A/N: This story has been the most popular one I've written to date. For days after the first chapter hit FFNet, I'd have around twenty new pieces of mail when I got up in the morning, all of it reviews, alerts, and favs. So, here's the next chapter. One reminder: it's been two years since the start of the manga, or a little over one year since Jusendo. It's fall; Nabiki's a college freshman, and Ranma and Akane are high school seniors.

Nabiki wandered sleepily down the hallway. That morning, like most, she woke up at a rate of about ten percent per ten minutes. That was the nice thing about college— while she got up early to enjoy Kasumi's breakfast, she didn't have class until two hours later than high school started, allowing her to veg and watch television for a while.

Wandering into the furoba, she grabbed her toothbrush and started making herself human. The house shook as Ranma or his father hit a wall, or the roof... it was hard to know, really... In any event, they were up and training as usual. The thought of Ranma reminded Nabiki of the previous day's events. Spitting in the sink, she leaned close to the mirror, examining her face closely. Leaning down, she rummaged under the sink for her makeup. Even though Ranma had seen her every morning for over two years now, she still wanted to look decent for him, given their new status.

"Go get him, tigress," she said to her reflection, heading for the door.

In the washitsu, she found Ranma, in girl form, walking in from outside. The redhead shook her arms, sending a splattering of water from her wet sleeves. Nabiki giggled. She walked over to her female fiancée. "Morning, Ranma-baby," she said, holding her arms up as if expecting a hug. Ranma held her hands up. "Easy, I'm soaking wet here," she replied, as a drops of water spattered the floor.

Nabiki eyed her up and down. "Need a hand getting out of those wet clothes?" she asked slyly. Ranma reddened while Nabiki giggled. She put her hands on Ranma's shoulders and leaned in for a quick kiss on the lips. "I'll be here after you change," she said sweetly. Ranma, still blushing and now smiling from the kiss, nodded shyly and hurried off in the direction of the furoba. As she left, she passed Akane, who had been watching from the doorway.

Akane came in, sitting roughly at the table, fuming. She'd been up late the night before, and, running into Kasumi in the kitchen, had learned of the new arrangement. It had made her angry enough that she'd barely slept, and she was still stewing. Nabiki sat opposite her, absentmindedly turning the television on and flipping the channel. After a moment, she became aware of a pair of eyes burning a hole in the back of her head. Turning, she found Akane staring daggers at her.

"What?"

"If you think you're going to get any money out of me, you're dreaming. I don't want him back. Okay?"

Nabiki leaned on the table. "You're not liable to believe me for a while anyway, but I'll just say it. You can't have him back. Last time this happened, I only thought of him as your fiancée. Since then, I realized that he'd make a better husband than anyone else I could ever hope to find. You didn't appreciate what you had, so... your loss."

Akane's eyes narrowed. "You're kidding, right? He has all these girls hanging off of him, he leads them on, takes their food..." She looked at the ceiling, fuming. "He ate everything they brought him, never once ate what I made for him..."

"Now that's a load of crap, Akane. If I remember right, he went through hell finding some of your cookies that Kodachi Kuno stole. And then he ate them, and was in pain for days!"

"What's your point?"

"That he eats what those girls bring him because he knows it's good. He ate what you brought him, too, just slowly to make sure it wasn't toxic. And if you'd ever started making food that wasn't toxic, he might have wolfed it down."

Akane started to clench her fists.

Nabiki continued. "Besides, Ranma-baby's just showing how smart he is. Those girls think they can win him with free food. Why run them off? Then he'd just be out the free food. If I had guys showering me with gifts, you can bet I'd bat my eyelashes at them, too. If anything, it shows that Ranma has a keen business sense."

Akane pointed. "Ha! You think they're just around because of the free food? They rub all over him! He gets off on it! He's a pervert!"

Nabiki turned back to the TV. "You know, Akane... if you would've paid the slightest bit of attention, things might have worked out between you two. How is it that I, merely his future sister-in-law until yesterday, noticed how uneasy he looked when Shampoo rubbed on him, and you never saw it? How sad is that?"

