I do not own Ranma 1/2
Miles to Go Before I Wake
They cut the body down at late in the afternoon.
Thankfully it had not been discovered and reported until nearly the end of the school day, so the majority of the school's students had already left by the time the authorities had arrived. They had been able to remove the body fairly discretely with only a few people seeing the bag it was contained in before it was quietly carried away by ambulance. Unfortunately one of the few people who had seen the body before it had been bagged was the dead man's son.
Tatewaki Kuno sat quietly in the teacher's lounge starring though the rather attractive police woman who was talking to someone behind him about something dealing with recent bouts of depression or some other nonsense. Tatewaki felt a distant urge to smile and try to comfort the woman who was looking very nervous and uneasy. However his mind was currently occupied by trying to rid himself of the unpleasant images from earlier in the day.
The morning had been normal enough, he had met the beautiful Akane Tendo at the school's gate, and the pleasure from the encounter was only increased upon finding that she was not accompanied by the Foul Sorcerer Saotome, but by the beautiful Pig Tailed Goddess. Tatewaki had of course greeted them with one of his customary polite greetings, then strangely he had no more memories until he awoke in the school's infirmary to the almost smiling face of Nabiki Tendo. After exchanging pleasantries and cash for more tangible goods with Ms. Tendo, Tatewaki had escorted her back to their classroom where he paid no particular attention to the teacher, instead deciding to focus his energies on cataloging the assets of both his loves.
He continued in this noble endeavor until the lunch hour arrived. This was when Tatewaki first learned of his father's newest declaration, that no student would be able to purchase lunch until they had first received a proper haircut. Tatewaki would most likely have thought little of this newest rule, except for the fact that he had been unable to bring his usual gourmet bento to school today owing to the fact that the previous evening his sister had taken over the Kuno kitchen, and the chefs were still occupied with replacing all the tainted ingredients. In no small part due to the fact that he had no other recourse besides purchasing a meal at the school, Tatewaki felt the need to address this most unfair of decrees. So wielding his trusty bokkan he stormed through the empty teacher's lounge and into burst into his father's office so hard that the door bounced off the wall and closed behind him. The noble words of his declaration of intent died on his lips as his brain started to register the scene before him.
The Hawaiian motif pervaded almost every aspect of the office, from the many faux palm trees along the walls, to the little inflatable pool full of sand complete with castle in a corner of the room. The principal had even gone so far as to replace his desk with a surfboard supported by two clear blocks. The "desk" was empty with the exception of a small piece of paper in the center that Tatewaki couldn't read from his position, and some plaster from the ceiling where the light fixture had separated from its mount due to the weight of his father's body. A small trickle of dust fell to the desk and Tatewaki followed its path up past ... to the ceiling where the light fixture, a ceiling fan with the blades in the shape of palm leafs, had completely come off the ceiling and was hanging only by a few fat wires. It was slowly turning, the wires twisting around themselves first one way, then slowly the other. Tatewaki lowered his eyes and saw ... one of his father's sandals had fallen off. They had been his father's favorite pair, he had bought them shortly after Tatewaki's mother had gone away. Tatewaki was suddenly reminded of that day, he had seen his mother's body shortly before they had cut it down, before one of the maids had been able to cover his eyes and rush him away. She had been gracefully turning in the air, or had that been his father? The two seemed to merge together in his memories suddenly. That's right, his mother couldn't be dead, she had promised him that she would take him to the park again today. And daddy had said that if his important interview at the local college went well he would leave early and they would all go out to eat at his favorite restaurant, even little Dachi would come. So his dad couldn't be dead cause he was coming home early today, and mommy couldn't be dead cause she had promised, promised!
They found Tatewaki a few hours later, curled up on the floor staring at his father's body, mumbling something about a promise over and over. The authorities were quickly contacted and when they arrived, they quickly took charge of the boy who seemed to have gone into shock. Having no better alternatives, the police took the almost comatose boy to his house and left him there in the care of some of the servants. The Kuno servants assured the authorities that they had vast experience with mental disorders and that the young Kuno would be back to normal in a short amount of time. The note that the police found on the desk of Principal Kuno told the story of the ever increasing pressure of several harassment lawsuits coupled with the fact that his own children no longer loved him which lead him to his eventual death at his own hands. It somehow managed to achieve the distinction of being both short yet rambling. It clearly revealed the depths of insanity that the once promising professor had reached.
