Vampire Chapter Nine.

J.W. Leonard / The characters and settings are not mine, The characters will also be out of character, however, I believe that all characters are out of character when not written by their original author or in their designated setting that is properly published. Meaning that if you want to see all the characters remain in character then I suggest that you pick up the Manga or watch the Anime rather than read my story or any other fanfiction you may find. That said, I hope that you continue to read my story and find it enjoyable.

C&C welcome

Flames will be used to cook my dinner and warm my toes.

Nabiki was suddenly awake with an unfamiliar urge that would not be denied. It was still dark, so she had a little trouble getting out of her room in time, but she managed the short trip from her room to the bathroom down the hall. Time seemed to slow and stop for her as she approached her destination when suddenly time slammed back to normal, as she was violently sick into the toilet.

Nobody came to see if she needed help or if anything was wrong so Nabiki assumed that it was both too early for anybody to be up and she hadn't woken anybody up. After she felt her stomach settle back down and she brushed her teeth, she went back to her room to go back to sleep. Her digital clock was an angry red that only darkness could reveal; it announced that it was still before five a.m.

The light from the clock revealed a small photo of an enraged Shampoo sitting in a jail cell, Nabiki had visited the Chinese girl earlier in the week to settle her nerves and hopefully quiet her dreams. She had been having nightmares that either Shampoo had killed Ranma or that Nabiki hadn't been able to dodge the bonbori in time. Shampoo had not reacted well to Nabiki's presence. She apparently still wanted to kill Nabiki despite being in jail.

Nabiki laid in bed and thought back to the events of the week so far. Ranma had been depressed about how it had ended, probably sad that Shampoo didn't just give everything up. He had confessed to Nabiki that Shampoo was like a cute girl when she wasn't trying to kill him. Nabiki almost thought that he felt bad for the homicidal girl, but when Ryoga showed up again, Ranma had surprised everybody by yelling for Ryoga to die.

Apparently Ranma wasn't too happy about being splashed with water during the day near Shampoo. Normally their fights were even, but then again Ryoga was usually the aggressor. The surprise of being attacked first gave Ranma the leverage to end the fight quickly, leaving a bruised Ryoga behind.

Nabiki smiled lazily as she remembered what she had said to Ryoga as he lay where Ranma had left him. Ranma had left him in a rather pathetic looking pile that whimpered occasionally. Nabiki had sat beside him and calmly spoke to him about the dangers of upsetting her, and how she didn't care if he insisted on fighting Ranma at every opportunity but he had damn well better not ever use water as a weapon against Ranma again in the future during the day or Ryoga would find out just how much worse a hell she could make for him.

Ryoga apparently took it to heart because he stopped trying to hit Ranma with water guns during the day. Though it may have been Nabiki's questions on Ryoga's knowledge of what a eunuch was.

Nabiki drifted off to sleep with Ryoga's green tinged face contorted in disgust and fear in her mind's eye.

Nabiki awoke some hours later to the sounds of fighting and martial arts outside her window. Once awake, the smells of breakfast and coffee presented themselves to her nose for approval. Despite having been sick earlier, Nabiki felt famished. Of the many things that Nabiki was, a morning person she was not. She never felt human until after her second cup of coffee.

Ranma's voice could be heard outside, as well as Genma's; their martial arts style specialized in taunting an enemy to throw them off balance. When Ranma first arrived at the Tendo's, it was almost instinctive for him to throw taunts in and out of combat. Ranma had only taunted Nabiki once and she taught him the folly of doing that twice.

As both Ranma and Genma squared off in the backyard, Ranma giving a wide berth to the Tendo's koi pond, Nabiki prepared her coffee and sat down to watch them.

A long time ago, Nabiki practiced martial arts like Ranma did now, but the death of her mother had caused Nabiki to give up a lot of things in her life, martial arts being one of them. Watching Ranma spar and fight brought back memories of those days so long ago in more ways than one.

It wasn't a school day today, so there wasn't much planned for the day beyond doing a few chores around the house to help Kasumi and maybe catch up on some homework.

It was midday when there was a knock at he gate.

"Nabiki, there's a package here for you." Kasumi called from the front door.

