Vampire Chapter Seven …

Meanwhile…

"Akane, I don't know about this."

"Please, Daddy, I'll take care of it and everything. We can't leave it out like this." Akane had really put on the charm for this one. Every trick in the book, the puppy dog eyes, the single tear down the cheek, the toe twirl, she had even pulled the 'it followed me home' line. Soun never stood a chance against her attack.

That was one of Soun's many unacknowledged weaknesses, he never had a strong resistance to his girls. He would start out strong, but if they persisted he would crumble; giving into whatever requests they might have had. It wasn't so bad when his wife was still alive; where he was rice paper she was stone. Her influence had kept the girls' wild ideas under control.

Since her death so many years ago, the Tendo family had to adjust to life without their mother, for Nabiki, that meant taking on the financial responsibilities of the family.

And to say No to Akane when she wanted something small and fuzzy. Unfortunately for Soun, Nabiki had just left with Ranma to Hong Kong.

"If you promise to take care of it, and take it to the vet to have its leg looked at, then I suppose it will be alright. It'll be your responsibility to make sure that it is properly trained."

The animal was cute in its own way, especially with the Akane style dressing on its front leg. The dressing overwhelmed the leg with its excess of knots and overabundance of material.

"Thank you Daddy!" Akane caught Soun in a hug that nearly crushed his ribs; they were creaking under the pressure Akane was bringing to bear. "I'll take him there right now. C'mon P chan!"

Once Akane and P chan where out of the house and out of site, they made an unexpected turn into a wooded area just off the road. After a few moments they both emerged at a campsite that had a fire going with a teakettle whistling. Akane wasted no time in scooping up the kettle and pouring some hot water on the animal's head.

"P-chan?" Ryoga said indignantly while getting dressed while being mindful of his broken arm.

"Yes, P-chan. I think it suits you. How's your arm?"

"Sore, tender, but in one piece and no longer broken. It'll be a couple of weeks before I can fight again."

"Only a couple of weeks? I'll admit that it looks much better than the other day when I found you, but I think you're being a little optimistic."

"Yes, only a couple of weeks, I know a chi technique that lets me focus on healing myself. It speeds up recovery time. It's not instantaneous, but it gets me up and running again."

"Wow. Where did you learn that?"

"Somewhere in China…I think. Short story is that I helped some guys out and they gave me the scroll with the technique on it as payment."

"Do you think that you could teach me that technique?"

"Sure, but it'll have to wait until after I get better. You have to be at a certain point of chi awareness before you can learn this technique. I got some things you could do while you're waiting. So, what's the plan with the family and me? I mean, I'm in the house now as your pet, but what then?"

"Simple, we keep that freak away from my sisters and look for an opportunity to either expose him for the bloodsucker he is, or to take him out. Just don't do anything to make him or my sister suspect anything and you should be fine."

"I'm not so sure about killing him, but I do owe him for the hell he's put me through. If what you said is true then he'll have to be stopped. It's a martial artists duty to protect."

The days since Nabiki and Ranma left and when they were going to come back were filled with Akane and 'P chan' ingrating the new pet to the family, mainly P Chan lying around looking cute while trying not to use his front leg while he concentrated on healing it.

Ranma and Nabiki were scheduled to arrive back from Hong Kong late in the day. Kasumi was busy planning a big welcome back party for the pair. Akane had intercepted Genma from putting up wedding banners, not out of any feelings of warmth towards Ranma, but just a want of not seeing anything that would indicate that the boy would soon be a part of her family. If she had any say in the matter, then he would never be.

Akane had spent some of her time after school the past week to do some homework on her perverted bloodsucking enemy, pulling up every book she could find at the library and bookstores as well as acquiring as many movies as possible on the subject.

Akane was having some doubts about Ranma because he never wore any eveningwear like the movie said all vampires do. She quickly rationalized that he probably had it stashed for evenings, the time of day that she avoided his presence, and wouldn't wear the stuff during the day.

So while Kasumi, her father and Ranma's father were preparing for the big welcome home party for the young couple, Akane was preparing something less wholesome for the cursed boy.

Akane was aware of how terrible her cooking was, she knew that if she wanted to clear the house for herself, all she had to do was announce that she was cooking and the house was hers for the night or Nabiki would order take out.

Her family knew about this, Ranma didn't. So Akane decided to cook for Ranma's return. Kasumi never had the heart to deny Akane the kitchen when she decided to cook, so it wasn't a problem putting together a meal. The only difference was that Akane was intentionally trying to make it horrible. Nabiki had accused Akane of trying to poison them after one of the first meals before everybody had learned how to avoid 'Akane the cook'. Akane was only trying to poison Ranma now.

Ranma and Nabiki were coming home much like they left, in a cab from the airport. The Tendo family had never felt the need for a vehicle so they had never owned one. Public transportation was exceptional and perfectly suited their needs. When the cab pulled in front of the Tendo Dojo and the pair got out, there was a noticeable difference in the way that they were treating each other. Nabiki was giving the poor boy the cold shoulder while Ranma was sulking while unloading the cab.

