Chapter 6 - Confrontation
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Nabiki sat on the couch with her legs under her and a blanket over her lap, as she half-heartedly watched some mindless show on television. She was idly munching chocolate Pocky sticks, partially out of habit, but more so to keep herself from grinding her teeth.
Then, for the umpteenth time, Akane’s nervous pacing brought the youngest Tendo back into Nabiki’s field of vision. Akane was wringing her hands and mumbling to herself as she moved, which of course had piqued Nabiki’s curiosity. She’d tried to get Akane to open up, however the younger girl wouldn’t speak at all. Nabiki had been frustrated to no end, so she went and sought out Ranma to see if he’d done anything to set Akane off.
Ranma, however, was nowhere to be found. ‘That’s strange,’ she’d thought to herself, ‘he usually let’s us know if he’s leaving.’ Nabiki considered asking her father and Mr. Saotome if they knew anything, but because of their general obliviousness, she dismissed that thought. The only person left was Kasumi, so Nabiki had gone looking for her as well.
She was surprised when she’d been unable to find Kasumi either. Nabiki had sat on the couch and began idly considering the issue while the television blatted and Akane paced. ‘Ranma and Kasumi are both gone. Check. Akane is acting like a nervous wreck. Check. Did something happen between Kasumi and Ranma? Nah. Even if Kasumi did develop feelings for him it would take a while for him to reciprocate. Of course, knowing Akane, she could’ve seen something that she totally misinterpreted. That would be par for the course.’
When Akane proceeded to walk in front of Nabiki again, the middle Tendo daughter finally had enough. “Dammit!” she yelled. “Either tell me what’s wrong or stop pacing.”
Akane stopped and looked into Nabiki’s eyes. For a moment, Nabiki was taken aback by what she saw there. ‘She’s been crying.’
Without a word, Akane turned and went into the back yard to continue her pacing. Nabiki let out a sigh, unsure what to do next. Then she heard the front door open. It wasn’t unheard of for one of Ranma’s rivals to let themselves in without asking, but that usually involved sneaking into the house or breaking a wall down. It never involved them walking through the front door. Thus, Nabiki concluded that it was most likely Ranma, Kasumi, or both. With that in mind, she flipped the blanket off herself and made her way to the foyer. When she came into sight of the door, she immediately froze.
Standing there was Ranma, dressed in his usual manner. What drew her attention though was the fact that he was carrying Kasumi in his arms. She had both arms wrapped around his neck, with her face buried in his chest. Nabiki was about to say something when Kasumi turned her face in her direction and the bruise on her cheek became readily apparent.
Nabiki’s face scrunched up in anger. ‘What in the hell did Ranma do to her?’ was her first thought. Then she nearly slapped herself for jumping to conclusions the way Akane always did. ‘I know Ranma would never do anything like that on purpose, and the chances of him accidentally doing it are slim to none at best. Not with his skill level.’ With her head a little clearer, Nabiki changed her expression from anger to all business.
“What happened?” she asked in a serious tone. However, before either could answer, suddenly everyone else barged into the room and all hell broke loose.
Kasumi had immensely enjoyed the feeling of being carried in Ranma’s arms. ‘He’s so strong,’ Kasumi thought, ‘but so gentle at the same time. I can’t remember the last time I felt this safe.’
When they approached the Tendo compound, she was sad that her ride would end, but she was also greatly looking forward to going to bed. Her head was still pounding and she felt a good nights rest would help immensely.
As they entered the house, Ranma used his foot to close the door behind him. He then managed to remove the slippers that he normally wore, and Kasumi managed to kick hers off as well. She felt Ranma suddenly tense, and moved her head, which had been buried in his chest, around to see what the problem was. She saw Nabiki standing in the entryway.
When Nabiki looked at her face, Kasumi was able to instantly see the anger take hold. But Nabiki, being true to her nature, quickly fought it down and her expression became the neutral business expression that everyone was used to.
“What happened?” Nabiki asked. Kasumi was about to answer, when suddenly Soun and Genma burst into the foyer behind Nabiki. They both took one look at her and instantly got angry.
“What did you did to my little girl?!” Soun raged.
“Is this how you treat your fiancée you ungrateful boy?” Genma said in a low menacing tone. Both men began to stalk forward, but stopped in their tracks as Kasumi spoke.
