"The Green Leaves Tea Shop"
A Series Written By: icezer230, a.k.a Shu.
E-mail: icezer230@usa.net (C&C welcome)
Webpage: http://icezer.itgo.com/fanfic.html
The 'Green Leaves Tea Shop' are a series of stories revolving a certain Tea
Shop at the edge of Nerima. It's kind of a multi-crossover where each story
stays distinctively within the boundaries of its own domain. Includes a hefty
amount of personally-created characters (along with the usual characters of
the animanga).
Legalities: All the original characters in the Ranma 1/2 universe have been
created by the great Rumiko Takahashi. The rest of the characters, especially
the bunch at the Tea Shop, have been created by yours truly. If you wish to
use any of them in other fanfiction or draw fanart, please e-mail me. I would
be very interested in archiving them. Distribution in archives, etc. is
permitted provided that this header remains intact.
*****
What happened the last time...
Nabiki needs help with English in order to be able to get into the
ever-prestigious Tokyo University and turns to the Ishikawa family under the
recommendation of her sensei. But one particular member of that family causes
an...'interesting' reaction that juuuust might lead to...other things, if you
get my meaning. ^_^; But for now, he's just her English tutor.
*****
"{You're late}," Sean remarked from under the tree as he watched Tendo Nabiki
approach, still in her Furinkan High uniform.
"Ai...so sohri?" Nabiki replied hesitantly.
"Actually, it should be {I'm so sorry. But that's all right, you'll get the
hang of it soon. So, how was your day?}" Sean asked.
[Author's Note: From this point forward I can't be bothered into writing all
Nabiki's bad Japanese pronounciations of English so...just use your
imagination ^^;]
"{Day very...good? Make yen lots}," Nabiki replied, smiling. She had just
arrived from a...business meeting with Kuno-chan. It had been regarding
several...indecently provocative pictures of 'the pig-tailed girl', as well
more work-out pictures of her sister, Akane.
"{I see we're going to have to work hard on this if we're going to show Himada
Sensei something by the end of two weeks...But that's not the point. You've
already improved quite considerably. I hope you've been watching those movies
and sleeping on those tapes? They're quite good for seeing how people
pronounce certain letters in English...}" Sean remarked.
"{Sorry I no understand what Sean talk}" Nabiki replied, wondering what he had
just said. *Gosh, he speaks so fast! I'll never get the hang of this!*
"Oh. Um...I was just wondering if you did what I asked you to do," Sean said,
giving up.
"Oh yes, they were...informative. At least, er...until my sister came into my
room and 'borrowed' my walkman," Nabiki lied, hoping that Sean would buy it.
*I don't think he'd buy the explanation where Ranma, Akane, and Ryoga's (or
should that be P-chan?) fighting ended up in her room, disrupting her beauty
sleep, and somehow creating a nice big hole in the wall so the breeze could
come in (creating somewhat of a 'natural' air-conditioner, and destroying her
walkman in the process (among other things).
Needless to say, it was a busy night.
"Oh, you should have told me. I've got one I can lend you for now," Sean said,
handing her his.
"{Thunk you}," Nabiki said. Sean hoped that she wouldn't notice the sweat drop
behind his head as she said this. *I can tell that it's going to take a
looooot of work...* he thought, sighing inwardly.
*****
SEAN'S SECRET BREW
Day Two: Nabiki Makes Her Move
"Anyway, how did you enjoy last night's performance?" Sean asked much later
when they took a little break.
"I did not know you had such talented friends and family. I really loved it.
When will they be on again? I might persuade more of my schoolmates to
come...provided there is..." Nabiki left the sentence empty, hoping Sean got
the hint.
"Huh?" Sean made out. He suddenly noticed how close she was to him. He
swallowed a mouthful of spit that mysteriously accumulated all at once. He
gave a weak smile.
"...Enough incentive..." she drawled, leaning ever. so. close.
"{Yikes, look at the time!}" he exclaimed without realizing what language he
was speaking (he tended to speak in English when he was nervous), looking at
his wristwatch. *Shit, I'm late! Tokuo will kill me! Mom'll-* "{I-I gotta go!
I-I'll see you tomorrow, same time, same place! Ah...Bye!}"
With that, he vanished from her sight with full speed ahead.
"Drat," she said, looking at the direction he had gone with an unreadable
expression on her face.
*****
"Mae..." *sigh* "...What am I supposed to do?" Sean asked to the ceiling as he
contemplated his day. It wasn't right, his attraction, and how he reacted
around her (OK, so he was human...but that's not the point!). He had a
girlfriend, damnit, and he promised that he would stay loyal to her...
