Another Rainy Day in Nerima Another Rainy Day in Nerima
Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ or any related characters in any way, shape or form.
Author's Notes: the last chapter got more reviews than any other chapter in the story, and the overwhelming majority of them were positive. The only ones that weren't were because the last chapter wasn't a Ranma-focused one. This is something I'm very happy about.
I may have to consider a 'spiritual sequel' examining What Ifs from the movies & later OAVS, because as of right now I have no immediate access to characters like Hinako, Natsume & Kurumi, or Lychee and the possibilities tied to them.
Ahye, I know that I'm skipping these stories somewhat, but that's because these are oneshots- it also leaves me with ample room to stretch out in should I decide to develop a full story from a given oneshot.
A number of people have expressed dislike of the fact that Soun Tendo got off scott-free when he is fully aware of Ryoga's curse. Now, don't get me wrong, I knew this fact and it's one of the more potent facts that contribute towards my disdain of this piece of human flotsam. However, there was no in-character way to make him pay for this; remember, the only way we viewers/readers know about Soun knowing the truth about P-chan is because we've seen the scene where Ryoga uses Soun's bath to change back into a human. Mousse deduced the truth about P-chan from observing him, and Soun never gives any hint that he is aware of the truth about the piglet. Akane blamed Ranma because, well, that's what she does, and the fact that Ranma is somehow involved in Ryoga's curse is a logical extrapolation from their vendetta.
On a final note, a few people have asked if Ranma has learned the Hidden Weapons style with the mirror: the answer is no, as he's only seen rudimentary fragments of the training, less than he's seen with any other technique he's learned. He could conceivably use the Eye to learn new techniques, but it's very tricky to orientate it towards that goal, as its purpose is something else.
Chapter 4: A Hard Sell
"So then, how about… a kiss?" Nabiki asked, and smirked to herself as Ranma visibly tensed with shock at her asking. The two teens had come to the rooftop of Furinkan High to secretly talk to each other. The subject? Nabiki's attempt to get Ranma to pay her to break up with him so that he could go back to Akane, something she had only gone for when Akane had proven too stubborn to fork over any money to return to the status quo.
"W-what?" Ranma finally managed to ask.
"Well, if we're not breaking up, we should seal it with a kiss." Nabiki answered smoothly. In the primary timestream, she had finished there, but here she decided to go a step further, that step putting things on an entirely different path. "You know, like you were so eager to do a couple of weeks ago?"
Ranma was caught off-guard by this. Hell, the last two days had been warped, even for his life. Akane had thrown a temper tantrum and called the engagement off- and Nabiki had stepped in to pick it up. She had been making Ranma's life hell by switching between flirting with him and trying to make money from him, and this event had seemed to compress both of those into a nutshell. Wait a second, when had he tried to kiss her? The only time he'd acted romantically towards her was when he'd been wearing that stupid Lady-Killer Bandaid thing… hang on, she'd been frightened out of her mind when he'd started flirting with her!
And that was when everything clicked into place; she had no romantic intentions with him whatsoever, she was just trying to get cash out of this whole wretched situation! He'd known she could be pretty rotten, but this was low even for her! She was obviously expecting him to freeze up, which would thus give her cause to demand even more money from him- likely making him out to be the villain in this mess while she was at it. He burned with the desire for revenge, but what could he do? He'd never be able to live with himself if he hit a non-combatant girl… and heaven knew what everyone else would do to him if he did that!
Then, a thought struck him: Nabiki had just asked him for a kiss, which she knew he would normally never have even considered delivering… which was why she had asked in the first place- she'd been scared of him when he'd been the one to act romantic. And that gave him a great idea for revenge; time to turn the tables on her…
"Okay, if that's what ya want, I'll kiss ya." Ranma said lightly.
While Ranma had been thinking, unnoticed by him, Nabiki had gone into her spiel about how Ranma was just toying with her affections, and she wasn't going to play his "sick little game" anymore, and demanding he pay her six thousand yen to break up. She had just finished as Ranma had developed his idea to pay her back, and was thus holding her hand out expectantly for her cash. It took a few seconds for Ranma's words to penetrate her conscious mind, but when that happened her eyes shot open and she tried to leap to her feet in shock, only to slip and fall over onto the roof. She paid her present position no mind, instead staring up at Ranma dumbfounded.
"What did you say!?" she yelped, words that, unbeknownst to either teen, were silently mouthed by a watching Akane. Ranma stepped forward, bent down silently and helped Nabiki to her feet, though he made no move to release her from the rather romantic position that ensued.
