Nabiki looked down at the passed-out form of her savior/tormentor.
Ranma had revealed the Saotome/Tendo marriage agreement.
It was bad if the people in charge thought about honor a bit more than the fathers did. If so, she might be forced to marry him.
Then again, in the village of the blind, the one-eyed man was king. In this weird and severely messed-up world, Ranma was a rising star. She could do worse than him. In this sort of world, if he could overcome his ‘I will not kill’ attitude, he would be the same as a salary-man with a job at a major company, benefits and everything else included.
Such a weird world. In this world, she had about as much chance of meaningful employment here as Ranma had to become a member of the Diet in their world.
“Such is the way of fate for someone from Nerima,” she muttered.
It seemed that she had finally been dragged kicking and screaming into the chaos that was the life of one Ranma Saotome. She was grateful for the save in that ... Hell, no matter what she might do afterwards. But she didn’t want to trade one form for another. And she was relatively certain that others would be there soon to return them back to their world.
Maybe...
Perhaps...
Well, it had been over a week since they had arrived. For all she knew, every rescue attempt ended inside that void hell they had first landed in.
She needed to see her current position, from everything she had learned about this world.
Sure, she could leave. But this world, while advanced in some technologies, was not as advanced as she liked to consider her own world was in the law of humanity. Thus, her chances of being killed for petty reasons increased if she left. Inside the village, she had some protection.
It was nearly impossible to make it as a single person unless you had either a family business, or a clan to help with support, and said clans tended to be heavy in ninja life. That meant even if she could find a good job outside of being a kunoichi, it would still be a hard life.
Even if she stayed with Ranma, eventually, Anko would force her out. Then what?
She might be able to find and scam a wealthy person into some sort of marriage. But then again, this wasn’t an era where feminine rights were something one could sue over, unless the current Lord of the land was female. Fat chance of having that cake.
And considering another person in the village could just as easily get paid to slit her throat... Ranma was starting to look like a good investment, despite his curse and lack of scholarly attitude.
In the land of the blind...
“Uggggh,” muttered Ranma, rubbing his head, as he woke up. “Where am I?”
“Next to me, slowly sinking into Hell, Saotome,” said Nabiki. She was just glad that Anko was still out getting what she needed for ‘an old family hangover cure.’ Otherwise, she’d probably be choked by a boa for that remark.
“Huh?” said Ranma, wincing as the pains of a hangover headache made themselves known.
“You revealed to a lot of people that we are engaged by honor to be married,” said Nabiki.
“... Oh,” said Ranma, wishing he had a sword to end the pain that soon would be coming for him.
“Smooth move, Saotome,” she muttered. “Then again, I suppose you could do worse than marrying me.”
A tanto, perhaps. Maybe even some poison?
“Looks like we might be stuck together,” said Nabiki. “After all, these guys may take honor as seriously as you father pretends to.”
Akane’s cooking?
“Listen, Saotome,” said Nabiki. “If they force it, we go along with it. Frankly, I don’t intend to be stuck as your little Ms. for the rest of our lives. But to put it bluntly, I could do way worse than you here.”
“Wow,” groused Ranma. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome,” smirked Nabiki. “But don’t think things will be the same here as in our world.”
“I already know that,” said Ranma, his voice almost without emotion. “Here, killing is as acceptable as a traffic accident,” he muttered.
“Listen Saotome, I would rather survive in this world until we make it home,” she said. “But unlike you, I am very good at adapting to a situation outside of fighting. I don’t declare I know everything, and I certainly won’t say I know why this world is the way it is. But if we don’t adapt and fit in, we die. You may be fine with dying here, claiming it was for an honor we both know is shit. But I won’t die here, and I won’t waste the gift of staying alive you gave me by doing so.”
“I ain’t a killer.”
“Neither is a soldier unless he follows an unlawful order,” said Nabiki.
