-Sorry for the length of time between chapters - I started this so many times and had the most awful writers block with it. Every time I'd actually get somewhere on it, I'd read it over and think "No, no, no" and delete it and start over. Thanks for all the great reviews you've given me on this story!
-Disclaimer: Rumiko Takahashi is the creative genius behind the Ranmaverse. (heh - no silly disclaimer this time)
Better Left Unspoken
Nabiki sighed and closed the manga that she was reading. Setting it down on her desk, she looked at Kasumi. "What was destroyed now?" After seeing a look of confusion pass over Kasumi's face, Nabiki continued. "The only time people say to me that they need to talk, they're either a. Wanting money for some scheme or b. Wanting money to fix something that got broken around here due to a certain sex-changing loser I won't name. So, owing to the fact that I doubt you'd be pulling a scheme, that leaves only b."
"Nothing is broken, and for the other, we all know that you're the only one in this household that would be conniving enough for scheming." Kasumi shot at her sister.
"Look, Kasumi. My little business ventures, as I like to call them - they keep us in this house. They make the money you use to buy groceries. Money makes the world go round, and money keeps the Tendo's in the black. So, if you don't mind, spare me the little motherly lecture. I'm having a really good day right now, and I don't feel like having it ruined." Nabiki turned back to reach for her manga.
"A good day?" Kasumi whispered. "A good day?" Her voice starting to rise, she looked at Nabiki. "What horrible thing happened to you, Nabiki, where you would consider hurting your baby sister and making her heart break again would be a good day? How can you say that makes you happy?"
Nabiki smirked. "Well, look who suddenly got a spine..."
Kasumi interrupted. "Don't change the topic! You know exactly what I'm talking about - I saw you in the backyard!" Tears of anger filled her eyes. "Akane is your sister! Why would you do this to her?"
A glint of surprise appeared in Nabiki's eyes, but was quickly snuffed out. Thinking fast, she replied. "I don't know what you "think" you saw, but let me tell you, whatever you're thinking I did, you're wrong. Just finishing up some loose ends with my latest dealings was all I was doing. And besides, didn't you know, it's rude to spy on people."
"I didn't just see you, I heard you - I heard you say what you had those people do! Nabiki! You paid people to drive Ranma and Akane apart - how could you be so cruel, so thoughtless?"
"Kasumi, you don't know what you're talking about." Nabiki said a bit nervously. "I did it for Akane - it was for her own good."
*SLAP!!*
Shocked, both the girls took steps back. Kasumi's hands flew to her mouth to cover the gasp that had wrenched its way from her throat. Nabiki sat down hard on her bed; her own hand reaching up to tentatively touch her cheek where Kasumi had slapped her.
"K...Kasumi..." That was the only thing she could say. For once in her life, Nabiki Tendo was speechless. Her sister had hit her. Kasumi, more a mother than a sister, had raised a hand in anger against her. Kasumi, whom she couldn't remember ever getting the least bit upset, was mad enough at her to do this. She choked back a sob.
Kasumi falteringly reached out a hand towards her sister, but drew it back. That last step of violence had broken her anger, but she was still sad and upset. Steeling her resolve, she took a deep breath. "Nabiki. I'm sorry I hit you, but I'd be lying if I said that you didn't deserve it. What you did to Ranma and Akane was wrong and horrible. They didn't deserve that from you."
Nabiki flared up. "Ok, maybe not Akane - I didn't like doing this to her, no matter what you may think - but Ranma deserved it!"
"Why would you think that, Nabiki - hasn't he shown since he's been back how much Akane means to him? He's obviously grown up - you shouldn't hold his past against him when he's made such an effort to change himself."
"Oh, yeah, now he's being all nice and Prince Charming - but I know him. Sooner or later, he won't be able to help it - he'll start right back where he was before - with the girlfriends, and the insults, pulling Akane along on a string, giving her hope and then crushing it. And I WON'T let that happen!" Nabiki spat out, contempt in her eyes.
"But Nabiki, is that really your decision to make? I think our baby sister is old enough to make her own decisions, whether they're right or wrong."
"NO!" Nabiki shouted. "No, she's not old enough - with what happened the last time, isn't it obvious that she's not? She fell apart, and you know who had to pick up the pieces? Me! Daddy was useless, Mr. Saotome couldn't help anyone if they explained to him how to do it, and you, you were too busy in your dream world to even see what was going on!"
