I don't blame god. I don't blame my missing parents, or the orphanage that I spent my first ten years in. There's so much responsibility, but only so much accountability. And if no one else is willing to take it, I will. I don't blame god, but that's where it started. Maybe I never believed in god, or maybe I just didn't care. But I prayed one night, when I was sad and lonely, sitting in the orphanage. I prayed for a change. I prayed for a way out. I'd never prayed before in my life, and I think he knew that. I think that's why things got so fucked up. Because he knew I never meant the promises I made him when I asked him to help me.

But there he was, holding out his hand. No one could see it but me. When the field trip bus left for Tokyo that day, I knew that he was holding his hand out to me, showing me the way out. And I took it. When the bus stopped in front of the Juuban Historical Museum, I took a left turn out the doors and ran as fast as I could. They couldn't catch me. No one can catch me when I start running. I can outrun anything; even myself. I ran until all I saw was people everywhere. I lost myself in them, and in time, I found a place to call home. A place where no one cared who you were, or where you came from, as long as you fit the mold. I fit the mold. And I found a family of sorts. A good young woman and her younger brother who took me in like I was their own flesh and blood.

They were running too, in some way or another. We're all running from something. But now I can't run anymore. I've done bad things. I've hurt people, and I've hurt myself, and I don't know how to reconcile the face in the mirror with the kid I used to be. I don't think, if I had my ten year old self sitting in front of me, that I could look him in the eye. He'd be ashamed of me; of what I've done.

So here I sit...in a dingy apartment in north Juuban, with a bottle of whiskey in one hand, and a Glock 17 in the other. I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet. I'm not drunk enough to decide. The bottle reaches my lips, and I can feel the tears squeezing out of my closed eyes as the bitter taste of losing everything washes over my tongue and burns it's way down my throat. I'd give anything to have those moments back. In the blink of an eye, a life can be taken, a light snuffed out. A light in the darkness; my guiding light. And it was my fault.

My every breath is saturated with bourbon, and I close my eyes again, as the gun replaces the bottle. I can feel the proof of my guilt coursing down my cheeks, and my right leg is shaking violently. Even after everything that's happened, I still fear death. I'm still afraid of the unknown. I've been there before, but I still haven't made the final crossing. And it frightens me.

BANG BANG BANG

"Hey, Keona, you in there?"

Fuck...Takai is out there. The gun goes on the small folding metal table next to my stained, ratty old lazy boy. Don't even know what color the fucking thing used to be. Another swig of whiskey to help the equilibrium, and I'm on my way to the door. I unbolt the door, and unlock the chain, and turn the knob lock. Cracking the door open, I stare through what I'm sure are dark-rimmed, sunken eyes. "What the fuck do you want?"

"Aiko sent me over to check on you man. You okay?" Takai is a fuck...a useful fuck, but a fuck nonetheless. Still, he's a friend, and he's one of the few I've got left. He's short...about five eight, so he has to look up to me. His eyes are a little too close together, and they're a shade of shit-brown that makes you suspicious as soon as you see em'. His nose is a little too big, and his mouth a little too small. Sitting atop that ugly mug is a slicked back mass of greasy black hair. He's not the best looking guy in the world. But he speaks perfect English, and he's a hell of a singer...and not by Japanese standards. Women love him despite his ugliness.

I open the door, and invite him inside. He takes one step in, and steps right back out. "What the fuck, Keona? Smells like a fucking moonshine still in there. You been hittin' the sauce a little hard the last couple weeks haven't ya?"

I sit back down in my recliner, and I notice his eyes traveling to the handgun next to the chair. "Why do you care. I drink. So what? I've always drank."

"Not like this Kiki. You're drinking yourself to death man. You're gonna kill yourself one of these days if you don't slow the fuck down!" His voice is plaintive, his expression desperate. He's really reaching out here...literally, his hands are reaching out to me, beseeching. It's almost like a fucking intervention...just without the therapy and the forced treatment. I'm so touched that I just manage not to laugh at his last sentence. If he only knew. "C'mon man, if you're gonna get smashed, at least do it in the proper venue, with other people around to roll you over so you don't drown in your own vomit. This is bullshit man. C'mon."