Tatewaki eventually slowly awoke to his surroundings. He wasn't sure just how long he had been lost in the fog like daze of half remembered, half imaged memories. But he dimly remembered several faces and many documents needing his signature now that he was head of the Kuno household. As his senses returned to him, Tatewaki found himself in a slightly familiar place, his mother's grave. He had come here only a few times before. He had felt silly, the cold marble fixture bearing his mother's name had nothing to do with her, she had been warm and caring, in her own way. The stone was just cold and unfeeling. As his mind cleared further, Tatewaki noticed that to the right of his mother's grave was a new monument, this one with his father's name chiseled into it. It even had a small palm tree decoration carved beside the name.
Suddenly it all came back to him, his father was gone, his mother was also gone. It almost felt like a physical blow, hi quickly looked around and found his sister standing near his side, and a slightly familiar man droning on about how the recently deceased Kuno had been full of life and promise. Aside from the man who Tatewaki now recognized as the local priest, Tatewaki and Kodachi were alone in the cemetery. The priest seemed to be reading from a thick packet of papers with little if any emotion, while Kodachi seemed to be nearly bored out of her mind behind her half veil that did little to cover her face. The sun was shining brightly and the birds were happily singing in the trees, and Tatewaki suddenly felt his tears begin to silently fall. He knew that his father was considered eccentric at best, but to have so few people appear at the funeral, and to have no indication from the outside world of the man's passing, it all seemed somehow inappropriate. Was it really the case that there had been no one in the world who had liked his father enough to at least say good bye without being forced to do so?
Tatewaki could feel Kodachi's questioning gaze as his tears continued to fall. The priest continued to drone on and this caused Tatewaki to feel even worse for some reason, so he cried harder. This went on for another half an hour until Tatewaki thought that he had cried himself out and he just felt empty. Kodachi meanwhile had stood nearby quietly trying to ignore her overly emotional brother while she patiently and dutifully waited for the priest to finish up with the readings that her father had required in his last will and testament. The priest meanwhile finally reached the last line of the deceased's self written eulogy and lighting a few sticks of incense, turned to the two teens and said, "Well I'm sorry for your loss, but I have a busy schedule, so if you will excuse me, goodbye."
With that he turned from the siblings and walked past the many monuments and out the cemetery. Taking that as a conclusion to the matter, Kodachi clapped her hands and bowed toward the two monuments, then turned to follow the priest's path out of the dreary and depressing place. However Kodachi sensed that her brother had not turned to follow her, so she turned and said with a questioning glance, "Tatewaki, its over. Lets go home."
Tatewaki shook himself from his stupor and stared into Kodachi's eyes with an unrecognizable expression that somewhat scared the girl. "What do you mean its over? Father is dead, and no one is here to morn him. No one cared that he lived or died, don't you find that ... sad?"
Tatewaki's comment only caused his sister to quirk her eyebrow as she replied, "Well what is there to be sad about dear brother? The insane lunatic is dead, it is not like he was ever really around anyway, so I don't really see that much of a difference will occur in our daily lives. Anyway, stay if you want, but I'm going home." with that she turned and quickly left. Tatewaki numbly watched his sister leave, then turned back to his parent's graves for a final look. He didn't know how long he loitered before the cold marble, but finally he too turned and made his way out of the cemetery and away from the final resting place of his parents.
As he neared the gates leading out of the cemetery, Tatewaki looked up from the pavement long enough to avoid stumbling into a person leaning against the outer wall near the opening. It took a few seconds for Tatewaki to recognize the person as none other than Nabiki Tendo. She was had been staring intently at the ground in front of the cemetery, thus she didn't notice Tatewaki's approach until he had nearly impacted with her, but once she was aware of him, her gaze swept up and her eyes met with Tatewaki's. For a moment there was something in her eyes that made Tatewaki feel something that he had long ago forgotten about. It had been so long ago, that he no longer could accurately identify the momentary feeling. Nabiki's expression soon changed to a neutral one, but Tatewaki missed this since he had looked in another direction almost immediately, in order to break the tenuous connection they had had with their eyes. Nabiki took a step towards Tatewaki, and as nonchalantly as possible, said, "Hello Kuno – ba ... Kuno, I heard about your loss, and I just wanted to let you know that I was sorry."
