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Sailor Ranko: Tunnel Vision: Chapter 5, Ukyou's Confession.
by
Rebecca Ann Heineman

Ranma 1/2 and the characters therein are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. Based on "Sailor Ranko" by Duncan Zillman and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel.

I don't own these characters. Please don't sue me, kill me or make me upload chapters to FanFiction.net without checking them.



Usagi was worried that she hadn't seen Naru in school the last few days. She was staying home, caring for her mother since her mother breathed some poison gas at the mall attack last week. She went to Naru's home and rang the doorbell. After an agonizing wait of ten seconds, the door opened and Naru appeared. "Hi there, Usagi! Come on in!"

Usagi entered, "You seem to be cheerful today. Does this mean your mother is ok?"

"Huh? Oh, my mom is fine. In fact, she'll be back in a few minutes, she went to the mall."

"Was that a good idea? After all, that's where she got.. You know." Usagi was impressed, if she was attacked by poison gas like Naru's mom was, she would never set foot at the mall again.

"Well the guy who did it is gone and mom heard that this will never happen again." Naru had a tinge of worry in her voice.

"I hope so Naru. I wouldn't want to think that people could be so cruel." Usagi then produced the bag of cookies that she made. "I brought this as a get-well gift for your mother."

"Oh, Usagi, how sweet of you." Naru took the bag of cookies and went to the kitchen. She marked the bag 'For Mom, from Usagi' and left it on the counter.

The two of them sat on the living room couch. Naru started, "So how's everyone at school? I'll be going back tomorrow."

"Oh, nothing special was happening, just another boring week. Oh, we did go to Nerima for Ranma's birthday party. But some old creep showed up and kind of made a mess of things."

"Old creep?" Naru asked. "You know, I heard my mom talking about some old creep who steals laundry."

"Well, if it's the same old creep, he won't be bothering anyone for a while. You should have seen Makoto. She was really mad. I didn't think she could hit anyone that hard. Anyways, did Unimo show up?"

"Why yes, he came as soon as he heard and never left. He was so nice, helping me take care of my mom. Why, he is here right now taking a nap."

"He is? Wow." Usagi was impressed. Now if she could only convince Mamoru to be that devoted.

The front door opened and Naru's mother came in. "Why hello, Usagi, nice of you to visit."

Usagi stood up and bowed, "Nice to see you as well. I hope you are feeling fine."

"Yes, I am. I'm fine. Naru, come here." She opened her shopping bag and pulled out a shoebox-sized package. She gave it to Naru.

"What did you get me mom?" Naru opened the box and found a 'My Puppy' toy. "Oh, wow mom! I've wanted one of these."

"It's the least I can do for you my baby." Naru's mom beamed.

Usagi looked at the little puppy robot toy. It was the latest craze hitting Japan. The toy acts like a little puppy dog. It barks. It can be taught simple tricks. It even pooped spent batteries. It had no fur, just covered in silver gray colored plastic plates and thin vinyl floppy ears drooping from the head.

Naru fumbled around with the plastic puppy until she found the power switch. She turned it on. "Woof woof," it said as it came alive.

She put it on the ground and it walked on all fours just like a real dog. It then looked at Naru, sat down and wagged its plastic tail.

"Do they sell cats?" Asked Usagi, she thought it would be neat to replace Luna with one of these. It would listen better. Maybe even Ranko could tolerate one.

"I think cats will be out by Christmas." Naru's mom replied. "Naru, is Unimo still here, he should go home. Tomorrow is a school day."

"Ok mom," Naru went to the spare bedroom where Unimo was napping.

Usagi played with the puppy for a bit. "I've got to get me one of these, they're so cute." In the background, Unimo screamed as Naru poured some water on him to wake him up. Naru was giggling.

"Oh, Usagi, thank you for the cookies." Naru's mother told Usagi.

"I hope you like them." Usagi smiled.

Unimo came out, saw Usagi, "Oh, hi there! Nice to see..." THUD!

Naru followed and saw that Unimo tripped on the puppy. She picked up her toy and petted it. "You could have broken him!"

"OW," was the only word Unimo could utter.

