Fields of Gold

Songfic to Sting's "Fields of Gold" by Rabid Lola

Disclaimer: I don't own Fields of Gold (though I love that song...), Ranma ½, Ryoga, or Ukyo. Only their kids and the huge field of wheat.

Warning: EXTREMELY WAFFY.

...You'll remember me when the west wind moves

Upon the fields of barley

You'll forget the sun in his jealous sky

As we walk in the fields of gold...

Wheat. Wheat. And more wheat.

Ryoga was beginning to panic.

He'd taken Ukyo for a walk, a whole day off...something he'd been looking forward to for a long time. It wasn't often he got to spend time with his busy chef girlfriend. Unfortunately...which was most typical for Ryoga Hibiki...the two had ended up lost. Well, you couldn't actually blame them. I mean, when you're young, in love, alone together, and totally absorbed in each other...you kinda lose track of what's happening around you. Compound that with the Hibiki directional sense...or, rather, lack of it...and you're lucky you remain in the same galaxy.

So they found themselves in a wheat field. You know, one of those fields with crops taller than you, so that you can get totally, and completely, lost. And they realized...there are no wheat fields anywhere in Nerima. But they didn't mind...not really. Sure, Ukyo whapped Ryoga with her "gigantic kitchen utensil" a couple of times, but she kept hold of his hand, and they stuck together, trying to find their way out.

And suddenly, Ukyo had slipped off to find something...and Ryoga noticed too late...and now he was lost. And, more importantly, his girlfriend was lost. And alone. And no one was around to protect her if something happened to her and if anything did Ranma would kill him if he didn't kill himself first and he'd die anyway without any help if anything bad happened to Ukyo and...

Shh. Focus. Breathe.

Ryoga continued to thrash frantically among the wheat stalks, trying not to break any, even alternately leaping high into the air to see if he could catch sight of the brown head with the white bow.

...So she took her love

For to gaze awhile

Upon the fields of barley...

Ukyo stifled a giggle as she hid in the wheat behind him, mischief brimming in her big brown eyes. She'd actually backtracked to find one of her mini- spatulas...it had fallen out of her bandoleer. And she'd begun looking for a way out of the wheat field...until she heard Ryoga's frantic calls and the hell of noise he was making. He wasn't hard to find...now, she couldn't resist but watch him sweat a little, as he frantically dashed in and out, weaving between the crops.

Until he began to glow green. Her eyes widened.

"SHI SHI HO-"

WHAM!

"Agh!"

She tackled him, and they landed in a heap, Ukyo on top of Ryoga. She laughed and punched him lightly. "You baka...I'm right here."

Ryoga glared up at her. "Ukyo!"

"The Shi Shi Hokoudan wouldn't have helped, anyway," she continued, still laughing.

"You had me worried, you know!"

"I just went to find one of my spatulas...hey! stop!"

She shrieked with laughter as a grin crooked one side of his mouth, and he began to tickle her mercilessly.

...In his arms she fell as her hair came down

Among the fields of gold...

She tried to twist out of his grasp, pummeling him just as mercilessly. They rolled over and over, ending up beside each other...and he was still tickling her. And she was still hitting at him. Too bad for her...Ryoga was an expert at holding people down. And tickling them. "Stop!" she gasped, in between laughs. "Not...fair!"

Ryoga stopped, for a while...his hair was more a mess than usual, from rolling, and hers was in equal disarray. Both of them were flushed, panting, and feeling exceptionally giddy. He grinned down at her, green eyes sparkling...

And Ukyo whapped him good with one of her spatulas.

"Hey!"

...Will you stay with me, will you be my love

Among the fields of barley

We'll forget the sun in his jealous sky

As we lie in the fields of gold...

She rolled out of reach, and lay on her back, folding her arms under her head. "Just kidding, sugar."

He chuckled and crawled over to her, lying beside her. They stared up at nothing, just blue sky, white clouds...and tall golden wheat.

They were still lost.

Yet they did not move, choosing without discussion to stay in their positions...and they enjoyed each other's presence, the nice certainty that their other half was there, always there, never to leave. Not in spirit, anyway.

