Nabiki came home from school and headed straight for her room. Noisily, she rummaged through her closet, looking for something. She tossed each skirt, dress, and blouse on the floor in a single pile, not happy with what she saw.

"Nabiki, what are you doing? You are making a mess!" Akane peered through the door at Nabiki.

Standing back from her closet, Nabiki stared at the heap of clothes on the floor before declaring, "I don't have anything to wear."

Akane had a look of disbelief on her face, and she challenged her sister, "You have a closet full of clothes. There must be something! What do you need?"

"There is going to be a test of manners and social skills. I can't go in there looking like I'm wearing hand-me downs; I have to look good, it's part of my grade." Nabiki mentally went over her list of what she had thrown the floor and eyed the closet. She was beginning to think that a shopping trip was needed.

Akane forcefully entered the room and started rummaging through closet pulling out a blue dress. Looking it over, she thought it was perfect for what Nabiki described. "Here's a nice dress, it looks like you could wear it to a party."

With an "I'm older than you" voice, Nabiki responded, "Of course it's nice, but I can't wear that to this. It makes me look like I'm trying too hard to look feminine"

"But I like the bows and lace. It's... " Akane looked closer at dress, then corners of Akane's lips turned downward slightly as she claimed ownership of the dress, "Wait a minute. This is my dress. What is it doing in here, Nabiki?"

Nabiki didn't really care what Akane thought, and shrugged he shoulders as she offered her explanation. "I borrowed it in case I needed it. Take it back, I'm not going to wear it."

Nabiki watched her sister empty the closet, throwing its contents into three messy piles. Akane's droning of "this is mine" and "this is Kasumi's" went on until the hanger rod was empty and the shelves were bare. Akane's final comment of, "Nabiki, have you ever thought about asking to borrow these?" irritated her.

"What is she, some sort of cop?" Nabiki wondered as Akane quickly separated the original pile on the floor. Detaching her anger from the truth, Nabiki kept her cool, and her voice reflected it when she said, "Not really. And when you haven't mentioned the missing dresses in three months, I forgot that they were yours to start with."

When Akane was finished, the two girls looked at three piles. One pile was Kasumi's clothes, one pile was Akane's, and the third, and the smallest, was Nabiki's.

Gathering her own pile, Akane looked around for what she may have missed, and started for the door. "There! Now you have an empty closet. Now you can go shopping," Akane spat, "for your own clothes!"

Nabiki had come to the same conclusion, although it was reached before her sister ever entered the room. Unfortunately, she didn't want to go shopping, she just wanted to buy what she needed quickly, for she considered spending hours looking and looking and looking to be a waste of time. If she thought she could afford it, she'd even pay someone to do the work for her. Nabiki conceded the truth and at the same time, refused to to let Akane leave with the last word, "That's what I've been thinking all along. But I need somebody to help."

Sensing an opportunity to go shopping, Akane volunteered, "I'll go!"

"Sorry sis. You know what happens when you go shopping with me. I end up with nothing, you end up with a bunch of cutesy stuff. And I can't take Kasumi, she'll have me looking like her. I need to know what will look good to the judges. I need an outfit that will look classy, not too sexy, and yet attractive to those old men."

Akane knew she was referring to the district board members. They always judged such events, believing that the local teachers would be biased towards favorite students. She was disappointed that her sister didn't want her go shopping with her, but offered an obvious solution, "Then why not one of your class mates?"

Nabiki mulled the suggestion for a moment before deciding. "Nope. They'll try to subvert my grade, either by giving me bad advice or by finding something better. I can 't risk that. And I really need a male opinion. Daddy won't help, he'll probably end up crying something about her "baby is growing up." There's no way I'll take Mr. Saotome."

Akane developed an evil gleam in her eye and baited her sister, "How about Kuno?"

Nabiki began to get ill, for the thought of spending time with that idiot was more than she could deal with. "Don't go there. Do not even joke about that. You know what I think of him."

"Then there's one choice left," Akane said with a sweet smile, knowing that her sister was down to only one option.

Nabiki groaned, "Not Ranma. Please don't say 'Ranma.'" Nabiki really didn't want to think about having Ranma help her shop for clothes. He was a male, but one with an unknown taste, but Nabiki guessed that his taste would be bad.