“How dare you?!” Kasumi said coldly. In fact, it was the coldest tone she’d ever used in her life. “How can you possibly think that Ranma would do something like this? Have you no shame?”
“But, but,” Sound stuttered. “He should’ve protected you at least.”
“That’s right,” Genma said, picking up on the argument. “As your fiancé, he should’ve protected you from whichever of those crazy girls tried to hit you. Who was it? Shampoo? That crazy Kodachi girl?”
“Neither,” Kasumi said in that same frosty tone, before she softened up a little. “In fact, there was nothing that Ranma could’ve done to prevent this. Especially because it came from a source that neither of us expected.”
“Then who?” both Soun and Genma asked at the same time.
“It was me,” a small voice said from behind the men.
Everyone turned to see Akane standing there, head bowed low. “I was the one who hit her.”
“But... but...” was all Soun could say.
“Why?” Nabiki asked with the calmest voice in the room.
“I... I saw Ranma groping Kasumi, and I tried to hit him,” Akane said, raising her head to look at everyone. “But Kasumi jumped in the way and I...” Akane trailed off in a near sob.
“I see,” was all Nabiki said in return, he voice taking a bit of an edge.
“It’s all Ranma’s fault,” Akane said unconvincingly. “If he hadn’t been-”
“That’s enough,” Kasumi cut in, resuming that frosty tone again. “Akane, I forgive you for hitting me because you’re my sister and I love you. But I will not let you blame this on Ranma.”
“But he-” Akane tried to start again, this time in a much smaller voice.
“Did nothing!” Kasumi interjected. “He was not groping me at all. We were hugging. In fact, I was the one who started the hug, not Ranma. So does that make it my fault then?”
Akane looked down at the ground and didn’t respond. ‘Poor Akane,’ Kasumi thought.
“Akane,” Kasumi said in a kinder voice, “you need to understand that it was your anger that caused this situation. You jumped to a conclusion and didn’t give me or Ranma the chance to explain. Both of us tried to tell you what was going on, but you just wouldn’t listen. I think it’s time you stopped blaming Ranma for everything that goes wrong in your life. Don’t you?”
With tears in her eyes, Akane looked back up at Kasumi. “I’m sorry,” was all she said, before she fled up the stairs. With a sigh, Kasumi looked over at Nabiki.
“Would you mind talking with her?” Kasumi asked.
Nabiki pondered the question for the moment and then nodded. As she started to climb the stairs again, Kasumi called her name. Nabiki turned around with a questioning look.
“Thank you,” Kasumi said. “Thanks for talking to her. But more than that, thanks for not jumping to conclusions about Ranma. I appreciate that.”
With one of her trademark smirks, Nabiki just nodded and the climbed the stairs. Kasumi then heard the floor creak near where the Tendo and Saotome patriarchs were standing. She looked over to find them both attempting to sneak away.
“And where do you think you’re going?” Kasumi asked.
“Well...” Sound said.
“We...” Genma picked up.
“Neither of you is going anywhere until you apologize to Ranma,” she said in a tone that brooked no argument.
Both men looked at one another and swallowed. They turned as one to Ranma and performed a slight bow before muttering “We’re sorry.” Then both hastily retreated from the room.
“Well,” Kasumi said with a sigh, “I guess that will have to do.” Then she looked into Ranma’s eyes and gave him a small smile. “Can you carry me up to my room? I’m pretty tired.”
With a nod, Ranma began to carry Kasumi up the stairs.
 |
As they neared her room, Ranma thought about what had happened in the foyer. As he’d guessed earlier in the evening, Akane had tried to blame him for what had happened. ‘Although, she didn’t sound as sure of herself as she normally is. And then Kasumi, wow! I never knew Kasumi had it in her ta do something like that. I think she might’ve actually gotten through to Akane.’ His thoughts continued to dwell on that amazing accomplishment as they stopped in front of Kasumi’s room. Ranma shifted Kasumi a little so that he could open the door and then carried Kasumi in. It occurred to Ranma that he’d actually never been inside Kasumi’s room before. He’d seen it in passing whenever the door was open and he’d walked by, but that was it. He noticed that it was very tidy, as he would expect. There were a few prints on the walls that looked like replicas of some famous garden paintings he remembered seeing in one of his classes. There were also a few knickknacks throughout the room. Next to the bed there was a nightstand where he saw a |
Ranma set her down as gently as he could and then stepped back. They both looked at one another, unsure what to do next. Finally, Ranma spoke up.
