Chapter 28 Nabiki's Gambit
Akane answered the door at the Tendo home. "Why hello, Mr. Kuonji, Ukyo, come on in," she said, politely, "How nice to see you today."
"Hello, again, Akane. Are the Saotome's here by any chance?" Kuonji asked.
Akane said, "Auntie Nodoka is here. Mr. Saotome hasn't come back from the clinic yet. I'm not quite sure why he's there, since Tofu closed it down while he was gone, and they don't come back until Saturday. Though, come to think about it, if Mr. Saotome was here, Nabiki and I would have made him help clean house." She led the way to the living room, where Nabiki and Nodoka were talking.
Kuonji bowed to Nodoka, in greeting. "Mrs. Saotome, I came to discuss the arrangement that I made with your husband. Would it be possible to go meet him?" he asked.
"Mr. Kuonji, please my name is Nodoka. We can certainly do that if you wish. However, the two of us could certainly come to some sort of agreement, I'm sure. Unless of course, you object to the idea of discussing family business with a mere woman," Nodoka said, lightly stressing the word 'mere', her voice sounding like velvet. Of course, this velvet was covering a bare steel blade.
Kuonji hesitated, and then said, "Of course not. There's no such thing as a mere woman. I should have thought of discussing this with you, myself. My apologies if I may have suggested any discourtesy."
"There is none needed. With your permission, I'd like Nabiki to assist us. As a neutral third party, she may provide some unique viewpoint that would ease our discussion," Nodoka replied smoothly.
Kuonji looked at Nabiki and reappraised her. "Miss Tendo would be welcome. Would you like your daughter to participate as well?" he asked, "I had thought to allow Ukyo to do so, as she is an interested party."
"That may be wise. Akane, dear, would you ask Ranma to join us? I believe she may be in the dojo, practicing her katas," Nodoka asked.
Akane said, "I think she has come back in. Let me check." She went through the house to the bathroom and entered the outer room. She knocked on the door to the bathing chamber and asked, "Ranchan, are you in there? The Kuonjis are here to talk." She heard the sound of someone climbing out of the furo, and then a quick shower. A towel clad Ranma opened the door and reached for her clean clothing.
"Tell Mom that I'll be right there. I just need to get dressed," Ranma said, as she hurriedly shut the door.
Akane went back to the living room where she said, "Ranchan was just getting cleaned up. As soon as she's dressed, she'll be right out."
Several minutes later, Ranma entered the living room carrying the formal tea set, wearing a formal kimono. She gracefully knelt in front of the table and placed the tray on it. There she skillfully poured tea, first for the two visitors, eldest first, and then for her mother, Nabiki and Akane in that order. Then she poured a cup for herself.
"Why, thank you, dear, that was very thoughtful of you," Nodoka said, in surprise, sipping her tea. She hadn't realized that Ranma had known a simple version of a formal tea ceremony.
"Nodoka," Kuonji began, "I'm afraid that I must admit to being a bit perplexed. I'm not sure how your husband and I managed to overlook something so basic about arranging an engagement, namely that one of the couple be male and the other be female. It's actually somewhat embarrassing that neither one of us even thought of asking. I know both names are masculine, but still one of us should have asked. After thinking about it the last few days, I'm quite sure that neither one of us ever said anything about the gender of our children."
"Knowing my husband as well as I do," Nodoka said, "I'm quite sure that he treated Ranma as if she was a boy. At that age, unless you were looking for it, I doubt you would have thought that she was anything else but a boy. Also, knowing my husband, I'm sure he was too blind to see past the opportunity to get food, and when you added the yatai as a dowry, he would have jumped at the chance. The fact that only a girl would have a dowry should have clued him in that Ukyo was female, but I wouldn't put it past him to have missed that subtlety."
"Er, that may have been my fault. I don't recall ever saying it was a dowry. I think I offered it as an incentive to make the deal, since I had sensed some reluctance on his part to make an agreement," Kuonji responded.
"Do you know where the yatai is now, Mr. Kuonji?" Nabiki asked quickly.
Kuonji looked rather embarrassed. "Actually, I was able to retrieve it shortly after Ukyo left on her search. If I had known where she was, things might be slightly different. One of my more distant cousins had actually bought it from Saotome shortly after he left my daughter. It took him several years to track me down. I, of course, reimbursed him for his time and trouble," he answered.
"Obviously, we would be honor bound to recompense you for that as well as any inconvenience that you may have had," Nodoka replied, "I'm not sure how to atone for whatever embarrassment that you or Ukyo may have had."
"Auntie, you and Ranchan have already done enough merely by making me feel a part of your extended family. The only person that I think needs to atone is your husband. I just ask that you consider that fact in any decision that you may reach regarding his future," Ukyo said.
Nodoka smiled thinly. "I can assure you that whatever I decide about Gemna will take all relevant information into account. Also, depending on what I decide, I may request your assistance. If I do ask, I believe you will certainly achieve the satisfaction you desire," Nodoka replied.
Kuonji said, "I believe we understand each other, Nodoka. As for any embarrassment that I personally may have had, if my daughter is satisfied, then I will consider that matter closed."
