"So?! What would you do now, Dr Tofu?"

For Dr Tofu, Ranma's words felt like vicious poison. It's like he has triggered a gun and was ready to kill him with his toxic bullet-like words. He was unsure of what he would do. One thing he was sure is that he loved Kasumi and he couldn't see her leaving him again. All these past years he had been waiting for a chance so that he could beg for her forgiveness. There is nothing he wished more than to make her his own. He had completely broken down, his life became a living hell when Kasumi had to marry someone else. At that moment he felt as if he couldn't make it and he would die. But now, can he go through the same pain again? Does he even want to go through with that pain?

Just then, the tik-tok sounds of Nabiki's shoe heels worked as a silent breaker for Tofu. She stood near him, and looked him in the eyes. Then said with a firm tone,

"Do you understand what we are saying, Tofu? We won't let Kasumi suffer anymore. And if you fail to claim your rights tonight..; …… don't even dare to go near my sister again. Did you hear me? Am I clear to you?"

Nabiki's tone sounded toxic, her facial expression vicious. For a moment he became completely blind. He could hear Ranma giving him warning again. Akio came in front of him and lashed out at him with harsh words. Nabiki's expression became even more deadlier. His whole world started swirling. His hands and feet became cold and stiff as hot sweat began to wet his whole body.

Then, suddenly.. just like ice cold water on a burning deserted island; he felt a soft touch on his shoulder and heard a soft voice calling to him. Still with a fazed mind, he followed the voice and looked back at the person who came to his aid. He looked at her with helpless look and said with a shaky tone,

"A- Akane.. I..I."

Akane smiled at him and shook her head. Then she laid her hand on his heart as she said softly,

"Oh Dr Tofu, please don't listen to these people. Don't put any pressure on yourself. But please… if you really have any feelings for Kasumi, then go to her and talk to her about it. Don't think too much, just follow your heart. What worse could happen? She might yell at you, be angry at you. But I know my oneechan, she could never stay angry for too long. Please Dr Tofu..at least try.. please.."

Nabiki smirked arrogantly and said, "You don't know him, Akane! He won't dare to try this. He was a coward and he will be a coward his whole life!"

Akane growled angrily and snapped at her saying,

"Keep quiet, Nabiki! Stop calling him a coward! Its not as easy as it seems.."

"Then you are saying it's easy to walk away, is it Kane?" Ranma asked her with a stern voice.

Akane heatedly stared at Ranma, but before she could say anything to him, she felt Dr Tofu moving. She turned to look at him and saw him giving her a panicked look.

"Are you alright, Dr Tofu?"

"Akane.. I .. I need to go. K-Kasumi is... She is waiting for me.."

Akane's concern turned into utmost happiness. She smiled through her tears and hastily nodded her head. As if her smile had given him a newfound courage, Tofu also nodded his head and in a swift motion, he started running towards the Tendo house again.

That made the other three react immediately as Nabiki called out to Tofu in an urgent tone,

"HEY TOFU, IF YOU DARE TO TELL KASUMI I CAME HERE TO TALK TO YOU, SHE WILL DEFINITELY GOING TO REJECT YOU!! DO YOU HEAR ME??" Nabiki turned to look at Akio and said, "Akio, make sure he heard my message."

"Don't worry, I am following him!"

Akio said excitedly as he started running after Tofu, maintaining a safe distance from him as he called out to him the same thing that Nabiki told her.

"Guys, let's go..!"

Nabiki said as she looked at Ranma. She hastily grabbed his hand and started pulling him with her. He nodded at her and started walking at a quick pace along with Nabiki. After taking a few steps with her, he stopped and turned to look at Akane, who still stood at her place. She had an angry expression on her face as she looked away from them.

"Akane?" Ranma called out to her, "Why are you standing there? Come along.."

Akane growled and looked at him and immediately noticed their interlocked hands. She greeted her teeth in irritation and looked away from them again and said,

"I don't want to.." Saying that with a hard tone, she started walking in the opposite direction.

"Hey! Whare do ya think ya are going?"

Ranma worriedly called out to Akane and ran towards her, leaving Nabiki behind. He grabbed Akane's hand and stopped her from walking away. She gave him a heated look and snatched her hand from him.

"DON'T you DARE touch me, Ranma!"

Ranma gave her an astonished look,

"Huh? What happened? Why are you mad at me?"

"Why am I mad at you!? WHY WON'T I BE MAD AT YOU?"

