Ranma ½

Chapter 9

A New Lease on Life

Disclaimer: I don't own this series or any other series. I am just floating an idea. I am making no money, nor plan to, off this venture. If you think of suing me over this, then grow up.

I would like to first personally thank all of those reviewing my stories. I enjoy reading your comments, and try to correct the grammatical errors I miss with my final read-through as well as my spell checkers. The suggestions you all make will help make this story better for everyone to enjoy, as well as allow my to fix some plot holes I may unintentionally leave. I would also like to personally thank dogbertcarroll for pointing out a stupid mistake I made in chapter 2, which has been corrected.

I find that if I let things sit for a while in my head; I can play them out farther. Plus by trying and keeping my chapters between 2500 and 3000 words, it helps keep me from making the story slide out of control, turning a diamond to a pile of shit.

I also plan to start sending these out to have someone else proofread them before I post them. Volunteers are welcome. I have found a website #ranma1) where the moves have been listed. If I spell them incorrectly, then I apologize, as this is my guide.

Now, on with the show.

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Inside of a park in Nerima, a girl was being attacked by several boys. To someone looking from the outside, it would have appeared that she was loosing. But the truth was that she was dodging each of their kicks and punches. Each of the guys attacking her was covered in sweat, while she looked as if she hadn't even raised her heartbeat.

"One last time to pay off your debts. We've been at this for ten minutes, and I am beginning to get a little tired of all the playing around." The girl had jumped from the middle of the group to about twenty feet outside of them.

"Never!" came the response of the leader of this group.

He always was an arrogant little bastard. Let's see him try and blame this on cheating. The girl ran towards the group at incredible speed, as she came up to the guys, she yelled out "Kachü Tenshin Amaguriken!" Before anyone knew what had happened, the boys laid flat on the ground, each one receiving close to one hundred punches.

"I tried to be nice; I tried to explain that no one gets away with making a bet and not paying. That is the code of honor we all live by, but you idiots thought that since you were supposedly tough, we wouldn't force you to pay. Well, a single woman just kicked each of your asses." She went to each boy, removing his wallet, taking whatever cash they had, and dropping the wallet onto the battered bodies. "This is about 40 of what you owe us. Until you pay us off, or give a reasonable excuse why we don't have the rest, these encounters might continue. You will not be allowed to bet anywhere near Furinkan, or through someone else. If we find out you have forced someone to place a bet for you, this will seem like a slap on the wrist. Once your debt is paid, you will still be banished from placing any bets where we have influence. Try and pick on my group again, I will show no mercy. And I wouldn't tell anyone about this incident. Remember, I have enough on all of you to make certain you never see the light of day again. Do I make myself clear?"

She walked away, not even waiting for a response. They knew she outclassed them, and wouldn't hesitate to bring them more pain if they tried anything.

She thought to herself that just two days ago, she was close to not even being in the picture anymore.

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"I CHOOSE TO LIVE!" screamed Nabiki, whom the doctors had just declared dead two seconds earlier. She was sitting up in the hospital bed, her shirt around her sides as the doctors had removed it to allow the heart paddles to be applied.

Ranma and Kasumi had been outside the room, looking in at the whole mess. When the doctors had declared Nabiki Tendo dead, both felt their whole world's crash before them. But upon hearing the scream, they looked through the window, to see Nabiki looking straight at them, her lungs desperately trying to refuel her body's supply of oxygen. Seeing her sister and her fiancée at the door, she smiled, waved at them, and fell back onto the bed, her chest still moving to show she was still alive.

In the twenty seconds that this all took place; the doctors had stood by her side; not really knowing what to say or do. When Nabiki lay back down; each immediately snapped out of what they were doing and begun to check her to see if what they just saw really was happening. When the confirmed that she seemed to be OK, they scheduled some tests for later on in the evening to make certain her brain was still in one piece, as well as several blood work-ups.

Her family came in soon after the doctors had left. Her father cried his usual river of tears, chanting about how his daughter was still with him. Kasumi and Akane were both beside her bedside crying, chanting about how they hoped their sister wasn't planning anymore scares for them. Genma stayed quietly in a corner next to Ranma, neither one saying anything. But he did leave with the rest of the family, leaving only Nabiki and Ranma in the room.