Nabiki came down the stairs and picked up the small package that bore her name. Seeing who it was from brought a smile to her face. Taking it up to her room for some privacy, Nabiki was eager to see what Eve had sent her and Ranma.

The package contained a few envelopes and a single box of waterproof soap. The envelopes were thin but expensive looking and were addressed to her specifically. She opened one and read what it had to say. After reading it twice to make sure she had read it correctly, she opened the second envelope and nearly fainted. Inside the envelope was a check for over a thousand U.S. dollars.

The note had stated that the money was to be used for both her and Ranma's well being.

Ranma was outside sparring with his pops. Ranma had started to emulate Ryoga and carry an umbrella around with him and had worked it into his exercises and spars. He didn't use it as a weapon as the lost boy was prone to do, but as a preventative against untimely splashes during a fight or any other time.

As it was, Ranma was meeting with some success at using the umbrella to stay dry while Soun was on the sideline with the water hose.

"Growf, Growf." Boy, I taught you better than this! Genma didn't have nearly as much luck nor as much inspiration to stay dry as Ranma had.

"I'm just getting used to this thing. I need it if I'm going to remain a guy during the day, so I have to get used to using during battle. Unless you think I can beat an opponent by screaming in pain?" Ranma moved awkwardly with the umbrella open while trying to execute several mid air punches and kicks at the panda. Soun took aim with the water hose and fired. Ranma was barely able to get the umbrella in the way in time.

"I think that it is good that Ranma is being proactive about his problem, don't you agree Soatome?"

"Growf."

P-chan had been watching Ranma practice his new technique with a little bit of annoyance, but doing so in silence. The thought of running out and snatching Ranma's umbrella had crossed his mind a few times, but thought better of it. Akane wasn't there to defend him if he did.

It was Soun who ended up stopping the exercise after Ranma had gone for more than thirty minutes without getting wet despite his best efforts. Inviting the panda to get dried off while he set the board up for a game of Go, Soun put the hose up and went inside.

Kasumi came out while everybody was still in the yard. "Has anybody seen Hikaldo?"

"No, we haven't seen him at all." Came Soun's reply.

Nabiki came up to the door and scanned the yard for Ranma. Spotting him, she came up and whispered something in his ear, and gave a meaningful look at Genma. Ranma looked as well and got a huge grin on his face. Genma was a little preoccupied with Go to notice.

"We're going to go to the store to pick up some stuff for Kasumi, okay father." Nabiki called out as she drug Ranma to the door.

"That's good dear, why don't you take Ranma with you, it would be chance for the two of you to get to know each other better." Soun hadn't looked up from the board.

Ranma and Nabiki paused and looked at Soun, before giving an 'alright', and heading out the door.

Soun gave his Go partner an even look. "They seem to be getting along just fine, I don't see why you are so concerned."

"Growf" Just a feeling. I still say that we should push for a wedding sooner.

"Nonsense Soatome, they're still young. Let's not push them into anything too soon. Once they've settled into the engagement for a year, then we can safely push."

"Grrr…" Why are you so soft on me now? You were ready to call a priest the first day.

"Yes, well…you don't know my daughters, so much like their mother…"

Genma let it drop right there by making a move and drawing Soun into the game. Once the conversation got to Soun's deceased wife then he would be useless for anything beyond that for the rest of the day.

888

"Okay, Nabiki, what are we getting again?" Ranma was on the fence while Nabiki was on the ground. Ranma's umbrella was propped on his shoulder.

"We got a package from Eve today…you have some more soap…ooff." Ranma was suddenly hugging Nabiki tightly and dancing with her.

"Al'right! Finally a break from the water! I was going nuts!"

"That's the good news, the bad news is that you only got one bar." That brought Ranma down a little. One bar would only last a couple of weeks of conservative use, and that was if Genma didn't find it.

Ranma swore a little, but that was until he saw the gleam in Nabiki's eye. "What have you got planned?"

"Nothing much, just another bar of soap and some itching powder. We let your old man think he got your bar of soap and wait until he tries to use it. Then…"

"Watch him scratch like crazy."