When they had left two days ago, they both had one bag apiece and what Ranma had could have fit in Nabiki's bag. Now, they had two sets of luggage, each filled with an entire wardrobe for each of them plus several boxes of various devices that were picked up for them by the over eager mortal victims.

The cab pulled off, leaving the teenaged pair standing in front of the doors to the house. Nabiki only stood there for a moment before going to open the door, leaving Ranma with the bags.

"Better not break anything, Soatome." Nabiki said over her shoulder as she entered the house.

"Welcome Home!"

"How was the trip?"

"What's Hong Kong like?"

"Growf."

"Where's Ranma?"

"He's outside getting our stuff."

"Could I get some help here?" Ranma came stumbling in overloaded in luggage and bags, there was still a sizable pile outside.

"What's with all the stuff?"

"Shopping spree that went with the trip."

"Growf" Did you do an old man proud, boy?

"Pops, Not now!"

"Hurry up Ranma, we're about to eat."

"Is that everything? Okay let's eat."

Everybody, except Kasumi and Akane, was seated at the table, which was loaded with food. As soon as Ranma was seated both Kasumi and Akane came out of the kitchen bearing food.

"Here you go Ranma, I made this just for you." Akane set…something…down in front of Ranma. Ranma noticed that everybody had stopped what they were doing. Even Nabiki, who had been upset with Ranma ever since the morning, looked concerned and scared for him.

"Er…Thanks…" Ranma looked at the…thing and tried to determine just what was in it. Poking it didn't give him any clues. Nobody had moved to eat since Akane had placed it in front of him. Screwing up his courage, he scooped up a bit of the…stuff…and put into his mouth.

Nabiki involuntarily held her breath as Ranma placed Akane's cooking into his mouth. She had been upset with Ranma, waking up with him in her bed had been pleasant but unwanted. Her memories of the night before were vivid and she remembered seducing him just as much as him seducing her.

As upset that it had happened that she was, she would have never wished Akane's cooking on anybody, not even Kuno. Maybe Kuno, but not anybody else. The thing was that nobody could say Akane's cooking was bad to her face without her denying it and demanding they finish their meal.

Nabiki was expecting Ranma to pale, go into shock, and the rest of the night in the hospital getting his stomach pumped. Thus it was surprising when Ranma continued to eat.

"This is great. What is it?"

"Uh…Curry…"

"Ranma? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, Nabiki, this is some good stuff, you should try some."

"NO! I mean, I made it for you."

"Okay. Wow, Akane, that was great, Thanks." Ranma emptied his plate and filled it up with the other food on the table and continued eating. The rest of them slowly got over their shock that Ranma had not only survived Akane's cooking, but enjoyed it as well.

"So, how was the trip, Nabiki?" Soun asked after a few minutes of cautiously watching Ranma for signs of collapse.

"It was educational." Nabiki said after a moment's hesitation.

"Oh? What did you learn?"

"Fish! We went to the Hong Kong Aquarium." Nabiki was blushing a little at this point; Soun was oblivious to it, though.

"If everybody is done eating, we brought stuff for everybody." Ranma did his best to bail Nabiki out of the unintentional interrogation that Soun had her trapped in.

Dinner went by relatively quickly, Akane was the last to finish, mainly because she was preoccupied with watching Ranma and seeing if any of the poisons that she knew she had put into the meal she cooked for him would take effect. Maybe they were slow acting?

When Ranma had shown no signs of slowing down, Akane was at a loss of could have happened.

After helping Kasumi put away the dishes and hitting his old man for holding up a sign stating that he shouldn't be doing girl's work before Kasumi could see the panda's insensitivity, Ranma gathered up some of the stuff that was bought for him during the trip.

Nabiki was a little out of it, waking up in Ranma's arms had been unexpected, unwanted, and one of the most pleasant things that had ever happened to her. She could remember everything that they had done the night before, from the night club, tattoo parlor and finally back at Eve's where they torn each others clothes off to get at each other.

She was mad at Ranma and at herself for going too far last night. She knew that it wasn't fully Ranma's fault but she was going to make sure that he knew she was upset with him. Problem was, she kept going back to last night when…

Thus, it was a surprise when Nabiki went into the family room to see what Ranma was up too with some of the things he had gotten during the trip when she met 'P Chan'.

Ranma came back down the stairs holding an armful of different stuff that he was never going to use but the others insisted that every young man needed. Ranma couldn't see a point in the Gamebox (think X) and from what he had seen of it, it was something that he would never get around to plugging up let alone play.

So Ranma had decided to give it away when he got home, hopefully Akane would like it enough to play it instead of harassing him. Then again, if dinner was any indication, then Akane had already forgiven him. The idea brought a smile to Ranma's face.

Ranma also had a few movies that were purchased if he even gave a little bit of interest in the package. Ranma had to stop a few from buying some weird stuff just because of the interesting box cover. Those he was going to give away as well. The only thing Ranma was deciding to keep was the cell phone and the wardrobe.

So it was with arms laden with expensive electronical equipment that Ranma walked into the family room and saw the largest grey wolf he had ever seen with its head in Akane's lap staring balefully at him.