"Oh!" Kasumi cried, taken aback at the vehemence she could hear in her sisters voice. Backing towards the door, she tried to keep the tears from escaping, but it was too late. Whirling around, she fumbled at the door handle, trying to escape the poisonous hatred that seemed to be flowing out Nabiki.
Nabiki, crying with great hiccoughing sobs, watched as her sister tried to get away from her. She wanted to reach out and ask Kasumi to hold her, to tell her everything would be okay, but she couldn't. Because it wouldn't. She knew what she had said was not the truth - Kasumi had helped, with her quiet ways, but it was too late to take back what she had spoken. Wasn't it? Anyone looking at Nabiki would have been hard-pressed to believe that this tearful girl was the same one that commandeered an army of obedient workers, that had her peers under her thumb. It was almost as if she had grown younger by 5 years.
"Kasumi... don't go... I'm... I'm sorry!" Bawling now, she threw herself at the other girl and held on as if clasping a life preserver.
"Why, Nabiki, why? Please, explain it to me, help me understand why you did this? I don't understand, why aren't you happy for Akane, that she found happiness with Ranma finally?" Kasumi said, hugging her sister back.
Tears running down both their faces, the two girls sank to the floor. Kasumi slowly rocked her sister back and forth, much like their mother had done when they were younger. She knew that Nabiki had stuff to say, things that had been pent up inside her for too long. She knew too that she would listen, that she would have to be the serene Kasumi again, the one that people could talk to without fear of judgment.
Slowly, years of hidden feelings made their way out of the Ice Queen of Nerima. How she had resented the Saotome's coming in the first place, and wrecking havoc on their once calm household. How she saw the family's finances ebbing away with the costs to repair the damages that the two had brought with their coming. How the only way she knew to cope was to retreat behind an unbreakable wall of coolness, only thinking of extracting money from those she knew, for some immeasurable amount of comfort.
"And then, he was gone, and things were going back to the way they were before - before they came, and I was happy! Kasumi, I was happy to see Akane in pain - Oh, God, that sounds so sick... I was happy because I knew she'd get over it, and, and we'd be a family again, and I wouldn't have to worry about her anymore, that she'd be hurt or worse."
Kasumi sat there, with Nabiki in her arms, making little reassuring shh noises, with her cheek pressed against the top of her sister's head. She could feel Nabiki's body slowly relaxing as all her pent up emotions were released. Kasumi could understand how torn Nabiki must have felt during her years of closing herself off to the world. In fact, it was a bit how she had felt, since she herself had hidden behind a different type of wall, but a wall nonetheless, one of oblivion and forced cheerfulness.
Nabiki's outburst continued. Everything that had ever bothered her in the last 2 years seemed to be coming to the surface. She only knew that it felt that if she didn't talk about it now, nothing would change. Slowly though, her words trickled down. Only the last, most difficult thing to admit was left.
"It just seemed so unfair to me - everyone had someone that loved them, except me! You had Doctor Tufo - don't deny it, you know how he felt about you, even though he left, Akane had Ranma, and every other boy chasing after her, even Ranma had people who were in love with him whether he was a boy or a girl. But me! No one has ever looked at me like that before - I wanted someone for me, who liked me. Sure there was that time Kuno had thought... but I knew it wasn't real - I played along, cause it felt so nice to be wanted, but it wasn't the same and I knew it. So the only thing I knew to do was to make sure that someone else would be as lonely as I was - first by making sure that the wedding wouldn't go off, and now this. Oh, Kasumi, I'm the worst sister ever! I hate being the Ice Queen - it hurts to hear people say that, you know, but it's the only thing I'm good at - that, and making money." Wrenching herself away from Kasumi, she buried her face in her hands, and shook with sobs.
"Oh... Nabiki..." Kasumi grabbed hold of Nabiki's hands and slowly drew them away from her face. Looking her sister in her eyes, letting her own tears fall, she smiled. "Well, you didn't exactly do things the right way, but you did do them out of love - love for your family, which is an honorable trait, even when used wrongly. And you will find that someone for you - you just have to not be afraid to show the world the real Nabiki. Only then can a boy find you and like you for who you are. Now come on, smile for me, don't you feel a bit better now?"
Nabiki managed a small smile, although with her tear soaked face and her swollen eyes, it looked more like a grimace. "Yes." She said in a small voice. "I feel better, but still so horrible at the same time! How can I look Akane in the eyes, knowing what I did? How can you still love me?"