"So" he said, "an interesting time you've had to say the least." He was sitting beside her bed, where he had been before she went critical.

"You don't know the half of it." She said, feeling slightly tired from her family's rush of affection.

"Well, if I remember correctly, that was what we were supposed to talk about yesterday on the roof, before this..." Ranma said. He hadn't stopped staring at the floor, trying to force himself to think of every word in detail before saying it to her. The emotions he had felt when she was dead had been almost too powerful to him, almost as strong as the ones he experienced in the dream. He slowly reached his hand onto the bed and took hers, entwining their fingers.

Nabiki was trying to determine what to tell him, more exactly how much she could reveal. But she felt herself wavering until Ranma grabbed her hand, entwining his fingers into her own. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about my sickness when we talked. I was hoping it was a one time thing, and to be honest, I know it won't happen again."

"How?" Ranma asked.

"Because I took care of what was causing it. For the last several days, it has been like I wasn't alone, even in my own thoughts. It felt like I was watching a fight, between who I was and what I wanted to be. The more the two fought, the worse I began to feel. When I was dreaming, they came and talked to me, saying that they were going to sacrifice themselves to save me, so that I might live on. They offered me the choice, do I want to live?"

Ranma smiled a little. "I think the whole hospital knows what your answer was."

Nabiki even giggled at that. "Yeah, I guess they do. It's a little weird. I'm finally alone, my thoughts and actions are my own. I feel like I've just been born."

She began to squeeze Ranma's hand. "And if you think for one moment I'm going to let you go easy on me during our training sessions, you are sadly mistaken."

Ranma's face showed a small amount of pain before Nabiki released her death grip. "OK, but we'll take it easy until the doctors say you are fit to go all out."

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Who am I? Am I one of them? Am I both of them? Or am I my own self?

What am I to do? Should I follow one path or the other? Whose path is the right one? Or do I have my own path to follow?

What do I desire? Do I desire money or happiness? Do I desire love or solitude?

Nabiki looked over to Ranma, asleep in the chair, his hand still holding hers.

Do I love him? Yes.

But why? Do I love him because the one who could be did?

No. I love him because I have seen who he could be, who he was. He was someone who did everything he could to maintain his honor, who risked the wraths of multiple fiancées so not one of them would lose honor. Even when he married Akane, the others still had their honor and pride, though each would have gladly given that up to have him.

I love him because I choose to, not because only a part of me wants to.

Nabiki moved her head to look at the ceiling. Mother, am I your daughter? If so, please help me! I don't know what to do, how to move forward.

Who am I? I am Nabiki Tendo; practitioner of the Anything Goes Style of Martial Arts.

What am I? I am a young woman, pursuing her own happiness, wanting to ensure that I do not sacrifice myself again to save all.

She looks over to the man she loves, a man who has no idea of his potential, the trouble coming after him, or that the girl next to him has wanted to be with him for over six years.

Am I manipulating him? Am I lying to him to make him mine? Am I no better than the other fiancées, treating him as a prize to be won, to be fought over?

No! It has to be his choice. He must choose me, to love me. I must not force it on him.

If I do, I am no better than Kodachi, Shampoo, or even Ukyo. I can't make a permanent claim to him, letting jealousy rule me like Akane.

But if he chooses someone else, could I be happy? Could I live on, knowing that I had to give him up, like the others did when he married Akane?

Would it be enough for me to know that he was happy?

Nabiki began to feel the tears running down her face. Mom, please let him choose me. Let me be the one destined to be with him.

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Nabiki walked over to her friends, the group who led the gambling at Furinkan now. "This was all they had," waving their money in her hand. Her friends just stared at her. She had asked them to not make a move to help her, but just to watch.

They had watched all right. They had watched her beat ten of the worst guys to come across Nerima in the last few years. Finally one began to speak. "Uh, thanks boss."

Nabiki handed them the money, trying to appear calm. "Now what did I say about calling me boss? It's just Nabiki. If I'm leaving you guys in charge, you need to start thinking that you are in charge."

