Chapter 21: Stalked!
Nabiki woke up quite suddenly to the feeling of damp sheets. Not again. How does this always happen every time I think of Ranma? That was a nice dream though! Nabiki recounted her dream where she and Ranma were flying over Nerima; Ranma carrying her body, stroking her hair lovingly. Suddenly her eyes narrowed as she noticed her surroundings. I'm in my room? How? I don't remember going up here last night. Disoriented, she lifted her sheets and lookeddown at her body. How did I get dressed in pyjamas? I haven't worn them for years.
As these thoughts flowed through her mind, she noticed another couple of discrepancies to her normal routine, one of which was the fact that the clock read 4 in the morning. I haven't woken up early since mom died. What happened last night? Worried even further, she tried to remember the events of last night. I was at school when Ranma asked me out for ice cream. I agreed and he bought me a sundae. Then we got attacked by that Chinese hussy; he won and carried me over to the bridge over the canal. We sat down and he told me about how she was chasing him all over China and now Japan.
Suddenly, Nabiki remembered the sheets. She quickly grabbed the sheets thus exposing a sleeping Ranma, trapped between the wall and her body on the edge of the bed. "Eep!". Nabiki quickly got off the bed staring at the almost sculpted body sleeping in her bed with the clothes she remembered him wearing in her dream. Oh my! Nabiki's thoughts channelled Kasumi whilst she regained her bearings about last night's events. I fell asleep in his arms? Oh my! Oh my! How could I embarrass myself so much? What else? Please tell me I didn't embarrass myself beyond belief. Just then, the memory of their kiss filtered through her mind. "We kissed?" she whispered as she touched her lips, the lips that touched Ranma's.
Heart racing, she was oblivious to the sounds of a wakening Ranma. A quick glance at the window and the furniture in the room told Ranma that he was in Nabiki's room, and in her bed no less. "Oh Kami! Please let her be asleep. She'll kill me for sleeping with her last night." He whispered. He blushed at the thoughts of him sleeping with her before panicking once he realised he was alone on the bed. Turning around, he immediately saw Nabiki staring at him wearing an equally deep blush. He quickly jumped out of the bed in fear, landing on his knees before frantically bowing whilst whispering a phrase which suspiciously sounded like "I'mSorryI'mSorryI'mSorryI'mSorry …".
Ranma continued his constant string of apologies until the sound of giggling aroused his curiosity. "Wha!" he replied unintelligibly, raising his head to see himself with Nabiki, who was trying desperately not to laugh. Damn she's cute when she smiles. Really, she might be the one. Ranma took a deep breath steadying himself for the damage control he needed to do. "Nabs?". Nabiki blushed on hearing Ranma's nickname for her; turning her head away to hide her face from him, before replying with a meek "Yes?".
Ranma sighed in relief having sensed no malice in the voice. He stood up and walking towards her. Once he reached, he placed both outstretched hands on her shoulders before looking into her eyes, brown meeting blue as they searched each other's eyes for some indication of where the conversation would go. "Nabs?"
"Ranma?"
"Do you remember what happened last night?". Oh my! Oh my! Something happened? Carefully slipping into her ice queen mask, Nabiki looked at Ranma before replying with a firm "No! What happened?". Ranma winced at the ice in her tone before realising that any self-respecting girl would question him like that if they found themselves in such a compromising situation. Ranma took another steadying breath before replying "You fell asleep during our date. I carried you back and put you to bed."
"Oh! Ok! But why were you there with me?" Not that I minded. If that is how I would be woken up every day, I wouldn't care. She was snapped out of her thoughts as Ranma replied. "You were having nightmares. You calmed down whilst I was holding your hand; so I stayed with you trying to comfort you. Every time I tried to leave, you started whimpering and the last time I tried; you ended up twisting and pulling me onto the bed and suddenly calmed down." Ranma stopped and started scratching the back of his head nervously before finishing. "I guess I fell asleep waiting for you to feel better.".
Ranma tensed himself for the explosion of anger he expected from the girl in front of him, only to be completely floored by said girl jumping into his arms and landing a searing kiss. After what seemed like an eternity, Nabiki broke the kiss before smirking coyly and teasing "I forgive you Ranma. Though next time you want to see me, just ask and I'll show you; if you are good that is!". With this, Nabiki walked out of the room sashaying her hips as she walked towards the door. At the door, she turned around looking at a confused Ranma. "Thank you for a great date.". With this, she turned around and giggled the rest of the way towards the furoba.
At lunch
Nabiki was quite pleased with her takings. It seemed that the betting pool she set up at the start of the year had borne fruit. After all, she thought bitterly, who would have thought that the ice queen would have been asked out at all, let alone by the boy every girl was crushing on. She looked at her ledger book as she realised that the pool had gotten her over 300,000 yen. "I'll take my cut from that now."
Nabiki jumped as she noticed Ranma hanging upside down on the other side of the window. Every girl in the class was squealing at the unintentional peep show they got of the young martial artist's toned chest, as he hung from the window. Ranma was oblivious to this as he jumped into the class room and walked towards Nabiki with slow, deliberate, powerful strokes that made all the girls' knees turn to jelly until his lips were just beside Nabiki's ears. "I think you're in danger! I need to speak to you as soon as possible.". The girls couldn't hear the words aimed at Nabiki Tendo and so most swooned at the supposed romantic gesture, others glowing with jealousy over their proximity, some wishing they could be on the receiving end of such a gesture. One Akane Tendo was fuming at the thought of her sister being so close to Ranma.
