Subject: [FFML] [Ranma][FanFic] Crossing the Line - Chapter 1: Revelations
From: "Ginrai" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2001 15:24:00 -0500

Crossing the Line - Chapter 1: Revelations
A Ranma 1/2 fanfic
by Ginrai

C&C appreciated - [email-masked]

Disclaimer:  Ranma 1/2 and its characters are property of Rumiko 
Takahashi.

--------------------------------------------

Nodoka was thinking of her son's situation.  After the failed wedding 
everyone agreed that the whole fiancee mess should be settled before 
Ranma chooses someone.  Although she preferred that her son would 
choose Akane and uphold the agreement with the Tendous, she realized 
that the decision was her son's alone.  She knew, though, that she 
could at least check on each of the girls and see what type of family 
her son would be part of.

The Tendous and Kunous, she learned, are both respected families with 
samurai heritage.  Shampoo would probably be the next matriarch of her 
village.  <Not that I actually want my son to choose a Chinese girl.  
But if it came to that, at least she's someone important among her 
people.>  The Kuonjis, though, she couldn't find anything on.

While she knew doing so would probably show some sort of favoritism, 
Nodoka had to find out about Ukyou's background one way or another.  
<Besides,> she assured herself, <it's for the well being of my son that 
I'm doing this.>

***

"Nabiki?"

"Auntie Saotome, what are you doing here?" Nabiki asked.  The look 
Nodoka gave worried her a bit.

"Nabiki, recently I have been checking on the family background for 
each of the girls that's interested in my son."  Nodoka noticed the 
worried look Nabiki had.  "Your family has nothing to worry about.  On 
the other hand, I have not been able to get any information regarding 
Ukyou's family."

"So you came here to ask me to get information on the Kuonjis?"  Seeing 
Nodoka nod her head, Nabiki thought about it for a bit.  While it might 
take her some time to find out about the Kuonjis, it could also help 
bring Ranma and her sister closer and at this point Nabiki needed to 
try something that could redeem herself in front of her family.  Since 
the failed wedding, Akane hasn't talked to her, though she would still 
deny any sort of feelings for Ranma.  Her father would burst into tears 
whenever he saw her, wailing about how upset Kimiko must be in regards 
to her second child.  Even Kasumi looked like she was disappointed with 
her.  No matter what others thought, the Ice Queen did want to feel 
loved, even if it was only from her family.  "I'll do it.  This could, 
though, take some time.  Especially considering that you already tried 
to find out about her family."

***

Two weeks have passed since she had made the promise to Nodoka and 
Nabiki hadn't been able to find out anything on the Kuonjis.  <*Sigh* I 
didn't actually expect much.  But it does get annoying having put so 
much work into it and still not getting anything.>  Only the fact that 
this might earn back the respect of her family kept her going.  Before 
she could go to her room and take a nap, Nabiki heard the telephone 
ring.  As she had been doing for the past two weeks, Nabiki ran to the 
phone and picked it up before anyone else could.

"Hello, is Nabiki there?"

"This is Nabiki.  Anything I can do for you?"  Nabiki silently prayed 
that this had something to do with the Kuonjis.

"About the information you wanted regarding the Kuonjis.  You might 
want to write down what I'm going to tell you."

Grabbing a pen and paper, Nabiki began writing down what was being 
told.  As she was writing, her eyes got wider and her hands began to 
tremble.

***

The Tendous along with Nodoka and Genma were in the living room, having 
been told that the meeting was of high importance.

"I decided to call this meeting because I've found out about Ukyou's 
family and felt that everyone here should know about this," Nabiki said 
in a calm, though serious tone.

If anyone looked at Genma, they would have noticed that his face was 
pale, as though he were afraid of something.

"Ukyou Kuonji... is a burakumin."

"Nabiki, are you sure?" asked Nodoka, who was worried that her son 
would have been associated with such people.  Perhaps she got her 
information mixed up.  If it was true, _someone_ should have noticed 
that something was different about that girl.