Tatewaki could feel his eyes begin to water again and he didn't know why. He momentarily felt that maybe crying in front of the mercenary of Furinkan High School was not a good idea. But that notion was almost immediately overwhelmed by the need to release what had been building up within him. He felt the strange feeling to try and make someone, anyone, hurt as much as he was hurting. It just wasn't fair that no one cared about his father's death, not even himself. And that was the real reason he felt so bad, he felt that his emotions where unfilial, and therefore betrayed his family.
So without any other thought besides the desire to hurt those around him as much as possible in order to decrease his own self hate, Tatewaki regrettably opened his mouth. "I suppose its only good business to pretend to care about the welfare of important clients. I expect that you are going to demonstrate the depths of your sorrow by offering a discount on the pictures for all of next week."
Nabiki's face shifted from pity to confusion, "Wha ... no Kuno, I ..." She tried to explain and calm him down, but Tatewaki was having none of that, he had found an outlet for his emotions, and he would be damned if he let her take that away from him.
So Tatewaki briskly interrupted whatever Nabiki had been about to say. "Save it Nabiki Tendo, I know that your faking your concern. I appreciate the effort, its more than anyone else has seen fit to do. Even my own sister ..." He let out a sigh, "I know that my father was not well liked, nay in fact he was almost universally despised by all including myself, and I do not expect the denizens of Furinkan High School to go into mourning for an entire year. But he was my father, the only one that I had. I know he wasn't the best of men, but shouldn't there be more people mourning his passing?" Watching as Nabiki's expression turned from surprise back to pity, something inside Tatewaki's chest clenched and he turned his face away from Nabiki's while he felt his eyes tearing up again. Cursing himself for his continuing weakness Tatewaki continued. "Is the reason that I'm the only one sad right now because I am the one responsible for his death? I mean first I killed my mother, then I drove my father insane and killed him too. I killed them, it is my fault, so my guilt must be the cause of my sadness."
Not waiting for Tatewaki to fall apart any further, Nabiki quickly closed the distance between them and with a hand stinging slap brought Tatewaki's attention back to her. "Listen," she said, "listen Kuno – baby, your father was his own person, he made a decision himself, a very stupid and selfish decision, but one which I am totally sure that you had no influence on. And your mother killed herself when you were what, five? There's no way that you could have been the reason for her death. Now quit blaming yourself for the actions of others."
Tatewaki had been staring into Nabiki's eyes despite the tears that he felt slowly falling down his cheeks as she had spoken, so he was witness to something rarely seen in the middle Tendo sister, earnestness. She truly believed in what she had said. Tatewaki had to somehow convincer her of the truth. He brought pain and death to those he loved. "Nabiki," Tatewaki started, only later being amazed at himself for being so forward, "if you only knew what I have done. the day before my mother died, I had been bothering her ceaselessly about her letting me play with some friends, but she told me repeatedly that they were below my status and that I should stop seeing them altogether. Then I ... " Tatewaki swallowed a sob at the memory that haunted his nightmares. "I told her that I hated her, and that I wished that she was ... dead. I killed her, if only I had done as she asked, she might not have died. Then when father found out, he told me again and again that it was my fault that she had died, and then he refused to see me anymore. Then one night he got really drunk and stormed out of the house and on the way out he saw me and cursed me once more. I ... I told him that I hoped he never came back, and he didn't. He didn't come back until just last year when he returned from Hawaii, and even then he was a stranger, a lunatic in the form of my father. Now he is dead, and this too must be my fault, its always my fault."
