Well, this should be interesting. Nabiki thought as she leaned up against the door frame. What made this even more fun was that Ranma's left hand which was at the small of Kasumi's back, had slipped under the bottom of her shirt a little bit when he had caught her. Innocent enough, but not to Akane's eyes, she was sure. No way will Akane hit Ranma after their date though, not after she had been trying to be so nice to him earlier, especially not while he is holding Kasumi. She thought as she watched those thoughts flash across Akane's face like she was reading an open book. Then her little sister screwed a smile on her face and reached up and started to button the top button on her pajamas nonchalantly as she walked over to them.
"Hey Ranma ... um ... what's going on?" Akane asked him in a sweet voice that was obviously strained.
Ranma's brain re-engaged and he jerked upright with Kasumi and quickly set her down on her own feet again. He did tend to kind of go into low-power mode when he was in unexpected close contact with a female, didn't he? I wonder why that is? She thought.
Kasumi answered for Ranma as soon as he set her back on her feet. "Oh, I'm afraid it's my fault, Akane. I wasn't looking where I was going with that stack of books I was bringing downstairs to show Doctor Tofu. Ranma had to jump out of the way, and got splashed because of it, and then he saved me from falling when I stumbled." Kasumi said sweetly.
"Kasumi, what did you, wha—" Akane stuttered.
But she couldn't complete the thought because Daddy entered the scene at that point with Mister Saotome right behind him charging up the stairs.
"Don't worry, Kasumi, Daddy's coming!" He yelled as he cleared the landing and jerked to an abrupt stop finding nobody attacking his girls, and everyone just standing around awkwardly in the hallway.
So, of course, he looked suspiciously at Ranma. "Saotome, what are you up to?" He growled.
"Yeah, boy, what'd you do now?" Ranma's dad added.
"I didn't do anything!" Ranma protested.
"It's true, Father, it was my fault. I ran into Ranma and made him drop his kettle. He saved me from falling when I lost my balance from the books I had been carrying." Kasumi said with a bit of an edge to her voice as she stepped in front of Ranma.
Akane noticed the change in Kasumi's mood and took a full step back from her. All thoughts of going after Ranma for any perceived wrongs to her sister had clearly fled her head.
Well, now we'll never know what would have happened. She thought to herself glibly as she leaned against the wall and watched it all with a smile. She noticed that Doctor Tofu hadn't come charging to the rescue. He was good enough to know the difference between the sounds of a real attack and the sounds of someone running into someone accidentally. Had it been an accident, though? She eyed Kasumi suspiciously.
It had become clear to her at dinner that Kasumi wasn't fully acting as a neutral third party. She didn't know if Kasumi just wanted the Ranma thing sorted out one way or another once and for all, or if Kasumi had someone in mind for Ranma specifically. Either way, it was awfully ... convenient that Kasumi had told Ranma the hot water was out, and then Kasumi had somehow been involved with Ranma ... accidentally being changed back into a boy again after going to the trouble of washing up with cold water and changing into a girl. She raised an eyebrow at Kasumi but didn't say anything.
The family was breaking up now. Daddy and Mister Saotome were heading back downstairs; and Akane was following Kasumi to her room, after helping her older sister pick up the dropped books. Akane did pause and lean over and whisper something to Ranma as she passed him, though. She watched her little sister with no small amount of annoyance. The dragon inside her glared at Akane while she tried to shush it. Akane closed the door to Kasumi's room slowly, with her eyes locked on Ranma. It had not escaped her attention that Akane had never once looked at her the entire time she had been in the hall with her. She would have to try to resolve that soon. She didn't want Akane to hate her.
She sighed. So many problems, not enough time. She thought as she looked at her dripping-wet fiancé and sighed again. "What am I going to do with you, Ranma?" She asked with a slow grin and a deliberately overwrought tone of voice.
He frowned at her. "I don't know, but can you do it quick? I hate being wet." He said miserably.
"Well, come on then, come change into dry clothes." She said sarcastically but with a warm tone and a smile on her face as she swept her hand towards the room. He hesitated for a moment, then nodded and entered the room. She followed close behind him and closed the door. He walked a wide berth around the bedding on the floor to reach the clothes dresser on the other side of the room. He pulled out a new set of pajamas and turned and looked at her sadly.