Akane reddened in anger, crushing the edge of the table in her hands. Ranma entered, now male and dressed in his usual attire. Nabiki motioned for him to sit behind her. He did so, and she leaned back against his chest. Ranma blushed, unsteadily sliding his arms around her. She turned her head and gave him a slow kiss, one that sent the typically shy boy's heart racing.

Of course, anyone present could see from Nabiki's smile that it touched her quite a bit, too.

Akane started to quiver with anger, watching as Nabiki laid her head on his chest. Unable to control herself anymore, she slammed her fist on the table, causing the lovebirds to jump. "Would you two quit?" she shouted. "She's just using you to get money from me, Ranma, and you're dumb enough to fall for it!"

Nabiki fixed her in a gaze. "I admit that the first time this happened," she said plainly, "that's exactly what I was doing. This time is different and I just told you that a minute ago. I really like Ranma as a girl likes a boy, and you can't have him back. Not for any amount of money. I mean it." She nuzzled into Ranma's neck, deepening both his blush and Akane's anger.

Kasumi picked that moment to enter with a tray of food. She first noticed Akane, who was on the verge of hyperventilating. "Akane?" she said simply. "What's the matter?" Then, she noticed Ranma and Nabiki's current position. She smiled as she set the tray down. "How cute," she said quietly. She looked at Akane and quickly dropped the smile from her face. "I'll just go get the orange juice," she said quickly, hurrying back towards the kitchen. Nabiki snickered.

Just then, Soun and Genma entered, the latter still in panda form following his morning sparring session. Soun beamed at the pair. "Ah," he said, "it looks like the happy couple is still happy, eh, Saotome?" Genma wrote out a sign: "TOUCHING." Kasumi returned with a pitcher, setting it on the table. She looked at the furry Saotome. "Will people food be fine, Saotome-sama," she asked, "or should I get some bamboo?" Genma grabbed his sign again. "THIS IS JUST FINE, KASUMI," he replied.

A half hour later, Ranma was heading for the door, Akane having left for school early (after reaching her vomit limit watching Nabiki and Ranma). Walking with him to the door, Nabiki wrapped him in a hug, giving him another slow kiss, and taking the time to relish the feeling of pressing her body against his. She slid a hand down to give his butt a squeeze, making the boy jump. "I'll never understand my sister," she muttered. "Even if I couldn't stand your personality, I'd at least enjoy the goods. Sometimes I think she's a closet lesbian." Giving him another quick kiss, she waved goodbye as he walked through the gate.

Leaving, Ranma looked back to watch her until she was out of sight. This was definitely not something he was used to. Sure, he had girls throwing themselves at him, but they were varying degrees of crazy. Ukyo, the least crazy, had been a friend for too long for him to seriously consider anything beyond friendship. Besides, she seemed to picture him in the child-raising role as she ran her restaurant, and he had no interest in putting martial arts in the back seat. The other two girls, Shampoo and Kodachi... they were totally insane. Both had used potions on him, and that wasn't something he'd ever consider looking past. Crazy doesn't go away with time. And also, there was their families... one was a Chinese Amazon and the other was a Kuno. He wasn't sure which was worse.

His mind drifted back to Nabiki. It was truly nice to see the real her. Not that she'd always been completely guarded— she spent plenty of time doing things other than extorting money. In fact, he always knew when she was up to something, because of her hammy acting. In those cases, he'd just roll his eyes and start doing the math in his head. Of course, those types of things had eased off since the failed wedding. He didn't know if it was because she felt bad over the mess that she caused, or if she was just busy with being a high school senior. Ever the business lady, she'd successfully ran for senior council as treasurer. Ranma didn't even consider such a thing his senior year year, thinking that college admissions would be hard enough. Akane had run for president... and lost. Trying to help her work through her anger by sparring with her earned him a trip to Doctor Tofu's clinic.

No good deed goes unpunished.

Over the last year, Nabiki had grown up a lot, and Ranma could see it. She seemed to consider her old money-making games as child's play, instead watching the stock market and working herself half to death on college admissions. Her work had paid off, earning her a scholarship to Tōkyō University. Ranma paused at that thought. She had seemed awfully happy when he'd told her she did a nice job. It was at the congratulatory dinner that Kasumi had made, and he was only being nice, but she'd seemed genuinely pleased.

