Chapter Three: Everything Has a Price

"You okay?" Ranma walked casually along the fence, penning off the street from the water below. Nabiki hadn't said a word since they left Dr. Tofu's, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong, especially from what had happened when she saw Akane's blood sample. It was very rare to see her emotional; it was always scary when it happened.

"I'm fine, Ranma," Nabiki told him in the most neutral voice she could muster.

"It's just that—"

"RANMA. I'm fine. I'm a big girl, I can tie my own shoelaces, I don't need you holding my hand and telling me everything's going to be okay. Just drop it."

Ranma sighed, knowing that was going to be the end of it. Any further pressing would probably result in her closing herself off further, and if he upset her enough to change her mind about helping him find Delphi, it could be a very long time before he ever got out of Japan. As they walked in silence, his mind traced back to the last time he had walked to school with her. Akane had given their engagement to her, and she'd taken advantage of the opportunity to make a tidy profit off him, while at the same time playing with his emotions and putting him through the ringer. He'd eventually made back up with Akane, so all ended well. At least, it did then.

"So, I've been thinking," Nabiki spoke up again. "There's a long list of people that would want to hurt Akane. I think the best place to start is with her rivals, and Shampoo seems to be the most glaring." This was the hard part. Whoever had attacked Akane, it was a good bet it was someone they knew. Shampoo stuck out like a sore thumb. "She's a trained warrior and her people's customs do tend to be rather violent. She gave Akane the Kiss of Death the day she started trying to marry you, and that's a sworn promise to kill her."

With a sigh, Ranma concurred. "Whatever that stuff Dr. Tofu found in her was, the old ghoul could probably whip something up like that. She knows all sorts of old tricks, and has a ton of magic Amazon jewelry. But," he continued, "they're both in China right now. Shampoo told me they were called back for official Joketsuzoku duties. She wanted me to come with her."

"That's what she told you," Nabiki countered. "Doesn't mean that's actually where they are. We'll see; Shampoo doesn't have much self-restraint. If she killed Akane, she'll be all over you to gloat by the end of today. Who else is there…."

"Kodachi," they both came to at the same time. Ranma started. "She's nuts, has a thing for weird poisons, and sees Akane as an obstacle to claiming me. And she's ALWAYS drugging people. She might be able to cook up whatever that stuff was too."

"Problem is," Nabiki surmised, "she's not very quiet. On the contrary, she's very loud and obnoxious, and highlights every entrance and exit with rose petals. We would have noticed her almost immediately, and she never would have been able to get the drop on Akane." Thinking for a bit, she looked up to Ranma. "Then there's Ukyo."

"Whoa whoa whoa," Ranma interrupted, almost falling off the fence. "No way. Ucchan's a buddy of mine. She isn't capable of something like this."

"You'd be surprised what people are capable of when they're in love," Nabiki argued. "She has the motive: you. And it certainly isn't unlike her to obsess over something and respond violently. Remember, she DID try to kill you when she first came to Nerima."

"That was different!" Ranma insisted. "She's cool now."

"But," Nabiki continued, stroking her chin in thought, "poisons aren't exactly her specialty. She uses a very stylistic art, and we would certainly have noticed the smell of martial arts cooking in the house. Also, she did seem to have been at Ucchan's for a while when we got there. It's entirely possible that she arranged it to look like that, but given her long hours, it's simply more likely that she was there all night."

"See!" Ranma insisted. "It couldn't have been her!"

Nabiki glared at Ranma in response. "I'm not ruling her out. She IS still a possible assailant, and her alibi isn't perfect. Now, that covers the rivals. There are also YOUR rivals to consider. Most of them are in love with Akane, but unrequited love has led to crimes of passion in the past. We can discount Ryoga, if only because he was fighting with you when it happened. That's a pretty firm alibi. Kuno-baby's too thick-headed to pull something this clever off, and he would have recited prose for about two minutes beforehand, so he's out too. " Thinking for a moment, she offered, "What about Mousse?"