As he talked, Tatewaki's head had dropped until he was staring at the ground where his tears made slow intermittent splashes on the pavement. The view became obstructed however when Nabiki removed any remaining space between the two and pulled Tatewaki into a fierce hug. Tatewaki acted on instinct and wrapped his arms around Nabiki as he buried his face in her shoulder where his eyes decided to release all safeties and allow the flood waters free reign. Nabiki reassuringly rubbed circles on his back as she tried to calm him down. "Tatewaki, you've made a lot of bad decisions in life, and many mistakes. We all have. But you could never be responsible for the death of someone else. I know you to well, you might be an idiot most of the time, but you would never deliberately cause harm to someone else (except Ranma she quietly thought to herself). I don't care what you think, you had nothing to do with your parent's deaths. Somehow I am going to convince you of that fact."
Nabiki let Tatewaki cry on her for a few more minutes before she discretely directed them over to a nearby bench where Tatewaki tried to bury his head in his hands, but Nabiki took possession of one of the hands while she continued to pat his back, so he had to be satisfied with merely covering his eyes with his free hand while he continued to weep and Nabiki continued to murmur comforting words.
By the time that Tatewaki had cried himself out the sun was in a much lower position in the sky and he was feeling exhausted. He had always been weak, but this was the first time in a very long while that he had let someone else see just how weak he really was. To top it all off, the person he had allowed to see him at his weakest was one of the people he had never wanted to show that side of himself to the most. Feeling Nabiki's hand still on his back slowly circling, continuing to try and comfort him, Tatewaki acutely felt just how close she was, and how inappropriately he was acting. Tatewaki stood up suddenly, so suddenly in fact that Nabiki gave out a small cry of surprise. Without really looking either the direction of Nabiki or his parent's grave, Tatewaki quickly rushed back out of the cemetery. As he was making his retreat he tossed over his shoulder, "I apologize Nabiki Tendo, please disregard my antics on this occasion, they were merely my distraught ramblings stemming from the loss... the loss of ..." He couldn't go on with his thought much less his sentence, so he started to run away from her, away from them, away from everyone and everything, trying to find a safe place.
Instead Tatewaki found himself in front of the Kuno grounds. As usual the main house was dark and silent, its windows reflecting the now setting sun. Tatewaki knew that even on a normal day the only area of the Kuno compound that really showed any signs of life where the servant's quarters which where housed in a smaller building separate from the main mansion. They were one of the few areas in the compound that were not booby trapped.
Tatewaki walked through the darkened halls of the Kuno estate steering clear of the areas he knew his sister routinely frequented. He paused briefly before the door to his room, but with a sigh he continued on until he had reached his father's former chambers. Tatewaki was tired of struggling with his emotions and being alone in his room would probably just lead to more inner reflection, and he was far too tired for any of that. Perhaps he could find some sort of rest by occupying his mind with closing his father's affairs and becoming acquainted with the duties demanded from the head of the Kuno household.
Walking through the sitting room, the Hawaiian motif served only to remind him of the loss of his father. Ignoring the bedroom for now, Tatewaki made his way into his father's private office. A room seldom used judging by the normality of the décor. Lining the walls were tall bookshelves which were filled with books f law and other ancient manuscripts covered with a thick layer of dust. These were relics from the days of Tatewaki's grandfather, a well respected lawyer who had also for a time been a member of the legislature. Sadly he had died several years before Tatewaki's birth, so all Tatewaki knew of him came from a single stern portrait on display in the attic, and this vast collection of books which seemed to trace the linage of Japanese law all the way back to the days of the Shogunate.
Sitting down at the huge walnut desk occupying the space next to the now darkened window, Tatewaki noticed that nearly everything in the office was coated in a layer of dust, including the musty high-backed leather chair he was currently occupying. The only exception to this being a stack of cardboard boxes in a corner behind the desk. Reaching into the topmost, Tatewaki retrieved an unopened letter addressed to his father from a company that he wasn't sure he had ever heard of. Opening the letter he found a statement of the second quarter earnings of a stock portfolio.
Intrigued, Tatewaki dug deeper and then examined the contents of the other boxes beneath the first, finding hundreds of letters from many different financial institutions, as well as from a few law firms. Some of them had been opened, but the majority of them had remained sealed. They dated back from two weeks prior, to almost all the way to the date of his grandfather's death. Spying another stack of boxes closer to the door of the room, hiding behind a leather love-seat, Tatewaki dragged them over to the desk and opened them as well. Here he found bills and invoices documenting all the expenses the Kuno household had accumulated, covering almost the same time period as the other documents. Apparently whenever his father had received business documents, the servants had just dumped them into this room and promptly ignored them.
