Nabiki entered her room and started to pick up some magazines scattered over the bed, while Ranma remained stunned at the door trying to assimilate what he had just heard.
“Raped? By whom? Why?” He stuttered surprised.
Pretending not to pay attention, his hostess continued with her task. Once the bed was cleaned out, she turned to face him and with a slightly annoyed tone, asked.
"Would you please come in and close the door?"
The young Saotome apologized clumsily before following Nabiki’s instructions, who took the opportunity to sit down in the room’s only chair to try to arrange her thoughts.
After entering the room, Ranma stood in the centre of the room without knowing what to do.
“Sit down!"
The young man turned around, startled by the tone of the order, which seemed almost like a shout. He met with the girl that, without moving, pointed to the bed with her right hand.
‘Calm down!’ she berated to herself. ‘It isn’t the poor guy’s fault and you’re shouting at him as if it were. What happened to the “ice queen”?’ On remembering her old nickname, an ironic smile appeared on her face. ‘Dead and buried, thanks. But it’s true that I have to calm down.’
After executing several deep breathes, she recovered the control of her emotions. Now being calmer, she turned towards her guest, who finally had sat down on the bed and watched the room unworried.
“I’m sorry,” she apologized with a tone of voice so low that he could understand it; however it was enough to attract his attention again.
“Did you say something?”
“I’m sorry.” She repeated louder with great effort. “I shouldn’t have shouted at you.”
Her guest waved the matter away with a slight movement of his hand.
“Nah! Don’t worry! I understand that you were angry because of what happened in the furo. At any rate, your sister could have asked…”
The expression of Nabiki’s face told Ranma that it was better to close his mouth and not end the phrase. Surprisingly, Nabiki finished the sentence for him.
“…or you could have put the busy sign on the door, or Kasumi or I could have checked if the furo was really free...” She let a sigh out before continuing. “This doesn’t matter anymore. What’s done is done.”
After the mutual reproaches, the silence took hold of the bedroom.
The young man was very uncomfortable with the situation; he knew that he had put his foot in his mouth, but he was thinking whether to apologize or keep quiet. Meanwhile his speaker turned towards the writing desk to avoid having to look at him, while trying find a way to tell her guest something that she wanted to forget.
Finally she broke the silence.
“I want that to be clear that I am not telling you this by whim, or so you could feel sorry for my sister.” she warned him. “I’m only telling you this so you don’t hurt her again.”
Ranma gave his consent nodding vigorously with the head.
Once this point has been clarified, Nabiki sighed and started her story.
“Everything began two years ago; no, less, a year and a half ago. Back then our life was very different. We were very different!”
“My father had been an emotional wreck since the death of my mother. One minute he was crying, the next, he was smiling with joy, though most of the time he simply ignored everything that happened around him.”
“Kasumi had taken the role of the mother, and took care of the house and us as best as possible. Even with a smile on her face.”
‘A smile behind which she hid her dreams and aspirations,’ she admitted to herself, while her face saddened when decorated with the memories.
“I was obsessed with the money and labeled everything according to the profits that it could give me.” She couldn’t avoid a sardonic laugh before adding. “I was so stupid!”
The young Tendo remained silent for a few seconds while she energetically shook her head, perhaps to reject her past actions or perhaps to drive the thought from her mind.
Her guest didn’t add anything, because he didn’t know what to say.
“And finally Akane, your typical tomboy.” A slight twisted smile lit Nabiki’s face. “Although normally she was very kind with everybody, she was very proud and had a quick temper.” Her smile disappeared and was replaced by an expression full of sadness. “Anyway she was the more normal one in our dysfunctional family.”
“Dis...What?” Ranma asked, not because he hadn’t understood the word, but because he didn’t know its meaning.
“It doesn’t matter.” She assured before returning to focus in her history. “Everything started a day of spring vacation that Akane had gone to skate with her friends. It was the first time that she went, so she was very excited. She always has enjoyed the sports, except swimming. Inside the water she is a perfect hammer. It didn’t matter what she did, she always sank.”
The young man thought he saw a fleeting smile on her face; but it disappeared just as quickly, leaving him doubting if he’d really seen it at all. He hadn’t a lot of time to think about it, though, before her hostess continued with her story.