I roll my eyes, and shake my head drunkenly. "I'm fine where I am, Taki."

"It's Takai, you drunk fuck! Now get up, you're coming with me." He gestures for me to get up out of the chair. Too drunk to argue anymore, I just stand up and follow, making sure to tuck my Glock into the waistband of my baggy black pants. I'm about to follow him out the door, when he looks at me as if I'm a lunatic. "Shower first, Kiki. You stink."

I shrug my shoulders and head back to the bathroom. "Brew me some coffee while I'm washin' up." I call over my shoulder.

His response floats through the apartment to me as I'm closing the door to my tiny bathroom. "You know, the only thing you get when you give a drunk coffee is a wide awake drunk."

I don't respond, but instead turn my attention to the mirror. I do look like shit. I shake my head, and start with brushing my teeth. It's easy to lose yourself in the small daily rituals that you go through. It's easy for the mind to wander. It's easy. But not for me. My mind stays focused. And as I continue to look in the mirror, it's not me I see anymore. Fresh tears come, and I look at the face staring back at me, pain and sorrow etched on his face. My brother. Or the closest thing I ever had to one. Yes...I'm focused.

Soun Tendo sat in the Krazy Kat strip club in downtown Juuban, drowing his sorrows in cheap alcohol, cheap cigarettes and relatively cheap women. His plan to unite the schools was falling apart, and he didn't know what to do anymore. He and Genma had tried everything. It was clear that Ranma and Akane had feelings for each other, but they'd been unable to get either of them to admit it to the other. He thought back to the wedding, just two weeks past. Ranma and Akane were being civil to each other now, and seemed to be growing closer, but the wedding had shaken his faith in the whole thing. He knew who was responsible too. His middle daughter, Nabiki.

He had tried to berate her for it afterward, but she'd quickly pointed out to him that he had no place to question her when his actions of the past ten years were held to light. He was ashamed of himself, and he hated to admit it. He was defeated, and he didn't know where to go from here. He couldn't teach anymore. He could barely fight. He hadn't trained seriously since...since then.

He poured another dish of cheap sake down his throat, and gazed up at the stripper shaking her naked ass in front of him. He appraised it with an objective eye, and then decided that it couldn't compare. He didn't know why he came to these places. He spent the whole time comparing these women to his beloved, and finding all of their flaws. Perhaps their flaws mirrored his own in some way.

He became aware of a presence on his right as he poured another dish of sake. He glanced over, and found his new viewing company to be two young men. The first was a short, scrawny, ugly man wearing a pair of faded jeans and a long-sleeved black shirt. The other was taller, perhaps Soun's height, with black hair shorn close to the scalp. His face was pale and devoid of emotion, and his eyes had the dark rings of sleep deprivation around them. He wore a pair of baggy tan khaki's and a white t-shirt with a nice looking black leather jacket over it. It was the eyes themselves though, that Soun really noticed. Green, like emeralds, and dark with raw emotion. Here was a fellow mourner, Soun knew. A kindred spirit who felt the pain of loss as keenly as he did. He could always spot them. They knew each other instantly. Suffering is a bond that transcends all bounds of class and ethnicity, religion and creed.

He nodded his head to the young man, and the young man nodded back. Soun picked up his bottle and dish, and his pack of cigarettes and walked around the ugly man to sit next to the other young man. "Hello." He said, as he pulled a cigarette from his pack. The young man nodded again, a bit uncomfortably, this time, and Soun pulled another cigarette from his pack. "Smoke?" The kid looked at it for a moment, then nodded his head and slowly reached out and took it.