"Yes.  I'm not sure just how Ukyou was able to run a store but I have 
received enough evidence showing that her ancestors are burakumin."

Hearing this, Akane became afraid.  Afraid because Ranma considered one 
of the unclean to be his friend, talked with her like she was any other 
normal person, and even ate food made by her.  How would others treat 
him for being around such a person?  Furthermore, she was afraid 
because she had done the same thing.  She didn't know how long she 
would have to wash herself before she could finally be clean once 
again.

Nodoka was at first surprised.  The surprise soon turned into anger.  
Anger that was directed at Genma for having engaged her son with one of 
them.  She walked over to Genma and slapped him.  "How could you?!" she 
screamed at him, her anger having reached a point where she was tempted 
to have her husband commit seppuku.  "How could you engage our son to 
that _thing_?  Didn't you know what she was?"

Genma was scared.  Almost scared enough to tell Nodoka the truth.  
"I... no, No-chan, I didn't know anything about that."

Seeing there was no one else to blame, Nodoka slumped to the floor.  
"The way I see it, my son's engagement to Ukyou is hereby cancelled.  
Furthermore, there will be no talk of restoring the Kuonjis honor 
seeing as to who they are.  Do I make myself clear?"  Genma nodded, not 
wanting to go against his the wishes of his wife at the state she was 
in.  Once Nodoka turned around, he hung his head in shame.  "Now, what 
are we going to do about Ukyou?  I don't want my son to be around that 
girl any longer.  In fact, it would be better off if she didn't live 
here anymore.  I wouldn't want my son to be influenced by her in any 
way."

"I have a way of dealing with her," Nabiki replied, "But it would be 
better off if Ranma didn't know about this.  I'm not sure as to what he 
would do if he ever did find out."  With that she began to tell 
everyone her plan.

***

Upon waking up, Ranma had felt something was wrong.  He didn't know 
what it was but if he had a choice, he would have went back to sleep.  
Once downstairs, he saw that Akane was cooking breakfast.  <So that's 
why I was worried,> he thought.  With that mystery solved, he ran off 
'to get a head start on class' as he told Kasumi.

"Nabiki, why did we allow Ranma to run off?" Akane complained to her 
sister.

"There are still a few things I need to discuss with you on what to do 
in school.  And, as I said yesterday, it's better off that he doesn't 
know about it."

"But did we have to use _my_ cooking to get him out?"

Nabiki smirked at this.  "It did make things easier."

Realizing that it wasn't worth it to continue her complaining, Akane 
decided to ask Nabiki something else that was bothering her.  "But what 
if he goes over to Ucchan's to eat?"  Akane frowned when she thought of 
all the things Ukyou could do to Ranma while they were together, none 
of which were good.

Nabiki shrugged.  "If you see them together, just pull Ranma away from 
her.  As for what you should do, inform your friends of what Ukyou is 
and have them notify other people.  Just don't tell anything about her 
to Ranma.  It would be better if he finds out from someone else and 
while he's away from Ukyou, least he tries to help her out or blame us 
for telling everyone about what she is.  I'll also be informing anyone 
I know."

Akane agreed with the plan, feeling that what she was doing was in 
Ranma's best interest.  If he didn't realize now, he _will_ understand 
later on just how wrong it was to be around Ukyou.

***

"Akane, why isn't Ranma with you?" Yuka asked her when she noticed that 
her friend had come to school without her fiance.

"He left early, though I'm not surprised that he isn't here."

"I heard that he went to Ucchan's." Sayuri added.  "You don't think 
that maybe he's going out with Ukyou?"

"NO!!!  He wouldn't do that!  Not with her... it wouldn't be right.  
It... it..."

Both of Akane's friends were surprised.  They knew saying such a thing 
would cause a reaction from her.  But they never expected it to be so 
vehement.

