Ukyo Married

Just so you know, I had to take poetic license with the Japanese emigration laws. Yes I did look it up and know that naturalization takes five years or that you have to be in Japan married to a citizen for ten years to apply for landing status. In the interests of my story, it's going to be more like the Canadian or American immigration system where it just takes a few years. I apologize to any Japanese people reading this story. I am not implying that your immigration laws are worse or better then ours. But, just need to shorten the time frames a bit.

I am thinking of adding one more chapter, not sure yet.

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Cologne quickly examined Mu Tzu’s injuries and was relieved to find that none of them were life threatening. “Pack you things child, we're going to China tonight” she commanded.

“B-but great-grandmother” Shampoo protested.

“Shampoo, what you did could be considered attempted murder by the laws of Japanese. We aren’t citizens of Japan and are only here on visas, we have to get out the country now” she commanded.

“But Mousse” Shampoo protested, she was still in shock over what she did.

“We shall get him help as soon as we are safely on the plane. Now just pack what you really need while I call the airport” Cologne ordered and called to find out that there was a plane departing in an hour and booked them tickets for it. Then she walked over to Mu Tzu and carefully moved his hair out of the way to make breathing a little easier for him. She dared not reposition him for fear that she would aggravate his injuries. “I’m sorry to leave you in this condition, but my great-granddaughter is the future of our tribe and must be protected. Goodbye Mu Tzu” she said to the still unconscious boy.

Shampoo packed and considered what had made her attacked Mu Tzu like that. Of course she had always thought him handsome, but he was too weak for her to consider as a possible husband. Yet seeing him naked in the arms of another woman had brought out jealous tendencies that she didn’t even know she possessed. What was he to her? A childhood friend who never grew up? The person in her face every day demanding love from her that she couldn’t give him?

Yet lately he'd changed, he'd started talking back to her and questioning her orders, whereas he used to just follow them blindly. Speaking of blindly, without his glasses girls had started to take notice of him and she hated that. Then there was Ukyo wandering in and out of their lives, claiming to be his fiancée and mocking his female superiors and filling his head with nonsense about equality among the sexes. What was so great about her? She didn’t even seem to be able to put him in his place as women were born to do. She let him do whatever he wanted.

Then Shampoo realized that they were leaving Mu Tzu in Japan and he was just here on a work visa, therefore he would be here illegally once his employers left. But it wouldn’t be too hard for another employer to apply for a work visa on his behalf. Leaving him in Ukyo's employment, living with her and sleeping with her. Shampoo wouldn’t have it! She picked up the telephone book and called the immigration hotline. “Hello, I like report illegal immigrant. He work visa cancelled” she told the officer that picked up the phone.

Ukyo was awoken to the sound of a phone ringing. Groggily she picked it and said “hello?”

“Kuonji-san you must go to the Neko Hanten right now. Mu Tzu is alive but badly injured” Cologne said and then hung up. Ukyo grabbed the nearest clothes, not caring if they matched or not and ran out the door; praying that it was a joke. Finding the door of the Neko Hanten unlocked, she tore it open and cried out to find Mu Tzu lying facedown in a puddle of blood. She dropped to her knees and lightly touched his hair. Her fingers came away sticky with blood. She felt like this couldn’t be real. It had to be a joke, any second now he was going to turn over and give her a mischievous smile. She whimpered, touching his back gently, trying to wake him up. He was going to wake up and whine about having blood in his hair and on the cloak he was so proud of and then Ukyo would have to wash them both just to shut him up, she thought with a smile at the vanity that he displayed towards those two items. Then she realized, that it wasn’t a joke and he was really was badly injured, the blood was real! With a gasp, she whipped out her cell phone and called for an ambulance. When they arrived with the police, they quickly loaded him onto the gurney and went to close the ambulance door, but Ukyo blocked it “I want to go with him” she demanded.

“Only family members are allowed to accompany an injured person” the paramedic explained.