"There was something else I wanted to talk to you about." Nabiki was suddenly somber. "About us. About what happened between us that night." Nabiki grabbed Ranma's arm as they walked. She felt him tense up at the sudden contact, but quickly relaxed.

"You made it pretty clear that you didn't want to talk about it on the way home." Ranma said neutrally.

" I know, but I've had time to think about us since then. I wasn't prepared for what we did then, and since then we haven't spent any time alone with each other…"

"…Like before." Ranma finished for her.

"Right. We were moving way too fast and that scared me, you scared me…I scared myself…" Nabiki finished lamely.

"I don't know what you're saying."

"Don't say anything, just let me talk until I'm done. I'm trying to say that I'm sorry for pushing you away so hard after that night. It was wonderful, but it was too soon. If anybody ever finds out about it then we'll be married faster than you can eat breakfast. I haven't felt like this before for anybody and the fact that I'm feeling anything at all is scaring me." Nabiki wiped her eyes as they walked.

"I'm both scared of these feelings for you and yet I'm even more terrified of losing them, of losing you. I know that I've been a total bitch for the past month, and I've seen that look in your eyes have for me fading each day, but when you ran out of soap and I heard you scream…it tore me up so bad, and yet it felt good to know that you needed me." Nabiki finished softly; her grip on Ranma's sleeve was tight, like she was expecting him to push her off of him.

Ranma didn't know what to say. He had felt hurt since Nabiki had shut him out of her life after they had slept together, he had felt alone and lost without somebody to guide him, his father just said to seek out his fiancé when he came to him. So Ranma had done the only thing he could think of, he tried to lose himself in his Art and his schoolwork, something that Nabiki had literally drilled into him. It had helped distract him from feeling alone in a crowded room.

"What are you saying?" Was the only thing that Ranma could think of to say. He felt stupid for saying it, but everything else didn't seem right.

Nabiki felt a little glad that Ranma hadn't rejected her; she didn't know if she would have been as patient if a boy had pulled the same thing with her. Swallowing the lump in her throat she tried to answer his question. "I'm saying that I would like to see you again like before, I don't want to be alone like I was."

Nabiki could feel Ranma tense up and stop as she said those words. She couldn't bring herself to look up into his face even though she wanted too.

Ranma, however, was currently staring at something that had occupied his nightmares for several years. He had heard Nabiki and was currently torn between his fear and giving her an answer. The little monster was currently coming towards them, straight towards them, and with each step, Ranma was losing more of his nerve. So he spoke quickly.

"Nabiki…" Ranma's throat was dry from fear, Ranma shut his eyes to avoid looking at the beast, as long as it didn't make a sound or touch him, and he would be okay. "I…don't want…I would like…I…" Ranma started to shake from the effort of staying with Nabiki, the monster had started to rub against his legs.

Nabiki didn't know how to respond to Ranma's sudden shift in behavior. He was fine until she said that she wanted to be with him again. When he started to tremble against her, she looked up and saw that his face was pale and sweating, and his eyes tightly scrunched up and looking skyward. Nabiki felt something brush up against her leg, but paid it no attention.

"I…" Ranma gripped Nabiki's hand with his own.

"I…" Ranma could feel himself conquering his fear.

"I…want…to be with you as well." And it was at that point that the cat chose to get his attention by both meowing and using his claws on his leg. Nabiki was suddenly standing by herself holding Ranma's sleeve while a very confused cat was wondering where the boy went.

Nabiki and the cat both stood there for a few minutes wondering what brought that reaction on. If Nabiki had been Akane, she would have automatically assumed the worst about Ranma and thought that he didn't want her, but Nabiki had been listening.

So that left several options open for that kind of reaction. Either it was the situation itself, or it was the cat. Either way, Nabiki wasn't done talking to Ranma. She continued to make her way to the store to pick up the soap and the itching powder, extra strength. She just had a feeling that Ranma's father would have a direct hand in Ranma's reaction.

Ranma was, however, sitting on top of the highest light pole he could find as he hyperventilated waiting for the cat to go away. He could feel the old memories that he had locked away coming out to haunt him again.

"Man, how am I going to explain this to Nabiki?"

The cat wondered off eventually.

888

Elsewhere; in a government holding facility.