Ranma knew very well why she was mad at him. He gulped hard and tried to say again, "Look, I know why you are mad at me. Kane, I am so sorry.. But.. but.."

Akane growled angrily and said, "Stop giving me this innocent look and I don't want any apologies from you."

"Akane.."

"No!! You go with Nabiki, why do you need me anyways!"

"Oh stop it, sis!" Nabiki stood beside Ranma and said, "And please, stop being so jealous for a moment.."

"JEALOUS!!" Akane growled at Nabiki and snapped at her while pouting, "WHY WOULD I BE JEALOUS!! I AM NOT JEALOUS OF ANYONE! DONT CARE IF RANMA STARTS DATING YOU OR ONEECHAN! SEE IF I CARE!!"

Nabiki chuckled, she shook her head and said, "Oh gosh, sis! You haven't changed a bit! Still way too possessive, huh! Look, it's not the right time to get angry at Ranma. He did it to pressure Tofu and look, how greatly this plan worked!"

Akane crossed her arms infront of her chest and asked,

"So how long have you two been talking to each other secretly?"

"What?" Nabiki and Ranma looked at each other and turned to Akane again as Nabiki said, "We weren't doing any secretive conversation!"

"Oh really? So you guys just suddenly made the plan then?" Akane asked in disbelief.

"We hadn't talked, sis! I only talked with Akio, that's all! Thankfully Ranma was smart enough to pick up the plan that I decided to go through suddenly. Anyways, it's up to you if you would believe me or not."

Akane looked away from them with an angry sigh.

Nabiki rolled her eyes and said, "Ranma, you know what, leave her alone. She is being way too dramatic about this situation. We should go now and see what that dumb Tofu is doing."

Ranma slowly shook his head. He silently walked in front of Akane and called her with a soft voice,

"Akane?"

There was something in the tone of his voice which drew her attention towards him immediately. She looked at him in the eyes and for a moment got caught in his stare. He looked so heartbroken at that moment. She gulped hard and silently kept staring at him. Then he said with the same tone,

"Do you really think I am that kind of guy, Kane? Do you think this poorly of me?"

Akane took a sharp breath in and suddenly started feeling guilty for behaving this way with him. Before she could say anything to him, he looked down and again said,

"Kasumi is like my sister. I could never imagine marrying her. I said those things only because I made a promise to you that I would make this work. I only had that in my mind. But if I… if I hurt you then please, I am sorry.. I didn't mean to hurt you.." He looked up at her and said in an urgency manner, "I know you are angry at me right now, but please, you have to go to your house now. God knows what that Tofu is doing there. Akio can't handle him alone. You have to be there for oneechan. She needs you, Kane." He sighed and backed out slightly and said, "Look, if you want I won't go to your house with you. You don't have to worry about that.."

Nabiki moaned and said, "This is ridiculous! You have to go there, Ranma."

Ranma looked at Nabiki and shook his head saying, "If I go there, Akane might not want to go. It's better if she goes there without me. Kasumi needs her.."

Akane gave a long frustrated sigh. She growled angrily and snapped at him saying, "Oh honestly! You talk too much you know that?! You are such a baka!!"

Saying that, she grabbed his hand and started dragging him with her. Ranma became so dumbfounded by her action that he became completely speechless as he let her drag him with her.

"I will see you guys later then.."

And they stopped. They simultaneously turned to look at Nabiki as Akane asked,

"What do you mean by that? Aren't you coming with us?"

Nabiki sighed and said with a soft sigh, "I wish.. For a second there I completely forgot that I am not allowed to go there."

"Nonsense!" Akane said as she walked near her and said, "That home belongs to you as much as it belongs to us, Nabiki. Please don't hesitate. Come with me. I promise I will manage oneechan."

Nabiki smirked and shook her head. She held Akane's hand and said, "I will come, but not now. Its not the right time to visit. Kasumi would go through a big emotional turmoil right now, I don't want to add my case to it now. Maybe after everything settels down and our father would decide to come back home, I will come.."

"But it's still not decided yet if Oneechan would say 'yes' to Tofu or not. Dont you wanna know what's going to happen there?" Ranma asked, worriedly.

Nabiki looked at him and said, "Oh Ranma, you are so thoughtful. Anyways, you guys go there and tell me everything in details later. I have my flight in seven hours. I will meet you guys within a few hour at the nearby park from our house."

Akane moaned and asked her, "You like to make things complicated, don't you?"

Nabiki giggled hearing that, she poked Akane's cheek with her finger and said, "Look who is talking! Well, we are sisters after all and we do share some similarly complicated characteristics!"

