Uh oh, lots of OOCness in this chapter. But it was just flowing so well that I couldn't bear to change it… If I get a lot of grumpy comments, I'll rewrite it, but I hope you'll enjoy it anyway. C&C (or, should I rewrite?). Thanks! Enjoy.
Chapter 9—Trembling
She didn't know what to think. What did he mean by it? Was he forgiving her? Did he want to be forgiven? Did he want to forget (or want her to forget) the discussion the night before? She considered. The tension between them wasn't a consequence of last night's activities; it had been there for ten years, and only now were they acknowledging it. Nabiki tried to get a grip on her emotions. Was she angry? No. Annoyed maybe, that things were as convoluted as they were, but certainly not angry. Anger was Akane's emotion, not hers. Was she sad? That too—reliving the heartbreak was painful. And the anniversary was just around the corner. Was she flattered? Yes, yes she was.
*
Decision made, Nabiki scribbled a note and tossed it to Kuno. He looked up, surprised and uncomfortable, and opened the note uncertainly. Stay after school was all it said. It was all Nabiki needed to say; she was not known for verbosity.
*
After class, Nabiki gestured to the girls to leave without her. She remained at her seat, looking demurely at her desk. Kuno, she noticed, also stayed in his chair, shifting nervously but maintaining his composure. When everyone had left, Kuno turned towards her. "What is this about, Nabiki Tendo?"
"You want to know what this is about, Tatewaki Kuno?" Nabiki asked, traces of light mockery in her voice. "It's about this." She pulled the flower out of the desk and walked over to him. "Us." She carefully watched him watching her. "Normally," she said, "I would tell you that this" she waved the lily in front of his face "isn't my style. But then again, normally, the gifts you put on my desk aren't for me. This," she held the lily up to her nose, "IS my style."
He stared at her. "I did not give you that flower, Nabiki."
She snorted. "Sure. It just appeared here out of nowhere. Duh, Kuno, I'm not that stupid." She looked at the flower again, and continued in a softer voice, almost to herself, "Mom loved white lilies. She used to have them around the house all the time, remember? That you decided to pick this flower… out of all flowers… it must be a sign from her…" Nabiki turned the flower over in her hands, contemplating. She looked up. "What made you pick this one, Kuno? You usually use roses."
"I… I was not the one who gave you…" Kuno faltered. For a moment, a look of pain crossed his face, and then it disappeared, replaced by a dark shadow. He whipped out his wallet, and furiously began to count bills. "How much is it this time."
"What?" Nabiki took a step back and stared at him, completely shocked. "What the hell are you talking about?"
Grim determination twisted Kuno's mouth. "How much do you want? You're always trying to extort money from me, Tendo, why should this time be any different?"
Huh? Kuno pulling the rug from under her feet, mocking her? And the fact that he had called her "Tendo" had not escaped Nabiki's notice. "I never knew you noticed," she growled. "Here I am, telling you that I'm sorr… no, forget it." She glared at him. "I don't know what the hell you're playing at, Kuno, I don't know what you're trying to do, but I am going to find out. Nobody, NO ONE, gets away with screwing with me."
He looked away. "You've been shameless before, but this is a depravation I didn't expect, even from you. How can you use your own mother to try and extort money?"
SLAP!
A bright, red, painful looking mark appeared on Kuno's cheek. "Who the hell do you think you are?" she hissed. "Who the hell do you think you are?" A thousand incomprehensible, unthinkable, terrible, terrible words threatened to pour out of Nabiki's mouth. But all she could manage, half-choking, was to spit out, "Bastard."
She turned heel and left the room.
*
How dare he? Nabiki fumed as she made her way down the hallway. First, he thinks he can manipulate me by messing with my heart, and then he insults me using my mother. Of all the people, he has no right whatsoever! I am going to kick his pompous… She wiped away a furious tear that had somehow escaped from the corner of her eye. Kami, she thought, why the hell did he do that? As she stepped out into the afternoon sun, she consoled herself by imagining ways to wreak her revenge.
A voice called out behind her as she reached the gate. "Nabiki!" Instantly, she composed herself and brought up a façade of boredom and nonchalance.
She sighed and stopped, hands on her hips. "What is it, Mokada?" She called in a bored voice.
Mokada, pigtails still bouncing even after she had stopped running, grinned triumphantly at Nabiki. "I found out who put the flower in your desk!"
"Oh?" Kami. With Mokada's big mouth, the whole school would be gossiping about her and Kuno come morning.
"Yeah!" She leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially, "You won't believe it, it was Ranma!" Mokada giggled, wide eyed. "Are you stealing your sister's fiancé again?"
Ranma? Nabiki did some quick thinking. "No I'm not. Last time I did that his other fiancé's almost killed me. It was profitable that time, but it's too risky for me to do that again." She paused to let it sink in. "I actually told him to do that as a test, Mokada." She smirked at her. "Looks like you passed."
"Oh," hesitated Mokada. She looked a little disappointed. "You wanted to see if I could get the information."
"Yup. And you succeed ten minutes before the time limit. Congrats."
"Okay then." Mokada waved. "I'll see you tomorrow!"
"Bye." Mokada trotted off.
Whew! Nabiki was so glad that she excelled at b.s.ing. She glanced at her watch. If she hurried, she could catch Ranma walking home.
*
"Hi onee-chan!"
"Yo."
"Hey Akane, Ranma." She nodded to them both.
"Do you want to walk home with us?" Akane asked.
"No thanks, Akane. But I need to talk to Ranma for a sec." Nabiki raised an eyebrow at her younger sister.
