Arc II: Chain Reactions
Chapter: The Tendo Sisters

Akane and Nodoka strolled into the shopping district of Nerima, armed with shopping lists and baskets for their future purchases. When Akane heard she was getting another cooking lesson she had been understandably excited at the prospect. However, she had been confused when she walked into the kitchen and saw Kasumi already prepping for their evening meal while Nodoka was writing something on the kitchen counter.

"Aunty, aren't we cooking today?" she asked in confusion.

"No, we're going shopping," she replied with a smile on her face. When Akane's face showed disappointment, Nodoka added, "A big part of cooking is making sure you have the right ingredients. We had a good lesson the other day on how to identify good produce and I want to see how much you remembered. Don't worry, we'll also be learning something new."

Not fully mollified, but not wanting to act ungrateful, she replied, "Okay."

On their way to town, Nodoka explained that she would be making chicken udon the next day and would be stopping by several stores to pick up the necessary ingredients. Their first stop was to the butcher shop. Akane was surprised when Nodoka walked up to the counter and asked for three whole chickens.

"Aunty, do we need all of that just for the chicken udon?"

"No, we don't. We'll be using parts of the thighs and legs for the broth and then be using the meat from those pieces for the udon. The breasts and wings will be cut and set in the fridge for dinner the following evening; I believe Kasumi will be making teriyaki with the breasts and frying the chicken wings. The chicken skin, livers, hearts, and gizzards will be used for yakitori to go along with the udon."

Looking around, Akane noticed the butcher had all of these individual pieces already processed and ready for purchase. She thought that buying them that way would save them time.

"Wouldn't it be easier to just buy them already pre-cut?"

"Yes, but if you bought each of the ingredients pre-cut it would cost more than buying a chicken whole. The butchers charge for their services." Nodoka paused before adding, "Martial artists don't make much money and as a martial artist's wife, one has to find ways to stretch a yen. One easy way to do that is try to stretch your grocery budget. Especially if you are married to someone with a bottom-less pit for a stomach. "

Nodoka gave Akane a meaningful look and the young girl blushed.

They left the store, not noticing the person who had been watching them from the window or the way their eyes narrowed in anger.

Ranma was currently walking around town, bored and looking for a distraction. He was still angry at Ukyo and what she had said yesterday and wanted to take his mind off things.

But if he were honest with himself, he was getting angry more often lately. Worse, his anger wasn't going away like it used to. Before, he would be able to simply shrug things off.

Attack him out of the blue? Forgotten after the ensuing battle.

Whack him on the head with a blunt object? It was forgiven as soon as he regained consciousness.

But after China, his temper had been bubbling just below the surface, ready to explode at anyone who ticked him off.

Anyone but Akane. She seemed to have the unique ability to calm him. A simple touch of her hand on his chest could tame him almost instantly.

He noticed the other day that she was able to sneak up on him, getting in so close she could be touching him before he even noticed her presence. He had been worried that somehow his martial arts skills were slipping before it hit him; he had absolutely no fear of Akane.

Sure, she would hit him when provoked - and even that had stopped recently - but he knew that she would never do anything to really hurt him. She was the only one that was always there for him. Even when he insisted that he didn't need her.

She had been on his side from the beginning, even when he thought she hated him. She had forgiven him for all the things he said about her. She had helped him when he was hiding his true identify from his mother. He could go on and on describing the ways Akane was there for him.

It had finally dawned on him, Akane was the only person he trusted with his life. And she had earned it by risking hers for him time and again.

He must have realized it unconsciously and that was why she could get past his defenses in a way that no one else could.

Before he had left the house, he had gone to see if Akane wanted to hang out with him and was disappointed when he saw her and his mother leave together. He had to admit that he was happy that the two women got along so well. Although Akane never said it, he could tell that she thought of his mother as a surrogate for her own and treated Nodoka with the respect and love she would have shown her own mother.

Before his curse was revealed, he was actually very jealous of their relationship, wishing he had such an open and honest one with his mother, not one full of lies. But now that she knew about his curse and he had admitted - to himself at least - his feelings for Akane, he was more than glad that the two women had developed a bond.