"Akane, are you all right?  Did something happen between you and 
Ranma?" Sayuri asked.  She was concerned with her friend's reaction and 
wanted to see, if something did happen between the two, if there was 
any way she could help out.

"No, nothing happened."  Akane was debating on whether or not she 
should tell her friends about Ukyou.  She was feeling a little guilty 
of what would happen to Ukyou once the truth about her was known.  
Scenes going through her head of a girl in tears as she closed a 
broken-down okonomiyaki shop.  Those scenes, though, morphed into that 
of a girl with a scowl o her face, ready and willing to throw her 
okonomiyaki bombs to stop a wedding.  Those scenes of the failed 
wedding and Ukyou's part in it erased any feelings of guilt in Akane's 
mind.  "It's about Ukyou.  She's... unclean.  It's not right for her to 
be around Ranma."

Sayuri was too shocked to say anything while Yuka replied, "You mean 
she's one of them, a burakumin?"  Seeing Akane slowly nod her head, it 
took all of her will not to throw up in front of her friends.  To 
thought of being in class with one of them and having eaten their 
contaminated food nauseated her.  As they were discussing this 
revelation, the other students of Furinkan were finding out about 
Ukyou.

Unbeknownst of what was going on in Furinkan, Ranma and Ukyou were 
walking towards the school.  Even though she knew that the only reason 
he visited her was to eat, Ukyou was still glad that he chose her 
place.  Ranma was just glad that he got something edible for breakfast.

Upon entering through the front gates, Ukyou noticed how the other 
students seemed to be quiet instead of having the usual conversations 
between friends.  She also took note on how some of them were staring 
at the two, her more than Ranma.  The looks they were giving her didn't 
seem too friendly either.  It made her feel alone with everyone against 
her and so she tried not to pay any attention to their stares.

Ranma, though, didn't seem to notice anything as he kept on walking.  
He only stopped when he noticed that Ukyou wasn't next to him.  Looking 
back, he saw Ukyou walking slowly with her head bent down.  "Hurry up, 
Ucchan!" he said, not wondering if anything was wrong.  Seeing that she 
wasn't responding and still walking at a slow pace, he went over to see 
if he could get her attention.

That was when both heard footsteps behind Ranma.  "Ranma, don't!" Akane 
shouted as she ran towards Ranma and grabbed him by the hand.  "Ranma, 
hurry up!  Schools about to start."

"But what about Ucchan?" he asked while being pushed towards school.

"Don't worry about her," replied Akane as she gave a slight kick to 
Ukyou's knee, "She'll make it to class in time."  She knew it wasn't 
right to treat them as such, but at this point, considering how 
reluctant Ranma seemed, it was the only way to get Ranma as far away 
from her as possible.  <At least it's not like it will hurt her,> she 
told herself as to remove any doubts over what she did.

This caused Ukyou to look up right before she fell onto the ground.  
She was surprised by what Akane did and even more at hearing what she 
thought to be the other students laughing at her.  Confused by what was 
happening, she slowly got up, unable to see Ranma or Akane anymore as 
the other students were also going inside.  <I know that Akane is 
supposed to be popular with everyone, but still...>

***

As the day went on for Ukyou she became more confused and worried about 
what was happening.  The way the other students were treating her 
didn't make sense.  Wherever she walked, they would all move out of her 
way and any form of talking was done in whispers.  Even in class, the 
students around her, other than Ranma, looked like they didn't want to 
be anywhere near her.  She didn't feel as if she was being treated as 
someone important, but instead as a plague that should be avoided.

Right now, though, it was lunch, her favorite time of the day.  This is 
the time when she could show her Ranchan just how good of a cook his 
cute fiancee is.  Throughout the whole day the only one who didn't seem 
to be treating her differently was her fiance and it was because of 
that she didn't care much on how the others acted.

"Ranchan, I made some okonomiyaki for you!" she shouted as she ran with 
a plate of okonomiyaki towards where Ranma and Akane were sitting.