FLASHBACK
"And if we DO meet someone we're interested in...we'd...write about it?" Mae
had asked him.
END FLASHBACK
"...I think it's...time that I wrote," Sean said. *But it doesn't mean that
I'm breaking up with her* he added as an afterthought. He turned to his laptop
and flipped it on. As the Windows 2000 startup screen flashed in front of his
eyes, he was lost in thought of what he would tell her. It had been only what,
2 days since he had last e-mailed her? And now...he was confused. More
confused than he thought he'd be, actually.
She would have the answers. Hopefully.
The desktop appeared, revealing a picture of him and Mae posing before Madam
Tussaud's last summer, with him hugging her from behind. They had a really
great time there, he remembered, and it had hurt the both of them even worse
when he had to come back to Japan. It was as if a part of him was still in
London, even now.
He moved the cursor over to the dial-up button and listened as the internal
modem checked his dial-tone and then called the server. As the sounds of
whirring continued, he focused his gaze on the ring he had given her, as a
token of his affection, on her finger in that picture. Then, his attention was
riveted back as the dial-up screen vanished to its corner. He clicked on the
browser button and logged onto his e-mail account.
There, there was a message from her, dated today. He moved the cursor to the
link and clicked it. The expression on his face was unreadable as he read it,
and he was silent for a moment before he shut down the computer and got ready
to sleep.
*****
"Kasumi, if a guy you tried to kiss runs away, what does that mean?" Nabiki
asked idly when she entered the kitchen and found her sister there. She had
forgotten to give her sister the package of tea from yesterday (after all,
Sean DID tell her that Kasumi had ordered it) and took the oppportunity to ask
a simple and yet delicate question about relationships. Kasumi, upon hearing
the question and looked at Nabiki strangely.
"Uh...the sauce? Kasumi? The sauce?" Nabiki gestured towards her hand. The
soya sauce Kasumi had been holding had darkened the dish so that it was hardly
recognizable. Kasumi instantly snapped out of her daydream and panicked,
remedying the dish with her usual culinary genius (a pinch of this, a drop of
that, etc). Nabiki chuckled; it was a rare thing, seeing Kasumi so...caught
unaware like this. *Of course, there _was_ that time when Akane came back with
her hair cut. But that was a long time ago*, she thought.
"...Oh my, Nabiki-chan. Um..." Kasumi said, visibly struggling to come to grip
with what Nabiki had asked. She continued, "Could you wait until I finish
this?"
*Uh oh* Nabiki thought quickly, sensing doomsday approaching. *If she stalls,
that means she's going to go into a looong speech about relationships between
a guy and a girl. Think, girl, think. You've GOT to get yourself out of this
mess.*
"Uh...that won't be necessary, onee-chan-" she said, before being disrupted by
long-by-now familiar sound of a large wall being obliterated and a tell-tale
"Nihao!"
"Oh my, it sounds like Shampoo has come to visit again. I really wish she
would come in the normal way..." Kasumi trailed off, going back to her
cooking, as if forgetting all about Nabiki's question. Nabiki, sensing that
this was her way out, left the kitchen quietly, to see the chaos magnify for a
moment with a loud resounding "SLAP!", accompanied by a loud "BAKA!" and the
equally familiar created by the impact of Ranma's body with the ceiling. She
sighed and shook her head, going back into her room. *I wonder if we have
enough in the emergency budget to fix it...* she thought, her mind shifting to
her usual normal self.
Back to business.
*****
Later that night, it seemed the Kasumi _hadn't_ forgotten their little
escapade in the kitchen, and had dragged Nabiki into her room for an
inevitably long heart-to-heart, sister-to-sister talk. But it was unlike what
Nabiki had ever expected. She had expected Kasumi going into the mother-mode,
but it seemed that Kasumi had other plans. Once again, a rare thing.
"So, who is it?" Kasumi asked eagerly.
"...Well..." Nabiki hesitated. *Should I really tell her? I mean, she knows
them pretty well, and I only know them for what, a day or two?* she thought.
But further thoughts would be interrupted by the entrance of Akane. The two
sisters looked onto the third, youngest Tendo child and wondered what she
wanted.
"Hey, there you are, Kasumi. I was looking all over for you. I was wondering
whether I could try cooking tonight?" she asked. Then, she noticed them
staring at her.