Walking on top of the fence along the canal, Ranma paused when he heard the familiar sound of a bike bell ring near him. A moment later, he heard the battle cry, "Airen! Airen!" and he sighed warily.

He hadn't seen the Amazon since the incident at the park, which he was very happy about. Turning to his right, he saw her riding her bike along the fence, headed directly towards him. For once, she had stopped her bike before it landed on his head and she jumped off it and headed for him, her arms wide open, clearly expecting a warm welcome.

Waiting until the very last possible moment, Ranma grabbed her left arm as she tried to wrap it around him, throwing her over his shoulder. He turned to watch as the amazon did a flip in mid-air so that she could land firmly on her feet. But unfortunately for her, there was nowhere to go and she fell into the canal. Ranma closed his eyes before she hit the water and turned around, not wanting to see her cursed form.

Whistling to himself, he began to walk away. He had gone two feet before jumping backwards onto the fence as a mace went flying through the exact spot he had just been standing on.

"What did you do to my beloved Shampoo?" Mousse screamed as he launched several more weapons at Ranma. "I demand to know where she is!"

The blind martial artist continued to launch a few more weapons and one portable toddler potty at him. Ranma, having almost been hit a few times, realized Mousse was actually wearing his glasses for once.

"Don't worry, Mousse, I'll help you find her," Ranma taunted before rushing towards his opponent at top speed, looking ready to ram him. Mousse jumped straight up, caught off guard as he did not expect such a response from Ranma. A moment later, he felt a foot hit his back and he flew over the fence and splashed in the canal.

The pig-tailed boy watched as the man transformed into a duck and paddled away, presumably to look for a purple cat. He really didn't want to do that to Mousse since he really did consider the guy a friend, but he saw no other way to end the fight without doing some serious injury to the other man. Mousse was just too myopic when it came to his obsession with Shampoo.

Ranma chuckled at his own joke before looking down and noticing that his shirt had a cut along the stomach. Taking a closer look, he realized he also had a cut along the side of his stomach. It wasn't too bad - especially since he didn't even remember getting hit - but deep enough that he should get it taken care of. He had to give it to Mousse, his aim was getting much better.

Sighing, he headed towards Dr. Tofu's office, knowing the doctor could patch him up quickly without getting worked up like either his mother or Akane.

Opening the clinic door, he headed toward the back examination area when he saw the front room was empty. He was just about to call out when he stopped dead in his tracks, his jaw dropping in shock at what was going on before him.

With all their purchases in tow, the two ladies headed back home where Akane watched as Nodoka deftly processed the first chicken into different parts.

The Saotome matriarch showed Akane how to hold the knife properly and let her, with supervision, cut up the second chicken which took a lot longer to do. After seeing that Akane could handle the knife successfully, she allowed her to attempt the last chicken by herself, only needing to make minor suggestions when the young girl forgot a step.

Akane was happy with the lesson since she learned more than she expected, but was disappointed when she found out that she wouldn't be able to help make the broth tomorrow. The broth took at least 8 hours to make and Aunty would be starting it right after they left for school the next morning.

But the lesson left Akane completely boggled. She had been enjoying Kasumi's meals for years without a thought towards the amount of effort and time it must have taken her older sister to prepare such wonderful meals. She had always respected Kasumi and that respect had just multiplied exponentially when she thought of all the work that her sister put into making their lives run as smoothly as possible and the huge responsibility she had taken on at such a young age.

Suddenly it was like a switch flipped in her head and Akane had an epiphany. She had always dived in head first when she wanted to cook. She never spent any time preparing. She just thought of something she wanted to cook and started doing it, not even taking the time to consider if she had all the ingredients. When she thought of the amount of time it must have taken Kasumi to restock the supplies she used during those failed attempts, she cringed.

Upon further introspection, she understood that the one time she had successfully made the pot of curry, she had bought and prepared the ingredients before she began cooking.

She vowed that from this point forward she would put more time and energy into all the parts of cooking and not just try to throw things together.

Ranma blinked, then rubbed his eyes and blinked again. He definitely wasn't seeing things.