"I will always love you Nabiki. You're my sister - nothing will ever change that, no matter what you did or do. But you've got to do something about what you did, you know that, don't you dear?"
"I know... But what can I do? What will I say? They'll hate me! They should hate me! I can't tell them what I did! I can't!" Looking up at Kasumi, Nabiki saw a frown appear on her older sister's face. She sighed. "Self loathing isn't gonna cut it, is it?"
Suddenly Kasumi laughed. Her giggle filled the air, clear as the tinkling of bells. Hearing the sound, Nabiki felt as though all could be right with the world, that there was no problem she couldn't overcome.
"I'm sorry for laughing, dear, but it was so nice to hear a bit of the Nabiki I know and love with that last statement! You'll know what to say when it comes to it - that brain that I know you have will help you, and your heart will too."
Nabiki sat up and wiped her eyes. "Kasumi, I think I'd like to be alone for a bit - think things over. I've got some major explaining to do, and a lot of crow to eat."
"Of course, dear. If you need me there when you talk to them, let me know."
"Thanks, but I think this is something I need to do on my own." She watched her sister get up and go to the door. As Kasumi left, she called after her. "Kasumi? I love you."
"I love you too, dear." Kasumi softly shut the door behind her.
As soon as Nabiki heard the click of the door, she sprang up. If there was ever time for a plan, it was now. And planning was what she did best, wasn't it? She didn't know if Akane and Ranma would ever be able to forgive her, she thought she had maybe pushed her luck after the wedding fiasco, but she had hope that they'd at least listen to her, and be able to get past what she had done. It was up to her to fix what she had broken. As long as she hadn't broken it beyond repair. A glint of the old Nabiki appeared in her expression. Ranma and Akane would get together, or she'd die trying.
After going to the bathroom quickly to wash her face, she returned to her room and sat down at her desk. Pulling open a drawer, she grabbed a pen and notebook, and started scribbling down notes. Feeling better than she had in a long time, an advertising jingle ran through her head as she wrote.
"Corsage, or maybe flowers - 1800 yen."
"Movie they'll both enjoy - 3500 yen."
"Dinner at a semi-romantic restaurant (no point in over-doing it) - 10000 yen."
"Enough sake to keep Daddy and Mr. Saotome occupied so they don't bother them - 5000 yen."
"The look on Akane's and Ranma's faces when they come home from the perfect first date - priceless."
Grabbing a calculator, she totaled the amount, and checked it against some figures in another book. Making a few adjustments to both books, she finally sat back, satisfied.
"Well, not too bad - I'll still be in the black! Not by much, true, after paying off everyone..." Nabiki broke off, cringing at the memory. "Well, even if I turn over a new leaf, no reason I can't find other amusing ways to make money. After all, I did not too badly before Ranma came to town. So! Plan Get Them Together is a go!" She smiled.
Then she groaned. "Urgh. Except for one small, make that massive, problem. I've still got to fess up to them." Slowly putting her books and pen away, she pushed her chair from her desk and stood up. Going to her door, she opened it and stepped out. Feeling somewhat like a prisoner going to an execution, she walked the short distance to Akane's closed door and raised her hand to knock. Noticing it shaking, she whispered to herself. "Nerves of steel, baby. Come on, Nabs, it's now or never." Before she could think twice, she rapped on the door. Fighting down the urge to run, she waited.
"Who is it?" Came a small, sad voice from inside.
"Nabiki - can I come in?"
After Akane had replied that yes, she could, Nabiki opened the door. Akane was sitting at her window, just staring out into the darkness of the night. Taking a deep breath, Nabiki opened her mouth.
"Akane, I've got something to say, and I'm going to say it, and you're going to not like it, and then I'll leave, but you've got to promise me that you'll stop and think about what I said before reacting." The words came out in one big rush.
Akane turned to face her sister. "Nabiki, I know you mean well, and you really helped me the last time, but I think I just need a bit more time before facing reality right now." Tears sprang up in her eyes.