Ranma chuckled and nodded his head, "I do agree with that."

"Hey!!" Both sisters said simultaneously which made him put a finger on his widening lips. Nabiki smirked seeing that and said as she pushed Akane towards Ranma, "Now go, please!! Ranma, take this whiny baby to her big sister.."

Ranma held Akane's hand and nodded his head. Akane rolled her eyes and said, "I will pretend I didn't heard that. Anyways, are you going to wait outside here?"

Nabiki shook her head and gave a mysterious smile to her and said,

"I have an important person to meet now. I will see you guys after that.."

Nabiki arrived at the lavish restaurant a little later than expected. She immediately noticed the person she so eagerly wanted to talk to that day. She was already seated at their booked table at the very corner of the restaurant. She walked towards that table and cleared her voice to make her know that she had arrived.

"I am sorry for coming late. I hope I didn't make you wait for me for too long.."

She stood up in haste and slightly bowed her head with a small smile on her face as she said,

"No, not at all! I just arrived a few minutes ago."

Nabiki smiled at her and said, "That's good to hear. Why don't you take your seat then?"

Nabiki also walked towards her seat as they both sat face to face. She smiled at her and said with a coy tone,

"Thank you for accepting my invitation. I am really glad to meet you after so long, Ukyo. "

Ukyo gave a nervous smile and said, "Same here. I was actually surprised when I got that call from you. I was not expecting that. And you also said to keep this meeting a secret?"

"Yes.. I have a reason for that…"

"Hello mam, are you guys ready to order anything?"

Nabiki felt a little bit ticked off by the interruption. But she didn't show it. She smiled up at the waiter and ordered coffee for herself as Ukyo ordered the same. While left alone again, Ukyo asked her in a nervous tone,

"Ummm, Nabiki-san, you were telling me about the reason."

"Oh yes.." then suddenly her smile turned into a serious face as she told her, "I wanted you to keep it a secret because I am here to talk to you about.. Ranma.."

For a moment Ukyo froze. She stopped blinking her eyes as she tried to process what Nabiki meant by that. After some time, she gulped hard and said,

"Ranma? Oh yes, Ranma! He is Ryoga Saotome's.."

"I am talking about Ranma Saotome here, Ukyo.." Nabiki gave her a knowing stare as she said again, "Ranma Saotome, who is your ... cousin.."

Ukyo became completely speechless. She felt like crying in front of her. She started thinking of any mistakes they had made which revealed their secret to Nabiki this easily. She couldn't find any fault as she became fully troubled by what to tell her.

"Here are your orders.. If you want to order anything else then.."

"Please we don't want anything else to order." She looked at Ukyo and asked her, "How silly of me, Ukyo, do you want anything else?"

Ukyo shook her head and looked down, as the waiter left the table alone.

Nabiki could tell how troubled Ukyo was feeling at that moment. She wanted to make it easy for her, otherwise, she knows she won't get any proper answer from her. She leaned close to the table and laid her hand over Ukyo's hand as she said with a soft tone,

"Ukyo, you don't have to worry about anything. Look, I didn't want to put you in this awkward situation, but I don't have any other choice. After what happened to Kasumi, I don't want to take any chances. I learned about Ranma when that party incident happened and from that day on I started investigating about him. At first I didn't find any clue, then when I merged him with that other guy, everything became clear to me." Nabiki sighed and patted her hand and leaned back on her seat as she continued saying, "You can say, I practically know everything about him. His name, his family background, his relationship with you, his friend Ryoga and not to forget, his soon-to-be fiance, Shampoo.."

Ukyo took a sharp breath and gave her a horrified look. Nabiki continued saying in a serious tone,

"I just failed to understand why Ranma is trying to hide his identity from everyone. Why is he doing that? As much as I found out, you and your Father are also helping him in this situation. But why? I am so confused. Now Ukyo, would you like to fill the gaps for me please? I need to know about this.."

Ukyo gave a long defeated sigh, she nodded her head and began to explain to her everything about Ranma.

Ranma and Akane both ran back to the Tendo house. They entered the house in haste, checked the living room which was empty, and stopped when they saw Akio peeking up at Kasumi's room sitting over the stairs. They walked slowly up the stairs and sat beside Akio, who quickly turned to them and showed them to be quiet.

They nodded their heads as Akane asked in a whispered tone,

"What happened here?"