"Well, ya asked me for a kiss, and we are engaged, right? So I figured I should give ya a kiss." Ranma said, smiling at her. From an outsider's viewpoint (i.e. Nabiki and Akane) it looked as though he was genuinely happy at the thought of kissing Nabiki. In reality, he was smiling at the look of fear -quickly giving way to outright panic- on Nabiki's face. This would teach her to mess with him like that!
"Y-y-you can't be serious!" Nabiki gasped. Ranma simply beamed back at her, smirking inwardly.
"Why, Nabiki, have ya changed yer mind about this whole engagement thing?" Ranma sighed melodramatically. "An' I thought ya were different. Well, if ya really want me to go back to Akane…"
"No! I never said anything about that!" Nabiki blurted, her sudden fear that she wouldn't get any money out of this whatsoever momentarily blotting out her fright at Ranma actually acting romantic towards her of all people. Then she realized what she had just said, and that fear came back full-fold- increasing all the more when Ranma actually leaned his face in towards her, looking her right in the eyes as he did so.
"As ya wish." Ranma murmured. Now, normally, he never would have been able to anything remotely like this, at least partially because he would have realized what lay in the future. However, Ranma's emotions could override his self-preservation instincts (and, to his detriment, often had), and this was just such a case; Ranma was so ticked off at Nabiki, so caught up in his intentions for revenge, that he had managed to do something for her that Shampoo, Ukyo and Kodachi would have killed to be able to do: break through his fears of intimacy and actually initiate a kiss. Now, to be fair, it wasn't really much of a kiss- a swift, chaste, embarrassed pressing of his closed lips to hers, but it was more than Ranma had ever done for any other girl. After a moment, Ranma immediately released Nabiki and drew back from her as though she had been red-hot.
Nabiki was in no shape to notice, her mind having more or less shut down at having been actually kissed. For several seconds she stood there, before mental cogs interlocked and began to whir and click again. Robotically she moved several paces, then took off running down the steps and away from Ranma as fast as she could. Ranma blinked, and then smirked, unconsciously touching his fingers to his lips.
"That felt good." He spoke aloud. He was referring, of course, to the feeling of finally turning the tables on Nabiki, but to a listener, he was obviously referring to the kiss. At least, that was how Akane interpreted it.
Akane watched as Ranma walked away, eyes wide with disbelief, "No...he can't have...he actually kissed her..." Akane leaned against the wall, a strange feeling of fear welling up as the image of Ranma kissing Nabiki flashed before her eyes, could it be that she was going to lose Ranma to Nabiki? The fear spiked and tears came to Akane's eyes before she shook her head in denial, there was no way that Ranma had the romantic ability to do something like that, it had to be some trick by Nabiki! Anger buoying her back onto her feet, Akane stormed off. She'd show Nabiki that she wasn't fooled, no way!
Nabiki finally stopped running when she reached a relatively deserted part of the school ground, partially because she had to stop or she would have collapsed from exhaustion- she was no great shakes at physical exercise and she had just run faster, further and harder than she had in... well, years. After managing to inhale enough deep breathes to get her heartbeat back under control, she faced a nearby tree and slapped her cheeks twice to ensure she was awake.
"What the fuck just happened?" She spat, the fact she would swear a good example of just how unnerved she was. Who'd have ever though Ranma, Mr. Sexually Repressed, would be able to actually kiss a girl? And her of all people! She knew that she wasn't unattractive by any stretch, but she also was secure enough in her self-image to admit that she wasn't so hot when put next to Shampoo, Ukyo or Kodachi. Hell, the blue-haired Chinese girl was the only girl, out of all of those Ranma hung around with, even more stacked than Ranma's own girl form was- even Kasumi, a good three years the psuedo-girl's senior, wasn't as big as Ranma's girl form. So why on earth had he kissed her? Could he...?
"No! Get a grip Nabiki! You just... lost control of the situation, that's all. It was just a fluke. No way he'd have the guts to try something like that again- hell, never knew he had the guts to try it in the first place. Oh, he's gonna pay dearly for that! I'm going to make him beg to pay a mere ten thousand yen to break up with him!"
Her confidence restored, Nabiki turned and strode off towards the building as the end of break bell rang.
The rest of the school day passed by with little incident, though Ranma noticed that Akane was extremely quiet, not even attempting to hit him when Ukyo started talking to him. Eventually the school day ended and as Ranma and Akane left, they were joined by an equally quiet Nabiki, who refused to meet Ranma's eyes, which elicited a small spark of triumph while Akane seemed to go out of her way to ignore the both of them.
By the time the trio arrived back at the Tendo Dojo, the tension was thick enough to cut with a knife. Kasumi blinked in surprise when Ranma simply flopped down in front of the TV while Nabiki and Akane retreated to their rooms, "Oh my, now what could have happened to upset them?"