"I think I'll call him Yoshi," said Naru. "Unimo, be more careful with my puppy."

"Ok," was the only other word Unimo could utter.

"Tee hee," Usagi laughed.



Setsuna had been trying to enter the time stream for the last few hours with no success. She looked rather silly with all the dance steps she attempted with her time key. Waving, shaking, hitting and yelling had no effect. She was still standing in her bedroom instead of standing at the gates of time.

She sat on her bed and began to think the problem out. She had all her weapons and artifacts. All of them seemed to still work. She had lost her ability to teleport. She thought about how she could maybe trick Sailor Sun or Sailor Moon to take her to Pluto. Taking her to Pluto though won't let her into the gates of time. You still needed to enter the time stream to do that anyways.

She only thought of one other time that she was barred from the time stream, it was in 1984. However, that was temporary and only lasted a single day. It was caused by a potential time paradox that sorted itself out. She decided that she would give this one more day before alerting the other Senshi. No need to panic them if nothing is happening in the world. There have been no youma attacks or any enemy of the Senshi for a while.

"What would it hurt to wait yet another day?" thought Setsuna. "I hope there is nothing to worry about."



Ranma and Akane were shopping in Nerima when they decided to get a bite to eat at Ucchan's. Ranma wanted to thank Ukyou for coming to his birthday party. He was also curious as to why she left the party early.

They entered the restaurant and sat on the stool next to the grill. Ukyou was talking to other customers and passed a glance to Ranma and perked up. She saw Akane sitting next to him and turned away. She began to cook an okonomiyaki and take an order from another customer.

A few minutes passed and Ukyou didn't even move towards the Saotomes. Konatsu went to them. "May I take your order Ranma?"

Ranma ordered, "I'll have the squid".

Akane ordered, "I'll have the combination."

"Very good, the mistress will have those for you shortly." Konatsu then went over to Ukyou and placed the order sheet in front of her. She took it and started cooking the meals. She didn't turn to look at the couple.

As Konatsu walked by Ranma, Ranma asked, "Konatsu, what gives? Is she really busy today?"

"The mistress has a lot on her mind right now." Konatsu politely mentioned. "Would you like a drink?"

"Oh yeah, just water for me," Ranma answered.

"I'll have tea," Akane added.

Konatsu asked, "Would you like your water in a glass or on your head?"

Ranma politely replied, "In a glass, I'd like to stay a guy today."

Ukyou was putting the finishing touches on the two okonomiyaki she was making. She was putting her heart and soul into the cooking and without thinking, she wrote 'DIE' in sauce on Akane's pizza.

She tossed the pizzas onto plates and wordlessly walked over to Ranma and Akane and placed the food before them. With a forced smile, she looked at Ranma and walked to the rear of the restaurant.

"Let's dig in," Ranma started munching on the meal barely giving his taste buds time to actually taste the okonomiyaki.

"Hey!" Akane noticed the writing on her pizza. There was no mistaking it. The word 'DIE' was very clearly written in sauce and could not have been just a mistake.

"What's the matter?" Ranma said with his mouth full of squid parts.

"Ukyou! Come over here." Akane was not amused.

Konatsu came running and glanced at the pizza. He was afraid the mistress was going to let her guard down. "Let me take that, I'll have her make you another one."

Akane saw that Konatsu was trying to cover for Ukyou. She was not going to stand for this.

Ukyou was in the storage room away from sight. She was using all her effort to stop herself from screaming. The recurring nightmares, and now they were in her restaurant was just too much for her. She thought she could get over Ranma, she knew that they were married despite the ruined wedding ceremony. Ranma even stopped by before the wedding and told her that he chose Akane over her.

Ukyou thought she was strong and that she could let go. But ten years of childhood memories couldn't be wiped away with a conversation. There was a time, when Genma stole her father's cart, that she wanted the Saotome family dead. Ranma applied his charm on her, and she was his. Now, he was gone.

Ukyou regained her composure. "I'll take it like a man," she told herself. She turned to go back to the grill when she met Akane in the doorway holding a mallet in one hand and an okonomiyaki in the other.