Grinning like the proverbial bad guy confident that the good guy is certain to meet his doom, Akane announces, "It's Mr. Saotome's son!"

"I said don't say 'Ranma!'" Nabiki cringed slightly, realizing she fell into two traps.

Akane giggled. "I didn't. If you think about it, he's perfect. He's a guy, he's a girl, and he's a pervert. He should know what to wear."

Wanting to get him out of the picture, Nabiki protested, "He has no sense of modesty. He'll fail me for certain!"

"So, what he doesn't like, you know it's good. What he likes, you know to avoid it. He's perfect."

In a perverse sense, Nabiki realized that Akane was right. Ranma's weakness could be used if she could keep her wits about her, so she agreed. "Well. I guess he'll have to do."

***

A little while later, Nabiki found Ranma goofing off in the back yard.

Nabiki called out from the porch, "Ranma, I need to go shopping. Will you come along?"

"Huh? Wha?"

Nabiki calmly addressed Ranma once she knew she had his attention. "Ranma, I said I need to go shopping, and I asked you to come with me."

Ranma did not want to go shopping. Most of the times Akane mentioned shopping, he had managed to find a way out of it. Since this was Nabiki, yet another girl, he stalled for time so he could find an excuse not to go. "Shopping for what?"

"There's a test coming up, I need to look my best for it, so I need some clothes. Let's go." Nabiki had to get keep Ranma moving, knowing that if he stopped, he'd find a way to escape her clutches.

"Why do I have to go? I don't want to spend all day in some stupid store looking at stuff I'm not going to wear."

Not arguing with Ranma's logic, which Nabiki couldn't refute, she played her trump card, "Because if you don't, you will be in the house all alone with Akane, and you know what the fathers will do if they found out the two of you were alone for so long."

"When are we leaving?"

At the "Young Boutique", Nabiki picked a few dresses and retreated to the changing room to try them on while Ranma sat in one of the chairs that the management was kind enough to reserve for any unfortunate male that was drug into the store.

Nabiki came out of the dressing room wearing a blue dress that started just barely below her crotch and ended about where her nipples should be. After pirouetting in front of Ranma, she winked at him.

"Na-Na-Nabiki!" Ranma stuttered.

"You like it?" Nabiki asked innocently. Nabiki knew that the dress was something that she will never wear, but she just had to see the effect of it on Ranma. She slowly spun around again, this time giving Ranma time to look at everything. She had him entranced.

"You, you aren't going to wear that are you?" While he had lost his stutter, Ranma, sweat began to form on his brow.

"I take it that's a 'no'." Nabiki effected a fake frown; it was all too obvious that Ranma liked it. As she turned around to return to the dressing room, she saw a pin imbedded in the rug. Deciding to play the game a little longer, she straightened her legs, and bent at the waist, letting the dress hike up behind her. With the pin in hand and still bent over, she looked behind her and saw Ranma's mouth drop. Giving him a quick little wink, she stood up and sauntered back into the dressing room.

In the dressing room she giggled to herself as she stepped out of the blue mini and pulled the next dress off the hanger. She really should have thought of bringing Ranma in the first place; it was fun to watch him try to deal with feminine enjoyment. She didn't like shopping, but teasing Ranma, that was different issue altogether.

This time Nabiki was wearing a red full length evening gown that was a little long. It dragged a little on the floor, it needed to be brought up a little and Nabiki felt that she should be wearing high heels for full effect.

As she stepped out, she heard Ranma immediately compliment her with "Wow! That looks great!"

"Thank you, Ranma. It is nice, but I think it is too much party dress, so I can't wear it. Besides, I think it makes my butt look big." Nabiki studied how the lines followed her body in a near by mirror and wasn't happy with what she saw.

"What do you mean your butt is too big? The dress looks great on you."

Nabiki knew Ranma had a penchant to tell the truth, the compliment was unexpected and very welcome. "Thank you, Ranma," she said, "but I still think it's the wrong dress." With that, she went into the dressing room one more time.

The third dress was green and had a very conservative cut. This was the only one of the three that she hoped to buy, and she hoped that it would work. After getting the attendant to zip the back, Nabiki stood in front of Ranma and the mirror once again.

