Nabiki was not in a good mood as she walked home. She was exhausted from
dealing with the incessant questions and trying to undo all the damage that
her younger sister was doing to her reputation and to her family. She
occupied her mind by brainstorming ideas on how she was going to let Akane
know that the "help" she performed made things far worse.
The whole school now knew that the marriage was real. She could deal with that, and she almost had it under control. Then she heard that Ranma left the school after defending her when Ukyo insulted her. He actually said that she was his friend. From Ranma, that was an esteemed position, and it touched her.
As she walked under an overpass, she felt her arms painfully pulled up as she was forced to the ground. In surprise, she found herself half kneeling in front of a small Indonesian that was dressed like a pirate captain whose costume included a fake eye-patch and a stuffed parrot on his shoulder. She tried to remember what little training she received from her father, and tried to twist her body to change the leverage, but found that the arms that held her were strong and practiced.
Nabiki was frightened, but it wasn't the arms of the man that instilled fear in Nabiki, but rather it was pirate captain, who held a syringe in one hand has he removed air bubbles by tapping the syringe's side with the other.
Her life in jeopardy, Nabiki started screaming as loud as she could and squirmed in her captive's arms with every bit of resistance she could muster. As soon as she felt one arm loosen, her arms were pulled back harder, and a knee pressed painfully into her shoulder. Without any leverage that would have allowed her mount an effective attempt to escape and the growing pain in shoulders and back caused Nabiki yell louder and to insult her captors.
"Shut up!" The captain swung an open hand across her face; the slap left a large red welt on her cheek. Just about to administer the needle, she felt an arm become loose, and a moment later, the other arm was free as well. She fell to the ground and rolled away from the needle. Scrambling to her feet, she turned to find her assailants to see a familiar red and black flash.
"I don' know what you got in your minds picking on Nabiki here, but if she's yelling for help, something ain't right. So I suggest you oughta just leave." Ranma was furious, his hands were encased in a light of pure blue, and he looked ready to hurt someone.
"Pha! Dispose of the meddler," the short captain snorted. As he turned to leave the street corner, the two fighters pulled out small sticks, and proceeded to advance on Ranma. Before they had taken two steps, Ranma launched into the air, landing on the larger of the two brutes, knocking him to the ground. The second combatant ran to his comrade's aid, attacking Ranma with his stick.
While the little pirate was good, Ranma knew was quicker, stronger, and far better trained. Even though Ranma was still on the ground, Ranma was able to knock the stick out of the pirate's hand and kicked his opponent into unconsciousness.
As Ranma watched the short pirate fall to the ground, he felt a blow to his head. Ranma threw himself off the ground, and stood in front of the larger pirate, trying to shake the cobwebs out of his head. With the world spinning, Ranma lashed out with Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken at the big blob in front of him with the fervent hope that he was hitting his opponent's body.
Only when the body in front of Ranma started to fall did Ranma stop his punches. He wiped the moisture from his forehead and turned to Nabiki to see if she was unharmed.
Ranma wiped his forehead again and saw that Nabiki was physically fine but she had a look of shock on her face. A few drops from his forehead fell into his eyes and they blurred his vision; he closed his eyes and wiped his forehead again. Then the universe started to spin and behind closed eyes, strange geometric patterns swirled in his imagination before slowly going black.
The whole fight took just five seconds. Nabiki blinked only once, and missed half the fight. Surveying the scene, Nabiki saw shorter pirate is crumpled on the ground with a potential broken jaw and nose. The larger pirate was in worse shape; it looked like his chest was made of play-dough that was first smashed by a baseball bat and then used for target practice by a machine gun. Then she saw Ranma lying still on the ground with blood all over his face.
Nabiki quickly ran over to Ranma. Leaning over, she pulled him away from his two attackers, and started looking for injuries, finding a very large and soft lump on the top of his head. She set him down by the curb, looking at Ranma's face, hoping he'd open his eyes.
Nabiki placed pressure on the obvious source of the bleeding with one hand while wiping the rivulets of blood off his face. In a few moments the bleeding stopped and she became concerned that Ranma was not conscious.
"Ranma! Wake up! Ranma!!!! Wake up! Please, wake up. Please..." Nabiki cried. She gently shook Ranma, and not getting a response, she sat next to him with her mind creating, reviewing and discarding courses of action. Eventually, she stood up and grabbed Ranma by his shirt and pulled him up.
Throwing his arms around her neck, she hunched over and started to carry him back home. Tears were trickling down her cheeks as she started tried to determine how much she wanted to charge him for this assist.
After Nabiki took a few hard steps, Ranma woke up, groaning in pain.
"Naaabiiii."
Nabiki tried to put Ranma down gently, but he weighed more than she could handle, and he was dropped on his butt.
Ranma sat up and searched about his surroundings, blinking several times at a streetlight. On the verge of panic, he called out, "Nabiki. Nabiki! Where are you!?"
"Ranma! I'm here. Right here!" Nabiki hugged Ranma with all she had, ignoring the slowly spreading blood on his face and shirt.
Ranma's eyes started to focus a little, and then drifted into haziness again. "You here? You okay?"
"Yes, yes!" Nabiki released her hug, and sat back. "Ranma, can you hear me?"
"You don't have to yell. I can hear you just fine."
Nabiki let out a sigh of relief. "Ranma, do you think you can walk?"
In the distance, a siren wails.
"I think so, but I can't see too good." Ranma opened and closed his eyes several times, trying to clear the fuzziness in his head.
"Hold my hand, I'll get you home. Come on, Ranma, we can't stay here." The sirens were getting closer.
Ranma tried to stand, and was about to fall when Nabiki caught him.
