Author's Notes: Happy New Year! (",)
Disclaimer: Not mine, not yours, but hers. It would have made the perfect Christmas gift, but unfortunately, nobody thought of that.
Changed Overnight
Chapter Eight: Sisterly Love
A hill of gold coins. No, mountains and MOUNTAINS of gold coins, diamonds, every precious gem there is, wads and wads of cash!
Nabiki Tendo laughed with all her heart's delight. Oh, the joys of living in this dream which she had been dreaming all her life!
And then there was Akane. Her sister. She was crying in a corner of Nabiki's dark dream. Yes, she had always been a barbarian even as a kid, but she had always loved her all the same. She didn't want to see her cry, especially now that she totally didn't deserve it.
Nabiki Tendo awoke with a start.
"Jeez! At first I was centered into becoming Bill Gates II, and now I'm becoming Mother Theresa!"
And then she thought twice.
Nah. I'll let them resolve the problem by themselves. I'll be…. the angel sent from heaven in the end. An angel who'd probably demand something in return.
In the dining room, during lunch, Kasumi looked at everybody apologetically. "There was something that came up with the gas after I cooked the food… I'll just call someone and have it checked. Meanwhile, everybody would just have to deal with the lack of hot water. Is that okay?"
"We'll just head to the public hot baths tonight, then!" suggested Genma Saotome.
Soun Tendo folded his newspaper, sipped a little tea, and nodded. "That will have to do."
"Fine with me," Nabiki Tendo said in an audible mutter.
Akane did not speak up. She minded her business, which was at the moment finishing the last of the delicious chicken soup she doubted she could ever make even with improved, I've-read-enough-cookbooks-already cooking skills. She was also quite aware that only Ranma-chan and herself did not talk, but she kept silent, knowing that she didn't have to agree or anything to the public bath plan for the night since all of then would really have to take a bath everyday, and that meant she was going.
"All right," Ranma-chan finally said after thinking a lot about whether she should still stay in the same league as Akane and keep silent or say those two words. "But that hentai old man wouldn't be there, would he?"
"Oh, he's been outside Nerima for the past week already, haven't you noticed?" Genma looked at Soun with sly eyes. "And good thing," he added, his dislike for his master evident.
"Gochiso-sama," Akane muttered as she wiped her mouth with a cloth. She went outside the door and strolled down the street in her low-rise denim skirt that levelled just below her knee, her NYC tank top, and the same stilettos she wore the day before ("Can I borrow these, sis? Please and thank you."). It was time to heal her heart with a good ol' shopping spree before school the following day.
In the mall, she did not only get check-out looks and cat-calls from her male schoolmates, but also from guys from the other schools… and even guys who were well above her age. She even heard a group of guys say without repressing their voices, "Man, that Akane Tendo is hot!"
Ugh, who do they think they are? And how do they even know my name?
"Akane!"
Akane turned around, preparing her fist for an encounter with a hentai's face when she saw her two best girlfriends in the world, Sayuri and Yuka, who like Akane were carrying shopping bags. Oh, she had never been happier her whole life! "Hey!" she exclaimed, and then hugged the two.
"Akane, we heard… we're sorry," Yuka said. She rubbed Akane's back and looked at her apologetically, along with Sayuri.
All Akane could do was stop browsing through the suede jackets, and then looked at them both. "Whatever are you both talking about?"
"Nabiki told us this morning. Well, she actually told us not to tell you that she told, and not to tell you that we know… that we should ask you first what's wrong. But really, we're your friends and… well, we're concerned."
"Wait, wait. What exactly did she tell you?" There was something totally fishy going on here and Akane sensed it. She was sure that Nabiki didn't know about what happened yesterday, when everything happened.