The previous year Tatewaki had been unable to sign up for an elective at the same time as all the other students due to some rather severe injuries he had mysteriously sustained. Thus he had been forced into the only remaining open course, an introduction to accounting. Thanking his then misfortune, Tatewaki searched through the disused desk until he had found an old ledger, whose first few pages were filled with what he assumed was his grandfather's deft handwriting. Turning to a blank page, Tatewaki located a heavy and expensive looking pen, then taking the earliest documents he began to record amounts.
Several hours later, Tatewaki failed to notice as the sun started to creep over the horizon, augmenting the light in the office beyond that provided by the desk lamp Tatewaki had been dependent upon until that point. He now had a rough understanding of the Kuno finances, and he was troubled. While the Kuno fortune was still substantial, it had dwindled alarmingly over the past 15 years. It seemed that no one had paid any attention to the finances so long as there was money in the account when they needed it. This left the fate of the fortune in the hands of lawyers and financial institutes who didn't really care about the state of the account either, so long as they were paid. many of the investments made in Tatewaki's grandfather's time had long ago stopped being profitable, but due to poor oversight no one had changed any of the investments. This needed to be rectified as soon as possible, and Tatewaki decided he needed to contact several people after businesses opened again following the federal holiday that was currently underway.
Tatewaki wearily rubbed his eyes and was suddenly reminded by his growling stomach that it had been quite some time since he had last eaten. Taking a final look at the ledger that was now covered in his even handwriting, and the carefully organized stacks of documents he had sorted the letters into, Tatewaki stood up from the desk and made his way out of the office and his father's sanctum. Quietly traversing the halls of the Kuno mansion, Tatewaki finally came to the kitchen, where he found only the same darkness which blanketed the rest of the house. This was unusual since by this time the cook had usually already started on breakfast. Noticing a small note on the counter of the central island, Tatewaki picked it up and read, "Due to the unbearable working conditions that we have been subjected to, we are leaving." It was signed by the entire staff including the maids and chauffeur. Even Sasuke's name was on it, though it had hastily been crossed out.
Tatewaki sighed, the Kuno household was used to rapid staff turnover. he remembered as a young boy it had seemed as if the staff changed almost weekly. Making a mental note to fill the now vacant positions, Tatewaki threw away the note and turned his attention to the refrigerator in a desperate attempt to feed himself.
As he was trying to determine exactly how to transform the raw material he saw before him into something edible, he felt the presence of someone behind him. Turning he found his sister, who had abandoned her mourning dress in favor of her usual leotard. Tatewaki knew that his sister was an accomplished cook, however he also knew that she enjoyed adding superfluous ingredients to her recipes such as paralysis powder. Thus he rapidly came to the conclusion that perhaps it would be advantageous to his health if he searched for sustenance from an independent third party.
"Well dear sister, it seems that once again our servants have forsaken us. therefore I suppose until I hire a new staff we must accommodate ourselves in the arena of culinary arts."
Kodachi regarded her brother sleepily for a moment, raising her eyebrow slightly at his rumpled appearance before answering, "Dear brother, fear not for I will be more than willing to prepare cuisine enough for the two of us, and perhaps even Sasuke."
Tatewaki tried to hide his grimace as he replied, "No need to trouble yourself dear sister, this morning I feel myself craving a breakfast that can only be obtained from an established dining facility. So please excuse me, but I must take my leave." So saying Tatewaki walked past his sister and eventually found his way out of the house, not caring in which direction he traveled in. After a quarter of an hour's ramble he came upon a small outdoor cafe which was just opening. Ignoring the strange looks of the employees at his appearance, Tatewaki ordered an iced coffee and some sugary confection. However when his order arrived he found that once more his appetite had deserted him. Therefore he sipped at his coffee while reading a newspaper he had purchased during his stroll.