“I’m his fiancée” Ukyo said, drawing herself to her full height.

The paramedic looked skeptical because they were both so young, but allowed her to come. She took a seat alongside Mu Tzu and held his hand. She thought about how they had made love just a couple of hours earlier and wished that he'd stayed with her, while the ambulance screamed into the early morning hours.

At hospital, due to the severity of his injuries Mu Tzu was rushed into a private room and his cloak was cut from him. Everyone was so busy paying attention to him, that no one noticed Ukyo slipping in beside him. They put the cloak aside and Ukyo picked it up, thinking that he would need a new one. He was so proud of his cloak, it was the one defiant act that he'd made against his oppressions. That he had not just a skilled martial artist, but a master of his chosen form. Ukyo hugged it to her, not caring that it was covered with blood. ‘Where did he get it and how can I go about getting it replaced?” she wondered, as the tears ran down her face while the doctors poked and prodded at him. There were deep bruises all over his smooth back, the same back that she'd stroked so many times. He had come to her place starved for affection, she remembered. Once she and Kentaro had realized that Mu Tzu was crying himself to sleep each night, they had taken turns sitting with him. She remembered the first time she'd touched him, he'd woken up crying out because of a bad dream and she had just simply climbed onto the bed and drew him into her arms. The eyes that he'd turned on her were so wary and scared that she'd just hugged him closer, as if she could protect the wounded boy from the world. He'd made a sound of surprise and then relaxed into her embrace. He'd eventually fallen asleep and she'd eased him back onto the bed and continued to hold him. The doctor finally noticed her and sharply said “put that down, it's considered to be a biohazard because of the blood and must be destroyed”

“You can’t destroy it, it's his cloak” she said with a sob.

“Someone get this girl out of here” he said impatiently and a nurse took her arm.

“No, I’m his fiancée. The ambulance driver said I could stay with him” she protested.

“She’s his fiancée” the nurse told a doctor.

“I have ears. Look, Miss, you can sit in the waiting room, but you can’t stay in here. Mr. Mu's going to need blood tests and x-rays taken so that we can assess the damage done to him. He’s a very sick man right now and we need to find out how to make him better. I’ll personally come talk to you when I know what’s wrong” the doctor assured her.

“Come on dear” the nurse said leading her out. Ukyo felt so tired and refused to give up the blood soaked rags in her arms. Her eyes felt like boiled eggs from lack of sleep and crying.

The doctor finally came to see her. “He will live, but his injuries will take a long time to heal. He has a slight skull fracture, but it looks like his shoulder took most of the blow, or it could have been much worse. There shouldn’t be any brain damage. However, both scapula bones are cracked and his clavicle bone is fractured, as well as three ribs. He's lucky in the respect,that none of the blunt force trauma inflicted on him hit his spinal column or he could have been paralyzed. He'll need the attention of a good physiotherapist when healing is done, but should be fine after that. We just need to keep him here a few days to rule out possible brain damage for sure, but he can go home after that” the doctor explained to a revealed looked Ukyo.

She hugged him “thank you” she said.

Ukyo went to the nursing station to ask for Mu Tzu's room number, when she overheard a man talking to the nurse. “So Mu Tzu actually is injured? How long before he leaves the hospital so that we can deport him?” he asked.

The nurse looked at his chart “it says here that he's due to be released in a few days” she told the immigration officer.

“Thanks” he said.

Ukyo stopped him “I’m sorry, did you just say that you were deporting Mu Tzu?” she asked.

“What's it to you? I'm here on official government business. Mu Tzu was reported as being an illegal alien now that his visa is cancelled, therefore he's being sent back to China” he explained.

“Mu Tzu's my fiancée and you can’t send him back there. He’s badly injured and needs proper medical care” she demanded.

“How old are you?” he inquired.

“Sixteen, like him” she replied.

“Then there’s nothing that you can do. You can’t even marry without your parent’s permission. I’m sorry miss, but I’m just doing my job. If you want to help him, you can pack his things for him and deliver his luggage to his port of exit” he suggested with sympathy in his voice.