"Well, what do you think of this?"

Ranma answered after hesitating, "Uh, it looks great."

"Nope. It looks terrible. You can't lie Ranma, you are too easy to read." Smiling, "Don't feel bad, I hate this dress too."

After changing back into her own clothes, Nabiki started walking through the store again, this time looking for true contenders. When she found her first possibility, she noticed Ranma was looking very bored sitting alone in a chair next to the dressing room entrance. Seeing the fire hose above Ranma's head, Nabiki had an idea.

"Ranma," she called over, "I think I can make this go by quicker. Go change to a girl, then you can try on dresses with me!"

"Are you nuts? No way!"

"Think about it, Ranma. If we both try on dresses, we can try on twice as many dresses and I can pick one twice as fast!" Nabiki knew this certainly wasn't true, as Ranma's girl form was more buxom and shorter than Nabiki. She was gambling that Ranma didn't know the nuances of woman's clothing, and would believe her. On top of it all, it was another opportunity to have some more fun.

Ranma for his part, stood there as if the weight of the world was just dumped on his shoulders. It was obvious that he didn't want to do this, and Nabiki could see that he was weighing his options. Nabiki knew she had him when he stood up and started walking to the bathrooms.

Mindful of the three garment limit, Nabiki quickly picked six outfits to try, three for herself, and three for Ranma. Two of the three outfits for Ranma were for fun, they were obviously not acceptable for her assignment, being either too racy or too informal. The third had a chance that could work, and if it looked good on Ranma, she'd try one in her size on. Just as Ranma returned, Nabiki quickly chose a second and third dress to try.

She handed Ranma his three dresses fairly certain that they were the right size, as she had occasionally loaned Ranma clothes in the past during emergencies.

"Come on," she implored, waving her hand to indicate that Ranma should enter the dressing rooms with her. She fought valiantly to hide the wicked smile that struggled to appear on her face, but the anticipation of seeing Ranma wearing feminine clothes was too much, and she was grinning as she stepped into her own changing closet.

A few moments later, the sound of Ranma came through the changing room door, "Nabiki? Is this right?"

"Just a second, Ranma. I have to pull, uh! This zipper up." Nabiki had just put on a pant-suit, and it wasn't fitting just right and was an obvious reject. Not wanting to make Ranma wait any longer, she opened the door to see Ranma wearing the sky blue vinyl mini and fishnet top.

"Wow! That looks great on you, Ranma!" Nabiki couldn't believe that he actually put the ensemble on. "Amazing! This does look good on you. It's not for me, though. There's no way I'll ever be caught with that stuff on! Do you like it?"

Ranma let loose a low, guttural sound that sounded like it injured his throat, but made everyone within earshot realize that there was a male present. "No."

Laughing, Nabiki directed Ranma to try on a different outfit, and returned to her own room to change herself.

After changing once again, Nabiki was admiring the latest two piece she put on, a pleated skirt and blouse that looked like a winner when Ranma came out. This time he was wearing a simple black slip-dress. It didn't fit him well as the dress did not flow against his waist smoothly.

Critically eyeing Ranma, she asked for his opinion, "What do you think? Will it look good on me or not?" Nabiki had already decided what she had on was what she was going to buy, but thought the dress Ranma had on might be worth thinking about for the future.

"Uh. I guess," Ranma squeaked as he tugged at the collar, trying to adjust for the tightness cause by his bust line. Then Ranma started to scratch under arm and said, "It doesn't fit and it itches."

"Bummer." If Ranma had not mentioned the itch, Nabiki was going to find one her size and try it on. Nabiki remembered the last time Ranma complained about a seam that caused an itch; he was wearing a new shirt of hers at the time. When she wore it for the first time a week later, the very spot that Ranma complained about drove her crazy with the itching. The shirt was quickly turned into a rag.

"How about what I'm wearing? Does it look good enough?"

Ranma looked at Nabiki as she spun around for him. "Boring. You need something else."

"I think it looks great. What's so bad about it?"

"I dunno, I think it looks too plain. I guess."

"What if I add something, like a pin or something? I can accessorize, you know." Nabiki was not going to be deterred; she really liked the skirt and blouse.