"Er…" Sayuri started. And it all rushed out of her, that all Akane could do was sit on the soft sofa provided by the store for its customers. Sayuri and Yuka told Akane that her supposed-to-be boyfriend Ryouga had gone somewhere, and everybody else left the dojo. And the next thing was Akane ran to the park and wallowed in her thoughts, then afterwards changed her whole mind about Ranma and looked for him. What happened during the whole looking-for-Ranma thing Nabiki did not explicate, but she did say that when they went back to the dojo they completely ignored each other, both having grim faces that cannot be painted.
Oh, damn my sister!
"We're sorry."
"Oh, no. That's okay! I'm really fine now." Akane forced a smile on her face that she wished looked genuine. She got up from the sofa and resumed in browsing the clothes. She finally chose one and paid for it on the counter.
"What about we treat you to… Haagen Dazs?" Yuka offered with a friendly smile.
Akane looked at Sayuri and she was smiling, too. Then she sighed. "You know, I don't know what I've done in my life to have such great friends like you."
Eating in the ice cream parlor at the mall had good and bad effects on Akane. Good, because eating really helped her when she was depressed. And the chocolate actually helped her since it was an emotional picker-upper for ladies. Bad, because… well, ice cream absolutely reminded her of Ranma – all those times they ate out in the sidewalk ice cream parlor and Ranma was a girl, so she'd always get free treats for being kawaii. And how could she forget what recently happened between them? They ate in the ice cream parlor after making up, when she was really sure back then that he loved her…
"Don't look at me. I look ugly; I'm all wet and sore."
"Nah, you look cute no matter what. Come on, let's go to the ice cream parlor."
"I didn't bring much money today."
"Don't be such a kill. I'm paying. Now come on."
Lies.
"Bwee!"
P-chan scrambled on the mall's cold floors, leaped and snuggled into Akane's chest. Akane was just finishing off the last of her Haagen Dazs, all the while finishing her reverie about Ranma, that she almost jumped off her seat when she heard P-chan's squeal.
Akane cuddled P-chan in her arms. "P-chan! Wherever did you come from?"
"You know what Akane? You're one of the most uncanny people in school… really! Having a pet piglet – a black piglet." Sayuri laughed along with Yuka. They didn't know P-chan was eyeing them…
"But he's really cute, isn't he?" Akane said. She held P-chan near her face and kissed him. "Come on, let's go. More shopping for the ladies!"
"More shopping for the ladies!" Sayuri and Yuka echoed as the three of them got up and carried their shopping bags for the next hour, not noticing P-chan's long face.
"Whooh, I'm on fire! Tendo Akane, come to the motel with me!"
"Mine's eight inches long, babe."
"Don't listen to him, mine's nine!"
Akane wished she'd brought her mallet. "Why," she muttered through gritted teeth, "are all these guys acting this way? And how come they know me?"
Sayuri just threw dirty looks to the Nine-Inch Guy, then faced Akane as they walked further inside the mall. "Reality check here, Akane! You're not living in a world where everything's private and you're this pretty mystery girl. You performed in an auditorium, remember? Then you sang in the bar. And the people there were not only from Furinkan, but from all over Nerima."
"And," Yuka added, "do you remember what you wore in the bar? A short, tight, white dress. You were in the spotlight, so… er… yeah, it was almost see-through. And that's how you ended up in this state. A famous sex goddess for the sexually active maniacs here."
"Oh, damn…" was all Akane could say.
"Tendo Akane! I–"
Before the most probable sex maniac could finish his statement, Akane shouted off, "Hentai!" and was about to kick him out of the orbit, when P-chan attacked him first. In a split-second, his face was reduced to scratches, his blue kendo garb tattered, and his bokken split in half.
"Kuno-sempai!" Akane exclaimed as P-chan jumped back into her arms. "Oh jeez…" Then she remembered the kiss she gave him. That disgusting kiss! And she had been pretending to be good to him… although it bothered her that she might not have a good heart if she'd…
"Oh crap, as if I haven't beaten the life out of him before! Come on girls, let's go before these hormonally-imbalanced males hit on me again."
