Ranma; Hard Core
Book 2
Chapter 7
Nabiki quietly entered the Tendou home, and looked around in the silence. After removing her shoes, she started towards the stairs.
"It would probably be best if you didn't bother Akane at this moment."
"Daddy?" Nabiki found her father standing at the top of the stairs, looking down at her with a neutral expression.
"I don't know what had upset her, but it's probably best if she were to sort this out on her own."
"You don't honestly believe that, do you?" Nabiki retorted, "It's obvious that she hasn't been able to figure things out by herself! She's even more fragile than Ranma... was!"
"I don't know what to believe, but in the meantime, I would request you grant her her privacy," Soun walked down the stairs, and by his middle daughter, "You haven't been here in a while, and things are a lot more different than what you were accustomed to."
"I guess," Nabiki replied, surrepticiously giving a look to the direction of Akane's room, "does she talk to anyone exept Ukyo about her problems?"
"I'm not even sure Ukyo knows everything, a great deal of it I had to tell her. She's the only friend I know Akane still has, and I would like to do whatever in my power to have my baby girl keep that friend."
"Whatever, I'm going to go find something to do," Nabiki turned away from the stairs, and to her father's surprise, headed to the dojo. The Tendou patriarch sighed, and looked upstairs.
"Akane..."
________________________
Nabiki practiced movement in stances for a half hour before she found herself bored; she was probably going to severely slack in her training without Ranma there to provide dicipline. The whole situation with her, Ukyo, and Akane bugged her. Akane wouldn't let Nabiki apologise, and she was pretty sure Ukyo was going to keep blaming her for whatever's keeping her little sister acting like Wednesday Addams. That was going to make it harder for her to confront Ukyo, since it gave the chef leverage against her other than Ranma. Plus, Nabiki was extremely worried about her sister. Regardless of what Kasumi and her father would have her believe, Nabiki didn't think that a change like this was normal.
It was decided. Nabiki stormed back into the house, and upstairs. She was going to confront her sister, wether she wants it or not. Without intoducing her presence, Nabiki swung the door open to her sister's room, "Alright Akane, we're... Akane?" Slightly chagrinned, Nabiki looked around Akane's room, finding her sister missing. She shrugged, and turned around to leave, just before something on Akane's desk caught her eye.
Curiosity getting the best of her, Nabiki took a look at the notepad on her sister's desk;
"...she does not know what it is like for me, when she gives me
false sympathy, and tries to tell me differently from what she
told me at the one point she may never had lied to me. She put
me in my prison of self-doubt, and then cruelly dangles the key
in front of me. Does she really care about me? Did she come
back because she loves us? I know the answer is otherwise, but
I will keep appearances, because I refuse to hurt her, as she hurt
me, and she is still my sister."
It didn't take a genious for Nabiki to figure out who Akane was talking about, but she flipped the paper back over to read the rest. She frowned at what it read, and set the notepad back down in the position she found it. As she backed away from the desk, her knee bumped against an open drawer. She bent down, and found more notebooks, one of them dated for around the time she had left.
"Well, if the Kami weren't dropping such obvious hints," she reasoned, and opened the notebook;
"I've known her for some time. She's always smiling, so nice,
so caring for others. She's pretty, kind of dainty. She's always
acted like I think a girl should be like, am I attracted to her
because of this? I've always felt comfortable with her, but I
had always thought it was because we were good friends. I
now ask myself otherwise."
Nabiki's frown became deeper, as she flipped through the pages, getting the picture of what was going on with her little sister, and much to her shock, realizing just what her harsh words had done to virtually destroy Akane. Nabiki suddenly jolted, at the sound of the doorknob silently clicking into place, and turned to find her sister, Akane, standing with an expression of wide-eyed trepidation and fear.
"Akane..." Nabiki started, but not sure what to say.
"Why?"
Nabiki's heart sank with the way the question was delivered; Akane's voice was trembling with emotion, almost despairing emotions other than the anger she would rather see, "I wanted to find out why my little sister is so upset, why she's being so withdrawn to everyone, and why she doesn't want to let anyone help her."
Akane fidgeted in her spot, looking back at Nabiki like a scared rabbit, who was overwhelmed by the predator that had cornered her. Nabiki felt that the expression looked so out of place on the face of her once too proud sister, "Akane, really, I shouldn't have said those things to you that night. I was angry, and didn't understand everything that was going on when I thought I had it all figured out." Nabiki stood up, and walked over to her sister, placing her hands on Akane's shoulders. With gentle care, she guided the younger girl to her bed, sitting her down upon it, "Lashing out at you is probably the thing I most regret before leaving here, and I can't find a way to tell you how sorry I am about that."