“I still remember when I met Akane and her friends.”
Despite being the end of the day, the commercial district was still packed with people. However, this caused no concern to Nabiki, who moved among the crowds like a fish swimming in a stream.
The young Tendo had had an enjoyable a fantastic afternoon. She had met with friends to go shopping and had ended taking something in a trendy cafeteria while they observed the hunks. After two hours of gossiping and some good views, they had considered the day over. Nabiki had said goodbye to her friends and had decided to have a last look at the shops.
She was looking at a beautiful dress displayed in a shop window, thinking where she could get the money to purchase it, when she heard a familiar voice shouted infuriated.
“I’ll show that idiot! I’m going to beat him to pulp!”
Nabiki raised her eyes to confirm that, as she had assumed, the one shouting was her sister. She stormed down the street furiously, followed by her two friends: Yuka and Sayuri.
“And who is the poor fool, dear sister?” Nabiki asked with a mocking tone as she appeared in front of the group.
Akane, on seeing her, stopped dead and fixed her sister with a furious gaze, who put up with it with a smile.
“I warned you that I’m not in the mood for your jokes.”
“I already assumed this when I heard your shouts; in fact, myself and everybody in the street.” After a short pause Nabiki added. “Well?”
“Well what?” Her sister asked annoyed.
“What happened?”
The only thing that her insistency achieved was that her younger sister let out an irate snort and continued on her way, followed by her two friends. However Nabiki didn’t give in.
‘If you think that you can escape from me, lil sis, you are very wrong. After all we live in the same house.’
And, with a mischievous smile, she joined her sister’s group.
They didn’t take long to leave the commercial district to go deep into less crowded streets until finally arriving to a half-empty residential street. At this moment, and taking advantage that there weren’t people near, Nabiki launched a question quietly to Akane’s friends.
“What happened?”
They looked at each other discussing in silence whether they should tell what happened to the sister of their friend. Finally Yuka, the girl with a long light brown hair, shrugged her shoulders and, while they continued walking, she turned towards Nabiki and began to explain what had happened.
“Sayuri and I were teaching Akane to ice-skate when a boy clashed with us by accident.”
“I continue saying that he did it on purpose.” Sayuri commented.
“It doesn’t matter anymore.” Yuka answered before turning again towards Nabiki. “The thing is that we lost our balance. We could, more or less, stand on. Akane said no. When we saw her on the ground, an older guy...”
“Drop-dead gorgeous.” Her friend intervened, earning an elbow.
“...held her by her hip preventing her fall.”
“And then?” Nabiki asked with curiosity, feeling that they had reached the interesting part.
Upon seeing her lose her balance, he held her by her hip with great skill and gentleness as he stood there, staring at her.
After the first moment of disorientation, Akane realized that she was in the arms of a stranger, and tried to move away of her saviour as quickly as possible without being bad-mannered.
“Thanks for catching me, but I already can on my own.” She commented while gently trying to released herself from his hip.
“Don’t you think that I deserve anything more than the thanks?” He asked her with a smile.
This took her completely by surprise for a second.
He took advantage of the moment of his weakened prey to put his arm around her waist and bend her body slightly backwards.
“I think that a kiss would be the most suitable in these circumstances,” her saviour suggested seductively.
Akane didn’t manage to react. The situation was so surrealistic that a part of her still doubted that it really was happening.
Yuka and Sayuri, without knowing what to do, observed with a mix of horror and surprise how the lips of the young play-boy approached closer and closer to her friend’s.
The distance had already been reduced to half when his breath, which stank of mint, returned her to the reality. Without losing a second, she interposed her hands between both of them and pushed him backwards. However, that wasn’t enough to make him release her.
“I am grateful that you caught me, but I’m not going to kiss you because of this.” And, raising her voice, she added, “So, let me go right away!”
Akane’s tone of voice started to attract the rest of skaters, who slowly surrounded the pair with curiosity. However, since they didn’t know what happened, nobody tried to interfere with the discussion.
Suddenly the young man took hold of her arms with his free hand and moved them out of his way.
“Come on, don’t be shy,” her captor insisted, at the same time that he lent over her again.