"Ever wonder how the monster-phantom-whatever catches the victim even though he's just walking and the victim is running? It happens all the time in horror movies."
"Ever wonder what Barbie would be like if she was real? I heard that if she were alive, she'd fall down. Her breasts are too heavy, and her feet are too small."
"Ever wonder why love hurts?"
Yuka and Sayuri looked at Akane as they walked her home.
"Akane," Yuka said. "I know yesterday's been hard for you and all, but I think it's best to forget about it."
"What do you mean?" Akane asked. Yes, she had asked for advice, but she thought they'd tell her about what to do to make up with Ranma.
"Move on. Enjoy life! There are so many other cute boys around. And they would actually not call you names all the time. And who'd not date a lady like you, Akane Tendo? Every guy would be willing to love and serve you for the rest of their lives. All the boys in Furinkan are in love with you. Take for instance Hiroshi–"
"Yuka? I'm dating him," Sayuri said, eyebrows raised.
"Er… okay. Daisuke, then. He's crazy about you. Kuno. Uhm… not him. Hinagara. Fujima. Everybody. It's just unlucky that the one your dad paired you with… well…"
"Yuka, I get your point, thanks. Maybe that's what I'm supposed to do now, because it's totally killing me. I mean, I admit I loved Ranma so much before. But yesterday… he was very different, like it wasn't him at all! He was the one who told me to go away. And just back there when we were eating ice cream, I thought about telling him that I was still his fiancé… and I guess that was just out of the idea that if he had loved me, then maybe he still could even after telling me to go away."
"Okay, okay, Akane. You're talking so fast, it just made a Guinness record!"
Akane forced a smile. "Yeah, sorry."
"So what's it going to be?"
"I'm breaking the engagement. I asked Dad and Uncle Genma last time, but they didn't agree. I'm trying again. And this time, I'll persuade them to say yes, even if it takes me… er…"
Sayuri and Yuka exchanged glances. "Akane, we know it's really hard for you right now, but that's the only way. You'll be fine, okay?"
"Thanks."
The three hugged one another. "I'm glad to have friends like you," Akane said.
"Bwee…" P-chan wailed gently. He knew that he had to be glad after hearing what the three girls just talked about, but he wasn't. What good is it that the engagement would be broken if she wouldn't love him either, if Akane would be more unhappy?
"Tendo Nabiki, tell me everything!" Akane demanded as she closed the door of her sister's room behind her and sat on the bed. It was seven o'clock in the evening and she just came home from the mall. She went straight to Nabiki's room where Nabiki was lifting dumbbells on her bed, and Akane was still carrying her shopping bags, which she put on the floor.
"What are you talking about?" Nabiki asked. She looked at her sister… fuming; eyes as fierce as a tiger's. Nabiki kept her I-don't-really-care-so-tell-me look, but she put down her dumbbells and faced her enraged sister.
"You sure you wanna know?"
"YES."
"Wait. What are you planning to do with Ranma now?"
"Break the engagement. After all those things he said to me at Cat Restaurant, I am so mad at him! I am never, ever talking to him again! He broke my heart not just once, and he's broken it a final time. I give up on that baka!"
"Oh. Well, in that case, you should see this," Nabiki uttered as she got up from the bed and reached for her video cam and connected it with wires to the television.
The Truth Shall Set You Free: a documentary filmed by Nabiki Tendo.
Akane raised her eyebrows… and they slowly retreated to their normal height as Akane saw what really happened.
There was a hustle from the bushes just next to the bench where Akane sat down in the park before she went to Cat Restaurant.
"Mission accomplished, my friend," on-screen Nabiki said.
"Why did we have to use my voice?"
It didn't take Akane a second to realize who the girl was. "You dragged Ukyou into this!"
The whole conversation Nabiki and Ukyou had in the bushes played on, although only their voices were heard since the camera was focused to the sky the whole time. Akane was very amazed that Ukyou did a nice thing for her, because Ukyou really loved Ranma so much. Akane heard Ukyou telling Nabiki about the deal she made with Ranma's other fiancées… and then the camera started moving. Nabiki and Ukyou ran to where Akane was headed, which was Cat Restaurant.