Nabiki said smoothly, "That is very gracious of you, sir. It sounds like we may have an agreement in principle. As I understand it, you two are willing to dissolve the engagement agreement between your two families if the Saotomes provide adequate recompense for the effort of recovering the yatai, as well as considering Ukyo's embarrassment in any future decisions Auntie may make with regard to her husband. The two families agree that this will allow both of them to walk away with their honor intact. Does this sound correct?"
Kuonji said, "That is an elegant summation of my understanding of the situation."
"I agree, Nabiki," Nodoka said.
"Could you perhaps provide an estimate of how much it may have cost you to recover your property," Nabiki asked, "and how long ago did you obtain it?"
"It was only one hundred thousand yen, and I recovered it three years ago," Kuonji admitted.
Nabiki blinked in surprise at the relatively low number. "Then would two hundred thousand yen be a satisfactory reimbursement for all of your time and trouble?" she asked.
Kuonji thought for a while, until he noticed the glare from his daughter. She nodded slightly. He said, "Yes, that amount would be satisfactory. However, I would recommend some sort of nominal agent fee for yourself, Miss Tendo."
"I would suggest forty thousand for your fee, Nabiki," Nodoka said quietly, "After all, it is coming out of Gemna's hide." She smiled thinly.
Nabiki quickly wrote up the agreement, filling in all of the terms and conditions. After Nodoka and Kuonji signed all three copies, Nabiki notarized the signatures and provided each of them with a signed, notarized copy. "Ranma, dear, could you run upstairs and fetch my purse," Nodoka asked politely. Ranma ran upstairs quickly and shortly returned, handing her mother a purse. Nabiki's eyes grew large as Nodoka pulled a large roll of money out of her purse and calmly counted out two piles, without changing the size of the roll in her hand appreciably. She handed the larger of the two stacks to Kuonji and the smaller to Nabiki.
Ranma bowed to Kuonji and said, "Thanks for your understanding about all this. I'm happy that we were able ta come ta an agreement that leaves our honor intact. I'm even happier that Ucchan and I will still be friends."
"Thank you for this courtesy in this matter as well," Kuonji wais, "It has been an interesting week, wouldn't you say daughter? Nodoka, Nabiki, and Akane, it has been a pleasure to meet you. Ranma, I'm glad I met you again. It would honor me greatly if you would come see me off at the train station this evening. It seems that I have a daughter to return to the clan roster."
"When are you leaving?" Akane said as she walked over to stand next to Ranma.
"On the next train. I believe that one leaves in an hour. I will meet you at the station. We need to get my luggage and pick up Ryoga at Ucchans."
A half hour later, the two parties met at the local train station. Kuonji smiled to himself as he saw how close Ranma and Akane were standing to each other. He shook hands with Ryoga and said, "It was a pleasure meeting you, Ryoga. Please take good care of my daughter."
Ryoga stammered and said, "I plan to sir. You can't imagine what she means to me." Ukyo blushed in surprise at the way he said that.
Kuonji said farewell to Nodoka and Nabiki. "It was a pleasure doing business with you two. Maybe next time, we can work on the same side, Nabiki. The opposition wouldn't stand a chance."
When he said goodbye to Ranma and Akane, he just smiled knowingly at them.
He then hugged his daughter and said quietly, "One day I hope you really do get engaged to Ryoga. I think he is the right man for you."
Ukyo stammered, "Why don't you think we're engaged now?"
He smiled and said, "You still look a bit stiff together. Right now, Ranma and Akane look more comfortable as a couple that you two." He kissed his daughter good-bye, chuckling at the expression on her face and then entered the train. Ukyo just stared thoughtfully into space as the train pulled away.
-----------------------------------
Nabiki woke up suddenly in the middle of the night, her body drenched in sweat. She wasn't sure exactly what had woken her up. 'Wow, that must have been some dream I had,' she thought groggily. She slowly crawled out of bed, and headed downstairs to the bathroom. She quickly washed herself off, and changed into a different set of pajamas. The ones she had been wearing were entirely too sticky to wear. She went into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water. She leaned against the counter, drinking her water, lost in thought, trying to recall exactly what the dream she had was about. All she could recall, though, was how excited she had been in the dream. Slowly, a mischievous grin appeared on her face. 'I need some new photographs of Ranma. What he doesn't know won't hurt me,' she thought. She quickly made up a kettle of hot water, and refilled her glass with cold water. Quietly, she went upstairs to her room and grabbed her camera. She crept up the attic stairs to the door into Ranma's room. She ignored the occasional creak of those stairs, since Ranma slept so hard. As she slowly pushed the door to the room open, she allowed her eyes to adjust to the dim moonlight pouring through the one window in the room. She gasped out loud when she saw that there were actually two figures in Ranma's futon. Then she smirked as she realized the opportunity in front of her. She thought wickedly, 'This should break Ranma and Akane up. She'll never forgive him for sleeping with some other woman, under our roof at that. Should I show them to her and make her angry enough to dump him, or would it work better to blackmail him into leaving her for me. Of course I'll still have to take care of that slut. Doesn't matter, either way, he'll be mine!!!' In the silence of her mind, she laughed evilly. She raised the camera to her eye and prepared to take a picture. Then she froze in utter and complete disbelief as one of the figures rolled over onto her back.