Placing the smoke between his lips, the kid said, "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Replied Soun, holding up his lighter for the kid. The kid lit the cigarette and gave the lighter back. He looked up at the stripper, and then over at the bottle of sake. He began looking around for a waitress, when Soun decided to give the kid a drink on him. He poured some sake in the dish, and set it down in front of the kid. "Here...I've had a good head start. I've got to be getting home soon anyway."

The kid nodded his head and tossed back the sake. Setting the dish down, he said, "Thanks." He took a drag of his cigarette, and held it in for a moment. He looked up at the stripper and blew the smoke out. "I'm Keona."

"Tendo Soun." He cocked his head to the left, and said, "What's your family name son?"

Keona shrugged. "Don't know. I'm an orphan. My parents just dropped me at the orphanage doors and took off."

Soun nodded his head. An orphan's life was a hard one. "How did you get your name then? It isn't Japanese."

Keona smirked, and took another drag of his smoke. "One of the women working at the orphanage was half-Hawaiian. She named me. It's a traditional Hawaiian name."

"Do you know what it means?"

Keona shrugged. "Nope. Means something though. Most of them do."

"So they do." Soun poured the young man another drink, and watched as he tossed it back. A moment later, a topless waitress approached them.

"Can I get anything for you gentlemen?" She said in a husky voice.

Keona tossed a few bills on her tray, and said, "Bring me a bottle of Jim Beam and three shot glasses." Turning to Soun, he said, "How 'bout you have a drink on me, Soun?"

Soun gave it a moment's thought, and then decided he could hold off going home a bit longer. This boy seemed like good company, and he didn't have much to look forward to at home. "Why not?"

Nabiki sat in her bedroom, doing her homework. She'd just finished balancing the monthly budget, and thanks to the wedding fiasco they'd be well in the black for a while to come. That didn't make her feel any less guilty. Her sister had been badly hurt, and could have been killed. And she was still angry at her father and Genma for what they'd done with Ranma's cure. Holding it hostage like that was just wrong. That was his manhood, and because of their selfishness, it was gone forever. She was starting to lose focus on her homework, and decided to stop for the night. She had the rest of the weekend to finish it. School was almost out, and she didn't have anything to worry about. She'd passed. She was about to put on a CD and sit down to read some Manga, when she heard the doorbell ring.

Curious as to who it could be at midnight, she went into the hallway and down to the living room. No one else appeared to be up. The doorbell rang again, and she decided that she'd better answer it before someone else woke up. Like Akane. Hurrying to the front door, she opened it, and her jaw fell open. There was her father, so drunk he could barely stand, being supported on the shoulder of a young man wearing a leather jacket who seemed nearly as drunk as her father.

"What the hell is going on here?" She snapped, incredulous. She had never seen this guy in her life, and he shows up drunk on her doorstep with her almost passed-out father.

"This is the Tendo Dojo, right?" The young man said, squinting his eyes at her.

"It is. And that's my father you're currently holding. Thank you for bringing him home, I can take him from here." She reached out for Soun, and the young man shifted his grip on him to let Nabiki take him. When the young man let go, Soun became a deadweight in her arms, and he slumped to the ground. Wow daddy, you've put on a few pounds. She glanced back up at the young man, and said, "Um...do you think maybe you can help me? I'm sorry I was so rude." She looked at him through her eyelashes and bit her lower lip cutely, a hopeful expression on her face. She watched with inner glee as he seemed to melt.

"Oh...uh, yeah...yeah, sure." The young man bent down at the knees and lifted Soun up carefully, carrying him inside the house. As he stepped in the threshold, he heard the revving of an engine, and the squealing of tires. He dropped Soun and whirled around, swaying drunkenly as he did. His eyes widened as he realized that his ride's car was no longer parked in front of the Dojo. "Motherfucker shook on me." He muttered. He turned around and picked Soun up again, looking at Nabiki. "Where to?"

She smiled prettily at him, and said, "Follow me. Keep it quiet though, my two sisters and my brother-in-law are sleeping."

The young man raised an eyebrow, and whispered, "Full house huh?"