Approaching the gates at Furinkan, he slowed his pace, seeing a crowd waiting for him. He was quickly mobbed. Hiroshi and Daisuke were at the front. "Is it true?" Hiroshi asked. Daisuke leaned close. "Did you really dump Akane for her sister?" he asked. Ranma stepped back. "Well, not exactly..." he said. "I didn't really dump her for anybody... Nabiki asked me..."

Hiroshi cut him off. "So wait... the part about Akane being single... that's true?"

Ranma rolled his eyes. "Yes."

Cheers and cries of joy erupted from the crowd, as the boys sprinted for the building, undoubtedly planning to seek out Akane. "What is wrong with all the guys at this school?" Ranma wondered aloud. He thanked the Kami that Kuno had graduated. Barely, but with the amount of money that his family had, it didn't matter. He didn't know if Kuno had gone on to college, and if so, where... just as long as he was out of sight. Sadly, he'd likely be back again once he heard that Akane was available...

That evening, Nabiki sat on the train, heading back to Furinkan. It was nice to think that she hadn't used any of her energy eyeballing the guys. She'd been hoping to find a husband at college, but the pickings were slimmer than she'd expected— apparently, all of the cute guys had picked a different college. Perhaps it was karma getting back at her for her old ways. Now, though, it didn't matter. She chuckled... by seizing an opportunity to make a wise investment, she'd simplified her life. Textbook business wranglings.

She was hoping she could get Ranma to go to Tōkyō U, too. She made a mental note to talk to him about it. He always seemed ambivalent on the subject; Akane had been making plans, but Ranma seemed to blow her off when she brought the subject up. Then again, Akane was going to school for acting, which meant there was little chance that they'd have spent much time together if they were at the same school. On the other hand, a sensei should get an education degree, and what better place than Tōkyō U?

Nabiki had actually recommended Akane learn English and go to school in the U.S. to learn acting. After all, she'd said, all a Japanese girl had to do to become an actress in the U.S. was to take her clothes off. Ranma, not thinking before he spoke, wondered aloud how a movie with a naked Akane could ever turn a profit, which lead to a headsplitting hammer blow. She still felt a little bad for getting him pounded.

She thought back to last year, time spent in high school and time spent around Ranma. Around the beginning of the school year, Ranma and Akane were still a little nervous around echother from the whole died-in-his-arms-came-back-to-life-almost-got-married thing. Then, they seemed to go back to their old ways, but the little bit of affection that you'd occasionally see started to appear less and less. She'd thought that Akane's jealousy had gotten worse; it constantly seemed like she was ever quicker to pounce on Ranma when a crazy fiancée came around. In any event, they looked less like quarreling lovers, and more like two people who really couldn't stand one another, though Akane seemed to be generating most of the anger.

She remembered the first time she had feelings for Ranma. It was Christmas the previous year, her last one in high school. It was the big Christmas party in the dojo, like they had every year. Ranma had bought Akane a few things, and it seemed like he'd done all right. Unlike previous years, Nabiki hadn't planned to rake in cash at Ranma's expense; aside from feeling like those kinds of money games were beneath her, she'd already sent Tōkyō U her tuition money, and was pleased to see that she'd saved well more than she'd end up needing. With all the work involved in college admissions, skipping the drama at the dojo was a way of taking a rest.

Nonetheless, his other fiancées were hellbent on spending some alone time with him. Ukyo, Kodachi, and Shampoo showed up nicely dressed, perfumed, and otherwise well prepared for seducing. Ranma had found himself cornered by Kodachi; he'd manged to escape her wandering hands, but it had taken him long enough that an angry Akane accused him of wrongdoing and bounced one of her presents off of his forehead. Annoyed, he'd wound up alone on the balcony outside the bedrooms.

That was where she'd noticed him... heading to her room to try on a sweater someone had given her, she saw him through the door. For a while before that, she'd felt a bit bad for him when he got malleted. Even before the whole Jusendo fiasco, she used to shake her head as Akane flattened him for something that wasn't his fault, but since then, it had become more common. Wanting a little time quieter than the party would've afforded, she wandered to the balcony.