"What? Hey, what's this about? Why are the two of you staring at me like I
walked on a big secret? What's going on?" she continued. Nabiki was about to
explain in her usual tactful manner when she was cut off by Kasumi.
"Nabiki's got a boyfriend!" she blurted as if it was the most important news
since the last time Akane was kidnapped, making Nabiki blush and wave her
hands in a frantic 'no, he's not!' motion and Akane grin maniacally and close
the door behind her before she sat down next to them. It was clear that she
was definitely not going to miss out on the action.
"So who is he?" Akane asked, echoing the earlier question of her eldest
sister. Nabiki, now furiously blushing, looked very much the cornered prey.
She looked left and right for some desperate opportunity to escape, but it
seems that fate wasn't on her side this time.
"Come on, Nabiki. We won't bite," Kasumi replied, also quite eager to find
out.
"Yeah...although, with him around, we won't know if _you_ will," Akane teased.
Nabiki, who had lost some of her embarrassment, returned with a full blush.
"It's...nothing, really..." Nabiki stammered for the first time in her life.
She had an arm behind her head as if feeling more than a little embarrassed
and wasn't looking at any of her sisters.
"Come on now, what's this about him running away after you tried to kiss him?"
Kasumi asked. Another secret revealed, in the usual Kasumi manner. Just great.
*Oh God...* she sighed. *If this isn't hell...*
"Oh my god, Nabiki, you tried to kiss him? Gosh, and I thought this might have
been another one of those money-making schemes of yours," Akane commented
shamelessly, before putting a hand to her mouth, realizing that she had just
put her foot in her mouth. "Oops."
As Kasumi admonished Akane's behavior, Nabiki could feel the blow to her ego
with a nonexistent rock on her head (ie, she facefaulted) hit her further than
it would have normally. Why is that, she had no idea, but in the matters of
HER OWN love and affection her cold mercenary attitude seemed a little out of
place. Her own sister, admonishing her! But she couldn't blame her,
considering the way she had behaving lately.
"Hey, you know what? You move pretty fast, Nabiki. Even Ranma and I haven't
really gotten anywhere at this stage...I mean, how long have you known him? I
haven't even heard you say anything about him before," Akane said. Kasumi
elbowed her in another rare gesture of sisterly admonishment.
"Two days," she choked. Then, a thought came to her, *How come I never thought
about how fast I was going before?* It was another blow to her ego; Where had
her famed self-control been when Sean was around; thrown out of the window?
Even though she had been in her teasing mode when she had made her move,
well...it seemed that all that mattered to her was knowing how he felt about
her. How he would have responded to her advances. *God, please let this
interrogation end now!* she screamed inside her head. But no, that would not
be the case.
"Well, don't keep us in suspense. Who is it?" Kasumi asked again.
Nabiki sighed, giving up. It was better to tell them everything than nothing
at all. She crossed her fingers, just in case her gut feeling to reveal
everything was wrong. But no, she would not tell them about how she needed
help with her English.
She would tell them...a slightly 'altered' version where she had stumbled upon
this coffee-shop yesterday and had met an interesting and charming person who
just happened to be a little older and her type, and how he just happened to
know Kasumi, and how they had spent the afternoon together in romantic bliss -
*Yeah right, only in a shoujo manga* she added as an afterthought - when she
tried making her move, and the tragedy that happened afterwards.
*****
"It sounds to me that he's just really shy. You know, unable to show his
feelings. That kind of thing. Like Ranma," Akane replied. "You should give him
some time to make up his mind as to how he feels about you."
"If I waited like the two of you, I'd be dead before I ever got the chance or
the guts to kiss each other," Nabiki retorted.
"Who ever said we ever wanted to kiss each other!? That selfish baka of a
half-man!" Akane roared in her usual denial of the matter.
"Akane," Kasumi chided once more.
"You forgot to say pervert...why is that, I wonder?" Nabiki asked, a bit
surprised at this small but important change. It was now Akane's turn to
blush.
"It's nothing! I-I...just think that...we've had some misunderstandings in the
past!" Akane struggled, not really knowing what she just said.
"It looks to me, sis, that you've just realized that your fiance is not as bad
as you think he is...When should we plan the wedding for? That reminds me, I'd
better start saving some yen for that-Whoa! Time for me to get out of here
before this turns into a homicide!" Nabiki said, now back to her teasing mode,
getting out of the room just before Akane could hit her with a pillow. The
pillow thudded harmlessly against the door, however, and the two sisters were
left with a strange awkward silence.
