Chapter 10 

"Nabiki?  Are you awake?" 

"Nnngh… no."  The groggy word was enunciated by the thump of a sock being thrown at the door. 

The door was flung open as Kasumi and Akane marched in. 

"C'mon, sleepy head," encouraged Akane.  "Get up!" 

Nabiki responded by dragging the blanket over her head.  "What the f… what time is it?"

"Seven forty-five," said Kasumi cheerfully.  She pulled the curtains open, allowing the sunlight to pour into the room. 

"Gah!  Go away.  It's too early for this." 

"No it's not," replied Akane.  "You've had more than enough beauty sleep.  When you came home last night, you ate your dinner and went straight to sleep.  That was eight o' clock, Nabiki."  She yanked the covers off. 

"Cold!  Cold!"  Nabiki shrieked, and curled up on the bed, trying to get warm.  "Why are you punishing me like this?  I swear, when I wake up, I'm gonna…" 

"Go to the fair with us," Kasumi interrupted calmly, opening the closet door.  "And then we're going to the movies, play tennis for a bit…" She pulled out a yellow sundress a white collar. 

"Yup!" chirped Akane.  "Today is going to be a sister day, and we're going to have fun!" 

"Good Lord," Nabiki groaned.  " I'm being punished for past sins." 

Akane giggled.  "If you were being punished for past sins, this would be a sister decade, not just a day."  She bounced up and down on the bed a little.  "Come on, get up." 

"Here, I picked something out for you to wear today."  Kasumi held the dress up, smiling mischievously. 

Nabiki flipped over and eyed the dress.  "I am not wearing that.  I don't even know how it got in my closet.  It must be Akane's."  She sighed and got out of bed.  "Ok, ok, I'm up.  Lemme pick my own clothes, I'm not Ranma.  You can't force me to wear anything by saying I'm a guest." 

Akane and Kasumi exchanged amused glances.  "Oh yes we can…"

*

Fifteen minutes later, and extremely disgruntled looking Nabiki and two exhausted but triumphant Tendo sisters lay on the floor of the bedroom.  They had endured threats and insults, but had succeeded in shoving their sister into the dress.  Nabiki stood up and looked at herself in the mirror.  "I am really pissed off right now." 

Kasumi smiled at her from the floor.  "You look like a little girl again, Nabiki." 

"And that's good why?"

Akane pitched in her two cents.  "Yellow really does suit you, y'know.  And you should wear dresses more often." 

"No, I really shouldn't.  I look like Akane." 

Kasumi sighed as a little steam emerged from Akane's ear.  "Nabiki, the dress isn't that bad.  It's not that poofy… it's more like a mini skirt…  Just humor us for a day, all right?" 

"Do I have a choice?

"Not really." 

"Dammit." 

*

The fair was fun, and Nabiki enjoyed chatting with her sisters, but she had a sneaky suspicion that things weren't all they seemed.  The suspicion grew as the day went on.  Why, suddenly, had Kasumi and Akane decided to have a girl's day out?  The meaningful looks they kept exchanging only helped to contribute to her doubts. 

She waited patiently throughout the Ferris wheel, the arm wrestling booth, various rides and food booths, the punting of a spying Ranma into the sky, a landslide tennis win by Kasumi, and an evil fiancé sighting in the park, which resulted in mass destruction of the pond and various martial artists running around posing as animals.  Her patience ran out during her second bite of an apple crepe in a small café halfway across town. 

"Ok you two, games up.  What's going on here?"  She eyed her sisters skeptically. 

Akane choked on her strawberry crepe while Kasumi calmly took another spoon of ice cream.  "Going on?  Nabiki, you are full of conspiracy theories these days." 

Nabiki snorted.  "That's because I MAKE all the conspiracies, dear sister." 

"True."  Kasumi frowned.  She did have a point there…

The bushes rustled and Akane threw the napkin dispenser at them.  "Ouch!"  An unidentifiable form with a pigtail ran out and off into the distance.  "He's been spying all day," she said disgustedly.  "Nosy self-centered baka. He gets all paranoid if everything isn't revolving around him.  I'd thought we'd chased him off… oh well, he won't be back for a while."  She fished a strawberry leaf out of her crepe.  "Yuck." 