Nabiki shrugged and whispered back, "I guess you could say that." She led him to Soun's bedroom, and opened the door for him. The young man walked in and gently laid Soun down on his bed. He immediately rolled over and set to snoring. Nabiki shook her head, a frown of disappointment marring her otherwise beautiful face. "Dammit daddy. You need to pull yourself together." The young man at her side seemed to start slightly at that comment, and she looked at him oddly. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." He answered, a little too quickly. He staggered out of the bedroom and down the hall, towards the stairs. Nabiki looked at her father, shook her head once more, and then went after the young man. He was at the front door when Nabiki caught up to him.

"Hey, didn't your friend take off?" She asked softly.

"Yeah, so what?" He slurred softly.

"So how are you getting home?"

"I'll take a bus." He said in a flat voice.

"You're hammered. You shouldn't even be walking to the bus stop...which is four blocks away, might I add." She debated the wisdom of allowing him to sleep on the couch. Kasumi was the first one up in the morning, and probably wouldn't freak out if she saw him passed out. She put a hand to her forehead, and decided she was going to regret this in the morning. "Look, why don't you go lie down on the couch, and I'll get you some blankets and a pillow. You can crash here tonight, and then catch a bus when you're a little more sober in the morning."

The young man eyed her suspiciously, and she found herself wondering why he would be questioning her motives when he didn't even know her. "Why are you letting me stay here?" He asked, his voice no less suspicious than his gaze.

She sighed, put her hands on her hips and looked at him crossly. "Look, do you want to stay or not. I'm just trying to be nice, because you helped my father home. You're not gonna catch a freebie off of me very often, so take it while you can."

He looked confused at her statement, but shrugged, and kicked his shoes off. Going to the couch, he lied down and waited for her to come back. When she did, he put the pillow behind his head, and draped the blanket over himself. He was about to drift off to sleep, when Nabiki realized that she didn't even know his name. "Wait...before you go to sleep. What's your name?"

"Keona." He murmured softly, as he rolled over, turning his back to her.

"I'm Nabiki." She softly in reply. Standing up, she walked back up to her bedroom and turned off her desk lamp. She wouldn't get any more work done tonight. She stripped down to her panties, and put on an XXL t-shirt with a faded Akira logo on it. Lying down in her bed, she pulled the covers up and snuggled into her pillow. She fell asleep feeling good about herself. She'd done her good deed for the day.

Few things are more frightening and disconcerting than waking up in a place you don't recognize. A place you've never been before; a place you don't remember getting to. The problem with chronic, heavy drinking is that you don't recover those memories that you lose in the blackout. The last thing I remember is sitting at a table in the back corner of that strip club, with empty bottles all over, laughing at Soun as he keeled over in his chair. The fact that I'm on the couch means I didn't go home with a girl...the fact that there's a rather lovely one with brown hair in a long ponytail standing over me says otherwise.

"Oh my...you're awake." She says.

"Did I sleep with you?" Perhaps not the best greeting, but I want to get it out of the way quick. If I did, I'll need to make a hasty escape. I have no intention of getting caught up in anything serious. My lifestyle just doesn't permit that. It's too dangerous.

Luckily, she doesn't seem offended by the question, and she merely smiles brightly, and says, "Goodness no. But you do smell rather ripe. You haven't been drinking have you?" Her tone is admonishing, and I have to pinch myself to make sure this is real. I'm getting lectured by some girl I don't even know. And I haven't even had sex with her. "You know, drinking is a very self-destructive behavior. You should think about that before you go out and get drunk next time."

Normally I would have told the bitch to shut up. But for some reason, I just can't. I can't even think of her as a bitch. It's really creepy, but I almost appreciate it. I sit up slowly and rub the sleep from my eyes. Yawning loudly, I look around. It's a nice place, well kept, definitely with a woman's touch. And definitely time to go. I stand up, and say, "Tell whoever let me crash here that I said thanks. I've gotta get going. Where am I by the way?"

"Why, you're at the Tendo Dojo, in Nerima. Wouldn't you like to stay for breakfast?" She asks me. This chick is unreal. Pure innocence.