"Ukyou!" Akane grimaced.

Ukyou wondered why Akane was angry. Ranma jumped in front of Akane, as she was about to smack Ukyou. "Ranma! Get out of my way!" Akane screamed.

Ukyou looked at the okonomiyaki since it was so out of place. A mallet was a natural extension of Akane's hand and okonomiyakis were not. Ukyou saw the word on the pizza and gasped. "I'm sorry, I guess when I poured the sauce it just came out that way."

"I'll show you what came out!" Akane raised her mallet and brought it down. Ranma intercepted it with his head and fell to the floor.

"Please, this is a misunderstanding!" Ukyou pulled back but this time she reached for her battle spatula and raised her battle aura. She thought, "If it's a fight she wants."

Akane threw the pizza at Ukyou who reflected it back with her spatula. Akane ducked and it flew overhead right onto Konatsu's face. "Ladies, please control yourselves!" Konatsu then removed the pizza from his face and gently placed it on a plate. "Well I guess this is my lunch."

Ranma got up from the floor and stood between the two combatants. "Calm down you two!"

"Calm down?! Akane tried to hit me!"

"You wrote 'DIE' on my food!"

"I did not!"

"You did too!"

"Not!"

"Too!"

"Not!"

Akane turned to the plate to get the proof, but the okonomiyaki was already a gooey mess.

"Konatsu! You saw what she wrote?" Akane demanded an answer.

"No, I didn't." Konatsu lied.

Akane turned to Ukyou, "I know what I saw."

Ranma didn't know who to believe, he was too busy stuffing his face back at the counter that he never bothered to look in the first place. "Ukyou would never do that, right Ukyou?" Ranma looked at Ukyou's face and expected an answer.

Ukyou couldn't lie to Ranma. She just looked away.

"Right Ukyou?" Ranma asked again.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU CHOOSE ME!?" Ukyou screamed and ran to her bedroom upstairs.

Ranma stood there dumbfounded.

"I LOVED YOU!" Ukyou screamed but it was from her bedroom and the sound was muffled.

Ranma looked down and sighed. "Akane, can I have a word with her," he turned to face her, "alone."

Akane was still ready to kill someone. Ranma just stood there. "I think I need to handle this."

"I'll be waiting here Ranma." Akane held her mallet ready for some action.

Ranma took a deep breath. He was not happy about going to Ukyou's room. He would rather be facing a room full of starving cats then go upstairs. He slowly walked up the stairs and stood at the open doorway of Ukyou's bedroom. He saw her lying on her bed, stomach down but she wasn't crying. Her face was turned towards the doorway and her eyes were watery.

"Uh, Ukyou," Ranma started. He just didn't know really what to say.

"I thought I was the cute one. I thought, that in time it would have been me Ran-chan." She closed her eyes. "I knew this would happen when you went to Juuban with her last summer."

"Yes, Ukyou. It happened over the summer." Ranma confessed.

"Why? Why didn't you take me too? You almost always took Shampoo and I on your outings. I didn't even know you were going until after you left." Ukyou's face turned sour. "I guess your parents plan worked after all."

"It was more than that. We were kidnapped by youma and had to survive for over two months in a place that might as well have been hell. Both of us changed. And..." Ranma stopped.

"Hell? Where did you go? I thought you were just hiding in Juuban to be with Akane."

"Uh. We were in Juuban at Mr. Miyagi's dojo. It was pop's idea to teach me to be a sensei. Akane just tagged along since she wanted to learn the karate form of martial arts. Then the youma showed up and I started fighting them and..." Ranma got depressed thinking about that terrible part of his life.

"And?" Ukyou was weirded out.

"They took Akane. They took her to that place and only I had the power to save her. I screwed up and got stuck in a really bad place for a long time. Akane and I... We now share a bond." Ranma was being very careful about the words he spoke.

"Ranma, you are such a pathetic idiot. I heard that the Sailor Senshi were supposed to deal with the youma. Only they have the power to fight the youma. It is so like you to take on a fight that is out of your league." Ukyou sat up in her bed and lost all of her sadness. She was regaining control of herself.