"Hey! Chinagirl! You got a package." The guard held up a small box that had obviously been opened and rooted through before it had been brought to Shampoo.

"Who it from?" Shampoo was tired of staring at the same four walls and eager to get back to the hunt, but all attempts at escape had been curtailed before she even tried, her great-grandmother's orders to stay put were still ringing in her ears.

"Doesn't say on the box who exactly, put there's a note inside as well as some water." The guard passed the small package over to Shampoo with care. Shampoo opened the package and retrieved the letter. She knew that both the note and the water had been inspected before getting to her, but the note held nothing for those not trained in the ways of the amazons.

Read by itself, the note was one of grief and anger over what Shampoo had done, something that any family member would write to somebody who was just thrown in jail for attempted murder. In reality, it scolded her for being sloppy and the water was there as both punishment and her means of escape as well as a place to meet.

Shampoo smiled at the thought of being free once again, and would gladly endure any punishment to escape this prison.

The next morning, the only thing in Shampoo's room was a set of soggy prisoner's clothes.

888

Nabiki was on her way home when Ranma caught up with her again. He did look extremely embarrassed and had a sad look in his eye. His umbrella seemed to be a little damp. Nabiki hadn't been long, long enough for her to hit a couple of stores to get very specific things and something that she was glad Ranma wasn't there to see her get.

After walking in silence for a few minutes, Ranma finally broke the silence.

"Ahhh…Sorry about…leaving earlier."

"Sigh I heard you before you vanished. So you are going to make it up to me by telling me, in great detail, why."

"Because I like you…"

"Not that, Ranma. Why did you go away? What had you so spooked that it could have ruined any possible hope for a relationship between us if you hadn't said what you did before you left me with your sleeve?"

"Oh…that. It was the c.cat."

"You're that scared of cats?" Nabiki noted the slight wince at the mention of cat.

"You try being tossed into a pit with a bunch of those little monsters and tell me you aren't bothered by them afterwards." Ranma said hotly.

"Waitaminute! What do you mean 'tossed into a pit'?"

"When I was six, pops did it to teach me…"

"When you were SIX?"

"Uhm…yeah."

"You know, suddenly, itching powder just doesn't seem to be enough. Let's get back to the house, Ranma." Nabiki latched onto Ranma's bare arm as they headed to the dojo.

Unnoticed by either of them, a cat was watching both of them with a disbelieving look on its face.

888

"So, how do we do this?"

"We just have to let your pop know that you have another bar of waterproof soap and let him 'find' this one."

"Sounds easy enough. Say, Nabs?"

"Yes, Ranma?"

"Could ya do me a favor and not tell anybody about my fear of c cats?"

"For a price."

"What? I can't believe you!"

"Believe it, but before you get all upset, you had better ask me what my price is before I change my mind."

"Okay. Name your price."

"Dinner and a movie...tonight."

"Oh…okay."

"And Ranma. Don't worry about using your soap tonight, I told you before that I don't mind your curse."

"That makes one of us."

"What was that?"

"Let's get this stuff to pops real quick, I want to see him scratch before we head out."

"Sounds good to me."

It didn't take much to get Genma to steal the 'waterproof' soap that Ranma and Nabiki set up, and were both rewarded with a cry of frustration from a panda and then laughter as the panda proceeded scratch himself on whatever was handy.

"Soatome, why are you scratching like that? Do you have a rash?" Soun's concerned voice held some mirth to it as he watched the panda that was his friend scratching furiously all over. The fact that Nabiki and Ranma were howling with laughter off to the side told him what happened, but this was too funny to take seriously.

Nabiki told Kasumi that her and Ranma weren't going to be in for dinner that night and to also cover for them. Nabiki had a hunch that Akane would do her best to disrupt any time she had with Ranma. As it was, Akane was never far away from her and Ranma as it was.

They both dressed casual so as not to arouse suspicion around the house and left just before sunset.

Dinner was at a modest restaurant where they talked about nothing and enjoyed each other's company. That is, that was the plan. What actually happened was that Ranma was so nervous that he couldn't contribute much to the conversation without putting his foot in his mouth. Luckily nobody spilled anything on anybody.