I can't help but smile, but I still have to go. "I'd love to, but I really have to take off. I've got things I've gotta do. You know how it is." Truth be told, I didn't have shit to do. Considering where I was the day before when Takai showed up, I doubt it would have mattered if I did. I just didn't give a shit. Still, it was a good excuse, and one that provoked no questions from a stranger.

"Oh, very well then. Have a good day." She waves as I put my shoes on and step out the front door. I wave back, and trot down the walkway to the sidewalk. I take a right turn, hoping that will take me to a payphone somewhere. The comforting weight of my Glock is still settled in the back waistband of my pants, the grip covered by my jacket. I've heard some weird fucking rumors about Nerima and it's crazy martial artists, and I don't know if they're true or not. I know a fair amount of martial arts.; nothing fancy, just the things I need to know. I'm not worried about all kinds of nifty kicks and shit. I'm interested in putting my opponent down hard and fast. Of course, while martial arts is great for that, that's really why I have a gun. In north Juuban, that's the quickest way to put someone down.

I finally find a payphone outside this little okonomiyaki joint called Ucchan's. Dropping a coin in, I call Aiko's cell phone. I know she'll already be up by this point. She answers after the second ring, her voice brisk and businesslike. "Hotatsu Aiko."

"Aiko, it's me, Kiki." I say, my voice subdued and quiet. I'm a bit hung over, and talking too loud makes the headache worse.

I hear her breathing evenly for a moment, and then she says softly, "Where are you kiddo?"

"I'm down in Nerima...by some place called Ucchan's. It's a resaurant." I hold the phone receiver away from my mouth, and spit, trying to get the bitter aftertaste of slept off alcohol out of my mouth. I'm unsuccessful, as I knew I would be.

"Alright, I'm coming down. I'll be there in about a half hour. Be watching for me." She ends the call, and I hang up the payphone. Feeling my stomach roiling, I realize that I'd drank on an empty stomach the night before. Deciding that since I'll be waiting a while, I might as well get some food, I turn and go inside. I take a seat at a table, and almost instantly a pretty-looking little thing in a flowery kimono appears next to my table from out of nowhere, a pen and pad in her hand.

"May I take your order sir?" She asks.

"Um, yeah...whatever your special is, I'll take two of those. And some black coffe."

She frowned cutely, and said, "Oh, I'm sorry sir. We don't have coffee."

Sighing, I shrug my shoulders, and mumble, "I'll have a coke then."

"Two specials and a coke. Right away sir." When she said right away, she wasn't kidding. I'm sitting here less than a minute later with two of the best looking okonomiyaki I've ever seen sitting in front of me. The first bite is heaven. I haven't had okonomiyaki this good since...well, ever really. I finish my meal slowly, and slurp down the last of my coke just as I see Aiko's dark blue sedan pull up outside. I leave payment and a healthy tip for the waitress and the cook, and get up to leave. When I get in Aiko's car, I take one look and know that I've disappointed her again. I always feel bad when that happens. It seems to happen so often these days.

"You've got to stop doing this to yourself Kiki. I know Yasuo's death hurt...and I know you're angry about what happened. But you can't do this." She means well. She really does. I know this. That doesn't make it anymore welcome.

"Fuck you Aiko. You don't know shit. You don't even know what happened." I mutter, turning to stare out the window.

She begins driving, and I can hear the hurt in her voice, as she says, "Then why don't you tell me Keona. Why don't you tell me what happened. Because I thought I was there in the ambulance when you were choking on your own blood, and I thought you were going to die just like Yasuo." Her voice is breaking now, and I can't look at her. My face is burning with shame at her words. "I was there at the hospital, and I was the one who told you that Yasuo didn't make it. So don't tell me I don't know."