"I wasn't that cold stayin' a girl either, because I had been usin' the kettle to warm up as I washed." He sighed regretfully. "Be right back, I'll go change into a girl and then put these on."
"Hold on, Ranma." She said as she stayed in front of the door and held a hand out in the classic palm-out stop hand signal.
He froze in place with a confused look on his face.
"It's all right ... with me ... if you stay a guy, Ranma. I trust you. I'm not worried about you attacking me in the night or anything." She said as gently as she could. She knew this was a sensitive subject for him.
"Yeah, but ... Nabiki ..." He protested with his hand behind his head in embarrassment.
It was funny, as often as Ranma was accused of being a pervert, in reality he was actually a bit of a prude. She smiled at him. "But, what, Ranma?" She asked. She knew what he was going to say, the same as last night. But, at least this time he couldn't say he'd never slept with anyone before.
"I ... it's just ... you know ... what if somebody—, or what if I—" He stammered.
"All right, worst case scenario, what is the absolute worst thing you think could happen if you stay the night in the room with me as a boy?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I guess ... um ... I guess if I touch somethin' I shouldn't when I'm sleepin' ... oh, um ... I guess worse than that would be if I did that and someone saw, like Akane or your dad." He said as he flushed red and stared at the ground.
She smiled a confident smile as she replied. "So what?" She asked.
"Well ... Akane would be really mad, and your dad would probably try to have us get married that morning, I don't know what Kasumi or Doctor Tofu would do. I'm sure Pop would go along with whatever your dad wanted. I ... I dunno know what you would do..." he trailed off, still staring hard at the floor.
She cracked a more genuine smile and cleared her throat, and waited until he looked up at her. Then she started ticking points off on her fingers. "One, we'll lock the door, which we should be doing anyway just for security reasons. That is the whole reason you are supposed to be in here with me anyway, isn't it? For security?" He nodded, so she continued. "Two, if, despite the door being locked, Akane saw you sleeping with me in an ... awkward situation ... she might indeed get mad. Nothing I can do for you there other than to remind you that it wouldn't be like you were actually doing anything wrong. Three, I can handle my daddy, don't worry about it. And your dad certainly can't make me marry you tomorrow morning, or at any other time. As for Doctor Tofu and Kasumi, again, don't worry about it. They are far more interested in each other than they will ever be in us." She smiled at him encouragingly.
"And ... you, Nabiki?" He asked as he looked up into her eyes uncertainly.
She had been wondering if he would pick up on the fact that she had skipped herself. There's hope for you yet, Ranma. She thought in approval before she answered. "As for myself, I can tell when I am being groped or not, Ranma. If it is an innocent thing done while you are sleeping, or just a mistake done in the dark, then it never happened." She smiled at him, then added with a hard edge in her voice. "However, if you repeatedly make the same innocent mistakes night after night, I may ask Kasumi to only serve you broth until you behave."
Ranma swallowed nervously at that, and nodded earnestly.
"All right then, if that's settled, why don't you get changed, and we can talk about our plans for tomorrow and ... other stuff before we go to sleep." She suggested.
"Oh, s-sure, I'll just run to the bathroom and—" he said as he approached her. But she hadn't moved from in front of the door.
She thought about insisting that she just turn around and he could change in here, but she knew that if she pushed him too hard, he wouldn't be able to handle it. She sighed and stepped away from the door. He smiled gratefully and hurried through it. He ran back into the room wearing the dry clothes about ten seconds later, and closed and locked the door behind himself.
She nodded in appreciation. Say what you will about Ranma, when he wants to, he can pay attention to detail. She thought as she went to go sit down on her bedding and patted the bedding next to her to indicate she wanted him to join her.
When he had settled, she smiled at him. "I have two things to talk to you about."
He nodded and waited patiently. Like a student waiting for a teacher to tell them what to do next. That isn't good. He can't rely on me for all his answers. She thought absently and resolved to try to wean him off his sudden dependence on her for guidance, to a more healthy level anyway.