Ranma finally relaxed when the food came out and they were able to eat. While Ranma had picked up a lot of bad habits from his father, Nabiki had been slowly breaking some of those habits. All it took was a look for Ranma to eat at a rate that was normal.

After eating, Ranma walked with Nabiki to the theater. The movie they settled on was an American import that was better than Ranma expected. It was actually Ranma's first time seeing an American movie, so they went for one of the big special effects movies that had just been released and dubbed.

It was during the movie when Ranma's soda managed to spill itself all over Ranma, triggering the change. Ranma was about to get up and change back when Nabiki stopped her with a hand on her arm and a look in her eyes. After getting Nabiki to scoot down a seat to get out of the wet spot left by the soda, Ranma enjoyed the rest of the show as a vampire.

Ranma had felt nervous ever since leaving the Tendo Dojo and only started to feel better when they were in the theater; his nervousness came back once they left the theater and started to walk home. Ranma hadn't changed back to male yet, mainly due to lack of opportunity, but Nabiki didn't seem to mind.

One of the things that Ranma noticed when she was a vampire was her stomach. Not her abdomen, but rather her actual stomach. If she got splashed just after she ate, then the food would be an uncomfortable presence within her until she either changed back or expelled it from her body.

Ranma had found that while food would remain in her body if she ate while as a human, she couldn't eat any herself and the attempt would invariably cause her to vomit up whatever she had eaten before as well.

Chewing didn't bring on the reaction, but swallowing did. She could chew her food, but not swallow anything. She couldn't even drink water.

Food also tasted differently when she was like this too. She could still taste the food, but it was muted, almost bland to the point of being tasteless.

One of the other odd things was that she wouldn't feel hungry after emptying her stomach of whatever food she had eaten while human. She never did actually feel hungry when she was a vampire, but then again, she had avoided much time as one as possible.

Ranma's nervousness reminded him of his time in China, just after he visited the Amazon village and Shampoo was out to get them. But that couldn't be right, Shampoo was in jail now.

Once they got back to the house, it was late enough that everybody would usually be in bed, but when the front door opened and the family poured out, it was obvious that neither of them had been devious enough fool anybody for long.

Nabiki was taken aside by Kasumi and Akane, who took one look at Ranma's girl form and eeped before heading off with her sisters.

Soun and Genma congratulated Ranma before telling him to go and take a bath. The soda spilt on her earlier was now sticky and smelled funny.

With Nabiki, it was like having two conversations with her sisters, Kasumi was saying things that any girl would say when her sister had just gone on a date. Things like "Was it romantic," "Give me all the details," and "Did he kiss you,".

Akane was asking questions more like, "where did he bite you, what did he do to you, and he kidnapped you didn't he,"

Both Nabiki and Kasumi were looking at Akane like she had grown a second head and were about to say something to the effect of how rude she was when they were interrupted by a scream of absolute terror coming from the bathroom.

Ranma had gotten to the bathroom and turned the water for the hot water on so he could have a good soak. After disrobing, Ranma looked at herself in the mirror, something that she hadn't actually done yet.

It really bothered her that she looked like this because of the curse. Her skin was white, an almost perfect alabaster that held no imperfections that she could see. Everything about this body was smaller than her male body, but what really bothered her was what was between her legs.

Ranma had never looked beyond the fact that something was most definitely missing from down there to notice anything else about it. She shuddered at the thought of what she would find before turning to scrub down for the night. The soda had turned her red hair a light brownish color where it had spilled, and she could see it starting to matt.

Turning towards the wash area, Ranma spotted the cat.

Ranma screamed and ran in circles around the bathing area as the cat gave chase to her before they both ended up in the hot water filling the furor. Suddenly male and human, Ranma had a chance to see an equally naked Shampoo pop out of the hot water where the cat had landed.

Shampoo wasted no time in clamping down on Ranma's body as he was stunned by this sudden appearance of a naked girl.

All of this just in time for the door to open and the rest of the family to spill into the bathroom, drawn by Ranma's scream of terror. Everybody froze at the site of the two naked bodies in what at first appeared to be a compromising situation.

"Wo di ni Arien."