I will take that #£$!# down. Ranma is mine. She almost growled but the people in front of her were oblivious as Ranma walked the slightly older girl towards the door, intending to take her out to the roof. As they reached the door, Ranma looked around to see Natsume and a rather angry Akane standing in front of him. Ranma twisted his fingers slightly in a follow sign, a gesture so subtle that no ordinary person could notice it; but Natsume did. As soon as they walked out of sight, Natsume nudged Akane hard before whispering "Follow me!".
In a few short minutes, 3 of Nerima's premier martial artists and one Nabiki Tendo were standing on the roof of Furinkan High. Ranma was quite serious and sombre, a far cry from the seductive yet happy go lucky martial artist the Tendo's had gotten used to. Ranma looked in front of him. Sitting there were a rather indifferent Natsume, an angry yet shy Akane and a very worried Nabiki. Ranma waited until everyone was looking at him before taking a deep breath. "I'm afraid all of you may be in danger."
Everyone stopped. "Danger? What kind of danger could it be that you're worried Ranma?"Akane askedvoicing the thought going through the minds of all three girls. Ranma proceeded to explain about Shampoo and the Joketsuzoku for the next 10 minutes. Once he finished, he was met with all 3 girls having very different thoughts. Akane's mind immediately came to the worst possible conclusion about what would happen. Another hussy trying to get my Ranma? She's probably gonna drug him and have her way with him or something like that. I won't let her! I'll kill her before I let her take Ranma! Ranma is MINE!
Nabiki was more worried about the implications of what Ranma was saying. If he is telling all of this to us, he must trust us all a lot. Either that or there is a situation regarding Shampoo that he needs to warn us about. God I hope it's the former. Why else would he explain the full situation? Meanwhile, Natsume was having entirely different thoughts about the Joketsuzoku. What if I help them get Ranma? Maybe they could get rid of Akane and leave me as the only heir to the dojo. Maybe they could also fix my Ki for me! Then no one could take the dojo from me.
Ranma frowned as he saw emotions of jealousy, anger, cunning and desire burning through Natsume's aura. This frown deepened as he saw the evil smirk passing along her face. Natsume quickly hid the smirk under her mask of indifference but not quickly enough. She can't be thinking of doing something with them. Even if she helped them, Natsume would be considered an outsider and obstacle so they would kill her as soon as they get what they want.
Akane was just about to storm off but stopped on hearing Nabiki's next words. "There's more isn't there!". Always the observant one. Ranma mused. "Yes! There's more.". Ranma sighed before continuing. "I noticed that Shampoo has been stalking you three.". He then turned towards Nabiki. "Since our date, she has focused specifically on you. However I suspect she has been targeting the two of you as well. I n …"
"SO NOT ONLY IS SHE A FIANCÉ STEALING HUSSY BUT SHE IS ALSO A PERVERT?". Turning around, Akane noticed that the entire school was now looking at the roof and craning their necks to better hear the conversation. "Eep!". Akane sat down quickly, blushing to the roots as she looked at Ranma wondering what impression he got from her little outburst. What shocked the trio was the booming laughter erupting from said martial artist. "Ha-ha-ha! Oh Kami!" he wheezed. "That was hilarious. Highly accurate though-ha-ha!"
"Y-You mean she really is a pervert and a fiancé stealer?"
"Well yes. She is definitely trying to steal me from my potential fiancée and is probably the most perverted girl ever. Her idea of getting a guy to fall in love with her is to seduce them by rubbing her body over them.". At this, Natsume and Nabiki joined Ranma in his laughter. "So Akane of all people managed to hit the head on the nail!" they asked incredulously. "Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!". Akane bristled at this but soon gave up trying to suppress her snickers. The next few minutes were spent with sounds of laughter filling the air.
The group started wheezing for a few minutes before Ranma decided he needed to finish explaining the problem. Taking deep breaths to settle down, Ranma continued. "Shampoo's village has a rule, 'obstacles are for killing'. How anyone can follow it, only Kami knows but I am worried that she is attempting to take the three of you out from the scene since you three are my friends and potential lovers.". At this, all three girls blushed. At this moment, Akane finally picked up her courage and asked the question troubling her ever since she found out about Ranma. "What about Kasumi?"
Ranma sighed. He was worried about this ever since he saw the fights. I swear the boys in this school are idiots. Didn't they realise how much they hurt her self-esteem? Ranma realised his next comment had to be very carefully worded or he could really hurt Akane. "Akane, Kasumi really isn't my type. She is also in love with someone else so I couldn't do anything about it if I wanted to. Honestly if you wanted the current rankings, you and Nabs are at the top of the pick with Kasumi last and Natsume only being barely considered."
"Hey!". Ranma turned to face Natsume before shaking his head. "Have you ever really expressed any interest in this engagement? If so then I haven't noticed anything on your part. If you don't want this, then why should I consider this engagement?". Realising that Ranma had caught her, she quickly turned away before muttering quietly. Ranma ignored this and faced the remaining girls. "Her skills are the real deal. She may not be as good as me but she easily surpasses all three of you.".
This shocked the two martial artists in front of him. They had gotten used to the fact that Ranma was better than them but it still hadn't sunk in that there were other martial artists their age that had better skills. "How much?" came a weak voice from Natsume. Ranma turned to face her. "Physically, she could run rings around all three of you simultaneously. However she doesn't have much Ki experience unlike Akane. If she could fully control her Ki, she would be the only person out of you three who could match Shampoo. Of course I will need to train her further so she can fully master her Ki …". His words were immediately interrupted by Akane jumping forward and giving Ranma a rib cracking hug. "Thank you Ranma! Thank You!"