"Mousse has it in for me," Ranma admitted, "and he doesn't have a crush on Akane. He might attack her as a means to get to me, but he would definitely be here to gloat about it. And I think he's in China with Shampoo and the ghoul."

Nabiki considered for a moment, then looked up at Ranma on the fence. "Who else does that leave?"

"I dunno. Gosunkugi? He's really into all that weird magic stuff, but…." He didn't even have to finish. The very image of Gosunkugi trying to fight Akane was enough to bring a little smile to Nabiki's mouth. "Nah," Ranma chuckled. "He's got a creepy stalker crush on her but he's way too shy to do anything stupid, even if he DID have a reason. At the very most, he was probably just hiding outside her room taking pictures when it…."

At once, both Nabiki and Ranma stopped walking. It seemed so obvious in retrospect. Looking at Ranma suddenly, Nabiki could see her own realization reflected on his face. "Find him," she all but ordered, an icy firmness carrying her voice. "Get anything he has. Beat it out of him if you have to, just get any photos he has of last night." The first piece of the puzzle may be within their grasp.

********************

"Did you hear what happened at the Tendos' last night?"

"I heard they were attacked by a big man with a machine gun."

"I heard it was Ranma."

"You're all nuts, I heard it was an earthquake."

"Yes, Mitsumi-chan, a localized earthquake limited entirely to the space of the Tendos' home."

"Well, it makes more sense than your man with machine gun!"

"No, it doesn't!"

"I heard Ranma was fighting with that Ryoga kid and Akane got in the way, and they both blasted her at the same time, BOOM!"

"You've been watching too many movies."

Word travels fast in Nerima, and the school was already buzzing with stories of what happened at the Tendo home. The ambulances parked outside Dr. Tofu's early this morning had been one thing, but the police cars streaking towards the Tendo home raised even more questions. And where there were questions, rumor often filled the void where answers had yet to come.

It was these rumors that led one Tatewaki Kuno, age 17, to the front gates of Furinkan High. Standing firm, bokken in hand, he waited. Every day before he had waited on this spot, ready to challenge Akane when she came through those gates. One day, he would defeat her, and on that day, she would see his strength and she would date with him. This, he knew.

This morning came different from all before. Akane didn't race through the gates, ready to fight. Ranma didn't bound onto the field with the energy of a fighter. No, Akane didn't come through at all…it was Nabiki Tendo who walked through the gates, carrying the weight of hardship on her back. She had always been cold, but now there was an ice that chilled even his soul emanating from her stare, as she locked her merciless eyes on him. Beside her, Ranma hopped down from the fence, lacking the usual youthful vibrance he usually had when he fought Kuno, but with an unmistakable sense of purpose.

"SAOTOME!" Kuno challenged. "Tell me swift and tell me true. Where is Akane Tendo this day, and by what meaning do you walk to school with sister Nabiki?"

"Akane's…" Ranma struggled for words. "She's sick. She isn't going to be in today."

"Did you hear that?" One of the girls whispered to another. "Something happened to Akane!"

"NO!" Ranma shouted. "She's just…she's going to be okay, she's just gone away for a while."

"I thought you said she was sick!" one of the boys from the crowd yelled.

"I meant—"

"Stow it, Saotome," Nabiki glared. "We don't have to explain anything to Akane's stalker or the gossip brigade." Walking past Kuno, Nabiki marched straight for the doors to Furinkan. She had a mission and didn't have time for this.

"Hey, wait up!" Ranma tried to follow, but was met by the tip of Kuno's bokken, held just at the tip of his nose.

"HOLD, knave. You shall not pass until you have explained the exact nature of this malady that has overtaken the fair Akane Tendo."

"I really don't have time for this, Kuno," Ranma festered, anger beginning to boil at the idiot holding the wooden sword.

"Tell me true, Saotome. Where is Akane? What has transpired?! You will tell me what you have done to Aka-"

"What I'VE done?!" Ranma lost it. Emotions boiled to the surface that could no longer be contained, not in the wake of his terrible loss. There were so many things he could say right now. So many barbs to throw, and Kuno deserved every last one of them, he knew. Every fiber of his being ached for violence. It was engrained in him; he was a fighter, it's what he understood. But he still had his honor. "What about YOU?! You made the last couple years a nightmare for her! She HATED you!"