They passed by the Kunos' mansion, and stopped by Kodachi's unconscious body and Tatewaki's wooden sword by the gate.
"Oh, that's nasty," Ukyou's voice noted. Then they resumed running, stopped just behind the garbage bins outside and filmed what happened inside.
"What are you doing here?" Ranma asked Akane.
"I… I wanted to apologize."
"Get out."
Watching what happened made Akane feel the same hurt she felt in the restaurant. She felt helpless… like she was one of those African slaves shipped to America who couldn't do anything to set themselves free in that movie, Amistad. Even though they were fighting so hard, they couldn't get their freedom. That's exactly what she felt, watching the whole scene. She kept on insisting to Ranma that she was really sorry, but he never accepted her apology and even insulted her.
"DAMN YOU, RANMA!" Akane screamed, followed by the slap.
Then something very weird happened that Akane failed to notice before. Ranma actually yelled, "Hentai-girl! I kill!" before she rushed out of the restaurant.
"Nabiki, is it me, or did Ranma just say that?" Akane asked Nabiki who was slyly smiling as she paused the camera.
"It's not like we have a computer here or anything, so I couldn't edit the scenes. Ranma really said that. Do you know what that means?"
"That… Ranma had been spending too much time with Shampoo and therefore adapted her jabbering too?"
Nabiki rolled her eyes and played the camera. It showed that after Akane had left, Ranma's face was very deformed. "I slapped him that hard?" Akane asked, amazed.
Her question was answered a few seconds later. The screen showed Ranma conversing with Shampoo, but the way they called each other didn't fit their bodies well. Ranma called Shampoo grandmother and Shampoo talked about some human plaster from China.
They both drank water. Then… Akane gasped.
"Yes, little sister, that's how it all happened. So you see, Ranma was never there. He never said anything bad to you – that Amazon did," Nabiki explained.
"But what… h-how…" Akane didn't seem to believe any of it. If that wasn't Ranma she slapped, then why didn't the real Ranma talk to her?
She didn't say anything, but she just watched the television which was still playing the rest of what happened in Cat Restaurant. Shampoo left and Cologne went to cook in the kitchen. Then there was some slight static that meant the camera was stopped for a while, and then resumed recording.
Shampoo was back, and this time with the wet redhead. She sat down and ate the ramen prepared for her, and noticed that she was being watched by Cologne, who told her that Akane was there a while ago. Cologne said that Akane totally hated Ranma and was very mad. She then played a tape recorder, which replayed Akane screaming, "DAMN YOU, RANMA!" followed by a slap and a slam.
Ranma finished her ramen and left without a word.
Akane wondered what Ranma might have felt. Was he mad at her? Was he sad? Or was he actually happy?
No, Ranma wouldn't be happy…
And then out of the blue, anger hit her. "OH, THAT NASTY OLD GHOUL AND HER BARBARIAN GRANDDAUGHTER!"
"Oi, take it easy, you're rocking the house!" Nabiki noted. She stopped the camera and turned the television off. "So what's it going to be? That wasn't Ranma back there in the restaurant. And I'm pretty sure Ranma still… still loves you. I mean, have you seen him lately?"
"Yes, I've seen him. And he never talked to me."
"Well, hello! After what Cologne played in the recorder, which was you being mad like hell, why would Ranma talk to you?"
"I never would have shouted that if I knew Shampoo was just disguising as Ranma!"
"My point exactly, Akane! Now Ranma's thinking you really, really hate him. But if he knew what really happened in the restaurant, he wouldn't be like this. So what do you say?"
Akane looked at her sister hesitantly, not knowing what to say. Yes? Nabiki had a point. Maybe there's still a chance…
"NO."
Nabiki rolled her eyes. "After what I just showed you?"
