Chapter 2 - Blinded By the Light
Synopsis: Kouga and Makoto are members of ATAC! (Akane Tendo Appreciation
Club). Kouga decides he's going to use Makoto's new invention (and Makoto for
that matter) to get a 3-D picture of their goddess to prove himself the better
man in ATAC!. However, things didn't go as planned and Akane is blinded in the
process.
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They all met in under the bridge not far from the school. Kouga stood leaning
against one the supports looking over his troops. All of them had been lucky to
escape with only some burns and abrasions from the explosion. Unlike their
goddess Akane. He had seen her magnificent leap to Makoto before the light
blinded them all momentarily. The next thing he remembered was extracting
himself from a wall and Akane was no where in sight. The chaos began after
that. It was every boy for himself as they realized their idol had just been
vaporized.
He managed to get the message around to all of them to meet here before class.
But now what?
Unlike the last meeting, no one was talking. Everyone felt the breath of death
against their necks. It was an unsettling silence broken by someone who had the
guts to ask the important question, "Is it true? Is she dead?"
One of the members shook his head. "No, she's alive but hurt. I saw her with
Ranma, walking home yesterday."
Some of the boys let out a whoop of joy and chatted excitedly amongst
themselves. Guessing what they would do for the next battle round. Kouga,
however, did not feel relief with the good news cuz a dead man can't date. The
fact that he was still walking around today could only mean that Akane was
unable to identify her attackers for whatever reason. But when Ranma found out
who he was, who any of them were.…Ranma may say he doesn't want anything to do
with her but if Akane was hurt or in trouble he was fiercely protective of her.
"Ranma is going to kill us," a boy fearfully whispered Kouga's own thoughts.
"Ah, come on. Ranma figure out who did this? There's no way he could know, we
left no clues as to our identities," said a member from the back of the group.
"True, but..." Kouga lightly punched his classmate in the shoulder who howled in
pain. "We all have burns and bruises, granted most are covered but they can
still be detected by accident. Ranma might not put two and two together but
Nabiki could."
Shudder runs through the group at the thought of dealing with Nabiki. Then a
shouting match erupted.
"So what do we do?"
"We could live in the sewers until this whole thing blows over."
"How about becoming wanderers?"
"Or pirates!"
"Door to door salesmen?"
"Let's make it easy and commit suicide! You first!"
Kouga felt dizzy with all the suggestions ringing under the cove of the bridge.
"Shut-up!" They instantly froze, "There's something better we could do."
"What's that?"
Kouga rubbed his temples in hopes of massaging a good plan out of his head. His
followers were on the verge of bolting to the four corners of the earth, but if
he wanted to survive he needed them here. Even if the only use of they could
provide was to wear down the punches of Ranma before the martial artist got to
him. At least it was something of a benefit to him, something he'd like to
keep.
Damn. The VP made it look so easy when coming up with a plan. Thinking was
just not what he did. He was the brawn, so where was he going to get brains?
The same clatter of gears being over worked lit up his eyes as he looked to
Makoto. He went over to the smaller boy and put his arm around him in a
friendly manner, "Makoto has a plan."
"I...I do?"
Kouga squeezed his embrace a little to which Makoto quickly grasp the situation.
"Oh, yes, yes, of course I do." Makoto nodded his head so fast and hard it
looked almost like a seizure.
"So what's the plan?"
Makoto looked to Kouga for a clue but Kouga merely looked back at him. "Um,
well, I need to consult with my cousin first. He has something we can use." [I
hope.] Makoto added to himself.
The crowd seemed to accept that someone was handling the problem, someone with
smarts, so they weren't going to be obliterated in mere moments. "What do we do
in the mean time?"
Kouga knew the answer to that one, "Just act normal. The ATAC! meeting is still
to be held after class as usual. Talk to no one about any of this, not even
other members of ATAC! Got that?" Kouga waved a fist menacingly and all numbly
shook their head in agreement. "Good. Dismissed."
The demeanor of the boys had changed completely from when they first arrived
under the bridge. As they walked to the school most laughed and talked about
the day ahead. Kouga smirked at this. He had them back under his control
again.
