A. N.: Hey, here goes another one!! Yay! I hope you all like it a lot. Anyways, here goes the usual: 1 4 3 Frankie and Lil'Rob rocks!!!!! Oh also, this one is dedicated to Nancy and Jose, sorry Nancy this wasn't a poem or anything like I promised, but I suck at them at the moment so I decided, "Why not just dedicate this new chapter for the one and only, but never lonely?" HAHA! This one goes out to you, hoe! "It ain't no fun if the homies can't have none!!!!" Anyways, sorry for the late update and stuff, I had and still have a lot of problems dealing with school since I'm now in 10th grade and I'm doing so bad with it, wish me luck anyways though (I know I am)!! Alright, here it goes, hope ya'll like it!!!!!! :P

Disclaimer: I sadly don't own Ranma ½ or that song from Snoop Dogg (can't remember the name of it, but it rocks!), please don't sue me and all that junk 'cause I don't have any money!! -

SakuraAyanami-Thankies for reviewing, and yep, I can't wait to write about Nabiki in this chapter!! She'll be so cool!!! Enjoy! :)

Avolare-Oh thanks; it's nice to know that my fic is cute!!! And yep, it's AU!! Here's another "cute" chapter (hopefully)!

Living in the Shadow

Chapter 2: Something out of nothing

Akane smiled brightly as she neared the exit of the record store, her eyes lit with the absent gaze of someone in a daze and her face glowing with utter happiness and delight.

I've never felt like this before, she thought slowly while she heard the rapid beating of her heart in her ears, but I think I like it.

Once outside in the blistering cold her eyes snapped back to reality and the fact that she was looking for her sister came to mind with some reluctance. She muttered something under her breath and frowned deeply as she looked around the entrance of the record store slowly and without any luck.

"Where could she be . . . ?" She whispered angrily to herself, sadly noticing how her moment of bliss had been so quickly taken away by none other than her oldest sister. "Ugh, damn Kasumi."

"Akane, Akane, over here Akane!" Yelled an all too familiar voice from the parking lot as she slowly turned around to see who it was. "Akane, hurry up!! I'm not walking over there for your punk ass, it's too cold!!!"

Of course, thought Akane angrily as she made her way towards the sports car that her other sister was now occupying; Kasumi forgot to wait for me again and left with those guys instead. She opened the door for the passengers' seat only to find it filled with bags from shopping.

Akane looked up and saw the angry face of her sister, Nabiki, staring daggers at her. "You caught me in the middle of shopping, Akane." She whispered and then sighed tiredly. ". . . Thanks, those little annoying girls I had to take care of for work were bugging the shit out of me. Com'on, hop in the back and let's go home, its cold."

"Okay."

Akane closed the door and opened the other one instead, flopping onto the back seat disappointedly as her sister backed up madly and swerved her way out of the parking lot, the other cars around her beeping angrily at her as she passed by.

Nabiki beeped back at them as she speed up and then stopped abruptly at a red light, making Akane fall from her fetal position on the back seat and onto the floor, a loud shriek coming out of her as she fell roughly on the car floor.

"Didn't I always tell you not to lie down in my car, Akane?" Nabiki asked absently while she turned slightly to look down at her little sister with a curious face. "Oh well, you look OK to me. Sit up and buckle your seatbelt before some cop comes along."

Akane managed a muffled, "Sure." as she sat up slowly and fixed herself in the seat with the belt in place.

The red light continued to stay red for sometime before some obvious drunk yelled something out incoherently and the light turned green. Nabiki blinked and moved along with everyone else less recklessly. "Akane, are you alright with Kasumi being like she is?"

There was a long silence as Akane looked out her window with wide eyes, where had this come from all of a sudden? Did she have the words, "I have a problem with Kasumi." written on her forehead or something?

"I know I do, even if she is my sister." Nabiki whispered, speeding up once again from the obvious anger inside of her. "I love her to death, but sometimes . . . ugh, sometimes she can really get on my nerves, you know?"

Akane sighed when she began to understand the reason why Nabiki had brought Kasumi up, Kasumi had obviously done something wrong again in her books. It might have been the smallest of things or the biggest, but it didn't matter to Nabiki, anything done wrong was always something bad and called for punishment. Except Nabiki can't punish her, Akane thought once again as she stared curiously at her sister's very concentrated face, even if it hurt us all.

"What'd she do now, Nabiki?" Akane asked softly while Nabiki entered the freeway to get home faster. "Did she mock you again like last time in front of all your work friends?"