"Ranma, all you have to do is put one foot in front of the other. Don't worry about anything else, I'll take care of it, okay?" Nabiki wrapped her arm around Ranma and started guiding him home.
"Yeah. I can do it." Ranma winced as he felt the back of his head. He felt a big soft spot where it should be hard. "I gotta have Akane show me how she deals with a crowd."
"Oh, so my sister is good at something?"
"That tomboy," Ranma grunted again and shook his head, "isn't as bad as I make her out to be. She just needs to focus more and not get angry so easily."
Nabiki was surprised at Ranma's admission. In the five or six months that she had known Ranma, this is the first time she heard him actually say she was a good martial artist. "Perhaps he isn't as well as he seems..." she thought.
"Oh, yeah," Ranma mumbled, "just gotta make sure she doesn't cook."
Nabiki smiled to herself, feeling better that Ranma's injury may not be all that dangerous.
With each step, Ranma was able to walk with a little less assistance from Nabiki, but it was obvious that the light-headed-fuzziness never dissipated. Occasionally Ranma or Nabiki would have to stop to catch their breath before continuing. It took them twenty minutes to reach the gate of the Tendo compound, a walk that should have taken just over ten.
Nabiki sat Ranma down just inside the gate, telling him to stay there and not move. When she was satisfied that Ranma was going to behave, she ran in the house, yelling, "Father! Kasumi! Help! Ranma's hurt!"
Soun and Genma immediately bolted from their shogi game and ran to the front gate. Kasumi dashed from the laundry room with the first aid kit and Akane ran down from her room. In seconds, everyone in the Tendo household surrounded an unconscious Ranma.
"Quick, call a doctor!" Soun ordered one of his daughters. Akane ran into the house to make the call while Kasumi dashed back into the house for blanket for Ranma.
Genma gently lifted his son's head, and felt the bump. Starting from there, he checked his son's body for any other injuries. Not finding any, stepped back with a serious look on his face.
In moments, Kasumi had brought a blanket and pillow from the house and started to cover Ranma with it. When she started to lift Ranma's head to put the pillow over it, he started shaking. She pulled away, and made sure that he wouldn't hurt himself as he thrashed.
Nabiki stood next to her father, still as a statue. She watched Kasumi take care of Ranma, and when he started shaking, she started to cry. Nabiki stood frozen with the only sound coming from her being a single suppressed sob.
Akane ran to her father. "The doctor is on his way, he'll be here in about ten minutes. He said to keep him warm." She looked down at Ranma for the first time. He looked as if he was in a peaceful sleep, but seeing the expressions on her father's and Uncle Saotome's faces told her that Ranma was seriously injured. She too started to cry, and sat down next to her fiancee.
The doctor arrived, followed shortly by an ambulance. He immediately started probing Ranma. He called the hospital, asking them to prepare the X-Ray machine. Genma went with his son to the hospital while the Tendos arrived later by taxi.
***
At the hospital Nabiki was shakingly holding her tea, trying to relate her story of her returning home from school and the confrontation with the three pirates to the police. When she finished, an officer in plain clothes explained what would happen next and answered the only question Nabiki had. The three Indonesians were looking for girls to sell into slavery and had settled on Nabiki as their next target.
After the police left, the three sisters sat quietly and listened to Nabiki tell the story once again.
"Why was Ranma there?" ask Kasumi.
Nabiki looked at older sister and stirred the cooling tea. She straightened her back and took a breath before answering, "I don't know. I had no idea he was anywhere near me when the whole thing started." After taking a sip of her tea she whispered, "I'm just glad he was there, though."
Soun appeared behind Nabiki's chair and adjusted the lapel of his gi before stating, "Daughter, I think it's time you think about practicing the arts again. If you had kept up your efforts, I don't think this ever would have happened."
"Daddy, I don't regret stopping. You know I hated it."
"Ranma will not always be there to save you. This time you were lucky he was there. Next time he might not be anywhere around to save you. What do you do then?"
"There won't be a next time. This kind of thing happens only once in a lifetime. I just had mine, so I probably won't ever have this happen again." Although said confidently, deep down, Nabiki wasn't so sure of her statement. She realized she had been taking some risks lately that she wouldn't have ordinarily done, and she wasn't sure why.
Genma appeared, and reset the glasses on the bridge of his nose. "Aha," he said to get everyone's attention, "It was Ranma's failure, not Nabiki's. He should have not exposed himself like that. He's slipping, I tell you Tendo-san. I say we take him on a training trip next week and set him straight!"
That was more than Nabiki could take. Ranma had just saved her life, and he fought very well, but sometimes luck doesn't work out right. She sat straight up, and gripped the cushion of her chair before loudly made her feelings known, "Ranma saved my life. He was excellent. Hell, he was perfect! And you want to *punish* him?"
Genma was very angry with his son, and wasn't going to let Nabiki or anyone else deters him from ensuring that his son becomes the best martial artist in the world. "Hell, yes! He's going to be punished. I'm going to knock him into next week so make sure he doesn't forget to always be alert!"
Nabiki's emotions were already frayed and now she was unraveling at the seams. Nabiki shot up off her seat and shouted, "If you hurt him, you'll never forget it." She threw her teacup at him, running down the hall towards the building's exit.
Everyone is stunned. Kasumi and Akane looked at each other, trying to make sense of Nabiki's reaction. Genma stared at the fleeing girl, ignoring the tea staining his gi. Soun started to lift his arm as if he was going to scratch his head.
The first person to speak was Kasumi. She calmly put her own tea down on the table and addressed her father, "Father. Excuse me, I'll go see if I can calm her down." Before leaving, Kasumi gave Genma an uncharacteristic icy-cold stare.