“Do you need anything else?”
Kasumi favored him with a smile that made him weak in the knees. That seemed to be happening more and more lately and it bothered Ranma somewhat. ‘When the hell did this start happening?’ he wondered to himself. ‘Still, she does have a really nice smile.’ “Well,” Kasumi said, breaking him out of his revelry, “I don’t think I’m going to bother to change. So if you could just help me lay down that would be wonderful.”
With a nod, Ranma moved forward again and began to help Kasumi turn around in her bed and lay back. Because of the angle, there were a few moments where he would have to hold her in such a way that was a little embarrassing to both of them. Once she lying down, he pulled the comforter and sheet out from underneath her and then covered her up.
“Well,” Ranma said nervously, “good night.” He then began to head towards the door. Before he could reach it though, Kasumi called his name.
“Ranma,” she said softly.
Coming to a stop, Ranma turned around to face her. “Yes?”
“Could you... that is... I mean...”
Ranma walked back to her bedside and knelt down next to the low bed. He was squirming a little, but he tried to relax. “What is it Kasumi?”
“Would you... stay here until I fall asleep?” she asked meekly.
To say that Ranma was shocked would be an understatement. ‘She wants me to... stay... here... in her room... at night?’
“Please,” she said, “just until I’m asleep. You could just stay where you are on the floor there. And of course, we should leave the door open. I think it would just help me to feel safer if you were here.”
‘Safe from what?’ Ranma wondered. ‘And what’s she’s asking isn’t so bad. As long as I can stay here on the floor, and won’t have to be on the... bed,’ he thought with a gulp. “O-Okay Kasumi.”
Kasumi smiled again for him, and soon closed her eyes. Ranma wasn’t worried about being able to tell when she was asleep. He’d spent enough time studying the sleeping habits of his father to know how her breathing would change. With a sigh, he placed his right arm on the bed and laid his head on it. After a few moments, he felt Kasumi shift a little and suddenly he felt her hand on top of his. Ranma’s head bolted upright and he looked at her face. She still had her eyes closed, but that same smile was still there.
‘She’s not asleep,’ he thought. ‘I would know if she was. That means she did this on purpose. What should I do? If someone were to walk by with the door open...’
Any further internal debate was cut off as she shifted her hand a little bit and suddenly he found that her fingers were intertwined with his. ‘She... I... um... what...’ His mind was in turmoil. But as he watched her face, the smile there grew larger.
‘Ah, the hell with it,’ he thought. ‘If it makes her happy, then I don’t care.’ With that, Ranma laid his head back down on his arm and waited for Kasumi to fall asleep. It didn’t take too long. After a few minutes, he heard her breathing fall into a slow steady rhythm. He also felt the light grip she had on his hand slacken. He looked up and saw watched her for a few minutes.
‘She looks like an angel,’ he thought, echoing his sentiments from earlier that evening in the clinic. Once he was positive she was asleep, he lightly disentangled his hand from hers. As he did so, he noticed how smooth her hands were compared to his calloused ones. Finally, with great stealth, he stood and began to make his way towards the door. When she didn’t stir, he stepped out into the hallway and quietly closed the door.
‘What should I do now?’ he asked himself. ‘I certainly don’t want to talk to Akane right now.’ His thoughts drifted back to Kasumi and the promise he made to her regarding his fiancée problem. ‘I have to protect her, no matter what. But how?’ With that thought in mind, he made his way outside and jumped onto the roof, his favorite place to think.
Nabiki made her way up the stairs immediately after her encounter with Kasumi and Ranma in the foyer. As she approached her sister’s room, she began to wonder what she would say. ‘Will she even listen?’ she wondered. ‘Probably not. But I did tell Kasumi that I’d do it, and Akane is my sister after all.’
When she reached the door, she gave two firm knocks on the door. She waited for a moment but didn’t get any response. Nabiki leaned in close to the door and could hear the muffled sounds of someone crying. Rather than have her knock ignored again, Nabiki just opened the door, stepped through, and closed it behind her.