"Nabiki..." Akane tried to interject with a low voice. Nabiki shushed her, and gave Akane a wry smile.
"Akane, I have something to tell you..."
**************
"Hey," Nabiki greeted nonchilantly, as she sat down next to the other girl at lunch.
"Hey, Nabiki," Yuka replied, immidiately going on guard, "Something I can do for you?"
"Nope, just wanted to talk to you for a bit, that's all."
"Uh, I don't owe you any money that I know of..." Yuka started to scoot away from her friend's older sister.
"No, that's not what I wanted to ask you about."
"Oh," Yuka's whole posture became relieved, "Then, what is it?"
"Just wondering how much you like my sister," Nabiki's almost indifferent demeanor carried to the way she asked the question, and waited for a responce.
Yuka tilted her head slightly, and looked at Nabiki with confusion, "What do you mean?"
"Yuka, we both are aware of what I'm talking about, that's why I sent Akane and Sayuri off on a wild goose chase. So they wouldn't find out any... shall we say, 'intimate' details about you?"
Yuka's expression grew even more confused, "You're not making much sense."
"Do you find Akane attractive?"
"Um, she's pretty, I guess. What's this all about?"
Nabiki had to smirk, "Yuka, I figured you were gay a long time ago, you can drop the act."
Yuka looked pole-axed, "H-how dare you?"
"Sure, whatever," Nabiki sipped from her plastic bottle of juice, while handing Yuka a photo. The younger girl stared at the picture, and as the time went by, her expression changed from her usual cheerful demeaner to a trepid one.
"I don't know who the other girl is, and I don't care, really. My only concern is about my little sis, and I wanna know if you have feelings for her."
Yuka looked away, "Why are you doing this?"
"Look, anything we discuss, I'm not going to use it against you to blackmail you or get you into trouble," Nabiki commented, "If you hadn't noticed, my little sister may be popular with the boys of the school, but they aren't popular with her. I have some concerns about that, but all I want is a happy little Akane, so we don't have to keep delving into our house funds to supply her with bricks to break in fustration; that gets pretty expensive, you know?"
"I..." Yuka turned a wistful look back to Nabiki, "There's nothing between us, if that's what you're wondering. I don't think I could do that to Akane. I like her, but I don't want to lose her as a friend."
"That's fair, but just consider that Akane may be one day looking for someone that knows more about this than she does, that's all I'm asking."
"Well... I guess. I'll think about it."
Nabiki gave Yuka a smile of approval, "Good. You know? I bet you and Akane would make a pretty cute couple, actually!" Yuka blushed, and cast her eyes onto the table, where they met the photo of Yuka 'experimenting' with another girl during a school sports event. With a slight 'eep', she slapped her hand over the picture, growing even more red in the face.
**************
Nabiki looked at her sister's face. Akane had her eyes closed, as she took all this in. Nabiki waited for Akane to digest the information, before continuing, "I know clearly one girl who would be interested, if you need to find out." Nabiki stood up in the middle of the room, "Akane, I just want you to be happy. This 'poor lost girl' act just isn't you, and I think a year is enough time to-"
"Why are you doing this to me?" Akane took in a shuddering breath, as she brought her head up.
"Huh?" Nabiki barely caught her sister's whisper, as she turned to Akane.
"Why couldn't you just forget it?" Akane asked, putting much more force into it this time. Nabiki blinked, surprised by the sudden rage buiding on Akane's face.
"Akane, if you're-"
"Get out!" Akane almost, bringing herself to standing.
"Akane, just calm down and listen-"
"I SAID GET OUT! GETOUTGETOUTGETOUT!" Akane attempted to roughly shove Nabiki towards the door, before Nabiki had shown her how much of a mistake it was. Nabiki settled back onto her right foot, shooting her right hand out to the outside of Akane's outstretched right arm at the wrist, and guided it past her. Akane continued to stumble past her, as she braced her left hand upon the back of Akane's right shoulder, and moved her hand to the top of Akane's wrist and pushed down. The older girl then stepped her left foot behind Akane, while sliding her right foot out further to the side of her sister, using her momentum to spin Akane around. Akane's right arm was now pointing down, and Nabiki slipped her left hand past Akane's shoulder, slid it down over her right forearm, and then hooked it under Akane's arm for a hammer lock.