***
Kasumi found Nabiki outside, sitting on the curb, bent over and hyperventilating. Kasumi stood next to her and offers her an outstretched hand.
Nabiki accepted Kasumi's hand and pulled herself up. Once standing, she lifted her head and wiped the tears from her eyes and tried to reassure her sister.
"I'm okay."
Kasumi pulled out a tissue from her apron pocket and offered it to Nabiki. "Are you sure you'll be all right?"
Nabiki took the tissue and blew her nose, wiped a final remaining tear from her face and nodded affirmatively.
Kasumi kept the concerned look on her face when she mentioned Nabiki's outburst, "You were very upset at Uncle Genma."
Nabiki started to taste bile. "And why shouldn't I be? That oaf wouldn't know how to be a hero even if he had an instruction manual. Hell, he's even proof that can't even teach using an instruction manual!
"Ranma saved my life, and it was dumb luck that he was knocked out. It was his training that kept him going even when he should have been unconscious on the ground!
"It seems every time I get in trouble, Ranma somehow saves me. And it not just by fighting. Kuno tried to talk me into selling him some pictures. That dope waved an incredible amount of money in my face. I was about ready to take his money when Ranma showed up, and Kuno challenged him to a fight. Not that it was a fight, mind you, Ranma had Kuno on the ground almost before the fight started. Then there was the time I was late for cram school. Well, almost late for cram school. Ranma carried me non-stop the whole way to the Kouhousei building."
Kasumi smiled, and sat next to Nabiki. "I understand. I can't tell you how many times he's showed up at the most fortunate of times." She thought for a moment. A silly smile crept on Kasumi's face before she continued.
"I can't think of the last time I slipped, tripped, or fell and Ranma wasn't there to catch me. He's even shown up just in time to help carry the groceries. And when Mrs. Obana's wheelchair broke when I was taking her to the clinic, Ranma showed up and carried her on in."
Nabiki still had plenty of steam in her, and she continued her tirade against Genma, "That flea bitten beast that isn't fit to even be called a panda won't recognize his son for the hero he is. I want..." Nabiki starts to choke a little, "I want to see..."
"Him sold to a panda breeding program?" Kasumi offered. She too was angry with Genma.
"Yes! Only that may be too kind!" Suddenly a picture of Panda-Genma with two or three affectionate female pandas came to Nabiki's mind, and she giggled at some of the possible results.
Looking directly at Nabiki, Kasumi opted for an indirect approach. "Sister, is there something else you want to say? Is there something else wrong?"
Nabiki, obviously fighting back tears, sat back down the curb, and shook her head.
Kasumi knew Nabiki was hiding something; her silence was confirmation of at least that much. Despite the risk of making her sister angry, if what she suspected was true, it would be worth whatever Nabiki could dish out. "So then, why are you so sensitive about everything? Akane had said that when Kuno tried to give flowers to onna-Ranma, she thought you were going to personally send Kuno into the pool. For the last two weeks, you have been coming home early from school. And this morning, I think you really wanted something to happen, didn't you? So, what is it?"
"Nothing." Nabiki shook with every muscle quivering. Her emotions ran all over her, and it was taking everything she had not to cry. She couldn't move, she couldn't think. All Nabiki she could do was sit on the curb.
Nabiki felt Kasumi sit down next to her and touched her shoulder. Not able to maintain her façade any more, Nabiki threw herself at Kasumi's chest and wept.
In between labored breaths, Nabiki asked one question, and that one question answered everything for both of them. "God, it hurts so much..."
Through her own tears, Kasumi had to agree. "He's something else isn't he?"
Nabiki pulled back a little, her sobbing giving away to natural curiosity. "Kasumi, when did, you know..."
"The first time? I don't know, maybe it was at the fair when he won the letter opener for you. You should have seen how happy you were. Maybe when we both stopped Daddy and Uncle Saotome from trying to marry him off again." Kasumi began to wonder what question she answering; things were not as clear as they normally were. Remembering that the person with the problem was Nabiki, she tried to draw her sister out.
"When do you think it happened?" Kasumi asked.
"About the same time I think. Every so often I look at the pen he gave me and can't do anything else."
The two sisters looked at each other in understanding.
Wiping tears from her face, Nabiki looked around for another tissue. "It's time to tell father, isn't it?"
Kasumi handed Nabiki a new tissue and wiped her own eyes with fresh one from her apron pocket. "It is. I just hope Akane understands."
Nabiki took a deep breath and forced the tension out of her with a long, hard breath. Glancing at the wet tissue and her sister's wet face, she murmured her thoughts just loud enough for Kasumi to hear if she was paying attention, "I think she's known for a while. She and Ranma hadn't fought in a long time, and I don't think it's because they've finally fallen in love."
The two sisters watched another family run through the doors into the hospital, wishing for them a happy ending and good health. When they knew they were alone again, Nabiki spoke of a plan that was formulating in the back of her mind, "I think we should tell her first. If I'm wrong, it'll give us a chance to re-think how we tell father."
Kasumi nodded agreement and stood up, "I'll go to her." She started to shake when a fresh round of tears started to pour from her face.
Nabiki held Kasumi's hand, her own tears starting to rivet down her cheeks.
Inside, the fathers were pacing the halls, unable to patiently wait for news about Ranma's condition. In a chair closest to the receptionist desk, Akane sat with a magazine on her lap. She had intended to read it, but she couldn't concentrate enough to even open it. Instead, she watched the fathers walk and tried to listen in on the telephone conversations of the receptionist. When things were really boring, she wondered what her sisters were doing outside for so long.
