month ago and challenged me to a duel, which I of course accepted, not knowing she was a girl. Anyway during that I discovered the truth and I...umm...kind of said she was cute, after that she declared the engagement was still on and so now I've got three fiancee's." The conversation then turned to the actual problem for the rest of the journey with Ranma-chan talking and Tofu listening and before long they were standing outside the empty restaurant. Ranma-chan quickly unlocked the door with the keys she had liberated from Ukyo the night before and let in the doctor and herself. Gesturing for Tofu to follow she quickly bounded into the kitchen and headed for the stairs, only to be intercepted by an ecstatic Ukyou. "Ranchan, you're back!" exclaimed Ukyo as she swept her surprised fiancee off of her feet and started twirling her around. "Ucchan!" Ranma yelled, slightly embarrassed at being manhandled by Ukyo in front of Doctor Tofu, "I brought Doctor Tofu to look at you after that bump Akane left you with, he's the one who I told you always takes care of me after I get injured." Ukyo sighed as she looked on the tall doctor and muttered, "all right, if you really want him to look at me he can. I'm really all right though, I mean would I have been able to spin like that if my head still hurt?" Still holding onto one of Ranma-chan's hand she asked, "so where do you want to do this, Doctor?" Doctor Tofu glanced at the uncomfortable Ranma-chan before turning to Ukyo and saying, "well, do you have a bed or a comfortable couch you could lay on? That would probably work the best." Ukyo, very careful not to move too much so Ranma-chan wouldn't remove her hand, answered, "Yes, its right up here." She then started up the stairs and was rather surprised when her fiancee merely followed along without jerking her hand free. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth however she decided to just accept and enjoy it and smiled happily as she led the way upstairs to her bedroom. "Why don't you lay down on the bed," directed Doctor Tofu as he moved to the side, ready to begin practicing his craft. "Ok, if you insist," responded Ukyo before reluctantly releasing Ranma-chan's hand and making her way over to the bed. "I don't need to strip or nothing, do I?" she asked in a rough manner before sitting on her bed and then turning parallel to Tofu and resting her head upon the pillows. The young doctor chuckled then said, "no, no, I don't think that will be at all necessary Ukyo," before beginning his examination of the okinomiyaki chef and her chi. He continued his study for nearly a half hour then finally stood up and turned to Ranma-chan, "if you'd step outside for a minute, I'd like to talk to you." "Sure thing, Doc," replied Ranma-chan as she followed him out into the hall which Ukyo's room was in. Moving towards the open window overlooking the street she sat on the ledge and asked in an anxious tone, "so what's the diagnosis Doc? How do we cure Ucchan?" Doctor Tofu raised his head ever so slightly, the sunlight briefly gleaming off his glasses and giving him an inscrutable and wise appearance. Obviously about to reveal the cure he stayed in this pose for a second and then stated, "there is no cure." At the resounding crash which resulted from his statement he ran over to the window and looked out and down at the sprawled out body of Ranma-chan. "Hmm, perhaps I should have stated that a bit differently," he said to himself before he turned and headed outside to pick up the unconscious martial artist. ><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< Groaning slightly, Ranma-chan sat up in her futon and put her hand to the back of her head. Feeling a shot of pain at the touch she quickly moved her hand back and looked around the room. Taking in the Doctor sitting next to her she asked, "what happened?" Doctor Tofu chuckled and stated, "well you had a slightly adverse reaction to the news on Ukyo, or rather what you thought was the news. You made a rather precipitous exit from the room before I could finish my diagnosis." Ranma-chan sighed as the recent events in regards to Ukyo unfolded in her mind anew. "Wait!" she exclaimed as she sat up, "does that mean that Ucchan isn't going to be like this forever, Doc?" Doctor Tofu smiled briefly before resuming his serious demeanor, "I can't say for sure that she will make a recovery, as their isn't really any set method of dealing with what appears to be her problem, however there is a decent chance that she will come out of it on her own." Twisting the blanket slightly in her hand Ranma-chan asked, "so what exactly _is_ her problem, Doc? As you mentioned I kind of missed that part last