As she expected, Nabiki found Akane lying face down on her bed, crying into her pillow. She stood there for a moment, trying to decide what to do. Then Nabiki walked to Akane’s bed and sat down next to her sister.
“Do you want to talk?” she asked in a tone that was softer than she expected.
“No,” her sister sobbed into her pillow.
“Well,” Nabiki said thoughtfully, “I’m not planning on leaving until we talk. And if you think you have the patience to outlast me, think again.” When Akane didn’t answer for several minutes, Nabiki was afraid that Akane was calling her bluff. Suddenly though, her sister let out a small growl, rolled over, and sat up. In the process, she nearly knocked Nabiki off the bed, but she barely managed to keep herself from falling.
“So what do you want to talk about?” Akane asked, her tone somewhere between a moan and a challenge.
Sliding further onto the bed to avoid another near fall, Nabiki turned her attention back to Akane. “I’d like to know why you tried to hit Ranma earlier.”
“Um,” Akane said, clearly at a loss. “I... I thought he was trying to grope Kasumi and-”
“Oh come on Akane,” Nabiki said with a snort. “Get real. When have you ever known Ranma to force himself on someone?”
“But... He’s always letting Shampoo and Ukyo-”
“That’s totally different and you know it,” Nabiki interrupted. “Those two, and Kodachi as well, are constantly throwing themselves at Ranma. So it’s not like they’re not willing participants.”
“I...” Akane began, then stopped on her own accord.
Nabiki decided to continue. “Plus, the only time he ever responds to them is when they trick him into it somehow or he’s afraid of hurting their feelings. Can you remember a time when he ever tried to grope them? And not the other way around.”
Akane just sat their silently, any resolve she had at getting angry at Ranma dissolving.
“And can you name even one time where Ranma has tried to force himself onto any girl? Whether she wanted him or not.” A slight shake of Akane’s head was the only answer Nabiki received.
“So,” Nabiki asked, “knowing these things, you keep insisting that Ranma is some kind of pervert. Why?”
The tears from Akane began to fall again as she pondered the question. “I don’t know,” she finally said.
‘She’s not going to like this,’ Nabiki thought, ‘but it can’t be helped.’
“Have you ever stopped to think it’s because you’re jealous?” she asked quietly.
“N-No,” Akane said, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to full anger. “I can’t be. It’s not possible.”
“Oh please Akane. Let’s look at the facts. You know, intellectually at least, that Ranma isn’t the pervert that you’re always making him out to be. And then you walk in on him and Kasumi hugging and you immediately tried to hit him. If I remember correctly, Kasumi said that both she and Ranma tried to reason with you, but you wouldn’t listen. You let your anger take control of you. If that’s not jealousy, I don’t know what is.”
Akane placed both hands on her face and sobbed even louder. “No, no, no, no,” she repeated, as if it were a mantra.
Nabiki stood up, realizing she wasn’t going to get much further with Akane at this point. She reached her hand over and placed it on her sister’s shoulder. “Akane,” she said softly. “Whether you want to face up to this or not, you don’t have any choice. If you ever hope to win Ranma’s heart, then you’re going to have to start being honest with yourself. This may be your last chance.” With that, Nabiki turned and left the room.
| Akane stared, blurry eyed, at the door that Nabiki had just left through. ‘My last chance,’ she thought to herself. ‘Do I even want the chance? And am I really jealous?’ She tried to shrug off the idea. ‘It’s ridiculous. It’s crazy. It’s... that is...’ Her conversation with Nabiki started playing over and over again in her mind. ‘No! I mean... He’s a pervert. Isn’t he?’ All of the evidence that Nabiki had thrown in her face kept repeating itself, as if to taunt her. Akane gritted her teeth as she focused on everything. Finally, she was forced to shatter some of the lies she’d been telling herself all along. ‘Ranma... is not... a pervert,’ she thought bitterly. The bitterness was not directed towards the pig-tailed boy, but rather at herself. ‘Why did I let myself |
 |
To help answer that question, Akane conjured up numerous memories from times when Ranma had been glomped by Shampoo, Ukyo, or Kodachi. She focused on exactly how she’d felt and reacted each time. The conclusion was inevitable.