She begins to walk away. "If you need me for anything, anything at all, let me know."

Besides, two days ago, your boss died. I am Nabiki Tendo, but I will live up to the responsibilities of who I once was and who I may have become.

I do this because I want to, not because I have to.

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Nabiki was returning to the dojo. As far as Kasumi and her father knew, she was still in her room, supposedly sleeping, as ordered by her doctors. What do they know? I was trained by Amazons, lived with about thirty-five years of memories, and spent a grueling day inside my own mind, trying to figure out who I was, what I was, and what I might choose to be.

"You know you should be in bed, they'll be worried about you."

She turned to look at the roof, to catch site of Ranma. "I feel fine, but no one wants to listen to the patient. Isn't there a chance I might know more about my own condition than the doctor?"

"I think those guys in the park might agree with you." He hopped off the roof to meet her on the ground. "But you should still rest."

"I've rested too much as it is. I need to move, I need to live, and I need to enjoy myself." She grabbed his arm and began to drag him down the street. "But I also need to go out on a date with my fiancée, so how about ice cream right now, and then we can head back. I promise if I look tired in the slightest, I will head straight for my room and straight to bed."

Ranma, seeing how little chance he had of getting her to return home right now, decided that for the moment, he would let the patient dictate her treatment.

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"WHERE AM I NOW?!"

The lost boy was in a forest, trying to find the path he had started on earlier. But all he could see was the thick foliage. "Damn it! I guess I wondered off the path again. This doesn't look like Tokyo."

He was on a mission. Ranma, because of you, I've seen hell. First you steal my lunch, then you chicken out on our fight, and finally, to add insult, you get me cursed to turn into a damn pet pig when I chased after your cowardly ass.

"DAMN YOU RANMA SAOTOME, I WILL GET YOU FOR THE HELL YOU HAVE PUT ME THROUGH!!!"

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"Achoo!" Ranma, now female so that she could really enjoy the ice cream, had sneezed at lot in the last few minutes.

"I guess someone is talking about you behind your back Ranma." Nabiki laughed a little at this. I wonder who, is it Shampoo or Ryoga.

"Yeah, I guess so." She looked over at Nabiki. "Nabiki, are you upset I changed into a girl to eat there?"

She looked at him, smiling before grabbing her by the arm and linking them like a couple. "Ranma, if you are more comfortable like that at the ice cream parlor, then by all means do what you feel you need to. I know that no matter if you are in one form or the other, you are still you. It's just harder to flirt with you when you are a girl. Not that I mind the looks on peoples faces when I do it."

Ranma blushed, looking towards the ground. This girl is weird. She nearly dies, and still all she does is try to make me happy, asking me what I want, what my opinions are. Kinda nice to have someone do that. "So when do you want to go on another date?" Smooth idiot.

Nabiki had to smile at the question. He seems a little more confident with women than he was the last time. Maybe I am making an impression. "That's up to you Ranma. I know things are a little tight for you right now, so how about this. I make it my treat, plan it, but you set the day."

"Aren't guys supposed to be the ones planning the date?"

Nabiki leaned on Ranma. "I feel like sharing the responsibilities. After all, why should you have all the pressures in the relationship?"

With that, the two walked back to the dojo. Nabiki however was still in thought. Tomorrow Ryoga shows up. The idiot will be using those ki-tipped bandanas and belt. He only cut Akane's hair the last time. I better be careful. Events are now going to start ending up out of my control.

She started to laugh to herself. Maybe I should get ready to kick both their asses tomorrow.

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If I messed anything up, then let me know including typos.

Any suggestions on how I should continue the story or improve it would also be accepted.

Also, if you have any suggestions for how this should go, let me know. My own imagination, while vast, always enjoys a new thought. Also, catch me if you don't think I am making the characters true to form, or a way to make them better.

HEADS UP: I am thinking of posting a One Shot Chapter of nothing but ideas that I came up with that some of you may wish to take on. If anyone is interested, let me know in the reviews. Thanks.

Also, thanks to everyone who wished me support on my father's passing. It was greatly appreciated.