“If I do get permission to marry him, then he can come back right?” she asked.

“Sorry, once he's been deported from Japan, he'll never be allowed back” he said and left.

Ukyo could feel tears welling about the further indignity that was about to be visited upon the emotionally vulnerable boy. Then she realized that she wasn’t giving up without a fight. She picked up her cell phone and called Kentaro “Ken, I need your help, they’re going to deport Mu Tzu” she said without preamble and filled him in on everything.

“Stay there, I just need to hire an immigration lawyer and I’ll meet you in the hospital” Kentaro said. “There has to be something we can do” he assured her.

“There is, I’m going to marry him” Ukyo said with determination in her voice. Kentaro was surprised by her vehemence.

“Are you sure that’s what you want to do?” he asked.

“What choice do we have? At least this way we can get him a spouse visa until the sponsorship period is over and he becomes a full citizen. I’m not letting him go back to that fucked up place” she snarled.

“I’ll be right there” he promised and hung up.

Ukyo spent the time stroking Mu Tzu's hair and willing him to wake up, then thought better of it because when he woke up she would have to tell him about Shampoo’s final betrayal. “Just sleep, we’ll figure something out” she whispered to him.

Kentaro exploded into Mu Tzu's hospital room with the force of a hurricane, dragging with him Aunt Suki, Mu Sheh and Mr. Tanaka, the craftiest immigration lawyer in al of Nerima. Kentaro looked at the injured boy and felt a wave of pity and love for him. He didn’t see him as being his biggest rival to Ukyo’s affections, but the emotionally fragile boy that he'd met sobbing in the street.

“Man he looks rough” Mu Sheh said in a causal sounding voice that he used to cover the rage.

Suki looked at him “who's he?” she asked them.

“The man Ukyo wants to marry” Kentaro said.

“But I thought that she wanted to marry Ranma?” she inquired confused.

“This is a little more important, they plan to deport him” Ukyo explained.

Suki looked from Kentaro to Ukyo “so you divorced Kentaro for a marriage of convenience?” she stated.

“Its more than that, Mu Tzu's special to me” Ukyo pleaded.

“So you needed me to sign your marriage form to give my permission for this? I don’t think I want to Ukyo” she said.

“Would you rather I just move to China then?” she threatened.

“Ukyo, be reasonable. I just want you to be happy. Kentaro, try and talk her out of this" she pleaded.

“I can’t, she’s doing the right thing” he said standing next to Ukyo.

“Fine, I’ll do it. But two conditions: 1. He has to get a proper education 2. You have to wear the wedding dress of my choosing to your wedding”

“Fine, yes to both things” Ukyo agreed.

Mr. Tanaka strode forward “that's good news for my client. I brought the paperwork with me, if you'll just sign here” he prompted and Suki reluctantly did. “Now what about his parent signature?” he asked.

“Leave that to me” Mu Sheh said and called his Aunt.

“I didn’t know they had phones there?” Kentaro whispered.

Mu Sheh grimaced “yes they have phones, electricity and indoor plumbing. They’re not that primitive” he admonished, he got his Aunt on the phone and explained the situation to her and she agreed to help. “Okay, now just go the library and give me the number there and I'll fax it to you. Then you just have to sign it and fax it back” he explained. “Good news, they just got a fax machine in the library. Quick, someone go to reception and find out the number of their fax machine” Mu Sheh ordered and Kentaro did as he was bid. Everyone waited breathlessly around the fax machine until it printed out the page.

“Okay, as it is a fax, then it's still considered to be a legal document. Now we just need the bride and groom to sign" Mr. Tanaka explained. Ukyo’s head was pounding with nervousness and she couldn’t look Kentaro in the eye. ‘I love him’ she realized ‘and I'm about to marry someone else’ she thought sadly while she signed the document.