A slip of verbage, and Ranma found himself stumbling. "…hates you. She hates you." His quiet correction did not go unnoticed by the drawing crowd.

Two of the boys drew out of the crowd; Ranma's friends, Hiroshi and Daisuke. Placing a hand on Ranma's shoulder, Hiroshi asked him, "You okay, man? What happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Pushing the bokken away, Ranma strode towards the doors, but Kuno wouldn't bend.

"Saotome! I never gave you permission to leave! You will answer or you will face—"

Leveling him with a heavy blow to the face, Ranma kept walking. "Not now, Kuno. Not now." Nine times out of ten, Kuno was a pushover that required little more than one good, solid hit to put him down. It was only when he was really motivated that he took any more than that and even then, usually not much.

********************

"This is the deal," Nabiki addressed a boy named Hatamara, in the school library in Furinkan. "You owe me what is not an insubstantial amount of money. I've covered some of your excesses with your geology club, but you still have failed to return a profit. Recent events, however, have opened up a small window of opportunity. I need information and you seem to be a good place to start. If you have answers I need, answers that I find satisfactory, I'll be willing to forgive 15% of your debt." Everything has a price, Nabiki knew that well. But still, there was no reason to get crazy with it.

The boy looked down at his book, puzzled. "Um…I'll need to think about it—"

"Tick tock," Nabiki warned him. "I'm kind of on a short schedule here. Look, this isn't some big Faustian pact I'm trying to use to rope you into more debt. You give me answers, you owe me less. Short, sweet, we both walk away happy. Or at least, I walk away happy and you walk away mildly less discomforted than you were before."

"Alright," Hatamara conceded. "What do you need to know?"

"Excellent." Pulling a chair and taking a seat opposite the boy, Nabiki leaned forward on her hands. "I need everything you know about a place called Delphi."

"Oh!" The boy sat up immediately. "That's easy. It's a good thing you came today, too. See, our club has recently been doing some study on the old Western religions, and we came upon—"

"I'm on a timer here."

"Oh, well…Delphi used to be a holy site in Greece. It was the home to the Pythian Games, but the major attraction was the Oracle of Apollo."

"Apollo," Nabiki repeated. "There's that name again. What does it mean?"

"Apollo is one of the old Western gods. Brother of Artemis. He was supposedly a god of art, love, and compassion, and it was believed that his Oracle was so great, they could predict the future with flawless accuracy. Of course," he adjusted his glasses, "that's all religious superstition. But it really meant something to them, and people would journey from miles around to meet with Apollo's Oracle."

Things were starting to come together in a way that made Nabiki actually begin to wonder about the crazy things Ranma was suggesting. "Then this island…is there any easy way to reach it?"

Hatamara blinked. "What island?"

Nabiki narrowed her eyes. "Delphi."

Another confused blink. "Delphi isn't an island."

A moment passed. Then another. The silence between the two was palpable, before Nabiki finally cut through it, with a single, icy word. "What."

"Delphi's not an island. It's not even close to an island, it's completely landlocked. It sits on the southwest side of Mt. Parnassus. Whoever told you it was an island really needs to get their facts straight, because I don't even know how you would make that kind of mistake."

She was going to kill Ranma. "Can you at least tell me if the Oracle is still there?"

"Why would there be an Oracle? The religion's been dead for over a thousand years. No one seriously believes in the Olympian gods anymore."

With a sigh, Nabiki stood from her chair. "Thank you, Hatamara. This has been…interesting."

As she turned to walk away, she was caught by Hatamara's voice. "So, you'll take 15% off my debt, right?"

Stopping for a second, she considered. Even if the information had not exactly been what she wanted to hear, he'd upheld his end. No reason to burn that bridge when it might come in useful again some day in the future. "Sure," she offered back. "15%, as we agreed."