Oops, Akane thought immediately cringing back from Nabiki's sudden wrath with the steering wheel and the road ahead of her, I guess it wasn't that.

Nabiki narrowed her eyebrows together, exiting the freeway and heading in the street home. "That reminds me, she did something like that with those girls I was supposed to look after for work today!" She seethed and speed up even faster, cars passing by looking at her as if she was suicidal and homicidal with Akane in the back holding onto her belt for dear life. "She dared to call me 'imouto-chan' in front of them when she ran into me, and then talked to me like I was some sort of child! Doesn't she know she's more of the child in the family than anyone else?! Argh, how I want to destroy her life with those brainless guys of hers!! I don't work for her, she works for me, she should at least show some respect! But nooooooo, she's too good for that, she's too good for anything!!!"

"Nabiki, you know you can't do anything to her!" Akane yelled as they entered their driveway in a screeching halt, Nabiki shaking from the sudden anger as her body tried to relax itself. "Mother would never forgive you, neither would father . . . They put her in charge for some reason in case of their deaths, and we have to follow."

"It's not fair, I'm the one who runs things around here, not her."

Akane was about to say something when Kasumi came out of nowhere with a very worried face.

"Oh my, Akane, I was so worried about you!"

Nabiki and Akane both frowned deeply while Kasumi continued with her hysterics, her hands flying to Akane's hands and face.

Kasumi smiled brightly as she let go of her littlest sister and stared seriously at Nabiki. "Nabiki-chan, can we talk in private when your done with work?"

Nabiki blinked-blinked getting out of the car and grabbing her bags with Akane's help as she also got out of the car. "What do you mean?" She asked sternly, slowly walking towards Kasumi. "Don't you remember what happened? You came along and told me to pick up Akane so I had to leave my boss's daughter's to shop by themselves, I can't go back now."

"Oh, well I'm sorry Nabiki-chan, I'm sure your boss won't be too mad."

"I hope not, since that was just an errand he sent me on and not really work, but if he is that mean no money Kasumi. Which also means that you'll have to get a job while I look for another one!"

Kasumi smiled slightly with the wave of her hand as they entered the house. "Oh no, I'm sure Akane can get one while you look for another. Can't you, Akane-chan?"

That finally set Nabiki off as they neared the kitchen and began to argue loudly about everything and anything. Akane just stood near the entrance of the house with an absent gaze in her eyes while she held two bags in her arms. They always fought like that without any of her feelings in the argument even though they would bring her up from time to time.

She sighed and placed the bags on the floor, running up the stairs to her room silently. "They don't even care about what I want . . ." She whispered softly, throwing herself onto her bed and clutching onto a pillow for dear life. "Or how I feel . . . Not even Nabiki, I bet she wouldn't listen to me even if I was dying."

Akane turned on her bed and opened her eyes slowly to stare longingly at the ceiling. She had tried to connect with her sisters' before, but nothing ever worked since they'd never give her the time of day. All she really wanted was to be recognized by them and accepted, maybe even come forward from their shadows and show people what they weren't paying attention to. She had tried to make something out of their relationship.

"How is it that they could ignore me like that?" Akane asked to herself under her breath, their angry voices slowly drifting up into her room. "When Ranma actually gave me the time of day . . . He even said I had a cute smile and laugh . . ."

-Flashback -

Akane smiled and then began to laugh as Ranma continued to make jokes about how stupid and ignorant their math teacher really was.

He smiled brightly as he saw her laugh. "You know, you should really smile and laugh more Akane." He began, getting closer to her which of course made her stop laughing and instead blushed. "At school, you seem so sad and don't smile or laugh when you really should."

"Why should I?" Akane asked, slowly beginning to get mad, but she was still blushing.

"Because your really cute when you do, silly!"

Akane blinked-blinked and then blushed even more if that was possible, making Ranma laugh lightly to which she later joined in.

-End of Flashback -

A small smile crept up her lips as she remembered the precious moment she knew she would never forget.

She closed her eyes and tried to conjure up his image when all of a sudden she heard a loud shriek from downstairs.

"On no!"

A. N.: END!! How'd you all like it?? Was it good or bad??? Hopefully good 'cause I worked real hard on this one! Since I'm starting school next week it's going to be hard continuing this, but I will!! Just wanted ya'll to know that. Wish me luck this school year, I'm really going to need it (seriously). Anyways, please review, I'd really appreciate it, and thank you!!!!! Adios mi gente!! :P "Meet me on the Southside girl, 'cause all I wanna do is ride to the side with you . . . and everything will be cool . . . ain't nothing but a thing, chicken wings on strings!!"