She falls silent, and I can't think of anything to say in response to that. She's right. She's absolutely right. She was there. And even if the bullets hadn't ripped through her chest, she'd still felt the same pain. Yasuo was her brother, her real one. Not some street kid who hung around her house all the time when they were growing up. She practically raised us both. And now her real brother is dead, and I'm the only one she's got left. It should have been me. But I can't say it.

"Kiki...I love you. I love you like I love Yasuo, you know that. You will always be a little brother to me, and I'll never regret taking you in. What I regret is not watching you two better. I regret you and Yasuo making the friends that you did. I wish that I could change all of that. But I can't. It happened, for better or for worse, and there's nothing anyone can do about it. But you need to realize that it's not your fault." She pulls up to a red light, and looks at me sadly, her eyes watery, her voice soaked with tears and sorrow. "You didn't pull the trigger, Kiki."

"Sure I did Aiko." I whisper, looking back out the window. "Just not at him."

She sits quietly, not knowing how to take that. She knows what Yasuo and I do...what I do. She hates it. She says it's a dead end. I don't care. My life is a dead end anyway. There's nowhere to go from here, and I've known that for a long time. This is just the culmination of ten wasted years, the final approach to the violent end that I've been waiting for since Yasuo and I first met Takeda-san when we were fourteen.

I swallow tears of bitter anger as I remember the honeyed lies he poured into our ears. Money, women, power, respect. All of it could be ours. We just had to do a few things for him. It started out with small things, running messages around to people, things like that. Then he gave us the real test. He gave us weed...not to smoke (although we did), but to sell at our school. We passed with flying colors. I knew who the potheads were, so it was easy to get rid of. After that, it was crazy. He floated us the first quarter-pound when we were fifteen. That's a lot of dank.

We bagged it up small, eighth-ounce baggies, twenty sacks, and dime sacks. No one in high school has enough to buy any bigger than an eighth. We sold it all, paid Takeda-san what we owed him, and then re-upped on some with another quarter-pound float. We kept doing that until we had enough after sales to re-up on a quarter-pound without getting a front on the dope. It was easy money.

From there, we graduated to slinging speed, and eventually cocaine by the time we were seventeen. Aiko tried to stop us, tried to talk us out of it, but she was working all the time and couldn't watch us. She kept threatening to turn us in, but she could never follow through. She just doesn't have the heart. So we kept serving. And this is how it ends. It'd always been a violent game, a scary one. I'd been beaten up, jumped, stabbed in the thigh once. Whatever. When they hit me and Yasuo outside his house, that was it. It hurt like nothing I've ever felt; as only a molten hot slug ripping through your flesh can. But it hurt worse when I woke up at the hospital, when Aiko told me that Yasuo had died before the ambulance arrived.

That had been two months ago. I was pretty much healed. Somehow, the four bullets that had struck my torso had missed everything but the bottom of one lung. Yasuo had been hit twice in the right leg, and once in the head. The black car that had carried the gunmen had sped off, tires squealing, leaving me bleeding, face down in the front yard.

"I wish you could find something to pull yourself out of this. I wish there was something I could do for you Kiki. But I can't do anymore. I'm dropping you off at your apartment, and then I'm going back to work. When you're ready to be human again, give your big sister a call. I'll be waiting." She's quiet for the rest of the ride, leaving me to think about her words. I know what can pull me out of this. I know what to do for myself. And for Yasuo.

Nabiki woke up to the familiar sounds of the Saotome's morning sparring match going on in the back yard. She blinked her eyes sleepily, then groaned and put her pillow over head. It was Saturday. There was no need for this kind of torture. She was about to drift back off to sleep, when she suddenly remembered her young houseguest downstairs. "Keona!" Hoping nothing bad had happened, she threw on a pair of pajama bottoms and hurried to the living room. She found Kasumi reading a Cosmo, drinking tea. "Hey sis? Did you by chance see anyone when you came downstairs?"

Kasumi set her cup down and said, "Oh, you mean that nice young man on the couch? Oh yes. He was very polite, but he absolutely reeked of alcohol. Very unseemly for such a young man." She shook her head, and took a sip of her tea. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, I was just wondering if he was still here. I wanted to thank him again, for bringing father home last night." She said.

