Ranma 1/2 was invented by Rumiko Takahashi. The rights to the figures are therefore owned by her and her publisher. The story does not serve any financial purpose but is simply an expression of a fan.

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By the way ... thanks for the nice comments !!

Entanglements
Chapter 4

Ryoga and Ukyo were sitting on the futon in their room, watching TV.
It was some old samurai strip, but none of them could concentrate on it.
"Umm ... Ukoy ...?" Ryoga interrupted her thoughts.
"Yes?" she asked absently.
"I should have ... to ..."
"Oh, yes, of course ..."
Embarrassed, they both got up and went to the bathroom.
After Ryoga finished, they went back again.
"It's going to be a busy month," he sighed.
"How do you mean?" Ukyo asked the lost boy.
"Well, we can't get more than six feet apart or the other one will get carried away," Ryoga stated.
"We have to bathe and change clothes too ... With these bracelets we have to do it all together ..."The young master chef winced.
"I didn't like that ..." * .... bathe together? * shot through her head.
"Ryoga, take it easy, we'll find a solution."
Briefly in her head hung the image of a shared bath, scrubbing Ryoga's back.
* What am I thinking? *
"Ukyo", Ryoga looked at her worried, "are you all right? You had such a strange expression on your face."
"What? There was nothing - really!"
She laughed nervously.
He just nodded, but Ryoga could have sworn Ukyo almost drooled.
"... and that's only part of it, my handsome," said Ukyo pragmatically.
"I have to go to school tomorrow - and I also have a business to run."
"That's right," Ryoga slapped his forehead.
"Besides, I should be training again," he continued.
Ryoga grinned and shook his head.
"What are you laughing about?"
Ukyo was angry.
"I only thought if someone had told me a week ago that this would happen to me ..."The young woman laughed too.
"You..."
He raised his hand and cut her off.
"I have some suggestions, Ukyo."
She raised her eyebrows.
"Ahhh, and do you have anything to do with back scrubbing and whipped cream?" Ukyo asked mockingly.
"What?"
Ryoga stared at her with wide eyes.
* Whipped cream? *
"Uh, forget it!" she stammered.
"You wanted to suggest something," she put the subject back into harmless channels.
"Yes, right," he looked at her briefly, confused, but then continued to speak.
"I would have thought that we would come to terms with the fact that we would train together. ... that I would teach you my techniques and that you would teach me to cook for them ..."
"That would mean we'd work together in your restaurant."
"WHAT? You want to learn to cook?" she interrupted him.
Ryoga nodded.
"As part of combat training, of course."
The master cook laughed out loud.
"As combat training? Of course! And what else did you imagine?"Ukyo leaned forward and eyed the lost boy thoughtfully.
"School is a problem. If we show up there together we will have some ... embarrassing questions to answer. But I'll leave that up to you. If you want to go to school, that's fine too. I ... would rather not do it . Then there is the matter of bathing ... "
He straightened.
"I can only give you my word that I will not do anything inadmissible and that I will show whatever consideration is possible. I would never do anything that would make you uncomfortable."
He looked at her seriously: "That's all I can say about it."
Ukyo was speechless. She knew Ryoga meant it as he said it.
* The way of the warrior ... Honor to the death. He is absolutely serious. *
She swallowed.
"Ryoga, I accept your word, I believe you."
He started smiling and she returned it.
* I didn't say that I would behave properly ... *, she thought to herself and grinned wider.* I am depraved. Bad ukyo, bad ukyo. *