Seeing Ukyou and, more importantly, what she brought, Ranma, who was 
still hungry, was about to take the plate.  Before he could do so, 
though, Akane grabbed the plate away from him and tossed it to the 
ground, spilling its contents all over.  "What did you do that for?!" 
Ranma shouted at Akane.  This was the second time in the day that Akane 
acted strange around Ukyou and furthermore, it prevented him from 
getting anything more to eat.

If not for two reasons, Ukyou would have grabbed her combat spatula and 
attacked Akane for what she did.  She didn't want to give any sort of 
bad impression around Ranma, especially after what occurred in the 
wedding, and with Akane doing what she did maybe this would work out in 
her favor.  More importantly, she wanted to know just why Akane did it.  
Just why is Akane acting like this, like everyone else in the school?  
Though they were rivals with anything concerning Ranma, it hurt her 
that one of the few people she considered to be a friend was acting 
like this.

"It was dirty," Akane replied.

"What?"  Ranma didn't understand why Akane would dump the food just 
because of that.  So what if the food was a little dirty?  He would 
have thrown away that part and just ate the rest.

"How would you know if it was dirty, Akane?  I cooked the food myself.  
You didn't even see it."  Ukyou was furious.  How could Akane give such 
an awful excuse?  At the least Akane should have just said that doesn't 
want Ranma eating any of Ukyou's food.

Akane didn't reply.  Though she wanted to.  But she was afraid.  Afraid 
that when she turns back she'll fell sorry for her, that she would 
become friends with Ukyou so that her hurting would stop.  Finally, she 
was afraid of what other people would think of her, and possibly even 
her family, if she were found to be friends with one of them.  They 
might treat her and her family the same way.  "Lets go, Ranma."

"Why?  Lunch isn't over."

Akane started to pull Ranma away from Ukyou.  "We'll get something to 
eat if we have to.  It'll be better off if we go elsewhere to eat."

"But what about Ucchan?"

"She can't come."

"But why?  You've been treating her like she's not okay."

"She isn't okay, Ranma.  She's sick!" Akane shouted at him, not caring 
that Ukyou was able to hear.  It was the only thing she could think of 
that moment, and the only thing preventing her from shouting out all 
she knew about Ukyou's heritage.  "And none of us should be around her.  
Not now.  It wouldn't be right."

As she saw Akane pull Ranma away from her again, Ukyou felt her head 
start to get heavy and burn while her heart started to beat faster.  
<I'm... sick?  How?  I don't feel sick.  How would she know what my 
condition is or isn't?>  As she bent down to pick up her plate, she 
felt a few teardrops falling on her hand.  It didn't go anything like 
she had hoped it would.  Lunch didn't feel any different from the 
beginning of the day.

***

After the incident during lunch, Ukyou composed herself and tried to 
get on with the day.  While people still treated her like they did 
earlier, she mostly ignored them.  Her main agenda was Ranma and why 
Akane twice had come between them.  Did they admit their love for each 
other?  If so, they should at least have the courtesy to inform her of 
it.  After all, thanks to Genma Saotome, she too was an official 
fiancee.  There was still her own honor that had to be compensated for, 
which no one considered during the wedding attempt.

Once school was over, Ukyou went back to her restaurant to fix Ranma 
some okonomiyaki.  She decided to go over to the Tendous and see him.  
She needed to know what was going on.

On arriving at the Tendous, Ukyou felt afraid of what she might find 
out.  That fear vanished right away for she realized that she had to 
know what was happening.  If not, it would be like what she did during 
those ten years.  Each day saying that she would start her search for 
the Saotomes the next, only to have her fear of finally facing them, 
and her past, prevent her from doing so.  Sometimes Ukyou wished that 
she had left earlier instead of having to go through...

"Hey, Ucchan!"