Nabiki narrowed her eyes.  "Why all this secrecy?" 

Kasumi folded her hands together.  "Nabiki, Akane and I have been talking…" 

"About what."  If possible, her eyes narrowed even more. 

"Uh," Akane cleared her throat.  "About you and, um, Kuno." 

Silence. 

"We were thinking, Nabiki, that…" 

"Oh, goody." 

Akane and Kasumi exchanged glances again.  "What?" 

Nabiki's sudden poker face gave them no hint as to what she was thinking, and she spoke in a deadpan.  "So what have you talked about behind my back?  How much gossiping have you two done?" 

"We…" 

"500 yen and I'll fill in the gaps for you." 

"Nabiki…"

"1000 yen and I'll even throw in my opinions." 

"Nabiki…" 

"50,000 yen?  Sure, here's a videotape of all my conversations since I was born." 

"Nabiki, calm down.  You're taking this too seriously."  Nabiki took a savage bite at her crepe.  "We've never seen you this upset before… at least since mother died." 

"We were worried," said Akane quietly. 

"Huh."  She stared at them, unblinking. 

Akane hesitated, and then continued.  "What happened last night, onee-chan?  You came home looking so… I don't know what.  Not yourself.  And Kasumi said that Kuno had been looking for you…" 

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"We just want to help." 

Nabiki sighed.  The beseeching looks on her sisters' faces melted her—they did mean well… Sighing again, she resignedly related the events of the previous night.  When she finished, she took another bite of her crepe. 

Akane gazed at her, eyes shining.  "That's so romantic!" 

Nabiki snorted.  "Romantic is hardly the word." 

"Did you save the daisy?" Akane asked.  "I didn't see a vase anywhere in your room." 

"A vase?"  Nabiki was confused.  "Why would I need to save it?" 

"Because… oh, never mind.  You have no sense of romance." 

Kasumi nudged Akane warningly with her foot.  "That's because Nabiki is very practical."  Please don't start a fight now. 

Nabiki shrugged.  "Not really.  What would be the point of keeping it?  It's just that a daisy's a thing I could've gotten anywhere along the side of the road.  It'd just have rotted in my room, so I left it in the park." 

The sisters almost face faulted, but controlled themselves. 

Kasumi tried to get the conversation back on track.  "Kuno seemed very nice about it, don't you think?" 

"Huh.  Did I forget to tell you how he insulted me earlier that day?"  She squeezed out some crocodile tears for emphasis.  "He said that I would even sell out mom for profit."  Somehow, she was having a little more trouble than usual stopping the trickle of tears. 

"Oh, Nabiki…"  Kasumi came around to Nabiki's side of the table and gave her a hug.  "Don't cry."  How had Kasumi known that she wasn't fake crying this time? 

Across the table, Akane bit her lip nervously.  Nabiki crying for real was always an uncomfortable experience; her older sister always had so much control and poise.  "But, Nabiki, I don't understand.  He wants to be friends again… and you know that it's not his fault his mom… you know.  I mean, it's really not even his mom's fault that she did what she did, right?  She was very sick… I talked to dad and he said that she… anyhow."  She looked to Kasumi for help. 

"Nabiki," she looked her in the eye.  "Have you forgiven Kuno?" 

Nabiki stared at her for a moment.  Have I forgiven him?  She shook herself lightly, wiped the tears, and shot Kasumi a dazzling grin.  "If you want to know, it'll cost ya!"  She stuck her hand out and smirked. 

*

The Kuno mansion was as grand and expansive as ever.  Nabiki, upon seeing it, felt slightly daunted, though more by the thought of what she was going to do than by the architecture.  The gate opened smoothly and silently, and her steps on the cobbled pathway echoed in the silent courtyard as she made her way to the front door. Upon ringing the doorbell, she could hear a swishing sound inside the house.  The door opened, and Kodachi stood framed in the doorway.  "Yes?" 

