Chapter 7—Answers

Knock knock.  "Hey, Nabiki?"  The door creaked open and Ranma stuck his head into the room.  "Could I borrow a flashlight?" 

"A flashlight?"  Count on Ranma to interrupt at the worst times, Nabiki seethed.  "Why on earth do you need a flashlight?  Afraid the house is gonna topple over?"  she snarled.

Ranma blinked at the venomous response.  "Uhh… no… I was just helping Kasumi fix the sink… the batteries in her flashlight went out…"

Nabiki sighed.  At least he had a decent (and safe) excuse this time.  Last time he borrowed her portable radio, little green men landed in the koi pond, apparently responding to some signal that Ranma had given off after dropping her radio into soy sauce.  "1000 yen." 

"Aww man…" Ranma dug into his pocket and pulled out the money.  Satisfied, Nabiki went over to her drawer and pulled out a flashlight and two AA batteries.  She tossed them to him, and added,  "The batteries are for Kasumi.  On the house."  She sat back down.  "Now scram." 

But Ranma and Kuno were eyeing each other distastefully, and Ranma didn't leave.  "Kinda cozy in here, ain't it Kuno?"  he remarked. 

"Silence, wretch!  This is merely schoolwork that Nabiki Tendo and I are assigned to do together."  He glowered at Ranma. 

Ranma leaned against the wall and grinned.  "Yeah?  I don't see any work in here.  Nice try." 

Kuno and Nabiki both glanced around.  Oh damn, they had cleaned up before sharing time.  They had put away the project.  No wonder Ranma had come to the conclusion that…  ugh. 

"Man, you really go after the Tendo girls, don't you.  Is Kasu…" 

"SAOTOME!  HOW DARE YOU…"

"Hey!  Now wait just one moment!"  Nabiki sprung up to her feet, and glared down at the two boys, who cowered.  "If you two dare to start a fight in my room, I will personally KICK YOUR ASS!"  Her demon head, inherited from Soun Tendo, loomed over them.  "If you two insist on fighting every single time you get within fifty yards of each other, AT LEAST TAKE IT OUTSIDE!"  She spun around and glared at Ranma.  That comment about Kuno seducing the Tendo sisters was the last straw.  "RANMA, GET OUT OF MY ROOM.  I DON'T RECALL OFFERING YOU EXTENDED VISITATION RIGHTS.  YOU'RE INTERRUPTING SOMETHING IMPORTANT, YOU'RE BEING RUDE TO MY GUEST, IN MY ROOM, AND YOU'RE GOING TO BE MY PERSONAL SLAVE FOR THE NEXT FIVE MONTHS IF YOU DON'T GET OUT OF HERE BY THE TIME I COUNT TO THREE.  ONE, TWO, THREE!"  She slammed the door shut behind him, then ripped it back open.  She grabbed him by the collar and hissed, "You were in an awful hurry to get away from me, Ranma."  Gulp.  "That hurts my feelings.  I think I'll need compensation for that.  50,000 yen should do the trick.  Plus interest.  And that expensive purse I saw in the mall.  Have a nice day."  She slammed the door on his head. 

Kuno was staring at her, wide eyed.  "Is… is this always how you behave at home?" 

Nabiki glanced sheepishly at the door.  The last stunt she had pulled, with all the yelling and violence… it was a little too Akane-ish for her.  But Ranma was being such a butt at exactly the wrong time.  She just lost control.  "No," she grinned at him.  "Normally I'm much worse."  She sat back down, and straightened out her hair.  "So, while we're in the sharing mood, why are you always so pissed at Ranma?  Granted, he really knows how to be a butt sometimes, but you just absolutely hate him.  I can't understand it."  She tilted her head and looked at him. 

Kuno sighed.  "What right does he have, to treat me like I'm inferior?" 

Whatever Nabiki had expected, it wasn't this.  "What are you talking about?" 

"I…"  He shook his head.  "What do you want to know—why I won't go downstairs, or why I hate Ranma?" 

Nabiki raised an eyebrow.  "What should I know?" 

He sighed again.  "I suppose that they are the same anyhow."  He looked at her, almost sadly.  "Are you sure you want to know this?" 

"Why wouldn't I?"

Kuno ran a hand through his hair.  "Nabiki, there are some things better left unsaid.  Things that are better if we forget they ever happened."  He looked her full in the eyes, and she couldn't reply to his gaze.  "It's been so long already… I don't think that it is a good idea to bring up… the past… especially now." 