"Do you think she's serious?" Akane asked to her eldest sister, trying to
comprehend everything she had just heard.
"Have you ever known a time when she had not thought about her actions and had
her own motives for revealing certain things beforehand? If she's told us this
much, I do believe she's serious," Kasumi mused.
"Then...are we in trouble?" Akane asked hesitantly.
"Well, as long as this Sean person doesn't uh...create any problems or find
any flaws within our sister it should be all right...Well, we should proceed
with caution, just to be sure. Are you with me, sister?" Kasumi asked with a
small smile.
"When have I _not_ been with you?" Akane teased and they both chuckled at the
need and the thought for a little sister bonding. First, they'd find out
everything they could about him, his family, and whether or not he was worthy
of her affections. And since Kasumi already knew a bit about him, he seemed as
good a candidate for their sister as any.
*****
"Sean, honey, what are you doing up in the middle of the night like this?"
Phylicia, Sean's mother had asked, finding her son wide awake and behind the
bar, creating something that she was not familiar with at all. She had gotten
up from her bed with a sudden urge to go to the washroom when she noticed the
light coming from downstairs, the area where the store was.
"I couldn't sleep, mum. That's all," he said, his back turned to her.
"Well, don't keep this up every night. You've got class tomorrow," she said,
before disappearing at the top of the stairs. After she had left, Sean turned
towards where she had stood and sighed before going back to work.
"Mae..." he whispered to himself, with a faraway look into his eyes. Then, his
eyes cleared and he now worked with a new intensity, into the long night.
*****
Nabiki had her headphones on that night (yes, she got a new walkman); instead
of listening to her usual j-pop, she had on the English tapes that Sean had
recommended her to use in the matters of pronouncation. But her mind was
faaaar, faaaar beyond listening what the tape was saying. Instead, her
concentration was on the male figure of Sean. His curves (yeah, baby!). His
smile. How nice he was. That sort of thing. And did he have a girlfriend? Guys
that nice nearly always had a girlfriend; after all, the good ones are always
taken. But there's always that one chance that he wasn't.
"{Yukiko-san, do you know where the bank is? I would like to exchange my
British Pounds into Japanese yen!}" a male voice blurted into her ear,
speaking perfect British English. A female voice replied, "{Of course,
Alexander-san, I would be glad to help you. It's-}"
So far was she gone, she didn't even notice the loud familiar noise of the
wall being bashed (again). No, she was far too gone to even notice the
ever-present "Ranma, die!" line, and the crashes that followed. No, she was
far too gone. She didn't even blink when her door was opened and two figures,
seemingly too fast to follow with the naked eye, jumped in and out again; one
of them threw sharp objects from seemingly nowhere in many directions (almost
blindlessly *hint hint*), one heading directly straight at her. Fortunately,
it narrowly missed hitting her head by a hair's width. But she was too far in
her thoughts to think about what was around her.
It was only until her father, with his 'demon head persona,' came into her
room, looking for Ranma so he could pressure him into marrying Akane, that she
actually snapped out of it.
"Daaad! Can't you respect a girl's need for privacy?" she complained.
"Sorry, Nabiki," Soun's head deflated a bit to get out of her room and
inflated again in the hallway to look for his future son-in-law. Moments
later, after the familiar sounds of the roof being broken in (again), she
sighed and went back to her tape, only to realize that she had no idea what
she had been listening to, and that the tape had run out a looong time ago.
"Uh oh. Does this mean I have to listen to this side again?" she asked
herself, moaning to herself. Then, she rewound the tape to the beginning and
played it once more.
"{Lesson 1: Arriving at the Airport...}" a contralto voice began.
She sighed once more, her thoughts drifting in and out of the lesson. When the
tape finished, she was in a deep sleep, not even bothering to turn out the
light.
*****
'Till next time, au revoir!
FOOTNOTES
Kudos to CH, who encouraged me to continue writing this; Feir, as always, for
always-needed C last but not least, you, of course, for continuing to
support me by reading this. I've only mentioned Ryoga and Mousse passingly in
this chapter (both wrecking Nabiki's room somewhat), not because I don't like
them (don't get me wrong!), but because I wanted to see whether my
descriptions of their actions allow the reader to guess who they are. Hope you
got it.
Anyway, things heat up even more in the next chapter as I reveal what Sean's
doing and what was in that e-mail he had been reading. And, how are those two
going to act in their next meeting?
Stay tuned, same website, same author, for Day 3 of Sean's Secret Brew: When
It Rains, It Pours...