The side of Akane's face collided with the wall, as the younger girl braced for impact with her free arm. "Akane, calm down."
"WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME! WHY CAN'T YOU JUST LEAVE. ME. ALONE?" Akane screamed, thrashing best she could from her position, but Nabiki had shifted her weight against Akane and to her right, so she could not recover any leverage.
"NABIKI!"
Soun's bellow caused the middle Tendou sister's head to turn, but she didn't give up her position. The expression on her face had shown that she knew she was now in serious trouble. The Tendou Patriarch quickly crossed the room, and separated the two siblings; Nabiki felt a pang of hurt and jealousy, as he quickly moved to comfort her crying sister.
"What was going on in here? Didn't I tell you to leave Akane alone?"
"I can't just leave her alone, Daddy!" Nabiki retorted, "Can't you see that's not helping her?"
"And you're doing a great job of that, aren't you?" Nabiki quickly swung around to find her older sister standing behind her.
"You stay out of this!" Nabiki challenged Kasumi's glare with one of her own, but found that the elder woman was not going to back down.
"Why? I live here," Kasumi replied, her glare dripping with distain for the woman in front of her, "And since you're so insistant on wrecking this house and its residents, I think I should be stepping in, now."
"Kasumi..." Soun warned, "your assistance isn't necessary."
Kasumi ignored her father, "Why *did* you come back, Nabiki? Were you just not satisfied with what you did to Akane?"
Nabiki glanced quickly towards Akane, who was now sobbing into their father's gi. The sight hurt Nabiki dearly, and took some of her fire. Without looking at anyone, Nabiki replied, "I... I just wanted to fix things. I didn't-"
"You didn't think that maybe things were *ALREADY* too late to be fixed?" Kasumi interrupted angrilly. "You were back a little more than a day, and you've already ruined everything again. Don't you get it? You don't belong here anymore!"
"Kasumi, you will be SILENT!" Soun demanded, glaring at his eldest daughter.
"NO, I WILL NOT!" Kasumi's head snapped back to Nabiki, "Have you ever heard the old saying, 'You can never come home again'?"
Nabiki stumbled back from the acid in Kasumi's voice, nearly tripping. The middle sister turned a desperate glare towards her father, but found he could not meet her eyes, instead tending to his weeping youngest. Nabiki then turned to look back at Kasumi, and found nothing but a cold, almost indifferent stare; with teary eyes, Nabiki immidiately realized, that in this house, she was alone.
Her betrayal complete, Nabiki rushed past Kasumi, and out of Akane's room. Soun immidiately came to standing, while being careful not to jolt Akane, and glared at Kasumi.
"We..." he quickly reared in his temper, but not completely, "We *will*... discuss this further, later." With that, he rushed past Kasumi.
________________________
Nabiki didn't even bother to repack what she had already taken out, instead closing her luggage, and quickly leaving the guest room. Soun met her in the hall, just as she exited.
"Nabiki, wait..." Nabiki didn't even bother to turn around, and instead, brought her hand up to forestall anything else from her father She was sniffling, as she almost ran down the stairs, and to the front door.
Soun would not be dismissed so easily, "Nabiki, you don't need to.. Nabiki..." She continued to ignore him, as she slipped her shoes on, and reached for the door knob.
In fustration, Soun grabbed Nabiki by the shoulders, and spun her around to face him, "YOU WILL NOT IGNORE ME, NABIKI TENDOU!"
Nabiki viciously slapped Soun's hand from one of her shoulders with her free hand, "I AM NOT NABIKI TENDOU! MY FAMILY NAME IS *SAOTOME*!!!" Nabiki's voice quieted, as she continued, "I have to get back to my family, I'm sorry to disturb yours, Tendou-san." With that, she spun around, opened the door, and stormed out, leaving a grave looking Soun Tendou in her wake.
________________________
"[Nabiki?]"
Nabiki sat up in the bed, taking comfort in her husband's voice, "Ranma, where are you?"
"[No, you're staying there.]"
"I-I can't... okay?" Nabiki tried her damndest to keep her emotions in check; it was crutial not to tip Ranma off to how upset she was. Unfortunately...
"[What happened? Have you been crying?]"
"I'm n-not welcome here a-anymore. Please, just t-tell me where you are, so I can meet you."
"[No, you stay there, I'm taking the train out there, first thing in the morning.]"
"No! Ranma, just tell me..."
"[Beep]"
Nabiki's eyes quickly roamed about, when she found his cell phone had hung up.