Inside the safety of her bedroom, Nabiki began running through her plan, 'Okay, today had to have been a fluke. All I have to do is turn on the charm again and I'll have him handing over his life savings and first born child to break up with me!" Smiling to herself, Nabiki lightly got out of her school clothes and into something a little more casual… and tight.
Ranma was calmly watching TV when he felt a pair of slim arms slither casually around his neck and down onto his shoulder, a familiar voice purring into his ear as metaphorical icy fingers began sliding up his spine and goosebumps pimpled his arms.
"Watcha watching Ranma?" Nabiki asked, smirking in the privacy of her head; this would make him back down.
Ranma mentally cursed; it figured that one performance wouldn't have put her off. If anything he was certain that Nabiki was going to try and wear him down with the flirting. For a brief moment Ranma contemplated simply paying up, but then he remember how flustered he had made Nabiki during school and decided on his course of action. Let the war of flirting begin…
Ranma smiled and tilted his head up to meet the smirking face of Nabiki, her eyes sharp and predatory, "Nothing interesting, now that you're here."
Nabiki's heart skipped a beat, ever so slightly, and Ranma's expression took on the same predatory nature as Nabiki's own had been at the sight of a slight twitch in Nabiki's eyes, and, to his surprise, the slightest hint of a blush.
When Genma and Soun walked into the living room after another day of trying to cheat each other at board games, the two men froze upon seeing Ranma in the living room with Nabiki all but sitting in his lap. The two were trying to be casual about it, but the air was practically crackling with tension.
Soun was about to step in, when he felt someone grab his sleeve and turned to find Akane standing there looking at the pair with a neutral expression, before she regarded her father with the same expression and shook her head. Soun blinked, glanced over at the two, and specifically at the (fake, if he was any judge) smile on Ranma's face before he glanced at Akane as if asking a question, to which his youngest simply nodded. Genma watched all this, then shrugged; at least his son was actually enjoying his rightful fiancée's company for once, so who was he to complain?
Dinner was by far the most bizarre experience that night.
"Mind passing the soy sauce Saotome?"
As Ranma did so, he found that meeting flirting with flirting was working rather well. Nabiki seemed to be retreating slightly, though he knew that she was far from done. Truth be told, there had been moments where she had managed to make him fall back as well. Still, if he could keep this up, then Ranma was certain Nabiki would cave. Hell, maybe she would actually offer to pay him to stop flirting with her. Of course, this would mean letting go of a fun new pastime for him but trade-offs have to happen. Besides, it'd be nice to have her pay him for once.
Nabiki meanwhile, was reeling from how well Ranma had responded to her flirting. This was not part of the plan! Ranma was a simpering jock who wouldn't know a romantic moment if it bit him on the butt! So how the hell was he keeping up with her? Desperately, she continued her 'assault', only for Ranma to riposte to every flirtation, every touch. It finally got the point where Akane suddenly shot up from her seated position, glowering so strongly with rage and the implication of violence that Nabiki found herself cringing back, just like Ranma was doing. Mysteriously, however, Akane didn't explode- instead she simply stormed off to the yard, where she began audibly hurling herself into one of her usual training sessions.
Both of the teens sighed loudly in relief; they had no idea how they had dodged that bullet, but they didn't intend to look a gift horse in the mouth. Neither of them tried to flirt again that night, as they didn't want to risk something like that happening again. Still, when each went to bed after dinner, both privately vowed that while this first battle had been a draw, they would be the one to win the war!
'Two days! Two days of him actually flirting back! When did that bastard grow some balls? Ugh, I gotta get him off of my hands, and quick, or I'm going to go nuts!' Nabiki thought furiously to herself, a faint blush of anger dusting her cheeks. Even trying things at school hadn't persuaded him to halt his own offensive- which meant that rumors were sweeping like wildfire. Nabiki had to do something- her entire reputation was being torn to shreds here!
Her blush grew slightly more perceptible as she passed by some teens whispering, and actually having the audacity to continue whispering despite the fact she was walking past them. And she knew all too well what they were whispering about. Enough was enough; she had to find Akane, and get her to take Ranma back! Things were so desperate, she was actually contemplating letting Akane have him for... she shuddered in equal parts horror, disgust and loathing... for free.
Nabiki finally managed to corner Akane during their lunchbreak and immediately launched into her spiel.
"Look, Akane, here's the deal- I know that you want Ranma back. And I'm willing to give him back- all I ask is that you pay me five hundred yen to cover any expenses that I incur in arranging the transfer." Nabiki wheedled.