They'd had a simple conversation, discussing the school year and how the party was going. It was enlightening, though... Ranma had seemed genuinely interested in her progress in college applications, and when she spoke badly of her singing at karaoke, he replied, "don't feel bad... at least you were on key, which is more than you could say for either of the Kunos." She got a laugh out of that, and as she looked in his eyes, she realized how sweet the real Ranma was. After that, she made a point to treat him not just as Akane's boyfriend, but as a personal friend, stopping to talk to him when she saw him around the house or at school. Before long, their conversations became more friendly than most he had with Akane.

Now, it was almost a year beyond that. While they'd been friends, the more his relationship with Akane went down the tubes, the more she sympathized. And the more she sympathized, the more she started to like him— more than as a friend. When her family threw her a graduation party, Ranma and Akane were on edge, but clearly trying not to argue for her sake. She appreciated that from both of them, but she was also crushing on him enough that keeping her cool demeanor was requiring a little work. She'd made a point to ask him for a dance, something that made he and Akane both turn red, albeit for different reasons. She didn't pick the last dance, of course; she wanted to leave him open for Akane, not that there was much chance of them dancing together (and they didn't). She instead spent that last dance with a guy who had no chance and knew it, but it didn't matter... she'd already danced with the guy she liked.

Nabiki smiled at the memory as she stared out the window. Tōkyō whizzed past. Glancing at her watch, she grabbed her portable radio from her bag and flipped it on as the business news came on. She grabbed a notebook and opened it; it had become a habit to make stock market predictions, and now was the time to see how she'd done.

She looked at the first part she'd written. Toyota's sales figures had been announced earlier; there'd been a decline in commercial shipping, which she predicted would mean decreased sales over the previous quarter. Stock prediction: a decrease of about ten percent, and equal decreases in the stocks of several of their suppliers. She listened to the radio: Toyota, down five hundred yen to 6,500. She smiled. Her second prediction was increased sales numbers for a handful of the electronics giants; word underground was that portable phones were expected to become the rage within the next five years. Four of them were announced— two increased, the other two saw little change. She shrugged. 'They'll go up soon enough,' she thought.

The broadcast ended and she turned of the radio. Looking back out the window, she couldn't help but grin. She'd make herself rich soon enough. Aside from having a knack for investing, with her business knowledge, the dojo would become the biggest in Tōkyō. Here she sat, in love and certain to live comfortably for the rest of her life. It was the happiest she'd been in a long time. She looked at the streets of Tōkyō. It felt like they were all hers.

A few minutes later, the train pulled into her station. Rising with the handful of passengers getting off there, she headed for the exit. Stepping off onto the platform, she took two steps toward the street, and stopped. There, leaning against a sign, was Ranma. He gave a shy wave. She was touched— she wasn't used to this kind of a gesture. She walked over to him.

"Wow, Ranma... you met me at the station?"

Ranma blushed a bit, looking away. "Yeah, well... I figured you might want some company walking home, you know?"

"How did you know which train I took?"

"You said it before."

Now it was Nabiki's turn to blush. She had indeed told everyone what her commute was, but Kasumi and Soun seemed to be the only ones listening. "I didn't realize you paid attention to that kind of stuff," she muttered. She composed herself. "Shall we go then, fiancée?"

Ranma looked at her shyly. "Yeah, but... I was thinking of taking a different way than what you probably take."

Nabiki was confused. "I walk straight down the main road to the aqueduct. What's faster than that?" She barely got the last word out before Ranma swept her up in his arms, leaping from the platform to a nearby roof, and then taking off from roof to roof. Nabiki wrapped her arms around him and squeezed tight, a bit frightened by her sudden altitude change. She'd seen Ranma leaping across roofs before, but the closest she'd ever come to experiencing it was dropping from the balcony... and back then, her attraction for Ranma was purely physical. (Even though she was trying help Ranma and Akane out, she had made a point to get a couple of squeezes in while she was pretending.)

From her position against his shoulder, Ranma's smell wafted up to her. She wasn't sure what it was— he wore some kind of cologne or deodorant, but it wasn't anything she was familiar with. The way he'd lived, it was probably something from China. In any event, it was starting to drive her mad. That, and the muscles in his shoulders that flexed every time he landed and leapt again.