"Aggressor-size?" Ranma showed his cluelessness again.

"Accessorize. You know, put a pin here, wear a necklace, the correct purse and belt. An outfit just isn't the clothes." Nabiki went on to explain the concept of being "dressed" was different between females and males.

An eternity later, Ranma and Nabiki stepped out onto the sidewalk and headed home. Nabiki grabbed Ranma's arm, and tugged him closer to her.

"That was fun! Thanks!" Nabiki was grinning from ear to ear. Not only had she purchased everything she needed, but she also was able to manipulate Ranma into wearing girl's clothes. It was a very successful afternoon for her.

"You're welcome?" Ranma wasn't sure how anyone could call shopping a good time; he wasn't even sure how he survived. For him, it was an exercise in patience, and when he changed to a girl and tried on the dresses, it turned into exercise in self-control. Somehow, though, seeing Nabiki happy when she found her dress made him feel good. He wasn't sure why, perhaps it was knowing that the misery would soon end, but perhaps it was also knowing that Nabiki was happy.

The two of them walked home, and with Nabiki in a good mood, she was a non- stop chatterbox. Approaching the Tendo compound, Nabiki again pulled Ranma to her and held his arm.

"Really, Ranma. I did have a good time. Let's do it again." Nabiki smiled at her companion.

Hearing that she wanted to go shopping with him again made Ranma want to run away. He also realized that Nabiki was happy, which was a good thing. She might make him dress like a girl again, and that was a bad thing. Looking at clothes all day long was boring, and that was a bad thing. It was fun to point out the ugly clothes and laugh, and that was a good thing. It was nice to find something she liked, and that was a good thing. In the final analysis, if under duress, Ranma would have admitted he had a good time.

Nabiki watched Ranma's change expressions as he contemplated going shopping again and she laughed at the perceived thoughts that must be going through his mind.

"Only if I don't have to try on clothes." Ranma growled. Actually it wasn't really a growl, he tried to growl and failed, so it came out almost sounding like a purr.

And with that, Nabiki pulled him closer, and slid her arm around Ranma's waist and they turned the corner into the compound.

***

Akane and Ranma wandered through the empty house. They expected to find Kasumi in the kitchen, but they found a note from her instead. The note stated that she had left to visit a friend that had just went through a difficult birthing, and that she should be home in time to cook dinner. With Kasumi gone, Ranma took the opportunity to take the day off from his chores and both Ranma and Akane went to the training hall to practice.

After practice, the family was about the house, waiting for Kasumi to come home when the phone rings.

"Hello? Tendo Residence." Ranma took the call.

"Oh, Hi, Kasumi... I can't hear you. That's better. You what? No problem. I'll be sure to tell your father. That's okay, I understand. No, she isn't. No way, I want to live. I'll do it. No, really, I can. Everyone's okay, they're starting to wonder where you are. Do you know what time you'll be home? About ten? I'll let everyone know. Relax, and don't worry. I'll see you when you get home. Bye."

Ranma explained to Soun that Kasumi was on the train back home when the train was stopped by the police to try and catch a pervert that was trying to take pictures of girls underwear. The investigation was causing havoc with the train schedules, and in order to minimize problems with other arrivals and departures, the train she was on was going to be delayed for several hours. As such, Kasumi was not going to be home for dinner.

"Don't worry about it. Akane doesn't know about it. We can order take out or something." Ranma suggested. Just thinking about Akane's cooking made him ill.

"Good idea. We can call the Cat Café." Soun suggested.

Visions of Shampoo arriving with the food and trying to take him back to the café ran through Ranma's head. He shook his head, "I don't think that's a good idea."

Soun looked at Ranma, thought of another idea and asked, "How about Ucchans?"

"Nope. Same problem." Ranma was hoping for something new and different. Just then he had an idea.

"I'll cook dinner!"

"You can cook?" Soun eyed the boy with suspicion.

"Sure. I've been working with Kasumi for a while now, and I had to learn a little about cooking when I was living with Pops on the trail." Ranma lied, he hadn't learned a thing about cooking from his father, the only thing the old man knew how to do was boil some cabbage and fish.