“I... was jealous,” Akane whispered to herself. She looked down at her hands. “And I... hurt him... almost every time, just because I wanted him for myself.” The realization that she’d wanted him crashed into her, and if she’d been standing, she would’ve likely fallen over. ‘I can’t believe it.’
Then another consequence of lying to herself came to the fore. ‘I didn’t trust him,’ she thought. ‘I should have, because he was honorable. And because of that, I wouldn’t listen when he tried to warn me about Ryoga. If I had... then maybe...’ Her muffled cries became full-blown sobs.
After several minutes, Akane began to regain control. Her thoughts turned towards Kasumi and her sister’s new engagement towards Ranma. ‘She’s been defending him, and then she was hugging him. Oh Kami-sama, if Ranma falls in love with Kasumi, I’ll never win him back.’
This line of thinking forced Akane to consider the most important question of all. ‘Do I want to win him back?’ It didn’t take as much deliberation as she thought it would. ‘Yes. Yes I do.’
Her mind turned to thoughts on how she might be able to do just that.
As Ranma lay on the roof watching the stars, his mind was far from capable of enjoying the beauty he was seeing. He was too focused on what he was going to do about his fiancée problem. He’d decided that the best plan of action was to think of each one at a time, and Ranma figured that he’d begin with the one who was probably the most dangerous.
Kodachi. ‘Dammit, if only she wasn’t so freakin’ insane. Maybe a challenge would work. I don’t like fighting girls, but if it’ll keep her from hurting Kasumi, then I don’t care. But what am I going to say? And even if I get her to agree, how do I know she’ll honor any agreement?’
Ranma felt a headache coming on as he thought about it, and began to rub his temples. He didn’t know how else to deal with Kodachi, since he knew she’d never listen to reason. ‘Violence is the only language that idiot understands.’ This brought his mind to the next likely threat.
Shampoo. ‘Why in the hell do I have to abide by their stupid laws anyhow? I don’t wanna hurt her, but she said it herself. Obstacles are for killing. If she gets the chance, she’ll hurt Kasumi and I can’t let that happen. I asked Nabiki a long time ago to find a loophole for me, but she couldn’t. That means that fighting is probably the only answer.’
Ranma allowed a plan to begin to form in his mind to deal with the Amazon. After a while, he allowed his thoughts to move to the final girl that he had to worry about.
Ukyo. ‘I know she would never purposefully hurt Kasumi, but she lets herself get caught up in these schemes that always go nuts. And she’s the only one who has a legitimate claim. If only pops hadn’t been such a damn idiot! I care about her feelings and honor, but as long as the engagement stays in place, she’ll always be a danger to Kasumi. I can try to talk to her, and ask her to let me go. But I don’t think she’ll do that. Well... I guess it couldn’t hurt to try.’
Knowing that it wasn’t likely to work, Ranma tried to think up other ideas, but was having a difficult time. He knew that Ukyo genuinely cared for him, which just made things that much more difficult. Then, unbidden, an extremely drastic idea came to mind. He tried to push it down, but the more he forced it away, the more it came back. ‘Well, it would be one way for everyone to retain their honor, but I really don’t want to go that far.’
However, Ranma knew that he might actually have to go that far, all because of his father. ‘It would also be an out for Shampoo too, as well as the Kasumi. Well, I can always keep it in reserve if I don’t come up with something better.’ Then he realized he didn’t have anything better and he began to panic a little bit.
‘Crap. I’m just no good at this stuff. I wish I could think of...’ Ranma thoughts drifted off as another idea came to him. ‘Nabiki. I could go and ask her for help. She’s great at this kind of thing. But, what’s it gonna cost me?’ he wondered. ‘It doesn’t matter. If it’ll protect Kasumi, and keep me from using that last idea, no price is gonna be too high.’ With that, Ranma got up and made his way towards Nabiki’s window.
 |
Nabiki was laying on her bed thinking about everything that had happened over the past few days. ‘I can’t believe how crazy things have gotten.’ Her reverie was interrupted by a tapping at her window. She didn’t even have to guess who it was. So she got up, pulled the curtain back, and then went back to the bed. Before she was able to sit down, Ranma had flipped in from the roof and stood at a distance, watching her warily. Seeing that look, Nabiki decided to tease Ranma a little before getting down to business. “Why Ranma,” she said coyly, “I don’t think it’s appropriate for you to be sneaking into my room while Kasumi is sleeping. Though if you’re really that needy...” She started to seductively undo the top button of her shirt. |
Letting go of her button, Nabiki tried to not let her surprise show. ‘I can’t believe that didn’t fluster him, he must be really serious.’ She put on her business face and addressed him.