********************

"CURSE YOU, SAOTOME!" Hikaru Gosunkugi stood behind the school, holding a voodoo doll in his right hand, with a spike and hammer in his left. "It's your fault this happened! If you hadn't gotten involved, Akane…" He began to swoon at just the mention of her name. "Akane…." Catching himself, he returned to what he was doing, standing before a large tree. "You did this to her!" Pressing his voodoo doll against the tree with the long spike, he hefted his hammer. "Curse you forever, HATED SAOTOME!"

DOCK

The hammer struck the nail, and he cried out again. "HATED SAOTOME!"

DOCK

"HATED SAOTOME!"

DOCK

"HATED SAOTOME!"

"Hey, Gosunkugi." A chillingly familiar voice called out from higher in the tree, before Ranma dropped into sight, hanging upside down by his knees from a tree branch.

"GARGH!" Gosunkugi fell backwards suddenly, startled by Ranma's appearance. "HATED SAOTOME?! I mean, um…Saotome?!"

"Yeah, listen," Ranma dropped down from the tree. "We need to talk. I know about your stalking Akane."

"Akane…" Gosunkugi swooned again, before Ranma snapped him out of it. "I-I-I wouldn't…I mean I…I mean—"

"Relax," Ranma assured him. "Might actually be a good thing today. I just need to see whatever photos you took last night."

"I haven't taken any photos recently," Gosunkugi insisted.

"You're wearing your camera."

"It's just a habit!"

"Look, Gosunkugi," Ranma sighed. "Akane's…she's hurt real bad. If you have anything that could help us find out who attacked her, I'm sure she'd appreciate it. And I'm sure she'd find some way to show you just how much she appreciates it."

"Don't you patronize me, Saotome," Gosunkugi responded quickly. "I heard what the doctor said. I know you're lying."

"You WERE there!" Ranma hovered over Gosunkugi, who immediately shrank back down smaller. "This is important. Did you see anything? Do you have pictures? Do you know who killed Akane?!"

That last part may have been said a bit too loud, but behind the school, Ranma hoped no one could overhear.

"I-I-I don't…why should I…it's your fault!"

"Alright, talking's failed. Now we move to hitting." Standing over Gosunkugi, who had crouched down in fear, Ranma smacked his right fist into his left palm. It was an empty threat and he knew it; attacking a weak, defenseless person, even Gosunkugi, without suitable provocation violated everything he believed in. But he knew Gosunkugi wouldn't call his bluff.

"No! I-I-I can't—"

"Every time you say 'I can't', I'm going to punch you in the face."

The little occultist had long held opinion of Ranma as a brutish thug who got away with doing whatever he wanted to whoever he wanted by sheer force of violence. This wasn't the first time Ranma had played to others' opinions of him. It probably wouldn't be the last.

"No!" Gosunkugi squealed. "That is, I…um…I'll only help you if you promise to work for me, and do my bidding for a year."

After careful consideration for all of half a second, Ranma had his answer. "Alright, face-punching time." Grabbing Gosunkugi by the scruff of his shirt, he pulled back his fist in an obvious threat.

"NO! Nononono, stop! I'll give you everything! Just don't hit me."

"Where are the photos?"

"I…I developed them this morning." Reluctantly, Gosunkugi reached inside the collar of his uniform and removed a set of photographs from an inside pocket. Looking down at his feet, he held them out to Ranma with shaking hands. "This-This is everything…don't hit me."

"Great." Letting Gosunkugi drop, Ranma pocketed the pictures. He'd look over them after school with Nabiki. Turning away, his mood immediately lightened. "Thanks, Gosunkugi. That'll—" Sidestepping a desperate lunge to his back with nail and hammer, "—be a great help." The little occultist landed facedown in the mud, having thrown everything he had into his ambush leap. Ranma simply walked on, neither noticing not caring.

********************

"Any luck?" Ranma asked, approaching the bench where Nabiki waited.