"Well, that explains things. I'm sorry though. He left just after he woke up. I'm afraid he didn't leave a name either."

Nabiki blinked, and said, "Keona. His name is Keona."

"Hm...what an unusual name. I like it." Kasumi prolaimed, before going back to her tea and her magazine.

Nabiki sighed and stood up. "Well sis, I'm going to go take a bath. You might want to wake daddy up soon. He'll probably want some of your hang over tea and something to eat."

Kasumi nodded absently, caught up in reading her magazine. Nabiki looked at her for a moment, waiting for some other kind of response. When none was forthcoming, she turned and went to the bathroom. Stepping into the changing room, she quickly disrobed, putting her clothes and dirty underwear in the dirty clothes hamper. Gathering her bathing supplies, she stepped into the bathing room. Akane was sitting in the furo, soaking, and waved in greeting to her big sister. "Morning Nabiki."

"Morning Akane." Nabiki replied. She sat down on a stool and filled a bucket with cold water, before dumping it on herself. She hurriedly washed herself and rinsed off, then stepped gratefully into the inviting warmth of the furo. "So what are you up to today?"

Akane shrugged, and said, "I don't know. I was thinking of seeing if Ranma wanted to go to the park and have a little picnic. Kasumi's food of course." She passed her hand over the surface of the water, watching the tiny eddy's and swirls it created. "The other girls have been staying away, and I'm not really worried about his rivals right now."

Nabiki was surprised at her sister, and said, "Just don't be surprised if he acts like an ass. And don't overreact. He really is a sweet guy. He just needs to be shown that he can trust you emotionally."

"Wow Nabiki, when did you become the relationship expert?" Akane asked with no malice in her voice.

"I figure I'm uniquely qualified to speak on emotional trust issues. I seem to have so many of them myself." She giggled a little, and Akane did too, but they both knew it wasn't funny. "I guess one of these days I'll follow my own advice."

"It'll come Nabiki. But you're right...it might help if you thawed out a little when you were in public." Akane felt bad for her sister. She'd never had anyone look at her as anything other than a sex object or a money machine. She'd kind of forced herself into that position, but she was still family, and it hurt to see her hurting. "Kasumi said we had a houseguest this morning." She said, shifting Nabiki's focus from her negative thoughts.

"Oh, yeah. This guy named Keona. He brought daddy home last night. Daddy was pretty trashed. It was bad."

Akane raised an eyebrow. "So why did Keona stay the night then?"

Nabiki was forced to laugh as she recalled the look of drunken incredulity on the handsome face as he'd watched his ride drive away. "His ride ditched him when he walked in the door with daddy, so I made him sleep here. He was pretty drunk too." Akane looked scandalized, and Nabiki said, "What! He slept on the couch, I promise!"

A sly grin spread across Akane's face, and she said, "Was he cute?"

"Oh come off it Akane, he was drunk!"

"Drunk or not, he can still be cute." Akane leaned towards her sister, her expression eager. "So was he?"

Nabiki sighed and rolled her eyes. She splashed a little water at Akane to get her to back off, and then said, "Yeah, I guess so. He looked like he hadn't slept in days though." She grinned as she thought back to when he'd told her his name. "Actually, I think he'd have been a total hottie if he'd have been sober and had a little extra sleep. And maybe some more meat on him. He looked a little malnourished." She shrugged, and said, "But yeah, other than that I guess he was cute."

Akane giggled, and said, "Sounds like somebody's got a crush."

"Don't be ridiculous Akane. I barely said twenty words to the guy." Nabiki said testily.

"I'm just kidding sis, jeez. Don't get so uptight."

Nabiki leaned her head back on the edge of the furo and closed her eyes. Her voice soft, she said, "I don't see why it matters. It's not like I'll ever see him again anyway." Her sister's voice was gentle and sweet when it reached her ears.

"You never know, 'Biki. You never know."