"Well, first let's talk about plans. Shampoo kind of forced our hand today for dealing with her. I never even got to tell you the plans." She said bemused.
"Plans?" He asked as he picked up on the plural.
Oops. She thought, chagrined. Since it was a moot point now, there wasn't really much point in going over them, and she was kind of embarrassed by the second plan she had come up with anyway. She tried to change the subject. "Yeah, but don't worry. What you did was basically the plan I figured we would use anyway, the direct confrontation. Now, about tomorrow—"
"What was the other plan?" He interrupted her curiously.
Damn. She thought as she looked at him hesitantly. Why did I have to promise him to be honest this week? She thought, embarrassed. If he hadn't proved that he could tell when she was lying, she would lie right now. She sighed. "Fine, well, if you must know, the second plan was ... for you and I to run. We could go to Paris or Hawaii or somewhere else, and just duck out of all of this." She blushed as she said it. It had seemed more reasonable when she had been thinking about it while he was on his date with Akane and trying very hard not to have a nervous melt down.
"Oh ... I ... um ... " He stammered.
"Don't worry about it, Ranma. I didn't really think you would pick that plan anyway." She said as she looked at her hands nervously.
"It's just ... I don't know if I could run from everything, you know?" He said carefully.
"You ran from Shampoo in China." She reminded him.
"T-that's true ... but ... it was different then." He said quietly.
"I know, Ranma. I know. Just ... forget about it, all right? It wasn't the best example of a plan I could come up with. I had plan one worked out much better." She said as she continued to stare into her hands, embarrassed.
She heard him shuffle his weight next to her, and a moment later his warm hand was on hers. She looked up at him, and found him smiling at her. "It would be fun... to take a trip with you, though." He said quietly.
She smiled at him, grateful that he was being so kind about it, and not mocking her. "Maybe ... after this is all over?" She asked haltingly.
He nodded as he sat back down on his own bedding and let go of her hand. She felt the loss of his warmth more keenly than the situation really called for, and took a sharp breath to steady herself.
Come on girl, get it together. She berated herself as she turned to him and pulled their conversation back on track. "So, anyway, for tomorrow, did you want to deal with Ukyo or Kodachi? Or do you want to take a break?"
"Can we ... can we take a break?" He asked quietly.
She nodded. "Of course. How all of this gets handled is up to you. I just promised to help you do it."
He nodded. "All right, well after today with Akane and then Ryoga and Shampoo, it would be nice to take tomorrow a little more slow. At least for a day. Besides, I'm worried about what Shampoo is gonna do next. I don't want Ukyo or Kuno's crazy sister trying to kill me if Shampoo is after us as well." He said.
She smiled. "Fair enough. But, when tomorrow is over, who do you want me to have a plan ready for?"
"Ukyo." He whispered with pain in his eyes. "Can you ... can you figure out a way for her to be happy?" He asked in a miserable tone.
"I'll try, Ranma. I'll try." She said with as much confidence as she could muster. He wasn't exactly asking her to go get groceries. He was asking her to help him break someone's heart and have them be happy about it. She locked eyes with him and tried to communicate what she was feeling as best she could, silently. She could tell at least a little bit of it was getting through to him. That made her happy.
"So what was the other thing you wanted to talk about?" He asked quietly.
Damn, he doesn't miss much when he's paying attention, does he? She thought as she tried to decide if she was going to go through with it tonight after all. Things were good between them right now. Really good. Incredibly good. Why am I such an idiot?! She yelled at herself silently as he watched her.
She just sat and looked at him for a moment, wanting desperately to ask him what he was thinking, how his date with Akane had gone, if he loved her, really, anything to delay what she felt she needed to do. Stop it! She scolded herself. Do what must be done. She sighed inwardly and knew she had to. She wasn't happy about it though. It's like I am trying to throw him back to Akane. She thought bitterly as she took a deep breath and locked eyes with him.
She smiled gently at him. She had to tell him, but she wanted to phrase it in just the right way. So she began with a question. "Ranma, what do you think one of the most important parts of a relationship is?" She looked down as she waited for his answer. Wow, this already hurts more than I thought it would. She thought in surprise as an ache of dread started to blossom in her chest and her heart rate increased as her breaths started to come more shallowly. She knew he would pick up on it, but she couldn't control it.