Dr. Tofu was standing before him, his arms wrapped around Kasumi's waist, with her hands placed gently on his chest.

Oh and they were kissing.

Ranma tried to move backwards as quietly as possible, not wanting to disturb the pair in front of him. But just then the couple broke apart and he heard Kasumi squeak when she noticed Ranma in the room. Dr. Tofu was just standing there dazed; his glasses fogged over, a stunned look on his face and a smile on his lips.

"R-Ranma, wh-what are you doing here?" Kasumi asked nervously.

"Nothing! I'm here for nothing! I didn't see anything! I'll just be going now," Ranma said, before moving towards the door.

"Ranma! What happened to your stomach?" Kasumi asked, looking at his shirt.

"It's okay, it's nothing, really..."

"No, it's not okay. You need to have that looked at right now. I'll just wait outside for you."

She walked out, closing the dividing door behind her. Ranma was unsure of what to do. He really wanted to leave, not willing to risk being examined by the doctor in his current haze. But he knew Kasumi wouldn't just let him go without some sort of treatment. Before he could make a decision, he heard someone cough behind him.

"Hello there, Ranma, I didn't see you come in. Why don't you come over here and have a seat, while I take a look at you?"

Ranma walked over cautiously. Tofu seemed to be acting normally, but the pig-tailed boy was still concerned, remembering the time he left with his neck stuck at a weird angle from the doctor just looking at Kasumi. He shuddered as he imagined what would be the result of the man kissing her. He was sure he would walk out with some of his limbs going the wrong direction.

"Hey, doc. How you been?"

"Good, it's been a long time since I've seen you. Now, can you take off your shirt so I can look at your cut?"

Taking off his shirt, he decided to stay quiet, not wanting to distract the doctor. He was simply amazed that Tofu was acting so normal after kissing Kasumi.

Kasumi!

His brain was still having a hard time processing the information.

"So, Ranma, about what you saw..."

"It's okay, doc, it's none of my business," Ranma said, secretly dying to know what was going on between the pair.

"Well, I don't think that's true, but I think it's best if Kasumi tells you herself."

"Sure," Ranma said with a casual shrug.

He watched as Dr. Tofu cleaned the wound, declared that he did not need stitches, and placed a large swatch over the wound.

As Ranma was putting on his shirt, his curiosity got the better of him. "Ummm... so I noticed that you are... ummm acting pretty normal after what I saw earlier..." he asked tentatively, not really knowing how to phrase his question.

"And you are wondering why it is that I am not running around town, dancing with Betty?"

Rubbing the back of his neck, the pig-tailed boy replied, "Yes."

"Without giving too much away, I will say that I've become accustomed to Kasumi's presence, so I don't react the way I used to. But her kisses still dazzle me and it takes me a moment or two to get back to normal," he said with a smirk.

Laughing, Ranma thanked the doctor and headed home with Kasumi. On their walk, he learned that she had started coming around the doctor more and more during the last two years and Tofu had slowly started to get used to her being around him. It took a while but gradually the amount of 'lucid' time he spent around her increased. Although, when he was unprepared to see her, he would revert back temporarily.

Things turned serious when Akane was kidnapped and brought to China. Kasumi had been worried about her sister, and distraught, she had gone to Tofu for support. Knowing that he had to step up and be there to comfort her, he was finally able to hold her without acting out.

She had gone over to the clinic earlier to drop off some dinner for Tofu, a good excuse to visit when she missed him. She was just saying her goodbyes when Ranma had walked in.

"Ranma? Do you think you could keep this to yourself? I don't like asking you to lie to Akane, or anyone else, but I just want to see where this goes without our family interfering. You know how our fathers are about weddings. I just don't want to tempt fate," she said quietly.

Ranma was touched that Kasumi not only considered him part of the family, but his parents too.

"Of course, Kasumi. Your secret is safe with me."

He definitely thought the couple deserved some peace and quiet before their family found out; no doubt causing chaos for them with their well-intentioned meddling.