"Look, Nabiki, you don't have to pretend any more." Akane said sadly, much to her elder sister's confusion. "I... I know that I was stupid, when it came to Ranma. I know I shouldn't have given him up like that... but you're my sister. I'm not going to hurt you by making you break up with the guy you... you love... just for my own selfish pride. You, you deserve some happiness." She continued, closing her eyes as a single tear trickled down her cheek.
Nabiki, to put it bluntly, was dumbstruck. Had Akane been eating her own cooking or something? There was no way she could believe that Ranma…! And her! The whole idea was absurd! Ranma was a stupid jock with a big ego and a bad case of foot-in-mouth- Nabiki was a modern girl, with no time for such stupid outdated concepts like honor or arranged marriages. Sure, the guy wasn't too bad looking... she quickly clamped a lid on that train of thought. It was time to bring out the biggest gun of all: The Truth.
"Whoa there, Akane, you got the wrong idea about me and Ranma- I'm not in love with him! Hell, I don't even like him! I took up the whole fiancée thing simply because I thought I could get at least one of you to pay me to break up- I expected everything to have gone back to normal by now. But I think Ranma must have gotten zapped with love magic again, because he started flirting back- I have no idea what he's up to, but I'm certainly not in love with him! Look, just give me four hundred yen and I'm sure I can get him to come back to you!" Nabiki finished, looking at Akane expectantly.
Akane stared at Nabiki and for a few moments there was nothing but silence before suddenly, she smirked sadly as though she had heard a joke, "You actually think that you can make him come back to me? Nabiki, I can't let you do that. Even if I took the engagement back, that jerk is still going to flirt with you and this time it'll be behind my back and everyone will make it out to be a big scandal." She shook her head, "I can't do that to you Nabiki, so just...just enjoy it okay?"
Nabiki felt control of the situation slip away. "No, wait, Akane, you don't understand! There's nothing going on between us! I swear I wouldn't deceive you like that!"
Akane frowned slightly, "Then just what is going on then Nabiki? Is this a prank you're playing on your gullible little sister? Or are you just in denial that you actually feel something for him? Or maybe you're actually telling the truth but frankly even if you were, I wouldn't take him back, not after everything that's happened, the rumors would be too much to deal with."
Nabiki's mouth opened and closed several times, but no words came forth. She knew her sister could be blind to reality on occasion, even paranoid at times, but never had that factor actually worked against her. All she could do was stare dumbstruck at Akane, as if trying to convince her to see sense with her expression alone.
Akane regarded Nabiki with a sense of calm that she actually felt. Finally she stepped around Nabiki as though making to leave before she turned to her elder sister, "I hope you can make it work out better than I did." With that, Akane started walking away from Nabiki.
Nabiki's heart plummeted- she had to make Akane see sense! She lunged forward and grabbed Akane's shoulder. "Akane, listen to me!"
Akane's hand whipped around and there was a loud crunch as Nabiki could only stare in horror at her younger sister's fist planted squarely in the concrete only a few centimeters from her head. Akane shook her head slowly as her body shivered slightly, "Don't, Nabiki...just...don't...please."
Nabiki simply whimpered once, horror and disbelief overwhelming her conscious mind as Akane withdrew her fist, shrugged off Nabiki's hand and walked away. In her wake, Nabiki promptly fainted, having overloaded on the reality of the situation.
"Damn it! Damn it! DAMN IT! Stupid, blind, idiotic...!" Nabiki voiced a scream of frustration and hurled a nearby garbage can further down the alley in which she was venting her fury. Like an animal she lashed out blindly, screaming and swearing and battering futilely at her surroundings until her rage was spent and she was gasping for breath and calmness. Finally, she drew herself upright, draped herself in the tattered remnants of her pride, and stalked off- fine then, if Akane was going to be an idiot about this, then she really had only one choice left. There was no way in hell that she was going to remain engaged to Ranma, and if she knew Akane foisting him off onto Kasumi was now impossible- Akane would undoubtedly tell their elder sister, and maybe even their father, that Nabiki and Ranma were now in love with each other. And they would believe her, just like they always did, which meant that she wouldn't be able to transfer the engagement to Kasumi.
So, her only real option was to sell off her engagement to Ranma to one of his other fiancées, which would solve both her problems at once: getting Ranma off of her hands, and getting the money she so craved. Now, all she had to do was find a way to let her 'customers' know what was going on...
As she left the alley, she noticed a familiar face; the pint-sized mutate manservant of the Kuno estate, Sasuke Sarugakure. Smirking to herself, good humor beginning to re-infuse her being, she approached the diminutive ninja.
"Sasuke," she said, catching his attention.
"Ah, yes, lady Nabiki?" He humbly replied, bowing formally to her.