He spoke up after a longer pause than was comfortable had passed. "I ... I don't know, Nabiki."
She looked up at him and found him staring at her with expectant eyes. She smiled and figured she could give him this one, considering all of this stuff was just her opinion anyway. What was important to her wouldn't necessarily be important to someone else. "Trust," was all she said in answer to him. He continued to look at her expectantly, so she elaborated. "I want to be able to totally trust you, Ranma, and I want you to be able to trust me."
He smiled and reached for her hand, which she gave to him to hold. Feeling his warmth on her again made her shiver a bit with happiness. "But, I do trust you, Nabiki." He said as he smiled at her like he had just said something worthy of high praise. She supposed in a way that was true, as he was learning all of this on his own, and very quickly. He certainly hadn't learned it from his dad.
But why do you trust me? I don't deserve it. Is it just infatuation? She thought to herself. Until recently, because he had been engaged to Akane, and hadn't been her responsibility or a real part of her life, she had frequently teased him and even exploited him. Well, his girl form anyway. She had put the brakes down hard on that behavior, but that had been very recently. He had no real reason to trust her. So, she gave voice to her fears. "Why ... why do you trust me?" She stared him in the eyes this time as she waited for his answer. This was important.
He looked off into space for a while as he thought about it, then shrugged. "I just do. In the past I didn't. But lately ... when I look at you, all I get from you is ... I don't know, it's hard to put into words, you know? All I know is, I don't think you would betray me."
Damn him and his magical people-reading abilities. She groused to herself. Unfortunately, his new found faith in her was going to make what she needed to say next, much more difficult. "That's great ... I'm glad you trust me, Ranma ..." He could obviously hear the unspoken but in her voice as she trailed off, because he winced. She summoned the strength to continue from the same pit she was pretty sure Kasumi was able to pull her endless smiles from. "Ranma ... you have been keeping your promise to me, and that makes me very happy. I want you to know that I am working on keeping my promise to you as well..."
He nodded to show that this wasn't exactly news to him.
She continued doggedly. "Ranma ... I don't want you to feel like you are bound by honor or duty to us. To any of us. It isn't fair to you ... or us." She said it quietly, in a voice just barely above a whisper. Her voice was shaking and he was looking at her and looking crestfallen, but she kept going anyway. "Ranma, since I hold your engagement right now, it's my responsibility. I want you to know ... that I release you. Nobody owns you, Ranma." She could barely get it out. Her voice seemed to be giving out on her to fight to prevent her from saying it, but she managed.
He just stared at her in confusion with hurt written all over his face. Finally, he asked the obvious question. "But, you said earlier you weren't breaking up with me... and you just said at dinner—"
She smiled sincerely at him as she interrupted him. "You didn't do anything wrong, Ranma, and I am not breaking up with you. What I am saying is that just because my daddy says one of us has to marry you, doesn't mean that has to happen. What you want and what we want, also matters. Whether Daddy engaged you to Kasumi, or Akane or me wouldn't matter. Since none of us asked you, and you didn't ask us, it isn't a real engagement, it is a business transaction."
She could see the understanding growing in his eyes. So she pressed on quickly to get it all out before he interrupted with more questions. "So, what I am telling you is that if you want to marry me for real, you have to ask me, for real. Akane or Kasumi might have been fine with just the arranged marriage, but I'm not."
"Now, that being said," she held a hand up as he opened his mouth to say something, "as I told you earlier, I am happy to continue telling people we are engaged. I told you earlier that I would only do that for this week. But I have changed my mind on that. I will tell people we are engaged for as long as you want. However, if you want to switch the engagement back to Akane, well that will be between you and her. And ... if you want to switch it to Kasumi ... you're probably going to have to fight Doctor Tofu at some point."
She said that with a small smile and enjoyed watching his eyes bug out a little bit at that thought. She wondered if it was from the idea of thinking of Kasumi romantically, or from the prospect of fighting Doctor Tofu for her.