Akio looked at them and said in a hushed tone,

"Tofu came in front of her door and started banging the door to open. At first oneechan didn't want to, but when she finally opened the door she started throwing hard things at him and yelled at him to leave."

And at that moment Ranma and Akane noticed the mess around the hall.

"Oh man!" Ranma sighs, "Then what happened?"

"Umm, he somehow forced himself inside her room and then, locked the door. At first I heard so much yelling, begging, crying, shouting stuff like that coming out from that closed door, but for some reason for the past ten minutes I couldn't hear anything."

Ranma shuts his mouth immediately. His face became red as he looked at the door. Then suddenly he became completely shocked when he heard Akane reacting loudly,

"You didn't hear anything for the last ten minutes! And you are sitting here like an idiot! What were you thinking?"

Akio also became too shocked to answer her questions as he gave her a look of disbelief. And to his utter surprise, Akane stood up from her hiding spot as she loudly called out to Kasumi.

"Oneechan? Are you safe in there? Do you need any help?"

There was a brief pause, but before Akane could ask anything again, Kasumi called out to her in a shaky tone.

"I am.. we are fine, Akane. Please give us some time. We will come down quickly."

That brought a relief-filled smile to her face as she called back to them ,

"Don't worry, Oneechan! Take your time.."

Saying that proudly, she again sat back down on the stairs with a satisfied face. However, Her smile immediately turned into a frown when she noticed the awkward way both boys were looking at her. Ranma's face became completely red with embarrassment as he looked at her with utter disbelief and as for Akio, his mouth was opening and closing like a fish out of water. Akane growled angrily and asked Akio in a frustrated tone,

"What is your problem? Why are you looking at me like this?"

Akio gave a long sigh and shook his head in disbelief,

"I.. I just can't believe you called out to her like this!"

Akane shrugged her shoulders and said, "Well I need to make sure she is safe in there!"

"But Kane.." Ranma tried to say with a shaky embarrassed tone, "I understand why you did that but… you do understand that they might be a couple now and they locked their door because they need some privacy.."

"Privacy?! For what?" Akane still looked confused as she pouted looking at Ranma. Akio whined and said in a hushed tone,

"When are you going to grow up, dummy?! Now do you want me or Ranma to explain to you why suddenly they became quiet inside that closed door!!"

"What are you?!" Akane's eyes went wide as realization finally hits her. She gulped hard and looked back and forth between an embarrassed looking Ranma and an overly agitated looking Akio. Her face also became red like a tomato and the fact that , she did this silly mistake in front of Ranma, made her situation even more worse. She moaned feeling embarrassed and stood up hurriedly as she spouted in a rush,

"I.. I think I am hungry... Ineedtoeatsomethingnow."

And she was gone. Ranma and Akio both still sat there as they found each other in a very uncomfortable situation. After some moment of silence, Ranma cleared his voice as he asked him,

"I.. Do ya still wanna hear what is happening inside there?"

This time Akio got embarrassed as he said in a haste,

"I think we should follow Akane's lead."

Ukyo finished explaining everything to Nabiki. She gave a soft sigh and said,

"All my Ranchan wants is to live his life freely, no matter if this moment would last for a few days. He is a very generous person. He has no bad intentions at all. He is not that type of person! I.. I wanted to make him feel happy and free before he decides to marry someone he doesn't want to. My Ranchan deserves happiness! I can't let him be used all the time because he is too good to fight against his parents ! This is not fair at all!"

"Umhm, I understand what you mean. I was actually surprised when I found out that Shampoo is promised to marry him! Both seemed so different in nature too! Last time I heard, she was dating that rich prince!"

"See!" Ukyo said excitedly, "I told you! Ranma's parents are making him go with this marriage because it will benefit their business! Ranma is a pure victim in it! But please believe me, Ranma is not like his parents! He is very different from them. Completely opposite. Please don't judge him because of his parents."

Nabiki chuckled and shook her head and said,

"There is a reason behind why I became like I am now, Ukyo. My past experiences had badly affected my trust issues. I rarely easily trust anybody anymore. But that doesn't mean that I judge people. You know, Kasumi's ex-in-laws were very nice people, but that didn't go for her ex-husband! And anyway, I believe you. I have seen Ranma's real motive. After the way that alcohol incident happened and the way he handled my drunk-wanting sister, I couldn't ignore that fact. If he had a bad intention with my sister he could have got what he wanted with her that night. So.."

"Are you saying you trust my Ranchan? Are you not going to reveal his secret to Akane?" She asked in a horrified hopeful tone.