Somehow, she knew what he was talking about, even without words.  Were they finally going to talk?  Nabiki flipped open the blue folder and pulled out the envelope.  "You mean," she said, "about this?"  She tossed him the photographs. 

"What is this?" he asked suspiciously as he pulled them out from the envelope.  Then he fell silent as he thumbed through the stack.  His jaw tightened visibly. 

"So now you know what's in this goddam folder," whispered Nabiki.  "Ready to spit out your part of the bargain?" 

Kuno put slid the photos back into the envelope.  He refused to look at her.  "I hate Ranma because I'm jealous of him." 

"What? "

"Do not interrupt.  I'm jealous because…"

"…Akane is his fiancé?" 

"Silence, woman!"  Kuno ripped open the envelope, and shoved one of the photos at her.  It was the picture of Nabiki, her mother, Akane, Kasumi, and Tate at the zoo together.  "Look!  Look at this!  Don't tell me you do not understand.  I was a part of your family, Nabiki, and ten years ago my mother caused me to disgrace my position as part of the Tendo family. 

"I see your family every day, and everyday I am reminded of how I failed, and how this failure has ruined my life!  I cannot stand to see Saotome living the life that could have been mine.  He is what I was ten years ago.  Then, I could walk in your home freely, as he does, without embarrassment or reserve.  Now, I cannot even go about unescorted because I am reviled and scorned in this household."  Kuno stared straight at the wall in front of him, sitting rigidly straight as he said this, anger, sorrow, and pain coursing throughout his body.  "I used to belong here.  Now he is the one who does.  He is the one who can enter your rooms like a brother to borrow a miscellaneous item unimpeded.  He is the one who can go downstairs to raid the food cabinets and look the members of this household in the eye without the constant knowledge that his mother ripped apart this very home." 

Suddenly, he whipped around and stared at Nabiki.  She could not look away, and saw that his eyes burned with a self-loathing and regret.  For the first time in a long while, she felt completely helpless.  "Nabiki, he is a part of your life, the way I no longer am."  Kuno stood abruptly.  "I must go.  We shall work on the project another time."  He headed for the door. 

Stunned, Nabiki could only watch him.  For a few seconds.  She very quickly regained complete control of her faculties, and said quietly, "Where the hell do you think you're going?" 

"I am leaving.  Now that you know what I never should have told you, I cannot stay."  He reached for the doorknob. 

"Oh yes you will."  In a flash, she was between him and the exit, her back to the door.  What are you doing, Nabiki?  She thought to herself angrily.  Just let the poor guy go!  You're not going to gain anything from this.  Oh yes I will, her other half shot back.  I'll gain a whole lot of personal satisfaction… and some answers for ten years of silence.  "Tatewaki Kuno, you are not going anywhere until I am through with you."  She glared at him fiercely. 

"Nabiki Tendo, you are in my way."  He tried to maneuver around her, but she slammed against the door. 

"No way, buster."  She locked gazes with him.  "What do you mean, 'Ranma's part of my life, and you aren't?'  I'm not engaged to him, or particularly friends with him.  I see you more often in school.  And I exploit both of you equally." 

Kuno wished he hadn't started this conversation at all.  There was so much pain… so many memories… 

"Damn it Kuno, answer me!  We had a deal—I show you the folder, you tell me what's up!  You even signed a contract!" 

He blinked.  "Contract?  What contract?" 

She whipped out a fat stack of paper.  "This one."  She flipped to the last page, and pointed to the X and his name.  "See, right on the dotted line." 

"What?"  Kuno ripped it out of her hands and stared at it.  "I didn't sign this!!" 

Nabiki grinned evilly.  "Prove it."  Kuno groaned.  "You can't?  Okay then, in that case, you'd better cooperate, Kuno-baby."  Nabiki was maintaining a flippant personality to put Kuno at ease, but on the inside, she was dying.  Goddamit, Kuno! She thought.  How can I hate you if I feel sorry for you?  His partial explanation had already shaken her profoundly.  She had never realized how much it had hurt him to be figuratively kicked out of the Tendo home.  How much Ranma was hurting him emotionally, not through fighting, but just by being there.  The fact that Kuno knew it wasn't really Ranma's fault made it even worse; he had no proper scapegoat.  And all this was just Kuno's relationship with the Tendos.  They hadn't even begun to touch upon their personal deteriorating relationship yet.  Nabiki shuddered to think of the emotional backlash THAT conversation would have. 

"What.  Do.  You.  Mean." 

Kuno stared at his hands.  "He is a part of your life.  You share meals with him, say good morning to him every day…" 

Nabiki gave an exasperated sigh.  "I fail to see how this is any different from my relationship with you." 

