Well, what did you talk about with a spirit you'd just agreed to befriend? For that matter, what did you talk about with anyone you'd just resolved to befriend? Small talk would work until Nabiki could think up something better to talk about. Let's see, 'nice breasts you've got there; your nipples crinkle so attractively' probably won't go over well. Ranma's not from around here, so the weather's out. How about . . .
"I'll show you around the house," Nabiki offered, standing on one of the inner circle's lines. Ranma nodded and floated through the gap in the barrier. "This is our dojo. Dad doesn't really keep up with his training anymore, so Akane's the only one who really uses it. Normally I summon spirits in my room, but I need the extra space for this one."
"Who's Akane," Ranma asked.
"She's my younger sister," Nabiki replied briefly. She'd rather not talk about Akane with a new friend.
"What's it like?" Ranma asked. "I don't got any sisters or brothers. At least, none I know about."
"Be glad," Nabiki answered. Fine, they'd talk about Akane. Everyone wanted to talk about Akane. Well, maybe Ranma was more curious what a sibling was like than Akane herself. "Akane's my younger sister and the baby of the family; everything she wants, she gets. When Mom died, Dad focused on Akane. We're pretty well off, so he stopped working and just trained her all the time. Of course, with only investments bringing in money, sacrifices had to be made. So I ended up wearing hand-me-downs and Kasumi started making her own clothes. Akane still got new clothes, of course. When my birthday came around, I got a cake for a present. Akane got whatever toys she wanted for her birthday, of course. Hell, she got whatever toy she wanted when it wasn't her birthday.
"She always has to be right. When we were little, she'd run to Daddy and he'd always take her side, just because she's younger. When she got good at martial arts, Akane started threatening to hit me if she didn't like what I was saying or if I proved her wrong. She's good looking and everyone likes her and she expects everything to just fall into her lap. And it usually does, courtesy of Dad or one of her admirers."
"I think I know the type," Ranma said. "Always focused on themselves and what they can get,"
"Not really," Nabiki admitted. Her sister wasn't some sort of paradigm of selfishness, after all. "She can be nice to people; it's just that she thinks she's the center of the universe and entitled to everything." Wait, that didn't seem to make a lot of sense. "It's hard to explain," Nabiki admitted.
"Okay," Ranma cheerfully agreed. "I know you're wrong about at least one thing," she added.
"What?" Nabiki asked.
"Well," Ranma responded, "people aren't doing stuff for her 'cause she's pretty, because there's no way she's better looking than you."
Ranma smiled. There, that cheered Nabiki up; girls always liked being told they're pretty. Besides, Nabiki was good looking in a way that would have really made Ranma nervous before he got used to seeing everyone nude. It took a few moments for Nabiki to speak again.
"Well, you haven't seen my sister yet," Nabiki eventually said. Ranma shrugged; what did that have to do with anything. "I'll show you around the rest of the house," Nabiki continued. It was only when she stepped on another line that Ranma realized they were inside a big magic circle. Nabiki obviously was worried that whatever she was doing might hurt others, so she put the second circle in. That was really nice of her; he just hoped that she didn't have to dangerous stuff like that a lot.
"Now, I can't keep talking to you if someone's in the room," Nabiki warned, "so you'll just have to wait for me to talk about it once we're alone again. Nabiki showed him the yard, main room, and the ofuro before they encountered her older sister in the kitchen. Nabiki grabbed an apple, then lead Ranma upstairs to her room.
"That was Kasumi, my older sister," Nabiki explained, sitting on the western style bed.
"So she has to put up with Akane, too," Ranma joked.
"Yeah," Nabiki replied, "but I don't think she minds it. Kasumi took over all the cleaning and cooking after Mom died." There was the death of her mother, again. Ranma didn't want to push on a sensitive subject. Sure, his mom was gone, too, but that happen before he could remember and if he told Nabiki that, she might think he was saying she should be grateful for the time they had together. Which she should, of course, but getting lectured sucked and he wasn't going to do that to his new friend.
"So Kasumi took over being mon?" Ranma asked.
"Pretty much," Nabiki confirmed. "I used to get so angry at her because she could make anyone do whatever she wanted, even me. Then one day, I figured out that Kasumi doesn't make you do anything. She just assumes you're going to do it, and most people won't disagree with her. Then, if you argue with Kasumi, she talks about how you've made her disappointed and puts you in the wrong. I've figured out that you should just not do whatever Kasumi suggests then zone out on the guilt lecture you get afterwards."
"That never worked for me," Ranma muttered. His father would just attack as soon as Ranma became inattentive.
"Well, I bet your sensei is willing to pound on you," Nabiki offered. "Kasumi just wrings her hands ineffectually."
"So what about you?" Nabiki asked. She'd been doing most of the talking, after all. What was Ranma's life like? What did she like, what did she hate, what was her favorite color?
"Well," Ranma responded, "I've been wandering around the world with my Pop for as long as I can remember. We go to dojos and training grounds, learning the Art. That's about it, really. Pops is lazy and selfish, but he knows his martial arts." Well, that was pretty uninformative. It didn't even let Nabiki know something new about the origins of spirits! Ranma father could be an actual father, an asexual parent that budded Ranma, or even just an unrelated spirit that was a mentor to Ranma like a father.
The rest of the conversation was about various places Ranma had visited. The redhead had been all over Japan, and Nabiki enjoyed hearing about some of the out of the way training grounds she'd been to. Eventually, Ranma asked for hot water, and after Nabiki pointed out she could use the ofuro, the spirit left. Actually, it was a pretty good thing that hot water dismissed Ranma, even if the girl thought of it as a curse. Nabiki had used the strongest summoning spell she knew, one that she didn't have a dismissal ritual worked out for. Ranma would have been stuck with Nabiki for a week without that little quirk.
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(Posted Mon, 28 Mar 2005 22:19)
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