Nabiki shrugged her shoulder and said,

"Why would I do that? At first, before meeting Ranma personally, I thought of telling Akane everything. But after I came to know him, specifically after how he helped Kasumi, I don't think I have a heart to break the little happiness he is getting from my family. He de.."

Nabiki paused as suddenly Ukyo started sobbing softly.

"Oh dear, did I scare you? Please don't cry.." Nabiki said softly. She handed her a napkin as she patted her hand to calm her down.

Ukyo sniffed and wiped her tears clean,

"I am sorry, I didn't want to cry. I thought you were going to tell Akane about it and my Ranchan would have to live his miserable life again. Thank you so much, Nabiki-san! You are so kind."

"But you do realize that Ranma and Alane are slowly getting attached to each other, don't you?"

"Huh?" Ukyo asked slightly taken aback, "Umm, no I think you are wrong. They are just good friends, that's all!"

"Hmm, are you sure about that?"

"Yes, absolutely! They are very good friends, nothing more then that. If anything else would have happened, Ranchan would definitely have told me about this."

"Hmm, interesting." Nabiki rested her chin on her hands, she looked at her hard and asked her in a serious manner, "Say, what if one day you find out that their relationship status is not friendship anymore? What would you do then? You said Ranma always listens to his parents, so is that means he is going to dishonor his relationship with Akane if his parents ask him to?"

Ukyo was shocked at first. But then as she kept listening to Nabiki, she felt like she had the perfect answer to give her. She smiled at her and said,

"I actually thought about this matter before and to tell you the truth, me and Ranchan actually had a talk about it. I asked him the same question that you asked me."

"What was his answer?"

"He said he would start taking his studies seriously, so that he could stand strongly against his parents if needed. And you know what, with the help of Akane, he has come a long way in the progression of his studies and he is also learning martial arts from Akane. Learning martial arts has always been his dream which he could not fulfil because of his parents. But now Akane is unknowingly helping him to fulfil his dream. I am sure after all this, my Ranchan would find some courage to face his parents if ever they decide to change their relationship status." Ukyo said with a confident smile on her face.

Nabiki thought about that for some moment. She gave a long sigh and said,

"I hope what you are saying is right, Ukyo. Because, although I won't reveal the secret to Akane, I can't allow anyone to play with my sister's heart. I Know Ranma is a good guy and I want to give him the benefit of the doubt, but still, I want you to take responsibility for this. I won't be here for more than one year. I am leaving to expand our new business in Europe, so I want you to take charge from now on. Look Ukyo, even though I don't show it to Akane, but I love her more than anyone else in my family. She had grown up in a much more unprivileged way than us. We at least remember the feelings of our mother, but she didn't even know anything about her. She became the reason why we managed to overcome our sadness at that time. We always tried to keep her safe and feel secure around us; but we are not her mother, we could never fill the space for her. She was always guarded around us, I never saw her showing her real emotions to us. She was a queen for pretending. She always used to show us that she was fine, but it was completely opposite.

But when I saw her with Ranma, that was the first time I saw her so differently. It's like she had completely let her guard down when Ranma was with her. For the first time I saw her expressing her feelings freely with someone and I saw her happy. There was not a single bit of pretending on that! You can say, this is one of the reasons why I am not telling the truth to Akane."

Ukyo sighed and said, " I saw the same with Ranchan. With Akane by his side, he always looks so happy and invested. I never saw him this carefree before. He became a completely new person now. Akane has fully changed him. But if what you are saying is right then, if she finds out about Ranma's lie, won't it break her trust?"

Nabiki shrugged her shoulders and said,

"Maybe.. If they stayed as only friends then we don't have to worry about anything. But if they become romantically close together and Ranma takes a stand for their relationship, my sister could gain a very handsome and caring husband for herself, don't you think?" Nabiki asked as she playfully winked at her.

Ukyo giggled seeing that and nodded her head and said,

"Don't worry, Nabiki-san. I will take responsibility for my Ranchan. This is the least I could do to thank you back for your kindness."

Nabiki chuckled and said,

"That's a deal then. Anyways, keep this meeting a secret between us. I don't want to ruin Ranma's happiness and freedom. If you tell him about me knowing his secret, he might not want to carry on his act anymore. So its better if both of us leave this matter here."

Ukyo genuinely smiled at her; she stood up and bowed down to show her respect as she said,

"Thank you, Nabiki-san! I owe you big time!"

A/N: I wanted to write a big A/N. But I am very sick now. Maybe in the next chapter. Take care.