"SHIT!"
Book 2
Chapter 7
Nabiki quietly entered the Tendou home, and looked around in the silence. After removing her shoes, she started towards the stairs.
"It would probably be best if you didn't bother Akane at this moment."
"Daddy?" Nabiki found her father standing at the top of the stairs, looking down at her with a neutral expression.
"I don't know what had upset her, but it's probably best if she were to sort this out on her own."
"You don't honestly believe that, do you?" Nabiki retorted, "It's obvious that she hasn't been able to figure things out by herself! She's even more fragile than Ranma... was!"
"I don't know what to believe, but in the meantime, I would request you grant her her privacy," Soun walked down the stairs, and by his middle daughter, "You haven't been here in a while, and things are a lot more different than what you were accustomed to."
"I guess," Nabiki replied, surrepticiously giving a look to the direction of Akane's room, "does she talk to anyone exept Ukyo about her problems?"
"I'm not even sure Ukyo knows everything, a great deal of it I had to tell her. She's the only friend I know Akane still has, and I would like to do whatever in my power to have my baby girl keep that friend."
"Whatever, I'm going to go find something to do," Nabiki turned away from the stairs, and to her father's surprise, headed to the dojo. The Tendou patriarch sighed, and looked upstairs.
"Akane..."
________________________
Nabiki practiced movement in stances for a half hour before she found herself bored; she was probably going to severely slack in her training without Ranma there to provide dicipline. The whole situation with her, Ukyo, and Akane bugged her. Akane wouldn't let Nabiki apologise, and she was pretty sure Ukyo was going to keep blaming her for whatever's keeping her little sister acting like Wednesday Addams. That was going to make it harder for her to confront Ukyo, since it gave the chef leverage against her other than Ranma. Plus, Nabiki was extremely worried about her sister. Regardless of what Kasumi and her father would have her believe, Nabiki didn't think that a change like this was normal.
It was decided. Nabiki stormed back into the house, and upstairs. She was going to confront her sister, wether she wants it or not. Without intoducing her presence, Nabiki swung the door open to her sister's room, "Alright Akane, we're... Akane?" Slightly chagrinned, Nabiki looked around Akane's room, finding her sister missing. She shrugged, and turned around to leave, just before something on Akane's desk caught her eye.
Curiosity getting the best of her, Nabiki took a look at the notepad on her sister's desk;
"...she does not know what it is like for me, when she gives me
false sympathy, and tries to tell me differently from what she
told me at the one point she may never had lied to me. She put
me in my prison of self-doubt, and then cruelly dangles the key
in front of me. Does she really care about me? Did she come
back because she loves us? I know the answer is otherwise, but
I will keep appearances, because I refuse to hurt her, as she hurt
me, and she is still my sister."
It didn't take a genious for Nabiki to figure out who Akane was talking about, but she flipped the paper back over to read the rest. She frowned at what it read, and set the notepad back down in the position she found it. As she backed away from the desk, her knee bumped against an open drawer. She bent down, and found more notebooks, one of them dated for around the time she had left.
"Well, if the Kami weren't dropping such obvious hints," she reasoned, and opened the notebook;
"I've known her for some time. She's always smiling, so nice,
so caring for others. She's pretty, kind of dainty. She's always
acted like I think a girl should be like, am I attracted to her
because of this? I've always felt comfortable with her, but I
had always thought it was because we were good friends. I
now ask myself otherwise."
Nabiki's frown became deeper, as she flipped through the pages, getting the picture of what was going on with her little sister, and much to her shock, realizing just what her harsh words had done to virtually destroy Akane. Nabiki suddenly jolted, at the sound of the doorknob silently clicking into place, and turned to find her sister, Akane, standing with an expression of wide-eyed trepidation and fear.
"Akane..." Nabiki started, but not sure what to say.
"Why?"
Nabiki's heart sank with the way the question was delivered; Akane's voice was trembling with emotion, almost despairing emotions other than the anger she would rather see, "I wanted to find out why my little sister is so upset, why she's being so withdrawn to everyone, and why she doesn't want to let anyone help her."
Akane fidgeted in her spot, looking back at Nabiki like a scared rabbit, who was overwhelmed by the predator that had cornered her. Nabiki felt that the expression looked so out of place on the face of her once too proud sister, "Akane, really, I shouldn't have said those things to you that night. I was angry, and didn't understand everything that was going on when I thought I had it all figured out." Nabiki stood up, and walked over to her sister, placing her hands on Akane's shoulders. With gentle care, she guided the younger girl to her bed, sitting her down upon it, "Lashing out at you is probably the thing I most regret before leaving here, and I can't find a way to tell you how sorry I am about that."