It was nice to know that someone was figuring out their life. He still had no idea what to do to get out of the mess his father got him in. No matter how angry he had been lately, he still wanted to leave things as amicably as possible with everyone.

The pair walked the remainder of the way home in silence. Kasumi was glad she finally had a confidant in her future brother-in-law, for she was certain Ranma and Akane would end up together. The pig-tailed boy was happy for Kasumi, but confused about his own life and still angry anytime he thought about Ukyo.

The next afternoon, Akane walked out of school alone. Ranma had disappeared after class and she wondered if he was avoiding her. It didn't escape her notice that Ukyo had also left quickly and she wondered if the pair was spending another afternoon together. Her chest throbbed at the idea and her stomach rolled with anxiety.

She was distracted from her thoughts when she saw a now familiar figure standing at the gates of the school.

"Hi, Taro. Are you here to do some more errands? I thought you had completed them all?" She asked, slightly confused.

"I have, but I happened to be close by and wanted to know if you wanted to spar?"

"Really? You came all the way here just to see if I wanted to spar?"

Taro shrugged. "Sure, why not."

Akane gave him a big smile and nodded in agreement before they started off towards her house so she could change.

As they walked, they passed a group of girls, causing Taro to turn his head and smile at the young women. He watched them as they walked away.

"Taro, stop being such a pervert," Akane hissed at him, slightly surprised and embarrassed by his behavior.

Taro turned to her, a look of surprise on his face. "What are you talking about?"

"Those girls, you shouldn't be staring at them like that."

"Why not?"

"Because it's...it's just not right."

"I'm a guy. It's what we do. And just to set the record straight, I wasn't staring at them, I was just looking at them. There's a difference. I mean, it's not like I was going to pounce on them or anything."

"Well, how do I know that? More importantly, how do they?" she asked, sounding skeptical.

Shocked, Taro asked, "What kind of guy do you think I am?"

When she didn't answer right away, he began getting angry.

"Seriously, is that what you think of me?"

"No, not really," Akane said with a sigh. "It's just that from my experience, when a guy notices a girl, he ends up... well... trying to force her to... go out with him."

Taro laughed at her comment, thinking she was joking but stopped when he realized she was being completely serious. Thinking back to his brief interaction with the males at her school, he realized he should have known better.

"It's natural for guys to look at girls and for girls to look at guys. I'm sure you get checked out and hit on more than you realize. There's nothing wrong with a guy taking a glance at a girl. It just means he appreciates how she looks. It's only bad if he makes her uncomfortable by staring too long. Or makes her think that he's going to force himself on her."

When she continued to look uncertain, he tried a different approach.

"I'm sure you've checked out a guy or two yourself." She arched her eyebrow at him and he added, "Don't tell me you've never eyeballed Saotome."

Akane thought back to watching Ranma train in the yard, clad only in his black pants and ribbed cotton tank-top. She remembered the way his muscles tensed as he moved through his katas, sweat dripping down his neck as it reached that sexy point where his collar bones touched.

Then unbidden, the image changed and suddenly she was picturing Ranma completely naked as he emerged from the furo, water dripping off his entire muscular body. She remembered how her eyes had trailed down his body, admiring is eight pack abs before reaching his dark patch of hair. Her gaze continued down until it finally landed on the appendage that lay between his legs.

Growing hot and feeling her cheeks getting red, she shook her head to rid herself of the image.

Taro chuckled at her response. "It's okay, you don't need to be embarrassed," he said, misinterpreting her expression. "And he's checked out other girls, like that hot amazon chick, but it doesn't mean anything."

"Why do you say that?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"No, not really."

"Well, when you were kidnapped, she was practically naked and prancing around in front of him, but he didn't even notice; his entire focus was on you."

"Then how do you know he's checked her out?"

"Have you seen the chick? She's fucking hot. He'd have to be dead or gay not to have checked her out." He paused, like he was contemplating something before adding, "He's not gay, right?"

She smacked him on the shoulder. "You know he's not."

"Then he's checked her out."

Akane had no idea if what he said was true but she couldn't see a reason for him to lie. While she wasn't happy at the thought of the Amazon running around half-naked in front of Ranma, she did like the idea of him ignoring a practically naked Shampoo because of her.