She watched Kasumi come in and was surprised to see the blood shot eyes. She knew that Kasumi and Nabiki had been getting close to Ranma over the last few months, and right now they both were acting as if they were the ones engaged to her fiancee.
Except that one of them was actually married to her fiancée.
"My fiancee." That thought ran through Akane's head. Somehow the weight of what "fiancee" meant was lighter than usual. Despite the fact that she and he fought getting married and protested the engagement, she found the prospect of not having the Chinese influenced boy around to be very unsettling.
Watching Kasumi pull a chair next to hers made Akane wonder what her oldest sister was going to say. The conversation was going to be about Ranma; conversations recently have often been about Ranma, and this was no different.
"Akane, we need to talk," Kasumi started the conversation. "You saw Nabiki tonight, didn't you." Kasumi stopped to read Akane's face.
Afraid of saying the wrong thing, Akane simply nodded her head. While she rolled the magazine into a tube, she saw Nabiki walk in and slump on the wall next to her. She didn't look any better than Kasumi, her face was still wet and her eyes just as red.
Seeing a very human side of her sisters made her feel better. She stood up, walked over to the receptionist desk, pulled a handful of tissues from the box and handed them to Kasumi. With a smile, she said, "She doesn't look any worse than you do."
Kasumi smiled and blew her nose and Nabiki held her hand out for a new tissue. Akane looked at her middle sister and tried not to giggle as she handed the next to last tissue.
"We're pretty hopeless, aren't we?" she asked as she folded her own tissue before blowing her nose.
Sitting down in her chair again, Akane put the magazine on her lap and quickly reviewed her own thoughts. She wasn't sure if she wanted to marry Ranma, and she knew that if she didn't that one of her sisters would, if for no other reason to keep the agreement and honor intact. The only thing that kept her from releasing Ranma earlier before was that she didn't want to give up her title as fiancee, it kept people like Kuno from being more annoying than they were.
Soun and Genma came by with new cups of tea and handed one to each of the girls before resuming their pacing of the hallways.
The silence became more than what Akane could handle. "What are we going to do?" she asked.
The older two sisters sat, not able to look at Akane.
"I don't know if I'm willing to give up the title of fiancee just yet, but Ranma and I shouldn't get married. I don't have with you what either of you have with him."
Akane looked at her cup, and saw relief on her sisters' faces. Impishly smiling at them, she felt there was a question she had to ask, now that a barrier has been removed. "When did you finally realize you were falling for the idiot?"
Nabiki let a small laugh escape, "I never said I was."
Akane looked at her sisters. "Sure. I believe you." The sarcasm in Akane's voice was thick as mud.
Not missing a beat, Nabiki continued, "Remember when you and Ranma came back from the water front, and he bought Kasumi and me pens? That night."
"That long ago? You're kidding, right?" Akane tried to drain the tea from her cup. When finished she looked at Kasumi, who had a very red blush on her cheeks.
"Out with it Kasumi. For once you can't hide." Akane started to reach to tickle Kasumi's side when Kasumi hesitated but stopped when Kasumi spoke.
"About the same time, I should think. Maybe a little sooner." Kasumi took a sip of her tea and daintily wiped her lips.
Akane sat dumbfounded. Her sisters had admitted that they were feeling something more than sisterly to her fiancee, which complicated her life immensely. Or did it?
"Are you two thinking of marrying that idiot?" There was no trace of anger hatred in Akane's voice, and "idiot" had become a term of endearment for Akane.
"I am married to that idiot," was the immediate answer from Nabiki.
There was a moments hesitation from Kasumi before she spoke. "I like him. Very much, in fact. But he's too adventurous for me, and I'll certainly bore him.
"Besides, he's already my little brother." Kasumi had an impish smile the whole time she spoke.
Akane didn't know what to think of Kasumi's answer, her words indicated that she wasn't interested, but the strange grin on her face indicated that she was very interested in Ranma.
"Is this what you two were talking about outside?" Akane asked.
"Not really," answered Nabiki. "We agreed that we three needed to talk, but that was it."
"Oh. Now what?"
The three sisters drank tea and plotted, and when they were satisfied, collapsed into their chairs in exhaustion and drifted off into a fitful sleep.
Nabiki felt her shoulder shake, rousing her from what she thought was a dizzying daydream. As she opened her eyes, she saw Auntie Nodoka smiling at her.
The emphasis on the second word was not lost on Nabiki when she heard Nodoka greet her with, "Well, daughter, we have much to talk about don't we?"
Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Nabiki perked up. "Auntie! Is he okay? Has the doctor said anything?"
"There's no change, and the doctor has not come out yet. And it's 'Mother' to you, not 'Auntie.'"
The magnitude of what the older woman just said hit Nabiki. She felt a strange rush of emotions flood all over her; there was a strange sense of correctness in calling Nodoka "Mother."
"Mother" was a magical word to Nabiki. It was something that she felt she never had but instinctively knew was something that she desperately missed and needed. The wisdom, experience and strength of a matriarch were sorely needed, not just by Nabiki, but by her sisters as well.
Nabiki gave in, and clung onto Nodoka, finding the strength she needed as she drifted to sleep.
It was a short hour later when the doctor came out and told the family that Ranma had a severe concussion and was being moved to a recovery room. As everyone rushed to his room, the station nurse stopped the crowd.
"I'm sorry, but only the immediate family is allowed to visit him at this time."
From behind Genma, Nodoka spoke up, "We are his parents, and I want to see my son."
The nurse didn't apologize, instead she simply said "thank you" and pointed to Ranma's room. When Nabiki started to follow the Saotomes, the nurse placed her arm in front and said, "I'm sorry. I said only his immediate family may go in."