Waiting until the last classmate disappeared over the hill of the ditch, Kouga
then turned to Makoto, "So what's the plan, pipsqueak?"
Makoto knew he should have left ATAC! and stayed with the Science Club when he
had the chance. Now he was stuck under the thumb of an idiot and in big trouble
with a certain martial artist who could most certainly wipe the floor with any
of them. "I don't have one."
"What you mean?"
"I told you I don't have one," Makoto replied softly.
"I thought you just said you had one!" growled Kouga.
Makoto felt nervous. An upset Kouga was not something he could handle, at least
not alone. "Well, not really. I mean, going to my cousin's and seeing if he
has anything in mind is the only thing I could think of at the moment."
Kouga threw up his hands in exasperation. Good help was so hard to find.
"Fine, where can we find this cousin of yours?"
Makoto pulled out a piece of paper and a pen from his school bag and wrote an
address down before giving it to Kouga. "Here. Meets us there at 7 pm." He
then picked up his bag a ran towards the school as they both heard the late bell
ringing.
"What a minute! What's this guys name?"
"Gosunkugi Hiraku!" Makoto called over his shoulder.
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Yesterday was a bad day, today promises to be worse and tomorrow isn't looking
good either. Everyone had been so quiet when he and Akane had gotten home
yesterday. Well, expect Mr. Tendo who cycled through crying puddles to
screaming threats at Ranma for not protecting his precious daughter. Kasumi
eventually got him to quiet down before Ranma punched his so-called future
father-in-law. However, that didn't hold him back when his old man spoke up.
Stupid father. Like he would ever purposely let Akane get hurt. Sure she was
an annoying tomboy who didn't know her own strength or lack of cooking skills
but she didn't deserve this.
He looked to his left where Akane sat. She looked fine except for her blank
stare and a bit of darkness under her eyes. The few burns she received were
healing fast and were mostly hidden by the school uniform. Kasumi had helped
her get dressed and was even now spooning breakfast into Akane's mouth. Akane,
for her part, sat obediently while being served but didn't look to happy about
it. In fact, if it wasn't Kasumi doing the force feed, Akane might have blown
up. Which was why their fathers had tried to get Ranma to do the honors and why
he absolutely refused. He wasn't a caretaker. He had a different job in mind
that suited him much better.
Ranma drew his eyes away from the sight as he curled his fist tightly under the
table. That raw blast of anger pulsed through him again. It was the same fire
that almost made him jump up from Dr. Tofu's to go hunt down those involved with
yesterday's...incident. Someone was going to pay. No one hurts Akane and gets
away with it. He'd make sure of that.
Not that Akane was special to him or anything. He'd do the same for anyone he
cared...Ranma shoved another mouthful of food in his mouth and decided to just
drop his line of thought.
"So Akane, what do you think you're going to do today?" asked Nabiki knowing
full and well what her little sister was planning.
"I'm going to school like all people my age should," she replied in a
matter-of-fact voice.
"Oh, Akane. I don't know if you should." Kasumi said worriedly.
"Why not?" a hint of challenge glimmered in Akane's tone.
"You're blind," Nabiki bluntly said.
"So?"
With a roll of eyes and a bit of a exasperated huff, Nabiki tried to break the
news to Akane, "Things are not going to be the same. I mean, how are you going
to walk to school?"
"With my own two feet," replied Akane stubbornly.
"Well, that's great. So you're just going to walk down the street."
"Yes."
"And make all the correct turns at the correct corners."
"I know my way. I can count my turns and blocks."
"And not trip over holes or steps."
"I'll walk slowly."
"And avoid other people, not to mention the fast moving cars and crossing at
appropriate times."
"I can hear them coming."
"And make it to school in 15 minutes?"
Akane bit her lip on that one, "So I'll be a little late the first day. I'll
just get up earlier tomorrow."
"Oh, Akane. This doesn't sound like a good idea. Why don't you let Ranma pick
up your school work and you take the day off," Kasumi offered.