A Series Written By: icezer230, a.k.a Shu.
E-mail: icezer230@usa.net (C&C welcome)
Webpage: http://icezer.itgo.com/fanfic.html
The 'Green Leaves Tea Shop' are a series of stories revolving a certain Tea
Shop at the edge of Nerima. It's kind of a multi-crossover where each story
stays distinctively within the boundaries of its own domain. Includes a hefty
amount of personally-created characters (along with the usual characters of
the animanga).
Legalities: All the original characters in the Ranma 1/2 universe have been
created by the great Rumiko Takahashi. The rest of the characters, especially
the bunch at the Tea Shop, have been created by yours truly. If you wish to
use any of them in other fanfiction or draw fanart, please e-mail me. I would
be very interested in archiving them. Distribution in archives, etc. is
permitted provided that this header remains intact.
*****
What happened the last time...
Nabiki needs help with English in order to be able to get into the
ever-prestigious Tokyo University and turns to the Ishikawa family under the
recommendation of her sensei. But one particular member of that family causes
an...'interesting' reaction that juuuust might lead to...other things, if you
get my meaning. ^_^; But for now, he's just her English tutor.
*****
"{You're late}," Sean remarked from under the tree as he watched Tendo Nabiki
approach, still in her Furinkan High uniform.
"Ai...so sohri?" Nabiki replied hesitantly.
"Actually, it should be {I'm so sorry. But that's all right, you'll get the
hang of it soon. So, how was your day?}" Sean asked.
[Author's Note: From this point forward I can't be bothered into writing all
Nabiki's bad Japanese pronounciations of English so...just use your
imagination ^^;]
"{Day very...good? Make yen lots}," Nabiki replied, smiling. She had just
arrived from a...business meeting with Kuno-chan. It had been regarding
several...indecently provocative pictures of 'the pig-tailed girl', as well
more work-out pictures of her sister, Akane.
"{I see we're going to have to work hard on this if we're going to show Himada
Sensei something by the end of two weeks...But that's not the point. You've
already improved quite considerably. I hope you've been watching those movies
and sleeping on those tapes? They're quite good for seeing how people
pronounce certain letters in English...}" Sean remarked.
"{Sorry I no understand what Sean talk}" Nabiki replied, wondering what he had
just said. *Gosh, he speaks so fast! I'll never get the hang of this!*
"Oh. Um...I was just wondering if you did what I asked you to do," Sean said,
giving up.
"Oh yes, they were...informative. At least, er...until my sister came into my
room and 'borrowed' my walkman," Nabiki lied, hoping that Sean would buy it.
*I don't think he'd buy the explanation where Ranma, Akane, and Ryoga's (or
should that be P-chan?) fighting ended up in her room, disrupting her beauty
sleep, and somehow creating a nice big hole in the wall so the breeze could
come in (creating somewhat of a 'natural' air-conditioner, and destroying her
walkman in the process (among other things).
Needless to say, it was a busy night.
"Oh, you should have told me. I've got one I can lend you for now," Sean said,
handing her his.
"{Thunk you}," Nabiki said. Sean hoped that she wouldn't notice the sweat drop
behind his head as she said this. *I can tell that it's going to take a
looooot of work...* he thought, sighing inwardly.
*****
SEAN'S SECRET BREW
Day Two: Nabiki Makes Her Move
"Anyway, how did you enjoy last night's performance?" Sean asked much later
when they took a little break.
"I did not know you had such talented friends and family. I really loved it.
When will they be on again? I might persuade more of my schoolmates to
come...provided there is..." Nabiki left the sentence empty, hoping Sean got
the hint.
"Huh?" Sean made out. He suddenly noticed how close she was to him. He
swallowed a mouthful of spit that mysteriously accumulated all at once. He
gave a weak smile.
"...Enough incentive..." she drawled, leaning ever. so. close.
"{Yikes, look at the time!}" he exclaimed without realizing what language he
was speaking (he tended to speak in English when he was nervous), looking at
his wristwatch. *Shit, I'm late! Tokuo will kill me! Mom'll-* "{I-I gotta go!
I-I'll see you tomorrow, same time, same place! Ah...Bye!}"
With that, he vanished from her sight with full speed ahead.
"Drat," she said, looking at the direction he had gone with an unreadable
expression on her face.
*****
"Mae..." *sigh* "...What am I supposed to do?" Sean asked to the ceiling as he
contemplated his day. It wasn't right, his attraction, and how he reacted
around her (OK, so he was human...but that's not the point!). He had a
girlfriend, damnit, and he promised that he would stay loyal to her...