Nabiki's frayed emotions became better of her and she responded slowly, clearly enunciating each syllable and paused between each word as she fought to keep control, "And. I. Am. His. Wife."
The whole school now knew that the marriage was real. She could deal with that, and she almost had it under control. Then she heard that Ranma left the school after defending her when Ukyo insulted her. He actually said that she was his friend. From Ranma, that was an esteemed position, and it touched her.
As she walked under an overpass, she felt her arms painfully pulled up as she was forced to the ground. In surprise, she found herself half kneeling in front of a small Indonesian that was dressed like a pirate captain whose costume included a fake eye-patch and a stuffed parrot on his shoulder. She tried to remember what little training she received from her father, and tried to twist her body to change the leverage, but found that the arms that held her were strong and practiced.
Nabiki was frightened, but it wasn't the arms of the man that instilled fear in Nabiki, but rather it was pirate captain, who held a syringe in one hand has he removed air bubbles by tapping the syringe's side with the other.
Her life in jeopardy, Nabiki started screaming as loud as she could and squirmed in her captive's arms with every bit of resistance she could muster. As soon as she felt one arm loosen, her arms were pulled back harder, and a knee pressed painfully into her shoulder. Without any leverage that would have allowed her mount an effective attempt to escape and the growing pain in shoulders and back caused Nabiki yell louder and to insult her captors.
"Shut up!" The captain swung an open hand across her face; the slap left a large red welt on her cheek. Just about to administer the needle, she felt an arm become loose, and a moment later, the other arm was free as well. She fell to the ground and rolled away from the needle. Scrambling to her feet, she turned to find her assailants to see a familiar red and black flash.
"I don' know what you got in your minds picking on Nabiki here, but if she's yelling for help, something ain't right. So I suggest you oughta just leave." Ranma was furious, his hands were encased in a light of pure blue, and he looked ready to hurt someone.
"Pha! Dispose of the meddler," the short captain snorted. As he turned to leave the street corner, the two fighters pulled out small sticks, and proceeded to advance on Ranma. Before they had taken two steps, Ranma launched into the air, landing on the larger of the two brutes, knocking him to the ground. The second combatant ran to his comrade's aid, attacking Ranma with his stick.
While the little pirate was good, Ranma knew was quicker, stronger, and far better trained. Even though Ranma was still on the ground, Ranma was able to knock the stick out of the pirate's hand and kicked his opponent into unconsciousness.
As Ranma watched the short pirate fall to the ground, he felt a blow to his head. Ranma threw himself off the ground, and stood in front of the larger pirate, trying to shake the cobwebs out of his head. With the world spinning, Ranma lashed out with Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken at the big blob in front of him with the fervent hope that he was hitting his opponent's body.
Only when the body in front of Ranma started to fall did Ranma stop his punches. He wiped the moisture from his forehead and turned to Nabiki to see if she was unharmed.
Ranma wiped his forehead again and saw that Nabiki was physically fine but she had a look of shock on her face. A few drops from his forehead fell into his eyes and they blurred his vision; he closed his eyes and wiped his forehead again. Then the universe started to spin and behind closed eyes, strange geometric patterns swirled in his imagination before slowly going black.
The whole fight took just five seconds. Nabiki blinked only once, and missed half the fight. Surveying the scene, Nabiki saw shorter pirate is crumpled on the ground with a potential broken jaw and nose. The larger pirate was in worse shape; it looked like his chest was made of play-dough that was first smashed by a baseball bat and then used for target practice by a machine gun. Then she saw Ranma lying still on the ground with blood all over his face.
Nabiki quickly ran over to Ranma. Leaning over, she pulled him away from his two attackers, and started looking for injuries, finding a very large and soft lump on the top of his head. She set him down by the curb, looking at Ranma's face, hoping he'd open his eyes.
Nabiki placed pressure on the obvious source of the bleeding with one hand while wiping the rivulets of blood off his face. In a few moments the bleeding stopped and she became concerned that Ranma was not conscious.
"Ranma! Wake up! Ranma!!!! Wake up! Please, wake up. Please..." Nabiki cried. She gently shook Ranma, and not getting a response, she sat next to him with her mind creating, reviewing and discarding courses of action. Eventually, she stood up and grabbed Ranma by his shirt and pulled him up.
Throwing his arms around her neck, she hunched over and started to carry him back home. Tears were trickling down her cheeks as she started tried to determine how much she wanted to charge him for this assist.
After Nabiki took a few hard steps, Ranma woke up, groaning in pain.
"Naaabiiii."
Nabiki tried to put Ranma down gently, but he weighed more than she could handle, and he was dropped on his butt.
Ranma sat up and searched about his surroundings, blinking several times at a streetlight. On the verge of panic, he called out, "Nabiki. Nabiki! Where are you!?"
"Ranma! I'm here. Right here!" Nabiki hugged Ranma with all she had, ignoring the slowly spreading blood on his face and shirt.
Ranma's eyes started to focus a little, and then drifted into haziness again. "You here? You okay?"
"Yes, yes!" Nabiki released her hug, and sat back. "Ranma, can you hear me?"
"You don't have to yell. I can hear you just fine."
Nabiki let out a sigh of relief. "Ranma, do you think you can walk?"
In the distance, a siren wails.
"I think so, but I can't see too good." Ranma opened and closed his eyes several times, trying to clear the fuzziness in his head.
"Hold my hand, I'll get you home. Come on, Ranma, we can't stay here." The sirens were getting closer.
Ranma tried to stand, and was about to fall when Nabiki caught him.
"Ranma, all you have to do is put one foot in front of the other. Don't worry about anything else, I'll take care of it, okay?" Nabiki wrapped her arm around Ranma and started guiding him home.