Nabiki Tendo hated getting up early, actually she despised it, and it was even more of a crime when she had to do it during a holiday. Anytime that began with a single digit and ended with a.m. should be outlawed. This was one of the reasons that she wasn't in the most pleasant of moods that fine day. A local electronics store was having a drastic reduction sale on digital camera equipment, but it ended at 10 a.m., and due to the technical nature of the purchase, Nabiki felt that no one else in the house would be able to go shopping in her stead. She saw the other reason she was in a bad mood on the way back from making her purchases, while she was walking down the street swinging the plastic bags that held her cameras and planning on which positions would be the best to place them. Tatewaki Kuno had been on her mind all last night and early this morning. She couldn't figure him out, her heart went out to him, but it seemed as is he was unwilling to forgive himself for something that he had no control over. He was also now sitting at a small cafe across the street where Nabiki was now walking.
Tatewaki was still wearing the black suit that he had been wearing the previous day, although somewhere he had lost the tie and loosened the shirt collar. Adding to his rumpled clothes, his hair was more disheveled than she had ever seen it, and his clearly bloodshot eyes where accented by the dark bags underneath them. What really shook Nabiki however was the vacant expression that he wore. Tatewaki looked for the lack of a better word, lost. He was holding a newspaper in front of him, but he wasn't as truly reading it as he was just staring through it, his eyes unfocused and unblinking.
Nabiki again recalled the previous day and how Tatewaki had broken down in front of her. She also vividly remembered the sad event that was her own mother's funeral, and though at the time she had been inconsolable, she also remembered how later she appreciated all the people who had attended and provided her with quiet support and sympathy. Therefore, while she had no real feelings towards the death of Principal Kuno, Nabiki felt compelled to attend the funeral for Tatewaki's sake if nothing else.
When she had initially arrived at the cemetery, she had feared that her much tauted information network had been mistaken for once. She had been able to find out that the funeral was to happen today, but it couldn't be since there seemed to be no one at the cemetery. Searching again however, Nabiki's network once again proved itself. The Kuno funeral was in progress, but it must have been decided to be a private family affair since the only people in attendance where the young Kunos and the local priest.
Deciding that they wished for privacy, Nabiki retreated to the entrance to the cemetery and loitered next to an expensive looking limousine parked nearby. She hadn't been waiting long when Kodachi passed her and climbed into the limousine before Nabiki could say anything. Nabiki turned, expecting Tatewaki to be following his sister, but to her surprise, the limousine shortly took off without him.
Looking back into the cemetery, Nabiki saw Tatewaki still standing next to his parent's monuments for a few minutes more, until he turned and started to make his way to where she was waiting. Staring at the ground, Tatewaki didn't see her until he was right on top of her. Nabiki didn't exactly recall what had been said, but she did recall Tatewaki's misplaced blame, blaming himself for the deaths of his parents. With the scene still fresh in her mind, Nabiki shook herself and made her way over to the crosswalk where she waited for the signal to change so she could go and straighten out Tatewaki once and for all.
Tatewaki felt ... distant would probably be the best word. Distant not only from his immediate surroundings, but from his memories and emotions as well. The lack of sleep, coupled with his immersing himself in number crunching for several hours as well as the monumental emotional drain he had undergone, all caused him to be so exhausted that ... well he didn't know what. He didn't know what he should be doing, or what he should be feeling, or even what he should be thinking. All the things he had thought were so important just a few minutes ago, now felt if not meaningless, then pushed so far from his consciousness as to make them nearly so. He was currently occupied by getting lost in the way that the ink bled into the fibers of the newspaper in front of him, as the ice in his coffee clinked softly as it melted in time with the hustle and bustle of the rest of the world as it passed him by.
Suddenly the world intruded upon his mental abstractions when someone sat down in the seat in front of him. Slowly looking up, Tatewaki found that Nabiki Tendo had already helped herself to the crusty pastry he had ordered. She then grabbed the attention of one of the passing waitresses and after placing an order for a cappuccino, turned to regard Tatewaki. Upon closer inspection she found his condition even worse than her initial assessment. His eyes didn't see her so much as see through her. His fingers seemed to be stained with ink, and he seemed unusually pale and anemic. Suddenly she felt a little twinge of guilt over having let him walk away the previous day.