"Just keep Akane out of the kitchen, okay?" Ranma walked into the kitchen.

Ranma went through the kitchen, pulling vegetables, started to boil water, and fired up the rice cooker. Remembering where Kasumi kept the various spices and sauce bases, Ranma started to pull together the dinner. In an hour, the kitchen was a mess, but he had a dinner ready.

In one very large bowl, he had a dish consisting of noodles, fish, and various types of vegetables. He called everyone to the table for dinner, and when they were all seated, he announced the meal.

"It's a champon, something that Pops neglected to teach me." A quick glance to Akane to see if she was angry with him told him he was safe for the moment, so he continued. "I've already tried it, and I'm not dead yet, so I guess its okay."

Akane and Nabiki served everyone, and they started to taste Ranma's concoction.

"Not bad." Soun carefully tasted his noodles.

"Ymmmm." Akane had already taken her tastes, and started to eat in earnest.

"Slurrrrrrrp!" Ranma's father was about to ask for a second bowl.

"It's good. I didn't know you knew how to cook," Nabiki commented.

"If it weren't for me, Pops and I would have starved!" Another boast by Ranma, which was not entirely untrue; often Ranma was the only reason why they ate. People felt sorrier for a hungry little boy than they do for a fat old man. Ranma omitted the fact that he only knew how to cook one dish, and that he was incredibly lucky he didn't make an inedible slop.

A while later, after the contents of the dinner had been consumed, they all rested for a moment before getting up.

"I hereby nominate Ranma as Cook if Kasumi is ever gone again." Nabiki was looking at Ranma. Although the dinner wasn't up to Kasumi's standards, the meal was satisfactory. "No offense, Akane, but he really can cook."

"Hmmph." Akane pouted. Her family had once again failed to support her cooking endeavors. She was going to have to redouble her time in the Home Ec laboratory.

***

Later, Nabiki and Ranma were doing the dishes after dinner, making idle talk.

"I can't believe that you didn't play cards before. I would have thought that you and you father would have played to pass the time away." Nabiki said as she was starting to put the dishes away while Ranma dried the remaining pots.

"I didn't say I never played before, I said that I didn't play often. Pops thought that cards were a distraction from training. He thought that everything was a distraction, unless he could find a way to turn it into a training session."

Nabiki pulled out the step stool and set it up in front of a high shelf. Standing on the top stair, she asked Ranma to hand her the rice cooker.

"Here." Ranma handed her the large ceramic pot with one hand. "Come to think of it, the only time Pops and I played cards is when he wanted to play poker."

Nabiki reached for the cooker and started to pull it off of from Ranma's outstretched hand. Just as Ranma released his grip, she felt full weight of cooker pull down on her arms and started to fall forward.

"Aaaaa!" Nabiki tried to shift her weight backward to compensate for the pot. With one leg on the step stool, and the other acting as a fulcrum, Nabiki tried to regain her balance.

The step stool started to groan and creak under the rapidly shifting center of gravity. Nabiki had just about balanced herself when the stool gave way from under her.

As the stool crumpled under Nabiki, Ranma bolted from the far side of the kitchen, making a diving catch for the barbecue with his left hand while breaking Nabiki's fall with the other arm. Not loosing any momentum, Ranma put the rice cooker on the floor and tried to pull Nabiki over him to break her fall.

Nabiki had not registered that she had been caught and put her arms forwards to break her fall. When all motion had stopped, Ranma was with his back on the floor with arms around Nabiki. Nabiki's nose came to a stop just centimeters away from Ranma's.

Realizing that she was not in risk of hurting herself, Nabiki relaxed, gently falling the way onto Ranma's chest.

Both Nabiki and Ranma lay on the floor for a few moments, letting their adrenaline levels drop.

"Ahem!" Soun's voice came from the doorway.

"What is going on here?" Soun demanded of the two occupants of the kitchen.

"Ranma saved me from hurting myself when the stool broke." Nabiki rolled off Ranma and started to stand.

Soun looked at the broken stool, one plastic leg had a crease where it had been folded. Smiling, he walked over to Ranma and helped him up. "The protector of my daughters! You will be a wonderful addition to the family!" With that, Soun gave Ranma a hearty slap on the arm, and left the room.