"Yeah. I can do it." Ranma winced as he felt the back of his head. He felt a big soft spot where it should be hard. "I gotta have Akane show me how she deals with a crowd."
"Oh, so my sister is good at something?"
"That tomboy," Ranma grunted again and shook his head, "isn't as bad as I make her out to be. She just needs to focus more and not get angry so easily."
Nabiki was surprised at Ranma's admission. In the five or six months that she had known Ranma, this is the first time she heard him actually say she was a good martial artist. "Perhaps he isn't as well as he seems..." she thought.
"Oh, yeah," Ranma mumbled, "just gotta make sure she doesn't cook."
Nabiki smiled to herself, feeling better that Ranma's injury may not be all that dangerous.
With each step, Ranma was able to walk with a little less assistance from Nabiki, but it was obvious that the light-headed-fuzziness never dissipated. Occasionally Ranma or Nabiki would have to stop to catch their breath before continuing. It took them twenty minutes to reach the gate of the Tendo compound, a walk that should have taken just over ten.
Nabiki sat Ranma down just inside the gate, telling him to stay there and not move. When she was satisfied that Ranma was going to behave, she ran in the house, yelling, "Father! Kasumi! Help! Ranma's hurt!"
Soun and Genma immediately bolted from their shogi game and ran to the front gate. Kasumi dashed from the laundry room with the first aid kit and Akane ran down from her room. In seconds, everyone in the Tendo household surrounded an unconscious Ranma.
"Quick, call a doctor!" Soun ordered one of his daughters. Akane ran into the house to make the call while Kasumi dashed back into the house for blanket for Ranma.
Genma gently lifted his son's head, and felt the bump. Starting from there, he checked his son's body for any other injuries. Not finding any, stepped back with a serious look on his face.
In moments, Kasumi had brought a blanket and pillow from the house and started to cover Ranma with it. When she started to lift Ranma's head to put the pillow over it, he started shaking. She pulled away, and made sure that he wouldn't hurt himself as he thrashed.
Nabiki stood next to her father, still as a statue. She watched Kasumi take care of Ranma, and when he started shaking, she started to cry. Nabiki stood frozen with the only sound coming from her being a single suppressed sob.
Akane ran to her father. "The doctor is on his way, he'll be here in about ten minutes. He said to keep him warm." She looked down at Ranma for the first time. He looked as if he was in a peaceful sleep, but seeing the expressions on her father's and Uncle Saotome's faces told her that Ranma was seriously injured. She too started to cry, and sat down next to her fiancee.
The doctor arrived, followed shortly by an ambulance. He immediately started probing Ranma. He called the hospital, asking them to prepare the X-Ray machine. Genma went with his son to the hospital while the Tendos arrived later by taxi.
***
At the hospital Nabiki was shakingly holding her tea, trying to relate her story of her returning home from school and the confrontation with the three pirates to the police. When she finished, an officer in plain clothes explained what would happen next and answered the only question Nabiki had. The three Indonesians were looking for girls to sell into slavery and had settled on Nabiki as their next target.
After the police left, the three sisters sat quietly and listened to Nabiki tell the story once again.
"Why was Ranma there?" ask Kasumi.
Nabiki looked at older sister and stirred the cooling tea. She straightened her back and took a breath before answering, "I don't know. I had no idea he was anywhere near me when the whole thing started." After taking a sip of her tea she whispered, "I'm just glad he was there, though."
Soun appeared behind Nabiki's chair and adjusted the lapel of his gi before stating, "Daughter, I think it's time you think about practicing the arts again. If you had kept up your efforts, I don't think this ever would have happened."
"Daddy, I don't regret stopping. You know I hated it."
"Ranma will not always be there to save you. This time you were lucky he was there. Next time he might not be anywhere around to save you. What do you do then?"
"There won't be a next time. This kind of thing happens only once in a lifetime. I just had mine, so I probably won't ever have this happen again." Although said confidently, deep down, Nabiki wasn't so sure of her statement. She realized she had been taking some risks lately that she wouldn't have ordinarily done, and she wasn't sure why.
Genma appeared, and reset the glasses on the bridge of his nose. "Aha," he said to get everyone's attention, "It was Ranma's failure, not Nabiki's. He should have not exposed himself like that. He's slipping, I tell you Tendo-san. I say we take him on a training trip next week and set him straight!"
That was more than Nabiki could take. Ranma had just saved her life, and he fought very well, but sometimes luck doesn't work out right. She sat straight up, and gripped the cushion of her chair before loudly made her feelings known, "Ranma saved my life. He was excellent. Hell, he was perfect! And you want to *punish* him?"
Genma was very angry with his son, and wasn't going to let Nabiki or anyone else deters him from ensuring that his son becomes the best martial artist in the world. "Hell, yes! He's going to be punished. I'm going to knock him into next week so make sure he doesn't forget to always be alert!"
Nabiki's emotions were already frayed and now she was unraveling at the seams. Nabiki shot up off her seat and shouted, "If you hurt him, you'll never forget it." She threw her teacup at him, running down the hall towards the building's exit.
Everyone is stunned. Kasumi and Akane looked at each other, trying to make sense of Nabiki's reaction. Genma stared at the fleeing girl, ignoring the tea staining his gi. Soun started to lift his arm as if he was going to scratch his head.
The first person to speak was Kasumi. She calmly put her own tea down on the table and addressed her father, "Father. Excuse me, I'll go see if I can calm her down." Before leaving, Kasumi gave Genma an uncharacteristic icy-cold stare.
***
Kasumi found Nabiki outside, sitting on the curb, bent over and hyperventilating. Kasumi stood next to her and offers her an outstretched hand.