Nabiki shut her eyes. "No, Akane, that's not what I'm here for. It's this..." She spilled out the story to her sister, keeping her eyes clenched tight, not wanting to see the look that she was sure her baby sister would be giving her. "...And I'm sorry, you don't know how sorry, and I want to make it up to you, and I don't know if I can, but I want you to be with him, he makes you happy, and I was wrong - he's a good guy. And right now, I know that it's not going to make you like me at all, but I want to treat you two to a night out, for your first real date, and I want to make it special..." Her voice trailed off into silence as she finished. Her hands suddenly hurt, and she realized that she had had then balled into tight fists at her sides, her nails pressing into her palms. Unclenching them, she slowly opened her eyes. Keeping her eyes on the ground, she backed quickly to the door, bowed once and left, shutting the door fast.
Hearing her sister's sobs on the other side of the door, Nabiki cried along with Akane. To her immense relief, Akane didn't come bursting through the door, screaming bloody murder. She had expected that could happen. Slowly, her heart rate returned to normal. One down, one to go. And she had no clue how Ranma would take what she had to say. Her only consolation was that Ranma didn't like to hit girls. Once more, she began her walk of the condemned, this time to the dojo, where Ranma had been spending most of his time lately.
After basically going through the same motions and speech that she had in Akane's room, Nabiki looked up at Ranma. She didn't know what to expect, but braced herself.
Ranma's only reaction at first was to look her in the eyes, his blue eyes boring like steel into her soul. Then turning away, he thrust his fist into the nearest practise dummy, completely demolishing it like it was a paper box, rather than the wood and sawdust it was made of. "You can leave now." His voice, low and tense, reverberated through the room.
Shaking, Nabiki did as he asked. Going to her room, she sat on her bed, waiting. She had asked each of them to let her know somehow if they would accept her offer of paying for a date. There wasn't anything else she could do right now but sit and wait.
Later, at two different times, pieces of paper were slid under Nabiki's bedroom door. Both notes said that yes, they would accept her offer of paying for a date.
In three different areas of the Tendo household that night, three different people smiled the same smile. A smile filled with sadness, regret, relief and happiness.
End Chapter Eight
-Phew! This was an incredibly hard chapter to write, and I really don't know if it's any good. Please feel free to make comments on what you thought - no need to be mean please, but I would really appreciate hearing your opinions on this one. Horrible OOC'ness from both Nabiki and Kasumi, I know, but I couldn't get it written any other way. Anyways, next chapter is the big date, but not quite all is bliss - after all, I haven't dealt completely with Shampoo and Ukyo yet... R&R please!
-Disclaimer: Rumiko Takahashi is the creative genius behind the Ranmaverse. (heh - no silly disclaimer this time)
Better Left Unspoken
Nabiki sighed and closed the manga that she was reading. Setting it down on her desk, she looked at Kasumi. "What was destroyed now?" After seeing a look of confusion pass over Kasumi's face, Nabiki continued. "The only time people say to me that they need to talk, they're either a. Wanting money for some scheme or b. Wanting money to fix something that got broken around here due to a certain sex-changing loser I won't name. So, owing to the fact that I doubt you'd be pulling a scheme, that leaves only b."
"Nothing is broken, and for the other, we all know that you're the only one in this household that would be conniving enough for scheming." Kasumi shot at her sister.
"Look, Kasumi. My little business ventures, as I like to call them - they keep us in this house. They make the money you use to buy groceries. Money makes the world go round, and money keeps the Tendo's in the black. So, if you don't mind, spare me the little motherly lecture. I'm having a really good day right now, and I don't feel like having it ruined." Nabiki turned back to reach for her manga.
"A good day?" Kasumi whispered. "A good day?" Her voice starting to rise, she looked at Nabiki. "What horrible thing happened to you, Nabiki, where you would consider hurting your baby sister and making her heart break again would be a good day? How can you say that makes you happy?"
Nabiki smirked. "Well, look who suddenly got a spine..."
Kasumi interrupted. "Don't change the topic! You know exactly what I'm talking about - I saw you in the backyard!" Tears of anger filled her eyes. "Akane is your sister! Why would you do this to her?"
A glint of surprise appeared in Nabiki's eyes, but was quickly snuffed out. Thinking fast, she replied. "I don't know what you "think" you saw, but let me tell you, whatever you're thinking I did, you're wrong. Just finishing up some loose ends with my latest dealings was all I was doing. And besides, didn't you know, it's rude to spy on people."
"I didn't just see you, I heard you - I heard you say what you had those people do! Nabiki! You paid people to drive Ranma and Akane apart - how could you be so cruel, so thoughtless?"