"How would you like to do a little job for me?" Nabiki asked. Seeing Sasuke tense, she hastened to alleviate his worries, lest he try and flee- pitiful as he was by Ranma's standards, the midget martial artist was still faster and stealthier than Nabiki by a great margin. "No, it's nothing that'll get you in trouble- in fact, this might make your mistress happy. Very happy indeed."
"Y-you're sure about that, lady Nabiki?" Sasuke asked. This sounded suspicious, but he lived to serve the Kuno family, and making Kodachi happy would make him happy. Not least of all because it would mean less pain from her.
Nabiki's grin widened. 'Hook, line and sinker…' "Now, listen; I need you to talk to Kodachi, as well as Shampoo and even Ukyo. Tell them to come to this cafe-" she rattled off the address of one of her favorite eating establishments "as I have something to talk to them about. Oh, and tell them to bring cash. I don't deal with credit."
Sasuke looked puzzled at that, but he nodded, bowed again, then vanished in an eyeblink.
When the time came, three girls arrived in front of a cafe, and they were surprised and not exactly happy to see each other.
"What are Spatula Girl and Ribbon Girl doing here?"
"I could ask you the same question."
"Hmmph, obviously you peasants received the same message as myself from that mercenary Tendo. She could have at least made sure that I did not have to interact with the likes of you."
Before an argument or worse could break out, Nabiki arrived, "Ah, good, you're all here. Come on; let's get this over with." The three ladies glanced at each other for a moment, before shrugging and following Nabiki inside the cafe.
Sitting down at a table away from the other customers but relatively close to the entrance, Nabiki started off her plan, "Right then, let me be blunt. I've had enough of being engaged to Ranma and now I've decided to cut my losses and sell him to you...for a reasonably competitive price of course."
The three groaned, so this was why Sasuke had delivered a stipulation to bring cash, but the thought of actually purchasing the engagement to Ranma was very tempting, so they waited for Nabiki to state the price, figuring that this would likely be a bidding war.
"So then ladies, shall we start the bidding at say... ten-thousand yen?" The three on the other side of the table sputtered in shock at the huge price Nabiki was declaring as a starting value, the girl noticing, "Come on now, this is a rare opportunity and a valuable one at that. After all, whoever wins this gets not only Ranma, but the fact that they are his real fiancée and the others get left in the dust."
"I can't believe this!" Ukyo declared. "How can you trivialize our feelings for Ranma by asking us to pay money for him like... like... like some common streetwalker!"
"She right! Love is something too, too precious to put against money. Love is something all womans search for, that womans can cherish for whole life." Shampoo proclaimed dramatically, making elaborate gestures for emphasis and earning motions of agreement from Ukyo and disdain from Nabiki.
"And so speak the peasants who can no more afford to pay than they can hope to improve themselves." Noted Kodachi smugly. "I will pay fifteen thousand yen for my darling Ranma."
"What!" Yelled the other two girls simultaneously, prompting Nabiki to smirk; that seemed to have been the hook that was needed.
"Well, if that's the way ya want to play it, then fine- I'll bid sixteen thousand!" Ukyo declared.
"Shampoo pay seventeen and half thousand!"
And thus the bidding began in earnest. But, from the outset, it was clear that Nabiki was trying to prolong the bidding as much as possible, and the fact that, unlike her usual professional demeanor, she was blatantly treating her engagement to Ranma as something to be sold without any regard- and, by extension, treating Ranma as though he was simply a piece of meat to be tossed to hungry dogs.
This, coupled with the realization that they were those hungry dogs lit a spark in their hearts. An angry one. Finally, Ukyo had enough, both with the extortionist amounts that were building up from the 'bidding' and the cavalier way Nabiki was treating this event.
"You know something just occurred to me, sugar? How is Ranma going to take being sold off like a cheap necklace? Did you tell him what you were planning?"
Nabiki snorted, "Like I'm going to let him ruin any more chances for me to get a profit out of this sinking boat. I don't give a damn what Ranma thinks because quite frankly, he deserves this, all of this, just like he deserves whichever one of you wins so long as you pay up."
Kodachi then, surprisingly, leaned back and crossed her arms, "Then I do not believe that I will be bidding any further amounts, because, quite frankly, your lack of professionalism this day, Nabiki Tendo, about this farce of an auction is a cause for concern." Ukyo and Shampoo nodded their agreement and that was enough to set Nabiki off.
"What the hell are you talking about? Of course I'm bring professional! I want him out of my life so he can stop kissing me!" There was a gasp from the three at that, and Nabiki's hands flew up to her mouth, eyes wide in horror at her slip.