"Is Kuno here?"  Nabiki looked coolly at Kodachi.  She was wearing a blouse and a long black skirt that accounted for the swishing noise earlier. 

The girl rolled her eyes.  "Which one?" 

"You know which one."  Disdain laced Nabiki's words as they engaged in a battle of wills.  Kodachi yielded first. 

"He's not here, if you mean my honor-obsessed brother." 

"Where is he?" 

Kodachi eyed her.  "You are the Tendo girl, are you not?" 

Nabiki returned her stare.  "Which one?" 

Kodachi stood very still for a moment, and then laughed derisively.  "Ohohohoho!  Nabiki Tendo, please, come in."  She stepped back and gestured for Nabiki to enter.  Nabiki slipped off her shoes and walked in.  The stone floor was cold to her bare feet.  Come to think of it, the whole house was kind of chilly.  She crossed her arms in front of her chest for warmth.  "Don't tell me you don't have enough money for indoor heating." 

Kasumi laughed again.  "Are you cold?  Let me fetch you a nice hot cup of tea to warm you up." 

Nabiki smiled darkly.  "No thanks.  I've heard enough horror stories about what you do to your tea.  I'll skip." 

"Ohohoho, you shouldn't always listen to rumors.  But, as you wish."  She led the way to the sitting room.  "So, what need have you with my brother?" 

"That's none of your business." 

"Hmm."  Kodachi looked at her carefully.  "How do you know he wishes to speak to you?" 

Nabiki almost laughed at that one.  "What makes you think it matters whether or not he wants to talk to me?"  They say.  Nabiki looked around, inspecting the décor, which was a little to dark for her tastes.  "So, where is he?" 

Silence. 

"Hey, I don't have all day here."  Nabiki was glad she had changed back into jeans and a shirt before coming; a yellow sundress might have been too cheery for this house to handle.  Black tissue paper? 

Kodachi leaned forward to straighten something on the coffee table.  She didn't say anything for a moment, and merely gazed at the family portrait above the fireplace.  When she spoke, she took Nabiki by surprise.  "Tatchi was really hurt when you stopped coming over." 

Unable to see where the conversation was going, Nabiki decided to take the road of disdain.  "I don't make house calls." 

"I don't mean now, I mean ten years ago." 

That surprised her.  "Excuse me?" 

"It really hurt him."  She continued to stare at the portrait. 

For the first time, Nabiki began to feel a little guilty about the way she and Akane had treated Kuno, but she wasn't about to let Kodachi see that.  "I'm not a doctor.  I had my own hurts too." 

The Kuno girl continued as if Nabiki hadn't spoken.  "He went on medication too."  What??  "Not as much as mother or I needed, but still.  About a year after the accident (here she emphasized the word), he began to show signs of instability.  Conspiracy theories and great warrior histories were all he talked about.  Knowing our family history, the doctor immediately put him on drugs for about a month.  He was fine after that, but the rumors never have completely died down, you know that as well as I."  She lowered her head a little.  "He's always been so lonely.  I've tried to be here for him, but I am more of a ward than a sister.  I was always worried about how little friends he had.  And then, in high school, he joined the kendo team.  I was so happy for him… he finally seemed to begin to adjust… but then…" Accusing eyes glared at Nabiki.  "You came along." 

"Me…"

"You came back into his life.  And he was so happy… until he realized that you had only returned to destroy him."  Kodachi's face twisted.  "From what I've heard, you have spent your entire high school wrecking his reputation, playing with his mind, stealing his money, encouraging his fantasies, telling him lies…" she trailed off, and became silent.  She smoothed her skirt.  "He swore me to silence.  But, for his sake," she pressed her lips together.  "I've told you." 

"I…" 

"He went to the park.  To think."  Kodachi stared at Nabiki for a moment, then turned and headed for the front door.  Nabiki followed silently. 

As she was leaving, she turned to face Kodachi.  "Thank you…"

But the door had already closed. 

To be continued… 

That went from light to dark, didn't it?  Seems like the tables have been turned—Nabiki's got the guilt now!  And the yellow dress thing… I don't even know what that was about… ^_^;  C&C please!