"Kasumi, you don't know what you're talking about." Nabiki said a bit nervously. "I did it for Akane - it was for her own good."
*SLAP!!*
Shocked, both the girls took steps back. Kasumi's hands flew to her mouth to cover the gasp that had wrenched its way from her throat. Nabiki sat down hard on her bed; her own hand reaching up to tentatively touch her cheek where Kasumi had slapped her.
"K...Kasumi..." That was the only thing she could say. For once in her life, Nabiki Tendo was speechless. Her sister had hit her. Kasumi, more a mother than a sister, had raised a hand in anger against her. Kasumi, whom she couldn't remember ever getting the least bit upset, was mad enough at her to do this. She choked back a sob.
Kasumi falteringly reached out a hand towards her sister, but drew it back. That last step of violence had broken her anger, but she was still sad and upset. Steeling her resolve, she took a deep breath. "Nabiki. I'm sorry I hit you, but I'd be lying if I said that you didn't deserve it. What you did to Ranma and Akane was wrong and horrible. They didn't deserve that from you."
Nabiki flared up. "Ok, maybe not Akane - I didn't like doing this to her, no matter what you may think - but Ranma deserved it!"
"Why would you think that, Nabiki - hasn't he shown since he's been back how much Akane means to him? He's obviously grown up - you shouldn't hold his past against him when he's made such an effort to change himself."
"Oh, yeah, now he's being all nice and Prince Charming - but I know him. Sooner or later, he won't be able to help it - he'll start right back where he was before - with the girlfriends, and the insults, pulling Akane along on a string, giving her hope and then crushing it. And I WON'T let that happen!" Nabiki spat out, contempt in her eyes.
"But Nabiki, is that really your decision to make? I think our baby sister is old enough to make her own decisions, whether they're right or wrong."
"NO!" Nabiki shouted. "No, she's not old enough - with what happened the last time, isn't it obvious that she's not? She fell apart, and you know who had to pick up the pieces? Me! Daddy was useless, Mr. Saotome couldn't help anyone if they explained to him how to do it, and you, you were too busy in your dream world to even see what was going on!"
"Oh!" Kasumi cried, taken aback at the vehemence she could hear in her sisters voice. Backing towards the door, she tried to keep the tears from escaping, but it was too late. Whirling around, she fumbled at the door handle, trying to escape the poisonous hatred that seemed to be flowing out Nabiki.
Nabiki, crying with great hiccoughing sobs, watched as her sister tried to get away from her. She wanted to reach out and ask Kasumi to hold her, to tell her everything would be okay, but she couldn't. Because it wouldn't. She knew what she had said was not the truth - Kasumi had helped, with her quiet ways, but it was too late to take back what she had spoken. Wasn't it? Anyone looking at Nabiki would have been hard-pressed to believe that this tearful girl was the same one that commandeered an army of obedient workers, that had her peers under her thumb. It was almost as if she had grown younger by 5 years.
"Kasumi... don't go... I'm... I'm sorry!" Bawling now, she threw herself at the other girl and held on as if clasping a life preserver.
"Why, Nabiki, why? Please, explain it to me, help me understand why you did this? I don't understand, why aren't you happy for Akane, that she found happiness with Ranma finally?" Kasumi said, hugging her sister back.
Tears running down both their faces, the two girls sank to the floor. Kasumi slowly rocked her sister back and forth, much like their mother had done when they were younger. She knew that Nabiki had stuff to say, things that had been pent up inside her for too long. She knew too that she would listen, that she would have to be the serene Kasumi again, the one that people could talk to without fear of judgment.
Slowly, years of hidden feelings made their way out of the Ice Queen of Nerima. How she had resented the Saotome's coming in the first place, and wrecking havoc on their once calm household. How she saw the family's finances ebbing away with the costs to repair the damages that the two had brought with their coming. How the only way she knew to cope was to retreat behind an unbreakable wall of coolness, only thinking of extracting money from those she knew, for some immeasurable amount of comfort.
"And then, he was gone, and things were going back to the way they were before - before they came, and I was happy! Kasumi, I was happy to see Akane in pain - Oh, God, that sounds so sick... I was happy because I knew she'd get over it, and, and we'd be a family again, and I wouldn't have to worry about her anymore, that she'd be hurt or worse."