“What can I do for you Ranma?”
“I... I need yer help,” he said with a little nervousness.
“Oh?” Nabiki said with a touch of amusement. “There’s something the great Ranma Saotome can’t do on his own?”
That sobered him up a little. “I need yer help figuring out how to deal with my Kodachi and Ukyo problems. I’ll do anything it takes.”
“Anything?” Nabiki asked in surprise. Ranma knew exactly what anything might entail, but he still nodded all the same.
“I can’t let Kasumi get hurt because of me. So I need help figuring out how ta deal with them.”
“I see,” Nabiki replied, before thinking of something. “You didn’t mention Shampoo.”
“Well, I already paid you once to look into their laws, and I know you weren’t able ta find anything. So I came up with an idea ta deal with her that I’d rather not talk about at the moment.”
Nabiki quirked her eyebrow at him, but decided not to push the issue. “Okay then, let’s talk about the other two.”
“I figure that it’ll be impossible to talk to Kodachi,” Ranma said.
“I think you’re right. Probably some kind of formal challenge would be best,” Nabiki said. She then thought for a few moments. “I think that you should issue the challenge in your male form, and tell her that she’ll need to fight your female form. Tell her that whoever loses will agree to never pursue you again.”
Ranma nodded in response. “I figured it would hafta be somethin' like that. But how do I get her ta honor the challenge? What’s ta stop her from breaking her word?”
“Hmm,” Nabiki said. “I think you should make sure that she brings her brother along. He may be an idiot, but he does take his family’s honor seriously, at least in his own twisted way. We’ll make sure that the wording you use for the challenge is iron clad, so that there’s no mistake. When you win, him and their pet ninja will have to work to keep her in line. It might not be perfect, but it’s better than nothing. Also, I’ll have my agents keep working on gathering dirt on her in case we need to blackmail her after the fact.”
“Okay, we can work on how to word the challenge later. Any thoughts about Ukyo? I really don’t wanna fight her if I don’t hafta.”
“Well, you can always try to talk to her, but I think we both know that’s not likely to work.” Nabiki thought for a few moments and then an idea occurred to her and she smiled. “I’ve got it. The Gambling King.”
“Huh?” Ranma asked.
“Think about it. Even though he cheated, he still owned the deed to the yattai when Ukyo’s father gave it yours as a dowry. Because of that, he didn’t legally own it and thus the agreement was void.”
“That seems awfully weak to me,” Ranma said.
“You have a better idea?” Nabiki asked coolly.
“I thought of one possibility, but it’s another one I really don’t want to discuss. Your idea might work, but I’m not sure if Ukyo will buy it.”
‘Two ideas he doesn’t want to discuss,’ Nabiki thought. ‘Just what do you have in mind Ranma? I better keep a close eye on him.’
“Well, let’s start working on the details,” she said.
“Before we do,” Ranma said, “I’d like ta know what I’m going ta hafta pay for this help.”
Nabiki considered before answering. “Well normally Ranma, you’d owe me big time. But since I know you’re doing this to protect my sister, I’m willing to work on a sliding scale. If I end up having to incur a lot of expense for dirt gathering on Kodachi, I might have to put you in front of the camera.”
Ranma winced a little at this, but nodded none the less.
“For the rest, we’ll just say that you owe me one and leave it at that. How does that sound?”
“If that’s what it takes to protect Kasumi,” Ranma said with a wary expression, “then I accept.”
“Good,” Nabiki said with a grin. “Let’s get to work then.” With that the two began to hammer out the details. All the while though, Nabiki couldn’t help but wonder what Ranma planned to do about Shampoo and about the other idea he wouldn’t mention.
‘I just hope he doesn’t do anything stupid.’
Thank you for taking the time to read Aijou & Aitou. I hope you have enjoyed yourself. I would love to hear all feedback, positive or negative (as long as it’s constructive). Please take the time to leave a review on fanfiction.net or send me an email letting me know your opinion. Thanks.