Nabiki accepted Kasumi's hand and pulled herself up. Once standing, she lifted her head and wiped the tears from her eyes and tried to reassure her sister.
"I'm okay."
Kasumi pulled out a tissue from her apron pocket and offered it to Nabiki. "Are you sure you'll be all right?"
Nabiki took the tissue and blew her nose, wiped a final remaining tear from her face and nodded affirmatively.
Kasumi kept the concerned look on her face when she mentioned Nabiki's outburst, "You were very upset at Uncle Genma."
Nabiki started to taste bile. "And why shouldn't I be? That oaf wouldn't know how to be a hero even if he had an instruction manual. Hell, he's even proof that can't even teach using an instruction manual!
"Ranma saved my life, and it was dumb luck that he was knocked out. It was his training that kept him going even when he should have been unconscious on the ground!
"It seems every time I get in trouble, Ranma somehow saves me. And it not just by fighting. Kuno tried to talk me into selling him some pictures. That dope waved an incredible amount of money in my face. I was about ready to take his money when Ranma showed up, and Kuno challenged him to a fight. Not that it was a fight, mind you, Ranma had Kuno on the ground almost before the fight started. Then there was the time I was late for cram school. Well, almost late for cram school. Ranma carried me non-stop the whole way to the Kouhousei building."
Kasumi smiled, and sat next to Nabiki. "I understand. I can't tell you how many times he's showed up at the most fortunate of times." She thought for a moment. A silly smile crept on Kasumi's face before she continued.
"I can't think of the last time I slipped, tripped, or fell and Ranma wasn't there to catch me. He's even shown up just in time to help carry the groceries. And when Mrs. Obana's wheelchair broke when I was taking her to the clinic, Ranma showed up and carried her on in."
Nabiki still had plenty of steam in her, and she continued her tirade against Genma, "That flea bitten beast that isn't fit to even be called a panda won't recognize his son for the hero he is. I want..." Nabiki starts to choke a little, "I want to see..."
"Him sold to a panda breeding program?" Kasumi offered. She too was angry with Genma.
"Yes! Only that may be too kind!" Suddenly a picture of Panda-Genma with two or three affectionate female pandas came to Nabiki's mind, and she giggled at some of the possible results.
Looking directly at Nabiki, Kasumi opted for an indirect approach. "Sister, is there something else you want to say? Is there something else wrong?"
Nabiki, obviously fighting back tears, sat back down the curb, and shook her head.
Kasumi knew Nabiki was hiding something; her silence was confirmation of at least that much. Despite the risk of making her sister angry, if what she suspected was true, it would be worth whatever Nabiki could dish out. "So then, why are you so sensitive about everything? Akane had said that when Kuno tried to give flowers to onna-Ranma, she thought you were going to personally send Kuno into the pool. For the last two weeks, you have been coming home early from school. And this morning, I think you really wanted something to happen, didn't you? So, what is it?"
"Nothing." Nabiki shook with every muscle quivering. Her emotions ran all over her, and it was taking everything she had not to cry. She couldn't move, she couldn't think. All Nabiki she could do was sit on the curb.
Nabiki felt Kasumi sit down next to her and touched her shoulder. Not able to maintain her façade any more, Nabiki threw herself at Kasumi's chest and wept.
In between labored breaths, Nabiki asked one question, and that one question answered everything for both of them. "God, it hurts so much..."
Through her own tears, Kasumi had to agree. "He's something else isn't he?"
Nabiki pulled back a little, her sobbing giving away to natural curiosity. "Kasumi, when did, you know..."
"The first time? I don't know, maybe it was at the fair when he won the letter opener for you. You should have seen how happy you were. Maybe when we both stopped Daddy and Uncle Saotome from trying to marry him off again." Kasumi began to wonder what question she answering; things were not as clear as they normally were. Remembering that the person with the problem was Nabiki, she tried to draw her sister out.
"When do you think it happened?" Kasumi asked.
"About the same time I think. Every so often I look at the pen he gave me and can't do anything else."
The two sisters looked at each other in understanding.
Wiping tears from her face, Nabiki looked around for another tissue. "It's time to tell father, isn't it?"
Kasumi handed Nabiki a new tissue and wiped her own eyes with fresh one from her apron pocket. "It is. I just hope Akane understands."
Nabiki took a deep breath and forced the tension out of her with a long, hard breath. Glancing at the wet tissue and her sister's wet face, she murmured her thoughts just loud enough for Kasumi to hear if she was paying attention, "I think she's known for a while. She and Ranma hadn't fought in a long time, and I don't think it's because they've finally fallen in love."
The two sisters watched another family run through the doors into the hospital, wishing for them a happy ending and good health. When they knew they were alone again, Nabiki spoke of a plan that was formulating in the back of her mind, "I think we should tell her first. If I'm wrong, it'll give us a chance to re-think how we tell father."
Kasumi nodded agreement and stood up, "I'll go to her." She started to shake when a fresh round of tears started to pour from her face.
Nabiki held Kasumi's hand, her own tears starting to rivet down her cheeks.
Inside, the fathers were pacing the halls, unable to patiently wait for news about Ranma's condition. In a chair closest to the receptionist desk, Akane sat with a magazine on her lap. She had intended to read it, but she couldn't concentrate enough to even open it. Instead, she watched the fathers walk and tried to listen in on the telephone conversations of the receptionist. When things were really boring, she wondered what her sisters were doing outside for so long.
She watched Kasumi come in and was surprised to see the blood shot eyes. She knew that Kasumi and Nabiki had been getting close to Ranma over the last few months, and right now they both were acting as if they were the ones engaged to her fiancee.