FLASHBACK
"And if we DO meet someone we're interested in...we'd...write about it?" Mae
had asked him.
END FLASHBACK
"...I think it's...time that I wrote," Sean said. *But it doesn't mean that
I'm breaking up with her* he added as an afterthought. He turned to his laptop
and flipped it on. As the Windows 2000 startup screen flashed in front of his
eyes, he was lost in thought of what he would tell her. It had been only what,
2 days since he had last e-mailed her? And now...he was confused. More
confused than he thought he'd be, actually.
She would have the answers. Hopefully.
The desktop appeared, revealing a picture of him and Mae posing before Madam
Tussaud's last summer, with him hugging her from behind. They had a really
great time there, he remembered, and it had hurt the both of them even worse
when he had to come back to Japan. It was as if a part of him was still in
London, even now.
He moved the cursor over to the dial-up button and listened as the internal
modem checked his dial-tone and then called the server. As the sounds of
whirring continued, he focused his gaze on the ring he had given her, as a
token of his affection, on her finger in that picture. Then, his attention was
riveted back as the dial-up screen vanished to its corner. He clicked on the
browser button and logged onto his e-mail account.
There, there was a message from her, dated today. He moved the cursor to the
link and clicked it. The expression on his face was unreadable as he read it,
and he was silent for a moment before he shut down the computer and got ready
to sleep.
*****
"Kasumi, if a guy you tried to kiss runs away, what does that mean?" Nabiki
asked idly when she entered the kitchen and found her sister there. She had
forgotten to give her sister the package of tea from yesterday (after all,
Sean DID tell her that Kasumi had ordered it) and took the oppportunity to ask
a simple and yet delicate question about relationships. Kasumi, upon hearing
the question and looked at Nabiki strangely.
"Uh...the sauce? Kasumi? The sauce?" Nabiki gestured towards her hand. The
soya sauce Kasumi had been holding had darkened the dish so that it was hardly
recognizable. Kasumi instantly snapped out of her daydream and panicked,
remedying the dish with her usual culinary genius (a pinch of this, a drop of
that, etc). Nabiki chuckled; it was a rare thing, seeing Kasumi so...caught
unaware like this. *Of course, there _was_ that time when Akane came back with
her hair cut. But that was a long time ago*, she thought.
"...Oh my, Nabiki-chan. Um..." Kasumi said, visibly struggling to come to grip
with what Nabiki had asked. She continued, "Could you wait until I finish
this?"
*Uh oh* Nabiki thought quickly, sensing doomsday approaching. *If she stalls,
that means she's going to go into a looong speech about relationships between
a guy and a girl. Think, girl, think. You've GOT to get yourself out of this
mess.*
"Uh...that won't be necessary, onee-chan-" she said, before being disrupted by
long-by-now familiar sound of a large wall being obliterated and a tell-tale
"Nihao!"
"Oh my, it sounds like Shampoo has come to visit again. I really wish she
would come in the normal way..." Kasumi trailed off, going back to her
cooking, as if forgetting all about Nabiki's question. Nabiki, sensing that
this was her way out, left the kitchen quietly, to see the chaos magnify for a
moment with a loud resounding "SLAP!", accompanied by a loud "BAKA!" and the
equally familiar created by the impact of Ranma's body with the ceiling. She
sighed and shook her head, going back into her room. *I wonder if we have
enough in the emergency budget to fix it...* she thought, her mind shifting to
her usual normal self.
Back to business.
*****
Later that night, it seemed the Kasumi _hadn't_ forgotten their little
escapade in the kitchen, and had dragged Nabiki into her room for an
inevitably long heart-to-heart, sister-to-sister talk. But it was unlike what
Nabiki had ever expected. She had expected Kasumi going into the mother-mode,
but it seemed that Kasumi had other plans. Once again, a rare thing.
"So, who is it?" Kasumi asked eagerly.
"...Well..." Nabiki hesitated. *Should I really tell her? I mean, she knows
them pretty well, and I only know them for what, a day or two?* she thought.
But further thoughts would be interrupted by the entrance of Akane. The two
sisters looked onto the third, youngest Tendo child and wondered what she
wanted.
"Hey, there you are, Kasumi. I was looking all over for you. I was wondering
whether I could try cooking tonight?" she asked. Then, she noticed them
staring at her.