"More than I would have liked," Nabiki confessed. For just a brief second, she'd gotten her hopes up at the mention of Apollo, but those hopes had come crashing down before her meeting with the geology kid had ended. "Look, Ranma, we need to talk. I did some research into Delphi, and the news isn't good."

Taking a seat, Ranma shrugged. "When's it ever?"

"There IS such a place as Delphi, Ranma. But it's not an island. It's an inland holy site in Greece."

"Well, maybe there's two of 'em," Ranma argued.

Nabiki sighed. "Two of them that both claim rights to the Oracle of Apollo? Yeah, I did some looking into that too. It's a glorified fortune teller that hasn't existed in over a thousand years."

"Look, Nabiki, I know it's hard to believe, but these…these things I saw, they told me—"

"How do you know you weren't just dreaming it, Ranma? Maybe you read the name Delphi in a book somewhere, or heard it in class once, and your subconscious just picked it up?"

"Maybe," Ranma admitted. "But something about this feels stronger than that. I have to try."

Nabiki sighed. Shortage of determination was never on Ranma's list of failings; if anything, he actually had too much. "Alright, Ranma."

"You still coming?" He offered pointedly. "You don't have to. It was your call."

"Yes, I do have to," Nabiki grumbled. "If I don't, you two will kill each other."

"Huh?"

"Nothing. Just meet me at Port Yokosuka Sunday. I found your ship. And come as a girl."

"As a girl? Nabiki, what did you—"

"No questions, Ranma. Just do it."

"But why won't you—"

"Because if I tell you, then you won't do it. You want a ship, I got you a ship, so just do it, Ranma." With a grunt of frustration, she turned her mind to other topics. "Now. What did you find out from Gosunkugi?"

"Here's everything he had," Ranma pulled out the pictures. "We were right, he was there last night. Here's the fight." Laying out the photos, Ranma picked up two pictures of a hard angle at Akane's window. Akane could be seen inside, fighting with…something. There was no one else in the frame, but it was possible the angle simply obscured it. Still, you would think there would be something.

"Great," Nabiki sighed. "So it's useless. Wonderful."

"Pretty much," Ranma agreed. "I terrorized Gosunkugi for nothing."

Rubbing her forehead for a few seconds, Nabiki leaned back on the bench. "Great. So we've got no leads except your stupid magic island. And we still have to think about what we're going to tell our families."

"We do?" Ranma blinked a couple times. This hadn't even occurred to him. Familial responsibility wasn't really a watch word with the Saotomes. "I thought we'd just take off, maybe leave a note or something."

He knew he'd said something wrong when Nabiki's death gaze caught him. "Great. Brilliant plan, Saotome. And then we come home to our fathers celebrating the joining of the schools because they think we ELOPED. I am not opening that can of worms, especially not with you."

"Oh," Ranma realized. "I didn't really think about that."

"Of course you didn't." Nabiki was frustrated now, and she was letting it get the better of her. She knew it, but she largely didn't care. "Look, we'll break it to them Saturday night. Then we'll be ready to go on Sunday without having to put up with too much of them trying to talk us out of it or, worse, trying to come along. If this stupid magic not-an-island really does exist, then my daddy's just going to be dead weight and I wouldn't trust yours with a five-yen piece. Now come on. We should get home before Daddy starts freaking out about me being out late. He's going to be very protective for a while."

********************

The rest of the week passed by slowly. Dinner had become a quiet and isolated experience. It was two days before the Tendo father finally relented to come out of his mourning for his daughter, briefly, to eat with the family. When he did, he was always silent throughout. Even Genma couldn't coax him into a game of shogi or go, and as soon as dinner was finished, he was back in his room or the furo, crying to himself about his littlest child.

Kasumi tried to keep her spirits up, and tried to be strong for the family, but the swelling around her bloodshot eyes told a different story. She cried while she cleaned the dishes, when the faucet would drown out the noise, and from time to time, Nabiki would see her body trembling while she cooked dinner for the family. Watching her older sister fall silently apart as she tried so hard to hold the rest of the family together, Nabiki wished silently to herself that maybe, just maybe, Ranma's island was real and Akane could still be brought back. But she knew better than to hope.