Hearing Ranma's voice halted any more thoughts of her past, though it 
made her feel calmer, as she turned around to greet him.  "Hi, Ranchan!  
I brought some more okonomiyaki.  I was hoping that this time you get 
to eat it."

Ranma felt a little sheepish on hearing that.  "Yeah, sorry about that.  
I don't know what Akane was doing that for."  He saw how sad Ukyou 
looked.  "Ucchan, what's wrong?" he asked, concerned about how she was 
feeling.

"The whole day... it's been awful.  Everyone has been treating me like 
a stranger who should be avoided at all costs.  I'm now afraid that you 
will treat me the same way."

"Ucchan, why would I do that to one of my friends?  You shouldn't let 
these types of days get to you.  I'm sure it was some sort of joke.  
Akane wouldn't really treat one of her friends like that.  Just 
remember that it will always get better later on.  How do you think I 
survived those ten years of training?"

"You... you're probably right, Ranchan," Ukyou replied, even smiling a 
bit.

"See, you're feeling better already.  Why don't we go inside?  Maybe 
the others would want something to eat."  Once inside, Ranma shouted to 
the others "Hey, everyone, Ucchan brought us some okonomiyaki..."  
Anything else that he would have said was cut short as he saw how those 
in the household suddenly stopped what they were doing and staring back 
at him.  If he had paid attention earlier, he would have noticed the 
similarities between this and what happened before school started.

Ukyou, though, did pay attention earlier and she did notice the 
similarities.  Her hands began to shake and her heart began to beat 
faster.  <Why now?> she thought, <Why does everyone have to be acting 
like this?  Maybe it is just a joke.  Maybe my life has just been one 
big joke.  At least they should stop it cause this joke isn't funny 
anymore.>

Seeing all this, Akane excused herself and went up to her room.

Watching Akane move helped knock Ranma out of his stupor.  The sound of 
a box rattling caused him to turn towards Ukyou and saw that any sort 
of smile she had was gone, replaced by a look of sadness.  "Ucchan." he 
said with concern as he tried to grab her hands so that they would stop 
shaking.

"STAY AWAY FROM MY SON!" Nodoka screamed.  She couldn't stand seeing 
them anywhere near each other.

Hearing this, Ukyou's angst turned to fear.  She dropped the box and 
jumped into Ranma.  Not knowing what to do, Ranma embraced her, hoping 
that she would stop shivering.

"Son, I know you might think it's manly to have more than one girl in 
love with you.  But there are limits to such things and I will not 
tolerate you being with such people.  If she becomes a nuisance, I'll 
deal with her another way."  And with that Nodoka pulled out her 
katana.

As he saw the katana being pulled, Ranma loosened his hold on Ukyou, 
the memories of the fear he once had of his mom superseding anything 
else he was thinking of.

The sight of the blade and just who was holding it caused Ukyou to let 
go of Ranma and move as far away as possible, which ended with her 
tripping and falling on her back, eyes growing wide in fear as she felt 
even more helpless.  The person she one day hoped to call 'mother' was 
treating her as some sort of threat and not as a potential daughter.  
Her mind started to come up with the possibility that one of the main 
reasons she always felt her life would get better was about to be taken 
away; and she had no idea what to do afterwards.

Hearing his fiancee fall down, Ranma's attention was brought back to 
what was going on around him.  The fear he saw in Ukyou was unlike any 
he saw during his life.  Not wanting anyone to have such a look, even 
those he disliked, he tried to think of something to help assure Ukyou 
that everything would be okay.

Anything that he would have said was interrupted by Soun.  "Son, I 
think it would be best if you went to check on your fiancee."

"That's what I was about to do.  She," he said, pointing at Ukyou, "is 
also my fiancee."

"Not any longer." Nodoka replied, causing Ranma and Ukyou to look at 
her with shocked expressions.  "The engagement to Ukyou Kuonji is 
hereby nullified.  It was a mistake that has been rectified.  I will 
not have my family associated with such... trash."