time you were about to tell me." She grinned wryly as her normal humor kicked in briefly then listened carefully as the young doctor began to explain. "Well, I said before 'what appears to be her problem' and there was a reason for that, as I'm not entirely sure what her problem is. I can however make a few educated guesses based on what I saw when I was examining her," the doctor began, "the most likely reason for her behavior is an altered form of amnesia..." Ranma-chan broke in briefly, "I thought when you had amnesia you forgot everything, Doc? She sure seemed to remember me, and for that matter she knew Akane's name too- though something seemed kind of odd about that..." She briefly thought about that before discarding it as irrelevant to the current situation, "so it couldn't really be amnesia, could it?" The doctor continued after a slight pause to store this new information and said, "actually it can be, you said that for the ten years previous to this she has been attempting to forget, and make people forget, the fact that she is actually a girl. Ten years of continually reinforcing this fact within herself isn't broken off easily, though it appears as if she's trying, thus when she was hit the amnesia took a slightly different form and she was finally successful in convincing herself that what she had been saying was true. Your presence actually helped slightly with this as it provided both the means, a curse, and a reason for trying to accept this 'curse', your supposed appeals and attempts to help her accept this." Ranma-chan sat slightly stunned as it sunk into her head that not only had she been the one to get Akane mad, deliberately near the end, it was also her presence near Ukyo which had made her sick. Very likely was _still_ making Ukyo sick. She sighed softly and said to Doctor Tofu, "I guess I had better leave then, if I'm the one who's making Ucchan sick I can't very well stay here, even if I mean well." Doctor Tofu placed a hand on Ranma-chan's shoulder, "I didn't say that you had made Ukyo sick, Ranma," he comforted, "all you did was change the nature of what happened to her. If you hadn't been here then it would likely have been amnesia of the normal, incapacitating I might add, sort. Or she might have had the same sort of thing happen without any reasoning, leaving her as a man stuck in a woman's body without any hope. Or she might have..." "Ok, ok, I get it, Doc," Ranma-chan's laughter had a slightly bitter edge to it, "it wasn't necessarily my fault that it happened." she thought morosely before continuing her speech, "if I left though shouldn't she snap out of it faster?" "Not really, Ranma," the doctor answered thoughtfully, "right now you seem to be a major part of her life in both reality and what she has made up. And generally the best method of dealing with amnesia of any form is to keep the patient in a stable atmosphere and try and avoid administering any shocks." The doctor paused for a second as a thought struck him, "in fact if you left that would likely be a rather large blow to her, or rather his, self- esteem and confidence. Right now, having you as her fiancee seems to be one of the high points in a life turned upside down by her 'curse', something I'm sure you can sympathize with." Ranma-chan thought about what it might have been like to have someone who actually knew what it was like to talk to about her curse when she got it. All told it might have been rather nice to have someone around other than her stupid Pop, although now that she thought about it Ukyo wouldn't even have that much if she left. And her curse wasn't even as bad as what Ukyo thought she had when she first got it, since she could at least get back to her male form. "All right, I guess I should stay then," she said as she smiled a bit, "I can't just leave Ucchan all alone, now can I?" Having come to a conclusion she smiled at Doctor Tofu and asked, "so is there anything else I can do for her besides this?" The doctor in question shook his head briefly before answering, "not at the moment, I'll look through my books and see if I can't find something else but your best bet is what I've already outlined." Doctor Tofu stood and began to walk towards the door, only turning his head as he said, "oh yes, and Ranma you might want to consider calling the Tendo's, I'm sure they're worried sick." Looking upon the doctor as he moved out of sight, Ranma- chan bent her head and muttered, "yea, right." She then stood up decisively and followed the lead of Doctor Tofu and headed towards the door, though she turned not towards the exit but in the direction of Ukyo's room. ><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><