Ranma stood up, "Yep, but in the end, I got Akane back and now I can actually say I love her. Please Ukyou, you are my lifelong friend. Friends?"

Ukyou smiled, "Friends!" She jumped up and gave him a hug.

"Uh, don't let Akane see that."

Ukyou quickly let go.

Ranma went back downstairs. He was expecting Akane to come charging up but she was leaning against the wall.

Akane opened her eyes, "Friends?"

"Yes, friends. But you're the one for me." Ranma held out his hand and took Akane's. They walked hand in hand back to the counter, dropped off some yen and went towards the doorway.

Ukyou was looking at them and as they were walking out. They stopped just at the entryway and held each other's arms. They gave each other a small kiss and turned to leave.

Ukyou was hit with deja vu. It was just like her dream. Although none of the really bad parts were going to happen. Tiaras? They were both wearing tiaras? Ukyou thought about the youma incident in the summer. There were news reports of Sailor Senshi being lost for two months. Ukyou felt a strange chill about this revelation. Juuban? They were in Juuban. The Senshi hang out in Juuban. No! Could it be?

Ukyou scrambled clearing out the clutter in her mind about the Juuban incident. It was Sailor Mercury that got lost for a while and she had short dark hair just like Akane.
Oh, my god! Could Akane be a Senshi? She disappeared a lot. It would explain how she could produce mallets from thin air. Was she Sailor Mercury? Was that why Akane was taken by the youma?

Ukyou's head was about to explode. If that was true, then everything made sense, twisted sense, but sense nonetheless. And that would explain Shampoo's defeat. It was all coming together.

"Konatsu!" In an instant Konatsu appeared in front of his mistress ready to serve. "After we close tonight, I need you to go to Juuban."



Early Monday morning at Juuban High School, the principal had a meeting with his potential new teacher.

"I'm sorry sir, but I can only be here for a week. My work at Furinkan is not done yet. There are still far too many delinquents that have to be disciplined there. As I promised, I can see what your situation is like and make recommendations. But that's it."

The woman across the principal was Miss Hinako Ninomiya; she was in her adult form.

"Very well, at least deal with these problem students. They are the ones I have the most concern about." He handed four student packets to Hinako.

"Only four students? I was called for four students? These must be pretty bad kids." Hinako considered the challenge.

"Well, actually, two of them came from Furinkan High. I want to make sure that they don't bring over that sort of trouble to my school."

"Hmm." Miss Hinako looked at the names printed on the student folders. "Ranma Saotome and Akane Saotome, why yes these names are very familiar to me. I met them on the way in. I see why you asked for me specifically. Now, Makoto Kino has been talked about in my circles, wasn't she expelled from Azabu Jr. High two years ago?" She leafed through Makoto's student file. "Three schools, and all for fighting. I'll be able to discipline her as well, but who's Usagi Tsukino?"

"Miss Tsukino suffers from terminal tardiness and her academic efforts are seriously lacking. She alone is bringing down the school's grade point average."

"Martial artists are easy for me to deal with. I handle delinquents like that all the time, but tardiness can a bit more challenging. I'll take the assignment but only for a week. Who knows what will happen in Furinkan without me there to keep it under control."

"When can you start?"

"I can be available next Monday."

"Very well. I've heard excellent things about your methods, I'm certain I'll be pleased with the... Uh... Miss Ninomiya?" The principal watched in amazement as Hinako shrank about four dress sizes and now had the appearance of a 12-year-old girl.

"Oh, goody, goody!! I get to play with the bad kids!" Hinako waved her arms and danced around the room in childish glee. She then made a beeline to the door and disappeared from view.

"Now, that's something you don't see everyday."



Akane dragged the shriveled, drained remains of Ranma onto school grounds. "I told you not to pick on Miss Hinako!"

Makoto saw Ranma's condition and pulled out her transformation pen, "are the youma back?"

Akane replied, "No youma, just an old friend."



Author's Notes: Please review my story. It makes me feel oh so happy and keeps me from making that bump in the night sound you hear at midnight.

Last edited on October 5, 2002



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