"No! I said I can do this and I will." Even Ranma recognized the cross armed
determination of Akane. Once she did that, there was no one who would talk her
into doing otherwise. Not that it didn't stop some people from trying.
"Oh, my youngest is going to be road-kill!" Soun sobbed into his hands while the
panda offered a light pat on the back for comfort. When he received no other
sympathy to his plight, Soun played the Jeckle and Hyde routine.
"RANMA!" The young martial artist jumped back five feet as the over protective
father turned his fury on his daughter's supposed fiancée. "You are responsible
for her safety! Do you understand?"
"S...sure, Mr. Tendo." Damn, he could be scary when he wanted to be.
Soun returned to the waterfall of sorrow with a blink of an eye, "Oh, Akane,
Akane."
"Like I need HIS help," snapped Akane.
"Ha, you needed every bit of help you could get even before...," Ranma pointed
his hand out towards her but could not find the right wording and decided to
avoid mentioning it directly. It just seemed wrong. "You always were a klutz."
The room dropped in temperature compared to the heat emanating off Akane, "What
did you say, Ranma? Care to repeat that?"
Ranma began to do so when he was hit from behind by Nabiki's book bag. "Hurry
up, or you're going to be late."
With a glare, he gulped his last bit of food and ran upstairs to grab his own
bag. Nabiki never interrupted Akane and him when they had an argument. What
the hell was up with her? On his way back down, he found out. Nabiki stood two
steps from the bottom and pinned him with an unhappy look. It was one that
usually meant he hadn't settled his account with her.
"What?" he asked.
"You better keep a good eye on her, Ranma. Akane doesn't want or can't admit
what she's getting herself into. If she's not watched, she's going to get hurt.
And then I'm going to take an extra large payment out of you. You're her
fiancée, protect her." Nabiki whispered low and threatening.
Ranma's fist clenched, "Hey, I already told your dad that I'd keep an eye out
for her."
Nabiki eyes narrowed but she said no more as Akane came slowly around the corner
feeling her way to the door. As per norm, Nabiki did not wait, except to give a
hard look at Ranma and left for school.
"Oh, Akane, don't forget your lunch." Kasumi handed Akane her bag, placing the
lunch inside.
"Yes, Kasumi," she almost bit the words into existence, "and thank you for the
lunch." Slowly she worked her way to the door and after several minutes found
her shoes. Ranma could almost feel the late bells ringing.
His impatience finally got the best of him, "Come on, Akane. Hurry up."
"I'm hurry as fast as I can Ranma!" she growled back.
Eventually they started their way down the street at a pace that was making even
walking backwards on his hands on the fence too boring.
"The late bells are going to ring in just a few minutes, we'll never make it on
time with you walking."
Akane huffed at that opinion, "Fine then, Ranma. Go ahead without me. I'm
perfectly able to make it there on my own."
And for a moment, Ranma felt the urge to do just that. One, he wouldn't have to
put up with Akane's obviously bad temper and two, his arms would be saved the
work of holding buckets. But every fiber of his being told him, no. Not to
mention the already two clearly received threats from her family members. "I'm
not going to leave you here like this."
As if almost picking up his last line of thought, she asked, "Since when have
you done what my father told you to do?"
Ranma felt that buried anger flash within him, "This doesn't have to do with
your father! Damn it, Akane! You could get hit!"
Akane almost came to a halt at that, "Oh, so, you're worried about me?"
"Nah, I'm more worried about the damage you'd do to the car. Really, if a car
were to be unlucky enough to hit you I'm sure with your elephant strength and
weight you would total it."
He didn't even see the mallet coming as it knocked him off the fence, down the
bank of sharp rocks and into the canal. Akane continued her progress to the
school feeling slightly better as Ranma, managing to quickly pull herself from
the water, stayed several feet behind Akane cursing tomboys everywhere.
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Class was nearly maddening for the first half of the day. Akane, with the help
of her friends, made her way to her assigned seat and sat. And sat. And sat.
The difficulty she was going to have with her studies was now becoming clear.