"And, if neither Akane or Kasumi will take you, and you never ask me, then yes I will still agree to marry you — but it will be as a business transaction only. I would help you run the school, but we would lead our own separate lives."
"Nabiki— " He said, confused.
She smiled at him and interrupted him to get the rest of it out before she lost her nerve. "So, if you want to marry me and not have it just be a business transaction, then you need to show me that you've figured out what you want, and ask me, and ask me in a way that shows that you mean it, and aren't just asking me for the sake of the arranged marriage. I can tell the difference. It isn't enough to just tell the rest of the girls to stop hanging around and chasing you. At least, it isn't enough for me. I would bet that Akane would prefer it as well if you actually asked her to marry you. But I can't speak for her. As for me, those are my terms. I will still help you end things with the rest of the girls as I promised. I will still be honest with you, and I will still refrain from interfering with anything you do with Akane or any of the rest of the girls while you decide — unless you ask me to interfere, of course. But afterwards, as far as I am concerned, we won't actually be engaged unless you ask me for real, and I accept."
She looked at him worriedly. He was just sitting there looking at her with a panic-stricken look on his face. I just keep making his life more difficult, don't I? She thought sadly to herself. She squeezed his hand to reassure him. "That's all. I just wanted to let you know that. I wanted to be clear what I expect. If you want to actually be in a real relationship with me after this week is over, and not just tell people we're engaged to get them to leave you alone, then that is what needs to happen. Regardless, I think you should be free to choose, and I also think you should actually ask the person who you want to marry. If you want to leave it as a business transaction, that is fine too. But if that is the case ... I would suggest you look harder at Akane or Kasumi then, as they might make you happier." She said the last part in a whisper as the dragon inside her tried to strangle her to shut her up.
He let go of her hand then, and she immediately used it to help her other hand pull her legs up to her chest so she could rest her chin on her knees and watch him. Her heart was hammering in her chest as she waited for him to respond. He was silent for several minutes as he looked down at the floor.
Finally, as the urge to cry peaked inside her as the silence grew longer, and she became convinced she had just ruined everything, he spoke in his own shaky voice. "I ... don't know what to say, Nabiki." He said hesitantly. He was still looking down at the floor. "You're right ... I think. But ... that's a lot to take in. A lot of stuff is changin' right now, ya know?"
She did know, but she stayed quiet and let him work it out. All she could do now was trust and hope. She had made it clear to him that Akane was going to be a much easier way out of everything for him, than she would be. He would have to work to be with her, but Akane, as far as he knew anyway, was just a word with Daddy away. He could be re-engaged to Akane tonight and that could be the end of it for him. She smiled bitterly at her own foolishness.
"I ... I have a hard time with this kind of thing. A-Asking someone to marry me ... I ... I dunno if I'm ..." He said quietly after a few more moments had passed as she silently went crazy waiting for him to tell her if she had just killed her chances with him.
She jumped in then and tried to encourage him. "What about in the hedge maze the other day? You seemed pretty brave then."
He nodded at that and looked up. "You're right. I felt like a different person then. I don't know exactly what was going on, but I think it had to do with trying to get you back, ya know? I was tryin' to say the kinds of things you'd said and tryin' to get you to feel like I had felt. It was kinda like a battle."
She nodded eagerly at that. "Yes, exactly, Ranma. Love is like a battle. You have to fight for the one you want. And, you know what they say, all's fair in love and war." She could tell she had grabbed his attention by phrasing it that way. The only way she could have been more leading was to say that Anything Goes in love and war. She watched him carefully after she said that, and was happy to see him thinking hard.
"So, are we okay? You aren't mad at me, are you?" She asked after a minute had passed. Oh please, oh please, oh please. She chanted to herself as she tried desperately to keep her nervousness off her face.
He looked up at her and smiled. "No, Nabiki, I'm not mad at you. I'm learnin' a lot from you. Do you ... do you want to plan our date now?" He asked quietly.
She unclenched her hands from around her knees and let out the breath she hadn't realized she had been holding as she willed herself to keep from leaping on him and covering his face with kisses. "I would ... like that a lot ... actually." She said in a raw, shaky voice tinged with relief.