Clumsy at Love
Chapter 27: Her First Love
Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma
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Akane stood in front of Nabiki's bedroom door. Her hands are holding on tightly at the doorknob as if her life depends on it.
She then took one long deep breath before pushing the door open.
Her heart sank to the pit of her stomach when she made out what was in front of her. Even through the darkened room, she could tell what was happening... that Ranma and Nabiki were kissing. No, they are making out!
She was about to turn and walk away when she heard Nabiki call out her name.
"Akane!" She heard Nabiki cry. "Help me, please help Ranma!" she said in between sobs.
Akane flipped the switch on and rushed to the bed. "What happened?" she asked, looking from her teary-eyed sister to unconscious pale-looking Ranma. "What happened to him?" she asked, terrified.
But Nabiki couldn't utter a word, as if her ability to speak had suddenly disappeared. "What the hell happened?" she yelled in panic. "What have you done to him?"
"I ~ I..." she couldn't finish her sentence and broke down and cried again.
"I can't help you if you won't tell me what happened."
"I put sleeping pills on his drink!" she finally confessed.
Akane's eyes wandered around as she processed what her sister had just said. Then her hand shook as the realization hit her, and fright overwhelmed her.
No, she shook her head. I should calm down. She reminded herself. She couldn't help Ranma being frightened.
She took a deep breath to calm herself and then feel thru his nose and chest if he was still breathing. "Thank God, he's fine..." she puffed.
"What about Kasumi? Did you do this to Kasumi as well?"
Nabiki nodded.
"Shocks Nabiki! Why the hell did you do that?" She yelled and immediately dialed the emergency number to seek medical help. "You didn't do this to papa, were you?" she asked while at it.
"No."
Akane heaved a sigh of relief.
"Stay here. I'll check on Kasumi as well," she said after the call then rushed down.
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Ranma woke and found himself in the hospital suite. He tried to recall what had happened but failed to do so. He looked around and found his wife sleeping at his bedside. He felt that whatever happened did not matter anymore as long as she was here with him. He lifted his hand and touched her untidy hair but woke her up in the process.
"Uh ~ You're awake." She said while trying to stifle a yawn. "How do you feel?" she asked.
"I feel fine, I guess."
"Let me call a doctor to check on you," she said, looking away.
"But I already told you that feel fine."
"Still, let's call the doctor." She insisted, then pushed the red button above his head.
Her persistence made him smile. He decided to welcome this kind of gesture from her with all of his heart.
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"Mind telling me what happened," Ranma asked as soon as the doctor left the suite. "What about those pills ~ Did I take those?" Ranma asked, slightly shaken.
Akane looked down on her feet. She didn't know what to say. Or how to tell him what he ought to know. How could she easily tell him what Nabiki had done that doesn't sound like she's trying to murder him.
"Is it Nabiki?" he suddenly asked.
Akane paled. "Look, it's not like she's trying to harm you or something, it's just ~ " She groaned as she faltered. Damn, Nabiki... where are you? I told you to come here this instant.
Then there's gentle knocking on the door, and as it opened, it revealed her sister. "Can I come in?" Nabiki asked.
"Of course, you can!" She responded automatically. "You got an awful lot of explaining to do," she muttered as she walked past her to give them some space.
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She likes him.
Nabiki liked Ranma for so long.
Since we were young, my eyes have always been looking at him.
But she told me that Ranma had only me in his eyes. Even after being gone for so long, that never changed.
"What is it about you?" She asked me furiously. "What does he see in you that I don't have? The fact that you had no sense of fashion, a certified tomboy, a whiny, violent loser, and still is as of these days ~ made me sure that I am way better than you. So why?!"
Hearing it straight from her mouth and knowing it's goddamn close to the bitter truth hurts, but I know that the hurt I felt was nothing compared to her pain.
She even confessed all her evil deeds against me. That she hacked my email account and stole my phone and that she deliberately never let Ranma's gifts and letters fall to my hands.
"How could he send you those letters and gifts when he's not even replying to my emails? For each and every time he ignored me and all my effort, I loathed you twice as much." She said, crying.
She said that she tried many different ways to seduce him and steal him away from me. What she had done the other night was out of desperation and hopelessness. But putting someone's life on the line for her selfishness is inexcusable. That's when she finally realized that jealousy and bitterness had gotten the best of her.
"I was sorry. But not regretting anything," she concluded.
Nabiki also told me that she never hated me for being the cause of our mother's death. She knew that was an accident. And that's probably the only good thing she said to me for the entire time we talked, so I think it's still worth it.