She couldn't take notes, couldn't see examples, and had to listen extra hard to
try and retain some of what was taught. She managed to hold down the bit of
panic when the homework was assigned. It was only a few pages of reading. A
simple task to complete yesterday but now something impossible for her current
state.
The lunch bell rang and for that Akane was grateful. It meant her favorite
class, gym, was coming up soon. Plus, for now she could forget her troubles a
bit and relax in the presence of friends.
"So, Akane," Yuki apprehensively began, "What are you doing for summer break?"
"Oh, nothing planned yet. Maybe we'll go to the beach or something."
"Really? That sounds nice," Akane could almost hear the fake smile Yuki was
wearing. A long pause followed.
"Uh, what about you guys? Where do you want to take a trip together?" Akane
asked. The three of them always took a summer weekend together since they were
ten.
"Well, I don't know. I mean, is it OK?" Sayuri spoke this time casting a
glance at Yuki with worry in her eyes.
Yuki nodded her head slightly, "Yeah, don't you have therapy or something for
your...condition?"
Akane felt her good spirit fade at her friends' lack of enthusiasm, "No, just
some medication right now. Dr. Tofu doesn't think it's permanent."
"Oh, well, that's good," though from the tone in Sayuri's voice it didn't sound
all that good.
"Is there something wrong? Do I have food on my lips or my hair flipped around
crazy?" Akane tried to joke to lighten the sense of heavy uneasiness in the
air.
"No, no, everything is fine, Akane. Yuki and me just have something we need to
do and it's...distracting us. So excuse us, we'll talk to you later." And with
that Akane heard them leave almost in a full tilt run.
Her mind was spinning crazily around looking for answers. What was wrong? Why
were they so quiet and uncomfortable? She hadn't changed, well, not in a mental
sense. She was still their friend, wasn't she?
"Hi, Akane!" came the happy voice of Ukyou from her left.
Akane smiled, putting away her thoughts about her friends strange behavior, "Oh,
hey Ukyou. What's going on?"
"I just wanted to come over and say I'm sorry to hear about what happened."
"Oh, well thank you. But luckily for me, it's not permanent. My sight should
return any moment now."
"That's good. It would be even harder for you without sight."
Akane's eyebrows deepened in confusion, "Even harder? What do you mean?"
"Oh, sorry I didn't mean to bring it up. Just something I thought about."
"And what's that?"
"Well, Ranma is a man of the stomach. He likes his food and lots of it. Now I
know in the past you've had some...difficulty with the culinary arts but being
blind would make it impossible for you to really learn."
Akane could feel herself seething, "My cooking is perfectly fine!"
"Uh, huh," Ukyo replied with disbelief then paused. "You know, you had me the
most worried out of anybody who's showed up claiming to be Ranma's fiancée.
It's a shame that something like this happened. I'm very sorry."
Her voice then harden in determination, "But I also want to make it clear, just
because you're blind doesn't mean I'm going to lessen up on winning Ranma."
"Fine with me."
"Good. Now, I've got to get back to the grill. And remember Akane, it's still
no holds bar."
Akane couldn't believe it! Ukyo comes over seeming to be friendly and offer a
word of condolence only to tell her that her cooking sucks and she was going to
take Ranma! Well, the Ranma part didn't bother her too much. Really it didn't.
Why should she care? It's not like anything was between Ranma and herself.
Just a stupid arrangement forced on them by parents. But even repeating this to
herself, distress hung on Akane's stomach.
Deciding to stop thinking on why she was so upset, Akane manage to catch the
last few sounds of Ukyo's shoes crunching the gravel as she walked away before
leaving Akane to the whispering. That's what she decided to call it, THE
whispering. It was a continuous buzz in the background which the teacher in
class had to call attention to several times during the morning. Akane had to
push down the urge to yell at them herself for she was trying to absorb as much
as possible from the lesson and the constant hum was distracting. Not because
she could hear their words, but because she couldn't.
Now out in the courtyard the voices were louder and clearer. Some were
sympathetic, some were wild stories of how it happened, but there were others,
the loudest voices, who made sure Akane could hear exactly what was being said.