"Because he is part of your family, and I am only a client!  You only speak with me to ensure further business relations." 

The pain in his eyes was almost too much for Nabiki to bear.  She looked away and deadpanned her response.  "What makes you think that?" 

"Kami, Nabiki!  Stop playing with me!"  She looked up, surprised.  "I know you hate me, there is no need to pretend otherwise.  Wait," he paused.  "You never have pretended otherwise.  You have scorned me and ridiculed me and used me.  But I understand.  I deserve it.  I am an idiot and an heir to the insanity that killed your mother.  I deserve your contempt and hatred. All of it...  Kasumi, Akane, your father…  I only wish that I could somehow make it up to you."  He turned away from her, could not look her in the eyes.  "When you began to ignore me, I could not bear to live any longer.  My life was falling apart before my eyes, and I was helpless to stop it.  Soon after my mother died, my sister was diagnosed with the same mental failure that had ultimately caused my mother's death.  Kodachi is not so far gone as my mother was—she is taking medicine—but her condition reminds me daily of what my mother was like.  My father took off for parts unknown, and came back a broken man.  So I had lost two families at once: my blood family, and the one I cared about."  He still would not look at her, for that she was glad: she was not sure she could look at him.  "Somewhere along the line I became convinced that… in an attempt to rejoin your family… and regain your friendship… I made it apparent that I was infatuated with Akane Tendo." 

Nabiki, master of planning and preparation, sniffed in disgust.  "And exactly how was this supposed to work out?" 

He shook his head.  "I have no idea.  I just thought that I would flatter Akane with my attention.  And your father would be grateful to have a wealthy, kendo-master prospective son-in-law.  And I could be closer to you, because you would sell me pictures…" He flushed, appropriately ashamed of himself and his actions. 

Sudden fire rose up in Nabiki.  "And what about Kasumi??  Did you ever think about her?" 

Kuno shook his head again.  "I did not know what I could do for Kasumi." 

Oh, the irony.  "You know, Kasumi was the only one who never blamed you, Tatewaki."  He hung his head, and looked so miserable that Nabiki had to take pity on him.  Sort of.  "It doesn't matter.  Chasing Akane wasn't the greatest penance anyhow.  None of us appreciated it." 

"I know.  But I didn't know… what else to do… I guess it was the same concept that stupidly made me pursue the pig-tailed girl."  What?  Nabiki blinked at that last sentence.  Did he…? 

"Did I know?  That Ranma is the pig-tailed girl?"  Kuno smiled sadly.  "Not at the very beginning, of course.  It was quite embarrassing when I discovered that she… he… is Saotome.  But then… somehow I reasoned that if I chased the pig-tailed girl, it would make up for my antagonism towards Saotome's… male side."

"Brilliant plan."

"You think so?  I certainly don't.  But… I don't know what else to do… at least now I am doing something." 

Nabiki slumped to sitting position (back still against the door), and buried her face in her hands. 

"Nabiki!"  He knelt beside her, concern apparent in his voice and face.  "Are you all right?" 

"I'm fine, just fine."  Her voice was muffled behind her hands.  "Everything is absolutely chipper." 

Kuno sighed and gazed at her.  "I still remember the time your pet bird died.  The swallow.  I came over to play that day, and Akane told me what had happened.  I went to find you, and you were in the corner of the living room behind the sofa, sitting exactly like this.  I asked you if you were all right, and you said that you were fine.  And then…" He reached out and cupped her cheek.  "I saw your tears." 

"What, do I look like I'm crying?"  Nabiki snatched her hands away from her face angrily.  Her cheeks were dry, but for a moment her eyes seemed to glisten.  "Don't touch me, please!"  He had put his hand on her face when her bird had died also.  "No one is dead," she snapped, "and I'm not hiding."  She stood up and said fiercely, "You can leave now, if you so choose."

Kuno stared at her, hesitant and fearful.

"Goodbye, Tate.  I'll talk to you tomorrow."  She opened the door. 

"Oh… hello, I brought up some freshly baked cookies…"  Kasumi stood framed in the doorway, looking uncertain. 

Nabiki smiled grimly.  "Thanks, onee-chan, but Kuno here was just leaving." 

To be continued…

Hope they didn't seem to OOC in this.  I tried to make Nabiki emotional, but tried to keep her in character by having her try to keep a handle on her feelings by being sarcastic and snappish.  And Kuno is usually a pretty open person about his feelings, so I don't think he was too out of it.  Well!  Are they going to resolve all this?  Or is their relationship even more destroyed than before?  C&C!