"What? Hey, what's this about? Why are the two of you staring at me like I
walked on a big secret? What's going on?" she continued. Nabiki was about to
explain in her usual tactful manner when she was cut off by Kasumi.
"Nabiki's got a boyfriend!" she blurted as if it was the most important news
since the last time Akane was kidnapped, making Nabiki blush and wave her
hands in a frantic 'no, he's not!' motion and Akane grin maniacally and close
the door behind her before she sat down next to them. It was clear that she
was definitely not going to miss out on the action.
"So who is he?" Akane asked, echoing the earlier question of her eldest
sister. Nabiki, now furiously blushing, looked very much the cornered prey.
She looked left and right for some desperate opportunity to escape, but it
seems that fate wasn't on her side this time.
"Come on, Nabiki. We won't bite," Kasumi replied, also quite eager to find
out.
"Yeah...although, with him around, we won't know if _you_ will," Akane teased.
Nabiki, who had lost some of her embarrassment, returned with a full blush.
"It's...nothing, really..." Nabiki stammered for the first time in her life.
She had an arm behind her head as if feeling more than a little embarrassed
and wasn't looking at any of her sisters.
"Come on now, what's this about him running away after you tried to kiss him?"
Kasumi asked. Another secret revealed, in the usual Kasumi manner. Just great.
*Oh God...* she sighed. *If this isn't hell...*
"Oh my god, Nabiki, you tried to kiss him? Gosh, and I thought this might have
been another one of those money-making schemes of yours," Akane commented
shamelessly, before putting a hand to her mouth, realizing that she had just
put her foot in her mouth. "Oops."
As Kasumi admonished Akane's behavior, Nabiki could feel the blow to her ego
with a nonexistent rock on her head (ie, she facefaulted) hit her further than
it would have normally. Why is that, she had no idea, but in the matters of
HER OWN love and affection her cold mercenary attitude seemed a little out of
place. Her own sister, admonishing her! But she couldn't blame her,
considering the way she had behaving lately.
"Hey, you know what? You move pretty fast, Nabiki. Even Ranma and I haven't
really gotten anywhere at this stage...I mean, how long have you known him? I
haven't even heard you say anything about him before," Akane said. Kasumi
elbowed her in another rare gesture of sisterly admonishment.
"Two days," she choked. Then, a thought came to her, *How come I never thought
about how fast I was going before?* It was another blow to her ego; Where had
her famed self-control been when Sean was around; thrown out of the window?
Even though she had been in her teasing mode when she had made her move,
well...it seemed that all that mattered to her was knowing how he felt about
her. How he would have responded to her advances. *God, please let this
interrogation end now!* she screamed inside her head. But no, that would not
be the case.
"Well, don't keep us in suspense. Who is it?" Kasumi asked again.
Nabiki sighed, giving up. It was better to tell them everything than nothing
at all. She crossed her fingers, just in case her gut feeling to reveal
everything was wrong. But no, she would not tell them about how she needed
help with her English.
She would tell them...a slightly 'altered' version where she had stumbled upon
this coffee-shop yesterday and had met an interesting and charming person who
just happened to be a little older and her type, and how he just happened to
know Kasumi, and how they had spent the afternoon together in romantic bliss -
*Yeah right, only in a shoujo manga* she added as an afterthought - when she
tried making her move, and the tragedy that happened afterwards.
*****
"It sounds to me that he's just really shy. You know, unable to show his
feelings. That kind of thing. Like Ranma," Akane replied. "You should give him
some time to make up his mind as to how he feels about you."
"If I waited like the two of you, I'd be dead before I ever got the chance or
the guts to kiss each other," Nabiki retorted.
"Who ever said we ever wanted to kiss each other!? That selfish baka of a
half-man!" Akane roared in her usual denial of the matter.
"Akane," Kasumi chided once more.
"You forgot to say pervert...why is that, I wonder?" Nabiki asked, a bit
surprised at this small but important change. It was now Akane's turn to
blush.
"It's nothing! I-I...just think that...we've had some misunderstandings in the
past!" Akane struggled, not really knowing what she just said.
"It looks to me, sis, that you've just realized that your fiance is not as bad
as you think he is...When should we plan the wedding for? That reminds me, I'd
better start saving some yen for that-Whoa! Time for me to get out of here
before this turns into a homicide!" Nabiki said, now back to her teasing mode,
getting out of the room just before Akane could hit her with a pillow. The
pillow thudded harmlessly against the door, however, and the two sisters were
left with a strange awkward silence.