"Why are you telling me all of this?" she asked curiously.

Taro sighed.

"It's simple. You're going to cause yourself a lot of trouble if you get all worked up over trivial things like this. Save your anger for something important."

Akane smiled at him in gratitude and watched as he stopped and stood akimbo, turning his head to the side.

"It's okay if you want to check me out."

He moved his arms, putting one in front of his face at a ninety degree angle, fist pointing up and the other behind his back, fist down, while he lowered one knee to the ground.

"I don't mind," he added before kissing a bicep. He stood up and brought both hands around in a circular motion around his body until he connected them, fist to fist, arms bowed at the side.

Her lips quirked upwards as she said dryly, "Yup, you are definitely one fine specimen of man."

Taro ran his hand through his hair before shaking his head side to side. "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful."

The pig-tailed boy was once again quiet and lost in contemplation.

He was not brooding.

Brooding was not manly.

Ranma was currently stuck on the topic of Ukyo. He was still feeling angry at her and what she had told him. To make matters worse, she had been trying to talk to him all day when all he wanted to do was forget their conversation. It was definitely not helping his mood.

Not trusting himself to deal with her without exploding, he left school as quickly as possible. It felt a little cowardly but he didn't think anything else would work.

Ukyo was supposed to be his friend. She was supposed to know him. But it seemed like she didn't understand him at all.

But that got him wondering; what was he looking for in a wife?

Slowly it came to him, little by little. He wanted someone caring and loyal but who wasn't a pushover. Someone who would be there for him even when he did and said stupid things. Someone who would argue with him but still support him in the end. Someone who was kind and fierce at the same time. Someone who saw him as more than a martial arts genius and looked beyond his amazing good looks and superior physique.

It was purely a lucky coincidence that all these things described Akane perfectly.

He simply ignored the fact that while thinking of the type of woman he wanted to marry he kept imaging his blue-haired fiancée's beautiful face.

Ranma stood up and brushed himself off, unable to sit still any longer. He had been sitting near the canal and decided a walk was just what he needed to make him feel better.

Although it ended up not helping at all.

The pair continued on their way towards the Tendo home, Taro telling her about all of the chores he finished, and stopped when they reached the abandoned lot.

"I'll wait here."

"Okay, I'll see you in a few minutes."

When she returned they began to spar. Taro was impressed that Akane seemed to remember all the minor adjustments he had mentioned to her during their previous session, which made a big difference . Though she had a tendency to commit too much energy into each attack and still over extended herself.

Taro had just decided to take a break in their match when he felt a presence near them, one that seemed to be watching them. Thinking that it was Ranma, who was doing a very poor job concealing himself, Taro decided that it was indeed a good time to fix Akane's little mistakes and have a little fun with Ranma at the same time.

Forming a T with his hands, Taro indicated his desire for a break. Akane walked over to grab two water bottles, handing one to Taro as she reached him.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

Taking a swig, Taro said, "That was much better than the first time." Akane gave him a smile in response. "But, you are still over committing when you attack and have a tendency to over-extend when you punch."

Akane faltered a little, feeling disheartened but shook off the feeling, trying to focus on the positive part of his critique.

"Can you show me what I am doing wrong?"

Taro smirked at her, which she thought was a little strange, before saying, "I'd be happy to."

He asked Akane to get into a horse stance, before coming to stand behind her and asking her to throw a punch. As she threw a punch with her right hand, she felt Taro step closer to her. He put his hands on her shoulders as her fist reached the farthest point, effectively stopping her from bringing her hand backwards.

He leaned over her shoulder and said, "Do you see how far your upper body is twisted?" When she nodded, he added, "Your fist is actually angled slightly towards your left when it should be straight in front of you." Moving her shoulders slightly, he continued, "Now, your body should stop here. Do you see how your fist is straight in front of you?"

"Yes, I can see the difference."

"Good." Taro pulled back from Akane and stepped in front of her. "I know that is a minor correction but at our skill level, the slightest miss-step and slowness in reaction times are what makes the difference between losing and winning."