"Nabiki..." Akane tried to interject with a low voice. Nabiki shushed her, and gave Akane a wry smile.
"Akane, I have something to tell you..."
**************
"Hey," Nabiki greeted nonchilantly, as she sat down next to the other girl at lunch.
"Hey, Nabiki," Yuka replied, immidiately going on guard, "Something I can do for you?"
"Nope, just wanted to talk to you for a bit, that's all."
"Uh, I don't owe you any money that I know of..." Yuka started to scoot away from her friend's older sister.
"No, that's not what I wanted to ask you about."
"Oh," Yuka's whole posture became relieved, "Then, what is it?"
"Just wondering how much you like my sister," Nabiki's almost indifferent demeanor carried to the way she asked the question, and waited for a responce.
Yuka tilted her head slightly, and looked at Nabiki with confusion, "What do you mean?"
"Yuka, we both are aware of what I'm talking about, that's why I sent Akane and Sayuri off on a wild goose chase. So they wouldn't find out any... shall we say, 'intimate' details about you?"
Yuka's expression grew even more confused, "You're not making much sense."
"Do you find Akane attractive?"
"Um, she's pretty, I guess. What's this all about?"
Nabiki had to smirk, "Yuka, I figured you were gay a long time ago, you can drop the act."
Yuka looked pole-axed, "H-how dare you?"
"Sure, whatever," Nabiki sipped from her plastic bottle of juice, while handing Yuka a photo. The younger girl stared at the picture, and as the time went by, her expression changed from her usual cheerful demeaner to a trepid one.
"I don't know who the other girl is, and I don't care, really. My only concern is about my little sis, and I wanna know if you have feelings for her."
Yuka looked away, "Why are you doing this?"
"Look, anything we discuss, I'm not going to use it against you to blackmail you or get you into trouble," Nabiki commented, "If you hadn't noticed, my little sister may be popular with the boys of the school, but they aren't popular with her. I have some concerns about that, but all I want is a happy little Akane, so we don't have to keep delving into our house funds to supply her with bricks to break in fustration; that gets pretty expensive, you know?"
"I..." Yuka turned a wistful look back to Nabiki, "There's nothing between us, if that's what you're wondering. I don't think I could do that to Akane. I like her, but I don't want to lose her as a friend."
"That's fair, but just consider that Akane may be one day looking for someone that knows more about this than she does, that's all I'm asking."
"Well... I guess. I'll think about it."
Nabiki gave Yuka a smile of approval, "Good. You know? I bet you and Akane would make a pretty cute couple, actually!" Yuka blushed, and cast her eyes onto the table, where they met the photo of Yuka 'experimenting' with another girl during a school sports event. With a slight 'eep', she slapped her hand over the picture, growing even more red in the face.
**************
Nabiki looked at her sister's face. Akane had her eyes closed, as she took all this in. Nabiki waited for Akane to digest the information, before continuing, "I know clearly one girl who would be interested, if you need to find out." Nabiki stood up in the middle of the room, "Akane, I just want you to be happy. This 'poor lost girl' act just isn't you, and I think a year is enough time to-"
"Why are you doing this to me?" Akane took in a shuddering breath, as she brought her head up.
"Huh?" Nabiki barely caught her sister's whisper, as she turned to Akane.
"Why couldn't you just forget it?" Akane asked, putting much more force into it this time. Nabiki blinked, surprised by the sudden rage buiding on Akane's face.
"Akane, if you're-"
"Get out!" Akane almost, bringing herself to standing.
"Akane, just calm down and listen-"
"I SAID GET OUT! GETOUTGETOUTGETOUT!" Akane attempted to roughly shove Nabiki towards the door, before Nabiki had shown her how much of a mistake it was. Nabiki settled back onto her right foot, shooting her right hand out to the outside of Akane's outstretched right arm at the wrist, and guided it past her. Akane continued to stumble past her, as she braced her left hand upon the back of Akane's right shoulder, and moved her hand to the top of Akane's wrist and pushed down. The older girl then stepped her left foot behind Akane, while sliding her right foot out further to the side of her sister, using her momentum to spin Akane around. Akane's right arm was now pointing down, and Nabiki slipped her left hand past Akane's shoulder, slid it down over her right forearm, and then hooked it under Akane's arm for a hammer lock.