It was impossible: Nabiki, getting kissed by Ranma? But that was impossible! Ranma never showed any sort of romantic intentions with them...not any one of them but instead he kissed Nabiki... and then flirted with her. Could it be that Ranma actually liked Nabiki and only now began expressing his feelings? And she was going to sell him just like that?
Fuel dumped on the spark and Nabiki saw the way their thoughts were turning. Before they could react, the girl was out the door and running for her life. Several seconds later the entrance of the cafe exploded and three very ticked off girls were in hot pursuit, mad enough to maim, just to start.
Ranma, at this time, was walking down the street, humming to himself as he did so. It felt good to be the manipulator instead of the manipulated for once, and he was sure that Nabiki would cave in soon. He was frankly kind of surprised she hadn't given up already; who knew she was so stubborn? He was jolted from his introspection by the sudden sound of a girl screaming.
Nabiki's lungs burned and her legs ached from the speed with which she was running, but she didn't dare slow down for even a second, as she could hear her pursuers catching up, shrieking like demons out for blood as they chased her down. She had to keep going, but her body was wailing at her- she couldn't keep this up, but if she fell she'd die. It hurt, but she couldn't...
"Come back here, you little witch!" Ukyo shouted, hurling some of her spatulas at Nabiki; though they failed to inflict any real damage to her, they did manage to knock her off-balance and she promptly fell on her face. She pushed herself slowly up with her arms, looking back at the approaching girls with unmasked fear in her eyes as they grinned wickedly and raised their chosen weapons to strike.
"Die!" They shouted as one, and as one they struck.
Nabiki screamed, closing her eyes so that she wouldn't have to see her death... but though there was the sound of flesh being struck, she felt no pain. Cautiously, she opened one eye, then both of them flew open as she gaped in shock.
"Ranma?!" She squeaked, with her three attackers echoing her in shock. Ranma quivered slightly, having taken a simultaneous blow from Kodachi's clubs, Shampoo's chúi, and Ukyo's spatula, but managed to shake them free and look each of the other fiancées squarely in the eye.
"What's going on here?" He demanded.
"Step out of the way, Ranma-darling; this deceitful little harridan needs to be punished." Kodachi commanded in an imperious tone.
"And let you beat a weakling like Nabiki to a pulp? Not a chance." Ranma retorted, inspiring equal parts disbelief (was he really intent on protecting her?) and anger (who was he calling a weakling?) from Nabiki.
"Is rumor true then? Has Ranma really fallen in love with despicable mercenary girl?" Shampoo demanded.
"Have you lost your mind? Me, in love, with her?" Ranma shouted, pointing at Nabiki for emphasis, prompting an unconscious displeased expression from her. "This was all her dumb idea, I was just along for the ride. But anyway, I can't just stand back and let you guys beat her to death!"
"We weren't going to kill her! Just… put her in the hospital for a while." Ukyo pointed out, a hint of meekness entering her tone.
"And how is that any better?" Ranma snapped.
"Why is you protecting her? She try to sell you off!" Shampoo asked angrily.
"I was kind of expecting her to try that, though I admit I never thought she'd try that with you guys- I'd have thought her focus would be on selling me back to Akane…" Ranma commented, scratching his chin thoughtfully.
"Oh, so that was your game, was it? Swindle us out of extortionate amounts of money, then hand Ranma over to your miserable little sister, you lying, cheating piece of…" Ukyo snarled, her aura beginning to burn as she tightened her grip on her spatula, the others likewise readying their own melee weapons.
"No I wasn't! The deal was legit!" Nabiki cried out, instinctively cowering for protection behind Ranma. "Akane doesn't want Ranma anymore- she's convinced herself that it just won't ever work!"
There was a moment of eerie silence, as though the entire world had simply stopped moving. Hesitantly, as the implications of what she had just said sank in, Nabiki looked up at Ranma's face. It vanished a split second after she did so, but she could have sworn she saw an expression of dismay and heartbreak upon Ranma's face. But it evidently had been there, given how the other girls reacted.
"Well isn't that typical! We give you all the love we can, and you still mope over that violent, arrogant, incompetent girl who hits you all the time and has never once claimed that she loves you! What is wrong with you!?" Ukyo shouted angrily.
Nabiki could practically feel Ranma's spine bristling as he responded to that. "Akane might be a violent tomboy, but at least she never hits anyone who can't take it! And what are you talking about, 'giving me love'? When do you ever give me anything besides trouble?"
"Why you ungrateful jackass! We cook food for you, try to spend time with you, and let you know all about our feelings for you, yet you never give us so much as the time of day in return! We give and give and give, and you just take it all and shove us away so you can go running back to Akane." She spoke Akane's name in a voice filled with bitterness and mockery.
"You don't know anything about me- how can you say that you love me?!" Ranma snapped back.