"I think she's faking it," Akane recognized the speaker and immediately felt the
warmth of long held dislike turning to anger.
"Shhh, Sakura, that's terrible. Why would she do something like that?"
"Please, don't make it sound as if she doesn't have all the boys of Furiken High
all over her. Except one. Ranma Saotome. However, if she fakes an illness,
she can play up Ranma's sense of duty. He's been watching her all day today,
practically hanging off her. She's getting exactly what she wants, the little
bitch."
"Sakura, please. She's right over there. I'm sure she can hear you."
"Oh, whatever. Like she can do anything now. She can't touch me because if she
does her little ploy will be discovered."
"Come on. Let's just go eat. I'm hungry."
Sakura snorted, rolling her eyes. They never wanted to have any fun, and
watching Akane shake in anger but make no move was definitely fun. She'd make
the little wench pay. "Yeah, sure. Let's go."
As soon as it was quiet once again she released her fury into the ground,
punching hard enough to cut her hand on a piece of rock sticking up from the
earth. The bell finally rang and Akane stood to make her way to gym class only
to find herself being dragged by a hand.
"Hey!" she yelled at her offender.
"Come on, Akane! It's time for gym!" came Ranma's voice. HER voice.
Her voice? "Why are you a girl?"
"Ah, just wanted to see what you girls were up to today!" she chirped back a bit
uneasily.
They made record time as Ranma pulled Akane over any steps or possible stumbling
blocks.
"Here we are!" said Ranma with a smile on her face for managing to accomplish
getting Akane to gym on time and unharmed.
Akane had to admit being led quickly to the gym was much better than stumbling
slowly to it. However after Ranma's proclamation of arrival Akane released the
mallet on Ranma's head.
A crumpled Ranma had to ask, "What was that for!"
"For being a pervert and trying to look in on the girls while they change," she
walked to the locker room but turned around before entering, "but, thank you,
Ranma."
Ranma merely rubbed her head, "I'm never going to understand girls."
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Akane sighed as she began what was now a long journey home. Somehow she manage
to get away from the school before Ranma found her and rag doll dragged her home
like he had for a good portion of the school day. She didn't think she could
take the extra irritation. Not after everything else that happened today. Most
especially gym.
Today in gym was one of the best basketball games ever played. And she was not
part of it. She couldn't even watch it. The teacher apologized that she
couldn't be included and told her she could stretch or study in the mean time.
A few minutes later she heard sneaker squeaks, the whoosh of sunk balls, and the
yells of teammates cheering each other on. The only thing she manage to sink
was herself into the floor.
Her head and heart throbbed softly in the memory. How dull and boring. How
useless.
Akane stopped walking as she heard the fence rattle from behind.
"Ranma?" she questioned but got no answer. Turning to the direction of the
noise, a large well of frustration grew once more. How was she going to tell if
it was friend or foe? Of course, it was sometimes hard to tell even with sight.
"Oh, ho, ho, ho, ho," came the fanatical laughter of the Kuno sister.
[Ah, definitely not a friend.] "Kodachi?" Akane wasn't really up to dealing
with the strange girl today but knowing Kodachi, she wouldn't have much choice.
Still, there was no reason to try to set Kodachi off, so Akane tried to hold
back the irritation in her voice but the polite talk was out. "What do you
want?"
"Where is my Ranma-sama?" Kodachi forgot the question as she dropped to the
sidewalk within five feet of the youngest Tendo. Why was the peasant not
glaring at her directly? She knew the Tendo girl always looked her with no
regard to respect her betters. But not now. Tilting her head to the side,
Kodachi took a deep look into Akane's eyes.
"I don't know. But he's not here," Akane replied, wanting only to be left
alone.
"Ah, the poor peasant girl. You have lost your sight?" There was no hint of
pity, more of excitement of a cat trapping a mouse in the corner. "How will you
compete for Ranma-sama's love? He deserves a better mate than a handicapped
little girl. Oh, ho, ho, ho, ho."