"Uhm…Did you guys always have a dog?" Ranma asked uncertainly.

Dear Diary,

It's been a few years since I've written anything in a diary, but with a new computer, I figured I would start. A lot has happened since the last time I wrote, ever since mother died, I don't even know where to start.

I guess I should start at the beginning, I'm engaged. It's an arranged marriage that my father put together before we were born and you know how he is about family honor. The guy isn't that bad, he takes some getting used too, but he grows on you.

The guy has a weird curse though, splash him with water and he turns into an honest to kami Vampire! Not just that, but a female vampire! That was how I first saw him, but you can't tell just by looking at 'her' that she's a vampire. I didn't figure it out until I found a booklet that he had outlining his curse.

When I was younger, before mother died, I was fascinated with vampires. I still have a large movie collection in storage somewhere of just vampire movies. I guess that's one reason why I decided to step forward and try to get to know him better. It's not every day that you get the object of your dreams delivered to you in an arranged marriage.

Turns out there's a lot of vampires out in the world, but they do their best to keep people ignorant of that fact. I guess that makes sense to a point. The important thing is that there is a small group of vampires who are the result of the same curse as Ranma, my fiancé, and they've set up something of a support structure for each other.

The other reason that I decided to accept the responsibility of bearing family honor is that the guy was in a serious funk about his curse and Kasumi had decided to dump the engagement onto Akane. No offense to Akane, but she isn't the nicest of people, expecially towards guys.

Ranma doesn't like his curse at all. I find it fascinating, though I do wish that it was a guy's form that was a vampire. I can see why Ranma doesn't like it though, whenever he gets splashed during the day he goes to sleep almost instantly, but if he's in sunlight then he screams like he's in pain and has a little bit of a sunburn when he turns back into a guy.

We were told that was because he hasn't drank any blood yet, otherwise he would just burst into flames and nothing would be left but ash. I was somewhat interested in seeing what it would be like to be bitten by Ranma, but not if that is part of the risk.

Akane is the same as before, except that she seems to have acquired an unnatural hatred towards boys. Kuno's fault, challenging her for a date instead of asking for one instead. He's got the entire population of boys attacking her every morning on that pretense. I offered to help her stop it, but she told me not too, it was good practice for her.

It's funny, at first glance, Ranma seems to be the perfect match to Akane, they're both martial artists, the same age, and with Ranma's curse…

But the more you get to know Ranma, the more he'll surprise you. He hides under a façade he built while training with his father. He's ignorant, but not stupid. Give him a problem and he'll figure it out eventually.

He's got a lot of bad habits that he picked up from his father.

Akane picked up a new pet. I don't know where she gets these animals, but they never last long. This time she's managed to get herself a wolf. I don't know where she got it, but it seems fully trained, it follows any command that is given to it. Though, there are times that it seems that it is just humoring us. It is nice enough, except towards Ranma.

It doesn't attack, but it goes from being a friendly playful wolf to a coiled spring of violence when Ranma's around. I think it may have something to do with Ranma's curse. I'm not too worried about it though, Akane seems to be able to control it okay.

Ranma and I went on a trip to Hong Kong where we learned a lot about his curse. We ended up doing more than what I wanted to do at the end of the trip. We can't let anybody know what happened or we'll be wearing wedding bands before the day is out, we especially can't let Akane know, she would probably kill Ranma for being a pervert and think that she was protecting me.

It was nice, but not something that I'm ready for yet. Strange thing is that I'm upset but not angry at Ranma. I know I was as eager that night despite my wishes and I remember that I started things.

One thing did surprise me when we got home though, Ranma ate Akane's cooking, and he lived! Even said that he enjoyed it! I don't know what made that possible or if it was just a fluke on Akane's part. Her cooking has never been edible, let alone good. Maybe Ranma is trying to get on her good side, if he is, he's got a cast iron stomach and some top notch acting skills.

Good night Diary

Nabiki Tendo

Ranma was busy in the bathroom examining his new tattoo.

"What possessed me to get this thing?" It wasn't of anything in particular, just a tribal design that the tattoo artist had that had caught Ranma's eye.

"I must have been crazy to get this thing, how am I going to explain this to pop's?"

Ranma put his shirt on after administering care to his tattoo and making sure that it was completely covered before going down to breakfast.

"Hey Ranma, have you ever gone skating?" Nabiki asked Ranma as he sat down.

Author's Notes: Inspiration can take many different forms. I spent forever on the above scene with the dinner and Ranma and Nabiki's return home, writing and rewriting until I just got it right enough that I didn't hate it. Then I moved on to the after dinner scene and felt it happening again.

But then I had the great idea for a dairy entry plot device; cliché but effective for what I wanted to do and it accomplished many things for me. It had been pointed out that the foundation for Ranma's and Nabiki's relationship was missing a few key parts. Such as why would Nabiki ever consider Ranma as a fiancé and continue with the engagement. I hope that the dairy entry explains some of Nabiki's motives while giving a little insight to her current thoughts.

Love it or hate it, constructive criticism is always welcome.