Kasumi sat there, with Nabiki in her arms, making little reassuring shh noises, with her cheek pressed against the top of her sister's head. She could feel Nabiki's body slowly relaxing as all her pent up emotions were released. Kasumi could understand how torn Nabiki must have felt during her years of closing herself off to the world. In fact, it was a bit how she had felt, since she herself had hidden behind a different type of wall, but a wall nonetheless, one of oblivion and forced cheerfulness.
Nabiki's outburst continued. Everything that had ever bothered her in the last 2 years seemed to be coming to the surface. She only knew that it felt that if she didn't talk about it now, nothing would change. Slowly though, her words trickled down. Only the last, most difficult thing to admit was left.
"It just seemed so unfair to me - everyone had someone that loved them, except me! You had Doctor Tufo - don't deny it, you know how he felt about you, even though he left, Akane had Ranma, and every other boy chasing after her, even Ranma had people who were in love with him whether he was a boy or a girl. But me! No one has ever looked at me like that before - I wanted someone for me, who liked me. Sure there was that time Kuno had thought... but I knew it wasn't real - I played along, cause it felt so nice to be wanted, but it wasn't the same and I knew it. So the only thing I knew to do was to make sure that someone else would be as lonely as I was - first by making sure that the wedding wouldn't go off, and now this. Oh, Kasumi, I'm the worst sister ever! I hate being the Ice Queen - it hurts to hear people say that, you know, but it's the only thing I'm good at - that, and making money." Wrenching herself away from Kasumi, she buried her face in her hands, and shook with sobs.
"Oh... Nabiki..." Kasumi grabbed hold of Nabiki's hands and slowly drew them away from her face. Looking her sister in her eyes, letting her own tears fall, she smiled. "Well, you didn't exactly do things the right way, but you did do them out of love - love for your family, which is an honorable trait, even when used wrongly. And you will find that someone for you - you just have to not be afraid to show the world the real Nabiki. Only then can a boy find you and like you for who you are. Now come on, smile for me, don't you feel a bit better now?"
Nabiki managed a small smile, although with her tear soaked face and her swollen eyes, it looked more like a grimace. "Yes." She said in a small voice. "I feel better, but still so horrible at the same time! How can I look Akane in the eyes, knowing what I did? How can you still love me?"
"I will always love you Nabiki. You're my sister - nothing will ever change that, no matter what you did or do. But you've got to do something about what you did, you know that, don't you dear?"
"I know... But what can I do? What will I say? They'll hate me! They should hate me! I can't tell them what I did! I can't!" Looking up at Kasumi, Nabiki saw a frown appear on her older sister's face. She sighed. "Self loathing isn't gonna cut it, is it?"
Suddenly Kasumi laughed. Her giggle filled the air, clear as the tinkling of bells. Hearing the sound, Nabiki felt as though all could be right with the world, that there was no problem she couldn't overcome.
"I'm sorry for laughing, dear, but it was so nice to hear a bit of the Nabiki I know and love with that last statement! You'll know what to say when it comes to it - that brain that I know you have will help you, and your heart will too."
Nabiki sat up and wiped her eyes. "Kasumi, I think I'd like to be alone for a bit - think things over. I've got some major explaining to do, and a lot of crow to eat."
"Of course, dear. If you need me there when you talk to them, let me know."
"Thanks, but I think this is something I need to do on my own." She watched her sister get up and go to the door. As Kasumi left, she called after her. "Kasumi? I love you."
"I love you too, dear." Kasumi softly shut the door behind her.
As soon as Nabiki heard the click of the door, she sprang up. If there was ever time for a plan, it was now. And planning was what she did best, wasn't it? She didn't know if Akane and Ranma would ever be able to forgive her, she thought she had maybe pushed her luck after the wedding fiasco, but she had hope that they'd at least listen to her, and be able to get past what she had done. It was up to her to fix what she had broken. As long as she hadn't broken it beyond repair. A glint of the old Nabiki appeared in her expression. Ranma and Akane would get together, or she'd die trying.
After going to the bathroom quickly to wash her face, she returned to her room and sat down at her desk. Pulling open a drawer, she grabbed a pen and notebook, and started scribbling down notes. Feeling better than she had in a long time, an advertising jingle ran through her head as she wrote.
"Corsage, or maybe flowers - 1800 yen."
"Movie they'll both enjoy - 3500 yen."
"Dinner at a semi-romantic restaurant (no point in over-doing it) - 10000 yen."