Akane helplessly watched how the young man was about to steal her first kiss. Without being able to use the force needed to escape from his clutches, she backed her body back as far she could, but it wasn’t enough. Only a couple of centimetres separated their lips when the only skate that kept her balanced on the ice slipped, launching her leg upwards and throwing both of them off balance. The young man reacted quickly and separated slightly the legs to keep standing.
Then she acted.
She inserted her right leg between her captor legs, bent it, and, with the rage roused by feeling defenseless, launched it upwards, crushing his genitals against the pelvis.
The young man’s scream resonated in the building, winning him commiseration looks.
Weakened by the attack, he released his prey, whom fell heavily over the ice causing a dull thud, before he himself fell down, curled up on the floor when his knees lost the strength to support him.
Despite her whole body aching due to the fall, Akane was the first to try to rise, only to realize that her legs were under the winded figure of the young man. She took her right leg out and, none too gently, pushed him away with the blade of her skate. Having been freed, she stood up again with the help of her friends, who, finally, had approached to help her.
“Are you alright?” Yuka asked.
“Yes, don’t worry,” said Akane, assuring her with a smile. “Though tomorrow, I’ll probably be covered in bruises.”
“Don’t know about you girls,” said Sayuri, taking part, “but I don’t feel like skating anymore.”
Yuka agreed completely.
“Of course! You can always rely on a jerk to ruin your evening. Come on! We can forget this hard time with an ice cream.” And taking Akane’s hand, she led her off the rink. Akane gave her friends a silent thanks for her their understanding.
With the show finished, the spectators began to disperse, leaving the way clear to the trio of friends.
Everybody seemed to have forgotten the cause of the commotion. Said cause of said commotion began to recover slowly. With great difficulty he stood up, supporting himself more with his willpower than his knees. Unable to take a step, he turned towards his retreating prey.
“Wait!” he shouted at her.
Akane immediately recognized the voice of the predator and, in spite of have a foot already out of the rink, stopped. He smiled when he got his prey’s attention again.
“Well, I have to admit that you know defend yourself.”
His voice sounded mocking in Akane’s ears, which started to tremble with restrained rage. Sayuri, who was at her side, tried to calm her friend down.
“Come on Akane! Forget him! He is only an idiot!” she whispered to her friend. However, this did nothing to calm her down.
“I would like to know how much you trust you place in your skills,” he continued.
Akane didn’t tolerate it any longer. Not only he had embarrassed her in front of everybody by almost stealing her first kiss, but, furthermore, he made fun of her skills as a martial artist; someone like him, for her, was only a pervert without honor.
She turned, extremely angry, and confronted him.
“Enough to humiliate someone like you!”
“Then, you don’t mind to defend your lips in a duel, do you?”
Without stop to think about the possible consequences, she answered immediately.
“Ok!”
“Akane, no!” Yuka exclaimed trying to stop her friend, but it was too late.
Her friend looked at her surprised.
“What happened?”
“I just realized that he is Mikado Sanzenin, Kolkhoz High’s champion of martial arts skating.”
“Exactly!” he confirmed at the same time that, standing as erect as his aching body would allow; he ran a hand by his well groomed hair in an effort to look elegant. However, his clothes, which were dirty and wet for having remained in contact for too long with the ice, and the mark that the skate had left on his face, turned his pose into a little more than a parody.
“I hope that he’s really handsome, lil sis, because I think that you’ll have to give him your first kiss.”
Akane, who in spite of not taking part in the conversation and having not missed a word of it, turned to look at her with a devious smile.
“I think that you forget something, dear sis.”
“It is already too late to back out,” Sanzenin announced, smiling. “Your friend has agreed to the challenge. It will be here, in one week’s time, where I will win her lips.”
“No!” Akane exclaimed. “You challenged me, so I’ll be the one to decide how, when and where.” The emphasis that she used to accentuate the pronouns silenced any discussion about who have the right to choose the conditions of the duel.
The effect of this declaration was such that, for a moment, the entire rink paid attention to her next words. However, she didn’t seem to realize what she was getting into.
“The duel will be next Saturday, at five p.m. in the Tendo Dojo.” That said, she turned around and went to the changing room, followed by her friends.
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(Posted Wed, 18 Mar 2009 02:47)
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