Mu Tzu opened his eyes, noticed the room was full of people and thought he was dreaming. The pain killers they'd given him were strong. He giggled a bit when everyone started asking if he was okay at the same time and a pen was forced into his hand. “Sign this” Mu Sheh urged and he did. Mu Tzu, wondering why Mu Sheh was in his dream and why Ukyo looked like she was going to cry, then he put his head back down and fell back to sleep.

Kentaro and Ukyo shared a look and then he said “I bought these on the way over” he said and pulled out two baggies full of gold wedding bands. “I didn’t know the sizes, so I just bought a bunch and can return the rest” he explained and pulled one out of the bag of woman’s rings and tried it on her. It fit perfectly. “You look nice in a wedding ring” he observed, staring into her eyes.

“Ken?” she said softly.

He turned away abruptly “we need to find one that fits Mu Tzu now” he said in a falsely bright tone of voice. They tried a couple on him and finally found one that fit. Seeing Mu Tzu wearing a wedding ring, Ukyo gulped when the reality of the situation sunk in.

“We need to go register this at the government office and get his spouse visa approved” Mr. Tanaka suggested, leading Ukyo out.

Ukyo was surprised at how fast it went and that more documents weren’t required. But then she noticed something. In order to get Mu Tzu’s spouse visa, which was supposed to take several weeks, it was faxed directly to an official that Mr. Tanaka knew and then he spoke with him on the phone. “Hi Shinji, did you get the application that I faxed you? Good, now approve it or your wife finds out what you did with the hooker at last years Christmas party” he said with a wink at Ukyo. “I knew that you’d see the light” he said with a grin of triumph.

She could only stand there stunned as her handed her the Certificate of Acceptance of Notification of Marriage. She was married! “Congratulations Mrs. Mu. I ask that you don’t reveal my unorthodox methods for getting what I want. Let’s just say, I'm very dedicated to my clients and know a lot of secrets” he said with a mysterious smile.

Kentaro

Kentaro sat beside the bed watching Mu Tzu and wondering how he was going to take the news. Mu Tzu stirred and lifted his head. The first sight he saw was something glinting on his finger. He pulled his hand back and wondered about the gold band there. “Mu Tzu” he heard a gentle voice saying.

He turned his head “Kentaro!” he said happily. Then asked “what happened?”

“Shampoo beat you with a metal pole, Ukyo got you to the hospital and married you so that you wouldn’t be deported” Kentaro explained in a rush.

“What do you mean she married me?” Mu Tzu asked stunned.

“Shampoo cancelled your visa and reported you as being here illegally. So they threatened to deport you and Ukyo chose to marry you to prevent that” Kentaro explained.

Mu Tzu pushed himself up as far as his wounds would allow “But she was meant to marry you, not me. You two love each other” he said quietly.

“Hey pal, you can’t change Ukyo’s mind when it’s made up. You’ll learn that in time” he said. “I guess you should take care of her for yourself now and not for me anymore” he said.

“But, I can divorce her and go back to China. Then I won’t be in the way” he volunteered.

“Mu Tzu, we’re all worked hard to keep you here, don’t give up now. Sometimes people aren’t meant to be together. Besides you need someone to care for and she needs a man of her own. Guess it kind of works out” he said. He excused himself when Mu Sheh came back from flirting with a nurse. He left the two cousins to get reacquainted and went outside to look at the blue, blue sky. “Goodbye Ukyo, I'll always love you” he thought and returned to his hotel room to allow the newly wedded couple time to themselves.

The Wedding Day

The wedding chapel that her mother managed to find on a couple of day's notice was small, but elegant. The confection of a wedding dress that she'd managed to dig up for Ukyo was not. Ukyo stood before the altar opposite a stiffly moving Mu Tzu, who wore a tuxedo on her mother’s insistence. Ukyo smiled at him sheepishly amidst her full ballgown style wedding dress. Not only was there enough room under the skirt to fit a family of dwarves, but it had a long train too and there was enough beading and lace on the strapless bodice to make three gowns. The bodice displayed too much bosom for her to be comfortable with and the veil also has crystals all over it and was chapel length. The literal icing on the cake was the crystal tiara. Ukyo did look beautiful, but overdressed.