Ranma's father was undoubtedly the least affected by the loss of Akane. Of course, Nabiki knew, why should he care? She was just his son's fiancée, who he loved with every fiber of his being. She was only his soon-to-be daughter-in-law, and the daughter of his best friend. After all, there were two more of those here, and as soon as her Daddy was on his feet again, she knew Genma would be trying to push the engagement off on her or Kasumi. Whatever it takes to secure his free, easy, lazy future with the Tendos, the stupid panda.

She could barely stand to look at him during meals, or when he forced Ranma to spar every morning. She just focused on her meals, and on her family. Genma wasn't a part of that, not yet. And if she had her way, he never would be, even IF they set everything right and Ranma wed Akane as planned.

And so it was that Saturday night came, and the family sat gathered at the dinner table, eating in awkward silence as everyone felt the absence of the smallest Tendo. After clearing their plates, Ranma and Nabiki shared a nervous glance. This wasn't going to go well, and they knew it, but the time had come and it was still better than the frightful alternative Ranma had suggested before.

Standing up from the table, Ranma looked around to the family. "Um…I've got something to say, and I don't know that you're gonna like it." Kasumi looked up to him, in curiosity. Genma sat up, looking at his son. Even Soun gave him his attention, what little he could spare. Clearing his throat, Ranma made the announcement. "I'm going on a trip. It's not a training trip. It's more important than that, but I can't tell you why." He'd discussed this with Nabiki beforehand. If they got her father's hopes up about restoring Akane to life, and then came home empty-handed, it would hit him just as hard as the day he'd lost her to begin with, if not harder.

Standing up, Genma looked to his son. "A fine idea. I'll come with you. It might help clear the air for us both to get away for a bit."

"No, pops," Ranma insisted. "Sorry. But this is something I gotta do myself."

"Ranma, is it…is it Akane?" Kasumi nailed it right on the dot.

"It's more complicated than that," Ranma was getting defensive. Nabiki caught the look of realization on Genma's face; yes, you idiot, your son's going to be having trouble dealing with Akane's death and maybe he doesn't need your particular brand of training right now.

Slapping his son on the back, Genma grinned. "Alright, boy, you do what you need to do. I'll just tag along to make sure everything goes—"

"It's going to be extremely dangerous," Nabiki offered.

"Alright, boy, you do what you need to do. And hurry home!"

Standing up with tears in his eyes, Soun grabbed Ranma and pulled him into an embrace, which immediately caused Ranma to panic and try to pull away. The action took everyone completely by surprise. For the first time in days, he spoke to the boy. "I know how terrible it is to lose someone you care about so deeply, because I have been there myself. I had to watch for three weeks while my wife slowly died, and there was nothing I could do to save her. The only thing that carried me was knowing that she loved me, that even in her last moments, our family was the most important thing to her. My daughter loved you, Ranma. You have to know that. Take whatever time you need and let this one simple truth carry you, wherever you go."

Ranma nearly fell to his knees when Soun released him. For just one quick, powerful moment, he started to feel the pain of losing Akane bubbling up beneath him. With trembling hands and shaking knees, he held firm, and it was gone soon, replaced by certainty and confidence. There was no need to mourn her. She was coming back. He was going to have her back. "Thanks…" was all he could get out, before sitting back down.

Clearing her throat, Nabiki spoke up. "Good. Now that that's settled, I'm going with him." The whole living room was an uproar immediately following that announcement.

"You can't go!" Kasumi cried.

"You said it would be extremely dangerous!" Soun threw back at her.

"What about your education?!" Kasumi attacked.

"I'm not going to have my daughter going off and dying in some foreign land!" Soun panicked.

"You still have classes you need to attend!" Kasumi insisted.

Waving them off, Nabiki swallowed. "This is something I have to do. I can't ask you to understand, because I know you won't. I do ask you to understand that you can't stop me. This is my choice, and I've made it."