"I… I guess if he really loves me, he'll come and talk to me even though I'm angry. That's what he should have done. But he didn't, he just walked past me."
"Boys feel discouraged sometimes, too, you know. Even the most arrogant ones may feel insecure or weak in some point of their lives… especially when they're dealing with the ones they love. And your being big-headed won't help."
"Well…" Akane didn't know what to say. She was desperate to keep her pride up, after it was trampled on. "That baka still should have talked to me!" Although she felt really, really sad, thinking that she should also talk to him, that was all she could say at the moment.
Nabiki rolled her eyes a final time. "That's all I could do."
And before she knew it, Akane gave her a hug. Nabiki was not really the hug-me type of person, but Akane did anyway. "Thanks, Nabiki," she said in a heartfelt way. Even though she wasn't sure what was going to happen to her and Ranma (she even thought of giving it all up just then), in a second she realized that her sister did all those things for her, and it touched her so much.
They both stood up, and they were about to get out of the room already when Akane stopped her. "What do you want in return? I just received my allowance."
Nabiki was surprised. Money sounded so tempting at that moment… until she perused through the shopping bags. "This halter top will do," she said.
Akane could just smile.
"Don't go breaking my heart
I couldn't if I tried
Oh honey if I get restless
Baby you're not that kind…
Oooh, nobody knows it
Nobody knows it
When I was down
I was your clown
Right from the start
I gave you my heart
Oh baby, I gave you my heart…
So don't go breaking my heart
I won't go breaking your heart
Don't go breaking my, don't go breaking my
Don't go breaking my heart…"
Akane was humming a song that had been stuck in her head since that afternoon. Now she was in the newly put-up hot pools in town in the ladies' section, where the water was deep in the center but shallow near the edges, with Kasumi, Nabiki, and her two friends who tagged along, Sayuri and Yuka.
Of course, the four of them knew the heartache Akane was going through, but they were wondering why she was even in the mood to sing. Sayuri and Yuka waded near Akane in the warm waters of the pool. "Okay, Akane," Yuka began. "We talked about this matter this afternoon, right? We agreed that it's best to forget, didn't we?"
"I mean," Sayuri added. "you're not… considering getting back with him or anything, are you?"
Akane snapped back to reality. Just a moment ago she had this daydream – no, a dream actually (she totally believed that it wasn't her own will to think about it) – about Ranma and her meeting up in some rose garden, with Ranma offering her a bouquet of flowers.
"What? Oh… of course not!" Akane coughed lightly and looked down on the water. "That would be… that would be ludicrous."
"Don't get us wrong Akane. We're not trying to rule you or anything; we're just telling you what's best for you. You're our best friend, and we don't want you to get hurt anymore."
"Thanks, Sayuri."
Is this really what's best for me?
I don't know what to do! I've been moving from Ranma to Ryouga and all, that it sounds inhuman… in order to satisfy myself and find out where I really belong, I used them both for my own selfish benefit…
And my problem isn't even solved; I still don't know where I belong! I have got to stop moving from one guy to another like some selfish slut princess.
Now, all I have to do is tell Ranma everything, that those Amazons did that trick, and I… I love him! That would be the best thing to do, and I'm pretty sure he's going to want to, too. Love me, I mean. After all, he got sick when Ryouga and I were a couple…
KAMI, WHAT THE HECK AM I THINKING! I am turning into evil incarnate! I can't just say those things… I'm not even supposed to think them!
I don't know what to do…
"Akane?"
A voice.
"Akane!"
Voices.
"Akane…"
Fading… fading… until she couldn't hear anything anymore.
Author's Notes: Akane sang Don't Go Breaking My Heart, which is in the soundtrack of the movie Ella Enchanted, starring Anne Hathaway of The Princess Diaries. She was so pretty. (",)
God, I am loving the whole drama thing. I am REALLY loving it, so I might get carried away in the next chapters. Thanks for reading, and please review!