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Ukyo let out a relieved breath when she could finally lock the door to her bar. She looked at Ryoga, who also looked relieved.
"One day passed ... Only 29 more", he stated.
"Almost a day passed," she corrected him.
He shrugged.
"Anyway, could we take a bath now? I'm absolutely stunned."
"Ryoga, for a guy who gets a nosebleed when he gets too close to a woman, you're pretty tough," stated Ukyo dryly.
"Hey, I'm not like that ...."
"I know, big guy," she interrupted, "but taking a bath is a good idea."
Ukyo felt pretty battered too.
The thing with the bangles had turned out to be more complicated than it first appeared.
The two had agreed not to go to school as this would have compromised them both quite a lot.
So they started the day with several hours of combat training, which turned out to be very hard due to the unequal strength of the two and the lack of coordination.Then the two worked together in the restaurant.
Ryoga had turned out to be more adept than she would have thought, considering the whole thing as part of the training. Ukyo grimaced when she noticed that her neck was very tense.
The young woman massaged it lightly, but the tension did not go away.
The lost boy eyed her briefly.
"Have a seat!" and pushed her gently but firmly onto an armchair.
"Listen, what are you doing?" she protested, but fell silent when he began to massage her neck.
"Ohhh ...", she groaned, "... that's good ... how can you do that?"
Ryoga grinned.
"During my travels I picked up a lot about massages, pressure points and healing methods. All part of the training. You never know when you might need it."
But she stopped listening to him for a long time.
Ukyo noticed how slowly her brain shorted out.
His touch hit the right spots and her whole body relaxed.Ukyo found herself slowly ... sloshing into a different mood.
* What other techniques do you think he has mastered? *
Just when she thought she was finally losing control and Ukyo wanted to turn around to do something very precarious with Ryoga, he stopped.
She gasped for air.
"Everything alright? You should be better now," Ukyo heard him say.
"Uhh, yes, wow, that was great," the prodigal blushed slightly at the comment.
Ukyo's breathing became calmer again and she felt how her rational mind got her urges under control.
* Bad ukyo, bad ukyo, I have to control myself. I will not let myself go. *
Just as she had almost managed to cool down again, Ryoga said with a friendly smile: "If you want, I can massage you more often, you seem very often tense. Then I could do it more thoroughly than now."
The young master chef gasped for air.
* AAaaarrrggg ... bad ukyo, bad ukyo. *-----

She stretched in the bathtub and looked at Ryoga with his back to her, amused. He growled and grumbled softly to himself.
"Hey, my handsome, a few more minutes and it's your turn."
The lost boy snorted.
"And why is it your turn to bathe first?"
Ukyo started to grin.
"First because this is my bathroom, second because I'm a woman and third, hopefully you have such good behavior to let me in."
He groaned and mumbled something to himself.
"What did you say?"
"Nothing...!" he stammered hastily as he glanced at the huge battle spatula propped against the bathroom door.
"Then it's fine ..." she purred and stretched again.
* Actually he's really cute - hmmm - I should better control my hormones. *
The lost boy yawned.
* Oh, I'm looking forward to the bathroom *, he thought to himself.
"Tired?" he heard a teasing voice say behind him."Hm," he nodded.
"So, now it's your turn, my big boy, could you still give me the towels?"
Sighing, he grabbed the towels and handed them to her. "
When she wrapped one around and wanted to get out of the tub, she slipped.
"Ahhh ...."
She flew headfirst out of the tub.
Ryoga whirled around and was just able to catch Ukyo before she could injure herself.
The towel slipped away from her and the prodigal boy suddenly held a completely naked girl in his arms.
Pressed tightly against him, Ukyo blushed violently.
Suddenly she felt a tremor go through Ryoga and he toppled back unconscious with a bleeding nose.
"Ryoga ..."

The lost boy slowly came to.
"What..."
A damp cloth lay on his forehead. A warm, damp cloth, he found.
"Are you awake again, Ryoga?"
He took the scarf from his head and saw Ukyo, who was now sitting next to him dressed in a bathrobe.
"Yes, I am," Ryoga muttered, embarrassed, and looked at the combat spatula that always leaned next to the door.She followed his gaze and raised her eyebrows.
"No my big boy, I'm not going to beat you to hospital. At least you prevented me from breaking my neck."
His cheeks flushed slightly.
"My pleasure."
Ukyo smiled at him.
"You should take your bath now, otherwise the water will get cold."
He nodded sheepishly.
"... and besides, I'm looking forward to the bed."
Ryoga's cheeks turned even darker and he winced.
"Hey, I didn't mean it like that, you ..."
It was the young girl's turn to get some color on her face.
"You should ... bathe yourself now."
She turned away hastily.
"Okay."
He got up slowly and began to undress.
Ukyo closed his eyes.
* This ... I didn't mean it that way, did I ... or ...? *
She heard him sigh comfortably as he sat down in the tub with the warm water.
* Aarrrg. No, bad thoughts, bad thoughts. *
She concentrated to suppress the images in her head."Only 29 days left ... Just ..."

Fifteen minutes after Ryoga finished his bath, they were both sitting in Ukyo's room watching TV.
He shook his head.
"What do you have?"
"Nothing, I just thought about how long it has been since I've spent so much time in one place and haven't been lost."
"She laughed out loud. And how is that? Not to be lost anymore?"
He thought for a moment.
"Unusual," he stated seriously.
Ukyo had to laugh again and the lost boy joined in.
* Actually, Ukyo is really nice. She should laugh more often. I could get used to it. *
The prodigal boy smiled wider.
"Ukyo, could I ask you something?"
"Hm?" she nodded to him.