"We know nothing about you because you won't tell us anything! It's not lack of interest that keeps us from knowing anything about you; it's the fact you don't want to share anything of yourself with anyone other than Akane! And you're really in position to talk- just what do you know about us, huh? Come on, we were childhood friends before this whole engagement business- what's my favorite color? My favorite food? What do I like to do as hobbies? Well?"
Ranma was silent for a minute, clearly unable to answer. Ukyo smirked in dark triumph.
"Now that I think about it, maybe you and Nabiki deserve each other- you're both heartless, greedy, manipulative assholes!" With that, she sheathed her combat spatula on her back, turned around and strode viciously away.
Shampoo was next to follow in her footsteps. "You no is man Shampoo fell in love with. Not now." She told Ranma over her shoulder.
"Ranma, I believe it would be best if we did not speak again." Kodachi told him haughtily, then strode off with her nose in the air.
Ranma simply stood there as the three walked away for several seconds, then Nabiki saw him slump forwards with a glassy emptiness in his eyes. Nabiki stepped forward and reached a hand out, "Ranma?" Her hand touched his shoulder and Nabiki jerked back as Ranma dropped to the ground in a faint.
"Ranma!" Nabiki found herself crying in concern. She rushed over to Ranma's side, grabbing his shoulders to stop his head hitting the ground. She knelt with the fainted teen in the alleyway, concern for his well-being overriding her usual attitude.
In the Prime timestream, Ranma could understand, at least in theory, what his counterpart was going through. The sad truth of the matter was that Ukyo, Shampoo and even Kodachi comprised the vast majority of his social circle; other than Hiroshi and Daisuke, whom he wasn't particularly close to anyway, most of the kids his age avoided him. With them apparently hating him now, and with Akane no longer wanting anything to do with him, the Ranma of this timestream was alone. He wondered for a second how it was that this timestream managed to flow in such a manner that its Ranma did end up in a relationship with Nabiki, and promptly returned his full attention to the Eye as it showed him a point later in that day, after a somber dinner at the Tendo Dojo…
Normally, Nabiki would never have dreamed of climbing onto the roof. It wasn't that she was scared of heights or anything, it was just that there didn't really seem to be any point in it- even tomboyish Akane hadn't bothered climbing there when she was younger. But things were definitely not normal around the Tendo dojo, and the fact she had actually taken the ladder and climbed up onto the roof was the least strange thing to happen that day. Standing up cautiously -she didn't fear heights but she didn't want to fall; once that week was more than enough, thank you- she made her way hesitantly towards the hunched form of Ranma Saotome, now 'officially' her fiancé. As though he had sensed her presence (and she wondered if maybe he had), he shifted and turned to face her, his expression still that unsettlingly calm mask that it had been in since he'd regained consciousness… wait… was that a tear she saw glinting in the moonlight?
"Hello, Nabiki. Come to hurt me more?"
It was harder to say what shocked Nabiki more; Ranma's choice of words or his tone, which mingled acceptance with, perhaps, eagerness. She stared at him in open shock and horror, prompting Ranma to sneer at her.
"What? Too lazy to finish it?"
"What are you talking about?" Nabiki asked in disbelief.
"Well, you've already ruined my life for some lousy money, I figured you'd want to finish things. Though how even you could make my life any more miserable beats me." Ranma replied drolly.
"Have you gone insane?! I did nothing of the sort!" Nabiki answered, just barely managing to keep her voice down so that they weren't overheard by the others inside.
"No? Then why do all of this?" Ranma asked, a tinge of anger infecting his words, Nabiki flinching back. "But then, you don't understand at all what you've done ta me, do ya?" Ranma inhaled slowly, then looked at Nabiki, his mask cracking so that she could see sorrow in his eyes. "Do you know why I never picked one of the girls chasin' me?"
Nabiki shook her head, deciding not to answer in hopes of drawing out just why Ranma was so upset by this latest development with the other girls.
"Because choosing one of them meant losing the others." Ranma replied simply. "…You don't understand, do you? Let me ask you something; how many friends do I have, Nabiki? How many people my age can I spend time with?"
He waited, and when no answer was forthcoming, smirked bitterly. "That's right. Akane, Ukyo, Shampoo, even Kodachi- they were the only ones I could even consider friends. Oh, there's Ryoga; he's my rival so I guess you could call him my friend, but how often is he around, eh? As for Hiroshi and Daisuke… those two attached themselves to me shortly after I started going to Furinkan, yeah, but I wouldn't call them friends. And now, 'cause of you, I got nobody."