Deciding to keep up the "everything is normal, so you should be too" routine she had started by stealing his turnover, Nabiki opened up with, "Wow Kuno – baby, you haven't looked this bad since the last time my sister beat the stuffing out of you." Actually secretly she somewhat liked his new look, he seemed so much more intense, and real than his usual samurai persona. She expected that Tatewaki would rise to the bait and either become angry or at least start declaring his amorous intentions towards her sister. Thus Nabiki was surprised when Tatewaki's eyes focused on her for only a second before he put down his paper and turned to vacantly regard the ever increasing flow of traffic.
Nabiki was about to try and break through to Tatewaki again when she was interrupted by the efficient server bringing her cappuccino whose swirling eddies had been artistically crafted into a string of hearts. The waitress winked at Nabiki as she was leaving, no doubt laboring under the impression that the two high school students where a couple. Nabiki grimaced slightly at the fact that anyone could even conceive of her being involved with Tatewaki. She then lifted the cup and sipped at the delightfully prepared drink. Carefully setting the cup back down on its saucer, Nabiki decided to try a different tactic.
"What's wrong Kuno? I know for a fact that there was little if any love between your father and you. Definitely not enough for you to feel this badly. And that stuff you said yesterday, you can't really mean it, I mean logically there is no way you were responsible for either of your parent's deaths. So snap out of it, I know its the start of summer break, but you are still the 'Blue Thunder of Furinkan High School' and that means you are obligated to chase after my sister and her fiancée while spouting moldy quotes."
All while Nabiki had spoken, Tatewaki had remained steadfastly fixated on watching the crowd go by. Nabiki was wondering if he had even heard her at all when he sighed deeply and in a normal if somewhat tired and quiet voice, he started to talk.
"I'm tired Nabiki," he said, still without looking at her. "I'm just so tired of all these emotions I thought I had locked away, but they have returned to me with a vengeance. I'm tired of having to realize that I am a failure not only as a son but as a brother. I'm tired of the knowledge that my father was so universally hated that even his own children could not mourn at his funeral. He alienated everyone around him by indulging in his own fantasies and forcing others to indulge with him. I ask myself am I any different, and I don't like the answer. Will I too spend my life living in a delusion, a wastrel hedonist, until at the end, at my funeral, there will be no one?" With this he closed his eyes and pressed his face into his hands, the continued to speak. "I find myself taking on more and more responsibility, more than I am really ready fore, because I am the most sane inmate of the Kuno Asylum." Without opening his eyes he crossed his arms on the table and laid his head upon them. "I'm so tired of that huge, dark, empty, cold house. I don't want to go back there and face those responsibilities. I'm not good enough, I never was." The last part of this speech had dwindled in volume almost to a whisper that Nabiki had to strain to hear.
Nabiki had been surprised at first not only by how normal Tatewaki was sounding, but also by how informal he was being, it was almost as if he regarded her as his friend. Her surprise quickly gave way first to pity, then to anger as Tatewaki continued to talk. Anger at the fact that Tatewaki was being such a spineless wimp. She wanted to shake him, yell at him about how he should own up and accept the fact that he was now head of the Kuno household, and the responsibilities associated with such a title. But she also understood where he was coming from, and just how fragile a state he was in. So she scooted her chair over to his side of the table and pulled him into an embrace and said, "Come on now, it might seem like a lot has hit you all at once, but the trick is to break it all down into smaller bits, things you can deal with one at a time." Being in such close proximity to him, she could clearly smell the fact that he had not taken a bath recently. "The first thing you need to do is clean up and get some rest. It won't seem so bad after a good night's sleep."
Tatewaki didn't look up, but he clearly mumbled, "I don't want to go back to that place." Nabiki supposed that he was referring to his own house, so thinking for only a moment, she proposed,
"Well then, you can come home with me and sleep it off there. As long as you promise not to chase after anyone, or try to hurt Ranma." Nabiki gently pulled on Tatewaki, and he didn't resist, so she reached into his pocket and pulling out his wallet paid their bill and then grabbing her bags, led him in the direction of the Tendo Dojo. Conveniently forgetting to put his wallet back where she found it.
More coming soon.
By the way this piece was not beta'd since I have no beta reader. I wish to correct this. Anyone interested please pm me.