"Oh, ok. I guess I'll walk on ahead then…" Akane looked at her inquisitively, but sped up her pace and was soon out of sight.
"So, what's going on?" Asked Ranma, uneasily.
Nabiki ignored that, and said, "Get off the fence and walk next to me on the sidewalk like the normal person you aren't. Then maybe we can have a conversation."
"Conversation? Yeah right," Ranma snorted, but he hopped off the fence anyway.
She got straight to the point. "What is this?" She stuck the lily in front of his face.
"Ummm… a flower?"
"You know what I mean, Saotome."
"What!! It's a lily or something!"
"Saotome, you have five seconds before I raise all your debts 200% and lock you up in a cave with Happosai and no hot water for a month."
Ranma winced. "But Nabiki," he whined. "I promised Kasumi that I wouldn't tell! …oops..." He blanched. "Umm… is it too late to take that back?"
*
The Tendo kitchen was warm, as usual, due to the constant bubbling of the stove. Today, an aroma of stir-fry shrimp and miso soup pervaded Kasumi's domain. Nabiki crept in, and watched her elder sister stir the wok for a while. I'm not going to drag this out, she thought. She coughed.
"Oh, Nabiki!" Kasumi half turned, smiling. "How was your day?"
"Ok," said Nabiki, going to stand next to her sister. She opened a banana. "I found a flower in my desk."
"Really, how exciting." Kasumi's smile grew secretive. "Who was it from?"
"You, apparently." Nabiki shoved banana into her mouth.
Kasumi sighed. "Ranma never could keep a secret, could he?" She stirred the wok a little harder.
"What I want to know is," Nabiki said, speaking indistinctly around the banana, "why?"
"Oh," Kasumi said airily, "I just wanted you to have a nice surprise; you've seemed a little down this past week. You were pleased, weren't you?"
Nice surprise indeed. "Sure." She swallowed the mouthful of banana and eyed her sister. "Are you sure you weren't also trying to set me up with Kuno?"
Kasumi smiled again. "How could you get that idea, dear sister?"
Nabiki snorted and took another mouthful of banana. "Dunno, sis, but you're being awful sneaky about this."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Kasumi denied sweetly. Then, after a pause, "Did you think it was from Kuno?" she continued hopefully.
"Oh, yeah," Nabiki muttered bitterly. Kasumi glanced at her and was about to speak when Nabiki cut her off. "I'm going to the park for a bit. Save me some dinner if I get back late."
*
The sky was blue, but muted by the streaks of pink and orange of sunset that was creeping over the horizon. Nabiki, perched in her tree, watched the sun set. She had been sitting there for hours—she hadn't kept track of the time. It was relaxing, to just let her mind wander and grow empty, to filter her emotions into the evening sky. She had shed no tears, only pain. In a way, she admitted to herself, she had half hoped that the flower had been from Kuno. She was a little disappointed that he hadn't given her the lily… it was such a beautiful flower. And such a sweet gesture. She sighed. She should have had better control of herself in that classroom… with all those emotions and tension, she should have known to handle the situation with care. Things didn't have to end up so messy, she knew. It wasn't all Kuno's fault that he had jumped to the conclusions and said the things he had. But, after so many years of manipulating environments and controlling emotions, why had she lost everything then?
A rustle near the ground woke her from her reverie. She glanced down. Kuno.
"Kasumi said I could find you here," he said quietly.
"Kasumi says a lot of things."
"Can I come up?"
She looked away. "It's a free country."
He vaulted up and landed on the branch beside her.
"I came to apologize for my words earlier. They were cruel and untrue, and I should never have used them against you."
She said nothing.
"I would like to ask your forgiveness."
Silence.
"I had no right to hurt you that way. Please forgive me."
"There's no need," Nabiki said flatly. "You were right, I did sell out my mother."
"…"
A sudden sob caught in her throat. "I sold her out for a flower." She controlled herself. "I was willing to forget everything, to forgive, just because of a damned flower."
Kuno watched her compassionately. "Is that so bad?"
"Is that so bad?! Dammit, Kuno!" She hugged herself and whispered, "Have I really turned into a monster that would sell her family for profit? Maybe, all these years I've been wrong… paying the bills with money I've made by using them… was it wrong of me? No," she mumbled, "I didn't have a choice. I've sold my soul… but it's to help my family!" She cried fiercely. "Nobody knows, nobody knows, but I'm not doing this to be a martyr. I'm doing this to repent."
Nabiki tucked her hair behind her ears and cleared her throat. She had said more than she wanted. She tried to regain her composure and took on an air of nonchalance. She said flippantly, "I'm taking the any blame to protect my family. I'll be ugly so they can be beautiful… metaphorically speaking, I mean. I'm talking in terms of reputation and that junk. Seriously, it's not a major sacrifice on my part—I never cared for beauty anyways. Though," she said thoughtfully, "they ARE literally beautiful." She stopped and looked at Kuno. "I feel like we've had this conversation before."
"We have," he said, looking back at her. "You said you were ugly." Then, out of nowhere, he put a dandelion into her hands. He kept his fingers curled around hers. "I told you that you were a ravishing beauty."
Nabiki held her breath, and did not remove her hand. "And I told you that you didn't know what ravishing means."
"But now I do." He leaned forward, and tilted her face up towards his, staring down into her eyes. "And you are ravishing. Nabiki," he whispered, "you'll always be beautiful to me."
He kissed her gently on the cheek.
"Tate…" But he was gone, running out to the road, towards home.
Nabiki, one hand clutching the dandelion, the other pressed to her cheek, watched him vanish into the sunset.
To be continued…