Akane opened one eye and growled, "Don't even think about taking a picture, Sis. Unless you like the idea of eating that camera, that is!"
"You wouldn't hurt me," Nabiki smirked, "If I publish this photo of you and Ranma, you'll be ruined at school." She chuckled evilly.
"Yep, two fully clothed girls, in pajamas, at a sleepover. That'll really trash my reputation. You must really be half asleep to think that can work. Besides, seriously, if you try, you'll be eating your meals through a straw for several weeks. I'm tired of you trying to blackmail me, Nabiki. I thought we already 'discussed' that. It ends now," Akane said firmly.
Nabiki narrowed her eyes in anger. "That does it, Akane. The gloves come off. I'm warning you to get out of my way. I'm going to do whatever it takes to steal Ranma away from you. He's mine," she snarled.
Akane arched one eyebrow. "Gee, I'm the one he says he loves, the one he spends most of his time with, the one he kisses all the time, the one he has most in common with. I'm actually sleeping in his bed. Duh, just how the hell do you figure he's yours," Akane said with some heat. She glared at her sister, her battle aura beginning to show.
Nabiki slumped her shoulders in despair and defeat. "Damn you, Akane. I can't argue with that. How come you get all the guys? It's not fair, it's not right. I'm prettier, smarter and better built than you after all," she said mournfully.
Akane tried very hard not to snicker. "Sis, everyone's afraid of you at school because of your reputation. You have dirt on a large part of the male population. If you want to be popular at school, you've got to change that," she said lightly.
Ranma rolled over and opened her eyes. "Are you two done, yet? I really am trying ta sleep here," she said sleepily as she yawned.
"Ranma, what do you see in Akane? Why'd you pick her over me?" Nabiki cried.
Ranma hesitated, trying to find exactly the right words. "Nabiki, I mostly like ya. Sometimes, though, ya act like your image is the real you. I don't like that person; she's not very nice. I'm just not interested in a cold-hearted, mercenary bitch, and that's who the Ice Queen of Furinkan High School is, "Ranma said, slowly.
"OUCH, that hurts, Ranma," Nabiki said, "You like the girl behind the mask, but sometimes you're not sure where the person ends and the mask begins. Is that what you're saying?"
Ranma thought for a while and then replied, "Yeah, basically that's what I meant. As to why I love Akane, there's no one reason. All I know is that one day I realized that I had fallen in love with her, sometime before the play, probably. I spent almost a year trying ta get ta know all of ya, hiding my feelings. I even tried to lie ta myself about how I felt. Then I go act opposite Akane in a romantic tragedy, as her love interest no less. Silly, huh. I couldn't have hid how I felt after that, even if I'd wanted ta."
"So what am I supposed to do now? The man I fell in love with is in love with my sister," Nabiki said.
"Well, duh, why are you asking us? Kasumi is the one who's read every psychology book she can get her hands on," Akane said with a wry grin, "Neither one of us is an expert, but I really shouldn't need to tell you Kasumi is someone you should talk to."
"Akane's right. The little talks I had with her in the morning while she cooked helped straighten my head out," Ranma said, "She pays a lot more attention to what is going on around her than ya think she does."
Nabiki put her camera down, and walked over to Akane. "Sis, I'm sorry. Once the two of you made your feelings known, I should have either said something then, or given up. Instead, I kept coming up with plans to try to steal him from you. Some of them were so horrible, that I couldn't bring myself to do them. Can you forgive me, please?"
Akane said, after a great deal of thought, "Nabiki, I want you to promise to thaw out. I don't want the Ice Queen for a sister, anymore. I want the sister I had before Mother died back. That sister would have never done some of the things that you've done. That sister I don't have to forgive. I think you need to seek forgiveness from yourself, and that's going to be harder to get." She hugged her sister. Nabiki smiled tremulously. Ranma leaned over and kissed her cheek.
"Nabiki, I want ta thank ya for the help ya gave Mom this afternoon with Kuonji. What ya did allowed both of our families ta come out of it with our honor intact. The fact that ya made Pop look like a complete fool was an added bonus. I owe ya big time," Ranma said.
"Ranma, I was helping mostly to get rid of another rival for your affections. I got a commission from your mother for brokering the deal as well," Nabiki said.
Ranma smiled sadly, "Nabiki, I wasn't talking about that kinda debt. There's more ta life than just money, ya know?"
Nabiki opened her eyes in shock. Then she giggled. Ranma face-faulted. "Ranma, I was kidding you a bit. I knew what you were talking about," she said.
"It's a start," Akane said with a cryptic smile.
"I better get back to bed," Nabiki said. She slowly stood and sadly walked downstairs. Ranma and Akane gazed after her, identical expressions of worry on their faces. Finally they shrugged, and lay back down, trying to get back to sleep.