"Why?" Nabiki asked hesitantly. "Why can't you go and make up with Ukyo or the others? I mean, yes, I have to admit that Akane is a hopeless case, but surely the others…? After all, I'm not going to hold to this stupid engagement our fathers cooked up-"
"It's not the engagement that's the problem." Ranma interjected, anger translating into sorrow once again. "I couldn't make it up to those three, not after what they did."
"What they did?" Nabiki asked in confusion.
"…I guess you wouldn't know. A martial artist is not supposed to prey upon the weak. I couldn't be friends with someone who tried to murder a non-martial artist… even if you were the intended victim. Protecting those who can't protect themselves is one of the basic creeds of Anything-Goes Martial Arts- I couldn't just crawl back to them because I'm lonely, not after what they tried to do."
Nabiki could only stare at Ranma as the realisation of what he had just said, of what she had done, sank in, guilt spreading its slimy tentacles into the cracks it left behind. Ranma shuffled around so that he was no longer facing towards Nabiki.
"Ranma…? I… I'm-" Nabiki hesitantly ventured.
"Just leave me alone." Ranma said sullenly. "I saved your life, but that don't make us friends."
"Maybe not… but that doesn't mean I don't want to be friends." Nabiki commented.
That got Ranma's attention, but as he whipped around he saw Nabiki climbing back down to the ground. Had he imagined that? Had he really heard what she had said?
In the Prime timestream, Ranma-Prime barely needed the Eye to deduce what would happen from this event. Guilty at what her actions had cost him, Nabiki tried to become Ranma's friend. Ranma, lonely as he was, accepted that friendship. This the Eye confirmed, though Ranma-Prime noticed that it took some time for the relationship, and its attendant timestream, to truly stabilise and he guessed that few if any other timestreams with Nabiki would develop into similar relationships. Having completed his viewing of this timestream, the Eye returned to its display of mists as he wondered where to direct his attention next…
And that's this chapter finished at last. Votes will be tallied from this episode and added to those from the previous chapter to determine which oneshot will be next on the list. Additionally, in other news, I've made a forum to accompany this story; Suggest timelines to view, vote on what oneshots should be expanded into full stories, discuss ideas for said timelines, and give me your opinions on how Ranma-Prime might act once the storm is over and he resumes his life. Anyway, here's a complete list of as-yet untouched oneshot concepts to vote for- all of them will be done eventually, but the more you vote for one, the sooner it'll show up. Also, Gideon020 and I have a special chapter planned for once we've written at least one oneshot for each of the 'canon' non-Akane matchups (Nabiki, Kasumi, Ukyo, Shampoo, Kodachi).
What If…
-Soun hadn't interrupted Ranma flirting with Kasumi while he was wearing the Lady-Killer Bandaid
- Akane's hose pushed Ranma out of the ring in his battle with Kodachi
-While Shampoo & Ukyo were fighting over the enchanted Ranma during the Love Bandage fiasco ("Ranma the Lady-Killer"), Ranma tried to stop things by signing both of their marriage licenses while they're distracted
- Nabiki never found out about Ranma's revenge plan and went on the date he asked her on instead of sending Akane
- Ukyo managed to actually get her "talk" with Ranma during the Great Girly-Girl Gambit episode
-Ranma and Shampoo failed to kiss before Maomolin rang the bell for the 108th time
-Kodachi snuck back to the Tendo house that first night and found the still-paralyzed Ranma abandoned on the roof
-Ranma found out how hurt Ukyo was after "Swimming with Psychos"
-Shampoo resisted the urge to go back and fight with Ukyo during the hotsprings race, so she and Ranma won the trip to Jusenkyo
-Ranma told Shampoo he loved her during the Reversal Jewel
-Ranma blurted out to Akane that when he said "I love you", he thought she was Nabiki
-During the Ten-Year Sauce mess, Ukyo actually threw away the sauce like she said she was going to do
-Shampoo snapped her fingers before the cat sneezed when using the Kirahashi Mushroom
-Kaori won the Takeout Race
-Ryoga decided to try and hook Ranma & Shampoo up when Shampoo first came to Nerima
-Shampoo figured out Ranma was lying about really being a girl instead of going back to China
-Shampoo thought to get Ranma to sign her marriage license in secret during the Red Thread of Fate affair, so they were still legally married after Akane cut the thread at the last second
-Ranma thought to ask Shampoo to have their date after he beat the Dojo Destroyer
-When Ranma ate Akane's love-predicting sakura-mochi, an X appeared on his face
-When Tofu knocked out Ranma's legs, Akane hadn't given Ranma a piggyback
-When Ranma beat Ling-ling & Lung-lung, one of them replaced Shampoo as his Amazon bride
-Ranma kissed Shampoo back when she gave him the "Kiss of Marriage"