Akane nodded her head and tried not to grin at the thought that Taro considered her to be in his skill level.

"Now, I know you mainly do roundhouse kicks, but I've noticed a slight adjustment that needs to be made to your front kicks." Still standing in front of her, he directed her to send a kick at him and grabbed her foot when she had her leg extended.

"You are leaning back a tad too much. Hold this position."

He let go of her foot, walked around her and moved his hands to her hips, rotating them up slightly and putting a hand to her back, straightening her. "Instead of leaning back try to bring your hip up a little more before kicking out. Now, try again and stop at the same spot."

This time when Akane kicked, Taro kept his hands on her hips encouraging them into the correct position. When she stopped with her leg out, he said, "Do you feel the difference? You should be a little more stable in this position than the previous one."

"Actually, I can." Taro moved away from her and she turned to face him, giving him a smile, "Thanks. Wanna spar again and let me see if I can make the changes while I fight?"

"Sure."

Taro felt the presence leave while he was adjusting her kick. He was slightly disappointed he didn't currently have an angry fiancé on his hands but he was sure Ranma got an eyeful. While he did nothing inappropriate, he was sure that from a distance the interactions did not look completely innocent. He internally laughed at the idea of the moron off somewhere sulking, too scared of his fiancée's reaction to confront him.

Akane was currently in her room, looking at her math book, her head throbbing. When she sat down for dinner that night, she was frustrated to find Ranma being oddly distant. She had tried to engage him in conversation a few times but stopped when all she got in response were monosyllabic answers.

She tried to shrug off the hurt, but she was unsuccessful. For the life of her, she didn't know what she may have done to offend him. Then it occurred to her that maybe his behavior was connected to the date he had with Ukyo.

She had no idea what happened yesterday; he didn't mention it and she didn't ask. As far as she knew, he didn't know that she even knew the date took place. A sense of dread filled her as she wondered if something happened the other day. Maybe his distant attitude had to do with his realization that he was in love with Ukyo and his reluctance at speaking with her was because he didn't know how to break it to her.

Akane spent the rest of dinner telling herself that she would be happy for him, but feeling herself become more and more depressed as the evening went on. She had excused herself early and decided to do her homework, hoping it would take her mind off things.

It didn't work. She kept envisioning Ukyo and Ranma together, holding hands, kissing, and had one very disturbing flash of Ranma making love to the okonomiyaki chef that made her feel nauseous.

After that she had redoubled her effort to focus on her work and the strain it took on her to read and understand her assignment had caused a rather large headache to form. She had just decided to take a break when she heard a knock on her door.

"Come in," she called out before turning in her chair to face her visitor.

Nabiki came strolling into the room, closing the door behind her with a cat-that-ate-the-canary look on her face that had Akane feeling apprehensive. She had no idea what her sister wanted to talk about but she knew she wasn't going to like it.

Her sister crossed her arms before saying, "So, you have fun today, Akane?'

Confused, Akane shrugged as she replied, "I guess so."

"Oh, so nothing interesting happened?"

"No, not really."

"Hmm, because I am sure I saw you with Taro earlier and you two were looking awfully friendly."

Frustrated because she had absolutely no idea where her sister was going with the current conversation, Akane said firmly, "No, we were just sparring."

Nabiki narrowed her eyes and Akane was taken aback at the maliciousness that crossed her sister's face.

"Uh-huh. It's okay, you don't have to lie to me, I won't tell Ranma." She smirked at her younger sister before she started examining her nails. "Not that I think he would care anyways."

When Akane didn't take the bait, Naibiki said casually, "You know, I happened to be near Ucchan's yesterday." She smiled when she saw her sister stiffen at the mention of the restaurant.

Akane eyed her sister warily, noticing the shark-like smile appear on her face. Having dealt with Nabiki her entire life, she was now positive that she would hate what was coming next.