The side of Akane's face collided with the wall, as the younger girl braced for impact with her free arm. "Akane, calm down."
"WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME! WHY CAN'T YOU JUST LEAVE. ME. ALONE?" Akane screamed, thrashing best she could from her position, but Nabiki had shifted her weight against Akane and to her right, so she could not recover any leverage.
"NABIKI!"
Soun's bellow caused the middle Tendou sister's head to turn, but she didn't give up her position. The expression on her face had shown that she knew she was now in serious trouble. The Tendou Patriarch quickly crossed the room, and separated the two siblings; Nabiki felt a pang of hurt and jealousy, as he quickly moved to comfort her crying sister.
"What was going on in here? Didn't I tell you to leave Akane alone?"
"I can't just leave her alone, Daddy!" Nabiki retorted, "Can't you see that's not helping her?"
"And you're doing a great job of that, aren't you?" Nabiki quickly swung around to find her older sister standing behind her.
"You stay out of this!" Nabiki challenged Kasumi's glare with one of her own, but found that the elder woman was not going to back down.
"Why? I live here," Kasumi replied, her glare dripping with distain for the woman in front of her, "And since you're so insistant on wrecking this house and its residents, I think I should be stepping in, now."
"Kasumi..." Soun warned, "your assistance isn't necessary."
Kasumi ignored her father, "Why *did* you come back, Nabiki? Were you just not satisfied with what you did to Akane?"
Nabiki glanced quickly towards Akane, who was now sobbing into their father's gi. The sight hurt Nabiki dearly, and took some of her fire. Without looking at anyone, Nabiki replied, "I... I just wanted to fix things. I didn't-"
"You didn't think that maybe things were *ALREADY* too late to be fixed?" Kasumi interrupted angrilly. "You were back a little more than a day, and you've already ruined everything again. Don't you get it? You don't belong here anymore!"
"Kasumi, you will be SILENT!" Soun demanded, glaring at his eldest daughter.
"NO, I WILL NOT!" Kasumi's head snapped back to Nabiki, "Have you ever heard the old saying, 'You can never come home again'?"
Nabiki stumbled back from the acid in Kasumi's voice, nearly tripping. The middle sister turned a desperate glare towards her father, but found he could not meet her eyes, instead tending to his weeping youngest. Nabiki then turned to look back at Kasumi, and found nothing but a cold, almost indifferent stare; with teary eyes, Nabiki immidiately realized, that in this house, she was alone.
Her betrayal complete, Nabiki rushed past Kasumi, and out of Akane's room. Soun immidiately came to standing, while being careful not to jolt Akane, and glared at Kasumi.
"We..." he quickly reared in his temper, but not completely, "We *will*... discuss this further, later." With that, he rushed past Kasumi.
________________________
Nabiki didn't even bother to repack what she had already taken out, instead closing her luggage, and quickly leaving the guest room. Soun met her in the hall, just as she exited.
"Nabiki, wait..." Nabiki didn't even bother to turn around, and instead, brought her hand up to forestall anything else from her father She was sniffling, as she almost ran down the stairs, and to the front door.
Soun would not be dismissed so easily, "Nabiki, you don't need to.. Nabiki..." She continued to ignore him, as she slipped her shoes on, and reached for the door knob.
In fustration, Soun grabbed Nabiki by the shoulders, and spun her around to face him, "YOU WILL NOT IGNORE ME, NABIKI TENDOU!"
Nabiki viciously slapped Soun's hand from one of her shoulders with her free hand, "I AM NOT NABIKI TENDOU! MY FAMILY NAME IS *SAOTOME*!!!" Nabiki's voice quieted, as she continued, "I have to get back to my family, I'm sorry to disturb yours, Tendou-san." With that, she spun around, opened the door, and stormed out, leaving a grave looking Soun Tendou in her wake.
________________________
"[Nabiki?]"
Nabiki sat up in the bed, taking comfort in her husband's voice, "Ranma, where are you?"
"[No, you're staying there.]"
"I-I can't... okay?" Nabiki tried her damndest to keep her emotions in check; it was crutial not to tip Ranma off to how upset she was. Unfortunately...
"[What happened? Have you been crying?]"
"I'm n-not welcome here a-anymore. Please, just t-tell me where you are, so I can meet you."
"[No, you stay there, I'm taking the train out there, first thing in the morning.]"
"No! Ranma, just tell me..."
"[Beep]"
Nabiki's eyes quickly roamed about, when she found his cell phone had hung up.
"SHIT!"