Akane just had one of the worst school days of her life and Kodachi had just hit
the right combination to set Akane on kill mode. She launched towards the
laughter for a punch, her uniform snaps as her arms extends out, a telltale sign
that the punch was a good one but it only hit air.
Kodachi smiled in amusement as she easily dodges the attack with only a step
back. She watched as Akane, not realizing how close she was to the fence gets
her extending arm caught in the wire fence. Akane immediately realizes her
mistake and tries to free herself.
Kodachi smirked at that. Without sight the little peasant couldn't adjust her
aim or attack. Well, we can't have a raving blind girl on the street, she might
end up hurting herself or somebody else. And it's important to help those in
need, especially those of lower class.
Akane turns slightly with her arm still trapped to try to sweep kick about where
Kodachi is at but before she can make a move, a familiar ribbon wraps tightly
around her. She can feel the end, sharp as razor, rest on her cheek.
"Ranma-sama would like you even less if your appearance matched your
disability," Kodachi whispered in a heavy breath of malicious intent. There was
a tug on the ribbon, freeing Akane's arm but pain followed as the strip
tightened down on Akane. The squeeze shuddered its way up through to the top
and end of the ribbon slashing down onto Akane's face. She could feel a wetness
run down her cheek and Akane struggled to free herself. Kodachi was going to
main her!
With one strong jerk to the right, she was falling to the ground and the ribbon
loosened to her freedom before she landed, letting her drop properly to minimize
any damage.
"Ranma-sama!" Akane heard Kodachi's cry in adoration before the recognizable
sound of a body being punted far away.
Ranma watched the crazy Kuno sister disappear over the horizon. It was very
rare that he actually wanted to hurt someone but this was one of those cases.
He had to get himself back under control before doing anything more and knowing
that he had hurtled Kodachi to the dump was helping. When the black dot finally
was lost to the distance, he turned to Akane, who remained seated where she
landed, and picked her up to take her home.
Thankfully no one was around, except Kasumi in the kitchen, so no questions
would have to be answered yet. He took the steps up by two and used his foot to
open Akane's door. He unceremoniously threw her to the bed, ran to the bathroom
for the medical kit, and was back beside Akane in an instant, cleaning the
wound.
It wasn't very deep, just looked worse than it was. No stitches would be
needed, thank god. But still, that didn't halt the unappeased anger. It
started with the unpunished person or people who took Akane's sight and now add
to that Kodachi who would attack someone who was obviously at a disadvantage.
Ranma's anger boiled over into his irritation with Akane's stubbornness. "What
are you thinking, Akane? I searched the whole school trying to find you. And
you're having it out with Kodachi? Geez, you couldn't beat her before, what
makes you think you could take Kodachi in a fight now?"
He started to apply alcohol to the wound to insure it was clean and wouldn't get
infected. Akane didn't flinch at the sting, but tears began to roll down her
cheek. A little pang went off in Ranma's heart and he whispered with no heat,
"Oh, come on, Akane. It doesn't hurt that much."
One drop hit Akane's hand and she turned away from him. In a weak little voice
she said, "Thank you, Ranma, for cleaning my injury. Could you please leave?"
Ranma sat still. What was this all about? "Uh, sure. You're welcome."
He slowly stood and stared at the back of Akane's head as if to look inside and
know what the heck the crazy tomboy was thinking about now. But she made no
move. With a deep sigh, he closed the kit and left the room. But before he
shut the door he would have sworn he heard a sob.
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Ranma paced back and forth on the roof. Akane didn't come down for dinner
tonight and when their fathers pushed him up the stairs to take food to her and
make sure she was feeling OK, he resisted enough to make a point then willingly
knocked on her door with a tray in hand.
Not surprisingly she didn't answer. No light shone under the doorway but he
doubt she was asleep. There was a look to her eyes when he last saw her that
made him believe neither one of them was going to get much sleep.
Akane was hurting. Even with his skill of perceptiveness, he knew. And he
really hated it when she was in any sort of pain. But what could he do? He
could fight, but who, or what would he fight?
His physical strength offered nothing in answers and so he turned to his brain.