Ranma was horrified of his mom for speaking of one of his friends in 
such a way.  "Mom, you don't mean that.  Why would you say something 
like that about Ukyou?"

Nodoka gave a sigh before replying.  She knew her son was going to find 
out sooner or later.  She had just hoped it would have been later.  
"Son, I didn't want to tell you this, but the Kuonjis are burakumin."

"NO!  That's not true!" Ukyou screamed, louder than she had ever in her 
life.  It just had to be wrong, she thought.  Such a thing not only 
would prevent her from marrying Ranma, but it would also cause her to 
lose almost everything she lived for.  "You don't have anything to 
prove this."

Nabiki gave Ukyou some papers that had some information dealing with 
her ancestry.  From her point of view, this was probably the worst 
thing to happen.  But Ukyou did ask for some proof.  Now they have to 
wait and see how Ranma will react to this.

As she read what was on the paper, Ukyou kept trying to tell herself 
that this was some sort of joke that was being played on her.  But when 
she looked up, the others around her weren't smiling.  And if this was 
some sort of nightmare, it was one she was having trouble waking up 
from.  Finally, the tears that she was able to prevent from before 
started to fall down rapidly.

"Ucchan?" Ranma asked, as he wasn't sure if the accusations were true 
or not.  When he saw her tear-streaked face, he knew the truth.

When she saw his face giving an expression of disbelief, Ukyou felt 
worse.  But what more could she expect?  She was one of them.  Could 
she have expected him to embrace her and tell her it's all right?  To 
treat her the same as before?  No, it would have been wishful thinking.  
But still, it hurt.  A lot.  Also, why would he do that for someone 
like her when Akane was around?

"Ranc... Ranma," Ukyou said, trying her best to smile though with tears 
still falling down, "it would have been too much to expect anything.  
Why should you or anyone else care about someone like me?  All I would 
be doing is standing in the way with you and Akane.  I'm probably not 
worth it to worry over.  Goodbye, Ranma."  With that Ukyou ran off as 
the tears started to fall down harder.

After a moment, Ranma came back to his senses.  "Ucchan, wait!" he 
screamed, hoping that she would hear him as he started to run towards 
her.  Nodoka's katana, though, blocked his way.

"Son, she gave you a way out.  It's best to take it and not worry about 
it any longer.  She's officially part of your past and should not be 
seen with you anymore."

Seeing that his mother wouldn't take 'No' for an answer, Ranma slumped 
to the ground in defeat.

"Ukyou seems to have left her food here.  What should we do with it?" 
Kasumi asked, relieved that the girl was no longer in their house.  She 
was feeling extremely uncomfortable with her around.

"Sis, there's a trashcan outside.  Just dump it in there." Nabiki 
replied.

***

She didn't know how long she had been outside or just where she was 
running to, her eyes blind with tears.  All Ukyou wanted to do was run 
away from it all.  As far as she was concerned, it was all over.  She 
wasn't foolish enough to think that someone like Ranma could love her 
now.  Once again she felt that this was all a huge joke being played on 
her.  Whether it was by everyone around her or by the Gods above she 
didn't know.  And once again she felt that this joke was no longer 
funny, if it was even funny to begin with.

Finally Ukyou reached what seemed to be her restaurant.  Having made 
sure that it was her place, she ran into her room.  Finally she was 
alone with no one around to remind her of her family's shame.  With 
that she fell onto her bed and cried, the tears not stopping for some 
time.

--------------------------------------------

The idea for this story came after reading some of the recent Ranma 
fics that involved one of the characters ancestors being burakumin.  
Usually it was Ranma and a few times it was Akane.  This gave me an 
idea of writing one involving Ukyou.

Thanks to those in One Hour Group 1 (11/19/00) for their comments on 
one section of this fic.

Also thanks to those in the animefanfics.com chat room that helped me 
out by looking over some parts of this fic.

Thanks to the following for prereading this chapter:
Durandall
Gary Kleppe

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