Except that one of them was actually married to her fiancée.
"My fiancee." That thought ran through Akane's head. Somehow the weight of what "fiancee" meant was lighter than usual. Despite the fact that she and he fought getting married and protested the engagement, she found the prospect of not having the Chinese influenced boy around to be very unsettling.
Watching Kasumi pull a chair next to hers made Akane wonder what her oldest sister was going to say. The conversation was going to be about Ranma; conversations recently have often been about Ranma, and this was no different.
"Akane, we need to talk," Kasumi started the conversation. "You saw Nabiki tonight, didn't you." Kasumi stopped to read Akane's face.
Afraid of saying the wrong thing, Akane simply nodded her head. While she rolled the magazine into a tube, she saw Nabiki walk in and slump on the wall next to her. She didn't look any better than Kasumi, her face was still wet and her eyes just as red.
Seeing a very human side of her sisters made her feel better. She stood up, walked over to the receptionist desk, pulled a handful of tissues from the box and handed them to Kasumi. With a smile, she said, "She doesn't look any worse than you do."
Kasumi smiled and blew her nose and Nabiki held her hand out for a new tissue. Akane looked at her middle sister and tried not to giggle as she handed the next to last tissue.
"We're pretty hopeless, aren't we?" she asked as she folded her own tissue before blowing her nose.
Sitting down in her chair again, Akane put the magazine on her lap and quickly reviewed her own thoughts. She wasn't sure if she wanted to marry Ranma, and she knew that if she didn't that one of her sisters would, if for no other reason to keep the agreement and honor intact. The only thing that kept her from releasing Ranma earlier before was that she didn't want to give up her title as fiancee, it kept people like Kuno from being more annoying than they were.
Soun and Genma came by with new cups of tea and handed one to each of the girls before resuming their pacing of the hallways.
The silence became more than what Akane could handle. "What are we going to do?" she asked.
The older two sisters sat, not able to look at Akane.
"I don't know if I'm willing to give up the title of fiancee just yet, but Ranma and I shouldn't get married. I don't have with you what either of you have with him."
Akane looked at her cup, and saw relief on her sisters' faces. Impishly smiling at them, she felt there was a question she had to ask, now that a barrier has been removed. "When did you finally realize you were falling for the idiot?"
Nabiki let a small laugh escape, "I never said I was."
Akane looked at her sisters. "Sure. I believe you." The sarcasm in Akane's voice was thick as mud.
Not missing a beat, Nabiki continued, "Remember when you and Ranma came back from the water front, and he bought Kasumi and me pens? That night."
"That long ago? You're kidding, right?" Akane tried to drain the tea from her cup. When finished she looked at Kasumi, who had a very red blush on her cheeks.
"Out with it Kasumi. For once you can't hide." Akane started to reach to tickle Kasumi's side when Kasumi hesitated but stopped when Kasumi spoke.
"About the same time, I should think. Maybe a little sooner." Kasumi took a sip of her tea and daintily wiped her lips.
Akane sat dumbfounded. Her sisters had admitted that they were feeling something more than sisterly to her fiancee, which complicated her life immensely. Or did it?
"Are you two thinking of marrying that idiot?" There was no trace of anger hatred in Akane's voice, and "idiot" had become a term of endearment for Akane.
"I am married to that idiot," was the immediate answer from Nabiki.
There was a moments hesitation from Kasumi before she spoke. "I like him. Very much, in fact. But he's too adventurous for me, and I'll certainly bore him.
"Besides, he's already my little brother." Kasumi had an impish smile the whole time she spoke.
Akane didn't know what to think of Kasumi's answer, her words indicated that she wasn't interested, but the strange grin on her face indicated that she was very interested in Ranma.
"Is this what you two were talking about outside?" Akane asked.
"Not really," answered Nabiki. "We agreed that we three needed to talk, but that was it."
"Oh. Now what?"
The three sisters drank tea and plotted, and when they were satisfied, collapsed into their chairs in exhaustion and drifted off into a fitful sleep.
Nabiki felt her shoulder shake, rousing her from what she thought was a dizzying daydream. As she opened her eyes, she saw Auntie Nodoka smiling at her.
The emphasis on the second word was not lost on Nabiki when she heard Nodoka greet her with, "Well, daughter, we have much to talk about don't we?"
Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Nabiki perked up. "Auntie! Is he okay? Has the doctor said anything?"
"There's no change, and the doctor has not come out yet. And it's 'Mother' to you, not 'Auntie.'"
The magnitude of what the older woman just said hit Nabiki. She felt a strange rush of emotions flood all over her; there was a strange sense of correctness in calling Nodoka "Mother."
"Mother" was a magical word to Nabiki. It was something that she felt she never had but instinctively knew was something that she desperately missed and needed. The wisdom, experience and strength of a matriarch were sorely needed, not just by Nabiki, but by her sisters as well.
Nabiki gave in, and clung onto Nodoka, finding the strength she needed as she drifted to sleep.
It was a short hour later when the doctor came out and told the family that Ranma had a severe concussion and was being moved to a recovery room. As everyone rushed to his room, the station nurse stopped the crowd.
"I'm sorry, but only the immediate family is allowed to visit him at this time."
From behind Genma, Nodoka spoke up, "We are his parents, and I want to see my son."
The nurse didn't apologize, instead she simply said "thank you" and pointed to Ranma's room. When Nabiki started to follow the Saotomes, the nurse placed her arm in front and said, "I'm sorry. I said only his immediate family may go in."
Nabiki's frayed emotions became better of her and she responded slowly, clearly enunciating each syllable and paused between each word as she fought to keep control, "And. I. Am. His. Wife."