“But—”
“Quit whining, Saotome,” she said. “Ideals are fine, but even the perfect ideal cannot last against reality. I might not want to kill. But if given the choice between my death and the death of the person trying to kill me; call me selfish, but I choose to survive. I don’t want to kill, but I’m not foolish to think it doesn’t need to be done, like those stupid Trigun and Grenadier anime. Reality’s a bitch, Ranma-kun. Make it the bitch you want.”
Ranma sighed. He knew there was some wisdom in her words. Even Arashi had told him that killing wasn’t something to be enjoyed, but couldn’t be a last resort. People could die if it was.
But could he survive in such a world? He should, as one of the best at Anything Goes ... well, if one counted the dishonorable fools and its founder.
But would he want to? Could he ... kill, for a living?
“No one is saying you have to be a sick sadistic bastard, Saotome,” Nabiki said, sitting beside him now, her voice quieter. “But like any warrior, you can’t be afraid to take a life if you need to.”
He stayed silent.
“Such an attitude would have left my sister dead, and who knows how many after Saffron decided to stop, if he ever stopped.”
He stayed silent.
“Such ideals you cling to are childish,” she said. “And if someone like me can understand this, then what does it say about someone like you? Scared of cats, scared of being an adult, scared of making any choices, because then you might have to take responsibility for yourself, others, and your own honor and life.”
“I ain’t scared,” he growled.
“Listen Saotome,” she said. “Since I have known you, you haven’t once sought help to get over that fear of cats, never once sought help to deal with the mess of family honor your Father made, never once sought help to learn anything that wasn’t ‘for the Art’, except when it was forced on you.
“And if you won’t seek help to survive this world, then I’ll do it ... for myself,” she said. “I don’t want to die, but I’ll be damned if I set myself up to die because you wish to stay ... a child, still clinging to a faithless dream his father doesn’t believe in, despite his constant preaching of it.”
He began to growl. How dare she? How dare she say such things?
“Saying one thing and doing another, sounds like my father and a certain part-time panda.”
He slowly sat up, his aura slowly beginning to flash into the visible spectrum.
“After all, what should I expect from a little itty bitty boy who can’t grow up. Maybe we should call you Peter Pan.”
He stood up, shakily, the aura burning through the alcohol.
“Then again, maybe we should set you up with Kuno-baby when we get back. After all, you two would go perfectly together; both of you are stuck in dreams that can never be.”
Before she knew it, his hand had grabbed her shirt, lifting her up. “I AIN’T ANYTHING LIKE THAT!”
“Then why are you so scared?” she asked.
“I AIN’T SCARED OF NOTHING!”
“Then why are you refusing to grow up,” she asked, her emotional tone never once changing, as she looked down into his eyes. “Even now, you’re acting like a child, lashing out at whatever doesn’t meet what you think things should be.”
His eyes opened wide, as what she said hit him.
“Are you going to kill her already?”
His eyes darted to the entrance of the room, seeing Anko there, holding a large glass of ... something.
“Cause if you are, I’d like you to do it outside, cleaning the carpet of blood’s a bitch.”
Ranma paled, as he dropped Nabiki. “I ... what ... I mean...”
“We all have dark sides,” said Anko. “Running from it ain’t going to change that. It’s what you do with it that really matters.”
“Get dressed, Saotome,” said Nabiki, straightening her shirt. “We have a meeting with Arashi in half an hour. And I don’t want to be late.”
He numbly nodded, as he went into the bathroom, the sounds of a shower soon following.
Anko sighed. “I still think this idea of yours is a bad one.”
“If he doesn’t adapt, he will die here,” said Nabiki, now rubbing her neck. She hadn’t expected him to react so ... violently ... to the truth.
“Doesn’t mean we had to do that to Big Brother,” grumbled Anko. “After all, Arashi-sama already talked to him.”
“Ranma isn’t the type to learn a lesson like that in one go,” said Nabiki.
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(Posted Tue, 27 Mar 2007 12:36)
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