Ryoga idly took hold of Ukyo's hand, his fingers twining gently with hers.

...See the west wind move like a lover so

Upon the fields of barley

Feel her body rise when you kiss her mouth

Among the fields of gold...

"Your hands are so huge," she said softly, idly.

He brought their clasped hands up to his mouth and kissed her white hand gently. "They would be."

She chuckled as she moved closer to him, hugging him briefly. "Not that I mind."

He smiled as he snaked his arm around her, returning her embrace, holding her to him.

"Ryoga...I love you."

He grinned. "I'm honored."

She laughed, swatting at him. He caught her hand and placed a light kiss on her forehead, then moved down to her mouth, feeling his whole body tingle with that strange feeling that was not a feeling that Ukyo always inspired in him.

She returned his kiss willingly, sweetly.

...I never made promises lightly

And there have been some that I've broken...

And he knew, even when all the tingly-new-love feeling abated, settled, ceased to be candy-colored and fluffy, the real, deeper truth would remain forever.

Breaking the kiss, he whispered softly into her ear.

"I love you too, Ukyo."

...But I swear in the days still left

We'll walk in the fields of gold

We'll walk in the fields of gold...

They remained a while, Ukyo with her head on Ryoga's chest, listening to his heartbeat, him with his head on her hair. Then, as one, they sighed and began to get up. Ukyo pushed Ryoga back into the ground as she levered herself up, grinning. He glared at her, grinned, and took the hand she was holding out to him.

In the same movement, he slipped something he'd pulled from his pocket onto her finger.

Ukyo gasped, and stared at the sparkling diamond band.

Ryoga looked on, a little nervous, a little reckless. "Would you...would you accept it?"

The answer was incoherent, for a while...it would be, if you were cutting off your new fianc's breathing by embracing him in a sort of stranglehold and crying your eyes out on his shoulder.

Ryoga managed to save himself, though, untangling her arms from his neck and finally gaining a coherent, if watery, "Yes."

Now he wanted to cut off her air supply...but he settled for taking her hand, a huge, albeit goofy grin on his face, and continuing their walk.

She squeezed his hand tightly.

Hand in hand, they walked through the wheatfield, trying to find their way out, a tall, muscular boy with a yellow-and-black bandanna holding back his hair, and a slender, willowy girl with a bandoleer of spatulas, plus a huge one strapped on her back. And a diamond ring on her finger, of course.

And they found out that they could stop being lost in a pretty short time, if they wanted to.

...Many years have passed since those summer days

Among the fields of barley

See the children run as the sun goes down

Among the fields of gold...

Years later, a gray pickup truck wound around the bend of the road passing the same wheatfield. Suddenly, for seemingly no reason at all, it slowed, and stopped.

In the passenger's seat, Ukyo Hibiki glanced at her husband, a questioning look on her face. Ryoga stared back, then out at the window. "Does this place look familiar to you?"

Ukyo grinned slowly. "You know, it does."

Seven-year-old Akashan Hibiki's round face appeared in the window, large brown eyes framed by unruly black hair. "Mama, why did we stop?"

Her brother Ranmei, older by two years, added, "Are we going to do anything here?"

"No, your mother and I just remembered something," Ryoga replied, smiling.

"Are your other siblings all right back there?" Ukyo asked.

In the back of the pickup, apart from the luggage, the older girl and boy had a tot each, sitting on their laps...Four-year-old Ikumi, a tiny, cheerful girl, with sparkling green eyes, and the newest, a little boy nearly one year old, named, for some random reason, Shuriken.

"We're all ok!" Akashan replied.

"Good," Ryoga called, continuing to drive.

They passed the field and continued on home, to Nerima, where Aunt Akane and Uncle Ranma, Aunt Shampoo and Uncle Mousse, and all their children would be waiting with a Welcome Home feast at the Tendo Dojo.

As they drove on, Ryoga took Ukyo's hand, and held it gently, for a while.

You'll remember me when the west wind moves

Upon the fields of barley

You can tell the sun in his jealous sky

When we walked in the fields of gold

When we walked in the fields of gold

When we walked in the fields of gold

...-...

A/N: Tolja it was waffy. Can't believe I wrote that... .