"Do you think she's serious?" Akane asked to her eldest sister, trying to
comprehend everything she had just heard.
"Have you ever known a time when she had not thought about her actions and had
her own motives for revealing certain things beforehand? If she's told us this
much, I do believe she's serious," Kasumi mused.
"Then...are we in trouble?" Akane asked hesitantly.
"Well, as long as this Sean person doesn't uh...create any problems or find
any flaws within our sister it should be all right...Well, we should proceed
with caution, just to be sure. Are you with me, sister?" Kasumi asked with a
small smile.
"When have I _not_ been with you?" Akane teased and they both chuckled at the
need and the thought for a little sister bonding. First, they'd find out
everything they could about him, his family, and whether or not he was worthy
of her affections. And since Kasumi already knew a bit about him, he seemed as
good a candidate for their sister as any.
*****
"Sean, honey, what are you doing up in the middle of the night like this?"
Phylicia, Sean's mother had asked, finding her son wide awake and behind the
bar, creating something that she was not familiar with at all. She had gotten
up from her bed with a sudden urge to go to the washroom when she noticed the
light coming from downstairs, the area where the store was.
"I couldn't sleep, mum. That's all," he said, his back turned to her.
"Well, don't keep this up every night. You've got class tomorrow," she said,
before disappearing at the top of the stairs. After she had left, Sean turned
towards where she had stood and sighed before going back to work.
"Mae..." he whispered to himself, with a faraway look into his eyes. Then, his
eyes cleared and he now worked with a new intensity, into the long night.
*****
Nabiki had her headphones on that night (yes, she got a new walkman); instead
of listening to her usual j-pop, she had on the English tapes that Sean had
recommended her to use in the matters of pronouncation. But her mind was
faaaar, faaaar beyond listening what the tape was saying. Instead, her
concentration was on the male figure of Sean. His curves (yeah, baby!). His
smile. How nice he was. That sort of thing. And did he have a girlfriend? Guys
that nice nearly always had a girlfriend; after all, the good ones are always
taken. But there's always that one chance that he wasn't.
"{Yukiko-san, do you know where the bank is? I would like to exchange my
British Pounds into Japanese yen!}" a male voice blurted into her ear,
speaking perfect British English. A female voice replied, "{Of course,
Alexander-san, I would be glad to help you. It's-}"
So far was she gone, she didn't even notice the loud familiar noise of the
wall being bashed (again). No, she was far too gone to even notice the
ever-present "Ranma, die!" line, and the crashes that followed. No, she was
far too gone. She didn't even blink when her door was opened and two figures,
seemingly too fast to follow with the naked eye, jumped in and out again; one
of them threw sharp objects from seemingly nowhere in many directions (almost
blindlessly *hint hint*), one heading directly straight at her. Fortunately,
it narrowly missed hitting her head by a hair's width. But she was too far in
her thoughts to think about what was around her.
It was only until her father, with his 'demon head persona,' came into her
room, looking for Ranma so he could pressure him into marrying Akane, that she
actually snapped out of it.
"Daaad! Can't you respect a girl's need for privacy?" she complained.
"Sorry, Nabiki," Soun's head deflated a bit to get out of her room and
inflated again in the hallway to look for his future son-in-law. Moments
later, after the familiar sounds of the roof being broken in (again), she
sighed and went back to her tape, only to realize that she had no idea what
she had been listening to, and that the tape had run out a looong time ago.
"Uh oh. Does this mean I have to listen to this side again?" she asked
herself, moaning to herself. Then, she rewound the tape to the beginning and
played it once more.
"{Lesson 1: Arriving at the Airport...}" a contralto voice began.
She sighed once more, her thoughts drifting in and out of the lesson. When the
tape finished, she was in a deep sleep, not even bothering to turn out the
light.
*****
'Till next time, au revoir!
FOOTNOTES
Kudos to CH, who encouraged me to continue writing this; Feir, as always, for
always-needed C last but not least, you, of course, for continuing to
support me by reading this. I've only mentioned Ryoga and Mousse passingly in
this chapter (both wrecking Nabiki's room somewhat), not because I don't like
them (don't get me wrong!), but because I wanted to see whether my
descriptions of their actions allow the reader to guess who they are. Hope you
got it.
Anyway, things heat up even more in the next chapter as I reveal what Sean's
doing and what was in that e-mail he had been reading. And, how are those two
going to act in their next meeting?
Stay tuned, same website, same author, for Day 3 of Sean's Secret Brew: When
It Rains, It Pours...