Mu Tzu had never felt so nervous in his life as he repeated the vows to the woman opposite him, sealing her fate to his. He couldn’t believe how beautiful she looked, but didn’t say so as he suspected that her mother had chosen the dress. He glanced at Kentaro, who was acting as his best man. He just gave him the thumbs up, but glanced away while Mu Tzu and Ukyo exchanged their first kiss as husband and wife.

The priest said that they could kiss “are you sure?" Mu Tzu whispered.

“Kiss me Sugar” she said putting her arms around his neck carefully. He did and all doubts flew away from him while he kissed her.

They had a small banquet at Ukyo’s restaurant and everyone wisely left when Mu Tzu started to fade. “Come on Sugar, lets get you to bed” she said and helped the ashen faced boy to stand. Mu Tzu eyes widened when she took him into her bedroom and opened her closet to get a hanger, he was surprised to see his clothes hanging beside hers. Then he realized that this was his room too now and that he was actually married. He vowed that he would be the best husband he could be to her.

With little protest, Ukyo helped Mu Tzu out of his tux; she noted that it probably would have been more comfortable for him to marry in tradition Chinese robes with his injuries. But none could be located on short notice. Wearing just his underwear she eased him onto the bed. “I have something for you” she said and handed him a box.

He opened it and gasped in surprise when it was a new hidden weapons master cloak. “Where did you get it?” he asked.

“I had it copied from the original by a Chinese seamstress. I hope it’s accurate; she assured me that she used the exact same fabrics” Ukyo said hesitantly. “Do you like it?”

“I love it, this is the nicest thing that anyone's ever done for me. Well besides giving up her dating freedom for me” he said looking her in the eye.

“Dating is so overrated Sugar. Perhaps I just didn’t want to be single?” she said to him.

“You could have married someone else” he said cryptically.

“I married a wonderful guy and let’s leave it at that. Besides, you got the cute fiancée” she said in an ironic tone of voice.

“I got the nicest wife I could have ever hoped for” he replied and leaned forward to kiss her, only to wince when that bothered his wounds.

She helped him lie down on his undamaged side and spooned against him while he slept, as if she could heal his broken body the way she'd healed his broken heart. She lay beside him, his soft skin cradled against her own and listened to his even breaths and she felt contented. What was between them was more like a gently, crackling fire then red hot blaze and that was enough for Ukyo.

What Happened with the Deportation

The officer showed up to deliver the deportation order to Mu Tzu, only to find the hospital door room blocked by the infamous Mr. Tanaka. “Hello Goro, how’s that mistress of yours doing? I bet your wife still doesn’t know about her?” he said. Goro could feel himself turning white. Mr. Tanaka leaned closer “Good, I guess you want to forget all about that crank phone call someone made you to concerning my client not being here legally and congratulate the happy couple on their marriage?” Goro glared at Mr. Tanaka and ripped up the deportation order. Then he returned to his office to write a false report that the caller was wrong.

Ukyo watched as Mu Tzu did up his new school uniform, he looked nervous but gorgeous. She wrinkled her nose as she pulled on her new female one. Her mother had insisted, stating that she couldn’t very well make her husband look like a homosexual and Ukyo had agreed for once. They'd crammed hard for his acceptance tests and were glad of his photographic memory and natural brilliance. It turned out that he had a genius level I.Q.

“You ready?” she asked.

“What if no one likes me?” he asked nervously.

“Nonsense Sugar, what’s not to like? You’re handsome, smart, fun to be with and a tiger in bed” she said, watching him blush. She straightened his collar and held out her hand. “Come on Airen, Furinkan High awaits” she said.

He took her hand and the two of them walked forward towards his new life.