(A/N: For added effect, please find 'A Whole New World' on YouTube and play it now. I can shooow you the wooorld...)

Peeking over Ranma's shoulder, she gazed at the view. They were on the side of a hill now, and each leap gave a view that stretched beyond the end of the metropolis. Building after building and neighborhood after neighborhood flowed out as far as the eye could see, before transitioning into woods at the base of the mountains in the distance. All of it was bathed in a dark orange light from the sun, which was just reaching the horizon. Forget staring at the city from a train; there was nothing on earth that could beat what she was seeing.

Ranma had always loved this route, too. Way back when he and Akane were getting along fairly well, he'd gone looking for a nice place to take her. He wanted someplace high enough to have a great view. He'd seen a park, and, stopping to look out toward the bay, he knew he'd found it. He'd brought her there right after that; it was right after Shampoo had left for the first time, and he'd thought that things might actually work out. Then she'd returned with more Amazons, and Ukyo had shown up... It had just gone downhill from there.

As their journey continued, Nabiki was starting to realize that they were almost out of Nerima, and heading in the wrong direction. "Ranma-baby," she said in his ear, "where are you taking me?" A faint grin crossed his face. "You'll see," he replied, barely loud enough to hear. With that, he leapt again, bounding off of a school and stopping atop a jungle gym in a park. Nabiki looked up at him. "Where are we?" she asked. Ranma simply pointed in the other direction.

Turning to look, Nabiki gasped at the view before her. They were at the top of the hill, looking out toward Tōkyō Bay. From where they sat, she could see all the way across the bay, where a coastline was very faintly visible. All of it was bathed in the light from the sunset. "Is that Chiba?" she asked in wonder. "Mmhmm," came the reply. Almost involuntarily, she laid her head on his shoulder, leaning into him. He blushed, shyly bringing an arm up to wrap around her. "It's so beautiful," she whispered.

Ranma smiled. "Want to see where the dojo is?" he asked. Nabiki's head shot up as she nodded enthusiastically. Ranma pointed to the neighborhoods not far from them.

"Okay, see the river coming out from the bay that looks like it's flowing right to us?"

She nodded.

"Follow it to where it branches right past the skyscrapers. Follow the branch from it back towards us."

"Okay."

"See the rail tracks?"

"Yeah."

"Those are the ones you were just on. Right past them, that's the aqueduct that runs through Furinkan. Follow it to the left... the high school is easy to spot; see the ball fields?"

Scanning the area, she spotted Furinkan High's roofline and the wall around it. "I see it!" she said excitedly. She followed the road in front of it. "And there's Doctor Tofu's clinic, on that corner, I recognize the sign on the wall... there's the road we take to school..."

"It's easy to see the dojo; look for the gate."

"Right there," she said, pointing. Sure enough, just a tiny spot, was the house and dojo, with the surrounding walls and gate. If this spot weren't so close, she wouldn't be able to discern them. It was perfect— they were close enough to see their neighborhood, and up high enough to see all the way across the Tōkyō metropolis. She rubbed a hand on his chest. "This place is amazing," she whispered. "Did you and Akane ever come up here?"

"Yeah, a couple of times. She liked the view, too."

"If she'd have been smart, she would've liked a lot more than the view."

Ranma chuckled. Looking up at him, she tightened her embrace and put her lips to his. As time had gone on, his shyness was slipping, and she could feel it as he returned the kiss. He was still a little bit embarrassed, and it was noticeable, but mostly, the kiss felt natural. He rubbed her back with a hand while she squeezed him tight, burying her face in his neck.

A/N: Yeah, this chapter was pretty WAFFy. I wanted to get some background in there before we deal with the present... Ranma has some other women that aren't going to like the news, and it's about time for them to show up.

There will be a bit of a gap before the next chapter gets here, but if you have me on your author alert list, you'll know why. I have another new story starting; it's an A/U fic where Akane is a little... different. It's a lot less serious than this one; hopefully you'll enjoy it. I also have the next chapter of Chill Pill coming. Stay tuned!