Unfortunately it turned out that his mind was only good at strategizing his
physical strength. However, there was someone who was very good at thinking,
and even better at plotting and finding information.
But could he afford the price?
Ranma hopped down into his room and sought out Nabiki who was busily typing away
on her computer in her room. She had that serious look to her, fully focused on
whatever she was working on. It made him more nervous. It was like the deadly
focus of a snake watching a mouse. A quick and vicious strike would be all she
needed to catch her prey.
With a gulp he tried to be friendly, "H-hey, Nabiki. What's up?"
Nabiki stopped typing and slowly moved her eyes to glare at him, "What is it,
Ranma? I'm busy."
Did all the Tendo sister's inherit a part of Soun's demon head in one version or
another? He'd hate to see Kasumi's irritated side. Two was enough to kill a
man in fright. "Ah, well, I was wondering if you could help me?"
There was that flash in her eyes Ranma recognized. It was the bright spark of
yen he knew would be removed from his pocket. "Help you? But of course, my
dear brother-in-law. I'm always there to help family." She closed up the
computer and turned her full attention to him. "So how can I help you?"
Ranma could feel his face redden at her stare. It felt as if she was looking
for something within him. He leaned against the wall and cleared his throat,
then tapped into the fire still burning in him. "I need to find out who hurt
Akane."
Even he was surprised at the venom in his voice at the statement. Nabiki
blinked a couple of times but finally gave a pleased smile. "Why? What are you
going to do?"
Ranma rolled his eyes at the obvious answer, "I'm going to beat the crap outta
them, that's what."
"Well, that's nice. Then what?"
Ranma shook his head, not understanding what the Tendo sister was getting at,
"What do you mean?"
"You're going to 'beat the crap', as you so eloquently put it, out of the
guilty. What does that solve? My sister will still be blind."
"Dr. Tofu said she'd recover!"
"He said MAYBE she would recover. He doesn't quite know what's going on which
is why he's consulting with other doctors in the area right now. But there's a
chance, Ranma, my little sister is not going to get her sight back. What do you
do then? Beat the crap out of the doctors not curing her?"
Ranma was a little taken back by the thought and slumped up against the wall at
the possibilities, "I...I don't know."
Nabiki sighed at the hopeless case in front of her. "She's going to need you,
Ranma. Your support and comfort. And I don't think she's going to ask for it.
Too damn stubborn. All of us are."
Ranma had his head bent in what Nabiki could only place as embarrassment and a
bit of humiliation. What she was implying, some in unspoken words, was more
than either Ranma or Akane were really ready for. It went up against every
brick the two had built up between them.
"Look I'm not asking you to marry her right here on the spot, just watch out for
her. Offer a helping hand. Like you did today."
Ranma's head snapped up at that, "You saw that?"
"Ranma, I may not 'see' everything but I do hear everything. From staying with
her all the way to school to making sure she gets to class to saving her from
Kodachi. No piece of important information gets by Nabiki Tendo. Especially
anything having to do with my family."
Nabiki gave an internal chuckle at Ranma's bugged out eyes. "Now, if you'll
excuse me, I have to get back to the family business," she said with a
dismissive wave of the hand.
Ranma stood there for a few minutes longer watching her work, trying to decide
how he felt about Nabiki knowing so much. Both about what happened today and
about Akane and whether or not she was correct.
Feeling the need to pace in order to think things through, Ranma started towards
the door when Nabiki spoke up, "About your earlier question..."
Ranma came to a complete stop at the door but did not turn around, "Yes?"
"I've already been working on it. Free of charge."
"Thank you."
"But the advice is going to cost you." She smiled at him as he automatically
reached to his wallet to pay. "I'm just kidding. Your payment will be a
promise to me."
Distrust was written all over Ranma's face, "This doesn't involve...cats, does
it?"
Nabiki's grin grew wider but she shook her head, "Ranma, Ranma, Ranma. If you
can't trust family, who are you going to trust? No, nothing like that. I just
want you to promise you'll give whoever did this to my little sister a good
pounding."
"No problem," Ranma smiled evilly before exiting the room.