"Enough sake to keep Daddy and Mr. Saotome occupied so they don't bother them - 5000 yen."
"The look on Akane's and Ranma's faces when they come home from the perfect first date - priceless."
Grabbing a calculator, she totaled the amount, and checked it against some figures in another book. Making a few adjustments to both books, she finally sat back, satisfied.
"Well, not too bad - I'll still be in the black! Not by much, true, after paying off everyone..." Nabiki broke off, cringing at the memory. "Well, even if I turn over a new leaf, no reason I can't find other amusing ways to make money. After all, I did not too badly before Ranma came to town. So! Plan Get Them Together is a go!" She smiled.
Then she groaned. "Urgh. Except for one small, make that massive, problem. I've still got to fess up to them." Slowly putting her books and pen away, she pushed her chair from her desk and stood up. Going to her door, she opened it and stepped out. Feeling somewhat like a prisoner going to an execution, she walked the short distance to Akane's closed door and raised her hand to knock. Noticing it shaking, she whispered to herself. "Nerves of steel, baby. Come on, Nabs, it's now or never." Before she could think twice, she rapped on the door. Fighting down the urge to run, she waited.
"Who is it?" Came a small, sad voice from inside.
"Nabiki - can I come in?"
After Akane had replied that yes, she could, Nabiki opened the door. Akane was sitting at her window, just staring out into the darkness of the night. Taking a deep breath, Nabiki opened her mouth.
"Akane, I've got something to say, and I'm going to say it, and you're going to not like it, and then I'll leave, but you've got to promise me that you'll stop and think about what I said before reacting." The words came out in one big rush.
Akane turned to face her sister. "Nabiki, I know you mean well, and you really helped me the last time, but I think I just need a bit more time before facing reality right now." Tears sprang up in her eyes.
Nabiki shut her eyes. "No, Akane, that's not what I'm here for. It's this..." She spilled out the story to her sister, keeping her eyes clenched tight, not wanting to see the look that she was sure her baby sister would be giving her. "...And I'm sorry, you don't know how sorry, and I want to make it up to you, and I don't know if I can, but I want you to be with him, he makes you happy, and I was wrong - he's a good guy. And right now, I know that it's not going to make you like me at all, but I want to treat you two to a night out, for your first real date, and I want to make it special..." Her voice trailed off into silence as she finished. Her hands suddenly hurt, and she realized that she had had then balled into tight fists at her sides, her nails pressing into her palms. Unclenching them, she slowly opened her eyes. Keeping her eyes on the ground, she backed quickly to the door, bowed once and left, shutting the door fast.
Hearing her sister's sobs on the other side of the door, Nabiki cried along with Akane. To her immense relief, Akane didn't come bursting through the door, screaming bloody murder. She had expected that could happen. Slowly, her heart rate returned to normal. One down, one to go. And she had no clue how Ranma would take what she had to say. Her only consolation was that Ranma didn't like to hit girls. Once more, she began her walk of the condemned, this time to the dojo, where Ranma had been spending most of his time lately.
After basically going through the same motions and speech that she had in Akane's room, Nabiki looked up at Ranma. She didn't know what to expect, but braced herself.
Ranma's only reaction at first was to look her in the eyes, his blue eyes boring like steel into her soul. Then turning away, he thrust his fist into the nearest practise dummy, completely demolishing it like it was a paper box, rather than the wood and sawdust it was made of. "You can leave now." His voice, low and tense, reverberated through the room.
Shaking, Nabiki did as he asked. Going to her room, she sat on her bed, waiting. She had asked each of them to let her know somehow if they would accept her offer of paying for a date. There wasn't anything else she could do right now but sit and wait.
Later, at two different times, pieces of paper were slid under Nabiki's bedroom door. Both notes said that yes, they would accept her offer of paying for a date.
In three different areas of the Tendo household that night, three different people smiled the same smile. A smile filled with sadness, regret, relief and happiness.
End Chapter Eight
-Phew! This was an incredibly hard chapter to write, and I really don't know if it's any good. Please feel free to make comments on what you thought - no need to be mean please, but I would really appreciate hearing your opinions on this one. Horrible OOC'ness from both Nabiki and Kasumi, I know, but I couldn't get it written any other way. Anyways, next chapter is the big date, but not quite all is bliss - after all, I haven't dealt completely with Shampoo and Ukyo yet... R&R please!