That didn't go over so well. "Nabiki, you cannot leave," her father pleaded. "Kasumi is right, you still have your education to worry about. There is no telling how long Ranma is going to be gone, and I couldn't bear to see you miss out on your future because of this!"

"Sorry, Daddy, but this is too important," Nabiki insisted. Where her eyes usually filled with detached coldness, her father could see a strange conviction and determination. She wasn't going to let this go, he realized. "Look, I'll write when I get the chance, and it's not like I won't be studying. I can take my textbooks. Sure, I'll miss a few classes, but if I study hard, I should be able to take the college entrance exams when I get back."

"Nabiki—"

"Daddy, Ranma needs me for this. I can't tell you why, but he does. So just try to have faith in me, if not in Ranma. I wouldn't be doing this if I hadn't already considered the angles."

After a moment's consideration, her father came to his answer. He'd listened to her words, and he'd gone over them carefully in his head. "If that's the case…no. I'm sorry, Nabiki, but no. That's my answer. I will not have you dying in some far away land, never to be heard from again. I'm not going to spend months wondering if you're okay, hoping against hope that I hear from you and preparing a THIRD funeral for someone that I love. I will not go through that again."

Sighing, Nabiki gave in. "Alright, Daddy. I'll stay here. Saotome, looks like you're on your own.

********************

The next morning, they were off. Nabiki had left a note taped to her bed that simply said, "I told you that you couldn't stop me." She had gone on ahead earlier that morning to prepare, leaving Ranma to catch up after his morning sparring session with his father. It was approaching noon when he reached Yokosuka. As he neared the port, he remembered to splash water on himself, heading down to the docks of the Tokyo Bay and dunking her upper body in the water.

"Ranma!" Nabiki called out to her, running down the dock to reach her. "There you are. I was starting to think you'd gotten lost, and Ryoga Syndrome is the last thing we need right now. Follow me, I'll show you what we've got."

As they came down the dock, Nabiki gestured at a small, dull grey craft resting in the waters, roped to the docks. What she lacked in color, she made up for in toughness, Ranma could see this from here. He didn't know much about ships, but she looked pretty sturdy as the waves splashed against her. "This is it, but it's probably better to let him explain it."

Ranma blinked. "Let who—"

"Aha! There you are, my lovely pig-tailed girl!" Kuno exclaimed vibrantly, coming down the bridge. "When I heard Nabiki Tendo tell of the waters you were sure to face, I could not stand by and permit such a maiden as yourself to risk such dangers unaccompanied!"

Ranma immediately shot Nabiki a violent death glare, for which Nabiki shrugged her shoulders and responded, "I warned you, everything has a price. This is yours. Kuno-baby's the only person I know that could get us a ship on this short notice. His family has the kind of wealth I could only drool over."

As Kuno came down the bridge, he looked to his maiden. "Truly, I can think of no greater pleasure than to spend the weeks alone with you, sweet pig-tailed girl, and savor the long, romantic nights on the high seas. Come, my love, let us seal this date with a kiss—"

Kuno's lips were immediately met by Ranma's foot as he tried to wrap his arms around her. Changing the subject as quickly as she could, she looked to the ship. "What's she called?"

"We have not yet provided a name. Nabiki thought it best to wait for you. But do not fret, my love. She may not look much, but she is faster than she looks, and strong enough to weather even the mighty ocean's fury. She will not fail us, no matter what."

After some consideration, Ranma faced the ship. Only one name seemed suitable, especially after Kuno's description. "Akane."

Out the corner of her eye, Ranma could swear she saw a light smile break across Nabiki's face, before it was replaced with her familiar glower. Kuno, however, swallowed this idea up. "A fine name, and a truly fitting description. My only regret is that the fair Akane Tendo is not, herself, present to witness such a momentous occasion. Come! Let us be off, and may the grace of Akane guide us to our destination!"

As Kuno started back up the bridge, Ranma held back with Nabiki. "So, have you told him yet?"

"If you're right," Nabiki insisted, "then we won't have to."