"It was strange, really, to see it closed in the middle of the afternoon. But guess who I saw walk directly towards the restaurant? Ranma. I watched as he knocked on the door and Ukyo opened it almost immediately. You know, I think she was expecting him because she looked awfully cute. I've never really seen her in a dress and I was pretty impressed. She welcomed him in and closed the door behind her. She had all the blinds closed so I don't know what actually happened, but he left the restaurant an hour later. What do you think they could have been doing in there the entire time? All alone, with the lights low?"

When Akane didn't answer, Nabiki said flippantly, "Oh, did I mention that after Ranma left, Ukyo came to close the door and the buttons of her dress were undone?"

Akane closed her eyes as the full implication of what her sister was telling her hit home. Nabiki had just confirmed her worst fears. She needed to be alone, she didn't want to break down in front of her sister for she would never hear the end of it.

"Can you please leave? I'd like to be alone," she said hoarsely.

"Oh come on, Akane! You don't know what happened, it could have been totally innocent," she replied, her tone implying she didn't believe that to be true.

"Please, can you just...go?"

Nabiki just rolled her eyes at her younger sister. "Geez," she said exasperatedly, "you take everything so seriously."

All of a sudden the pressure in Akane's head seemed to swell as she looked at her gleeful sister. Her sister who had just told her that the love of her life had been with another woman and it had made her happy to do it.

"I'm serious. You need to get out of my room."

"Stop being so uptight, Akane."

Said girl stood up and pointed to her door. "Get out, Nabiki," she growled.

"I have no idea why you are getting so upset."

Something inside Akane snapped.

"You want to know why I'm upset? Really? You come in here and accuse me of behaving inappropriately with Taro. Then you sit there and tell me that Ranma had been with Ukyo and you're smiling like that makes you happy." Akane said with disgust.

"Grow up, Sis. I was just trying to have a little fun."

"Fun? You think messing with my life is fun? Do you think it was fun for me when those boys attacked me every day?" Akane asked indignantly.

"I didn't cause that or anything else to happen to you. It's not my fault you are a magnet for crazy stuff," Nabiki snapped back.

"You're right, you didn't cause it. But in some cases, you made it worse. Selling pictures of me to Kuno and all the other boys at school, working them into a frenzy, made it worse.

"You want to know why I'm so upset? Maybe it's because you took bets on the hentai horde attacking me instead of doing anything to help me. Maybe it's because you 'borrowed' all my clothes and personal belongings without telling me and never gave any of it back, but you never shared anything with me. Maybe it's because you blackmailed Ranma and me whenever you could. Maybe it's because you pretended to be in love with Ranma and then tried to SELL HIM BACK TO ME. Maybe it's because you told everyone about the 'engagement ring' and helped destroy Aunty's house. Or maybe it's because you invited everyone to MY wedding so you could make a quick buck knowing they would wreck it! They wrecked the dojo which has been in our family for generations and you didn't care!

"Maybe because in the last two years, you have done NOTHING but think about yourself. About how YOU could use every opportunity to make YOU money. The ONLY person you care about is YOU. Does that answer your question?!" she screamed at her sister.

During Akane's tirade, Nabiki's eyes grew wide as saucers and her jaw dropped, forming a small o. Her sister had been mad at her before but she had never screamed at her like this. She tried to recover as quickly as possible, putting on an indifferent mask.

"I don't know what I did to make you hate me and to try to cause me so much pain," the petite martial artist added, her voice full of anguish.

"I don't hate you," she scoffed.

"Well, you sure as hell don't love me. Or even care about me. You know, if mom were alive, she would be disappointed in you. All mom cared about was family and all you care about is money."

Nabiki flinched at the statement.

The room filled with uncomfortable silence before Akane said, "Now, can you please just leave?"

Without responding, Nabiki turned around and slowly walked out of the room.

When the door closed, Akane threw herself onto her bed, overwhelmed. She could no longer hold back her tears as her emotions got the better of her. She curled up on her side and cried into her pillow, feeling completely devastated.

A/N: To all those Nabiki lovers out there, I'm sorry, but it had to be done. I hope we can still be friends.

Thank you, PepperonyOwl and alwaysZutarian, for your awesome help!

Original Publication Date: July 15, 2014

Revised: May 11, 2015